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Archive for the ‘Dave Bidini music’ Category

Dave Bidini–Tropic of Hockey: My Search for the Game in Unlikely Places (2001)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Communists, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Dave Bidini, Dave Bidini music, History, Hockey, Hockey Night in Canada, Rheostatics, Travel on February 23, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Double Live (1997).

After mentioning the two live shows that comprise the majority of this disc, I figured I’d mention the disc itself.  Rheostatics are a great and engaging live band: Dave Bidini has wonderful repartee with the audience and Martin Tielli’s live guitar work is amazing. The band sounds tight but not stiff and there are a number of tracks here that are goofy (but not throwaway) like the acoustic version of “Bread, Meat, Peas & Rice” and the weird and wonderful “People’s Republic of Dave.”

The songs that were taken from the two Bathurst Street concerts have been professionally mixed and mastered (of course) so even if you’ve listened to the bootleg concerts, you’re going to hear a different quality (and mix, as boots tend to be recorded from one side, usually missing some aspect).

My only gripe is something that they’d never really be able to accomplish live anyway.  It’s in “King of the Past” which is one of my favorite Rheos songs.  On the album, after the break, there’s an electric violin (or something) that plays a really cool dramatic melody.  But live they never play it like that, they rely on Tielli’s guitar.  The guitar sounds fine, but that majestic string section provides such a great contrast that the live version lacks just a little.

On the other hand, the live version of “Horses” is stunning.  As are “A Midwinter Night’s Dream,” “Palomar,” and “Christopher.”

[READ: February 8, 2011] Tropic of Hockey

I bought this book when I was in Toronto sometime in 2001.  I was pretty excited to get another book by Dave Bidini.  And then I proceeded to not read it for a decade.  Hey, these things happen.

But I have to say in many ways I’m glad I waited this long to read it.  The book was written pre 9/11 and as such it has a kind of sweetness about international travel that I miss now.  And I can appreciate it all a lot better with a decade’s distance from everything.  As of 2011, I know that I never want to go to the UAE, but reading Bidini talk about the UAE circa 1999 it sounds like a really fun place to go.

So anyhow, this book, as the subtitle suggests, is Bidini’s attempt to find hockey in weird places around the globe.  Bidini has gotten tired of the NHL: it is bloated, is it full of obnoxious rock anthems during stoppage and the spirit of the game has been overwhelmed by the Almighty dollar (specifically the American dollar).  And so, he wanted to see if he could find people who played hockey the way he and his pickup team play on the weekends: for the love of hockey.  And he was amazed to find hockey fans in these four unexpected places: Hong Kong, China, The United Arab Emirates and Transylvania.

The book is really three things though: it is the story of hockey in different places, it is a chance for Bidini to play hockey in these places and write about the experience and it is a history of Canadian hockey. (more…)

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C.E. Morgan–”Twins” (New Yorker, June 14 & 21, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, C.E. Morgan, Canadian Music, Dave Bidini music, New Yorker, Racism, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, tagged on August 4, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Record Runner, Ottawa ON, November 29, 1996 – In Store Acoustic (1996).

In Dave Bidini’s book On a Cold Road (which I am reading now), he writes how bad in store record appearances really are.  You don’t play your own equipment, typically (no room), you have to play stripped down versions of the songs. People are shopping around you.  And, the punch line (see end of the review).

Despite that, this set (a pit stop after opening for the Tragically Hip the night before (and later the same night, too)) is really fun.  Martin Tielli says that they’re usually not up so early (it’s 2PM).  They play a couple of acoustic numbers and then invite someone in the crowd to sing “The Ballad of Wendell Clark Pts 1 & 2,” and a young lady does an admirable job.  They also throw in “Bud the Spud.”

Then the take some more requests, and tell the crowd that they have a new shirt out (with Chickadees on it).  But they tell them not to buy it at the HIP show, because they had to sell the shirts for $40 (what the HIP charge).  They’ll be back in a couple of months and they’ll sell them cheaper.

The punchline at the end of the show is when they say that their albums are available at the store.  And when they ask someone if that’s true, it turns out that they have one copy of their new album and one copy of an old one.  (“enough for everyone,” quips Tielli).

You can download it here.

[READ: July 29, 2010] “Twins”

I didn’t like this story in the beginning.  In fact, if I hadn’t promised myself I’d read all 20 of the 20 under 40 authors, I probably wouldn’t have finished it.  The exposition felt too long, too detailed, and without a lot of focus.  In fact, it wasn’t until about four pages into the story that it really caught my interest.

The story is about twins, born to a single black mother from a white father.  One of the babies, Mickey (named after his father Mike) is white, while the other boy, Allmon, is black.  But other than that they look alike.

And the interesting part for me came when the mother (Mike is long out of the picture at this point) is walking with the kids and they see a yard sale.  The host of the sale can’t help but comment about the two kids.  And she asks one question after another until she goes too far.  The way this scene played out was very emotional, very powerful, and it really brought the story to life. (more…)

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Fredy Perlman–[Week 7] Letters of Insurgents (1976)

Posted in Anarchy, Big Books, Canadian Music, Dave Bidini music, Epistolary Novel, Fredy Perlman, Funny (strange), Insurgent Summer, Marriage Trouble, Neurotics, Religion, Rheostatics, Sex, Supernatural, Technology, Violence on July 23, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-“Horses” (1991).

I have mentioned the Rheostatics a lot.  I’ve even talked about this song in Melville.  And yet it works so well as a companion to this book.

It starts slowly enough, a simple acoustic guitar with the lyrics:

Word came down and it crashed through my door
From the twenty-first floor
I was thinkin’ about leavin’ early for lunch
When he told me to shut off my press
His face turned green and his white shirt was wet
Like he’d just seen an accident
We threw our masks into a pile, the trucks pulled away for good

The band kicks in a slow beat  as the song builds:

A bus pulled in and I waved at it
Before I knew what it was
We ran in its tracks chasing its tires
But the gates had been riveted shut
I looked for the foreman; his number was empty
Up to Red Deer to stay
We gathered some signs and we sparked up a fire
Gordie got burned on the high-voltage wire

A quick intense bridge:

The first thing she’ll ask me is: “How did it go today?”And I’ll tell her.

The song builds in intensity with some wild screaming guitars until finally settling down to the quiet beginning

I thought there was strength in a union
I thought there was strength in a mob
I thought the company was bluffing
When they threatened to chop us off
Ah, these guns will wilt the winter will seize
And all the bonfires will go out
The company knows when they can afford to be bold
I wish I could, I wish I could, I wish I could

All along the ringing repeated chorus: “Holy mackinaw Joe! (Holy mackinaw).”

I’m not sure if this references a specific event or not.  (Surely someone can tell me that).  But you can listen to it here.  Or, find any of the live renditions on youtube.

There’s an interview with Dave Bidini of the Rheos who tells the interviewer that he also used to do music interviews.  And once he interviewed Neil Peart who, after much chatter, asked Dave if he knew the song “Horses” by the Rheos.  Dave humbly said that he wrote it.  And Neil said that on their last tour he used to come off stage and listen to “Horses” at full blast.  (And that’s how they got Neil to play on the Rheos’ subsequent album).  Neat, huh?

[READ: Week of July 16, 2010] Letters of Insurgents [Sixth Letters]

Insurgent Summer is till moving along, but the insurgents have been quiet lately.  I hope the insanity of these letters and invocations of the devil will bring up the chatter.

Yarostan opens his letter with the most heartfelt emotions.  And yet, anyone who thought (as I did) that there might be some kind of rekindling of romance between the two will be sorely disappointed: (more…)

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Douglas Coupland–Generation A (2009)

Posted in Books about writers, Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Culture Shock, Dave Bidini music, Death, Douglas Coupland, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Dystopia, Funny (strange), JPod, Kurt Vonnegut, Natural Disasters, Nature, Research, Rheostatics, Technology, The Future, Video Games, Violence, Yuck!, tagged on January 14, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Static Box (complete) (2008).

I’ve decided not to review all of the volumes of this fabulous free box set.  Rather, since I have now finished it, I’ll sum up and say that it is a fantastic collection from start to finish.

The final disc has a series of great cover tunes.  And of course, there’s the final songs from the final Massey Hall show which are quite emotional, even all these years later.

There’s one or two songs that I probably would have left off for sound quality reasons (although usually they’re pretty interesting/essential for what they are).  There’s one 8 minute song, “Monkeys Will Come” that has quite poor sound quality.  However, it is a recording of the song that the Canadian government asked them to record for Canada Day in 2000.  And I assume there are no better recordings of it, so it’s nice to have.

The best part of this collection is that it allowed me to see which concerts were worth downloading in their entirety (the site has a ton of concerts for downloading…a ton!).  It also got me to track down the two Violet Archers CDs, which I’m quite excited to be getting soon.

And, while I’m in a Rheos mood.  Martin Tielli’s final CDs in his subscription collection just made their way to my house and they are weird and wonderful.  And, I just learned that Dave Bidini put out a solo record a few months back, so that’s worth tracking down too.  Go Rheos!  You are all very star.

[READ: January 12, 2010] Generation A

I was quite excited when this book finally came out.  I had been dipping into the Douglas Coupland back catalog (including watching JPod the TVseries), so this book is a treat.

Strangely, when I started reading the book I realized I had no idea what it was about.  At all.  So, the first thing to note is that it is not in any way a sequel to Generation X.  None of the characters are the same, the setting is not the same, there’s no connection whatsoever (or if there is I didn’t see it).  The premise of the title comes from a Kurt Vonnegut address.  It is quoted on the book jacket and in the book itself, so I won’t quote it here, but the gist is that young people were dismissed unfairly when labelled “Generation X,” so they should insist that they be called “Generation A,” the beginning of the alphabet, and the start of it all.

But when the book starts, it’s hard to understand what that has to do with anything.  Because, as we learn right away, the book is all about bees (which explains the yellow and black cover design). (more…)

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Matthew Loux–Salt Water Taffy: The Seaside Adventures of Jack and Benny: The Legend of Old Salty (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, Canadian Music, Children's Books, Dave Bidini music, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Matthew Loux, Mystery, Ongoing, Rheostatics, Short Books, Summer on December 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Melville (1991).

This fantastic Rheostatics album was one of the last ones I bought for some reason.  It came after their debut, Greatest Hits, and is quite a departure for that more simplistic disc.

It opens with the two minute “Record Body Count,” which sets the tone for the disc.  It’s quirky, with different pacings and loud/soft parts, and is quite affecting.  In fact, the entire rest of the disc is quirky and off beat, as befits a disc with a big whale on the cover.

Three great tracks on this disc are “Saskatchewan,” “Horses” and “Aliens (Christmas 1988).”  And the CD comes with a bonus track of their cover of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” which is rocking and swaying as a good nautical track should.

The CD ends with “You Are Very Star” a track that ended their live shows.  On the disc, the track is a series of hockey announcements with quiet whistles as the song fades away,

Rheostatics are definitely an unusual band.  Martin Tielli’s voice goes into high registers at unexpected times, he also sing-speaks (and you can hear the Canadian accent) at times.  Tim Vesely and Dave Bidini also have vocal duties, and their more mellow style adds for a nice contrast.  But basically, what you get is unpredictable rock.  And really, there’s nothing better than that.  Especially when, once you get comfortable with the songs, you realize just how catchy they are.

Melville, it’s in Saskatchewan, and it rocks.

[READ: December 21, 2009] Salt Water Taffy: The Legend of Old Salty

This is a delightful all ages comic set on the coast of Maine.  As the story opens we see brothers Jack and Benny (I did wonder if there is some connection to Jack Benny, but I’d have to say no) driving to their summer house in Maine.  Benny is younger and having fun playing the license plate game while Jack is absorbed in his gameboy. (more…)

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