Plomo
Sunday, May 30 2004
Posted by brockito
My dear friends from Argentina taught me that expression a while ago, which means something like a wet blanket, downer type of person. Someone who is always really heavy and sort of miserable. Apparently, guys who work as road crew or some other kind of heavy manual labour are also called "plomo", so this is my new term for the various jobs I get called for by that casual I mentioned above.

The reason I am boring you all with this information (aside from this being my weblog) is that I have not written anything here recently and am blaming my spending a brief sojourn into the life of a "workie joe" as we called guys like me when I was a kid. At least guys like me last week working on a construction site. Those of you in Vancouver may have heard about this project called Storyeum which is being built where the old Woodwards parkade was/is. As far as I can understand it is some sort of cross between a museum and a theatre/film set. Anyways, I got subcontracted out to this film set company that specialises in doing the fake green outdoors look, so I spent most of my days in the big simulated rainforest and the fake klondike town, alternately standing around breathing concrete dust and being bombarded by many layers of low frequency noise pollution, and contributing to same, drilling holes in concrete with a jack-drill. That's how we were "planting" greenery in the space. Its unbelievable how much work it is to try and recreate what nature has done on its own, and i found myself wondering what the hell would make someone throw so much money into a parking garage in this way. I guess it will become some huge tourist attraction or something.

Yeah, so that's my no-blog excuse for this week. I will mention now that I am here, that H and T and I thoroughly enjoyed the Tortoise show at the Commodore on Saturday despite my being asphyxiated by second-hand marijuana smoke half the time. It would suck to be in Tortoise if you were a non-smoker of any kind.

On the music front, I am working on some grant applications for both a new record and a european tour in the fall so hopefully there will be more to tell later on about that. Aston at Boss Tuneage has also agreed to release some of the pre-production for that record as an ep, most likely on limited 10" vinyl and a short run of CDEP.

That's about it for now. I've got another plomo gig tomorrow am at BC Place laying down the astro-turf for the coming football season so it is time to pretend to be part of society and go to bed before 3am.

Quidam
Thursday, May 6 2004
Posted by brockito
Wow. I got a comp ticket for the last dress rehearsal of the new Cirque du Soleil production Quidam last night courtesy of my casual job. I only got one shift on the load-in last week but I am not complaining since I was sitting in a $95 seat .

Anyways, this was truly an unbelievable live performance by a cast of maybe fifty or so, and though admission is pretty steep I have to say it is worth every penny. I mean these days people pay that much or more to see David Bowie or Metallica at some big arena. Those shows are certainly worth seeing too, but I'd have to be pretty rich to spend that much on a ticket (and would frankly rather be paid to be on the crew). Cirque du Soleil, on the other hand, is something special. You will see at least one, if not many, things you have never seen before. I caught my breath at least twice when it was obvious that something incredibly difficult and dangerous was being attempted. I don't know if it was because it was a dress rehearsal or not, but seeing the occasional miss really knocks that home. Maybe even more fascinating is the amount of times I was just rivetted, oblivious to the years of practise these performers have behind them, due to the ease and grace of their presentation. They almost seemed inhuman at times, but then I'd notice someone's abdomen pumping air in and out like a gigantic bellows, or see the strain of a muscle or a very slight tremor or shaking of the limb.

Oh, and the music is all performed live by a big band...

A few suggestions for those of you who do go - if bringing kids, I'd suggest earplugs or getting seats near the back - the occasional sudden bolt of lightning or thunder gets pretty loud, as does some of the music. The theme is a bit macabre at times also and a young toddler might find some things a bit scary. Then again, considering the intensity of most video games and tv shows that the average kid is exposed to, maybe not.

I was super inspired by the whole event and found myself with a new piece of something I've been puzzling over lately about live performance. That is, the performer must give something to the audience that they do not already have. That's why it is particularly challenging to play a gig with just a mic stand, a chair and a guitar. Everyone has heard somebody play guitar and sing a gajillion or more times. There is a lot of room for creativity. Ditto the tired radio alt rock or whatever. Remember that is all paid for by commercials for Trojan condoms or whatever, and like it or not, that is what commercial radio and tv is really about - that's why its called commercial.

The same can be said for the so-called non-commercial realm as well. Everyone knows when they have witnessed a real masterful performance, or a truly touching performance, or a deeply disturbing performance. It may seem like heresy to some of you die-hard purist musicians out there, but it is not just about the performer. The performer has a job to do, and a tradition to uphold - there are people watching, listening...and how satisfying it is to get that special something.

Kudos to the Quidam troupe.

Oh, and something I've been meaning to mention - those little comments links on these pages are for you readers to join into the discussion. If you think I am talking out my a$$, click on the comments link and say so. Or if you strongly agree, same. Let me know if this feature is something you guys are interested in, after all, this website is for you - let me know if you want it ! (or anything else for that matter)

-Ciao !