SOUNDTRACK: TERRA LIGHTFOOT-Live at Massey Hall (December 8, 2017).
I know of Terra Lightfoot because she has done some (very minimal) work with Rheostatics.
Amazingly, she is not related to Gordon Lightfoot (how many people have this last name?).
Terra Lightfoot opened for Whitehorse (a double bill I would love to see). She plays a half a dozen songs. I thought she might be a sensitive folkie (again that Gordon connection), but it turns out that she rocks (and blues), has a powerful voice and plays a pretty wicked guitar as well.
Lightfoot is a great front woman–engaging and funny–and she has some great stories to tell about each of her songs.
“Stars over Dakota” just rocks out–big guitars, smashing drums (from Joel Haynes) and then settles into a swinging shuffle. Lightfoot has a singular voice which I quite like. I also like the little guitar riff she gives after the “gin martinis make dizzy” line. She is joined mid-song by Melissa McClelland of Whitehorse who sings some amazing harmonies. That’s two killer voices on one stage.
Drifter is a slower song, with a really lovely opening guitar melody. She has been inspired in her career by her grandmother and her aunt who both played music. Her grandmother recently died, but her aunt is still playing.
Introducing the next song “You Get High,” she says she has a special new guitar–a woman made it for me Ashley Leanne from Waterloo, she’s 26. While Terra’s going to play this acoustic, she invites Daniel Lanois up on the stage. “Can we get a spotlight on the man here?” They can’t so he scooches over to her spotlight amid much chuckling. Lanois plays a beautifully fluid electric guitar while she picks out a lively melody on the acoustic.
“Norma Gale” is about a famous musician from the 70 who played with Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash and went on a date with Conway Twitty (I guess he didn’t call her back). While she was doing all these cool things, she was also raising a young son on her own. So Terra wrote this song for her. It starts as a pretty, slow ballad but builds nicely with the addition of keys (from Alan Zamatis).
“Hold You” rocks up again, and it’s got a cool call and response with a bass melody (from Maury LaFoy) rumbling along. “Two Hearts” is a song she wrote in a couple of places in Europe when she was very much in love…. with a couple of people. The song starts slowly but build to an intense climax with pounding drums and Terra on her knees rocking out,.
Having had a total mis-perception of Terra Lightfoot, this show blew me away and I want to hear more from her.
[READ: January 19, 2019] All Summer Long
This was a fun story about friendship, distance and guitar playing.
As the story open we see Austin and Bina getting ready for 7th grade summer vacation. They have been friends since they were five years old and have spent all of the previous summers together. They even created the Combined Summer Fun Index–a way to tally just how much fun they have each summer.
Last summer’s included:
- Cats petted: 22
- Went swimming: 51 times
- $idewalk change: $1.18
- Sneaked into R-Rated movies: 2 times
But this summer, Austin can’t participate. He is going to soccer camp for a month. A whole month. Summer is ruined–for Bina at least.
The story is primarily about Bina, although we also meet Austin’s older sister, Charlie, who is first seen as a lifeguard at the pool. She is yelling at kids. She’s kinda scary.
While Austin is packing for camp, Bina finds a CD that she’s instantly interested in. The band is Steep Streets and they are super cool. Austin doesn’t care about music, which is very upsetting to his mom, since she works at some (nebulous and amazing-sounding) job that lets her go see (and meet) indie bands for free. But Bina is quickly sold on the CD and starts to learn the songs on guitar.
Austin leaves and Bina immediately starts texting him.
Each week that they are apart is signaled by a guitar chord, which I liked. But as they stay apart, Bina keeps reaching out to Austin, but he doesn’t write back (enough).
I love that Bina is bored and binge watches a British TV show. She watches so much that she picks up a British accent of sorts–which her parents know means she’s been watching too much TV, so they cancel their “Netflix” account on her.
One afternoon she realizes she doesn’t have her key so she breaks into Austin’s house (they have a spare key). But as she is climbing in through the bathroom window, Charlie is home and freaks out on her. Charlie hurt her arm which is why she is at home instead of lifeguarding. After sizing up Bina (they have never really talked), Charlie acknowledges it was pretty cool that she snuck in through the window. When Bina asks Charlie about the music that she is blasting, Charlie is impressed that she knows who the band is. The next day Charlie asks Bina for help and Bina is thrilled by Charlie’s record collection,
Even though Charlie seems cool, she’s still older than Bina and is more than happy to blow her off. When her not-quite boyfriend Jae comes around, Charlie acts much cooler (and tougher). Charlie invites Bina to help babysit (so Bina can maybe take over some of those jobs) Jae comes by and Charlie leaves Bina alone with the baby. The ensuing crisis is pretty funny (even if Charlie doesn’t think so). Bina decides that Charlie is not a good friend at all.
So now she’s annoyed at two people by he time Austin comes back.
And when he comes back he’s very distant–ignoring her and acting all weird.
Things are briefly okay when he invites her (through his mom) to go see Steep Streets–her very first concert. She even gets to meet the lead singer who has some awesome things to say. But when the show ends and Austin sees a friend from summer camp, he acts all weird being seen with her. What the hell?
Is their friendship over?
The end of the book ha a great montage of Bina taking the singer’s advice and inviting people to join her band: “Hey you! Join my band! We will be terrible! It will rule!”
I have a real mixed reaction to Larson’s drawing style. Some of her characters I think look great, and yet at times, I find her angles to be really weird. And I HATE the color palette of this book. I understand that Bina is Indian, but all of the “white” characters are fully white and their eyes and hair and basically all of their inking is a sickly yellow-orange. It’s really unsettling to look at.
But otherwise I thought this was a really fun book that might inspire more girls to pick up a guitar (see Lehigh Valley Girls Rock).
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