Hi,
The weekend was quite eventful. Triumph Street practiced together almost all weekend, and any moments in between I spent with Cam Reid drumming. Besides that I managed to walk into a sign post bleeding everywhere, and acquiring five stitches. I was trying to figure out the relative minor of G major... I think I need to review some theoretic ideas.
It's Tuesday today and I have the day off work. I'm going to school anyway tonight to get the first of the filming done. That's kind of exciting I think. So far this has all been like a giant game of make believe. Now it seems something is actually going to happen! It's bizarre to think you'll all see me tonight almost a year from now in some theater somewhere.
Anyway, my head is alright. I feel like things are coming together.
See you tonight!
-Chris
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
If You Are Reading This...
I am in love with a girl. I'm going to write something here today that I've been milling over and over again in my head...
I live in Vancouver for a reason. For a great reason. I am an active member in one of the greatest musical reasons that exists. I play drums with The Triumph Street Pipe Band, and I've worked hard to get here. I still work hard to improve and do well. I try pretty hard to make things work in favor of my drumming in the future. You, the reader, sitting at a desk somewhere at home or in a library or office should at least know that, having visited this ongoing story of mine. I live for the music. But know this: Life is full of choices, and sometimes those choices can be second guessed for a very long time. Maybe even for the rest of one's life. I don't know, I'm just young yet. I can say, without a shadow of a doubt though, that not a day will pass that I will not think of her.
When I stand in the circle and my personal identity weavers in light of the pipes; when the endless chattering voices of a universe cease only for the blink of an eye, I am timelessly glued heart to heart with her.
What to do... What to do...
Sam
This is Susan -
Just a note to say Sam is having some technical issues getting on the blog and that hopefully I'll be seeing him this weekend and we can figure out the problem.
Sorry you're so lonesome, Christopher, just go drink a few Starbucks, ummm, I mean Artigiano's coffee and you'll perk right up :)
Yup, and have a few for me, will ya?
Have a good weekend, everyone - we're going to see Evita tomorrow night at Confed Centre in Charlottetown. A real treat. That's if I'm still walking after my Pump 'N Burn class in the morning!
Have fun in Vancouver, Christopher - not too much fun, though - be safe! :)
Hi Sam! We'll get you up and running here soon, buddy -
Susan
Just a note to say Sam is having some technical issues getting on the blog and that hopefully I'll be seeing him this weekend and we can figure out the problem.
Sorry you're so lonesome, Christopher, just go drink a few Starbucks, ummm, I mean Artigiano's coffee and you'll perk right up :)
Yup, and have a few for me, will ya?
Have a good weekend, everyone - we're going to see Evita tomorrow night at Confed Centre in Charlottetown. A real treat. That's if I'm still walking after my Pump 'N Burn class in the morning!
Have fun in Vancouver, Christopher - not too much fun, though - be safe! :)
Hi Sam! We'll get you up and running here soon, buddy -
Susan
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Have You Tried The Eggplant?
Well Ladies and Gents,
I have taken the plunge. I have eaten an Eggplant sanwhich having been promised that all succesful young people are all about "The Plant". Truely, I tell thee, the key to growing old and living happy lies in the... err... sprout of this bizarre veggie. This is what I have been told.
Moral of the story:
It's gross and left a bad taste in my mouth. Don't believe them!! Don't believe them!!!!
-Chris
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Night Coughing
Triumph Street practices soon. A couple hours in fact, and I can't sleep due to this brutal cough. I've been sitting up for a while now thinking about random things. I stop every so often and proceed with a coughing fit. Something is not quite right I think. No person should cough this much. I mean seriously, my chest is going to explode or something.
I'm going to be tired as frig tomorrow...
Urrrrgggg...
-Chris
Friday, March 20, 2009
Yup
Yup, well, heck, kid - there's gotta be some price to fame!
Truly, though, I hope your friends enjoy all of this. They can show the film to their grand kids someday...from jail...cause they're in there for maiming you...
Yer Momma :)
Truly, though, I hope your friends enjoy all of this. They can show the film to their grand kids someday...from jail...cause they're in there for maiming you...
Yer Momma :)
Halp!!
All this talk about cameras and filming sounds pretty awesome. I'm looking forward to talking with you all face to face. But let's keep something in mind. Documentaries have conflict and resolution right? What if I am maimed by my friends for sticking cameras in their faces? <_<
-Chris
PS. Maim
tr.v. maimed, maim-ing, maims
1. To disable or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other body part.
2. To make imperfect or defective; impair.
Halp!!
Sponsorship Opportunity
Hi folks - this is Susan -
Just another day of working out all the intricacies of Drummerboyz...then this afternoon I will be doing a lot of writing as I finely tune our storyline.
Thought I would throw out a unique sponsorship opportunity - part of the appeal of Drummerboyz is allowing the boys, Chris and Sam, to do some of their own filming. Both boys will be given cameras that they can use to record events and happenings in their lives...or perhaps just thoughts...that will be edited into the final version of the film. An organization or individual is invited to sponsor these cameras for the boys, in return for the chance to be in the film, as well as tons of credit in the film. The approximate cost is $ 5000 for two camera kits that include tripods, batteries, the whole she-bang. Chris and Sam will get to keep these cameras - maybe one day we'll make Drummerboyz 2! (Or Pipergirlz?) Bluemountain entertainment would also be happy to put your logo on these cameras!
Contact info is fatcat@pei.sympatico.ca...or you can always look us up on Facebook - the bluemountain entertainment page. And don't forget about the Drummerboyz Jam, happening Friday, April 24th at 7 pm. Location TBA. This is your chance to be in the film!
Cheers! Happy sponsoring!
Susan
Just another day of working out all the intricacies of Drummerboyz...then this afternoon I will be doing a lot of writing as I finely tune our storyline.
Thought I would throw out a unique sponsorship opportunity - part of the appeal of Drummerboyz is allowing the boys, Chris and Sam, to do some of their own filming. Both boys will be given cameras that they can use to record events and happenings in their lives...or perhaps just thoughts...that will be edited into the final version of the film. An organization or individual is invited to sponsor these cameras for the boys, in return for the chance to be in the film, as well as tons of credit in the film. The approximate cost is $ 5000 for two camera kits that include tripods, batteries, the whole she-bang. Chris and Sam will get to keep these cameras - maybe one day we'll make Drummerboyz 2! (Or Pipergirlz?) Bluemountain entertainment would also be happy to put your logo on these cameras!
Contact info is fatcat@pei.sympatico.ca...or you can always look us up on Facebook - the bluemountain entertainment page. And don't forget about the Drummerboyz Jam, happening Friday, April 24th at 7 pm. Location TBA. This is your chance to be in the film!
Cheers! Happy sponsoring!
Susan
Thursday, March 19, 2009
"The Jazz"
There comes a time in every young persons life, I think, in which they contemplate the relationship between work and play. I've always been someone who believed in the positive energy of play above and beyond the satisfaction of hard work. As I get older however, I'm slowly starting to refine the differences.
I just turned 19 years of age. I live (aside from room mates) mostly on my own. I choose things. I make things, and create. Music allows me to produce raw emotion, moulding these beliefs into tunes and chord shapes. The question I have begun asking myself is this: "Am I working or playing?"
When I sit down to play my acoustic guitar, I stare intensely into the body of an Indonesian made Yamaha. Glowing fire-like in the warm dimness I feel free to explore the fear and excitement of my infinite potential. I am God. I am connected to Him. I strike the slowly rusted strings. It's dirty, it's mine... And it's REAL. Work or play?
On another day however I find myself standing as a terrified child standing behind the snare drum I play with Triumph Street. I am enslaved by the monotonous drudgery surrounding the tidiness of half a beat. For twenty minutes all ten of us strain mind and body in extreme concentration. Alas, that one moment in time resolves. We are as one. It's hard work, but each and every one of us knows when the games finally come around there will be no work left to do. We march onto the battlefield and simply play our hearts out.
The defining moment for me was sitting patiently in a small soundproof chamber obediently practicing various aspects of Jazz drum set. My hands were trying to wrap some polyrhythm down deep in my muscle and never forget. My mind was attentive, yet slowly drifting. The purpose of that particular exercise eluded me, but I continued on as minutes pass to hours. I think to myself, "maybe I'm not that into this kind of musical situation."
"Jazz" is however an extremely beautiful music, undefined really by any understanding of the men and women who play it. We know it swings, and we know there are elements of improvisation. I am always watching others in the hallways talk about what "The Jazz" is to them and I've come to realize (I think) what the heck they are talking about. They can't be talking about the set picture perfect reference of Jazz. I think these musicians are talking about what they love about the music they play. "Jazz is a slowly smoked cigarette and a drummer who puts four on the floor!", "Jazz is a shout chorus of trumpets!", "Jazz is what you feel when you put on a Miles Davis album!".
It suddenly occurred to me that I had been in the wrong place all along. All any musician wants to do is find their "Jazz", and I knew for certain mine was a wet field full of men in skirts. That feeling that separates when we are working and when we are playing as musicians. You work hard to hone your skills in an attempt to create something beautiful in a performance or on a recording. That makes sense to me. "You do the work" as my private instructor Blaine would say, "you receive the benefits".
From now on when I sit down to write or practice a rudimental exercise for Pipe Band I know that I am putting in the work that needs to be done in order to create something great down the road. Sometimes it makes me feel impatient, but when I remember what my short time in music school has taught me, I know there is some equivalency down the line. Some time to play my heart out. There will always be time for that, you've just got to figure out what plays most to you. I would take the epic clamor of a badass 6/8 march with pipes and drums any day over the sounds of some quiet artsy form of percussion. I could listen forever to the sounds of Jeff Mangum's lyrical and melodic ideas. I couldn't bare to hear over an hour or two modal trumpet solo. Music is very personal, and it took this year for me to figure out just how personal it is. I just have to keep seeking out my own "Jazz".
Just keep in mind that you cannot find "The Jazz".
"The Jazz", however, will always find you.
-Chris
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Swinging
Yup, swinging, the old fashioned kind. You know, where you get on a swing, give yourself a real good push and then start pumping with your legs until you are flying high! I had a neat dream about swinging last night...I was on the ground, watching, and the College of Piping's previous Director, Scott MacAulay, was swinging high above me. I recall that he had a big smile on his face...he seemed happy. I woke up happy, thinking about the doc, Drummerboyz. Somehow I think Scott's happy that I'm making it. After all, it was he who stepped up to me at Jeremy White's wedding in August 2007, in the shadow of the beautiful William Critchlow Harris Indian River Church, and suggest to me that 'if I wanted to go to film school in Vancouver, I should go. That a year may seem like a long time, but that it really wasn't, in the overall big scheme of things.'
Scott had likely spent a lot of time by then pondering the overall big scheme of things. He was a man who knew the value of a year. He passed away just over twelve months later. There's something about time...you just can't stop it. You grow, your kids grow, people pass on. Things pass on. Watching your kid compete at Highland Games practically every weekend all summer long passes on.
But long after, in the midst of winter, when you have a space heater tucked under your computer desk so at least your knees don't freeze, you remember. You remember the smell of the overheated brownish summer grass and dried mud. You recall the sounds of happy people, enjoying their weekend away from the office, cheering on the local pipe bands. Somewhere in the midst of the cacophony of drums and bagpipes you pick out the fine tones of a great pipe band. The bagpipes carry the tune, elegantly, serenely...and then you remember the drums...like a heartbeat, steady and true. You recall Andre, the Triumph Street lead tip, leaning his head over just so, listening to his fine young corps develop their skill as he picks out the parts that need work, or are just fine, after months of practice. You close your eyes and you can almost hear the bands, the pipes, the drums. You remember listening to the College win the North Americans in Grade Four, a few years back. You watched them at Worlds, competing in Grade 3B in 2007, with the warm Scots rain sloshing over your sandal clad toes. You thank God for people like Triumph Street's Andre, who take the time to develop young talent, and who have the guts to demand perfection. You thank God for people like the College's Scott, who built an organization that fed your kid's soul, and allowed the son of a single Mom into the Doug and Debbie Hall program (free drumming lessons!) so he could learn a skill that continues to urge him into the confident young man he's becoming. You thank God for those old summer weekends, when Scott was still around and Andre was waiting in the wings, and you sat on the side of the competition field in awe as you discovered the incredible music of the 'Pipe Band.' Still, today, there is awe, as I remember...
As I close, I will also thank the powers that be for youtube, because it is there I can call forth the music once again, the tunes of proud kilted musicians. One day, I will see and hear them as part of Drummerboyz, the doc I'm making this summer. This is the reason for the doc - to stop time in its tracks. I just wish Scott could have been here to see it - I think he'd be real proud.
Susan :)
aka filmmaker and Mom
Scott had likely spent a lot of time by then pondering the overall big scheme of things. He was a man who knew the value of a year. He passed away just over twelve months later. There's something about time...you just can't stop it. You grow, your kids grow, people pass on. Things pass on. Watching your kid compete at Highland Games practically every weekend all summer long passes on.
But long after, in the midst of winter, when you have a space heater tucked under your computer desk so at least your knees don't freeze, you remember. You remember the smell of the overheated brownish summer grass and dried mud. You recall the sounds of happy people, enjoying their weekend away from the office, cheering on the local pipe bands. Somewhere in the midst of the cacophony of drums and bagpipes you pick out the fine tones of a great pipe band. The bagpipes carry the tune, elegantly, serenely...and then you remember the drums...like a heartbeat, steady and true. You recall Andre, the Triumph Street lead tip, leaning his head over just so, listening to his fine young corps develop their skill as he picks out the parts that need work, or are just fine, after months of practice. You close your eyes and you can almost hear the bands, the pipes, the drums. You remember listening to the College win the North Americans in Grade Four, a few years back. You watched them at Worlds, competing in Grade 3B in 2007, with the warm Scots rain sloshing over your sandal clad toes. You thank God for people like Triumph Street's Andre, who take the time to develop young talent, and who have the guts to demand perfection. You thank God for people like the College's Scott, who built an organization that fed your kid's soul, and allowed the son of a single Mom into the Doug and Debbie Hall program (free drumming lessons!) so he could learn a skill that continues to urge him into the confident young man he's becoming. You thank God for those old summer weekends, when Scott was still around and Andre was waiting in the wings, and you sat on the side of the competition field in awe as you discovered the incredible music of the 'Pipe Band.' Still, today, there is awe, as I remember...
As I close, I will also thank the powers that be for youtube, because it is there I can call forth the music once again, the tunes of proud kilted musicians. One day, I will see and hear them as part of Drummerboyz, the doc I'm making this summer. This is the reason for the doc - to stop time in its tracks. I just wish Scott could have been here to see it - I think he'd be real proud.
Susan :)
aka filmmaker and Mom
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Starting Line
You certainly seem large...
My name is Chris.
What else is there to say at this point? I'm going to be logging my every thought in here from now on? Is that healthy? Does it matter? Questions, questions, questions...
Anyway, I'm a drummer.
Nice to meet you...
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Words of Encouragement
Hi World! Hi Drummerboyz!
Sam and Christopher, this is your blog, guys. Have fun with it. We want the world to get to know you guys, to have a little introduction into your realities before they get to see you in Drummerboyz. So have some fun, post some pics, vids, songs, whatever you feel like sharing. Get to know each other again, and tell us a bit about what's important to you, what's going on in your lives. How do you feel about being the subjects of a Feature Documentary? That's gotta be kinda exciting, and maybe a little scary, too, putting yourselves out there like that, especially in front of the Pipe Band world, which I know is of utmost importance to you guys. It's important to me, too - you guys have something I don't - the ability to drum in a pipe band! But I have something you don't - I get to watch you guys in competition, and I've been able to watch y'all grow up in this awesome world. Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to watch you grow up just a little bit more - cause ya know, you guys are on the brink - you're not kids anymore. You're moving on, to a world with responsibilities, independence, a newfound freedom of sorts. And I'm lucky enough to be able to record this next phase of your lives, as Christopher goes off to Worlds with Triumph Street, and slugs it out in Vancouver, figuring out his next step in a city where gunshots can be fired less than a kilometre away from your home (yes, that happened to us three times while I lived in Coquitlam with Christopher last year), while Sam makes choices that will reflect on the rest of his life - school? Drumming? What's next? How important is it to chase your dreams?
Only you guys can answer these questions. Thanks for taking me along for the ride.
Susan Rodgers
Mom and Filmmaker
Sam and Christopher, this is your blog, guys. Have fun with it. We want the world to get to know you guys, to have a little introduction into your realities before they get to see you in Drummerboyz. So have some fun, post some pics, vids, songs, whatever you feel like sharing. Get to know each other again, and tell us a bit about what's important to you, what's going on in your lives. How do you feel about being the subjects of a Feature Documentary? That's gotta be kinda exciting, and maybe a little scary, too, putting yourselves out there like that, especially in front of the Pipe Band world, which I know is of utmost importance to you guys. It's important to me, too - you guys have something I don't - the ability to drum in a pipe band! But I have something you don't - I get to watch you guys in competition, and I've been able to watch y'all grow up in this awesome world. Thanks for letting me have the opportunity to watch you grow up just a little bit more - cause ya know, you guys are on the brink - you're not kids anymore. You're moving on, to a world with responsibilities, independence, a newfound freedom of sorts. And I'm lucky enough to be able to record this next phase of your lives, as Christopher goes off to Worlds with Triumph Street, and slugs it out in Vancouver, figuring out his next step in a city where gunshots can be fired less than a kilometre away from your home (yes, that happened to us three times while I lived in Coquitlam with Christopher last year), while Sam makes choices that will reflect on the rest of his life - school? Drumming? What's next? How important is it to chase your dreams?
Only you guys can answer these questions. Thanks for taking me along for the ride.
Susan Rodgers
Mom and Filmmaker
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