March 15 2001
Greetings! it is 10:09 am local time.
today i am very sad and nostalgic for it is the last day i have in Waterloo/Kitchener. i'm just sad because this amazing experience will be coming to an end, although hopefully and prayerfully it will continue to live strongly through my life and in the music. i am very happy to be coming home, though, i miss the area, although i am growing quite accustomed to life here.
Justin has given me the low-down on the Ont-speak, so that i will not become lost here. For instance, there are no kitbags here, only bookbags. And the word for visiting and being shown around is 'toor', not 'tohr'. Strange, eh? Oh yeah!! the Ontario people that i've met seem to say 'eh' more often than people at home. i thought it was an East Coast thing, and i thought perhaps they were making fun of me:)
Anyway, haha, yesterday turned out to be drum cleanup morning and then bass day. i don't think i can say anything about the bass tracks because it would certainly be an understatement. today we are going to make funny noises and clean up different things. at the end of the day yesterday, we began to do this, putting some percussion into 'Wake Angels.'
Picture this>>two grown men(almost:) standing in front of a microphone listening to the song and hitting various things. I stood next to the microphone and shook my green and yellow egg-shaker(thanks Leah!!!{she made it for me a while back}) and Cliff standing across the room hitting the tambourine (which he purchased the first day) about every three seconds. we had to look away from each other to prevent the inevitable eruption of laughter. Percussion like that is harder than we thought. Cliff said he was thinking the whole time "Man!! i'm going to mess up playing the TAMBOURINE!!"
it was very strange for us being used to instruments that make different notes. i can't explain the odd feeling i had, it was like 'what the heck am i doing?! is this music?' anyway, i think it sounds good!
everyone here has been so good to me and have taken me into their homes and fed me and entertained me, and i feel strange that the only way i can repay them is with money.
Money is such a silly thing, and i don't want to give it to them because it can never equal anything i have recieved from them. Anyway, they really don't want or expect anything in return and that's why i feel bad that i can't give them something. Hopefully i did give some friendship and love like that.
oh yeah, about coming home, for those of you who are into the music, brace yourselves. I am very confident in the material that you should be hearing very shortly. sure there are mistakes here and there, but there always were and there always will be, as far as i can see. but now when i hear the stuff i am completely blown away. i can't believe that anything i have done could ever sound so good. i hope you will hear it too, although one thing you must remember; it was not me who made these great. And please do not tell me that it was. i have a million songs that i have written (figuratively:) and it just happens that i brought these 5 out at a particular time. I brought the songs to Cliff along with a few ideas, and that is all. All i did after that was say "yeah, guys that's awesome!!! keep that!" As you can tell from the March 13 entry, i was feeling kinda poorly about the songs/recordings, and it's because that day was the day i did my thing. and to tell the truth it sounded just like i always do, not magical or particularly interesting. but now, two days later, i am as excited as a Spaceship Superstar (with a solar powered laser beam guitar)! (that is a song by Prism that Cliff introduced me to, hahaha!)
anyway, do not yell at me because you think i'm a good musician, yell at CLiff and Karl, or perhaps you'll just have to holler at the recordings themselves because i do believe that the product here is not only the sum of all it's parts, there is something else at work here. either way, i hope you like it.
ok, Cliff and i drove to St Andrew's church to visit Audrey Cameron for a few minutes. Although i didn't really have much of a chance to 'toor' the place, it seems like quite the spot! I also spoke to Andrew Jonstone if you know who he is. cool guy. Audrey sends her love to all of us back home. She is getting along quite well, although she is feeling the effects that are bound to come with the newness of it all. bless her.
last nite Justin and Stephanie (J's girlfriend) and i went to a restauraunt (McGillis' Front Row!) and i had a calzone. mmmm. (another piece of mindless trivia that only YOU will know!)
ok, i had better end this, it is horribly long, but i hope it holds some interest somewhere(thanks mom!)
i am going to Milton to stay with my cousin Jason and Pam tonight and will be getting back to NS on friday afternoon if all goes well. i hope to see you then, and i will give you some recordings to yell at.
:)
ok, peace it together, y'all.
love, darrel.
previous menu
email
Home please.