Okay it seems as though amazing events are piling up on me now. We've been here since Wednesday, seen 3 groups of showcases of bands but it wasn't until last night that a group blew the roof off of this place. Until now we've seen acts follow the pop structure, verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus, and listened to faculty critique the showcases paying attention to priMarily if the song was hooky enough to be a hit song.
Three nineteen year olds from kelowna who call themselves We Are the City, played a set that made these pop rules seem trivial and almost pathetic. I think Shawn verrault from wide mouth mason put it best when he said that We Are the City seem to inhabit their own universe. I've seen probably 4 or 5 concerts that were as compelling as their set last night. The songs were passionate, dynamic as heck, and tossed aside all the rules of common song writing. Some bands do this but I've never seen one do it with so much integrity, relevance, power and grace. I strive to be a musician because I love creating music but my love stems from the powerful emotional experiences I've had listening to Bands like radiohead, Tori Amos, pink Floyd, the beatles etc etc , the list goes on. We are the city entered the ranks of such greats in my mind last night.
I guess what I should explain is that great music has transcendental powers, and I was definitely not alone in experiencing the transcendental powers of we are the city's music last night.
I know this is a competition but I must admit that we were all severely out classed last night. And I'm not even jealous. Just incredibly inspired.
So to Cain, David and Andy, thank you so much.
Peace
Dom
Monday, August 31, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Cougars and showcasing
What an eventful day eh?
-A fifteen year old was eaten by a cougar and kicked out of the peak performance project
-our mentors and music business faculty challenged us to a hockey game in which they most certainly had their asses handed to them
-Jason from tv heart attack turned... 52 years old? and Toby from run the red light took a pie in the face because of it
-adaline, sweetheart and alexandra mailot all showcased and all played wonderfully
-oh yeah! We showcased last night and got it out of the way. It's quite nerve racking to do this. The show for one isn't like any show. All of our peak performance peers sit silently and watch while the faculty sit in the back and take notes on how you're doing up there. The worst part seemingly is the post performance critique where the artists stand at the front while the faculty members (American idol style) break down your performance. The more of these critiques I saw, however, I knew I had little to fear. The faculty isn't really digging into anyone, though I wish they were. I figure, if a critique is going to help us it's got to be brutally honest. That being said I have to apologize for perhaps being a bit to harsh in response to one of our critiques. But in my defense there was plainly no substance, content or thesis to the 'critique'. Plus when I get off stage the adrenaline's going and I feel like I could fight anyone if I had to.
The show case was great though. I plan to spend the rest of my lunchbreaks in the pool and playing disc golf
Peace
Dom
-A fifteen year old was eaten by a cougar and kicked out of the peak performance project
-our mentors and music business faculty challenged us to a hockey game in which they most certainly had their asses handed to them
-Jason from tv heart attack turned... 52 years old? and Toby from run the red light took a pie in the face because of it
-adaline, sweetheart and alexandra mailot all showcased and all played wonderfully
-oh yeah! We showcased last night and got it out of the way. It's quite nerve racking to do this. The show for one isn't like any show. All of our peak performance peers sit silently and watch while the faculty sit in the back and take notes on how you're doing up there. The worst part seemingly is the post performance critique where the artists stand at the front while the faculty members (American idol style) break down your performance. The more of these critiques I saw, however, I knew I had little to fear. The faculty isn't really digging into anyone, though I wish they were. I figure, if a critique is going to help us it's got to be brutally honest. That being said I have to apologize for perhaps being a bit to harsh in response to one of our critiques. But in my defense there was plainly no substance, content or thesis to the 'critique'. Plus when I get off stage the adrenaline's going and I feel like I could fight anyone if I had to.
The show case was great though. I plan to spend the rest of my lunchbreaks in the pool and playing disc golf
Peace
Dom
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Speed Pool feat Hunger Strike
First night
Reports from boot camp
Well it appears that the officials here are not going to be as militaristic as I thought. Really the only hardship we have to deal with is complete lack of cell phone reception. That was the hot topic of conversation for night one. "how can I get ahold of my baby?!?". This was what you could overhear every time you turned your shoulder. That and the ever so popular concern about no drugs or alcohol at the camp. These musicians just were not coping.
I personally was more bummed that we weren't getting fed on night one. As every person who has ever dealt with
ME knows, dommy go crazy when he no get the food.
2 highlights of night one. 1. Music bc announced that every band will be getting 3500 dollars to spend over the next while. Yay!!! Our money problem has been temporarily fixed. 2. Has anyone heard of speed pool? It's a rudimentary game that will soon be sweeping the nation. Invented by yours truly...I think. And Shawn. Rules are easy, two teams, one pool cue per team, normal game of pool but if the cue ball stops rolling on your turn, you lose your turn and the other team goes. Basically the results is a high speed, 'don't get poked in the eye' fun fest. Tpb feat adaline handily handed those (just recently) post pubescent boys from We Are The City their a$$es twice in a row.
Rematch tomorrow boys? Any way, I'm blabbering, the first day wAs also great. Very educational and we were very well fed.
Tah tah
Dom and tPb
Reports from boot camp
Well it appears that the officials here are not going to be as militaristic as I thought. Really the only hardship we have to deal with is complete lack of cell phone reception. That was the hot topic of conversation for night one. "how can I get ahold of my baby?!?". This was what you could overhear every time you turned your shoulder. That and the ever so popular concern about no drugs or alcohol at the camp. These musicians just were not coping.
I personally was more bummed that we weren't getting fed on night one. As every person who has ever dealt with
ME knows, dommy go crazy when he no get the food.
2 highlights of night one. 1. Music bc announced that every band will be getting 3500 dollars to spend over the next while. Yay!!! Our money problem has been temporarily fixed. 2. Has anyone heard of speed pool? It's a rudimentary game that will soon be sweeping the nation. Invented by yours truly...I think. And Shawn. Rules are easy, two teams, one pool cue per team, normal game of pool but if the cue ball stops rolling on your turn, you lose your turn and the other team goes. Basically the results is a high speed, 'don't get poked in the eye' fun fest. Tpb feat adaline handily handed those (just recently) post pubescent boys from We Are The City their a$$es twice in a row.
Rematch tomorrow boys? Any way, I'm blabbering, the first day wAs also great. Very educational and we were very well fed.
Tah tah
Dom and tPb
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