from the archives: The Cool Canaries

The Cool Canaries is a little jazz ensemble that started as a couple of friends and I putting together two songs for Ofleb Production’s short film “Frank’s Letter”, which we also got to dress up in period clothing and perform in (yup, that’s me up there). Later we added Maëva Clermont-Giguère on keys and Sebastien Belleudy on drums and played a fundraiser for Alain Wong’s bike ride for microcredit, kept practicing until we all started traveling too much and then had to let it go.

Ladies and gentlemen, Felix Pare on bass, Colin Parent on sax, yours truly on vocals. Enjoy!

In A Sentimental Mood

All The Things You Are

download: In A Sentimental Mood
download: All The Things You Are

Hard Vice trailer (not really SFW)

a bunch of us put this together for our awesome friend Mark on his birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK WE LOVE YOU!!!

also, Aubrey’s and my version of MJ’s “Beat It” is featured in a tiny section. one of these days I’ll post a full version for you all. enjoy!!

life update, stress, music

aw man, life is really busy all of a sudden. I’m still working at the symphony and doing some day work in people’s gardens, and then I went to Montreal on the weekend. also, I joined a SOCCER LEAGUE. for those of you that know me in real life (that’s most of you, haha) you probably already know that I find team sports awkward and vaguely intimidating. but I really like my team and everyone is really nice and silly and we aren’t very good so there isn’t really any pressure. hopefully they don’t mind my joining out of the blue but I think it is ok!

about that last entry, I realized afterward that maybe I should have made the question a little more clear. or maybe not, I don’t know, people still had interesting things to say. I’ve found that there is a kind of connection that happens between creative people that is rarer between people that have chosen a very different life. not that it’s superior or whatever, but certainly different. for awhile I was trying to find more of it, so I wanted to plug into a kind of artists community in my city at the time. but I’ve also had similar connections with people that don’t consider themselves “artists” per se, but they do have a kind of sensitivity and openness that seems to lend itself well to making art. so yeah. I’ve gotten used to calling these people “artists” in my head, even though they might not consider themselves creative. I guess I could just consider them sensitive and open people, but I’m also tempted to say that a creation that doesn’t have any sensitivity or feeling behind it (such as, say, the score to a life insurance commercial) isn’t really art. I realize that’s an awfully big statement to make, so I’m going to tentatively put it out there but I’m also prepared for someone to make a very thoughtful point to the contrary and change my mind. so that’s what I have to say about that.

I’ve been struggling a bit lately with stress about my current situation. There’s a lot of uncertainly in my life right now and I’ve been lacking a feeling of grounding and stability. Sometimes I thrive on that, but I think only if I also feel free to pick up and go wherever I like. Lately I’ve been feeling unstable and uncertain about the next couple of months but also feeling trapped by the financial stress of living in an apartment in the city. It’s been very draining. I think I’ve got it figured out now though. Fortunately it’s going to rain today so I’m not doing garden work, and instead I’m going to start kicking ass on the music front again. Finally!

art and real life

Things have been really busy lately and my brain is pretty much full just trying to make my life functional. I have a bunch of unfinished projects that are hanging over my head and keeping me from focusing on the album, so I’m trying to wrap them up while also trying to figure out how I’m going to pay my rent this month. I’m working part-time at the moment but it’s just not going to cut it so I’m looking for second part-time job, hopefully in the service industry. If anyone knows of any restaurants or cafes that are hiring please let me know!

Anyway, here’s a quote from a book I’m reading right now about this traveler who becomes an artist, and then decides that art is kind of fruitless because life is so glorious on its own. When he says “his mother’s voice”, he’s not referring to a life of obedience to his parents, but rather to follow his own inner calling, which is to be a wanderer like his mother was. Hey artists, how do you feel about this?

Art was a very fine thing no doubt, but art was no goddess, no final aim. He had not to follow art, but his mother’s voice. What use would it be to make his fingers more and more skillful? Master Nicolas had shown him where that led a man. It led to a craftsman’s fame, to money and a dull, snug life; to a withering and stunting of that essence by which alone the secret yields itself up. It led to carving petty, costly toys for every rich council-house and altar, St Sebastians, and neatly lacquered cherubs, gilded at four thalers the piece. The gold in a carp’s eyes, the lovely flicker of silver, round the edges of a butterfly’s wing, were endlessly more beautiful, more alive, more precious than roomfuls of such work.

- Herman Hesse, from Narziss and Goldmund.

beautiful moments on the road, new friends and heroes

I’m standing at an intersection near the highway in Whitby, Ontario, holding a cardboard sign that says “OTTAWA” in big black letters. I’ve just gotten dropped off by a woman and her dad, and she just gave me her email address in case I want a hitchhiking partner the next time I go. I think that is pretty awesome. I’m feeling pretty good, smiles and all the rest of it, and this tiny old woman rolls down her window in the passenger seat of a car. She’s got to be at least eighty years old. I prepare myself for the usual lament that they aren’t going in the direction that I want to go, but instead this old woman says spiritedly, “I wish I was going with you!”

Later I’m sitting in Patty’s Pub in Ottawa, a pint of Alexander Keith’s in hand. Beside me are a couple of about my age, both singer-songwriters, and absolutely wonderful people. I’m here to see Charles de Lint play music, and to tell him that his writing has inspired me and to ask if I can please send him a recording of a song I wrote based on one of his short stories. It is so cool to meet one of my heroes, and he says he would like to hear the song. The music is wonderful and the room is full twinkle. There’s a fiddler playing from Nova Scotia, and the guy beside me goes up to sing a couple of his own tunes as well. I’d never gotten the draw some people feel to Ottawa, but I think I got a taste that night.

The next day I hiked to Montreal, where I spent the weekend with my friends, and my mom and dad who were there for a film shoot for their documentary on democracy. Sunday we gathered at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, where I filled in for a missing alto on a text setting of one of Robert Frost’s poems. I love the sound of human voices together. The shoot went smoothly. Today I caught a rideshare home and now I am back in Toronto.

Tomorrow I start a job! A real job, where I have hours and have to show up on time and stuff. I’ll be telemarketing for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and as much as I love the symphony I have to admit I am a little bit anxious about spending hours on the phone calling people. But I’m crossing my fingers that it will be okay, and at the very least it will be nice to have enough money to be able to go once in awhile. Aubrey and I went to see Bruckner 8 the other week and the experience was pretty awesome.

By The Sea preview

A song inspired by my hometown. If you listen carefully you can hear crickets in the background, especially in the quiet parts. I never would have thought we’d hear crickets chirping in the middle of the desert, but there you go. I guess those critters can live anywhere.

You can also download the song here.

edit: friends have also pointed out that I should mention that a professionally mixed and mastered version of this song will be on the album, and that I will send you a copy in the mail when it’s all done for a donation of $20 or more. I really must get better at this self-promotion thing. But YES, donations are still welcome and very much accepted, and also thank you! once again to everyone who has helped out so far. <3

OPETH

A friend invited me to an Opeth concert tonight, and I decided to go along, though I had never heard them before. Mind you, I was told that it would BLOW MY MIND, so it’s hard to turn down something like that.

Not surprisingly, it was AWESOME. How have I never heard this kind of music until now? I love the unabashed use of dissonance, the floating melodic lines, the energy. For years I worried my music was so dark it became cheesy, but these guys clearly don’t give a shit and that rocks. They’re also incredible players, so even if you don’t like the music you’ve really got to marvel at what they’re doing.

So naturally I want to sing in a metal band now. Anyone want to do a side project? Just a few songs since I don’t think I’ll be in Toronto all that long. I’ll play keys and sing (I can learn the growly thing I reckon, or we can have two singers), need guitar, bass, drums? That would be some serious fun.

conversations I’ve had with my brother recently over chat

no really, it’s just silliness.

——

These messages were sent while you were offline. Apr 25 (1 day ago)

8:39 PM andre: you on?
8:43 PM shut up!

——–

andre to me Apr 25 (1 day ago)

Fine… be a jerk.

Don’t be online and don’t answer your phone.

See if I care…

…

Fine, I do care.

Shutup.

——–

andre to me 3:25 PM (7 hours ago)

3:25 PM andre: what you doin
me: on my way out the door
andre: bye!
hehe
good talk
me: hahaha ok bye!
haha yeah totally

things work out

All the beautiful moments and wonderful people I met in San Diego only made it harder to leave. I’m still kind of reeling from the experience. Thanks to all of you for making my time there special.

I flew out early on Tuesday morning in a tiny Cessna 172SP. I posted an ad on craigslist on the off chance that somebody would be going that way when I needed to go, and when I got a reply from someone saying he could fly me there for about the same cost as a rideshare, I couldn’t believe it. The only catch was that we could only fly weather permitting, so there was some uncertainty. Fortunately skies were blue and by about 7am we were checked and fueled up and ready to take off.

The pilot, Freddy, is also a musician and we had lots to talk about. I felt at ease pretty much right away, and I can totally see now how people get addicted to flying. It didn’t even occur to me a week ago that I might wind up with both an amazing new experience and the most convenient lift to El Centro I could possibly have asked for.

Now I am home and getting settled in again. Even though it’s cold and dreary it feels great to be here. Truth be told I was pretty homesick while I was away. A few friends from Montreal passed through last night as well so it’s been kind of nonstop action even now that I’m back. I am SO TIRED OH MY GOD. I still have to process everything that’s happened in the last six weeks – once I get a moment to rest I will take the time to go over everything and get a sense of where I am artistically. Lots to do still but I’m feeling motivated and inspired and ready to take on the rest of this project on my own.

craigslist adventures!

I’ve been house and cat sitting for some friends in San Diego, so I was pretty much left to my own devices for the weekend. Not really knowing anyone, I made some friends online, signed up to do some volunteer work and let the the universe send me what it may.

I met a screenwriter and ex-street performer who turned out to be a very kindred spirit. We walked along Mission Beach wading in the Pacific, talking about writing and art and living the good life. Later we jumped around in the waves, bonded over our love for dancing (we’re both lindy hoppers) and talked about missing the French language since moving to an Anglophone community. So many beautiful moments.

Saturday morning I volunteered for a few hours at the Little Italy Farmer’s Market, instructing pedestrians to cross the street at the corners so traffic could still move more or less freely. It was a sunny day with fantastic people-watching, I ate a delicious crepe and then picked up some fruit and juice with coupons they give the volunteers as a little thank-you token.

I think I’m going to make a point to do volunteer work in the cities I find myself in from now on. It’s such a rewarding way to meet people and give back when you don’t know anyone or have a lot of money.

I also went sailing with another new friend and his pet iguana, which was also wonderful. It was a relaxing sail with mostly modest winds, good conversation and a few stops at various beaches along the way. Lexie the iguana clearly enjoyed the fresh air and the thrill of being on the water. I couldn’t agree more.

I’m sunburnt as hell and totally exhausted but I figure I can sleep when I get back to Toronto. Jasmine and Scott get back today and I’m really looking forward to seeing them again. In the meantime, I am working on mixing the tracks we got completed and taking a nap.