Tag Archives: Chris

by | August 7, 2012 · 9:26 pm

“The Chad Tape” leaks…

The Chad Tape was slated to be officially announced via a release from Flemish Eye on August 13, however, the internet had other plans!

Some time ago Chad VanGaalen approached Chris Reimer of Women offering to reproduce a casette tape of Chris’ solo work. Chris started work on this but passed away before completing the project. His closest friends have assembled the songs he intended for the tape, laid it out with Chris’s own writing and artwork and now this tape is available here for you.
***All proceeds from this release will benefit the Chris Reimer Legacy Fund, an organization dedicated to providing scholarships for children in music and dance education.***

You can still pre-order cassettes from the Chris Reimer Bandcamp site, and you can also download the digital album.

The project has already been mentioned by Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Chart Attack, CBC Music, Exclaim!, Pitchfork, CMU and elsewhere. We sure do hate that word “posthumous,” but we’re thrilled at the response to this work. Continue reading →

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by | July 4, 2012 · 8:15 pm

Christopher JJ Reimer Memorial Show Recaps!

Mad love and thanks to all the peeps who came out to see our boy’s show at Sled Island last week. (Two weeks ago, I guess. They say you lose time in grief. It’s true. It goes somewhere).

Also, I don’t know that I properly thanked the Sled Island Festival, and Paisley Sim in particular, for so generously making possible this event. From FFWD:

For Sim, however, one exhibition stands out from the rest: the Reimer show at MOCA. “Marc Rimmer curated it and Marc and Chris were best friends for many, many years,” she says. “It’s a collection of photographs of him by many people in his life and then we’re playing many of his unreleased, ambient scores — they’re all so textured.”

The show features a silent auction to raise funds for a foundation in Reimer’s name.

“More than anything, I feel humbled to be able to present it. I loved Chris and I hope that the show is well-received by his family more than anything else.”

 Paisley, it was. THANK YOU.

CBC Calgary’s The Homestretch spoke to Marc in advance of the show.

And BeatRoute interviewed Rena about Gold.

Thanks to DivinerOne/Kathleen Moors for this lovely ambient video:

Continue reading →

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by | May 25, 2012 · 1:52 pm

Sled Island Art Show Announced | Opening Wednesday, June 20 @ 6:00 pm

(Marc Rimmer has done an amazing amount of work to put this together, and we’re all grateful. Please come out to the opening if you’re in Calgary; we’d love to see you. –Nikki)

Christopher J.J. Reimer

Known and loved both at home and abroad for his spellbinding guitar playing in bands such as Women and Azeda Booth, Chris Reimer was a fixture in the Calgary music scene for almost a decade. Before passing away suddenly in February 2012 at age 26, Chris made an unforgettable impression on his community with his huge talent and remarkably generous nature. This exhibit taps into Chris’ tremendous spirit and explores his unparalleled creative vision through a collection of photographs taken by him, his friends and bandmates, accompanied by a soundtrack of his lush and largely unheard ambient recordings. All opening reception drink sales and donations will benefit a memorial fund in Chris’ name.

When: Opening 6:00 p.m., Wednesday June 20 and running for the duration of the Sled Island Festival

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Calgary, 104 – 800 – Macleod Trail SE
(Main floor, Calgary Municipal Building)

Tix:Free. All opening reception drinks and donations will benefit The Chris Reimer Legacy Fund

About the fund:

Christopher John Joseph (Chris) Reimer was an immensely talented young artist who was taken from us at the tragically young age of 26. Known and loved throughout the world for his spellbinding guitar work in Azeda Booth and Women and as touring guitarist for The Dodos, Christopher also composed a significant amount of unreleased and largely unheard music. Christopher’s artistic talents extended beyond music: he was involved with dance performance as a youth, and he created a collection of mostly unseen drawings, photographs and writing as a young man. Chris’ early training in dance and music was integral to his development as a professional artist.

The Chris Reimer Legacy Fund Society (official charitable registration pending) is a collective of Chris’ closest friends and family who have banded together to keep his tremendous spirit alive. Chris was unfailingly generous, loving, loyal, humble and kind. It is our hope that his art and his generosity may live on through our work.

The Chris Reimer Legacy Fund has two aims:

1) to provide funding for youth to receive training in dance and music

2) to professionally produce and release the music that Chris wrote


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by | May 5, 2012 · 1:08 am

Medium to Medium with Women: September 2010 Interview with Chris Reimer

Hi Nikki,
I’m so sorry for your loss. I had the chance to interview Chris, and he was so patient, funny, full of wit and good nature. I stumbled over some of my questions and he was nice enough to never point it out or make me feel hapless about it. He was extremely talented and kind. If you haven’t seen this interview before, I hope you enjoy it. I think he had fun with it. My continued prayers and thoughts for you and your family.

–Rob Patrick

[reposted from CinemaSpartan]

Chaotic and composed, in a world full full of cackling unrest and marred melodies, comes Women, a band from Calgary that is hauntingly ethereal. Their debut album was crosshatched with airy-reverberations and distorted instrumentation. Chris Reimer and company create a landscape of flickering memories and weathered musical notes. On their newest record, “Public Strain”, they have sharpened their chiseling tools to create an album that is emotionally monolithic, intangible yet tactile. Reimer, one of the conductors of Women’s apparitional symphony, talks to Cinema Spartan about the band’s newest album; their upcoming appearance in San Diego on October 19th; and his favorite track on the new LP. Continue reading →

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by | May 5, 2012 · 12:53 am

Don L’Orange

hi nikki, i was a friend of chris’s. i’ve yet to submit to ur/his blog, but i just wanted to send u a msg, as i’ve been following ur twitter for awhile. here’s a pic of chris, pat, and i.

anyways, hope ur doing ok love, shammy

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by | May 5, 2012 · 12:47 am

Nikki’s Tribute

I want to keep this space Chris-centric (I’ve devoted other spaces online to my feelings and my grief), but I did want to share an edited version of the tribute that I read at Chris’ ceremony. 

I expect that I will continue to grieve him, miss him, love him, write about him, and hear him in music for the rest of my own life, but this is one small piece, for now.

——

This is an edited version of the tribute that I read at Chris’ funeral/celebration of life on February 29, 2012.

I loved my brother even before he came to be gestated in our mother’s womb. I was five years old when she got pregnant. I was so excited about it, and I was beside myself with joy when my father told me that I had a little brother, that he’d been born at 6:02 p.m., and that his name was Christopher.

At the beginning he was my baby, whom I held and cuddled and cared for, then he became my little pal, the three year old who was star and co-star in all my plays, the consummate professional who never forgot his lines. When he got a bit older still, more than my brother, he was my friend, my buddy, my confidante. We took turns playing straight man and funny man. I know that since our childhood he’d gone out into the world and touched an amazing number of people, and though I was happy to share him, I always thought of him as mine first.

I’ve spent some of the past few days going through our emails, instant messages and texts, most of which are really hilarious but unfortunately entirely inappropriate to share in this setting. If you know my brother you can imagine the content. You’ve probably had similar exchanges with him. Continue reading →

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by | April 29, 2012 · 4:38 pm

Palamino Tribute Show: Thin Lizzy

On March 1, 2012, the day of Chris’ cremation, and the day after his funeral celebration, a private concert was held at the Palamino Nightclub in Calgary in his honour. The following videos are from that night, courtesy of Melanie McKay.

THIN LIZZY – WILD ONE

Drums: Eric Hamelin

Bass: Matt Flegel

Guitars: Scott Monroe, Logan Kroeber, Meric Long

Lyrics:

Wild one won’t you please come home
You’ve been away too long, will you
We need you home, we need you near
Come back wild one will you

How can we live without your love
You know that could kill you
How can we carry on
When you are gone my wild one

So you go your way wild one
I’ll try and follow
And if you change your mind
I will be waiting here for you tomorrow

For I would beg for you
I would steal and I would borrow
I’d do anything, anything at all
To end this sorrow

Wild one
The gypsies warned of the danger
You can laugh and joke with friends
But don’t you ever talk to strangers

Although their offers may be sweet
And I’d bet and I would wager
Away you’ll stray and never come back
To those who love and made you


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by | April 28, 2012 · 12:03 pm

Palamino Tribute Show: New Paths to Helicon Pt. 1

On March 1, 2012, the day of Chris’ cremation, and the day after his funeral celebration, a private concert was held at the Palamino Nightclub in Calgary in his honour. The following videos are from that night, courtesy of Melanie McKay.

MOGWAI

This is one of Chris’ favourite Mogwai tracks, New paths to Helicon pt. 1.

The musicians are: Marc Rimmer, Scott Monroe, (guitars) Matt Flegel on bass, our dad Tim Reimer on drums, and Myke Atkinson.

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by | April 2, 2012 · 11:52 am

Christopher John Joseph Reimer Fund Update

Hello and thanks to all who’ve read, written and sent support, condolences and love. It has been much appreciated by those of us on the inside of this great loss.

My mother’s not yet been able to read this blog, but I know that when the time comes she will be as honoured and comforted as I have been by all of your kind thoughts towards us and our boy.

I wanted to give a quick update on the situation with the preliminarily-named C.J.J. Reimer Scholarship Fund:

The team has had a few meetings, and we’re quite excited about our ideas, however, we still need to deal with some legalities, firm up our intended partnerships and obtain official not-for-profit status.

As soon as the Fund is ready to officially launch, we will announce it both on this blog and in media releases.

In the meantime, if any of you would like to contribute to the fund, you may send cheques directly to my father C/o the following:

Tim Reimer
11 Woodhaven Crescent, S.W.
Calgary, AB T2W 5S3

Funds may be earmarked for either the production of Chris’ unpublished music or for the scholarship. (Please just send a note indicating your preference). A separate bank account has been set up to hold the funds raised so far until we’re ready to transfer them into the official fund account.

Please backchannel me if you have any further questions: nikki(dot)reimer(at)gmail(dot)com

Sincerely and humbly,

Nikki Reimer on behalf of Team Reimer!

(Nikki Reimer, Tim Reimer, Jo Reimer, Rena Kozak and Marc Rimmer)

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by | April 2, 2012 · 12:24 am

Our Dear Sweet Chris

-by Clinton St. John

Hi Nikki,

I don’t know where to start. I can’t stop thinking about Chris. I just revisited the site and tears are flowing again like I just found out. I miss that guy so damn much. Its obvious how easy it was to take Chris for granted.

There was never a moment where I felt it was necessary to break it down like an equation what an amazingly kind genius that dear sweet man was. And now its all there’s left to do. I wish I could have been here for the  celebrations of Chris’s life but I was in Cuba and couldn’t make it back. Looking back I wish I would have made it home somehow, not that it would have changed anything but it would have been good to be with our friends. I can’t imagine how hard this has been for you and your family, and I offer my sincere condolences. Continue reading →

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