Bobcat Gélatin

02/02/2025

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #41
‘’That’s where the party’s at’’

Down at the crossroads of needs and wants,
Of dreams and passing fancies,
I’m not sure which is which anymore.

Flooded with information, some great but most useless.
Engulfed with facts and fiction it’s so easy to lose track of what is our true north. Caught in a crossfire of shoulds, the fog of indecision murks up every step.

Fidgeting from place to place, I realize, I haven’t truly lived for a while now.

I could cook up all sorts of justifications and serve em to you.
But I’ll spare you the boredom.

In truth, I’ve been lacking the courage. In turn, my clarity has vanished. In the face of responsibilities, it’s so easy nowadays to look the other way. For, the other way is filled with cheap thrills and circus tricks.

I’ve been hypnotized by none other than my own choices.

And so I find myself, in the frosty winter months looking at the road ahead. Many paths lay in front.
All of them require me to drop the load and keep walking.

I’ve lacked the courage so far but today is a new day.

We can always choose otherwise, reconsider what meaning we ascribe to things and empower ourselves by growing out of the shell into the grandiose symphony of a life well lived.

That’s what being human is all about after all.
That’s where the party’s at.

Are you with me?

26/01/2025

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #40 ‘’Jam session, No competition’’

Let me tell you about this guy Momo. There was a time when I used to go to a lot of jam sessions around town and I got the privilege to play with him a lot over the years.
I’ve learned one of the best life lessons from this legend.

He’d come in at crazy hours of the night, wired and laughing. He’d greet you as a long lost friend and danced a little all the time. He was truly a joy to be around.
He’d come on the stage when he pleased and left all the same.
He’d say mostly the same thing over and over again.
He had a grandiose time doing so.

This guy was dancing, smiling and playing around as if there was no tomorrow.
This grown man was like a child.
Happy to be a part of it, happy to be there and having a ball.

Here’s was he used to say: ‘’Jam session, no competition’’

It’s only by years of playing experiences that I made that phrase my own.

There’s so much a single person can do but out of the collaborative power of kinship, anything can be done.

In music as in life, it’s out of collaboration that we truly grow.

At this point, all of us that’s been through the wringer of modern education has been stained by some aspect of toxic competition: It’s not about doing our best, it’s about being better than the next guy.

Most of what I know comes from music.
I’ve learned to support unconditionally
I’ve learned to accept whatever happens
I’ve learned to share and be playful
I’ve learned to tread lightly and not take it all so seriously
I’ve learned the courage to take chances

I’ve learned a lot more and I suspect I’ll write a book about it one day.

I truly believe that only in simplicity lies the answer to our modern problems.
Out there, hidden in plain sight, it’s so evident that most pass it by.

In many ways, all our cultural, societal and ecological human strife can be untied by one simple phrase: ‘’Jam session, no competition’’

I hear you
‘’It’s not that simple’’
‘’It’s much more complicated than that’’
You’re right, it probably is.
Your way of seeing matters also.
In the end, We’re all in this together.
Might as well listen to each other and move forward?
You tell me.

12/01/2025

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #39 ‘’Rendez-vous’’

Nothing.
There is absolutely nothing to lose or gain.
We come with empty hands and we leave all the same.
Stripped from all accumulated stuff, we go back into all of it.
The raindrop disappears into the ocean.

Funny how we cling so desperately for our own little place in this grand scheme.
We wheel and deal our way into so much superfluous affairs, we lose sight of what can never be gained or lost.

There’s a silence.
A place without question
A place without strife or grace
A place without love or hate
A place without a place
An emptiness so vast it can never be counted.

I’ll meet you there.

The grandest gift can never be given or possessed.
Can never be lost or gained.
There is no entrance. No map to get there.
One only needs to open her hand; it is already here.

It will never come to pass or be elsewhere.
There’s a silence.
I’ll meet you there.

In the land of the american dream we go about our lives investing in a reality of opportunities and obstacles. Trying to get ahead, succeed and ‘’win’’ at the game of life. Hand in hand, we’re dancing in a co-creation of make beliefs and circus tricks. That’s where the party’s at.

Nonetheless, there comes a time when even the best of festivities become bland and tasteless. Clock keeps on ticking, might you want to explore other areas of life before the sands of time run out through the cracks of your fingers?

Don’t you want other kinds of adventures?
There’s a silence.
I’ll meet you there.

29/12/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #38 ‘’simplicity’’

Out of chaos emerges the simple.
Out of years of practice,
a single note distills it all

There are times when the most eloquent thing to do is stay silent.

By listening we may find what needs to be expressed.

One simple phrase means a thousand books.

23/12/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat Spécial temps du Christmas ‘’Joy’’

I can barely believe it took me all my life to understand such a clear simple thing. I keep finding nuggets of wisdom all over my existence and they have this nagging ability to hide in plain sight in the realm of simplicity.

Somehow, that realization escaped my understanding because I was looking for the complicated, the intricate, the knots to untie, the great ‘’Aha’’ moment after a long struggle. Foolish have I been.

I can’t believe I’ve never truly understood this.

Yes, yes… I hear you.
‘’What is this newfound realization?’’

Ok. Here it is: ‘’There’s absolutely no reason to be happy.’’

What do I mean by this? Let me rephrase.

Happiness is unconditional.
There’s absolutely nothing that truly justifies it.
It is ALWAYS ‘’ON’’
Always ‘’on’’ no matter what.
We just go out of sync with it and look the other way.

The sheer energy of being alive is a certain uncontrollable joy.

I thought I knew. I truly did. I’ve been grateful for a lot of things
Gave thanks for my life and its blessings throughout the day.
But then again, I was looking for reasons to be happy.
Unknowingly, I relegated happiness to an outcome of something else.

Happiness never was and never shall be enslaved to outside circumstances. It simply is too powerful to be so.
At the same time, joy is unconditional. Therefore, if you want to look the other way and disregard its existence,
it's in your power to do so.

It won’t rattle your cage for you to see the truth.

I’m baffled at my own ignorance. I simply cannot digest how such simplicity *not even* hidden in plain sight could escape me for so long.

Ok. Want to come to the deep end with me for a moment?
I’ve got an idea for you to wrestle with.

There’s so much misery in the world.
So much pain and desperation.
There is so much love, kindness and solidarity also.

It’s all there. The whole spectrum of human experience.
At the root of it, there’s absolutely no reason for it.
It simply is. Unconditionnal.
Whatever you choose you get.
There’s no need for any justification of any kind.
No need to explain or make up stories of ‘’why’’
No right or wrong choice.
The responsibility lies in your hand.
You can choose to make up the meaning or NOT!

The canvas is blank. You’ve got the paint brush in your hand.
What do you want to do with it?

Wanna make up a long face and carry a misery bag up and down the mountain ceaselessly?
Or do you want a heart that explodes with love and joy every moment of your life?
My choice is made. What about yours?

Merry fu**in Christmas my friends!!
*drops the mic and proceeds to salsa dance alone and no notion of what is salsa dancing is*

15/12/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #36 ‘’Like no one’s business’’

So I’ve ‘’discovered’’ a young guitarist whose name is Grace Bowers. I think she’s not even 20 yet and rips the guitar like no one’s business. She plays a Gibson SG which was my dream guitar as a young man. Mine got stolen years ago, but that's a story for another time.

She also plays the kind of music I played when I was her age. Seeing and hearing a young player like that made me ponder upon the long lost times of my youth.

I recall that age, late teenage years, from 18 to 22. So filled with energy yet so drenched in despair and shame. I used to believe myself to be so unfit and unworthy that it all turned to self hatred over time.

I remember letting my dreams slip away and opportunities whiter in the winds of past regrets. I recall drinking away the shame until I felt no further.
I remember thinking of ending it all.

On the thone of wisdom and experience on which I now stand (yes, I stand both feet on a throne because ‘’f**k the rules of conduct’’), I find it tragic yet kinda funny.

Funny how one can lack proper perspective and choose to create a life that one deems unworthy of living. With age, I’ve learned to grow in empowerment and responsibilities. To choose forward momentum towards a well lived life. To share the joy, to ask for guidance, to choose wisely and act, to own up my mistakes and move on but most of all,
to not take myself so seriously.

Through the lens of maturity I see the truth. The smoke and mirrors of my youth and how such simple misunderstandings as of how life communicates and how the mind operates can lead one astray from their ‘’true self’’.

I’m a pretty happy man now.
More and more everyday.
I’m grateful to be alive and thriving in this ocean of constant change.

On the rare occasions on which I recall the darkest days of my youth, it sends chills up and down my spine. In the words of a Stevie Ray Vaughn song: ‘’There was love all around me but I was looking for revenge. Thank God it never found me, it would’ve been the end’’.

So anyways, I’m here at the bright young age of 32. Still playing the guitar like no one’s business. I’ve expanded my creativity’s output to include other mediums. I’m more passionate than ever and boy is there a lot to be excited about!!

This past year, I’ve gotten into photography, writing, festival making and made more than 10 albums. And I ain’t about to stop creating.

We all need a friend sometimes so if you ever find yourself into a ‘’goddamn s**t what the f**k’’ place for too long and need a hand, hit me up. I can share some of the Joy and partake in a conversation.

If you ever need someone who rips the guitar like no one’s business,
you know where to find me!
I’m on time, I play like a madman who listens intently and I possess a grandiose mustache.
Oh! and I have a great sense of humor!

So long friends!
Enjoy what you do have.
Let go of the cumbersome misery.
It’s in your power to do so.
None of us is ever truly alone. We’re all in this together.

08/12/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #35 ‘’As a ferocious beast’’

At the edge of thunderous applause, there’s a band. A band of friends getting it on,
groovin’ hard and intricate. It’s mesmerizing to be part of the experience.

The moment you hear a truly talented and virtuoso musical project, exploding the limits of what can be, flying straight into the realms of dreams, textures and dynamics, there’s no going back.

This city is filled with such artists. I’ve gotten acquainted with many of them over the last decade. To my grandest gratitude I get to call many of them ‘’friends’’.

As the Charles Viguerie Trio ends its set, I’m electrified.
The music drenched me to the bones, I can’t hold it in.

Photography got me in the place. A few pictures in exchange for a good show. Fair deal.
Photography is an art form I find most fluid to do when the music hits hard and tight with an overflow of passion, skills and talent.

Post concert, as I feverishly scribble on my notepad, it occurs to me: how to make art, how to put on a truly great show and how to live Life.
There’s a thread to be pulled here and I ain’t about to let it go.

Akin to a rock n roll guitar, cranking the amp way up, trying to direct the torrent, as if holding a wild ferocious beast on a leash, making art and living life is quite similar.

Crank the juice all the way up to the edge, let it roar and channel it as best you can.
Pull the rubber band until you can no more
Let it loose and enjoy the ride.
Laugh and learn

It’s better to live with furious involvement and attention than dragging along, staring at your feet. That’s too much of a lame purgatory state to call home.

Art is the same.
Give it all you got till you can no further
Don’t be tame
The torrent we call ‘’Life’’ that lives through us deserves our ‘’all’’

Who knows?
We may have only one shot at this.

05/12/2024

Bobcat y'écris pas juste des chroniques le Dimanche
Y joue aussi avec les plusses meilleurs musiciens-ennes à Montréal!

Full Gratitude!

Another fully improvised project by Sober is SexyNo plans, No rehearsals, No Bulls**t.00:00:00 Lost in the Tabernacle00:10:15 knees deep in quicksand00:1...

01/12/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #34 ‘’My Funk recipe’’

Ok, let’s keep it short, let’s keep it real.

What’s my recipe for funk music?

First off, Rhythm. It’s gotta be tight.
Whether you play or don’t play, that rhythm’s gotta stay.
Ever present and groovy.

Secondo, it must come from the heart.
Play what you mean and mean what you play.
Play as if your life depends on it.

Finally, you gotta pour a whole lot of gasoline on it and light it on fire!
Now, what do I mean by ‘’gasoline’’?

Ok, here it is.
You’re human, right?
Having a human experience?
Yes?

Ever been h***y?
Like, REAL h***y?
When the energy rises up from your private parts right up to your head, your whole body starts tingling and if you’re not grounded you can’t think straight?

Yeah. REAL h***y.
That’s your gasoline.
Unleash that stuff into what you play. Hold nothing back.

But remember, you have to connect with your fellow musicians.
You gotta let the audience partake in the experience also, you have to leave space for them.
Can’t go all the way off the rails.

For that, you have to stay grounded.

Now, how do you stay grounded?

Keep it simple
Keep it real
Keep it hot and stay funky!

24/11/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #33
‘’Of horses, barstools and skinny asses’’

Waiting around for the show to start, my ass firmly rooted on the stool of the bar. Fascinated by people’s conversation’s and seeming ease by which they embroider the tapestry of the social playground.

Some guy hits on the barmaid, clearly she’s not refusing to play. Gently, organically, back and forths of glances, movements and words are traded. And so the dance begins!

Somehow, I’ve always felt more in my element a little away from social niceties and small talk. Nonetheless, I’ve grown into the realization that these social games play an important role in the grand scheme of a society. Akin to a dog sniffing’ another dog’s behind, we too, humans, get acquainted in similar fashion.

Over time, I pondered about my unease in the face of social norms and coded interactions. I wrongly came to the conclusion that this aspect of life is vain and tedious.

All in all, I was trying to paint myself in the best of lights only.
Fooling myself to be alone, to be separate and having something to prove. Mesmerized by my own puny story, unable to expand the horizon of my care and attention.

Have you ever gotten there?
That moment when you realize how petty your psyche has been and how much you’ve missed the grandiose beauty offered by a life unshackled by narrow mindedness.

Not to brag, but, happened to me quite a lot.
And that my friend deserves a medal !!!
I’m special that way.

I’m kidding. Don’t give me a medal, I’m just a du***ss.

Now, back to our horses.

Did you know that horses can throttle up to a hundred miles before having to stop for food and water?

No?

I’m making this up. Just making conversation.

Hi, my name is Simon.
I find your eyes mesmerizing,
would you care in the sharing of a conversation with me?

And that my friends is my humble attempt at small talk!

As I proudly occupy the barstool with my skinny ass, all this conversation happened between me and a piece of paper. I’m nowhere nearer saying hello to a stranger.
Even less a beautiful woman for whom I feel attraction for.

Oh well…
Live and learn, my friends. Live and learn!

17/11/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #32 ‘’A storm in a Teacup’’

Change is the only constant. Yesterday, I was miserable.
Today, I’m great. Some time ago I was at the height of creativity. Today I'm in the dumps.

Commitments falter, friendship ends, families die. We let ourselves down and pick up the pieces afterward. None of us stays ‘’king of the mountain’’ indefinitely.

Life breaks even the strongest. It nourishes the faintest most reclusive organisms also. We all get moments in the sun’s glorious rays, then, dusk settles and we go to sleep (or party all night, depending on your inclination)

As I sit here in the warm November sun, ruffled by the last few weeks of confusion and despair, I know: Change is the only constant.

What used to get me to drink, then got me consuming endless entertainment finally got me meditating. In the throes of chaotic currents, after years of wayward exploration, one of the best things I’ve found is just breathing deep, sitting still.

Don’t get me wrong, it ain’t always easy, especially at times when I’d rather rip my face off and burn all my possessions (figuratively… most times at least)

Inevitably, for me, there comes a time when I tire of fighting the current, I give up and let it pass through.
Nothing special usually happens: I’m still here. Still alive.
Life keeps going.

All the fusslin’ and bustlin’ was just a storm in a teacup.
Forever was, forever shall be.

I find it quite humbling to inhabit a sea of constant change.
Whether I like it or don’t like it, I die and reborn a little everyday.
Life melts even the most concrete blocks and keeps on flowing right on down its course, endlessly.

Who knows?
One day I may shave off my mustache and join a monastery?
Maybe I’ll actually have a sustainable career in music?
Maybe I’ll bum around the world aimlessly, enjoying the view.
Who knows?

At this point, I’m ready for inputs.
What do you think?

11/11/2024

D'la musique de mon prochaine album ''Peaceful and Dandy''
''On the Shortness of Life''

Bobcat Gélatin on the guitar''On the shortness of Life''

03/11/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #31
‘’The treadmill and the Monkey’’

Between the rhythms of digesting and expressing, there lies a requirement of time and space. À zone where silence, sounder and boredom can meet.

I don’t know for you but as my experience goes, in our present technological world,, these moments get increasingly few and far between.

There’s content 24/7
The phone is ringing (yours, not mine)
We’ve got at least 10 conversations at the same time on different apps.
There’s a feed to scroll downward to the doom of our capacity for attention.
We get distracted.

We become anxious but can’t quite find the source any more.
There’s 32 tabs open, music is playing but you can’t find where it’s coming from.

We fall prey to algorithms and attention grabbing videos.
We trade it for the only currency we possess: Our time and attention.

Unbeknownst to us, we rewire our brains to be distracted, aloof and hope medication will cure it all in the end. We bury our heads in the sands of content in a futile attempt to get through just another day. We try to make sense of our plastic world, one piece of information at a time.

More information needs more time to be digested or else it becomes useless garbage hanging around, taking up space in our mind.

The world we live in is no fairy tale.
There’s suffering all over.
It’s a challenging current to swim in.
It’s not for the faint hearted

Some of us break
Some of us flee
Some of us make art
Some of us disengage and desensitize

What we need is time. Time to digest. Time to come back to the roots.
What we need is space. Space to relax. Space for intuition to come back. Space to be Life, not some gear in a machine.

I offer no solution.
There’s rent to pay
Deals to make
Stuff to buy
A Lifestyle to maintain
The treadmill won’t stop for you or me.
There’s a leash around our necks. It’s getting tighter by the day.

I offer no solution but this Zen koan:

A Monkey is flabbergasted by the sight of a full moon. He wants his friend to partake in the experience, stretches out his hand and points towards the moon. The other monkey looks at the finger only and misses the grandiose beauty of the full moon entirely. The end.

Now, what does that mean?
Pardon my expression but F**k me if I know!

Please, close that screen.
Go outside.
Give a stranger your most beautiful smile.
We’re all in this together.
It’s sunday, enjoy it and make it yours!

30/10/2024

Petit album entre ami-es!
Aweye, écoute!

Belle Grande FamilleUne exploration musicale de Sober is Sexy.100% improviséJerome Pépin - DrumSaulo Olmedo Evans - TablasAriana M Nasr - SaxophoneSimon Gren...

20/10/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #30 ‘’Oiseau rare du Centre Sud’’

Le temps s’échappe au gré du vent tel une feuille rougeâtre d’automne qui, bientôt, ne sera que souvenir. Hier disparaît si vite que j’en ai à peine à penser demain.

Un autre matin où je me réveille seul, où ma compagne est un appartement vide et silencieux. Je m’expose au soleil incandescent d’octobre, perché sur le balcon tel un oiseau moustachu maigrement habillé: un spécimen rare!

Une tristesse me rend visite et m'interroge tendrement.
Qu'est-ce que tu veux vraiment, en fait, Simon?

La question ne m’est pas étrangère.

J’ai souvenir du temps jadis que cette interrogation me désemparaît, incapable d’y répondre. Abasourdis par l’immensité de l’évidence; comment savoir ce que je veux si je n'ai aucune espèce d’idée de qui je suis?

Pris au fort avec cette violence dans laquelle la société nous rejette dès notre plus jeune âge: On nous vole notre souveraineté de choisir, nous bourre le crâne d’informations, on nous force à s’asseoir pendant plus de 15 ans et ensuite on nous demande ce que l’on veut, ce qu’on veut devenir.

Non mais quelle ignorance que de détruire la vie, de l'assujettir à des intérêts illusoires et de se surprendre de toute la misère qui peuple le monde!

Heureusement je m’en suis sortie.
Mais pas indemne.
Pas sans grande souffrances à parcourir
Pas sans grand ménage à faire
Je suspecte qu’il y’en reste encore beaucoup à accomplir
Personne ne s’en sort immaculé.

Bref, je m’éparse, vous m’excuserez.

Qu'est ce que je veux vraiment, en fait?

À la lumière d’un matin d’octobre comme celui-ci,
j’aimerais bien une compagne avec qui rire, un café à la main, tout simplement.
Une compagne autre que mon appartement vide et ma solitude ordinaire de tous les jours.

Mais bon, pour l’instant, je suis en vie, perché sur mon balcon, à écrire.
On fait avec ce qu’on a. Demain, on verra!

Un autre jour s’active, une autre saison laisse place à la prochaine. Une autre page se remplit d’encre. Un autre moustachu se fait apercevoir au loin sur le balcon d’un 3e étage à Centre-Sud, maigrement habillé, se grillant au soleil matinale d’octobre.

Chaque instant est à chérir.
Le temps d’une accolade et c’est finis.
Tout au plus échanger quelques blagues et l’on devient vague souvenir d’autrui.

On fait avec ce qu’on a dans l’instant.
Demain n’est jamais garanti.
Demain, qui sait si on sera encore là?

13/10/2024

Chroniques à Bobcat du Dimanche #29 ‘’As a child would’’

The rumble of children playing in the main hall accompanies the quiet sounder upon my existence. I find that any ‘’spiritual’’ pursuit cannot (should not) be disconnected from the life we live, here and now. I recall, years ago when I’d try to make the environment fit my desires of purity, to ease my way through, from the outside in.

AH! What a foolish way of going about it! What a mess it made.

Years later, I see it clearly: It was not easy but real simple;
I just had to accept how ungrounded I was and start from that.

There’s no shame in being ungrounded, it’s part of the journey.

Back then, I tried with all my might to change the environment instead of myself.
I guess there’s no escape from being young and foolish. Somehow it can be too easy to let go of discernment and proselytize the false as the one and only truth.

Over time, experience sets in, we stumble, we roar upwards and we go on about our days with all its ups and downs. If we pay attention, humility is bound to show her face.

The children keep screaming, laughing and running around. Michael runs over to me and starts drawing ghosts on the piece of paper on which I’m writing.
Ondine is throwing Marie on the couch, both are screaming in Joy.

That’s the way it is right now.

Amidst all this playing, it dawns on me. How much I’ve become serious and stern, taking my projects as an almighty important task to finish.
I forgot to play. I took it all too seriously.

Where have I caged that ‘’child’’ part of me? When the hell did I stop playing?
At what fu**ing point did I comform to the level of not being able to roll around laughing, unserious and playful as a child would?

At what point did I trade joyfull doings for stern discipline?
When did I exchange laughing hysterically for poised seriousness?

Anyways…

Let’s not stray too far from it all and try to remember:
There’s learning in everything. Humility teaches that.

This morning, It’s about time for me to re-learn the art and joy of rolling around in the grass, as a child would.

What are YOU up to today?