Thomas Alan Bishop Blog

Worship

2010-06-30T06:20:16-07:00

If ye must worship, worship each other. Unlike most gods man has invented, people are not invisible.

The Death and Birth of Universes

2010-06-18T18:43:00-07:00

My "theory" is (it's not really a theory because I have no data to support it) that black holes continually gain gravitational energy through the sucking up of matter. Mass essentially leaves our universe once it crosses the event horizon. The laws of time and space and dimension and physical matter cease to apply.. The only attribute that remains is the gravitational effect of the accumulation. This becomes an incubation holding tank for another universe to be spawned from. Throughout the entire lifetime of our universe, the moment of "Big Bang" in another universe is constantly happening. Time in that universe begins 'when' there is sufficient matter/energy potential to begin expanding space-time. I call this a "Perpendicular Universe"; rising from the ashes of our own, it's time arrow at right angles to our own.

A Vision From The One True God

2010-03-07T09:11:39-07:00

Last night I had a vision. In this vision the One True God spoke to me and revealed His plan. His name is the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) and He is really and truly the one true God. All the others have been man-made constructs and shouldn't be believed in. He felt that since the world's population is quickly approaching nine billion people, that it was time for the record to be set straight. I wondered why FSM appeared as masculine, but then thought about a female FSM and got totally grossed out so I didn't question it further. God told me to spread the word about Him and His Name (FSM) and that all people should reject their current religious beliefs and begin following the teachings of FSM. Those teachings will be in the form of a divinely inspired book which I will soon write that tells the real story of God and Man; how God loves pizza and that when you drink Chianti and thinking about Him, you are actually drinking the blood of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - but only at those moment that you are thinking of Him. The rest of the time, it's just plain wine and you're just plain getting drunk. I asked this God about His curious name, Flying Spaghetti Monster, and he firmly replied that someone on Earth decided to give Him that moniker and it just stuck (sort of how spaghetti sticks to the ceiling when you throw it up to see if it's done). So that's what it is, like it or not. In my next vision from the exalted FSM, He will reveal to me what to write in my book. When the book is completed, it will be on sale for $19.95 from Amazon.com with Kindle and AudioBook formats available soon after.

Waiting for John Frum

2010-01-31T08:32:25-07:00

I am anxiously waiting for the return of John Frum. I've bulldozed an airstrip in a neighboring field. My bamboo air traffic control tower is almost done. I believe it is the most sincerest. I can't wait for Feb 15th. I have faith that this is the year of his return.
BTW - anybody know the exact date of Michael Jackson's return? I need to know.

New Project

2009-10-18T20:13:13-07:00

I've started a new CD project called "The Year"; twelve orchestral sketches for each month of the year. Several of them are done already. February, March, September, October, and December are completed. Which month shall I work on next?

Performances are done

2009-05-23T06:04:42-07:00

Well, the Chemeketa gig has come and gone. The weather was nice, but chilly at first. Not as many people showed up as I had hoped but the core of my department held a table for awhile and provided applause as needed. Everyone liked what I did, except for maybe myself. I must have been getting tired because my oboe playing took a dive for a few seconds near the end. My co-worker, Sage, and my wonderful wife held the video cameras and Cubase faithfully recorded the audio, such as it was. There were mysterious snaps and pops at the beginning that made it onto the audio track.
Now the task is to mix the audio, create a DVD video project and splice in the video tracks from the two cameras and sync them up. Never done that before so it should be an interesting job. Several people have requested copies already. As it is, I'm taking Memorial Day weekend off from music stuff and just relaxing around the house. Maybe I'll go trade my car in for a new one.

The gig is up

2009-05-20T05:18:08-07:00

The Chemeketa gig is tomorrow (Thursday 5/21). Tuesday was, once again, the worst weather of the week. I think I'm ready. Six months of planning. Three months of intense mastering/remixing, practice, and rehearsal - all for a few hour and-a-half gigs. Last Saturday at Relay for Life went pretty good except... they had me start a half hour early because they had a Newlywed Game starting at 10:30. The weather was nice but still chilly at that time of the morning. I played basically to Debbie, the sound guy, a woman sleeping and one other woman that loved the music. I will never say yes to the Polk County chapter of RFL again. I dislike being rushed during setup.

It's May Already

2009-05-12T05:36:23-07:00

I'm glad I pushed back the Chemeketa date a week because today would have been disappointing. It's cold and wet outside. Next week is supposed to be nicer. We're gearing up for the RLF gig this Saturday morning. Getting in all the last-minute practicing on piano, flute, and guitar while my oboe is in the shop getting adjusted. Oh, if only my fingers would move the way I want them to...

The latest snag

2009-04-01T10:00:00-07:00

The latest snag in my project is that my audio drive has failed. This is where all my sequences and all audio files, including master mixes, are saved to. Fortunately, I was prudent enough to make backups of all Cubase files three weeks ago after most edits were complete. A new drive is on its way and I'll be back in production this weekend. In the mean time, I've been practicing along with the backing tracks CD and working on other stuff. The oboe work is coming along, but there is some question whether I'll be up to speed by next month - only six weeks away now.
There is also the fallback position on using the computer to play and record everything live. After experiencing the drive failure just as I began testing the live recording has tempered my enthusiasm. There are so many variables. Ultimately, the music could suffer because of the time dedicated to the technical stuff. My contingency plan is much simpler.

New instrument to learn

2009-03-03T08:25:21-07:00

Well, I've gone and done it now; taking delivery on an old french oboe. It is a beautiful instrument and reminds me of the one my dad played while in the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. I had not ever played an oboe before yesterday, so I have my work cut out for me to integrate this instrument into the 'live' portion of my two-hour set. Wish me luck.

New player for music site

2009-02-09T10:18:00-07:00

Amidst working on some cover tunes for the Relay For Life gig, I managed to squeeze in some time this past weekend to update the player on Pictor Music so you can listen continuously to an entire CD until you press stop.
Why might you want to do this? I don't know. But it's sometimes nice to put on some music and not have to select another song each time. It just plays until you are through listening (for some of my stuff, that could be quite soon). Nevertheless, it's there - why not try it out?

Remixing and Performance Preparation

2009-01-27T13:40:00-07:00

Pictor Music Studio has been busy lately with several projects. The main being getting ready for a 2-hour performance at the American Cancer Society 'Relay for Life' Polk County benefit in mid-May. The set list is beginning to take shape with a mixture of old and new compositions of different styles, plus some appropriate cover tunes to round out the set.

I have also been working on the Grieg Piano Concerto 2nd movement (Adagio) as an exercise as well as a remix of my own 'Tone Poem for Piano and Orchestra'. This piece was written back in 2002 (before I knew what a tone poem was) and performed live with backing tracks at the Chemeketa staff talent show.

The event was elegant and fun, but the video and sound quality were disappointing as I recall.

Oh, by the way, Welcome to my blog!