Migration Nearly Done

[snoozefestaudio]

I was up until 5AM this morning getting all the images done for the last of the four old albums, Alb-O-Matic. But before I even went to NightCafe, I had to finish updating the cover.

Above is the OG cover I made back in 2008.

So I redrew it from scratch on the computer, in larger resolution, with a bit more detail...



By 2008, I had had my Boss BR8 digital 8-track for eight years, so I was to the point where cranking out some new songs was almost automatic.

But the songs on this album are also much more efficient. Not much synth orchestration at all... just good rhythm tracks and bass lines, with a little guitar, and good backing vocals.

Of the ten tracks, five were meant to be just test sketches, done right after Lost Cause was completed.

But by 2008, it was clear the BR8 was on the verge of giving up the ghost, so, while I could still use it, I wrote and recorded five more... in that same sketchy style... so that I'd have enough to make one final album.

Ivy which is third to last on the album, was actuall the very last song I recorded in that studio. And I wouldn't record (or play or sing) again for fifteen years.

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Again I went with the Anime engine for the graphics, but instead of, Picasso or Chagall as hints to the style, I went with, Lichtenstein.

As with, Chagall, it didn't make a huge impact, but it did seem to give these a slightly more modern look than those of, Lost Cause.



This image for the song, Square Heart is the most Lichtensteiny of the bunch, and also betrays my lack of patience, last night, with the AI.

Instead of waiting for it to give me one good image, I merged together two or more that were close... in order to get something presentable.

In this case, the prompt was, "Woman driving a convertable with a man in the passenger seat," and... just like with swimming... hoo boy!.. did the AI not understand driving!

It had people facing backward, so that the dash was behind them, or sitting sideways with the wheel to the left... and it had an even harder time putting the woman at the wheel!

But this final image works, because she's driving, and it looks like she's remembering a time in the past when this guy used to ride along with her.



This one's, for Sunbeam, which is about an epic date.

The first frame is a bit Lichtensteiny, but the rest do look like a more modern setting than the Lost Cause images.



The song, Veins Resound was another one very difficult to pin down. I originally wanted a very frantic young man talking to a professor in a library, but it just could not figure it out.

So I went with, frantic young man consulting books in a library, and settled on these three images, which, when put together, give something of the feel of the song.

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I still have to type in the lyrics today, and paste in the hashtags, but, Alb-O-Matic will be done, and this whole migration project will be finished, by later tonight.

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I was wrong about yesterday... I actually adopted Snoop and Prowly on the 7th of August, not the 8th. So Monday was the anniversary.

Now, it's worth noting, here, that not only had I been picturing adopting two sibling stripey gray cats someday, but last year, I'd also had the foresight to buy a bag of cat kibble, and a jug of cat litter to keep upstairs with me... just in case I wound up adopting cats on the fly with no warning.

So... I took the two kittens the girl was holding, which allowed her to get the third kitten out from under the neighbor's porch.

As she held one, and I held two, I told her, "Okay, I can adopt two cats, but not three. I will take these two right now. So you need to take that one back to your mom and ask her again if she'll adopt just one cat."

I really miss those kitten days when they both used to do everything together! They slept, ate, and played together... and in later months when I would allow them downstairs with me, they explored together.

But it's crazy how much everything else has changed since last August.

Going out to eat with Dad on Sundays was a routine we'd been doing for years at that point... just one of those things you totally take for granted.

I talk at the time about how the universe was clearly involved in me adopting these cats, because they were exactly the tabby's I'd pictured getting someday, and the situation in which I adopted them was so out of the blue, but on the nose obvious.

But looking back now, it seems the universe wasn't just giving me these two cats for no reason... or giving me to them.

This was the first cosmic clue that Dad was soon to go!

Indeed he ended up in the hospital later that same month, and nearly died then... before I could start the job that I wouldnt've sought if it weren't for the cats.

The tree falling in September was the second cosmic clue.

And then in December he broke his hip.

A year later, the house is in my name, the yard's been transformed, and Snoop & Prowly are denizens of that yard... as well as the entire house from the upstairs down to the basement and even the crawl space under the kitchen.

It's also worth noting that they were instrumental in de-mousing the downstairs while Dad was on his death bed, in his room.

I didn't even know there was an issue with mice down here until just before Tim arrived, but it turned out we were overrun with them... to the point they were outsmarting the traps!

That was their cue! And they eliminated every last one of them.

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Snoop and Prowly were also instrumental in resolving the Good N Fun Dog Kabob issue, which was a MAJOR problem down here!

Yvette would only eat these insanely expensive, very messy kabobs, which drained finances, attracted mice, and also left her semi-incontinent... needing to use puppy pads in the music room, etc.

But their moist cat food turned out to be the solution to all of it!

Now she has solid poops, never goes inside anymore, and licks those little cans clean... no mess!

And lastly, Snoop & Prowly very much do keep Yvette company when I'm gone.

She fully acknowledges them as fellow pets, both inside, and outside. And she was very good for several months about not leading them astray on long walks or crossing the street.

She's also defended them several times from little dogs who've run into the yard to try and harass them.

So... the universe clearly knew what it was doing last August.

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Today, I'm gonna finish migrating, Alb-O-Matic.

Then tomorrow I go to see the lawyer, and take the first step toward saving the house from the clutches of BMO Harris Bank.

And the rest of this week and weekend are gonna be about tying up loose ends before getting back to the full-time nightly grind at Cloud.

The crickets, for example, do seem to be sounding pretty good this year, so I'm gonna take some time to check that out over the next few nights.

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This two-plus months of part time was good for me, however.

It gave me a chance to mingle with the neighbors, in addition to bonding with the pets.

So, I'm not just some mystery man who leaves at 2PM and doesn't come home until the middle of the night. I've had little conversations with everybody around me, and people on the block are aware now that Dad passed away... and that I'm staying here for good.

But this part-time summer also reawakened the old musician in me, who'd been in hibernation for fifteen years.

It began with me just needing something to do with all my extra free time... which lead to digitizing old tape journals from the 1990s.

That, in turn, lead to me rediscovering some old songs I'd never recorded.

That, in turn, lead to the new studio in Dad's room.

And that... has most recently lead to me finally finishing the presentation work on the old four albums... with graphics, lyrics, hashtags, and proper listings as albums and not playlists.

And it's worth noting that, at no other time in the past, would it have been possible for me to crank out forty-plus images in any amount of time... let alone, two weeks!

Even a year ago, Dall-E was the only AI image generator out there, and it was in it's beta phase.

So... this was the time to do this!

Okay, back to lyrics!

Talk to you tomorrow, and I'll tell you how it went with the lawyer.

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