Tom Dempster

Completed a wind ensemble piece earlier in the year and got it performed twice. Trying to find new homes for it.

Have a ton of pieces I need to finish it get engraved. But I find myself sitting on my ass after writing four pieces in a little over a week...

I continue to exist despite my moral objections.

Finishing up a two-week artist residency in Nebraska where I've finished drafts of four pieces - two choir works, a piece for oboe and horn, and a piece for viola and bassoon.

Thousands, probably.

At least the damage to my lungs gets less visible with each Xray I get.

Not so precise with my count, but 13+ years over here.

Memes are the cleanser

In other news, I get to play Mahler 7 for the first time in a few months. No hammers or boxes or funeral marches. Actually, not familiar with M7 pretty much at all. Whenever I have two hours to spare...

Stepped away from this for a minute. Hellsite Prime ate up more of my time and space.

Hate being stuck on three measures of music that seems to get shittier with each subsequent attempt at amelioration.

Maybe I need to make it four measures of dogass instead of three. That'll do it!

Plz share said recipes for when we all must make sweet berry wine in caves up past Gilbert because the Baptist Taliban replaced it all with watery sugar-free Welch's

Month later and it's almost there. Closer to 7 minutes or so.

Instrumentation is Picc, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet 1-3, Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn 1-3, Trumpet 1-4, Trombone 1-2, Euphonium, Tuba, 4 percussion + timpani. Minimum of 28 performers.

Any luck, I should have it done in 2-3 weeks. Need to carve out a few days to fully carve it out.

"Asterism" (working title for the one I'm *trying* to write) will be about 6 minutes long, have some aleatoric features and some coloristic writing, but will probably still land in the Grade 3 / Grade 4-ish category.

In the process of writing one wind ensemble piece, I think I have subject matter / sketches for probably two more. Tempting, but I need to finish this particular project first.

A cockroach with bright red on the wings,a golden pronotum and head, and long antennae. It is standing on a leaf.

Here is a cockroach that is much better looking and more useful* than the current occupant of the White House.

*Almost all cockroach species are omnivorous critters that break down debris in the environment. They don't invade homes or bother people.

(Anaplecta sp.) Tatama National Park, Colombia

Kurt Vile truly did take all the minor triads with him when he split from War On Drugs and went solo.

After a foot last week and a dusting this morning, I'm happy that my stupid governor hasn't somehow outlawed snow in Arkansas. Everything else is illegal, practically.

Just spoke with former Officer Mike Fanone about the Biden pardon that covers him and other officers who testified before the Jan. 6 committee.

“This is a different kind of American exceptionalism. It’s exceptionally fucked up.”

Memifying the discontent

And again, we know to expect it. It's not a bug - it's how this regime operates.

Keep your eyes on the doughnut, not the hole, and all that.

I will live my life such that I ensure others can enjoy their life as much as I can and my voice will be even louder this time.

Forward.

Political capital will be wasted on what sorry tax policy to enact, and milquetoast Republican Senators and House members (2-seat majority) will balk at eliminating SALT and other credits because they're affected as well.

The hate and pain still be only matched but the bumbling and infighting.

At least, in this scenario I do.

They can't just cancel elections or stop the process. Not without lots of fight from local and state levels.

Tons of purple seat Congressional districts and vulnerable Senators in '26.

Political capital will be wasted on these stupid EOs and renaming landmarks.

And even though the people around him feel no sense of accountability and can just pretend that no one is going to tell them "no," never discount the thousands of law degree holders in DC who don't want to see their life's work shat upon so blithely. I don't trust guardrails - I trust egos with JDs.

There's already intraparty, intraoffice bickering as exhibited by the hasty departure of one tech bro. Lawsuits are already being filled and constructed.

Executive Orders cannot undo a Constitutional Amendment or 140 years of caselaw.

Action, not shock and disbelief, is what we need, and if we haven't already, we need to get ahead of everything he said he wants to do and see done. That's how we stay sane and head off as much of the lunacy and hate as we can.

It absolutely doesn't make any of this better. However, we all know exactly how he will operate, how he thinks, what kind of idiots he'll surround himself with, and what kind of batshittery he has already unleashed and will unleash further. (And you already know who "he" is.)

let’s not forget: Trump started this TikTok ban thing

Misleading hed.

Agreeing our political system is “broken” (87%), our economic system
unfairly favors the wealthy” (68%), “immigrants strengthen the country” (56%) but would deport undocumenteds who are crooks (87%), and that Trump shouldn’t prosecute critics (73%) ≠ “support for Trump’s policies.”

A cup full of bassoon reeds soaking

Getting reacquainted with the crew. Been a month since I've played -- and a month since I broke a rib and pulled some intercostals. Taught a saxophone lesson last week and it wasn't terrible, but considering I have a gig this weekend, I need to make sure I don't suffer on more fronts...

A very sleepy cat sleeping on a lap.

**IMPORTANT**