Last Day of August

Announcing some changes at Inside Randall's Pocket.

I can no longer post something everyday. For me personally, that is a good thing because it means I am getting steady work. I also do not want to be one of those people that's all about their blog and everything else is secondary.

Though it is a very nice feeling that people read it, I don't want to be known as that guy with the blog.

This does not mean it's finished. It just means that it will be more quality news than quantity. I'm very busy over the next few months and so are my friends on the scene here. I get so much joy out of broadcasting their good fortune as much as mine.

So I would like to thank everyone that checks in on the regular and encourage you to continue doing so.

Thanks everyone so much for the support.

Randall.

Emmy Awards Highlight (The One)

In my opinion, the Emmy's SUCKED last night.

It started off with a Jimmy Fallon glee spin off. The only problem is, he already did one on his late night talk show, which was better.

The next thing to happen was Neil Patrick Harris got ROBBED of his best supporting actor Emmy. Nothing against the Modern Family guy, but he wasn't really supporting anything on the show. The Barney Stinson character pretty much saved How I Met Your Mother this year.

Then they gave awards out to a whole bunch of made-for-tv movies and miniseries. That's the stuff I tune in to watch for. Wow. Gripping.

But somewhere amidst all of that, Jimmy Fallon paid tribute to some show that had their final seasons this year. It was good, though I thought he stretched a little too far on the Boyz II Men bit.

Here it is, the only thing I liked in the whole show:

Flu Fridays

No post today due to illness.

More Charity with Thompson

Playing last night with Thompson was amazing. It's nice to know that when you play with someone for a while, it doesn't get lost. What I appreciate most about Thompson is that he can call pretty much anyone he wants, but like myself, believes in continuity. I know that's what makes our chemistry great when we play. Unfortunately, it's a philosophy that is not employed by many musicians anymore. Fortunately I know enough great players that can count on me.

In other news, the producers of "Listen to This," the movie that we recorded some songs for, liked some of them so much they decided to include more of them into the TV version of the movie.

And finally, I will be playing an event during the Toronto International Film Festival. It is Cinema Against Aids Toronto 2010. Read up on it. More to come later.

Thompson's Back. TIFF News

Tonight I'm playing with Thompson for the first time since January. I wonder how my upright chops are. I'm going to give a test run this afternoon and then push forward with it.

In other news, Thompson said we may have something big in the works for TIFF. We'll see how that shakes out.

Slakah's Documentary

Let's recap. I love Slakah's Soul Movement Volume One CD. It's a great album that I had on the ipod at work with regularity. Then I got to play with Slakah in Detroit which was awesome. That's when he played the Slakadeliqs project for me and I really loved that. Then I told him I wanted to play for the Slakadeliqs and he almost made it happen last May. I had a really important wedding to attend and could not miss it. Such is life.

He also has a blog he updates once in a while. Check out this incredible documentary about the man they call Slakah.

Also, request his song "What's This Feeling" on Flow 93.5 because if you're listening to that station, you might as well be listening to good music.

Working with Ade Again

My wife had an opportunity I couldn't pass up. It is to put the music together for a video look book. A video look book is kind of like a short film that involves a model showing off the designers goods. In this case it would be Dean Davidson and his jewellery.

There is only one person I would call for this. Ade.

For those who don't know, Adrian is my genius producer friend. The way he sees things in a musical sense is really quite incredible.

So after some back and forth, he put together something after I sent him some files to go from. It's amazing and the project would be crazy to reject it.

Life gets in the way of a lot of crap. I'm glad we're still able to work together. It's the most fun, and the best work.

Too Many Birthdays

Happy birthday to my sister who celebrates her birthday on Sunday. There are way too many birthdays for me to celebrate in August. Maybe that's why it's such a fun month.

So You Want To Be A Musician

Thompson posted this on his Facebook and I thought it should be shared. I would like to note that Thompson is not like this dude, he really does take care of his guys.

GREEN DAY TONIGHT!!

The greatest trio of all time is RUSH. All arguments will not be listened to. However, if one wants to put in a bid for Green Day to be second best all time, I will listen.

I remember going to see them at the Coliseum, which I believe is now called the Ricoh Center for their Dookie Tour in 1994.

My brother has seen them twice. My cousins have seen them. And tonight two of my best friends are going to see them for the first time. I'm so happy for them.

I remember going and hearing this song for the first time, thinking about how much more ass it kicked then the stuff on Dookie, and promptly went out to buy the disc, or tape it off my brother. Once again it was so long ago that CD burning wasn't even that big then, forget about mp3s.

Enjoy.

Champions

Last night my hockey team won the championship. Though I am the worst player on the team, (all of the players are B or C level, I'm a D or E level) I managed to put in a couple key goals.

For my first goal I was in front of the net creating traffic when one of our B level players decided to use his NHL calibre slap shot. It caught me in the stomach, and deflected in a high arc over the helpless goalie into the net. It hurt.

Here's the welt left on my stomach from that shot:

The second goal involved this same player who led me with a pass. I caused the defenceman to over persue me and I used his body as a screen when I unleashed my own rocket of a shot and beat the goalie five hole.

Here's the box score from my best ever game as a player.

I would like to thank my team because though they are way better than me, they brought me along and I'm sure I'm going to be a lot better when I go back to my winter team.

Monday the 16th

I had a great time rehearsing with the Fyahorns yesterday. It's more about the quality time afterwards, usually involving beer, and food. This time we had Chinese, and no beer. It was getting late and we had work in the morning.

I am looking forward to the session on Saturday.

Friday the 13th

This weekend I have a session with the Fyahorns. I love hanging with them but most importantly I'm unveiling the new bass. Andrew Stewart did some work on it for me and I can't wait to hear how it sounds with a whole band going. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

This Family Robinson

Lots of people know Marsha. When it comes to worship at the church I used to attend regularly, she was royalty. No one did it better. She'll be the first to tell you that she is not the most talented, and she is correct in that assessment. She'll also tell you that she doesn't care about skills because she's not thinking about that when she's praising God. She is also correct in that assessment. There was something special whenever she got up there. Playing behind her was easy, and it was an honour to do so.

Her husband Ryan is special to me as well. He always brought the energy and the fire to every service. I had no excuse not to give my best effort because it would show. And he could sing too. It wasn't featured as much but he could get it done. Then one day he was gone. I don't really know what happened, they tend to keep things really hush hush at church. If you ask "Where's Ryan?" you get a generic answer like "He's gone." Well duh. Some of the ministers haven't even realized yet that I don't play there anymore.

Which brings me to this project I was mentioning yesterday. I cannot wait to hear Ryan do his thing again. He came over and dropped some bed tracks for me once and they were incredible. But most importantly, he's a class guy and deserved more credit for his skills and hard work he gave for all those years.

I'm going to post the Christmas video again because many people liked it. Marsha is in the first tune, and Ryan is in the last tune. Oh the memories.....

This Riddim Tim Guy

Last Sunday I went to Jazzy's birthday party. It was an honour to attend as she is on the shortlist of best friends I have.

I was talking to her husband Tim, also a bassist, about a project he was working on. I don't even know if it has a name, but for people that read my blog and know him, Ryan Robinson is most likely going to be a part this project (more on that tomorrow). I really really hope that comes to fruition.

People will probably ask me, why are you throwing names out there. What if it is all hype and the project fizzles. I have three answers for you.

1. It is not hype. This is a real project and it is HOT!!!
2. The project will sizzle, not fizzle.
3. God, gospel, and Toronto need this project.

So if you see Tim or Ryan, fire them up a little because though they don't necessarily need convincing, support is always appreciated. Drop Tim a line on Facebook or on his MySpace.

The Role of Hockey

Last night I found myself in an unfamiliar position while I was playing hockey. I had to be the agitator/enforcer. I have never gotten a single penalty since I started playing. But we're one game away from the championship and the other team started to get chippy. Actually they got really chippy a week prior.

The last game one of their players took me out hard with a slash followed by a charge because we were kicking their ass on the scoreboard. This play really damaged my thumb and I found it really hard to grasp a guitar the next day.

So this week I even looked back at two of my team mates on the ice and said that as soon as one of their guys sticks me I'm going to retaliate and make something of it. I couldn't risk one of our good players being kicked out for the championship final. It was a risk I was going to have to take.

As soon as one of their players sticked me I retaliated and it was on. I had no intention of fighting or anything but I guess the referees didn't know that. Once the perpetrator and myself started tussling I dropped my stick so I wouldn't hurt him. Apparently that's not a wise thing to do and I was warned that if I dropped my gloves there were repercussions.

But it worked.

The other team was focused on swearing at me the whole game. The refs were focused their attention on penalties, and when I explained to the official why I did it, they were cool.

And nobody got hurt.

Despicable Me

Saturday I decided to go to see Despicable Me with my wife and a friend of ours. All I kept hearing about was "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!"

I was surprised by how good the movie was. Pharrell did some of the score and it was fabulous. The storyline was both unexpected and cliche.

I'm a big fan of the supervillainry and the co-inciding plot lines that were introduced in this film. It was for this reason I enjoyed it more than Toy Story 3, though that was special too.

Here's the part everyone's talking about.

Happy Birthday Jazzy.

It's time for another birthday shout out!! Like the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, my friend's name is Jazz. Anyway, she is responsible for me playing hockey, and keeping my head on straight. All while having her own kids and doing her own thing. That's what makes a good friend. Anyway, welcome to your fourth decade Jazzy and here's to it being better than the first three.

My Dad's Birthday

Today is my dad's birthday. This is a day I usually go over and make a big deal out of it but this year feels real different. I don't even know where he is at the moment. All I know is that he is on vacation with my mom somewhere, hopefully having a great day. I don't even remember how old he is turning. I guess I'll have to ask him when he gets home. Since I have a couple weeks, I have time to decide what to get him.

This is definitely feeling strange.

Caribana

I love the idea of Caribana. I don't like everything that goes on, but I love the fact that these little island countries have a lot of pride. I always thought Guyana was in South America but I guess Rand McNally hasn't been to Caribana.

It was brought to my attention that a couple of my cousins were going to be dancing in the Caribana parade. I really wanted to go see them but I had to work. They were gracious enough to lend me some pictures for my blog.

I believe the first one here are my cousins right before they went to Glow. Glow is a big Caribana tradition in Toronto where all the attendees wear white. As you can see, the ladies are decked out in their home whites. They would not be let in if they were not wearing them. It is always a big event with many unannounced soca stars blazing up the stage. I'm thankful there were a shot from the shoulders up because these ladies looked a little too good for Inside Randall's Pocket.

This is one of my favourite parts of Caribana. The costumes. A lot of preparation goes into them and they look fabulous. Here are exhibits A and B. I really should have asked them how long it took them to get ready. I really did want to see them in the parade. I tried watching online at CityPulse24.com while I was at work, but I didn't know what colour their team (for lack of a better word) was.

Here are some final thoughts about Caribana. I don't think I'll ever find my way back down to the parade ever again. It's just too crowded and I'm not up for paying $20 for a slice of watermelon. Maybe one day I'll share the story of how I saved my niece from a stampede at the Caribana parade one year and we became really close after that. Also, where was Machel Montano this year. I didn't really hear anything about him. Is he finished?

Catching Up

Because of weeks dedicated to Rush and Steve Nash, there are some things to catch up on. The job with SoJay went really well. It turned out to be a birthday party. That meant delicious food, free drinks, and the highlight of course: getting the birthday boy up to sing a rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good."

By the way, everyone should own that track. So go buy it. Nina Simone - "Feeling Good." You can thank me afterwards.

Flu Fridays

No blog post today due to illness.

Civic Holiday

Due to the Civic holiday in Ontario, Canada, Inside Randall's Pocket will be at his in-laws eating for three hours straight, and then playing in the hockey playoffs later that night.

Thank you.