Performance Tonight!

A quick note for the local peeps:

Catch me on stage tonight for the Off The Radar Urban Showcase at the Annex Wreckroom. I'll be on at like ten or ten-thirty.

Check out my Nas review

Hey! Check out my, I mean my cousin's, review of the Nas concert.

http://dopealot.com/2008/05/29/nas-kool-haus/#more-63

Sunset Davies is my cousin. I am not Sunset Davies!!!

The Nothing Mixtape

1. Nothin' to Roll With - Devin the Dude
2. Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New - The Roots
3. All or Nothing - Milli Vanilli
4. Never Done Nothing Like That Before - Supergrass
5. Nothing to Do - The Donnas
6. Ain't Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit - Wu-Tang Clan
7. Nothing of Value - The Pattern
8. Nothing To Do With Me - Stereolab
9. Can't Tell Me Nothing - Kanye West

Sean on the Radio

Hey! Be in a car or at home this Saturday afternoon so you can hear me get interviewed on the radio by Barry Taylor on Edge 102.1 FM. That's a Toronto radio station, but you international cats & kittens can tune in via www.edge.ca

I'll be on at 3:45 PM talking about the new record, the new comic book, and the new lease on life.

Dig it!

What is Paid to Party about?

This Paid to Party record is the culmination of a big research project I undertook for a comic book. You know that I have a cartoon band that I create stories around, and I've got this huge story for them that I have been working on for... oh, it's got to be four years or more. This is going to be a huge thing about love, art, friendship, loyalty, creative vision, and the nature of reality. Sound like a big undertaking, hey? But when I would sit down to write it, I would realize that I still had more living to do.

I like my comics to be silly, but I think that what people respond to about them is the fact that there's a stream of truth that runs through them. Even though the story is going to be over-the-top, the portrayal of the music business has to be believable, being that the mechanics of The Changing Color's business are so central to the story. I have been front-row-centre to the entertainment industry for a long time, thanks to my connections in the Beatle world. I'd read lots and talked to a lot of movers and shakers. I'd even been in the inner circle of a few people who were negotiating record contracts with major labels. But I had to have the direct experience from the band's point of view. I had to know how it all comes together. I had to know about recording, playing shows, going on tour. I had to bridge that knowledge gap between the artist and the label.

At this point, I feel pretty confident that I could manage a band quite successfully if I wasn't so busy being an Artist. And at the end of the day, that's why I don't go be a manager, even though I know I could do it well. I have a calling, I am compelled to do the work that I do, and that right there is the crux of this big story that I'm going to tell with The Changing Color. And Mr. Lollipop. And the Queen, and Arthur Puctenbowler, and maybe even Benny Bunny.

And speaking of Benny Bunny, I am up to page 22 on Benny Bunny On Wheels. I think that the main story is going to be about 36 pages, and the book will be about 48. Man, if this was one of my series books, I would be finished already because those were only twenty pages!

PAID TO PARTY might sound like something boastful, but really it's a statement about how we're naturally supposed to live. We're supposed to experience joy every day and we're supposed to get money from doing what we would have been happy to do for free. I'm just doing my part for this movement that's afoot right now. I have hidden a success manual in the songs on PAID TO PARTY. Some of it was me recollecting struggles that I've been through, and some of it was me setting an intention, much of which has come to pass since I laid it down. The lay-person will enjoy rocking their party with this record. And those who watch The Secret or What the Bleep Do We Know over and over again, who know who Esther Hicks is, or who still believe in Santa Claus will find something special for them woven into it.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE RECORD!!!!!!

Later That Night... (HHK)

New coat!


Hip Hop Karaoke. What a great night out. I went on three times tonight and rocked it each one. There's a bunch of people that go up in there every month and give everything they've got and make it hot: Gersh, Rhino, Kagen, Sherry, V, RaSoul, SplatterMonkey & Sandra, the Wu-Tang boys. And all of the lovely ladies that come out dressed to the nines.



I spent all week rehearsing two songs: COME CLEAN by Jeru the Damaja, and GOLD DIGGER by Kanye West. Both of my appearances were in rapid succession so at the end of the night, several drinks in and shouting along to everything, I was dismayed at my having no further songs in the queue. As the night began to circle in for a landing, I asked Dalia if I might rock one more song. She said she could put me on at the end if I could pick one right away. So it was to be THE HUMPTY DANCE, and it was hot.

Click right here to check out my HHK photo album.

Goings-on

Hamilton was great fun. Congrats to B.A. Johnston on his DVD release! Sean Ward & DJ Human Kebab got a great review on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats message board.

Video shoot last week ruled. Shut the financial district down. Some poor girl nearly crashed her car trying to make a video and drive at the same time.

Manifesto Festival was the bomb. To have all of those acts on one stage... if you grew up with Canadian Rap City when Michael Williams and then Oliver were hosting it, that closing night thing at City Hall had to be like a middle-aged person seeing Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Guess Who, and Rush all on the same bill.

Covering Nuit Blanche for Ed the Sock this weekend. Me, Brandy, and Max Brand. Might we see a certain DJ making a special appearance?

Up and down

There are times that make you feel like right proper rock star, and there are times that remind you that in the grand scheme of things, you ain't but a speck of dust in the breeze. You ever had one of those nights when everything that can go wrong does, and you can't really be upset about it because you're just in awe of the sheer magnitude of the fuckery? That was my night last Thursday at the U.S.S. CD release show. That just made me double my efforts and give an even more slamming performance, but it still took a couple of days to shake it off.

Sunday was a different story. I sat for a photo shoot with Ana Cop (sorry Ana, I don't know how to do the C with the accent-thing on top!), one of the greatest discoveries I've made in ages. She's really good. And I was lucky enough to have her photograph me in... well I don't wanna say what the concept was because the pictures are going to knock you out. But I will say that the abundance of leg and ass was a real treat.

Staying up late

The show's tomorrow. I am so ready. I want it like a vicious cartoon dog wants an exaggerated T-Bone steak, and I will tear it up exactly the same. The energy in the room at rehearsal just blows the roof off!

Weights and fifty minutes of cardio today. That was pretty fun. There's TVs on all of the machines so while everyone else is watching stock quotes, I'm watching cartoons.

Just for kicks, I went to an audition for voice-over work. That would be fun to do once in a while, a voice-over job.

I've been shooting all kinds of great footage and I so badly want to edit it into something fun for the blog and the podcast. I've gotta make time for that.

Sessions - the movie

Yesterday was great fun. I woke up way too late (about one in the afternoon) and booted it across town to go sign a contract that renews my deal with JV Productions. Took the cheque I picked up from that contract signing, put it in the bank, and went downtown. Finally, at long last, replaced the camera that was stolen last summer with a gorgeous new Canon Powershot A550. Raced home with it, checked my email, and then motored over to the recording studio where we were finally getting Tye's parts laid down on the new songs.

Here is a little documentary of the visit to the recording studio!



That movie, and the many more like it that I am going to make, was one of the main reasons why I've been feeling more and more that I needed to hurry up and get a new camera. Next project: new computer!!

rehearsal time

For the last two shows, we have not had any luck securing a rehearsal room to practice for it. We have been using a particular store after it's closed. We go in at night, move the cash register and calculator and fridge magnet display aside to make room for the turntable set-up, plug everything into the store's stereo system, and rock out. We make sure it's late so that the other businesses below, beside, and above the store will not be disturbed, but this week the violin maker upstairs stayed late. We kept hearing him banging around really loudly, and we had to wonder if it was his way of letting us know that he could hear us. So we turned the volume down and became very careful about how loud we were being. But the banging kept up. Human Kebab said that maybe he's just being loud, that it's nothing to do with us. So we turned the volume back up and got back to business.

This show is going to fucking rule. Two new songs in the set!!

High Praise from the Radio Man

So a friend just told me she heard Edge 102 FM plug the show on Thursday... and the guy called me the most talented artist in this city!! That's a nice feather in the cap!