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Directed by Josh McNorton
We had another jam packed episode of ‘The Artist Lounge’ this week. In studio, musical guests ‘The Sons of Kain’, who showed us that you can shake off apathy by merely chewing gum. Josh McNorton, fresh from rejuvenation on Hornby Island gives us a behind the scenes look of his production Falling Out: hard feelings in mixed mediums.
by Artist Lindsey Bond
Lindsey Bond shares with us her hidden fascination of suitcases and the story behind her exhibition ‘Meeting Suitcases’. She also provides some tips on Digital printing for Visual Artists. Lindsey also explains her love for the Hasselblad.
Miranda Sage
Jazz vocalist Miranda Sage shares some love with us from the farthest reaches of Victoria. Miranda has performed with the best Jazz talent throughout North America and has reached other places in the globe with her great music.
Ana Bedard, our newest recruit provides some much needed adult supervision. Below is the archived broadcast, may take a moment to load. Remember to listen to us every Tuesday night, live at 7pm on CJSF 90.1 FM.
Part 1 (30 mins)
Part 2 (30 mins)
Sons of Kain
Sock Monkey on Radio
In this version of ‘Art of the Mind’ we have our first session of Art Therapy. We have Art Therapist Kat Thorsen, from the Keith Lynn Secondary School (KLASS) to introduce us to Sock Monkey Therapy. Also in studio is KLASS student Hannah Pettinato. Local Singer Songwriter Diane Reyes also performs live for us. Later in the program we speak with former Minister in the Provincial Government and Radio Personality Rafe Mair. Rafe shares his lived experience and gives us his take on the Government’s performance in Mental Health.
Rafe Mair
Here is the archive from our March 29 episode, may take a moment to load. Please be patient, you’ll really enjoy it.
Part 1 (30 mins)
Part 2 (30 mins)
Diane Reyes on YouTube
The Pacific Cinematheque in partnership with UBC department of Psychiatry hosts a monthly screening of films related to mental health issues. I attended the screening of the British documentary Ben: Diary of a heroin addict. This is the story of an addict who documented his own life in a video journal format. His intention was to showcase a path to recovery. Unfortunately, Ben never completed his film and he succumbed to health issues which were a side effect to his addiction. He had filmed up until 36 hours before he died. The film takes you into Ben’s life as an addict, but also contrasts his human side. Ben was also a loving son, playful brother and uncle from a suburban home. He definitely was not the stereotypical street living heroin user.
Ben’s mother approved the use of the video, it exposes Ben at his worst, including injecting heroin into his groin. The film makes its point in showcasing the destruction of addiction. Even with what appeared as a positive support system around him, Ben struggled with trying to break free from the grasp of addiction. From a social activist perspective we know this type of story quite often, but we are always searching for other socio-enviromental constructs that surround the situation. In addition, there no instances where Ben was interacting with the system, ie no Doctor visits, consultations from advocates. It begs the question whether the family was trying to solve the problem on their own. And if so why? Was the system failing them?
Either way, for most outside of the Mental Health system it does point out that addictions can happen to anyone and in any socio-economic class. The common link is that the collateral damage affects everyone in the social circle, thus anyone can be an unintended victim to this horrible circumstance.
In this action packed episode we have singer/songwriter Rodeo Jonz and illustrator/painter Carelle Dunn. Rodeo talks about being a graffiti artist and how he salivates at blank concrete walls, while Carelle does her best to learn new sports by exchanging her creative skills. We chat with spoken word artist Shane Koyczan and get his thoughts on Nationalism. In addition, we talk with Smithers based singer songwriter Alex Cuba about creating from such a far away place.
New recruit and associate producer Ashley Collins also keeps everybody in-line during this episode. Here’s the archived broadcast, may take a few moments to load.
Part 1 (30 mins)
Part 2 (30 mins)
Rodeo Jonz
Carelle Dunn - The West Lion Collection
Most fans of the Cuban-Canadian singer songwriter know Alex Cuba moved from his birthplace to Victoria and eventually to Smithers BC over 4 years ago. A 14 hour drive north from Vancouver will get you to Smithers, so what keeps Alex Cuba there? For some musicians a rural escape is merely a tepid venture outside of the city, and one urban artists can only sustain temporarily. For Alex, it was a destination of the heart that brought him there, but as he will proudly tell you, he discovered a soul that inspires his art. When speaking of his move to Smithers, Alex states, “since I moved up here my career really started taking off. It something that I am aware of. I am providing a lot inspiration to people because of that.”
Alex has fallen in love with Canada, partially because it reminds him of the life back in Cuba. Even though miles away from his original beginnings, that bond to his heart remains very close. Moving to Smithers gave him some simplicity in life, free from the pressure of living in an expensive city and afraid of being drawn in by the monotony of what can happen to the urban musician. It also allows his children to have a life that is connected to the earth and close to family; a similar life Alex had while growing up in Cuba. He says that living far away from the city also gives you a different perspective. Its similar to being in outer space; when you come back to the city people notice something different and they really become attracted to it.
Awhile back, Cuba recalls a meeting with his publicist about a press article that was titled ‘from Cuba to Smithers’. He was originally hesitant about making that public, likely because of the perceived awkwardness. Alex’s latest self-titled CD in his words, ‘speaks of an artist in evolution’. He went with no pre-conceived notions about this latest album, but he does state “its a lot about embracing what’s new in front of you and incorporating that peace and enjoyment that you feel because the new place has welcomed you.”
The pace at which Alex speaks, is calm and gentle, maybe that’s the Smithers’ soul. However, its affects are powerful, he shared stories of how people who had been in despair and after listening to his music feel injected with life. He recounts stories of how individuals have come to him to say that his music has essentially changed their lives. For some musicians that may seem like a burden, but Cuba comes off as humbly knowing that is the magic of his music. Alex however, doesn’t take it for granted, knowing that he has to come a far physical distance to perform, he treats it with the respect it deserves.
“Music for me is like a mission, I was there even when the money wasn’t and I didn’t put conditions around it.” Through his feelings he can travel back in time. Cuba says the nervousness and anticipation of being on stage, reminds him of performing with his father, as a child. He revels in creating that essence for every performance.
Alex says, “When I fly out from here, I land somewhere and in some city. But when I go out on stage; I feel like I have all the power in the world!”
jp
Alex begins touring in Ontario and Quebec in April. alexcuba.com
Listen to the radio interview with Alex, Tuesday Mar 23rd 7pm on ‘The Artist Lounge’
TEA
TEA Petrovic joins us in ‘The Artist Lounge’ where we debate the accuracy of google maps and banter about emotional turmoil. We also encourage young and upcoming musicians to change careers in order to ensure that current musicians maximize their radio time. Kray Van Kirk a singer songwriter who hails from Alaska, stops by and provides a little political commentary and shares his thoughts on composing music in hexadecimal. In addition, we speak with Ben Fox of Dinosaur Bones while in Austin Tx, where we talk Palentology and the happenings at SXSW Festival.
Here’s the archived broadcast, will take a minute to load.
Part 1 (30 mins)
Part 2 (30 mins)
Dinosaur Bones
At FUSE last night, my volunteer duty included the task of managing the activity called ‘Post Card to a Stranger’. It was based around the theme for last nights event entitled ‘I Want to be Alone (with you)‘, a play on having a psycho-social post-Olympic respite. Basically people wrote a message to a stranger on a blank postcard, after which it went into a box. At another station you wrote your address on a label, we would then randomly attach these address labels to the postcards. Thus you would then receive a random postcard in the mail. I thought people really enjoyed it. They were likely uninhibited in knowing what they wrote was like a gift to someone they don’t know; a random act of kindness hopefully! In addition, the anticipation that they will receive a postcard seemed exciting.
One stranger gave me her postcard to read, unsure how the person receiving it may feel. She was afraid of appearing too forward. I won’t reveal her original contents, however I wrote this one back as a gift for allowing me to read it in the first place. What do you think?
_____________________________________________________
I
I * ** * * ** ***
I Dear Stranger, *** * * * * ** **
I * * * ** **
I Nice to meet you at the gallery. * ** * * * ***
I What did you think of FUSE? I find * * * * * * *
I that it breathes a little life into my * * ** * ** * *
I creative embers. I hope it stoked * * * *
I your artistic flame. One thing I ***
I really enjoy is surrounding myself **
I with other fearless creators. They always *** * * **
I seek the flood of their emotions - cherry blossoms
I and capture enough of them j peachy
I to create their latest opus.
I Isn’t it daring to face the oncoming
I surge, fully knowing the risk and beauty
I of what may happen? I suppose that
I is the thrill and danger that comes
I with being an artist. However, most
I fascinating is knowing the person beside you is
I on this spectacular journey as well; and that you
I can hang on whenever you may need.
I
I All the best in your travels.
I - J Peachy
I___________________________________________________
I know when I am having a bad day or feel trapped by negative thought patterns, putting a beloved CD on is very centreing and liberating. Much like reading, and, of course, my writing, I don’t really feel like myself if I don’t spend time listening to music, especially if I give that time to watching too many sports or online gaming. My favourites are Santana, Rush, U2, Bob Marley, Vivaldi, Handel, and various contemporary Christian artists. What do you like to listen to?
The Canadian Association for Music Therapy, much like myself, resides here in Toronto. Here is a link to their website: http://www.musictherapy.ca/ These professionals are seeing their methods succeed in the treatment of anything from Acquired Brain Injury to Victims of Abuse to many other points of concern.
Tune in to Sound Therapy Radio this Monday Mar 15 at 7 PM Pacific to hear J Peachy delve further into this topic. It is on CJSF 90.1 PM out of Burnaby, British Columbia, or can be accessed live on the internet at http://cjsf.ca
I am very grateful to J for this opportunity to contribute to his blog, and I invite any questions or comments to my e-mail address: [email protected] Have a great weekend, everybody!
Pat Connors
The Artist Lounge gets a kick of the Blues with Steve Sainas and his Dobro. Adrian Glynn also blesses us with his lyrical majesty and Helen Daniels tells us what we can do with all that used clothing as Arts Connect hosts Swaporamarama. Might take a moment to load, enjoy, lather, rinse and repeat.
Part 1 (30 minutes)
Part 2 (30 minutes)
Adrian Glynn
Steve Sainas
Bring your clothes to Swap O Rama Rama
Introducing CJ the Sock Monkey
March 31, 2010 in Commentary, Sock Monkey Stories | Tags: CJ the sound therapy sock monkey, CJSF 90.1 FM, hannah Pettinato, J Peachy, kat thorsen, KLASS, sound therapy radio | by J Peachy | 1 comment
In the last episode of ‘Art of the Mind’ we had Art Therapist Kat Thorsen in the studio. Her and Art Student Hannah Pettinato left us a wonderful gift; a Sock Monkey, who has now made a new home here at CJSF 90.1 FM. We have now named her ‘CJ’ and is the official Sound Therapy Radio mascot. She will be hanging out in the studio, so feel free to say hi, feed her bananas, hang out or take her clubbing with you. CJ’s has already found her way around the studio and is hard at work creating some great content.
CJ, The Sound Therapy Sock Monkey
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