Chasing Content - The Best of June

I've decided to launch a new feature here on Silent Cacophony.

This is how it is going to work. I'm going to look back at the posts I did last year at this time and highlight some of the best ones from that month.

I will start off every month this way so we can look back at the month that was and anticipate the great content for the month that will be.

This feature is going to be called Chasing Content because there is no reason these posts should just sit in the archives.

You can read all of the posts I did last June or you can click on the links below to read these notable ones. I'd appreciate new comments on these posts as well. Thanks!

Learning Doesn't Stop in the Summer - I gave my students homework at the end of the school year last year. I plan on doing the same thing this summer and I hope to get a better return on it.

The New Cities - I got a chance to interview this major-label band. It was the first non-rap interview I had done in years and I was honoured to be asked to do it.

J. Michael Straczynski Autograph - I met this amazing writer at a comic book convention and was honoured to get his autograph.

Drug Mart Sign Confusion - I love this post. I never did write that letter to the editor but this post sparked some discussion online and at my school.

A Day in the Life of a Supply Teacher - A great guest post that received some amazing comments and sparked another teacher to write a follow-up post. Any teachers out there are welcome to write something for my Teaching Tip Tuesdays feature.

It Took Me Injuring Myself to Realize... - It's a long story that I told over a few different posts but I really hurt myself last year at this time. I'm so glad that I was able to recover from what could have been a serious injury. It really makes me appreciate my health and all that I do have.

3 Reasons To Always Back In

3 - Taillight
Originally uploaded by juancnuno

Here’s a safety tip - Never pull into a parking space that you can’t get out of by simply driving forward.

I know that it might seem like a hassle to back into parking spaces all the time but it really is the safest thing that you can do.

I’m writing this post in response to a few very tragic stories that have been in the news recently, stories of children being accidentally run over by a vehicle.

I always back in to any parking spot because it's safer for a few different reasons. Number 1, people can see you coming and when they see you start to back up, they will keep their distance. Number 2, when you are driving, you have a great view of all that is around you. When you back up, you will already have done a cursory scan of everything in the area.

Backing into a spot allows you to pull out of it immediately. You don’t need to check and see if there are any hazards behind you. Ideally, you should walk around your car prior to getting in to see if there are any obstructions in front of you. Then you look carefully before you pull out.

I realize that there are times when you will need to pull into a parking spot. If you can’t find a pull through spot or you cannot back in, please take extra car when backing out. People around you might not realize that you are going to back out.

The best thing you can do is to roll down your window so you can hear what is going on around you. Next, you should "never go faster than a young child can walk." This was the advice given by Amanda Blitz on CHCH News last week.

I’ve always backed into parking spots but it wasn’t always for the above reasons. I used to think that putting the car into reverse right away was bad for the engine. I used to think that I might need to jump in my car and go somewhere so quickly that I wouldn’t want to waste time having to back up. These might be good reasons, they might not be but the reasons I mentioned previously definitely are.

So please, take care when you are operating a vehicle. And always back in.

Joe Quesada Autograph

Joe Quesada is the editor in chief of Marvel comics. He has also written and drawn Daredevil comics. I bought this single comic because it was left out of Volume 1 of the hardcover collections.

I met Joe Quesada at a comic book convention a few years back and I got him to autograph this book for me.

This is the the second post where I have shown you some of My Daredevil Collection. I have a few more things, including some more autographs that I will share with you here in the future.

Have a great weekend!

MC Moore Interview Wraps Up

This is Part 2 of the MC Moore interview I did at the Jack Richardson Music Awards last month. If you missed Part 1, you can go back and read it now. You can listen to the interview right here (there is a player at the bottom of this post), you can read the transcript, or you can download it for free. Enjoy!

Chase: “The current way we consume music is almost killing the album. Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins says he isn’t going to release albums anymore. He’s gonna release 44 songs, release them gradually, and make an opus out of that. Ivan Ives is doing the same thing. He’s releasing one song on the first of every month. I’ve been buying those because I love what he’s been doing and I’ll be putting it in a collection and at the end of the year so I’ll have a ‘First of the Month’ album.

I like albums. I don’t just want to listen to singles. I’m bumping Brother Ali’s ‘Us’ like crazy and quite a few different albums right now.

MC Moore: “See, that’s the thing. If the music is there people will want it. That’s what’s so awesome about this digital revolution because all you need is a laptop. If you make a bad album, everyone’s heard it before it’s come out. I’m really interested to see what happens in the next 10 to15 years with all these trends.”

Chase: “A few years ago, I thought this was going to destroy new music because I didn’t think anyone would want to release new music when everyone steals it. But almost the opposite has happened because there is a lot of new music coming out. And just like the old days, you gotta dig to get to the good stuff because what you’re served on pop radio or Much Music or MTV or any of those things is not necessarily the good stuff. You gotta dig for it.”

MC Moore: “And if you want to sell it, you have to take it out there yourself, you gotta take it on the road, you gotta meet your fans and sell them your CDs. Some people call that the hard way but that’s how it’s done.”

Chase: “But that’s not the hard way, that’s how it’s done. Even at the panels, they were saying that you have to have your live show and that has to be tight, and you have to go out there and get known from that before you even think about selling anything.”

MC Moore: “I’ve heard CDs where it’s amazing but then I see a live show and-”

Chase: “Yeah, well they can trick you because they have all

sorts of trick they can do in the studio. But you have to have that live show. In the old days, we called that ‘paying dues’ whereas nowadays, I see too many artists who have a MySpace and a Facebook and they’ll be rhyming over someone else’s track.”

MC Moore: “This goes back to why I’ve been ignoring MySpace and Facebook. I see the hottest looking Facebook or MySpace page. ‘I got all this going on and I look so awesome,’ and some of them, their music is fast food.”

Chase: “Well, we pretty much live in a disposable culture, especially in music. I’m a blogger and I work at the radio station so I get stuff sent to me all the time. It’s almost like the listeners expect us to play new music all the time too. Well, you know what? I still wanna bump Blu and Exile from 2 years ago because that album is just so amazing. I know that Daddy J really likes to spin Frankenstein and his old stuff too. Good music is timeless and we don’t always have to be focused on what’s new and hot.”

MC Moore: “A lot of people call me a purist. I don’t really think I am but I pretty much only listen to pre ’94 hip-hop, I’m sampling records, I record on a hard disk still too.”

Chase: ‘Wow, that was a golden era though.”

MC Moore: “There’s something about it, even just the analog sound, the crunch of the drum, the short sample times that made people really innovative as to how they made their music. You have people now who have days of sample time, if they’re even sampling. The music that is coming out now just seems like it’s fast food.”

Chase: “Exactly.”

MC Moore: “There really is good music but it seems harder and harder to come by.”

Chase: “That’s the one thing I like about podcasts because there are so many good radio shows. I used to tape CFMU shows and I’d tape the Mastermind show every week on Energy 108. And now I don’t need to do that because there are good shows outta Ottawa and Montreal and Hamilton and the UK and I listen to those podcasts all the time.

Here at DOPEfm, we spin that purist kind of stuff but it’s the new stuff because it is still being produced. If you listen to our signal, I think you’d be surprised and might actually say ‘This new stuff is pretty good.’ A lot of the new stuff we play, no one has ever heard of. Gamma Krush is constantly digging through the Internet to find good music.”

MC Moore: “It gets tough too because when you are so focused on your own music, and you got your friends dropping albums so you’re squeezing those in, it gets harder and harder to find new music. You go to shows and you meet people and you’re getting so much music just from hand-to-hand from meeting artists. I mean, I don’t even turn my radio on anymore.”

Chase: “I never listen to the radio either, just the podcasts really. I never listen to an actual radio signal, it’s weird.”

MC Moore: “I haven’t had a computer for over a year now. I need to catch up. I know that. I’ve just been doing shows and getting stuff hand-to-hand and doing it that way. Like I said, I just got sick of going online and seeing all these overproduced MySpace pages from people who have never even rocked a stage, have never even been on a stage.”

Chase: “That’s wrong. You gotta pay your dues. I know that is old school but you really do need to get out there. You can’t just produce music in your basement.”

MC Moore: “Paying your dues is not a MySpace page, paying your dues isn’t having all your friends as your fans on Facebook, and not going to a hip-hop show. I’ve missed maybe 3 hip-hop shows in the past 3 or 4 years. ya know what I mean?” That’s paying dues.

How many shows have me and NGA played? empty shows, dues are being paid, learning your skill, meeting each other, ya know, we met at an empty show. That’s paying dues. It’s not a MySpace page.”

Chase: “Good advice for any up and comers out there.”

MC Moore: “Totally. You don’t want you music being viewed by the world when it’s premature.”

Chase: “Yeah, too many people will say, ‘I recorded this. I gotta put it out.’”

MC Moore: “Of course when you drop an album, I dropped my first album in Grade 11 and of course, you think it’s the hotness. But when I listen to that album now, I thank God that there was no MySpace.”

Chase: “Yeah, Classified has a lyric like that. He says, ‘My fourth record was the first I really liked’ and you can’t find his first three unless you really search for the. He’ll give you the last four though.”

MC Moore: “He has a selected discography. But it’s a natural progression.”

Chase: “But that was a cool way to pay dues because when he first started, the Internet was so young and it was just message boards back then and I remember seeing his name all over the place. It was several years later before I actually saw him. He actually paid his dues. He took a long, hard road to get to where he is at.”

MC Moore: “Well for years, he was hitting every single town, regardless of the population, regardless of anything. He went from town to town, paid his dues, and kept meeting people. And here we are today and he’s selling out every time.”

Chase; “It was crazy the crowd he drew here.”

MC Moore: “He sells out every time he comes. He’s a perfect example of how it’s done. You make your music, you do it yourself, you take it on the road, you sell it, you keep going, you go home, you make another album, you go out, do it again, there’s 5 more people at that show, you do it again, there’s 15 more people. Here we are ten years later and he sells out shows everywhere. It’s a success story.”

Chase: “It’s good to see that Canadian hip-hop has grown too. Before it was a handful of names and now there’s quite a few.”

MC Moore: “The music is absolutely phenomenal that’s coming out of Canada and it always has been. It’s just the industry is now here. That’s just the way it seems to be.”

Chase: “That’s why I’m impressed with these Jack Richardson Music Awards and how they are recognizing hip-hop because a lot of Awards don’t. Well. good luck at the awards tonight and thanks for taking the time to sit down with me. We’ll spin some of your tracks now and wrap this up.”

MC Moore: “Thanks.”

Chase: "Alright, peace!"

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

MC Moore Interview

I had the chance to interview MC Moore at the Jack Richardson Music Awards last month. You can listen to the interview right here, you can read the transcript, or you can download it for free. Enjoy!   

Chase: “Alright everybody, this is Chase March and I’m here with MC Moore. You’re nominated for a JRMA tonight.”

MC Moore: “Yup, for the second time.”

Chase: “So you are in a few different groups and you’ve released some solo material as well too.”

MC Moore: “I haven’t really dropped a solo album since ’07. I dropped a mix tape in ’08. I’ve been doing a local hip-hop night every two weeks in London. I got the Mullet N Steps out now and the band that I’m in, The People, we just dropped an album and toured it too.”

Chase: “You’ve worked with some underground legends like Fritz the Cat, Fresh Kils, and Ghettosocks.”

MC Moore: “That whole crew just took us right under their wing and just completely took care of us in the best possible way. I have nothing but good things to say about the whole Backburner posse, Alpha Flight, and Top Billing posse. We did one track with Toolshed with Fresh Kils and that lead to that whole album pretty much.”

Chase: “So how long have you been emceeing?”

MC Moore: “I did my first show when I was 18 but I’ve been rapping for almost 10 years now. Ya know, ya freestyle for a couple years, then you get into writing raps, and doing songs-”

Chase: “And then you get a bit more serious about it and then it takes off from there. You said you just came back from a tour?”

MC Moore: “Yeah, with The People. We just did 7 shows just in Southwestern Ontario and had a great time. It was our first tour and it was a lot of fun.”

Chase: “What kind of a response are you getting on the road?”

MC Moore: “It’s awesome. We’re quite the mix, I mean, we all rap but our guitarist sings and out drummer was in a punk band. We have a bassist who raps and plays bass. We have DJs. So we have people who don’t like hip-hop who seem to be feeling what we’re doing. And of course, people that are into hip-hop feel it too. So, it’s working for us.”

Chase: “That’s cool. Do you have an online presence?”

MC Moore: “I’ve basically been off the Internet for a few years now. I’m just in a big transition period where I haven’t dropped anything solo in a while. I’ve been all over the place and I’m just really enjoying making music with The People and I’ve just been letting my solo stuff slide, which is getting fixed in the next year.”

Chase: “It’s good to see you making moves but you do need to be on the Internet in this day and age because if people hear about an artist, that’s one of the first places they go. And when I went there to check out your stuff, all I found was your old stuff and had I stopped there, I wouldn’t have paid you much attention. I’m glad I looked further though and met you because I really like your Mullet N Steps disc and work you are doing with The People.”

MC Moore: “Mullet N Steps is on MySpace. We have our own website for The People at thepeoplesmusic.ca. That’s all taken care of, you know what I mean? Rappers are lazy, man. Like it or not, rappers are lazy. I’ve just been letting my own, the MC Moore stuff-”

Chase: “It’s not just rappers, it’s musicians too because a part of this weekend’s events were seminars. I went to one on how to market yourself as a musician and it was primarily musicians there. I think I was the only one from the media. Anyway, it was interesting to see because they asked the audience, ‘How many people have an email list?’ and no one put up their hand. So I guess musicians in general want to focus on their music, they don’t want to focus on the business side.”

MC Moore: “Exactly. You need people. But it’s a natural progression where it’s gotten to the point now where I’m looking for someone to take care of that for me. I’m looking for that, all in conjunction with working on a new solo record. But like I said, I’ve been up with the Mullet N Steps and The People lately and been having a lot of fun with it.”

Chase: “So how do you go about writing your songs? What’s your process?”

MC Moore: “For years I used to just take a beat and sit on it and try to figure out what that beat was saying to me. Ya know, what that vibe was on that beat and trying to match the proper vibe with that beat. That used to work until recently. We’ve gotten into digging records now, we’re sampling, we’re making our own beats instead of getting beat CDs from people we know. We’re taking it back and I’m really enjoying that.”

Chase: “Yeah, I think sampling is something that has been missing in hip-hop lately.”

MC Moore: “I see it coming back. Look at Kayne West. He’s sampling soul records.”

Chase: “Of course, the only problem with sampling is that people want to be greedy and charge you crazy amounts to use a sample.”

MC Moore: “In the game we’re in though, no one is suing you unless you’re making money. Canadian hip-hop, especially people that are sampling, it’s pure. No one’s clearing samples. How many labels are there in Canada even that are pushing it out on the radio, know what I mean, and getting it heard to the point where people will pick up on it.”

Chase: “Even so, I think that sampling has its place and sampling is not necessarily wrong. I mean, if you’re taking some old sound and you’re making it new or you’re chopping it up so that it’s almost unrecognizable, but someone recognizes it, ya know, you’ve done something new with that.”

MC Moore: “Yeah, you’ve made a new composition. Have you see the movie ‘Copywrite Criminals?’ That movie is out right now and I only caught the tail end of it but that’s what the whole movie is about, taking something and turning it into something new and whether that’s a crime or not.”

Chase: “Well, that’s been done all throughout history in every art form. What’s interesting is that I read a blog post recently where there was a book released where somebody took other authors’ works like paragraph for paragraph and put in into a new book, a completely different thing, and just footnoted them all at the end. I think rap needs a footnote system because if we credited them so people could see it then maybe we wouldn’t have to pay for it.”

MC Moore: “You gotta think too, if it wasn’t for hip-hop, would people even be paying homage to this incredible artists? Really? I mean, of our generation? Would people even still be buying that many records? All the heads I know, they got crates and crates and crates and crates of records, and they know their music and they know who played bass on what record and would did drums there.”

Chase: “And that’s missing today because everyone just downloads and there’s no liner notes, nobody knows anything about it. The music almost, to me, doesn’t mean anything unless I have the product. I appreciate that you gave me your CDs here because I can flip this around, I can read it, I can touch it. Ya know, with an MP3 you can’t do anything with it really. I think that limits some people’s perceptions on the music because music is just everywhere. It’s like, ‘Oh, I download this, I don’t care about it,’ move on to something else. So if you have the product and you go to a show and meet the artists, then you’re more invested in it as well.”

MC Moore: “It’s getting tough now too. I mean, people are selling download cards and gig sticks. It’s getting to the point now, do you buy big bulky boxes of CDs or a business card case full of download cards.”

Chase: “I prefer the CDs.”

MC Moore: “I prefer the CDs as well. I would love to have a 12-inch at every show but your whole CD collection can also go right here now.”

Chase: “In your iPod. Yeah. Those things are tiny now.”

MC Moore: “I went to the pawn shop to buy a Discman because of my CD collection but I couldn’t do it. Am I gonna spend $30 on a discman or $40 on an iPod. I mean, I just got rid of my walkman 5 years ago.”

Chase: “I love cassette tapes. Before I got this laptop, I actually recorded the Classified interview on audio cassette. I took it to my friend and she put it into the computer for me and digitized it. He thought that was hilarious because he used to have the same tape deck.”

MC Moore: “I miss tapes.”

Chase: “Yeah me too. The problem with tapes is that they do get old, they wear out, and then they stop playing.”

MC Moore: “But so do CDs, so do records. But you can’t beat the sound quality. All the tapes I have in my car, I can’t put them past half.”

Chase: “I remember when CDs first came out. I was like, ‘I’m never buying a CD ever. Compact? How is this compact? I can fit five tapes in my jean pocket, I can’t fit one CD in my hip pocket.’ I used to go out with tons of tapes in my pocket, my walkman, and extra batteries. That’s how I rolled. Nowadays I’ll see kids in my class that have an MP3 player and they only have 20 songs on it. ‘Aren’t you bored of those same 20 songs?’ because I had like 200 tapes and I used to change them all the time. Even with my MP3 player it sucks because I don’t change songs around on it often enough so it’s the same thing all the time.”

MC Moore: “With tapes and records, it also seemed that you had to have a better product. You could listen to the whole tape. You could listen to both sides of the tape. You could bump that tape for six months.”

Well that ends Part 1 of the interview. Come back tomorrow to read Part 2. You can click on the player at the top of the post to hear the entire interview right now. You will also hear some great music by MC Moore and as an added bonus, a nice mix-set after the interview. Check it out and leave a comment below. Thanks!

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

The LOST Mixtape

"Making a mixed CD is an art. When done well, the end-result is a beautiful, well-constructed piece of work... A true mixed CD requires thought. It's a recipe, a thought process, an expression."*

With that said, I'd like to present you with "The LOST Mixtape"

I made it partially because things have been up in the air for me a bit lately. I've been feeling kind of lost. That tied in with the LOST television series finale that aired this weekend and sparked the idea for this tape.

This is a mixed tape where all of the songs blend into each other. It's based on the show and focused around the theme of being lost.

I hope you enjoy it.

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

You can also download this tape for free, Side A and Side B

Enjoy! 

Oh, and just for fun, please leave me a comment either here or on Twitter about this mix. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the theme, the song selection, the order of the songs, and how they tie in to the LOST television series. 

The best comments will be put into a draw and you could win something. I'm not sure what yet but it will be cool. However, it might just get "lost" in the mail (I'm kidding.)

*Quotation is from "Tape That" by Roxanne Hathway-Baxer from Andy Magazine: 100 Mile Music Issue, Spring 2010

Teaching Tip Tuesday – Super Bucks!

This is a cool art lesson that is aimed for middle or high school students but I have used it successfully with Grade 3, 4, and 6 classes. It builds upon the techniques we touched upon last week here on Teaching Tip Tuesday.

Once the students are familiar with the 5 Shading Techniques and have had a lesson to practise them, they can apply them for this project.

The project is called "Super Buck" and it gives the students a chance to use these techniques to create an original dollar bill. They need to come up with an unusual amount for their currency, a make believe country, a motto, and a picture to go with it.

I make sure that I have examples of dollar bills from around the world to help inspire them as well.

I found a series of worksheets a few years ago that I printed off and I've taught this lesson using them. However, I recently found this great website that has those resources and many more.

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/alix-super.htm

This is the planning sheet and checklist so the students are familiar with the assignment.

And here is a sheet that guides the students through creating a ribbon to use on their brand new made up currency.

For more detailed instructions and resources on this project, please visit this really cool website.

If you are a teacher and have a great lesson to share, please consider writing a guest post here. Teachers helping teachers is what this is all about.

LOST - End of an Era

First off, there will be spoilers in this post. If you haven't seen the finale yet, please click away. 

Okay, here goes...

I haven't been there since the start of this series. I only discovered it on DVD last summer. I whipped through all of the seasons quite quickly so I was able to watch this final season unfold with all of you loyal fans.

I must say that I really didn't like this season. I felt that they didn't do a good enough job of providing us answers to the many mysteries that have unfolded over the years.

I was a bit critical of the first five episodes of this season. They almost "lost" me as a viewer. Since I hadn't put years into watching the show I felt like I could just walk away from it. But I'm glad I didn't.

Tonight's finale would have been near perfect if not for a few things. I could break down all the problems with this season, the unanswered questions, or the missing characters and story lines but I'm not going to do that. Instead, I am going to look at this finale as just that, an ending.

A good season finale should tie into the pilot episode. Everwood did it perfectly and to this day remains the best finale of all time. I was hoping that Lost could do the same thing but I knew that it had problems early on this season and wouldn't be able to deliver that perfection to us. That being said let's look at this episode.

Jack became protector of the island and he did his best to keep it safe. However, he made a mistake, just like its previous protector, Jacob, had done. Jack knew he had to die in order to make things right and to fulfill his true role. Before Jack marched bravely to his death, he passed the torch on to Hurley.

Jack crawls out from the river and lies down on the grass of the island. This was the exact image we got of him in the pilot. He is just lying there, hurt, but unlike the pilot he is not confused or disoriented. He has completed his mission.

The best part of this scene was that a dog comes out of the woods, just like in the pilot. It's Vincent. The dog lies beside Jack and we can see that Jack is now happy and fulfilled. He looks up at the sky and sees a plane go by. It's Oceanic Flight 815. Everyone on it is going to be okay.

Juliet saved them all when she was able to get the bomb to go off and Jack brought it all home with his actions in this last episode.

At the end of the episode when Jack realizes that he has died, his father tells him that not everyone in the church is dead. "There is no now," he tells him. "Some died before and some died after."

I really don't like that this scene took place in a church in the flash-sideways continuum. It would have been more significant for it to be at Charlie and Eko's church on the island. That would have been perfect.

Nevertheless, I'm happy with how the story ended. I know some people are gonna read the whole story wrong since it ended in a church. I don't think the story was about purgatory. They weren't all dead. They needed to learn some things about themselves because they were all lost at one point in their lives.

They are no longer lost.

And Hurley is going to continue to help people by bringing them to the island. We can see this from a few different moments this episode.

First off, Hurley didn't know what to do when he became the protector of the island. Ben Linus suggested that he let Desmond leave the island. Hurley told him that it didn't work that way. To which. Linus said something along the lines, "You're the boss now. You're good at protecting and helping people. You can make new rules."

Hurley likes Ben's suggestion and asks him to help him in that duty, to which Ben says he would be honoured to do.

So we see that the island has a purpose. It helps redeem people who have lost their way. Everyone on that island that we've come to know from these six seasons needed that experience. 

We get this from his dailogue with Ben Linus at the end. "You were a great Number 2," says Hurley to which Linus replies, "And you were a great Number 1." Perhaps someone else has the job now and they have both found themselves too.

That's my take on it. I'd appreciate hearing from you. Please leave a comment. Thanks!

Missed Opportunity - A Lego Comic Strip

Rap Round Table

This is one of the best compliments I've ever received. It really made my day and I just had to share it with all of you.

"Washed away in a tide of SEO-grabbing blog posts, there's actually quite a bit of interesting, entertaining, valuable, and just plain writing out there... if you look for it. Call me a dreamer, but wouldn't it be great if there was a hip hop magazine that somehow managed to stay in print and keep the following writers on payroll? If only... 'til then we've got the Rap Round Table, a new feature that aims to highlight the week in writing. Enjoy:

Profiles and Interviews:

Lucy’Lo of 84.85 Interview; Pt. 2; Wrap Up by Chase March"

from - http://www.hiphopisread.com/2010/05/rap-round-table-week-ending-5212010.html


I was very surprised and quite honoured to see my name included on this inaugural list. I am thankful that my efforts here are getting recognized by a notable blog.

I would love to be paid for my writing. I hope it happens one day.  It's pretty inspiring to see a comment like this. Thanks Ivan!

Saukrates Interview Wraps Up

Here is the conclusion of the Saukrates interview transcript. If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 you can go back to read them right now. You can also download the entire show as a free podcast from the DOPEfm page.

Chase: “I think some people might be surprised to hear this, but you’re actually a classically trained musician aren’t you?”

Saukrates: “Yes. My main instrument is the violin. I grew up playing that in orchestra since I was about 6 or 7 years old. I picked up the upright bass for some of the summers. Ya know, string instruments, the electric bass, but then also picking up on percussion and keyboards. So, I do multi-task in the studio.”

Chase: “In your video, ‘Money or Love’ you’re playing a guitar and you’re actually playing that because some people front in music videos and just pretend to play stuff.”

Saukrates: “Well, I’m no Lenny Kravitz, ya know? I’m no Peter Frampton, I ain’t crazy on the guitar. I just knew those couple of chords and went ahead with it but when it comes to the real deal, I depend on my musicians. I depend on my band to knock that stuff out because their incredible.”

Chase: “So we all know the 4 elements of hip-hop. How many of them do you do?”

Saukrates: “I rap and make the beats but that’s about it. I’m a visual artist as well but I don’t do graff. I used to battle Eddie from Barenaked Ladies up at music camp. Those were the days of the running man. I don’t break but I rap and I produce and I truly live this rock and roll life. This is all I do. It’s not like I’m running to punch a clock 9 to 5 while I’m doing this thing. This is what I do, so I say I even live it a little more that those who supposedly do all 4 elements because I’m doing it all day, every day.”

Chase: “That’s awesome that you’ve achieved enough success that you’re able to do that. A lot of artists in general, the underground hip-hop guys we’ve talked to on the show regularly, have jobs, ya know? And they do this with all their money and all their heart but they have to go flip burgers or do something stupid and you just get to live music so that must be awesome.”

Saukrates: “It is, but I got a son too. My son is about to turn 10 years old and feeding a little mini-you is not cheap either. You gotta manage yourself differently when you’re on the run like me.”

Chase: “On the run, cool. So, if I was to raid your MP3 player or you car, what kind of songs would I find in your deck? Who you listening to?”

Saukrates: “I get into the classics, man. I don’t buy a lot of new stuff. But I’m a huge Rapheal Saddiq fan, D’Angelo, ya know, a lot of soul. Bill Withers, Quincy Jones, Dr. Dre’s catalogue, OutKast’s catalogue. I keep a good mix of stuff. I just picked up EPMD’s Strictly Business. So, I’m a throwback guy.”

Gamma Krush: “If you had to pick one OutKast album, what would it be?”

Saukrates: “Probably Aquemini when they really started showing more colour, ya know what I mean? But I love all of their work. I love the last thing they did with the split album, even up to the last singles with Royal Flush and all them joints. I’m just a huge fan.”

Chase: “Very, very cool. Let’s play another track and then come back to wrap this up. I want to play ‘The Search’ because we’ve talked about Drake already. I want to play that one and we’ll come back and talk about that. So this is ‘The Search’”

Gamma Krush: “Produced by Rich Kidd.”

Chase: “Saukrates featuring Drake or Drake featuring Saukrates.”

Saukrates: “Either way.”

Chase: “Either way. Alright Gamma Krush, spin the track and we’ll be right back.”

Chase: “What was it like working with Drake?”

Saukrates: “It’s cool as hell. we’ve known each other for years. I knew them when they were coming up, before the turned twenty. You know, him, Boi 1da, D-10, the team. I brought Drake into the studio and introduced him to 40, my homie Noah Shebib, who came up and learned a whole lot from being an intern with us. So it’s practically family man. Our roots are tight. By the time we got to that song in the studio, we’d already gone through four or five songs and had found a working chemistry where we just get in there and have fun. So, it’s always a good time in the studio with my little brother Dreezy.”

Chase: “It seems you have developed a whole family of artists because you’ve worked with Redman several times, Nelly Furtado, and tons of people. Is there anybody you haven’t collaborated with yet that you’d really like to?”

Saukrates: “OutKast is one. That would be great. Me and S-Roc from Brassmunk, we wrote some music that is supposed to end up on the new Big Boi record. So we’ll see if and when that comes out. Boy 1da did the beat so that’s gonna be cool once that hits the street. I’d really like to do a record with Raphael Saddiq. I have a couple that might end up on the new Xzibit album so to get with him on a record again would be great.”

Chase: “Speaking of Xzibit. I notice that he just got his name back on Twitter because somebody else had his name on there. And you’re pretty active on Twitter but you don’t have your name. You’ve got your nickname you use for Twitter, Big Soxx.

Saukrates: “That’s right. A man of many names.”

Chase: “Do you like that moniker better than Saukrates.”

Saukrates: “They all work. I got about 4 or 5 or 6 different names and they all work.”

Gamma Krush: “At first though, it was mad confusing with ‘The Underground Tapes,’ because the liner notes mentioned Big Sox as the producer and Saukrates was on the cover. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s Sox just spelled differently.”

Saukrates: “Like Chicago White Sox. But there was not confusion.”

Chase: “Gamma Krush thought you were two different people.”

Saukrates: “It’s like Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Diddy, ya know? It’s innovation. People grow, nicknames follow, ya know what I mean? So, get familiar.”

Chase: “Are you enjoying being on Twitter?”

Saukrates: “Totally. It’s a great way to stay in touch with fans. It’s a great way to get people familiar with new material and keep them buzzing about what’s going on. It’s instant. That’s a great thing about the way the game has changed.”

Chase: “Yeah. It’s completely different than what it was back in ’94 when you first came out. And I’m wondering if then were now, whether you’d be like superman right now, you’d just be everywhere, all over the place, like Drake, instead of taking this long to get to where you are.”

Saukrates: “I mean, don’t get it twisted. It hasn’t just been rising, rising, rising. It’s peaks and valleys, ya know what I mean? Peak in popularity, go back to the studio, get some more work done, come back out, peak in popularity, get some more work done, hit the road with Nelly Furtado, go everywhere on the planet, ya know what I mean? It’s cycles. Young Drizzy is in his first cycle right now and it’s going great for him but he’s gonna have more cycles throughout his career as well. So don’t be acting like it’s trickling and it’s just been this slow rise. It’s been up and down, up and down, the rollercoaster ride that this game is.”

Chase: “Yeah, I guess that goes back to what you said in ‘Hot Like Summer’ when you were talking about the trials and tribulations because there has been plenty there. So that makes sense.”

Saukrates: “That’s right.”

Chase: “Starting from Scratch just did a tribute to you, a tribute set. That was so cool to see because I’ve been telling Gamma Krush this for a while, that we should be doing this more often. We should pay tribute and homage to the MCs while they’re still here because as soon as they die, Big L tributes like crazy. Big Pun tributes like crazy, right now it’s Guru tributes like crazy, and I saw a Sox one and it was like, ‘Uh-oh, he didn’t die did he?”

Gamma Krush: “I’m way ahead of you. I’ve done tribute sets for people who are still alive.”

Chase: “You just did one for A Tribe Called Quest so that was cool.”

Gamma Krush: “It’s the 20^th anniversary of their first album.”

Chase: “Yeah, so it’s cool to see that Saukrates has a lot of fans, a lot of support, a lot of people on Twitter, a lot of people looking forward to the new album ‘Season One,’ myself included. So hopefully we’ll see you swinging through Hamilton soon so we’ll see the new show.”

Saukrates: “We gotta take the tour through Hamilton this summer. Come on out! Keep your eyes and ears peeled and pay attention for when we come to your city to rock the house.”

Chase: “Alright well thanks a lot. It’s been an honour and a privilege sitting down with you, talking to you, and playing your new stuff. We gotta play some more of your old stuff because it’s still golden.”

Saukrates: “Alright, well thanks for having me.”

That was it. If you download the podcast, you can hear Gamma Krush spin some more classic material from Saukrates. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast too because we bring you the best in underground hip-hop each and every week at DOPEfm. Thanks for tuning in. Peace. 

Saukrates Interview Part 2

Here is Part 2 of the interview I did with rapper / producer Saukrates. If you missed Part 1, you can go back and read it now. You can also download the podcast of this show for free. As an added bonus, Gamma Krush spins some classic Saukrates jams right after the interview. Nice stuff!

Today, among other things, we talk about his hit song with K-os "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" and you can see the really cool video of it here as well.

Without further ado, let's continue the transcript.

Chase: “I’m here with Saukrates at the Toronto Freedom Festival and we just played the ‘Wednesday’ remix featuring D-sisive. What was it like working with D-sisive because I’ve heard some interviews with him and he seems to have quite the sense of humour and just be hilarious. So was it like that in the studio too?”

Saukrates: “We did it over the Internet. So we didn’t even go that far, man. I just sent him the music with nothing on it and said, ‘Go wild,” and he sent it back to me. That’s how we came up with the title too because he said he was going to be ready on Wednesday. I said, ‘That’s what we gonna call the song.’”

Chase: “That’s awesome. So once you knew you’d get in on Wednesday and once you heard what he did, did you turn that into a metaphor and then bounce it back and forth?”

Saukrates: “That’s exactly what it was. I then went ahead and did a version by myself and then pulled him in for the remix.”

Chase: “Nice. So Wednesday is referred to as the hump day that we gotta get over. It’s just another trial and once I pass this, everrything’s cool right? Is that kind of what you’re saying with this song?”

Saukrates: “That’s exactly what I’m saying with this song. You got it, right on the nose.”

Chase: “Is this going to be on the new album?”

Saukrates: “Yes. Produced by Tone Mason, who’s another production team I got on the album too. They did ‘Hot Like Summer’ as well.”

Gamma Krush: “Very familiar household name in Canadian hip-hop.”

Saukrates: “That’s right. One love to Mellenius. That’s my homie right there.”

Chase: “For anyone not familiar with Saukrates here, why Socrates? Why did you pick that as your emcee moniker?”

Saukrates: “I was young. I wanted something that would stand out. I didn’t want to be MC This or Letter-That. I wanted a name that would stand out and that was strong. I spelled it differently because it wasn’t following the philosophies of the original name. That’s it. It’s really just that simple. When me, Kardinal, Marvel, when we were all starting out, we were just trying to find our way, and that’s something I came up with, something that would stick to the wall. So when people hear it, they never forget it.”

Chase: “Those other acts you just mentioned were part of The Circle. And there was a big time in Canadian hip-hop there were it just seemed like we had such an amazing scene. We had The Rascalz, Kardinal Offishall, Thrust, you, and it seemed like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna take the world by storm.’ And then we didn’t them by storm. It took a while but Kardi got some recognition and huge play with the track he did with Akon. So it seems to have taken a while for all this potential we had, here in Toronto, to go worldwide. Why do you think that is?

Canadians don’t have a hard time blowing up. Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, when it come to female talent, Canadian solo artists are huge. So why does it seem to be taking forever for the MCs to pay your dues and get exploded stateside and worldwide?”

Saukrates: “The demographics up here are different. We got about 30 million people up here in the whole country and in the U.S. it’s over 300 million people. So there are more people listening to hip-hop down there. There’s a good handful of them listening to it up here and die hard fans but the demographic doesn’t necessarily allow for a huge plateau which is why we all end up traveling to get to that next level of success and break through the glass ceiling that is Canada.”

Chase: “So, to that end, have you been doing a lot of tours, a lot of shows?”

Saukrates: “I just got back from Syracuse this morning. I just did that last night. Syracuse University with K-os, Drake, and N.E.R.D. I’ve been touring with Drake and K-os for the past month. We got another week to go and then when I get back I take off of my promo tour for the ‘Season One’ album. I’m bringing Redman on the road with me. We going across Canada, Europe, Japan, and a few dates in the U.S. as well. We have to think internationally to be successful as an MC coming out of Toronto.”

Chase: “For sure. Your album title scares me, ‘Season One’ because all my favourite TV shows seem to get cancelled.”

Saukrates: “That’s a cool way of putting it.”

Chase: “So I hope I’m not jinxing ya.”

Saukrates: “No, I’m just setting up for Season 2, and Season 3, and Season 4.”

Chase: “A classic series right?”

Saukrates: “That’s right, I’m a lifer.”

Chase: “One thing I want to talk to you about is the song with K-os. That chorus is amazing. Did you produce that song?”

Saukrates: “No, Rich Kidd did the beat but me and Nelly Furtado wrote the hook. I wrote my parts and she freestyled her parts when we were out in Paris a couple years ago. But Rich Kidd did the beat.”

Gamma Krush: “Props to Rich Kidd, we had him on the show last November.”

Chase: “I was flipping around the TV and I caught The O.C. and I never watch that show and I was like, ‘Woah, that sounds like ‘I Wish I knew Natalie Portman’ so I wanted to talk about the production of that track.”

Saukrates: “What’s funny about that is, we brought some recognition to that song so people do think that The O.C. Anthem sounds like our song when it’s really the other way around. The O.C. Anthem is a cover of the original song that Rich Kidd sampled. But it works hand in hand. We brought some awareness to it and every time we perform it, the people love it.”

Chase: “It’s a great song. Your version of it is called ‘On the Run’ and K-os calls it ‘I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman.’ Why Natalie Portman? Do you know?”

Saukrates: “You know Kevin, that’s my homie. He likes to live outside of the box, not just think outside of the box. I believe his story about that was comparing it to a successful Canadian and how she managed to get through Hollywood and he just kind of pulled that out of the air. I had nothing to do with that title but once I heard it, I loved it. I knew exactly what he was thinking, how to bring some attention to it as well because she’s one of our homegrown superstars. I love his imagination. It was great to do it that way because we can put the song on both records.”

Chase: “So anyone who hasn’t already picked up K-os definitely needs to pick up your album now. It has one of the catchiest choruses I’ve heard in a long time. I love that song! Since we’ve been talking about it, I think we need to play that one.”

Saukrates: “What’s going on y’all? This is Saukrates, hanging out at the Toronto Freedom Festival, about to get high as hell. We wanna play you a special record of mine. It’s called ‘On the Run’ but if you ask my big brother K-os, we also call it, ‘I wish I knew Natalie Portman.’ Go ahead with it.”

Gamma Krush: “Where was that video filmed?”

Saukrates: “Just north of Pickering. Out East.”

Gamma Krush: “Near K-os’s hometown”

Saukrates: “I think he’s further east. We were just north of Pickering, out near Brooklyn, out in the sticks.”

Well this ends Part 2 of the Saukrates Interview. Make sure you go and download the podcast for free and come back tomorrow to read the conclusion. Thanks for tuning in!

Read Part 3

Saukrates Interview

I had the honour and privilege to interview a legend when it comes to Canadian hip-hop. This is the transcript of that interview. You can also download the podcast for free from DOPEfm. Without further ado, here’s the show.

Chase: “Alright everybody, this is Chase March. Gamma Krush is on my left here and on my right is…”

“Saukrates”

Chase: “How’s it going man?”

Saukrates: “I’m good. I’m good.”

Chase: “Nice. I’ve been a fan of you since your first track dropped ‘Still Caught Up.’ That was getting a lot of play on Mastermind Street Jam at the time and a lot of college radio. And at that time, it seemed that there was such a buzz built around Saukrates, and we were just waiting forever for your album to come out. That track came out in ’94 and I got the vinyl of it. I love that song, by the way. It took some time to get your first album out though didn’t it?”

Saukrates: “Yeah it did. Just went through some ups and downs with a couple labels, one being an independent label that we did the Father Time album with. That was kind of a hard time. And then Warner Brothers, spent about two or three years there as well, in their kind of sh*tty situation that they were going through. So we decided to compile a lot of the material from a few albums and put it all out in ’99.”

Chase: “That was ‘The Underground Tapes.’ That was a good album.”

Gamma Krush: “A classic.”

Saukrates: “Thanks guys!”

Chase: “You had quite a few guest appearances on there as well. You’ve worked with quite a few different artists, like; Masta Ace, O.C., Common, Redman, Methodman, and more recenty K-os, and D-sisive. So you’ve worked with some really amazing talent there.”

Saukrates: “Yeah, totally. It’s been a good time. And more to come.”

Chase: “Excellent. I hate to draw comparisons here but the buzz around you was so huge in ’94. It reminds me now of the buzz around Drake. Drake is already blowing up and it’s taken you a long time to get that status, which is kind of a shame because you’ve had some false starts with majors, but you do have a new album coming out soon, ‘Season One.’ Is that on a label or are you doing that yourself?”

Saukrates: “Yeah, we’re on Universal Music. Still over there.”

Chase: “Are you producing the songs on there too?”

Saukrates: “I did a bunch of them but I also reached out to some of my favourites. Rich Kid’s got a couple on there. I had Colin Monroe come in and do some work with me as well. A kid named Phrase from Jersey did the first single with me and Redman called ‘Drop it Down.’ So it’s a nice little mix of producers.”

Gamma Krush: ‘So this kid from Jersey?”

Saukrates: “Yeah, Phrase. I don’t know if he’s just a discovery of Redman’s but he definitely throws a lot of beats Gilla House’s way, ya know what I mean?”

Chase: “Alright I want to play one of your tracks right now. You’ve got some new stuff that I’ve been feeling. I really like ‘Hot Like Summer.’ We’ll play that song right now and we’ll come back with more Saukrates. Gamma Krush spin the track.”

Chase: “Alright, that was ‘Hot Like Summer’ from Saukrates featuring Andreena Mill, is that how you say it?”

Saukrates: “That’s right.”

Chase: “Is she an artist you’ve been working with a lot?”

Saukrates: “For a long time. We’re just finishing up her album right now. She’s helped me do a lot of writing. She’s flourishing so well. I used to have her and Melanie Fiona singing back up for me and both of them are like best friends. So, yeah, she’s about to blow. Go get the mix tape!”

Chase: “Nice. I want to touch on some of your lyrics there because I’m a lyrical dude and you had some good things to say there. I like your verse, It says, “all our tribulations end up in trial / either in front of the judge or in front of the crowd.”

Saukrates: “That’s right!”

Chase: “And your next line is speaking volumes to me. It says, “my life and me have a love-hate relationship.” What do you mean by that?”

Saukrates: “I guess just the struggle aspect of it. When you choose this rock ‘n roll lifestyle, ya know, it’s half and half. The great times are being on stage and doing your art. But other times, as far as just going through the actual business of it all, can be challenging. So it is a love-hate relationship. ‘On the run for money and standing ovation sh*t.’”

Chase: “Yeah, I like that. You go on a little further saying I really have to work hard at this, you say, ‘Bust my ass the hemming way, write scripts every day.’”

Saukrates: “That’s right!”

Chase: “When I interview an MC, I really like to touch base on the lyrics but I was looking at yours and thinking, ‘Hmm. my favourite stuff from you is like ten years old, I don’t want to talk to him about ten-year-old lyrics.’”

Saukrates: “Nah, well they’re all relevant. It’s all relevant. None of it is going anywhere. It’s just adding on. Ya know, when you talk to Quincy Jones or Dr. Dre, you like to dive into the whole catalog. My music wasn’t meant to be only appreciated at a certain time. So go ahead. We can go as far back as we want.”

Chase: ‘Nice. I like that, because almost in hip-hop and especially in radio and the blogosphere like we do here at DOPEfm, a lot of it, ya know, focuses on the new, and it’s almost to the exclusion of the old. There’s always something new on the blogosphere and we’re spinning new tracks all the time but I still wanna play ‘Still Caught Up’ from your 1994 vinyl that we got. We spin that. ‘Cause that’s classic right there.”

Saukrates: “Yeah, man. A lot of my fans when they approach me, they’re still bringing up ‘Hate Runs Deep’ and ‘Father Time’ and the early records. It’s great. It just means that the 15 plus years of work is being respected.”

Gamma Krush: “Financially too because from what I hear, ‘Hate Runs Deep’ goes for a pretty penny now. Cats out in Japan will auction it for 60 bucks or something.”

Saukrates: “Yeah, that’s probably the lowest. I’ve heard $100, $150, up to $300 for original vinyl if they can get their hands on it. I’m thinking I might have to repress and bring out the old label of it and just go get some money again too.”

Gamma Krush: “I think with all the old Canadian vinyl Chase and I have, we might have to beef up security at our homes.”

Saukrates: “Yeah, you just might.”

Chase: “Maybe we shouldn’t be telling people we have all that stuff. But we’re real hip-hop heads here. And it’s interesting to see because you haven’t blown up yet really. You’ve got your hardcore fans but not everybody knows your name. And that’s curious because you’ve worked with quite a few people. I saw you on the Grey Cup with Nelly Furtado, and you produce stuff for Redman. In my mind, I was really expecting to see Saukrates huge, ya know?”

Saukrates: “Well, it ain’t over.”

Chase: “It’s definitely not over.”

Saukrates: “It ain’t over and we’re only adding on. It’s just getting better and better. You don’t’ even have to keep your fingers crossed. I’ll guarantee you that we’re going there.”

Chase; “Yeah, ‘cause after ‘Still Caught Up’ the next big track you were on was ‘Innovations’ on 2Rude’s album with Pharoah Monche. That was a cool track.”

Saukrates: “Thank you.”

Chase: “Recently you’ve got one with D-sisive. I really like what D-sisive has been doing lately. He’s been just dropping stuff like crazy. So you did a track together called ‘Wednesday’ and I’d like to spin that one right now.”

Saukrates: “Play it. Play the record!”

Chase: “Alright. So this is ‘Wednesday.’ Saukrates featuring D-sisive. Gamma Krush spin the track and we’ll be right back.”

Chase: “Alright that was ‘Wednesday: the Remix’ with D-sisive and we’re sitting with Saukrates, How’s it going Sox?”

Saukrates: “It’s going good. It’s a nice day. I thought it was gonna a little more wet out here and a little colder but it’s nice. It’s a good day to be out here puffing a cloud.”

Chase: “Yup, ‘cause we’re at the Toronto Freedom Festival right now and you’re going to be going on stage in a little bit.”

Saukrates: “That’s right.”

Chase: “So, why this festival? Why are you here today?”

Saukrates: “I’m a good friend of Gavin Gerbz, who is one of the guys who helped to bring this whole thing together. Big C, Craig Mannix, he’s another guy. They’d asked me to get on it last year but we had conflicting schedules and I wasn’t able to do it. They asked me again this year and I had a little time where I could so here I am.”

Well this ends Part 1 of the Saukrates Interview. Make sure you go and download the podcast for free and come back tomorrow to read Part 2. 

My Daredevil Collection

Daredevil is my favourite super-hero. I started this humble collection about 10 years ago.

I haven't bought any new toys in quite some time. I've seen some that I've wanted to buy but I haven't really been in the position to spend any more money on it.  

Some of these were hard to find. I had to look in several different toy stores to find them. Daredevil toys aren't as widely produced or available as some other super-heroes.

The figure in the box here is 12 inches tall and has over 30 points of articulation. I opened up the box at one point to examine all the detail that was put into this figure. I didn't untie him though so he is still in pristine condition.

Daredevil and Elektra figures are in front of it. They are incredibly detailed as well.

There is a wind-up figure here that walks and swings his numb-chuck. I had to open this one. The monster truck and motorbike are pretty cool even if they don't make much sense for the character. Daredevil is blind after all and he doesn't drive any vehicles in the comics.

It took me some time to find the Honda S2000 convertible, years actually. I'd seen it in a toy shop one day but for some reason I didn't buy it. I went back but it was already gone. That is my most recent find in this collection, not including books.

There is a smaller version of that honda car here, as well as a kit of a car that you can put together, and of course the transport truck. Every super-hero needs an eighteen wheeler.

The figure on the right is 20 cm tall and has a cloth costume. There are a whole series of these figures but I haven't seen them around much. They are a limited edition and I'm glad I found this Daredevil one at Toys R Us one day.

The Mighty Beanz set has five figures inside it. I remember searching through a bin of these figures in Zellers. I was there for about half an hour trying to find one that had a Daredevil figure visible. I never opened this pack so I don't know which other characters are inside.

You can also see a few trading cards here.

Here are three more figures. One is from a Spiderman collection, one is from the Marvel Hall of Fame, and the last one is from the movie. I bought two of those so I could have one to open up.

There is a also a cool candy dispenser that fits rockets in it instead of the typical Pez candy that you'd expect. I bought two of those as well.

Well, that's about it for the toys and figures. I hope to add some more to this collection in the future.

I love these hardcover collections. They are over-sized as well and much bigger than the regular comic book. Unfortunately, they stopped producing these books after Volume 6 so I've had to start buying the trade paper backs.

I have some single comic books as well but as you can see, I much prefer buying the collected comics. The hardcover books are just gorgeous and the trade paper backs give you an entire story in one book. Of course, these also look better on a bookshelf as opposed to the traditional single issue comics.

I also have some DVDs including the theatrical release of the movie, the director's cut, the Incredible Hulk movie, Daredevil vs Spiderman, and two motion comics.

Well that's my Daredevil collection. I just thought I'd share it with you today.

Wanna see more?

Here's my Joe Quesada autograph. 

Teaching Tip Tuesday – 5 Shading Techniques

I found this great resource for teaching art a few years ago that I wanted to share with you today for Teaching Tip Tuesday.

It's an amazing website called Art Adventures and it has some great tips, tricks, and lessons on it that are very easy to follow.

When I first discovered this site, I printed off these lessons and I'm sure glad that I did because the amazingly useful website is no more.

I scanned the steps for this lesson on Shading Techniques.

There are 5 different ways to shade to give your drawings a sense of depth and realism.

Step 1: Linear Shading - Stippling

Step 2: Using Stippling to Add Depth

Step 3: Hatching

Step 4: Using Hatching to Transform a Shape to a Form

Step 5: Crosshatching

Step 6: Crosshatching to Transform a Shape to a Form

Here is a worksheet that allows the students to practise these techniques.

You can download this worksheet here. 

After I have worked through this sheet together with my class. I have them fold a large sheet of paper into 9 sections so that we can draw shapes. Since there are three rows, we draw three shapes; a cube, a cylinder, and a sphere. We draw these shapes across all three columns and then shade them using three different techniques; stippling, hatching, and cross hatching. 

I follow up this lesson with a really cool project that always seems to engage the students. Come back next week to see details on that. You can also check out the other great Teaching Tips I have posted so far. There are now over 60 tips and they are grouped by theme as well. I hope you find them useful.