re: lacking a computer these days.......argh!

hello fans, friends, lovers and the like,

i've been lacking a computer (that works!) and only getting to update stuff when i can score one for a couple hours.......and haven't done any digital art for awhile! IRK!!

but i've been playing guitar like a madman and really digging it!!

and listening to lots of music, lately getting back to some of the SoCal groove i grew up on as a punk ass kid skating around van and the loops, being bored, getting into trouble for kicks and the like......one of my favourite all time guitarists is Rocky George, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies and currently, Fishbone.....great bands......

just thought you should know.......

in the meantime kids, i'll be back......

cb

re: the onondaga madonna.......

 

 

Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947)

The Onondaga Madonna

1898

She stands full-throated and with careless pose,
 This woman of a weird and waning race,
 The tragic savage lurking in her face,
 Where all her pagan passion burns and glows;
 Her blood is mingled with her ancient foes,
 And thrills with war and wildness in her veins;
 Her rebel lips are dabbled with the stains
 Of feuds and forays and her father's woes.
 
 And closer in the shawl about her breast,
 The latest promise of her nation's doom,
 Paler than she her baby clings and lies,
 The primal warrior gleaming from his eyes;
 He sulks, and burdened with his infant gloom,
 He draws his heavy brows and will not rest.

so, most people have no idea, who this guy is, 

i ask it all the time in universities, high schools 

and the like, across canada 

and i get blank faces staring at me.......

the same is for the "Apology" from Stephen Harper 

to us NDN's in Kanata

.......

what it demonstrates in some ways, 

is the cultural sensitivity or lack thereof, 

or the continual "Dumbing DOWN" of our society

what are your thoughts?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/11/pm-statement.html

i've been under the weather all week, 

and also currently do not have a working computer, 

so i'm not online or doing art....

i am playing lots of music though 

and writing a whole whack of new songs....

i'll be collaborating with my friend soon and we'll

hopefully be recording and writing more stuff soon!

exciting!

until next time peeps,

cb

re: wanted dead or alive......

ahhhh, how i would love to have a time machine, i'd definitely go back and change a few screw ups.....that our wonderful society has wrought upon many people around the world.........

namely this guy, duncan campbell scott.......if you have no idea who he is, why are you looking at this blog? go and do some research and then come back.......

until next time kiddies, i'll continue exploring dreams and nightmares.......

hugs,

cb

re: bury my heart at wounded knee.......

son of morning star, george armstrong custer, an arrogant sumbitch that paid a heavy price.

meh, good riddance.

hugs and love,

cb
ps: the novel, "bury my heart at wounded knee" should be required reading for everyone in north america. just because it might, just might have shifted this reality we live in for the better.

re: space/time

i'm watching a movie called "pandorum" and it's pretty trippy.......it's cool.........

anyways, i'm working on some new art.......inspired by garry gottfriedson, we're gonna work on something cool........

life continues to change and shapeshift the world around me........i'm tired, but i have to keep moving on.......

in the meantime, check this out.......

cb

re: home......

i just got back from prince george, did a wicked fun reading up there with garry gottfriedson and richard van camp! it rocked! great crowd, great crew of people who put on the gigs, and i really enjoyed myself!

 

went to UNBC and read at the Gathering place, and then a really cool bookstore downtown......it had a large space for gigs upstairs, called "artspace". 

PG kinda reminded me of cranbrook.......

i'm hoping to get some art done, right now i'm editing some old video project stuff to get out of the way.......and working on getting some cash to get a new laptop, and find a roommate coz life is a bit expensive..........

i flew up to PG in a really tiny plane, a beechcraft 1900.......but it was actually a really smooth flight......the last time i had a gig up there i caught a greyhound, this time i flew, it was kinda triumphant and felt good.......coz i started this year driving to my gigs, and put over 25000 km on my poor rez car, and now i'm able to fly to gigs.......hopefully i can keep the momentum going.......kinda tired though........and someone read and wrote a really strange/creepy pome to/for me during one of my workshops.......

anyway, gotta run, i'm tired.......

cb

re: tour time again!!!

hello friends, fans, lovers, etc......

i'll be hitting the road again this week, after a couple weeks at home......i'll be casting off to Prince George to partake in the UNBC Weaving Words Celebration!! Richard Van Camp and Garry Gottfriedson will also be there, so it should be great fun! I'll be hosting another rowdy session of "BINGO POETRY" as well as reading with Garry on Saturday.......

so, if ye be from thar, come check it out and have a good time!!!!

in the meantime, here's a few images of Garry's latest book, "Skin like Mine" and "Whiskey Bullets."

Garry was one of the first people who believed in what i was doing as a writer, and i'll never forget the first time i met and heard him read. It was around 1998, and i was TRU in Kamloops, skipping class, when the First Nations Student Worker, Linda Thomas nabbed me, and forcibly introduced me to Garry. She said, "I HAD to come to his reading!" I tried to dodge it, but she grabbed me and dragged me to the hall in the Campus Activity Centre. Well, it blew my mind what Garry had read, flames, barb wire and gasoline spewed through the air, vitriolic, explosive, and even savage.

He read with such a beauty and ferocity that i had no idea could exist in one poem.......i went up immediately and bugged him, asking him questions......blown away totally.......he even gave me a copy of the poems he read that day, eventually we forged a friendship that has lasted off and on to this day. I've even got a rare copy of his manuscript "Coyote Moon Story." He changed my life for the better by encouraging to express myself and to not be afraid of using my voice. A great mentor.

Also, Richard Van Camp, another great mentor who championed me to get a book deal with Theytus books about five years ago. My first professional foray into the world of publishing. I was a bit naive, and probably a bit over the top in terms of just being a keener and wanting to get the book out there.

Anyway, Richard was living here in Kamloops, and sometime around 2003 i managed to get a copy of my chapbook famously titled "God Hates Us All"........which i came up with before the album by Slayer. So, i give a copy of my chapbook to a friend, who passed it on to Richard, then a few weeks passed by, and i get a phone call from someone claiming to be Richard Van Camp and wanting to meet in half an hour at Tim Horton's for a coffee.

Nervously, my girlfriend, Scarlett and I went to Tim Horton's and lo and behold there he was, the man himself, sitting with my chapbook, excited about what potential there was in it. We must have talked excitedly for an hour before we decided it was time to go, and Richard said he'd keep in touch, and do everything he could to help me get a book deal, that my talent shouldn't go to waste. What a champ, i love the guy so much. He's always been a great supporter, and a friend to myself, to my ex, and our children. He edited my first book, "Somewhere in this Inferno" while on tour in France, and would send me updates nearly daily about how much he loved the book. A labour of love that never quite found the home it should have, but strangely, people have heard about it, and have tracked me down asking for any kind of copy of it. I think it will live to see the light again........

So, i've been fortunate enough to have mentors appear in my life when i needed them most, and i will always remember them and what they've done. Other great mentors have been Doug Buis, for showing me how to edit in Final Cut Pro, forever changing my life for the better in video, and Ashok Mathur for providing me with a home for over a year at the CICAC, the Centre for Innovation in Culture and the Arts in Canada........Jen Budney was also a great mentor to me in the arts administration, and just teaching me a lot about the art world in general..........and there are more.........

well, it's nearly four thirty in the morning, and i've got to get some sleep........

see you soon somewhere down the road........

chrisbose.
ps: by the way, i have read and really value the books my mentors have written......do check them out.....and mine too!!!

Stone the Crow is published by Kegedonce Press, and is my collection of 12 years or so worth of poetry........i've already written another volume of poetry and hope to get it going soon too.......

you can order any of these books online, and at your favourite bookstore!

re: hallowe'en!

 

I can't believe it......they've made a teevee series out of the walking dead comix........i just downloaded the first show and am gonna watch it........as i've been traveling lots lately, i have had opportunities to discuss viral type zombie things........a lot of people seem to be of the opinion, that it's just a matter of time.....zombies are one thing.....but viral creatures are worse.......think back to the movie '28 days later' by danny boyle........gross and fast and evil........

anyway, i'm gonna watch it, and i just watched the new "30 days of night, dark days" film, and was disappointed......obviously a straight to video watch.........i usually like watching "sleepy hollow", as well as "monster house" with the kids......"corpse bride" and "coraline" to top it all off for a family hallowe'en treat.......alas, i don't have my kids this holiday for the third year in a row.......to be fair 2 of those years i was on the road.......and this year i was supposed to get them, but was double crossed at the last minute........the world is a cruel mistress........

well, friends, fans, foe and lovers,

i'll post something later specifically for hallowe'en..........it's 2:34 in the morning, and i wanna watch some scary movies......

cb
ps: the original 30 days of night film was freaky as hell......and i love the graphic novels.....

pss: i thought i'd also throw in some art by my favourite influences...dave mckean and ben templesmith......

re: there's no way out of here.....

i'm wrestling with a new style............it's kinda obvious......spent the night doing research for a variety of projects..........

keep you posted kids!

and if you wanna buy any of the art in this blog, email me at:

chrisbose1@yahoo.ca

and i can do it to your specs........

coz i wanna sell some art! ha ha!

rent!!!

anyway, stay tuned for some new directions in my art.........

cheers,

chrisbose.

re: rumours.......

ahhhhh the rumour mill.......i love it.........lately people have been saying i've died lately, or perhaps that's what they're wishing! ha ha!

anyway, i worked on this tonight........not finished, but thought i'd post it anyway.........

i am at last, working on songs.......got a set list and everything........

well, gotta go, can't ruin any surprises.......

cb

re: dreams of death........

i've been having really weird dreams lately, about my death, about underground water chambers and streams and the sky cracking open........

cb

re: the apology......

here's a couple examples of the apology and a favourite image of a coyote i took a couple years ago.......it was on T'kemlups Indian Reserve........the skelep wasn't even scared of me.........she just kept watching........

anyway, i'm thinking it's time to move on.....or put serious thought to getting out of here......each time i come home from the road, i begin the usual scramble for cash.........and wonder, is this it? is this as good as it's ever going to get? i feel tapped out here, that i've gone as far as i can go from a remote location, now i need input and collaboration and stimulation........

i mean, i've been struggling here for years, and though i'm at a level where i catch a lot of planes and collaborate more, unless something incredible happens, is this it? will it be scrimp, scrounge and save until i die? keep living cheque to cheque? should i give up? should i teach? i just don't know.......

i also watch other artists on the road, and wonder why we do it? a push to create something, art, music or writing, or are they just markings on the wall?

no offence to where i live, coz in many ways i love it here, but when i come home, i keep wondering why i'm here........

i don't really hang out with anyone, and really just count the minutes until i head out of town for the next gig, or until i can see my kids........

not much of a life really........

cb

re: the laurier memorial........

here's a couple images of the laurier memorial commission i had from the shuswap nation tribal council.....

i totally undercharged, as an artist, i realize now, i could have gotten five times what i was paid......

they spent big cash promoting the even, not much for the art......live and learn i guess......this whole ordeal is starting to wear thin.........i've got too many kids and responsibilities to keep going on this road forever.........gotta figure out something......to bring the dough in.........

being an artist is weird, because people either expect nothing from you, or a whole lot for very little.....

it's stressing me out too much! ha ha!

plus, this last stretch on the road was quite a while, and my kids were going a bit crazy missing me, and worried if i'd ever come back.............i gotta figure out something........

in the meantime, i'll keep learning and living, hope for the best and try to figure things out.......

cheers,

cb

re: kid a...............chris bose and a decade too fast......

at last, i'm home, the past five weeks, i've been home for five days. i'm kinda tired, kinda happy to be home, but as i walk around the streets of kamoops, i think back to a decade ago, when an album came out that was trippy, calm, beautiful and strange all at once.......Radiohead's opus, "KID A". It seems difficult to believe it's been ten years since that day i woke up and ran down to "Spinners" record store and paid $25 for the CD, ran back to my place across from the park, watching orange, and gold leaves fall from trees, and listened to the album excitedly. time has passed too quickly i think........

i hadn't heard anything like it, and loved it. off and on over the years, i go through phases where i listen to this album, and the radiohead catalogue. it's powerful stuff, and if i listen to too much of it, i get depressed! ha ha!
it's so beautifully bleak, and captures a kind of melancholy that is soothing, gripping and deeply dark. then i'll listen to slayer to bust the depression! ha ha!

anyway, what i think i'm trying to say about this album, and this period of time, is that i was at some kind of milestone, and ten years later, i'm looking back and trying to figure out what i've done with my life the past ten years. i think i'm definitely a late bloomer, and i'm going to start writing and recording some new songs to hit the music road for awhile.

a decade has passed unbelievably quickly, and now i've got responsibilities, and children i love so very much, but i still struggle to find my way in this world. waiting for an answer, a reason, or a door to open, something....anything......ha ha!!! so i keep slogging it out, creating new art, i'm writing some new poems, and i've got a couple films to get done........time is ticking past, sometimes silently at night, beneath a sky full of stars in the summer, and sometimes time roars forward, like a jet rushing towards the runway, screaming towards the sky and everything else.........

until next time friends, fans, foe, lovers and the like.......


chrisbose.

re: time passes.........

galiano inspired new art i worked on........
the ultimate little hippy pad i'd love to live in.......

 

Here's some new art, i've been trying to load ALL week but couldn't find a computer to do it properly.....and the coolest house i'd love to live in.....i think i'm a bit of a hippy in that way, that i could live in a little cool shack like that and be totally happy........instead of paying the outrageous rent i pay right now for a place i'm never even at most of the time......anyways, there's also a couple photos of THE most amazing sunrise i have seen in a while, on the North end of Galiano Island, Dionisio Park......wow, words fail me......and i was there with some cool peeps......Tee Louttit, Deek Rodgers, Chuck Walkem, Julian Maree, and yours truly........the road is an amazing place, traveling, making art, films and writing, plus being able to collaborate with other great people is one of the main reasons why i take this open journey.......seeing incredible places, having great times, and living instead of existing........

until next time friends, foe, lovers, haters, and the like,

cb

re: sometimes it feels like..........

i was listening to a song by Tamara Nile last night as i was working on this artwork, it was from her "Cabin Song" EP, actually i was listening to the title track, and thinking about my own kids, they're all so small.....out of the five kids i've got, four are under the age of seven......and four are girls.......

i'm on the road all the time, it's been about two years solid now, well, i mean i get to go home for a week or two, but for the kind of art, or film, or music, or writing, that i do, i can only make a living on the road......and canada is so vast, so it entails a lot of traveling........i can't go back to construction work, i've been charting this course a long time, so i'm starting to realize, i want to start taking them on the road with me.......and i want to head over to europe to do my thing........just need some representation or as i tend to call it, i need "the door" to open, which is a metaphor for an opportunity, a chance encounter, a lead, or what have ye......and it'll happen, it does all the time, it's just a matter of being at the right place at the right time........

anyway, i'll get to see my kids soon enough, and for the first time in two years, i'll be home for halloween! woot! woo!! WOOO!!

oh, where i was going with the song i was listening to, "the cabin song" is that i'm starting to wonder what my kids will remember about me, or what they will say.......which means i've got to be home more or they've got to come on the road with me.......

well, until next time boys and girls, friends and foe, lovers and haters,

see ya!


cb

re: galiano island.........

hello friends, fans, lovers, foe and others........

i'm still on galiano island, it is a gem, a really amazing place that gives and gives.........it's beautiful, quiet, the forests are incredible, the bluff, montague bay, shell beach, sticks alice, man, there are so many wicked places to explore......

this is the second time i've been here, both times for the Gulf Islands Film and Television School (GIFTS) which runs some cool "BootCamp" type film courses and such........i feel really lucky to be here, mentoring Aboriginal youth from all over BC, sharing with them hi-tech skills to become digital storytellers, and to be able to bring back new knowledge and skills back to their communities........what this actually means is, that we are able to tell our own stories, and document them ourselves without worrying about traditional knowledge or cultural history being hijacked and used inappropriately (i.e. monetary gain!)

perhaps for the first time, many communities, some isolated and smaller, are able to tell their own stories, and to record them for future generations, because let's face it, we're losing elders every week, and the traditional knowledge they hold is priceless.......

so, i'm pretty stoked to be here, there are a lot promising, aspiring Aboriginal filmmakers, so it's great to be involved, and great to be a part of GIFTS.......i'll always remember my time and visits here.......

until next time kids,


cheers,


chrisbose.
ps: i'll post some new pictures later today......or tomorrow..........

re: chilling on Galiano, working on a variety of videos......

found this cool/interesting looking comic called "City of Dust" and really liked the music.......i'm going to get back into music more.....i miss live gigs and touring.......well, that kind of touring........it's different from the rest i've been doing......anyway, check out the link.......dig the tune..........



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ASR1HDKq10&feature=fvsr

so i'm on galiano island, it's amazing here, i love it......met Tamara Nile's mum, had a great chat, bought Tamara's E.P. and just continue enjoying the vibe that is Galiano Island.......went to a few more stores, found a cool KISS shirt at a thrift store for $3 BUCKS!!!

i love this place, it's so close to the city, but might as well be a world away......

gonna try to do some art tonight......

all the bets,


cb

re: on ze road again.........

hello friends, fans, lovers, foe, and the like......

i'm on galiano island, mentoring at the GIFTS school

one of my favourite places to be....

because you meet a lot of cool people

like minded people

people who want to make a difference

who want to make films

and it is an environment of collaboration

and ideas shared

and knowledge shared

and it's good for the soul

ultimately

my blog as of late has been a travel blog

but that happens, i'm on the road

all the time now

and little time to create art

because sometimes 

no often times

you have to experience life

in order to continue to create art

and right now

i'm experiencing life

and the art is percolating always

just beneath the surface

so worry not friends

i'll be back at it soon enough

refreshed and revitalized 

after a summer of being fed upon

by malicious energy suckers.

until next time 

i'll bring you my love

cheers,

cb

re: had enough........

as

i've been on the road a couple weeks solid, it's been great, i love it........the above photo was when i got home, and the art is stuff i did while i was on the road at Sakewewak in Regina........

tying up some loose ends and getting ready to head out for another two weeks, this time to Galiano Island to do some stuff at the GIFTS film school......always excited to go there, one of my fave places to be.......

in some ways i've had enough of the status quo, and i've had some good opportunities to meet really cool people on the road, see other inspiring art and film, and i've come to realize that my art and ideas are received a little better in other places than home......go figure ha ha!!

anyways, in november i'll be in prince george the first week, at the UNBC literary festival, and in vancity a couple times this month and next.......after that, i don't know what's up......

until next time friends, fans, foe, lovers and the like,

cheers,


chris bose.