i'm not dead

but you're losing me.


i've moved here

Farewell 352 1/2

WE HAVE TO GO BACK!

RIP JD SALINGER

What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.

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What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse.

spencer's house show

spencer had a little end of summer house show/party and titan, lost cities, arietta and i am committing a sin played.

arietta kept the lights on when they played, and i couldn't really get any good photos of them, but i took some super punk looking photos of the rest of the bands.

this one of paul marc is my favourite, but if you click on it you can see the rest

eating glass.

here are some photos of eating glass, from what seems to have possibly been their last show before jason & jose decided to quit the band. tension was peaked through this set, and it was actually pretty imminent that the end was near for these guys, which actually made for a good set. i guess when a band that's supposed to sound pissed off are actually pissed off at eachother, that anger transmits and the music benefits. this show was at siesta nouveaux, opening up for the endless blockade.

terrible news

item one.
we're in winnipeg, and our trailer is broken. we're going to have to wait til tomorrow morning to find an open shop that may or may not be able to repair it before we can leave.

item two.
we had to cancel a show in omaha because of item one.

item three.
i sold out to twitter. follow me if you'd like.

(not so terrible) item four.
due to item one, i've had an extra day of delicious food hangs with the internets-favourite-chef, beeps (not-excluding fatmat, nate, jay, and some girl named sarde.)

speaking of tomorrow, how will it ever come?

Jay Bennett, one of the masterminds behind the perhaps most brilliant, innovative, tense, and earnest albums of the last decade (wilco's 2002 album 'yankee hotel foxtrot') was found dead this morning. For anyone who has yet to hear this masterpiece, or see it's corresponding film "i am trying to break your heart" (which mostly depicts the struggle between Jay and wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy in the studio, as well as Jay's departure from the band) is missing out big time. It's sad to think that the making of that record was such a climax and pivotal turn for the worse for Jay's life and career, as he's responsible for a lot of the album's uniqueness and creativity. Rest in peace.

all the way to grandma's house

so last friday night i was booked to DJ that party at blue mountain. heading up to blue mountain meant passing through collingwood, which is where my mother was born and raised, and where my grandmother lives. i hadn't been up to collingwood in close to three years, since my grandfathers funeral. it's a pretty special town for me, for a number of reasons: i spent a lot of quality time in collingwood as a kid, and even lived there for the most of a year when my parents split up, my grandpa was born there, worked several notable jobs, including a number of years as the towns mayor. it's hard to turn a corner in collingwood without having some sort of memory or story pop into my mind.

friday afternoon was beautiful in toronto, extremely mild and sunny, and the drive north was much the same, until i got off the 400 in barrie and headed along highway 26 through the beach. it was like i had entered some sort of black hole (white hole?) of a snowy wind tunnel. i could barely see the ground or car in front of me, and most of the cars were driving with their emergency flashers on to help guide the pack. i thought it would be a good idea to compromise my driving to take this photo.

here's a shot of the parking lot in the village at the bottom of blue mountain. it was certainly pretty to see the mountain all lit up at night with the frosty snow blowing furiously.

my offer to DJ included paid accommodations for the evening at the lovely blue mountain resort, located right in the village at the bottom of the hill, practically next door to the club i was DJing at. they set me up in a gorgeous suite in the mosaic building, which featured a large kitchen, dining room, and living room, a fireplace, a den tucked in the back, 2 couches, 3 tv's, an extremely comfortable bed, and a massive bathroom with 2 sinks and doors from either side. here are some photos of the layout.

i was completely blown away by this hotel room, and the hospitality that the resort and the event organizers had shown me. this was probably one of the nicest hotels i've ever stayed in out of hundreds of hotels in dozens of countries world wide. i was certainly impressed, and immediately thought to myself "i need to get into Djing more often". the one slight bummer or let down was that i had planned to bring a special ladyfriend up with me for the evening, which fell through on account of the fact she had to work. so, i tried my best to enjoy the night on my own, but was mostly just bummed out on a failed romantic date opportunity.

here are some shots from the outside of the resort in the morning.

trapped under snow.

i headed down the mountain back into collingwood, en route to visit my grandma who i hadn't seen since my sisters wedding over two years ago.

like i mentioned before, collingwood is a very sentimental place for me, and it was both nice and hard for me to drive through what in my mind is "my grandpa's town" and be overwhelmed with memories. it was the first time being in collingwood without seeing grandpa, and it was pretty discouraging to see the town go further and further consumed by ski tourism. however, the little scratches the my grandpa has left are certainly still immanent on the town's walls.

seeing grandma was tough, she's getting old and has lost most of her organization of memories, along with a large amount of weight, the majority of her mobility, not to mention the love of her life. i certainly look a bit different than i did the last time i saw her, but she seemed to know that it was me, while going in and out of jogged memories. at one point she even said "well, isn't this quite the life" and kind of threw up her hands. it was certainly disheartening to see that she has reached the end of her road, where there isn't much left in this life that makes her happy, and it's hard for her to properly remember the things that do. what she wouldn't do to just get up, walk to the kitchen and bake an apple pie, or be sitting on the beach with her husband, i don't know. i'm glad i got up to see her though, as it had being weighing on me for quite some time to make the trip. it's certainly eye opening and served as a reminder to appreciate the little things in life, the opportunities you have to live and experience the world, and to embrace and cherish the ones you love.

i made a point to swing by a few places packed with memories and grab some photos while i had my camera with me. the first stop was right around the corner from my grandma's nursing home; the canadian legion hall. we played a show in collingwood back in january of 2003, here at the legion, and i walked over to visit my grandparents for tea and cake with josh and paul. grandpa used to take my brother and i here and tell us stories about the air force, and we'd climb up onto the big tank and gaze up at the fighter jet in wonder.

my next stop was towards the mountain to the shipyards to snag a photo of the grain elevators. my grandpa started working at the shipyards straight out of highschool, served many years as an employee and worked his way up to personnel and safety manager.

when i got closer, i noticed that the grain elevators are all that's left of the historic shipyards. it seems that the neighbouring land has been sold and will make way for condominium real estate.

next i headed back through the downtown strip on hurontario street to grab a photo of the town hall, where grandpa served as mayor back in the 60's, at the young age of 29. i was in a bit of a rush to get back to the studio, otherwise i would've peaked my nose into the town hall to see if they'd let me grab a photo of the town council conference "braniff room", named after gramps.

i also grabbed this shot of the canadian federal government building down the road from town hall.

next stop was through the old number/wood streets over to braniff court. i tried calling my mom to get the exact address of the house she grew up in on sixth street, but she wasn't picking up at the time.

then i headed south into nottawa where my grandparents spent most of the 90's after selling the cottages at wasaga beach. when my parents first split in '91 (i think?) we moved up to live in my grandparents house while they were vacationing in florida for the winter months. my first stop in nottawa was past the little school that i attended for a few months of second grade. it's all borded up now, but i was completely blown away by how small it actually is.

next i made a quick turn down mckeen blvd. to swing by the nottawa house, where i awkwardly approached the current owner of the house and had a quick little chat with him while asking permission to take a photo. he was nice, and seemed interested in the history of the house, although i wasn't really sure what he wanted to hear, and just told him that my brother and i shared the large room in the basement, and that there used to be a large snooker table on the other side of the main room downstairs.

the drive home was clear and sunny, and i decided to take the sideroads through duntroon, singhampton, shelburne, orangeville and caledon as opposed to highway 400, as this was the way we alwasy drove up when i was young.

take that weatherman! *throws frosty*

this morning i woke up, and felt like today could be a day where i take my bike out for a ride. i checked my dashboard weather widget, and was blown away to see that i should expect a high of 20 degrees celsius. at the time, it was showing it to be about 15. i had to run to staples to print some things off, so i put on my newly purchased mec thermal shirt, a thin hoodie, and flannel, thinking that i would be sufficiently warm enough to ride my bike down the road. i got outside, and felt like someone may have misjudged the situation, as it did not feel anywhere close to 15 degrees. in fact, on my way back from staples, it had started to snow! i had to go back out, so i added my fred perry windbreaker to the layering process, and found myself very comfortable when back on the bike, as the thermal kept me warm on the inside, and the nylon shell kept the wind off my frail bones.

hours later, i looked out my window to see this!


it seems like winter is finally here! what the fuck was the weather widget thinking?

i just now realized that since coming home from tour, i had my widget carelessly set to toronto kansas, or something. once i changed it to ontario, it informs me that it is indeed -2 and snowing.
FML

pull yourself together, man.

hi friends,
this blog is coming from the comfort of my own bed, as i am back home in toronto for a few months to record a new album.

the other day i stumbled upon descendents online and noticed that the webstore had restocked the limited edition vans authentics. i had purchased a pair 2 and a half years ago when the shoes were released, and was under the impression that they were out of print. the vans website had no indication of repressing the descendents shoes, so i can only assume that the band found some pairs of these kicking around their warehouse. regardless, i was stoked, and immediately placed an order for a new pair to companion my old pair that have seen better days.




no booze, no drugs, just mug!


when i got home the other night, it had appeared that my apartment had been robbed! then i remembered that juice and chris moved out while i was away, and realized how much of the home furnishings really belonged to chris.


it's no couch, but this set up is surely convenient for scott and steves video gamin' and chepelle show watchin'.


less bikes, less shoes, boys don't cry.


the dining room: featuring a broken chair and the floor, home of our internet router.


needless to say, coming home from tour always lends itself kindly to being stuck with a messy room for the first week back.


this time was not only a prime example of that, but a great indication that i needed to clean up shop asap. i decided to dedicate my night to the complete overhaul cleaning of my room.


clean tour laundry, ready to go.


the cleaning process smiled upon me and turned up this little bad boy, which i had assumed i lost somewhere on my recent trip to california. luckily that little guy will be back in full for for all my compact photographic needs.


i cleaned out my closet, refolded everything up top, and installed a light!


clean(er) room! notice the new curtain set up, a moving casualty that i found left behind in juices old room.

in preparation for heading into the studio in a few days, i took my old trusty 1972 fender p. bass into twelfth fret for a setup, and managed to stumble across this little gem. please say hello to my newly acquired 1977 rickenbacker 4001.


this morning i offered to give pat a ride into burlington for his tattoo appointment. it was a good chance for me to go see mom, as well as pop into the shop and see bailey and the gang, and book some much needed time in december to finish my arm and shoulder.


i snagged this shot of pat suffering with my phone, because i'm a much better photoblogerist than pat ever will be, regardless of what he tells you about his new camera (which he forgot to bring to burlington...case in point).


KIDROBOTxSIMPSONS toys; i bought a lot of these on tour.

i also want to encourage you to go check out my friend brooks' new photography project WE ARE SLEEPING GIANTS, which features a collection of beautifuly stunning photos of some friends of his (present blogger included) isolated in the glory of summer nights.

and lastly, in sadder news: bang, tyson and tim have all left toronto, with adam straight back to aus, and the others off to NYC for a few weeks before a brief stint in LA on their way home. i met tyson and bang briefly when i was in aus last, but only really got to know them a few months ago, and tim shortly after. while our time together was short, i immediately took those clowns in as massive brethren, and already miss their company and antics here in the city. guys night will never be the same. looking forward to seeing them back on their home front for their summer in february. safe travels pals!