Never in my life did I imagine I'd spend as much time hunting through world music as I have in the last week.
I've been scouting music for the next big Danger Thrill show on friday, Nov 14/14. The goal is to make a playlist that's got a real carnival feel but also works well with twerking and go-go dancing...these can be very conflicting needs. My go-to for circus sounds is usually something Balkan or any sort of gypsy folk music, which usually works for intermissions, but I want just a little more dance and electronic sounds in my old world music, dag nabit! Is that so hard? What do they call electro-gypsy?!
..oh,
right..
Balkan.
So we'll be playing some of that.
One of the results of my music search is that I can barely listen to electro-swing anymore. Gimme a month and I'll be able to stomach the bands and songs that I usually enjoy, like this group called Parov Stelar - probably my biggest attraction to the genre.
But after hours of digging through soundcloud, bandcamp, world music blogs, and whatever, even Balkan beats are starting to turn my stomach. Total overdose.
But I'll be okay by friday.
right?
I've been scouting music for the next big Danger Thrill show on friday, Nov 14/14. The goal is to make a playlist that's got a real carnival feel but also works well with twerking and go-go dancing...these can be very conflicting needs. My go-to for circus sounds is usually something Balkan or any sort of gypsy folk music, which usually works for intermissions, but I want just a little more dance and electronic sounds in my old world music, dag nabit! Is that so hard? What do they call electro-gypsy?!
..oh,
right..
Balkan.
So we'll be playing some of that.
One of the results of my music search is that I can barely listen to electro-swing anymore. Gimme a month and I'll be able to stomach the bands and songs that I usually enjoy, like this group called Parov Stelar - probably my biggest attraction to the genre.
But after hours of digging through soundcloud, bandcamp, world music blogs, and whatever, even Balkan beats are starting to turn my stomach. Total overdose.
But I'll be okay by friday.
right?
Yeah. I'm excited about Friday. The more I talk about it the more excited I get. It's good to have a reason to go out and talk to people! Oh, it makes me feel like a real person.. it's so magical. Maybe one day I'll even be a real grown up!
one day..
...
Until then, I'm still living in la-la land.
I mean, I work with a pack of sideshow performers, don't have to deal with winter (people call it winter, but it's not really), my job is basically to push cyborgs around and sometimes play songs for them, and I recently got myself a puzzle that a friendly Australian helped me build.
Then tomorrow I have to go pick up an organ from my friend Lou, and bring it to Neil's place, the Happy House.
Yup. Our circus leader lives in a shack called the happy house. And tomorrow it will have an organ with a Leslie speaker in it for me to go over and play.
This makes me happy.
go figure.
So does free chili, which Neil and Lou served me the other night down at old Lana Lou's. Great place. Now open for lunch, and they finally figured out their new menu. If only they didn't have to deal with this guy next door...
If you've ever heard of the Downtown East Side (DTES), you may well have heard of gentrification. So, as that's currently happening, the dark and creepy street that Lana Lou's is hidden on is shaping up to become a busy strip in the next couple years. There's lots to be said on this issue, and I live in Vancouver at a time when the city seems to be booming. My neighbourhood, like so many, is filling with cool shops and hipster stops, and the DTES is a prime spot for the bad kids and party cats to set up shop and capitalize.
Does this affect the homeless population down there? Not sure. Lots of things affect them, but these shops are moving in, because us hip kids who wanna have shops in the city go where it's affordable.
But so do tycoons.
Which brings us to Lana Lou's neighbour.
I'm not sure what this guy's shop is called, but he sounds like he's out of his mind. If you'd really like to see what I mean, check his website Gregors Ghetto. Affectionately named after our current Mayor, Gregor Robertson, who aims to end homelessness in Vancouver. A pipe dream, but it sounds like he's at least trying.
Anyway, if you read the 'about' page it claims that the neighbourhood is "quickly becoming a ghetto", and "for most residents of Vancouver is mostly forgotten."
Admittedly, I live in la-la land, but this guy's clearly not living in the real world either.
He's coming from a perspective of development, and one really doesn't get the impression that he's a 'people not profits' kind of guy. Since getting his building cleaned up he's begun a campaign of making noise complaints on LL's for the better part of this year. The girls have complied with the city and we feel in the clear (just keep your damn drinks inside people!) but the fact remains that he successfully ousted the last restaurant that was in their space by using the very same tactic.
We may find ourselves campaigning against this guy in the near future.
Just saying.
So come see us on friday and support all my friends and the awesome artsy weirdo things we do!
Plus there's a door raffle and corn dogs and we may even have an after party for all those damn party cats I was talking about!
one day..
...
Until then, I'm still living in la-la land.I mean, I work with a pack of sideshow performers, don't have to deal with winter (people call it winter, but it's not really), my job is basically to push cyborgs around and sometimes play songs for them, and I recently got myself a puzzle that a friendly Australian helped me build.
Then tomorrow I have to go pick up an organ from my friend Lou, and bring it to Neil's place, the Happy House.
Yup. Our circus leader lives in a shack called the happy house. And tomorrow it will have an organ with a Leslie speaker in it for me to go over and play.
This makes me happy.
go figure.
So does free chili, which Neil and Lou served me the other night down at old Lana Lou's. Great place. Now open for lunch, and they finally figured out their new menu. If only they didn't have to deal with this guy next door...
If you've ever heard of the Downtown East Side (DTES), you may well have heard of gentrification. So, as that's currently happening, the dark and creepy street that Lana Lou's is hidden on is shaping up to become a busy strip in the next couple years. There's lots to be said on this issue, and I live in Vancouver at a time when the city seems to be booming. My neighbourhood, like so many, is filling with cool shops and hipster stops, and the DTES is a prime spot for the bad kids and party cats to set up shop and capitalize.
Does this affect the homeless population down there? Not sure. Lots of things affect them, but these shops are moving in, because us hip kids who wanna have shops in the city go where it's affordable.
But so do tycoons.
Which brings us to Lana Lou's neighbour.
I'm not sure what this guy's shop is called, but he sounds like he's out of his mind. If you'd really like to see what I mean, check his website Gregors Ghetto. Affectionately named after our current Mayor, Gregor Robertson, who aims to end homelessness in Vancouver. A pipe dream, but it sounds like he's at least trying.
Anyway, if you read the 'about' page it claims that the neighbourhood is "quickly becoming a ghetto", and "for most residents of Vancouver is mostly forgotten."
Admittedly, I live in la-la land, but this guy's clearly not living in the real world either.
He's coming from a perspective of development, and one really doesn't get the impression that he's a 'people not profits' kind of guy. Since getting his building cleaned up he's begun a campaign of making noise complaints on LL's for the better part of this year. The girls have complied with the city and we feel in the clear (just keep your damn drinks inside people!) but the fact remains that he successfully ousted the last restaurant that was in their space by using the very same tactic.
We may find ourselves campaigning against this guy in the near future.
Just saying.
So come see us on friday and support all my friends and the awesome artsy weirdo things we do!
Plus there's a door raffle and corn dogs and we may even have an after party for all those damn party cats I was talking about!
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