Joshua Van Tassel

(on facebook? go to www.joshuavt.com for the video)

(on facebook? go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)

(on facebook? go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)

I haven’t paid much attention to music videos in the past while, but this one made me laugh, and it’s a great song. Young love…..

(on facebook? go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post.)

Been a while since I’ve had my things set up, but today was the day. Gave myself 45 minutes to make about a one minute piece that had to have electronic and acoustic elements to it. Not my best work but gets the wheels turning, the juices flowing, the legs stretching, etc….

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(on facebook? Go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)

That you find a 9mil hand gun in your back yard. This came from a good friend of mine who lives close to queen west. Sometimes a big city can feel like a big scary place.

(on facebook? go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)

Saturday mornings are for thinking and coffee drinking. I’ve been thinking about trying to take guitar playing a little more seriously lately so I can actually communicate ideas to other humans without nervously trying to fumble through a start stop rendition of a piece. SO. Practice time! Books nowadays are very cool and come with sweet play along cds that don’t make me feel so lonely and sad as I practice slow quiet “free strokes with my thumb”. Make no comment.

Also, thinking a lot of seeing Inception last night. It’s so nice to see a beautiful and complex and quite dark movie be the blockbuster hit for the summer.

Been doing lots of great playing this month, but one thing I’m especially excited about is the return of the Outlanders to the Orbit Room for the month of August, every monday night round 10. It’s a band that I’ve always felt I could totally be myself in, musically and otherwise. Come down and hang out with us, and we’ll play songs of heartbreak, hope, and introspection. Call us introspectors? The introspector? Joel and Bret write great intros and great tunes. Never mind. Hope to see you there..

(on facebook?go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)
The libre room in Vancouver is very VERY particular about the volume you play at. They have a really big decibel meter on the bar that’s visible from the stage. When it flashes red, you’re too loud. It makes for a very tense, very quiet show. Headed home today….

(go to www.joshuavt.com for the full post)

Heading off today for an exciting weekend in Vancouver. A really cool group of people called the Atrux Collective are flying me out for a3 nights of shows, improvisations, and recordings with LA keyboardist/trumpeter Clinton Patterson. The Atrux mandate is basically to create circumstances for Canadian and US musicians to meet, connect, and see what happens. I’m really excited for the trip, it’s totally an honour to be brought out to do this kind of thing. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to play some full out improvised shows, and I’m a little nervous about it, but I suppose that just means I care right? Sounds good. I’ll keep the  cymbals splashy and take what photos I can…….