Music!

I've been re-exploring the CBC Radio 3 Website lately, if not in part because they've totally relaunched the site!

There's good and bad, of course. Mostly good, but on the bad side, my embedded Radio3 players I had on my Blogger and Facebook no longer work... they're just big empty holes! Boo! (I've already sent e-mails to website managers and will solve this problem ASAP!)

But then there's the good...

I'm finally allowed to upload pictures to a new customizable user profile (And so can YOU)! And I LOVE that you can finally create multiple playlists. It's a really huge development, and it means that I can finally have "mood specific" playlists of sorts. (Granted, I've only got 2 lists so far, but I think there may be more soon enough!)

Now, I've been a fan of Radio 3 for quite some time now. In fact, almost all I listen to on my portable music player (ie, my phone) is CBC stuff. (The exception is the BBC Global News podcast which I listen to almost daily!)

I try never to miss the Track of the Day, and I always catch up on them all when I do. I've become a huge fan of (fictional?) Richard "Sunshine Dick" Johnson, host of The Sunshine Show. And I wholeheartedly enjoy keeping up to date with the R3-30, Radio 3's countdown show of each week's top 30 songs.

There are, of course, many more podcasts and shows on Radio 3, but I think you get the idea.

In any case, why don't you check out my current "Playlist of the Moment"... who knows, maybe you'll hear something you like!

Oh, and here's a little music shout-out. These ones have been totally stuck in my head for days, (in some cases MONTHS!)

Artist - Song Title
Dan Mangan - Robots
Dan Mangan - Sold
Arcade Fire - Wake Up
Greg Macpherson - Bankrobber (yes, a cover of a Clash song)
Hannah Georgas - The Beat Stuff
The Waking Eyes - Wolves at the Door

oh, and this new one!
John K. Samson just released a new track called "Heart of the Continent"
Unfortunately, I cannot find a link for it. Yet.

Cheers,

Shine On You Crazy Diamond!

While waiting for the bus today, some dude on a bicycle passed me. He slowed down, nodded, and then, smiling, shouted, "Shine on you crazy diamond!" Either he thought I looked like a member of Pink Floyd, or he just thought I was crazy... Either way, I was forced to stop, reflect, and then laugh out loud. It made my day.

Do I look like Syd Barrett in this hat? I don't think so...

Maybe I look like Nick Mason in his strange hat from the late 60's? I just need some sweet vintage motorcycle goggles!

Regardless, "Welcome to the Machine," friendly passer by!

So much to say...

Well, as Dave Matthews might say, there's "So much to say, so much to say, so much to say, so much to say"...

Since my last post, I've been out to Alberta once again by TRAIN for FREE, done a LOT of hunting for a new apartment, and discovered that my drummer, Ian, is moving to Toronto, thus leaving Business Casual without a Drummer or a Jam Space. I'll also be heading back out to Alberta AGAIN in early September to help my girlfriend move her stuff to Winnipeg, hopefully landing myself a second part time job, and if all goes well, moving into a house that has a basement large enough to double as a Jam Space...

That IS a lot to say! It's also a lot of work to do!

And I intend to spend my down time watching episodes of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000! ;)

Help My Band Rock the 204!

This year, Power 97 is once again hosting the Rockin' the 204 contest. If you happen to enjoy the music of my band, Business Casual, then please check it out and vote for us!

Many bands made the cut, and now it's up to YOU to stop in, and rate the bands you like on a scale from 1 to 10. Each band has uploaded 3 songs which you can listen to, and get a feel for the bands sound. In case you haven't already, VOTE BUSINESS CASUAL HERE!

PLEASE stop in and help us win! They'll be announcing the first of the top 4 bands on June 15th at the 6 o'Clock Rock Report, and one more each day on the 16th, 17th, and 18th at the same time.

The votes are taken into consideration, so please, help show the Power 97 Jury that Business Casual deserves to win!

Speaking of winning, here's what's up for grabs:

The top four bands in the 204 will receive:

1. gift certificate from Quest Musique


2. airplay all summer on Power 97


3. performance at the Forks Canada Day celebration July 1 at Scotia Bank Stage (remaining three bands)


4. other great gigs to be announced


5. a weeks worth of promotion for a gig of the bands choosing

All of this means a lot to any band that's trying to make a name for themselves in Winnipeg, or anywhere for that matter. And there are a lot of great sounding bands in the running this year! Hopefully some of you think Business Casual is one of the best!

We all know that Business Casual has the coolest fans!

New Music for Business Casual

Well, Business Casual has been hard at work! We've recorded 2 of our songs, and re-recorded another. We've entered Power 97,'s Rockin the 204 contest (barring certain issues regarding kbps...). And we're planning to record more of our ready material in short order!

Also, we've a good bakers dozen tracks or so that we think are album worthy, and DEFINITELY gig worthy. So look for us at a venue near you! Two sets of goodness!

Cheers!

One Artist - 10 Songs

I'm using blogger, so I'm unable to "TAG" anyone on this, but check it out if you're interested. I'll share it with people once Facebook auto-loads it as a note.

The instructions for this thing on Facebook go something like this:

"Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 10 people including me. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think."

So here goes, with a few hyperlinks thrown in for good measure! Check out the links, maybe you'll find a song you like!

===============

Pick Your Artist: The Waking Eyes



Are you male or female: "Boyz and Girlz"

Describe yourself: "Holding On To Whatever It Is"

How do you feel about yourself: "Run Through the Fire"

Describe where you currently live: "Trouble on the Patio"

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: "Get Me to the Doctor"

Your favourite form of transportation: "On A Train"

Your best friend is: "Keeps Me Coming Back"

Your favourite colour is: "Sunday Morning Blues"

What's the weather like: "Combs for the Clouds"

Favourite time of day: "Anytime"

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: "Wolves at the Door"

What is life to you: "Takin’ The Hard Way"

What is the best advice you have to give: "All Empires Fall"

If you could change your name, what would it be: "Tegro Vellum"

Your favourite food is: "More Than What You’re Givin"

===================

Cheers everyone! I'll try to put some more "content" in my next post!

Off to Alberta

Well, I'm taking a trip out to Alberta for a few days, and while I'm there, I have a few to-do's.

1. Find out exactly where in Alberta I can find Half Pint's Beer! As we all know, Half Pints brews some of my favourite beer available ANYWHERE. I know they're in Calgary, I wonder if they've picked up on the trend as far south as Lethbridge, where I'll be staying for the majority of my visit.

2. Well, I had hoped to get out and see another Lethbridge Hurricanes game, but it seems the team went and copulated with the canine in their play-off series against the Calgary Hitmen, so I'll be forced to discover other recreational sports related activates. As such, I will be re-exploring the Geocaching Community of Letbrdige Alberta. Hopefully I can find a few interesting Geocoins or Travel-Bugs, and drop off one I've recently found, like this one!. (This of course reminds me that I absolutely HAVE to drop off Snoopy in a Travel Bug Hotel once I get home to Winnipeg!)

3. RELAX! 5 Days without the usual drama of home or work will be greatly appreciated!

4. [ CENSORED ]

5. Guitar Shopping! I have it on good authority that I may be receiving an Acoustic Guitar for my birthday. I've got some ideas in mind... I want it to have some punch, that's for sure. Perhaps a Resonator Guitar would be fun. It would give me a reason to brush up on some open tunings and Bottleneck Slide styles of playing! I've been somewhat inspired by the work of Rocco DeLuca and the Burden, who plays some mean slide resonator through some crazy layers of distortion and f/x pedals! I was first introduced to his work when I watched the film, I Trust You to Kill Me, featuring Rocco DeLuca and Kiefer Sutherland. (I thoroughly enjoyed this film!)

6. Investigate the possibility of escaping to Calgary or Banff for a Weakerthans show... (25 Sat: Calgary, AB - Macewan Hall; 26 Sun: Banff, AB - Wild Bill's) Sunday is probably not going to work, but Saturday might make for a fun little excape if transportation to Calgary can be arranged... ya never know, really.

In any case, I have some laundry to get doing, and some packing, and I still have a rehearsal with Business Casual tonight. Should be some fun times!

Cheers,

Rob
I hope I have a good trip! See "y'all" soon!

New Pictures of Business Casual!

If you're interested, I've got some new pics from the gig at the Cavern back in February. I might post some of the ones of myself on my own profile eventually, but for now they're staying up on the Business Casual website.

Check out the slideshow at the bottom of this post! Or, if you can't because you're viewing this as a note on Facebook, than view the album directly on Picasa.

I'll be sure to everyone know as soon as we get around to booking a second gig.

Cheers!

You can never have enough guitars!

Can you ever have too many guitars? Well, of course not! But can I AFFORD another guitar?

Well, I was looking at all the guitars in my basement, and started to wonder if I should consider adding another full sized acoustic steel string to the collection...

Well, my travel sized acoustic is too small and buzzy for large rooms, live shows, or recording... and I would like to have the option of recording some acoustic tracks, or bring a proper guitar out to campfires and parties. The travel one is a great little beat around guitar. It's perfect for camping or road trips, when you know you're tight for space, and you don't want to really worry about damaging a more expensive guitar... but in the end, that's just what it is: a cheap little guitar. And of course, a full sized guitar would have better tone, resonance, and volume...

At this point, I'm forced to kick myself back into reality, and acknowledge that I spent all my "fun money" for the month on hockey equipment, and should probably put a new guitar on hold for a while.

*sigh*

In the mean time, I've got a lot to work with. ;)

Cheers,

Seeking: Hockey Pads - Help me out!

Hi there everyone!

I'm in need of some assistance, if you please.

I've been playing a little hockey on the Weekends (poorly, granted. regardless...), and I'm in need of some used hockey pads so I can have pucks whizzed at me at high speeds without fear of major injuries... or, as much fear...

In any case, the following items are required, in order of priority:

#1 - Hockey Pants - Needed most of all, I don't have access to any to borrow.

#2 - Shin Guards - I might have access to borrow these, but having my own would be great.

#3 - Shoulder Pads - as per #2

#4 - Elbow Pads - as per #2

Other items, such as the helmet and mouth guard, I will be purchasing new, for obvious reasons. Though if you have a lightly to not used helmet that fits, what the hell, maybe I'll take it off your hands for slightly less than retail.

I already own skates, sticks, gloves, jerseys, and socks.

Bonus given to Jets coloured (70's, 80's or 90's) equipment! Otherwise, black pants will work fine with my Lorette scorpions jersey and socks. lol.

Cheers, and thanks in advance for all the help that I just KNOW is going to rush in!

Test Post - Inserting Maps!

This is a map showing the corner of River @ Osborne in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This happens to be a great end of town, by the way!


View Larger Map

New Pups!!!

So, after literally MONTHS of waiting for my pickups to arrive in Winnipeg, they finally have, and I brought them down to my friends place in Lorette to have them installed. I really have to thank Andrew for the work he did. The pickups sound awesome, and I got to learn how it's done. I'm not sure I'm ready to start installing my own pickups any time soon, but I certainly have a better understanding and appreciation for how it's done. Thank god I didn't try and do it myself, or I'd have messed up something or other!

Anyway, now they're installed, and wow! What a difference!

I play a Limited Edition, Custom Shop, Trans-Amber Epiphone G-400 with all gold hardware. So when it came time to upgrade my pickups, I decided that I couldn't skimp and went with the Custom Gold Covers, which I had added to the Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB for the bridge, and SH-2n Jazz for the neck. And honestly, they're delicious!

The original stock Epiphone pickups were... alright. The bridge pickup was really raw, and the neck was... well, soup comes to mind. The new pickups are like an entirely new guitar! They're clear, articulate, and well balanced. The neck is smooth and jazzy, and the bridge has just enough crunch when pushed. Both pickups really pick up the subtle changes in strumming well. It was easy to find several good volume and tone settings that let it stay loud and clear when strummed lightly, but kick into overdrive with just a little more wrist action.

I can't wait to hear these guys with my full rig at Tuesday night's jam. I hope it inspires my playing as much as it affected my pocket book!

Cheers

Pi Day, continued!

This just in!

It turns out that the research my last blog post was based on is out of date. Time can be divided much further: including zeptoseconds and yoctoseconds, which take Pi all the way to it's 28th and 31st decimal places, respectively.

Of course, when you take into account Planck Time, which is the base unit, and the smallest meaningful unit of measurement in theoretical physics, you can take Pi all the way to it's 51st decimal place. Planck Time is of course named for Max Planck, who proposed it as a measurement of time. It appears that 1 Planck Time is about the time it takes for Light to travel the distance of 3 Hydrogen Atoms.

Now that's some good times!

Happy Pi Day!

March (3), 14th, 1:59:26:535:897:932:384:626:433:832:795:02884197169399375105... am, or pm.

Cheers!

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day!

It is currently the 14th of March. (2 decimal places)

More specifically, its 1:59am. (5 decimal places)

Now, some more about time... Blogger doesn't go down to the second, but let's just assume it's 1:59am, 26 seconds (7 decimal places), and 535 miliseconds (10), 897 microseconds (13), 932 nanoseconds (16), 384 picoseconds (19), 626 femtoseconds (22), and 434 attoseconds (25 decimal places).

Apparently the attosecond is the smallest measurement for time. Pi, of course, keeps on going.

Anyway, this of course happens again at 1:59pm (5 decimal places, etc).

If, however, you are using at 24 hour clock, the only exciting time is 16hrs (4pm) where things abruptly end at 4 decimal places, due to rounding. (damn there not being a 92nd minute! If only we used decimal time!)

In any case, I wish everyone a happy day, regardless of whether or not they believe in Pi...

Cheers!

Beer! Beautiful Beer!

One thing that became severely neglected when I switched to the wretched "crack-book", was that I stopped rating the beers I've tried, and posting my reviews on my blog!

Therefore, it's time for my TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO BEER REVIEWING!

Stay tuned, as I'll soon be reviewing the new beers from Half Pints (as soon as I can get my hands on a St. James Pale Ale).

Also, I'll be doing another SIDE-BY-SIDE comparison of the Half Pints Burly Wines from this year and last year's stock. (They performed excellently a few months ago... lets see how they've changed!) I've got to make sure I have enough back stock in my cellar for next year's tasting!

Also, St. Patrick's Day is coming up, so expect a review of the O'Hara line of beers.

I'm also going to refresh my memory of beers brewed in Saskatchewan by Paddock Wood Brewing, including the Bete Noir, and Czech Mate.

So please, Pint up, and stay tuned.

(Please only pint up if you are of legal drinking age!)

Cheers!

I think it's about time to begin anew!

Good day!

A long time ago I used to maintain this blog at regular intervals... or at least irregular intervals. But along came Facebook, and my blogging world came to an end.

Well, much time has passed, and I have discovered that while Facebook may be useful for networking and such, it's become an ABSOLUTE CATASTROPHE when it comes to a normal "blog-like" environment.

Therefore, I am going to stop posting notes on Facebook, and return to the wonderful (and much more customizable) world of Blogger.

Aren't you lucky!

Cheers!