Echo's First Christmas. . .

Christmas day, according to Peja:

"I got my stocking when I woke up, and then I got my presents, and then everybody else got their presents as well and when I opened my stocking there was lots of stuff in it, more than Echo had. Me and Gramma Gramma made a gingerbread-house made of candies. We went to Muskoka to see Grandma Gert. We went and had a sled ride. We had turkey dinner, we had a. . . veggie turkey? Tofurkey, I mean. The power went out at dinner time. We put lots of candles up. It was nice."

We're back in K-town after a nice visit with *ahem* taradentonpeytondadmomgrandmagertgrandmaspryauntielyndaunclerobinkevintom. . . Nice to see you all!

I'm pulling together details for the Jan 24th show. I was hoping to have Skeleton Park open, but apparently, they'll be in the middle of exams (those crazy studious kids). The Trash Daddies (who also played at our last show) are getting back to me with their availability. They're a great folk quartet/quintet with great harmonies and arrangements.

I'll post the show poster when I get it down (hopefully asap)

Take care,

Jay.

From all of us. . .

Make a Smilebox greeting

Album Art

Hey, look up! Stay tuned for new song previews, music videos, and other careful designs to win your attention towards buying our new record!

Oh, yeah, it's called ECHO. . . Every new baby needs an album named after them.

How You Got Here. . .

Alright, so, with the new record (details ASAP) coming out soon soon soon, there is a shift. Our old beloved jayandthebarnflyz.com, designed by the amazing Adam Hewgill, has been sent out to pasture. It served us well, and we will remember it fondly. Now, we all gather here instead. I'll be working on the layout and functionality of the blog as we go forward, to replicate some of the functionality of the old site.

That is to say, this is now www.jayandthebarnflyz.com.

Enjoy!

P.S. Oh, don't worry, I'll still mostly post about basketball and my early midlife crisis.

CD RELEASE SHOW ACTION

Just booked the Living Room (the upstairs of The Mansion) for Sunday, Jan 24th to release the umpteenth Jay and the Barn Flyz album.

If you happen to play in the band, maybe let me know if that works for you.

Details as they surface.

Jay.

XKCD sums it up for us. . .

Movie Review: Funny People (2009)

I gave up on the ol' film world in 2000, when I dropped out film school and drove to my parents basement and locked myself inside my head.

It took a long time for me to forgive hollywood.

In highschool, my friend Chris and I worked at a Video Rental Store. We'd watch "Happy Gilmore", "Billy Madison", "Tommy Boy", and "Black Sheep". And I think Funny People is the perfect movie for people who loved those movies 15 years ago.

Adam Sandler nearly stars as himself, and aging star of past comedy mega-hits, who discovers he's dying and returns to stand-up comedy, blah, blah, blah, young comic Seth Rogan, blah, blah, blah.

There's a dreamy vibe to the picture, a super smooth flow that I'm not entirely un-acscribing (not a word) to the general sleep deprivation around this house, but that vibe is what made Good Will Hunting so much more than it's script.

It's long as hell, and it's not really a comedy, but it is funny.

So, in conclusion (that's a Jeff Middaugh ending right there, sorry, Dr. Jeff Middaugh), go check it out. It's awesome.

Final Grade -- A+

To Do List

1. Finish Album Art -- Timeline: This Week

2. Release New Album -- Timeline: Januaryish

3. Plan/Perform CD Release Show -- Timeline: Januaryish

4. Toilet Train baby Echo -- Timeline: 18-30 months

5. Trim Beard -- Timeline: This Morning

6. Write Joke to end To Do List -- Timeline: A.S.A.P.

7. Fail at writing joke to end To Do List: Timeline: Now

8. Begin Rambling comment on lack of joke, as joke, but fail regardless -- Timeline: Now

9. Plan new life in Siberia as Sheep Herder / Horse Shoer -- Timeline: Soon

10. Fail to convince wife of merits of plan -- Timeline: Later

11. Steal Baby Echo and head out for Siberia. The Middaugh men shall survive! -- Timeline: 6 am.

12. Return when it is apparent to all that I cannot lactate -- Timeline: 6:05 am.

13. Steal Peja instead, try to convince her that she wasn't my 2nd choice -- Timeline 6:10 am.

14. Victory! -- Timeline: Inevitable, but indefinite.

"I'm Bruce's girlfriend, from the story he just told on stage. . ."

Across the hallway here at the Dorian School of Music, someone is learning to play Van Halen's "Eruption".

Note by note.

Indeed.

This weekend, Kyra and Tully released 3 years of work on cd. I played bass at the CD release show, which was headlined by Jenn Grant, and featured a not-so-surprise guest spot by Bruce Cockburn, who even brought along his very own stalker. She introduced herself to me as "Bruce's Girlfriend" and repeated a story he had told on stage about his girlfriend as proof. A janitor nearby bought her tail and let her in through the locked back-stage area. I followed, since I belonged there, and didn't want to take the long way around. She was completely non-violent, and when asked to leave, she left. Bruce was understandibly annoyed, but very gracious and said, "I forgive whatever you've done", which I think is a pretty good line as people haul away someone fixated on you.

I didn't have much of a chance to talk to him, just an awkward "band in the kitchen" bit of time where we talked about my new baby, and he made jokes about iraq that he meant to be about afganistan, and then corrected himself.

He joined us for one tune, and he was awesome. After our set, he played 3 songs, and they were all fantastic. I don't meant they were fantastic songs, because I'm not sure I would every buy a cd with them on it, but the performances were breathtaking. He was buy himself on stage, and he filled the room with his guitar and voice, and just left absolutely no doubt why he's the famous one. The crowd would've stayed for 100 more songs.

I missed Jenn Grant's set, as I was home rocking my new son, and talking with my parents, who were in town. And since she reads this blog, my sister joined us in the morning, and had a big-sister pow-wow with Peja, wherein they went to indigo and bought a book about princesses.

Thanks to Kyra and Tully for risking my not being there (Echo could've been born much closer to the show and forced me to cancel) and allowing me to participate in an awesome night of music in Kingston.

Baby Echo

Yet another short film. . .

Content. . .

Alright, there's nothing actually new on the site, but I embedded a few more videos over there on the right side, and added a new old song on the "song of the day" whatever thing. I started out changing it all the time, and I'd like to keep that up. Maybe as the new album release approaches (date TBA) I'll start putting individual tunes on there. The one video, "swings with Peja" has an early mix of what will likely be the opening track.

More content and redesign to come. . .

Waitin' on the baby. . .

Jay.

200 songs in. . .

My iTunes Stats for Jay and the Barn Flyz:

200 Songs

8.5 Hours

Yowza. . . .

We shall someday make a mighty box-set. . . If box sets still exist. . . Which they won't. . .

New Record is inching closer. . . Closer. . . Closer. . .

New Baby is inching closer. . . Closer. . . Closer. . .

It's a race!

My love of Weezer. . .

Alright.

Alright.

I already did my review of the new weezer single. In short, I thought it was awesome.

I got my copy of the album. . . It is. . . Uh. . . I'm going to give it a few more listens. . .

What is totally, and amazingly kick ass, is the two songs they played on Letterman last week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i2K901_rAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlvLGc6kaUY

So, there are at least two great songs on the record (at least 3 on the deluxe edition with "the prettiest girl in the whole wide world" as the third), and they go from great to unbelievable when supported by the CBS Orchestra. Might've topped the legendary "Say it Ain't So" when Rivers had his leg in a huge metal cage under his baggy pants and couldn't move at all, while Matt Sharp hit his bass with the fury of a dying sun. Weez fans are going to disagree with me to the death, but I think there's something about these two clips that transcends.

Kyra and Tully November 21st!

Hey, did I talk about this yet?

Kyra and Tully (for whom I play some bass now and again) are releasing an awesome new album (on which I play a bit of drums) at a great big concert with Jenn Grant headlining. It's November 21st at 7pm.

Now, the secret news, and this isn't for print media, but apparently on the internet is alright (or, very quickly you will see this post vanish), but a certain Canadian legend is going to come and play a few tunes. I can't say his name, but it rhymes with Spruce Cockburn. And, if I had a rocket launcher, I'd make somebody pay. Still not clear?

New furnace installed today. Thanks Roland! We are 2 different kinds of warm now.

Scammed an H1N1 shot by going with my girls when they got theirs. Yeah! Take that, flu! Or, rather, in 9 days when it kicks in. . . 'Till then you can just leave me alone. . .

Daylight Savings. . .

I should go to bed.

It's late for an old man.

Well, late old time.

Not too late new time.

Let's go with the new time.

Although, unless I sneak into Peja's room and change her clock, she's going to wake me up on Daylight Savings time instead of regular old-fashioned time. Hmmmm. . .

Halloween was a great success, although Peja's concept of who the candy REALLY belongs to continues to sway toward the generally held belief, and away from my vision. . . Alas. . .

I'll also come right out and admit that the Princess Leia costume wasn't 100% Peja's idea. . . But she looked awesome and got lots of compliments. Thanks Sienna and Michiko for making the dress!

Got some art thrown together for the record using pics from the summer in muskoka and around Kingston. I think Peja took one of them, and Sienna took the other.

Quick shout out to Baby PJ and his very first halloween -- hope you rocked it proper, nephew!

BOO!

Jay.

Closer and Closer

One kid back to school, and one Preggers back on her feet, so it's time to carry on.

I remixed and remastered 2 tracks yesterday, and I think we're getting closer to the record being done. Normally, I have all the artwork done long before the songs are even chosen, but this time I don't have anything put together. . . Send your drawings to jayandthebarnflyz@hotmail.com? Uh. . . No? Alright. I'll think of something.

Also creeping up is this baby thing. . . Sienna is 37 weeks, so that's full-term, so it's kinda anytime now. . . Hmmm. . .

It was nice to be back at Peja's school this morning. It was picture-day, as well as a library field-trip, so it was a good day to go back. We walked in the door and one of her friends ran up yelling, "Peja's back!" and gave her a hug. No hugs for me, but I got to move the basketball net out of the way so they could shoot the class picture. It's nice to feel needed.

I have to figure out and consult with my illustrious webmaster Adam about the redesign for the new album.

I've played 3 or 4 games at the Central Basketball Parent/Teacher league, and it's been really fun. The gym is small, but we play 3 on 3, and without a transition zone (I think 3 point lines would touch at mid court) running up and down doesn't tire people out and it's a fast game all night. There are some great players, and always great passing. And I'm kinda tall there. . . Yeah!

Hope you are well.

Jay.

Three Letters

FLU

Back soon.

Love,

Jay.

super-fuzz

Burned a copy of the would-be CD.

Took it on a drive.

Want to remix the first song.

A new bass track was recorded since the last mix, and although it has none of the wrong notes from the scratch take, it also has none of the super-fuzz that made the track come alive. Might be able to fix it by running it through a filter or something. . . It's a short song called "Revenge" and it's about our old lap to getting swiped.

Traffic was too light, so I didn't get to the end, so the drive home might reveal further issues.

Packaging ideas are going around. Lots of votes for digipaks, so maybe we'll go down that road again.

My girls are sick sick sick. I am going to make a giant fruit smoothie when I get home, just in case whatever they have gets any ideas.

Hope you are well.

Mario and Mixing

Playing super mario 3 with (for) a feverish Peja bear. We beat the ice world, and I'm 9 years old, in my next door neighbor's basement, amazed at the huge world that the nintendo programmers squeezed out of 8 bit graphics and the memory on the chip of your credit card, confident that I had seen the greatest thing ever.

Mixed a few more songs. Depending on re-recordings, the album might be getting close to finished. Stay tuned.

Thanksgiving for Peja

(in no particular order)

1. Hang with her uncle Kevin

2. Visit her 2 Great Grandmas

3. Stay with Gramma Gramma and Grandaddy Paul

4. Visit her Auntie T, Cousin PJ, and Uncle D

5. Share a meal with Great Auntie Lynda

6. Chill up in a tree while I hung lights on it's high branches.

6. Be told a story by Great Uncle Robin, in which a giant and a tiny little girl made friends.

7. Walk Sam the dog.

8. Return to Kingston, catch a friend walking by the house within 15 minutes of being home, rock a play-date.

Why the Songs are All So Short

These songs have been around for a while.

I'm working on one that is way too long.

6 minute song = 6 minute for a take, 6 minutes to listen back -- only 5 takes an hour. So, let's say you want an average of 4 takes per track (which, let's not kid ourselves about our abilities, is probably low low low), and there are, say, 10 tracks, that's. . . Uh, carry the 4. . . A hell of a long time to get the song up on it's feet.

The tune is called "New Year's Eve"

In the plot of the song, I play a bartender.

It's coming along.

Hope you are well.

Post Show. . .

Pics / Video to follow soon.

The show was, without a doubt, the most successful of this band's existance.

We owe this to the great bands we shared the bill with -- Skeleton Park, and The Trash Daddies -- and to the amazing parent council at Central Public -- Sharon, Lea, Rae, et al -- and to the staff at Central -- Chris, Val, et al -- and to the amazing community that not only comes out to family concerts, but help set up / tear down, bake amazing food for the bake sale, and dance their hearts out.

Oh, and I can't forget my boss Tim Tran from the Dorian School of Music who loaned us all the sound gear at no charge! Thanks Tim!

Set List:

Society Dames

Rusty Voices

Hide & Seek

City Lights (featuring Kevin Bowers on lead guitar)

Autumn with it's Leaves and Perfect Stars

Fake Blonde Girls

It's Coming Down

Something Here that Reminds Me of You

The United Stars

Say it to Me Now (Glen Hansard cover)

I need to thank my awesome band mates -- The Kevins again went above and beyond to support this little band.

The Barn Flyz Were:

Kevin Cooke -- Bass

Kevin Holloway -- Drums

Jay was:

Jay.

Drum Loop Song

3 days until the show. The cold that Peja gave me is still around, but improving daily; here's hoping the voice returns in time. . .

The white-board list continues to be juggled around. This strange drum-looped song is trying to break into the list. It's short, and a demo of it was circulated to little fanfare a while back, but I re-arranged and re-recorded it, and I think it's greatly improved. The lyric is about taking Sienna to see a Parkas show in my hometown over thankgiving weekend a few years ago. I hadn't been in my hometown in a couple of years, and I hadn't seen a lot of the people at the show in a good 5 years. There was a feeling that it was likely the last time I'd be in the enviroment that I lived in during highschool. It felt less like a reunion and more like a final fairwell. And the band was very very good.

So, right here would be a good time to play you a sample of the song, or the whole song, or have a music video with the song behind it. . . Uh, sorry about that.

Hope you are well.

Jay.

Car-Testing the new Songs

Sienna took Peja downtown in the rain today, so I had a bit of time in the studio to mix down some tracks. I have a ever changing list going on a white-board beside the keyboard. There are about 15 tracks, in different stages of the process. After today's work, I think 5 tracks might be ready for the final disc. Peja and I took the CD/R out to the station wagon (gotta check stuff on the car stereo) and while throwing stuffed animals at each-other (her in the very back, me in the front, with the back-seat as a sort of demilitarized zone, the mixes sounded good. I hope that y'all enjoy the songs when the record comes out.

I'm not really sure what format the album will take. . . I can't imagine doing a big expensive thing again. I liked the look/feel of the digipak on "Songs for my Seaweed Girl", but it costs so so so so much. Thoughts? Ideas?

Big thanks to the whole crew at Central Public for spreading the word about the show. You are an awesome group of people. Bake Sale? Oh yes. Turkey Raffle? You know it. It's all happen October 2nd, 7pm, Central Public.

The window for the baby is now 5 to 9 weeks away. No, really. 5 weeks. Could be.

Numb. . .

Lots of support from the Central community about the concert. The parent council has been awesome about getting us the gym, and adding a bake sale, and I believe a turkey raffle. . .

Look around for our posters, they should be up in the next couple of days.

I've fallen victim to the first school cold of the year. . . I've got 8 days to get over it, which sounds reasonable. . . Right now I'm numb as hell, doped up on cold meds. . . Hmmmm. . . .

Jjjjjjjjaaaaayyyyyy. . . .

Family Day

7:00 am -- Peja comes in and wakes me up. I tell her to pick out her school duds and leave me the hell alone. Actually, I say it much more kindly, in that I only grunt.

7:30 am -- Peja is standing in front of me in a pink skirt, blue tights, and a purple shirt. And she's telling me the time.

7:45 am -- I'm cooking something. Something is toasting. Sienna is packing a lunch for Peja.

8:05 am -- I'm eating something. At our low japanese table that just couldn't hurt my knees any more.

9:10 am -- I'm on a school bus. With 70 children. It's so fucking loud I can't believe it. We are going to an apple orchard. Most of them have never been on a school bus before (nearly everyone walks / gets driven to Peja's school), and they are wringing every ounce of fun and volume out of the experience. I am dying and not sure I'm awake yet. Right behind me, another dad starts up a rousing chorus of "The Wheels on the Bus". Welcome to hell.

9:30 -- "Charlie" (not "Mr. Apple", as the kids were so hoping he'd be called), tells us the proper way to pick an apple, and answers questions so planted that I swore I was watching my high school improv team*. "What kinds of apples do you grow here?" And so on.

9:40 -- I am picking apples.

10:00 -- It was 9 degrees when we walked to school. I swear it's 35 in the orchard. Not a breath of wind. I might pass out.

10:20 -- We are looking for the queen bee. She's got a green dot, apparently. The kids are saying she is hurt. I have no idea.

10:45 -- I am being tempted in the gift shop by $2.50 mini apple pies.

11:05 -- I return to the bus to find my pile of extra clothes has been pillaged. Peja's pink *name brand* jacket is missing. Poor little *name retracted* is wearing it. I honestly believe she has no idea how it got on her. I ask for it back. She takes it off, believing I am stealing her jacket. I point out the label that says "PEJA" on the tag, mostly so people around don't think I'm stealing this coat. She will always remember me as the man that stole her coat.

11:20 -- After a slightly more relaxed bus ride (it helps that I was more awake, and no one started "99 bottles of beer" -- thank-you John), we are back at the school, and I ask Peja if she wants to come home for lunch. She wants to stay at school, and lays claim to one of the two $2.50 mini apple pies I bought for me and Sienna. Peja has refused every bit of apple pie I have ever offered her until this moment. I sigh and promise to share.

11:25 am -- Return home, where Sienna is mid-visit with our mid-wife. We talk about leaving the cord attached. We joke about our labour plans. We joke about real estate prices in the area. It is a good meeting, in which we are left with many decisions to decide at some imaginary future time.

1:30 pm -- Meet with our doula. We tell labour stories. We talk about leaving the cord attached. We joke about our labour plans. I joke about basketball. We discuss bake sales. It is a good meeting, in which we are left with many decisions to decide at some imaginary future time.

3:25 pm -- We meet Peja at school and sit on shady benches and chat with parents for an hour while Peja plays with her friends in the big-kids' yard.

5:45 pm -- We take Peja to her first ever swimming lesson. All the little people line up and the 5 or 6 instructors read our their names and take them off to their respective areas. Peja gets the hippy-looking guy. I am jazzed.

6:55 pm -- I give Peja a bath, wash her hair, brush her teeth/hair, read her a heavily edited chapter of "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator", and say goodnight.

10:15 pm -- I am happy.

* my highschool improv team used to force the pit band to yell out suggestions they had prepared in advance. My bandmates would purposefully yell out the wrong plant at the wrong time, "Alright, we need a profession" -- "Birthday Cake!", and then they'd ask for a kind of food.

Official Show Announcement?

This has lingered on for a while, but I'll say it's for sure now. . .

See you there!

Soonish. . .

Sitting at work, the fall starts up slow, with holes in the schedule, which is fine, especially if you miscalculate how long you'll be at work and need to walk across 3938 lanes of traffic to get pizza. Mmmm. . . Pizza. . . It was good. I skipped the loonie-shake, because I'm fairly certain that it's 99% sugar, and 1% fat. . .

Play in an epic street-ball kid's basketball game of "bump" on Sunday. Peja wandered off with a little friend, and older siblings, cousins, and neighbours gathered to teach me humility. It is really cool to get knocked-out by a cheering 8 year old. Perhaps yelling, "that's fucking bullshit!" each and every time wasn't called for, but if I don't teach them how to swear, who's going to? It was good times. Pick-up parents/teachers basketball starts up next week -- I am so jazzed.

Got a new version of "Society Dames" recorded and mixed yesterday. 1 down, 9 to go! Come on new album! The baby is coming in 2 months, so it'd probably be a good idea to get this done soonish, right?

Hope you are well,

Jay.

Layers of Wall / Things I Used To Punch a Hole

1. Drywall / Drywall Knife

2. 1" Clap Board / Drill, Pry-Bar, Drill, Pry-Bar, Drill, Pry-Bar

3. 2nd Layer of 1" Clap Board / See Above

4. 1/4" Fiber Board / Hammer, Pry-Bar

5. Fake Brick Siding / Hands, Hammer, Prybar

6. Brick / Drill, Hammer Drill, Bigger Hammer Drill, Sledge Hammer.

Associate in Madness: My Dad -- Thanks Dad!

So, the gas stove is nowhere near functional, but it sits on my floor, next to a gaping hole in my wall. Close enough.

hi-8

My parents got me a hi-8 sony video camera as a highschool graduation present. hi-8 is a funny format, like S-VHS, it's "near broadcast" quality, but not quite beta-cam. In the youtube age, I think it might actually count as HD. It's pretty tricked out - it's got night-vision, a wide-angle lens adapter, and a decent stereo mic.

Anyway, I dug it out the other day, and popped in a tape marked "Peja's Life". The first thing on the tape is a Radical Dudez show from halloween 2003 -- which, depending on your politics, may indeed be a part of Peja's life. Then the tape goes on to show her first spoon feeding, her first roll-over, first steps, first words, first time playing drums while singing a improvised song about elephants, etc. . .

Sienna came to a lot of shows while preggers with Peja, and I wonder how much the she heard in there. . .

I'm going to pick up an adapter to throw some of that old stuff on here. Beware.

The awesome Kingston band Skeleton Park has confirmed for the October 2nd show -- just near to confirm the venue and I'll make the official announcement. I'm still trying to get one more awesome opening band, so hopefully that pans out too.

Another Short Film. . .

Swings with Peja from Jay Middaugh on Vimeo.

Show Confirmation. . .

October 2nd.

Drums Kevin is in.

Bass Kevin is in, pending timing. . . He has a gig that runs until 8. . . I think he can make a stage time for 8:15, right? Sure!

I am using instruments for first names for bandmates.

I'm trying to get some sweet opening acts lined up, all from the neighborhood.

I need to confirm the stage location, but Peja's school is still high on my list.

Show. . . Perhaps???

Looking at the calender. . . Late Sept, Early October. . . Maybe at Peja's school. . . Stay tuned.

Short Video w/ Peja

Stealing Stuff

Aside from those extremely ridiculous $600,000 judgements against that one lady in Kanas or whatever, whose kids shared like 3 songs on Kazaa in 1998, pirating music, movies, and software is pretty darn risk free.

In most cases, it's simply the easiest way to get stuff. It's fast, free, easy, DRM free, and doesn't require remembering passwords, credit-card safety codes, my mother's maiden name, or anything else.

Today I bought my first single from iTunes.

$1.29

Hmmm. . .

Yeah, about that. . .

I've always justified home-taping, cd-dubbing, and downloading by saying, "hey, I'm a musician, and I hope people copy my stuff ", but it's got to the point where it's actually more convenient to pirate something that I already own on cd rather than walk across the room, take out the cd, and rip it into iTunes. So, when compared to actually working, earning money, and going to a record shop. . . Forget it.

But not today.

Because the Pirate Bay's trackers are down. . . I hear. . . From someone else. . . Who pirates stuff. . .

So, $1.29 for the new Weezer single.

It kicks ass.

With Mad Tint

The Deal is Made

1. Offer up your 15 year old car as a trade-in

2. Get offered a price w/trade-in that is still too high for the vehicle without the trade, because everyone knows the trade-in going to be crushed into a cube.

3. Offer slightly less, to save face with wife and 5 year old daughter.

4. Enjoy the car dealer's high pitched "what!?!?!?!?!?!?!" of disbelief at your counter-offer.

5. Sign the papers.

Tomorrow I go back with cash and the Contour. Fairwell, Europe's 1994 Motor Trend Car of the Year.

Any 7 people need a ride? I've got 8 seat belts. I call shotgun on one of the rear-facing trunk seats.

Wagon? Wagon!

Again, in deciding that we were better just driving our car into the ground, and then going car-less in the spring, we have inevitably started ourself down the path to owning the very car we turned our backs on.

Peja and I took the titled wagon out on the highway today and enjoyed it's subtle power and frosty air-conditioning.

Tomorrow, perhaps, our trusted mechanic will give it a rating and, perhaps, we will own it soon.

Boo, I say, boo.

Alas.

The Way I Work. . .

1. Decide to not play basketball this fall.

2. Dedicate myself to finishing new album.

3. Time spent practicing on basketball court the past 5 days: 7 hours

4. Time spent in studio the past 5 days: 1 hour.

Hmm. . .

Oh well, the fade is falling like f'n hail.

Swish!

Tornados and the Ol' Leather Pumpkin. . .

Sienna called me up a couple of hours ago to warn me about the big storm headed this way. It hit some places around Toronto, tornado style, and did some real damage. Sienna asked me to bring in Peja's basketball net, which really made me smile.

Played some one-on-one at the park tonight; trying to remember how to shoot the ol' leather pumpkin. The chain mesh has reappeared on one of the nets -- they were ripped-off a few weeks after the new court was put in -- and I played to a stalemate while Peja stayed up past her bedtime playing in the playground with one of her friends.

I've decided not to play KSSC basketball this year, after 3 great seasons, and one season where I shot the ball 100 times a game and we generally lost by 20 points (I deny any correlation), I'm going to take a break and try and work more on the band. Don't worry, long suffering readers, I will still regale (read: bore) you with my basketball stories, but they'll be from the local pick-up game instead.

Balance Sheet. . .

Just installed the 3rd ceiling fan in 2 days.

Maybe 2 more today.

The apartment has a water leak.

The heat wave broke.

I have allergies that make me sound like a muted muppet.

I owe the government $500.

There is mesh again on one of the nets at McBurney Park.

I'm going to call it even with the universe.

Muskoka Cottage Trip By Numbers

1 Santa's Village

2 Boat House Roof Jumps

2 Meals with Grandma

2 My Cousins Visited

1 Peja Cousins Visted

13.6 People at Saturday Lunch

6 hp on the Sea Flea

1 Lake of Bays

1100 km Driven

1 Fear of Swimming in the Lake Conquered by Peja

5 Hot Sunny Days in a Row (4 more than any other stretch this summer)

56 Years Old -- Happy Birthday Dad!

93 Years Young -- Happy Birthday Grandma!

1 Black Forest Cake

1 Banana Cake

200 degrees in Kingston when we got back

2 Jobs Returned to Tomorrow

3 People convinced that driving back tomorrow is a good call

The Old Tunes. . .

The new song up over there -->

It's called "Wave", and it's from a record called "Great Lakes". The art from that record is two pictures, one from the window of the boathouse at my grandma's cottage, and the other out of the window of the cottage on Wolfe Island that we lived in for 9 months when Peja was 1.

The guitarish bit at the end is stolen from Radiohead (right at the start) via Cuff the Duke (near the end of the cuff the duke tune)

It's really completely derived from those two songs, and the lyric couldn't mean less if it was about being a rich coal minor's daughter's sick goldfish. Not that I did it on purpose -- not that I could've if I tried -- but it's interesting to me now. Retrospectively. Retroactively. Retrorocketry. Retrospeculatively.

Is it cool to put the old songs up? Is one at a time the best way? I figure then you don't get sick of them, and when there's a new one, it's all "oh, I wonder what this is?". Thankfully, since this band has more records than we've played live shows, there isn't any shortage of songs to post. . .

Hope you are well.

The Past returns to Kingston

It was a reunion weekend for Sienna's university friends, including the complete original line-up of this little band: Brent Ferris, Adam Bell, Nick Kaars. And the first bass player to ever play my tunes, when they were just a little side-show in the Radical Dudez spectacular, Andy Landen. Now the group has spread out a little bit -- Brent is almost a pharmacist and has a 1 1/2 year old, Adam lives in New York with his brand-new wife Anna (also a Radical Dudez member), Andy lives in sunny California and makes movies.

Nick now plays bass in Andy's brother Jesse's great band, Born to Busk, in the relatively close city of Toronto, and we're going to try and set up a gig for our two bands to rock out together. Maybe I can even talk them into sponsoring us for a gig in the big smoke.

News as it happens.

Jay.

Post Show. . .

Just got home from the Kyra and Tully show at the Mansion.

My last time at that bar was in 2004, at a Radical Dudez show. Back when it was called The Peel Pub, we got asked to play at some big party there. The P.A. System wasn't grounded properly and if you were touching your guitar while darling to touch the microphone, you got 120 volts of fun in the face.

Tonight's show was the opposite -- amazing perfect sound. Their 2nd floor live music space has amazing JBL powered monitors and mains, and the sound guy was super nice and awesome.

I opened the show with some acoustic stuff -- I managed to spill my glass of water on my setlist during sound-check, so I was guessing a bit as to what to play. . . Thanks to Daniel Shipp for playing drums with me, and thanks to Kyra for singing along on a couple of tunes.

Thanks to everyone who came out for the show.

8:30, at the Mansion, and a more about the station wagon

Made a call up to Sydenham today. Same wagon, 1 year newer, 30,000 less km. I found it in two different online ads, with a $1000 price difference -- the lower price was only $500 higher than the wagon I test drove yesterday. However, the phone confirmed that yes, the lower price was a typo.

So, the test drive. I drove up and met with Jerry Jackson at Jackson Motors. "Been in business for 53 years, and I'm one of the first ones to put the price on the car, you know, I might see a guy like you walk in and just say, "$7,800", you know? The dealerships would be calling me and asking me what the hell I was doing, but I told them I'll run my business my way, and they can run their business their way. I do things honest. I'll tell you the truth."

Now, generally, in life, when someone tells you over and over that they are honest, odds are, they've already stolen your wallet.

So he got the keys and I took it for a drive, and met up with Peja and Sienna on a walk. The girls loved it. The stereo doesn't exactly pump, but it tries, and it does have a great clear sound.

Decisions, decisions. . .

Oh, and tonight, 8:30-11ish, Kyra and Tully, Lia Dawson, Jay sans les barn flyz, at the Mansion; see you there!

Jay.

Used Car Lot. . .

Drove out to a car lot with Peja yesterday. It's something we did together about 5 years ago, when we were moving to Wolfe Island. She was a stroller-monkey back then, but she was very tolerant. We ended up buying our car privately from this grandmother who's other car was a pimped-out Mustang. . . And now, with the new baby coming, we figured, why not get a giant 2002 ford taurus wagon.

Oh, you know it seats 8.

Personally, I'd prefer a Roadmaster Wagon, which is like 2 feet longer, but they're pretty rare these days, and generally have 300,000 miles on them.

The Ford seats 3 across the front, 3 across the back, and two rear facing in the back. If that doesn't say coast-to-coast tour, I don't know what does.

Maybe we'll go out for a test-drive today.

Wed Aug 5th -- Acoustic Barn Flyz. . .

Kyra and Tully have been asked to fill in for the usual Wednesday night blue-grass night at the Mansion. They, in turn, have asked me to play some of my stuff, solo-acoustic style. The great Lia Dawson will also be performing.

Show details:

Wednesday, Aug 5th

The Mansion (2nd floor)

8-11pm

KYRA AND TULLY

w/ Lia Dawson and Jay sans les barn flyz

I ran into Kyra and Tully's drummer Daniel Shipp at the park yesterday, and he agreed to play some drums while I'm singing -- which we improvised before at the community garden show -- which is bound to greatly improve my set.

Hope to see you there,

Jay.

Music in the womb. . .

Last night we put a headphone to Sienna's belly.

The baby went ape-shit.

Play list? Not something to overlook.

Started with some classic 1-4-5 rock and Weezer.

Beatles: "Come Together"

And so on. . .

And it was KICK KICK KICK KICK KICK.

We played a lot of stuff for Peja when she was inside, and sometimes she'd kick a bit, but nothing like the reaction we got last night.

What we learned? Male voices get a bigger reaction. Instrumental sections aren't as interesting as vocals. And the best/biggest reaction was for. . . A bit of Opera -- "Nessun Dorma", which I think is kind of hack for people that like Opera, but it might be my favorite song.

HOLA BRAZIL!

Alright, so that's spanish, and they speak Portuguese in Brazil. . . But maybe it's close.

When I redid the site, in all it's "kinda working" glory, my hook-up to google analytics got cut off. So, for a while, I couldn't tell if just my sister, or my sister AND my mom were reading the site. At least not without asking them. So, I got it hooked up again last night (involving the very TECH process of cutting and pasting some code into the html of this page. . .), and today, I'm informed that I've had 12 visits from brazil! From 12 different computers.

I'm under no false impression that my South American friends got here on purpose, but still, if they return, I would like to extend a kind greeting, in the hopes of securing venues and lodgings on our world tour.

Uh. . .

Jay.

A Question of Values

The finger is fine.

I am just a baby.

I was walking around with Peja today, delivering invitations to a tea party she's hosting ('cause that's what dad's do), and I was thinking about venues and shows and why I seem to do everything the hardest fucking way.

I've probably bitched about this before, and if you're one of my friends who plays music, none of this will be news to you.

So, how it goes:

You play free gigs, charity gigs, at bars that host them knowing they'll sell a bunch of booze, and organizers charge at the door and keep that for whatever cause. You get exposure, and sometimes free drinks.

You get booked by bars for small $ They pay you, based on how many people you brought out and how much they drank. So, lets say you bring out 25 friends, and they all spend $10-$15, the bar pulls in $250-$375, and gives you $50-$100. If there's a cover charge involved (and if there is, you generally have to run the door, which means an extra person) you might get all of it, half of it, or none of it. If you get the door money, you generally don't get the booze money. Again, you're mostly looking for exposure, and again, you get a certain number of free drinks.

If you're a cover band, you might get booked at a bar for half-decent money (maybe $200-$300) for the night. You'll play 3hrs or so of the greatest classic rock shit that you hate, take abuse from the drunken crowd, and walk out with some decent per/hr (not counting the time it took you to learn 3 hrs of music - say 40 songs). Now, these gigs can be played willfully unprepared, especially if you're a drummer -- don't worry, no one will notice. Oh, you probably drink for free.

There's isn't really a model that doesn't involve bars. Because, it's a lot easier to convince people to come see you at a bar, spend $20 on booze/snacks to see their friend's band play, rather than spending $10 on a ticket to a theatre to see their band play. And there are lots of good reasons for this. Tons. It makes sense to me. But it makes the band into a liquor sales team. And that's not something I'm interested in doing with my band.

So, when you see us booked at bars this fall, just remember that I'm compromising my values, and extra applause is the only balm for my rattled ethics.

Working Turntables

So, I've got one window open watching some internet tv stuff, and then another with news, and then another with some music, and then itunes is running at the bottom with my old tracks playing over and over, trying to convince me that something of value resides therein, and if one thing ends, then the others take over, and I just mute everything except for 2, and that's enough to keep it going, because if they all end, the fucking silence is deafening and the blank screen is blinding, and the general scheme of my life slaps me in the face.

But enough about me.

How are you?

I took my guitar into the shop today. I bought it from my friend James circa 2001 for a tv and $150. The pick-up selector has been acting up for. . . uh. . . maybe 7 years? But since the top of my left index finger is covered with a fresh burn blister, I figured it might be a good time to hand it over to get fixed. 1 Week. They're backed-up at the shop. I blink. Shit, I probably should wait that long so I don't rip open this blister and set it back a while. Alright.

But time off is rough. Everything gets rethought. What about Vinyl? There's a company in California that does Plaskett's vinyl and they'll do short runs -- like, 100 records for $1100; you'd only have to sell 60 at $20. . . Seems like a lot. . . 60 records. . . Since I probably know 10 people with working turntables. . . And selling 60 when I'm not at all happy with a track-listing seems fairly impossible. . . But I really don't see the value of a cd anymore. Have I written about this before? Man, I almost want to just put the mp3's up online and sell the password at shows. That could work, right? No? I guess you could just put them online a la Radiohead, and ask for a donation of the buyers choice.

Man, I tell ya, I took the bandage off my finger before I started typing this, and it's hurting a bit, but not nearly as much as all my whining and soul searching seems to indicate. What a big fucking baby I am.

Jay.

Post-Show, and a 2nd degree burn. . .

The ol' Ebike battery has been acting kind of strange lately, so I just left it plugged into to the charger that automatically turns off. . . in theory. . . for a couple of days. . . And then yesterday, it decided to get hot enough to burn through some of it's plastic casing and give me a 2nd degree burn on the index finger of my left hand. So let's all be glad the show was last sunday, and not this sunday, since the bundle of bandages and antibiotic cream that is now my finger probably wouldn't be able to fret accurately. . .

But since, as I said, the show was last Sunday, it went off without a hitch. Thanks to Tim Lyon from NeXt Church for giving us a great deal on the space and helping us with set up; it is so clearly my favorite downtown venue. It has great sound, a wonderful stage, and the front row seats are couches!

Set List:

1. Society Dames
2. Rusty Voices
3. City Lights
4. Sucker Punch
5. Autumn. . .
6. Crime Spree
7. Fake Blonde Girls
8. Hide and Seek
9. It's Coming Down
10. Something Here That Reminds Me of You
11. The United Stars
12. Say it to Me Now (Glen Hasard cover)

The Barn Flyz were:

Bass -- Kevin Cooke

Drums -- Kevin Holloway

Jay was Jay

Thanks to Tim Tran from the Dorian School of Music for running the sound board.

Look for more shows in the near future. Recording will have to wait for my finger to heal. . .

SHOW TONIGHT!!!

Hey y'all, we're rockin' at 7pm

Be there.

Please?

No?

Come on!

Alright, sounds good.

See you then.

Day 1

I bought some new gear for the studio, and I spent a bit of time today while Peja and Sienna were off buying the stuff I forgot to buy (not my plan. . . or was it? ah, ha ha ha ha ha! ha?), setting up the new voiced tube pre-amp and mic. I was very please with how the new stuff sounded, and I lay down some guide track guitar, bass, and vocals to go back and cover over with shinier ones. I borrowed Peja's keyboard and used the drum machine on it for my headphone metronome. I hate the sound of the one on my recorder, and there's something soothing about the old school rock beat. Also, I think it adjusts in like 15 bpm increments, so it takes some of the fine-tuning out of the equation. . .

Look for the posters. They're everywhere. Except the places I haven't postered yet. . . Pine street, I'll get there.

The Nerd Badge

There's this

And this

And this

And, if I was on top of my game, we'd have a Facebook thing going.

But the only thing I actually take care of, is this blog. So I lost my nerd badge today trying, and failing to imbed some mp3's here, and then regained by staying up late and finally figuring it out (look over there -->)

Alright, so the players don't fit and you can't scan most of the song. . . I did my best. I've got a call into my best internet guy and I'm sure he'll figure it out.

And there's a really awkward youtube feed over there too -->

What can't a blog do?

weighted toward the past

It's around 11pm.

The girls are sleeping.

There are two lists in front of me.

One is the set list for the July 19th Show. (preview -- it's kickin')

The other is the song progress list for the new record.

3 songs in the can. 4 fully written and demoed. 3 with demos at various levels of completion (one is perhaps over-written, with stuff to be cut, but otherwise is fine; another is more of an idea than a song). There are also a few songs drifting around that might sneak onto the record.

The set list for the show is done. Song distribution by album:

Songs for My Seaweed Girl (current record): 3

Great Lakes: 1

How it Feels to be a Rock and Roll Dad: 1

Probable New Album: 2

Lucky 13 (final Jason Middaugh record): 4

Alright, no one but me would notice or give a shit, but 4 of the tunes are from a record that I recorded over 6 years ago. They were written and recorded a whole Peja ago. A medium length marriage ago. And, it's not lost on me, they were written while I was living like a monk/hermit in a farm house near Guelph and pretending to care about an English degree.

Those are tunes I want to play live. The ones that rock the most the easiest.

What does it mean to want to write mellow records while performing rock songs from a previous lifetime?

Next Church, Here We Go!

Alright, so the outdoor dream got put on hold, and instead the very kind and quick responding folks at Next Church are letting us put on our show in their beautiful building.

Details:

Sunday, July 19th, 7pm

Next Church, 89 Colborne Street

Free / Donations

I'm. . .

Enjoying a visit from my nephew, who will be a giant, and his parents, who are giants.

Negotiating the details for the gig on Sunday July 19th. 7pm seems the time time time.

Getting too much sun.

Staying up to late with Peja to watch fireworks with awesome neighbors.

Sleeping in while listening to rain.

Muting the stereo while Peja and her friend sing happy birthday to an imaginary birthday girl.

Looking at pictures of newborn Peja, and thinking about the baby-on-the-way.

The Dorian Recital

I can't imagine a day-to-day situation in my life that wouldn't be easier, more fun, and more memorable with Peja's company. Bank meeting? You need someone to make, "hey, you know they love loaning money to unemployed musicians" asides, right?

So, after going with her to a 5 year old's pirate themed birthday party (which was awesome) this morning, Peja came with me to the music school's recital. In short, I was wicked proud of all my kids, and really impressed with the rest of the students who played. Tim has gotten so used to me picking Weezer tunes (3 this year) that he mislabeled a Matthew Sweet song as a Weezer tune in the program. . . Just like last year, the show was very well received -- I think when you take a group of people heading to a music recital, and instead give them a rock 'n roll show, it's generally going to get a good reaction.

Thanks to Tim, Kevin, and Rob for putting it together. It seems like a real pain in the ass during rehearsals and stuff, but in the end it's so clear that it's worth it. Also, while accompanying my students, I got to play bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, sing, and rap! (uh, let's burn that tape, alright?)

In other news, Kevin Cooke, Dorian's esteemed bass, vocal, ear-training, and everything else teacher has formally agreed to play with the Barn Flyz at our next show, the details of which are getting smashed together as you read these words at this moment. July 19th. Mark it down. Maybe outside. Cost? Uh, I'm leaning towards "pay what you can" with a big tin with a slot in the top sitting somewhere. Time of day? Probably somewhere in the late afternoon / early evening.

I ran through the setlist playing on Itunes while I tried to play and sing along, and for the most part, I seemed to know most of the chords. . . Next up? Remember the lyrics. . . Uh. . . Never my strength. . .

Show Notice

Sunday, July 19th. Something will happen.

Well, like, more than just the ol' sun coming up, death, taxes, gravity, etc. . .

There will be a Jay and the Barn Flyz rock 'n roll show.

Where? It's up in the air.

My dream is to do an free outdoor show in Peja's school yard. I've talked to a few people who seem to think this would work.

Kev's coming down to play the drums. A different Kev is gonna rock the bass. I've had preliminary talks with a third Kev about playing some lead guitar. And, just to mess up the pattern, I'm going to get my cousin Tom to play some keys. Although, I might just introduce him as a forth Kev. The media loves that stuff. It's sure to make us famous. Like a two-headed baby lizard.

Oh, hey, in other news, the future-baby is doing well in Sienna's belly. It waved at us on the ol' ultrasound machine, and even appeared to say something.

Peja had her last day of Junior Kindergarten today -- this will be our last summer hangin' out just the two of us, so I'm trying to plan the greatest summer ever. I figure it will start early tomorrow morning with me saying "Jesus Christ, it's 6:45 in the morning, leave me the hell alone!" Ah, the memories we're making. . .

Birthday Peja, Skeleton Park, Via Rail, NXNE, Tennis at the Club, and Tea with Grandma

A big thanks to the Kyra and Tully spectacular touring adventure for ignoring my complete lack of rehearsal attendance and letting me join them on stage at not one, but two festival gigs on Saturday.

We played at 11am at the Skeleton Park Music Festival and we were absolutely terrified when the amazing Skeleton Park band too the stage right before us and completely destroyed. They were amazing. And their combined age is like 50. I think ours was about 284. As they played, Daniel (k&t's drummer) looked at me and said "we're screwed". These musicians had youth, energy, and the rock and roll on their side. Of course, they had to follow the Purple Dragon Puppet Show, which was nearly as daunting a task.

We climbed the stage at 11 and congratulated the young men on their amazing set, and set about setting up our gear. My choice for a greeting to the crowd would've been "hey, we're old and tired!", but once the music got rolling, I felt like we played our best set ever. The energy came from the park to our arms, from the crowd to our fingers, from our instruments to the air. It was great, and I had a fantastic time.

Now, that seemed like quite enough of a day, and I would've been thrilled to spend the rest of the day hangin' out with the birthday girl (yeah, Peja's 5!), but Kyra and Tully got invited to rock the awesome NXNE festival in Toronto, so around 2pm I gave Peja one last "happy birthday" and headed to the train station. The train was 90 minutes late, which made my sprinting to the station a little less dramatic. . . I hit the city at 6:30, a good 30 minutes late for load-in, but I made it in time for sound-check, and at 8 we played a really solid set for a fantastic crowd.

I navigated the crazy city at got to my Aunt's house around 10 -- she kindly made me some dinner, and I fell fast asleep in the basement with Sasha (crazy dog) sleeping on the chair next to my futon.

I got up early the next morning (thanks for the pancakes Auntie Lynda!) and my friend Chris (hey Chris!) picked me up and we played some tennis. Well, he played some tennis, and I played whatever a retarded wounded monkey plays when handed a tennis racket.

I rushed back to my Aunt's house to have Tea with my 93 year-old Grandma Gert. She is awesome. I managed to coax Peja's dance routine video out of a 10 year old laptop, and all were pleased.

One more VIA rail ride (dead ipod, but window seat = better deal than the opposite), and I was back in the warm arms of my family who crammed a whole day of Father's Day awesomeness into 6-8pm. Peja even bought me a candy necklace (truly my favourite candy), and Sienna made an amazing father's day cake. Mmmmmm. . . Father's Day. . .

Oh, and to my father, Paul Alan Middaugh, Happy Belated Father's Day!

Pardon the Delay. . .

Sorry for the lack of blogging action lately. I started a draft post the day after the show at the Community Garden with Kyra and Tully way back whenever that was. . . And then I didn't get back to it for a while. . .

The show was great, and better than that, Peja came along at spent the day like a farm girl, climbing on hay bales, getting dirt in her hair, and even winning 2nd place in a sack-race! (For the record, that 1st place gal was like 12, 14, 22, some older age. And, really, I think she was juicing.) The little people were kept alive with sugared apple slices while the band competed with rototillers for creative control of the soundtrack of the afternoon.

I played a set somewhere along the way, which was fun -- Daniel was kind enough to accompany me on drums, which allowed me to rock out with "Society Dames", which really needs something more than just acoustic guitar.

Spent a bunch of time in my studio going over old stuff, tweaking demos, adding bits of guitar here and there. I just figured out how to import stuff live into my macbook, so I'm thinking about doing a little "hey, here's my shitty demos, want to help me decided what to do on the next record" video. Keep your eyes peeled. Might have to get a Vimeo account.

Look for Kyra and Tully on the big stage at the Skeleton Park Music Festival this weekend. I'll be the guy standing at the back. If you smile at me, I'll smile back, and then hit a wrong note, and then frown, and then stare at my feet for a while.

News about a gig coming soon. I swear. Just have to check a couple more things. . .

Mini-Show. . .

There's a community garden opening at the North end of Victoria Street tomorrow (Sunday), and Kyra and Tully have been asked to play. The great Lia Dawson is going to do a set, and there are rumours of some acoustic Jay and the Barn Flyz (maybe I'll get Peja to rock some bongos). So, that's sort of a show, right? Boo-yeah.

Jay.

Summer Show?

Hey y'all, we're trying to pull something together for around July 19th. . . It's a sunday. If you happen to be a Barn Fly, resemble a Barn Fly, or want to be a Barn Fly, maybe keep in touch.

That is all.

The Fog Machine

They had a fog machine. We're talking about children who have had like, at most, 15 hrs of total instruction. And they're on a huge stage, with about 7 spotlights, servo-controlled spinning multi-coloured spotlights hanging from the catwalk 30 feet above them. And there are big mains, speakers suspended from the walls blasting out music, and 18" bass bins shaking the floor.

Now, I want to say, Peja's ballet instructor won me over today. I'm not talking about the bullshit $60 it cost 4 of us to see the show, or that they told us Peja needed her own ticket to watch the show after they performed (god bless Sienna for sneaking her in -- here's a really long parenthatical digression; back in Minnesota when we were first friends, on a day-off from planting, I had bought a $3 basketball at Target, and we were going into another store, and I got Sienna to carry the ball, because she's a cute japanese girl and I look about 100 times more likely to be shoplifting, and I knew no one would bother her about it -- and it worked with Peja and a complete lack of ticket). Wait, where was I? Oh, yeah, Peja's instructor -- both of her classes did dances with story lines, and although they had the cute factor (since the kids are crazy young and small) working for them, the applause was still way over the top. The crowd went ape shit.

A friend of mine was there with his daughter, and he asked me, "so, are you a full fledge ballet dad?" And I don't really get it. I don't understand putting together a bunch of random steps and then dancing them in front of people with dance music blasting. But I get what Peja's teacher did, because it was dramatic and interesting and suspenseful. So, thanks Miss Felica -- it was rad.

And a quick shout-out to Ben, who is the star of Peja's class, and who was awesome.

Thus ends my first post about Ballet. . . Uh. . .

The Bookstore Cafe

Was driving out to Camden East yesterday with Daniel, the drummer from Kyra and Tully, and we were talking about how, back in highschool, we made so much more money playing music, and our friends and us took such bigger risks and worked so much harder to pull off shows. I'm not sure what to make of that.

We played our show at the bookstore cafe, opening up for Rozalin MacPhail, who is a solo artist who uses loops to do a full show while still performing nearly all of the parts live. This will explain better than I can:It's pretty impressive that she's controlling the loops with a midi foot-board while performing the next part. I was up in my studio today working on some tracks, wondering if I could do the same thing. . . It'd be a super fast-motion version of how I record. . . I think this old video is the exact opposite: a deconstruction in non-real-time. . .

The show was good and we got some free food and a bit of cash for our troubles. Kyra and Tully have a busy summer coming up, so look for them around Kingston.

May Fair

Rocked some acoustic guitar action at the mulberry fair this morning with Kyra (and a little bit of Tully). Saturday morning is a strange time to sing, but it was fun, and lots of friends were there. Sienna and Peja got to hear some of the set -- they were moonlighting between the May fair and the Sydenham Public School spring fair; a busy morning indeed.

Bought a pair of dual-flush toilets today, hopefully they're among the final pieces of this crazy house puzzle.

Thinking about an early summer show. Maybe something outside? Gotta get something going. . .

Jay.

Babies, Studios, and Baby PJ

Most of you, courtesy of facebook or human contact or something in between, probably caught this earlier, but my wife Sienna is preggers again, and the little one is due in November (the month when all amazing things arrive, except for Peja, who gets to be amazing anyway, because she could read a teleprompter long before she could read anything)

So, if all goes well, we'll have a good little 2 on 2 game going in about 7 years.

Sienna's folks are moving, and they ditched a really cool desk that her dad made; it's arrival has spurred the set-up of the studio. The 24 track and it's friends are back humming again*. Spent some time today re-recording vocals for a song called "revenge" which has some fuzz bass and some tumbling organ parts*.

Peja and I woke up around 8:30 this morning, possibly 8:36, which is pretty late for getting to school on time -- well, let me qualify that -- pretty late to get to school on time, having eaten a good breakfast, brushed teeth, combed hair, pony-tail, packed lunch, and generally prepared for a full day of forgetting stuff I taught her last year. It's actually a great time to wake up if you skip most of that stuff. We, however, believe in a good breakfast, clean teeth, non-dreaded hair (unless so desired), pony-tails (headbands when so desired), a packed lunch, and shoes on the correct feet. We walked in to Central around 9:07, which I think is decent, all things considered.

Tomorrow's plan -- recording with Peja in the newly reformed studio!

Spent the long weekend with my extended family. Celebrated Queen Victoria's birthday by blowing stuff up. Ages of participants ranged from 2 months to 92 years. Held my super cool Nephew for the first time. Good man, that PJ Bonney. Gonna be one hell of a power-forward one day.

There are noises upstairs. It's 12:25. My preference is that it's Peja having a night terror, and not poor Sienna dragging herself to throw-up for the 4,938th time this pregnancy. (Peja's pregnancy broke 10,000 and involved 2 dehydration trips to the ER). My girl makes awesome babies, and awesome babies demand all-day morning sickness for months and months and months.

Hope all is well with you,

Jay.

*I started putting asterisks on everything that sounded dirty, but there were only 2 things, and they were both in the same paragraph, which was about music stuff, where things tend to sound dirty. Like the time I had to ram a cheese-cloth up the slide on my trombone*.

asterisks

Play a show with Kyra and Tully at the Brew Pub today -- really nice room upstairs; I think soundworks donated the sound gear, which someone set up awesomely, and then I got to play sound guy. I was playing bass standing at the sound board (right beside the front of the stage, where it should always be if there isn't a sound engineer*, but never is, because people always want to hide them at the back of the stage, where you can't hear how it sounds in the audience while you're tweaking knobs**), and it was really cool, because although I really can't sing and play bass at the same time, I can mess with monitor levels.

After the gig, instead of being cool and hanging around for a free drink with cool people and good music, I was a dick*** and walked home in the pouring rain to eat a brownie and then cut a 4" vent hole into the floor of the laundry room of the apartment (tenant is coming, must make things legal. . .). How does one cut a 4" hole in a floor? I have no idea, so I just drilled about a million 1/2" holes and smashed at it with a sledge hammer and crowbar. The dryer is now vented -- into the crawl space, but soon through the crawl-space, across my basement and out the conveniently placed hole where someone didn't quite finish closing in a window (2 rows of concrete blocks, 5 bricks, some cement, and a rock. . . uh. . .). Actually, my real plan just involves putting a vent pipe out of that hole, and then pretending that they are connected. Don't tell Sienna.

Hope all is well,

Jay.

* "sound engineer" is the genderless, over formal, never used form. They're sound guys. Or sound chicks. That's how it goes.

** This sounds dirty.

*** This doesn't sound dirty, but it involves the word "dick" and I wanted to asterisk something else.

Flattered, I Declined. . .

Rehearsal with Kyra and Tully tonight. Their puppy tried to hump my leg. Flattered, I declined.

We play tomorrow at the Brew Pub at 2pm. It's part of this whole home-grown music fest thing.

2007, that's when the record came out. This is the longest in the history of the band, of my owning music recording gear, that something hasn't been slid across the checkered table cloth while I slyly look out the window and dare a grin.

And my studio is a sad fucking mess of unopened boxes, a hockey table, and a drum kit.

This needs to change soon.

Jay.

The Hockey Table Abides. . .

Jammed with Peja yesterday. She had a crazy busy day with school and ballet, and we only played through a couple of tunes, but she sounds as good as ever, and this morning we spent some time on iTunes looking at possible cover songs for our band.

I set up my drums, which is the big first step towards having the studio operational again. The hockey table, as always, is the big item to find a spot for -- it's huge, and you need space on both ends to play. But it's coming together.

Kyra and Tully got into North by North-East, the big Toronto music festival thing in June, and they've very kindly asked me to come along and rock the bass. The only issue is that the show is on Peja's birthday, as well as the awesomely awesome Skeleton Park Music Festival. I'm trying to rig it up so I can do everything -- it will be a mad day indeed.

This morning Sienna and I both seemed to forget we were working today. . . She slept in and I hadn't arranged child care. . . But it'll all work out.

Hope all is well with you,

Jay.

Next Church Post-Show

Next Church is a great venue. I had a good time with Kyra and Tully, as we celebrated some videos from Lenny Epstein, the new E.P. from Kyra and Tully, and Tully's birthday! There was indeed cake. Lia Dawson (of Lady Racers fame) opened the show and was amazing; her set was far too short for my liking. Me Man Jack played some good stuff I hadn't heard before, including a really cool trippy song that had this great Bb / C thing going on -- during sound check I tried to horn-in on the piano on it (Tully was elsewhere for a moment), hoping to steal his spot, but to no avail -- an invitation to replace was not forthcoming. That's a messy sentence. . . After a brief intermission, the Kyra and Tully extravaganza (I'm trying to rename the band this, but I don't think it's going to happen) took the stage.

Peja and I are up early this morning. It's a school day. And we don't have curtains in our room, so the sun keeps waking us up earlier and earlier. Have to do something about that before the solstice. . .

Good times at City Park yesterday for the really summery day. Busted out the sun screen for the first time. Good to see everyone back outside after a long winter. When did my kid become one of the big kids on the playground?

Progress Report

Things are done. Other things are not. Other things will be done soon. I swear.

The kitchen, aside from 2 or 3 drawer handles, is done. The new subfloor in the front room is underway, and when I get a bit more 3/4" plywood, it will be done done done.

The old house closes on the 1st, which means we'll only have 1 mortgage -- which is really just too simple.

Basketball season is wrapping up -- I had my last league game last week, and the 2nd last Central pick-up game this week. Last weekend the junior boys team I coached went to a tournament at LCVI, which was really awesome. It's the first year of our program, and we got trounced by some really great teams -- the boys took it really well and had great spirit. I lost my voice yelling "hands up!" We had a student vs. teacher game yesterday with the grade 6's from both the girls and boys teams -- we got out to an early lead so we eased up a bit; at halftime a bunch of the kids came over and yelled at us for not trying -- just in case you thought they didn't notice. We turned it on in the second half and it was a great game. One of my boys scored a couple of buckets over me, and another one scored a buzzer-beater at the end -- I was very proud.

Music you say? Well, I'm playing bass on Saturday at Next Church with Kyra and Tully. Me Man Jack is playing, and Lenny Epstein is showing some films. It's a whole multi-media night thing. I think we have a bassoon player for one song. BASSOON!

Jesus F'n Moving

Alright, so, I think everything of value is gone from the old place, so I can drowsely announce that we are the proud residents of our new place. It is full of boxes. The kitchen is full of power tools, saw-dust, and un-oiled countertops. The appliances are cute, and functioning. I'm still mystified as to the function of the dishwasher, in that it takes about 10 times longer than manually doing the dishes. . . Shouldn't a machine do it faster? We can land a man on the moon, but damned if a dishwasher can take under an hour. . .

Hope you are well,

Jay.

Moving Continues. . .

I'm done with moving. I'm so fucking done with moving. It's over, in my mind. Sadly, that really doesn't do a damn thing towards getting the stuff I wish didn't have here to turn into stuff I wish I didn't have in the new house. Any volunteers?

Cut a hole for a sink today. Oh, it fit. Don't you worry. It fit.

More moving tomorrow. And renovations. And Peja has school. And Sienna works. Look for me driving my car with stuff sticking out of the trunk and windows, careening down patrick street.

Hope all is well with you,

Jay.

Saturday Morning

Peja and I got up early today (I think it was actually my idea, as I was the first out of bed), and we ate some scrambled eggs and veggie sausages. She's heading off to a sheep farm with her little friend Christopher, and I'm sure I'm spending the day trapped in an ikea kitchen cabinet screaming for someone to remove the drawer and let me out.

Ex-barn flyz guitarist Brent "the wheel" Ferris came through town with his family yesterday and visited our new house. His son is over a year now, and will probably pass Peja in height in about 6 months. . . I missed a chance for the first one on one game on the new court, as I didn't have a basketball handy; I think I could've taken baby James, but you never know.

We're putting in the drawers today, and maybe roughing in the countertops (they have to be cut to length), and I have to somehow steal 2 base cabinet legs that we're short right now. . . Which counter top doesn't really need to be strong? Stay tuned and find out. . . I'll put some pictures up soon.

Take care,

Jay and Peja.

Ikea Kitchens and Basketball. . .

The fine delivery company that ikea uses gave me a call yesterday to let me know that the new kitchen is ready to be delivered. . . Now, I was kind of expecting it in a couple of weeks, so my response was, "Uh, that's great, but the kitchen doesn't have a floor right now. . ." So the kitchen is coming on monday. I rushed over after the call and put the floor down (after 6 rooms, I am damned near a wizard with the vinyl-plank flooring) in just a few hours. As a side note, my knees are ruined. The knee-pads do nothing!

I played some old teammates at basketball on Wednesday night, after sending some facebook trashtalk. . . They played awesome, I played much less than awesome, and they nearly doubled my team's score. Alas. Playoffs next week. Because there's an odd number of teams, and because we're dead last, we get to play our first game against a team that has just played -- all at the full sized court at KCVI.

My junior boys played there first game, and for the first half they completely dominated. They ran hard, got fast breaks, got back on defense, and shot a great percentage. My point-guards got some great assists, and we looked like a well oiled machine. They the girls team took over -- they put in one tall line up and started getting back on D. It was over. They probably outscored us in the second have 10-2. Overall, just a really great game, and tons of fun. The kids were cheering like crazy, all positive stuff, and the energy in the room was really high. It was also my first time refereeing a "real" game, which is more fun that I thought. I was also consistently yelling "push! run!" to my team, as well as giving high-fives after baskets.

The New Piano

Tonight our new piano found it's way from out in the township onto the new bamboo floor I finished installing this morning. The house is going well, with 3 rooms upstairs floored, and the bamboo in, I have hope that it might actually get done. At least the floor. 'Cause it's kind of important. They tell me.

I took Peja over to the house today so I could jigsaw some final bits of the flooring, and she rocked out on my old yamaha keyboard. I bought it in Grade 8, for reasons I don't really know. I wanted to play the drums, and I already had a guitar, and we had a piano in the house -- but I guess I wanted my own. It came with all this "play along" stuff, where it plays the backing and you play the melody, and then you can start controlling the changes with one finger, and then by chording, and it really is when I started to learn how to read music and arrange with chords. Peja can't really read anything, but she quickly learned what number sounds she liked and what kind of stuff she could do with it (77 is a big favourite).

My junior boys basketball team is playing their first game tomorrow -- and exhibition game against the junior girls. The girls coach is a great coach, and a great basketball player -- I am very ready to watch my boys get killed. I think it'll be good for them. I always enjoy getting destroyed at basketball; reminds you of everything you need to work on.

Rushed morning.

Peja came into our room at about 6:30 this morning, which is a bit early, but she went back to sleep, as did I (Sienna had left for work circa, uh, whenever it is that she leaves), and when we both work up, it was 8:35. Which is nice. If it wasn't a school day.

"Peja, we have to get up, we're late."

"Daddy, you get up first."

"We're both getting up. I'm getting up right now."

"You get up first."

"Get up!"

She headed off to her morning rounds, and we met up at the top of the stairs around 8:40.

"What do you want for breakfast?"

"Do we have any cereal?"

"Yeah, lots of cereal."

"Lots and lots of cereal?"

"Just tell me what kind you want!"

"Do we have cheerios?"

"Do you want cheerios?!"

"So we have lots and lots of cereal? Lots and lots?"

"Goddamn it! We're late!"

Now, to frame this a little better, I played about 3 hours of basketball last night, and went to bed shortly before I assume Sienna heads off to work. I had a wicked dehydration hang-over and a gimpy knee.

I want to give Peja and myself some credit, because we made it to school at like 9:07 or something, which is 32 minutes from when we woke up, having eating a good breakfast, packed a lunch, brushed our teeth and combed our hair.

We did, however, take the car. 3 weeks to the move. Count it down.

Baby PJ, and the Erin Farm. . .

More love sent out to baby PJ, who the doctors are keeping an eye on at the hospital -- he's all good, but they like to be sure before they send babies out into the world.

I'm listening to some classic Barn Flyz, because I'm a narcissist, I guess, but also to remember what the band used to sound like. A Few More Songs from the Erin Farm was a record made out of frustration -- my 8 track recorder had busted, I went back to using my old digital 4 track; which required a lot of track bouncing and figuring out before hand. What was kind of fun is that the drums almost always got added last (they sounded the worst after getting mixed down, so I'd do everything else first so they would remain 1st generation), so I could do as many takes as I wanted of the drum parts without wanting to rush off to add more stuff. The room at the farm where I recorded was a lot like my new studio in the new house -- big, old, one window. It's also the shortest record in the collection, only 5 tracks. One of it's tracks, "Millionaire" was reworked for "Songs for my Seaweed Girl", but to me, I like some of the other songs better. They are very mellow, really, I didn't know better, I'd say I got really into pot right around the time of this record. . . The lyrics don't make much sense, the tunes drone on, and there is a lot of reverb floating around. . . I would like to put together a pod-cast of a bunch of old tracks, with commentary, for the three fans of the band. . .

Peja is having a night terror. She cries in her sleep, pretty loud, without waking up. I can go in and wake her, but she settles just as fast on her own, or wakes up, which is all I would do if I went to her. It's funny to have an almost 5 year old that cries in the night and sounds just like a baby -- nearly every night -- but it seems totally normal too, because she's always done it. I've been leaving her at friends houses for play-dates lately, and not only is she fine with me leaving, she's often told me that "you can go do something daddy", which is a not-too-subtle "get out, you old loser, and let me have some fun without your constant nagging!" Oh, there, she's quiet again. Sweet. We still have a sleep chart for her, if she sleeps through, I put a sticker on it. Every morning when we come downstairs, Peja asks me if she's slept through. I told Sienna today that I've probably forgotten about the same number of wake-ups as I have remembered dreams of imaginary wake-ups; the stickers even out. When she fills the chart, she gets a toy from Sienna's toy stash.

I bought some chain and some bolts to secure the new basketball net from thieves, vandles, and basketball nemeses who might want to impair my ability to further perfect the turn-around fade-away. It will be up soon, and you'd better all fear the fade.

The Basketball Net

I've assembled the three parts of my new basketball net. I'm not ready to leave it outside, not until we figure out something to lock it to, but it's painfully close to being together.

The floor upstairs is being pieced together. It's this cool vinyl plank stuff that sticks together and just floats as one huge piece. You can sock slide from the studio to Peja's room now; next, the sock slide to the master bedroom and the bathroom. It will happen. Peja and I went over the other night just to hang out, and we figured out that if I curled up in a ball and held on to Peja, and she ran in circles around me, I would spin around so fast that I wanted to throw up. I think that means the floor is awesome.

I have to decide what the hell I'm doing with the bamboo floor in the living/dining room. And we need a kitchen. . . The fine people at Ikea have their best people on it, and I'm sure that eventually there will be a place to cook. On the bright side, some people are coming to look at the apartment this weekend and early next week, so if we can get that sucker rented for May 1st, then everyone wins and we can pay back the $6,000,000 we owe many different places.

My brand-new nephew PJ is still trying to get home from the hospital, some wacky O2 stats are going to keep him overnight, but hopefully he can get home tomorrow, and we can Skype him for the first time!

Thinkin' about you PJ,

Jay.

The House

Sienna painted all the rooms (save the half bath and one wall of the kitchen), two coats, with occasional help from yours truly. We floored the new studio, which is a drop in the flooring bucket. But things are moving along. Only 1,000,000 things left to do. . .

My nephew made it home today, which is pretty neat. Maybe I'll do an album with the band called Uncle Jay and the Barn Flyz. . .