harmonious, typedraw, photofx

I always feel physically and emotionally hungover the day after a gig, because I can never get to sleep immediately after, and because there are so many feelings involved – wanting to perform well, hoping people will listen, and reliving the emotions you were experiencing when you wrote the song in the first place. It almost feels like I went through some kind of intense emotional drama. Was I cool and collected or did I let too much show?

Its odd because I enjoyed myself so much. Last night’s gig was satisfying on many levels – I got to see a great band, they served tea, I didn’t have to stay up too late, and it wasn’t too loud ( you can hear the nuances of music so much better if it isn’t hammering you over the head). The only downside for me was that I still feel a bit like I’m trying to harness the sound of my guitar. It’s not the way I hear it yet, and my ham-fisted bass-playing fingers keep hammering too hard down on those tiny strings. When I talk about these things to friends, everyone is quick to reassure me, which is not what I’m after – I’m just sayin’. I’ll work it out. It’s ok, though, because did I mention they had tea?

The best part of the evening was Buffaloswans (also self-professed tea addicts), who I mentioned already being a fan on in my last post, based on the excellent songs on their myspace page. I hadn’t seen them live. We (the members of Onward Voyageur) stood around trying to describe that elusive thing that sets some bands apart from others that the Swans have in spades. You can call it groove because that’s what it is, a group of people all making something beautiful at the same time (and when it’s good, its so good) but that word doesn’t capture for me sheer soulfulness of it all. The Buffaloswans are that if anything, soulful. Its honest and meaningful and sincere. You recognize it instantly because you know its speaking to you on some intimate level, its music conjuring up what you thought were your own dark secrets, and you’re always a little surprised and relieved that its just part of the human condition. That’s why you connect to it, because we’re all a part of it, and that’s what I felt when I listened to their music. Lovely melodies, harmonies, guitar lines.

Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure at some point in the show we (or I should say I) spent an inordinate amount of time talking about things that only the other members of the band were interested in. Some nights are like that.

crossposted

Last night at band practice Christine was teasing Joyita and I about our husband’s reactions to our ipods (a little bit jealous of the attention we pay to them), and to be honest, they are a bit justified in that jealousy. We have to admit that in a raging fire we’d hesitate just for a second at who to save first (I’m only kidding, darling, you know it’s you). But while the world is focused on the ipad I’d like to write this little post professing my undying love for my ipod, and its not the first time either.

Some ipodless friends think they’re not techy enough to use one (they don’t realize how innovative the operating system is, the whole touch thing is SO intuitive that I’m prone thinking – what?? point and click?? How terribly archaic!) or that the cult-like devotion we have for them signals the downfall of civilization (its probably true). I’m often baffled by people who don’t love them, or are given one by their jobs and say they don’t know what to do with them. Okay, its like shitmydadsays “You didn’t invent it, you just bought it”, but I love it. And I’m going to tell you about it. And no, I don’t work for Apple or any of the manufacturers whose apps I’m going to rave about. Keep reading.

Its a great device to have if you’re a musician. I love jamming with it. I haven’t quite figured out how we can make ourselves look interesting playing ipods, but it definitely sounds interesting and is super fun to play. And yes, it is just like a tiny, somewhat awkward to play keyboard, but the sounds are great, there’s no latency, and there’s such a variety of noises to be had at your fingertips. Some of my favorite music making apps are Yonac’s mini-synth, N-log (free!), Grand Pro, BeatMaker and Star 6. I’ve also moved the computer loops that we use live into BeatMaker so I don’t have to haul my laptop and midi keyboard to shows or practice anymore (the less to carry, the better). Then of course, we record all our new songs and vocal practices so we can remember/learn/keep track of our harmonies and parts. And the same for songwriting – its quick and handy to capture the ideas – 4track is another app that comes in handy for that. I can also tune my acoustic with it, and my electric and bass using a 1/4 inch adapter I bought from Perterson Strobe Tuners. I’m waiting for the dock line-out that I bought on ebay to arrive and then I can process my vocals too. I take notes on it, write lyrics and books on it with Awesome Note (it’s awesome) and can make chord charts on it using SketchBook.

Not to mention drawing. I talked about Brushes earlier and how great it is for that, and now that the bigger screened iPad is out I think graphics apps may have some stiff competition (the prospect of drawing on it really makes me want an ipad). Drawing with my finger is way more satisfying than with my $250 wacom tablet, and easier. Plus I can do it anywhere because its always in my pocket.

And of course, social networking everywhere and anywhere. Having the calendar handy so you can immediately respond if someone says “Are you free?’. Listening to music, looking at photos. The Guardian UK’s app is proving that they are way ahead of other newspapers in adapting to new technologies (the Globe and Mail one is good too).

The only thing missing is a camera, seriously. I don’t care about having a phone so much (too much money for the plans!) but I really would love to have Hipstamatic. Christine has taken some lovely photos already, which you may see posted on our new band twitter page via twitteriffic.

I’m done now.

I received this beautiful necklace as a christmas present from drummer Dan who makes the most beautiful jewelry (the photo does not do it justice so look at it in the bigger size by clicking the photo!). He couldn’t decide which piece to give to who, so we each just picked out a wrapped one and oddly enough we all seemed to get the piece that most suited us. On the back is the word Voyageur. I love this necklace so much its become a bit of a talisman – I don’t pay much attention to the way I’m putting it on, but I’ve found that whatever word faces out sums up how I have to navigate throughout my day – Onward for the days when I’m low or blue or puzzled by a friend’s hot and cold, or Voyageur for the days I have to be a little adventurous. It’s also made me realize what a great word onward is. And how much more I love our band, and our band name as a result!

I have to write some more about my new little camera, because I am so in love with it. Unfortunately the last two days have been a flurry of illustrating and christmas shopping (ack! I just started today!) so I have not been able to go out and take any new pictures, much to my dismay. In the meantime I have compiled some pics taken last week and posted them to the photos page.

I got the idea that it would be nice to have a little camera when I began lamenting not having one on my ipod touch. I’m not even sure how I came across this group – but seeing the pictures convinced me that this was the one I wanted, mostly because of its Holga-esque qualites (a camera which I do own, but I have to travel by bus to get film and anyone who owns one knows how costly it can become to develop the pictures). I was not disappointed – the pictures look a lot like they could come from the Holga, and I can shoot more than a hundred in one outing without paying through the nose for it. I love how colours look and the weird way that whites seem to glow. It sure does take some lovely pictures for a tiny-sized plastic 1.3 megapixel camera. I am quite keen to try some ir photos and some photos through anti-newton glass (although god knows if that will work with such a tiny lens). Now if I only had the time to go shoot some pictures!

I found out after today’s show that every time I thought Justin was looking at me because he was noticing my mistakes, he thought I was looking at him for noticing his. I’m glad we cleared that up. He didn’t make anywhere near a quarter of what I made.

About a minute before we went on stage Matt blurted out the he was nervous, and thinking about what could make him nervous made me nervous, and it took about 5 songs before I felt okay. Still, a great day so far: 105 photos (17 of which I actually like enough to post here), a nice walk, a fun gig with the band, and coming up: putting up the tree with the kids, canucks on t.v. and then working on the last few pages of the book for Simon & Schuster. I can’t imagine a more perfect Saturday.

Duplex! played the first of three shows at the cultch tonight, and I love a show that starts at 7 and ends at 8 – much more civilized! It just goes to show you, I love rock’n'roll, but the hours don’t really suit me.

It’s odd to say that I’m finally feeling more comfortable with the songs even though we’ve been together for something like 6 years, but we seem to do an annual show and that’s it, and then I end up having to clear out chord changes to make room for other mundane things like, don’t forget to pack the kids’ lunch! It seems for every show I’m having to relearn them. Not to mention I’m not playing much bass guitar these days, and for most of the practices the dominant feeling is “ow! ow!” because my fingers are hurting from all that walking around after no exercise. It makes such a difference to feel confident though, you end up having a much better time. I don’t think Justin was feeling quite as happy as me, I had to elbow him in the ribs to shake him out of it. By Sunday we’ll be rockin’.

I took advantage of the poor lighting to play around with my new toy, the Vistaquest 1015 keychain camera in all its one megapixel glory (hey, they’re cheaper on ebay! and don’t you love the pack of smokes size reference?). Of course it was gorgeous out the day I bought it, which was followed by days of unending sunshine, and then it clouded over the minute I pulled it out of its package. I haven’t had great results with those looming clouds sucking up the light, and even less still in a darkly lit theatre. But it was my first day out with it, and I absolutely love it – I’m hereby dedicating my whole life to toy camera photography.

We’re not entirely out of the woods – her flu started sometime in the middle of Tuesday night, but 2 and half days later she suddenly got up from the couch and started bossing me around again, demanding I read her books and putting her feet in my face as I was doing so. Her return to herself seemed almost overly dramatic. Of course I’m going to keep an eye on her, or rather, an ear out for any rattling breaths or difficulty breathing, but part of me can’t help feeling a little pissed off at all the hoopla that had me awake at 4 a.m. terrified that my daughter was going to die. She was inseparable from a friend at Halloween who was just diagnosed with H1N1, and if that was it, well, it certainly wasn’t pleasant for her, but it wasn’t the worst flu she’s had.

I did manage to get out of the house long enough to play another game where our forwards were heavily under attack, this time from the first place team who had not lost a game yet – I guess they didn’t take too kindly to the idea of losing. Our “A line” in particular (a trio hot both on and off the ice – there, Jacinthe, you can’t complain that I never mention you in my blog) was subjected to all kinds of hits and slashes and crosschecks, and I can’t help but wonder why we’re leading in penalty minutes (40 minutes’ worth in 9 games, 12 of them mine) when it feels like we’re getting bullied every game, seriously. Pretty much all of my penalties have been in retaliation for dirty plays like punches or crosschecks from behind the second the puck goes in and the whistle has gone. But probably the real reason is this (because I’ve noticed it too) – we are averaging about four goals a game, we’re outshooting them nearly three to one, they can’t get past our forwards in the neutral zone, (knock on wood!), and yes, it sounds like I’m bragging a bit, but the truth is I am in awe of how good our team has suddenly become, and its more fun than you can imagine to be a part of it.

a l'il ipod touch painting

This summer was only the second time since starting to play hockey that I took the months of July – August off. I didn’t really miss it much, but it only took one game for me to get totally immersed in it again. Maybe because I had (what I thought was) a stellar first game (one goal and one assist, no penalties) but the last two have been completely horrid. In our division 98% of it is getting to the puck first, and both times I had absolutely no energy. I think I never do well at early Sunday games, or on days when I ride 11km to work and back. When I don’t have the best game imaginable, I feel let down, and, well, there’s $60* down the drain.

I love hockey because for that hour that I’m on the ice there is absolutely nothing else on my mind. For that one blessed hour a week, there is no when can we learn a new song already and hey, if the guy I convince the company I’m working for to hire forgets to mention that he’s going to work at home one day its not really a bad reflection on me, is it , and dammit am I ever going to get another illustration job again and christ, do I really have to get up to get you something yet again, and you don’t really think that I lost all your lighters, do you? and all the other minutiae that you would not believe I spend so much time and energy thinking about. Its a relief people!

What happens, though, when you have a sucky game is, it sticks in your mind afterwards and you feel kind of pissy, especially when it will be 11 WHOLE DAYS before you can try and make it up and reassure/prove to yourself that you are not a complete waste of space out there, and that there has been some improvement. And it could sit and fester there if it weren’t for the best cure for that particular ailment, which is going upstairs with your team to hang out after the game.

* this is a slight exaggeration, but not really

My favorite apps of late are 4-track (although the Griffin smarttalk mic I bought one week ago is already broken, much to my extreme disappointment, so I’m going to have to look at a different brand) and Brushes. There was a time that I was making all my art digitally, but it just couldn’t compete with the tactile pleasure of traditional art (and my much – loved oil pastels) but this app might just have hooked me again. I guess I like painting with my fingers, and I like being able to just turn the screen around. My latest plan (I’m always full of plans) is making some comics (the canvas is a perfect panel size), in particular the one that I’ve had brewing for about a year now, about parenting.

Here’s some Brushes art:

So, hockey season starts next week – this has been my first break from hockey since starting to play the game 7 years ago, and suprisingly I didn’t miss it that much – in fact, at our practice last week when I heard that 4 players were going to miss our season opener , I had that familiar annoyed feeling. I know that there are work conflicts and injuries etc. but it was the thing that bothered me most last season, and in the ensuing spring season where we played with 8 players for the majority of it. But I started to feel a bit more excited about it after the practice, and then started feeling even more ready after the scrimmage I went to with Matt’s team, the Ultra Moroons. I love playing against men but only with these men (sometimes when someone invites a friend I feel a momentary nervousness because I don’t know how they’ll feel about women on the ice) and it’s the perfect wake up call for a new season. If I can defend against the men then I can do it against the women.

Vanessa told me afterwards that they started hating me on her team for being too rough and cheered when I got knocked down. I didn’t admit to her how much that hurt my feelings – they cheered? They think I’m too rough when they’re all a good foot taller than me? But a quick survey of some of her teammates (including Matt!) indicated that this was probably not the truth. Except maybe for Noah. Sorry for taking you out on the boards, Noah.