SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Fall Nationals, Night 7 of 10, The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (December 14, 2005).
This was the 7th night of their 10 night Fall Nationals run at the Horseshoe, Whale Music night.
On this night the Rheostatics were made up of 7 people, the usual suspects, plus Ford Pier on Keys, legendary pedal steel player Lewis Melville, and what Whale Music would be complete without Dave Clark. For those keeping track that’s 2 drummers in the band for this show! There were a few other guests as well, Brother Rick on “Guns” and Tannis Slimmon on “Palomar”. At the end of “Legal Age Life” Dave C got up from the drums and pulled a slide whistle out of his pocket and proceeded to solo on it, Martin, not one to be shown up, ran off stage and grabbed a flute and came back to duel with Dave. On Claire some of the band switched things up, Tim, Dave C, Lewis,and Martin kept to their normal rolls but Dave B played Drums, Mike played tambourine and Ford played bass. Dave Clark’s mic wasn’t working until “The Headless One”. Edmund Fitzgerald was played in complete darkness for most of the song which added a nice ambiance, towards the end blue lights were turned on. And if that wasn’t a great way to end the show they played a fiery rendition of Horses.
No Whale Music night would be complete without mentioning Paul Quarrington. Dave talks about the inspiration of the book and then says, “we thought it was only right to bring Paul Quarrington to open the show.” You can hear someone on the tape gasp and then you hear, He was right beside you!” “Oh my God!”
Paul reads an except from when Desmond is talking about making whale music and seeing Claire sunbathing. It’s weird with no context, but most people fans surely read it. The audio quality isn’t great at the start but by the end of the excerpt it sounds great and so does the rest of the show.
They open the show with a ripping “Self Serve Gas Station.” Tim says that there never used to be an outro. Dave started strumming the chords again while they were recording it and the other guys joined in. Dave: “What is this classic albums or something? Yeah I guess it is.” “I believe I was wearing a purple shirt….” It segues into a fantastic “California Dreamline.” It ends with the clapping intro for “Rain Rain Rain.” They have some cool warbly backing vocals during the “feeling pretty down” part in the second half. There’s a great bass “solo” underneath the quieter vocals and then the band has crazy fun during the last verse with jazzy chords followed by big rocking chords.
Dave starts “Queer” but Ford starts playing “Everyday People” (no doubt a nod to Cece singing it the other night). Despite Dave’s starting the words to “Queer,” Ford just starts singing “Everyday People” and the whole band joins in (Ford has a great high voice for the chorus). When “Queer” starts, everyone sounds fantastic. Ford gets a little piano solo before the end. And then came Lewis Melville on the guitar.
Dave: “Here’s another song from, jeez, Whale Music. Playing the whole album makes banter inconsequential.”
“King Of The Past” sounds good, but someone messes up the chorus–I think Tim is too early both times. But no one stops. Musically it sounds fine–especially the bass. During the outro solo, Dave shouts, “give birth to that horse, Martin.” Martin’s solo and wild and punky noises from the keys work as a segue into a blistering “RDA” with lots of screaming. Dave sings a few choruses of “They don’t give a fuck about anybody else.” At the end Mike notes, “we brought a drill (there’s a drill on the record for this song) but left it in the dressing room.
Dave notes that “Don Kerr will be with us tomorrow night. We’ll have the full complement.”
Several times they’ve asked for more of Dave Clark’s voice in the monitor. It’s possible that he wasn’t audible to anyone. Dave says, “You had a Gil Moore moment.” Dave notes: “Mike Levine was the first rock star to live on the Danforth.” Ford: Mike Levine’s dad was the President of [inaudible]. What a squarehead. Bean counter.”
“The Headless One” doesn’t get played much (Mike say first time in about 15 years) and it sounds good–again the bass sounds really great.
For some reason, Martin says, “We got mild, medium and no hot sauce at all.” “Legal Age Life At Variety Store” features Lewis Melville on the pedal steel. It’s followed by a slide whistle solo from Dace Clark. Dave: “Bring it, Vesely, bring it. (Tim is on drums). Oh don’t stop there, man, I can hear those Irish fjords calling me.” Then Martin grabs the penny whistle to compete with Dave. Mike: “That’s one sharp trap drumming by Tim Vesely there.”
Martin says, “I’ve only counted three mistakes so far.” And then Tim busts out the accordion for a great “What’s Going On Around Here?”
For “Shaved Head,” Tim says, “I think we recorded this song in the dark. Martin was in the hallway. There were candles–a major fire hazard, but we’re all about flouting the law. Was there grappa. Grappa was Melville. Mike: “We’ve matured since then… it was fine scotch.” Martin: Does anyone know why booze explodes? Answer: “When you don;t drink, it explodes.
Ford says, “Whats next? At this part of the record I get up and get a snack.” Mike says, “This is the part of the record that I think of Tannis Slimmon. She is such a beautiful person. One of the kindest and most gentle people I’ve ever met. And on top of that and she sings like a bird) and we happen to have her here.” It’s a lovely version of “Palomar.”
Tim says one of his favorite Canadian albums of all time is The Bird Sisters She, She & She.
I believe that Dave Clark gets up: “Ladies and gentlemen, Neil Peart” (not really). “The motorcycling has done wonders for his physique.”
Clark: “Friends, is everybody being kind to each other? I thought so.” Clark does “Guns” and has updated his beat poetry. He gets a chant going, “What don’t we need?” “Guns!” “We need more peace.” He has the audience make some drum sounds and then Bidini plays the bongos and he sings “getting it on the circuits.”
There’s more accordion for “Sickening Song.” It sounds great although at the end, Dave says we used to sound a lot more Italian. Tim says I think I found my new calling–no more lugging around heavy bass amplifiers. He continues to play the accordion until the start of “Soul Glue.” In the middle, Dave shouts, “How about a pedal steel guitar solo?” Then Dave shouts, “how about a rock n roll guitar solo?” “Ford Pier keyboard solo?” Tim, “May I ask for a bass solo?”
They need to practice the opening vocal harmony, but they nail it for “Beerbash,” Hey everybody Dave is gonna sing a song right now for all you kids. There’s a pretty slide guitar solo.
And then Tim says, “This album never ends.” Dave: “This album isn’t over is what Tim means to say. We have two more.”
They talk a bit about Reaction Studios where they recorded Melville and Whale Music. It closed down the day before. And somewhere along the lines some major music company bought the rights [to Whale Music] and we have no connection to the thing. (But you can get it in zunior).
Up next is “Who?” The whole song sounds good until the final two notes. Martin cringes and then says, “we have never played that with you, Michael? Nope, never.”
The album ends with “Dope Fiends and Boozehounds.” It sounds terrific and they even thrown in a full version of “Alomar” for fun.
After having played the album, they take a break and then come back to play “Claire.” The bass sounds a little off on this song–slightly out of tune? The song sounds good although in the middle section someone hits a terrible chord, but hey come out of that okay and finish strong.
Something happens on stage and Martin says “A request” and then plays jazzy number: “mild hot or medium.” There are no standards for spicy. He then asks, “What are we doing now, Dave? Are we gonna do all of 2112?” He starts playing “Song of Flight” and Ford starts singing, “We are the priests!”
While Martin plays, “Song Of Flight” Tim sings “around the rainbow three times” in tune.
Dave asks them to shut off the stage lights completely. There are some ominous chords and some shushing. Then Tim starts singing “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.” They do a great job and they throw in the “I wish I was back home in Derry” part. It segues into a scorching “Horses.” During it they “give the drummer some.” Not sure who gets to solo or is it both or them? It’s a good solo. And then one more solo from Mr Louis Melville.
They turn that fifty minute album into an excellent two and a half hour show.
[READ: July 17, 2017] Pigs Might Fly
I really enjoyed Abadzis’ book Laika. I thought it was factually interesting and cleverly written. And I think my joy at that book impacted why I disliked this book so much.
This is a fairly simple story (although it is made rather complicated).
A girl, Lily, is a good airplane creator. Her father is supposed to be the airplane creator. He refuses to use magic in his creations believing that only science can keep a plane in the air. But when the neighboring town starts attacking with their own airplanes, Lily takes it upon herself to fight them.
Okay, fine.
But here’s the thing. This story is all about pigs. And I don’t know why. Aside from the title that allows for the joke of pigs flying, there’s no “reason” to have made these characters pigs. Well, also because Abadzis wanted to stuff this book full of awful pig/hog puns. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: NEIL PEART-September 12, 1952-January 7, 2020.
When I was in high school, Rush was my favorite band, hands down. I listened to them all the time. I made tapes of all of their songs in alphabetical order and would listen to them straight through.
I Just Read About That... 