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Archive for the ‘Canadian Music’ Category

Conversations with David Foster Wallace (2012)

Posted in Biography, Book Reviews, Books about writers, Boston Phoenix, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Cynthia Ozick, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Details, Essays, Funny (ha ha), History, My Bloody Valentine, Postmoderism, Publishers Weekly, Research, Rolling Stone, Salon.com, Sandro Perri, Scholarship, Set at School, Stephen J. Burn, Tennis, The Boston Globe, The Buffalo News, The Chicago Tribune, The Connection, The Seattle Times, The Wall Street Journal, To The Best of Our Knowledge on May 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SANDRO PERRI-Impossible Spaces [CST085] (2011).

This album has become one of my favorite releases of the year.  I simply can’t stop listening to it.  And the funny thing is that on first listen I thought it was too treacly, too “sweet,” especially for Constellation Records (home to the over-the-top Godspeed You Black Emperor amongst other wonderful bands).  But after a listen or two, I heard all of the genius that is present in this record–so many different layers of music, and so many interesting instrumental choices. Indeed, it does come off as sweet, but there’s really nothing wrong with that.

This album gives me a happy pick me up without being cloying in any way.  That’s a great accomplishment.

“Changes” opens kind of all over the place, with some noisey guitars and really high bass notes.  But once the shk shk of the shakers comes in, the sing settles into a great groove (and there’s a cool bassline that really holds the song together).  After about 3 minutes, it turns into a cool light funk jam, with retro keyboards, buzzed out guitar solos and some funky drums.  It’s unlike anything you’ll hear anywhere else.  “Love & Light” is one of the shorter pieces at just under 4 minutes.  It’s different from the other tracks, in that Perri’s vocals seem to be the dominant motif, rather than the cool music.  I like the song, but it’s probably my least favorite here.  “How Will I?” uses a similar multi-tracked vocal style but it has some wonderful flute moments (yes flute) that make the song bubbly and happy.  The song kind of drifts around the ether in a kind of jazzy world until about 5 minutes in, when the bassier notes anchor the song with great contrasting notes.  And the electronic ending is as cool as it is disconcerting.

“Futureactive Kid (Part 1)” is a shuffling minor key number that’s just over 3 minutes, it features a cool bass clarinet and backwards guitars to propel the song.  The backwards guitar solo segues into the uplifting (literally, the keyboards just go higher and higher into space. “Futureactive Kid (Part 2)” features fretless bass, a flute solo and My Bloody Valentine-esque sound effects (although radically simplified from MBV’s standards).  It fades out only to introduce my favorite song in forever–“Wolfman.”  I can’t get enough of this song.  It’s a simple structure, but at ten minutes long, it deviates in amazingly complex ways.  It has so many cool aspects that I love–I love the chord changes at the end of each verse.  I totally love the guitar solo that goes up and down the scale for an impossibly long run–well over 100 notes by my count.  I also love that the end of each section features a different guitar style playing the simple chord progression–from acoustic to loud solo to full band playing those same notes–so by the end of the ten minutes you ‘re not sure what to expect.   By the time the flute solo comes in at nearly 7 minutes, I’m totally committed to the song and wherever it’s going to take me.  So when it gets a bit of an electronic ending, I’m ready to go there with it.  Oh and lyrically the song is just as curious as the music.

The final song “Impossible Spaces” is a beautiful, quiet guitar song which is actually easy to sing along to.  It quiet a departure from the rest of the record, but it ties things together very nicely.  I have listened to this record so much lately, I just can’t get enough of it.

You can stream the whole thing here.

[READ: May 10, 2012] Conversations with David Foster Wallace

This is a book that collects interviews with David Foster Wallace.  Although DFW was reticent about d0ing interviews (as the introduction states), he did do quite a lot of them–often at the same haunts.  This book contains 22 interviews that span from 1987-2008.

The conversations are in chronological order, which is really a treat because you get to see DFW’s opinion (and his addiction to nicotine) evolve over the years.  You also get to see the topics that he was really focused on at one time and whether or not they stayed with him until the final interview.  DFW was outspoken about certain things, especially entertainment, which is unsurprising.  But he was also a big advocate of truth, honesty, realness.  It’s amazing seeing him when he lets his guard down. Although his honesty is there for all to see in his work, he is better known for his difficulty with language or his humor.  So seeing him without the multiple revision is quite enlightening.

The first pieces, “David Foster Wallace: A Profile” published after his first novel The Broom of the System launched Viking’s paperback imprint actually looks into his classroom a little bit and shows him interacting with a student (I wonder if she knows she is in this book?).  It seems sweet and almost naive compared to what is to come next.  And, for anyone who is familiar with him from later in, it’s a wonderful look behind the scenes.  There’s also a number of pieces from The Wall Street Journal.  Like the second piece in the book, the worryingly named, “A Whiz Kid and His Wacky First Novel.”  It’s not a bad piece at all, but man, headlines can be delicate matters. (more…)

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Sterling Archer–How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Archer, Audiobooks, Canadian Music, Communists, Cook Book, Drinking, Drugs, Eggs Woodhouse, Funny (ha ha), Gambling, Lacrosse, Rush, Sex, Short Books, Spies, Sterling Archer, Threats, Violence on May 10, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH on Archer (2011-2012).

Not really a soundtrack, but I wanted to mention some of the Rush references in Archer.

I was really hoping to use the Rush in Cleveland DVD as my Soundtrack, but I haven’t finished it yet.  And yes, I am padding this out a bit so that the pictures fit nicely.

Cobra Cobra Cobra (that’s a joke to the book below).

The Archer guys like Rush and they put nods to Rush in occasional episodes–usually through mad-scientist (I want to call him The Professor), Krieger.  Here’s three of Krieger’s vans.

I love the detail that went into “Vanispheres.”  Since Krieger always wears a lab coat, it’s a wonderful detail to have him wearing it as the nude man.  And, of course to have him as both the nude man and the clothed man is perfect.

Since it’s my favorite obscure Rush album, the Caress of Krieger van just cracks me up the most.

And just to add to the fun here’s a video of Krieger’s Neil Peart-like drum set

It’s pronounced “Why Why Zed.”

[READ:May 9, 2012] How to Archer

Although the Archie Meets Kiss comic proved to not be the joy I’d hoped, How to Archer easily made up for it.  I love Archer, it is one of my top ten shows ever, I think.  And this book is basically a print version of the show.

It’s designed as a how-to manual written by Sterling Archer himself.  He gives you tips on how to become the world’s best secret agent.  He teaches you how to dress (the details about buying shoes are amazing), how to drink (he provides cocktail recipes and his own opinion of subpar drinks), how to eat (a recipe for Eggs Woodhouse that sounds divine) and even a secret to gambling!

The fact that Archer is an abrasive, cocky, sexist, racist dick only makes the book that much funnier.

If you haven’t seen Archer (on FX), it’s a cartoon about a spy.  His mother, Malory, owns the spy agency and they have a very contentious relationship.  (The fact that his full name is Sterling Malory Archer should be just one clue to that).  Malory gets the introduction to the book, which is pretty darn funny as well. (more…)

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Julian Beever–Pavement Chalk Artist: The Three Dimensional Drawings of Julian Beever (2010)

Posted in Canadian Music, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Geddy Lee, Julian Beever, Rush on May 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH RADIO (rushradio.org) (since 1998).

How can this online site have been around for fourteen years and I’ve only just heard of it the other day.  And only by actively searching for a streaming Rush site.  Crazy talk!

So this site is what it says–streaming Rush 24/7.  After listening for a little while I determined that it’s basically this person’s iTunes playlist of every Rush song on shuffle.  It has that telltale iTunes shuffle–hey, didn’t I just hear that song two tracks ago, or as i na recent example, wasn’t that the song that just ended?–But there’s also a chance that you’ll hear a song that you haven’t heard in forever.  There’s even a chance you’ll hear a song you don’t like (!) “Dog Years” is easily my least favorite Rush track ever, but I heard it!

Of course it’s more exciting to randomly hear “The Necromancer,” which just happened.

I don’t understand how come this person is allowed to do this.  I don’t understand how he secured a .org domain name.  I understand even less how he got a PSA with Geddy Lee talking about something (I forget what already).  And I don’t care, I have been listening to this for the last few days and it totally resurrected my love of Rush.

[READ: May 3, 2012] Pavement Chalk Artist

If you’ve never seen a three-dimensional chalk drawing, you’re really missing out.  But they’re all over the internet, so it’s easy to find one.  Like this one.  http://www.moillusions.com/category/3d-sidewalk-drawings-optical-illusions  The most recent one I’ve seen is  a Lego drawing, and this site http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/incredible-making-of-the-3d-lego-chalk-drawing shows you how they were done, too.

The design style is called anamorphic and it all depends on the angle at which you are looking at the picture.  Literally.  If you look at it from the wrong angle it looks like complete nonsense.  And in the case of this book (and Beever’s work in general), the designs were specifically created for his camera.  In other words, he set up the camera and looked through it to get the exact effect he wanted.  I can’t quite imagine how you have to look at it in real life for them to look as good as this.  (more…)

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Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman & Jude Watson–Vespers Rising [The 39 Clues, Book Eleven]

Posted in Adventure, Canadian Music, Death, Fears, Gordon Korman, Greed, History, Jude Watson, Mamma Yamma, Marriage (Happy), Peter Lerangis, Rick Riordan, Sesame Street, Short Books, Short Story, Skiing, Tegan and Sara, Threats, Violence, War on April 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TEGAN AND SARA-“Alligator” on CDC Kids’ Mamma Yamma (2010).

Tegan and Sara take a slightly different approach than the other artists on Mamma Yamma.  Rather than creating a new song, they took their hit “Alligator” and made new words for it (much like many artists have done on Sesame Street).

The melody is exactly the same (which is good, as it’s a really catchy song). But rather than being about a failed relationship, it’s about alligators.

Old lyrics: Run around on me, I’d sooner die without

New lyrics: Run around a tree, skip and jump about

It’s a cute version and the band sounds very good.

I really enjoy these introductions to interesting musicians on kids shows.  I wonder if kids actually like seeing grown up musicians like this.

You can watch it here:

[READ: April 20, 2012] Vespers Rising

I finished The 39 Clues series last year. Or so I thought!  After completing books 1-10, I found out that they were planning a whole new series.  And they began with this transitional book, which they called #11 and which was co-written by four of the prominent authors.

Vespers Rising is actually four short stories that trace the history of the Cahill family and their feud with the Vesper family.  The Vespers were not a part of the first series at all.  In the first series, the 39 Clues were a kind of Amazing Race for Cahill family members.  (I’ll get to some details about the family in a moment).  It was a kind of private race for the prize–which was a life-enhancing serum.  But this book introduces a new villain to the story and explains that the villain has been there all along, just lurking.

Rick Riordan wrote the first story in this book takes us back to the beginning.  In 1507, off the coast of Ireland, Gideon Cahill invented this serum.  He was and alchemist, seeking an antidote for the Black Death which was ravaging Europe.  He was working for Lord Damien Vesper, a man bent on power.  Vesper wasn’t interested in helping people with the Black Death–he had no real value for life–however, he was interested in the results that Gideon might discover. (more…)

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P.W. Wilson–“Sea-Seprents and Scientists” (The North American Review, Vol. 237, No 3, March, 1934)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Canadian Music, Essays, Laura Barrett, Loch Ness Monster, Oddities, P.W. Wilson, Religion, Research, Scientists, The North American Review on March 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LAURA BARRETT-“Deception Island Optimist Club” from Viva Piñata! (2008).

This is a musically simple song–it appears to be played entirely on, I gather, a thumb piano or kalimba.

The melody is complicated, however.  And Barrett’s voice is beautifully naked.  I especially like the way her voice doesn’t follow the musical melody exactly–she plays around with sounds and ideas a little bit.

I also just found out this neat little piece of information: Her first public performance was a cover of “Smells Like Nirvana” at a “Weird Al” Yankovic

kalimba

tribute concert.  Okay, who even knew there were “Weird Al” tribute concerts?

I’m very much intrigued by this woman, and you can hear a whole bunch of her stuff at her CBC Radio 3 site.

Oh, and that Weird Al song?  You can hear it (there’s no video) right here:

[READ: March 20, 2012] “Sea-Serpents and Scientists”

This was the second archived article that my company sent around for enjoyment.

I like any article about sea serpents, especially The Loch-Ness Monster.  But I was really surprised at the attitude taken in this article.  It actually seemed like it might be a joke, although upon further consideration, I believe it is entirely serious.

As the introductory line says, “The emergence of a fabulous monster in Loch Ness is greeted with debatable reserve by men of science.”

The first paragraph taught me something i did not know: The Loch Ness Monster’s name is Bobby!  And while Wilson says he is not going to “offer a belated biography of Bobby, the sea serpent of Scotland, as he swims like a submarine in Loch Ness,” he is sure going to take scientists to task for not investigating him.

Wilson does not argue that Bobby exists, indeed he claims not to be an expert, “All my life I have abstained strictly from the alcoholic inducements which on these occasions are said to contribute to what around Loch Ness, is called ‘perfect visibility.'”  Although I gather he does believe in him.

Rather, his point is that scientists have dropped the ball by not even looking into “by far the most interesting event in the modern annals of natural history.” (more…)

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Albert Boime–“Roy Lichtenstein and the Comic Strip” (Art Journal, Vol 28, No 2, Winter, 1968-1969)

Posted in Albert Boime, Art Journal, Canadian Music, Comic Strips, Essays, Roy Lichtenstein, Talking Heads, The Acorn on March 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE ACORN-“The Flood Pt. 1” from Viva Piñata! (2008).

The Acorn are a folk band from Ottawa.  This song sounds a lot like later Talking Heads.  Talking Heads are not really a band that many other bands sound like.  And yet they have such a distinctive sound that when a band sounds like them it’s hard not to think “another Talking Heads.”

Having said that, this is a fun and interesting song.  It has a world music feel in the rhythms.  And the vocals are in the vein of David Byrne (but not aping him or anything like that).  The big difference from the Talking Heads comes near the end of the song when a second voice (who sounds a bit like Bono) comes in to do harmonies.

All in all it is a very satisfying song.

[READ: March 20 2012] “Roy Lichtenstein and the Comic Strip”

This is the first of three new articles that my company send around as samples of interesting articles that we have archived.

I’ve always enjoyed Lichtenstein’s comic-book-style art.  It’s kind of pop and very commercial, and I’ve always appreciated it, even if I didn’t really like the comics that he took his inspiration from.

Despite my enjoyment of his work, I never really bothered to investigate how he did it.  I wasn’t sure if he just took a comic page and blew it up or added color or what.  But it turns out that he did actually recreate the pictures from scratch.  This article shows side by side some original cartoon panels and then Lichtenstein’s version.

In most of them he keeps things relatively the same.  But even in those it is quite clear that he is redoing the art with his own lines and style–he is not copying the faces, he is simplifying them even further in some cases or making them more beautiful in others.  You can see that he has changed little things to make them more artistically satisfying–stretching out a window to connect characters, removing background images or zooming in more in a frame to make the image more striking–although the are always recognizable as the original.   The most drastic change, and the focus of the article, is his use of the balloon quote. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–“I Can’t Read” (Harper’s, April 2012)

Posted in Canadian Music, Chris Andrews, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Harper's, Marriage (Happy), Roberto Bolaño, Short Story, Translation, You Say Party! We Say Die! on March 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE!-“Monster (RAC Remix)” and “Like I Give a Care (Octopus Project Remix)” from Viva Piñata! (2008).

Viva Piñata is a free CD compilation that I received I think when I ordered a Tokyo Police Cub CD.  It celebrates “5 years of ass-whippin’ at Paper Bag Records.”  It came out in 2008, so presumably, Paper Bag Records has now been whippin’ ass for 9 years.

You Say Party! We Day Die! (that’s a name that seems to be trying too hard) is from British Columbia, Canada and they seem to be a noisy keyboard band.  “Monster” is a keyboard-heavy poppy song.  Of course, since this is a remix I have no idea what the original sounds like.  The lead singer has a cool deep voice (a more poppy Kim Gordon, perhaps?).  But this song is dominated by the propulsive synths.

“Like I Give a Care” has a remix that is even more intense, overeffected, noisy and chaotic with a great propulsive bass.  It also seems like most of the song has been stripped, leaving just a chorus repeated.  As a remix it works fine.

I’ve often complained about remixes–if I like a song, why would I want to hear a remix of it?  This is the opposite.  I’ve never heard the song before and the remix is kind of fun. I’m intrigued to hear what they actually sound like.

[READ: March 22, 2012] “I Can’t Read”

Another month, another excerpt from a new posthumous Bolaño release.  This latest book is called The Secret of Evil which Harper’s says will be out this month (we’ll see about that).  The Secret of Evil is evidently a collection of unfinished pieces that Bolaño was working on when he died.

This particular story certainly seems finished, so who knows what the rest of the book will be like.

I am particularly fond of this kind of story from Bolaño–it reads like nonfiction (and maybe it is).  It seems to be a true account from his life (written in first person and about his family)–it’s a personal, relaxed style in which he muses about things and events.  It is also set during his first trip back to Chile since leaving in 1974 (a subject he mines quite well).

This one starts with the line: “This is a story about four people.”  The first two people he talks about are his son Lautaro and a new friend that his son made named Pascual.  Lautaro was eight and Pascual was four, but since Lautaro was desperate for someone to play with, he overlooked the age difference and made a holiday friend. (more…)

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Alice Munro–“Haven” (New Yorker, March 5, 2012)

Posted in Alice Munro, Bidiniband, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Dave Bidini music, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Short Story on March 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BIDINIBAND-The Land Is Wild (2009).

Dave Bidini was a driving force behind Rheostatics.  Although when I think of the band, I think of Martin Tielli’s wackiness and Tim Vesely’s hits, which kind of makes Bidini the sort of stable, middle of the road guy.  But I don’t think that’s right either as Bidini has both a wacky side and a hit-making side.  But this “solo” project focuses mainly on Bidini’s storytelling skills.  Most of the songs are little narratives, which is always enjoyable.

“Desert Island Poem” is actually a story of the dissolution of the Rheostatics–when they survived a plane crash in Drumhella and ate the drummer.   “Memorial Day” surprises because of the clarinet solo (which works wonderfully).  “We Like to Rock” and “Song Ain’t Any Good” are the other kind of song that Bidini writes–songs about playing music.  These kind of songs are always dopey and “We Like to Rock” is no exception–I think I ‘d like it more if it weren’t so tinny sounding.  “Song Ain’t Any Good” is kind of funny, especially if you get through the whole song, although I don’t know if multiple listens are rewarded.

On the other hand, “The Land is Wild” is a great song about Bidini’s other passion: hockey.  This is a lengthy (nearly 7 minute) story about Bryan Fogarty, a young hockey player who was a star at 21 but a forgotten addict by 31.  It’s a sad, cautionary tale about how the hockey establishment all but ignored him as he wasted away.   “How Zeke Roberts Died” is a very similar song,  it’s an 8 minute biography of Liberian singer Zeke Roberts.  This song has lead vocals by a variety of singers.

“Last Good Cigarette” is a delightful ditty about smoking with famous people (and it is super catchy–ha-cha!).  “Pornography” is a funny political song about George W. Bush that is also quite catchy.  And the wonderfully titled, “The Story of Canadiana and Canadiandy” is about living close to America.

Although the album is mostly folky and kind of mellow, “Terrorize Me Now” shows some of Bidini’s more wild guitar noises.  And the final song, “The Ballad of 1969” is a great song that is reminiscent of the kind of highs that the Rheos would hit.  There’s a bonus untitled song [later called “The List (Killing Us Now)”] which is a simple song of people who have aggrieved him.  It’s funny, especially in the live context it is given.

While not as great as a Rheostatics album, this release is like an extension of the band.  Bidini has a new album out which I haven’t heard yet, but I’ll certainly be checking it out.

[READ: March 5, 2012] “Haven”

Munro is back (talk about prolific!) and she has created a darkly claustrophobic house in which to place the young protagonist of this story.

The story is set in the seventies.  The protagonist is from Vancouver, but her parents are heading off to Africa for a year so they have sent her to live with her Uncle Jasper and Aunt Dawn.  Despite this mission to Africa, they are not going there for a missionary purpose, they are going there to teach (and haven’t come across many heathen).  They’re also Unitarian.  Uncle Jasper, on the other hand, insists on saying grace before meals and gets on the protagonist when she starts eating before the prayers.

It turns out that Uncle Jasper is the man of the house.  Aunt Dawn does not begin eating her meal until the discussion of grace is over (after receiving an invisible nod from Jasper).  More examples of her deference are given, but the quote that sums up Aunt Dawn (whether she said it or not) is “A Woman’s most important job is making a haven for her man.”  Although, given that, Jasper does show her some affection: a gift and some closeness towards the end of the story. (more…)

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Roberto Bolaño–Tres (2000) [translated 2011]

Posted in Antoni García Porta, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Enrique Lihn, Laura Healy, Mark Twain, Marriage Trouble, Philip K. Dick, Poetry, Poets, Roberto Bolaño, Short Story, Translation on February 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KHÔRA’s-Silent Your Body Is Endless [CST071] (2011).

This is the third and final disc from Constellation’s MUSIQUE FRAGILE 01 collection.  Khôra is Matthew Ramolo doing solo work on the guitar.  But unlike any other guitar album you may have heard, this one is processed and manipulated so that much of the album sounds nothing like a guitar.

Most of the sounds on the disc are washes and waves of guitars that grow and fade.  Although the opening track “Natura Naturans” has a recognizable acoustic guitar melody, the washes are all processed guitar sounds.  This sound also has an echoing church bell, the kind of sound that would bot be out of place on a black metal album although this is as far from black metal as you can get.

The church bell, by the way is a field recording, and in addition to the guitars there are plenty of field recordings on the disc.

He generates a wonderfully expansive amount of moods as well.  There are haunting melodies like on “Body Aperbut also beautifully upbeat ones like on “Hushed Pulse of the Universe”

I find the artwork that accompanies the Khora album to be the most satisfying of all three.

[READ: February 15, 2012] Tres

Another month, another posthumous Roberto Bolaño release.  Tres is so-called because there are three pieces in it.  They are described as poems, although I have a hard time seeing them as such.  It has the Spanish title because it was originally published as Tres and the English version is actually a bilingual version with facing Spanish and English pages (translated by Laura Healy–I guess if Laura Healy translated it, it must be poetry as she is Bolaño’s poetry translator).

Tres is also amusing to me because it is so clearly a way to make a very small book seem bigger.  In addition to the facing pages of the text, most pages have a paragraph or two at most (short ones at that).  So it’s total 173 pages is really half that and then, given how much white space there is, it’s easily half that as well.  None of this is a complaint, it’s just an observation.

The reason I’m confused about calling it poetry is because of the three pieces only one “looks” like poetry (with line breaks and what not).  Indeed, the first piece, “Prosa del otoño en Gerona” literally translates as “Prose from Autumn in Gerona.”  The second piece (the one that looks like poetry) is called “Los neochilenos” or “The Neochileans” and the final one is a series of numbered paragraphs (again, with no poetry conventions) called “Un paseo por la literatura” or “A Stroll through Literature.”  I read each of these pieces three times primarily because I found them hard to follow and wondered what I was missing.  Multiple readings did help, although I find with Bolaño’s longer short pieces, the details are exquisite while the overall picture is a bit confused. (more…)

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Ernest Cline–Ready Player One (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Adventure, Battlestar Galactica, Brazil, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, Dr. Who, Dystopia, Ernest Cline, History, Joust, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Rush, Terry Gilliam, The Future, Violence on February 15, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TRIUMPH-Just a Game (1979).

When I was a kid, my love of Rush was followed closely by my love of Triumph (I had a thing for Canadian power trios).  I’ve recently read a bunch about Triumph and was surprised to hear how acrimonious the band was.  Of course, I didn’t care about any of that back in the 80s.

This album was my favorite (even though Allied Forces was their major breakthrough).  In my gate-fold album the inner foldout was an actual board game.  How thoughtful!

It’s funny listening now, how much I liked this album back then because there is definitely some cheese here.  And I could never decide if I liked drummer Gil Moore’s songs or Rik Emmet’s songs best.  “Movin On” is a great hit but the backing vocals and “on and on” parts are kind of wimpy 70s rock–I must have blocked it out while jamming to the guitar solo.

Rik Emmet has since gone on to a successful solo career.  But on “Lay It On the Line,” the song that got me into them (thanks MTV) Rik rocks like he loves this band and this music.  The song features some serious guitar workouts and some impressive vocal acrobatics.

Perhaps, in hindsight, I like Rik’s songs better, as “Yong Enough to Cry” is pretty cheesy (it was fun to sing along to when I was 13 though–even if I never understood Gil’s pain, man).  But all of that was forgiven for the majesty of “American Girls.”  Sure, it’s also a cheesy song, but man it rocks.  As a young kid, I loved hearing the national anthem in the middle of the song.  And that solo is non-stop.

“Just a Game” is a powerhouse of a song although it’s a little long for what it is.  But then there’s the amazing “Fantasy Serenade” just over 90 second of beautiful classical guitar (a direction he’s go in much more after leaving Triumph).  It’s wonderful as a solo and it works as an amazing intro to the majestic “Hold On” (a song about music that doesn’t suck).  Although admittedly, the single version is better without the weird disco instrumental in the middle that really kind of puts a kibosh on the flow of the song.

The album ends with the strange (and quite long for what is it) “Suitcase Blues,” a 3 minute slow blues about touring.  But hey it showcases diversity, eh?

Even though many people compare Triumph to Rush, I think the more likely comparison is actually Kiss.  “American Girls” has a real Kiss vibe towards the end, and the opening chords of “Movin’ On” have a real Kiss feel.  Regardless, they played great metal/rock/prog and I’ll always love them for it.

[READ: February 12, 2012] Ready Player One

Do you like Rush? Do you like Monty Python?  Do you like the 80s?  (not those 80s, but cool 80s like Blade Runner, coin op video games, Family Ties, Square Pegs?)  Then you absolutely must read this book.  Especially if you like Rush, because how often does Rush form a plot point in a book?

Sarah was reading this book and she insisted that I read it (she has really been passing on the good suggestions lately!).  And when I heard her playing Rush a few days after reading this book (and she doesn’t like Rush), I knew I had to read it.

But what is it?  Well, It is basically the story of an online quest to find a secret egg and win a massive fortune.  The egg was placed in a virtual world by its creator, James Halliday.  Halliday was “a nerd uber-deity on the level of Gygax, Garriott, and Gates.”  He created amazing video games and ultimately the most amazing virtual reality space ever: OASIS.  (For Atari geeks, his inspiration for getting into creating video games in the first place was the Atari game Adventure).  Halliday was obsessed with the 19080s (the decade he grew up in), with technology and with geeky movies.  The only way to find this egg in OASIS is to know a thing or two (or 1,000,000) about the man who created it and the decade he loved.

If you were hooked by the first paragraph, you’ve already put this book on hold.  If you were hooked by the third paragraph, you know you have to put this book on hold.  If you’re not convinced yet let me back up.

It is the year 2044.  The earth is in a hellish state–there’s no fuel, there’s no jobs, people live in trailers that are stacked on top of each other.  Life sucks.  Except for OASIS.  OASIS is the virtual world created by Halliday.  At this stage in the world, OASIS is where most people go to school (cheaper and easier to do virtual teaching) and where many people spend most of their lives.  It’s depressing and horrible (and I actually didn’t enjoy the opening chapters all that much because it was really horrible and at a times a bit more caustic than I was expecting–but that changes quite a lot).

So Halliday invented OASIS as an idealized pace.  It was originally a multi-player game but soon became a new place to live, a kind of Eden.  It was free to join and you didn’t have to pay to play.  Although you needed credits to travel (or to build your own buildings or planets or whatnot), you could stay on the main world (which looks a whole hell of a lot nicer than the real world) and just hang out for free.  You can earn points through various achievements which would let you travel (or you could always hitch a ride with a friend) around the worlds.

Anyhow, when Halliday died, as his last will, he created a contest in OASIS.  Anyone who could find the three keys and unlock the three gates would win his entire fortune (billions of dollars) and total control of OASIS.

The protagonist (Wade in the real world, Perzival in the OASIS world) is telling his tale because he was the first avatar to find the first key to Halliday’s Hunt (it took over five years to find the first key).  If you played D&D, this section will make you smile.

When Perzival found the key he was suddenly famous because everyone on OASIS knew it was found.  Prior to this moment, the “leader board” which previously listed only Halliday, now suddenly lit up with Perzival’s name.  (Good thing OASIS avatars are anonymous, right?) (more…)

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