Archive for the ‘history 101’ Category
Happy 142nd Canada Day!
Posted in history 101, tagged Canada on July 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »
An Exploding Whale of a Time
Posted in history 101, neat-O gang, politics, tagged Beached Cow, Beached Whale, Exploding Whale, Government, Oregon, Six-Gilled Shark, Victoria on June 30, 2009| 5 Comments »
Over the weekend a cow washed up on the shores of Victoria and typical, it took no less than three levels of government to deal with the situation,
Cow Washes Up on Victoria Beach
My favourite line from the story:
“It was originally thought to be a dead horse, but once the officers got there they were able to determine it was a cow,” said Victoria police acting Sgt. Jamie McRae Sunday.
Well done city.
Have a Listen: The Zone Afternoon Show Talks About the Beached Cow and an Exploding Whale!
Now this isn’t the first time something bizarre has washed up on our fair beach. Zoner Liz sent me some pictures from a six-gilled shark!
Hey guys,
You were talking about how they don’t know what to do with the dead cow that got washed up at Clover Point. I have a suggestion: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/destroyed-in-seconds-beached-whale-explosion.html
It’s a matter of precedent since apparently that’s how they dispose of washed up whales.
Incidentally, around this time last year a dead six-gill shark was washed up at Mile Zero (near Clover Point). We took it back to the dive shop at Ogden Point and it sat our dunk tank until the UVic biology department got it a week later. Here are some pics for shits and giggles of it. I wonder what will get washed up next year? A dinosaur?
Later,
Liz
Some Zoners thought it might be a good idea to blow the thing up like they tried to do to a whale in Oregon back in the olden days. Hilarity ensues.
Go with yourself.
Its 4, 3, 2, 1
Posted in history 101, life or something like it, tagged Canada, dreams, Karate, Kung-Fu, MMA, Passchendaele, passport, Paul Gross, Pierre Berton, Social Insurance Number, UFC, Vimy, World War One on June 22, 2009| 5 Comments »
I feel great so far. I woke up and slayed so many dragons last week that looking ahead, I have so few things to get up to.
I suppose I should get Mads a SIN and get started on her RESP and get the ball rolling on a little baby passport, pay this month’s bills and lay some money down on the credit card.
I need to move forward with my self taught graphic design and student loan stuff.
And somewhere amongst all that, sign up for MMA fighting, Kung-Fu or something physical… I checked out a bunch of MMA studios and they are all really expensive and full of… well… not my kind of people to put it politely. Might have to try a more traditional martial art. My friends all laugh at me when I say I want to rock the octagon… but maybe that will be my armour? While my opponent is laughing himself out of position I will kung-fu chop him down to the ground.
My buddy Paul was the only guy who didn’t laugh. He said I should take something basic like Kung-Fu or even Karate. Apparently some Karate master ripped it at UFC 100 this past weekend?
On Father’s Day, I bought myself a present… the movie Passchendaele.
Most of the movie is a little slow, the dialogue is weak, the whole premise is almost silly, but then near the end, the third battle of Ypres lights up, the movie is worth the price of admission. When I watch the film, I generally jam out the opening village battle sequence, then fast forward to the end.
I had this crazy dream Friday night (likely Red Bull fueled) where I was in World War One. I was in the trench with some dude who wasn’t a very good shot. We’re all huddled around and the Germans attack. As I am sitting there dropping German after German, the man huddled in the trench is called, “Jeremy…. Jeremy…” I keep snapping back at him… “just stay down or shoot, I don’t care!”
Turns out it was Coral trying to wake me up to get ready for the ferry!
The dream stayed in my brain all weekend, so when we go back from Coquitlam, I found a previously viewed copy of Passchendaele at Blockbuster. score.
After the film, I dusted off my copy of Pierre Berton’s “Vimy.” I am pretty down with my Canadian History circa WWI, but I thought I’d revisit it while I wait for my next book to show up in the mail.
This blog isn’t really about anything, just wanted to write the week out and then get to it.
Go with yourself.
One Minute Of Magic
Posted in history 101, neat-O gang, WWJD?, tagged Dance Party, Santigold, Sasquatch, Sasquatch Music Festival, The Gorge on June 3, 2009| 8 Comments »
Give this dude one magical minute, and you’ll have a dance party on your hands! (thank you Zoner Rick for sending this in)
I remember being down on the floor for Santigold in the 80 plus degree heat and looking back up the hill at The Gorge and smiling at this moment in Sasquatch glory.
A Little Bit of Country, A Little Bit of Rock n’ Roll (with a dab of Break Beat)
Posted in history 101, music on April 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »
whoa, Marie Osmond was sorta cute back in the olden days.
if I got old old fashioned // would you get old fashioned with me?
Posted in history 101, neat-O gang, tagged Cambie, Edward Bernays, Frightened Rabbit, Helen Landon Cass, Jim Pattison, Layne Mitchel, Manhatten, New York, Podcast, Public Relations, Ripley's Believe it or Not!, Roaring 20s, Samuel Strauss, Spoon, Tazo Tea, The Gaslight Anthem, The Villager on April 17, 2009| 5 Comments »
“Formally the task was to supply things that men want. The new necessity is to make men want the things that machinery must turn out, if civilization is not to perish. The problem before us is not how to produce the goods, but how to produce the customers.” – Samuel Strauss
“Sell them their dreams. Sell them what the longed for, and hoped for and almost despaired of having. (…) Sell them this hope and you won’t have to worry about selling them goods.” – Helen Landon Cass
“Remember! When the gay community is granted personal freedom, ours get taken away. How? shhhh.” – Stephen Colbert
The Colbert quote has little do with the capitalist theme above, I just thought it was funny. Here’s another, “Hey California, you make good oranges, keep it up!” that one is all me.
Last night I wandered home from the Cambie with more than a couple beers and a few shots of a variety of liquors rattling around my brain. I was thinking about the above quotes but for the life of me could not recall them. So the weird sheep post came out of my head (and a bunch of other junklit that I deleted thankfully before posting!).
Drunk blogging is both hard and dumb. I seriously sat at my computer in the dark at 2 AM pecking away at the buttons. It took forever to barely hack out a couple wah wah wah paragraghs, and when it was all done I said, ” I can’t post this shit.” and deleted it all.
Except that bizarre line and the sheep. But what I wanted to talk about was the Strauss quote. Samuel Strauss was an interesting cat. He was the editor for a newspaper in New York called the New York Globe in and around 1917ish. Fun fact, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! originated as a feature in the globe and is now a giant entertainment company owned by… Jim Pattison, same dude that signs my pay cheque and owns the Zone.
Strauss moves out of Manhatten and settles in some suburban village outside of NYC and publishes a weekly called The Villager. Strauss is interesting because he was a critic of “Consumptionism.” He says that consumptionism is “the science of compelling men to use more and more things.” Oddly, Strauss was an influence on Edward Bernays. Bernays was one of the founding fathers of modern public relations… which you know, you can thank him for or deride him for.
There isn’t a lot on the internet about Samuel Strauss, but from what I’ve gathered, I like his style. He lived in a time of new capitalism or the second industrial revolution, the 1920s (I guess he lived at the end of it). When companies where manufacturing things at an alarming rate and needing an insatiable appetite to consume from the people. As the blog began, its not the things that is the problem, its the people to buy them.
And here were are in 2009, and things are the same as it ever was. Maybe I don’t need all the new radio sets, washing machines and telephoney do-dads that Roaring 20s Jeremy might have lusted after, but today… the product is media. A never ending supply of it, and what I need is eyes and ears. Time and attention is the new money. Media companies today need to pry time from you the way Henry Ford tried to pry dollars out of your wallet a century ago.
***
And in other news… many Zoners that have a few experience points living on planet Earth, will remember Layne Mitchel. God bless’m, he’s in Deadmonton cheering on any hockey team in the post season except the Oil. He also makes an exceptional podcast, but THIS EPISODE in particular is magical. Features his interview and a live performance from The Gaslight Anthem.
***
weird, I got a mad lust for some Refresh Tazo Tea? Just came over me in a wave, I could smell it and the ghost of its flavour is lingering on my tongue. (that was a cool sentence, but I lifted most of it from a Spoon song). I think we rock Tazo brand at the Zone, or we used to… that must mean its time to stop jibber jabbering on this here blog about things I still don’t know too much about and get to work… so I can jibber jabber about things I don’t know too much about… alright.
Go with yourself.
The Morning After Show
Posted in history 101, music, tagged CiTR, The Morning After Show on April 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Press Release
The Morning After Show 10th Anniversary
VanMusic Presents Party
VANCOUVER March 23 2009 – On April 10th. VanMusic presents the 10th
Anniversary of CITR´s The Morning After Show. Hosted by Oswaldo Pérez
Cabrera, the show is devoted to playing Vancouver’s best independent music
along with music from all over the world. The Morning After Show also
features LIVE acoustic performances called the Morning After Sessions.
Started 10 years ago by Jeremy Baker who is a current DJ at Victoria´s The
Zone 91.3 FM, the Morning After Show has always supported the local scene
and has been a steady fixture on CITR 101.9 FM since its beginning.
The current host Oswaldo Pérez Cabrera is also the director of La
Vanguardia de Vancouver, a local newspaper. Oswaldo also promotes bands
through the website http://www.vanmusic.ca.
The Morning After Show can be heard every Tuesday at 11:30 AM on 101.9 FM
or http://www.citr.ca and is always showcasing the best independent musicians
Vancouver has to offer.
CiTR 101.9 FM is the broadcasting voice of the University of British
Columbia. Reaching over two million listeners, CiTR offers alternative
coverage of every genre and perspective, including programs on comics,
comedy, music, news, sexuality, sports and many different cultural
communities. CiTR is community focused, with less than four minutes of
advertising per hour and a mandate to support niche programming along with
Canadian and local artists. CiTR is run by The Student Radio Society of
the University of British Columbia, a registered not-for-profit Society of
B.C. Their mandate is to “serve, instruct and inform the UBC and Greater
Vancouver Community through the medium of radio.”
VanMusic is the first place you’ll find the newest and best music from
Vancouver’s Independent Music Scene. VanMusic is dedicated to the local
talent and firmly believes that Vancouver is going to explode as the place
to find music. The ever-growing webzine features videos, reviews,
interviews, blogs and a calendar of events dedicated to the Vancouver
scene. You can find the VanMusic website at http://www.vanmusic.ca. Be Part of
the Movement.
The 10th anniversary party of the Morning After Show will take place at
2205 Commercial Dr. (The Legion) on April 10th from 2 PM until 1 AM. The
event will feature 11 bands and DJs. All of the bands have been a part of
The Morning After Show in one way or another. The anniversary party will
be a LIVE taste of what the show has to offer.
The festival will showcase Jess Hill, The Aching Heart Foundation,
Tomgirl, Hunter´s Web, The Rain and the Sidewalk, Michelle Carter Leis,
Los Malos, The Get Down, The Hawaiian Bibles, Los Furios, and Sinister
Black.
LOS FURIOS is hands-down one of the best ska bands in Vancouver. They have
been playing for years in the local scene and they can always be found
supporting local social causes. They have toured successfully in Mexico
and they have a steady following in the city. You cannot miss this band
LIVE.
THE HAWAIIAN BIBLES have exploded in Vancouver since they began playing
around town. In their own words, “You stub your toe and it hurts, but you
keep moving forward, ‘cause you know nothing can stop you, you are here to
bring it to the people… For whatever reason… You don’t know, but it’s
in you to give so you give it!”.
THE GET DOWN is ready to release their first CD after many successful gigs
around town and an EP that has gained a lot of airtime on the radio.
Forged with elements of rock, reggae, blues and alternative, The Get Down
has established its own unique sound. Their high energy and theatrics are
sure to keep an audience enthralled. Their grooves are sure to keep your
feet moving.
LOS MALOS is a mariachi punk rock with a Pixies/Sonic Youth/Velvet
Underground influence. Part Mexican, part Chilean and part Canadian, this
band makes heads turn every time they play.
SINISTER BLACK is a powerful metal trio that will be ending the night with
a couple of high energy covers along with their own medicine. Sinister
Black is commanded by Wayne Powell who has been a fixture in the Vancouver
metal scene for more than a decade.
MICHELLE CARTER LEIS will be giving a special appearance in Vancouver
after successful gigs in LA and New York. She is stopping by for the show
before embarking on recording in Chicago. It’s been said about Michelle
Carter-Leis that ‘She has a voice where every note counts’. That
certainly rings true when you see Michelle perform live. You can hear the
experience and pure raw talent that exudes from her.
MAC HUNTER is a multi instrumentalist musician with a lot of projects. A
showman himself, he has played as ALBERTA´S HUNTER, HUNTER´S WEB and is
part of the collective THE HEARD. His talent emanates with every
performance.
THE RAIN AND THE SIDEWALK has been a constant voice in the Vancouver
circuit. They have played with most of the independent bands in town.
The brainchild of Trevor Thompson, The Rain and the Sidewalk is an
experimental project with a Joy Division feel. Trevor will be playing
with Betty Kracker´s Shannon.
THE ACHING HEART FOUNDATION led by designer and musician Mario Ayala Jr.
is a combination of pop and experimental sounds that has made their first
album, “The Destination”, an earful of sounds.
TOMGIRL is Gena Perala’s and Tom Tischer’s new project. Gena is a
Vancouver singer songwriter with one album, “It Ain´t Pretty.” Gena
Perala is also a poet always out to challenge the way she and the people
around her live and think.
JESS HILL is a singer songwriter from Vancouver. Like the intuition
implied by synchronized movement, Jess Hill’s music reminds you of
something you thought you’d forgotten. Anchored in the tendencies of
folk, blues and jazz, Jess tells stories: cyclones and downpours, hovering
birds and white skies. Seven years ago she picked up a careworn guitar
and soon after her heart felt lyrics entered the Vancouver music scene.
For more information go to http://www.vanmusic.ca or call 778-862-1577
-30-
sun it will rise / soon enough
Posted in history 101, music, neat-O gang, tagged Amps, Fleet Foxes, History, Hitachi, Kenwood, Madrona Farm, podcasts, Record Players, Wal-Mart on March 22, 2009| 7 Comments »
Coral and I got busy this weekend. We have almost organized the homestead. I went rooting through Madelyn’s closet and dug out the record player. Just needed to find a home for it. An adventerous trip out to Wal-Mart and we moved the TV off the mantle and onto a TV stand and now the record player has a home!
My record player is my old man’s that lived in our family home throughout most of the 80s and into the 90s. It is a Hitachi Direct Drive Turntable HT-350. I don’t know if that is a good record player or not, but it is the year 2009 and its still spinning 33s. I had this old beast set up in my old Fernwood apartment. The top is covered in wax from candles and there was a candle spill down one of my speakers. The speakers are the newest part of the rig, my old man bought them for me as a present when I first moved out on my own or soon after. The amp is an an ancient Kenwood KR-4600 from the 70s I bought at a flee market in Aldergrove (maybe ? or maybe Cloverdale) when I was living with Paul in the basement of that shithole in Burncouver. Some guy had the bed of a pick-up truck full of old stereo equipment. He sold me that Kenwood for $20. He said, “kid, this Kenwood is older than you and it’ll work!”
These days, the amp has some connection problems when I fiddle with any of the knobs. I might need to take my amp in for a tune up…and heck, the LP player could use a tune up too. Alix was saying something about a store that sells juke-boxes out in Oak Bay or something where the guy can fix up and refurbish my archaic audiophile instrumentations.
***
01) The Replacements
02) The Decemberists
03) Boards of Canada
04) Explosions in the Sky
04) Maria Taylor
06) Braid
06) Bright Eyes
08) The Promise Ring
08) The National
***
God I love Sunday.
***
I have an exciting week coming up. I have a new project that is paying me a good living wage to do what I do best. When it is finished and my client is satisfied I’ll be sure to share it here. It might be a new business venture for me. I am jazzed on the concept because it is a job that remains focused on my core values as a person. It feels good to get paid and recognized for what you fundamentally do. Plus I can continue to rock the Zone and live in Victoria! Those are such massive benefits. I might actually start a real-life business and pay taxes and get a website and everything! as Madelyn would say, “OooOoOoH wow Da-dy.”
on the non-profit front, I have two new podcast ideas to try and launch in conjunction with Capital Rock City. Both are spoken word and of a more serious nature. I doubt I have the energy for both but I think I will try a demo of both a see what I like more.
The first idea is a history podcast. Tackling a story or idea of Vancouver Island history every week. I like history and there isn’t a good history podcast on the iTunes store… maybe I can be the guy that makes it.
The other idea is a farming podcast. I am working with a farming family on Madrona Farm in Saanich on some fundraisers to help save their farm from the pressures of development. The family are real characters with an encyclopedic knowledge of organic and sustainable farming. It would be a shame to not share their passion for your food with you! It’ll change the way the way you think about your salad greens, that’s for sure.
That said, if the podcast doesn’t get off the ground, a mighty rock concert will. Details for the concert will play out on this blog as they develop. If you’re in a band and you want to take part, please don’t be shy and fire me an email.
My coffee is running low and its almost time to flip the Fleet Foxes record to the B-side so I’m out like trout.
Go with yourself.
take this sinking boat and point it home, we still have time.
Posted in history 101, music, neat-O gang, tagged CiTR, Falling Slowly, Once, Passion, The Frames, The Monring After Show on March 10, 2009| 3 Comments »
I have had a couple magical moments in my life and one of them would be the time I sat in the park on a beautifully comfortable summer day in a big American metropolis with Coral. She was pregnant with Madelyn and we watched the Frames perform “Falling Slowly.”
Sometimes I feel the media conspires against (or maybe for me). Certain threads across all the channels and noise emerge. Last night the hero on the TV talked about memories. Basically its about making them and then keeping them. Happy blogs about people getting back together and taking trips, sad comments about marriages ending and essays on passion.
The essay on passion I can’t remember where I read it on the internet. It was one of those hundreds of links that people puke out on Twitter all day. I clicked it and read it and was amazed.
The writer is a man who is a writer. duh. He loves writing and is passionate about the experience. He makes his living writing. What he talked about was the plateau we all hit when what we love becomes work. Then what do we love?
Wow. I wish I could find the blog post because it was very inspiring. What he talked about applies to many of our lives, whether it is relationships, friends, family or work.
I make my living in a creative industry and constantly find myself battling the beast that is, for lack of a better word, writers block. Some days, I don’t want to be “funny” or I don’t really care to hear Pearl Jam and answering the phone for four hours and jibber jabbering about the weather is not appealing. BUT my JOB is a Monday to Friday. And deep down, it is what I want to do. I guess that is what separates the truly great from good. Ha, TV once again, “Good is the enemy of great.” The blog had some excellent ideas for keeping the pencil sharp.
One idea that is helping me oddly, is walking. I like to walk and listen to music. Now I walk more and jam out some tunes that I want to hear and think. Feels good and fills up the brain with thoughts and ideas.
Its time to feed my little baby monster and get ready to hop into the studio and craft a Capital Rock City. I think this week I am going to sift through all my music from season one and find a few favourites. April 10th is the 10 Year Anniversary party for The Morning After Show. The MAS went on the radio in Vancouver back in December of 1998 and the current host, Oswaldo, is throwing a party in Vancouver and I am going to be there.
I don’t have much anything to do with the show in Vancouver anymore, but I’d like to go and see Oz and be part of the anarchy. I don’t have many tapes from the old shows with Paul and me, or Scott or Oz (Paul, Scott and Oz were all the co-hosts over the years and Oz took over full-time when I left for Victoria… Paul and I started the show waaaaaay back when we were just kids) but I’d like to see what I could track down and maybe make a podcast closer to April, so look for that before April 10th. And if you are in Vancouver or want to take the trip over with me, Easter weekend, Vancouver!
Go with yourself.
The Morning After 