Contents Start.................................................................3 Up Coming Events...........................................4 By Greg Slorina
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How-to.............................................................6
Walkie Talkie
By Vitali Poluzhnikov
In Review (Vancouver Fashion Week)..............8 By Jennifer Ni and Mirya Nezvitskaya
Fashionable People Of Vancouver
LaSalle Scene................................................ 12 By Jennifer Ni
Interview with City Wide Walkie Talkie.......... 14 By Mirya Nezvitskaya
Combat Sports............................................... 18 By Ozy Ozdogan
Student’s Diaries............................................20 By Mirya Nezvitskaya
Photo Essay...................................................22 By Mirya Nezvitskaya and Daryl Askey LaSalle College International Vancouver School of Design 604-683-2006 www.lasallecollegevancouver.com Art Direction: Daryl Askey Staff: Students in the Digital Media Design Program See the previous issue at: www.issuu.com/selfishmagazine/docs/issue_1
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Fashion Week, a space-jazz-hiphop band, beat-matching technique, Shambhala Festival, romantic advice and hand-to-hand combat: Some of the topics in the follow-up issue of LaSalle College’s Student Publication. Now I just have to write something clever that ties together these disparate subjects. Well, there’s quite a bit of music in there … though not necessarily fashionable, romantic or combative music. And, in the interest of full-disclosure, I suppose I should reveal that it is indeed my band in the interview feature. Talk about Selfish, eh? Let’s face it – It’s spring, so our job is to convey some excitement and encourage everyone to get out there and enjoy the season, indulge and get a little Selfish. – Daryl Askey, April 2009
Crew
Daryl Askey Great teacher and happy father. Loves music; plays music. Huge experience in graphic design. Our guru in graphics software.
Mirya Nezvitskaya Publishing girl extraordinaire. Likes illustrating children’s books, writing and dancing. Has a massive collection of vinyl records.
Ozy Ozdogan Hot Turkey comes to Canada. Interests: snowboarding, music (trance!) and sleeping in class – for which we love him most!
Vitali Poluzhnikov Super talented kid: photography, web design, graphic design. Also, he is DJing, skiing, and cycling. The kindest guy ever.
Greg Slonina Talented not only in snowboarding and swimming with dolphins, but also in graphic design. Plays piano, yes! Girls, don’t miss your chance!
Jennifer Ni On the Cover: Mirya’s Shoes! Photo by Jennifer Ni
The most organized and reliable among us. Talented girl with her own point of view. Loves photography, black and white images. Has perfect manners. Selfish.Magazine.
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Upcoming Events
Events
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Shambhala Music Festival 2009 Every year the Salmo River Ranch opens its gates for five days for one of Canada’s biggest electronic music festivals. This is the Shambhala Music festival that is growing in more attendees every year. This year the river ranch is open from Wednesday August 5 to Monday August 10 with the music bumping from Thursday evening to Sunday night. If you come Wednesday or Thursday morning there is an additional early arrival fee since you most likely will grab the best camping spots. Usually there are about 10,000 people attending the festival, which might not be the largest number compared to other festivals around the world, but is still fairly big for British Columbia. Their will be about 200 visual and performing artists entertaining you for the three days; ranging from deejays to bands and artistic performers. Majority of these artists are from around North America and other parts of the world. There will be six different originally themed stages for the artists to perform on. Some of these stages have names as the labyrinth, Pagoda, fractal forest giving you an idea of what they might look like. Other than the music there are visual performers to feast the eyes. Some of these performances are in a
Cirque du Soleil style, or even a mixture of different kinds of dancing and artistic visuals. Tickets for this festivity are still going strong so make this is one of your summer’s biggest bangers. More info at www.shambhalamusicfestival.com
Art Vancouver Art Gallery Exhibitions Western Landscapes Mar 7 - May 18 Enacting Abstraction Feb. 14 - May 10 How Soon Is Now Feb. 7 - May 3
Reflections Vancouver 2009
Sports
Music
UFC
Warped Tour
R. Franklin vs. W. Silva Apr18 98 R. Evans vs L. Machida May 23
Aug. 14 UBC THunderbird Arena
The Killers Apr.. 24 UBC Thunderbird Stadium
Bloc Party Apr... 26 & 27 Commodore Ballroom
Opening Night: Tues, April 22, 6-8pm Artists in Attendance: Sat, April 26, 2-3pm Ferry Building Gallery Address: 1414 Argyle Ave, Ambleside Landing West Vancouver BC
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How-To
By Vitali Poluzhnikov
The contemporary art of DJ’ing has become really popular today. There are new uprising stars in the scene of Trance, Techno, House, D’n’B , e.t.c . More worldwide events are going on each year, new recording labels are appearing, music receives better quality and more people are influenced within the culture. Who is the heart of this music? Obviously the artist and the DJ who opens the beauty of sound to the masses. And his task is to present these flat beats as a single, long-lasting melody. Have you ever felt that a good DJ’s set sounds like one long-lasting track? How to become a DJ? How to mix? We will learn that today. We go straight to the theory. So... We have 2 separate tracks which we need to BEATMATCH. Both tracks are written in the same tempo 4/4. The difference is in the BPM (beats per minute), which makes the beats jump over when played together. Our task is to make them sound well together – adjust them to the same speed – to BEATMATCH. 120 BPM
132 BPM
Adjusting Pitch (speed) Track #1 is playing in the speakers, Track #2 is in our headphones. We will be using the PITCH controller to BEATMATCH Track #2 with Track #1.
Having the PITCH at 0% Track #2 is much slower than Track#1, so we need to speed it up…
Track #2 is sped up by 2% now. Getting better, meaning that the direction of the pitch is correct.
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Closer now, but it slightly start’s to drift away with time.
Now the beats are perfectly BEATMATCHED at pitch +3.2%. Now both beats play along together and can be layered onto each other.
Finding first beat and correctly assembling beats. In electronic music you probably have heard that the beginning of almost each track there is a dull repetitive KICK DRUM. What is it for? At first to give an opportunity for the tracks to be mixed-in softer, with a less amount of external sounds and also it eases the DJ to find the first beat – The CUE POINT. With vinyl records, this is done by placing the needle on a certain groove and then moving it back or forth until the needle is above the point that the DJ wants to play. Usually this is the first beat or the any other 16’th (DOWNBEAT). Why 16’th? This will be explained further. On a CD player, this is done by selecting the correct moment in a track – (straight before the DOWNBEAT) and setting the CUE POINT at the spot. After the BPM is adjusted and the CUE POINT is found it is time to start the track at the correct spot: Once you hear the DOWNBEAT you simply need to let the vinyl slip with it or press PLAY on the CD player. This may require repetition.
Once the tracks are beatmatched and are playing in the exact same square it is time to gently mix the tracks together.
The only best tip to success is constant practice.
Everyone can be a DJ! Selfish.Magazine.
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Vancouver fashion week Inspiration
Review
M
arch is a really important month for Vancouver.. Why? Fashion Week is on the way.. You can expect everything on Vancouver Fashion Week: celebrities, many photographers, lots of media, the most trendy West Coast ladies and gentlemen, the greatest Canadian and foreign designers, colorful make up artists and crazy hair stylists and, of course, the feeling of the fairy tale that Fashion Week is giving this to you. I hope you didn’t miss Vancouver Fashion Week, but if you were not there, this is what you missed: Flora&Fauna, Malene Grotrian, Luminel Couture, Killa, Drew William, Frost Sportiva, SoulFace Studios, Undone Clothing and many more, amazing hair and make up competition. Lots of color, elegance and style – this is all Vancouver Fashion Week… We found some people on the streets that we thought are most inspired by spring and fashion... Jennifer Ni Mirya Nezvitskaya
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Fashion on the street
Feel the sunshin e! Brigh people h t days m appier! ake
shion a F r e v ncou a V d smile n o a t g e l n i op Spr re pe i p s n i Week day.. y r e v e 10 Selfish.Magazine.
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Fashion on the street
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Vancouver fashion week
LaSalle Scene
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A Tour With City Wide Walkie Talkie 14 Selfish.Magazine.
Long time ago in a small town, called Deep River (Ontario), lived 3 boys, that spent most of their time, skateboarding, snowboarding
and
jumping
off cliffs into the river… But as time went by, the boys became strong and brave men, and decided to move to a city of art and dreams – Vancouver. Here they found inspiration to start playing music. That’s how the band “City Wide Walkie Talkie“ was born. Today, the band continues to create their masterpieces and to enjoy their lives!
Creative and Extraordinary The band “City Wide Walkie Talkie” consists of 3 almighty ever loving guys: Daryl Askey (Keys, guitar, percussion, and kids’ toys), Brian Longhurst (Drums, percussion, keys), and Jamie Tait (Bass, guitar, keys, percussion, and vocals). The name comes from their shared hatred of cell phones. Guys just would love to go back to a simpler time of communicating with soup cans on a string. They definitely liked the idea of obsolete communication techniques. City Wide Walkie Talkie play a bastardized
version of mainly instrumental space funk or jazz. Their influences are really all over the place. They’re channeling early 70s Bill Cosby (see Badfoot Brown And The Bunions Bradford Funeral & Marching Band) and a less stoned Madlib. They all grew up in the same town and were friends from childhood, growing up in Deep River Ontario and relocating here about 15 years ago. In 1998 when the band Daryl and Jamie were in fell apart, they realized that it was the right time to make something fresh and new that put the lis-
tener in a different mind set. At first, they wanted to recruit Brian to play some electronics in their original band (Isotopia), but it just wasn’t working out, so they formed City Wide Walkie Talkie as a side-project. Soon after, Isotopia split, and City Wide was the main project. According to Daryl, they make music together because it feels to them as if they’re the only three who ‘get it,’ and also the only three who could put up with their methods of making music, which are completely shambolic!
Left to right: Daryl Askey, Jamie Tait, and Brian Longhurst
Daryl: We used to have a recording ‘coalition’ to group all of our projects, and those of some our friends, but that fizzled out and now we’re just trying to concentrate on CWWT. Jamie: It was called Isonaut Music but it’s kind of fallen by the wayside. Perhaps in the future we’ll involve more bands and release some new and strange albums. Daryl: Over the years, we have had a lot of equipment by
Roland, but not out of brand loyalty, particularly. At one time we vowed never to get another product of theirs, but recently, Brian got his hands on an old Roland tape echo machine, which sounds amazing, as do the old Roland keyboards I play. Jamie: I play Daryl’s bass and to be honest with you I don’t care too much about the thing. So long as it does what its supposed to do, I don’t care. Musicians are some of the shadi-
est protective people when it comes to their gear. Talk to our drummer... Daryl: Sound is really important to us. We’ve spent years experimenting with using different amplifiers, tuning drums and tweaking synthesizer patches and effects. The band played a few shows a couple of years ago, but they decided that they would need more practice. New shows are coming, although
there’s nothing specific yet. Jamie: Now, we perform mainly in my basement as we are quite shy and spend most of our time recording. The live shows definitely will be coming soon if I have any say in it. Jamie admits that their favourite cover is Daft Punk’s Da Funk. It’s quite rocking. The set list is something that the band is currently working on. Jamie’s favourite original song right now
is called Early Morning Starlight Unicorn Rainbow. It’s a rump shaker! Daryl: Most songs are jammed out by the three of us, and are generally instrumental. Occasionally Jamie adds lyrics, which are usually abstract in-jokes. Jamie: Yeah, I write the lyrics for the songs if you can call them lyrics. The subjectmatter ranges from bear trap mishaps to forbidden teen lust to strange men with six hands and a whole lot Selfish.Magazine.
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A Tour With City Wide Walkie Talkie 16 Selfish.Magazine.
of lubrication. Daryl: Y’know, it’s a weird time to write lyrics, because we’re so surrounded by so much media, catch phrases and marketing slogans – to sound original and contribute something to human discourse without sounding like a sell-out, is becoming really hard. The new album is called ‘Brown 25.’ I suppose the theme is right there: there will be twenty-five tracks, and they will deal with … brown stuff. Jamie: Our music-making process is “hammer it out, cut it up, reassemble and reproduce”. If you can throw it at the wall and it sticks, it’s good eating. Daryl: Usually, we improvise until something seems to be working. Then we refine it. If it’s
working really well, we record overdubs, and then one of us does some editing in our spare time. Some songs just become really fun to play, but don’t necessarily sound as good when recorded. Jamie: We spend between 4 to 5 hours a week on recording and practice. There is no set way to go about doing this. We are an unorganized bunch who warm up with several cold beers. Try it. It works for us. Daryl: I guess it could be changing, with Brian moving to Comox, but we’ll try and make it work. When they first began to play, they dealt with a lot of drum machine programming, over which they would improvise.
Now with Brian drumming, the sound is much more organic, rather than electronic. Over the last few years they’ve gone back to basics to build on a more fluid vibe. No more drum machines and a lot more live percussion. It’s been a bit of a shocking experience for all of them but they’ve become much better players for it. The guys don’t seek fame and fortune, but they want to continue doing what they love to do. Daryl: I think we’ll just keep doing what feels right. Making music is a bit of a compulsion. I don’t think I can stop. Jamie: I see us playing music together for our whole lives. We really are friends first and a band second. If we can just
Wall of Fame
keep on keeping on, that’s alright by me. Their advice for people who want to form their own bands: Daryl: Educate yourself. Broaden your horizons. And try not to take it too seriously. Jamie: Do it because you have something new to add. If you’re setting goals to be like bands in the top 40, hang yourself. You deserve to die. People they would like to thank: Daryl: Bruce, thanks for the amp and stuff. And
other City Wide guest-players. Friends, families. Jamie: I’d like to thank my roommates for allowing us to play as loud as we want. The band is finishing their third album, Brown 25, an instrumental hip hop inspired ode to early ’70s Chevy Chase movies, echo effects and Bea Arthur’s filthy bits. Jamie: We’ll probably release it before the beginning of the summer. Look for it online or at your local record shop. Support local bands ’cause we love you big time.
Article by Mirya Nezvitskaya Photos from the band’s collection
Visit the band’s websites: http://virb.com/citywidewalkietalkie
What’s your worst habit or quality? J: I’ve been told recently that I’m stubborn and have dead eyes. I don’t exactly know what that means but I’m a little hurt by it. Stubborn I can understand but dead eyes? Meh. D: Playing with my hair – that, or listening to the CBC. Which super power do you like to have and why? D: I like the one where you can stop time. J: I’d like the ability to see through clothes. No need to explain. If I take a look inside your refrigerator what would I find? J: Things that should have been thrown out a long time ago. D: In mine, there’s a good variety of fairly healthy food that may or may not get eaten. What is your favorite comic character? J: The Tick. Spooooooon!!! D: Yeah, you can’t really beat him. What will you do if you have a time machine? J: Time machines are for people with regrets over past mistakes. Having said that, I’d like to travel back to my birth to see the horror on my parents’ faces. I can envision my father screaming, “Oh no! Put it back in! Damn that’s ugly!” If you were cartoon characters, what would you be? J: Cartoon characters are more flawed than you or I will ever be. I’d be Marmaduke.
http://www.myspace.com/citywidewalkietalkie
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I’m not cynical about love or relationships, but I don’t believe in a prince on a white horse or a knight who will save my life. I know, some people believe in fairy-tales, some people run right into the fire of love, some people hide their every desire, and I’m the one who don’t care at all.
V O L
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Desperate Ladies Finding Mr. Right
Dedicated to all desperate ladies that are trying to find true love.
When girls are young, they spend most of their time finding their one and only. I was always wondering why ladies are SO desperate!!! While men are enjoying their life, women are doing everything to find a good lover, boyfriend, spouse and in future – husband. Don’t think that I’m trying to say that men don’t want to find their only one, but they know that it takes time.
All my girlfriends are either crazily searching, or married, or in a relationship. I have not a single girlfriend that can say: “I’m single and I’m happy!”
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Every day I see lots of disappointed women around me. They are all searching, they all want to find... But to find what? Love? Shakespeare mentioned “The course of true love never did run smooth” And that is true. Women tend to think that when they find love, the world would change, they would change. I think, they desperately need a psychologist, not a man! Through years of dating a desperate woman finally wants to have someone always with her, and in most cases, she doesn’t care even if it’s “her right one” or not. The fact is, it’s impos-
Diaries
You have to learn how to control your behavior and never be controlled by the anti-conscience, or by the people that pretend they love you, while they only want to posses you, because you are GORGEOUS.
LO
sible to maintain a healthy relationship with the desperate woman. Her craze for commitment and her selfimposed deadlines – such as the need to have a baby by the time she’s 30 – eliminate any hope of a normal relationship.
You probably haven’t thought about this possibility, but the truth is that you may be wanted by many men, without being loved by them. So why then be so desperate? Especially, if you don’t, whether it’s something true and big, or just a competition.
VE
A desperate lady is never alone, because she can’t stand to be alone. Moreover, each one of her former boyfriends is very different. Warning bells should go off if a woman doesn’t seem to have any particular type; it indicates that she’s not looking for that certain someone so much as she’s looking for that certain anyone to have. Desperation makes you reactive, causing your hot button to be easily pushed. Your hot button stimulates an emotion outof-control, which is fueled by fears.
?!
When you first fall in love, it can feel like your entire life is in harmony. You feel totally connected to the other person and you want to spend every waking moment with him. You haven’t yet noticed the other person’s flaws and it’s as if the sun rises and sets with this new love in your life. Unfortunately, this phase doesn’t last. The newness eventually wears off as reality sets in.
For me, the most important relationship that I’m having right now is the one with myself. Exactly! If you want to find love, at first find a harmony with yourself, and find real you. And if you find someone who loves you the way you are, that is just spectacular!
Mirya Nezvitskaya Photos by Jennifer Ni Selfish.Magazine.
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Photo Essay
Essay *#@*!!!
On a bright Wednesday afternoon “Selfish” Crew was ready to print their brand new first issue! But wait! What happened? The printer jammed the paper, moreover, all the folding and stapling we would have to handle by ourselves… No matter what, we are all strong and powerful soldiers of our selfish army. This is war de-fi-ni-te-ly! Against all the machines, printers. We knew we could do it! And we did! 20 Selfish.Magazine.
Which button, again?
Can’t any of my students count?
That’s not my responsibility!
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