Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

I was really fortunate to get my foot into the music production scene – aka the jingle business – in Chicago. It was fiercely competitive, and there was plenty of backstabbing to go around, but most of the people I worked with were supportive and welcoming to the new kid. But I had my eye on…

The San Diego Film Consortium held its award ceremony On June 24, 2023 and I won for Best Sound Design. This is a screenshot from the awards telecast which you can view here. Sound Design nominees are at 44:20. You can watch the film’s director Justin Burquist win his award for Best Narrative Short Film…

It’s Jerry Goldsmith’s birthday and it reminded me of a story. I never met him, but I was in the same room with him – briefly. In 1985 I was new to LA and wanted to get to know the scoring rooms. I had been working at Group IV mostly because (1) Dennis Sands worked…

I sat there stunned. Did Silverman really call Hal Riney “the devil”? True, that in the next breath he also called him “the angel” but that seemed grudging — like he remembered he was on camera and that somebody might see it. I backed up the dvd just to be sure. Yep, he said it.…

In the mid 80s, Alberto Culver – yep, the company that made VO5 and other hair care products – introduced a butter substitute that would melt when you shook it onto your food. Tasted like butter and less messy. How did the hair company get into food products? Either they set out with that as…

In January 1972 Ella Fitzgerald had a Sunday night gig with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. There were guitar parts on all of her songs, and a few songs that featured guitar intros and solos. I don’t know why, but Erich Kunzel liked my guitar playing. I had started playing electric guitar with the orchestra in…

Mill Run was a popular Chicago stop back when musical acts travelled around the country promoting their records. I had been in the house band at the Beverly Hills Club and the Lookout House in Cincinnati – playing guitar – before I moved to Chicago. The gig starts with a 3 hour rehearsal, probably on…

Three things bother me about The Voice and other similar shows. The first is the glorification of mediocrity and imitation. Granted, every so often they unearth a unique talent, but for every one of those there are a hundred bartenders, schoolteachers and accountants who aren’t that good, and rarely bring something original to the show.…

I think shadenfreude is taking delight at the misery of others, usually your enemies. I think there’s a corollary where you leave an enterprise – either voluntarily or not – and the thing which was running well when you left then falls apart. It’s a roundabout way of getting a compliment that they couldn’t get…

I was very lucky to be teaching in a Web Design program (at the Art Insitute of CA / San Diego) in the “naughts” (2000-2009) when social media showed up. I didn’t have to wait for an article in WIRED to see what was new – my students were swimming in it 24/7. Fast forward…