And now for the SAX

Ahhhh the saxophone…my beautiful beast.  That’s going to be me up there someday!  Here’s 3 rock sax solo’s

More drumming

Here is a “best drummers” starting with Buddy Rich.  He is the fucking MASTER *bows down*

 

Here’s a video of the “best drummers in the world”  While they are hardly that, they are pretty amazing.  Thing is with drumming, you can go as fast as you want, but if you ain’t got no style it ain’t gonna make me groove   Be sure to check out the last drummer Jacob Armen he’s only SEVEN!

 

Drumming

Two drumming legends battle it out on the SammyDavis Jr Show.  I love the respect they have for each other

 

MishMash

If this works, blog updates should show up on FB with Networked blogs instead of notes.

Everyone’s colds finally caught up with me, woke up feeling like crap.  Downing my homeopathic remedies and Vitamin C and honey like crazy.  Holly and Karley came over tired and hungover and we just crashed out and listened to music.

Halloween weekend was good.  Friday night we went to Ejackulantern at The Bourbon.  Saw The New Values, Fake Shark Real Zombies and The New Heard.  Kevin rocked the house, he has great stge presence.  There were pumpkins everywhere and Kevin was smashing them all and throwing them at us, we got into  great pumpkin throwing fight.  Holly woke up the next morning with pumpkin in her ear LOL.

Saturday I picked up the Munchkin and we goofed around all day.  She absolutely LOVES Holly and Karley, she got into a crazy silly mood and we all regressed to childhood for the afternoon.  Got ready to go to Horror at Neptoon.  I wasn’t really into it, feeling kind of frazzled and stayed outside for most of the first 2 sets, but have to support my boys Thee Manipulators!  Got into the mood, jumped into the mosh pit.  Holly, Karley and I know pretty much all the lyrics, Alex said next show we can come up and be backup singers LOL.  He’s such  a sweetheart.

Hmmm what else…had to gently extricate myself from the Steven situation.  He tried to kiss me when he was leaving last night and I had to do a funky head twist to avoid it LOL.  Talked to him today and explained stuff, he was OK with it.  He’s so childlike.  Such innocence and trust.  We both had the biggest smiles on our faces when we met.  I feel so much love (platonic) and compassion for him.  He brings out the Warrior Healer in me, and woe to anyone who hurts him.

Speaking of love and compassion, I came across a great man named Baraka Kanaan today.  He’s a spiritual leader and spoken word artist.  The imagery he comes up with is incredible.  A Transformational Spoken-Word Alchemist.  He has some great videos on his site, www.dreamingbear.net I was pretty entranced all morning watching them.  Saying so many things I need to hear and integrate into my life.

Finally got all the sound production software I need for the album, the project has officially begun!  I’m having such a blast playing around.

OK very boring post but I’m too zoned to come up with anything profound.  Thoughts and feelings about where I stand with relationships right now are floating through my head,  I’ll have to sleep on it and explore it more tomorrow.

Namaste and goooooooood night

*faceplant*

Boxing

Oh yeah baby I’m starting my training next week!  With my own free personal trainer, who is a professional boxer.  I can’t even fit BOTH hands around his biceps!  I don’t want big muscles, just toned.  And it’s a full body workout.  I have a feeling he’s going to be a strict taksmaster, but that’s what I need.

I’m fast on my feet, competitive, and I can’t wait until I can start sparring.  Fuck the gym and pilates!  I need something that is really going to engage my interest.  There’s a boxing gym 2 blocks from my house, I’m going to have SO MUCH FUN!

100 Monkeys Reviews

I finished writing the “official” review today, will write the full detailed fan review tomorrow.  Got hit by a bloody bus today and I’m getting too stiff and sore to type anymore.

100 Monkeys say farewell to Vancouver

We’ve been spoiled here in Vancouver these past two months.  100 Monkeys, consisting of Jackson Rathbone, Ben Graupner, Jerad Anderson (sporting a brand new mohawk), Ben Johnson, and Uncle Larry, played a farewell show for Vancouver on Oct 25th, their 4th show here in the past 2 months.  And what a farewell it was!

Held at the Venue, a newly revamped nightclub, energy and anticipation were high.  Local band Bleeding Hearts Express started the evening, playing a rousing set that mixed rock,blues, and big band.  And then, finally, it was MONKEY TIME!

The band bounded onto the stage as the LED screen behind them flashed 100 Monkeys, and the crowd went wild, cheers turning into laughter as Uncle Larry was escorted onto stage in a full length mink coat by 2 scantily clad women.  The boys took their places and started off with a resounding rendition of “Orson Brawl”.  One of the unique things about 100 Monkeys is that each member takes turns on every instrument, switching it up on every song.

Ben Graupner, definitely the most animated and high energy member of the band, employed hilarious theatrics during “Wings on Fire”, screaming “We’re going DOWN!” as he swooped like a plane across the stage, crashing to the floor at the end.  Another highlight was  “Monkey Soup”, a song by dear friend Spencer Bell, who unfortunately passed away from adrenal cancer.  “Keep Awake”, a new favorite debuted at their show at Neptoon Records, had the crowd waving their arms and singing along to the hilarious lyrics.

Another unique feature the band does is an improv song based on a word picked from the screaming crowd.  This show’s song was “Campbell’s Soup’.  Jackson, always fast on his feet, sang a 2 minute improv, playing to the crowd with a cheeky smile and some smooth moves as Ben G and Jerad rocked the bass and guitar.  As the band exited the stage after playing “Ugly Girl”, the crowd began chanting “MONKEYS! MONKEYS!”.  They kept us waiting a good 2 minutes until Ben G leapt wildly back onto the stage with a huge smile.  Jackson said “We forgot to tell you guys something.  And thats THANK YOU!”.  The “Thank You” song commenced, Jackson pointing at each section of the crowd in turn, at the end asking us to turn to the people around us and say “Thank you”.

They waved and left the stage (Thank you Jerad for running back to get the set list for me!), and the crowd prepared for the signing to follow.  The line snaked it’s way 3 deep all around the club, everyone eager to say Hello and get an autograph.  The boy’s are the most gracious musicians I’ve had the pleasure to meet.  They each took the time for a short chat and hugs were definitely not in short supply.

All in all, in my opinion this was the best show of the 4 played in Vancouver.  (They were ALL amazing though!).  The band was bursting with an electric energy, holding the crowd in the palms of their hands.  I have never seen a band so in tune with each other and the audience, and it’s wonderful to see a band in it for the love of music, you can see and sense the pure enjoyment they get from it.  They also announced they had just finished their new album, and will be embarking on a 100 Cities tour soon throughout the U.S.

Gracious, playful, funny, down to earth, and immensely talented, this completely unique band will surely go far.  Vancouver thanks you.

Written by: Shanti Kalidasa Photos: Michelle Alleyne McAuley

*faceplant*

I have been thrust into the Twilight Zone this week.  It’s all happening so fast, my head is spinning and I can’t process it all.  Be careful what you ask for, you’ll get what you want but perhaps in a very unexpected way.

I’ll elaborate when I can make some sense of this new dimension I’ve been dropped headfirst into, but I think I need to hibernate next week so I can process.

Album

OK this is getting ridiculous!  My original plan was to record my poetry and set it to music.  But I forgot how obsessed I can get over new things.

I’ve tried every audio program out there, and Oooo!  Look at all the cool FX I can do!  And disovering loops and sounds and vocals, and WOW there’s so much I can add.  I’ve spent days listening to loops, saving my favorites.   10 gigs of them!    And I want to rewrite some poems as songs so I’m taking vocal lessons.  And I need someone to compose some music, and AHHH! so many ideas swirling in my head I can’t concentrate on one thing!

End result?  Nothing recorded yet.

Oy Vey

Singing

Karley came over yesterday and we realized the reason we met was for singing.  She’s a trained vocalist, and I’ve got raw talent I’m refining.  But oh my god did we ever have a blast.  We recorded ourselves doing a bunch of songs and just had this HILARIOUS commentary throughout.  I haven’t laughed that hard in years.  I threatened to upload them to YouTube but she said she’d kick my ass if I did LOL.  We seriously need our own radio show.  One recording we laid down started with me having a hysterical giggle fit and mumbling about grandmothers in underwear and dead kittens trying to calm down, then we sang Landslide.  I just kept recording and the second track is Karley talking to her friend Meagan on the phone, then we put her on speaker and up to the microphone. Hilarity ensued, and because of the real microphone and speakerphone it all the tracks echo and are mishmashed.  Have to hear it to understand I guess

So down to business.  I’ve got about 30 poems I’m considering for the recording, need to cut it down to….10?  I want to rework a lot of them too.  And everyone keeps asking me to sing on it, so should I adapt a poem into a song or come up with something completely new?  Hmmmm.

Singing and Poetry Albums

Just spent an hour and a half doing vocal exercises with my lessons software.  Learning how to sing from chest, mixed, and head, and how to move smoothly between.  How to shorten and lengthen your vocal cords, and how to lower your larynx.

Scales after scales using liprolls, trills, humming, vowel sounds, sustaining notes etc.  Working on vibratto right now.  My range has already increased!

I decided to put together an album of my poetry.  I downloaded some amazing software, I’ve got my microphone, I’m ready to go.  I’m going to underlay it with music and cool effects.  Then I’m going to upload it to Jamendo.com which is a very cool site for people to upload all their work for free sharing and downloading.  This will be fun once I figure out this confounding mixing program.