Description 39 - Resignation

A simple brunch gets over-analysed as I review some life changes and how they relate to Podcasters Across Borders - because doesn't everything relate to Podcasters Across Borders? Includes music by Mantler, a wind machine and a rooster in a bag.

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(the flu has left me too weak for snappy link similes)

Associated links:
Future Bakery (reviewed by the King of Kensington's real life widow!)
Podcasters Across Borders (Is that enough mentions, guys?) :-)
Mantler: at tomlab and on myspace
CBC Museum
Why CBC has Mr. Rogers' first trolley.
Foster Hewitt @ Histori.ca
"Sesame Park" @ the Muppet Wiki
Remembering Mr. Dressup
A history of CBC English radio drama
Cart machines!
The Friendly Giant
CBC Broadcast Centre
Castella @ Wikipedia
Poko kicks ass!

Man, I sound so weak in this episode, like I'm just getting over the flu or something.

And okay, it's been more than 10 years since cart machines were the main means of playing stuff on the radio. The first time I dealt with digital spots was in the fall of 1995 in Belleville. The music was still on CD, but in this elaborate computerized digital jukebox thing, which would provide much comedy when it screwed up - even more so when I had already recorded my bits digitally (voicetracking, the first nail in radio's coffin) and would outro the wrong song. Ah, modern radio...almost like being there...

At the beginning of that year, I was working away at CKDR in Dryden, Ontario (holy crap! they have FM now!), and here's how that system went: every week, all the music came from head office in order on eight full-size reel-to-reel tapes - four for day, four with more hip and happenin' stuff for evening (and I was usually the lucky gal who switched them). Each tape had one category of music, and the "clock" (what category got played when) was pretty much pre-programmed - we only stopped it to do our short bits and fire off the commercials, which ran on...wait for it it...NINE CART MACHINES! A three-cart deck for central Dryden, and a deck for each repeater station in Red Lake and Sioux Lookout. And did I mention the live phone-in Shop'n'Swap show I had to do middays? Yes, it was an I Love Lucy episode waiting to happen. And it happened.

Damn. Now that I think about pulling that off, how hard can this new life direction possibly be?

Dubber Takes the High Road

You may have noticed in the last episode and post, I mention Andrew Dubber, one of the people who inspired me to start podcasting and an otherwise funny and clever guy who recently released a free .pdf e-book that anyone who is or cares about a musician should read and share (which he encourages). His ideas in that book originated in his blog New Music Strategies, which is basically about how new media can help people who are passionate about music; whether they make it, listen to it, share it, or sell it.

Recently, Dubber linked to an editorial in Download Squad (and now, so have I) about someone bringing legal action against the RIAA. He blogs about stuff like that, so cool.

Ah, but maybe not. A few days ago, he got an email from a label guy who's a member of the IFPI and BPI (somewhat equivalent organizations in the UK) which went like this:

Looking at your site I do think allowing indiscriminate criticism of the RIAA is inappropriate for a Government funded institution.

This started an email conversation that Dubber reprinted with permission here. You really should check it out. A whole lot of other people did, because it got noted and linked in Boing Boing and other big-shot blogs. So suddenly, my friend became a little bit of star :-) but his host account got suspended for half a day before it got fixed. I like to think it was from too much traffic so fast; others may want to think other things.

For their part, the Download Squad kids responded to all this in a big way, and garnered even more attention. The differences in tone are interesting. DS's Grant Robertson is all-guns-blazing toward the IFPI/BPI dude, which frankly feels good to me, because I don't like when my friends get threatened, and that's how that email exchange ended. Then again, I come from the U.S.A. Of course, it's inspired a ton of go-get-em vitriol that I'm not as quick to spew. Dubber (a New Zealander living in England), meanwhile, is an academic at heart. He's been nothing but classy, and the only bias he's expressed in laying this stuff out is symbolised by how he started talking about the temporary suspension:

...I’m determined to salvage some sort of lesson for independent music business out of all this. That’s what I do.

Yup. That's exactly what he does. And he's nice about people bringing meat-laden pizza into his family's home. So keep an eye on this guy and be kind to him.

Description 38 - Music

It's all about the music, playing some of the greatest hits of the podcast while I hang out at a North By Northeast event and talk about how I got to play those songs - and why shouldn't all podcasters be able to play whatever the hell they want?

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(Update, July 6: Finally figured out how to make my .mp3 44.1kHz and 96kbps, so a new version is now up that won't sound chipmunky in Flash players.)

Associated links:
Moe Berg and TPOH mp3s and CDs on sale at Maplemusic
Incompletely Conspicuous: The Pursuit of Happiness and the Press
Galore: offical site and on myspace
Kevin Hilliard is "The Clapper" (go bug him to get that National Anthem album I mentioned for you)
Memory Bank on myspace (with new music!)
Jennifer Foster: on myspace and CD Baby
The Supers on myspace
Danko Jones
Podsafe Music Network
North By Northeast
C'mon
The Diodes: on myspace and on BongoBeat

Download Andrew Dubber's The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online free as a .pdf
For more info and to give feedback, go to his blog New Music Strategies

Don't worry, the Duty Free episode is coming (in case you were actually worrying about a Duty Free episode).

While I was hanging out at the Indie Market recording, I blew not one, but two chances to snag some sweet music for the podcast. I ran into New Brunswick's own lovely and talented PJ Dunphy, previously known for proto-retro rawk of The Monoxides but now known for the mighty sludge metal of Iron Giant. Some buddies were kind enough to bring him in from Moncton for a week of debauchery, and he was looking around for them. Not long after, I exchanged hellos with the charming Thom D'Arcy of the terribly cool and frequently touring Small Sins (a band for which Kevin is "The Clapper"). Did I ask EITHER of these guys if I could play their stuff on the podcast? OF COURSE NOT! Why? Well, this time, it's not so much a matter of being a pussy as just being a dumb-ass and not thinking of it.

So hey, dudes! How about it? Huh?

(Keep in mind, though, that Thom's stuff is on a label, albeit an indie one, and I think they still get along, so I'm not sure about the chances there.)

I give big props to music podcasts in general for going through stupid crap for doing what they do, so I should mention some. To be honest, I don't listen to a lot of them, but I admire what they do and know what good they do for musicians and listeners. The biggest music podcast in Canada and probably the world is the CBC Radio3 podcast, which is now past 100 episodes and has spawned a couple spinoffs. However, they're the CBC and have lawyers and stuff to help out with the rights business. Still, they make the best of the advantages they have. The brilliant digital music store/label Zunior.com has their own fine podcast, though they have the advantage of being, well, a digital music store/label. The godfather of all music podcasters IMHO is Julien Smith of In Over Your Head, which keeps gliding along as its creator happens to approach social networking guru status. Then there's the less-glamorous but equally-busy Bob Goyetche, who besides doing the Canadian Podcast Buffet and The Bob and AJ Show (soooo, now you think you're gonna make 100 by PAB?), also shows his knack for music that doesn't suck with mostlytunes. Look for more shows fighting the good fight of music podcasting in the music category of the directory CanadaPodcasts.ca - which Bob also has something to do with, but whatever... :-)

One more thing Bob is involved in is trying to get some of the muckety-mucks in charge of publishing and related copyright organizations in Canada to turn up at the upcoming Podcasters Across Borders conference in Kingston. From what I could tell from the Buffet this week, at least one person agreed to come, while another has "scheduling conflicts" (on a Sunday. okay-doke.). It's a noble effort, which I hope is a first step toward getting these guys to understand that indie podcasters mean no harm, but wish to help with a promotional reach that goes far beyond anyone they've ever dealt with. If you look at situations in various countries around the world, there are many, many steps to be taken.

Meanwhile, artists who aren't Danko Jones who I played on this episode: would it KILL you to throw a couple songs up on the PMN?!?

Description 37 - The Drive Home

You've heard Toronto, you've heard Ohio - now hear what's in between as I take the Subaru on its zillionth trip across the border. Featuring music from The Ambers, mashups, service roads, mysterious medians and the anti-Tim's.

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Click here to download directly and enjoy every exit

And if you want pictures, there's the enhanced version!

Associated links:
Country Style
680 News
The QEW on list of Ontario Provincial Highways
(about as geeky as it sounds)
Thorold Tunnel
Jordan Village
Anna Olson's bakery
(okay, so she's in Port Dalhousie now. Close. She was here.)
Anna and Sugar on Food Network Canada
The Ambers on myspace
(the only other place you can hear "Endless Summer"!)
The Peace Bridge
Consulate General Buffalo
WGR SportsRadio (was listening to the Sabres/Senators game)
New York State Thruway Authority
Angola Travel Plaza
102ZOO

Yes, on part of the trip, I was playing mashups from my nano. Let's see if I can keep track of them... Air 52's by ToToM, Electro Punk (Iggy vs. Bloc Party) by Electrosound, Last Minute Man (Missy vs. NIN) by Hidden Signal, Crazy Logic by Arty Fufkin (who I met on SL a while back), and Highway to Hell & Back (AC/DC vs. Kelly Clarkson vs. John Cougar vs. Green Day vs. some other things) as well as the absolute classic Juke Box Hero Project (Foreigner vs. Seger vs. others) by DJ John. Mashuptown and the BootieSF site are excellent places to get brilliant mashups, and I know they would appreciate your support. My two-year love affair with mashups was fostered by Adam Curry, so I'm very happy to hear he's back to playing them on the Daily Source Code, having ceased giving a crap.

I've tried a few times to record my visits with US customs on the other side of the Peace Bridge. The sound was always too bad (and coming from me, that's saying something) because I'd be there in the car and the officer would be in his/her little booth - the distance was too much. I got lucky this time with a cop who got off his ass to check around. Also, I keep trying to have the iRiver going in case one of them gets smart-assy, which sometimes happens but hasn't happened lately. I get asked the usual citizenship question and I answer as usual "dual - US and Canada", and once the guy asked "which one do you want to be now?" Hmmm. Sometimes they just want to know what set of questions to ask ("how long have you been in Canada" or "how long will you be in the US").

A few months before the 2002 US election, a customs officer said, "but you come from America, right?" Right.

"Okay, so you're American." Well, partially.

"No, if you're a dual citizen, but you're from America, that's the only thing we care about. You're a US citizen. The other one doesn't matter." Hmph.

Technically, this is pretty much true. But I kinda wanted to ask, "would it matter if my other citizenship was...say...Syrian? Or Iranian? Maybe Pakistani? Or maybe if I wasn't a blonde white girl fluent in English with no suspicious accent? Then would my other citizenship matter?"

But of course, that is not the time to ask questions like that, unless you want to pull over to that nice building over to the right and hang out for a little while. I just nodded with understanding, answered the rest of my questions and went on my way. And I decided that since I was such a US citizen, I'd vote in that damn election and the one after that. For all the good it did. Oh, well.

Description 37a - The Enhanced Drive Home

When a podcaster gets a hold of GarageBand and a digital camera, an enhanced podcast seem inevitable. So while recording for Description 37, I took pictures of stuff along the way, as you will hear by the annoying pauses and programmed camera noises. So while there isn't anything useful like, oh, say, chapters and compression in there (I just found compression in GB near the end of editing this! Genius again.), there are nice photos that kinda sync up to what I'm describing. As this .m4a will make evident, I'm really an audio person at heart, and too many photos/video sort of defeat my purpose of podcasting, but this was a fun experiment that I may mess with from time-to-time.

The regular, photo-less, compressed .mp3 version is on the way, but for now, if you have iTunes or something that will read this kind of thing (seriously, otherwise this is gonna screw you up), enjoy!

Monte-freakin'-forte video!

For all of you who have made Description 05 one of most popular episodes here, and even for those who have no clue what I'm talking about, I bring you the first video I ever shot with my new digital camera: Monteforte at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern last Friday.
I dig your rock.

Description 36 - Janes and Jane's

We walk through The Annex again, but this time we're led by someone who knows what the hell he's talking about - like why's it called The Annex? And what's that lady doing across the street? May include chalk drawings, but no tv shoes.

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Click here to download directly if you like things organic, spontaneous and untidy.

Associated links
Doors Open Toronto 2007
Jane's Walk
Angus Skene's Architours
Structures on Rogers Television
Our first stop at the Medical Arts Building
Our second stop at the York Club
Madison Manor Boutique Hotel (part of our third stop)
The Jane's Walk gallery
Spacing Wire blogs about it.
The book Angus recommended about Robert Moses
Jane Jacobs @ Project for Public Spaces
Good ol' Description 17
the TTC's moment of silence

I gotta get a handle on how to read levels in GarageBand. If the start of this episode doesn't blow your ears out like the last episode, you can thank my Australian friend in Second Life. We were in-world together when he got to this blog from my SL profile and started playing Description 35, then said "ouch".

When you look through some of those photos of the walk and you see this person looking kind of uncomfortable in a long black coat accented by a white cable strung across her, that would be me. Move along...

The post in Spacing Wire estimates that a couple thousand people participated in Jane's Walk. Again, the people's interest in their own city without a ton of promotion never ceases to amaze me. If it didn't amaze me, I guess I wouldn't be a proper Torontonian. :-)

Description 35 - Kraft Dinner

In the kitchen, I contemplate the significance of elbow macaroni with frighteningly orange powder; and in a Canadian grocery store, contemplate the significance of tomato soup with cheese portobello mushroom ravioli. With music by The Pursuit of Happiness, Danny Michel in the background, and a certified parking lot freak-out.

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Associated links:
The Official Kraft Dinner site
CBC Midday does Kraft Dinner! (with Brent Bambury!)
Danny Michel: official, MySpace and the fansite.
Buy Danny's new DVD/CD combo! Or get that new album on vinyl or digital download!
Oh, and this was the album I was playing.
Time to plug my TPOH site again.
The Daily Bread Food Bank
Loblaws
SModcast, via Quick Stop Entertainment

Okay, I admit: no one will give their right arm for wild mushroom risotto.

Note that my freak-out was not about losing a huge amount of food, but that I was going to have to talk to someone about it. That should give you an idea about my social nature.

Listening back, I wondered if I was inferring that a lot of immigrants use food banks. Coming from Ohio, I can tell you that folks born and raised are every bit as likely to need them. Anyone can fall on hard times. I guess the points I was trying to make in that wrong inference start with Toronto being such a multicultural place, and that's reflected in the grocery stores. People could be second or third generation Canadians, and carry on the culinary traditions their family taught them, and this isn't easy with peanut butter and no name mac'n'cheese. But beyond that, it isn't even a matter of ethnic food or culture or whatever. It's a matter of quality - of food, of life. Everyone deserves that.

And what are my culinary traditions? Er...Swanson Fried Chicken and Hostess Ho-ho's?

Don't laugh, Yanks. You can't get Hostess Ho-ho's here. Seriously. And Canadians who think they're no different from Swiss Rolls? Just as well you keep thinking that...

Save Sons of Butcher

While I'm thinking up the new episode...I've learned that our cartoon network, Teletoon, is not renewing one of my favourite shows I've worked on in the day job, Sons of Butcher. This sucks because it's funny, has the rock, and is a fine representation of Hamilton, Ontario (since they're ditching CHCH after a zillion years and replacing it with the fricking E! channel, it may be the only way that town gets represented!). So to give a little bit back, here's part of the last regular episode (from youtube, because to use what I got from work might be illegal or something...). As Doug might say, maybe y'all can get viral on they ass. To check out the rest of that episode, go here, and to see more wigged stuff and find out how you can sign a petition to save the show, go to the SOB myspace page.

Description 34 - Formerly Known as Hull

What is this town with two names? Why does everything look closed? And what the hell was I doing there? Features music by The Hundreds and Thousands, a contemplation of nigiri vs. galettes, two waterfalls and a very special cameo by Maurice Chevalier.

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Click here to download directly, like you're just here for the later last call.

Associated links:
Musimax!
Hull in Wikipedia (where we learn I was wrong about "Chaudières" meaning "rapids")
Cool stuff to do and see in Gatineau
Official site for the CRTC
The tv station we were proposing to the CRTC
Me in the application hearing the next day - yikes!
The Hundreds and Thousands
Hour Magazine reviews L'Argoät, and digs them too.

L'Argoät was the restaurant where I ended up, and it was really great. I had a savory galette (which is really a crepe) which had these roasted potatoes and camenbert inside; and the traditional drink with galettes in Brittany (I learned), "un bolle du cidre" or a bowl of this alcoholic apple cider. Then, once my server told me that I could pay by interac (whew!), I had a dessert galette just with chocolate sauce, but the best chocolate sauce EVER.

So you see, Gatineau - formerly known as Hull to everyone but the cab drivers - isn't as bad as I made it sound. Pretty close to the hotel was the vast Gatineau Park, across town is the Museum of Civilisation (like a Canadian natural history museum - its architecture is so cool, it totally sticks out like a sore thumb), and in the other direction is Casino Lac-Leamy, which I still call by its original and way-less-glamorous name, Casino d'Hull. That's right - casino dull. Genius.

It turns out the Quebec election that day was pretty damn interesting. Jean Charest and the Liberals held on to power, but only got a minority government. The Parti Québecois stunk up the joint, so the cute and gay André Boisclair is probably going to lose his job. The big shock winner was Action démocratique du Québec (see, told you there was a "democratic" in there), who've gone from not even being an official party to being The Opposition. So things in Quebec become as hard-to-predict as ever, just in a whole different way.

Something I didn't get to do while I was in the area was meet up with my friend Gavin, who I've known ever since we were smart-ass writers for our college paper at York University. He lives in Ottawa, but had business out of town most of the time I was there. We've had our ups and downs, and go in and out of touch, but I've always found him a remarkable, funny guy with my favourite voice in history. Late last year, an email came from him out of the blue about this thing he was doing: he was running a marathon and a half (literally) at Disney World to raise money toward building a school in Kathmandu, Nepal. Okey-doke. It was a great cause of Sean Egan, the man who led Gavin's first expedition up Mount Everest - an expedition that Egan did not survive. So Gavin ran what's left of his ass off (I think the last time I'd seen him, he was running the marathon in Ottawa) and raised thousands of dollars. These folks have just about made it to their goal of $150,000 to build the school, so why not help get them over the top by going to the Ad Astra (which means "aim high") site and coughing up some coin.