Check in Thread

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alexdingley
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by alexdingley » Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:39 am

Yeah — good call on starting this thread!

I often think about how this message board accounted for 90% of my web browsing time, back in the early 2000's... and then things really tapered off in the later 2000's / early 20-teens... and it always made me a little sad. That's because the kinds of folks that tended to be here were really damn cool to talk with, very generous with their time & knowledge.

Overall, I'm fantastic — but that's tempered by a lot of completely-warranted anxiety.

So, I too have spent some time worrying about folks in the recording community; both locally and afar. I truly hope you're all hanging in, as best as you can. I'm a really lucky (and admittedly privileged) person in that I've got a pretty solid day job that's in no danger of evaporating any time soon, and I can do it from home, as needed (which means 100% of the time right now). So, I'm sitting around... doing my day job / looking at, feeding, changing, (and wearing, in the studio) my newborn daughter / editing some self-recorded (by the comedian) stand-up comedy work for a new release / feeling guilty about not being comfortable leaving my neighborhood to protest (see above: newborn daughter) / feeling worried about civil unrest in my city (Philly) / feeling glad that they finally took down the old statue of our racist, illiterate, former mayor / sending bits of money to bail-fund organization, where I can.

Also I'm thinking about starting a small project, based on some of my own gear-overflow — I'll start another thread for that, to see if anyone else has ideas/input.

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alexdingley
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by alexdingley » Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:39 am

Yeah — good call on starting this thread!

I often think about how this message board accounted for 90% of my web browsing time, back in the early 2000's... and then things really tapered off in the later 2000's / early 20-teens... and it always made me a little sad. That's because the kinds of folks that tended to be here were really damn cool to talk with, very generous with their time & knowledge.

Overall, I'm fantastic — but that's tempered by a lot of completely-warranted anxiety.

So, I too have spent some time worrying about folks in the recording community; both locally and afar. I truly hope you're all hanging in, as best as you can. I'm a really lucky (and admittedly privileged) person in that I've got a pretty solid day job that's in no danger of evaporating any time soon, and I can do it from home, as needed (which means 100% of the time right now). So, I'm sitting around... doing my day job / looking at, feeding, changing, (and wearing, in the studio) my newborn daughter / editing some self-recorded (by the comedian) stand-up comedy work for a new release / feeling guilty about not being comfortable leaving my neighborhood to protest (see above: newborn daughter) / feeling worried about civil unrest in my city (Philly) / feeling glad that they finally took down the old statue of our racist, illiterate, former mayor / sending bits of money to bail-fund organization, where I can.

Also I'm thinking about starting a small project, based on some of my own gear-overflow — I'll start another thread for that, to see if anyone else has ideas/input.

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losthighway
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by losthighway » Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:10 am

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:49 am
As my good friend John Samson used to tell the American kids after ever show - America needs you to stay home and fight to fix things.
That's was back after Bush got elected again and all the liberal people were talking about moving to Canada. It's more important now.
Samson has gradually become one of my strongest songwriting inspirations. That's awesome that you're friends with him. Notice I didn't talk about moving to Winnipeg!!

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:00 pm

He’s an old friend. We don’t see each other much these days now that my touring days are done and he’s doing it less. He and his wife Christine are two of my favourite people in the whole world.
I was lucky enough to be an auxiliary Weakerthan on their Reconstruction Site North American tour. It was a great time as well as an inspiration/kick in the ass to up my writing game

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Re: Check in Thread

Post by drumsound » Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:39 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:49 am
As my good friend John Samson used to tell the American kids after ever show - America needs you to stay home and fight to fix things.
That's was back after Bush got elected again and all the liberal people were talking about moving to Canada. It's more important now.
The Weakerthans John K Sampson? I freaking love that guy and that band.

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Re: Check in Thread

Post by drumsound » Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:43 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Thu Jun 04, 2020 12:00 pm
He’s an old friend. We don’t see each other much these days now that my touring days are done and he’s doing it less. He and his wife Christine are two of my favourite people in the whole world.
I was lucky enough to be an auxiliary Weakerthan on their Reconstruction Site North American tour. It was a great time as well as an inspiration/kick in the ass to up my writing game
That is so cool. I never got to see the band. I came to them a little late through a friend. He/they are totally a dream client for me.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:25 pm

Me too. That said, this thread is to important to derail. Back to the topic at hand.........

In spite of our (maybe) more civil public discourse and temperament Canada is not innocent when it comes to systemic racism, police brutality and political stupidity. Our country is a product of British colonialism and has all that entails built into it's fabric. Our treatment of indigenous peoples was the model for South Africa's apartheid system. Our major cities while liberal and cosmopolitan have priced out many, many people, usually people of colour and immigrants. Toronto (my home, my heart) elected Rob Ford who now seems like the test run for Donald Trump. Grossly incompetent, hell bent on destroying a system with no plan or ability to build something better (or anything really), massively polarizing, unable to work with others, anti-science/expert/experience/knowledge, millionaire "man of the people", idiot, man-child. He voted against his own budget. Once city council stripped him of his powers we effectively had no mayor for 2 years. We're the third largest city in North America (sorry Chicago) and we had no mayor for two year. It was still better than when he had power.
We've had issues for years with police abusing stop and frisk policies to harass the black community. We've had issues for years with heavily armed police killing people with mental health issues.
Two days after George Floyd was killed Toronto Police were were dispatched to help with a domestic incident/woman is distress in a high rise. While her family were in the hall several officers entered the apartment and a few minutes later she fell to her death from the balcony. There is an ongoing investigation. The woman was black, the officers were not. No-one except those in the apartment know what happened but sending heavily armed police to deal with a mentally ill person of colour is so obviously wrong that we shouldn't even have to have the discussion.

No one is entirely innocent in this.

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alexdingley
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by alexdingley » Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:18 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:25 pm
We've had issues for years with police abusing stop and frisk policies to harass the black community. We've had issues for years with heavily armed police killing people with mental health issues.
Wow... that reality-check really hits me in the gut.

All over the US, we have (as I'm sure you know) a fantasy of our northern neighbors as hyper-polite and perhaps (forgive the choice of words) harmless. I'm aware of the trouble with how the first-nations citizens are treated, but I honestly didn't imagine that your police forces had any kind of similar systemic racism... I bet that a lot of other folks would be surprised by that too.

What I am taking away from your post is that this isn't strictly a US problem — it's a human problem.

Somehow that's simultaneously more daunting, and yet also heartening.

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losthighway
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by losthighway » Thu Jun 04, 2020 7:04 pm

alexdingley wrote:
Thu Jun 04, 2020 6:18 pm
All over the US, we have (as I'm sure you know) a fantasy of our northern neighbors as hyper-polite and perhaps (forgive the choice of words) harmless. I'm aware of the trouble with how the first-nations citizens are treated, but I honestly didn't imagine that your police forces had any kind of similar systemic racism... I bet that a lot of other folks would be surprised by that too.
My thoughts exactly.


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Re: Check in Thread

Post by jimjazzdad » Sat Jun 06, 2020 4:32 am

I live in a sleepy part of Canada and have been personally unaffected. However, my daughter lives in the NYC area (Jersey side) and has gone out to a protest or two. I worry about the police and Covid 19.

As other posters point out, Canada is not without stains on our national soul. The city I live in has the largest per-capita black population in the country. Lots of systemic racism - the practice of racial profiling and street checks has only stopped recently. Then there is the sad economic disparity of First Nations too; stuff like infrastructure for clean water and accessible health care is really lacking on some reserves. But at least the protests here have been peaceful and guns are out of the equation. I remember the Vietnam protests and the Black Power movement from the 60s and 70s. We are back to that kind of desperation and something has to give. We all keep hoping for a better world and some are doing something about it. I salute the next generation of activism. Stay safe kids.
Jim Legere
Halifax, NS
Canada

kayagum
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by kayagum » Tue Jun 09, 2020 7:54 pm

Living 3 miles from where George Floyd was murdered, and less than 1 mile from major looting in St Paul, we've been dodging helicopters and reports of unmarked cars (license plates removed) starting fires all over the Twin Cities, in addition to the main action.

Silver lining- a friend of mine and I helped put together a compilation in response to all this, and to fundraise for the rebuilding of the Twin Cities. I will post over in the appropriate forum with the link. I hope you all get to listen to it, and if you're financially able, contribute (100% of the proceeds are going to 2 non profits)

Stay safe everyone!

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Re: Check in Thread

Post by drumsound » Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:21 pm

Feel free to start a thread on this forum.

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Re: Check in Thread

Post by cgarges » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:05 am

As the weather has been nicer, my wife and I have been going for drives every few days. Just getting in the car, rolling the windows down, putting on some tunes, and just driving for a few hours. We head out of town and when we decide to turn left or right, we do it. We did about three hours (130 miles) yesterday. It's been REALLY good for clearing our heads. We're both pretty stressed out from the world (my inability to work as much as usual, her dealing with the plans for school next year, as she's a teacher, politics, friends of ours unnecessarily getting shot by rubber bullets and tear gas, friends of ours dealing with the stresses of being an NYPD officer, my brother being an immunologist, etc) and these little "getaways" where we explore the world around us has been nice. I grew up in this city and I'm seeing all kinds of stuff that I never knew existed.

If this sounds AT ALL interesting to you, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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winky dinglehoffer
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Re: Check in Thread

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:17 am

cgarges wrote:
Mon Jun 15, 2020 7:05 am
. Just getting in the car, rolling the windows down, putting on some tunes, and just driving for a few hours.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
I used to do something like this with an old roommate. Frequently on Sunday nights we'd hop in the car & drive around Atlanta trying to find places we hadn't been before. Always fun and a good way to learn more about the city.

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