February 27, 2007
Arcade Fire - Intervention on SNL
I'm assuming this one will probably disappear sooner than later.
November 26, 2006
Theresa Sokyrka Concert
Theresa Sokyrka Concert, Originally uploaded by iChris.
As part of Sue's birthday present (big 30 next week!) I took her to the Theresa Sokyrka concert on Saturday night at the Broadway Theatre. Sue really enjoyed it, as did her parents who came along. I'm not a huge fan of her music but she does have a great voice that sounds a lot better in person than on her CDs, as is often the case with singer/songerwriter types. Her and her drummer and bass player seemed to be having a good timing playing together which is the main thing, I suppose. Claiming Radiohead as her favorite band seemed a bit odd, given the easy listening type of music she puts out - but her cover of 'Lucky' was decent enough.
November 24, 2006
5to9: The Trilogy (Thus Far)
October 25, 2006
Oh My God
oh my god, look around this place
your fingers reach around the bone
you set the break and set the tone
flights of grace, and future falls
in present pain
all fools say, "oh my god"
oh my god, why are we so afraid?
we make it worse when we don't bleed
there is no cure for our disease
turn a phrase, and rise again
or fake your death and only tell your closest friend
oh my god.
oh my god, can i complain?
you take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief
weddings, boats and alibis
all drift away, and a mother cries
liars and fools; sons and failures
thieves will always say
lost and found; ailing wanderers
healers always say
whores and angels; men with problems
leavers always say
broken hearted; separated
orphans always say
war creators; racial haters
preachers always say
distant fathers; fallen warriors
givers always say
pilgrim saints; lonely widows
users always say
fearful mothers; watchful doubters
saviors always say
sometimes i cannot forgive
and these days, mercy cuts so deep
if the world was how it should be, maybe i could get some sleep
while i lay, i dream we're better,
scales were gone and faces light
when we wake, we hate our brother
we still move to hurt each other
sometimes i can close my eyes,
and all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing,
what makes me so badly bent?
we all have a chance to murder
we all feel the need for wonder
we still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder
sometimes when i lose my grip, i wonder what to make of heaven
all the times i thought to reach up
all the times i had to give
babies underneath their beds
hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,
all the comforts of cathedrals
all the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
all the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense
oh my god
oh my god
oh my god
Jars of Clay, "Good Monsters"
October 16, 2006
Johnny Cash's Final Performance
October 5, 2006
Iggy Pop's Tour Rider
First off, I apologize if the picture unsettles your breakfast. He's not exactly the prettiest man in rock.
Take a gander over at Iggy Pop's 18 page tour rider. Including such gems as:
- 1 x KORG 2000 DIGITAL RACK TUNER. Digital in the sense that it works via an electronically generated number system, not digital because it only works if someone holds it together with their fingers.
- 3 x MARSHALL VBA BASS AMPLIFIERS Make sure they’re good ones or we’ll all end up as wormlike web-based life forms in the bass player’s online literary diahorrea. Honestly. He’s like a sort of internet Pepys or Boswell, except without the gout and the syphilis. For all I know.
- We need: one(1) monitor man who speaks good English and is not afraid of death.… in Galicia in Northern Spain, they appear to think - if they just ignore riders like this, then supply a fat, beared hippy with a digital monitor desk (doh!) who doesn’t know *** about eq-ing, and monitor wedges that would be better suited to wedging doors open, and a load of stage managers and PA geezers and promoters reps who shout a lot - that this is the same as actually providing what a band needs in order to do a gig to the best of their ability. And that if they deny that their gear is no good, it will suddenly, mysteriously, become good. I’d just like to say that the next time the Stooges get booked for their festival, I’m going to turn up with some pickled eggs, a set of dog-eared encyclopedias with the volumes E-G missing, and a screwdriver that’s been accidentally dropped in a toilet.
August 15, 2006
New K-os Single Free on iTunes
If you dig some Canadian hip-hop, K-os' new single, Electrik HeaT - The SeekwiLL, is the free download this week.
July 28, 2006
Radiohead Video Retrospective
This site has a collection of 20 Radiohead videos from the past few years.
May 4, 2006
Music Revolution Anyone?
Anyone else signed up for last.fm? Join the revolution.
May 3, 2006
Top 15 Worst Album Covers
January 3, 2006
Top 50 Videos of 2005
December 30, 2005
2005 Song Review from iTunes
So in 2005 I added 831 songs to my library, roughly 4.84GB or 2.5 days worth of music. My total library sits at 2319 songs/items or 7 days of music. 308 of those I added last year I have never listened to once and so logically I should be able to just delete those songs... but because I'm a collector I can't. I thought I'd create my own best-of album of songs I bought in 2005. So these aren't songs that necessarily came out in 2005, they were just added to my iTunes library in the last year somehow. So in somewhat of an actual playlist order, here goes:
- Neighborhood #1 (Tunnel), The Arcade Fire
- I don't know if there would be as many of their songs on this list if I hadn't seen them live opening up for U2 in November. So many of their songs now conjour up images of 15,000 people singing along that it's hard for me not to love this album.
- All These Things That I've Done, The Killers
- While the rest of the album got a bit tiring for me, this song is still a fav of mine. Bringing back the synths.
- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, U2
- Snuck this one in because I bought a single version of the CD. Fast becoming one of my favorite U2 songs, and therefore one of my all time favorites.
- Fix You, Coldplay
- It follows a bit of a formula (slow wail over building instruments, close with a sing along and big cymbal crashes), but it's still easily my favorite Coldplay tune.
- Dreamgirl, Dave Matthews Band
- I think of a beautiful sunrise whenever I hear the opening to this song. While the album wasn't as good as some of their previous this song is definitely a stand-out.
- Golddigger, Kanye West
- Being a white, suburban, middle-class male I have to like Kanye - but I really don't. This song just reminds me of the movie 'Ray' which reminds me of flying to Australia. And that's the true reason why I like this song. Honest. :)
- Rebellion (Lies), The Arcade Fire
- Single note piano with pounding drums. What more could you want?
- Cannonball, Damien Rice
- This begins the acoustic portion of the set. Travis introduced me to Damien and both Sue and I have loved singing along to this album.
- Man in Black, Johnny Cash
- A summary of his life and who he was and why he did what he did and why we should be doing more for those who have nothing.
- I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash
- A song of devotion to his new wife after leaving his first wife. A walking contradiction.
- Better Together, Jack Johnson
- We played this album, In Between Dreams, a lot when in Australia and so it brings back a lot of good memories for me.
- Delicate, Damien Rice
- Before Travis introduced us to this, we first heard it on Lost. That's another addiction of ours. :)
- Till Kingdom Come, Coldplay
- As you can tell, I'm a sucker for anything Johnny Cash. And this song was written with him in mind.
- Banana Pancakes, Jack Johnson
- Sue's favorite Jack Johnson tune - and therefore one of my favorites as well.
- A Message, Coldplay
- A great building song that starts and ends softly on acoustic but blows up into a great middle chorus.
- The Blower's Daughter, Damien Rice
- Clearly the best song on his album, O. You can't have the other songs without this one.
- Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash
- Why I love Johnny Cash. My dad had this LP and I used to listen to it when I was 10 on our record player - remember those?
- Delia's Gone, Johnny Cash
- I have a strange love for dark songs - and this is a dark one. Just packaged in a happy sounding song.
- Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), The Arcade Fire
- Great echos and xylophone playing.
- Wake Up, The Arcade Fire
- Again, 15,000 people singing along to the 'Ohhhhh's in this song give me shivers each time I hear it.
- Undivided Focus, Heather Clark
- Beautiful voice and great message of how unfocused I can become.
- Small Town (Live in Saskatoon), Pearl Jam
- My favorite Pearl Jam song sung in my hometown. I wasn't at the concert, but I bought it on the internet. :)
- The Wanderer, U2 Featuring Johnny Cash
- Combining my two favorite artists of all time, I don't know that a song better captures the life of Johnny Cash. It's too bad the movie they did this year didn't include some of his later work.
- Jealous Kind, Jars of Clay
- I'm sensing a pattern in my life here - I really go for songs that build into a big chorus and end with a sing along.
- One, Mary J. Blige Featuring U2
- Next to 'Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own' this was/is my favorite U2 song, especially done live. This is a live version that appears on MJB's new album that re-energizes the song without going over the top.
- Slow Motion, David Gray
- A great album, but I got it too late in 2005 to really like it. This is a great song for closing credits.
Your thoughts/comments/tirades?
December 20, 2005
Warming Up on Guitar
Apparently this guy thinks he's awesome or something... he misses a couple notes, you can totally tell he didn't put the effort in to become a truly great guitarist.
November 30, 2005
U2 in Montreal
It's hard to believe the weekend is over after waiting for it for so long. Our trip out to Montreal was definitely too short as far as visiting but the U2 concert was amazing. Arcade Fire were really, really good. It was neat to see them in their home town and have a crowd that actually appreciated the opening band almost as much as the featured band.
Our tickets were just General Admission (standing on the floor) tickets and then when you enter the stadium they scan your ticket to see if you get in to the 'ellipse', basically the catwalk the band runs/walks around on during the concert. We didn't scan in and were bummed - but thanks to some of my u2log.com friends we were able to get smuggled in.
Obviously I'm a bit biased being a U2 fan to being with, but it was an amazing concert. Being that close to the band in such a small space with 300-400 other fans made it feel like a really intimate show - but then looking up and around you and seeing 15-20,000 other people singing along made it feel really, really big.
There were many, many highlights from the concert - it was treat to hear them close out with '40' with Adam and Edge swapping instruments. It was also neat to see the band so visibly moved by the response from the loud Montreal crowd.
Here's a video montage of a few clips I took with my digital still camera. And here's a whole schwack of pictures I took during the concert. Way too many but I figured since it's digital you can always go back and delete them later. :) Enjoy!
November 7, 2005
WJOF Wrap-Up
November 3, 2005
Speaking of Not Being Busy...
This weekend I'm playing guitar with/for Heather Clark at the Women's Journey of Faith conference being held at the Centennial. 800-1,000 women from around the province gathering together finding out about their true purpose, drink coffee and to hear me play guitar. Haha.. Just kidding about that last part.
The funny (scary, wierd, etc) part about the whole thing is that I've never met Heather Clark, nor do I have any idea what songs we're playing on Saturday at the conference or at the concert she's putting on Saturday night at the Southridge Outreach Center. Whew! I'm a bit stressed... but then I think that if nothing else, I can snap one of my guitar strings on the first song and never be asked back! :)
September 20, 2005
Listen, don't Watch - Eddie Vedder with U2
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam anyone?) joined U2 onstage for a bit of 'Ol Man River' - check out the video here. Though be warned, you can't see much, but you can hear the distinctive growl of Mr. Vedder.
September 11, 2005
Rediscovered the Pearl
I've recently rediscovered that I enjoy listening to Pearl Jam. They toured through town last week and while I didn't attend, after hearing that it was such a good show I bought the recording of the show off their website. It's actually a really good deal, $10 (US dollars I believe) for an MP3 recording of the whole show along with pictures and a pre-made CD liner that you can print out if you want. 26 songs in all, including a cover of 'Running Back to Saskatoon'
I think 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town' is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs - and Yield is probably my favorite album of theirs. I have lots of nostalgia love for Ten and Vs. because I grew up on them but Yield is the album I chose to like on my own, without influcence from friends.
I think 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town' is one of my favorite Pearl Jam songs - and Yield is probably my favorite album of theirs. I have lots of nostalgia love for Ten and Vs. because I grew up on them but Yield is the album I chose to like on my own, without influcence from friends.
I seem to recognize your face
Haunting, familiar, yet I can’t seem to place it
Cannot find the candle of thought to light your name
Lifetimes are catching up with me
All these changes taking place,
I wish I’d seen the place
But no one’s ever taken me
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away... (2x)
I swear I recognize your breath
Memories like fingerprints are slowly raising
Me you wouldn’t recall, for
I’m not my former
It’s hard when you’re stuck upon the shelf
I changed by not changing at all, small town predicts my fate
Perhaps that’s what no one wants to see
I just want to scream...hello...
My God it’s been so long, never dreamed you’d return
But now here you are, and here I am
Hearts and thoughts they fade...away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away... (2x)
Hearts and thoughts they fade...away...
Hearts and thoughts they fade, fade away... (3x)
Hearts and thoughts they fade...
August 15, 2005
Sarah Slean Single on iTunes Music Store
I think there's a few Sarah Slean fans out there - a remix of her single, Mary, is on the iTunes Music store for those that might care.
August 8, 2005
Free Loops for Garageband, etc.
Five Weeks of Free loops for Garageband, Logic, etc. Each week, a new set of loops are availabe here.
August 5, 2005
William Gibson on U2
William Gibson writes for 'Wired' as he follows U2 on their tour.
July 29, 2005
Rock Star Pose
July 14, 2005
Too hot to post
It's been too nice out to post anything of interest on here. Lots of BBQing, biking, beach volleyball. Pretty much anything that starts with a 'B' works.
The wind this morning was brutal biking in to work - I felt like I was peddling in molasses. There are two things that suck in Saskatchewan in summer... wind and mosquitos. The wind helps get rid of mosquitos, but if we didn't have the mosquitos we wouldn't need the wind.
Someone is going to win a whole bunch of iPods and songs if they happen to be the 500 millionth iTunes music store customer.
July 6, 2005
U2 Backstage Crew Blogs
U2's generator crew has started blogging. Follow them on their Euro leg of the tour. Hopefully 'the man' doesn't shut them down.
June 22, 2005
Wanna Direct a Music Video?
Scott Andrew, a indie type internet musician, is offering up one of his songs to prospective music video makers out there to film/edit/design a video for his song. The best one (in his opinion) wins a iPod shuffle.
Think I'll give it a try if I have time to do it. Take a listen to the song and offer any suggestions.
May 25, 2005
Bono Rants on a Chicago Journalist
"Those [rap metal] people should just take suicide pills and go away."
Read the rest of the interview here. The journalist really takes Bono to task for some of the issues U2 fans have had with U2 lately... going soft, not taking risks... selling out to Apple and the Superbowl, etc. Blah blah.
May 18, 2005
Coldplay X&Y
Pre-order Coldplay's new album, X&Y, on iTunes Music Store and get 2 extra songs.
Done and done. I am a buying machine after all. I don't know how to do anything else.
May 13, 2005
Too Much Music
I just passed 2000 songs on my iPod. That's 6 days of music totalling 9.54GB. Granted, half of the songs haven't even played once - I just dumped most of my CD collection on to my iPod 'just in case' I might want to listen to Never Tear Us Apart by INXS.
Any Mac OS X (especially if you've upgraded to Tiger) users have to check out Comic Life. It's a cool little program that basically allows you to make a comic book out of your photos in iPhoto, complete with comic book page templates, caption bubbles and filters to make your photos look more like a comic. The demo lasts for 30 days so you get a good chance to try it out before deciding whether to buy it or not.
April 5, 2005
iTunes Music Store has Free Downloads
The Canadian version of the iTunes music store now has the free download of the week going. Nothing all that special this week as it's 'The Be Good Tanyas' that are featured - but good to know free is coming to us Canadians as well.
April 1, 2005
Garageband
Makin music on the mac - articles/tips/etc.
March 18, 2005
U2 in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame
March 7, 2005
Data That Has Little to no Meaning
How many total songs? 2183
Sort by song name:
First: 'Round Springfield (Medley)', The Simpsons, Songs in the Key of Springfield
Last: 'Zooropa (Ultra Rare Radio Edit US)', U2, Papya
Sort by time:
Shortest: 'Champagne Cork', Skywalker Sounds, DotMac iMovie Sound Effects (0:01)
Longest: 'Better Man', Oasis, Heathen Chemistry (38:02)
Sort by album:
First: (What's The Story) Morning Glory, Oasis
Last: Zooropa, U2
Top Ten Most-Played songs:
Sometimes You Can't..., U2
Miracle Drug, U2
City of Blinding Lights, U2
Love and Peace or Else, U2
One Step Closer, U2
Vertigo (Single Version), U2
Crumbs From Your Table, U2
O Praise Him, David Crowder Band
Kite, U2
A Man and a Woman, U2
Ten most recently-played songs (newest to oldest):
The entire Pilate 'Caught by the Window' album
Find "sex;" how many songs show up? 1
Find "death;" how many songs show up? 1
Find "love;" how many songs show up? 147
meme from a fellow named Chris.
February 25, 2005
I think I need One
January 28, 2005
Uh for U2
The poopy stuff has hit the fans.
A $40 membership at u2.com for advance purchase of tickets that may or may not be there and now fans in the UK are told they are limited to the purchase of tickets for one show only and a maximum of 4 tickets for that show. I think everyone involved realizes in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big a deal. But it is very frustrating for some, especially those who've given a great deal of time and/or money and support to the band. Right now it's easy for me to not really care what's happening 'cause I won't be catching any shows on these legs of the tour, but I can still understand the level of frustration going down.
You can't really blame U2 though. I mean, this whole internet thing just kind of snuck up on them and how were they supposed to know it was going to take off like gangbusters?
January 10, 2005
Wow - Guitar Effects for the Enlightened
Now I know why I haven't been able to shred to the max on my guitar at church - I'm missing the jesusonic!
January 6, 2005
Bookmark For Later
Free AU or VST effects plugins available here.
December 10, 2004
Some Crap Band
Swiped from www.thevirginprunes.net.
December 9, 2004
Brooklyn Bridge Calling
Sometimes things happen that makes you wonder why it took so long for it to happen. U2 has released part of their free concert in Brooklyn (near Brooklyn? What do I know, I don't live in New York) on the iTunes music store. Meanwhile, I'm downloading a DVD of the concert from Bittorrent.
It'll be interesting to see how much of the music from their tour next year gets thrown online via iTunes. Hopefully other artists start getting the special treatment from Apple/iTunes. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love hearing different versions of songs, especially live, when a band experiments a bit.
December 7, 2004
New Music Tuesday
Well new music Tuesday brings some new items to the iTunes Music store - BandAid 20, Sarah Slean exclusive single, Lauryn Hill's Unplugged No. 2, and The Scissor Sisters.
Me and my big mouth. A day after I posted it on u2log, Apple wised up and fixed the fact that you could buy all the bonus songs individually on the U2 digital box set.
December 2, 2004
iTunes Canada is Finally Here
If that link doesn't work, you need to grab a copy of iTunes for Windows or Mac.
November 22, 2004
How To Dismantle An Album Release
Tomorrow's D day for the new U2 album. As U2 drive around Gotham playing from the back of a flatbed truck, you can get the album in whatever format you desire.
Continue reading for lyrics from my current favorite off the new album: Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.
November 18, 2004
Pilate at Louis
Joel Would (And Did) Give His Right Eye For Pilate
Originally uploaded by iChris.
Joel gave his right eye to see Pilate last night. I gave up 2 hours of my life listening to 2 other crappy bands (Boy and Memory Bank) before finally getting to the good stuff.
It was akin to having to wade through mushroom-capped something appetizers to get to your steak. But man was it a good steak.
Mmmm.... steak.
November 17, 2004
U2 on the BBC
Pilate Tonight
November 12, 2004
IMG_2656.JPG
Evil Jason
Miracle Drug
Lyrics from one of my current favs on the new U2 album:
I want to trip inside your head
Spend the day there...
To hear the things you haven't said
And see what you might see
I want to hear you when you call
Do you feel anything at all?
I want to see your thoughts take shape
And walk right out
Freedom has a scent
Like the top of a new born baby's head
October 10, 2004
The World is on Fire
Hearts are worn
In these dark ages
You're not alone,
In these stories' pages
The light has fallen
Amongst the living and the dying
And I'll try to hold it in
Yeah I'll try to hold it in
The world is on fire
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
Try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able ...
I watch the heavens
But I find no calling
Something I can do to change what's coming
Stay close to me
While the sky is falling
I don't wanna be left alone,
Don't want to be alone...
The world is on fire
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
Try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able ...
Hearts break ... hearts mend ... love still hurts
visions clash ... planes crash
Still there's talk of saving souls
Still the cold is closing in on us
We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line
On this short run ...
The more we take the less we become
The fortune of one man means less for some
The world is on fire
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
Try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able ...
The world is on fire
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
Try and bring my share
Try to bring more, more than I can handle
Bring it to the table
Bring what I am able ..
- Sarah McLachlan - 'World on Fire'
October 1, 2004
How To Dismantle the Tracklisting
Track by track account from the new album.
From u2log.com of course.
September 23, 2004
New U2 Song Hits The web
August 22, 2004
Prince Leads the Charge
Gotta give the guy credit for running against the grain, even though I don't necessarily dig his music.
Interesting numbers from the article:
ï 666,666: The number of CDs Prince had to sell under his old record deal to make $1 million.
ï 142,857: The number of CDs Prince has to sell now, on his own, to make $1 million
ï 13 million: The number of Purple Rain CDs sold since 1984
ï $19.5 million: The money Prince made off those Purple Rain sales
ï 1.3 million: The number of Musicology CDs sold this year
ï $9.1 million: The money Prince made off those Musicology sales
ï 30: Roughly, the number of studio albums Prince has released in 26 years.
ï 24,800: The average number of people who see Prince in each city
ï $1.5 million: The average concert gross in each city
ï $63.26: Prince's average ticket price
ï $143.60: Madonna's average ticket price
ï $79.5 million: Madonna's tour gross
ï $45.7 million: Prince's tour gross through June 30
ï $100 million: Prince's expected gross at tour's end
Link via Caroline.
August 14, 2004
The Cash Family Empties Out the Vaults
It's kind of sad, but inevitable I guess, that you can bid on a whole schwack of Johnny and June Carter-Cash property from their estate.
Maybe I should bid on his rifle?
August 10, 2004
Pilate At The Ex
Went to see Pilate tonight. (Pics here) Pretty good show. I can imagine they'd be a lot better in a club/indoor venue so I'll try and catch them in the fall when they come back. Check out a video clip here.
July 15, 2004
They Did It Again
Is it a hoax for free publicity or is it a real theft: Edge left a CD of songs from U2's new album sitting out and it's gone missing.
Those paying attention will remember that when the Electrical Storm single was due to come out, somehow a copy fell into the hands of a DJ friend of Bono's who then, "against the band's wishes", played it on air and leaked it to the world. Much press and MTV time followed for the band.
Countdown to it being available on Kazaa: 5, 4,3....
June 17, 2004
New U2 Single Finished
U2's new single is apparently finished.
If you're in Dublin, head by the studio with a minidisc recorder and grab some samples of the tunes. :)
June 15, 2004
Lowest of the Low
I was never a big fan of INXS, but I have to agree with Caroline that this is sinking to a new low in an attempt to gain fading popularity. INXS are searching for a new lead singer through a Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice, other reality cash cows) led reality show called Rock Star.
June 1, 2004
Music Ramblings and H2
I'm sure some of you vaguely remember me prattling on way back when about some band called Pilate that Carlos introduced me to and now that they're getting play on radio and Much you probably hate them because there's some magical rule about a band being played on radio and TV that forces you to hate them even if they write a good tune. Which is too bad because you'll miss out on a great record.
After just finishing Dude, Where's My Country I'm wondering if Mr. Moore isn't behind this site.
May 27, 2004
The Dead Are One
Something I didn't expect to hear - The Dead covering U2's One.
Link from u2log.com.
May 21, 2004
Getting a Law Degree
May 12, 2004
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
The Mac Blog has moved to being a joint effort with coworkers and is now located here. It's just a bookmark blog for neat Apple related stuff we come across while we work. Very geeky.
The Lydia's open mic gig went pretty good last night. We had our drummer drop out at the last minute but Mark (Marc?) stepped in and covered well on congos and the full kit for Desire. I find it really hard to do much dynamically on accoustic so it felt like our set just was a mash of songs blending together. I really should have gotten a better accoustic guitar a long time ago but my techie interests always get in the way of the funds being there. Maybe a nice Simon and Patrick. Hmmmmm...
I think I have a performance inhibitor in my brain. Whenever I go on stage I'm sure it looks like I'm pissed to be there and not having a good time at all. The opposite is actually true. I'm having a great time, loving the music but I just don't know what to do with myself. I get lost in playing the guitar and forget to move... and so I end up like a statue. Which is fine if you're the only one doing it in a band... but we all tend to do that so we look like a band of robots sometimes.
Ah but we're just getting started. Give it time I guess. Once we make the jump to stadium rock we'll get the stage dives, guitar solos on my knees and flaming guitars going hard core.
May 11, 2004
Ooops, I Did It Again
I forgot to post anything about it on here - we're jammin tonight at Lydia's open mic.. 11:20-12. I'll be the one playing guitar. Carlos will be the drunk screaming obscenities from the bar.
May 10, 2004
Limp Blog
Fred Durst has got himself a blog. That should let all you Durst haters have an outlet for your durst'isms.
April 29, 2004
Allofmp3.com Legal?
Well my initial experience has been pretty good with allofmp3.com. I plopped $10US (approx $15Cdn) into Paypal and got 1GB of downloads from them. Being a bit nervous about how long it might actually last, I'm quickly burning through that 1GB. I've downloaded 5 complete albums (Nelly Furtado, Johnny Cash, Dido, Norah Jones, Daniel Lanois) as well as a bunch of other single tunes (call them guilty pleasures, *cough* Timberlake *cough*, stuff I wouldn't want to be caught buying at Future Shop - ).
The more I read about them, they seem to be on the up and up. I found a review of allofmp3.com that explains a bit. They also link to a bunch of artists that have free downloads on allofmp3.com. Use your discretion. It boils down to laws being different in Russia (duh) as well as the US dollar to Russian ruble conversion being in our favor in a big way.
It's no where near as easy as what iTunes music store would/will be - if they ever get around to releasing it up north here.
April 28, 2004
Mp3 Downloads From Russia
I'm trying out allofmp3.com - a mp3 sales site based in Russia. heh heh. Sounds way too shady to be good but there were a bunch of people on Slashdot who've been using it for awhile and haven't had any problem. I paid $10US through Paypal (so about $15Cdn) which gives me 1GB of downloads at whatever encoding rate I choose - including AAC (mp4 - what Apple uses). A 5 minute song encoded at 192k AAC is roughly 5MB. 1000MB (1 GB) divided by 5 is 200. 200 songs for $15 is pretty good. :) It's about $0.08 per song. Because I paid through Paypal they don't have my credit card number so at worst I'd be out $15.
Basically you choose the songs you want, the rate you'd like them encoded at and then they send you an email when it's ready to be downloaded. I'll let you know how it turns out.
April 19, 2004
Music... Makes The People...
Mp3.com is back only it's been bought out by download.com and has a fancy new interface. It's in beta right now but you can go and sign up and get your artist name locked in before everyone else.
You're limited to 50MB per artist, but you can have as many artists as you want - though they say they'll kill any duplicate names (i.e. No Method, No Methods, etc) if you attempt to gain more space that way.
Right now you can only put your songs up there to be downloadable. There's no streaming option since they're still working out the kinks.
March 30, 2004
Music Industry NOT In A slump
The recording industry is not being hurt by pirated music as they would like you to believe. Here's an excellent write-up on the recent news that's come out that the Australian recording industry is hiding numbers showing that they've had their best year ever so that they can trumpet the anti-piracy claims.
And a new study by researchers at Harvard and N. Carolina states that even high levels of file-swapping seemed to translate into an effect on album sales that was "statistically indistinguishable from zero."
March 27, 2004
New Muzak From Me
I've added a few new things to the blog (the mac blog makes a re-appearance) among which is a radio.blog music player. It's flash based and basically allows me to throw up a bunch of tunes I'm diggin and you can listen... or not. They're in flash format so it's not like you can go grab the MP3 and steal it.
I'll be adding tracks to it shortly.
Idea swiped from Caroline. Thx!
March 24, 2004
The Muse Struck
I've got three videos I have to work on for an Easter presentation at FGCC. They've been a challenge to do as they're basically your typical talking head interview video but we've been trying to make them a little more interesting to watch without going over the top with edits/cuts/effects/cheese.
Spring is finally coming and hopefully the snow is actually going to stay gone this time. We've been tempted and teased so many times by spring this year (foul temptress that she is) that it's a little hard to believe it's actually going to stick this time. But this week is supposed to be above 0 all week - that's celsius for our American friends.
What's the weather like in your world today?
March 19, 2004
Sample This Beat
Did you always wonder which songs The Beastie Boys sampled to construct 'Time To Get Ill'? Well, now you can know that they sampled The Steve Miller Band and Stevie Wonder.
Slick little site that's growing by the day.
March 8, 2004
Running Your Own Label
Found this via boing-boing:
Here's a blog by a guy who's attempting to run his own label that's done under a Creative Commons license so that, in a sense, it's open source music I guess? Interesting article on world musicians who sign their life over to record producers/labels and thus see no money from their recordings. This makes him not-evil.
March 5, 2004
Steve Rang My Bell
We went to a Steve Bell concert last night at Ebenezer Church. He brought along his daughter who sang and he had a jazz pianist from The Penny Merchants and a double bass player from the Winnipeg jazz scene. The folky stylings of Steve's music doesn't usually make for a very lively show, but with the piano and double bass it turned out to be an amazing night of music. The piano player was outstanding - tasetful when he needed to be and loud and agressive when the song warranted. A "riff-off" between the piano player and bass player ended when the piano player threw in the theme to Inspector Gadget.
It's always depressing and exciting to watch musicians that inspire you to be better than you are. Depressing because you see how much time you've wasted instead of playing guitar feverishly for 12 hours a day but exciting because you can see what the result would be if you did devote yourself to practicing how much you should.
March 3, 2004
Pilate - Not the Workout
I don't usually dig Canadian bands simply because they're Canadian. It's only natural that you try your hardest to keep the locals humble and down on the ground where they should be and save the posturing and rock 'n rolling to the Euro bands. (sidenote: For some reason I'm okay with 'digging' Canadian female singers, but then I have to by right of marriage) This band has all the right mixes of Coldplay, Radiohead and whatever other moderately relevant band you want to throw in there to make a 3some.
February 28, 2004
Battle Wrap Up
We came, we saw, we left early cuz the other bands sucked. More Pics Here
Well, that's not totally true. We only stayed for the next two bands and then split. It was a fun first time out for this crew as a whole and hope to play again. In a way not having a soundcheck and plugging in to an amp I'd never seen before tonight was a bit refreshing and we knew, aside from how we played, we had very little control over what we ended up sounding like.
You can check out a video clip here. The distortion is from the mic on the camera, not your speakers so don't worry.
Now begins our 'eastern mysticism period' where we experiment with drugs and use lots of sitars.
February 27, 2004
Battle 'o the Bands
Well it looks like we're playing from 7:05pm - 7:35pm this Saturday night. If you want to come, get a ticket from one of us (Travis D., Kenton, Shane) before the show and it's $6 instead of $8 at the door. Send me an email (chris at mennoboy.com).
Here's who else is playing in case you're interested:
August 29, 2002
more u2 for u
Well there's 3 versions of the single floating around apparently - check out this site for all 3 (although Mark said that the site crashed his computer so you might want to be careful with that one!). Apparently two of the versions are essentially the same, one is just a single channel (mono) version of the other so it sounds a bit different but is basically the same. Either way it's great to hear new U2 material, even if it is a throw away tune from the ATYCLB sessions.
Too busy today at work to think as two people (one being Phil - go yell at him for me) were away sick today. But we had a fun time in the store - the day goes by quicker when it's busy like that.
The MTV Video Music Awards are on tonight so I think we'll be watching that until it gets lame. Perhaps sneaking over to my parent's place to sit in the hot tub would be a good idea after standing on my feet all day. L8r.
August 28, 2002
Bono's got a hole, dear Liza
U2log.com has a post on Bono's God Shaped Hole.
All this is just an excuse to test out the Trackback system... again... yes I'm stupid.
August 25, 2002
New U2
The u2 news site I work with has got the new u2 song already - apparently it was played earlier this morning on the BBC. Click here to check it out!
(read on for chords and lyrics if you're so inclined)
Electrical Storm (lyrics)
Intro: F#m / A / E / B
Verse:
F#m / A / B
The sea it swells like a sore head
F#m / A / B
and the night it is aching
F#m / A / B
Two lovers lie with no sheets on their bed
F#m / A / B
and the day it is breaking
F#m / A / B
On rainy days we go swimming out
F#m / A / B
on rainy days, swimming in the sound
F#m / A / B
On rainy days we go swimming out
Pre-Chorus(?):
D E C#m
You're in my mind all of the time
D
I know that's not enough
D E
if the sky can crack
C#m
there must be some way back
D
for love and only love
Intro: F#m / A / E / B
2nd Verse, Same as the First:
Car alarm won't let you back to sleep
you're kept awake dreaming some else's dream
coffee is cold, but it will get you through
compromise, that's nothing new to you
let's see colours that have never been seen
let's go to places no one else has been
Pre-Chorus(?):
You're in my mind all of the time
I know that's not enough
if the sky can crack
there must be some way back
to love and only love
Chorus:
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
B
Baby don't cry
Intro: F#m / A / E / B (2x)
Verse Chords: (F#m / A / B)
It's hot as hell, honey in this room
sure hope the weather will break soon
the air is heavy, heavy as a truck
hope the rain will wash away our bad luck
D / E / C#m / D
heeeey... heeeey.....
D / E / C#m / D
If the sky can crack, there must be some way back
for love and only love
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
D / E
F#m A
Electrical Storm
B (long time)
Solo: F / C / E / A
E / A
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
Baby don't cry
August 23, 2002
Electric Circus
I just posted this on u2log.com, but you can read a report of U2's video shoot for their new single coming out in October called Electric Storm here.
In other news, if you like to sit in a hot tub, play pool or watch movies on a big screen tv (on D V D ' s! yack) then you're invited to Mark and my b-day party on Saturday night @8pm. Well, actually you'll have to email me first to get directions... but you get the idea.
August 17, 2002
I'll take a Dave Matthews and Busta Ryhmes please
.. for only $150,000US.
This site lists all of Clear Channel Entertainment's pricing for college's who want to hire various entertainers and musicians for an event. So, if you're wanting to book a really special birthday party for someone, get out the old cheque-book and drum up some coporate sponsors and away you go!
Sadly, U2 isn't listed - I guess there really are some things money can't buy. :)
August 15, 2002
Music makes the world go 'round
I've been really enjoying the new cd's we've picked up recently. Sue and I both went on a CD buying spree (2 cd's is a spree for us!), she picked up Alanis' 'Under Rug Swept' which, from the few times I've heard it is actually a pretty good CD. Not nearly as much angst as she used to have - maybe it's the fact that she can blow her nose with $1,000 bills now.
At the same time, I picked up Our Lady Peace - Gravity which has gotten repeated plays in the car stereo. I don't mind singers with distinctive voices (see the next purchase) so these guys don't grate on me the way they seem to for other people. They're also one of the better rock bands on the Canadian scene right now, IMHO.
Finally, I had picked up Oasis - Heathen Chemistry because I'd heard the first two singles and liked them so I thought I'd give the album a try. While it hasn't gotten as much play as OLP has, I really like the album. It's just not as much rock'n in the car type music, more like a good album to put on while working on a web site. :)
Some albums that I'm looking forward to hearing are:
- the new best-of from U2 with 2 new tunes
- Coldplay's "A Rush of Blood to the Head"
- Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" is supposed to be good, but that could just be all the whole "America looking to get back to it's roots" thing
- Holly Mcnarland's "Home Is Where My Feet Are" whose single 'Beautiful Blue' is, well, beautiful.
August 10, 2002
That's a Travisty
Oh, one other thing I did forget to say. The tunes that I've been working on with Travis are finally up on our mp3.com site - so go and check 'em out and then come back here and leave some feedback. Don't bother with the last one as it's just an earlier version of that song that's much better in it's newer incarnation.
Go on, we can take it. We're big boys now. Let me know what you love or hate about 'em.
July 30, 2002
You are the Rocket Man
It's certainly been a creative couple of weeks with Travis and I. Not that these tunes are necessarily great songs or anything, we're just having a lot of fun doing it. We've done up another song - well a cover song this time. For whatever reason Rocket Man by Elton John has been floating around in my head as a cool tune and so, the other night when Travis and I got together and nothing was coming musically we thought we'd try our hands at covering a little Elton. Maybe it was the fact that he's coming here (Saskatoon and Kelowna are his only stops in Canada... I don't understand it) but mostly it was just a cool tune that works well accoustically.
Grab yourself a sample if you dare.
In movie news, The Lord of the Rings DVD comes out in a few days. I'm a bit torn as they are apparently releasing another version in November with 30 minutes of extra footage that the version coming out now doesn't have. They're obviously doing it to help hype the next movie that's coming out in December (for which there was a trailer in the Austin Powers movie - nearly worth the price of admission just for the trailer... well, the trailer and the opening 10 minutes of Austin Powers for sure). Hmmm... well, we'll just have to see what my birthday (Aug 19th hint! hint!) brings me. :)
July 23, 2002
1 Hour Photo - Not likely
So Wal-Mart's 1 Hour photo has turned into 24 hour photo. Now, 24 hours isn't really that long to wait for 3 rolls of film and I'm not really that impatient - but don't advertise 1 hour photo but actually taking 24 hours. Sorry for all the Wal-Mart bashing - I know lots of people really do love that place. Here's a little free advertising for them in exchange:
In other web stuff - check out this site for a look at which albums you shouldn't have in your collection. I think I have about 7 or 8 of them. I think he's a little harsh on U2 in here - but then I could be a bit biased.
Two new websites are up and running that I'm involved with. The first is of the musical variety - Travis's song that was debuted here in a sample format now has a home on mp3.com. Check out http://www.mp3.com/t_ravisty for any of the stuff that Trav and I come up with. Also, be sure to drop by and visit Crystal Redekop's new site that I'm working on with her. It's at http://www.cyrstal-leigh.com and is definitely a work in progress though there's enough there to be able to send the few people that visit this site to check it out.
Photos probably tomorrow - unless Wal-Mart turns into 48 hour photo. ;)
July 11, 2002
When the music's over.. turn out the lights
A very interesting article on the music business by John Densmore, (former?)drummer for The Doors. He talks about not selling the reason they don't sell their songs for commericals (even when offered a couple million and a computer by the president of Apple, Steve Jobs) and also about giving back at least 10% (a.k.a. tithing) to the world.
I went through a Door's phase back in high school (Oliver Stone's The Doors being one of the best rock/band movies made) and while a lot of their tunes are just drug induced ramblings - they did (and obviously still do) have a strong belief and respect for the art of the songs they wrote.
June 24, 2002
Movin on up! (Movin on up!)
Kirk's 'Without Me' parody has been climbing the charts - well the mp3.com parody charts anyways. Saturday he was at number 12 and Sunday he hit number 6.
It sounds impressive, but it's actually only taken 15 and 16 qualified plays (the way mp3.com rates your song) to get to that spot and the song has been ranked 7976 and 5529 in overall performance on mp3.com.
So only 5529 more to go to number one!
June 21, 2002
M&M makes for good music
Kirk's version of 'Without Me' by Eminem is up on the Wedding Singers mp3.com site for your listening, er, pleasure? He drops some fly shouts out to Pastor Abe Klassen (A to the Klizzo) and Pastor Bruce Enns (B-radicaly Uce) - see if you can pick them out.
In 'What's For Lunch' news, I'm headed to Bro's on 3rd Ave for pizza lunch with Markio today. It's a horrible restaurant with crappy service but one heck of a great pizza sauce. Just be sure to put your order in as soon as you get there, unless you've got a few hours to spare.
Also, you can access this page another way now (so you don't have to remember the whole long address), only it won't work if I take my laptop away from work. At any rate, you can also get here using enns.usask.ca. Of course, by the time you read this I will have taken my laptop home for the weekend and it won't work - but you get the idea, right?
June 17, 2002
Best of U2 - Part 2
Check out Mark's new song on our mp3.com site. It's called Mennonite Women (The Sequel). We threw in some funky beats and old-sk00l samples, natch.
u2log.com has info on the second 'Best Of' from U2 that should be out Nov. 11th. It'll probably highlight the '90's (Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Passengers?, Pop) as well as have a b-sides collection. It's funny, but even though I've already got all these cd's and most of the b-sides, I'm still really looking forward to this release. (sue is no doubt rolling her eyes at this!) The 90s are the period that I really got into U2 and it'll be interesting to see if they re-do a track like they did for the previous Best Of with Sweetest Thing or just put a couple new tunes on it to entice people to buy it.
To keep the u2 theme going, i don't know if I ever posted these pictures here - but here's pics from the u2 cover night i did with some friends back a couple months.
June 11, 2002
U2 Can Build America
Check out a video sample of a new U2 tune, "The Hands That Built America." It's planned for the new Scorcese movie, 'Gangs of New York'.
Snagged from: www.u2log.com