no... it wasn't... but one of these days I should post the 20th Anniversary mix that I did for Brave New Waves - 20 tracks in 20 minutes - with the stipulations that I was allowed one track from each year they'd been on the air, and they wanted it to span many different genres. I mixed them in chronological order...

In honor of your costume, I might have to drag this out of the archives...

[ www.discogs.com ]

come dressed up as a sick person.

I crashed on his couch in Toronto when I was moving out here in '02... and I repaid that favour after Party de Noel one year... we both came back to my old pad and listened to Primal Scream while totally burnt out. It fucking sucks to get news like this. I heard about it yesterday after work, but really hoped it was all a mistake.

Too many people disappear at too young an age. Take care of yourselves, ok.

the Brick Bock was a personal favorite - when I could find it... scored a batch with the red wax seal when I played a show in Toronto years ago... great stuff.

had a pint of Pit Caribou's Gaspésienne porter last night... nice stuff... and just put back a bottle of Brasseurs et frère's Trouille (7.5% pumpkin ale)...

nice one... keep the B's alive!

Dead Guy is the only Rogue product I've seen at the SAQ, but you may be able to track it down via [ bieropholie.com ] (which imports cases of beers that are otherwise unavailable here)... I've done orders with them in the past, but it adds up pretty quickly.

Still - it was worth it to get cases of Westmalle Trippel and Rochefort 10... although it sucks if you get a case of something and don't really enjoy it (which happened when I brought in 12x750ml bottles of Kwak).

that's why playing gigs in Kentucky is nice... access to some really great bourbon for dirt cheap. 18yo Elijah Craig for the win.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen Baker's or Basil Hayden at the SAQ in the last year... but with bottles of said Elijah Craig - and a stash of Booker.... I haven't really been shopping for bourbon.

right now, with the temperature starting to drop, it's a great time to be dipping into darker beers.... so here's a few faves.
Chimay - Grande Reserve (especially a well aged one)
Brooklyn Brewery - Black Chocolate Stout
Dogfish Head - World Wide Stout
Dieu du Ciel - Grande Noirceur
Weihenstephaner - Hefeweissbier Dunkel

once again I ended up staying way later than I expected to... but it's always hard to drag myself away from good music and good folks.

I'm aiming to get through about 20 records... it should be pretty crazy.

...oh... and if you plan on using vinyl and turntables - it *really* helps if you know how to do a lot of the basic technical things like properly balancing a tone-arm, knowing what the anti-skate does (and how to properly adjust it)...

looking forward to seeing Plague - last time we crossed paths was at a show in Belgium five years ago!

should be a crazy night... I've had a few previews of the visuals - and they're a lot of fun.

awesome... been looking forward to this since Baseck and Otto first mentioned it a few months back.

I'm loading up the bin with some crazy records... including some unreleased stuff that might make your brains melt.

Pasolini is the shit...

Canterbury Tales + Salo double bill... who's down?

good times... wish I'd been able to spend a bit more time socializing. Nice to see a healthy turnout, and better still to see a packed dance-floor during Screwhead's set.

Let's do it again sometime...

I'm down for Saturday morning...

haha... maybe MacLeod will confront Malkin and Crosby in the parking garage before the game.

Last I heard Gnat had returned to Winnipeg and settled down... I ran into him at the airport a few years back, but haven't really talked to him in a long time.

In the music business performance is where the money comes from... you'd be surprised by how many acts never really get paid for their albums, and make all their money from gigs and the merch sales at shows. If you're lucky you might get a bit of money from record sales, but you'll get more if you travel around and get your name in circulation. It simply isn't feasible for producers to bring their entire studio with them in order to perform... not to mention that multi-tracked tunes can be almost impossible to perform completely live.

I know a lot of producers that started DJing because it was the only way that they could realistically tour to get their name out there and pitch their music. Nowadays things are a lot simpler with laptops and such, but go back 10+ years and you're looking at situations where people would have to lug around their desktop computers at the very least... I mean, in extreme cases you guys like DAC Crowell from Urbana, Il who did MINDBLOWING ambient work - but his live shows required a bare minimum of about 750 pounds of gear.

I agree there are some producers who are horrible DJs, but I've never felt any animosity towards them... most of them would rather be doing live performances, but had no other options...

Bliss:

there are always people who live off their art... if we look at the art world, for example, you have someone like Banksy who's enjoying huge success - and I don't think he's compromised himself in any way... but there are also those who leap onto whatever it is that's current and try to make cash while they can... there are even those who never really experience any success in their lifetime, die in poverty and are only recognized after their death (Van Gogh is a primo example of this)...

Anyhow - I certainly don't mean to imply that anyone who is successful has compromised, because there are a lot of people who stay in the trenches and stick to their guns and build up enough of an audience to pay their bills... just saying that there are also DJs who think of what they do as an opportunity, not a profession... neither is wrong or right. They're just different.

y'know... for all the hate he seems to inspire, Bliss makes some really good points... but at some point it should be acknowledged that there are pretty substantial differences between good DJs, successful DJs, popular DJs and nice people... there are certainly some who are all of the above, but they seem to be few and far between.

It's also important to recognize that good is a pretty subjective term. I mean, there's probably a lot of people that cringe when I step up to the decks - there always has been - but I'm looking to express myself, not make everybody happy... don't get me wrong, it's great when the whole room is into it, but my main interest has always been unearthing things that I don't hear other people playing... and it's always a bit of a crapshoot when you mostly stick to the unfamiliar.

Anyhow - there's a shit ton of good DJs out there... some of them make a living at being a DJ, some don't have any interest in that. There's a documentary out there about DIY culture, you should be able to track it down on Youtube - it's called DIY OR DIe... the Steve Albini bit that's not included in the film is really insightful bottom line in his commentary is don't quite your dayjob, because if you rely on your art for making a living... and you struggle then it likely means that you'll end up compromising your art.

Algorithm was living in Montreal for a while when I got out here. He's still around - still completely sick... check youtube for some videos. He did a crazy mix of the ForceLab stuff that was released on CD - and played at Mutek a few years back. Quite simply one of the sickest DJs I've ever seen.

btw - here's an interview I did with Algorithm for Massive Mag (circa '98): [ massivemag.com ]

sorry I missed it... nursing a cold - and biking over the Cartier bridge on the way home from work left me feeling a bit exhausted.

Crosby... we're coming for you!

[ massivemag.com ]

some really interesting comments from Natural Born Sucker, pioneering Canadian act that released a monster 12" on Drop Bass Network - and were one of the headliners at Furthur 1998.

not a bike courier... just ride a bike to work, 'cause the tram zone 3 is retarded expensive - and it cuts into my monthly liquor and music budget.

unfortunately it's fucking rough to bike over the Jacques Cartier bridge with a hangover.

kick ass... the last essay of my university degree is due on Monday - and the 20th is my birthday as well... so... I'll be in a somewhat celebratory mood.


Too bad I have to work Wednesday morning...

I wonder if the chances of a shark attack go up considerably if you surf in the bacon tuxedo (after application of the bacon scent, of course)

It wasn't perfect, but I had a great time. I fully understand a lot of the complaints, but at the same time I was really happy to see Synthamesk get a chance to shine on a big stage, and while people might be bitching that the VJ performance by Push 1 Stop was projected on the wall opposite the DJ... I quite enjoyed being able to see the visual accompaniment to what I was doing. Most of the time that sort of thing is going on behind me, so I'm left in the dark.

It's a shame that Rob Gee was too sick to make it out, from what I understand there was some uncertainty about whether he'd be able to perform, but hopes were that he'd be feeling better by the time his set rolled around. Evidently that didn't happen - but no shows happen everywhere... Panacea and Problem Child didn't make it when I drove 800 miles to Milwaukee to catch them on NYE... Fierce from No U-Turn never showed up when me and him were slotted back-to-back at Furthur in 1998... Sometimes things are well out of our hands.

At any rate - the folks at [ www.uppercutradio.org ] recorded a lot of the sets, so you'll likely be able to hear what you enjoyed (or missed out on) at some point in the near future... and as a lot of people pointed out, there's a lot of rebuilding to be done in the scene... pointing fingers is useless...

anyhow... come out to OCDJ tonight, have some a good time... and maybe we can get a sense of community back in the scene.

he'll mostly be remembered for the way he reportedly ripped off the Sex Pistols when he was their manager - but his musical career is pretty interesting... really liked the piece of his that was used on the Kill Bill v.2 soundtrack - and his experiments melding opera with ambient-house in the late-80's/early 90's were kind of interesting.

he was always looking for new subcultures to jump into... and his name helped bring some of them to the surface, even if he wasn't necessarily all that involved in the music making process.

maybe... I'm working during the day on Friday, and I'll need some time to get records together after biking back from the south shore.

depends on what time I have to be at the venue... but I could probably make it. C'est a cote de chez moi.

holy shit... it's only three days away!

kick ass!

everything about the last Furthur was epic... Doormouse dressed in a cheerleader outfit and using a megaphone to MC in the Addict tent... he had cases of adult diapers and was encouraging anyone and everyone to put one on. Shortly afterward he led a group of about 50 ravers over to the main tent to check out the tail end of Neil Landstrumm's set - which was to be followed by Baseck (who was proudly wearing his diaper)...

not to mention that one of the Milwaukee crew who worked at a clinic had built an enormous papier mache penis (the paper they used was all from porno mags, btw)... anyhow, they called it the pornata, and it was filled with condoms, dental dams and safe sex pamphlets...

I'm weeks away from finishing my degree... count me in.