Archive for February, 2008
Would you like soup with your sandwich?
Posted on | February 28, 2008 | No Comments
Now we know how those Subway sandwich maker people always remember to ask us whether we want soup with our sandwich! They have a sign behind the counter.
Only today, they had accidentally turned it the wrong way…
Seen today on Bloor Street.
Commented bookmarks for February 27th, 2008
Posted on | February 27, 2008 | No Comments
Bookmarks for the last few days:
- Jokes For Nerds: “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” And Other Pop Songs Expressed With Graphs – Tee hee. These are fabulous 'illustrations' of pop songs.
- MySpace.com – Dwayne Morgan – CA – Neo-soul / House / Jazz – www.myspace.com/dwaynemorgan – An excellent poet… "The Sum of Her Parts" is fantastic.
- Salubrion Enso Clock – This is a very cool looking countdown timer for meditation and yoga use – uses a gentle chime sound. Also works as an alarm clock. Maybe it's a bit too expensive.
Realistic bunnies
Posted on | February 25, 2008 | No Comments
Some things seem to invite sarcasm. The price tag on these bunnies – seen at a Toronto pharmacy today – bills them as ‘realistic.’
Because, you know, they’re not pink or blue, and they’re made by a company called EARTHRITE…
Valentine’s Day is over, Easter is almost here – and retailers all over the world are ushering in the springtime with realistic bunnies.
To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else. (Emily Dickinson)
Commented bookmarks for February 21st, 2008
Posted on | February 21, 2008 | No Comments
Bookmarks for the last few days:
- The Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Toronto – "There are a variety of vegetarian restaurants which have sprouted up in neighbourhoods across Toronto. Here are some of the best."
- The Best Brunch in Toronto – "Brunching in Toronto is a serious weekend pastime and we all have our favourite hidden gems, or line-up-out-the-door destinations that we swear serve the best eggs benny, french toast or home fries in the city."
- The Best Music Store in Toronto – Nice interview with the owner of Sounscapes on College Street. Great store.
- The Best Bookstores in Toronto – BlogTO's list of best independent bookstores in Toronto.
Huntsville graffiti
Posted on | February 21, 2008 | No Comments
Okay, these aren’t really graffiti. They’re mural copies of famous Group of Seven artworks in downtown Huntsville, Ontario.
Am I the friendly blogger?
Posted on | February 21, 2008 | 1 Comment
Apparently, I’m the friendly blogger. This is because, whenever I write a review, I have mostly good things to say about my subject. Those of you who know me will perhaps be skeptical about this: I’m crusty and argumentative at the best of times, so reading my positive blog posts may seem out of character.
So I thought I’d quickly provide some context. I’m writing this blog because I like thinking and talking about culture (music, mostly), and I like to showcase and reflect on the things that I like. My reviews are more recommendations than ‘reviews’ – I’d like to think they are conscious of whatever idiosyncracies may be present in what I’m writing about, but ultimately, I’m saying, “Listen to this,” or “See this.”
This blog is a series of entries documenting a personal journey but not of the ‘personal journal’ kind. I’m not sure that I want to write a blog full of the things that I did every day (“Today, I had breakfast with…” or “My stomach was upset today after eating too much broccoli.”). I write about what pleases me, what I find remarkable, interesting or challenging. I write about things I believe others should hear, see or read.
Since I have almost no readership (according to Google Analytics), I also have to assume that almost nobody actually reads this, so we should be good :)
My blog fulfills a psychological purpose for me: I like to write and I crave the opportunity to editorialize about things. I also like putting some mindful, focused time into appreciating, or thinking about, something properly and with the care it deserves. In that way, Teabowl may be a meditation of sorts.
Listening to: Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City
Posted on | February 20, 2008 | No Comments
Dave Matthews, particularly with the Dave Matthews Band, isn’t recognized enough for his songcraft. It gets lost under the weight of popular perception about Dave’s music, live shows and achievements: touring jam band, incredible musicianship, big sound, long shows, lots of dope smoked at every show, generally appealing to those who once followed the Grateful Dead (how those two were connected I’ve never understood). Dave’s songs also get lost a little because people say they don’t understand what his lyrics are about, and perhaps because the songs have a certain tentative complexity of rhythm and melody – a quality that makes them sound experimental but that’s actually very planned, calculated and predictable.
I’m a dedicated listener to DMB, regardless of whether it’s their studio or live records. I also tend to order all of their Live Trax releases, which are only available from the Dave Matthews Band website. And while I appreciate the bigness and crispness of the band’s sound (Stefan Lessard’s phenomenally powerful and groovy bass, Carter Beauford’s tight and tireless drums, LeRoi Moore’s muscular saxophone, Boyd Tinsley’s sweet violin and Dave’s acoustic folk guitar that somehow glues it all together), I also love Dave’s songs in their lyrical craziness and melodic, fearless musical invention (he sounds like so many singer/songwriters we know, yet completely unique, all at the same time). Dave’s songs are love songs, sad songs, happy songs, crazy party songs; songs about women, history, life, being on the road and alternate life outcomes. It’s a canon of work as varied, strange, richly developed and textured as many other great songwriters’ – Springsteen, Dylan, Paul Simon, James Taylor.
Live at Radio City, like the earlier Live at Luther College, is that rare Dave Matthews live record that leaves all the musical pyrotechnics at home and foregrounds just the songs. Tim Reynolds, Dave’s long-standing acoustic live cohort, is certainly an excellent guitar player and shines in the acoustic solos here (and, of course, Dave himself is also an under-recognized master of the acoustic guitar, providing pulsing, driving rhythms). But this is about the songs, proving that they can hang together beautifully without 15-minute jams, create their own strange poetry and be compelling, even if you don’t really always know what they’re about.
Favourites for me are “Gravedigger” with its embedded nursery rhyme, a beautiful cover version of Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker” (which is of course also incredible in full DMB live regalia), and “Crush,” to name but a few of many. Over the years, Dave’s voice has begun to sound more and more like Peter Gabriel’s in tone and timbre – it has a dark and quiet but clear command of the musical space set up by the song. It’s an expressive and instantly recognizable voice (like Sting’s or Phil Collins’) that doesn’t really fit into any specific genre. Much like Dave Matthews himself doesn’t fit into any genre, I suppose. Maybe he creates his own.
I can’t really recommend this ‘acoustic’ set strongly enough. It’s best heard together with Live at Luther College because it provides a continuation of sorts – old songs versus new songs, old sound versus new. I could sometimes do without the talking between songs (strangely, Dave – writer and singer of such deeply intelligent songs – doesn’t sound either witty or particularly bright in his ‘announcements’…) but that’s a very minor drawback.
keep looking »
Recent Posts on Changebowl, Carsten’s other blog- Playing around with Ontario electoral geography August 11, 2010
- HelTweetica for iPad July 20, 2010
- Facebook privacy & digital NIMBY July 19, 2010
- What we can learn from gear porn May 31, 2010
- Are creativity and intellectual property rights inversely proportional? May 27, 2010
- Comparing the tech giants May 2, 2010
- Corporate applications and content on smartphones March 21, 2010
About
Carsten Knoch
Attentive music listener, reader, vegetarian, affordable audio hobbyist, software and services professional, vision enabler, instigator, product manager, marketer, thinker, writer, blogger, tinkerer, Internet dweller since 1992
Teabowl is my blog about music, vegetarian food, books, art and life.
Teabowl's sister blog Changebowl discusses technology, community, design and business.
