Amazing what turns up in the Vault. Thanks Rachel, for discovering this item well squirrelled away in my Reverbnation account.
"Slipping Out" by The Mike Club was written and recorded in Vancouver in 1982/83 - we practiced and played at a well-hidden loft called City Space, on Railway Street in Gastown.
Michela Arrichiello, voc; Robert Harvey, Drums, b/g voc; Rachem Melas, bass; and me, Ammo Fuzztone, on guitar, sax and b/g voc.
We recorded three other numbers also available on that Reverbnation site.
Rachel wrote:
Rachel Melas: The horse of tomorrow will be hard to ride.: I gleaned this title from a little self indulgent listening trip to reverb nation. Checked out some tracks that I recorded in 1983, with a b...
That gritty stuff that you can't get out of your teeth after a trip to the beach.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
CUMSHEWA HEAD
8:40 AM Apr 25/90
we 3 technophiles
spun out of cultural orbit
cultivating coincidence
kneel here on wet moss
at Kingui Beah
getting farther
sometimes we wonder
why bother with a wilderness experience?
as I listen to this peculiar echo
I feel the answer will come from within
afraid of something?
almost, of leaving footprints
Paul's shooting a collapsed tribal house
with Skedans village
& the Louise Island clearcut
quite near, across the Inlet
We find an arch covered by the waves
& wonder stupidly
why did Nature make this?
for a wedding ceremony, says Alfred
or a human sacrifice, I think.
I'm hearing & seeing
smelling & feeling
and still thinking
as I shoulder my machines
Did I come here to think?
Kathy called from Toronto last night
- wanting to get pregnant
to trick her urban body into fecundity
Listening to natural sounds to plunder
all I can hear is boots on rocks
a tripod clanking
the sounds of hiking
but even these become my immediate environs
What do we take from here?
Our tired bones.
I address those in fear of violation
by our peculiar fascination.
This place is tribal property but
this sense of place is personal realization.
We achieve fulfillment
by experiencing this emptiness
Refreshing our enthusiasm
by taking the fresh air into us.
No-one can live here
but you can visit.
Up!
Up!
There.
Down!
we whack bush
the jumped-up salal
leading following
leaping falling
on the 2nd part of our trip
the danger adrenalin of
rock climbing, cliff hanging
slowly giving way to the
soggy exhaustion
the sweaty, steady plodding
up steep mossy hills
searching for plastic ribbons
marking a grown-over trail.
My companions share
the Cumshewa Head-
ache
from the fresh air
& the exertion.
Tomorrow
back in civilization
I'll return to my sedentary
repetitive mind-numbing tasks
Withdrawn from this wilderness
I'll no longer be able to contemplate
a primitive existence.
Oh yes, let's admire the rocks.
Shall we?
The terrain dares us
to master geology.
How marvelous! but why
and how persist.
These questions need not
remain unanswered.
But the inspiration for our curiosity
must never dissipate.
Go see these rocks. And walk
along the shore, the way we walked.
Word are words, and rocks are rocks.
ARRIVAL
Four white guys landed here
at Kingui Beach on Cumshewa Head
early this morning in the Spring of 1990
with the burden of their civilization
Laden with the trappings of technology
they seek to shed the veneer of manners
These Johnny Come Latelys arrive with
an Attitude.
AN APPEAL
Art, Nature, property and politics
like eggs in milk must be whisked to mix
The distance we have come today is all
that allows us to speak the words we must say.
Don't shut us out! You are aware
Our photographs do not steal your soul.
IN THE CAVE
Just silence.
In the womb of rock we can talk,
about our formative years
& anticipate the form we'll take
when we emerge, laughing
past the vulva littered with shells
no-one knows how old
& over the slippery, dangerous &
mountainous puzzle of logs
that hides this primjitive cave from the beach.
APPEAL (2)
Since, as artists, we deal with illusion
we are not gods; we start with everything & create
nothing. We take from your land the most valuable
thing and bring nothing to your potlatch.
A closed policy is always easier to
deal with. You know what you want
when you're told what you should want.
Thus you don't have to sort my words for truth.
--
It is 20 years now since our visit to Cumshewa Head
we are long scattered, ambitions neglected,
friends forgotten, even their names lost.
We returned to the world, and the world returned to us.
A little celebration of friends was held,
there was punch drunk, painting and sculpture displayed,
and music was played, and it faded away.
But the feeling persists through the long years since,
the sounds of the shore and the voices in the cave still echo,
and politics has had its way with history.
Though we may have survived, or one of us has passed away,
or abandoned art, knowing its intimate ephemereality,
there is no doubt. This event is part of my personal history,
and it is shared. These words speak of this event.
I dedicate them to Canada. Be their custodian!
Ammo
January 27, 2010
===============
Alfred Muma's paintings from music can be viewed on this page.
8:40 AM Apr 25/90
we 3 technophiles
spun out of cultural orbit
cultivating coincidence
kneel here on wet moss
at Kingui Beah
getting farther
sometimes we wonder
why bother with a wilderness experience?
as I listen to this peculiar echo
I feel the answer will come from within
afraid of something?
almost, of leaving footprints
Paul's shooting a collapsed tribal house
with Skedans village
& the Louise Island clearcut
quite near, across the Inlet
We find an arch covered by the waves
& wonder stupidly
why did Nature make this?
for a wedding ceremony, says Alfred
or a human sacrifice, I think.
I'm hearing & seeing
smelling & feeling
and still thinking
as I shoulder my machines
Did I come here to think?
Kathy called from Toronto last night
- wanting to get pregnant
to trick her urban body into fecundity
Listening to natural sounds to plunder
all I can hear is boots on rocks
a tripod clanking
the sounds of hiking
but even these become my immediate environs
What do we take from here?
Our tired bones.
I address those in fear of violation
by our peculiar fascination.
This place is tribal property but
this sense of place is personal realization.
We achieve fulfillment
by experiencing this emptiness
Refreshing our enthusiasm
by taking the fresh air into us.
No-one can live here
but you can visit.
Up!
Up!
There.
Down!
we whack bush
the jumped-up salal
leading following
leaping falling
on the 2nd part of our trip
the danger adrenalin of
rock climbing, cliff hanging
slowly giving way to the
soggy exhaustion
the sweaty, steady plodding
up steep mossy hills
searching for plastic ribbons
marking a grown-over trail.
My companions share
the Cumshewa Head-
ache
from the fresh air
& the exertion.
Tomorrow
back in civilization
I'll return to my sedentary
repetitive mind-numbing tasks
Withdrawn from this wilderness
I'll no longer be able to contemplate
a primitive existence.
Oh yes, let's admire the rocks.
Shall we?
The terrain dares us
to master geology.
How marvelous! but why
and how persist.
These questions need not
remain unanswered.
But the inspiration for our curiosity
must never dissipate.
Go see these rocks. And walk
along the shore, the way we walked.
Word are words, and rocks are rocks.
ARRIVAL
Four white guys landed here
at Kingui Beach on Cumshewa Head
early this morning in the Spring of 1990
with the burden of their civilization
Laden with the trappings of technology
they seek to shed the veneer of manners
These Johnny Come Latelys arrive with
an Attitude.
AN APPEAL
Art, Nature, property and politics
like eggs in milk must be whisked to mix
The distance we have come today is all
that allows us to speak the words we must say.
Don't shut us out! You are aware
Our photographs do not steal your soul.
IN THE CAVE
Just silence.
In the womb of rock we can talk,
about our formative years
& anticipate the form we'll take
when we emerge, laughing
past the vulva littered with shells
no-one knows how old
& over the slippery, dangerous &
mountainous puzzle of logs
that hides this primjitive cave from the beach.
APPEAL (2)
Since, as artists, we deal with illusion
we are not gods; we start with everything & create
nothing. We take from your land the most valuable
thing and bring nothing to your potlatch.
A closed policy is always easier to
deal with. You know what you want
when you're told what you should want.
Thus you don't have to sort my words for truth.
--
It is 20 years now since our visit to Cumshewa Head
we are long scattered, ambitions neglected,
friends forgotten, even their names lost.
We returned to the world, and the world returned to us.
A little celebration of friends was held,
there was punch drunk, painting and sculpture displayed,
and music was played, and it faded away.
But the feeling persists through the long years since,
the sounds of the shore and the voices in the cave still echo,
and politics has had its way with history.
Though we may have survived, or one of us has passed away,
or abandoned art, knowing its intimate ephemereality,
there is no doubt. This event is part of my personal history,
and it is shared. These words speak of this event.
I dedicate them to Canada. Be their custodian!
Ammo
January 27, 2010
===============
Alfred Muma's paintings from music can be viewed on this page.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Dec 22/93
writing without reading/fighting, but not bleeding
living in a vacuum - what a sin!
to let it all out, I think, or keep it within -
but will nobody ever see this ink?
[RE: CODCO Plays] Jan 5/94
Weeks gone. delving into memories
Nostalgia caught up with me
20 years down the road
eating my dust all the way
here to show me how much I've slowed
What was it about those people
that turned me against success?
Was that a play they played for me
that I swallowed hook, line and sinker?
Or am I too passive, too much the Thinker?
[finally, I must admit, YES!]
Feelings were a science to me
in them days, I was a licensed amateur;
Now double those years, I'm barely born
A stranger in this town, for sure;
Upright, passé, unfree, unreknowned.
[and seeking a cure]
Christmas before Dad died
he drove me to the back-whacker
with a pain in the neck;
was it psychosomatic, he grilled,
or was I a total wreck?
Memory's a poor judge
& my diaries are scattered; while
Living life is finished for me now --
my boys will do that job & write,
"For Dad, that's all that mattered".
["and he left us all these files!"]
writing without reading/fighting, but not bleeding
living in a vacuum - what a sin!
to let it all out, I think, or keep it within -
but will nobody ever see this ink?
[RE: CODCO Plays] Jan 5/94
Weeks gone. delving into memories
Nostalgia caught up with me
20 years down the road
eating my dust all the way
here to show me how much I've slowed
What was it about those people
that turned me against success?
Was that a play they played for me
that I swallowed hook, line and sinker?
Or am I too passive, too much the Thinker?
[finally, I must admit, YES!]
Feelings were a science to me
in them days, I was a licensed amateur;
Now double those years, I'm barely born
A stranger in this town, for sure;
Upright, passé, unfree, unreknowned.
[and seeking a cure]
Christmas before Dad died
he drove me to the back-whacker
with a pain in the neck;
was it psychosomatic, he grilled,
or was I a total wreck?
Memory's a poor judge
& my diaries are scattered; while
Living life is finished for me now --
my boys will do that job & write,
"For Dad, that's all that mattered".
["and he left us all these files!"]
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
REPLY: COPYRIGHT
http://www.terracedaily.ca/show1955a13s/COPYRIGHT_AND_CENSORSHIP
Computers and iPods and the like are without a doubt the most convenient way to access your music library.
And isn't that the name of the game? Delivery: instant gratification. And is this not the era of ubiquitous entertainment? Yes, it is. So much so, that people spend lots of money to get away from the perpetual assault of aural candy floss and obnoxious ranting that define the boundaries of current pop music.
Ocean kayaking, mountain climbing, horseback riding; surround yourself with silence. The sound of wind, the beating of your own heart, utter silence. That's expensive peace. So leave your MP3 player behind.
What we're concerned with is longevity. Those people who were once foolish enough to live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse have already achieved their goal. It's time to put that old self-deception to rest.
It's common knowledge that repeated exposure to high volume music will ruin your hearing. With that in mind, it's frightening to see the popularity of MP3 players used continually - joggers, students, bus riders... but what bugs me is how this phenomenon isolates us from each other. Is there something wrong with sharing a physical space? We can't stand the sound of each other? Well, I do sympathize with those who have grown intolerant of the muzak that they pump through the speakers in the stores. Hoo-ee! What a load.
What is actually happening is people are completely wrapped up in building a style to their personal inner-space. The simple act of consumption - consumerism, whether purchased or pirated - provides self-satisfaction. Without it, the modern consumer is empty.
OK, now to brass tacks. This _is_ about the music industry. The big companies have suffered a setback, likely due to their own mistakes in implementing Digital Right Management. So they backtrack and begin to use the de facto standard compression technology that actually makes it convenient to download music in a timely fashion. That's MP3, aka MPEG Audio, Layer 3, and it is a very flexible technology.
Benefit: portability. Costs: not just money. The biggest cost, and the one that will last the longest, is the damage to the music itself. MP3 is a "lossy" technology; when compressing the size of a recorded file, you naturally lose detail. Same thing happens with JPEG pictures, another technology developed to take advantage of limited internet bandwidth and disk storage.
But wait a minute! Isn't this a bit retro? Where have the greatest strides been of late? In these very technologies - neither bandwidth nor storage is dear at this time.
So when we are weighing file size vs quality, what are our options? LEt me walk you through the iTunes "Ripping" options. Ripping refers to copying a music file from a CD onto a hard drive. On the CD, the file can be very large - say 60 MB for a 3-minute song. Typically you will end up with a 3 MB MP3 file. How did it get there?
Answer: in iTunes, use Preferences: Advanced: Importing: Import Using: MP3 Encoder. There are 3 basic settings to choose from: Good (128) High (160) and Best (192 kbps). There is also a "Custom" setting where you can adjust the file to anywhere between 16 and 320 kbps. At the lowest setting, the resulting file would be very compact, suitable for sending a friend an e-mail with a poor-quality song attached. The question is, at what point do you actually notice the difference between the bit rates?
And some very good research has been done on this. You could try it yourself, by going to http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/11/few_listeners_can_distinguish.php To summarize, the low-quality (64 kpbs) MP3 was consistently rated by lsiteners as inferior to both the Average (128) and Best (256 kpbs) recordings. Almost all respondents could not tell the difference between the Average and Best recordings.
So, what bit rate has the industry chosen to sell its MP3s at? Why, only the Best! And only a few people would be able to tell the difference between theseversions and the ones you might be able to find on a download site. And could anyone tell the difference between the 256 kbps MP3 and the CD you could buy of it, *at the same price*? Not likely.
So everybody's happy. Your iPod will only hold half as many songs - maybe only a week's worth, instead of two. You might have to delete some of them some day, heaven forbid! Of course, if you were buying all those tunes online (or CDs in a store), you would be broke long before you could fill up that 80Gb drive.
The industry will certainly be happy if it succeeds ub convincing you to spend loads of time downloading songs from their store.
So there's two things that are in short supply: money and time. How can you balance them with bandwidth and filesize?
I guess you could unplug for awhile.
http://www.terracedaily.ca/show1955a13s/COPYRIGHT_AND_CENSORSHIP
Computers and iPods and the like are without a doubt the most convenient way to access your music library.
And isn't that the name of the game? Delivery: instant gratification. And is this not the era of ubiquitous entertainment? Yes, it is. So much so, that people spend lots of money to get away from the perpetual assault of aural candy floss and obnoxious ranting that define the boundaries of current pop music.
Ocean kayaking, mountain climbing, horseback riding; surround yourself with silence. The sound of wind, the beating of your own heart, utter silence. That's expensive peace. So leave your MP3 player behind.
What we're concerned with is longevity. Those people who were once foolish enough to live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse have already achieved their goal. It's time to put that old self-deception to rest.
It's common knowledge that repeated exposure to high volume music will ruin your hearing. With that in mind, it's frightening to see the popularity of MP3 players used continually - joggers, students, bus riders... but what bugs me is how this phenomenon isolates us from each other. Is there something wrong with sharing a physical space? We can't stand the sound of each other? Well, I do sympathize with those who have grown intolerant of the muzak that they pump through the speakers in the stores. Hoo-ee! What a load.
What is actually happening is people are completely wrapped up in building a style to their personal inner-space. The simple act of consumption - consumerism, whether purchased or pirated - provides self-satisfaction. Without it, the modern consumer is empty.
OK, now to brass tacks. This _is_ about the music industry. The big companies have suffered a setback, likely due to their own mistakes in implementing Digital Right Management. So they backtrack and begin to use the de facto standard compression technology that actually makes it convenient to download music in a timely fashion. That's MP3, aka MPEG Audio, Layer 3, and it is a very flexible technology.
Benefit: portability. Costs: not just money. The biggest cost, and the one that will last the longest, is the damage to the music itself. MP3 is a "lossy" technology; when compressing the size of a recorded file, you naturally lose detail. Same thing happens with JPEG pictures, another technology developed to take advantage of limited internet bandwidth and disk storage.
But wait a minute! Isn't this a bit retro? Where have the greatest strides been of late? In these very technologies - neither bandwidth nor storage is dear at this time.
So when we are weighing file size vs quality, what are our options? LEt me walk you through the iTunes "Ripping" options. Ripping refers to copying a music file from a CD onto a hard drive. On the CD, the file can be very large - say 60 MB for a 3-minute song. Typically you will end up with a 3 MB MP3 file. How did it get there?
Answer: in iTunes, use Preferences: Advanced: Importing: Import Using: MP3 Encoder. There are 3 basic settings to choose from: Good (128) High (160) and Best (192 kbps). There is also a "Custom" setting where you can adjust the file to anywhere between 16 and 320 kbps. At the lowest setting, the resulting file would be very compact, suitable for sending a friend an e-mail with a poor-quality song attached. The question is, at what point do you actually notice the difference between the bit rates?
And some very good research has been done on this. You could try it yourself, by going to http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2007/11/few_listeners_can_distinguish.php To summarize, the low-quality (64 kpbs) MP3 was consistently rated by lsiteners as inferior to both the Average (128) and Best (256 kpbs) recordings. Almost all respondents could not tell the difference between the Average and Best recordings.
So, what bit rate has the industry chosen to sell its MP3s at? Why, only the Best! And only a few people would be able to tell the difference between theseversions and the ones you might be able to find on a download site. And could anyone tell the difference between the 256 kbps MP3 and the CD you could buy of it, *at the same price*? Not likely.
So everybody's happy. Your iPod will only hold half as many songs - maybe only a week's worth, instead of two. You might have to delete some of them some day, heaven forbid! Of course, if you were buying all those tunes online (or CDs in a store), you would be broke long before you could fill up that 80Gb drive.
The industry will certainly be happy if it succeeds ub convincing you to spend loads of time downloading songs from their store.
So there's two things that are in short supply: money and time. How can you balance them with bandwidth and filesize?
I guess you could unplug for awhile.
Sunday, December 08, 2002
Yum sandwiches. Post this recipe, it's good. Judy's sick so I had to make soup for 100 people. It's almost ready - I have to take it down to the Carpenters Hall here in Terrace at 3 PM - right in the middle of my rehearsal for The Affections of May.
Yes, Minestrone for 100 people.
But to sidetrack first - Rory and I went to the local highschool production of Rogers & Hammerstein's "State Fair" yesterday. I gotta say, there's nothing memorable about either this production or this show. I'd be interested to see whether it actually made it to Broadway back in 1936 or whenever it was first produced. I mean, Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun are in a similar vein - the quaintness of middle America - and they have top-notchg, memorable songs. There are no classics here. And I wonder - why would they ever have chosen this one to produce? What a colossal waste of time for some 80 people involved!
Rory liked it, though.
Similarly, I'm reading Miles: the official autobiography of Miles Davis, in which he appears to be no more than the foul-mouthed brat of a wealthy middle American dentist (St. Louis), with trips to Arkansas where his successful grandfather lived.
And last night, Rod Stewart had a TV special showing off his latest album of classic big band jazz tunes, with a side trip to his oldy goldies like "Sailing" and "Maggie May" which was a stretch for his old nodes.
And Rory pops out of the shower saying how there's three Canadian acts at the top of the charts now; Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 - indicating there's some hope for him to become a famous musician, I surmise.
I conclude I'm right where I'm supposed to be at right now - concentrating on big band jazz. Moving to Terrace was therefore a great opportunity for me - must tell Mike Greene and especially Bobby Tarr, who first encouraged me to get into it.
I will go get my recipe now, but first a pause to go through "My Funny Valentine" again (3rd time this morning).
Yes, Minestrone for 100 people.
But to sidetrack first - Rory and I went to the local highschool production of Rogers & Hammerstein's "State Fair" yesterday. I gotta say, there's nothing memorable about either this production or this show. I'd be interested to see whether it actually made it to Broadway back in 1936 or whenever it was first produced. I mean, Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun are in a similar vein - the quaintness of middle America - and they have top-notchg, memorable songs. There are no classics here. And I wonder - why would they ever have chosen this one to produce? What a colossal waste of time for some 80 people involved!
Rory liked it, though.
Similarly, I'm reading Miles: the official autobiography of Miles Davis, in which he appears to be no more than the foul-mouthed brat of a wealthy middle American dentist (St. Louis), with trips to Arkansas where his successful grandfather lived.
And last night, Rod Stewart had a TV special showing off his latest album of classic big band jazz tunes, with a side trip to his oldy goldies like "Sailing" and "Maggie May" which was a stretch for his old nodes.
And Rory pops out of the shower saying how there's three Canadian acts at the top of the charts now; Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne and Sum 41 - indicating there's some hope for him to become a famous musician, I surmise.
I conclude I'm right where I'm supposed to be at right now - concentrating on big band jazz. Moving to Terrace was therefore a great opportunity for me - must tell Mike Greene and especially Bobby Tarr, who first encouraged me to get into it.
I will go get my recipe now, but first a pause to go through "My Funny Valentine" again (3rd time this morning).
Tuesday, April 23, 2002
Just you you-all can find your way back here, rememebr: it's http://beach-head.blogspot.com so bookmark it and later you will find out how to contribute to it too!
No blogging all last Fall but after Christmas I created a family website using http://www.communityzero.com/sametz for "The-Sametz-Family" and also "Tenagans" at http://www.communityzero.com/tenagans as an alternate site when family flooded the site in Jan-Feb and used up all the free page-views. Really good service there! Membership is required though so I have to approve all visitors.
We get a miserable 5 MB space for images, stories, etc, plus free space for databases, chat, and the ever-popular Discussions. There's also an Opinion Poll we've just started to use and now they advise me (as the Founder) that there's a new version, way more powerful. We'd bite but $100 a month is a little pricey. We need a more compelling sales job I guess.
Oh it's a wonderful Web we weave.
No blogging all last Fall but after Christmas I created a family website using http://www.communityzero.com/sametz for "The-Sametz-Family" and also "Tenagans" at http://www.communityzero.com/tenagans as an alternate site when family flooded the site in Jan-Feb and used up all the free page-views. Really good service there! Membership is required though so I have to approve all visitors.
We get a miserable 5 MB space for images, stories, etc, plus free space for databases, chat, and the ever-popular Discussions. There's also an Opinion Poll we've just started to use and now they advise me (as the Founder) that there's a new version, way more powerful. We'd bite but $100 a month is a little pricey. We need a more compelling sales job I guess.
Oh it's a wonderful Web we weave.
Thursday, August 02, 2001
Very pleasant evening yesterday, a slight breeze and a few clouds in the sky. I videotaped the two carousels I had going on the little deck in the back; a clothesline carousel with 20 "stuffies" (teddy bears, monkeys, Raggedy Andy, and a very cute gorilla with a wild-sounding squeeze-button...) suspended by clothespegs; and the omnipresent barbecue with a small roast slowly turning on the rotisserie. Now there's a gadget I'm bound to use more in future! It was perfect. There was corn resting in the coals too, perfect peaches-and-cream cobs that were the first picked crop of the year, and a little pepper squash in tinfoil warming in butter and spices under the roast...
Kudos to the fine recipes and tips from The Canadian Living Test Kitchen and their August 2001 "Barbecuing Big" article with the helpful sidebar on Indirect Grilling. Sorry, you'll have to get that one at the newsstand, but here is a nice recipe for a side dish - Grilled Vegetables!
Tonight we got a couple of comps ("complimentary tickets") to the Gala Opening of the First Annual Kelowna International Comedy Festival, featuring headliner Mike MacDonald, a Canadian from Los Angeles, and two much funnier guys, the youthful Roman Danylo - he really struck a chord with my son Rory, 11 - and Nelson Giles. I spoke at length with Nelson after the show, while staff, volunteers and performers guzzled free beer and downed canapes (no really, super fine seafish finger food prepared by a French chef) and tried to impress each other with verbal stunts and flying resumes. I exhibited restraint and declined to float the Codco connection; being a chauffeur is enough of an introdution - then you're on your own. So I grilled Nelson about his routine - how long? "11 years - that's nothing for a guy my age... Roman has been doing it as long as me but he's 15 years younger". Do you come up with new material on the fly or work it up bit by bit into your routine, testing it as you go? "When I've had a few scotches, I have an hour and 45 minutes of excellent material, but I tailor it to the audience and according to what the promoter needs."
He showed me his Blues Harp - it emerged like a submarine from the depths of his Salvation Army tailored jacket, eight bucks (shortly he confessed it only cost five, but still looked like it was worth 12). I told him there was a blues jam tonight three blocks away and he was tempted - would have been great to have a blues song interrupted by a comedy routine, it would be totally unexpected by the audience at the Blue Gator - but he declined and wouldn't even nibble at the idea the El Dorado was having a stand-up comedy night... what are these comedians made of? Is there no sense of adventure on the touring circuit? No! They just wanted a ride back to their hotel. Fuckin pathetic I say. Nelson is from Cape Breton and has the accent to prove it, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. And I dissed the headliner Mike MacDonald who had a tolerable but overly long routine, and one which I had seen many excerpts from within the past week on the Comedy Channel, preserved from the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
Except MacDonald was right behind me as I said this, and now I realize I have to chauffeur him from the hotel to the gig tomorrow. Hope he gets smashed tonight and forgets I said that!
So the sandwiches were triff. The beer was free and I had a couple even though they were provided free of charge by the sponsor (fokkin awful they were too! Brand name was 'Kold'. How original! Like, don't steal my stupid trademark buddy!). Krappy Kanned Kola, more like.
Savin' up somethin' for the Sprinklers blog.
Kudos to the fine recipes and tips from The Canadian Living Test Kitchen and their August 2001 "Barbecuing Big" article with the helpful sidebar on Indirect Grilling. Sorry, you'll have to get that one at the newsstand, but here is a nice recipe for a side dish - Grilled Vegetables!
Tonight we got a couple of comps ("complimentary tickets") to the Gala Opening of the First Annual Kelowna International Comedy Festival, featuring headliner Mike MacDonald, a Canadian from Los Angeles, and two much funnier guys, the youthful Roman Danylo - he really struck a chord with my son Rory, 11 - and Nelson Giles. I spoke at length with Nelson after the show, while staff, volunteers and performers guzzled free beer and downed canapes (no really, super fine seafish finger food prepared by a French chef) and tried to impress each other with verbal stunts and flying resumes. I exhibited restraint and declined to float the Codco connection; being a chauffeur is enough of an introdution - then you're on your own. So I grilled Nelson about his routine - how long? "11 years - that's nothing for a guy my age... Roman has been doing it as long as me but he's 15 years younger". Do you come up with new material on the fly or work it up bit by bit into your routine, testing it as you go? "When I've had a few scotches, I have an hour and 45 minutes of excellent material, but I tailor it to the audience and according to what the promoter needs."
He showed me his Blues Harp - it emerged like a submarine from the depths of his Salvation Army tailored jacket, eight bucks (shortly he confessed it only cost five, but still looked like it was worth 12). I told him there was a blues jam tonight three blocks away and he was tempted - would have been great to have a blues song interrupted by a comedy routine, it would be totally unexpected by the audience at the Blue Gator - but he declined and wouldn't even nibble at the idea the El Dorado was having a stand-up comedy night... what are these comedians made of? Is there no sense of adventure on the touring circuit? No! They just wanted a ride back to their hotel. Fuckin pathetic I say. Nelson is from Cape Breton and has the accent to prove it, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. And I dissed the headliner Mike MacDonald who had a tolerable but overly long routine, and one which I had seen many excerpts from within the past week on the Comedy Channel, preserved from the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.
Except MacDonald was right behind me as I said this, and now I realize I have to chauffeur him from the hotel to the gig tomorrow. Hope he gets smashed tonight and forgets I said that!
So the sandwiches were triff. The beer was free and I had a couple even though they were provided free of charge by the sponsor (fokkin awful they were too! Brand name was 'Kold'. How original! Like, don't steal my stupid trademark buddy!). Krappy Kanned Kola, more like.
Savin' up somethin' for the Sprinklers blog.
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