Day: September 21, 2012

Benoit and I each bought a Star Wars stormtrooper costume last year in hopes to wear it to every Hallowe’en party for the rest of our lives.

I would say that we have been assembling it (otherwise known amongst us as troopin’) about five times now.  We have got a lot better at it compared to the first day last winter.  We are hoping to have it done by Hallowe’en and I’m confident that we will get 90% of it done and the remaining 10% is simply some fine tuning (or back orders of boots!)

Friday night was the first time that I felt that it really came together.  We are only missing the thigh and shoulder pieces as well as some little extras (like the belt).  Cinthia was having a big laugh when we came out from the basement in nearly full gear and ran around the house living out Star Wars fantasies.  I’m not sure why being a stormtrooper is a dream of many, considering how ridiculously hard it is to see out of that damn helmet!  I’m trying to figure out how to drink some beer during the night.  I think I may have to invest in a camel pack on ice!

Two thumbs up for the gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches we had that night!  I was introduced to a grilled cheese with fried apples, peppers, cranberries and cheese!  Too bad I forgot the olives!

Friday morning I drove to work so I could drive to Benoit’s afterwards…unfortunately for me, it resulted in a dent on the passenger side fender and some nice paint which does NOT match the existing paint job.

When I pulled into the parking lot, I got out and paid the attendant, then put it into reverse while looking out the back window.  However, with the rain pouring down I didn’t really see out my side mirror and all I heard scrraaaapppeeeee.

Sure enough, there’s this nice cement post painted in blue that I hit with the car.

The best part is when the attendant comes out and says “That’s the third time this morning!” and here I’m thinking “Buddy, maybe you should paint this a brighter colour for those rainy days.”

So that’s that…another dent/scrape to add to the old girl.  I’m not too concerned with it because I’ve grown to become fond of my other scrape on one other side.  I also feel that this will give me the challenge of learning how to fix these things myself!  With the helpful phone call to my father of course!

Troy wanted me to talk about this a little more to capture some memories of my time in a band, so here goes.

First off, am I in a band?  Maybe?  Maybe not.

A few years back, JF, Jon, Mike and I got together one night to jam.  It was a chaotic experience with everyone all over the map.  For a drummer, Jon must have been frustrated.  But who wouldn’t be?  This was the first time ever getting together without even thinking of what songs we would play.  All in all, a fun night fueled by beers and cheers, but it was just that.

Fast forward a few years and we decide to jam once again.  So we pick a few songs and play them a few times and it’s not bad.

Fast forward another while and everyone convenes for Vero and my wedding and everyone has a great time.  When we get back home, an email awaits from JF saying “Hey, we should get a band together!”

We get together one night and hash out approximately a billion songs that we would be interested in learning.  It was a little ridiculous at one point!  But we also discussed the fact that we just want to get together once in awhile (like every three weeks) and play some songs together.  At this point, there’s no end goal in sight of playing in bars around the area or anything like that.  Martin seems to be the seasoned pro in being in a band (from what I can tell, maybe the others have all been in groups before) and he said we need minimum a year together to be able to play proficiently together.

Challenge accepted!

I like the setup of the group so far…we have Jon on drums, JF on lead guitar as well as Martin on lead and myself taking up the acoustic and vocals.  There has been talks of needing to bring the bass guitar in there somewhere so we may switch up positions depending on where it is needed.  Here’s to hoping the bass guitar doesn’t come around my side too often considering I don’t know how to play it and I think vocal duties will be severely diminished if I took it on!  But, everything comes with practice so I’m not afraid to try it out!

So here we come upon the three week mark and I have a few songs I’ve been learning in prep for the jam session.

Digging a Hole (Big Sugar): So this was an interesting one to learn.  It’s all bass guitar at the beginning!  So I gave up on it for awhile until JF just pointed out that we could strum an A chord instead.  Bingo bango, didn’t have too much trouble with this one.

Sunshine of your Love (Cream): The bane of my existence is to pick some notes and sing at the same time.  Give me some chords any day and I’m fine.  But have me pick and sing at the same time?  Well…it takes a little more practice.  A fun song to play and it just outlines how simple some classic songs really are (until you get to the solo!)

Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band): Great tune to strum to.  I’m glad I had to practice this one because I’ve played it a few times but only from memory so I know I missed a few details over the years.  Part of me likes making a song my own, another part says “Learn how to play it correctly, damn it!”

Sixteen Saltines (Jack White): A vote from JF as he loves this song.  It was the first time hearing it so it is taking me awhile to get the hang of it.  Plus, Jack’s vocals are on the screamy end of the sprectrum so it’s taking a little getting used to.

Hold Me In Your Arms (Trews): Oh man!  Talk about a vocal killer!  Collin can NAIL the awesome classic rock high end vocals whereas it’s taking me everything to get up to that level.  I used to be able to sing really high but nowadays…not so much!  Not sure how this one will work out.  I may have to bring it down a key.

So that’s that.  Practicing is going well and I’m looking forward to the upcoming jam session!