Chai

Chai: This symbol, commonly seen on necklaces and other jewellery and ornaments, is simply the Hebrew word Chai (living), with the two Hebrew letters Chet and Yod attached to each other. Some say it refers to the Living. Judaism as a religion is very focused on life, and the word chai has great significance.

The Chai Folk Ensemble has taken over my life for the next two weeks. When I agreed to take on this project I didn't understand what I was getting myself into. 3-8 hour practices, three times a week, run throughs, sound checks... This is a lot more playing than I expected! These people are hard core. I feel like I've gotten sucked into something so big and complicated nobody has the time to explain it all too me.

Each time I show up, new elements of the performance keep getting added. 90% of the time I don't know what's going on. None of the names are in English, the music is Jewish and rarely holds a steady tempo, key or time signature... Things keep changing!

That being said. Working with the Chai folk ensemble is amazing. The level of musicianship in the orchestra is very high and the people are very fun to work with. I also get an interesting window into the Winnipeg Jewish community. Jews are pretty cool! Community and culture is very important to them.

Keep the dream alive

Last week Kevin and I came up with a funny idea for a new TenTooMany song. Band members have been trying to get me to write something funny for a long time but I've never done it. We often talk about doing a light simple song with goofy lyrics but it never seems to happen.

Tiffany always wrote about boys,
Dave writes about girls,
I have no idea what Tim writes about...

I try to tell stories. Stories about my life, stories about other lives... I can never write lyrics unless they are about something that is important to me. There are enough lyrics out there about people whining over relationships.

My latest project is a funny song about a Man with a Mullet.

So, are mullets important to me? Not particularly. Although, Goliath and Conan have mullets and they seem to do well for themselves. It is obvious that there is no shortage of mullets among the cartoon heroes of the 80s and 90s. Heroes can have mullets. That much I have figured out. It's these people that make the mullet a mystery that needs to be solved.

After a bit of study I have come to believe the mullet is a impossible dream, a way for the 80s generation to to cling to a time when their future seemed bright. A person with a mullet is someone who isn't afraid to chase their dreams. They bought into the glorious vision in the 80s... Now, nothing is going to hold them back. Thinning hair, ridicule, changes in style, these are NOTHING compared to the iron will of a mullet man living in 2005. If more people had the strength of character it takes to sport a mullet, the world would be a different place.

So, you can see why this story needs to be told. I hope TenTooMany's new album gets recorded. ( code name Epic Ska) This track needs to be shared with the world.

On that note I leave you with the most EPIC MULLETS I could find. Only in japan....

22

Another birthday come and gone. For those of you who made it, thanks for coming out. For those of you who didn't, you missed a fun party. Highlights include:

Food: More cakes than I expected. I'm not complaining because one of them had Hellboy on it.
People: I mixed work friends, school friends and TTM +. Things worked out well.
Ryan throwing fireworks at some girl on the street:
My Cat attacking a loaf of expensive birthday bread from the forks bakery:
Crazy Music: BreakBeat, Ska, Bangra
Coming up with creative names for the various fireworks combinations:
Me demonstrating various punjabi dance moves:

Lots of fun.
Sometimes I forget how many people will notice when I'm gone. I have many interesting friends.
Thanks for the fun time guys!