Morning Pages: regentisland.com

Monday, March 30, 2009: Sleepy Monday

I got to sleep around 2:00 am last night. My total hours of sleep between Friday and last night was probably around 8 hours with no more than 2 hours in a row. Needless to say I made up for it by sleeping much of today.

I was too lazy to cook so instead I walked up to the GFM and had a meal. I hung out there until closing at 10:00 pm then walked home.

Cooking

Coffee

All the way from Manila, I bought this for the GFM in 2000

Last seen hanging in the SOL it finally got here after being lugged around the globe

Sunday, March 29, 2009: Choir and Prog

I fell asleep at around 3:00 am. Then at 5:00 am I woke up. I was out the door by 6:30 am and off on the incredible journey to Knox. I took the street car over to Spadina then down to Union. I caught the GO train from Union over and met up with the Wyndham crew at Crossiant world. I had breakfast which helped my state slightly.

Red light

Green light

Union

How I got through the morning is a mystery. However the two pieces the Choir had went off without a hitch. This more than made up for my distress at how unenjoyable last night was for me.

Sunday cloud

I headed back to the City in the afternoon and crashed for a few hours. Chris and I went to Prog Night out in Etobicoke. The event seems to happen less frequently and now there is a cover charge which blows. Jason F and associates were there as were the usuals. A Gabriel era Genesis cover band called "Seven Stones" opened up the evening. They did some excellent renditions of some of my favourite old Genesis songs such as "Musical Box" and "Get'em Out by Friday". A good evening all around although I was exausted to say the least.

Evening sky

Chris plays

Jason and friends

Bloody well right?

Jason's shoes and pedals

Jason's pedals and shoes

Jason on bass

Jason on Stick

Frame by Frame

Druck Farben closes up

We stayed to the bitter end at around midnight. Chris had brought his stick but never had a chance to use it which is a shame. He's a god on the thing. The next Prog night isn't until April 26. A new venue is being saught I believe. Hopefully it will be closer to civilization.

Saturday, March 28, 2009: Harold Plays

Today was of course the Harold gig. I had breakfast at the GFM then headed back to mine and got a few remaining things ready. Chris C came by later in the afternoon and we loaded up the Chrismobile and headed over to Chez Howard.

Harold Plays

We helped load up a few things which divided the packing of cars nicely. Once all our stuff was loaded we headed over to the Renaissance Cafe and struggled to find parking. As it was a warmer day everyone seemed to be out and about and parked where we would have liked to. Chris managed to get a spot across the road and we proceeded to load all the Harold stuff into the cafe while the country crooners who have the place until 7:00 pm did their thing.

Loading up

Ready to go

Under cat supervision

The watchful eyes

Once in and the country bumpkims cleared out the task of trying to set our stuff up began. We had a further deadline due to it being "Earth Hour" from 8:30 to 9:30 pm. Fortunately the owner of the Renaissance wasn't very enthused about switching all the lights off.

My set up was the same as previous Harold show with the addition of the Moog Little Phatty Stage II which I ran through a Cloud 9 flanger and vibrato pedal before stereoizing the signal by running it through the Digitech Digidelay. Once we were all set up Wally Jericho set his stuff up and we waited for people to arrive and for Earth Hour to end.

Set up

Another look

Once Earth Hour was over Wally fired up his machines and did his set. I enjoyed it as much as I had on Wednesday night at the Ping. It was an outstanding set.

Wally plays

Wally plays

Once Wally was done his set we took a short break and got ready to go on. The turn out wasn't so great compaired to the last show we did there. From my crew only Chris C and Richard F showed up. Since Chris was an official Harold roady he didn't really count.

Although the other Harold's were happy how things went for me the gig was problematic. I suffered from some sort of low volume monitoring issues. Because I couldn't clearly hear how loud I was out in the room I was reluctant to turn up. Instead I used my headphones (normally used for selecting sounds) to monitor what I was playing. This unforunately gave me a feeling of seperation from what was going on around me.

The Moog however shone. Even at a lower volume the pure HUGENESS of the sound cut through everything. Truly amazing. Wally joined us on the last two pieces but I unfortunately couldn't hear much of what he was doing.

Matt, Jeff, my hand and the Moog towards the end of the Harold set

Phil and Wally

Jeff and hat

Phil and Wally again

After the gig the massive job of tearing down began. Chris was knackered from being up all night so we tore my stuff down quickly. I caught a ride back to SsW with Chris and Richard. It was nearly 2:00 am when I got home.

Friday, March 27, 2009: Harold Ready?

Harold rehearsed tonight as tomorrow we play at the Reniassance Cafe. I was going to bring the Moog over tonight but the logistics were bad so I have arranged to hire Chris C to help me with transport tomorrow afternoon.

Rehearsal was good. It was low key but solid. I think we are ready.

Return of the LPB2ube which gives unlimited power to the Kaossilator

Jeff tests the lightshow projection system in the living room

Warmer weather means a return to Patio Harold during breaks

Jeff hits the drums

Matt hits the bass

Phil hits the guitar

Matt & moi

More Phil

More Matt & Moi

After the rehearsal which ended earlier than usual I caught a ride with Matt and Phil back over to the Annex.

Thursday, March 26, 2009: Choir

Tonight it was out to Lazytown for choir. We worked on a few pieces for this weekend which remain problematic as well as some for Easter. I am not sure if I will be available on this coming Sunday either as I have the Harold show Saturday night. With the clearing of gear and carting of it back it is unlikely that I will be home much before 2:00 am. In order to get to Knox on Sunday morning I have to be awake by 5:30 am or so.

Exhibition TTC

Wednesday, March 25, 2009: Wally Plays

Tonight I joined Chris C and the Harolds at a place on Markham street to see Wally Jericho play. He is the horn player who will be opening for Harold on Saturday night. It was truly impressive. He plays several horns which are close mic'd or contact mic'd, runs them through some pedal boards and looping devices mixes it all together and serves it up with some soft synths and drums loops via his Apple Laptop and a Novation USB controller keyboard. He played for about half an hour and it was quite amazing. I will really be looking forward to hearing him again on Saturday night.

Wally

The second band or main act looked promising but was not something I enjoyed. I don't mind discordant music but I loath poor intonation and that was something they had in excess. The lack of bass in the music also disagreed with me as did art school pretense of it all. There was also some problem with the drummer. Whether or not he was purposely playing as if he were child pounding randomly on a plastic tray I am not certain, however it made the already unpleasant and tedious din unbearable. Chris and I only lasted one tune then fled.

Out of tune and lacking bass

Very important statements are made

The rain that had been coming down early on had stopped so Chris and I walked over to Spadina. The pho place was closed so we got hot and sour soup as well as crispy noodles with beef and sauce at our old post gig and post computer battle hang out "The Neon Lobster". That's not its real name but that is what we have always called it.

The Neon Lobster

Tuesday, March 24, 2009: Nice Out

It was a surprisingly nice day out today. I got up in the early early and ran then came back to SsW and began the day. At around 11:00 am I headed up to GFM for a late breakfast and a multitude of coffees.

Coffee!

Monday, March 23, 2009: Moog Harold

I spend part of the day setting the Moog Little Phatty Stage II for Saturday's coming gig. I also tested out using some of my cheap Cloud 9 stomp boxes on its signal with surprisingly good results. I settled on the Flanger and Vibrato pedals to proceed the Digitech Digidelay. I have programmed about 20 new patches in the beast so with that I should have more than enough for Saturday. I have yet to use it in a live Harold situation however I am confident it will work nicely. It is such a great synthesizer.

The Moog LP Stage II

Cloud 9 stompers

Sunday, March 22, 2009: Sunday Harold

I stayed at Wydham Manor all weekend. I even ran my old route yesterday afternoon which was nice to do. This morning I was up early and at 9:00 am we all headed over to the Croissant Place for breakfast before going on to Knox. Choir was good and afterwards it was back to Wydham for a while.

I had to head back into the City for Harold so I left mid-afternoon. I got back, changed and sorted my kit out then met up with the Mattmobile at the northern corner. We play next weekend so we finally decided on some sort of set list.

Jeff with daylight behind him

Phil in action

Blurry Matt

Steady Matt

Some of Phil and I

Friday, March 20, 2009: ROM

Today the Wyndham Manor Massive came into the City to visit the Royal Ontario Museum. Since I am only a half hour walk away I headed over at met them there. It was actually quite nice out although still a bit cold.

The sinking U of T Library building

I got to the ROM first. They've changed the entrance area from how I recall it being by adding some awful dog's breakfast of modern architecture on to the old nice stone masonry that was the original entrance. It is all pointy and at odd angles and I suppose if you are on LSD looks like some sort of improvement. However if you are not on LSD it just looks like rubbish, especially from the inside were its white drywallesque features give it that "This wing is under construction" look.

As the Wydhams have a family season pass to the ROM I was able to come in under the odd uncle clause and we proceeded to look about. A great deal of walking followed.

Egypt! The ancient land of eye shadow was Wee Fred's main concern. Possible due to fashion aspects in regards to hairstyles and eye liner application. I have always found that there are three sections of any Museum that bore me, dinosaurs, primitive man, and Egypt. I am happy to skip all that and go to civilized man. However we did go into the tedious and sleep inducing "Diamonds" exhibit that give the history and over view of all this diamond. The girls liked it. Sweet William and I were ready to flee to the armory long before they were through examining each glittering stone.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz...

We had a lunch after the diamond debacle (which was far too much like the Mining Show sans the booth babes) then continued on through the march of time. Next stop ancient Egypt. We got sort of separated there. Will got lost in ancient Ukraine and I fell asleep on my feet near the scraps of paper proclaimed the Ancient Book of the Dead. The title derived at the current status of the authors.

We did find our way back for another snack then proceeded on. The Jayne and Wee Fred went off to see something or another while Sweet William, Paul and I watched some medieval sword smackers in armor and track pants bash on each other with swords for a bit. That was very entertaining and made up for the dullness of Egypt. From there we headed up to the European area which had fine exhibit highlighting the development of weapons through the ages. From bronze axes to the Vickers light machine gun, Europeans sure knew how to kill each other.

We left the ROM at around 4:00 pm or so, all our collective dogs barking. Then it was back to Lazytown and I tagged along as there was no Harold tonight. A fine dinner was had and Kung Fu Panda was watched. I am here tonight.

Back briefly

Thursday, March 19, 2009: Cloudy Choir

I headed out to Lazytown this afternoon on the GO. It is still slightly warmer but the clouds were weird and the weather feels like it could go either way and probably will. This makes dressing for it challenging. Wearing layers is the only answer.

Clouds

I went over to Wyndham Manor and had a nice dinner with the crew. At 7:10 pm or so Jayne and I headed over to Knox for Choir. We are beginning to rehearse for Easter although I will probably not be around for that weekend.
I headed back on the 10:30 pm GO train. I caught the street car from Exhibition. I got home at around midnight.

Waiting for the GO back

Wednesday, March 18, 2009: Soundscaping

I soundscaped for the first time at SsW today. I ran the Godin through my old Cloud 9 distortion and flanger then on to the Dod 12 second delay and looped it there. I later sent the loop out and through the Sherman filterbank and then on to the Android Modulator. The combination of those two machines resulted in some great tones and washes.

Mulching the loop in the Sherman and the Android Modulator

Tuesday, March 17, 2009: Warmer

Could winter actually be coming to an end? I have to admit I find that hard to imagine at this point. However today was a nice day. I walked up to GFM, had some food and hung about.

Nice sky

Sunday, March 15, 2009: The Longest Sunday

I woke up at around 5:30 am today. I failed to sleep before 2:30 am so it was a short nap. Something I'd regret later. I had been to keyed up Friday after Harold to sleep properly either so I was running on about 4 hours sleep since Friday, including last nights. I had a tea, got ready and at 6:30 I headed off to Lazytown. I caught the street car over to Spadina then took the Spadina car down towards Union. Unfortunately the street car threw a rod or something and went out of service when we got to the bottom of Spadina at Queen's Quay. We had to get off as the car short turned, and wait for the next one.

Waiting for the Spadina street car

Waiting for the next car at Queen's Quay

The sun is coming up

Ships & boats

I got to Union Station just in time to grab a ticket and get the 7:43 am train to Lazytown. I walked down to the Crossiant place. It was really nice out this morning although I was ready to collapse by the time I got there. I was starved so I ate straight away and then waited for the Wyndham Manor Massive to arrive. Cousin Deb and her youngest one Logan arrived with them as they are down from Ottawa for March break. I headed over to Knox at around 9:30 am as I needed to sort myself out for Choir.

The service went well. I have to say that it was truly challenging to get through it as I was running on so little sleep. Afterwards I had a tea and milled about with Sweet William awaiting to go back to Wyndham. Eventually we all boarded the Debmobile and went back. A light lunch was had and eventually I fell asleep on a couch in the sun for a half hour. When I woke up Sweet William was out in the back in his 1812 uniform and everyone else was prepping to go to a family get together in Hamilton.

Silk flowers

Sweet William defends us from the American hordes

We took two cars over to Hamilton. I rode with Paul and Sweet William while the girls went in Deb's van. We got there in good time and met with everyone at a restaurant. We took up a great deal of one area. Deb's Mom, Auntie Mona was there with her crew. We all had dinner and talked then at around 7:00 pm everyone went their seperate ways.

The fluffy clouds

Afterwards I went back to Wyndham for a tea before catching the GO back to Toronto. I went to Exhibition and caught the Bathurst street car. As we were coming out of the Exhibition grounds this taxi driver tried to over take us and turn left in front of us. The street car driver gave him a long honk at him once which seemed to make him hestitate but then he made a run for it. The second long honk ended with a mighty crash as he smashed into us. Needless to say the street car was now out of service. I ended up walking over to Bathurst and catching a re-routed car from Union up to College and over to SsW.

Street car verses Taxi

Saturday, March 14, 2009: Benny!

I met up with The Bean and DJKev for breakfast this morning. Actually "meet up" isn't accurate. They picked me up from the SsW zone and I drove down to an area on Queen Street East where they had to get some shots for their travels abroad.

A nice warm morning

The melted bench

The Breakfasty Bistro was next door. After they were cured we grabbed a seat in the very packed Bistro and had an outstanding breakfast. The Frenchness of the place reminded me a lot of Phnom Penh's cafes along the Mekong, although I think being from Montreal makes DJKev an expert on this sort of thing. It was amazing indeed.

My outstanding breakfast

After we had ate and had some coffee I got a ride back up to the Annex with them and walked up to the GFM. It was very nice out. I felt almost human. Once at the GFM Sandy M made me some sort of bizzare drink involving peppermint tea and rum. It was... odd. Sunniva and the other staff had one as well although they weren't very enthusiastic about it. I basically hung out at the GFM until 4:00 pm or so. I didn't eat anything but had multiple coffees. Then I walked back down to SsW.

Movement at the Moon

More movement

The taps

Tonight I spent working on some patches for the Moog and just hanging about.

Friday, March 13, 2009: Harold Socks

I had Pho this afternoon with Chris and Richard then I went back to SsW and got my gear together. After a week off Harold was back this evening. It was a good night. We decided on some sort of set list for the 28th gig. Hopefully we'll be ready.

Matt's socks

Jeff's socks

Phil's socks

my socks

Afterwards I caught a ride back to the SsW zone in the Mattmobile.

Thursday, March 12, 2009: Snow, Sun, Choir

It was cold again when I left this morning. It has been so much warmer this week that I'd hoped this rubbish cold was done for. Apparently not. I had to meet up with Bobo for breakfast so I walked up towards his from SsW. It began to snow as I headed up. By the time I arrived it was snowing hard and by the time we headed to GFM the sidewalks were treacherous.

Cold!

Snow

Slippery

The sun came out during breakfast and warmed things up considerably which was good. When we came out we discovered that the heat of the sun had melted the snow around the shadows of the parked cars leaving these strange stenciled patches of snow along the sidewalk.

Snow shadow

I took the GO out to Lazytown this afternoon for Choir practice. Another good evening with that.

Knox at sunset

Wednesday, March 11, 2009: Pho

I've been missing my sister Maralyn as of late. One great thing about talking to her was that she never offered any advice. She would just listen. More often than not I think listening is all that is needed. Advice in its many and well intention forms usually means someone is NOT actually listening but waiting for a chance to talk.

Anyways. I miss Maralyn.

I went over to Chris and Robins this evening. Chris and I went for some Pho and afterwards went back to Christopher Robin's and hung out. Robin was doing some art with a friend so we listened to music and talked. I walked back to SsW at around 9:00 pm.

View from Christopher Robin's

Tuesday, March 10, 2009: Ironic?

Monday, March 9, 2009: Mr. Sleepy Head

No Knox this weekend for me. Also no prog night. And no sleep.

Last night was spent in the Labrith of My Broken Past.

Today I was required to retrieve My Gentle Friend from dentistry and the applied drugs involved. Unable to safely return to Gentle HQ alone I provided the arm and clear head (ha!) necessary for the taxi ride to the north.

The Supreme Commander provided us with hours of entertainment and by evening My Gentle Friend had returned to reality. Pizza was had (artichoke pesto with chicken and feta YUMMMERS) and I headed back to SsW at around 8:00 pm.

I have now had a total of 3 hours sleep since Saturday night.

Saturday, March 7, 2009: TSO

No HAROLD rehearsal last night as Rock Steady Matt was out of town. I got up early today I headed up to the GFM for a tasty breakfast. Then I just sort of hung out there until noon or so.

Tasty breakfast at GFM

GFM panorama

Afterwards I made my way back down to SsW and took care of some things and did some laundry. It was warm out today, the warmest it has been since the autumn I'd say, and started raining in the afternoon. I had not intended to go out again however I got a message from Jayne asking if I wanted to go to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra tonight at Roy Thomson Hall. Of course I responded with a "Yes".

Squirrely

Squirrely eating a nut or something

Another view of Squirrely eating a nut or something

I spent a large part of the afternoon with headphones on and messing with the Moog Little Phatty. There are so many amazing sounds in this keyboard and I still feel as though I'm only just being to understand the potential of it. Just moving the tone and frequencies of the oscillators result and some unbelievable textures. I spent ages just messing with that.

At around 5:45 pm I headed down towards Roy Thomson Hall. It wasn't raining so much when I left although that changed as I got closer. I walked down to Queen street and stopped in Moog Audio for a brief visit then headed on to Roy Thomson. At one point as I walked along King street approaching Roy Thomson Hall I felt incredibly homesick for Bangkok. I think it was the combinination of walking in a dense urban area in the rain and the warmth. Anyways I arrived at Roy Thomson Hall at 7:00 pm and Jayne arrived not long after and we went in.

There was a performance of Taiko drummers in the Lobby before the main event that was excellent. I always enjoy seeing Taiko drummers or Kudo drummers as they display an almost martial art like intensity in what they do. I managed to take some photos. I had been sort of concerned I was not dressed up enough for the night but those fears left me when some guy showed up wearing a coon skin cap like Davy Crocket. Jayne found him rather amusing.

The Taiko troop played for about 20 minutes then we went to our seats when the five minute warning bells began ringing. (It sort of sounded like a self-destruct sequence had been engaged)

Taiko drummers

Davy Crocket arrives

Taiko drummers

Jayne got the program and I was all thrilled to see that the guest conductor was none other than Tan Dun from China. I knew of him through his amazing multimedia show called "The Map" that features Hunan folk music. The first half of the evening featured a piece called "Secret Land" that was composed for twelve Cellos. It was rather avant garde and would move from the bizarre to the beautiful with all stops in between. The movement between the harmonies as they came closer of went further apart reminded me of the sort of experiments I'd spent the afternoon on. To see the twelve musicians doing this though was mind blowing.

The second work that Tan Dun conducted was his Concerto fo Pipa and String Orchestra. The pipa is a traditional Chinese insturment that is plucked or strummed. That piece also featured some of the strange sonic movements but also went from the avant garde to traditional Chinese sounding parts to one pastoral section that was tear inducing in its beauty.

The second half of the evening after intermission The TSO played a piece composed by Canadian Alexina Louie called "Pursuit". The guest musicians for this was the Toyko String Quartet. It was good, although it didn't give me the same sort of thrill that seeing and hearing Tan Dun did.

After the concert was over Jayne and I grabbed a tea in the lobby area and enjoyed one of the post-concert performances which featured a local act that fused jazz and traditional Indian music. They were excellent although I didn't catch their name.

The big surprise came later when Jayne and I were in the shop when I was looking for a copy of some of Tan Dun's work on CD. There was no one else in the place and suddenly who arrives but none other than Tan Dun himself. It was an absolute thrill to meet him and briefy talk to him.

Jayne and I went for a post concert treat and a bit of coffee then I got a ride back to SsW.

Thursday, March 5, 2009: Dinner & Choiring

Headed out to Lazytown this afternoon. I walked from the GO to Wyndham. It was still a tad wintery. There is a rumour (unconfirmed) that eventually this crap weather will stop and it will start to get warmer. A concept I find hard to imagine at this point.

Walking to Wyndham

Get joy and excitement at a return to Wyndham. Sweet William and Wee Fred were quick to welcome me. Dinner was outstanding barbequed burgers with all the proper fixings and toppings.

Toppings

Spin the tray for full effect

Afterwards Jayne and I headed over to Choir at Knox. It was good as usual. I really enjoy singing with them especially when we do some of the older pieces.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009: Downtown

It was not so bad out today. Certainly warmer than ealier in the week. I went downtown with Bobo and we uncrated the Bobomobile from its icy lair. This task was made much easier by the fact that all the ice had melted. The last time I'd seen the Bobomobile was the afternoon when we struggled to get it back into it's secert lair.

Alleyway art?

Detail

I still think of this as the CN Tower

Afterwards I walked back up to SsW via Moog Audio. They have yet to get a power supply for the Kraftwerg. I am still curious to try it out. If I was more flush I'd even consider it as it is so small but unless the US Congress wants to fund such a venture I'll have to be happy with Santa's gift. Which I must say is more than enough joy to last the year.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009: Indoor Miners

Today I went with Bobo to the Mining Trade Show at the Metro Convention Center. He had some luncheon meetings so I met up with my geophysist friend (and former co-Aikidokin) Jeremy. We marched about the investor’s area and talked then caught a tasty bite to eat in the Potash Food Court. It was a great visit as we haven't really talked at length in several years.

Afterwards I strolled about with Bobo and later went over the Royal York for the post show hospitality suite feeding frenzy. With the markets in their current state the mood of the place made me feel like was 1988 again. Eventually Bobo and I bailed and went up to meet his friend Pete at Traders in the Sheridan. The prices were a bit much; $ 20 dollars for a plate of fries and chicken fingers? Surely the prices there should be some how pegged to market index fluctuations.

The Royal York

Sunday, March 1, 2009: Out to Lazytown

I was to bed early last night and up early early this morning as I had to make the incredible journey to Lazytown for breakfast and Knox Choiring. I headed out from SsW at 6:30 or so and caught a variety of streetcars to Union. I got the 7:43 am train out. The empty trains really do bounce and bump around alot.

Waiting for the streetcar

GO arrives

From Lazytown Station I walked the walk down to the Crossaint place. This will be a nice walk in the spring or when global warming occures but for now it was rather cold. I was sufficiantly hungry that I had my breakfast as soon as I got to the Crossaint place rather than waiting half an hour for the Wyndham Manor Massive to arrive. They arrived at around 9:15 sans Wee Fred who had Grand Parent commitments.

At 10:00 am we headed to Knox and Jayne and I got suited up for Choiring. it was communion Sunday so the order of service was yet again altered to confuse me.

After service I had a tea and hung out with Sweet William who seems to be growing several inches in height each week. He is now taller than me. I returned to Wyndham Manor for lunchies and hung out until 4:00 pm. I got a ride to the GO when they headed over to join Wee Fred.

Some blue sky

Tracks

Salt

Some more blue sky

Tonight Richard came with Chris and I to the Prog Night out on Brown's Line and no where. It was a good night and the nachos were tasty. Chris joined in once again and the mighty Jason was there with Stick and Bass. The highlights of the evening were Chris doing the Rush song "Red Barchetta" and Jason joining the hosts to perform a version of "Red" and "In the Court of the Crimson King".