On Lesbians...

I discovered in New Zealand that I often develop little crushes on women who turn out to be lesbians. This is clearly not an ideal situation for a straight male. However, I managed to use it to write a song that is truly my own.

This new song is so very me, in that it contains complete tangents, and is the goofiest song I've ever written. It's strange that I tend to write lyrics that are way darker and more serious than I truly am. This song feels much more true to life. Topics include the aforementioned lesbian hunting, Star Wars Episode III, and Natalie Portman, my biggest celebrity crush. Watch here for an upcoming youTube video of it!

So Many Separate Projects...

Lately I have been keeping myself busy with a bunch of different artistic endeavours. I arranged a two-song medley of "Idioteque" by radiohead and "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles, and performed the set alongside Cody Kurz and Melissa Gan (double bass and violin respectively). It was a lot of fun, and I really liked the sound of that ensemble. I have a few other songs that I want to arrange for that group, and I hope to drag them both out to an open mic night at Lydia's some time soon.

I have also performed alongside Nolto a few times lately. I still don't know what the general reception is to acoustic hip hop. Once we get a few more tracks ready, I hope to film a performance of ours, and record it as a live album. Slowly, but surely, that project is creeping towards its intended goal.

In addition, I feel really good about the progress we've made on a movie by Five Stones Films. Every time I go through it, I feel less and less compelled to make any changes. The opening scene has already been shot, and you can see an example of it here.

In general, it has been rare for me to consistently make progress on this many projects at once. Normally, I want to do a number of things, but only one gets worked on at a time. The first that I truly started artistic multitasking was in New Zealand, where I had the time to do so. I've proven to myself that I can actually work on a number of things at once, and that I actually truly enjoy bouncing from one project to the next as my interests change. It is clear to me that I have been persistently more prolific since my trip abroad.

Thanks, New Zealand!


P.S. I miss your chocolate bars.

Housekeeping

It has been far too long since I posted here regularly. I went through a less-than-awesome transition period upon returning to Canada from New Zealand, and it took me a while to get settled. I now have a full-time job at Long and McQuade as a guitar salesman, and I hope that the stability of a real job will allow me to return to my more regular blogging schedule.

I have been slowly working on some musical projects lately, and I have a few upcoming concert appearances. I really want to perform live music on a regular basis again, and the next few months should help me regain the wonderful habit of regular performance.

In addition to my musical projects, I have recently begun doing some revision for a script that is being turned into a short film by Five Stones Films. So far it has been an interesting project. More on that as it develops.

In the meantime, I have uploaded a few tracks composed in the late stages of developing Notepad Command.

Notepad Command Extended Music Release by RHProductions

Long Time, No Blog

It has been some time since I last posted here. I certainly did not intend to stop writing upon returning from New Zealand. It was more that I had fewer things worth blogging about. It's difficult to go from an adventure to a bland, familiar kind of normalcy. It was good to see friends upon returning to Saskatoon, for sur. But returning to the place I was excited to leave...well, it didn't exactly leave me inspired to write about my life.

All of the members of my prospective band are now in the same city for the first time, and I'm looking forward to kicking off that project. I have also been musing about a screenplay that I intend to write, though I am currently in the process of doing research for it. As for current musical projects, I will be busy this week rehearsing for the U of S composition recital, and with a friend for Thursday. I will be performing at local bar Amigo's this Thursday with an old friend, Nolto. We're doing three songs as an acoustic hip hop duo. I'm as nervous about how it will go as I am excited to perform. It should be interesting.

Return of the King

I have been home for almost a week now, and I'm delighted that going from summer to prairie winter isn't as terrible as I thought it would be. You can take the man out of the prairie, but...

Anyway, the most noticeable change is that the sun goes down so much earlier. The result of this is that my body shuts down, and I could fall asleep any time between 8 and 9pm, every day. And it's not a time zone thing, either. 9pm here would be 4pm where I've been. It's totally a sun thing, and I look forward to my body adjusting to my new sunlight schedule.

Until recently, I had no desire to look for classical guitar sheet music. But in the last while, I have gone back to some of the material from my last few years of school, and I enjoy it again. It's good to want to keep playing some of that music, before it slips from my memory completely.

My Last Day in New Zealand

My travels here are coming to an end soon. I leave for Vancouver tomorrow, and I'm already packed to go. I'm really going to miss this place, though I am certain I will be back some day. I would really like to go on tour here some time. I've met a lot of cool people here in Wellington.

Tonight I will be playing my last performance here, at a new open mic event. It's only in its third week, and that's where I'm having my farewell get-together. It seems appropriate to be spending my last evening playing music and hanging out with the open mic crowd.

Kaikoura

I've been in Kaikoura for the past two days. It's a tourist town on the east coast of the south island, known for whale-watching, dolphin-swimming, and great scenery. Unfortunately, the weather has been shite, and it rained for most of yesterday. However, I stayed at my friend Ayça's place, and worked on some writing projects all day. It was actually quite productive. I also played at a local bar last evening, which was a lot of fun.

Today I walked down to a seal colony, and got amazingly close to some seals. The scenery was amazing, despite the dull weather, and the rain stopped long enough for me to walk there and back home. It's been a great trip. I definitely plan to see more of the country when I am next in New Zealand.

Two Weeks Left

With my departure two weeks from tomorrow, I have been trying to fill up my schedule with as many awesome things as possible. Tomorrow I am going on a three-day trip to Kaikoura, to work with another writer to rewrite a few episodes of a web-series that will be shot in Auckland sometime early this year. While I'm there, I've also worked out a gig at a local bar for Thursday night. Upon returning on Saturday, I will be preparing to play on the acoustic stage at the 350 Birdman Competition on Sunday.

Tonight, though, I have to pack for my trip and go to a new open mic event at Meow here in Wellington. It's a busy week, but I'm sure it'll be a good one.

It is important to travel once in a while.

It is such a healthy thing to go somwehere away from home until you miss it. Just once in a while, so that you can remember what you miss about home. Because once you have a little time and distance from it all, you start to forget about the things that didn't matter, or which bothered you. And you realize which things you actually miss about home. You get a clear sign of the things you miss, and the things you don't, and it's amazing for self-reflection. You realize what is was about the things you did that you truly enjoyed.

You also gain exposure to new things when you travel. I have started listening to all kinds of new artists since coming to Wellington. I have spent all week listening to Amanda Palmer's album "Who Killed Amanda Palmer." I also cleaned my iPod. I took off everything, and only put music on it which I have recently acquired, focusing on new artists I want to experience, with a very few classic album exceptions. I added Weezer's Pinkerton, because I use it to induce sleep. Not because it's a boring album, but because I have a Pavlovian association between Pinkerton and sleep.

Since I decided to come home early, I have enjoyed myself more. I have relaxed about the whole financial thing, and really taken the time to do the things that interest me. It has been so amazing. I recommend this interesting TED talk, which explains many of the wonderful things I am experiencing on my holiday in New Zealand.

Mixed News

I have changed my original plan to stay in New Zealand until April. I have decided to return home on February 2nd, for a whole host of reasons. The most pressing reason is that I haven't found a job, and staying til April would leave me in financial ruin. My trip would be tainted, and so far, it's been amazing. If I leave now, it will be an wonderful and much-needed holiday. If I wait it out, it might be the worst decision I've ever made for my finances.

In addition, I am trying to start up a musical project with and old friend, Kristel. (She isn't old, the friendship is.) I'm really excited about it, and since I came to New Zealand to further my musical career, it would be foolish not to come home for an opportunity like this one. And the opportunity wouldn't have happened if I had stayed at home. I needed this trip more than I ever could have imagined. I will never forget this place.

So I now have about 4 weeks to enjoy what I can here in New Zealand. I hope to do a trip to the south island sometime soon. With the money I'll save leaving early, I can actually do things here, and enjoy the time that I have left.

It was saddening to actually change my flight, but I know that it's the right decision, for so many reasons.

Welcome, 2011.

I spent New Year's Eve busking around downtown Wellington. There were a lot of buskers out there, and most of them had amplifiers. This left my friend, Tamau, and me at a great disadvantage. It was not as wildly profitable as I had hoped, but it was still a lot of fun.

Due to the fact that I have not found employment, I might be returning to Canada sooner than I had planned. As much as I would like to stay here for longer, if I do have to head home early, I won't be sad about my trip. It has been exactly what I needed it to be, and much more. The fact that I haven't been working has actually been one of the best parts of this trip. I had no idea how badly I needed to unwind until I had the time to do so. And the repeated job searches have led me to a bunch of opportunities that I would otherwise have missed out on, including the chance to help rewrite scripts for a comedy that's going to be shot in Auckland sometime early this year. I have always been interested in screenwriting, and now I have gotten a start. I like scripts. I would never have known that if I had found a job right away.

I've written a fair bit of music, and had time to reflect on the shortcomings of my songwriting. I have met some great people, and had a blast here. I have no regrets about what has happened so far. Don't get me wrong, if I found a job tomorrow, I'd be ecstatic. But if I have to go home early with the experiences that I have had here so far, this trip will still have been a bigger success than I was hoping for.

Busking vs Marathon

Except for the fact that they are the exact opposite, running a marathon and busking all night are quite similar activities. There are lots of people clumped together at the beginning, and they thin out at the end. Not all people make it to the end. In a marathon, you run past the audience; busking, they run past you. But the visuals are the same. I suspect that you see more drunken audience members while busking than you would at a marathon. I've never had any desire to "attend" a marathon.

Toward the end of busking, your fingers are tired and sore, so you take longer breaks. But then a group of people will come by and encourage you to play a song. It's like cheering you on to the end. You want to quit, but you have to keep going.

It's a really good way to force myself to play a lot. I don't have to be playing terribly difficult stuff. Just as long as I'm playing. I find it much easier to avoid distractions on Cuba Street than in my room where I normally practice. Plus, you get paid to practice. How cool is that?

Sabbatical is the greatest thing in the universe.

I have begun to experience just how profoundly relieving a sabbatical period can be. To simply have the calendar free is wonderful. Nothing looms over you. There is no "but I have to go to work later," or things you should be doing because you have projects or assignments due soon. I take things on of my own choosing, and it's a wonderful feeling. I highly recommend finding a way to afford some time for sabbatical.

I've been working on quite a few different projects since I got here. I have my weekly open mic nights, which I prepare 6 or 7 songs for every week, although it's usually polishing up songs I already know. I have started to learn songs from my #1 hits list, to have more songs with mass appeal, for busking. I have been working with another writer to rewrite 6 episodes of a comedy that will be shot in Auckland early next year. I have also been trying to plan some concerts and a tour for when I get back to Saskatoon in April or May. I have a bunch of guitar compositions on the go, as well as a handful of songs. I have also found my first guitar student for early January.

And nobody told me I had to do any of these projects. They are my own. And that is the fundamental difference between sabbatical and work or school.

The Busker and the New Idea.

I went busking with a friend on Saturday. We played until 5:00am, and it was a lot of fun. After splitting the money, I walked away with $41 (New Zealand Dollars, approx. $30 CDN) for six and a half hours of playing. It certainly isn't the most profitable work I've done. But it was a lot of fun.

I learned some very valuable lessons while out busking. First, my song list that I have made for playing at a venue is poorly suited to the environment of busking. It's a list of microphone music. I need outside music. Also, it's all somewhat obscure music, which I like about it. But when I'm busking with someone else, if I play any Canadian music that isn't Neil Young or Terrible, nobody will recognize it. Which is fine for the people walking by, but bad for busking avec someone.

So I spent the greater part of a day looking through billboard lists for #1 hits from 1958-2009. There's a lot of crap (I'm looking at YOU, 1975!), but there's also a lot of good music. I picked just under 40 songs I want to learn, and tracked down the lyrics to them. I'm going to print them and add them to my binder. I'll make a few notes for how to play them. Next time I go busking, I'll have a better inventory.

I plan to make a full list of songs and laminate it, and see if I can make money for doing requests, or doing Acoustic Karaoke. I've had this idea for a while, but I always imagined it in a venue. Having thought about it, though, I think it works better while busking. We'll see by the weekend.

I still have not found work here yet. The recession is kind of a problem. And many of the jobs I would qualify for are not looking for someone on a temporary visa. But I'm still remaining hopeful. It's still been a great experience here in Wellington, and I really feel like I'm having a much-deserved sabbatical.

My flatmate Mark and I have similar tastes in television, and I've been getting into a few BBC series that he has on his computer. I mean... "on DVD." Anyway, I just caught up in Peep Show, a show about two flatmates. They shoot the scenes as they would be seen through the eyes of a character. While it's from their perspective, you also get to hear the inner voice. It's quite interesting.

The other show I've been watching is The Mighty Boosh. It's one of the weirdest shows I have ever seen, but it's quite funny. I'm actually using one of their weird songs as the basis for a guitar piece that I'm writing. It should be a fun project.

A Down Week

Last week, my flatmates' cat Madox died. We think he was hit by a car down the road. Murray, the other cat, has been mourning the loss of his little companion. It's been a sad week.

I've been sick for a week now. I have a head cold sort of thing, and it wasn't very fun over the weekend. Plus, I added a hangover to the mix, which was not wise.

The advantage of being sick was that I didn't have the energy to do much but stay in my room, so I've been doing a lot of practicing lately. I've been trying to practice up "Spiritual Groove" by Antoine Dufour for tonight's open mic. My throat and voice have not fully recovered, so I'm sticking with instrumental pieces tonight. I'm bound to make some mistakes, but that's alright. I need to know what kind of troubles I have playing it live, as opposed to practicing at home.

I hate making a title for my posts.

I finally got around to chopping up my radio appearance from a few weeks ago, so that one can listen to one song at a time. The setlist is available here.

My brain is convinced that time is going backwards. Or that it has stopped. It's a little bit confused, because there isn't any snow. I am aware of the date, but there's a part of my brain that is in some serious denial. I was in a store the other day, and saw a Christmas tree. My initial thought was that it was way too early to see Christmas trees. But then I recalled that it is, in fact, a month until Christmas. My brain just doesn't know how to handle it all yet.

This past week I tried out two very new songs. I actually don't know the words very well, so there were pauses while I had to consult my lyrics sheet. And the best part was that I was totally fine with the mistakes that I made. Mistakes used to get me all flustered, and everything would fall apart. I'm getting much more comfortable with the reality of live music. It's not that I want to make mistakes, but when they happen, they happen, and you need to move on and keep playing. Open mic opportunities are good for that, because most of the people in the room are musicians as well, and know what it's like. In that kind of crowd, you are almost expected to step up and try something that might go horribly wrong, because it shows that you're not holding back. I choose to embrace mistakes as a part of the learning process.

Terry's Songwriters Show: Power On

My session on Wellington Access Radio is now available online. I was putting off blogging until it was ready, but that took much longer than expected. I actually got a recording of it in the mail before it was available electronically.

Having listened to it, I definitely, ummm....need to stop saying "ummm." I also need to say "thank you" less. Clearly I need more experience in interviews. But it certainly could have been more awkward. It would have been much worse a few years ago, so I'm relatively pleased with the outcome.

I have been trying not to play the same songs at the same venues since coming to Wellington. I've been using a spreadsheet to keep track of what I play where, and the names of the people I meet. I'm starting to run out of original songs that I haven't played yet, but the good news is that I'm writing more as I go. It's really good motivation, because now I have a goal in mind: to finish and memorize two songs for open mic next Wednesday. It's quite possible that I'll have three ready, because I finished one yesterday, and have two more that are almost done. Mind you, it's the memorizing that will be the tricky part.

Another observation about cats: they can, and often do, use their hind feet as pillows. I think that's pretty sweet.

Right Place, Right Time.

I played at Open Mic at the Fringe Bar on Tuesday. After I performed, I was approached by a local radio show host named Terry Shore. He asked me some questions about my original songs, and after some discussion, he said that he needed someone for his radio show for the next morning. A last-mintue cancellation opened up a spot, and he asked me if I could do 5 songs the next day at 10:00am.

It was a bit rough waking up early for the first time in a while, but it was worth it. It was a lot of fun, and a good experience for me, since I haven't had much experience singing until lately. I sang 5 original songs, interspersed with some interview clips. It's airing in Wellington at 2:30pm on Saturday, but it will be available online eventually as well. I'll post a link as soon as I can.

This is all further proof that Wellington is an awesome city.

I call it..."Song-taking"

Wednesday morning, I awoke around 4am to the sound of a bird I had never heard before. And it kept singing its tune, and it was damn catchy. So in the darkness of way-too-early morning, I scribbled some mostly legible notes in my music notebook. I returned to sleep, and in the morning, I had myself a sweet bass line, plagiarized from nature itself. Now I just have to wait for a bird to sing me a sweet chorus, and I'll have myself a song.

Tomorrow I have to get a new new bank card. I forgot which pin I selected for my new account, and in the process of trying to figure out which of my regular pins I chose, the bank machine ate my card for security reasons. Classic. As a side note, I will also spend part of tomorrow editing a script for a comedy that's going to be shot in Auckland, New Zealand. Seriously.

Oh, and it's Guy Fawkes Night here in New Zealand, which for me means that we celebrate yet another movie starring Natalie Portman. With fireworks.