Thursday 2 June 2022

PROJECTION




fake a smile
no one knows you're broken

demi lovato


P R O J E C T I O N

volume up . 720p
story below














optimized for night vision



a jim lamarche remix
composed & performed by Mark Clifford
assembled in photoshop, logic audio & final cut

featuring the Roland System 8




read more of Jim's blog posts here 













PROJECTION
the story behind the song


Recorded 43 years ago in a community college 8 track studio in London Ontario (all analog). Ah ... to be 22 again - we kinda knew what we were doing but were clueless at the same time.

In 1979, my old friend & musical partner Mark Clifford returned to finish his third & final year (Music Industry Arts) there after we had performed together in Major Hooples out of Kitchener. Touring in the large format was epic. Blast actually. Thunder Bay to Halifax (and everywhere in between). Hundreds of shows - serious fun.

Turns out, Mark's intimate & accelerated recollection of turbulent times closing out that torrential year (particularly amongst band members) lives on. A difficult memory. It felt like a 747 (landing), careening off the runway at 200 mph and crashing into a forest.

and so there's a dark departure, followed by a welcomed arrival. 

Crafting layered taped vocal loops (not unlike the U.K. band 10CC did just a couple of years earlier on their monster hit 'I'm not in Love'), only in a much humbler recording environment; playing all the instruments - including sitar which he still has, and engineering it himself. 

Listening now (4 decades later), it almost defies all logic that such a beautiful song production could possibly be created in such a rudimentary place (w/fondness). It's almost inconceivable that it gently unfolded into such a brilliant conception in such a quiet, unassuming setting (Fanshawe College), flying under the radar since. 






Major Hooples - 1978 (Matador - Galt/Cambridge)

(left to right)
Peter Beacock - baldwin piano, B3 organ, mellotron, arp synthesizer, vocals
Jim Lamarche - guitar vocals
Ed Miller - drums
Keith Stahlbaum - bass, vocals
Mark Clifford - guitar, vocals



Mark, (living in his hometown, St Catharines now) sent a .wav file to me a week ago (late Oct 2022), vaguely remembering it before doing it up after imagining a new mix launch after a few listens, enjoying it more & more as it evolved. Finishing an audio remix first, then seeing pictures; faces. Out of Logic and into Final Cut we go. So here we are. 

I'd like to think that it's a fresh take on a classic caper. Relevant? ... oh ya.


JL.


















see the ONE LIFE album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/onelife/


see the new TWO LIVES album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/twolives/


see the new THREE LIVES album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/threelives/



listen to the youtube album ONE LIFE  >>>  HERE
(play all)











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Wednesday 1 June 2022

CURIOUS WAYS 22



I'm lost in your lullaby



R I O U S   W Y S   2 2




composed & performed by Jim Lamarche
square-dance (imagine) - Embro Ontario. July. 1964
from the album - old friends. 1986/87
assembled in logic audio and final cut
first remix Toronto. Aug. 2018
second remix Woodstock. Nov. 2022



stars, fading forever lies

 volume up - 720p












there is no hope for


An extended family square dance - Embro July 1964.
Granny & Grandpa right down to us grandkids.
They always thought Ricky was a bit peculiar but this?
Bringing Brad and not even hiding it?
Jesus, this is embarrassing.

Other boys like them there
all under the radar.

Some gender tension there I guess.
They didn't care - love them for that.
Ya Ricky & Brad, whatever
I mean, who cares?

The rest of us had fun. 

Square dances later in secondary school
a safe & structured intimacy
in gym class - who knew?
All very heterosexual.

I lived for Friday mornings back then 
at 10:45 - noon in 1970/71.

All legal.











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see the ONE LIFE album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/onelife/


see the new TWO LIVES album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/twolives/


see the new THREE LIVES album/page here >>>
http://www.jimlamarche.ca/threelives/


read all of Jim's blog posts here 



listen to the youtube album ONE LIFE  >>>  HERE
(play all)















1987 - spiral studio 
58 phoebe street, toronto





R I O U S   W S   2 2



it's nuclear cartoons
I just ran w/it.



























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Wednesday 25 May 2022

THE FREEDOM FARCE



“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts,

while the stupid ones are full of confidence."


Charles Bukowski








Freedom is just a feeble excuse to set fire to the barn.


Fascinating to me ... there are some people you meet

who you feel immediately comfortable around, and others

who are terrifying. What's up with that?


When I was in Grade 7 at Centennial Central School in Comber Ontario (1968), we had a class uprising/revolt. Our new teacher (Mr. Kennedy) was young; just out of teacher’s college and he was weak.

 

We discovered early on that we could control him (if we stuck together) and one rainy early afternoon that late spring, turned the classroom into a party, tying him up to his chair, blindfolding & gagging him and spent the rest of the school day partying, listening to music, dancing and creating chaos/destroying the classroom. It was a blast! It was also the most important lesson I learned in all of grade school AND it wasn't in the curriculum. No. Real world.


The reason for our revolt was a simple one … too many rules & not enough freedom.  


Just a small flaw with our plan. We had the same conditions as the rest of the school did. Yes, rules & restrictions, decided by grown ups who supposedly had more wisdom/maturity than we did.  It was no different than any other public school in Canada, only we had a rare opening … and we used it.  


What I find most interesting (in retrospect), is that the school must have known what was going on (from the noise, loud music in the classroom), but did nothing to stop it. 


Mmmmn ok. Echoes. That familiar - out of sight, out of mind.









Truth is, we were a pack of unruly brats who seized the moment to create mayhem BECAUSE WE COULD!  Collectively, we saw an opportunity where we could get away with confusion, and we took it.  Fundamentally it had nothing to do with ‘freedom’ per sé, because we knew that the rules were universal (not just confined to us).  I mean, it’s not like we were being treated unfairly really; it’s just that we thought it would be cool if we finally stood up for something that was actually ours (not theirs). 


Ok, we were old enough to understand that law & order were basic cornerstones of every civilized community wishing to remain productive, functional & organized and that even our parents & teachers had to obey the law & follow the rules too. Fuck that!  No, this was a one off rebellion shared by 13 year olds wishing to make a point FOR FUN! 


The freedom angle was just an excuse, a reason to push back against authority. Sounds almost legitimate right?  It was a momentary awakening in that if enough of us young teenagers got together (all over the world), we could change everything and that for once, they would be answering to US!  An event beyond what any of us could imagine; bliss in anarchy in overcoming the powers that be which also meant PUNISHMENT to every man, woman & child who opposed us.

  

Payback? You bet!  Being told to wear our boots outside after a winter snowstorm, or - or no Playstation until after the homework is done?  How about no dessert until we finish all our supper?  NO MORE!  I'll wear my running shoes outside after it snows, play video games instead of going to school - hell, I'll eat dessert FOR supper every day if I want!  You can't tell me what to do anymore because you don't matter!


Ah, adolescence. What I would give, to be a kid again ... 









and so ...

Welcome to the freedom farce.


Fast forward 50 years and what I’m seeing recently sure feels a whole lot like that Grade 7 uprising in Comber only it’s everywhere.  In comes a President who acts like an entitled man-child and those following him, look & act just the same, encouraging a hundred million followers to do just that … revolt.  Why?  Freedom!  Only it's not against our teachers, principals, parents or the police ... no, it's the elite progressives (Democrats, Liberal Socialist whiners who think they're better than us). You're NOT better than me!


Righteous entitlement flexes its muscles just like it did in 1968 in Comber Ontario, only it’s a whole lot bigger & meaner.  It really is all the same stuff only it’s every public school across the country.  


Same argument … we won’t live by your rules anymore. In closing, mark my words. There will be more freedom marches, convoys, and protests not that unlike what we just saw in Ottawa.  It was a so-called revolt against vaccine passports (so they say). I say LIE!  It had little or even nothing to do with that. An excuse to tie up the teacher and throw a smash bash is what I'm thinking.  Let's turn our Prime Minister into a clown, make a lot of noise, deface monuments and spray paint graffiti on the sidewalks of our nation's capitol is what this is really about. A fuck you partay!









Epilogue:

We never saw Mr. Kennedy after that day. Either he quit or was let go (I'm thinking the latter).  We had a substitute teacher for the last 2 months of that school year.  That day is indelibly stamped in my psyche to this day, just like it was 53 years ago …  and ‘freedom’ (now, just like it was then), is just a feeble excuse to set fire to the barn.




jimlamarche.ca







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Tuesday 17 May 2022

RUSSIA VS. THE WORLD



Ukraine is the teenage girl who wants to leave home and join a rock band because her boyfriend is the guitar player.




R U S S I A  V S  T H E  W O R L D


 


Ok, someone help me out here.  There’s a war in Ukraine and I just don’t get it.  They’ve been flirting w/NATO (essentially the U.S.) for a decade by slowly/quietly importing U.S. sympathizers & financiers running the show now (lovers sneaking through the bedroom window when parents are asleep & crawling into bed with their little girl); wanting to be part of ‘the west’ (promises of money, jewels & gold) and the Motherland (USSR/Russia) is saying no (foot down)!  How is that fair?  Better question?  Maybe it’s none of our business OR is it?  Ah, poor Ukraine needs our help. Sounds suspect to me. 


Sounds more like the U.S. would like to set up shop (missile launch sites pointed at Moscow) right in Russia's back yard, while raiding the pantry (billions in resources there). Is it any wonder Mother Russia is pissed?  It's just common sense.











Ukraine is the teenage girl who wants to leave home and join a rock band because her boyfriend is the guitar player.  Parents need to let go at some point yes?  Question is … what are they holding on to?  Answer: that little piece of the world/them, that they can still call, theirs.  Even better, why are we even there?  Why are we interfering?  


So whatever. Ukraine saying they’ll become neutral if the motherland backs off BUT, US/NATO continuing to supply them w/state of the art war toys?  Sorry but WTF??  What do you really think is going to happen here?  Oh right.  Once Putin takes Ukraine, then he’ll want all the Baltics then maybe ‘world domination’ like Hitler wanted? Just STFU! 


NEWSFLASH: dictators are abundant here too, only they wear $10K suits and sit in board rooms (benefitting from 'legally' tricking you while convincing you that the bad guy? ... is over there - pointing), so just don't give me that but ... but horse shit.  What’s most disturbing?  We are on the brink of WW3 only this time nuclear! Freedom you say? You are being fooled (hook, line & sinker)!  This pandemic winding down?  Multiply that nightmare by 1000!  All their fault tho right?


Worth it? Yes. To a select few (and their hundreds of millions of devoted followers), convinced that their interests are protected by their patriotic virtue, freedom fighter fortitude. Dictators all look & sound different and they're everywhere (not just Russia). Our dictators are just a whole lot less obvious but equally deceptive & cunning.  I am left with one overwhelming sentiment here ...


Leave them alone!  It’s none of our frikkin' business FFS.  They were in Cuba in ’62 (our back yard) and it pissed us off and we threatened them w/nuclear and they left!  They don’t get to feel the same now?  If nothing else?  Hypocrisy is abundant in the west and the Military Industrial Complex remains hungry. Money & power rules. It's a trillion dollar investment. Regular exercise is required.  We don't own them. Let Ukraine remain neutral, oh and NATO?  Get the fuck OUT of there!

in closing:


Throwing rocks at a hornet’s nest can only go bad.  Our future is in the hands of a few dozen men who want & need to break them & take what they think is theirs. It was never yours ... doesn't belong to you.


Let it Be. (Mic drop)


















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