christian crumlish doing stuff
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So much for the preliminaries
Got back down to Goody Sound Studio today and we wrapped up the preliminary mixes on all twelve songs for my record! Today we tuned up “Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music” and David Gans added some ethereal backing vocals. This track also has David on guitar, Robert Wade on bass, Javier Navarrette on congas…
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Lessons for wolves
Heading up to Oakland today to work at Goody Sound Studio on one final preliminary mix, in this case for “Giving Zoo Wolves Lessons in Music.” After that it’s time to plan the listening party so we can make final decisions about the mixes and the sequence. It’s been a while since I did a…
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Hope springs eternal
I try not to amplify rumors even while lately most rumors I’ve been hearing have either come true or turned out worse than rumored. Especially now I don’t want to spread stories that may not be true or might actually be in flux right now. So I’m glad I didn’t report that people at TTS…
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We have to stick together
It’s Monday and I’m still drawing a paycheck but I’m on “administrative leave.” Still the muscle memory is strong and a bunch us held a standup to coordinate some immediate mutual aid and response activities. Later in the day the incumbent leadership team from 18F also connected to regroup, check in on each other, and…
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1800 force ghosts
So they fired us all at once and we’re still here. They have no idea what they’ve unleashed.
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And one day the axe just fell
The news is already out. 18F, targeted for deletion weeks ago by Prime Minister Musk, was laid off (“RIFfed” in the parlance) last night at 12:01 am ET. Sometime today they managed to pull the plug on 18F.gov but keep your eyes on 18F.org, where so far we have published a joint statement (included below),…
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The waiting
Rumors fly. Those who know are not allowed to tell. Encouraging court cases proceed toward an uncertain terminus. Some days are quiet now. A little too quiet. Hypervigilance and anxiety reign. Scenes and schemes and artifacts from work invade our dreams. We hold hands, waiting for the meteor to hit.
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What to expect when you’re expecting
Some interesting facts about federal reductions in force (RIFs):
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Daily check-in
I was reflecting on the calumnies being heaped on civil servants by professional grifters on the right. Electoral-vote.com this morning shared several comments from television, online, and elected hatemongers suggesting that people who work for the government are stealing taxpayer dollars and producing nothing. (No comment about Georgia congresspeople taking taxpayer dollars to spread lies…
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Double secret probation
After we spent most of Monday taking stock of the damage so far, wasting time responding to a nonsensical status report, and assessing the immediate impact of all this chaos and wasteful destruction on our ongoing project work with partner agencies, true to form we got an email blast after close of business on the…
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Dunning-Kruger guide to micro management
As most of the online world knows, over the weekend a presidential adviser used his right-wing microblogging network to continue repeating all the plays he used to spoil the company behind it. This weekend it was another one of those ludicrous emails couched in weasel words with all the “macho” threats taking place at the…
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The calm
I can feel Spring on its way. The sky is trying to turn blue. The frosts are gone. Nobody blew leaves around with power tools this morning. School’s out and work is a million miles away. We make food. Tend the garden. Wash our clothes. Soak beans. Hope for epazote. Take long walks. Soothe sore…
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Songs for a new day
Making a record of original songs has been a dream come true. Every step of the way (and we’re not there yet) has been a joy. At the same time, this relentless focus on polishing the first twelve songs I wrote has inadvertently slowed down my pace of finishing songs to nearly a dead stop,…
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It gets worse
Yesterday, I was telling my partner about three troubling things that were going on at work. The first was that our colleagues who had taken the deferred resignation offer, and the probationers who were let go outside of the normal process, were both told suddenly that they would be losing access at close of business…
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Feeling seen
This is my opportunity to thank the many people who have found ways to let me know that you are paying attention to what is going on, that you have grave concerns about the impact on our mission of delivering vital federal government services to the people of this great nation, that you have deep…
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One day at a time
I’ve been checking in with colleagues, peers, and mentors lately and when one asked me how I was handling things lately, I said “one day at a time” and she said something like that sounds like a good strategy. As if I have a choice! Still, there’s some wisdom in there. You can only game…
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Pharaoh made Ra angry
Spent most of the day in the studio at Goody Sound, mixing two more songs from the record. I posted them both to Soundcloud last night and the first one has nine listens so far and the second has 137. Go figure. Moses Took Us to the Water “Moses Took Us to the Water” (I…
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Balm in Gilead
Presidents’ Day is a federal holiday and for me this means I am back in the studio with my producers (David and Jeremy), working right now on the preliminary mix for “Moses Took Us to the Water.”
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Old man vines
OK so this off-hand clip about stirring risotto and steel-cut oats (“Stirring tips: No. 37”) quickly did 10x the usual views of my usual random and sporadic video post and more than 2x my previous best (which was a sloppy cover of “Pruno” by my friend Dan that I posted when I first set up…
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Beater tested
I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, History of the Germans, and was surprised to hear the host refer to a King of the Romans’ plan as “beater tested” until I recalled that he lives in Britain and that “beta” is pronouced like “beet” there, and the “-a” sound on the end can…
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The reverse Mary Poppins
B looked out onto the sodden back deck and said “we don’t have an umbrella”! My mind at first went to the handheld kind till I saw what she was seeing. (normally there’s a green canvas table umbrella there. the round copper table on its side was already like that.) So I went outside to…