High School Projects Revisited - Don't Expect Them to Cry (2011 Version)

Above: My 2009/10 (guitar added in 2011 played by Ryan Mackey) song, ‘Don’t Expect Them to Cry’, which was written originally for a school project. For this video I used newer footage, however the sound recording is still the 2011 version, but remastered.

I remember it like it was only yesterday, during my time in Communication Technology class, or Comm-Tech for short, we learned how to create music, and also make videos in high school it was around 2009 into 2010. Most kids used the hour as an excuse to waste time, and fool around, an easy class if you didn’t want to try, you didn’t have to. Myself on the other hand, I’ve wanted to be a filmmaker from a young age, growing up loving buddy cop films, and action adventure flicks, I decided that is something I wanted to pursue as a career path. I always had an ear for music, I am a mostly self-taught musician, I typically play happy chorded melodies which I was able to figure out using an old Casio Keyboard at my family house during the high school era of my life, in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

The high school I attended, was called Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School, or CCVS for short, it still exists today (last time I checked). Back when I attended, it was only for the last 2 grades of high school, I believe now it is 7-12 Grade school (but please don’t quote me on that). I worked with 2 teachers the most at that school Robert Poirer, my Dramatic Arts teacher, and Sylvain Champagne, my Comm-Tech guru. Looking back, one of the best parts about the both of them is that they always let you get on and do your thing, they never tried to stop you from creating art, and they both had a terrific sense of humour. I was quite the sarcastic clown, and still remain so to this day. One cool thing about attending CCVS is that on a spare period you are right in the heart of the city, the Cornwall Square Shopping Centre is not that far away, a few city blocks, if you want to grab some lunch at the food court.

The project ‘Don’t Expect Them to Cry’ was conceived by myself, and possibly Bran Rainey, it’s been so long I’ve forgotten some of the more close details of this story. Usually we were assigned a topic, or it was a competition. I know this one did go into a school board festival circuit around 2009 or 10. I have an old DVD with it on it. The original video had my friends playing gang members, the cast was actually large considering it was a school project that was 100% volunteer. We always had a sense of humour with our videos, and one of the gang members, was wearing those shutter shades, and a bandana. It was comical at times, sometimes serious, a homage to those old-school, corny Public Service Announcement videos, that we had all grown up with in the ‘80s, and ‘90s era.

At the end of the original music video, 2 gang members, of opposing sides take their brawl into the street near the school, and it’s implied they both get hit by a car. Right before impact it flashes white, then as the instrumental goes into that weird reverse sound (that was an effect that I was big on in that era 2009-2011) it shows the clip of them fighting into the street in reverse, and takes the audience back to the key scene. An alternate dimension if they hadn’t fought each other that day.

Growing up, and seeing how the world is, I’m glad we made projects like this, despite the obvious cheese, the point is to inspire people to focus on the good in the world, and not get tied up in a world of nastiness. Just because something pays a lot, doesn’t mean it's going to make you a happy, and fulfilled person. Obeying the law is less rewarding (at least in the short term) however, if you smarten your spending habits, don’t let addictions consume you, then you might just stand a chance at creating the dream life you want to. I never said it was going to be easy, hardships happen to all people, even the rich too. One thing is for sure, you aren’t going to succeed the way you really want to, if you choose a life of crime. You’ll soon wish you could go back to whatever innocence you had as a child, before you realized how society actually works.

I’m actually debating on trying to set-up some kind of workshop to teach youth how to build music on their iPhone and iPads. I know a lot of troubled kids want to be rappers, or rockstars, even then it’s just lots of fun making music, and once you get decent and making it, it soon becomes an artistic outlet, which can never go a miss. Art makes life worth living, as well as family, and good friends…can’t forget food either! Hopefully if they can make any revenue from it down the road, they could perhaps come back to where they began, and try to inspire, and help others here at home.

Either way, as long as they not committing horrible crimes, and spending their whole life in the courts and prison systems, that’s a win in my books!

I recorded the new clips of me singing at my apartment on a green screen. The rest of the clips were free to use stock footage, from a website called ‘Pexels’, a site that my filmmaker friend, Jake Adamson introduced me to many years ago. The guitar, as mentioned above, was played by Ryan Mackey, a high school friend who was a great help on a variety of projects.

Anyways I hope you enjoy the video. Be sure to explore my website to check out more of my original music and videos. My name is James Hardiment, I am a British born, Canadian singer-songwriter based out of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. I have 2 albums out right now on all major streaming services. ‘Wine’ (2017), and 'Rescue Me’ (2024). I also have CDs, photography for sale, I have a table at Modern Primitive first Saturday of every month, and a podcast called ‘Bridge to the Seaway with James Hardiment’ on YouTube.

I am best known for my feature film ‘Windigo’, which was a straight to YouTube Indie horror flick that amassed over 1.5 million views on the original cut. I am also known for the song ‘Wine’ to a lesser extent, which has over 45, 000 views (as of writing this). Another notable song (one I’m probably known for more to be honest) is the track ‘Somethin In The Woods’, which was the end credits song to the film mentioned above.

That’s all for tonight's entry folks, remember to stay in school!

James

Milling Around Martintown...

I took a visit from my place in Long Sault, Ontario, Canada up to the lovely little community of Martintown, situated beside the Raisin River about 5-10 minutes away from my home. For those of you reading the blog for the first time, my name is James Hardiment. I am a singer/songwriter based in the area that was originally born in the UK in a place called Rochdale, just outside of Manchester in the United Kingdom. I’ve spent over half my life in Canada now, attending high school here in Cornwall, Ontario (about 15 minutes away from my house).

Being a member of the Focus Art Association in Cornwall, a non-for-profit visual arts club, which I was briefly the Vice-President of last year, I often get emails about local art related events in the community and surrounding areas. Last week I received an email regarding an art event up at the Martintown Grist Mill, when I got in touch they explained the events would be held on various Sundays this summer. When I told the organizer that I was also a singer/songwriter she offered me a chance to perform, I’m still working out the details but if it goes ahead as planned I’ll be sure to let you guys know on my official musician Facebook page! (If you scroll to the bottom of this site all my social links are there!)

According to the sign outside the Grist Mill, it was constructed by Malcolm McMartin’s son in 1846, Alexander, who went on to become a politician, militia leader, as well as a successful businessman. His father Malcolm owned many mills which provided a local service, deemed essential, in an era of poor transportation, it helped to create the town itself, and it’s named after the McMartin family. The mill would operate commercially until 1947. Created with the local fieldstone, the structure is 30 x 55 feet, and 4 stories in height. In 1986 it was near collapse, but has since been restored to the public, serving as both a museum, and local event space, since 2004. In 1997 the Martintown Mill Preservation Society, a non-for-profit organization took ownership and maintain the property, members will also guide you through the space, teaching you about the community, its roots, and origin stories.

It looks like if I do perform it will be outside on a stage that has been constructed in the front entrance of the mill. There appears to be plug ins so I should be able to plug in my speakers, and equipment to play the backing tracks. There will be plenty of musicians performing over the summer hopefully, liven up downtown Martintown a bit! I went down to the river and spotted a Heron, I snapped a picture but I was too far away for it to look good, with just my phone. Earlier in the year there is a big canoe race on the river, would love to check it out someday.

Inside the building you can still see some of the original equipment on display, much of the original gear has been transported to Upper Canada Village, which is a museum town that has a working historic mill for tourists. (Not too far away up the number 2 highway West from Cornwall, it’s a nice drive in the summer months for sure.) The 2nd level of the Grist Mill now serves as a museum, telling the rich history of the settlement, and some of the key people who made a difference over the years. Some artifacts are on display, and old signage, tools that would have been used, scale models of the local structures, and more. It was very interesting to delve deeper into a place I drove past on a regular basis, but actually knew very little about.

I hope to interview one of the members of the Preservation Society soon and go into more detail about the place. That was one of the goals of the blog, and podcast, to showcase towns, and people in the area which are trying to make a positive difference to the community. Many people will go off to a resort or major worldwide destination for a holiday, and that’s fine there’s nothing wrong with that, but there is so much to explore in our own backyards! I just want to show you there’s more out there locally than just work and home, especially now as things start to open back up again, and the world goes back to whatever normal is these days.

If you’d like to learn more about the mill you can visit their official website, I’ll post the link below:

www.martintownmill.org

Be sure to follow me on social media as I mentioned before to find out when I’ll be performing, I’m excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity, I love how supportive people have been for us local artists in the community. Hope to see you at some point, until then you can always check the blog to see what I’m getting up to.

That’s all for now,

James

Creating a Podcast

I conceived the idea of doing a podcast about the Seaway Valley last year, when I talked to my friend Derek Mason, known to his fans as “Chef Mayhem”. He is the former owner of the gourmet grilled cheese, burger, potato puff serving food truck that used to be at Archie’s Golf Course in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

Derek closed his truck during the pandemic due to uncertainty of the future. After closing, the pair of us began to brainstorm a line of spices, bbq rubs, and would go onto create cooking videos last year, and the year before. To clarify I’m not an owner of the business, that belongs to himself, and his wife Ashley, his parents also help out greatly with everything. I am more or less a marketing, and product ideas man, as well as a videographer, photographer, and musician. My name is James Hardiment, and I’m Cornwall based as well.

I talked with Derek about taking his charismatic, wholesome, family friendly personality, and starting a podcast talking about the local area, restaurants, food that type of a thing. In the end with home life (they have a wonderful daughter to raise) work life, and health issues with the pets, it just wasn’t a feasible thing to do. So I shelved the idea, as I do with many projects over the years, sometimes the timing isn’t just right!

Then a month or so ago, I decided to start to vlog, blog, and take the equipment I had built up from the cooking show we had made together, to start my own weekly podcast, in which I would summarize the blog posts of the week. After that I would interview a guest for the last 10-15 minutes, then post them for free on SoundCloud. So far, as of writing this, there are 4 episodes out, and I’m recording this weeks today. It’s called Bridge to the Seaway with James Hardiment. I named it that, in memory of the old Seaway International Bridge, which was taken down many years ago and replaced with a different crossing. The bridge connected Cornwall to Akwesasne Mohawk territory (Cornwall Island), and then another bridge links to New York State, United States.

I’m probably going to move the podcast over to my YouTube channel soon, and record it as well with video. Still looking into my options as I am using my iPhone SE, GarageBand music studio app to record audio only.

The microphones that I have been using, include a pro quality Shure SM7B, plugged into the phone using special adapter cables. I’ve also used my Rode Wireless Go Interview mic set too, which plugs into my phone. I think that going forward I’m just going to use that. It’s less hassle, at least until I can get a studio space of my own with desks, similar to a mainstream podcast, or radio show. The set up is ultra portable, meaning I can do interviews with guests pretty much anywhere. My first guest Claudine Trottier, of Focus Art Association, I recorded inside the art gallery room, my musician guest, Wade Barras I interviewed inside his car. One tricky one, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do it, is with phone call interviews. I can’t seem to be able to use my pro mics with the telephone, Facebook video call, or FaceTime. I know Zoom is a potential option, but I’ve read the quality varies depending on your setup. I could always record with two devices, and just have the phone on with headphones I suppose, worst case scenario. If anyone knows any good programs or apps for video podcasting interviews with iOS (Apple) please let me know in the comments below? I’ve downloaded one called Switcher Studio recently, gonna try that and see what it’s like, I still have a free trial left for a few more days!

I talk about all kinds of fun subjects on the podcast, my stories in music, creating it, the videos, the whole process. The cool people I meet along the way. I also love to talk about my journeys and travels across the Province, especially the local area. I really love to see my friends succeed, as I’ve mentioned in a previous blog.

Anyways, creating a podcast isn’t the hard part, it’s keeping it interesting, I love history, music, art, fashion, food, travel, and I think a lot of people do too. One thing I notice too is that a lot of people will usually just talk about the major cities and famous towns. What about the forgotten, or simply lesser known places? I thought it would be cool to shine a light on communities people worldwide may have never even heard of before, and the wonderful bunch of people that reside in them.

Anyways I got to get going, I have to record an episode of the show tonight!

James

Falling in Love with the North - Part 1

Last summer I, singer/songwriter James Hardiment, ventured up to Northern Ontario, Canada, with my father on a road trip. We started in Long Sault, a small town close to Cornwall, Ontario, where I currently reside, and eventually ended up in Thunder Bay. The trip we split into 2 days so we weren’t driving in the dark, and could also take our time exploring. For those unaware the province of Ontario is vast is scale, to put it into perspective you could fit France, and Spain inside of it, or a 1/3rd of India!

Growing up in the United Kingdom, a tiny island nation beside mainland Europe, the size difference was extreme. Everything is bigger in North America, cars, houses, trees, mountains, waterfalls. It’s pretty much on steroids especially when you get to places like the Rocky Mountains, which are out West, a few provinces over from Ontario. Canada is the 2nd largest country in the world by land mass, topped only by Russia.

We ventured through Ottawa, the nations capital, on the first day of the journey, and continued Northwards though places like Renfrew, Pembroke, and eventually passing through the town of North Bay. I would always get Thunder Bay mixed up with North Bay, it was hilariously frustrating sometimes. When we passed through the city we noticed a lot of indigenous craft stores, and gas stations, along the route. We were debating on entering one, but we wanted to keep moving, and the traffic was very heavy on the main road that we drove through, at that time of day.

Once we had departed North Bay, we travelled in a Northwest direction, and eventually approached the city of Sudbury. Sudbury, like many of the populated communities in this part of the world, is known for its mining industry. It’s currently the largest city in Northern Ontario, with a population of over 166,000 people. There is a giant nickel coin on display in the town, we stopped there for a photograph. The region is famous for its nickel mining, as well as lumber. It makes sense, there’s plenty of trees around! Canada is basically trees with the occasional city or town.

Pictured: James Hardiment stands besides the giant nickel in Sudbury.

After Sudbury, we moved on towards Sault Ste. Marie, and checked into a hotel. That night we went to a wing place beside the hotel that gave a deal to the guests. The food was very good, and the portions were generous. In North America the portions are much bigger than growing up in the UK. You usually end up with plenty of leftovers, unless you are really hungry. Maybe that’s changed at this point, I’m not too sure, I haven’t lived there since 2007.

The next day, leaving Sault Ste. Marie, suddenly the landscape changed dramatically. We were surrounded by breathtaking scenery, mountains towered all around us. Ascending, then descending, as we navigated the single lane road, which would change to 2 lanes on one side, to allow cars to pass easier. It would alternate sides as you continued along the highway. Lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks, surrounded the rock giants. It was probably some of the most stunning views that I had seen in a long while. I haven’t really travelled too far since the pandemic began, and my region is fairly flat in comparison.

Pictured: Mountains along the way, a little bit past Sault Ste. Marie. The scenery is like something from a postcard!

After Sault Ste. Marie it becomes a series of very small communities, spread across a vast area. We took a break in a town called Wawa, which has a giant statue of a Canadian goose. Wawa is known for its fur trading in the 19th century, and then later gold and iron ore mining. Most of these remote communities have a strong connection with some kind of trading, or mining, extracting, industry. The town has only been known as Wawa since 2007, prior to that it was called Mitchipitocen, and was founded in 1899.

Pictured: James Hardiment stands in front of the giant goose in Wawa. I told you the nature was on steroids in Canada!

Another community worth a mention, was the very small town of White River. Best known as the birthplace of the Winnie the Pooh character we all know, and love today. In 1914, a trapped bear cub was purchased by Captain Harry Coleburn, in White River, who named the creature Winnipeg, Winnie for short. I’d show the statue to you, but I don’t want to anger any Disney copyright lawyers, since it features the cartoon characters likeness. There is also a nice Hertiage museum with local artifacts to see.

Aguasabon falls is a really spectacular sight, as you pass through Terrace Bay. The speed in which the water rushes over the waterfall, is truly something else to see. Hidden away from the town by forest, you wouldn’t even know it was there if you just kept driving along the highway. We only stopped briefly to see the falls, and then proceeded onwards to Thunder Bay.

Pictured: Aguasabon Falls in all of its beauty and splendour, truly a sight to see!

Eventually we would reach our final destination, the city of Thunder Bay. I will talk more about it next time. Thinking of making this a 3 part series, there’s too much for one blog post!

Anyways enjoy your weekend. Sorry I’ve been a little behind on my blog posts lately.

James

A Dam Good Time

A few weekends ago, the weather was gorgeous out, I, singer/songwriter, James Hardiment, decided to take a stroll along the Waterfront Trail, in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. I started by parking my car down in the dog park near the Power Dam on Second St. close to the river, just outside an area of town, known as Riverdale. Riverdale is a lovely neighbourhood, with lots of beautiful houses, and greenery, playgrounds, and parks, throughout.

The Moses-Saunders Power Dam, is a dam that is situated between Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, and Massena, New York, USA. It provides hydroelectric power to both Canada, and the United States, with a generating station on each side of the border, for the respective nations supply. The dam is located on the St. Lawrence River, which is a river that splits the 2 North American countries apart with its deep, strong current, liquid divide.

Built between 1954 and 1958, the power station was part of a larger St. Lawrence Seaway Project. More than 6,500 people had to be relocated to construct the dam, and new towns emerged just outside of Cornwall. Places such as Ingleside, and Long Sault are examples of this. The people were forced to relocate, as they dammed the river, and created Lake St. Lawrence all those years ago. There have been many economic advantages to this project, including shipping, and trade opportunities as a result of the infrastructure put in place to allow cargo ships to safely passage down the river to do their trade. Things such as the locks and dams helped to pave the way for the large vessels to pass through.

The Power Dam Visitor Centre isn’t too far away from the dam, just follow the bike trails along the river and the signage should take you there.

Pictured: The Moses-Saunders Power Dam, as seen from the Cornwall, Ontario, Canada side. Behind where I’m stood is the visitor centre.

Pictured: The visitor centre building from around the back, quite a modern structure, inside is a really interesting museum, filled with historical images, as well as interactive games. The games show you how challenging the work, that goes into keeping a power station running, can be.

Pictured: It looks like they are doing some developments close to the visitor centre as well. New structures, as well as pathways and landscaping is being done as of writing this article.

The visitor centre is all connected to the Waterfront Trail, which runs along Cornwalls waterfront (if you follow my blog I’ve mentioned this before). The trail is actually part of a much larger network that goes from Sault Ste. Marie, all the way to the Quebec border! I have wanted to attempt some of this trail, as a kid I pretty much did the stuff around Cornwall. I also went up to Ottawa and did a lot of their trails too, but that is a different network.

As of writing this, it might have been a week ago at this point, but I had noticed a lot of fallen trees on the pathways in Cornwall. Hopefully they have been cleared up by now, if not I’m sure they will be eventually. We had had some pretty rough weather lately, and strong gusts of wind, which brought them down to the ground. It was easy enough to get around them, for the most part, on foot anyways. As a cyclist it might be a bit more tricky! I’ll be getting my bicycle out again soon enough.

Pictured: A downed tree, close by to the Power Dam Visitor Centre. I was able to get around it on the right. Hoping that it’s cleared up by now! Mother Nature amazes me, her power is unthinkable sometimes.

If I do get the bike out, I think I’m gonna film some videos on it, show portions of the trails perhaps, I’m still undecided. I notice there is a thing called Slow TV in Europe, where they just play randomly long videos, boat cruise down a river, or a bus on a trip. Perhaps grab a Go-Pro or team up with someone with some type of mountable camera to a helmet or bicycle. If anyone wants to join me on that project let me know! We could easily blur faces of anyone that passes by too. There’s plenty of ways to get in touch, on social media. My links to all my socials, and email, are all below. Feel free to comment, like, and share this article too. I appreciate your feedback greatly. If you’d like to learn more about the Power Dam Visitor Centre you can visit their website below:

https://www.opg.com/building-strong-and-safe-communities/our-communities/eastern-ontario/saunders-visitor-centre/

According to their website, the centre will reopen for the season in May 2023. I look forward to visiting them again when they do, I also encourage you to as well at home!

Got to catch up on the blog a bit, until the next one!

James

An Epic Ride

Ever since I moved to Canada, there have been two things I’ve wanted to do. First thing, was to rent a boat and travel the entire Rideau Canal, which goes from Ottawa, all the way to Kingston. The canal was originally built by the British back in 1832. They wanted a supply line connecting the cities, in case the Americans would ever attack again, but it never happened. It connected the Ottawa River, with the St. Lawrence.

It’s no longer used for supplies, or freight, just pleasure craft these days. It’s the longest continuously operated canal in the world, and also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. I would love to explore it, in its entirety, 202km in length, on a nice pleasure boat. Going through the 46 locks would be an interesting experience, one that takes me back to growing up in a small town in the UK, called Smithy Bridge. Beside us was the Rochdale Canal (pronounced “Rotch-dale”) which was filled with garbage for many years until it was restored again for the tourist narrowboat owners. Narrowboats, for those not familiar, are a sort of house boat, that can fit in a narrow waterway, typically very long in length. They are usually painted colourful, with nice flower designs on them.

A trip like that would be really amazing, but not a cheap experience, I did get my pleasure craft license though back in 2018, so at least I have that for now! The other thing I’ve wanted to do, is explore the Waterfront Trail in its entirety. It’s a trail that spans from Sault Ste. Marie, in Northern Ontario, all the way to the Quebec border, a whopping 3600km in length. I probably wouldn’t do the whole span, especially the mountainous parts. My main focus would be closer to Cornwall, Ontario, and the surrounding towns. Perhaps I would even document the experience, especially now that I have the blog up and running.

I bought a new cruiser bike last summer, from Sport Chek, a matte black colour, a very sweet ride, with that classic retro style. I miss riding my bike, I would hit up all the trails throughout Ottawa, and Gatineau, back when I lived there in 2016-2018. I snapped so many pictures with my semi-pro Nikon camera D5100. I mostly shot nature, and architecture of the buildings of the city. I must have close to 1000 photos from those days, I’d spend my weekends out, for 8 hours at a time.

I have so many ideas, it’s just a question of getting those plans achieved. I’m always creating something, whether it be music, trips, dream big or go home! The world is what you make of it, life is short, some people don’t make it past childhood, every day alive is a blessing. I try not to let people get me down, I’m so content when I’m out exploring new places, meeting new faces. I’m loyal to my friends, and if you are good to me, I will try to help you in return.

Anyways it’s time for me to head to bed, I have to work in the morning…

James

Pictured: The Rideau Canal locks near the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Ottawa, formerly the Grand Trunk Railway Hotel.

Pictured: The Waterfront Trail in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, beside the old canal, no longer in use and closed off from the St. Lawrence River.

South African Sound Safari

Ever since I heard the Paul Simon album “Graceland”, released in August 1986, I have been obsessed with that South African guitar, and choir singing, famous from the country. Simon teamed up with musicians from the African nation to blend his folky sound with their traditional melodies, and a type of street music know as “mbaqanga”. It was a truly breathtaking album, one in which I honestly enjoy every track, from the super hit “You Can Call Me Al”, to more soothing songs, such as “Diamonds On the Souls of Her Shoes”. Simons voice is very distinctive to the ear, soft, and higher in octave. He is a musical genius, and a masterful lyricist of his time.

Flashforward to 2011/12 and I would discover another songwriting legend, Johnny Clegg, who grew up in South Africa. He would form 2 mixed race bands, Juluka, and Savuka between the 1970s and ‘80s. The mix of races was significant at that point, because during that time period, as the country was divided by race by a system put in place, by the then white government, known as apartheid. A song that really inspired me, was a song called “Great Heart”, it’s a very uplifting tune set in nature. It was featured in the South African film, “Jock of the Bushveld”, based on the novel of the same name. A literary classic in the country from the early 1900s. The story of a Hunter, and his dog called Jock, and their adventures together across the savanna.

2021 rolls around, I knew I wanted to do something with that kind of sound. I could play the chords used on my synthesizer keyboard, to create something that had that South African flavour. However I couldn’t play guitar in an African style. I asked around Cornwall, and Ottawa, if any of my friends could play like that. Unfortunately they would all say no, however that did not deter me. I decided to search Facebook, for South African guitarist groups.

A video would appear on this one page I stumbled onto, where a guitar instructor from Cape Town, South Africa, played some tunes. His finger work was incredible, so fast, and nimble, it was a breathtaking performance. I decided to shoot him a message, to see what would happen. Doesn’t hurt to ask right?

The guitarists name was Shawn Timba, he was thrilled at the opportunity, to collaborate with me on original music. We would send each other sound files over the internet, then I would prepare a rough mix, which I released onto SoundCloud. We also shot a video, he took clips of himself playing his guitar, with Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa, behind him. Truly spectacular, caked in clouds, and mist. I had some shots of myself wandering nature, mixed with some vacation shots of Kakabeka Falls, near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. My friend, filmmaker Jake Adamson, shot the video for me in Cornwall, Ontario. (I am a singer/songwriter based near there.)

Shawn Timba has a YouTube channel where he reacts to different genres of music, if you’d like to check it out! Link below:

https://www.facebook.com/ShawnTimbaOfficial?mibextid=LQQJ4d

https://shawntimbaofficial.com/

I will be posting the music video onto YouTube soon, in the meantime you can listen to the rough mix on SoundCloud here:

https://on.soundcloud.com/33qa6XhmrsXhwmeLA

That’s all for now folks, sorry I’ve been a bit behind on the articles. Just finished work, so it’s a good time to catch up!

James

Pictured: The single cover art for the song, which I created blending 2 photos together.

Bridge to the Seaway Episode 2

Here is the latest episode of the weekly podcast, hosted by James Hardiment, a singer/songwriter based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. In the cast he sums up the weekly blog posts from his official website.

This weeks episode talks about a cute little tearoom in downtown Brockville, James’s musical and filmmaker journey, and other projects he’s been a part of. Special guest Claudine Trottier, who is the President of the Focus Art Association, talks about her life as an artist, and the art club she is a big part of.

Here is the link to their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/focusartassociation?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Email: focusartassociation@gmail.com to inquire about membership or sponsorship opportunities.

Pictured: The Focus Art Association official logo.

Putting on a Live Show

(My name is James Hardiment, I am a British born singer/songwriter based near Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.)

Lately, I’ve been busy putting all my old song lyrics to paper again. I want them all in one place, so I can transfer them to the site, for fans of the music to be able to sing along to. It can be a pretty tiresome process on the wrist, especially when you aren’t used to writing anymore! I usually sit at the bar or cafe to work on it, whether it be Rendevous Restaraunt in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, or Carrots N Dates (a vegan cafe) also in Cornwall downtown, close to the Square Shopping Centre.

Once I successfully transfer the lyrics to the website, I can then proceed to create “Karaoke style” videos, using instrumentals of my originals, to play at my live shows, in case I forget the odd lyrics as a reference. Being a singer/songwriter that mostly works inside the studio, be it at home or professional, I often don’t remember all the lyrics to the songs that I’ve written. This is especially true of my least favourite tracks, I still like them, but I don’t find myself replaying them as much on my iPhone.

I’m gonna try to use PowerDirector for this task, it’s a powerful mobile video editor, developed by a company called Cyberlink. I first picked up a copy of the program for my editing PC back in 2014-15 at my local Staples in Cornwall. It’s a great program, and not nearly as expensive as some of the more known brands. The mobile app works very well, the occasional glitch but it’s very rare. Rendering in HD takes a few seconds sometimes! I remember back in the day (2011) it would take my computer, built for editing, like 24 hours to render something. Times have sure changed…

I purchased a cool looking, green coloured, performance microphone for a music video last Easter. I wanted to do something reminiscent of those old 1980’s lip sync TV performances on a green screen. I drew inspiration from an old German TV show called Eurotops Musikladen, which I found myself watching music videos of on YouTube, as I delved deeper into my ‘80s obsession. I was only thinking at the time of using it as a prop, but now the idea of doing a live show, is looking more and more promising.

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing live shows for various charities in the Cornwall area. I had originally wanted to take my first pop album, “Wine”, and tour the bars around Ottawa back in 2017, when it was completed, however my crazy life would not allow it! All these years later perhaps it’s time to finally take this show on the road…or at least the Seaway Valley area, where I reside now. This community means a lot to me, I love to help my entrepreneurial friends with their various business ideas. I also love to talk and network with the people of this town to brainstorm thoughts to make the place better, or at least try. I’m not a politician, but I love business, specifically marketing and sales. I have skills in music, and videography, which can greatly benefit a company. One thing I find gets the best result is to consistently post onto social media. It’s no guarantee, but if you don’t you certainly won’t grow at all.

Anywho, I’ll keep you guys posted if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram when I have a live show! Links are at the bottom of the website (the home page anyways). If you want to get regular updates on the blog I suggest to follow them too and like. I want to encourage people to share the blog articles too, to grow our audience. It’s a great little way to support someone who creates content, and thankfully it doesn’t cost money (most things seem to these days, just look at the price of everything right now!).

Until tomorrow folks…

James

Pictured: James Hardiment warms up for a song, he can usually be found singing Kareoke at Rendevous Restaraunt, 1213 Pitt St. in Cornwall on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 9pm.

A Portable Pocket Studio

My name, for those of you who don’t know, is James Hardiment. I am a singer/songwriter, as well as a filmmaker and actor turned vlogger/blogger. What can I say? I try to keep busy!

I’ve been making music, videos, and writing, since high school in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. My first original song was called “The Nitrogen Cycle”, I created the piece by plugging in my old Casio Keyboard into my old laptop back in 2008. I still remember the machine struggling to keep up with what I wanted to do, and it was a super rough recording compared to what I make now. The vocals were actually recorded with a half decent CAD microphone that my friend, Josh Hart, was using for his own project at the time. The song was for a science class project and that’s pretty much what I spent most of those school years doing, I even have an old album lying around that features 10 of the songs I created back then for various classes.

To create the music videos, I used to use an old Sony Camcorder that used DV tape. The tapes looked like mini VHS tapes that you would have to upload all the footage onto the editing computer using something called a FireWire. (So old school I know, I feel a bit ancient right now!) I originally edited videos with a program called Windows Movie Maker, but would soon upgrade to a more advanced program, Sony Vegas. I found I could do a lot more by upgrading to a more versatile editing suite. Eventually, my friend at the time, Brandon Rainey, would team up with me on certain projects and his camera used SD cards. The switch over from digital tape to SD was such a breakthrough in technology, I’m so glad we don’t use tape anymore it took forever in comparison!

After high school came university, I attended the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Brandon and I would team up to form “Vince Emerson Media”, it was basically my middle name and his with media at the end of it. It began with a couple of comedy skit videos, with various actors we had befriended in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program, basically a fancy acting school! They were interesting people to work with, and we had a lot of fun, when people actually showed up to shoots.

After first year came to a close, Brandon and I would split on a 1080p HD Sony Nex VG-10 camera, he also built a custom editing computer PC. We would spend the summer after freshman year, creating a feature film called “Windigo” with a huge team in the Cornwall area. It would eventually get over 1 million views on YouTube! A small portion was also shot in Windsor, once the summer came to a close.

After that, we would work on various projects until he would depart the projects in 2013 to pursue other interests. I decided to focus on my music projects again, since that was what I really wanted to do. 2015 rolls around, and I began to team up with my old high school friend, Josh Hart, to work on original music again. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, I worked on a pop album “Wine” with him that I completed in 2017. It was around that time I started to move away from using computers and laptops to create my music and start using my iPhone SE, which came with a program installed called GarageBand.

I was familiar with GarageBand, it was basically Apple’s base music editing program. I had used it in high school before, but I was more of a PC guy at home for the longest time. Upgrading my phone and discovering that I could now build all my music on my iPhone was a huge breakthrough for me. What truly knocked me off my feet was how smoothly the program would run on such a tiny machine. If someone had told me back in 2008 that I’d be building 30 track pop songs on a phone in 2017, I’d have probably laughed them out of the room, but here we are!

Eventually, I would invest in some more equipment, and today, I am able to plug in my keyboards, as well as my professional Shure SM7B studio microphone, used to record pro vocals. You really don’t need a huge studio anymore to create professional sounding music.

Flash forward to 2021, and I teamed up with Chef Derek Mason, in Cornwall, to create a cooking show YouTube channel called “Melted Mayhem”. I would shoot the videos on my phone, with a rode wireless GO lapel microphone hooked into the device for optimal sound. I downloaded a program called Cyberlink Power Director on my phone, and can edit the episodes with that. I’m so blown away by the jump in technology in my lifetime. My smart phone is my portable pocket studio and it still hurts my head thinking about it!

I am constantly creating now at a faster rate than ever before. I love the internet and I love smart phones for that reason.

Can’t wait to make more, until next time!

James

Pictured: James Hardiment creates music in the Garage Band program on his iPad Mini 4. He purchased that to use with his iPhone SE, as it has a bigger screen for playing instruments, but now just mainly uses the phone for convenience!