“I Keep Writing the Same Song” is my first “Logic Pro” recording — this is the Apple software of which GarageBand is the baby version. My YouTube video is here and is also embedded below. Lyrics and production notes can be found at the linked site. Remixed in 2018.
I’ve previously posted a link to my Milstein Hall fire safety critique. I had originally filed a complaint about Milstein Hall’s numerous building code problems with the City of Ithaca Building Department on Dec. 13, 2011. After receiving an unsatisfactory reply, I filed a formal complaint with the New York State Division of Code Enforcement and Administration (DCEA) on April 10, 2012. Even after following up with numerous phone and email queries, I still haven’t received a response from DCEA.
This is particularly troubling because my complaint describes some serious fire safety violations in Milstein Hall, which remain unresolved. I recently was able to read the Building Code analysis in the front section of Milstein Hall’s working drawings. There were several errors or omissions in this analysis, the most incredible of which was the way in which Milstein Hall was implicitly described as an isolated building with no connection to either Sibley or Rand Halls. In fact, Milstein Hall is an addition to Sibley and Rand Halls, being physically and functionally connected to both of these existing buildings. Pretending that Milstein Hall is a stand-alone structure, the Code analysis claimed that its construction type is II-B (for a steel structure with generally unrated assemblies), rather than V-B (for an unrated wood-framed structure, as would be the case if connected to Sibley Hall without proper fire separation).
The other item that caught my attention was the way in which the large crit room under the concrete dome in Milstein Hall was categorized as a “business” occupancy with 100 square feet assigned to each occupant. I’ve updated my Milstein Hall critique to respond to this egregious claim. The photo below, provided by Cornell in a news item with the headline “AAP buzzes as hundreds of alumni, students, and faculty gather during Celebrate Milstein Hall,” shows clearly the actual nature of this “business” occupancy.
Milstein Hall's architects claim an occupancy limit of 49 for this alleged "business" space.
I guess I’ve started a kind of long-term project — recording covers of songs that were influential in my musical development. The first was 1963’s Surfer Girl. This one is Mixed-up, Shook-up, Girl from 1964 (recorded by Patty & the Emblems, possibly the earliest hit co-written by Leon Huff, who later achieved legendary status as half of the song-writing-producing team of Gamble and Huff).
We designed and built a loft bed that morphed into a bunk bed (don’t ask why). Here’s everything you might want to know about the process, including detailed instruction manuals.
A new chapter has been added to my critique of Milstein Hall, designed by OMA/Rem Koolhaas, at Cornell. This one deals with fire safety.
I made a “studio” version of my song (Own Biggest Fan), after having recorded live version last month. The lyrics, production notes and embedded video for the new version are here. The YouTube video, shot with my still-working low-resolution Flip camcorder, and edited with Final Cut Express, is embedded below.
I’m working on a critique of Milstein Hall at Cornell University, a new building designed by Rem Koolhaas (OMA) and completed in 2011-2012. Ultimately, the critique will encompass various issues that can be discussed objectively: sustainability, fire safety, nonstructural failure, function, and flexibility. At this point, only the first piece on sustainability is online. Other “chapters” will eventually be linked from the same site.
I’ve been working on a new song, “Own Biggest Fan,” since November 2011. I made a live version — just me and my guitar recorded with a single mic — on June 1, 2012. The YouTube video can be found here.
I had earlier written about my visit to the Barnes Foundation in Merion, PA, and about the music video that resulted. Well, the move of the Barnes from Merion to Philadelphia has been accomplished and the usual critical infrastructure has dutifully provided their predicable and specious arguments to justify this travesty. Do all these critics read and copy from each other, or have they all been given the same talking points by the very political and corporate powers that engineered the move? For those of you who may wish to be art critics someday, pay attention. This is what a critical review consists of: It could have been terrible, but—Wow!—it really turned out to be wonderful! Paul Goldberger (Vanity Fair) writes: “It… could have been stifling… But that is not what Philadelphia has gotten.” Ada Louise Huxtable (Wall Street Journal) writes: “The ‘new’ Barnes that contains the ‘old’ Barnes shouldn’t work, but it does.” Roberta Smith (NY TImes) writes: “Others, myself included… felt that faithfully reproducing the old Barnes in the new space… was a terrible idea… And yet the new Barnes proves all of us wrong.” Peter Schjendahl (The New Yorker) writes: “I couldn’t imagine that the integrity of the collection—effectively a site-specific, installational work of art, avant la lettre—would survive. But it does, magnificently.”
In reaction to this woeful display of critical subservience, I have created a parody of Paul Goldberger’s blog post (it appeared in Vanity Fair earlier this month): only the names and places have been changed (along with some necessary textual revisions to keep the story self-consistent). And of course the images were “photoshopped” just a bit. You can find my parody here.
