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/ 2006 BLOGS (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER) + JAN 3rd, 2006 NOW PLAYING:* Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts Of The Great... Hello Friends...happy nude year! I'm back at the studio after a nice long hiatus for the holidays and new year. Hope everyone had a fantastic break and got to spend loads of time consuming (gifts) consuming (food n bev'r'ges) consuming (non-renewable resources) with your family and friends. I had a deep fried turkey on Christmas day. How's that for holiday excess? Hey, it was really good, and it only took an hour to cook! I too expected a greasy mess, but was pleasantly impressed. Sorry, I'll just throw together 'turkey' with 'beef jerky' and that will be it for today's rhymes. However, I cannot promise I won't casually fling about haikus like training bras at a Simple Plan show. The New Year's Eve show was a smashing good time. A real rager that went into the wee hours. So many good people around it was kind of overwhelming, really. Peter had a fantastic photographer at the show and he snapped some pretty incredible pix of the bands and all general merriment of the show. Go here and check them out if you like. Kudos to photographer Scott McLeod for having an enviably tasty eye. I should know, I ate it. All the best to you and yours in 2006. Look for a new Rob Szabo record real soon, a new SC record, and a new Guiness World Record for most haikus recited in three minutes by yours truly. Yep, big plans for '06. Much Love & Stuff; COOP PS - No matter which way you cut it - newsman, leading man, weather man...Penguin man...Dick Tarnstrom + JAN 6th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself Anyone else out there ashamed and disgusted how the people in Vancouver treated the USA team at the World Juniors last night? Pathetic. A sports arena of morons booing a bunch of 17-year old hockey players? Nice platform for nationalistic pettiness, you tools. This really took the shine off an otherwise beautiful outing by our junior nats. My fellow Canadians, you really need to get over this petty, spoiled, childish, INSECURE, anti-American crap. Really. Don't you get it? This nauseating "I Am Canadian" credo so many of you (still) inexplicably live by simply revolves around defining yourself by what you're not. It's ego inflation through comparison. It's like saying "Canada is great because we don't eat babies like country X!" And everyone stands up and says "You're right, we don't eat babies!! We rule!" I say screw that. Let's instead stand together, confident and proud of all the things that we DO. All the things we DON'T are obvious. Other countries don't need us to constantly act all superior and point out their shortcomings. Let's keep our mouth shut, our integrity and manners in tact, and trust that any country in need of collective social outcry will inevitably get their day on the world's stage. Not a hockey arena. These things have a way of working out. In the meantime that shitty, ignorant, walking beer commercial mentality has got to go. B-R-U-T-A-L. Yep. It stinks so bad I spelled it out. Blecchh. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JAN 10th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Priestess - Hello Master I am pure evil. I was glancing through some of my web stats the other day and kept noticing a really inordinate amount of hits for a particular image on my site. It's actually for the shot of the Jones Soda bottle my last album cover was printed on. Turns out a whole bunch of lame-o emo knobs from around the globe have been "hotlinking" to that particular photo to put on their sillyass Myspace, Livejournal, and Xanga etc profiles. And not in an "I Love Coop" kinda way, but in a "I Shore Love Jones Soda Here Is A Pic of A Bottle To Prove It" way. I personally don't care if they use the photo, but a hotlink is totally uncool. Copy the pic and post it on your own space, don't use my bandwidth, you leechin' jackasses!! I guess I can't really expect them to know that, so they shouldn't be too mad when they find out I've modified their nice Jones photo link to show this instead. Now all their friends will see their true love lies in a taste reserved for the more, ahem, distinguished pallet. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JAN 16th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: LCD Soundsystem Such a nice day that I went out for a stroll at lunchtime. Is this really January? Doesn't matter, any time it gets above zero degrees that's enough to get me outta hibernation mode, lose the toque and take advantage. I ventured up the street to indulge at Chippy's, the best place for fish and chips in the city bar none. Mmmm....it's so good but sooo bad. Heh. It's early in the new year, everyone is still out trying to shed the holiday heft and my dumb ass is figuring out decadent new ways to pack it on. Sheeesh. Anyhooo, the last few times I was there the dude manning the fryer was rocking out to some classic metal sounds...a little Sabbath, Motorhead, early Metallica....you know. Well today (to my delight!) he was playing the album "Number Of The Beast" by Iron Maiden! The perfect soundtrack for deep frying, I'll have you know. Well this old couple walked in while I was stuffing my gate, and sort of stepped back, visually repulsed by the wailing double guitar solo and hot metal action blaring through the speakers. They didn't leave though - their excellent sense of smell and doubtless hunger had powered them through the initial repulsion. Kind of like getting ready to rock a tasty Big Turk bar but accidentally dropping it in a pile of dirt and hair. Ewww. You're so disappointed, but c'mon it's still a Big Turk bar people! Of course you're gonna pick it up and eat it anyway! So like troopers, they ordered up their Guiness-battered fishie loveliness and by the end, they were totally rocking out! "Mmmmm, we'll have some more chips please, young man. And do play that last song again - it was totally hot balls." Man, I so wish she actually said that. But the old timers were honestly rocking out and seriously enjoying their chips and hot rock ambience, though. A new and unexpectedly pleasant experience unfolded for them, like a redneck in Egypt. And that made me smile, daydream, and feel thankful to live in a place where new shit can always smack you in the face and drastically affect the day. Or you know, maybe it's all idealistic, romantic notions that occur in the reluctantly frozen upon first thaw. I don't know... Yep. T'was a good day, t'was.... Oh, and "Run To The Hills" WAS played twice, but no one actually requested it. D'uuh!! It's an unwritten rule! Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JAN 24th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Shannon Lyon - Safe Inside Hello. Hey. Nice to see ya. I totally rocked the vote last night, hope y'all did too. (Do you think that "Rock The Vote" means to vote with an iPod on? It probably does, that's why it's so great to Rock A Grilled Cheese Sammich, or Rock A Gold Thong Speedo.) Our local voting spot really had their shit together this year, so we were in and out in under 15 minutes. Couldn't say the same for the out-of-district or unregistered chaps who had a two-hour wait to hit the polls. I don't want to get into the results or anything, I just hope everyone got out there and had their say. I had read a great Open Letter To Canadians by filmmaker/super-pest Michael Moore that I will admit influenced me a lot. Check it out if you want, although in today's wake it may just depress you. Me personally, I try not to vote based on personal issues, but rather try and go with the big picture. Hey, I'm all for cutting the GST and an extra garbage day on Tuesdays, but not at the expense of equal rights for minorities, same sex couples, and pro-choice equality for women. That's what happens when you vote for neighbourhood issues instead of what's best for our country as a whole. You simply can't trust campaigns anymore because they are nothing but a big ol' PR affair, where reactionary/hot-button issues come to the forefront and the day-to-day stuff stays off the candidates lips. Success in politics now simply means the right publicists and advertising firms were hired and executed the right strategy. So this letter really cut through to what I think this country is about, even though I hate to agree with all of Michael Moore's idealistic and self-aggrandizing politics. I am always amazed at why it always takes an outsider to provide us with the big picture perspective. I guess we never see the forest for all the trees........maple leaves, and too much coffee from Timmy's. Hey, didn't I say I didn't want to get into it? Sawry. Much Love, COOP PS - I LOVE my picture today, if you don't mind me saying. It's like 'hey, eat me...if you dare!" It's also a tricky gender reversal test because she's all hot and stuff, but she's got that huge phallic gun in her crotchal region that makes me feel all confused and dirty. Is that a bulge? Ack!! No wait, I think it's just CT. That's it, I'm going in for a closer look... + JAN 31th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Low - The Great Destroyer I'm just about half-way done mixing for Rob Szabo's latest record and it really is coming together beautifully. Again, the pursuit of simplicity and honesty...tapping into real emotions and songs that are true as possible to what Rob's about and hell, just true to music in general. If something doesn't hit or fit, it's out the window. I personally feel that restraint is one of the hardest things to master in music, whether you're a musician, a producer....whatever. Today it seems like more and more people are making records that are blemish free and technically perfect, just because they can. You have the tools, skills, and opportunity to do more, to fix this, sweeten that...but I maintain that you shouldn't, or at least just really pick your spots. So my current fixation is to prove to myself that I can be that kind of art-first producer. I'm really challenging hard for that space. I'm trying to find the fine line between keeping the vibe in tact yet taking advantage of opportunities to make the most out of the recording. This idea is basically derived from the old sayings "A great musician also knows when not to play" or "there's beauty in the silences" and other soulful logic I've just badly paraphrased. And you're probably relieved that, given my penchant for taking creative liberties while paraphrasing, I resisted the urge to make stuff up about rhinos having sex and various other junk. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + FEB 13th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Beth Orton - Comfort Of Strangers Hello. I am sorry I haven't checked in with y'all lately. I discovered a 25th hour in the day, so I was kind of excited to share that with you. So hey, Rob and I will officially be done his record this Wednesday night. Then it's off to be mastered by the mighty Joao Carvalho at his damn fine facility. Meanwhile all the kickass videos, documentary and DVD stuff is being finalized by genius filmmaker Cal Brunker. The whole package will be out in April. I will go to Mexico and drink cervezas to celebrate. One for each hour of the day -- which is how many again? Yes! You pay attention to me. Thank you. Until then....I find 'pants' and 'beverage' to be very funny words. Whisper them to a loved one tomorrow for guaranteed action. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + FEB 24th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Death Cab For Cutie - Plans "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" by Death Cab For Cutie is a simple feat of genius. How a writer is capable of tackling the subject of dying while somehow instilling a feeling of hope in the listener (without relying on religious cliché) is beyond my comprehension. This song makes me think, in the purest way possible. Like the way a really great movie can make for hours of conversation later. There's actually a lot more going on in this tune than meets the eye, though. Perhaps that's the reason why it hits so hard. On the surface it seems like it's just about death, but of course, it's really about love. I held my tongue as she told me, "son -- fear is the heart of love" I am so enamored with the idea that only true romantics could reject the notion of something most have learned to be true throughout life. Even if your heart has been broken before, you refuse to believe -- "it's not supposed to be like that." Never reduce yourself to cynicism when it comes to love. The cold reality that the fragility of love is scarier and potentially more painful than anything you will endure in all your life. But the only way I can go on is to believe that being in love makes me invincible and the latter will never happen, regardless of history. I'm empowered by the fact that the one I love could destroy me with mere words...but won't. The trust is more liberating to me than the fear. Without risk, there is never hope for anything more than 'just OK'. Or you know, we can watch a Deuce Bigalow movie instead. Then we'll talk less about supergay grand gestures of love and get right into beers and doing tequila shots off a stripper's gigantic rack. Yes kids, we're all class here at SCM headquarters. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MARCH 3rd, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Dean Drouillard - Dream At Harmony Motel Time. This is what I need. It's March already. Two lousy entries for February. You'll forgive me? And not just for my absence, but also for writing incomplete sentences. That's no good. How could you ever? Cabbage and peas. Tom Cruise is nuts. See? It's annoying. I just realized I inadvertently stepped on an english hot potato back there. Even though it's clear when written, if you pointed at a picture and said to someone "Tom Cruise is nuts!". The person could very well ask you "dude, why are you pointing at Tom Cruise's nuts? Don't talk to me about his nuts!" You see? It's a slippery slope, the simple possessive contraction. Let's recap: Tom Cruise IS nuts. Not Tom Cruise's nuts as the indefinite article. Don't say this phrase in public, unless you are in fact, Cruising. So other than the weather bumming me out, I am feeling so much better now. I know, it's been a pretty good winter. I suppose it's just that time of year where enough is enough. Bring on the dagganged sun, already. This Dean Drouillard record is helping. Thanks, Dean. Dean Drouillard is nuts. Oh, nevermind! (Sorry, Dean) Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MARCH 7th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Morcheeba - The Antidote A tray of muffins are baking inside an oven. One muffin turns to the guy beside him and says, "Wow, it sure is getting hot in here, huh?". The other muffin kinda freaks out and yells, "Holy shit, a talking muffin!!!" Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MARCH 10th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Lou Barlow - Emoh No reason, I just thought today we could all use a little more Willis. Go on, take a sniff of his wonderful furry fur. There's very few things on this planet that ~~taste~~ smell better than the warm, soft 'n' furry belly of a nice kitty. To commemorate kitty day, go listen to the heartwarming "Ballad Of Day Kitty" by Lou Barlow and rejoice in all that is kitty. Hi Willis! Another one of my fave tunes about kitties is "Woody" by Hayden (download link in bottom right corner). Wandering, free-spirit, kitties that split from time to time. They grow beards, have some adventures and come home when they damn well feel like it. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MARCH 14th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People... I saw this guy the other day just sitting there in this old badass Mercedes. He looked to me like he was on a stakeout -- I'll bet he was. All clandestine with his paper and hat, "pretending" not to notice that I was passing by carrying a long, rolled-up carpet. Hmmm, suspicious. Perhaps I had killed my lady in the wee hours of the night and was out to dispose of her body. Or, perhaps the cat barfed up a turkey 'n' gravy bits hairball, effectively ruining the rug. These days, especially with a rolled-up carpet situation, you always wait for more info before calling it in. Otherwise, you're racist. Hence, the stakeout. I'd like to go on a stakeout, I think. With my luck I'd get the most annoying guy on the planet as my partner. He'd never shut up about the dumbest stuff, snap his gum, and keep taking pictures of his junk with the spy camera. I'd need to get an important shot of something cool and suspicious, like maybe a secret handoff between two crime bosses. I reach for the spy camera, but it's not there! Then I'd just look over at him with that disappointed "the camera is down your pants again, isn't it?" look. He's sitting there saying "What!? That's crazy talk!" while trying his best to hold back from laughing. Finally, he bursts out like a four-year old, a fine mist of spittle and snot sprays all over the dash and windshield. Man, I hate my fake stakeout partner. Really, all stakeouts are good for is making you remember to stop daydreaming and go get a steak out. It's steak and mashed potaters night at the Coop household. If I'm lucky, I'll get to watch Wheel of Fortune while we eat. God I hate you and your charmed life, Vanna White. Much Love & Stuff; COOP UPDATE! Peter Griffin was on The Wheel and I didn't even know it. Watch it here. + MARCH 30th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Josh Rouse - Subtitulo Superfun show on Saturday night at the NOW Lounge. I had never done one of these "in-the-round" performances before, and boy, am I ever glad I did. It was a real blastie, kids. I feel so amazing to have been a part of this evening, I'm still a little high from it actually. I also realized that I'm too hyperactive when I'm on stage and can't be trusted to be as considerate to others as I normally would. I can't think straight when I'm all gunned up, and excited to play a tune. It was quite a love-in, and a lot of playful ribbing going on. I wish I was more prepared and had more to offer than spontaneous, self-effacing jokes. It was also the first show in a while where I absolutely butchered a tune, too. Not once, but twice! I was asked to play an old song "My Friend's Band" and I thought I knew that sucker inside-out. One verse in, and the lyrics fell right out of my head. I couldn't even playfully make stuff up, I simply drew a blank. So I apologized and started over, only to have the exact same thing happen again!! Brutal. Me = completely unprofessional and mortified. I laughed it off and played another old song from "Strumming" which, thankfully, went a whole lot better. (For the record, that song was "Touch" -- a song I have rekindled nice feelings for after a lengthy period of disdain.) Anyhow, it was a great turnout...so nice to see so many friends, as well as meet a lot of awesome new people. That always stokes me out! Thanks so much to everyone for making it such a great night! Oh, I'm leaving for Victoria now....a nice little bailout to The Left Coast. Hope everyone is well and gets out there to enjoy this lovely spring weather. And yer lover's naughty bits. Hopefully, at the same time. Let's hear it for PDA's! Much Love & Stuff; COOP + APRIL 7th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity Heya cool peoples, I'm back from my quick jaunt out west to Victoria, BC. I come bearing gifts -- some tasty ass Cowichan Valley blackberry port. Please, grab a glass and share in the joy with me. It's delicious, so not only do I want to share....but I also want to avoid drinking by myself again. Knowing that you're out there and partaking makes the guilt less palatable. Hey, I've got another nice tasty treat for you today that doesn't involve alcohol. I was finally able to get the video converted from my performance and interview on Rogers "Daytime" talk show from a couple months back. You can download it here (.wmv), or by going to the MUSIC page. I reco only high speed users can check it out. If the stream doesn't flow fast enough, you may just want to download it straight up and watch from your hard drive. I had fun and think it turned out pretty well. I played "The Summer Song", chatted with George and Jacqueline, then played about half of "Who You Were" before I got faded to commercial break and a promo for some bad breath expert. A truly awesome cable access fade, indeed. I also feel I came off less dorkish than I thought I would...but that's kind of like saying that Diet Pepsi isn't really Pepsi. Dudes, I was totally Diet Dork....Dork Light, at best. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + APRIL 12th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Saves The Day - Sound The Alarm G'day and stuff. Feeling good, battery recharging is on the horizon now. Heading to Mexico in two days to eat my weight in nachos and replace the blood and water in my body with beer and margaritas. That's good living is what it is. I will also get to use my new favourite Spanish phrase 'que putado!' over and over again. It means, "what whore-y-ness!" which is only like, the best phrase ever. Yes, I have the audacity to lie around in my own pee all day and judge others on their level of whoredom with a mere glance. Hey, everyone has one special thing, right? Had a fun show on Monday night, good crowd, good times. I redeemed myself by playing "My Friend's Band" in its entirety without screwing up (read two posts below for the story on that). Speaking of my friend's band, Adam Warner was playing the same night in the front room of the Cameron House (my show was in the back room). We had a good ole sonic battle ensue, as sometimes, the sound bleeds into each room from either part of the venue. If you play quietly, you can hear the other band. If you're rocking out, chances are you're ruining someone else's quiet tune! It's really funny, especially if you don't have your head up your ass. These things happen, right? Oh yeah, I also got to get up on stage with Adam's band and do some clapping and singing to my favourite AW song "Last Light". It's so great, and I was loving every minute of it. It's kind of a gospel-esque sermon, but with badass slide guitar and many more white people. Undoubtedly though, the soul remains. I also met a local fave of mine on Monday night, Graham Powell. He's a really amazing TO-based photographer whose work I've admired for a long time. Check out his website for some stellar shots, and one of the most creative and cool photo browsers EV-ER Muy excitido. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + APRIL 24th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Rob Szabo - Like A Metaphor OK kids, I'm home and ready to get at 'er. Mexico was fabulous and just what the doctor ordered. I am back to my old self, full of P'n'V and ready to rock a block party 'til the breaka-breaka dawn. I taught the Mexicans how to kick it old school and they taught me the language of love -- Espanol. Please allow me to highlight my newly acquired linguistic abilities with this beautiful poetic turn: Mi casa, su casa. Mi tequila.....mi tequila. Now that's enough about me and Los Meheeco, let's get onto the most awesome thing happening on Planet Earth this week. This year. This eon: The release of Rob Szabo's "Like A Metaphor" CD/DVD! And what CD release wouldn't be complete without some kickass full band shows, all amped up and spewing liquid hot magma in your face!!!??? Seriously tasty action happening. Hit the shows page for all the details. This is no joke - make sure you come to a show, pick up the record, sit down in your lazy boy and have yer faced blowed off. That's just good livin'. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + APRIL 27th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Rob Szabo - Like A Metaphor G'day. I'm really stoked as today is the official release of Rob Szabo's "Like A Metaphor" CD/DVD! Also because the big release shows start tonight in Hamilton -- my favourite city to hang out back of the Taco Bell and crank "Baby's Got Back" whilst inhaling soft tacos with fire sauce. My anaconda, truly, don't want none unless you gots buns...hon. Press Alert! There's a really bitchin' cover piece with Rob in Echo Magazine this week. And another in The Record. You should check 'em out. Enlightening stuff, and the writers really get it, too! A nice combo, indeed. Hope to see some of you fine peoples at one of these shows. I also hope you wear your pants....but secretly, I hope you don't. Collectively, your bums are worth a nice look. Always remember not to stare too long at naked people -- you could get cockeyed. Much Love & Stuff: COOP + MAY 7th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Wolfmother - Wolfmother Hack. Cough. Sptoooey. Heddo eberybawdy. I'm still sick like dog. So not strong like bull. It's so frustrating. I was starting to feel a little under the weather on Wednesday last week, and seeing as I had those big Rob Szabo shows coming up, I was popping echinacea and zinc tablets, OD-ing on juice and vitamin C....I was gonna kick this cold's ass to the curb. But guess what!? That's right, it's still with me. For over a week, it's been like the theme from The Littlest Hobo..."maybe tomorrow..." Rob's shows went fantastically, aside from the fact that due to my severe cold (which Rob enthusiastically dubbed 'the black plague') I TOTALLY blew out my voice on the first night. I'm talking G-O-N-E. I sounded like a goose! I'd open my gate and nothing but squonks and honks would come out. Needless to say, I was upset and very frustrated. I tried the whole honey, tea and steam regimen trying to recover for the next night to no avail. I gave 'er all I had Friday night during The Johnstown Kids and the evil sounds that came out of my mouth actually scared people. Seriously, there was pee everywhere. On the upside though, super badass drummer extraordinaire Adam Warner stepped up to fill in on harmony vocals and saved the day! People often ask me how the hell I manage to play bass and sing at the same time...well, you should try that with drums. Unreal. And especially to keep the kind of precision backbeat and super tastiness that AW is known for.......SERIOUS talent, kids. Saturday night was a complete write-off for my vocals, but it was a better situation 'cos we had guitar genius Steve Strongman sitting in with us. Aside from crazy slide playing and hot rock solos, Steve laid some tasty harmonies down better than I could have in the first place. I was pretty pumped just to lay down the low end and get the hell out of his way. It certainly was the loudest and biggest show we had played in some time. We're trying to get some live MP3's together so you can check out the ball scorching licks for yourself. So I am off to play in Montreal, and to be honest it could go either way for me. I've been really resting my voice and trying to get it together. But don't you worry Montreal, I know you're hurting over your Habs...I'm gonna do everything I can to bring it! Not that any of you are reading this or will even show up....but it's important to me to make grand statements in overtly obvious and trite ways. "Whassss happening, Montreal!? Are you ready to raaaaaaawwwwk!!?? Come on!" And that's when I break into "Taking Care Of Business" and all the hot ladies of Montreal clamour to eat poutine off my chest. My Vicks Vapo-Rub slathered chest. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MAY 12th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics Vive le pamplemousse! Back from Montreal with my crappy ass cold still clinging to me like one of those little koala bear dolls you had when you were a kid. Remember? They had little pincher hands and you could clip 'em on your shirt or bike handles and they'd hang out with ya? Yep, just hangin' with your little koala-buddy. Ahem...while not a classic simile...that's what this cold has been like. A real clinger. If this was Star Trek (and I'm unconvinced it's not), it would be a Klinger. Wow, I'm lame. So we had a great time in Montreal though. Met lots of cool folks, ate like a king, saw less nudity than you'd think. The show was great, despite barely having a voice and then pretty much blowing it out again by the end of the night. Szabo and I were a real pair (yeah, I took him down with me!). I've been stressing a bit over the timing of it all, but what are you gonna do? With this nasty cold that's going around, everyone I know is getting sick. People are coughing into the wee hours. The singers are losing voices. It's happening to everyone - even Mike Doughty. (Another note -- there's a couple bits about why artists will sometimes hide backstage, and it has nothing to do with being all rockstar-ish.) So I'm currently in re-cooper-ating mode, taking it easy and hoping that I haven't caused any kind of permanent damage to my vocal chords. But if I have, I'm really crossing my fingers that I'll get some gruff tones to replace the higher one's. That's the one benefit of being sick -- I can sing really low and get lots of phlegm in there to sound like Bruce Springsteen after a pack of Marlboros. Mmmm. Hey, do you like to say 'phlegm' like this: fleg-um?? I phind it's good phun for the whole phamily. CRAZY CITY MOMENT ALERT: I walked by this little motel yesterday afternoon (motels are rare downtown, aren't they!?) and someone had their door propped open and blaring the shower "stabbing" theme from Psycho. It was really, really funny but still scared a little pee outta me. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MAY 16th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Ben Harper - Both Sides Of The Gun I had an exciting moment happen in the shower this morning. But first, you'll need to get your minds out of the gutter. I was scrubbing my parts, when my bar of soap suddenly slipped out of my hands. Instead of it slamming off the bottom of the tub, it zipped straight down the steep transition on the side of the tub with slick precision. It wailed across the flat bottom at lightning speed, and shot up the other side of the tub like a pro skateboarder. It was going so fast, and the drop so perfect, that the soap flew straight up in the air. As it hung in the air for a split second, all on one move, I reached out and caught it! I shrieked with delight, and proudly held my little bar of soap above my head like a medal winner on the podium. Yes! I tried again for a few minutes to purposely drop and launch the bar of soap on my wicked half-pipe tub, but couldn't do it for the life of me. Turns out, I was in the presence of greatness for just a moment. Tomorrow, I've got big plans to jam a Star Wars action figure on top of the soap bar and continually launch him into the air. A new sport is born. People often ask me why we don't have any children yet...I think from now on I'm just going to tell them stories like this. Might make it easier to understand. Cookie my love says something along the same lines; "Um yeah, I already have* a child." Much Love & Stuff; COOP* + MAY 18th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers I have a show coming up this Saturday night in my hometown, Midland. It's gonna be a really cool night at this little intimate theatre spot called The Studio. I'm pumped about it 'cos not only do I get to play with my old friend Mike Yates (and also be accompanied on a few tunes by piano badass Marlon Gibbons), but also because it's not some dank ass bar filled with drunks dudes. Not that all bar shows are bad or filled with drunks, but you know what I mean. People are only there for the music and that's a beautiful thing. We're also taking a few cues from our Montreal friends at The Yellow Door last weekend, so my lovely Cookie is gonna whip up some treats to munch on, as well as a big ol' vat of coffee and stuff to rock for all the folks that come out. I'm so stoked for that personal touch. Which is another great advantage of this show -- we get the handle all the aspects and doling out of The Vibes. So if you're in the Midland area, or feel like a drive up to cottage country...please come on out for a wonderful evening of live music and ~~hot nude action~~ treats. All the details are on the SHOWS page...AND there's even a nice little article about it here. UNRELATED (but related 'cos it's my dang blog!): I caught the last 9 minutes of the Oilers vs Sharks elimination game last night and got really pumped up. And jealous. Edmonton is a true hockey town, it was really something to see them win. Real fans, totally into it, an amazingly fast game...awesome. I have officially reverted (or re-bandwagoned, I should say) to my original favourite hockey team. I had the matching pyjamas as a young lad to prove it. Go Oil! See ya Leafs, you bloated, soulless, overpaid arseknockers. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MAY 24th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Snow Patrol - Eyes Open Just wanted to drop in and say thanks to all the beautiful people who came out to the Studio Theatre show in Midland over the long weekend. It was so great to play for such a warm group of folks in that atmosphere. It's been a couple years since I've been home to play, so it means a lot to me that it turned out this well. Mike Yates played a set of his own excellent songs and then joined me on cello for the remainder of the night. Marlon Gibbons sat in with some nice piano and some wailin' mandolin action to boot. The photo above is the three of us sharing a nice tune together. I was gonna hide in that wardrobe back there and jump out in the nude...but I chickened out. There are more photos of this show now posted in the GALLERY. I played about 5 brand new songs that seemed to go over quite well, which got me stoked up to get them recorded and working on a new record finally. I've also been contemplating taking some time off this summer to slow down and really concentrate on writing. I've got some decisions to make I guess, but should I not play any shows for a while this was a fantastic note to end on. Haha, see what I did there? I made a music pun which red squirrels and homeless people will surely find highly hilarious. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + MAY 29th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Ron Sexsmith - Time Being I have this "irrational" fear of saws, specifically power saws. If I'm at Home Depot or something, I see them all lined up there and get really creeped out. Or, if a home renovation show has someone cutting long pieces of wood on a table saw, I can't help but imagine the dude slicing his hand off as a geyser of blood sprays all over (heinously painted) walls and ceilings. But the worst (THE WORST!), is when construction dudes use one of those giant concrete saws on wheels to cut and remove sections of pavement. Have you seen these things? They're terrifying. The blades have to be 20" around, they're deafeningly loud and cut through the cement like hot butter. Not some pansy-ass piece of plywood -- cement! With all the road repairs around the city, I see those guys a lot and I have to get as far away from them as possible. <shiver> But then I get thinking about it, and I realize my fear of power saws isn't irrational at all. It's completely rational. There's no good reason to embrace razor-sharp, spinning blades that are capable of removing our body parts with sickening ease! It's one of the most rational fears I can think of. Maybe Stubby McNothumbs at the plywood factory is all into saws and stuff...but me...I'll continue to steer clear, thanks. Irrational fear, you see, is reserved for folks who pee their pants when they see someone eating soup with a really big spoon. Some can't manage to go outside if the squirrels are doing squirrely thing in their front yard. There are those who cower in the corner when new country music is on. No wait, that last one is pretty rational, too. OK then, how do you feel when someone takes a used scabby Band-aid covered in dried blood and pus, then smears it into their open eye? Really? You should probably go see someone if commonplace activities bother you so much. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JUNE 1st, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Willy Mason - Where The Humans Eat I am completely addicted to this crazy stop-action animated show called Robot Chicken. Maybe you've seen it, maybe not...but it's knocking me out and I thought I'd share. I haven't laughed this hard since the first time I saw Family Guy. Which coincidentally, Robot Chicken uses a ton of the same voice actors, skewers 80's pop culture with reckless abandon, and is probably even more tasteless. Yep, me likey. For our combined viewing pleasure(s), I put together a 'Coop's Fave Robot Chicken' video playlist on YouTube. (SINCE REMOVED-Ed) If you want to check it out, just hit that link and giggle yer bits off. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JUNE 12th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Josh Ritter - The Animal Years I haven't been around for a couple of weeks. Here's a quick little rundown of some stuff I've been up to in that time (links aplenty!): I grew a beard. I shaved off my beard (this morning). I didn't die on 6/6/06. Neither did you or anyone else, despite the dumbass claims. I ate a massive 3/4lb cheeseburger at Big Jimmy's. Awesome. I had fevered meat dreams that night in which I concocted the greatest conceptual song idea ever, only to awake and realize that it sucked balls. Plenty of them. I watched the finale of The Sopranos 6th season. It too, sucked plenty of balls. Had a photo shoot with the lovely Brooks Sisters. I'll link to some of the shots later. We ate a mighty fine breakfast at Stem, and drank way too much coffee. Cookie and I have had breakfast at Stem four weekends in a row now. This is good living. Listened to The Raconteurs. A lot. Took advantage of Amsterdam Brewery's 25 for $29 deal/steal. The only beer to buy this summer. Do it. Saw an entourage of nude male cyclists flopping down Queen West. WTF!? Booked our airfare for our trip to Portugal & Spain this fall. Woo! Ate the best sushi I've had in a long time. Scallop nigiri, where have you been all my life? Went to see Mike Doughty, Luke Doucet, and Raising The Fawn (loud! moustaches!) during NXNE. Also scored tickets for the now sold-out Damien Rice show next month (thanks, Pete!). Stayed until last call at The Horseshoe on Saturday, which had a super-special 4am closing time! Woo! Walked home with Cook and friends and laughed our arses off at the desperate morons trying to pick our ladies up for a last-chance hookup. Guys wonder why they go home alone...here's a quick run through why: A rusted out 1987 Tercel (with blingin' hubcaps, yo!) slowed to yell out the window, "Hey Ladies, dump these losers and come with us! They're walking and we got a car!" Hrrmmm. They did have a car. We were walking. We are losers! I'm surprised our gals didn't drop us like a bad habit and race back with them to Brampton for a sexy good time. I caught up with some old friends. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JUNE 26th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Jose Gonzalez - Veneer I woke up semi-early last Saturday morning, feeling on-the-fence about whether or not I should get out of bed or totally laze-out and sleep for another few hours. Had no obligations to fulfill anytime soon, so I totally could have laid it out like the Champion of the Lazy. And then I realized, this is how my brain operates. I get much more enjoyment out of knowing that I could sleep in if I wanted to, than the actual sleeping in part. And really, that's the whole thing with sleeping -- you're unconscious, so you don't really know how much you love sleeping until you're awake. Yawn...damn that was a nice sleep. I feel good. I also really love those moments where you're just about to fall asleep, but still have the presence of mind to realize just how relaxed and comfortable you really are. Yum. I purr to Cookie, "Mmmmm, I love our bed..." and then drift off with a smile on my face knowing I'm totally gonna kick ass at sleeping in. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JULY 6th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Jose Gonzales - REAL LIVE on 88XPN If you have Realplayer, go check out this link and listen to Jose Gonzales' stunning solo performance on 88XPN's World Cafe Live program. It's the full concert in a streaming audio file. It's amazing, and more importantly, it sounds exactly like his album. Perfectly realized, and even better in some ways. If you don't have Real, you can get the free version here. I have been hard at work behind the scenes getting some final writing done for my next project. Plans are being put into place as the kids frolic in summer pools and tend to sunburns and mosquito bites. I'll save the details for another time, but it's all happening and I'm super pumped to share some new music finally. Sorry I haven't been blogging much the last few weeks. My tiny brain has been consumed by other issues these days. Which is strange, because you'd think these poop and boob jokes write themselves. But they don't my little otters...they don't. It takes intense focus and hours of research to churn out this kind of nonsense. Stay tuned... Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JULY 11th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Thom Yorke - The Eraser I've been listening to Thom Yorke's new solo album today and it's really interesting stuff. I'm hoping to give it a few more spins before I make up my mind. I really love Radiohead, so don't get me wrong, but a funny thing always happens with their records. They keep getting more bizarre and cryptic, yet the word 'genius' gets tossed around more than any other band I can think of. Maybe it's true, I don't know. What's interesting is that it seems as though Radiohead has gotten to this strange place where people are simply afraid to say "I don't get it" now for fear of appearing stupid. It's well-established that they're brilliant, right? If you don't understand why, you're just plain re-tart-ted. There's no true critical analysis anymore, people just go, "yes, another genius record!" Maybe many mean it and can back it up, but I suspect many are along for the ride, blindfolds and earplugs in tow. Like with all music, my philosophy is: if it hits you and you get something out of it, GREAT. If not, it'd be such a shame to run around listening to music that alienates you just so you can tell people you belong to their club. Reminds me of that awesome Sloan tune, "it's not the band I hate, it's their fans..." I'm just sayin'...forgive my critical mood today, I'm just waxing on because I am addicted to Rockstar: Supernova (there, I said it!) and feeling shaky with my Hipster Status. I, like, may even have my argyle socks taken away now. For something a lot less cerebral today and TONS of fun, especially for the ladies, go and check out Peaches' "Impeach My Bush" also out today. It may be dumbed-down, danceable, and dirty, but holy wah, that is good times right there. I've never been so happy to be objectified. Lay it on me, Peaches. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + JULY 25th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche I'm just coming off of one of the busiest weeks I've had in a long, long time. Well, I suppose I've spent similar amounts of time on projects during their crunch periods...but the thing about last week is that I wasn't just really busy with one or two things. I didn't stop doing various stuff. Each thing had its own skillset and social grace to apply to it, and then I was onto the next thing with a completely different set of parameters. Crazy. Now I'm not complaining, I love having lots of stuff on the go and all of the things I was doing were well worth the effort -- I wanted to be doing them.....but there was just something about this stretch that by Friday, things were really starting to mess with my head. I was forgetting stuff, making stupid mistakes, and really having a hard time staying focused. So whenever I had a few minutes to do regular day-to-day-stuff, I would really slip. Like, I'd make coffee and spoon the sugar straight into the garbage and put the milk into the cupboard. I had to be careful not to brush my teeth with A5-35 or put the kitty on the BBQ. Whoops!! The other funny thing I find about being so crazy busy, is that when things finally slow down it's kinda weird to adjust. It's like, "hey, shouldn't I be doing something!?". But the better part of all of this, is that it reminds me to enjoy and appreciate every drop of my down time. I get to chill out with my beloved Cookie, sleep in, read a book, hang out....life is good. Then I realize, now I'm just being ultra-proactive with my free time. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + AUGUST 1st, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Razorlight - Razorlight The next person that complains to me about the heat is gonna get fork-stabbed in the trachea. Yes, it's hot out. It will be winter in another few months and that's way worse than a little sweatin'. Deal with it. If it's too hot to sleep, go do something. How about drinking until you pass out? Fill that bathtub with cold water and catch a few ZZZ's in there until your core temperature reads 'penguin'. Go lay down outside in yer gitch, look up at the stars thinking about how often it is that you get to do that and not die. It's nice. People just complain. I complain about people complaining and come up with fun but completely impractical solutions. That's what I do. Got any solutions for me (other than a fork-stabbing)? I had a nice little pre-production run through of my new tunes on Sunday night with my newly minted band and it was absolutely joyous. I've got two of the most badass badasses in the city backing me up and I couldn't be more thrilled about it. It's insane. I could gush for hours and still not truly begin to tell you how excited I am. Which is just as well because I wasn't actually going to tell you any more that that at this time anyway. More details to come. Heh. Funny how that worked out. OK. Let's crank the heat, and quit the bitchin'. Much Love & Ice Cubes Down Yer Trunks; COOP + AUGUST 8th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: The Submarines - Declare A New State I had such a great loooong weekend it should be illegal! Didn't really do much except laze around the pool and soak up the gloriously non-stop sunshine, swam, read, siesta'd, BBQ'd, drank, hung out with great friends, Willis, and my lovely Cookie love. I also played a super fun show with my buds in Fallen Ground and spent some more quality time with my stunning new once-a-dream-now-a-reality acoustic guitar. So much beautiful simplicity, I can barely take it. My mind has now completely shifted into neutral and I can't really think of anything outside of what I'm writing here now. And when I do, what I fixate on with utter disbelief and gratefulness, is that in another three weeks I'll be doing the exact same things -- only I'll be in Portugal or Spain. AND for four times as long!! Gush, sigh, purr... Much Love & Stuff; COOP + AUGUST 15th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Mojave 3 - Puzzles Like You I went to see Ray LaMontagne last night. It was a really beautiful night, but far too short. It's kind of interesting watching his show because he is a riveting and powerful singer, but painfully earnest and shy as a person. His voice resonates and breaks and lingers and moves you to the core. But when the song is over, Ray can barely croak out more than a sheepish "uhhh, um, thank you, uhh..." and he's done. It's utterly charming, but sort of head scratching to ponder how someone can be so powerful in performance mode but then meek as a mouse when having to talk to an audience of people. Correction, an audience of adoring people you just killed with a song. He could say "hey suck it, losers" and people would still gladly shell out $30 for a t-shirt on the way out! Preaching to the converted should be easy, right? Ahhh, what do I know... It was great, and he really redeemed himself from his performance here last year. His band was absolutely stellar this time and added tons to the show. Fantastic players, beautiful vintage instruments...I was in geek heaven. The new tunes sound pretty good, but nothing like his debut -- if you haven't picked up Ray's debut LP "Trouble", you really should. I feel like it will remain an important record to me for the rest of my life. No kidding. Quickly though, here's a few observations that puzzle me about concerts as of late: 1. Cameras. People literally watch the entire show through their digital cameras now. They don't stop snapping shots and taking little video snippets long enough to actually sit back and enjoy the music. Get a handful of shots, then put the thing away OK? 2. Cameras. People don't have the slightest clue how to take photographs at concerts. You don't need to be Annie Leibovitz, but fer chrissakes the least you can do is disable your flash. Flash is bad bad bad for a few reasons. Not only does it remove all the ambient light in a photo, but all you'll end up with is the back of people's heads. Constant camera flash is also completely annoying to the performers and people around you who probably don't enjoy having white hot light blasted into their dilated pupils every 2 seconds. 3. Cameras. Specifically shitty little cameras like the one in your cell phone. The pictures these things take are so godawful that you may as well have your blind nephew sketch the image into tree bark with a jackknife. So. Stupid. Have fun remembering what the hell that photo was three months from now. Is that my Uncle Barney? Is it a tree? Bigfoot? What is that? Much Love & Stuff; COOP + AUGUST 22nd, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That I am losing a battle against construction work right now. Have been for a while, actually. Between home and studio, there is seriously not a place for me to escape the noise and inconvenience associated with construction. Welcome to the city, I guess. Here's how it's lookin': The new AGO is being built, which is a 1/4 block away just northwest off our balcony. They're going at it pretty hardcore from at least 6:30am until it gets dark -- despite local noise laws "preventing" them from doing so. You can call a number and complain, but nothing happens. They must be behind. Scheduled completion date: January 2008. Nice. There is also a new apartment/condo project underway directly beside my building. These guys are a little better but do start at 7am sharp from Mon to Sat. We have a brief respite on Sunday from this one, but it doesn't really matter 'cos the a-holes at the AGO just keep on chuggin' away. We pray for rain. I would rather work in the rain than at 6am, but I guess their brains are wired the other way than mine. Scheduled completion date: Spring 2008. Great. Our condo itself has been undergoing elevator replacement, and a massive remodeling project on the lobby, hallways, walls, ceilings and lighting of every single floor. They're doing this simultaneously. The hallways are ripped up, dudes are sanding, replacing drywall, doing duct work, cutting and laying ceramic tiles ALL DAY. Scheduled completion date: November 2006. Yeah, right. The office building that my studio is in has expanded their tenants to include a Second Cup and a Curves fitness. Both are being built on the ground floor, directly above my basement home away from home. I am in a completely soundproof studio, but no one considered jackhammers rat-tat-tatting through the ceiling when isolating outside noise! Scheduled completion date: December 2006. I'm not that lucky. Sometimes when a construction worker inevitably bungs up the line at Starbucks (and everywhere else I could possibly go in my two main locations) buying 37 coffees for the crew I just want to knock tray (1 of 6) out of his hands and scream, "haven't you done ENOUGH!!?" and run out of the store, arms flailing like a little girl. That's right, I throw temper tantrums and assault innocent beverages...call someone and complain why don'tcha. Much Love & Stuff; COOP NOTE: While on the topic of construction, I finally got around to archiving a lot of older posts to make this page load faster. If this inconvenienced you in any way, you have my permission to kick over my lunchbox next time you see me. Although, by doing so gives me the right to whistle cat calls at you...ya hot little minx. + AUGUST 25th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Glen Hansard - The Swell Season Howdy Gang...I'm off to travel around Spain & Portugal for a couple weeks. Hope you're all out there squeezing the last few citrus-y drops from our "official" summer. I intend to completely unplug while I'm gone, but I can't promise I won't check my email a couple times. Though I can't promise I will check my email, either. I can, however, promise you that I will be drinking a LOT of delicious port and wearing a speedo. In fact, things will most likely go down in that exact order. Yep, life is good...we'll talk again soon. Much Love & Stuff, COOP NOTE: If you need something to look at while I'm gone, then just head on over to my new favourite site and marvel at the luffly drawrings. I think we'd all agree it's about time someone created a site with awesome pictures of rainbows barfing out rainbows. + SEPT 11th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Ray LaMontagne - 'Til The Sun Turns... Just before I left for my travels (lots more to come on that...) I was asked to be a part of this cool project called "My Toronto Includes" by photographer extraordinaire Rannie Turingan. It basically breaks down like this: a mini-interview with T-dot folks from all walks of life, and a creative wide-angle portrait of each person doing their thing. So if you click on the pic above or HERE, you can check out the little interview and the accompanying shoot Rannie did of me when I played at The Gladstone a few weeks back. Once you're there you can zip around and check out the other people and pix. Interesting stuff and plenty of gratuitous nudity...especially of yours truly. Hey, I just feel better in the skin. Much Love & Stuff, COOP + SEPT 27th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Bonnie Prince Billy - Letting Go Hello damn fine peoples. I know I promised to write sooner about my trip and travels, but I've just been feeling silly about it lately. I feel so undeserving of the life I've somehow been blessed with. It's overwhelming. I'm not bummed, I'm just beaming with love and appreciation and perspective. Travel does that to me. Having the means and time to travel around exotic locales and experience these crazy things is not something I expected in my life. I work really hard, but there are a bajillion people who work harder than I ever will for less and never get to jetset around continents, swigging vintage port and relaxing in villa swimming pools. I'm one lucky son of a bitch, I tellyawhut. Don't even get me started talking about my wife, friends and family and music and even more unbelievable goodness and love and experiences I can't believe are occurring on such a regular basis these days. It's ridiculous. I'm not trying to bitch and ruin it, it's just the opposite. I'm on a whole new kick about how, as North Americans, our sense of entitlement is absolutely FUCKED. Guess what? No one owes you anything. Whether you're going through great times or tough times, the simple fact remains: things could always be worse. I'm not even gonna end with some smartass comment about me being a giant hippy that smells of patchouli and dirty feet or something. Not today. Much Love & Stuff, COOP + OCTOBER 11th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Emily Haines - Knives Don't Have Your Back Hello. Hope you had a marvelous turkey weekend. I did. Got to see lots of family I hadn't seen in ages, had some time to enjoy the beautiful weather (pints aplenty!)...I also got to run around and frolic in a corn cob maze with my nephews and young cousins. Heheh, Children of the Corn. Weird, that movie didn't even cross my mind until just now. Dangit! I could have made use of that sickle I bought on eBay. See, totally straight forward and clean. OK, I'm off to get my hair ~~slut~~ ~~butt~~ ~~nut~~ cut. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + OCTOBER 24th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs Right now I need pleasant things to think about like rainbows and Care Bears to distract me from how I've been feeling the last few days. This past Saturday, I somehow contracted food poisoning from one of my favourite sushi restaurants ever. It wasn't the sushi, though. it was some noodle thing I ate. anyhow, as you could imagine, or as anyone who has suffered though FP can attest to, I felt like death. It was horrible. I'm still not 100% after more than 2 days. but the rough part was that I had a huge show with the Rob Szabo band at the Starlight in Waterloo that I had been looking forward to for ages. Somehow by the Miracle of Rock, and 'The Show Must Go On' Spirit, I managed to do the gig and not die in the process. In hindsight, it's probably a blessing in disguise that I wasn't feeling well, because there was so much energy and love at Rob's show I would have inevitably injured myself doing backflips off my bass amp or something heatofthemoment. OK. So don't forget about my big full band show this weekend! I'm hoping to be fully recovered and ready to perform backflips, and nothing less. A whole whack of new tunes will be played, so I'm really excited to share those with you. It's shaping up to be a great one, don't miss it! Much Love & Stuff, COOP + NOVEMBER 2nd, 2006 NOW PLAYING: The Decemberists - The Crane Wife Well, well, well...where do I start? My first full band show last Saturday night was a smashing success!! We played a super-energetic set to a hot and packed house of enthusiastic music lovers. I don't think I've had such an awesome reaction to my music before, so I was completely blown away by the response. Thank you so much to everyone that came out, I appreciate your energy and support more than you'll ever know. I won't forget this one... I owe everything to the unbelievable musicians in my band for all their efforts in learning my tunes and even more more more for the thought, heart, energy, and unbridled skill they put into playing them. I feel honoured to play with such talented and amazing people. Really. Bows and curtsies for Rob Szabo (bass/vocals), Adam Warner (drums), and Alex McMaster (cello). Please take some time and check out the unbelievable music these people are making and involved with. You won't regret it. I also wanted to say thanks to Caroline Brooks for coming up to sing some of my tunes with me. Caroline unfortunately lost her voice the night of the show, but did all she could to keep going. She also somehow, miraculously coaxed Cookie into coming on stage and helping with her harmonies. Cookie does not sing in public. She wasn't even drunk or high on the crack cocaine!! It was such an amazing moment...and just one of many. Huge thanks go out to The Brooks Sisters and Jason Hakin who played great sets to start the night. Both amazing artists, performers, and most importantly dang fine human beings. I also owe Michael Chambers a huge, slobbering round of applause for doing such an amazing job with the sound. So the new tunes are getting a lot of great feedback, which is providing me with much-needed confidence and momentum as I start my new record. All the recording plans are in place, and I will do my very best to keep you posted with pics and frequent blogging during the recording process. Shows will be few and far between, but I will still be playing bass with the Rob Szabo snap whenever possible. I'll post those dates here. Come on out and say hello. It's like nothing is changing, but everything is. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + NOVEMBER 16th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Damien Rice - 9 I always find that whenever I'm knee-deep in writing and working on music, all my other creative interests downgrade to utterly braindead levels. I watch the worst TV shows, pointless movies...I couldn't read something of substance to save my life. I haven't picked up my camera in weeks. Instead, I catch myself watching celebrity porn news shows, flipping through magazines, and avoiding finishing this great book of short stories I was thoroughly enjoying before the madness began. I have no attention span left for a short story!!?? Sad. I think Willis (our cat) is smarter than me. He at least knows you should avoid Access Hollywood at all costs, but plenty of humans (myself included) apparently do not. However, we both know it's really good to leave plenty of time for loafing and snacking. Snack loafing, if you will. I know it's healthy to shut the brains down and recharge, but I always end up feeling guilty and embarrassed about it. So this morning I downloaded the new Damien Rice record and I'm like "What are you on about, you sad bastard!!?? Dammit, someone get that new Beyonce track bumpin' up in here, yo!!" Much Love & Stuff; COOP + NOVEMBER 22nd, 2006 NOW PLAYING: New Buffalo - Last Beautiful Today Hi, I'm a streetcar operator. I get paid $80K+ a year to sit on what virtually amounts to a large and super-boring Disney World attraction - I don't even have to steer. I really hate the people that ride my streetcar, and I hate my job even more. It's a travesty how I am treated by the government what with this pittance and ass cheek stress (ACS). So we will strike again next year, hold the city hostage for another pay raise, simply because we can. Then, we'll pass the expense (via another fare hike) over to you, Joe Public, who on average make far less money doing far more work, and are forced to ride around like cattle on these very streetcars and buses I speak of. Yet no one sympathizes with us -- a fact proven by the hundreds of reported assaults on TTC drivers every year. Why oh why do you hate us, Toronto? I have an idea! I was on the streetcar for all of four stops this morning and this transpired between a driver, and a passenger who made an honest mistake by jumping on a short-turn car that was directly in front of us. I was five feet behind the driver not even paying attention and I saw the guy get off the car in front of us and come back to get on ours. Passenger: Hey, hi...sorry -- I jumped on the wrong streetcar. Just gonna... Driver: Yeah, sure buddy. Fare is $2.75. Passenger: Are you kidding me? The car right in front of you is going to Union Station. Look, it's actually turning right now! The route number is right there. Don't you see it!? Driver: Well Einstein, apparently you didn't see it either. Too bad. $2.75. Passenger: Whatever, man. I'm not paying again, I literally just paid the guy in front of you two minutes ago. You saw me. Driver. Hey, are you some kind of moron? It's $2.75. Pay the fare, or get off my car. Passenger: Yeah, I guess I am a moron. I should apply for your job... Street car driver flips out and gets in mans face, much profanity and hollow threats ensue. Nobody gets one over on Tough Driver Guy. He doesn't have to take this shit from you or Grannies or <<insert applicable racial slur>>'s. Um, let's say "Cracker" or "Irish", for non-insulting effect. Nice way to start a morning, right? If I were a streetcar driver, I would just laugh the entire time. I wouldn't check a single fare or transfer. Somebody comes on my car, it's all "Welcome sir. Please, help yourself to a mojito. I made them myself! Oh, what a lovely picture of an 8-year old girl on that metro pass you're clearly using fraudulently. Nice pull - hop on!" I'm not taking a beat-down for someone else's money. That fare isn't going into my pocket. My salary is all taken care of. If you're a tough guy who gets off on ripping off the TTC, be my guest. I'm just here to drive...and mamba! Yep. That's how it is every day on my streetcar. It's a commutin' party. If you see a red rocket with disco lights, streamers and strobes, well you done lucked out. Big Coop's 502 is rollin' straight through to Neville Park, yo. Then we'll turn this thang around and do it all again. Um, I'm not sure what my point is. Oh yeah, it's that I have a lot of hostility and rage issues to deal with. I'm working on it.......<<dramatic pause>>...I'm working on it. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + NOVEMBER 30th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Amos Lee - Supply & Demand I just got my flu shot. Me no likey, but I've already been sick too many times this year, so I desperately need to avoid any more run-ins. My arm hurts. Nurse Ratched felt the need to tell me how gentle she was, then proceeded to impale me with all the grace of Sasquatch. I don't mind needles, though. What I mind is showing up and finding out that the juice and cookies promised are nowhere in sight. Unacceptable! Things are going swell with the recording. If I didn't mention it before, I have the extreme fortune and pleasure to have super genius Rob Szabo on board co-producing. He got right to work, jumping head first into the action like a dirty shirt. We've made some amazing progress with arrangements already, and he's really helping to push me beyond my comfort zone and other lazy habits I've picked up working solo over the years. Which is exactly why we're working together. It's really something to have that extra energy and brain helping to make decisions and forge ahead. I am so stoked and so lucky, lucky, lucky to have someone so ridiculously talented involved in what I'm doing. Rob is the Bob Villa of songwriting: a consummate craftsmen. OK, can I get one more 'lucky' for good measure? Thanks. So it's my intention to keep this space amped with recording stories and progress and pictures and all that kinda action. I may throw in the odd ol' poop joke or a random rant here and there...but mostly pictures of folks running around the studio with underoos on their head. Yep, that's how the pros do it. Much Love & Stuff; COOP + DECEMBER 8th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Great Lake Swimmers - Bodies & Minds G'day! Rob and I are motoring along in behind the scenes and have most of the drums done. They sound so fantastic! We recorded them at Melbourne Sound in Hamilton with our friend Craig Lapsley at the helm. Craig's got a tasty little setup with a great sounding live room and some classic API mic pre-amps. Sweet, sweet, sweet. All the drums were done there for Rob's last two records, too. If you like to know that kind of thing. Of course, Adam Warner is a genius behind the kit and brings such life and heart to my songs. I don't feel worthy, that much I know. He's also the coolest cat on the planet - peep the vintage drum kit complete with duct tape and wallet-on-the-snare dampening systems, busted hi-hat, and bathtub chain on the cymbals. Legend has it, the inside of his kick drum is stuffed with $100 dollar bills. But that's one for another day, kittens. Pix ahoy! Some more photos of the drum sessions have been loaded up to the GALLERY (in the bottom section). So don't forget about the coolass full band radio/internet show we're doing this Tuesday evening (Dec 12th, 9pm/EST). It's great 'cos anyone can listen from anywhere, so if you don't get to Toronto or Southwest Ontario to catch a live show.....well, now you can from the comfort of your footsie pyjammers and a nice cup of cocoa. Assuming of course, that's how you spend your evenings. It's totally fine with me if you'd rather wear your Grannie's muumuu and mow back cough syrup/quaalude cocktails whilst enjoying the tunes. I'm not here to judge...I'm just happy to share some music with all a y'all. Get all the times and broadcast details on the SHOWS page. Can't wait! Much Love & Stuff, COOP + DECEMBER 15th, 2006 NOW PLAYING: Jason Collett - Idols Of Exile Allo. Took a quick break from recording the album Tuesday night to record a live-to-air broadcast on CIUT 89.5's "It's Alive" program with Andy Frank. Thanks to everyone out there who tuned in. Wow. Quite a night. What fun. Had the whole band spread out in the Stone Cellar studio and we laid 'er down. Andy even treated us to rock star-approved, colour-separated M&M's...which as you know is a must. We simply will not play with anything but green M&M's in our bellies. No sireee. I found out the next morning that the live online stream of the broadcast was overloaded and crashed barely 5 mins into the show. I apologize to all the people from all over that tuned in via the interweb and were disappointed to find they couldn't hear us. Despite the technical difficulties, I appreciate everyone tuning in all the same...which leads us to the good news: Tuesday's broadcast has now been archived and converted to MP3 and is available for you to download or stream NOW. To do so, just go HERE. The recording is pretty dang cool, consisting mostly of new tunes from the upcoming record, some nice talk from (and about) all my awesome bandmates, a lot of laughs (mostly at John Denver's expense), and many, many awkward turns of phrase from yours truly. So check it out, download, burn it to a CD or stick it on your iPod and take us on the go. It's like hitting the take-out window without the likelihood of getting Taco Bell drippings