Every infrequently updated blog has one last-gasp post explaining why the author has been away, and how he or she promises to write more.
For me, it has really come down to self-censorship. I would love to write about my job, but choose not to overlap work with my personal life. I have previously written about things I feel I can contribute to, like the art of classic shaving, but I reached a point there where I could no longer speak authoritatively.
The next logical post would have covered consumables: shaving creams, soaps, and aftershaves, however I have been using the same tub of shaving cream for over two years. (The product description says it should last close to a year; however much of this time I have only been shaving 2-4 times a week.) It’s great and insanely efficient, but I simply have not had a chance to try a large enough breadth of products to write about their strengths and weaknesses.
I’d like to write about politics, but don’t have the time nor patience for the inevitable arguments or discussions.
I do not like to post unless I feel I have wholly explored something, but often my drafts get too unwieldy. I put them aside, but usually take so long to edit them that the article would no longer be relevant by the time it could be posted.
I actually have that problem with photography too. I got into it in such a big way this year, I was attempting a 365 project where I would take at least a picture a day. After that, several concerts, and a few weddings however, I was so inundated with photos to edit I just had to take a vacation from it.
At once point I gave up on taking a picture a day in favour of concentrating taking what I have, and posting a well processed image a day. Even though I have taken something like two months off now, I probably still have plenty to make up for the lost time. I will post more about photography and what I have learned.
Some other stuff that has come up in this break that I would like to and will write about includes:
health – illness, training, biking, standing desk
fountain pens – highly recommended to anyone, but especially lefties
This is pretty much the stupidest thing I’ve ever done and perhaps the most costly mistake I’ve made. Good thing I don’t own a car…
On Wednesday I received late notice that I would be able to bring my camera to a show I was terribly excited to see (Iris + Mesh + De/vision + Assemblage 23). I was really hoping I could bring it as it had been a while since I was able to shoot a show, and had since upgraded my equipment and technique a bit.
I only needed to clear my SD card, but Windows wouldn’t let me delete for some reason. “No big deal,” I thought. I figured I could just go and format the card in my camera. As soon as I put it in the camera though, the screen flashed “WRITE-PROTECTED.”
Clearly the little tab on the side of the card had been switched accidentally. I removed the card … only to discover the tab was completely missing. Shit.
I was on the verge of being late for the show. I run around the apartment desperately looking for some Scotch tape, but couldn’t find any. I found something a little thicker and figured “ah what the hell,” may as well try it. First mistake.
The card slid into the camera with a little bit of resistance, but not a huge problem. Unfortunately the screen showed it was still write-protected though. The card was stuck though and I couldn’t get it out. Second mistake: I pried the card out with a screwdriver. Gently and from the edge … it came out with two much trouble. Unfortunately it took the ejection mechanism with it. F— f— f–.
In some stupid bout of even huger idiocy, I tried putting the card back into the damaged mechanism, but really, it was already completely screwed at that point.
I took it to Henry’s today for repair, but discovered Olympus of Canada has recently shut down. For repair, the camera would have to be sent to New York. It would cost roughly $350 and take 8-10 weeks.
Frack. I started thinking, “well, I could go back to shooting film…,” but $350 is a lot for a repair, and there’s no guarantee what the final cost would be or how long it might take. I said I’d have to think about it.
In the same store I discovered they have a used version of the same model for $350 … a no-brainer compared to having mine repaired at least: same, concrete, cost and instant-gratification.
I had to consider though, a more modern, but a “lite” version of my camera is the E-PL2, and is $600 brand-new. It probably makes more sense to spend the money on that instead of buying a used camera which I have no idea how it has been treated. As well, I can sell my old small flash as the new one includes one.
The new camera would have some pretty significant advantages in having a much higher-resolution LCD, an included flash, smaller & lighter, and a better stock lens. On the other hand, it’s a cheaper build quality and has one less control dial which is annoying. Still, the advantages probably outweigh the negatives.
Just annoying to have to rebuy something. I was hoping to buy a cyclocross bike soon.
Heck, I may really still decide to just shoot film in the interim. The m4/3 format cameras are starting to show their age and a more significant hardware refresh may be on its way. The newer models are still using the same sensors as the original ones from two years ago.
I guess the lesson here is that I should have just left the camera alone and gone and enjoyed the show. I should have been more relaxed and rational about it. I could have mitigated this whole thing by just dashing to BestBuy (a block away) and buying a new $20 SD card. Hindsight is 20/20 and all, but I was aware of this even at the time… just thought I could get it working even faster.
Less than a week after James, I got to see the greatest complete line-up I’d ever seen: Locals Fjord Rowboat, and my all-time favourite electronica wizard, Ulrich Schnauss, opened for classic shoegazers, Chapterhouse.
A friend I was going with knew Fjord Rowboat personally, and he gave me their albums a couple weeks in advance so I would know what I was in for. Their albums were outstanding. They could easily qualify as a major-label act. I got a mid-career Catherine Wheel vibe out of them. A particular stand-out track was Paragon (Click to listen). The only thing is maybe they were a little too similar sounding to those early 90s shoegazer bands (of which Chapterhouse qualifies as too), but it was great to hear here and now.
Regardless, it was the first time in ages I actually wanted to see an opening act. They played as if they’d been doing this for years. Everything sounded and looked great. Nice equipment too, which they were actually lending to Chapterhouse.
Ulrich Schnauss is someone I discovered a couple years ago courtesy of my brother, and Kim at Penguin Music, and just became completely infatuated with his music. Chapterhouse was an influence to his sound, and Schnauss has often tried to bring the indie aesthetic to electronic music. (Check out Goodbye: I think he succeeds incredibly well there. Previous albums are more pure electronics and more ambient.) Reviews of the event (see bottom) have alluded or mentioned that Schnauss was actually largely responsible for this reunion tour.
Unfortunately, his set did not seem to go over particularly well with the crowd. They were there for guitars, and he just sat at his computer mixing in Ableton Live, occasionally throwing in a live keyboard accompaniment. He played a long time and people seemed to start getting bored. I heard several remarks about how he could have just hit ‘play’ and left the stage. He had visuals of European cities and vistas shot from a moving vehicle, but the screen was too large for the Lee’s stage and sat off-kilter behind drums and other equipment. The effect was much better when I saw him perform at The Rivoli three years ago. He should tour with a vocalist.
I knew all his albums backwards and forwards yet the only track I recognised was Never Be The Same, the introduction to Goodbye. I managed to catch a clip:
Before publishing under his own name, he’s been known as ‘View To The Future’ and ‘Ethereal 77′ and probably several other names I’m not aware of. I recorded the following because I absolutely loved the sound of it, but I have no idea what it is. I don’t know if it’s coming to a forthcoming album, or if he was just mixing some of his older music:
And then came Chapterhouse. To be honest, as slick and amazing as their albums were, I didn’t know what to expect from a reunion tour 20 years later. I walked in completely blind. (YouTube footage had actually scared me off from going to go see The Happy Mondays, but they are a special case…)
I was completely blown away. The years had been entirely kind to them, though it certainly helped that the band were only in their very early 20s when Whirlpool first came out. They still looked reasonably youthful, but more importantly sounded amazing; their voices still sounded syrupy and young.
It was a vastly better experience than seeing shoegazer legends, My Bloody Valentine was. I guess it was my fault for not doing my research before, but I had been unaware that MBV had a reputation for holding some of the world’s loudest ever concerts. It was so insanely loud that people were passing out and vomiting in the crowd. I was worried this was a shoegazer thing, but Chapterhouse didn’t depend on the volume gimmick, just textured swirly psychedelic, even danceable, guitars.
Schnauss came back out to perform Pearl and Love Forever with the band, and once again for Inside of Me at the end of the encore.
The show was phenomenal and certainly made me re-evaluate (and raise) Chapterhouse on the scale of legends-of-shoegazer.
The rest of my photos can be found here. Before the show I contacted the venue and asked on the Facebook and Last.FM pages if anyone knew what the camera policy was. Andy Sherriff of Chapterhouse was kind enough to contact me and let me know the band wouldn’t mind.
Something nifty that came out of this: the gentleman that runs gtamusicscene.com noticed these photos and asked if I’d mind contributing to his blog in exchange for concert tickets. The first show I did for him was Bruce Peninsula.
I was done shooting anyway, but unfortunately security accosted me and made me put the camera away because it had “removable lenses.” Apparently having a sub-SLR isn’t enough any longer. The rest of the pictures I took are here.
It was unfortunate because a bunch of friends happened to get invited to dance on the stage during Laid (not my video):
The show was outstanding. It started out with a simple, stripped down version of Sit Down (official, but non-album version video), with Tim Booth walking down the centre aisle from the back to the stage. When I last saw them at The Phoenix two years ago, they just started with a double-speed version of Born of Frustration (nonsensical fan video), which was unfortunate because it’s my favourite track by them. Still, at least I got to hear it once as it was the only time I got to see it live: they skipped it this time around.
Despite that minor setback, the show was phenomenal. They played a few new tracks, but lots of favourites such as Ring The Bells, Seven, Getting Away With It, Tomorrow, Stutter, Say Something, Sound, Out To Get You and Sometimes. Their newer tracks, Dust Motes, Crazy, It’s Hot, Porcupine and Tell Her I Said So went over just fine considering how quiet they were to begin with.
The only shame was that the crowd went nuts after their encore, but that was it. It almost seemed as if the band would come back with the lights dimming again, but disappointingly the venue’s piped music came on and the crew started disassembling the band’s gear. On their blog they commented:
The show in Toronto was amazing. The audience clapped forever, calling for endless encores. Too bad there was a curfew…
The manager at the toronto venue said he hadn’t seen any audience make such a noise in 10 years of owning clubs.
Maybe next time they’ll choose a better venue. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre wasn’t the worst place I’ve seen a show, but it inhibited the band. Considering it was seated, no one I knew there complained about their view of the band, and the sound, no pun intended. That said, the assigned seating really impeded the energy. People really just want to be able to dance and/or make fools of themselves.
