About

by admin — last modified Oct 22, 2016 01:47 PM

The Synthetic Zen Website - Hawke's website for his music (and music with others), radio & music broadcasts as Dr. Z & The Synthetic Zen, The Synthetic Zen Show, SyntheticZen, and Synthetic Potatoes. I have other professions, and am an amateur musician on the side as just a hobby. I create and perform music, usually of a kind I can't find anywhere else, for the joy, solace, and therapeutic benefits of it for myself. Who knows, maybe others will find a smidgeon of enjoyment as well, you never know, it could happen. :-)

Welcome to The Synthetic Zen website

I first began playing music as a child, with a few piano lessons around '79-'81 (9-11 years old), picked up the guitar in 1988, and have been picking up many other instruments and computer-composed music since. I have performed in Utah, Idaho, and Washington. In the Spokane area I have performed at various coffee shops and venues in Utah and Washington.

From 2004-2006 I had an Internet radio show through NR Radio out of Santiago, Chile.

From March 2006 to June 2007 had two FM radio shows with KYRS Thin Air Community Radio in Spokane, Washington, USA, "Tech Talk with Hawke", and "The Synthetic Zen Show".

Originally started broadcasting over the Internet back in March of 2004, thanks to www.nekkidradio.com giving me the opportunity and training that eventually allowed to be able to get into "real" radio in addition to Internet broadcasting. I will be forever grateful to the NR family. Ceased broadcasting with NR the end of November 2006 because of family/time issues.

The Synthetic Zen is the name of both the show and the music. The Synthetic Zen Show plays an eclectic mix from thousands of songs in a playlist several times a week, and I also had some live performances periodically as well on KYRS 92.3 FM.

Synthetic Zen is one of the names for my "band" when based on my compositions and performances. I have used other names when performing with others. Sometimes performing live, playing guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, Native American wood flute, African Djembe drum, computer / electronic music, synthesizers, harmonica, Indian sitar, mandolin, Irish whistle, Middle-eastern Ney (reed flute), didjeridoo, and some vocals. Compose and play classical, blues, rock, folk, world, techno, trance, meditative, new age, and experimental music.

Moved to Spokane in 2004, working towards getting to know the local musicians.

Recordings of my own music date from 1989 and continuing onward. So far created several Albumss worth of music (over 70 distinct pieces). Some of it is quite terrible, others almost bearable, and a few might even be enjoyable by others. The quality and style varies considerably from composition to composition. What is interesting is the broad and usually conflicting feedback received about who likes which pieces. What one person considers "crap" others enjoy greatly and vice versa. Generally the instrumental music is better than the vocal music, but I am continuing to try to improve the vocals. ;-)

I am constantly learning, experimenting, and trying new things. Some efforts are obviously in imitation of others ("the highest form of flattery" some would say), and others more unique and much in the form of "experimental" music.

Hawke Robinson "got root" shirt

The shows were split into 4-5 segments each about 30 minutes:

The first half hour is rock, pop, techno, dance, trance, punk, funk, humorous and other very "upbeat" music.

The broadcasts cover a wide range of music and musicians. On some shows, take requests from the online playlist consisting of thousands of songs (18,260+ and climbing). Burned most of the CDs, but it takes much longer to "burn" the tapes and LPs to mp3.

Generally prefer to play new age, "world", classical, and meditative music that you usually can't hear anywhere else, as well as selections from huge collection of Dead Can Dance, J.R.R. Tolkien inspired music, and many other groups that play a wide "world music" and "experimental music" variety that you won't hear anywhere else.

Each show is usually 2 hours long.
The "standard show format" is typically as follows:

Format option 1 is a more "mellow" format, including mostly:

The second part of the show starts to get a little mellower with classic rock, jazz, upbeat new age, and LOTS of blues.

Midway between the 2nd and 3rd music segments I've recently introduced a new segment called "Tech Talke With Hawke" and/or World News and the Digital Frontier. I discuss and explain various technologies, digital rights, risks, and other issues, both as a monologue and in dialogue with those posting questions in the Chatroom or via Instant Messaging or postings on my forums. I am considering making this an entire 1 hour show eventually for just Tech Talk.

The final part of the show I play classical, new age, meditative, opera, trance, and ambient music as well as the "World Music" listed in the previous section.

Also (sometimes) cover some of the latest Science Fiction & Fantasy information on movies and events.

Sometimes provide a summary of weather in various areas.

Also provide Internet Weather (Hacker/Worm/Virus attack) reports as well.

Considerable information and commentary on Technology news, ideas, technologies, rights and privacy issues. I've been working with Information Technology since 1981, and I am an active member of EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation www.eff.org) and 2600 (The Hacker Quarterly 2600) for many years.

There is commentary when applicable on various topics.

Note, not surprisingly, you should know that "Doctor Z" is not a real doctor (yet), but merely a "stage" name adaptation for promotional reasons that the radio stations management suggested for me to use. ;-)

You can email me at thesyntheticzen at gmail dot com. Or you can reach me by using the Instant Messenger of your choice:

ICQ: 335-222-863
AIM: syntheticzen
Yahoo: synthzen
Alternate Yahoo: thesyntheticzenshow
MSN: z@synthzen.com

Synthetic Zen Hawke Robinson Logo

Logo trademark Synthetic Zen (TM) 1998-2014

Hawke Enterprising d.b.a.

Dev 2 Dev Portal LLC

Hawke Robinson

instruments collection piano

Synthetic Zen is one of the musician aliases for Hawke Robinson. I have used other names when performing with others. Sometimes performing live, playing guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, various Native American wood flutes, vocals, over 20 various instruments, and electronic music.

My mother was an opera singer, and I first began playing music as a child, with a few piano lessons around '79-'81 (9-11 years old), picked up the guitar in 1988, and have been picking up many other instruments and computer-composed music since. I have performed in Utah, Idaho, and Washington. In the Spokane area I have occasionally performed at various coffee shops and venues in Utah and Washington, as well as at Eastern Washington University.African Djembe drum, computer / electronic music, synthesizers, harmonicas, Indian sitar, mandolin, Irish whistles, Middle-eastern Ney (reed flute), Didjeridoo, Irish Bodhran (drum), Native American Hoop Drum, Middle-eastern Midjwiz, Pakistani horn, and many other ethnic instruments, as well as some vocals. Compose and play classical, blues, rock, folk, world, techno, trance, meditative, new age, and experimental music.

From 2004-2006 I had an Internet radio show through NR Radio out of Santiago, Chile.

From March 2005 to June 2007 I had two FM radio shows with KYRS Thin Air Community Radio in Spokane, Washington, USA, "Tech Talk with Hawke", and "The Synthetic Zen Show".

Recordings of my own music date from 1989 and continuing onward. So far created several Albumss worth of music (around 100 distinct pieces). Some of it is quite terrible, others almost bearable, and a few might even be enjoyable by others. The quality and style varies considerably from composition to composition. What is interesting is the broad and usually conflicting feedback received about who likes which pieces. What one person considers "crap" others enjoy greatly and vice versa. Generally the instrumental music is better than the vocal music, but I am continuing to try to improve the vocals. ;-)

The shows were split into 4-5 segments each about 30 minutes:

The first half hour is rock, pop, techno, dance, trance, punk, funk, humorous and other very "upbeat" music.

DSC 1837

Generally prefer to play new age, "world", classical, and meditative music that you usually can't hear anywhere else, as well as selections from huge collection of Dead Can Dance, J.R.R. Tolkien inspired music, and many other groups that play a wide "world music"

and "experimental music" variety that you won't hear anywh

The second part of the show starts to get a little mellower with classic rock, jazz, upbeat new age, and LOTS of blues.ere else.

Each show is usually 2 hours long.
The "standard show format" is typically as follows:

Format option 1 is a more "mellow" format, including mostly:

The third part of the show (my favorite part of the show) I play music from around the world including Celtic, Gaelic, Finnish, Japanese, Native American, Indian, Inuit, Hawaiian, African, East Asian, Spain, South American, Turkish, Russian, Middle-eastern, and many other styles. and other issues, both as a monologue and in dialogue with those posting questions in the Chatroom or via Instant Messaging or postings on my forums. I am considering making this an entire 1 hour show eventually for just Tech Talk.

Hawke EWU Composers Symposium classical guitar 20121113a