Joshua Van Tassel

I went to do some disco dancing last night in Dundas Square, but just ended up hanging out, having some Tankhouse, and recording some sounds. I’m a pretty bad dancer anyway, and I’d look goofy in an afro wig. Here’s a whole bunch of people get up to get down.

photo credit - Trevor Hughes via Luminato website

Here’s a little heartwarming tale for everyone on a rainy kind of Tuesday.

I recently did a tour of the maritimes with a great guy named David Myles, and while I was there I obviously needed some drums to play. My good friend and supremely talented drummer Jordi Comstock graciously lent me a beautiful vintage kit that I loved to pieces, and had a great time playing.

What knocked me out especially was the snare drum. 14 inches around and 6 inches deep of good times and sweet old sounds. Now, for those unaware, a good snare drum to most drummer is the equivalent of -

- a type writer to a novelist

- scissors to a hairstylist

- butter to popcorn

You get it. At the end of the tour, I made various attempts to bribe, maim, hypnotize, and generally cajole Jordi into selling me the snare. No dice, he was hanging on to it. Fair enough, it’s beautiful.

Cut to present day, June 10th, approx. 2:35 pm. I come home, Jordi’s snare is in a box on my porch in Toronto. He GAVE it to me. No money, just wanted it to go to someone who was going to play it and love it. So, here’s a public thank you to him, and to my dad who shipped it here better then the UPS could ever pack anything in their entire history of operations.

here’s to wonderful people out there doing great things just because.

I actually immediately played it, literally. I ran downstairs and freaked out.

…to all the people who bought the album this weekend and sent such nice emails. I really appreciate it. It was the most comfortable cd release party in a while, wear as much or as little as you want, talk as loud as you want while the music’s happening, turn it off if you want, hear a tune over, whatever you wanted to do could be done without embarrassment or shame.

Here’s a tune that didn’t quite make the cut. I had posted some parts of it hear before, but here it is in a somewhat finished form, just so I can feel like we’ve had some closure, and don’t start calling it up in the middle of the night trying to figure out why things just didn’t work. Was it the song? Was it something I said? Who’s really to blame??

Here’ s the sound of a couple hundred people concentrating really hard and getting a group dance lesson in Yonge/Dundas Square last night for the first night of the Luminato festival.  Everyone looked very happy and focused, it was nice.

The square looks like the inside on the outside, which is always confusing/interesting.

Right now.

Right here.

Let me know if you’re into it.

Or if you’re not for that matter. Enjoy.

Thanks for coming by as usual……

My bag was making what I thought was a really interesting sound while walking today. I got it home really excited and now I just don’t know what to do with it. I just don’t know.
It’s like the feeling of getting a new shirt; when you’re at the store you’ve convinced yourself how much better life is going to be with the purchase of that shirt. You try it on, you feel like a new man/woman.
You go to the cashier without looking at the price, it doesn’t matter this is the completion of your life and your happiness we’re dealing with, and you pay wth whatever credit card can feasibly hold it til next pay day.
All the way home you’re giddy, you can’t wait to get to the mirror to try it on again, and maybe even wear it out that night to meet that special someone or do that special thing.
You do end up wearing it that night. Your friends l o v e it on you. Where did you get it? Oooohhhhh, I’ll have to go myself.
You are happy and full. Then, the next day you wake up and look at the shirt on the floor next to your bed and realize it’s just another shirt. It’s not new anymore. Just another ……shirt……
That’s how I feel about this sound right now, just another sound….

Every Sunday this month I’m doing a weekly gig at the Tranzac at 730. Last night was the first night of it, and Joanna Borremeo and Devon Henderson both came down to have some fun. And that’s what it’s about.
Were lots of people there watching? Did we make lots of money? No and definitely no. But we had a lot of fun. We were talking about the whole idea of “playing music” and how it’s called playing because it’s fun and should be enjoyed, and sooo many of us who are musicians forget that and get completely caught up in the business end of things. I’m not trying to under value a good business sense, I’m just saying if we all took some more play time with music and our lives in general, we’d probably be happier people. Anyway, we’ll be there being happy every Sunday this month, so come by if you’re in the neighborhood. Here’s a clip from last night - -