Notes from the Field

Destroyer has a new record out and it’s right nice, as usual.

Dan Bejar at his finest. In early 2001 my friend Jamie sent me a cassette in which were copied some Destroyer songs from the Streethawk: A Seduction album. I was immediately and irrevocably head over heels in love with Destroyer.

I had just left Vancouver to move to Toronto, and the sound I heard was as though everything that was magical and lovely about the city of Vancouver, and British Columbia in general was trapped inside of this tiny cassette. I mean to say specifically, that it sounded like Vancouver. It felt like Vancouver. Every single time I hear a Destroyer song I am immediately transported. This was a good thing, since, I had made the very difficult but particularly easy decision to defect to Ontario…. in permanence. I purchased a one way ticket so that when I returned for general visitations and Christmas, I would require two-way tickets from the moment I landed in Toronto. It would be the first philosophical “burning of the boats” in my life.

Jamie effectively provided me with a tiny little time machine to transport myself back in time to the city of my birth, province of my upbringing. There are so many things I missed over the years, having left… but for the best, for me.

I recently found the cassette among my treasures. It will be place in a shadow box and hung on the wall with a post it note that says “it’s gonna take an airplane”.

 

#MusicFuelsArt

Mr Hryhorczuk

Randy Hryhorczuk is an artist based in Whitby, Ontario, specializing in oil painting and linocut printmaking. With over 25 years of experience, Randy creates portraits, abstracts, still life (including pay phones and mall rides), and urban landscapes (featuring billboards and streets) from his art studio. He has participated in community-based arts initiatives, art fairs, and juried art exhibitions both as a participating artist and as part of an organizing team.