Saturday, February 28, 2009: Saturday Freeze

It was brutally cold out today. I walked up to GFM for breakfast and hung out for a bit then headed back to SsW for the afternoon. It was really too horrible to go back out again.

Food

Cold!

Friday, February 27, 2009: Harold Night

I had Pho with Chris and Richard this evening before heading to Chez Harold. I took the streetcar across which was pleasant as it wasn't packed and traffic was good. The winter is definately waining. It was still light out as I walked to Chez Harold which was a noticable improvement after months of arriving in the cold and darkness.

Still light in the Harold zone

Matt tries out the perpetually out of tune guitar

Practice was good. We are working towards the gig on the 28th of March and it is certainly coming together well. We went until 11:00 or so and headed out at around 11:30 pm. The trunk to the Mattmobile was malfunctioning so I had to squeeze in the back seat with all of the kit. We drove Phil back to his first then Matt dropped me off in the SsW zone.

The Ghost of Phil by the Mattmobile

Thursday, February 26, 2009: Stille, mein Wille!

The lake

Stille, mein Wille! Dein Jesus hilft siegen;
Trage geduldig das Leiden, die Not;
Gott ist's, der alles zum besten will fügen,
Der dir getreu bleibt in Schmerzen und Tod.
Stille, mein Wille! Dein Jesus wird machen
Glücklichen Ausgang bedenklicher Sachen

Stille, mein wille! Es kommen die Stunden,
Daß wir beim Herrn sind ohn' Wechsel der Zeit;
Dann ist das Scheiden, der Kummer verschwunden,
Ewige Freundschaft vergütet das Leid.
Stille, mein Wille! Nach zeitlichem Scheiden
Sehn wir uns wieder ohn' Schmerzen und Leiden.

Knox

The lake

The lake

Monday, February 23, 2009: The gods Gig 1

Had to go downtown this morning. This afternoon I had lunch in Chinatown then headed back over to SsW and got my kit together for tonight's gig with Jason and Associates. Jason F invited me to join "The gods", and improv unit he's put together at their debut gig on Queen St tonight. As much of my stuff is still in boxes I had to dig about to find power supplies and the like. I also tested out the new larger Tapco which in size sits between the Alesis and the original small one I use at Harold rehearsals.

Tokens

A good view, the kind that I miss

BCE Place

Another view from BCE's interior

Downtown

Chris came by in the white car around 8:00 pm and we drove down to the venue of the gods which is called Mitzi's Sister. Jason and crew were already there setting up so I set up the frustrating keyboard stand and plugged in the plugs. My rig was the same as the the one at the last Harold show; the Novation Xio as a synth and doubling as a controller for the Emu Vintage Keys plus rack, the Emu running into the big Kaoss Pad 3 which also functioned with some on the fly sampling and random sample loading, the Korg Kaossilator was going to the Korg Mini-Kaoss pad and everything ended up going out to the new Tapco board and on to a DI box to the board.

Jason introduced me to the other gods, that is Josh Hicks on drums and James Grey on keys. James had a nice big Nord Electro 3 which he was running into some analog delay and a ring modulator. Jason had several basses and his Chapman Stick which he was running through a bunch of stompboxes and pedals.

Jeff showed up with the amazing 3D video camera system and video taped the evening. Also Shelley the Bean and DJ Kevin showed up for the first set.

Doraemon (sadly lost during tear down after the gig)

Part of a display of insturments made from old junk

Jason found this tiny Stone Henge monument built from snow outside in the back "patio" area which was being used exclusively for smoking. Many Spinal Tap jokes later we went back inside and began.

I wonder what the little people of Stone Henge would have thought of this

James & I wait for the others

It begins

James, Josh, Jason and Moi (perhaps I should change my name to Jorne)

playing

Josh, Jason and me

Jason on Stick

Playing Kaoss

Josh on drums

Jason on Stick

James on the mighty Nord

Josh on drums

We took a short break and then came back on for the second set.

Jason and beer

Anyone still out there?

Kaoss Pads

The many pedals of Jason

James on the Nord

The second set wasn't as long in my estimation as the first one was. Once we were done we tore down and packed up. I sadly lost my lucky Doraemon while the keyboard rack was being taken apart. I will have to try and replace it before the Harold gig on the 28th. I got a ride back to SsW with Chris.

Sunday, February 22, 2009: Sunday Lazytown

In order to get out to Lazytown in time for Knox singing and such I had to wake up at 5:30 am. Partly due to my being unsure how long it would actually take me to get there on a Sunday. I headed out just before 7:00 am and took several street cars to get to Union as the Subway doesn't run on Sunday until 9:00 am on Sundays. (Consider that next time someone tells you that Toronto is a "world class" city) I got to Union at around 7:30 am and grabbed a ticket just in time to catch the 7:43 am train.

Waiting for the Streetcar

GO Train a coming

I got to Lazytown earlier than I'd expected so I hungout at Starbucks until Jayne and Sweet William picked me up. We went down to the Crossiant place and had breakfast for going on to Knox.

Choir was good. Afterwards there was some sort of annual meeting so I didn't stick around for that. I got a lift up to the GO and took to train back to Exhibition then went up Bathurst and on to SsW.

Waiting in the cold

Train arrives

Finally

Tonight Chris and I went for Pho. Afterwards I walked down to Moog Audio to see if they had any more small Tapco mixers as my larger Alesis mixer is at Chez Harold and I needed a larger one for tomorrow night. They sold me a used rental until for $30 bucks which was great since my original small 5 channel job cost me $50 bucks.

Saturday, February 21, 2009: Saturday GFM

I went up to the GFM for breakfast this morning and hung out there until just after noon. Then I headed down and around and picked up a few items I required.

View from the counter

Heading down Palmerston

I walked along College and back to SsW. I saw a travel agent with a sign advertising a flight to Bangkok for $1049. So very tempting.

Friday, February 20, 2009: Sleepy Harold

I stuck around SsW all day as this evening was Harold Rehearsal. I caught a ride from Matt at around 6:45 pm. We picked up Phil then headed over to Chez Harold. It wasn't the most high energy rehearsal of all time. At least for me. I brought the Kaoss Pad 3 with me in preparation for the coming 28th gig.

Jeff falls asleep while drumming

I doze off while Matt is rock steady

Kaoss!

Phil rocks out

Phil continues to rock out

Jeff falls into a deep sleep

Matt may look rock steady... But I'd think he's sleeping

We went well past my bed time. Then I caught a ride back over to the SsW zone with Matt.

Thursday, February 19, 2009: Dentist and Choir

I walked up to the GFM zone this morning and went to my appointment. I was treated by a different dentist than the one I saw on Tuesday. She pumped me full of freezing and then proceeded to drill out the older filling and it back up and patch over the back where the tooth broke. It was at times very uncomfortable. However once it was all done I headed down to the GFM and and something easy to eat.

GO Trains at Union Station

Walking to Wyndham

This afternoon I headed out to Lazytown on the GO. I had choir tonight so I went to Wyndham before hand in order to see Sweet William and Wee Fred before they went off to their various youth-group type activities. This is the first time I've seen them since they came back from Disney so there was a great deal of excitement and some show and tell.

At around 6:30 pm I went to Choir with Jayne. She had some sort of meeting before hand so we were there a bit early. I set up the chairs in the mean time and slowly people began to arrive. It was a good practice. I enjoyed it as I haven't been in a few weeks. We did some Mozart which was nice. I think singing something of his gives you a real appreciation for his genius. The piece we did was in Latin as well which was even better.

Choir practice

After choir a bunch of us went to the Local. I made the mistake of having a Guiness. I had to rush off at around 10:15 pm to catch the GO at half past and I unfortunately lost my toque on the way out. Jayne drove me to the GO Station and I got the 10:30 pm train. I took it to Exhibition and then took the 511 Street car up and walked back over to SsW.

Altered notice on the GO Train

Getting off without a hat

Wednesday, February 18, 2009: Snow, Ice, Mississauga

It snowed again. The snow comes, melts then re-freezes. It is the law to clear your side walk of ice but a great deal of folk fail to do so navigation can be tricky. You never quite know whether you are stepping on snow covered sidewalk or an inch of ice.

Snow near Detroit Rock City High

Snowy sidewalks

The field

This afternoon I had to venture out to the far reaches of the western zone of Mississauga.

The foggy expanses of Mississauga

I got back to the Annex at around 3:30 pm. I went up to the GFM to see about some food. I haven't been eating as much due to the tooth situation. I ate then headed back down to SsW.

GFM

GFM

View from the GFM

Walking back to SsW in the snow

Tuesday, February 17, 2009: Tooth Update

Sandy Moon sent me off to her dentist who was reasonable in many ways including pricing. I spent a brief period today getting some X-rays done and he also smoothed out the more jagged bits. I will be returning later this week to have the tooth repaired. Thankfully no root canals or similarly expensive and painful proceedures are required.

I grabbed some pho with Chris C tonight as I have eaten little over the last few days. My throat / headcold seems to have cleared and although I am still slightly pilled up the tooth pain is minimal. Pho was good. Afterwards we wandered down to Queen and ran into none other than Corin Raymond as he headed up Spadina. I haven't seen him in a few years. A happy reunion all around. Afterwards Chris and I headed down to Moog Audio and poked around then headed back up to Christopher Robin's. I hung out there for a bit then headed back towards SsW (not to be confused with S.W.S.) along College. Amazingly I ran into JS McFad and his lovely wife Cathy outside a local restaurant. I don't believe I've seen them since the mid-90's.

Sunday, February 15, 2009: The Tooth!

I have come down with some sort of throat / headcold thing which has rendered me somewhat useless. Or more useless than normal. I had planned to go out to Lazytown this morning but didn't feel up to it. I went to bed early early last night and only woke to send a message to Wyndham Manor that I wouldn't be coming in. Then I slept for several more hours.

I got up around 11:00 am and had some tea. Stephen was up and around and at about noon we had a fry up. Then while finishing off my last bit of bacon it happened.

The tooth with the old filling which I should have replaced last year before I left Bangkok broke. The whole back section broke off leaving the old filling exposed to the elements. This did not feel good.

What could I do? If I was still in Bangkok I could just go to Bumrungrad Hospital and pay them a few hundred bucks to fix it. But I am not in Bangkok. I am in Canada with its "free" healthcare and hospitals that don't actually have dentists or anyone to fix teeth. I walked over to the nearest Hospital (fortunately it was a nice sunny day) and was informed that there is no dentist there. When I inquired what where one might find a clinic or Hospital with a dental emergency type thing no one seemed to know. Eventually one helpful staff member made a few calls and then suggested that I try Mount Sinai over on University Avenue. So off I went.

I got there and went through the process in the Emergency room and eventually a nice young dentist fellow came out and saw me. He took me in to his room and took a look at my Apollo 13 tooth and told me that no nerve was exposed, just the filling and that I'd have to see a dentist on Tuesday as tomorrow is some sort of holiday. He gave me a perscription for Tylenol 3's and the whole affair cost me 100 bucks including the pills. What the cost of actually getting Apollo 13 fixed I'm afraid to guess.

Afterwards I walked back over along College Street and went by Chris C & Robin's. They were home so after popping a couple Terminator 3s I watched "Kung Fu Panda" with them on DVD. It was good. Afterwards we walked over to Pho Hung and I got a small Pho Ga. I managed to get through it with not too much trouble. I need the Pho for my head and throat. I was sufficiantly pilled up that there was minimal tooth discomfort from Apollo 13.

Heading to Pho from Christopher Robin's

This evening I decided to tag along to the Prog-Rock Jam with Chris. I hadn't intended to go anywhere at all today but the tooth business altered that idea. At least seeing the band play some Genesis and Yes would be a distraction from my mouth.

In the end I was glad to have gone as Jason F was there again and he had brought his Chapman Stick so I got to see him play that. The T3's began to wear off by about 11:00 pm so Chris and I split at 11:30 pm.

Jason on Stick

Jason on more Stick

Chris sings and plays

Jason on his Steinberg Bass

Jason on his headless

Chris joins in on bass

Chris on bass 1

Chris on bass 2

Chris on bass 3

Friday, February 13, 2009: Harold 13

Tonight I took the longest street car ride of all time in order to get to Harold. The subways were shut down due to some crazy guy pushing several teenagers onto the tracks. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt and the teens managed to get off the tracks. The kook was also caught and arrested.

The result was the street car was packed and traffic was brutal. Fortunately I managed to get a seat early on so I could just enjoy the painfully slow trip in comfort. It was bizarre to travel that route as it was like some sort of tour of my past. Passing Carlaw and GRH's old zone, then on to the JLK zone, and even past the old jump off point for Chez Schellenbergs before "Free Willy" relocated them south of the border.

Last but not least was passing over the GO station that I have stood at many Friday evenings since returning to this part of the planet. Mixed feelings about not having to GO back to Lazytown, and of course not GOing back to Lazytown.

In any event I arrived eventually at Chez Harold to find the Might Jeff already banging on his electronics like a chimpanzee. Food was had (a generous house) and eventually the other Harolds arrived. Once we were all set up we began. It was a good night for Harold. We slugged through many things and some gems were found. Also the March 28th gig is confirmed so training begins for that.

Jeff drums pa-rup-pa-pum-pum

Rock Steady Matt on bass

Wizard of Echo Phil on guitar and me Xio'ing and Kaossing

We went at it until 11:00 pm or so then packed it up and in. I caught a ride in the Mattmobile which was nice. Warmth, ease, conversation and speed all for free.

Thursday, February 12, 2009: MFB Kraftwerg

I am still adjusting to being in the City. Or at least this City.

I went for Pho tonight and afterwards took a walk down to Moog Audio on Queen. I haven't been in there since before Christmas. The manager Francis showed me the MFB Kraftwerg which I had waited in vain for from August until November when I just gave up on it ever coming. It turns out that I am not the only one who got sick of waiting for it. Unfortunately the people at MFB didn't send the power supplies with it so it didn't really work dispite Francis' valiant efforts. It does look cool and is tiny but... I have the Moog so...

The long awaited MFB Kraftwerg

Fiddling to try and make it work

More fiddling

Afterwards I headed back up to SsW via some of the side streets. It was warm enough that it was foggy and by the time I got home it was raining.

Foggy and spooky

Spooky and foggy

Just spooky

Monday, February 9, 2009: Day of the Desk

Slush City

More meltings

The weather has turned strangely warm which has resulted in a great deal of melting and slush. All very messy and difficult to get around in. Rob & Val came down to the City today and brought with them a desk for me to borrow as I have zero furniture. They also brought a the runner section of a bed. I will sort out other parts soon. We had a good feed at the GFM then went back down to SsW and assembling was conducted.

Kitchen view at SsW

Sunday, February 8, 2009: Sunday Night Prog Rock

I had breakfast at the Grapefruit Moon this morning. That act makes my return to living in the Annex official.

A new view of the old view

The mugshot mugs

Milton's stapler

Tonight I went to see this prog rock jam night with Chris C. It was held at a bar called Timothy's way out in Etobicoke on Brown's Line. The host band was amazing. They skillfully played a multitude of Genesis and Yes covers with dead-on accurancy. There was also some Gentle Giant and Jethro Tull performed.

The big surprise of the night was seeing my old fellow TMYC'er Jason F who was there. He has become an outstanding musician and is an excellent bass player. It was great to see him join in on a few tunes.

The host band

Jason joins them on bass

Jason joins them on bass more

Jason joins them on bass even more

Friday, February 6, 2009: Harold 3D

Chris came over this afternoon and we transported the last few items from Wyndham Manor over to Stephen Sans Wendi's. Afterwards we took a ride up to the GFM and had a late brunch.

At around 6:00 pm I headed over to Chez Harold for rehearsal. We are playing once more at the Renaissance Cafe on the Danforth on March 28th so we must be prepared. I have missed many rehearsals as of late for various reasons. It felt great to be back at it.

Setting up my stuff

Phil's new floor-set up

Matt rock-steady on the fretless bass

Jeff on E-drums

Phil on guitar while I Kaoss

More guitar, more Kaoss

More Jeff

Everything is recorded via Firewire to Reaper DAW

Jeff has access to some amazing new 3-D camera system which may come in use for Harold at some point. He demonstrated the system to us after practice. The images were unbelievable and a far cry from the sort of cheesey Doctor Tongue 3-D House of Stewardess type fare one expects. Of course the glasses still make you look rather silly.

3-D Harold

3-D bass?

Somehow it suits us

After practice I caught a ride westward with Matt and Phil. No more late night GO Trains to Lazytown. Although I've slept here many times before this will be my first night here as a resident. Bizarre.

Thursday, February 5, 2009: Last Day

This will be the 35th move in my life. I moved a second batch of items yesterday with Chris then came back into Lazytown on the GO Train. I had to make some stops on the way back to Wyndham Manor so I actually walked the way back which was a bit cold to say the least. I felt sort of melancholy about the walk as well as I was heading back along a route I grew used to running in the early hours before winter came. Arriving back at the empty house was also sort of sad.

Today I was up early and spent the day rearranging the boxes of crap that I'm not taking with me in there proper storage location downstairs. I also sorted through some stuff and prepared the few remaining items for tomorrow's final move. The gang will be back tomorrow evening however I will have Harold so I won't be here to greet them. Nor will I be returning to sleep after rehearsal. I feel I am "leaving home" as much in this move as I did in the last one.

Pump Organ stops

More Pump Organ stops

Coffee machine

Winterscape 1

Winterscape 2

Winterscape 3

Winterscape 4

Winterscape 5

Winterscape 6

Winterscape 7

Winterscape 8

Winterscape 9

Fridge magnets

A drawing by Wee Fred

Packing my stuff

Tonight I went to Hamilton with my cousin Ron and his wife for a get together of all my Aunt Mona's family. It was a big feed at one of those "Montana" restaurants, which I'd never been to before. I had some excellent grilled chicken. I have to say it made me miss Chester's Grill in Bangkok at bit. The sub-zero winds also made me miss Bangkok.

I got back to Wyndham at around 10:00 pm. Tomorrow I move.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009: Home Alone 2

The house sitting and moving continues. The original Chris C has brought the mighty chariot over and we've made one successful run to Stephen Sans Wendi's and offloaded a major portion of what is mine. More items to be transported later this week. I have gone through so many boxes and I must say I am weary of the whole process.

Not much else has happened. There was a squirrel who managed to get into the garage when I opened up the blast-doors in anticipation of TOChrisC 's arrival. I heard a mighty thump and thought perhaps Chris had backed into Wee Fred's punching bag. When I went to investigate I found a squirrel sitting in the middle of the garage beside a wicker picnic basket that had been knocked off one of the shelves. With some coaxing the squirrel abandon its prize and left. Chris showed up shortly after.

Didn't I just unpack these?

Emptyzone

Kettle

Pots and pans

Some more of the pots and pans

Seems like a long time ago...

All I can say right now is.... blah.