What is Alison up to lately?
Updated August 5, 2023
Very at Home
I’m currently living in the wonderful small city of Keene, New Hampshire, where I’ve been since 2019. I have two amazing little dogs, Peanut and Pepper, who deserve their own children’s book someday.
New Consulting Digs
Greg and I are putting our music-obsessed brains to work again with a new business called PatternSonix. We’re consulting with companies who are working on music/sound-based (mostly) AI projects, and helping them make the end product better. It’s great to be stretching my music theory/cognition muscles again, and super fun to be back in the machine learning/AI space, which has…ahem…REALLY changed over the last ten years. 🙂
In the Studio
I’m very much focused on music-making again, after long hiatus from age 30ish-40ish. (It’s complicated.) I’ve released a couple of EPs over the last couple of years, and recently released a new album called IX under the Blix Byrd moniker. I’m currently thrilled to be making music with much less involvement from the computer via an external hardware sequencer. It’s nice to give my eyes a break!
On Stage
I performed my first show in 12 years (?!?!) on July 15th at Nova Arts in Keene. I dressed up like a visitor from another planet and did my weird thing, and it was an absolute blast. The lovely audience seemed to have fun too! Here’s the info. I’ll add some video evidence when I get around to it.
Personal Computing
A longish-term project at the moment is to exclusively use technology that makes my life and mind a better place. For me, that means detaching myself from the corporate internet as much as possible. So — no centralized/corporate social media, as little Google as I can manage, and self-hosting everything I can. I’m perpetually tinkering with where my data flows, and am enjoying my little technotopia, even though the user interfaces usually aren’t the best.
Good Times
I’ve enjoyed a few solo trips lately, both to far-flung destinations like Scotland, and local ones like New York. I have a great set of friends here in Keene, and am active on the board of a great local arts organization called Arts Alive.