sans pollo

Sans Pollo is my odd way of mentioning that AR’s piano mainstay Fito (Pollo Loco) was absent from the gig this weekend.  That wasn’t so bad though.  Frankie filled in on piano for Friday while Saturday only had the guitar holding down all the comping/changes/tumbao stuff …and the odd thing about it was that it wasn’t as busy as it normally is when Frankie or Fito were around.  I think, personally, this was good.  It was more open sounding of course, but then it gave the ear a break from the regular mashed-up-crunchy chords that both piano players are notorious for, in my opinion.

I liked it.  Sure, there could of been more guitar in volume and in right lines etc., but generally it worked well enough, and with some of the guitar parts tweaked I could easily handle being pianoless more often.  Of course it’s needed for certain things, but it’s only the front/solo stuff where you obviously miss it, and when the song gets going then the guitar functions fine.

I think they're happy cause there's no piano!?

On other matters, I’m kinda bagged lately.  I seized my back up the other day by simply jumping, and the muscles went into spasm and I’m just now feeling an improvement.  It’s been a while since I last put it out, but luckily this time I didn’t hear or feel anything ‘poppy’ when it happened …just a giant lower back spasm that took my breath away and made it close to impossible to move. Damn backs.

On to better medical news …my Dad had to have the defibrillator used on him a few days ago and is now in the critical care unit.  It is good news by the way …you see, he’s been having these ‘fainting’ spells for the last 6 months, once a month or so, where he’d go unconscious for no appearant reason.  They tweaked his meds, ran all sorts of tests on his heart and brain and came up empty, but late Thursday night he had another episode that the parametics were lucky enough to be present on, and they were able to put two and two together and decide that he needed a pacemaker.  I guess it’s a 40min. procedure and is typically done as a ‘day patient’, but he has to stay in the hospital until they can schedule him for the surgry because they don’t want him to have another episode and not have anyone around to respond.  He feels perfectly fine …but has to hang out in the hospital until Tuesday next week when he can get his pacemaker and go home.  So yeah, it’s a relief that we know what the problem is and that it can be corrected.  No more guessing.

Rehearsals also started for the musical thing I’m doing …so between that, my Dad, my late nights and my tweaky back – I haven’t been able to really sleep like I need to.  On the plus side it’s probably a good thing as I may have been hitting the gym, pool, trails etc. too much over the last 3 weeks …so maybe my body needs the 4 or 5 days off.  Or at least that’s what I think it’s trying to tell me.

birch trees

I’m not sure what it is, but this simple photo of some birch trees I took a few days ago has suddenly become my favorite.  I shot it through my van window (open of course) as I was leaning over to the passenger side, and only snapped three …all slightly different, with more or less treeless shrub in the foreground.  But this one kinda hit the spot for me.  It almost looks like a painting in a way.  The dimness I suppose.  The flatness and then the depth at the same time.  The way the trunks thin up going back.  I especially like the tilted/slanted trunks that break up the routine.  There’s a few small slanted branches in the foreground too that mirror the larger ones in the back – this was neat.  The brush too fades in detail and size going back.

Like I say, I don’t know …I just like it.

Here’s another that I converted to black and white.  It too is also neat, but I only posted the color version to my flickr page.  The more I look at it though, the more I may change my mind.  Maybe I’ll just stop looking at it.

B&W or color?

Despite The Blindness

It was my final gig with DTB tonight.

It’s kinda sad in a way, but at the same time my decision to leave is an attempt to free up time for my own stuff …and the group needs someone who can give a lot more than I can when it comes to writing/gigging etc.  Leo and James are great guys, and as much as I’m the BEST BASS PLAYER ON THE PLANET (wink wink) I know they’re going to find a more than suitable replacement.  They’ve written some fine songs, have more than enough skillz as musicians and over time should have success with their new album …of which I’m going to contribute bass tracks too!

They’ve been hard at it in the studio lately too, and James will be sending me some rough mixes shortly.  It’s material we’ve been playing for the last few months or so and I expect to lay down lines similar to what I’ve been doing.  We’ll see when I get some more time to hear things …but it should be fun.  One of their new songs is called Passenger (I’ve included a small sample below from this last gig).  Some other tunes are quite heavy, some have slap, some latin, some with smooth stuff …it’s quite a mixture actually, but if done well, should easily draw attention.  That’s the hope of course.

But yeah …it was fun for the time it lasted.  They are great people …and I wish them the best.  I know they have the organization/dedication to make something of it in the long run, and if they ever need a bass sub for a gig they have my number!

Despite The Blindness - me with James and Leo ....and thanks to Crystal for the pic!

on the Middle East…

“The land of Israel has been given to the Jews since the Bible.“

This quote was from an Israeli settler during a recent CTV news interview.  I think it happens to summarize much of the Middle East (Palestine/Israel) conflict.  It melds Law with Religion and makes futile any political attempt at achieving lasting peace in the area.  It also binds logic with belief, supports and condemns by race and denies new spirit in favor of the established.

Both sad and frustrating.

smart fit park

I caught a glimpse of this on TV (yes, I get the irony) …it’s an interactive video learning/activity game for kids, kinda like a Wii Fit but geared for a pre-school audience.  The kid, with a movement pad on which they stand, marches, runs, skips and jumps their way through various activities displayed on screen.  It’s like a virtual park.  They even get to customize their own avatar!

Alright, the exclamation mark after avatar really isn’t needed, but I was only trying to stress the silliness of it all.  It is silly isn’t it?  I mean, having your child simulate playing in a park instead of actually playing in one?  Or is it me?  I can see the use for older, shut-in types of people, but for kids?  Certainly there’s a connection to ‘real life’ …designing a game that ties the thrill of video/computers into the increasingly sedentary lifestyle of today’s youth in an attempt to get them active once again.  But isn’t this a little over the top?  Shouldn’t someone have stepped back and looked at the obvious; ‘We’re designing a toy that simulates a playground so that the child doesn’t have to actually go to one’ …or something like that?

I have a better game idea …it’s called “Unplug the TV!”  You and your child get in front of your TV set and while it’s showing a favorite show, go behind it and pull the plug.  Neat hey!?  You get to stand there for a few minutes in the erie silence that now fills the room, until one of you finally offers up a suggestion for doing something real.  Maybe go outside?  Bike?  Walk?  Throw leaves at each other?  Invent a game?  Something!?  I’m sure that one of you will figure things out, and in no time you’ll both be happier for not only doing something together, but for doing something real as well.  Heck, if you went to a real park you might even be able to make some new friends …imagine that!  Of course …the TV game will probably allow you to make your own friends as well.  So maybe that’s not a great idea.

Maybe I’m picking nits or something.  Maybe.  And of course the makers of the product would never endorse their game as a substitute for real activity.  The thing is though, providing an indoor simulation of an outdoor activity to a naturally active child is not doing the family any favours.  Kids are not bumps on logs …but parents, who may otherwise be busy, might reasonably expect this product to occasionally provide their kid with playparky goodness in lieu of the real thing.  It’s sad but true …so why even present the opportunity?

Smart?  Not really.
Fit?  Nope.
Park?  Definitely not.

Image from the FIsher-Price store.

the Yardbird Suite

Tilo did another gig at the Suite tonight.  It was OK actually …although it probably should be considering he’s been doing some of the same tunes for what seems like forever.  Jugi was on guitar as well adding some tasteful blues stuff.  And it was kinda full too from what I heard …so that was good.  Tilo was his typical heartfelt self on stage, and I think he may have been a little nervous.  Usually it’s hard to tell with him, but when we finished and the crowd was cheering for an encore, he was kinda in a pickle over what he had left to play …and couldn’t remember the tempo/intro for a song that he’s played a million times over.  So he was happy …and that’s good.

Here’s a shot from the gig of Dave and the Serge …and it seems that Dave has some interesting ears.  Or maybe sideburns?  I’ll find out later I suppose.  There’s some audio below as well.

Spidey Sense

It’s a jazz tune kids.  Ignore the butchered piano, hacked bass and sub-standard boning.  The drums came from a ‘brushes’ sample pack that I paid $2.99 for …so by that measure they’re great!  Click on the arrow to listen or *here* for a .pdf lead sheet.

fear of fear

I was waiting for this train of thought. (click)

Here in Edmonton we recently experienced an unfortunate event.  A distraught person who had fallen on hard times, took his frustrations out by heading to the Workers Compensation Board.  In effort to bring attention to his plight he took a number of people hostage at gunpoint.  He had been on disability for a while but was unable to find work …and the WCB had just cut off his support.  As one former employee remarked “These people are at their wit’s end and don’t know what to do any more.“

I’m sure there’s talk (amongst the powers that be) of reviewing situations like this in effort to avoid similar problems in the future.  They’ll talk about case handling, screening, extensions on benefits etc., but among them there will always be those who, in spite of understanding the root of the problem, bring up the idea that we need more security.  After all, we’re in ‘terrorism times’ and why not spend millions of dollars equipping all of our public buildings to thwart the efforts of gun-wielding …crackpots?  Let’s install and man hi-tech, costly machines to clamp down on all the pocket knife, box cutting bandits that might do us harm.  I mean, how else are we supposed to live in peace?

It reminds me of post 9-11.  After the dust had settled, we here in Edmonton immediately placed guards to specific areas in the city ‘just in case’ we were to be the next target.  Sound thinking?  It depends on who you talk to.  Some might say you can never be safe enough while others might argue what can it hurt?  And yet others may suggest that safety is an illusion at best, for if anyone truly wanted to inflict harm on us, it could be done regardless of our defence.  My beef with the idea of heightened security is that it typically fails to address the problem before it becomes a problem.  It’s an after thought.  It’s a band-aid solution that after spending countless dollars and time, misses the cause in the first place.  It’s the easy thing to do.  It’s window dressing.  It gives the look of protection without really protecting.

It’s not that I don’t think innocent people in an office need protecting …if their lives are in danger then certainly, we should do all we can to ensure their safety, but what are the odds that their lives are actually going to be in jeopardy while sitting behind their desk doing the paperwork that fills their 9-5 days?  What are the chances that someone is going to be desperate enough to walk into their place of work looking to put an end to …something?  Should we necessarily spends hoards of money preparing for the infinitely improbable chance that someone is going to stroll into our workplace and physically harm us?

There are places that warrant security.  Banks come to mind.  Casinos.  Any setting or event that operates physically with money or in capital of some type.  And these places have security procedures in place because the odds of an event occurring are almost expected given the opportunity that exists.

But working in your office on paperwork!?

You often hear about the disgruntled postman.  Or the regular white collar guy who one day suddenly snaps.  These are rarities.  These are the types of situations that although unpleasant, are so remote that you really can’t prepare for them.  They’re almost an ‘act of god’ …a force majeure.  And this is what happened at the WCB last week.  And event unraveled that was so improbable that it will most likely never happen again in the lives of those involved.

Media might have you think differently of course …when events like that happen it’s HEADLINE NEWS for papers, tv etc., so coverage is extensive, prolonged and awash in speculation and conjecture.  It is news, without a doubt, but as much as we wish it was preventable, it’s not.  The idea that we could have done something different is only natural, but at the same time we have to acknowledge that ultimately it wasn’t our fault – that is was beyond our control.  We couldn’t foresee the unforeseeable and given what we know now, still can’t really change anything.

But we’ll try I suppose.  We’ll put security in place to alleviate our fears which ironically promotes our fears by having a ‘person with a gun’ in sight everyday …constantly reminding us that our freedom is at risk.  Our safety is in jeopardy.

I think life is too short to be worried about being struck by lightening.

things…

A 12-14 year old slightly overweight kid was in the 7-11 tonight filling up a huge 52 oz. jug with some Slurpee brand slurpee product and I, being amazed by the size of this mug remarked… “That’s a LOT of slurpee!”  He quickly replied… “You buy the cup for $8 but then the refills are only $1.89!”  What a deal -lol.  Just for rough comparison that’s over 200g of sugar – the near equivalent of a 2L bottle of Coke. (click)  And yes, I was there getting a girl sized slurpee myself because heck, I deserve it once in while.

After a swim this morning, I was in the locker room and some kids were running around whipping each other with their towels.  A childhood memory rushed back…. it was in grade 7 gym class when my friend whipped my nads with his towel.  I think I cried.  I might have gone home.  I probably hated him for a while.  Now that I think about it, that may have been the reason why I didn’t mind stealing his girlfriend in grade 9.  Then again, I probably did him a favor.

‘The Puffy Chair‘ was a neat movie.  I kinda liked it because it wasn’t too predictable, but the whole romance thing got me depressed after a while.  Not to ruin any endings (spoiler alert …but it’s still a good rental none-the-less) but I’m glad things didn’t end up all lovey-dovey like most might have.  It’s by the Duplass Brothers.  As a bonus, it had a great Spoon song in it …That’s the Way We Get By.  Sweet.

I got one of those hair-cut things today too.  I don’t mind the Hot Razor cause anyone there seems to do a fine job …it’s close, they’re accommodating especially on Saturdays, and it’s not way over priced like some other places.  I typically ask for the ‘number 2′ on the sides and back but this girl, who I think was kinda new, said she doesn’t use the guides on her razor …like it would be cheating or something.  That was weird.  It worked out fine though.  Strangely enough she didn’t use any water either.  She did mention that I had a lot of hair.  I countered with something like ‘for now, yeah..’ but she reassured me that if I didn’t start loosing it when I was in my 30’s then it was a safe bet I’d keep it for a while.  Although, I am considering the shaved head thing again.

Then again, maybe not.

circa 1994

Lappy

Well it kinda worked out.

The week I decided to buy this new Macbook turned out to be the same week Apple decided to update its iMac models …which happened to be what I was hoping to sell to off-set my Macbook purchase.  As soon as I realized they updated, I scrambled and got an ad out for my iMac.  It did sell, this morning, and on the bad side I took a little less than what I was expecting ($100 less) …but on the plus side I found a $50 bill lodged under my keyboard from some remnant gig of the past, so that was kinda like free money.  Yea for free money!

So it’s all good.  I parlayed a nearing 10 year old ibook and a semi-current computer into a new laptop that I kinda missed having.  The Macbook is a computer, and like all computers it’s more about how you use it than what it does.  Of course it does stuff …and kinda well (that’s Apple though) but it is what it is – a piece of technology that’ll be obsolete in as long as it takes me to find another $50 bill laying around my room.

Now to get used to this small screen again.

The Unibody Macbook ...the 'Pros' are just hype