Music

Katie posted this on her 'blog earlier today, I thought I would share it too:

By Alex Koplin and David Meiklejohn - h34dup.com

I'm not sure this poster says "Folk music festival" to me, but I quite like the visual anyway.

I get off... On music

See you at the Jim Cuddy/Luke Doucet show Sunday night?

I whine a lot about Ottawa being the armpit of Canada, bypassed by bigger bands travelling the 401 between Montréal and Toronto... usually stopping in Kingston - but rarely coming up here. And in recent years, we've had quite the drought of concerts; my favourite venue, Barrymore's, has pretty much converted to a dance-hall, Capital Music Hall still sucks - and rarely has good/big gigs, Zaphods and LiveLounge are fun and intimate, but either sell out too quick or you're really sardined in there. Not to knock the local/small/Cancon acts that do come to town, but Ottawa's had it pretty bad for a couple of years.

... Thus it's big & exciting when the Bluesfest roster rolls around, especially now that it's only vaguely constrained to the actual blues, you end up getting to see just about any type of act: rap, country, electronic, dance, metal, prog.rock... it runs the gamut, for 2 weeks!

This year, when the major acts were announced, I was just about ready to plunk down 250 of my hard-earned dollars... but I wanted to check one thing first: The photography policy.

Okay, this looks sane: personal photography is permitted, no rules banning SLRs, no tripods allowed (okay, why would you anyway?), no rules banning monopods. Restrictions are announced by the MCs before the shows.

Pretty reasonable. Let's do it!

Fast-forward to last week...

I got some great shots of Dream Theater, Metric, Lights, and even Rush!

But that's where the trouble started.

See, despite having legit tickets for every night, a friend of mine whom I've been giving photography tutorials to has a few All Access passes. So not only am I getting great shots from all sorts of bizarre locations on the grounds, I'm also pretty impervious to security and their whims - not that it'd been a problem anyway.

Until Rush.

See, I figured I'd take advantage of my special access and setup a time-lapse capture, using a wide-angle lens from about a 12' perch. Have a look:

Rush TimeLapse from Myke on Vimeo.

You'll notice the video ends somewhat abruptly. It turns out some maniac "band security" person started to haul down my camera by it's corded remote cable! Then he proceeded to get into an argument with my friend about what constitutes "professional photography" and what not. Word on the street has it that "band security" went through the crowd and attempted to seize other people's cameras & memory cards.

Okay - that sucks; aside from bad manners and some serious disrespect for people's gear - it's understandable, but that's if someone had announced that no photography was allowed. Thing is, there was no MC announcement before the Rush show.

Next event at Bluesfest - new photography policy! No cameras with detachable lenses!

Wait. What?

Bluesfest updated the website (and managed to actually break the page), and Tweeted saying "see website for more details" about the new policy... which has no real details, just that vague new rule. Add to this policy is the bit where the Bluefest site rotates through user-submitted content via their Flickr group, where they encourage people to post their Bluesfest photos...

Here's the thing, people are still allowed cameras - if they have media passes. I'd decided not to get those since I'm not a) media, b) shooting pro, c) trying to get in for free, d) interested in front-of-house photos, e) interested in getting kicked out after 3 songs. Also, last year they let any yahoo get a media pass; there were people up there with junk P&S cameras snapping away... It was a bit of a joke. This year it was clear they were only allowing select people, very few of them, and requests were due quite a ways in advance of the event (IIRC about 30+ days).

"Okay Myke, so don't go shooting. Just enjoy the music."

Well after a decade of shooting concerts, I've gotten pretty good at enjoying doing both thanks. And that's not really the point. I basically feel like we've been baited & switched. If it wasn't for the All-Access passes I've been getting, I'd be reconsidering attending.

As it is, I'm seriously wondering if I'm going to go next year... probably won't buy the full pack of tickets.

And I'm not the only one upset about it. Look at this thread that got everyone fired up about it in the local Flickr chapter, and this guy thinks it's pretty Klassy too.

I'd wandered over the the media desk, but they had no info or details and couldn't even tell me if I could get media access, especially since I'm not representing any media orgs. ('course I could always argue that Apt613 publishes my stuff

But I'm not happy about it at all. Even more so since security's enforcement is almost nil at best. There's still plenty of people wandering around with SLRs and no media passes - I know, I'm checking & asking. (Random tangent: I approached one guy who was accredited for Le Droit, and he actually knew my name... I wonder why.)

... still planning on shooting this weekend though, but I'll have to depend on my Double-Dot All-Access pass for armor.

Some other Bluesfest fails:
- motorcycle policy change
- Barney Danson Theater tickets... never know when those events are going to cost extra, till you get to the door.
- Poor/little on-the-day location maps
- lousy website (iframes? 1999 called, they want their Netscape Communicator Gold back)
- website outages (after FavQuest told me they wouldn't use Server North because they'd had issues with providers before. Okay! Enjoy your Amazon EC2!)

The other day, Jessrawk tapped me to help her fill-in for 2 hours after her regular radio show on Carleton U's CKCU FM... How could I say no? This is almost as big a dream/bucket-list item as working in a record store!

Programmin' the Rock in studio.

Since Jess and The Staples usually do an hour-long thematic show, it was decided that she and I would basically have a play-off, where we literally decide what to play next based on whatever the other person was playing RIGHT NOW. No pressure.
We started with a set of 4, (which really was dueling banjos!) but then I realized it meant I'd always be following her lead, so we switched to 5-song sets. What impresses me most, is that even with all my loud/heavy/angry music, we pulled off mostly Cancon.

Playlist

Sadly this is far from a regular gig, but I had a lot of fun and would love to do it again.
_{(Thanks to Deejay Erik for the photo)}

Watch in high-quality HD, or some of my other, older guitar videos.

Rarely do I make playlists... usually only for someone else. This one is for sharing, healing.

Artist	Song	Album
Fuel	Bad Day	Something Like Human
Coldplay	In My Place	A Rush of Blood To the Head
3 Doors Down	Duck And Run	The Better Life
No Doubt	Don't Speak	Tragic Kingdom
30 Seconds To Mars	Was It A Dream?	A Beautiful Lie
Alice In Chains	Over Now	MTV Unplugged
Powderfinger	Nobody Sees	Dream Days At The Hotel Existence
Stabbing Westward	Happy	Stabbing Westward
Lifehouse	Blind	Lifehouse
Breaking Benjamin	Without You	Dear Agony
Incubus	The Warmth	Make Yourself
U2	Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own	How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Theory Of A Deadman	Hello Lonely (Walk Away From This)	Gasoline
Vertical Horizon	Forever	Go
Charles Spearin	Mrs Morris	The Happiness Project

Around Christmas time, the radio in the Element started to... not work... The radio would always tune itself to FM 99.1MHz - CHRI, otherwise known as the local Christian Family Radio station. (Or as I like to call it "Radio You Can Have Faith In!")
Now, it's not that I've got anything against Christians (I kinda am/might be/was one?), or the music. Well. Maybe I've got something against the music. Anyway - 99.1 was never programmed into the presets, so I have no idea why it always tuned itself to that, but it was mildly annoying.

What was the real problem though, was around the same time - the button to select the auxiliary input stopped working. This was a real problem, since I use my iPod about 95% of the time while I'm in the truck.

Good riddance!

Behold my JVC KD-R800!

Before - During - After

So why'd I get this deck?
- iPod Connection - no more gooseneck/cables/fiddling around
- iPhone Integration - Operate iPhone/iPod right from the dash
- Has the aforementioned iPod integration, and a CD player... (not so common on USB decks now!!)
- BlueTooth Speakerphone - because no-touchy laws come in the fall
- Bigger/better/newer than the stock deck
- Been doing a lot of roadtrips, and it looks like I'll be doing a lot more in the near future

Some of you may remember the stereo from my Prelude, which was definitely a much more high-budget affair, and a lot more work - but it wasn't difficult. Installing this deck wasn't difficult, though I did entrust some retail mongers to do it (*gasp!*) - but I did supervise the affair. The problem is the OEM (Alpine?) deck uses Balanced outputs, and doesn't actually drive the speakers - there's a little amplifier in the passenger kick-panel area that does that - and the new deck doesn't output a balanced signal... which means my OEM subwoofer barely does anything anymore. Granted, it's nothing like what was in da 'Lude, it definitely is important to the sound-image, and other other speakers don't even come close to covering for it.

I've got to figure out what to do next. It's possible that getting a balun will do the trick, but given used/big sub-woofer amplifiers seem to go for $20-$50 on eBay, and the built-in sub itself isn't bad (the amp was anemic, but we'd go around that) - this is the other option.

Otherwise, the deck itself is pretty nice. It's easy to operate blindly, it has a decent BlueTooth speaker-phone, and works well with the iPod/iPhone.

Some interesting issues crop up though:
1. With Firmware 3.0 on the iPhone, there's now A2DP support (BlueTooth Audio), which ironically makes the iPhone play music over BlueTooth even though the dock cable is connected. Solution: Manually select the output from the iPod.app, or connect the Dock cable after the BlueTooth has paired.
2. Browsing 300+ albums/songs/artists is just too much for a linear scrolling list. The jog-wheel works, but not at this scale. I need to make Alphabetized playlists or something.
3. There's 2 USB ports. iPhone goes on one, BlueTooth goes on the other.
4. There's 2 USB ports. One is on the back (cabled to my glove-box), the other is on the faceplate.
5. There's 2 USB ports. I've ALWAYS got to unplug SOMETHING when I detach the faceplate. I'm hoping I can find a 12V (with big regulator) USB hub that'll let me connect both to the back port so I don't have to use the front USB port at all.
6. It doesn't swallow a CD when the ignition is off. My old JVC did. Mildly annoying, not a big problem.

Things to learn to cope with and fix and stuff. I still want to replace all the OEM speakers with some co-axials, but the higher priority is to just get the sub working again. But now I'm off to the drive-in with my girlfriend.

Woohoo! Drive-In!

(I wasn't planning on posting this, but a bunch of people told me it was good enough to put up, so hey - what's a little positive peer-pressure going to hurt?)

Playing the more interesting parts of Porcupine Tree's Anesthetize, off of Fear Of a Blank Planet. Given I've only been playing this song for about 2 weeks, I thought it was a not-entirely-cringeworthy performance, so I've posted it. I've only been working on the bass-solos for a few days, and clearly they need work. Aside from the occasional timing slip and missed note, I think I did alright - it's not the easiest song. Even the crazy bridge seems better than yesterday!

Gear:

• Godin SD w/Heavy Strings (Wound G) (Drop C)
• Digitech TwinTube GFX1 (Setting)
• Phonic T8200 Compressor (With Step-Up Transformer)
• Yorkville XM100 Bass amp
• Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner (The cool flashy LEDs moving around)

Works for the iPod Touch too!

I'll commence mass production once my dentist approves, you know that they say about an Apple a day... Prices start at $1 plus shipping for all Mint flavours; others will be $2 plus shipping.

(I'm actually reminded of a conversation from 1995 when a friend was musing that a cigarette-pack was just the right size to hide his Palm Pilot, but that the cigarettes are probably a higher theft target than the PDA...)

Continue reading "Minty-Fresh & amazingly inexpensive iPhone case" »

Sometime back in the 90s, there was a song I'd heard a few times... I never caught the name, the band or even remembered the lyrics, but it stuck with me, somewhere in the back of my head for aeons. Finally I caught the video on MuchMusic one day, turned out it was called "All Uncovered", by the Watchmen, not a year later, I saw them perform at Edgefest '98 at Frank Claire Stadium. It amazed me that the base riff is actually played on... a bass, a (5 or 6 string) bass wielded by Ken Tizzard. It was fantastic performance and it really made me like the band even more, although I didn't rush out to buy all their CDs (I was far more interested in the Tea Party at that point), I did eventually get them all. While I caught Ken playing with Ian Thornley (shortly after the break-up of Big Wreck), I actually missed out on the Watchmen's farewell tour in late 2003, very regrettable.

All was not lost, scant months later it was announced that Ian Thornley had signed to Chad Kroeger's (of Nickelback) 604 Records - and his new band, Thornley, consisted of Sekou Lumumba on drums - and Ken T. on bass. How awesome is that? The demo of So Far So Good knocked my socks off.
I think I burnt a hole through that CD after it came out, attended their shows at Barrymore's, Capital Music Hall, Civic Centre, H.O.P.E. and more. Not that I'm obsessed fan, but I really love concerts - and these guys put on some great shows... I remember after the CMH gig, Ian says to me "Dude - I could see you singing along - you know ALL the words!" I laughed.

Too bad it didn't last, Ken and Sekou left Thornley a few months later, from what I've heard, due to Ian's frequent/extreme drinking and partying - which I can believe, I doubt he spends extended periods on earth while on tour.

Ken started playing under the name Shadrak and with Audio Playground High + Wide... Interesting stuff, not at all what I was used to. Then earlier this year, he released a full-length album "Quiet Storey House...an introduction.", touring with a string-backing, and then all on his own... Finally he made it to Ottawa this evening.

Ken Tizzard at Maverick's in Ottawa, 2007-12-12

Stef, Angela and I checked out the Ken Tizzard/Eric Eggelston Band/See Spot Run show at Maverick's.

Despite forgetting my wallet in my truck and getting there a bit late, we had a great evening as the performances were excellent, the small venue - though a tad sparse for people, still made things cozy enough that all the performances were pretty intimate. I can't imagine more than 30-40 people were there at the peak.

It was cool though that Ken remembered me after all these years, and actually sat with us through the See Spot Run show, during which we analyzed, heckled and teased the band. Good times. He tells me that the new Thornley material is amazing, and that he's going to be hitting the studio in the new year to lay down another album, more folksy & acoustic (ie: more guitar than bass.)
I'm not finding myself seeking out the tracks from the current disc, but I do enjoy them when they come up on shuffle. I wonder what the next album will be like.

Eric Eggelston Band at Maverick's in Ottawa, 2007-12-12

Just catching up on listening to CBC Radio 3 Podcast, heard this gem on Episode #94...

"Equal Opportunity"

The lyrics are excellent & drole; You'll get over the country.