re: day 3 song of the 5 day song challenge!!!

hello friends, fans, foe and lovers,

it's day 3 of the 5 day song challenge it's safe to say i'm kicking it's ass. haha. 

so, here's the 3rd song and video, and i don't really plan this out, it just comes together.

i woke up this morning at 5:30, made some tea and picked up a guitar and played this riff. it's an old one, i wrote it about 20 years ago, but it hasn't found a home yet. maybe now it has, it's kind of somber, kind of beautiful, kind of introspective and relaxing. when i added the video, i started dropping in travel stuff from across canada. being an artist/musician/author and filmmaker in a small town means you have to travel A LOT!!!

traveling takes it's toll, you miss loved ones, your home, your bed, and so on. but it is also awesome, and exciting, you meet new people, see new places, learn new things and it's good for the soul. it's a cruel catch 22. when you're on the road too long, you miss home and everything about it, but when you're home, after a few days you can start climbing the walls wanting to be back out on the road. perhaps they'll never reconcile themselves. haha, and i'm okay with that, i crave new adventures and stories, so i'm sure i'll never stop as long as i can. 

anyway, peace out, stay tuned for tomorrow's song and video!!

cheers,

cb

re: behind the veil II.......

Friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i bring you the second image of "Behind the Veil."

this has some colourization to it. the previous one is black and white, but i wanted to add some tones of red to it. to add some lust. some desire to the fire.

i love digital art, which has a bad rap, a lot like digital music. do i give a damn. no.

when i did "traditional art" such as painting, drawing and illustration, under which i laboured well over a decade, people back then would talk smack about my art. people talk smack about my art now. the difference is now i'm able to create the images in my head with a camera, and a collection of images, and my skills on a computer. sometimes i'll do a good old fashioned cut up, like the brits love to do. but digital is where it's at. i also do a lot of outside art, painting on walls, tunnels and bridges, which is all about the moment and the process. that is hugely rewarding as well. will i post it? eventually. i managed to get up on walls from Victoria to Montreal this year, which is about 8 or 10 cities, and it was awesome meeting other artists and just having other people to talk to in the struggle of art. haha. like it's a rebellion or something, but in many ways, it is a movement, a struggle and criminalized. so indeed, it really is a rebellion. haha.

oh, the other difference between the people talking smack about my art ten years ago and the people talking smack about my art now, is it's a new group of people, most of whom don't make art for a living, while i continue to make art for a living. that is what is important. that is what i do not forget.

until next time lovers,


cb

re: the road.

hell-o friends, fans, lovers, ex's and foe,

haven't been posting much i've realized, computer problems, and i've been on the road for a month or so. time passes quickly when traveling, but i will get back at it shortly, once i get my 'puter fixed up.

what can i say, being an artist is a tough slog, because you're never just an "artist."

you've gotta be a PR person, constantly carrying the flag into battle and schmoozing up new gigs or clients, you've got to be a manager, booking gigs and arranging transportation and accommodations, as well as a researcher, delving into new technology and techniques, while simultaneously working to keep you chops up in an ever competitive world, and personal assistant, taking care of all the little tasks that need to be done to keep your ship running smoothly. it's endless and exhausting, and when you're not on the road, you ain't making a living, so you're constantly struggling against two worlds, the home world and the road world, which are impossibly different places to be at both times.

one lifestyle is domestic, take out the trash, do the dishes, pick up after the kids, banking, get in line for groceries, while the other lifestyle is a hectic, rock 'n' roll, mish mass of panic, and what i call the "hurry up and wait," syndrome at venues, galleries, theatres, hotel lobby's, hotel rooms, cabs, airport skybars, and of course, there's quite a lot of imbibing of spirits to pass the time in between it all. So, in getting home, there needs to be a little bit of 'downtime' to change gears and adjust to being a civilian again, instead of a frontline foot soldier in the trenches of the art, music, literary, and film world where people are throwing "culture bombs" at you in attempts to make you prove your worth, or send you back to relative obscurity and slavery.


myself, i've been on the road a good three years solid, traveling pretty much consistently across canada and a few forays into the states doing what i love doing, making art, or films, or music or writing. i haven't had much time to reflect on it, because when you're in the 'now' you have no time to look back on things, goals, accomplishments, missed ships and the like. but lately, i've been doing something a bit different, and that is abstaining from my good friend alcohol, and it's been treating me right. on the road, you can develop a voracious appetite for good spirits for a variety of reasons: missing home, missing friends or family, the love of a good time, and so on. it isn't a bad thing, i think it helps keep you sane and decompresses the mind from a high stress lifestyle in a lot of ways, but sometimes, differentiating between a "good time" on the road and a "good time" at home can be very, very different things. i guess what i'm saying is i'm slowing down and it's a good thing, because i was going very hard traveling and living for a few years, and i realize i am mortal, and have a multitude of responsibilities that i must take care of, dangling modifiers aside.

i quite like this new lifestyle i'm adjust to, it's not the home life, but tee-totaling it, because i'm up early in the morning now, not feeling like death warmed over, and i can feel a nice clarity coming out of a fog of frantic traveling. As well, for some reason, I’ve got all this damn energy, so I’ve been hiking a lot and trying to figure out what to do with myself while I my computer gently weeps in a mac repair lab…….well, here are some photos from the road....enjoy......(i should do a travel blog as well!)

 i love and at the same time, hate flying.

 a total bitch

 what kind of house are you? i like victoria era houses, but hate queen victoria.

 my view from my hotel in victoria

 awesome graffiti i saw in vernon

 one of the last things i built while still a construction worker, a ramp and elevator shaft in james bay, victoria, i built it with a guy named "critter," a weirdo whose wife was a "deprogrammer"  yeah, that kind of deprogrammer, the kind that screams at you in a cheap motel "you are not a religious freak, cult-member!!" weird eh?

 good art comes in many forms

 some cool graf i saw in montreal recently, which victoria was strangely devoid of.....

anyways, travel is good for the soul, and i may bitch about it because i see a lot of airports, but not them big breaks or super fat pay cheques i'm starting to realize i want and am ready for more and more. plus, i've got kids, and i've missed three years of birthdays, gatherings, celebrations and holidays, and this "emerging" artist status should hopefully start changing sooner than later, because this glass ceiling is very frustrating.......well, until next time lovers,


cb.

re: montreal!

greetings friends, fans, lovers and foe!

i've been away, golly gee, a long time, been on the road a lot the past month, all over the okanagan, out to montreal, down to vancity and back again!

haven't been doing a ton of art, been mostly traveling and trying to experience life!

here's a few photos from montreal, where i screened my "Jesus Coyote TeeVee" film as well as had an exhibition of my art along with Kahnawake artist Martin Loft!

a link to the film!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax99NUVtFdA

i saw this coyote sculpture not one block from my hotel!

Kateri Tekakwitha a native martyr for christ (strange no?)

Terres En Vue festival in Montreal at Place des Arts

The view from my hotel in Montreal.

Kahnawake, where we had a panel discussion on art and film.

Traditional dancers on stage with Samiam, whack eh?

Across the street from CKUT 90.3 fm Montreal

Strange, cool graf i saw walking around!