Thoughts on AI, On Cloud Hill

The final videos without lyrics to The Dusty Mirror were uploaded yesterday.

I took a look at some AI video tools and I suddenly felt that doing anything at all with AI would be toxic, as toxic as an association with Jeffrey Epstein or Jimmy Savile or Gary Glitter, or anything else in the sphere of the 'cancelled'. AI has elements of a drug. Song generation AI has huge appeal to those who have no musical ability, and video generation AI has appeal to those with no video capability, but perhaps one day those who use it will gain ability, and on that day they'll declare 'But guys! I can do it myself now!' but it will be too late. The 'fans' who prefer AI wouldn't want the 'real creations' and those who disliked them would not touch someone tainted by AI. The toxicity will always be there, it's like a drug in this respect, a stigma, not with respect to addiction.

I became an artist partly as a rebellion against my computer background, to avoid the digital and its falseness, fake-ness and rigidity. I've not, to date, used AI (in music, video, chat or anything else, though yes, I'd happily take credit for my 2014 album by Oldfield 1 Art By Machine as being an 'AI creation', composed using random means and a program of my own design; but this is not what most people consider AI today, that is ChatGPT-style generative AI). As AI becomes popular I'm increasingly interested in that which is not-AI, the hand made, the ersatz, and human. This is a sort of digital 'arts and crafts' movement, the arts movement from the late 19th century which emerged as a reaction to the industrial revolution. A key part of my philosophy as an artist is to do what others don't, or won't, or can't.

Art is about expressing yourself, our human selves. AI can help, but tools of any sort can get in the way of this expression. 2025 AI is more than a tool, it's more like a collaborator, and there's a difference between what we as artists want and what a (more able) collaborator suggests and we later accept. In 20th century music such things happened often, when a young star was guided (or misguided) by record companies, producers, peers, to create their sort of sound. Those artists ended up lost, rejected, dumped. I remember the Milli Vanilli controversy, where the artist didn't sing on their track, or the similar reaction to The Monkees, when accused of not playing their instruments. The taint of AI to artist will, I suspect, be the same.

This commentary already feels old. AI will rapidly change, and perhaps become a brilliant and able collaborator, but like collaborating with any genius artist, the art he/she/it makes will be his/hers/its own. If Mozart were a slave to the exact requirements ('prompts') of his patron, would Mozart or the patron be the artist? Artists have faced this exact problem for centuries, and the artists who have proven to be the best are those who damn their patrons and do as they will.

Today is the day of the winter solstice, and we've determined to visit some ancient standing stones, The Bridestones. These stones as a monument, once tomb, are over 4000 years old, though achingly sadly wrecked in the 19th century. They sit on Cloud Hill, Congleton, and I wrote this poem for the occasion which I'll read there today.

On Cloud Hill

On Cloud Hill to the sky I reach
With eyes of glassy youth and bright
I sigh for that which bones can't teach
For broken here these bones alight

We here at winter's lowest stroke
Make prayers with fleeting voice and tone
These gods are dead, yet speak their joke
From corpses of eternal stone

The season's arc is sliced in amber
Afire for souls of shiv'ring awe
The copper on this skin of sand
Will reach this mark ten thousand more

These things will look up, cold and still
Long after we turn cloud to hill

Videos Part 2, First BBC Radio Play, Snowflake Premiere

Another full day of video conversion, recompiling all of my Violet Night and Dusty Mirror videos and removing the subtitle layer. The Violet Night ones were completed by the afternoon; Dusty is half complete. This requires a lot of tedious and exacting text work, and lots of waiting around for the computer to convert.

In between I've listened to Freddie Mercury's My Bad Guy, a great album, at least half of it is brilliant, and half not so. I love that he dedicated it to his cat, something I've done with some of my music!

I forgot to mention that I've had a royalty for my first ever play on BBC Radio. BBC Radio 6 played 'Pandora' from Bites Of Greatness at some point last year, but I've only just noticed. I've no idea in what context. Of course now, I consider my vocal music my best, even if my voice is still growing month by month. Everything recorded so far sounds inferior to anything I could do today. I've come a long way, but I have a long way yet to go in this regard. My many remasters are important for this reason. The 2026 Modern Game remaster is twice as good as the last version, and that was merely 2022.

Tonight is the premiere of the new video to 'Will You Be My Snowflake?'. I'll online on my YouTube Music Channel for it at 7pm.

Videos Without Subtitles Part 1

A frustrating day in many ways, but I managed to set up most of a new game bundle, and re-compiled updated all of the Tree Of Keys and The Modern Game videos for YouTube, adding with subtitle and without subtitle versions. Ultimately, each version has merits, so adding both allows the user to choose. I have to do this for Another Violet Night and The Dusty Mirror.

Congleton Live, Lyric Videos

A nice performance day at the day centre in Congleton. Mike kindly suggested we perform two of my songs, 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' and 'Christmas Smells'. He really likes Snowflake and keeps pushing me to send it to influential people, but who and where?

At home, exhausted from lack of sleep if nothing else, I completed and uploaded the new Snowflake videos. I've decided to create two versions of each video for the first time; one with subtitles ('Official Video With Lyrics'), and one without ('Official Video'). For me, seeing the lyrics always enhances a video, and my lyric subtitles appear before the line is sung as a forewarning, then jump into place at the right moment, which is really useful if singing along.

Music videos on television, however, never have visible subtitles, these are optional via the television's system, so if I ever want my videos to appear with classical pop from the 20th century (yes! I've described 20th century chart music as classical - it truly is a world away from today's music), I'll need two versions; one with and one without subtitles.

I also have some videos described as an 'Official Lyric Video', such as Christmas Smells. This is used for simple animated videos where the words are the most important element, but even here I suppose I could keep the version without words as a sort of looping animation, something better than a still image of the album cover, which is the default for YouTube. I'll think about this.

All of this all opens up a possibility of remaking older videos for a second time and relisting those, which is lots of time consuming and tedious administration work. I've already made a start by renaming the current videos to match the new name convention. Most of my videos don't have lyrics, and about half are for instrumental tracks, so that's something. The albums which do have subtitles are the newest ones: Another Violet Night, The Modern Game, Tree Of Keys, The Dusty Mirror, and their singles.

Snowflake Videos, Oats, AVN Music Pack

A full power day. Started by working on the 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' video. I experimented with adding a soft-focus glow to the scenes, and changing the size a little, but after an hour or so, it didn't look particularly better, so I reverted to the old version.

Then, something of a panic moment when I realised I was out of Mornflake Oats! I dashed out in a vain attempt to find some locally, then came back, and decided to film the vocal parts for the 'Candy Cane' video first. I quickly did this, completed the basic editing of those clips, then galloped the 1.3 miles to Morrisons to grab a few kilos of oats. I managed there and back in 40 mins.

My father wanted a stamp album ordering, and my mother a calendar, so I did both. Much of the day so far had been distractions.

Then, editing together the 'Candy Cane' video, and compiling the rest. There were several little changes, so I made these, and added some phone rings to 'Candy Cane' and a slightly different sequence for the 'on phone' part of the song.

Then, a short break to prepare for tomorrow's performance at the adult day centre in Congleton. The words and chords to 'Christmas Smells' was created and printed, and the equipment packed and Christmas outfit prepared.

Finally, created the Spotify Canvas edits of these videos, and uploaded them ready for Friday's single release.

In the evening, the new Another Violet Night Music Pack for Flatspace was confirmed, so I set that live and made an announcement on social media. Lots done, but there always seems to be so much more to do. I haven't sent Christmas cards yet, and feel behind in many areas. Still, a full day like this feels satisfying.

Onwards we push.

Birthday, Will You Be My Snowflake Video

A busy birthday yesterday, always made special by Deborah and her attention to and celebration of all special occasions. Before her, birthdays and Christmas Days were ordinary days, perhaps with the annoying closure of shops. We went for a quiet wander to the Dagfields antique centre. It's very cluttered. Much of the items I'd leave there even if everything were free.

One thing I did buy was a CD, Revenge by Eurythmics, an original 1986 version. I also ordered a 1985 original Mr Bad Guy, and was gifted A Kind Of Magic by Queen, which I'd been thinking of getting for years. I have all of Queen's albums up to The Game, but none beyond that. I preferred the classic rock albums.

In the evening we watched 'Blood Tea and Red String', a visually arresting animation with a similar look to 'Bagpuss' or other Smallfilms animations.

Have spent today working on the 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' video, with perhaps a memory of 'The Clangers' and yesterday's film inspiring me. I simply set up Snowy in a few interesting posed and make him jump to the music, with a few simple scene changes for different song sections. It works surprisingly well.

All three videos are now complete in draft, but there's probably more polish I can add.

Another Violet Night Music Pack, Snowflake Videos

Started the day by finalising the Flatspace Another Violet Night Music Pack, then work on the three 'Snowflake' videos. 'You're My Candy Cane' and 'Heaven's Day' are largely done, though my original plan calls for some video on Candy Cane. 'Heaven's Day' is surprisingly evocative despite being little more than fog and camera movements. I originally added some images but they tended to spoil the mental imagery of the song; of course they'd never match that. I've made a quick start on Snowflake, a new intro, but am still musing on the best way to do it.

My mouth aches aches, and I feel tired tired. Tired and weary, but I must do my best each day. I sang well yesterday and managed by 52 sit-ups today. I keep feeling like Logan in the film, healing more slowly with each passing day, month, year. Harder and harder to maintain and grow. Heal I must. Grow I must. Onwards we roll our heavy rock.

Making Snowy

Spent much of today creating this fellow for the forthcoming video for 'Will You Be My Snowflake?'. I had a plan for a much simpler digital video, but the idea of a snowman came to be a seemed to be ideal.

My original idea was to photograph the different parts; body, head, hat, and background, and animate each separately in Argus. This worked, but looked rather digital and artificial, slightly less cute, not helped by the dark outer edges.

It has the advantage, however, of gliding and dancing exactly to the music, but only with this viewpoint, I'd have to rephotograph each part for different parts of the song. I'm thinking that a series of full scene photos may work better, like the old 'Jarre's Party' video. While musing on this I finalised the music for a new Flatspace Music Pack, for Another Violet Night

In the evening I sang to Queen songs, and managed the notes of songs like 'Breakthrough' and 'The Show Must Go On'. I can imagine doing this often and growing stronger, but growing stronger seems to be much harder, to take longer and be much harder to maintain, after 50. Yet, this is possible.

Winter Party, Good Vibes

The Winter Party event went brilliantly, everyone's performance on par or better than the album.

There were a few technical problems, and two acts arrived after the show had started, partly due to the terrible parking for Crewe Library, and partly due to the storm. The show overran in time, but that couldn't really be avoided, as discipline on timing was pretty tight, and the 'second half' (which was in practice only 25 minutes or so) for poetry readings certainly boosted audience numbers. We lacked a group photo too, partly because the brilliant photographer Peter Robinson (PDR Photography) had another assignment so had to leave early, but perhaps primarily because I forgot to stage such as scene.

Here's one of Peter's photos, with Nastee Chapel in the foreground waving fans made from 1920s Reichsmarks while Deb read 'Velvet Gelt' as we performed as Fall in Green.

Still, overall it was an excellent afternoon, and we sold one CD and raised £94.50 in donations, making the total raised £101.77.

Then on Wednesday, a Christmas Good Vibrations in Congleton. Great choices of songs by Mike, from 'Deck The Halls' to Shakin' Stevens' 'Merry Christmas Everyone', from 'Rocking Around The Christmas Tree', to 'Jingle Bells', and a reading by Deborah from 'A Christmas Carol'.

I've spent today in recovery from the busyness. Have entered the Nantwich Open, and framed my Zelenskyy portrait for it. Filed the events of the past two days, including updating my website, and prepared the words for 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' for a singalong next Wednesday. It begins in high-E so may need to be lowered a few keys for the average casual singer. Plus, an important visit to the dentist for a clean and some excellent guidance.

I still need to finalise Christmas gifts... and complete the Another Violet Night Flatspace Pack; my next goal for December.

Unhappiness, Problems, Solutions

Unhappiness is caused by problems. Problems have solutions which can be calculated and solved, step by step. If resources are required, then these can be obtained step by step. Every problem has a solution. This can be achieved by identifying the problem, identifying the solution, identifying the steps required.

Library Preparation

Spent much of yesterday preparing for today's performance in the library. Mike Drew mentioned he'd like to perform 'Father Christmas' by the Kinks, a great song but full of really quick chord changes. Those are much easier to play as a riff, but the timing is complicated if we are to duplicate The Kinks' version because there are odd pauses of a beat or two here and there (or here but not there). Some parts are in 6/8 and the song has a very punk feeling that make it sound on the edge of collapse at any moment.

Secondly, Mike's playing it in A rather than C, with a capo, so I had to transpose his chord sheet for my keyboard. This is not too bad, my 'Snowflake' is in A too. I so rarely play in A, so it's something I need to do more of, but there are a few errors/anomalies in his printed version vs the Kinks version too... (like a missing chorus) this, plus a complex song and 24-hours solitary practice is going to make it all a bit musically dangerous. I've plunged in, and created a new sound for it which has a double-glockenspiel low down and a rock organ with a bit of distortion for the main part. This sounds great... I just fear chaos, that our chords as a small ensemble won't match each other.

I have had the rare opportunity to sing, to warm up this morning, and... disaster! My voice is so rusty and tight and weak, after only a week or two without singing. I've been singing warm ups for an hour and can barely scrape along. It's fortunate that 'Snoflake' is my only song today. I feel I need days or weeks to get back to where I was. In piano playing or painting, I can usually pause for a few weeks or months, and when I come back I seem to be magically better than before (this phenomenon is stalling in piano playing; time is cruel). This is not at all the case with singing. I need to sing often, every day or two days, yet my exercise and practice space is limited. I must try to find a solution.

John Miller has offered use of his mixer, and I prefer this. He's a great mixing engineer (as is Mike Aitchison) and it's a job I dislike. My personality is one of doing everything, but I'm learning to delegate.

A new outfit is ready, I will at least look the part. I need more headgear, perhaps the Santa Hat will work. This minor detail aside, all is now ready for the show.

RSPCA Stapeley Grange Christmas Fair

Attending the Christmas Fair at RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre to promote the Christmas Tails album. Several of the album artist came along; John Lindley and Jane Harland, Mike Drew, John Miller, and Nastee Chapel. Sold 2 CD copies and shared the word to a few more people. Rainy and cold, but festive and friendly. Had time to visit the cats in the rehoming centre.

Next event, the performance in Crewe Library at 2pm on Tuesday.

Christmas Tree Day

The 6th of December, what has become our annual Christmas tree day. Since I met Deborah, she has, we have, bought a real tree each year, always on December the 6th, the established day of decoration and wrapping. Each tree is named, and this year's is named 'Hestia', inspired by Deb's poem 'From Eye to Hand to Paper', which was in turn inspired by the bonfire owl painting by Charles Tunnicliffe in the Ladybird book about autumn. Until that dreamed-of day when we can afford to live together, Deb must decorate today while I await to see the results.

I've prepared for tomorrow's Christmas Fair fund-raising event at Stapeley Grange. I've burned three CDs for sale, and will display the completed cover artwork. If I had use of the Crewe community gallery I could auction this artwork there, perhaps. I also realised that the old 'songlink' links to my albums are now all dead - annoying! So I spent over an hour making new 'smart link' pages to all of my (and Fall in Green's, and Oldfield 1's) albums and singles.

After that, I made basic lyric video outlines for the three Will You Be My Snowflake? tracks, for that single release. This will be my first single with three tracks. I didn't want to clash or take away any shine from the Christmas Tails release so the single will come out in the middle of the month without fanfare. Then again, all of my music is released without fanfare or any promotion whatsoever. Promotion of my work is something I've always feared and hated, perhaps due to my parents overwhelmingly negative reaction to everything I've ever made.

The day has flown, but I've done my best with it. Onwards through time we stride.

The Modern Game Complete, Winter Party Rehearsals

Woke late and converted and scheduled The Modern Game videos yesterday. NASA samples in the music stop the album from being released on some platforms, as the content can't be 100% exclusive. Of course, no music with NASA samples can be. This seems like a shortcoming in the licencing system, a lack of up to date regulations; 99.99% of my content is new and exclusive, but for the sake of 0.01% of overtly free-to-use samples I can't claim, for example, usage on YouTube for my content. All of the basic work on the album is now complete and ready for release.

Today, started the 'Snowflake' videos and rehearsed for Tuesday's 'Winter Party' performance before a sojourn in the rain with my beloved Deborah around Christmas shops. I need to charge on with new things but feel overwhelmed with possible remasters, tidying old works. Working on The Myth Of Sisyphus was planned for 2025, but I've worked on so many other albums instead. One thing that work on The Modern Game has taught me is how much I've improved in singing and production since 2022.

Christmas Tails in is the local newspaper again, we've had a huge amount of coverage. I feel I need to perform more, to exhibit more, to do more. I hope that I can do more next year. I hope I can find a break, a chance, a place, an opportunity. I'm always hesitant, if not afraid, to pursue anything or anyone.

Onwards I push through the heavy air of life. Onwards to our destiny we step.

The Ropes of Art, The Modern Game 4 Complete

A long sleep of many dreams and such languid laziness interrupted by spurts of waking. I became sad and worried about the toothache which has been with me for about two weeks, knowing I have no NHS dentist.

I listened to a moving and inspiring radio programme about Lancashire artist Michael Ashcroft. It made me somewhat melancholy and feeling like a failure as an artist, yet I was being romantic. I've had ups and downs, won prizes and now have work in two museums, counting the music from the Salomé project. I've never managed to find an art gallery interested in selling my work, and rarely sell a painting; yet I am able to continue to live and work as I do. I regularly exhibit, passing the jury in open competitions; have received the occasional commendation and exhibited in a few venues of prestige, though I usually feel that my best work is not selected and that the most mainstream and pretty works are favoured over the powerful paintings I feel convey something new and arresting.

Yet, I keep trying without compromise. My many artworks vary hugely in style and depth. The 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' song is a world away from the painting 'The Angels Musing Over All That Is Left Of Rachel Hudson', yet I try to make both the best they can be in their fields. Artists can only make what our passions instruct, and we can only pursue those passions and interests, whether good or bad. We grip the rope and must hold on until the journey ends, whether it pulls us under the waves or to heaven.

After such musing I started work on the list of the day, and today's rope pulled my limbs a little upwards.

I sang new vocals for 'All The Broken Flowers', and these were instantly better than the 2018 vocals. I mixed them and the album was complete. The rest of the day has been spent working on the huge job of preparing the album for release; breaking up the tracks, submitting the music for distribution, listing on Bandcamp, burning archive CD copies, compiling the final videos, archiving the Argus and Prometheus files, registering the music with some of the many different music authorities, and lots of other paperwork, half of which is still pending.

I have a sore throat and upper chest. Deb is ill with a cold and I probably have the same virus.

I started The Modern Game remaster on Nov 3rd, and now it's complete. I'm pleased with it, and pleased to complete it. Once done, I can work a bit on the Will You Be My Snowflake? videos, and prepare for next week's live events.

So many ropes pull me in different ways... which will win?

Modern Game Videos Complete, Sheet Music Updates

Another full day. Completed compiling all of The Modern Game videos. I made a small change to the mix of 'Looking For A Lover'. Here's a video still:

All audio and videos are now complete apart from 'All The Broken Flowers'. This uses my original vocals, which are emotional even if out of tune. They may suffice, but it's horrible to be in a situation of 'I can to better' with anything an artist makes. Sometimes this must happen due to time or budget constraints. Ken Scott often mentioned his dissatisfaction with the claps in 'Life on Mars?'.

I was unable to record new vocals today so I charged into updating my sheet music listings on my itch channel. I've distributed this in a variety of ways, but now have some that is free (generally at least one version of each track) with sold versions for a small fee on itch.io, with more complex parts. The majority is free. Much of the older albums didn't have this arrangement (I have 25 albums worth listed), so today I updated it all.

So much more to do this month. Of immediate concern after The Modern Game; three videos for the Will You Be My Snowflake? single release, rehearsals for the 4 tunes I'm performing next Tuesday, and the social work of Christmas gifts and cards.

Backup Day, Modern Game Video Work

Much of yesterday was spent on videos for The Modern Game, including a new video for 'Looking for a Lover', and improvements to most of the others. I found a bug in Argus, so fixed that too. When I find any bug in my software I won't rest until it's understood and fixed.

A super busy day today. Started with monthly backups, and other routine jobs which apply on the first day of each month. There were a few Christmas Tails sales to process.

Then charging into work on the video for 'The Trees'. Most of the videos for The Modern Game 4 are relatively simple placeholders with lyrics, but in several videos there are elements which play along to the music or make dramatic changes to follow the musical drama. 'The Trees' begins as a sort of drift through mist, a bit like the video to 'Ultramarine'. It then swirls dramatically when the musical drama hits. I also added a per-note ring for the piano notes. This is a common motif throughout this album.

At 13:30 I dashed out for a few hours of shopping, which included buying a new frame for the painting I want to enter into the Nantwich Museum Open this month; then back to work on the videos. I rendered the full videos for all tracks. This takes a lot of processing, though oddly, rendering and saving in Argus takes less time than the video creation and compression using FFMpeg. Then, I made up a few test videos, and prepared the FFMpeg scripts and YouTube text.

So, a first draft of all of the videos is now complete, including the 'Masculinity Two' single version and its B-Side.

There may be slight changes needed, but I haven't much time to tweak or change much. I remember taking weeks to make one music video, now I make 8 per day; but of course these animations are very simple. Content always takes time, and I focus my time on one or two showcase tracks and videos.

In contrast to a few days ago I find myself filled with enthusiasm and positive energy. I reminded myself that if we can't change something, we can always change our attitudes towards it. Swarms of ideas ran to my electric brain in the night, and I submitted my proposal for a regular art performance at Platform. I also proposed a Digital Cultural Archive, something I've already proposed to Nantwich Museum. I think that such an archive is really important for culture at the moment. So much cultural content is digital now, but so much of it insecure and easily lost due to the highly ephemeral nature of the internet.

I have many other ideas too... these can perhaps wait.

Onwards we charge.