Dyniss

All entries in the music category

Hallowe’en Hamilton

This’ll be my last entry for at least a week until I’m settled into my new pad. (Switching internet providers, etc.) I spent 3 days commuting to Toronto to clean my new place and run errands. My girlfriend can’t stand chemicals, so I cleaned with nothing more than water, vinegar, and baking soda. Yeah, the place is clean now. We’ve pitched as much crap as we could before we move in so we can fit into this smaller and yet more expensive apartment.
Still no job (unbelievable), but whatever. Of course Bell disconnected our phone a day too early. I did some bass recording with Bobby Hebert during the week. The band I’m playing with is now called “The Fortunates”. I like that name! We’re rehearsing more regularly, which sure helps. I laughed a lot during our rehearsal last night — just one of those funny, care-free, mistake-ridden rehearsals.
As my girlfriend was explaining to me that she was worried about crime in Toronto, some dude egged our car windshield pretty hard while we were driving here in Hamilton last night. I screeched the car to a halt, but everything was fine. It just goes to show, there are always people who aren’t looking out for your best interests in ANY town.
For my last nite here, I’m going to bike in the pro-environment Critical Mass ride for one last time. I’ll be wearing a witch’s hat! Oooooo!

I’m in another band now

I haven’t yet mentioned that I started playing with these other three fellows who are calling themselves “Fifteen Minute Lecture”. However, I think the band name might change. They’ve been together for 6 months and never had a show. I replied to an ad I saw on KickInTheHead.com. They’re good guys, and they’re playing my style of music. Mike and I had a chat at my solo show on the weekend about potential conflicts with me and my solo music career, versus playing with them. I basically said, “I’m playing with you guys because I’m enjoying it and I’m simply not thinking beyond that”, which is true. But they’re learning my songs, and I’m learning theirs. We joked about “Fifteen Minute Lecture, featuring Dyniss”, or “Dyniss and the Fifteen Minute Lecture”, depending on the show. But I think that’s a bit silly.

Hamilton Music Scene

Aha, over a week since I wrote. Well, in terms of shows, I played as part of the Hamilton Music Scene Festival this weekend. There were lots of people about, since it was also the last weekend of the 2003 World Cup Bike Races here. My show was fun. Had my friend Mike play with me on some songs, and I played with my CD player for a few songs. No sound person showed up. I had to do the sound for me and the two other acts. I also met a drummer I hadn’t seen in years. I appeared on CFMU on Friday night with Ric Taylor to promote the show. Ric had researched me through this site and had a lot of poignant questions which were unexpected… …A sign of a good interview. He invited me to return there around Christmas to promote Hey Michael.
My girlfriend and I got that apartment in Toronto for Nov.1st. We’ve already got 20 boxes of stuff together. I’m job hunting 8 hours a day, including weekends right now. Great cover letters, decent resumes. It’s rather frustrating. Too bad I’ve already used up my “I know people in Toronto” resources to land me work. However, for the record, I’m actually quite sad about leaving Hamilton here! I got to know some people, the community, the sights, etc. I felt I could handle a city of this size with ease. I lived here for one year.

Green Party PARTY

I played solo at the Ontario Provincial Green Party post-election party last night. No seats were won by the Greens this election, but votes were up by several hundred percent when compared to the last election! If Ontario had fair proportional party representation, then the Greens would have won at least three seats yesterday.
Too bad the sound wasn’t very good and I didn’t play The Green Anthem very well. However, it was awesome to be around so many Greens at once! A few inspiring speeches were given by candidates. I look forward to playing the next Ontario post-election party in 4 years — they’ll definitely win seats then.
In other news, my girlfriend and I will definitely be moving back to Toronto as of November 1st. We’ll soon find out if we get this apartment we want. It’s cool! I definitely have got to get a new regular job in Toronto. Rent is about to double.

Stuff

Ooo, I already feel like I’m not keeping up with my blog. It looks like I’m going to move back to Toronto after living in nearby Hamilton for a full year. This means I will have to get some new work with decent income to pay the higher rent. How shall I do that? Hmm…a new job in the music industry? Har, har. I learned that it’s virtually impossible to just walk into a good job in the music industry, regardless of experience. You usually have to start at the bottom and work your way up. I might end up working some dumb job. Such a senseless waste of talent! La dee da, we shall see.
Word on the street is I might play the Ontario Green Party election night party on Oct. 2. We’ll see about that, too. It’s amazing how much effort I’m putting into things to make them happen. Offering to play only one song (specifically written for the Green Party) at their election-night party for FREE involved some research, almost a dozen calls, messages, and various e-mails, and even then I don’t know what’s going to happen. Mind you, the Greens are super-busy now, but this is pretty common everywhere.