melodyisageek

Thursday, I had a (easy, and fun to write!) exam at 9. I got a wake-up call at 8, and got to the exam with time to spare.

In the evening, I go to a major performance for some friends from school at the Music Gallery. Afterwards, grab some late-night Chinese with two guys (one performer, one mathematician/musician from school). Get in around 1, bed at 3, which is pretty reasonable for my standards as of late.

Friday: Sleep in until FOUR. That's THIRTEEN HOURS OF SLEEP, WHAT THE HELL. Go to Music Gallery again since I got free tickets. After concert finished around 10, head into the Rex to see the Montreal trio Fieldtrip, and sit with three other jazz musicians from school. Watch first set (after paying 8 dollars cover mind you), and soon get a text at exactly 11:07 saying roughly "TTC is striking at midnight. Get moving NOW or find a place to crash." Ass is thereby saved, and we quickly say goodbye to Kelly Jefferson (best saxophonist in Canada, was guesting with Fieldtrip. Total sweetheart, and much-loved jazz theory prof.) and sprint to the subway. Arrive at Downsview (last station on the line) at exactly 11:45. See some buses pulling in and out, but more that say "NOT IN SERVICE" already. Announcements say that the Sheppard line (about a twenty minute busride away from Downsview station) has already stopped running, despite the strike beginning at 12 (this is the major public transit system of the third-largest city in North America, and serves 1.5 million people a day). Wait until 11:55 for the 106 (TTC route that services York U), before giving up and "getting on" the Martin Grove Viva (York region rapid bus transit). Follow one friend onto the bus, assume the other two guys are right behind us. walk to the middle of the bus, hear the doors close, and see our friends standing outside, looking in, with at least five other people as the bus pulls away. Approximately 12 o'clock, aka last Viva run and official beginning of the strike. Apparently, the bus was "full". There were only three people standing, and at least three empty seats. We could have fit another twenty, AT LEAST onto the (always drastically underserviced) Viva bus.

I would like to note that, unlike a lot of people at the moment, I do remain very pro-union. However, I also believe that (like the previous calls for strike), the TTC should have to stick to the 48 hours notice of any strike. Whether or not they've yet to be declared an "essential service" they are responsible for moving 1.5 MILLION people on a daily basis, and it's downright dangerous to strand so many people without warning, especially on a Friday night. 48 MINUTES warning is NOT sufficient.

Anyhow. My extremely disjointed, pseudo-pointform writing style is clearly indicative of how fucked up my body clock is. I'm going to sleep.

ALSO: this is my last day in Toronto. Moving back to Ottawa tomorrow, guys. I think this is going to be my last Ottawa summer for a while, it makes a lot more sense to start laying down some permanent roots in Toronto, and this city is really growing on me. (I no longer qualify that with "like a tumour", which is indicative in and of itself how much I really love this city.)

SLEEP. Please? I'm going to cry if my dad decides it's a good idea to leave Ottawa at 4AM tomorrow like he seems to enjoy.

One other note: Has LJ always had the "Adult Content" drop-down menu, or is this some crazy new way of censoring?

I am going to let this video speak for itself, for it is GLORIOUS.

An open letter to the two guys drinking wine straight from the bottle, yelling "NATALIE!" and throwing rocks at the girl's window:

It's quarter to fucking five. It seems like she's actually awake now, and you seem to have just left, but security was totally just called. Shut up. For future reference, get the person's frigging room number if you need to wake them up any time after midnight.

Irritated,
Me

---

An open letter to myself:

No matter how sleepy you are at a concert, order a large americano which consists of two shots of espresso (I didn't realize until after I ordered that it wasn't a single-shot), is never a good idea. Never. The general idea is not to become increasingly nocturnal, and you were doing so well, having gone to bed before 2 the past two nights.

Double americano. Seriously, what was I thinking? In my defense, I only got home around 2:30. I thought I felt the coffee wear off as I was leaving the show, but apparently not.)

Also? Having a snack when I get home is one thing. But when that snack is a decent portion of chocolate chip banana bread, the sugar hit is probably just going to work in tandem with that ridiculous double americano. Next time, just have a bowl of cereal.

With much caffeine,
Me

---

An open letter to York security:

It's nice to see that there's people taking calls after 4 in the morning, and I lovelovelove having the PWOs watching the entrance to the residence after the porters go off duty. Seriously, York, this security should have been added years ago.

However, I was kind of hoping I would hear the two wine-swilling idiots standing in front of my room get busted by security, which totally didn't happen. Maybe I should have asked the PWO to put in a call a few minutes earlier, but seriously, had they been doing something dangerous as opposed to slightly obnoxious, a more prompt response would have been nice. It's been over ten minutes and I haven't seen anyone without a bottle of wine outside. Don't you have cars?

Somewhat concerned,
Me

---

An open letter to Mozart:

I don't like you very much. I've played some of your compositions, and they have an annoying tendency of nestling into my head, and not going away. And no, this is not enjoyable. However, I give you grudging respect for being the archetypal composer (except perhaps Haydn) of the classical period, and having the balls to leave a cushy gig and go freelance in Vienna. Also, there's a handful of compositions I don't mind, mainly the Requiem and the opening of the Dissonance quartet.

However, I'm hoping that you'll work in my favour tonight. That double espresso is still haunting me, and I would like to sleep soon. I'm hoping the readings about you and daddy dearest in my textbook will be sufficient to fight off the caffeine now.

Hopefully,
Me

I present to you: gamelan degung.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6370077DhbkNSQ3

Edit: fine people, ask me about the sanity of mystery people named Arick, and comment on icons of random butt-grab (?), but don't bother actually glancing at the video. :P

*not upset, just snarking*

Nooooo, the only sane girl of the two first years in the double room in my suite just moved out. I asked her if she knew when the other girl and she agrees that she's quite horrid was leaving, and she said probably not until next week.

Dammit.

Let operation: Pretend I really just live in Kensington Market and spend as little time as possible in North York commence as soon as I get better.

I need to find myself an excellent coffee shop downtown where I can people-watch and study all day. Any suggestions? (Yes, I realize it would make more sense not to spend an hour in transit each way to go study music history, but dammit, I want to enjoy myself.)

ARGH I CAN'T STUDY for the worst class that's offered in the entire undergraduate Faculty of Fine arts WHEN I'M STILL SICK AND TRYING TO COUGH UP A LUNG.

...

However, I can abuse caps locks quite freely when I'm sick.

Also? Plenty of violent thoughts in the general direction of one of my suitemates, who feels it's suitable to complain loudly about having to study "lezzies" for the same exam (different section, we have different lecturers, not that she's spoken to me over the past flippin' eight months) when she's a freaking theater major surrounded by her gay MALE friends. Of course, I've overheard her say in the past something along the lines of "I LOVE *** guy. It makes me so sad that he's gay, because I'd love to date him, he's not at all like those other gay guys." I wish I could put all the stupid crap she and her friends (ALWAYS in her room. Why can't they visit other dorm rooms for variety? Yeesh.) into context, but I tend to block it out and turn up the least listener-friendly music as soon as they start babbling like that.

Ruhee's suggested response to their earlier complaints about "lezzies" was to stroll into their room and casually ask whether they've seen my strap-on. So much win.

I am seriously considering applying for this next summer. It's pretty much exactly what I've been looking into for grad school, and the price is on par with any study abroad programs that York offers.

Now, to learn Spanish.

http://www.pucp.edu.pe/dric/fieldschool/03s.html

So, Lorne Lofsky, Barry Elmes (I'm surprised he even knows my name, given that he's notorious for forgetting people's names), and Barry Romberg all just told me I played very well tonight.


Head asplode.

OK, so I'm far from being either an electrician or a plumber, but it seems to me that there's something wrong with my suite's washroom. Does it strike anyone else as strange that, since housing last replaced the light bulb, there has been a tendency for the light to turn itself of shortly after flushing the toilet? Though I lack the aforementioned qualifications, I'm still quite certain that this shouldn't happen.


Edit: Despite my tendency to just post brief random thoughts lately, for the sake of LJ-ness, here's what I did this weekend in summary:
Pulled all-nighter on harmony, agreed to play some Bartok with my prof in my music history class (this coming after a Steve Reich performance in tutorial on Tuesday), crashed in my room and slept through my friends' All You Can Eat Friday performance, planned to go downtown despite the snowstorm and catch the Laura Barrett in store at Soundscapes and my other friends in Diapason at the Music Gallery, saw Laura Barrett, Diapason was canceled, and never made it to the second All You Can Eat because the College street car did not come for over an hour because of the snowstorm before I came back. I am now debating whether to go get chili at the pub or make banana bread on my very exciting snowed-in Saturday night. Tomorrow will be filled with the excitement of a rehearsal for Anything Goes. Sarcasm intended. (Whyyyy isn't this a paying gig? The things I do for resume-building...)

Not everyone is as meticulous about tagging music as I am, apparently. Dear random iTunes people: What you have tagged as "Bob Marley" shits all over Bob Marley. There's a few tracks in there that are legit, but NO, Bob Marley NEVER covered Hotel California. Yeesh.

Shared iTunes exploring is far more entertaining than harmony takehomes. Lobotomy would probably be more entertaining as well, but I imagine the end result is pretty much the same.

Is it third year yet? Can I just skip the whole summer back in Ottawa and live in downtown Toronto? This is getting tedious.

Edit: Fatboy Slim (or whatever horrible remixer was tagged as Fatboy Slim), was it REALLY necessary to do that to poor Bob? How can you ruin source material that's so flawless?

( Edit again: This is how I keep myself amused at 6AM... )

Apparently I no longer sleep on Sunday nights, and yet, I don't even feel tired.

This can't be healthy.

I passed up my mother's offer to pay bus fair to go to Ottawa this weekend to attend the Sun Conference at Carleton (aboriginal arts, from what I gather), in part to attend the pow wow at York. I just got back from there, after disconnectedly watching Lisa Odjig's amazing hoop dancing performance, trying to figure out how I fit into this culture. Despite all my talk of doing grad work in ethnomusicology studying contemporary aboriginal culture, citing all of these aboriginal authors and filmmakers among my 'favourites', occasionally volunteering with Red Sky and Native Women In The Arts, and plastering a "Make First Nations Poverty History" sign in my window onto the street, where the fuck do I fit into this? I'm stuck in my academic arts crap, on my way downtown to buy a violin pickup for a fucking Steve Reich performance, and standing at the pow wow just feeling numb, wondering whether there's underlying misogyny in only having male singers at pow wow. Who the fuck am I? I pretty much ran back to my room to grab my copy of "Making Space For Indigenous Feminism" to read on the bus and try to re-situate myself. Fuck, I'm not making any sense, but I need to write something down so I can try to clarify whatever the fuck it is I'm trying to get at. Just as long as I don't start crying on the bus.

See Melody procrastinate.

Procrastinate, Melody, procrastinate!

Melody is hungry.

Eat soy yoghurt, Melody, eat!

---

Christian Howes has eaten my brain. Not in a zombie-like manner, but in a manner of me losing any coherent thought. I can't wait until I get started on the Billy Bang transcription...

I'm not sure what's stranger: the article that KC just emailed me from a 1983 New York Times (WHAT she was researching, I have no idea, but her degree is based in digging up obscure articles, so I'm not going to ask.) theorizing that Shostakovich received inspiration for his compositions from a piece of German shrapnel embedded in his brain during a battle in Leningrad; and that a portion of his compositions were ghost-written as propaganda while he recovered

...

Or that Google's ads are offering me flights to the Soviet Union. I dare not ask.

Communal toasters are highly inefficient at properly toasting bread. Half of my bread tasting like burning, and the other half tastes like soggy. Yuck.

I seem to post about bread on a semi regular basis, but really have nothing more insightful to say. I'm going to shuffle over to the library and take out a cool book on extended violin technique now. Aw yeah.

Also, I'm interviewed/filmed by a friend of my mother's for a documentary of some form on artists of Metis/mixed aboriginal heritage? More panicking on this to come.

I just figured out NOW that you actually can save articles in JSTOR, as opposed to opening them up page by freaking page and printing off JPGs. Great timing.

Yeah, I'm just about to start writing the paper, up until this point, I've been compiling sources and notes into a word document. Now, to condense 11 pages (single-spaced) of quotations in one 5-7 (double-spaced) essay... by 2:30. Woohoo! Ah well, at least it's a short paper. I'll show my TA theorists this time. *shakes fist*

I hate this class. This paper could be far more interesting if I'm not about to spend half of it babbling about discourse. Ugh.

Edit: However, in a more positive light, RefWorks is absolutely wonderful. Now that I'm finished with that for the moment, back to my self-imposed Internet exile. I think I might let Sami Jo keep my Ethernet cable for a while and see how that works out, haha.

but I am going to let this article speak for itself. It is very good.

http://www.luakabop.com/david_byrne/cmp/worldmusic.html

---

Unrelated, but I am starting drum lessons next week with Barry Romberg. Exciting! Also exciting is that a friend gave me her pass for the IAJE conference; effectively saving me 200 bucks. (She got in free for performing). Tomorrow, there will be jazz, and lots of it.

I just bought return airfare from Toronto to Ottawa with Air Canada for February 8th to February 17th for $115. Fare was 20 each way before factoring in the surcharges. Aw yeah. That's cheaper than the train! Marginally pricier than the Greyhound, especially once you factor in taxi fair, but still. This rocks.

(apparently I didn't actually post what's written above last night. Doing so now, but adding...)




This is the single creepiest thing I've ever watched.

I was NOT expecting to be assaulted with a hair metal backing track when I chose a random empty track on my looping pedal. At all. I felt like I was temporarily caught in a game of Guitar Hero.

What is the point of a full-band backing track on a looping pedal, anyways? I realize some people use them as a practice tool, but I was under the impression that guitarists record the rhythm tracks themselves. Anyways.

I think I'm going to play drums instead. No risk of hair metal assault.


*** This is what I'm talking about, by the way. Coolest Christmas present ever. http://www.bossus.com/index.asp?pg=1&tmp=137

I may as well make some sort of effort to create a year end list, but I'm still trying to catch up like crazy on everything that's come out this year. My biggest musical discovery was Mihirangi - Kulcha Nation (saw her twice at the Bluesfest and was blown away), but alas, that was released in 2006 and therefore gets an honourable mention.

I might be able to narrow these down at some point, but for now, I'm just going to sort into some vague groups.

1. Stuff I really like!
Radiohead - In Rainbows (Hyped, but I love 15 Step too much not to include. Both albums are really solid.)
Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim (I saw the screening of Heim, but haven't heard the album yet. BRILLIANT film.)
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above (Most intricately produced indie I've ever heard; really unique group. My next project is to properly listen to the Black Flag album that Rise Above was inspired by.)
Tomahawk - Anonymous (Not only does it have Mike Patton, but it's an alternative metal interpretation of 19th century native songs. I could happily write a thesis based on this album, and I just may.)
Bjork - Volta (I'm surprised this album didn't get more attention, but it's great!)
Akron/Family - Love Is Simple (Ed Is A Portal might be my song of the year)
The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain (I'm not just biased because they're from Ottawa; it wouldn't be a stretch to call this my favourite indie album of all time. Fantastic concept, huge leap from their earlier work, and bonus points for marimba. This is the lead contender for my album of the year.)
Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Holy Fuck
Battles - Mirrored (By far the catchiest and most distinctive album I've heard this year. Fuels my insomnia, but in the best way possible.)
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta! (Nothing groundbreaking, but a solid album from the most FUN band I've ever seen.)
Autorickshaw - So The Journey Goes (My other contender for album of the year. Breathtaking fusion of styles.)
Ulver - Shadows of the Sun
Buck 65 - Situation
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (Not as strong as their earlier albums, but nonetheless plenty of moments of brilliance from Steven Wilson and Co.)
Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring EP (I prefer this over Fear of a Blank Planet. Four fantastic songs, easily some of their best work.)
Devin Townsend - Ziltoid The Omniscient (What else to expect from one of the most idiosyncratic and talented men in metal but a concept album about a time-travelling alien in search of the perfect cup of coffee? After a few more listens, this will probably round out my top three. I mean c'mon... COFFEE! On first listen, it's not his strongest work, but it's not a fair comparison to previous albums since this is ALL DEVIN. Amazing solo effort.)
Efterklang - Parades (This album merits many repeat listens, and I find something new every time. Very distinctive sound. Another competitor for the top 3)
Caribou - Andorra (The best description I could come up for this the other day was had Vaughan Williams decided, instead of writing The Lark Ascending, to sit down with a laptop and create the perfect pop album. Mind you, I'm a huge violin nerd, but "the perfect pop album" still fits.)
J'envoie
The Bad Plus - Prog (No one does jazz covers better than them, except maybe Brad Mehldau, and their originals are stellar compositions.)

Stuff I need to give further listens to:
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?; Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity; LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver; Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam; Grizzly Bear - Friend EP; Jesu - Lifeline; Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover; M.I.A. - Kala; Low - Drums and Guns; Eluvium - Copia; !!! - Myth Takes; Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha; Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments; Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone; BSS Presents Kevin Drew - Spirit If...;
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky; Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara; Jesu - Conquerer; Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works; Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quintet - Se Dice Bistone, No Bufalo; Melt-Banana - Bambi's Dilemma; The Polyphonic Spree - Fragile Army; Miles Davis - Complete On the Corner Sessions; Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand; Herbie Hancock - River: The Joni Letters; Angela Hewitt - Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier (and other Hewitt releases this year?)

I think Boris brought some stuff out as well this year? Yeah, I've got a lot of catching up to do.