And I get to kiss you, baby, just because I can.

Today has been absolutely insane. I could tell it was going to be a weird one when I was walking to the truck to go to work this morning. Okay, not really, but I'd like to say that now that I think back to when I was walking because it was really cloudy and muggy and gross outside and I didn't like it.

Well, the reason for the insanity is that a few tornadoes rolled through the East-Texas area this morning. Damaging pretty much nothing (that I know of) and scaring us all to death. One of the tornadoes (or the threat/funnel cloud/updraft of one) came through Tyler and apparently swooshed over the roof of our office while the sirens were going off and everyone in the office was running around trying to catch a glimpse of it. You'd think that being the brilliant people that we are; we'd take cover in our basement that has the convenient access point of running-down-the-steps-outside-to-the-parking-lot-and-unlocking-the-door-with-a-key-that-no one-seems-to-ever-have.

And then the other tornado came through the City of Lindale (where I live), again, damaging nothing, but put my mother in a frenzy and my little brother in tears, bless his heart!

But see...the insanity doesn't end there. After everything that happened with the weather, the boss-man came running up the stairs and tells me to "look under all the chairs and tables in the building!"
Apparently someone in the city leaked a threat that a bomb had been placed under a table or chair in a building somewhere in downtown Tyler. But come to find out, that bit of information wasn’t exactly accurate.
The real threat was that a cylinder bomb-like package had been left on a bench on the Downtown Square. You know, which is close to the original threat, but not as scary as the potential of it being in our office.

So after the city shut the square down, and barricaded the roads leading to it; they called in the bomb-squad and the threat ended up being some idiot that had just left a cylinder package in the square that was filled with crystal balls of some sort. Which is a bit scary in and of itself, but it’s no bomb.

I know I’m coming across flippant. These are really scary situations. But it’s late enough in the day that I can look back and laugh at how much I was freaking out. Thank the Lord that we were all kept safe.

Thursday, May 1st, 2008
Leaving Sangster (Listen to Podcast)


"I'm Leaving Sangster, higher than the plane that takes me home..."

"Leaving Sangster broke onto the Ontario Music scene in early 2005 and have quickly become a household name in the Hamilton/Burlington area. The line-up is built on the friendship and music of Andrew Barbisan (Guitar), Josh Harris (Drums), and Justin Sawicki (Vocals/Guitar). Playing up to four nights a week, the band and their fans eagerly await the release of a self-titled E.P recorded in Hamilton's legendary Grant Avenue Studio. The newly recorded songs bring to the helm a fusion of jazz rock and pop that are more infectiuous then a common cold. What's best is that they have no intention ..ping. The band also plans a full length L.P release sometime in the very near future, as well as a tour, and everything that comes along with getting their music to as many ears as possible. Leaving Sangster cites their influences as The Tragically Hip, Rheostatics, Wilco, Radiohead, Foo Fighters and Tool. The ones who listen closely can hear traces of these giants... and sometimes all in the same song. With an energetic live show, and an ever growing repertoire of catchy original music... Leaving Sangster should not be missed. Do yourself a favour and catch them while you can.

For a band that’s only been together for two and a half years, I’m impressed how Leaving Sangster has created such a professional image for themselves on the internet. It’s usually the bigger bands that stress a professional internet presence, but the guys have really got a cool thing going on their myspace (www.myspace.com/leavingsangster) and their band website (www.leavingsangster.com)!

They’re from Hamilton, Ontario, a city that’s quickly growing in size to become a suburb of Toronto, where the music scene is very competitive. The more popular genre being played in bars and clubs tends to lean more towards the heavy grunge side, which makes things even more competitive, but since Leaving Sangster has more of a softer pop/acoustic sound, they’re a shoe-in for popularity when the local scene starts to wake up to better sounding music. ;-) (not a big fan of heavy grunge)

They have a new bass player (JP Shalala) (I don’t know how to spell his last name, but, that’s how it sounds!), and they released their self-titled EP, recorded at the renown Grand Avenue Studios, in the middle of March 08’.

“Well. For songwriting, usually someone will come in with an idea or a hook or anything at first. And it’s basically like Jenga. You kind of start putting blocks up one at a time and hopefully it doesn’t crumble. And you end up with a song that has some worth, aaand…that’s basically it!”

That was the first Jenga analogy I’ve ever heard, so I thought it was worth mentioning. *smile*