Timothy Alexander McCready

MegaUpdate

timmccready — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:49:53 +0000

It’s strange to think that this time last year I was in the middle of a full-blown nervous breakdown due to living with a worthless-piece-of-human-garbage drug-addict drug-dealer who used to be my friend and band-mate, while I was trying to make a living doing freelance work from home; and now I spend almost everyday with George Stroumboulopoulos and a different member of the Sloan family (they’re on a rotating schedule with me). Thank god 2011 is over. I somehow made it through, and I’m still here, now. Whew! Thanks to all my new friends who helped me become a person again.

Kathleen Edwards played on George’s show on Thursday, and her performance will air on the CBC this upcoming Friday. Look! My roommate’s boyfriend is playing bass for her!

Ivy had her book launch at Parts & Labour that night. She and Mark Pesci wheat-pasted the entire basement with photocopies of her photos, and I think it looks great! It really ties the look of the basement together.

I went to Niall and Jeremy’s art opening on Friday night (which I didn’t take any pictures at) before heading to the Horseshoe to see one of Toronto’s best bands, Biblical!

Thennn I went to videotape Loving In The Name Of at the Great Hall. Jeremy Finklestein said they’re coming up to the 4 year anniversary, and my youtube videos and blog posts are the only documentation he has of the early ones. I wish I could’ve done more, because I knew he was putting together an important thing back then, but alas, I had not the resources and nobody ever gives a fuck about my ideas; they just love the final products I produce. It’s a strange curse I have.

Backstage before the show!

Anywayysss, that was super fun. Saturday night I went to see Monster trucks at the Monster Jam at the Rogers Center aka Skydome on Saturday night with some of the GS Tonight staff. We all met up at Hooters beforehand, a couple of blocks from the CBC. I realized when I got there, the only time I’d been at Hooters before was with VICE Toronto staff after George interviewed Suroosh Alvi a few years back. Yes, before becoming George’s audience coordinator, I was first an audience member.

On Sunday night, Michelle Thrush, George, Gregory Macdonald, Zane Kaplansky, and a few more of us from the show went for dinner at Banu at 777 Queen West with Saman Arbabi. Saman had flown into Toronto that day for George to interview him on Mondays show, and Banu had invited us to be their guests since they are huge fans of Saman’s show Parazit. The food was spectacular!

Saman’s interview was great, he had a lot of fans in the audience who came out to see him and I’m getting super tired so I don’t want to write much longer, but I’m glad my life doesn’t suck so much anymore and that I’m surrounded by so many great people and get to do so many fun interesting things all the time. It’s actually kind of retarded what a lucky motherfucker I can be sometimes. Now if I can just pay off my debt without having to sell all my stuff…

THE END.

Satanic Panic II

timmccready — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:11:35 +0000

I think it’s time. I’m going to throw another Satanic Panic night, celebrating the home education from my childhood, in the next month or 2…

Check out this promo video for the first one, from Feb 4th 2009.

Stay tuned!

My Day Today (yesterday)

timmccready — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:26:08 +0000

Michael “Pinball” Clemons was on the show today. Holy shit, did that guy ever bring some energy into the room. The one thing he said that really resonated with me, was something about in life you’re either going to live with the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Maybe some people can deny that reality for awhile, but fuck those losers; I’m with him.

I went to Choir!Choir!Choir! practice after work from 7:30 to 8:30 before I had to head to Parts & Labour. I’m not sure if it was this week or if it’s next week, but we’re hovering around the 1 year anniversary of the first practice at the Bosley Real Estate office, when there was only 20 of us there. I think there were over 150 people there earlier this evening!! The article in the current issue of Toronto Life might have something to do with the insanely over-capacity crowd, but it’s crazy to see how far the choir has come in a year.

I’d like to organize a day where the entire audience on George’s show will be Choir!Choir!Choir! members, and incorporate it into that days episode somehow. I think that would be awesome!

I spent the rest of my evening doing sound at Parts & Labour for the Nasco Christmas party. The main entertainment was an almost all-female band called Sista Fista. Yes, the name means what you think it does (I asked, just to confirm). They were heavy!

Shut Up And Dance

timmccready — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:31:36 +0000

Juliette Lewis was on the show today. Her interview airs tonight at 11:05pm on CBC. She’s in Toronto working on a new TV show, the Firm, based on the book/movie, but 10 years later.

Juliette! Give me a ring when you want to jam or record some new demos!

I found out about a new weird synchronicity today; I have all these trinkets and things around my office at home, like my Barry Pickles (tribute to Derrick Beckles) doll, Christian Aldo’s alien head sculpture from GLOP, and a ceramic Mexican devil with a big penis Christmas tree ornament, to name a few (these are just the tip of the iceberg). I added a Strombo mug to the collection a couple months ago (next to my GG Allin bobblehead) and decided it was a good home for these Jay and Silent Bob action figures that Nick gave me when he left for Berlin. It turns out George is presenting Clerks on the big screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox this Wednesday!! Maybe it doesn’t seem that big of a deal to you, but I’ve been looking at Kevin Smith sitting inside this Strombo mug for months now!

Why have I been singing this song to myself all day?

Fuck Faces

timmccready — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:28:21 +0000

I had sooo much fun at Gladstone Karaoke last night!

I woke up at 7:30am this morning and spent my day driving around the city in a cargo van, listening to Scarface and delivering magazines. I love this song. It’s sooo sexxxy.

I went to Rotate after I finished my deliveries and bought Childish Gambino – Camp (because I’d heard good things about it this past week through work), and Dry Rot – Philistine (because it was only $3 and Alen Zukanovich told me it’s amazing) on vinyl.

After I got home, Jo Snyder came over to record a new song she wrote for a “girls’ drinking songs” compilation her friend in Germany is putting together. She delivers the master tomorrow afternoon.

The song is called New Start and it’s the first thing I’ve recorded in the basement with my new gear since I acquired full control and sole ownership of the studio. I recorded it onto a 1/4″ reel-to-reel 8 track, and mixed down to 1/4″ reel-to-reel 2 track before dumping it onto my computer.

Maria Bromilow and Nicole sang backup harmonies and gang vocals. It sounds great! I’m curious to hear how it’ll sound next to the other songs on the comp.

I’m very proud of my new 159 Manning Recording Studio.

BTW, I got a huge spike in hits on this here wordpress blog the other day. Almost twice my previous “busiest day”, and nearly 20 times my daily average the past few months.

The weird thing is, the post from that day didn’t generate very much traffic. It appears that one person read over 700 of my blog entries in one sitting? I don’t think that’s even possible, so maybe it was some sort of spam-bot? If it was a person, somebuddy shore knows a lot about me now.

Shadowplay

timmccready — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:48:02 +0000

I just watched Tasman Richardson’s 2006 video art/essay/manifesto Shadowplay for the first time in 4 or 5 years, and it’s every bit as good as I remember it being. I highly recommend watching it from start to finish when you’ve got 20 minutes to spare.

“What is it that separates us from the animals? Chimps don’t have have the dexterity to make rockets, but they can manage a blade of grass to catch ants. Technology isn’t anything special. It’s our perception of time that segregates us from all other life. It’s our memory and expectations for the particular details that separate us. Scratching, scarring and painting, we’ve been advancing our own brand of memory technology. Monument as momento, making a mark that can outlive friends, family and associates. An elaborate string tied around our fingers. We’re vicarious. We go anywhere, we see anything, through surrogates. The wax cylinder, a photograph. The end of our future is the preservation of the past. The lens defines space, the recording defines time. Our eyes are dead eyes, our memories are dead memories. Because anything can be recorded by anyone; everything will be recorded by everyone.”

Food for thought.

Speaking of remembering the past, Aubrey Jax gave last nights MYOLJ 4.0 a great (and accurate) review on BlogTO today. She’s right, Dear Diary totally made the night. They put together a perfect emo tribute set-list, and then nailed their performance. BOOM!

Movie Nite

timmccready — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:37:11 +0000

Rich came over to 159 Manning earlier this evening to watch psychedelic movies with Dafne, Nicole and I. The dvd’s were from his collection. He and I seem to have very similar taste in films, and other things.

He asked me if I had any ideas of opening acts for him, for some smaller Ontario dates. I nominated Triple Gangers. They played at Parts & Labour last Friday, and they were really fun and sounded great with just 3 singers and with the guy playing what he describes as a “shitty casio keyboard”. Not an easy sound to make work, but they pull it off! The audio for this video appears to have been recorded with 1 condenser mic in the middle of the room, which in this case really proves they can sing together live.

Tomorrow night is Met You On Livejournal 4.0 at Parts & Labour! It’s also our 1 year anniversary!

Me, Angela Holmes and Antonella Lombardi exclusively djing late 90′s/early 2000′s emo, screamo and pop punk, with a live set at 11pm by Dear Diary!

This is the bands set list for tomorrow:

TEXAS IS THE REASON -Johnny on the Spot
NEW FOUND GLORY – Hit or Miss
BRAND NEW -Gloria
JIMMY EAT WORLD -Your New Aesthetic
KNAPSACK -Separate the Spine
DASHBOARD -Screaming Infidelities
PROMISE RING -Happiness is all the Rage
GET UP KIDS -10 minutes
SEAWEED -Kid Candy
TAKING BACK SUNDAY -You Know How I Do

If you’re reading this, and you know what I’m talking about, YOU’RE INVITED!! Doors at 10pm. No Cover. No Crybabies. @ Parts & Labour, 1566 Queen West, Toronto ON Canada

Studio 43

timmccready — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:01:56 +0000

You know how Studio 54 was the place to be in New York in the late 70′s and early 80′s? Now Studio 43, George’s studio at the CBC, is the place to be in Toronto. The only difference is, instead of a drunken drug and sex orgy with famous people there, Studio 43 is more of a cross between a university lecture, a concert, and church**, with famous people there. And instead of people spending all their money at Studio 54 on weekend nights, and coming home at 7am the next morning; in Studio 43, we congregate at 3:30 in the afternoon and shoot from 4pm to 6pm Monday to Thursday, and it’s FREE!

Staff writer Dave Pearce just blew McKinney’s mind!

Is it just me, or does it look like Megan Follows is in love with George? During her interview, she mentioned more than once that she’s single.

I’ve put together a totally confusing presentation to share with you, a mere glimpse of what I think about everyday.

I used my wide angle lens to take the 2 pictures above, and the picture below of Sections C and A. Then I used my 50mm lens to take a picture of the view from positions 1, 2 and 3.

Below 1. View from Front Row, Section C

2. View from Front Row, Section A

3. View from Back Row, Section A

As you can see, from the 3 pictures above; there’s not a bad seat in the house. There are 12 speaker wedges, spread all around the room so the audio is clear and audible from every seat, and there are large flat-screen tv’s on both sides of the studio, so you can see what the show looks like on camera as it’s rolling.

If you like this video of Tom Snyder interviewing the Clash as much as I do, then you will like being in the audience in Studio 43 for George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. That’s NOT to say “George is like Tom Snyder”. I just really like Tom Snyder, and I like watching George’s interviews with interesting, engaging guests, because he’s a fuckin’ pro! It’s different to see it in the studio, compared to seeing it edited on TV later that night. PLUS, George always presents his daily Debrief, a 5 minute comedy ice-breaker about the news of the day. And we give away PRIZES!!! AND George usually sticks around and talks to all the guests after the show, which is the specific part that reminds me of church**. My dad was a pastor, and he always stayed around after the morning and evening services on Sunday to say hello and speak to everyone as they left. I think it’s a really nice gesture of George to stay around so long, so often, after each show rather than just taking off as soon as we finish taping. I can tell it means a lot to the fans/audience. It’s free to attend, but we only tape until the end of May (and the studio will be dark for 3 weeks in April), so don’t take this offer for granted! Book tickets now! Come visit me at work, it’s fun!

The Transmigration Of

timmccready — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:41:48 +0000

I read the Transmigration of Timothy Archer this weekend. It’s the last novel Philip K Dick wrote before he died in 1982. I’m going to read Neuromancer by William Gibson this week, and then I’m going to read the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. I’ve got it all planned out.

I bought a fortune teller calendar today. Hopefully it’ll give me ideas for that fortune teller machine I’m going to build someday.

Mr January, Old Salty, looks a lot of like the guy in the Lukas Geronimus print in the hallway outside my bedroom.

I guess all 3 of us look the same. I asked Old Salty a question and he replied “Your wish will come true if you focus on what you want to happen, and don’t focus on what you don’t want to happen.” I wish for a sandwich; for 159 Manning to be clean, quiet and filled with ladies; and for access to unlimited amounts of money from now until I die when I’m 100 years old (+ I want it to be secret that I’m rich).

I’m 1/3 of the way there to being 100 years old, and 2/3 of the way to manifesting today’s wishes…

I’m joking. Those weren’t really my wishes, that’s just reality! My real wish is secret. I spent 30 minutes this afternoon, trying to record a perfect rendition of the Wipers – Wait A Minute on piano, but after 12 tries, and accepting the video is only worth getting 50 views no matter how well I play it, I said “GOOD ENOUGH!!”.

More Pictures of Sloan (with Fucked Up and Fiest) at the Great Hall from 12.21.11.

timmccready — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:07:08 +0000

Heyoooo! Here’s more pictures I took of Sloan playing with Fiest and talking to Fucked Up and each other at the Great Hall on Dec 21, 2011.

They played the entire set of One Chord To Another from start to finish for the first time since…ever? Then they did some encore songs with Pink Eyes and Leslie.

Considering all the alternatives, after all these years, it must feel pretty damned good to be Sloan.