Capital Rock City #90 // Pocket Kings, Cairo, Maurice

Some local YYJ hip-hop leads off this week’s Capital Rock City podcast.  Hip-hop is not my strong point, so I chose the songs based on some superficial traits.  The first song is called “Saints Marched” and New Orleans Saints won the super bowl, fun.  The second song I selected is called “Speak and Listen (Green Light DJ Speedyshoes Remix).”  The music video features my friend Chucky. Nice.  A couple weeks ago I was talking about a former Zone Band of the Month called The Greatest Explorers in the World.  They are now done, but all the old musicians are now in other bands, Cairo is one of them.  The show ends this week with current Zone Band of the Month, Maurice.  Thank you for downloading my weekly Victoria podcast.

Download: Capital Rock City #90

Just in case this is your first time finding my blog or podcast, please take a second to subscribe/rate/comment on the show on iTunes.  Just search ‘Capital Rock City’ in the iTunes store.

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DJ Notes

01) Pocket Kings feat. Matie Bush – “Saints Marching”
02) Pocket Kings – “Speak and Listen” (DJ Speedyshoes Remix)
03) Cairo – “Cogs”
04) Maurice – “Anticipating”

There is a local Victoria hip-hopster group called Outer City.  They have a mix-tape they made and Eric from the label sent me the link to check it out.  Its a free download!

The Pocket Kings‘ song “Speak and Listen” features my friend Chucky in the video.  Check it out.

I don’t really know too much about hip hop. I think Jay Z is boring and he’s considered the best… so download and have a listen and you tell me.

A couple weeks ago I talked about an old Band of the Month called The Greatest Explorers in the World.  I always remember liking the group but like a lot of UVic bands… they are here today, graduate and are gone tomorrow.  The boys from TGEITW have all moved on but are still making music.  One former member is now in Vancouver making music as Cairo.

Finally I revisit one of my fave Vic rockers bands, Maurice.  they are the Zone band of the month for February.

Coral said to me the other day, “hey weren’t Maurice JUST the Zone band of the month, like a couple months ago?”

I said, “no… you’re just getting old.  It was a few years ago but as you get older, everything feels just like yesterday.”

“But I’m only 27!” she protested.

“yeah that’s when it starts.”

man, now our parents make so much sense.

Go with yourself.

Na Koa Ikaika Maui

I am going to begins today’s blog with a call for help.  Dylan Willow’s GF Jacquelyn is trying to help an organization raise $10,000 to build a school in Africa.  She asked me to find 10 people that want to give $10 for the cause.

Please take a quick sec and pledge $10 right here: Help Build a School

***

I thought this was pretty cool.  Trolling the doubleUdoubleUdots today, I saw an interesting fact.  Only four independent bands in the history of Billboard’s modern rock chart have ever reached number 1.

The Offspring – “Self Esteem” (1994)
Everlast – “What Its Like” (1998)
Silversun Pickups – “Panic Switch” (2009)
Phoenix – “1901″ (2010)

I don’t know if Billboard has updated their chart or what, but they are still showing them at number 2 despite this news article to the contrary.  Maybe I got the wrong chart?

***

I know we should be thinking winter Olympics in this part of the world… but with the weather so nice, I can’t help but look ahead to baseball season.

Our local pro team is the Victoria Seals and in their second season they will begin by playing the new expansion team from Maui.

The Victoria Baseball Blog had a look at their new jerseys.  I am not so much a fan, but David Eleanor seemed to like.

ahhh, I don’t know… But I do know I’d love if we could organize a Zone road trip to Maui…

Go with yourself.

You said baby we don’t speak of that / Like a real aristocrat

On Madelyn’s birthday (Feb 24th), an artist will be playing the Biltmore in Vancouver called Four Tet.

This UK electronic man is making some music that is getting me all hot and bothered lately.  As I have been searching for fun, avant garde, loungey music for my weekends at the Rialto, Four Tet hits the mark.

I think part of the reason I like Four Tet so much is because he reminds me of Explosions in the Sky.  have a listen to “She Just Likes to Fight” and tell me that song wouldn’t fit on any EITS record.  Great music to decompress to.

You might know Four Tet as the guy who opened for Radiohead back in the Hail to the Thief days or as the guy who remixed RH’s “Scatterbrain.”

(ha Sara P just walked into my work space to close the door… maybe not everyone loves Four Tet like me!).

***

There are no clean coffee mugs at work right now, which is a real heel on the groin, and not in a sexual kinda way.  Likely that is for the best.  I got to stop drinking so many mugs of coffee.  A couple weeks ago, before my staycation, I did a great job of keeping my coffee intake under control. Lots of water, and I felt really good two weeks ago.  I better get back on that.

***

I am a sucker for cover songs.  Cover songs are a real challenge on the Zone because, well I don’t really know.  I find whenever I play a cover song, I am subjected to a torrent of hate calls.  Calm down people, its just music.  one that I want to punch up today I know I’ll take a few lumps from… but I don’t care.  I think it is a pretty good spin on a modern rock staple.  Vampire Weekend tackling Rancid “Ruby Soho.”

Download it!

Also on that Abeano post is a mix created by Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend.  He did a little “minimix” of  a Vampire weekend song, some other track and a Lykke Li cut.

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Go with yourself.

4 buckets of pure awesome rolled up into a tasty bite sized homunculus.

I saw on Facebook tonight that everyone was searching their name in Urban Dictionary and posting the results.  Too fun.  I punched “Jeremy” in and here are a couple that came up.

a pearl jam song in which the young man is tormented at home and school and decides to use gun violence to resolve this situation see columbine

dude jeremy is so jeremy lets not piss him off

news reporter:today in a florida high school dick butin pulled a jeremy by viciously massacring his whole school and on to other news r kelly guilty or innocent

and I like this one:

4 buckets of pure awesome rolled up into a tasty bite sized homunculus. Looks good in drag. When he opens his mouth, pure clever spews out and penetrates all those who dare oppose him. He is the master of the universe.
Other names: Angryman, Flamenco Moronco, Priscilla Antoinette, Harold, Germathon, Spice Rack, Waffle Time.

Jeremy got locked in the cupboard. Hours later we heard “Iiiit’s waffle time it’s waffle time won’t you have some waffles of mine??” emanating from said cupboard.

***

On this final day of my Staycation, Coral and I packed up Mads and headed to one of our favourite mini road trip destinations, Jordan River.

As has been the case the past few times we’ve headed out there, the restaurant is for sale.  I think it might have come down in price a bit this time, what just $528,000?  Coral and I always talk about wanting to buy it and moving to this little hamlet.

Actually we have plans to buy all sorts of neato buildings… but man, people keep buying them before we win the lotto max.  Damn you Vancouver investor for buying the North Junk buildings… (well not really, I am happy someone will FINALLY fix up those rad heritage buildings, and I still have the Janion Hotel Building to craft my daydreams to, hello my future lounge called Hotel Bar…).

Back to Jordan River…. Coral and I figure if we won the lottery or something, then we could buy the lot and maybe a couple around it, deck out a sweet surf shack restaurant and then some cottages to rent out.  Put in a pool or a hot tube in a common area looking out at the ocean and we’d live the life.

Coral took some pictures of rocks and drift wood to help find some inspiration for our colours.  And she was thinking of like a ceder shingle to kit out the exterior.  A nice deck or patio, some TLC for the front area and we got it made.

Who knows, maybe one day we’ll have a plan to make this work, and we won’t even need the lottery!

Now, rustling up the $2.48 million needed for the Janion… might need a lotto Max for that project.

But our idea there is a lounge on the main floor called Hotel Bar and my AM radio station’s studio and offices, and then maybe some condos on the next two floors and we gut the top floor and create our ideal urban condo loft with a garden on the roof!  Like in the magazines.  Now that would be nice.  When is the draw, Friday?

Go with yourself.

Capital Rock City #89 // In Medias Res, Vince Vaccaro, Black Hat Villain, Great White Sharks

My staycation be damned!  You’re getting a podcast.  The reason I was jazzed to come into the Capital Rock City studio so late on a Monday night was to share with you an interesting find.  My wife, Coral, was digging through some old boxes and found a burned copy of Vancouver band In Medias Res’ first ever rock show.  They performed “Best Kept Secret,” which is a crushingly great song.  Vince Vaccaro sent in a demo he is working on and the show ends with some harder rock from Black Hat Villain and new music from Great White Shark. Thank you for downloading my podcast, share it with a friend.

Download: Capital Rock City #89

Please tell a friend about the show to help me grow the weekly downloads and/or hit the RSS Feed to subscribe, or on iTunes in the podcast section, just search ‘Capital Rock City.’

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DJ Notes

01) In Medias Res – “Best Kept Secret (Live)”
02) Vince Vaccaro – “Dawson City Anthem (Demo)”
03) Black Hat Villain – “My Generation”
04) Great White Shark – “There’ve Been Times”

When I first got into radio many moons ago, I had an indie rocker program on CiTR in Vancouver and my first paid gig was a place called CFUN.  CFUN was a groovy AM radio station back in the Paleolithic era, but by the time I was there it was basically the a place for infomercials, Dr. Laura and ghost stories at night.  My job was to punch a button or two every thirty minutes and for that I was paid the princely sum of $8 and hour.  The best of times.

I did this while attending broadcasting school at BCIT where I knew a guy named Ash Poon.  He applied for a job at CFUN and the boss man asked if I knew Ash and if he would make a decent worker… I said basically, “well he’s not meth addict… I don’t think,” and he was hired.  It also turned out that Ash was in a new band with a very progressive post rock vibe called In Medias Res and one day he left me a CD of a demo that they put together from a live show to play on my radio show or maybe it was to book a concert at the John B. Pub… either way, that CD survived and you are hearing my all time fave IMR song, “Best Kept Secret,” from their first ever love show… at a church I think?  At the beginning of the podcast you hear Ash about to say “all honour to the builder,” but he isn’t sure the mic is hot and yeah, it didn’t start with the bang that I am sure a young Mr. Poon would have liked.

The old CFUN splitter I lifted from Radiowest.

Go with yourself.

It is like many a street we have seen in the British Isle

This is too neat, trolling one of the radio message boards last night, they had a video posted from 1936.  It was an old travel documentary that would have aired before a movie and this edition features Victoria and Vancouver, gateway to Canada.

I like the shot at 2:03 of the video, looking down Douglas north towards City Hall and you can catch a glimpse of the Rialto.  Also, it is pretty cool to see all the trolley cars and the lack of high rises everywhere, especially in James Bay behind the Parliament Buildings.

The second half features Vancouver; British Columbia’s biggest city with a population of 350,000!

I don’t need a cure / I need a final solution

Thank you Linda for the picture.

I am having one of those groovy “Staycations” that poor people are always talking about. No but seriously, I am on holidays but I am hanging out at home because I have no money.

Its kinda nice being at home and not having to do a radio show or DJ for a few nights.  I think I might spoil myself and order the Montreal/Vancouver game in HD tomorrow afternoon.  Baller.

DJ Murge is doing another installment of his DJ class at Long and McQuade starting next week so I think I’ll get up in that for some professional development.

I bought this fancy Numark Serato controller and have picked up enough from Boitano to make it go, match some beats and blend some tunes, but I think I need to learn some more (and I think it will be fun).  Shannon Shields says Murge is the man so it might be good to learn from the master.

Last night was my final night at Sips till maybe the late Spring or Summer.  While there I got the email newsletter from Serato about a product for the NS7.  It is an effects controller for the rig called NSFX.  Its kind of a bad ass piece of machinery that will let me bend and manipulate the music.  Maybe after the DJ course I’ll have a greater understanding of the craft and can incorporate the effects.

What I’ll want to be working on soon… and this might sound weird, but I was talking to Alix last night and it made sense at the time… is crafting a DJ set that incorporates the music of the 1920s with modern beats and also a set that uses country music with a modern sophisticated sound for a few projects she is working on for Sea Cider.  I got some time so that is what I’ll be thinking about for the next little while.  Music of the roaring 20s.

OK well that is all I got for now, I am going to get back to my staycation and take Madelyn to the park to play soccer.

Go with yourself.

LEAFS’ BURKE TRADES SIX PLAYERS; ACQUIRES BAKER AND GIGUERE

Dion Phaneuf was traded to The Zone @ 91-3

Victoria: Veteran Zone presenter Jeremy Baker was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs early this morning in a blockbuster three way trade that also involved the Calgary Flames.  Listen for Dion Phanuef on The Zone Afternoon Show Monday.

“It was definitely a shock, but I’m very excited about going to Victoria and being a Zoner,” said Phaneuf.

“It’s a cliche. If Wayne Gretzky can get traded anyone can get traded. I was very surprised, but on the other hand I’m very excited to be going to the 14th largest radio market in the Canada.”

The shakeup comes following a loss to the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night to extend the team’s winless streak to six games, but Leafs GM Brian Burke said that “these pieces were in place prior to yesterday.”

“[Baker] is a warrior. He talks a lot,” explained Burke. “He presents music on the radio and I want players who play the game hard, but also some radio DJs to kinda shake things up in the East.”

A 6′, 180 pound Coquitlam native, Baker was drafted by the Zone in 2003.  He says he was surprised by the trade but is hoping that he can do his part to turn around the struggling Leafs.

“I haven’t laced up since my days playing Midget “C” hockey in Coquitlam, but coach (Ron Wilson) said he expects me to play on the second defensive pairing Tuesday against the Devils.”

“I have a lot of respect for JB, but this is part of the business,” Zone Program Director Sara P said. ”It happens at times, and it’s happened here.’

”Jeremy is certainly a good talker, but we’re getting a big, hard shooting defenseman in return.  He will really lock down the competitive afternoon drive time in Victoria for the Zone.”

The Victoria radio division is one of Canada’s most competitive with the Zone trailing Kool FM in the ratings and the final playoff spot and many share points behind perennial ratings dominator The Q!

Q! Afternoon show host Ryan Awram was reported as saying, “Dion might be a good hockey player, but if he presents modern rock like he played defense on The Flames, I don’t think Kirk (Mason) and I are too worried.”

Media reports say that program director Sara Parker is not done yet with the Zone’s onair line up.

She is expected to deal half of the Zone’s morning line to make cap space for Phaneuf’s 6.5 million dollar contract over 4 years.  Rumours have Jason Lamb shipping off to Edmonton for Sheldon Souray or a block buster proposal that sees Dylan BigD Willows and Rozie Amos plus half the promotions department to Atlanta for Ilya Kovalchuk.  Expect more of this story to develop as the March 3rd trade deadline approaches.

–with files from TSN dot ca.

Pol Plastino is the internet?

Who would have guessed that?  not this guy.  Check out his blog.

Pirate Pick

the glow of the apple

I had talked about wanting to start a financial blog on here awhile back, but I think the reality of that happening right now is low.  It is a challenge enough  to stay on top of this blog and keeping on the news and music for my radio show.  Plus I am DJing more and more these days and I really enjoy that and want to keep growing my performance, so right now, no new blog.

That said, Coral and I are really starting to get into the hang of the “Jar Budget” or basically, living off a set value of cash every week.  Granted, we set a fairly generous amount of cash to live off each week, but its working.  We now generally have a little of last week’s cash in the jar by the time its time to put more in!  Just in time for Coral’s birthday.

The other benefit… and this is one I shared with my buddy Dave, you end up collecting lots of change.  Loonies and Twonies and quartres and all that good stuff.

Its getting to the point where for some goofy things like a coffee or even a lunch or simple groceries, I just take a fistful of change and not even open the cash jar.

We’re not perfect at not using the debit, but its much better than before.

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Which brings me to my next project.  A new laptop!  huzzah.  But I’m not there yet.  I am still dreaming and pricing and see what I need and/or want.

I need a more powerful laptop to run my DJ software and eventually I want to play around with creating my own lounge beats.  The Toshiba, god bless it, freezes during my sets sometimes (well actually about once a night).

I want a Mac Book Pro.

The conflict I have is cost.  I am still putting a jihad on bills and debt so no computer right now, but my projection is to be in a position to buy a computer by April.  Knock on wood, no issue with the Toshiba and it serves till then.

From my wandering on the Serato message boards, the consensus is a Mac.  It might be true that 90% is on PC, but in the creative DJ world, the opposite is true.  It feels like 90% of professional DJs and producers use a Mac.

But when you ask why?  the answer isn’t always clear.  “Its better” is common.  That’s cool, but is it $1000 better?  Coral and I bought our Toshiba two years ago for about $750.  Is a MacBook Pro 17″ monster worth $2,599.99?

My studies have concluded that even if I went Mac, I could get away with a MacBook ($1,000 ish) or the more powerful Pro 13″ 2.53 GHz.  cost: $1,599.00.  wow, for a computer.

That screen is actually smaller than our 14″ Toshiba… and my second major issue after the freezing is the small screen.

Bump up to the 15″ MacBook Pro and now we’re talking $1,799.99.

Scary.

I want it, but do I NEED that?

Coral was watching Olsen on Your Side on CTV the other day, and they said the best PC Laptop for value was the Dell Studio XPS which start on the Dell website for around $1,000.

Get a Dell, save $800?  hmmm.

Is a MacBook Pro worth $800 MORE than a PC?  If you think so, I’d like to hear it.  The biggest thing I’ve heard of the value of the Mac is stability.  At the end of the day, that might be my most important attribute.  One DJ said that “the cheapest used Macbook on Craigslist is better than any PC for operating Serato.”

I figure, if the Toshiba, god forbids, shuffles off the mortal coil before April, I can always find a used Macbook and just get back out there.

*** future project, I want a MIDI controller ($200 ish) and to learn Ableton (Thanks Rozie)!  And start building a stage show for when I DJ.  Maybe my saved up change jar money can buy some lights or what I really want is a screen and a projector.***

Go with yourself.