One of Those Moments

So friday the wife and I met up with some of our rag tag crew to check out the Hey Rosetta! and Jenn Grant show at Harbourfront. It was a free show that took an unexpected turn at the end of the night. To those who did not make it out, you really missed out on a great night of music and one really really cool moment at the end of the concert.

This is what happened...

We got there early and snagged front row centre seats (we did not sit however through the concert since it is a concert and not some prayer circle, we danced and moved). Hey Rosetta! came on at eight and blew us all away (again, since we last saw them about 2 months ago) then at around 9:45, Jenn Grant came on to play her set. Now the stuck up and ill-thought out, inflexible noise ordinances in Toronto decree that music must be stopped at live events at 11pm, and harbourfront is no exception to this cantankerous rule. So Jenn Grant (seemingly tipsy and very much giddy) wanted to play some more songs near the end of her set and began a song just before the hour struck 11...

The curmudgeons at Harbourfront cut the mikes, turned on the lights and like little dinkleberries started coming onto the stage and taking down the set. Now the crowd, us, we're for the most part nice good polite Canadian people, trying to enjoy a concert on a night where rain came and wasn't continually threatening the air. We were by the water and had just heard some damn fine music and just wanted that last song to be played. We did not disperse and in fact took out our vitriol on the evenings host, Craig Norris of Radio 3. We booed him mercilessly (yes it was a free show and no he wasn't't responsible, he unfortunately ended up being the scapegoat for the frustration) and someone even through a 1/3 full water bottle at him (as he told it this morning on Radio 3). He got pissed and walked off. The crowd still didn't leave and then the coolest thing happened...

Jenn Grant's band and Hey Rosetta! came back out. Jenn and Tim from Rosetta stood on the speakers right in front of us, everyone went acoustic and they played a song by Wilco (Jesus etc). Craig Norris even came out in the entourage and played the glockenspiel which was cool seeing as how he was treated. So everyone there crowded us and the stage (Norris estimates close to a thousand people packed in for the acoustic finale) and Emily and Nick were asked by Jenn to hold the lyrics for her and Tim (a masterful job they did by the way since it can hurt to hold your arms out for that long) while they softly sang and the crowd joined in to end the night on a surreal and whimsical note.

In short, it was fucking cool!

So they question that remains is not why does this city just plain suckdiddlyuck sometimes, or why do people often misplace their anger towards things and people who do not deserve their wrath...no the more pressing question at hand is WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU ON THAT SIMPLE FRIDAY NIGHT WHILE WE LOOSENED OUR TIES? Especially if you missed the last Hey Rosetta! show (you know who you are), what is your excuse this time?

It may have not been a seminal world changing musical event, but it becomes one of those binding musical experiences that forever root themselves in your mind, that you talk about forever and re-visit always. It was a you had to be there moment to really appreciate just how fantastic the whole thing was. Just awesome.

so to end of here, here is a picture of the Mrs and Me after she handed the lyrics notebook back to Jenn (which had quite a few MASH games on the backside) from the CBC flickr of this show.

Yeah I know, I look like a grinning monkey who can't clap properly in that picture, but hell I was still quite jazzed from the whole thing.

http://gallery.me.com/jowit#100592/IMG_0405&bgcolor=black

peacelovefreedmomjustice

-s

Ola Mes Compadres

Just some quick stuff while i have a chance...

tomorrow, all things being well, the wife and i are going to be at yonge/dundas around 9:45 for a FREE WINTERSLEEP show! If you haven't heard them, download welcome to the night sky right now...awesome band (so much east coast music is just jammin' these days)...that album has become an all time favourite with me...great stuff and again FREE!!!

Also in the news, on Friday July 24th, Hey Rosetta! will be doing a FREE show at Harbourfront. We went to a free K'naan concert two years ago and it was bloody awesome down by the water during the laziness of july.. Nick I expect you there since it is your last week in Toronto and since it is Hey Rosetta! Also to anyone who missed the show at Lee's Palace (Jason,Taufiq, Heather, Nam, Omar, Bubs, Waljee, Nerf, Jono, I'm typing in your direction) make it out...FREE and a band that is quickly becoming a required daily listen for me...thanks for that Nick...i owe now for Harry Potter and Hey Rosetta! but i gave you Neil Gaiman so for now kinda even...I'm sure this see-saw of mutual lending and recommendation will endure the years to come...

Lastly, I'm linking to an article in the Toronto Star from today...absolutely brilliant idea in my opinion...I'm one of those that loves the Gardiner, have always wanted to walk or ride the gardiner in something other than motorized contraption and this would be awesome...imagine a late september day taking your bike down the gardiner seeing the buildings just stretch and stretch before you? These my friends are ideas we need more of in this city...like the Jarvis Bike lane and expanding streets to be like Boulevards, we need to make this city live up to the promise we kids have grown up knowing it can full well achieve...

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/652918

that's all...

peaceloveFREEdomjustice

-s

An Alert and a Musing

've already plugged CBC radio 3 in the last post but lately at work I've been listening to a shit ton of music since my job is processing applications and doing with headphones doesn't really hinder or disturb the little thinking power I need to get through my day...in doing so I've been streaming Radio 3 and hearing some really great "indie" Canadian music and really trying to make a dent in my iphone data plan (and even streaming radio for 6 hours a day will not even closely exceed the 6 gig limit I have)...

Listening to Radio 3 I hear their commercials (for their own programming since it is a web and satellite station) for other programs which can be downloaded as podcasts. Specifically I have had a hell of a good day listening to the "Sessions" podcasts and wanted to send that information along to everyone. Sessions is where Radio 3 records and talks to bands at either their HQ studio in Vancouver or at their Toronto Studio. They also record concerts that have recently happened around the country and so far today I've listened to absolutely wonderful quality recordings of a K'naan concert at the Mod Club (album release concert that sold out) which was really nice, a Great Lake Swimmers session in the Vancouver studio (and it does justice to Tony's voice which is no easy feat) and right now I'm listening to a really beautiful Hey Rosetta! session from Vancouver which is just so crisp. Anyone who missed the concert should definitely download this podcast to taste a little of what the band is like live. Then make it out for the next show. The Chad VanGalen and Constantines show from Canada day at harbourfront is up as well (great show, a must-listen) and I'm hoping the Hey Rosetta/Jen Grant show from a couple of weeks ago will be up soon as they promised it would be (sans of course the little jam at the end since recording stopped at 11 pm).

and this is what I love about the CBC...as a public broadcaster they do a hell of a job getting us stuff for free...well kinda since it is publicly funded, but the CBC has been a champion of the arts for such a long time (to the chagrin of the government no doubt) and the community and multicultural exxchanges that art fosters and passes on. So for as long as it lasts make use of the free stuff that Radio 3 (and Radio 2 & 1) offer, we approach days when free will only be a theory of a time we are fast leaving behind, and even publicly funded will be forced into bed with profiteers and bottom-liners doing their level best to create middle classes of consumerism anywhere they can.

That word profiteers brings up this though about a Live song "Pillars of Davidson." When I first truly heard that song it hit me so hard and so deeply I was lost for some time. It was one of those repeat moments, where you just hit repeat on the music player and drift to melodies and memories and anything that words and sounds conjure. It was beautiful and wistful in a way I wish all songs and moments are. The song always gets me thinking about my ultimate or all time song list which I think I have to start compiling and will never finish which makes it all the more special since it means that music will still mean something to me years from now.

This hearkens back to a conversation emily and I have been having about songs that get stuck in your head, what they mean at that moment, what brought that song in and what made it stick and why some songs cling to fringes of your memory forever to be recalled and replayed whenever consciously or subconsciously appropriate.

So what are your songs? I'd love to hear from everyone about this. What songs stick? what are tunes on your all-time list and if you feel like sharing, why? Often music is the one mutually shared and desired bond between us. We can be pissed off at each other, not talking but one song could change all of it can bring us back, drive us further or at least offer us a common ground upon which to tread...it would be a privilege to know any and all of you through the music that moves you. If you feel the desire to see my list, it will be a post you can bring up and I will do my best to keep it updated.

Thanks for reading as always...your loyalty to my madness and indulgence towards my fancies continues warm me and make me smile.

peacelovefreedomjustice.

-s

(a caveat here...I have awesome headphones that Emsy got me for the false birth of the Christ and they do make everything sound better).

How is Everyone

I have no idea of the e-mail address that Nick uses and since i'm so socially useless and terribly hermetic, I lose touch often and these machines are often the only way I communicate with those folks I wish to share my felicity (and hopefully in return) garner theirs.

In that regard, i feel an update is due, though how much to update is not much at all, but a general state of the federation (the inner canuck shines through again) is embarked upon...

les chats are doing well, we got them high with catnip yesterday and they flipped out went nuts and were tons of fun to watch...i want to do this much more often...it is so cool...they are growing at a tremendous pace though they are still mentally kittens. Le boy (henri) is a psycho and well pretty much a boy - troublesome, curious, severe disregard for authority and very emotionally demanding but only on his terms...he's funny as hell especially when he meows at the door, at grocery bags, the invisible air...on Friday I brought my bike upstairs to install something on it and he just circled that thing for minutes on end, inspecting it and meowing at it, really showing it who the cat is, telling the whole world just who the cat is...territorial, I'm just glad he hasn't pissed on anything yet...

Anabelle is still skittish, scared of life and generally everything in her path unless she can dictate its outcome. In short she is a girl, timid, shy, loving, emotionally demanding and then emotionally distant after she has gotten whatever she needed. She naps a whole lot and loves to bake in the sun. The catnip however might have altered her brain chemistry, today she tried to bolt out of the house as I was leaving and Em told me she was meowing at the door this morning à la henri this morning. She's curious, though in her own way...yesterday she inspected the mop I was throwing out for a while, stalking it (it wa placed against a wall), walking around it, sniffing it, going away and returning from another angle, doing the whole thing again, then reaching a tentative paw out to see if it would attack. Once she was satisfied she went somewhere to take a nap.

cats are fucking crazy.

in personal news, this month I am on a Cleanse!!! yeah I know hokey and silly but hey I feel friggin' great right now, but I do get hungry. There is one fast day per week, where you just drink a solution and water and have six pieces of this special chocolate for protein and to reduce hunger. In general I feel better, though I suspect this is partly a mental thing since I committed to fully to this idea of a cleanse and healthier lifestyle. The goal of this whole thing is to lose some weight (so i can look even more fantabulous), get my energy up, rid some toxins from my body and kick start quitting smoking cigarettes. Unfortunately this also means that this month (until June 12th) there has been no drinking alcohol and no blazing the cheeba, which kinda sucks, but to be honest it is nice to be clear for a little bit, refocus and redirect my energy.

still running, am able to do about 3.5 k in 23 mins which is damn slow but an improvement. Ems and I also started biking last week and that is going phenomenally well and I forgot how much fun not only biking is, but how fun motion through human power is. It is something indescribable to push and move and be a force through simple human exertion, human movement, human energy and its such a fun fun way to see the city, enjoy the summer air, wind and I find such a useful use of my own time to be doing something to nurture my own potential as a human being...I swear I'm falling in love with my legs, I haven't felt this good since I was a kid riding bikes with my dad and brother at Dentonia Park and Secord elementary school.

So that's that...for now...hope tom update soon again...waljee/nerf can't wait to see you guys soon at HOME and let's plan that trip to Montréal (cause I need to book days at work, they get antsy). Everyone, please drop me a line to let me know how you alls are doing and what the what...take it easy kids.

(p.s. if you want to see what I've been reading just to shoot the literary shit, here is a shameless plug for my own superior reading and intellectual skills, just check out the entries labelled Bibliophilia, anytime anyone wants to talk books, I am so so down).

peacelovefreedomjustice

-s

"let you red heart soar" - Hey Rosetta!

and then...

heather, thanks for the website...i browsed through it and got some good tips. I'm seeing the sports dr tomorrow and once I get the clear to start running again, i need some time to get my wind back and build my physical stamina (takes about 9 days) and mental stamina (never-ending) i should be off and gone again. Maybe once i'm confident enough with running (both pace and pain wise) i'll give you a shout around end of may-ish and perhaps we can do some runs...

looked into that Nike technology. Thought it really cool when it first came out. Unfortunately for me I have a severe chagrin towards Nike (one of my many amusing hypocrisies) since my teens for their tacit complicity and arrogant laissez-faire role in child and child labour exploitation blah blah blah...so i can't really fork over any money to Nike or emblazon myself with that satanic checkmark...

also i don't have a nano so it does me no good anyways...lastly (but mostly firstly since it relates directly to the first point) i wear new balance shoes so i can't really put the transmitter in the NB shoes...and yes i am aware the New Balance probably has (to a lesser extent but an extent nonetheless) use and exploited child/third world labour for bottom line margins but at this point my anger is better directed towards Nike and Reebok since the monopoly is theirs and they end up being my personal scapegoats à la Jim Cramer. Opulent isn't it?

On another note, I start a new job today and so far it just confirms my suspicions that every branch of the government is woefully mismanaged but filled with good people with the best of intentions. What I'm left with then is a merry band of civil servants leading me by hand to hell without a map or idea on how to get there. They just know the end result. Life, however, could be worse...

on that note, I offer to our dear Nam a moment of Karma or cosmic interference...I lost my cellphone. Don't know how, I know generally when, have some clues to where but all in all it is lost. See, the universe tends to right itself and God just gave me a swift kick in the nuts for my gleeful non-sympathy of your similar plight of two weeks prior.

Just for the record...God I wasn't unsympathetic or non empathetic towards Nam and his cellphone disappearance (which turned into a wholesale human disappearance thereafter)...God you know me well enough by now to know that I am a perennially absent-minded, scatterbrained headcase... I lose everything. Hell, you know My Lord that I am the same individual that lost magic mittens that were attached to my winter coat with clips and fastened string! In fact I have probably become much worse at preserving anything in my possession since I have attained adult status and if it wasn't for my wife actually coming home to me every night I might end up forgetting I was a married man. So thanks for the reminder God that you are always watching, listening and reading my every word and thought. Thanks for letting me know that that my faith in you is rewarded by cosmic jesterdom and pranks. At least I find it funny. Lastly God, I wasn't being mean towards Nam, just an ass, something I'm quite good at, something more irrerverant than cruel which is why I am a civil servant.

Nam, whatever you believe, God is on your side at the moment. Must be those Christian choir songs you were singing on the aforementioned disappearance day.

peacelovefreedomjustice

-s

Restless Souls

Here we are again.

Beautiful day in Toronto City, sun is shining, weather is sweet...all the good stuff we've been waiting for since last summer ended.

See for me, I can't imagine a better place to be than Toronto in the spring/summer. It isn't that I have a lack of imagination, there are many places I ache to go and see, but for me, this place, this town, is more than home, it cuts deeper with each passing day, I feed off this city and love it through everything. Even in the doldrums of cold winters (by metropolitan standards) I see the beauty that is Toronto and in most instances I don't want to be anywhere else.

I am however restless. As we get older, the roaring twenties of our current youth scream at us to leave, to see the world beyond our narrow borders of birth and comfort. It seems everyone at this moment wants to leave this place and maybe find their way back or appreciate it from afar. Sometimes I feel as if I cannot properly contextualize my adoration nor properly express the love I have for my city until and unless I leave it and see it from another place or another ocean, far from the lap of comfort.

Everyone wants to leave.

Waldo and nerf got the bug and then buggered the hell off to the middle east. Nick is now in the process of preparing for his Japanimation, Jason wants to leave and go anywhere the hell away from here. Bubbles has been threatening to leave for many a year, and my brother is bitten by the bug and may one day leave as well for some time.

I remain stuck.

not out of pure laziness mind you, though some of that does persist. Mostly contentment keeps me firmly planted here and a wee bit of arrogance that I will not and cannot find a better place than here. I have the bug, I've just been able to inoculate myself against for the present moment.

Complacency however can be sinful can it not?

but for all you other restless souls, the best of luck on your journeys. I say this with some jealousy as well since I am not able presently to leave without some wholesale deconstruction of what and who I am and where I want to go. Waljee you got to see London Town before I did and hell you've been to Jordan!!! (the waljee blog has been updated, no shameless plug here, just a straight plug http://waljeesinkuwait.blogspot.com/).

Nick you get to see Tokyo before I do and perhaps even Seoul and Kyoto and Hong Kong since the proximity makes it far more feasible than before come August.

Before I do however isn't a bitter statement, more a lamentation that I haven't yet seen Tokyo and London, two metropolises I pine to see and feel. It is however such good news for you guys and I'm very happy you get to do things you've been dreaming of for some time.

To the others, either stuck here or firmly planted here, roots digging ever deeper with each passing day. Home is a sweet place, a wonderful place and there is no place like this place.

Heather, I'm glad you're running that is as awesome news as any that has come my way in the last little while. I'm glad I inspire some people! Although I myself have had to stop running for the moment, got the shin splints and was advised to cut running for at least a month. My knees have been giving some trouble although they have improved considerably in the last couple of weeks.

I am grateful for small miracles. Miracles in themselves defy the description of size. All miracles are never really small.

You're running however has got me itching to get started again, the pretty weather all the more alluring to the prospect and I hope I can run a 5k sometime in the next year, that would be very cool! Heather would you be able to drop me a line and let me know what your training has been like for the 5k you're running and what the training involves? Much appreciated.

Also thanks for the opera tickets to you and Jason both. The wife and I had a brilliant time, that venue is beyond compare and the show was superb. We are now definitely looking at seeing some more opera in the future and they are doing Madama Butterfly this September so we look forward towards that.

All in all, things are great. Nam, we heard your excuse for not meeting us and all that, so you suckdiddlyuck Flanders, but the concert was also quite superb, and since you "ditched" us we got to enjoy burritos and kittens back at our house without you, so there square.

Hope to see any or all of you at some point soon. Nick are you coming to the Hey Rosetta! show next week at Lee's Palace? Can't wait for that one, and thanks again for the introduction to their music. Should be a jolly ol' time.

That's it for now, sorry for the lack of updates, waljee unmotivated and has now subsequently re motivated me!

a bientot kids!

peace,love,freedom,justice

-s

Felinity

o dear friends, I present to you news from the Hashmani Clan, remix version E&S.

Over the weekend, Sunday to be exact, we adopted two little kittens! They are 6 months old, one male & one female, and are litter mates. Most importantly however is how utterly awesome they are. In two short days they have usurped my very own coveted position upon the throne of awesome and I am but a mere humble subject in the quest for awesomeness when presented with these two. They are tabby cats, grey and white and can quite possibly lay claim to being the greatest things ever.

They are tiny as hell, well according to me who have only really known grown cats in my time and have such sweet little cat faces and inquisitive eyes. They love playing either with each other or with my hair elastics or the bungie bird we have hanging on they bedroom door. I can watch them time on end and without tiring and I swear all I want to do now is go home and play with them or at least be with the. It's crazy fun to watch them play hunter/stalker games and seek each other out, chase each other and wrestle. There has been no clear winner yet although since the boy is bigger he may have the slight advantage is this game. Since they are basically sorting out the alpha hierarchy it adds an extra element of fascination to watch them determine who will be the top cat and the tactics they use to "hunt" each other. From my observations so far, the girl is a patient hunter and likes to use objects to hide behind and peek from. The boy is much more of a stalker rather than hunter, always sniffing the ground and tippawing around, freezing himself in a position then he just darts and goes. They are both quite nimble though they haven't quite mastered running and sometimes look like bunny rabbits leaping about as they chase each other.

The girl is definitely shy and it takes her some time to warm up though she ate much more today than she had the previous two days and was up playing about this morning whereas yesterday morning she hid behind the laundry room door in a dark spot until I left. The boy is our little explorer...any noise and he's right there to inspect. He loves running about the small space we have inspecting any little thing he finds, checking every nook and cranny. He might become troublesome because as we know curiosity kills beings of his kind. But our adventurer and explorer he is, bounding about the condo always looking for new places to discover.

One of the most amazing parts of this experience is how much love you immediately feel for something in your care. Ego exercises aside, as soon as the mental connection clicked that we are responsible for the lives of two beings, a sense of care and love swirled through me. IT wasn't a love by proxy or love by force kind of thing, it was a genuine concern and wish for well-being of two critters entrusted to our care. Sure we made the personal choice of adopting but until that moment I had no idea really what to expect. I've had goldfish when I was little that ended committing suicide and a budgie that flew to freedom after dad left the cage and balcony open when we were kids. So getting these kittens was a big thing for me and more for Em since she's been waiting for this moment since grade 9. As soon as I held the kitties I knew I loved them, not only because they were "mine" but because I couldn't help it. I really can't explain it I can only extrapolate on what it felt like. They are such precious little things and I'm real happy we made the choice not only to rescue/adopt a cat but that we got two so they can play together and keep each other company. It's a lot of fun having them just walk around and inspect you or come by you and nuzzle or just sit and watch them play. It's nice to have other life in the house.

So that's it for now. You guys can come by and see them if you so wish and play with them again if you wish. They are friendly cats and while they are still getting used to the new home they warm up nicely and games with yarn never get old for cats and humans alike. They also get to see their first Hashmani house Leaf game tonight (at least some of it) so that should be fun for all involved we hope.

As for their names, the boy is named Henri Renard. Basically we thought a french name was pretentiously fun, Henri for Thierry Henri and Renard from the Renard in Petit Prince ( I know that Renards belong to a different species, but his lessons apply to all, so there). We also figure that while discovering and exploring English Canada and going on secret missions, Henri then has a perfectly translatable name into English as Henry Fox, nice good and proper English name. Trust me on how much this rules.

He girl we decided to call Anabelle, mostly because Ana names we were going through were sounded nice for her and Anabelle is just a pretty name.

So there you have it, come by and visit anytime.

peacelovefreedomejustice

-s

There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten. - Jules Champfleury

If animals could speak the dog would be a a blundering outspoken fellow, but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much. - Mark Twain