Natalia is in the middle
It’s so strange to be an acquaintance to fame. Many years ago, in the early 90s, I frequented a BBS (that’s “bulletin board system” for you young folk) for “writers” (because clearly at that time I considered myself a “writer”) called The Powder Keg. Through that experience, I met a very interesting young woman named Natalia who was just bursting with energy and talent. We met only once in person, at a reading somewhere, but over the years, she sent me zines she was working on and tapes of her singing and playing guitar.
Flash forward to 2004. I’m browsing in Soundscapes and came across the latest record from The Dears, a band I’d heard of but never heard. Flipping through the liner notes, I see a familiar name. Natalia Yanchak is the keyboardist and backing vocalist for the band. She’s also the wife of singer Murray Lightburn and now the mother of their child, Neptune.
The Montreal-based band played a three-night stand recently here in Toronto at Lee’s Palace. And regretfully, I couldn’t make it to any of their shows. But I’m incredibly proud of Natalia. And though it’s doubtful, I hope that just a teeny-weeny bit of her success is due to the encouragement of a kindly older gentleman who toils away here with neither fame nor fortune to ease his encroaching irrelevance.
I think I’ll dig out my old cassette tapes tonight and listen to Natalia singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit” into her tape recorder.
Here’s a recent interview with Natalia with the British music mag Taxi.
by James McNally on November 21, 2006
in Film
by James McNally on November 21, 2006
in Travel
I finally finished uploading the last of the pictures from our trip to Slovenia last month. 663 pictures! You have to see the ones of Bled, at least.
Here’s the entire set
by James McNally on November 20, 2006
in Film
Janji Joni (Joni’s Promise) (Indonesia, director Joko Anwar): Thanks to excellent film site Twitch, I scored a couple of free passes to this Indonesian film, playing at the 10th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. It’s the story of Joni, a film reel delivery guy, and his quest to deliver all of his reels on time and win the girl of his dreams. It’s a sweet and simple film, and the feature debut of its director, Joko Anwar. This is the first film I’ve ever seen from Indonesia, and it was certainly great to see what life in Jakarta is like, as well as hear some of the many Indonesian rock bands on the soundtrack, but the film still felt a little too cute to me. The leads are very attractive, but the humour is extremely broad, not unlike what you’d see in most Bollywood fare, and the characters are paper thin. Technically, the director has done a lot with what must have been a miniscule budget, and he pays tribute to film fans, as well as many of his favourite directors. In fact, the film tries very hard to be an Indonesian “Run Lola Run” but without the dark side of that film. In the end, it was entertaining but simple.
Perhaps it wasn’t fair that I’d just seen the new Bond film Casino Royale the night before. With surely less than 1% of that film’s budget, I’d say Anwar has done pretty well. And I’m glad to have gotten a glimpse into life in another place.
Janji Joni Official Website
(6/10)
