Lee Barry's Blog, page 20

The Five-Hour Rule

I was reminded of an interview with Pico Iyer on the On-Being podcast a few years ago. In the interview he talked about his daily writing routine and that it was five hours of focused work.How you choose your five-hour window is crucial. You want a "routine" part of a day which works well with our diurnal natures, so it has to be in the flow of things. If your focused period is 9-2, then

Phantom Limbs: On Tactility In Music

What draws me to music most strongly is the tactile: I simply like the feel of vibrating strings across a slab of wood, and is so much more satisfying than a computer keyboard or a piece of glass. I have my instruments all out of their cases and make a point to play them and incorporate them as much as possible into my songs. (That's why I think country music sometimes gets folded in to my music

What If Music AI Existed In 1966?

 
Every week on Monday, I get the results of my Google Alert on music AI. The articles are basically all championing its bright future--a kind of green-washing. What would music have been like in the 1960s, say 1967, the Summer of Love, if music AI existed then?  1967-1969 was the pinnacle of spirituality in pop music, with the Finale the lunar landing. But it wasn't spiritual at all. It was

Is the Hyperlink Dead?

Nazca Lines- Peru (500 BC)Very often they are.If you've been writing on the internet for the past 25 years, the hyperlinks that we've put into the text probably no longer work. This is why I have been stopping using hyperlinks in my work. I only use them if I can be certain that the link will be permanent. For example, I will link to a piece of art only from the museum or collection that holds it

Audeo Vidio

 
On feedback loops between audio and video.I've had a YouTube channel since 2006, and it has changed so much since then. In the beginning, "channel" was loosely interpreted as more of a metaphor. Some YouTubers call it the "New YouTube", which may mean it has fully matured into the literal meaning. But I'm not interested in running a TV channel and hustling for likes and subscribers; I just want

Photographic Fungibility

 
When I was researching images for Music For Photographs last Spring, the NFT was trending. As I continued to look at images for the album a thought came to me on this whole idea of fungibility. While trying to decide which Brassai image to use, I realized all of his work is iconic. He's so different than other photographers in that he made that kind of photography that became iconic,

Sonic Psychogeography

What is the sound of a place in an abstract sense? Motown had a sound; Philadelphia had a sound; Memphis had a sound; Glen Campbell "soundtracked" places like Phoenix, Wichita, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and Galveston. Chicago doesn't really have a sound all its own but it has "scored" my life.Very often when I went out with my camera, I would make a playlist and let it run in the background as a

The Sound of a Photograph (Cont.)

  While working on Red Room Mississippi, I was reminded of a William Eggleston exhibition I had gone to at the Art institute of Chicago.Whenever I look at his photos I start to think cinematically. Taking photographs is sometimes like being in the temporal space of a film, and can really be a form cinematography, hence my interest in "scoring" photographs. Just as period films need vintage cars

Presidential Styles

4 Eras of ArchitectureWhile I was taking a walk the other day I had noticed a mid-80s Old Cutlass that was decked-out in aftermarket products and 22-inch rims. Under Reagan, there was a drastic change in car styles (The "K" car) shaved down and boxy, all with small engines--even the Cadillacs. It was amusing to see that car looking "cool" the way someone in their 20s in the 1970s thought 1950s

On Searching and Finding

 Chicago Skyline (2002)The following words are entries in Dynaxiom, sans numbering--something intentionally hidden. There is great power in searching and finding and stumbling on other things in the process.SearchHiddenObscureDiscoverLostStumbleThe systems we rely upon depend on the systems that have been in place for millennia. This is what discoveries usually are: the realization that we've