I Just Read About That…

 SOUNDTRACK: DAVE BIDINI-The President of Mount Allison’s House, Sackville (July 28, 2007).

Until I looked it up, I didn’t know what Mount Allison was, nor why he would be playing at the President’s house.  I’m still not sure why he was playing there, but as part of his solo mini tour, Dave graced the beautiful house.

For this show he read for 17 minutes and played 5 songs.  He plays “My First Rock Show” as the only Rheos song.  And then plays the same four “new” songs as in yesterday’s post: “Song Ain’t Good,” “The List” “The Land is Wild” and “The Ballad of Zeke Roberts.”

He explains the Zeke Roberts song a bit more.   He spent a few days in Ghana and went to a Liberian refugee camp (all documented in the book Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs) which is how he learned about Zeke Roberts.

He talks about staying locally in the Marshland Inn and the scary doll in his room (and also how he hopes to have his picture among the famous people who have stayed there).

For the reading portion he talks about the guys he played with in China: Alun Piggins, drummer Jay Santiago and guitarist Dwayne Gale.  He talks about the scene where they get massages (very funny).  There’s another excerpt in which they meet some people on the street where a baby is playing with a lighter.  The band starts taking pictures and then—eventually one of the adults puts an unlit cigarette in the baby’s mouth, and much hilarity ensues.

Overall though, this reading gets pretty dark as he gets into fight with Jay about Rush, and he feels bad that the Rheos had broken up especially when he sees the up and coming band The Wombats loving their set.

As for the music in this set, it is too loud and peaks a lot in the recording.  There also seems to be a hornet pestering him.  It’s probably the least interesting of the three shows.

[READ: November 7, 2015] The Best Game You Can Name.

This book is about hockey.  Specifically it is about Bidini’s rec team the Morningstars and their quest for another championship (and how after winning two years in a row, they were the main target for all the other teams).  Much like how his book On a Cold Road included quotes and stories from musicians, this book includes quotes and stories from former NHL players (I didn’t really recognize any of their names, but then I wasn’t a hockey fan in the 70s and 80s).

So each chapter talks a bit about his team and then has several stories about a specific topic from the hockey guys.

He begins by talking about his athletic renaissance in his 40s (after having given up on professional hockey).  I enjoyed the stories from the hockey players who loved playing so much as kids that they would spend hours and hours and hours on the ice.  I also liked them saying that you could still become a pro if you only started playing at 15 unlike today when kids are starting at age 5.

Dave talks about the bonding experience that a team feels–an opportunity to be bonded by something that matters but doesn’t really matter.  The pros also talk about how social their teams were.

The Morningstars main game is against the Sonic Unyon Pond Hockey Squad.  And the rest of the book talks about the flow of the game.  And Dave doles it out slowly, talking about the highs and lows, shocking moments and exciting scores.  He has nicknames for the other players and most of his own team as well.  It’s a pretty exciting story.

Bidini has about twenty different names for the hockey puck, which is probably accurate but not something I was familiar with.  I also enjoyed the stories of pranks and traveling on the road.

My takeaway from the NHL players was that playing back in the 70s and 80s was a nightmare of pain, blood, low pay and lots and lots of booze.  The amount of teeth lost in the is book is staggering, as is the violence–and the genuine joy these guys got from hurting each other.  The homophobia from Dave and his team is dismaying–with lots of talk about who is a homo.  I know that’s sports talk but I expected a bit more enlightenment from our man Dave (even in 2005).

The NHL players also seem to revel in the violence too much–some of the chapters made me kind of sick, they were really sociopaths.

On the other hand, I enjoyed the stories of surprise and delight in playing in the NHL.  And actually I was quite surprised at how articulate the players are (especially since they seem like garden variety thugs).  And they conform my suspicion that Philly was a scary team full of bruisers back in the 70s and 80s.

If you liked hockey from 70s and 80s, this is a great book to read to get some insights into what was going on.  And if you care a little about hockey, there’s plenty to like as well.  I found the Morningstar’s game to be well told and exciting.  And of course, if you like Bidini, you’ll like this book, too.

My favorite hockey joke from the book:

Why can’t you get a drink in Toronto?
Because all the cups are in Montrael