Category: bmusic

0 Leaving Even Handed Odds

October 27, 2014
by Crommunist
· bmusic · Music

I moved to Vancouver almost exactly 5 years ago. Having been a musician for essentially my whole life, I wanted to jump into the music scene in my new home as quickly as I could. On something quite like a whim, I answered a Craigslist ad looking for “someone to harmonize with” and found Stuart Alves, a local musician who had been in the scene for a few years and was looking to change directions. Over the course of the next few months, Stuart and I developed a setlist and began playing at an open mic at a bar near his house – the King’s Head.

As we became regular attendees at the King’s Head open mic, we regularly ran into Paul and Darin – two friends from high school who enjoyed playing covers and originals together. Stuart and I were offered the opportunity to play a night at the Cottage Bistro, a restaurant whose owner Stuart had known for some time. Because we didn’t have enough material to cover the whole night, Stuart and I hit on the idea of offering to split the night with Paul and Darin. Eventually the idea of trying to put together a few songs as a four-piece came up.

And so it was that we found ourselves at Kitsilano Beach, guitars (and viola) in hand, kicking around some ideas. We enjoyed the process so much that, after the original show, we decided to stay together and form a band.

0 Ian’s open mic survival guide

August 15, 2014
by Crommunist
· bmusic

So you’ve been working on mastering that guitar that has been taunting you from the corner of your apartment for months. You’ve put in the time and effort to make a sound that no longer makes your pets flee from you in bewildered terror. Maybe you’ve even written a couple of songs that you think aren’t terrible. But there’s still a lot of time and effort and luck between entertaining friends around the campfire and rocking a sold-out arena show. Where do you go next?

I’ve spent the past 7 years (give or take – the most generous estimates start my open mic career 10-12 years ago) as a regular performer at open mics. For a few years I was also the host of a couple of open mics around the city. By no means am I an ‘old timer’, but I’ve been around long enough to pick up a few tips on what to do, and what to avoid, when you’re trying to break into the music scene for the first time. I’m going to share them with you, because I’m that kind of guy. … Continue Reading

0 Joining The Sheets

August 5, 2014
by Crommunist
· bmusic · personal

The world works in funny ways sometimes.

I was walking home from my girlfriend’s place, and because I used to live in the neighbourhood I happened to take a particular route to the bus stop. Passing by a bar called The Pint, I noticed with moderate interest the fact that they had an open mic on a Tuesday night. Attending that open mic some weeks later introduced me to the guys from the Gastown Royals, who were regulars there. One of their members invited me to play fiddle on a project he’d been working on, which I happily accepted. That, in turn, led to me meeting Tom, who is the bass player of a group called The Sheets. They just happened to be looking for a fiddle player for a regular gig they play at The Blarney Stone, a popular Vancouver club.

And so it was that I found myself on stage a few weeks ago, jamming alongside The Sheets and their blend of rock and reggae covers. I was invited to join the group for their Thursday gig on an ongoing basis, and after giving it some thought I eventually accepted. Now you’ll be able to catch me Thursday nights at The Blarney Stone, as well as Friday nights a The Coppertank with my band, Even Handed Odds.

As one might imagine, having two weekly gigs requires some ‘give’ somewhere else in the schedule, so I am putting most of my solo project on the back burner for now. I will no longer be pursuing solo gigs, and once the busking season is done I will putting solo stuff on a fairly comprehensive hiatus. I will continue to write and occasionally record my own solo songs, but otheriwse the solo stuff will run pretty quiet for a while.

For any of you who might be disappointed by this decision, there are a couple of practical matters to consider. First, while I really do enjoy solo performance, it’s quite a bit more work than ensemble performance. For every 3-hour show I might play, there are countless hours spent promoting and preparing new music – these are now hours that I can redevote to songwriting and recording. Indeed, many of the days that I have spent busking this summer are days where I had to decide not to work on turning a growing number of music fragments into coherent songs. Less time out on the streets, at open mics, and in bars means more time in my apartment working on producing new stuff for you.

The other silver lining aspect to this development is that this gig with The Sheets isn’t a volunteer position – I will be making a decent amount of money. It is a well-known truism in the world of gigging musicians is that steady work is better than flashy work. 100% of the money that I make performing is funneled directly back into music, meaning that this gig will allow me to pay for equipment upgrades (I very badly need a new viola – I’ve had Dennis since I was 14 and I outgrew him by the time I was 18). More importantly it will allow me to pay for studio time, which means I’ll likely be able to release an EP within the next year.

For my own part, I am mostly happy about this turn of events. The guys in The Sheets are really talented, and The Blarney Stone is a huge room – it also has an honest-to-Hendrix dance floor, which is a feature much appreciated by live musicians. It will also give me an opportunity to try something new, and to sharpen my fiddle skills. At the same time, I am obviously conflicted about arresting the momentum I’ve been building with my solo project, and curious about what this will end up meaning for Even Handed Odds. On the whole, however, I’m very optimistic about this new direction. I hope you’ll come along with me!

0 What I’m Listening To: January 2014

January 17, 2014
by Crommunist
· bmusic

Music has been an integral part of my life since I was a kid. In addition to playing music in various forms, my headphones have been my constant companion for as long as I can remember. I’m always on the hunt for new sounds, not only to listen to but also to inspire me to write music of my own. So I’m going to try, every now and then, to share with you some of the sounds you’re likely to find in my ears if you were to run into me on the street.

Goldford – Never Settle

I seriously cannot find enough good things to say about Goldford’s debut album Shed a Little Light. It’s soulful, it’s funky, it’s for anyone who appreciates Raphael Saddiq, Cody ChestnuTT, or John Mayer (the music, not the guy). If you can, buy the album. It will be the wisest financial decision you’ll make all year. It was hard to pick a ‘favourite’ track from this album, but ‘Never Settle’ has a reasonable shot at that title.

Dizzy Gillespie – Night in Tunisia

I realize that this is a contentious and unprovable statement, but I think this might be the best song ever written. Seriously. It’s built on a complexity that resolves to an easy stride that quickly transforms into a virtuoso showcase by one of the unchallenged masters of the trumpet. It bridges the gap between traditional jazz and modern jazz in a way that approaches perfection.

Neko Case – Man

I first came across Neko Case as a member of The New Pornographers, an indie band from Vancouver. They are an eclectic blend of different types of pop music, melded idiosyncratically in a way that really appeals to my eclectic taste. Neko is a prolific solo artist as well, and when her album The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You dropped, I decided to pick it up. This track is a very tongue-in-cheek exploration of ‘traditional’ masculinity and the behaviours it glorifies. It also rocks, so there’s that.

Audio Two – Top Billing

Grab your boom box, put on your Kangol, and rock out with wild abandon to this classic jam from hip-hop’s golden age. There’s nothing else to say about this track, really. It’s just pure enjoyment.

Elvis Costello and the Roots – Walk Us Up Town

I am a big fan of The Roots, particularly after reading band-leader ?uestlove’s autobiography Mo’ Meta Blues. ?uestlove is, from my perspective, the ultimate musician. He finds what is beautiful about every genre, places it expertly in its historical context, and finds ways to blend different sounds. It was a thrill, therefore, to see him team up with perennial rock legend Elvis Costello for the album Wise Up Ghost. If I’m being honest, I wanted to like this album much more than I actually enjoyed it, but it’s worth a listen for sure.

Above and beyond being a consumer of music, I’m also a creator of music. I released this song a few months ago, called The Ballad of Cpt. Morgan:

If you want to hear more from me, the easiest way is to click over to my ‘Music’ page, where I curate all of the stuff that is available online. Alternatively, you can check out my Facebook page, which has an audio player and photos and a whole bunch more cool stuff.

21 “Accidental” racism and intentional brilliance

April 10, 2013
by Crommunist
· black history · blog · bmusic · critical thinking · forces of stupid · history · news · race · racism

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows what my position is on “intent” when it comes to things like racism and misogyny. Intent lies on an orthogonal axis to racism – someone doing something intentionally racist just adds bad intent to bad action. If we are of the opinion that racism is harmful in and of itself, we have to identify something as ‘racist’ or ‘not racist’ based on its own merits, regardless of whether the person “meant to”.

This appears to be a major sticking point for people. They have bought, either consciously or unconsciously, into the myth that racism is something perpetuated by “racists”, and that if someone didn’t mean to do it then it can’t really be racist – just “ignorant” or “an accident” or whatever euphemism they prefer. This myth has a lot of popular currency and is fairly ubiquitous within North American discussions of race. The problem, of course, is that people can be and are discriminated against based on their race in ways that have nothing to do with ill intent all the time. Demanding that intent be consubstantial with racism precludes us from taking any action against these kinds of racism.

In a stunning display of well-intentioned cluelessness (and what could be called willful ignorance), country star Brad Paisley has decided to step into the fray by teaming up with LL Cool J in a ballad called “Accidental Racist”. Here’s a sample: … Continue Reading

1 Movie Friday: Voices United for Mali

January 25, 2013
by Crommunist
· blog · bmusic · culture · movie · religion

Music has been, and continues to be, an integral part of my life. I picked up my first musical instrument at age 6, and since then there hasn’t been a time when I wasn’t doing something musical in my free time. I went through private lessons, string ensembles, chamber orchestras, symphony orchestras, rock bands, solo gigs, string quartets… it’s been a huge part of not only how I live my life, but how I see myself.

So, at this moment in time, I am really glad I don’t live in Mali:

Musicians in Mali are defying militants in the North who have declared Shariah law and banned all music but the Islamic call to prayer.

(snip)

Strict Islamist militants imposing a version of Shariah law first seized control of major towns across northern Mali last March. They have since solidified their grip on the North and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.

(snip)

“It is strange for us to understand the extent to which it is impossible to listen or play music in the North. You can’t do it anymore. The only way you can play it is to drive miles out into the desert, where you are beyond the earshot of anyone.”

Before this recent outbreak of fundagelical religious tyrannical fascism, Mali sounds like a place I could be quite happy in. Music is woven into their cultural expression in much the same way it is woven into my life. And that makes the ban on music all the more shocking and deplorable.

Now I’m not going to comment on the rightness or wrongness of European/North American military intervention in Mali. Some analysts have pointed out that the crisis there was triggered as a result of NATO intervention in Libya – as mercenary groups fled post-Gaddhafi Libya, they moved west and eventually took over. I am not sure what is to be done there, since foreign involvement may have triggered the damn thing in the first place. What I do know is that the people who made this video are impressive as hell:

I can’t imagine what I would do if music was outlawed by threat of death. One thing I do know is that by standing up and resisting, the people of Mali are setting a powerful example for oppressed groups everywhere: resistance in the face of unjust persecution is human dignity at its height.

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12 Movie Friday: Where I Get it From

January 18, 2013
by Crommunist
· blog · bmusic · movie · personal · Vanity

A year and a half ago, I got an e-mail out of the blue from my father, telling me that he had started learning the saxophone. Dad’s in a gradual state of growing retirement, meaning that he still works but on a purely opt-in basis. He does a number of things to fill his time, including a promising side-career as a photographer. Back in his youth, Dad played guitar in church choirs around the Caribbean – to hear him tell it, he was moderately famous. Since then he’s been singing in choirs and stuff, but the decision to acquire an entirely new musical instrument at the age of 60 was, I will confess, surprising.

Last Sunday, Dad did this:

A shocked reaction

I am crazy impressed with Dad here. I’ve heard him play a handful of times, and I knew he was pretty good, but I had no idea he was bringing game this hard. If you good folks would be so kind as to click through to the video, ‘like’ it, and leave complimentary comments, I know it would make his day.

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25 Is this racist? You can bank on it.

July 17, 2012
by Crommunist
· anti-racism · blog · bmusic · economics · race · racism · skepticism · sociology

Part of the challenge of incorporating anti-racism into mainstream skepticism is that skepticism has been primarily focused on developing techniques of inquiry honed in material sciences (by which I mean the study of physical systems like cosmology, biology, and physics – not materials science which is an entirely different thing). Ask most mainstream skeptics, and they’ll display an admirable grasp on at least the basics of astronomy, evolution, mechanics, some quantum physics, and if you’re lucky a bit of biochemistry to go with it. Many questions that atheistic skeptics have had to learn to answer are focussed on the origins of the universe and of life, necessitating this basic ‘toolkit’ of scientific knowledge.

We have not yet, and I mean yet, turned our eye toward the study of human sociopolitical systems (although I am enthused to note that most people have a fair-to-middling grasp on some core psychology, which builds part of the foundation). I am certainly not exempt from these educational blind spots, despite my impression of myself as a skeptic who is more interested in sociology than average. Without the same basic knowledge of methods of sociological inquiry (which surely extend to history, literary analysis, and other things that aren’t, in the strictest sense, ‘sciences’), it becomes very difficult to parse the often labyrinthine mechanisms of cause and effect in human organizations, especially in a way that satisfies the more ‘tactile’ minds among us.

Luckily, every now and then racism expresses itself so clearly and unequivocally that it transcends the need for rigorous study to unravel the mechanism behind the effect: … Continue Reading

1 “How come there’s no post today?!”

July 17, 2012
by Crommunist
· blog · bmusic · personal

Because instead of doing the responsible thing and staying home last night, I went and did this:

Talib Kweli is an unbelievably skilled emcee, and when I saw he was coming to Vancouver I thought there must surely be a mistake. My reflexive skeptical cynicism notwithstanding, I bought a ticket and went to Yaletown to check out the show. The first opening act, a local outfit called KIDS, was unbelievable – lots of energy, great stage presence, culminating in a finale spit partially in English, partially in Farsi. Definitely planning on checking them out again. The other openers… I won’t waste time identifying them – they were mediocre.

Kweli was, of course, amazing. In the seminal and timeless cut “Eric B. is President”, Rakim lays down a manifesto for all those who would try to bless the mic in the coming years: “to me, MC means ‘move the crowd’.” Kweli didn’t shy away from this challenge at all – a previously lukewarm crowd was whipped into a frenzy so hot that the rafters actually started sweating. Vancouver’s hip-hop scene is pretty weak (hence my surprise that Kweli was here), but clearly there are some true school fans there that night. … Continue Reading

39 Songs in the key of H(umanism)

June 11, 2012
by Crommunist
· blog · bmusic · psychology · religion · secularism

As you may know (and should certainly know if you followed my Blogathon Songathon yesterday), one of the many hats I wear is that of musician. I am no great talent, to be sure, but I’ve got some moderate game. I’ve been a musician as long as I can remember – somewhere there exists a photo of me as a 3 year-old sitting on the steps, banging out rhythms on my knees. I started guitar lessons at age 6, singing lessons a couple of years after that, picked up the guitar at age 14, started my first string quartet at 15… I’ve been in the game for a minute.

Which is why I was torn this past weekend when James Croft, a person I otherwise respect for his outspoken defense of humanism, came out in favour of using song as part of humanist gatherings. His position (and I am trying my best not to straw man) is that because narrative and song have such a persuasive power, humanists should involve it as part of our regular discourse. Humanist gatherings should involve group participation in song and storytelling (he actually used the word ‘witnessing’ at one point), because they are useful in building consensus and community, and what he calls a more ’emotive’ humanism.

I attempted to point out that, given the number of humanists who have actively fled religion, the adoption of a quasi-liturgical form to humanist gatherings was pretty likely to spook a lot of people. When I attempted to defend James’ idea of a church-like gathering for atheists who were in need of the kind of stable community and group interaction that churches provide to believers, there were a number of people who responded that, even if they thought the idea had some merit there was absolutely no way they would attend. Any attempt to ‘churchify’ humanism is going to alienate a lot of people.

James’ response was basically “Yeah? So?” … Continue Reading

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