Drum Loop Song

3 days until the show. The cold that Peja gave me is still around, but improving daily; here's hoping the voice returns in time. . .

The white-board list continues to be juggled around. This strange drum-looped song is trying to break into the list. It's short, and a demo of it was circulated to little fanfare a while back, but I re-arranged and re-recorded it, and I think it's greatly improved. The lyric is about taking Sienna to see a Parkas show in my hometown over thankgiving weekend a few years ago. I hadn't been in my hometown in a couple of years, and I hadn't seen a lot of the people at the show in a good 5 years. There was a feeling that it was likely the last time I'd be in the enviroment that I lived in during highschool. It felt less like a reunion and more like a final fairwell. And the band was very very good.

So, right here would be a good time to play you a sample of the song, or the whole song, or have a music video with the song behind it. . . Uh, sorry about that.

Hope you are well.

Jay.

Car-Testing the new Songs

Sienna took Peja downtown in the rain today, so I had a bit of time in the studio to mix down some tracks. I have a ever changing list going on a white-board beside the keyboard. There are about 15 tracks, in different stages of the process. After today's work, I think 5 tracks might be ready for the final disc. Peja and I took the CD/R out to the station wagon (gotta check stuff on the car stereo) and while throwing stuffed animals at each-other (her in the very back, me in the front, with the back-seat as a sort of demilitarized zone, the mixes sounded good. I hope that y'all enjoy the songs when the record comes out.

I'm not really sure what format the album will take. . . I can't imagine doing a big expensive thing again. I liked the look/feel of the digipak on "Songs for my Seaweed Girl", but it costs so so so so much. Thoughts? Ideas?

Big thanks to the whole crew at Central Public for spreading the word about the show. You are an awesome group of people. Bake Sale? Oh yes. Turkey Raffle? You know it. It's all happen October 2nd, 7pm, Central Public.

The window for the baby is now 5 to 9 weeks away. No, really. 5 weeks. Could be.

Numb. . .

Lots of support from the Central community about the concert. The parent council has been awesome about getting us the gym, and adding a bake sale, and I believe a turkey raffle. . .

Look around for our posters, they should be up in the next couple of days.

I've fallen victim to the first school cold of the year. . . I've got 8 days to get over it, which sounds reasonable. . . Right now I'm numb as hell, doped up on cold meds. . . Hmmmm. . . .

Jjjjjjjjaaaaayyyyyy. . . .

Family Day

7:00 am -- Peja comes in and wakes me up. I tell her to pick out her school duds and leave me the hell alone. Actually, I say it much more kindly, in that I only grunt.

7:30 am -- Peja is standing in front of me in a pink skirt, blue tights, and a purple shirt. And she's telling me the time.

7:45 am -- I'm cooking something. Something is toasting. Sienna is packing a lunch for Peja.

8:05 am -- I'm eating something. At our low japanese table that just couldn't hurt my knees any more.

9:10 am -- I'm on a school bus. With 70 children. It's so fucking loud I can't believe it. We are going to an apple orchard. Most of them have never been on a school bus before (nearly everyone walks / gets driven to Peja's school), and they are wringing every ounce of fun and volume out of the experience. I am dying and not sure I'm awake yet. Right behind me, another dad starts up a rousing chorus of "The Wheels on the Bus". Welcome to hell.

9:30 -- "Charlie" (not "Mr. Apple", as the kids were so hoping he'd be called), tells us the proper way to pick an apple, and answers questions so planted that I swore I was watching my high school improv team*. "What kinds of apples do you grow here?" And so on.

9:40 -- I am picking apples.

10:00 -- It was 9 degrees when we walked to school. I swear it's 35 in the orchard. Not a breath of wind. I might pass out.

10:20 -- We are looking for the queen bee. She's got a green dot, apparently. The kids are saying she is hurt. I have no idea.

10:45 -- I am being tempted in the gift shop by $2.50 mini apple pies.

11:05 -- I return to the bus to find my pile of extra clothes has been pillaged. Peja's pink *name brand* jacket is missing. Poor little *name retracted* is wearing it. I honestly believe she has no idea how it got on her. I ask for it back. She takes it off, believing I am stealing her jacket. I point out the label that says "PEJA" on the tag, mostly so people around don't think I'm stealing this coat. She will always remember me as the man that stole her coat.

11:20 -- After a slightly more relaxed bus ride (it helps that I was more awake, and no one started "99 bottles of beer" -- thank-you John), we are back at the school, and I ask Peja if she wants to come home for lunch. She wants to stay at school, and lays claim to one of the two $2.50 mini apple pies I bought for me and Sienna. Peja has refused every bit of apple pie I have ever offered her until this moment. I sigh and promise to share.

11:25 am -- Return home, where Sienna is mid-visit with our mid-wife. We talk about leaving the cord attached. We joke about our labour plans. We joke about real estate prices in the area. It is a good meeting, in which we are left with many decisions to decide at some imaginary future time.

1:30 pm -- Meet with our doula. We tell labour stories. We talk about leaving the cord attached. We joke about our labour plans. I joke about basketball. We discuss bake sales. It is a good meeting, in which we are left with many decisions to decide at some imaginary future time.

3:25 pm -- We meet Peja at school and sit on shady benches and chat with parents for an hour while Peja plays with her friends in the big-kids' yard.

5:45 pm -- We take Peja to her first ever swimming lesson. All the little people line up and the 5 or 6 instructors read our their names and take them off to their respective areas. Peja gets the hippy-looking guy. I am jazzed.

6:55 pm -- I give Peja a bath, wash her hair, brush her teeth/hair, read her a heavily edited chapter of "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", and say goodnight.

10:15 pm -- I am happy.

* my highschool improv team used to force the pit band to yell out suggestions they had prepared in advance. My bandmates would purposefully yell out the wrong plant at the wrong time, "Alright, we need a profession" -- "Birthday Cake!", and then they'd ask for a kind of food.

Official Show Announcement?

This has lingered on for a while, but I'll say it's for sure now. . .

See you there!

Soonish. . .

Sitting at work, the fall starts up slow, with holes in the schedule, which is fine, especially if you miscalculate how long you'll be at work and need to walk across 3938 lanes of traffic to get pizza. Mmmm. . . Pizza. . . It was good. I skipped the loonie-shake, because I'm fairly certain that it's 99% sugar, and 1% fat. . .

Play in an epic street-ball kid's basketball game of "bump" on Sunday. Peja wandered off with a little friend, and older siblings, cousins, and neighbours gathered to teach me humility. It is really cool to get knocked-out by a cheering 8 year old. Perhaps yelling, "that's fucking bullshit!" each and every time wasn't called for, but if I don't teach them how to swear, who's going to? It was good times. Pick-up parents/teachers basketball starts up next week -- I am so jazzed.

Got a new version of "Society Dames" recorded and mixed yesterday. 1 down, 9 to go! Come on new album! The baby is coming in 2 months, so it'd probably be a good idea to get this done soonish, right?

Hope you are well,

Jay.

Layers of Wall / Things I Used To Punch a Hole

1. Drywall / Drywall Knife

2. 1" Clap Board / Drill, Pry-Bar, Drill, Pry-Bar, Drill, Pry-Bar

3. 2nd Layer of 1" Clap Board / See Above

4. 1/4" Fiber Board / Hammer, Pry-Bar

5. Fake Brick Siding / Hands, Hammer, Prybar

6. Brick / Drill, Hammer Drill, Bigger Hammer Drill, Sledge Hammer.

Associate in Madness: My Dad -- Thanks Dad!

So, the gas stove is nowhere near functional, but it sits on my floor, next to a gaping hole in my wall. Close enough.

hi-8

My parents got me a hi-8 sony video camera as a highschool graduation present. hi-8 is a funny format, like S-VHS, it's "near broadcast" quality, but not quite beta-cam. In the youtube age, I think it might actually count as HD. It's pretty tricked out - it's got night-vision, a wide-angle lens adapter, and a decent stereo mic.

Anyway, I dug it out the other day, and popped in a tape marked "Peja's Life". The first thing on the tape is a Radical Dudez show from halloween 2003 -- which, depending on your politics, may indeed be a part of Peja's life. Then the tape goes on to show her first spoon feeding, her first roll-over, first steps, first words, first time playing drums while singing a improvised song about elephants, etc. . .

Sienna came to a lot of shows while preggers with Peja, and I wonder how much the she heard in there. . .

I'm going to pick up an adapter to throw some of that old stuff on here. Beware.

The awesome Kingston band Skeleton Park has confirmed for the October 2nd show -- just near to confirm the venue and I'll make the official announcement. I'm still trying to get one more awesome opening band, so hopefully that pans out too.

Another Short Film. . .

Swings with Peja from Jay Middaugh on Vimeo.

Show Confirmation. . .

October 2nd.

Drums Kevin is in.

Bass Kevin is in, pending timing. . . He has a gig that runs until 8. . . I think he can make a stage time for 8:15, right? Sure!

I am using instruments for first names for bandmates.

I'm trying to get some sweet opening acts lined up, all from the neighborhood.

I need to confirm the stage location, but Peja's school is still high on my list.

Show. . . Perhaps???

Looking at the calender. . . Late Sept, Early October. . . Maybe at Peja's school. . . Stay tuned.