Christmas Chocolate Crinkles!!!

Lately I've been unsuccessfully, and rather messily, trying my hand at baking! Baking goes against all that I am. It is entirely antithetical to my nature and core personality. It is the "1979 Chateau Lafite" to my "relatively cold Coors Light in a can." I have a tendency to mis-measure. I'm prone to cutting a recipe down to a half-batch, but still managing to add the full quotient of baking soda. Or mixing up baking soda and baking powder. Or adding 2 cups of baking powder instead of 2 tsp. Cooking is my speed... if it tastes weird you just add rosemary, and then at least it tastes like rosemary.

That said, I actually rather enjoy baking! Something about messing around in the kitchen brings about a sort of deep, very real sense of joy. Food is, inherently, a joyful thing to me. That sounds ridiculous. But really, I think Kar and I both see food as a form of community, or at least a catalyst to it.

So yesterday I called Mom for a recipe. No particular preference. I wouldn't dare tackle her famous "Christmas Cookies". The term is generic, but those of us in the family know exactly which ones I'm referring to. As I mentioned to her over the phone, trying to pull off those puppies would be sacrilege. Like covering a Beatles tune. It's simply not done.

So she listed off some options, and we decided on her "Chocolate Crinkles." Little known fact: these little nerds were originally born out of the kitchen of one Linda Epp! (as noted boldly on top of the recipe card Dad scanned and beamed over to me...)

Once again, my success was decidedly measured. I forgot to grease the pan (Kar rolled her eyes exceedingly at this...). I also burnt the first run. In the end, though, I think we're making progress. If they aren't good yet, they're at least getting less bad...

So c'mon over and help us out with these things! It turns out every one of Mom's baking recipes results in approximately 8 dozen cookies. 8 DOZEN!!! Your fault Steve.












Test run!!!


It's unclear whether this reaction is positive or negative...

Hello, my old friends!

Hey family! (and friends..)

I'm on a journey in search of reality. Finding things that are genuine is an experience I find increasingly challenging, and comparably rewarding. People who do what I do for a living learn to create moments. We spend our days searching for new ways to convince the same audience that they really are having a very good time, very good indeed! (Michael Cane?) This is not inherently bad. Roger Ebert writes often about the notion that, in film-going (and I'll tack on television-watching), the goer and the creators willingly and knowingly enter into a sort of suspended reality. We're playing make-believe, and it's a riot!

But by an interesting shift in my own personal paradigm, I find myself lingering increasingly around the "honest, if a little less glossy" bin in favor of the other, shiny-er substitutes. Our society moves with increasing swiftness towards a day in which we fail to intelligently engage with that which we consume on any cognizant level.

By taking a step back from some of the staples of what it is to live in this great age, I suppose I've been making something of an effort at seeing the forest, while maintaining a healthy professional interest in the trees. In practical terms, this has meant less social networking (facebook, et al) and more face to face conversing. Less email and more phone calling. It's meant seeking out forms of entertainment that challenge me to engage, as opposed to bludgeoning me with a sort of "you should be enjoying this!" synthetic energy.

It's been a worthwhile and ongoing exercise. I feel that our sense of the world and the people in it is directly tied to our relationship with the media we consume. Our ability to be moved and inspired by the creative is dependent on our understanding of it.


On a lighter note, with the holidays upon us we're making plans for homemade eggnog, cornish game-hens, and a hot toddy or two! I'll post some pics soon with a few updates on what we're up to!

Be well, mon amis.
Jon

The True Power Of The Performing Arts

On the arts, and their place in, and relationship to, our society today...

http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_cameron_tedxyyc.html

JB

The Love Feast!

The season is turning. The squirrels are still running around in the back yard, but they don't have much company anymore.

It's cold outside. But inside our little world it's as cosy as it's ever been! Tradition is taking hold in that lovely, warm way that it does. Like a chance meeting with an old friend… taking us back to those moments and faces that lie behind each outward symbol of the season… the things we really look forward to each December.


Our tree has gone up. And it's a good one this year!


Ornament roll-call. All members present? Touchdown Santa with an enthusiastic "YES!" Gary, and this year's newest addition, Raymond "Razor" the running Polar Bear, less excited, but present nonetheless…

_____

And so what do you do when the season is upon you? You invite your closest over, and you have a feast. You toast the year that was, and that which is to come, and above all, the opportunity to gather, and to eat, and to toast...

The 1st Annual Love Feast. An inaugural attempt at something we'd been talking about doing for a while now. An evening of eating great food, and drinking great wine. Of exchanging used books, and decorating the tree. Of singing carols (only the first verses... who knows further than that by heart?!), and ushering in what is sure to be a fantastic holiday...

Enjoy the snaps. And to you and yours, our very best. I honestly hope that it is for you what it is for me. Cheers, and the happiest of New Years!


"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson.


















Kar and Kristina made an unbelievable meal!






Trish, Nik, Tina, and Josh.


My first attempt at a Mulled Christmas Wine... it was... strong! But good. Going to tweak my recipe and give it another go over the break at home...




Book exchange!

In The Moment

I really believe in living presently. I have a dream, somewhere in there amongst other vague ambitions and ideals, of me and my son or daughter running around on the front lawn after dinner as the sun sets over the field out back.

It's a cute image... all the parents reading this are rolling their eyes and dying to tell me how things really go...

More than the finer details, to me, it represents a full heart, and a restful soul. It's an image of a time in my life, perhaps, when my focus has shifted.

Years ago, that restless and impassioned youth I once was had every intention of living every day in the moment. Of choosing perspective over profit... priorities over... other things.

And yet, here I stand, in the midst of a life that, for the time being, seems rarely restful, and primarily inward-focused. I love the challenge of being the best possible version of myself. Relationally, professionally, spiritually... I'm as motivated as ever to be "on it." I'm increasingly sure of the value in going for it, in every sense, in everything. Life is about diving in, and grabbing hold. I enjoy the challenge of doing great work, and achieving excellence. I hate it, though, when the chase of those things in one arena inherently choke out my ability to do so in another... when equally important aspects of my life suffer the consequences of my spending most of my time focusing on, in this case, success at work.

And so, we keep on keeping on. I continue to pursue balance. Right now, it doesn't seem particularly inclined to wait around for me to catch up. I look forward to the holidays, and Ireland in the New Year. I look forward to seeing some of the work that's been keeping me away from friends lately on air at some point. And I look forward to watching that sun setting over the field out back. Whether that be a on a quiet country road, or simply a metaphorical state of mind...

Jimmy Eat World at MTV Live!

Well, today was a great day!


You always want to work with the pros.

I remember my boss at CTV telling me at one point that the A-listers are always the easiest guys to work with.

Well today I got to work with some A-listers. Jimmy Eat World has been doing it for a long time now, and doing it really well. I've always loved their music. They've got a thing for melody. And whether it was back in the 'Clarity' days, where the songs were longer, and, perhaps, a bit more self-aware, or the more pop-focused sound of the past few records, I've always felt they were a cut above their 'rock and roll' peers.


They've just put out a new record, and were in Toronto playing the Kool Haus last night. Today they were the musical guest on MTV Live and I was their music mixer for broadcast. In short, that means I was the guy mixing the band as you hear them on TV.

The first thing that blew me away was simply how much gear these guys loaded in. We pretty much packed their entire road rig into the Masonic Temple, all for 3 songs on TV! Their full Front-Of-House console and road racks, their entire monitor console and setup, all mics, cables, stands, and enough guitars and amps to drive a fifty-piece orchestra. It was sweet.

In terms of gear, there really is a difference between the big shots and the other guys. The last show I did their was a couple of rented fender reverbs and a small ludwig kit. Jimmy Eat World showed up with their sound all ready to go. Great amps, great guitars, great drums. Huge tone from every source.




So here's how this works. The band rolls in around noon. Well… you don't see the band for several hours. Their crew loads in, sets up, etc. For the first few hours, everybody is slinging cables, opening cases, building stands, etc. Everything has a place, and there's very little guess work. The guitars are pulled out, tuned up, wiped down, and racked. The drums are placed, tuned, and miked.

About five minutes before the band walks in, we do a quick tap-test to make sure all of our microphones are live and we're ready to go. In terms of setup, all sources are split at the stage. Monitors gets a copy, Front-Of-House gets a copy, and I get a copy. I run my own preamps (32 channels of DigiPre), and I'm entirely independent of the house mix. Today I was just over 30 channels wide.



By the time the band first walks in, everything is ready to go for them. They rehearse all three songs and I record them straight in a row. During rehearsal I'm getting basic sounds, keeping an eye on incoming levels, and basically just making sure I'm getting everything I need. All in all, everything sounds terrible at this point! About 20 minutes later, they re-rehearse all three songs again, this time specifically for the sake of planning camera blocking (angles and moves). Again, I record all three tunes.

At this point, the rest of the crew moves on to do some other prep work for the show, the band heads back to their bus to continue playing video games, and I've got the next few hours to essentially "mix" the rehearsal songs, the assumption being that "On the day", they'll essentially sound the same as they did in rehearsal.


At some point the road manager stops by to say hi and listen to how things are coming. If they hate it, well… hopefully they don't hate it! (they didn't)

And then suddenly it's show time!



It's a half-hour show, and the band plays three songs at the very end. One or two of them are live, and the others go online at mtv.ca.

It's a huge thrill to do this type of work. There's an immediacy, and an energy, that you just don't have with studio-type work. It's all about finding the right energy… the groove.

The show went really well. Working with Jimmy Eat World, getting to know the guys a little bit... this was a surreal experience. And yet... it really wasn't. Like I said, working with pros is easy! They do their job, and I do mine. And at the end of the day, if we're both as good as we should be... man, that's good TV! I listened to a replay of the show at home later tonight. I wasn't totally thrilled with my mixes, but… hey… when am I?

At the end of the day, the point, to me, is this: Eight years ago, when I was first getting into recording, I had dreams that someday, I'd work with Alison Krauss and Jimmy Eat World. I can't tell you how incredible it is to have been afforded that opportunity, or at least half of it (you're next Alison!). To be able to spend my days working with musicians of this calibre, knowing that they're putting their creative process in my hands and letting me decide how it should be presented to the final audience, is a great and humbling thing. The challenge is a total riot, and to walk out of the building at the end of the day and see hundreds of kids leaving, yelling about how it was "the best show I ever went to!", and know that you got to be a part of it from the inside, is a total blessing.

I love this. Life is good.
JB

Thanksgiving Hockey...

Spent the day up at The Drive Shed, a studio in northwest Toronto, recording a new version of "The Hockey Theme" for the upcoming NHL season on TSN. I love these gigs for their professionalism. Serious session players... the kind of guys who use two takes to get it right, but only because we're paying them for a four-hour call, and if we just used the first take every time, nobody would really be getting their money's worth!

Anyway, in the spirit of thanksgiving, what I really love about days like today is how many times you hear guys saying, "this is a dream come true... I grew up listening to this tune!" Me too. Life's good regardless. Getting to spend your time on stuff like this is the icing on the cake!