Monday, September 29, 2008: First Lesson
The original Chris C came out to Lazytown today and gave Wee Fred a guitar lesson. The speed at which her playing is improving is quite impressive. At this rate she'll play better than me in about two months.
The Original Chris gives Wee Fred her first guitar lesson
Friday, September 26, 2008: Friday Harold
I took the GO train in to the city this afternoon and met up with Chris at Pho for some food. Afterwards I headed over to Jeff's for Harold rehearsal. It's the first time we've actually gone at it in a while. Unfortunately we had some weird ghosts in the machines all night and much of the evening was spent battling out levels and such like.
I am in need of buying proper headphones to rehearse with as everything sounds like mud with the old walkman headphones I've been borrowing. Also the foamy ear pieces don't isolate the sound from the outside so most of what I hear is Jeff playing his electronic kit which sounds like someone pounding on cafeteria trays with chopsticks.
Sunday, September 21, 2008: Singing
Singing in a Choir again is one thing but this morning I had to contend with the rather confusing order of service that the Presbies follow. First off was getting in to the Choir robe thing and making sure the collar bit had the correct color facing out. Then came the lining up and entrance whilst singing. This required me to navigate down the center isle and go up the stairs to the Choir area while singing, wearing the robe of Landru, and holding the hymn book. Good thing I wasn't chewing gum. Of course I had no idea of when to stand up and when to sit down, as no one bothered to prep me on those points. Over all it wasn't bad though.
This evening we had a big dinner with Paul's clan. Afterwards Wee Fred gave us a little concert with her new guitar which she's barely put down since Friday. She had made up programs for it and everything. It was off the scale on the cuteness meter.
Friday, September 19, 2008: Guitar Girl
For various reasons Harold will not be seen tonight. Instead we bring you GUITAR GIRL.
I had to rush back out to Lazytown for 5:00 pm in order to catch the disembarkation (?) of Sgt Sweet William to Fort George where he and other 1812 re-enactment types would battle the Yanks for the control of the True North Strong and Freezing. As the weather we are currently having would qualify as Indian Summer (nice) and as Paul was off on business Jayne, Wee Fred and myself took Sgt S W over in Chitty Chitty Doll Doll with the top down.
We deposited S W with his troop and then we headed over to Stoney's for food. Wee Free wished for Wendy's however ... Stoney's it was. We parked down from Stoney's and I went across to the music store Gear which is across the street (where I bought the XioSynth in 2006) to pick up some guitar strings. Wee Fred of course wanted to look at all the guitars and was making her usual sad puppy/I need a guitar eyes at her Mom and I. There was a nice little short scale kids acoustic there made by Yamaha for $140 which looked like it would fit nicely. However first things first.
We went across to Stoney's and ordered food. I had my usual (Pizza) and good food was had all round. When the meal was done I went back across to Gear and got the guitar for Wee Fred. I came back out and crossed over to where Jayne and Wee Fred were waiting in the car and handed over the guitar to it's new owner. Then we went back across and I let her pick out a strap.
Now Wyndham Manor echos with strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strumstrum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strumstrum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strumstrum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum strum...
Thursday, September 18, 2008: Choir Practice
This evening I accompanied Jayne to Choir. This is on a trial basis for now, depending on how much time and energy it requires. The last time I read music to sing was at Jayne and Pauls Wedding in 1992 so suddenly being put back into the choral world of sight reading (or trying to) was interesting to say the least. There is a certain pressure involved (for me at least) in singing which is the pressure not to suck. In all though it was an interesting evening.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008: Rescue Ranger
I got home around 7:00 pm tonight to find nobody home so I decided to go for a swim. The pool was full of a lot of leaves and such like from the winds and rain we've had recently but I was in need of a swim so I wasn't about to let that stop me. Until I noticed a squirrel swimming desperately for its wee life. It seems to have got in the pool but was unable to scale the sides and escape. I'm not sure how long the little guy had been in there for but I got the big net thing for skimming the crap off the surface of the water and used it to lift him out to safety. He looked around once back on dry land then took off into the bushes next to the fence.
Monday, September 15, 2008: Monday
I ran at 5:30 am this morning. It was weird weather. It seemed to have rained at around 5:00 am then when I went out the sky was mostly clear above except for patches of clouds. I could see the moon but over in the South East I could also see this big dark scary patch of cloud.
It never did rain but by the time I got into the city it was cold.
Crazy clouds
Sunday, September 14, 2008: Kaoss
Yesterday the weather was all screwy from the spill over from the storms in the USA. Today it was suddenly really warm and humid so the latter half of the day was spent swimming, even though it was raining at the time.
I also spent a big hunk of the day working out the Korg Kaoss Pad 3 and various aspects of the sampling function which works like a charm. I see possible Harold applications. I had an 2 gig SD flash card that I bought for the Zoom MRS8 that didn't work with it so I used that card as memory for the Kaoss. Now I can store all my samples for future use.
Kaoss!
The flashy lights on the pad are highly entertaining
Friday, September 12, 2008: Harold Practice
This evening was the first HAROLD practice since the gig in August. We didn't actually run through any of the songs, but rather just played then took a break then played more and so on. There were some good moments and thankfully its all recorded so that we can possibly extract the golden nuggets from the pooh.
Toronto fire behind the Harold Go Station
I took the GO train back from Harold Station. Unfortunately my iPod's battery died on me so I was forced to indure the drunken foolishness of the other passengers who came stumbling on at Union. I took a taxi from Lazytown Station back to Wyndham Manor.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008: Night Fountain
I ran this afternoon as I missed yesterday's morning run and the weathermen are calling for rain tomorrow. It was quite nice out so the run was very enjoyable, especially with the right music playing.
Fountain by the pool
Friday, September 5, 2008: Friday Night Harold
I broke down today and bought the full on Korg Kaoss Pad 3. It was on sale and I needed to buy a new toy for therapeutic purposes. And the Kraftwerg seems to be on the slow boat from Deutschland. So I got it. I will be experimenting with it over the weekend and I believe it will be quickly integrated into the Harold arsenal.
Kaoss Pad 3
This latest KAOSS incarnation has been completely overhauled to enhance your creativity, with significant advances in every area. New effects algorithms, synth sounds derived from our RADIAS engine, bigger and better sampling plus computer connectivity all point to the fact that the KP3 is an entirely new KAOSS instrument. A new pad lighting system places 64 individual LEDs in an eight by eight grid under the pad, providing visual cues as to the current program, held position, etc. – it can even scroll a custom message across the pad!
Tonight Harold had a non-rehearsal. The evening was spent talking about all this Harold including some things that actually happened. Jeff unveiled a rough cut of some video extracted out of the August 23rd show. I was surprised at how good Harold sounded. I believe more Harold shows are in the pipeline and our fall training should begin next week.
