Posts in Film
MTM EP 12 - There's No Straight Line to Your Dreams w/ Romeo Candido

Stories are as old as the human race. Before we had the written word, we had oral traditions. And somehow the story, in all it's forms and delivery methods, has survived through all that time.

Writer, director, musician and producer Romeo Candido has a story worth listening to. As you can tell from his titles, the man has done some serious work over the years. He’s easily smashed the 10,000 hour rule in a number of fields so it goes without saying that he’s been around the block a few times and has some major insight on being a professional creative. 

But, you may ask, doesn't anyone savvy youtube creator wear so many hats these days? Well, yes and no. Romeo breaks down the distinction. He's also breaking the internet, exposing it to wonderful new, typically fringe artists, as Senior Producer at CBC Arts.

Most importantly, Romeo shares the key to connecting with any audience, at any time, in no matter what your discipline. In his words, it's "the one thing that all artists have ownership of, and the one thing that can make them unique"

But I'll let Romeo tell you what that is, along with his amazing story. You'll have to tune in to get all the juicy details...
 

ROMEO CANDIDO BIO

Romeo Candido is a writer, director,  musician and producer.  Current projects include His CSA nominated web musical Prison Dancer which was staged at the New York Musical Festival will be remounted this fall.  He is the senior producer for CBC Arts : Exhibitionists which is going into its 4th season this fall on CBC.  He is the series director of the half hour comedy Second Jen, season 2 dropping this fall on City TV and OMNI television.  He is a writer for the upcoming Netflix sci-fi series Another Life starring Katee Sackhoff which shoots in the fall of 2018.  And his modern Filipino electronic band DATU released their first album High Blood in 2017 on all music platforms. 

 

MUSIC FEATURED THIS EPISODE

DATU - Bones
Miss Saigon Original Cast, Rachelle Ann Go & Eva Noblezada - The Movie In My Mind (Live) from Miss Saigon
DATU - Gatekeeper
DATU - Overseen
DATU - Suns
Original Cast of Prison Dancer - On The Inside
DATU - World Gone Crazy (feat. HAN HAN)
 

MTM EP 6 - What Resonates with James Harris?

James Harris (aka Hemingway) is a soft spoken, but clearly thoughtful and contemplative producer. Though he's been through some very real challenges in his life, he continues to see the potential in the universe. James' career is one that has been bolstered by the support of not only his family, but his local and online music and art community as well. I think James is a wonderful example of how discipline and playing well with others can do a lot to produce and sustain amazing work.

In this interview we talk about his beginnings in music, and the online community that helped support him releasing his music publicly and how coming out of his shell and performing with others in groups like Tush really transformed how he produces music now. 

We discuss James' experience with his arteriovenus malformation or AVM and how in the wake of that event, how his community once again helped him overcoming some of the challenges associated with that time, and what he's done since that time, including co-running his label Cosmic Resonance.

We talk a bit about meditation, neuroplasticity, and finally, being that Cosmic Resonance is primarily a vinyl based label, what it is about vinyl that can teach us about the past, the present and the future.

JAMES HARRIS' BIO

James Harris, aka Hemingway, has been producing and performing music live and as a DJ in Toronto over the past decade. He co-operates the label Cosmic Resonance Records with musical collaborator Chris Evans; a vinyl imprint featuring music from himself, Raf Reza and Korea Town Acid. Hemingway has a variety of releases and remixes under his belt on labels such as Stratford Court, Homebreakin’ Records, Brilliantine Records, Sweat It Out!, Apostasie Records and House Of Disco. His music draws influence from a record collection heavy on futurist styles of jazz-funk, disco, deep house, jungle, psych, dub, broken beat, new wave and mystical exotica. As a DJ, Hemingway’s sets are eclectic and escapist, notable for deep grooves and cosmic melodies. He has shared the decks with many reputable acts over the years, including Tornado Wallace, Jex Opolis, Oliver, RAC, Classixx, The Magician, Tim Green, Edit Murphy, Pelifics & Jeremy Glenn. James also hosts Astral Projections, a monthly party at Kensington Market’s Handlebar, bringing together a diverse community of bands and DJs from Toronto’s blossoming underground electronic music scene.

His latest release, Memoirs, is available on vinyl and digital formats and is being distributed to record stores worldwide through Honest Jon’s Distribution:
http://cosmicresonance.space/album/memoirs

http://soundcloud.com/hemingway

James recently collaborated in the studio with Jessica Cho as an engineer/percussionist for Korea Town Acid's latest EP 'Mahogani Forest' due out on vinyl and digital formats on June 15th, 2018

http://cosmicresonance.space/http://cosmicresonance.space/album/mahogani-forest

https://soundcloud.com/cosmicresonance/cr-003-mahogani-forest-ep-korea-town-acid-preview

He is currently at work on a new EP. More details to come later this summer! You can hear a sneak peak here: https://www.facebook.com/hmgwy/videos/10155843870814652/


MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

Click links to support/listen/buy!

Korea Town Acid - Bubble Tease (Cosmic Resonance)
Tafari Anthony - Fuck (Hemingway Remix)
Keenhouse - Aries (Hemingways Starlight Yacht Remix)
Hemingway - Blue Notes
Hemingway - Memoirs
Hemingway - Ocean Hues
Raf Reza - Pineapple Island
Korea Town Acid - Mahogany Forest
 

If you’re in Toronto, look out for James's event Astral Projections, often held at Handlebar with James and a slew of other very talented people. 

MTM EP 5 - Visual Appeal with Oliver Husain

This week on Mind to Make, I'm speaking with visual artist and film maker Oliver Husain. Oliver is the creator of MTM logo (yeah!) and his pieces involve image, sculpture, movement and textile. In this interview we discuss the importance of training to underscore your practice. We discuss Oliver’s early influences, his humbling and educational experiences connecting with artists in other cultures and how the spaces you create in and show your work in change the context in which you see that work. For Oliver, perspectives ultimately remain constant despite the inspiratory sources we encounter, but technology is a tool he uses to breath new life into his work. Lastly we discuss the importance of not defining what art means and why being sure and safe are perhaps the biggest obstacles to achieving your artistic goals.

Music throughout the podcast was taken from Oliver Husain's films - Green Dolphin and Isla Santa Maria 3D (Sound design/Music by Michelle Irving) which can be found along with the rest of Oliver's portfolio at http://www.husain.de/

 

If you're in Toronto between May 10th - June 16th, you can catch Oliver's latest show French Exit at the Susan Hobbs gallery

 

OLIVER HUSAIN BIO

Working at the intersection of moving image, performance, sculpture and installation, Oliver Husain has developed a captivating and curious art practice. Oliver Husain (1969, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. He came to Canada in 2006 having completed a short-film trilogy set in Shanghai, Jakarta and Hyderabad. Husain studied fine art at the University of Baroda in India, and holds a BA and an MFA from HfG Offenbach, Germany. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at Gallery TPW, Toronto; Western Front, Vancouver; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto; and Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany (with DaGroup). His work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including Form Follows Fiction: Art and Artists in Toronto (2016), Art Museum at the University of Toronto; Depth of Perception (2015), Oakville Galleries; Qual und Wahl (2013), Kunstverein Wolfsburg; Blowing on a Hairy Shoulder/Grief Hunters (2011), ICA Philadelphia; and Q (2005), Para Site, Hong Kong. His films have been screened at numerous international events, including Toronto International Film Festival; Experimenta Festival, Bangalore; Malaysian Video Awards, Kuala Lumpur; New Generations Independent Indian Film Festival, Frankfurt; and San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. A monograph on his work, Spoiler Alert, was published in 2012.