Mental Floss / Andrew McCallum

Massive DJ Mix Project - A Week's Supply Of Floss

mentalfloss — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:01:43 -0400

I'm pretty bad about recording my sets whenever I play -- I usually have a recorder with me, but in the crazyness I never remember to hook it up. A friend commented that it was

a shame that none of the stuff was archived, which got me thinking that it was about time I actually did put out a mix since it had been 7 years since November Leaf Beats. This turned into a much bigger project called "A Week's Worth Of Floss", where I'm essentially attempting to own your ears for an entire week.

The mixes cover all sorts of different genres, and I've preened over them extensively (about 8-16 hours per mix), so toss them on your iPod and hopefully you'll have something for every mood. I'm hoping to follow up with another 7 mixes to cover the rest of the types of music I play, but these days it's primarily music to get people dancing like house, breaks and techno. This set of mixes is a little more uppity as a result, and the next batch should be a bit more laid back.

If you want to find out about the next batch, consider subscribing to the mailing list or the RSS feed for the site.

Funky Techno - Download TRENTEMOLLER - Polar Shift Apendics Shfuffle - track 4 Billy Dalessandro - Come With Me Burnski - Expresso (Maetrik remix) Dave Clark - What was her name (LFO Remix) Adam Beyer - Kinky Dapeyk Solo - Take it Back Fraktion - BNKL Jeff Samuel - HeB GBz Guido Schneider - Oh my buffer Tigerskin - You want it Alka - Mifa (John Tejada Remix) Heinrik B - Untitled Alexander Kowalski - Days of the liar (Joris Voom Tribalicious Mix) Double X- Hesitant Alexander Kowalski - Delicious DINKY - Acid in my Fridge (Tobi Neumann Remix)	House & Breaks - It's Groovy Music, Baby- Download Leftfield - Chat of a Poor Man (Mighty Quark Remix) Groove Armada - Chicago Mr. Scruff - Get a Move on DJ Gregory - Tropical Soundclash The Stone Roses - Fools Gold (Rabbit in the Moon Remix) Chicken Lips - He Not In (Club Mix) Akufen - Deck The House Cassius - Feeling For You Fatboy Slim - Retox Lexicon - Sexy Thang Sarah Vaughan - Fever (Adam Freland Remix) Martin Solveig - I'm A Good Man (Mousee T. Breakbeat Mix) Deception - Le Tigre (DFA Mix) Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb (Fatboy's Extended Mix) The Lose Cannons - Superstars (Boris Dlugosch & Michi Lange Vocal Mix)
Drum'n'bass - May contain traces of heavy metal- Download Massive Attack - Risingson Beck vs. Black Cabbage - Sex Laws Are Rude Breakbeat Era - Ultra Obscene + Roni Size - Beatbox Roni Size - Visiting Angels Teebee - Corpse Ram Trilogy - Mind Overload Bill Laswell - Nico (no-u-turn) Drifter - She Gives Me Forever Ed Rush and Optical - Bad Company Rmx Nasty Habits - Liquid Fingers (Goldie Remix) Aphrodite - Twilight (Remix) Red - Paradise Concord Dawn - Raining Blood Kiko - Ronin (Feat MC. Mecha) Cause 4 Concern - Rumors Matrix - Sleepwalk Photek - The Lightening Decoder - Vapor Dub Bad Company - Trick Of The Light Atom - White Car	Rock'n'Roll - Kawkin' Out While Rawkin' Out - Download Otis Spann - Pretty Grils Everywhere Ellen McIlwaine - Higher Ground Cake - You Part The Waters The Soggy Bottom Boys - I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (radio station version) The Birds - No Good Without You Baby Big Sugar - I'm A Ram Tom Petty - Runnin' Down A Dream The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So Liam Lunch - United States Of Whatever Eagles of Death Metal - I Only Want You Hives vs. Guess Who - Die American Woman, Alright (El Barto & Liam B.) John Spencer Blues Explosion - Fed Up And Low Down Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver Big Sugar - Girl Watcher The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone Goldfrapp vs. Normal Greenbaum & ZZ Top - Ohh La Grange In The Sky (DJ Zebra) Placebo - Pure Morning Eagles of Death Metal - Speaking in Tongues The Poets - That's The Way It's Gotta Be
Breaks - Breakin' - Download The Smashing Pumpkins - Perfect (Perfecto Remix) Hyper vs. The Hives - Coz I Wanna Gorillaz- Feel Good (Boot Inc remix) Alter Ego - Rocker (Stanton Warriors mix) Goldfrapp - Utopia (Tim Write Remix) Plump DJs - Plumpy Chunks Apradan - Strut (Dub mix) LCD Soundsystem vs. Scissor Sisters - FIlthy Inflitrator (Dunproofin`) Stereo 8 - I Can`t Stop The Wizeguys - Start the Commotion Hustle Athletics - 2 Blackstreet - No Diggerty (We`re not from London remix) Def Inc. - Acid Rock Madonna - Frozen (Flashpoint Breaks Mix) Ils - Requiem Pharoahe - Oizo (Fuck Beat) Cut N Run - King of the Bongo Tricknologist - What time is love (K boy`s 2ci dub) Adamski - In Tha City (Breaks mix)	Breaks - Breakin' 2 - Electric Boogaloo - Download John Creamer & Stephane K - I wish you were here (PMT Mix) Meat Katie and Elite Force - Ju Ju Unkle - Have you passed through this night Unseen Force - 2 Be Your 1 (Evil 9 remix) Adam Freeland - REality 3D Sly Fidelity - Whole Lotta Sly The Cult - She Sells Skantuaray X Men vs. The Beach Boys - God Only Nose Ils - Cherish (Freeland Mix) False Prophit - Pixie Boot (Gouge Away) Spincycle - Shoryuken Radiohead - Everything In It`s Right Place (Hybird Remix) Hybird - Fatal Beating Deejay Punk Roc - Blow my mind (Plump DJs remix) Breakneck - Halfpipe Rennie Pilgrem & Dub Species - The Sermon Dee Kline, Nubreed, Ransom & Phil K - Bushpig Freaq Nasty feat. Phobe One - Boomin` Back Atcha (Freq`s Nu Skool mix) Vigi & Flip - Freak Frequency (Unbalanced mix) Tricknologist - Groove Krafty Kuts & C5 - Joyriders - Take It
Beatboxin'- Download Luke Vibert - Plug in the Head Phones Dust Junkies - Beatbox Wash (Rinse It Remix) T Love - QMS Dynamic Symcopation feat Mass Influence - 2 Tha Left Flowetry - Flowetic Rahzel - Southern Girl Kid Beyond - Deep Inside A Forest Mighty Black - Everything (Freakniks Fremix) Fatboy Slim - The Journey DJ Shadow - WAlkie Talkie Beyonce vs. Brainbug & Muppets - Mupp It Out (Alex H) DJ Format - Here Comes The Fuzz Rahzel - Rahzel vs. The Roots Spike Jones - William Tell Overture DJ Food - Do We Lamb - Trans Fatty Acid (K&D Remix)

Mental Floss interview on PepperScott Television

mentalfloss — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:52:40 -0400

I just found a copy of some video of me shot around 1999 for an early Internet video program called PepperScott Television. It's a bit dated, but an interesting take on myself at the time, what I had done, and where I was going.

MENTAL FLOSS - TORONTO INTERNET TELEVISION

DJing @ Harvest Festival 2009 (Ontario, Canada)

mentalfloss — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:15:19 -0400

Well it's happening again, I'm playing at the annual Harvest Festival and it should, as always, rock. In fact the logo above has a shot of the tent stage I'll be playing in.

If you've never been, but live in the area, consider going. It's always filled with my favorite DJs of the area, is nice land and features good sound systems. I also ordered a new soundcard to DJ with, so either my set will sound awesome, or or it'll be silent while I figure out Why I Fail So Hard.

Tech/geek/code social nights in Toronto?

mentalfloss — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:32:38 -0500

Hey all, this is a bit of a request. I've become a bit of a technical spokesperson for Tucows Inc, and I kind of want to get out to interesting things around the city a little more. It'll help give me ideas and broaden my knowledge in general. I've always wanted to check out some of the cool nights, but now I'm really kicking myself To Do It, damnit.

Can anyone suggest to me (and other surfers) what are some good social technology/geek/code nights in Toronto? I'd like to get out to ones that have a seminar each gathering around a certain topic, maybe even ones in an office where we can practice or be taught on computers, just anything that's fun, really.

I'm mostly interested in Ruby (even On Rails), MySQL setup and maint, shell use and scripting (esp. bash and tcsh), content management, writing/doc systems, project management, Windows/Mac/Linux system info and maint, something cool and techy, or anything you think might be snazzy. Anything demoscene or tracking/.MOD related would be especially cool to know about, as a different taste...

Individual evenings or pages that list events are welcome, though I really want what YOU think is cool and have been to. If you're involved with the night itself, and could use some nice conversational music to be DJ'd, give me a shout -- all I need to bring is my laptop and my DJ controller.

Sandy McCallum Remembered

mentalfloss — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:51:46 -0500

Sandy McCallum - my Great Acting Uncle

Just wanted to post a note about my gret uncle Sandy who passed away last week. If any of you saw Death Race 2000 made in 1975, he was The President. The only interesteing image I could find of him was a web writeup that you see displayed here -- looks like that's where my brothers and I might have inherited our knack for making faces. :) If you click the image, it should link to the official online writeup.

My dad sent me this Guest Book for him after I first posted this article.

I'm kinda in recovery...

mentalfloss — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:52:27 -0400

So on April 5th somehow I was hit by a train. Pretty much damage is just to my skull. And my ego. I literally "woke up" only 3 weeks ago.

I think I was walking and didn't hear it coming, but I can't remember anything.

Double-Whammy Weekend - Toronto's WinterCity and Luminescence (Sat Jan 26/08)

mentalfloss — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:26:57 -0500

Well, looks like it's going to be a busy weekend for me; playing two awesome events in the city. A little late to post on the site, but consider signing up to the mailing list.

The first is Toronto's WinterCity festival from 6:-7:30pm in the Lodge with some downtempo, curving to some uptempo. It's a large tent in Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall. It's a nice family-oriented event with lots of stuff to do and look at. Definitely explore through the links to find out all the cool little things going on.

The second event is Luminescence put on by a bunch of folks including Newmindspace, the group responsible for a lot of great spontaneous public space events like Pillow Fight, Light Saber Battle and Capture The Flag. My set starts at 1:30am, spinning breaks.

Boreal DJ Mix - Moon River June 2007

mentalfloss — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:19:01 -0400

I had the opportunity to play at a Boreal canoe trip to Moon River the other week, and Andy Johnson was kind enough to record a good chunk of the set. Thanks be to Andy!

Boreal's generally a yearly (or twice yearly) canoe trip for 150 people organized primarily by Justin/Alieninflux who also does Harvest Festival, with assistance from a core group friends and all of us campers.

It's a good mix of some minimal/dub techno, house and stuff in-between, and the crowd freakin' rawked! Completely prepared to have a good time and very appreciative of all the music for the night.

You can use the player below for instant gratification, or download it for your iPodding pleasure.

Playing sometime @ re:Treat - Om Reunion Project

mentalfloss — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 21:00:00 -0400

Just a heads up that I'll be playing at re:Treat, this year's gathering for old friends/new friends of the OM Sumer Solstice Festival. I'll be arriving early this year on Thursday, so will probably play Thursday or Friday sometime. I have to leave Saturday this year because of previous commitments :( Come track me down at the festival for more specifics - it's always kinda fluid that way...

First Promise Cherry Beach! (Toronto, Ontario)

mentalfloss — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:17:41 -0400

I'm happy to be playing the first Promise Cherry Beach Sunday this coming weekend. There was some fear that they might not be able to continue but all's good. Come out and chill in the sun!

Freakin' on Fife - Guelph, Ontario

mentalfloss — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 21:15:45 -0400

For those in Guelph, here's a nice little event out on a farm with a bunch of friends from the OM Festival.

Spore fundraiser for Burning Man art project - Ottawa May 12th

mentalfloss — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:17:55 -0400

To anyone who's in Ottawa or has friends there, I invite you to come check out Spore, a fundraiser for the Mushroom Kingdom art project destined for Burning Man this year. Note that you'll have to commit to it early, so drop them an email if you'd like to come out.

Sintheta - My brother r0x0rz

mentalfloss — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 20:28:21 -0400

I keep forgetting to post this but check out the performance my brother David gave the other week. He's been into live sampling and on-the-fly manipulation for the past few years, and found out he could use the microphone on his Mac's webcam as input and manipulate the feedback. As an added bonus, he could simultaneously freak out the audience with his massive face projected on the wall.

He recently was promoted to Editor of the long running Canadian music magazine Musicworks. Congratz, bruddah!

New track - Blue Calx Drum'n'Bass Remix (original by Aphex Twin)

mentalfloss — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:55:23 -0400

For years and years I had a jazzy drum'n'bass remix floating around in my head for Aphex Twin's beautiful ambient track Blue Calx. When I sat down to write it one sleepless night, somehow it lost the jazzy bit. Still, it didn't turn out too shabby, though a bit ravey. No loops used -- all sequenced from the ground up.

You can listen to the track right now using the player below, or download the entire mp3 here.

Raise 2 Fundraiser for Carolyn Pioro

mentalfloss — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:26:04 -0500

Just posting about a fundraiser I was fortunate to be a part of. More details can be found on the site for Raise. There's also a video below to give you an idea.

Harvest Festival

mentalfloss — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:17:00 -0400

Hey it's that time again, and Harvest Festival is upon us, and I'm glad to be back playing! This year should be a bit different style for me, though likely won't be playing any of the techno/ house / breaks I've been doing lately. Here's the official info:

SEPTEMBER 16th & 17th 2006

ITB : techno

NOAH PRED (metapath / fukhouse)
MIKE GIBBS (alienInFlux)
ERIC DOWNER (sensor / fukhouse)
HALI (netmusique.com)
TIM PATRICK (5th sun, catalyst recordings)
ADAM MARSHAL (minimal)
JAMIE KIDD (stratagem-musik, xanuradio)
IAN GUTHRIE (fukhouse)
TOM KUO (foundation music)
ALI BLACK (heebar, livin' large)
BRENDAN LAWLESS (independent lawless ent.)

ITP : downtempo & broken beats

SHEN - LIVE (native state, GSC)
PRIMAL - LIVE (drum collective)
YOSHI & CHIE - LIVE (kaminari)
KINDER ATOM - LIVE (nice & smooth)
MARZ (BLA)
ANDREW McCALLUM (mentalfloss)
CHOCOLATE & PATRICK ROOTS (scratchfree)
LEX & REW (legion of green men)
GABOR (IBS productions)
DMS (baselinestudios.com) :: guelph
AIA (listenableMusic.com)
OWEN (psyence project)
ROLLIN CASH (sumkidz / hotpierecords.com)
NATE WIZE (dubmatix.com)

ITT : trance

BASILISK (ektoplazm / metamystiks)
LEXICON (metamystiks)
YEB (coldgroove.ca, bla)
QUIVERING VIRIGN (coldgroove.ca, bla)
TENZIN (techsafari) :: montreal
REPTILIAN (geomagnetics records) :: ottawa
PLAN B (shakti collective)
SEB (mandala sound) :: montreal
decorations by JULIEN (coldgroove.ca)

ZERO GRAVITY CIRCUS PERFORMANCE

We have a stunning new addition to this year's Harvest Festival - an aerial circus show! This Toronto-based performance group creates shows for events all across North America and around the world. They have built themselves into an important hub of activity in that realm and any incredible new performer that comes to Toronto ends up at Zero Gravity with their talent. Zero Gravity will be holding a special Harvest version of their regular Lunacy Cabaret. They will be erecting their steel acrobat rigging near the pyramid and you can expect sweeping aerial dancers, breakdancers, jugglers and acrobatics. Their show will lead up to the lighting of the bonfire. We are so lucky and looking forward to this part of the festival.

ADVANCE MEMBERSHIP

$46 + canned food donation at the gate

Toronto

Shanti Baba (546 Queen St. W)
Odyssey (557 Queen St. W)
Moog Audio (442 Queen St. W)
2thebeat (S/E corner Queen & Spadina)
SpyLab (247 Queen St. W)
White Lodge (4 St. Patrick)
Style Bomb (676 Yonge St.)
Play De Record (357A Yonge St.)

Kitchener

Shakedown Street (276 King St. W)

Guelph

Baseline Records (31 Wyndham St.)

Hamilton

Cottage 13 (224 King St. W)

Oshawa

Velvet Elvis (221 King St. E)

Peterborough

The Spill Coffee Bar (414 George St. N)

WEB

http://harvestfestival.org

CONTACT

INFO info@harvestfestival.org

* * ABSOLUTELY NO GLASS, PETS OR FIREWORKS (it’s a working farm)
** NO ARRIVALS BEFORE 2PM SATURDAY **

Burning Man 2006 video

mentalfloss — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 13:31:09 -0400

Just arrived back from my 3rd burn, and decided to try and shoot video this time around rather than stills. Okay, it's the backup plan after my Nikon broke.. argh..

At any rate, enjoy the 5 minutes of fun and music. The subtitles get hard at some points but you can usually find a frame where it's clear enough for each word.

update: This seems to be doing pretty well on YouTube -- already got in the top 20 Travel Videos for the week I posted, and top 100 for the month. Not bad for 7 hours of work and little bits of footage.

Writely - Better than Rich Text Editing

mentalfloss — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 13:52:24 -0400

If you can see this article, then Writely rocks! Writely is an online text editor (almost a replacement for Word), recently acquired by Google, and it comes with built in hooks to publish to blogs like Blogware or Blogharbor.

Transmit Rooftop Thursdays

mentalfloss — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 19:49:33 -0400

Hey folks,

Have a small cozy gig that people might be interested in coming out to
on a nice patio tomorrow (or today, depending on when you're reading it)

I've heard a set from Target before and he rides a pretty good line
between techno/house and progressive trance (without getting cheezy).
Adam Winick has been around _forever_ in the techno scene and I'm not
familiar with his current techno but he tends to like the hawd beatz, so
if you're into thumpier techno definitely check him out.

I'm playing first at 10:30pm (though I'll likely bug them to start early
if I show up :) so it'll likely be warmup music in the tek-house vein.

Here's info from the flyer:

Hello Friends. We welcome you back to the sweetest rooftop patio in the
city. Come and Support the Toronto Electronic Music Community

After 4 weeks of thursdays we are back for the 5th week. Join us on
Thursday August 3rd as we celebrate Transmits 5th week live to air on
xanuradio and the extremely tasty $3 SPECIALS... Each week we select new
artists to rock the patio for your outdoor enjoyment.

This Weeks Lineup: Thursday August 3rd

ADAM WINICK (Live Pa)
Format,Kickmagazine,Tools

TARGET (Dj Set)
xanuradio.com http://xanuradio.com

ROOZBEH (Dj Set)
partialsound.com http://partialsound.com

MENTALFLOSS (Laptop Performance)
omfestival,xanuradio.com http://xanuradio.com

LOCATION: 222 Richmond St.W Rooftop Patio 2nd Floor Upstairs
$5 before 12:00am
$3 SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoking is permited on the Patio..
http://www.xanuradio.com/transmit for free
guestlist before 11:30am

Toronto RAISE benefit show - Deleon White Gallery, all of April

mentalfloss — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 16:26:26 -0500

Short video on the most influential instrument in techno: The Roland TB-303

mentalfloss — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 14:13:34 -0400

I just dug up this 5 minute video (estimated) by Nate Harrison on the history of the Roland TB-303. If you've followed its history there's nothing too new, but he expertly lays out the headspace the music world was in at the time, and how it was (mis)used through the ages. For anyone who jumped into techno lore late in the game (yeah okay, it's all relative) this is a great watch to backfill details on where the sound came from.

http://www.nkhstudio.com/pages/bassline_mp4.html

Burning Man Photos online

mentalfloss — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 16:51:24 -0400

Just got back from Burning Man a few days ago but check out all the photos I was able to shoot.

Playa-proofing your gear: Glad Pressn' Seal is magical stuff

mentalfloss — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 09:15:40 -0400

Ever year, hundreds of electronic devices fall prey to a preventable illness: Playa death. I really didn't know what I was up against the first time. I wish someone said: "It's not a sand desert, you understand; it's ancient lakebed silt. Think of all your gear covered by talcom powder."

But there's hope: I've recently been fooling around with Glad's Press'n Seal plastic wrap, which has a semi-tacky surface on one side and will basically hug to anything you press it against. It's almost like shrink-wrapping your gear. There's also the extra benefit of being able to write whatever you want on it, which is great for way-too-many-options software like Traktor. Check it out:

My DJ controller covered up.

Ta-da.. action product shot. Glad, where's my coin?!

Some notes: This doesn't protect your intake vent, so I would recommend taping some loose cloth to it that's fairly breatheable. Also I'm sure some laptops dissapate heat through their keyboard, but I've had my running full tilt for a few days and hasn't had any issues. Besides, at night it'll get so frickin' cold it probably won't matter.

A plea: I'm looking for a ride from Reno (or even SF) to the playa, sometime between 26-29th. I haven't bought my ticket yet so my arrival time can fit to whenver you'll get ther.

Phawn presents Nuclear Ramjet, Yeb, DJ Target, Christian Skjodt and.. Me!

mentalfloss — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 19:27:32 -0500

Another gig, and if you're looking for something new in your aural experience, this is the one!

Ever since I setup my "little" home theater with a 5.1 speaker setup, I've been seriously interested in mixing music in 5.1. Nuclear Ramjet has crafted their set specifically for this so I'm interested to see how it goes. Hopefully lots of the .1! ("low frequency effect", a.k.a. mad bass)

Just a heads up that space is going to be really, really limited, so it's worth coming early. It's a studio space, so it'll be nice and "intimate". Plus, I asked to open so you'll get to hear me!

Emerge @ The El Mocambo, Toronto - Manervous Beat and The Void

mentalfloss — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:02:26 -0500

Hey folks, if you're not up to anything tomorrow night I'm playing at what should be a very good show with original music from:

The Manervous Beat

A fine mix of jazzy and funked up sounds with dope beats and scratches by Rollin’ Cash. Manervous Beat is an assemblage of Toronto's top studio musicians performing original improvised funky grooves with pop, rock and jazz electricity. With special guest,

The Void

The Void is a live improvisational trio, fusing ambient stylings similar to Aphex Twin, with grooves that grab the ears of Medeski Martin and Wood fans! A moving picture of sound, created live before your very ears.

Plus guest dj's:
Mental Floss
Rollin' Cash

and visuals by ... project3media

Thursday Feb. 24
$10 @ door
the El Mocambo
464 spadina ave.

Black Light Activists - Critical Mass at Boa Redux /w Koxbox

mentalfloss — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:27:34 -0500

I'm a bit slow on the draw, but this was a wicked event I had a chance to play at with Gabor last week in the massive club Boa-Redux in Toronto. Boa is a converted dinner theater and has apparently one of the top 3 sound systems in North America. Much fun had by all. If anyone has any photos please post some links as comments!

Here's the lineup:

CRITICAL MASS

KOXBOX *live Solstice Records-Denmark

DJ's

Frank'e - Koxbox
Yeb - Cold Groove Rec, BLA
Quivering Virgin- BLA
Jarek, BLA
Sketi- BLA

DECO Artists

SEVERYN- NYC
+more

In the Broken Beats Lounge

Rollin Cash - SumKidz/Om Festival/Just Cause
Jonah K - SumKidz/Gnome
Aria - Semiotik
Gabor vs. Mental Floss

Location:

BOA Redux 270 Spadina Ave
(1 Block S. of Dundas)

Info:

Doors@ 12
$20 in adv
$25 before 2 more after
Out of town $20 with ID
R.O.A.R.

Available(soon)@:

Shanti Baba - 546 Queen St W
Metropolis Records - 160 Spadina
2The Beat - 161 Spadina

www.blacklightactivists.ca
blacklightactivists@hotmail.com
www.boa-redux.com
info@boa-redux.com

Harvest Festival September 25/26, Toronto (Coburg), Ontario

mentalfloss — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 17:42:55 -0400

Woohoo! Harvest Festival once again, and I'm really looking forward to playing. Please come out! Other than being a great chance to camp out one last time before the weather gets cold, it's a great 2 days to relax and hear a large variety of electronic-influenced music. Be sure to bring winter-style clothes though, since it can sometimes get a bit chilly at night.

THE HARVEST FESTIVAL
autumn equinox
September 25th/26th 2004

Once again it’s time to kiss the summer good-bye, boogie to our favorite DJs & performers, and to gather by the bonfire, on the dance floor and under the stars. This year’s new location, Wholearth Farmstudio, is near Coburg, Ont. We’d like to send our deepest condolences to Aldida Farm for their loss, and many thanks for their kindness over the years. Rocco, our friend & partner, will be greatly missed.

Activities & Performers:

FOOD DRIVE - please bring canned food donations

CAPTURE THE FLAG @ 5PM - sign up at capturetheflag@harvestfestival.org

ITB:

TASK (Tom Kuo) - pusher/wabi/www.foundationmusic.com
ADAM MARSHALL - www.killer3000.com
A/D/D LIVE (Mario J) - method 11:11
TIM PATRICK - www.fifthsunrecordings.com
ERIC DOWNER- pusher
NONPAREIL LIVE (Breandan Davey)
IAN GUTHRIE & LEE OSBORNE (as The Toques!) - www.fukhouse.ca
GREG GOW - restructured, blue bookings
THE DUKES - www.acmelabs.com
LEELEE MISHI - www.omfestival.ca

ITD:

ANDREW MCCALLUM - www.mentalfloss.ca
CHOCOLATE - scratch free press
DMS - baseline records
ROLLIN CASH - www.omfestival.ca
LEX - legion of green men
JOHNA K live
OWEN - science project
YOSHI & CHIE live - kaminari
STRANGEANGLE23 strangeangle23 - stuffy rabbit
GABOR - international bucket surgeon

ITY:

DAM - deep sea fish
JAREK - BLA
MARZ - BLA
QUIVERING VIRGIN - BLA
SKETI - BLA
YEB - Cold Groove Rec, BLA

Tickets $38
TORONTO: Shanti Baba (546 Queen W.)
Metropolis Records (162 Spadina Ave.)
Odyssey (557 Queen W.)
Play De Record (357A Yonge St.)
SpyLab (247 Queen W.)
Soundscapes (572 College W.)
Alter Ego (555 Bloor W.)
KITCHENER: Shakedown Street (276 King W.)
GUELPH: Mudshark (31 Wyndam N.)
Baseline Records
HAMILTON: Cottage 13 (224 King W)
OSHAWA: Velvet Elvise (221 King E.)

WEB & CONTACT:
www.harvestfestival.org (updates coming soon)
alieninflux@harvestfestival.org
capturetheflag@harvestfestival.org

GETTING THERE: The NEW FARM is located less than 150km east near Coburg. Specific location details will be available after September 22nd on the web site.

Camera + Brown Man = Fear - Something's not right with this picture

mentalfloss — Fri, 09 Jul 2004 19:58:28 -0400

It certainly sounds like an interesting time for people living in the United States, of all colours. I'm not really political, so this isn't a politics rant, but I do have a fair amount of angst against bullies. Not that I was especially picked on in my youth (there were times, you f*kers), but there are some people in the world who just don't seem to offer that much value to society and we would all probably be better off having them removed. Elsewhere.

I've read other articles (on the Internet, of course) about people being harassed and detained for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there was something about this tale (maybe because he's a photographer as well) that really made me feel insecure.

Now another reason I decided to write this up is to solicit some feedback about the type of character drawn towards enforcement and security professions. The vast majority of police and security guards I've met in Toronto (and surrounding areas) have been "good guys". They may not be especially complicated and want to keep the situation simple, (quite often, it can be simplified) but I do get the overall feeling that they want to do the right thing.

I do not get this feeling from American law enforcement. Sorry, I just don't and it's from personal experience. The characters I've encountered (chatting them up on the street, walking in the wrong area, general observation) seem more along the lines of the kid in a small town who happened to build muscle easily, and spent their youth enjoying their physical dominance (and the resulting popularity with some social groups) over their peers. They also never leave their town. And not all of these people are large hulking peace officers -- I'm just creating a character mould to give you an idea.

A short example from a few years ago: I was in downtown San Francisco at night, walking around without my glasses because I had broken them, and walked along a length of sidewalk that apparently had some sort of barrier setup to prevent me from walking on it. Yet I was walking there anyway. A little way into the Restricted Area a peace officer got my attention and told me I shouldn't be there.

"Really?"
"Yes, that sign over there."
"Oh..." I said squinting, ".. oh sorry, I didn't notice it because I don't have my glasses on."
"No you just didn't read it."
.... You're right! But was that really necessary? Do you really value a good relationship with the community?

It's these sorts of characters that destroy a police's relationship with the community they're charged to protect. It's the same type of characeters who enjoy a dominant role, regardless of its appropriateness, and harassed Ian Spiers. These bullies need to be dealt with.

I do want to say though that the nicest officer I've met was a highway patrolman in Michigan who pulled me over for my first (and so far, only) speeding ticket. There needs to be more guys like him.

I was already an angry teenager

mentalfloss — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 15:08:46 -0400

Once upon a time, I used to cast my thoughts freely. I fell off the boat, and now I have this opportunity to rejoin. Dare I spew again? Do I really have much to complain about?

And who wants to listen to my crap anyway? Life sucks, get a helmet or make a change.

I will actually post to this blog, most likely in its appropriate place and not on the main page (this may change). I'd like this to not become a cesspool of rantings.

At least the whole blogging thing as a content management system will simplify my life, so I hope to keep in better touch with people, even if it's a one-to-many relationship. (no offence to anyone, I still love you all)

The editor for blogware comes with a bunch of built in graphic smilies , so you don't have trouble interpreting things like <=====8

<- Pirate?

(Yarr!)

Motorola Talkabout T6220's

mentalfloss — Sun, 04 Jul 2004 12:22:12 -0400

I should really write something about these radios I picked up, because they rock so hardcore. I needed something that could get my attention while I was near loud sound stages at music festivals, and the Motorola Talkabout T6220...