Blogs Results

It happened 5 days ago. And now I believe again that the small things in life can make us happy if we have the eyes to see them...

Last Wednesday I was walking on the streets - killing time in the hot weather. I didn't want to eat or drink something, I didn't want to go shopping and I didn't want to sit anywhere. Then what? 2 hours to the meeting... Maybe just walk around? No. I suddenly decided to go to a book shop. I haven't bought a book since long time. When I went inside I look around and choose one new book. Then I look at more books and suddenly I see the time - I was in for about 40 minutes. The problem was that the literature cast a spell on me. The titles, the pages, the words - they were amazing and catching! Finally I took two books and paid for them on the pay-desk. The two stories that I choose were telling about spirituality - life, religion, society. This is just what I need to read about because I like to consider values in life and to question them.

The whole experience made me very happy - going to a book shop, finding something interesting for reading and buying it. I felt ready to recharge and get over the everyday life, the awful problems etc. It appears that happiness can be everywhere and we don't need a whole fortune to get it...

 Add/View Comments (0)

I woke up the other morning to the realisation that it's already the month of June. Which means that winter is less than six months away. One reason I suspect the time seems to have gone by so quickly is that, by most standards, the weather this spring has been rather sub-par with cooler than usual temperatures and lots of rain (let's save that precipitation for the winter folks). In the spirit of making the best of it, the Snowboard.Com east coast crew decided to end the month of May with a bang (from a boom stick) by taking in a musical.

The city of Toronto has a rather vibrant theatre scene. Which is not something you would expect snowboarders to notice but we can be highbrow once in a while too. Of particular interest, the Diesel Playhouse was putting on an adaptation of a classic cult zombie movie Evil Dead throughout the spring. When I tell people about it, they usually give me a strange "it's a musical about zombies?" look. I'm quick to point out that It can't possibly be any worse than the opera adaptation of An Inconvenient Truth (an opera about a PowerPoint presentation? Really?) Besides, how often can you say you've been to a musical and left covered in fake blood (I assume it's fake). It's like Shakespeare meets Gwar, how can this possibly suck?

The Ottawa contingent of the crew stayed at the Holiday Inn on King street, only two blocks away from the playhouse. Upon arriving, we shared the elevator with some nice ladies who were in town to see the Dirty Dancing musical at the Princess, and they asked us if we were there for the same reason. Based on my general appearance, I found this question somewhat odd. The look on their face was priceless once we told them we were going to see Evil Dead, and it led me to the conclusion that we probably wouldn't to be going down with them (in the elevator you perverts).

The East Coast Crew waiting to get Evil

After scattering to track down food and beer for later, it was time to meet up with the rest of the crew. Since we were all coming from different directions, and not everyone had actually met in person prior to this meet, the logistics of meeting up were a slight bit difficult. In fact, one of my road trip companions, Chris, called my cell to tell me he was going to meet one of the other members of the crew, also named Chris, whom he had never met previously. I said "you don't know what he looks like, how are you going to spot him on a downtown Toronto street?" His response: "He's a snowboarder." That's when it occurred to me that we snowboarders do live at a different pace than most people (skiers too). Especially in a metropolitan area such as Toronto where people seem to be in much more of a hurry and much more concerned about their image than in most places. I actually had faith, due in no small part to Chris' response, that my shred pals would have no problems finding each other. I was not mistaken, I caught up with the rest of the group in front of the hotel and we made our way to the playhouse.

The musical itself was extremely entertaining. Since it's based on the Evil Dead series of movies (Evil Dead , Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness), we were expecting a certain amount of camp, and this stage show was certainly full of it. It was done in the perfect self-effacing way which rendered it amusing rather than annoying. The actors even joked about how Spider-Man 3 was a horrible movie (Sam Raimi directed the Evil Dead movie). The highlight of the musical was the final battle at where Ash slayed all the zombies (sorry for the spoiler). I have never seen so much fake blood used in my life. It was squirting out of the walls all over the crowd. Fun times.

After the show, stoked on being evil, the crew got up to some pre-drinking at the hotel in preparation for painting the town red (with blood?). After getting nicely warmed up, we were off to find establishments to consume refreshments. Yet somehow this feat could not be managed without a tree being transplanted into the hallway to our hotel. Apparently alcohol turns people into landscapers.

After walking around for a while and ducking into a number of pubs for refreshments, along with some other random shenanigans, it was time to call it a night since the bars were closing. On the way back to the hotel, I received a text message from Chris saying that apparently someone was shot behind the princess theatre. They were cleaning up the scene as he was walking to meet his ride to Whitby. All this time, I was expecting that our musical would prove more violent than Dirty Dancing, which our lovely friends from the elevator were attending. Clearly I was mistaken on that count.

Puppet Jesus sitting at the top of the Big Apple in Colborne.

The following morning, we decided to locate a Golden Griddle we had seen the night before to have breakfast before we left. After fueling up on the all you can eat buffet and omelet bar, it was time to hit the road. On the way home, we decided to stop at the Big Apple in Colborne to buy some pies. This is where our trip took on a whole new dimension of cool when picked up an itinerant puppet with long hair, a beard, and some crazy ideas. That puppet turned out to be Jesus (or at least a very striking likeness thereof). The irony in all this is that we found him at a Big Apple which, if memory serves, is the forbidden fruit of the Genesis. Jesus was quick to participate in our road games of "hot or not" and was surprisingly good at it. Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since he is the son of god. In any case, Jesus is dope and he's certainly a good road trip companion, a fan of metal and a darn good dancer. When we first picked him up, he was rather subdued. Nathan even thought he was dead but we knew not to worry, "he'll be full of life in three days." It certainly didn't take three days, especially after a can of Saskatoon Beaver Buzz.

The Beaver Buzz turned out to be a bit of a mistake. Although tasty, it must contain some kind of super diaretic because it made me have to pull off the highway to pee. I was going to wait for the gas station restrooms until Jesus pointed out that the world is my gas station rest room. He's so wise. We finally made it home satisfied with our road trip shenanigans and happy for having found Jesus.

In sticking with my usual modus operandi of never walking away from an experience without learning something, here's what I learned this past weekend:

• Snowboarders are recognisable everywhere. They seem to have a different gate about them.
• Apparently the Dirty Dancing musical, counter to conventional wisdom, was much more violent that the Evil Dead musical... go figure.
• Jesus Saves... road trips. Although ours didn't need saving by any stretch. He sure made it more interesting. Keep your eye open for him, you never know where you might find Jesus.

Phew! Those are important life lessons indeed. Now I'm looking forward to my next live theatre excursion. Rumour has it that Monty Python's Spamalot is coming to Toronto in the fall, maybe I'll check that out. I'll be staying away from the Dirty Dancing musical though, that's much do violent for my sensibilities. In the meantime, I'm rejoicing in the fact that there's less than six months until winter and you can bet that I'm counting down the days.

 Add/View Comments (1)

The other day as I was minding my own business I got a curious invitation. A colleague asked me if I'd be interested in joining his group for dinner at the Rideau Club that night. So I brushed the hair away from my eyes and gave my beard a scratch (I haven't had a haircut in 2008 or shaved since I was in Whistler) before I said "will they even let me in the door?" It took a while to be convinced, but in the end I decided to accept the invitation. After all it seemed like a reasonable reason to skip yoga class.

The Rideau Club pre-dates canadian confederation and was established twenty-two months before Ottawa was chosen as the seat of government. The clubs first president was Sir John A. Macdonald who, two years later, became Canada's first prime minister. Those are some pretty lofty credentials for a club so when I was asked, first of all, if I owned a jacket and tie (apparently they won't let you in the door without them) and if I'd be interested in going, I was naturally a bit skeptical that I would even gain entry. Besides, the last time I went to one of these formal parties, I wound up across the desk of the Director of CSIS in Windsor two days later (being interviewed for a job oddly). "This could be interesting" I thought and accepted. It seemed like an opportunity that doesn't present itself too often, and besides I like to slum it every once in a while.

The Rideau Club is obviously quite old. The building where it's located, however, is not. The original building burned down in 1979 so they made a replica of its interior on the top floor of the Sun Life building in downtown Ottawa. In order to get to the club, there's an elevator which services it exclusively (how very elitist). As I got in the elevator, I found it odd that there were only two buttons: one for the lobby and one for the fifteenth floor. Secretly I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a retinal scan machine or some such thing. Nontheless, it was a neat feeling to be in a private elevator to an exclusive club which boasts heads of state as members. I felt like I was going to a Stone Cutters meeting. Maybe I'd get to participate in decisions on world policy, affect the course of human history, and witness historical keggers, beer blasts, beer bashes and steinhoists, followed by the regimented AA meetings. This evening was certainly looking up.

Once I arrived I was disappointed to discover that no one referred to themselves as numbers that were sequentially assigned in the order in which they joined. Once again the Simpsons had let me down. The coat room, however, did not. That thing was the size of my living room and dining room combined plus within it was the men's room which was equipped with shoe polishers and other gizmos that were cool and useless.

The view from the various windows in the club was quite spectacular. It was a great vantage point to see Parliament Hill, the Ottawa River, random high-rise living rooms (it gave me a bit of a voyeuristic feeling) and off in the distance, the Gatineau hills where my home resort, Mont Cascades, can be found (oh I miss the winter already). In spite of the majestic view, however, there seemed to be something missing. I realised what it was when reached into my breast pocket to adjust my hanky which I made out of a Spanky's Whistler trail map. It was the mountains that were missing. Having just been in British Columbia not two weeks before, I had grown accustomed to seeing large mountainous objects in the horizon; clearly these are missing in Ontario. In the time I spent in B.C. and Alberta, I had stopped noticing the giant masses of rock, earth and snow all around me. I was de-sensitized to their majesty and this thought disappointed me. It made me realise two things:

1. Never take what you have for granted. You'll miss it when its gone. This seems to be something that I have to be reminded of every once in a while and I'm now reminding all of you.
2. You can take the snowboarder off the mountain, but you can't take the mountain out of the snowboarder. I thought using a trail map as a hanky was a nice touch. None of my companions seemed at all surprised when they realised what I had done. A dirtbag in fancy clothes is still a dirtbag.

So if you ever get a chance to go to the Rideau Club, I highly recommend it. It's steeped in history and is a good place to take stock of who you are and what you have. Speaking of what you have, all you dwellers of the mountains out there, raise your glasses to them, they are precious indeed.

Keep Shreddin' the GNAR!

 Add/View Comments (1)

Group Name: Animal Nation Artists: Steige 'Tall Man' Turner, Mike 'Armadillo Slim' Armitage.

AS - And my refrigerator is filled with beer! (for a little while)

What’s your music background?

TM - I guess my dad used to play the drums. He was a studio musician for a while, but he hung up the kit when I was born, so I never really knew about that side of him until I found a drum kit in the garage one day. Jackpot!

AS - I don't have too much of a musical background besides the fact that I used to write a lot of poetry growing up. My mom tried to get me playing the piano and the violin when I was younger but I was too much of a rebel to listen to her. Momma's always right!

Who plays instruments?

AS - We have a house full of different instruments from slide whistles to potato shakers, but for the most part we just use them to jam out with. Steige plays the guitars and MPC and is getting good at the piano too. I just stick to the turntables and my voicebox mostly.

Take us through the process of creating a new song?

TM - We like drink until we blackout. That has nothing to do with creating a song, but we like to drink until we blackout.

AS - Its a really magical feeling knowing that you can create something besides a baby when you are drunk as a skunk and cruising in auto-pilot!

How do you guys get your beats? Do you create everything? Who is more into creating the beats and song flow?

TM - We gotsta do mad hutlez for beatzz! Sometimes we'll trade a beat we've made for a beat that we like that someone else has made. Sometimes we'll buy beats with money we've made selling our beats. Sometimes we'll make beats to use. Mike makes tons of beats, like a new one every other night. It's kind of ridiculous. He loves digging through old records and what not. I used to love the art of the chop (sampling), but I've gotten too much into listening to the music lately. And I always find it hard to sample a song that I want to keep listening to.

AS- The internet has played an integral role in the networking of Animal Nation which, in return, has allowed us to work with producers from all over the world. Hence the title, "TimeZone".

TM - As far as writing the song goes usually one of us will come up with the idea of the song, write a verse or a chorus for it, and give it to the other person. We'll pass it back and forth a few times, adding different parts, or changing the layout of a song, then record it. Recording the song completely changes the song. Halfway through recording you'll realize that you want to throw a couple instrumental bars in, or you'll want to take out the drum track for the second verse or something. Sometimes a song will take two hours to make, sometimes it will take two months.

What is your favorite song to perform?

TM - The corner of broadway. When we recorded it I recorded the entire song as a story, but when we do it live we go back and forth on nearly every line. It's cool to deconstruct and recreate your own music. Bop!

AS - I like to do the 'Aw Man Aw Well' remix produced by my man Matthias Relling in Germany. That one goes back and forth too and it relates to most people’s current financial situation. Cheery-O.

TM - I'm broke again! Aw man!

AS - Aw well.

What is a crowd favorite?

TM - I Never Cared (About the Troubles). That's the track right there! Scamp made the beat and it is amazing! We could have rapped about lasagna and it still would have been a good song. Although people seem to like that song we have about lasagna too, so who knows.

AS - Yeah that song pretty much appeals to everyone’s ear buds! Nuff said.

You guys have built your own recording studio at your place, how’s that?

AS - It’s awesome because we can do everything music related from our house but it sucks sometimes because we can’t always rock out as loud as we want due to the neighborly situation. Overall, it’s pretty convenient, though.

TM - People don't like harmonicas at 4 in the morning.

What was it like to be picked up by a record company? How is it?

TM - It was a thrill at first. Then we quickly started to realize that we could do everything that they can do, but we can do it without wasting time in meetings or wasting money on other people's efforts. I mean, I work 8 hours a day at my day job, then come home and spend another 8 hours doing music. I have no social life and I can't remember what kissing feels like, but at the end of the day we're the ones deciding how much we get out of it, and where we want to go with it. It rules.

AS - Yeah record labels pretty much suck.

You guys did a little trip over to Europe in the fall. How did people take to your shows?

AS - We got a great response from the Euro-Folk! People actually get into live performances and music in general over there. I just wish that all girls here looked like the ones in Denmark... DAMMMMN!

TM - I dunno man, the girls around here are pretty top notch. Too fine to give me any time, hah!

What’s the biggest/most publicity performance you guys have done?

AS - Thats a 3-way tie between the Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival, the pilot we filmed for MTV, and the morning news show we did for Global. The TWSSF was good because it was our first main stage act for a festival, the MTV pilot was awesome because all our fans/friends showed up to make the crowd rowdy, and the morning news was good because that was probably the biggest audience we've ever played for. Either way, they're all fun and games until somebody gets too hammered and needs to be carried home!

TM - Or loses two iPods on the same night.

Do you guys get to ride much?

TM - Dude! I got a pass super early this year because I was so stoked to get up on the hill, and I still haven't gone up once! Right before all the snow came I bought myself a fancy new guitar, so I've been spending most of my weekends locked up in the studio with my head in the clouds.

AS - I bunged up my shoulder early on this winter so I won’t be shredding again until spring. That’s ok, it’s not like this has been a good season or anything. NOT!

TM - Double NOT! Good luck untying that one.

Where can we hear your music?

TM - Check out our myspace page. That's easy. http://myspace.com/animalnation.

Where can we buy your music?

TM - Order it online at myspace for a hard copy, or iTunes for digital. You can get it in most indie record shops. If it's not on the shelves of your favorite record shop hold the place hostage with a butter knife and demand that they stock it!

 Add/View Comments (4)

 Powder king B.c. rocks!

First of all i want to thank my boss for having the great idea of bringing the hill crew to PK!!

 Add/View Comments (0)

The Garden is set to drop bigger and better than last year. To keep things progressive we have created a new event format based on the game of H-O-R-S-E. Entrants will compete as individuals, but the entire event will still have that bro down feel to it. Skiers will compete against skiers, and snowboarders against snowboarders. Both the skier and snowboarder divisions will also have three categories; Groms (12 and under), Juniors (13 to 16), and Open Class. The jam will take place in the Blue Park to make hiking easier, and we’ll be throwing in some new features to keep it fresh.

To keep The Garden live we’ll be having DJ SL spinning on the turn tables, Coach on the microphone running his mouth, and a full on barbeque with beverages provided by Pepsi and Monster.

Event Schedule
Registration and waiver signing: 10:00am to 11:30am in the Village Day Lodge
Rider’s meeting: 11:30am to 12:00pm at the top of the Blue Park
Jam: 12:00pm to 3:00pm

Registration Information
The cost to enter The Garden is by donation. The suggested donation amount is $5.00 per person. All event profits will be going to the Bluebird Day Fund.
All entrants must have a waiver form completed. If you are under 19 years of age you must have a parent or guardian present to sign. No exceptions will be made.

 Add/View Comments (2)

Tadashi Fuse

Tadashi came by the office yesterday straight from Japan for our catalog/ad shoot. Here's a butt load of shots that we most likely won't be using.

Mexican Wizard


Mystical Surprise


Art from above


After the shoot Dev & Tadashi sealed a 10 year contract with a simple hand shake. Now that's trust!


We're almost positive Tman knew what we were meeting about.. But hey, a deals a deal right??

 Add/View Comments (0)