Limes with Orange

Just got this in my email one minute ago from the Mocking Shadows:

Just in case you haven't heard already...the long awaited Calgary release of our new album "The Sound" is tonight Friday Dec 14th at Wyckham House/Liberty Lounge on the Mount Royal campus. We be joined by three great local acts: Kaley Kinjo, Ryan Bourne and Five Star Affair. Doors are at 8pm, the first band goes on at 8:30 and the cover is $10. Hope to see you there!

Um, yeah... thanks for the advance warning guys. I was looking forward to this all fall and now I can't go. In future, giving your fans a little more heads up would be appreciated.

Labels: music

With the holidays coming up, I've been asked to update my Christmas list. Which mostly just means updating my Amazon.com wishlist. And I've just discovered that they now have a handy dandy widget (that should technically go in my sidebar but it's wider than my Music Box which is already wider than any widget that I'd like to have in my sidebar... so blog post it is) so that I can share my list with the world (or at least the fraction of it that visits my blog):


FYI, for anyone actually checking out this list, I recommend sorting it by priority because there is some stuff on there that's been there for a while but I still want more than more recent stuff that I've added.

Labels: books and literature, film, music, special days

Hmm... now there's a title that can get the imagination started. What it actually refers to is the Calgary Cinematheque Society's screening of Joseph von Sternberg's masterpiece "Underworld" at the Plaza Cinema tonight accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra. Now this is gonna be cool. Here's the blurb:

"Recently restored by Paramount, Joseph von Sternberg's masterpiece UNDERWORLD plays for one night only at the Plaza Theatre on November 10th. This will be the Canadian premiere of the film that is credited with starting the gangster genre in Hollywood. Gangland big shot "Bull" Weed (George Bancroft) takes high-class bum "Rolls Royce" (Clive Brook) under his wing, but things go afoul when Bull's moll "Feathers" (Evelyn Brent) starts taking an interest in the new recruit. Initially ignored by Paramount, UNDERWORLD opened in one small theatre in New York in 1927 and went on to become the box office smash of the year. It made a star of George Bancroft and earned writer Ben Hecht an Academy Award.

"The Calgary Cinematheque is pleased to present the world famous Alloy Orchestra to accompany the screening of UNDERWORLD. Fresh from the recent New York Film Festival screening of UNDERWORLD where they premiered a brand new score, the Alloy Orchestra will be in Calgary on November 10th to play live to the screening at the Plaza. Mark your calendars and join us for this unique, one-time only event. ALLOY ORCHESTRA is a three man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films.

"Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era."

Maybe I'll see you there!

Labels: film, music

Well, last night's screening went very well. Lots of people in attendance and they all seemed to be having a good time. My screening stations got a lot of use, which was rewarding (a huge thanks to Mitch and James... I couldn't have done it without your help!). "The Curse of the Piano" looks really good, so look for it at a festival near you. I'll be curious to find out how much money the silent auction raised, because the bidding wasn't exactly fast and furious. But I think bidding for these types of things only becomes fast and furious when you've got a bunch of oil execs in attendance. Artists tend to have a little less cash to throw around. But hopefully it will still add up to a reasonable amount.

I went down to the Wildwood for a bit afterwards because the Mocking Shadows were playing. Unfortunately, someone had spilt a drink on their sound board so they were in the middle of technical difficulties. They finally managed to get a board for the instruments and such to go through but I guess they couldn't get the mikes back up. So they ended up just jamming with no vocals, which was kind of cool. Their new CD is out and they'll be throwing a CD launch party shortly. Can't wait!

And now I'm exhausted. Unfortunately, I can't totally veg out until tomorrow because today is the very last day of my screenwriting workshop were we get to hear actors read sections of our script. The instructor is working with them as I type this and pretty soon I'm going to be heading down to the CSIF to see how my script translates to the spoken word. It's a little nerve wracking but I'm so tired that I don't think I'm capable of mustering up the energy for anxiety. Probably a good thing. Wish me luck.

Labels: film, music, writing

I just found out that the Plaza Cinema is holding midnight showing of Grease this weekend, complete with costumes and singalong! So, as a warm up for tomorrow night, I've posted three songs from the Grease soundtrack to My Music Box in the sidebar: "Summer Nights", "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" and "We Go Together".

And here is a link for the lyrics to all of the songs from Grease (there is the odd error here or there but, by and large, they're mostly accurate): Grease Soundtrack Lyrics.

Labels: film, fun, music

Just wanted to mention that I went to the Blue October concert at the Calgary Stampede over the weekend. My review is over at my Music Musings blog: Stampeding with Blue October

And I've also uploaded videos of two Calgary area musicians, Jasmine Whenham and The Fates. They're also over at Music Musings: Calgary Musicians

So go check 'em out.

Labels: music

I've uploaded a new song to My Music Box. It's called "The Bird and the Worm" by The Used (on "Lies for the Liars"). At the risk of lowering my CMQ (Cool Music Quotient ), I'll admit that I discovered it on Canadian Idol when Montana Martin Iles sang it last week. You can watch Montana sing it over on Music Musings, my music blog, where I'm currently posting my commentary on Canadian Idol.

And in defense of my CMQ, I love to discover new talent and new songs regardless of the setting. And Canadian Idol gives me a chance to do both. Not every week, mind you, but more often than you might think.

Labels: music, tv

There's a commercial from the UK for the new 30th anniversary Police CD posted on You Tube. It's a brief little medley of "Roxanne", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Message in a Bottle", "Walking on the Moon", "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Every Breath You Take"... just enough to make me nostalgic and wonder why I haven't bought that CD set yet, since all of my Police albums are still on vinyl.


It's strange… I've been so busy discovering new music that it hasn't bothered me until recently that I don't have easy access to the music of my youth, the music that shaped my musical tastes. And, quite frankly, I credit The Police with the fact that I think my current musical tastes are pretty cool. Granted, we all probably think our musical tastes are cool, but before The Police I was listening to Rick Springfield and Olivia Newton John. So I think you'll admit that I'm light years beyond that kind of music now.

Part of me still wishes that I'd been able to make it to their recent concert in Edmonton (I don't know about the rest of the band, but Sting is ageing REALLY well). But I am definitely glad I didn't end up working that concert; I ain't 19 anymore and a concert teardown is not my idea of fun… but I've already covered that (see my previous Police post).

Oh, and did I mention that this CD set comes with a cool vintage poster of the Police? I think it will go quite nicely with the other movie and music memorabilia that lines my home office walls. (Or maybe I should act like a teenager again and put it on the ceiling in my bedroom. )

So excuse me while I use up that HMV gift certificate I got for Christmas and go buy this thing. (As to why that gift certificate is still kicking around, the answer is pretty simple… I usually buy everything online. But I don't feel like waiting on the mail for this one!)

Labels: music, videos

Okay, I was waiting to do this post until I got the photo that I wanted to have accompany it... but the first photo attempt was a no-go and I just bumped the teaser post off the front page, so I figured it was now or never. A while back, I posted about The Police concert and how I wasn't going to have a chance to go. Well, I didn't go but I did write a little teaser that I had another post in me about that. So here's what happened..

Two days before the concert, just as my cousin Zenon and I were preparing to go to our Handmade Film Workshop, I got a phone call from I.A.T.S.E. Local 210 in Edmonton. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, I.A.T.S.E. is the union for film and stage crew and I'm a permittee member of the electrics department for I.A.T.S.E. Local 212 here in Calgary. (Not a lot of women in that department, but I wanted a chance to learn more about lighting from the big films that come through town.) Anyway, I got this phone call saying that 210 had a job for me in Edmonton for the following day and if I came up for that, they'd keep me over to work... THE POLICE CONCERT!

Alas, my mother was arriving in town the very next afternoon to stay with me before heading to another cousin's wedding the following weekend. So, even though it nearly killed me to say it, I had to say no.

About an hour later, sitting in our workshop, Zenon's phone vibrated. He checked the number and it showed an Edmonton area code. Zenon is also a permittee member of 212. I told him it was probably about the concert and he should go call them back ASAP. Which he did and, long story short (and the preparation for that trip was a very long story), he went and worked the concert!

I have to admit I was insanely jealous... until he got back and I heard about his 17 hour day on Friday and the all-nighter that was the concert teardown. Yep, that's right... he didn't work the concert itself, just the teardown. But he did catch a glimpse of Sting and he did drink one of Sting's expensive, imported-from-Norway water bottles (that was the photo that didn't quite work out). I guess I'm not quite so jealous now. I still have my Police Picnic memories and I didn't have the backbreaking labour that my cousin had, so it's all good.

Labels: film, music, odds and ends

Whether you're a fan of the Grateful Dead or just a fan of music in general, Phil Lesh's book Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead is supposed to be a great read. A little rough around the edges because it's a true autobiography, not a ghost written one, this book is conversational, intimate, informative and candid. What interests me most about it is that Phil Lesh is the academic of the group with his avant-garde classical composition training, literate mind and passion for the arts. So ultimately it's a book about music, its creation and its powers. And now it's available as a downloadable audiobook.

So if you're also intrigued by the Grateful Dead Audio Book, remember it's just a click away.

Labels: books and literature, music

As my regular readers know, I'm big in my support of indie artists in general and indie musicians specifically. So I was very interested in this new service offered by tourdates.co.uk for unsigned artists: an unsigned chart with free music downloads. Their press release:

Tourdates.Co.UK, Britains fastest growing new music website, has launched a chart for unsigned bands.

The site allows new bands to upload promotional tracks, announce gig dates and create profiles to promote themselves alongside major artists such as the Artic Monkeys and The Twang.

Tourdates Jarrod Robinson says, there are some fantastic unsigned bands in the UK and we wanted them to know how much our community likes their music, an unsigned chart seemed the perfect answer.

Chart results are announced on the site at 19:00 every sunday, the sametime as the No1 single of the week is announced on BBC's radio 1.

I think it's a great idea and I hope that someone in North America considers doing something this progressive. (If anyone knows of a site on this side of the pond that is doing this already, please let me know.)

Labels: music, news

I realize that for most people when they hear the phrase "police picnic" they think of your local law enforcement agency having a picnic in the park. Well, if you were a teenager in Toronto in the early 80's it meant waaaay more than that. It was The Police playing at Exhibition Stadium with around half a dozen other bands and thousands of fans. It was The Event to go to every summer. Well, my sister went every summer. I finally got to go in 1983, the last year they held it, when I was 14 (and now everyone knows how old I am!).

First of all, the concert was awesome. I don't remember the entire line-up, but I do remember that Peter Tosh was there and so was James Brown... that's right, James Brown, the godfather of soul!!! And then The Police came on and, well… magic. I may be a writer but I lack the words to express the magic of seeing this trio of musicians on stage. You really just need to experience it once in your life. (And now you can! They're actually on tour again! Sorry for all the exclamation points but it's just amazing, astounding, unbelievable and any other adjective that you can think of!)

But back to 1983… My sister's friend (my big sis had been gracious enough to let me tag along with her and her friend) knew somebody who knew somebody who was doing security backstage. It wasn't a big enough somebody to actually get us backstage, but they were able to tell us that the band was staying at the Westin Harbour Castle. So the three of us decided we had to get over there ASAP. But none of the three of us had any money. So we managed to convince some nice couple who was taking a taxi to a hotel in that general area to give us a lift.

Once we got to the hotel, we weren't sure what to do next. I mean, we knew the hotel wasn't going to tell us what rooms the band members were in. I think we ended up overhearing somebody because we somehow found out what floor they were staying on. So we jumped in an elevator but found out that you needed a room key to use the elevators. Once again, we somehow convinced some nice couple to take us up in the elevator (we must have looked fairly sweet and harmless, is all I can figure). But before the elevator came, they asked us why? We told them and they said that The Police were actually in the hotel lounge at the moment. I think it must have looked like some scene from a cheesy movie with the three of us staring at each other for a moment and then simultaneously taking off at a flat run for the lounge, calling out thank you's over our shoulders.

So we went racing into the lounge and there they were. Sting, Andy, Stewart and a couple of other people. Just sitting there… lounging. It was kind of surreal. It pretty much stopped us short for a moment because I don't think it had occurred to any of us that we would actually find them. But there they were.

Once we caught our breath and found our nerve, we approached the band. They were extremely friendly. We got Andy and Stewart's autographs first, because Sting was busy talking to someone and we didn't want to interrupt. While we were waiting, Andy invited us to have a seat (we were lounging with The Police!) and then he commented on my broken arm, saying that he hoped it hadn't happened at the concert. I laughed and said no and he actually asked me how I broke it. Then HE asked ME if he could sign my cast! Well, gee, let me think about that… of course! (I wanted to keep the cast after it came off but it was pretty gross… pity.)

By that time, my sister and her friend had gotten Sting's autograph so I handed him some paper for mine. And I don't know why, but after Sting singed his name he bit the paper. He hadn't done that with anyone else's. But I thought that was totally awesome (gotta use that 80s vernacular). Not only did I have his autograph but I had his tooth marks and his DNA! Anyway, that night was definitely one of the biggest highlights from my youth and I'm so glad that we were so determined in our hijinks.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to catch them on their current tour. They're not coming to Calgary and it's not a good time for me to be able to travel to see them. But I will definitely be purchasing the new Police CD (given that most of my Police collection is still on the original vinyl). I'm trying to decide what my favourite song is, and I don't know that I can narrow it down to just one. It's so very, very close but I think I can say that my top two from this CD would be "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Walking in Your Footsteps." But we're talking an infinitesimally small space between these two and the multitudes of other amazing songs on the track list. So which one (or ones) are your favourites?

Labels: music

Well I finally discovered who does that current dance song that samples "Tainted Love." The song is called "S.O.S." (not to be confused with Abba's "S.O.S." or The Police's "Message in a Bottle" which has S.O.S. in the chorus), the artist is Rihanna.

I went to Amazon.com to check her out further and discovered that she also sang "Pon De Replay," which is a song that I find irresistable to dance to. And it turns out that she's got a new album coming out next month: "Good Girl Gone Bad." Check out her video for "Umbrella," the first single off the album:

Labels: music, videos

If you've ever been to Calgary and didn't visit the Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club, then you're one deprived cat, man. That's where I first saw Johnny Summers singing his swinging tribute to Frank Sinatra. It's the hot place for cool jazz and I'm entering it in to a contest of the best Things You Should Do. It's full of Cool Places, Hot Nightclubs and the Best Restaurants all over the world. And I could win an iPhone if they think my suggestion is the best! Click to get the details about the iPhone Contest.

Labels: cool sites, music

I've also decided to start a music blog called Music Musings. Not to say that I won't still be talking about music here, but I want a place for those long posts about the interpretation of lyrics and so forth. Both this blog and Inner Game Geek are obviously still in their infancy, so they will be improved upon both in functionality and aesthetics. But it's the start of my grand reorganization plan. As for the details of that plan... well, those are on a need to know basis.

Labels: blogging, music

I had intended to promote this beforehand rather than talk about it after the fact, but since I wasn't feeling all that well last week and SOMEONE didn't get me the info until Thursday… well, suffice it to say, here we are after the fact.

Anyway, my erudite, laconic, guitar-playing friend Brian has recently joined Caught Staring, the current band of his former Burning the Ground band mate (who happens to be an ex-boyfriend of mine… but don't worry, we're on friendly terms). My friend and I caught them at the Pig & Whistle last night and they were great! Brian may have been concentrating a little harder than usual, what with only a handful of rehearsals under his belt and this being his first gig with them, but he sounded solid and tight with the rest of the band. And the rest of the band is REALLY tight.

I had hoped to have a chance to chat with Brian's very cool wife, but there wasn't really much opportunity. (I have a short film idea that I think she'd be perfect for, but I have no idea if it will interest her or not.) But I did meet a funky chick who is friends with the guys in Curious George, another local cover band that I enjoy. She's a "closet writer" (I've been there, my friend) and I'm hoping to help her come out of that closet. But I digress...

I highly recommend checking out Caught Staring. They're a talented cover band with an awesome song list and loads of energy… great for dancing! And I'd have to say they're pretty easy on the eyes, so that's a nice perk for the ladies in the audience (or gay men ).

Labels: music

Here's a website with a very cool idea. You can trade your DVDs, music CDs, games, books and audiobooks all in one place. It's called Hitflip UK and, as the name implies, is currently only in the UK. But they started in Germany and it looks as though they're planning on expanding into the States, so I'm crossing my fingers that they'll end up in Canada eventually (hopefully they'll post these kinds of updates on their blog).

I love the idea of being able to swap DVDs that I've grown tired of (doesn't happen very often) or have duplicates of (which is somewhat more common) or that were gifts from people who didn't check my Amazon.com wish list (probably the most common reason I would swap).

*a few moments pass as I browse the site... *

Okay, now I'm desperate. I just did a search and seasons 1-5 of "Drop the Dead Donkey" are available to swap! I know the site is just for residents of the UK and I know the DVDs would be the wrong format anyway, but I want that show!!!!

*takes deep breath*

Okay, I've calmed down now. But I still want that TV show. I'll just have to figure out another way to get it. And I will. I'm quite determined that I will.

Labels: books and literature, cool sites, film, games, music, tv, videos

Blue October performed on Conan last night... and I missed it! I was working late into the night on a grant report that's due... well... now. Unfortunately, Conan doesn't seem to provide videos (he could learn a thing or two from Jon Stewart), nor has anyone uploaded it to YouTube yet. But some kind soul on MySpace has the video... many thanks to Dory. So here's Blue October on Conan singing "She's My Ride Home":

Blue October on Conan O'Brien

Labels: music, tv, videos

Browsing through the Blogger's Choice Awards again (I've got new votes... yay!), I found that someone had nominated PostSecret. A friend of mine sent me a link to this blog a while back and I'd meant to blog about it but got sidetracked.

What is PostSecret? It's an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. Some of them are amusing, some of them are insightful, but what keeps me coming back are the ones that are frightening in their truth and beautiful in their pain. If you haven't visited this site before, I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, the award categories weren't really made for a blog like this. If I were to invent a category for it, I think I would call it "Best Humanist Blog" or "Best Blog about Truth" but those aren't categories that people would typically think about or use. So it's in the Pop Culture category. Yes, yet another post for a "pop culture" blog.



In keeping with the spirit of viewing this as a pop culture blog, I've uploaded "Beauty from Pain" by Superchick to My Music Box for you to listen to while you explore. I've also decided to change the other songs to create a sort of theme of pain and secrets. So there's also Blue October's "Razorblade" sung by Zayra Alvarez and "Merry Go Round" by Athena Reich.

Labels: art and photography, blogging, music, pop culture

Now, now... get your mind out of the gutter... that's not what I meant. (Or is mine the only mind that landed in the gutter?)

Blue October is going to be performing on Conan O'Brien on Wednesday, April 25!

(I feel like a little Blue October cheerleader. Oh well, I guess I can live with that as long as I get to be the Gothic Cheerleader! )

Labels: music, tv

I've discovered a cool new site called Fliptrack that let's you "put your life to music." The concept? Use your photos, add music from their library and voila! You have a Fliptrack Music Slideshow that you can share with the world.

I would definitely like to give this a try myself, but for the moment I'm just enjoying the ones that are posted. There's a very moving one called "In Memory of Martin Luther King," a really cute one called "Cats Don't Like Mondays" set to—you guessed it—the Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays," but I've opted to embed one that is more beautifully artistic, entitled "I'm my only enemy":

Doesn't it make you want to go and make your own? So what are you waiting for?

Labels: cool sites, music, videos

Hey, my review of the Blue October concert has been posted on the Blue October Canada MySpace blog! You do need to be a friend of Blue October Canada to view the blog, so those of you without a MySpace account won't be able to access the link (no biggie... it's exactly as posted here). But those of you with MySpace accounts should be friends of Blue October Canada anyway, right?

Labels: blogging, music

As my regular readers know, I went to see Blue October at Mac Hall at the University of Calgary on Saturday night. Given the way I was feeling, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to enjoy it. But I did. Boy did I.

The opening band was fine, nothing earth shattering ("something Moses" or "Moses something"… don't really remember; just remember the lead singer had a cool Gothic version of a Sergeant Pepper jacket and one of the other guys had a huge 'fro; plus they were late, holding up the whole show... not particularly endearing).

But on to the main show. First of all, it felt waaay too short even though it was an hour and a half. And that's saying something with the short attention span that I have these days. Secondly, I'm still just getting to know their music (aside from the few songs that I have memorized so far) but there wasn't a single song during the concert that didn't grab me… which is not the norm with music I'm not familiar with. Usually it takes me a while to warm up to new stuff (well, new-to-me stuff), but I was captivated during the entire concert. Why? Justin Furstenfeld.

Not to say that the other musicians aren't amazing. Loved the violin. Loved the bass player, playing his solo almost as if he was playing an upright bass. Loved the cutie guitar play and his faux hawk. And Justin's brother Jeremy on drums. But none of that is why my gaze was fixated on that stage for an hour and a half that felt like 20 minutes. That was all Justin.

Justin is a born performer. Which amazes me because his lyrics are so deep and sophisticated and his music so catchy, that it seemed too much to hope that his performance could match his songwriting ability. But it did, it does. I don't know how much he can actually see when he's on stage, but it feels like he's making real eye contact with the audience… intense, singing-right-to-you eye contact. And his hand gestures. Wow. Along with his body language and his facial expressions, his gestures tell the story of the song and makes it really personal. I could watch that man perform all night long.

As for their music, it's truly their own sound but familiar at the same time. Sounding like it's inspired by the best of U2, Depeche Mode, Madness and even the Barenaked Ladies, it's still fresh and original with that intensity in Justin that I can't remember hearing so consistently ever before.

And I don't know the details of Justin's personal life (apart from how open he is about drugs and rehab), but I feel like his songs were plucked from ugly ideas in my head made beautiful. I know I'm not alone. I realize that's a huge part of their success; how much people can identify with Justin's words. And yes, they're dark thoughts but they're tinged with hope. And I don't know if "18th Floor Balcony" (just uploaded into my Box) and some of his other love songs were written for his wife or not, but I choose to believe they were. Because I feel like if Justin can find someone to love who can love him that way, then there's hope for the rest of us.

P.S. Calgary audiences suck! Don't they know that if you keep stomping and clapping and cheering that the band WILL come out for a second encore? A little persistence please people!!!!

P.P.S. Buy the new album, Foiled. You will NOT be disappointed!

Labels: music

I've decided to dub this "Blue October Week." Not as an annual thing as part of my calendar of interesting "holidays" (I was talking about that here, right, not in Things That Make You Go Huh? Frack, I'm losing track already... but that's neither here nor there). "Blue October Week" is to get pumped up for the Blue October concert in Calgary this coming Saturday. (At Mac Hall... some tickets still available!)

To that end, all of the songs in "My Box" this week (that big orange thing in my sidebar) are from Blue October's live album: Argue with a Tree. Enjoy!

Labels: music

I've lived in Calgary for almost seven years now, and it's only in the past year that I've really managed to find the artsy people that I want to hang out with. I'll admit that much of that is my own fault. I arrived with the attitude that Calgarians expect from Torontonians: what little redneck, culturally-bereft backwater have I just landed in? Not too endearing an attitude, I'll admit. But I only seemed to be meeting people who worked directly in the oil and gas industry or indirectly for the oil and gas industry. And my parents were hippie actors. No common ground. I did try. Really. But I felt like I was selling my soul.

Then last year, I joined the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers and started taking a bunch of courses there—meeting people who had not only heard of my favourite movies, but actually liked them—and my one musician friend married a really cool actress with really cool creative friends and all of a sudden I have artsy people back in my life. Yay!

This whole process could have happened a lot sooner if The Whole 9 had been around when I first moved here. The Whole 9 is an online community to connect creative and artistic people for networking and dating (there's even a place for your portfolio). I may not be needing it for friendship or dating at the moment, but I'll definitely be exploring the networking potential!

P.S. Couldn't resist the Beatles reference in the title, especially since 9 is one of my favourite numbers. My fave favourite number is actually 108... long story... short answer: I'm weird, remember?

Labels: art and photography, cool sites, dating, film, music, theatre

I just found this cool new widget while I was visiting The Bellclapper's Garden. See that box on the side? Well, I can now upload songs to it so my viewing audience can become a listening audience. (I seem to be having a glitch viewing it in Opera 9.10, but it seems to be fine in IE and Firefox. Anybody have Netscape and wanna let me know whether you can actually see the uploaded files in that browser? Same for Mac users... thanks muchly!)

Hope you enjoy "The Box" (oh my, that sounds kind of ominous, doesn't it?)

Labels: blogging, music

Well, I may have been right about Starbuck (thank the gods... of course she could still be a Cylon, so I guess "is Starbuck a Cylon?" could be the "who shot J.R.?" equivalent... but she's back and that's all I care about right now) but holy frack was I wrong about so much other stuff! The Chief?! Seriously... the CHIEF?!?! My "Savio-like in his glory" Chief? Say it isn't so.

And I guess skin jobs have been around for a looong time. And I guess they do have the ability to appear to age. Who knew? (Apart from Ron Moore and the BSG writers, I mean.) But I have to say that I respect Tigh more now, after his little speech (I wish I had it on DVD so I could quote him exactly). Actually, I don't think I ever respected him before, so I should say that I finally respect him. Ironic, dontcha think? The method of reveal was interesting though and I find myself wondering how each of them is going to react in the next season.

But I'm particularly looking forward to watching the unfolding storyline connecting the President, Athena, Caprica Six and Hera. THAT should be good.

Oh and the song, for those who haven't figured it out yet, was "All Along the Watchtower" written by Bob Dylan (I'm not sure whose version... Hendrix maybe?):

"There must be some way out of here,"
said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief
Businessmen they drink my wine, plowman dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No need to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who think that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and that is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late"

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view,
while all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

Labels: battlestar galactica, music, pop culture, tv

Ever since I wrote the last post, I've had the song "The Christians and the Pagans" going through my head. So I figured I should write a wee post and try and leave the song here on the page, literally and figuratively. So here's a live version to listen to (courtesy of LookIt). Personally, I prefer the version that's on Mortal City. But you can only listen to a tiny snippet of that one on the web. This version is pretty much the same, just different production value obviously.

And just in case you'd like lyrics and chords, here's a link: The Christians and the Pagans.

Labels: music, pop culture

I've been exploring that Tribeca Network further and checked out one of their subsites: Radio Free TriBeCa (I'll save Tribeca Shorts, their other subsite, for another post).

This is a very cool concept. Did you ever see the movie "Pump Up the Volume" with Christian Slater? The one where he runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthrals fellow teens. Well, now you can do the same thing (or something completely different) with a lot less trouble than Christian Slater went through in the movie, just by signing up with this site.

So if you think you're the next Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack or Rush Limbaugh *shudder* (how come the only talk radio personalities that come to mind make me want to shudder... surely there are some progressive, liberal radio personalities out there; of course, it might help if I actually listened to traditional radio rather than just internet radio... but I digress). Anyway, if you're burning to broadcast, Radio Free TriBeCa is where you want to be. And if you just want to listen? Well, they've got a 24/7 streaming Beatles station that works for me!

Labels: cool sites, music, pop culture

Okay, so this meme has been going around for several months now, but I just recently had it forwarded to me and it looks pretty cool so I'm gonna do it anyway.

The Year You Turned 18 Music Meme

Go to popculturemadness.com and select the year you turned 18. Paste the list of the top 75 songs. Bold the ones you liked; strike the ones you disliked; and italicize the ones you know but don't exactly like or dislike. The ones you don't know will stay plain text.

1. That's What Friends Are For - Dionne & Friends
2. Addicted To Love - Robert Palmer
3. Kiss - Prince
4. Walk This Way - Run D.M.C./Aerosmith
5. Living In America - James Brown
6. You Give Love A Bad Name - Bon Jovi
7. Take My Breath Away - Berlin
8. Burning Heart - Survivor
9. Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles
10. The Sweetest Taboo - Sade
11. Higher Love - Steve Winwood
12. Never As Good As The First Time - Sade
13. Greatest Love Of All - Whitney Houston
14. Tarzan Boy - Baltimora
15. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
16. You're A Friend Of Mine - Clarence Clemons & Jackson Browne
17. Manic Monday - The Bangles
18. Glory Of Love - Peter Cetera
19. Like A Rock - Bob Seger
20. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock and Roll) - Nick Lowe
21. Word Up - Cameo
22. Conga - Miami Sound Machine
23. The Men All Pause - Klymaxx
24. In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
25. Live To Tell - Madonna
26. Venus - Bananarama
27. Typical Male - Tina Turner
28. Take Me Home Tonight - Eddie Money
29. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
30. I Can't Wait - Nu Shooz
31. If You Leave - O.M.D.
32. You Be Illin' - Run DMC
33. Crush On You - The Jets
34. The Rain - Oran "Juice" Jones
35. Papa Don't Preach - Madonna
36. Mad About You - Belinda Carlisile
37. R.O.C.K. In The USA - John "Cougar" Melloncamp
38. Danger Zone - Kenny Loggins
39. Words Get In The Way - Miami Sound Machine
40. Walk Of Life - Dire Straits
41. I'm Your Man - Wham!
42. All Cried Out - Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam With Full Force
43. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
44. Dancing On The Ceiling - Lionel Richie
45. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off - Jermaine Stewart
46. My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen
47. On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald
48. Everybody Have Fun Tonight - Wang Chung
49. All I Need Is A Miracle - Mike & the Mechanics
50. Tuff Enuff - Fabulous Thunderbirds
51. The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades - Timbuk3
52. Love Walks In - Van Halen
53. Shot In The Dark - Ozzie Osbourne
54. The Next Time I Fall - Peter Cetera & Amy Grant
55. Move Away - Culture Club
56. I Wanna Be A Cowboy - Boys Don't Cry
57. Superbowl Shuffle - Chicago Bears
58. Rumors - Timex Social Club
59. The Power Of Love - Jennifer Rush
60. One Step Closer - Gavin Christopher
61. A Love Bizarre - Sheila E.
62. Sex As A Weapon - Pat Benatar
63. More Than Physical - Bananarama
64. Everybody Dance - Ta Mara and the Seen
65. Day By Day - Hooters
66. Live Is Life - Opus
67. Great Gosh A'Mighty - Little Richard
68. Pleasure and Pain - Divinyls
69. Once In A Lifetime - Talking Heads
70. Don Quichotte - Magazine 60
71. Crazay - Jesse Johnson and Sly Stone
72. Why Can't This Be Love - Van Halen
73. Baby Talk - Alisha
74. Jungle Boy - John Eddie
75. Caravan of Love - Isley Jasper Isley

The limited number of songs that I bolded led me to muse upon what I was listening to back then. I guess I was already into more alternative stuff. Some of my favourite artists at that time (in no particular order) were Jane Siberry, Sting, Suzanne Vega, David Bowie and Depeche Mode. But the number of songs I italicized suggests that I at least listened to the radio more than I do now.

Labels: memes, music, pop culture

Unsigned.com is a music site that I've talked about before (see "Indie Artists Unite"), but I consider it worthy of another post because it's growing fast.

I love almost all kinds of music (not so much a fan of country, but even I will admit to enjoying a little Patsy Cline once in a while). One of my favourite genres is industrial goth, in the style of Evanescence, Kidneythieves, Switchblade Symphony, Tapping the Vein, etc. So on this visit I was browsing Unsigned's industrial music section. Here are some of the bands that made the biggest impression on me:

Acid Void… I could totally imagine using them to create the soundtrack for one of my short films. Hmm, I wonder if they actually would?

Curiosity Valentine… Strange, but I like it. I particularly like the quote in their bio: Author Warren Ellis described Curi by saying, "She has a big, smoky, whisky-sharp voice: like Tom Waits if he were an angry 24-year-old woman preoccupied with Doom and Hate." (LMAO)

Eldest… A little too metal for me in the chorus, but otherwise I like both their sound and their message.

Papa Zombi… Gothic rap? Cool.

Syncro Nine Factor… Good balance of industrial, metal and alternative without being too much of any.

Violent Sleepers… Great sound, check out their lugubrious version of "People are Strange" (although their original stuff is actually better).

If you don't like industrial goth, try another category. Whether you're looking for Jazz, Trip-Hop, Hip-Hop, Punk, Funk (okay, they don't actually have a category for funk—yet—but I was in a beat poetry groove), Folk or World Artists... trust me, there's something there for everyone. And, like I said, there are more artists every time I visit. So check it out!

Labels: cool sites, music, pop culture

The oblique West Side Story reference in the title suggests that I have not yet shaken my musical-theatre-itis. But this post is actually another one about the Women's Open Mike Night hosted by Jadesong at the Jane Doe Marketplace & Café (311 17 Ave SW).

Some local artists that will be performing:
Vi An : Vocals & Percussion
Shelly K Hip Hop : Spoken Word
Kali (Karylin) : Spinning Poetry
Moksha (Mel) : Vocals, Percussion & Electro Pop

It starts at 7:00 p.m. and you have to sign up right at 7 if you want to perform. I still haven't decided what I'll be reading... and part of me is starting to chicken out... well, we'll see.

Labels: music, poetry

Chatting with my friend's son yesterday, he was telling me about his music project for school: to write an original song. He and his friends had decided to write a rap song, which led me to talk about rap music being street poetry and how its rhythms and rhyme schemes remind me a bit of sixties beat poetry. And me being me, I of course had to do a little research.

Which leads me, very indirectly, to the topic of my post: rap opera. While searching for interesting tidbits on rap music, I landed on this article on Opera at Encyclocentral. In amongst the generic information about opera was this innocent sentence: "In more recent news, radical styles of opera buffa, rap opera and even opera electronica have been very popular with audiences." I've heard of rock opera but rap opera? I admit, I'm intrigued.

But I also wonder, when people create this kind of opera are they intending to develop a new artistic form or are they hoping that contemporizing the opera style will renew interest in classical opera? Enquiring minds want to know.

P.S. Hey, maybe if my friend's son turns out to be a whiz at songwriting, he'll need the Encyclocentral article on Talent Agencies.

Labels: music, pop culture

My friend and I went to see a production of Chicago this afternoon, presented by the Front Row Centre Players. I've always loved the play. I saw it for the first time when I was a kid and one of my mother's acting students used to work the box office at the Royal Alex Theatre in Toronto. We used to hang around until everyone else was seated and then he would let us sit in the empty seats. That's where I saw Chicago and Sweet Charity, and others that I can't remember… I think it's the Bob Fosse shows that tended to stick in my head. And obviously I saw the movie and I thought they did a fabulous job with it (even if Renée Zellweger was distractingly skinny).

But back to today. I had seen the ads for this production of Chicago but hadn't been planning on going just because I'm so busy (and currently rather broke after buying my new couch). But then I got an email from Nikki—who played the female demon in my short film last summer—saying that she was the understudy for Velma and would be performing that role in the matinées. So I bought my tickets and off I went.

Already a huge fan of the script and the music, I was curious to see how it would be handled by a community theatre group. Overall, I think they did well. The singing, acting and musicianship were all very good. The choreography, however, was just so-so. Maybe it was that the dancers weren't up to anything more challenging, maybe it's because we were watching the understudies, but the choreography and dancing were definitely the weakest link. The energy, however, was great and the actors were obviously having loads of fun which makes up for a lot in community theatre, as far as I'm concerned. And I got to introduce a friend of mine to live theatre for the first time… so that was pretty cool, too.

And that's
Good, isn't it?
Grand, isn't it?
Great, isn't it?
Swell, isn't it?
Fun, isn't it?
But nothing stays

In fifty years or so
It's gonna change, you know
But, oh, it's heaven
Nowadays.
(listen to sample)

Labels: film, music, pop culture, theatre

I'm having way too much fun with that Eventful site and decided to add Sarah Slean to their database so I could create a demand for her to come back to Calgary. When I saw her here before, it was one of the most incredible concert experiences of my life. Her voice, her energy, her words, her music... I was transported. I would love to experience that again.

Sarah Slean

Do you want Sarah Slean
to perform in your city?

Labels: cool sites, music, pop culture

I've just discovered a new site for unsigned artists. Unsigned.com is dedicated to providing independent artists the best possible outlet to be heard globally on the Internet, as well as providing the artists with a new revenue and distribution model for their music.

Having recently had the "joys" of putting together a MySpace Filmmaker's site, I no longer think MySpace is the answer for any indie artists. It's so glitchy and has no real tech support that it drives me crazy most of the time, and I can't imagine it's much better if you're in the music area of MySpace.

Granted, Unsigned.com is still in Beta and I haven't tested it out, but anything's gotta be better than MySpace!

Labels: cool sites, music, pop culture

I noticed that someone landed on my blog searching for the meaning of the Blue October song "Ugly Side" (sample). Although on the one hand I think the general meaning is self-evident, I decided to write about it because the specific lyrics might seem a little odd to some people.

Ugly Side lyrics:

I must have sneezed
On knees I freeze
I mean I just choked up
Somehow I slept
I dream, I mean
I dreamt of nothing
Able to breathe
A sweet relief
Now that you're here with me
A northern degree
Dove into me
Now I'm recovering

[Chorus]
I only want you to see
My favorite part of me
And not my ugly side
Not my ugly side

Hook up a C.B. Wave a way
For conversation flow
I'm shoved in your cave, to wage this rage
Don't let me go
A kick and a scream is all that seems
To mean a lot thus far
I won't let you on my stage, my page
You can't know
Yet you have to know

[Chorus]

So calm... and now it's dark
I look for you to light my heart
I'm in between the moon and where you are
I know... I can't be far

The most general interpretation is simply how hard it is to share your those parts of yourself that you don't like with someone that you actually want to share your whole self with. More specifically, I believe it relates to Justin Furstenfeld's history with drugs, his recovery and his ardent desire not to have to share that part of his past and himself with someone he's starting a new relationship with.

As for specific phrases that may or not make grammatical sense… I say don't analyze that stuff too deeply. It's poetry. It elicits an emotional reaction of confusion and melancholy and fear and love. In Writing Down the Bones, Natalie Goldberg writes:

"The aim is to burn through to first thoughts... to the place where you are writing what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should see and feel. It's a great opportunity to capture the oddities of your mind. Explore the rugged edge of thought."

I believe these lyrics are definitely the stuff of "first thoughts." Not to say that I don't have my ideas about what Justin means in certain phrases, but I'm more concerned with what he's feeling and how he makes me feel. So my advice is not to try to deconstruct the song, just feel it.

P.S. Blue October is coming to Calgary!!!!! They'll be playing at Mac Hall on April 7. Get your tickets soon. I know I will!

Labels: music, poetry, pop culture

I just discovered this new site where you can request (or as they say "demand") that your favourite performers come to your city. So I entered a "demand" for Rachael Sage (since I discovered this on her MySpace page), even though I'm not sure she would ever venture this way. But hey, if you don't ask... right? So I started the demand, but it needs to reach a critical mass before they actually contact the performer. So if anyone else wants to make a demand for Rachael Sage to come to Calgary, please do so.

I am a little disappointed, however, that most of the codes on the Eventful site don't seem to work for me. So this is as interesting a "demand" image as I could muster:

Rachael Sage

Do you want Rachael Sage
to perform in your city?

For those of you who aren't familiar with Rachael Sage and her music, she's a New York City songstress whose music is an eclectic mix of literate folk-pop-rock with a variety of world music influences. Trust me, that description will make sense once you listen to her. One of my favourite tracks off one of my favourite albums of hers (Smashing the Serene) is "Bruises without Blue." Give it a listen and if you actually like it, then please help me drum up some demand!

Labels: cool sites, music, pop culture

As a big fan of indie music, I felt the need to post about this Singer/Songwriter contest that I just heard of. It's sponsored by a London based artist development group called We Are Listening. But it's not just for artists from the UK or Europe, it's completely international and open to both signed and unsigned artists. (There's even a Canadian judge… Katia Cadet (Babykat)… I just wish I'd actually heard of her, but I'm not really a hip hop person so I guess that's as good an excuse as any).

Anyway, back to the contest. They'll be picking six artists and flying them to London for a luxury weekend production extravaganza which will include an exclusive recording session with producer Steve Williams who has produced artists like Sting, Seal and Eric Clapton. Can you imagine? Holy opportunity, Batman!

There are also other prizes like the Master Writer software suite, a scholarship for the Summer Songwriting Workshop at Berklee College of Music and a bunch of artist services at CDfuse.com, including one week as a "featured artist" on the front page of the site (to name just a few).

I hope Jasmine Whenham decides to enter. I still remember when she won the local Ship & Anchor songwriting contest. When she got up to sing I felt transported from a local amateur competition to a world class musical performance. Maybe this contest will be her chance to play with the big boys… and girls.

So is it worth it? Well, it only costs $30 to enter and one of last year's winners, Jag Star, is going to be included on the soundtrack to MTV's "The Hills" as the only independent act on the recording. I don't know about you, but I think that makes for a pretty impressive credit.

But don't wait too long to enter… the deadline is March 1, 2007!

Labels: music, pop culture

Apparently the last time my cousin went to the movies, they showed a pretty cool music video. Unfortunately, they gave neither the title of the song nor the artist. But my cousin liked the song quite a lot so he went home and Googled some of the lyrics and discovered it was "Into the Ocean" by Blue October.

Why is this noteworthy? Well, I first discovered Blue October when Zayra Alvarez sang their song "Razorblade" on Rock Star: Supernova (watch the video). I think it was her best performance on the show and yet it was the night that she got kicked off… so unfair. Anyway, after the show I downloaded the Blue October version along with a few of their other songs and I was hooked. I had suggested to my cousin that he download "Weight of the World," a song of theirs which I love but that he didn't like much at all. I now see that I should have recommended more than the one song. Oh well, hind sight and all that.

But now I'm curious: Is this band bigger than I originally thought? Or are they just now gaining in popularity and getting good airplay? I never know these things because I don't listen to the radio. Sometimes I "discover" a band that everyone else already knows about. Other times one of my indie bands makes it big and all of a sudden everybody knows who they are which kind of weirds me out. (I'm really pathetic when it comes to popular music… totally my own fault, I know, but obviously I don't care enough about it to bother to change and actually start listening to the radio and paying attention to these things.) But I think it's a riot that these guys are obviously doing extremely well right now, and just last summer the Supernova guys were giving Zayra a hard time for doing a song by a band they'd never even heard of.

There are still a lot of Blue October songs that I'm not familiar with, so I can't offer extensive reviews or recommendations, but aside from the songs I've already mentioned I also really like "Independently Happy" and "18th Floor Balcony" and I LOVE "Ugly Side" (listen to sample). I was really hoping that somebody would buy me Blue October's live album "Argue with a Tree" for Christmas, but no such luck. Oh well, I think I can manage to buy it for myself.

Labels: music, pop culture

I've had a lot of people landing on this blog looking for "The Hippopotamus Song." I assume they're looking for the Flanders & Swann song but, having no idea if there's another song by the same name, I could be way off the mark (I've included the lyrics below so you can figure out at a glance if this is the song you're looking for). I'm not quite sure why this resurgence in popularity for the song (if this is indeed the song they want), but I think it's pretty cool. If you happen to be one of the people looking for the song (which is available here), I would love it if you would leave me a comment as to what prompted you to try to find it. If, however, you are looking for "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas"... I'm afraid you won't find that here, sorry.

The Hippopotamus Song
Words by Michael Flanders
Music by Donald Swann and Michael Flanders

A bold Hippopotamus was standing one day
On the banks of the cool Shalimar.
He gazed at the bottom as it peacefully lay
By the light of the evening star.

Away on the hilltop sat combing her hair
His fair Hippopotamine maid.
The Hippopotamus was no ignoramus
And sang her this sweet serenade.

Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow in glorious mud.

The fair Hippopotama he aimed to entice,
From here seen on the hilltop above,
As she hadn't got a ma to give her advice,
Came tip-toeing down to her love.

Like thunder the forest re-echoed the sound
Of the song that they sang as they met.
His enamorata adjusted her garter
And lifted her voice in duet.

Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow in glorious mud.

Now more Hippopotami began to convene
On the banks of that river so wide.
I wonder now what am I to say of the scene
That ensued by the Shalimar side?

They dived all at once with an ear-splitting splash,
Then rose to the surface again,
A regular army of Hippopotami
All singing this haunting refrain.

Mud! Mud! Glorious mud!
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.
So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow,
And there let us wallow in glorious mud.

P.S. There's a "Hippo Encore" as well!

P.P.S. I first posted about this song in a "Christmas CD 2 — Funny Guys" back in 2004. For more novelty music, check out the song list in that post.

Labels: humour, music

My whole family (well, on my Dad's side) loves to sing... except maybe my cousin Chris (but I'll bet he sings when no one else is around). There have been parties in the past when my aunt would rent a Karaoke machine and everyone would have their chance to belt out their favourite tunes in the privacy her living room... no noisy bar, no drunken louts, no cigarette smoke. Unfortunately, I was always away at university when those parties happened.

So I've been trying to nudge the family towards buying a Karaoke machine so that we can sing at a moment's notice (well, sing with musical accompaniment; we sing at a moments notice anyway... and who says musicals are unrealistic?). Anyway, I came across this online Home Karaoke Machine Guide that looks like it could be very helpful. Now if I can just figure out a way to casually get my family to look at it...

Labels: cool stuff, music

I was browsing around You Tube and initially stumbled across DCLuigi in his "ADD Shopping Network" video (very funny) and decided to check out some of his other stuff. That's when I discovered this sick and brilliant music video "Sick in the Head":



"Don't leave the kittens on the grill; Why use the stairs when you can fall?
Just leave your problems in the sink; I've got my shoes, they're made of dreams.
Is that a fire on your back? Think twice before you rape the dog.
I don't belong to triple A (hey, hey); Hey, let's pretend that we're alive.
I'm sick in the head, Just to let you know,
I'm sick in the head, Anyway, let's go"
Aren't the lyrics great?!

Labels: humour, music

We were at the Rose & Crown last night and heard a new band (well, new to me) called Urban Divide. They remind me of the Mocking Shadows with their funk/r&b/soul thing goin' on and their horn section (gotta love the horns). But they've got a chick on lead vocals which is pretty cool, especially because her voice is low and bluesy. I don't think they're quite as tight as the Shadows, though, or maybe I just prefer the rock edge that the Shadows bring. Regardless, I would still definitely recommend them.

Speaking of new bands, when we were at the Rose & Crown for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, we caught a band called The Heavyweights. Good solid rock & roll cover band. Great for dancing!

Check 'em both out!

Labels: music, pop culture

Come one, come all to the Jasmine Whenham CD release party tonight at Club Paradiso in Inglewood. I've been eagerly awaiting this new CD... I'm really hoping this will launch her big break. *fingers crossed*

Labels: music, pop culture

Some time ago, I downloaded a song that was entitled "Persian Teardrop" but turned out to be a brilliant mix of "Persian Love Song" by Dead Can Dance and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack with Elizabeth Fraser (of the Cocteau Twins). I had assumed it was a remix that was available on a CD somewhere but I've had no luck finding it. I'm now beginning to think it's a homemade remix that has just been circulating on the internet. I posted on the Massive Attack forums hoping someone there might know for certain, but no joy. So I figured I would try posting on my blog on the off chance that someone might stumble across it and know if (and where) I can find a legitimate copy of this remix.

Labels: music, pop culture

Boing Boing had a "Battlestar Galacticakes" blurb today which was mildly amusing. But tacked on to the end of it was music video cobbled together by BSG fans (that would be Battlestar Galactica for those who haven't made the hyperjump). It is catchier and funnier than I anticipated. If you like the show, I think you'll get a kick out of this:


Battlestar Galactica: A New Crew In Town

"...You're a frackin' awesome machine,
So much better than the one with Lorne Greene."

Labels: battlestar galactica, music

So I see that Storm took my advice and has recorded "Ladylike" already, both clean and explicit versions. (What? You don't believe that she might have stumbled across my blog, saw my suggestion that she go directly into the studio to record "Ladylike" and said, "Hey man, that sounds like a good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"... What? You don't think it could have happened that way? Yeah, well, neither do I... *sigh*)

Anyway, you can buy her single "Ladylike" by Storm Large & the Balls through CD Baby or download the song from iTunes (I assume they have both song versions available there as well). Then get ready to rock!

Labels: music, pop culture

Tempest = Storm
Great = Large

I know I haven't been commenting on Rock Star: Supernova this year, even though I was a two-posts-a-week Rock Star: INXS grrl last year. That doesn't mean I haven't been watching, just that I've been too insanely busy with my short film to blog (said film is now in the can, except for one insert shot, then it's off to the lab when the rest of the students finish filming). But enough preamble...

I was keenly disappointed to see Storm Large leave the show. Especially after her incredible, anthem-like original song the night before: "Ladylike." I hope she goes straight into the studio to record this song (both the PG and R-rated versions). I simply can't get it out of my head which, in this case, is a wonderful thing. Aside from the fact that it's crazy catchy, the sentiment is so relatable for all of us women who feel constrained by society's desire for us to fit a girly-girl mold. And I HIGHLY recommend watching the video!!! You can either follow the links on the Rock Star site or go here to watch it without commercials (albeit with lower quality).

Anyway, since I'm commenting on the show, I'll throw in a couple of other observations. Love Dilana! Even if she did have a bit of a meltdown a couple weeks ago. I think she's pulled herself together and is back to her rocking, original self. Can't stand Lukas Rossi, even if he is Canadian. He's kind of like this year's JD for me. Though I confess that he's probably more talented than JD and I did actually download his original song, "Headspin." To take the comparisons further, I kind of feel like Dilana is the new Jordis, Toby Rand is rather Mig-like (though I think Toby is a stronger contender than Mig was) and, for me, Storm was this year's Marty. To clarify that last statement, Marty Casey was the guy that I didn't even realize I loved until I noticed that the Rock Star songs that I played most were his... all of his. Same with Storm. That girl can sing the sh*t out of a phone book.

Tempest = Storm
Great = Large

I can't wait for the storm to pass this way.

P.S. Check out this awesome video of Storm, Inc. (Storm's old band).

Labels: music, pop culture, tv

I really need to start hanging out over at YouTube.com. I came across these videos at i-am-bored.com, but they're both originally from YouTube:

Salvador Dali - Lanvin Chocolate (Dali starring a commercial?!?!)
Rap Wizard of Oz (Israeli music video for "kele-6" rap group)

Very weird. Kinda fun. Enjoy... or not... according to your taste.

Labels: fun, music

Cameron Crowe To Release Only Soundtracks
November 9, 2005 | Issue 41•45

LOS ANGELES—Explaining that his movies were but a small step in the pursuit of a career he has always dreamed about, Almost Famous director Cameron Crowe announced Monday that he is retiring from filmmaking to focus exclusively on soundtracks. "For me, the moving image has become redundant, and I believe that I can more effectively tell stories with carefully chosen music," said Crowe, backed by Electric Light Orchestra's "Do Ya." Crowe's first soundtrack, Walking With Headphones, will begin compilation later this winter for a summer release, with the soundtrack's soundtrack available on Polydor Records.

For more irreverent misinformation (such as U.S. Dollar Slips Against Canadian Acorn), check out The Onion.

Labels: film, music, pop culture

So here's the long promised post about my trip to Toronto. Main point of interest: my high school reunion. Unfortunately, Leaside, my alma mater, doesn't do reunions by year or even by decade... it's all 60 years at once. So it's really hit or miss as to whether you'll find anyone from your year.

In my case, I only came across one person from my graduating class but it turned out to be one of the people from my inner sanctum of friends, so that was pretty cool. And she had updates on some of the other people from that group (aka XYZ*), so I got to hear about how they were doing.

Jeanette, the friend in question, has just released her first independently produced, self-titled CD. So allow me to suggest that you check out her music and her website: Jeanette Lee.

One of the other friends Jeanette updated me on was Jennifer Griesbach, a harpsichordist now living in New York and involved in a variety of projects, including an early music ensemble called Sympatica.

Besides Jeanette, there were probably another dozen people there that I had actually hung out with and considered friends at various points in my high school career. And then there was the ego-boosting comment from one guy who exclaimed, "you're not supposed to look BETTER than you did in high school!" Gotta like that.

*You may be wondering about the XYZ... to make a long story short, one of our math teachers decided to hand pick students for an advanced Calculus class. The course code was Calculus XYZ. We all ended up becoming friends and often referred to our group by that invented course code. Why do I remember that silly piece of trivia? Because I immortalized it in a poem that one of those friends asked me to create for her high school yearbook:

From limits to lines,
derive it three times,
take the integral of the sum.
From strange biochemistry
(what rhymes with "emistry"?)
playing P and C on the run.

Fine food before lunch,
the cafeteria bunch,
first semester with X, Y, and Zed.
Doing phys ed in physics,
broad shoulders and biceps,
formal dates with awfully swelled heads.

All in all it's been great,
all our friends, loves and hates,
doing school work once in a while.
Next year, well we'll see,
Waterloo, U. of T.
XYZ will continue in style.

Okay, now I'm going back into hibernation because National Novel Writing Month has started and I have 50,000 words to write.

Labels: music, odds and ends, poetry

I came across this blog with a post about "Cool musicians who blog." I would argue with their guidelines of "cool" but I like the concept of the list and might have to do something similar at some point with musicians that are cool by my definition (don't ask me what that is yet, but I'll come up with something). In the meantime, a few of the musicians on the aforementioned list:

Pete Townsend
Franz Ferdinand
Radiohead
David Byrne
Sleater-Kinney
Sarah Slean
The Barenaked Ladies
Dave Navarro

And now I'm off to Toronto for a week. If anything blog-worthy happens while I'm away, I'll be sure to mention it here when I come back. Ciao.

Labels: blogging, music, pop culture

Went to see Athena Reich and Jasmine Whenham at the Ironwood Stage & Grill last night (see my Upcoming Gigs post). They were amazing, as anticipated. Unfortunately the turnout was not as good as I would have expected, given the level of talent. Hopefully, it will be better attended when Athena plays at Karma tonight (who else can deliver cabaret punk pop with an activist edge?).

I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to make it (busy weekend, what with the Calgary Film Festival starting and the Johnny Summers benefit on Sunday). But Athena had some new songs that I really enjoyed, like Bogey Man and White Bandages, and she said she'll be playing some other new ones tonight, so I'm thinkin' about it. In any case, I'll definitely be ordering her new CD as soon as Goldenrod, her new distributor, makes it available on their website.

Labels: music, pop culture

My last Rock Star: INXS post. (I may well follow up on my favourite rockers as I find out what they're up to, but that will be about their own careers, not Rock Star: INXS)

For starters, I'm surprised the finale didn't recap any of the reality episode footage of the final three rockers writing songs with Andrew Farriss (watch songwriting video). Both MiG and Marty actually prepared for this opportunity. What did J.D. do? Listen to the track once and jot down about three words. Does this remind anybody else of the recording studio episode, where everyone else actually learned the song they were supposed to sing the next day and J.D. had some beer and passed out early? And INXS actually wants to work with a guy who so obviously doesn't want to do any of the prep work?! Why?!? But I'm getting ahead of myself.

On to the performances: J.D.'s song choice was fine and his performance was fine... I'll give him that much. (And that's a lot given how much I don't like the guy.) I don't think MiG made the right choice with "Bohemian Rhapsody." I think all the reasons that he had for not picking it the first time around still stood. How does reminding INXS about his stage career help show them how he fits with them? (Plus, I think Suzie McNeil's version was much more impressive.) Now for Marty... some people criticized him for choosing "Wish You Were Here," a song that he'd already done. But it was a fabulous song the first time around and really seemed to strike a chord with the band, both in its subject matter and the tone of Marty's voice when he sang it. I think it was a good choice. (Watch the videos.)

Then MiG was cut and J.D. and Marty fronted INXS for one song each (I had a feeling it would come down to the two of them). I think Marty rocked his song and made it feel fresh and new. Once again, J.D. was fine... and very firmly inside the INXS comfort zone.

And I think that's what it all came down to. A comfort zone. Which, I would like to point out, is not the same thing as a good fit. A comfortable fit does not set the world on fire. And nor will INXS with J.D. Fortune fronting them.

Marty Casey and INXS would have been a good fit, a symbiotic relationship, each bringing out the best in the other. But I think Marty was too ambitious for INXS, had too many ideas about the future that I now see were outside their comfort zone. INXS just wants Michael Hutchence back, which they obviously can't have. So they went with the person that they considered to be the next best thing: a controversial, "sexy" bad boy with a tendency to impulsively indulge in everything in excess. (Who even looks just a bit like Hutchence, dontcha think...)



I'll wrap this up by quoting from llamabean: "The only way their decision could be rationalized would be that INXS was afraid to select Marty because he would have taken the group in new, daring and ultimately groundbreaking directions, while J.D.'s former life as a musical whore (ie. elvis impersonator) makes him a perfect pushover; willing to submit to the elderly and obviously senile INXS leftovers."

Here, here!

And finally, my previous Rock Star posts for anyone who's interested:
INXS Mis-Fortune (9.20.2005)
Sweet Suzie McNeil (9.15.2005)
Two Words (9.14.2005)
I Searched Afar The Land (9.07.2005)
Top 5 (9.06.2005)
Rock Star Ramblings (9.05.2005)
Such Sweet Sorrow (8.31.2005)
Suzie McNeil is a Goddess (8.31.2005)
Colour Me Stunned (8.25.2005)
Just a Bad Dream? (8.24.2005)
Top Three Good, Bottom Three Baaad!! (8.18.2005)
MiG Joins the Game (8.17.2005)
Rock Star Volleyball (8.10.2005)
The Man Who Sold the World (8.07.2005)
Just Jordis (8.05.2005)
Ty TV (7.26.2005)

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

Well, J.D. Fortune just became the new lead singer of INXS. Pretty much guaranteeing that I won't be buying any future INXS albums. I'll save my money for Marty Casey CDs instead, thank you very much.

I'll be posting my Rock Star: INXS post-show commentary later. Not much in the mood now.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

A couple of notable music gigs coming up in Calgary:

Thursday, September 22
Athena Reich & Jasmine Whenham
Ironwood Stage & Grill
Athena is the very cool musician from New York that I talked about at length in my post: Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition, where I described her as a cross between Ani DiFranco, Kate Bush and Liza Minelli. Jasmine is the local singer/songwriter that I've talked about many times on this blog, most recently as the winner of the Calgary Folk Festival's Best Song by a Newcomer songwriting contest this summer (Music, Music, Music).

Sunday, September 25
Johnny Summers
New Orleans Benefit Concert at Centre Street Church
I've also mentioned Johnny on this blog once or twice (Jazz Epiphany). He's a local jazz musician that I like to compare to Chet Baker. Because of the overwhelming disaster in the Gulf area, Johnny and a group of his musical friends are donating their time to raise money for Samaritan's Purse. Johnny has asked that if you only come to one event this year, to make it this one. The concert will be from 2:00 - 4:00 pm on Sunday Sept 25th, and will consist of New Orleans Traditional jazz music, otherwise known as dixieland jazz. Admission by donation, minimum $10. Centre Street Church main campus, 3900 2nd St NE.

Labels: music, pop culture

I had pretty much given up my hopes that J.D. would be sent home before the Rock Star: INXS finale, but I was still upset to see Suzie go home last night. The most upset I've been so far. But she was very gracious, which was nice to see... not that I would have expected anything less from her. While I think she will have an awesome career, whatever path she chooses, I kind of hope that she fronts a band rather than goes solo. She just has such an amazing rapport with people, the way she interacts with everybody while she's performing... not that she can't do that solo but, call me crazy, I think she'd have more fun with a band.

Now for the final three... INXS may think they have a hard choice in front of them but, with Suzie gone, I think it's a no-brainer.

While MiG can certainly sing and perform and fit in with the band, I think that (a) he really is a stage performer at heart, not a rock star (having said that, I would LOVE to see him on stage) and (b) I think he's too firmly in INXS' comfort zone and wouldn't push them into the future of the music industry. People would just want to hear their back catalogue and not really care what they're doing next.

And J.D... oh J.D. *exasperated sigh*. As my erudite, laconic, guitar-playing lothario friend Brian said: "J.D. was that obnoxious, clueless loser kid in school who is 'cool' now that he's on TV, but doesn't realize that he's still an idiot." Obviously, he has a huge fan base of silly women who want to sleep with him (and pick up their penicillin on their way out the door), but if INXS wants a serious place in the future of music they won't get that with him. (Does anyone else think that when J.D. sings in his lower register, he still sounds like an Elvis impersonator?)

Marty Casey... now he's the real deal. He's passionate and intense, his voice is captivating and unique and he can bring something fresh to the INXS back catalogue as well as propel them into this new millennium. He's definitely the future of INXS. I just hope they realize it.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

For once, I will be brief. I have just two words about tonight's episode of Rock Star: INXS...

Marty Casey

(Hey Brian... when you're right, you're right.)

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

Tonight was bittersweet on Rock Star: INXS. As soon as they announced that J.D. Fortune had the encore, I knew he wouldn't be going home. Actually, I guess I knew after his performances last night that he probably wouldn't be going home. And then, by simple elimination, I knew it would be Jordis Unga.

If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I struggled with my shifting top three and that Jordis was no longer in it. (To be clear, I speak only of my top three to win this competition. Not my three favourite singers on the show... because Jordis is still firmly in that category.) So I had made my peace with the fact that she wouldn't stay forever. (As if I'm the one who actually needs to make peace with that.) I had kinda hoped that J.D. would go home before her, just out of sheer cussedness, I guess. But I also knew that the sooner she left, the sooner her solo career could start.

Now she can go back to being true to herself. I'm looking forward to that. And to her debut CD. (I don't suppose you can pre-order a CD that hasn't even been written yet... No? Oh well, worth a shot.) I have searched afar the land for a voice like hers and I will follow it to the ends of the earth if that's what it takes. (Though my local record store would be a little more convenient, if rather less poetic.)

P.S. If you're looking for Jordis downloads, head over to JordisUnga.org and check out the music download page.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

My comments on the top 5 performance episode of Rock Star: INXS...

Original songs: Marty's was easily my favourite original. Next up would be Jordis, with Suzie following very closely behind. After that... um... er... I'm rather reluctant to admit that I liked J.D.'s song better than MiG's. (I would have liked J.D.'s song even better if someone else had sung it!) But I just felt that MiG's songwriting seemed a little simplistic.

My top three tonight (though not my top three overall):
1. Marty Casey — He made a wise choice with his arrangement of "Everlong" and his original song rocked!
2. Suzie McNeil — She showed off her beautiful vocals on the Bonnie Raitt song (with far more control than Deanna had) and I enjoyed her original song.
3. Jordis Unga — I found her version of "We Are The Champions" left quite a bit wanting. I think part of it is that while her voice is beautiful when she sings softly and she does the shouting-with-tone thing better than anyone else I can think of, she doesn't have the power to deliver a Queen song the way it needs to be delivered (and I agree with Dave that her lower register needs work). But I really enjoyed her original song. (And I found it interesting how much the lyrics reminded me of what I wrote about Jordis just yesterday.)

Encore prediction: Marty's original song "Trees" (watch video)

Random thoughts:
~ Why was Brooke Burke wearing a nightie? (granted, there may be a little "meow" in that comment, but really... her dress — and I use that term loosely — was pretty awful)
~ How short is MiG Ayesa anyway? (okay, I looked that one up: he's actually 5'10"... I guess Marty and J.D. are both taller than I thought, because MiG looks so short next to them)
~ I realize that many women think J.D. is the sexiest man on the show **shudder** but I hope that INXS can see that he's simply the flavour of the week. And once that wears off, they would just be left with a guy who arranges other people's songs well. (P.S. I hope those women just think he's the sexiest performer on the show, because Dave Navarro is by far the sexiest man on the show overall!)(P.P.S. I dropped in on a Rock Star thread over at Television Without Pity and found that somebody had said: "JD is the only rocker who can bring the sex," to which someone else replied: "But you end up hoping he brought the penicillin, too." Hehehe.)

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

I recently added an addendum to my Hallelujah post (probably the single most popular post on my blog) and I decided that perhaps the addendum deserved a post of its own:

A lot of people are searching for the meaning of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah." (If I were feeling philosophical, I might argue that one might as well search for the meaning of life... which I do, so what's my point? Moving right along...)

I would start with Cohen's own words on the subject:

Hallelujah is a Hebrew word which means "Glory to the Lord." The song explains that many kinds of Hallelujahs do exist. I say: "All the perfect and broken Hallelujahs have an equal value." It's, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion. (from a magazine interview in "Guitare et Claviers," 1985)

For more of Cohen's own comments on the song, check out Diamonds in the Lines: Leonard Cohen in his own live words.

There is also some interpretation of the song's religious imagery on Songfacts:

Cohen used a lot of religious imagery, including references to some of the more notorious women in the bible. Here's some lyrical analysis:
"You saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you." — Bathsheba, who tempted the king to kill her husband so he could have her.
"She tied you to her kitchen chair, she broke your throne and she cut your hair" — Delilah, who cut off Sampson's locks that held his superhuman strength.
"But remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too" — This could be a reference to the divine conception and Mary.

[It was hard to miss the Delilah reference, but my lack of biblical knowledge prevents me from commenting on the other references there.]

And some articles about the song on Speaking Cohen: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen and His Words. And a whole discussion about it on the radio hidebound forum.

My interpretation? I would have to borrow and paraphrase some of Cohen's own words for that...

To me the song is a fundamental truth, affirming that all the broken hallelujahs (the loves gone bitterly wrong) have value, too.

Labels: music, pop culture

I was trying to limit my Rock Star: INXS posts to the two per week that I've been doing but, after watching tonight's reality episode, I found I had a few things to say.

First off, the recap of last week reminded me of J.D. crashing and burning in the recording studio. Did INXS even take that into account when they chose to send home Ty Taylor instead? Or were they only thinking about the ratings when they chose to keep the less talented but more controversial J.D. Fortune?

Secondly, I have decided who Suzie is replacing in my top three (with the disclaimer that it could well change again tomorrow night). My new top three is Suzie McNeil, Marty Casey and MiG Ayesa. I still LOVE Jordis Unga but her lack of experience is becoming evident in all of the stuff that goes along with being a rock star. Like choosing to go for that nearly impossible note in "Dream On" but then going ahead and changing the melody of the new INXS song. Or her inability to bounce back after disappointment (which is why I think her performance in the bottom three was so underwhelming). Or her lack of communication skills and confidence when trying to arrange her original song with the house band. (I want to hear what the real Jordis sounds like, not what somebody thinks she should sound like. As talented as the house band is, they can't get inside her head and translate her thoughts into sound.) So I'm thinking that maybe she needs to grow some more on her own before being thrust into the international spotlight as lead singer for such an established band. I'm afraid that she might lose some of herself in the process.

By contrast, I think that INXS pushes Marty to be more than just a metal guy, which I fear he might lapse into if he doesn't make it here. Not that I don't like Angry Marty, but he has so much more to offer than that. So for him, I think that INXS would help him be the best Marty that he can be (ick, that sentence sounded really touchy-feely, self-help-book-ish to me... do me a favour and strip away that sickly sentiment when you read it).

Finally, I've had a few people looking for information on the house band. And given how much I've been raving about them, I was a little curious myself. So here's the link to the information posted on the Rock Star website: The House Band. And here are a few more links that I found:

Paul Mirkovich, House Band Musical Director/Keyboardist/Background Vocalist — no website, but you can read his interviews on Native Instruments & TASCAM
Jim McGorman, Guitarist/Keyboardist/Background Vocalist — also no website, but you can read his interview on Rock Star Go Home
Rafael Moreira, Lead Guitarist/Background Vocalist — visit Rafael's website
Nate Morton, Drummer — you gotta love a guy who cites Animal from The Muppets as his primary influence... visit Nate's website (P.S. If you go to "central casting" on the Muppets website, Animal's bio includes his "must" list: "Food, Women, Drums, rinse and repeat," which I thought it was chuckle worthy.)
Sasha Krivtsov, Bassist — visit Sasha's website

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

I was so sure, after J.D. sang his INXS song tonight, that he would be the one to go home. But then both Jordis and Ty messed up and nothing was certain anymore.

I knew that Ty Taylor would be going home soon, I just didn't want him to be next. I hope some smart record producer was standing in the wings to offer him a sweet deal. And I know that we'll all be hearing from him again soon. In the meantime, I'm listening to "Everybody Hurts" and letting myself get a little sentimental.

Peace Please

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

So much to say about tonight's episode of Rock Star: INXS...

1. Holy amazing song list, Batman! Not only was it a line-up of iconic rock songs, but it included "Imagine" — one of my all time favourite songs — along with "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Wish You Were Here" — two other sensational classics that I count among my faves.

2. The house band ROCKS!!!

3. After MiG performed "We Will Rock You" a few weeks back, I fleetingly wondered if they would do "Bohemian Rhapsody" at some point, but promptly dismissed that possibility because the song is so damn hard. Well, it IS bloody hard but that rockin' house band and the exceptionally talented Suzie McNeil (the aforementioned goddess) pulled it off beautifully (watch video).

4. Once again, my top three is in flux. It's not that I ever disliked Suzie, and I thought that her version of "Losing My Religion" was kick ass, but she was never in my top three before. Until tonight. But who am I displacing? Jordis Unga, MiG Ayesa or Marty Casey? That's a tough call. Do I count the fact that I will absolutely follow the individual careers of Jordis and/or Marty if they don't win? Or do I consider the fact that MiG is probably better suited to INXS than either of them? I haven't quite decided yet, but Suzie is displacing somebody.

5. I got misty during Marty's performance of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (watch video); there were actual tears during Jordis' version of John Lennon's "Imagine" (watch video); I was dancing around my living room while MiG sang Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" (watch video); and I was bursting with pride or joy or something during Suzie's rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" (watch video). Amazing night. (For the record, Ty's performance of the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was flawless and immensely enjoyable, but it just failed to move me the way the others did. Sorry, Ty.)

6. Will Suzie get the encore two weeks in a row?

P.S. I almost entitled this post "Zack Werner has Rock Star Envy" but decided it wasn't sufficiently relevant. It was, however, a thought that I had when I watched Canadian Idol earlier in the evening and witnessed Zack's surly mood towards all of the young amateurs on that show. I think he wishes he was judging the Rock Stars instead.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

Surprising results on the elimination show of Rock Star: INXS tonight. Jordis did NOT end up in the bottom three. Don't get me wrong, I think the chick is absolutely awesome but hers was easily the worst performance last night. (To her credit, she fully expected to be singing for survival tonight.) And Marty?!? What was he doing in the bottom three?! That's just wrong in so many ways. But I am glad for Suzie that she never hit the bottom three at all during the voting AND she got the encore. After ending up in the bottom three after her last two rockin' performances, she deserves a break.

As for Deanna, I had been expecting that she would be the next to go home. But I actually liked her original song last night and thought she performed it well. And, much as it pains me to say it, I thought she sang her INXS song better than Ty, so I kinda thought that Ty would be going home instead. Ultimately, I don't think Ty is going to end up as the lead singer, but I'm not quite ready for him to go home yet (he's just so damn pretty). But I confess to some dampness around the eyes when Deanna was told that she "just wasn't right for the band."

I have a feeling these upcoming weeks are just gonna get harder and harder, watching them leave one by one. I've grown attached to all of them at this point. (Well, all but one of them... but who knows, I might even get sentimental when it's J.D.'s turn to leave.)

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

What to say about tonight's episode of Rock Star: INXS? A lot of great performances, except for the one I was most looking forward to... Jordis Unga singing Aerosmith's "Dream On" (watch video). I was fully prepared for her to rock that song even better than Fisher (if you haven't heard Fisher's version, listen now... it's amazing). Unfortunately, Jordis was so focused on that one note she couldn't hit, her performance was kind of a mess. I still love her to death, and she's still one of my top three, but I confess I was disappointed.

On the up side, I thought MiG and Deanna did well with their original songs. I realized I was actually kinda nervous for them. I found myself thinking about the first time I went to hear my friend Brian's band (that would be my erudite, laconic, guitar-playing lothario friend Brian). I was so nervous that his band, Burning the Ground, would suck and that I would have to spout meaningless platitudes afterwards to cover up the fact that I thought they sucked. Fortunately, they turned out to be really good and I was so relieved that I think I gushed a little too much, probably making it completely transparent that I had previously expected them to be awful. But I digress...

I think all of the competitors remaining on Rock Star: INXS are pretty damn good. So now it's not so much about sending home the weakest link (though I could do without J.D.'s attitude) as deciding who is best for the band. Any chance of having a show of all INXS songs? That might be helpful right about now.

P.S. My psychic ability seems to have deserted me... I have no idea who will get the encore.

P.P.S. I love RDTV! This little local television station for Red Deer, Alberta is carrying the reality episode of the show on Monday nights. RDTV rocks!

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

(Forgive the Orwellian reference in the title. It was an urge I could not resist.)

I was glad to see that the three singers I singled out in my last post comprised the top three on tonight's elimination episode of Rock Star: INXS. And MiG got the encore! (Am I good or what? Maybe I should become a psychic...)

I was not at all surprised to see Jessica in the bottom three (yet again) and Deanna's presence there also made sense. But, once again, why the hell was Suzie there? And, more to the point, why the hell wasn't J.D. there? He had the worst performance last night, did he not? Has his fan base gone deaf? Call me naive, but I just don't get it.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

After last week's Rock Star: INXS, I predicted that Jordis Unga would be the one to volley the top performance back into play (see my Rock Star Volleyball post). And she came soooo close with her stellar performance of Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (watch video) but at the last second MiG Ayesa beat her to the ball by singing Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way" (watch video). (Okay, volleyball analogy ends here, 'cause I really don't know enough about that game, for one thing, and analogies that go on for too long become pretty tedious in any case.)

The fact that MiG accompanied himself on the piano was definitely impressive, but I think the clincher for me was when MiG's song ended and I found myself thinking: "that poor man must love his wife so deeply and miss her so terribly much," because that's what he clearly transmitted through the song. In the same way that Jordis communicated so eloquently about her friend who died through "The Man Who Sold the World" (right click on song title to download), which is still the standout performance of the whole series for me. It's all about communication, baby.

And I have to give major kudos to Marty Casey for his version of Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" (watch video). Yep, you read that right: INXS gave Marty a Britney song... how's that for a challenge? But Marty came through with a darker, edgier version of the song that I honestly enjoyed. I gotta admit, that guy and his intense voice is really growing on me. If he doesn't make it as lead singer of INXS, I fully intend to follow whatever career path he ends up on. (I already KNOW that I'll follow Jordis' music to the ends of the earth, no questions asked.)

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

I realize that I've been devoting a lot of blog space to Rock Star: INXS, but it's been so great these past few weeks that I can't help myself.

This week it was Ty Taylor who, once again, stole the show — and my heart — with his soulful and passionate rendition of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" (watch it here). But I have every confidence that it will be Jordis' turn to wow me again next week (I'm still reeling from her version of "The Man Who Sold the World"... see my previous post). Ty and Jordis seem to be volleying the phenomenal performances back and forth.

Also deserving of kudos this week: Marty Casey singing an intense, unplugged rendition of The Killers' song "Mr. Brightside" (watch video) and Suzie McNeil (from my hometown of Toronto!), who sang a kick ass arrangement of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" (watch video). Suzie had a little arranging help from J.D. — I gotta say, that guy may rub me the wrong way and I'm not so keen on his vocals sometimes, but that boy sure knows how to come up with some cool arrangements.

Elimination Night Update: I CANNOT believe that Suzie was in the bottom three!!! Fortunately, the band seemed as stunned as I was and Suzie rocked out with the INXS song "Bitter Tears" and was sent straight back to rejoin the others. Phew.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

Here are all the posts where I talk about music:

More Music (11.19.2006)
Jasmine CD Release! (11.17.2006)
Persian Teardrop (11.12.2006)
Storm Large and the Balls (9.11.2006)
Great Tempest (9.09.2006) ~ Rock Star: Supernova
Boyz! (7.01.2006)
Musicians Who Blog (10.13.2005)
Athena Reich (9.23.2005)
It Ain't Pretty: Rock Star Wrap Up (9.21.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
INXS Mis-Fortune (9.20.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Upcoming Gigs (9.18.2005)
Sweet Suzie McNeil (9.15.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Two Words (9.14.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
I Searched Afar The Land (9.07.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Top 5 (9.06.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Broken Hallelujahs (9.06.2005)
Rock Star Ramblings (9.05.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Such Sweet Sorrow (8.31.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Suzie McNeil is a Goddess (8.31.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Party & Prejudice (8.29.2005)
Colour Me Stunned (8.25.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Just a Bad Dream? (8.24.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Top Three Good, Bottom Three Baaad!! (8.18.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
MiG Joins the Game (8.17.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Rock Star Volleyball (8.10.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
The Man Who Sold the World (8.07.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Just Jordis (8.05.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
Ty TV (7.26.2005) ~ Rock Star: INXS
More Idea Sparks (7.14.2005)
Three Cheers For Flood Damage (7.02.2005)
The Boys Were Caught Staring at Bugaboo Creek (6.22.2005)
Liberals Killed the Conservative Star (6.12.2005)
The Blue Hair Effect (5.30.2005)
Much More Music (5.25.2005)
Music, Music, Music — Part II (5.15.2005)
Music, Music, Music (5.08.2005)
The Donnas (4.06.2005)
Tunes on TV (3.04.2005)
Check One (3.01.2005)
Anarchy (2.20.2005)
British Chuckles (2.10.2005)
Wild Nights (1.30.2005)
Christmas CD 4 — Schizophrenic Eclectic (1.15.2005)
Music Notes (1.06.2005)
Christmas CD 3 — Cover Grrls & Boyz (1.05.2005)
Christmas CD 2 — Funny Guys (12.28.2004)
Christmas CD 1 — Grrl Stuff (12.27.2004)
Curious George (11.21.2004)
Radio Hidebound (11.16.2004)
Pop Culture Stuff (11.13.2004)
I Drink, Therefore I Am (11.10.2004)
Melissa McClelland (11.02.2004)
Procrastination (11.02.2004)
Let's Mock! (9.17.2004)
1 Giant Leap (9.10.2004)
The Shadow Knows (9.04.2004)
Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition (8.28.2004)
Ani Clip Updated (8.11.2004)
Angry Chick Music (8.11.2004)
Songs to Wallow In (8.09.2004)
Celtic Fusion: From Technocelt to Celtic Rock (7.24.2004)
Chick Musick (7.12.2004)
Musical Interludes (6.05.2004)
Hallelujah (4.19.2004)
Edit Schmedit (3.22.2004)
Jazz Epiphany (3.05.2004)

Labels: music

I've been listening to Jordis Unga's version of "The Man Who Sold the World" almost constantly since last Wednesday. [I was actually prepared to pay to download it from MSN Music, but if you don't have a credit card with a U.S. billing address (which, as a Canadian, I definitely don't) then you're screwed. So I resorted to downloading it through LimeWire. I don't imagine that Jordis is actually getting royalties from the version on MSN, though, so I don't feel too bad about that. Now for the actual point of this post...]

I've been listening to the very interesting lyrics of the song and trying to make sense of them:

We passed upon the stairs,
We spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there
He said I was his friend
Which came as a surprise
I spoke into his eyes — I thought you died alone
A long long time ago

Oh no, not me,
We never lost control,
To face the face
Of the man who sold the world

I laughed and shook his hand,
I made my way back home,
I searched afar the land,
Years and years I roamed,
I gazed a gazely stare,
We walked a million hills — I must have died alone,
A long long time ago.

Who knows, not me,
I never lost control,
You're face, to face,
With the man who sold the world.

As with a lot of Bowie songs, it defies literal interpretation. I like to think of his lyrics as abstract paintings: what's important is the impression they create. So my impression of this song was all about spirituality, reincarnation and renouncing the material world. But I wanted to know if there was more to it, so Google to the rescue with Teenage Wildlife:

The Man Who Sold the World — Lyrical Interpretation

It's a very interesting interpretation, taking the reader from those general impressions to the stories of H.P. Lovecraft and beyond. Worth reading.

Also in my research, I read about Bowie's "cut up" songs and I wondered if this song was one of them. "The cut-up technique was originally devised by the Surrealists, and most famously used in literature by William Burroughs: you take a text, cut it into pieces, reassemble these pieces haphazardly, and thus create something new" (from David Bowie and the Occult). This technique kinda appeals to me; I might have to try that with my poetry some time. (If you want to try out an online cut up machine, head over to Language Is A Virus... very cool.)

Labels: language, music, pop culture, rockstar

It was Jordis Unga who offered up the goosebump-inducing, tear-welling performance this week on Rock Star: INXS with Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World." Watch it here.

I missed the elimination episode but I hear she was called back for an encore... I should bloody well think so. I also heard that Ty was in the bottom three?! He's one of my front runners (I'm thinking... hoping... that it'll end up being between Ty, Jordis and MiG). But I suppose since everybody performed so well on Tuesday night, Ty's performance needed to be his usual kick ass kind... which he couldn't really do with a song he'd never heard before.

I also heard that CBS has dropped the Monday night, "behind the scenes" episode. Ack Thpppbt! I was quite enjoying getting to know the rockers that way, watching their clinics, seeing them struggle with song selection and all that jazz. Unfortunately, I do not have VH1 (the only channel that seems to be airing the Monday night episode), so unless I can find a local channel that's decided to pick it up, I guess I'm S.O.L... *sigh*.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

I don't tend to watch a lot of reality television and I'm rarely moved to comment on any of it, but...

I've been watching Rock Star: INXS and tonight's performance of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" by Ty Taylor was incredible. And I'm not just saying that because he's such phenomenal eye candy — which he is — but the man can really sing. You can watch the video of his performance here. And if you're heading over there anyway, check out Jordis singing "Gimme Some Lovin'"... that chick is so cool that I happily forgive her the one lyric slip.

Labels: music, pop culture, rockstar, tv

I've been ruminating about what impels me to do some of the things I do. Not my normal, everyday things, but the outside my comfort zone things. I think a large part of that motivation comes from believing wholeheartedly that you will regret the things you don't do far more than you will regret the things you do. Obviously, I'm not alone in this sentiment:

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."
~ Sidney J. Harris

"I regret not the things I have done, only those I have yet to do."
~ George Lucas

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

And my favourite:

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been!"
~ John Greenleaf Whittier

But lovely quotes aside, it took a song to change my inaction to action: "The Moment Slipped Away" by Christine Lavin. (FYI... since I haven't said this in a while... clickable song titles in my blog link to clips of that song.)

She's a famous actress
Movies and TV
I recognize her as we climb
The stairs of the IRT
We cross the street together
We're moving up Broadway
I'm trying to come up with something
Clever I can say
About how I love her work
And what it means to me
How in her most recent film
She acted brilliantly
Maybe she'll think I'm stupid
Maybe this'll make her day
But she disappeared into the crowd
And The Moment Slipped Away
(Full lyrics here)

That song ended up motivating me to write a letter to one of my favourite authors, Madeleine L'Engle. Though in that case it was more about creating a moment than not letting one slip away. But since then, I have tried to make it a point to share the complimentary thoughts I have about people with the people in question. And not just the people close to me—that part is easy—but also with complete strangers. Not at all easy for an introvert. But the good feeling I get every time convinces me that it's worth the effort. The awkward, stumbling-over-my-words, they-must-think-I'm-an-idiot effort. Worth it. Truly.

And now, because the title of this post has put it into my head, have a listen to "My Way"... Sid Vicious, not Sinatra (don't get me wrong, I love Sinatra, but I just put Sid on a CD for my 17-year-old cousin and it won't stop rockin' in my head): 30 second clip or full song.

Labels: music, pop culture

I suppose this is sort of a follow up to my original Idea Sparks post (hence the title to this post, for those not paying attention... which apparently includes me, since I felt the need to repeat the obvious). Anyway, in that first post I revealed story ideas that I'd found in unexpected places, such as Jive Weekly (a publication that prides itself as being "mental floss for the masses") and The Stone (an incredibly addictive and challenging set of complex online puzzles).

Once again, courtesy of The Stone... this time a search for mood & music led me to a blurb about the fact that "listening to Mozart produced a brief but significant increase in performance of a spatial IQ task" (Music Research page at Unique Sounds). Not entirely new and surprising as a general concept, but I hadn't realized that research had been done showing that the increased ability "seems to be specific to some aspect of the Mozart piece rather than music per se or attending to a story." I wonder if they tested Mozart against Bach? (Which makes me think of the fabulous use of Bach that Douglas Adams made in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. By the way, I'm currently re-reading the sequel to that book: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul... even the title entertains me.)

So if you're not bored out of your mind at this point, you may be wondering where I'm finding a story idea in this. To be quite honest, I'm not sure. It's not one of those ideas that leaps out and says: "Here I am: Your Story. Write about me!" It's more of a: "Isn't the brain fascinating and maybe if I learn more about this aspect of it then the story that my intuition says is in there will stop being shy and gradually show itself." Not as flashy, but possibly more rewarding. Possibly.

Labels: music

No, that's not sarcasm in the title. Thanks to the flood damage of Prince's Island Park, Calgary's Canada Day festivities were held at Millennium Park instead. Conveniently within walking distance of my apartment. Not enough incentive on its own, since I normally don't do crowds. (Which is why I will definitely be staying home during Stampede week!) But, lo and behold, I received simultaneous emails from Johnny Summers & The Calgary Jazz Orchestra and the Mocking Shadows that they were both performing on the big day, one right after the other. So two of my favourite local bands, no traffic, no parking. I decided I was willing to brave the crowds for a brief time under those conditions.

And I'm glad that I did. The weather was beautiful (which surprised the hell out of me given that we seem to be in Calgary's monsoon season and also that pesky law of nature that usually guarantees rain on all national holidays), Johnny was great, the Shadows were groovin' and I even stayed for the following act: David Thiaw and Domba, an Afro-jazz group that blends an eclectic variety of traditional African drums and instruments with saxophone, bass, keyboard and guitar. Very compelling, impossible to not dance. (For me, anyway, I'm sure friend Brian along with almost every other guy I know would have been able to resist.)

Come to think of it, I guess horns were the common thread of my musical interlude that afternoon. Speaking of which, the sexy shaved-head sax player from the Jazz Orchestra also performed with Domba... double the fun!

Oh yeah, and I would like to suggest that the City of Calgary always hold these events in Millennium Park. Not just because it's more convenient for me (though that doesn't hurt... after all, it is all about me, me, me!), but the flow of human traffic seemed effortless compared with the times I've gone to Prince's Island for similar events. I'm not quite sure why but, even with the hordes of people present, I felt no crowd stress.

Almost forgot, in between musicians we (my sister and I) watched an amazing demonstration by Capoeira Ache Brasil Calgary. Capoeira is the martial art of Brazilian slaves, incorporating acrobatics and drumming and singing. It's incredible to watch (and looks like lots of fun, too).

And the one thing I can't forget no matter how much I try... my damn sunburn! I haven't had a sunburn since... well, I don't even remember the last time. Probably before I was diagnosed with Lupus seven years ago. I've been extremely careful about sun exposure since then. Alas, I had too much faith in my 45 sunblock. Silly me, I thought that it would be sufficient for three hours in off-peak sun. Turns out, not so much. (Granted, 3:15 in the afternoon is only barely outside of off-peak hours, but it IS outside!) The burn is all on my back, so I suppose I should be thankful that my face was spared, but I am noticing a bit of a line on my neck and shoulders separating back from front... kinda like those silly movie scenes where somebody falls asleep while sunning and ends up lobster red on one side and stark white on the other. Not quite so funny now. Though I've moved on from the burning to the itch, itch, itching. Arggh! I just keep telling myself that the music was worth it...

Labels: music

Why were they staring at Bugaboo creek? And how were they going to get to the other side? Okay, I admit that, in an attempt to be humorous, my overtired brain is merely being silly.

So I went to see Caught Staring on Saturday night. Local cover band with my friend Greg on bass. (Friend? Ex-boyfriend? I really need to give him a more descriptive title like my erudite, laconic, guitar-playing lothario friend Brian. I'll work on it...)

Anyway, they were playing at Bugaboo Creek Pub in the northwest, a quadrant that I rarely venture into the heart of (nice grammar, eh?). Wasn't sure about the venue at first: vast open space with pool tables and dart boards. My first thought was of Sunset & Vine (a venue that Burning the Ground used to play often, that was about as cozy as a hospital waiting room). But on closer inspection, Bugaboo Creek was much nicer and the clientele quite a bit younger (Sunset & Vine seemed to be largely populated by lecherous old men and drunken cougars). Bugaboo Creek also had the perk of a specifically designated dance floor. Yay!

We missed the first set, but thoroughly enjoyed the other two. I mean, how can you not enjoy a band playing Blister In The Sun, Another One Bites The Dust and then wrapping up the evening with Sweet Caroline (the latter sung by the aforementioned title-less Greg)? If only my dance partner wasn't preggers, I would have happily stayed on the dance floor all night long. So I think I'll definitely be scheduling them into my events calendar again. I'll just make sure to bring an additional dance partner so that I don't need to sit out so many good songs.

Labels: music

It's been pointed out to me that I neglected to write about the fact that I finally dyed my hair blue. So, here's the belated announcement: My hair is blue! It's been interesting taking note of peoples' reactions to it... not at all what I would have expected. Apparently, blue hair makes me more approachable. Yep. Me. Blue hair. Approachable. In Calgary. Who'da thunk it? That's probably a good thing, right? But I kinda liked the "don't touch me" vibe that I usually radiate, the vibe that seems to have disappeared of late. The walls are tumbling down. Weakness or strength? I haven't decided yet.

But I took the blue hair for a test drive this weekend, out on the town. Got to see my friend Brian be Mr. Guitar Player Extraodinaire for the first time in ages, which was great. And his band has added "Video Killed the Radio Star" to their set list, which rocks! (Watch out for song trivia coming up later in this post.) Then I headed over to the Metropolitan, which actually had better music than I expected. And whether it was the blue hair or the breakdown of the "don't touch me" vibe, the tequila flowed freely and I didn't have to pay for a single drink for the rest of the night.

Warning... Tangential Trivia Alert... "Video Killed the Radio Star" was originally sung by The Buggles which featured Hans Zimmer, who is now an award winning film composer. This might not seem all that interesting to most people, but here's what makes it interesting to me: Several years ago, I was dating this guy who was a film score junkie... yes, such people actually exist. In an attempt to share this interest with him, I started paying more attention to the score whenever I would watch a movie. I found, to my surprise, that there were many times that I could honestly say I really, thoroughly enjoyed the score: Point of No Return, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Gladiator... all, it turned out, composed by Hans Zimmer. So basically, if you're watching a movie with me and I happen to say something about how much I like the score, it's a pretty safe bet that Zimmer wrote it... Trivia Tangent Over.

Labels: film, music

Another musical weekend coming up. The Mocking Shadows are playing on Friday night at the Shamrock. I can always count on good times at a Shadows gig. And Saturday night will be a trip down memory lane to see the erudite, guitar-playing lothario's band, Burning the Ground. Hopefully Brian won't mind if I post his entertaining email about the gig:

Burning the Ground - VERY short notice and not so very special gig update.

I would have sent this out sooner, but this whole Belinda Stronach break-up thing has been really hard on me. The 3am phone calls, the breathy voice mail messages, the terrible poetry and all those flowers. It's not easy keeping up that kind of effort, especially when she keeps changing her number. Peter was hardly a worthy suitor. She will learn to love me.

Anyway, in the spirit of short notice, this Friday and Saturday night, May 27th and 28th, we're at the Rose & Crown. The show starts at 9:30. Sharp. In response to questions from the last e-mail: Yes, we're still together. No, the band didn't break up (not what some of you were hoping for). Yes, our stay at the Betty Ford clinic was....nice.

As always, for gig details, visit www.BurningTheGround.com/dates.htm . You can also find band details, song details and details that we haven't thought of yet. Also, send this along to your friends or enemies as you see fit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you're not in it; you're out of it.

Brian Padlewski
Guitar Player with more Gear than Talent

So to all you faithful female readers who must be dying to see this guy in person, now's your chance!

Labels: music, pop culture

Went back to the Ship & Anchor for the Best Song Finals. The experience of the competitors this week was apparent in the greater variety of sounds and my overall enjoyment of the music. Having said that, when Jasmine got up to sing I still felt transported from a local amateur competition to a world class musical performance.

Exaggeration? Perhaps. But I was reminded of an experience I had many years ago... I was a working student for a three-day event rider on the Canadian Equestrian Team. Whilst acting as her groom for one particular competition, I had a chance to watch part of the cross country course. It was a particularly nasty combination of jumps, starting with a solid fence in the middle of a water hazard followed immediately by a very imposing series of upward steps. Almost every horse refused the steps (assuming they made it past the water). The spectators got into a rhythm with their cheers: an encouraging "c'mon, C'mon, C'MON" as the horse and rider approached the steps, then a disappointed "awww" as they refused. When my rider appeared, the chant started anew: "c'mon, C'mon, C'MON"... then absolute silence as her horse cleared the steps effortlessly on their first approach. I still remember the incredible pride that I felt, wanting to point and proclaim loudly, "I'm with her." Which is a very long-winded way of saying that I felt that way today when Jasmine sang... "I'm with her."

Aside from Jasmine, my favourite song was "Time to Kill" written by Danielle French and performed by Chantal Vitalis. I was also impressed by "Wrecking Ball" by John Wort Hannam (it was the first song of the day that made use of the all powerful metaphor rather than being entirely literal... an important lyrical approach, in my opinion) and "Dance With Me, Dad" by Heather Blush (though I was more infatuated with her smoky vocals than the song itself).

The results... (drum roll, please)...

First place went to "Blackfoot Bones" by Therese Lanz (an unusual song that had the distinction of uniqueness, though I didn't really enjoy it all that much).
Second place to Jasmine Whenham (yay!)
Third place to "Open Book" by Chris Vail (I vaguely remember enjoying the lyrics to this song, but it don't really remember the song itself).
And the three discretionary prizes went to the three songs mentioned in the previous paragraph.

So be sure to watch for Jasmine at the Calgary Folk Festival where she'll be performing her song on the Ship & Anchor stage (and hopefully her website will be finished in time for the hordes of internet searches that are bound to be made after that debut).

Labels: horses, music, pop culture

Friday night... went to see the Mocking Shadows at Wildwood. And after a year and a half of trying, and a last ditch invite that was the triumph of hope over experience, I finally succeeded in dragging the erudite, guitar-playing lothario out to a Shadows gig (said guitar player, by the way, threatened to hijack this blog because I'm not updating it often enough... guess I better step it up). Fortunately, Brian was impressed with what he heard and saw (after so much build up, it would have been quite a let down if he'd thought they were merely mediocre). And I have to say that the Shadows' new style is growing on me. As I become more familiar with their new material, my resistance to all of the recent changes begins to erode and I'm back to having the carefree Shadows fun of the old days. Oh, and they have a new guitar player (again). I didn't catch his name, but I gather that he's the brother of Darren, the new(-ish) keyboard guy. But this particular change works for me. So it's all good.

Saturday afternoon... went to the Best Song By a Newcomer Finals at the Ship & Anchor (part of the Calgary Folk Festival's Songwriting Contest). My favourite songs were "This Girl" by Jasmine Whenham (bias freely admitted) and "45 Degrees" by Josh Smith. Other songs that I liked were "Good Life" by Allison Lynch, "When the Rain Falls" by Kiesa Ellestad and "Jolly Roger" by Erin Dutton. I had to leave before the judges finished deliberating, but I just found out that Jasmine won! Woohoo! So she'll be in the Best Song Finals next week. I'm curious who the runners up were, but I guess I'll have to wait until someone updates the website to find that out.

(Jasmine's website, which is still under construction, also seems to be down at the moment. But you can read a little about her in my Hallelujah post.)

So next weekend will be all about the Best Song Finals at the Ship & Anchor on Saturday, May 14 at 2:00pm. It should be good, so don't miss it.

Labels: music, pop culture

Having met a few people from out of town recently (or people who have been living the big city life elsewhere for the past few years), I thought I'd throw together a list of some of the places in Calgary that make me miss Toronto a little less. Maybe it'll help some other big city folks make the transition...

Restaurants:
Caribbean — Joy's Caribbean Foods (the only place that I've been able to find rotis, so far)
Chinese — Leo Fu's Szechwan & Mandarin Restaurant (their Szechwan Green Beans are to die for)
Coffee Shops — Good Earth Cafe or Primal Grounds or Kaffa Coffee & Salsa House (Calgary actually has a lot of places to get good coffee, espresso, etc... these just happen to be three of my faves)
Diners — Galaxie or Belmont (I love them for their fab all-day breakfasts, but their veggie burgers rock too) or Diner Deluxe (fifties-style diner that has many yummy varieties of eggs bennie)
East Indian — Moti Mahal
Fusion — Brava Bistro (good food, yes, but the main reason to go here is the great selection of wine by the glass!)
Italian — Villa Firenze
Lebanese — Aida's Mediterranean Bistro (best falafels in town)
Mexican — Tios (often overlooked because it's less well known than El Sombrero... but the food at Tios is exponentially better!)
Moroccan — The Sultan's Tent
Pizza by the Slice — Wicked Wedge
Vietnamese Subs — Kim Anh (I think it's their pickled carrots, along with their special sauce, that make these the best Vietnamese subs in the city)
(I also just discovered The Taster, a local blog about food in Calgary... maybe it'll help me discover more of Calgary's culinary delights.)

Specialty Food Shops:
Cheese — Janice Beaton Fine Cheese (one of the simple things I miss about Toronto is going to the cheese shops in Kensington market and getting samples of all of the amazing cheeses that they carry)
Chocolate — Bernard Callebaut
Desserts — Brulee Patisserie
Farmer's Market - Crossroads Market
General Gourmet Ingredients — The Cookbook Co.
Italian — Lina's Italian Market
Mexican — Boca Loca (amazing guacamole... apparently key limes are the secret)
Organic — Community Natural Foods
Wine — Kensington Wine Market or Metrovino or The Wine Shop

Night Life: (I don't really do the nightclub/dance music thing... so if you're looking for that, you won't find any here)
Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club (cool jazz... especially when Johnny Summers is playing)
Morgan's Pub (rockin' live music... especially when the New Butchers are playing)
The Joyce on 4th (sometimes they have Celtic music and dancers... and don't forget to try their Curry Chips!)
Wildwood (good local brew pub that rocks when the Mocking Shadows are playing)

Clothing:
Under the Bridge Fashions (carries Emily the Strange, among other cool clothing items)
Uptown 17th (from Twice But Nice at 13th St. SW to Unlimited Blue Jeans at 6th St., with Purr, Divine and Junk Star Vintage Clothing in between, to name just a few)

Pop Culture Stuff:
Annie's Book Company (used bookstore complete with coffee counter and couches)
Best Little Wordhouse In the West (I found a whole whack of Philip K. Dick books here)
Bird Dog Video (very cool indie videos here)
Casablanca Video (indie video chain in Calgary)
Fair's Fair (great selection of used books)
Globe Cinema (indie movie theatre)
McNally Robinson Books (Canada's largest independent bookseller, great location on Stephen Ave. and more than just a cookie-cutter coffee chain inside if you get a little peckish)
Megatunes (gotta love the indie music stores... you might also wanna check out Sloth Records on 4th St. and Hot Wax)
Pages on Kensington (local indie bookstore)
Plaza Theatre (another indie movie theatre)
Uptown Stage & Screen (my fave indie movie theatre... and speaking of films, the Calgary International Film Festival is in September and the local $100 Film Festival is in March)

I'm sure I could think of more stuff if I mulled it over a bit, but hopefully this is a good start for those of you who feel like you're missing the big city life.

Labels: film, music, pop culture

Picked up a Beat Route at my Vietnamese sub shop today (Kim Anh on 17th Ave... if you haven't tried their subs, you really should... they're exquisite) and discovered that The Donnas will be playing at The Warehouse on April 21. (I don't think I posted the song list to the CD I burned that featured "You Don't Want to Call" by The Donnas.) To borrow my friend Brian's description of them: they're chick Ramones with a poppy edge... cute, punky and angsty. Check out "Fall Behind Me" off their latest album Gold Medal.

It's kind of interesting timing for me, having just posted the link to Emily the Strange the other day, because there's a contest to win an Emily Strange guitar signed by The Donnas. How cool is that?!

And just for you Brian... here's a quote from Maya Ford, The Donnas' bass player, about the upside of groupies: "You don't have to have a conversation, you can just be like 'Here's a beer. Make out with me.' I just wish there were more cute guys coming to our shows that I could take advantage of."

Labels: music, pop culture

I've had a very busy few days. The highlights...

Thursday afternoon: Hung out with my 11-year-old cousin (Easter break). We played some computer games and then went to see Meet The Fockers (entertaining but not nearly as funny as Meet The Parents).

Friday afternoon: Took my 14-year-old cousin (sister of the aforementioned 11-year-old) and her friend shopping. Found out that I'm "the cool cousin"... yay me! Discovered Emily the Strange at Under the Bridge Fashions. Bought a T-shirt.

Friday night: Girls' night with the actress friend that I met last week (See Relax, Relate, Communicate). Lots of intoxicants were present. Metaphysics and sex were the primary topics of conversation that I remember. No pillow fights though (sorry guys). Oh, and we watched a video of Criss Angel doing an online card trick on those of us sitting at home watching on the monitor. Kinda freaky when your senses are thus impaired. And along similar lines, I got a Tarot reading from the actress' friend. I've never had one before... 'twas quite interesting.

Saturday night: Girls' night at My Apartment. A friend of a friend won a limo ride and drink tab for a new nightclub downtown. Decent ambiance, but not my kind of music (the usual top 40 dance sh... stuff) and no kitchen (what's up with that?!?!). Ended up ditching shortly before midnight and checked out Morgan's but the line was too long and we didn't recognize the band playing. So we detoured to Marda Loop to catch my ex-boyfriend's band, Caught Staring. Only caught the last few songs, but they seemed pretty tight. Might have to catch a whole gig sometime (preferably at a venue with an actual dance floor).

Overall, the highlight of a weekend filled with highlights was Emily the Strange. And before you mock my excitement over a measly T-shirt, I highly suggest you check out Emily's website. This is some wonderfully morbid, twisted, gothic stuff. I want more!

Labels: film, music, pop culture

I came across this article on Wired the other day: "Copyrights Keep TV Shows off DVD." It starts out by saying "WKRP in Cincinnati was one of the most popular television shows of the late '70s and early '80s, but it is unlikely ever to be released on DVD because of high music-licensing costs." I hadn't really thought about that side of things before. But when it went on to explain that "for many TV shows, costs to license the original music for DVD are prohibitively high, so rights owners replace the music with cheaper tunes, much to the irritation of avid fans," I found myself thinking that I would definitely be one of those irritated fans.

The article then quoted David Lambert, news director of TVShowsOnDVD.com, saying "The fans don't want syndicated cuts. They don't want the songs replaced. They don't want anything censored for political correctness. They want to see it in the way they originally saw it broadcast, enjoyed it and fell in love with it." Very true. And "I think the studios are a bit shortsighted. A lot of fans -- if they understood the situation -- would gladly wait a little longer and pay a little more to get the complete, original version." Also true, at least in my case.

I thought about the songs that I will forever associate with certain scenes from TV shows: "Full of Grace" by Sarah McLachlan with the final scene of the final episode from season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played after Buffy had to kill Angel; "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley with the third season finale of The West Wing, played as CJ finds out that her secret service agent/love interest has been killed (check out my Hallelujah post for more about that song); or, to use the first show mentioned here, the episode of WKRP about the guy who wants to defect from Russia that features Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." If I were to watch these episodes on DVD and discover that they'd replaced those songs with something else, I would be outraged and the emotional impact of those scenes would be forever lessened for me. Thankfully, I know that the Buffy DVDs are intact... at least for all of the songs that stick in my memory. I don't have The West Wing DVDs yet, so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed there.

I only hope that my favourite shows have champions like Moonlighting creator and executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron: "I was unwilling to replace the music. I felt that was integral to the show. That really stymied its video and DVD release for years." This attitude combined with two years of lobbying by fans has made Moonlighting one of the success stories. The first two seasons of the show are scheduled for release this May with the music intact. Way to set an example!

P.S. I just did a Google search and found out that they did in fact replace "Tiny Dancer" in WKRP episodes that air on The Comedy Network and TNN. Bastards!

Labels: music, tv

I just caught part of a commercial for Robots, a new animated film, and heard Robin Williams' voice describing music that was "a fusion of jazz and funk... called junk." Which reminded me that I still haven't posted anything about the recent CD release party for the Mocking Shadows (that segue was all about the jazz-funk fusion thing, not the junk reference... that part just tickled my funny bone). So Mocking Shadows have got a new CD called "Check One" with all original material. Not available in stores yet, as far as I can tell. So a little info and review... (I've put some samples up, since there are no clips up on their website yet, but my CD program is being finicky so I'm afraid they're Windows Media files rather than my preferred mp3s.)

Track 1. "Just One Night"
[written by the new keyboard/vocalist guy, Darren Bourne]
Don't much care for this one... too hip hoppy for my tastes.

Track 2. "Anything At All"
[also written by Darren]
Pretty good tune, more fun to dance to than to listen to.

Track 3. "Compassion"
[written by Darren and sexy sax guy, Gareth Hughes]
Bit of a slower groove, but I quite like this track.

Track 4. "Swear"
[Darren strikes again]
Not a bad tune, but again more fun for dancing than listening.

Track 5. "Damn Girl"
[also Darren]
My favourite track on the CD... uptempo, entertaining with a great bridge and an awesome groove for dancing.

Track 6. "The Way I Deal"
[guess they're all by Darren except for Gareth on that one song]
Fun song with a bit of a Latin beat... makes me wanna dance a funky rumba.

Track 7. "Paper Tiger"
[written by guess who...]
Not crazy 'bout this track... kinda has a seventies feel but in a shmaltzy way, not so much fun and funky.

All in all, some decent tunes... well worth the price of admission. Literally in this case, since the $15 admission to the release party included the CD. But I continue to miss their older stuff (like "When All is Said and Done")... still adjusting, I guess.

P.S. No orange shirt guy there *sigh* (previously mentioned in my Wild Nights post)... maybe next time.

Labels: music

Okay, not so much a reference to a crazy night on the town as a reference to an evening listening to music at the Wildwood. The Mocking Shadows were playing (mentioned previously in this blog as one of my fave local bands) and the place was packed. There was a line-up (unheard of at the Wildwood) and they were carding (so my underage cousin had to be taken home) and Mandy and I actually decided to check out Morgan's as an alternative. But the band there was on a break and it wasn't one we were familiar with so we decided to go back to the Wildwood and wait in line for the Shadows. Once we got in amongst the teeming throng, we found a railing next to the dance floor over which to drape our coats and against which we could lean. The dance floor was packed but we managed to carve out a spot for ourselves.

The music was great, as usual, but there have been even more changes in the Mocking Shadows since last I saw them. Ian, the trumpeter, is gone. So the horns are down to Gareth (sax) and Roderick (trombone). Sufficient, I guess, but I miss the trumpet. The new keyboard guy (in addition to Mike on the Hammond B3, not replacing him... thank goodness!) is now sharing vocals with Jory pretty much equally. I have no strong feelings (good or bad) about his voice, so this change is a pretty neutral one for me. They've added some new material to the song list, some original tunes as well as some new covers. Their sound is evolving. Less bluesy, more funky and introducing a bit of a hip hop sound. I miss some of the old stuff but I do like the new stuff... it's still excessively danceable. And the changes seem to be very popular, if the crowd at the Wildwood is anything to go by. Oh yeah... they've got a new CD coming out at the end of February. More info on that when I find out details.

I also met a cute boy there. I think he said is name was Torrence (or Toran? or Terrence? My ears were still ringing from the music, making it hard to hear... anyway it was something like that). He was wearing an orange shirt, which is what made me notice him in the first place (actually, it turned out that it was a red shirt which had faded to orange while it sat in the sun on the vendor's table in Ecuador... regardless, it caught my eye and had a story behind it... it's all good). After noticing the shirt, my attention was drawn to his a great smile (a good smile is a deal breaker for me), so I momentarily dropped my usual don't-touch-me-vibe (that I choose to radiate in bars to prevent drunken louts from making passes) long enough to actually make eye contact with orange shirt guy and share a smile. We chatted a bit at the end of the evening and I'm hoping that I might run into him again at the Shamrock when the Mocking Shadows play there in February. All in all, a pretty good night considering how different it was from the night I'd actually planned.

Labels: music

This CD was for my too cool teenage cousins who listen to an eclectic assortment of punk, ska, reggae and jazz (amongst other things). Some of their fave bands include AFI, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the Dropkick Murphys.


"Johnny B Rotten" — The Monks (from Bad Habits)
"Sugar Free" — Hedley (full demo version... right click and "save as" to download)
"Lost Again" — Dance Hall Crashers (from Honey I'm Homely)
"Message in a Bottle" — The Police (from Reggatta de Blanc, also check out Sting's site)
"Then I Met You" — The Proclaimers (from Sunshine on Leith)
"Romp & Circumstance" — Brother (from This Way Up, available for free download on Amazon.com)
"Devil’s Dance Floor" — Flogging Molly (from Swagger)
"Walking in Your Footsteps" — The Police (from Synchronicity)
"Stray Cat Strut" — Stray Cats (from Stray Cats, also check out Brian Setzer's page)
"When All is Said and Done" — The Mocking Shadows (from Out of the Blue, you can stream the full song at their website)
"The Itchy Scratchy Prickly Thistle" — Rogues of Scotland (from Live in Canada, Eh? [no longer available])
"It’s Too Bad" — Go Betty Go (from Worst Enemy)
"The World is New" — Save Ferris (from It Means Everything)
"Goody Two Shoes" — Adam Ant (from Friend or Foe)
"Devil in the Kitchen" — Ashley MacIsaac (from Hi How Are You Today?)
"Loch Lomond" — The Real McKenzies (from The Real McKenzies)
"Loose Lips" — The Mocking Shadows (from Out of the Blue, you can stream the full song at their website)
"Canary in a Coal Mine" — The Police (from Zenyatta Mondatta)
"What a Wonderful World" — Joey Ramone (from Don't Worry About Me)

Labels: music, pop culture

"If dreams are like movies, then memories are films about ghosts"
~ from "Mrs. Potter's Lullaby" lyrics, Counting Crows

In the midst of my mad CD making over Christmas, I checked a few extra CDs out of the library. One of them being This Desert Life by Counting Crows. I'd heard their song "Colorblind" in the movie Cruel Intentions (wonderfully over-the-top, teen version of Dangerous Liaisons, by the way). I loved the melancholy sparseness of that song (though I think "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve was my favourite track on the Cruel Intentions Soundtrack). Unfortunately, the rest of this CD isn't making much of an impression on me (maybe it's just a little too folksy for me at the moment). But that one line I quoted above caught my fancy.

On another note (sorry, couldn't resist the pun)... My dad has a piece of music available for your listening pleasure on Dig Your Roots. Check out Blue Tundra (the band) and The Flight of the Great Snowy Owl (the music).

Labels: music, pop culture

This CD was for my sister. It consists solely of songs covered by someone other than the original artist (and I discovered that some of the folks that I considered the "original artists" were actually covering someone else's song already).

"One" — Aimee Mann (original artist: Harry Nilsson, gee and I always thought it was Three Dog Night [listen to their version of "One"])
"What I Like About You" — Lillix (original artist: The Romantics)
"I'm a Believer" — Smash Mouth (original artist: The Monkees [listen to The Monkees version]... did you know that this song was written by Neil Diamond? I just found that out today)
"Hallelujah" — Jasmine Whenham (original artist: Leonard Cohen, see my previous post about this song)
"Here Comes the Sun" — Nina Simone (original artist: The Beatles)
"Dream On" — Fisher (original artist: Aerosmith)
"I Don’t Like Mondays" — Tori Amos (original artist: The Boomtown Rats)
"Mad World" — Gary Jules (original artist: Tears for Fears [listen to their less melancholy version])
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" — Chantal Kreviazuk (original artist: John Denver)
"She Moved Through the Fair" — Green Man (traditional Irish song)
"Loch Lomond" — The Real McKenzies (traditional Scottish song)
"It's the End of the World as We Know It" — Great Big Sea (original artist: R.E.M.)
"Rainbow Connection" — Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (original artist: Kermit the Frog)
"99 Red Balloons" — Goldfinger (original artist: Nena)
"I Want Candy" — Good Charlotte (original artist: Brian Poole & the Tremeloes, though the song was first popularized by The Strangeloves, and I thought the original artist was Bow Wow Wow... ya learn something new every day, if you're not careful [compare versions: Tremeloes, Strangeloves, Bow Wow Wow]; Good Charlotte version used in Not Another Teen Movie, but unfortunately not included on the soundtrack)
"Take On Me" — Reel Big Fish (original artist: A-Ha; this version found on the Baseketball Soundtrack)
"Hotel California" — SkaDaddyZ (original artist: The Eagles; this version is often misattributed to Reel Big Fish, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes or any number of other bands who play primarily punk/ska covers... unfortunately, the SkaDaddyZ website is currently defunct)
"Come on Eileen" — Save Ferris (original artist: Dexy's Midnight Runners; this version is often misattributed to No Doubt)
"I Want You to Want Me" — Letters to Cleo (original artist: Cheap Trick; Cleo version on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack)
"What a Wonderful World" — Joey Ramone (original artist: Louis Armstrong)

If you're interested in checking out other covers, Su Wen gave me a link to Second Hand Songs (a cover songs database). Related websites include The Covers Project and Eighties Cover Songs.

Labels: music

This one was for my 11 year old cousin, who's listening to the likes of the Arrogant Worms (who feature quite prominently on this CD). His favourite songs on the CD are "I Am Cow" and Bob & Doug's "12 Days of Christmas." As usual, click on the song title to hear a sample, the band name for their website, the album title for album info at Amazon.com, and "free download" to be directed to the place you can legitimately download the song from (if applicable... sometimes the free download link is direct, in which case: right-click and "save as" to download it):

"Dog Named Bob" — The Arrogant Worms (from Gift Wrapped: The Best of the Arrogant Worms)
"The Hippopotamus Song" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann... P.S. no band website but you can check out this fan site or their Wikipedia page for more information)
"One Hippopotami" — Allan Sherman (from The Best of Allan Sherman... no official site, so here's the Allan Sherman page at Wikipedia)
"Misalliance" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Clementine" — Tom Lehrer (from The Remains of Tom Lehrer... and here's the Tom Lehrer Wikipedia page)
"Songs for Our Time" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" — Allan Sherman (from The Best of Allan Sherman)
"Ill Wind" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"First and Second Law" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Pollution" — Tom Lehrer (from The Remains of Tom Lehrer)
"Lumberjack Song" — Monty Python (from Monty Python Sings, also available as a free download)
"Canada’s Really Big" — The Arrogant Worms (from Live Bait)
"Me Like Hockey" — The Arrogant Worms (from Live Bait)
"The Reluctant Cannibal" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Carrot Juice is Murder" — The Arrogant Worms (from Gift Wrapped: The Best of the Arrogant Worms)
"I Am Cow" — The Arrogant Worms (from Gift Wrapped: The Best of the Arrogant Worms)
"Cows With Guns" — Dana Lyons (from Cows With Guns: The Cow Pie Nation Cowpilation)
"Let There Be Guns" — The Arrogant Worms (from Gift Wrapped: The Best of the Arrogant Worms)
"The Gnu Song" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Hippo Encore" — Flanders & Swann (from The Complete Flanders & Swann)
"Hanukkah In Santa Monica" — Tom Lehrer (from The Remains of Tom Lehrer)
"The 12 Days of Christmas" — Bob & Doug McKenzie (from Great White North, here's the free download... and here's the Bob & Doug McKenzie Wikipedia page)

Addendum (12.21.2006): A new post about "The Hippopotamus Song" has recently been added, complete with lyrics and downloads. So feel free to check out my "The Hippopotamus Was No Ignoramus" post.

Labels: music

I made a bunch of mixed CDs as Christmas presents this year. This was the one I made for my 13 year old cousin... she's into bands like Evanescence and Limp Bizkit. The first band listed is a new favourite of mine... I seem to be in a Goth/Industrial phase at the moment... I'll have to explore that further in future. Click on the song title to hear a sample, the band name for their website, the album title for album info at Amazon.com, and "free download" to be directed to the place you can legitimately download the song from (if applicable):

"Zerospace" — Kidneythieves (from Zerospace, available for free download from Amazon.com... and you can watch the video here)
"It's Too Bad" — Go Betty Go (from Worst Enemy)
"Volcano Girls" — Veruca Salt (from Eight Arms to Hold You)
"Tonight" — The Soviettes (from LP II, available for free download from Download.com)
"Bring Me To Life" — Evanescence (from Fallen... and you can watch the video here)
"All Hands on the Bad One" — Sleater-Kinney (from All Hands on the Bad One, available for free download from Epitonic.com or from Amazon.com)
"The First" — Tegan & Sara (from This Business of Art... although this song isn't available on their website, you can download some of their other songs there)
"Pretty" — Kidneythieves (my new favourite song! from Trickster)
"Vaxxine" — Visqueen (from King Me, available for free download from Amazon.com)
"Take Me Away" — Christina Vidal (from Freaky Friday Soundtrack)
"Ultimate" — Lindsay Lohan (from Freaky Friday Soundtrack)
"Dream On" — Fisher (from Uppers & Downers, again this song isn't available on their website but you can download some of their other songs there)
"Good As Gold" — Melissa McClelland (from Stranded in Suburbia, you can stream the whole album here)
"One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix)" — Superchic[k] (from Regeneration, you can stream the full song here)
"I Love Myself Today" — Bif Naked (from Purge)

Labels: music

Went to Morgan's last night and saw a band called Curious George. (Why don't these bands have websites?!?! I really need to start giving these bands my card and offering to design something for them.) They were really good and incredibly danceable (er... 'danceable' referring to their music, not the musicians themselves ). Nice bonus that the lead singer had the sexy shaved head thing goin' on and the guitar player was sporting some cool tattoos. They didn't seem particularly flirty, but if they play and sing well enough, I can live without the flirting. As for the details, I think I'll be keeping them to myself for now.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 15,569 down ~ 34,431 to go

Labels: music

Amazon.com is doing this thing called Amazon Theatre: Exclusive Short Films: "Every week for five weeks, beginning November 9, Amazon Theater will debut a new short film for your viewing pleasure." Last week's film, Portrait, was entertaining in an unoriginal, predictable sort of way. This week is Agent Orange, a psychedelic love story directed by Tony Scott (of Top Gun fame; apparently he's currently directing a script written by Richard Kelly who wrote and directed Donnie Darko!). Anyway, I definitely recommend checking out Agent Orange.

What I'm listening to right now: Miles Davis — Live at the Plugged Nickel.
I'm almost loathe to confess that I still have trouble appreciating this sort of deconstructionist jazz in a recording (I realize there's probably a proper term for it, but I'm not sure what it is... I don't think it's cool jazz; maybe modal music?). It's different when it's live... sort of like I can interpret the improvisations via the musicians themselves. But on a CD... I'm afraid I'm not feelin' it. Does that make me musically illiterate?

P.S. Another major upheaval in my life... another body modification (gee... I make it sound like I have so many ). Got my upper ear cartilage pierced today at Adorned (same place I went for my navel piercing). Just got a small captive bead ring. It stung a little bit more than the navel, but I really like the way it looks. It's probably a good thing that I only started this trend a couple of years ago, otherwise I might well be covered in tattoos and piercings by now. Wonder what the motivation will be for my next tattoo...

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 13,239 down ~ 36,761 to go
(but keep in mind, that my peak writing hours are between 11pm and 2am, so the night is early for me yet)

Labels: film, music, piercings, tattoos

Just discovered radio hidebound, an internet radio station playing 80's college alternative music. Am having a blast rediscovering the songs of Jane Siberry, The Beautiful South and Echo & the Bunnymen. Not to mention the artists that you don't forget, like David Bowie, Depeche Mode and R.E.M.. They just played Genetic Engineering by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. I'd forgotten how much I loved that band. And they take requests and everything. Okay, so I'm new to this whole internet radio thing and it's all very exciting. (I realize it doesn't make much sense that I haven't explored this avenue before, given my interest in music and everything... can't explain it, so don't bother asking.)

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 6,584 down ~ 43,416 to go
(revised NaNo math: must average 3,000 words a day to make it...
allow me to say once again: yikes!)

Labels: music

I'm afraid I've been rather lax this year about my NaNoWriMo writing schedule. My excuse is that life got in the way. But that's really no excuse because life will always get in the way. So I'm going to start posting my paltry word count so that friends and family can berate me for my lack of focus. Okay, that's the stick... now I just need to find the appropriate carrot.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 3,958 down ~ only 46,042 to go (yikes!)

Music Note: Special Mocking Shadows performance on Wednesday, November 17 @ The Shamrock. $5 cover, all proceeds go to replace the gear that was stolen out of Mike Little's van: keyboards, vintage amps, monitors, etc. (Mike, one of two keyboard players for the Mocking Shadows, makes fabulous music on his Hammond B3 organ.)

Labels: music, writing

I just revamped the info on my Ranier Maria Rilke page and turned it into an Amazon.com guide (So You'd Like to... Fathom Ranier Maria Rilke). Which got me to thinking that I'd never mentioned the guide that I created to Expand on the Donnie Darko Experience. And I just noticed that I got a couple of votes on my Be a Cult Film Aficionado guide... 5 stars out of 5... not too shabby. So if anyone feels like adding their vote to any of my guides, go nuts. That's assuming you want to give me 5/5... I'd even settle for 4/5. But if you're feeling inclined to rank me any lower than that, allow me to set aside my support of the democratic system long enough to say, "voting's overrated." ;-)

Also swung by Megatunes today to pick up the Go Betty Go EP, "Worst Enemy" (HMV would have had to special order it... worked out for the best I guess, since I do prefer supporting the local independents... when I think about it). My favourite song is still "It's Too Bad" but "Go Away" is a pretty close second. So if you're in the mood for some chick pop punk, I highly recommend this CD.

Labels: film, music, pop culture

Breaking News: This post has been somewhat delayed due to some weirdness with a "friend" who decided that my birthday weekend was a good time to bombard me with all of the reasons why I'm such a bad friend that she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore. And now we return to our regularly scheduled broadcast...

Ended up going to the Rose & Crown with Mandy on Friday to celebrate my b'day. A band called The Hot Tamales was playing. They were pretty good, had a decent song list and were fun to dance to. They decided to hold a "most provocative female dancer" contest to Men at Work's "Down Under." Mandy won the contest (you go grrl!) and was awarded a T-shirt. I came in second and got the consolation prize of a box of Hot Tamales candy. They also had a couple of guest singers, one of whom was fabulous but I can't remember her name (Rose something, I think). And they played "I Love Rock and Roll" just for my birthday... for my "25th" birthday, as they announced it.

On Sunday, there was the family birthday thing. Cake and prezzies and booze... who could ask for anything more? Well, boys I guess, but there was some of that on the Friday night so I guess I can't complain too much. All in all, a relatively low key but satisfying birthday weekend. Made even more satisfactory by promises of additional birthday cake, meals and/or glasses of Scotch made by various people for future times.

That's the "news" and I am out of here!

Labels: music

I've been getting a whole bunch of hits on my blog from people looking for lyrics to Melissa McClelland songs. I checked her website and found out that "Pretty Blue" has just hit the airwaves, so I'm thinking that may have something to do with it. Or the fact that she's been nominated for Female Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and Video of the Year (for "Jaded") by the Hamilton Music Awards. And since her website doesn't provide lyrics and her CD, Stranded in Suburbia, is apparently too new to be included on most lyrics sites, I figured I would include lyrics to a few of her songs here. (You can listen to all of the songs in their entirety on the jukebox at the Orange Record Label site.)

Good As Gold (listen to sample)
[my favourite song on the CD and the inspiration to the working title of my novel: "Howling At The Moon"]

Who keeps track of things like that
Well, I do
You better keep me happy
Or I'll be howling at the moon

It's all fun and games
Till I'm feeling blue
I discovered a continent in you
But now I've settled

So I'm hitting every party
Gonna find myself some fun
We'll take uppers in the morning
Light our cigarettes off the sun
When night falls we'll go cruising
And drink until we're numb
And I'll make you
Make you want me
Want me until I'm done

Here's your last attempt
At keeping me at bay
You're gonna chain me
To every word I say

Oh, my resolve is weak
I always crack
And I've been reading too much Nin
And you Kerouak

When you wake me in the morning
I'll be motionless and cold
You will bring to me some water
Yeah, you'll do what you're told
When I see you looking somber
I'll say babe you're as good as gold
But I can't see you again tonight
I've got a reputation to uphold

Then he whispered in my ear
'You're a sly bitch, you are'
So I drank away my headache
And I stumbled out of his car
Through the fogged up glass of the window
He made a clearing with his hand
And with his eyes he told me
'One day you'll understand'
~

Little Birds (listen to sample)
[my next favourite song on the CD]

Morning came with such a jolt
That I forgot my soul at home
This pick-me-up, stale coffee cup
Is filling up my insides though
And here I sit on subway stains
With blue pin stripe corporate charades
Outside I'm sure it's magical
But today I've got to get paid

Little birds over the south pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes
each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be

What is summer without sunshine
Who likes dancing in a straight line
When all these colours fade into mine
Tell me, am I black and blue?

It's comforting to know the day begins
(and it will surely end)
Tucked between these filthy sheets
Where nightmares start
Where sweet dreams end
Caught in a kaleidoscope
Of timely orchestrated screams
Filling space with barren thought
Motionless antipathy

Little birds over the south pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes
each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be

It's like fucking without kissing
Or never knowing what you're missing
And you're finally confessing
That you'll never stand a chance

Little birds over the south pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes
each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be

Seeing Venice through a TV
Or thinking beautiful means pretty
When all these colors blend completely
Tell me can you even see me?
~

Encinitas Rainstorm (listen to sample)
[and my next favourite]

Oh, you make my spring
And winter's such a mean old thing
When it's cold
And I freeze
While the birds and the bees
Chase the golden sun in the breeze

But now the birds are flying home
They've got stories from down in Mexico
Oh, I envy their wings
Cause I've flown in my dreams
And I've seen such beautiful things
From up above
But I have to admit without your love
I'd rather be where the sun don't shine
And it rains for days at a time

Cause he's my Encinitas Rainstorm
Ooh and he gets so fresh
When he sees me staring out my window
Longing to be undressed
And soaking wet
My hair's a mess
I'm out of breath

Thunder clapping
Raindrops splashing down
Oh, I'm so curious
And I'm so full of lust
And we're washin' away all this dust
We've collected
Cause honey I'm resurrected
And you wouldn't believe how it's flooded away
All of the grey

I'm falling... I'm astounded...
I'm dreamin'...
I'm drownin'
In all of your love
~

Jaded (listen to sample)
[I believe this was the first big hit but the second single off the CD, "White Lies (Stranded in Suburbia)" being the first single... if anyone is looking for the lyrics to that one, let me know]

These things I say
Come spinning out of my mouth
Like they've lost their way
And there's no doubt about it
You heard me.
I shouted.
I think you'd preferred it
That whenever you come clean
I say nothing at all.

So what
You'd left
Before I had a single chance to second-guess
These bittersweet diversions
And late night excursions
Secret perversions
Well, maybe I'm naive
Cause I can't believe this.

And now you fill my heart with doubt
You've turned me inside out
But I'm not jaded
And still with all this overkill
And bitterness instilled
My heart's left unfulfilled
But I'm not jaded

My life
Complete
With minor twists and turns
And just a small defeat
You know you really got me
You burned me
You shocked me
You threw me
You lost me
Well maybe I'm naive
But I'm catching on fast

And how could I have been so proud
You've turned me inside out
But I'm not jaded
And still with all this overkill
And bitterness instilled
My heart's left unfulfilled
But I'm not jaded

You came around
Your hands did all the talking
As you sat me down
For a bittersweet reminder
You heard me
I shouted
I'd never allow it
Cause maybe I'm naive
But I'm not fucking stupid
~

Pretty Blue (listen to sample)
[most recent single off the CD]

Pretty blue
On my way
Smoke a hundred cigarettes
Charm the gas station boy
Buy you a pack of Nicorette
I'm your missionary
Your guru
I'm your God
I've been saving you all along

Park the car
Rehearse my lines
Say the right things at the right times
Love you so
Miss you not
Gonna wait in the parking lot
Take a moment and gaze up
through the sunroof
And reach up through the say
To the stars
From the confines of this car
And I'm gone
Like a thief escaping in the dark
But I'm stumbling blindly
And I'm trapped in the night
Goodbye my pretty blue sky

Stole away
Almost night
Through plexiglass we fight
Count the stars
What a mess
This universe
This life
And I glide through the open window
So I can touch the sky
The stars
From the confines of this car
And I'm gone
Like a thief escaping in the dark
But I'm stumbling blindly
And I'm trapped in the night
Goodbye my pretty blue sky

The sky is falling
Scattered stars
Like pieces of my youth
These are my scars tearing
I've got to heal myself
Not you

Home sweet home
A week to go
Gonna get some sleep now
~

And a few additional Melissa links for anyone who's interested:
Soul Shine Magazine: Melissa McClelland — Do the Strand
SceneandHeard.ca: Stranded in Suburbia review
The GATE'S CD Reviews: Stranded in Suburbia
Ladybird Sideshow online — Melissa McClelland bio (Ladybird Sideshow is Melissa's side project with Erin Smith, Janine Stoll and Lisa Winn)

Labels: music