Pictorial Update

So you all don't forget what we look like:


Me and Budward... BFF




Team Bartel




NYC. Heavy.



Money Money



Nice to run into you in the park here...



My wife, Times Square, and Tiger Woods overlooking it all

Plans

The weekend holds great promise. Here's what I have on the books:

- Superbowl weekend. Of course. I'll either be watching it at home with friends, or at friends' with friends, but regardless, it'll be watched. I've got the Giants by a late field goal.

- Wrapping up initial tracking for my final two songs. It'll put me in a good position to finish up drums in two weeks when I'm home next.

- Second last game of the regular season for the Heritage Huskies (my hockey team!). We've been winning more than losing lately, and I've been managing to pop in a few here and there, so it should be a good one. I think we're playing the first place team too, and they're always a lot of fun... good fast games.

- The rest of my time will likely be filled in with sleeping and reading.

By the by, we officially handed in our notice that we want out of our apartment lease at the end of April, so I guess, provided they decide to find someone to take over our remaining months, the move back to Toronto is pretty much official now. We're talking about finding a place down in the city more, which I'm looking forward to. I don't know from experience, but I suspect that living in the city is much different than living in Scarborough. They're both sortof 'Toronto', and yet, they're really not the same thing.

It'll be kindof cool to get back into that life that we had when we first lived in TO... subways and walking and the like...

A different situation, to be sure.

I won't say I'm excited to move... I think that's too strong. I was excited to move from Scarborough to Waterloo, and I think for good reason. Now I'm just optimistic about the new change. There are things about Waterloo that I'll miss, no doubt. But then, there are things about Toronto that I miss now.

This wheel eh?

J

Found and Finding

Some news on the album front, to combat the endless drones of 'i'm still recording, it's still in the works...'

The new record will be called 'Found and Finding.'

It has occured to me that this is turning out to be an excruciatingly personal collection of songs. In a good way.

Found and Finding. My adult life has had a lot to do with learning to learn. Understanding what it means to just be quiet and take in. Found is everything to me. It's who I am. I'm defined by the things I've learned, been shown, by God, friends, family, situations... Peace, direction, confidence, compassion, purpose, faith. I've found so much.

Finding is the ongoing process. I'm never there. To be there, to arrive... well, I suppose that would be to admit one's arrogance, or fear, or naievety. Finding is the ongoing pursuit of fullness. It's in community, my friends, my family, my church family, my passions, my pursuits. It's the act of getting up in the morning, pulling on my clothes, and saying.. 'ok, what's today going to be about?' Finding is having the humility to know where I really stand, and the perspective to see each day as another at-bat.

Found is who I am. Finding is who I'm becoming.

All 12 songs are in progress. Writing is complete.

J

monitor monitor, weekend wonders

A weekend of salacious excitement:

- Kar was in London for the weekend, so I managed to immediately slump into 'boy mode' on Friday night, and I never quite left for the rest of the weekend ('boy mode' describes my characteristic slouch into eating 3/4 of a frozen pizza, drinking beer, walking around without my pants on, recording for 3 hours straight without breaks, watching war movies, eating bacon, and watching football as soon as I'm on my own for a few hours. 'boy mode' also, incidentally, describes my entire life as a bachelor living on my own.)

- the better part of the weekend was spent recording. I borrowed a few really cool mics from CTV, along with a few other trappings, and i managed to get the ball rolling on 4 more songs. eeps! that brings our grand total to 9 ladies and gentlemen!

- Kar came back on saturday, which was nice (i was lonely), and on Saturday night, I played hockey. We won. We're on a big push to win out the regular season. It will put us in a great spot heading into the playoffs and likely secure our entry into the A side of the playoff draw. As an aside, i set up the winning goal on Saturday, but..you know.. it's not like it's a big deal or anything.

- Sunday morning I did sound in church. In the beginning it was a disaster. Let me paint you a picture. Drummer plays really loud. Band decides to place drummer directly in the middle behind the band, despite the fact that he usually hangs out way on the right side where he can be in his own 'zone'. Band can't hear anything. Singers continually ask for more monitor. Singers still can't hear anything. Drummer is doing his best to quiet down, but he just isn't very quiet. Singers are getting angry. I can't give more monitor, cause the monitors are now feeding back like the guns of the navaho. I bear down on the monitor EQ and huck out the entire bottom end, and thankfully, things start to clear up, but not before everybody is edgy and complaining.

It's fun trying to figure out problems on the fly. It becomes less fun when people get nasty. Most everyone in the band was helpful and generally accomodating. Especially the backline guys (drums, bass). They worked with me to try and solve the problem.

In the end, we got the big brick off the ground in time for the service, and things went smoothly enough from that point on.

- sunday afternoon was lunch and hanging out with Nik and Kirstina. fun.

- sunday evening, i magiver'd this makeshift TV antenna with a role of 22 gauge wire, a pair of headphones, and a set of needlenose. CTV, clear as a bell. Which was all i needed, cause they were carrying the FOX feed of the AFC and NFC championship games. Giants baby.


weekend well spent.

later,
J

All the guys in the band can't stand me, just because i have nasty shorts..

I look lame in shorts ok? it's not something i'm proud of. i just can't pull them off. about 4 years ago, i just became one of those guys who wears pants every day. it's just how it works now. i have two pairs of jeans. they're both blue. one is dark blue, one is light blue. that's all i got. every now and then, kar gives me a look and says, 'jon, we need to get some new jeans mk?' so i go to AE and buy two new pairs of jeans. one light blue. one dark blue.

i guess i sortof have these sinny little white legs or something.

shorts.

i bought a pair of shorts once, on my own. kar sent me out on a similar look.. 'jon, we need to get you some shorts.' i think it was before we went to mexico for steve and vik's wedding. i found a pair of shorts i thought would do the job.. even tried them on. it wasn't until i got home and showed kar that i realized that i had purchased shorts that were approximately 14 waist-sizes too large. oh, and they were 'cargo', so they had these huge pockets on the sides. i looked like i had saddle-bags full of meat pushki.

anyway, we're going to florida. Feb. 8 the whole fam is heading down there for a week. and kar is starting to give me those looks again, like it's time to wade out into those unkown, largely uncharted waters.

look, i'm gonna do my best, but i am just one man.

updates to come.

i'll try to spare you the pictures.

hey boombatty, i'm borrowing CTV's Neumann digital miniatures.. sortof digital km84's... for the weekend :)

Jonny Swedien.

J

Band of Brothers

There really is very good television. I think that working in TV has made me that much more aware of the massive chasm that seperates truly good TV from truly useless TV. So much of what is produced (yes.. including a lot of what comes out of the CTV) is neither here nor there. You know that kind right? Where, if you saw the show, you'd be fine, and if you didn't, you wouldn't particularly be lacking in anything either.

Band of Brothers was an incredible TV experience for me. Incredible. Much like Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers is a Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks collaboration that attempts to paint a picture of life in the days of World War 2. In Saving Private Ryan, the story followed a small group of soldiers who landed on Utah on D-Day, fought for the beach, and eventually moved on to other missions. Band of Brothers is about a company of paratroopers who parachute into enemy territory on D-Day and then move from mission to mission through the duration of the war.

They're called 'Easy Company', and are historically recognized as one of the most effective, most used companies in america's war effort (i'm just learning this from the show). You learn that some of the most important and momentum-turning events in the war found Easy Company on the front line doing the majority of the fighting.

'Brothers' is beautiful. It benefits massively from the sheer length of the package.. 10 hours total divided into several DVDs. It follows E company exclusively, but focuses primarily on an officer 'Winters', who starts as a fellow soldier but moves his way up through the ranks throughout the series.

It is factual. Before every episode, the actual vets who are being played in the episodes talk about their memories of the various events and battles.

Following the series, there is a 1-hour full of interviews with the various members of the E company who are still alive. They talk their way through each individual battle and share their thoughts on the war, each other, and the whole experience.

I can't describe how moving this series is. Granted, the violence is intense, and some of the episodes are extremely unsettling.. But then, war is/was so unsettling. The production manages to walk that thin line that is rarely walked in these types of things... where you never feel that they're exploiting those actually involved, or forcing the story to artificially extract emotions. The only glory portrayed is that which actually existed, and I'm left in a state of complete respect, and humility.

If you're able to handle violence, rent this and watch it with an open heart.

J

One Man Built His House On Jello, and ...

Does anybody know anybody who lives in Toronto and is looking to rent out their condo or a portion of their home for a reasonable price in a decent part of town starting at the beginning of May?

Let me know ok?

Ya, we're moving back to leaf-nation. We're in the beginning stages of thinking about where we want to live when we get there, and how we want to organize ourselves.

Anybody have advice? It seems like more and more people keep telling us that we should buy a place. The reasoning is that we are currently throwing away approximately all of our money for rent that we'll never see again, and that if we buy a place, we pay a similar amount, but call it a mortgage, and come away with something we can sell when we decide to move out.

I suppose it all makes perfect sense. And yet, I get stuck on a few points. First, it's important to note that buying in Toronto means spending huge dollars... double the usual.. that type of thing. Which means that your downpayment is massive, and that the interest you're forced to pay on the loan over the period of time you own the home is massive.

Secondly, I balk at doing things that are tagged with lines like, 'well.. you're stupid if you don't do that.. think of the money you make in the process!' On one hand, perhaps that's true. And perhaps it's an issue of responsibility and wisdom to make a choice that has greater rewards long-term. On the other hand, I don't want to start centering my life around finances. I don't particularly do that now, and I don't particularly want to start. To say that I'm stupid to not do something that would find me, in the end, with more money, is to assume that my end goal in every situation is to end up with the most money. It is not. Or at least, perhaps it should not be. Maybe it should be peace of mind, or free time, or flexibility. I have my entire life to continually make money, and then spend it, and then make more. It is a relatively monotonous and unexciting process at its core.

So I actually do covet your thoughts. What does one do in this situation? And why? Cause really, maybe we really just should buy. I mean, in the end, if we're paying somebody else everything we earn in order to live somewhere, we may as well be gaining something out of it. Or not. But maybe. Or not.

Your turn.

Budward

She has me saying things like.. 'ohhhh.. whooos a buddywuddywuddlewudddyyy!!! are youuuu??? yaaaaa....yoouuuu are a cutiiieee woootiieee patooottiiiieeeee!!!!

i know, i'm a loser.

BUT

kar and i have this game where we stand about 6 feet apart and throw buddy between the two of us, and she LOVES it!! (we think)

TGIF baby! TGIF!

J

i am a restless soul... and i find direction in sharing that.

news bulletins:

The Record:

I've cleaned up and premixed 3 of 4 drum tracks that were recorded over the holidays. i'm really very excited about the sounds. everything is meaty and large, and with the finished drum tracks up in a full mix with my guitars, everything is coming out better than i would have hoped for.

i really do love how a record takes shape as it's created. having no idea how my finished drum tracks would be coming out (recording them in a new environment, with a mic collection i have no drum recording experience with) it's such a great experience to finally put everything up together in a mix and realize... 'oh, cool.. that's a different feel than i may have fully envisioned.. but i like that a lot!' you never really can be sure, until everything is cleaned and polished, what you're going to have to work with.

i'll finish up the other track (I Find You) this week, and move on to more writing and demoing. this current batch of songs will be ressurected in time for more work before the final mixes. Five tunes and rolling.. and all of them are strong (in my opinion)!

Reading:

I just finished 'Life After God', a book by Douglas Coupland. i borrowed it from Nik Hubert, and i've been reading it on and off along with 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' lately. it was a really bizzare read, to be sure. i usually appreciate these types of media that are clearly off the beaten path. if nothing else, they have you thinking in a new direction. this is a collection of stories about various characters in various stages of life. they are told in first person, and can almost be seen as journal entries describing the thoughts and emotions of the characters. at first glance, much of the writing seems almost arbitrary. entire chapters are devoted to mundane details of a persons life... the book starts, for example, with a guy describing in great detail a drive he took with his son on a highway north from Whistler, BC into logging country. He talks about the things he sees, about his son's questions, and his efforts to quell his son's curiosity in spite of his own awareness of his lack of understanding of the world around him, and his fears that his son may be ashamed if he new how little his father actually knew about life..

So the book goes on, and you read more and more stories, and most of them are sortof sad, and you feel bad for the guys... they all share a sense of dissapointment with the world as they've come to know it, and the ways in which it is pointedly different from the world they knew as kids. so i finish this book, and i'm sitting on the couch sortof trying to come to terms with the last story, and understand what i was supposed to learn from this, and then i realize that the entire book is pointed at exposing the futility of self-based culture, and each of these characters is wading through the confusion we all deal with at times throughout the course of our lives.

it's THE profound question... why am i here? what's the point? what am i doing, and who cares about it anyway? if i just stopped... just stayed in bed today... would it have any lasting effect on anybody at all?

the book leaves that unanswered.. it isn't faith-based by any means, and i suspect the author was writing for the sake of asking the question, not finding the answer.

every ounce of meaning in my life is found in ... God. at least on that idealistic level (i dare say i'm not entirely altruistic in my pursuits, though i wish it were so) my work, my music, my relationships... i do all of these things in an attempt to become who i believe God has created me to be. i believe that so intensely. i meet so many people through work, among other things, and i always wonder what gives people life. what are people living for? in this book... these people lack life... i think that i'm in contact with people on a daily basis who would really rather stay in bed.. not because they're tired, but because getting up means continuing what has long been a losing battle to find meaning.

i read an interesting quote, along these lines, from a new book i'm starting ('soul cravings' by erwin mcmanus.. at the eager promptings of my dad). while i don't recall the exact wording, he says something along the lines of, 'people won't be forced to experience the life-giving nature of a relationship with God.. that's something they have to find.'

i'm thinking that's true.

i believe that every human being is searching for meaning. it's what we do. in our own humorous way, we convince ourselves that we're about all of the other important things that life demands of us... but the big white elephant in the room forever remains - we're looking for purpose, for fulfillment. it's something that a person needs to find. it's beyond a quick fix.

peope aren't trying to figure out how to achieve after-life in heaven. people are trying to figure out how to achieve this life on earth.

perhaps that's the destination. perhaps if i were to fully pursue my purpose, and i was able to fully devote myself to fullfilling that, to being who God designed me to be, and if i was able to completely let go, and fully live in a state of dedication to that greater end, that would be a pretty clear picture of heaven. after all... what's heaven? where we go when we die.. fine.. but what defines it? what is the difference between there are here? aside from the golden lamp posts, wouldn't the contrast be found in our relationship with God, our understanding, and our ability to model him in our own existence?

i ramble. i know. but i have to wonder.

after all, the same can be said for my current daily efforts... if i were to have stayed in bed today... remained there for the week... the year... if discovery channel was forced to go off-air in my absense, even CTV.... then what?

Year In Review

Well, i managed to drag myself out of bed this morning, climb over the complete dissarray that was our apartement full of all the things we brought from home over the holidays, and stumble into the office... where i was greeted with a cuddly little leg hug from the newest addition to the bartel family.... buddy. Or, as i like to call her.. budward. she's a cat. she was a christmas present from kris and rob. My initial hesitation has been progressively melted away by the sheer floppyness of this little varmint. Seems it's the type that can sleep anywhere, and in any position. Yes, i like her quite a bit. Granted... she hasn't crapped on my keyboard yet.

The holidays were a welcome break, and I'm back at work recharged and energized. I'll spend the rest of the week getting life back on track here in Waterloo, and I'll try to get to some music-related work sometime between now and Sunday night.

By way of a year-in-review... I managed to escape 2007 relatively unscathed. A few big events had their way of shaping the surrounding months, and the fill-time between was generally as productive as I might have hoped:

- kar and I were engaged and married after dating since before birth.

- we found a church to call home (meeting house) and friends to look for on sunday mornings

- I managed to experience some incredible performances... Alison Krauss and Union Station, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Switchfoot, Relientk, Jimmy Eat World

- We bought our first car

- Moved to Waterloo (my first non-rectangular above-ground living space since home in high school)

- I moved from part-time work in audio-post at CTV to part-time work as a production assistant with Discovery Channel, and then to full-time work as a Post Coordinator with Discovery Channel, and then back to full-time work as a production assistant with Discovery Channel, which jumped to full-time work as Archivist for Discovery Channel.

I've learned more than I could have imagined, and I've had a lot of fun. I've experienced a lot of frustration as well, but I think, through that, I've had that many more opportunities to learn.

The first half of this past year was defined by my pursuit of gainful employment in this industry. There were a lot of extremely frustrating experiences (ex.. working at future shop, working the graveyard shift at CTV on 1 hour's call, etc.) that served to push me forward in search of something more stable and exciting.

The middle to second-half of the year was about kar and I, the wedding, and getting in gear for life together. The time surrounding our wedding, including the night itself, was unforgettable. We were blessed beyond measure by friends and family, and it was something we'll always take with us as one of our more incredible nights.

The past few months have also been about finding my feet again. My new job at Discovery came on like a ton of bricks, and I found myself busy to the point of high-stress leading up to the wedding. This has since calmed down, and I'm learning to push myself and better position myself for future opportunities. This new lifestyle, which is commute-based, and finds me spending more time than I'd prefer away from Karen and our home, has been incredibly beneficial in its own ways... The increased road-time allows for a much greater degree of introspection and purposeful thought.

And the wheel keeps turning.

All signs point to another good year, another big adventure, and a few surprises along the way.

pip pip, and here's to many more!

(pics from a guitar session at Swamp Songs, London, ON - Boombatty's studio)