Category: Awesome

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Simpsons craze in the lower mainland

I know that I am completely behind on the hype, but in case you missed it, here is something completely worth noting. Rebecca and John Biehler have both been to and posted pictures of the smartest pieces of marketing that I have seen in a long time, if not the most brilliant.

Flickr photo by miss604
Photo credit: Miss604 on Flickr

Around the world, 7-11 has turned a selection of their stores into “Kwik-E-Marts” in anticipation of the upcoming Simpsons movie on July 27th.

Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of “The Simpsons” fame, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.

Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North America will sell items that until now existed only on television: Buzz Cola, KrustyO’s cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees. [yahoo]

Dan Lilly has a great series of pictures on Flickr, and I had a chance to talk to him the other day about it. He had a good point. There are numerous cities, around the world, that have one of these. New York, Chicago, Dallas, etc. All these large cities, and the one in Canada ends up in Coquitlam.

Flickr photo by Dan Lilly
Photo credit: zonaboy on Flickr

Buh? I have a hard enough time teaching some of my American friends that I live in Vancouver, not to mention that I live nowhere near Toronto or the frozen north. Perhaps this was a matter of the location meeting the requirements needed to make it look like an Apu-run Kwik-E-Mart, but the trek to get there is something many, hardcore fans are doing.

I’ve heard reports of people sticking to the floor around the “squishee” machine being worse than any movie theatre that they have ever been in, and there are 7-11’s in the downtown area selling plenty of merchandise to buy Matt Groening[wiki] another yacht yet.

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Thank you for coming back, summer

Summer is Gelato

Of course, I’m wearing a jacket, but the sun was setting, plus I’m eating gelato at the same time. Give me a break, and nothing screams “hello, summer” better than gelato in English Bay.

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Prince brings it at the Super Bowl

Matt was quicker to the draw, but I am in complete agreement. Prince‘s performance in the Super Bowl halftime was spectacular, probably one of the best in my memory. U2’s show in 2002 was pretty excellent, but this one was on a much different level.

I had a buddy I went to high school with that was a huge Prince[wiki] fan. When the clock hit midnight for the start of 1999, he put “Jam of the Year” on the stereo when all the rest of the world hellaciously over played “1999”. After years of being witness to my sister’s love affair with the guy’s music, it was at that point when I started to see the genius of the man.

The halftime show made everything I’ve thought about Prince even more evident. Wicked on the guitar, amazing vocals, and one hell of a showman. Pyrotechnics? Ok, that was cool. What I loved more was having a marching band on the field in addition to him on the stage. Other than that, it was a huge stage, a backing band, couple dancers, and Prince at the mic. He rocked it. And who knew that a Foo Fighters cover could be so damn good?

Thanks, Prince. You made it not painful to watch the halftime show of the Super Bowl.

Already available on YouTube, here is one video of the performance, and here is another.

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Interview with Sparta confirmed for RadioZoom

Sparta (credit: Johnny Buzzerio)I’m super excited to announce that RadioZoom will be having the opportunity to interview Sparta when they are in town for their show at Richards on Richards this weekend. I have officially made Rebecca my go to public relations person for the podcast, and she has delivered big time, no doubt about it.

Like many fans of the band, I’ve been a fan of Sparta since the day they formed. No, I wasn’t one of those cool kids with my ear to the underground and knowledge of all things good. Well, maybe just a little bit, but when the forever memorable At the Drive-In[wiki] split up, Sparta was formed by three guys from the band. If you’ve ever heard the name The Mars Volta, that is what the other two members went on to. However, Paul Hinojos left Sparta nearly a year ago to join The Mars Volta.

In 1999, I went to my first CMJ Music Marathon in New York. The Foo Fighters were slated to play at the Bowery Ballroom in a somewhat early show, so a bunch of us stood in line for a few hours to check them out. More impressive than seeing them on stage was the opening band which none of us knew a lot about, and they were seemingly insane. Amazingly good, but insane.

Sad to say, I never knew who they were for months afterward. When we got At the Drive-In’s new album at KRUI a little while later, I started to piece it all together. That band I saw, with the afros and craziness on stage, was At the Drive-In.

I’ve been keeping tabs on Sparta since their first album, “Wiretap Scars“, and their two follow up albums have yet to disappoint me. Their most recent release, “Threes“, is available in stores now. I’ve had a listen through just a few times, so it is hard for me to really convey a decent review of the album. However, I assure you, it’s way, way good.

The most interesting part of doing this interview is the way Sparta has embraced new media. Their involvement with their website is very noticeable, connecting to fans in this highly digital age with podcasts and embedded videos to send out information to fans. My hope is to explore their reasons behind it and geek out with rock stars a little bit.

radiozoom.netIt is because of this that we think they have given the green light to meeting Rebecca and I for a brief conversation before their show on Saturday night. The scope of RadioZoom is always exploring new avenues, and the recent interview with Aberdeen City is a prime example of that. It feels good to be getting back into the realm of interacting with musicians, like I did during my time in radio, but we can try so many different things through podcasting that you simply can’t on the airwaves.

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Let the season officially begin… this afternoon?

Go Canucks Go!Yesterday doesn’t count. The Cubs just ended their season as of this past Sunday, so my need is picked up from today through next spring. It’s good to have the boys back on the ice. Being that it starts in Detroit tonight, we’ll be enjoying things in the afternoon out here on the west coast.

By the way, have you checked out The Crazy Canucks yet?

Update: Canucks 3, Red Wings 1. Guys looked great on the ice, but way too many penalities. However, as many power plays that Detroit had, our defence really stepped up. Have to say, I loved tonight’s game!

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Announcing a new podcast: The Crazy Canucks

A few months ago, Rebecca[miss604] and I brainstormed an idea for a podcast that seemed too good to pass up. With the friends that we have been making in the world of blogging and podcasting, The Crazy Canucks was born.

We’ve brought together Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, the Canucks Hockey Blog, the Canucks Outsider, Miss604, and my adventures with RadioZoom into a podcast that is probably unlike anything you’ve heard before, and nothing like anything I’ve ever been apart of. And you don’t need an iPod to listen!

The Crazy Canucks

[krey-zee, kuh-nuhks]

Local Canuck Bloggers to Host a Weekly Roundtable Podcast this 06/07 NHL Season

Current album art: The Crazy Canucks podcastVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (October 2, 2006) – Coming this October is a podcast the likes of which Vancouver has never seen. It will be a collaboration of hockey bloggers and the brainchild of a podcaster who all have one thing in common: The Vancouver Canucks.

The Crazy Canucks will be a weekly podcast about the team, the players, the organization and the league. Our goal is to have a fan’s point of view, since we’re not cable TV and we’re not local sports radio. Agree or disagree, leave us a written or audio comment and tell us how you really feel.

Listen and subscribe to the podcast, which will be available weekly on TheCrazyCanucks.com.

For more information contact: feedback [at] thecrazycanucks.com

Look for the premiere episode to debut this week as the Canucks kick off the regular season on Thursday. Subscribe or listen directly on the website. It doesn’t matter how you hear it as much as it matters that you come be apart of the podcast. Afterall, we’re fans just like you.

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Doing my part in documenting local history

Jason Vanderhill[flickr] is a guy I met at the Vandigicam event that Rebecca and I attened a few weeks ago to do a podcast[rz#110] during. A short time ago, Jason contacted me to aid him in a project he is working on with members of the Vancouver Historical Society. I wasn’t completely sure I was volunteering for, but the idea of lending my knowledge of recording in the field sounded like fun.

Turns out, the oldest film of Vancouver is the same piece of footage that I heard about from Dave Olson when we hung out during the Celebration of Light.

Last week, I was helped Jason capture some audio that is to go into a project about this film that was discovered in the basement of a house down in Australia. Nine minutes of a movie where William Harbeck[vancouverhistory.ca] put a camera at the front of a cable car as it goes through Vancouver in 1907. Very cool stuff, and it made me overly happy to have ventured over the Granville Bridge by foot on such a gorgeous day.

The film has been shown publicly, but I have yet to see it. I’m not sure what the whole plan is for the final project, but this is something I am very lucky to have a hand in. I’ll be sure to update here when I know more. If you can get a chance to see this piece of history, I’m betting that the images of Vancouver from one hundred years ago is a trip.

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William Elliot Whitmore is coming to Vancouver

Whitmore (photo credit: cucamonga.be)I was parsing through my iTunes library when I came across the two albums that I have by William Elliot Whitmore[wiki]. When I did the public radio thing back in the states, he was a guest a few times on the show that we did at a local coffee house every Friday. Super nice, and one of those artists that were able to detract my attention from the levels on the mixer and completely pull me into his performance. Not too shabby for ten in the morning.

I thought I’d check him out on the web to see what he’s up to. He’s originally from southeast Iowa, so southeast that he grew up on the “penninsula” of the state, surrounded by the Mississippi and Des Moines River. These roots make their way into his music from time to time, but that’s not why I’m a fan of his music. Some people say Tom Waits or Johnny Cash when they talk about him, but I think that’s way off. He’s William Elliot Whitmore. Once you get to see him perform, you get it.

Whitemore (credit: ranhar2[flickr])Quite fortunately, he’s coming to Vancouver. October 5th at the Red Room. With hope, I’ll be able to make it out to see him.

Whitmore is my age. When I shook his hand to introduce myself as his sound guy, I thought that his voice might still be suffering from just waking up not long ago. Deep, raspy, and almost struggling for air. That’s just how he talks. How or why, I’m not sure, but whiskey might have something to do with it.

I set up three mics for him. One for his vocals, another for his banjo or guitar, and a third for his foot. He stomps the floor as he plays, getting the stage to boom like a kick drum. Head tilted up and eyes closed, it was like magic. On his song “Cold and Dead”, he doesn’t play anything. It’s just him singing. It gets me when I’m listening to the recording, just like I did the day I saw him perform it.

Oh sure, you might think that it sounds lame. Guy from Iowa with a banjo on stage. Tell that to all the fans of the hardcore band, Ten Grand[wiki], that have become some of his biggest followers. Imagine going out to a show in some of the seediest clubs in Europe with the intention of seeing a band with loud guitar noise and screaming, only to see this guy come on stage as the opening act. It happened many times, and people loved him.

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Vamos a La Playa

I took four years of Spanish in high school. The one thing that always sticks with me is this song, and I don’t find it overly crazy that I was able to come up with it on YouTube. Discoteques[wiki] nearly had their own unit that we studied in that class, teaching us how to use the language in social settings. I can’t even begin to guess how many times we heard this while doing translations at our desks, and it never got old. Well, at least to me.

Rebecca thought I was half crazy when I would be singing this on the way to the beach this summer. Basically it’s saying… the bombs are dropping, the radioactive wind is blowing and messing up our hair, so let’s go to the beach(o-o-o-o-oh!) and party. Mr. Martin was the best teacher, ever.