Dawson entrance where it all went down 

De Maisonneuve and Atwater 

De Maisonneuve and Atwater 

Dawson Sherbrooke St. gate 

Memorials in Montreal

I just got back in Montreal tonight and drove by my office. There's a steady stream of people dropping off flowers in front of Dawson and on the fence on the corner. It's heartening to see how many people have been paying respects.

The last time I had seen a wall of flowers, pictures, notes and heatfelt thoughts like that was in NYC along the wall of the church around the corner from the twin towers in October of 2001.

Kimveer was a pathetic idiot.

Staying alive in Montreal

At 1:15 this afternoon I got a call from one of my employees. He`s sounds totally freaked and tells me there`s a shooting going on. Where I ask - right here he says. He tells me there`s bodies everywhere. I thought he was kidding. He tells me there`s a couple of shooters and they`re evacuating the buildings around. He says he sees bodies out the window of our office. Fucking hell.

Outside my office window, 17 stories down my employees watched mayhem break out and bodies on the street. One fellow was missing in action. Luckily he turned up locked down in a bank. Everybody I know so far is OK, luckily I am in Ottawa right now.

Really strange watching CNN international coverage of bodies everywhere outside my office, the view that I see every day. This is the street that I walk down every day and past the people, stores, day care and school that I see every single day. Except today there`s blood everywhere, a swat team and a dead body on the sidewalk and today I`m seeing it on CNN.

Of beans and stuff

I haven't written much for a while because I got a little tired of having a one way dialog with myself here in this column. Sure, I talk to friends from time to time and they know what I've been up to but it's really boring to write words publicly in one direction.

So what the hell have I been up to? For one, I've been traveling 3 days a week and pretty much living in hotels for most of the summer. Weekends up north as usual, lots of boating, bbqs and parties. We've drank an ocean of tequila and cervesas and had the firemen and public security over for a weenie roast on one glorious summer evening.

I haven't driven any of my motorcycles much this summer but I did get a new exhaust for my boat that is supposed to push the monoxide underwater. Took a bit of modification to get it to work well but now it's done.

There's been a cyanobacteria bloom in neighboring lakes that is a little worrying, you can't drink the water, bath or shower when it's around. So far there hasn't been a problem in my lake. You can half your property value if it becomes serious.

I'm off to Costa Rica with a few friends in November, I'm obviously looking forward to that immensely, I need the break in a big way.

This is cool.

Whoa

On Sunday night, driving back from up north we passed by a major accident that happened just a couple of cars in front of us. The 125 is a 2 lane highway so one car hydroplaned into the other lane and a full speed header ensued. One of the cars was crushed, the front bumper was nearly in the trunk - without exaggeration. That was a little scary. It was a little freaky to have Rick call me up on Monday morning to see if I was still alive because he heard on the radio that some fellow my age died in a car crash on the 125. A couple of seconds later and it could have been me....

Torture and things

So what would you think if you knew that Pakistan had tortured some British muslim captive to get information that thwarted the liquid bomb plot of last week? Would you say that torture is unacceptable under any circumstance? These days with the first world being so politically correct, dirty stuff like kangaroo courts and torture haven't gone away, they've just been outsourced to countries with looser guidance for this kind of thing.

As for me, In times like these I am all for torture when there is clear evidence of guilt. The "clear evidence of guilt" part is what nobody will ever agree upon.

Read this.

Travis Pastrana double backflip

Almost exactly two years ago I posted Chuck Caruthers motocross body varial. That post is almost the most viewed page on my blog even now. This one is even cooler.

Travis' double backflip is even cooler.



Press the play button...

How I Spent my Summer Vacation aka The Firemen Fiasco

Let me tell you about my vacation last week. Lets see... I chilled out all week and did a bunch of wake surfing and house work. I actually got some air a couple of times which was pretty cool. On Sat nite, I had a couple of people drop by, drank some tequila, had a fire down on my beach, pissed off all my neigbors, almost got one of them divorced, had to explain to the firemen that we really weren't as stupid as we looked and then went to bed. Oh yeah, I ran out of gas in my boat twice and turned into a baboon by Sunday (according to Mimi).

2006 Ferrari P4

There's a difference between being rich and being stinking rich. This dude James Glickenhaus bought a Ferrari Enzo. That makes him rich. He also got Ferrari and Pininfarina to restyle it completely to look more like the retro P3/P4, that makes him stinking rich. Don't quite know how he got so rich making crappy movies. 

Read about it here, here and here.

I knew it

Mel is an idiot but at least he has good taste in booze.

Tequila always seems to be somehow connected to mayhem:

"On Monday, sheriff's department officials sent prosecutors their case, which also says a tequila bottle was found in Gibson's car when he was pulled over on the Pacific Coast Highway."

Something fishy about the news

Explain this to me, why is it that CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and the BBC have barely reported anything about the 7 Canadians killed and 5 injured by Israeli missiles? CNN International has a sentence about it buried in an article but that's a little startling given that most of them were kids. Isn't it strange that all of the Canadian, Asian and Australian press is running it as page 1 news? Stranger yet is that AP is carrying the feed so it should be everywhere.

Usually I think conspiracy theories are for crackpots but this one is a little obvious. I don't know what to make of it but it smells really fishy.

Syd Barrett RIP

Yep, Syd Barrett died today. How sad.

I'm busy

Yeah, I'm really busy and I've been even busier on weekends. I have a new camera but prolly won't be updating this blog as often as I used to. If you see me regularly then you'll know what's up otherwise, check in and I'll fill you in.

Frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of being the only dude on the block with a blog so I'm considering taking a break for a while.

Anywez, I don't even think that I can possibly describe how insane (fun) my past year has been without ending up in some kind of trouble....

BBQ

BBQ

Here's some really crappy Madonna pictures from my camera phone. For the record, I was really looking forward to the Streets/Lady Sovereign but got double booked and had to go with friends to this show. 

Madonna 2 

Madonna 3 

Madonna 4 

Madonna 5 

Madonna 6 

Madonna 7 

Madonna 8 

This is my friend Paul, he owns a restaurant called Misto in Mtl. This past weekend he had a party that turned into 4 days of total hottub mayhem with lots of fun people. The cops showed up 3 times and then finally stuck around for the party for a while because their shift was up. 

Yet another crappy Madonna pic from my camera phone. We were seated about 5 feet away. 

Went to the Madonna show last thursday. I thought our tickets were in 20th row, actually they were around the 60th row right in front of the catwalk. As you can see, we were really close to the stage. That broad is pasty, pale but really cut. Not a bad show but it's so scripted that it's more like watching a musical than a concert. 

STFU

Some people come to me for advice every now and then, usually about business or finance. What ends up happening is that I tell them what I think and they usually respond with: "of course, that's obvious, do you think I'm stupid?"

Here's the thing, maybe you're not stupid but I always assume that I'm stupid. WTF, you're probably saying. By assuming that I know nothing, I stand to gain the most by watching, asking and studying the masters at what they do best. I'm stupid because if I compare myself to the guys weaving hundred million dollar deals, I'm an idiot. Not everybody gives me good advice when I ask but I do ask and take what I want from it. The other thing is that I also take a lot of pain to make sure I learn from other people's mistakes so I don't have to do the same thing.

The moral of the story is to shut the fuck up, listen and learn. You'll learn a lot more when your mouth is closed and your ears and eyes are open.

Barlow and the Dead

As much as I don't like the Greatful Dead, John Perry Barlow really has it straight regarding technology and the ongoing copyright wars. Here's an excerpt of what he has to say:

"JPB: These are aging industries run by aging men, and they're up against 17-year-olds who have turned themselves into electronic Hezbollah because they resent the content industry for its proprietary practices. And I don't have a question about who's going to win that one eventually.
There are a lot of kids out there copying and distributing movies not because they care about seeing the movies or sharing them with their friends but because they want to stick it to the movie business. It's widely assumed that you can't compete with free and that seems like a reasonable thing to think. But this has not been my experience. I mean I've made a fair amount of money over the years writing songs for 'The Grateful Dead' who allowed their fans to tape their concerts.
We were at one point the biggest grossing performing act in the United States, and most of our records went platinum sooner or later.
It's an economic model that has worked in my experience and I think it does work. It's just that it seems like it wouldn't. It seems counter-intuitive. "

"JPB: I've got good news and bad news and good news. And the good news is that you guys have managed to buy every major legislative body on the planet, and the courts are even with you. So you've done a great job there and you should congratulate yourself.
But you know the problem is - the bad news is that you're up against a dedicated foe that is younger and smarter that you are and will be alive when you're dead. You're 55 years old and these kids are 17 and they're just smarter than you. So you're gonna lose that one.
But the good news is that you guys are mean sons of bitches and you've been figuring out ways of ripping off audiences and artists for centuries..... "

The Many Faces of Sincerity

I meet many people who make many plans and have lots of things that want to do. For the most part they seem like they really believe that they want to do all of these things but it seems like they never get around to doing most them. Are they insincere?

My question is, what exactly is sincerity?

• Does it mean that you believe what you are saying even though it isn't likely to come into fruition and therefore isn't actually true?
• Or, does it mean that you do what you say you're going to do?

Dictionary.com defines it as follows:

sincere adj 1: open and genuine; not deceitful; "he was a good man, decent and sincere"; "felt sincere regret that they were leaving"; "sincere friendship" [ant: insincere]

So this implies that sincerity means that you do not deceive anybody while being sincere.

My conclusion; when somebody says something to somebody else that they won't follow through with but believe to be the truth, they are being sincere to the second person but insincere to themselves because they are deceiving themselves.

And this, my friends is a very sad affliction that way too many people seem to be crippled by. In fact I think that pretty much everybody including myself is delusional in some way - part of being human I guess but some people are afflicted more than others to the point of being borderline disfunctional.

Sad indeed.

Tamarindo Restaurant Review

Here it is, after 3 trips and lots of tequila:

Tamarindo Restaurant Review

Lazy Wave - just past High Tide surf shop
4.5/5
AWESOME - urban kind of lounge set in a jungle. Good thai/eastern blend with fresh local fish. Great drinks, great atmosphere, good music if you're under 40.

Tico Restaurant next to the alley in the circle
4/5
AWESOME - best tico resto in Tamarindo.

Frutas Tropicales (across from Witches Rock Surf Camp)
3.5/5
Great tico food, a little rough looking but friendly and cheap

Pescadore Numero Uno (On the beach after the circle)
4/5
Excellent and cheap fresh fish, great service, kind of rough outdoor cafe.


Stella's
3.5/5
Up the hill from High Tide surf shop. Very good, upscale-ish but reasonable. Like the Pescadore better.

Dragonfly (dirt road behind High Tide)
2.5/5
High end-ish, watered down Americanized food. Terrible sushi with not bad fish.

Witches Rock Surf Camp
3.9/5
Great happy hour, tex/mex food but very good and pretty cheap. Good atmosphere for a younger crowd.




Other Notable Places:

Lolas (Avallenas)

Very nice place for drinks, didn't eat there but I heard it was good. There's a huge pig named Lola that lives there.

An earful

What I'm listening to these days (in no particular order)

sweet cow - chicken lips
unknown - mark broom
train - goldfrapp (trausmschmiere vocal mix)
kiteless - the underworld
that's entertainment - the jam
jfa - jodie fosters army
walk don't run - jodie fosters army
krafty (rmx) - new order
knuddelmaus - ulrich schnauss
black on black - a tribute to black flag (whole album)
second heartbeat - avenged sevenfold
jamestown - the movielife

New mixer

I just got my long awaited Allen & Heath Xone:3D mixer last week. Didn't get to really push it too hard yet because I didn't have my laptop but as a mixer it is unreal. On top of being a straight up mixer, it's also an 8 port 24 bit sound card and a dual MIDI controller.

WTF you're probably asking. The deal is that these days turntables, computers and mixers are talking very nicely to each other in some crazy ways.

FYI, I'm not talking about dweebs with iTunes pretending to be DJ's. The deal is that software like Ableton Live runs MIDI sequences and loops in sync with an external clock. The Zone:3D extracts a clock from analog records and syncs to Ableton. All together, the turntables, Ableton and the mixer are all locked together in sync and can be mixed together with little fuss.

Yeah I know it sounds complex but just watch this video to figure it out...

What else? It's been mad hot around these parts and I've just dropped my boat in the water. Went for a ride on Sunday and my testicles still haven't completely descended :)

Too much stuff to do, too little time.

Israelites no more

I am sorry to say but Desmond Dekker passed away. Some of you reading this know how big a part Desmond Dekker played in my musical history. Very sad indeed.

On a brighter note, I just got back from vacation this week. I had an awesome time, surfed an average of 4 hours a day in Costa Rica. I have sand in my crack, my hair is natty, I still smell like a jellyfish and damn am I ever happy! This time we stuck to Tamarindo because I really wanted to work on my surfing.

Here's how it went:

5:30AM wake up, walk outside check out the surf
7:30 have breakfast
8:00 have a double espresso and go surfing for an hour
11:00 drink some beer, scratch my parts, eat some aroza con camerones, make like an iguana and sleep in the sun
3:30 go surfing until the sun went down
7:00 wander around and drink tequila in every resto/bar possible
11:00 check out the tide chart, drink tequila and pass out

The beach break right in front of the Diria where we were staying was really nice early week and then the main reef break (pico piqueno) picked up later in the week. I caught a million waves and couldn't be happier. Mimi also started to catch nice rides at pico. We went snorkeling on an open-bar catemeran trip which was really fun, actually met a dude that I knew from St. Donat in the shuttle. Nothing like snorkeling drunk with some yardies :o

We went to Avallenas and Playa Negra where I got worked so hard on the outside break that I couldn't remember my name. I need to get into better shape to really enjoy the bigger breaks.

All in all, it was really mellow and we surfed more than probably both other trips combined. The ticos were really great and we met a lot of cool people out in the water. Next time, I think that I'm going to take my lumps and get on a short board.

On a sour note, the baggage handlers stole my camera right out of my bag so I have no pictures. A word to the wise, get a lock for your check-in bags and carry anything you don't want to lose with your carry-on.

One more thing, what the fuck is up with uptight strangers leaving uptight comments here? If you don't have a South Park/Fellini/David Lynch sense of humor you shouldn't be here because you'd think I'm an idiot (which I very well may be). If this blog is offensive to you then maybe you should spend more time here.

Back from NYC

NYC was a blast. So much happened in 48 hours that I can't even really piece the whole thing together right now. In a nutshell, stayed at the W on Lexington, hooked up with the brother of a friend who's a DJ in NYC, went out to half a dozen little underground clubs and met a whole bunch of friendly new peeps. All in all, the music was astounding and the people were extraordinary. The places that I can remember are the Vault, Subtonic, Sullivan Room, Cafe Deville and Happy Valley. There's a couple of other ones that I can't remember or didn't have names. Booze was crazy expensive so next time we're out there we'll be hosed early. I didn't get to check out the Pink Elephant or Crobar this time around but I'll be back as soon as I can because that was too much fun.

I'm on the road for the rest of the week and off to Costa Rica this weekend, hit the ground running with another roadtrip when I get back - phew. Talk to y'all in June.

Oh yeah, I my first snuff film the other day. Sure it was all done in lego, but it was a snuff film none the less.

This guy is funny

here

and so are these dudes.

Stephen Harper

Eats babies.

190

Going fast is fun, real fun. I took out my motorcycle this weekend and ripped around the back hills. I was mostly alone until I got into St Donat where there were probably 300+ motorcyclists all out for the same reason. Off to NYC next week then Costa Rica. See yez later.....

My friend Fred was headlining. 

There was an outdoor party near my place at a Cabane a Sucre... lotsa fun. Spent the weekend in the sun drinking beer (again :) ) 

Wazzzzupppp?

I've been kind of obsessed with Goldfrapp recently, having bought a bunch of remixes from the Supernature album.

As it turns out, I was also obsessed with Alison's vocals a long time ago when she sang on Orbital's snivilization album.

If you haven't heard it yet, Supernature is like Donna Summers meets Billie Holliday in Soft Cell's back yard.

Whad else? Dusted off the motocross last weekend, hopefully I'll start riding trails again this weekend. I'm off to Costa Rica in two weeks, back in time for the summer to kick off.

Not much else to say for now.

A long time ago, my friend Sean and I filmed some interviews with semi-famous DJs and artists including Richie Hawtin. I found that interview video with Rich and posted it on myspace. You'll need an account to check it out.

Here's something to give you a giggle, here's Richie Hawtin being forcibly ejected from a bar in Miami:

Gone snowboarding

I've gone for the long weekend, if you want to come up and ride and drink in the sun with some local nutjobs just give me a holler on my cell. If not, seeyaroundhaveagoodweekend.

Oh yeah, check this out.

Angels and Airwaves

WTF are Angels and Airwaves you're probably asking?

It's a band with Tom from Blink 182, a fellow from the Distillers and a few other fellas from kiddie punk bands. Sure B182 were annoying as hell but this new band really reminds me of the Chameleons UK but a lot more polished.

My bet is that they're going to be huge and overplayed and probably will get really annoying really soon but for now you can check out 'the adventure' here.

Top ten

I don't have much to say so fuck it, here's my list:

1) Angels and Airwaves - The Adventure
2) Goldfrap - White horse Dahlbak mix
3) The Knife - Pass this on
3) Model 500 - No UFOs
6) Heavy Rock - I just want to be a drummer
7) The Killers - Mr. Brightspace (thin white duke mix)
8) Mark Romboy - Impact Disco
9) Fischerspooner - Kick in the teeth (tiefschwarz mix)
10) Playground - Make it happen (ewan pearson mix)

Except for the first track which isn't out yet everything else is pretty obscure so you probably never heard any of it unless you were in my living room. The Goldfrap album rocks - listen to it if you like Blondie/Fischerspooner.

Big Sunday in Australia

Check this out, waves 25'+.

Weeee hours 

Garceau girls 

It was the fat bastards 40th... 

Aye Chiquitas!!! 

Midnite 

Aye carumba, early evening...