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From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp

Lesson 1: Roots, Boomers and Swingin’ Hips

»Posted by on Mar 29, 2020 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

Lesson 1: Roots, Boomers and Swingin’ Hips

 This is the first chapter in an online home school curriculum designed to teach 20th Century Western History through the lens of Rock & Roll. For overview and other chapters, visit the main page. Rock & Roll Roots and Origins  Like most developments in culture, technology and art, rock n roll did not simply appear out of nowhere. The United States, particularly the American south, had a rich tradition of musical innovation dating back to the early 1900s and beyond. Various forms of music arose organically, including Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Country and Folk. Each of these musical genres enjoyed popularity, as did Rhythm and Blues, which was called ‘Race Music’ at the time, as it was predominantly an African American style of music. Eventually these forms of music began to borrow from one another, creating endless musical possibilities. From this, rock and roll emerged.  One early song that leaned in a ‘rock n roll’ direction was 1938’s ‘Roll Em Pete’ by Big Joe Turner. Check it out!    Are you a musician or a major fan? Dig into the pre-rock and roll genres listed  in the paragraphs above. At first listen it doesn’t necessarily resemble today’s music, but valuable lessons in innovation and musicianship await those who study it more closely.  Boomers, Urbanization & Technology As is often the case in history, several factors aligned to have unexpected long term results. World War 2 ended in 1945, which meant that a lot of young soldiers returned home to America, many of whom married and started families. Their children represented a new generation, and were referred to as ‘Baby Boomers’  Generally speaking, this period saw more people moving toward cities, which resulted in a greater number of white and black people living in closer geographical proximity. As a result, musical and cultural influences began to spread.  Prior to WW2 one of the most popular forms of musical entertainment were ‘Big Bands’, which consisted of large groups of musicians playing a variety of instruments, including brass. During the war many musicians were fighting overseas, so the musicians who remained at home formed themselves into smaller groups. When the war was over, the trend stuck. After all, why split a pay check amongst 15 people, when you can split it amongst four or five?  The Concept of the Teenager Ever since there have been human beings, there have, of course, been people between the ages of 13 and 19. But the concept of ‘the teenager’ as a demographic group, or even a term, did not become popular until after WW2. Traditionally young people wanted to move into adulthood as soon as possible and graduated from being ‘children’ to ‘working adults’ almost overnight. As the economy picked up, families could afford to support their children for longer periods of time. The job market was diversifying beyond traditional labor intensive jobs, and a greater emphasis was being placed upon getting a high school education. These factors resulted in larger numbers of young people with free time on their hand, and an interest in culture and socialization. Meanwhile, a rise in the popularity of record players meant that the recording industry was picking up steam. When radio stations began playing rock and roll music for these newly named ‘teenagers’, the scene was set for the rock and roll revolution.  Early Rock Heroes There are so many examples of early rock and roll stars that I won’t even attempt to list them, although I encourage everyone to dig into it on their own.  Chuck Berry’s was a rock n roll artist who gained a major following. Check him out here performing his song ‘Maybellene’ for a foreign audience. Note the guitar solo at 2:18.    Another big early hit was ‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley & His Comets. It marked the first time many people had heard music so uptempo. Although it seems relatively tame by today’s standards, it caused riots at the time!    Another popular form of music was ‘Doo Wop’. Much (and sometimes all) of the elements in a doo wop song came from vocals, as opposed to instrumentation. This meant that any group of people could get together and form a band, even those lacking the money to purchase instruments. Some of the vocals revolved around making sounds, such as ‘doo wop’, which is where the genre got the name. Check out this performance of ‘In the Still of the Night’ by Fred Parris and the Satins. One event that shook rock n roll fans was the death of stars Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and ‘The Big Bopper’ in 1959. While on tour, their small private plane crashed....

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Six Tips for Working from Home

»Posted by on Mar 15, 2020 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

Six Tips for Working from Home

The Coronavirus outbreak has a lot of people taking extraordinary measures, not the least of which being working remotely from a home office. I began working from home in 2008, and have, more or less, ever since. People often tell me that they don’t think they would be able to do it, but I’ve quite enjoyed it. The following tips are some tips I’ve thrown together, designed to help you stay productive – and sane!   Have a Schedule. Relax It, But Definitely Have One! The first rule of working from home is that you are still working. Drill that into your head. If you’re in the middle of doing some work, and you impulsively jump up to start sweeping the floor or washing dishes, you are not being a good house cleaner, you’re being a shitty employee. Some remote workers remain tied to a time schedule. If that’s you, then I guess you don’t have the flexibility to make your own hours, so deciding upon a schedule is easy. Alternately, if you’re like me and your work is ‘task based’, it’s up to you to manage those hours. I will often break every few hours to do housework or go for a walk or watch a TV show. But when I’m working, I’m working. So remember, you’re not ‘sort of working’, you’re working!   Have ‘The Talk’ Now that YOU understand that you’re still working, it’s important that your housemates understand that as well. You wouldn’t ask your significant other to run errands in the middle of their office hours, so the same respect should be shown for home office hours. Of course, if you’re making your own schedule, you are free to break at mid day to relax, do chores or run errands, but the time will have to be made up for in the evening. The important thing is to PLAN for your breaks, so that you can manage them. Don’t do a ton of crap willy-nilly. It’s not Saturday!   Designate a Specified Room Having a specified room that you can go to is a key way to remain focussed. I am lucky enough to have an office in my house. Some people may have to set up makeshift rooms, but what they lack in comfort, they make up in symbolic importance. Having said that, I work at my desk, I work on the couch, in summer I’ll work on my front deck. Sometimes I’ll even take my laptop to the library or to a park and work from a picnic table. But when I really have to think or hunker down I hit the office and close the door.   Be Professional. Do What You Must to Make It ‘Feel Like Work’ Some people that work from home still dress business casual. If that helps you get in the zone, go for it! Me? I’m t-shirts, hoodies and sweat pants (or no pants!) But if you’re taking business calls, please respect your clients and co-workers by doing so from a quiet space. If you’re going to be video chatting, put on a nice shirt. Don’t have pets crawling on you. Be professional. It shows the people you’re talking to that you’re still taking this seriously.   Know When to Turn Off Part of the challenge with working from home is that it never feels like you’re at work. The other challenge is that it never feels like you’re NOT at work. Everybody’s responsibilities differ, but for your own sanity you must set boundaries. Checking your phone every 30 seconds during all hours of the day and night should not be expected in any but the most extreme emergency circumstances.   Exercise and Socialize One great thing about working from home is that nobody will look at you strange when you stop to stretch for 90 seconds. You have more time to prepare healthy lunches. You can plan mid-day breaks to go for a walk. A downside is that many of us rely on our co-workers for socialization. I don’t know what the coming months will bring, but it promises to be a period of relative isolation. Find activities you can do with other people (like walks in the park) and do them! If it’s not possible to see other people, then share phone calls or video chats with loved ones. Working from home can be dangerous, especially for people who live alone. Back when I was single there were days where I would wake up in the morning and go to bed at night without ever having seen another person or even said a word out loud. Started to...

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11 Thoughts About COVID-19: March 13, 2020

»Posted by on Mar 13, 2020 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

11 Thoughts About COVID-19: March 13, 2020

It appears as though we are staring down the barrel of a situation that is unprecedented in my lifetime. COVID-19, and all of its implications are at the forefront of people’s minds right now, and as of my writing, March 13, 2020, there are far more questions than answers. This is not a me thing, it’s an us thing, but I am one of us, and as such I wish to share some thoughts. The following are just that, thoughts, not answers. Chances are you’ve had some of the same thoughts yourselves.   How Serious Is This? Will Somebody I Know Die? Until recent days I have been somewhat guilty of taking this virus as a bit of a joke. I’m sorry, I’m just naturally skeptical of societal hype. There is still a part of me that thinks that this is an overreaction on some scale, but I’m also coming to terms with the seriousness of it all day by day. Those of us who follow the news are always exposed to terrible events: people dying, wars. Like most of us I am concerned about the fate of fellow man on an ongoing basis, but there is a distance. Now I look at this pandemic and do the math. I know a lot of people. Is it possible that I’m going to attend a funeral because of this? Will we even be allowed to gather for funerals? I have asthma. Could I die? I generally see death as part of life, but that’s because I don’t generally assume I’m gonna die anytime soon. Times like this cause people to examine their own mortality.   What Do I Need to Do? I think that I generally wash my hands as often and as thoroughly as the next person, maybe more so. I don’t lick any doorknobs. But I’m also not an obsessive. I try not to spit when I talk if I can help it, but I do have a filthy laptop. I think I sit somewhere between a hobo and Michael Jackson on the germaphobe scale. I’m also highly social. Who am I in the grand scale of all this? Identity crisis!   Man v Man, Man v Nature, Man v Wife I am a social liberties person. An independent. But this is an ‘us’ thing. I am on board with washing the shit out of my hands. I get everything that’s going on. Where’s the line here? Is it somewhere north of ‘don’t sneeze into open air’, but somewhere south of following each other around with a taser and a magnifying glass and shocking everyone who opens a door without using their sleeve into compliance? Also, what about my wife? She tends to err on the side of caution. Me? I kinda want to go to public gatherings of 249 people just to demonstrate that life goes on. But we live together. My problem is her problem. Then again, she works in a large facility, while I work in the basement. Should I institute a point scoring system?   What Can We Expect in the Coming Months? Kind of feels like 2020 might just be the year that got cancelled. What a buzzkill. Are we gonna shut down EVERYTHING? If restaurants and bars are closed are we at least gonna be able to visit each other at our private homes? Can I ride my bike around the river pathways? I’m down to live simple for a while, but please don’t tell me we’re going to be legally forbidden to leave the house! Can I at least play cribbage, drink beer and grill BBQ in the yard? Speaking of which…   Am I a Selfish Asshole? To repeat an off cited platitude that has itself gone viral in the past several days: The health and safety of the public is the number one concern of this institution/restaurant/government/facility/blogger/rapper. Also, though, I’m kinda pissed that there are no sports on TV. Not pissed in the ‘how dare they do this?’ type of way, but more in the ‘well this certainly sucks!’ type of way. This is the best time of year for sports. Am I a jerk for even thinking about that? Also, there are a lot of funny memes on all this. I’m sorry, I have to laugh once in a while.   We’re All Gonna Get It, Right? In the past week we’ve watched this go from ‘Holy crap, somebody in BC has it’, to ‘estimates say 30-70% of the general population will eventually get it.’ The new mantra is ‘flatten the curve’, the logic seemingly being that there’s no way to stop this...

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Ricca Razor Sharp’s All Time Favourite Hip Hop Songs Countdown

»Posted by on Dec 23, 2019 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

Ricca Razor Sharp’s All Time Favourite Hip Hop Songs Countdown

You may not be surprised to learn that I love hip-hop music! It’s one of the main reasons I decided to become a hip-hop legend! 🙂 Throughout 2019 I compiled a list of my favourite 52 rap tracks of all time! Why 52? So that I could announce a new one every week of the year. In case you didn’t keep up, here they are, all in one place! As you will note, I am heavy on the 90s tracks, but the 80s are represented, as well as the new millennium. My list, of course, would not be exactly the same as your list, but please remember that the list is not called ‘The Best Hip Hop Songs of All Time’, but ‘Ricca Razor Sharp’s All Time Favourite…” so there’s really no way I could be wrong. Would love to hear your comments on where you agree or disagree with the list. To help you enjoy my favourite 52 hip-hop tracks, I’ve created a playlist on both Spotify and Apple Music (click to listen). The lists are more or less complete, but you will note there are a few instances where the songs from my list were unavailable. When compiling the list, I had only one rule: there could only be one song from any artist (although some people managed to make the list several times, as a result of featuring in other people’s tracks). Without further ado, the 52 hip hop songs that most tickle my fancy… 52. Beatnuts-Watch Out Now Song number 52 is from the Beatnuts, and is included entirely on the strength of the flute line. Was so good J.Lo stole it. Those of you who were at the Ship and Anchor on New Years Eve 2018 may remember this as the song Blades of Steel were jamming on when we first took the stage.   51. Slick Rick-Children’s Story Back in the day, there were only a handful of MCs in the public eye, and you could immediately tell each one based on their voice and vocal delivery. This one has the triple threat of Slick Rick’s smooth voice, some great storytelling, and a killer beat. So killer, in fact, that Montel Jordan would take a piece of that action years later.  50. Dream Warriors-My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style My 50th favourite hip-hop song of all time is CanCon: ‘My Definition of a Bombastic Jazz Style’ by Dream Warriors. The song features an awesome sample from Quincy Jones ‘Soul Bossa Nova’, famous for being the theme song to the Canadian game show ‘Definition’. The swinging loop is also familiar to fans of the Austin Powers movies. This song is a good one to add to any party playlist. 49. Goodie Mobb-Cell Therapy This swell rhyme and repetitively awesome beat is from the group that Cee Lo was in before he was judging network talent comps and the like. Addictive piano line, anti-authoritarian rap! Hooray!  48. Snap-The Power It’s getting, it’s getting, it’s getting kinda heavy. You may think this song lumps in more with the dance music of the early 90s, but to me, it’s just a bumping beat with a hard hitting rap and a smooth hook. Also, Google the song to read more about it’s convoluted history of stolen beats and borrowed rhymes.  47. Kanye West-Bound 2 Well, you love him, you hate him, you love him again. Gotta say I’m not always feeling his antics, nor half of his songs, but overall it wouldn’t be right to leave him off the list. Born when I was 16 days old, great at rap, and married to a total hottie, Kanye’s life basically mirrors my own. Coulda been any number of songs really, but this one really grew on me.    46. Pharcyde- Passin Me By A song of unrequited love. Featuring a stylish video, a smooth sample from Quincy Jones’ ‘Summer in the City’ and some great vocal stylings, this is definitely one of the most choice grooves of all time.  45. Warren G & Nate Dog-Regulate Favorite all time hip-hop track #45 is one that will be familiar to all fans of the old school: ‘Regulators’ by Warren G and Nate Dogg. This was a really fun song for Blades of Steel to cover, with Smoking’ Jay singing the hook from the Michael McDonald song that it sampled. This song brought out the mellow side of G-funk and is truly a classic.  44. Naughty By Nature-Uptown Anthem Any number of NBN tracks could have made the list, but I went with this one from the movie ‘Juice’ on account of its nice beat and uptempo rap. Truly...

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20 Years of Ricca Razor Sharp-A Year by Year Retrospective

»Posted by on Nov 15, 2019 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

20 Years of Ricca Razor Sharp-A Year by Year Retrospective

Upon the occasion of my 20th year as an active musician in Calgary, I began a year by year retrospect. The biography can be best enjoyed with the accompaniment of the ‘Riccapedia Playlist’ on Spotify and Apple Music. 1999  I was brand new in Calgary, had never lived in any city, and all I knew is that I wanted to be a rapper.  Fate intervened when I saw an ad in Fast Forward magazine for a metal band looking for a second vocalist ‘preferably female or rapper’. I responded, took the bus out to this land called Bowness and arrived at the house owned by one Toby Shultz. Before the evening was done I had jammed with defEKt, and met not only Toby, but also Rob Reuser, Dave Waters and Dr Buntlove Brent Morrison. Brent was nice enough to offer me a ride home, and in his famous heat score truck, I got a seatbelt fine. It was to set me up for several years of wild defEKt adventures with the crew. Rest in peace to our friend, the good doctor. Thanks for the lift!   2000 defEKt, having survived the Y2K apocalypse, made the big step of recording and releasing our debut album ‘Pobody’s NerfEKt’, my first time releasing a real album. We recorded at Sundae Sound, and celebrated by visiting CJSW Megawatt Mayhem with Kevin Woron, which was a huge deal for me. I marked the occassion by wearing a shirt that looked like something the Rock would wear. We then held our CD release party at Java Sharks, with Hiatus and Chupacabra, during Stampede. From here, it was only a matter of time before a man in a suit would surely step out of a limousine with papers for us to sign and a big record company check to reward our brilliance.  Pobody’s NerfEKt has recently been added to Spotify and Apple Music. Still waiting on the record deal. 2001 2001 will always be remembered for the events of September 11th, and indeed I remember that sad, shocking, weird day like it like it was yesterday. After watching the replay for the 100th time, my buddy Pat and I decided to follow through on our original plan and spend the evening at Eau Claire Market watching Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.  But when I think of that year in my music career, a more positive night stands out: Sunday Oct 21. Our friends in Ripcase were releasing their debut album, and invited defEKt, as well as Hiatus, to participate in the big show at Metro. Metro was awesome. It was two bars in one, and on this night it was packed! In tribute to Ripcase, defEKt decided to dress up like them. I played the role of the BRC Jarett Craig, and to emulate his trademark orange spikes I put screws through a helmet, affixing carrots to each screw. There was much moshing and a general festive atmosphere. Talent manager Danny Northfield took us in the back room for shots. Seemed like we’d all made it.  2002 After the demise of defEKt, it was time for the next project. I got a call from former Ripcase drummer, the illustrious Chad Romphf, who wanted to start a new, funkier project. As I explained on an episode of Foothills Famous: Conversations with Calgary Entertainers, he promised it would be a mix of Outkast and Sneaker Pimps. As the Maury Povich meme reads: It has been determined that this was a lie. First we recruited bass player and fellow defEKt alumni Rob Reuser. We jammed with a few guitar players, but none were quite right. We wrote two songs, consisting solely of drums, bass and vocals.  Around this time our good bud Sean O’Grady was opening a recording studio with some new gear he had acquired. Before beginning his first paid gig, he wanted to give things a dry run, so he invited our new band in to cut our tracks ‘Sugar Shack’ and ‘Party Pants’. Sean had just completed training at ‘The Beach’, one of Calgary’s most prestigious recording studios and audio schools. He had hired his classmate Jonny Vincent to be his right hand man at the studio. Since Jonny was also a hot shot guitar player, he decided to add some guitar to our songs. It was a fit, and before you know it ‘Johnson’ became a part of Phattoe (Fat-Toe).  We put together a handful of tracks and booked a few gigs. All that was needed was a photo shoot. We gathered at SOS Pro Audio, and my big idea was that we climb a tree. It was around...

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Riccalyssa’s Guide to New York City Pizza

»Posted by on Oct 25, 2019 in From the Mind of Ricca Razor Sharp | 0 comments

Riccalyssa’s Guide to New York City Pizza

Depending on who you ask, New York City is the global epicentre of capitalism, diplomacy, and/or culture. Fashion, music, sport, theatre: are all woven into the fabric of NYC.  Another big part of the city’s allure? Cuisine. From fine dining to street meat, the city that never sleeps is the city that always eats. Central to the local palette is the pizza! It should be called ‘the Big Slice’, because I’ve yet to see anyone walking around munching an apple. Alyssa and I made it our mission to find the perfect piece.  Roberta’s  After arriving in the city late at night and catching some shut-eye, it was off to the trendy neighbourhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the spiritual epicentre of all things indie and hip. Pizza for breakfast is not necessarily doctor recommended, but we’re on vacation. We were seated in a cool room, overlooked by a fake tropical bird.  The margherita pizza did not disappoint. I found the pizza sauce to be very tangy, and the thin, foldable nature of the slice meant I wouldn’t be saddled down with a belly full of dough.  Alyssa agrees, “I like where we were seated, it was like a patio, but not. Hot, fresh, a little floppy. it was foldable. Good flavour.” Lombardi’s  In Manhattan’s NoLita area we found Lombardi’s, a charming Italian style sit-down restaurant. According to their promotional material, this is the first place that pizza was served in North America, helping to transform an Italian snack food into a global phenomenon. Photos of celebrities such as Jack Nicholson and Miley Cyrus line the walls, and if it’s good enough for the Joker and Hannah Montana, it’s good enough for me.  I enjoyed my foldable slices just fine, but I’m not prepared to say it lived up to its billing as the world’s best pizza.  Alyssa was less kind, offering the following analysis: “Apparently the first place to bring pizza to the US. It’s evident they haven’t attempted to make it better since they brought it here, because there’s way better pizza to be had elsewhere. It was dry, and the cheese was kind of chewy, and not in a good way.” Screamers Pizzeria Back in Brooklyn, after consuming a goodly number of drinks and catching the Oh Sees at Warsaw, we enter Screamer’s Pizzeria, a late night ‘by the slice’ joint.  This place was entirely vegan, a distinction that your slightly intoxicated narrator failed to notice upon initial entry. This meant that the sausage on my slice was not really sausage, nor was the cheese really cheese. It couldn’t have been too bad because I do recall scarfing my slice down in the way that people do at midnight after a six hour pub crawl.  Alyssa was more charitable, “You can’t really expect too much from it because it’s not real cheese, but for vegan pizza it was pretty damn good.”  Of note at Screamers: while consumed with my slice of pretend pizza I heard the words ‘Ricca Razor Sharp’ and looked up to find Lee Schmold, cousin of longtime friend and music collaborator Nate ‘Mantrakid’ Schmold. A mind-blowing surprise to meet a Calgarian in Brooklyn.    Bleeker Street Pizza When the folks in Greenwich Village are not busy starting the gay rights movement or penning songs about what it feels like to be all on your own like a rolling stone, they too enjoy a slice of pizza.  Bleeker Street Pizza has been named ‘Best Slice of Pizza in New York City’ three years in a row by the Food Network, which leads me to believe that the Food Network didn’t show up there unannounced at 1AM on a Monday night.   Behind a counter were a half dozen different pies, and, after ordering, our slices were heated up in an oven, which I do appreciate. I’m sure they’re more than capable of providing a great slice, but on this night, I found the ‘za to be about as ‘meh’ as the effort of the New York Jets, whom we had just watched go down to defeat 33-0 at the hands of the New England Tom Bradys. Alyssa’s thoughts? “Maybe if it was fresh. Still better than Lombardi’s.” Prince Street Pizza Back in the Village the following day and ready for more pizza, Alyssa and I made our way to Prince Street Pizza, a ‘by the slice’ hole in the wall located street-side. This joint did not disappoint! I had the pepperoni pizza, and appreciated the small but plentiful slivers of greasy goodness that covered my slice. Alyssa enjoyed the margherita, not only for its zesty sauce, but for the stable yet tidy...

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