Cal Simone
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| How did you personally get into using the Macintosh family of computers? |
Near the end of my career as a music producer, in November 1985, I lived in a house where we had a little recording studio in a tiny room. The fellow who owned the studio asked me which was better for MIDI, a Mac or a PC. After my investigation, I told him to get the Mac, hands down. So we got a brand new Mac 512KE "fat mac". (I've never used a PC.) | |
| Status: | Luminary, evangelist, user, visionary. | |
First Mac:
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Mac Plus - 4 MB | |
Current Mac:
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- Mac "wicked fast" IIfx (used for watching TV) - PowerBook 550c (this one used to belong to Woz) |
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| When did you get your first modem? | In the recording studio, we had a 300 baud Apple modem. | |
| Who did you call first? | There was a network that we could call to download synthesizer patches. | |
| Present Occupation: | President of Main Event Software. | |
| Claim to Fame: | Articles:
- Apple's develop magazine article and "According To Script" series; issues 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29 - MacTech magazine (3 articles on AppleScript) - Dr. Dobbs SourceBook (1 article on AppleScript CGIs) - BMUG Newsletter (on the first half-century of computing) Software: - Scripter - PhotoScripter - Rosanne - ScriptBase Jobs: - Spiritual leader of the AppleScript community - Keynote coordinator, MacHack conference - Speaker, Macworld Expo, Seybold Seminars |
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| Dream Job: | To play James Bond in the movies (Jeez, what a question!) |
| Not So Random Thoughts... | |||
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| Was there ever a time in your life that you had to "Think Different?" What was the situation and what did you do? | |||
| Most days, I have to "think differently." | |||
| How has using the Macintosh computer changed your life? | |||
| Wow! Maybe the question should be "How hasn't the Macintosh changed my life?" How about a list? - Some of my pioneering MIDI stuff (creating human performance with the Mac when all around me were doing robotic dance music) only happened because of the Mac, truly the computer for creative people. - My career as a software designer and developer only happened because of the Mac. The same goes for speaking at conferences and teaching, which only happened because of the Mac. - Some of my dreams have come true -- having my software introduced to the world by Steve Jobs; seeing my software on the cover of MacWeek -- because of the Mac. The Macintosh has been, and is, an extension of my creativity and productivity. Unlike other computers (that place buffers between you and the things you want to do), the Mac has brought me closer to what I want to do by being reasonably transparent, almost an extra appendage. |
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| What is the weirdest thing in your office right now? | |||
| A small china kitty-cat. | |||
| My Passions are: | |||
| Music, making love, movies. | |||
| If you could have dinner with one person dead or alive who would that person be and what would you ask them? | |||
| There are too many amazing people (and I've gotten to meet some of them, including musicians, stars, ) to pick just one. Having gotten to ask some amazing people the questions I wanted to, there's not much fantasy in this question. For example: - DeForest Kelley ("Dr McCoy" on Star Trek) -- What's the origin of your name? - Steve Jobs -- [I can't say what I asked him; it falls under confidentiality] - Fiorella Firenzi (spelling?) -- Are you really a physicist? - Sinbad -- What's your favorite Mac? |
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| Do you play a musical instrument and/or are you in a band? | |||
| (Cal plays some piano.) --Ed. | |||
| When I grow up I want to be: | |||
| "I won't grow up, I don't wanna be..." [from "Peter Pan"]; Seriously, why do I have to grow up? Actually, I'm both grown up and I'm a kid. | |||
| The question never asked: | |||
| How'd you get to be so sexy? |
| Just The Facts, Please... | ||||
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| Biographical Tidbits: | I used to be a "developmental" record producer in the late 70's and early 80's, working with up and coming talent who wasn't "there" quite yet. Unfortunately, contractual relations or inflated egos on the part of the artists usually blew the deals. One day, I woke up and decided that the most important thing in life was to tell the truth all the time about everything to everyone, and to encourage others to do the same with me. This was completely incompatible with the music business. So I went into the software business. | Education: | Slightly over one semester of college. | |
| Location at Birth: | Philadelphia, PA. | Current Location: | About a mile-and-a-half north of The White House. | |
| Where you've been in between: |
- Aspen, Colorado for a year and a half - New York City three times (6 months, 9 months, 8 months) - Los Angeles (6 weeks) |
Astrological Sign: | Scorpio | |
| Available? | Yes - Single (never married) | Chat Nick: | Luminary | |
| Favorite Books: | - Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert Heinlein) -- if you want to find out a lot about me, read this; - Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins) -- irreverant and wonderful; 1984 (George Orwell); - The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) -- Howard Roark stood on a cliff and laughed; - Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) -- horrorshow, my brothers and only friends; - Call To Connection (Carole Kamen and Jodi Gold) -- ask me about this one; - The Grape Cure (Johanna Brandt) -- hard to find, only a few hundred copies exist worldwide; - Inside Macintosh: Interapplication Communication -- ha-ha | Favorite Music or Band: | Beatles (the classical music of the pop generation). | |
| Favorite Food: | Masala Dosa (South Indian, hard to find, harder to find done well). | Cat or Dog Person: | Dogs are nice. Cats are amazing (I was definitely a cat in one or two of my past lives) | |
| Cal's Professional Web Site Main Event | |
| - Me: "I'm always amazed how an expert makes something look so easy." - Expert: "Actually, I don't make it look easy. I find a way to make it easy." |
Created Wednesday, December 16, 1998, 7:00 AM; Edited 12/16/98, 1/30/99