Tag: blog

world vegan day

Today… it falls on a saturday this year, so I get to actually write about it in the present tense! Today is a day celebrated by somewhere around 1% of the population – World Vegan Day – where we can congratulate each other on our efforts and remind ourselves that there’s always something more we can do to minimize our negative impact on the planet and the other Earthlings we share it with.

I know not everyone reading this is vegan, and as someone who became vegan at the age of 38 and spent a good while resenting veganism and many of it’s supporters, I do get it. Not everyone is ready and equipped to take this step at this precise moment in time.

I understand that vegans are an easy bunch to hate on, but for us it’s a catch 22. We constantly see posts online stating that “vegans are preachy” and “Q: how do you know if someone’s vegan? A: you don’t have to ask, they’ll just tell you.” thereby making it IMPOSSIBLE for a chill vegan to say anything without becoming the stereotype, when the truth is, the number of meat-eater responses to vegan posts that are just “bacon” or some tone-deaf and uninformed meme being passed off as actual information is far more antagonizing than any vegan comment I’ve eve seen – and I’ve seen a lot.

Truth be told, I’ve filtered posts with the words ‘vegan’ and veganism’ from my facebook feed intentionally because these comments are irritating, the images of factory farmed animals and abused animals posted in invoke a sympathetic like or share are too intense for me.

I primarily go online to be entertained, and the further I get into middle age, the more I realize that I long for the days when we were given actual, objective news and then expected to form our own opinions on what was happening in our world. At this point, I’d estimate that 95% of the internet is opinions posted by attention seekers who are under-qualified to speak on anything, let alone the subject they’re speaking on.

And although we’re all out here confirming our own biases, I will say that what first led me to become vegan was not animal rights (though that does align with me now – it just wasn’t the first thing that attracted me).

It was a health journey.

I truly believe that; depending on your goals, a conscious, whole food, vegan diet with a balanced macronutrient intake is the best decision most of us can make for overall health and longevity. This is based in scientific study. No, I won’t cite sources, but I will recommend some documentaries below.

I won’t say that veganism is the only way to be healthy, but I will say that a macronutrient-balanced whole food diet is the best way to simultaneously be healthy and minimize your carbon footprint. A whole food Vegan lifestyle is ideal for recovery and prevention of heart attack, stroke, dementia, digestive problems, skin problems. All the natural antioxidant (cancer preventing) foods are plants. The easiest way to follow the alkaline diet is by being vegan.

I didn’t lose 166 lbs on a vegan diet.
I lost 151 lbs on an omnivorous (meat eater) diet.
THEN I lost 15 lbs on a vegan diet.
… Then ran an olympic length triathlon course, and a half marathon.

I kept the weight off, and maintained an active lifestyle for 5 years (so far).

I currently weight 210 lbs, I have a resting heart rate of 46 bpm, and my blood pressure is textbook. I regularly run between 10km and 14km, bike 25km of trail, and can swim 1500m, and lift weights regularly. People regularly forget that I am vegan because I (a) don’t preach about it much, and (b) don’t look like your stereotypical vegan.

You can do whatever you want… if you’re open to change.

Happy World Vegan Day.

VEGAN DOCUMENTARY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Forks Over Knives
The Game Changers
They’re Trying To Kill Us
What The Health
Seaspiracy
Cowspiracy
Christspiracy
… and if you can handle it, Earthlings.

what you are

I’ve regurgitated this piece of philosophical knowledge so much at this point that I don’t really know where I heard it anymore. However; I’m not so sure I’ve written about it here despite how frequently it comes up in conversation… so I feel compelled to share it with you now.

You don’t get what you want in this life.
You get what you are.

If that doesn’t immediately make sense to you, I assure you it will, and I hope you hang onto it the way I have.

I spent a good number of years longing for things like… artistic encouragement, and opportunity… things like respect and appreciation… to be surrounded by people who understand me and work as hard on their art as I do… people who are even keeled and professional.

A bunch of years ago, I said fuck it, and went for it – I played with the best players I could find, I played with prolific songwriters and I recorded in pro-level studios… it got better and better. Eventually I decided to stop playing with everyone (as hard as that was) and put all my eggs in one basket – The Confusionaires basket. Since then, things have been going progressively better. The Confusionaires are equally yoked. Jayson & Adam work just as hard at their craft and the extra stuff they bring with them into this band as I do, and the hard work has shown over the course of 3 full length albums, 3 EPs, and the recording we’ve started to do that will come out next year.

We work with an incredible mixing engineer.
We work with an incredible booking agent.

Similarly in my non-musical life, as I delve more into philosophy and fitness I find myself aligning more with well-read, healthy individuals. They find me and I find them… some of them are old friends, and some of them are newer folks who’ve come out of the woodwork. Some are family who have always been there, but we’ve grown closer.

The other side of this coin is that people who are not good for me and my psyche, people who are not good for my art-life, people who are volatile or unsafe… they’ve stopped running with me and are standing in the dust, making their way to the sidelines.

In the end, we find our people.
It takes time… like sedimentary rock makes layers over thousands of years.
Musicians find musicians.
Artists find artists.
Vegans find vegans.
Athletes find athletes.
… and… drunks find drunks.
Abusers find abusers.
I believe this is the natural order of things but it gets so much more granular then that.
People who are moving the culture forward find each other, too.
And the naysayers… get left behind.

Similarly, and possibly even by default… the lowlifes and negative forces find each other too, likely as the positive people in their lives move on ahead.

So it’s good to look in the mirror every so often and take inventory of who you are and where you are. If you don’t like where you’re at, then it’s time to move… because; again…

You don’t get what you want.
You get what you are.

crazy is just what i do

Hi everyone,

It’s time for more of this:

I wrote this song in my apartment when I lived in the City Market building across the street from Canada Place in Edmonton… so in the first verse where it says “I watch the sunrise in the reflection of the building across the street” – that building is Canada Place.

I hope you enjoy this video and this song. It’s very fast, and sorta hard to play… but the song used to be much slower and much longer, and actually pre-dates The Confusionaires by a year or two, now that I think of it… but it drives the point home so I hung onto it!

Thanks for watching and reading.

rest

Rest. This is a big one because I don’t get much of it. I don’t allow myself much of it because I take on roles that are relentless, but those roles are important.

Fatherhood doesn’t relent. When they told me 17 years ago that the next 18 years of my life were spoken for, they undersold it by a country mile. I am something that I will never not be, and I wouldn’t have it any other way… even when I feel like complaining.

I’ve been split with my daughter’s mom for a good long time now. It’s fine. The kid is supposed to spend a week at my place and a week at her mom’s but in reality it looks more like 11 days with me and 4 with her mom. It’s not the end of the world. as a matter of fact, I play lots of gigs out of town, and need her help managing the dog.

I love it, even when my old introverted ass is yearning for an empty house with which to play loud music and loud guitar, sometimes simultaneously.

Rock & Roll doesn’t relent. We’d like to think it gets easier when you ascend to the next rung of popularity. That’s bullshit. It’s glorious and all encompassing… but it’s a mountain of work that nobody’s ever going to do for you. The best you can hope for is to have people do that work for you, but the reality is that you only pay people to do things you can’t or won’t due… which means you stay busy.

Then when you’re not busy, you load up a trailer full of gear and drag it down the highway for several hours where you and your equally old (if not older) band members unload it, play all night, and then barely make it to a hotel room to collapse before we repeat the cycle. We get home a couple days later and go to work… which is the closest thing to relaxing we get to do, regularly.

I love it, even when my old introverted ass is yearning for an empty house…

Endurance Sport is relentless. The very nature of endurance sport is that it is something to be endured, so it shares some common ground with parenting and rock & roll in that it takes up a bunch of time and I can’t live without it. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your old tired self is to get up early and go for a run. it makes me a better parent and a better rock & roller so it stays…

The rest of my life fills in the gaps. Being a boyfriend and a dog owner are not particularly taxing, though they do have their moments, just as I have my moments when I need the attention of my family members.

… my life straight up rules. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have a music career, and day job, and a family and none of them seem to interfere with each other. I have a lovely home, dog, kid, girlfriend… I have cool stuff… I’m winning this game.

But it can be a lot.

We have to take our rest when we can get it. I was reminded of this when my body all but shut down on a monday morning recently. It was the kind of thing where I got up to go for a run and anytime I would turn my head, my eyes took a few seconds to catch up.

I went back to bed. I woke up in time for work, and after work I took a nap. Then I went to bed early. There was no other choice… and sometimes that’s just reality.

I would love to tell you to prioritize rest.
But I don’t do that.
The best I can do is tell you: Listen to your body.

Speaking of rock & roll… today I’m in Drumheller, AB playing a dinosaur’s birthday party. It’s an outdoor, free event, so if you’re not otherwise engaged on this long weekend, it’d be great to see you.

new year

I talk about this every year, and have managed to avoid it so far… but now it’s happening. September is the beginning of the year. At least it’s always felt like that, since the Edmonton Public School system set forward the notion that the fall; historically a season of death, is the beginning of the school year. That means July & August are essentially the end of the year in the same way that Saturday and Sunday are the end of the week.

So in the fall, it’s often time to start nesting; in that, we need to prepare for a harsh Canadian winter.

Obviously preparing for winter doesn’t mean what it once meant. Squirrels are gathering food for winter, Geese are flying south, and I am working on a new workout plan for the cold months that includes a Swimming, Cycling, Running, and lifting weights. I’m giving myself 6 days to play with because that’s what I’m currently doing, but I will need to ensure I get all my muscle groups covered in 5 days because I often have weekend obligations.

It goes beyond gym rat status, though.

I’m beginning to put the structure around another writing and composing project that will likely not see the light of day for a few years… but that’s fine. Doing the thing IS the reward, whereas completing the thing means having to find a new thing, the hunt for which can sometimes be stressful and sad.

There are songs to write and a car to work on, of course, but that’s where it gets sticky. If I pile too much on and struggle to get to all of it then I risk being disappointed with all the things I didn’t accomplish rather than focusing on what I did accomplish. That might sound insane to you… but the prairie winter is a hard and unforgiving bitch goddess that actively tries to kill us, and vitamin D deficiency is a real thing that messes with your brain. Season Affectiveness Disorder is a real thing, even when you’re on top of the world, there are still blue days.

So that’s what I’m muddling through as I try to soak up every ray of sunshine possible for the next handful of weeks.

I’ll likely be indoors by Halloween.
Thanksgiving if I’m lucky… the irony of which is not lost on me.

Anyway… it is beautiful out, and everything is dying around us.
Enjoy!

This evening I’m in Red Deer, Alberta, playing at D2 Bar & Stage with Forbidden Dimension and The Offsailors. Minors are welcome at this show.

manifest

I have a full life, and I truly love my full life. At the risk of bragging, I have a family that consists of a very supportive girlfriend and a teenage daughter that wants to spend time with me. If you have a teenage daughter, you know that’s rare. I have an amazing dog that teaches me life’s most simple and important lessons every day… I have a fantastic job that doesn’t interfere with my art-life… and my art life is growing constantly.

There is no part of my life that actively interferes with any other part of my life and if that’s not balance, then I don’t know what is. I realize that I have manifested this; or in a more traditional sense, I built it.

The word manifest; itself, comes from two root words:
Manus – the latin noun for ‘hand’
Festus – which comes from the latin adjective ‘infestus’ which is the root for words like ‘infestation’ and ‘festival’

… so it more or less translates to hand party… or ‘to put a lot of your own hands into something.’ You cannot really manifest anything by sitting around and wishing for it… you have to put thought into action.

That’s the long way around… but it means: I wanted this and I created it.

This was made all to clear to me on a recent phone call with an old friend I don’t see anywhere near enough, where he reminded me of a conversation we’d had in our early 20s about what we wanted our future to be. We’d both fantasized about perfecting our artistic crafts in a humble way, being shit-hot writers and performers who lived covertly normal lives. Essentially being a big deal to a niche market, so we could have modestly nice homes surrounded by good neighbors who had no idea who we really were. A secret identity of sorts.

He spent a few minutes pointing out to me that I have exactly that life – with a few variables augmented slightly – but still, it’s a conversation I won’t soon forget that has filled me with gratitude.

So although this life is full, and occasionally it exhausts me… it was put this way with thoughtful intention and I am extremely grateful for it.

a plan

Sometimes it takes a minute to unhitch the load of things I take with me everywhere I go. The stress of my family, the stress of my job, the pressure I put on myself to write, record, and perform music, my body dysmorphia… but there are times and places when I am able to check all that junk at the door and just be present and do what I came to do.

Generally, I have a pretty clear mind as I head into most situations. I’ve gotten pretty good at worrying about work when I’m at work, and worrying about working out when I’m working out, and worrying about music when it’s time for that… but those pressures are always there, even when I’m not acknowledging them.

But I’m learning how to check that stuff at the door on occasion and it’s really enriched my life in a big way.

What I’m realizing now is that I need a place for everything (and everything in it’s place) and that primarily pertains to my calendar. 6 weekly training days are designated, 2 evenings of recording new music, travel days for work, travel days for my main band, time with my family… it’s all in there.

Sure, plans change from time to time… but it’s a lot easier to change a plan if you have a plan to change, as opposed to not having a plan and having everything fall apart on you.

All that to say… I’m living an amazing life full of love and creativity. I spend time with amazing people. I accomplish amazing things. I travel to beautiful places and entertain wonderful audiences… and everyone that needs a piece of me seems to get the appropriate amount. I’m sure some people would like a little more… but I’m certain that if they had more of me, they’d send it back.

I’ve read up on stoicism a bunch over the past few years, and I’ve in so doing, I’ve managed to put into practice the notion of not worrying about things I cannot control. For me, this is paramount to a balanced life, because there are so very many things I cannot control… including, but not limited to:
– other people’s expectations and/or opinions
– other people’s artistic output.

The Roosevelt-attributed quote ‘comparison is the thief of joy‘ rings and reverberates off the inner walls of my skull a lot lately, and it’s such an important thing for an artist to remember.

I’m truly grateful for the opportunities afforded me and I hope there are more coming, and that eventually I can provide people with opportunities as well.