Joshua Van Tassel

Started with Josh Cockerill today, it’s a whole lot of fun so far. We need to get some more x’s on this chart but we’re getting there. More soon…

Devon Henderson on drums, one night only, one song. He said it was the best birthday present he’s ever been given. Awwwww….

This is a picture of the nicest sounding drum set I’ve ever played on. 1942, all calf skin heads, handmade rosewood lugs, beautiful wood hoops. Someone brought it into the place I teach for some repairs, and Ryan from Soul Drums did an amazing job making this beautiful looking instrument sound as good as it should. It’s funny, as drummers we’re always on the look out for vintage gear and bragging about that sweet “super old” 60′s snare drum we just found on craigslist, and then complaining about how hard it is to carry such a vintage instrument without beating it up ( even though we hit it really hard with all manner of sticks/brushes/mallets/spoons/etc). I used to feel bad for myself, then I talked to a cellist who has an instrument old enough and expensive enough that if she doesn’t buy a seat for it on the plane when she flies, her insurance company won’t insure it. That’s vintage shit for sure. Like over 200 years old vintage.
Playing tonight with Josh Cockerill at Not My Dog, and as usual, if you read this and come down, a beer is yours from me. Before that though Joel is coming over to help me try and make music that doesn’t suck. It’s going to be fun.

I love looping and sounds and playing lots of fun instruments, but this is pretty out of control. Plus I’m nowhere near that cute.

Time has been escaping me lately, or not coming to me at all, one or the other, hence the lack of posting. I spent a whole lot of time sitting and waiting to get a replacement health card because of a soulless individual who stole my wallet a while back. Here’s what I did for about 2 hours –

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Thrilling isn’t it? The fact that Canadians get free health care for the most part is pretty awesome though, I gotta say.
My roommates and I also re-arranged the space we live in and it feels real good.

You should come over and have coffee with me.
Played a really fun gig with the Outlanders last night. They’re always fun though, who am I trying to kid. The only not fun part was when 3 drunk meat heads took it upon themselves to comment on pretty much everything that was happening or being said. Remind me to find out where they do their work, so to their office with a case of Steamwhistle, and talk shit all afternoon about how what they do isn’t a real job and they should just give it up. No one loves you, please stop talking.
Lots of stuff this week, recordng the rest of Cockerill’s record and playing some shows Thursday at Not my Dog and Gate 403 with the aforementioned Outlanders on Friday. Our bass player Bret just got back from touring with the Great Lake Swimmers, and we’re excited, so come share the love.

Interesting night. The Outlanders played at the Luminato Festival Gala opening at the National Ballet Center, and I think it went well. I think. We played well and we had fun, but it’s so hard to tell at events like that if people are enjoying what you;re doing, don’t care what you’re doing, or just want you to stop what you’re doing. I think I have a tendency to over think about a crowd before I play, in terms of should I come out guns blazing, should I try and ease into things, etc. The Outlanders team sort of cleared that up for me last night, summary being in those cases we’ve been hired to play by someone who has seen us do our thing, they know what we’re about and that’s why we’re there so just do it. Fair enough.
Pre show the led us to a green room downstairs to wait to play in a couple hours. That was totally fine, except for the fact that we weren’t allowed to leave the green room. At all. I find it a bit curious and almost sad that an arts festival doesn’t want the artists featured in the festival to be able to communicate at an event where there’s other artists and people that could benefit from communicating with each other. Make sense? Here’s the fuzz that was guarding our basement dwelling gates.

And here’s a glamor shot of the Festiva and some classy posing. I think I saw women with shoes more expensive then my car.

….what the word Zildjian means.
Zil - Turkish for “cymbal” or “bell”
dij – “builder”
ian – “son of”

Based on this logic, let’s look at Van Tassel.

Van – a large cargo or passenger carrying vehicle, usually bad on gas and breaking down regularly
T - a refreshing or sometimes calming hot drink
ass – a donkey
el – found in front of the word “El Salvador”.
Conclusion? I’m a central American hot drink loving mule with a gas problem. Nowhere near as cool as being a cymbal builder.
I have a friend who is a complete guitar/bass wizard and is completely capable of fixing any problem his instrument may cause, and also identifying that not original Bubinga wood piece on the back of your whatever year guitar. He’s inspired me to at least learn a bit of history about the tools I use on a daily basis. The book I’m reading is a history of the Zildjian family, and it’s pretty fascinating. Lots of lies, explosions, and great drummers, all the components of a good thriller I’d say.

and I was looking at this picture from Manchester

and making this.

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Just the first part but I have some other stuff to go with it. And I need some help and I know exactly who to call which is a good feeling. Lucky to have a bunch of freaks around me who love to make music and have fun.

Speaking of freaks and fun, I’m playing with young Mr. Cockerill at the Dakota tonight. It’ll be the full band including my own personal hero and possible man crush Burke Carrol on the pedal steel. He’s a super freak of Rick James proportions. See you tonight? If you read this and show up because of it I’ll get you a drink, how’s that sound?

So I’m making some stuff. My friend Kate has a ukulele and I wanted to try and get that sound with my little guitar, so here it kind of is.

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I had a good breakfast yesterday with some super talented friends who are both very good actors and great people. We had a super interesting conversation about improv comedy and music performance, and how closely the 2 are related. Both require some split second decision making, team work, and lots of imagination. They’re both dangerous art forms to perform in, and the chances of failure are always so high, and I guess that’s part of what makes it so exciting. We also had a neat conversation about why this individual doesn’t like seeing live music at all, which to me is always fascinating when you’re in a related arts field.

Lots of shows this week, playing tonight at the Local on Ronscevalles, a word that’s really hard to spell and i don’t know if I did it right. Regardless of it’s silent letters, I love the neighborhood and it should be fun.

Back to work.

It warmed my little heart a bit. Tomorrow is June 1st, and I’m going to get back to regular opinion sharing and music making. I’ve been busy but that’s just not going to be a good enough excuse anymore. See you in the morning, this time I mean it….