Today’s that time of year in which I think I can forgive myself for the lack of updates. After all, its crunch time here in the big University world, where essays and term papers come together into a smorgasboard of time-sucking sadness. And to think that, at one point, I hoped to update this blog on a daily basis. How things have changed.

But aside from the boring nature of the school work I’m completing, I’ve happened to be fairly prolific throughout the past week. In case you missed them, here are a couple articles I did for BlogTO…

An interview with Ryan North – Creator of Dinosaur Comics and Project Wonderful

An Interview with Massimo Capra, Celebrity Chef

Also, a funny coincidence. For the past week, I’ve really been gettting into Wired magazine again, reading quite a few of their online articles from the past few issues. There’s been some really exceptional stuff, and I’m almost considering subscribing to the print edition, if only for something tangible and eaier to read while commuting.

Of course, as luck would have it, I was told late tonight that Chris Anderson, Wired’s current Editor-in-chief, is speaking tomorrow at the MaRS building, right near the University of Toronto’s campus. Despite the strange coincidence, I’m definitely excited; it’s something that’s more than worth missing lecture for in my eyes!

Imagine, if you will, that you are an incredibly expensive, yet trendy computer manufacturer. You maintain a legion of cult-like followers who flock to the finely-brushed aluminum devices you hawk at inflated prices, while pushing a degree of simplicity that even the most vegetable of hospital patients would be able to operate at their leisure.

At what point does being different mean eschewing common sense?

Rambling aside, the decisions Apple makes at times completely baffle me. Take the new, unibody Macbook Pro, for example. One of the machine’s big selling points was the ease with which it could be upgraded, by even the most technologically challenged among us. The bottom of the laptop has a magnetic latch, which, when removed, reveals both the battery and hard drive – easily accessible to the intrepid user.

I decided the time was right to finally move into the 500GB club. After all, my collection of vintage cartoons was growing pretty steadily, and there’s only so much softcore Swedish pornography a hard drive can fit. Only one screw is needed to free the hard drive from its Apple-chic clutches. Or so you’d think.

Before this whole upgrade began, I can honestly say that I had never even heard of a Torx T6 screw bit. Quite frankly, the name of it reminds of me of robots, or some foreign kitchen appliance that will probably achieve sentience and become our new overlord one day. The point is, this incredibly small screw is what’s required to mount the damn drive inside the machine. And damn, if it wasn’t impossible to find somewhere that sold these; in the end, it took two trips to Rona and Home Hardware just to get what I needed.

Well done, Apple; so much for simplicity. Your desire to be different has backfired into the realm of stupidity.

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While I don’t think I was prepared to do entire backup and reformat at the beginning of the week, things have actually gone far better than I had hoped. In a moment of quick thinking, I cracked open my 2.5” external HDD, and harvested the SATA to USB connector that it runs on to pull the files off my old internal. As you can imagine, this saved a great deal of backup/reloading time, and meant that my Swedish softcore collection was, thankfully, working again by bedtime.

This also meant that I’ve had a nice array of 2.5” HDDs splayed across my desk for the better part of the weekend. It’s been a matter of making sure my data is safe and sound, and then zeroing out the drives for a nice, fresh start.

Maybe now I’ll finally have the room I need for all my pictures, and the chance to give my Flickr a much-needed update too.

Since quite a bit happened over the course of Canadian Music Week, I figured a photo recap was in order. All of these pictures are posted on Flickr for your viewing pleasure, and should also have their own gallery on The Singing Lamb in the near future. I’m perfectly fine with them being used, though be mindful of the Creative Commons license they’re filed under. And don’t forget to drop me a line – I always like to see where my pictures end up!

Hexes and Ohs @ The Mod Club, March 12, 2009
Will Currie and The Country French @ The Mod Club, March 12, 2009
Sloan @ The Mod Club, March 12, 2009
Rebekah Higgs @ The Horseshoe Tavern, March 14, 2009
Hundreds and Thousands @ The Horseshoe Tavern, March 14, 2009
Young Galaxy @ The Horseshoe Tavern, March 14, 2009

One of the nice side effects of shooting concerts like these is that, occasionally, the bands themselves actually like the stuff you’ve produced. In this case, I’m thrilled that both Hexes and Ohs and the Country French have asked to use my pictures; it’s a real honour, and I hope the fans enjoy them as well!

For the more photographically inclined amongst you, I’ll give you a better idea of what I was shooting with. While I shot the entire week on a Canon 30D body, I generally shuffled between a 17-35mm f/2.8L and a 35-70mm f/2.8L, depending on the conditions. I’ve had the 17-35mm for almost a year now, though I’ve found in the past that it lacks the range needed for concert shooting, depending on where you’re situated. The 35-70mm proved to be an excellent addition to my arsenal, and I think CMW finally convinced me to pick one up over the Summer. Shuffling between the lenses was a near perfect setup, as I had a good enough wide to capture the entire stage, but then enough zoom and detail to get closeups and expressions I wouldn’t normally get. The fact that both lenses were capable of a nice, wide-open apertures probably helped as well; after all, concerts are notorious for low-level lighting, so having a pair of f/2.8 probably didn’t hurt.

Oh, and for the first time ever, I could actually capture the drummer. That’s the magic of zoom, right there.

Canadian Music Week, 2009.

Despite the fact that Canadian Music Week came to a close this past Saturday, I didn’t actually get a good night’s sleep until last night. Such is the life of a busy journalist. But seeing as the sleepless nights have subsided for now, and the last vestiges of sanity are slowly returning, I think it might finally be safe to offer a few thoughts

Quite frankly, I had no clue what to expect going into this year’s festival; it was my first CMW, and any preconceived notions were based entirely upon pictures and stories from years past. And even then, that offered but a limited and skewed selection of what the program guide claimed to offer.

My travels this year were split into two very distinct parts; in the evenings, I found myself running across the city, usually seeing bands and shows, while Thursday morning was spent locked away in conference rooms and keynotes to discuss the sorry state of Canadian Music. If there’s any sarcasm in that last sentence, I sincerely apologize.

The morning keynotes were less than stellar, and honestly, pretty dissapointing. I had the chance to sit in a room, largely surrounded by record executives and industry types, and was talked at for a couple hours on how Canadian music was dying, and it was all our fault. That’s right, kids – because we’ve been buying less, and downloading more, the industry is in a tailspin.

Nevermind the fact that they could be attempting to find new ways to adapt to a form of distribution that is quickly outpacing the industry’s best efforts; instead, they cling helplessly to their ancient business model, a model which has existed relatively unchanged since the record industry’s inception.

Ahem. But, alas, I’m rambling again. I’ve already spoken at length about the dismal keynotes over at BlogTO. I know its really the shows you’re all interested in.

I actually ended up seeing nearly all of the bands I hoped to see throughout the week – a fact of which I’m quite proud of. Wednesday had both the beautiful Laura Barrett (who is, much to my dismay, still not single), and Charles Spearin’s The Happiness Project play at the Music Hall – which is, in fact, an old church out on John Street.

Thursday was yet another treat, as I had the chance to see Hexes and Ohs once again, Will Currie and the Country French, and the highlight of the night, Sloan. Saturday proved to be an exceptional close to the festivities, finally giving me the chance, not only to see Young Galaxy, but to interview and hang out with Steve Ramsey and the band for over an hour before the show.

Yet, if there was one element of CMW I enjoyed most, it was the photography. Press pass in hand, I made it my mission to snap as many pictures as possible, from all the venues and shows I passed. The result is a superb collection of CMW photos now on Flickr, and probably some of the best concert shots I’ve ever taken.
This is but a small, and haphazard taste of how my first Canadian Music Week experience went done; expect more in the next little while. After all, I’m not going to go through all the trouble of renting a lens without reviewing it here as well!

And so ends Canadian Music Week 2009. This exhausted journalist will have an nice little review up tomorrow, and more specific thoughts posted on The Singing Lamb as the week goes on. Photos too!