August 2007 Archives

Holy, where do you even begin to create something this complex, especially given the logistics of shooting and managing the stories? My old company Trapeze did a very rudimentary version of the multi-narrative concept (back in the days when the tools were also rudimentary), and the shoot logistics were daunting with nothing like this level of production.

That said, it's gorgeous on every level, is incredibly addictive - AND has a great screensaver. Juicy.

One thing about being in a band with a lawyer and an MBA: not much is left to chance when it comes to the business of music.

Because we made this CD, and are "releasing" it, we agreed that we should have some sort of agreement in place. Just in case, in a million to one shot, a song got picked up for a commercial or who knows what. I mean, it'll never happen, but then again, the time to negotiate who pitched in for the lottery ticket is not when it's worth a million bucks.

So. The Porktrashers are officially a partnership. In addition, we have Master Business Licences for:

Pig Publishing (music publishing co)

Gut Truck Records (our label)

What a great adventure this all is. And although it seems ridiculous to bother with all this, it's a lot easier than dealing with something like this.

No one would accuse me of being ahead of the curve -- Lord knows, I still have the orginal iPod --  but I have noticed a pattern of being just annoyingly one or two years ahead in terms of wanting something and it not being available yet. When we bought our house and reno'd the bathroom about 8 years ago, I really wanted to use those little one inch tiles for the floor. They were almost impossible to find in Toronto, and the ones we could find were imported from New York and crazy expensive. About a year after we finished, you could get them at Home Depot.

More recently, when we needed a car that could handle three baby seats -- but wasn't a mini-van -- our only option other than a great honkin' SUV was the Ford Freestyle. Which is a nice enough car, although kind of boring. So wouldn't you know, here is a cool version of the family vehicle (ie three rows of seating, plus room for a dog) for hipsters like us... about two years after we needed it. It's tough being so forward living, you know?

The Porktrashers' record is finally -- finally! - mixed and mastered. We went into Joao Carvalho Mastering and had the final work done, and oh my goodness it sounds great. I mean, the songs and playing and all that are still at our dodgy Porktrasher level, but every missed note, every little change in tempo -- all captured in beautifully balanced stereo.

Next up is me finishing the album cover design, and then the plan is to distribute through Tunecore... in addition to our own sophisticated local distribution system of course.*

* We give them away to our friends.

The nifty new interface of MT has made it easier to see when I haven't published drafts, and I'm sorry to see I never did publish this one from April 2005.... "Creemore cuties." Really, I was much funnier back then.

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Sad news in the beer world: Molsons has bought Creemore, the latter being one of my favourite beers anywhere anytime. Sigh.

My favourite quote from the prez Howard Thompson that the selling was prompted by shareholders' "desire to realize on their investment." That's press-release speak for "What, are you f---ing crazy!? Molsons offered us like nearly $40 million bucks!! That's a lot of desire, baby, a lot of desire."

Mentioned in another article is that while the product wouldn't change, they would probably starting bottling it in industry standard bottles. Funny, because I remember how when Creemore came out with their smaller bottles, they said they made their own because they thought the neck of the standard issue was too thin, which "over-agitated" the beer on the way out and compromised taste. But I guess a $25 -$50 million offer for your company makes everything taste juuuuuuust right.

I look forward to seeing how Molsons' marketing team approaches the brand: Look! It's the Creemore Cuties!

Pity the poor pointed-headed digital visionaries: in spite of thea proliferation of ever more sophisticated devices, people just aren’t totally willing to give up on analog - if not literally, at least symbolically. Even when users surrender to the digital siren call of PDAs and iPods, they often insist on keeping a few reminders of a time when objects actually had moving parts. How come?

Sticking with analog has some practical justifications. Check out this photo of one of Toronto’s top music mastering studios (where, indeed, The Porktrashers mastered their CD): along with the digital workstation and processing equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars is a classic AMPEX reel to reel tape machine from the early 80s (at right). Often, after all the digital fairy dust has been sprinkled over the recordings, engineers run the sound through an analog machine to “warm up” the sound in a way that ones and zeros can’t seem to quite emulate. Go figure.


























But there’s also an emotional attachment: have you noticed how many people have their Blackberry’s ringtone set to the old fashioned “bell” ring? I have, because I thought it would be easier to recognize my phone with its charmingly retro ring. Instead, everywhere I go, I’m reaching for my phone as someone else’s bell jangles away behind me. Why are we so attached to this sound? Is it just a way of expressing some “real world” connection — ie the tangible mechanical world - in an increasingly virtual world? I mean most of us weren’t even born, or at best barely remember a world, when those phones existed. Is it generational (sorry, I am NOT downloading a Rihanna ringtone), or simply an ironic statement, much like wearing old bowling shirts or the aforementioned vintage Nike shoes? And (to bring this all back to our business), what does this tell us about how we create compelling online experiences?

Either way, I’d like to propose we take this one step further. Check out the rotary Blackberry. Messaging will be a bit slower, but with predictive text it should work out the same. Kicking it old school! Alt keys are for suckas.

Yes people, relax, the Percolator blog is back on line thanks to the tireless efforts of Blogmaster Jos. Need some fairly uninteresting personal news and shallow commentaries? You've come to the right place. Okay then. Onward.