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Archive for the ‘Canadian Music’ Category

Sarah Braunstein–“All You Have to Do” (New Yorker, March 16, 2015)

Posted in Canadian Music, Contests, Funny (strange), New Yorker, Parenting, Rheostatics, Sarah Braunstein, Short Story, tagged on June 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »

2015_03_16-400SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Snooks Pirate Radio: Raise A Little Band (2003).

snooksThis is one of the more unusual items on the Rheostatics Live site.  It is an evening of pirate radio by a guy named Snooks.

This is the explanation directly from Snooks as to what this is:

Hello,
In 2003 I had this hair-brained idea to run a radio station out of my bedroom. Two years previous, I attended Acadia University where I became the program manager of a thing called Radio Acadia nestled in the beautiful Nova Scotia Annapolis Valley, and was well aware of how to operate an online station. So, I set things up and ended up producing a show in my kitchen all about my favorite band, the Rheostatics. I had done numerous shows on them before, and I think I did a pretty good job with this one. I advertised the show on the Rheostatics yahoo list, but ended up with just one listener in Ontario I think.

Sadly, due to my rather busy work schedule, plans to take over the world with a pirate radio station that would change every music listener, and crush every commercial radio station into oblivion, had to be scrapped. Enjoy.

So this is 2 hours of Rheostatics music with some introductions by Snooks.  Snooks provides general information about the band, some chronology and band member lists.  But I think the best part is when he talks about meeting some of the guys and some personal anecdotes (especially about Tim Vesely).

I like the way he groups the songs thematically: History (songs from their early days and about the record industry), Acoustic Times (their more mellow numbers), Tim and I (songs by Tim), Bruce Willis and the Rheostatics (a great title if ever there was), Art (their more outlandish songs) and Reflective (their more reflective songs).  I am surprised that “Horses” didn’t make it, though.

There’s nothing new here–it’s all songs from the albums (including Double Live)–but it’s fun to hear them played in this order.

[READ: March 25, 2015] “All You Have to Do”

It’s 1972 and Sid Baumwell, aged sixteen,  is looking for more from his small town.  He was handsome and had a lot of potential (his teachers said so).  He genuinely believed he could be president.

One day at the grocery store he saw a card table offering a contest.  The man at the table asked him if he felt like a winner and Sid said yes.  The contest was for a lifetime supply of aluminum foil.  And the man at the table, Bill Baxter, said that Sid looked like winner. Bill smiled at him.  He gave him some sound if clichéd advice about school and made a slightly suggestive sexual joke.   And then Sid left.

On the way home, Bill pulled up next to him in his car and offered him a ride home.  Sid said sure.  They started talking about cars.  Bill laughed about his own car and after a few comments, Bill said that if Sid played his cards right the car could be his.  Sid is confused and Bill doesn’t really clarify.

As Bill drops him off, he suggests that Sid will want to get out of this town.  When Sid says it’s a nice town, Bill snidely remarks that nice is the kiss of death.  Sid if offended, but it makes him think about his town. (more…)

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Jill Sexsmith–“Airplanes Couldn’t Be Happier in Turbulence” (The Walrus, May 2015)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Horses, Humiliation, Jill Sexsmith, King Kong, Marriage Trouble, Neurotics, Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith, Short Story, The Walrus, tagged on May 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

2015-05SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ted’s Wrecking Yard Toronto, ON (May 30, 2001).

twyFor this final show with Don Kerr, the band played for what seems like ever.  Darrin says he edited out any quiet bits so the show could fit on two discs, which it does.  And even at that it’s still about 2 and a half hours long.

Only five songs are repeated from the previous night (and they are all from the new album, except “Stolen Car,” which Martin sings on this night) and “Take Me in Your Hand” which is pretty awesome.  There’s also no Kevin on this night, so the set is full of a few of the more rocking songs (as opposed to the Harmelodia stuff).

 After a rocking “Fat” they play two rarely played songs “Remain Calm” and “The Idiot.”  But the set list is just a perfect collection of the songs that I love most: “Aliens,” “King of the Past,” “Saskatchewan,” “California Dreamline,” “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” and “Horses.”  Wow.

Some notes: “There’s an awkward introduction to “The Idiot” which they hadn’t played in a long time.  The “Aliens”/”King of the Past ” pair is great.  I also loved the way they run right into “Mumbletypeg” while Martin is still feed backing the previous song.  “Horses” has an angry chant from Dave (the “facts” chant) and you can really hear DB wailing on the acoustic guitar at the end of “Stolen Car.”

Don gives a nice thanks (he says he’s about to cry) and they open “Take Me in Your Hand” with a jaunty “Ob La Di” riff and lyrics about Don.

There’s a lot of banter, including an Ed the Sock joke (“Don Kerr fired by Ed the Sock.”)  It’s a wonderful ending to a wonderfully time with Don Kerr.  Incidentally, Ted’s closed in 2001 as well, and the band, who played many multinight sets there moved their Green Sprouts Week to The Horsehoe.

This is a great show, and the sound is outstanding.  And since Don is leaving to play with Ron Sexsmith, here’s a story by Jill Sexsmith (presumably unrelated).

[READ: April 25, 2015] “Airplanes Couldn’t Be Happier in Turbulence”

I enjoyed the way this story began with some very down to earth information and then ends in a preposterous and yet still strangely believable situation.  It’s about exasperation and the need to do something, anything, when everything feels out of control.

Madison (it’s hard to believe that there are grown women with that name) has wanted to scale the Empire State Building ever since she watched King Kong as a kid.  Her husband, Frank, is a grounded individual, an actuary who is full of facts and statistics.  When she says she want to go there, he says “There’s a 0.28 percent chance of getting pistol whipped” in New York City.  He also quips, I suppose you want a  pony, too.  She jokes that she does, although she is afraid of horses–especially ponies, the “kneecap biting form of the horse” (I can attest to this, having been bitten on the kneecap by my neighbors supposedly nice pony).

Madison has never taken a vacation from her job.  She is anxious at the thought of empty days in front of her.  Her boss and coworkers keep trying to get her to go.  This year for her birthday she and Frank are going to New York City.  Her boss throws a going away party even though two of the four days are on the weekend. (more…)

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Alex Pugsley–“Changeling Girl” (The Walrus, April 2015)

Posted in Alex Pugsley, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Drinking, Kevin Hearn, Ramones, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Walrus, tagged on May 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

walrusaprilSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ted’s Wrecking Yard Toronto, ON (May 29 2001).

bye byeThey marked the final two nights that Don Kerr would play drums with the band (after six years) with two nights at Ted’s Wrecking Yard.  [Technically, they reveal at the end of the next show that there is a final show in a few days, but that somehow it doesn’t count].

The two shows together are a simply fantastic collection of Rheostatics music.  Don created the setlists for both shows.  The one downside on this recording is that one of the guitars was recorded very low (although Darrin, the site’s commander, has remixed the show so you can barely tell).  On the plus side, it means that you can hear Dave’s amazing rhythm guitars very well.  Another major plus is that Kevin Hearn plays on this night, and the set list reflects Kevin’s keyboards and songwriting contributions to the band.  This means a bunch of stuff from Harmelodia (including “Home Again” and “Monkeybird” and “The Harmelodian Anthem.”

Don is leaving to tour with Ron Sexmith.  In the middle of the set Don says that he is leaving because Ron has better coke (Kevin chimes in and asks if he needs a keyboard player).

The band is also in great spirits and, to send off Don in a great way, they are really at the to of their game–having fun yes, but committing a fantastic set to tape (these shows were originally going to be released on disc but fifteen years later, that seems unlikely).

The whole show is great.  But some observations: “Four Little Songs” is actually “Five Little Songs” tonight with Kevin getting a verse.  They also ask him about Lou Reed, and Kevin tells a story about meeting Lou for pizza.  And they joke about hot knives.  Kevin eventually did tour with Lou in 2009.

The setlist is a wonderful selection of old and rare songs.  I barely even recognized “The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos” and can’t imagine when they played it last.  They also play “The Reward” which is an underplayed gem–they even remark that they forgot how to play it.

There’s a funny bit where Kevin starts a new song called “guitar changes” while one of the guitarists is yes, changing guitars.  It’s great to have an improv artist like Hearn in your show.  For a real surprise (and for reasons unspoken), Dave sings “Stolen Car,” something I’ve never heard before.  Since Martin’s voice is unique, it’s a very different performance–more melodic with fewer high notes.

They end the set with “The Pooby Song,” a piece of nonsense which is introduced with a long discussion of “pooby” for Kevin’s benefit.

It’s an amazing show.  At some point Dave says they are going to play for a long time–and someone tells him it’s already 1 AM. Wow..

[READ: March 17, 2015] “Changeling Girl”

The girl in the title is not actually a person in the story (which I was rather was looking forward to).  Rather, she is the title of a song by the punk band that this story is about (they are called The Changelings).

The first person story recounts the rise of the band.  And the opening pages are full of the excitement that loving a kind of music and really embracing it can bring.  It is described as a kind of montage as kids play The Clash and kids try to out punk each other with clothes or hair or names like Beamish Mingo, Helen Hopday and even Gash Ragged.

The impressive thing–especially given that I assume the time frame is the early 80s–is that the band is multigendered.

Once the story settles down into their first gig, though, it seems to lose some steam. After the initial rush wears off, we have to slow down–that middle slow section, right? (more…)

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Ann Beattie-“Major Maybe” (New Yorker, April 20, 2015)

Posted in Ann Beattie, Canadian Music, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, tagged on May 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

ny2015SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Hamilton ON (February 24 2001).

hamiltonThis is a show that there is no real information about.  In fact, I have to wonder if it is actually from the date that it says because during the set someone (very casually, I think) mentions that their album came out today (it was released on October 23, 2001).  It is also really short (just over an hour) and is clearly not the entire show.  I assume the first half was lost, but it’s hard to know.

Despite the brevity, there is a great sound on the disc.  The first two songs sound amazing.  And “Stolen Car” is scorchingly good.

There’s a funny discussion about the washroom, which turns into a joke that the “washroom rocks.”  And there’s some wonderfully funny “ads” for Snapple, Marlboro “the smoke that hurts,” and even a Gibson “the guitar for depressed musicians.”  “Feed Yourself” is particularly long with lots of chatter in the middle and they joke about Martin playing with “millennium technology,” some gadget that makes his guitar sound different.

“Four Little Songs” has a very funny refrain about Martin’s “device” which they now call the robot dog–there’s even a silly riff at the end.

It’s a great show, even if it is brief and it’s a good collection of older songs (which is weird if their new album came out that day).

[READ: April 21, 2015] “Major Maybe”

This was the second short and breezy story I read this week, which was kind of fun.

This story is so simple, it’s even told quickly, as if the narrator just had to get it out.

“Major Maybe” is the name of a dog in her neighborhood.  She and her roommate Eagle Soars (his real name) are living in Chelsea in New York.  He is a wanna be actor and she helps him with his lines.

One day they were rehearsing in their usual spot in front of their building.  Their building was quite nice, the first floor resident was a therapist and he decked out the front stoop very nicely with flowers and chairs.  As they were rehearsing the red-haried homeless lady came by.  She was known to have good days and bad days  Today was a bad day. (more…)

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Emily Mitchell–“If You Cannot Go to Sleep” (Harper’s, April 2015)

Posted in Alun Piggins, Canadian Music, Celtic Blue, Dreams, Emily Mitchell, Harper's, Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rheostatics, Rick Springfield, Short Story, Sleep, tagged on May 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

aprilSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto (February 16, 2001).

horseshoeThere are seven live shows from 2001 on the Rheostatics Live website.  In this block, I’m going to talk about the first four shows because the final two of the four are drummer Don Kerr’s final shows with the band.

There is a lovely introduction by the club owner, who thanks the Rheostatics for playing there so much.  The sound quality is great and the crowd is really into it.  At one point someone shouts out “Californication” (which is a line from “California Dreamline”) and Martin says that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing down the street.  Another funny line is when someone shouts out “Jessie’s Girl” and Dave says that there’s a trend in shouting out bad songs.  Nobody wants to hear the “Rheos do Rick Springfield.”  That’s just bad energy.

“Fat” sounds great and it’s quite a long version.  The vocals for the next few songs are fun.  Martin is crazy on “CCYPA.”  “When Winter Comes” has a great and fun intro.

The notes say that song 12 is “We Went West” but it is actually a cover of a Celtic Blue song  “Heading Out West” with Alun Piggins (from Celtic Blue) on harmonica.  It works well with them.

“California Dreamline” has some funny banter.  Dave says he loves the way Martin says “Sowthern” California.  Martin says English is not his first language.  But that he is wearing an amazing shirt.

They have a lot of fun with “Legal Age Life” which they open with a “pa pa ooh mow mow” refrain and in the middle they throw in some “I Wanna Be Sedated.”  This show also has one of the best versions of “Claire” that I’ve heard.

This is the first version of “Mumbletypeg” that I’ve heard where it includes the spoken word part (like on the record).  And I love that they throw in “PROD” into the end of “Four Little Songs.”

This show was simulcast online (which is pretty high tech for 2001, no?).  You can also watch the simulcast on the Rheostatics live site.

[READ: April 20, 2015] “If You Cannot Go to Sleep” 

I enjoyed that this story was pretty much a fictionalized version of many people’s insomnia.  It opens, “First she tries counting.”  As it progresses through a series of nights, we encounter her fears, both reasonable and excessive.

But interestingly, before it even gets into her dream fears, she has a long unsleeping thought about the difference between working at a discount store and an upscale store–the discount store must be depressing, but the upscale store must be full of insufferable people–what would be worse?.

Then we learn a bit about her life.  She studied French and even lived in Paris for a time. Now she works translating technical manuals and she hates it.  Her husband finally quit the job that he hates–something she hoped he would do for years.  But now that he did that he has moved to France–without her. (more…)

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Alvvays (The Academy of Music, Philadelphia, PA, April 7, 2015) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Alvvays, Canadian Music, Letters to Cleo, Lush, Philadelphia, PA, The Academy of Music, The Decemberists on April 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 7, 2015] Alvvays

2015-04-07 20.23.26Canadian band Alvvays opened for The Decemberists last night.  I really like their debut album and I was pretty excited to see them.  Alvvays play a perfect update of female -fronted-90s-alt-rock that I really like (and which few bands do anymore).  There are plenty of touchstones for the kind of music they play (Letters to Cleo, Lush), and they do it perfectly–super catchy choruses, nice harmonies and simple ringing guitars.

In hindsight (after watching the headliners) it must be tough for a small band to play when the headliners have so much going on.  So the five members of Alvvays looked a little cramped on stage in their small area.  They didn’t say a lot and they barely moved around.  But they brought their A-game and ripped through their entire album (I think).

I remember thinking that their album is only about 35 minutes, so their set couldn’t be much longer than that.  It was about 30 minutes.  And, since I like the album but don’t really know song names yet, I’m not sure what they played or didn’t play (and setlist.com is no help at all).  I certainly recognized a few songs, but have no idea what order they were in.

I also had to wonder…if you are an up and coming band with a single that’s getting airplay (“Marry Me, Archie”), do you play it first and get the audience psyched to hear more, or do you save it for the end when more people have arrived.   Which they did.  And it was nice to see the crowd (who was responsive but not exactly rocking) nodding along to the song. (more…)

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T.C. Boyle–“No Slant to the Sun” (Harper’s, March 2015)

Posted in Canadian Music, Harper's, Ian Anderson, Racism, Rheostatics, Short Story, T. Coraghessan Boyle, T.C. Boyle, Vacation, Violence, tagged on March 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp marchSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Call the Office London, On (August 11, 2000).

calltheofficeCall the Office sounds like a great live venue.  It sounds small and intimate and, for this recording anyway, the sound quality is great.

The band is in great form with a ten minute version of “Fat.”   Then there’s a bunch of new songs: “In It Now” (the first time I’m aware of them playing it), “CCYPA” and a great version of “The Fire.”

Then they jump back to an old song and play “Torque Torque” with a very funny introduction about how they wrote this back in the early 60s and that it out-dorks the Doors (the Doors had no bass player).  Dave also says they’ll never play Full Moon Over Russia because it’s too hard.

There’s a lengthy introduction to “Satan is the Whistler” in which Martin tells about writing it–how it was originally going to be about Bigfoot (he used to read Bigfoot books as a kid) and the scariest thing about the Bigfoot stories was when people heard whistling.  The intro devolves into some funny talk about Whistler, the city, and extreme sports.  Someone eventually winds up describing the song as Ian Anderson skiing.

There’s a sadly aborted “Junction Foil Ball.”  Not sure if they just never played it or if there’s a problem with the recording.

There’s also an “off color” joke about Michael Jackson and Bubbles and Dave teases the jokester (Don Kerr?) saying that a guy with neck beard shouldn’t make off color jokes.

“Feed Yourself” a song they don’t play often enough sounds great here with some awesome soloing chords and effects in the middle.  And “Legal Age Life” also has some funny silly parts in the solos.

“Horses” (which the fans have been cheering for all night) sounds fantastic–a great version of it.  The middle section has Dave talking and ranting (all with his voice echoed).  It’s quite intense.  As is the final “Moon” high note at the end of “Dope Fiends and Booze Hounds” which they cap off with another fast run through “Satan.”

As I said this is a great sounding bootleg (and the notes on the site agree: “This is one of the best sounding Rheos boots I have heard. Listen to Don’s drumming. It is awesome. I loved seeing him play.”

[READ: March 2, 2015] “No Slant to the Sun”

I have read so many stories by Boyle, and they are all so very different that I never really know what to expect–or even where they will go.

This story begins with the title–“there as no slant to the sun–it was just there, overhead.”  It is about a man, Sten, and his wife Carolee on vacation.  They are on a cruise and are currently taking a day trip to an island garden path (although he seems unsure where they are–not Mexico or Guatemala or Belize–somewhere with a lot of rum where they listen to reggae).

They, along with everyone else, are on a bus, being driven maniacally by a man wearing earbuds (listening to reggae) as he flies over potholes and around harsh left and right turns.

Sten refuses to drink the water here even though everyone else does. And despite his thirst he sticks only to the rum based drinks (and so is a bit drunk and parched).  He will only drink bottled water, but he forgot his bottle.  When Carolee falls asleep he roots through her purse for her water (which he then drops and it rolls under another seat).

All the people on the bus (mostly older retirees) are unhappy with the driving.  Finally Sten gets up to say something to man and even flicks out his ear buds.  But the man ignores him, clearly disgusted by the white people on the bus.  He grudgingly says they can have a restroom break in five minutes, although it’s more like 15 before they get to the site of their hike–something that Sten now regrets given the heat and his thirst.

As soon as they settle in, a car roars up next to them and some local boys get out.  One has a gun.  And the boys start demanding everybody’s wallets and jewels.

It’s then that we learn that Sten was once in the military.   And he has to decide if he should react to this insolence.

The story went in a direction I absolutely did not expect.  I enjoyed it, especially the way the ancillary characters react to what happens.  I never intentionally seek out Boyle, but I always enjoy his stories (and I am astonished at how prolific he is).

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Rivka Galchen–new movies (Harper’s, March 2015)

Posted in Canadian Music, Dave Bidini music, Downton Abbey, Entertainment Weekly, Film & TV, Harper's, Michael Bond, Paddington, Rheostatics, Rivka Galchen, tagged on March 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp marchSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Harbourfront Toronto, Canada Day (July 1, 2000).

harbourThis recording comes from an outdoor venue in honor of Canada Day.

As I understand it, the band was asked to write a new song for the Canada Day celebration and they came up with “When Monkeys Comes.”  It opens with a kind of disco version of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and then morphs into a jamming Rheos song.  It doesn’t sound awesome on this mix (although the rest of the disc does), so it’s hard to get a real sense of what’s happening.  It feels a little meandering.  And since it doesn’t really appear anywhere else (except for an upcoming show), it’s hard to really parse it.

This show is interesting in that the band doesn’t talk very much–usually they’re very chatty.  Dave Bidini says that since their set is short (barely over an hour), they didn’t want to talk to much, so it’s all about the music.  They play the first seven songs without saying a word in between songs.  Also interesting is that those first seven songs are all new–not yet recorded for the Night of the Shooting Stars album.

There is a drum machine or at least a lot of electronic drumming on a couple of songs, which I believe are supplied by Michael Phillip Wojewoda, erstwhile extra member of the band for years, and official drummer in a few months.

After playing the new songs, the band does play some older songs.

They are still doing songs from Harmelodia (“I Fab Thee” and “Song of the Garden”) and this crowd, which I assume is all ages, is probably a good place for them.  They also play “The Ballad of Wendel Clark” which is super fun (and not played that often).  There’s some great versions of “Stolen Car” and “Self Serve Gas Station.”

It’s a good set (with good sound quality), especially if you like NotSS.

[READ: March 6, 2015] new movies

I rarely talk about movie or movie reviews here.  But since I like Galchen, and I’ve mentioned most of her writings so far, it seemed like a worthwhile inclusion.  And she’s talking about Paddingon, a movie I’d like to see

What I liked about Galchen’s review was that it’s not so much about the movie (which she likes and says is silly and smart and witty and pretty) as it is about the story of Paddington.

I don’t know the plot of the movie (or the books, actually, although I do know the premise of who Paddington is), but it sounds like a fun farce, with Hugh Bonneville (Mr Crawley on Downton Abbey) dressing as a cleaning lady to aid Paddington on “an essential fact-finding mission.”

But Galchen talks about how the movie (like the book by Michael Bond) pays attention to money (the cost of marmalade for instance) and to the African-Caribbean immigration to London in the 1950s.  Paddington is from darkest Peru (evidently Bond was going to have him be from Darkest Africa but there are no bears there).  And its this immigrant story which the movie focuses on.

Galchen also talks about how characters like Paddington (or Curious George or Pinocchio) are stand ins for children. But if they were actual children in the stories we would be repelled by them.

It turns out that Galchen has visited darkest Peru on a research mission.   They were checking fecal samples of the native chickens–looking for antibiotics.  They also conducted a kind of socioeconomic census of the region, which was, of course, ridiculous as none of the natives had much of anything.  Although she notes that the most common name for boys was Israel and the most common among girls was LadyDi.

This article didn’t make me want to see the movie any more than I do (because I am looking forward to it already), but it was certainly an interesting perspective and certainly one I wouldn’t be reading in Entertainment Weekly.

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Nell Zink–“Make Me Live” (Harper’s, March 2015)

Posted in Canadian Music, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Excerpt, Harper's, Huh?, Joe Jackson, LGBTQ, Meatloaf, Nell Zink, Poetry, Poets, Rheostatics, Rush, Set at School, tagged on March 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp marchSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Ted’s Wrecking Yard Toronto, ON, (March 25, 2000).

tedsThis was the sixth and final night of Green Sprouts Music Week–the band’s annual residency at Ted’s Wrecking Yard.  Sadly this is the only night that is up on the site, but man, is it a good one.  The band played for over two and a half hours and they cover nearly every album.  There are guests galore, there’s on stage hijinks and a great sense of fun for band and fans alike.

 I don’t know what they played on other nights but there is a still a focus on Harmelodia. Things are a little different this night from previous shows on the tour.  “Song of the Garden” and “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine” are really rocking. When they call in a female vocalist up, a fans shouts out “we could use a little estrogen” and they get it with her lead vocals.

Kevin Hearn joins them on keyboards.  He ges a verse in “Four Little Songs.”  He also adds piano to “Queer” which sounds extra jaunty  And he puts accordion in “I Fab Thee.”  There’s even the unexpected Kevin song “Yellow Days Under a Lemon Sun” which originally appears on the Group of 7 disc.

The most fun is had during “My First Rock Show, in which several “guests” appear during the song.  Meatloaf (Kevin) plays a bit of “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” Geddy, Alex and Neil (Martin) show up to play a verse of “Closer to the Heart” with Martin screeching “salesmen!” There’s a brief jam of Walk This Way (although no one can remember the words).  And there’s some fun with Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Goin Out with Him.”  Look over there.  Where?  That’s called a hook.  There’s also a funny joke about playing “Harvest X-1, Rush Never Sleeps.”

There’s some real guests too, Karmen from Sheks? sings “One More Colour” and sounds awful, like she can’t hear what the band is doing.  Julia Pietrus guests on “Home Again.”  She sings her verse in Polish (and is part of a Polish Rheos tribute band!).

There’s a drum solo (!) on “Dope Fiends and Booze Hounds.”  The set and the night ends with “A Midwinter Nights Dream.”  Martin sounds in great voice even if he cant hit all th ehigh notes which is undetsnable after nearly 2 and a half hours of playing

They also mention that their next show is Canada Day and that is our next show as well

[READ: March 4, 2015] “Make Me Live”

I am always intrigued by the fiction that appears in the front section of each Harper’s issue.  It is typically not an author I have heard of and is often a translation.  It’s also usually really short (often excerpted) so that if it’s not so good, you’re not stuck with a long read and if it is good it whets your appetite for a longer piece.

This excerpt is a definite appetite whetter.

I genuinely can’t imagine how long Mislaid (the full novel) is, because this story just seems to fly through time in a real hurry 9and feels rather complete).

It opens with Peggy Vaillancourt’s birth in 1948 in Virginia.  Her family was educated and rather reserved.  Her mother had hoped to send her to Bryn Mawr, but Peggy wanted to go to Stillwater, a former plantation and current finishing school.  It was considered a mecca for lesbians.

I’m confused about the transformative event in Peggy’s life in which a gym teacher, Miss Miller,  readjusts her gym shorts and Peggy assumes she was meant to be a boy.  The story seems to bulldoze forward whether you can keep up or not.  So I have no idea if an average female reader would “get” what happened here (it doesn’t seem to be sexual to me). It also seems odd that one incident should affect her so profoundly, but there ya go. (more…)

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William T. Vollmann–“Invisible and Insidious: Living at the edge of Fukushima’s nuclear disaster” (Harper’s, March 2015) and “Into the Forbidden Zone” (Harper’s, May 2011)

Posted in Canadian Music, Essays, Harper's, Japan, Law, Radiation, Reverend Ken and the Lost Followers, Rheostatics, Threats, Travel, William T. Vollmann, tagged on March 9, 2015| Leave a Comment »

harp marchSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Vertigo, Victoria British Columbia, (January 22, 2000).

vertigoOne of the things that I like about listening to Rheostatics live shows is that when they play a couple nights in a row, they play such different sets both nights.  In the two nights at Vertigo, they played 44 songs and only 5 of them were duplicated (all from the newest album and a song that was on the live album).  That is a fan pleasing band.

It’s hard to even say which night is better.  Night 2 had more deep cuts and yet, they’re not exactly rare tracks for them to play either.

Lucky’s notes for this one say that the band were given cell phone type gadgets and that Martin played with his throughout the show.  You can hear that as the set opens and Martin is goofing off with his.

Overall for these shows I found that the band was playing a lot of songs in a bit more mellow vibe.  It’s not the way I like to hear them, but I wonder what it was like live.  However, “King of the Past” one of my favorite songs was played too slow on this night, as was “Christopher.” And “Northern Wish” sounded quite different–it had an almost meandering quality to it. Even “Stolen Car” has a slow moody quality (which Martin agrees with).

But the band is clearly having fun.  On “Four Little Songs there’s a crazy drum solo.  And as it ends and “The Royal Albert” starts, there’s some odd guitar sounds which Martin describes as change falling in an elevator.

The stage banter is certainly fun tonight, especially the talk about Sean Brodie and ordering a pizza (which was terrible).

The final song is a great version of “Aliens.”   But before that they play a cover of Reverend Ken and the Lost Followers’ “The Midnight Ride of Red Dog Ray ” which is all about a guy who drove to Quebec when there was a beer strike in Toronto.

Here’s the original

Although I love the song choices in this set, I feel like its slowness makes me prefer the previous night’s set a little more.

[READ: March 2, 2015] “Invisible and Insidious”

Vollmann is one of the more prolific writers I know (or at least his one collection of works is over 3,000 pages).  I sort of have designs on reading his output but there’s so many other authors I like and Vollmann has so much out there that I think my best bet is to keep up with his writing when I see it and just let it go at that.

So he occasionally writes non-fiction for Harper’s.  And they are usually pretty dark and unhappy pieces about the state of the world–Vollmann is not afraid to go to dark places.  In this article he talks about living in Japan and he reminds us that not that long ago (March 2011) there was a tsunami and a huge nuclear meltdown in that country.  And how most likely we all assume it must have been fixed, since we don’t hear about it anymore.

I don’t wish to overwhelm with details–that’s Vollmann’s job.  But he does a few interesting things in Japan.  He explores locations that are off-limits (or at least in the evacuation zone) and he talks to people who live and work in these areas.  He also (of course) has a dosimeter (which I assume must be pretty common in a radiated site).

The nuclear utility that monitors the plant, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) has issued various information over the years, although none of it seems verifiable.  In August 2013, The Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority said the leak was re-categorized from level 1(anomaly) to level 3 (a serious accident).  And the Japan Times says a the radioactivity was about 100 times more than what TEPCO had been allowing to enter the sea each year before the crisis. (more…)

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