Tag: Music Posts

It’s getting close. In just nine days, I’ll be getting on a plane and heading out to Calgary to attend the 2008 Juno awards. I haven’t really had time to let the whole event soak in yet, and to be honest, probably won’t figure out where I’ll be all weekend until I land in Calgary. What I really want to do is provide an insider’s view of what it’s like being at the Junos during the entire weekend. I’m not sure what that means yet, but it will most likely involve tons of photos and the odd video. To that end, I really want to go out and buy a new portable camera, something that can do fairly decent video. I really am looking for portability here, and would just go out and get the new Canon Digital Elph, had I not had a pile of bad experiences with them […]

When the Juno awards were announced a few months ago, I put my name on the list for media accreditation. I didn’t hear anything for a while, so I sort of assumed it wasn’t going through. Today I got an email saying I had a media pass, which means I have full access to photograph the Canadian Juno Awards. I’ll be photographing and writing on behalf of Urban Vancouver, so look on my blog and over there from time to time for photos and a few entries. I still have to sort everything out and see if I can get a hotel room and what not, but it’s fairly likely I’ll be heading to Calgary for the first weekend in April (4th-6th) for the Junos.

John and I made it. I was pounding back caffeine most of the way which meant I had to pee a lot, but we’re at the Holiday Inn now (yes, very classy I know), having a liquid dinner in the hotel. We’ll be heading down to the Tractor Tavern in about 90 minutes to catch the show. I’m charging the camera now, so hopefully I’ll grab a few shots. Also, just checked the official website. The only musician to have a sell-out at the Tractor Travern this month:

I accidentally ran into this song the other day on my iPod (yes, I have lots of music I haven’t heard before on my iPod), and there’s something about it I really liked. I’ve been working on playing it myself, and I’m pretty close. It’s rather hard (for me) to pick this song and try singing at the same time, but I’m getting better. In the video the other guy is doing most of the guitar work. Check it out. It’s an acoustic version they recorded at MTV.

So it’s weird. When I was about 19 years old, I picked up my first guitar, which at the time was a Fender Strat electric. Surprisingly, I didn’t really know how to play, but it was something I was always interested in doing so my mom surprised me and picked me up a guitar. I spent the next few years pissing my roommates off by walking around my dorm room playing Green Day and whatever else was popular at the time. When I hit the age of about 25, I sort of just gave music up completely, probably because I didn’t really have much time and I wasn’t really making much progress. About two weeks ago, I picked up a guitar for the first time in years, and it actually felt really good to play again. I’ve spent most evenings since then playing as much guitar as I can (my […]

So, I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, but whatever. I’ve been messing in garage band for about six months now, wanting to record something but just not sure what to record. I used to be in choir over 20 years ago, and I can sort of carry a tune. I know I need to have a ton of practice to get anywhere close to where I used to be as a kid (and most of my practice was pre-puberty, so I have to re-learn a deeper voice), but I decided to get over the hump and just quickly record something and take my beats for it. When I was out in Toronto visiting everyone, Raymi pointed me at this song called Mad World by Gary Jules. I decided to cover it quickly in Garage Band using an acoustic guitar. I recorded everything using a shitty […]

A few weeks ago I went down to the Bell Mobility store and asked how much longer I was shackled to their service. Unfortunately, it’s on the order of two more years, which means I really can’t get a iPhone and switch to Rogers (although, I’m still not sure that’s a great option either). So tonight, while talking to Jason, he was telling me about his recent iPod Touch purchase. It’s basically the same as the iPhone, except it doesn’t have a camera or obviously a phone. But the user-interface is roughly the same, and it has Wi-Fi, so you can surf the web wherever you are. The first thing I have to say about Apple is I how much I appeciate the effort they take in reducing their packaging size. Seriously, the packaging is hardly much bigger than the device itself, which I think is really cool. The next […]

In the last couple days, I’ve read several reports of people discovering embedded user data in the new DRM-free versions of music on iTunes. While I’m not suprised, having embedded user data within these files is essentially a form of Digital Rights Management, which at the very least points to false advertising by Apple regarding these new music files. I’m quite certain that a utility will exist shortly to strip it out, should people want to, but Apple is being very guarded about these files and exactly just how DRM-free they really are. I personally have no problem with my user data being embedded, since as long as I transfer these files between equipment I personally own, nobody will ever see that data but me. But, Apple needs to make this clearer either through their advertising campaign, or in the end-user license agreement (near the top, not the bottom).

I’ve had an iPod now for probably at least two years. On my birthday, Des picked me up one of those iPod Minis back when they first came out. And as I sit here, on my couch, patiently waiting for it to charge enough so it will make the rainy walk to work, I thought I’d reflect a bit on the iPod. Since I usually walk wherever I go downtown, I pretty much take the iPod with me when I can. I’m sure I’m going to be part of that generation that goes prematurely deaf since I’m somehow genetically inclined to listen to my iPod on max or near-max volume all the time. In fact, if it could go louder, I’d probably bump it up a few notches. It only took me about a week before I blew the headphones that came with, and now I’m on my 3rd of […]