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Nick Friesen
1.8k Plays1 year ago
Illustrator Nicholas Friesen lives in Winnipeg, Canada with his wife and dog. He likes drawing sad robots, people wearing headphones, and robots wearing headphones.
He creeated Olivia Sea. Who lives in music and comics.
Follow all the links at https://linktr.ee/nicholastronaut
Olivia Sea "I Choo Choo Choose You" video
Nicholas Friesen on Instagram @Nicholastronaut
Check out Nicolas and Oliva Sea at Toronto Comic Arts Festival April 29-30
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Something Rather Than Nothing'
00:00:02
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Delante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
Meet Nick Friesen: Multimedia Artist from Winnipeg
00:00:18
Speaker
This is Ken Volante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. And we have Nick Friesen from the wonderful enclave of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nick, welcome on to the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. Thanks for having me from the geographical center of Canada, Ken. Yes, central city, mid city,
00:00:44
Speaker
uh right in the middle right yeah it's yeah like right when you like say you drive about a half hour outside the city there's like a sign that says you are in the longitudinal center of canada right now so that is uh that is where we're at middle province baby yeah but sometimes people think middle and they don't think exciting everybody has to go to the screen one side or the other the middle
00:01:06
Speaker
The middle is the meeting spot here, so everybody, Nick's a talented artist and one really cool thing about looking at his work is we're talking music in a variety of forms.
00:01:22
Speaker
Nick, I've heard you describe yourself as a curator, which I think is obvious once you show any backgrounds around where you are, the comic Olivia C, which is just an enthralling, colorful, energetic thing that you work on. And of course, the conceit behind the, you're welcome, the behind Olivia C is this
00:01:49
Speaker
fictional group universe where if you hear those words and that makes you excited, then that's where we are. But we're going to talk about a bunch of stuff in about art itself, but you're releasing new Olivia C and it's such a fascinating project.
Creating Olivia C: From Drawings to Multimedia Project
00:02:10
Speaker
What's the jam? What's Olivia C's jam? What's going on?
00:02:14
Speaker
Yeah, maybe I'll give you a quick, like the quick history lesson on this project. So it's a multimedia project. The name of the character is Olivia C. And I mean, this was a character that I started out just kind of like drawing on other posters for like other bands and stuff in Winnipeg, or like anytime there was any thing I needed to put a character, it was like her and her little robot four track. I started putting them on different posters and it just kind of started taking on this life. And then a buddy of mine,
00:02:43
Speaker
we were jamming on some tunes and like testing out recording equipment and we both had our own bands but I was like hey do you just want to come over and test out this equipment and his name's Andy Cole and he has a bunch of bands like Eagle Lake Owls, Great Wealth, Hearing Trees, he's an incredible multi-instrumentalist and songwriter and we'd never jammed on anything before and we spent an afternoon and we made like five or six songs like just switching instruments like okay I'm gonna sit on the drums and you're gonna be on guitar and then I'm gonna sit on bass and you're gonna be on drums
00:03:11
Speaker
and just kind of switching it up and those songs sat there for maybe a year or two and at the other time like I'd been writing in various incarnations like short stories and screenplays and all this different stuff this character Olivia C and her story and kind of growing that character and then out of the blue one day I was just like dude what if these are Olivia C's songs and he's like oh I like that and then it became finding the right voice for the character knowing that there
Choosing Olivia Rain for Olivia C
00:03:40
Speaker
would be
00:03:40
Speaker
an animated component as well because I've been doing these hand-drawn animated music videos for other musicians. And so there'd be that. And then so we needed someone who could be an actor and a singer. And I talked to a few different singers and they were like, I don't know, this is kind of confusing. I don't want to confuse it with my other like existing musical projects. And I was like, well, yeah, but it's like Gorillas or Gem of the Holograms or the Archie's or whatever, right? Like it's an animated band. It's like Prozac, like you'll just kind of
00:04:10
Speaker
you'll be behind it, you know, like, so no one really needs to know it's you, but they were just kind of like, and then I remembered I'd met this this young actress who was also a really talented, trained singer, like musicals, but also like jazz and all this other stuff. And I was like, I just kind of cold called her and took her for a coffee. And coincidentally, her name is Olivia rain. And I was like, look, like, I've only met you like once or twice, but this is the project. And
00:04:37
Speaker
Are you interested? Do you ever listen to any indie rock? It's very like the band Always or The Nationals sometimes, but it's also got a little bit of twang sometimes, like a little Wilco. So it's just kind of whatever comes out and she's like, yeah, I don't know. I'll sing whatever. I'll give this a go. It's been going that way for a few years now.
Recording 'Artificial Landscape, Artificial Heart'
00:04:59
Speaker
And we put out an EP called Purposeful Movements. And at that point, Andy and Olivia still hadn't met each other. Olivia came in and recorded her vocals on those existing tracks. And then my buddy Matt Powers, who he's been in a number of other bands and Winnipeg, like Vampires and Midnight Review Presents. He's an amazing drummer and songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in his own right. But he was just like, dude, we've been talking about doing something for a while. This could be the thing.
00:05:29
Speaker
I bring in Matt and Andy and Olivia one weekend before the pandemic happened. And we recorded the second record, Artificial Landscape, Artificial Heart. And that one I did a, like a Simpson style animated music video for a song called I Choo Choo Choose You, which I think is like our most watched video. So that's very cool. And also like Winnipeg and the Simpsons have a very big, like there's lots of references, like that's it back to Winnipeg.
00:05:57
Speaker
stuff like that. So I was like, you know, let's, let's play around with that a little bit. And I believe that like Matt Groening's family is from Winnipeg. Like Homer is a Winnipeg or type of thing in real life. So there's all that to it. But then also like, I was like, okay, so I had been kind of crafting this like animated film, the story to go along with it. And my wife says to me, like, you're getting into comics more and more. Wouldn't it be more fun and a lot less time consuming if you maybe
00:06:26
Speaker
What a combo Yeah, like that's that's my jam. Like let's let's let's do this. Let's make it all easier on ourselves so so over the pandemic I started to Do it as comics like taking the existing stuff that had already created for this hand-drawn animation and I you know, I pencil and I ink and then I digitally color and so that was how things were going and I wound up
Exploring Graphic Novels and Comics
00:06:51
Speaker
working on it's like 140 page graphic novel and then I was like oh man like yeah this is this is a thing now but
00:07:01
Speaker
I wanna start going to like comic shows and things. And so I'm gonna have to make up some quick little like mini comics and zines and things like that. And so last October, I went to Toronto for CanZine and I brought this along with me here. I'm holding up here. This is the first issue of the Unpredictable Olivia C. It's a 20 page black and white comic color covers. And so it's like a prequel to the,
00:07:28
Speaker
graphic novel that nobody's read but I'm also I think I'm going to turn the graphic novel into into 20 page floppies as well just to like keep it going as a series and then probably do it all as one big thing so that is the very long and involved story and I mean the character too she's she's she's a
00:07:46
Speaker
You know, she's an indie rocker. She's got a girl issues, you know, she's got a crush on this one girl in her dance class and, you know, her girlfriend's jealous of that. But she's also, she becomes a vigilante at night. And she's a waitress and she's a ballerina and all this other stuff.
00:08:03
Speaker
Yeah, I love it. No, you're mentioning trying to wrap up with all that all that stuff and just pausing for a moment. Yeah, like it's a really cool format. And I think what I'm pausing is knowing your enjoyment of comics and, you know,
00:08:22
Speaker
and myself as well as such the vibrancy of it, right? So immediately I see your work and I see all that color and I see this character and I'm all in because I can jump quickly into that. So, and it's a special thing for me. I've always done it my life. And I also think what's really cool is, I don't know, just to dig into, like you had an ad in one of our favorite comics that we share is Santo's Sisters by Greg and Pete.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great comic and I've been having on the podcast and the it's so fantastic and then you and I are talking we're about to run into each other at least me with the Winnipeg thing I was gonna run into some point.
00:09:07
Speaker
So I've always wanted to get into Winnipeg, but then on one page, we've got Olivia C ad, and on one side, you get the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast QR code. So if you have that issue, folks, Santo Sisters number three, we're all in the same spot, right in the comic.
00:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's pretty sweet thing and like I mean I love that old school vibe that the Santos sisters is like it's it's printed on newsprint like I've done some mini comics that way because you can buy sheets of newsprint like I don't know where they're getting a newsprint common printed these days but like it's got that like
00:09:38
Speaker
that old school Archie comics vibe but in like a really like twisted hilarious setting like that's totally different than than what the Archie's ever got into but it's also got that like that great like I don't know I just kind of the way I draw it's it's what comes out so it's kind of this like
00:09:55
Speaker
Like, it's like a clear line, kind of like a tin-tin, hair-jay thing. It's kind of like a Dan Klaus. Like, I'm nowhere near as amazing as Dan Klaus, obviously. Nobody is. But like, very, like, realistic, but with a cartoony feel, and then, like, very flat colors, you know? Like, I don't do, like, the airbrush-y thing. Like, I want it to look like, like, the cartoons very much feel like a 70s Hanna-Barbera type of thing.
00:10:17
Speaker
And that's the same vibe that I'm giving with the comics, because that's just what comes out of me. I'm not trying to make it look a certain way. That's just what it is, and that's what I love. And I think that I'm back and forth a little with Greg and Fake on Instagram there, and they seem to like what I'm throwing down, too. And that's a huge compliment when someone that you love gives you the nod, like, you're all right, kid.
00:10:42
Speaker
Yeah, I, you know, one of the things on the podcast and it's great to have you because you're an artist who does a lot of different things, who thinks of these combinations, and I love that. But I always love within my episodes dropping into comic books, comic book culture, illustrators. I've had Joel Jones on. I've had friends in the Portland area.
00:11:11
Speaker
um you know we did a what-if episode which is like two and a half hours which is the episode i always wanted like you know it's like kind of the podcast area where you're like i'm not too sure here we're two and a quarter hours into what if but i do have one of those episodes we got it all out but um just like dropping into comics with the with the podcast it's it's it's really fun it's really fun that's one of the reasons i i do it and uh i really enjoy
00:11:40
Speaker
You know you coming out with the material that that that you have coming out in the gosh I have a written rate here on the top cassettes, right? Yeah, man. So because I was going to these shows and talking to you know, like it's like a real DIY zines and things like that so yeah, and I'd only put out Olivia C on like
00:12:01
Speaker
It's on streaming, your Spotify or Apple or whatever, and it's on Bandcamp. But I wanted something physical to be able to sell at these at these comic shows. And so yeah, we got we got little cassettes. I printed up a small run of cassettes. I've been in bands over the years and I've always very much DIYed everything. So even just to send off and get like a physical copy of Olivia C's Krusharama cassette tape. It's very cool. And so like
00:12:29
Speaker
at that first show that I went to in Toronto last year, it was like, people were going like, okay, like, what's the deal here? And I was like, well, this is my character and this is her tape and blah, blah, blah. And people were like, so what's on the tape? I was like, it's real music. Like, we've made multiple albums worth of songs for this character and this idea. And it just like, people don't know what to think of it. But yeah, it's the person. Yeah, she doesn't doesn't exist. But that's the thing too. It's like you can just enjoy the music.
00:13:00
Speaker
or you can enjoy the comics or you can enjoy the lore. Like I've heard like, you know, campus radio in Canada and in the States, like playing Olivia C and not knowing if she's real or not. And like, sometimes they're just like, yeah, here's a new artist from Canada and it's Olivia C. And sometimes they're like, they're like trying to figure out the thing. They're like, I did some Googling. So that's pretty fun. But it's just like, I don't know. Like it just, it's, I don't want to have to rely on a gimmick
00:13:28
Speaker
But this is the way that this project organically came out. It's also like not a big time commitment for the other musicians, right? So if we get together once or twice a year and make a few songs and like right now the way we're releasing it is like each comic issue is going to have a single released alongside it. So I just put out issue two and the new single is called Lottie in the Black and White Room.
00:13:50
Speaker
And so that's on streaming. And then if you go, there's a QR code in issue two that'll take you to the band camp. And that actually has like a couple of B sides and stuff, but that is all the songs that are in the issue. So there's four songs in the new issue. So you could read along and listen along while you're reading the issue, which is kind of
The Revival of Physical Media
00:14:10
Speaker
like a fun multi... It's like a book on tape, you know, like when we were kids.
00:14:13
Speaker
which is what I listen to. I still have my little red Sony Walkman that took four AA batteries and I'd listen to my books on tape and just jam it out. There's really something to that. I keep bumping into this and I don't know if let me know your thoughts.
00:14:32
Speaker
I've gone a lot throughout my life and not really stopped at the small press area, the zine area, all that type of thing. And when I moved out to Pacific Northwest and was around this type of culture, it was like dropping into the room or that comic bookstore and like, oh, the universe is over there. And I started to do that.
00:14:55
Speaker
It's been a huge change and it's a beautiful dynamic to be in and to see all these things. But I wanted to zero in on something that I feel maybe it's just my contact with it or maybe there's more of it. After the pandemic, people are grabbing after VHS tapes, resurgence in CDs, which were like nobody would even look at them for a period of time.
00:15:22
Speaker
Do you think there's something going on with just this strong attachment right now to tangible media DIY stuff? 100%. Yeah. There's guys like you and I that grew up with all this stuff. And I don't know about you, but I still have a massive collection. I'm looking at a wall on one end of my basement right now that has about 2,400 CDs on it. And then there's another wall that has a few hundred records. And I still have a bunch of cassettes.
00:15:52
Speaker
the physical media I started to get way back into over the pandemic was political comic books. I'd always grown up with them. I read a lot of Dark Horse and my big two guys were like, you're Spider-Man and you're Batman, but Dark Horse was putting out some great Star Wars books in the 90s. They had the mask, they had milk and cheese, all sorts of great stuff. And then a lot of Canadian, Chester Brown is one of my favorites.
00:16:19
Speaker
Those guys are just freaking amazing. Ho Chi Anderson.
00:16:24
Speaker
amazing storytellers and cartoonists, but I was really, I like to physically go to a shop or a flea market or something and just like, I love the flip through. I love finding something that I'm not going to necessarily like know to look for online or know that it exists, right? And I mean, I think that we also have a generation of kids that didn't grow up with the physical
00:16:51
Speaker
but are now like, oh, like I can hold this stuff? Like I can- That's possible. Like it's possible to hold this thing.
Why Physical Comics Still Matter
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have to look at it on my phone. It's almost like they're rejecting screen time and they're going to the physical media. I don't think anyone's gonna go back to DVDs. You got your Blu-ray collectors and that's a big thing that I tapered down. I organized my DVDs by director. I've gotten my Wes Anderson's into the Coen brothers, et cetera, et cetera. But I've really slowed on that because I subscribed to six streaming services.
00:17:27
Speaker
And it's like, okay, like, yes, I'll get the new whatever the new Scorsese when it's out on DVD and just put it on the shelf and feel good about it. But like, and I'll still same with records, same with CDs, but I do not want to read a comic on my phone or on my computer.
00:17:44
Speaker
uh i can but i like the idea of being able to like test it out on there before i buy the physical but i really do love still that surprise of going into a shop and and having my little list like i'm doing a i'm working on a daredevil run right now uh which is the first volume is 380 issues ken so that's it's a lot to and i mean other so i'm working on a marvel gi joe run i'm working on a few different runs right now but yeah it's uh
00:18:12
Speaker
Some issues, it's very easy to find. You see them in every shop you go to. Other issues, you're like, OK, I'm going to have to gamble a little bit here and maybe order online or something like that. But I don't know, Matt. There's still something about the smell and the feel and being able to catalog it. And I mean, if I lived in a small apartment by myself, I wouldn't be able to do that, probably. But I have.
00:18:34
Speaker
I have a home with a basement and I have enough room and a very, very loving, trusting wife. She's like, hey, a lot of people have a lot worse vices than collecting stuff. That's your thing and you're going to run a long time with it. I just read the
00:18:53
Speaker
the Frank Miller Electra bit with the Daredevil. And it was great bookstore, which the podcast works with browsers bookstore just a couple blocks from me in Albany, Oregon. They had it still in that old plastic. So it was one of those like 80s, you know, the ones like the year of your graphic novels.
00:19:14
Speaker
in that plastic where you're like, this is 25 year old plastic. Break open. Yeah, it's like, oh, I was like, you know, so it was it was I, I'm a huge Daredevil fan. It sounds like a bit to and talking about comics. I'm a suck. I'm a sucker for the big ones. You know, Batman, Spider-Man, like he's like, how you throw that to me every day. But a lot of those are cartoons, you know, that I like.
00:19:41
Speaker
The first cartoon I can remember watching is Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends with Iceman and Firestar. And that's like, I would go to garage sales and I picked up like, there was like a little like novel size of the first six issues of Spider-Man and Amazing Fantasy 15. And it's like someone had like scribbled all over it, but for years that was like my Spider-Man comic.
00:20:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And I'd carry it with me, you know, like that's, that's how we get into it. Like the gateway drug is your big guys, your Batman and your Spider-Man, you know, or like this the superpowers TV show and I had all the action figures and I still do, you know, like, so yeah.
00:20:16
Speaker
No, that's great. Folks, as part of this, I need to chat, and this might be a little bit weird about Winnipeg next, so I'm going to tell you where I'm coming from. So I'm the biggest Winnipeg fan out of people who've never been to Winnipeg. So that's the category. That's where I am.
00:20:37
Speaker
uh my sweetie Jenny and I were looking at uh plane tickets and we're serious about Winnipeg well she's serious because I'm serious about Winnipeg so my wife's name is Jenny by the way as well oh incredible so um so when I was a kid
00:20:53
Speaker
a kid walking around wasn't a big hockey fan, grew up in New England, it was a Boston Celtics, Red Sox, all that type of thing. But I always like was really fascinated by hockey. And I just chose I was a Bruins fan, no doubt about that. That's the way you got to live. I was also a Winnipeg Jets fan, far away, no strong attachment to the team. No explanation why. And of course, you know, Winnipeg lost their Jets and then they were back right around the time I
00:21:24
Speaker
really got into hockey. Like I was studying it more. I'd never played it. I was reading Jets history. I was getting my gear and it's like Boston and Winnipeg. So I got into the Winnipeg thing and then I just wanted to know more. Now the entry point was labor history. So I'm a union rep in my day job. So I started reading about these incredible movements in Winnipeg. 1919 general strike, yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker
I hate the general strike. And I'm like, well, you know, you're not going to bump into these things in this world. So I read about that and maybe bumped into, I believe it was my Winnipeg, the short black and white film. Yeah. The Guy Maddon film. Yeah. Guy Maddon film, which was wonderful. There was an actress in there. I think her name was Kate Yakula who played Citizen Girl. Yes.
00:22:21
Speaker
My Winnipeg is that like so much of it like it's so Guy Madden is this he's black and white film director from Winnipeg and he's he puts Vaseline on the lenses and he shoots on old Super 8 cameras and he's made
00:22:34
Speaker
the saddest music in the world with Isabella Rossellini and a number of incredible films but a lot of the time Guy Madden is also a character played by a different actor in two of the films by Darcy Fair and so Darcy as Guy is trying to escape Winnipeg but he can't escape his Winnipeg and it was originally just pitched as a documentary but then it turned into this documentary that was also like
00:23:00
Speaker
here's some truth about Winnipeg and some falsehoods about Winnipeg and a lot of the stuff that is insane like if day where a bunch of Winnipegers dressed up like Nazis and was like what if Nazis occupied Winnipeg that was a thing that was sanctioned by the city in the like 30s or something right like it was just bonkers um
00:23:22
Speaker
Here's a fun thing. Maybe you'll check out, maybe some of your listeners might want to check out if they're also in Winnipeg, but I actually produce a Winnipeg podcast called One Great History that is hosted by Sabrina Janke and Alex Judge, who are two pretty hilarious and
00:23:39
Speaker
smart genius historians uh that that have worked as you know tour guides and historians and stuff in Winnipeg and uh yeah like we we talked about the general strike we've talked about if day we've talked about a number of things we've been doing this podcast for a few years now so uh go check out one of these things i mean pause pause pause all right thank you nick this is where it becomes personal we're doing this
00:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, all right.
Producing 'One Great History' Podcast
00:24:02
Speaker
The History Podcast. That's why these are some of the ancillary or important things that I got you on for.
00:24:11
Speaker
to pull it together. No, that's great. I love the dig into that stuff. About the podcast itself, the name again and where folks find it. It's streaming on your Spotify and your Apple and whatever, and it's called One Great History because for a number of years, our slogan was One Great City.
00:24:32
Speaker
You'd see it on the, you know, the signs now entering Winnipeg, One Great City. There's a Winnipeg band called The Weakerthans, who has a song called One Great City, where the chorus just says, I hate Winnipeg. And it is, yeah, like, Winnipeg has this, like, great, like, self-deprecating, like, we're bargain crazy, we're stuck in the past, hence when, like, the Jets left in 95-96, and then they came back, and they were going to be called something other than the Jets, and people practically rioted.
00:25:01
Speaker
at Portage and Maine, which is like the big intersection. They should have. They should have. I mean, you're in on this, but they should have. Well, it was like the outcry was so loud that they were like, fine, we'll call them the Jets, even though anytime they take the ice and say, you're Winnipeg Jets, I say to myself, these aren't my Winnipeg Jets. My Winnipeg Jets are Team Mussolini.
00:25:21
Speaker
and Dave Manson, and Keith Kachok, and Chris Kang, and all these older guys. Now the Winnipeg Jets are younger than me, which really throws me off. They're half my age. It's crazy. But something I wanted to show you here, Ken, this is a CD called Hockey Rock, Winnipeg Jets style. Have you ever heard about this online? You are dropping me into a rabbit hole that I will not speak for months, but Hockey Rock,
00:25:46
Speaker
Okay, so Hockey Rock was released in the final year of the Winnipeg Jets in 95, and the proceeds would go to the Jets' Goals for Kids Foundation, but they got a bunch of bands together. They got Randy Backman to re-record You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, as that's one hot Russian jet. Oh no, really? Yep, they got...
00:26:10
Speaker
You know, like all sorts of like Canadian hit songs like Colin James and Innocence is now Newman in, you know, like it's just it's hilarious. It is a rarity to find. I'm sure you can find it online on YouTube or something like that. But yeah, this is this is one of my prized possessions here is hockey rock Winnipeg style. And everybody who's listening, Nick from Winnipeg is holding up a
00:26:35
Speaker
beautiful, shiny, shady city of hockey rock, which I will delve into digitally in the near term.
00:26:47
Speaker
Hey folks to Nick had mentioned the track Lottie in the black and white room that's going to be at the end of the episode. So just wanted to let you know about that. But yeah, thanks for a bit dropping into I'm a big film buff sounds like you are and that my my listen about that my Winnipeg and that's like
00:27:09
Speaker
That's it's super to hear some some more about that. Yeah, but labor history hockey and You know this and that now I got the podcast in hockey rock To go with Wow, where are we now? Hey, um Nick I heard you I actually did a bunch of research and when after you've done research on somebody say it out loud could you've done it right so I
00:27:38
Speaker
You don't have to pretend, you know. But you said this really cool bit. I think it might have been a podcast maybe about a month ago with the big music scene, Winnipeg music scene podcast. Which police is that podcast yet? Yes, thank you. Much respect. Thank you for that. But right at the end, it ended just incredibly. And you said, I see the thing. I want to make the thing.
00:28:06
Speaker
That's true, man. It just ended like that, and you get to something rather than nothing. But I wanted to ask you, because I feel that too, what is that? See the thing, make the thing. That's just the way you are?
00:28:22
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I've always been that way. Like at the end of the day, if I have something that didn't exist before, like if it's as simple as a drawing or, you know, rearrange the posters on your wall, whatever it is, you know, like I like to have something at the end of the day, like, so a lot of like friend time, like hangout time, like it's always like, Hey, like we should record a song or like we should, we should work on something together. We should, and I would say you, uh, you would have pegged for a film school, you know, and a lot of it was like,
00:28:51
Speaker
We're all hanging out. We all have access to this film gear. So let's make a short film this weekend type of thing. We all have our ideas. I don't know. I just...
00:29:01
Speaker
I just have an idea and I want to make the thing. And if I don't make the thing, who else is going to make the thing, right? Like you have a million and one ideas and it's also then your, your job to figure out like, okay, what is, what is a good idea? You know, like I might have 50 ideas for comics, but I'm just going to make the one. I might have a bunch of ideas for, I'm right. I'm also like.
00:29:24
Speaker
I write a thing, whether it's song lyrics or a script to a comic or whatever it is, I'll sit down and I'll write it in one kind of sitting. And I like to think of it as documentary songwriting. I rarely do I go back and do a rewrite. When I have the guys over to make the music,
00:29:43
Speaker
run through it a little bit but when we hit record that first take is usually the take and maybe it's because I work with really incredible type musicians that know how to vibe off of each other but it's also just like we all understand that like we're capturing an idea here and we're not going to overthink it so that's and I and you know what I have
00:30:02
Speaker
done the due diligence and I've overthought and I've, I've worked on things for months and years and blah, blah, blah. And that's good too. But a lot of the time you just have to, and maybe it's like, cause I've worked as a journalist a little bit in my, in my day job life, but like sometimes you have a deadline and you know, the thing has to be done. So just get the thing done and put it out and move on to the next thing. Because also if you sit and dwell on the same thing over and over again, then that might be the only thing that you do. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh,
00:30:30
Speaker
I really love that. I really love that energy. Of course, you know, like in with the philosophy podcast here, you know, I heard you say thing in the thinginess of things like in the in the being I guess we get it. We get a drop. We get a drop a little bit into the conceptual here, which will be easy for you. But it's, you know, we're jumping between
00:30:51
Speaker
my love of Winnipeg and me staring at a lot of the figures you have behind you in the back. Yeah, I'm in my toy room artist studio right now. Very solid Star Wars action figure collection behind me here. Wonderful. Nick, what's art? What's art? What is it? What are you trying to do? Arts?
00:31:14
Speaker
I never feel better than when I'm drawing. And this has always been this way in my life. My mom tells a story about when we were moving in, we were moving and I was like two or whatever, moving into a new house and she's unpacking and she leaves me alone for an hour or three, realizes she's left me alone, goes over, finds me in a corner with a pad of paper and a pencil and I'm just drawing away.
00:31:36
Speaker
and that's how I've been all my life. So art to me like I don't know if I'm an artist or not but I definitely I'm a fan of art and I love to make things and
00:31:49
Speaker
I never feel better than if I'm just sitting there listening to music, listening to a podcast, whatever it is, sitting silently, drawing, inking, coloring, writing, coming up with some sort of concept, mapping out the next six months or a year, whatever it is. Art is just getting your ideas and emotions
00:32:09
Speaker
out of your head out of your body it's it's a therapy thing and like i've i've dealt with anxiety for years you know like this is a calming thing for me and i was very wary to start
00:32:23
Speaker
you know, taking money for, but people just kept coming to me and saying like, oh, I liked this. Could you do an illustration for me? Could you do an animated music video for me? Could you do this? Could you do that? And you know, the first thing you say is, well, do you have a budget? And if they in Canada, you can apply for arts grants and things like that. So sometimes, you know, a musician can get a few thousand dollars and pay someone. Yeah. And you actually get to rob somebody. You got grants up that way. Yeah, exactly.
00:32:52
Speaker
so yeah we're very lucky here and I mean grants are very hard to apply for as well like they make you do the work for them you can spend days writing a grant but also like so yeah like I was very self-conscious about taking it to that level but also like because I'm not a graphic designer and because so many people work in that field and a lot of you see so much art and it's so
00:33:17
Speaker
clean and perfect and i was like well i sit there and i use my pencil and a pen and or an ink brush or whatever it is and then i can color digitally i know how to do that but then i started kind of looking into like the real like epiphany was over the pandemic
00:33:35
Speaker
a lot of artists, a publishing house called Drawn and Quarterly here in Canada, they're based out of Montreal. And they put out Adrian Tomina is by far one of my favorite cartoonists, they put out his books. And they were doing like, they couldn't do physical book launches. So they were doing these Instagram live at home things and
00:33:55
Speaker
and this artist named Joe Ullman who he just put out a book called Fictional Father during the pandemic and he's incredible and he's been doing it for a million years and he starts showing his his his his Bristol board and his papers and how he draws by hand and I was like
00:34:11
Speaker
Okay, like if that is still an acceptable form, then I'm really going to dive into this. And I'm not going to be judged for not using an iPad or whatever, then and then the more you get into it, the more you realize like, oh, it's like, it's probably 5050, like give or take of like people that are still
00:34:27
Speaker
drawing and inking organically to people that are picking up a knife. And there's nothing wrong with either. It's whatever works for you. But I'm I'm about to turn 40. And so I'm not really going to want to learn a new trick. That's really what it comes down to. And I feel comfortable. I like the pencil and the eraser and the ink and manipulating and doing watercolors and pencil crayons and other stuff like that. But I also like to digitally color because I like the way that looks. So yeah, it's time consuming to scan everything in. But
00:34:57
Speaker
That's what I'm gonna do. Yeah, I am there's there's a piece of bits we're talking about I was thinking too about zine the podcast put we have one issue of the zine some rather than nothing zine and I tell you just as far as a process which was completely new for me a little while back Second issue is coming out soon all indigenous issue, but I'm sorry
00:35:24
Speaker
Just seeing, just compiling and seeing and for me, I'm an organizer like I always think in terms of organizing like almost naturally of connections right and I could see, you know,
00:35:40
Speaker
I could see how, particularly with music, I've heard you talk a bit about music and connecting with the scene, like organizing, doing things, creating things. And so I really think about that a lot. And I wasn't overtly being more overt about doing art on my behalf.
00:35:56
Speaker
I didn't go in and say, oh, that's what I'm trying to do. But it's so exciting and enthralling. So I've become very interested in themes, like Seattle art scene and what comes out of it, and really honing in and saying,
00:36:13
Speaker
a scene can develop in a particular way, produce things that are completely unique to it where I really didn't, I really didn't look closely enough. My question is, and I'm going on a bit about this, but I heard you talking about, you know, in Winnipeg and that, what is the energy or like the energy around the music and that type of connection that creates that scene that you inhabit and that you love?
00:36:41
Speaker
Well, I mean, I'm making this multimedia project, right? And I'm not the only one in Winnipeg who is dabbling in more than one practice of making art. I would say that the film and the music scene very much intertwined. I've put on shows with projections and films and animations and stuff like that while the bands are playing for my own band and for other bands. But it's...
00:37:06
Speaker
How do I sum up the Winnipeg music scene? The Winnipeg, okay, Winnipeg, if you may or may not know, Winnipeg is one of the coldest places on the planet. We were colder than Mars one winter about 10 years ago. And so what happens in Winnipeg is that you hide in your basement for at least seven months out of the year. You hide in your house. Like, yeah, like we also are the Slurpee capital of the world somehow, like year round. Yeah, people are going Slurpees and murder. That was the two capitals that we were for a while.
00:37:38
Speaker
but yeah so you'll go out in in minus 40 degrees celsius to get your slurpee but you'll hide out in your basement and you'll write songs and you'll jam with your band and stuff like that and then we have it's it's a very like diy scene and and there's a lot of musicians that kind of walk both lines like you can be a working musician
00:38:01
Speaker
and get your grant money to go on tour and make your record. And we have a number of very world-class musicians, like I said, John K. Sampson or the weaker thans. They're beyond incredible. Some really amazing talents here that have been doing it for years, producers, musicians, songwriters.
The DIY Spirit of Winnipeg's Music Scene
00:38:25
Speaker
but we also have this underground where there's these bands that come up and they live long enough to release their EP and then their last show that they played is the EP release show. You know like there's this we have this thing where we like we want to make something we're gonna play a show before we're ready and we're gonna play this dive and it's gonna be amazing and it is a real like like if
00:38:49
Speaker
If 5% of the bands that broke up actually kept going, they would have been the next big thing. In the 90s it was that Seattle sound and then they came to Canada and went to Halifax where they found sub-pop
00:39:06
Speaker
and other labels Electra stuff like they found Eric's Trip and Thrush Hermit and all of those great bands that were you know along the lines of a Seattle sound. But in Winnipeg we have like we've got like a big
00:39:23
Speaker
like folk music is kind of the default in Winnipeg, but also just like weird, like experimental, droning, whatever music is also the norm in Winnipeg. So you are just as likely if you go to a show to see, you know, someone
00:39:43
Speaker
playing the theremin or the saw or whatever as you are to see them playing an acoustic guitar or you know like I mean there was Lee Ronaldo from Sonic Youth. I believe his wife is from Winnipeg actually so he's spent some time here and he's done the odd show. He was playing a new music festival gig with Jim Jarmusch
00:40:05
Speaker
was was also on the bill and they were doing these just like they were like after the big show at the big beautiful theater they went and played this like very small show at like a dive bar and at one point Lee had strapped a guitar to the ceiling and was just swinging it around there was no stage he was just in the corner of the room and he's beating the shit out of it and then this other guy um
00:40:29
Speaker
who's got a Winnipeg experimental band called Field and is also a filmmaker, Greg Haneck. So Greg is like, he's just like jangling bells and making all these, it's just like sound experiment.
00:40:42
Speaker
And that was a big moment for me to just click and be like, music can be anything. Art can be anything. Art is an experience. Art is by yourself. Art is with people. It can be anything. And I mean, I'm sure that most of the people that walked away from that show were like, that was complete nonsense. But there was the small pocket of us that were like, that was important. Thank you so much for coming to our glacier of a city.
00:41:12
Speaker
I love that. In the sound, I had this just on this bit. I was at a show one time and I was super excited for it. The name of the band, they were called Slow Music, and they were absolute super band. I'm not sure if you're familiar, but they would pop up in different areas. Here's the lineup. This is the best way I can do it. You had Robert Fripp,
00:41:39
Speaker
Peter Buck from REM lived in Portland would be on the guitar. They had a drummer from Pearl Jam and the dude from ministry and revolting Cox. Oh, wow. Now I'm spacing out who that was. But anyways,
00:41:59
Speaker
Unbelievable. They just were experimental jazz. I wanted to figure out when the show was starting. When was this beginning? Somebody behind me told me they had seen them once before. They said, I was the only person watching the show because they played a 10-15 minute show and he was like, they're playing now.
00:42:26
Speaker
And everybody else was like, he's like, they're playing their show now. And he said he watched this show. They came, they walked off when people were saying, hey, we're.
00:42:39
Speaker
So yeah, just the sound and the happening, when does the show start? Is that the music or is that the pre or? Yeah, I mean, I love that. I love that experience. But I also love being like, okay, the doors are at 730 shows at eight, I'm going to sit down and I'm going to watch the show. Not as much anymore, but still like going to the bar to the bar show like it
00:43:02
Speaker
you know two in the morning or whatever like it's uh yeah like there's there is no right or wrong way to to have a show or to see a show uh the hardest thing is getting people to come to your show but uh you know once you get them in the room then they are yours to lose so you better deliver uh and if you are losing them just whip out a joy division cover or something and then you'll
00:43:21
Speaker
Yeah, there we go. Hey, final question on the Winnipeg, just in this curiosity bit, I know in places where it's very cold and that are in the middle part of the country, huge metal places like Detroit and Milwaukee and Cleveland, all those spots, is metal big up in Winnipeg because of the conditions and the sheer difficulty of surviving in such temperatures?
00:43:47
Speaker
no not right i don't know we've got like metals been defeated partially yeah it's just like you know metal can work you know it has to be warm enough for the instruments to you know make the noises too so yeah like we have we have
00:44:02
Speaker
this thing every February called festival de voyager, where musicians are told not to bring certain instruments on stage, like they play outdoors in sometimes minus 30 Celsius, right? And you're like, yeah, like, don't play that particular instrument. Like, it's not gonna last type thing. But like, I don't know. I mean, we all we all just survive this, you know, we've all like, I have in my front porch, I have heated floors, you know, like, that's, that's how crazy it gets here.
00:44:33
Speaker
But we just we survive it because we don't know any other way and we don't want to leave because the summers are hot and beautiful and you know we all have cabins just outside the city where we go and relax and we don't all have cabins outside the city. I'm lucky my parents have a cabin outside the city where I can go and relax. But it is it is it is hot and it is beautiful and we have a ton of music festivals all summer long and theater festivals and
00:44:59
Speaker
We need more film festivals, but there's a lot going on in Winnipeg and there's always someone with some crazy idea who gets something going. And sometimes it lasts for more than a year. Sometimes it is like a very one-off thing, but yeah, Winnipeg is an idea city. Cool. Thank you so much for dropping into that and everybody, hey,
00:45:25
Speaker
Winnipeg time. It's Winnipeg time. I've had Leticia Spence on the show and they did the indigenous logo of the Manitoba Moose, which is the minor league affiliate and also the Winnipeg Jets, the indigenous logo, beautiful, beautiful design. And hey, what I wanted to ask, because I do like to ask this question and it's related to art, but
00:45:55
Speaker
The role of art right now, I've been asking folks, like, is something changed? You know, is there something different about now about the role of art? Or is it just, you know, arts? This is what art does, no matter when it is. What are your thoughts on that?
00:46:11
Speaker
We live in a world right now where everything that you do has to be monetized in some way, which I don't agree with and I don't like, and I don't like that competition and that hustle and everything, but you do have to work harder to just stand out and to connect with someone like yourself. You reached out to me to have this conversation today and I'm just like,
00:46:33
Speaker
I'm always so grateful anytime a drawing or a song or whatever connects with somebody, man, because it is hard. There's so much stuff. There's all the music that existed before we were born. There's all the music and art that existed while we were growing up, and now there's more than ever because it is that old, we all have the microphone now and there's just so much noise and there's so much to consume.
00:47:02
Speaker
just want to listen to the bands that I grew up with, that's fine. If I want to find some new music, that's fine too, because I have more options and more ways to consume this stuff than I ever had. But I think that because
00:47:17
Speaker
there is such a conversation around making and mental health and all of this stuff that art is more important than ever.
Art Accessibility and Inspiration Today
00:47:26
Speaker
And I think too that we, the kids that are, and I don't mean like I got in a derogatory way, the kids, like I call people kids and kiddos because it's like a term of endearment for me. So the kids and kiddos coming up that are making stuff,
00:47:41
Speaker
they have access to learn. Like we had to work very hard. Like we would listen to campus radio and we would, you know, my older cousin who's 10 years, my senior would tell me about cool stuff. And that's how I learned about cool stuff. And now it's like at your fingertips, you can flip through Instagram or what have you and find amazing stuff. But also we don't spend as much time with the stuff, unfortunately. So like I might spend a month making a comic book
00:48:11
Speaker
and someone flipping by on Instagram will see the post about it and they click the like and they might not check it out or whatever, but hey, at least I had their attention for a split second and you hope that everyone who goes by is like, okay, I've seen this going around, I'm actually gonna spend some real time checking it out and you just hope that
00:48:38
Speaker
your words, whether you're trying to entertain or enlighten or educate or just take somebody's mind off the hell that is the world right now, that's all you can do. And all I'm trying to do is I make stuff that I know I would like and that I
00:48:57
Speaker
you know, if I were a person consuming this stuff, like, I'd like this music or I'd like these comics or whatever, like, like the Olivia C comic is very much like, I call it like a quote unquote superhero satire, like the tick or something, but it's also very grounded in, in the reality of
00:49:15
Speaker
you know, am I good enough? All these anxieties. And I feel like there's a lot of stuff like, because if you don't care about your characters, then why should I care about the story that you're telling? And so you have to have well-rounded characters that work. And that's something I take from film class. Like that's thing number one, that my professor John Kozak would say to us,
00:49:38
Speaker
Why am I watching these characters? Why do I care about these characters? Anytime I watch a film or read a book or read a comic or whatever it is, why do I care about these characters? You got it? And whether they're a likable, unlikable protagonist, whatever, just give me a reason to hook into it.
00:49:55
Speaker
There's so many gimmicks and whatever. And it's like, even like you turn on some new Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and it's like, why do I care about this character? Well, because it's Spider-Man. It's like, right. But if I've never heard of Spider-Man before, why do I care about Spider-Man?
00:50:11
Speaker
Well, because he's like this like odd shucks kid. Yeah, he likes that girl and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, OK, and that's why we like Spider-Man, because we've all had a crush on a girl that was out of our league or whatever it is. Right. Like so. And that was something very smart that that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko did was they were like, we need to make these characters relatable. And a lot of that stuff gets lost in the like, you know, oh, the art is incredible. It's like, yep, the art is incredible. But the story that you're telling with the art
00:50:42
Speaker
is not so great. So I don't know whether you're an artist who doesn't, like, I don't know. I'm like a middle, like, I'm a pretty good artist and a pretty good writer. Like, I'm not the best, I'm not the worst, but I'm like John Cusack at High Fidelity when he's like, I'm not the dumbest guy in the room. I'm certainly not the smartest guy. I know who I am. Yeah, I know who I am. If I could move between. Yeah, like, that's kind of where I am. Like, I'm comfortable in my groove. And if you like the stuff I put out,
00:51:10
Speaker
Thank you, that's awesome. If you don't like this stuff, hey, no sweat off my back. There's a million other things in the world to like. So that's how I approach everything. And I don't remember what your original question was. No, it doesn't matter. I mean, if you listen to this podcast before, I mean, why is there something rather than nothing? If you're going to ask that question.
00:51:29
Speaker
show I mean you're everybody's coming in and you know um but hey I did want to ask you that and make sure I ask you that I heard your answer and the I see the thing I want to make the thing but I never want to take away the opportunity to taking a crack at the why is there something rather than nothing why is there something rather than nothing because if there is
00:51:59
Speaker
If there is nothing, then there's no conversation about it.
Art as Conversation and Legacy
00:52:03
Speaker
If there is something, then you can connect and you can have a conversation. This is all about connecting with people. This is you and I connecting right now. This is someone on a bus listening to us connecting right now, feeling like they're
00:52:18
Speaker
observing us, you know, have a conversation, whatever it is, connecting with us that way. Talking about art is just as important as making art. I've been on all sides of it. I've been a film critic, I've been a music critic, I've made art, I've put my name on my stuff and put my money where my mouth is.
00:52:36
Speaker
So making something rather than nothing is important to the conversation. It's important if you're someone who wants to leave a legacy. It's important if you're someone who just has something to say. Just getting something out feels better than not getting something out.
00:52:55
Speaker
Yeah, man. I really dig that. I want to drop into something here, Nick. So we're talking about comics and getting excited about them. For me, it's the color, it's the pizzazz, it's the counterculture. But I want to tell you something.
00:53:16
Speaker
I've started to paint and create more things that are from my hands just the last few years. I'm 50 right now, about the last five years or so. But I've had ideas of characters that have been percolated in my head about comic characters and this and that. And, you know, without them flowing right off the pen, they, you know, inhabit a certain space. But I work with Mark J. Palm.
00:53:39
Speaker
who is an artist I've had on the show. And I told him, I said, Mark, I don't know what I'm asking. Can you create this character that's in my head? And I was so excited about it because I'm trying to tell Mark at the same time, yo, these things have been in my head for a long time and they haven't gone out the pen.
00:54:02
Speaker
So Mark and I have, he's created the manifestation of the first superhero that emanates out of the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. And this character is Cyborg Harambe. Harambe is taking out at the Cincinnati Zoo in a very unfortunate incident that impacted everybody. But a lot of people don't know.
00:54:28
Speaker
that they were able to reconstitute Harambe as cyborg Harambe, as maybe righting the wrongs of the world as it goes along. So I, for the first time in my life, have what was in my being up here working with the comic creator
00:54:48
Speaker
to create cyborg harambe and if that's not the power of art and telling nick about cyborg harambe and the things you create as well then i'm not sure i'm happy to be able to do these type of arty things with you honestly and it's it's it's it's a real it's a real blast um that sounds awesome by the way it's coming i gotta even go to mark i say i don't know how to hold this
00:55:17
Speaker
entity. How do we push it out into the world? And we'll be doing that. So, cyborg, karambi, and writing the wrongs of the world. Nick, how do folks all around the world, listeners of something rather than nothing, get in contact? You've mentioned a few ways to get in touch with your music and your visuals.
00:55:37
Speaker
You also write and you have a collection of short stories as well, I believe, Nick. How do folks do all these things? I included the book, Understanding Anti-Skip Technology, Short Stories and Other Nonsense. Where do we go?
00:55:54
Speaker
You can go to, for all your Olivia C stuff, oliviac.net or at oliviac33 on all your socials. There's animated music videos, there is music, find it all on Spotify and Apple and Bandcamp and things like that.
00:56:15
Speaker
You can also find just my regular portfolio website, nickelastronaut.wordpress.com, and I'm at nickelastronaut on all your socials. That is the name I came up with in the MySpace days, and I've kept it going ever since. Thank you. Thank you for doing that.
00:56:37
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, you can find me on there and just hit me up. I've got all this stuff for sale through a big cartel page and that's all linked off of both websites. Yeah, the Book of Short Stories is super fun. It comes with a CD as well of a bunch of songs that I've written over the years that different people have played. So like different bands and then covers that other people have done with my songs, which is always incredibly flattering. But yeah, it's a collection of short stories that are
00:57:04
Speaker
Some are total nonsense and some are super funny. A young woman tries to rescue her aunt from her uncle's supposed ghost, only to find herself in a house filled with Louis Riel impersonators. Louis Riel was a Canadian. You'll figure it out. Two girls break into houses for fun and turn it into a babysitting gig. A young man tries to get a job developing photos and is nearly swallowed up by a hole in his crushes driveway.
00:57:28
Speaker
et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, that's a fun collection. And then I have issue one and two of the unpredictable Olivia C are available to order right now. And I will be at TCAF in Toronto at the end of April, the final weekend in April. And that is a big show. Yeah. And I will tell us about that event. I'm not familiar with it. Tell us about it.
00:57:52
Speaker
T-CAF is Toronto Comic Arts Festival and it is the big show. Publishers like Fantagraphics and Drawn and Quarterly will be there. Big names have got Neil Gaiman, the cartoonist kayfabe guys like Jim Rugg and Ed Piscor.
00:58:10
Speaker
all sorts of like, like not just Canadians, but big American and European names will come to TCAF. It is a two-day event in downtown Toronto at their reference library, which is like a five-story building. So it's three floors of comics. I hear that they have about 25,000 people come through. I was incredibly humbled to put in my submission and be accepted this year. So to be able to take my stuff
00:58:39
Speaker
and go to this big show in Toronto. That's a big one. That's a big one then, huh? Yeah, it is. It is.
00:58:46
Speaker
It is a big one. So I'm pretty excited. So I'll be selling like some exclusive variant covers of Olivia C at that show, as well as like, you can pick up the cassette there. You can pick up the book. But I'm just like, anytime I go to one of these shows in Winnipeg or in a different city, it's just so cool to be around other creators for a few days. And just like, they pick my brain about Winnipeg and the scene. And I pick their brain about like just like making stuff, you know, like,
00:59:14
Speaker
well, how do you get this printed? Do you do this yourself? Blah, blah, blah. And it just, it feels, the first one I went to, I was like, I've never felt more like myself. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, um,
00:59:26
Speaker
I wanted to mention that type of atmosphere. I went to just a zine fest in Portland, and it wasn't just that. It was one at a hotel, but Craig Thompson, who's done Blankets, and I think he was there. Mark Palm, that's where I met Mark Palm and had him on the show. I met Jack Kent, who does Sketchy People, had him on the show. Veronica Cassin does Grind Like a Girl, zines.
00:59:55
Speaker
there. But on this point too where you go and then like you're having these conversations and it's if you're into it and you're unapologetic about your enjoyment,
01:00:08
Speaker
then that's why I've had five or six guests come out of the thing because I'm like, oh, you too. That's really cool. No, I totally get that vibe in the Toronto bit. You can't tell me too much more about it. You got to promote it because I got to get the Winnipeg before I get to Toronto or maybe I don't know how I'm going to do this. I grew up in the Northeast of the US in Rhode Island, so I've spent
01:00:36
Speaker
uh some time up in uh Toronto on Ontario. I adore Montreal but have not been to Winnipeg and I will look to visit you when I make it up to the... Yeah but definitely I hope that I've I hope I've sold you on Winnipeg. I hope I've uh I hope I've sold you all on Winnipeg. Um it is yeah it is a creative hub it is uh like we I've had I've had friends who have who have left and gone on to
01:01:05
Speaker
know, sometimes they move to Toronto, sometimes they move to the states to quote unquote make it type of thing. But I've done enough work here to know that you can you can stay in Winnipeg. And a lot of those people came back to Winnipeg too, because, you know, but I just I don't know why you would, if you want to leave the city, the
01:01:23
Speaker
to chase your dreams or whatever, like go do it. That's great. But I haven't quite felt the need to do that. I feel like I can make things at my level and stay comfortable. And if I were a better musician, I'd be going out on tour, but I'm not a
01:01:42
Speaker
great musician, I'm an okay musician, I think I'm a good songwriter and that's why I have like these great musicians play on these Olivia C records and I play a little too like bass or synthesizer or whatever you know but because I don't go on tour with a band I go on tour with comics and so that's so I'm there's a few shows that maybe haven't been announced yet that I'll also be going to across the country but uh yeah Toronto end of April look for
01:02:08
Speaker
For me, Nick Friesen, look for Olivia C. at TCAF in Toronto at the end of April.
01:02:15
Speaker
That's really exciting. That's really exciting to hear. And I really appreciate it, Nick. I got to tell you, it's been great chatting with you. And when I told you right up, I was like, I'm just going to approach them directly. I didn't say a biggest Winnipeg Jets fan in Oregon. I'll take on all comers. But the Jets in the comic and dropping into cassettes and talking comics and talking philosophy, I really enjoyed chatting with you.
01:02:42
Speaker
I think we both have to apologize to our partner Jenny's for whatever this is engendered with regards to rabbit holes and otherwise apologies in advance for my dropping into hockey rock probably for the next three and a half days.
01:03:00
Speaker
But my wife actually wrote a, she's a writer and she wrote a column about hockey rock and did a deep dive with the guy who created everything. And that's on the Winnipeg Free Press website. Well, you've taken away my question as who do I talk to next? It looks like if we have that diverse research on hockey rock, that's how the show rolls. So, Nick, it's been a great pleasure to talk to you and to spend some time and chatting about this. Folks, as I mentioned,
01:03:30
Speaker
Lottie in the Black and White Room will be the track taking us out. But Nick Friesen, thank you so much for popping on the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast. Thanks so much, Ken. This has been awesome. Absolutely. Take care, brother. You too, man.
01:04:02
Speaker
Oliver Rainwhere came from amusement parks Oliver came here even though we couldn't start Credits roll on the series looks good after dark Delegates is crucial when you enter my heart
01:04:33
Speaker
The sound will never express what you wanted to This and the sound will never express what you wanted to
01:05:03
Speaker
over eyebrows you have never plucked born much too late for that while it's just your luck fashion victim before you went ahead with the plan penalize you for living have you been to Milan
01:05:34
Speaker
Express what you want it to Express what you want it to Express what you want it to Express what you want it to
01:06:05
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you
01:06:32
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To
01:07:08
Speaker
This is something rather than nothing.