While we’re having this conversation about music, I thought I would take the opportunity to shamelessly plug my alter ego DJ Haamphist.

After a late night microKORG session with my buddy Jeff last winter, I thought maybe I’d pick one up as well. I ducked into my local music store to inquire and the guy there said ‘Hey man, the KORG is great, but it does what it does and that’s it.’ And I said, ORLY? And he said, yeah what you really want is this software called Reason and a midi keyboard. That way I had all the melty synth action from the KORG at my disposal, but also drums, samples, effects and processing, AND the ability to do such radical things as record. Because the KORG makes noise and that’s it, and it costs $300+ to do it. If you don’t have it plugged into any kind of additional recording hardware, then I guess you’re entertaining yourself. Which is cool, but I wanted to share my substantial talents with the world at large.

So I set about acquiring both Reason and a keyboard. I was afraid, as with everything I do, that I would loose interest almost immediately. You should expect my imminent silence, by the way. Good or bad depending on your outlook. The fear was expressed to Jeff and his wife Amy, and Amy threw down a musical gauntlet. We would both produce a 3 minute tune over a month or two and reconvene to share our wares. This would keep me going. I accepted.

Work began with a series of little vignettes designed to help me learn the options available in the software. Rather than let the flood overwhelm me I decided it was best to focus on little things here and there. I started at 001.mp3 and worked my way forward through the suite. I figure I probably accessed roughly .0003% of the true potential of the software using this technique. Spectacular. At no point in those 2 months did I produce the 3 minute epic, which to her credit, Amy did. But I did produce 20+ phat tracks so I feel like the spirit of the contest, which was to motivate me personally, was respected. I’m hoping we’re all in agreement.

Yeah, so as I progressed I became aware that my high school friend, another Jeff, was working away on his own blog called The Daily Minute. He and a few friends were trying to create a 1 minute sketch every day, which was basically what I was doing…. except not every day. I somehow wrestled my way onto the blog as well and things were good at first but I started to feel in over my head. A friend and I have joked that Jeff could play an alarm clock if you gave it to him. I can’t play anything. Another dude on the daily minute blog made a track from samples of a goddamn ping pong game.

This, coupled with the resolution of the 3 minute challenge meant that I was easily and slowly distracted by other things. I think we headed out to Chicago for a wedding around that time, and I lost my camera in a taxi and then we went to Alaska and we cut our office staff by 50% and I was under a lot of stress. So I dunno. It’s really all those other things I suppose, and my mildly A.D.D. personality. I stopped making music. I feel like picking it up again but I haven’t found the time.

So again, let me re-introduce the Haam for anyone not aware.