Here in Toronto, there's Capsule Music on Queen St., and even for those who know nothing about musical gear, this place is just gorgeous. Easily one of the high points here in town.
As if that weren't enough coolness for one post, there's a place which simply cannot go without mentioning. Ok, it's not in the GTA, but it's cool for (at least) two very important reasons. First, in addition to selling vintage instruments, they make their own guitars. Which are used by some very hip people, by the way.
Second, they're family. Visit my cousin at Philly's Di Pinto Guitars... and don't forget to check out his photo page.
This weekend is probably the closest Canada will get to a Feriadao, which is the Brazilian "long-weekend holiday." Today it seemed as if everyone was outside in the sun, so I went for a stroll on crowded Queen St., followed by a movie.
Which, by the way, was the new Charlies Angels flick. I'll see just about anything, and that's exactly what I was doing... watching something I suspected I'd hate. Well, it's great. It's a dumb, slapsticky action movie with an extreme overdose of special effects. Still, it works. Because no one is taking themselves seriously. Like Pee Wee Herman.
In Lhama land, there's a one man band, and he'll toot his flute for you.
No matter how exciting new music sounds, no matter how talented I perceive my generation of musical artists as being, I always come back to the older music. I'm made to feel at home around Stevie, Frankie, Tom, Jimi and John. And although they may be old, yes, because they were recorded decades ago, none of their music has lost it's edge.
You just say the words. And we'll beat the birds down to Acapulco Bay.
Breaking in my new sneakers is turning out to be brutal.
Today was another insanely warm day, and I'm hearing things will cool down for the weekend. I'll believe it when I see it.
I saw the fantastic showing of Norma's film today. Very well received by the audience. Everything just clicked.
And I just got back from a great session recording guitars, both acoustic and electric, with bgm. Absolutely amazing solo on Garage. Totally demented! Editing should begin next week...
No, a fan that blows wind at me. Like, I'm melting, so it's become a basic necessity.
Anyway, ultra blogger and little tiny person Carmela, also known as meltoni, is rapidly becoming a celebrity in the Blogging world. Now she's been featured in Chuck Olsen'sBlogumentary, so she's a movie star as well. Congratulations Carmela. :)
Woke up at 7:45 to a beautiful day. Not a single cloud. Nice breeze.
It didn't start out an incredibly warm day, at least not from the perspective of a guy who's spent countless summers melting in the intense heat of Porto Alegre, but people were out in the water and I spent four hours on the beach (mostly sleeping).
But… during the afternoon things got really hot. Reeaally hot. And as I walked from one shaded area to the next, my only thoughts were of soon being back in Brazil. Not that I’m looking for excuses, it’s just that the weather was a good motivation.
Anyway, this morning I thought I was seeing things... like, seeing snow. It turns out that Turkey Point has many poplar trees. They give off this cottony white stuff when the wind blows. It looks like it's SNOWING. On the beach. Very nice.
I’m home now, and today was warm here in town as well. :(
Today started off pretty fun, but as soon as we arrived in Port Dover, things got sad. Gray skies, cold breeze. It's the Arctic Curse that follows me around. We went for a boat ride where the tour guide basically showed us how much nothing there is to see in town. And then I went to the hotel for a nap.
We're not staying in Port Dover. The hotel is in a tiny town called Turkey Point. I have yet to see any turkeys.
Later, the Arctic Curse got weaker. Today is officially the first day of summer, so that may have helped. When I woke up from my nap there were blue skies and better temperatures. I took a nice walk along the shore, then we went to a nearby town called Simcoe (hey, I know a cat with that name). I bought some MiniDisc media and some new headphones.
We then went out for dinner at a Danish place. Super steak and great raspberry mousse.
Hopefully tomorrow will be a hot summer day. Let's see...
The last time I experienced intensive listening like I am with this MD - and I'm referring to my old cassette walkman - was in 1990. Since then, I've been listening in my car or at home, usually on great monitors. And I've been missing out on something really cool.
Like some type of LSD flashback, it's all coming back to me.
* Having music with me as I moved about my whereabouts really impressed certain experiences on me. As proof, I have great memories of my trip to Taxco, to New Milford, my trip in Salvador and of shuttling back and forth between Philly and Cape May in the summer.
* There's no denying that I've changed as well. I found myself comparing snare sounds in between Police recordings, and I can swear I heard a really bad edit on Embassy Row. It's not that I'm looking for trouble. These things just jump out at me. So that's certainly a negative point.
* I'm really impressed at how small and light my new toy is.
I wish my Internet access extended to long road trips. Not that it would be impossible, it's just that my particular cell phone is so new it doesn't have a data kit on the market yet. So I write offline.
I'm going to the beach. The beach is on a lake, but from what I've seen until now, you wouldn't know it wasn't the ocean if someone didn't tell you. Still, I have yet to see this one particular place. It's called Port Dover.
I'm listening to my cool new MD. No, this isn't the same disk I was recording yesterday. It's a mix of some cool rock and electronica, and I'm listening to the now ultra-mainstream Coldplay. I'd love to sound a little cooler and say I'm listening to Parachutes, but no, it's their current album.
Breakfast was at 8am, at a Burger King. They have an incredible Croissant sandwich that tastes like airplane food (the kind people eat, not the kind fed to airplanes).
So I went out got a portable music player. I just had to take my MP3s with me.
I walked down College St. checking all the little computer shops. First place offers me an iPod. Ha. I just said "no thanks."
Next place has a host of little gadgets. But I'm not looking for a portable HD, at least not now. I want something with removable media, something that can recording the field, and something from a manufacturer I can trust. The little gadgets are all from really dangerous companies. I keep looking.
But I reach the last place on College (ok, the last one in sight) and nothing catches my eye. The salesperson offers me a cd player with MP3 capabilities. "It's cheap," he says. I consider it. "Nah," I answer, as ambition gets the best of me.
So I stand outside on the sidewalk, looking up and asking for some divine intervention. I'm going to the beach tomorrow, and I need something to listen to music. And although the laptop goes with me, I not getting into the lugging...
No answer from above, but I notice an approaching streetcar. I jump in and ask if he goes to Yonge St. (yes, I'm still a newbie here). He does. I jump in, getting off in electronics land.
On Yonge it's a whole other ballgame: no computer shops, but a whole mess of audio/video/photo shops, like the cheesy places that line Broadway around 56th Street. This is where Flavio got his Fuji digital camera.
So, once again, I hit the road. Soon, I'm turned on to the MiniDisc walkman, the NetMD thingees. The MZNE410 looks cool, but it apparently doesn't do analog recording. The next model they had was more expensive than my camcorder. I keep looking.
The very last place I go to is the same place the Fuji camera was bought at. The owners are Middle Eastern, so I give them my negotiating face and tell them what I want. They pull out an MZN505. "It's last years model, and it does everything the 410 does, but it records analog."
I'm now hugging the device, which didn't help my negotiating very much. But I'm happy to hear this NetMD is very cheap. They're trying to get rid of it in fact.
So I'm the happy owner of a very tiny, very cool Minidisc Recorder. And it sounds good, because I fully expected the ATRAC (and, yes, the horrid MDLP) compression.
So I'm listening to my Sinatra collection, basking in his amazing singing. Along with Frank, my first MD is going to include some Tom (Jobim), Joao (Gilberto) and his groovy ex-wife, a little Sergio (Mendez) and a touch of the King.
Back to the discussion groups. I'd forgotten how fun good old RAP (rec.audio.pro) was. All the same people I remembered are there. And yes, it sure does beat Recording.org. In Canada, Tribe has an electronica-oriented producers forum that can be fun.
It would be cool to get something like this up and running on a national level in Brazil.
I would do this at least 2 times a week back in POA
Yes, the churrasco was amazing. Exactly the way it tastes out on "Jardim da Micose" beach. And I ate way too much. And I went to sleep moaning for the churrasco to go away.
I woke up today without any specific memory of the ordeal, and had two excellent movie-related meetings. On the way back from meeting #2, some little restaurants had a soccer match with the Brazilian team on their TVs. I walked by an excellent Mexican place called Mexitaco, and two small Ethiopean places.
Almost home, and I stopped to buy some groceries for dinner.
Beaches and lots of grass and trees. Great artery-clogging junk food (cheese steaks, hoagies and funnel cake). Dogs everywhere. And this nutty cat kept bugging me, but when I'd pet it, it would run off.
Did I mention summer has arrived? I'm sure it'll get even warmer, but
today was very nice. Maybe even too nice. In fact, I'm starting to think
about winter again.
I biked out to the islands, then biked alot once I was there. My bike
seat is simply torture. And my legs ache.
Nice meeting this morning at my local bakery. Had some coffee and discussed a cool short film soundtrack I'll be working on next week. Tomorrow I get together with the DOP and the editor, along with the director. Very fun stuff, especially when the project is interesting and offers alot of creative liberty...
Two new releases which I've been listening to. Radiohead's "Hail to the Thief" and The New Pornographers' "Electric Version."
Two excellent albums from ultra creative bands... Radiohead have come up with the only thing I really like from them since "OK Computer." They're still moody and very dynamic. And the music is back to actually sounding like songs. Cool.
And if I liked "Mass Romantic"... well, you can imagine what I think of "Electric Version." Signed to Matador (and Canada's Mint) Records, The New Pornographers are now more energetic and, dare I say, making music that's even more interesting than on their debut. Good things do get better.
Lurking in
the bushes in Niagara Falls, New York, are the Big Ears. Hailing from a
far-off South American city, the Big Ears now try to fit in. In this
country, there are the square Phone Booths. There is no place for the
Big Ear. He is sad.
I had to come down to the American side of Niagara Falls to get some decent weather. Ok, this is the same person who loves temperatures ranging from -23 to -40. But recently, I’ve been yearning for some warm weather. And it hasn’t been happening for me in Toronto, where things are chilly even for Spring standards.
It’s always great to get back to the States. No matter how convinced I am that Canada is very similar to the US, every time I come back I’m stunned at how different it feels. Today, in the hotel elevator, some guy jumped in and we chatted for a few seconds. On the way out, his reply to my “takideasy” was, “have a good one.” That’s gotta be an ultra-American expression. No?
From the Canadian side of Niagara, the American side looks very dull. Actually, it looks like there isn’t anything worth visiting over here. And that’s almost the case. But, believe it or not, the falls over on this side are amazing. The town isn’t great at all by the way. Walked into their “Seneca Casino” today. Totally unappealing. Actually, I can see the Casino from my tenth-floor hotel room. Couldn’t they have hired someone from Atlantic City to design this thing?
Looking at the Canadian side from over here, however, is way different. Looks beautiful. And the city itself is really nice. It’s more extravagant, more colorful.
Let me get back to describing my hotel room. I’m staying at a Travelodge. Now, my memory had registered this hotel as being ok, on the same level with the Holiday and Comfort Inns. It’s not. In fact, it’s the crummiest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. It’s tiny, old, the walls are stained, the bathroom is tiny, it has FLUORESCENT lighting, and the air conditioning comes in two modes: “off” and “arctic.”
The hotel itself looked beautiful on expedia. But it’s just horrible. And I’ll bet it’s haunted. If any hotel, anywhere, were haunted, it would be this one here.
Let me change the subject to something more positive.
I shot about an hour of great nerdy sightseeing video today. Took about 150 pictures. Got bit by a trillion mosquitoes.
Tried desperately to find an Internet café, asking for information at five hotels, the disgraceful casino, and the Hard Rock Cafe.
Where I ended up having dinner. Montreal Strip Steak (this is New York state, so I guess New York Strip Steak is just too unexceptional), Strawberry Cheese Cake and some Merlot. To knock me out, helping to negate the hotel room. Of course I’m wide awake typing away here.
Which brings me back to the hotel. I was downstairs waiting for the elevator. I watch the panel light up with it’s position, blinking as it shifts to the next floor. It’s at the 12th floor. 11. 10. 9. Lobby.
It jumped eight floors, just like that. Instantly. Ok, so I think, “I must be seeing things.” So, later, it does it again, just this time from the 11th to the Lobby. Now every time I’m riding in that thing I pray for no sudden drops…
So it’s eleven o’clock and I’m listening to “I Want You” (Beatles), and before that, Sting’s “Secret Marriage.” I need a portable mp3 player bad. So bad. It’s drivin’ me mad. I mean, I actually considered hauling my laptop to my sightseeing walk (which ended up lasting 4 hours) just to listen to music. Thank goodness I came to my senses. Just imagine me lugging around a backpack with a lumpy laptop, while wearing my enormous mdr7506 headphones over my head. Wouldn’t that be cool… the weight alone would have me back at Hotel Creepy in twenty minutes.
So, that pretty much sums up this little adventure of mine. Lamb’s “Small” is putting me to sleep. Goodnight.
Summer up here is going to be nostalgic for me. And it's because I miss all those summers in Newtown and Cape May. Today's warm weather had me thinking of catching fireflies with my grandmother in her backyard. Or heading out to Goodnoes for an Atomic Sundae. Those were good times.
I've been drinking more coffee than usual. Today, a double espresso at Starbucks. Followed by a chilled coffee thing which I usually wouldn't have, but it had chocolate in it, so what the heck...
My first instinct was to delete it. But it did say something about being a music service by mp3.com, about unlimited mp3 downloads and cd burning. I resisted the second urge to delete after reading "high quality, crystal clear mp3s," and went for it.
Emusic. Benefiting from the mistakes of the competition, mp3.com puts together a system where you can download as many mp3s as you'd like, with no security system in place to stop you from doing pretty much the same thing you do with Kazaa. Hey, they're the ones saying it. It's "very simple -- we trust our customers. We believe that if downloadable music is presented in an inexpensive and flexible way, most consumers will do the right thing."
In fact, their terms of use are so ridiculously simple that it basically makes it clear that you're free to do whatever you want.
Is this some form of controlled chaos? An attempt at a realistic, "legal" and broadly appealing alternative to Kazaa and co.?
Ok, they don't say they have the "largest music catalog," and that's basically because they don't. In fact, they offer approximately the same amount of songs as iTunes does. Still, no bootlegs or hard to get versions of songs, like you'd find on P2Ps.
What really got me was that "EMusic splits all of the profits from membership fees 50/50 with the label or artist." No flat, per song rate? What a deal for Emusic.
Ok, so I test it. I hit search for "The Flaming Lips." I get a long list of cool bands that sound like the flaming lips... but no flaming lips. At the bottom of the page, an explanation:
"Still can't find it? Here's why:
EMusic has partnerships with hundreds of established labels and artists who want to offer their music inexpensively and conveniently in the MP3 format. Since downloadable music is still relatively new, many artists and labels have not released their music in this format."
So it's not perfect. But it still blows away most, if not all, the competition. This is sooo close to what I (and you) really need... it actually causes some thought on the issue of "illegal downloading" because now the benefits acquired through payment are close to those you get for free. And it's ten bucks a month.
Great spring party at Rob's. The fact that spring seems to have forgotten us, and winter doesn't want to let go, didn't stop us from having a great time. Rob's group, Roar, gave a quick and amazing performance.
Went for a quick ride around Beaches today. This is me taking touristy pictures of myself again.
In Lhama land, there's a one man band, and he'll toot his flute for you.
Picked up some really heavy flyers today. So it's 
