gettin’ our groove back!

once upon a time we dj’d.  we dj’d A LOT.

once we put a hold on drumming & picked up the bass it became clear that this bass love affair was time consuming (& gladly so!) & at the time we thought one of these things has to go.  there is just not enough time for both.  so for the calendar year of 2011 we put the dj stuff to the side.  that way we could concentrate on the bass & give it the full attention it deserves & needed. despite taking 2011 off from dj’ing we still managed to squeeze in a half dozen events.  so much for taking the entire year off!

enter 2012 & some solid dj bookings have reappeared on our radar.  back by popular demand(seems like there are a few more weddings in 2012 than 2011?), we are going full steam into spinning music for your ears enjoyment in 2012.   guess it boils down to the fact that we can’t say no to a good party so let the good times roll once again!  we got our groove back this past weekend spinning at Duffys in Toronto.  a fine establishment with friendly patrons/staff & some nice micros on tap.  hopefully we’ll be back there again someday soon!  it felt great to be back behind the mixer again & having a great time while doing it!

our dj motto is “all styles, all fun” so we aim please! no event is too small or too big and whatever the circumstances, we can provide the right atmosphere for your next wedding, pub party or special event. for more info surf on over to www.groovinmusic.ca .  now off to find some new music!

hey buddy can u spare 10 minutes?

it’s almost 2 weeks into 2012 & already our resolutions for more music related fun are being put to the test. where does the time go everyday? we’ve got new strings on the bass that makes it a heap of fun to play right now (more on that in a future post) so our motivation is at a peak. but by the time we get to putting our head down everyday we realize we haven’t played as nearly as much as we would have liked. sound familiar? shades of 2011 redux. ugh.

well at least we can take comfort in the fact that it’s not how long you play everyday but that fact that you play everyday. truer words from our bass coach could not have been said back when we started bass playing. often have we come back to that quote for solace in these times when we are pressed for time.

sure we haven’t had as much time as we would have liked to play and learn so far in 2012 but we haven’t missed a day. 10 minutes minimum is all that is needed and we can always find 10 minutes in a day for the 4 string. the 10 minute a day mantra = words to live by for any instrument.

whoa! 200 songs for a mere $30! steal of the week!

laying down the roots

so many songs to learn!

well its been exactly 2.5 years on the bass.  the new year brings renewed vigor from all sides to learn new material.  as we were trying out a batch of new songs tonight we stumbled upon something.  something we vaguely knew we were doing but not really aware of :  learning from the root.

it occurred to us during a few songs that we actually had sheet notes for.  progress was painfully slow and we couldn’t figure out why.  finally we realized we were paying too close attention.  trying to get every single note the sheet music calls for instead of just starting out playing the root notes of the songs and then expanding from there.  which simply put, appears to be our best method for learning new songs.  not only does it sound better from the start as we can keep up with the changes but it establishes the chord progression in our head and once we do expand the basslines to include more notes, the retention is wayyyy easier and faster. also, if we do end up jamming a song in the very near future at least we have the gist of the entire tune down for the jam instead of just perhaps bits and pieces.

it had been a few months since we had to learn this many songs in a row and we had kinda forgotten this sort of  “method”.  now that we remembered it, wrote it down and blogged it, we should be all good moving fwd in the weeks ahead!  now where’s that sheet music for “holiday in cambodia”?

divorcing Facebook take 1

back in 2011 we decided to go carless. a tough choice but one that has so far led us to more free time(no more sitting in traffic jams getting frustrated) to pursue other interests like this blog. being able to write a post like this while we take the bus instead of driving is way better than cursing the car in front of u. ya sure it’s -40 out but it would be that cold getting the car ready as well. but we digress. this post is about another time stealer, Facebook.

facebook’s been useful to an extent. sure we’ve been able to connect and stay connected with friends/fam/associates during the past few years but at what cost? logging in a few times a day, commenting on this & that, posting a pic here & there has eaten up a lot of our time. time we will never get back. as we looked ahead to 2012, we wanted to make changes to our lifestyle. Facebook was one of the first things we thought of that had to go. it’s been getting more & more frustrating to use along with taking our free time. so called “improvements” are causing us headaches and causing our computers to lag. not to mention ever increasing spam, viruses and glitches made the decision a simple one. divorce Facebook.

but every decision needs a plan. no plan and u are bound to fail. here are the steps we are taking:
1- trim your list of friends/pages/likes/update material down. this gives us less reason/urge to think of logging back on. the amount of trimming is purely subjective and more of a mental item but we thought every little bit helps.
2. make it harder to log on. for instance we took away our Facebook app off our phone, removed our Facebook bookmarks from our computer and when we trimmed our updates that also means we will get less email alerts asking us to log in and respond.
3. we haven’t permanently removed our account or even announced on Facebook that we are done with it. we are using the soft method. meaning, we may go back on from time to time. this divorce of Facebook is about using it less. even though in 2011 we divorced our car, we do still need to drive every so often and we use other measures to do so. we didn’t stop driving cold turkey and we are not leaving Facebook cold turkey. the plan is to gradually use it less and less until its a mere blip on the radar.

so here’s to more free time to do other things we love instead of blowing time on Facebook. our creative juices are already flowing. stay tuned here or via twitter!

The Saints Conquer the Shoe!

one of our fave bands of 2011 has got to be Hamilton’s The Saints Are Coming. they do celtic covers and covers in a celtic way. its just way too good for our ears to put into words. not only do they look impressive onstage with so many members but they SOUND impressive as well. each member carries themselves to the highest quality and standards at each performance. the choice songs and energy are off the charts! u add all that up and its a show not to be missed! we only wish we could see them more often. a short one hour set at nu music night the Horseshoe Toronto has only left us wanting more. hurry up and get here as quick as possible st. paddy’s day!

there are also some vids posted at our youtube site for your listening pleasure. twas the first show we took vids with the iphone so xcuse the learning curve. iphone needs a zoom but i guess that is why we still need cameras.

Rex Holmes & the Cheetahs

we were lucky enuff to catch a night of Rex Holmes & the Cheetahs during our holiday break. they do covers of funky pop tunes and some disco that had the dancefloor filled! the most memorable song of the night being outkast’s “hey ya” which doesn’t appear on this setlist. here’s a slew of pics from what we hope will be a annual gig on boxing day at the townehouse sudbury. awesome night out for all after a few days with the fam! wtg & a massive thx for the tour of the bass rig pepper!

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wrapping up 2011

we’ve got a moment to blog so here’s a wrap on 2011:

Those Handsome Hooligans did 2 holiday parties in December to rave reviews and we had a blast!  t’was a great way to end the year off and keep us keen for 2012. we even made it to a gig in a full blown blizzard!  white knuckling indeed!

if u don’t follow our twitter feed, we scored some neon strings over the holidaze.  we’ve been dying to use them since we read about them in BassPlayer mag awhile back.  they look sick and hopefully sound and play well enough.  we’ll post something here when they make their way onto the bass.

2011 ended on a shocking note for Molly’s Chamber as we lost our singer.  so tryouts have been ongoing since the week before the holidaze and now we’ve trimmed the Chamber Idol list down to just 3.  we plan on making each of the 3 jam an entire night with us instead of just 30mins to get a better sense of them and then make a final choice.  fun but a lot of work.  i doubt we’ve ever played PJ’s “alive” so much and so often as we did during the tryouts!  here’s to hoping we get the ball rolling again quickly as gigs are already lining up! all 3 of the finalists are top notch so the outlook is fantastic!

we rented a traynor dynabass 200 to rave reviews for our last gig of 2011

the final count for gigs in 2011 was 41.  if u’d have said we’d play that much a year ago, we’d have laughed at ya.  to say we are pleased with how 2011 went we’d be understating the fact.  so many great times!  we truly had a blast this memorable past year!  its doubtful we’ll get to 41 again in our lives but never say never.  the learning curve was quick and steep in 2011 and well worth every note, every km travelled and every moment spent on the bass.  here’s to a rockin’ 2012!  lookin’ fwd to whatever lies ahead!

chillaxin with food, brews & tunes!

so we just wrapped up a wee vacay in the orlando area. we got to try some new bevvys and some new munchies!

here’s some interesting tidbits:

woodpecker cider was 2 sweet to finish the entire 6 pack. ’twas nice to try 1 bottle but 6 was too much for 1 night.  wouldn’t buy it again.

we found bass strings for sale in the bestbuy!  just a crazy notion we know.  lots of cheap instruments but  no basses.

we enjoyed our first Mississippi mud beer! porter&pilsner combined! quite tasty!  so tasty that we downed another with no ill effects! here’s a review.

chessiest line from a finnegans bar performer:  ” oh you are from town, “xxx”! isn’t that where they named the town after the water tower?” and  BIG sized portions of everything.  crazy!

morning star veggie corn dogs were the cats meow!  since going veggietarian we never ever thought we’d see the day again when we would have a corn dog!

this was by far the best thing we ate the entire vacay.  smelt great cooking and tasted even better!  pizza and burgs together!  omg, salivating just typing this….  mmmmmmm!

last but not least, these crackers were the tastiest of tasty snacks!

thx for the good times and sunshine orlando!  hope to see u soon!

 

Holiday Party in Unionville!

just put the wraps to a holiday party at Jakes in Unionville with Those Handsome Hooligans.  despite not jaming in 3 weeks, the band gave a good performance to the small but vocal crowd.  we had a few blips and one tune we could not remember for the life of us but ah well, good thing it was the last song! rumours are we will have another show next weekend.  a super special party if everything pans out. after some epic moments tonight, we can’t wait to play again!

been considering playing more drums again lately.  actually been thinking of jamming with more ppl with ourselves behind the kit instead of the bass. a couple of interesting options came our way this past week but after a good time tonight and a great time with the bass, its hard to put it down for any length of time.  so we drew the conclusion that our drumming days are mostly at an end.  we just wanna play bass!

post soon about our recent vacay!  stay tuned!

On Cue, On Time

the setup at oncue

a later starting Leafs game pushed back the start of an evening with Mollys Chamber at On Cue.  ah, such is the life of a band playing sporting-related venues.  we cut down the sets and for the 2nd show in a row, nailed our 2nd set. a great mix of rock, acoustic and dancier numbers that got some xtra spice with our funky hat.

also adding to fun, earlier in the day we had bought a 12v adapter and finally got the full moxy out of our catalinbread sft.  we had been browning it with the 9v and the change made a massive diff! more room to play and tweak.  can’t wait to play more and tweak more in the month ahead.  hands down, one of the best items we’ve obtained this past year.

as far as our playing goes, we had 3 brain cramps over the course of the evening but other than that we were generally pleased with the gig.  earlier in the week we’d passed over reviewing a couple of the songs thinking that we were good2go with them but alas yet another reminder to self to GO OVER EVERY SONG despite what u might think.

we cannot say enough about the fine and tasty perogies at OnCue.  always a highlight and highly recommended!  what are u waiting for?  grab your pool stick and feed bag!

oh, that's what we play? ha!