On Sunday night, Pol Plastino and I were invited down to a dojo/Kung-Fu club in Chinatown to take part in The Laundronauts new music video for “Stop, Drop, Fluff-N-Fold” from their album Come Clean.
Que Banh was there taking pictures; Skit For Brains provided the direction (and one of the hot Dragonettes… and uhhh, Guido). Pol got a little speaking role and I got to be audience member #17. Fun times.
Chucky punching out Laundronaut Gareth Wynne.
I am at the far left doing my best at being Audience Member #17.
Cheering on the Ultra Violence!
We did it! Pol Plastino.
The Laundronauts
And just in case you missed The Laundronauts last clip, here is “Stain” >> Youtube.
Ryan Awram from The Q! also rocks Logic so what I would like about that is that we can share knowledge at work. I think Logic also has some similar attributes to Garageband which comes standard on the Mac. That might allow me to learn the Garageband as I already have it, then graduate to Logic if/when I get the hang of it.
I went down to Simply Computers on Quadra, where I normally go to stare at Apple stuff, to look at Logic.
I asked the sales rep about Logic and he steered me toward Ableton… again. Always with the Ableton.
Ableton is expensive, BUT the sales rep said I don’t need the super duper version… the basic $500 package would be good for me. And he said that Ableton is working with Rane (they make Serato mixers) to be compatible with Serato DJ software (and I hope my Numark???).
yeesh. brain hurts.
Its all pretty amateur for me right now and will one day require me to make a decision and jump in. The issue I mainly have is money. Coral is hoping to go to University or college in the fall and will need tuition/computer/earn less money for the family. I’ll need close to $1,000 to rock the wedding fair in the fall and that has to be the priority as success there will guarantee me the opportunity to earn the money I need for fun toys (and to pay the mortgage). Fun toys now… wasted chance at future business.
man, being an adult sucks. Garageband for now.
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In other news, my set for the party Friday Night is taking shape and I like the direction. I am stressing about it as I don’t really know what people will want to hear. But I think if I play what I like, I’m opening… no harm no foul and like any performer… all I can do is what I do.
I’ll practice it tonight before bed and if its a good hour, its gold for Friday at Sugar. It’ll be some Brooklyn meets Ibiza chillwave and blisscore beats with some classic soul/funk/R&B. Might be a trainwreck, but last night at 2AM… it sounded good. I’ll try it again on the decks tonight, if I can mix it together and the story makes sense in my brain, it’ll be what you hear as you file into Sugar. if this mix that is my head doesn’t come together I was also feeling a modern rocky/remix/local beats set. Maybe I can do both… a side A and a side B kinda dealio?
I am trying to set some goals and grow as a DJ performer and sometimes it can be hard because… well being a DJ is a singular enterprise.
I only really know what I do.
Now I have been blessed to know some generous DJs who have helped and shared with me. Jess Taylor and DJ Anger being two early ones that helped me and later J Reign, Marshall, DJ Trekk, DJ Clinton, Rauri Lazers, DJ Fatso and of course DJ Murge. But at the end of the day… it is a self education.
What I constantly think about is creating my own beats and sounds… but I really have no idea how to start. My buddy Tyson gave me a midi controller keyboard thing and I have Garageband? I guess I can start.
And now I have a destination… I want to get on the bill Camp Bisco in rural New York.
What an adventure that could be… if I can talk them into letting me have a slot.
It’ll be a money losing proposition. That is certain. Traveling to New York to DJ can’t be cheap. I’d for sure be bringing Coral and even Madelyn… so its more a professional holiday? sure, I like that word; professional holiday.
in other news: when you type ‘Victoria Wedding DJ‘ into google, my website comes up! Spin The Black Disc.
Thank you everyone for the support. I am sure being a wedding DJ isn’t helping my goal of club DJ too much, but the baby has got to eat (and it’s actually really fun… so far).
I added a new record to my collection on Friday. The Replacements‘ Don’t Tell A Soul.
I’ve been jamming this record heavy all weekend. I put it on at night when Coral and Mads are all tuckered out and snoozing. I plug my good DJ headphones into the amp and drop the needle. I really love this record.
I am sure in the pantheon of Replacements albums, this isn’t the critical darling. That accolade generally gets handed to Tim or Let It Be. Two great albums… but I am finding that the music on Don’t Tell a Soul is speaking to me right now.
Its an evil song but it gets wormed right in my brain and I can’t shake the lyrics or even the vibe the song. Its a bit of a downer to think about it… why can’t a happy song get stuck in my head?
My collection of Replacements records is coming along. My goal is to collect the whole discography. I have Hootenanny, Tim and Don’t Tell a Soul.
I am almost half way there! yeesh. Next up, I really want Let it Be. It has most of my fave Replacements songs on it, but Jeremy at Ditch records says it is also the most sought after and can be harder to track down. Gotta keep my eyes open for it.
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I am putting my wedding DJ cap down for a moment to DJ an event this Friday at Sugar Nightclub. Opening for a real grab bag of artists… hip hop, electro and reggae all on the stage,m but first, I present some music.
Vampire Weekend made an old model from the early 80s famous when they selected this odd picture as the cover of their record Contra.
The person is Ann Kirsten Kennis and in 1983 she worked as a model in New York City. This is a picture of her rocking a Ralph Lauren polo. Cute.
I am sure her goal in 1983 was to have as many people see pictures of her as possible and be famous, but I guess something happened after Regan and now she just wants 2 million dollars from Vampire Weekend.
She claims her signature on the release form was forged and that she never agreed to have the picture released.
Personally I think $2 million is a little steep, but maybe she should be paid something for having her likeness on the cover of one of the better selling albums in 2010.
From 1983 we travel further back in time to the Ohio Players’ 1975 record Honey.
I was reading about the song and it turns out that there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the original song.
If you punch up the album version of “Love Rollercoaster” >> HERE and scroll to the 2:32 mark of the song… you will hear a chilling scream.
There was an urban legend associated with the scream that sad that it is the scream of a woman murder in or around the studio at the time of recording and that scream was picked up on the microphones and used on the recording!
And even more fanciful story says that the model on the cover of Honey, Ester Cordet, burned herself during the cover shoot. She poured the super heated honey all over and it disfigured her. She burst into the studio where the Ohio Players were recording and demanded compensation… but unlike Vampire Weekend being all civil to their cover model… the manager stabbed Ester to death right there while the band was recording. I guess it sounded so awesome they went, “meh, lets live it on the tape.”
Later, Jimmy Williams of the band would explain about the “scream;”
“There is a part in the song where there’s a breakdown. It’s guitars and it’s right before the second verse and Billy Beck does one of those inhaling-type screeches like Minnie Riperton did to reach her high note or Mariah Carey does to go octaves above. The DJ made this crack and it swept the country. People were asking us, ‘Did you kill this girl in the studio?’ The band took a vow of silence because you sell more records that way.”
The Chili Peppers would later cover this song in 1996 for the Beavis and Butt-head Do America film. Its fairly early in the film when the boys head to Vegas and see this wedding/lounge band group on stage jamming out this funky Ohio Players’ classic.
Pitchfork was saying it is ideal for long drives through the wilderness and I can attest to that (if you consider parts of Southern Vancouver Island wilderness) as I rocked a BOH album in the earliest hours of the morning after a wedding in Shawnigan Lake.
The NEW BAND OF HORSES VIDEO features lots of two of my favourite things… driving and the desert! its like a match made in heaven as my future will one day call for living in a dusty desert village.
I would imagine that the “Laredo” in the song is a reference to the Texas border city but there are little Laredos all over the US, Mexico and the original village by that name is in Spain.
There are even some Laredo place names in BC. There is a Laredo Inlet, Channel and Sound. Neat.
When I go there one day, I’ll rock “Laredo” by Band of Horses and think about an aquatic desert and what a mind fuck that would be.
I was thinking about fun older songs that might sound good on The Zone and I had to dust off one from The Replacements.
The Replacements continue to be a band that captures my imagination.
The song that might be a good primer to enter if you’ve never rocked the Replacements before would be their only “hit” single. “I’ll Be You” came out in 1989 and you’ll find it on Don’t Tell A Soul.
Previous Replacements records could be considered alternative or even alt punk. they rarely made linear music videos, had challenges touring, were often times too drunk to perform and generally lived the life of under appreciated artists.
By the late 80s, original guitarist Bob Stinson had left the band. He was largely the punk element to the band. When it became time to record Don’t Tell a Soul… the sound had shifted to a more mature rock and roll style.
Don’t Tell a Soul isn’t my favourite Replacements record, but I do love the single.
I wrote last week about those records that at some time in your life, you loved. Capital ‘L’ LOVED…. but now, maybe you don’t listen to them all that much.
A record that did that to me was Sufjan Steven’s 2005 masterpiece, Illinois.
This record came out in the summer and at a time when I smoked a lot of pot. I worked nights at the Zone and when I got home after a radio show Alex would be in bed or maybe still at work.
I’d pack the bong and plug my headphones into the stereo amp and hit play on this compact disc.
By the winter, Alex had moved back to Vancouver and I was all by myself. My obsession with this album intensified. I listened to it almost every night and thought it was a religious revelation.
But then something funny happened. Well two funny somethings….
Alex and I broke up; and I stopped smoking pot.
Maybe it was the haze (or lack there of…), or time, or new music coming in…. but Sufjan got pushed aside and I really haven’t punched it up much at all in the past??? three years? Damn, I’m getting old.
Today I am reading about chili. Did you know that chili… the delicious meaty treat that many of enjoy from Tim Hortons or cooked at home… was first introduced outside of San Antonio to mainstream audiences at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893? (so was the hamburger, rag time music and neon lights)
Then I start reading about the Expo ’93… as I’m sure that is what the Industrial Age kids of the time called it.
Its an interesting story about this fair that made use of electricity and gave the world the Ferris Wheel.
I wondered about the music of the time and my wandering brain took me to discover ragtime. One of the great ragtime performers of the era played a show at the exposition and ragtime would go on to be the dominate music style in North America till jazz would develop after World War One.
This is fascinating because the Veneto Lounge styles many of their cocktails on this late 19th century culture and maybe ragtime would be the perfect musical accompaniment?
Right, Sufjan Stevens… there really isn’t a point to this rambling… as I am flying though the internet and iTunes, listening to ragtime and exploring the wonders of American exceptionalism. The internet wants me to listen to Sufjan. My searches and hyperlinks keep saying, “Do You Mean Illinios (album)?”
Um, no… but ok internet, I’ll bite. I punch up the record and the music washes right over me. It feels good. I remember all these songs. I can’t listen to it loud enough! (though back in the day, one of my favourite things to do was put it on as quiet as possible and try to have the songs tickle my little ear hair things as lightly as I could make out sounds… like I said, I smoked a ton of pot).
Illinois is such an amazing record. Its like an audio epic adventure. After reading about chili, Chicago, ragtime and The World’s Columbian Exposition… I couldn’t imagine or have predicted a better soundtrack.
Coral and I did some record shopping on the weekend. We hit the new Talk’s Cheap store on Pandora at Government Street. In the old Regalia Store space.
He has tons of great 45s. Coral and I are always looking for some more dance party hits for our vinyl sets so I loaded up on some UK chart toppers of the early 80s.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my music.
01) The Police – “So Lonely”
02) Squeeze – “Another Nail in My Heart”
03) The Jam – “Going Underground”
04) Adam and the Ants – “Stand and Deliver”
b-sides
05) The Police – “No Time This Time”
06) Squeeze – “Pretty Thing”
07) The Jam – “The Dreams of Children”
08) Adam and the Ants – “Beat My Guest”
A whole bunch of great hits of the late 70s and early 80s. The Police cut is the original 1978 single which went nowhere at the time. The Police released their album Outlandos d’Amour. When this record dropped it went nowhere. The BBC didn’t get it. A song about a prostitute? (Roxanne), suicide (Can’t Stand Losing You), loneliness (So Lonely).
But they soldiered on, toured, came to America and through hard work they were able to push through. They ended up re-releasing many of these future hits in 1980 and the second time around, The Police began to chart. To this day, so many of the most endearing Police songs are these early singles. Silly 1970s radio DJs.
Its written by one of the editors at Pitchfork, Mark Richardson, and he waxes on about his personal relationship to music and what it means and all this 30-year-old white guy non-sense. His tastes are were far more eclectic than mine ever were, or will ever be.
But his themes are so interesting.
He talks this week about about the albums that were our favourites at a time. And when this record meant so much to you; you thought, “I will always love this record.”
Then, one day, years later you wake up and its not your favourite. In fact, you haven’t listened to it in years and if you did now… heck you might not really care for it all that much.
He then talks about a group called Piano Magic. I wanted to check it out to try and hear what he might have back in 1999 when Mark thought Low Birth Weight was destined to be a great record. Wow, it is spooky. Wikipedia called it ghost rock and I think, listening I might have found my perfect Steam Punk sound!
He then goes on to think about the internet and how stuff lives forever. I found Piano Magic’s music pretty easy on Youtube. <– This song was crazy real. Reminded me of this old British movie I watched years ago with some of the most awkward and authentic sex scenes I have ever seen in a movie. I wish I could remember the title.
Music lives on forever with the internet. Last night I was telling Coral about my dream to press a 7 inch single of my old band, Smut Peddling Sam. She didn’t get it. Said it was silly and childish and that no-one would care.
Maybe she is right… maybe not? I’d care, so that is at least one. I googled Smut Peddling Sam. Everything lives on the internet, even Smut Peddling Sam!
Our old friends were in a group called Triple Word Score and they got signed by a record label called Long Beach records outta California. They mentioned us in their bio and that bio still takes up a few bits of internet code.
SPS used to play at the Cobalt in the early days of that old punk rock bar… and I found an old page of WENDYTHIRTEEN that mentions us.
My brother Matt’s Myspace mentions us. (remember MySpace awww).
The Morning After 