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Best new band names:

Newfound Interest In Connecticut

Run With The Kittens

Haiku Night In Canada

The local CBC radio program "Here & Now" has been running a wonderful contest called "Haiku Night In Canada" (for those of you who aren't Canadian, "Hockey Night In Canada" is the nationally televised CBC broadcast of Saturday night NHL hockey games--a cultural institution. cf. "Monday Night Football").

Today was the last entry date, and I got my entries in just in time. You can see some of the entries here. Mine are near the bottom.

The rules stipulate one entry per contestent, but it seemed like everyone else was submitting multiples, so...I jumped off that cliff too.

Take The Good

Here's an Elliott Smith MP3, courtesy of the indie label he had worked with, Kill Rock Stars. This is one of the better songs from his Either/Or album. A little more folk-punk-ish than the more elaborate arrangements on later albums.

Between The Bars

There are also live MP3s available for download here.

Miss Misery Loves Company

October is turning out to be a brutal month. More leaves falling than usual. I didn't expect to be writing two suicide entries in a row.

Elliott Smith. Now gone.

Damn.

I was shocked when I read the news. It literally jolted me in my seat. But I can't say I was surprised. In the past year or so, while fans like me waited for him to release a new album, I had been hearing some disquieting accounts of messy live performances where Elliott was barely able to make it through songs, such as this review of a Chicago show opening for Wilco. It seemed Elliott was struggling with demons and chasing dragons. That review in Glorious Noise even strongly suggested that it was a battle he was bound to lose sooner than later. That prescience was sadly and bitterly noted in today's obit piece.

I reviewed a show he played here at the Opera House in 1999, and concluded by lamenting the fact that it ended too soon. Now I'm reprising that lament for the man himself.

He had apparently almost completed his long-awaited and much-delayed sixth album From A Basement On The Hill, which is reportedly an amazing piece of work. And he had released a single. No irony in the name of the record label. Jeezus.

If you don't know Elliott Smith's music, do yourself a favour and pick up Either/Or, X/O and Figure 8. I recommend the latter two especially.

His music was beautiful. Scratch that. His music is beautiful. Fragile. Turbulent. Tender. The closest thing to a post-grunge Beatles that I've heard. But certainly listening to his songs, you knew that he was, at his core, a troubled soul.

And yet...I don't know...how can someone write a song like "Say Yes", as poignant and achingly beautiful as anything from Alex Chilton or Paul Westerberg, and then end up ultimately saying the biggest No. At the same time, as generally positive as that song is ("I'm in love with the world through the eyes of a girl who's still around the morning after") it, like many of his songs, certainly reveals his insecurities...

Situations get fucked up
and turned around sooner or later...

I'll probably be the last to know
No one says until it shows
and you see how it is
They want you or they don't
Say yes

I just wish he would have been able to say Yes for a little while longer.

I'll give Elliott the last word:

Independence Day

Future butterfly
Gonna spend the day higher than high
You'll be beautiful confusion, ooh
Once I was you

I saw you caught between
All the people out making the scene
And a bright ideal tomorrow, ooh
Don't go too far
Stay who you are

Everybody knows
You only live a day
But it's brilliant anyway

I saw you in a perfect place
It's gonna happen soon but not today
So go to sleep and make the change
I'll meet you here tomorrow
Independence day
Independence day
Independence day

The Sea Refuses No River

It's always sad to learn that someone has taken their own life. I didn't really know Sofa/Noel very well; just through common membership in some on-line communities--the Elvis Costello list and the spin-off Splinter group. He seemed like a very interesting and creative person. My friend Dean--who regular readers will know from the thoughtful and often mischievous comments he leaves for me--was a close friend of Sofa's, and I feel for him, for the loss he's feeling now.

There are so many feelings that come with news of a suicide. There's the sense of guilt; that maybe we could have done more, made a difference. There's loss of course, and a sense of waste. Then there's the anger. How could they be so selfish? Didn't they consider the pain and confusion they'd leave behind in the people who loved them? (The radio in my head is playing Lucinda Williams' "Sweet Old World" over and over.) But though we draw sustenance and support from community, family and friends, I think we're each ultimately responsible for our own lives, or as my ex, Elaine, used to say, we're all alone. I don't wish to presume to know, but I can only surmise that Sofa felt there was no other option open for him. If that's the case, I hope he made the right decision for himself, and I hope he's found composure.

This weekend I'll be getting together with many of my friends, and I think, maybe, it's changed the colour of that event for me. I hope anyway, that I'll appreciate them all a little more, and be a little more grateful for their friendship and their uniqueness. And hopefully I can let them know in my own way that they make my life better and easier.

And yes, Dean, it is a good time to read this again. Thank you for that, by the way. It makes me feel better.

©© Rider

Do any of you fellow bloggers know what the story is on copyrighting the contents of one's blog? Is it binding? Can I simply put a © on the bottom, and say "contents copyright 2003 Jim Kelly" or something?

Yes, Alanis, There Is Irony

Received this unsolicited email today:

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Description:
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The most effective email pitch I ever ignored.

On The Groove

Some words of wisdom from bluesman Taj Mahal from an article in the October issue of Guitar Player magazine.

"...There's really only one groove," says Mahal, "And that's the groove that makes you dance. And I'm not just talking about the latest hip-snap, but the stuff that really has legs underneath it--unlike the music of many mainstream artists today--doesn't completely remove you from the thought process. I'm not saying you can't 'bling bling.' Bling all you want, but while you're doing it, why don't you bling something deeper into your music? Why don't you bling with the Africans, the Brazilians, the Cubans, and the Turks? Take the time to dip the ladle back into the primordial soup and put some hair on that animal."

And more on the groove...

"A good groove should be a release from all the crazy stuff that's coming at you all the time. It should be a place that is far away from all those things you can't do anything about."

Amen.

Submitted Without Comment

"Are you a musician?"

Now you can respond to this question by saying, "well, yes, I play a little guitar"óand truly mean a little guitar!

More Sites For Sore Eyes, from WFMU.

Word

I'd often wondered about the etymology of the word nuptials. Now, thanks to Dictionary.com's Word Of The Day, I need wonder no more.

Nuptial comes from Latin nuptialis, from nuptiae "marriage, wedding," from the past participle of nubere, properly, "to cover, to veil," hence, "to marry," as the head of the bride was covered with a veil.

And in the interests of perpetuating smartassedness everywhere, here is the etymology of the word etymology:

Middle English etimologie, from Old French ethimologie, from Medieval Latin ethimologia, from Latin etymologia, from Greek etumologi : etumon, true sense of a word; see etymon + -logi, -logy.

Putting The Fun in Fungus

Butch Mushroom

Morning Moolah Manna

I stopped at a generic bank machine in Kennedy Station on the way to work yesterday morning. Pressed the button to withdraw $80, and the machine spit out three 20s. I counted them again. Yep, just three. Thought for a second that I may have pressed $60 instead, but no, I'm sure I pressed $80.

It gets stranger.

I read the receipt, and it looked like it said $40 withdrawn. So...I wanted $80, got $60, and was debited for $40? But the receipt was printed oddly, the numbers all squished-together-like, so it was hard to tell if it was a 6 or a 4. But also on the receipt, it read "total requested amount could not be dispensed". I shrugged and shuffled off to catch the RT.

Later, at work, I checked my account transactions through on-line banking. My account had been debited $81.50 (service charge), then that transaction was reversed, and then it was indeed debited only $40.

So I got $20 free from the bank! Woo!
Pizza for dinner tonight!