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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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

-----

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.

No Moss

Unfortunately, no Stones turned up at
Hubert Sumlin's gig last night at the Silver Dollar. No Keef, no Ronnie, no Mick (whose 62nd birthday it was).

I was pretty sure something would happen, seeing as the Stones have a solid history of playing a small club gig every time they've been in town. And the Silver Dollar is about the only place they haven't popped up. They've done The Palais Royale, RPM, The Horsehoe, The El Mocambo. Seemed like the planets were aligning, with Hubert in town and Mick's birthday and all, and it was an early show, doors opened ay 6, show at 8.

Hubert, god bless 'im, took full advantage of the hype, not saying whether Keith or anyone else would show up, but hinting that there'd be some kind of surprise in store. The place was packed. And hot. And sweaty. I don't think I've ever experienced a hotter show. Tim, from the band, had reserved a ticket, as had I, which was great because the line-up was down the street. I almost didn't get in. I had to take two cracks at convincing the doorman that I had a space inside waiting for me. What neither Tim nor I realized was that this reserved us a table. When I got in, they showed me to the table, which had my name on it, and the other spot at the table was reserved for Tim. Thing is, neither of us had arranged this. It was just pure coincidence.

Didn't matter anyway, as we ended up maintaining spots right in front of the stage, at Hubert's feet, as it were. If Keith showed up to jam, we wanted to be able to count his wrinkles. Maybe catch a pick. It was a real sweat-fest though. No ceiling fans or anything. Despite the disappointment that no special guests showed up, it was a pretty good show. Can't say Hubert's band was overly impressive. The guitar player was pretty good, but not outstanding. I think the drummer was new, radar always up for cues from the other musicians.

As for Hubert, he doesn't have the fretboard fire he used to have, but then again, the man is 73 years old. With one lung, as he reminded us a couple of times. Still, he showed a few flashes of his old strength. It was great to be able to see one of the true architects of the electric Chicago blues guitar sound. This guy's sound helped shape the music of Howlin' Wolf, he played with Muddy Waters, and he even played on a few Chuck Berry sides. Last night he did Little Red Rooster, Sittin' On Top Of The World (twice!), You've Got To Help Me, Smokestack Lightnin', Got My Mojo Workin' and a few other chestnuts (or shoud I say, Chess-nuts).

I must say, I've always had a much greater appreciation for blues guitarists who play with that strength in the fingers, like they put 100% conviction in every note they play. Every bend is a manifesto. Every slide is a testament. The fast, flashy, smooth guys are great too, although speed demons leave me cold more often than not, but it's guys like Hubert and Albert Collins, the guys that attack the notes with a different degree of intensity, whether it's a seven-note salvo or just one simple phrase, they infuse it with every fibre of their being. It's like they're squeezing every ounce of feeling out of the strings. I really need to dig deeper into the blues guitar archives, and get to know more of the legends. I have several compilations on CD, and I'm fairly aware of the major songs by B.B., Muddy, Wolf, Albert Collins and a few others. But I know very little of Albert King, Freddie King, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, etc.

So anyway, in spite of the lack of surprise guests, it was still nice to be able to pay homage to one of the great blues guitar legends. Rock on Hubert.

That Was The Week Off That Was

Today marks the last day of my week off. I spent the day recuperating from last night's activities at the Beaches Jazz Festival. Imbibed a tad too much, I'm afraid, but it was a pretty fun night. Met some nice folks visiting from Alabama.

And what did I do on my week off? Not much, really, and that's just fine with me. It was more of a week-away-from-work than an actual vacation. Just needed some chill time, really. I consciously tried not to let my time be ruled by any major schedules or itineraries. Harder than it seems. But I did spend some nice time sipping refreshing beverages on patios, watching the work-a-day schmucks returning from the daily grind. Very enjoyable. And I did finally get my ass over to High Park. Been in this city over 10 years, and had never been there before. Did some exploring on foot. I loved the little waterfall part in the middle of the park. Very shady and cool, with a small frog pond, lilly pads, etc. Felt quite magical. Like an elf would pop up from behind a tree trunk and grant me three wishes.

No such luck.

I also did some exploring closer to my end of town. Left the house one afternoon, and just decided to go where my feet took me. They took me down to the Beaches Pub for a refreshing beverage and some garlic cheese bread on the lovely, shady patio. Watched a rollerblading newbie in full protective regalia and a huge backpack struggle along the pathway, arms flailing constantly. Very amusing. Then I walked up around Ashbridges Point, where I had never been before. Sat on some rocks at the lakeside and got some sun. Very nice parkland around there. Must go back again before the summer's over.

Didn't get to go to the Hillside Festival in Guelph, unfortunately, but hopefully the music karmic wheel will spin my way on Tuesday. That's when I'm going to see Hubert Sumlin at The Silver Dollar. Not only will it be fantastic to see one of the great Chicago blues guitar heroes in the flesh, speculation is that his buddy Keith Richards will drop in as well, seeing as the Stones are in town rehearsing for their upcoming tour. Sticky fingers crossed.

Oh yeah, we played a gig last Tuesday night. A return engagement at Grossman's. Wasn't as well-attended as the previous gig, and our first set a little shakey, due to the fact that we barely had one full-band rehearsal before the gig, but the second set was more fun. Overall, not a bad time.

Not Afraid

Got an email from my friend Sue, who moved to London just over a year ago. Thankfully, she was not on the tube last Thursday.

She says that this website started within hours of the bombings.

I had a bit of a tense moment yesterday on the Toronto transit system. I was riding home on the Scarborough RT (a Rapid Transit above-ground train that connects with the subway system in the east end of the city). It was fairly crowded. There was a man standing in the non-active doorway area (opposite the doors that opened to the platform). Suddenly, while we were stopped at a station, he bolted off the train... leaving his backpack on the floor!!

A few seconds pass, and I'm thinking "... um ... er...like ...hey...", and then the guy jumps back on again. Seems like he just wanted to drop something in the trash bin, and then hop back on before the doors closed. He made it. Thanks for the heart attack, pal.

At least I didn't jump up and run to the opposite end of the train, screaming "we're all gonna die!" That would have been embarassing.

No Empathy. No Sympathy.

Poor Karla. Preparing for her imminent release from prison, she's afraid she may be "relentlessly pursued" and "hunted down," and she fears for her life.

Now you know how it feels Karla. Shoulda maybe thought of that, dear, before you helped hunt down, abduct and kill those two young girls. You didn't have even a shred of humanity in you to allow you to put yourself in the place of those girls, and now you want our sympathy?

I think this is called Justice.

But really, I feel her pain. Oh, wait a minute... no I don't.

Brev.

I like this video.

What, The Dick Ends?

As I alluded to in previous posts, the days of The Dick Ellis Revival are near an end. Not the band itself--no need to run for the nearest open window!--just the band under that name. I had thought it was a good compromise name; one that we could all get behind. It wasn't my first choice, and others were lobbying for names that I couldn't live with. But, as is the nature of compromise, it just didn't satisfy enough of the stakeholders. So the search is mounted again for a consensus name. I don't know if you've ever tried to come up with a band name, but it's incredibly difficult. Especially finding one that will please seven people (and their attendant satellite community). And represents the essence of the band. And is original.

It's also unfortunate because after we had settled on the name, I had been inspired to whip up this essay on the origins of the name. It was going to go up on the website, but there's no point in that now. So here, by semi-popular demand, The Dick Ellis Essay.

-----------------
Far and wide, the question is asked: Who is Dick Ellis?

Fear not, my dear friends, for we have asked this question ourselves. And the answer has been revealed in time.

Some say he was a hometown hero. Some say he was a man of the people. Others say he is simply a myth, a story told to sooth worried souls in the dark of night.

But Dick Ellis is not one man. Dick Ellis is an idea. The idea of Dick Ellis cannot be expressed in one person. It takes a village--or at least a band of seven people--to conjure the presence of Dick Ellis. For Dick Ellis is not a captive of mere flesh and blood, nor of the flimsy, impermanent margins of time or tide.

Dick Ellis is the hero within all of us, waiting to be discovered--in every hometown, every city, every nation, and across the deep silence of space. Dick Ellis is a pure celebration of all that is beautiful and true.

But it wasn't always so. In the Fallow Times, there were many who turned their backs and sought instead the false pleasures of the shiny new ways and sounds. But, little by little, with each passing year, the shiny veneer thinned, the phony sparkles fell to rot, revealing more and more of the empty void behind the over-polished facade.

And the people began to wonder: Where was Dick Ellis?

And where was Dick Ellis? He was right where he always had been; we had simply become blind to his presence. And where is Dick Ellis today? Search your innermost soul, dear friend, and you will know the answer:

Wherever people speak from the heart -- there you will find Dick Ellis.
Wherever joyful folk maximize their mojo -- there you will find Dick Ellis.
Wherever innocence yearns to break free from the barbed tethers of the cynical mind -- there you will find Dick Ellis.
Wherever the Natural Smile, the Happy Tear and the Rebel Yell sway hand-in-hand -- there you will find Dick Ellis.

My friends, the spirit of Dick Ellis walks amongst us again. Find him, walk with him, dance with him. It is time for all of us to step out into the sunshine and join the parade. Welcome the rejuvenation.

Welcome The Dick Ellis Revival.


Sincerely,


The Esteemed Stan Herman

I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine

It had been a while since the band had played a gig. Boag, Tim, Kenny and I had played the Cadillac Lounge as a foursome, but before that, the previous full-band show had been at The Horsehoe on Boxing Day--five months ago, So we were itching to get out and play, especially since we'd added a few more orginals to our repertoire, and had learned a whole slew of new covers that are fun to play.

Through the auspices of our keyboard player Bertie, we landed a three-set slot at Grossman's Tavern this past Tuesday night. Grossman's is a Toronto institution, though compared to some other live venues, it's a little more rough around the edges. Carol Pope and Rough Trade got their start there, as did countless other acts. Bertie's New Orleans jazz band, The Happy Pals, plays a saturday matinee there every week.

We were all happy to get the gig, but the idea of taking on a whole night, playing three sets, seemed to me like maybe we were biting off more than we could chew, especially after being off for so long, and having to learn a whole bunch of new songs. This was compounded by the fact that we had been having a little trouble getting all of us together for rehearsals. But, once we had the gig, we set out to get in as much rehearsal as we could. I think we had had one full rehearsal, and we had scheduled to get together again a few Wednesdays ago, when Boag had the misfortune of being hit by a car while cycling on College Street. He was all right (his bike wasn't), but that scuttled a much-needed rehearsal night.

I'm always nervous going into a gig. Waiting to go on, I always have to use the washroom about 4 or 5 times. Not sure where all that pee comes from, but it wants out. Abandon ship! I was getting anxious about this gig a few days prior, even after we got Bertie's other other band to open up for us. (It's a new duo with her friend Lara, called Mack And Hunt. This was their second gig.) That made our job easier, with only two sets to worry about. But I was still uneasy about our preparedness. And my own preparedness as well. There were a couple of songs where I was fairly shaky about my solos and other parts.

But then a funny thing happened. The day of the gig, I just stopped worrying about it. Something tells me the rest of the band took the same approach, because when we took the stage (actually just the floor at one end of the room), we rocked! We were just having fun--relaxed, easy, happy-go-lucky. Part of it may have been the venue. Unlike other places we've played, such as the Horseshoe and Lee's Palace, where there is a dance floor chasm between the stage and the audience, at Grossman's the crowd is right there in your lap, and you're on the same level with them. No stage.

It was also a pretty rambunctious crowd, for a Tuesday night. Grossman's is the type of place where there are always a few neighbourhood regulars hanging around getting sauced. And, like I said, it's a bit rough around the edges. In fact, just before we went on, there was a huge kerfuffle between some seemingly crack-addled woman and her boyfriend. I had seen them come in, and noted her behaviour, practically bouncing off the walls. Then, as I was at the bar getting a beer for the stage, the man, who had left momentarily, set off a firecracker or something just outside the front door, then comes running back inside pointing at the woman, and yelling "You'd better just call the cops right now!" She's screaming stuff back at him, and then they get into a stand-off around the pool table. He's starting to look like he's about to really attack her, and I'm standing about 10 feet away, wondering whether I should jump in and stop the guy (he was a fairly small-ish dude, didn't look like he'd be that hard to handle). But there were 3 or 4 guys, just patrons, standing closer to them, by the pool table, and they jumped on the guy before he could get to her, one of them putting him in a rather expertly done arm lock. They wrestled him to the ground and then escorted him out. Of course the woman is yelling at them not to hurt him.

And with that out of the way, we started playing!

The room was respectfully populated with various friends and co-workers and regulars. I think I may have heard a few heckles from the half-drunk regs at the beginning, but by about the fourth or fifth number, they were hootin' and hollerin'! "You guys rock!" Shouting out requests. It was a good feeling. There was one rather haggardly old dame who got up periodically to dance right in front of us, sans shoes. "Interpretive" I think they call it. The last time she got up to shake her thing, she jumped in and sang a verse of the song (I think it was during "Down By The Henry Moore"), and then on the way back to her seat, she tangled with a chair, and lost, wiping out rather heavily, landing on her ass. We kept playing, but looked on with concern. She was all right.

In the second set, this long-stringy-haired dude succeeded in badgering us to let him sing a song. For his moment of glory, he chose the Led Zep staple "Rock And Roll". Not part of our repertoire, but we did a reasonably good facsimile. The vocal stylings left a lot to be desired, but our drummer Gerry gets full points for finding his inner Bonham.

But it was a great night. Hot and sweaty and rockin'. It was like playing a roadhouse, without the chicken wire. Our best gig, and our funnest gig by far. We had a blast. We're booked in there again in late July.

Here's the set:

Grossman's Tavern - May 31, 2005
* = original song

1st set:
The Dick Ellis Ramble* (formerly known as The Mavis Ramble, soon to be renamed)
Fast Train
The Fever
Thelma Jane*
Men Without Women
Just My Imagination
Lanois Song*
Get It Together*
Down By The Henry Moore
I Can't Dance
I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine
Shine A Light

2nd Set:
Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast)
Don't Let The Green Grass Fool Ya
I'll Be Back
Fed Up Blues*
When Will I Be Loved
Don't Think Twice It's Alright (vocal & piano only)
10th Ave. Freeze Out
Tupelo Honey
Comin' Home*
Lost Highway
Slippin' and Slidin'
When I Paint My Masterpiece

The Fix

There's a great initiative afoot to change the CRTC's Canadian Content regulations to give radio stations more incentive to play indie artists. I think it's a wonderful idea.

If you agree, and you're Canadian citizen, drop by the website and sign the petition.

Let's Fix CANCON

Flux On, Flux Off...

Normal business hours where I work start at 8:30 a.m., but because I have a long commute by public transit, I come in around 9:00, and my boss is okay with that. Lots of other people come in for 9:00 as well. Tuesday morning, as I strolled in at the stroke of 9-ish, I saw everyone--and I mean everyone--from our 2nd floor marketing/creative services/repertoire/business analysis/web area assembled in the open-concept meeting room affectionately called "The Pit", with our Exec VP addressing the group.

My spidey senses were telling me that something was up.

I dropped off my stuff in my office and made my way to The Pit. I idled up next to one of our graphic artists who was standing near the back of the pack and hushedly asked for the scoop.

"We've been bought by BMG," he said.

Always trust your spidey senses.

We spent the rest of the week getting dribs and drabs of information about what it all means. Here's a little article on the subject.

Usually these kinds of mergers/acquisitions result in job losses--"efficiencies"--and that may very well be the case with this one, especially when it comes to the redundancies in the call centres both companies have in North America. Both companies have distribution facilities and call centres in the mid-west USA. I doubt they'll keep all of them operating as is. Both companies also have head offices in New York City. Word is they'll move both into a new building.

It's scary stuff, but the possible blessing for us in Toronto is that BMG doesn't have a presence in the Canadian market. BMG Canada was operating a music club here, but we successfully shut them out 6 or 7 years ago, and they pulled out of Canada. So, assuming the new company (BMG-Columbia House, or whatever it's to be called) will want to maintain a presence in this market--and I can't see why they wouldn't--they'll need our office. Plus, not to sound like a company man, but we've been doing some very good work recently, making some very bold moves to rethink our business and reach out to our customers. I think--hope--that when our new BMG overlords finish examining their new assets and start deciding how to best integrate the two companies, they'll recognize that we've been a very valuable part of the CH business.

It's still early days in terms of knowing how it'll all shake out, but it may be a very positive move for the business. BMG is strong in its music club, and CH is strong in DVD, so the merging of the two brands could create a very powerful entertainment direct seller, as they are saying. Plus BMG also owns Book of the Month Club and several other large publishing companies, as well as other interests, so the cross-selling possibilities are there.

I think it's also better to be owned by an entertainment company once again. The Blackstone Group, which had bought us a couple of years ago, is an investment firm. They were only interested in "flipping" their investment. BMG is in the same business we're in, and they apparently see this acquisition as a strategic move to expand their business. They see value in adding us to their group.

At least that's what I can glean from the press and from what we've been told through the message coming down from the company execs. I was impressed that Stuart Goldfarb, the CEO of BMG Direct, spent all day Thursday travelling around North America, visiting every facility the two companies own around the continent, to talk to the employees and answer questions. I was also impressed that he showed up in a sweatshirt and jeans! As someone at our office said afterwards, he looked like a roadie for a rock band. It's true: 40-something, beard, sweathshirt, jeans, running shoes. He said that's just how he's most comfortable, and he does his job well, so his bosses leave him alone. He didn't have all the answers as to what's going to happen, because, as he explained, they simply don't know yet themselves. But he seemed like a pretty straight-up guy.

So, all that can be done is to wait and see how it all shakes out. Government approval for the sale won't come through until at least July 1.

The more immediate good news for me is that we're bringing in the new copywriter on a short-term contract, to get around the two-week hiring freeze. (Turns out the freeze was a result of the impending announcement of the sale to BMG--so that explains that.) Plus we're bringing in the other guy on a contract as well. He'll come in for 20-25 hours a week to work on certain projects. So relief is in sight for me. I can actually look at working normal hours and doing a nornal work load again--and taking some time off in the not-too-distant future. Woo!

Life is Hard, Then You Blog

I've been really feeling the strain from covering two jobs at work for these past three months. Haven't really been able to have much of a life outside work. Get home around 8 p.m. or later some nights. Get a bite to eat, often a slice of pizza from down the street, read some e-mail, maybe watch the news, then try to get to bed at a decent hour, which is often hard to do when I eat late.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. We interviewed a candidate for the Junior Copywriter position, and I think she'll be perfect. Fresh out of school and eager, and her writing skills are very good. She's obviously a natural writer and truly lives in the world of the word. And I'm sure she's bright enough to catch on quickly to all the other stuff that comes with working in an office, and having the pressures of production deadlines, etc. I sat in on the her initial interview on Wednesday with our HR guy because my boss was at an off-site meeting. I recommended that we should bring her in for a second interview with my boss. So she came in again on Friday, and my boss loved her. So we were excited that we'd finally found someone to fill the position, someone who seems perfect. Only problem is, as I found out on Friday, the company has just this week put a hiring freeze in place. And this comes after some of the other departments have made several hires in the past few weeks, making their staffs larger. We're just trying fill positions from staff we've lost.

So it's pretty frustrating, especially since it seems to me that there's been some foot-dragging in getting this position filled. All I hear is that there's lots of competition out there for jobs, especially for writing jobs, hundreds of resumes stacked up on HR desks. And we've interviewed a grand total of three people over a period of two or three months? And now we've finally found a perfect hire, and they announce a hiring freeze! I'm told that the freeze will only be in effect for the next two or three weeks though, which is strange in its own right. But my boss says she's working on the higher-ups to try to get things moving sooner, so we'll see how it all shakes out.

The good news is that we are going ahead with bringing in a guy on a short-term contract. He's a former copywriter there, just before my time. We'll bring him in to do some direct mail projects and he can also help me out in the interim. So there is relief in sight. Ideally by the time the new junior copywriter is on board, the contract guy will be able to shoulder some of my load while I spend some of my time training the newbie, and then once she's up and running, I can actually take some time off. What a concept! I dearly need some chill time. You know you need some time off when you're sitting at your desk, staring blankly at the computer screen, whispering Peter Lorre imitations to yourself.

"I am prepared to pay five thousand dollars for the figure's return."
"Reeck, Reeck..."

Yes, it's come to that. Life outside of work hasn't been much better. When the weekend rolls around, I'm usually too burnt-out to want to do much. Just sleep in and then chill out at my own pace. Been spending my weekends mostly in my own little cocoon. Hardly even venturing out during the day. The exception was a few weekends ago when we had a beautiful Sunday, 20-some degrees and sunny. People were walking about in T-shirts...and, thankfully, pants.

The day beckoned, so I took a walk up Kingston Road, and, on a whim, decided to turn down a random side street and wander through a Beaches neighbourhood I had never walked through before. I walked southward, making my way through the mostly large, beautiful and certainly expensive houses. I ended up on a street that ran south towards the main strip of the Beaches on Queen Street. On the left was a wooded ravine with a walking trail that followed the course of a stream. One of the nice things about Toronto is the system of ravines that runs throughout the city. Lovely to have access to nature in the middle of a city. Gotta stay in touch with the Mother. I saw a stairway of sorts carved into the hillside, so I descended into the ravine. It felt great traipsing through the shady coolness, hearing the trickling of the stream, the rustle of leaves in the trees, sensing the awakening of spring.

Today is another such day. Twenty-three degrees and sunny. People walking around in t-shirts. And pants. I probably won't get out today though. Gotta do my taxes. And my laundry situation has gone Code Red. I'm down to the third-stringers in my underwear-and-socks drawer. The bench-warmers that never get to play in the big game because I rely on my quality guys to carry me through. As they call it in the hockey world, playing a shortened bench. But now I'm calling upon socks I don't even remember owning. Underwear that now prompt me to question my initial purchase decision (ultra-briefs? What was I thinking?).

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit too cerebral to indulge in the simple pleasures of a sunny day. Not that they're mutually exclusive, but I just feel the need to write and cogitate. It's been a rare feeling lately. And I've been feeding my head with some good things. This past Tuesday was the "company store" day at work (a phrase that tickles me to no end: "You take 16 DVDs and waddya get..."), where I get to redeem the voucher that accompanies my pay cheque once a month. They set up a corner of the warehouse with about a dozen large tables of returned product, mostly DVDs, and we get to pick one DVD or two CDs. This time around I chose a 2-disc deluxe edition of the "Magnolia" DVD. I try to pick films that I'm likely to want to revisit at some point. That's my philosophy of having a DVD collection. Why have a bunch of films you'll watch once and then they just sit on your shelf? For those kinds of films, there's rental. I guess I see DVDs more like CDs than books. Oddly, I'm okay with having lots of books that I'll read only once and then they just sit on my shelf. Perhaps that's an issue to be more fully explored at some other time, but maybe it has something to do with the perception that books are more "permanent", an older technology. Or maybe it's that I've grown up conditioned to accept the logic of libraries, with no similarly popular concept of film libraries?

Anyway, I watched "Magnolia" Friday night, staying up way too late to do so. In fact, I couldn't finish watching it because I was just to tired, it was getting on to 3 a.m. or thereabouts--it's a long film--so I watched the last 45 minutes or so last night. It's the first re-viewing of the film for me since I'd seen it in the theatre, and it certainly is one of those films that rewards multiple viewings, if only just to get a clearer picture of all the characters and their various relationships to each other--literal and metaphorical.

[I interrupt this narrative with an announcement. I have decided to forgo doing laundry until tomorrow! I'm working from home tomorrow, so I'll be able to get that done while I work, just as long as I get it done before I have to leave for my dental appointment in the afternoon. Getting a crown done. Yay. So it looks like maybe I'll be able to get out and catch some of the Sunday sunshine after all. Me and my third-string socks and my ultra-briefs. And pants.]

The bonus disc has some interesting stuff on it. A bunch of outtakes which are quite funny. Some scenes that didn't make it into the movie. The complete T.J. Mackey seminar that Tom Cruise delivers ("tame the pussy!"), as well as the T.J. Mackey infomercial that plays mostly in the background on television during the scenes with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jason Robards on his death bed. There's also Aimee Mann's video for "Save Me" and a making-of documentary that chronicles the process as the film goes over schedule and over budget, and then wins a bunch of awards and film-festival honours.

I'll say this though: Paul Thomas Anderson is one hyper dude. Made me wonder what it'd be like to be in a room with him and Quentin Tarantino. Give them some speed and then watch them explode like frogs in a microwave.

"Yesbutitreallyharkensbacktofritzlangsmetropolisandntherereallyhasntbeenapropernoirstoryline
sinceimeanimeanlikelookatdarkcity..." *BOOM!*

Odd thing was, as I was about to pop in the DVD to watch the last bit of "Magnolia", I channel-surfed across "Six Degrees of Separation", which had just barely begun. I had never seen it before, and it captivated me, so I settled in to watch that. A fascinating film, though it didn't take long to realize that it was adapted from a play. Great dialogue, but I find it detracts from the effect when you can practically see the playwright writing the words, watch the actor on screen turning into a mouthpiece for an offscreen presence. Stage dialogue doesn't always survive the transition to celluloid, no matter how brilliant it may be. But it was brilliant writing. Will Smith's discussion of his thesis on the death of the imagination was spellbinding and inspiring. But I say it was an "odd" thing to stumble across this film on TV because it certainly has some thematic commonalities with "Magnolia", chiefly the interconnectedness of lives and stories.

And then, today I finally got around to listening to Ryan Adams' new CD, "Cold Roses". I dropped the laser on the first disc without even looking at the names of the tracks, and the first line I heard was "I want to go to Magnolia Mountain..."

And the Narrator from the movie says...
And it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just "Something That Happened." This cannot be "One of those things..." This, please, cannot be that. And for what I would like to say, I can't. This Was Not Just A Matter Of Chance. Ohhhh. These strange things happen all the time.

I think I'll go take that walk now. Twenty-three degrees and sunny. Chance of frogs.

I'll leave you with some more memorable quotes from "Magnolia".

Bye Bye Johnnie

A lovely tribute to Johnnie Johnson. God bless you Johnnie.

You Don't Know Dick?

First, we were The Braveyard Whips.
Then, we were Mavis.
Then, The Darktown Strutters.

All just phases. Necessary biways to reach our destination.

Long live The Dick Ellis Revival!

Mmmmm is for Martha

Check out the lovely and talented Martha Wainwright on Letterman tonight. Maybe she'll do the title track from her upcoming CD, BMFA (Bloody Mother-Fucking Asshole), apparently written more or less about dad Louden.

You may have noticed her in "The Aviator" as a big band singer in a nightclub crooning "I'll Be Seeing You".

Courtesy of her website, here are 3 downloadable songs from the new CD.
(right-click, "save link as"; Mac people: control-click, "save link to disc")

BMFA
I Will Internalize
How Soon

Martha rocks! Artistically strong, vulnerable, sexy, brave, passionate, smart. If you've never seen her play live, do whatever you can to rectify that.

Maybe she can hitch her wagon to the current "everything cool comes from Montreal" ethos. Although I think she spends most of her time in New York these days.

Tomorrow's Headlines Today

You heard it here first:

BUSH NOMINATES BROTHER JEB FOR PAPACY

Oh, God

With all due respect to the Pope and catholics everywhere (myself being a recovering one -- it's a 12-step program; one for each apostle), I think this article speaks for itself about some of the inherent problems with the church, or at least with some of its employees.

(BANG) - Madonna should be 'beaten' for dressing as a nun, a leading US Catholic has claimed.

I've always failed to understand how people who venerate "the lamb of God" and "the Prince of Peace" can be so comfortable doling out corporal punishment. People have heard of this Practice What You Preach thing, haven't they? It's been all over the Internets.

Then again, with George Bush pushing a "culture of life", what can one expect with that kind of consistency in moral leadership. I'm sure there are quite a few innocent Iraqi civilians who would have liked to be invited into that culture.

And while we're talking religion and hypocrisy, I noticed that as the Terri Schiavo case was unfolding over the past few weeks, the Rev. Jerry Falwell was hospitalized in "critical condition...battling his second case of viral pneumonia in just five weeks."

To recap, this is the man who said that the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon on 9/11 were God's judgment on America for "throwing God out of the public square":

"I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

He was also quoted as saying that "God will not be mocked."

I think it's pretty obvious to see what's happening here: In the midst of the hypocrisy, threats and general ugliness perpetuated by right-wing Christian wind-bag zealots like Falwell, God is striking them down to send a message. Seems like a pretty obvious conclusion to me. At least according to the same kind of "logic" used by people like Falwell. Funny why they don't see this obvious expression of God's displeasure with their actions. I guess it's easier to intuit the will of God when it supports one's own narrow, hateful, fear-inspring agenda. When America is attacked, God is obviously punishing America for creeping secularism, but when someone like Falwell is struck down with a serious disease, it's not God's will, it's just a medical condition.

Maybe God should start leaving "calling card" notes like Spider-Man does. "This hypocritical, hateful pompous zealot struck down by your friendly neighbourhood omnipotent deity."

I think maybe God needs some media advisors to make sure his key messages are getting through.

The Goods On This Friday

This weekend marks the third anniversary of my adventure in blogging.

And I have nothing momentous or profound to say about it whatsoever.

So let's get on with it...

I'm enjoying a very restful Good Friday. And that's... good!

A very necessary period of downtime. Just relaxing, drinking good coffee, listening to good music, surfing the web, trying not to follow any agenda or attach myself to any schedule. Off the workaday grid, so to speak. Will get together with some of boys in the band tonight for a rehearsal, probably go for a few beers afterwards (wait a minute... are pubs open on Good Friday? Hmmm, I can't remember). Either way, it should be a good way to spend the evening.

What have I been listening to? The new Solomon Burke CD is quite good. He goes a little over the top at times, but even when he does, it's entertaining. The lead-off track "I Need Your Love In My Life", is fantastic. Great Keef-esque rhythm guitar.

Been quite impressed with Josh Rouse's latest album, Nashville. Nice, warm, acoustic pop. "It's The Nighttime" is a great, catchy tune. Hear it and other selections streaming from his site. The piano ballad "Sad Eyes" is a little on the saccharine/schmaltzy end of the spectrum, but I find it hard to resist nonetheless. Overall I find him a cut above most of the other pretty-boy folk-pop romeos around these days, people like John Mayer. Rouse may be travelling the same road, but he's not so firmly planted in the middle of it.

Been following the Schiavo case, of course. Sad, sad story all around. I don't know all the details, and of course, none of us do, unless we have firsthand knowledge of her telling her husband or anyone else that she didn't want to be kept alive artificially in such a vegetative state. But seeing as how 30+ judges have heard the case at virtually every level of the judicial process, and the findings have all concluded that she did express that view, and has a right to die, I'm inclined to believe that those were her wishes. Similarly with the conflicting medical opinions. I'll side with the court-appointed experts over the bought-off hacks on this one.

Pat Boone was on Larry King the other night. His grandson had been in a lengthy coma after a fall, and then came out of it, despite doctors' advise that he wouldn't. Pat was calling the Schiavo case murder, and tossing around unsubstantiated innuendo about abuse from her husband. The fact that Larry King pointed out that the kind of coma Boone's grandson was in is a medically different condition than the vegetative state Mrs. Schiavo is in, didn't seem to disqualify Boone as "the voice of morality".

The bullshit, faulty logic and spurious argument coming from the right is simply incredible. If I hear one more right-wing pundit use the dog analogy, I'm gonna scream. Here's the spiel. "If I did to a dog what they're doing to Terri Schiavo [withholding food and water], I'd be arrested." Wrong. If you did that to an otherwise *healthy* dog, yes. But Terri Schiavo is not a healthy person. Fact is, if your dog was hit by a car, and was in misery, you'd be *expected* to put it out of its misery, perhaps even legally required to do so, but certainly ethically and morally obliged to end its suffering.

Then there's this ongoing talk of "activist judges." Apparently an activist judge is one whose decisions run contrary to right-wing, conservative Christian agendas. I guess some of the Reagan and Bush appointees on the Federal bench and on the U.S. Supreme Court have now succumbed to the same disease. People are screaming that "the judges are running the country". Funny, I don't remember these people so upset when judges appointed George Bush to his first term as president.

The level of hypocrisy is truly astounding. But that seems to be the central principle guiding American decision-makers--and we in Canada have certainly seen it in the area of trade disputes--if the game goes against you, change the rules. Or even better, ignore the rules.

I was happy to hear a voice of reason on CNN use the phrase "sanctity of the marriage bond" in defense of Mr. Schiavo's actions and in criticism of the bill passed by Bush and the Congress. Ah yes, that creature that is under attack by the forces of immorality and needs to be protected: the heterosexual marriage. Thank god Bush and the neo-cons have such respect for that institution.

And then there was the guy on CNN today protesting via megaphone outside of Jeb Bush's gubernatorial mansion, seemingly outraged that the groundspeople were watering the plants while Mrs. Schiavo was being denied water. Do us all a favour buddy, and start denying yourself food and water. Interesting too how Jeb Bush seems to have lost his righteousness and stomach for doing "the right thing" now that opinion polls are showing that his brother's ratings are taking a hit.

And what happened to the time-honoured conservative value of keeping "Big Government" out of people's lives? If one good thing comes out of this, other than more people getting their wills and their wishes in order, maybe it's the prospect of a rift developing on the right when the more moderate conservatives get a real clear look at what kind of religious zealots they're politically sleeping with.

But I'll just say right now, in lieu of a real living will with all the proper legalese language, that if I ever end up in a vegetative state from which there is no hope of recuperation, I don't want my body to be kept "alive" artificially. That's not being alive.

To quote a T Bone Burnett song:

The frightening thing is not dying
The frightening thing is not living

Leg Up

Haven't had much time or cause to blog lately. Now that I'm doing two jobs at work, I've been busier than a one-legged man at a butt-kickin' contest.

As you may recall, I got a new boss back in January. So far, things are working out pretty well. New Boss has a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and a lot of very good ideas about how to make our magazines fresher and livelier and more interesting. Shortly after she came on board, we sat down and talked about what kinds of changes she'd like to see, and I like the direction she's going in. Wants to add more editorial content to our magazines, letters from the editor, that kind of thing. More interactive elements. Crosswords, games, etc. Things to make the reader feel like they're members of a club, and not just reading a catalogue of product to buy. Things that are more fun for me to write too.

And she really likes my work, and is quite a bit more supportive than my previous boss. Less stingy with praise. So, in turn, I find I'm coming up with better ideas and being more creative in general, which leads to more appreciation, etc etc...

We also talked about my role, and I pitched her on the fact that I'd like to have more control over copy decisions, and more responsibility. She seemed open to that idea.

Then about a month ago, the other copywriter quit. Since then I've been writing and overseeing all the copy for the company--Music and DVD/Video Club magazines, web, direct mail pieces, even a display for a trade-show booth and a telephone script for outcalls from our call centre CSRs (cutsomer service representatives). It's been a load of work with many late hours. Getting to know the cleaning crew quite well.

But, we've been doing some really interesting things with our magazines, adding the aforesaid contests (asking readers to match rock-star tattoos with their respective albums), getting more interactive with readers (asking them to go to our website and vote on their favourite albums of the moment, sharing picks from some our staff, etc.). I just finished writing some expanded, review-style features on the most influential albums of the past four decades. Our graphic artists have been doing some great designs and layouts, and everyone's been getting a lot more creative and coming up with fresh ideas, including me.

It seems that all is turning out well. And for me personally, it's meant a more satisfying work environment--albeit an extremely busy one--and greater job satisfaction. And help is on the way! We've begun interviewing for a junior copywriter.

Why "junior"? Because... [drumroll]... I got a promotion! I'm now the Senior Copywriter, and the new person we hire will report to me. I'll be responsible for overseeing all copy in the Music and DVD/Video Clubs, and other projects. The new person will write mostly for the Music Club. If I had my druthers, I would write the music stuff, but the fact is, our music sales are down and dropping lower, while DVD is growing. Career-wise, handling most of the DVD side of things is the smart thing to do. Better to be on the rising boat than the sinking one. Plus I get to deal with all our Playboy DVD products!

And speaking of getting a raise, I got a fairly decent increase in pay too. Nothing that'll change my income-tax bracket, but I was happy with it. I considered perhaps pressing for a bigger increase, considering I am in a bit of an advantageous position, as the only writer on staff. But, with the company in precarious financial health, I'm satisfied with what I got. There's promise of more in the future as we move forward. And if I choose to leave, I can market myself at a more senior level.

So, all in all, the work front is a lot more satisfying these days.

Things is lookin' up!

Gidget Gone-zo

On the same day, we say goodbye to Hunter S. Thompson and Gidget.

Yep, just two peas in this crazy ol' pod we call life.

No More Mavis

As it turns out, there's a band in town called Mavis Drive. It's a street out in Etobicoke. I'd heard of Mavis Road, but not Mavis Drive. They've been around longer than us, have a CD out and a web page and everything. They're "Sabbath-style hard rock". So it's back to the name game for us.

I think we may end up going back to The Braveyard Whips. It's original, and it fits the way we sound. Although tonight at rehearsal we all seemed to like The Goers as a name as well. I suggested we could make t-shirts that say "I'm a Goer" on them. But I'm kind of partial toward The Braveyard Whips myself.

I also have to go back to the drawing board on the CD art I created for our demos we recorded at Bertie's. I burned CDs to give to each band member, but I left the drummer's name out of the credits. Oops, sorry Gerry.

So...

I wasn't sure how I'd start back into blogging after the last entry. Jumping right back into some mundane entry about work or the band or something just didn't seem right. "Sad about Mike, but moving right along, this is what happened to me on the subway today..."

Uh-huh.

But, knowing how Mike loved to deconstruct awards shows, let's dedicate this entry in Mike's honour: The Good, The Bad and The Grammys.

Let's start at the beginning: The opening.
Well, I suppose it wasn't as lame as some from years past, but that's about the best I can't say abou it. Does anyone else want to strangle the singer from Maroon 5? The guy just bugs me.
Gwen Stefani. Please go away. This woman cannot sing without sounding like she's sitting on a washing machine on agitate.

One thing about the Grammys is that when people do perform live, you really get see the wheat parting ways from the chaff. To wit:

- Gretchen Wilson: The Nashville marketing gloss is stripped away to reveal a glorified bar singer. Course these days in the music biz, as in the entertainment biz in general, it doesn't matter if you're flat; that can be fixed.

- Tim McGraw: Visually: beefcake. Musically: deflated souffle. Or as some say... all hat, no cattle.

Speaking of wheat and chaff, the Janis Joplin tribute was a prime example. Joss Stone is supposedly the new soul diva? She's got the style, but sorry honey, you ain't got the soul. I'm not even that big a fan of Melissa Etheridge, but at least she has the balls to be able to sing Joplin as it should be sung (not to mention to show up bald, after undergoing breast cancer treatments). Maybe not the Janis heiress, but at least her voice has the power to get her in the ball park. Joss Stone just doesn't have the... stones, to sing that stuff.

Loved the Loretta and Jack show. That was hilarious. One of the night's best moments for entertainment value and for seeing a real musical treasure get her due.

Kanye West. Get over yourself. Tool.

Queen Latifah: Nice job hosting. Very nice job singing that jazz song.

U2. Great performance. Deserved wins. Are there any real rock bands anymore?

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. Big hyped duet. Big yawn. Where's the wardrobe malfunction when you need one?

Alicia Keys: I liked her performances. She poured a lot of soul into her singing. She was spending some stuff there. The duet with Jamie Foxx wasn't quite as great as it should have been, mostly because it shouldn't have included Jamie Foxx.

Ray Charles. Nice to see a legend get his due (especially at the expense of a tool like Kanye West), but it was all a bit predictable and safe.

The big "We Are The World Across The Universe" ensemble: A Simpsons episode comes to life!

See you next year!

Mike Wolf

I was out all evening, and arrived home to the sad news that fellow blogger, regular visitor here, and long-time online friend Mike Wolf passed away last night.

I don't even know where to pack this away emotionally -- other than in the general area of shock and sadness and disbelief -- given that I never met Mike in the flesh. But I've "known" him for about 10 years, going back to the days of the Elvis Costello email list, which I was quite active in back in the day, along with other regular visitors here, Dean and Vernam (Tom). Was in touch with Mike more often in recent years since we both started blogging. I read his blog almost every day.

He had extended a standing invitation to me to come visit and stay with him in Stamford, and hang out in NYC. Wish I had taken him up on it.

I don't know what else to say. We'll miss you Mike.

More Mavis

Here are some more live demos. We recorded these last Sunday at our keyboard player Roberta's place. I took my portable Boss digital 8-track studio over there and we used only one mic, because it only has input for one mic. Didn't have access to a mixer. But they actually sound better than the previous demos when we had 2 mics set up. Go figure.

Took another run at "Masterpiece" (I replaced the old "Masterpiece" file in the folder with this new version) and "Just My Imagination". I added the newer take on "Imagination" to the folder because it's a better recording (despite some cable crackling coming from somewhere), but I left the older one up because it has a nice vibe to it. We also ran through Murray McLauchlan's "Down By The Henry Moore". "I'll Be Back" is a song we've been doing in our set, written by Pat Temple. We also recorded our originals, "Thelma Jane" and the new one, "Saved By A Song" (subtitle: "Lanois Song"), but I'm not going to post those until we have them registered.

I'm playing my Epiphone again, through my little Fender SKX amp. Not a great amp, but it only weighs about 7 lbs, which is I why I got it, to take to rehearsals at Bertie's. Beats lugging my 30-lb Blues Jr. amp on the bus.

Overall, I think these recordings sound pretty good. Boag's voice is more prominent, which is the main thing. Bertie's keys could have be a bit louder. But until we do some multi-tracking, these will suffice. I think we're really starting to find our sound, kind of a country-soul-rock thing.

Enjoy.

[click on the link, then, on the page that opens, go to the "page" icon in the middle, right-mouse click/save file to disc, etc.]

Down By The Henry Moore
I'll Be Back
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Just My Imagination

Sound Off

Sorry for the problems with the Yahoo files. Yahoo says they're trying to fix my Briefcase access problem. It's been several days, though, and nothing has been solved. Took me forever on their Help page just to find a way to contact them. Maybe that should give me some indication of what kind of help to expect.

If you're really interested in hearing the demos we recorded, let me know (click on my name below to send me an email). I can email you a link to the files that apparently works.

Sounds Of Mavis

As promised, here (in the Music folder) are a couple of the live demo tracks we recorded last Sunday at Tim's place. Obviously not professonal studio recordings, but it gives some idea of what we're up to. Don't forget to do the right-mouse-button-click "save as"/"save link to disk" thingy.

If my memory serves me well, we only did one take of "Just My Imagination" and two takes of "When I Paint My Masterpiece", the keeper being take 2. We may try re-recording these. I think Boag's voice should be more prominent. There's talk of maybe doing some multi-track recording, which would yield a much more professional sound, of course, but for now, these will suffice.

That's me starting off "Just My Imagination" with the tremolo guitar. Nice job on the backup vocals by Roberta, Sean and Tim. I think my solo sounds a little thin, and maybe lacks some "verve". I wasn't quite sure how long I'd be soloing. Was expecting Kenny to take over half-way through, but then Boag was gesturing for me to keep going as well, so my solo doesn't quite "tell a story" like it should (beginning-middle-end), but we kind of got into a bit of a groove near the end.

Please feel free to share your impressions. Feedback is always welcome.

Making Tracks

Instead of our usual Sunday rehearsal, this evening we gathered at Tim's place to lay down some tracks for a little demo CD to shop around to club bookers, etc. Tim has a recording board that he runs into Garageband on an eMac. We just set up a couple of mics in the small den off the livingroom and played live -- myself and Tim on guitars set up in opposite corners, Sean on bass in another corner, Boag sat by the wall, positioned between both mics, Kenny sat on the couch and blew away on his harp, Roberta played a little Yamaha keyboard to my left, and Gerry set up his snare in the doorway to the livingroom, so it wouldn't be too loud. A couple of the songs needed a few takes, but we got pretty good performances of "I'll Be Back", "Just My Imagination", "Thelma Jane" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece".

Tim's apartment has fairly high ceilings, and even though the den is a pretty small room, and we were all crammed in there, we actually got a fairly decent sound. Add some reverb in Garageband, and it came out with a pretty nice vibe. Far from Abbey Road, mind you, but we were all pretty pleased with the results. If I get a copy of the disc, I'll see if I can post the results.

Meet The New Boss...

So I met my new boss earlier this week. She was taken around on Wednesday to meet everyone. She seems quite nice. Hard to tell how old she is. Possibly my age or maybe even younger. Late-30s? Good sense of humour, it seems. Isn't a stickler about making sure we come in at 8:30 on the dot, which is refreshing.

Strange though that she didn't hold any kind of meeting with all of us in our department. I would have thought she'd want to hold some sort of pow-wow, even just a brief little pizza lunch just to get acquainted with us all, her new underlings. In fact she was oddly invisible for the remainder of the week. To be fair, I'm sure she had a lot of stuff to get up to speed on, being a newbie to the company. Lots of meetings. As well, there are several people in our department who were still away on holidays last week, so maybe she decided to wait until they returned.

So we'll see how things go. I assume she has the background to do the job, and she seems a lot more easygoing than my previous boss. I liked Phil personally, and I was sad to see him get canned after 17 years there, but the truth is that he could be a real hard ass, and it was quite frustrating to work for him sometimes. Maybe this will be a nice new beginning. Stay tuned.

Blood On The Boardroom Floor

Major restructuring at work today. "Streamlining". "Efficiencies". Those words scare me.

They canned my boss, Phil, Creative Services Director, as well as the director of A&R, a marketing manager, and the web manager. A couple of other people "left to pursue other opportunities". And they're bringing in outside people to fill the newly "streamlined" management positions. Yikes.

Bit of a shocker. I meet my new boss tomorrow. Better get some sleep so I make a good impression.