Radio Radio

Lately a lot of cool stuff has been happening, but what I am about to talk about was cool AND random. You see... I really hate schedules, plans or routines and really love randomness. I remember this one time I was actually in the middle of saying "I haven't done anything random in a while" when Duane calls:

"Wanna go see (this shitty pop/rock group that I forget the name of) at the Corel Centre; I JUST won a pair of tickets on the radio for the show that's on in 45 minutes!"

That night was fun but sadly, has nothing to do with the story I am about to tell. The night of the Radio Radio show there was a lot of randomness for Kevin Janok and that is a good thing.

Le premier temps que je l'ais ecouter

was last sum-mer avec Rou-thi-er

We were going for sushi and he pulled up at work with this shit BLARING; like full blast. He was on his 'Acadia kick' or something after returning from a trip out east which set his frenchness and greasiness skyrocketing.

Fast forward to last Wednesday where I hear that one Mark Routhier will be in attendance for a Radio Radio show at Barrymores. You know what you do in situations like these? You go to observe Mark Routhier in his true habitat. It is glorious.


Before the show we had time to

• hunt down a cupcakery
• visit friends at Gypsy & Co
• hit up three record shops where we/I bought waaay too much
• go to THREE DIFFERENT Royal Oak's on Bank St in search of one Tony B who was not at the Crappy Oak, or at the Shitty Oak OR at the Loser Oak; not that I'm upset about all that walking or anything. You now owe us BOTH drinks Tony; I don't care if you're newly "back in town!"

We failed at finding Tony so we were sentenced with penalty shots; the bartender decided that would be part tequila, part jack and a drop of Tabasco.  


The show. Well the before band was pretty fun, not very good, but fun. The lead singer was really into it, and lanky, and all flailing like this.

The Radio Radio setup was pretty interesting; 1 laptop/turntable guy, drummer, bongo set guy and two vocalists. These guys were ALL OVER the place, awesome show dudes. If there is something better than frenglish hip hop I do not know what that something is.

It was nice to see Barrymores packed for the show, I hope they start doing more live shows and stuff.

Le two step

There is so much Right On going on in this picture; Football Arm, Power Suit Friday's and a Power Kick.

I took a video of them playing Kenny G non-stop cause that song is awesome; but what is even awesomer are the Routhier dance moves. Watch the full thing here or the condensed version that you can plaster all over the internet there.






When he says the "OOOOhhhhhhh's after the triplet part, it looks like feeding time at Marineland. A blog; yet another place on the internets where you can burn your friends.

Right On!





http://enterthecrawlspace.blogspot.com/2011/02/music-side-b.html

Le Duo - Heart of Gold

Together Mr Dave Ledoux and Dr Cole Futterer are Le Duo. There music is nice.


Check out an impromptu jam session that took place a few Fridays ago before I hit the bar, way before I talked my way out of an ambulance... again.



If you like what you've heard download it and put it on your iPod or other non-apple mobile listening device (4 u CJ).


Le Duo - Heart of Gold


They play in and around Ottawa at different bars and pubs, facebook stalk them or visit Cole for all your chiropractic needs at Trailhead Chiropractic in Westboro:


http://www.trailheadchiropractic.ca/


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Tell him Kevin sent you for a free extra long rub down ;)

music - side D

Sorta took a week off cause I wasn't feeling too good plus life has been pretty busy these days; apologies. Might as well wrap up my brain fart about music and stuffs.

New Years was anything but boring this year. Megan and I decided to adventure to Manhattan for a day trip to see what kind of trouble we could get into. The original plan was to meet up with some friends and party it up; pretty simple.


Getting to NYC on the cheap was pretty easy. A three hour drive to Syracuse followed by a six hour train ride was all it took. Not the quickest trip I've ever but it gave us time to plan out how we were going to spend 14 hours in the city that never sleeps. All we knew was that we needed to meet up with Nick and Danielle, eat foods, party and before all this happened, check out a used record store cause New York style.


We left that place with 14 albums for $37 America dollars. Crazy low prices, amazing! Among those we picked up were the good, the bad and the hilarious:

Seriously, we bought the Joshua Tree for $1. I don't care if it ain't 180 grams or whatever, it's a dollar. We found some pretty fun albums that we would have never have picked up back home cause everything is super expensive. Shitty dollar record night was awesome once we got back home; Too bad the crawlspace is a little cold this time of year cause the acoustics down there are simply amazing.

After dinner we found ourselves searching for this quaint little jazz bar in Village Vanguard but I couldn't remember where it was. I visited it back in May and took in this 6 piece band whose average age must have been 80. They were hilarious, amazing and on the ball. Being NYE, I knew whatever act was playing there, it was sure to be just as special. Knowing the name of the place would have helped...


Along the way we stumbled across this basement bar. Being parched from our search, we stopped in for a shot only to discover all sorts of awesomeness. The owner gave us a tour of the place which included the kitchen and the most important thing, this hidden room that you entered through a secret door in the wall. Inside this 5'x5' room wasthe most glorious thing ever, what every hideaway needs; naked lady wallpaper. If I find something similar, the crawlspace is totally getting an upgrade.


We decided to say a while longer in room awesome and had Champagne. Seriously, it was like the restaurant had it's own crawlspace! Next time you visit Manhattan, check out Bell, Book and Candle. One of the most interesting places I've been to in a while. They grow their own veggies on site with a rooftop hydroponic garden and everything; something like 60% of all their produce, check it out!

After we overstayed our welcome with the glittery ladies, we Nancy Drew'd where the jazz bar was and settled at Arthur's Tavern for Sweet Georgia Brown and her lovely band.

Was a great time, one that can only ever happen in NYC.


Watch this; it basically retells the story above and the music goes SURPRISINGLY well with the pictures.




We danced the night away... all the way into a show tunes bar later that night. That place was ridiculous. It made 1/4 of us happy :P


I've never seen that many cardigans all in one place.
Again, only in NY.





The last day of 2010, a night to remember.


I think these posts had good flow to them. It could have been listened to in one go as it was originally written, however, like a record, it had numerous hiccups. I totally think this series was one kickass limited edition quadraphonic album me thinks.


Because it's on topic and only happened last night, here's another everyday sample of what goes on here, enjoy.

music - side C

Where was I... oh yes, music.


I love finding/being showed hidden gems on the internet cause there's a lot of funny stuff and talented people out there. This is where Dave steps in as Champion of the internets. He just finds all sorts of amazing artists all the time. We literally spent most of last night watching YouTube, an activity I rarely partake in since I'm an internet searching failure. I just can't sit there on the computer for hours and entertain myself, I suck at finding cool shit; always have.


Last night I was simply BLOWN AWAY when I heard Dave listening to this:





He said and I quote, "stuff like this makes me want to quit music. They're just so good."


Totally check out more from Pomplamoose, a duo group from San Francisco. Visit their YouTube page (check out the playlist section), add them to Facebook and pick up some of their mp3's on their myspace page. Awesome.


I can totally see Dave getting into something like this with his music, it's simply a matter of time. He should be creating music for a living, it's the thing that makes him so happy. I'm a huge supporter of enjoying what you do for a living. I'm still entertained at my job, buuut, owning a bar sure would be fun too...


The living room has been completely empty,

a fully furnished bedroom

and has finally transformed into Dave's recording studio.

I think the best part of having a studio in the house is that I get to hear the creative process in action. Dave's puttering around consists of a bit of guitar playing, some classical piano, some pop/trance tracks and of course, some Lego Star Wars. 


Dave is the one who showed me that it's ok to like Lady Gaga if you are a man. She's an AMAZING artist. A certain YouTube clip of hers frequents DeWalt often. Who doesn't love Gaga??? Pomplamoose does:





If you watch a bunch of their videos you'll see just how hipster they are. Oh ya! Speaking of hipster, I've been wanting to find a way to write about more about the OK Go show!

I have no idea how I got such a cool shot with a simple point and shoot. They had laser guitars; almost as cool as laser sharks.

Preparation for the concert was key; whatever we did had to be ironic as well as environmentally friendly. PBR tall boys with Second Cup sandwiches purchased in the Glebe were in order. We figured that 2 sandwiches for 3 people was a good call because we didn't want any waste. Someone was looking pretty hipster that day but you know what, I don't care.

OFF TO THE SHOW!!! (some of us were excited)

Before OK Go started, I went to the bar even though I really didn't need any more drinks cause I was pretty good to go already. Then who do I run into but someone from work. It was odd cause the guy is all higher up and stuff and here he is at a completely hipster venue. I know I wasn't dressed like my work self and I kept wondering if he dressed like this normally or not. Yes, I was judging.


The show; amazing.

We were pretty close.

YES!!! That bells song!

Custom jackets!

Look at all the swooning going on over there. Lead singer guy is like two rows away.

Words don't really; words can't describe the vibe in that place. Hope this does:

music - side B

Hmmmm, let's keep going with this cause well, it's fun.

Listening to records is pretty cool. I'd hear on the radio that records were still being pressed for todays bands but I didn't know which bands and I just never got into it. I always thought that vinyl meant that was the ULTRA SPECIAL edition and would cost numerous many dollars. This is simply incorrect. You can get a new indie record for $12.99; the same as a CD.


This intrigues me since I am the last human being on earth who still buys CDs. I like to have the stuff. A file is not stuff.


Nowadays, some albums even come with free digital downloads. Then there's always the possibility of importing it using an $80 USB record player.

Every so often I walk into HMV after work and pretty well have the same conversation with someone who works there:


"What's good?"


"Well... what sorta music do you like, blah blah meow."


"I'm just looking to reach out to new music that I normally don't listen to. Can you maybe point out a couple of your favorites or some albums you are currently hooked on?"


This usually ends with me walking out of there with 8 albums of i-don't-know-what. I usually take to them pretty well but there's always the one disc that is just too far out there for my tastes.


The perfect example of this is when I picked up Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective. That shit's just noise. Terrible.


Anyways, off topic, where was I? Records.

The other day we went to go see Brendan Flynn and the Terrible Liars at Elmdale Tavern. 

Both bands that played that night were great, have a look/listen-ski.



After the show on our way out we see they are selling copies of their latest album on vinyl. This local Ottawa band, like, the chef from Quinn's, had his latest album pressed and they were selling them at the door. Yes. The album is psychedelic colored and has a hand-numbered sticker thing on there. Yes. All this for $20. Yes. Our record says 023/100.

Man, isn't technology awesome? I was able to sit there and take all these pictures, audio recordings and video with my iPhone. Like, I have the internet in my pocket that is also a video camera. I still remember the look on my cousins faces when I told them:


"When I was a kid, televisions were made out of wood!"


Why was I ever against technology in the first place? 


"I'm NEVER joining Facebook. Or getting a smartphone."


I must be retarded. Not only do I embrace technology, I jump into it 127% just like always do for everything. I don't half-ass much in life, except maybe getting doors up.


Tell me, how could I do this without technology?



That's my buddy showing off his new car; his new, pimpin' black, sexy, voice-activated luxury CX-7 beautiful technology computer car. The features you can get today... Bluetooth in your rims to gauge the air pressure. Bluetooth stereo which connected to my internet phone via voice commands so I could play tracks from "Kevin's Shitty Phone" over the cars speakers. Right (wait for it) On.


Anyways, best drive to Wakefield for a sandwich I've ever been on. What else do you do with a Wednesday after work?

music - side A

I had an epiphany today while flipping a record. Here I am, alone in the living room, watering the plants with this new, artificial, flourescent, white light filling the room when, scratchy scratch scratch, record needs to be turned over.

Ya, we have the most unique music setup at the Estates. It's a DeWalt portable radio connected to a portable record player. My radio also charges batteries for power tools. Ya, I bet that the percentage of other human beings who have this EXACT setup in their living room is about 0%.

Anyways. I go over, flip it and as the music starts, I notice the whole flow is completely different on this side compared to the last.

I've noticed this before on other albums when listening to them on my iPod or CDs. It's like the album hiccuped.

You see, some albums simply just have this flow like nothing else and the only way you can listen to them is start to finish or nothing. An example for me would be Jackson Square by the Arkells. I've been listening to a lot of it at work lately and I dunno, it feels like one continual song instead of whatever many tracks.

The vinyl I was listening to was Funeral by the Arcade Fire. I know I know; I'm on an indie binge right now. Arcade Fire is headlining at Coachella this year and guess who's got tickets? That's right, April 16th I'll be in California watching this Montreal band as the headliner! 

Anyways, Funeral is totally not one of those start to finish flowing albums. It totally changes pace in the middle.

This is where I get to my epiphany. My guess is that Arcade Fire arranged the tracks in Funeral in such a way so that on a record, side A and B would have their own different feel/vibe. I think it was produced to be listened to on vinyl. Since you have to flip the thing, that's a disturbance in the flow, so I guess they can have mutually exclusive sides A and B. I am such a nerd.

Now thinking back to those times where I noticed that irregularity in the middle of the album, I can NOW say "yup, this was meant to be heard on vinyl."

Wow, that whole topic was totally hipster and random. But I guess that's why I have a blog and you don't.