ATTN!! New blog for tour updates!

Hey so if anyone cares about tour updates, check this out from now on: http://thearbitrarys.blogspot.com !!

It has all of the old posts, and all future tour related posts!!

Whudddya mean the ferry's fugging broken?!

So the show in Charlottetown wound up being pretty great. We were the only band that played, so we did a bit of an extended set. Sold a fair bit of merch, and the sound guy/bar tender Mike was pretty awesome. I'd almost feel okay about finances if the ferry to Newfoundland wasn't busy screwing us over. Turns out the boat we needed to take tonight to Argentia is being fixed, the next one doesn't sail until after our shows. The only options are to either take the other ferry to the opposite end of the island and drive through an endless expanse of moose and truckers, or to fly. Both cost approximately the same, both are terrifying to me, but one saves us a 12 hour drive and a longer boat ride!

Here's the view we woke up to from our camping spot just outside of Charlottetown two night ago:



We'd slept in the car three nights in a row, which was okay I guess, but my Mom took pity on us and put enough money into my band account to rent a hotel room for the night, which was nice.

Here's our steed:


And this picture goes out to anyone who has been to a B.A. Johnston show that doesn't know what a couche-tard is:

So you're saying this island is really just a giant pile of red sand?

PEI is beautiful. I have a fair bit of updating to do as I have been slacking off like a real slacker. To start, we stayed a couple of nights in Quebec City. It was really beautiful there, and we spent a great deal of time wandering around the old city like a couple of tourists. We caught a few soccer games in pubs, and made delicious sandwiches in parking lots. e played at a venue called L'AgitéE with a wonderful band fronted by Jessi Homenick. The turn out wasn't great, but it was nice to meet such wonderful people. We were also in town for most of the festival for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. After feeling a little bit too anglophone we hit the road.

That evening we drove to the Quebec/New Brunswick border and spent the night, then continued on eastward. We'd originally intended to spend another night around Shediac, but figured we might as well just go all the way to PEI since it was so close. We definitely haven't regretted our decision. PEI is a very nice place, and we've enjoyed exploring it and meeting the nice people in Charlottetown. We've been busy the last day with busking and doing promo for our upcoming show at Baba's Lounge! If you're in the neighbourhood, come check us out on Sunday June 27th with locals Low Lights, and possibly more guests!!

When it comes to Continental Breakfasts, Josh is a tough critic...

So last night in Montreal was pretty awesome. We had the chute pulled on a show here, so we were sort of humming and hawing about what to do about it. After some internet sleuthing I wound up finding an open mic at a place called the Yellow Door Cafe. Turns out this place is now the oldest cafe in Canada...and it's not so much a cafe as it is a humble basement venue run by a really interesting and talented fellow named Marc. Apparently many great Canadian musicians have graced the venue with their presence (apparently Leonard Cohen MAYBE attended some performances there).

When we first arrived, Marc informed us that he was very pleased that we wanted to play, but felt that there may not be a roaring crowd to play to. We were happy just to have a stage, and after a while about half a dozen people showed up to perform and listen. It wound up being a really cool jam and we had a great time. Almost everyone there was from another city, there being a couple from Regina, and a young guitar player and his sister from Toronto. It was really fun.

Today we've just bombed around town. I went to some of the University campuses here to look at potential schools to transfer too. I'm definitely going to audition at McGill, but I'm getting really interested in audition at the University of Quebec campus in Montreal. I met with their department heads, and am gearing up to do some serious learning of French. Josh also wasted most of the day by buying a new fancy cell phone that has a map in it andwill allow internet access mostly all the time. Anyway, we're heading to Quebec City today in preparation for our performance tomorrow at L'Agitee with Jessi Homenick!

Montreal and more Ottawa!

After getting a taste for busking in Ottawa, Josh and I met with my friend Sarah for a visit, and explored some better locations. We also played a show last night and it was pretty okay! We played to a crowd of about 10 people (many more showed up later, but we were the first band) and we sold two CDs, which is a not bad ratio considering. We felt pretty good about our performance. Ghostkeeper were really awesome, and I'm glad we had an opportunity to play with them.

So after the show, we retired to the hotel room my Mom was nice enough to book for us and we slept soundly. The next morning, we went to the Byward Market to go busking. We scoped the joint, and found what we thought would be the most ideal location in which to busk: a corner, where two adjacent parts of the farmers market meet, in front of a large storefront window. We set up shop, and played for no more than 2 minutes before another busker appeared, with what looked to be a permit. He informed us that only permit holders are allowed to busk, but kindly suggested some other places we could go instead. In that two minutes, we made $4...we were obviously a little sad to hear this, especially considering how successful we were obviously going to be. Keeping our chins up, we set up infront of a Lush, on a sidewalk that we figured wasn't lorded over by the market people. We were doing pretty good, and money was slowly but surely pouring into our cases. Then the rain started pouring down. We ran quickly into an overhang, when a girl who worked at Lush sheepishly asked us if we wanted to come inside and play. At first, we were pretty hesitant, but after only 15 minutes, two $5 bills were dropped into our cases. We realized we'd made the right choice. After that, the rain died down, and we went across the street back into market territory, but where there was a large overhang to protect from the rain. We made another $10 before we saw a suspicious man who scowled at us. We figured he was with the market. We looked in the direction he was walking and a sad looking mine frowned harder at us, so we left.

Then we got sandwiches with Sarah, enjoyed them very much, and headed to Montreal. When we were driving to the hostel we're at, we were using the On Star navigation function that our car has. We got to talking with one of the advisors, and turns out he's from Peterborough, and when he realized we're a band, he said he was going to come to our show there on July 8th. It was pretty random, but we hope to see him there! Driving in Montreal was, in one word, ridiculous. I've never seen so many cars come so close to colliding with each other merging. It was neat. Now we're going to get breakfast and go busk more!

Oh oui wa wa!

So we're in Ottawa now. So far we've spent two days at an expensive hostel, gotten a huge parking ticket, and made $35 busking. The parking ticket is a huge load of crap because the sign we could see said we could park there free until 9 am. The sign that was completely obscured by foliage said there was no stopping between 7-9 am :( Of course, this means war. The spot we found to busk in was pretty tough. It was the Sparks Street Mall, which is a three or four block long pedestrian mall. People were quite reluctant to give us change unless we played gypsy jams on cello and accordion. What really got to me were the people who obviously enjoyed what we were doing but didn't leave any money. They'd stand there and take pictures of us, or video tape us. It was frustrating :( If every person who took a photo of us left a toonie we would've made at least $20 dollars more...but at least they liked us! Today we're going to try out the Rideau Market at the suggestion of a friend. Apparently that's a good spot. After that, we have to play tonight at the Elmdale House Tavern with Ghostkeeper and Sadie Hell.

Here are some pictures of things that have happened so far:

Me in the CN Tower.
Josh on the glass floor.
Jet Jagger in Wawa
Lake Superior plus a river I can't remember the name of.
Josh on Lake Superior

Josh being grumpy on the CN Tower.

Onwards and upwards!

So we're in Toronto. After leaving behind our pals the Concerns of Royalty in Winnipeg, we continued on into Ontario. We stayed with Josh's family in the scenic areas of the North, and then did some camping on our way south. Ontario is actually a very beautiful province. We camped at a place called Rainbow Falls on the shores of Lake Superior, and at another site near Sudbury that's name is escaping me. Both were very nice. I like camping this time of year because there are so few other people. Also, the bugs haven't gotten too too bad yet...but I have my share of mosquito and no-see-um bites. We went up the CN tour yesterday. It was overpriced and crappy. I liked the Sear's Tower WAY better...and we went to a brewery here and did a tour that got us some free beer. It was pretty alrite. We have a show tonight at a place called the Boat. If anyone out there is in Toronto, please stop by!

On tour

So far, this has happened:





More to come eventually!

Awful windy 'round these parts today....

So I have just about 2 weeks until school is wrapped. I'm excited for its conclusion, though I am terrified of exams and how little sleep I'm going to get in the next while. As with the end of every semester, my time has been completely taken over by drinking beer and playing inane flash games. Here are a few I've been obsessing over lately:


Mad Virus:

Pretty basic puzzle game. I can't seem to get past level 10, but that's okay. Reminds of of this game blobs that is on Mindjolt Games, but this is a bit more exciting...well as exciting as matching colours can be.


Canabalt:

This game is about as basic as a game can get. 8 bit graphics, on a scroll screen platform with only two possible buttons that function as the same control. So far the farthest I have run is 6000 metres. That's more than most gamers walk in a week.



Basketball:

I hate this game because I love it so much. My highest score was in the 190s. That seems impressive until you see the top 10 scoreboard filled entirely with kids from Korea who score over 300.


Stupid internet.

Where did the last three months go?

I am so overwhelmed with school work that all I can do is write here instead. Very productive. I have a paper due tomorrow on Bach's Cello Suite 5 in C minor. I'm so sick of writing it I want to burn every copy available, especially the questionable Ana Magdalena copies. I never cared to learn this much about Bach's use of French Overtures, and I hope to never have to ever again. I somehow don't remember where January February and most of March went. It's sort of a big blur. Can't wait for summer. Have to get through the next three weeks first.

Numbers are up!

So it looks like I'll fulfil my goal of having more posts this year than the last. Which is pretty okay. I have had a pretty lazy day. Stupid upstairs neighbours kept me up last night and I missed my alarm and accidentally slept through rehearsal. I'm pretty upset but it's okay! It was the Year's last rehearsal, and it is out of the way....soI just have my five strait days of exams to go through. Pretty all right. I wish I had something of substance to post about, but I"m so overwhelmed with thoughts of school and going home that it's hard to focus on anything else. In other news, I made a delicious chana masala last night, and I will be enjoying the left overs for eat least another day! I also have perfected making basmati rice. All is well.

Please no more!!!

School is a week away from being finished. By this time next week I'll probably be on a ferry, running crash statistics through my head before flying home!!!! I'm totally stoked on going home, definitely not stoked on doing all my exams this week, and then having to fly. But once those hurdles are over it'll be two weeks of bliss, eating properly, swimming, pubs, concerts and recording!! How exciting. Sadly, I'm so busy I shouldn't have even taken the time to write this, so I'll stop here.

I have an uncontrollable hate for Kenny G.

Saxx Laws from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Halloween, noise complaints and Jack Daniels.

I only love one of the above, and it is JD. Halloween is meh, but my fucking noisy upstairs neighbours are going to be the end of me. Last night, roughly 11 PM, I hear the pounding of bass coming through my ceiling. I gently knock on the ceiling to alert my neighbours that I can hear them. Their response? They turn their music up.

Now I was beyond furious. The audacity!!! So I storm outside, in the rain, and pound on their door.

A girl, of maybe 18 years of age, opens the door. She is trying hard not to laugh.

I say: "It's hilarious when I pound on your ceiling and you turn your music up, I had a great laugh."

Her: "I don't know what you're talking about" (snickering)

Me: [taking a deep breath] "Wipe that damn smirk off of your face, this is serious. Turn down your music or I'll call the cops."

Her: "You're right, I'm sorry, we'll turn it down" [still snickering]

Me: "You realize I have school tomorrow morning, I'm trying to get my homework done, and all I can hear is your damn jungle music, now don't apologize to me, just turn it the hell down."

Her: "Oh I understand I'm a student too and..."

Me: "Well it doesn't sound like it."

I walk away. I woke up at 4 am to the sound of them stomping their feet above my room. I hate them. My upstairs douchey neighbours are my Fuck That Guy of the week.

Klenginem ....?

I was really confused and afraid when I found this.

My shoulders hurt from practising.

A friend of mine once said finding pretty things in Victoria is as easy as finding repulsive things in Prince George. From a very oblique view point, that is true, but I honestly find the opposite equally easy, if not easier. I was going to take a series of photos to explain this, so I set out on my bike, ready for an exciting photo adventure. Sadly, I didn't realize I left my memory in card in my computer until I'd already biked to the Wharf, so I grumpily kicked a stone and biked home. I will continue with my rant regardless.

Anyway, take these two photos:










The first is of a view of Prince George from the cutbanks. The second is the Olympia Mountain Range from a beach in Victoria. I really wish I had a better picture of Victoria, this one is from April 2007, but as I stated earlier, I'm an idiot.

If I can say one thing to clear the air it's that I really dislike the ocean. I mean, there are nice things about it and it's important or whatever, but it freaks me out. The ocean can go fuck itself. I'm scared of tsunamis and it smells funny and a whole slew of other reasons. The best thing about the view from Victoria is that you can see those mountains over in Washington. Personally, I'd rather be on the mountains looking down on the ocean than on the ocean looking up at the mountains. Also, there are also three types of people I hate on the waterfront here: joggers, yuppies and crackheads. It's downright annoying.

The one thing I can say I dislike about the cutbanks is I'm terrified they will collapse while I'm on them, seeing as how their are made completely of fucking SAND. Also, the industrial view of PG is pretty unsettling, but the surroundings are damned awesome [hence why the view is of the surroundings and not the industrial park].

I think the sad truth is people back home seem to overlook everyday beauty because they see it every day. For whatever reason, it's so much easier to dwell on ugly things. Whereas here, people do the opposite. They see a junky passed out on the steps to the old Library and they comment on how beautiful the archway is. Then again, many of those same observers are too preoccupied straitening their hair and fitting into their purple American Apparel skinny jeans, to really care so I guess that is a bigger problem to begin with. I should stop talking to hipsters I meet on the bus. Christ. I hate them. They are everywhere. It's like if you take the dumbest people from highschool, and give them a slightly more obtuse fashion sense and a pretentious obsession with whatever Vice magazine is bitching or praising. they'd all live in Victoria. It's irritating. The coolest people I've met here have come from other places. Great, this turned into a hipster rant. I fucking knew that would happen God damnit....

Anyway, I liked the cutbanks picture. I could post a lot of ugly photos I've taken in Victoria [mostly involving homeless people that look a heck of a lot like the homeless people back in PG...only warmer...] but that'd be too easy. I'd rather put one of many nice ones I have from home.

However, on that ugly note, the bus stop I sometimes have to wait at is terrifying. It's on the worst corner in town for drug dealing, and it freaks me out. Probably the scariest thing is seeing normal looking people casually walking by and picking up drugs. Right next to the sad junkies. For every 10 junkies I see buying drugs [which is easy at 10 pm on a Friday] I see at least one or two normal looking people do the same. Only difference is they still have a job and house to go home to.

Bury me alive with gooey caramel, twisted in doughey bread...

I made cinanmon buns this morning. The only thing that could possibly have made them better would have been a beer. But I drank my beer last night, so that's that.

This month is gearing up to be super busy. I have a piano midterm on Wednesday, a musicianship midterm next Tuesday, and a history midterm that is probably going to sneak up on my while I am not expecting and kill me. Oh and harmony fits in there somewhere as well. Speaking of which, I should have been doing that homework....ho hum.

Yesterday I went for an epic long bike ride around Victoria. It was nice. I made some tea for my thermos, returned some library books, and biked all over James Bay before settling on a bench that overlooked the Olympia Mountain Range somewhere near Beacon Hill Park. Then I practised cello for a few hours and wanted to die.

I have a performance coming up on top of everything else, and I'm pretty much terrified. Time to go settle in on a practise room and not leave until it's dark out.

FLASH GORDON AND QUEEN HOLY FUCKING SHIT

I forgot they did music for this movie. God I love Queen.

RIFFRANDIA!!!

This past weekend was insane. I had the great pleasure of being given a press pass to Rifflandia, an annual music festival here in Victoria. I was teamed up with my new friend, and fellow Nexus employee, Shane, who had a grandiose plan for a pure gonzo experience of Fear and Loathing proportions....and they didn't exactly fall short. The weekend was awesome. Substances were consumed (nothing dangerous) crazies were encountered (mostly the pretentious kind, not the dangerous kind), and a lot of awesome music was enjoyed (and a lot of music was also sarcastically scoffed at).

Here is a small recap of bands that really stood out to me:

Beach House It might have been the pot cookie talking, but this band was fantastic live.

Zeus These guys were just plain fun. They did a cover of a Genesis song, and it was AWESOME. Their lead guitarist also completely nailed that Beatles' Rickenbacker tone that I love so much.

Holy Fuck Pure madness. Don't care for their recordings, but I'd seem them live again any day.

Library Voices Loads of fun, super energetic band.

Timber Timbre Pretty sombre, gave me a sort of mellow Murder By Death vibe that I liked quite a lot.


Other than being introduced to these wonderful bands, I also learned a few things. First off, press passes are a golden gift from God, and by God I mean my superiors at the paper. The kind of gift that lets you jump ques, go closer to the stage than any non performer, and generally push your way through a crowd with that sense of purpose that only an asshole photographer can really have.

Speaking of pictures, I really really need a faster lens for show photography. I was shooting with my 55 mm that only goes to f 3.5, and though I got some great shots, I also missed a lot of other opportunities because it just couldn't get in enough light. I will not be able to afford anytime in the next 10 years so I will merely cry. People also tend to like crappy music. It's depressing.

Also, in my short life as a show photographer, I've been in a lot of different crowd situations. I've photographed punk/hardcore shows where people are pushing and hitting each other, and metal concerts where I've seen people get concussions, but I've never had more difficulty navigating to the stage than at Holy Fuck's set at Element. The crowd was more or less a lot of hipsters and people on E dancing in one large sweaty mass. This mass was near impregnable, and easily offended by anyone trying to navigate its narrow corridors. That being said, my favourite shots of the weekend were of Holy Fuck. Great show.

I'll be putting pictures up soon on my website, and they'll also be in the next issue of which is out on Wednesday. Check out Nexus' website at http://www.nexusnewspaper.com

Fuck the homeless.

Every Saturday morning, here in Victoria, I have orchestra rehearsal. This is different from the normal rehearsal periods I have become accustomed to (usually evening, ending at around 10: 30ish) These rehearsal start at 9:15 AM, which means I am expected to arrive approximately 20 minutes early to set up and get prepared to play.

Now, I like to think of myself as a prepared morning person. When I know I have something to do in the morning, I am pretty okay at going to bed at an acceptable hour to allow getting up early enough to do it in a manner that is not too groggy or grumpy (in case Jeremy is reading this, things have changed since I was 17).

Unfortunately, my upstairs neighbours have different ideas. I was rudely awakened last night at 3:30 in the AM to a group of drunk 20 somethings yelling and stomping directly above where I sleep. My immediate reaction was to pound on the ceiling in the hopes that they would realize they are disturbing someone who is obviously trying to sleep. I did this at regular intervals for about 20 minutes before finally cracking. They apparently did not take the hint.

I proceeded to get dressed and go upstairs and knock on their door. After three sets of very solid and authoritative knocks, I could hear movement and talking behind the door. From what I could discern this is the conversation that took place:

"Dude, someone is at the door"

"maybe it's the person downstairs. What if they're a dude and they want to fight"

I took a deep breath. The door opened. A young man, probably around my age, perhaps a year or two older, opened the door and seemed surprised to see a young woman waiting on the other side. I introduced myself and politely suggested they quiet down. I explained that I had to be up in approximately 3 hours, and need the sleep. He seemed agreeable. However, his accomplice behind him had a smirk on his face, and conceded that they would "quiet down". I insisted, and added that I could actually overhear finer points of their conversations above my bedroom (one such conversation involved someone saying: "Do you know who I am? Do you know who the fuck I am?" -- I don't, and apparently neither did whoever they were talking to in this anecdote).

After confronting them, I happily walked back to my suite, climbed into my bed, and looked forward to having a restful sleep. Until the upstairs music kicked back in, and I could clearly hear someone upstairs saying:

"So some chick wants us to pipe down. Apparently she has to work tomorrow. Whatever man, who the fuck has a job on a weekend."

I slept with earplugs. Next week, if this occurs again, I am calling the police. I don't want to seem like the Mom from Joe's Garage, but these boys don't know any nice songs...

The next morning, thanks to their consideration, I woke up at 8 :30 and ran to rehearsal down the street. Thankfully, I only live three or so blocks from the rehearsal hall. Rehearsal went okay, and the bass section was actually dismissed early because the violins had to rehearse the Overture to Nutcracker. I was pleased, and trotted down the street with glee.

As I went to cross on to my side of Quadra, I could hear a man screaming something at what I could only assume was an invisible enemy of his that I was incapable of perceiving. This caught me off guard, so I continued to cross the street in this "gentleman's" direction. About halfway across Quadra, I could hear this man start coughing violently. This coughing went on for at least 3 or 4 seconds before he looked at me and proceeded to spit the contents of his mouth in my direction.

Thankfully, the wind was in my favour and his projectile stopped short. However, the psychological damage of the potential harms that would have befallen me had his spit been true to its mark conitnue to irk me. I hastily continued in the direction of my home,a nd warned an elderly couple of the hazards of this spitting hobo. They were thankful.

I immediately got home and made a martini. Now I need a nap. Fuck hobos.

Rifflandia, however, has been AWESOME. More on that later.