Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Saturday.....







Drive to Whitby deliver four boxes of Christmas cards to Sam to sign. Then on the way back I stopped off at a music store and looked around for fun. Then back home and took the family to the mall and off to the grocery store for top ups. I then had lunch and here I am typing this out. Then I'm off to the DVDstore and camera shop looking for stuff. Then back to switch cars because there is a rain snow mix starting around five.



As for everything else?



What is a horror show for some is opportunity for me. What works for the establishment does not work for me, it's a barrier I sometime cannot crack. But if the establishment cracks - that - is when things can happen for me like it can now! Opportunity for me comes among grief for others. An economic downturn for most is a boon, a God send for me. My opportunities run backward to yours - it's as funny as that.....



Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

If you want change like at the United Nations, the establishment has to be pushed into it. This could happen when the established order and finances get disrupted. Although intentions are usually good for everyone involved, familiarity and comfort succeed over new ideas and change! I understand it, your organizations is sort of doing good - not perfect, but things are better than without it. Good ideas and change is never a one hundred percent success, so why chance it. And that is where it stands until something happens to the usual way things get run.







This is why change or even the adoption of things to try out do not happen. Things are good as they are - I have a nice paying job and I can justify the good we do there. I get that, but still - you could at least try some new things!



It is now easier to get what I want at the UN. Still not even close to a sure thing - but the odds took a massive change all in a few days! If the money isn't here - that tests the organizations and the staff as to who really is there for the cause and not the paycheck. And those are the people who would give a good idea a chance to make everyone happier. Last week was a good week.....




In other news.....




I finally got around to taking the CEO photos for FOFSTOCK. I was supposed to shoot the set with my Nikon D5300 but I couldn't get the timer to work - so - I slapped the iPhone 17 Pro Max on the tripod in its cage and - success!



Seriously, I was surprised at how good the shots were! All AI turned off and you can see some grey here and there. There is a bit of stomach but barely and the photos were just cropped and not retouched and are the real me. I took shots with these three guitars:




Fender American Pro 2 70th Anniversary Comet Burst




Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s Goldtop with P90s




Ibanez AZ Premium 7 String



The studio was set up as in the photo below. Some low light against the grey back drop behind the subject and key lighting with a slight upswing to prevent glare from my glasses. That backdrop was dirty but the dirt creates a cool effect in the photos. Perfect lighting and no shadows now scream AI to people these days. A smart but matt Northern Face t-shirt and a ripped pair of jeans. That is the image I wanted to project. No suit and tie, sort of like what a guy my age would look like preparing for a gig at some dive bar. The only question was which guitar?




The photo shoot setup!



I love metal and for me the 7 string would be it, but the strat and Les Paul fit expectations better. High dollar strat and higher dollar Les Paul and that is what musicians would expect the head of a music org to pose with. In the end, the Les Paul got the nod and that is what the CEO and Founder of FOFSTOCK will be seen in with the welcome message on the FOFSTOCK website!



The winner is:




Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s Goldtop with P90s



What else?



The orgs take all my excess money, so my dream of owning a Corvette went out the window. Instead, I watch YouTube videos of others doing what I gave up and it never ends well. I saw this one guy buy a Corvette from a famous YouTuber who sold it as is and just parked it beside his garage and never met or showed his face when it was time to pick it up. This guy got it home and in the next few weeks got the motor running replacing all kinds of parts and cleaning up the interior and saying how satisfied he was doing this. Then he noticed a fluid leak - no biggie - but in the end he found a cracked block! All that work and expense for nothing! And that's what happens living your Corvette dreams, the money is better spent on orgs that can help all of humanity.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/Zr8X0LWekbY?si=Hf_U44hdJGiyKilS

[Maurice Ali]

I would like to put the whole Sankofa Square fiasco behind me but a news report on the square has hit home!



"Corporate events at Sankofa Square plummeted by nearly 70 per cent last year as U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff regime and frequent protests combined to drain revenue from Toronto's premier public space.


The downtown square hosted just 22 commercial events in 2025, down from 71 the previous year, according to city documents released as part of the 2026 budget process. The sharp decline has dealt a financial blow. The city’s revenue from event permits at Sankofa Square fell to $87,000 last year, down from $275,000 in 2024."




Before




After


As you may know, over several meetings the Square gave us an estimate of 22,000 to rent the square last year. I could do this myself as the guitars and video equipment spent last year comes to same amount. We were set and making plans which had Shane make contact with the Bare Naked Ladies last December. Then in the new year they had a change of heart doubling the rental of the square to 41,0000 dollars!







This was my last chance, my last kick at the can to get another big ass concert on my resume; now that goal is only a dream. It is funny how the name change (previously called Yonge-Dundas Square) and wacky philosophy - many said would happen. The square is now just a place for protests - something the city forbids to happen at the Square - go figure.....



BTW: Trump Tariffs had little to do with the fall off, doubling the rental rate did!




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I'm still pissed of at that Sankofa fiasco. We basically had Canada Day at the square! And then they screwed us over.....




Shane with Ed Robertson of the Bare Naked Ladies December 2024 at Sankofa Square!



We had Shane hooking up with the Bare Naked Ladies in December, may have had a headliner there, otherwise Kim Mitchel and Sas Jorden. It would have been great!




Central Lark Summerstage!


Central Park would have been great but the tariffs actual did have an effect in that one.



Even the advertising dropped last year for the square - can't blame that on tarrifs. Seriously, I wanted one large "banger of an event before I hung up my sneakers in the concert realm and the folks at the square let me down - and apparently I wasn't the only one. But that is history now. That bridge has burned.....



Sam hold a FOFSTOCK sign back in the day!




FOFSTOCK back in the day!



Ok, and all three message boards were down last morning - but since our servers are in the west coast we have to wait till noon or so before anyone comes in to fix things.


Goodnight

[Maurice Ali]

On the bus again as we seem to be getting at least 35cm of snow. Twenty four hours ago it was two bouts of 2cm of snow - but hey - 98 percent so-called accuracy - BS!



Still pissed about that leaked report on Sankofa square. 85 grand total revenue last year. Winter Glow was like ten days so if that was the only event at a max 8,500 per day and not like 41,000 thousand they wanted me to pay. But they had 22 events for that 85 thousand so what the f**k is with 41 grand for my one day. NXNE has one day in June of 2025 and NXNE was sponsored by BILLBOARD - how on earth do they pay nothing?



I'm so pissed off with the shenanigans last year! All I wanted to do was put on one last rocking big ass downtown music festival on Canada day for the hard working people of Toronto, and get treated like that! Just too much! Normally I'd just stay quiet just in case we try again - but the bridges are burned - with me anyway.



Enough.....

[Maurice Ali]

Ok, I'll leave the Sankofa rants now.



But I have no time - writing up updates on the bus in a snow storm and not being able to get back to it for hours. Just no time. Here is a list of corporate taxes due:


FOF Records Inc. January 20
IAIJ Inc. (Archiving) January 25
FOF Inc. January 27
IAIJ Inc. (Association) February 12
FOF Entertainment Inc. March 9



All three IRS tax returns will be sent in February and are completed.



Then there are the home renovations that can't be delayed anymore. The Mustang probably needs new brake pads - the original are still running after 8 years! It just goes on and on.



Still, the advocacy is rock'in - so I guess I should keep this blog going. There is always that.....



And he is old and all of that - but really big things can happen so I guess even at my advanced age I'm still sort of relevant and cool.....




Then when it all plays out I will just be another "pylon" people which an avoid at the mall.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

A late one.....



I renewed my Apple developer account for another year.



Work has started on corporation taxes starting in January.



I returned the DJI Mic 2 Lav system and purchased the Rode Pro system. More expensive but better sound and an unexpected 150 bucks made this a non-expensive swap anyway. I'm actually happier with this change as this is the best you can get for wireless audio. Everyone agrees the audio is the best but many YouTubers used the DJI 2 that I got last week in their videos - but remember they are paid shills for sponsorship - so.....



I finally got out of the house on Saturday and bought the Lavs and looked at DVDs and such. Maybe I'll take out the Mustang on Sunday as it has sort of stopped snowing for a change.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Youtube is really going downhill!



I jumped from regular TV to Youtube years ago and never looked back. But last year they changed the algorithm across the board and this cut royalties for everyone by 30-50 percent. Right now most semi-successful YouTubers are barely hanging in there. And they are being replaced by AI slop. YouTube shorts is the worst in this regard. Get a million videos - you may get 25 dollars. So you see exotic car YouTubers selling their exotic cars and renovating beaters instead - because that's what the viewers want? Or, they sold the cars that were financed and can't afford to hold on to them anymore. I even watched this retired guitar guy with a solid channel, walk away from really cheap guitars in a store because he can't afford to anymore. That is sad and now it's been three weeks since his last show - maybe it's all over for him.







Anyway, I'm subscribing to all those shows I have a mild interest in. It also keeps YouTube from sending me more AI slop! But mostly the revised algorithm is to blame. Like Spotify setting a minimum value before they pay anything - YouTube is cutting back in a similar way while asking you for a monthly subscription and bombarding you with multiple ads. It all just sucks.



In other worlds - I'm into the corporate taxes now.



Later Sunday I'll try out the Rode Pro wireless stuff I bought yesterday. It took a week but I'm very satisfied now. More expensive than the one I bought last week but these have better audio and two wired lavs to boot. So I guess it was worth it.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

One of our gang actually was willing to get in a beat up station wagon and go on tour bars playing his music - and he was serious! Those were the days 20 plus years ago when we started the label.....



Those days are gone and we are way worse in the music industry for high tech. The internet was sold to musicians as a way to get out there divorced from record labels - how does it feel now? The truth is, for all its faults, you could make a living as a musician back in the day. You could have had a career as a musician. You were proud to call yourself a musician - and now it's looked as a joke.



Apart from a handful of acts, musicians are at best a part time thing and never your real identity. For all the flack thrown at record labels, compared to now those times were like an idealistic past. Sure some people got ripped off, but now you don't even have money to get ripped off! The biggest change is the loss of local and regional music acts. You could just concentrate on your own area and do that. Sure it's not big money but you could actually live the life of a musician and "be" a musician. Work clubs or bars at night, studio work for record production during the day. and the rest working on new music or helping others at their events maybe even music lessons on the side. You had an office which was your record label and others like you there that gave you support.



Now you are on your own and alone. Going nowhere at all no matter what you do. And lately being replaced with AI and becoming a consumer for your own music paying to get it on platforms and then paying agin to listen to it. How is this better than the "olden days"?









FOF Records Inc. is now owned by FOFSTOCK, a not for profit, to ensure its continued survival. Even without me, the label continues and even as a last resort it could be kept alive in ways a for profit would not because a not for profit owns it!



Yes: The taxes for FOF Records Inc. comes due tomorrow.....




In other news - My 25 dollar quip for one million views on YouTube Shorts was sort of confirmed by one person making an astounding 13 dollars for 350,000 views on YouTube Shorts. Yes - it's that bad these days.....




The second container holds the accessories!



And - I test drove the new Rode Wireless Pro system for audio! It actually works! So we are good to for the interviews. I may even buy the handle and muff that turns the wireless receiver from a snap on lav thing to a hand held microphone! This purchase makes sense.....




Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/9LYEbWnxzYc?si=K_bAVcrNWZYtiw9o

[Maurice Ali]

I got this on Monday:







That turns the Rode Transmitter into what looks like an RF microphone. And because of 32 bit recording you actually could consider not only on location interviews as in news gathering but possibly music.....



This wireless solution takes the iPhone Pro Max's first class video and addressed its only short coming: Audio!



So pleased how all that came out!



Then the taxes. I figure FOF Records should be done by Wednesday and FOF by the start of the weekend. I just never ends. And, all this is going on when things on the entertainment front are really being scaled back. I had the time back then to do big projects. If I waited I would have given up a long time ago due to all the obligations I have now. Even with things working out, it takes decades, you get older and less cool. Changing things for all globally is one of the spectacular plays anyone can make - and all with this aging form that isn't as sexy as he was when he started. We are still in the game yet nobody cares? And I haven't disintegrated as bad as my contemporaries!



It is what it is.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I found our old flag for the new Rode wireless transmitter interview microphone set up:



RF like microphone on the cheap!




The FOF Records Inc. corporate taxes are done. Next is the annual return today!




The Buick gave me a check engine light. I cleared it but it may be a crank sensor or timing chain replacement - crap!



Oh yes - and the snow.....




Later.....

[Maurice Ali]

One thing that has been bothering me was who I actually am?



I wear many hats and Google has called me a Journalist, Author, Director, Filmmaker and so on. Now you have to ask the AI Assistant and it almost gives up everything:




I have five books for sale and it missed the Positive Mandate book. Missed a wack of shows. Little to nothing about music and only one corporation. Nothing about my advocacy. Other than that it was pretty good.




Me and my Oma!



But who am I. I feel like Jason Borne in the "Borne Identity" where he has amnesia and finds out he is a spy. That scene in the movie rings true to me. Even the German woman in the bank reminded me of the German girl I used to sleep with (we shared a cot and slept together for years as a children) when my Oma took care of me five days per week non-stop in Winnipeg. Yes, what we would call a member of the master race that fled Germany before the Alied forces got there. My Oma hugged me, fed me, kissed me, changed my diapers and sang me German nursery rhymes. I was a real member of that family and the first words out of my mouth were German - yes - German was my first native language. I always figured she (my "adopted"
sister I slept with) would look at me like that (as in the Borne movie) as if something remotely kicked in but she didn't know why. The part where Jason Born looks at all his alternate egos really hits home there.....




Me and my Oma!



Yes, who am I.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/zcgOUWfdu7w?si=pKz9DgTHDMVjVrGX