Congrats to BMT's 'Sound of Music'!

I'm so very proud of my boyfriend!  Nick has just finished wrapping up playing classical guitar and mandolin for Brampton Music Theatre's The Sound of Music on November 12, and he played magically.  Nick comes from a progressive rock background with his guitar playing, so tackling something like Rodgers and Hammerstein is no small feat.  He did so well!

I also had the chance to see a few of my BMT Youth Troupe students on stage as members of the chorus, consisting mainly of nuns, Nazis and Austrian nobility.  I had audibly gasped at the opening number of the nuns singing "Preludium" in beautiful harmonious a cappella.  I think, without obvious bias, the nuns had to be my favourite part of the show.

A heart-felt congrats, as well, to my dearest friend and music mentor Josh Priess for an incredible job as music director!  As mentioned before, Rodgers and Hammerstein ain't easy - but the man sure did make it look that way!

To all the cast, crew and musicians - congratulations on your vision of a family classic!  It was enjoyed immensely!

(Nick had snapped a couple of photos from backstage I thought I'd post, as well.  Enjoy!)

Inception: The App

So, I need to geek out about something.  So, everyone reading this with an iPhone or iTouch, get it now.  You'll thank me later.  This app is genius.

I'm a huge appreciator of Christopher Nolan's work, and the idea of Inception intrigued me: a sci-fi action heist film based on the concept of dreams-within-dreams and planting original ideas into someone else's subconscious.

In a world where 'shared dreaming' technology exists, Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is an expert 'corporate extractor'; a man who can enter into your subconscious through your dreams and steal your secrets - for a price.  Wrongly accused of his wife's murder and separated from his children, his most recent target, a wealthy Japanese businessman, gives Cobb an opportunity to be reunited with them - for a price of his own: perform the act of 'inception' to convince the son of an ailing wealthy tycoon to break up his vast energy conglomerate at his inheritance.

It's not as easy as you think.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Arthur, Cobb's right-hand man, explaining the difficult concept to Ken Watanabe playing Mr. Saito, the Japanese business man proposing 'inception'.  He's got a great moment that clarifies the difficulty:



Betcha you'll be thinking about elephants for a while.

Extras Wanted: "Kobra and the Lotus" Music Video

A very excellent opportunity if you've got a few hours on Sunday!

Calgary metal band Kobra and the Lotus are filming their latest music video in Toronto, Ontario and are looking for some extras for the shoot.  I had submitted a few headshots and my acting resume for kicks, and I got a callback today!  Problem for me is - it's on Sunday afternoon, smack in the middle of my Shout! rehearsal.  I've been told the shoot will run until about 3 am, but I don't have my own transportation back to Brampton from Toronto.  Damn being poor and no vehicle, but I'm trying to work a few things out.

I was told I can bring some friends along to participate, so ... you guys wanna go?  All you gotta do is email your age, a recent photo of you in "funeral attire" and contact information to kobracasting at gmail dot com, and they'll let you know the details.

I hope, hope, hope I'll see you there ... if I can make it ... eeeep!

Maybe they'll accept our apology?

Remember when Abi and I crashed INXS' party at Breakfast Television?  Well, we got a second chance to show them we actually like them, and we didn't mean any disrespect!  Really!

Sam's so great. She's The Blue Girl, radio star and a pretty awesome person to know.  I received a phone call from her yesterday afternoon.  She and her husband have an extra pair of tickets to the INXS concert at The Sound Academy, would I be interested?  Oh boy, was this a sign!  I called Abi, and we synchronized watches - for yet another trip to Toronto!

Inspiration From Disaster: Gibson Guitars in Nashville Has A "Flood of Creativity"

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on January 11, 2011.

photos by Brian Wawzeneck

My heart went out to the people of Tennessee in early May 2010, who had experienced a torrent of rain and floods for two straight days, driving people out of their homes, drowning landmarks and causing millions of dollars of damage in its wake.  As a music lover, my heart sank even furthur to hear that the Grand Ole Opry House, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Gibson Guitar USA factory in Nashville had suffered some terrible damage, as well.

But, as Bryan Wawzeneck, international editor for Gibson Lifestyle blog, had said, "Sometimes great beauty can be found in the strangest of places and under the most horrible of circumstances."

The Gibson USA factory, located in Nashville, Tennessee, the plant which crafts the esteemed and highly reputed Les Paul and SG guitar models, was ravaged by flood waters, leaving many guitars still left to be finished unsalvageable.  The receding waters revealed much damage that was heartbreaking to the staff and luthiers that had worked so painstakingly on these instruments, only to have them destroyed beyond rescue.  The seemingly endless destruction of months of hard work wasn't the only thing revealed - in the finishing department, where many guitars were stored to dry after paint and laquer were applied, the receding waters left an unexpected inspirational mark.  

Moral Obscenity 101: Kanye West

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on September 28, 2009.

This is an editorial by the author.  Any comments made are of the author, and the author alone, unless otherwise stated.  I welcome your thoughts on this post.  (Resources: Wikipedia.org, Youtube)

For those who have been avoiding all things pop culture and relative news these past few weeks, you would have learned that at the 2009 MTV Video Awards, upon earning her win for Best Female Video for 'You Belong With Me', Taylor Swift was interrupted by professional jackass rapper/hip-hop artist Kanye West, who stormed the stage, stole the microphone out of Taylor's frozen hands, and stood shocked as he declared that Beyonce's video 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' was the "best video of all time", to the shock, amazement and disapproval of the packed theatre.  Since, he has sparked the international catchphrase "and I'mma let ya finish ..."

For me, this was the straw the broke my Kanye camel's back.

Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM 1973-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on August 30, 2009.

"New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems." [sic]

- Adam's last post on his Twitter page, three days before his body was found in his New York City apartment on August 28, 2009

I'm a Twitterbug, yes.  I'm chatting with a good friend I've made on the site from Boston, as she tells me she's packing for her trip to New York City tomorrow.  As I yearn to return to 'The Big Apple' and tell her my jealousy, joke about sneaking me into a bus carry-on, and Photoshop me into her pictures, the next tweet I read from Perez Hilton stopped the banter quite suddenly as I read that Adam Goldstein, better known to his fans as DJ AM, has died.

My God, is this truly a summer of death?

Led Zeppelin

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on August 18, 2009.

I celebrated my birthday last year doing a gig for a Led Zeppelin tribute night with a good friend of mine, Brent Lindsay.  Check out below a couple of my favourites from the night. We've received some really positive feedback and have asked to come out and jam with some other musicians and play a few places. We haven't really taken up any offers yet. I did cheat a bit: you'll see a music stand in front of us. Those are lyrics. Brent had brought six guitars ... uh, well, instruments in total: mandolin ('Battle of Evermore'), dobro ('That's The Way'), 12-string guitar ('Tangerine', 'Gallow's Pole'), acoustic guitar ('Stairway To Heaven', 'Black Mountain Side'). He knew all the songs by heart. Someone in the audience shouted "Jimmy Brent!' during our between-song banter, which still sticks to him today. The guy deserves it - he has the most impressive guitar collection I've ever seen, even the original Jimmy Page Signature Les Paul! He didn't bring that one to the gig, as it was an acoustic set, although every instrument was a Gibson.

Now that I think of it, this is my way of honouring the passing of Les Paul, the man who helped Jimmy Page find his own voice in a sea of millions.

Rock n' roll!  Enjoy the videos!

Les Paul, the 'Inventor' of Modern Music 1915-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on August 16, 2009.

"Honestly, I never strove to be an Edison. The only reason I invented these things was because I didn’t have them and neither did anyone else. I had no choice, really.” - Les Paul

Les Paul, a man whom all musicians today owe deep gratitude for many things taken for granted, died on August 13 from complications due to pneumonia. He was 94 years old.

Les Paul, born Lester William Polfuss in Winsconsin, started his interest in music at the age of eight when he started playing harmonica, and after an attempt at learning banjo, he opted for guitar. It's said that at this time, he invented the neck-worn harmonica holder, so that he could play the harmonica hands-free while playing the guitar.

His inventions were always out of necessity. Dissatisfied with acoustic guitars that were sold in the 1930s, Les Paul experimented at home with some ideas of an electric guitar of his own design. He created "The Log", the famous prototype simply made from a common 4" x 4" piece of lumber with a bridge, guitar neck and pickup attached, and for aesthetics, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawed lengthwise with "The Log" in the middle. Two problems were solved: the acoustic body didn't resonate with the amplified sound, so it cut out feedback; and sustain, because the energy of the strings didn't fade out because it was resonating through a thicker guitar body. Hence, the 'electric guitar' was born.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

This post was originally published on my handmade jewelry blog, Design by Cassandra, on July 14, 2009.

Death registers in different ways for different people. For me, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I found myself grieving with the rest of the world, but I also had a much different, personal reaction.

At the time of Michael's death, we were also surrounded by a number of other celebrity deaths that shocked and rattled the media. Farrah Fawcett, most famously known for her television work in 'Charlie's Angels', becoming a seventies sex symbol, finally succumbing to her battle with cancer. Steve McNair, nicknamed 'Air McNair' for his prowess on the football field, was killed by his alleged mistress after she turned the gun on herself. Martin Streek, a Torontonian radio deejay credited for bringing the alternative music scene to the forefront of Canada's music appreciation, committed suicide, leaving his suicide note on his Facebook status update. Even reports of attempted suicides in extraordinary circumstances can be a bit much for anyone. (A young woman in Arizona attempted to hang herself with a scarf from a ceiling fan after an argument via webcam with her boyfriend turned hostile. The boyfriend witnessed her attempt, and called her father who was in the same house to stop her. They saved her life.)

Author's note: At the time of revision, a new death had surfaced in the media: world champion boxer Arturo Gatti was found dead in his Brazilian vacation residence a few days ago. His wife has since been arrested for his murder.