rambling othercat

I'm a 40 sumthin' computer geek. I like to barmp my sax with the band on thursday nights. I live in Toronto with my partner, and Grendel, a chihuahua.

Monday, November 27, 2006

I'm disgusted now.

There's a busy intersection a small block east of Yonge St on King St. It's right across from the King Edward Hotel. Lots of traffic, and even more pedestrians. Caution is always a good policy.

This afternoon, while on my way home, I saw a guy pull a hasty left turn from King St. onto the side street, and he nearly hit a young woman with his car. She was on her way to the subway from the college campus down the street. She was surrounded by several of her friends, so it's not like she was isolated or hard to see. The knuckleheaded driver was just too impatient to play it safe.

Fortunately she wasn't hit by the car. The worst part of the whole incident was when she yelled at him for making such a close call. He stopped, rolled down his window a crack to hear what the woman had to say. I figured he was taking his lumps like a man. I was wrong.

The bugger had the audacity to laugh at this poor woman, as if her safety wasn't any of his concern. He was quite amused at the fact that he had frightened a pant-load out of her. I walked around the back of his car to hear this sickening exchange. It's one of those times when I wish I had a few seconds extra to evaluate the situation. I would have planted my boot on his car to leave him a reminder that you shouldn't mess with pedestrians. A few hundred dollars of damage to his car would have taught him a lesson.

I hope that Toronto's finest catch up with him someday, and yank his license... after they kick his ass.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

HOWTO : Get Back At Sony For DRM’in Your Music

1. Write this on the biggest rock or brick that you can lift -

“BY ACCEPTING THIS BRICK THROUGH YOUR WINDOW, YOU ACCEPT IT AS IS AND AGREE TO MY DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS WELL AS DISCLAIMERS OF ALL LIABILITY, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL, THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE INSTALLATION OF THIS DEVICE INTO YOUR BUILDING.”

2. And then hurl it through the window of a Sony officer.

3. and run like hell.

Source - Bash.org

*****

I couldn't help myself. This little tidbit is worth reprinting. I dislike the idea of DRM. What ever happened to the notion of trust? If I like the music, I'll purchase a legitimate copy. This little HOWTO is a reprint, and I'm only passing it on. Be suspicious of the companies that sell you music media and limit your ability to use it fairly.

Late Thanxgiving

Hubris extended an invitation to celebrate the American Thanksgiving at his place this year. His mum, dad and sister made the long trek from the USA, and a gang of local friends made an appearance too. It was an opportunity not to be missed. As I was away from Canada during our own thanksgiving celebrations this year, I'm glad Hubris put out the effort, because there's nothing better than a top-notch roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

While Hubris put the finishing touches on the dumb flightless bird, we spent a few minutes enjoying the view from the beehive balcony. Thirty stories of elevation gives quite a perspective on our fair city. You can see all the way from St. James Town all the way to the Humber Bay to the west. Looking south, the entirety of the Toronto Island and the downtown are framed by Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment on the horizon. If you're intrepid enough to lean a small bit over the railing, you can see the end of the Leslie St. spit. If you're blessed with clear weather, it's likely that you can see the lights of Rochester NY far off to the south east.

Once we got over the marvelous view, we sat down to a delicious, and voluminous meal. We started out with Sassinak's veggie and fruit salad. We quickly followed with Mighty Doll's pumpkin bread, and Hubris' potato soup. Finally we had the roasted dumb flightless bird, complete with stuffing. Hubris turns out to be a regular Martha Stewart, without the wealth and the attitude of course. Ultimately, we had PJ and Lily's pumpkin pies festooned with whipped cream for dessert. Of course there were many beers and whiskey sours to slake our thirst.

MC and B, the Mighty Doll's kids treated the rest of us to an amusing and unscripted shadow puppet show before they were hustled off to bed. There was much general hilarity, and even the Dingo got into the act. There's nothing like a little dinner theatre to liven things up.

After a massive pig out like this, it's not unusual to hear exclamations of discomfort and feigned regret about eating too much. As we sat down to a strange card game called Shanghai rummy, Hubris' dad turned out to be a well fed jamtart. Mr. D. promptly found a comfortable spot on the futon couch, and nodded off, while the rest of us hurled barbs and insults at him to no avail. The cards flew around the table amidst the laughter, while the Dingo, and Mr. D happily snored side by side.

It was grand. As much as we Canadians love to whimper about our brash American neighbours, I am glad to know some of them, because I got a Thanksgiving dinner after all this year. As dinners go, this one was worth every excess calorie.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Starting A New Band


I just spent the afternoon at Hubris' place. We mangled some shelving, and more importantly, we found a few minutes to pull out our geetars. Y'see, we're starting a new musical endeavor with Handsome Jack. We'll have to keep Susan and Sassinak in mind when we need some percussion. For now, we're a three guitar band with not a whole lot of repertoire or ideas going for us.

Consider the fact that I'm not much of a guitarist, Hubris is just starting out, and HJ has played a fair bit in the past, but she's currently rusty. I think we all have an equal footing. It should prove to be a pleasant challenge to find a bunch of songs that we can all play without fumbling around the fretboard too much. It's going to be awesome.... someday.

Most people would be a little scared at the prospect, but to tell the truth, I'm quite excited. I don't get a lot of opportunities to play the guitar. I do my fair share of singing at the Thursday night jams, but I could always get more practice. The combination of the two is going to be really daunting, but I'm up for the challenge.

The biggest hurdle will be to get up to speed with enough tunes, quickly enough that we don't get discouraged and pack it in. Hubris and Jack have never met before, but that isn't an issue. They're both civilized and sociable adults with their humour intact, and they're as eager as I am to get this thing off the ground.

We already have a band name, so the worst part of the job is over. It's gonna be called LMN, after our first initials. Until something better comes along, I'm happy with that. Let the jams begin. I'll keep you posted when we've got something to show for our efforts, like a recording or a gig.

Rock and roll will never die. It will just have to get out for Pilates classes, and some regular exercise.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Grendel, The Crusher of Bones


The little fugger has hit the motherlode. I went to see the newfie butcher at the market, and while I was purchasing some victuals for myself, I happened upon this large bone. I always figure it's good form to share the wealth, so I forked over an extra two bucks on the wee canine's behalf.  Posted by Picasa

Friday, November 10, 2006

Groovin' In Row J

I just got home from Massey Hall, where I spent an awesome evening in the company of my pal. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to hear Los Lobos, my second favourite rock band. Crazy Socks or Earl Jam, or whatever it is we call our own band this week is still my favourite. Los Lobos is pretty darn good though.

Los Lobos has been cranking out excellent records for a few decades now, and I've purchased as many of them as I can get. Despite my great admiration for their songwriting and playing, this is the first occasion for me to hear them perform on stage. After playing and recording together for over thirty years, the rapport these guys have is nothing short of astounding.

The original quintet has grown to a sextet on account of the drummer switching instruments and taking up guitar. They've hired a new drummer to take over while the band lets fly with a barrage of three guitars, bass, and saxophone. As my long lost Uncle Steve says "lewd pulsating rhythms!" They can play anything they set their mind to, from heavy rock and blues to straight up Latin music. Cesar Rosas, the lead guitarist misheard an audience member and thought he heard "Freddy Fender" being yelled to him. With that prompting, he crossed himself, and led the band through a rendition of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights." It came as a complete shock to the band, and the audience too, but it certainly showed the group's versatility.

By the end of the night, the usually stoic, but always appreciative Toronto audience was dancing in the aisles, and several dozens joined the band dancing on stage. It's nice to know that some of us still have it in us to enjoy a good rock show. I even smelled the fragrance from someone's doobie a few rows behind me.

Viva Los Lobos and props to the backup band Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. May the good tunes keep coming for another few decades.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Good News from US

Our American neighbours have finally come to their senses, and the results are mostly in for the mid-term elections.

I think the world can heave a sigh of relief now that George W. Bush and his henchmen have been soundly defeated in the Congress. It looks like the Senate may have a Democratic Party majority too. With a few cliff hangers yet to be decided, the verdict isn't in, but it appears that the good people of the USA have repudiated the Neo-Cons and their disastrous policies.

I am always puzzled by the state of politics in the USA. Whenever they elect someone like Reagan, or Bush (both father and son) the rest of the world shakes their collective heads and wonders why the citizenry of the USA could be so silly. At the same time, the citizens of the USA have an unseemly reverence for these characters. I suppose it's a good thing for Republicans that the Presidency of the USA is not a globally held election. Otherwise these men would never have been elected.

With this good news, now all we have to do is get rid of the Conservative Party of Canada next year, and things will take a turn for the better. Now we're a step behind the USA, and we need to catch up. Stephen Harper had better watch out, because he's next.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Kid In The Candy Store

Am I ever excited. I'm off to Toronto's venerable Massey Hall to hear the Afro Cuban All Stars. Led by Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, they are one of the world's leading exponents of Cuban Big Band Music. It's a rich, luscious blend of horns, piano, bass and percussion. It's rhythmically sophisticated and innately danceable at the same time. Despite the complexity of form, it's captivating and direct music.

The All Stars play a fairly traditional style of Cuban music, if you consider something dating from the forties and fifties as traditional. The style dates back to the big band era in the States, and Canada. The Cubans adopted the big band form, and put their own thumbprint on it. The Cuban forms have exerted an influence in jazz and popular music well beyond their borders since they adopted the big band form.

Dizzy Gillespie is largely responsible for introducing the Cuban sound to the world, and owes him a dept for this wonderful introduction. Since this revelation in the mid forties, Cuban music has changed just like everyone else's music. It's only natural. In the early nineties Juan de Marcos Gonzalez tried to track down some of the stars of Cuban music from their big band era. The end result was the justifiably famous Buena Vista Social Club. Ry Cooder certainly had a big hand in it too, but it's largely Gonzalez leadership that made the project possible.

The rest is history as they say. Since then, Gonzalez has been leading his own big bands on tours around the world breathing new life into the now classic sound of Cuban big band music. The old tunes are respectfully performed along with new tunes that complement them. Cuba's present isolation from the world is something that is passing, and fortunately for us, we're getting a glimpse into the heart of Cuban culture and especially their excellent music.