Author: Dan Steven Erickson

Anti-Blogger

If you’re the creative type, an artist, a musician, a photographer, or even a writer, I wouldn’t recommend starting a blog. Blogging is not a great tool for creative people. I’ve found out the hard way. Now, you might call me an anti-blogger.

Starting an online portfolio, or a showcase, that’s different. In fact, that’s my ultimate intention for this site, but I have a writing problem. There’s always another idea, a new topic, another song, or a poem. But I’m a writer, not a blogger, Jim.

Here’s the problem.

Most creative people are not marketers, business people, or experts at promotion. But that’s what it takes to make a blog successful. In order to make it work, you’ll spend huge amounts of time, (and a good amount of money), developing your blog. Then you’ll lack the time for the true work of a creator: the art itself.

Financially, for 90% of us, blogging is a losing proposition, and it’s only about 5% of all bloggers who make an independent income from their blog. Chances are good that those people have to put in 60-80 hours a week. The four-hour work week is a pipe dream. Get over it.

I started blogging to try to get my writing seen, to sell books, to share my story. I played the game and followed all the so-called rules. I wasted too much time playing that game. After making a few book sales, I’ve only spent money.

Now, I’m only keeping a site as a future investment in promoting myself as a poet, writer, and musician. Other than my creative works, I’m not trying to sell you anything, no ebooks, programs, or courses. You won’t find popups, ads, or fake photos here.

You’ll just find me, the anti-blogger. – dse

Aleatoric Music

About four years ago, I was growing discouraged about composing music. It felt like everything sounded the same. I wanted to make something different. I had an idea. What if I created music by rolling dice? I played around with the idea, but things started getting weird real fast. I didn’t follow through.

After some research, I discovered that rolling dice in musical composition goes back to the classical era. It’s called aleatoric music, alea = dice.

Recently, I’ve been rethinking attempting to create some aleatoric or chance music. There’s no single method or set of rules as to how this kind of music is created.

Some composers rolled the dice for every single musical change, while others only rolled the dice for some of the basic parameters and structure of the composition. You might imagine that composers who rolled the dice for everything wound up with some weird music. Personally, I prefer the idea of only applying chance to certain aspects of a composition.

In the near future, I’ll be working on some Anderhill pieces that include playing with the use of aleatoric composition. For me, it’s an experiment less in making music that is weird and unusual, and more a challenge to create unique music that has set parameters and limitations.

Sometimes, you just have to roll the dice. – dse

Primal

Whether you want to admit it or not, we all have a primal nature. Deep inside of each human being there is a desire to do things that most of us might consider morally disgusting, even evil.

We’ve learned to bury and hide our primal nature deep below the surface of our modern-day persona. I suppose that’s a good thing. Then again, perhaps if we were more able to connect with and understand our inner-animal, we might better know ourselves.

Think about it? Who would you have been if you’d lived thousands of years ago: a conquerer, a war monger, a murderer, a rapist, a thief? Would you have had any knowledge as to the good or evil of your actions? Or would you just do what you needed to do in order to survive?

Whether you think this world is six billion years old or six thousand years old, our predecessors were more primal than we are today. Deep down, it’s part of our nature.

Perhaps, reflection on that primal nature, without literally acting upon it, can help us to understand who we are and where we fit into this current world. And it might just make our creative work a bit stronger in the process. Have you found your inner-animal? – dse

The Big Edit

As I continue to develop this new site, it’s winding up a bit different than my original vision. It’s becoming The Big Edit.

At first, I was certain I would not use this site to post essays and articles, but I’d only post occasional news about my music and writing. That’s not what’s happening. I blame it on the simple fact that I’m a true writer. I can’t not write.

When I read online essays and articles, I can’t help but notice that they are often much too repetitive, or they’re filled with a bunch of unnecessary fluff. I’m done writing in that manner.

In the near future, you’ll read some of my work that was originally posted on my old website. The difference will be simple. Most of the new versions of the articles will be half as long. And guess what? The writing will still communicate the same thoughts and ideas effectively.

So if you’ve actually enjoyed my writing, apparently I’m not done.

This is simply The Big Edit. – dse

My Death

On my old website, I wrote a piece called, If This Thing Should Kill Me, concerning the possibility of my death at the beginning of COVID-19. A year and a half has passed and I’m still alive. Here’s a new, much shorter version of my old piece with some simple instructions of what to do if I should die today.

  1. Cremate me. It’s easier. And why should it matter if I’m already dead?
  2. Put me in a simple box-shaped urn, maybe pine. Perhaps, I’ll have bought one before my time. If not, look it up, they make ‘em.
  3. Put my little box in its place, in the columbarium at Osborne Memorial Cemetery in Joplin, Missouri where my firstborn daughter, Angel Hope, is buried.
  4. Save a few of my ashes. Throw a few in the ocean, a few in the prairie, and a few in some of the other places that I loved. Your choice.
  5. Divvy up my money and stuff based on my living will and last testament.
  6. Have a party if you want. Maybe, play John Lennon’s Imagine, and then a bunch of old raucous and upbeat blues numbers.

That’s it. Pretty simple.

I know people don’t like to talk about death. Tough. I have no problem with death as it’s all part of life’s journey. – dse

We All Must Rise

Released in January, 2019, We All Must Rise is Anderhill’s third EP.

On this recording, I continue to experiment in sampling everyday sounds. The first track, “Washing It All Away,” makes use of a washing machine, the second track, “Deep Cycles,” a dryer. The fourth track samples an old upright piano, creating a glitchy melodic loop. As with words and poetry, trying different combinations of sounds in musical composition is the joy of the creative process.

The EP has a hypnotic quality about it that makes it very meditative. Later, I also compose long-play versions of the first two tracks. – dse