crows to burnaby

ARCTIC's new album, Today Brought Me Here, has just been announced. As anyone who's been reading this blog knows, Marcus Martin and I have been working on this album for quite some time, and it still hasn't sunk in that it's actually done and will soon be out there amongst people.

• How to hear it and how to get it: While the CDs are on their way, we've started taking pre-orders. Pre-ordered CDs will be signed and numbered, you can have mp3s of the album immediately, and orders of 3 or more CDs will include a free shirt. While pre-orders are going on, you can only listen to the tracks and pre-order the CDs if you're on the mailing list, which is a quick 'n' easy signup and as soon as you've confirmed you get a link to the page.
• Online liner notes: From the pre-order page you can also get to the online liner notes - along with tracks, there's lyrics and images and credits.
• Custom covers: You can also use our Cover Generator to create, arrange and print your own CD cover the way you like it, with the info you want. The possibilities are, well, not infinite, but pretty massive, and it's a ton of fun. Check out the image up top for some examples.
• Auction for the Arctic and ARCTIC: If having a signed and numbered CD just isn't special enough for you, we're auctioning off a master CD of the album. It's framed, along with a signed note and a NWT license plate from a truck Marcus drove while growing up in Yellowknife.

  Half of the proceeds will go to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to support their conservation efforts in the Arctic region. The remainder goes to offset our manufacturing and touring costs, so we do more of what we do.

  The auction starts on Sunday, September 9 at 8 PM PST and ends on Sunday, September 16 at 8 PM.

I can hardly believe that the CD is done. It's been quite a journey. Which is only appropriate since that's what this is all about: journeys and changes and where you find yourself, and how you got to where you are.

I hope you enjoy it.

Anybody out there remember an ice cream treat from the 80's called Buried Treasure? It was a sickly-looking orange sorbet in a blue wrapper on a plastic stick, and part of the plastic stick, under all the ice cream, was some kind of flattened character-shaped toy - an elephant, or a pirate, or something along those lines. I was, of course, particularily fond of the horses, and collected them whenever I could, breaking them off their sticks and lining them up together. I still have one.

Oddly enough, I can find next to nothing about this childhood delight online. On the "Foods of the Eighties" website someone suggests it was only an East Coast phenomenon. Did any of you lot grow up with these things? Who made them, anyway? And why did they stop? I kinda want to try one now. I guess frozen treats don't stash well over the decades, though.

As regular readers are aware, I'm not very fond of Telus. I've been waiting with bated breath for my cellular contract with them to expire, which it will do on September 25.

My plan all along has been to get an unlocked GSM phone and switch to Rogers, so that I can pick a better phone and load MY content onto it, not pay Telus $4 for the privilege of using one of their crappy ringtones or desktop images.

However, as the date draws near, I'm having some trepidations. While I despise Telus's policies, at least I know I've never really had any problems with their reception - which, ultimately, is the reason I have a phone. Telus is "the devil you know", and I don't know Rogers. Some digging has shown me more or less equal hatred for both companies - some people swear Rogers' customer service sucks, others will never use Telus again. Some people say Telus is much clearer, others prefer Rogers. I know if I were on Rogers I could use my phone in Europe, but really, how often am I there? It's more important that I can use it in Vancouver area and to a certain extent across Canada - which is where Telus apparently has the edge.

So I'm looking for more opinions: which is the lesser of two evils? Do I suck it up and stick with Telus because at least I know what I'm in for? Or is Rogers worth the risk?

Well, here's one of my happy l'il projects that's been keeping me busy recently: the redesign and relaunch of the ARCTIC website. I'm very happy with it. There's a lot of little hidden things tucked away that you can explore, and more joy & goodness that will all be revealed in time. Enjoy...

Look, I'm plugging a show, but it's not music...

My friend Pilar Alvarez is having a solo show at the Jem Gallery (225 E Broadway, near Our Town Cafe) starting this Friday. You've probably seen her work around town in one place or another - curvy, pink, showy pin-up pop art fun. She had a terrific wall mural at Asia on 10th before it was sold and turned into some sort of French restaurant.

Here's the flyer:

Take a peek!

Well, there goes another one. In the third blow to the Vancouver music scene this summer, the Lamplighter Pub will be shutting down at the end of the month. It's been sold to new owners, and no one really quite knows what they're planning to do with the place, but no one is exactly optimistic about it, either. The assumption is that it'll turn into yet another trendy little Gastown restaurant, and the hotel will become overpriced condos for yuppies who want to own a little bit of history. You know, the usual for Vancouver.

This is the fourth live venue in Vancouver to close this year. The Marine Club closed suddenly in January, and then this summer the Buffalo Club and the Picadilly Pub shut their doors. I never played at the Buffalo or the Pic, but we played at the Marine Club last year, and it was a fun spot. We did two shows at the Lamplighter in the fall, and I'd attended several more there. It may not have been the best venue in the city, but it had a lot going for it (and I gather the sound system was just upgraded). It was a much needed place, had a lot of character, and with the departure of the other three venues, it could've been poised as a dominant force in the local music picture.

Anyone feel like starting a new music venue? You'll only have to contend with exhorbitant real estate prices, chokingly restrictive city policies, an industry of uncertainty, and plenty of other surprises. But there's plenty of rewards too, like giving people a place to hear the music they need, and creating a legacy. People still talk with nostalgia about the Sugar Refinery and other favourite venues of days gone by. That's something the Lamplighter could've been, but they've stopped too soon.

Because some things just go so well together.

I spotted an ad in the Straight for an event at the Richmond Nature Park on Sunday: a Blueberry Sale and Llama Walk. Now, who could resist such a thing? Certainly not Greg and I, who are fond not only of blueberries, but of llamas, too. So we headed on down to Richmond in the afternoon to see what there was to see.

First up were the blueberries - we each had a delicious slice of blueberry pie. Mine was more traditional, with cooked berries, and Greg's was more like a huge stack of blueberries with a bit of custard and crust. Yum. There were no actual blueberries for sale there, but that's okay.

We were a little disappointed at first that all the llamas were booked and the only spot remaining was to walk a goat. But as it turned out, somebody forfeited their llama earlier in the day and we were able to trade spaces with an earlier walk.

And so we met Fireball.

None of the llamas were particularily glad to see us, I have to say. They sort of reluctantly let us pat them, shifted away occasionally if we got too cozy, and eyed us suspiciously. A few were more talkative than others, making funny goatlike grumbling noises like an old woman disapproving of something. Considering how many adults and kids alike were gawking and reaching for them, I can't blame them, and think they did admirably well. Fireball was the most tolerant, and seemed to have reached a certain peace with the situation.

The walk was lovely.

Fireball was no problem to lead, only once attempting to eat a tree (something I'm used to from horses, and was well prepared for) and doing a little dance of eagerness at the end of the walk.

All in all, it was a super afternoon.

The title about says it all... I'm trying to build up a small collection of reasonably random 35mm slides for use in a standard slide projector. So far I have a lengthy sequence about driving safety for seniors, and a few of digital art that I made a few years ago, and I should have some of tropical fish soon, but I need more. Pretty much anything goes.

Any of you have some slides gathering dust that you don't want? Please drop me a line - kirsten (at) crowstoburnaby (dot) com.

do you have to holler at the neighbouring apartment building at 7:45 on a Sunday morning to please don't practice your hand drumming so early.

She was most polite, called back "Sorry!" and stopped right away.