Carrie's Welcome Home, the Spanking Machine and Sweet Maudite...

Howdy!

Alrighty – so it’s an established *fact* I’m a slacker. Whatever… But watching the Hip-Hop Honors on VH1 instead of writing is a completely justifiable activity. I mean, it’s like, research for work and shit – TOTALLY justifiable. I’m just sayin’… (AND Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were on! Can you deny me THAT?!) Oh, and I wasn’t in town this weekend – so I couldn’t write then… And I was really busy last week, so I couldn’t write then… And then the ALIENS abducted me and I totally couldn’t write THEN…Duh. So, this is seriously the soonest possible time I could’ve written ANYthing down. For realsies…

That being said, how the hell are ya?! Me? I’m just groovy… Tired, but groovy. It’s been an action packed last several days to be sure. Now I’m just trying to recover…

Last Tuesday night, Little Carrie Clark returned home from the Big Toe. YAY! I’m sure the last thing she wanted to do after flying alllll day long was to party until the break of dawn, but WHATEVER. You can’t just come home from a month-long journey and not expect to be welcomed by nearly ALL of your closest friends and family!! Ain’t gonna happen!!! So yeah, we all converged on the SS Risky Business for a Tuesday night of drunken frivolity. (Because nothing says ‘Tuesday night’ like being drunk and frivolous…)

It was a pretty amusing scene on the boat that night. Not only did many people turn out for the event, but everyone represented quite well for a weeknight. AND we successfully surprised Carrie! HA! She’s a crafty one, that Carrie. However, I think that spending all day long in the clutches of modern air travel sufficiently wore down her Spidey senses. She seemed pretty surprised to find everyone waiting for her on the boat. AND all of it to banjo accompaniment!! Ahhh, the soundtrack of our lives… The banjo. Yep – Banjo Boy was there for the festivities and he fully represented with a lovely, ‘welcome home’ accompaniment.

Sigh… It was a nice homecoming and it was great to see Carrie again. It is surreal to think of what Carrie, Greg and I just experienced. Surreal, cool, exciting, etc., but also very sad… Sad because we’re all home now! There’s no more life-line to the Big Toe! ACK! OH well – guess we’ll just have to go to Toronto for a tour or something. DAMN!

Anyway, as the night wore on, many Canadian themed beers were consumed. Good stuff! I am very happy to report that you can get my new FAVORITE beer at PCC, Cost Plus and on tap at Brouwers in Fremont. So there. And that would be, ‘Maudite,’ by the way. All beers from the Unibroue Brewery in Quebec are great. I’m just sayin’… Ooo – and I just found out they have a very special beer to mark their 11th anniversary. It’s called ‘La 11.’ Hey – that’s my lucky number – 11! Cool… 11th anniversary, 11% alcohol content… That’s 11:11!!! HA!

So yeah, the evening was all well and good until the Spanking Machine got called into action. Damn the Spanking Machine! The Spanking Machine is a time-honored birthday event that gets busted out whenever anyone has a birthday. Busted out, literally… Basically, everyone lines up and the birthday chump has to crawl through everyone’s legs and get spanked…

Since Jane’s b-day was Thursday and she was in attendance on the boat, it made SENSE that we’d make her go through the spanking gauntlet. HOWEVER, both mine and Laurie’s birthdays were LAST month. Hey, and it’s not our fault that we weren’t around for any date-appropriate spanking machine hoo-hah. *NOT* our fault… Therefore, the fact that we were ALSO suckered into crawling through the Spanking Machine was just plain MADNESS! Madness, I say! Yeah, and the fact that Greg was playing banjo throughout the whole ordeal was even crazier! It was like a Deliverance version of the Spanking Machine. Gah! Mmmm – crawling down a dock, under many of my friend’s legs, to the sweet tones of the banjo, after having consumed much beer… Yeah, that’s a Tuesday night for ya!

SO - I survived the Spanking Machine. Good times… And I survived the next day at work as well. Which, I must say, was quite an accomplishment given the events of our very entertaining Tuesday night. Indeed… >:-)

On Wednesday night, I went to Brouwers with Stacey. We had a great time as usual. Met up with a couple of Stacey’s friends from Puyallup, Ryan and ummm – CRAP – I forgot his name - and we all hung out for a while. Pretty amusing time! The food and beer are great and it was nice to hang out for a bit. However, Stacey and I always say we’re gonna wrap it up early and ummm, we never do. Whatever – life is short. :) However – I did actually leave a bit earlier that night as I needed to get home to get some stuff done for the weekend, etc. Ohhh, but my friend Stacey (RB™) didn’t get home until a bit later. And I have an amusing message on my answering machine to prove it… HA! >;-) ANYhoo…

On Friday, I left with Pauly D for yet another awesome wilderness adventure. And that, my faaaabulous friends, is where I will leave you for now. Stay tuned for such camping greats as, “Dayna – wake up! There’s a chipmunk on your head!” – And - “Tiny Cheese Grater – It’s not the size that counts!”

Alrighty – have a fan-freakin-tastic day!!

Your Pal,

TRJ ™

Good Friends, Food, Art, Music and Being Protested by the Protester...

Good Eeeeeeeevening!

Wow – so the last few days have been action packed, to be sure! WOO!

To start, I received a VERY amusing phone call from Little Carrie Clark last night – YAY! Well, actually – It was Tracy I spoke with first, then Darryl and THEN Carrie… They were KILLIN’ me! They started out with a lovely rendition of ‘KaaaRoooKooKooKaaOooKooKooooo’ and moved on from there. Let’s just say that they had maybe enjoyed a FEW beers by that point in time… Hey – and I guess it was time to crank call the peeps! They also called earlier and left a very entertaining message. Hey – I think I can blog messages from my phone. If so, I’m TOTALLY blogging the message that they left… heh heh… Good stuff.

So ANYhoo – it was SO great to hear from them. I’ve been getting the low-down from Carrie and Darryl via e-mail, but it was really great to actually talk to all of them. I have to say that I am SO bummed to not still be there. I miss them!!! :( I would’ve LOVED to have stayed for the whole month… Curses!! And it sounds like the album is turning out fabulously - I’m SO excited to hear it! AND it sounds like they’ve been keeping on course with the exotic beer drinking… Good on ‘em! I can’t wait for Darryl and Tracy to come and visit us in the Great White NorthWEST… Gotta give us a chance to represent with some Seattle good times! Also – Carrie has assured me that there will be some more pics coming before she comes home. Which, hey – is tomorrow! We’re putting the band back together, man! WOO!

On the Seattle front, it was a very entertaining weekend, indeed…

On Friday night, I attended a going away dinner for my friends Melissa and Rob. Paul, Chad and Stacey joined us and it was a great time! Paul and I started with a couple of ‘research’ drinks in the Wallingford neighborhood (site of the upcoming pub crawl) and then met up with the rest of the bunch over at the Asteroid Café for dinner. Wow – what a great dinner! And crazy rich! We basically spared no expense and busted out with alllll the courses. I think we pretty much rolled out of there. If you’re in the mood for great Italian food prepared with organic ingredients, definitely check out the Asteroid Café. I’m just sayin’…

The evening did have its down side, however. It’s always sad to have to say goodbye to good friends. Rob and Melissa are moving to New York City next weekend – heading back to their homeland… It will be very sad to see them go, but not to worry – we’re all already planning a trip over to visit them. WOO! It’s so ridiculous that I’ve never been to New York City – just plain ridiculous. Welp – I aim to fix that situation in the very near future. Yeah, they haven’t ditched us yet! HA! Suckas…

The next day, I got a few things done around the home and did a bit of cleaning… And that night, went out and had an awesome FREE evening!! WOO!

Oooo – sorry – got a bit distracted there – Watching ‘Anthony Bourdain’ on the Travel Channel… (A channel to which I am totally addicted… Along with the Comedy Channel and the Food Network… What more do you want? Food, laughs and Travel!? Oh, okay – let’s throw in some tunes as well…) Seriously – I love this show – it totally cracks me up. I DON’T like reality shows, but this is a bit different. Anthony Bourdain is an obnoxious, but funny chef from New York that goes on food related adventures around the world. I would LOVE to do a show like this! It would be my dream… Hey, and ummm, maybe I’ll call it ‘My Perfect Spots.’ Shut up – it could happen… Don’t crush my dream! Anyway – tonight he’s visiting the back country areas of Vietnam and it’s pretty entertaining… Blah, blah, blah…

OKAY – back to the story at hand…

So, on Saturday night – we ended up having a virtually FREE evening! Awesome!! I went with Paul, Josh and Deema to a great art show over by the stadium. It was sponsored by a group of artists going by the collective name, ‘Ouch My Eye.’ Very cool space with some great artwork… I would LOVE to live in a space like that… They have bi-monthly showings and I highly recommend checking it out. And hey – it was the start of our free drink spree…

After we left the art show, we moved on to the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery over by REI to check out Skerik’s Syncopated Taint gig. My good friends, Dave and Joe play in the band and it’s always great to see them play. (Ohhh, Davel...) And Craig, Hans and John… Great guys… Go see them! Now!

Before the public portion of the gig, the club played host to a very unlikely private party. The Phillip Morris group was there having a private promotional party. We got there technically before the public part of the show started, but they let us in anyway. SO – we didn’t have to pay the cover to get in… THEN – we were informed that there was free food and drinks to be had! COOL! What was even more surprising was that not only was there food and drink, but it was GOOD food and drink. The food was being catered by Whole Foods and the drinks entailed a full, open bar. Ummm, I wasn’t really expecting that… I tell ya – those Phillip Morris people are crafty bandits! Book a great band at a cool club and throw in some good food and drink… And hand out free lighters and cigarettes – people will LOVE you! Screw the fact that you’re Phillip Morris… Crafty, I tell ya… And hey, I’d be a total liar if I said I didn’t walk away with several free drinks, some great food, a couple of lighters and a t-shirt. What can I say? I’m easy… AND – to make things even better, the band was GREAT! As usual… Those guys never disappoint. If you haven’t had a chance to check them out – DO IT! And the club was playing ‘Metropolis’ on a giant screen behind the band as they played… Great visual juxtaposition with the music… Paul took some great shots of the evening. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/p_d_gibson/

The next day, I met up with Stacey (RB) for what would be a very entertaining afternoon. We started out with a lovely breakfast at Tangletown and then headed up to Everett for a PETA protest of the Ringling Bros. Circus. I must admit that I’m not the biggest fan of some of PETA’s methods, but I don’t support the way animals are treated by Ringling Bros., so I was down with attending the protest.

When we got there, there were a handful of people with protest signs and literature. We grabbed a couple of signs and some fliers and on the corner, we stood. We had been standing there for about a half hour, when we noticed a rather interesting woman joining the protest. You could tell from a mile away that she was that die-hard protester – the one that you always steer clear of when walking down the street… She also had on a lovely, acid-wash jean ensemble, complete with LEATHER tennis shoes. (I was surprised that this particular person was wearing leather shoes to a PETA protest… Whatever…) ANYhoo – she was standing over to the side of us while we were on the corner.

So yeah, Stacey and I are standing there with each other, so we are OF COURSE talking to each other. And God forbid, we were smiling and laughing occasionally. And it’s not like we were loudly yucking it up or anything – we were just being pleasant. It was at this time that the weirdo lady next to us came up to us and LECTURED us about the fact that we basically weren’t taking this whole thing seriously. Ummm, I got up on a Sunday morning, after being in a club until 2am and we drove from Seattle to get there for this thing. And I don’t like some of what PETA does – We were taking it SERIOUSLY. It was at this time that I basically told her that I disagreed with her and that I felt that it was a detriment to the cause to alienate people that you are trying to reach. I calmly explained my attitude and ideas and that was that. She didn’t like what I said… And then, Stacey very nicely wrapped it up by making a very true statement that “We’re on the SAME team!”

It was at that time that Stacey and I moved to a different part of the corner. She didn’t seem to like that either as I’m pretty sure she was talking to her buddy about it a few minutes later. WHATEVER. The fact that we were there, doing our part for something in which we believed should be good enough. Everyone has their own idea of representation and in a volunteer situation, who is ANYone to say otherwise. So there. We had the choice to stay home and do nothing or to go out and support a cause. We chose to get our asses out of bed and support something worthwhile… I think that’s a good thing. And if acid-wash lady doesn’t like it… BAH! So yeah, we got protested by the protester! I think our work here is DONE!

After the protest debacle, Stacey and I headed for home. We had other trouble to cause with our afternoons – the day was still young! However, I actually didn’t do much of ANYthing with the rest of my day… I basically just sat around, watched some TV, worked out, went for a lazy walk, did some reading… Yeah, it was rough. But come on – you gotta do that every once in a while! Right?!?!

And then I got the call from my crazy, drunken friends… Hey, wait – I ALSO got a call from my crazy, drunken friend STACEY as well! HA! Betchya thought I FORGOT, RB!!! I think she was trying to drink away the crazy, Acid-wash lady…Who WOULDN’T want to forget about her?!??! I know I do…

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I gotta go do some piano practicing… I MUST do some piano practicing… DO SOME PRACTICING – DO IT NOW!!! Sigh… Guess I’ll go do some stupid practicing…

Stay tuned for a wrap up on the Toronto adventures from Carrie and a long overdue conclusion to the last camping adventure. I’m going camping again this weekend so I HAVE to finish it before then. ACK!

Have a great night and may it be filled with crazy, acid-wash lady dreams!

TRJ ™

MEAT. FIRE. GOOD!

Yeah, so they waited until I was GONE to go to Hardy's! I'm so jealous - They enjoyed Meat. Fire. Good. WITHOUT me! Sigh... Well, I guess they didn't enjoy meat, per se - Apparently they have tasty veggie burgers as well as MEAT. FIRE. GOOD. :)

Crazy Canadian Money

This is a cash voucher for the store, 'Canadian Tire.' This store sells a bit of everything - waaaay more than JUST a tire store. In addition, they hand out these cash vouchers when you spend certain amounts. What I found interesting was that these are actually accepted as legitimate forms of currency in the smaller towns of Canada. Wow! Toonies, Loonies and Canadian Tire Vouchers - ALL real Canadian money!!

The Adventures of BANJO BOY!

Banjo Boy gets stickered up! Look at all those crazy stickers! It's crazy sticker boy!
Banjo boy on the scene!!

Dinners, friends and other stuff... News from Toronto!

Good eeeeeevening!

Sooo, yeah. Time to write something down…

The last few days have brought good news from the Great White North. I’ve heard from Carrie and Darryl and all seems to be going fabulously with the recording. I was VERY excited yesterday to hear a preliminary mix of one of the tracks. Kick ass! I can’t wait to hear more! Carrie will be home on the 20th and will hopefully bring with her the final mixes… Fingers crossed!

I picked Greg up at the airport on Saturday night and got the scoop on what had happened since I left. Pedal Boy was able to successfully get all of his guitar, banjo and vocal tracks done before he left – awesome! They even laid down some hootin’ and hollarin’ for the ‘Josephine’ track. And Darryl and Tracy participated – right on!! They drank more beer and did some more hanging out… All was well. However, the DVD player apparently started acting up after I left. I guess that’s a sign that we were supposed to watch Carnivale and ONLY Carnivale… And that we all had to be TOGETHER to watch TV… Funny…

Speaking of Darryl and Tracy – Not only are they talented in ways I’ve already mentioned, but they are both very talented musicians as well. Check out one of their projects at http://www.abintra.net/ Very cool stuff.

I also hear tell that Damon came up for a visit. I hope he enjoyed the area as much as we did! I really can’t imagine he didn’t – it’s just freakin’ amazing up there and Darryl and Tracy are great! Well, okay – and I guess that crazy Carrie girl was up there, too! Whhhhaaaaaatever. :)P I also hear that they took a trip to Niagara Falls. I guess Carrie was just hearing the call of Skylon… Ohhh, sweet Skylon – you haunt me so!

*NOTE: I don’t know what the HELL my upstairs neighbor is up to right now, but it’s driving me INSANE. ARGH!!!

“Joel!” She screams, fist raised towards the ceiling…

So anyway – what else is up… Oh yes, back to La Fin du Monde and Dr. Ruth… heh heh…

So, when I got back last week, I had some lovely friends over for dinner. (Names not mentioned to protect the UN-innocent… Bahahahahaha!) When I was shopping for the goods at PCC beforehand, I stopped by the beer aisle for some refreshments for the evening. I could not BELIEVE what I found.

The first thing that caught my eye as I looked up to the top shelf in the cooler was a big bottle of Chimay. HA! Somewhere Carrie could come to get that Chimay she promised me… What next caught my eye, however, sent shivers of amazement through my beer-loving form. There, lined up three in a row, right next to the Chimay were our three favorite beers from Toronto! La Fin du Monde, Maudite and Trois Pistoles – ALL IN A ROW! Okay – and not only were they all right there, but they were the BIG BOTTLE versions! WOO! It was just so weird! And what was even stranger was that they, along with the Chimay, were the only big beers on the shelf! Destiny, I tell ya! Suffice it to say that I quickly snatched up all three kinds and headed to the check-out stand! WOO!

That night, I made a pasta concoction for my lovely friends. We ate a lot of food, enjoyed the beer and a bit of wine and I got a chance to hang out with the peeps that I missed. Good stuff. I also, and I don’t even remember how or WHY this came up, divulged that I owned a ridiculous ‘Dr Ruth’ game. I had picked it up, brand new from this crazy estate sale a few years back. It’s this ridiculous game with ridiculous questions about sex, etc. I had actually thought that it was from the 60s, but it ended up being from the 80s. But was STILL very ridiculous… Anyway - We tried to make sense of the game, but after several beers and the fact that the rules were actually VERY convoluted, we just ended up asking each other the ridiculous questions. Hmmm… Learned some amusing things about my friends that night… Ohhh, but I’ll never tell… suckas… >:-)P

Alrighty – what else? Ummm… I’ve been on a spree of awesome dinners. Very good stuff… Paul made enchiladas on Friday night and they were VERY tasty. And totally filling – made for awesome leftovers the next day… And props to Paul for making such a fabulous dinner while still sick! Bravo!!

On Sunday, I was a guest at Rob and Amina’s and was able to partake in their recent chile score! Rob and Amina are part of the large contingency of New Mexico peeps that now live in Seattle. Amina’s family still lives in New Mexico and they sent her a pretty sizeable shipment of chiles from the area. They roasted them that afternoon and later that night, after they were peeled and prepped, we ate them with some VERY tasty fish sandwiches and rice. Damn. They were good. And HOT! WOO! Chiles. Fire. Good.

Last night, to continue with the New Mexican theme, we visited Paul’s friend Adam for another awesome dinner. More enchiladas – red AND green – fish tacos, rice, beans, etc. A total feast! Throw in some good beer, some GREAT tequila and it was a very nice evening… My contribution was a coconut tequila cake. I thought it turned out alright, but I was disappointed that you couldn’t really taste the tequila. That was the whole point of MAKING that particular cake. Wanted it to go with the theme… Oh well – you could sorta KINDA taste it a little… Next time – MORE TEQUILA! Always a good idea.

Ummm… Anything else? Oh yeah – went to the KEXP benefit concert on Saturday night at the Crocodile. The artist that really stuck out for me was Tom Brosseau. He was great! Kind of a mid-western Johnny Cash… Good stuff. Check him out! http://www.tombrosseau.com/

Alrighty – I’m going to ATTEMPT to go to sleep now. Should be interesting… I’m sure I’ll fall asleep on the couch, watching some random Sci-fi or Action movie… And I’ll end up having some goofy, super-spy, action dream… WOO! Hope ya’ll are doing well – Have a good one!

TRJ ™

The Continuing Saga...

Alrighty – where was I? Oh yeah – the campfire sessions…

After returning from our triumphant ESCAPE FROM SKYLON (Rated R) we sat down to talk about our next recording move. Carrie wanted to do an acoustic version of one of our tunes for the SUPER SECRET HIDDEN TRACK. (And I’m keepin’ it super secret for now… Unless, of course, you happen to get me drunk and I TELL you…) Anyway – we decided on a track and Darryl came up with the idea of actually recording it around the campfire! WOO! We had joked around about recording by the fire for the past couple of weeks – hey – why not make it a reality!

So, with our decision made, Darryl started hauling all of his equipment down to the lake. Well, not ALL of his equipment – three mics, stands, cables, cords, etc. His snake (recording cable) was 150 ft. long so it actually made it all the way down to the lake from inside his studio! COOL! He got everything all situated and Carrie, Greg and I took our places for what was to become a VERY entertaining evening. LATE evening, I might add… I don’t think we even got things rolling until around 11:00…

While Darryl was dialing in all of the specifics, we set upon warming up, drinking beer, posing for video footage for Tracy – all of the important things one does before a campfire recording session. We also came up with our own, VERY SPECIAL version of Bob and Doug McKenzie’s “Take Off.” (As we had earlier in the day created a special ‘alert call’ if any of us became lost while at the falls… GoooOooGookookookookookookooooo – GoooOooGookookookookookookoo! Umm, none of us actually got lost, but we did A LOT of practicing, just in case. You just never know when it could happen to YOU. Be prepared.) ANYway – we took our new ‘alert call’ and Greg came up with some lovely blue-grassy guitar magic and I threw in some creative clapping and stomping and we were on our way! We used our new theme EVERY chance we got. I think everyone was very impressed. I know WE were… And I’m sure the neighbors were diggin’ on it. Okay, maybe it was just us diggin’ on it... Whatever. Details.

I also did my own special version of “I’m So Ronery” – which is from the ‘Team America’ movie. Now, at this point in time I didn’t realize that Tracy was filming. I thought she was just drinkin’ a beer… Ummm… Nope. She got the whole, ridiculous thing on tape. With close up shots and everything. GREAT! I look like a moron… But hey – at least I committed. It was definitely a ‘single tear’ sorta moment…

So, everything was good to go and we began the recording. It was SO cool! We had a great fire going, the crickets were chirping, the muskrat was cruisin’ by the shore… BUT WHERE WAS THE FREAKIN’ DUCK!?!??! Crap. This duck had been terrorizing the shores for WEEKS! Every time we’d be having a deep, world-changing conversation out by the fire, the damn duck would inevitably chime in. I really wish I could recreate the sound of the duck – it was CLASSIC. It sounded like an old, disgruntled man who’d been playing poker and smoking cigars since he was five. However, we were very surprised to learn it was actually a LADY duck makin’ all the racket. And well, that’s why we decided to call her the ‘Nagging Duck.’ (At least that was MY name for her…) So basically, now imagine an old, crotchety woman who’s been nagging her disgruntled, poker-playing-and-smoking-cigars-since-he-was-five husband and you’ve got the sound of the duck! (Quuuaaack, quuuaaaack, quuuaaaaak…) Every time we’d be having some great conversation and we’d stop for a second, that’s what we’d hear. “Quuuaaack, quuuaaaack, quuuaaaaak…” Perfectly on cue – RIGHT after we’d stop talking. The damn duck was totally heckling us!! Whatever. Stupid duck.

Yeah, so ANYway – we were doing a recording by the campfire and it just wasn’t gonna be authentic without the damn duck, but SHE WASN’T THERE! What?! Was she like, off negotiating with her agent or something? On a smoke break? Off nagging her husband? Whatever the case, it just wasn’t right. I think Darryl’s gonna have to go back later on and record some duck sounds… I’m just sayin’. :)

After we resigned ourselves to continuing on without the she-duck, we forged ahead with our recording. Everything was sounding SO good – WOO! However, Darryl just wasn’t completely happy. He said that the actual recording of our voices and Greg’s guitar sounded great, but well, there just wasn’t enough CRACKLE happenin’ with the fire! So, off the Luv Ma’Cheen set to build a better fire…

After Darryl finished adding MANY dry branches to the fire, we started in on another take of the song. Now, we were trying to do a tender, mellow version of this particular song – with a bit of a 'haunted' vibe… And that’s where we were headed…. Until Darryl’s fire masterpiece TOTALLY started to rage towards the heavens! (By the way, we also have some AWESOME footage of Darryl “Stoking the *(#&$(&($ fire!!!” Complete with theme song and Jimmy Hendrix maneuvering… GOOD STUFF!)

Yeah, so we’re sitting there, trying to create this beautiful, haunting vibe and this fire is about ready to jump out of the pit and take on the entire back yard! ACK! Well, and it was also absolutely hilarious. We tried SO hard to not laugh, but it just wasn’t workin’. I don’t know HOW many takes we screwed up because we started laughing. It’s hard to get going again on something serious when you’ve been uncontrollably laughing… Try it. And yes, Tracy got ALL of this on video. We watched the footage later that night and the laughter returned with a VENGEANCE!

All in all, I think we were out there recording for a couple of hours. We did a couple of other songs as well – just to get our fire’s worth. :) We were all pretty STOKED at the outcome of it all. We think Darryl should do a ‘Campfire Sessions’ compilation CD with all of the bands that he records at his studio. I think that’d be pretty cool… And Tracy could get cool video footage and it could go on the CD – WOO! As long as they don’t include me doing “I’m So Ronery.” I’m just sayin’…

After we got everything all cleared up, we doused the fire and headed inside. We still had some choice Carnivale watching to do! It was at this time that it really started to hit me that I had to LEAVE Toronto in about 5 hours… CRAP! I was starting to get really sad… Oh, and I hadn’t even begun to pack yet. Tee Hee! I just neeeeeeever learn... Hey – but in my defense, I KNEW I wasn’t going to sleep that night and I totally know exactly how long it takes me to pack up my stuff. SO THERE. :)P Anyway – Carrie busted out the rest of the Knob Creek and we had a round of farewell shots. (Note on the Knob Creek: Carrie and Greg were kind enough to give me a bottle of Knob Creek for my birthday. HOWEVER – one night, I wasn’t feeling very well and I went to bed early. (*gasp*) When I woke up in the morning, there was like an INCH or so left in the bottle! SOMEbody drank my whiskey! I’m not namin’ names (Carrie, Greg, Darryl, Tracy), but SOMEbody drank my whiskey!! Dorks. Oh well – I woulda shared it with them ANYway… I just like to give them a hard time… heh heh heh…)

We sat around the living room, each in our respective chairs and watched the final two episodes of Carnivale. It was great! And very sad… And great! And very sad… Sigh… There were certain aspects of home I was looking forward to, but I was also terribly sad to be leaving what had quickly become like my second family. It sucks to say goodbye to your family… And it REALLY sucked to think about saying goodbye to one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Hands down. Sigh… But I guess all good things must come to an end… Or how else will you ever truly appreciate just HOW good they were? (Quuuaaack, quuuaaaack, quuuaaaaak…)

After we wrapped up with Carnivale, Tracy entertained us with the footage from Niagara Falls and the Campfire Recordings. VERY entertaining, indeed… And then, well then, I had to go and FINALLY get to packing. It was at this time that the rest of the household went off to bed… For 2 1/2 hours… ;)

When we got into the car to take off for the airport, everyone was reeeeaaallllyyyy tired. And maybe just a LITTLE bit hung-over. I, however, am happy to say that I wasn’t. Hung-over, that is. I was TOTALLY tired… Anyway, when I think back on it now, I’m really glad that we were all so tired and out of it. This basically helped me to not be a TOTAL baby when they dropped me off at the airport. Okay, so maybe some tears were shed, but not the full-on waterworks that I KNOW I am capable of… HA! But man, I gotta tell ya – that was one, tough goodbye. In the grand scheme of things, however, I’m not worried. I know that I’ll be back. There’s just no other way… Besides – Darryl and I never got to host a geeky, Sci-Fi night! And well, that is CLEARLY an important thing…

The rest of the day was spent with what has now become the misery of flying. I used to LOVE flying. I was such a geek about it that I’d just go hang out at the airport and watch the planes… And I ALWAYS volunteered to go pick up friends and family… However, my love has definitely faded. It’s just so sad what the airline experience has become. Granted, I understand the need for many of the precautions, but the joy and adventure of the process has completely been sucked dry. That and the majority of my flight experiences over the last several years have been a NIGHTMARE. ACK! Cancelled flights, lost luggage, incompetent customer service, etc. However, I will say that America West totally represented. They were always on time, polite, clean and comfortable. I’d definitely fly that airline in the future… American Airlines and United on the other hand, SUCK. So there. Ooo – and I’m also tired of always flying alone. From now on, I’m bringing my full, rockstar entourage. HA!

ANYhoo – got back into to town later that afternoon and the lovely Jane Brown picked me up at the airport. Thanks, Jane! She kindly helped me shuttle my luggage to the car and AWAY from the freakin’ airport we went. WOO!!

It was strange to be back in town. It wasn’t like I was gone for that long, but it seemed what had been accomplished while I was away fit into WAY more than 18 days. It really was a profound, life-altering experience and it was just strange to be back at home, quickly approaching my return to the everyday life.

But uhhh, I guess my ‘everyday life’ isn’t so bad! Tee Hee… The next night, I got together with Paul, Leslie and Jane and had a VERY entertaining (and enlightening) evening. All of which I will tell you about in my NEXT update! Gotta get some work done… :)

Hope ya’ll are havin’ a good one! Much love to all! And a special ‘group hug’ to my family in the Big TOE! YAY!

XOXOXO

The REAL Jordache ™
Vibra Girl ™
Daynal ™
Lady D ™
Dirty D ™
CH ™
Dayna ™ (What kind of a boring name is THAT?!)

The Campfire Sessions

Our Special Friend, Darryl - Setting up for the campfire recording session. Ahhhh, good stuff...

This is the scene of the now infamous campfire recordings... My stomach hurt the next morning from laughing so hard. :) ESPECIALLY after Darryl STOKED THE &(!*+%(*#^? FIRE!!

The falls and Rainbow Greg

Our buddy, Rainbow Greg! Check out how close the drop off of the falls is!! CRAZY! Greg and I just totally stood there and STARED at it... Completely mesmeizing...

These are the falls as viewed from the lower observation deck of the 'Journey Behind the Falls' tunnels... COOL!

Journey Inside the Falls...

This is one of my VERY favorite shots! The lighting inside the tunnels was SO cool!


The end of the tunnel line... What's past the guard rail are the actual falls! It was SO loud - very cool!!

Beyond SKYLON

Upon escaping SKYLON, this is what we saw... Beautiful! The world outside SKYLON is everything the runners claimed it to be... These are the Horseshoe Falls with the Maid of the Mist boat sailing towards the falls... These are the biggest falls in the Niagara Falls area.
Here it is: SKYLON. Captor of souls...

Niagara Falls, Campfire recording, La Fin du Monde and Dr. Ruth

Greetings!

Ummmm, so there is SO much to say about the last few days… WOO! I don’t really know where to start. Guess I’ll just start from the end of my last entry and end with TONIGHT…

So, yeah – I got to see Niagara Falls!! YAY! I can honestly say it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. There’s a spot, right next to the rail on the Canadian side of the falls, where you can watch the water pour over the edge. I could totally stay there for HOURS and watch that water… Mesmerizing…

The day we went was completely beautiful - Hot, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. We did, however, take a short detour getting down to the actual falls area as we were stuck in the clutches of SKYLON. Think ‘Logan’s Run’… We ended up parking in the Skylon parking lot (a giant, concrete, Space Needle-like structure across the street from the falls. Niagara Falls is a very touristy, resort destination and Skylon fits completely within this scheme…) It took us quite a bit of time to figure out how to exit the Skylon complex. It seemed like they made the parking lot purposefully complicated in order to keep tourists inside the Skylon premises. (“Moving to Security Alert, Skylon 5. We have detected a runner in level 7. Sandman to Level 7, please.”) Ooo – but we DID get to see a guy tightrope walking from hotel to hotel!!! It was SO amazing!!! And they had to be at LEAST 50 story buildings!!! And they weren’t exactly close to one another! It was truly crazy…

ANYhoo - After we finally got OUT of the Skylon complex, we went and found someplace to get a quick bite. We ended up in a nice restaurant that had a GREAT view of the falls. We even got misted from the falls while we sat out on the deck to eat! Very cool… The only thing odd about our lunch was that we found ourselves subjected to a very odd mix of 80s classic rock. (Oh man, the 80s are classic rock now. Sigh...) And not only was it a very ODD mix, but we were forced to listen to it on a LOOP! ACK! We didn’t hang out for that long at the restaurant… Well, long enough to enjoy our beer and food, of course!

After we ate, we went down to the ‘Journey Behind the Falls’ area. It’s a walking tour based on the exploration of tunnels that were dug behind the falls in 1903. Basically, you don an obnoxious, yellow rain coat and take an elevator down to the bowels of the area behind the falls. Then, you get to walk through the tunnels and end up at strategic times actually BEHIND the falls. It’s so cool to stand there and watch the water pouring out in front of you. It’s SO loud! We got a lot of great photo and video footage of everything… Very cool… Yeah, and they even got me with the yellow rain coat on backwards! Hey – you have to pull it over your head and I was in a hurry – So WHAT if I put it on wrong… :P But those raincoats really were a necessary evil – You get crazy wet hanging out watching the falls!!

After we snaked through the tunnels for a while, we headed for the tacky souvenir shops. Kick ass!!! And yeah – some groovy items we did indeed find!! And some of you have already been privy to our bounty… Enjoy!

On the way back to SKYLON, we stopped and were mesmerized by the falls again and then we trudged back to the steely, grey grip of our master, SKYLON. Sigh… Our day pass off the premises was up… SKYLON, we’re comin’ home.

We arrived at Niagara Falls, by the way, by the good graces of the lovely, Tracy. I gotta give it up to Tracy – she drove us all over the countryside!!! And back and forth to Niagara Falls… Very cool. :) We ended our trip by stopping at the Philly and the Firkin for a final few pints before I was to leave. Sigh…

After hangin’ at the pub for a while, we headed back to the lake. We still had to record the ‘super secret hidden track’! WOO!

Okay – and with that, I must bid you adieu. I had FULL intent of finishing this entry when I started, but crap – I’m just plain tired. The last few nights have been a bit wonky for sleep and since I have to be back in full force at work tomorrow, I GOTS ta go to bed!
And contemplate the very amusing evening that I just had involving pasta, La Fin du Monde, my friends and Dr. Ruth… Alllllll shall be revealed!! Hehehehheheahahehehehh

Sigh… but before I go, I have this to say: I am both happy to be back in Seattle AND incredibly sad to be back. I am happy to see all the people I care about here at home, but I am also SO sad to not be waking up in my new, Toronto home… But I guess it’s good to have family in several parts of the world – Always a place to call home, I guess. :)

And to my Toronto family… I’m so ronery… SO ronery…

Take care and I’ll write more tomorrow!!

- Vibra Girl ™

We're Going to Niagara Falls!!! WOO!

Good morning and happy Labor Day to everyone! And Happy Labour Day to all my Canadian peeps!

WE'RE GOING TO NIAGRA FALLS! KICK ASS!!

Yesterday, I finished up all of my contributions to the album. All of my bass tracks are finished and I laid down backing vocal tracks on four songs last night. Aside from some bass mixing stuff and a few additional vocals, I am good to go. To Niagara Falls, that is!!!

However, the unfortunate side of finishing everything is that it means I'll be leaving soon. Tomorrow morning, in fact. Sigh... I'll be sad to say goodbye to such an amazing experience, surroundings and people. Sad, indeed. But I will most definitely be back - they're stuck with me now! (suckas)

Oh yeah, a shout out to Le Tigre - You'll never guess what I got the other day! I scored a pink baseball hat with the quote, "PONIES ARE PRETTY" on it. PERFECT!! Just thought you should know... And I also picked up an old-school, authetic 'My Pretty Pony' while antiquing with Tracy yesterday... You just can't beat that! Well, maybe if I had a REAL pony... Could someone please get on that? Thanks.

Welp - that's it for now - the bus is leavin' for the Falls! Tacky souvenirs for ALL!!! >:-)

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

TRJ

The Beer List - Part Deux

Alrighty - Here's the new BEER LIST!!! Because who wouldn't wanna know??!??!

ANYhoo - okay, so maybe we've had a few beers. Whaddya want - We're tortured artists! :)P Well, if you wanna call recording an album on a lake with some great company and good food... Yeah, it's TOTAL torture...WOO!

Belle-Vue Kriek - Cherry Lambic-like brew made at the Belle-Vue brewery in Belgium. (Mmmm - fruity goodness!)

Duckstein Copper Gold - Germany (Nice, amber ale)

Bishop's Finger Kentish Strong Ale - Kent, England (Because who wouldn't want an ale as strong as a bishop's finger?! Duh. Hey - pull my bishop's finger! :)P )

Warka "Strong Beer" - Poland (Lager with a higher alcohol content. Hence, the name "Strong Beer" Not to be confused with "Strong Bad." http://www.homestarrunner.com/ It's fun to check out Strong Bad while drinking Strong Beer! I'm just sayin'... And be sure to go to the ‘SB E-mail’ section and check out “Dragon.” Just do it. Trogdor is waiting…)

Black Sheep Ale - Yorkshire, England (Umm, it's an ale. Very nice...)

Karkovacko Ale - Croatia (Great beer... Creamy goodness - slightly skunky.)

Grower's Cider - BC (Nice cider - good when I can't get BLACKTHORNE... >:-)

Strongbow Cider - England (Good cider - second choice behind BLACKTHORNE...)

Bombardier Ale - England (Good, stout English Ale. Ship it!)

Baltika Ale - Russia (Pretty decent. Had to check out what the Russians have been brewing...)

Headstrong Pale Ale - Ontario, Canada (Very nice. Light, but creamy. Cool bottle)

Zelta Lager - Lativa (Wow - never had a beer from Lativa before... Good, solid lager...)

Cranberry Ale - Can't remember the name - From Ontario, Canada (The ale that I previously mentioned... The one that "Smells like a 16 year old's lipgloss. I LIKED IT. And I would order it again, despite what Carrie and Darryl think. So there.)

Upper Canada Dark Lager - Ontario, Canada (Dark, rich craft brew from upper Canada. Nice.)

Upper Canada Lager - Ontario, Canada (Light and vaguely sweet.)

Sleeman's Honey Brown Ale, Canada (Rich and creamy - nicely sweet. Tracy told me that when Sleeman's brews first came on the scene, she accidentally asked the Beer Store clerk if he had any 'semen'... "Sometimes." Was the clerk's response… Bahahahahahahha - that's just good stuff.)

Lakeport Honey Lager - Canada (Standard lager, with ummm, honey! But very nice...)

Maudite "Strong Beer" - Quebec, Canada - from the Unibroue Brewery... (Lord have mercy - a very fine brew. And POTENT. AND has a cool label. Enough said.)

Trois Pistoles - Quebec, Canada - also from the Unibroue Brewery (WOO! Dark and rich... And strong! Very nice on its own AND when mixed with Blackthorne Cider. Trust me. And has a very cool label…)

Boris Lager - France (Light and a bit fruity - I like it! And it comes in the most adorable, little bottles... Awe...)

Rickards Honey Brown Ale - Canada (The label on this one keeps throwing me off because the 'R' looks like the Rainier R... But it doesn't taste like Rainier... Has a nice, creamy and sweet thing going on... And don't get me wrong - I ain't knockin' Rainier! Nope.)

Stella Artois - THE GIANT 1 LITRE BOTTLE!!! - Belgium (What can I say - it's STELLA. My fav...)

Schneider & Sohn Dopplebock - Germany (Very bubbly and yeasty... But good... )

Schneider Weisse Hefeweisen - Germany (Light, bubbly lager... Nice.)

Amsterdam Nut Brown - Amsterdam, Holland (Med. dark ale - nice and mellow)

Zubr "Strong Beer" Lager - Poland (Well, it's strong lager from Poland. And it was nice.)

Old Speckled Hen Ale - England (Classic, stronger English Ale.)

Fiddler's Elbow - Wynchwood Brewery, Oxfordshire, England (When I think of good beer, I automatically think of a fiddler's elbows... It's just the way I'm wired.)

BlackWytch Dark Ale - Wynchwood Brewery, Oxfordshire, England (Very dark ale - and very potent. And the picture of the witch on the label looks exactly like Helena Bonham Carter's character in the movie 'Big Fish.' I ain't lyin'...)

Okacin Lager - Poland (Another nice and skunky lager from Poland...)

Svyturys Ekstra "Strong Beer" - Lithuania (Never had a beer from Lituania before... Now I have. It was good.)

DAMN. That's a lot of beer. Okay, but seriously - it's been almost two weeks since the last beer update. Come on - Give us a break! And hey – we helped each other out with this list… It’s not like I single-handedly finished all of these beers… Or DID I?! The world may never know… Because maybe I can’t remember…. :)P

ANYhoo - Hope ya'll are doing well and I'll write more soon!

Your Pal,

Dayna ™

Giant beers and good friends...

This picture does NOTHING to fully depict the sheer size and magnitude of the GIANT STELLA bottle... It's GIANT, I tell ya - GIANT!!!

Hangin' out with Tracy...

In the Studio

I am Greg - The Amaaaaaaazing PEDAL BOY!!! (Enter fanfare *here*)

Greg and Michelle geeking out on percussion tracks...

Before and after...

Such a lovely lake... Especially when the nagging duck comes to visit...

Ahhhh, time to start the fire...

Our Rooms...

This is Carrie's room. Note the shoe collection under the bed... >:-)

This is my room. Very cozy... :)

The Adventures of VIBRA GIRL! (tm)

Soooo, yeah. I have officially FINISHED laying down and editing all of my bass tracks! KICK ASS!!!

And well, that CLEARLY called for a GIANT bottle of Stella Atois… I’m just sayin’… I mean, you gotta love the metric system. Not only can you get a bottle of Stella, but you can get a GIANT bottle of Stella. (1 litre, thank you very much.) Okay – and maybe I had a few other interesting brews to go with my Stella… More on that later – I’ll be updating the LIST!

Oooo – and speaking of brews… One thing I failed to mention the other day was that we drove by the Molson brewery where ‘Strange Brew’ was filmed. Ahhh, Bob and Doug McKenzie… I love that movie… Haven’t watched it in a while, but I’m definitely going to have to revisit it. Take off, you hoser, eh!

So anyway – back to the business at hand… I finished my freakin’ bass tracks! And not only does that mean everything is finished regarding bass, but the drum tracks are pretty much done as well. (Minus some various edits and auxiliary percussion tracks to add in…) And THAT means we’ve recorded all of the foundation tracks for the entire album. So there.

The goal now is to get all of the piano, guitar and lead vocal tracks done for the songs that contain backup vocals. Since I will be leaving on Tuesday morning, we have to get anything that involves me done before that. Oh, AND we still need to take a trip to Niagara Falls, so we gotta get movin’… Don’t wanna miss that – I’ve been looking forward to that since I got here. I’m a geek. Whaddya want?! Maybe there’ll be a Niagara Falls MUSEUM!!! A girl can dream…

SIDE NOTE: Speaking of being geeky – I found out tonight that Darryl is a fellow Sci-Fi fan. We clearly have to get in a nerdy Sci-Fi night in before I leave – that’s all there is to it. We’ve even both read ‘Logan’s Run’ as kids and both agreed that it influenced us in interesting ways… Scary… :)P

ANYhoo – back to the recording… It was SO nice to put the stamp of approval on the bass track thing. I tell you, there is nothing more intimidating and humbling than having to listen to everything you played, note by note with your fellow musicians listening in… Definitely a challenge to the ego… And the patience… And the ear… Granted, I felt fairly good about the majority of what was laid down, but there were a few moments when I felt like, “What the HELL was that?! I mean, what possessed you to play THAT?! I think you should chuck the bass and take up a career playing the Vibra-Goiiiiing.”

So now maybe you’re asking yourself, ‘What’s a Vibra-Goiiiiing ™?’ Hmmmm… And with that, I introduce you to yet ANOTHER of my new nicknames… (Enter trumpet fanfare *here*)

I am VIBRA GIRL! ™ (More fanfare, please)

Okay – so, that name could cover many situations… Whatever. Get your mind out of the gutters!! :)P The name is “officially” based on my new, favorite percussion toy. As none of us can remember the actual name of the toy, I have chosen to call it the ‘Vibra Goiiiiing.’ ™ So there. It’s basically a piece of metal on a stick with two, wooden beaters on either side. To play it, you hold back the piece of metal with your thumb and let it go against the beaters. It then produces a great, “Goiiiiing” sound. Kind of like you’re in an old, Looney Tunes cartoon and you’ve just bonked your head against something...

Suffice it to say, I love the Vibra Goiiiiing. ™ I even suggested that it be put on EVERY track of the album, but that didn’t seem to sit well with the rest of the band. I even gave a LOVELY concert demonstrating my skill and it still didn’t sway them… Sigh… And then I was given an official lesson on technique from Michelle and they STILL didn’t budge… What the hell?! Oh, but Carrie DID feel the need to get the whole, lovely performance on video. Great. It is my opinion my Vibra Goiiiiing ™ performances are better heard than seen. I’m just sayin’.

Oooo, and regarding the beginning of the Vibra Goiiiiing ™ era, I am reminded of how we spent our post Vibra Goiiiiing ™ evening….

After finishing up the percussion tracks, Michelle decided to call it a night. However, since Darryl had been drinking gin and Carrie had recently coined me as ‘Vibra Girl ™’ we weren’t in the mood to slow the party down. Darryl coyly let us know there were still bars open in the area and that last call wasn’t for another half hour. “Uhhh, okay – Let’s GO!” (Clearly a hard sell….)

Another side note: By this point in time, we had run out of beer. What the hell?! And since you can’t buy beer, wine, etc. in grocery or convenience stores, we were just waaaay outtta luck. It was either get in the car FAST and make it to the pub for last call or resign ourselves to a night of Canada Dry. And I don’t mean the ginger ale…

So yeah, we got in the car FAST…

A few minutes later, Darry, Tracy, Carrie, Greg and I piled into the local, late night pub. Ahhh, ‘Shoeless Joes’, we love ya! ‘Shoeless Joes’ is the pub open latest in the area. In Seattle, last call sometimes comes as early as 12:30. Not the case in Canada! Last call wasn’t until 2:00am at ol’ Shoeless Joes. WOO! Soooo, we found a nice table and ordered a couple of pitchers and a few shots. The night was still young. We were pseudo rockstars out on the town! Kick ass!

The pub had a sort of sports bar kind of vibe. However, there were no football or basketball banners hung on the wall, no. We’re in the Great White North! This is HOCKEY country! There were Toronto Maple Leaf banners hung up everywhere and I just really wanted it to be snowy out! I’d really love to see this area in the winter time… Especially on the lake that we’re on… I guess the whole thing freezes over in the winter and you can walk all the way across it AND skate on it! COOL! Literally… Bahhahahahahahaha… ANYhooo – I’m sure that it’s beautiful. Hey – and HERE’S an interesting factoid: .03 percent of all Canadian traffic accidents involve a moose… FYI. (I learned this from reading a magazine that I picked up at THE BEER STORE...)

So, after we finished up at Joe’s, we returned home. Ohhh, hey – and look what was waiting for us?!?! More episodes of Carnivale… Ohhh, sweet, sweet Carnivale… What will we do when you are gone?! I hasten to think…

Hmmm – what else today…. Well, we started out the day by going out for lunch and stopping for some errands on the way home. (aka BEER) After we finished up editing my bass tracks, we enjoyed some more of Tracy’s AWESOME cooking and watched some more Carnivale… Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed a GIANT bottle of Stella… And others…

Oh, and for the record, Greg and I outlasted everyone tonight. We’ve normally been staying up until at least 3:00ish and last night until 4:45am, but tonight was more of an early night for everyone. Maybe they were all worn out from my Vibra Goiiiiing ™ playing… Whatever… At any rate, Greg and I stayed up and watched a fabulous documentary by Ron Mann called, ‘Grass.’ It’s a documentary depicting the perception and understanding of Marijuana in regards to American history and politics. Regardless of what side you represent, it’s a fascinating and entertaining look on the history of the subject. I highly recommend it.

Alright, well I guess I should try to get some sleep – it’s 4:30 in the morning… WOO! Hey – but the way I look at it is that I’ll be right on track when I return home in a few days. Oooo, and maybe I’ll even be able to get to work EARLY! You never know, it could happen… :)P

Sigh… And on another note, it’s very odd to be out of the country when something major is going down. It really never ceases to amaze and sadden me at how much less sensationalized the news of our country is when presented outside of our borders. No blazing banners and theme songs to serve up with the coverage of destruction… No FOX news… (Good.) Just seems a little more unbiased when presented through the eyes of others… And not that they aren’t taking it seriously over here – they are. What is going on in our country right now, however, doesn’t need a flashy banner and theme song. It demeans the seriousness of the situation and reduces it to entertainment. My opinion…

Well, on a happier vibe, I hope that you are all doing well and that you will all meet me for a drink when I return home. And if you’re lucky, I’ll give you a private Vibra Goiiiiing ™ concert for your efforts…

Stay gold!

Vibra Girl ™