About Last Night

As I write this entry, it's 1:34 AM. Amanda is parked on the couch having a brief nap. We're pulling an all-nighter in an attempt to finish an essay and a lab report for tomorrow. The harsh reality of real life is biting down on me and I wish I could hold onto the beauty of a good Saturday.

The show was great. There were some major organizational difficulties (I'm sorry but boo on the Artel in Kingston for offering up a venue and then being a general pain in the ass every step of the way there-after), but the music was great. A band of really excited Grade 12's from Kingston area schools opened for us, reminding me of those days, especially the shows with Joe and Owen in the old days of O nO! when it felt like we could have taken over the world with our music.

I ended up working the door due to the aforementioned organizational difficulties (although The Artel was kind enough to provide me with a cup to place the admission money in). It was a little strange seeing old friends and then immediately asking them for money but it was an interesting experience. I've never been able to greet everyone at show due to their crazy nature. This time was different and it was nice.

Silver Speakers (a band on the Graven Records label which O nO! was once a part of) played a great set with Matt on drums, and other than the fact that one of the owners/residents/workers/whatevers at the Artel informed us that the cops might fine us if we were two loud, it was a solid set.

When Graven took the stage, we played some acoustic stuff to start with and it was great. It all seemed to flow together, Matt's easy going tales about how some of the tracks were written made it easy to sit and enjoy the tunes. A highlight for me was hear him tell about the writing of a song called "Last Train to Leamington" and then the playing of it. It was a magical moment.

Then came our electric set where we rocked it out in a very subdued manner to avoid the fine of the Kingston police. It was good none the less though and we left the evening in a wall of feedback, overdrive, and distortion. All in all, it was a really great evening and one I'll remember for a while.

That Show...

It's back on. Please come, it'll be a sweet time.

About the Post Below

The show may possibly be cancelled due to the poor organization of Kingston venues. I'll keep you updated.

This Used to be a music blog

Once upon a time I started this blog as a place to report on my musical endeavors. Somewhere along the way I just started writing about whatever. Every now and then I remember that it's technically a music blog. So here's some music related news.

A buddy of mine who I met at camp name Matt McKechnie (gravenrecords.blogspot.com) writes songs under the name of "Graven". He plays with a band sometimes, and he plays by himself sometimes but he's always playing something. Recently he asked myself, talented guitarist Brendan Lorrimer (whom I used to live with), and GravenRecords label mate Tyrone Warner to play a show with him in Kingston featuring some new songs he's written, a few covers, and some old favourites. Naturally I was honoured to be given the opportunity to play with Matt, so I accepted. I've been spending the last week preparing for the show on and off by listening to the songs he's interested in playing and working on learning them, and I'm getting really excited about playing. I haven't played a live show since the O nO! days a long time ago and so I'm stoked about this concert.

The show's on November 14th at The Artel in Kingston if you're interested in coming. I'll keep you posted until then.

The Music Project for this Year

I haven't really done anything with "The Priory" (the new name for Prior Peter since I've grown less attached to the name "Prior Peter since RPM) since RPM 2 years ago and making a single album which, while it was ok, has some large portions that I refuse to listen to. This is why I've formulated a new plan for making some more music this year.

Starting in December (December 19th to be exact) I'm going to spend a chunk of my Christmas break recording a new album. There's an idea behind this album though. I don't just want it to be me. Last time I did that, I was unhappy with the results. I want this to be something that any musician I know can contribute to. At this stage, I don't really know how that will work out but I have a mobile recording unit, so I'm sure it'll be fine. As I get closer to the actual recording time, I'll get more specific on the details of when and where I'll be recording things, but for the time being I'm just planning and sketching song ideas. Come December though, it'll be some madness.

Trouble Afoot in Higher Education

So I dropped a class. This will no doubt be news to my parents who haven't found out yet (don't worry mom and dad, I am getting a refund, and it's not as bad as it sounds). I dropped it because my marks weren't high enough in it (low 70's...it's complicated), it was taking up time from other courses, and I really didn't need to take it.

Dropping the course has sent me on a whirlwind tour of educational options though. Questions like "If I had to drop this course because the marks weren't high enough, what's to say that my other courses will be high enough?" and "Am I really good enough to go on to do anything academic or am I just average?". I had a dream last night that I scored a 50% on a midterm for one of my more important classes. Needless to say I awoke in a cold sweat wondering if it had really happened. I'm now waiting to get the mark back for the class so I can see if my dream predicted the future or not. I hope not.

Higher education is just frustrating. I just want to work but the world wants me to jump through all these hoops first and it's frustrating.

Episode #115 in which Ben's Education and Procrastination Fight to the Death

(Random side-note: TV shows have episode names but you would never know what they are unless you look them up or watch the shows on TV. What's the point?)

I constantly face an uphill battle with procrastination. Just when I think its squirmy head is under my heavy boot, about to be curbed stomped into a pulpy mess, it slithers away to attack again another day. Procrastination is one of those things in my life that I firmly have no interest in doing but that I do all of the time anyways. While I give myself ample time to get work done well, it's only when I am under stress or pressure that things actually get done. Give me two days to get some stuff done that would probably only take a couple of hours and I can guarantee you that only one of those two tasks will be finished, and I will have done it between 10PM and 12 AM on the second day I had to do it. Being responsible is so difficult sometimes.

Lost in Translation

I used to watch Digimon when I was a kid. I remember an episode where one of the main characters runs upstairs to his room and there's a shot of his house and his room and such. I remember thinking "I wish I lived there, in that cartoon house that's attached to a bakery in Tokyo somewhere".

So I was watching "Lost in Translation" today and there was a scene where Scarlett Johansonn was looking out over one of the areas of Tokyo and I started thinking about that house again. I don't really know why but I did. It's really weird for me to think about that house now because I know I'm beyond the stage in my life where I fantasize about being someone else all the time but I still am really attached to "that house" and would still very much like to live there, wherever "there" is. I feel like I'm looking for a home when I don't even know what city it's in.

The Wednesday Evening Post

It appears that every year I end up with some kind of strange gap in my schedule that is too short to be useful but too long to prevent boredom. This year that gap is this evening. 2 hours of approximately nothing but no way to go home and I'm too burnt out at that point in the day to do actual work. Thus I am refashioning the Wednesday morning post into the Wednesday evening post. Prepare yourselves.

Last year I had this strange problem. I tried desperately to make friends with people, be friendly, and capitalize on opportunities. I failed miserably. I made very few friends last year. This year I am experiencing quite the opposite. I'm not trying to make friends but the keep popping up from all kids of places. I make them in labs, in tutorials, from my spring course, from friends of friends. It's the strangest thing. I don't get it at all.

It reminds me a bit of something crazy Jesus said once. Jesus is always saying crazy things, and for some reason I always find the wisdom in them long after I read them. He said "Whoever tries to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will gain it". This whole reversal kind of blows me away. It's like trying to use reverse psychology. If you want something, you have to stop wanting it. It confuses me. I wonder what Jesus was getting at here.

What do normal people talk about?

Seriously, I'd like to know. Recently I've discovered (from sitting around at university) that the topics my friends and I discuss (Jesus, Camp Iawah, great bands, life, etc.) are not the topics most people discuss. "Normal" people discuss things like clothes, parties, school, and other fun things like that. Am I just getting a really biased sample of people's conversation or does everyone just talk about shallow superficial crap all the time? Am I abnormal? Not that I care but I'm really curious to know if everyone talks about nothing all the time.