Yes, it has returned, a brief 48 hours of the polar vortex, Not even sure if it IS the polar vortex, but it's currently -10C but with the windchill and it's some 'chill' it's -19C that's -2F for you 'Muricans.
But, this is day is almost done and we'll have one more day of intense cold (made this intense from my arch Winter enemy, the North wind - It's my theory that Winter would be somewhat bearable if it' were not for that wind from the North!), then on Saturday the temperature will 'jump up' to around +2C and then on Sunday +6! Then we'll have some more rather 'seasonable' temperatures, that is depending on what the North Wind has in store for us.
This morning I got together with a good friend I have not seen in a while. Roger is a great guy that I know from CHSR, he hosts 'Rosie Morning', 'The Top 10' and 'Rosie's Juke Joint'. He's a great guy and we've had some good laughs together. I used to sit in on the Friday morning show on Rosie Morning, but since I've left CHSR, I haven't seen him that much. So it was good to catch up.
I'm actually going to the station next week to turn in my key and have a chat with Erin and Mark (who run the station). While I do feel bad about leaving, I just lost that feeling for the station I had. It's a particularly hard position to be in, the station does and has meant very much to me, but in this day and age I just find it's nigh impossible to get people interested in what's going on there. I tried for 4 years to bring light to the station and when I was gone for just a couple of weeks I was shown that the only real reason it seemed people tuned in was because I asked them to, or reminded them to and without that it didn't see as if anyone gave a rats ass about the station. I was burnt out from letting bands know I was playing them, when I had played them, I had, even though I was a volunteer, ingrained myself in the music director position, I had made 4 years of contacts and when I was pulled under for a few days by my arthritis, I'd start to feel horrible I wasn't getting back to people. Some were relying on me to book things or try to book things, so the stress level went up and my health plummeted. Herein lies the problem with anyone with any type of health issue, 'Stress'. It's a killer, but not only that, it maims, it cuts and slashes you and it's nigh impossible to be rid of.
My disease process, I think, had slowed quite a lot and I had been testing myself to see what i could do, could I 'return to work'? Could I do it part time? The band, the station, but despite some subdued cries for help, none came and I crashed. I know I've written about this before. But it's still fresh for me, those scars are starting to heal and with 36 days left until Spring I feel myself slowly getting back to normal. This does not mean that I'll return to anything I was doing before, but I'll at least have shed the stress off this battered shell.
Over the last decade or so, I've come to appreciate some of the musicians that I 'kinda liked' their material, but exploring further come to love their material. Tom Petty, The Electric Light Orchestra, Roy Wood & Wizzard and Peter Gabriel.
Gabriel's 'Secret World Live' has become a big thing for me, this tour from 1994 was a masterpiece, a sound, light and visual stage spectacle. I've always been a huge fan of stage design, sound and lights. I personally believe even IF the band is outstanding on it's own merit a big stage show or just one that's filled with lighting and brilliant sound brings a whole new dimension to the music. Iron Maiden, of course introduced me to this theatrical world, although to go back further in my life, growing up with my Mom and grandparents music in the house, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Fiddler On The Roof, also played into my schooling.
One thing that I missed when playing with the band in this era was that 'back in the day', we had the money to afford sound and light crews that would travel with us. Dreamkick had a fantastic stage show with sound and lighting done by two of the greatest talents in that field. Today a band playing original can't afford luxuries like lighting. Most clubs have a PA system of some type, sometime's none at all and you have to make due. I had thought at one time of trying to build a great stage show for the Zombies with props of dead bodies and parts, tombstones, smoke machines and lights. The way I see and saw it, you can be the best you can be live, you can sound fantastic even without a great P.A. system, you can have the liveliest wildest musicians on stage with you, but you can always, always give more.
Check out Peter Gabriels 'Secret World Live'
While Youtubing around on Gabriel's legacy, I came across this video of Peter while recording with Canadian uber musician Daniel Lanois. 'Come Talk To Me' is a beautiful song that Gabriel wrote about his estranged relationship with his Daughter. It took me years to get it, but Lanois is a genius, who's collaborated with some of the most amazing musicians on the planet. I'm not a huge fan of his own work, but I am a fan of what he's done, who's he worked with.
I only wish I had, had as much fortitude, ambition and talent as these people. I'm happy, I'm very happy and proud of the music and band's I've been apart of.
When I first moved back to Fredericton from out West, I was at some former 'Dreamkick' members show in outer Oromocto, they had a great cover band called 'Alter Ego'. I was standing in line to get a drink when I was approached by a man and his wife.
The guy says to me, "Are you, are you Chris? Chris Waddell?" and I said, "Yes, I am in the flesh"... Now, I haven't pissed off a lot of people that I know of, but you never know, I didn't recognize this chap or his wife, so I had no idea what was coming, a hug or a slap in the face lol, but what came next was as amazing as a warm embrace and as shocking (to me) as a punch in the face.
This gentleman, went on to tell me how much Dreamkick's music had meant to him, how much he loved the band our shows and hour music. In fact, he said, they still had our music on 3 CDs, one they played in the house, one they played in their car and another at their cottage.
I was floored. I really didn't know what to say. But at that point, I felt IF anything, in a very very small way, I had "made it".
Dreamkick never toured extensively, although we did play over 70 shows in the short time frame we were together, we never had any major hits, airplay on 'mainstream' radio, we did have a video that made it onto MuchMusic, but this guy telling me that even to this day, music we had written some 20 years ago still meant something to him. It swells my heart even now to think about it. Something we wrote had an impact.and that lasted to this day.
Steve Walon a local country musician was talking to me just before New Years and asked, "When are you guys going to do a reunion?" and I said, 'Wasteland Zombies?' and he said, "No no, Dreamkick! You guys were the best band in the province man, there was nothing like you guys, I still rant to people about you guys to this day"....
I was so lucky to have had that moment in my life, I've been very very fortunate. and again, I'm very proud of everything I've done, everything I've been apart of. It's been a great life.
The blog search for Youtube wouldn't bring up our Dreamkick video for 'This Meanz War' but here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NH1p04LXg
But, this is day is almost done and we'll have one more day of intense cold (made this intense from my arch Winter enemy, the North wind - It's my theory that Winter would be somewhat bearable if it' were not for that wind from the North!), then on Saturday the temperature will 'jump up' to around +2C and then on Sunday +6! Then we'll have some more rather 'seasonable' temperatures, that is depending on what the North Wind has in store for us.
This morning I got together with a good friend I have not seen in a while. Roger is a great guy that I know from CHSR, he hosts 'Rosie Morning', 'The Top 10' and 'Rosie's Juke Joint'. He's a great guy and we've had some good laughs together. I used to sit in on the Friday morning show on Rosie Morning, but since I've left CHSR, I haven't seen him that much. So it was good to catch up.
I'm actually going to the station next week to turn in my key and have a chat with Erin and Mark (who run the station). While I do feel bad about leaving, I just lost that feeling for the station I had. It's a particularly hard position to be in, the station does and has meant very much to me, but in this day and age I just find it's nigh impossible to get people interested in what's going on there. I tried for 4 years to bring light to the station and when I was gone for just a couple of weeks I was shown that the only real reason it seemed people tuned in was because I asked them to, or reminded them to and without that it didn't see as if anyone gave a rats ass about the station. I was burnt out from letting bands know I was playing them, when I had played them, I had, even though I was a volunteer, ingrained myself in the music director position, I had made 4 years of contacts and when I was pulled under for a few days by my arthritis, I'd start to feel horrible I wasn't getting back to people. Some were relying on me to book things or try to book things, so the stress level went up and my health plummeted. Herein lies the problem with anyone with any type of health issue, 'Stress'. It's a killer, but not only that, it maims, it cuts and slashes you and it's nigh impossible to be rid of.
My disease process, I think, had slowed quite a lot and I had been testing myself to see what i could do, could I 'return to work'? Could I do it part time? The band, the station, but despite some subdued cries for help, none came and I crashed. I know I've written about this before. But it's still fresh for me, those scars are starting to heal and with 36 days left until Spring I feel myself slowly getting back to normal. This does not mean that I'll return to anything I was doing before, but I'll at least have shed the stress off this battered shell.
Over the last decade or so, I've come to appreciate some of the musicians that I 'kinda liked' their material, but exploring further come to love their material. Tom Petty, The Electric Light Orchestra, Roy Wood & Wizzard and Peter Gabriel.
Gabriel's 'Secret World Live' has become a big thing for me, this tour from 1994 was a masterpiece, a sound, light and visual stage spectacle. I've always been a huge fan of stage design, sound and lights. I personally believe even IF the band is outstanding on it's own merit a big stage show or just one that's filled with lighting and brilliant sound brings a whole new dimension to the music. Iron Maiden, of course introduced me to this theatrical world, although to go back further in my life, growing up with my Mom and grandparents music in the house, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Fiddler On The Roof, also played into my schooling.
One thing that I missed when playing with the band in this era was that 'back in the day', we had the money to afford sound and light crews that would travel with us. Dreamkick had a fantastic stage show with sound and lighting done by two of the greatest talents in that field. Today a band playing original can't afford luxuries like lighting. Most clubs have a PA system of some type, sometime's none at all and you have to make due. I had thought at one time of trying to build a great stage show for the Zombies with props of dead bodies and parts, tombstones, smoke machines and lights. The way I see and saw it, you can be the best you can be live, you can sound fantastic even without a great P.A. system, you can have the liveliest wildest musicians on stage with you, but you can always, always give more.
Check out Peter Gabriels 'Secret World Live'
While Youtubing around on Gabriel's legacy, I came across this video of Peter while recording with Canadian uber musician Daniel Lanois. 'Come Talk To Me' is a beautiful song that Gabriel wrote about his estranged relationship with his Daughter. It took me years to get it, but Lanois is a genius, who's collaborated with some of the most amazing musicians on the planet. I'm not a huge fan of his own work, but I am a fan of what he's done, who's he worked with.
I only wish I had, had as much fortitude, ambition and talent as these people. I'm happy, I'm very happy and proud of the music and band's I've been apart of.
When I first moved back to Fredericton from out West, I was at some former 'Dreamkick' members show in outer Oromocto, they had a great cover band called 'Alter Ego'. I was standing in line to get a drink when I was approached by a man and his wife.
The guy says to me, "Are you, are you Chris? Chris Waddell?" and I said, "Yes, I am in the flesh"... Now, I haven't pissed off a lot of people that I know of, but you never know, I didn't recognize this chap or his wife, so I had no idea what was coming, a hug or a slap in the face lol, but what came next was as amazing as a warm embrace and as shocking (to me) as a punch in the face.
This gentleman, went on to tell me how much Dreamkick's music had meant to him, how much he loved the band our shows and hour music. In fact, he said, they still had our music on 3 CDs, one they played in the house, one they played in their car and another at their cottage.
I was floored. I really didn't know what to say. But at that point, I felt IF anything, in a very very small way, I had "made it".
Dreamkick never toured extensively, although we did play over 70 shows in the short time frame we were together, we never had any major hits, airplay on 'mainstream' radio, we did have a video that made it onto MuchMusic, but this guy telling me that even to this day, music we had written some 20 years ago still meant something to him. It swells my heart even now to think about it. Something we wrote had an impact.and that lasted to this day.
Steve Walon a local country musician was talking to me just before New Years and asked, "When are you guys going to do a reunion?" and I said, 'Wasteland Zombies?' and he said, "No no, Dreamkick! You guys were the best band in the province man, there was nothing like you guys, I still rant to people about you guys to this day"....
I was so lucky to have had that moment in my life, I've been very very fortunate. and again, I'm very proud of everything I've done, everything I've been apart of. It's been a great life.
The blog search for Youtube wouldn't bring up our Dreamkick video for 'This Meanz War' but here's a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57NH1p04LXg
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