The Bestest

I guess I'd better toss my Year End Best Albums list at ya before 2002 ticks away. Only mine is the "Top 10 Or So" list (screw you Mr. Metric!). These are in no particular order, although the first two are probably my two favourite albums from the past year.

Now, I didn't hear a few of the albums which seem to be appearing on many other people's year-end listsóColdplay, Solomon Burke, Sigur Ros, Warlocks, Warren Zevon, Soundtrack Of Our Livesóso they may well have made mine if I'd have heard them. But, that's the way the CD crumbles...

Top 10 Or So of 2002:

Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Neko Case, Blacklisted

Bruce Springsteen, The Rising

Norah Jones, Come Away With Me

The White Stripes, White Blood Cells

Steve Earle, Jerusalem

Beck, Sea Change

Paul Westerberg, Stereo/Mono

The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Emm Gryner, Asianblue

Sam Roberts, The Inhuman Condition (EP)

Christine Fellows, The Last One Standing


Honourable Mentions:

Nathan Wiley, Bottom Dollar

George Harrison, Brainwashed

Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series, vol. 5, Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Review

Rolling Stones, Abkco Reissues

Lord Of The Pings: Return To Jimbuck2

I'm back in Le Grand Fumee. Flew in late last night. Back at work today. Ugh.

Had a nice time back home for the holidays though. Mostly just hung with the family. Every year we have a pre-xmas gathering, usually at the home of one of my three sisters who live in Summerside. My brother Ron lives in Charlottetown, a 45-minute drive to the east (ícourse on P.E.I. that's half way across the province!) Because they all have families and in-laws and competing holiday commitments, we try to all get together sometime before things get too crazy. Plus my dad's birthday is the 21st, and there are a few other December birthdays, so it serves multiple purposes. We have a meal, the younger nephews and nieces exchange presents, and there's a collective birthday cake. It was my dad's 78th. The last several times I was able to make it home, I missed the Gathering, so it was nice to be there this time.

I was the only sibling home from away this year. (The phrase "from away" is used by Prince Edward Islanders to refer to anybody who's a non-Islander. Sometimes "PFA" is usedóPeople From Away. I always get a kick out of that. It's like there are two types of people on the planet: Islanders and People From Away. I'm not joking. This is real sociological shit. The Island psyche is an interesting thing.) Actually, I think this is the first time that there are as many siblings who live away as there are who live on the Island. A 4-4 split. My brother Bob and his family moved to Yellowknife, NWT, earlier this year; my brother Grant lives in Oshawa; Anne is in LA; and, of course, I'm here... in Jimbuck2. So that leaves Patti, Kathy, Paula and Ron on the Island. And Mom and Dad, of course. Ron has three kids and one grandchild and is freshly divorced after 27 years of marriage, but has been seeing a lady who grew up in our neighbourhood, and it seems to be going okay. Patti, Kathy and Paula are all married and have two kids each.

So when I say I spent time hanging with the family, that's not quite the laze-fest that it might seem. It can be pretty time-consuming. There's a lot of hanging to be done! But I don't get to see them very often, and I was able to spend time with everyone at one point or another, so that was good. Don't mean to sound like an old codger or something, but as I get older, I certainly appreciate my family more and more. They're all wonderful, nice and kind people, especially my lovely and crazy sisters, and I'm very fortunate to have them. To me, that's what xmas has always been aboutófamily, gathering together, community.

And of course lots of food, bacon and eggs every morning, and tons of eggnog and sweets. Oh yeah.

And I got to see my great-nephew (grand-nephew?) Liam for the first time. He's about to turn one year old and already walking, with a little assistance. Spitting image of my nephew Nyall, who's 27. He and his wife June live in San Jose, CA. They were married this summer in her hometown of Dawson's Creek. No, she's not a TV character. Dawson's Creek, B.C. Somewhere in the interior of the province. First time meeting her too, and I was happy to see that she seems nice and genuine. She certainly didn't seem out of place jumping right into the middle of the family gathering, so that's a good sign.

Didn't get to see any of my friends in Moncton, though. We moved there when I was 13, so all of my high school friends hail from there. Just wasn't time to fit it all in this year, so family came first. Sorry guys. Next time.

Travel was generally fine. No major problems. With the new airport security, I lost a pair of scissors on the way up (didn't use them anyway; didn't even realize they were in my head-shaving kit, still wrapped in plastic with the other attachments for the clippers). And on the way back, they gave my umbrella a closer inspection, and swabbed the outside pocket on my carry-on bag. For drug residue, I guess? Bomb residue? Dunno.

And now the New Year is upon us. I think 2003 will be a good year for me. I really do. I was born on the 23rd of the month, so numerologically, they both add up to 5, which is a good number for me, I think. I used to think 4 was my lucky number, but I've changed it to 5. Can you do that? Well, I am. Just try and stop me!

Cheers and Happy New Year!

1st Xmas In Jimbuck2

I'm jetting off home to P.E.I. tomorrow for the holidays. Back in a week. Here's wishing all of you a happy and safe holiday season. Cheers!

Mi Case, su Case

My Neko Case piece is now up on the SOCAN web page.

File Under What-thu?

Yes, it just wouldn't feel like the holidays without an appearance by that old stand-by, the Christmas dragon.

Shiner Whiner

Nice. Why go to all the trouble of getting a black eye, when nobody at work even notices? Sheesh.

Or maybe people are just too polite to ask?

Actually, I think it's just not that noticeable with my glasses on. There's a bit of a dark semi-circular bruise below the eye, but most of the darkness is in the outside corner, behind the juncture of the frame and arm. Swelling's gone down quite a bit. There were even times during the day when I forgot it was there. So that's good.

I guess.

The Stopper

Played ball hockey tonight, and in an unusual move, I ended up playing goalie for one game. Usually we have a couple of guys on each squad who are pretty decent goalies, and they rotate every few games to give each a chance to play out. But there was only one such guy there tonight on our side, and when the time came for him to play out, nobody else wanted to don the glove and blocker and get between the pipes. So I did. Just for one game.

Now, I'm not much of a goalie, but I did okay in my own awkward way. Stopped their best player on a break-away, which was nice. Then with their team pressing, the ball went to one of their guys (my friend Ross, actually) coming in on my right with a clear shot, and I went down on my knees to cover off as much of the bottom part of the net as possible. His shot went high, and was zipping towards the top corner, but I was there to make the playóbrilliantly stopping it with my left eye socket.

Ouch.

I was wearing my contacts, but it hit the outside corner of the eye, so the contact didn't split or get damaged in any way, which is good. But there'll be a shiner. It's a little purple and swollen-like right now and I've got ice on it. Actually it's not that bad. Looks like a bad mascara job. I look like Michael Stipe during his eye make-up phaseówell, one eye does anyway.

We'll see how it looks tomorrow. Not much I can do about it. Just let it run its course.

I don't have prescription sunglasses, so I'll just have to put up with the public leering for a few days. "You wanna piece o' me too, Granny! Bring it On!"

Maybe it won't be as noticeable when I wear my glasses.

Holy Kitty Halitosis!

They're baaaaaaack!

Breaking Nooze

Bush Doll Talks Tough
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A new President Bush doll is talking tough on terrorism, but like the real president, it occasionally misspeaks, too. [read more...]

Nooze-worthy bit: "The fledgling company isn't planning to stop with Bush. A talking Ronald Reagan is in the works for the spring. After that, Wessling and Warnock plan to manufacture talking Richard Nixons, Bill Clintons, John F. Kennedys and George H.W. Bushes."

Ah, yes. The Bill Clinton action figure, with Drop Actionô pants!

Agile Butterflies Use Different Strokes To Fly
LONDON - A butterfly relies on a variety of aerodynamic techniques, often in successive strokes, to fly. Researchers at the University of Oxford trained red admiral butterflies to fly toward a fake flower at the end of a wind tunnel. Wisps of smoke were blown over the insects' wings as an ultra-fast digital camera captured the turbulence.

By comparing the smoke patterns to mathematical patterns, Adrian Thomas and Robert Srygley found the free-flying butterflies (Vanessa atalanta) flap and rotate their wings in six different ways to stay airborne and land. [read more...]

Nooze-worthy bit: The researchers say if engineers could understand how insects manoeuvre so easily at low speeds, they could learn how to build tiny flapping-air vehicles.

Never mind a cure for AIDS or cancerówhat the world really needs is tiny flapping-air vehicles. And these would be used for what exactly? Air delivery of single postage stamps? Air-lifting small quantities of lint?

*shrug*

Punched It. Drank It. Loved It

Saw "Punch Drunk Love" tonight. What a great film. So oddball, offbeat, weird, funny... and probably the most romantic movie I've seen in quite some time. Maybe that says a lot about my idea of romance.

P.T. Anderson is one hell of an interesting filmmaker. This film was so interesting visually. There's a sceneóone of the more subtle onesówhere Sandler and Emily Watson are strolling down a city street at nightóI think it's after the restaurant scene, their first date, I thinkóand there's a big transport truck slowly turning the corner behind them. For some reason, it struck me as so poetic, in terms of the vocabulary of the film. Grace in the mundane, the ordinary.

And I loved the placement of the harmonium. I'm sure there's a term for that in film lingo, but I don't know what it is. Anybody? Ferris?

A pretty incredible break-out performance from Adam Sandler. A great "beautiful loser" character, if I can call Barry that. As weird as he is, there's really nothing about him that I couldn't relate to on some level. He gives in to uncontrollable rage when people hurt him, especially those closest to him, yet also surrenders to his deepest despair and cries like a baby. Who hasn't wanted to do both of those things from time to timeóor perhaps daily? But most of all, he's scared to death of love, but pursues it bravely. He's anti-heroic and heroic. In a sense, he's also a contemporary Everyman. He's nuts. He's screwed up. He's dysfunctional. But isn't that the proper response to living in a nutty, screwed-up, dysfunctional world?

There's also a strong smell of fear in this film. I think maybe Fear is the main antagonist.

Go see this movie if you haven't already.

p.s. Interesting fact about P.T. Anderson (from IMDB): Dropped out of NYU's film program after two days. Subsequently got his tuition payment back and used the money to make "Cigarettes and Coffee" (1993).

That's my kind of filmmaker.

Snapshots

Finally figured out how to get my LA trip photos on the web. So here's a series of snapshots from my trip. Enjoy!

Hermosa Beach/South Bay area:
My sister's place is the two windows on the lower right portion of the building. Small, but very nice. This is taken with my back to the Strand. If I turn around, this is the view from in front of Anne's place, looking west toward the Strand and the beach. Walking down that laneway, you come out onto the Strand. These signs are posted on the concrete barriers. I like the "Leave Only Footprints" bit at the bottom.

Some shots of the Strand:
- looking north
- looking south.
- Multi-dogging!

I liked the fact that the houses along the Strand are a mix of quaint 'n' cozy, and modern 'n' cool-looking. But all very expensive, I imagine. Location, location, location.

It's a very nice beach, and there weren't many people around. Of course, it was in the low 70s F, so it wasn't great sunbathing temperatures. Saw the lifeguard truck, but no Pam Anderson. But there were a few people frollicking in the water. From the Hermosa Pier I snapped a shot of some kids jumping waves on their boogie boards. I think these might be the younger brothers of the other boogie-boarders. Not ready for the real waves yet.

I call this one "Lone surfer at sundown". Beautiful waves. And dig that sky.

Saw this in a store window while strolling around Hermosa Beach. Welcome to California. (Incidentally, I didn't realize until recently that's it's pronounced 'pie-lah-tees'. I thought it was 'pilots', as in Pontious. A little further on, I felt someone watching me, and looked up to see this guy: "Now go away or I shall bark at you a second time-uh!".

And speaking of dogs, this guy was really bootin' around. On Dasher! On Dingo!

Pelican Row. Taken just before sunset on Redondo Beach Pier - Fisherman's Wharf. These guys know they're stars. I think they even have agents.

A shot of sunset from the end of Redondo Beach Pier. Red sky at night, sailors delight.

Mexico:
Run for the border! Welcome to Meh-heeco!

A disco bar on a corner in downtown Ensenada. I think that's King Kong (note Faye Wray in his right hand). And a snowman on the roof. Naturally.

A huge ó†and I mean HUGE ó Mexican flag in the main square in Ensenada. Taken from the car window as we were driving into town.

On the way back, we stopped for dinner at a beautiful hotel in Rosarito. Here we see some folks at the Hotel Rosarito patio, being serenadd by a mariachi guitarist. And lovely colours in the dining room, enlivened by the late day sun.

We stayed overnight in San Diego, at the home of Anne's old friends, Kathy and Larry, also Canadians. Larry was the Canadian military attachÈ in San Diego. Tough assignment. Here we see Anne with Molly, Kathy and Larry's truly cuddly doberman, modeling the new scarf Anne brought her. She's really just a big pussy cat in a dog's body.

They put me in a room at the end of the house, and in the morning I awoke to find the room bathed in an orange glow. Opened the blinds and found the source.


The Desert:
Driving across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas. Anne had worked a night shift at the hospital the night before, and was sleeping in the back seat, so I took this shot while driving. Not a very interesting photo, but hey, it's me driving in the desert! Meep, meep!

They say this is world's largest thermometer! It's in a place called Baker, Calif. No doubt aptly named in the summer. Of course, there's a fine tradition around North America for having giant things by the side of the highway. But I found myself wondering what kind of people would live out in the desert. And this left me with the distinct impression that desert people are kinda weird.

If there were aliens living in the desert, I wonder where they'd live? Hmm. "Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Zzyzx. What an interesting name. Is it French?"

Las Vegas:

Yes, Las Vegas. Where there's no such thing as a has-been.

Anne claims that I hold the world record as the only person ever to visit Las Vegas and not drop so much as one nickel in a slot machine, or partake of any gambling whatsoever. It's true. I don't like casinos. They're too noisy, smokey, and all you do is sit around losing money. Woo. But it was great to see the sights of Vegas. I liked Fremont Street the most. It's where the older casinos are located. The original strip, I guess. You've seen it in the U2 video for "I Still haven't Found What I'm Looking For". Recognize the Fremont Casino?.

This was very cool. Fremont Street is covered by this canopy thing. Every hour on the hour, the lights on the whole street go down, and the "ceiling" comes to life. We just happened to be there when it started. It was some sort of story about the history of civilization told in music and this amazing animation display. Truly spectacular.

Then there's the famous neon cowboy at the Pioneer Casino on Fremont Street.

I love seeing signs like this one. We were leaving the Hilton after a delicious Thanksgiving meal at Benihana. I assume 'Paradise' was another casino.

A dark photo of the MGM Grand. Can you make out the giant gold MGM lion?

Hey, I made it to "Paris" afterall! We went up the half-scale Eiffel Tower. All the staff there try to speak French. They shouldn't. The woman who was our elevator attendant sounded and looked like Carol Channing with a 2-pack-a-day habit.

Back in Hermosa, last day. Anne and Tyler, one of her dog-sitting charges. He was a lot of fun. When he was excited, he'd hop in the air and spin around, doing 360's! What a riot!

And finally, Me making out with Tinkerbell in the Columbia House men's room? Flash in the can? Actually, I had one last exposure to use up before dropping the film off, the so I went for a self-portrait.

Driving The Point Home

Mike's just had a close call. Glad he's okay, but his car doesn't look too good.

My sister Anne, the one I just visited in LA, was hit by a drunk driver when she was driving on the freeway many years ago. Pretty much shattered her knee, the steering wheel sliced her liver, and she had various other injuries. She came through it okay, after much surgery. Her friend who was in the passenger seat, wasn't so "lucky". She smashed her head against the window, and hasn't been the same since, mentally.

And yet, despite this, there have been times when I've hopped into a car with someone who probably shouldn't have been driving. When I think of some of the times when I was going to school in Frederiction, and my friends and I would drive some of the dark, winding backroads after a party, I'm lucky to be alive. What is wrong with us?

I don't care if I sound like a PSA. Please, everybody, if you're drinking this holiday season (or anytime, of course), take a cab, or use a designated driver. And if you see someone who shouldn't be driving, take their keys, call them a cab, give them the fareóeven if they think you're being an asshole, it's not worth the risk. I can't imagine living with the guilt of knowing I had killed someone's child or spouse or parents, just because I was stupid enough to drink and drive. They may curse you now, but they may thank you later.

Just A Little Off The Top Please

Major shake-up at work today. Head office in New York got rid of our Exec VP/GM (the big cheese) and the VP of Marketing (my boss's boss). Something like this has been rumoured for a while, since the company was bought several months ago. There were a number of lay-offs in NY as well.

Bad timing though. Our xmas party is tomorrow night. You'd think they could have waited until Monday.

Frankly, I think they needed new blood running the company up here. Maybe it'll shake up the culture of mediocrity that seems to prevail. Just hope the axe doesn't swing my way. I think I'm pretty safe, unless brass in NY decides to source all copy from the States. Our department has apparently been meeting all our targets, and I think we do good work. And I think they'll always need copywriters for the Canadian marketóones who are knowledgeable of Canadian artists. At least I hope so. Glad I'm the senior copywriter.

Makes me nervous though. I've worked for three companies since I've been in Toronto, and each of them has undergone a major restructuring. The first resulting in the company falling apart completely, and the second resulting in my position getting eliminated.

So we have three people in from NY to oversee things for a while, including one who seems to have taken over a new position as chief of personnel. That makes me a bit nervous. If there are to be more axings, it would make sense to have an "outsider" wearing the black hood.

But let me just say that I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords...

On The Case

Thanks to the thoughtfulness of my friend Howard, who manages content for the SOCAN web page (SOCAN = The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canadaóthe people who license performance rights and distribute royalty payments in Canada), I interviewed the one and only Neko Case on Monday night for a short piece that will appear on the organization's web site.

Loyal readers may recall that I have at times in these pages expressed rather intensely positive and supportive views about Ms. Case. But rest assured that I was 100% professional during the interview. Pardon me for a moment...

I HAVE NEKO CASE'S HOME PHONE NUMBER!!! I HAVE NEKO CASE'S CELL PHONE NUMBER!!!

[said in dreamy voice] I'll never wash my right ear again. *sigh*

...ahem...

Where was I? Ah, yes, 100% professional.

[But seriously, of course I would never under any circumstances divulge those numbers to any third parties. Or use them for my own twisted purposes. In fact, I'm chewing up the paper and swallowing it right now. *gulp*. Oh wait, that was my grocery list...]

She was at home in Chicago doing laundry in preparation for a trip to Tuscon the next day. The interview went quite well, except for a place or two where it fell completely flat. One of the reasons SOCAN is doing the piece is because she has retained SOCAN to handle her licensing in Canada, even though she has since gotten bigger internationally, and she could have the American licensing organization ASCAP cover Canada. I asked her about that and she said it was because she was with them first (I assume originating from her days as the drummer in the Vancouver punk band Maow). I said something like "so it's a matter of staying with the one that brung ya", referring to that old saying about leaving the dance with the one "that brung ya", i.e., staying loyal. I could hear crickets chirping. She didn't get the reference at all. I sort of stumbled about a bit trying to explain what I meant, before cutting my losses and moving on to another question. Ugh.

But I think I redeemed myself later. We were discussing what she termed the "cinematic" nature of her latest album Blacklisted, and I was telling her that I likened her song "Deep Red Bells" to a cross between Johnny Cash and David Lynch, and she replied that it was nice to be compared to men for a change.

I scratched the Patsy Cline question off my list.

But it's always nice for me to do a story on an artist that I really like and admire. Better get back to transcribing the tape...

Left Toyn At Albacoykie?

Well, I'm off to LA tomorrow, returning in a week. I think I may have computer access at my sister's place, but I'm not 100% certain. So I may or may not be checking emails, and I may or may not be blogging. Even if I do have computer access, I'm not sure if I'll be blogging. It is a vacation after all. Y'know, getting away from your everyday life. But we'll see.

Look after each other in my absence. Try not to fight. And remember to water the cat and feed the plants.

Moronscope

Y'know, international geo-politics is pretty depressing these daysódownright scary in factóbut this is funny.

Chretien's denial is priceless: "He's a friend of mine. He's not a moron at all."

Moroscope

Well, the odd horoscopes keep coming in the Metro subway paper. Today's had this advice: Wear thick-soled shoes when walking. Dangle enticing prospects before heartthrob. Make attempt to deter scary wildlife.

Huh?

Okay, well I got the first point covered. There's snow and ice on the ground here, so I've been wearing shoes and boots with good traction (and, yes, thick soles). Kind of a no-brainer. As for the second sentence, well, it's rather non-applicable at the moment, although I do like to let my prospects dangle when given the opportunity.

And as for the last bit, I guess I'll have to go dig out those rabbit traps.

Old Jackie's Back In Town

Jack Frost, that is. Yes, it's officially winter. LA's lookiní pretty good right now.

Speaking Of Rabbits...

...watch out, ícos this one's dynamite!

Turning The Page

This edition of Canadian Musician magazine marks my swan song as a regular writer for them. I've asked my editor to take me off his rolodex. Just too much work (3,000-word articles) for too little pay (10¢ a word). Plus it just felt like it was time. Time to move on and search out other, more lucrative freelance assignments, hopefully expanding into non-music topics, although I'll probably always write about music in some fashion.

But it's been a good four-year run, and writing for them certainly helped me build up a nice portfolio, that eventually helped me to land my current job at Columbia Houseóa stable, 9-5 day-job writing about music is a fairly rare thing, all things considered. And along the way I got to interview and write stories about almost every major band in Canada, from Barenaked Ladies to Nickelback (then just starting to make a buzz) to Alanis Morisette. My last story was on the babelicious Emm Gryner, which was fun to do, not just because she's a real cutie, but because she's an indie artist who runs her own show and is out there going toe-to-toe with the big boys.

It's also the last installment of my Showcase Page. This one puts the period on it after exactly three full years of writing the page. They'll find someone to take it over, no doubt. Probably one of the other regular contributors. It was kind of hard to walk away from it. Sure was nice to have my own page in a nationally distributed magazine, it helped me get a free media pass for the music festivals in town, and it exposed me to some wonderful music that I may have never heard otherwise. (I have plans to put together a compilation discóThe Best Of Showcaseóprobably a three-volume series, one for each year.)

And I'd like to think that it may have helped increase exposure a little bit for a few unknown musicians and bands along the way, or at the very least helped them fatten their press clippings. I know it always made me feel good when someone I interviewed for the page was really grateful and genuinely excited about being in it. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy. And I even made some friends along the way, like the lovely and talented Colleen Power and Linda M.

It was nice to get my homeboy Nathan Wiley in the last installment, before he gets too big. I'm sure he'll be signed by a major sometime in the next year. And, I think I actually outdid myselfóif I do say soówith this sentence about the Local Rabbits, a band whose members live in both Montreal and Toronto:

Though their bi-local existence makes the Rabbits a cottontail of two cities, like their furry namesakes, when it comes to creativity, they've got a jump on all the rest.

Hee hee.

So, so long CM, and so long Showcase. Thanks for the memories.

Give Me A Ticket For An Aeroplane

Booked my vacation time and bought my ticket yesterday. I'm going to Los Angeles during the last week of this month to visit my sister Anne.

This will be my third LA trip. Anne's been living there for almost 30 years; got recruited straight out of nursing school. My first visit was in the Spring of 1977, when I was 13. Stepping off the plane, the air had felt so different. Such a different climate. Every second song on the radio down there was from an album I hadn't heard of yet: Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours". I hear it went on to do fairly well. The rest of the radio dial seemed to be owned by the Eagles, Joe Walsh, Walter Egan's "Magnet & Steel" (a duet with Stevie Nicks), Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London" and other So Cal rock fare of the era.

I went down with my brother Grant, who was just 16, and had only had his driver's license for a few months. But my sister gave us her little Toyota on days when she was working, and Grant and I took off by ourselves for the day to see things like Universal Studios and various theme parks. Now when we talk about that, Anne says, "What was I thinking?" Zooming around the freeways in the LA sunshine with Zevon's "Werewolves" cranked on the radio, Grant and I, 16 and 13, howling along, heads tilted backó"Ow-ooooooo!!"

It was THE time for Southern California rockógreat radio, and an amazing place to two adolescent boys from the Maritimes. It seemed like every second car was a Porche or a Mercedes. And the girls. Oh, California Girls. This was at a time when Farrah Fawcett was the era's pin-up girl. That feathered, í70s Farrah hair was everywhere. Endless summer, indeed.

The second visit was two years ago, when I came down with a case of food poisoning a few days before I was to leave. That grounded me for about the first 4 days of my holiday, but I managed to salvage four days of a visit. It was a quick one, but it felt like it was longer, and it was a nice time. Had done all the Disneyland/Seaworld-type stuff on the previous visit, but we hung out at Venice Beach one afternoon, took a drive up through Malibu to Santa Monica another day and did the Beverly Hills/Bel Air tour of stars homes on another.

This time, even though I'll probably see a few sites, I think I'm just gonna take it as a chance to recharge. I'm happy to get a break and a chance to chill. Been feeling very stressed and burnt out for quite a while now. My sister lives just one narrow block from the strand in Hermosa Beach, so she's practically on the beach and the ocean. May not be warm enough for beach lounging, but it's always nice to get reacquainted with the ocean and the sand. I love the piers in So Cal too.

And I'm happy to be visiting my sis. Her partner of 20-some years, Alex, passed away a little over a year ago, and she's been living alone in the place they had shared, dealing with ghosts and memories. I know she welcomes the company, and having some family around for Thanksgiving is a good thing too.

So, nine days from now, California dreamin' will be becoming a reality...

"If I fall, you will know I did my best..."

Didn't have time to post this earlier today, and it's now technically the day after Remembrance day, but better late than never.

Listening to CBC Radio this morning, they had a feature on The Canadian Letters & Images project. This is a very wonderful project that collects (borrows, actually) letters and other documents from the families of Canadians who served in conflicts overseas, and posts the collections on the web. So you can read letters written from the trenches in France during WWI, and get a feeling for what these soldiers were going through. Some of them were the last letters they wrote to their mothers or wives or children before "going over the top" to join battle, from which they never returned.

This one, below, is from my home province, a letter from Private Herb King to his mother in Charlottetown. It was published in the local paper.

BRAVE SOLDIER BOY WRITES TO HIS MOTHER

Mrs Mary King (Widow) Has Four Gallant Sons Doing Their Bit For King and Country
_______________________

Mrs Mary King, 11 Upper Hillsboro Street, City, has received the appended letter from her son, Private Herbert King, who enlisted in Newfoundland with the first Newfoundland Regiment, and went overseas to the front. Mrs. King has also three other sons in the war, namely, John and William, who went with the First Canadian Contingent from St. John, New Brunswick, and Arthur with the 105th. She is a widow. This family have certainly most nobly done their part for our King and country.

___________________________

Somewhere in France,
September 12, 1916

Dear Mother,

I received your welcome letter to-day, also the box, and you can bet it was a welcome thing to get out here.

Well mother dear, you want me to tell you some of the things I am seeing and through; I would tell you everything, but if I do the censor will take it out; so what is the use of wasting pencil and good paper?

I had a letter from Art; he says he is not stuck on England. He would rather be over here in the trenches, but when he has seen as much as I have, he may not be so anxious to get here, and I have seen nothing compared to what John and Will have seen, who have been here since the war started. I had a letter from John, and he said he had been talking to cousin Bert. Well, they are luckier than I have been, as I have been looking for them ever since I came to France, but could not find them; and now John said they have moved 100 miles further away, so I will hardly ever see them now.

Mother dear, my mind is half on this letter and half on the German shells that are flying over our heads. I don't mind the shells, but when they send over the gas it gets on my nerves. Ask Albert how he would like to be trying to go to sleep in a dugout at night, when a rat as large as a rabbit starts to walk over your body. He will start at your feet, and when he gets to your shoulders and sees the badges, you can hear him say to the rat going over the other chap next to you: "Oh, these fellows are Newfoundland boys, let us beat it," and away they run. Then you can get a chance to have a sleep.

Art said that they were inspected by a general a few days ago. The general said they were the finest lot of men he had ever seen.

The 105th has got to go some if they are better than Newfoundland boys and officers. You can lead them anywhere, but you can't force them. The people of Newfoundland must be horrified at the loss of so many of her brave sons. Good old Newfoundland, she is doing her bit as well as the best of them, don't you think so?

You asked me if you could send some papers. Well, mother, if you can find a paper with peace declared in it that will be the most welcome one; but by the look of things I expect the war will last another year. The Canadians are sending over so many men that they must be expecting it to last some time yet.

I am not worrying about myself, mother, it is John and the rest of them. There are four of us here now and we may not see each other again. Dear mother, do not worry too much; if I fall you will know I did my best. No man can do any more, but I trust Almighty God will spare us to return to you again.

I remain your loving soldier boy.

Mmmm...

... blood suckers.

Oh ... My ... God

I'm still not sure whether this is for real or a very elaborate send-up. But a message was posted on the GTA Bloggers site that Toronto has been selected as the host city for the 2002 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships to be held on Nov. 16, presented by the World Rock Paper Scissors Society.

Either way, it's hilarious, and it's just made my day!

More of those cool promotional posters here.

Truly Scary

The day after Halloween (I guess that would be All Saints Day), I was walking to the subway in the morning, and as I turned down one of the quiet, leaf-strewn residential streets that leads to the station, I was noticing all the Halloween decorations that survived the previous night's activities (does anyone do tricks anymore?). On the corner of one street, I noticed one house had a hand-made bristol board sign fixed to the porch pillar beside the front steps; affixed there, I assume, the night before to greet any trick-or-treating kids. It was about the size of a placard one would carry in a picket line.

At the top was a hand-drawn stop sign with the word "Halloween" slashed by a red diagonal stripeóthe universal "No --------" symbol. Below, in hand-written marker strokes, this is what it said:

Stop glorifying Satan
Father of lies
Glorify God the Father instead

Now that is scary.

Do these people actually believe that Halloweenólittle kids going door-to-door collecting candyóis actually "glorifying Satan"? It doesn't take much research to edumacate oneself about the origins of Halloweenóand it has nothing to do with Satan. Spirits, yes. But the Bible has lots to say about spirits and people rising from the dead, and stuff like that.

And even in the contemporary observance of Halloween, the Devil is no more real a presence than Frankenstein, Dracula, Austin Powers or George W. Characters in a pantomime.

Seems to me the only ones "glorifying Satan" are those who actually believe he exists. And I'm the guy with 666's popping up every time I turn around!

It may have been useful at one time for us to incorporate personifications and anthropomorphizations of Good and Evil into our lives, but we'd all be better off when we realize that Good and Evil aren't external entities to be worshipped and/or feared, but powers and potentialities that live in the hearts of humankind.

Or, as Tom Waits said, "There ain't no Devil; that's just God when he's drunk."

Glenn Live-It

Hey, Glenn Tilbrook has just started a U.S. tour. Tour dates here.

No Toronto gig though. :-(

Miss him at your peril! Even if you're not a big Squeeze fan, or even a casual fan (and who shouldn't be at least a casual fan?), his club shows are definitely the best bang for you entertainment buck, as you may or may not recall from my blog entry about his show at the Horseshoe this past May.

Be-Deviled

Okay, this is getting weird.

I was just flipping through the TV channels, and as I passed by MuchMoreMusic, what video was just beginning? "The Number Of The Beast" by Iron Maiden.

I think I'm being stalked by Beelzebub!

Fun Stuff

Here's some fun stuff I've culled from the web lately, mostly from Blogdex, but some from elsewhere.

Evil Clown Generator

Eric Meyer photography - Stereotypes

ó The Industorious Clock. This is very cool.

ó "I got a fever! And the only prescription is more cowbell!" The Cowbell Project brings you samples of songs that should incorporate this versatile instrument. Also includes an MP3 of the sketch from SNL with Christopher Walken.
[Interesting fact about Christopher Walken: whenever he gets a script, the first thing he does is go through it and remove all the punctuation. I love that! You can really hear it in his delivery.]

ó And for those of you who are superstitious (Not that I am. Nope. Not me.) ó Rabbit Rabbit [courtesy of Silvergull]

Prisoner Of...Hell?

I finally decided on a Halloween costume for a party this weekend. I'm going as an escaped convict. I decided on the traditional striped pyjamas and hat look, y'know, the old rock-pounders, as opposed to the more contemporary orange coveralls of the modern penitentiary dweller. Hey, I'm just a traditional guy!

Not the most innovative costume I've ever done, but I just didn't have the time or gumption to create something of my own. This year I'm just keeping it simple and easy.

But I'm adding a few twists of my own. I have a pair of handcuffs, so I went out last night to Malabar, a great costume store, because I needed a hand with my costume.

A severed hand!

They had a very nice collection of severed limbs of various types and sizesósevered above the wrist, severed above the elbowóand I found exactly what I wanted. I'm going to place the handcuffs on my right wrist, and then put the severed hand in the other clasp of the handcuffs, so it just dangles there. (I chose my right wrist because it's my drinking hand, for greater effect.) The idea, of course, being that I had been handcuffed to someone else, a guard perhaps, and had to chop off his hand to escape. Just a little added touch. I like the idea of cordially socializing at a party with a severed hand dangling from handcuffs on my wrist.

This is actually the first time I've bought a costume at a store. In years past I've always created something from whatever I had on hand, or dug up at thrift stores. I had checked out a few costume rental places last night, and they were charging about $55 to rent a convict costume. Then tonight I dropped by a store on the Danforth on my way home, and they had pre-packaged convict costumes for sale for the same price. The striped pyjamas, the little hat, all cotton, not bad quality. So I bought one of those. Why rent when you can buy? Plus I can use it again, modified slightly, for future Halloween costumes. Prisoner of Love. Prisoner of Rock N Roll, etc. You get the idea.

Funny moment at the store when I was asking questions of the very helpful sales lady who was showing me the costume. Some of the ones I'd seen for rent came with a plastic ankle ball and chain...

Me: So does it come with the ball and chain?

She: No but you can get that separately. We keep them over in our wedding section.

And she didn't even crack a smile! Then she shuffles off to some other aisle, and returns with the ball and chain! Not a word of a lie!

Hilarious!

(I didn't get the ball and chain, though. I figure someone will step on it and twist their ankle, and then sue me, or something.)

And the fun didn't stop there. After I bought the costume, I stopped into the Shopper's Drug Mart down the street to get some of those Listerine Breath Strips that I just can't seem to live without all of a sudden. I picked up a pack of three for $5.79, and took them to the cash, where the cashier girls were all dressed as little devils. Red jump suits, little red horns and cute little pointy tails at the smalls of their backs.

She rings my purchase in, and with tax the sum comes toóthis is not a word of a lieó$6.66! And the devil-girl just tells me flatly what the total is, in that droney, cashier-y way, not getting the connection at all.

Me (pointing to the display on the cash register): Is that a joke?
She-devil Cashier: No, the price is more for the 3-pack.
Me: No, but, ... uh, 666 is the sign of the devil...
[pause]
She-devil Cashier: Oh, I didn't even get that!

The devil you say.

This is doubly odd, because, as you faithful readers may recall, this marks the second time in less than two weeks that something I've purchased has come to that sign-of-the-beastly total.

Waddya make of that?

If it happens a third time, do I lose my soul to Old Nick, or something?

Bloody Hell!

Happy Halloween

...and happy birthday...

Mom!

(Even though she doesn't know about my blog.)

Yes, that's my mom as a baby, the baby of the Grant family. Today she is... 77? 78? The larger picture you see after clicking on the baby pic, is her family, the Grants, at the old homestead in Millview, P.E.I., out in the country a few miles east of Charlottetown. My mom is being held by my Aunt Ruth. Check out the flapper hairstyles on my aunts Mary and Ethel (2nd and 3rd from the left).

Of all this large family, only Mom and my Aunt Mary are left. That's kind of sad, but such is life. I'm the youngest of eight in my family, and I guess someday there will just be me and a few of my next oldest siblings. Not something I like to think about, but just one of those inevitabilities you have to deal with eventually.

The seated gent in the hat and vest is my grandfather, Vince, and the woman standing next to him is my grandmother, Winnifred (Winnie). I never met either of them, unfortunately. They died before I was born. But apparently, along with the strong physical resemblence, I'm a lot like my grandfather in other ways. Same quiet demeanor. Same dry sense of humour. He wasn't a big talker, but he'd choose his spots, usually when there was a lull in the conversational back-and-forth at social gatherings, and then he'd pull the pin on a witty comment, lob it into the void, and the room would fall apart laughing.

I always wished I'd known him, seeing as we seem to have been cut from the same cloth.
But maybe I know him better than I think.

Are you out there Vince?

Are you in here Vince?

So not only do I send Halloween birthday wishes to my Mom, the one who brought me into this world, but on this night when we pay tribute to the spirits of those who have crossed over, I reach across the divide to shake hands with the spirits that live strongly within me, whether I know it or not, colouring my life here and now.

Sing-chronicity

Since it's Halloween, people at work have brought in candy, cupcakes and other goodies to share. I stopped in at a candy store last night and picked up a can of Werthers Originals to add to the sugarfest. While I was there I couldn't resist also buying a Pokey bendable figure, to occupy desk space alongside the Gumby I've had for a few years now.

So I'm sitting here, looking at my Pokey, all orange and rubbery and new, as he stands on my desk in the space beyond my phoneóthe strange netherworld where Workland stops and Toyland begins. Behind him, his pal Gumby is climbing my souvenir mini-replica of the Sears Tower, all King-Kong-like (except he's smiling and waving), while a Batman Pez dispenser looks on. And I'm eating a succession of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and listening to Devo: The Essentials ó and I'm experiencing a very odd but strong feeling of sensorial congruence, like each of these cultural artifacts fits into the other as if they were pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

I'll say it now for the whole world to know: Gumby & Pokey and Devo and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were made to be experienced together!

"Working In The Coalmine" just came on! Perfect! You'll have to pardon me, I feel a desktop dance sequence coming on, and I have some choreography to work out with my little bendable friends.

Warren Piece

Something I should have mentioned in my last entry: Mega-kudos to Dave Letterman for dedicating an entire show to Warren Zevon. Good on ya, Dave!

Life'll Kill Ya

Staying up late to watch Warren Zevon on David Letterman. He's the only guest on the show tonight. Last month, Zevon was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. As those of you who have watched Letterman over the years know, Zevon has been a frequent fill-in for Paul Schaeffer, and is apparently a friend of the people on the show. Dave is noticeably emotional tonight, reminding me of his first post-9/11 show. After Zevon performed a new piano ballad, "Mutineers", Dave looked like he was just barely keeping his composure as he went over to greet him.

But Zevon is incredible. Still as dry and witty as ever. Here's a man whose number is up, yet he's being amazingly funny, irreverent and candid about it all. Perhaps not surprising, considering that in the press release announcing his illness, he was quoted as saying, "I'm okay with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it till the next James Bond movie comes out."

No "poor poor pitiful me" from this guy.

His singing seems weakened by his shortness of breath, and he's a bit stiff in his movements, like there's possibly some pain, but he performed three songs, including "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner", a request from Letterman.

In the interview, Dave started by asking him about the disease and how it all came about. Zevon says something like, "I think I made a strategic error in not consulting a physician in over 20 years."

And, oh yeah, his new album is called My Ride's Here.

I sure hope that if I'm ever facing a similar fate, I'll be able to handle it with as much grace, wit and humour as Mr. Zevon.

Here's to you, Warren. Enjoy every sandwich.

Reach Out...

Gee, can't think of any interesting applications for this technological development.

Adams' Ribbing?

Not really sure what's happening over at the Ryan Adams web page. Did someone hack it, or does he have a sense of humour after all?

Crybaby Cry

With apologies to George Harrison, I do need a wah-wah. So I went out yesterday and got myself a little late birthday treat.

I bought mine used at Songbird, though, so I saved some coin off the full retail price.

For those of you who aren't familiar with what a wah-wah do (heh heh, I like saying that ó what a wah-wah do, what a wah-wah do, what a wah-wah do... heh heh), and if the name of the thing isn't onomatopoetically obvious, it does this.

Lots of fun, very funky and especially handy for playing í70s porn movie music.

"Plumber? I didn't call a plumber."

"We Can Be Heroes..."

Chris Murphy Rescues Nardwuar From Hat Thieves

Horoscorp

Scorpio October 23 - November 21

It's your birthright to become a master of desire, Scorpio. Two related skills are involved. First, you have to regularly pare away all inessential desires and enthrone the precious few that are really important. Second, you have to steadily shed outmoded goals to make room for fresh goals that will consistently lead you away from the past and into the future. It's a tough assignment. Most people never come close to accomplishing such refined potency, and they don't have half the number of desires you do. Can you pull it off? The coming weeks will be a turning point in your quest to claim this birthright.

Interesting. Y'know, the rational part of me doesn't want to put too much stock in astrology. But I have to admit, as cynical as I can be in some ways, this horoscope does seem to reflect some of the ways I've been thinking about my life recently. I have definitely been looking to "pare away" inessentials, and I have indeed been taking steps recently to make some fairly big changes in my life, which would certainly lead me "away from the past and into the future". On the other hand, how unusual is that, really? Aren't most people in one way or another facing very similar things?

On the other other hand, the horoscope that I sometimes read in the subway commuter paper can be oddly specific. Twice in the past two or three months, it's advised be to buy footwear! I kid you not. It said something like:

"A coworker causes stress today. Patience will be its own reward. Don't leap to judgement in matters of the heart. Buy new footwear."

After the second time it happened, you can damn well bet I went out and got myself a new pair of shoes!

Tip for some nice íberg

Get some more live Paul Westerberg MP3s here, including these fine tracks:

Solo Songs
* Seein' Her - Asbury Park, NJ 8/7/93
* Things - Whiskey, LA 7/21/93
* Stain Yer Blood - Troubador, LA 9/17/96
* Love Untold - KFOG, Berkeley, CA 9/12/96

Mats Songs
* Smokey/I'll Be You - Asbury Park, NJ 8/7/93
* Talent Show/Send in the Clowns - Troubador, LA 9/17/96

Cover Songs
* Another Girl, Another Planet (The Only Ones) - Landover, MD 12/9/93

B-sides, etc
* 33rd of July - Bonus track on Japanese release of "Suicaine Gratifaction"

Beck Again

Okay, let's try this again. I was half-hoping my previous Beck post would miraculously reappear in Blogger, but no dice.

So...

Went to see the Beck/Flaming Lips show Sunday night at Massey Hall. Stopped on the way for a quick slice of pizza at Magic Oven (great gourmet pizza). When the price of my slice and a "smart drink" came to $6.66, should that have tipped me off that the final encore number would be "Devil's Haircut"?

The start time on the ticket said 8 p.m., so we were surprised when we got there at 8:15 and the Lips were already playing! Punctual bastards!

I had never seem the Lips before, but I love their new album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and I had heard their live shows were a little bizarre. As we took our seats in the first balcony, I couldn't take my eyes off the stage. With the exception of head Lip Wayne Coyne, who was sporting a white suit, the other members of the band were dressed in furry animal costumes, sans head pieces. Not only that, there were about two-dozen people at each side of the stage also dressed in costume as various furry woodland animalsóbunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, etc., all waving flashlights about. There were huge, brightly coloured, confetti-filled balloons bouncing around in the crowd, five large disco balls sat behind the band, and a gigantic screen hovered above and behind them. On this screen was the fish-eye-lensed image of Wayne Coyne, shot from a mini-cam just behind his microphone. He was dueting the album's title track with a nun puppet, whose visage, thanks to the fish-eye lens effect, appeared on the screen to be about as large as his own, lending a visual parity to the singing partners. Coyne's falsetto, seen and heard as emanating from the nun puppet, made it all the more hilarious.

It was a circus. No other word will do it justice. The spectacle made all the more amazing by the relatively reserved atmosphere of old Massey Hall (although, I wonder if similar sights may have been beheld in its Vaudeville days).

Unfortunately, a few songs later, one of the costumed creatures prancing about at stage-side apparently stepped on a vital extension cord, thus scuttling the band's special effects capability. The Goldfish was pronounced the goat, but I suspect it may have been a red herring for Massey's aging circuitry.

In any event, Coyne announced that they couldn't continue, which spawned a chant of "Massey fix your shit!" from the crowd, until the band decided to soldier on without the bells and whistles for a few more songs. They still had power to their instruments, so I found this heartening, yet a bit perplexing. Any band that needs to rely on theatrical effects for their live show, and is unsure of their ability to justógaspóplay their songs with instruments and nothing else... well, I have to wonder about their worthiness. But they were fine, and finished their stripped down set to a warm appreciation from the crowd.

About 20 minutes later, Beck took the stage, first playing a few songs solo with acoustic guitar, seated on a stool ringed by peach-coloured globes on the stage floor. Great performances. Then he "Beck-oned" the Lips to join him as his "Beck-up" band (heh, sorry) (well, not really)(double-heh). And I have so say, with the Lips, some of the Sea Change songs had more umph than on the album. Unlike the experience my friend Dean had at a warm-up show in Cali, it seemed to me that Beck and the Lips played fairly well together. I guess they must have gotten the kinks worked out since then. However, I did find Wayne Coyne's antics annoying. More than a few times during Beck's set, and a couple of times at very inappropriate points in a song, he would shake his fists in the air, triumphantly, sometimes while standing on a chair, arousing cheers from the crowd, who were at times disturbingly sheep-like in their responses. At other times he would wave his lights around (you can see him at the bottom of this picture, although that incident wasn't necessarily annoying), and sometimes act the cheerleader, egging on the crowd, even though I didn't think we needed egging. There were times when I wanted to egg him. Wayne, when you're in the back-up band, try acting like it.

Otherwise, it was a fine show. Beck almost took himself out of it when he spun his acoustic guitar around his neck, and it bonked him on the head mid-orbit. He left the stage for some medical attention and returned for the next song. Great performances of "Lost Cause", "Guess I'm Doing Fine", "Round The Bend", "Loser", "Where It's At" and, possibly my favourite Beck song, "Nobody's Fault But My Own" (performed while kneeling at a harmonium, not an accordion, as the Sun's Jane Stevenson reported in her review. People generally wear accordions Jane).

Assuming the Lips get their technical act together, this is a tour worth catching.

Beck Bork

I just spent about 15 minutes writing a blog entry about tonight's Beck/Flaming Lips show, pressed the "post" button, and the damn thing disappeared into nowhere!

Arrrgggggghh!!!

I'm too tired to attempt a retype. I'll have to try again later.

Title íBout

Allan Wigney in The Ottawa Sun explores the world of wacky album titles.

Hard to argue with his favourite, from Montreal-based band My Dog Popper ó 668: Neighbour of the Beast. LOL!

School for fish

Speaking of fish, if you know me, you know why I get a kick out of this story.

No charity for Faith

A nice rip on Faith Hill's lasted album from The Washington Post, under the title Faith Hillís Crocodile Tears.

This excerpt cuts to the core of it, and also serves as a blanket condemnation of all the soul-less crap being churned out of the Nashville/L.A. star-making machinery:

"The real problem here isn't the credibility of the lyrics, but a lack of emotional conviction that undermines this song and many others on "Cry". The album's 14 songs are the product of more than two dozen different writers and there's seldom a sense of genuine connection between singer and song."

I know, this is like shooting fish in a barrel, but as long as there are amazing and talented musicians and songwriters toiling in obscurity, those fish need to be kept in the crosshairs. Kudos to Richard Harrington for working that 12-guage.

Morning Smile

Had an interesting subway moment this morning on the way to work. I had just hopped on the train and grabbed a seat, when I noticed the rather tall, skinny kid standing in the aisle in front of me where the pole is, and realized he was addressing me. He looked like he was maybe 16, pock-marked face, bed-hair, buck teeth, drowsy parka. And he was talking to me in a very loud voice.

It took me a few seconds to assess what was happening, but then I realized that he was developmentally challenged (if that's the proper term). (There must be a school or something around Danforth and Warden or Victoria Park, because I've often seen other developmentally challenged kids on the train at that time of the morning.) I looked up at him as he loomed over me, trying to understand his somewhat garbled speech. Not helped by the fact that I wasn't completely awake yet; was up late the night before. After he repeated it a few times, it turned out he was telling me that Halloween was coming up, and that I should dress up as Dr. Evil from Austin Powers! I guess my shaved head inspired his costume advice.

I smiled and promised him that I would. Apparently that was all he needed to hear. His work done, he wandered down the car, stopping in front of a woman to offer some more free Halloween costume consultancy.

Arrivals

News from my good friend Myfanwy. She and her husband Andy welcomed Sydney Elizabeth Canfield Campbell into the world on September 25th at 10:44 pm, in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Welcome to the world, Sydney!

I'm promised photos soon.

heh-heh-heh

Ain't the world just full of strange ol' coinkidinks?

As I was writing the previous blog entry on that Ketchup dance thing, I was thinking to myselfósomewhat tongue-in-cerebrumóthat the only dance novelty I really liked was the "Tequila" dance that Pee Wee Herman did in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure".

A few minutes later, I'm flipping through the TV channels and what pops up on Showcase but that very scene from the aforementioned Tim Burton-directed 1985 classic.

Strange.

And a big coincidence, too!

Get Out The Tomatoes

Just saw the group Las Ketchup on the Caroline Rhea show (is she the one who's taking over from Rosie or something?). I'd never heard of this "group" before, but apparently their "Macarena-style" hit "Asereje" has swept the Spanish-speaking world this past summer, and is poised to infiltrate North America.

Or has it already? Was the show a re-run? If so, it's passed me by, thankfully. That's just what we needóanother lame-ass dance trend to make wedding receptions and dance clubs even more hellish.

For what's it's worth, this song/dance looks even lamer than the Macarena. Even compared to other dance trends, it reeks of pre-fab. On the Rhea show, the three comely, young ladies in the groupósisters from Cordoba, Spainówere shadowed by three more female back-up singers standing just a few feet behind them. Hmmm, wonder who's carrying the ball there? It was pretty obvious the trio of figure/heads needed the vocal bolstering. I mean, really, if three vocalists can't project enough singing power on their own, then maybe they'd better find another line of work.

At least Chubby Checkerónotwithstanding his screwball demands for inclusion in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame for milking one song for 40 yearsócould actually sing.

BTW, here's the deal on the name: The sisters are the daughters of a famous flamenco guitarist named Tomate. Get it? I'm hoping this is one dance trend that gets squished before it lands here.

And besides, isn't Latin music's 15 minutes up by now? I mean, I don't mind Latin music, per se, (heh), but I find after three or four songs the rhythm gets boring.

NEXT!

Eye-dentical twins?

Imagine That

Happy Birthday John Lennon!

He would have been 62 today. We still miss you John.

If you're interested, there's an online petition here to proclaim Oct. 9 an international John Lennon Day For Peace And Love On Earth.
(Thanks Deano)

Of Bad Shepherds And The Tyranny Of Men

Lifted this quote from Mark & Marjorie's blog. Verrrrry eenterestink...

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
óHerman Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

Also an interesting comment on their blog by Marjorie's dad, a former U.S. airborne ranger and Special Forces veteran.

Salutin' Saletan

Slate's William Saletan does a fine job of disentangling Georgie Wargie's pretzel logic on the need to attack Iraq, then reports on the state of the "debate" on the issue in the U.S. Senate.

Heh, Georgie Wargie... I just came up with that on the fly! Not bad, eh?

Still Life

Keef: in the sway

A pretty interesting Q&A with Keith Richards over at rollingstone.com, including stuff that didn't appear in the print article.

Some excerpts:
You went right from being a teenager to being a Stone -- no regular job, a little bit of art school. What would you be doing if the Stones had not lasted this long?

I went to art school and learned how to advertise, because you don't learn much art there. I schlepped my portfolio to one agency, and they said -- they love to put you down -- "Can you make a good cup of tea?" I said, "Yeah, I can, but not for you." I left my crap there and walked out. After I left school, I never said, "Yes, sir" to anybody.

What did heroin do for you in the Seventies? What did you get out of it -- calm, poise, a sense of power?

You could talk to every junkie in the world and get a different answer. Because they don't know -- nor do I. [Long pause] It was a damn good feeling, for starters. And we were going through a lot of stuff. I could operate behind that. It gave me a distance from everything that was going on around me. I could see things happening -- fast time, slow time. It was Stones business, Allen Klein stuff, and then Brian dying. There was a lot of stuff happening, and it gave me a sense of space. Eventually, I was so far in space, I was almost in the atmosphere...

You're talking to a madman, really. Who else in this forty or fifty years of rock has been able to sneak through the cracks like this? Which is probably why a lot of us become musicians, I think. As long as you've got a gig, it's a brilliant slide through the social structure. You don't have to play the game that everybody else has to. It's a license to do what you want.

Are there Stones hits that you're sick of playing?

..."Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Brown Sugar" and "Start Me Up" are always fun to play. You gotta be a real sourpuss, mate, not to get up there and play "Jumpin' Jack Flash" without feeling like, "C'mon, everybody, let's go!" It's like riding a wild horse.


Speakin of "Jumpin' Jack Flash", go here to download a live version of the song from Paul Westerberg's recent solo tour. Other live Westerberg/Mats MP3s there as well.

Leadership With A Big L

Manley rude to Queen, says Clark [from CBC.ca news]

OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Joe Clark says the deputy prime minister should have nothing to do with the Queen's visit to the country's capital next week.

It was embarrassing and insulting to hear John Manley advocate abandoning the monarchy when the Queen's reign ends, Clark said Saturday. Manley, who has suggested breaking ties to the monarchy in the past, made his latest comments on Friday in Montreal ñ just as the Queen began her Golden Jubilee tour of Canada.

"I thought (Manley's remarks) represented, first of all, simple rudeness, and secondly, the worst possible political judgment. I was astounded," Clark said after a meeting of his party's national council. "It should be made abundantly clear to Her Majesty that he does not speak for the people of the country when he says that on the day she arrives in Canada."

Clark called on Jean ChrÈtien to assign someone other than Manley to host the Queen during her visit to Ottawa.

Manley, meanwhile, told reporters that he regrets the timing of his statement. "The Queen is in Canada to receive the thanks of Canadians after 50 years of service and it's richly deserved," the deputy prime minister said. "I wished I'd been a little more skillful at not answering a question."

Yes, I wish more of our leaders showed greater question-dodging skills and less candour. You'll make a fine prime minister Mr. Manley.

A Third Geek

No, not as in "a third geek behind the grassy knoll". According to this geek quiz (via circadian-shift), I'm rated as approximately one-third geek.

Like most of these quizzes, the reliability of the questions is quite shaky, but, of course, it's all in fun. Nonetheless, I do think my results are fairly accurate. I think I do "go both ways" in geek terms. Does that mean I'm bi-geeky?

You are 32% geek

You are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be proud. In fact, you can make a good deal of money as a translator. Normal: Tell our geek we need him to work this weekend. You [to Geek]: We need more than that, Scotty. You'll have to stay until you can squeeze more outta them engines! Geek [to You]: I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain, but we need more dilithium crystals! You [to Normal]: He wants to know if he gets overtime.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Basically, I got on the plane with a bomb. Basically, I tried to ignite it. Basically, yeah, I intended to damage the plane."óRichard Reid (a.k.a. the Shoe Bomber) (from The New York Times).

Man, I hate it when people overuse the word 'basically'.

Rollin' Tunderin' Jayzus!

Bob Dylan Live 1975 To Be Released in November

Columbia Records is excited to announce the November release of The Bootleg Series, vol. 5--Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue. This two-CD set is comprised of selections from the best of the multitrack recordings of the Revue's celebrated performances in Worcester, Cambridge, Boston, and Montreal. The track list will be announced soon. A bonus DVD packaged with the set will include two songs from Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, remixed for 5.1 surround sound.

To that, I say woo! And woo once more again!

I have a few bootleg tapes of these shows, and they're great. Sometimes a little ragged with all the various players on stage, but there are some very intense performances. Dylan fans rejoice! I love it when this kind of stuff gets released. It's like extra bonus candy!

J1K

A landmark day here in Jimbuck2! I've just reached the millennium markóthe 1,000th site visit! (Well, that mark was actually reached some time ago, since I only installed the site meter in June.) But not too bad for being around less than 6 months. Much rejoicing!

Roger that

Over on the Wilco web site, they've posted some photos from their recent tour of the U.S. west coast. Funny how even their photos seem to capture the essence of my life!

Check out their Roadcase section for video footage of a performance at WDET in Detroit.

The Price You Pay

CD Price Fixing Scam Settled

NEW YORK (AP) -- The five top U.S. distributors of compact discs and three large music retailers have agreed to pay $143 million in cash and CDs to settle charges they cheated consumers by fixing prices, authorities announced Monday....

...Consumers who bought CDs between 1995 and 2000 can file claims for part of the money, prosecutors said. Announcements will be made later to tell consumers how to participate in the payout.
[read on...]

So what does this mean here in Canada? Does the retail scene here operate independently enough that this may not have happened here? Are the Canadian branches of the big labels beyond these kind of price-fixing tactics? I have my doubts on both counts, but I really don't know enough about how retail operates. Is the evidence... well, evident in the sticker prices of CDs?

More importantly, is anyone investigating whether Canadian labels and retailers may have been similarly in cahoots here? The same wire story was carried on the Canoe site, with no additional info about the possible impact on Canadian consumers. Hmmm.

How Much Are Those Doggies...

Was looking through some photos from my trip to LA two years ago, and came across this one I took at Venice Beach. I love the sign.

Dennis, Carl and Brian...The Beach Dogs!

Bad Mooney On The Rise

Step aside Strokes. Take a hike Hives. The Mooney Suzuki is back in town!

October 15 @ Lee's Palace. Mark it on your calendars Toronto people. And for the rest of you, if they're coming to your neck of the woods, The Mooney Suzuki are not to be missed (Look! Here's their tour schedule!)

I've ranted about them here before. I believe I used the phrase "100% sweet manic rock & roll energy." They are a staggeringly amazing rock 'n' roll band. Must be experienced to be believed. Beyond hyperbole. Prepare to be devastated.

They will conquer you like the Viking Kitties of old!!

Viking Kitties

The further adventures of Erik The Frisky and Leif The Fluffy, raping, pillaging and plundering...balls of yarn.
(courtesy of circadian-shift)

Nelly who?

Kinnie Starr rocked Lee's Palace last night with her smart and soulful hip-hoppy ways. Warm, funky, poetic, bisexual, trilingualóyes, she is the AntiFurtado.

Than-a's

Came across this one the other day: Noisier than two skeletons making love on a tin roof!

One of my favourites is: Busier than a one-legged man at a butt-kickin' contest!

And then there's the perennial, dumber than a bag o' hammers.

Got any "than-a's" you wish to share?

Word

Looking forward to my first Word On The Street on Sunday.

"Join us for the 13th edition of Canada's largest one-day celebration of the printed word, street-festival style! Watch as trendy Queen Street West is transformed overnight into a seven-block literary theme park between University and Spadina Avenues. Don't miss all the author readings, book signings, children's activities, and musical performances ó PLUS thousands of books and magazines for sale!"

I love it that there's a section called... Writer's Block!

A Case Of Woo!

It's official. I am in love with Neko Case.

But then I always did have a thing for redheads.

Neko was simply brilliant Thursday night at The Phoenix. Took the stage with just two of her "boyfriends"; an upright bass player, who may have been Tom V. Ray, who played on the album, and a pedal steel, banjo, guitar and hot-rodded dulcimer player, who may have been Jon Rauhouse. Neko played only tenor guitars (4-string-ed things)óan acoustic and two electrics.

But man, did her singing ever bowl me over, and pretty much everybody else there. I think the only other times I had seen her were once at the Horseshoe as half of The Corn Sisters with Carolyn Mark. That was a NxNE set, and at the time I just wan't up for that much corn and twang, so I ran off to see some rock bands. The other time was at a NxNE songwriters' session (same year?), held at the crack of noon when Neko apparently had been up very late the previous night. She wasn't in the best form, and I think she was also just then learning the guitar, so she was a bit uncertain. Her voice was impressive in its impact, but her singing wasn't as powerful as it could have been. She also had the misfortune of being on the panel next to Sarah Harmer, who was so riveting, especially when she sang "Oleander". I think it was my first encounter with Ms. Harmer's talent. Oh my. What a sweet voice, and what great songs. What an unusually beautiful woman. Neko who?

Anyway, Thursday night was all Neko, and she was fantastic. I don't know if it was the natural acoustics of the big room at The Phoenix, or the soundman's expertise, but there was just the right amount of reverb on her voice. And when a voice as strong as hers hits a powerful note and then drops away, and you hear that reverb... oooh, chills! With the minimal (and brilliant) accompaniment, her voice had lots of room. But it wasn't just the strength of her voice; not mere power that held us in sway. She sang with vigor, with emotion, with personality. I couldn't help but bring to mind the spectres of great singers like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Well-deserved comparisons. No stretch.

She did a lot of the songs off her great new CD, Blacklisted, plus a couple from Furnace Room Lullaby and one or two from her debut The Virgian (hear clips here).

Throughout the evening, Neko was such a wonderful combination of sweetness and sexiness and charm and goofiness and fun. "Thank you all so much for coming here", she must have repeated at least four times. She said she had never played a room that big before, except when she was opening for someone else. What she meant was, she had never filled a room that large before on her own. People didn't even seem to mind when she took a rather prolonged time to retune her guitar before the encores.

And speaking of the encores, 100 bonus points for almost completely trashing the "oh let's wait 5 minutes before we come out for the encores" crap. After the last song of the main set, she and her guys exited through a door at the back of the stage, and then she immediately spun on her heel and came right back out again for the encores. They didn't even close the door. It was like there was a clause that says you have to have both feet off the stage proper before the encores can begin, and she honoured the clause, but no more than that. Kudos Neko! (hmmm, that last phrase is an odd one, in'it? Repeat that twelve times fast and it starts to sound like the name of some small island nation off the coast of Africa.)

As for covers, she performed an absolutely charming version of Dylan's "Buckets Of Rain", and ended the evening gracefully and romantically with her grandmother's favourite song, the Patsy Cline/Jim Reeves chestnut "You Belong To Me".

And we did.

(s)Hark!

It's a music fan feeding frenzy as an unusually balmy September gradually chills into October's murky red.

(Hey, it was Shark Week on The Discovery Channel, okay?)

Tomorrow night, Sept 26, Neko Case @ The Phoenix. (I have my ticket.)

Saturday, the 28th, is a possible double-shot: Gomez @ The Phoenix (early show); Kinnie Starr @ Lee's Palace. (see my Showcase entry for Kinnie from Spring 2001, scroll to bottom of page.)

Wed., Oct. 2 - Ron Sexsmith @ The Phoenix (Got my ticket).

Oct. 3-5 - Danny Michel does a 3-night stand @ The Rivoli.

Oct. 10 - Sarah Slean w/ Nathan Wiley @ The Phoenix.

Oct. 12 - Tift Merritt @ The Horseshoe

Oct. 19 - Emm Gryner w/ Andy Stochansky @ The Palais Royale.

Oct. 20 - Beck &/with The Flaming Lips @ Massey Hall.

I was looking at the availability of tix for The Strokes w/Sloan at the ACC "Theatre Mode" Oct 9, but there's not much left. Lousy seats.

Page boy

The latest installment of my Showcase page is up on the web, this one featuring Joe Fournier, Hopeful Monster and The Heelwalkers (whose bio is one of the funniest I've come across)ópurely by coincidence, all three are from Nova Scotia.

Hopeful Monster is playing this Tuesday night at the Horseshoe, along with The Hylozoists, which apparently is comprised of the same band members, just a different guy in charge. I guess that's one way to keep the touring overhead low! As usual for the 'Shoe's new music Tuesdays, there is no cover.

Word

More Word of the Day wonderfulness. Of course we all know this word, but I'd never seen its etymology before. Interesting.

Word of the Day for Saturday September 21, 2002

hobnob \HAHB-nahb\, intransitive verb:
To associate familiarly.

Hobnob comes from an eariler phrase, to hob or nob, meaning
"to drink together, taking turns toasting one another,"
probably from Middle English habbe "to have" and nabbe, a
contraction of ne + habbe, "to have not," hence, "to have and
have not, to give and take."

Do you know shit?

The trueóand falseóetymology of shit.

Boss-ted

Okay, enough lies! No more lies from you Mr. Springsteen!

Ever since Bruce's latest CD, "The Rising", came out, the following statement has been repeated in almost every article about him: "Springsteen's first album of new songs recorded with the E Street Band since 1984..." That would be since the "Born In The USA" album. This information is WRONG WRONG WRONG!! Springsteen recorded "Tunnel Of Love" in 1987. With the E Street Band! (btw, "Tunnel Of Love" is a very underrated album, containing some of Bruce's most personal writing, foreshadowing the disintegration of his first marriage. Makes for a fine breakup album, a purpose it dutifully served for me back in the day.)

Anyway, the thing is, this info is originating from his own record label, Sony/Columbia, and from his very own web page! I got so frustrated with this, today I happened to be on the Sony Music web page at work, and I decided to send them an email message, bringing this misinformation to their attention. This is the initial response I got:

From: SonyMusicCanada@sonymusic.com
Date: Mon Sep 16, 2002 04:32:27 PM America/Montreal
To: jim_kelly@sympatico.ca
Subject: Thanks for your question.

Thank you for your letter and interest in Sony Music Canada
and our artists. We are following up on your question and
will e-mail you with a personal response shortly.

But there's more than just my rock-nerd cred at stake here. Sony is running a contest to win Springsteen tickets, and guess what the trivia question is?

What is the name of the last album released by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band?
A) Born To Run
B) Born In The U.S.A.
C) The Ghost Of Tom Joad

Now that's even further screwed up because officially there are only 2 albums "released by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band", i.e., credited to him and the band, and those are the two live albums, the "1975-1985" boxed set, and the "Live In New York" CD from a couple years ago (last year?). Check the spines of all his CDs if you don't believe me. Other than the live albums, they're all credited to "Bruce Springsteen" alone. It's something to do with the fact that when John Hammond Sr. signed Bruce to Columbia back in '72 or whenever, he signed him as a solo artist. Then Bruce went into the studio and brought all his E Street buddies with him. So even without the "Tunnel Of Love" oversight, their trivia question is already flawed, since none of the albums listed were "released by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band".

I'll be interested to see how they respond, and then maybe I'll spring that info on them. Maybe they'll give me free tickets to shut me up?!

What is the deal with those tickets anyway? There are supposed to be 2 price levels for the show here in Toronto on Dec. 5 ñ $69.50 and $115. The House Of Blues web site says that, but when I log onto Ticketmaster.ca, they only have the $115 tickets for sale. And then it says something about a random draw on the day of the show, but there's no further info explaining what that entails. I tried calling Ticketbastard tonight, but I was put on hold for about 10 minutes, so I hung up.

As Vincent Vega says, "to be continued..."

Moon-ifest Destiny

CBC News: Company gains U.S. approval to open moon business

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - A private company has been given the green light by the U.S. government to explore the moon. Clients will be allowed to send a time capsule of messages and photos to the lunar surface, use hi-tech interactive equipment and view the equipment left behind from U.S. Apollo and Russian landings.

So how does this work? Does the United States Of America actually have a claim on the moon? Does it own the moon? Is it still the case that if you land somewhere and stick a flag in the soil, a la Chris Columbus, you get to keep it? The whole of the moon? (heh.) Is this supported by international law? And if so, does international law on Earth only apply to our satellites, or does it extend to other planets as well? And how does that work?

And while I'm at it...
Why is the sky blue?
Which way does the wind blow?
Who did let the dogs out?

... and that reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
- Groucho Marx