Happy New Year! Nothing like a new calendar year to force you to complete last year’s “to do list”, and posting this footage from the Summer was on there….definitely a favourite 2013 moment.
So you’ve read our little mission statement, right? While it’s important to listen to and experience the special mood evoked in each raga, colour is important in many ways around here. Do you have enough in your life? Living online, we never get real colour. No colour on a computer screen is complete.
Being a sound guy, colour gamut is a concept I picked up only recently via this Michael Scroggins (of Single Wing Turquoise Bird) video (below). Essentially the term refers to “the complete set of colors found within an image at a given time” [1], and often its usage describes the limitations of a device or medium to reproduce that full spectrum of colour. How curious that the term came from music…
The video is great, especially if you have an interest in Californian counter-culture in the ’60s – I was always curious about the Hog Farm that is always referred to when mentioning Wavy Gravy. But I’m happy to cut to the chase here, as it illustrates lightsweetcrude’s preoccupation with liquid light projections: “These dyes and the overhead projector gave you a colour gamut you couldn’t get off of film, off of video or slides – it was really intense.”
I honestly wasn’t aware that this was behind the unusual intensity experienced when seeing liquids projected on a wall… Even just food colouring on some transparencies. Colour affects us, and the purity of colour might be an important factor in its effect.
You should really get your eyes off your screen for a bit today, and experience some green in a wooded area, or at least the sky – that might be the longest standing source of great colour going for our species. It’s interesting that they say when planning a meal to “colour your plate”. Getting some colour into your life everyday is as important as eating your veggies.
Photo credit: Paola Martinez Hernandez 5-26-2012
Photo: projection on the wall at lightsweetcrude HQ.
Lee’s Palace! The one place I used to check out bands during my time at U of T that is still around and I still haven’t played myself. I saw many bands there back then: The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, The Phantoms, The Shuffle Demons, The Hopping Penguins, Punjabi By Nature, Chunk O’ Funk….. That great gig with Treble Charger and The Posies on a bill – that was a good one…. And many more that I can’t quite recall now… Now if you chat up some older scenesters, you might learn that Lee’s is also the venue where a legendary Black Jello / Neon Rome / Mike Marley and the Sailors gig took place (1986?) that involved an altercation between a soundman working at Lee’s and Black Jello’s lead singer, who pulled a Roger Daltrey, but he wasn’t a seasoned ‘mic swinger’, and it hit the floor, causing the sound man to attack. Quite a skirmish. Mr. Lee (RIP) himself was even in the thick of it and got hit in the head, if you believe the stories. Supposedly there’s some video footage, but it’s not in circulation yet… (I missed that gig, but am happy to say that I caught Neon Rome at an all ages gig that went down before this one). My point: Lee’s is one of the few true TO rock venues with history that is still around. And lightsweetcrude is psyched to play there tomorrow night. Come join us!
Last Summer we did a road trip to Owen Sound for OtherFolk, and it was a blast! We have played out of town festivals before, but had previously met up at the gig, and traveled separately – this was the first time the whole band was in the Crudemobile together for a voyage. I was curious how it would turn out. After all, if we found for some reason we couldn’t get along for 12 hours together, the “live” future of lightsweetcrude would be looking grim. We’re still trying to learn from our audiences here in TO, but the plan is to eventually make extended visits elsewhere to learn from other audiences, as well.
Obviously things went fine. 12 hours isn’t such a long time, especially when you’re psyched to play in another city. The entire trip out there just builds the excitement! Yes, I may be an older hand in the studio, but regarding the “road”, I’m green and not as jaded.
Music selections on the road were interesting… I was able to turn these guys on to a stretch from Miles‘ “Live/Evil”, and King Crimson‘s “Lark’s Tongues In Aspic”. Michael hippified us to Ronnie Boykins‘ 1975 album, “The Will Come, Is Now”. On the way back, I played some long overdue live Grateful Dead for Alexei and Mark, who had never heard any before(!), but were constantly subjected to references from Kaler and myself. 6/22/73 was the jam du jour. Let’s just say all Crudemobile passengers were ready to hear it with open ears at that point. (If you check the link for this show, we listened from track 22 onward, just fyi). Then Alexei hippified us to Talk Talk‘s “Spirit Of Eden” – an interesting album with a real sense of space, true to the ‘ambient’ ’80s. Mark has to bring his iPod next time!
As we arrived at the venue, so did Kyle Haight from Blobject, who were headlining that night, and Kyle was generously supplying the kit. The gig was on the rooftop of the Chaise Lounge. Putting aside the possibility of rain, a rooftop is an amazing place to play…. There’s an amazing view, the sky above, snare hits reverberating off buildings across the street – you get the idea. It was even nicer once it got dark, and the bar was a big source of light.
We had some time to kill, and went for some coffee. On our return to The Chaise Lounge, Kyle was carting around a portable live painting station that he was pumped to put to use that night, converting different bands’ music into art. After our set, he handed me this:
Beautiful! So generous of him! Check Kyle’s website. A very talented individual.
It was a great road trip, and we played to a great crowd. It’s hard to nail exactly why, but the vibe and energy was so different from a Toronto gig, and I really think the music responded to this. Feel free to check it out below. We’re heading up to beautiful Owen Sound again this weekend for Lupercalia fest, also helmed by Joshua Richardson, and we’re looking very forward to it!
Who knows what the weather will be like on February 23rd? This gig poster is hopeful that we will have some snow in our lives, even just for a little bit. Does that mean I’m personally hoping for a snowstorm? Not really. Except this Winter has been a bit creepy. It would feel kind of nice for some kind of a snowfall to come at some point, and allow to brush of all that Global Warming stuff as nonsense…. But maybe not until after the weekend of Feb 18th / 19th. We’ve got to drive up to Owen Sound….
lightsweetcrude 