Spiralstar's Weblog

I’m Back. Reports of my demise are slightly overstated.

spiralstar — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:53:37 +0000

I am just going to go through this quickly. I came down with H1N1 wich in turn moved into pneumonia. That then moved me into St. Mikes Hospital. Who I cannot thank enough for their great staff and facilities. Best Hospital in Canada along with Montreal General. I have fought with some post release issues. Ear infections, cold etc however I am coming around the bend to something resembling health.It occured to me to post this as I had recently returned to Twitter (yes I have people who should have updated you while hospitlized but) …well turns out they suck & are no longer with my project regardless of what you may hear to the contrary. Twitter, right, so upon my return I noticed a few people had stopped following me. No big as I am obviously not after numbers .
In fact this was not even on my professional account. Still I felt it was something I should address. I hope everyone understands that it has never been my intention with this site to have it wind up being a giant health log. It’s simply been the roughest 2 years of my life. 2010 will be better. I have many reasons to believe this. Not the least being the bonus of being so ill that I had a lot of tests run and therefore come out of the process with a clear understanding of my health in many a year. It’s good.

All For Now,

Jason

A sad day For Firefox users Via Virtus Designs Themes AKA Aero Fox

spiralstar — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:49:03 +0000

I booted up my laptop today and was notified (as I almost always am) that I had 2 updates for Firefox themes. Nothing more. Nothing less. Except when I Hit my home page I noticed that ask.com was now my search engine. Not possible! Checking further I saw that I now had extension “Ask Chrome Search Extension Designed by Virtus Designs” in my extension. This is an outrageous breach of all that the Mozilla community stands for. The author claims to have told Mozilla about all his intentions and “transparency” re his various themes. Like many of you I had aero fox (not as my active theme but in my cue from 3.0.10 No warning . No opt out. Nothing! . I used it as a way to show them the familiar UI of Internet Explorer but all the safety features of Fire Fox.
If , Mozilla did allow this to occur they are far worse than IE. I do not believe this to be the case,however. I think this fellow simply took a one time payout from ask.com b4 these themes are removed. If I am wrong I am sorry Bret. I will also stop using FF themes.If I am right then Mozilla, take these down to serve notice to the community that this will not be tolerated.
Avoid @ all cost.

Ad From Hell!!

spiralstar — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:57:36 +0000

So the ad guys are in the office and Bob says-”I know,what if we ratchet up the donor ads to such a degree that people have a heart attack upon seeing it.” “It creates it’s own product!”

Dell Studio XPS 16

spiralstar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:07:15 +0000

So my new laptop arrived. Fantastic machine. A truy stunning array of features far to numerous to mention here. Check it out on Dell’s site. It is the best laptop I’ve ever seen let alone owned.
With that being said , ahem, I am obviously lagging behind my self declared schedule. (Beating self in head with old shoe found on a curb near you as I type) I have Sonar installed 64 bit style now. This has made a large difference in the way one interacts with the program. In a good way but time consuming. Plus there was that whole Windows 7 beta I became completely lost in. Picture Harry Dean Stanton in Paris ,Texas lost. Love Ry Cooder’s playing on that films score. Pick it up if you want to see a truly remarkable film with a soundtrack it’s equal. A rare thing my friends. This one is back in the 80′s when a soundtrack was simply not a terrible merging of back door studio tracks foisted on the public to push cd sales. This was an art form unto itself. Something still carried on by Angelo Badlimenti and Mr. David Lynch.
In summary: Buy Wenders and Lynch films. Dell’s Studio xps 16″ …oh have patience as I stitch this thing together at long last.
God Bless Your Enemy & Your Darkest Fears. Hey,It is what a God would do if there was such a thing. Gosh that would be nice. My own personal Jebus.
ciao,
Jason

And We Have Lift Off!

spiralstar — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:40:35 +0000

With my health having finally been reasonable I have installed Sonar’s hardware midi hub. Cakewalks Studio 6 software. Have the V-amp pro running midi thru in loop formation ( this allows me to interface with the Behringer GUI) and am well on my way to laying down some bed tracks. Truly amazing what a guy with a guitar and a desire to conquer the world…well@ least the the north east quadrant. More on plans for global domination later.

I hired a great web programmer! So things will be changing BIG time asap. I just do not have time to design nor the skill (although I cling to the delusion that if there were two of me I’d be writing code like Gate’s in his heyday) to achieve the end result of the multi media experience Spiral Star will be. What I’m seeing from the back end is exciting to be sure I must say.

Dasvadonia ,

Jason

As Boston said “It’s been such a long time, I think I should be blogging”. Or words to that effect.

spiralstar — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:10:23 +0000

I will not even bother to go into the myriad of health issues that have rained down on me this past six months. First off I know many have so many more problems as to make mine quark like in comparison. Cub fans for example. Hiyo Suffice to say the resumption of a vigorous practice regiment caused a pinched nerve that turned out to be sciatica. So 2 months of physio I am as fit as a sedentary sloth with mild depression. WooT!

I leave you with that and the promise to have several mp3′s up by x-mas

Jason

down but not out

spiralstar — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:39:15 +0000

What a month. Levelled by a truly medieval flu bug (as opposed to those pleasant life affirming “go green” strains) about six weeks ago. This gave way to a middle ear infection. Particularly unnerving for a musician due to potential hearing loss. Rather extreme pain and vertigo has been the rule til late last week. Seems the third bid of antibiotics is the charm. Fingers crossed.

So that is where I am at. Hopeful of a full recovery in the next week or so. If this comes to pass please differ to the previous entries. Written during the mid eighties or so. Ah levity. Good to feel as laughter is without a doubt useless medicine. Patch Adams is a lying scumbag! ;-}

Cakewalk Pro Studio Arrives…finally.

spiralstar — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 21:33:33 +0000

With the header software/hardware arrival I am all set to go. Not exactly in the sense of “plug n play” stream of consciousness solo until the sun goes down and back type thing. No. This is going to be a fun week of reading manuals, tweaking the crap out of xp, deciding what LE or crippleware I want to purchase. Basically the antithesis of what I live for. Improvisational soloing. Ahh the very thought of just playing with some kick ass musicians exploring (in real time) music we holistically believe in sets my toes a tapping.

I know this will come in time. I know anything is better than playing Like A Rhinestone Cowboy to a bunch of people that wish they and me were dead. The blue sky factor of this is not lost. I have the technology “to boldly go where no man has gone before” The final frontier. Hey did anyone catch Mr. Shatner on coast to coast Thurs? Great stuff. That guy truly gets the whole process of cultural fame, irony and toupees. I lived in Montreal for a few years and Shatner is THE man there. Still wins best actor in the Mirror (their local underground art/political zine. That is staying power my friends.

This post has gone so tangential I do not feel it is within the text to mobius strip my way back to the point. I’ll update before Monday with some nifty upgrades and a cleaner outline of the project.

Jason

To Lethargic For Further Procrastination

spiralstar — Mon, 26 May 2008 01:30:42 +0000

Currently stuck in a holding pattern. The Sonar is en route and is taking it’s bloody time accomplishing said task. At somewhat of a crossroads, pertaining to the pursuance of the cd or taking on some roadwork, as one is the greatly anticipated beginning of something I have waited and worked a long time for. The other avoids starvation. These calls (@ least for me) are never simple. Looking to my intuition to guide the way.

Make no mistake, my beloved readers. The cd will be a reality regardless. Thanks to the wonders of modern tech I can record on the road. The dilemma only being a matter of purchasing choices. ie; enhancement software for the studio or getting my rig/gear road focused. I will update you as soon as the path is made clear.

Rewards and Regards,

Jason

and then there was music…well almost.

spiralstar — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:02:13 +0000

Just getting my legs here on wordpress. I am in the midst of finalizing my home studio, streaming video and then (hopefully) recording the new ep. Bare with as I learn on the go and update with more vim,vigor and copious amounts of sheer optimism. All things stem from vibration. A melodious universe is where I live. You as well. Just so you know where you are ;_) Begin the beguine.

Jason