September 11, 2001: My younger son riding in Thunderbird 2 at Euston Station, London, at precisely the same time as American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre, New York:

During the first part of the morning session, I mixed down and launched Matt. 20.18 . It has a formidable sonority, in keeping with the content of the verse. The current Art/Sound lecture is developing apace. I’m playing tracks related to the musicians and album-cover art that I’m addressing in the text. In makes sense to keep the visual and sonic dimensions together in my head throughout the process of writing. I find it astonishing that Pop Art on both sides of the Atlantic made so few references to the popular music of the 1950s and 60s in its iconography.

Over the lunch hour, I did manly stuff: drilling holes, mounting and strapping plugboards, and generally making ready what will become Handboard 3:

An afternoon of background music by Captain Beefheart (aka Don van Vliet). Vliet was one of the most innovative songwriters of the twentieth century, and a second generation abstract expressionist who claimed to be able to trace his ancestry to Rembrandt. By the close of the afternoon session, I’d completed over half the lecture. Without interruptions tomorrow, I should be able to close the book on it.

6.15 pm. Practise session 1. In the evening, having dealt with urgent incoming emails, I completed the set up of Handboard 3, attaching an AC/DC power block and checking that the AC plugboards were operational. I want to explore simple relationships between two or more effectors, and ensure that I’m fully aware of their respective virtues and tweekability. The set-up this evening was a serial path, as follows:

effector 1 > effector 2 > EQ > reverb > mixer > amp