The Scream Heard Round The World

Ever heard of The Wilhelm Scream?

No doubt you've heard it, unless you've somehow managed to avoid seeing any Hollywood movies made over the past 50 years or so.

One of the other copywriters at work stumbled across this, apparently while researching some movie we were writing a feature on: The history of The Wilhelm Scream.

Great stuff! Also a great name for a band.

I'm so getting a t-shirt.

A Kink in the Coinkydink

Okay, this is just plain spooky.

A while back I heard the Kinks' song "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" on WFMU (probably on the Sunday afternoon slice of zaniness and vintage music nirvana known as the Glen Jones Radio Programme (featuring X-Ray Burns). For some reason I had never heard this song before, at least not to my recollection. It's a great song, and I immediately determined that it would be a fine addition to the Dick Ellis Revival arsenal. A quick search of the P2P universe netted me the Kinks' original, and also revealed versions by The Chocolate Watchband and Camper Van Beethoven. Moving these songs into my iTunes, I also discovered that I already had an MP3 of the song on file, courtesy of my friend Vernam Cipher in Chicago. (So Tom, if I ever get to Chi-Town, here's a song we can jam on.)

So now today, I'm perusing WFMU's "Sites For Sore Eyes" (the oft-linked-to portal to some of the wackiest and wonderfullest www's you'll ever find), and the first entry on the list is this one: exactitudes.

"...an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element."

Pretty interesting project. I've always been fascinated by that contradiction.

But here's the weird part: At the exact moment that I'm looking at that array of individuality-uniformity, an ad comes on the TV; an IBM ad that I've never seen before, and it features... da da dummm... the Kinks' song "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"!!

I kid you not!

That's not just some coincidence. That's mind-blowing. Like a custom-made soundtrack from the cosmos. Must be a kink in the space-time continuum or something. You can also stir in the fact that Ray Davies played here last Thursday.

What does it all mean?

Can You Please Defenestrate?

I was so angry at myself for forgetting to set my clocks ahead, I defenestrated all the clocks in my apartment, hoping to prove that Time doesn't fly!

(Of course, since I'm at ground level, the effect wasn't as dramatic as I would have hoped.)

--------
Word of the Day for Sunday April 2, 2006

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:
To throw out of a window.

Some of his apparent chums . . . would still happily
defenestrate him if they caught him near a window.
-- Andrew Marr, "No option bar the radical one,"
[1]Independent, July 5, 1994

I defenestrated a clock to see if time flies!
-- Lane Smith, "quoted in Who's News," [2]Time for Kids,
September 25, 1998

A woman, driven to fury by the manner in which her lover
prefers to lavish his attention on a match on the telly
rather than her, starts to throw his possessions out of the
window. He's finally moved to stop her when she tries to
defenestrate his new Puma boots.
-- Jim White, "Budgets substantial enough to buy most of
the clubs in the Endsleigh," [3]Independent, April 6, 1996
_________________________________________________________

Defenestrate is derived from Latin de-, "out of" + fenestra,
"window." The noun form is defenestration.

Bubbling Up

Check this out. Bubbles from "The Trailer Park Boys" has a page on MySpace, and he's added my friend Heather to his Babe Of The Week list! Act now, though, the list may change soon. Apparently he only picks girls with glasses. (Hear that Corry?)

If Heather has slipped out of Bubbles' favour, you can check out her page to hear a few of her tunes.

There are many ways to measure success, but getting the thumbs up from Bubbles must certainly be right up there.

Outta Sites

You know that song, "I Hear A Symphony"?

No, not that one. The one by Matthew Ryan.

Well, this film is nothing like that.

These and other wonders courtesy of WFMU's Sites For Sore Eyes.

I especially love Arthur Ganson's Kinetic Sculptures--those are simply wonderful, and made me feel all good 'n' stuff--and Joe Vaux's Home Pig--that made me feel all weird 'n' stuff, but still absolutely fascinated.

Y'know, some days the world seems like a big pile of blah, rotating uselessly in the void. But then you stumble across stuff like this, and the sheer scope and variety of the expressions that blossom from the human spirit just leaves you in a state of warm wonder. And you look for this big ol' roller coaster to come round again so you can hop on for another ride, to see what it has to show you this time.

"You are not alone
You are not alone
I swear this burden is not your own
You are not alone"
--Matthew Ryan, "I Hear A Symphony"

Anything Ellis?

[Okay, not the best title I've come up with, but it's better than another "dick" pun.]

I'm very pleased to announce the launch of the first ever Dick Ellis Revival tour! I'm calling it the Dick Over Ontario tour (a nod to the Wings live album). Right now it consists of a gig in Belleville next weekend...but, hey, even Dylan's Never-ending Tour had to start somewhere.

Belleville is Boag's hometown, and this gig is actually a private party for some of his friends, several of whom are turning the magical 40 around the same time. They've rented out a place for the occasion, The Belleville Club I think it's called, which is apparently a nice old heritage building. Should be a fun roadtrip, and a nice chance to get away and road-test our material. You know what they say about Belleville...if it flies in BelleVegas, it... well... it... you're good to g... it's all good... well, maybe they don't really use Belleville as a litmus test of any sort, but it should be fun all the same.

We've added a few new numbers to our repertoire:

Wait For The Light To Shine, an old Roy Acuff song that's been covered by lots of folks including Dylan
I've Got a Feeling, The Beatles
Burning Love, Elvis
Don't Cry No Tears, Neil Young (from Zuma)
I Still Miss Someone, Johnny Cash
Help Me Make It Through The Night, Kristofferson
Take Me Home Country Roads, John Denver

Plus we're trying to work out versions of Van Morrison's Wavelength and a funky Rufus Thomas song called The Breakdown (Part I). And there are some new originals on the horizon as well.

Last week's gig at Grossman's was a typically crazy time. Two songs into our set, this woman gets up on the "dancefloor" and starts doing cartwheels across the space in front of us, the first of which was rather expertly executed. Quite impressive. The second attempt fell a bit short of the bar, so to speak. I don't know if maybe she actually aimed to land in the chair, but the execution garnered very low marks, even from the French judge. As our imprudent gymnast landed hard on the floor, the chair tried to meld with the table, unsuccessfully so given the laws of physics, but this did succeed in the quite spectacular transformation of a full pint of beer into a creature of flight! Oddly, the gentleman who had been trying to drink the beer wasn't as impressed with his beverage's new aerial ambitions.

Cartwheel Katie then began grabbing Boag's mic, stepping on my pedal board to do so, and eventually leapt onto a table for some more dancing. This finally drew the ire of the bartender, who eventually managed to give her the bum's rush, after much high-pitched protestations and further furniture mangling. Of course, throughout all of this, we're all playing away. This all happened by about the third song. We did manage to use the occasion to work in some Jagger-at-Altamont-isms between songs.

"Peey-pul, peey-pul... who's foyting and wot foah? Who's foyting and wot foah?"
"Oh babies, everyone just calm down now. Let's get it together."

After that, it was a fairly normal evening. During the second set, we honoured some guy's request for Baby Please Don't Go, which we'd never played before, but we managed a reasonable facsimile. Late in the third set, a trio of 20-something yarmulka-wearing Jewish students ambled in and sat at the back. One of them kept bellowing for The Doors, so we obliged with the only Doors song you can pull out without any prior rehearsal: Roadhouse Blues, of course.

Always an interesting time at Grossman's.

I actually just discovered a newly added feature on our website, featuring kind words from locals who have seen us in action. Thanks for the kudos.

I'll let you know how the tour goes.

Say hello to my (new) lil frenz

I am fully aware of the fact that life is not about getting "things". That saying "whoever finishes with the most toys wins", just leaves me cold. I sincerely believe the Western world's rampant materialism will be our downfall (if that isn't a fait accompli already), and is certainly the source of much of the world's disparities.

Still, some toys are just so neat!

So I finally took the plunge and got myself an iPod. I was thinking I might get a Nano, but after fiddling around with a friend's and trying out the different varieties of iPods at the computer store, I concluded that the Nano was just too small, not just in terms of capacity, but physically. It just felt too small in my hand.

So, thanks to the fact that I was able to sell a superfluous guitar on consignment at a local music store, I went for the real iPod.


The new fifth generation 30GB iPod with video. It's a cool little machine. I doubt if I'll use the video function very much, but it is nice to have that. And you can hook it up to a TV, so you could download a movie on it and bring it over to a friend's house to watch. Same with photos. A travelling photo binder. Also has some neat extras like a calendar, contacts list, alarm, clock, stop watch, etc.

But of course the main attraction is the music, and with 30GB, I was able to transfer my entire iTunes catalogue (almost 20GB) over to the iPod. But I found that was just too much, and too unwieldy. So I switched from "auto sync" mode to manual, and I've started loading it up with all my essential music, favourite albums, playlists of songs to learn for the band, etc. It's come in handy at rehearsals when we've needed to consult a song we're working on, and I've been able to whip it out, plug it into a stereo and we can all listen. And, of course, it certainly makes my commute to work more enjoyable.

The other great use for the 30GB iPod is as a portable hard drive. I've been able to load files on it and transfer them to another computer, no sweat. Good way to transport MP3s, because, of course, the iPod is designed to sync up with your iTunes, and to be loaded with songs, but there's no "downloading" functionality, per se. So you can't really offload the music from your iPod onto your work computer, for instance, or to a friend's computer. The iPod designers' concession to concerns about file-sharing, I suppose.

But, there are ways around everything, and I've found that the PodWorks application works great as a way to get around the "offloading" problem. The best part is that you can store the application on your iPod, and launch it from the iPod when you're hooked up to a computer other than your own (Mac OS X needed). Very handy.

As soon as you get an iPod, the very next step is... choosing accessories. And there are tons of coolio accessories to be had. I may upgrade the earbuds eventually, but the first thing I looked into getting was a good protective case. I had heard lots of stories of iPods' surface and screen getting scratched up (which is one of the reasons I opted for the white model over the black).

I decided on the Agent 18 VideoShield, which is a great case. It protects the iPod completely while preserving its cool looks. It looks so good, I just leave it in there all the time. Highly recommended.

The other thing I found I needed was some kind of remote to move from track to track and to adjust the volume. Being winter, I keep the iPod in an inside pocket in the lining of my coat (designed for cell phones, but the iPod fits in perfectly). And because volume levels of songs can vary dramatically, especially in random shuffle mode, I've had a few occasions where I've had to unzip my coat and bring out the iPod just to turn it down or up. Very inconvenient, especially since my coat has a removable inner lining, so I have to go through two zippers just to get to the damn thing. Plus, as my commute takes me on the bus through some rather unsavory areas of Scarborough known for gang activity and such, I'd rather not have to flash my iPod if I can avoid it. I've heard that iPod muggings have been happening in other major cities.

So last week, my solution arrived. The iPod Radio Remote. It's been a godsend so far. The radio reception is great, though I don't think I'll use it very much for that. Nice function to have though. I clip the remote to the inside lining of my coat, so I can cover it up with the outside zipper, to protect it from the elements. One little zip, and I can easily adjust the volume or change tracks. Great little device.

And speaking of great things in small packages, this is my other new acquisition.


The Vox Pathfinder 15R amp. It's just a little 15W practice amp... but it's not just a little 15W practice amp. This thing is probably the best bang for your buck, if you're looking for a practice amp. They sell new for around $200 (CDN), but you can get a deal on a used one. I found mine used at Long & McQuade for $159. This thing rocks! Great tone, and great features. Reverb, tremolo, gain boost, headphone jack, line out for recording, output for connecting to another speaker cabinet. No midrange adjustment knob, but the bass and treble knobs are very responsive, allowing for lots of tone-shaping.

It's a transistor amp, but it's got a lot of personality. When I was trying it out in the store, I had it cranked up pretty good using the neck pickup of a Telecaster, the tone dialed off a bit and a good dose of overdrive, and the salesman came over and said "What's that, a little tube amp?" It's just so fun to play through, and it just loves my Telecaster. I could use it for gigging at a place like Grossman's, but I don't think it'll replace my Fender Blues, Jr. in that regard. Great amp for practicing and rehearsing, and a good backup if need be. Apparently Vox has discontinued this amp. So if you're in the market for a great little practice amp, you're not gonna do much better than a Pathfinder, at least not in this price range.

Until next time, this has been Jimbuck2's consumer products review. And remember, it's not all about the toys, but they're neat to have, just the same.

You've heard of government waist...?

I sat down on the subway tonight for the trip home, looked down at the transit newspaper sitting open on the seat next to me, and this is what I saw:


Conclusions from the above?

1) The photo editor for this transit paper was asleep at the switch;
2) The photo editor for this transit paper decided to have some fun on his/her last day;
3) Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has a great rack! Why would he need breast augmentation?

Another example of government waist...and cleavage!

What's New?

...well, there's this.

Happy New Year

Hi. Remember me? I live here. Haven't been here in a while though. Just haven't had the urge to blog (what the French call le joie de blogge). Or maybe my life just hasn't been interesting enough to blog about. Or maybe it's just that there are times when you simply have nothing to say. As has always been my way, when I have nothing to say, I say it.

(Did I just invent my own Yogi Berra-ism, or has that one been done?)

So here we are on the first day of 2006. I hope you all had/are having a wonderful holiday season, and I wish you all the best in the new year. Let's make it a good one, without any fear.

I had the past 2 weeks off, and it's been most joyful and fun. I went home to P.E.I. for the holidays. It was my father's 80th birthday on the 22nd, so everyone made it home this year to celebrate that occasion; the first time in about 10 years that all the "kids"--all eight of us--were home at the same time. My sister made it from L.A., as did my brother in Yellowknife, although his wife and 13-year-old son couldn't make it. But his 18-year-old daughter flew in from Vancouver Island, where she's just recently moved, having left the nest for the first time. It had been two or three years since I'd seen her, and there's a big change between 15 and 18. She's quite an interesting young lady now. Very sweet and engaging, and it was nice to see her stepping out into the world on her own, obviously excited by what life has to offer. It's always interesting to discover new relationships with my nephews and nieces as they move from their teen years into young adulthood. There's a whole gaggle of them in that age range now. Another niece, who's 20, had a baby this past summer, and it was cool to see my little grand-nephew again, and to see my niece growing into her new life as a happy and caring young mother.

I drove up with my brother from Oshawa. We drove straight through, sharing the driving duties, and stopping only to replenish the car's gas tank and refuel ourselves with Tim Horton's coffee and the finest highway dining. Couldn't ask for more perfect traveling conditions. The skies were clear and the roads were dry. We made it in about 18 hours. 1750-some kilometers. Not bad.

We had a big to-do for Dad's 80th. Rented the town's golf club (and no, I don't mean the sole available 9-iron...). Lots of old neighbours, relatives and family friends came by; people I hadn't seen in years. The mayor came by and presented Dad with a plaque. That was a nice thing. All in all, a fine night.

The major difference this year was that my parents had sold their house this past fall and moved into an apartment. It's been a bit of an adjustment for them, but they did so of their own volition. The upkeep of the house was just getting to be too much for them. Mom is 81 and her mobility isn't what it used to be. She has trouble with her ankles and knees, and has to use a walker or a cane to get around now. So it's much better for her to not have to go up and down the stairs for laundry, etc. It sure was odd, though, driving by the old house and seeing strange cars parked in the driveway and other people living there. We had moved to that house around 1973, when I was about 10, then we moved to Moncton around 76-77, sold it to our former next-door neighbours from the street I grew up on. Then, when my parents moved back around 1986, the house was on the market again, so they bought it a second time and moved back into the very same house they had sold 10 years previously! So we had two tours of duty in that house.

But things change and we adapt. Mom and Dad seem to be doing okay in the apartment. My three sisters who still live in town have been so incredible with helping Mom and Dad with the move, holding yard sales to get rid of stuff they don't have space for any more and just generally making it as smooth a transition for them as possible. God bless them.

Speaking of things changing... they renamed the street I grew up on!! I was floored when I drove by the old neighbourhood and saw the street sign that had always always always said Cedar Ave now said Oak Ave. OAK!!! What the fuck! They can't do that! Cedar Avenue was the centre of my childhood. I felt like every one of my childhood memories had been violated. Turns out it's for the purposes of some new 911 service. There were always two Cedar-named streets which connected in a T shape: the longer, north-south running Cedar STREET, and the smaller, east-west Cedar Avenue--our street--which topped the T. I guess the new 911 system couldn't handle two streets with the same name, so they changed my street to Oak. At least they kept the arboreal theme intact: above us had been Willow Ave, followed by Poplar and Maple. Elm Street was to the west. But that's cold comfort. Damn bureaucrats. They'll get theirs. I'll track them down and rename their kids. Bastards.

My sister and her family live on Maple Avenue, the northernmost entry in the (now apparently arbitrarily named) arboreal-themed street grid. Her husband has a tradition of making a large backyard rink every winter. With two young sons who play hockey, a dad who coaches hockey and a mom who's a former figure-skater, it's a no-brainer for that family unit. Unfortunately, earlier this winter, my brother-in-law suffered a hernia and needed surgery, and he was still in recovery mode when the time came to make this year's rink. So the call went out, and a whole crew of us showed up one afternoon just before Christmas to do the heavy lifting, putting up the hip-high boards that would eventually encircle the frozen surface. There were seven of us altogether: my dad, my brother, myself, two brothers-in-law and two nephews. Didn't take long to get the job done, as a light snow fell and the quips and jokes were almost as sharp as the nails we were using to whack the plywood boards together. It was a nice Rockwellian Christmas moment.

So it was a very nice family Christmas. We all had a lot of fun together and shared a lot of laughs. My mom and dad were obviously very happy to have all of us home. Chances are it was the last time that will happen, so it was one for the books.

Then came the trip back to Toronto. As perfect as the drive up was, the drive back was about as bad as it gets. My brother and I left at 5 a.m. Monday morning in rain, freezing rain, sleet, etc. My brother drove for the first stretch while I put the passenger seat in recline mode and tried to catch a few winks. Somewhere in the pre-dawn darkness between Moncton and Fredericton, we hit a patch of black ice. The car fish-tailed completely sideways, then back the other way, then back the other way, took out a small wooden stake on the roadside with the back of the car, then did a complete 180, and finally came to rest in the middle of the road, facing forward. Thank the deity or belief system of your choice that there were no other cars around. I had awoken and sprang upright as we began going out of control. Not a nice way to wake up. But my brother did a good job keeping us out of the ditch. Close call.

Then it started snowing. And blowing. 100 kph winds. And all the rest of the way through NB was just awful. Some of the worst winter driving conditions I'd ever seen. Poor visibility, blowing snow, slippery, treacherous road. Saw lots of cars in the ditch. Basically you just had to stay in the worn tracks from the vehicles in front of you or you were toast. We made it as far as Riviere-de-loups, just across the Quebec border in the Gaspe as it got dark, and stopped there for the night. Tuesday conditions were much better. Sunny skies, stopped snowing and the roads were clear, completely dry from Montreal to Toronto.

So I'm back, baby... back in the TO groove.

Dicking On

Well, The Dick Ellis Revival lives on. We've pretty much settled on the name, if for no other reason than the fact that we can't find any other name that we like better. A tip for all you kids in bands out there: if, after 10 months of searching, you still haven't decided on a band name, you're not going to find one. For godsakes, people make babies in less time. And name them!

My recent suggestion didn't go over very well. I don't know, I kind of like Courtesy Flush. Maybe a bit too punk.

Things are going pretty well, though. Our monthly Thursday-night residency at Grossman's continues. We played there this past Thursday, and it went pretty well, except that our Queen of the Keys, Bertie, was sick and couldn't make the gig. We really missed her. The beginning of "Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast)" suffered for it. But we soldiered on.

We've booked a real rehearsal space for Sunday night because we've got a big gig coming up. Next Saturday, November 5th, we're returning to The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, opening for the great gospel-blues-roots group, The Holmes Brothers. It should be a great gig. We're both drawing from the same well, so to speak: a mix of blues, soul, gospel, country, rootsy rock. We've designed our hour-ish set to be a compact, punchy run-through of our best stuff. At least half of the songs will be originals. I think it'll go over well with the Holmes Bros' audience. I'm really looking forward to it. Three hours in the rehearsal space tomorrow night and another in-home rehearsal later in the week, combined with the fact that we've been playing every month at Grossman's, we should be able to get it together nicely and do a good job.

And we've added a link on our website where you can check out our upcoming gigs.

Dylan For 0 Dollars

AOL has some free streaming footage of Dylan and The Band doing "One Too Many Mornings" from their 1966 tour.

They also seem to be rotating other streaming content (on the right). You can also see Dylan doing "Just Like A Woman" with George Harrison and Leon Russel from The Concert For Bangladesh. You might need Netscape 7.1 or Safari.

Trailer Lark Boys

Just have to pass this on. Got this from my friend Heather. Apparently these are from a competition in which film editors (judging from their e-mail addresses, I assume they were students from a public school in NYC) were asked to recut an existing film trailer, using only footage from the film, to recast the film in a completely different genre. I love "Shining", especially when Solsbury Hill kicks in...


"Shining"

"West Side Story

"Become an NHL star at home, at your own pace"

Now that NHL hockey is back, and "cost-certainty" has hopefully introduced a measure of parity across the league, it's great to know that you, too, can become an NHL star. How, you say?

With NHL Academy!

I did very well in all modules, except the goaltending simulator. But I think I was screened on some of those point(setta) shots.

Good luck!

Keys To Jimbuck2

Spent most of the day rearranging my living room to accommodate my new acquisition. I picked it up at the annual bargain basement sale at Long & McQuade last weekend. It was pretty cheap, and I had been thinking of getting a keyboard for a few years now, so I figured at this price, I had to pull the trigger.

It's quite a cool little keyboard. Obviously it's not a professional-level instrument, but the piano sounds are quite impressive, and of course I can dial up several varieties of electric piano and organ, as well as various kinds of strings, wind instruments, brass, vibes, marimba, percussion, etc. I'm not a keyboard player by any stretch, and I have no illusions of becoming the next Billy Preston, but I can hack out a few chords, so maybe this will help me upgrade my skills to the point where I can carry a song. Plus, with all the other instruments on board, it'll be a great tool for home recording.

"Gimme something in a bouncy C!"

Bobbing in the barrel of time

Of course I watched (and taped) Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home" Dylan doc over the past 2 evenings. Having never seen more than a few snippets of the 66 tour footage, it was fascinating to see that stuff. I wouldn't have expected Dylan to have been so animated, especially sitting at the piano for "Ballad of a Thin Man". Then again, apparently there was no shortage of those peppy little pills at that time.

I have to say, though, that I thought his performance of the acoustic songs was almost more revolutionary than the electric stuff. I wonder what the folkie-purist-booers thought of his delivery of "Mr. Tambourine Man" or what they made of "Visions Of Johanna". A fine line between delivery and devilry?

It was also interesting to see him expressing his complete exhaustion during that tour. Facing the derision of audiences night after night, and even garnering some death threats, he really was putting his body and soul on the line every night to play the music he believed in. Ironic that the punter in Manchester had yelled "Judas!" when such behaviour less like the kisser, and more like the one kissed. Not that I want to go down that road... just an observation.

I do hope there are more chapters to come. I mean, the first 10 years or so of Dylan's career were certainly interesting, to say the least, but the next 40 years had more than enough stuff worth exploring. Maybe, like Scorsese's blues series, a different director could tackle each successive decade. Hmmm. Who could we get?...

1966-1976 - Tim Burton?
1976-1986 - Spike Lee?
1986-1996 - Jim Jarmusch?
1996-2006 - Clint Eastwood?

Any other suggestions?

U2 II

Just a quick update of my previous post about seeing U2 in concert. Here's some post-facto visual evidence. (Post-facto, yes, but it is pro Bono?)

This is more or less the view I had of The Edge, except I was a little more behind him. For the record, he is left-footed. I was a bit surprised to see he was using that huge digital multi-effects pedalboard. I always figured he was more of a vintage analogue pedal kinda guy. Progress overtakes The Edge.

Here's a shot of Daniel Lanois joining the band on Bono's beautiful, green Gretsch guitar, during the encore of "Bad".

And, I forgot to mention that during one song (can't remember which one), Bono has been choosing women from the audience to haul them up on the catwalk to dance with him. This chick came prepared, decked out in full belly-dancer regalia (hoping to relive the "Mysterious Ways" video, perhaps). She had the moves too! It was pretty impressive.

A Trip Around The Blog

Oy. I've been back from the vacation for over a week now, and I still haven't found the time to blog about it. My excuse though, is that I'm waiting to get my pictures developed. Sorry, I'm not digi-cam-ready yet, still have to get that nasty film to the lab. So I'll wait till then, cos then it'll be real nifty to be able to see the snaps.

Here's the short version though:

- Spent the first week in P.E.I., visiting with family. Met my new great-nephew, all of one week old. Saw the new seniors apartment my parents will be moving into in a few weeks time. Very nice. Also went for a spin is a little 4-seater Cessna. The landsape of the Island is beautiful from the air; a patchwork quilt of various shades of greens, and yellows (wheat), red soil, blue water. Buzzed the bridge.

- Spent the long weekend in Moncton partying my ass off with high-school friends and others. About 80,000 others, in fact. Attended the big Rolling Stones outdoor show in Magnetic Hill, and was blown away by how good it was. The boys are better than they were 10 years ago. One of the best concerts I've ever seen. Also featured The Tragically Hip, Our Lady Peace and Maroon 5. But it was all about the Stones, and they kicked ass!

- Last night, I went to see U2's 2nd of four shows here in Toronto. They played Monday, last night, and again Friday and Saturday. Had a great seat about 20 feet from the side of the stage. Closest I've ever been to a band of this stature. I was close enough that I could have spit on The Edge when he was playing piano during "Miss Sarajevo".

But I didn't. I would never spit on The Edge.

Many celebs in town for the Film Festival. Monday night's show was apparently attended by Ray Liotta, Cuba Gooding Jr., Harvey Keitel, Hal Wilner and, reportedly, Leonard Cohen. Last night, I saw a guy down in the area between the stands and the stage, below me, really digging the show, dancing like a madman. Skinny guy in a tan jacket and tan poor-boy cap. He was being filmed by a crew. I looked closer and realized it was Michael Stipe of R.E.M. During the encore of "Bad" Daniel Lanois joined the band on Bono's beautiful, green Gretsch guitar. My initial thought was "who's the guy with the scraggly hair and prominent bald spot that Bono just handed his guitar too?" I think it's the only time in recent memory that I've seen Danny boy when he wasn't wearing some kind of hat. He and The Edge seem to have a thing about their baldness, don't they. C'mon boys, accept your cranial beauty! Accept it before it DESTROYS YOU!!

Not a Great show, but a very good show and a very cool show with some great moments. "Where The Streets Have No Name", when the house lights came up, I had goose bumps on my goose bumps.

The set list:

Vertigo
Electric Co.
Elevation
Beautiful Day
Still Haven’t Found
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride
Where the Streets have no name
One

The Fly
With or Without You

All Because of You
Yahweh
Bad

Ok, that is all for now.

Just A Note Before I Go

Isn't it a beauty? That's "Old Black". Neil Young's legendary guitar, a '53 Gold Top Les Paul that a previous owner painted black. Neil found this guitar around the time he hooked up with Crazy Horse in 1969 and used it on their first collaborative album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (still my favourite Neil album). He later took it to a guitar shop for some repairs, and when he returned some time later to pick it up, the shop had folded up. It came back into his possession sometime around the mid-'70s when he again hooked up with Crazy Horse for his return-to-the-light album, Zuma (which happens to be spinning in my CD changer these days). At some point the bridge pickup had been replaced with one from a Gibson Firebird, which is so microphonic you can actually talk into it and be heard through the amp. That has a lot to do with the unique sound of this guitar.

For more info on Neil Young's sound and gear, look to the Neil Young archives over at Thrasher's Wheat [not to be confused with Neil's "Archives" boxed set(s) which are supposedly finally going to see the light of day next year. Then again, he's been saying that for years].

And before I take off out East for 2 weeks of vacationing, I want to leave you with this exerpt from an interview Neil did with a guitar magazine (available at the aforementioned website). There are so many things I love about Neil's guitar playing--the intensity, the melodicism, the range of expression--but above all is his approach. Check out this little Q&A.


JO: What are your views on people going to college to learn guitar?

NY: Paints a pretty doomed picture of the future, doesn't it? [Laughs.] First of all, it doesn't matter if you can play a scale. It doesn't matter if your technique is good. If you have feelings that you want to get out through music, that's what matters. If you have the ability to express yourself and you feel good when you do it, then that's why you do it. The technical side of it is a completely boring drag, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, I can't play fast. I don't even know the scales. A lot of the notes that I go for are notes that I know aren't there. They're just not there, so you can hit any note. I'm just on another level as far as all that goes. I appreciate these guys who play great. I'm impressed by these metal bands with their scale guys. Like I go, "Gee, that's really something." I mean, Satriani and Eddie Van Halen are genious guitar players. They're unbelievable musicians of the highest caliber. But I can't relate to it. One note is enough."

Amen.

Craigslist Ad Of The Month

This is the funniest classified ad I've seen in some time. Under the "Musicians" category on the Craigslist:

Lets just get together and FUCKIN' JAM, & go from there
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Reply to: anon-87425348@craigslist.org
Date: 2005-07-28, 5:28AM EDT

Lets just get together and FUCKIN' JAM, & go from there

I play guitar

how hard is it just to get together

jeezus fuckin christ

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That's just too fuckin funny!

Of course, it also raises the question: Do I really want to potentially be in a band with this person? Maybe a low threshold for frustration? On the other hand, at least he/she isn't shy about getting things off their chest.