Pauleywood

Some Music to enjoy.

2011-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

It's a Shame was one of a few hit's that Motown group the Detroit Spinners had in the 60's and early 70's. Probably their biggest hit and also an early indication of the songwriting talent of Stevie Wonder who wrote the song for the group with then-fiance Syreeta Wright. Some more info on the song can be found here.

Moving into Sports, it is interested to look at the attendance figures for NHL and compare them across the board with NBA games. In Vancouver we hear no end of talk about how bad the NHL is doing against the other big sports in the U.S.A. Well if you look at the numbers between the NHL and NBA (the closest thing to compare to) the NHL looks pretty good. In the NBA the Bulls are averaging 21,500 fans a game through the first 30 games or so. At the bottom we have the Nets averaging around 13,000. In the NHL we have the Canadiens averaging 21,200 with the NYI (who are wose than dirt) at 10,000. In the NHL we have 12 teams operating at 100% (or over) for Capacity with another 7 teams at 95% or higher. In the NBA only 7 teams reach the magic 100% with 7 teams hitting in and around the 95% mark. Now this doesn't go into the Television ratings or ticket prices and such, but it's a encouraging sign to see, particularly in a lot of U.S. markets like Chicago, Philly, and Minnesota that the NHL is beating it's NBA cousins. Keep up the good work. This article appeared about a month ago on the yahoo blog.

Looking Back on 2010

2011-01-03T04:00:00.001-08:00

As a Canadian and especially as a Vancouverite, 2010 was memorable for the obvious little function that happened in February. The 2010 Winter Olympics were here in Vancouver and Canada proceeded to do what they never could do before....Win! That's right, Canadian athletes not only won gold on home soil for the first time ever (a long time embarassment for us) but proceeded to win a record 14 Gold medals for a single Winter Olympics. That's pretty good. Now I know Canada didn't win the most medals overall, but the debate starts with how do you judge a victor? I think the benchmark is total Gold not medals, not to mention the Americans have 10 times as many people as us.

Canada brought it in music too. You may not like these artists or you may love em, the fact is Canada tore it up on a lot of levels. Call it the Candian invasion.....we had some critically aclaimed acts make international inroads this year like Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, Shad, and Caribou. K-Os and K'Naan were pretty large this year, with K'Naan's Wavin Flag becoming the official song for the Fifa World Cup. Drake was one of the biggest mainstream artists in any genre to drop all year. The Arcarde Fire hit #1 on the Billboard Charts and continued to cement their critical legacy with the Suburbs hitting most of the best of lists for the year. Michael Buble is still holding it down for the wet coast. Deadmaus, was the year's electronic sensation. It's not hard to say that in just about every genre of music Canada held it's own and more on the international stage. And of course there is Justin Beiber......love him or hate him he was everywhere for teen girls to oggle over. Definitely not my steez but little girls need there cute sex symbols just like guys need their Playboy magazines....or something like that. Either way Canada rocked in whatever you wanted....we provided. Your Welcome.

Which brings me to my little rant and it's about a month too late. The Grey Cup in this country had BTO perform at the halftime show. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't they play there a few years ago, and didn't the Guess Who also play not too long ago. With all the talent Canada is serving up do we really have to drag out these old fossils for the official party. Some variety would be nice....heck even Rush would be a welcome change. It seems that if we decide to do anything offical its BTO, Spirit of the West, Blue Rodeo (whom I quite like) and Loverboy. Give us K-Os, give us the Arcade Fire, give us the Tragically Hip, give us K'Naan, Rush, and Shad.....let's give the old horses a rest. and no we don't want Simple Plan or Hedley either....I'd rather take 48 hours in an isolation chamber with Nickelback cranked to 11 than have them represent my country at one of these events. Peace...til next time. Happy 2011.......long life for all and the end of the 15 minutes for Kesha and Gaga.

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

2010-10-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

Is out for the general public in all good record shops and Itunes on October 12th but that doesn't mean that you have to wait to hear exactly what Mr. Stevens has been doing for the past 5 odd year since the release of his last "proper" album Illinoise. You can listen to the album here.

Essentially to sum up the record it is an egcentric mix of electronic sounds, skittering drum loops, and casio lines with the classic layered instrumentation that defined his classic work on Michigan and Illinoise. It's a bit hard to chew and will definitely divide fans over it's merits. For some it'll be a little too straighforward (I heard a few people compare the single "I Walked" to Owl City), and yet for others too eclectic (If you can even use that term in comparison to his past work). A lot of people would be happy to see Illionoise Pt 2 (or was that Avalanche). Sorry, but Illinoise it ain't, but it's still a very good record. I heard one person call this Sufjans Kid A if Illinoise was his Ok Computer. Lastly 11 songs ranging from 2 to 25 minutes might make this an daunting task.

Futile Devices
Might be the prettiest thing on here. A simple guitar loop is augmented by a piano and nice vocals. The only knock against it is that it is too short at 2:13. I would of be nice to see him build this up a little more. 8/10

Too Much
The electronic production begins here with watery blips and casio synths layered over the loop. It's a nice song but with a melody similar to fireflies by Owl City isn't gonna help to prevent unfair comparisons. There is just too much (forgive the pun) here to dismiss as teeno (teen/emo) pop, particularly at the end when he launches the whole arrangement into outer space (perhaps literally). 7/10

The Age of Adz
An epic journey through the career of Sufjan. The drum loops and synth blips are here, but this is secondary to the horns, epic angelic vocals, and whatever else Sufjan throws into 8 minutes of epic chamber pop. Can't really describe it more than that, you gotta listen. 10/10

I Walked
The lead single that was released a month ago. It's a fine song....catchy enough. It's pretty straightforward for a Sufjan song with a basic electronic loop and Sufjan vocalizing over top. 6/10

Now That I'm Older
I think classic Disney cartoons like Bambi when I here this....especially with the vocals floating over the top of the arrangement. Then Sufjan warps it into a lament so perhaps Bambi and Thumper just met their maker. 8/10

Get Real, GetRight
Another electronic track with nice flourishes over the top. Let's face it, if you don't like what you've heard so far there isn't gonna be too much here to convince you otherwise. I'm looking for a hook on this and can't really find it....it just kind of meanders on. The scenesters will eat it up. 5/10

Bad Communication
Not much happens here really and I'm kind of glad it's only 2:24. A skip track for me. Think "I Walked" slowed down and no drum loop with freaky vocals around it. 3/10

Vesuvius
A nice acoustic number that builds the electronic elements in later to compliment it. Helps to restore the album after the past two weaker songs. 8/10

All For Myself
I really like this song, so much that I may sample the opening choral. Still very electronic but a great hook, melody, and wonderful acoustic elements make this memorable. 10/10

I Want to be Well
The drums although heavily distorted drive the song forward which makes this a nice and lively number. It would be nice if a hook was here. I really don't understand what is wrong with having nice hooks in a song....are we afraid of selling out or something. The build at the end is very good. 8/10

Impossible Soul
At 25 minutes this is more of a mini-suite rather than a song. It meanders through electric pop, to lush synth melodies, to balladry, to a full blown scenester rave up, before settling into a nice acoustic ending. Hard to rate it on first listen because it's a mammoth of a thing. I will say it held my interest for most of it, which is a plus. 7/10

So in whole "The Age of Adz" is an interesting listen. One that might not totally come together on one, two, or even a dozen listens....if at all. I like the album from a first listen overall, but I'm not in love with it. Credit to Sufjan for trying to do different things with this album and such and when it works....more often than not it's a great ride. 7/10

It's been a summer!

2010-09-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

......and summer mainstay T.V show Entourage wrapped up it's final episode of season 7 last night and was it a doozy. For those of you that have yet to see it, or are still working on the series ***warning spoilers***.

Anyway, with season 7 down and one shortened season 8 to go I'm not sure how we are gonna pull out of the behemoth of a gutter that Vincent Chase and his entourage are in at the moment. Between Vincent, Eric, and Ari there are some serious questions left unresolved, but lets at least focus on the positives for the season.

Throughout the series it seems that Johnny Drama has had opportunity, only to through it away on stupid decisions. The guy that should know better has been, at times, the most unfocused, immature, and self centered. Well in season 7 Drama had a lot of growing up to do and did so admirably. So much so that I actually like the guy, which was hard for me to do during seasons 1-6. He's been cast in a potential hit cartoon show and, where it seems responsibility is totally lacking in Vincent's situation, is actually the guy who shows the most genuine concern over his brother's personal problems. He's the one that organizes the intervention and the one to come to his defence at the eminem party. I see him continuing to be his own man in season 8 with possibly a relationship in the works (courtesy of Eric's secretary Jennie). With season 1 having him as a broke out of work actor living off of Vince's charity, these two characters are in strong position to switch roles when the show wraps after season 8.

Although, I wondered about the storyline Turtle has had room to flex his business savvy and it seems for the time being all is well, with his Tequila business prospects being saved and in a relationship with hottie Alex. Of course in the interest of drama he will find some way to screw it up in season 8, but for now all is good.

You thought all was well for Eric come season 6, but all is not right with E after the events of season 7. Vince's troubles not-withstanding, the guy has been pulled into a turf war at his place of employment. His storyline ends with him agreeing to participate in a company coup, something that I have a feeling will backfire come season 8. Not to mention his relationship with Sloan is on some rocky ground after she let slip about Vince's problems to her father (Ari's former boss Terrance).

Ari has taken blow after blow this year as we see him on top of the world episode 1, and a complete wreck of a man come the finale. Through mostly no fault of his own forces have conspired to strike at what Ari prizes the most, his family. Last night we see Ari and Mrs. Ari on the verge of splitting, with Mrs. Ari needing some time away. I see reconciliation in the future but it looks like he gonna have to choose between his empire of an agency and his family. Not to mention Vince's problems that overshadow the entire story arc.

Unlike Ari whose unfortunate turn of events was largely outside of his control, Vince's problems have been entirely self-inflicted and is a question of how fast can you throw your career away. Unlike the previous Vince career crisis in season 5, in which he was dealing with professional insecurities, this season has focused more on the personal. Vince has always had his issues mind you, he parties a little too hard and sleeps with just about any girl he meets but this is different. Vince was always the cool one able to be calm and relaxed through any circumstance. This year we saw him slowly go unhinged to the point of very serious issues now affect his personal and professional career.

On the personal side, we see Vince's drug habit spiralling out of control through the season. Again he's smoked his weed and done shrooms in the past, but this is different. It clearly seems that he's got a problem with Cocaine and also a serious drinking problem to. I do feel that on a personal side that his issue may well be an odd play out of the empty nest syndrome. Vince was always the guy to his friends (entourage), the provider, the de-facto leader (even though E was his manager). During the past few season we've seen Eric become a player in Hollywood management outside of Vince's career (not to mention he is getting married), Johnny star on a hit T.V. show, Turtle open his own business, and even Ari becoming a huge star in the agent game. When he has his pissy fit "screaming you guys need me more than I need you" in last night's episode, it is really the exact opposite. He really is asking "were are you guys when I need you". Of course Vince is too much the man to admit it, and all his abandonment issues he soaks up with Tequila and Coke to the point where he realises in his warped moving star sense that all is not right. The question is whether or not it's too late.

On the professional side we see Vince covered in blood after getting his ass handed to him by Eminem in a fight hence seriously putting his film project Airwalker (a movie that would have been Vince's biggest payday) in jeopardy. The cocaine issue has now involved the law as Vince is busted for coke. With the mess of things to clear up he has just blacklisted himself in Hollywood for a very long time, not to mention possible jail time. This story could play itself out on many different levels. Best outcome is that Vince rises up from the ashes and becomes an A list actor/movie star again. Worst outcome is we find Vince dead in a hotel room Ala Heath Ledger. I tend to think that it will end up somewhere in the middle in that Vince loses his star appeal and becomes an ordinary guy again, but realizes that his friends are all there for them because they are friends and not hangers on.

So for future predictions to where the cast will be come the final episode of season 8.

Drama - Will be the buzz of the television world as his new cartoon "Johnny's Bananas" becomes a huge success leading to a lucrative career in voice work, and he will also get his own late night show. Not to mention he will sell part of his stake in "Johnny Drama's Pub" in Queen's to Turtle.

Turtle - Will lose his investment in Avion Tequila though some shady business dealings with Mark Cuban and eventually take the money and become partners with Drama in the Pub business.

Eric - I just sense that Eric will be the best off. He will continue to be Drama's manager through all of his success and will marry Sloan. The business coup will be partially unsuccessful but Eric and new business partner Scott Lavin will form a new management group that will be successful.

Ari - Will sell out his stake in Millar-Gold for a large sum of money realizing that power does not match a loving family. He will reconcile with his wife and kids and go into semi-retirement...while working as a consultant for Eric on the side.

Vince - Will sober up and realize who his friends are. He will also go into retirement and find a nice girl and settle down. Possibly he finds religion in the process too. With that he ends up working as a bartender in "Dramas" and living off whatever money he has left from his acting career....biding his time until he can make his comeback (that will be for the movie).

as for the bit players

Lloyd will be at Millar Gold and eventually become the new head of the TV department thanks to Johnny's success.

Billy Walsh will become a very successful film director again and will at some point be instrumental in orchestrating Vince's comeback with a juicy role in a successful film.

Vancouver 2010 DVD set review

2010-09-09T00:40:00.000-07:00

So here it is. A Chance to relive memories of february when the world came to my hometown. For a slick 60CAD you can purchase this 5 DVD set and keep this memento of perhaps the most exciting event to come to this part of the world since Expo 86.

I have yet to watch a lot of it, but it is nice to see Charles Hamlin winning double gold, or Jasey Jay Anderson. I will point out some caution before you decide whether or not to buy.

1.) Performances are heavily edited involving generally Canadians in contention and immediate competition. I actually didn't mind this too much because really do we want to see some Joe Somebodyvich from Latvia skiing moguls (prolly not). However they could have given the Canadians a little more screen time in the process. Whole races/events are explained in a matter of seconds with the pivotal gold medal matchup the only thing shown in full a lot of the time (and sometimes not even that). With all the focus they seem to give on the medal ceremony, can they maybe edit a minute or two out of that and show us a few more minutes of the actual event?

2.) If your buying it for opening and closing ceremonies BE WARNED. Again the opening ceremonies are heavily edited. I haven't seen the closing ceremonies yet, btu I'm sure it is heavily edited as well. Again can we forego the pomp and circumstance of speeches and Canada "Blah" this and "Blah" that and actually show more of the actual performance. The only place where the edits actually worked in favour of the viewer was during the always tedious Parade of Nations. Also no commentary (not even an option).

3.) No skips or chapter split on the events. This is especially true during the opening and closing ceremonies. Edited as they are, they still each come in at around an hour, a long time for no chapter breaks, particularly if West Coast First Nations dancing really is not your thing.

4.) The opening theme song. You know the one by that nice teenage girl with the killer voice. Love or hate the song, you'll have it played to death both in fanfare format, and in pop version. I understand it's your network song, but can we not have it beaten to death on every menu option or in every highlights package.

With the nostalgia factor pretty high for Canadians and especially Vancouverites, this DVD set will bring back warm memories either way and sell loads of copies. It's too bad however that CTV took the scissors to the tape and edited a lot of the life out of it. If they were so concered with time constrants on each disc they should of added an extra disc. The opening and closing ceremonies are the most disapointing of the proceedings and if your buying for that purpose along I would say pass and see if you can find a nice torrent to download the full broadast. Here is hoping that an unedited version is around the corner.

Nostalgia Factor A+
DVD Package D

Random Bits and Pieces of Information

2010-07-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

Taking summer off has been a little interesting. Actually I've been busy working and really haven't had the time to collect my thoughts together for the blog. Short posts would be good I know but I get these grandiose Ideas about what I want to post but can't really seem to get them together. Anyways, a few things about what has been on my radar for the summer so far and what is to come.

Summer means a new season of Entourage, which I think is brilliant for several reasons. One, the guest cameos it has from everybody in the business and the stereotypes it allows them to work with. For instance the recurring guest spots that Seth Green pulls on the show playing an asshole incarnation of himself are great (I don't know, maybe he really is an asshole in real life). Last weeks episode with John Stamos and Johnny Drama going at it in Ping Pong was awesome because I used to love Full House as a kid and will always love Ping Pong.

The other reason why I love the show is that the wide variety of music that they use is great. I have discovered some great music just by watching the show. Clearly the guys responsible for clearing the music have a clue. Even if it is poppy music, the music seems to fit the mood at all times.

The only thing that has never happened yet is the fact that a Vincet Chase sex tape has never leaked. You figure that with the amount of ass thing guy gets that a sex tape episode dealing with the PR fallout would be a must. Well, wait no more because apparently an upcoming episode in season 7 will deal with a encounter of an explicit nature involving Mr. Chase and porn star Sasha Gray.

Slum Village's latest album has just been release and in sparing listens so far it is good. Slum Village has been the group that just couldn't cut a break. Flashback 12 or so year when I first started hearing about this dude Jay Dee who had produced the Pharcyde and Tribe Called Quest. Then Fantastic Volume 2 drops and I am hooked. Jay Dee (now going by Dilla) bails shortly after and the tumultuous history of Slum Village descends further into chaos. Original members freak out and go crazy, Dilla and Baatin both pass away within a matter of years of each other. It might be on of the saddest tales in Hip Hop, but they endured to leave us a legacy of 6 great albums with Villa Manifesto (with contribution from all the members past and present, living and desceased here) just dropped. Gonna peep it this weekend.

Anyways, that's all I got. Peace til next time.

The Drake Dilemma

2010-06-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Is there room in this world to appreciate Drake for what he is? Is he good, ok, terrible...etc. I've heard many things to describe him from those attacking his street cred to his singing style to his rapping style, but I have also heard begrudged respect coming from all corners of the underground.

So is liking Drake a question of selling out or did something happening to the mainstream to move it closer to the underground. I don't know, all I know is that Drake released a pretty good album....or at the very least an interesting listen.

So what about this mainstream vs. underground mentality. Well the two exist on opposite ends of the spectrum. If a certain style of hip hop is common that generally means that another style is being marginalized and therefore "underground". The fact that the underground is a response to what is happening in the mainstream seals the deal. If singing/moody hip hop is mainstream then lyrically focused old school beats hip hop will be underground. If mainstream is about money and hoes, then the underground is about broke/no girls. I know this sounds pretty dumbed down and it is to a certain extent, but you get the idea i'm saying.

So does Drake suck because he is mainstream and as someone in the underground we are programmed to hate the mainstream, or does Drake suck simply because he sucks. One thing I know for sure....he's got a few underground heads thinking.

Ranking the U2 albums

2010-06-13T22:44:00.001-07:00

Hard for me because I think all of them are great so don't get mad if your favourite is not ranked highly or whatever. It doesn't mean it sucks or anything.

Great

Achtung Baby: Spin ranked this album #1 for best albums of the last 25 years over Nevermind and Ok Computer. At the time U2 was washed up, your older sibling's group. Then this drops with it's industrial edge and electronic tendancies and still holds up today. It has perhaps the greatest U2 anthem "One", grooviest single "Mysterious Ways", plus some killer album cuts "Acrobat" and "Ultraviolet".

The Unforgettable Fire: Like with Achtung Baby, U2 were looking for a new sound. Enter Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois who pushed U2 into making the moody ambient record that they had been trying for a while. It is for some the rough blueprint of what they would accomplish with Joshua Tree, but Unforgettable Fire has a more interesting feel and subdued. U2 after dark so to speak.

Boy: What a debut! For a band that could barely play their instruments at the time this album wails like the best punk rock records do, but there is definitely something more than 3 chords and the truth on here. U2 had this innate sense of the lound/quiet dynamic even at this early stage. "Out of Control" is an early highlight with "Twilight" dark and brooding. With all the hits of the following years to choose from, the fact that U2 still make a point of regularly playing stuff off this album is a testament to it's greatness.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Vertigo was probably the best single they've put out in years and the whole album is finely crafted anthemic rock. Bono is definitely in save the world mode here, and the group proves that U2 isn't ready for the scrap heap yet.

Good

Zooropa: Perhaps the most misunderstood U2 record, and not really pop material. Let's see, we have an almost 7 minute electro funk ode to a lemon, another electronic gospel hymn sung by the late Johnny Cash, and a lead single that doesn't feature Bono but rather the Edge in some weird hypnotic rap. It was so weird that when I first heard it I couldn't believe that it was U2 that had done it. U2 were really free to do as they pleased at the time and took Achtung Baby further and debunked the U2 myth. It seems like each one of the songs do a little bit at tearing down what U2 had done to date and in the end a subdued masterpice is born.

War: U2 really needed to come up big for this record. The first couple albums had done ok but there was crisis along the way. This was a band on the verge of breakup and in the end they were able to channel that energy into their first mainstream success. Many of the songs you know such as "New Years Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" but the album's strength in in the fact that there is very little filler. U2 would follow this with the live at Red Rocks concert video where Bono really steps into his own as a frontman.

The Joshua Tree: It's been called many things but it is still their mainstream high point. Lot's of great songs on here and some that have been played so much you may never want to hear them again. Side A is the hits starting with "Street Have No Name" still U2's finest moment. "Bullet the Blue Sky" may be U2's heaviest number predating something that Rage Against the Machine would do years later. Side B has some nice songs and a few clunkers, not a perfect album, but you can't deny its legacy.

No Line on the Horizon: Their most recent album is a more expiremental affair similar to The Unforgettable Fire. It has great anthemic moments but in the end quiets down and becomes very inward looking. Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are brought in a full time songwriters on this one and you can hear the results in something like Fez/New Born that had Eno stamped all over it.

For the Fans

Pop: U2 have admitted that they didn't have enough time with this record and went to the trouble of recording a number of the songs for the Best of the 90's compilation. That is the difference with Zooropa. Zooropa was a no pressure exercise in trying to create something...where as Pop had a booked tour waiting for them. Some great moments on this record but it is usually when U2 stray away from the electronic sounds and get back to just creating good songs.

October: Another hasty situation with a religious dynamic brought into the mix. Bono and company where heavily into evangelic christianity at the time which alienated non-christian bassist Adam Clayton and Manager Paul McGuiness. Add to it the old notion that you have all life to write your first record and two weeks for your second and this album falls a little short. Even the good songs are lacking something here. In the end it is U2's least accepted album and virtually hitless.

All That You Can't Leave Behind: A little bit of a mess of a record. I don't know, a lot of people like it I guess. Songs like "Walk On", "Elevation", and "New York" are strong. Heck I even like "Beautiful Day" but songs like "Grace", "Peace on Earth", and "Wild Honey" may be some of the worst songs they have ever done. The skip track quotient is high on this one.

Rattle and Hum: U2 got a little corny with this one, not intending to. It turns out everyone was laughing at them instead of with them because we all know the 80's U2 members never ever laughed. A hodgpodge of live tracks and studio recordings that total over 70 minutes leave a lot for the listener to get into, but not a lot really sticks. Most of the new studio songs are hit and miss, and the live songs have been done better. Two exceptions with the studio songs, the song Heartland which is lovely, and "All I Want is You" that closes the album on a high note. Of the live tracks "Silver and Gold" was a nice live rendering on a Joshua Tree B-side that prolly should have deserved better justice.

Other U2

Under a Blood Red Sky: A strong live mini-album that highlights the early material. Worth Checking out in the special edition pack with the "Live and Red Rocks" DVD.

Passengers: U2 and Eno and several others work together on several ambient instrumentals along with a few interesting songs. The best known track from here is Miss Sarajevo. Other songs are the wonderfully seductive "Your Blue Room" and the interesting Bono rap "Elvis ate America". When this album came out it wasn't advertised as U2 and hence has become their worst selling affiliated album. Definitely not for the average fan, but for the completist it is worth tracking down, though you can probably find a few in second hand record shops.

You and U2

2010-06-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

It seems things haven't been going particularly well these past few weeks for U2 despite the release of their commemorative 360 Degree Tour Concert Film. First up came the news that Bono hurt his back and U2 had to cancel their tour, then this past week came the news that U2 producer and collaborator Daniel Lanois was seriously hurt in a motorcycle crash (PS Get well soon). Then today Adam Clayton has sued U2's accountant for mishandling the group's funds. This might be reading into things a little bit but if this was a group problem then the group would deal with it. In the end it looks like Adam might be at odds with the rest of the group on this issue. Top off the "in development hell" spiderman musical and it has been a spring to forget for the world's biggest rock band.

The good news is the release of the concert filmed at the Rose Bowl in October. Now I actually haven't seen the film yet, but I did attend the Vancouver show and also saw the youtube broadcast of the Rose Bowl concert and it should be fabulous. If you saw the 360 tour then you know what i'm talking about, if you had tickets to the North American tour this summer it will tide you over till next year.

Also in the meantime we have been promised new music soon from the group. There is this little album called "Songs of Ascent" that has been in gestation for the past year. Perhaps this little touring setback will allow the boys to go into studio and finish up this record. Also, apparently there is another record out their of songs recorded with Rick Rubin, and the Spiderman soundtrack...whenever that comes out.

For a hint of things to come we have the officially released version of "Soon" that is familiar to fans that attended the 360 tour as the song they took the stage too. Here it is in all it's recorded beauty. It's short, much like an intro to another song but the ambience to it is awesome.

World Cup Soccer Time

2010-06-11T09:04:00.001-07:00

or Football if you are outside North America.

It's one of those things where the world stops every four years and goes bonkers for the one truly international game in the world. One just has to look at the fifa soccer rankings to see how many countries, territories, and principalities have soccer federations. When the final game is played in a little more than a month, an estimated audience of 2-3 billion people will be watching. The opening match just ended with South Africa and Mexico playing to a 1-1 draw but the big story was the sound of the fans. You know those annoying plastic horns that inevitably someone has brought to a sporting event. Well try 60000 of those, a never stopping humming, like a swarm of bees ready to attack. It Must be nerveracking for any opposition. Anyway, I'm down for breaking the tournament down which I will attempt to do here. P.S. I am an England and Hollad fan if that means anything.

The Big Guns:
You know the ones, each of these teams have a legitimate chance every year and most have won it before. One thing to note about these big gun is that one will win it all and one will flame out in the first round (please let it be Italy).

Spain (Rank 2)
Spain is considered the best team in the world to never have won the world cup and have traditionally looked good only to break down at key moments in past tournaments. However, with a win in the 2008 Euro many people believe that Spain have the monkey off their backs and can finally shake the tag of best of the nevers.

Brazil (Rank 1)
Like Canada and hockey, the world cup for the past 50 years has traditionally been Brazil's to lose. Brazil is loaded with a creative offence and might just have the goaltending to do it as well this year. With appearances in 3 of the past 4 final games (and winning 2 of them), they look to be a lock to get there again.

Germany (Rank 6)
Like Brazil the German's have delivered on the biggest stage time and time again. Although they haven't won since 1990, they have frequently made it into the final 4 in both the Euro and World Cups since then. Look for them to get at least that far, after that it remains to be seen.

Holland (Rank 4)
The biggest knock on the Dutch is the level of talent vs. killer instinct. The Dutch have tons of swagger when it comes to style, but when push comes to shove time and time again they just can't deliver. Playing a good team game and cooling the egos that have been a problem for them in the past will go a long way in helping the Dutch out of the "Best Nevers" catagory.

France (Rank 10)
It's been 12 years since France won the world cup on home soil, and many of the stars of that team are retired or over the hill. Still, France surprised a few people when they made it all the way to the finals last time out. They can either fold over and choke or pull of a stunning run. You really can't tell with them.

Italy (Rank 5)
As much as I don't like Italian soccer, I recognise the success of the program. Four World Cup wins, second to Brazil is the proof of that. Also, they are the defending champions. While I don't think they can pull of the repeat, they do have the easiest draw out of all the top guns, so it is possible.

England (Rank 8)
England is home to perhaps the best league in the world, so you would think that they would do more at the national level. England does have a lot to prove having missed qualifying for the Euro in 2008, and their qualifying for this cup has seemed to address the urgency of performing well. The fans want nothing more than this team to succeed to put to bed the chants of 66 (the last time England won the world cup).

Argentina (Rank 7)
Home to perhaps the greatest soccer player right now (Messi), and another soccer god coaching (Maradona), Argentina always plays tough and does well. Will it be enough to get them over the top to their 3rd cup win? Well they have as good a shot as any.

Portugal (Rank 3)
Placed in the group of death with Brazil is not kind to the Portugese who have traditionally come close, but no cigar. Ronaldo is their difference maker, and maybe this is the year, but I kind of hope not.

The Teams in the Mix
These team are good, usually good enough to qualify into the round of 16 and further, but are just not quite there historically to go the distance.

USA (Rank 14)
It's still relatively early in the development of American soccer, really only coming to prominence since 1994. With the MLS taking on a legit soccer status, it remains to be seen how long it will be when the Americans will go all the way. It's only a matter of time and money. This year it's still a little too soon. A final 8 will be a good show for this squad.

Chile (Rank 15)
A lot of people have proclaimed Chile a dark horse in this tournament. A good junior squad years ago have graduated into the senior program that may surprise. Do they have the guns to win it all? Probably not, but they might take a few of the traditional powers down along the way to a final 8.

Uraguay (Rank 18)
Uraguay has won two cups, but really hasn't been a soccer power in well over 50 years. They still have some surprises, and continue to deliver, but a tough draw might leave them on the outside looking in when the final 16 comes around.

Mexico (Rank 17)
It seems that Mexico should be a lot better than they are, but for some reason they've never really delivered on the world stage. Placed in the same draw with Uraguay and France, they are gonna have to knock one of those two teams out to get to the final round of 16. With a 1-1 draw against 90th ranked South Africa, they didn't do themselves any favours.

Greece (Rank 12)
Greece came out of nowhere to win the 2004 Euro so they have the ability to surprise. Will they be able to put it together for another miracle run in 2010? Probably not and a draw with Argentina and Nigeria, not to mention 2002 semi finalists South Korea will make this a tough tournament for them.

Slovenia (Rank 23)
Solid enough to do well. I don't know a lot about them, but will battle with England and the USA in pool C. A final 16 is not likely, however you never know.

Nigeria (Rank 20)
Playing the tournament on your home continent has got to be a boost for all the african teams, who always seem to be there, but never much more than that. A good shot at sweet 16, but after that it is anyones guess.

Serbia (Rank 16)
In with Germany and Australia means that the serbians have a good shot of making it into the round of 16.

Cameroon (Rank 19)
Again having home continent advantage means that Cameroon should have a good tournament, and also have a pretty good draw to sneak into the round of 16.

Ivory Coast (Rank 27)
Ivory Coast has no luck whatsoever this time out. If losing your star player is not enough, getting place into a draw with Brazil and Portugal is almost impossible to overcome. If they can pull that off, look to them to do some damage.

Australia (Rank 21)
The Australians have never had the reputation of being a great soccer power, but there they are at 21 and a shot to get to the round of 16. Also of note, they gave Italy their most difficult game in their 2006 run.

The Aint's
The just happy to be here teams that will most likely be going home in two weeks. Although a special not, one of these teams usually pulls off some big cinderella run into the final 8 or even 4 like South Korea did in 2002.

South Africa (Rank 90)
A host country has never gone out in the first round and the South Africans certainly proved they could stay with Mexico today. Still the second lowest ranked team in the tournament means that the odds are stacked pretty heavily against them.

South Korea (Rank 47)
Could 2002 happen again? Well it might, but they will have to get over Argentina, Greece, and Nigeria to qualify into the round of 16.

Algeria (Rank 31)
I like the Algerians and i'm not sure why, but they might be the Cinderella team this year. Could they be a match for the Americans and the Serbians for number 2 in Pool C? I think so. Again the odds are stacked against them, but I like the draw.

Ghana (Rank 32)
Not a count out, but the road is step for them.

Denmark (Rank 35)
Usually the Danes have pretty good defence which may get them over into the round of 16. It'll come down to their match against Cameroon.

Japan (Rank 45)
Will be in tough in whatever they do. Did pull off a few surprises in 2002 as the co-host coutry, but those days are long gone.

Paraguay (Rank 30)
Actually has a good shot of making it into the round of 16 just on the fact that they only have Italy to contend with in that pool.

Slovakia (Rank 38)
As reasonably easy draw means that Italy will probably take #1 but #2 in pool F is wide open.

New Zealand (Rank 78)
Another longshot but also in Pool F which means anything is possible.

North Korea (Rank 106)
Never say never, but i'm saying it. The lowest ranked team in the tournament having to deal with Portugal, Brazil, and Ivory Coast. The odds are not whether they get through, but whether or not they score a goal.

Switzerland (Rank 25)
Can they go into the sweet 16? sure they can but they will have to take Spain or Chile down to do it which i'm thinking is not likely.

Honduras (Rank 40)
I don't think they have enough to do it, thanks for coming.

Movies Post

2010-05-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

When your broke it isn't the end of the world, as I have found out. Stuck pinching pennies for the last few months means whatever you can get for free, go for it. Well the Library has provided some source of comfort in my broke days offering me a whole library of music, movies, and books to borrow for the low low price of zilch. It's great too because they have some movies that I may have skipped over in past, but now I am interested. This week I borrowed some movies to see them, and some I haven't seen in years.

The Rookie
It's your classic feel good sports, based on a true, story that has been done several time before in Hoosiers and Remember the Titans. The story revolves around a teacher/baseball coach who had aspirations to play in the majors but through a chain of events never did. When his team goes on a winning streak he is encouraged to give his dream one last try. This being a feel good story, you kind of already know what happens in the end. I enjoyed it for that, and it's a good family movie that your kids can enjoy too.

Cloverfield
This movie was hyped out at the time for doing something a little different. A monster movie from the perspective of an amateur camcorder perspective. It's scary as heck in some bits, and in others almost nausea inducing due to the camera bobbing up in down. Blair Witch part 10, when Godzilla strikes I guess. I didn't like the whole premise of the movie. We have no idea where it came from or who the monster is and why it is tormenting the city. Also the ending is quite abrupt, almost like a Hitchcock ending, but with any resolution of anything. It's ok and it's short which is good.

The Last King of Scotland
From one Monster to another. This partly fictional documentation of Idi Amin's rule in Uganda is quite compelling and I believe Forrest Whitakker won the Oscar for this role. He is quite amazing, and looks the part almost too well when the footage of him is interspersed with the real Amin at the end. In the end the movie paints an even more disturbing view of Amin as a classic sociopath. A real charmer to his people and media, but also as an animal who murdered his ex-wife and killed 300,000 of his own people.

Days that Shook the World (Season 1)
A TV series by the BBC that looks into specific events in modern history that changed the way we view it, from advances in communication and transport, to shocking horror like the assassination of Kennedy and Hiroshima. Season 1 has 13 hour long episodes that usually deal with two related subplots. For instance one episode documents Kristalnacht as the powder keg that starts off the Holocaust then moves into the birth of the State of Israel. Another deals with the Wright Brother's flight, and then the Moon landing. I haven't watch all the episodes so far, but the ones I've seen are very good. The filmmakers are very good at mixing archival footage next to recreations of specific events to create an overall picture of the event. Another interesting aspect of the series is the use of perspective, usually tailing 3 or 4 people who were caught up in the events of the time and their recollections of the event.

Sesame Street presents Follow That Bird
I saw this when I was a child and out of curiosity borrowed it to see if it was as funny or as good as I remember. It feels kind of funny watching a movie that was clearly intended for a preschool audience but the nostalgia trip was a blast. You have Oscar doing a cute rendition of the Grouch National Anthem and Cookie Monster eating everything in sight before he went on a diet. This is a movie that I can't wait to share with my niece, when she is old enough.

The Three Caballeros
Another nostalgia trip as well. An early, and often overlooked, Disney animated feature starring Donald Duck. The premise of the film is that it is Donald's Birthday and he receives a number of presents from his bird friends in south and Latin America. That is used to propel various segments of the story forward that could easily be chopped up into shorts. Donald learns about penguins, gauchos, and take a trip to Brazil and Mexico. Another interesting thing about the film is that it is one of the first cartoons to mix live action in with the animation (a neat feat from 1945). Obviously the movie is dated too particularly in the use of the word "gay" which is something totally different now.

Anyways, I have also borrowed Pineapple Express which I hope to watch today. I heard it's quite stupid, or funny, or both. I guess we will see.

The Learning Express

2010-05-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

As someone who enjoys Hip Hop as an artform and is yet frustrated by the abundance of ignorance and the lack of originality, this is a nice reminder that Hip Hop can still be used to enact positive change in kids. It was put together by a few jazz musicians in the Detroit area and the idea is to use music and simple rhymes to help children learn. The emcee, Othello, has worked with different groups such as lightheaded, lojique, as well as his own solo stuff and happens to be a friend of mine. Knowing him and just the fire that he has to use hip hop to invoke positive change is great. We need more people out here doing what he is doing. Anyway, watch the mini-doc.

Here is a link to some music, and some more information on The Learning Express.

http://www.krisjohnsonmusic.com/learningexpress/demo.html

For the Attention Deficit

2010-05-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently the worlds shortest song. Just so you know, the world's longest song is open to some debate so I will list a few of them that are long. For those with a lot of time and patience.

The Mars Volta have a song known as Cassandra Gemini that runs over 33 minutes long, which is a fair chunk of seconds. Pink Floyd and Genesis have had songs run into the 20 minute range. Jethro Tull had Thick as a Brick which is over 40 minutes. Goldie has a song called Mother that runs over 60 minutes. Chris Butler has a song called the Devil Glitch that runs over 68 minutes that was recognised by the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest POP song. Several classical movements have gone over multiple hours. I've heard of improvised Jam's going on for days and sometimes weeks, but I haven't come across any physical evidence. Which leads us to......

http://longplayer.org
Longplayer is a one thousand year long musical composition. It began playing at midnight on the 31st of December 1999, and will continue to play without repetition until the last moment of 2999, at which point it will complete its cycle and begin again. Conceived and composed by Jem Finer, it was originally produced as an Artangel commission, and is now in the care of the Longplayer Trust.

Longplayer can be heard in the lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, where it has been playing since it began. It can also be heard at several other listening posts around the world, and globally via a live stream on the Internet.

Longplayer is composed for singing bowls – an ancient type of standing bell – which can be played by both humans and machines, and whose resonances can be very accurately reproduced in recorded form. It is designed to be adaptable to unforeseeable changes in its technological and social environments, and to endure in the long-term as a self-sustaining institution.

Longplayer is composed in such a way that the character of its music changes from day to day and – though it is beyond the reach of any one person’s experience – from century to century. It works in a way somewhat akin to a system of planets, which are aligned only once every thousand years, and whose orbits meanwhile move in and out of phase with each other in constantly shifting configurations. In a similar way, Longplayer is predetermined from beginning to end – its movements are calculable, but are occurring on a scale so vast as to be all but unknowable.

So apparently this piece of music has been playing for over 10 years now, and it is simply not a loop as the pitch, timing, and strike impact all change slightly. I've heard bit's and pieces of it (obviously it's a little difficult to listen to it in it's entirity). If it stops now I think it's record is pretty safe, if it keeps going for 1000 years.....well.....hard to fathom. Apparently you can visit it in London, too bad I discovered this after I was there.

Time to learn your counting.

2010-05-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Fresh Remix and Vid of the Classic Pinball Number Count from Sesame Street.

New Video

2010-05-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

It's something I put together over the course of about 4-5 hours Tuesday night, using the A-Skillz mashup "Beat Don't Stop". The video quality is not the greatest, I compressed it for loading time and such, but it's ok for the small screen.

Quick notes

2010-05-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well my beloved Canucks staved off elimination for another day. Unfortunately I missed the last bit of the game cuz my brother knocked himself unconscious and had to be rushed to emergency. It actually was a pretty scary moment, but he's doing a lot better now. He's gonna go get some more tests at the doctor's today just to be sure everything is ok.

It's looking like a good year more albums coming out. Just a few that I am looking forward to. Some of these are already out but I'm broke.

Shad - TSOL
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Fly Lotus - Cosmogramma
Roots - How I got Over
Keane - Night Train EP
Holy F*** - The Latin
Tracy Thorne (Everything but the Girl) - Love and It's Opposite
Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) - The Boxer
Stone Temple Pilots
Drake - Thank Me Later
Chemical Brothers

All these are coming out May and June so a good couple of months of listening going on right now.

Not to mention albums from these people coming sometime in 2010.

New Big Boi and Andre 3000 solo albums
Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee
U2 - Songs of Ascent
Lupe Fiasco - We are Lasers
and a new Common and Coldplay record.

Save your pennies, remember to support good music and record shops around the world and buy your music instead of burn.

Something just occured to me.....

2010-05-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I announced that I had recently became an uncle, and now I realize that I didn't even post up a pic of my niece Abrielle. Well here are a few you can admire. Some of the pics were done professionally when she was a week old. The rest were the first few days in the Hospital. Oh yeah and she is now 23 days old, creeping fast up on a month.

The other thing I have to post up is the new single/video from Bloc Party singer/guitarist Kele Okereke. The song continues the progression into dance rhythms that Bloc Party were experimenting with on Intimacy. It's pretty dope so I thought i'd share it.

Shad TSOL

2010-05-04T12:06:00.000-07:00

It's three weeks to the day when the latest album from Canadian Hip Hop sensation Shad drops, but today he blessed us with an full leak of the record to listen to along with his comments on each track. You can listen here.

http://www.spinner.ca/2010/05/04/shad-tsol-new-album/

Now if you watched or read my post about Greatest Hip Hop albums of the 00's, you know Shad made the list with his last record "The Old Prince". If it stand up this might make he list for the 10's. Easily it's the best thing to drop so far in 2010.

In the midst of thuggy, autotuned, materialistic Hip Hop its nice to hear an artist that is real and can out rap Lil Wayne 10 to 1.

Funny How Time Flies......

2010-05-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

.....When Your Having Fun

So in Honour of it almost being a month since my last entry we have a nice remix of a lesser known Janet Jackson cut from Control, her breakthough album.

So in explanation of my absence I will just say that I have busy for a few reasons the biggest being that I became an Uncle for the first time on April 13th. My younger brother and his wife gave birth to a little girl and named her Abrielle Marjorie Chobaniuk. Abrielle is french for God's gift or blessing I think but i'm not sure, and Marjorie is because of my Grandmother who played a big role in my little bro's life. So there you go, lots of fun and changes your perspective on things a little. Maybe not the same as being a Dad, I have yet to cross that bridge, but amazing none-the-less.

The second thing I have been doing is helping with these weekly music events at the local pub here doing video work and Djing, Judgeing etc. Lot's of good bands, and lots of bands I never want to hear from again but that's the nature of local groups....the chosen are few. Lastly it's playoff time and Canuck fever is upon us.

Anyway, I hope in the next few days to post something up something of a little more substance but there you go.

P.S. RIP GURU and Nujabes, both left this planet way too soon. You will be missed.

The List this Week......Radiohead Albums

2010-04-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

Looking from Pablo Honey to In Rainbows, it is hard to find another band over the past twenty years that has consistently defined how pop/rock is composed. A note on all these records....like Frosted Flakes They're Grrrreat.

Pablo Honey

The first uneasy steps. One killer song that got lumped in with the grunge wave at the time largely because of the self depreciating chorus "I'm a Creep". Radiohead and a lot of their fans have regarded Creep and Pablo Honey as the black sheep in the catalogue, the one you lock away in the closet when the guests are over. However, Pablo Honey does have some catchy tunes like the aformentioned "Creep", "You", and "Anyone can Play Guitar". A few half baked ideas fall in the cracks which is really something you don't get on most Radiohead albums. Then the closer "Blow Out" points the way to future greatness.

The Bends

The songwriting is better and instead of playing lip service to grunge, they tackle a number of interesting textures. The anthemic stadium rock of U2 is here in loads, the emerging Brit Pop scene is an influence (although Radiohead will never fully get lumped in with the like of Blur, Pulp, and Oasis). Twelve tracks, zero filler, and still regarded by many as the best Radiohead album ever.

Ok Computer

The Srgt Pepper for Gen X. Radiohead keep the songwriting up. Anthemic choruses and hook laden guitars are prevalent but are added to with strings and synths and off kilter sounds to create a wall of sound for the entire journey. I'm not gonna go too much into the songs because you've heard it all before, this record is a masterpiece.

Kid A

With Ok Computer an stylistic high point, they go in a totally different direction and confuse a lot of fans in the process. Kid A drops the hooks and moves into minimalist techno grooves that end up being quite interesting (if that's your thing). The vocals are stripped down and buried in the mix and, in the case of the title track, unrecognizble. Pretty songs about here, but not what you'd expect from Radiohead up to this point. Over the years it has drawn considerable acclaim.

Amnesiac

When Kid A came out, there was the original intent to make it a double album and instead the leftovers got held over to Kid B or Amnesiac. It is easy to dismiss this record as Kid A's B sides, but it really is a cohesive work on it's own. Pyramid Song is a fantastic ballad with shifting time signatures common in jazz. Glass House is a mournful New Orleans style Jazz ballad with horns. Dollars and Cents is an amazing bass led groove (much like the National Anthem on Kid A).

Hail to the Thief

Hailed as a return to their guitar sound, it more a half assed return with their finger still on the electronic pulse. 2+2=5 is about as guitar heavy as it gets. Piano led ballads, mixed in with some funky electro make this the most eclectic of all their records.

In Rainbows

Really a little over-rated. Honestly, I heard reviewers give it raving reviews simply for the way it was initially released and distributed rather than for any content on the record. Still "In Rainbows" is a good album and more of a return to their early sound than anything off Hail to the Thief. Though minimilistic structures still rule the day, everything here sounds like it was recorded by a band instead of a sampler, which is nice to have in the end anyways.

The List.....this week most underrated Genesis songs

2010-03-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

I must at this point clarify for my fellow Christian friends that these are not songs about the book of Genesis in the bible, but rather songs by the progressive rock group that was popular in the 70's and 80's and led by Peter Gabriel and later Phil Collins.

Ok, so I love Genesis. Many folks have heard their 80's MOR material and have balked without realizing just how good this band was in their 70's progressive rock peak with Gabriel at the mic-stand. A brief history.

Genesis was formed in 1968 by Peter Gabriel (vocals), Mike Rutherford (bass guitar), Tony Banks (Keyboards), and various members on drums and guitar. The released an album "From Genesis to Revelation" that to their own admission wasn't any good and is reasonably difficult to find (although i'm sure if you looked on the file sharing networks you could grab it). They entered a more progressive rock phase with their second album "Trespass" in 1970, and with "Nursery Cryme" (1971)finally added the missing pieces of their band with Steve Hackett (perhaps one of the most underrated guitarists ever) and Phil Collins (a great drummer).

This lineup was the classic lineup of progressive Genesis releasing in the coming years "Foxtrot" (1972), "Selling England by the Pound" (1973), and their double album opus "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974). After the Lamb, Gabriel departed for a solo career and Phil Collins took over on vocals. Two more progressive rock albums followed before Steve Hackett left in 1977. The first album after Hackett's departure was aptly titled "...and then there were three" (1978) and showed the band moving into a more traditional rock format.

With the release of "Duchess" (1979) and "ABACAB" (1980) the band moved fully into mainstream rock charting some big hits like "Turn it On Again", "Misunderstanding", and "No Reply at All". The 80's saw the release of their two biggest albums and stadium drawing tours. First came "Genesis" in 1983 with Illegal Alien, Home by the Sea, Mama, and That's All. Invisible Touch (1985) followed, with a successful solo career by Collins running parallel to it's release. The last album by the classic hit making trio was "We Can't Dance" in 1991 and contained more hits and sold out shows.

Collins left after the tour and Rutherford and Banks (the last two remaining members) made an ill advised decision to carry on with a younger vocalist and record a new album "Calling All Stations" in 1997. It was a critically and commercial flop and the guys ended up calling an indefinite hiatus from the group.

In 2007 the trio of Collins, Rutherford, and Banks re-united for a tour of Europe and North America culminating in a massive live show at Circus Maximus in Rome. The past month has seen the group be honoured by induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (only the second progressive rock group to be inducted).

So now that you've got the history let's look at the songs. I'm not gonna go on about the hits because, chances are, you've heard them before or don't particularly like them (Genesis' clearly has two sides to it). I'm gonna focus more on the lesser known Gabriel work of the 70's with some notes on the 80's material.

First up we have The Fountain of Salmacis that closes the album Nursery Cryme. The song sees Gabriel going on with Greek mythology, whatever. In progressive rock really it's pretentious as hell. What to listen for is his vocal delivery over the track that builds over smart keyboards, interesting time signatures on the drums, and guitar work that was years ahead of what Van Halen was doing with his "tapping" technique. Really this is a high point of Genesis' progressive work.

Next Up is Watcher of the Skies which is one of the two songs Phish played in tribute of Genesis at the RnR HoF induction this past month. Perhaps my favourite Genesis song, this comes off of "Foxtrot" (1972). The intro might be the best build for a song this side of U2's "Street Have No Name". Pastoral keyboards swirl around before the rest of the band slowly fade in with Earnest intensity. The rest of the song is a roller coaster of a ride that is over far quicker than it's almost 8 minute length (be it known it is prog rock and that means long songs).

Dancing With the Moonlit Knight opens up "Selling England by the Pound" (1973) which is regarded by many their best album. Moonlit Knight is a hecka pretentious title, but the lyrics describe England at a place in the 70's selling their soul for commercial gain (hence the album title Selling England by the Pound). Moonlit Knight is extremely important for the record as a whole because it sets the tone for the whole record, and it's theme echoes across the whole length of it. The last two minutes of this song are absolutely beautiful.

It is the closing song on "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" (1974) and it was a song that they would frequently play long after Gabriel had left the group. At this time the songs are becoming a little shorter and more focused, and the energy that is in this track makes sure that the double epic that is Lamb ends on a high note. Gabriel riffs on the Stones "It's Only Rock and Roll" instead of rock and roll saying knock and knowall. The track here contains the previous song on the record as well. It starts about 2:15 in.

Peter Gabriel leaves and Phil Collins is now the vocalist on Entangled. This is a nice quiet acoustic track with lovely 12 string guitar work from Steve Hackett. Again the guy is flat out amazing. This song comes from "A Trick of the Tail" (1976).

It's been a few years and albums later, which means that Genesis didn't change overnight but with Dodo/Lurker from "ABACAB" (1980) you can clearly seen the change. This song is heavily keyboard driven, with an industrial hard rock approach to it (also throwing in hints of reggae in the middle bridge and new wave). Although it is clearly different, it has some nice hooks and drives ahead with power. Probably my favourite song of the more mainstream material. I can't find the original album track to post, so I've posted the live vid from "Three Sides Live". It's a very worthy live rendition of it.

Lastly, and a song I really like, from an absolute mess of an album is Shipwrecked from "Calling All Stations" (1996). I'm not sure if the purists would even consider this Genesis due to the different lead singer and such (then again some purists don't consider Collins led Genesis as Genesis either) but it is a nice song (probably the best on it).

Finished

2010-03-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

That is, I'm finished watching the Long Way Round doc that I mentioned before. It's quite good from top to bottom, though I would note there is some brief nudity along with the foul language. Some of the highlights of the trip were, the road of bones in Eastern Russia, and how they got their bikes and vehicles through flooded rivers and enormous potholes. There is a scene in Kazakhstan where they are invited to the home of a local and his buddy break out all these machine guns to show them off. The footage in Alaska is stunning as they were able to see a giant brown bear catch a jumping fish in the river with his mouth, plus the glacier footage is great. Overall highly recommended.

I also broke out the movie The God's Must be Crazy and sat down and watched it. Debate to the merrits of this film have come under scrutiny in recent years, and it is largely dated. Still the film is a quite wonderful little movie, humourous not hilarious, simple and sweet. The story itself is a mish mash of plotlines that eventually coincide with each other. Plot A finds us watching the social decay that plagues a tribe of San (called "Bushmen" in the film) hunters when a coke bottle is tossed from an overpassing airplane. Due to the tribe's inability to handle the bottle (you have to see it to understand), the head of the tribe takes it away from the camp to throw it off the edge of the world. Meanwhile Plot B, guerillas have shot up half the country's cabinet and are on the run. Lastly, Plot C involves the decision of a urban journalist to seek teaching employment in rural africa, and her adventures getting there. If you haven't seen it, give it a try. It's prolly not for everybody, but if you give it a chance it is quite a fun movie.

I also watched Finding Forrester which loosely takes the J.D. Salinger (recently deceased author of Catcher in the Rye) story, and builds around it with a very bright African American teenager who is also an amazing writer. Sean Connery stars as Forrester who wrote his only novel in the 50's and has lived as a recluse since. It's one of those emotional bonding stories for like Field of Dreams, or Hoosiers that won't leave a dry eye in the house.

Lastly we have Be Cool. I'm not gonna comment too much as my time is short, but I will say that the Rock steals the show in this movie as the gay henchman. There is also a lot of star power in this movie from Travolta, to Christina Milian, Uma Thurman, Danny Devito. Heck, even James Woods pops in for a few minutes. It's a pretty fun movie so check it out.

So a new format, and a rant.

2010-03-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

I was looking at my blog today and realized it looked kind of lame. So I decide to get myself a new template that looks a little cooler and not so corporate. I hope you like, if not then DWI.

So, being the music lover that I am, I do read Pitchfork from time to time, but I have come across the conclusion that Pitchfork totally sucks. The main criticism that I have, along with many others, are their elitist reviews and narrow sense of knowledge outside of their own little indie rock circle. Now there are good bands that they heap praise on (Radiohead is a good example), but if you fall outside the element of cool then they will savage you. The critics complain often about pretentious music, which is really code for "these guys are too serious of musicians for me to like them, and then dump their reviews with pretentious talk about why said artist is uncool. Mostly these criticisms leveled at said bands are simply because their popular, or not indie, and don't fit the profile. Rarely anything is mentioned about the music which for a music site should be a major detail.

I could give examples here but really you know the bands that they are gonna hate and gonna like. Personally I think the whole album review thing has gone a little far to tell you the truth. In this day and age it is easy to find out for yourself through various devices both legal and illegal about band x. I think reviews need to be a balanced view of an album and more of a discussion about what is being presented than this pushing of an agenda. I guess people are insecure and want to be where the cool kids are, it's just too bad that 90% of music gets short shrift because of it.

This is a brief example for an album that recieve a 1.6 review.

These clusterfuck all-the-cooks experiments, more often than not, add up to way, way less than the sum of their parts. It might look great on paper to get weirdo visionaries like Kool Keith and Tom Waits on the same track, but if you actually do it, you’ll probably end up with Keith blathering non-sequiturs all over the beat while Waits makes sandpapery fart noises. And as for the impression of Donald Duck busting a nut that someone does at the end of “O Pato”, I can’t imagine that even looked good on paper.”

So what was this horrible album? Well it was non other that NASA's "Spirit of Apollo" that was released last year to almost unanimous critical aclaim everywhere else.

So for me and reviews. Look, I understand that i'm not gonna like everything out there, but there is such a thing as tact which pitchfork strangely lacks. I will weigh the positives and the negatives and if the band is not my thing, I will say so. I don't like Nickelback at all, but i'm not gonna insult the intelligence of my readers by dumping on. To each his own is my policy, and too many people get caught up in this clique mentality that they miss some amazing stuff right in front of their noses.

Anyways, if you like groups like the Arcade Fire (Pretty Good), Vampire Weekend (OK), and millions of other indie type groups that appear and dissapear on a daily basis then pitchfork is your site. If you like any band with a degree of mainstream success (other than Radiohead), then your in trouble.......last albums ratings for U2 4.2/10, Kings of Leon 3.8/10, Bloc Party 5.8/10, and Muse 5.9/10. Latest review for some band you've never heard of Broken Bells 7.2, XX (which I have heard and is an intriquing one song idea spread out over 10) 8.7. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 7.9.

So if ptichfork media is a dud and your looking for something a little more open minded then I have two sites that are interesting. The first is www.adriandenning.co.uk that has very well written reviews over there. The other site is www.iso50.com where he posts up his music he likes instead of bashing the music he hates. I think it's much better for the love vibe anyways.

The ramblings of a po broke man trying to make it in Vancity.

2010-03-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vAOzYz-Qs

First off, go there to watch the cool new video for the Gorillaz latest single Stylo.

I enjoy Ewen McGregor, not a huge fan, but do like Trainspotting and watch him in the Star Wars movies where he prolly had the least cringe inducing dialogue of any of the main characters. I heard a few years back about his motorcycle trips that he documented, and then was reaquainted with them when I saw him on Letterman a few weeks ago. Well, I've been watching the first trip he made called Long Way Round and it is fantastic so far. The idea of the journey was to drive from London to New York travelling east on a motorcycle (specially made BMW's) and only flying from Eastern Russia over to Anchorage to continue the North American leg. I'm on episode 2 (of 10) and basically it details all the preparations that need to be made for a trip of this magnitude, and introduces us to the crew, including his friend and travelmate Charlie Boormann. So far they haven't even taken off yet and i'm hooked, so if your interested in following it check out the website at www.longwayround.com. I also think you can watch it on youtube and prolly pick it up at your local library.

Note: Although it is a documentary about motorcycles there is some colourful language that isn't bleeped, so although it doesn't bother me, it might not be the best for children. It's hecka interesting though (and educational).

Here is the first part of episode 1 to get you started.

P.S. The second trip involves travelling from Scotland down to Capetown and looks very interesting as well. I will have to check it out when I finish this one.

Greetings, new video

2010-03-09T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, but I thought I would share this with you. The story is that my friend shared a video with me about high altitude skydiving and the music, UNKLE & Moby was used. Well the music inspired me to do a little collage of scenes that I took in various locations around the world. Some of the places featured are the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Anfield in Liverpool (home of Liverpool F.C.), Abbey Road, The Old City of Jerusalem, Church of the Nativity (traditional site of Christ's birth), Sderot (the scene with the rockets), and Church of the Holy Sepulchre (one of the proposed locations of Christ's death and resurrection). The video was edited over the past few hours by myself on the crappiest video editing software known to man. A lot of the video footage is very grainy (most of the time intentional), and a lot of the clips flow in a out of each other. Either way it looks cool, slightly disoriented, and such. It's not too bad for such a crappy video editor (then again it does get the creative juices flowing). Enjoy, and see if you can pick out some of the places I mentioned.

It's about that Time.....

2010-02-11T23:34:00.000-08:00

For the Winter Olympics in Vancouver to start. Nothing quite matches the feeling of having the Olympics in your hometown. Despite all the cost overruns, and weather uncertainty, plus the massive bill we will be getting there is something about these games that just makes me proud to be a Canadian, and even more important, a Vancouverite. I was given the priviledge to witness the Opening Ceremony Dress Rehearsal last night and it is phenominal. Of course, I don't want to spoil the surprise (also because I don't want to piss off Vanoc), but let me just say that it plays to our strengths for the most part. By that I mean geographic and multicultural diversity. Take from that whatever you want. The cauldren lighting was not performed so I have no idea who will light it or what to expect (see post below). I do have some more ideas on who will light it, these coming in from left field. The first is to find a way for Terry Fox to light it using archival footage and digital rendering to make it possible. The next is all of the audience (and perhaps the world having a hand in lighting it), not sure how it would work but in this day in age of internet and such I'm not counting it out.

It looks like Gretzky won't be the last, but he almost will certainly play a part in the proceedings. John Furlong said he won't be the one, but he is in town and coyly ducked media questions about it. My pick is for Gretzky to hand off to the eventual one. Others that have been ruled out are Gaetan Boucher, and almost certainly Trevor Linden and Steve Nash who ran with the Torch today. Betty Fox also has ran with the Flame which means she prolly won't get the nod either.

Some people though who have been quiet which leads me to speculate that they might still have a part to play are Joe Sakic, Bobby Orr, perhaps Mario Lemieux, Karen Lee Gartner, Cindy Klassen, Nancy Green Raine, and Brian Orser who might have provided Canada with it's best olympic home soil drama in Calgary with the Silver Medal.

In less than 24 hours we will know the result and I'm sure it will be amazing. Stay tuned.

******March Update*******

Well it was an interesting opening ceremonies to say the least. The Olympics were a lot of fun here in Vancouver. Just a note about the prospective torch lighters. Well I guess John Furlong was sort of right, Wayne Gretzky wasn't the one, but one of four including Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene Raine, and Rick Hansen bringing the torch into the stadium. Of course in typical Vancouver fashion we managed to screw it up, but then laughed it off and turned it into a big joke at the closing ceremonies.

The Skinny on Who will light the Olympic Flame

2010-02-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

Who should light the olympic flame?

It's a question that many have asked and few have a definitive answer. In the spirit of the Olympics, the torchlighter has always been someone of extreme significance to Athletics in their country, coupled with a humanitarian aspect. The Vancouver Province offered up four names that could do the job if called upon and several other names have been mentioned as possible torchlighters. I will list a few worthy (and some perhaps unworthy) candidates and the pros and cons of each one.

1. Betty Fox
The mother of national hero Terry Fox, who ran across Canada for cancer research in his Marathon of Hope trek.
Pros: The connection with Terry Fox, who would probably be a hands down choice if he were with us, provides Canadians with another way to honour and acknowledge his legacy around the world.
Cons: Betty Fox is not Terry Fox. She's not an athlete at any sort of serious level. She's also not well known outside of the Terry Fox name. For her to light the torch would be simply because of what Terry Fox was able to achieve and that is that.
Outlook: Terry Fox was not an olympian and despite his legacy, only past olympians who have achieved something at an olympics generally light the torch. Betty Fox is neither Terry nor an Olympian which makes her odds long. Still with the grass roots support she has been recieving as well as the still strong Terry Fox legacy, she could squeak in there at the end.

2. Ross Rebagliatti
Winner of first Gold medal in snowboarding, local athlete.
Pros: Winning the first Gold Medal in snowboarding, one of the most popular events in the winter olympics now, would be grounds for selection. Also he has expressed a desire to enter politics which might be a nice PR move if he gets the nob.
Cons: Nearly had his Gold medal stripped because of positive Marijuana test...promting numerous jokes about pot-headed Canadian snowboarders for years since. Naturally the big question if he gets the nod is if he'll light up a dube with the torch as well.
Outlook: It would be an interesting selection for obvious reasons, but to many skeletons in the closet lead me to believe that Van-Oc don't really want him as the poster boy for the worlds biggest event. Chances are slim to none.

3. Trevor Linden
Vancouver Canucks hockey here, former olympian.
Pros: He is loved by Canucks fans as a legend, plus he donates a lot of his time to worthy causes around the local area. Playing on the 1998 Canadian Hockey Team doesn't hurt his chances either.
Cons: Unfortunately, he is not that significant outside of Vancouver, which will cut into his chances of selection. Also the fact that he didn't win a medal hurts his chances.
Outlook: A dark horse candidate with credentials to boot, but his low profile outside of Vancouver will hurt him in the end.

4. Steve Nash
NBA Basketball star, represented Canada at 2000 Olympics.
Pros: He is well known across the world as one of the greatest basketball players of all-time. Spends a great deal of time and money to charitable causes. He is the first and only Canadian to win the NBA MVP award and did it twice. Led the Candian Men's Basketball team to it's best ever showing in Sydney and to top it off he's local.
Cons: Not a whole lot of cons except that basketball is a summer olympics sport, and it might be hard for Nash to get around possible scheduling conflicts as his Suns are in the middle of their season right now. Plus he plays and spends a great deal of time in the States.
Outlook: A pretty safe pick for Van-Oc and on the shortlist I would imagine. If all works out with the Suns, Steve Nash would be a prime choice.

5. David Suzuki
Environmental Activist, local personality
Pros: What a message Canada could send to promoting a greener society by having David Suzuki light the torch.
Cons: Not an athlete and too much public debate on his environmental issues to be a safe pick.
Outlook: Pretty slim, but if Van-Oc went into left field with their pick, you really can't get much more than him.

6. Pamela Anderson
TV starlet/bombshell, local celebrity
Pros: Known worldwide for Baywatch, she is local and she is a supporter for animal rights.
Cons: Her support for animal rights comes with militant group PETA, which continues to divid peoples opinions to this day. She is also know for her several high profile affairs, romances, and sex tapes that make her a little to risque for the family image that Van-Oc would want to portray.
Outlook: Really Pamela Anderson is just another pretty face who is well known for who she is, and not how talented or special she is. Odds are slim to none.

7. Michael J Fox
Tv/Movie star. Humanitarian and Disease Advocate
Pros: He's well known for his acting roles on Back to the Future and News Radio. He's from Burnaby. He also has waged a very public battle with Parkisons Disease that makes him a sentimental pick.
Cons: Again, he's not an athlete...although he's participated in several celebrity hockey games for charity.
Outlook: Not a bad pick for the job. Although I think the fact that he is not an athlete will hurt his chances in the end.

8. Joe Sakic
Hockey Legend, Olympic Gold Medal winner, local.
Pros: Scored winning goal in 2002 Gold medal winning game, arguably the biggest victory for Canada in sports since the 72 series. grew up in Burnaby.
Cons: Has played most of his career outside of Canada, particularly for bitter Canucks rivals Colorado Avalanche.
Outlook: In 2002 the 1980 U.S Gold medal team lit the torch, why not do something similar for Vancouver? An intriguing pick that deserves merit.

9. Rick Hansen
Wheelchair Athlete, Advocate, local.
Pros: His Man in Motion tour raised millions of dollars for curing spinal injuries. He is a notable supporter of other causes as well as amateur sport.
Cons: He hasn't been in the olympics (although he did win a gold medal in the 1980 Paralympics).
Outlook: Prolly the co-front runner. Local hero for all the right reasons, and provides Van-Oc with a nice PR for the disabled. If he doesn't light the Torch at the Olympics, he will be hands down favourite for the Paralympics.

10. Wayne Gretzky
The Great One, nuff said. An olympian and organizer of the 2002 Gold Medal Hockey team.
Pros: He is the greatest player ever, in Canada's most popular sport. He is known all over the world as the Great One. Still is involved with hockey and usually is one to support worthy causes.
Cons: He is not local and didn't win a Gold medal himself in 1998. His misfortunes with the Phoenix Coyotes have tainted his legacy slightly.
Outlook: Co-Front runner with Rick Hansen. Rick Hansen provides the more P.C. pick with the disabled slant, but Gretzky is Gretzky.

11. Don Cherry
Hockey Icon
Pros: He is nationally and internationally known for his coaches corner segments on Hockey Night in Canada and he is also a avid supporter of minor hockey across the country and a spokesperson for the sport globally.
Cons: His opinions have gotten him into hot water. Is known for disliking european players and also works for CBC, a rival network to CTV. Also was never a great hockey player.
Outlook: He's brash, opinionated, and popular but Cherry's biggest downfall will be the CBC. Not a chance.

12. Cindy Klassen
Speed Skating Superstar.
Pros: She has won more medals at the winter olympics than any other Canadian.
Cons: Not too many. She is however, competing at these games which may limit her involvement in formalities like torch ceremonies.
Outlook: A solid pick, and she is one of the few females on this list. Knowing Canada's love for the disabled, minorities, and women she might get the nod.

13. Donovan Baily
Former Olympic Gold Medalist
Pros: Provided Canada with one of its all-time great olympic memories in winning the 100 meter sprint in 1996 as well as helping Canada win the relay the same year. Also is a minority, which might play well into the P.C. hands of Van-Oc
Cons: The drug fueled paranoia around such sports like sprinting might be enough to kill his chances. He's not from Vancouver and most of his records have since been smashed.
Outlook: A good solid pick if Van-Oc wanted a visible minority. His profile might not be high enough to top some others on this list. Not to mention that he is a summer athlete.

14. Bobby Orr
Hockey Legend
Pros: Is probably the second greatest hockey player in history. An avid supporter of different amateur sports and charities.
Cons: Played most of his career in the United States. Never palyed in an Olympic games hurts his chances. Also retired almost 33 years ago which means that very few of us under 40 really remember how good he was.
Outlook: Again a solid pick, but probably won't get the nod.

15. Bryan Adams
International Music Star
Pros: He is known all over the world for his music. Raised in North Vancouver, he has always been willing to support Canadian events and causes when asked.
Cons: His fub of the national anthemn at the all-star game years ago is still pretty fresh in people's mind. He also doesn't live in Canada any more.
Outlook: I'm sure Vanc-Oc will provide Adam's an opportunity to contribute somewhere, but this isn't it. (you can substitute Sarah McLauglin, Nickelback, and Michael Buble to this entry).

16. Mike Weir
Golf Star, only Canadian to win a golf major.
Pros: He is one of very few Canadians to excel in the sport of golf, winning the Master's in the process.
Cons: He has been streaky since his Master's win in 2003. Also he lives and trains in Utah.
Outlook: A left field pick that probably won't happen simply because he hasn't been able to build on his Master's win. Also living in Utah hurts him.

17. Lennox Lewis
Former Heavyweight Champion of the World and Olympic Gold Medalist.
Pros: Atlanta had Muhammed Ali, light the flame so there is a precident for Lewis to do it. Also he is a visible minority.
Cons: He's flipped flopped countries so many times i'm not sure where he lives right now. He's Canadian, Jamaican, and British. The confusion will hurt his chances.
Outlook: Sketchy at best due to his many nationalities.

18. Daniel Igali
Gold Medalist in Wrestling, local athlete.
Pros: He has a feel-good story coming from near poverty in Nigeria to an Olympic Gold medal for Canada. Who can forget him dancing around the Canadian flag when he won. He's a visible minority, and a humanitarian.
Cons: Doesn't have quite the profile as some of the other people on this list. However, with a feel good rags to sucess story, do you really want to count him out.
Outlook: Probably won't be picked, but maybe should. No other person on this list exemplifies the Canadian Spirit quite like he does.

19. Romeo Dallaire
Head of UN Peacekeepers during the Rwandan Genocide.
Pros: An international humanitarian for his role in attempting to prevent the Rwandan genocide.
Cons: Not an athlete, which will hurt his chances.
Outlook: With the war in the Middle East still looming, and young men and women risking and losing their lives every day there, a person like Dallaire might be a strong candidate in order to raise awareness to the soldiers.

20. Paul Henderson
Hockey Player, Scorer of the Goal.
Pros: Scored the biggest goal in the biggest game in Canadian history. Is a supporter of amateur sports, and a goodwill ambassador for sport.
Cons: 1972 was 38 years ago, which means that few Canadians really remember it firsthand. Also Paul was simply an above average NHL'er for his career, and he is not that well known outside of Canada.
Outlook: It could be possible that the entire surviving team could light the Flame, but I think that if they are gonna go that route and honour an event like this, it'll be with 2002 and Joe Sakic.

The Best Hip Hop Albums of the 00's

2009-12-18T14:56:00.000-08:00

So we've come to the end of the decade and I will probably be putting my thoughts to how the decade was in numerous incarnations and styles. I had an idea to countdown what I thought the best hip hop albums of the decade were and did a little video presentation to sum it up. For those that don't want to view the video and just want the dirt then read below along with my thoughts on each. For those that don't want the spoilers than don't read below.

The list is obviously incomplete. There was a lot of good hip hop that dropped in the last 10 years, especially if you scratch a little bit below the surface. In creating this list I have tried to create a balance between what was critically and somewhat commercially successful. The 3 honourable mentions are there because for some reason or another they didn't have the balance. I don't think many people have heard of Ohmega Watts or Jneiro Jarel other than your hardcore hip hop listener. So for this reason I included them as honourable mentions. The Madlib album doesn't quite qualify because although it is done by a hip hop producer it is a remix album of Jazz standards. So now that those have been clarified, on with the list.

10. People Under the Stairs - Fun Dmc (released 2008)
It's hard to find a definitive Puts album simply because all of them are simply fantastic. The other reason is that Puts have never really departed from their signature staple of sample based, old school hip hop. It's a sound that works well for them and while they tweaked the formula in recent years to allow for live instrumentation, they still haven't lost the meaning behind what they do. Beats, Rhymes, and Fun.

9. Shad - The Old Prince (released 2007)
Shad may still be unknown to a lot of listeners in the lower 48, but up in Canada he is quickly asserting himself as the cream of the crop for Canadian emcees. This albums marries some of the best underground production talent with Shad's witty and introspective flow. While other emcees are quick to descend into the commercial thuggism that is all too prevalent with the genre, Shad's lyrics pack a punch without descending into bravado boasts about bitches and hoes.

8. Common - Like Water for Chocolate (released 2000)
This came out before his commercial breakthrough "Be" and is better simply for the presence of the late J-Dilla on production. Dilla keeps the beats smooth and soulful throughout what might be one of his best efforts behind the boards. In front Common spits introspective rhyme after rhyme trying to debunk some of the stereotypes that come with rappers and hip hop.

7. Jay-Z - American Gangster (released 2007)
I'm gonna hear it from a lot of people saying....why didn't you put "The Blueprint: Vol 1" on here. Truth is, this is Jay-Z at his realest. The album that showed everyone that he was not content to put out the same album time after time. The album is loosely based on the movie with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, but you don't need the movie to enjoy this. Just let Jay-Z take you on a trip through his wordplay.

6. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow (released 2002)
Kanye West said his goals were to make albums that were comparable to Stevie Wonder's classic 70's records. Blackalicious were able to offer up a celebration of 70's black soul and funk without making it sound old and stale. Gift of Gab is so gifted with words that he is able to take us on streams of conscious raps for 5 minute keeping us hanging onto his every word, or spit clever nonsense like Chemical Calisthenics.

5. Outkast - Stankonia (released 2000)
Outkast made some great records in the 00's, but "Stankonia" is the pick simply because it shows the duo at their peak before they drifted off in different directions. BOB might be the ballsiest lead single for a Rap album ever with its DnB percussion and machine gun rhymes. Definitely not what top 40 normally goes for. Over the album they keep things southern funky and some of their more interesting tracks verge on the Psychedelic. Andre 3000 sounds like he's channeling the ghost of Jimi Hendrix and that's not a bad thing.

4. Slum Village - Fantastic Volume 2 (released 2000)
Is this album cursed? The tumultuous history of Slum Village pretty much starts here (although Fantastic Vol 1 would be making the rounds on the bootleg circuit before this). With this album producer J-Dilla has his crowning achievement. The rhymes are pretty much forgettable, but work so well with the beats that stutter by in stoned rhythmic fashion. Dilla is too hip hop what the expressionists were to painting, which is minimalist production that hits a groove and fills the space. Slum Village would of course never reach these highs ever again with the loss of Dilla as a member and then his death. Baatin would join him in the hip hop stratosphere earlier this year. that leaves T3 as the sole continuing link Slum Village's legacy that still isn't finished.

3. Lupe Fiasco - The Cool (released 2007)
Lupe Fiasco first gained acclaim through the mixtape circuit which then led to a high profile guest spot on Kanye West's "Late Registration". "Food and Liquor" came out soon after and was critically acclaimed and then came "The Cool". Based around an idea that came about from the song "The Cool" off FnL, Lupe decide to base a large majority of the songs on his second album around that concept (Hence the album title). Lupe has loads of wisdom on the mic and is able to offer commentary on the state of mainstream hip hop with a song like "Dumb it Down" (another bizarre choice for a lead single). The Cool is like a gangster zombie flick with Lupe taking the persona of a slain gangster back from the dead looking for redemption. Cliched maybe, but Lupe keeps it packed with nice production, some of the best narrative this side of Jay-Z, and diversions into lighter material like Paris, Tokyo.

2. Kanye West - Late Registration (released 2005)
As an emcee Kanye is Ok. As a person Kanye is full of himself. Say what you want about Kanye West the truth is that as a producer there are very few better. His ability to see the big picture and take Hip Hip where people had only dared to go is commendable. Hence the orchestrations with Jon Brion on a lot of these tracks that really add that classic touch to the whole thing. It isn't rap, it's like Coldplay in spots with Rap lyrics. It is something that shows the average person of the enormous capabilities of Hip Hop if place in the hands of the right people. Now if only Kanye West wasn't so hard to like as a person.

1. Madvillain - Madvillainy (released 2004)
On the flip side we have an album that is enhanced by its rugged and raw production. The whole album is a concept playing off classical radio shows like the Shadow or Dragnet. On the production side we have Madlib who is noted for his straight into left field projects. On the lyrical side we have MF Doom, a rapper who is never seen in public without his mask and who once recorded an album dedicated to food. Taking the persona of radio villains, Madlib and Doom make their way through this mash-up of gritty, lo-fi beats and samples. Doom's flow never really changes through stream of conscious lyrics that rarely ever make sense unless your stoned. Which leads us to the track "America's Most Blunted" the song that will make your Grandma want to smoke up. A perfect record at a time when their are few classic record. This you can put up with "Nation of Millions" or "Paid in Full" as one of the best of all-time.

Honourable Mentions

Madlib - Shades of Blue (released 2003)
A complete left turn for Madlib from Madvillainy. This came out around the same time but has Madlib showing his appreciation for Jazz by cutting up and remixing the Blue Note Catalogue. It is mostly instrumental which might turn some people off but it is worth a listen if only to show you that there was and is some really great Jazz music to get into.

Jneiro Jarel - Three Piece Puzzle (released 2005)
Jneiro Jarel is a producer from Philly that has drawn comparisons to Madlib although more in work ethic rather than vibe. He enjoys his funk and has does a lot of abstract material similar to the late J-Dilla. This album contains several instrumental experiments but also that classic head bobbing rhymes of mid 90's hip hop. Well worth a listen.

Ohmega Watts - The Find (released 2005)
Ohmega Watts will tell you that he loves Pete Rock. On this album he channels Pete Rock along with some 70's funk, reggae, and Jazz. A great album for summer vibing and remember that it wasn't all about gangster's, sex, and drugs.

Allright, the long awaited update.

2009-06-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy time and been here and there in the past few days. I guess my last formal update was more than a week ago and so I am getting emails about what is going on. On the going part, I'm still in Tel Aviv. The plan is to catch a bus back to Jerusalem later today. Also on the going is the fact that I am. At least soon. July 3rd I fly back to London for a few days, then onto Seattle for a night, then to Mexico for a week, then back home.

I few weeks ago I mentioned the light show. Well me and Dan went back and filmed some of it for a potential program. Then the whole crew was busy working on ZAKA. Wednesday, we went down to a bedouin village in the south of Israel and filmed a Sheik that was working for ZAKA. Then we had lunch, and really Lunch is cool when your hanging with the bedouins. Lots of food, it was a crazy feast (so much that I couldn't really eat for the rest of the day). I was also partially hungover (long story that I will get into in a moment) so I was not myself stomach wise. Still it was awesome. Then onto Sderot. Many of you may know about Sderot, particularly from my blog if you've been regularly reading. Sderot is where many of the rockets fired from Gaza have fallen. Over 3 a day in the past decade. I got a good look at a bomb shelter and a grand tour of the police station. In the back of the station there are shelves of exploded rocket shrapnel piled up. Fortunately a rocket did not fall during our time there. I then said goodbye to Jay and David and hopped a cab to Tel Aviv. I got a great price for the 45 minute trip (70 sheks about 16 CAD) which apparently is nuts for a cab. It sounded like the cabbie was taking his girlfriend back to Sderot and then heading back to Tel Aviv and so he gave me a good deal.

Tel Aviv is cool and different from Jerusalem. A little more secular but very nice. The beach was great and I also hit up a cool record store here. Me and Josh went to Jaffa where we met his girlfriend and then wandered around the old city of Jaffa for a while. I had my share of accidents though as I banged my knee climbing off a metal cannon. It is ok but I do have a bruise. Then I managed to collapse a chair at a bar. I am a little hefty so I'm not surprised actually. The bar owners where very nice and gave me a free beer on the house which was nice. Of course by now everybody knows about MJ and I found out yesterday that something big had happened because his face was plastered all over the Hebrew papers. Of course I cant read Hebrew so I thought that he had maybe canceled the tour or something. Then out of all the shops on the street they all start playing Michael Jackson and that make me more curious. Finally I get to a computer and learn the news. Sad to see, again he was a troubled man but I hope he got his life together in the end. Plus I love Thriller.......great album.

Onto the hangover story, and I mention this as a cautionary tale. I'm not anti drinking obviously but there are certain little things you should know before going crazy. 1) Know the alchohol content of what you are drinking. 2) Don't mix 3) Drink water. 4) Liquours are of the devil. Seriously I opened this bottle of wine and it was a smaller bottle so I proceeded to drink it. It was dessert wine and that stuff packs a punch. Not a pleasant following morning, and trying to drink water when your stomach is all awry is not pleasurable too. So stay away from the Dessert wine. It's a drink straight from the pit of Beelzebub's stomach. Live and learn people. trust me. I don't put this on here to brag, cuz it's kind of embarrassing (when I say embarass I emphasize ASS. I'm like the guy at Woodstock telling the kids to stay away from the brown acid. Seriously, this is for your benefit.

Anywho, stay cool everyone and I will see you guys soon, God bless. Paul

2009-06-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson R.I.P. 1958 - 2009

A man who was an innovator. Extremely troubled in many ways, but always had the tunes and was an awesome entertainer. Second to none.....MJ you will be missed.

P.S. Blog update is coming soon. I've been traveling around the country and internet has been a little sporadic. I am in Tel Aviv right now and should be back in Jerusalem tomorrow.

Music Post.

2009-06-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

A slight little detour from things Israeli for the moment. Check this video out featuring my man Ohmega Watts and a nice little beat with some crate digging. Northwest Hip Hop at its finest.

Then we slide on down to a dope free album by another friend of mine, COOKBOOK from the LA Symphony. There was a point were I was trying to get a beat on this album but I am lazy. Still it's good, and it's free. The concept is the 80's, so familiar 80's sounds references and such. Very cool for the 80's people and people in their 80's (ok maybe not).

http://www.sphereofhiphop.com/splash/cookbook-i-love-the-80s-album-download.htm

Enjoy, people.

Ok onto the more normal stuff. Some cool pics I took of the light festival in Jerusalem. The story behind this was that there is this light festival in the Old City so we decided to go down and check it out Thursday evening. It was cool cuz it allowed me to go a little crazy with camera exposure and such.

Church of the Redeemer all lit up with a bit of delay which gave it a blur effect.

Down at the old Roman marketplace. This is a lot of butterflies.

Heart effect is cool on this.

Wild and wacky colours on this. I took this on a very high exposure.

Lastly, me at the Western Wall. Very interesting day, shooting Meshi and doing some cutaways and such.

Saturday, I went to the Dead Sea and floated in the water. Actually, it's more like I floated on top of the water. It is crazy the buoyancy of the water. I can't really describe it, you just gotta go see it and experience it for yourself. Then we stopped off in Qumran which is like biblical archeology ground zero. This is where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. They didn't let us into the cave but we walked through the excavated settlement.

Yesterday, I got some bad news in that the person (namely my cousin Chris) who was gonna take me to Bethlehem can't because he is a landed Israeli immigrant and they can't guarantee his safety. So I still want to go, but nervous to go alone and I am looking to see if there is a guided tour that I can take down for an afternoon or something.

The other thing that might be interesting is going around the country following ZAKA with a camera. Hopefully me and Dan will be able to do that sometime this week and I can maybe take a couple of hours and visit Caesarea in the process. We will see what is up, but got to do it soon because time is running out.

Anyways, it is late and I gotta go to bed. Hope everybody is doing well whereever they are. Talk to y'all soon. Paul

Strapped to the Editing Workstation

2009-06-10T06:43:00.000-07:00

for the past three days basically because I am finishing up a half hour program on the training exercise in Kiryat Gat last week. It was an intensive job editing and such, but it looks pretty good and I am in the process right now of rendering it and bumping it down into an .mov file. Essentially the program goes into the search and rescue exercise in Kiryat Gat on July 2nd and then there is a short little clip from our basement bomb shelter showing us doing a home drill and explaining it out. Very cool.

Zaka is in full swing now. Tomorrow we film Zaka founder Meshi giving statements around the city, including the western wall. That'll be a good day out although it'll prolly be quite warm. The Kiryat Gat program has a strong Zaka component to it because we were there shooting cutaways for the Zaka film. Monday we filmed a show with one of the Zaka volunteers and we were initially gonna use it for a webclip but it looks like we can turn that into a full program. So busy busy. Although I have had time to get out and enjoy myself as well.

Yesterday, Chris, Danny, and I went to the Ma'aleh film school in Jerusalem and met with the school administrators about building a relationship with them. The Ma'aleh school was started as a religious school for the orthodox but has branched out a bit into the secular world too. The school accepts students from all background although the films they make still adhere to some moral guidelines (no graphic violence, sex, or nudity). They showed us a few of the projects they had done and are working on and they did one project with special needs adults that looked awesome. They actually directed these people in what to do with the equipment and how to put together a movie which is cool. I told them about my brother Stephen and how glad I was that they were able to reach out to that community in that way.

In a few weeks I will be traveling to Mount Sinai and filming a show there, and I look forward to that. Bethlehem is also on the agenda at some point as well. Plus, many more things are gonna be happening. As the time of my departure grows nearer, so does the demand to get things done. Gotta go, but I wish everyone the best and will see y'all soon. Shalom from Israel

Shabat Shalom

2009-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well here I am on a Saturday listening to Mutemath and typing on the computer. This past week saw a lot of stuff happen including the beginning of the ZAKA project. With everything else going on and then this it's gonna be busy, but at least we are ahead of the game for the most part.

ZAKA is a jewish organization that offers medical assistance in times of crisis. Often they are the first responders on the scene, but also they collect body parts of the deceased in tragic situations in order for the victim's family to have a proper jewish burial. ZAKA workers were on hand in the Mumbai bombings, and the Tsunami a few years ago giving assistance. So that sets up the story.

On Tuesday David, Chris, and I went to Kiryat Gat for a test drill involving the army, medical, police, and Zaka. The scenario was the aftermath of a missile bombing in the city and how these teams would respond to the tragedy and also how to deal with the media. Of course there was tons of media there from CNN, to BBC, to all the Israeli networks and us. So while we were trying to get shots of medical personal trying to deal with different situations with mannequins, there was a special team design to keep the area clear. It was a big baligan (mess) but I guess that is the idea.

Just being there during the test was a little disturbing. A loudspeaker would blare air raid sirens and screams, with exposions and we are in the remains of Kiryat Gat's former city hall (demolished to make way for new construction but ideal for the exercise). Rubble is everywhere and so you got to watch your step (especially with the camera). I was on camera duty and we got some good footage of Zaka in action as well as the rest of the action.

Anyways, the Zaka project has a lot more story to tell and may end up leading to some interviews with some very important people (possibly a few former and present heads of state) which will be exciting if it happens.

Wednesday was a cool day because my cousin Dan arrived back home from his little jaunt in the far east. He spent 3 months travelling around India, Thailand, Cambodia, and in between doing different stuff. He has lot's of interesting stories and to celebrate we all went out for burgers at Burger's Bar that evening.

The weather has been great here and I hear the weather is pretty warm in Vancouver right now too. The thing is that 30 degree weather around here is pretty much the norm while over in Vancouver it's pretty much as hot as it gets. Still it was interesting reading the newspaper and looking at the weather map and seeing Vancouver warmer than San Fran, LA, Orlando, Dallas, and Miami.

Today is shabat which means pretty much everything is closed unless you go into Abu Ghosh. It is interesting because Abu Ghosh (due to it being an Arab village) is open and all the Jerusalemites go into Abu Ghosh to eat and shop. Tonight Jay and I are going to a christian journalists meeting.

That's about all for this week. I would request that you keep Israel Vision in your prayers, a lot is being done on very little money and bills need to be paid. Since I've come there has been a lot of improvement in the morale I think and also the production because of the extra hand. There has been an invitation to stay longer which I can't do right now because of my travel budget and my tickets, but there is discussion about me going back in the near future and continuing to work, but I also need to figure out finances and such. So I am in deep thought and prayer about that right now as well.

Anyways, take care all. I love you all and will see you in July. Right now some pictures from Tuesday.

Ground Zero as far a the simulation is concerned. You can see the maniquins strewn around the site.

Getting in on the ZAKA meeting. Chris took over on camera so I could get this picture.

More of the baligan. Media on display as well with the camera.

One of the Israeli generals giving a statement to the media about the exercise.

ZAKA (in white) talking to members of the army to see what needs to be done.

Greetings from the Holy Land

2009-05-31T00:45:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to update once a week and your thinking to yourself, "he just updated on Thursday". I know I know, I just wanted to let you guys know a couple of details about my return to Canada. First off, things are well here except that I've been pretty much at home for the past few days, simply cuz of not having a car (Jay's car is in the shop) and with the feast of Pentecost (yes it is that time) everything is closed and buses aren't running. I posted a bunch of pictures on my facebook page so if you guys are on there you can take a look at them.

Friday Jay and I walked over to David's in-laws for Pentecost supper and it was delicious. It was also David's little girl Leah's 5th birthday so we had cake and presents and such. Yesterday, was pretty low-key being Shabat, but I did do a couple of small things around the studio to get caught up again (mostly dubbing and digitizing tapes). Today I will do more of the same and do some cataloging too (There is a short series that was shot that I am trying to recompile the episodes and freshen them up a bit). My cousin Dan arrives home on Wednesday and he will be in the studio helping me with stuff and doing some other things he needs to do. It will be interesting with all the stories he has to tell about India and Thailand.

Ok, now the details of my return because they have changed somewhat. I have had the opportunity to go to Mexico so I'm going there for a brief period of time. I'm not sure all the details but it will be crazy with everything going on. I leave Israel July 3rd for London, then I am in England til the 8th when I arrive back to Seattle. Then the following day I leave Seattle for Mexico (PVR I believe) and arrive back in Seattle a week later. So it'll be an interesting jaunt home 5 countries and 3 continents in two weeks (Maybe I go to Egypt still and make it 4 continents). Anyways, take care......I will see you guys soon and I will tell many tales of life here when I return home. Until next time Shalom from Israel.

Another busy week

2009-05-28T01:43:00.000-07:00

Acutally it wasn't quite as busy as last week but it does seem like there is something always on the go. Last friday we filmed two shows. One show was in honour of Jerusalem Day which is the day that the Jews regained Jerusalem in 1967. We went up to Mt. Skopus and filmed it from there. Then I got some good cutaways of the city from both there and the Mount of Olives. The other show was of a Karate group that came to the house and did a demonstration. Then we all sat down and had a BBQ. It seems like BBQ's are in style here and so much food. I'm jealous because I can't seem to eat it all yet i'm the one that gains the weight. Actually, to tell you the truth, I have lost weight, but with all this good food sometimes I wonder.

Yesterday we had a interesting meeting with some Chinese believers who want to translate the show for the Chinese people. It is kind of interesting that China would be such an interesting focus because I have particularly close ties with China right now with friends there and such (some of you know who I mean and why I don't mention much more than that). After the meeting we went to a restaurant in Abu Gosh, which is an arab village (though they are friendly there) and had some good Arab food for lunch. I joked that someone should open up a restaurant called the Wholly Gosh.

In the evening we filmed a show here in the studio with some Americans who had gone into Kurdish Iraq for a short mission stay. It was more of a fact finding mission to see what was needed and what God is doing in that part of the world. PTL that doors are opening ever so slightly for people to take the gospel into that country. Then they took us out for dinner at one of the best steakhouses in the area. Suffering for the gospel can sometimes be hard.

This weekend will be kind of low-key. The car is in the shop which means it is bus or cab to get around anywhere. Next week I am planning to go to Tel Aviv for a few days and also possibly down to the Dead Sea. Hopefully the car will be back on the road in a few days.

That's all for now. All the best from the Wholly Land. Paul

Hello again from the Old City

2009-05-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been another busy week in Israel. Also it has been very warm and so I praise the Lord that my Aunt and Uncle have a swimming pool I can cool off in. Today is not so bad, I think it is about 23C today but Monday it was up to 35C which is very warm they say for May here.

On Saturday we decided to go into the old city and look around which was pretty awesome. Between all the sights and sound here I still hadn't gone in and actually looked around at the place (I did drive through it one night though). It is quite surreal actually being there and looking at all the places where these biblical events took place. We visited the Western (wailing) Wall and Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I'm kinda not really gonna say too much and show you some pictures and maybe a few vids just to let you know what is up.

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the traditional site of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection although many scholars dispute it. There has been a church on this site since Constantine. The current church has parts of it that date back almost 1000 years.

These are the walls of Jerusalem looking just outside the Jaffa (Western) Gate.

Not actually in the Old City but a cool mural on Agrippas St. Just up the street is the market and King of Kings church, which is the largest evangelical church in the city.

Me with the Dome of the Rock in the background. Just below the dome (kind of by my shoulder) is the Western wall.

The Western Wall. There is a story behind this picture. Normally on the Sabbath they don't allow pictures in the square. I kind of cheated and pulled out and snapped this and quickly put my camera away before anyone noticed. I hold God doesn't hold it against me. :)

Later on I actually went right up to the wall and touched it, they do let non-Jews into and up to the wall but it is a sacred place and you have to be reasonably quiet.

This is the temple mount where you can see the Dome of the Rock and then along the wall to the Al-Aqsa mosque. The Dome of the Rock is largely ceremonial while the Al-Aqsa mosque is the one that is in daily use. We tried to go up there but we came at the wrong time and they were only allowing Muslims during that time. The second Palestinian Intifada (uprising) is commonly known as the Al-Aqsa uprising as it started as a result of then Prime Minister Arial Sharon visiting the temple mount.

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchure. The video is a little dark but I more wanted to get the sound of the place and the Monks chanting. It was quite beautiful, although throughout the years there has been squabbling between the different churches about jurisdiction on the church. It is quite sad actually and a poor witness. The Pope was just here in Jerusalem and he was here the day before giving a speech/sermon on the whole Palestinian thing but I kind of wish he could have tried to resolve this as well.

Anyways, it was quite a day. A few more things during the week included filming an interview with some men from an organization called tabletotable here in Jerusalem that picks up and gleans leftover food (a lot like the gleaners organization in Vancouver) to give to the needy. I also spent a little time working on some stuff for the Palestinian Media Watch who are enlightening the world to what the Palestinian people are teaching and telling their own. Some of it is quite shocking. We went over to their office and met with PMW President Itamar Marcus about the sequence and he like what we are doing and are planning to do more video work for them. As well I got to see the whole operation in effect. They have several people billingual in Arabic, Hebrew, and English monitoring Palestinian media for anti-jewish/zionist/ even anti-western propaganda. More stuff is on the burner and I have two shows i am awaiting some footage on before I finish them and commit it to tape. Anyways, I miss you all but I am exciting about all the stuff that is happening and what God is doing here too. God Bless, shalom from Israel.

Busy and Galilee

2009-05-14T03:19:00.000-07:00

Hello from Israel.

Well it has been about 5 weeks since I have been here and I have been busy. Between working and sightseeing and resting because of all the working and sightseeing it has been hard to find the time to update. I will update you on a few things that have been going on since my last update.

It was Israel's Independence day a few weeks ago and I was able to go to the ceremony on Mt. Herzl and film a lot of it. The footage we were able to use in a program about the origins of the modern state of Israel (She turned 61 btw) and the celebration. It was quite fun and I had a front row seat. My cousin in law Adi choreographed the whole thing.

This week is a little crazy both in the home, work, and Israel in general. Israel of course, has the Pope visiting so there has been a lot of media coverage on that. I personally have tried to stay out of the city centre because security has been tight. It's tight in general so imagine what this is like.

At work we are busy shooting programs. It is a lot of work as it is primarily David, my cousin, and I doing the bulk of the work. Since I've been here I have put together around 10 programs which is 2 a week. Some of the interviews are a little more straightforward. Others, like the Galilee program took a little longer. Chris, my other cousin, has been busy doing the web stuff and helping Meridel get ready to travel to Switzerland and Germany.

Which brings us to today. Meridel has just left for 6 weeks and getting her ready to go has drawn a lot of resources. I have been the one working with the IVTV stuff, and keeping that up to date. Now with her gone it'll be back more into the routine of doing the show.

I mentioned a show about the Galilee. Well I was able to travel with Jay and Meridel up to the area and we shot a nice little program about the area with Meridel and her friend Irene who is an expert on the region. Plus I was able to enjoy it and we saw Capernaum, and Tel Hadar, and Tiberias. We didn't go into Nazareth because it is primarily an Arab town and it is a little dicey there. We travelled up the Jordan valley through the West Bank (which is safe if you keep to the main road) and past Jericho. Jericho we also didn't go into because it's a little crazy there too. However, it is real close to the river (only 1or 2 miles) so when the Israelites crossed the river on dry land, these people could see everything from the walls.

The past week I have been down to Tel Aviv a few times for a barbecue and a birthday party. The weather has been cool but the past few days it is starting to feel warmer. At some point me and my cousin Chris will head into Bethlehem to check it out. Anyways, I have some amazing thoughts to share but writing them down doesn't really do it justice. Your just gonna have to ask me for stories when I get home. Anyways, much love toeveryone back home. I will update soon when I get more information. Until then Shalom from Israel.

P.S. the video below is a montage I shot and edited together for the Galilee program, but the music didn't feel right for it so I changed the montage around a bit and used a more mellow beat. This is the original edit.

Hello From Israel

2009-04-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

So it has been a little over two weeks in the holy land and I have been busy. So much so that my blog has been a little neglected. One of the things I am doing is putting together a documentary on the city of Sderot (pronounced like Stir-rOt). Sderot is a mile from the Gaza border and has borne the brunt of Hamas rocket attacks. Most of the people there live in bomb shelters for fear of attack. I was working with a variety of footage that was shot both in Sderot and Washington D.C (the mayor of Sderot visited D.C. in February). I have a rough cut down running about 23 minutes.

One of the other things we did was shoot a program on Holocaust Memorial Day. At 10am the whole country stops and pays respect with a moment of silence much like we do on Remembrance Day. By some weird twist of fate the Durbin 2 conference on Racism took place in Geneva with its keynote speaker being notorious anti-jew hater Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Canada, the U.S.A, and many other countries boycotted this debacle, and many more walked out during his speak. However, still many more stayed and even applauded this monster. Anyways, the show was an attempt to show our frustration on that as well. I ended up editing the thing together and dubbing off copies for our T.V networks across the world.

Tonite is going to be a lot of fun as I am going to a dress rehearal performance of the celebration of Israel's 61st birthday. We are gonna be shooting and my cousin-in-law Adi is choreographing the whole thing. I am just waiting for my ride.

Another thing that is on the agenda is a little freelance photography of the old city, which I hope to do in the next few days. Oh yeah and Tuesday is the actual birthday of Israel (according to the Jewish Calender) and so we are gonna be out celebrating. Pray that God will protect people during the celebration as Al Qaida has made rumblings about doing naughty stuff.

Anyways, I gotta go. Much love and Shalom from Israel. Paul

Week 1

2009-04-16T03:30:00.000-07:00

Well it has been one week since i´ve arrived in Israel and I have been busy. I have been working to try and edit two separate programs among other things. One program that we shot on Easter Sunday was edited and a clip shown on Norwegian TV. Yesterday, me and my Uncle Jay went for a walk down to the green line (the border between Israel and the West Bank) and saw the controversial fence that the world is up in arms about. The thing that most people

don´t understand is that the fence has reduced the number of suicide bombings by 95%. It´s not because Israel wants to be mean, they want to protect their people. Anyways, I should go but here are some pictures of the fence. Much love to you all....Shalom from Israel.

Pictures: 1. Me and David filming on the Emmaus Road 2-4. Pictures of the fence between Israel and the West Bank

Shalom and Chag Sameach from Israel

2009-04-11T01:26:00.000-07:00

(Greetings and Happy Holidays)

Well I have arrived in Israel. I got here early Thursday morning and was picked up by Jay and Meridel Rawlings (my Uncle and Aunt) and taken to their place in Mevaserret Zion. In the afternoon we went into Jerusalem and saw a few of the places where Jesus spent his last days. Then we went to Skull Moutain which a lot of people believe is the actual location of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb.

Now these sights aren't for sure the actual places. With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD and the subsequent two millenia since a lot of these biblical sights have been buried under rubble and recollections to their exact location have been hazy. Its only been in the past 100 years where they have really tried to find a pinpoint these sights. Still we went to Caiaphas' house, where Jesus prolly spent his last night in the dungeon below the house. It is also the place, in the courtyard, where Peter denied Jesus three times.

Yesterday, Meridel and I did a little shopping while Jay was off getting his phone fixed. In the mall we happened to run into my cousin Chris who was out birthday shopping for his little niece's birthday. Now when you go into a mall in Israel because of the hightened security there are security checkpoints and metal detectors into each entrance. If you park the car in the parkade there is another checkpoint. It is just a part of life here in Israel. Because it is Pesach (passover) here all the products with leaven are forbidden to be sold in keeping with the scriptures. You will go into the grocery store and all that stuff will be covered up in plastic. Right now the big thing is Matzah Bread, which is flat crackery type stuff that you can put jam or hummus or whatever else on. It is prolly pretty good to put something on cuz it is pretty bland otherwise. Anyway, I gotta run but much love from the Holy Land, here are some pictures that I've taken so far.

1. View from my window 2. Inside the Tomb 3. Skull Mountain (possibly Golgotha) 4. My Uncle Jay by St. Peter's Church (Caiaphas' House) 5. Temple Mount (looking from the South) 6. Statue in the courtyard of Peter denying Christ 7. Me in front of the Garden Tomb

The Liverpool Update and Getting Ready to Move On

2009-04-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

So it's Tuesday Morning here in London and the past few days I've been laying low and not doing too much. Went to church on Sunday at Holy Trinity Brompton which now is like my official england church. I really like the sermons that past couple weeks, usually they alternate speakers. The first weeks Tim Hughes spoke, and then the next week there was an older gentleman speaking on confession. This past week was on prayer and why do we pray, and just wrestling with the concept. Some insightful observations and you can listen to the sermons at http://www.htb.org.uk/

Liverpool was fantastic, and I really enjoyed myself there. My only regret was not spending more time there because the Scousers (that's what they call themselves) are pretty much some of the nicest people you'll meet (if you can understand them). Of course I went up in my Liverpool FC jersey which endeared me to half the population and made me the arch enemy of the other half. Liverpool has two football (soccer) clubs the other being Everton, and they don't like each other. One guy I met kindly told me to throw my jersey into the bin cuz it's rubbish. Another guy I met told me that there really is only one team in Liverpool (referring to Liverpool FC). I hitched the bus up to Anfield where LFC play and took some pictures and kinda basked in the aura of my fav football team. I would have taken the tour except it started late and I didn't have the time cuz I wanted to see the Beatles Museum. Speaking of that, it was very good. It goes into particular detail on the origins in Liverpool and resconstruct certain Beatle landmarks in liverpool that aren't there any more. I also went to Matthew Street which is where the Cavern Club is located and saw a few groups there. It's been altered a bit from the original cavern club, but it still has the feel and look of all the footage you see of the club from the 60's.

Meanwhile back in London I've been working on compiling video and just going for casual walks. I finally found a gas station in London. There is all these cars but for two weeks I wondered where the gas station was. Yesterday I finally came across the one gas station in London it seems, and I was so in shock I forgot to get a picture. I also went to Paddington Station to see if I could find Paddington Bear. I didn't, but they were selling all kinds of Paddington trinkets. The bear sure is cute, maybe on the way home I'll cop a Paddington bear.

Anyways, I should go. I hope you like all the pictures and video that I have posted. More to come. Much love to all. Paul

St. Paul's pics, and Yorkie sexism

2009-04-05T03:16:00.000-07:00

ok, from top corner clockwise. 1. St. Paul's Cathedral 2. The Bishop of London with PM's Gordon Brown and Kevin Rudd 3. Me in fron of the Stage 4. Gordon Brown (left) and Kevin Rudd 5. The Yorkie (just eating it makes me so sexist)

Pauleywood & Kmak vs. Rootbeer Pink Limousine Mashup

2009-04-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Some good times kicking it in the Pink Limousine in London. Pauleywood & Kmak go together like Pigeon John and Flynn or Root & Beer. (I personally think Kyle's the Beer......oh dear).

Another Video Montage

2009-04-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Some of the places shown. In order

1. Riding the Bus 2. In Holburn 3. Lambourghini Dealers in Kensington 4. Russell Square Tube 5. Pigeon outside V&A Museum 6. Canary Wharf 7. Me and Rockband 8. Buckingham Palace 9. Bus & Wall of Buckingham Palace 10. Tower Bridge 11. Piccadilly Circus 12. Drummer 13. More Piccadilly 14. War Graves at Blacon 15. Liverpool Downtown 16. Cathedral 17. Cavern Club 18. Liverpool from the Mersey Ferry 19. British Museum 20. Russell Square 21. Christies in London 22. Royal Courts of Justice 23. Abbey Road (Stills) 24. Royal Albert Hall (Stills) 25. Kyle enjoying a Pint (or six) 26. Canary Wharf 27. Buff RIP

Video and Pics from London

2009-04-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

1. Me and John Lennon on Matthew Street in Liverpool 2. Inside the Cavern Club 3. Duchy, Prince Charles Beer

Ok time for the first video live from London. This dude is just amazing on the percussion. Check it out.

Liverpool, Blacon, and the Little Terry that Could.

2009-04-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, i'm currently out of London and on a little trip up to Liverpool. I just got into town and had a brief look around. The place i'm staying in is where Florence Nightingale lived when she lived here, so that is pretty neat. Once again more history. Tonight, I'll catch the bus into town and go to the Cavern Club which is where the Beatles used to play before they became the biggest band on the planet.

Train ride up was cool, but I do get a little queasy looking out the window at scenery rapidly going by so I slept most of it. This afternoon I stopped off in Chester (about 30 miles south of Liverpool) and walked to Blacon Cemetery to see my Great Uncle Nick's grave. There is a lot more I can say about it, but to make a long story short my Uncle was a Pilot who died in WWII.

Other cool goings on, Kyle and I (and a few others) went to Wembley Stadium to catch England vs. Ukraine. Ukraine gave England a bit of a scare but in the end England prevailed 2-1. Crouch and Terry with the goals for England. I did put a couple £'s on Ukraine to win. I was rooting for England but I figured if they lose....I'd have something to cheer me up.

Anyways, that's all for now. I'm actually pretty bagged so I'm gonna go have a nap and then hit the city. Much love to all. Paul

Picture Time

2009-03-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

So here are a few pictures of my time in London so far. (From top left) 1. Me in front of the London Eye, which is a huge Ferris Wheel 2. On the Westminister Bridge with the Clock Tower in the Background 3. Clock Tower and the Eye taken from Westminister Abbey 4. Me at Piccadily Circus.

Today Kyle and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral for a special panel discussion that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and Australian PM Kevin Rudd were a part of. It was real interesting particularly when the public were able to ask questions of the two PM's. I entered a question into the discussion (about free enterprise and how corporations are gonna be able to sustain in the economic crisis) but it was never asked. A similar question was asked though so that is prolly why mine wasn't. Kyle entered a question for the two PM's to engage in a freestyle rap battle about global geo-political economic policy. Strangely enough that wasn't asked either. Kyle did manage to get a picture of the two PM's from afar and when It is uploaded off his camera, i'll post it. Obama is in town tonight. Not sure where Harper is just yet. It all goes down over the next few days. Now this was cool not only because we saw two of our world leaders in action, but because we actually got into St. Paul's for free. Booya! Then I ate a Yorkie which is apparently really sexist (long story, ask Charlene Ulanday about that).

Tomorrow is England vs. Ukraine and now Kyle is going to work on his essay because he needs his England time tomorrow. One thing Kyle is that I will NOT, NEVER, EVER, WILL WEAR FACE PAINT. UNDERSTAND KYLE. Grrrrrrrrr.

Anyways, cheers from the other side of the planet. I will dial y'alls soon. Paul

link to an article about the meeting: http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/g20-to-set-rules-on-bankers-pay-brown-20090401-9ifp.html

another one:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/31/britain.g20/index.html?eref=rss_latest

P.S You can clearly see the heightened security wherever you go. When I was at the British Museum a few days ago there was no security (other than the in house security). Yesterday we walk by and outside there are at least 20 police officers hanging around the front. Went to the Parliment Buildings and walked down and got a good look at Battersea Power station (took a picture). Battersea is prolly famous because it is such a monolithic structure and is also the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals album. So if you google that then you'll see what I saw (minus the pig). I also saw the SIS building, which is the headquarters of MI6 (yes James Bond's headquarters). I was actually surprised when I realized that is IS the actual real - life headquarters of MI6 and the British Intelligence Agency. (Pics coming soon). Anyways, much love to all. Paul

2009-03-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, Greetings from London. I don't know if you have been keeping up on the news at this end of the world but the G20 summit in London kicked off today. I know that many of our worlds leaders including Harper and Obama are supposed to be here at some point. For just the nature of the conference because it is the world leader I would encourage you to pray over this conference as our world leaders try to deal with this economic crisis among other things. Also and more important I would encourage you to pray for the peace of London during this time. A lot of protesters have descended on London and are planning several demonstrations during the next week. While most of these are intended to be peaceful displays, there are a few radicals in the would work that have planned to cause disruption to the city's affairs. Not to mention that the last time a G8 summit was held here terrorists blew up parts of the London underground and a bus (both explosions took place just a couple of blocks away from where I am. It's funny because It's like being in the eye of a hurricane before the hurricane passes. Anyways, pray for good decisions by our leaders, and safety and protection. Pray for the police and army troops to keep order by peaceful means as well. Thanks a bunch. Paul

P.S. Went to the British Music Experience on Thursday which is essentially the history of British Popular music postwar 45- to present. Very good, it's a lot like the Experience Music Project in Seattle. If you haven been to either, and like your rock and pop music then go. They have a display where you can actually record your self playing along with a bunch of instruments and then you go to this site and can download it. Still no pictures. Sorry, internet is sparse at best right now. Much love to you guys in the Van and those people around the world reading. Paul

In London

2009-03-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

So i'm here in London and really enjoying things so far. Arrived in London around 3pm on Saturday afternoon and the first day hung out with Kyle exploring Kings Cross station which is the station in the Harry Potter films that they go through to find the secret platform. Then we walked over to Piccadilly Circus and then onto Big Ben. That was night one. Day two I hit up the British Museum and saw the Rosetta stone (I got pictures) among other cool things there. I also went to church and Tim Hughes spoke. Yesterday I went to Trafalgar square which was great...the Canadian embassy is right there and so is the national portrait gallery which I went through. The cool thing about the museums here is that they are all free by donation. Anyways, I gotta go. I will update soon, hopefully I can post up some pictures next time. Peace Paul

New update and the Rebirth

2009-02-22T13:05:00.001-08:00

For the next few months I will be going to England and Israel and therefore I will be using this blog to keep people up to date on what Iwill be doing over there.

First off, why Israel?

Why the heck not. It has been something that has been on my heart for a while and finally through the convergence of a number of things I am able to go. I will be able to visit the country and see the holy land where Jesus walked, but I will also be doing volunteer work for Israel Vision which is run by Jay & Meridel Rawlings (also my Aunt and Uncle). So you can keep up to what they are doing through the website http://www.jerusalemvistas.com/

Israel Vision/Jerusalem Vistas (in short, check the website for a more in depth description) is a ministry that uses media to offer up a unique perspective of the holy land through a Christian perspective in it's history, culture, and prophecy. My skills are in radio broadcasting and so I will be there helping to put that together. In the honest truth I am there to help in whatever way I can best serve. If that is lugging cameras places, then I am happy to do that too.

Second off, why England?

England is kind of the fun part of my trip (not that Israel won't be fun, but it'll be work too). My friend Kyle is studying in London and so I will be visiting him for a few weeks on the way. While I am there I hope to get out of London and see a bit of the countryside. One go is to go to Liverpool and visit all the Beatles stuff up there, also I want to go and visit my Great Uncle Nick's grave in Chester (not far from Liverpool). Uncle Nick was a bomber pilot during World War II and he unfortunately crashed his plane and him and his crew died. There is also a marker where the plane crashed that I would like to see as well. Also, Kyle wants to go to Leeds possibly so I will maybe be heading there as well.

So I am waiting with huge anticipation and trying to plan what I can. I encourage all of you to pray for my safety over the course of the trip. Israel is not the most calm country in the world by any stretch of the imagination. I will post updates regularly. My itinerary is as follows.

March 19th - Head to Seattle with my brother to catch Sounder's game (soccer)

March 20th - Fly out of Seattle to London (got a great deal out of Seattle, saved 500$)

March 21st - Arrive in London, hook up with Kyle

April 1st - England vs. Ukraine World Cup qualifying match at Wembley (OH Yeah)

April 8th - Leave London

April 9th - Arrive in Israel

April - July I will be spending it in Israel keeping busy doing various activities no doubt.

July 3rd - Fly Back to London

July 4th - U2 @ Hyde park???????

July 8th - Leave London for Seattle and Home.

Bondmania

2007-01-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

So I just got the Volume3 DVD set of James Bond so I'm in a bit of a 007 frenzy right now. I thought I'd list my personal favourite Bond films from Best to Least.

The Classics
1. On Her Majesties Secret Service: Easily my favourite because it actually has a great story whereas a lot of Bond films seem like an excuse to to string long pointless action sequences and gizmo freak-outs. It also includes the best Bond Girl (Diana Rigg), the best Bond Villian (Blofeld), and the most sentimental Bond. George Lazenby gets a raw deal in the starring role, but he actually suits the role quite well. Lets just saw that I really can't picture Sean Connery playing it any better in this film.

2. Casino Royale: A Bond Lover's wet dream. The first of the Bond books to be written, the last to make it to the big screen (unless you consider the 67 version which is a spoof and sucks). Daniel Craig is perfect in the role as a young unproven Bond. This has story, action, romance, cards, and next to no gadgets (at least not the off-the-wall type ones in every other movie.). The ending drags slightly, but good nonetheless.

3. Dr No: The beginning of the saga. This film is simple, straightforward, but effective and ends up setting the standard for the 20 to follow. Sean Connery puts his stamp over the role from the first utterence of "Bond....James Bond".

4. Goldfinger: I actually think this is a slightly overated Bond film. Most folks think this is the best of the bunch and while it is good, I think that it falls slightly short of the best. Best theme song however.

5. From Russia with Love: Starts off slowly, but once you get past the bulk of plot details in the first half of the movie, the last half of the film works its classic Bond magic.

Near Classic
6. License to Kill: Bond goes rogue as only Timothy Dalton can portray him. Dalton has been often called the serious Bond, and he keeps this pretty cold here, the only time he really lightens up is in the first 10 minutes. Some people might not like that, but I think it actually his portrayal is the closest to Ian Fleming's Bond.

7. Goldeneye: The first Bond film I saw in theatres. Pierce Brosnan was Bond for my generation. While he would end up being stuck with some horrendous scripts in future films, this one is pretty good. Brosnan is the classy Bond.

8. For Your Eyes Only: Things fall off the deep end with Moonraker, and so producer's scale back a few things. I like the fact that they connect with the past in this film like bringing back Blofeld in a cameo and the grave scene. It also cuts back on the overblown gadgets and focuses more on what Bond can do in a good fight.

9. Thunderball/Never Say Never Again: These two I lump together because it is essentially the same story. In the first we go to the Bahamas and maybe a little bit to much underwater action. Int the second we go to the Bahamas, Spain, Africa, and some weird place in the East Indies?

10. Diamonds are Forever: Bond is on a rampage. Picking up where OHMSS leaves off, Connery returns to the role and tracks down Blofeld to gives him his just desserts. Would have been higher except I didn't really like the Bond Girl in this one. The two gay villains are pretty funny though.

11. Live and Let Die: Moore's first go at Bond and immediatly sets a new tone for the role keeping him a little more lighthearted than other Bond actors. It also is a little dated in terms of slang and African American style. It comes off in many parts as more Shaft than Bond (Not that Shaft is Bad........he's very Bad.).

Not Bad for the Semi-seasoned viewer
12. You Only Live Twice: I actually really like this film, but certain things about it leave me to rank it this low. First, Blofelds hidaway which would provide fuel for Dr. Evil's secret lair. Second, poor special effects (this came out the same year as a Space Odyssey and you'd think they would have had enough moneyfor decent outer space shots. Other than that, I like the filming locale (Japan and Asia), the actor (Connery), and the fact Spectre (my favourite criminal sindicate of all-time) is running the show.

13. The Living Daylights: The first Timothy Dalton movie gets high marks except for the fact that it drags on way too long in parts. Like the Bedoin/Middle East bit. Still not all that bad.

14. The Man With the Golden Gun: Bond is back in Asia and that little dude from Fantasy Island is here too. The Bond girls are forgetable, but Christopher Lee as Scaramanga is not. Probably one of the best Bond Villains ever.

Worth a few Hours (However, time is expensive)
15. The Spy Who Loved Me: This is getting into iffy territory for me and Bond. I liked the film enough, but you can see the more haphazard craziness happening around now.

16. Tommorrow Never Dies: I haven't seen this in a while. Liked it when I first saw it, like it less now. It's still worth a bucket of popcorn and a few spare hours on a couch somewhere, but you can do better.

17. Octopussy: Another one I haven't seen in a while so I'm not sure how this one actually goes again. Hated the song though......ahhhhh easily the worst Bond song ever (and that's counting Madonna). Bond in a Clown costume? Hmmmm.

Terrible (All the reasons people loath Bond are in these movies)
18. A View to a Kill: I actually haven't seen this one so I really shouldn't rank it. However countless reviews of this film put it down near the bottom so I won't deter.

19. The World is not Enough: Saw this only once, and don't really want to see it again. Brosnan could have been such a good Bond if they hadn't given him such God-awful scripts.

20. Moonraker: Haven't actually seen the whole thing through but Bond in Space? It doesn't sound promising.

21. Die Another Day: Earns the distinction of being the worst Bond film ever. No wonder Brosnan left after this mess of a film. Let's see, we have an Ice Palace, an invisible car, windsurfing a tidal wave, a villain that's Asian but now white (who doesn't happen to sleep), and Madonna. Oh yes Madonna. Not content enough to have done the song (which is terrible BTW) they actually let her have a cameo in the movie. Thank goodness it is only like 2 minutes. And to think it started off so promising.

Once apon a September

2006-10-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

It's been an interesting last few weeks to say the least. I have been in a creative frenzy with new material just flowing out of me. The Babylon Anarchy Conspiracy has been usurped by another collection of instrumental hip hop. Whereas TBAC was a little out there the new material I think ends up being a little more conventional so to speak. Also, while TBAC was a collection of current material at the time and older material, the new stuff is all current new material.

So far 12-14 tracks have been birthed over the past 3 weeks or so ranging from D&B to ambient electronica, to acid jazz, to straight up hip hop. You can scope out some of the new material at http://www.soundclick.com/pauleywood

Hope you like.

New School........back from Hell

2006-09-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

Actually Mexico but the 3 day drive back was pure hell with the famed Mexico sickness. I'd tell y'all about my trip but there were a ton of things that went on. In short, me and my church went down to build a house for a family down there. It was hard work but fun to do.

Man you know how it is when you like a girl but she doesn't really feel the same way, and in short she's now going out with another guy. Mexico was something like that.........I'm through with actively pursueing her......actually it has been a while....but still when you see girl and guy snuggling, holding hands, smooching etc. it is tough. I guess the thing is that me and this girl are good friends regardless of past history but I can't stand the guy she's going out with and I think he really doesn't like me much either. So it's tough because they want to hang out, I wouldn't mind getting a little of her time, but she really is just a little too into him right now. I need a girl to occupy my time I guess......hmm any suggestions.

Got to hang out with my homey Braille in Salem on Tuesday. If ya'll don't know about Braille then check out hiphopismusic.com. That's his label and you can find some of his material there I believe.

Funny note is that.....I'm starting to get comments on the CD. No it isn't out yet, but I've been just been hearing more things straight out of the blue on my DJ work and beats and maybe more people are cool with me then I thought. That's always good to know. For a sampling http://www.soundclick.com/thebabylonanarchyconspiracy

Anyways, much love. NFL footbal is on the horizon and I have a team again. I hope I finally win this time. Peace...................Dizzy P

Dilla Dedications

2006-09-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

I thought I would take a few minutes to write my thoughts on the Michael Jordan of production, the Muhammed Ali of beats, the Wayne Gretzky of knob twisting etc. etc. It was a huge blow to myself and countless other when we heard the fateful news that day in Spetember that Jay Dee, otherwise known as Dilla, was no longer on this planet.Words cannot not really descrobe just how influential this producer was, from the beats he did to the countless DJ's, beatmakers, producer's, and emcees that he influenced. The hip hop nation lost a close member of the family, and it is still tough knowing that he was still not at his peak. The first time I heard Dilla was listening to Beats Rhymes and Life by Tribe at the production really blew me away. Over the years I kept hearing dope track after track and when I finally did some investigating I found that most of them were done by the same guy. He inspired me to create dope beats, and is still influencing me now in death. So I thought I would put a mix together of some of his lesser known material.....to hype cats up on the influence this cat had and to pay my respects to the master. Dilla "King of Beats"
RIP.

http://zebox.com/a4/pauleywood_-_Mixations_Dilla.mp3

1. Intro2. Kamaal3. Phone Interlude4. Doo Doo5. Untitled Raps6. Instruction Manual7. Turn Me Up Some (Busta Rhymes)8. Dilla Memorium Pt19. Untitled Instrumental Pt110. Donuts11. Dreamy12. Dilla Interview Pt113. Reunion (Slum Village)14. Fuck the Police15. On the 116. Interlude17. As Serious as Your Life Is (4Tet)18. Dilla Memorium Pt219. Dolla (Steve Spacek)20. Interlude21. Circus22. Sometimes Remix (Brand New Heavies)23. Dilla Interview Pt224. Verbal Clap (Dela Soul)25. Gobstopper26. Are You Ready (Slum Village & Jazzy Jeff)27. DIlla Memorium Pt328. Trashy29. Unitled Instrumental Pt230. Secrets of the Sand (Mood)31. Dilla Interview Pt332. Y Remix (The Pharcyde)33. Brazilian Groove34. MC Square35. Dilla Memorium Pt436. Unitled Instrumental Pt337. New Years at Jay Dees (The Roots)38. Shake It Down39. Watchin Smurfs on Shrooms40. Dilla Interview Pt441. Can't Stop This (The Roots)

Album Teaser

2006-06-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

So I told you guys I was working on an album. I'm gonna give you a little run through on the tracks done so far and a few other little details about it.

So in point form I'll sum up my feelings for things album.

It's gonna be weird....as in definitely non-commercial

It's not really hip hop. I think maybe Radiohead covering Charlie Mingus with DJ Shadow on the drums might be an intersting comparison.

It's pretty much all sample based stuff.

It will be instrumental......however there will be different vocal loops and dialogue in there.

So the songs so far. Bear in mind that these are working titles.

Boo Intro
A weird high pitch synth with echoey breakbeats over it and an interesting moaning effect in the middle. A dialogue outro by my pastor about 666 ends the track.

47
Welcome to the land of breakbeats. This is pretty much high octane fire over some ambient synths. Really like the crisp sound of the drums on this.

Smoothness (or 47 pt2)
This is the second part of 47. Same ambient synths, but different drums, a lot slower, and a nice fender rhodes sample over it. Summer daydreaming stuff.

Midnight Break
More on the chaotic element. However I'm shocked at how many people are digging this. Lots of distortion......and sounds extremely dirty in spots. The breakbeat I dug out for this one was real nice. Not single type stuff, but maybe the one that makes people go huh?

Pleasure Island
Ahh, my little bag of tricks comes out with a dynamic catchy little thing that moves along for 5 minutes or so in its little groove. Drums are more mellow....this is a lounge chillout type beat.

Seven (Pt's 1 & 2)
A good solid backbeat with a great melody. Sounds dense but really simple structure. The closest to a hip hop beat on the album. In fact I might give it to somebody to do a vocal treatment on it....like a remix.

Wave (Dope Session)
Drums fade in and out around different 60's soundtrack samples. This one sounds good but jumps around a bit from place to place.

Battle Me?
This one can be previewed for the sphere beat battle (at least a snippet). I'm not gonna say too much yet cuz I don't want to give it away. (See Midnight Break....similar in stature).

Angel
All signs lead this to a possible single release (either this or Seven). This is similar in structure to Pleasure Island except the drums are a but more rugged and gritty. A radio edit runs about 4:30 while the album version will prolly run about 6 minutes.

Suffering
I haven't fully decided whether or not to include this yet. It is in a bit of an expirimental thing.....however it doesn't grab me like the others.

....till Dawn
This is a beat dedicated to a good friend of mine. My brother contributed a sweet guitar hook that I built it around. Again, it sounds different, but people seem to like it.

Desolation
A dark hip hop beat with flange drums. The less said the better.

Rough
I was thinking about this for and intro before I came up with the one I have now. I don't know if this will make it on. Maybe in a small form.

If it shapes up the way it is now....the running time will be about 45 minutes. Hopefully I'll have a mix of 5 songs up onling soon.

So a funny story......

2006-06-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

I got a new job on Saturday. It's gonna be working with people that have disabilities, so it'll be interesting. Anyways, I go to my other job on Monday with the intention of quitting or at the very least scaling back my hours dramatically. So at the end of the day I talk to my boss and before I have the chance to tell him he's like "We're gonna have to let you go". I said I was just gonna ask the same thing......and pretty much that was it. It was a good split........the job didn't pay all that well, but they always treated me pretty well around there....so I'll miss that.

Anyways, I have some free time now for this week to do stuff and get caught up on things before I start my other job next week.

All Right another update.

2006-06-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

So It's been a little while. I guess I kind of suck updating these things. Anyways......life is good right now. I'm in a little bit of a transition phase......perhaps a new job, new place, new country, new CD? well early last year I said I was working on a CD that may or may not see the light of day. Well I've simplified things and I am almost done. Whether it gets put out in official form remains to be seen.

Anyways just putting that in. Gotta run Peace.

2005 The Year in Review

2005-12-30T22:18:00.000-08:00

Well Well Well! December 30th and the New Year a little more than 24 hours away. This has been quite a year. I would have loved to say that the music was good (and it was) but I really fell off the map in a few things. The Killers? That came outta left field for me. I'm sure there's more like that too. Suffice to say I heard enough good music that came out this year to bother writing on it. So without further adeau I will go into the year in music from my point of view.

January
.....and yow will know us by the trail of dead - World's Apart.

The first official 05 release I bought. So what can I say, I liked it a lot. The drums on "Will You Smile" are very nice. It has it's ups and downs but it was a good way to kick off a year.

February/March
The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute

For real, anyone who has anything bad to say about the Mars Volta should really just shut the F--- up because their ignorant people. I don't really care if it's not your thing, that's allright. Just don't slag the music and criticize because they don't fit into your nice little music box. There is nobody doing what they are doing in music today and they have the best friggin' drummer in the world. Nuff said. Oh yeah, the album......go get it, I really can't describe it except maybe the 2nd Coming of Zep.

April
U2 - Vertigo Tour

My brother and I say them on the first date of two sold out shows at Gm Place in Vancouver. There are two reasons why they are the biggest band on the planet right now. First, they care, they really do. They kind of give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside. Second, they put on the best live show out of any band i've ever seen. Yes there are bands with loads more talent, but going to a U2 show is really something that you have to experience, from the lights, to the crowd, to the songs. Oh yeah, and Bono.

Summer 05

Common - Be

Common went and made an album that was destined to work on so many levels. First off he went and got the hottest and best freakin' producer in the game right now in Kanye West, just a warmup for his big party in August. Then he decided to cut the filler and focus on 11 solid songs. The album is not mindblowin, but I can't think of a more consistent batch of songs appearing on a hip hop album since Nas' Illmatic.

Live 8

The concert of the year. I mean, how much bigger can you get? You had 9 concerts in four continents, all on one day. For London this was the jam along with the Olympics before the big hangover. So many bands......U2, Coldplay, REM, the Who, Paul McCartney, and the "When Hell Freezes Over" moment of the year a reunited Pink Floyd with Roger Waters.

Kanye West - Late Registration

Sooooo Good, as teen girl squad puts it. Not quite the album of the year in my mind, but it comes close. Crack Music was the beat of the year. It tops so many critics best of lists. I don't really buy into all the hype except it was good. The only thing that really dragged this down was that song about his mama. Why does every rapper have to rap about their mama? As Well that stupid "We Broke" interludes were annoying. Other than that "We Major".

Brian Wilson - Smile Tour

Ok, do yourselves a favour. Go to google and type in Brian Wilson and Smile and read up on the record because there is a long story behind this. To cut it short the album was supposed to come out in 1967 and turn the music world on its ear. It didn't, but the album did come out in 04 and Wilson toured it in 05. I was probably one of the younger people at this show at the QE theatre in Vancouver, but I was overwhelmed at being in the presence of....well.....a genius (and legend). This wasn't a performance type show. Brian is not someone who wiggles his ass or busts out crazy dance struts while performing. It's all about the music. For the first half Brian and his multi-faceted band tore through all Wilson's "Beach Boy" classics like "Help Me Rhonda", and "Wouldn't it be Nice". Then he went into a complete performance of the Smile album that was flat out outstanding. Then an encore set featuring his biggest songs, and it was done. An evening with legend.

Fall

Ohmega Watts - The Find

This is the album of the year. A funk-hop masterpiece! Yeah, he's my boy, but seriously if you don't appreciate this record there is definately something wrong with you. Give it a listen, if you haven't yet. Ohmegawatts.com

The Roots - Westcoast Tour with the Procussions

At the Commodore in Vancouver. I don't need to remind people about this. If you haven't gone to see them yet...GO! One of the best live concert experiences hands down. I got to even meet the group afterwards and also hung with the procussions whom I'm aquainted with through a Mr. Ohmega Watts.

Other things of note this year.

The most prophetic song in history (at least titlewise) is the Tragically Hip's 1989 classic "New Orleans is Sinking". Well sadly as we all know New Orleans did in fact sink this year. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those people as they struggle to put their lives back together.

The biggest dissapointment this year musically was Blackalicious - The Craft. Many critics hailed this as the album of the year. It was allright but not even close. Blazing Arrow is the far better album in my mind. One thing is has going for it though is that it does sound nice in the club.

Other ramblings

When the mainstream and music are so far apart why do they even bother anymore. Cut the music out of Muchmusic because you don't show sh-- anymore. Nick and Jessica are finally splitting up. Next reality show, how to get a celebrity divorce. Honestly can I shoot them? Throw in Ashley on the side as well. Now we're all praising her endearance and fortitude to come back from a heartbreaking experiece with a Mic on SNL. Awwwwwww. It's not like she died or nothing (too bad). The 25th year anniversary of Lennon's death and it's kind of all gone downhill hasn't it. The Killer's: Who the heck are they? Actually they're not bad, but I certainly wasn't exposed to them by a healthy dose of my local radio station or Muchmusic. It's good music, it's selling......why is it getting harder to find people. Maxim Blender: Never Never Never do a best of song list again because you suck. Ok, I'll give you "Billy Jean" at #1 over "Teen Spirit", but to put "Hit Me Baby One More Time" at #9 and "In Da Club" at #10 proves that you are not much out of elementary school. Groups in 06: The Flaming Lips, Lightheaded, Mars Volta (tour), Pigeon John. Gorillaz: Best cartoon band ever, even better than those Prozzak guys. 80's retro bands, hey we know what your parents were listening to. To the great Pauleywood record that didn't come out, sometime in the next 50 years......I promise (wait maybe 100years).

Movies

Gotta still see Munich...... the Aviator was cool (even though it's an 04)......Goblet of Fire is the best Harry Potter movie yet......Narnia was very well done though not quite up to LOTR's status......and enter Peter Jackson with King Kong (I heard it's pretty good).

That's it for 05. Famous last Words?

You are all weirdos! Sam the Eagle.

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back

2005-11-23T22:17:00.000-08:00

Something about being asleep at a wheel......for most of 05. What can I say, been busy crazy.....or is that crazy busy?

Not gonna write much cuz it's late and I gotta work tomorrow. BTW, gotta new job, although it's not so new now (I've been working there for 6 months). It's at a Mazda dealership and I do shuttle and lot stuff.

Okay if you go back to my rant on steroids and the media, I still stand by all that was said except you can scratch T.O's name off there. Dude is genuinely crazy.

I'm going to Mexico over xmas, yeah me and my fam. Cancelling xmas this year. We leave December 14th for Puerto Vallarta and get back Boxing Day. I'm down for xmas on the beach fah sho.

Still single, but hopefully not for long. Actually me and this one girl I used to like (still do, but more of a "friend" thing now ya know) went for coffee and we were able to clear the air on a lot of our past feelings for each other. That was actually pretty good, man being in those kinds of relationships are too freakin stressful.

Shoot, you guys gotta listen to Ohmega Watt's album "the Find". Go find it and buy it, and be amazed.

alright, gotta go......I'll save some stories for later.

PEEEEEAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEEE

Hello Hello

2005-04-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's the start of the Masters. Not that i'm a huge golf fan, but I do have a passing interest in it (specifically when it's the biggest tournament of the year). My man is Mike Weir, hopefully #2 is in the works.

With the Absence of hockey and me needing my sports fix, I am actually opening up to more sports. Soccer is the big one, and the champions league is going on. I've traditionally been a Liverpool fan, so them beating Juventus 2-1 was nice. I'm waiting til next week and game 2.

Radio Dramas rock. I hate most T.V. with a passion......but there are some really good radio shows out there. When I was younger I was really into Adventures in Odyssey and today I don't follow it as often, but still appreciate it. So I'd thought I'd spill on some of my favorite radio shows. Of course most of these are Christian based, so while the dramas are well done....they do tend to appeal to a universal age.

Adventures in Odyssey - This is the Granddaddy of the current crop having been on the air for close to 20 years and over 500 episodes. The show revolves around the fictional midwest town of Odyssey and the goings on there. Because of the show's family nature a lot of the shows focus on kids. However, every episode is well done in the writing and production elements that everybody should be able to appreciate. Plus there are episodes that do tend to focus more on an older audience as well. Go to http://www.whitsend.org for show info and to listen online.

Radio Theatre - Put together by the same people doing Odyssey, this show has been around for about 7 or 8 years and is generally geared to an older crowd. Productions include classics like "A Christmas Carol" and "The Chronicles of Narnia", or new productions like "Father Gilbert Mysteries" (my personal fav) and "The Luke Reports". Some of the finest stage and screen actors in the world have appeared in different productions. http://www.radiotheatre.org to get information on the productions they do.

Down Gilead Lane - This show is very similar to Odyssey and been around for 6 seasons and close to 100 episodes. The show deals with a family living in a small town and their interactions with the townspeople and life. The shows tend to be a little more focus than odyssey in that they don't have episodes that cater to a particular age group like odyssey. While odyssey will write a show that will be of the level of an 8 year old child, or another one that would cater more to teens and adults, DGL episodes tend to stride middle ground, and deal with similar issues. Odyssey deals with the things in DGL plus does history, mystery, comedy in different episodes.

Left Behind - Definately not for kids. Based on the 12 novels, each book is broken down into 12 half hour episodes. Because it's one long story, you pretty much have to start at the beginning and work your way through. The action is awesome, and the production meets the nature of the novels. It feels like a motion picture without the picture. Definately something to check out....specifically if you've read the books.

Allright. There ya go. Perfect for long drives, or if your like me, perfect for those that really need something on your stereo to nod off to.

The 10 Commandments of Music Appreciation

2005-04-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

I think most people prolly follow most of these allright enough, but sometimes there are people that get their nose bent outta joint. Y'all need to read and just Chill, your music is cool.....but really it's not the be all and end all of popular music. That honour goes to the Beatles.

So without further adeau I present.

The 10 Commandments of Music Appreciation

1. Thou shalt not hate on music simply because it's popular. Yes good music does occasionally blow up, and deserves appreciation even though it's selling by the million.

2. Thou shalt not hate on a certain group without valid reason. The "they sold out" line does not cut it here. If you don't like a group, then a simple "I'm not feeling them" is fine when asked you opinion on said group.

3. Contrary to your belief, not everyone likes the same music as you. They are not nessesarily musically inferior, they just happen to like different music. Respect other people's opinions, and don't try to start flame wars.

4. Music is to girls what porn is to guys. You guys wanna know why your girlfriend has a crush on Justin Timberlake, then try to explain to her why that naked poster of Carmen Electra is hanging up on the wall of your room. Not really music appreciation, but does explain the existance of Nelly.

5. Talent should not be a determining factor in deciding what you like and not like. For instance a band A has an amazing drummer, guitarist, bassist, singer but they can't write a decent song to save their lives. Band B writes good songs, but maybe do not have they greatest musicianship (not bad, just not up to band A's standards). Go with band B, appreciate music on a whole.

6. When you engage in a serious music discussion.....Please know what your talking about, and if you don't either respectfully admit you know nothing or don't bother participating. For Instance, when talking about the Beatles, try to know more songs than simply "Yellow Submarine".

7. Everyone should have an at least idea about the history of popular music. No guys......but 2pac didn't invent rap music, nor was he even close. It's amazing how ignorant some people can be when it comes to music.

8. Old music doesn't suck compared to new music, nor does unpopular music suck to popular music or vice versa, and everything else. Learn to judge each musical artist by their own merits. Nothing says ignorance more than saying Stevie Wonder sucks compares to Usher because he's old and no longer popular. Having said that, give older music the reverance it deserves because chances are if people are still listening to it, it's prolly good while people prolly don't care where the F--- Eamon went.

9. Music critics follow the same rules as everyone else. Just because they like a certain artist doesn't mean you will. Nor does it mean that a bad review = a bad album. The classic case of this was Led Zeppelin. Rolling Stone hated their albums when they first came out, now Zep is one of the great classic rock groups of all time and those albums certified Classics. Read a wide variety of reviews and if you have the opportunity to, preview the album to decide for yourself.

10. Thou shalt not hate on a group for petty reasons. Reason's can include song titles, album artwork, you've never heard of them, they don't fit with your perspective on life, and others. Like bands need to do anything you want them to do. There is a big difference between being a fan, and then being a selfish prick. Understand that bands do change, you can choose to like or not like.

Getting the Blues again

2005-03-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

my Zag's knocked out in round 2 in NCAA hoops. It ain't fair I tell ya.

Anyways, besides all that. Baseball season is gearing up. Nothing like a little controversy to get people going off so I'm gonna go of on this whole steroid thing, and why it's a crock of media crap.

1. Government should but out. Don't you guys have better things to do with your time.....like perhaps fixing your pathetic public education system. It's prolly the worst out of all the developed countries. When you got some kids graduating out of inner city high school's with 6th grade reading levels then something needs to be done. Baseball is entertainment, it's their sport.....leave them to decide what is good and bad. Education, Health Care, and Crime is government responsibility.

2. I don't condone performance enhancing drugs, but believe it or not that these guys like Bond's, McGuire, Canseco all took these at a time when MLB did not have a drug policy that included steroids. Allan Iverson broke more rules getting busted for weed.

3. Part of the reason this all started was because the media couldn't stand to see Bonds the home run king. Bonds relationship with the media has never been good for a long as he's been around.....since the media (especially in the U.S.) basically set the rules, Bonds is universally loathed. The steroid thing is nothing new....it's like a bunch of writers sat around and tried to frame up Bonds with steroid allegations even though he has done nothing technically wrong (at least according to the rules of the game he participates in. The dug down the rabbit hole though and now we are finding that it's a lot deeper than you think. Bonds broke the most beloved record in sports (from a popular white player also accused of being on the juice) that in turn gave them more fuel for the fire. Roger Maris was hated too, and was so loathed during his career that the stress eventually won and he died several years premature. His biggest regret was breakest the biggest record in sports (wow).

Oh yeah and the media is still racist like a MF. They'll deny it to the end of their days but they'll pay their lip service to black athletes. Is their honestly that many black jerk athletes around, but everything a white athlete says is praised. Gimme a break. Chalk Randy Moss and T.O on the list of OK guys that have been villified by the media.

4. The media has got it in for Barry Bonds......let look at one of America's most beloved athletes. This guy was a womanizer, beat his wife, gambled, smoked like a chimny, and drank heavily. The guy i'm referring to is Babe Ruth, the most legendary ball player in the game. It's amazing how many people idolize him still. However, aside from his amazing skills....he led a pretty f-ed up life. Bonds apart from baseball has a pretty normal life. I'm pretty sure he doesn't drink, nor smoke, nor does he beat his wife (cuz the way the media is on him I'm sure we would of heard of it), in fact hte only thing you got on him is steroids and a frosty relationship with the media. And by know means am I knocking the Babe cuz he was an amazing Ball Player, but his skeletons for the most part have been put to rest (or become part of his lore).

5. Some analyst are so stupid when they call for Bonds stats to be stricken or at least asterisked. Steroids didn't turn Bonds into one of the greatest ball players in history, all it did was make him stronger. His batting average is the tell-tale stat of his hitting skill, while his home run stats are the symbol of strength. Let's not forget that this guy is the only guy to hit 40HR's and steal 40Bases twice (and it's pretty safe to say he did this before the steroids too). Anyway, the only stat I would even consider asterisking is the HR stat (and even that shouldn't be because he technically didn't break any rules).

Anyways, to sum up. The media thinks it's god....read behind the lines though.....before you pass judgement on these ball player's look and point the finger at the group that really got baseball into this pickle, the media.

In other news, DFE put on a rad show at the lamplighter on Monday. NWNB didn't perform because of flu, and Moka Only was a noshow for some reason or another. Anyway, it was nice to see DFE headline.....different sort of crowd (more lowkey, not as hype) but still very receptive to the guys. More news when it happens.....peace.

Oh Fudgy Poo

2005-03-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Wow the text is huge when I type this. Either that or I have super vision. weeeeeee

Monday night is shaping up to be a heck of a night at the lamplighter. NWNB and Dragonfli Empire, are gonna be there. Moka Only is gonna be in the house for sheezy, and maybe Madchild will show up......who knows. Anyways, I'm not sure when the festivities start up, prolly not till after 10pm, but be there. Cover is like 7$.

PS. The Zed taping was awesome, and Moke was cool. New found respect for that guy and what he does. Not that I didn't respect him before.

Saint Paddy's day hit my wallet hard. Beer and Food for real, I'm gonna have to stop going out.

Today's Jam Peachfuzz by KMD (MF Doom's old crew).

Upppppppppdate

2005-03-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

yeah, so how is everyone? Good, then let's begin.

Found myself at a comedy night last night laughing my ass off. The last guy Tim Reiker (I think that's how you spell his name) was outstanding and not too crude which is always nice for comics. Too many seem to go for the gross out, say anything type deal for laughs but this guy was good, commenting on Vancouver traffic, travelling to the Vatican, bantering with the audience (mmmm Green Beer). Definately worth the 5$ cover and beers I downed.

I've been thinking though that I may have the early stages of an ulcer. I'm not sure because I've never had one before, but I've been getting a rather finicky stomach at night. Been popping the Tums like Candy lately. Wouldn't surprise me after all the abuse i've put it through.

Man I was in tough shape yesterday. Made an oath to swear off the fast food, I last ate out Saturday and since then Sunday was pretty easy, Monday-No sweat, Tuesday the voice starts going in your brain.....Gotta Eat mmmmmm Wendy's. Wednesday it takes all my energy to pass up a trip to Wendy's. Today I'd kill for a Cheeseburger.....no seriously I will. I've been filling the empty void in my life by binge drinking and chain smoking so hopefully I'll kick the addictive habits I have to fast food no problem.

Tonight is Saint Paddy's day, and yes I'm going out somewhere. Gotta go to a pub and start a fight like all good drunk Irish do. Something about that Green Beer that really goes straight to your head.

It's March madness. First off I gotta let a little cry out for my High School team. Argyle defending champions out in the first round this year....sniff sniff. Tomorrow though I'm at the agrodome full force to watch some excellent b-ball. Steve Nash came out of this tourney a long time ago, and he's arguably the best basketball player right now. More to come.

Also college hoops start today. Fill out my sheet and hope to win my pool....go Zags.

.....and you will know us by the trail of dead. Discuss. Ok well if you don't know about these guys, consider yourself knowed. This group is very cool, art punk type group from Texas. Just picked up their latest and really like it.

Gonna go to CBC, be on TV. Not really, just watching. It's a taping of Zed and Moka Only (formerly of Swollen Members) is doing a performance. Should be cool. I gotta get a copy of his bootleg Martian xmas though.

Allright Peace and Love to y'all. Oh yeah DFE and NWNB at the lamplighter Monday March 21st. Go.

Man O Man

2005-03-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Long meeting last night. It essentially went from 7-11 so four hours of sitting down and hashing stuff through for my church. Anyway.........

New stuff. I got caught up on 24 and was able to watch the show on T.V monday. It now means that I have to wait as well till next Monday before any new developments. grrrr. When I was watching them on DVD I could pop in a DVD and watch 3 or 4 at a time. Oh well, just gotta have patience.

What's up with 50 cent. Kudos to him for conning a bunch of kids into buying his CD....a million or so sold in less than a week? The sad thing is that he was trying to start beef with a bunch of other rappers in a weak attempt to sell records (hey controversy sells). Seems like it worked. Pathetic. Oh well at least he's doing well what he's doing....can't really complain to much (cuz I don't really care.)

Actually what I do care about is the fact that the Mars Volta managed to sell over 120 000 copies of their new Album to sit at number 4 on the billboard charts. That's amazing considering the anti-comercial nature of the CD (not a whole lot of radio stations will play 13 minute long songs). I have a feeling that this album will fly under the radar a whole lot and keep selling well. It's a good record if you have the attention span, or even if you don't, like me.

My friend Dave will like the fact that Jack Johnson was #3. Beat me out, ah well...good for him. I like some of his stuff for sure.

Dert if your reading this I had a problem sending you that stuff again, gonna need to take special measures.

Go to www.myspace.com/ohmegawatts to listen to some dope hip hop.

Conduct, for crying out loud send me the stuff so I can get going.

Mixations 5 is coming soon. Don't have a track listing yet cuz I still gotta put it together though.

What else can I say? Don't do drugs kids, my brother tried them all and he said most of them really sucked....save for acid (but don't try that one either).

Peace Pauleywood

Doing the..........Pigeon?

2005-03-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

People can envy me now that I got to see the legend Pigeon John in action last night at Richards on Richards. It's actually my 3rd time seeing him and got to hang out and yak with him a bit on stuff. Pigeon was the opener but put on a solid set for about 40 minutes, before Lyrics Born hit the stage. I couldn't catch all of Lyrics Born's set cuz I had to work today (where I am right now).

Pigeon is quite possibly the most energetic charismatic emcee I have seen, I didn't know whether to throw my hands in the air or crack up laughing from all the barbs traded with the crowd. Very nice show, and I wouldn't be the least surprised if he blows up.

Also this week came the release of the Mars Volta's new album Frances the Mute. It's an awesome record regardless of the fact that all the songs are 10+ minutes long. I would highly recomend this. 7.99$ at future shop in Vancouver.

Man, I've been on a 24 kick lately. In november I borrowed the DVD's of season 1 from the Library and watched those. Then in January I borrowed season 2 and watched that. Last Month I went through season 3. Now it's season 4 and I'm trying to play catch up. The series is on episode 12, and I'm at 4. Gonna see if I can get caught up by Monday when the new episode airs. Kiefer's the bomb, Carlos is dope too, and who can forget the lovely ladies like Elisha, Reiko, and Sarah.

Man having a library card is great. Didn't have one for the longest time because when I was young I had a bunch of fines on it that wouldn't let me take out stuff (I didn't want to pay the fines). Years later I find that my fines have been cleared, so I grab a new library card. 24 is just one of the cool things I've picked up. I've been working through the PBS jazz series, picked up a book on Pink Floyd, among other things. If y'all don't have a Library Card, then get it. It's usually free to get one (or a very small fee), and you can get lots of cool movies and DVD's (not to mention the books.). I actually gotta go through my stuff and return a few things. Maybe I'll do that tonite.

Anyways, peace. I know it's been a while. Kyle I hope your happy.

So much time......

2005-02-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

.....so little to write.

Anyway, back after a long hiatus.....it's your favourite Northern Phantom. I've been around except not a lot really interesting as of late I wanted to share. However, I do have a few things that I want to rant on about.

Saw much of the Grammy's last night. I missed about an hour because A)The Simpson's were on, and I try to never miss the Simpsons, and B) I had to drive up Seymour Mountain to pick my brother up from work (It's about a 30 minute drive there and back. The Grammy's were not bad, but honestly not the best i've seen (I thought last years was great). Ok so my thoughts on the whole thing.

Queen Latifah, did allright as a host but not great. I miss the classic comedian type that is able to crack some witty punchline to break the mood. She was used sparingly as well which makes me wonder why they even bothered having a host in the first place.

U2, great song but tough to sing. Bono missed a few notes but U2 served up a good performance.

Believe it or not the best performance in my mind (the ones I saw) was the Janis Joplin tribute. Melissa Ethridge took that song and tore it up, and unlike so many of the other performances she actually sounded excited to be there.

Across the Universe was the happy "we are the world" moment of the grammy's. Raising funds for Tsunami relief, you can actually download this performance with a donation to Tsunami relief. I would suggest two donations. One to Tsunami relief, and another to get these people singing lessons. It was horrible, not even Bono and Billy Joe could save this dabacle. Word to the grammy organisers and participants. Don't F--- with a classic. Alicia Keys get additional demerit points for not actually singing anything close to the melody of the song.

The Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute was allright. I kind of missed some of it. Same beef I have with Across the Universe......these people butchered a classic in Free Bird.

Kanye West was pretty solid though I got a little offended by the whole church scene. It was kinda over the top and a little bit mocking. Maybe it's just me. Blind Boys of Alabama did a good rendition of I'll fly away though.

John Mayer was excellent with Daughters. Catchy, and he's an awesome guitarist too. I told my brother, it's not always about how fast you play, it's about how well you play it.....he's plays it well.

Overall the performances were hit and miss. Usually there are a couple performances that totally blow me away, this year not really.....the only performance worth the time was really the Janis Joplin tribute. Maybe I missed the good ones this year.

Kudos to Ray Charles for taking home the Hardware.........I'm sure he's smiling somewhere.

On another note. Yes I have heard the whole new Mars Volta album, and yes it is good. It drops officially March 1st and will a must buy.

Fela Kuti, thanks to Tarik for tipping me on this cat. Very nice, the jam is roforofo fight which is 15 minutes that you wish lasted 30 of insane afro jams.

Peace, and props to New England for their Superbowl Win

Good day all

2005-01-29T11:56:00.000-08:00

Been a good day for me actually. I just put the finishing touches on a clients big vacation (I'm a travel agent BTW). That's 700$ bucks for the office which should go to paying a few bill around here. Now if this other guy calls back and books we might have another 500$. I know it sound like this was easy but it really isn't. Most bookings we do net us in the 50-100$ range in commisions, so it's not the lucrative business many people think it is. Hopefully though we get a few of these big ones a month, and start doing really well.

Anyways enough about that. It's been a while....more than a week. Not really a whole lot has gone on but a few things might be of interest.

1) Still working on my album. Wrting and brainstorming ideas. The little project I envisioned a while back is getting a little bigger in scope. I wanna make a good record so i'm going for outside help on this on some of the tracks.

2) Gotta call from a guy in the film industry here in Vancouver. He's really interested in the whole undergorund hip hop scene, particularly the guys doing hip hop in christian circles. He called me cuz he wanted to ask me some questions and shoot some ideas off me as a guy who knows a fair amount about the scene but not generally connected to anyone or any particular label. It's in the early stages, but hopefully this will result in a "scratch" style documentary on guy who are using Hip hop as a way to express God's love and salvation to the world. Anyways I shouldn't say much more than that cuz it's right now more on the Hush side of things until things are more laid out and firm.

3) Missionsfest is going on today in Vancouver at Canada Place. It's I think the biggest missions type expo that happens in North America....really huge. It's kind of interesting to see exactly what different missionaries do. It's not just preaching to native tribes in Africa and converting them. Most of these missionaries aren't even pastors.....their doctors, nurses, labourers, or even people that just want to follow God's will by serving others. Something to check out that's cool. I'm gonna go for a few hours tonight. It's also on for tomorrow as well.

Allright some cool songs that i've been listening to lately.

Copeland - Priceless
Love the whole album, but right now this song is the one I go back to. Such a pretty song, one that can make you teary eyed in certain moments. I'm such a geek.

Ohmega Watts - Codename Blue Flowers
Just an instrumental he put up on his myspace site. Very nice hip hop instrumental that has shades of Pete Rock and INI in it.

Peace.

Something About the Sound

2005-01-19T15:37:00.000-08:00

........of Hip Hop when it's done right.

Yep, I'm hyping you up to a DFE/Ohmega Watts collab that is sounding very nice. Gonna make Invasion an album to really look forward to March. Not that it was already.

If you were in Van and listening to 102.7 Coop Radio last night Tarik from DFE and I were on talking about the group. It was kind of funny cuz they kept thinking I was in the crew......I said naw I rep Vancity but I am not in the group. Tarik did most of the talking of course, and I kind of shared my thoughts on the new Nas album, as well as hype the DFE and such. Nice to show Dragonfli a lot of love seeing as it was very spur of the moment that we were on. They played three tracks from Conquest which was cool.

More DFE news seeing as Tarik is in the 604 right now (he heads back to Calgary tomorrow). Next monday Jan 24th is a very special program on CBC. I'll let Tarik break it down...

Breaking news...One of the live videos these guys filmed for CBC-TV's ZeD last year will finally be airing this Monday January 24th. The show starts at 11:25 PM local time on your local CBC television station. I know some Americans can get it too on satellite. I would suggest taping it, because it's going to be an entire show dedicated to urban music videos ZeD has taped. Check the lineup:1. Dragon Fli Empire - D-E-F2. Quannum - Quannum World3. Motion - Rhyme on my Mind4. Vanessa Richards - Lead You To Love5. Saul Williams - Grippo6. Hieroglyphics - Powers That Be7. Hydrophilia - Silence is Defeat8. Art to Go - Mellow Clouds (visual art feature)9. The Goods - Control the Elements10. Art to Go - Silent Crossing (visual art feature)11. Saul Williams Interview

So set your VCR's for 11:25pm sharp. I'm gonna have to find a place that has cable for this. Anyways that's all for now. Peace and love. Pdub.

It's been a lil while

2005-01-17T10:33:00.001-08:00

So please forgive me. Things have been a little hectic but cool.

So much info to post up on and so little time.

Ok first off Tarik was out last week and then jaunted down the coast to Portland to hook up with Ohmega Watts from lightheaded on a track. While he was here he worked on a track with Ndidi Cascade from of Canada's most respected hip hop ladies. More or Les from Toronto happened to be by the studio and we managed to get him on the Ndidi/Tarik collab as well as drop a shoutout for Mixations 5......in the early stages.

Tarik is heading back up to Van today where he will rock a set at the Lamplighter Pub tonight. If your in the Vancouver area come support some quality hip hop. He will then be kicking around till thursday.

I'm in the very early stages of a project as well. It'll prolly be somewhere in the range of 15 tracks 30-40minutes long. I've always liked short projects, it just seems that the crap generally is less and the album seems more focused. It's tentatively called still life and is a loosely connected journal about the past year and the struggles, and some of the positives that went along with it. Don't know how it'll work out, or even if it will but I just felt that I needed something to channel my creative energy into. As of right now all the tracks are self produced except 1, and guest spots will prolly be kept to a minimum.

Some people that know of my crew CNW will be asking "why a solo when CNW still has to drop". CNW is essentially dormant for the time being. It's just real tough finding any time with K-mak to get together to work. He's got school and work, among other things....and I got my own life as well so you see where i'm going with this. Hopefully in the future that will get off the ground, and maybe if this works that'll pave the way for it. Still i'm hoping that he will squeeze some time to get on this project in some form, either by way of a beat or verse.

As far as style goes, the beats are sounding dark and gritty...lofi. I think things might work out a little more poetic than hip hop, and there will prolly be some tracks that I sing rather than rap on. My brother Micah and I might have a collab....Marley Redemption Song vibe....kind of.

Anyways, peace and love all. P.S. if your on myspace hit me up on there. http://www.myspace.com/pauleywood

Another Day, Another Dollar

2005-01-10T13:56:00.000-08:00

but it's Ok, cuz I have none to give.

Instead of this being a update into the wonderful boring life of me. This really is more of a place where I can share my thoughts. Sometimes it'll seem like a play by play of my day while sometimes I'll rant on stuff. Today I actually don't really do either I think except for a few things.

I finally relented and bought a cell phone. I'm on the 20/200 minute plan so I gotta keep the calls to a minimum. It's pretty cool though, it's a camera phone so I've been having fun with that feature. The story behind it was that I had borrowed my Mom's cell phone. Well friday night at like 12:30 in the morning she come into my room and rather angrily demands the cell phone. I tell her I left it in the car. She goes and looks in there and can't find it.....so she comes into my room and basically proceeds to tear a strip off me while i'm still trying to figure out what the heck is going on (I'd been sleeping already for an hour or so). I tell her that I had left it in the car and if it isn't there then maybe somebody else has it. Eventually my father looks in the car and finds it in the exact spot where I told my Mom to look. Is my mother going blind or just crazy (seriously she must be stopped). Love my mother with all my heart but sometimes enough is enough. Anyway, I figured with all the hassle I went through with my Mom's phone, might as well get my own.

Anyways gonna share about some cool CD's that i've been vibeing to as well as songs.

Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree
My younger brother was playing me this and I really like it. I find it similar to Dashboard but with a little more rock to it. Every song is really well written and executed well....just an all round great CD. For fans of Dashboard, and JEW.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad - Shaheedullah and Stereotypes
Hit and Miss affair for the 3rd member of Tribe, but when it hits it's amazing or shall I say "Tight" which is prolly the best song on there.

Curtis Mayfield - Don't Worry (If There's Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go)
More Political than religious or theological, the song kicks into a solid bass groove that doesn't let up for 6 minutes while Curtis rants on about the ails of society. This is the Soul Master at his peak.....pretty solid percussion too.

Giant Panda - With It
Kind of a Jazzy Hip Hop groove from this multi-ethnic crew out of SoCal. Man if this is the stuff they are gonna be dropping then I can't wait for the full lengther.

Braille - Hip Hop Music (Remix)
Ohmega Watts has a distinct Pete Rock vibe on this one he produced for Lightheaded bandmate Braille. Sivion and someone else I don't remember guest on this. For the 12" and possible re-issue of Braille's stellar album Shades of Grey. Seriously guys pick this album up. http://www.braillehiphop.com

Ok, piece love and kindness to all inhabitants of this ecosystem. Pdub

White Daze

2005-01-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

I awoke to a nice little surprise this morning. It snowed here in Vancouver, which is rare. Not enough to through the city into real chaos but just enough to make it an adventure on the roads. Skidded out and hit a curb in my car on the way to work but everything looks ok.

Onto work and delivering flyers for the business around the neighbourhood. It's kind of fun truggin in the snow, though with some of the houses you got the long uphill driveways that aren't that fun navagating in good weather. At least I didn't break my neck.

Holiday's have come and gone and the company still comes. My friend Tarik is coming next week from Calgary and will be dividing time between here and Portland for the duration. He's in a hip hop crew called the dragonfli empire (the CD I reviewed in an earlier blog). Anyways, you can read his thoughts on coming out at http://www.dfempire.blogspot.com.

With him coming out it should make the next few weeks interesting to say the least. I get to play tour guide and show the guy around the Vancity. Maybe we'll hit up a few shows except not too late.

I'm thinking about taking a day trip down to Seattle during that time. Maybe hit up DJ Allstar or something with Tarik. It remains to be seen, I gotta build with the man. He does know his hip hop.

Great news on the music front too. I just recieved word that The Mars Volta's new album is dropping in early march. I heard the lead single and it is interesting. The album is gonna prolly have to build on me since it's 77minutes spread over 5 tracks. However, i've learned that the Mars Volta seldom dissapoint.

That's about all for now. Gotta go figure out the logistics of an online travel agency now. Peace Pauleywood

Back in the Groove

2005-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

After a lenghthy time off work.....since Wednesday, I was back today and minding business though it is still a little slow. I hope it picks up soon now that Holidays are over. Travel Business seems to operate in reverse of retail sales. The high point for retail is November/December, while people don't really think of travel (unless they've booked 6months in advance.).

Anyway, a new year and not really any resolutions though I do have a secret list of things I would like to see happen this year. Mainly good music. Nothing would make me happier to see somebody like Lil Jon join a weird religeous cult and then drink the purple koolaid. To quote the man himself YEAAAAAAHHHHH!

I guess I shouldn't single him out though because there was worse.......namely eamon. The only reason I'm bringing up this guy because of his obvious talent. No really......It takes a lot of talent to write the single worst song in the history of mankind (yes I remember the Macarena song, unfortunately). F---- It was one of those songs that should have been bleeped entirely.

LL Cool J, where have you really gone. Please did you have to go and sound like every other lousy mainstream flavor of the moment with "Headsprung". You don't need to prove nothing no more, your freakin LL. All your doing is dragging your legacy down a notch. It's time for a retirement party.

Man Oh Man fromagge has got to be one of my favorite shows on Much. Actually it's one of the few shows I watch on there (since they don't show videos anymore). Anyways, Ed the Sock counting the top 40 cheesiest videos of 2004 was awesome and mostly on point. It's too bad that he's only a sock puppet paid by the same corporate hacks feeding us this trash.

Kids please......stay off the drugs, mind the sex (come on do we really need a bunch of lil dimwits) around because their 14 year old parents didn't know enough to wait a few years). Oh yeah, and stay off the booze. Is it just a right of passage that every teenager has to get sloshed at least once? Man if this is the generation that is gonna run the world might as well push the button now.

Allright I'm done ranting. Nice to get that off my chest....Peace.

2005 -- Happy New Year

2005-01-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

Man I'm gonna keep this real short because I've been pretty sick the past few days and really have no motivation to write a lot.

Happy New Year to all. I hope 2005 is a good year, better than 04 at least, and that things get acomplished. Plus I hope you had a better New Years than me, since I was pretty much laid up for thursday and friday with the stomach flu. Did go to a party last night but really didn't party a whole lot, cept we blew off some fireworks. That was cool.

Anyways not much new today, save that i'll prolly play card with my cousin tonight and a few other people. Peace.

Good Day All

2004-12-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

It was good for me. I found my missing cd's. For those of you too tired to read my other posts, here is a recap.

"I've Spent the past 2 days (off and on) sorting my CD collection (a huge chore) and find out that my Handsome Boy Modelling School CD and Brian Wilson's Smile are missing. Anyone know where they are? Let me know. Speaking of Brian Wilson, dope CD, I would highly recomend it to anyone, of course if you do happen to find mine, please send it back to me and go buy your own."

Well yesterday I was looking in the garage for some tomato soup for my mom to make up and came across the cd's on the tool shelf. I have an idea about how they got there. I prolly was driving the family van with those CD's in there. My father then cleaned out the car out of all the stuff in there and set the CD's on the shelf there. Glad I found them, It would have sucked to have bought them all over again.

December 29th and I still don't know what i'm doing for New Years. Every place be it club or pub charges a cover and usually it's rather high. I'm hoping that the Rusty Gull will have stuff going down for an affordable price as i'm pretty tight for cash always. People always seem to do crazy stuff for New Years though.....like my friend making out with this chick he'd just met to enter in the New Year a few years back (actually maybe it's the alchohol). There is one thing I will do for sure, and that is kick back and inhale the biggest cuban cigar I can find (or the biggest cheap one).

Christmas season brings the family and right now my Aunt and Uncle are in town visiting. They'll be staying till Sunday, while my cousin (different parents) while be coming in to hang out on Thursday. To top that off I find out that my other cousin will be laying over in Vancouver for the day on thursday on her way home from Sydney.

Man really what constitutes dope rap and why am I so baffled when I turn on Much and see so much of the wackness on display. Actually it isn't even that, but rather if I have to turn there and witness another second of either P-Diddy's Making the Band or Newleyweds I'm gonna scream. Actually season 3 of Newleyweds might be interesting with Nick apparently cheating on Jess. I wonder if they cancel the show when the divorce happens or the divorce happens when they cancel the show. The one show there that really is tight is Pimp My Ride. Every Man's dream (besides sleeping with Britney or X-tina) is a dope ride........enter Pimp my Ride, the show where average smucks like myself can strive to have there cars totally pimped out. The only problem is that my car is totally average. It's not enough of a lost cuz for the MTV people to take pity on it and pimp it out, nor is it a hot rod to begin with. I guess that makes me the ultimate loser in this case....sniff.

My brother went shopping and picked my up this "Jesus is my Homeboy" t-shirt. Nice, but i'm a big guy and he got the wrong size. I hope I can find something in my size to rock out to. He also got one that sez "Jesus loves you, but everyone else thinks your an idiot". He's repping that one right now.

Man.....I went on a DJ Shadow kick yesterday, dragging out UNKLE and Endtroducing. I will say one thing about Shadow, CRAZY drum samples. Drums of Death Pts 1 & 2 on UNKLE are testiments to that. Kool G Rap rocks out on Pt1 something crazy.....still prolly one of the most amazing songs i've ever heard.

Who doesn't love the BP's. Well maybe you haven't heard of them, but if your from Sphere of Hip Hop of course you know that i'm referring to Pigeon John and B-Twice of the mighty LA Symph family. Dragged that out after a few months and another fun listen. Great album in every reszpect.

I don't have too much more to rant about so I think I'm gonna save it for another day. Peace to all people that are regularly reading this. Hope y'all have a Happy New Year.

Paul

Time for a little album review.......

2004-12-28T11:23:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd try my hand at reviewing an album. Plus, I figured I'd give Tarik some props up on here with a review of his crew's new disc Conquest. So here we go.

Dragon Fli Empire - Conquest
Calgary Hip Hop to many people seems like an oxymoron. Hip Hop there? Isn't there only country music and line dancing that goes on. To many people's surprise there is a small but vibrant hip hop community putting their unique perspective on it. Enter the Dragonfli Empire, one of the leaders in this community, and their debut album Conquest. The Dragonfli Empire consists of emcee Tarik aka. Teekay, and DJ Cosm who has kept the DF Empire on a high profile since he host a radio show over the local airwaves. Add to that a buzz from their track Mount Pleasant of the New Music Canada CD and a short little appearance on the national, the DFE could very well be the first group to really put Calgary on the map as a Canadian hip hop hotbed.
I should first mention that while this CD has recieved a full official release it is a reissue of an earlier CDR project with new songs (and a couple filler tracks dropped). Also the entire CD has been remixed and remastered to give it a better sound quality and nazzy new cover art has been done. Production is mainly done in house by Cosm and Teekay jointly with a few guest producer's, as well as emcees guesting jointly. This helps to create a smooth cohesive album that flows from track to track very nicely. The DFE for the most part like their hip hop with a touch of Jazz and Native Tongues meaning that this CD is a relatively easy-going laid back affair. Teekay's delivery compliments the mood very well, keeping the topics light and using a very conversational tone. "Beauty Full" is pretty much a day in the life for Teekay while taking joy in the little things that make up a good day. Cosm helps by creating a soundscape of jazzy horns and guitars over a slow boombap drum track. A few other tracks stick out in the mix: "Mount Pleasant" makes an appearance here, and is the first single off Conquest. It's not hard to hear why as Teekay and Cosm create a fun party atmosphere about taking public transit through Calgary. The standout track on the whole album is "From Under". One of the few beats not produced by the group, guest producer Nato comes up with something a little more harder with Teekay trading off verses with Edmonton emcees C-Plus and Shortop (Shortop also contributes the nice cuts on this track).
With all the good things about this album, there are a few weak moments. The production is too laid back in many respects with only Mount Pleasant and From Under really breaking out of that groove. The beats on several tracks also tend to stick in that same groove without a whole lot of change up, causing the track to sound tried and repetitive near the end of it. Teekay's delivery will also be an aquired taste to some as he rarely stays in a conventional rhyme scheme through the whole album. Coming across as a mellower version of Del or Sup the Chemist, sometimes his limited vocabularly falls a little flat on certain songs. Teekay has the potential and clearing hasn't reached his peak as an emcee as evidenced by Beauty Full 2.0 where he holds his own with Lightheaded's Ohmega Watts.
Despite all it's flaws, Conquest is definately an album to pick up, particularly if you've come of age in the era of socially conscious Native Tongues groups like Dela Soul and ATCQ. The whole album definately sounds at home in that era that many consider the best period of hip hop ever. Pick this up, slip it into your car stereo and cruise.
Stars ***1/2 outta *****

Ok, sweet huh. I just wrote that this morning and didn't really grammar check or anything so forgive me for the punctuation. Man Oh man.....whenever I do stuff like this I always tell people to take reviews with a grain of salt. Really do take the time to listen to listen to some samples to see if you like or dislike. And I'm gonna give you the link where you can go to hear a few tracks off this album. http://www.dfempire.net

That's about all to really say today, except that peeps better signal when they are planning on turning in there car. Next car that forgets to signal gets their tires slashed.

I'm Baaaack

2004-12-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

just a short little update for y'all stuck in boxing day lines trying to save 10$ on that DVD player you've been wanting to grab. Actually I braved the crowds too and picked up Nas' Streets Disciple and The Maroons Ambush.

How about Peyton Manning today? 49 TDs and counting. That's my boy. On a sad note, popular football player and christian Reggie White passed away at the age of 43. My condolences to his family and friends coping with the loss.

Christmas dinner was pretty good, can't get enough of that stuffing. You can kind of imagine where I'm gonna be come January.......the same place where everyone else will be trying to shed their x-mas weight. Man christmas was interesting. I'm not the type of person that easily tells people what I want for x-mas, but there where two things I was hoping for. One was U2's War, which was the only U2 album I didn't have, and the other was the Return of the King 4disc extended edition. I managed to grab both. I think I prolly let it slip about the U2, but kudos to my family for being on the ball and grabbing both.

Man it was cool last night. After I got disgusted at the football game (Billy Volek is on my fantasy team and bombed in the final game), I turned to CBC newsworld to find Peter Mansbridge interviewing the legend himself, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. Most of you know my appreciation for this awesome musician, and so I was stoked. He still looks pretty good considering all the troubles and battles he's faced with drugs, depression, mental illness, not to mention fame. It looks like he's finally at peace with himself and what he's doing now. Anyways, that's pretty much it. Hope everyone had a good x-mas. I'm gonna head out to do a little more shopping.

I'm Dreaming of a Wet Christmas

2004-12-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

.......just like the ones we always have.

Ah the Pacific Northwest in the Winter. Rain Rain and more rain.....actually the forcast said we might get a little bit of snow on Boxing Day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

We'll Merry Christmas everybody, it's been an eventful christmas so far and it isn't even Noon yet. Anyway, I'll start back on Thursday (which was the date of my last entry). I went to Tim's show and he kicked a nice freestyle with nothing but a guy backing him on the drumkit, definately the highlight. Then I went to Boston Pizza to celebrate my friend Scott's birthday (what is it with birthdays around the holidays?). It eventually turned into a riddle fest, which was part cool, part frustrating. The riddle of the night was this.........

Two Doors. One leads to life, the other to death. There is a guard at each door. One guard always lies, the other guard always tells the truth. You don't know which door is which or which guard is which. You can only ask one yes/no question to one of the guards to find out which door is which.

Anyway, It took me a while to figure it out, but I'm not gonna tell you the answer. At least not right away. Play with it for a bit and see if you can get it.

Yesterday, I called my friend Kyle to find out he was really sick (vomitting and other not-so-pleasant stuff). Initially thought to be food poisoning (he was with us at BP). I quickly debunked that because we basically shared the same thing. I'm thinking it might be the Norwalk virus which is really nasty, but fortunately it's short. I had it last year and it basically knocked me off my feet for a day, but I was fine after that.

Last night we were at church for our christmas eve candlelight service. This year was really cool because we have three different churches in the same building, one is a Iranian church, and the other is a filipino church, as well as our english church. So essentially it was a multicultural service with each church taking up a part of the church. The Iranian church sang a carol in farsi, and the filipino church sang silent night in whatever language they speak. I thought they spoke spanish but the language was different than any spanish I know. Probably they speak a few different languages there.

On to Grandma's after that where we opened up our goody bags. I got some cologne, and candy. Then onto my friends Jen and Jer's place where their family holds huge Christmas Eve parties. They have a teeny house, but some why we managed to cram over 50 peeps into that house. After the party started to die down, a bunch of us got down to business....ROOK. Rook is the be all and end all card game on earth. It's kind of hard to explain except that it is similar to the game hearts, and you have partners. Me and Jen were partners in the game and we were leading thru most of it, but then I had a bad string of hands and another team came up and nipped us at the end. This is no little card game either........we make the world series of poker look like a bantam league. The game went on till about 2am this morning. Then me and my brothers headed home where I spent another half hour wrapping presents (last minute y'alls). Then collapsed on the hide a bed (I'm kicked out of my room because we are expecting company tomorrow) where I listed to Radiohead as I drifted of to sleep.

This morning I get up at around 10 and proceed to drive to my brothers place to wake him up and then we head home to open presents. I did all right........we usually go pretty light on gifts in our family (with 3 birthdays in the mix its usually a lot to buy for, plus money has been pretty tight). I got a couple DVD's, U2's War (the only U2 album I didn't have), a bunch of cool Cd's based on old school Jazz and Blues. Speaking of blues, I saw the most awesome blues band last Saturday, but that's a different story. I also got cash.

Watching T.V now while typing this, and the Queen is on the tube talking about the story of the good samaritan. She looks pretty good for an old gal. I always have liked the Queen even though her family is a little weird. I'm all for the monarchy, at least the queen. It's a cool thing that I think is as much a part of Canadian History and Tradition as it is for the UK.

Anyway, I'm gonna stop now and sleep. Gonna go to Grandma's again to open presents there and to have Christmas dinner. Till later, I wish all of you the very best Merry Christmas, and remember the real meaning behind the season. Take a minute and think about that before you get too caught up in everything else. Ok.

Paul

Olay

2004-12-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

Was it really that long since my last entry....my how time flies.

Ok....first off I'd like to thank all those people that wished me a happy birthday this past week and then sat around smoking cheap cigars at BP with me last friday. It was fun, tonight I head out to celebrate a friends birthday as well as hit up a show in North Van by my friend Tim.

I've Spent the past 2 days (off and on) sorting my CD collection (a huge chore) and find out that my Handsome Boy Modelling School CD and Brian Wilson's Smile are missing. Anyone know where they are? Let me know. Speaking of Brian Wilson, dope CD, I would highly recomend it to anyone, of course if you do happen to find mine, please send it back to me and go buy your own.

Also on the topic of CD's, Mixations 4 (aka 4.0) is officially out. You can only get a copy off me, so don't even bother looking. 32 tracks of hip hop goodness that others can testify to.

Seeing as it's Coming down to the end of the year it's prolly time to do one of those restrospective year-in-review things. Of course it will be brief because I really didn't care about all that much going on in the mainstream or anything. At 28 you tend to focus on other things, like writing pointless blogs to the grand readership of 1. Anyways, without further adeau here is my 2004 year in review.

"I'm Rick James Bitch" - Kind of Ironic that one little phrase ressurected Rick James career, then he died shortly after. Everyone and I mean everyone was using that phrase this year. Dave Chappelle is not everyone's cup of tea, but we are all in debt to him for that phrase (or maybe Rick James). Lastly you got all these kids going around using this that have no idea who Rick James is.....hell I hardly know Rick James. The only Rick James I know is Superfreak, where he sampled that MC Hammer song right. :)

Best Concert Experience of the Year - This was the year of no cash for me, so any sort of concert was a luxury. However I did make it out to Atlantis in Vancouver for Pete Rock and CL Smooth in May. Very nice show, on the eve of Pete Rock's new CD release. The only beef I had with the show is that they didn't take the stage till like 1am. for a weeknight to not be home until 4am is not good for anyone. Better time mangement next time please.

Biggest dissapointment - The Beastie Boys "to the 5 Bouroughs". Part of the Magic of the Beastie Boys was there ability to transcend every genre and through in a hodge pog of influences from everything under the sun. So what do they do in 2004, they release a plain old hip hop record. It was good in spots but I couldn't help but think the Beasties fell asleep one this one. Apparently the tour was dope though.

Other dissapointments - Talib Kweli (ironically penciled in as the Beasties opening act). Talib is a dope lyricist who hasn't really released a bad record until now. The Beautiful Struggle has it's moments, but just doesn't measure up to past releases. There are few acts worth the time in the Hip Hop mainstream right now so when a good one releases a bad album it hurts that much more.

Interesting Developements - Thanks to a Jay-Z retirement album, this year quickly became known as the year of the mashup album. After Jay Z released the Acapella's of his Black Album, different variations of the album were being circulated in underground circles. Perhaps the most famous was the Dangermouse "Grey Album" which fused Jay-Z with the Beatles White Album. By mid-year there was at least 30 by my count, all of which couldn't hold a candle to the original (save for the Kno version which was real nice). Really somebody should compile the best of the best and release a be all and end all version of this record. Underground Beat Phenom 9th Wonder (noted producer of Legendary Emcee Braille....you thought I was gonna say Jay-Z) turned heads with two remix projects, namely God's Stepson (a remix of Nas' God's Son), and turned in one of the pre-mentioned countless Jay-Z Black Album variations. If you thought that the fad was over you thought wrong. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Linkin Park. Linkin Park teamed up with Jay-Z for an album mashup, that flew off the store shelves like hotcakes last month. Another noted mashup is the Beastles (Beastie Boys and Beatles). I'm sure there are more out there, but I'm kind of sick of the whole thing and not really eager to look.

The US election - Actually before I get into that I would just like to mention that Canada had an election back in June and it was a minority victory for the Liberals. Ok, now that's off my chest, what can I say, Americans are crazy. I think part of the reason that the United States is so powerful is the fact that they have never through their history done anything half assed whether it be bombing countries or opening McDonalds worldwide. Everyone there seems to take it to the extreme, be it an either rabid liberal or bible bashing conservative. Maybe the middle people don't vote cuz there isn't anyone to vote for. That having been said, i'm happy Bush won. Kerry strikes me as having few to many brain cells up there. I'm not a Bush fan but go for the devil you know.

Best Albums of 2004. It was a decent year for albums......everyone is gonna say that it was a good year but for some reason there were few albums that really grabbed me this year. What was good was good but not great. Perhaps the best in the mix was Brian Wilson's Smile, the story behind the record has prolly been explained countless times. Needless to say it lives up to the hype (which is huge). So here we go.

Dert - Fledgling
I'm not a huge fan of Tunnel Rats, but when resident beatsmith Dert dropped a solo disc I was interested. This is nothing like Tunnel Rats as Dert takes us on an instrumental odyssey through hip hop, jazz, electronica, and gospel.

Braille - Shades of Grey
Everything this cat has been associated with is quality, and unlike some other quality emcees this year his album did not disapoint. Braille bares his soul on this album, while picking diverse and quality beats. Majestic, classic.

Kanye West - The College Dropout
Kanye West was riding a high wave of popularity when this album dropped in February, and it shows that the talented beatsmith is actually not a bad rapper either. Jesus Walks was an awesome song even though every good thing becomes played out when radio and MTV get on it. Plus this record was pretty tight from start to finish once you strip away all the hype.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures
I have a soft spot for good harmonies and quality songwriting. JEW might seem sappy in parts, but come on guys can cry too every so often. This album is a cut between the classic Clarity, and the more radio friendley Bleed American, which makes it a perfect mix.

Brian Wilson - Smile
Brian Wilson is famous for being the genius behind the beach boys. In short this talented but troubled songwriter quit the road and started focusing on producing for his group. The amazing Pet Sounds would be a testament for their legacy, but rumours of another even more amazing album called Smile surfaced soon after. Ultimately Wilson never could finish the album and it has sat unfinished in the vaults for all these years. Fast forward to earlier this year when he was convinced to return to the project. Instead of finishing with the tapes he had he decided to rerecord everything with his group. Smart move as everything here sounds smooth from start to finish, but also amazing is just how vintage sounding it sounds. It's sounds clean and polished like one would expect from 2004 recording technology, but it really has that 1967 feel to it that was typical of the production of the day. The Beach Boys kind of get poo pooed now as the prototype pop/bubblegum group, but for a while there Brian Wilson was reaching heights with his group that were unmatched by eveyone except perhaps the Beatles.

Anyways that's 2004 for y'all. I'm off to celebrate Christmas. If anything happens in the 9 days of 2004 left I'll let you know.

Pauleywood

December 11th

2004-12-11T15:51:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

This is kind of my introduction to blogging so I'm pretty much gonna keep it simple (and short since i'm at work). It's kind of weir cuz blogging is kind of like an online diary in which people can read your deepest thoughts and such. Actually i'm not really that deep I think, I just think I have a firm understanding of who I am and what I like.

Vancouver, BC. Actually North Vancouver, I live in the most beautiful city in the world (how many people can say that without actually being snobbish?). Anyways there isn't another place I would rather live by choice than here. The beach is a 5 minute drive away, while skiing is 15 minutes away, and unlike the rest of Canada it really doesn't get too cold here.

I have 3 brothers that are all younger but all cool in their different ways. Actually my youngest bro Andrew celebrates his 18th birthday today (I'm in a few days). The other two are Micah 22 and Stephen 25 (I'm not gonna tell you how old I am.....needless to say i'm still under 30). Stephen is mentally and physically handicapped which has given me an interesting perspective on the disabled. For instance, it seems to me that so many people are trying to be PC and not use potentially offensive words like retarded......ie phrases like "That's so retarded" or something else. Don't call people retarded especially those that are, but I don't think Steve particularly cares either ways. Oh yeah and if you've never had the chance to talk to a mentally disabled person, do it. Just because they may not to be up to the intellectual capabilities that we are doesn't mean that they aren't creative, bright, and wise individuals. It just takes them a lot longer to process information.

I'm an avid fan of hip hop rap, whatever you want to call it. I'm not one to lament about the state of hip hop or nothing like that, but I do not particularly like much of what is seen on MTV, Muchmusic, or whatever else there is. That is not Hip Hop, that is Pop with Hip Hop elements. If you draw that distinction then you'll be fine. Still stuff like Outkast, the Roots, Kanye West hold it down pretty well. Of course you find the music that suits you and although I don't even consider myself much of a backpacker (a backpacker is someone that basically hates on the mainstream regardless of the reasons) I do tend to find more of my music in there. When you think that for every group you see on TV, there are like 50 artists putting out quality music in the underground you can understand the diversity that it really has.

For Instance this is what I've been into lately
Thes One, Puts, Sharlok Poems, Dert, Dragonfli Empire. and a bunch of others. It's kind of funny with the mainstream publications that people presume to dictate to me and others what is good. Sorry but i'll find out for myself thank you. Tell me about it but don't presume to know good music....art is art.....who is to judge.

Anyways that's all for now. Peace