its that time again
Thursday, December 17 2009
Posted by brockp

And by that I do not exactly mean Christmas, although it is certainly that time again as well. I am of course referring to the annual Nasco Christmas Party and the obligatory reassembly of the Ramones cover band.

This year's version features Dirty Kurt of Real McKenzies fame, as well as myself, Tim Hewitt, and the ringleader Zabo (aka Mike Price). Our first of two rehearsals (gig on Monday) was last night and we charged through about 15 Ramones hits, pausing only to tell Kurt a different key, or to um, learn the song with a community listen from the iPhone (thanks Tim).

Those of you who are of the opinion that Ramones songs are easy have obviously never tried this. Of course they ARE easy in a way, but just physically demanding to play properly. You've gotta do all downstrokes on the guitar, none of this uppy-downy strumming allowed (except when absolutely necessary due to torturous pain and cramping). High points of the evening for me were watching Kurt's facial expressions as he approached this point of pain, and getting past them myself.

Kurt has only just recovered completely from breaking his leg onstage in Germany. We asked him how in the world he did that and his response was, "Punk Rock Jump". Only guy I know who not only breaks his tibia onstage, but then finishes the song on his back AND the rest of the set while propped up on a stool. See it for yourself thanks to the wonders of youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upNgY_aMyqc

next in line: the battle of the bull$hit
Wednesday, November 11 2009
Posted by brockp
Hey everyone.

If you have actually visited this page enough times to find that i have blogged again, welcome back. I think the last thing i wrote here was on Constructivism and Punk Rock, from back when I was in design school.

That leaves an awfully long gap in the sequence of events blogged about here. I realise also that as this site has bounced around from server to server, that the archives of past blogs are not exactly complete or accessible, and there may be a bunch of 404's lurking and so on.

For shame for shame. Anyways, its time to inject a little energy into this sphere. At some point I will prolly write more about what all has been going on with me over the last few years but for the moment, it is this moment that I am concerned with.

I have been working in the IATSE realm since July, on a TV show called Smallville. Its a Warner Brothers production which is in its ninth season. Up until recently I had never seen a complete episode, so I'd be surprised if any of you had either. It has been a welcome (though difficult) change from my life as a stagehand, a path I set foot on many years ago in an attempt to earn extra dough on the side to finance recordings and, well living expenses, etc. Those Doughboys royalties stopped rolling in years ago for me, and they were never exactly plentiful to begin with. Somehow, being a stagehand on the side turned into being a stagehand as a regular gig, and before you know it, I was doing less and less music, aside from the odd gig at the Nasco Christmas Party with Zabo and his Ramones cover band. While loads of fun (mostly) this was not exactly what I had in mind when I set out on the road as a skinny 20 year old, or enrolled in Berklee College of Music a few years later.

Somehow, the jump to working in film actually seems to have partially liberated me from the claws of resistance and creative lethargy. Its not much different from being a stagehand. In fact, at times it is harder than stagehand work: I'm no rigger, so the amount of calls I've had to show up for at 6am I can count on... well I never had to show up that early. There is also absolutely no connection to music whatsoever, unless you count the fact that we are still in the entertainment business, and a$$-ki$$ers still seem to get ahead. I think it might be this fact (no connection to music) that actually allows me to begin to consider that I love playing in bands and making records. Duh.

So as far as that is concerned, I am planning a contribution to a compilation that Aston is putting together in honour of Boss Tuneage's 20th anniversary of "fashionably not selling records". Johnny Stewart and I have been talking about doing something for a long time now, and since he also works on Smallville in LX, we seem to no longer have an excuse unless willing to finally concede to ultimate lameness. John also plays with 16mm and Black Halos, although I'm not sure if they are up to much these days.

Anyways, all this is kind of to say if you are still reading here, or are one of the many who have posted to my myspace, facebooked me, emailed out of the blue over the last few years, thanks. I've heard you, and hopefully you will soon be hearing me again too. Later!

-B