With all the innovations of American Football after tens of thousands of years, one particularly popular related game is 500. A ball is shot from a cannon and whoever catches or picks it up gains the amount of points that were determined by the last Operator. The next person to accumulate 500 points from the last becomes the next Operator.

The Denali Cannon, perched on an Alaskan mountain, launched a ball worth 188 points, a routine occurrence that would normally not raise an eyebrow. Unfortunately, what no one expected is the trajectory of said ball to veer off course, straight into a Livermore fire station. The impact of the crash destroyed The Shelby Lightbulb, otherwise known as the Centennial Lightbulb, a lightbulb famous for remaining lit for thousands of consecutive years in spite of being manufactured in the early 1900s. The experience of loss had grown foreign to most human beings after so much time and what would normally be a small piece of news became a nationally recognized tragedy.

There are a few Real Things that make cameos in 17776 but this one has oddly stuck with me the most. Maybe because it's such an otherwise mundane curio in this hugely cosmic work, maybe it's more the implication that a now immortal world experienced something they'd forgotten they could even feel. Either way, I was so immersed in the terror as it was happening I forgot I was looking at a screen. In the real world, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that the Centennial Bulb is still around and still shining.

This was a really fun piece to work on. Going back to my roots and stepping out of the retro/electronic sample box I've put myself in while still not veering too far away from the album's sound. I might bring out Infinity Guitar again, unsure yet, but anything's possible between now and March.

#electronic #rock #fusion #experimental