One Little Song

Forwarding Address

2008-11-03T18:37:00.001-08:00

Looks like future lack-of-posting is going to happen at: onelittlesong.net

One More Day

2008-09-13T09:18:00.002-07:00

I think the posting hiatus will probably continue for another couple weeks, but this was too good to miss:

Hmmmm

2008-08-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hey, what's this!!?!?

... well, it’s something I’ve set up for a project I’m trying to work on this month. Depending how much I like it, I may decide to relocate over there. But for now, I’ll just continue not posting here!

Saturday is YouTube Day

2008-07-19T16:35:00.001-07:00

No real theme this week except for ‘things that I’ve been listening to recently’. First up, Willie Nelson’s collaboration with Wynton Marsalis’ band, Two Men With The Blues. It’s a really interesting album, that works a lot better than I thought it would at first. Here’s “Georgia On My Mind”:

Next up is a band I had convinced myself that I didn’t like for some reason or another, but actually realized I did like once I sat down and actually listened to them. Here’s Wolf Parade’s “Kissing The Beehive”:

Finally, I couldn’t go too long without something from PJ/MMJ/The Who, so here’s Eddie Vedder and Pete Townshend performing “Heart To Hang Onto”:

There's a bit of backstory for that last one here if you're interested.

A Quick One For Christie

2008-07-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

I promised someone I’d put something up here since there’s been so much nothing lately, so here’s something I think she’d enjoy: Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog. That link might only work until tomorrow.

No One's Ever Hacked the Internet Before

2008-07-07T09:42:00.001-07:00

I wasn’t crazy about the recent Transformers movie, though a lot of my friends loved it. I think a lot of it had to do with the script’s relentless exploitation of every cheesy action movie cliché: the beautiful blonde who’s also the world’s foremost computer hacker, the no-nonsense soldier who doesn’t have time for some bureaucrat’s regulations, etc., etc. This parody script, imagining if Michael Bay (the director of Transformers) wrote The Dark Knight gets it pretty well, and is pretty funny to boot:

George Carlin, RIP

2008-06-23T13:18:00.002-07:00

Saw this quote floating around:

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating …and you finish off as an orgasm. -- George Carlin

EDIT: Turns out it's not actually his.

Cello Cello Cello Cello Cello Cello (Cello Cello)

2008-06-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

I think, since we’ve had videos by The Who, My Morning Jacket, and Pearl Jam on here, I’m somewhat obligated to post this clip of My Morning Jacket with Eddie Vedder performing “A Quick One While He’s Away”:

I think it captures a lot of what’s awesome about MMJ: huge amounts of rocking out coupled with quite a bit of silliness. Their new album Evil Urges came out a few days ago, and is also pretty awesome.

On To November

2008-06-04T10:54:00.001-07:00

What to say? A huge, important moment for America and the rest of the world.

Hmmm

2008-05-26T16:00:00.001-07:00

I don’t seem to have much to say these days! I’ve seen this in a lot of places though, and it really is pretty cool:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

SMIIIITTTTTHHHH

2008-05-09T14:03:00.002-07:00

You’ll rue the day.

Another Year...

2008-05-01T20:47:00.001-07:00

Five years ago today...

GO HABS GO

2008-04-26T15:01:00.001-07:00

The playoffs are here in Montreal, and there’s tons of energy in the streets. I’ve abandoned (for now) my beloved Canucks and hopped on the Habs bandwagon. All that’s just an excuse to post one of my favourite clips from Slapshot...

Remixes

2008-04-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Thomas Dolby remixing Radiohead - how cool is that?

Saturday is YouTube Day

2008-04-19T12:05:00.002-07:00

...Special ‘Vancouver or associated-with-Vancouver artists only’ day. Alright! Here’s the New Pornographers...

And Black Mountain...

And Devin Townsend!

p.s. Today is Record Store Day. I think I'll wander over to Zulu Records.

Danny Federici, RIP

2008-04-18T08:28:00.002-07:00

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2008-04-15T10:16:00.001-07:00

The view from the entrance of the new apartment:

Apparently Diploidy Is The Way To Go

2008-04-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

I’d wondered a few times over the last few years what had happened to the research project I worked on back as an undergrad. It being a very small world, I ended up meeting the person who took over the project and found out that it eventually got published in PLoS Genetics - and I’m even in the acknowledgments. Cool!

Where to Buy Whore Presents?

2008-04-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

Great list of domain-names-gone-wrong.

D.R.Adams Films Inc.

2008-04-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

Ryan Adams is now blogging from the perspective of his computer over at D.R. Adams Films Inc. The blog itself is kinda interesting if you’re into his work, but it’s mostly just pictures of him hanging around in his apartment, half-done songs, puppet theatre, etc.

Sunday is Not YouTube Day

2008-04-06T16:33:00.001-07:00

...but I was away yesterday, so I thought I’d write this today instead.

I’ve been working a fair bit recently getting a bit better at fingerstyle guitar. I’ve always loved the sound of it - at first it sounds so complex, notes coming from all over the place. But after a bit of listening, the patterns emerge.

One of the most predominant styles is called ‘Travis Picking’, after the late Merle Travis. The defining characteristics of the style are the alternating bass (played with the thumb), and the melody and accompaniment played on the upper strings with the other fingers.

Here’s a compilation of Merle Travis songs:

And here’s an absolutely stunning tribute to Townes Van Zandt, called “Ft. Worth Blues”, written and performed by Steve Earle:

And finally, Josh Ritter’s “The Temptation of Adam”:

His Name Is Jonas!?!?!

2008-04-01T12:36:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the world Jonas Hendrix Smith, born to my good friends Clarke and Leanne on March 31st! He joins his big brother Julian Bowie in having a great, rock-inspired name. Here’s Weezer’s “My Name Is Jonas”:

Mucking Things Up

2008-03-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

There’s a new site called Muxtape that lets you make online mixtapes to share with your friends and random strangers - seems like a cool idea!

I put together a quick mix to try it out - it’s definitely fun to think of different themes to organize a tape around. My first muxtape can be found at http://onelittlesong.muxtape.com , and, if you’re RSS-savvy, you can get updates here.

This first set of songs has the boring theme of ‘My Favourite Artists Who Are Still Active (or Who Are Recently Deceased)’. Here we go:

• Wilco - ‘Misunderstood’ (from Being There)
• Pearl Jam - ‘Marker In The Sand’ (from Pearl Jam)
• Band of Horses - ‘Monsters’ (from Everything All The Time)
• Josh Ritter - ‘To The Dogs Or Whoever’ (from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter)
• The Decemberists - ‘After The Bombs’ (from The Crane Wife - b-sides)
• Iron & Wine / Calexico - ‘History Of Lovers’ (from In The Reins)
• Elliott Smith - ‘Whatever (Folk Song in C)’ (from New Moon)
• Queens of the Stone Age - ‘Regular John’ (from Queens of the Stone Age)
• Radiohead - ‘Reckoner’ (from In Rainbows)
• Neko Case - ‘Star Witness’ (from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood)
• M. Ward - ‘Radio Campaign’ (from Transistor Radio)
• Gillian Welch - ‘I Made A Lover’s Prayer’ (from Soul Journey)

I’ll probably leave this one up for a week or two, then replace it with the next theme: Songs About Space. Or a different theme, if anyone has a strong opinion!

Recently

2008-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Katie Loves Pain did indeed play their final show a little while ago, and it went off quite well. Kristine St-Pierre opened the show, with a surprisingly good-looking backing band (featuring Shawn and Katie of KLP on guitar and violoin, and me on drums). Due to the layout of the venue, I was actually playing the drums sitting in the middle of the crowd!

For our final show as KLP, we wanted to have a lot of fun with the audience. Some of our biggest fans have been requesting AC/DC and Bon Jovi covers for months, so we happily obliged them with “Dirty Deeds” and “Livin’ On A Prayer”. We were thrilled to see people coming out in home-made AC/DC t-shirts, and in one case, even shaving “AC/DC” into their heads!

Sound-wise, it probably wasn’t our best outing - we were quite cramped, and the sound of the various instruments was inconsistent through the evening. In the end though, I think everyone had a good time. I played a lot of drums during the show, which I really enjoy - something about not actually knowing what I’m supposed to be doing, and relying mostly on intuition makes it a really fun challenge.

Last Saturday, we were in Ottawa, helping Kristine audition for the Ottawa folk festival. Ironically, our audition took place at Rasputin’s Folk Café, located a block away from the apartment I lived in when I first moved out East a few years ago. Our set there went well, though the talent level at the auditions was pretty impressive. If we make it the next round, we’ll be playing at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa - how Canadian Idol of us!

O Danny Boy, O Boy O boy

2008-03-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patricks!

Hopefully we’ll return to our regular schedule of infrequent posting soon.