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 ™