Category: Miscellaneous

Random sh*t we don’t know where else to put

A Week in San Francisco

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date September 5, 2025

A street in San Francisco. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.

I went to San Francisco this Summer. We were there for a week and spent most of our time at Fisherman’s Wharf, but we did explore other areas too.

Friday

We arrived at night, late, and made our way to a Victorian Queen Anne style Airbnb apartment with two cats, Charlotte and Hazel. We hadn’t eaten yet and were extremely exhausted. We didn’t get to bed until 3 or 4 a.m. Pacific Time.

Saturday

We allowed ourselves to sleep in, but ended up waking up around 8 a.m. Me and a couple members of my party decided to mosey down to one of the coffeeshops nearby for some breakfast and coffee. We found one called CoffeeShop about a block away from our apartment. Most of us got coffee or tea of some sort and we got four pastries to take home and share. We got a ham and cheese croissant, a charcoal salmon and cream cheese croissant, a pan au chocolate, and an amaretto apricot cruffin (croissant muffin). My personal favorites were the salmon croissant and the cruffin, both of which we would order again later in the week.

Tags dj dragonfly, San Francisco, WKNC

Miscellaneous

eXperimental pOp

Post author By esdallma
Post date August 25, 2025

Good Bad Happy Sad and found sound

The band Good Bad Happy Sad resembles a trance trip state in which sound merges behind found and curated, meshing conversations and tunes and timelines pulling on simultaneous explorations of different genre associated sounds.

Tags experimental sound, found sound, sound environments

Miscellaneous

Music’s Limitless Potential

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date August 17, 2025

Music production soundboard. Licensed CC0 1.0 Universal

Seriously, how cool is music?

There is so much history, variety and potential that it’s almost impossible to be familiar with everything about it.

Growing up, I honestly didn’t know that there was such a thing as new music. I grew up listening to the various eclectic collections of my family members and had no comprehension of the fact that people were making new music every single day. I thought Mozart, Alla Pugacheva and nursery rhymes were the cream of the crop.

I think I was in second grade when I realized that my friends were listening to and singing songs I have never heard before and finally realized that there was so much more to this hidden world.

Now as an adult, I love everything about music. I love that you can pick something for literally any mood. I love the variety that different cultures have to offer. I love seeing how music has evolved over time.

Tags covers, dj dragonfly, WKNC

Miscellaneous

Understanding Martin Beck

Post author By esdallma
Post date August 12, 2025

“… for hours, days, or weeks at a time”

sedative sounds

Martin Beck’s exhibit at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum reinvigorates an old story and pokes at sound as a medium we move through and with, often without recognition.

Informed by the “environments” records in the 1970s, which aided in synchronizing work, sleep and relaxation, Beck works to understand our industrialized soundscape as it relates to neuroscience, behavior, our internal worlds, and of course: capitalism.

His title ‘for hours, days, or weeks at a time’ is reminiscent of the infinite lull, hum, and buzz we find ourselves engrossed in a hyper produced world, whether self-selected or accidental background noise.

The exhibition uses sound, drawing, video and installation to curate a lively yet sterile environment, controlling the chaos we find ourselves drenched in our day to day worlds.

Tags attention, audio art, cultural critique, environmental justice, industrialization, martin beck, noise pollution, soundscapes, touching grass

Miscellaneous

Musician’s Block

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date August 10, 2025

Discarded ideas on balled up notebook paper. Image by Steve Johnson, licensed CC0.

You’ve hit a wall. Nothing feels right. You lost motivation.

That’s okay.

Writer’s block is a very common occurrence for creators of any kind of art or media. There’s no reason to get discouraged. This happens to everyone.

The real question is what does one do to fix it. Everyone gets burnt out at some point. All you have to do really is reignite the spark. A little can go a long way. Maybe you need to take a small break and come back with a fresh mind. Alternatively, you can push through and keep pushing until you break through.

Take a Break

I think both methods have their pros and cons. One the hand of the former, a small break could lead to a longer hiatus. Maybe that’s what needs to be done. Sometimes we aren’t in the right field and need a change of pace. I know that I’m not very good at knowing when something has run its course but sometimes we are trying to force a puzzle piece into the wrong place.

However, I do believe in coming back with fresh eyes and a fresh mind. Taking a small break for a breath of fresh air and some rest, maybe even a change of perspective, can be the difference between a frustrating and painful experience and a pleasant and challenging one.

Tags Composition, dj dragonfly, WKNC, writer's block

Miscellaneous

Fatigue and Music

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date August 6, 2025

"Tired" (1908) by Mina Arndt. Licensed PDM 1.0 Universal.

Ever wake up after a solid eight hours of sleep, have your coffee or breakfast, start being productive and still can’t shake the feeling of exhaustion?

There’s probably a reason you feel fatigued all the time. Maybe there’s something bothering you. Perhaps you’re not taking good care of yourself and need to take a walk or a bath, something to refresh you. It’s not always clear what causes fatigue and brain fog but I find that music can help me sometimes.

Being in a funk and always tired can really feel disheartening. There are a lot of things out of our control and we often can’t change the things that bother us. I know that I go through phases of pretty bad fatigue. I wake up after eight hours feeling like I need more sleep. If I do roll over and get a couple more hours, I feel like a boiled fish. Coffee sometimes helps as well as getting a mini workout in.

Tags dj dragonfly, emotions, fatigue, mental health, WKNC

Miscellaneous

GalaxyCon 2025 Review

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date August 1, 2025

Four young men dressed as Hank, Bill, Dale and Boomhauer from "King of the Hill." Image provided by Simon Midgette.

For the second time ever, I attended GalaxyCon at the Convention Center in Raleigh.

The first time I went was last year and I attended Friday and Saturday. I dressed up as a Sith Lord original character from the Star Wars universe. My party members were dressed as Johnny Silverhand from “Cyberpunk”, Ace from “One Piece”, Mihawk from “One Piece” and lastly a group of four dressed as Hank, Bill, Dale and Boomhauer from “King of the Hill.”

This year, fewer of us dressed up but Johnny Silverhand made another appearance. A version of Hatsune Miku and Big Boss from “Metal Gear” were there as well as Granmamare and Fujimoto from “Ponyo.” We also only went on Friday this year.

There were many big name artists and celebrities at the convention this year. Some of my favorites to see even from a distance were William Shatner, Sean Gunn, Gates McFadden, Jackson Rathbone, Brent Spiner, Scott Patterson, and so on. I never got the timing right to see a couple of the celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis or Barry Bostwick. I was also really disappointed to see that Grant Gustin dropped out of appearing, at least on Friday.

I even got a fleeting chance to speak with Gates McFadden. She was walking away from her booth and I didn’t want to disturb her but someone from my party flagged her down for me and she was lovely.

Tags dj dragonfly, GalaxyCon, local, Raleigh, WKNC

Miscellaneous

AI in Music

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date July 22, 2025

Robot playing the trumpet. Image by Marufish, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic.

** Image license **

AI: one of the biggest taboos in the creative world today.

Whether it is between friends or an ice breaker question from one of my music professors, there is always a question of how we feel about using AI for our music.

I think that my opinion is very simple. I do not believe in plagiarizing art even if who you are plagiarizing from isn’t a person. I do not believe that it is okay for me to ask AI to write me a song with lyrics and melody and everything else and slap my name on it.

That being said, I do believe that AI is a tool that can be used in the process of making music. Maybe you find yourself in a rut and have no ideas for lyrics. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to use AI to help you brainstorm.

Tags AI, dj dragonfly, WKNC

Miscellaneous

I went to Ocracoke Island

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date July 17, 2025

Sand dunes of Ocracoke Island, NC. Image licensed PDM 1.0 Universal.

Ocracoke Island – the death place of the one and only Captain Blackbeard.

I had the privilege of spending the 4th of July week in Ocracoke Island, NC. There, I got to enjoy the beach, local artisanal shops, tourist trap shops, some of the local restaurants, and even the holiday parade.

Tags dj dragonfly, July 4th, Ocracoke Island, vacation, WKNC

Miscellaneous

This Too Shall Pass

Post author By dj dragonfly
Post date June 26, 2025

Raven, a common depiction of bad luck. Image by rawpixel.com, licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.

Having a hard time? Finding no joy in your favorite things anymore? Feel like things just keep getting worse and worse? If you feel like any of these things is accurate, you should know that it’s okay. Sometimes, everything goes wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it. I know it isn’t always a comfort but these things happen sometimes.

If any of my readers are anything like me, then good and bad things usually happen in big clumps. I can have weeks or even months of almost nothing bad happening and suddenly a storm of bad luck rains down on me. Likewise the other way; sometimes I just have consistently bad luck and suddenly the sun comes out and I have a slew of good things coming my way.

Tags dj dragonfly, mental health, WKNC