Colour Photos from 1910
Yep, I can barely believe it, but, for true – the following colour photographs of the Russian Empire were taken between 1909-1912 by photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, with the support of Tzar Nicholas II. A specialized camera was used, taking a quick succession of black & white photographs which were then recombined later with red, green [...]
More than one way to spin a CD
Who knows what the near future of the CD will be? Well, they’re more useful than a tape or an 8-track, but less than a record (lasts longer, better sound), but the digital music world is certainly the most appealing to the broadest audience these days. Sean E Avery has chosen the CD (and other electronic [...]
Family Day Love
Thanks to all who participated in yesterday’s “name that Toronto landmark & win a download of Kid Dream“ contest. The winner was Matt Rubel who correctly identified the first photo as the Triad sculpture at the Front/University/York intersection – the second photo was the unfinished wall at track level at Union Station. FAMILY DAY! I’m new to [...]
How well do you know your Toronto?
As I mentioned yesterday, I went to a great JPEC presented show (Jazz Performance Education Centre) on Friday night at the Glenn Gould Studio, and the stand out act was Peripheral Vision. Before I share some live video clips of the quartet, it’s time to play… How Well Do You Know Your Toronto? The first person to [...]
Post Art
So this week The JSFew was supposed to be in the US playing shows and attending a music conference, and as you might have heard, it was cancelled at the last minute. I’m happy to say that the week was/is filled with awesomeness, and me makes me feel better about it- played with BlueVenus in the [...]
3-2-1 Contact & the synth..
We’re gearing up for a great live video recording session next week! YES- we’re on the fence about whether we should do a special invite to our a few of our fans to come observe the performance and be in the video – what do YOU think? (comment space below or facebook/twitter) IT’s time for [...]
Purveyor of Guitar Justice..
Who knew that this little lady (me!) would be able to add Guitar Justice to her resume.. OK fine – Guitar Justice is the name of a magazine who featured us this month, but it’s still awesome. Check the interview here on the Guitar Justice website, or the screen shots of it below.. In other [...]
Sweet & Juicy
It’s love day! Just the same as any other really, but why not use any excuse to share a hug or a smooch with a friend? Well, the following video is by an incredible artist, Miss Emily Brown with whom the JSFew has had the chance to share the stage – although not a Valentine’s themed [...]
Red Green Blue
ALL about red, blue and green today… Did you know that these dots make up all of the colours you see on your computer? By adjusting each colour to one of its 256 intensity levels and combining them with each other, they can create over 16 million different colour possibilities! Piece by Ellsworth Kelly, American [...]
Valentine’s Flash Mob @Indigo
I sing with a great vocal group called Countermeasure Acappella and book giants, Indigo/Chapters enlisted our help to do a memorable Valentine’s campaign. Just for fun, here is the final cut of the vid. (can you find me in there all dancey & singy?) Performing at The Rex tonight (Sunday) from 7-9pm – no cover charge. [...]
Underwater dog adventures
This one’s been going around on facebook, and with good reason. Seth Casteel photographs doggies from underwater, capturing some very surreal, and sometimes scary expressions. Check it out: Give your pet a hug and have a great weekend! xo jessica
Oh geez
Stumbled upon a short video of some owls – holy bazoly, these animals are breathtaking. And gosh darnit, I had to control myself from posting 26 cute-as-hell owl pictures. Instead? One clip, one pic. Enjoy: Wow, the world is a beautiful place. And ridiculous!! Exciting show announcements! Home & Native Sound Showcase on March 4th, [...]
ALL the sizes of creatures..
First half of the new album gets mastered today! We wanna get hitched to a cute, caring & knowledgable team for this next release – you know, help the music reach farther and wider, so we’re gonna take our first half of the album, and get pitchin’. Some of the labels we’re interested in courting [...]
The Guts of this Cassette
When I leave the studio today, I will be holding final mixes for half of the new JSFew album, Two Sides To Every Story, to bring to master tomorrow! We’re passed the halfway mark, YES. Good times. FOUND this cool art using the unfurled guts of a cassette tape – I remember seeing a random [...]
Lego!
Buckets of lego. Some of my friends had buckets and buckets and we’d spend hours making hilarious villages and worlds. Nathan Sawaya is doing some other level stuff with his lego. Voici: BUT his “hugman” project is my favorite of all: I’m hoping to make something great today too, at Jigsaaw Studio.. xoxo jessica
One man’s trash..
First, a sad announcement: After 3-too-many things going wrong and just a never ending stream of insurmountable hurdles in regards to our US mini-tour next week, I have pulled the plug and cancelled The JSFew concerts in Pennsylvania at the Millennium Music Conference and in NYC. I have been working on this trip since we [...]
Beautiful things
Remember that secret gig I mentioned yesterday? I sing with a 17 member vocal group called Countermeasure Accappella and we were hired by Indigo/Chapters to do a flash mob for a Valentine’s campaign in one of their busy downtown locations. There was a huge team involved in this happening – producers, several sound techs (who hauled [...]
The Best Sandwich Secret at Dundas & Ossington!
Here it is folks: little Portugal BEST KEPT TO-GO SANDWICH SECRET!!! Forget Subway – The Lakeview Storehouse kicks the butt of every sandwich on the block: The smoked meat & havarti sandwich has 6 oz of smoked meat, some killer dijon & served on rye. It is sooo huge that I can only eat half [...]
Beautiful & Occasionally Terrifying
On the schedule today: rehearsal for a month of weekly Sunday 7-9pm-ers at The Rex with The Offbeat (‘unlikely pop tunes done as jazz’ type of project). I get to just be a vocalist in this group, so it’s fun for me to have a gig where I can focus on one instrument only! We’ll play some [...]
Funny Foods
Some great food/art pieces by Sarah Illenberger today. Voila: I’ve got 2 studio sessions today – JSFew mixing followed by a choral recording session with Countermeasure Acappella . Should be good! ciao, xo jessica
Prisoner Work Songs
My extremely talented and knowledgable ethnomusicologist mother, Wendy Stuart, tipped me off this week that the massive collection of field recordings collected by famed folklorist/ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax between the 1930′s and the end of the century, will be digitized and released this year, making over 17,000 of the collected songs accessible online. Alan Lomax is credited [...]
Very Talented Mushrooms
Read some fantastic news last night in regards to the future of landfills – some Yale students on a research trip to the Amazon discovered a fungus that eats POLYURETHANE – yes, PLASTIC! That’s right, this very regular looking mushroom (Pestalotiopsis microspora) will eat our plastic. But there’s more! It likes to eat it in [...]
Follies
My parents grew up in NY on musical theatre, so I had heard of the Ziegfield Follies ever since I was wee, and with my love of vintage everything I adore these next photos. (The Ziegfield Follies was a musical theatre/vaudeville revue that ran in NY between 1907 and the 1930′s roughly) As always, last [...]
No Photoshopping Necessary, they said
First off, tonight’s going to be a killer show at The Piston with The JSFew opening for Carlie Howell & The DeHarms. I will be guesting on koto during their set, and Carlie will be adding her beautiful voice to ours, so I hope you’ll stop by for an unusually early evening of music! (7pm doors, [...]
