January 2008

Jan 31, 2008

pretty much february.....1 hour and 55 minutes. Not sure why I'm paying attention to that.

I've been just getting ready for solo gigs....and moving. Which is weird....saying goodbye to Toronto after...what? 18 years I guess.....pretty much how long I was alive before I moved here.

yah...so...I don't know..packing......which is stressful. Have an albums worth of songs that are sitting around not being recorded.....this apartment is not great for recording...I'll tell you that......the people upstairs must have some sort of woodworking shop, and the guy next door does nothing but scream at his crying kid all day. (seriously...I may have to call the cops.......it really sounds like there might be a beating here and there....)

nothing else....playing lot's of 80's video games. There is a certain fun in the simplicity of them.

Jan 12, 2008

Alright.......home...

nice.

My luggage got lost for 4 days.....man, that wasn't cool. It's funny, I wasn't so worried about my guitar...(which was tucked lovingly inside my new cool St Thomas duffel bag...), but my "yoda guy" stuff, and my notebook of new songs, lyrics, doodles, and ponderings of the gig I had just been on for 3 months.

I find it funny when people ask me if I'm glad to be home....of course I am. The gig wasn't what I thought it was going to be, I was gone for three months....didn't get to record or have time to myself.....yes...glad to be home.

I'm gearing up for a solo gig and going out again too....yah...I know....what is in my head? well, it's more money, and I get my own room and space to create and do stuff.....I can deal with it. (have to save for school....) Did I mention I'm planning on going to school for graphics and print production?

Tonight I'm heading out to Brampton to sit in with my friend Darren.....looking forward to that. For just getting back from a gig that I was supposed to be playing 6 days a week for three months strait...I hardly played at all. Really. I sat in the corner and drank a fair bit......which...short term, is a blast...but after a while...you just want to play.

Oh yah...solo gig. I had to go out and get some sort of keyboard/rack thing to get all my backing sounds on. I finally...after 10 years of coveting...got a korg trinity rack.....FUN! although, I'm knee deep in midi woes again.....reminds me of my first duo gig with Mike.....( a lot of WHY are the drums not working?!?!?!?!)

I've learned a lot....keep it simple, don't be afraid of putting in things to signal a chorus coming.......

Maybe Mike and I can get a gig up north for fun.....Massey won't know what hit them.

Also been reading Dave Bidini's book.."around the world in 57 1/2 gigs.)........it's so good. I was so impressed with his first one....on a cold road...I went out and bought it for a bunch of my musician friends......and this one is about the same......inspiring, fun....makes you want to write and gig.

and this is getting off of a three month soul sucking gig.

Think ticketmaster put to music.

other than that...nice to be back in Canada.....good to see catch up with friends. I want to see Jeff's epiphone.

that sounds ...not so good.

Jan 8, 2008

back in Toronto finally. The 6th was a long day...up early, lot's of hustling around, and home late. Worth it.

I'm excited about 2008. Getting ready to move to Nova Scotia....go to school. I'm also just really looking forward to a new music scene. And a new scene in general...a new pace.

I've got 14 new songs that I like and I'm hopefully going to start recording soon...although, with this moving business...it still might not be for a while. I'm waiting on some news of gigs....so it might be sooner or later. It's going to be a more simple stripped down sound than I did on the first one....unless I get out of control again. I was listening to tourist a while back.....I don't mind it....but I can hear how I was trying to please a lot of people and not just......playing the stuff.

Anyway...I digress. Just wanted to update this...and hopefully be doing so more frequently.

I'm not too sure I like the way I'm doing the archives and the lyrics pages.....is there something out there where I can archive things....or keep a list of things....? Anyone? With all the myspaces and facebooks...and just ready made blogs....it almost seems silly to actually have a website.

December 2007

Dec 24, 2007

well....almost time to leave the ship and come home. And really, I don't mind saying "good''. merry Christmas by the way....and happy holidays or whatever you want to hear.

So Mickey Dolenz from the monkees is on the ship...and his guitar got lost.....so I lent him mine. There are pictures in the photo section. pretty cool guy....hung out with him having drinks until the wee hours of the morning.

not much else...it's the holiday season...and I'm so sick of christmas music it's not even funny.....it's pumped everywhere 24/7.

just updating the site, and making it look different.......hopefully more later...but if not....i am coming back to toronto for a short bit soon.....then off to nova scotia....to live.....for a while anyway.

Dec 4, 2007

In Aruba...just got back on the ship....started to rain so I headed on back. Crazy thing...looked out and saw a tornado off in the distance on the water. Not an overly huge one, but pretty big. I didn't have my camera.....crap. I need a little point and shoot to carry around when these things happen.

Other than that....they put up a huge Christmas tree in the promenade lobby. I'll have to get a picture of that.

It's my day off...and it's boring. oh..i did put some new pictures up on the flickr site.

Dec 02, 2007

Hey there….

Long time no type.

Well, last week was awesome. There is this huge satellite in san juan, the one you see in contact, and some other movies…it’s the one they are actually trying to talk to aliens with or something…..well, Josh says, hey..my friend, Steve is come to town with his wife, and we’re going to go to take pictures of it while she’s at a conference…..apparently he rented a car. That sounded pretty cool, so I said I was in….so the night before we were going to, we go into code red, which means, a certain number of people on the ship got sick, so we would have to get up on the Sunday, and clean our lounge….with this…bac…bacarack..burt bacarack stuff…..takes no time, but we have to do it at 10:30…so we couldn’t get up and get to the satellite in time….but there’s a park a little ways away that has live monkeys that jump on your car, and hey…that’d be cool. Ok, sure I’m in.

So Sunday comes around, I pack up my computer and lenses and camera, and we head out to the hotel to meet Steve. On route Josh calls Steve to say we’re on the way….get to the hotel, up to the 7th floor, knock on room 703, and Josh jumps out of the way…hmm..ok, he wants to play a joke and it’s me at the door…cool. Door opens up, and I’m looking face to face with Lynn.

I rarely get surprised…..I usually suspect something. But I was fully unprepared for this in every sense of the word.

I look at Lynn, who had a huge smile, I looked at Josh, who had a huge smile, I looked back at Lynn, then said to Josh…”So, wait…..we’re not going to see any monkeys???”
After that we went back to the ship..got Lynn signed on, and had a great week. Like, a great week.

I was on vacation friends….we had a nice room, went out to sightsee….shop, relax in the sun….we even got to see “that yoda guy” aka Nick Maley. Who is the dude who helped make yoda, among many, many other things. Shoot, this guy made the freaky head in the Wild Boys video….worked on superman 1 and 2 and Krull.
And he’s totally cool….talked to us about his paintings, got to see, ….and buy some cool star wars stuff, told me a couple of stories and took a picture with us. (he shook my hand, and had a pretty good hold on Lynn….hey, hey helped make yoda..I’m cool with him grabbing my girl a little.”

Never got to see any monkeys

November 2007

Nov 22, 2007
almost done. At least over the half way point which is a good feeling. Really gearing up to get back to Toronto and move my stuff out east. Then, probably out on a ship again, although I don't think the stingrays have anything booked...so I may be gigging on the east coast earlier than I thought. I'd be cool with that to be honest....not the best environment around here....but not bad. You think it's great, and it's not bad....I like being warm, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Beaches and tourist shops get boring real quick...I could do with a little cold.
I have to get my ass in gear and apply for school too....
Yah, not much going on.....thinking of revamping and cleaning up this site. I can see what you people look at and don't....so might as well tidy it up.
Nov 15, 2007
fun week. took a walk in Curacao...or something like that, Brian and I....Brian is the pub entertainer on the ship...so we take a walk over this bridge to a more busy part of town, walked in the mazes of the streets talking and not really paying attention to where we were. we get out, and the bridge is gone. weird feeling....bridges are not supposed to be gone. apparently it floats, and had to move to let some barges go by....so we found a ferry to take us back.
this past Monday I watched Bowser play....good show. tonight Dominic Allen played....I might be spelling that wrong..hang on. nope that's it. anyway....very cool, guitar player from foreigner. did some very cool big band stuff, then at the end whipped out a foreigner medley. very cool guy. He changed the words to a Billy Joel tune at the end which somehow reminded me of Jeff Scott.... Good stuff though. The drummer Brian, was killer....
Nov 11, 2007
weird not being able to get a poppy.
so my J-45 is famous....
http://www.aomoon.com/blog/cheer_chens_j-45_gibson_aco.html
and I've been having a hard time getting pictures up to flickr...the connection is slow on the ship...and I rarely seek out "free" internet after my 60 dollar lunch one day.
so...these are from facebook..and I'm pretty sure they should work for anyone.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66880&l=94351&id=616025234

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66526&l=a7a9f&id=616025234
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=65916&l=e9c2b&id=616025234
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62413&l=ff35b&id=616025234
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60010&l=16460&id=616025234
 
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59771&l=926bd&id=61602523
Meeting some interesting people on this ship....I'm going to miss the Kansas group coming in....the "shot of the night" will be missed.
alright...that's my big update.

October 2007

Oct 27, 2007
Leaving St.Thomas right now…rainy day. Not too bad of rain though….went to k-mart to get a binder for charts and lyrics. It’s actually a little cold right now…well, chilly anyway. Out on deck 4…it’s nice at most times, like I think I’ve said,…I like being a little closer to the water sometimes. There’s a bunch of people smoking right now….and some water is dripping on me. No worries.
Someone just yelled “Ahoy”….funny. Ok…I just heard two more “ahoy”s. One “ahoy” is funny…two…well, ok then….3? We get it…you’re on a ship, and you are yelling…”Ahoy”.
Ok…number 4 just occurred. I think this cat is loaded.
I still haven’t gotten my midi footswitch I ordered. It’s been a while…getting anxious.
Man, looking at the landscape right now…with all the mist and clouds around the top of the mountains…(hills?) it’d be like we were taking king kong back from skull island. Wish I had a camera on me.
And I almost fell down on stage last night….the boat was a rockin. Kind of funny.
Wondering where we’ll go next….out of England would be cool, and I think they do a run that goes into nova scotia, and quebec city…that’d be alright.
I really should have brought star wars with me…..wasn’t thinking.
Oct 23, 2007
still on the boat....ship.....whatever. I really wish I something to say...I got nothing. it's actually so boring. I can't believe people pay to get on a boat to shop, and be taken places to shop....The good thing is the time to relax and maybe write some songs....that's about it. speaking of which....going out in the sun and relax, and write.
Sitting here on the deck listening to a couple of, for lack of a better word, blowhards, talk to each other. Something about the packers are missing passes and blah blah. I just turned around to look and they look how they sound. Couple of middle aged business dudes.
Side note: some tanned long hair guy is going by in a good sized sail boat, and just raised his beer to everyone, who was waving at him for some reason…..I can’t help but think that this guy is really living his life to the fullest.
Anyway, so business guy #1 gets his beer delivered, and he grabs it and drops it….”I must have too much sun tan lotion on my hands...I forgot.”
…right
Anyway, it’s great looking outside. Kind of overcast, but you can see so far on the water, that there is light out there somewhere…pretty great looking. I wish I had my camera…not sure if I could get it right.
These business guys are sitting there and now they’ve stopped talking about sports, have been on their phone and / or blackberries or whatever…”I lost his message, I can’t get a signal…” 
Dude…lift your head up and look around at the scene in front of you…or dude…look at the girls that are 5 feet to your left in teeny little bathing suits….. Maybe business guys think that impresses girls in teeny bathing suits. Then again, what do I know about impressing girls? Not a lot friends…. 
What does it take to get a drink around here??? 
…oh…apparently, you just wait until Carlton comes around and he’ll be glad to bring you one….fair enough.
Oct 16, 2007
Ok...in Aruba today. did some laundry, walked...and walked......found a neat bookstore. finished up a song, and started to demo it here in the cabin. interesting. I want to get a mic from radio shack. I have actually brought with me a reasonably good condenser mic. ( a rode nt1...not great, but pretty good...good enough for a cabin. ) but I think I want something.....really easy and low fi that's gonna go right into the edirol USB recording whatchamaboob.....and ....you know..lay it down.
and I got that from Jeff Scott.....I've always loved the demo's he made when he was in....hmm....Jeff, refresh my memory..where were you when you made those demos? into the zoom?
anyway..that's what I'm looking for.
I'm actually pleased with the first song that I've written out here.....feels like a good start. and I've now got my "river" song. See, when Lynn and I went to see tom McRae a while back at the drake, he mentioned some things you need to do/have to be a songwriter...pardon, a singer/songwriter....
wear black
have no friends
have at least one song about trains ( Jeff and Geoffrey have me beat on that)
have a song about a river...( I think I'm leading the pack now in this department)
and...hmm..there were some other stuff....Lynn might be able to help me out with that.
OH! I'm going to be a banana for halloween. 1. I have not dressed up for halloween in a long time....long time. like...the 80's. Anyway...Josh was saying how he wanted to be a gorilla...and I laughed and said, I should be a bananan...well, a couple of drinks later, we're on line laughing buying a banana suit from ebay.
I think one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time is the question:
"So...what size banana suit do you wear.....?"
ha.
Oct 12, 2007
back in St marten...or whatever it is. Things have been going more smoothly...out on the deck, working on new songs....watching a lot of greys anatomy...they just put the dvd in, and play the whole season.....so it's always on one of the channels.
tonight....I play my first arena show. ha. some kind of ....music through the decades thing in the ice rink here on the ship...funny to me. trying to take a lot of pictures....hard to get them up on flickr...the connection on the ship is pretty bad. they upload to facebook though.....weird. anyway....san juan has a nice star bucks.
I'm listening to J-lo and josh just walked in.......he mocked me. haha.
hey...I put the mp3 Zen on shuffle....and I takes what the Zen gives me. life's a lot like that...hmm...
too deep..moving on..moving on.
adventure of the sea. book a cruise and come out and hang out with me .........
Oct 7, 2007
Back in San Juan for the day.....sitting in a starbucks, trying to upload some pictures....so check out the flickr thing, and i should have some up....nothing fancy...just what's sort of around....
its hot. goes without saying i guess....
we checked out the jazz band after our set last night.....pretty killer man. fun night....one thing i know...i should stay away from french martinis.....probably all martinis, that miller lite is all i need.
the pictures are at about 60% uploaded....
bought a new notebook today and some pens.....hopefully will getting me writing again.......
hmm...nothing to really say. going to try and get an early night tonight, last night killer me....it's kind off hard to stop for the evening, when you're wound up after the gig, and everyone else is hanging out. Again, thank goodness for light beer man.
ok...pictures are up.
Oct 6, 2007
The boat is leaving st. Thomas. We had to get up really early to do some immigration stuff…..it went fast though, then a little breakfast, and then more training for the trip…..ethics, and ….sexual ethics. Then off the boat and took a heat filled walk to a k mart and grabbed some stuff. The amount of sweat ….unreal. A little nap later on deck 12, took some pictures…watched the band by the pool……just waiting to play at this point. I should practice a little before the gig.  There is some appearance the band has to make on stage during the show in the big theatre. I guess all the performers get up there and wave to the crowd…..it’s the last night of the cruise.
I was hearing all this crazy loud music throughout the week, and I was thinking my neighbours were just playing loud music…turns out my cabin is underneath the theatre….So the shows were going on. Still have a week of training….buzzkill. After that…I don’t know…..time is mine. It’ll be odd, not having to check a board to see where I have to be…..
 Oct 5, 2007
this morning I had to drag my tired ass out of bed and down to the pool with a life jacket and learn about life rafts. Not all that fun, but not as crap as I thought it was going to be. It was raining and kind of cool...so, that actually might have been a blessing.
still learning songs for this gig....it's slowly coming together...not getting lost on this boat as much as I did....bought a watch. I normally don't wear one....it seems I have to be places at certain times. I never really gave much of a care when I was going to work if I was late or not....I'd leave at the right time, and I'd get there when I got there.
not sure if I'm leaving the boat today....we're in....st. thomas? I don't even know....I need to pick up some shampoo....yah, exciting and new. ok...I need coffee.
Oct 2, 2007
I'm sitting in the Rumba cafe in Aruba sipping on a balshi pilsner...enjoying the view out the window. Got me thinking about "home' a little bit. I'm out of Toronto....and don't plan on going back.....I'm kind of homeless...how about that? a drifter.....like Easy Rider...without the death and murder at the end.
It seems like...really, cliché as it sounds...not that long ago that my dad drove me up to humbler college from Brighton....and again...feels like a million years ago at the same time. I made a lot of friends on the way, made a lot of mistakes.....I don't know.....a pretty good experience on the whole.
Next stop...not sure....maybe another contract on a ship...? it's only my third day or something....so I'll have to give it some thought.
anyway....to all the people that I didn't get to say goodbye to, I apologize......it didn't mean I wasn't thinking about it.....time was a factor.
Oct 1, 2007
I'm on the ship....pretty nice......long day to get here, then hard time getting on the ship....not so much hard time, well, ya...no one knew where I was supposed to go..annoying. I'm here now anyway. Good guys, fun gig....too much training on the ship stuff for me. leave me alone, I just want to drink coffee and play guitar. so I have to learn to slip a life boat or something....I guess it could happen, so best to be prepared. Small room man...un real. like a little tour bus bed. but really comfortable.......I miss Lynn. it's odd not having her around to talk to.
ok...have to get ready to play. it's rockioke...or something tonight. sing with the band basically....oh man, this could be bad

September 2007

Sep 25, 2007

Apparently the doctor missed a test...so who knows? I may be just going to Nova Scotia this Saturday.
I played my last gig with Amer last Saturday....I think we sounded pretty good. With all the fussing I do with my "sound", I ended up plugging right into the amp and using 1 pedal, and it sounded fantastic. The bar wasn't what I expected though....upstairs part was cool, but we played in the basement....and it looked and felt like a dude's basement. I'd like to say it felt like the Cavern Club.....but minus some shag carpet....it felt like a guy's basement. But the energy was there, and a good crowd, so I guess that's what counts. I went from thinking Dogfest was going to be this huge outside Lollapalooza thing...(ok...I maybe didn't think it'd be that big.), to having it be in a bar, and in my mind, a pretty cool bar....to walking in and thinking, ok....I'm 18 again and playing a house party cuz his parent's are out of town. Except I had to pay for the beer.
I'm going to miss playing and rehearsing with those guys.....it was fun, and like I said...we sounded pretty good. I hope my parts end up on the album.....
Ok...gotta kill some time and go to the doctor and see if I can straighten this crap out so I can get out of here and play some music. And the pedal I ordered is still sitting in Windsor waiting for someone to pay the duty......damn.
Sep 16, 2007
time is running out. Still learning the songs, but I'm getting this highschool feeling and I left a report till Sunday night to do.
other than that...more recording with Amer the other day...8 hours of overdubs. not bad...I think I got some ok solos in there....a fair amount of coffee. one more day of that.....
The gig went well the other night...thanks to all who showed up. A nice time for my last gig in Toronto...well, for a long while anyway. Next stop, Peterborough....then off to the ship. I got my tests back, no syphilis, no hepatitis.....I'm in! Other than a new suit...I'm ready to roll.
went to Brighton yesterday.....Lynn and I decided to take a little day trip out of the city and do something different.....went on the base in Trenton for a while to see my old house. Interesting...and it's the same thing everyone says....everything looked much smaller. What used to seem like a huge walking adventure, was really just a little jaunt. Put some pictures up on the flickr site...just stuff from presquille. You walk around with a camera there, and all the other birder folk think you know what your a) talking about and b)doing. Some guy asked me as he walked by if there were any good photo ops over where I was ....err...you know..ummm.....yah? The only birds that came to mind where pigeon, seagull, and red belly sap sucker....and I wasn't about to say any of those....I think I then mumbled "errr, geese".
Sep 13, 2007
Recording the bed tracks for Amer's cd was a pretty good time. It was really just one long day...got a lot done. I'm going back in on Saturday to overdub most, if not all the guitar parts. I tanked more than a few solos. It's a really strong album though....looking forward to hearing it done.
Speaking of Amer....I have a gig with him at the Cadillac lounge tomorrow night....not only is it my last night in Toronto with his band, it's my last gig in Toronto for a long while....after September I'm bailing on the cruise ship, and decided to just not come back. Probably go to Nova Scotia...but who know?
I just got my graphics pad delivered....nice. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if it was broken.....the delivery person kind of waddled up the hallway, with a huge box, and basically dropped it in front of the door and got me to sign for it. I opened the box...cool, lot's of padding...but only one side. So it was put flat in the box..then the top padded.
yah..nothing else right now. lot's of learning songs and waiting to leave.
Sep 4, 2007
Ahh, the show with Surf's Up in the Bahamas didn't pan out......too good to be true. So, that's that....no more surf's up gigs in the foreseeable future. I was hoping it was going to go out with a bang. No Bang. In like a Lion, out like a Lamb. First gig I did with them I was thrown in a motorhome and drove none stop to Tunica, Mississippi....a hotel in the middle of a cotton field, (with heavy reno going on...), having everyone in the band getting sick as a dog....my first casino gig. Got to go to Graceland and bond with Jeff Scott a little. El Paso was next on that trip...having the motor home break down, seeing a cactus...a big Charlie brown cactus...prairie dogs. It was just cool seeing more of the states....the most I'd done was buffalo. Then the 54 hour none stop drive back.....Then off to Hong Kong 3 weeks later. I think our last gig was at a RV park.
Sep 3, 2007
Relaxing weekend.....tried out my new lenses at Lynn's parents, sat on the deck all day chatting, taking pictures of birds, my feet, Lynn, and anything else that went into my frame of view....nice bbq.
Today I'm trying to clean up this room. I managed to get a video on youtube, watching a Kiss dvd, and getting some stuff organized. Think I might have to go back to the radiologist tomorrow and get a letter or something for this cruise ship thing. Really, this sort of stuff should be left to someone else.....I'm a little too scatter brained for it. Then to the studio to set up for Amer's cd. It's going to be a long week. After the record is done, and the medical stuff is out of the way....maybe I can relax a bit.
Sep 1, 2007
Friday morning.....woke up, no coffee, no breakfast....went to the doctor. Nice guy, paid him money, he grabbed things, asked questions....set up the blood work and x-rays. And he was totally on time too. Had to get weighed.....whoa. There needs to be some exercising. Hopefully I can take advantage of the gym on the ship.....cuz ol' Shawn needs to lose like 35 pounds. ouch. 13 years on my ass at a desk.....being miserable. Can't be good for the metabolism.
Anyway....Go over to the other part to get the blood out......she was good, didn't hurt at all. (although I almost puked when I saw my blood......hate that.) Oh, and urinated in a cup. I hate that. Well, I hate the actual.....bringing it back and giving a stranger a cup of my pee. I always say "sorry". Could just be the Canadian in me.
Fine, that done...went for the chest X-ray.....x-ray machine down. Great....can I come back on Tuesday....yes.....s'pose so. Jumped in the car, went to Mississauga to L.A. Music to pick up my guitar with the new pickups and the setup. Nice. Really nice......They did it fast, they did it well....it looks and play amazing. Wish I brought my stuff there a long time ago. When I got my guitar done at some other plays...no names, but either it wasn't done well....or it was done ok, and there'd be finger smudges and the like.....It was spotless when I got it back.
so drove back home, back to the X ray place to see if it was fixed...yes...ok...shirt off...click, click......done.
Going back to the doctors in a week to get all the results and pick up my copies of the reports and lab work and blah blah.....then hopefully there will be no troubles getting on this ship.
Kind of getting the jitters for going into the studio with Amer and the guys next week. It's not like it's unlimited time to work out solos and get down stuff.....off the floor, two intense days of rock. I'm bringing my camera, so hopefully there will be some great "Linda Mccartneyesqe" pictures I'll be able to get. To me, she's the coolest rock and roll photographer. Just got such natural shots from people....just hanging out backstage.....and great shots......iconic stuff. So, hopefully Amer will get Uber famous, and I'll be able to retire off my shots I took.

August 2007

Aug 30, 2007
medical stuff is now Friday....9:15. And usually doctors are late in my experience...so who knows. No eating after dinner tonight. I hope I pass this thing.....There's a lot of tests...like if my glucose is too high. I have no idea of the state of my glucose. Either that or the guy just goes "dude, you are completely out of shape......fergitit"
Anyway...after the medical stuff I head out to LA music in Mississauga to pickup, (hopefully) my guitar. New pickups and a setup. They seemed pretty cool there...I'm hoping everything is put in right, my guitar plays sweet, and it won't cost me an arm and a leg.
Going to try and get all my solos down for recording with Amer on ....what? Tuesday.....yah, that's coming up. In my mind it'd be hip if I'd get everything one take off the floor. No over dubs....one take Shawny. So if I can know the solos I'll play...it'll be a help.....rather than just wanking away with a tonne of distortion on. Speaking of which....I have to get my gear organized. I've gone from a "plug into whatever amp is around, and that's my sound" to a guy that is obsessed with tone and gear. Although, I'm not as into as this dude I saw at long and mcquades.....he had a picture of his setup with him at the store....it looked like two refrigerator with lights and cables.
yes, I'm jealous. my back isn't though. I actually said to him "Man, where do you gig with that???"
Aug 23, 2007
Digging into the songs finally....
feeling very lazy still....I like it. Have to get medical stuff done...hate that part.....probably a lot of waiting, and blood taking...x-rays. poking......rubber gloves.....
Aug 20, 2007
Gig went well at the Dakota....pretty cool place, good crowd. I didn't feel 100% on my game, but it came out ok. Going into the studio soon with Amer....3 long days to do bed tracks....I'm looking forward to it, it's going to be fun.
Just learning songs now....have a month and a bit to get about 150 songs down. I'm finding it hard to get motivated.....I'm doing a lot of tv/dvd watching. It's like I'm on vacation.....hard to force myself to work.
Drinking a PC cola right now...pretty good.
There's some pictures of my guitars on my flickr site if you're interested.
Aug 16, 2007
Busy....a lot happened in a week or two. Quit my job....then got a gig on a cruise ship. So if all goes well, I'm leaving Toronto September 29th....Before that all sorts of things presented themselves. Recording Amer's album is coming up very shortly.....there's a gig tomorrow night at the Dakota, (Dundas and Ossington here in Toronto). I have a gig coming up in the Bahamas with Surf's Up (hope that doesn't fall through....) Then some more Toronto dates with Amer, over dubs on the album, Dogfest in Peterborough.....then gone.
Spent last week at a cottage with Lynn...so relaxing. And since I had found out about the cruise gig before we left, I really got to relax. I got bit by a chipmunk. Little bastard. I fell asleep, and he either thought my toe was a peanut, or he got pissed off I fell asleep and wasn't giving him peanuts anymore.
And I was chopping wood and some flipped back on my big toe...nasty. and hurt like a sonofabitch.
But really a fun relaxing trip.
Also squeezed in some time to make some music for a short little film of sorts. I think I've worked more in the past two weeks than I've done in a long time.
I'm so glad I don't have a day job. Can't even tell you.
Aug 15, 2007
Working on this new site.
Aug 3, 2007
My old job called and said..."umm...we didn't realized you quit on Thursday cuz your manager didn't tell us....you can quit if you want. "
So...water under the bridge.
but hey....don't be afraid to buy some cds....
So now I'm just relaxing and playing guitar most days.....did a round of golf on Tuesday with Mike.
"there's got to be more, than wasting my day in this dead end job..."
...apparently there is. Learn from my mistake....if you are unhappy in a situation and it's not going to get better....move on. Don't wait a million years like I did until you almost freaking lose yourself.
Going to Lynn's family's cottage next week.....that should be relaxing, then recording Amer's new cd.....really looking forward to that. The songs are good and the band sounds great. And I don't have to deal with asking for time off work....

July 2007

July 31, 2007

Blessing and curse yesterday. I finally got canned from my job.
So I only have to tell it once....
I got fed up last Thursday, really fed up, and basically yelled at my boss (with some colorful metaphors and deleted explicit) and said I had it and couldn't do this crappy job anymore.
Then she said, well, I should think it over, and not make any rush / emotional decisions and to give her an answer on Monday if I really wanted to quit.

Then they fired me on Monday.
Nice...

....so that's the story sports fans.

So on to bigger and better things. Thank goodness that Harry Potter book came out so I have something to do....
So....don't be afraid to buy an awful lot of copies of my cd Tourist this month....tell your friends, buy one for your friends.
At least go to cdbaby and check it out :

July 29, 2007

I'm not updating this as much as I should. Just in a bad mood lately about my job I guess. Bit of a crossroads. Really have to quit, but it's a little like jumping out of an airplane...it's nice to have that parachute. You can always hope someone will hand you one half way down....but it's more risky and harder to take that step out of the plane.
The gig at the Bovine was a LOT of fun. I broke a strap during a song, sat for a song...figured that sucked, then ran out to the car during a song and grabbed a spare.
....you don't have a spare guitar strap in the trunk of your car? What do you have...things like....a first aid kit and emergency candles?

We have a gig at the Cadillac lounge in Toronto coming up in September....you should check it out.

Beach gig today. Hamilton area....I wish those were more often...I could love the job. The act of starting up a working band seems a little overwhelming...I should just jump in and hit the pavement.

This website is...a little too yellow for me.

July 22, 2007

Just to let everyone know...I have a gig tomorrow at the Bovine Sex Club in Toronto (542 Queen St. W) playing guitar for Amer Diab....we start at 10:30. We'll be there in all our loud, country/rock glory. There are a couple of covers we do that are loud and heavy and unexpected.
Unexpected to me, cuz I usually forget the chords.
I did a surf's up gig the other day at some racetrack near Burlington. Lot's of fun. I've never been that close to the track before....they really beat the hell out of those horse's . Not sure how I feel about that. There was one rider who wasn't hitting that hard, and was more encouraging sounding.....I was rooting for him.
Anyway...Geoffrey Tyler was on the gig playing guitar and singing....mixed things up and added some beef to some of the songs.
.....I need coffee.

July 17, 2007

Did my first gig with Amer. Went well....I flubbed a few times, but I don't think it was noticeable too much. Playing again on Monday at the Bovine in Toronto. Monday. Not a huge fan of Mondays in general....but it still should be fun. He's hoping to get into the studio soon to record a new album....looking forward to that. Maybe give me some insights into my own....which has come to a ...well, not screeching halt...let's say a rolling stop.
So much so a rolling stop that a cop would probably bust you for it for actually not stopping...
It's the playing everything myself which takes so long...on one hand...TOTAL CONTROL. on the other hand it'd be nice to play the song a few times with a band...get the sound, record it...add the bells and/or whistles after. done. Basically by myself, for every instrument I put on a song, I have to play/listen to the song again.....kind of kills the spark.
So if you know some musicians that are great and want to work for free or next to nothing....send them my way.

July 10, 2007

I just read that "Women demand female Pamplona bull run, with cows" .
Maybe it's because I haven't had any coffee yet...but that seems like the dumbest thing I've heard in a while. I never thought the actual bull run was a very smart thing to do.....a bit entertaining to watch, but not a smart thing to actually participate in if you think about it.

....I just went and got coffee and I lost my train of thought. I saw teeny tomatoes in the fridge and starting thinking about a little teeny tomato fight, then started thinking about salads, then what I'm going to eat for breakfast.

some cereal....and I'm off the bull thing.

Almost took some pictures of cows on the side of the road on the way to a gig on Sunday, but didn't bother stopping, getting out, and running up to cows....I was in a bit of a fit thinking I was never going to find the place. I got there 2 hours early.....don't need to say I was the first one there. Wasn't that bad, got a diet coke and practiced for a bit.

I have no real way to end this.

July 7, 2007

just flipped on the earth concert, or whatever it's called. Spinal Tap is on.....Greg Bissonette on drums (from David Lee Roth circa 1987) and Superman's mom from Smallville on backing vocals...I think anyway.

I had to turn it off...freaked me out a little.

Gig with surf's up tomorrow...the grand something resort....it's a trailorpark, albeit a nice one...and if I recall the best club sandwich I'd ever had last year...so it just might be a good gig.
I'm debating going to long and mcquade to get some pickups for my guitar but I'm truly too lazy.....that or go upstairs and find out why they are banging and stomping from noon till 4 in the morning.

I've never actually banged on the ceiling of my apartment to get someone to shut up before...(could be because the last ten years I've lived on the top floor, and I've possibly been that guy...) but I got out a stick last night and cranked on my ceiling....

July 3, 2007
2007.....wow. Am I ever old.

I can think of walking in Machenback as a 12 year old listening to Van halen on one side of a 30 minute tape, and cyndi lauper on the other side....1984. Probably the best year for music that I've seen. Probably cuz I was 12. It just seemed to all come to gether...70's vibe with 80's production.....any style that wanted to be in a song could be in the song. You had Duran Duran on the radio.....men at work.....prince...toto...and all the music featured a song...with great production. music is cool now..don't get me wrong...it's just harder to find.
so ....frankenmuth gig with surf's up. fun.

I got to meet lynn's grandfather.....fun old guy........I rarely say this about old guys.....but he was cute. And has a sweet car. I love that at one point he asked me...and you have to understand.....I'm a big burley looking dude with a beard that's dating his grand daughter....
...."what do they call you??"

......."err....sh...er...umm...well, I've been called a lot of things...I mean...my name's shawn...but people call me a lot of things...."

yah..I babbled.....I think he just was unsure of my name.

looking back...Zoltan would have been a funny answer...if only just for me.
ok...the gig. nice motel. nothing fancy.....but there was a working AC, and a tv with cable.....I'm in. The gig.....open air ampitheatre....you could whisper something, and someone could hear it on the top of this place.....so my new amp got to sing a bit.....(although, Guy was not impressed with my voume...I didnt' think it was that loud, and if you ask Amer I , and I quote...."need to play with some balls..."

....come out on the 12 of july at mitzi's to see/hear some balls.
I digress.

They fed us. Chicken....like home made deep fried american chicken.
hey...I did mention this gig was in the states, yah? Cross the border was, at this point in my "career" fun. I just know how it works....A) takes a while B) it's all bark no bite
custom guy to lynn..."who's she???"
"it's her car...she's coming to hang out...."
......"so she's a groupie........"
me: "I know you have a gun and all...but hey man, that's my girl friend....."
....after that, we're in.
ok...so...hmm..what was I talking about?
oh yah...nice chicken.......played the gig.....pretty much 5000 people.
back to the motel....some beer..yapping...sleep.....wake up....breakfast.
crappy breakfast. waited too long, shit omelette.
how do you mess up 3 eggs and toast??? well they did.
then outlet mall shopping. nice.
bought a bunch of crap..including a talking c3po, and some kids percussion stuff.....declared a 6 pack of mountain dew at the border...and we're home.
and then back to work being called an asshole on the phone because I won't refund some tickets to some dill hole that bought the wrong date, read the part about final sale, and decided that's no good.

one day: playing for 5000 people wanting you to play more songs
2 days later....being called an asshole by some knob that thinks the world owes him something for his presence.

rock and roll baby.