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.

Promises

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
And I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
I will be with you again
I will be with you again

Under a blood-red sky
A crowd has gathered in black and white
Arms entwined, the chosen few
Newspapers say, it says it's true
And we can break through
though torn in two we can be one
I will begin again, I will begin again
Oh and maybe the time is right
Oh maybe tonight
I will be with you again
I will be with you again

And so we are told this is the golden age
And gold is the reason for the wars we wage
Though I want to be with you
To be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's day

End The Beguine

R.I.P. Artie Shaw. Quite a dude.

Mavis Lives

The Horseshoe gig last Sunday went pretty well overall. There were a few rough spots, but a few sweet spots as well, including some of our best playing to date, at least from my perspective on stage (we have a DAT recording of our set, so we'll review that at some point). I always seem to play a few bum chords (like, "oops, that was supposed to be a B and I played an A" -- just mental mistakes), and messed up in a few other places, but nothing I'm gonna beat myself up over. Hey, Ronnie Wood is apparently renowned for playing bum notes, and he's doing all right for himself.

But the sweet spots were nice. We played "I'll Be Back" with a more rock-y feel, more of a snarl to it, more aggression--and it sounded great. Felt great. And our version of "Just My Imagination", which always sounds nice in rehearsal, came off equally well on stage, if not better. Nice vibe.

The Tele performed well in its debut. Sounded good, although I still find my sound at times is a bit dirtier than I woud like, so I'll have to work on that. I played the Epi for a 4- or 5-song stretch in the middle of the set which included Run Rudolph Run, I Can't Dance, Fed Up Blues--songs that call for that fuller sound. Felt like such a pro, switching guitars on stage! :-)

So our debut as Mavis came off pretty well, at least from a band perspective, which is key at this point in our evolution. We seemed to be received generally well, although it was impossible to see the small but appreciative crowd behind the bright lights. A couple of people got up and danced, so that's always good. We didn't hit the stage until about 11:45, and apparently by around midnight--our 4th or 5th song--people started leaving. I'll assume that had more to do with the hour than with the music.

And check this out: we got the blessing from THE Mavis. The previous Thursday night, Mavis Staples was playing Massey Hall, and Boag and Tim went to see her. Boag hung out at the stage door and got to meet the lady in her limo. She said she was honoured to have a band named after her, and she even signed the poster!

There's no stopping us now baby!

Jimbuck2's Picks Of 2004

In no particular order...

A Ghost Is Born - Wilco
Smile - Brian Wilson
From A Basement On The Hill - Elliott Smith
House Of Ill Fame - The Trews
Ghosts Of The Great Highway - Sun Kil Moon (late 2003 - you wanna make somethin' of it?)
The Tigers Have Spoken - Neko Case
All Of Our Names - Sarah Harmer
Van Lear Rose - Loretta Lynn
Get Away From Me - Nellie MacKay
Let It Die - Feist

Haven't yet heard: U2, Tom Waits, R.E.M., The Arcade Fire, Paul Westerberg


TOP MUSICAL MOMENTS OF 2004:

The Sweet Harmony Review concert, Detroit
Daniel Lanois, surprise appearance at Rivoli Christmas show
Los Lobos, free show at Harbourfront
Neko Case w/The Sadies at Lee's Palace
Broken Social Scene at the Sloan/Sam Roberts fest, Toronto Islands
Blackie And The Rodeo Kings at the Horseshoe
Wilco at The Mod Club
Bob Dylan at The Phoenix
Greg MacPherson at Healey's, NxNE
Hawksley Workman, Toronto Streetfest, corner of Yonge & Eglinton

Darlings

Look who got the "Best Bet" nod in the NOW magazine music listings for Boxing Day.




And to make it extra-special, we edged out the "punk rockers get their big break accompanying strippers". I've been telling Boag that he needs to show more skin, and now it's fnally paying off.
Before ever playing a note as Mavis, and the critics love us already!

Bloody Irony

Assailants kill 28 in Honduras bus attack

[From CTV.ca News Staff]
At least 28 passengers, including six children, were killed when assailants opened fire on a public bus in northern Honduras.
The shooting happened Thursday night in the city of Chamelecon, about 200 kilometres north of the capital Tegucigalpa.
The bus was driving through the neighbourhood of San Isidro when a car carrying an unknown number of armed attackers pulled in front of the vehicle and forced it to stop, police spokesman Deputy Commissioner Wilmer Torres said.
Torres said the attackers jumped out of the car and began shooting. Attackers in a second car fired from behind and alongside the bus.
Most of those on the bus were coming home with bags full of gifts and food for Christmas, Torres said.
The assailants left a taped sign on the windshield of the bus saying they were part of a revolutionary group against the death penalty.

Boxing Day Blow-Out!

If you're in the Toronto area on Boxing Day, the 26th, and got nothing to do, drop by the Horseshoe. We're headlining the Boxing Day Blow-Out, along wth our friend Heather Morgan and her most-excellently named band, and a solo opening set by Amer Diab. That's us, Mavis!




(Thanks to Greg for the poster design. Great job!)

Coincidentally, Mavis Staples is playing in town tonight, at Massey Hall. Boag's going to try to get her to sign the poster. Apparently though, the name Mavis refers to the songbird known as the Thrush.

ma-vis n. See song thrush.
[Middle English, from Old French mauvis, probably from mauve, seagull, mew.]

mavis n : common Old World thrush noted for its song [syn: song thrush, throstle, Turdus philomelos]

Okay, that's a nice association. It's also a common name in Africa, I'm told.

Running Deep

Because of this, I'm working from home today. This is brilliant! Normally I wouldn't be able to do this, due to proofreading duties which pretty much require actual eyeballs on actual magazine layouts. But the only major thing on my plate for today was writing a few SOMs (Selections of the Month), which I can easily do in Word at home. And I finished those about an hour ago. Woo!

Now I get to go trudging through the snow to get some groceries. But that's all right. Hey, it's Canada. It's winter. Trudging through snow...it's in the script.

Had a wonderful time last night at the annual Rivoli Christmas show, normally hosted by Tamara Williamson, but in her absence this year, guest-hosted by the lovely and talented Mia Sheard. The usual suspects performed: Kurt Swinghammer, Lori Cullen, Mia, Kevin Hearn, and the ever-humble and wonderful Ron Sexsmith, who sang a Chris Rea song called Driving Home For Christmas and his own neo-classic Maybe This Christmas. Kevin Fox did an impressively beautiful rendition of Joni Mitchell's River. But the highlight was a surprise appearance by none other than Daniel Lanois. He was apparently just there to meet a friend, and decided to do a number. He grabbed an acoustic and sang "Still Water" from Acadie. A fine, fine time.

I'll go out to my brother's place in Oshawa on Christmas Day. Will spend Christmas Eve alone at home, and that's exactly what I need. Between band rehearsals, Christmas running around, working late, etc, I can't remember the last time I had a quiet evening to myself. Plan to just chill and maybe get back to writing those songs I started but never got back to. Might be a good night for that. Have to be in the right headspace.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and all the best for 2005.
Personally, I think 2005's gonna rock!

Merry Merry Happy Happy and all that!

Me On Tele

I posted a while back about looking to pick up a Fender Telecaster one of these days. Well sir, that day was Saturday.

I am now the proud owner of my first Fender guitar, a lovely four-year-old, black-and-white, American-made jobbie with a rosewood neck. This is her.

It's real nice. I'm kind of partial to rosewood fretboards, over maple ones, I guess just because I've only ever owned guitars with rosewood. The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan that I assume the previous owner had installed. It's pretty hot, in terms of output, almost like a humbucker, though it has that Tele snap to it. Only problem is, it's noticeably louder than the neck pickup. It's just that much hotter. So if I were to switch to the neck pickup, or the middle position, during a song, there would be a significant drop in volume. Not cool. I'll leave it as is for now, wanna see how it performs at our gig on the 26th, then I'll look into either replacing the Seymour Duncan with a normal Fender Tele bridge pickup, or maybe replacing the stock neck pickup with a Seymour Duncan Tele neck pickup, which would likely have a similar output as the bridge pickup.

I had had my eye on an incredible and purty pink paisley Telecaster that was for sale in the same store when I dropped in last Saturday. I picked it up out of curiosity, and man, did it ever feel nice! Some guitars just have a vibe to them, and this was one. It's a 1990's Japanese-made reissue of the discontinued 1969 model James Burton played with Elvis in the late-60s, early-70s. (I believe that picture is actually of Burton's, which features the older-style bridge. The reissues have newer, modern bridges.) Maple neck, but it felt pretty awesome to me. If it had been in the store when I returned yesterday, I may just have walked out of there with it instead of the one I bought. But, these pink paisley Teles are apparently hot commodities and well regarded by those in the know, and someone had snapped it up during the intervening week. It was even about $100 cheaper than mine. Oh well, I don't know if pink is my colour anyway, and I was a bit hesitant about making that my guitar. Seems like the kind of guitar you can justify playing only if you're a real hotshot guitar-slinger. I don't really see myself like that. I ain't no James Burton. Tim Burton, maybe. Still, if I ever see another one of those pink paisley Telecasters, I might just have to snap it up.

But I'm pretty happy to be a Tele owner. I feel bad for my Epiphone though. It's stood by me and served me well during my first forays into the world of live performance, and now it's relegated to back-up status. I'll probably still play it for certain songs that call for that fuller sound and the bite of humbuckers. Maybe for "The Fever" or for straight-up blues numbers like "Fed Up Blues", or maybe for "I Can't Dance" to conjure that Chuck Berry thing. Great to have two such different guitars though, to cover off different types of sounds and types of music. They complement each other well.

Sorry for the guitar-talk for those of you who aren't axe-inclined.

Dixie Hangover

Had a merry ol' time Thursday night. Our new keyboard player, Roberta, had a Christmas gathering at her place. She plays in a New Orleans-style jazz band called The Happy Pals, so a few of those folks were there, along with some players from another jazz band called The Silver Leaf Jazz Band. After some obligatory socializing, out came the trombone, tuba, sax, banjo, cornet, snare, guitars, with Roberta on piano directing traffic. What a blast! It was a small basement apartment in a house she shares with her sister and mother, who live above, but everyone was down in the basement. Space was at a premium, but thankfully nobody was skewered by the trombone.

I sat in on nylon-string guitar for a few bluesy numbers (couldn't play real jazz to save my life), and then later in the evening (morning by then, actually), I sat behind the snare and had fun holding down the beat or a while. It was a great time. I left around 3 a.m., had to run like a bugger to catch the bus down Coxwell. Woke up at 7:30 a.m. on my couch with my head on the arm rest. My first thought was 'oh my god, I'll be late for work', then remembered with much relief that I had taken Friday off. My ear was numb for the rest of the day and part of the next, where I had slept on it on the couch. My back was killing me, also from the posture I had slept in, my left calf muscle was sore as hell, likely from the sprint for the bus, and I was hung over like a bastard. A hurtin' unit I was.

Got up from the couch, threw some food in the cat's dish to shut him the hell up, and crawled off to my bed. Woke up around noon to a dreary, rainy day. Rest of the day was a write-off while I recuperated, though I had to slog out to buy cat food and groceries. Felt good to get back inside, warm and dry, and spend the evening watching a tape of the Gram Parsons tribute on "Sessions At West 54th" and the "VH1 Storytellers" with Tom Waits. A night to explore one's inner raindog.

iTuning Out

Nice to see that the iTunes Music Store is finally available in Canada, a year and a half after its launch in the US and after launching in various European countries, including Belgium, Greece and Portugal. Apparently Apple felt the Belgian market was a bigger priority. What's up with that?

When I downloaded my first iTunes track last week, I had a brainstorm. I'm in the midst of trying to put together another Christmas CD, and I thought instead of frantically searching the web, downloading "illegally", or buying entire Christmas CDs just to get that one needed song, I could use the iTunes Music Store to find the songs I need, and buy them individually! Oh the joys of the digital commercial age (and the rosy glow of ethical decision-making that it bestows!).

Except...
In reading up on the fine print with respect to computer authorization and Apple's Fairplay encryption technology, I was confused about the number of times I could burn a track purchased through iTunes. So I asked the Apple:

According to your description of Fairplay it "...allows unlimited burning for individual songs and lets you burn playlists up to 7 times each." My question: If I create a playlist comprised of songs from my own CD collection and one or two songs purchased from iTunes Music Store, will I be able to burn that playlist an unlimited number of time, or just 7 times?

This is the response I received:

Dear Jim,

Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.

In accordance with the contracts between the artists, the record companies, and the iTunes Music Store, you may burn unchanged playlists up to seven times each even if they only contain only a single title from the iTunes Music Store.

You may, however, enjoy unlimited synching with your iPods, and you may burn unlimited CDs of individual songs.

For more information about burning CDs from playlists or making new playlists, open iTunes and choose iTunes & Music Store Help from the Help menu. Click Contents, then click Burning CDs or DVDs.

Sincerely,

The iTunes Music Store Team

Well, that's just wonderful. I can burn "unlimited CDs of individual songs." Yes, I love doing that. Who doesn't mind wasting entire CD-Rs by burning only one song on each one? Seems though that the key phrase in their reply is where they say "you may burn unchanged playlists up to seven times each even if they only contain only[sic] a single title from the iTunes Music Store." But what does that mean? If I alter the positions of the last 2 tracks after every 7th burning, can I then burn the playlist 7 more times, then switch them back, and on and on?

Does anyone have any experience with this? Seems pretty stupid to me. If I bought the damn song, I should be able to burn it as many times as I want. I likely would have used their store for several more purchases, but now they've driven me back to the P2P realm. Seems contrary to the whole idea if you ask me.

Whipping Up An Update

Been too bogged to blog much lately. But I'll try some catching up.

Played a gig last Sunday at the Cadillac Lounge out in Parkdale, a cool little bar. Things went okay overall, though we had some tempo issues with some songs. For some reason, we launched into "Men Without Women" at about half-speed. It felt like we were playing on quaaludes. It was kind of funny actually. It was quite a casual gig. Boag was talking to a friend of his who plays in a band called Der Backbeats, and he just said "hey, you guys should come along and open for us." So we did.

But, with every gig we discover things that we need to address, and it's good to learn these things. Plus, to be fair, we've played three gigs with three different fill-in drummers, so it's a bit hard to become a tight combo under those circumstances, no matter how good the drummer-of-the-moment is. This gig we had a great drummer sit in with us, Cam Giroux from By Divine Right, who has also played with Weeping Tile (Sarah Harmer's first band) and Oh Susanna, who showed up with him to catch the show. Cam's also a really sweet guy. A pleasure to rehearse and play with. But our search continues for a full-time drummer.

We have, however, found ourselves a keyboard player, in one Roberta Hunt, who has a background in jazz and boojee-woojee and possibly other stuff as well. We had our first rehearsal with her this past Wednesday, and it sounded great. She'll be adding piano and organ into the mix and it's just what we needed. She's also a very sweet and pleasant person (fed us pickles, cold cuts and beer at the rehearsal at her place), so I think she'll fit in marvelously.

She'll make her debut with us on Boxing Day (Dec. 26). We booked The Horseshoe for the evening, and our friend Heather's band will be joining us, along with another band to be determined. Should be fun. It's always nice to play The Horseshoe, and we'll see if we can get some people to come out and shake off some holiday stress with some good tunes.

Another good thing about having Roberta on board is that she lives relatively close to me--a short bus ride up to Coxwell station and then one stop over to Greenwood. Has a basement pad in a house I used to walk by almost every day when I lived on Greenwood. We'll likely end up rehearsing mostly at her place for practical reasons--her keyboard being less portable than our guitars--so it'll be less of a schlep for me, compared to going to Tim's place on Yonge Street south of Bloor. As much as I Iove my new Fender amp, it's a bit heavy even for the shorter trip. Lugging a 30-lb amp along with a guitar case and a backpack containing pedals and cables and such, is just too much of a hassle. So for rehearsals I'm looking to get a smaller, lighter amp, and I think I found one I like. Tried out a small Fender XLS(?) amp at Songbird. Can't weigh more than 7-10 lbs. Sounds good enough for rehearsal. Has an overdrive dial (which I probably won't even use), and even has reverb. $95 used. Should suit my needs just fine, and save some sore muscles.

We're still playing under the name The Braveyard Whips, but the push is on to come up with a new name for this gig. Tons of suggestions have been flying around, but so far nothing has stuck. Or at least nothing that has gained unanimous support among the band members. Some of the contenders at this point in time include:

The Dick Ellis Revival
The Handlers
Mavis
The Mayfields
The Mercy Patrol
The Tenders

Of some of the others I've suggested, I like:

The Molly Beggars
The Saturday Flyers
The Gonners (or Boag & The Gonners)
The Radio Sweethearts
The Boagarts

Ah, it's a tough business this band-naming thing. I honestly think the name will reveal itself to us, in something someone says offhandedly, or in some serendipitous event. We shall see. Suggestions are welcome.

Greats and Lates

The day after the landmark CBC program announced the crowning of The Greatest Canadian (congratulations Tommy Douglas!), we also witness the passing of another great Canadian.

R.I.P. Pierre Berton.

FYI, here's the Top 10 finalists from the Greatest Canadian contest.

1 Tommy Douglas
2 Terry Fox
3 Pierre Elliott Trudeau
4 Sir Frederick Banting
5 David Suzuki
6 Lester B. Pearson
7 Don Cherry
8 Sir John A. Macdonald
9 Alexander Graham Bell
10 Wayne Gretzky

Perhaps Berton should have been one of the Top 10 finalists. Certainly would have gotten my vote over Don Cherry or Wayne Gretzky. I was kind of surprised Alexander Graham Bell finished so low. I mean, the inventor of the telephone, pioneer of air flight... not a bad resume.

Elvis City Limits

Wanna see a sneak preview of Elvis Costello on a recently taped Austin City Limits?

The show will be airing on PBS tomorrow night (November 20), although according to my local PBS station (Toronto sort of shares WNED with Buffalo). it won't air here until the following Saturday night at 12 a.m. Or is that Friday night at 12 a.m.? I'd better check into that so's I can set the VCR properly. For that matter, maybe it airs in your market tonight at 12 a.m.? Better do as they say, and check your local listings if you're innerested.

Rock on EC!

Cleptomocracy II

See how you feel about electronic voting after you watch this documentary, Votergate (thanks Heather).

It's a 30-minute movie, so be forewarned if you have a dial-up connection. With high speed, it took me about 8 minutes to download it.

Very interesting and disturbing, although I found myself a bit annoyed at their conclusion: If you're worried that your votes aren't being counted accurately, get out and vote? Did these people not watch their own film? That's like saying if you're concerned about automobile safety, get in your car and drive to your closest highway safety office.

And as usual, nobody does it better than the Onion.

But Can It Fly?

Y'know, some musical instruments are just intrinsically funny. Witness the kazoo. Others are not especially funny. Hello, cello.

But I have to giggle like a schoolgirl whenever I see the Mandobird.

Site Seeing

Been one of those weeks when blogging just seems like a chore I could do without. So I'll take the lazy way out.

So...here.

Down For The Count

File under hmmmm.

Does the US electoral system need reforming? I think so. Here's an idea: When the vote for crucial districts is very, very close, and there are more uncounted ballots than the span of the "victory"... count ALL the votes before declaring a winner!

Cleptomocracy

Well, that was a bummer of an election, wasn't it. Looks like George and his crew stole another one. Bush's Eleven.

I won't be surprised if in the weeks and months ahead, stories of election fraud and voter suppression start to trickle into the media. That said, I don't think Kerry really managed to get a clear, concise message to America. But of course, it's hard to do that when you're facing the politics of smear and lie. It's easier to tell a simple lie than to communicate a complex truth.

But here's my question: Is the election officially over once one candidate concedes? Or is it officially over only when the Electoral College declares a winner? In other words, if by some miracle the 175,000 or so provisional ballots in Ohio turn out to be valid, and 75%-80% for Kerry (perhaps due to concerted efforts by Republican cronies to destroy Democrat registration forms, as we saw reported in Nevada and elsewhere), Kerry would end up winning the state. Would he then be declared the president-elect, or is it too late for that once he has already conceded? Not that I'm holding out hope of that happening, but I'm curious about the procedure. Is a concession an official act, or just a speech?

Anyway, the next four years look like they'll be a challenging time for progressive-minded Americans. As much as I would like it if my friends in the States decided to throw in the towel and come north, their voices are needed in their home country now more than ever. But for those who do want to head north, here's a way you can help.

Gone Till November

I'm Baaaack!

Was Back East since last week. Went home to help the family celebrate my mom's 80th birthday, which was on the 31st. Finally able to attend one of my sister's kick-ass Halloween parties. And it was indeed a fine time for all.

Will write more later.

Go Tele On The Mountain

When we rehearse at Tim's place, I usually end up using his nice cherry red Telecaster. Saves me from having to lug my guitar halfway across town. Problem is... now I want one!

I've concluded that a Tele would be the perfect guitar to complement my Epi, and great for the kind of music we play. Get that nice, spanky, single-coil pickup sound, and that rangly bite. (Yes, rangly. It might be a new word. But it's the right word.)

Still not sure if I'll ever get used to a blonde maple fingerboard, like Tim's Tele has. Could be I'm just a rosewood kinda guy. Hafta find myself a decent black Tele with a white pickguard and a rosewood neck. Something like this.

I came across this little feature on Ten Terrific Telecaster® Guitars. Interesting facts about Bruce and his famous Esquire (a Telecaster prototype):

Among Bruce's stage secrets is the application of household sealants over all the guitar's cavities (including the gaps between the pickups and the body) to make it waterproof. This is due to the fact that, during a performance, 'the Boss' contently likes to dip his head in a full water butt (located at the back of the stage) to cool down, saturating his entire upper body. The sealant protects the pickups and wiring from any subsequent water damage. Interestingly, Bruce likes to 'seal' all of his new guitars and tests out their resilience by pouring a two litre bottle of Evian all over the instrument and then plugging it in! The sealant is changed frequently on each guitar, including his trusty Esquire®.

That's crazy! He dowses his electric guitars in water, and then he plugs them in to test the sealant! Bruce, that's what guitar techs are for!

Food That Rocks

Don't wanna go on about it too much. Simply put...

I [heart] artichoke hearts!

Not Crowe-ing; Not Cowed

We survived the gig Thursday night -- the opening slot for Rich Robinson at Lee's. It actually went okay overall, except we got a little sloppy towards the end. I wasn't completely happy about my playing in several songs, but I guess everyone has off nights.

My new amp performed well and I was very happy with it, although I think I was running it with a little too much overdrive, so the sound was a bit dirtier than I wanted for some songs. Thing is, playing at home, I have the overdrive dial at about 5, and the main volume at about 2, which effectively reduces the overall dirtiness of the sound. At the gig, I left the OD at 5 but turned the volume up to about 4 or 5, which made it dirtier than I would have liked. I didn't really notice it while we were getting the levels set, only during certain songs in the middle of the set, and at that point I didn't want to frig with the volume for fear of messing up my levels through the soundboard. Lesson learned. Next time I'll run it cleaner and rely on my Boss Bluesdriver pedal to supply the dirt as needed.

According to friends who were there, the sound wasn't very good. Couldn't hear enough of Colleen's backup vocals or Kenny's harp, apparenty. We did manage to get a sound check, which is not always the case for the lowly opening band. But I don't think the soundman did his best by us, which is kind of disappointing.

Better crowd than for the Gary U.S. Bonds gig. I didn't stick around to hear all of Rich's set, since it was 11pm by the time they came on, and it was a school night for me. But I did catch the first 4 songs or so. It was okay, though I found him a bit of a wanker on the guitar. Lots of riffs flying around, but not a lot being "said", if you will. I prefer players who actually communicate something in their playing, who "say" something, as opposed to those who simply toss off riffs they've learned, regardless of how accomplished they are at said riffage. And the guy must have brought 20 guitars with him. I'm not exaggerating! The little dressing room/alcove that we used last time was unavailable to us because it was stacked floor to ceiling with Rich's guitar cases. His guitar tech stood behind him and his vintage amps for the entire set, just tuning guitars endlessly.

The next day brought some bad news however. Colleen announced to Boag that she wouldn't be playing with us anymore. That's really too bad, because she is a great player and a fine singer. Not sure what her reasons were, but seeing as she is in two other bands, and we weren't really hauling in much money, I can't really blame her. She probably was stetching herself a little thin. And what little money she made Thursday night (Boag and Tim and I deferred our share to her and Kenny and Jim, the drummer) she had to blow on cab fare to get her gear back home (bass amps ain't light). So that's too bad, but there are a few options for replacements. There's also a possibility of adding a keyboard player to the mix. There's a woman who plays blues and boo-jee woo-jee regularly at Grossman's, and Boag had invited her to come check out our gig. She seemed keen on the idea, so we'll see what happens. It'd be great to have a piano/keyboard player on board. That would fill out the sound quite nicely.

It was also the first gig that we had used the name The Braveyard Whips, at least on the billing at the club, if not in the media listings. Still some question as to whether that name will stick.

So, another gig under my belt. Gotta be careful though. The farther I go into this rock and roll life, with its late nights, dens of sin and "boo-jee woo-jee", the greater the chances that I may turn into one of these ne'er-do-wells.

We Got Rich

Yes, it's October, and the gigs are falling from the trees.

This Thursday we'll be opening for former Black Crowe Rich Robinson at Lee's Palace. He's the pouty guitar-playing Robinson brother. Crowe-Brother Chris, the singer, is the one married to Kate Hudson. Since the Crowes split up, neither one of the brother's solo careers has been doing much. But I think this is Rich's first solo album, so maybe I shouldn't rush to judgement. Judging from the streaming clips on his site, his singing is rather limited. But interestingly, he's touring in a power trio format -- guitar-bass-drums -- and the bass player in none other than Big Sugar's Gordie Johnson, no slouch on the gee-tar himself.

Hopefully Rich will draw a few more people than Gary U.S. Bonds did. I assume Rich must draw a lot of the Crowes' fans, and there are probably a few of them who would come out on a Thursday night. The cheaper ticket price may help as well. Gary was charging $25; Rich is asking only $13.50.

We've got Colleen back again on bass, which is excellent. Looking for a drummer, though, as Bones' band just left for a tour of Europe.

We're dropping a few songs from the set list, unfortunately including "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry", which Rich has been doing it in his set. Too bad. I liked doing that one. But we're adding a few new ones, including a nice little number Tim wrote just last week called "Thelma Jane". Our first original song! Also adding Tom T. Hall's "I Can't Dance", an original of Boag's that he used to do back in the day called "Fed Up Blues", and, I think, either "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" (Last Waltzy-like) or "When I Paint My Masterpiece".

If you're with a Crowe's flight of here, drop on by.

Dick Doc

Very interesting documentary on the CBC investigative news program "The 5th Estate". The Unauthorized Biography of Dick Cheney. Interesting stuff:

- Documents his dealings with Iran and Libya as CEO of Halliburton -- contrary to U.S. law.
- Provides satellite photographic evidence from Russian satellites prior to Gulf War I, when Cheney was Secretary of Defence, that shows no build-up of Iraqi troops or tanks on the Iraqi border, contrary to US intelligence claims. US photos have never been released.
- Details the deliberate use of misleading intelligence prior to the current Iraq war.
- Examines Cheney's role in publicizing the name of an undercover CIA agent, who happened to be married to former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Wilson had been sent by the CIA to investigate reports of Sadam trying to buy nuclear materials in Niger, but reported to Cheney that there was no credible evidence of such activity. When the Bush admin instead used this story as basis for extablishing that Sadam was trying to build a nuclear weapon, Wilson wrote an article contradicting such claims. It was after that his wife's position was compromised, an act described [rightfully so] as "treasonous".

...and so much more. Some of this may be old news, but it sure underscores one more reason not to re-elect George Bush: to make sure that Dick Cheney isn't given a chance to run for president.

Not only should this man not be vice-president or president, he should be in jail.

I love the way this guy operates. He was given the task of finding a suitable running mate for GW Bush, and came to the conclusion that the best man for the job was...him! That's character.

Helen Blows

Mount St. Helens Vents Again

Okay, call me a curmudgeon if you must, but I really think this is taking the whole 80s nostalgia thing a little too far.

Junior, Hi

Welcome the new member of the family.

Say "Hi" to Junior!

The Fender Blues Junior amp, that is.

With the prospect of more gigs on the horizon, I needed a better amp than the little 30-watt Traynor practice amp I had. And even though Junior is only a 15-watt amp, that's 15 watts of tube-powered sound, which makes him a lot louder than you'd think. It's plenty loud for playing clubs, where it'll be miked anyway, and it's actually better for my apartment-dwelling needs. The Traynor, which is a solid state amp, needs to be played at a certain volume level to really get a vibe going (and even then I didn't really like the sound of the overdrive channel or the cheap-sounding reverb), and the amount of volume required pretty much makes it an eviction box. The Blues Junior, on the other hand, sounds nice even at relatively low volume, thanks to the warmth of the tubes and the natural overdrive. So it really represented the best amp for my needs: enough power for gigging -- not too heavy -- but not too loud for apartment-dwelling realities.

And the sound is wonderful. I've never had a tube amp before (never owned a Fender amp before, either), but I've always read and heard about that "classic tube sound", "warmth" and "tone", and I gotta say, I'm now a tube convert. It's perfect for the kind of music I play, and will be playing with Boag: blues, soul, country, vintage rock. I tested it at the store (Ring Music on Harbord near Spadina), playing it through a nice, warm-sounding Gretsch Country Gentleman (the closest thing they had to my Epiphone, though not exactly the same sound) and with a spanky Telecaster, and it sounded great with both. When I brought it home and plugged my Epi into it, I was not disappointed. Beautiful ringing overdrive, just enough nastiness around the edges, nice clean tone, warm. Dial in just the right anount of reverb and you're smack dab in the middle of that classic, bluesy-rock guitar sweet spot.

I'm one happy tube-head.

And get this: all the dials go to 12! Take that Nigel!

Ya Gotta Stand For Somethin'...

Conversation with a little girl selling cookies at the subway station today:

Little Girl: Excuse me sir, Would you like to buy some Girl Guide cookies?

Me: I'm sorry, I don't support paramilitary organizations.

Okay, I didn't really say that. But one of these times I will. Maybe next year.

Train Kept A-Rollin'

Looks like the DVD for "Festival Express" will be pulling into the station in November.

And, as I had hoped, it will offer "more than 50 additional minutes of exclusive performance footage not seen in the theatrical version of the film", as well as "25 minutes of additional interviews."

Woo woo!

TV Alert

Set those VCRs! Tom Waits is to appear on The Late Show With David Letterman, Tuesday Sept. 28.

On the downside, he's only playing two shows in North America in support of his upcoming album, Real Gone: one in Seattle and one in Vancouver. Harumph!

Will Tooter fer fud

Would you send your child to this tutor?

Some time ago I found this poster taped to a bus shelter near my work. It's been tacked to the bulletin board in my office since.

Seeing as a large part of what I do is proofreading and copy editing, we get a good chuckle out of it.

The Onion Forever

I've said it before: God bless The Onion.

Matchbox Twenty Finally Finishes Watering Down Long-Awaited New Album.

Got The Fever

Called in sick today. Don't have the chills and aches I had yesterday, but the cough is still there, as is the...erm...intestinal chaos. Feel weak, tired and depleted. I'm sure this was brought on by the stress leading up to Saturday's gig. Skipped ball hockey tonight, of course.

But I'll take this opportunity to tell you about the weird-ass phone call I received on Sunday.

Yesterday afternoon, the phone rings. I answer it and an unfamiliar woman's voice asks to speak to Rodney. I tell her she must have the wrong number, since there's no one here named Rodney. I ask her what number she's calling, just to confirm that she has the right area code (sometimes people will call a number, but get the area code wrong -- 416 instead of 905, for instance -- and straightening that out avoids having them call you right back again). She tells me that she was calling 416-461-XXXX (my old number before moving to my new apartment), and it forwarded her to my current number (as it should). I tell her that was my old number, but there must be some mistake, since there is no Rodney. She says okay and hangs up.

A short time later, the phone rings, but I am indisposed (see above). A minute later, while I am in the process of becoming re-disposed, the phone rings yet again. I answer it, and it's the same woman. The conversation is as follows:

"I'm calling this number because the number I was given for Rodney and Jen is forwarding me to this number,' she says. "So, do you know Rodney and Jen?"

"I don't know any 'Rodney and Jen'," I state as plainly and clearly as possible.

"But it says 'Jen' on your answering machine message."

[confused pause on my part]

"No, it says 'Jim'. That's my name." [thought bubble: "Do I sound like a 'Jen'?"]

"So you don't know Rodney and Jen."

"I don't know anyone named Rodney."

"But you know Jen."

"NO. I know people named Jen, but I'm sure it's not your Jen, because I don't know any couple named Rodney and Jen."

We go over the number story again. I explain to her that the 461 number was my old number, that I had it for at least five years until I moved to this apartment in May and got the current number that she was being forwarded to. I explain once again that I don't know Rodney and Jen. I don't know why or how she was given that number, but I don't know Rodney and Jen."

There's a short pause, and then she says bitterly, "Well, isn't that convenient for them", and hangs up!

SHE hangs up on ME!

No apology, no thank-you, no nuthin' -- just click.

The nerve of some people.

Maybe Rodney and Jen purposefully gave her the wrong phone number? Moved and gave her the slip? Gee, who wouldn't want the company of someone with such intelligence and good manners.

Gigged

The Gary US Bonds gig went pretty well, I think. At least people were complimentary afterwards. So that's good.

Arrived for the soundcheck at Lee's Palace at the appointed 6 p.m. time. Never got a proper soundcheck, of course. They were still setting up and soundchecking Gary's stuff. So we went out the back door to the alleyway where we could hear ourselves and run through the set. This was important, as our drummer, Bones, hadn't played or rehearsed with us before and didn't know most of the songs. He brought his brushes out with him and banged on a piece of paper on top of an old garbage bin. We ran through the songs with particular emphasis on where the stops and starts were. Kenny, the harp player from Jay Clark & The Jones was also with us.

It was a nice moment, actually; this rag-tag band of old and new friends sitting around on the sun-baked concrete, amid the graffiti in the alley behind the club, in the warmth of the early evening, bashing out the songs. Think Bruce and Miami Steve and the boys might have done that a few times in the early days? I think so. There was a nice feeling of scruffy, ad hoc camaraderie and common purpose.

Gary's band had quite a bit of equipment on the stage. It's not that large a stage to begin with, and they had a tri-levelled keyboard array and a full drum kit. The guy who was setting up the "backline" for Lee's was quite helpful in getting us set up. He suggested that Bones and Colleen, our bass player, might actually be able to use Gary's band's drum kit and bass amp rig, thus avoiding a lot of hassle. The Bonds' band was okay with that, so that's what we did.

My little Traynor practice amp wasn't gonna cut it for this show, and I don't like the way it sounds anyway, so I had to use a loaner. Fortunately, a roommate of Boag's is a gigging musician, and he let me use his little bass amp, which sounded fine. I had just picked up a Boss Blues Driver overdrive pedal, so I didn't need an amp that provided overdrive.

It was also the first gig with my new guitar. Actually the same model as my old guitar -- an Epiphone "Dot" -- except my new one is a limited edition model, and it's a beautiful dark brown with gold hardware. Sort of looks like this (its older brother, the Gibson ES-335), only it's a darker shade and there's no pickguard. It's beautiful. Under certain light it actually looks burgundy. I liked my other guitar, but I love this one. The neck feels great; the frets are smoother and bevelled nicely at the edges, so my hand slides up and down the neck as smooth as buttah. I got it used at Songbird Music. It's four years old. It feels great, sounds great, but best of all -- it's brown! I've always wanted a brown guitar.

The other thing was, we didn't have a name! We ended up being billed alternately as Boag, "Guests" and "More". We'd been tossing a few names around, led by the hotly contested Dick Ellis Revival, The Lastmen, and a few others -- but no decision had been made in time to get it published.

So, the unnamed band took to the stage at 8 p.m. and launched into our set. The set list was as follows:

The Fever
Something You Got - an old R&B song Springsteen does on a mid-'70s bootleg tape of Boag's; I've since discovered versions by Them, Wilson Pickett and B.B. King
(Walk And) Don't Look Back - The Tosh version; my debut on wah-wah pedal
Fast Train - Written by Van the Man for that Solomon Burke CD
It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
Tupelo Honey
Your Cheatin' Heart
Red-Headed Woman
Men Without Women - A rockin' Little Steven song based on a Hemingway story
Shine A Light - Rolling Stones

As it turned out, and as we had expected, we had to drop a few numbers due to time limits. We ended up passing on, I think, "Your Cheatin' Heart" and "Tupelo Honey". Just as well, since I wasn't really comfortable with any solo I had worked out for "Your Cheatin' Heart". Just couldn't get a handle on it for some reason. Sorry Hank.

I had the little bass amp set up to my left, at the side of the stage, tilted upwards towards me. Tim and Kenny were on the far side and Colleen was tucked away between the drum kit and the mountain of keyboards behind me. The amps were miked, but the sound guy decided not to run our guitars through the monitors, so we had to use our amps as monitors. Learned later that neither Bones nor Boag could hear the guitars very well. I could hear Tim, but Boag was getting mostly just a lot of himself in the monitors, which he isn't used to, and I guess it was making it hard for him to hear the guitars. Considering the sound problems, and the fact that it was Bones's first time playing drums with us and playing these songs, and Colleen had only one rehearsal under her belt (sans drummer), it's not surprising that things felt a bit tentative on stage. There were a few missteps: Boag forgot a part of "The Fever" but recovered okay, and I know I played a few completely incorrect chords and stumbled a little on a few other things. But overall, it went okay. Kenny and Colleen were great.

As I said, people were complimentary afterwards, including the club's booker, who, according to Boag, was genuinely pleased and said he would book us again, and Gary US Bonds, who said from the stage: "I liked that first band. What were they called?" I started laughing. Tim's girlfriend yelled out "Boag!". Gary said: "Vogue?" I yelled out "Dick Ellis Revival", but it didn't make an impact.

As for Bonds' set, it was very good! He's got a kick-ass band, with the requisite Jersey honkin' sax man, a keyboardist, a kid rhythm section, a solid guitarist and the pair of Laurie Andersons (wife and daughter) on back-up vocals. They did "Jole Blon" (an old Cajun song that Bruce also covered), Bruce's "Rendezvous" and "This Little Girl Is Mine", and his hits "New Orleans" and "Quarter To Three", as well as Otis Reddings' "I've Got Dreams To Remember" and "You Are My Sunshine" as a tribute to Brother Ray. They did a great version of a Delbert McClinton song called "Everytime I Roll The Dice". The "Lauries" were smokin the "woo-woos" on that one. There was one unfortunate Casino-rama moment though, when one of the encores consisted of a medley of old rock 'n' roll hits -- Chuck Berry-Little Richard-Elvis, etc. But Bonds is still in great voice, and certainly doesn't look his age.

We hung out afterwards and chatted a bit with Gary. Nice man. He was in party mode for sure. And the guy who was the lead singer of the Kingsmen was there -- yes, the guy who sang "Louie Louie". He was in the audience. Apparently they're old friends. Don't know if he lives around Toronto or Southern Ontario, or if he drove up from Buffalo, or what. Kind of odd.

Anyway, one more gig under my belt. I think this was #10. And I walked away with my first pay as a musician -- $20! Good thing we didn't bring a horn section. Of course, I wasn't doing it for the money, but it's cool that I can now officially call myself a professional musician!

On the down side, I think I'm coming down with something. Been developing a deep-chest cough over the past few days and today I'm getting aches and chills. Thankfully, it held off until after the gig, but we'll see if I make it to the first night of ball hockey tomorrow night.

Rehearsal

Had our third rehearsal tonight, first one with Colleen on bass and back-up vocals. Went pretty well, except I still need to work on some of my solos. I was winging it a little too much for my liking. It's good not to be too "scripted" in one's playing, but I need to at least have a good idea of what I could play as a solo in a given song section. I don't have enough knowledge of the neck or of scales to completely wing it, unless I'm dealing with a basic blues structure or something, so it's best for me to work out what I would ideally play, and use that as a guidepost, so to speak. In other words, I may not keep going down the same streets, but I need to have a fairly solid awareness of the neighbourhood I'm in, if that makes sense. I need to map something out for "Your Cheating Heart" especially (btw, happy birthday Hank!). I'll do that tonight or tomorrow morning.

Colleen is a pro, and fit in very well. Picked up her parts with no problem. I suspect she was a little uneasy with the fact that we're still not as tight with some of the songs as we should be, although she didn't say anything. She's probably used to being a lot tighter with the material she does with the John Borra Band. But she was given a list of 10-12 songs to learn in the space of about five days, so kudos to her in any event.

Plus, we didn't have a drummer on hand, which is a further string left hanging--one day before the gig. Boag finally scared one up today (he had been waiting to hear back from some other guys, who, it turned out, were unavailable), but the new recruit wasn't able to make it tonight. It's a buddy of his from his Kingston days, who apparently has vast amounts of experience and should have no problem, provided we get time to run through a few things tomorrow, perhaps at sound check.

I think we'll be okay though. Having a steady drummer will give us all something to feed off and help provide some glue to keep everything together. Most of the songs are pretty straightforward, so I don't foresee any great catastrophe. I'm sure if we go astray somehow, or forget how to end a song, we'll feel our way through it and improvise something.

I'll also have to get an amp tomorrow, whether a rental or a loaner from a roommate of Boag's. Mine just won't cut it. I've been looking around for a new one anyway, so maybe if I rent one, I'll try to get one that I'm interested in buying, such as the Fender Blues Jr. Only 15 watts, which is plenty of power for a home practice amp, but it's also apparently very good for gigging--projects a lot louder than it should. And it's got that warm tube tone.

Best be getting on with it. The gig abides.

Re-Hearse-al

File under You Know Something's Not Right When...

Dane Squires didn't realize there was any problem until he read his own obituary in the newspaper, his brother said. Then he called his sister's house to let her know he was alive, and found out his funeral was underway.

Bond-ing

By next Saturday night, I will have walked in the shoes of The Beatles...

... as an opening act for Gary US Bonds!

Yes, the Fabs opened for the Jersey shore party rock king when he toured Europe in 1963, and they were mere pre-Fabs. I was probably a mere embryo then. But I've waited for my turn in the sun, and now it's here. 40 years later. Another step in my embryonic musical adventure.

We found out on Friday that we'll be opening for Mr. Bonds at Lee's Palace next Saturday night. It's an early show; our set is at 7:45 till about 8:30. By "we" I mean the same core of musical affiliates who brought you the St. Paddy's Day Massacree, and the much-improved and well-received Fever On Queen Street Shuffle. Boag on vocals and hustle, Tim and me on guitar. And Boag has apparently secured the services of the lovely and talented Colleen Hodgson (John Borra Band), who is an excellent bass player and a fine singer. He's still trying to get a drummer (Don Kerr is touring in Europe or somewhere with Ron Sexsmith) and also possibly a harp or sax player.

Not sure what it is with these Jersey rock and roll stalwarts coming through town lately (we almost ended up opening for Southside Johnny a few weeks back, but that didn't come together). But Mr. Bonds has a new album out called "Back In Twenty", see cuz it's been 20 years since his last album. But, judging from the samples on his website, he's still in good voice. Springsteen appears on the disc, as does Southside Johnny, Dickey Betts and Phoebe Snow. And I'm sure he's got a kick-ass band. His back-up singers are his wife and daughter, both named Laurie Anderson (well, actually one is Laurie Anderson, Jr.), but not that Laurie Anderson.

You may remember Gary US Bonds from such early-60s hits as "New Orleans", "Quarter To Three" or maybe from the Springsteen-penned 80s revival number "This Little Girl Is Mine". He was a big influence on all those Jersey guys such as Bruce, Little Steven and Southside Johnny.

So Boag and Tim and I had out first rehearsal Sunday at Tim's place. Went through about 10 or 12 songs that we wanted to do. Of course, seeing as we only have a week, we'll also revive "The Fever", "Red-Headed Woman" and "Tupelo Honey" from our previous gigs. And most of the other songs are fairly straightforward, so hopefully we won't need to worry about wearing down the batteries on the Fuck-Up Meter. It's a pretty important gig, actually, especially seeing as we don't even play any originals, and we certainly want to make the best of it and not make the bookers regret their choice. So wish us luck, and if you're in the locale, come on by and cheer us on.

Your Friday Yuk

I don't usually do this, but I was so proud of the joke I made at work yesterday, I just had to share.

We were in a layout meeting for one of the magazine cycles we're currently working on (typically there are three in production: one in mid-production, one just starting, and one being put to bed).

Dramatis Personae:

The Copywriter (Me)
Director of Creative Services (My Boss)
The Repertoire Manager
The Marketing Manager
A couple of our graphic artists

The purpose of the meeting was mostly to present the design and layout of various magazine sections so that Marketing and Repertoire (A&R) can approve them, or give feedback on changes. Other issues are usually discussed as well. For instance, on this day there was some question about one of the features (which I am in the throes of writing). It was to be a coupled feature, offering a CD selection with a related DVD selection, typically a soundtrack and a DVD of the film. The A&R Manager was asking the Marketing Manager if she had decided whether we would go with the "Passion Of The Christ" feature or the "Lord Of The Rings" feature.

A&R Manager: "So, Anita (Marketing), what's the story with the "Passion Of The Christ" feature?

Me (in stage whisper); "He dies in the end. ... Well, sorta."

After the hearty guffaws subsided, tears wiped from eyes and ribs taped up, it was decided that we would be going with the "Passion Of The Christ" coupling. At which point I still had one more in me...

"So, I guess that would be a cross-promotion?"


Thank-you! G'nite! Drive carefully and don't forget to tip your waitstaff!

The Other Soul Train

I finally went to see "Festival Express" last night. A film that in 1970 asked the question: what do you get when you put Janis Joplin, The Band, The Grateful Dead, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Buddy Guy Band, Ian and Sylvia Tyson and others on their very own private CN passenger train with unlimited booze and drugs and send them from Toronto to Calgary with stops along the way to play concerts? Answer: A very good film documenting a very crazy train ride across the Canadian landscape. Metaphor for the sixties? Sure, why not.

I remember reading about this legendary train ride in a Rolling Stone anthology years ago. The film footage had been lost for 30 years, only found recently by the son of the filmmaker or the promoter or somebody, when he was cleaning out his garage, and then it got entangled in legal quagmires. They've done an incredible job restoring the film. It's great to see some of the train jams/parties. There's a scene where an icredibly wasted Rick Danko is trying to lead Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Rob Weir through "Ain't No More Cain". I think Rick's working from a different cosmic metronome there. I'd love to see the footage that didn't make it into the film. Maybe when the DVD comes out.

The concert footage is wonderful. Joplin in particular. It's striking just how powerful she is here. Her performance of "Cry Baby" is just so emotionally potent. It's the power of her singing, the way she throws her entire being into it, but also the sadness at her core--and you see it. You feel it. She just lays it all out, spills it all out right there on the stage. This is my life. I'm a rock and roll mama, superstar, but I can't keep hold of one good man. They just keep leavin'. They just keep breakin' my heart, man.

A mere three months later, she would be dead. Don't anyone try to tell me booze and drugs killed Janis Joplin.

What's also sad is when you do a "split screen" of her performance side-by-side with most of today's popular music. I'd like to think that a singer with that kind of power would be a star in any era, but I wonder if Janis would even be on the radar in today's music industry where female singers don't get signed unless they look like Faith Hill or Jessica Simpson. I'd like to think that if she came along today, she'd break through. Wouldn't she? Please tell me it's so.

Imagine turning Janis loose on the "American Idol" scene! Ha!

There was a boomer-aged couple who had brought their two kids, about nine or ten years old, to see the film. I wasn't sure if that was wise, with all the booze and drugs and craziness in the film, but if those kids left the theatre thinking "okay, so that's what music should be like. Like being whalloped with a 2x4 soaked in heart and soul", then it was a successful history lesson.

You can read more about the film here.

View some trailers here (clicking will open a Windows Media file) and here.

As Janis said, "Next time you throw a train, invite me."

Play It Again Mr. Roberts

Sam Roberts will be appearing on Conan O'Brien tonight, apparently performing the kick-ass song "Don't Walk Away Eileen".

Tune in!

An App A Day

Downloaded a very cool -- and free! -- Mac app called Imagewell.

Minimum Mac OS X 10.2.8 needed.

From their webpage:
ImageWell is the easy way to edit, rotate, crop, and resize your image and upload it to your iDisk (.mac account), FTP server, or WebDAV server. No need to launch multiple applications to add text, labels, thought clouds, talking balloons, drop shadows, watermarks and shapes. At the click of a button, the image is sent and a handy URL is copied to the clipboard.

Very useful for posting pictures and images to my FTP site for Blog use.

Download from the developer's webpage link above, or Download.com.