Stolen Cow, Montreal- Feb. 25
Our room stinks. We are in like sardines and are trying to open the frozen window with no results. It has been a hard week of jamming, rehearsals, eating, running, watching tv, and in Kim's case, stealing shit from the Folk Alliance Showcase. So far she has gotten away with a mini ketchup and matching mayonnaise and now, with the help of the bass player from the Kris Demeanor band, a blow up cow. It is getting returned tomorrow because Rachelle was brought up a good Mennonite girl with strong moral beliefs. Thou shall not steal cattle. If this is Kim's mom, everything is fine but Kim needs rehab. We have been busy shuffling through the hundreds of musicians trying to stand out. I wore a blue vest with matching toque by MEC and Kim wore black and Daisy wore peeling leather and a black toque and low cut jeans. We looked really good so maybe someone will notice and come to our showcase tomorrow. Now we are in our little can like sardines in mustard and Daisy is looking for lotion. I brought lotion because I hate dry legs. "Save me ass why don't you?" Daisy exclaimed while applying my lotion. She is sleeping on the top bunk that is attached to the wall by chains. It was the last room in Montreal. We are lucky to not be sleeping in a box on the street. The tv channels are limited so we are watching "Luge" which is a show about stretching. There is a 1 800 number at the bottom of the screen. Anyone can stretch these days. The Bills are hot! Daisy and I went to their showcase and they attacked us with their instruments but it was cool. I requested Skynard but they didn't play it. Now wea re watching Batmam the original and the one guy looks like Darthvader before he was evil. Now Jay Leno is going up the manicans nose with a drill. Whoa.
I really smell so I am prioritizing a shower day tomorrow. Daisy is in charge of waking us up for a free breakfast because we ran out of money and neeed to steal the free muffins and cereal. We only need to last until Sunday at 8 am and then Air Canada will give is gutrot sausage and eggs. We are thinking of renting our extra bed that is also hanging from the wall by a chain for $10 tomorrow night and that will buy us coffee for the cab ride to the airport. My wrist hurts and a good movie just came on. Mom, if this is you... i love you and don't worry.
Ottawa, ON- February 24th
I am finding it rather challenging to do this diary entry because a cat is walking on the keyboard. We are in Delkeith, ON hanging out with Fruit and the Ember Swift Band. The show in Ottawa was interesting. Lots of beef. It was a media launch for the Alberta Scene Showcase coming up in April and we along with the Swifty's were chosen to represent our province. What an honour. Carolyn couldn't make it so we ended up playing with Lyndel from the Ember Swift band. She had only a few days to learn the tune and managed to do so no problem. So we played and then took off to the village of Delkeith where we are residing and rehearsing until our showcase at Folk Alliance in Montreal. Kim and Daisy are going head to head at a chess game and I am frozen stiff from a cold run along the countryside. Beautiful out here!
Lat night we jammed with both bands until late late at night. I believe there were 4 guitars, 1 bass, 1 horn, 1 drummer, and a triangle player. Much fun. I am learning how to make movies so I shall post a copy on the web site when it's finito.
Busy Beavers Don't Sleep- Feb. 21
I love my computer. It shall accompany me in my journey tomorrow as I embark on a new inquisition. Where am I going? I am going to Ottawa with my lovely bandmates. We are aiming to take over the world one gig at a time. It has been 10 years and now we are going to play The National Arts Centre in front of 300 media personelle. Hmm. Good time to subsonically deliver my message while playing "Be There Too". Painting Daisies are the new Nickleback. Play them, love them, buy their CDs, book them as an opener for The Rolling Stones, or better yet, ACDC. Whoa....I just watched Cat Woman and I seem to be slightly affected. Affect verses effect. Where is Ted when I need him? Okay, a few hours of sleep and then I take a jet plane.
Busy Beavers- Feb, 16th
Our flights are booked. We are heading east to Ottawa on tuesday for the Alberta Scene Media Launch, and then on to Montreal for the Folk Alliance Conference. It will be a whirlwind but a much needed one. On wednesday, we will be playing at The National Arts Centre at 11 am if anyone wants to crash the party. Then, we will be spending a few nights jamming with the Ember Swift band before jumping in their van, bound for Montreal. Folk Alliance is an international festival that will be featuring artists from all genres and all places. Look out Cleveland. We are scheduled to play the on Saturday night from 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm.
So now we are just waiting to hear whether we will be going to Austin in March for the SXSW conference. It all depends on funding cuz the flights are super costly. Back to the apple.
The Black Dog Freehouse- Feb. 12th
Rock and roll hoochi coo! I didn't know how today would fly...but it did and very high. The bill for today's gig read "Rachelle and Friends". Well, thank you Daisy for being my friend and playing on the tunes. My other friends were my strat, national, and acoustic. And today, I tried my brass slide out for the first time. Why? Because I have 15 steel slides but they were all somewhere else so 5 minutes before I went on I had to sprint down Whyte Ave to Avenue Guitars and butt ahead in line and buy a slide. The brass part was a mistake but boy, what a good one. Daisy played some excellent licks and chords to make the harmonic texture rich and super sexy. I then did some acoustic stuff...mostly my faves like Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, and Hank Williams. Tippi Agogo also was cohersed into getting up and blowing into a bottle.What a great man.
Then it was time for a dinner out...Ethiopean was the choice. Daisy and I ate so much that we almost popped. How ironic.
Okay, time to write a grant.
Computer Making Strange Noises- Feb. 10
I am slightly afraid because the computer is making odd noises and I am afraid that it may crash and our whole CD will be gone but Joby assured me that it is all good and even if the computer crashed he would only lose minutes worth of mixing so i am slowly recovering from eating four Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, 19 gummy bears, and 1 Coke and Joby thinks that Kim needs new cymbals because they too small and they are quiet in the mix and Peter Erskins cymbals are louder but his cymbals aren't here so he must go in and turn up the cymbal tracks and we just listened to ACDC's "Gone Shooting" and the rhythm section is brilliant and it was a great audio break and now I am crashing from the sugar rush and feel nausceous (sp?) and wow, there is serious delay now and the computer is going crazy and now Joby is fixing the floor tom cuz it is peaking out and tomorrow i go home and that makes me sad cuz i love the studio but I must get back to my ranch and water the perverbial chickens so until then I bid you adieu.
Making Borscht and Playing 7/4- Feb, 9th
My borscht will be feeding a family of 4 today. I am still out on the coast sitting in on the final mixes. I decided to share my Mennonite heritage with my producer and his family. So it is borscht day...granny's special recipe. The mixes sound so great. Joby is ABing the mixes with Jeff Buckley's "Grace" album and now I am so sad... "Lover You Should Have Come Over" makes me want to cry and hug someone. Wow, what sadness.
It seems that alot of brilliant music is fuelled by a dark or painful life experience. More so than positive ones it seems. Maybe that is just my take on things.
Grooving out in the Studio- Part III
Daisy and I are grooving out to Mae Moore's "Dragonfly" as we work on our laptops and write grants before the next few hours of disecting the tunes. Actually Daisy is writing a grant and I am playing with "garage band". I just co-composed a song called "Dancing with the Chickens". Lots of harmonica and drum loops.
This weekend was one of the best weekends ever! Our show at the Sidetrack was electric! I love you all! The audience was so beautiful and full of positive vibes. And we played our guts out. I have no skin on my fingers to prove it.
Then yesterday I drove to Athabasca to play a theatre show with Bill Bourne. That was also a career highlight. It is so good for personal development to play with other musicians as well as different genres. So we recorded it and it sounds so great. God bless Garage Band.
The studio is so wonderful. Creation...creation. I feel so blessed to do this for my living. Thanks to the powers that be.
Breathe... February 1st
Only four more days. I am about to burst. I need to play rock n' roll. The stepping stones to having a rock n' roll career are sometimes trivial. Waah waah. I have been reading about Janis Joplin and her stepping stones. Port Arthur, Texas in the 60's sounds a bit more rough and tumble than Edmonton in the 2000's. Edmonton is actually a very nurturing city when it comes to developing the musical career. I myself grew up at The Rosebowl on Jasper ave and 117 st. Instead of studying for my midterms, I would be playing the Sunday night open stage hosted by Mike McDonald. Hence, my grades went to scheisse and I developed a cough from the thick second hand smoke. But I became a better player and got tough on stage. The Rosebowl prepared me for life really. That and 4-H.
Okay, enough blabbing. I look forward to seeing you Alberta fans on saturday.