"Mexican Wolf" © 2010 Irina Khirsh 

 

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Musician Isaac Eiland-Hall

I've always enjoyed producing and participating in music: from my childhood, learning to play the piano and the recorder and singing in choirs, through my first stint in college going for a Recording Technology degree, to the present, where I participate in my local community theatre, sometimes running sound, sometimes acting, sometimes singing in musicals and other productions.

In the past couple of years, I have started to try and get serious about producing some musical tracks. I've been off-and-on a user of MIDI since around 1990, although for much of that time, I haven't had sufficient equipment to do anything I thought was worth much. In the past couple of years, though, I finally started playing with FL Studio and virtual synthesizers, which has allowed me to start producing the kind of music I've wanted to for years.

I haven't concentrated on a single style of music, although I tend to like very trance-like repetitive songs. I like to create patterns and variations using multiple instruments, then play around with the interaction of them, making different combinations that keep the song cohesive, but still with enough variety to hold interest. Some might find my music too repetitive, but all I can do is what I like, of course.

I'm not able to produce my music very fast because I have so many projects in play; but at least I'm accomplishing more in my life than I used to! I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 30 years old, in 2005. Prior to that time, my adult life had slowly descended into chaos - I was unable to complete college; I had trouble keeping jobs. Since my diagnosis, my medication and learned techniques have helped me very much - I'm currently back in college, working towards a degree in Computer Science; working a full-time remote internship with the AirFire Team at the Pacific Northwest Research Station, which is a U.S. Forest Service lab in Seattle, Washington.

Additionally, I'm involved in many productions at the Kaleidoscope Theatre, which is a local community theatre - at the moment, I'm designing and will be running sound for the current show that's in rehearsals. I also spend my time repairing computers and managing my servers (I do my own webhosting, and host a few friends and business clients), although this is more of a part-time operation at best.

My music has thus-far been used in a couple of videos made by fellow players of a freeware game called Simutrans - one video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVb1KWRhC8

What do I hope to accomplish with my music? I hope some will find it relaxing, enjoying, invigorating, healing, and hopeful. But ultimately, I simply find it necessary to express my emotions and spirituality with my creations.

In September of 2009, I became accidentally famous - at least, on the internet. It all started on a website, Fark.com, in a thread about Sarah Palin expressing her support for Glenn Beck. Someone made the now-infamous post: "Why haven't we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990?" By the next day, so many people were having fun with this concept, making funny pictures and saying funny things - I felt that it could spread so much wider if there was a website to serve as a hub for the meme, so I registered the domain:

GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com. The site clearly identified that the supposed rumour was bogus - that nobody was trying to actually start any rumours; but that many of us felt Beck used certain tactics that this meme lampooned. Beck filed a domain dispute with WIPO, an international organization set up for precisely that purpose. I obtained the services of Mark Randazza, a brilliant First Amendment lawyer I would recommend to anyone, who wrote fantastically hilarious legal responses. In the first part of November 2009, we won the dispute - winning the right to keep the domain.

To make a long story short, I gave the domain to Beck anyway; but the site is still running at gb1990.com, where a more complete history exists. In case of any remaining doubt: The entire escapade was parody/satire.

What I hope comes from that, however, is something larger. I firmly believe that one of several great forces tearing the United States apart is the various extremist pundits on television and radio, who polarize We The People. We must work together as a nation; make reasonable compromises; but people like Glenn Beck (conservatives and liberals) are tearing us apart, making us only fight each other. I will shortly begin working on a project to point out the fallacies in other talking heads - to try and encourage a more reasonable debate; to encourage compromise and understanding. We can disagree with each other, but we should work together to find compromises that serve the greater good.

One final note about my music: All the music I have done thus far is released to the public domain. This means it can be used in any way, for any purpose, commercial or private, with no restrictions. Since I have done this, I can't stop anyone from using however they please. The reason I do this is that I want my music to be able to go wherever it is needed or wanted, with no worries or restrictions. I do request that anyone who profits from my music consider giving me a fair share, but of course I cannot legally require anything. To clarify: If someone uses my music in a game, movie, advertisement - some for-profit project, then please consider sharing fairly. Other uses, such as sharing my music for listeners to hear (such as this website) - my music is not what is directly generating any revenue, so I do not consider this a case where I would feel any profit-sharing is needed or wanted. I'm glad to have my music being shared.

 

Copyright © 2010 Isaac Eiland-Hall

*Other pages featuring Isaac's Music:

Entrance
Issue 19 Cover Page
Irina Khirsh