chrisbartosmusic-blog - Tumblr blog

[chrisbartosmusic-blog]

I had been living above the old Germans garage équidistance from Dundas west station and Landsdowne. The place was affordable, quiet and charming in a way that inspired me to name it the Old Cabin after my grandparents cottage located in the Pontiac region of Quebec. A great place it was but any good deal in Toronto in this day and age is going to come with some unwelcome features, in this case the old German who at the best of times was quite unpredictable and confrontational probably partially due to a steady diet of various commercial opioid based pain killers he ingested to deal with the hardships of a deteriorating spine. The fellow was generally speaking, kind and generous however would occasionally turn on a dime and given his close proximity to my quarters and impressive collection of deer rifles, cross-bows and butcher knives I thought it best that I find a new place to hang my hat and hibernate in this harsh cold barren Canadian wasteland.......

[chrisbartosmusic-blog]

The morning arrived like a still birth. On other mornings there had been a northerly wind that would blow the comforting and somewhat distracting smell of milk chocolate down from the nearby nestle factory. Walking up Docervourt to the YMCA I couldn't help but ponder the current global political climate and thought for a moment that the cold damp morn well suited my mood and at the very least caused me to quicken my stride. It wasn't until after a swim and a longer than usual sauna I managed to clear my head of all the politicly fueled frustration and anger and move on to what I thought was a far more positive and fruitful chain of thought. In 1974 I had been born with the gift of music and from an early age I enjoyed (most of the time) composing melodies and playing various instruments. On this day poking out through the cacophony of melody and rhythm like the crisp air sneaking under my parka hood I started to think and began to get quite excited about playing with my old friend Petr Cancura at the Avant Garde Bar in Ottawa on February 16th the day after my dads birthday celebration. As daunting as a blank canvas can be melodies and conceptual ideas starting flooding in faster than foreign investment in the Canadian real estate market. The future was mysterious yet bright....