Guillotine, mode d'emploi

There was a horrible story in the news today: a guy got stabbed then beheaded while traveling on a Greyhound bus somewhere in Manitoba. I read the article right after I woke up. The idea of losing my head came back to me when I was on my bike on my way to the coffee shop this morning. Imagination can be an enemy... Then I saw another really dark image - didn't take a picture, I should have - I one of the most beautiful (and old for vancouver) schools in the neighborhood being destroyed and there was a huge hole in the roof top. The school is being destroyed because, supposedly, it was rat infested. So instead they built a modern school that looks like an Autocad plan with weird 90s style angles. Just horrific. Although not nearly as horrific as the description of the murder that happened on Wednesday night... I thought to myself that the destruction of such a beautiful historic building (it is for Vancouver, believe me, the city is really young) is also a crime to some extent. I really don't get it.

As I was cycling away, I could hear the sounds of the destruction, trucks and cranes and bricks falling down. By the time I got the coffee shop, I had lost all my appetite.

The scene then reminded me of Guy Maddin's recent movie "My Winnipeg". There is sad scene of an old arena being destroyed. I never went to that school yet a part of me felt like Maddin when the arena of his childhood got destroyed.

maintenant je sais...

... pourquoi j'ai pensé à la musique pour bébé aujourd'hui. C'est que mon ami Shawn, mieux connu sous le nom de Lullatone est depuis peu un jeune papa et il m'a demandé si je voulais bien composer quelques mélodies au violon pour la musique "for baby" qu'il compose en ce moment. J'ai dit oui bien sûr. Et je me suis réveillé avec cette idée de musique pour bébé ce matin. Tout s'explique.

Ça tombe bien, je viens de terminer les arrangements pour ce morceau de mon amie Leah Abramson.

Leah Abramson - Take some good notes (MP3!)

this is where is starts again

I don't know if it's because I'm moving soon or if it's in the stars but I feel like I'm on autopilot and I just have to write more about things, just like everybody else does on the web. I don't know if the world needs another blog but what can I do? Je suis influençable. C'est comme ça.

Ch-ch-ch-changes. Leaving Vancouver will be such a good thing, I know it. It is not and has never been the best place for me - it's hard to really not like a city. I've managed to live in it of course because Vancouver is not hell either (although....) and to force myself to be positive about this place, I'll do a little "my best of Vancouver" soon. That way I can leave the place with a good taste in my mouth, like the taste of a vietnamese coconut snowball candy for example (!!!). I think that at least half of my top 10 will be about food. I really tried to love this city more but it seems like it's grey (see picture) about 300 days a year. Maybe I would have loved Vancouver more had I moved here before I was born, like on this picture taken by Fred Herzog who took pictures of Vancouver all his life. But that's for a little later. I'm just starting this because it had to start somewhere.

So that somewhere is somewhat psychedelic. Harmonia is the band (it's surprising all the info you can find about them on Wikipedia), Dino is the track and it's from their second record called Musik von Harmonia. Simple. Motorik rock is how some people describe their message. Have a nice trip. And so you can sleep ok tonight, I'm also posting a Pulp track that gives me that feeling I felt when I first heard it in London back in 1996, walking on the overpass on Cromwell Road, heading to Gloucester Road where I had a waiting job in a crappy restaurant that paid me 3 pounds an hour. Best feeling ever.

Drôle de coïncidence: here is an interview with Jarvis Cocker that was done by Pitchfork.tv recently - 12 ans plus tard... Now if you don't really care about Jarvis Cocker, you can always look at the dreamy interviewer... Ouh la la!

Harmonia - Dino (MP3!)
Pulp - Mile End (MP3!)