Day 18 - My Beliefs

I was about 14 or 15 when Romeo & Juliet came out - the relatively unknown Baz Luhrmann made a one-off side project; a sample-laden piece including Everybody's Free sung by child wunderkind Quindon Tarver entitled Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunglasses). Good, sound advice to live your life by.

Day 16 - My Views on Mainstream Music

Some would expect a blogger - especially one with a notable punk background and with a job as an independent promoter - would loathe the idea of mainstream music. But the dreams of the 90s are dead, and it's time to move on. Cobain's guitars have been moved to the Experience Music Project, Tom Morello carries around his acoustic guitar, and Green Day stopped writing about masturbation so they could write a contemporary rock opera.

I can't take issue with the songwriting either - long gone are the days of superbudgets for brand new artists. You need to be able to stand on some pretty serious merit to be in this game. Nicki Minaj - the current No. 1 spot, is largely there because of some absolutely ruthless guest verses on Kanye West's Monster and Ludacris's My Chick Bad. Bruno Mars' debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans has been met with critical success alongside popular acclaim. It's been widely reviewed as one of the, if not the, best debut album of the year. 

It's likely my age showing, but I'm sometimes baffled by contemporary mainstream music charts. I don't even know where it all comes from, but the sheer depth of music these days is simply too much for me to keep up with anymore. The No. 2 album on the Billboard 200 right now is by Red. I don't even know who that is. The No. 3 spot is held by Ricky Martin, of whom I haven't heard since I stopped shaking my bon bon sometime in the mid-90s.

The financial woes of the major labels has led to some of the stiffest competition I've ever seen, and despite the business, the music is as healthy and vibrant as ever. The Decemberists even went to No. 1 this year.

Day 15 - My Favorite Tumblr(s?)

I don't know Tumblr well at all. I think it's a pretty massive suckpool for my time, so I'll link you to the one I like and one I know of.

Day 14 - My Earliest Memory

My earliest memory is of holding a baby girl, the child of some family friends. The rest is pretty fuzzy, but I know that if I were a father, I'd be pretty nervous about letting an 18 month old boy have a newborn in his lap.

I'm still friends with the family, and the girl works downtown in Vancouver as a legal assistant.

Day 13 - Somewhere You'd Like to Move or Visit

I'd like to visit Russia. This has been a lifelong goal of sorts - I've long since been interested in Russian history. I find the dramatic political changes over the country in the recent past have been particularly fascinating - a country that has quickly shifted from a monarchy to communism to a semi-presidential republic.

My interest in Russia has been kept at bay mostly because of the dangers and expenses of traveling there - I don't speak Russian and would feel wary heading out to see some of the less popular areas. But the differences that you'll find in the architecture and the culture make it one of the most fascinating places on Earth.

Photo courtesy of AlphaTangoBravo / Adam Baker.

As a heads up, I would not like to move there.

Day 11 - What are the first 10 songs that come up with your iPod on shuffle?

1. Randy Newman - You've Got A Friend in Me
2. David Grey - Babylon
3. Moby - Porcelain
4. NIN - 31 Ghosts IV
5. Feist - 1234
6. The Black Keys - Countdown
7. Loverboy - The Kid is Hot
8. The Smears - Highway IV
9. Ben Folds - Bitches Ain't Shit (Dr. Dre cover)
10. Michael Jackson - Black or White

I promised myself I wouldn't skip anything to try and gain hipster cred and expected this experience to be miles more embarrassing. I'll stand behind the lot of it; Loverboy is awesome.

Day 10 - Discuss Your First Love and First Kiss

My first kiss was behind the high school at 4 in the morning. I had spent the night talking to my sister's best friend who was going through some extremely difficult times. My sister had left her MSN up one night (I had the only computer in the household, and it was in my room) so I reached out to her best friend via that MSN account. As she wanted to chat, I switched accounts and we chatted all through the night. By early morning, we'd decided to meet. She said she needed to be held. She kissed me almost immediately, and the experience was almost overwhelming.

I became a rock to that girl - in a way explicitly expressed by her parents repeatedly, and over the next few months we fell in love. She loved my sense of humour and tireless patience. I loved her spontaneous behaviour and her tomboyish charm.

We fell apart when she moved away and she began an affair. On a hunch, I talked to the guy she was cheating on me with who confirmed my suspicion - he didn't know either.

We still talk from time to time. I was initially glad that her life was troubled after I'd left - Scott broke up with her and she contracted mono. But her life carried into a downward spin that I wish I could help more with.

Day 9 - How I Hope My Future Will Be

We already covered the 10 year dealie, by which I hope to be more or less set up professionally. So, I'll leave you with my den. A want of a small room in which I can reside in peace. It will be the home of hundreds of compositional snippets and samples. I haven't decided where the small liquor cabinet will go, though I've long since decided it will not have a fridge due to the noise. At the north of the room; a 40 inch TV which will double as a secondary monitor for my laptop. All this will reside atop a simple desk free of frills and shelving. This will all be enclosed by a pair of reference monitors - NS10s for work, and some 1531s for some pretty hilarious show. At the south of the room, a nice reclinable loveseat. I found a model I like, but in ten years, we'll likely all be sleeping in space sofas. A coat of  Canucks dark blue, and all lit with dimmable wall lighting.

Day 8 - A Moment You Felt The Most Satisfied With Your Life

This is another impossible one - it's really difficult to pin the day I was most satisfied with my life - life is a series of struggles and challenges and differences. The real answer to this question is likely so uninteresting that I can't recall it. There is little regret to have for a three year old. If we are to flip this question; to find the times when we feel as though we have done the most with our lives; the answer to that question should almost always, depending on the time, be the day we're in, failing some recent setbacks. However, I do not feel like this was the original intent of the question - I believe they wish to know the time we were happiest - also an impossible question. So, instead, you'll learn of a day I was particularly satisfied.

In a business class I took, I met an audio engineer who was formerly involved with huge stage acts - Garth Brooks, KISS, Steve Vai - and applied to volunteer for him. The first time he called me was such a success that I was asked back within weeks to help construct the set and do some stagehand work for a show out in Surrey for Canada Day. It was as long a day as it was an incredible one - I set up drums and did some tuning for Chilliwack (to the jealousy of some of my peers), I coincidentally saw a friend there who was working for a politician and helped her get backstage to get some promotional shots, my grandfather stopped by to watch me work. But by 9 PM or so, I got one of the biggest kicks in my life.

The first real album I ever owned was Tom Cochrane's Life is A Highway. I was a child who didn't even know who Cochrane was at the time, but fell in love with that album. Being able to meet him and Red Rider was one of the biggest thrills in my life. One of the real joys I had working backstage was being able to talk to these people about the industry and the life without the glazed image they often provide for fans. He was an awesome guy, who put on a great show, and when it was all over, I was as happy as a guy could be breaking down scaffolding in the dusk.

Day 7 - My Zodiac Sign

My Zodiac sign is Virgo the virgin. We're also the only Zodiac sign to fail to meet Wikipedia's quality standards, which speaks volumes about our supposed desire to be perfect in everything we do. We're picky, critical, and occasionally pedantic. We take on some of the qualities of the virgin, namely humanity and modesty. We're extremely practical and logical and yield considerable brainpower alongside our energetic work ethic. This bodes well for us in business. We're devoted to our lovers. We're neat and clean. We don't buy into the razzle dazzle. We're attentive to our health concerns. We're prone to worrying.

I don't want to speak too much about how my Zodiac sign falls in line with me - I'm of the personal opinion that you'll find what you're looking for, if you want to. When I read the paper, I prefer to read the horoscope at day's end rather than it's beginning; did that job opportunity happen? Was their a miscue in the workplace? As I wasn't looking for these things, it's much easier to see the shortcomings of the Zodiac's premonition.

I do think I'm critical; it's a skill that serves me well. To go on about this would either come off as defensive or gloating, and, I'd rather do neither. Besides, I have a house to clean.