Friday, August 29, 2008

music to start your morning with

Listen to:

Peter Bradley Adams, record called 'Leavetaking'

Alexi Murdoch, record called 'Time Without Consequence'

Bon Iver, record called 'For Emma, Forever Ago'

Sufjan Stevens, record called 'Seven Swans'

Kar got back last night after a week-ish home in Leamington with the fam. I managed to work the majority of the week away, so i wasn't home that much, but it's really pretty great that she's back. :)

it's our one year anniversary on monday. crazy right? we've been married an entire year! it's the best. plain and simple. keeps getting better.

J

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Found

Record's mixed. Mastering next weekend.

it's good.
:)
J

Saturday, August 23, 2008


john mayer owns.

kar got us tix to see mayer last night in Darien, NY. i'll describe a situation. put yourself there:

we got there a bit late. lots of traffic, road work, etc. so we park at the very back of the lot and we're running full out to try to get to the shed. we can hear him from a long way off. 'waiting on the world to change'. sounds good. real good. we get to the gate just as the song is ending. it's late. 9:30pm. dark.. pitch black. and when we walk around the corner, we walk into the amphitheatre, the stage is lit blue, pale, from the back. the band is in the shadows.. dropping a big groove. one of those heavy ones. JJ johnson is the drummer, and he has those really heavy grooves. and John is in the middle. he's got a followspot from above, and he's sortof leaning left a bit, looking straight up into the light.. that white glow, right? and he's just cutting hard into this heavy solo...

that's an image that you don't really see any more. we're past the age of the 'guitar god', you know? we don't have guitar gods anymore. the 60s, 70s... that was all about guitar gods. and that's been lost in the age of power chords and octave leads.

it was such a fantastic night. so musical. john is really the best thing going on guitar right now. mindblowing, really. it's crazy to see someone on a stage that big, in a scenario that, high pressure, and he just goes for it. his talent is huge. bigger, i think, than he can fit into a particular song. it's teh type of thing where, really, he belongs in the trio. it's probably where he's his best. or maybe sharing a stage with clapton and buddy guy and steve gadd or something.

one thing to note:

i couldn't help but notice how things changed depending on what was being played on stage. when the band was playing john's pop tunes.. heck, when John was playing his pop tunes, he looked almost disinterested. so did they. like.. just.. going through it. but man, that place came alive when they launched into a slow blues. everybody just stepped it up to another level. good stuff.

also, highlight of the show was when some girl in the audience held up a sign listing all teh songs she wanted him to play.. sortof a personal setlist. and he says... 'well.. that's way to many songs, but.. you know, i don't like to be trumped, so, of course, i'm gonna do it..' and then he goes ahead and plays about 5 seconds of 20 of his hits right then and there.. it was sweet.

everybody listen to more John Mayer.

going to the zoo tomorrow with nik and kristina. gonna see the polar bear.

J

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

weekend

i'm in the middle of a layback.. should take a little under an hour, so for the time being, i have a second to rest (my ears... and mind) and jot down some thoughts.

this past weekend was just another awesome one. brent and suz got married, and looked absolutely top shelf in the process. the wedding was a great party. they managed to squeeze all the usual stuff in there, but did some really cool stuff that made it feel a little more relaxed and 'good-time-ish'. (ie, they didn't have dinner at the reception. the wedding was at 7, and the reception was just drinks, niblets, and good times!) it was a great night, for all the right reasons. way to go guys!

we book-ended the wedding with some great visits. on sunday afternoon we hung out with Bob and Christina for a bit. bob was a teacher, then colleague of mine at oiart, and has since been a great friend. he's fully responsible for helping me get my foot in the door at CTV, and he's one of those guys who is just a great guy, great friend, very positive person in my life. so, bob and christina just had a baby girl, and i mean JUST.. 6 weeks old i think. she's an incredible perfect little miracle, so we got to meet her. and also, bob has a full fledged recording studio in his basement, complete with a 30-something fader sony console and a 2-inch tape machine. so of course, we hung out there and talked shop a bit as well.

on monday morning we got together with some of kar's friends/former co-workers from Western/Robarts lab. great to see andrew and rebecca and here what they're up to, etc. they're getting married soon, so there was lots to talk about.

now we're back home. i think both kar and i were struck, on the way back, with how much more toronto is becoming home these days. i truly do love this city, and our little corner of it! :)

i'm at work tonight. this morning, i woke up at 4:00am, and was behind the desk by 4:45. kar and i said 'have a good week!' to each other last night..hehehe... both of us are trying to do about 2 weeks worth of work in the span of this one week. we're off to another wedding on the weekend, and then HEADING TO THE COTTAGE for mon-wed. CAN'T WAIT!

so for this week, it's go time. i knocked off one episode of Cooler Facts this morning, and got set up for River Knott for tonight. As i mentioned, i'm now laying back River Knott (an episode all about Chinese Opium drug production...). i've got another episode of River Knott to pull in tonight yet, cause Andy and I are doing at least two eps worth of VO recording tomorrow night, so that should take me to about 10:40pm. If i still have life after that, i may take a crack at knocking off next week's ep of Cooler Facts before i pack it in.

finally, i just wrapped up reading 'Blue Like Jazz' this morning as well. dad, you should read this one. it was a really fantastic book for me. i've got to unpack it a bit.. lots of stuff in there that heavily applies to me these days that i need to mull over.

you now know as much about my current life as i do.

oh, and brent and suz (those sweethearts!) gave me a gift card to HMV for playing guitar at their wedding. suuuuuuggggessstionsss?

J