I ate too much today. Tonight to be specific. I don’t what it is, but after discussing it with Jonny we think it’s a natural thing with musicians who don’t always know where their next meal is coming from. It’s kinda true …especially for those ‘on the road’ types who are on a budget and when given the chance gorge themselves when the opportunity presents. You’re almost like a coyote; making your way from one meal to the next. Anyway, I still think there’s a little part of me that does that and it’s why I eat when it’s free. So now I’m stuffed on crappy taquitos, chicken tacos and other mainstream Mexican fare.
Tilo hired me for a gig just outside the city and it turned out to be pretty fun. The room was essentially a gym (minus the obvious sporting equipment) but the soundguy did a half-decent job of making things work. Tilo played great tonight too, and as the night went on things started grooving nicely. I’m not exactly sure what the function was for, but there was lots of other entertainment (latin flavored dancers, ensemble groups etc.) and a silent auction that was going on throughout the night as well. It was good times, and we got to do a bunch of songs that I hadn’t done for a while.
During soundcheck I sneaked a quick video of Tilo messing around. I think most would admit he’s still pretty quick for an old guy ;)
Plastic surgery shaves 9 years off your age (click), at least according to this recent study. I had to emphasize the word study because it seems only one plastic surgeon did the procedures, three people were on the research team and, unremarkably, one of the researchers is a medical consultant for Allergan Canada …a health care company that specializes in, you guessed it – facial aesthetics, breast implants and obesity treatments. But it’s not really surprising. Advertising ‘youth’ is big money …money that we don’t seem to mind spending.
We’re a society largely preoccupied with being younger than we are. I understand the urge to be young, it’s natural, but to go to the extremes many of us do is borderline psychotic. It’s almost a curse to be old in society, or at least to look old, and we’re unashamed in admitting this. We skew photographs, live on a constant diet, obsess over fashion and surrender ourselves to the knife, botox and liposuction treatments. And why? Well …because young isn’t old. Old is, I guess, washed up or something. Young is new and fresh. Old is sooo yesterday, and in the modern world full of technology and whatnot, the future is where it’s at, not yesterday. And who doesn’t want to be where it’s at! I mean, if you’re not there …where are you?
I’m here. Although I suppose, from what others tell me at least, I’m lucky that I look somewhat younger than I am. I sure don’t feel it though. Not lately at least. But it is disheartening though, to marginalize a large group of people because they’ve simply grown old. It’s almost as if we care less as to what’s inside people than what’s on the outside. Almost. Isn’t that the important stuff though …the stuff that’s on the inside? Of course we’ll say things like ‘what’s on the inside truly matters’ …but I think that’s more lip-service than anything else at times. It seems to be at least. Some too might say it’s a celebrity thing, but then aren’t we the ones deciding who gets to be a celebrity?
I caught a glimpse a while back of an interview with Dolly Parton. I was sad. No …maybe not sad, but perhaps more let down. Here’s a wonderful person who has given wonderful things to the world through her wonderful music – but it’s as if that wasn’t enough. It was like we demanded more from her. In this interview she made the comment “If I see something sagging, bagging, and dragging, I’m going to nip it, suck it and tuck it.” which is a testament of sorts to her journey through cosmetic surgery, and I guess this is the part that, yes, did make me sad; that when a great song like ‘Coat of Many Colors’ (which is an inspiring song about being who you are, being proud of yourself no matter what your situation, and not being caught up in what other people say about you) can come from such a warm and thoughtful individual …how is it that we as a society could have forced this wonderful lady into looking like something else? Being more than what she naturally is? How did we let her down, and where did we go wrong?
Of course Dolly has image issues, and who wouldn’t being in that spotlight she always is …but we share part of the blame, and it bothers me that someone so honest and caring is pushed into feeling that being herself ‘physically’ is never good enough. That being and growing old isn’t an acceptable thing.
One is only old only if you choose to be.
—–
Coat Of Many Colors – Dolly Parton
Back through the years
I go wonderin’ once again
Back to the seasons of my youth
And I recall a box of rags that someone gave us
And how my momma put the rags to use
There were rags of many colors
Every piece was small
And I didn’t have a coat
And it was way down in the fall
Momma sewed the rags together
Sewin’ every piece with love
She made my coat of many colors
That I was so proud of.
As while she sewed, she told a story
From the bible, she had read
About a coat of many colors
Joseph wore and then she said
I hope this coat will bring you
Good luck and happiness
And I just couldn’t wait to wear it
And momma blessed it with a kiss
My coat of many colors
That my momma made for me
Made only from rags
But I wore it so proudly
Although we had no money
I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
Momma made for me
So with patches on my britches
Holes in both my shoes
In my coat of many colors
I hurried off to school
Just to find the others laughing
And making fun of me
And my coat of many colors
That momma made for me
And oh I couldn’t understand that
Cause I thought I was rich
And then I told them of the love
My momma sewed in every stitch
And then I told them all the story that
Momma told me while she sewed
And why my coat of many colors
Was worth more than all their clothes
They didn’t understand it
And I tried to make them see
One is only poor
Only if you choose to be
It is true we had no money
But I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
Momma made for me
Made just for me
I don’t stray into the electronic stuff too much when I write songs, but once in a while I think, is good for the soul. Certainly I dabble with it a lot when I write loops, but those are short and somewhat straight ahead …songs though are thought out. Or at least they should be.
The one below is loop based, titled I’m Lost Without You, and came to me while messing around on the bass one night. I started to repeat this pattern and eventually found a neat lyrical line to go with it. I was hoping to do more with the vocals, but when I started in I found I didn’t want them that much. Strange. After recording the bass loop I added the vocal part and then shelved things for a few months. When I came back to it recently, I had some other ideas as I mucked around with different synths and whatnot, so I started layering parts and putting together a structure of sorts. It’s a 5 minute ditty and having some good headphones/speakers will let you pick up many parts that are subtle and fade in and out briefly at times. Part inspiration belongs with some Lali Puna, some with SF‘s Boards of Canada and some other probably with Japancakes. I’m sure there’s more as well. Click below to listen (on the arrow thingy ….flash is needed) and download the mp3 here. You can also find it on the Music-New/Downloads page and remember the secret password to find all the song posts is ‘ilikeslurpees’ …it’s true :)
Here’s a long overdue tune for you kids, and I hope you like your ska cause it’s one of those things. Yeah, that style that only skankers can appreciate while others sit there going “Wha…?” Anyway, it’s a tune. I wrote it close to 2 years ago and never bothered with it cause it kinda sucked but then always found myself kinda liking it whenever I heard it so I thought seeing as I’m currently inept when it comes to writing as of late I may as well arrange this thing. The lyrics are pretty corny (meaning slightly more than corny which is bad enough) but the go-go-go parts are somewhat inspirational. Somewhat. They’re my favorite part of the whole thing at least (and the super-simplistic bass line), and I was gonna get Amberlicious to add some harmonies above my lines but she buggered off to France (hee hee …it’s almost as cold there as it is here) so I had to add my own. The problem though is that the lead line is already high for me, so there was no chance of me going above it. Oh well. It’s your standard intro-verse1-verse2-chorus-tag-verse3-verse4-chorus-tag-solo-verse5-(with breakdown for the kids)-double chorus-outro-special ending form …so if you’re keeping score then that’s what it is.
I’ve mentioned this before but I just have to say it again …I. Hate. Recording. Exclamation. Mark. It’s true, I’d rather sit there with my guitar or whatever and tell other people what to do rather than play all this crap and then try to make it sound good. Reason (not the mental characteristic) is nice to use when you get your head around how things work, but to me it’s still a chore and soooo hard to get motivated to do. There are some people who absolutely love this stuff; screwing around with mic positions, effect inserts, tweaking mids etc., but I just can’t even fake tolerating it. Ditto for live sound too. That’s why so much of my stuff is bare and left to the imagination. Oh, I have an imagination, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t have the patience to translate it into the real world. And I wouldn’t even do it for money …figure that out -lol
So …you can listen by clicking the arrow thingy below (which you need flash for I just found out!) or download it by clicking here. It’s also in the ‘Music New/Downloads‘ section of this blog as well. Remember too, you can pull up all the ‘song posts’ by typing the secret phrase ilikeslurpees into the search box just above. The Shakespearean inspired lyrics are just below.
Screenshot of my living hell...
I Will Never Let You Go
did you know, I’m the only one that loves you so,
and I promise not to let you go go go, I will never let you go.
stay with me, take my hand and you will see,
it’s a matter of destiny, oh I know it’s destiny.
I will never let you go o o…
hold me tight, take me dancing all through the night,
everything is gonna be just right, everything will be just right.
in your eyes, I can tell I can realize,
you and me it’s no surprise, you and me are no surprise.
I will never let you go o o…
you’re the one, you’re the reason,
you’re the hope that I’m feeling.
did you know, I’m the only one that loves you so,
and I promise not to let you go go go, I will never let you go….
My buddy Ceej is in town kids. For a little while at least. Ceej (sometimes better known as JC or Ceri or Ceri-Jones) has been mentioned numerous times throughout my blogs 5 year lifespan (the first being here) and he’s been away for the last year or so in Wales becoming a bona fide Welshie. He kinda was a Welshie before he left, but I suppose he’s a better one now. On this return visit however, he brought back some friends for a mini-tour of sorts that will see them play here, Calgary and Vancouver over the course of a few weeks. It’s Welsh folk music …harp and fiddles (I guess) and, hopefully, some vocals. Anyway, it was good to see him and his friends the other day, and I’m sure we’ll have some reminiscing to do later on. I stopped by his concert at the Muttart Hall and took a short video of one of their tunes. I can’t tell you anything about the song, but I can tell you the little girl a few seats down from me had a great time dancing. I didn’t dance though. Oh, trust me, I had a strong urge …but I composed myself. I was thinking of the kids. You know, safety ;)
The Wafer Thin Mints did another enjoyable Sidewinder gig last night. It was surprisingly full considering the cold that wasn’t all that cold, but I figured since we’ve been spoiled most of this Winter… The Living Daylights opened for us and they were a fine band of younger people. Ha, who isn’t young to me anymore though. John and Sandy were most excellent hosts as always, and the local ‘Cheers’ type atmosphere was in full swing. So much in swing that when sax player/educator Jerrold strolled in, Sandy met him minutes later at the door with his usual drink. How’s that for service! So yeah, good times were had by all. In celebration of such, here’s a clip from the Mints tune Hot Chevette. Rusty Baker had a new-ish guitar this night, one of those Fender tele-strats or something, and he seemed to enjoy playing it. So much so in fact, that he took three rounds of solos on the tune. Good job Rusty. Remember next time though, you don’t get paid extra for playing more.
Oh, and here’s a neat picture. It’s of the adjacent building at the back of the club. I’ve never loaded my gear out this way before so I’ve always missed it, but local artist Paul Senior(?) turned the venting fan (top of shuttle) into part of the space shuttle ….then incorporating the rest of the background (two windows, garbage bin at bottom, light above window and extraneous piping -top right) into a wonderful space setting. The light even adds to the mystical ambiance. Quite neat. I had to boost a bit of the saturation in Photoshop though (the mural has been there since 1998) as well as brighten things up a little as my flash wasn’t the strongest, but it looks great …and an artistic endeavor that I think more business owners should get behind. You can click on it for a larger look.
It was an interesting weekend at Nola’s for me. I subbed in to the AC/Dixie Band and did my first gig without any chording instrument. Oh sure, there have been gigs where it’s only bass and percussion for a while or something, but in this group it was bass and drums as the rhythm section for the whole night. Four horns filled things out of course, but for much of the night it was just me and drums. Kinda liberating at times as you could play what you wanted without clashing with a piano or guitar, but kinda frightening because it was just you. But by the second night I’d gotten used to things (including the charts) and felt more comfortable.
I reluctantly played my trombone at certain times as well …and when you don’t play that thing to any ‘higher degree’ (I’ve been out of the bone loop for quite a while it seems) then you notice your shortcomings – especially when placed in with guys who play all the time. I know everyone of course, as I went to school/hung out with them all at some point in my past, but when you leave the shelter of academia and split off on separate musical routes, it becomes obvious which persons have been ‘keeping up’ in their craft. What’s interesting too is seeing how those ‘kids’ (who were just kids) are now suddenly the professionals in town. Suddenly may not be the best word though, as 10+ years in my life feels more like a few months – and it’s more the case that I’ve been out of the ‘jazz circuit’ for what feels like forever (assuming, arguably, that I was even in it at the start). But it is neat how the young become the old …and how the new young will too become the new old in another 10 years or so. Lol, the ‘circle of life’ as I’m oddly reminded.
