kettunainen, posts by tag: music - LiveJournal

oh last.fm, why must you be so moody? I got two songs out of you and now you won't play anything. :(

*sigh*

should I try iTunes radio? *looks at streams available*

*sigh*

I want dubstep and downtempo, which seems to be too obscure for iTunes. alas, my life is woe. *hand to forehead*

I think Neil Young is kinda whiny. Brilliant... but whiny nevertheless.



And I'm embarrassed to admit that I recently mistook Bono for Bowie.

The first was a duet between Bono and Leonard Cohen that I'd never heard before. Bono wasn't belting it out like he can, so it just really wasn't apparent to me that it was him. Boy did he ever sound like Bowie to me, though. (*hides*)

Then, several days later, I heard a U2 song I didn't recognize. I tried to see if I could find the Bowie in Bono's voice and there it was again, until he started belting it out, at which point, it became obvious who it was.

Very, very strange.

This is the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. "Many of the orchestra's 250 young members, ages 16 to 22, have overcome tough circumstances in the barrios of Venezuela to pursue a career in music and have intense personal stories about how music has made a difference in their lives..." Read More

And the conductor? If only we all had his energy. I'm grateful for it on this dreary Friday afternoon.

The plan was to head down to Cherry Beach for promise, a electronica event, running from 3-11 today. We went once last summer and had a fantastic time, so we thought we'd try it out again. The Smallest had a pair of toddler-sized, sound-muffling headphones borrowed from my friend. No need to worry about the bass killing his ear drums and giving him future speech problems. We put together a picnic dinner, got the picnic blanket, all our fun gear (hoop, poi, etc.), and set out.

We waited AN HOUR for the bus from Union Station to Cherry Beach. No explanation. Sunday service runs every half hour and that's what holiday service is supposed to mimic.

The new location is a 10-minute walk from the old location.

The new location is spot in the middle of a pasture area, which means native flora and fauna are getting trampled and terrorized with each step and each throb of bass.

We I saw two children. Last year, there were families everywhere.

There were no safe places to sit, as every single person around us, no matter where we went, was smoking.

There was blatant alcohol, despite a no alcohol policy.

We forged through the crowd feeling Very Out of Place, whereas last year, we felt like we'd found our long lost tribe.

We followed the crowd and left the path because we (meaning us and the group of people we happened to be walking near) were told that that's where the party was. We ended up trekking through a jungle, complete with gnarled, muddied roots to trip over and plants so high I could only see sky around me. I did not sign on for this.

Why is hip-hop following me around? From the time we arrived to the time we left (all of maybe 30 minutes), there was a female artist rapping (or whatever the hip-hop version thereof is called) the whole time. Great! That takes talent and she was good. But it's not my style of music and it's not what I came to listen to.

By this point, I've had to pee since we got on the subway.

We decide to set up the picnic blanket away from the music and smoke, only to discover, after we'd already begun eating, that we'd somehow managed to find ourselves directly over fire-ant central. Maybe they were just aggressive red ants -- no actual bites -- but I didn't want to find out for sure. The blanket was covered on both sides with red ants. Ugh.

We trek back to the beach to finish our dinner there. As we left, good music came on, but the cigarette/pot smoke kept me from wanting to go back.

N settled on the beach with the boy and I went to find the washroom. And there. was. no. toilet. paper. or soap. OMFG.

Came back to blanket after rinsing my pee-covered hand, only to nearly get clothes-lined by a falling kite.

Discovered the Smallest gleefully kicking sand all over the blanket, refusing to stop or to clean up after himself. Colour me seriously unimpressed. Sand in my food? Not what I needed right then.

We almost got hit with a volleyball 4 times and there was a frisbee that was in dangerously close proximity.

The moon was nice.

And soon after, we found a used needle (sans actual needle) in the sand.

Once we decided to leave, our day went incredibly smoothly. Too bad it was after 9pm at that point.

Am I just not supposed to experience electronica right now? Is that what this is? Someone, please tell me so that I can stop trying and save myself the agony of defeat.

*had planned to go to a maple syrup farm with outcastspice and hub, but was rained out. went to Science Centre instead. Woohoo! Need to look into a family membership.

*have now attended two saturday nights of 'freestyle' drumming at WCC temple. Last night was a one-on-one session with G, since everyone else was at a ritual. He seemed shocked to discover that last night was only about my 5th time drumming and said about three or four times that I will make an excellent drummer. Sweet!

*waited too long this evening to make bread and have discovered that it takes about 3-4 hours for the loaves to rise. It's midnight and I have a half hour left on the oven timer. Urgh. But I'll have two more loaves after that, which will make a total of 6 that I've baked. I baked 3 & 4 yesterday, but we blew through one loaf today because it was so good, so I had to make more.

*have started a 'bread diary' to help me figure out how to make better bread.

*am looking into taking dance lessons from this place. I have the cash (kinda barely), but do I have the stamina to make the time for it? I like my downtime, but maybe this will help energize me so that I don't miss the downtime... Plus, cardio with gorgeous rhythms.

*spent Friday evening helping misslynx organize her apartment. she introduced me to Last.fm. it is pure win.

*discovered a scholarly article on ashé, which is sorta the Yoruban version of ch'i. It's really a fascinating article and is helping to round out my understanding of Yoruban cosmology, with which I am currently quite taken.

*soon there needs to be a photo post. I have bread, tidy dreads, and my ever-growing marvel of a son to show off.

Saint Helen, a local chica who's just getting her musical feet wet, is playing at the Cameron House on Tuesday:

Tuesday, February 3
The Cameron House
408 Queen St. W
(one block west of spadina on queen)
in the back room
9pm The Neil Young'uns
10pm Saint Helen

We heard her play at the last circus jam, and she's quirky and fun. Interesting vocals and a good beat. I was hoping she had a cd, but she's NEW, so no cd yet. I left her my email and she just dropped me a line today to tell me about Tuesday's show. Now that I know how to stalk her, I can bug her periodically about getting a cd made. I want one!

If you can make her show, go! If you can spread the word, please do.

He's walking now. Pretty much full time, too. Yay! I thought he'd be an early walker because I was and so was optimystik, and because he was an early crawler (5.5 months!). But his crawling was too efficient for him to give a shit about other modes of transportation. At least he took his first step about a week before his first birthday. That makes me happy.

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He's learning to feed himself with a spoon. It's definitely slow-going. He is full of hugs and sunshine (when he's well-rested and not teething), and he's a total ham for the camera. Oh, teeth. Still has only the top four and bottom four. Three molars are bulging beneath the surface, though. ugh. And his teething necklace broke after about a year of hardcore wear and tear. A new one is on its way to us and I hope it gets here soon.

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He's growing like crazy and needs cold weather gear now. We just ordered rain/snow boots, but he could use a rain suit, a winter coat, a snowsuit and new wool shoes for dry, cold days. No child left indoors, you see. I wonder if Value Village is worth a look. Our local Goodwill doesn't have much and isn't well-organized at all. And craigslist is hit and miss... It's very exasperating trying to buy used. Oh well. We do what we can.

He tried colouring with crayons last week. Not quite what I was expecting: a very light touch. Too light, mostly. We'll try again in a few days. Yesterday was his first go at fingerpainting. He seemed to enjoy it, especially once he realised that the paint didn't come off his fingers when he flicked his wrist, and even more so when he realised that he could put the paint on other parts of his body (we stripped him down for this experiment!). He created two pieces and there will be plenty more in the future. Lots of fun, that was.


I'm totally in love with this little creature. He astounds me and surprises me in so many marvelous ways. As frustrating and relentless as full-time parenting can be, it's also amazing and joyous. I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Journeying through each day with him is the most fulfilling and most satisfying use of my time. Maybe someday I'll go back to school to learn something useful to make money at, but not right now. I'm having too much fun!

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

-Rabindranath Tagore

Set to music in the original Bengali by Garry Schyman and sung by Palbasha, this song is featured in the following production from "Where the Hell is Matt?"



(hazelbranch posted the vid this morning, and maggreenwoman posted it a few weeks ago. I played it this morning for optimystik and he really really liked the music, so I looked it up and found the lyrics. They were so beautiful that I had to repost the video with the lyrics included. If you want to download the song, go here.)

spent the weekend at N's parents' place near Picton, ON. The three of us camped in a tent Friday and Saturday nights and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A got all excited Friday night because OMGWhat'sthis?Wherearewe?ThisisSOCOOL!Sleep?Sleep?!Hellsno,lady!ADVENTURE!!!! The next night was easier to get him down. lol

Camping there was the first time I'd ever really felt the pulse of the land. Listening to the bullfrogs all night long and the crickets and the 4:30am birds and all the other noises I couldn't identify. Hearing the wind blow, seeing the cloud-to-cloud lightening on north and south horizons through the tent, the white noise of the rain lulling me to sleep, seeing the stars, oh so many stars, and watching the tent glow with morning light.

All the other places I've camped have been away from home in environments foreign to me. This was the first time I'd camped in an environment that was very much like where I live. It allowed me to feel blissfully connected to everything around me: all the annoying buzzing insects, the earwigs, the crickets, the herons, the swans, the lilypads, the growing fruits and vegetables, the breeze, the movement of the earth and the passing of the seasons. It was the first time I felt like I belonged to a piece of earth because that piece of earth sustained my existence. It was a treasured and beautiful experience and one that came over me both nights as I laid awake nursing my son, trying to get some rest, trying to decide whether to hold my bladder until morning, pee outside or trek to the house. The connection came over me during these mundane moments. It was unexpected and cherished.

We took A swimming for the first time. We'd kept him away from pools previously because exposure to chlorine can adversely affect tender developing lungs, and I didn't want to put his lungs at further risk for asthma (city air ain't so great). N's parents are using a different mineral to keep the bacteria and algae at bay in their pool, so they don't have to use much chlorine at all. The water was chilly for him, so we didn't keep him in there for very long. But he did enjoy it. We'll have to check out the saltwater pool at the JCC downtown soon.

We took him on the canoe for the first time, too. This was not so great. Spiders and earwigs in the canoe, A on my lap, both of our movements heavily impaired from our respective and ill-fitting PFDs... A moth flew down my back and got trapped in my shirt at one point. A fell asleep, though, so we got to enjoy a little bit of the lake sans squirming, unhappy baby. And the bugs left us alone for the rest of the short trip.

We made our own food, for the most part, and ate by ourselves, for the most part. This was a not so great part of the weekend. The food was lovely, but the lack of company sucked (everyone else was outside eating grilled hamburgers and sausages). It really underlined how different N and I are from his family and, by extension, everyone else like them, because they're pretty much the status quo.

It would be nice if we felt a greater connection to our own families...

***

Yesterday was awesome. A and I went to help plumjudy move abodes. I couldn't do too much, but I helped some. yay for my superstrength spatial sense! Woot!

Left there mid-afternoon to meet N downtown so that I could get a gluten-free pizza at the Pizza Pizza at Queen and John (no cheese, just veggies). It only comes in medium, so that's what we got. I ate the WHOLE PIZZA. I still can't believe it. N and I think the mediums have gotten smaller because it didn't seem like it was a very big pizza at all. N got some veggie slices so that he wouldn't go hungry.

We weren't prepared to head down to Cherry Beach for circus jams and drumming and lots of musical fun, so we went to Yonge and Dundas Square, instead, thinking wrongly that there would be water to play in. Nope. Artisans and art and food and performers from all over the world. Neat if you're hungry and want to buy things. We got disgusted at all the consumption and all the want that was being perpetuated by the stands, and then we were bored. So we decided to go to Cherry Beach after all, which was a Very Good Thing.

Once we finally got there (the bus is infrequent), we had an AWESOME time! Best Canada Day EVAR! We got to hear Samba Elegua perform! Wheeeee! And we met up with C and A and R and K and met new people and saw LOTS OF BABIES! Our people are breeding! craziness! A got a funny-scary welcome to the planet from some very lovely but very HIGH person. Met up with circus folk and had good chats. N and C got poi time and N got more poi time in later with circus folk. And THEN THERE WAS FIRE! yay for flaming poi and staff!

Got home in good time and slept well. Beautiful day. Beautiful weekend. Good life.