this guy is amazing

Mr. Carl Krull. Pretty awesome. If you have a few minutes, he'll blow your mind. Click on the image:

fresh cut grass

fresh cut grass
fresh cut grass
today I smelled what?
fresh cut grass

the tractor wilts off
the side of the road
his service is sold

I walk by and
feel refreshed
a deep inhale

fresh cut grass!

weeeeeeeeeee!

So I played Dundas Square today, which was pretty fun, except for when I said "Sing it, Kate Moss" (referring to one of the jumbo-trons advertising Rimmel eyewear) during an instrumental part, distracting myself with the uncool joke, and unfortunately messing up the chord changes a little. Nice people running the shows there, in DS.

It was slightly chilly but overall, nice to be outdoors. In fact, this summer I'm going to do a lot of practicing sideline to the garden I will be growing. I'm going to take my headphones and practice some killer riffs while watching the birds and crazy people.


































Speaking of crazy people, there was a crazy animal attacking some poor, innocent and whimpering animal outside my house while I was trying to sleep last night. The one animal sounded like a werewolf or some sort of blood sucking monster, and was being all snarly to the saddened cry of the other. Eventually the whimpering died down, but not before I tried scaring the monster away by yelling one quick word out the window. I know, lame, but this thing sounded so insane, that I was scared to take a step out of the house to try to break up the late night street brawl in the lurking shadows.

















The saxophones and clarinets have now been recorded for the album. Trent Reschny came in and did a fantastic job of playing ALLLLL the parts set out for sax and clarinet. Now there's talent! I was excited when he agreed to play for our show on August 28th at the Rivoli. Should be awesome having him and Ben Bowen on trumpet, along with the usual gents.

a shoulder made of metal.

I had a really weird thing happen last night. I dreamt about being in a public washroom. As a crazy man walked down the hallway outside the door, growling and making crazy person noises, I realize the door didn't quite lock. Just as I'm pulling up my pants, I premeditatedly plant my shoulder hard against the swiftly opening door. The door flies full force into my metal shoulder! A man is punching and scratching at my back, wailing. I wake up. 1 am. I never usually dream at that hour.

Three seconds of reality and I hear this man screaming at the top of his lungs, cursing at all the sleeping people of the world around him! He is MAD!! He gets closer and closer to the house (I've heard him pass our house before, in the same manor). He kicks something made of metal. I wonder if it's my car, as if he knows I was dreaming about him. He stops. I go back to sleep.

you know it's summer when.....

Linda and I
five feet plus change and a few short of six
collect sun on a Sunday for the
sake of our wintered souls

but reverse the order of our path
take me back to the kitchen
three hours have passed
since I
plugged in the kettle

burn down the world for
a bowl full of jello

an aging reflex
a stop off to stupidity
there is no vapour left
only metal and energy
and a tick tick tick like the
inside of pipes
as though the hollow shell will
crumble when lifted

just take me back to the kitchen
three hours expired
so I can save all the memories
tucked into drawers

there are things that you
can and cannot control
fate played a hand with my
uncontrollable haste
to the door

there was whistling
that leaked from the open
windows
as though
the roof was about to
pop off the walls
someone could have thought
I was dead on the floor
or dreaming in the shower
for over an hour

while really I was foot to concrete
turning my blind eyes to the sky

After The Rain

green green green.
weightless as you seem
you are heavy with
new season
and new beginnings.

wanderlust

Whoa. This video is amazing. And dark. And so very Bjork.

Click here. Let the video load first.

Friends & Me!

A few friends came to New York this past weekend and it was a great time.
Some highlights include:

• Drew singing "In A New York Minute" every day in the shower
  
• Pearl River Mart in China Town. That place is fun!
  
• Me accidentally taking Joel to an African male gay bar for an afternoon drink. They were so nice and they had a live DJ at like, 4pm! Joel thought it was funny that I completely skipped over the sentence outlining the demographic of this bar in my guide book.
  
• Every meal I ate made me so happy. Especially Veselka, a Ukranian restaurant on 2nd Ave @ 9 St.
  
• McSorley's Old Ale House, established in 1854. Half pints of light and dark ale is the only thing served at this place. 
  
• The cabby from Time Square to the East Village adjusting the radio stations based on our conversation
  
• Rockefeller Centre. A beautiful view of the city
  

The above photo is of the recruitment centre for the US Army you may have heard about, smack dab in the centre of Times Square. Very bizarre. As if the overkill corporate signage and consumerism, blaring music and swarms of pushy tourists makes you realize how badly you want to fight for your country's freedom. Sign me up!!

peace sign pants

I was at a bar last night, drinking alone on a patio. New York has reconciled that lonely-bar-drinking experience most recently deprived from my life. What a strange feeling.

No one really reads this blog. So here is my first stupid poem of the summer.


the guy with the peace sign pants
I thought it was Tyler
until I saw his peace sign
pants

alone with a stance
he looks like me
until I see his peace sign pants

but we are both drinking
cans of
2 for $5 Pabst
in our peace ass-igned pants
on this year's
first patio.



(I thought the guy looked like Tyler Ramsey from Band of Horses....until I saw his peace sign pants.)

anywhere but here.

x-processed hula

I am currently in New York, alone, and aimlessly roaming. I haven't really experienced aimlessness since a very small amount of time I decided to venture out alone in Japan, back in November of 2007. Before that, it was in Europe where I really felt......alone. Isolated from people who were so casually going about their way!

I can't believe that in this random street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I have people bidding me adieu, smiling, standing by the iron gates. I can barely get anyone in Toronto to look me in the eye at mutual recognition of random funny moments, seconds of irritation, and hours of sitting in waiting rooms, concert lines, and on subway platforms.

But I guess that's just the way it is. But it makes me feel at home here, seeing neighbourhood friends meet and hug and kiss on the corner. And the bakeries and cafes are filled with friendly people, neighbours to all their customers.

I have discovered a few cool things here:
1. my sense of direction is maturing with age.
2. Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries on a stone step. FREE!
3. Picked up an EP today by Fleet Foxes "Sun Giant" at a cool record shop (almost as cool as soundscapes, but not quite, except that they have vinyl....which leads to
4. Picked up a vinyl from Now-Again Records label at the same place called "Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities", which I've only ever checked out online but I loved the looks of this label and figured anything on it was gold.
5. New York is filled with people that make me want to laugh. It's probably because everyone seems so happy right now...which probably has something to do with the weather.
6. Another cool band called Felice Brothers. Very awesome. Sort of Justin Rutledge-ish and Bob Dylan-esque.

Check em all out.