- Mahatma Gandhi
The worst dream Alison ever had was of someone forcing her to eat the dirtiest, blackest snow you can imagine by the side of the road. I've heard about it on many occasions. She can still remember exactly how it tasted. We happened upon this batch the other night and had to take a picture of it, as it matched her remembered nightmare so exactly. Believe it or not, it's a colour photo!
I don't even know where to begin in telling you what we've been up to, so much has happened in the last week. It's good to be busy with projects you care about, but sometimes things can maybe get a little too busy. I'll try to confine myself to the actually interesting.
Most recently (yesterday, as a matter of fact), I played a couple of shows in one night again. This time only one was with Al. It was an early show at a space called the Bus Stop Theatre on Gottingen, as part of the In the Dead of Winter festival. The space is really nice and intimate, and right around the corner from our house. I hope to play there again sometime soon.
What's that key you've chosen there, Al?The woman playing harmonica is Catriona Sturton. She used to play bass (and harmonica) with Al way back in the day when I used to play guitar with him. She was also the bassist for Plumtree, a long-time favourite of the Halifax indie rock scene, with whom I shared many a bill when I was in The Euphonic. Catriona was in town to give a harmonica workshop and play a show of her own at Gus' Pub, which was the second show I played that night, as I accompanied her on guitar.
Catriona came by our place at nine in the morning that day to teach me the songs we'd be playing together.
I had to learn a bunch of songs in pretty short order, and then there were some fairly awful sound problems at Gus', but in the end it was a really fun time. The crowd was eating up Catriona's unabashed showwomanship. I got to play a super-rock-out guitar solo, too, which I completely mangled.
In other music-related news, I finally got together with my friends Charles and Cliff last week for a solid jam session in which we worked on a couple of brand new tunes. It was a great time and I think we're going to try and take it quite seriously, getting together once a week. Tomorrow night's the next rehearsal, which means I have to pick out a new piece of music to work on from my steadily growing mountain of unused riffage, and write some melodies/lyrics for what we've already started. I'm looking forward to getting down to it, but I hope it's not going to interfere with my Grammy-watching tonight.
I know, I know, the Grammys are a mostly unwatchable celebration of terrible music and self-congratulation. I know it's an outrageous waste of time and money, the sole purpose of which is to further inflate the egos of a bunch of cheesy-smiled, cacophony-loving, talentless narcissists whose heads are already swelled to near-exploding capacity. But, as I've recently become re-involved in the music business, I feel it my duty to witness the public judgment of my peers. Will Justin Timberlake continue to be the luckiest boy alive, or is some even less likely "musical" prodigy preparing to usurp his sexy, impeccably produced throne? Actually, I really just want to see The Police's reunion. A new Police album right now might be slightly less relevant than a "Where's the Beef?" t-shirt, but given the choice between Sting and his mates or Sting left to his own devices, I'll take the former. Then I'll probably continue watching until the Gravol is just about to lose its efficacy.
Did that sound a little hateful? Hmm. I don't want you to think I go around hating everything because it's just not true. I've been buying tons of new music lately, and some of it is just fantastic. Here are two songs that are my current favourites.
And speaking of stellar music, my coworker, Sean, loaned me a 2-disc anthology of John Lennon tunage the other day, and I listened to it all day long. I always knew that I was a Lennon fan, but maybe not the extent of it. I think he's somebody I should be consciously ripping off a little more. I also realized that this song much better expresses what I'd been trying to say in that other post a couple of weeks back. And now Lennon keeps coincidentally cropping up in my life. That documentary, The U.S. vs. John Lennon is coming out any day now, so I'll have to rent it.
Blah blah music music... I've got plenty more to tell you that has nothing to do with music, but it's going to have to wait, as the Grammys are going to be starting soon and I haven't even eaten my dinner. Sorry. It'll be less than a week, though, I promise.
- Andrew
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