Working on Assembly

I’m just about to start sorting through the various 100 or more albums I’ve been making since I started working on Suno — and Suno has gone a long way since then, and is a lot more sophisticated and maneuverable than before.

Most of the albums are incomplete at the moment, and some are only a single song to indicate the meaning and direction of the album. I’m only after the finished albums at the moment.

Song albums are a really good way to communicate ideas, and it can exist invisibly even in an atmosphere of hate, fear and suspicion.

Actually, the words, the sounds, the meaning and the music itself can produce the magical force necessary to bring about results that would be unachievable without the music sounds.

Sound is magic. Letters are magic. Words are magic, but not every sound, every letter or every word is magic.

Sturgeon’s Law:

I remember the very moment my friend, science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon first put his famous “law” into words. It was at a science fiction convention in Santa Barbara, during a book signing. We were seated side by side at the table. Someone on the line had been grumbling about the poor quality of much sci-fi, and Ted leaned in and said:

“Ninety percent of everything is crud.”

Then he turned to me, with that little half-grin of his, and added:

“Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that the other ten percent isn’t also crud.”

I’ve seen that line get passed around for decades, usually written as “crap,” but I was there, and I can tell you he said crud. And that extra twist—well, that was Ted’s genius: quick, funny, and cutting to the truth of the human condition in one breath.

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So in strict accordance with Sturgeon’s Law, I have to calculate that only 100 or so of my thousands of songs will certainly beyond a shadow of a doubt be “crud”, but I’m hoping you’re able to discern and be selective and that you’ll immediately locate the ten percent that might not be — has half a chance of not being — “crud”.

These songs aren’t out in the open. You can only hear them live in our Zoom meetings, where you can call for a sample track from one of the albums on the table. The albums themselves aren’t for sale — they’re available only for trade, and we’re keeping it simple: we trade for Goldbacks.

That way, you’re not just collecting music, you’re participating in a circle of exchange — one that has weight, beauty, and meaning. And by playing these songs, quietly, you’re part of the Resistance.

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click here to see the play

The album “One Lifetime at a Time” trades for 1 goldback. The script for the play is free — it’s what’s on the other end of that hot link just above.

There’s a whole week’s worth of work in that play — go for it! You can also use it right off youtube, if you prefer.

The idea is, you play the recording between the acted lines.

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Had a funny thought when I first saw that Texas redistricting plot, and it set off an image in my mind, an image which I’ll share with you now — thanks to Claude making the actual virtual image: