SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Cobo Hall Detroit, MI (November 23, 1996).
This is the 12th night of the 24 date Canadian Tour opening for The Tragically Hip on their Trouble At The Henhouse Tour. This is a partial recording and also not a soundboard mix. It contains the only recording of “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” from the tour. This is also one of only 2 Rheos shows recorded in the US to date. This is the show that the Hip recorded for their Live Between Us release and the infamous line “This one’s for the Rheostatics…we’re all richer for having seen them tonight”. The DAT tape label says “Gord Bits” – upon listening to this I realized it is Gord Downie on solo acoustic guitar from October 16 1996 playing a song called “Fear Boner” and another called “Catharsis My Arse” (aka Every Irrelevance from the 2001 Coke Machine Glow album). It also has a 5 minute Tragically Hip jam. Out of respect for the band I followed up with their management and they have asked I do not put this in the public domain…just to clarify what the image shows.
So, compared to the other recordings this one is not as clear–very bass-heavy. But it still sounds okay. and the content is pretty great.
I was concerned that an American audience might not be as receptive, but they really get into it (you can hear the audience on the recording…presumably recorded from the seats).
So we only get four songs and it’s almost a total Tim show.
We get the whole of “Bad Time to Be Poor,” and in the middle of the song you can hear someone in the audience say, “these guys are great, aren’t they?” which must have been nice for the band to hear.
Don, clearly the only salesman in the band, says, “That’s a song off of our brand new record which you can’t buy in the United States except at the merchandise counter. Dave chimes in: “Contraband!”
Up next, it’s more Tim, with “Claire,” which has a nice solo from Martin. “Horses” is up next. It’s very rocking, rocking, but a bit muffled. I feel like it doesn’t quite get the applause it should. Martin’s horse-guitar sounds at the end are phenomenal. I wonder if this was my first exposure to them if I would have been blown away.
Martin’s wild guitars segue into “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and as soon as the crowd recognizes it, they go nuts. It’s sung by Tim and sounds wonderfully dramatic–as it should. But it’s a nine minute song, what a weird way to end the show. But the crowd seemed into it, and that’s what matters.
[READ: February 25, 2019] Pop
This is another picture book from First Second. Once again, because I’m reading everything they publish, I’m including this one too
The cover of this book (fun illustrations by Matt Rockefeller) has the sort of subtitle “Every last bubble must…POP!”
I thought that the story might go in a different direction. As it opens, we see a boy, Dewey, blowing bubbles. He says the best part of blowing bubbles is popping them. The text includes “You don’t need a friend to blow bubbles.” On the facing page you see kids playing chase. So I assumed that they would come and pop bubbles with him.
But Dewey doesn’t need friends for this adventure. He pops several bubbles but then misses the last one. And it starts floating up and away. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 