Month: July 2008

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Reviews

Terminal Romance

After work yesterday, I took my semi-usual nap on the bus ride home and when I arrived, it was dang muggy out which prompted me not to arrive at the gym like planned.  However, I figured the evening shouldn’t be a waste so in my thoughts I figured I would pick up some groceries and then work on Troy’s ‘So It Goes’ song.

I first stopped at Future Shop to pick up the new Matt Mays & El Torpedo album “Terminal Romance” and noticed that My Chemical Romance had released a CD/DVD package of their Black Parade tour which I had gone to but missed the first 30 minutes.

I then went to the Superstore for some much needed groceries and felt a little ambitious and picked up some pad thai noodles and some sauce.  Natali at work had been raving about this pad thai dish she made and I figured it couldn’t be too hard.  Let me point out that 99% of the time, I am not adventurous when it comes to cooking.  I can’t be bothered with it.  I still remember Carrie bewildered that I couldn’t make Kraft Dinner.  To me, it was too much preparation (but of course, now, I realize, it’s super simple) and I couldn’t be bothered.  Anyhow, last night the 1% kicked in and I figured there wasn’t anything hard to making pad thai as it’s essentially a stir fry.

On my way home, it started pouring rain and I was stuck in the car with the new Matt Mays disc spinning.  Then a moment in musical history occurred and Track 5 (“Terminal Romance”) came on the stereo.  I was floored.  I couldn’t get enough of the song.  It was epic.  It was classic.  It was heartbreaking.  It had everything that I want in the music I write.  When I got home, I immediately went to the stereo in the living room and popped it in so I could listen to it again while unpacking the groceries.  I must admit that I had heard the song before last week in a live format at Bluesfest.  I was blown away by it then also and I didn’t know what the name of the song was at that point but I knew I had fallen in love.

I must have played that song thirty times last night on repeat.  I still can’t get enough of it.  I can’t remember the last time a song has touched me so much in my life.  I think when you start out listening to music, everything is so new so your soul has the opportunity to have those moments more and more because there is so much you haven’t heard.  I remember being fifteen years old and feeling this way when Aerosmith’s “Amazing” came on and the crazy solos come in at the end.  I also remember feeling this way when Earth, Sky and C by I Mother Earth came on the stereo at Carol’s place.  I was floored.  It changed my life.

The pad thai was decent.  The sauce definitely wasn’t what I was used to so I’m assuming I just have to try different sauces.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

I ended up grabbing a guitar and listening to Terminal Romance a few dozen times while scribing out the lyrics and figuring out the chords.  It amazes me how simple some songs are and how much work I try and put into my songs.  I’ve realized that I am going to perfect the three chord songs first and then branch out.  Terminal Romance is in the key of C and consists of four chords.  Beautiful.  In the end, it’s the way the song sounds what makes it work.

Vero ended up coming over after a long day at work.  The past few days have been killer and she’s been putting in some overtime.  She really loves her job though and that’s what counts.  She loved the pad thai.

We also talked about the inevitable video project we want to start up.  There have been ideas floating around but she always comes back to wanting to make a music video to one of my songs.  We talked about making one to 705 just for fun to play around with the video camera more than actually make a music video.  In the end, I think we are going to try and encompass a Northern road trip as the focus of the video.  So basically take all the sights you would see along a trip up North and crush it into four minutes.  It will be an interesting experiment and has probably been done by many others.  In fact, after we spoke about the video, I popped in the film “Into The Wild” for Vero and the opening sequence is pretty well our video idea so we had a good laugh at the fact that the video is basically done.  We just need to take the footage from the film!

Into the Wild was just as entertaining the second time around.  Vero really enjoyed it as I knew she would.  Vero has this adventurous spirit to her and I think she isn’t made to follow the path that society has given us plans to.

iplaying: Building a Boat – Matt Mays & El Torpedo (Terminal Romance)

Categories
Trips

Review: Colonel By Island

On Friday, Alex and I firmed up plans to do some camping this weekend.  I had originally suggested it on Monday and by Wednesday I was hesitant after thinking of my wallet but then Alex convinced me it wouldn’t be too much to go camping (that was an understatement…I don’t even know why I thought it would cost a lot!) so the plans started taking shape and Saturday morning we were planning to leave.

Friday night I spent meandering about the empty house and watching 24.  I had taken 1.5 years to watch the entire first season and was nearing the end where it was gaining steam.  I then packed up the camping gear and we were good to go for the next morning.

Alex and I hit up the LCBO before heading out and then we hit the road with Alex and Holly towing the boat and Vero and I following.  We dropped by Matt’s parents house to see if we could use their launch for the boat.  May I point out that Matt’s parents are amongst the best out there.  We hadn’t even mentioned using the boat launch yet and his father said they needed to leave to go to a wedding but feel free to use the house for the night if we wanted to.  I was floored of the generosity of this family.

We ended up thanking them but saying we just needed to use the boat launch.  We drove back down the highway for a short side trip to a flea market and then wenb back to the boat launch.  We brought the boat down, loaded our gear into it and took a quite trip across Big Rideau Lake (stopping along the way to get ice) to arrive at Colonel By Island.

I was surprised to see that Colonel By Island is federal managed land by Parks Canada.  There were two docks to park at and people simply buy a permit to stay on the island for the day.  They have nice campsite areas right on the water and there is a working washroom.  It was beautiful.  I was amazed that we could manage to get a campsite like this.  Alex said the campsites were first-come, first-served so it was a good idea that we arrived early enough.  The people already there seemed nice enough and it seemed like a transient community that simply forms when they arrive at the island.  Alex and I commented that maybe this was the way of people who spend a lot of times on the river in their big boats.  As soon as we arrived on the docks, there were people there helping us tie off the boat and talking to us and asking where we were from.  It was quite welcoming.

We set up our campsite (picked out by the lovely Holly and Vero) and cooked up some sausages.  I also brought out le piece du resistance of the weekend…bologna!  I hadn’t had my bologna last year since the US Border Guard threw it out.   I was looking forward to frying up a few slices on the open fire.

After lunch, we hit the lake with the boat and swam for awhile and just enjoyed the weekend weather.  Might I add that this was probably one of the nicest weekends we will see during the summer.  It was fantastic!  So warm, so sunny, so amazing.  After getting cold in the water after a few hours, we took the tube out and I took some hilarious videos of Holly and Vero trying to stay on top of a tube while dragging them across the lake.

I decided to try the tube out next and the first time we started up, all was going well and then I simply lost my grip and slid backwards off the tube.  That was quite lackluster!  The next time I got back on, Alex sped the boat up and I was holding on for dear life!  It was exhilarating and I was doing my best to balance myself on it but the forces of nature were against me and as I was coming out of a turn, I hit the crest of the wake and blammo!  Vero and Holly said I looked like a skipping stone across the water!  I must have hit my foot against the water first as it was pretty sore.  The funniest part was that at one point my bathing suit got ripped off my body!  I made a grab for it and when Alex turned the boat around, Vero had the video camera on and filmed me in the water with my shorts in my hand.  We all had a good laugh and I needed a break after a wild flip like that so I hopped in the captain’s seat and took Alex out wake boarding.  It was quite choppy and it was hard to get used to the boat and getting the right speed out of it so he could enjoy the wake boarding.  I would like to think that I did a decent job in the conditions I was in.

After that excitement, we anchored the boat and relaxed for awhile.  It was around 6:30 – 7:00 and out of nowhere Alex pulls out a box and goes up to Holly at the front of the boat and says something that I didn’t really catch.  In fact, it was a marriage proposal!  I may have known a little about this beforehand, but Vero had no idea so she was shocked.  Judging from the look on Holly’s face, she was shocked as well and I’m happy to say that Holly has accepted Alex’s hand in marriage.

We headed to shore and work spread quickly that there was a couple to be engaged on the island and people were dropping in to talk see the ring.  We cracked a bottle of champagne and started up the supper of some steaks and potatoes (with a little fried bologna for good measure!).  It was a great night and it only got better considering there was a fireworks display across the lake that night that we didn’t know about (although Alex confirmed that he did in fact arrange it for this night to be even more special for Holly).  The only complaint of the weekend would be when the mosquitoes came out in full force when the sun went down.  Yipes!  They were nasty!

The fireworks went on for a LONG TIME.  At least 45 minutes.  We headed to the fire next to our campsite, chatted with some people from Montreal.  We ended up trying to teach Vero how to play euchre but she didn’t seem too interested.  I then marveled at the stars in the sky and wondered aloud about aliens and at that point I think everyone was tired so they headed to bed while I stayed up for a little while longer and took it all in.

The next morning, I awoke to find myself half off the mattress.  Turns out that we parked our tent on a slight hill so we kept slipping off the mattress!  May I take this moment to talk about Holly and Alex’s tent for a moment.  Mike was gracious enough to lend us our tent and it turned out that Alex and Holly had bought the same tent the week before!  Well, ALMOST the same.  They picked up the two man tent while we had the four man.  We all know how tent sizes really are and Vero and I had a good laugh when we saw that their air mattress was busting the tent’s seams once they got inside.  Let’s just say there wasn’t much room for anything else.  They found it cozy though.

We cooked a late breakfast of English muffins, eggs, bacon, bologna and fruit, packed up the site a little and headed out on the boat for the afternoon to see the nice houses along Big Rideau Lake.  We also took a little swim, napped a little, headed back to shore for a beer and then decided around 3PM that it was a good time to pack the boat back up.

We arrived back at the Masse’s house, brought the boat back up (unfortunately Alex hit his prop on some rocks and will have to grind it down a little), helped Matt’s dad with his patio and then headed back into Ottawa while stopping in Smiths Falls for a bite to eat.

It was an amazing weekend to be on the water and to be in such great company during a momentous occasion!  It will probably be the highlight of the summer for me.  Thanks to Alex and Holly for inviting us out (and convincing me to do so!).

If anyone has access to a boat, I highly recommend staying at Colonel By Island sometime.

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Fun Times we live in…

Insert dripping sarcasm into this entry…

After reading this article, I thought…

I am sure glad that this man only received 90 days in jail for violating any human decency that there is left in this world.

I would like to say that I encourage others to follow in this gentleman’s footsteps so that maybe there will be enough of you morons to convince our society to bring back the death penalty.

Of course, I take back all commentary on this issue if we find out that this individual is mentally challenged and cannot control these things.

Otherwise, I’ve just realized that maybe it *is* time we all move to Greenland to escape the madness.

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Oh Sam…

I was reading a review of Jumper and read this part about Samuel Jackson which I had a good laugh at:

Eventually we meet Samuel L. Jackson, who is once again playing his bad-ass self, only this time he’s got white hair and a mean streak. (Sam Jackson cheat-sheet: If he has a ‘fro and a gun, you’re watching Pulp Fiction. If he’s limping, you’re watching Unbreakable. If he’s sweating and bluesy, you’re watching Black Snake Moan. If he’s wearing a brown robe, you’re watching Episode III.)

Here‘s the review for those who are interested.

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Congrats to Alex and Holly!

Breaking Rock News here…looks like Alex and Holly shall be getting married in Jamaica next year!  Congrats to the both of you.

What can I say about this lovely couple.  I swear they are like some couple from television…where one of them nags the other but in the end, they just love each other deeply.  Yes…that sums them up perfectly!

All kidding aside, I’m very excited to see the new life Holly and Alex shall have when they get married.  I foresee Holly buying Alex a bigger boat (which is every man’s dream).

Categories
Concert Reviews

Review: Bluesfest Day 1

Alas, the bank account couldn’t afford an all access pass this year considering there were car brakes to fix, property tax to pay, tuition to front…but Vero’s sister was gracious enough to purchase a day pass to Day 1 of Bluesfest for the two of us.  This was a surprise to me as I only found out about it a few days before when she surprised us with them!

The morning wasn’t looking good.  It was raining.  It was awful.  I was dismayed.  But there was a spark of hope in the fact that the weather network said it would be clear that night.

In the end, the weather network was correct and Trish, Vero and I headed down to the grounds on an amazingly sunny evening!  The setup for Bluesfest has improved this year.  You can bring beer ANYWHERE on the grounds (not like last year where we got dinged going to the River Stage and had to wait and drink our beer before crossing the street.
Also, the Rogers stage is angled this year instead of being straight across from the main Bank of America stage.  I have not yet decided if this is a better set up as it creates a bottleneck of traffic at a main point in the area.

Either way, the setup has vastly improved and the only scorn I delivered was to the people with the lawn chairs.

We grabbed a beer and settled in front of the Rogers stage to see Matt Mays + El Torpedo.  I was excited to see them as they always deliver high decibels of rock riffs AND they had a new album out next week so I was hoping to hear a few new tunes.  They did not disappoint.  It was killer loud and I think my heart was pumping with the bass drum.  The new songs were AMAZING and I love how Matt Mays has excelled in his songwriting craft.  There was this one song which just had this great refrain which I’ll have to post when I get the album tomorrow and actually remember what they were saying.  We were all impressed with the show and it was a good kickoff to the Bluesfest.

While waiting for Matt Mays to get on stage, I answered a survey and one of the questions was to identify any corporate sponsors for the show.  Oddly enough, none of us remembered Cisco Systems and they are the main sponsors.  Actually, Bluesfest in Ottawa is actually called “Cisco Systems Bluesfest”.  I don’t know what that tells you about marketing but maybe they should look into how much effect their name is getting if we end up chopping it off anyhow!

By this point, we had Krista and Mike show up and we meandered to the food area for Mike to get some fish and chips and then we headed to the Roots stage where the Fiftymen were playing.  They were a good country time.  They seemed to be a bluegrass/country band from the sounds of it and they had a good banjo/fiddle player on stage with them.  May I also point out that we saw our old friend Roy who is an 80 year old gentlemen who frequents the Heart and Crown a lot.  We had a good laugh at the fact that we always see him at the same events and he’s still rocking out.  Tonight he had on his famous red shirt with the word “Lure” on it!  The Fiftymen were decent and I enjoyed the short time we had watching them.

We headed back to the Rogers stage to catch TV on the Radio which has been recommended to me by Tyler and Sara.  I had already heard their latest album and really couldn’t get into it all that much.  However, I thought maybe they would shine on their live show.  While they did put on an energetic show, I really wasn’t into the music all that much.  I guess I’m starting to get out of touch with some veins of new music?  No one else in our group really cared for it either.

Before the end of their set, we decided to head to the main stage to see The Tragically Hip.  We decided on our old meeting spot.  Stage left, on the path in line with the third tree.  This was a great spot to see the stage and not get crushed AND a good spot to direct people if we were meeting them later.  However, it failed us this time around as we ended up in line with the first tree and Krista, Julie and Ryan couldn’t find us but it turns out that they were ten feet our left for the entire concert.  Woops!

I was excited to see the Hip as I had started to really get into their music in the past year.  I have never been a uber-fan however, and I also remember seeing them at the Corel Center in 1999 and came out not feeling impressed.  However, this night changed it all for me and I was really into the show and the wild antics by singer Gord Downie who I swear has epilepsy sometimes for his frantic theatrical performance.  One moment he’s singing into the mic, the other he’s breaking the mic stand in half and giving it to the audience, or using the mic stand as a paddle and making it look like he’s canoeing across the stage.  He also had hand towels thrown to him every 20 seconds which he used to wipe his head with and then he would throw them out to the crowd.

Since the day I’ve seen them years ago, the show doesn’t really change.  Rhythm guitar on the left, bass and lead on the right, drums in the back.  They hold their own and do their own thing and really, you would think it wouldn’t be that exciting of a stage show.  But Gord is OVER THE TOP and makes the show entertaining to all who are mesmerized by this movements.  He’s spastic on stage.

They ended up playing a great set as I think it was more geared towards the festival crowd.  They had played a few weeks before in Belleville and it seemed to be a ‘new album’ heavy setlist but this time around, it was more of a greatest hits.  I really enjoyed the concert and it made me hope that one day I can also become a quintessential songwriter who writes stories about his great nation.

Bob Rock even came out for the encore with them!  I was excited to see him play guitar as I’ve only heard of the legend through his production of Motley Crue, Metallica, Tea Party and countless other band’s albums.  He had recently produced the Hip’s World Container album and is in Kingston helping them out in the studio at the moment.  I was witness to a moment of rockdom!

All in all, Bluesfest Day 1 was a great success and I thank Anne-Marie for giving me a ticket for the night.

01: In View
02: My Music At Work
03: Grace, Too
04: The Lonely End Of The Rink
05: It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken
06: Ahead By A Century
07: Gift Shop
08: Courage
09: Wheat Kings
10: Poets
11: Springtime In Vienna
12: Bobcaygeon
13: Fireworks
14: Fully Completely
15: Family Band
16: New Orleans Is Sinking

Encore
17: Yer Not The Ocean (with Bob Rock on guitar)
18: COVER: Queen Bitch by David Bowie (with Bob Rock on guitar)

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Wedding Wonders

I found this to be an entertaining refresher article on the inner workings of a wedding during this summer season.  Surprisingly, it looks like I only have one wedding to attend this summer and it’s for one of Vero’s friend.  Finally the onslaught of my friends getting married has ended.  Or, has taken a break seeing that next year I know of a few couples already getting married.

Read the article here.

Here’s some comments on the article:

– “If you’re invited to the wedding, you’re obligated to give a gift even if you’re not going.” I guess I have always done that anyhow, but I didn’t know it was a rule.  Interesting.  So does the gift lower in price point seeing that you are not attending?
– Whether or not you go, RSVP. Send the little note back in the mail, and do it right away, Ms. Elliott suggests. “Before it gets buried underneath all the other mail.” Seriously folks, I have been horrible in the past for not RSVPing.  Learn a lesson from me and get to that RSVP ASAP.
– Gift cards typically reflect a little more consideration, but cash is popular with couples who are paying for their own wedding – an average of at least $30,000 these days. While once it was considered tacky, more couples are now hoping for cash to offset those costs. “Generally people just say, ‘Look, we want cash. How do we tell people?’” Ms. Elliott says. I still am very against this principle.  As far as I recall, I thought part of the gift of a wedding is to help the couple start their new life together.  It isn’t my problem if they’ve already established a life together and they want to spend $30,000 on a wedding.  Am I old and cranky?  Perhaps.  Perhaps I’m also thinking it’s time for a wedding revolution and that people start thinking ‘outside the box’ instead of getting pigeonholed into paying stupid amounts of money because as soon as someone hears the word ‘wedding’, they jack up the price on the poor couple.  I bet if you disguised your rental of the room at the golf course as an actual golf tournament, it would probably be cheaper.  I digress.  What was my point?  Oh yes, money equals little creativity.  Get with it and buy them something cool.  But let me go back to my other point and say I think it’s horrible that if a couple wants one of those classic typical weddings, the cake alone will cost $29,500.  Stop the capitalizing on the unfortunate!

– “Most weddings are open-bar,” Ms. Elliott says. “And open-bar does not mean keg party.”  Oh man, someone should have told us that at Dwayne and Wendy’s wedding.

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A Lovely Time Had By All

Seeing that Vero wasn’t going skydiving anymore on Wednesday, we took this advantage to head over to Lynn and Sue’s place as my cousin Shawn was in town from BC for a couple of weeks and I haven’t seen him (or Lynn and Sue!) for quite some time.

They have this amazing house which I love and I always drop the hints that I would love to purchase it one day.  This was the recurring theme throughout the night as they are well on their way of thinking of finally selling it within the next few years.  Only time will tell if I end up living in this house.  I kept pointing out the amazing things about it to Vero so I can convince her that this is a sweet pad.

Supper was great as we started out with some chicken wing appetizers and we had a few beer in the back deck while I caught up with all the news.  Shawn is enjoying his job out in Castlegar, BC but is wondering if the area is meant for him.  He is more of a city kind of guy.  That’s the problem with working in the radio industry…there’s just not that much selection around the nation.

Can I say I love visiting the Mullin-Sams?  They make me feel right at home.  I love chatting about all things with them…Shawn and I share a passion for music and movies and Lynn and Sue have this great old vinyl collection that I want to take a look at in the future.  For years I have kind of shyed away from going over to see them if my parents weren’t there.  Surprise, surprise, I am somewhat of a shy type sometimes.  But no more!  I realize that we love seeing each other and my next trip to see them will be their cottage that they have invited me to.  Then I have the opportunity to see that vinyl collection again!

We had an amazing supper in the backyard and finished off with some great cake and toured the house a little to show Vero what could be hers in the future.  She was very accomodating but at the same time, we know that until she obtains permanent employment of any sort, she is not in the position to be thinking of buying a house!  But it’s nice to dream a little.

Thanks to the Mullin-Sams for the great supper and we look forward to the next time.

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Canada Day 2008

Canada Day ended up being a quiet day for the first time in…MANY years.  I lazed around the house in the morning and watched some episodes of 24.  Mike was feeling a little rough so I saw him come and go from his bedroom between taking some naps.  Vero and Anne-Marie eventually awoke and they had some breakfast while I had some sausages off the BBQ considering it was close to lunchtime and anytime I can avoid breakfast is fine by me.

In the afternoon I hauled out the bicycles for Vero and her sister and got them ready for them to bike down to Petrie Island for the afternoon.  I continued to laze around the house for awhile waiting for anyone to show up for the Canada Day BBQ that I sent an invite out for.  I never heard of anyone actually planning to attend but I wanted to be there just in case.

Unfortunately, Anne-Marie had to leave town when they got back from Petrie Island as there was a death in her husband’s family.  It is too bad that this had to happen during her trip down to Ottawa as they still had plans for the remainder of the week (Canada Day fireworks, skydiving, Bluesfest) but alas, we cannot control these things.  I hope she and Steve are doing well during this time.  It was great to see Anne-Marie for the better part of the week and she is more than welcome to come back anytime for some fun times in Ottawa!

Considering the mood of the day took a downturn after Anne-Marie left, Vero and I didn’t really feel like going down to the fireworks that night.  In the end, we just hung out in the backyard waiting for people to show up.  Vero’s friend Marie-Eve (sp?) showed up around supper time and we hung out in the backyard for awhile.  Eric also showed up for a drink and once the killer june bugs came out, Mike, Eric and I had a jam session for an hour for our Canada Day concert as I like to call it.  We pulled out some old hits (old being those from OUR music formation years…the 90s).  We then watched an episode of Flight of the Conchords which everyone loved.

After that, we called it a night.  This was the first time that Canada Day had been quite the non-event.  I would like to think that it was the fact that I was out of town for a couple of week prior that I couldn’t put my feelers out and find us a party (or give ample time to people to attend my own BBQ) but secretly, I believe that we are entering the area that I hate to call “My Old-Person Years” and I will simply enjoy my time hanging out in my backyard.