The Silver Sold(i)er

I always end up writing this stuff at night. I should almost certainly be in bed. I'm coming off a week in which I worked as many hours as I ever have, spent one night remembering how awful it is to have the flu, and ended up shucking it just in time to catch a cold.

But I'm all full up right now. Full up? That's not a thing.

Like I said.. big work week. We delivered the complete package of music for CTV's Olympic coverage. Delivered in the theoretical sense, as hard copies weren't necessarily exchanged, and finished versions are not even entirely printed yet. My part in this project was, to me, somewhat unexpected, and entirely fantastic. I joined the group later than I would have liked.. which is to say that I wasn't there when the stuff was recorded (in Montreal, with the Montreal Symphony). I suppose I was the odd cook voted out of that particular kitchen. With a project like this, however, the amount of work is truly immense. Let's say, for example, that 8 main themes are written by the composer and recorded by the orchestra. Each of those 8 themes is then broken down into any number of versions (let's say 25 each) of different lengths (.30sec, .20sec, .5sec) that will be used for any number of broadcast scenarios (into commercials, out of commercials, into sport transitions, into throws to a live standup, etc.) Each of those 25 x 8 versions then need to be conformed, edited, and mixed, and then printed, in both English, and French. And Instrumental.

I managed to get on board doing all of the conforming and printing, mastering, etc.. basically the legwork that needed to be done so the head engineers could spend their days in heavy editorial and mixing.

Huzzah!

So, it's been a big week. The finished work sounds great. All credit to Mike and Josh for that. I'm proud to have had my part in the project. It'll be great to watch the games and hear the stuff front and center. I'm excited for you guys to hear it!

I hold to the fact that these olympics are gonna be fantastic. Really huge.


Then, all the gear for Bartel Audio Recording's new rig showed up on friday. Or at least most of it. And like any hot-blooded enthusiast, I desire nothing more than to tear it all open and smell it. And, you know, hook it up and use it.

But there's a lot to be done before that can happen!! Namely, cables to build. So, today was a great day of listening to christmas tunes, drinking coffee, and hunching over multipins (DB25) and XLRs. Made a ton of headway, which feels great. Though, I do have recurring nightmares that I've wired about 30 mic cables and five 8-channel DB25 to XLR snakes in the wrong layout. ONE is ground, TWO is hot, THREE is not. Getting close to being ready to hit record. Sortof.


So that's where we stand. Almost there on about every front. Almost healthy, Almost ready to make records, Almost home for the holidays (wednesday night home-boys), Almost ready to go to bed...


Life is really good. We're full, in every way. I think we've tapped into something in the past few months with regards to maxing out our time in this city. We love it. We were out for sushi tonight at our favorite spot. Date night. We couldn't get over how much we love that place. It's become our routine. There's a lot of that these days. Seems wide open.

Gonna be great to be home for a week, talk lots, eat lots, catch up lots. I enjoy it more every year. It means more, and it's real..more.

Here's to everybody's holiday... Make it great!
JB

Keys

A few days ago we added another bit of kit to our apartment!

We're really pumped about it. Music is a huge part of our lives. I love that I married a girl who feels it like I do. Kar's got an innate sense of music that's hard to describe.

We try to make a conscious effort to have music as a central focus in the house. It's energy-giving! The difference a great background playlist makes when a bunch of people are hanging out in a room together is fantastic. I want to have one of those homes where music is a constant. I want people to feel like they can pick up a guitar and throw down a tune, or hop on the bench and make some noise. Music doesn't need to be confined to CDs in the car, or iPods on the subway, or bands in the bar.

I've spent more time lately hanging out in the musical crowd around here. It's a really cool group to hang out with.. you learn alot. I imagine it's not unlike spending time with actors. They're aware of the moment. Anything's possible. Rehearsals are less about achieving the predetermined set of goals, and more about experiencing something creative. Performances aren't about achieving, or succeeding.. they're about expressing.. existing in a moment. I LOVE that!! I think it's a hugely valuable thing to have that in your life.. those are muscles that need exercising.

So anyway, Kar's been playing like crazy. Piano has a way of filling space. It isn't aggressive.. it isn't "loud". It's just full. Beautiful. I spent last night sitting on the couch making mic cables while Kar worked out lines from an Elton John tune. I love it. I'm fully content in those moments. Music does that. I'm aware, and happy.

Continuing on the music front, I'll be home this weekend for the pub night/house concert at my parents' place. Gonna be great! See you there mmmmk? I promise to play at least one song left-handed :)
JB

Life Update

Lots getting done in every area of life except for blogging. Which is.. acceptable, no?

Here's a quick rundown:



This past Saturday we did a show at the Drake Hotel on the west end. A truly fantastic night. For a long time I've wanted to be one of those guys... I'd go to shows with buddies when I lived out west. Some jazz combo at Earls, or in the Bassment. And I always loved it, but at the same time felt this pang of... blurgness... that I wasn't up there playing. Crawl. Then walk. I feel like Saturday was about finally walking. My set was to a somewhat empty room. Who cares. Friends were there. Up from Leamington, or in from various parts of the city. Maybe 30 people. I had a blast. Playing with Paul has been a lot of fun, and this was certainly my first true test. I'm new to this art of playing in an uncontrolled environment. Church gigs... house concerts... controllable. I do my own sound, my own setup.. it's on my own clock. This is a new challenge. Just get up and play, and be good, and make if fall into place. I think we did alright..

After that solo set I was back on to back up Lauren Malyon. If you haven't heard her stuff yet, you owe it to her and you. www.myspace.com/laurenmalyon. I felt like she really nailed it... great set, great energy. We had a blast. I love playing with that band.. so much talent.

After that, Paul's other band blew the doors off everything. www.myspace.com/therestlessage. Soooo good. And then a band I just met that night, Who's Army, closed. Great set. Very U2 was the buzz... major pro.

I love that night. Tons of great music, and so many friends. I couldn't walk through the room without high fiving a bunch of buddies, giving somebody a hug, and yelling back at somebody who shouted 'hey!'. Such a great energy!



______




Immediately after that show, Steve and I drove home through the night to catch a morning flight to Orlando with Dad. Quoi? STS-129. Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Centre, and we were there. We always do a yearly trip.. us guys. Usually it's an F1 race. This year it didn't happen.. Montreal GP was cancelled. So we'd been poking around for another idea. Steve and Dad being engineers, this was the perfect thing.

This is something you need to see. I can't aptly describe it. It is entirely inspiring and beautiful. The height of human achievement.. a moment in which you realize the potential of people working together at maximum capacity in order to achieve something extraordinary. I think all 3 of us were stunned with the moment, in spite of feeling, just prior, as though we had a good handle on what we were about to see.

At the moment of ignition, you're very aware of the fact that this missile.. this controlled bomb is carrying 5 human beings, and that they represent us. Which is to say... in that moment they aren't American, or Russian, or Japanese... one of the astronauts was describing his experience during a previous launch, and he said that the first time he looked down on earth from orbit, he was immediately, and unexpectedly, struck by the notion that there were no visible borders. He couldn't see the lines diving USA from Mexico or Canada.... there were no distinctions. Just humanity. Singular, and undivided. Incredible.


______


Lastly, I've been busy with work. CTV is still strong. I'm starting a second project. Bartel Audio Recording. Fully mobile, fully pro. I'm really excited about the way everything is coming together. Over the past month I've been planning, organizing, and, more recently, building my rig. I plan on being up and running come the new year. For more info, go to www.bartelaudio.ca

Can't wait to pursue more music-based work.


I love the diversity of life these days. Part TV, part live music, part studio music... lots to be excited about.

I know this post seemed very business-like. Sorry... life's full right now. The majority of my current thoughts are on planning, scheduling, and doing. Philosophy will have to wait a bit.

In the meantime, up and to the right. This is fun.
JB

Show Announcement

Upcoming Show!

Hey guys, got the details on the upcoming show at the Drake:

Wednesday, Oct. 21st, 2009.

The Drake Underground
1150 Queen St. W
Toronto, ON
$10.00 cover

Lineup:

9:30pm - JON BARTEL (www.myspace.com/jonathanbartelmusic)
10:15pm - LAUREN MALYON (www.myspace.com/laurenmalyon)
11:00pm - THE RESTLESS AGE (www.myspace.com/therestlessage)
11:45pm - WHO'S ARMY (www.myspace.com/whosarmyband)

Gonna be a great night with some great bands. See you there!

JB

Swimmingly

Life's been a lot of things lately. In some ways, I've been finding myself very lucky. I was home for the weekend we're just coming off. Karen was off at Princeton for a conference, so I spent my time at home with family. There was a lot to be thankful for. Lots of great conversations with Dad, Steve, etc. Dinner on the deck. Things that matter the most when they're no longer commonplace.

On Saturday night, Steve and I went for a run. First time we've done it together, and it was great. Beautiful country roads, good conversation... it was late, so it was dark, and there was an incredible mist over the fields. Beautiful. 'Hound of the Baskervilles'-style.

On Sunday, I spent the day watching football with Chuck and Jimmy. What a fantastic afternoon. The cycle of a friendship that is initiated and grown primarily in a church setting, like ours was, is a weird one that comes with a bunch of its own challenges. Initially, it's the best. You grow up together, you know each other so well, and you have a ton of fun. You have conversations about changing the world, and grabbing life by the horns, and becoming everything you want to be. But when everybody gets older and goes to college and moves away, you all start to become your own person, and you don't see eye-to-eye as often anymore. You run in your own circles, develop your own opinions... and for a while there, everything gets a little more distant. You're not used to the differences, and at first it feels as though everything is wrong. Shouldn't we be tighter about this? Should we be more proactive? But eventually you get to the point where days like Sunday can happen, where, in a way it feels like old times, and in a way it feels way better because you can actually love the fact that the other guys are who they are and who they've become. I thought about it a lot driving home, and I really count myself as lucky for still having great long-term friends like that. Also, shout-out to Judes for making Chocolate Chip Muffins (Caps intentional. They're worthy.)

Back in Toronto, life plods along, generally in a very positive bent. Every time I'm struggling with something, Kar tells me to keep myself open, and store the experience as an example of what other people could be dealing with at any given time. It's an eye opener. More than anything I hate the feeling of being forced into passivity. Being reliant on others isn't something I'm necessarily particularly used to, and I'm much more comfortable when I'm able to control my own outcome. In one sense, I feel as though I've hit a bit of a wall on my own. Additionally, I think it's as simple as being honest about the fact that I crave like-minded friends. I crave others who are as passionate about the things that are important to me as I am, and who are willing to get there regardless of the input required.

It's a catch, because nothing really happens that way, and in the end, the very traits that would be most useful in getting me out of this position are the ones that I'm frustrated with always having to exercise. There's no victory in saying, "screw it... I'll do it myself. I'll just make it happen and make it work..." The event is never the point. The journey is the point. And eventually, taking the journey on your own gets tiresome.

So I suppose I continue to learn about myself as I pursue that journey.

At this point, an inscrutable desire to wrap things up with positive and progressive closure usually dictates any final statements... but I think I'll leave this one stand. Work in progress. Still sorting out my gameplan in this regard.


Other items of note:

- the new Relient K album is streaming various places online. It sounds like a turd. A few songs are good, but sonically, I just almost always despise the way Andy Wallace mixes, and this is no exception. Blurg.

- the new John Mayer single is around as well. I suspect he's penned what will be the first of a new rash of 60's-esque drug-induced hippie anthems. Maybe "mellowed out apathy with a clean, light coating of inclusiveness" is the new "existential pursuit of the bigger answers to bigger questions." I like the song though. Musicians in that bunch, to be sure.

- Went swimming yesterday. I'm terrible at it, and it was really physically hard, but it was fun! It's funny when you do something so completely new to you that you immediately start developing serious doubts and irrational fears in the middle of it. Like when I'm standing in the changeroom alone and starting to get seriously freaked out about thoughts like, "what if I get out there to the pool and every other person is wearing t-shirts, cause that's how they do it now for some reason, and I'm the only one standing there on the deck half-naked with everyone laughing at me and smacking me in the head with pool noodles. Didn't happen that way, though, and I managed to find my way around with relatively little embarrassment. I think, though, that I have a very low buoyancy rating. Is that a measurable statistic?

- Chuck and I just locked up another bet. I'm down a beer but up a coffee to him right now (or is it the other way around? Check the archives...). This time, it's that the Leafs will make the playoffs.

- I asked God for wisdom, and he brought it on heavy, but in tooth form. Now it's infected, and I've yet to lead any nation for any length of time, so far as I can tell. This whole thing just went way sideways. Gotta have it pulled soon... just waiting for "his holiness", Mr. Dentistopolous from Greektown to deem me worthy of a 3-minute, $150.00 consultation one of these days to confirm what his employee has already told me. In the meantime, I've got a foolproof excuse for walking around with a curled upper lip and a surly attitude.

Go Leafs!!
JB

Forget and Not Slow Down

Just got home from a Jays game. Last of the year? Ya. We were 4 of.. about 20 people who went to see them play tonight. Nahhh... not really. But it was major empty.

I keep listening to Owl City. I love it. I keep ducking as he sends a hook my way, and then I'm just looking up again and another one is coming! I also rather like Relient K's new single. For a while everything I listened to had to be serious, and musically diverse, and old. I guess tonight is a rebirth. Jeffy and I talked about Hello Rockview on the way home from the Dome. I'm in a zone.

"I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly.."

I love that moment where you say yes to something without thinking it through. There's something great about trusting yourself enough to just go. I remember feeling way out in left when I first moved to Toronto. People rise to the challenge. Thinking about whether you can or cannot accomplish something is really just placing your projected results alongside a given individual's expectations and playing A/B. Life's more exciting if you can look at things from the perspective of your own expectations.

Hello Seattle

Music!

Just a few quick updates:

Doing a pub gig with Paul Mayer from The Restless Age (myspace.com/therestlessage) on Nov. 5th. Fitzgerald's in the Beach. More formal info to come. Food, beers, and lots of covers. Plan on it!

Also, looks like another gig is shaping up for late October somewhere downtown. Again, more info to come. That one will be with Lauren Malyon and her band, with The Restless Age headlining, and I'll also be opening with an acoustic set of my own stuff. Can't wait! I'll keep you guys posted.

JB

Searching For God Knows What

From "Searching For God Knows What", Donald Miller
Found this well worded in light of our ever-continuing search for an easier way through the maze:


... The businessman said, in a tone of kindness and truth, that nobody he knows who is successful gambles. Rather, they work hard, they accept the facts of reality, they enjoy life as it is.

"But the facts of reality stink," I told him.

"Reality is like a fine wine," he told me. "It will not appeal to children."

Strings

A few months back I started stringing my guitar differently. Which is to say that, after re-stringing, I started winding the ends at the headstock as opposed to cutting them clean and short... like Don does (above). It's a sloppy first look, but it was an intentional departure. Musicality has its ruts. You fall into a methodology, and you do what you do because you've always done it that way. You play a D in a particular voicing because, well, that's how you play it. You're a guitar player, and this is your guitar, and here is how you play it.

But musicality is transient. The best writers, the best players, aren't defined by their instruments. The tool is only a means to an end. The heart is in the idea. I wanted to get away from seeing my guitar as a guitar. To see it, rather, as wound metal, and moving air, and resonating wood. An interface to something important..

I changed the way I string because it reminds me that the instrument is malleable. It isn't a finished product, waiting to be played. It's a starting point.. a collection of pieces waiting to be arranged, and stretched, and used. It alters my understanding of what I can do with it, and it keeps me from sliding into 'knowing how to play guitar.'


I'm trying to think of life in the same light. I don't want to have a job, and a hobby, and a group of friends, and a plan. I want to be open. I want to see life as a series of experiences and opportunities, relationships and passions. I want to see it as malleable. "knowing how to play guitar" is like "knowing how to do your job". It gives you a sense of arrival. I want to feel as though I'm always pursuing, always learning, never arriving. To be aware of all of the pieces, and the ways in which they fit into the entire song.


Kar and I are taking off next week for the other side of the world... namely France. Paris, then Strasbourg, then Nice. Gonna soak it up and breathe it in and take lots of pics.

Au revoir.
JB

http://quartercenturyhalfmarathon.blogspot.com/

http://quartercenturyhalfmarathon.blogspot.com/

A new goal, a new blog. Follow if you're interested.



JB

Updates

Hey everyone! A few updates on life over the past while:

1. Canada Day was fantastic. Jimmy came up on Tuesday night. We haven't really spent much time together since he became an american, so it was a bunch of fun. There was a lot of drinking and smoking to our good health. There was pizza making, which started out as a complete disaster, and ended as a qualified success. There was early morning tennis, a run, and later that night, baseball and sushi on the patio with a bunch of other good friends. Not really any chance the day could've been better.

2. The running is still going well. Last night I ran a new personal best.. 10.67km. I've discovered that it's a lot nicer running into town and then hopping the subway back home.. our neighborhood isn't the nicest, so it's great to run through greektown and especially across the Don Valley. Plus, the added benefit of the City skyline makes it easy to gauge how far you've come and how far you've got to go. Here's my route:



Lately my mind's been going into 'thankful' mode a lot while running. Yesterday I found myself halfway across the bridge, looking down over the wide open Valley, and the parkway and all the greenspace, and just feeling so lucky to be healthy, and alive, and able to run and sweat and feel pain, and strength. Somehow the moment just blew me away with a sense of self-awareness... of my body and my limitations, and also the inherent potential. It was a great moment.

3. In other exciting news, I'm playing with a bunch of friends in a band for Lauren Malyon. She's a great singer/songwriter from here in Toronto who just released a brand new record. You can find her stuff at www.myspace.com/laurenmalyon. We're doing a CD release show at the end of the month, so I was one of the recruits to back her up for the gig! It's a great group of guys playing, so it's gonna be a fantastic show. Check her out! (and buy a copy on iTunes)


Think that's about it for now. I'm heading home this coming weekend actually. Kar's aunt/uncle are having a big party to celebrate his being cancer free for 5 years, as well as to raise money for research, so I'll be doing some music and hanging out there. See some of you soon!
JB

The Perfect Weekend

Coming off a record breaking weekend. I managed to run 7.2km on Saturday. As a direct result, I feel like a 75-year old right now. It seems that any time I really push past my last PB for the first time, it takes a few days for my body to get itself back on track.


It's a simple truth that this summer has been, and will continue to be, incredible. I don't know that I've ever been as content as I am this year. We have such a great situation. Weekends... waking up on a Saturday morning, throwing on a coffee, heading out to the back yard to poke around, throw a ball around, watch Kar working in the garden..

I'm learning it from her. She's always had this thing about her. An ability to sit and watch, and look. Watch... cats messing around in the backyard. Watch... bugs crawling around in the dirt. Watch... the garden growing. There's so much to see. I sit and listen. I sit in the backyard and hear.. everything that's going on in the city. She looks.

Then, grabbing an apple, throwing on the sneaks, and hitting the road for a mid-day run. The city, just waking up, the heat not quite fully realized, but in that late morning, hard-blue sky, cool breeze, hot sun scenario. Jeff asking me questions as we run... me responding with nods and hand signals.. (must.. conserve.. energy...) Don't flex any muscles that aren't aiding in the process of running. Hands loose, thumbs pointing forward, resting on the index finger. Face relaxed. Conservation. Breathing: 3 steps... in through the nose... 3 steps... out through the mouth... 3 steps... Manage the heart rate.

The afternoon is a slow mixture of laundry folding, homemade soup simmering, guitar playing... the ball game is on in the background, but only as a visual. One of many party-mixes takes care of the day's audio. Tom Petty is starting to make himself at home.

Evening is all about options. Drinks on the patio? The Quinnie's patio is the gold-standard. Slightly sunken below the porch-height to give you that cozy, tucked-away feel, and under constant cover of a huge Oak tree. The neighborhood is quiet at night. The little kid across the street plays Wii in front of his huge upstairs window. Last night it was bowling. When it's calm, I can smoke a cigar and just watch the smoke. It goes nowhere... just hangs in wisps.

Or maybe we walk off the day's remaining energy. Our new format is a quick subway ride to Greektown. From there we can walk through the restaurant district and across the Don Valley into the city. There's too much to see. I take pictures with my eyes.

Or maybe it's "small budget, big heart" movie night, and then discussing what WE would do if...


Sometimes, I think I wouldn't do much different than what we're doing right now.
Life's good.
JB

RunRunRun

Me and El Hefe (Jeff) looking soaked, sweaty, and pumped.

My buddy Jeff is into running.

You guys know that I've never been into running. I always hated it. It was hard, and it felt completely unrewarding.. like there was no reason for me to be out there doing such a preposterous thing anyway..

Anyway, a while back, Jeff asked me if I wanted to start running with him. So I got myself some cheap runners (all-stars don't cut it for this type of thing..) and hit the pavement. It was terrible. I came back feeling the same way I always had about it.

Then, about a week ago, Jeff got me to go again. I think the fact that it coincided with my feeling a bit restless.. ready to start summer-life.. had to help. So anyway, we did a 4km loop around our neighborhood. And something weird happened... I LOVED it! I wasn't good at it. In fact, I made it about 3km before I had to shut it down and walk the rest of the way. I guess sitting at a computer for a living will do that to a guy.

But there was something about it that just sucked me in. So I went out again on my own the next day, and pounded out the full 4km, and it felt fantastic. My breathing was better, my feet felt stronger, and while I was totally wasted when I got back, I felt like I was clearer, and more alive.

So I headed out again the next day.. two days ago. This time I managed 5Km. And oddly, I finished feeling like I could have done another one at least. The recovery was quick, and again... I just felt great.

So, naturally, I entered a race.

There's a running club that runs in the park behind our house. I say park... it's more like a trail that goes from our area and connects all the way down to the Don Valley, and from there, into downtown. The race today was a 5Km. It was pouring rain, but we were pretty pumped up about it.

I gotta say, it was fantastic. I ran a 26min, 05 seconds. (Jeffy banged out a new PB, something in the 22 range or something). I can't describe it. The park is beautiful. Dirt (mud) and asphalt trails winding through forest with a big creek winding through it. Being out there on your own is incredible. I'm all alone.. as a direct result of the fact that I'm running a 26 while everybody else is pounding out 22s with Jeff. Pounding along on my own, counting my breathing, listening to my steps, and the creek... looking around at everything, just enjoying it.. I loved it. And the idea of tackling a personal challenge is also so cool. I've had a lot of that with guitar... forcing myself to learn new tunes, climbing the hills of technicality... it's like that, except so much more physical. Crossing the line at the end, I'm a mess, full of sweat and rain and mud, and you just feel like you worked for it.

Anyway, more to come. Gonna keep things going over the summer. I'm still in the early stage, where the improvement comes quickly. I know it'll get tough quick. For now, I'm loving it.

Side note: immediately following the race, Jeff, Kim, Karen and I went to McDonalds. I ordered a Big Mac combo. With Coke. Life is a game of balance......
JB

Summer

Summer is fantastic. It's that simple. We've been loving weekends up here, just getting outside, walking around the city, etc.

A few weekends ago we planted the garden. Or... in reality, that should read, 'Karen and Kim planted the garden... Jeff and Jon played catch". It's coming along alright... we're just working on getting the watering schedule right. It's packed this year. Tomatoes, Cukes, Radishes, Carrots, Peas, Beans, Red Peppers, Sage, Oregano, Kale, Chives, Lettuce... seriously the makings of several glorious dinners. Here's Kar in her kingdom:



On top of the garden, there's been a lot of catch. Jeff and I are big ball fans, so at some point on most saturdays we're out in the back yard having a catch. Is there anything as relaxing and enjoyable as having a catch with a good friend? I mean, it's second-nature, so it's great for conversation. And every now and then, you just put a little extra mustard on a toss to keep the other guy honest.

Add in lots of walks. Our new thing is to subway down to Pape and then walk from there to the downtown core. You get to go through greektown and all the nice restaurants and patios, and then over the bridge at the Don Valley. It's really an incredible view, actually, to stand on the bridge and look over the valley and see the city rising up over the treetops.

So here's to a great summer coming up. Life's good.
JB

The Visitor

We watched a great movie this weekend.

My idea of a great movie has changed a fair amount over time. So much of what once appealed to me seems to do the exact opposite now. I was talking to a buddy, Zak, about music, and he said that he has to feel as though the guy he's listening to has put himself out there.. left it all on the table. It's a matter of knowing that the guy has really poured himself into the work. I like that. If it didn't feel like it cost a part of your soul to create it, than maybe it doesn't have much soul in it at all.

I've been really appreciating great acting. It seems like the movies I've loved in the past while have been all about actors and directors at the top of their game. 'Frost/Nixon', 'Marley and Me' (ya, seriously). I just bought in, fully. That's the best thing about movies. They just transport you. Which is, I suppose, why I like a specific type of movie. You can always kindof tell when a movie is mostly just about itself, and it's never an experience that really takes me.

Anyway, the movie we watched was 'The Visitor'. The actor is Richard Jenkins. It's about a chance meeting he has with a couple that's living in the country illegally, trying to make ends meet. They've done due diligence. They followed the procedures set out by immigration when they arrived, and then they waited. By the time they heard back, it had been a few years, and they had settled in. They had dodged the bullet. They were here, they had jobs, they were home. Then they were told to go home. Only.. home was, at that point, in their minds, an undefined idea.

It strikes me particularly, maybe, because we live in a community that is made up, largely, of immigrants. People trying to create home, trying to escape bad situations, trying to find, or create, 'normal'. The movie has a beautiful way of pitting one struggle against another.

In a white, suburban life where financial stability is a foregone conclusion, work is easy to find, and there aren't many things standing between a person and what might be considered a comfortable life, there are other demons.

In what is truly an aggressively real scene, everything comes to a head, and Walter (Richard Jenkins) reacts to the frustration that so many of us discuss internally on a daily basis.. to unfairness, or injustice, or inequality... or just whatever it is that makes life what it is.

It's a very big movie in a very small package... sometimes it seems like they always come that way. The smaller it is.. the less glossy...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thevisitor/

Watch it if you can!
JB

The End

The Jays are screwed. NY was fine. Game one was the best I'd ever seen, and it all looked like gold, but they got the better of us, and I was ok with that. Even Boston was alright. You get beat by better teams early, you turn it around, find your stride, and win when it counts. But then it was 3 straight to the Braves. Seriously, how old is Chipper Jones?

Yesterday to the O's was my backbreaker.

To quote Dan O'Toole from this morning's Sportscentre: "And you're not going to believe this ladies and gentlemen... but an RBI last night for Vernon Wells. That's right.. his first in 18 games. And let me remind you, folks..... he's hitting cleanup."

Don't worry Vernon. When you hit rock bottom, you'll almost certainly land softly on a pile of roughly $15 million.

Jeff, meet me on the deck tonight for a cheap scotch and a bad cigar. It's Red Label, and it bites on the way down, and the cigar cost $1.25, but given the circumstances, I think it'll do just fine.

Shed A Little Light

JT getting it done.



Let us turn our thoughts today to martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth, ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood

That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children can grow free and strong
We are bound together by the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Shed a little light, oh lord
So that we can see
Just a little light, oh lord
Wanna stand it on up
Stand it on up, oh lord
Wanna walk it on down
Shed a little light, oh lord

Cant get no light from the dollar bill
Don't give me no light from a tv screen
When I open my eyes
I wanna drink my fill
From the well on the hill

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood

Take me out...

It's a sunny day.. blue sky, clear as glass. You get home from work and race inside. Time's ticking. You throw on a blue shirt and your vintage Jays cap. You're out the door just as your buddy is parking out on the street, so you meet up with a high five and hit the sidewalk in the direction of the subway. Life is good.

On the subway, the crowd is mixed. Primarily businessmen/women on their way home from work. Blank stares, crossword puzzles, Sudoku. A few Jays caps stand out above the METRO dailies and REALTY magazines. One kid stands in the corner leaning against his dad's knees, looking around like he's never been on the train before. They've both got ball gloves in their left hands.

With every stop, a few more jerseys, a few more fans. The volume is rising. Every now and then, you catch the odd conversation rising above the grinding of the train.. "... and if A-Rod doesn't....", "... but with Doc on the mound...."

At Sherbourne, a group of about 15 high school kids stumble into the car. The volume jumps. T-shirts, jerseys, gloves. They're going where you are. Lots of laughing. Normally frustration from the business class... 'dang kids!'. Not today.

The changeover at Yonge is the switch. The train south to Union is 90% Ball fans. Groups of buddies randomly chanting, yelling.. high fives. The trains are packed.

You jump off at Union and hit the street. We're taking over Front Street at this point.. it's become a one-lane road. You stop for a frank on the way (onion, ketchup, mustard, and a dash of BBQ for me). Every now and then you pass a Yankee fan in the middle of the moving mass surrounded by yelling, laughing, booing Jays fans. His poor girlfriend hanging on to his arm, red face, while he puffs out his chest and shows off his 'Jeter' authentic jersey. Everybody is laughing.. the spirit is great.

By the time you merge with the crowd coming down BlueJays Way, it's electric. Buskers are in full force. A homeless guy playing spoons down at the fresh-cut fry truck, and bagpipes up on the bridge under the CN tower. Scalpers are yelling, avoiding eye contact, waving overpriced tickets in your face while cops stand by eating hotdogs. You meet up with your other buddies at the gate. More high fives. The Doc is on the mound tonight. It's a lock. The lines into the dome are buzzing with discussion. Batting averages, ERAs.. everybody knows everything, and nothing is left undissected. Somebody asks you who Teixeira played for last year. You're trying to remember when a guy three rows over yells, 'Angels!' These conversations are communal.


The game isn't something I can really describe. Everything that could've happened... happened. A-Rod's first at-bat, a 3-foot dribbler. Johnny Damon getting thrown out at second by Snider in left field. A fan throwing back an A-Rod foul ball down the first base line (sooo great.. sooo insulting). Burnett getting booed more aggressively than anyone I've ever heard.. or A-Rod getting berated every time he stepped in the box just for being... well.. A-Rod. Rolen's no-out, bases-loaded double down the left-field line in the fourth. Hill's solo bomb to left in the eighth. Chasing Burnett in the eighth, and then booing him off the field.. all the way to the dugout. Doc Halladay pitching a masterpiece, lockdown mode, classic complete game.

It was one of those nights. TV doesn't do it justice. Over 43 000 in the dome, and every single one of them knew it was going to be big. Every big play, the dome was on its feet. High fives with everybody in our section, losing voices, fist pumps. I know I'm supposed to be a little embarrassed to be so excited about May baseball. "It's a long season..." I know. I know. Doesn't matter. If you were there last night....

Then the game ended, and everybody flooded out onto the street, towards the subway...

Great game, Great night.

Marty

Coming off a great weekend.

Kar was out of town on Friday, so i hit the ballpark for the Jays game. They lost, and badly... blew a four run lead with poor pitching and an error in the 4th inning. But a good time regardless. And they won out the weekend, might I add, which leaves them at 10-4, and atop the AL East by 2 games. Gonna go to a game this week. Texas is coming to town.

Then on Saturday, we went to see Martin Sexton at the Mod Club. Dude is heavily talented... solo show, just guitar and voice. He's got a voice like nobody I've ever seen. After the show, Nik turned to me and said.. 'man, that guy commands your attention.' Absolutely.

This clip isn't from our show, but the same tour. The guy who comes out to sing with him was the opener.. also great stuff.

">

Lining up a trip to NYC next month. Summer in the city. yeeeaaaap.

Latergator.
JB

New Addition to the fleet

2009 American Standard Telecaster
Specs. = Ash body, Maple neck
Tone = Glorious
Fun Value = Incredibly High

The Wager

I write, today, from a position of extreme confidence, bordering on pride that would push the biblical limits of decency. Allow me to elaborate: Chuck and I have made a bet.

The fundamental details of this legal arrangement are complicated, and, frankly, beyond the scope of this discussion. Suffice to say that when the Toronto Blue Jays finish this regular season with more wins than the Detroit Tigers, I will win a free large coffee from Tim Hortons.

Steady now... I sense your knowing smirk and mildly bemused chuckle. But friends, this, unfortunately, is not a battle of superior intellect and cutting wit. No, this particular war is, in fact, much less firmly in-hand. And yet, I approach this challenge, today, with the same blind optimism with which I made the original wager in the first place.

You see, it is with a profound smugness that I await the arrival of the end of this ever-elongating tunnel. In short, one day, Toronto will rise again as a relevant sports town. And when that day comes, and we're firing on all cylinders, it will truly be a paradise to behold. Of course, the Raptors will never win. The Leafs, however, are getting there. For the first time, 'rebuilding' is more than a catch-phrase.

And the Jays. Let's be honest. Let's, to turn the phrase, call a spade a spade. At some point, the level of disparity in the American League East will reach such a level that Bud Selig will be forced to invoke some form of little known, 'polar-reverse clause.' Memo: from this day forward, by order of the commissioner of Major League Baseball and all affiliates and associations there-in, The Boston Red Sox will trade rosters and coaching staff with the Toronto Blue Jays effective immediately and to be enforced in perpetuity.

But I digress. To the original point of discussion: the bet. A fiercely biased, completely untruthful, far less enjoyable account of the wager, as well as various opinions, both right, and pro-Tigers, can be found at www.dueckman.blogspot.com. Feel free to stop by and leave unfriendly, aggressively pro-canadian comments... much the same as you'd leave a flaming bag of dog crap on the front step of your arch-enemy's house before ringing the doorbell and running away.

JB

Baseball is Back

Hey guys! Just a quick update on life around here. (above) Playing at Sarah's Cafe, Acoustic Afternoon this past weekend. I've been doing a few of these things, trying to get a gig around town. Most of the places I'm looking to play are swamped with artists looking for gigs, so they do their booking by hosting weekly open mics. You show up, play a few tunes, and hope they like what they hear. So I've been talking to pub owners and trying to get something set up. It's a great way to meet other players in the meantime. It's a pretty broad range of talent/style that comes out to these things, so I'm always learning something new and getting better at my own gig at the same time.

I'm finding that I'm learning a ton in terms of the art of performing. There's a lot of guys who can play. But when it comes to performing, some of them really stand out. Especially when it comes to the whole 'singer/songwriter' thing.. you know, just a guy and his guitar.. some of them are just so.. believable. They could be playing a campfire singalong, and you still just wouldn't be able to turn away. I'm learning that there's a big difference between being able to play guitar well in my basement, and being able to hold a crowd in a busy pub.

Anyway, here's hoping something lands soon!!

Other than that, Kar and I are headed home to Leamington this weekend. I don't think we've been home since Christmas, so it feels like it's been a really long time. I had dreams of early morning rounds of golf with Steve, but I think recent atmospheric events have basically put the kibosh to that idea.

And finally, the Jays home opener was last night, and they hammered the Tigers, 12-5. Look out beantown.

JB

podcasts

working on a solution that would allow for getting audio up here... or up somewhere... in something closer to the original quality of the recording. all signs point to blogspot as being a short-lived solution. stay tuned!

this podcast idea might be fun.. more to come (audio-style)

since when does everything have to follow format, right? i think we're past the point where i have to release records with artwork and tshirts in order to have a musically fulfilling life. there's too many other options. I like the idea of combining my love of music with my love of recording. throw in my exposure to the best gear in the business, and we've got a winner. i'm thinking about a more open, discussion-based thing. i really like a lot of what happens on CBC 1. cmon in, play a few tunes, talk about the writing process, what the songs mean, etc. it's so much more interesting to hear it from the artists than it is to read it on the cover of the record. and who doesn't like well produced live music right?

failsafe.


JB

Audio Blog #1

Hey guys.

Welcome to audio blog #1!! I was thinking it'd be fun to start using the media options at hand to make this a bit more interesting. Check out the vid for some thoughts and a new song. I apologize... it isn't really a vid. Just a pic, and some audio. Should still do the job.

For the audio geeks, the track was recorded as follows. A Neumann D01 and a Neumann KM185D made up a Mid-Side stereo pair at about the 12th fret. The vocal mic is a new Neumann KMS104D, a prototype handheld we've been test driving. All 3 mics are solution-D digitals. Check'em out!!

Engineering credit: Michael Nunan.

Credit for horrible fidelity on converted media: Blogger.com

I'll Show You Battle Studies

Alright, so I'm not sure if any of you are following John Mayer these days. He's doing this thing called 'Battle Studies'. If you go to www.johnmayer.com, he's got a blog going that he's regularly updating with pics and vids and everything that's going into making his new record. It's a totally cool experiment designed to make the whole process transparent. The whole idea being that a clearly commercial endeavor becomes more of a 'together' experience, where we all get to have a bit of a part in it as it goes along.

So, I'm not yet working on a new record, per se. Just new songs. New ideas that will someday become something, I'm sure. But I like the idea. So stick around. Tonight, I'm going in to record a new track. It's called 'I've Got This Road'. It's going down straight to tape. Well.. straight to binary. The point being, we're gonna do it in a one take run. 3 mics, one guitar, one voice. Time to figure out where I stand as a player.... Incidentally, it's also a good excuse to test drive a new Neumann Digital we just got in. This one's a handheld, with something like a U87 capsule. We were playing with it the other day, and she sounds warm.

The song'll be up here, so check back.

More to come!

JB

Playlist

Playlist: 'Thought Music'
Created: 'March 5, 2009'

Peter Bradley Adams - Los Angeles
Jimmy Eat World - 12.23.95
Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky
Goo Goo Dolls - Acoustic #3
Damien Rice - Dogs
Copeland - You Have My Attention
George Strait - I Saw God Today
The Get Up Kids - Hannah Hold On
Glen Hansard/Marketa Irglove - Falling Slowly
Howard Shore/Annie Lennox - Into The West
Jimmy Whitfield - Here's To Closure
Iron & Wine - Naked As We Come
Dave Matthews Band - Grace Is Gone
Jimmy Eat World - My Sundown
Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
James Taylor - Enough To Be On Your Way
Nickel Creek - Doubting Thomas
Jimmy Eat World - For Me This Is Heaven
Moxy Fruvous - Gulf War Song
The New Amsterdams - Hanging On For Hope
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
John Mayer - Wheel
Norah Jones - Humble Me
The Roosevelts - Your Song
James Taylor - September Grass
Switchfoot - This Is Your Life
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name (Live)
Jack's Mannequin - Rescued

Hey Bud

I'm starting to think that you're not allowed to work at TSN unless you call everybody 'bud'.

"Thanks for the tapes bud."
"Hey, nice work on that NHL Radio mix bud!"
"How's it going today bud?"

Bud is completely different than Buddy.

"Hey buddy," says, 'hey person who's companionship I enjoy.... hey friend who I think of as my peer and my equal..'

"Hey bud" says, 'hello small child who I consider to be my inferior and who I'm attempting to shepherd through a quaint new phase in this terrifying world of grownups to which I belong and in which I excel due to my superiority when viewed in comparison with you..'

Guys who say "Hey bud.." are a special breed. They play in rec sports leagues every Thursday night and drive cars like Jeeps, with the doors off in the summer.

JB

Band

Hey guys,

Had a first rehearsal today with a buddy in Waterloo in the hopes of getting a band together to play live. Man, it was a great thing to be playing with other guys again. Well.. other guy in this case. Which is the point of this note:

I'm in need of a second guitar player, and a bass guitar player. Holler if you, or somebody you know, might be interested. Gigs would be in the Toronto/Waterloo area.

Talk soon,

JB

Desire

Ladies.

You may be playing hard to get... but I will have you. Soon enough... you will be mine.

'Still Learning Tricks'

Dale Nikkel's record, 'Still Learning Tricks' is a total gold mine. I came to this record through a buddy of mine out west, who does a bunch of the guitar work on this record.

'This New Leaf' is like an anthem for me. It's an extremely big song in a beautifully small package.

The great divide doesn't look so wide today
Maybe I'm seeing a little bit of light
From over the mountains
And it's such a pretty sight
Can't say I've felt such peace in a long time

And the tightrope towards the hope that I've been walking
Seems to be fading
I've done my service
To the religious circus
Trading these narrow views for something new

Hey hey, celebrate with me
The other side of this new leaf I'm turning
Freedom cmon in and take your seat
Hey hey, celebrate with me
The day that I can finally be
Truly free

The great divide doesn't look so wide today
The stream from the mountain flowed so fresh
And I drank from that fountain
So cold in my chest
Finally found what it means to rest

Hey hey, celebrate with me
The other side of this new leaf I'm turning
Freedom cmon in and take your seat
Hey hey, celebrate with me
The day that I can finally be
Truly free

The great divide doesn't look so wide today
I'm no longer wandering on my own
The old mountain stones
It's like they're paved with gold
No longer with my old life in tow

And the tightrope towards the hope that I've been walking
Seems to be fading
I've done my service
To my emotional circus
Trading these narrow views for something new

Hey hey, celebrate with me
The other side of this new leaf I'm turning
Freedom cmon in and take your seat
Hey hey, celebrate with me
The day that I can finally be
Truly free

You can get the record on iTunes.
JB

Down To Earth

I'm listening to the soundtrack for WALL-E right now. It's a beautiful cacophony of semi-human, robotic, organic, and completely arbitrary sounds pulled together and knitted in alongside some really beautiful swooping melodies and themes. It's actually really stunning.

Kar and I have decided to start listening to more soundtracks. It really is some of the most beautiful and emotionally charged music out there. And from a creative standpoint, some of this stuff is so huge.

I've been very fortunate over the past little bit to have the opportunity to second engineer on some orchestral sessions with some great guys here in the city. It's a fascinating process, and massively involved. There's so much going on, and so much that can go wrong, when you have 50+ players, and so many layers, parts, textures. And then, when it all comes together, it's stunning how huge it can be. To sit in a room with a full orchestra coming together to play a great piece is an experience I wish on everybody.

What to do tonight?

I'm playing guitar more now than I think I ever have. I'm drawn to it. And I need for things to fall together. I'm eager to play with people. I want badly to be a part of a musical community, and to create with other people. It's coming. But slowly. I don't really have interest in doing it alone anymore. I can write and record records till I die, by myself, locked up in a studio. It always lacks life. I'm in that state of mind where anything is possible, and I'm ready to jump. I feel like there are really exciting things just inches from my grasp, and my energy level is higher than it's ever been on that front.

All the scale-playing and early mornings, getting in, warming up, and doing the hard work of getting better technically is paying off. If nothing else, I have the very distinct feeling of being much more in control of my fingers. Which sounds odd, but changes everything. Everything is opening up. Kindof like when you decide to start eating better, and going for walks after work, and all of a sudden you start noticing that waking up is easier, and you've got more energy and patience late in the day. Everything is sortof connected, and I'm finding that as I build up more of a base, musically, everything else becomes more realistic.

More on music in the future. I think things will be picking up soon!

JB

The Great Divide

The concept of living 'in the moment'... it's the first to go. It's surprising. In the moment is... close. Living close to the surface. Not in that loose, dependent way... but in the way that's true to yourself. Life, such as we live it, pushes me back into my own shell. It's an escalating scenario. The further I retreat, the higher the stakes seem to get. Everything becomes more important, and less empowering. It's all about appearances, after all, and weakness isn't very appealing.

I wonder where I would be if I was never afraid of myself.

So... eventually I'm far enough from the surface that I don't even remember that it's there. Do you know that subway look? Straight ahead, eyes looking outside.. at nothing. Face completely unaffected. "Gonna be late. Gotta get there." "Gotta get home.. done my time..."

There's so much power in living close to the surface. So much energy there. There's no energy in cynicism, or safety.

I'm finding this urgent right now.

You slip into it. Suddenly everybody is on the block, up for judgement. It's for you or against you. People are too slow, too loud, too simple to keep up. Only.. you aren't doing anything.. just watching, retreating, and labeling. And what's really kicking you while you're down is the fact that you aren't having any fun. You aren't living at all, and you know it. You aren't smiling, you aren't crying. You're just there.. another cog.


This is a turnaround that has to happen with me. It's my own decision to up and out. I don't always know how, but.. I know where I'm coming from, and I think that's a start.

Hear The Music

Someone mentioned this story to me, and it's too fascinating not to talk about. I'll just paste the original story as it came to me:

"A violinist played a Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and
stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 mins later the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the
money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes, a 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes; the musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.

1 hour; he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best
musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.


The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?"


So, it's an interesting question. Do we recognize beauty out of context? Kar and I were discussing the idea that we may simply love and laud our favorite artists because they are our favorite artists. Which is to say... I think Alison Krauss is one of the great singers of this era because I know that I'm supposed to. But if I passed Alison on front street, singing with a guitar and an open case, would I even slow down?


A story like this is, in reality, completely jarring. It's a picture of a society that is choosing the easy over the earned. There's nothing easy about Joshua Bell and the music he plays. This brings into sharp relief the concept of priorities. I can't have this conversation without coming to the same end. I start by realizing that there would be huge value in slowing down, listening, looking, experiencing the world and people around me on a daily basis. Then I tell myself that such an idea is counterproductive to the concept of accomplishment and success in our current society. If everybody was stopping and listening in the subway, than how would we get anything done? Then I wonder why I always feel like everybody needs to be getting things done!? Can I really defend rushing off away from an inspiring and life-changing (yes, I believe that) performance of musical beauty so that I can get busy producing promos for Desperate Housewives?

So, this is an interesting one to keep unpacking. How (and how often) do we experience our world, and how might a change in our methods bring about more meaning in our existence?

JB

Steamroller

I've got a new routine going. It occurs to me that I need challenges. I need 'projects'... something I can sink myself into over an extended period of time. I get bored when there isn't something specific tying up my mind and my energy. There's been a bunch over the past couple years, usually music-based. I think I need to feel like I'm always 'in school'. I really love learning, and, hopefully, turning into a better version of myself through the effort. There are so many great stages, too. At first, it's all blood and sweat, and no results. You're just hacking away, but you're running on the adrenaline of the initial idea and the excitement surrounding it. And then things start taking shape, and you start to gather the little evidences of improvement that keep you coming back. And then, hopefully, in the end, you can look back and realize that you've benefited more than you ever realized was possible.

So anyway, I realized a while ago that my guitar playing had essentially reached a plateau. Which isn't to say that I got so good that I had nowhere else to go... no.. but I think any sort of musical pursuit can be a series of plateaus. You work like crazy to get to a certain point, and then you get there, and for a while, it's all about the joy of being able to be there, and to play things you could never play, and just hear that coming off of your hands. But then you get to a point (which I got to a few weeks ago) where you discover that you're out of ideas, and out of direction. You can play everything that other people who play like you are playing, and you can't even come close to playing what people who don't play like you are playing. It isn't so much about measuring skill on a unidirectional scale anymore. I'm just finding that there are all of these parallel streams of musicality that I have never really tackled, so I can be playing what I play (fingerstyle, folky, whatever) and then I take that step left into something else and it's like a free-fall down into serious discomfort and a total lack of ingenuity.

It's the difference between being the guy who can say, 'ya, I know how to play all of John Mayer's tunes...' and being John Mayer.

So musically, and specifically on guitar, I think the place that I'm most lacking and, incidentally, the place that will probably be the most fun and exciting to explore and learn to play, is blues. I mean... guys who can really dig in and just lay that stuff down are incomparably fun to watch/listen to. Let it be known that I have no idea how to 'learn how to play the blues..' But I have a few ideas on how to get there in my own way. So, I've been coming in to work about an hour and a half early every morning and doing scales. Sounds boring, I know, but it's actually pretty great. Everything from learning standard major/minor scales to working out blues scales, and finding the various places you can play them in the same keys up and down the neck. That gets my fingers going, and has me back into using a pick (which has been absent from my playing for a while)

After work, before Kar gets home, I've been doing another half-hour of that, followed by another hour or so of working out licks, mimicking stuff I hear some of the big guys doing (Mayer, Clapton, BB, etc.) playing along to backing tracks (Youtube is sweet! you can find slow blues backing tracks in abundance that are perfect for practice!)

I'm loving this!! I have more fun playing guitar than almost anything, and it feels like I'm learning how to play the instrument again for the first time. I mean, it can be painful at times. Just when I feel like I'm getting somewhere, I make the mistake of throwing on someone else's tune and discovering the meaning of the term 'amateur'. But regardless, it's a blast.

So, you may not hear new music from me for a bit, but I promise you my next record is gonna be a badass blues romp.



Side note: If you can find it, try to get your hands on a series of podcasts called 'Spin Cycles'. It's airing on CBC 1 late on wednesday nights, so I always tune in on my way home from hockey. It's all about our current news-hungry 24 hour information-based society. Talks alot about the concept of 'spin', and how we rarely, if ever, hear proper factual programming. Sheds good light on how much of what we hear is designed and tailored for specific reactions and a predetermined resultant public opinion, most specifically in the political forum.

Also, on the topic of CBC 1, they have some really great podcasts. If you're looking to go for a long drive and you're sick of your own current CDs, let me recommend:

- "Vinyl Cafe" with Stuart Maclean. You can get it free on iTunes. He's a true gem of a story teller, and that's all this podcast is. Stories and anecdotes. Makes me laugh like crazy, sometimes cry, and always feel better for having heard it.

- "Wiretap" with Jonathan Goldstein. Can't really describe this one, but he's brilliant in his own way.


Alright, well, this weekend is all about house parties, sushi with friends, and orchestral sessions at the Glen Gould. Peace,

Jon

Evangelism.. SUBWAY style!

This morning on the subway, I'm patiently sitting out the usual RT 'sit and wait' routine on my way in, and suddenly the guy beside me just starts talking to me. He's probably my age, normal dude. Understand that this is a patently uncommon occurance when it comes to the usual subway routine.

There's no way to describe it other than that I was 'evangelized'. His lead was to politely say, 'excuse me, but I was wondering if I could suggest that, if you're ever going to read one book in your life, that it should be the Bible.' He told me that he would recommend the Bible because of the fact that it would give me a reason for living. He suggested that, at the end of the day, living a life in pursuit of possesions, money, and personal gain was bound to leave me feeling empty, and that the Bible gave me a greater purpose. That purpose, he suggested, was two-fold. One was to love God, which, he admitted, wasn't something he fully understood. The other was to love others, which, he figured, was profound, and worthy of living for.

He was a totally normal guy. He seemed pretty genuine, and I didn't really dislike anything about him (he wasn't a greaser or anything...) He said he first started to learn about God a few years ago, but had grown up thinking it was all a joke. I didn't tell him anything about myself, and I tried to ask him questions that would give him an opportunity to explain himself and say what he wanted to say. It all took about 10 minutes... right up until we got on different buses.. him to school (I think) and me to work.

So, it's an experience that raises all kinds of thoughts and questions for me. I suppose I respect the guy for taking a shot. You know, he was nervous, and he was probably phsyching himself up for a few minutes before he actually rounded on me and started talking. Good for him for deciding to approach me about something that he clearly felt strongly about.

At the same time, some things really don't agree with me about the whole scenario. Firstly, there's something about the way a guy like this inherently assumes that I'm a certain type of person, with a certain background, and that I'm specifically in need of something only he can provide. He didn't ask me any questions. He didn't want to know anything about who I was, what I thought, or what I had experienced. There was nothing conversational about the 'conversation' in the sense that... he didn't come in with any desire to learn or grow. Only to tell. I guess that isn't necessarily iherently bad.. he wasn't brow-beating me or anything. He basically just wanted to say, 'This book is really important to me, and I want to share that with you..'

But it feels odd to have somebody come into your scenario like that without any precursor. In my mind, it was clearly a case of me humoring him. I wasn't thinking.. 'I need this right now.. he's got something that I don't..' And how could I be? I don't know anything about him. What do I know about what he's got? Why would I have any insentive to dive into any sort of existential discussion with this guy without knowing the first thing about who he is as a person? In the end, it felt more or less like it was about allowing him to do his thing. He was the point of focus, and the purpose for my lending an ear.

So it makes me wonder where the general public stands with stuff like this. They see it all the time, right? I mean, it isn't like it's particularly surprising when somebody knocks on your door wearing a suit or carrying a pamphlet. How do you respond? Go ahead and comment.. share your thoughts!

I've learned that I tend to respond like I did this morning, with a sense of wanting to let this guy have his say, and do his thing. Because clearly it's important to him, and I can respect that. But I don't particuarly come in hungry for knowledge. I equate it, in my mind, with shopping at Future Shop or some other similar place. I don't go in there and just stand around until somebody comes up and tells me what I should be buying. I go in knowing what I'm looking for. If I want info, I find somebody I feel like I can trust, and I ask specific questions. The point being that I'm the one who does the work of gathering the info, evaluating everything, and then making a call. If anything, the first sign of a salesman stepping in my direction to make an unrequested pitch results in my hasty exit. It's almost a bit insulting... sortof makes me think... "what, so you assume that I don't think about this stuff? You think that I'm just floundering around waiting for you to come along with your silver bullet? I'm thinking about it dude.. fear not! I, too, consider the mysteries of the cosmos on a regular basis!" There's something about the fact that this person knows nothing about me, and still feels like he's in a position to step into my life in this way, that seems off.

And of course, all of this is made that much more interesting by the fact that I am who I am, and my background is what it is. So, really, this stuff is sortof 'par for the course' for me. I've seen this drill... heck.. they taught me to do this in youth group! I can half imagine this guy coming off a sermon on Sunday where Evangelism was the topic, and this is his way of trying to live out what he learned. I wonder what goes through the minds of people who are less accustomed to this type of talk when he gets to them? I wonder what the guy sitting across from me was thinking on the subway this morning (he was watching this whole conversation with fairly keen interest.)

So, this is up for discussion. Where do we stand on this stuff? My relationship with God is something that is so pivotal in my life.. and I'd love to see others share that sense of purpose, and benefit from that relationship... but at the same time, this morning wasn't particularly positive for me. How does this all fit together?

JB

Soosh-D

"Sushi is the sweet nectar of life... the inescapably glorious reunion of man and the divine... truly an experience not unlike that original perfection, the garden.. God's design for all that is right"
- Jon Bartel

Alright, quoting oneself isn't the most effective.. but the essential truth stands. Come to Toronto, and we'll take you to Sushi Delight. aka Soosh-D. Kar and I went on Friday.


humorous audio question of the week for fellow engineers reading this: what, do you suppose, is the proper course of action when a producer calls about a promo you're mixing for him later in the afternoon, and says,

'Ok, so you'll find some sound-ups in there, and I really just want those to be the focus.. you know, just really push those. And then with the music, just really make sure you emphasize that, cause I really think that it's integral to the piece, and then you'll find some VO, and I think that's probably the real key to this entire spot, so just be sure that you really push that up front and centre, cause that's definitely the most important thing. And then I've also thrown in some sound fx, and I just want to make sure that you're aggressive with those, cause they're going to really need to be "in your face".. I think they're going to really move the spot along... and... other than that... i guess that's about it!...'



This week was lived largely in my head.. in a sense. I come away feeling re-positioned and once again grounded. We have really great friends. I needed to decide who I'm going to be, and what I'm going to do. Not in the 'what do I want to do for a living?' sense, but in the 'what am I going to value, and what am I going to pursue?' sense. Karen is my godsend on these weekends. She's the beacon when I'm way out in left floundering around in my own thoughts. I can get pretty far off the beaten path and sometimes it's tough to turn myself around. If there's something in the concept of marriage that I find most astounding, that's it... the fact that she knows me and recognizes me in times when I can't seem to know myself. Sometimes everything feels one-footed and out of balance, and she's always able to find me in the middle of all the clag.

Had some really good discussion this weekend surrounding some of the great un-answerable questions:

- How can a loving God who eventually 'wins the day' relinquish millions of those he lovingly created to be forever separated from him when it's fully in his power to do the opposite? Wouldn't that be classified as 'losing the day?' Why would he do that? Why would leave it up to us, in our ridiculous self-centeredness and simplicity, and our inability to think outside of the simplest constraints of time and space, to fully grasp the divine intricacies of what we call 'salvation'? We can't get along as nations, we can't stop chasing money and signs of status and wealth. We can't even be polite to each other on the subway. And yet, when it comes to the status in which we will spend an eternity after death... he's going to leave that up to us to sort out, based on a book that has been translated from its original language and cultural reference-point by humans as simple and ordinary as we are. Isn't that, realistically, completely absurd?!


One other great experience...

We were at a home church with friends on Sunday morning. It was a really cool thing to be a part of. Different from the usual in the sense that you don't have a person who's specifically ordained to lead and deliver the ideas and thoughts while the majority of the group listens and learns. Rather, different people come with a specific thought or discussion topic each week, and then the entire group discusses, adds, subtracts, and shares from their own experiences and ideas. The range of thoughts is massively diverse, because the group plays home to so many different lifestyles and places in life. What you might lose in the lack of a specifically 'gifted' speaker/pastor, you gain in the wealth of shared input.

But probably the coolest thing about the idea is the community aspect it affords and encourages. Everybody shows up around 11:00am, and great coffee, waffles, and general catching up/chatting gets everything going. You aren't going to church so much as you're just getting together with family. Then, throughout the morning, it's open to anybody to share whatever is on their mind/heart. If you have a poem you wrote that pertains to the topic at hand, read it! If you have a song on the go, play it! A chapter from a book you're reading that specifically speaks to something we're going on about... do tell! I think the coolest thing about that is that you get away from what can sometimes be such a struggle in our churches... you get away from a scenario in which a few select people are heavily involved while others simply comment and critique. Everybody gets to share their own thoughts, and their own gifts. It's built right into the framework of how church happens.

We love the meeting house. But it's really cool to see what other people are doing, too. I think there's a ton to be learned/appreciated from this approach. Really cool. I think that's sortof how I picture church to have been like when it was first happening.


Talk soon.
JB

Inauguration

I think that you have two choices when it comes to responding to a day like today:

You respond either with cynicism, or with inspiration.

I count myself truly blessed to be a part of something like today, if only by way of a crappy msnbc online stream. To be able to tell my kids about the strength of the moment is a great thing.

The shear weight, and beauty, of millions of people gathering in a single location to celebrate something is incredible. That it is a celebration of something so positive, and so humble, is inspiring.

Time, of course, will judge Obama's presidency. But for today, I'm celebrating the fact that everybody across America is talking about coming together, and working together, and learning from the past.


In a truly monstrous prayer, Rick Warren laid out everything that is truly beautiful about faith, and belief. Acceptance and humility, compassion and love... let that be a representation of what it is to live a life in pursuit of God.

Obama's speech, as well, a moment in history. Some great points I managed to scribble down (my own thoughts in brackets):

- as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself. (we are all humans, and we are all important, despite the lines that define and separate us.)

- to those leaders around the world who seek to sew violence, know that your people will judge you by what you can build, not what you can destroy (violence begets violence... this is a constant throughout history. This has never changed.)

- to those nations like ours, who enjoy relative plenty, we say that we can no longer afford indifference to the world’s needs (HUGE! this is EVERYTHING.)

- a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves (about the need for a new mentality amongst the american public.)


The fundamental idea behind today's inauguration has to be one of looking outward as opposed to inward, thinking of others as opposed to one's self, and doing this together, as a country. That is an incredible thing.

JB

Hi!

PART 1

Let me tell you about my new love: cooking.

It's turning into something guys, seriously. Lately, Kar has been working late at the lab, and so I've been the dinner preparer for a while now. Turns out I actually really enjoy it! I've been wading into new waters, as well. The other night, I made what was probably my best dish to date... what I'll call my oven grilled butter/rosemary talapia. A clean white filet glazed with melted butter, coated in a dash of oregano, a double dash of rosemary, and a snatch of BBQ chicken spice, oven baked alongside chopped and scattered white onion, and served with a side of sauteed button mushrooms. Man... read that again and tell me you didn't have to swallow a few times.

My other current best dish is grilled BBQ chicken legs (I've developed a bad-ass homemade BBQ sauce for this one) with golden mash and asparagus.

Additionally, a good salad is imperative. Romaine greens, chopped hotmix pickles and perpencino peppers, white onion, cheese, and a homemade vinaigrette (veg oil, vinaigrette, salt, pepper, spices, garlic).

It's good eating at the Bartel/Founks. Cmon by! (just let me know you're coming first!)


PART 2



If you can find it, this is a record I highly recommend. I've been spinning this daily as of late. It's instrumental, live. Bela Fleck is probably the more well known to most of you. He's probably the world's premier banjo player, and is a master of using the instrument to do things you wouldn't typically do with it. He strays far from the traditional folk/bluegrass landscape and takes the banjo into jazz grooves, and, often most impressively, classical pieces from the likes of bach.

Edgar Meyer is to the double bass (standup bass) what Bela is to banjo. A virtuoso talent, visionary, and creative genius who does things with the instrument that are atypical in the least.

The record is all over the place. Classical waltz, folk jive, atmospheric wanderings.. with some additional piano work as a compliment. I've been finding it (as, it seems, I tend to find most good music) extremely pleasant and calming as a background to my days work, but also extremely challenging and involving when listened to actively.

Check it out! (I'd suggest you start with the song 'Blue Spruce' for a first listen)



Happy Friday!
JB