November 19, 2003Dear Dearest compatriots & companions,Well, it’s that time of year again - it’s starting to get cold outside. I find myself once again fighting the need to turn on my heat and endure the additional heating costs. Slippers, thick pajama pants, sweatshirts and warm armpits are my best friends right now. I’m starting to think that electric blankets are the way to go, but I must be strong… I know I can hold out until December. Once I turn the knob on, then there’s no turning back. It’s pointless to turn it on halfway and still be chilly. Once you turn it on, then you might as well crank it up and enjoy the heat. Things have been pretty crazy since my last rant. My car was hit in my parking lot, and my investigative side managed to track down the culprit after a week and a half. But I gave them the opportunity to come clean, without me pointing the finger at them – and they did the right thing. Then my hard drive crashed, many a thanks to Mr. Hirtle for helping me out of that bind. I still lost a 20 GB partition of data, but not nearly as much as I almost did. Then there was the MLB playoffs. Little did I know that when my beloved Red Sox lost game #1 of the playoffs to the Athletics in extra innings on a bunt by Ramon Hernandez with two outs and the bases loaded at 3:30 am, that I would end up watching the Red Sox versus Yankees in game #7 of the League championships, while wondering how many people die of heart attacks during baseball playoff season. Of course, their manager decided to leave ace Pedro Martinez in the game too long and the Red Sox ended up blowing a 5-2 lead and losing. The Curse of the Bambino strikes again – but I swear its force is weakening. I’ve decided Fredericton really is a great place to live, because we’re so innovative and supportive. Case in point, my two biggest fortes - the music scene and the information technology (IT) sector. A commercial radio station – The Fox – has gone out of their way to show more support for local indie artists than pretty much any other station in Canada. Their support of the Freddy’s Rock Pile compilation is really quite groundbreaking. (It’s an amazing album by the way – pick it up at Digital World or Backstreet Records – it’s worth the $10). Then Derek & Ethan from Since August ( www.sinceaugust.com they might look like a boy band at first, but they really aren’t), have also gone out of their way to really help the local scene. With the regard to the IT sector, I was watching the news tonight and saw the story on how in 2 years Nova Scotia will be able to pay parking tickets online. We’ve been doing that in New Brunswick for a few years now, and it made me realize just how innovative NB is. But the kicker was that I went to a big mysterious gathering today where the City of Fredericton announced that they had finished the first phase in implementing a free wireless network in Fredericton. So, when you’re downtown, if you’ve got a laptop with a wireless card, you have direct access to high speed Internet for free. We’re one of the first Canadian cities to do that. Anyway, Fredericton seems special to me all of a sudden and that’s cool by me. I’ve been working hard on a little article, of which I’m quite proud. For any independent artists out there, this article provides a lot of tips about what you could do when releasing an album. It was quite fun to research and write. Hopefully it’ll help answer a lot of the questions that artists usually ask me. You can read it on HipHopCanada.com or here: So You're Gonna Put Out An Album Music-wise, I’m hard at work on my next album. My brother has been experimenting with mastering the songs and has struck gold. The last 2 songs he turned out were sounding amazing – better than anything I’ve ever released. I can’t wait to let you all hear… but patience is a virtue. ‘An Urbal Remedy’ – coming in Aug/Sept. 2004. I’ve been contemplating changing my name from PIMP-T to Pimp Tea. What do you think? I’d love some feedback. Oh yeah, I’ve currently got the #1 rap hit in Canada on NewMusicCanada.com, which is pretty popular Canadian mp3 site. Check it out and play my song to keep me in the top 10! www.newmusiccanada.ca/genres/genre.cfm?Genre_Id=14 Finally, Happy Birthday James Orr and here’s to hoping that Evar finds the bugger who stole his digital video camera! Cheers Everyone, Troy. |