recording experiment

So today I went out and got myself a recording interface and Cubase. FUN.

Well, after all the downloading and installing of the correct drivers (WinXP SP3!!!), the set-up, figuring out the Cubase security key, et cetera... FUN.

So. Without further adieu, here is Frying Pan, originally written by Victoria Williams. This would be Take 2 of the evening, seeing as how Take 1 did not actually record (Cubase: it takes a second, but then you get it). Here's the deal: I know I sound like a bedwetter, I know my chords aren't as strong as they should be, I know I'm rusty, I know I know I know, folks. So, comments are off. But, I put this out there just because 1. it's kind of fun, and 2. there might be some people Out There who actually want to hear it. Yeah, there's no accounting for taste!

Now. More importantly. Go buy the real thing.

Dali on Dante's Divine Comedy

As you may have guessed, Salvador Dali is my favourite artist.

One of his perhaps lesser known efforts is a series of 100 wood block prints that he was commissioned to create, illustrating Dante's Divine Comedy. I first came across this series when we were in France in 2005, at a little gallery in Ste Maxime. The prints cover three stages: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven / Paradise.

My favourites of each are:


Cerebus (Hell 6)


Dante Purified (Purgatory 33)


The Dust of Souls (Paradise 11)

I remember just looking at them and feeling in awe. Right away I found these three, in particular, to be very powerful images.

You can see them all here:

http://www.dalionline.com/divinecomedy.html

Hope you enjoy them too!

question

Can the Rock Band drums be plugged straight into the computer and recognized as a MIDI device? If you have Abelton / Pro Tools / Whatever, can it?

I need a means by which to play drums.

Help me, internet people, you are my only hope.

call off the ambulance

I'm alive! I am sore, and tired, but still alive. Hockey was fun, except for the fact that I sucked bad. And I seriously need to get into some resemblance of shape. If I could see "in shape" on the horizon, that would be a fan-F'in-tastic start.

It didn't really hit me until later - we had a little gathering at our place yesterday afternoon, and sometime after 6:00 it just hit me like a tonne of bricks. I went from feeling good to feeling completely exhausted. And, here's the world's worst kept secret: I then snuck off for a little nap.

Well, no one seemed to mind - I mean, the party went on just fine. So all good.

But seriously, my hips and groin are feeling very tender! Nurse!

and now for something completely different

Well, how would you like a unique experience? A friend is currently giving birth in Seattle. Like RIGHT F'ING NOW. Husband is blogging it. And, I am about to link to said blog. A blog within a blog!

http://wheresfredat.blogspot.com/

Seriously, though, Ardelly and Fred, Rocco and imminent sibling; love, best wishes, and (whatever my) prayers (are worth) to y'all!

game on

So I have recently found out that, as of Sunday, I will be playing hockey again. I took last season off, because half of our team the previous season was from Abbotsford, and they decided to move from Planet Ice Coquitlam (which was far enough), and instead just play in Abbotsford (which was just TOO FAR AWAY).

Then last spring, I played 2-3 pickup games and realized how much I missed it. The exercise, for sure, and the game - but you know what, half the fun is hanging out afterwards in the dressing room having a beer with the guys.

So, I am going back. Starting Sunday. I am in very bad shape. It's been a busy summer, one fairly devoid of actual physical activity.

So fair warning to my teammates, game starts at 9:45 AM - if you are sitting next to me on the bench at, oh, say 9:47, just be aware that vomiting may occur.

Game on!

captain solo = captain cool

Just a quickie: cruising on the TV last night, found Empire, right at the part where they were about to encase Han Solo in carbonite.

Leah: I love you!
Solo: I know.

Ha ha, is Han Solo the coolest MF in the universe at that point? F, yes.
(And I understand that this last sentence makes me the uncoolest, but such is the life I lead.)

That is all.

top 5 dream jobs

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby illustrates, with almost alarming clarity, the inner workings of the young adult male mind. Well okay, so perhaps I can't speak for everyone, but certainly it illustrates the inner workings of my mind. And the illustration is graphic. Like anatomy textbook graphic. Without getting too deep into the What Have I Done versus What Have I Not Done, as compared to the protagonist, Rob, I can say that the former is surely a longer list than the latter.

Regardless, I mention the book only to pay tribute it, because I've been trying to work out my Top 5 Dream Jobs for the past 10 or so years, since I read Rob's list. And wouldn't you know it, they are remarkably similar.





Rob's Top 5 Dream Jobs

1. New Musical Express journalist, 1976-1979
2. Producer, Atlantic Records, 1964-1971
3. Musician (Any kind except for rap or classical)
4. Film director (any kind except for German or silent)
5. Architect

My Top 5 Dream Jobs (all present time)

1. Producer, own label
Yup, this tops even Musician. Because producers not only have staying power, but can potentially to work with a lot of different bands in a lot of different genres. Or, stick with one band and be the guy behind the scenes working the real magic. George Martin is of course the ultimate example of this. The thing is, you know what, I don't need or even want fame; fortune works just fine for me.

2. Musician, i.e. taking The Supergroup That Never Gigs pro
No explaination required, I don't think. It would be really great to be able to write and perform music for a living. I'm frankly not that interested in doing stadium shows, or touring for 3 years without end until I am ready to kill 3 of my best friends. But, I would love to be able to make a (decent) living from just playing and writing music. Awesomeness is what that would be. AWESOMENESS.

3. Owner / cook at a diner
I really like to cook. I probably opposite of hate to cook. The technical side is totally intriguing to me (edible science geekery); knife skills to searing to stocks sauces etc etc. And I totally enjoy the planning aspect of it. And composing a menu. And wine pairing. And and and. However, I am pretty sure I could not cut it night after night on a line. And frankly the pay would suck ass. Enter dream job scenario 3, whereby I win the lottery and/or become independently wealthy, and spend a fraction of said windfall on a small diner type of space. Nothing too fancy; breakfast and lunch, good coffee, rotate soups, daily / weekly specials, etc. Milkshakes! Just a low(er) stress environment in which to cook professionally. (And yeah I realize it's the independently wealthy qualifier that kind of makes it.)

4. Comic or graphic novel artist
Yeah, I know. Well I really love to draw, I mean when I was younger I REALLY loved to draw. Kids would go to soccer camp or hockey camp or whatever, and I was sent - with a smile on my face - to art camp. Loved it. (Incidental note: nowadays, the camps that kids are offered are F'ing insane. This past summer a friend of mine's kid went to (amongst other things) fencing camp and film camp! In a week they made their own movie! I was very envious! Exclamation point!) All through my teenage years I drew all the time. My favourite subject in school was art. If you ever want to check my high school notes, hell even my university notes, most of the margins and/or back pages and/or random pages that should have contained actual scholastic notes, are filled with sketches of cars, guns, bloody deaths, me in some morose and overly dramatic lovesick situation involving a short white girl... Yeah, good times.

5. Engineer
So, Rob had "Architect" - which he was not. I have "Engineer", which I am. And hey, I don't necessarily love coming to work every day, but neither do I hate it, having to grit my teeth to endure each and every day. Pay's decent. Get to boss people around a little. I feel very in control of my professional life. So yeah, it can be #5.

Honourable mention. Professional golfer
Okay, so here's the thing. Two things, actually. 1. I really enjoy playing golf. 2. I suck at playing golf. Thus this is relegated to HM. Well I guess this is all make-believe anyway, so maybe it should have been #5. Well anyway, I would love to be on the PGA tour. I would be very happy to be ranked 100 in the world, making a living - a damn good living - just playing golf. The endless touring again would probably wear you down, but man... still a pretty sweet gig. Golf = best dollar to potential injury ratio in pro sports. Fact.

best. drink. ever.

Crown Royal + Canada Dry ginger ale + lime
(and no that is not my hand)

Sure you can argue - and it would be hard to dispute say a glass of Chateau Margaux (the only one I've had was an 85 Chateau Rauzan-Segla, and it was Pretty Damn Awesome). And yes, circumstance always plays a role - for example, fishing in the bay off Puerto Vallarta on gorgeous day in 2006, and all we had on hand was Tecate i.e. the wateriest beer in all of Mexico (think of a glass that recently had beer in it, that someone proceeded to fill with water and then hand it to you). Friend goes and catches an 80 lb sailfish. Well that was Pretty Damn Good too.

But no one, certainly no one sane, can argue that it is not the best highball ever. So many good times with a Crown & ginger in my hand. Dan and I, 30th birthday at the Frog & Firkin, double highballs on special. One day after work at my old job, just hanging out and getting to know all sorts of people I'd only really seen in the workplace. And second most recently, listening to Frank Black at the Media Club.

Seriously, best. drink. ever.

think!

"Don't get roused, Sugar."
- Matt 'Guitar' Murphy

high school musical

Not the Disney version - I just watched my High School Musical on TV. It's called "The Blues Brothers." Now, it wasn't released in my high school years, exactly, but it did play a pivotal role in my musical upbringing (awakening?) in the late '80s.

Just look at the lineup:

James Brown
John Lee Hooker
Aretha Franklin
Ray Charles
Cab Calloway

Not to mention Steve Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, Matt Guitar Murphy... When the backing band has more (musical) star power than the frontmen, that is pretty impressive.

Anyway, watching it reminded me to thank the following people for my own musical development:

My parents - for making me take piano when I was a kid. Man, I hated it. I really really did. It was the endless practicing! But, they also allowed me to quit when I did (Royal Conservatory Grade 4) - and, didn't really discourage me when I went out and bought my first guitar and amp.

* Nostalgic note 1: it was only last year, some 20 or so years later, roughly, that I spoke again to our old neighbors the Wards. And they informed me of the entire neighborhood's annoyance when I cranked up Clapton or Hendrix or whatever and tried to play along. Apparently it was very loud. And, heartbreaking to hear now, not very good. The only redeeming thing, they said, was that it annoyed our neighbors to the back of our house (where my room faced) the most. And everyone hated them. So they poured another scotch, shut the windows, and cut me some slack.

James Morley - who, besides sharing a love for the Blues Brothers a little later on, originalyl introduced me to AC/DC. Yes I know, AC/DC. But they were ultimately a Gateway for Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Who, hell even the Beatles. Oh, and The Clash. Thanks James for The Clash.

** Nostalgic note 2: When we were 19, James and I rented a 4-track and recorded an album. 70+ minutes - a real LP! Both of us only really played guitar (and pretty poorly at that), so we had to learn all the other instruments. Still have that (somewhat embarrassing, but still very Awesome) CD. Beans & Rice, Out of the Cupboard. (And if you can name the song reference there, you win the privilege of never hearing our album!) Seriously though, one of the best summers ever.

Stewart Butterfield - who ultimately convinced me, the completely delusional me, that Zeppelin was in fact a better band than AC/DC. Yeah, Stu, you were right.

Shingo Takada - who taught me how to play the blues, for real. Guitar master, that guy. He used to keep this broken neck from a beer bottle that he used as a slide. Cut his hand up something fierce, but man it sounded sweet!

Dan Stringer, Jason Hunt and Erik Campbell - guitar, bass and drums of The Supergroup That Never Gigs. It is they who try to drown out my recently-pubescent-boy vocals and tolerate my occasional guitar wanking. Solid solid guys.

There are others, of course. But these people represent real Milestones. So, much love y'all.

I have The Fever

So I am in a band. (And I'm not giving you the name, since 1. we have not produced any records and thus the name is yet unprotected, and b. the name is so awesome that surely, without a doubt, it will be stolen. But just to give you a hint: several years ago, the band's other guitarist and my old roommate Dan and I were watching Xena: Warrior Princess, possibly in some state of disrepair, and the whole name unfolded like a rare, beautiful, hot, womanly orchid.)

We never actually gig, we only really jam. And we've been jamming off and on for, I dunno, 15 years maybe? (So screw you, Phish! Bunch of dirty hippies.) Anyway, we last jammed many many months ago. Circumstances - kids, work, everyone got busy and/or complacent. But as far as I know, even though our bassist just had a son less than a month ago, and even though our drummer appears to be on a self-imposed hiatus, we have not broken up. At least no one sent me that email.

Now, every time I see a show, pretty much every time, it makes me want to play. Here's the thing: in the past few weeks, I have seen Frank Black (Media Club, 6-Aug-08, solo show i.e. no backing band, kicked ass) and Radiohead (Thunderbird Stadium, 19-Aug-08, gigantic downpour all night, kicked ass) and am burning with the fever to play again.

And I shouldn't say that we just jam, because we also write. And I have so much to say, I really do!

I have approached said bandmates - but honestly, there is no point right now. Jason the Bassist just had a kid! So how do I proceed? People, what should I do??

Having no outlet for my stream of consciousness genius sucks. And so I impose on you My Blog. Seriously, if you want less painful blogs on the internet, convince my friends to get back into the music. Their email addresses are as follows...

narcissism

You know, people used to say that Generation X, my generation, was a little narcissistic. Hey, People, guess what: we ain’t got nothing on these 21st century kids! Myspace, Facebook, Blogger. A BLOG? A MF BLOG?? What makes you think that anyone else wants to read your stupid BLOG??

Today:

I ate toast. I thought about eggs, but then I thought about angina. Whoa is me!

I brushed my teeth. I noticed that my gums are receding. I’m only 17!

Etc.

Anyway.

So then, having said that, in the spirit of Hypocrisy (i.e. that which makes living a principled life so bearable), and bearing in mind that it has caused 3 weeks of internal strife (note lag between this post and previous) I am going to start blogging. Let’s see how long this lasts.