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
