Anticonformist Everything

In Canada a few months ago we learned that the famous long-running CBC “Hockey Night In Canada” theme song would not be renewed or heard on the network again. There was much passionate public debate over this development. So CBC created a music challenge to find Canada’s next hockey anthem. Yours truly wrote and recorded an original anthem and submitted it. Semi-finalists will be decided upon in coming weeks. The quick link for your listening pleasure is below. It was mega-fun to make a quick instrumental new song while keeping the quality high. Check it out!

The title of today’s entry was something a teacher once said to me and other students, asking us not to remove “Christ” from “Christmas” by writing “Xmas”. It is a fair and interesting comment.
Right now I’m getting about 20 unique visitors to this blog page every day. I find this surprising. And people rarely comment. I must be boring. Actually, I must definitely be boring. I mean, I talk passively about my basement-only music career and my sick cat. La, la, la. Perhaps I should talk about racier things like “anal sex porn lovers”? (Hmm, now that I’ve typed that, I’ll have to see how many more visitors show up here on the statistics page.)
But now since you want to hear the exciting music news, you’ll be thrilled to know that I have continued to work on my synchronized video collages for my songs. It’s been slow-going, but a lot of fun. I just finished a collage for my song, “People are Porn” (”Porn” again! I didn’t mean it!) — which comments on our sexuality and how human nature and the media influences it. But the images I’ve assembled are non-pornographic — I’ve used medical diagrams and things like Budweiser ads to explain things. The Pope even makes a photo appearance!
However, I might find myself in Copyright Hell with my video fun. Will I end up selling DVDs of my cute little collages and then get sued to death like legendary copyright deviants Negativland?
I figure I’ll have some time after Christmas during my one week off to complete maybe 2 more video collages if I’m committed. I’m pretty revved-up for the eventual new live performance format I’ll have with all these collages. I’m technically creating a crappy music video for every song, which is some sort of bonus.
Oh, back to Xmas Christmas — if you need a gift quickly, you MUST check out my PERSONALIZED CHRISTMAS SONG. It’s pretty darn cute. I can e-mail you a copy in a jiffy to give to your loved one.
Hmm, having typed the words, “Christ”, “Pope”, “Catholic”, “Hell”, “anal”, “sex”, and “porn” in the same entry could get me in trouble, too.

I have been very busy between my day job and the time spent on an adopted cat who became very sick after I adopted her. I’m spending 2 hours per day force-feeding her through a tube that goes to her stomach. But hopefully she will be tube-free within a couple of weeks.
In music news, I did indeed have my first show using synchronized video. It worked out rather well! It definitely added to the show’s entertainment value. I saw people pointing at the screen, giggling, all sorts of interesting reactions. My plan is to perfect these first 4 slide-show songs and then do some more for about 10 slide-show songs in total. I dumped money into a small screen, a projector, and a portable dvd player. I believe that this will also influence my future songwriting since there isn’t a lot of meaningful visual stuff that can go along with general love songs and the like (unless I want meaningless images or MTV-style productions). My “opinionated” songs are much more appropriate to make use of visual assistance.
I also realized that I have a LOT of equipment to lug around now, and it will take me at least 30 minutes to set up. These will be serious considerations for future gigs.
In any case, I am looking forward to what will come…

These are the days of less music. My day job has intensified following a promotion. I come home, I’m pretty darn tired, and I avoid spending even more time than I did at work in front of a computer for the recording, website maintenance, show booking, or promotional activities that musicians are obligated to take care of. And let’s not talk about songwriting or rehearsing! But the few songs I have been writing have become even slightly weirder than my usual fare. I saw myself twice on video and thought I was a bit dull, so as a solo artist I think I have to make my songs weirder to keep an audience’s attention. I have definitely been influenced by quirky Hamilton musician Wax Mannequin, an excellent and unusual solo artist.
After the two shows I have next week, I’ll take a break, see what happens energy-wise, and feel where I should go. Creatively, I am very interested in focusing on creating simple video to accompany me while I play. This would also add to making my shows more interesting. It would be a heck of a lot of work and a costly investment in equipment, but that’s what feels right.

I auditioned for a lead role in a new theatre show opening up in Toronto. I even made it to the 2nd callback. The character? A Blue Man fronting the incredible Blue Man Group. I can talk about it now, since I just found out that I didn’t make it — only 1 Torontonian was chosen.
You have to check out Blue Man Group live if you ever get the chance. Their successful multiple productions now add up to a 500+ employee, multi-million dollar independent empire. If you’ve ever seen Intel T.V. commercials with blue-looking guys in them, those are the 3 original actors.
Describing one of their shows in print wouldn’t do it justice. The audience always participates, thumping music abounds, and there are a lot of laughs. The Blue Men are sort of like mute aliens visiting earth, and they like to drum a lot.
Two weeks ago, there was an open call for drummer/actors to play one of the three Blue Men characters for the show. I thought, “Wow, what a change this would be!” Agreeable hours, steady artistic pay, and an unquestionably good experience.
When I went for the auditions, I had a great time, and the Blue Man character was one that I felt I related to personally (should I say that?). In fact, I had so much fun playing the character that I’m currently thinking of modifying the idea and creating a Green Man or something. Before I even knew about Blue Man Group, I had already appeared as “The Holy Green Eco-Warrior” at one of my shows. Hmm, meant to be?
Anyway, better luck next time to be a Blue Man.
Although I doubt there will ever be a “next time” for something this peculiar.

Looking for a place to just sit and relax in Toronto’s Eaton Centre today, I ended up in a Starbucks. I was trying to get away from it all. There are so few places to sit peacefully downtown without paying for something. But having paid for the privilege (1 peppermint tea, 1 evil cookie), I was still unable to relax — Starbucks was playing the latest record by Bryan Adams from start to finish.
Don’t get me wrong — I used to be a fan of Bryan Adams. But his latest stuff is just awful. Adams, like many artists who have seen the big time, usually end up putting out soul-less music because they have nothing more to strive for.
I bristled with discomfort several times while being forced to listen. The music had no life, no memorable sounds or arrangements, and all the musicians who played on it sounded like they were just going through the motions.
I like to call this sort of music “non-music”. Currently, you can refer to anything by Sting, current Celine Dion, current Alanis Morisette. All these artists have also released ballads (the most common sign of an ailing songwriter) — telling of how wonderful life is, how we all have to look through the smog, and how we will see that everything is beautiful if we just think about it. I have to agree with that in fact, but I can’t help feeling uncomfortable when I hear it bundled in a lifeless song.
But my personal conclusion after listening to Bryan Adams today was this: there is just way too much mediocrity in everything. (Yeah, I know you know that, but it really stood out today.)
Is it grooming us all into mindless entertainment slaves?

I went ahead and did indeed spend some $ on new gear over the last 2 weeks. I am now the very proud owner of one Godin LG P90 electric guitar, and one Yamaha Magicstomp effects box. Yay! I am quite happy about this decision, since I have really been uninspired to play solo lately. I do believe that a guy playing by himself with an acoustic guitar (for more than a few songs) can be a bit of a drag. The exception appears with already well-established artists, however. People will go to see Neil Young play 3 hours of solo kazoo.
An electric guitar with effects gives me some more sounds and some creative fuel. It’s easier on my hands, too. I did get my “new” equipment with some forethought: doing a lot of research beforehand, and then locating both items used but in great shape. At the very least, it will result in a few more dreamy songs and a few more heavy songs from my currently suppressed musical soul.
A good thing, methinks.

A Gear Slut (from the Latin, musicus obsluttivus) is an obsessed individual who feels overly comfortable purchasing music or sound equipment that he or she cannot afford.
Today, I saw a guitar in Long & McQuade in Toronto, and I wanted it. Oh, did I want it.
I must have it.

Tonight I went out to see Bullseye Records‘ live performance of a new double-cd of all Beatles covers. It was a pretty pleasant night — nice to see a big Beatles band with genuine horn section. I bought the $20 cd. It looks like a kooky compilation. 50 covers! I’ll let you know how good it is…

A few weeks ago I got the boot from The Fortunates. Lucky for me, it wasn’t because I was an ass or anything. The reasoning I was given was, “It’s just not going in the direction we originally planned. We wanna be a rock band with a lead guitarist.”
Eh? Tell me this 8 months into the band? (I was the acoustic rhythm guitarist and one-third frontperson.)
Everything in the band was going fine I thought, up until the moment the band got some free recording time. My songs were excluded from the band’s recordings, which was dandy — I was spending my time on my own new recordings at home. I was, however, a wee bit upset when it turned out I wasn’t even going to cut any guitars or backup vocals with the band. But no matter. When I was asked by Maindude for his electric guitar back, the way he asked for it felt all wrong.
Suspicions were correct — a few days later, I was ejected.
When I e-mailed the band after (only one member replied), I said that I wasn’t pissed, just pretty sad. But as I told Maindude, I’ve been in many bands before, and we’re adults, yadda-yadda. It was a fun time — I had a LOT of laughs — but now I move on! It was a very memorable musical chapter in my life. I will miss the rehearsals and the guys. *sniff*

I’ve submitted my new record for a couple of record reviews, been writing new songs, and working on my new website. I’m no longer part of The Fortunates. *sniff, sniff* I’ll probably have an entry on that relatively big musical change with my new blog page soon. Perhaps — just PERHAPS — you will not see another blog entry until I have a REAL blog happening here. I realized just how lame any blog can be unless there’s some interaction. In fact, I don’t even think this is a real blog. I’ve just been spewing crap at random. This is very irresponsible of me.

This is going to end up being a blog about the million things you have to do after you’ve recorded your album! Over the last week, I’ve been spending my free time trying to get a few things happening: a photographer, a graphic designer, and a bunch of miscellaneous things regarding the physical construction of my album. Putting the music together is one thing, but all the other stuff you have to deal with is another.

After about a year-and-a-half of intermittent effort, I put the final touches on my 15 songs yesterday. This process is also known as mastering. I did it myself at The Lacquer Channel. I used to do mastering for a living, along with recording, mixing, and various other audio-oriented things. (But that’s another story!)
When you master an album, you’ve made a final version of the cd with the right song order and sounds. This is an exciting moment, because it’s when your long hours of effort come together cohesively in the form of an album. The only other thing to do now is the packaging — but I might be doing something weird with that, as I’ve said.

Tonight I thought I’d write something much more interesting than my last entry but it’s too late at night and I’m about to pass out so so much for that bright idea.
But I do have one tidbit of news: I’m thinking about doing some bizarre but cheap packaging for the CD, so I’m investigating how to get bulk micro-crushed pieces of glass. I’m starting with the recycling facilities here in Toronto. Ooo, aren’t you curious?

I’m taking way too much time finishing my album. And what takes place after that? I’m stuck on the final song, “Dear Dog”, which is a play on XTC’s original 1980’s hit, “Dear God”. But if you don’t really know the original, you won’t have any idea that I’m playing around with it.
It’s funny working on a record all by yourself — I know of several other musicians currently in that situation. Too much perfection, too many choices. There’s an expression that captures what’s going on here perfectly, and it’s called “working in a vacuum”. The whole world races on by while you work on your art in the confines of your basement. Nobody knows! Nobody cares!
I want to play many shows after this, now that I’ll have a much more current kick-ass record. Minus packaging, which is a couple of thousand bucks I don’t have. I’m looking for those mystical fairy godmothers. I promise to leave a tooth under my pillow!

I haven’t written in awhile. Too damn busy. The show I worried about in my last entry was actually a decent success. Good attendance, lots of fun. In the last couple of weeks, I had a musician buddy of mine visit from Victoria (Canada), I played an additional show with my Fortunates bandmates joining me on stage, I rehearsed a lot, and tried to do some more recording. I barely had any time to do the recording. Thankfully, I borrowed an electric guitar from a bandmate, so I’ll be adding the finishing touches with it on a few songs.
The problem with recording your own stuff to the level of perfection I take it to is that it takes a long time. Especially if you have a lot of other non-musical stuff going, which I do. I know from experience that many other musicians have progressed to an entirely new creative level by the time their music actually gets put onto a cd. I have so many more new songs at this point! You psyche yourself out thinking, “Man, this stuff is old.” It just takes so much time to bring independent recordings up to the level they need to be at in order to compete with big-budget, multi-personnel productions. Film and T.V. is the same way. And those efforts cost even more moola. But as a wise baby once said, things can be accomplished in baby steps.

I’m into the new year, and it’s becoming painfully cold here in Toronto. It feels like I’m pulling teeth (other people’s) trying to get people to come out to my little show tomorrow nite. Early January? In this cold? No thanks, bud. No matter, I’m totally focused on finishing the record this month. Almost there.
I got a rejection letter today from my application to play the Winterfolk Festival. Thirty bucks down the drain. I so love paying to not even get to play a show. Hey, that’s a new concept. “Paying to Play” was bad enough, but I think we’re at new low with “Paying to NOT Play”. Har, har. I wonder if I should bother with these various entries? I’ve probably spent a couple of hundred bucks to date on packages for such things. The packages are good methinks, and the music’s good. Hmm, I must be screwing something up. Or is it politics?
But I’ll show them. One day, see, they’ll be paying me to play their little festivals and contests, praying for my application to arrive so they can feel good about themselves! Yeah, that’s it. Then I’ll be all snobby-like, and say, “Oh, you want me to come and play your little festival? Your TEENSY-WEENSY little contest? BEGONE, BEGGARS! AWAY WITH YOUR WICKEDNESS!!!”

…um…

uh…

Or maybe I’ll just apply again like a good musician.

OK, Christmas Eve is tomorrow, when I celebrate and host it for my mom’s side of the family. Then I go up north to my girlfriend’s family for a couple of days. I write now because It’s been over a week since I wrote last, and it might be a few days until I have the time again.
I gave my notice at my job today since there are few guaranteed paid hours there for the new year. I accepted an alternate office job for January. It will have acceptable pay and day hours so I can play in the evenings and weekends without interference. It will allow me to master my record, put packages together, and basically fund subsequent minor steps required to make things happen for me. It will also relieve the stress I’ve had paying for rehearsals with The Fortunates!
I’m psyched for the hopeful completion of my record between the days of Dec. 27th and Jan. 5th, when I will be able to focus for the first time in months. Yee-HAR!

Somebody told me I shouldn’t write in this blog about having a regular job while I’m an artist in the music business — it looks “less rock star like”.
Oh God.
Yeah, I’ve been told stuff like that before, or stuff like not to include any info about me as an audio engineer, or about anything that means I’m actually a human being with a life or with bills to pay. Well, whatever. I mean, there’s already so much bullshit floating around. Like calling my friend’s work (4 employees) and hearing the automated attendant say that the company is one of the WORLD LEADERS in internet service. Oh yeah? Can I shove some rocks in my brain while I listen to more?
On the other side of the coin (I’m so darn fair), it is true that some people simply do not want to know the truth about certain things. (See the first The Matrix movie for a cool conceptual story surrounding this issue.)
For example, I used to do a lot of audio mastering. You should have seen sometimes how my clients reacted when they found out I was only renting the mastering studio I was mastering their music in — that it wasn’t mine. They would suddenly lose respect for me: “Why would this guy be mastering our music out of somebody else’s studio? The owner must be the mastering guru, not this chump!” They wanted to believe that they were with the guru, not second-rate cheese ball (even though I had much more experience and ability than the owner at the time). So, should a person fake it for the sake of preserving pre-conceptions? Proponents of the strategy would say you’re simply omitting full information.
The world’s a stage…

I’m getting a big back from all the lifting at this driving job. What a physical workout! Bending over and over all day and night. I worked 12 hours yesterday straight.
I’ve been selling some of my Christmas CD’s with mild success this week through people I know and through strangers. This makes me happy. If I had a Powerbook and an iPod, I could just walk around town, play the songs for strangers, and unload CD’s. Hmm… where’s that extra few thousand bucks?
I started rehearsing for my unplugged show next week. I suck! Not enough practice as a solo artist! At least I’m getting a big back…