#33: Beatles Moment, AI & Animated Gulf of America

Saturday May 3, we were scheduled to busk at 5pm.

Phone rang at 3:15. It was Gavin. "Dave asked us to start early at 4."

I had just showered so I threw on my clothes and my costume, hit the subway uptown to 72nd Street.

We performed for four hours straight. I do all the lead vocals and all the talking. Still, by dusk, I still felt vocally okay but I was tired.

Finally, at dusk, I stood up, walked over to the IMAGINE mosaic and invited people to join me in a circle. I had never done that before. Hesitantly, they came, then reached out and held each other’s hands and I said, “This is what John was singing about. When we stand together, strangers from all over the world, there is no rich nor poor, no nationalities, no religion. Just human beings singing a beautiful song.”

We were living out the song in real time. It was beautiful and they were believers.

(Unexpectedly, there was a man with a video camera. He documents all the people who sing at Strawberry Fields. We just popped up on his channel for the first time! https://www.youtube.com/@stuartm.6828)

MY NEW VIDEO
You might have listened to the satirical song I wrote a couple weeks ago called "Gulf of America." I got obsessed with turning it into a video, so I spent three or four days hunched over my laptop doing this. It's silly and funny, while not being so silly and funny.

https://youtube.com/shorts/65tylF-ARhQ?feature=share


For you nerds who want to know the process:
I made the Gulf of America video by conceiving the scenes first in my mind and describing them in plain language to ChatGPT. Then ChatGPT refined the prompt that would give the best results which I used in Sora to generate the images. Then got a new prompt from ChatGPT to describe what action I wanted from the still image. I put those images into both Kling and Hailuo to animate them after inserting the new animation prompt.


https://youtube.com/shorts/65tylF-ARhQ?feature=share


And that's it for this week! I have appearances coming up as well as my new show on June 19th.


I'm encouraging everyone to support Urban Stages, where we debuted our new "Steve and Friends" concert series. Benefit on April 25. https://www.urbanstages.org/benefit2025


I'm honored to perform again this year for the Renewal Summit 2025. It's a fantastic day of presentations, food, drink and me! May 16.


https://www.thethreetomatoes.com/renewal2025

New Show on June 19th at Don't Tell Mama!
https://tinyurl.com/steve-dont-tell-mama


You are free to stream the songs below but purchasing them is the best way to support independent artists such as myself. Or if you have the means, you can make a small donation through PayPal or Venmo using my email address: steveshack@gmail.com.


And please share this with friends!


[This is the hand-crafted, no-AI, non-bot newsletter of Steve Schalchlin. If you wish to be removed from the list, send me an email. If someone sent you this and you want to be added, write me at steveshack@gmail.com]--



Steve Schalchlin

Living in the Bonus Round







Spotify Links

2024 Songs https://tinyurl.com/3su9t85m

Love Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevelovesongs

Personal Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevepersonal

Comic/Humor Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevehumor

Inspirational Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/steveinspire

Meditation Music by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevemeditate

Political Songs by Steve Schalchlin https://tinyurl.com/stevepolitics

Rebel Nerd Songs - lyrics by Steve Schalchlin

https://tinyurl.com/steverebelnerd