re: 1137

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

continuing with the book "nshaytkin" for you to enjoy, the digital copy.

enjoy.

CB.
ps: click on the image to get it into a readable size!

re: 1136

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here are more pages of my new book "nshaytkin" published by Battery Opera Books. click on the picture to get a full size version to read!!!

re: 1135

Hey lovers, friends, fans and foe,

here's the next instalment of "N'shaytkin: Those that came before us." Writing and researching this book made me realize the roots of our language are at least 10,000 years old. How old is the English language? We found remains just a few hundred feet from my mum's house on the Rez, Kumcheen I.R. #1 that were at least 9600 years old. Those that came before us still are in our blood, our memories our DNA.

It makes me wonder how many times our society rose and fell in that epoch of time. What happened in that incredible length of time? It's amazing to think about. I digress, please, carry on reading, the book started with post # 1133. Enjoy!

Kukstemc,

Chris Bose.
ps: CLICK ON THE IMAGE to make it full size and readable.

re: post 1134

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

here is part II of my book preview for the upcoming publication "N'shaytkin: Those that came before us." My first book of fiction, it's based on traditional N'lakapamux stories told to me by my grannie and grandpa, or Yeah Yah and Spah-puh-luh7 when I was a kid. I never forgot them, the delivery or a lot of details. I started writing this book back in 2016 and I'm not sure how a book deal came about with "Battery Opera Books" but I think I might have sent some of it to David McIntosh (publisher/editor) for feedback. I don't think I had any plans at that time to publish it, I just needed direction, because I had written a script, which is included virtually unchanged, in the book. David thought blending or weaving the two together would be interesting and I just went with it, as I generally do with outside advice.

At this age and stage of the game, most of the people I turn to for advice or suggestions are generally on point, because they know my writing style, or art style or whatever and can generally offer good direction or sound opinion on whatever it is I ask of them. ANYWAY, at some point David offered me a book deal and I said "Sure, why not," or something like that, hahaha, and it marks a departure, for now, from Kegedonce publishing. Kegedonce did my first two books of poetry and they were and are awesome to work with, they're also great at telling me what works, what doesn't and so on. I'd like to continue working with them in the future as well, we've talked about a couple projects I'm working on, one is a book of Non-Fiction and is sort of a "how to survive: the art world, the literary world, the film world and more!" I've learned everything through the valuable advice of mentors and I have a ton of life experience, so I figured this would be a great way to share some valuable lessons I learned as I've made my way through the world based on my creative endeavours. The 2nd book we've discussed is a new book of poetry which I'm still working on.

My first book of poetry with Kegedonce was "Stone the Crow," and encapsulated a good 10 years of my writing, some which dates back to 1996 and was in various chapbooks and self-published works. Then my next book with them was "A Moon Made of Copper," and was written in a year or two, almost always on the road for many years, it's an exhaustive, dark and foreboding piece of work. Detailing the wild, crazy times I spent touring for various creative projects and the dark side of that world. When I do readings or tours reading it, surprisingly people really love that book, the darker the poems the better, which really blows my mind. People will come up afterward to get the book signed and tell me which ones are their favourite and I'm always surprised because they look so "normal." haha. This 3rd and in time, upcoming book of poetry is far more balanced as I've been working on it a few years now and is about getting off the road, getting myself balanced and grounded again in my life, changing my lifestyle, habits and generally working on being a great dad and community leader for the arts and indigenous representation in my community. I think it'll be my last book of poetry for awhile and I hope to be done writing it within this year. I'm a slow writer, haha. each book takes a toll creatively and I want to make sure each one counts.

Well, without further ado, here's more of a book preview of "N'shaytkin," please click on the images to read them full size. It will be released this December and don't ask me anymore than that, haha. I'm just the writer. Kukstemc, thanks for coming by and visiting. Stay tuned for more previews.

Chris Bose.

re: post 1133

Hello,

friends, fans, foe and lovers,

I'm still here, I'm certain to the chagrin of some, lol. just kidding. don't take things too seriously, I don't. I was watching some relaxing video of drone footage of Big Sur California and thinking about all the traveling and things I've been able to see in my life. I was and am very fortunate to have done it, but also, it happened because of creativity. The art I make, the films, the words I put to page, the photos, the music has taken me around the world. I've been lucky. Luck is also a lot of hard work and putting in the time to your projects or whatever you're working on. And timing, let's not forget timing, you've got to connected to the mass consciousness to really create something that takes you to the stratosphere.

I'm working on new films, new music, new art and new writing. I've made changes in my life and lifestyle and since I've done that my creativity is flourishing. I'm responding to it. I'm thankful for it. it's my passport to the world and I'm nurturing it again. I encourage you to do the same thing. It is so easy to be defeated and crushed creatively and as a human being if you don't get the right stimuli and responses. You need to believe in yourself and what you're passionate about it. If I hadn't done that and listened to the people that said I'd never get anywhere and do anything I'd probably be dead. A lot of those people certainly are, because they weren't happy. So, they take it out on those around them. Free yourself from those energy life force sucking vampires. They suck. literally. haha.

Anyway, I'll post some screenshots of my new book every day so you can have a read of my new book. Here's a blurb a friend of mine, Jennifer wrote about it:

"N’shaytkin is a non-linear and irrepressibly uncolonial novella by Chris Bose, who brings to life the history of his own people, the Nlaka’pamux. Woven together using five different narrative approaches including storyboards, a first-person narrative, a film script, reports and pictographs, Bose tells the story of how European disease and greed for copper and gold tore apart the Nlaka’pamux way of life. He also tells some old Nlaka’pamux stories about giants and little people, sharing his visions of the ghosts that wander through this novella, bringing warnings of floods, mudslides and breaking dams." 

Jennifer Dales.

Without further ado, here is the book, an advance preview copy from my publisher Battery Opera Books. Click on the image to see a larger readable copy. 

Enjoy,

Chris Bose. 

re: new music? life changes? huh?

New music?

Hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

How I’ve missed you all these months and even years as you can tell by the lack of activity in postings! I was busy wallowing in self-loathing and pity; it’s been years, because it’s so easy to do. Somehow, through sheer will and determination and a little bit of spite, I’ve pulled through it all.

I’ve realized I’m getting older, maybe a little wiser or at least able to recognize pitfalls and dead traps that I kept falling into or getting pulled towards, kicking and screaming into a dark oblivion.

It took a lot to break the negative cycles I was in and it wasn’t easy. I saw the effects of the "wounded warrior" cycles over and over again. I watched helplessly as a good friend died of alcoholism, actually a few friends, then I watched a famous indigenous person kill himself slowly with drugs and alcohol as well, then finally my cousin passed away, hell even my little brother. I don’t know, I just woke up one day and thought of my kids and realized I can’t die yet. My father passed away recently and that really affected me in unforeseen ways. He’s simply gone. I was with him a few days before he passed and I held his hand for hours and sat beside him, talking to him as he slept. One of my sisters and I took turns wiping his brow and just talking to him quietly. I remember the warmth of his hands and how handsome he looked. When he died that was gone, his charm, his laugh, his jokes and his warmth were all just gone.

I’m too young to die because I know how much it would affect my kids, so I woke up one morning and said “enough is enough!” Time to make my health and mental health a priority and I pledged to myself I’d get back into music and figure out a way to get it going again. I've been working towards this off and on for a few years, and I’m still sorting it out, there have been backslides, but that's normal. That's life.  But, with energized determination, my routine is to get up every single morning around 5 am, stretch out, make coffee and go outside for a bit of fresh air, then come back in and plug into a guitar and hit record on my trusty Zoom H1 recorder and see what happens.

Now, I’ve been playing guitar some 30 odd years and it’s still not easy. You don’t wake up every day, and as Ricky Bobby said once, “I wake up and piss excellence!” No, it’s not like that at all, unless you’re a Ricky Bobby type person, LOL!? But, I found creating a routine and methodically sticking to it has really helped me out creatively. Now, the first couple weeks are just expunging old riffs, melodies and ideas, a sort of creative purging if you will, gotta get them old dusty riffs out and gone! Then a shaky few weeks occurs where you’re tentatively breaking new ground creatively, I did it through exploring various guitar effect pedals, a harmonizer, delays, reverbs, distortion and overdrives and a looper pedal.

I had a mentor once that really helped change my life, he showed me how to use Final Cut Studio 7 and after that I was able to create the visions in my head into short experimental films and travel the world, chasing my dreams. Anyway, he said to me, “Chris, you gotta pile on all the video effects you can, to get a feel for it and then you slowly pull them back to reveal the story you’re trying to really tell. But you gotta go through the experimentation first and not be afraid to really go for it.” Doug, if you ever read this, know I’m really sorry for ranting and lashing out at you for constantly going off to me about Italy, that was a shitty time in my life and I’m sorry dude!

Haha, okay, back to what I was saying, so, I took that approach to guitar and f’n overloaded things with effects and just went for it. After awhile, I realized it was overkill and now I’ve pulled things back to tell the real story, to find the real song I’m trying to play. So the first couple weeks are the purging of old ideas and stuff, the next few weeks are experimentation, because hey, you’re covering new territory! And now, I’m in a new phase where I’ve gone from just coming up with an intro, or an outro, or a chord progression or a melodic part, to actually pushing out rough song sketches! It’s not easy, but I usually start by noodling around, warming up quickly and then stumbling across a riff or a melody and work it until it takes shape into something. I’m also always recording. But I record in little breaks, a minute or two, then stop, because it’s easier to go through recordings in snippets rather than a long hour of crap! Trust me!

Also, you’re going to have to learn to be ruthless with your music, don’t be precious or sentimental (overly) because if you want to write good music, you can be your own worst enemy. You’ll learn what’s crap, what’s good and what needs work really quickly. I sort those into daily folders of ready to go, needs work and song sketches. When you're recording each riff, melody or chord progression, DON'T FORGET to record what tuning you're in, what guitar you may be using and the date it is, you will thank me later for that reminder! 

Get organized because you are going to need to be in order to keep track of things if you are going to try to record daily like my current workflow. Create the routine, get into the habit of recording, make the music and ideas will flow like never before and you’ll get there. Believe in yourself, even when no one else will, because that's how you can make things like your goals and dreams a reality instead of wanderlust daydreams. It takes work and dedication to the cause and it's worth it, so go for it! (Also, I use "Audacity" to edit stuff off the cuff, it's FREE and easy to use!)

Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got to say for now, peace out and stay in tune and stay on time!

CB.

ps: here are some visual examples of what I do as a workflow, also I use "Audacity" to edit riffs, melodies and song sketches for uploading to my soundcloud demo page!

inside a file on my desktop called "Riffs"

inside the "riffs" file are these folders

inside a typical "day" of recording is this. I'm starting to even

date what day i'm saving ideas/sketches/riffs/melodies into!

Some of my recording process images 

and inspiration!

eat healthy when you can!

(this was for me and my kids, not just me, LOL!)

hot cereal helps flush the ol' bowl!

do it!

my main axes: Gibson Les Paul

and a LTD 400 Baritone

My other main axe, a Gibson Flying V

and my attempt at some

sound baffling so I don't wake up 

my kids!

(I'm also not using distortion these days, more on that later!)

My set up, I put the Zoom H1 on the volume pedal in front

of the amp and hit record! 

(Break it up after a riff or melody or whatever, so you

are not sifting through HOURS of endless recordings

instead you've got 10 or 20 short 1 minute or 2 minute recordings to check!)

from my instagram page!

TOOL is inspiring me, 

but more so the massive festival crowds

in Europe these days!

I'd like to do a summer festival circuit

run one day! 

(gotta have something to inspire your dreams right?)

I also want a silver burst Les Paul like Adam Jones

has, as they seem to have an almost mythical quality 

and aura about them, not just his, but that type

of guitar in general!?

I've had the pleasure of playing

some big festivals in my day, in various bands, as a solo artist

and even a poet!

I think 10,000 was the biggest crowd I performed

in front of and I wasn't even nervous. It's weird. 

A snapshot of my morning routine. Sunrise, coffee and riff recordings!

Create the routine, get into it and good things will come to you!

You gotta admit, that is a pretty cool photo

and I bet it felt pretty damn cool too! 

haha. We can all dream right?

Time is an illusion! 

Make the most of what

you are living!