So I’ve moved my stuff… again… but this time it’s staying in one place for awhile! I promise!

Head on over to http://www.shinogo.com/ where you’ll find this blog, but also a whole new site built around it, which includes my new album “The Pulse”

Damn.

Barry Schwartz, the author of The Paradox of Choice, makes a very compelling case for morality and virtue in all of our lives. Touching on education, politics, business and many other things. he communicates the need for all of us to use common wisdom over needless bureaucracy. I suck at summarizing it, just watch the video:

I need to get to TED one of these years…

This song still does something to me, something about it… I posted both the original and the Zero 7 remix in Youtube form at the bottom:

I don’t wanna write this down/
I wanna tell you how I feel right now/
I don’t wanna take no time to write this down/
I wanna tell you how I feel right now, hey/

Black people unite and lets all get down/
Gotta have what/
Gotta have that love and peace and understanding/
One god, one light/
One man, one voice, one mic/
Black people unite come on and do it right/
Black people unite come on and do it right/

Right-Click and Save As to download the MP3

I got this mother fucker locked man, killin’ it straight/
I’m splittin’ the breaks, just know, I’m iller than gates/
I pillage this make a fake cat bleed under pressure/
Nothin’ lesser, the sorta sound came ta test ya/

It’s just me…/

Written to “Calm Down” by Tragedy Khadafi, Nas and Noreaga.

I can’t remember exactly what it was I wanted to write about.

It was really, really good though.

I’ll save it for next time, hopefully.

Hold it, I’m about to drop off/
Let me tell you my last thought/
Drift into a deep fog, lost where I forgot to/
Hold it I can feel you most when I’m alone/

It sounded like mine/
(ooh ooh, ooh ooh)/
It sounded like mine/
(ooh ooh, ooh ooh)/
It sounded like mine/
(ooh ooh, ooh ooh)/
It sounded like mine/
(ooh ooh, ooh ooh)/

Check it on here, the rest of the album rocks too:

This talk by Nigerian author and poet Chris Abani at 2008’s TED conference is incredible:

When I’m moved by talks like this one it always leads me to think about story-telling and the oral tradition, and how it factors into each of our lives.

I talked about that a lot with my Celtic Myths and Music professor when I was (rarely) attending UofT. It was a large part of our class, and is paramount in understanding the beauty in any artistic endeavor. David had that gift, the ability to tell stories through to their full potential; although he was modest about it and constantly reminded us that we should seek out “a real story-teller” to hear them in their purest form. I was so moved by one of his tales that I half-drunkenly transcribed it as best as I could on this blog when I got home from the bar the night he told it. Good stories’ll do that to ya.

My grandfather has had this effect on me as well; his gift for story has been imprinted on me and will stay with me for the rest of my life. His experiences, no matter how humble, are always amazing to listen to; and always contain some subtle piece of wisdom, intentional or not.

I’d like to think that when he passes I’ll carry on his tradition to my children and their children and so forth; as it has been done for thousands of years.

Totally random little rant there… enjoy!

One day last summer I was on my way home from my ex-girlfriend’s place I was biking down Yonge St. and I noticed a crowd at Dundas Square… Curious, I locked up my bike and walked over to see what was going on.

It turns out I had stumbled into the Luminato Scottish Music Festival, and stepping on to the stage was a beautiful girl with a fiddle. Naturally, I had to stay and listen.

Her name was Sierra Noble and I was blown away by her performance, I ended up staying for the whole thing. A gorgeous voice and a deft fiddle player, with some guitar thrown in for good measure, she charmed her way through the set with heaps of Métis and Celtic flavouring.

I tried to both meet her and pick up an album at the end of her show, but was able to do neither – I did track her website down when I got home though, and joined her Facebook page to keep up with her music.

Her song “Possibility” is gorgeous (you can listen to it for free on her Facebook Page), and she’s been all over the country playing shows. If you can catch her somewhere definitely do so.

Possibility:
Work to midnight all alone/
Was it a dream that you had phoned/
Were you even thinkin’ of me/
Is it even a possibility/
Missin’ me/
Is it even a possibility/

Work to midnight all alone/
Was it a dream that you had phoned/
Were you even thinkin’ of me/
Is it even a possibility/
Missin’ me/
Is it even a possibility/
You and me/
Is it even a possibility/
Is that even a possibility…/

Just had to post that up there, it’s one of the most beautiful photos I’ve seen this year so far.

Expect a lot of music from me soon – “The Pulse” is on the way on April 7th and SDR’s “Introspekz EP” will be rolling out on the 14th of April. My site will also be going live for this stuff, so keep an eye open!

I remember reading a portion of a novel (and I currently can’t remember what novel it was unfortunately…) that discussed the symmetry in all things.

There is nothing that happens in your life without something else to balance it out, even if it’s in a way that is less then desirable, it is inevitable.

I’m not really sure how much I buy into it, but it makes a certain sense sometimes.

Einstein died trying to find beauty and symmetry in the complexity of the universe; and while that is a noble pursuit, I think I’d rather just enjoy it all for what it is. Messy and infinitely confusing, fractured and completely rewarding.