Vaughn and Healy

As I get older my relationship with music has started to come full circle in so many ways. It's always interesting to me to hear some music that I really liked in my youth and get a chance to rediscover it. It always surprises me how good my taste in music was very early on. And how complex some of it was. 

I had one of those moments this week when I stumbled on this video of Jeff Healey and Stevie Ray Vaughn playing "Look at Little Sister" on an old CBC show in the late 80's. According to one of the comments on the video, SRV was in Toronto for some shows, saw Healy at a bar and invited him to perform with him on TV. It's also apparently the only time these two miraculous legends played together.

I've loved Stevie Ray Vaughn for as long as I can remember. He's not someone friends introduced me to, in fact I wouldn't find another person who loved him as much as me until I was in my 20's (RIP to my friend Steve Deschambault). I first caught wind of him on a PBS broadcast of Austin City Limits where SRV and Double Trouble just absolutely melt the roof off of the venue they play at. It was only in researching this post that I learned how old some of that performance was - going back to 1983 - when I was only about 2!

Jeff Healy also captivated me in my youth. Because of my own vision issues and love of guitar, he was constantly brought to my attention because of his own vision impairment. And while his achievements are all the more notable for overcoming that challenge, I always found the way he played guitar across his lap like a pedal steel to be even more interesting. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that vision impairment makes it any harder to play guitar in the standard position.

The things I've read say that he did this so he could have both hands on the fretboard which does make a bit of sense. But he also started playing very young - at age 3 - and it's said he developed his own style. Apparently, the lap-style posture lent him more strength in his playing. I think that his lap style was more about learning young than about learning blind. Either way, as a guitarist, it's more than impressive to see him play the kind of music he did in the style he did. 

The most melancholy part of that video is that it's the only time these legends play together. SRV would go on to help Healy's career and raise his profile, but this one song is the only time they're both on stage together. 

Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a helicopter crash in 1990 and Jeff Healy passed away in 2008. I missed an opportunity to go see Jeff Healy in the early 2000's. He was doing more jazz stuff than blues at the time and I chose to skip the show - and it's been a regret ever since. Just like Tom Petty a decade later, he would die shortly after he came around and I never got a second chance. 

I try to to bemoan missed live shows too much. I'll never see Pink Floyd or the Beatles play. And I've been lucky to see a reunited I Mother Earth when I thought that was impossible. Some people will see the band that would never reunite, Oasis, soon. But at the end of the day, we have recordings of performances like these that we can enjoy. I can go see Pink Floyd play their most spectacular show in the Imax in the next few months and maybe that's what I need to be grateful for. 

In defense of microwave popcorn

 There are so many ways to make popcorn. You can cook it in a pot with oil or use an air popper. For the especially adventurous out there you can use the explosive Chinese popcorn maker (maybe called a popcorn cannon?). 

But, it occurred to me this weekend as I was fending off a large black bear while enjoying a bag of Orville's best that microwave popcorn is growing on me as the best option. 

On the pro column, it's easy to make, perfectly seasoned, and when it's fresh out of the microwave, it's just the most delightful hot and fluffy flavour. Plus, even once you've finished all the popcorn, the bag is still so well seasoned and it's a delightful treat in and of itself. 

On the con side, yes it makes extra garbage, you can't control the toppings and it's quite a bit more expensive than just making it yourself. Plus, I haven't found a dependable microwave for when I'm camping. 

There are a few ways to circumvent some of those negatives, though. I found a homemade microwave popcorn recipe that would make it customizable to season and could be made in a reusable container like a silicone bag or a bowl. I'd heard that you can do it in a paper bag before, but that just creates more waste again. 

But you know... I seem to remember grabbing a silicone bag a few weeks ago for my sandwiches at lunch. Should I... do an experiment for my blog?! 

YES! 

Before - just kernels and potential

I started with maybe 1/8 a cup of popcorn kernels and a little tiny bit of oil - basically enough to coat everything. I tossed it in the microwave and hit "popcorn". 

PRO TIP - Leave a little vent in the bag when you close it. The damn thing inflated like a balloon! This led me to stop briefly midway and crack it open before it exploded. 

And did it work? 

Yes

Yes, it worked! 

It was a tiny bit overcooked. I think this is mostly because I had to stop halfway through and vent the bag (as mentioned above). It took another 20 or so seconds after restarting for the popping to continue and I'm sure that contributed. But otherwise, this was just great microwave popcorn! 

I'll have to chase this recipe around a bit now. It needs butter and I only did a little tiny bit. I'll have to run some experiments to see how much I can cook at one time without filling my microwave with popcorn. It gets pretty hot when it cooks so I would certainly recommend sticking to silicone or glass when cooking. But the microwave works great. There is no special voodoo in those microwave popcorn bags. 

I would recommend pouring the popcorn out into a bowl, it's starting to stick to the sides of the bag as I monch on it finishing this post up. If you're looking to do this yourself, I got this stylish Star Wars silicone bag at Dollarama for like a buck. So this thing starts paying for itself pretty quickly. 

So here's to a fun new approach to popcorn - and a new way to stick it to Big Popcorn and their microwave popcorn markup! 

Mediating my media meditations

I've had many lofty goals and aspirations in my life. It might be why I'm a bit of a "jack of all trades". Everything interests me, and there's so much in everything. 

Growing up, I wanted a great stereo more than anything. I'm not talking about an all-in-one CD/Cassette/Radio combo. Like one of those great stacked hi-fi setups with a big amp and a record player and speakers as all as the room. Nice and modular and LOUD. 

I haven't completely given up on this desire. I do have a few modules - a CD player, tape deck, turntable and a good amp. But it's not even all plugged in right now, I don't really have great speakers and worst of all - it doesn't all match. Some of the modules are black, and some are silver. It's a damn mess. 

And I don't have an 8-track player yet. 

But there are a million different ways that music - and even movies - can be stored. Where do I draw the line? Some are very old, like say wax cylinders or more modern but just as obsolete, like Minidisk? Do I need a LaserDisc player? 

Not to mention, if I get all the players I want, where will I store the media? I've already taken up about 6 shelves in my house with records, tapes and CDs. And let's be honest, I can fit my Spotify in my pocket. 

The desire to chase down archaic media has been relit in me lately, mostly because of a couple of YouTube channels I've been watching. Usagi Electric and DankPods. 

Usagi Electric is a guy who restores old minicomputers (not microcomputers) from the 1950s-1980s. He's even working on an old vacuum tube computer called the Bendix G-15. It's currently the oldest operational digital computer on the continent. He doesn't focus on music or video formats at all but he is always working on weird archaic storage mediums like 8" floppy disks, tape drives and punched paper tape. Some of those things I've only ever heard of or seen from a distance. It makes me wonder how many ways you can store bits! He got me thinking about the fun and challenge of buying old electronics and equipment and restoring it all. 

DankPods is probably most famous for headphone reviews and reviews of "nuggets" or those crappy MP3 players we used to all suffer in the early 2000s before the iPod and smartphones made everything look the same. Again, he's not digging into audio formats that often, but it is cool to see early flash-memory cards and the absolutely bonkers MP3 players we used to have. 

The other influence that DankPods has had on me is his "Cashies Specials," where he goes to his local Cash Converters and shows us the ridiculous used stuff he finds. It reminded me that you can have a lot of fun and find some really rewarding and novel stuff at thrift stores. Lately I really only go thrifting with Rhonda, which means antique stores and clothing shops. But there's plenty of other used gold out there! 

So it was that I found myself at Secondhand Wonderland a couple of weeks ago, strumming on old guitars and contemplating buying a sitar, when I wandered into the hi-fi section, and that old urge returned. Should I build out my stereo? 

I think the answer right now is "no." If for no other reason than I just emptied my little savings account on a new guitar and an amp. Not to mention, I don't use the stereo I have. My records are starting to crumble to dust, and it's just so much easier to shout, "Hey Google, play me 'The Best of the Wiggles!'"

As time goes on and we get farther and farther away from the tangible storage media era, it feels less important to collect this stuff, but there's an urgency to get it while it's still cheap and available. I used to buy records for a dollar. Now I gotta drop $40 if I want a record.  

What is your favourite archaic storage medium? Have you ever seen an 8" floppy disk? Do you know what a floppy disk is? 

Pick your warrior

 The obsession of 2025 so far has been the endless back and forth on tariffs between the United States and Canada. It's been the most uniting thing to hit this country in the last couple of decades but despite that unity, Donald Trump continues to push his rhetoric and has even pushed so far as to say he's going to annex Canada - by force if necessary. 

So this led to a conversation this past weekend about what our wartime roles would be during the Canada/US of the 2020's

For my part, I'm excited to get into making propaganda. I'm too old for battlefield work and I doubt I could get past the physical. But that doesn't mean I don't have anything to offer the war effort. Dr Seuss famously put his talents to work making ads for war bonds and the like during World War II. Maybe I could get some work writing jingles about how to defeat the US. I've already written a protest song about the current situation. Maybe I can be put to work writing songs about arming your AI sub-machine gun or how to outrun an American. I dunno. But that's the role I think I'm best accustomed to. 

We've joked that Kayah's role is pretty easy. We'd just take her ADHD meds away, give her a Red Bull and just point her towards the border. They'd surrender in days. 

Rhonda has already been making plans with her co-workers on how they'd run their own M*A*S*H* camp. They'll be less sarcastic and far more judgie. I tried to extract what her nickname would be - Hot Lips Houlihan is already taken. Maybe she could be Randy Rhonda? Instead of a homemade gin-still in the doctor's tent, they'd have a weed grow-op in the nurse's tent. Modern times call for modern numbing agents. 

Jonas, as a young, white male would make excellent cannon fodder. But he hasn't spent his entire youth playing video games just to be sent out to the killing fields. I think someone is gonna have to fly the drones - and he'd be great for that. I could also use his video editing skills in my propaganda machine. He's far more useful with a mouse than he is in combat boots! 

I'm still undecided on The Navigator. I think overall he'd be one of those Army Engineers who can build a bridge out of hay and peanut-butter cups that's strong enough to support a phalanx of tanks. He would also be an excellent mentor to Jonas and the work he'd do running war drones. I don't know if the Navigator has ever actually piloted a drone, but he ran a sound console for a few years and I assume that the skillset is transferrable. 

Overall - who knows what would happen in a Canada/US war. I do hope that cooler heads prevail over the next few months. Frankly, I hope that the Republican-dominated Congress sees just how much Trump is concentrating power under one man, how much that one man is destabilizing the world and that someone starts to step up to stop him. Whether he's a Russian plant or not, he's doing exactly what the Russians want and any war between Canada and the US is going to pale in comparison to what the Russians will do once things erode enough. The relationship we had as countries up until a few months ago was intentional and had purpose. One can't help but think that the destruction of that relationship has a purpose too. 

Buy a Canadian

It seems that the only thing anyone is talking about these days is the on-again/off-again trade war between the United States and - well basically everyone. But mostly Canada, Mexico and China.  

As Canadians, the propaganda we're hearing is generally "Buy Canadian" and "Elbows Up." Good rallying cries for the times to be sure. But as is the case with most of these stuff, even the changing buying habits of 40 million people is not likely to sway much in terms of the grander market. So it has me wondering - are there other things we should be doing? How do I protect myself?

Get off US Tech

I've known for a few years that I've become far too dependent on the Google ecosystem - and yes I recognize the irony of saying that on a Google-hosted blog. And it's not that I have an issue with Google overall. I've been a happy paying customer for years, and in terms of the service I'm being provided, I have zero complaints. But with recent threats by Ontario Premier Doug Ford being met by US threats to shut down cloud services, it makes me realize I need a local backup. For anyone reading this, let me save you some searching and let you know that Google Takeout seems to be the solution here. I'm still experimenting but I'll feel a lot better if I can at least get some of the bigger chunks of this backed up to a USB drive. 

This doesn't help the fact that I use a Google Pixel and the Google Password manager. But it's a start. I am exploring some alternative password managers, and those will come with the next big step I'm exploring, returning to Linux again.

It happens every 5-6 years: I get fed up with Windows or enraged by MacOS and just dump myself back over to Linux. In an era full of American instability, I think I'll need to get back on Linux again very soon. It's not convenient, making music on that OS is a pain in the ass. But it's mine and it's secure. So I'm headed that way again sooner than later. 

Control the Consumerism

Everyone is talking "Buy Canadian," and I know that is going to help Canadian companies stay afloat through this. But when you consider that I can't really buy a Canadian orange and that Canadian manufacturing is as non-existent as it is in the US, this is an incomplete solution. 

One of the ways I've been looking to tackle this is by buying secondhand or repairing what I have. Particularly in my music stuff, everything I could ever need in this phase of my music career is already built, used by someone and sitting collecting dust at a thrift store. Sure, it takes some work to track stuff down and even more work to clean and tune up that stuff. But at the end of the day, I'm rocking some reasonably vintage gear, I've saved some cash, and I have a story to tell about getting my new thing. And American companies like Fender and Gretsch aren't seeing any of my new money. It's a shame, really. I like these companies, that's why I buy their stuff. But I'm choosing to consume them by giving money to Canadians and not sending that money over the border. 

Sometimes, it's just about being patient, too. When I bought my new Gretsch last month, it was in desperate need of new strings. The fastest option for me would have been to pop on to Amazon and order some. But for a couple more days of patience, I went to the local store in my area and got them on the weekend. Still American strings, (and that's something I'm looking at alternatives to) but at least papa-Amazon didn't get a cut. 

Touch Grass

I think we're all becoming super-aware of how social media is brainwashing us. And much of that includes our consumer behaviour. I'm not saying delete all your apps and move into the bush (I'm also not stopping you). But maybe you could stop following non-Canadian companies, start following more Canadian companies or choose to go to the store to buy your things instead of ordering them online. Sometimes, it's just changing what influences our decisions. I've certainly become hyper-aware of the American companies advertising to me in the last few weeks. 

There's some argument that the weird times we are in can be directly tied to the disruptive nature of the internet and our inexperience in managing it. I think there's a lot to this argument. I also think that the best antidote is going to be getting out and being truly social. Go to a show. Plan a picnic. Or just go lie naked on a grocery store produce section. You know. Real stuff. It won't make Trump go away, it won't win any trade wars. But you'll have something positive to get you through the day instead of obsessing over economies and politics. And that shift in our collective mental attention might just lead to a shift in power. 

And that brings me to the final point. While there are plenty of real-world things that we should be worrying about, like trade wars, climate change and poverty, we all need to start recognizing that it's all human-made. The overall advice I've been reading about dealing with it is to get out of our homes, away from our phones and into social situations. Situations where we can talk through our differences and work together on our problems. As much as I've said the name "Trump" a billion times in my life, I've never met him. He could be an AI construction worker for all I know. But if I go out and pick up some garbage in my alley, I might talk to someone walking by who needs a warm hat. And maybe I have a spare warm hat to give him. And then his life is warmer, and I've actually done something. 40 million actual actions like that would actually bring Canada together as a real country and might actually put us in a position to stand united against this faraway orange man. 

Livin' in the city

I was holding out on writing this blog, hoping that world events would turn a different way and I could go back to an old well on this blog. 

Maybe next week. 

While I didn't exactly grow up rural, the communities I grew up in were far from cities. As a kid I always wanted to live in a city. The lights of the skyscrapers, the bustle at street level, the culture and the 24 hour life always appealed to me. 

Of course, living in these bucolic conservative little cities on the prairie shielded me from the gross underbellies of the city. The pollution, the crime, the poverty and the noise. I had to move to the city to see the whole picture. 

Now, at a quarter million or so residents, Regina is far from a megalopolis. But it's got some tall buildings (including the one I work in), some interesting culture and more crime and drug problems than you can shake a stick at. 

Last night as I headed home from Open Mic, I was really gravitating to that positive vibe that I've chased by living in a city. I just left a very entertaining evening full of all the various performing arts. The city was aglow in the lights only high rise buildings can provide and I was tempted by the juicy temptation of an 11PM Whopper. It felt like this was why I was here. 

But I also passed by several people, bent over from the damage fentanyl addiction has caused. Passed mounds of garbage in my alley as I got home. I went from high to low pretty quickly. 

So what am I getting at here? 

I think I'm just returning to the same theme I've been feeling and discussing over the past year or so since I came back to blogging. The ying/yang of things. That there are positives and negatives to everything and I don't know where to fit in it all. 

I think the fact that we are living in a time of extremism when I've been raised in what is now proving to be a very stable time is part of it too. It's hard not to see how bad it is in your backyard when the whole world looks like it's burning down. 

So all that to say, I was hoping we'd be voting on a new pope today and I could restart the campaign. But we aren't so I'm babbling for a few hundred words. 

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. 

Gravitron Gardens

Rhonda sent me a text last week that is threatening to disrupt my entire life. Unroot my stability and change everything. 

Do I have $70,000? No.

Do I have a business plan? No.

Would owning a Gravitron pay my bills? No. 

But I want it. Not only do I want it. I want SEVERAL of them. 

Imagine if you will an entire fair but there's only one kind of ride. Gravitrons. We could theme them, one would be futuristic, another steampunk, a nature-themed one - even one with pole dancers for the grownups. 

I should say what a Gravitron is for the uninitiated. It's a reasonably common fair ride here in North America. In short, it's a large flying-saucer-shaped ride that spins at a pretty good RPM. Riders sit inside the ride lying against the slanted walls. The centrifugal force (centripetal? I can't keep it straight) pushes the rider against the wall so you feel gravity sideways. As the spinning ramps up, the gurney you lie against raises up on tracks so not only are you stuck to the wall, but you're also a foot or two off the ground. 

I spent a lot of time in Gravitrons between ages 11 and 16.

We could take it on the road! Have a Gravitron show up to your bachelor party or sweet 16.  Family reunion? You'll need a few of those for that. No festival is complete without being surrounded by a dozen Gravitrons. 

We could have some food booths around. What are some good spinning theme foods? Cotton candy is spun I suppose. I might even be open to the idea of a few games. But they'd need to be Gravitron-based.

I dunno. I've had that feeling lately that I'd like to drastically change my career. Sure Gravitron Carney isn't exactly what most people would expect, but it would be a spectacular change. Just wandering the continent making people puke. 

Making people puke. 

Ok, so there is one downside to this. 

I asked Copilot AI to make me an image of my Gravitron Gardens. It wasn't very successful. While it clearly knew that a Gravitron is a spinning ride and that it's flying saucer-shaped, it really struggled to unite the two. So I got back lots of images of parks with flying saucers, merry-go-rounds and Ferris wheels.  This was the best I could come up with. 

AI-Generated imagining of a Gravitron amusement park. 

At least the scale is right?

Would you come to my Gravitron amusement park? Would you hire us for your grandparent's 60 anniversary? What would be your one ride amusement park? 

Bala-trolling

 I've never identified as a "gamer". I absolutely play my share of video games but I don't have a desk chair that looks like it belongs in a Formula 1 car or a headset with a mic built in. I just play the same dozen games all the time. 

This is why it's worth noting that I bought a brand-new game this week. Not a sequel to something I've played since college like the new Civilization XXIICDDERP. Like a whole new IP, game style and everything. Maybe you've heard of it. 

I present to you Balatro! 

Balatro is described as a "poker-like, rogue-lite game." I think that describes it pretty well. Hey, I knew what those things meant! Maybe I am a gamer. Basically, you play poker hands and there are collectable bonus cards you can draw to increase your score, get more cash or make other fun plays. 

Beyond seeing it being played by several gamers on YouTube and learning it was the PC Gamer 2024 Game of the Year, I heard that the secretive maker, LocalThunk, is from right here in Saskatchewan. Heck for all I know it could be The Navigator. Probably not tho, he's really busy at work. 

A lot of the media focus on the game has been around the Jokers. There are something like 150 unique jokers you can obtain and collect to help boost your score or make play easier. They're at the core of the branding in the game and they really are the most charming part of it. The way that Jokers multiply your hand is reminiscent of cribbage and how you can count the same cards multiple times if you play them right. It's like they took crib, poker, collectable card games like Magic the Gathering and card collecting and jammed them all together. 

But for me, my favourite part is building out this insane card deck full of multipliers, bonuses and cheats. By the time you get to the end of a run, you have a card deck that is chaotic, powerful and maybe just a little bit gross. 

Getting new cards and bonuses is executed as opening a card pack like you would have with hockey cards (or Pokemon cards for those of us under 100 years old). This part is also a lot of fun and scratches a gambling itch without spending any money (beyond the $15 I spent buying the game).

Which brings me to a quick tangent - gambling and games. LocalThunk talks a bit on his socials about how Balatro has pulled an 18+ rating for depicting gambling in games. And I think he makes a very good point. The issue isn't so much that a game with poker at its core is rated so high but that EA sports games (and others) with microtransactions and pay-to-win loot boxes aren't. That's REAL gambling and it goes unchecked. I have not spent a dollar more than my initial spend on Balatro and I don't expect I'll be asked to. There are no microtransactions, no pay-to-win. It's just buy the game and play it. Refreshing.

I've gone out of my way to avoid "How to Play" or "You need to know this first" type stuff in playing the game, allowing myself to discover the intricacies of the game myself. I have gone and looked up explanations of some of the mechanics like Tags and Seals because I think I missed them when they were presented at the start. But otherwise, it's been discovery as much as it's been risk. I love finding my own strategies and combinations to try. And furious when I make a bad choice, or worse an error. 

Of course, as a rogue-like, if you fail to meet the blind, your game run ends immediately. No extra lives (unless you have that Joker "Mr. Bones" but it's expensive and rare), your deck is reset and all of your Jokers are destroyed. Back to zero. 

But at least you get to go back and do it all again! 

Not sure how long this game will hold my interest, but it's the fun I'm having right now. I had expected it to be a bit of a faster game - something on the scale of a poop break. But I've taken a whole evening to get through a run so it can be a medium-length play once you really dig in.

All of this goes to show how good a game can be when it's made by a gamer who understands games and just wants to deliver something fun and be part of the fun. The Balatro experience has been great, it actually reminds me of the early Minecraft days before Notch went mad and sold the thing to Microsoft. 

What's your favourite indie game? Why do I ask for suggestions then never go play the games myself? Will they ever release Kerbal Space 2? 

Not like us

I never got a tattoo.

I think my original hesitation of not wanting a permanent work of art on my ever-changing identity has been far overshadowed by my paralyzing fear of needles. 

Back when Truth and Reconciliation was hitting full swing I started to understand the darkness and negativity that were actually associated with being Canadian. It wasn't all maple syrup and apologies. Canadians have done brutal things to others in the name of the country. Which is why I've always been glad I never got the one tattoo I've ever considered - a maple leaf.  

But at the same time, I've turned my back on the positives of being Canadian. The fact that our parliamentary style of government and multi-party system has allowed us to avoid the political debacles we're watching unfold in the US. Our logical approach to freedom, wide open spaces and unique identity. 

With all the recent talk coming out of the US (and one orange man in particular) about annexing Canada or otherwise seeing us join the US has me contemplating where I want to sit with all of this. 

On one hand, I see nationalism as a tool to control people, just like religion. But sometimes we all need to gather together under a single banner and when you've got a pseudo-autocrat knocking at your south door, it's time to assemble under the flag. 

There's maybe a lot of us who would say "well, let's just join the US". It would certainly make travelling the continent easier, they're very similar culturally and maybe it would make things better. 

Then I remember how much I like free healthcare. I remember how I like walking in my terrifying neighbourhood without that much concern that everyone has a gun. I remember that while Canada has a dark history, so do most countries - the difference is we've decided to reckon with that past and move beyond it. That's something to be proud of and to rally behind. 

And then there's the anti-vax truckers. Remember them? That group of people who hijacked being Canadian to mean "be an asshole and do whatever you can to only think of yourself." I swore I was done with the maple leaf the moment I saw a jacked up diesel covered in WalMart flags. 

So what of it all? Why we blogging about it? 

I really don't know for sure. I know that being Canadian comes with some reckoning and maybe that's the rub. Things have been bad and bad things happened to get us where we are. But I also think that the time might come very soon where all of us - Indigenous people, anti-vax truckers and wishy washy lib-tards like me will need to come together to tell Mr. Trump and the US to leave us the heck alone. Because Drake may have lost the rap battle, but you don't want to mess with Canada. 

I'm a FAWMling (apparantly)

 After much anticipation, I've dived into my first February Album Writing Month challenge. FAWM is an annual challenge to write and demo an album worth of material (14 songs) in one month (28 days). It sounds like a daunting challenge but an achievable one too. 

I've been looking around a bit over the last few days to see if I've spoken about it on this blog or one of my social networks, but I've been aware of FAWM for a long time. Like, 15+ years. Plenty has been in the way, family, work and a lack of musical outlets were all excuses I've used. But I think the biggest barrier has been how limited my songwriting experience is. I often joke that I wrote every bridge on The Criminal Kid album "These Blue Skies are Faking Freedom." It's an exaggeration, but speaks to my songwriting history - often contributing, rarely leading. 

Of course, my adventures of the last year have given my songwriting muscle a lot of exercise this year and I rolled into February feeling trained up and strong. I figured I'd be able to hit the 14 songs, but maybe I'll need to take a few days off work to focus on songwriting. 

I don't feel like I need to take time off to write anymore.

I wrote SIX songs this weekend, plus one more on Friday night I'm not counting towards my total because it was still January. Just my warmup. At this pace, I'll be done by Valentine's. If not by next Sunday. 

That pace is staggering to me - and I'm the one doing it. On Saturday afternoon, shortly after finishing the writing on my second song, I took a bathroom break. As I stood there returning all of the water I'd drank that day, I remembered that the last time I wrote two songs in a day, a third one came to me almost without effort. That song has been one of my most popular so far, "Beef Dylan". AS I WAS THINKING THIS - my third song of the day just came to me, almost whole. I finished washing my hands and ran downstairs to get a scratch demo down. I finished that, went out to the kitchen to make supper and as I stood there listening to the "tik tok" of the timer on the air fryer, I wrote my fourth song of the day. I actually forced myself to figure it out on ukelele (an instrument I don't really play) just to slow my ass down a bit. 

It's a bit shocking. I even commented to Rhonda on Sunday night that I sort of regret not throwing myself into songwriting earlier. But almost in the same breath, I said, "but I didn't, and now I have and I'm enjoying it and celebrating it." Imagine my shock when I heard the eternally wise Katt Williams repeat almost the same assurance/advice to Theo Von on Theo's podcast "This Past Weekend". "You have to be in the position you are in now to make some of these things happen." I couldn't make this happen 10 years ago so I didn't. Today I can - and I am. It's a blessing - as Katt would say. 

And it's not just being too busy that slowed me down. It wasn't just being lazy. I had to get past some hurdles and misconceptions. Feelings that I couldn't do this, lack of belief in myself and even a lack of understanding of myself. I've long struggled to see the value in the things I produce. I was always second fiddle and it calcified into my brain that I'd always need someone else, someone more motivated and talented to help me make this thing happen. I've almost overcompensated at this point and I'm having trouble working with others and finding patience for them to work at their pace. 

And the quick pace isn't without help. Rhonda and the family have been very generous in giving me the space and time to work on this. I don't think I'm going to be allowed that in the long term, but I'll take it for now. 

The FAWM community is very helpful too. Two of the songs I wrote were part of "Skirmishes", a timed challenge where you're given a prompt and one hour to come up with a song. In fact, I'd say that my two favourites so far came out of skirmishes. A third was inspired by a song someone else wrote - she used handclaps as her percussion and was self-conscious about it. I felt inspired by them and immediately went to work to write a song featuring some hand claps. 

Another unexpected benefit of FAWM has been the feedback and insight into what I'm doing and how people perceive it. So many of my songs are weeks if not months old before I perform them live. I've drained what fun is in them out and even then I only get in front of an audience every couple of weeks. I'm learning a lot about what other musicians I sound like and write like. I'm learning that there are a lot of people who enjoy my humour too. It's uplifting. 

And I'm just enjoying seeing and hearing other people's work. It inspires me, it helps me see some things that I'm maybe missing or could try. It's just been a fantastic growth tool. I don't know where the remaining 24 days of this challenge will take me, but I know I'll grow through it and feel really strong in my voice and my image. 

If you'd like to hear the demos I've posted or want to follow along, head over to my FAWM profile. I finally figured out how to make it public. If you're a fellow FAWMer, follow along and I'll do so in turn. Really enjoying building a little bit of community in all of this. 

A Kazoo to you!

Today's blog is special. It's cross-posted on the blog over on the website for my music project Jeremy and his Kazoo. If you want to read the exact same thing but with a different page design, head on over there! I'm also taking today to launch the website since it's National Kazoo Day. So be sure to stop by the website and check out some videos and other info! 

Happy National Kazoo Day! 

I'm dropping a few fun things today to celebrate including a kazoo instrumental on my social media channels and officially launching my website! 

One of my goals with the website and the blog attached is to talk a bit more about my journey as a musician, share some of the things I'm learning about kazoo and just generally be a bit funny and connected. In time, I'd genuinely like the website to become a community hub. 

So to that end, today I'd like to talk about my motivation to include the kazoo as a feature instrument in this project and maybe some of my early impressions of playing the instrument. 

Jeremy and his Kazoo had its inception in mid-July 2024. I was mid-vacation, finally getting some distance from a stressful workplace and pondering what I'd like to start doing with all the spare time I had now that I was done with school, radio and several other "side hustles." I'd already identified that I wanted to play guitar and sing with people a lot more last year but playing covers of old John Denver songs just wasn't giving me quite what I wanted. I needed a creative outlet. 

I quickly realized that I could connect comedy and music and start performing funny stuff for people. Music and laughter are amazing ways to connect and I knew I was up to that challenge. Maybe the biggest impediment for me was my abilities as a guitar player -especially in the solo space. I can play reasonable rhythm guitar but my talents aren't deep and trying to play leads and rhythm was going to be hard. But I found just acoustic and vocal to be a bit two-dimensional. 

I considered a few instruments that could fit the bill. Harmonica is nice and something I've played in the past. But it's not that funny and it starts becoming very Bob Dylan. That's a problem for me. 

I looked at other, funnier instruments like slide whistle or kids toys. But those required the use of my hands. 

It's when I landed on kazoo. It's really perfect when you think about it. It's ridiculous, it sounds ridiculous, I can play it hands-free (with the help of my old harmonica holder) and it fills the hole of being a lead instrument, a texture and cheap and available. Plus, I clearly remember having a tin kazoo as a kid and playing it on occasion. This wasn't new, it was rediscovery. 

FUN FACT: I had an early theory that I may have invented using a kazoo with a harmonica harness. Nope, Jim Croce beat me by at least a few decades. And who knows if even he was the first?!

I made buying a kazoo one of my souvenir goals on my trip to Toronto in September. I came home with two Schylling tin kazoos that are my favourites to this day (despite a pretty deep dive into the options out there). I immediately started integrating little lead lines into my songs using the kazoo. 

I was admittedly hesitant to share it publicly at first. It is a pretty derided instrument in some circles and some even argue that it's not an instrument. I can see that and in fact, I conceptualize the kazoo more as an effect than as an instrument since it's your voice making the sound. The kazoo just changes it. It's like a distortion pedal. And that kinda played into the use case I'd made for the instrument. I wanted to capture a bit of a Neil Young feel. 

My first performance assuaged all my fears. I played the song Beef Dylan at The Cure and the feedback was immediate and positive. And it has been ever since. I think I've found the right balance of using kazoo in my music that adds to both the humour and musicality of the choice. 

Not only that but it's something that's going to help me separate from the pack. There are lots of musicians around here. Lots of comedians. There might be a handful of us on the prairies doing music/comedy. But I think I stand alone in the arena of music/comedy/kazoo players. 

That's when I decided to lean in and update the project from just "Jeremy" to "Jeremy and his Kazoo". It has a flow, it's interesting and eye-catching. It's good PR and frankly silly as hell. 

And leaning into learning kazoo has been rewarding too. I'm having fun playing and trying lots of different types of kazoo - they cost a few bucks each. So even my seeming obsession with new kazoos is still only around a $50 investment to date. And if everyone thinks I'm crazy for it, it's succeeded as an attention-getter! 

I've figured out a few new techniques and styles that I equate to more effects in my arsenal. I'm totally aware of the electric kazoos out there but my act is acoustic and I think I've got a lot of territory to explore before I start dropping big money on electric pipes and plugging them into my pedals. Although I admit to being curious about wah-kazoo. Maybe after my second album. 

I'm excited to start sharing tips, tricks, effects and other discoveries I've made in the kazooinverse. I want to do some reviews of different types of kazoos so that others getting into it have somewhere to gather information. And I want to have fun connecting with other funny, musical people who want to engage in this crazy fun little project of mine. 

Fix it up

"The toilet isn't flushing right."

It's one of those vague but concerning things that I often hear when I walk in the door. I'm often criticized when I say that I'm not allowed out of the house. But then when I do leave, I come back to a disaster statement like this. 

Well on this particular Sunday, indeed the toilet was having some issues. And in fixing those, I created another - the shut-off valve started leaking. Oh good. 

I'm not a person that's too interested in home improvement and I can't say that I've ever been bitten that hard by the renovation bug. It's just that I'm poor as dirt, live in crap houses and I gotta fix it because I can't afford to pay others to do it. And that plays to my benefit on days like this past Sunday when things start to leak and it's going to be at least 12 hours before I can get a plumber in. 

Happily, I was able to fix the problem - if only temporarily - with a crescent wrench and about 2 minutes of work. But I know a lot of people - really smart people - who would not have been able to fix the issue. 

It's a paradox for me. On one hand, I don't enjoy doing it and have about 100 things I'd rather do than renovate the bathroom or replace my roof. On the other hand, I'm glad some sense of Mr. Fix-it was instilled in me when I was young so I can take care of the little things when they happen. 

But it creates another problem - namely that I don't have a lot of experience working with tradespeople and I don't even really know what it costs. Our house is starting to have some foundation issues and we have a chimney that's on the verge of collapse. I need to hire a contractor but I don't even know who to call, let alone how much this mess is gonna cost to fix. Maybe I'll just buy some concrete and try to patch it up myself. (NO PILOT DON'T DO THAT)

Anyway. I stopped the toilet leaking and wanted to write a blog post that wasn't just me bitching about my life again. 

And I failed. Maybe next week I should talk about Zelda. 

What's your favourite emergency home repair? Got any good plumbing stories?

SILENCE!

In yesterday's blog post, I alluded to the concept of silence and how that was an important concept I was going to look at this year. The post got a bit long so I committed to posting again this week. 

I should have stayed silent. 

Social media algorithms are a strange thing. You know they're predicting something about you, but sometimes it's hard to see what the root of that prediction is. I've been getting a lot of self-help philosophy-type videos sent to me on YouTube lately. I don't know if it's just the larger societal New Year resolution phase or if it's cluing in that I'm working on myself a bit. But boy oh boy does YouTube know I'm 40 and going through it.

The advice isn't simply mental self-help. There's a lot coming at me about how to be more creative or how to enhance my creativity. And that's where the concept of silence has entered the chat.

And it's not entirely new in this ongoing conversation. The Navigator and I have talked about meditation in recent blogs. 

So here's the gist. Our world is too loud. And not just in terms of sound volume. More in terms of noise. Gone are the days of doing a single task in silence. We fill the background with music or podcasts, spend our downtime scrolling through endless reels and generally feel compelled to fill every waking moment creating or consuming. 

Sometimes I need to watch my dogs or cat to remind me that always being busy isn't the natural way of things. They can look out the window for hours, take a nap when they're tired. Nature doesn't want us to work an 8-hour day then spend 6 on a side hustle and everything else keeping it together. It's too much. It's overloading our brains. 

In a recent discussion with a coworker, we talked about how you can waste a morning scrolling videos and not feel at all rested. The brain processed hundreds, maybe thousands of ideas in that time. We surmise that this is probably at the core of why we're all always so tired and burnt out. I even offered that the looming TikTok ban could actually do society a lot of good. If only in the short term. 

And it's not just the effect it's having on our brain. I think we're missing out on some things too. Harrison Ford recently released a video called "Listening to the Quiet" where he argues we need to listen to nature and to the natural world to begin understanding what we lost. He talks about hearing ants and caterpillars. My first reaction was, "You can't hear a caterpillar." Until I realized - yes you can and I have. Just not recently. Because I haven't stopped to listen. 

From a creative point of view the argument is generally, that as a consumer of content, you've probably consumed all you'll ever need to be creative. And if you need something else, you'll find it when you need it. But it's time to shut off consuming content and start creating. 

For me, this looks like writing songs or writing text. Or finally getting a start on that Doomsday Device. For others, it might mean finally redecorating, cleaning the car or planting a garden. It's not a strictly artistic exercise - it's about building and creating. 

And it doesn't need to be like sitting in a dark room with no sound or input. It just means cutting back on how much we consume. So, don't bring your iPod on the walk with the dog, don't put on a podcast while folding laundry. Shut the phone off and sit at the table for supper. Engage in a conversation. 

I'm just at the start of this journey of silence. I'm doing well in finding places to quiet things down and doing very well at recognizing when I'm on social media when I could be doing other things or when I have far too many stimuli happening around me and I need to shut some stuff down. 

I can't say that I've felt the effects yet, I'm still tired and extremely grumpy. But I'm going to give this a few weeks. And hopefully, the act of slowing things down and focusing a bit more will start to lift the fog of modern life a bit so I can start thriving in 2025. 

How about that? This whole blog set was really about New Year's resolutions!

Time to take stock

mmmm. 

Stock. 

It's been a tumultuous few weeks, with the usual holiday chaos, the passing of a loved one and some good work done getting my music in front of some new audiences last month. I'd considered talking about resolutions and some new thoughts for the year but I feel like I'm a bit late to the party on that. And to be frank, none of it is that original or that interesting. 

But coming out of those busy weeks, I've spent the last weekend really feeling like I'd lost sight of some of the goals in my music project I'm pursuing and some of the activities that I'd taken on to try and improve my mental health. 

And as of noon yesterday (Monday), I realized I wasn't that far off the path and that my wandering wouldn't take much to correct. 

Let's start with the mental health bit. My counsellor and I have spent a lot of time talking about journalling and the benefits it could provide. I was journalling a quick and dirty entry daily for a few weeks but intentionally stopped over Xmas. I felt like I needed to be silent for a moment - not spit it all out but just sit with the silence (more on sitting with silence in a moment). So I stopped for a bit. Fast forward to the weekend and it's been over a month and time to start journalling again. So I started again.

I'm going to reconsider when I journal. I've chosen to do it when I'm on my morning bus ride, but it doesn't feel great and the entries have been overwhelmingly negative. Mostly because I've just woken up, gone out in the cold to get on a stinky bus. I might do the journal before I catch the bus or later in the day. Again - a pin for a bit later, but I need to replace some old bad habits in the next few months and I think journalling could be a good contributor there. 

I feel good about getting this back on track and making a habit of it. But besides this, I realize that I journal as part of my daily life a LOT already. I've kept a notebook at work since 2014 and use it religiously - a form of journaling. I'm blogging here weekly - journalling. I write songs - journalling. You get the point. Writing down my thoughts and feelings isn't absent in my life, I just need to be a bit more mindful of journalling for the benefit of my mental and physical health. 

Musically, things have also been excellent. Things have moved faster than the goals I've set throughout this project and I'd say that it continues to move at an impressive pace. I managed to play my tunes at three parties over the holidays, launched my website and social presence, solidified the name for the project (Jeremy and his Kazoo) and ordered my first batch of stickers. I'm now in excellent condition going into the new year. 

But I still haven't managed to book that first real gig - not an open mic or someone's pity at a party but a genuine show at a venue with admission and everything. I've also significantly slowed my writing from 2-3 songs a week to 2-3 a month. 

In terms of booking the gigs - that's coming. I started reaching out to venues, and talking to people and I've set out a list of venues and dates that I want to apply to them. Sooner or later, one of these bad boys is gonna stick! 

I feel silly feeling bad about the writing slow-down. Like with the journalling, it's been a busy season and 2-3 songs a month is still 2-3 songs more than most people write in a month. The reason I feel bad is that much of the slowdown is me pushing it off. I've set participating in FAWM as one of my goals and I'm finding myself writing a riff or a line and then putting it into the archive to use in February instead of chasing the idea down. I sat down to organize those little tidbits on Friday and found I have about 4x more material than I need to meet my goals next month. 

So no more putting off writing. We're getting back into it now- in fact finished one song on Friday and started a new one on Sunday. I think more important than having a backpack full of song ideas next month will be actually practicing at writing and having those skills honed. 14 songs in 28 days is gonna be tight, I need to be in shape! 

PHEW.

Well if you've read to here, you're a stronger person than I am. Clearly since I can't even quit a non-addictive substance. Yeesh. Overall, I know that life is good but I think I'm just feeling the lack of vitamin D and the hangover from the holidays. It doesn't hurt to make sure I'm still on track and to look for a way to feel better about myself. 
 
I'm not looking at any of this as a New Year's resolution. Most of it was happening before Jan 1 and the smoking bit is just something I need to try at every 8 months or so.

Oh man and I didn't even get into the silence bit I foreshadowed earlier. Well I don't know how to go back and edit that out so I guess I'll just promise to do a supplementary blog this week? It'll be my journal for that day! 

Until then - keep your stick on the ice. 

Bye Grandma

A sad post for today. As The Navigator spoke about late last week, our grandmother, Irene Pilon, passed away last Thursday. 

When someone is able to leave peacefully on her own terms after an amazing 99 years of making the world a better place, it's selfish to be anything but grateful and celebratory. Which isn't to say I'm not feeling a bit selfish and sad this week. I am, but I'm more happy and relieved.

Of course, there has been plenty of remembering and story-sharing. I shared some on the Navigator's post and I've been talking with a few cousins about some of my memories and maybe some general themes we could use in a tribute to her. Innovation, kindness, firm love, generosity, charity - all of these things come up over and over again in describing her. She gave to her community and lifted up those around her. 

One of the fun moments that Grandma and I shared was an ongoing disagreement about Elvis Presley. He was her favourite singer and I really don't have much admiration for him at all. I always loved teasing her about it and she was always unapologetic about her love of his music. Frankly, I think children shouldn't be exposed to that kind of gesticulation. 

I went out to Yorkton with Dad on Sunday to help clean up a few things at her apartment. Shortly after leaving Regina, Dad switched the radio over to Jack 94 and I shit you not, the Sunday Morning Oldie Show was doing an Elvis special. It was his 90th birthday (actually tomorrow, but they were celebrating Sunday).

Grandma got the last laugh. 

We listened to Elvis all the way there. 

Speaking of suddenly coming into possession of a bunch of things that you need to find space for, the visit was full of "hey do you need one of these?" or "you should take this, we don't know what to do with it." I'm not in need of anything and I'm happy to see that some of my cousins and other relations are going to get some much-needed things to help kit out their homes or save a few bucks.

But I did come home with a lamp, a mirror and of all things - an iPad. I have no idea how I'm going to clean off that iPad so that I can make use of it but they were going to donate it to goodwill and I just didn't trust that her personal info would be handled safely. I was thumbing through it last night to see if there was anything of historical or family value that I should preserve before hitting reset. It's revealing to kinda see what someone who's 99 has going on in their digital life. I didn't dig too deep, her personal conversations, health stuff and banking are none of my business. But it's interesting to see the photos she kept, the emails she cherished and the games she played. And goodness, she was good at ordering food in! They mustn't have made very good food at the home. 

We're having the funeral tomorrow in Melville. It strikes me that I have very few visits to Melville left in my life. The town I was born in but rarely visit. I might visit when some of my family in the area have weddings or funerals but probably, I'll rarely go there again. I hope that the day affords me a few minutes just to drive around, and soak it in a bit.

Rest in peace Grandma. 

You've left a legacy that will continue for generations, not only in your family but in your community and in the world. You've touched lives across Saskatchewan and as far away as Nepal. 

I'm so happy you're with Grandpa again and that you're reunited with your Dad and your Mom who I know you've missed desperately since you were 7 years old. Rest well and save a spot for me. Someday I'm coming to insist that you teach me to play Bridge. No matter how much of a cheater my Dad is.