40sq Feet of Fun

So I've lived in my little York Apartment now for six months and have yet to share my dwelling with the folks back home. So after spending some much-needed time cleaning I snapped some photos for all y'all.

My Role Model: Grant Lawrence

Broken, torn, and shattered, 2005 had been a year of downturns and failures in many ways. A break-up with a long time girlfriend, a money well wasted vacation to Costa Rica as well as a number of jobless months searching for reasonable (above min. wage) employment in Vancouver. Indeed for about half-a-year it seemed like nothing could go right, that is until I met him in November. That him is my hero, the ace of adjectives, prince of pop references and uh... queen of quirkiness, Grant Lawrence. At first our encounter was limited to an hourly engagement once a week but I soon discovered a giant backlog of his musings and recommendations on music and life through the CBC archives (and later even more Grant through a satellite radio given to me by a friend). Now I was set to be a disciple of Grant and have faithfully followed ever since. Grant led me out of the darkness and into a better and richer world of music and soul and to him I am indebted (with a shout-out to my favourite fruit Apple of course).

So when Grant Lawrence starts his favourite show of 2006 on Canadian music with Destroyer's 3000 Flowers, and cites "its amazing feedback drenched guitar riff" I couldn't help but agree. This is the kind of off the wall guitar buzz and screeching that one can just lose onself. And in the long months of a Toronto winter, far from where Grant & I met for the first time, this song delivers the best in what pop music can offer: joy.

So sit back, relax and let your cell's dance to Destroyer's 3000 Flowers.

For an introduction to Grant Lawrence start here.

A Midwinter Night's Dream

After a few days of absolute hermitage in my 40sq foot apartment reading books and writing midterm papers I finally escaped my narrow confines for a night on the town to see Josh Ritter soft-rock the Horseshoe Tavern in downtown Toronto. The set was spectacular with JR dropping the usual team of bandmates and giving a stripped down and powerful one-man show. The lack of the backing band but all that much more emphasis on Josh Ritter to sell the show and sell it he did. He stayed out of the more somber and slow-moving tracks that he'd played previously in Seattle and instead favoured the upbeat and cheerful melodies from Hello Starling! and The Animal Years plus at least one new song. Another favourite of the show was Josh's frequent time-outs to joke with the audience, tell stories of touring and show-off his intriguing desire for the CBC's Barbara Bud as well as other Canadiana. Growing up in a small town of Idaho just hours from the Canadian border almost makes him an honourary citizen - not to mention his knowledge of CBC radio hosts.

So it was on this much-needed trip out of my hovel that I recognized it had been snowing for the past few days and in fact was snowing at that very moment as well. This was something I had been oblivious too but upon returning to York after the show (around 1:30 am) the sight of falling snow and the warm orange lights of campus made the perfect scene for some photos which I'd long been putting off. So, without further ado, York University and York Apartments (my home!) at night.

~Fin~