Posts in category "Thoughts"
Collab
This is pretty much the most awesome situation I can think of. A jam session with Nic on beats and bass, Jesse rapping and on organ + glockenspiel, Audra on clarinet, and me on ukulele. Figuring out what sounds best, modifying arrangements, practicing until it feels right.
The night was actually a rehearsal for Jesse’s upcoming Canadian living room tour, the last stop of which is in Ottawa, at the same place I first met Jesse and Audra and Jacob.
Because Jesse’s sister is only available on the eastern tour dates, that left a spot for one instrument on the final tour date, which I’ll excitedly be filling with my ukulele. It’s only for three songs (and singing one part of a three part harmony) but it’s going to be so much fun.
Here’s Jesse singing and rhyming and conducting us and playing the glockenspiel at the same time. It’s a new track off his upcoming album with an obvious theme about video, except in this version he made an arrangement of Video Tape by Radiohead and VCR by The XX to bookend the verses. I’d never heard VCR, so Jesse had to teach me the chords on the fly.
I recorded this on my iPhone so I could practice on my own; I won’t have a chance to see them for another rehearsal before they go on tour. I’d never heard the song before, and it was our first time playing it through together but everyone knew when to stop. It felt completely natural. We were communicating without words, our instincts culminating in that wonderfully solid unison.
Even though I’m still rusty, it felt amazing to be playing an instrument with other people again. And this time with material that’s fucking genius, not the same old conservatory pieces some teacher chooses for you. At one point I was playing around on the ukulele when Jesse had to get the phone, and Nic started putting beats to what I was doing and it made me want to steal Nic for all my practicing.
See Jesse Dangerously in your town:
Friday, July 23rd — The Bird House in Halifax, NS — 6156 Duncan Street, 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, July 24th — The Galley in Fredericton, NB — 1–178 Westmorland Street, 7:00 p.m (with feminist/anti-capitalist gumboot troupe Rebelles).
Sunday, July 25th — Gallerie Rye in Montreal, PQ — 1331a Rue Ste Catherine Est, 8:00 p.m (with the vegan ukulele of Nicola IV).
Monday, July 26th — 160 Workshops in Ottawa, ON — 160 Primrose Avenue, 8:00 p.m. (with electronic/acoustic singer-songwriter Jacob Earl).
29 8/12: The Son
There’s no revelation more startling than the fact that your dad is cooler than you.
This is especially true of my own father, who isn’t just cool for an old guy, he’s cool period. As a teenager, I remember him wearing a leather bomber jacket, and learning to ride a purple Kawasaki Ninja sport bike which he eventually traded in for a silver Porsche.
When I was even younger, my friends would tell me he looked like a secret agent. One time he came to help me move out of residence, and his jeans had wider cuffs than mine (and back then I loved wearing wide-leg khakis). I can’t remember a time when he didn’t wear something by Lacoste, Polo, or Tommy, and even though he may dress far younger than his age, he can still pull it off.
Now he’s a man moving closer to his 60s, driving a Mercedes and a BMW, with what seems to have a coterie of women whose common interest is him. He watches popular movies, practices singing, and dances on a regular basis. Even my grandma once told me that people like him because he’s the fun one to be around.
This is all very different from me; a shy, introverted, awkward person whose idea of a good time generally involves being in front of a computer.
Still, with all these differences, I know I’m his son. Just a chip off the old block, with the same work ethics, the same perfectionist tendencies, the same neurotic tendencies.
We get grumpy when we’re hungry. We hate feeling sweaty and sometimes have to shower twice in a day. We make the same silly jokes when we’re around new people. We decorated our houses exclusively with modern, minimalist furniture before we knew what each other’s houses looked like. And as I grow older, I’ve also started developing the same night owl habits, carefree attitude, insomnia, and digestion problems.
I turn 30 in four months, and I’m becoming my father’s son.
The Turning 30 Series
Everlong
I rarely think of the one who loved me most, even though she still thinks of me. This isn’t on purpose; it’s a simple case of me meaning more to her than vice versa.
I’ve avoided such an unrequited obsession with my last love. I stopped all contact, cut myself off from anything that’d prevent me from healing or moving on, and I’m proud of myself for having the strength to break such self-destructive habits.
But I can’t hide from my own memories. When touched and inspired so significantly, one can’t help but remain forever changed.
Between the choice of giving things a chance and losing me forever, she chose the latter. So I wonder if she ever thinks of me now, the one who will always have loved her most, or whether I’ve just become another one of the wounded boys who staggered and fell so helplessly against her graces.
29 7/12: The Taoist
I got these tattoos to remind myself to stay on the path. A reminder like this is something of a paradox; to be on the path is to be unaware of the path.
Even though I strongly believed in the tenets of Taoism, I still found myself off the path more often than on it. There was a point where I began to question whether I was truly a Taoist or just a Tao-enthusiast, because my understanding of the ideas didn’t necessarily mean an ability to apply them to my life.
But over time, I forgot about my tattoos. Or, should I say, I stopped thinking about them, the way one may be so accustomed to the nose on one’s face as to never dwell on the idea of it’s existence.
In the same way, I’ve forgotten about the path too, even though I know I’m on it. I don’t seek council from the Tao Te Ching nowadays, because there’s nothing left that I don’t understand. I found the feeling of serenity I’d been seeking for so long.
I turn 30 in five months, and I finally believe I’m a Taoist.