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Archive for the ‘Kevin Hearn’ Category

Christian McPherson–Killer Dope (2004)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Christian McPherson, Death, Drugs, Geddy Lee, Guns, Kevin Hearn, Martin Tielli, Nick Buzz, Rheostatics, Violence, Yuck!, tagged on October 21, 2015| Leave a Comment »

logo_OL-lgSOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON (April 5, 2002).

Lees-Front-360x238By April, Martin was back in Toronto.  The newer album would be coming out in 2003, and he plays 4 songs from it.  The rest of the songs comes from his first solo album with a couple of Nick Buzz songs, a Rheostatics track and a Joni Mitchell cover thrown in.

For the first three songs, it’s just him and his acoustic guitar.  “World in a Wall” sounds great and he even plays a gnawing sound on the guitar strings (sliding the pick up them).  He’s got cool, aggressive strumming in “Double X.”

For Joni Mitchell’s “River” Kevin Hearn plays piano. It’s quite lovely (and Hearn is applauded, of course). Then Martin plays an outstanding version of “She Said ‘We’re on Our Way Down’” (each live version gets better).

Before playing “My Sweet Relief” he says “stay tuned for Operation Infinite Justice.”  He is clearly keeping this as the band’s name, even if the next album will be changed somewhat to Operation Infinite Joy.

There’s a great percussion sound on “That’s What You Get for Having Fun.”  On Voices in the Wilderness” he finally just comes out and mentions the source of the lyrics: after singing “if you choose not to decide…” he changes his own words to “I know Geddy, he don’t know me” (from the usual “I know him, he don’t know me”).

During “Sgt Kraulis” (one of the newer songs) they have a jam section in the middle it turns reggae and someone starts singing “Legalize It.”  And in “Love Streams” the piano (I assume no longer Kevin Hearn) plays a “stoned” melody when the lyrics speak of being stoned (musical humor!).

“Saskatchewan” sounds great—it’s a really passionate versions (with some backing vocals going “woah woah” near the end).

Martin has fun with “How Can You Sleep?” he seems to be talking during it, expanding on a line in the song ”Want to quit drinking? Cut off your head.”

This is a outstanding show.   The recording quality us great and Martin is in fine and funny form throughout.

[READ: October 20, 2015] Killer Dope

Since I found some McPherson books in the library, I decided to also grab this book.  This is a short story, but it was published by Bad Moon Books (in a limited edition of 150 copies) and was the winner of 2004 New Cat Tattoos.  I believe that it was reprinted in his short story collection Six Ways to Sunday (but I cannot confirm this).

So this story is, as the title suggests, all about drugs.

Our two protagonists are Two Seconds (whose name has a wonderful derivation) and Little Fish (whose name is also cleverly derived).  Little Fish is painting graffiti under a bridge (a UFO flying out of the eye of a kid shooting smack). Two Seconds is watching him add details and believes it to be the best art he had ever seen.

Then Little Fish asks him if he is ready for tonight.  (more…)

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Berkeley Breathed–Academia Waltz and other profound transgressions (2010)

Posted in Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County, Bob Dylan, Dave Bidini music, Doonesbury, Earl Campbell, Fantasy, Fears, Feminism, Football, Free Speech, Funny (ha ha), Gender, Gods, Greed, Guided By Voices, Humiliation, Kevin Hearn, LGBTQ, Martin Tielli, Nature, Neil Young, Political Humor, Punks, Racism, Religion, Rush, Scott Walker, Selina Martin, Set at School, Sex, Sexism, Smarty Pants, Star Trek on October 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

academiaSOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-“We didn’t even suspect that he was the poppy salesman.” (2001).

popptI wrote about this album once before, and while I made notes about it after listening to it again, I found out that they were pretty much exactly what I thought of the record four years ago.  So I’m going to simply repost the review here, but I’m going to add some new notes seamlessly intermingled.

Martin Tielli’s first solo disc is a proper solo release: it’s almost all him on acoustic guitar and his gorgeous alto voice.  I hadn’t listened to this disc in a while and I was delighted by how much of the disc I knew so well.

The opening track, “I’ll Never Tear Your Apart” is deceptively simple: beautiful harmonic’d guitars and his gentle voice.  There’s a great video to go with it here.  That is followed by the wonderful “My Sweet Relief” which sounds like a great Neil Young folk song: great verses an a strong chorus.  Lyrically, though, it is all Tielli.  “Double X” highlights Tielli’s beautiful acoustic guitar work.  It’s another great story song, this one about a destitute person hanging under a superstore with a K and an M.

“Voices in the Wilderness” is a simply beautiful song, a lovely guitar melody and Tielli’s high voice singing along.. I also love that the lyric  (mis)quotes Rush very nicely: “‘If you choose not to be free you still have made a choice,’ said a high and squeaky voice.”

“Farmer in the City” is the only track that Tielli didn’t write.  It’s a nearly 8-minute song by Scott Walker.  I had never listened to the original, but having now done so, I find the Walker version to be far superior.  Walker’s voice is so eccentric and wonderful.  So even though I love Martin’s voice, he just can’t compare to the original.   Also find Martin’s version to be just a little spare (the Walker version has lovely strings. Kevin Hearn plays celeste and Selina Martin plays wine glasses on the track.

It’s followed by the delightful “World in a Wall” which uses mice in the wall as a metaphor for a broken relationship (with wonderful detailed lines like: She’s like a mouse, I know she’s around It’s a gnawing sound. Leaves little brown poohs from a little pink bum.”

This is followed by “That’s How They Do It in Warsaw” which is the first really rocking song (it has bass and drums) and a voiceover in Polish by Kasia Zaton.

It’s coupled with a slightly less rocky but still loud track “How Can You Sleep?” (which makes another fun musical allusion, this time about Guided by Voices). It has a co-songwriting credit from Dave Bidini and has a kind of vocal allusion to Bob Dylan, although I doubt it is about him.

“She Said ‘We’re On Our Way Down’” is a song that I really want to enjoy more.  But It is so spare and Martin’s vocal line is so abstract, that I can never really get int it. But the guitar riff is really powerful and cool.  And yet, the song seems to eschew melody but then a gorgeous guitar or vocal line shines through and really sounds brilliant.  “From the Reel” is a beautiful, aching acoustic ballad.

The disc ends with the odd, seven minute “Wetbrain/Your War.”  The first part (wet brain) is kind of slow but it builds into a beautiful dark song about addiction.

This is a really beautiful album, although there are moments when I fell like Martin gets too delicate, it’s amazing to hear just what he can do when he’s on his own.

[READ: October 19, 2015] Academia Waltz

Way back a long time ago I was pretty excited to read all of the Bloom County reissue books.  Somehow I only got through Books 1 and 2, although I see now that five volumes were released in total.

Presumably at the end of that run, (which technically ended in 2011) comes this volume.  Academia Waltz is the strip that Breathed wrote back in college.  This book collects some (but apparently not all) of the strips.  It’s odd to not collect them all since there is also an art gallery with all kinds of original pieces (complete with edits and scribbled notes) that duplicate many of the earlier strips.

The first part collects pieces from Academia Waltz the 1979 collection.  The second part comes from Bowing Out, the 1980 Collection. (more…)

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Rheostatics (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, September 5, 2015)

Posted in Art Gallery of Ontario, Barenaked Ladies, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Dave Bidini music, Hugh Marsh, Kevin Hearn, Martin Tielli, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Rheostatics, Tim Vesely on September 6, 2015| 3 Comments »

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2015] Rheostatics

2015-09-05 22.26.36I am a huge fan of the Rheostatics, but I never saw them live before they broke up.  There was an attempt at a reunion a few years ago but it fell through (apparently do to Martin Tielli’s stage fright).

Then earlier in the spring I saw the incredible news.  The band was going to reunite for three nights at the AGO.  They were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album Music Inspired by the Group of 7 and they were going to play the entire album.  Now, I’ll admit it’s not my favorite Rheos album.  I like it fine, and there’s some good stuff on it, but it is mostly instrumental, and there’s only really 2 “songs” on it.  But who cared?  It was the Rheostatics!

And who cared if the show was in Toronto, an 8 hour drive away.  I knew the venue was small (it sold out pretty fast).  On the day of tickets sales, I arrived late to work so I could order online.  And after I secured them, I thought….now how in the hell am I going to do this?

Well, we decided to make a vacation out of it.  The show was Saturday night, the kids didn’t start school until Tuesday, so I took some days off of work and we drove up to Niagara Falls on the Wed before the show.  We toured the Falls and then drove to Toronto, where we did so much sightseeing, my legs were tired.  And then, when concert time approached, Sarah and I headed off to the AGO. (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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Emmanuel Guibert & Joann Sfar–Sardine in Outer Space 2 (2001) [translated 2006]

Posted in Adventure, Children's Books, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Huh?, Joann Sfar, Kevin Hearn, Outer Space, Pirates, Rheostatics, Sasha Watson, Superheroes, The Beatles, Translation, tagged on March 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

sardineSOUNDTRACK: CENTENNIAL SECONDARY SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATRE-The Story of Harmelodia (2000).

Cover-CSSMT-HarmelodiaAs mentioned in yesterday’s post.  The Centennial Secondary School and Choir released their version of The Story of Harmelodia. This CD (which to the best of my knowledge is no longer available for purchase anywhere) is newly available from the Rheostaticslive website.  While the (very cool) cover is there, there’s no information about the musicians.

The disc is about 35 minutes long and it recreates most of the music from the original CD.  For reasons which I’m sure have to do with rights, they do not include “Monkeybird” (everyone’s favorite song) and the songs about the Wingophone.  Those songs were all written by Kevin Hearn. I’d be very surprised if Hearn didn’t give them the rights to the songs, so there must be something else at play.

They also do not include the narration.  This of course makes the story a lot less clear–although at this point I feel like the songs are just fun and sweet, even if they story is lost.

The school’s version is quite good.  The band sounds great (with a whole host of instruments).  While the opening music on the first track sounds a bit high school bandish (perhaps because it so spare) as soon as the choir kicks in it really ratchets up the quality of the music.  And it stays high throughout.

The choir is outstanding, and the variety of instruments (I can hear all the brass, an autoharp, synths (there’s some fun spacey keyboard sounds on “I am Drummstein”) and some electric guitars) makes for a really compelling collection of songs.

One of the biggest difference is that many of the songs have horns playing the main melodies. “Invisible Stairs” has a flute as the lead instrument.  It’s very pretty and I like that it plays the “twinkle twinkle” melody as a counterpoint to the proper melody. It’s a very pretty version.  I also love the way “The Music Room” came out.  And the mostly instrumental “The Sky Dreamed” sounds really lovely.

I don’t know how many lead singers there are (or what their names are, although judging by the concert, I assume it is the same kids).  The female lead as featured on “Home Again” is great.  I like the male lead a little less.  He sounds a but too stiff to me.  Although I do like that on many songs he gives his own reading of the material.

The final song, “Song of the Garden,” sounds terrific.  I love the way the two singers harmonize and the way they place a cool horns section (which reminds me of The Beatles) as the song trails out.

I am of course curious why the couldn’t release those missing songs.  But I’m more impressed that the school (presumably with different people) performed a stage version of the show in 2004 which was played live in several places.

[READ: December 5, 2014] Sardine in Outer Space 2

Sardine is a children’s book published by First Second.  It was originally published in France (and in French) and was translated by Sasha Watson.  There are six Sardine books out.

This time the inner flap says “No Grownups Allowed (Unless they’re pirates or space adventurers),” and I found that I enjoyed book 2 quite a bit more than book 1. Perhaps the jokes just appealed to me a bit more–there were a number that I thought were very funny.

I enjoyed the double cross (well they pretty much all have a double cross) in The Brainwashing Machine.  But I really got a kick out of The Cha-Cha Fly.  When the fly bites you, you get stupid dance songs stuck in your head.  Nice premise–even funnier that the flies are named Britney, Christina, Justin and Clay. (more…)

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Dave McKean–Celluloid: An Erotic Graphic Novel (2011)

Posted in Barenaked Ladies, Dave McKean, Graphic Novel, Group of 7, Kevin Hearn, Photo Essays, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Books, The National, tagged on February 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

celluloidSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Group Of Seven Live, Ottawa, ON (October 21 1995).

vesely This concert, available from Rheostatics Live, is a recording of the band playing their Music Inspired by the Group of 7 live.  I’m not sure how many of these shows there were, or even if this is the show in its entirety (it seems like it, but there’s no intro, and maybe there was more after the set?).

At any rate, the Group of 7 album is almost entirely instrumental–scored music that is certainly rock, but quite different from typical Rheostatics fare.   In this live setting, we have piano,  upright (and bowed) bass and cello.  And yet it is distinctly Rheostatics.  Band friend (and Barenaked Lady) Kevin Hearn plays piano (he joins them on many of their live shows) as he helped them compose the original soundtrack.

The band doesn’t say much during the set.  In fact, they don’t talk at all until the half way point, when Bidini introduces everyone and talks about how they came to write this music.  He talks about crossing Canada and is generally a jovial fellow.  And then he talks about the reworking of “Northern Wish.”

The Group of 7 album is probably my least favorite Rheostatics album because it is basically a score (I do like it, and think it’s a great audialization of the Group of 7, but it’s not like their proper albums).  And there are some beautiful songs here.  One of the most interesting is “Boxcar Song,” which has a great riff.  It also includes the reworking of “Northern Wish.”

Incidentally the album’s tracks are just listed as one through twelve, but they have gained names from live shows.  And they don’t match up exactly with the album in this concert setting, as this makes it seem that the final song is the long waltz, which it isn’t.

Anyhow, this download isn’t a top ten.  Unless you really like the CD, in which case this is a must hear.  The show includes the samples from the album and a bunch of very interesting takes on the songs.

For a brief news story on the collaboration, check out this from CBC’s The National from 1996.

and part two

[READ: February 2, 2014] Celluloid

I actually assumed this was a new title, as it just came across my desk the other day, but I see that it is three years old.  I’ve always admired McKean’s work, which I think is grotesquely beautiful.  His characters always seem somewhat pained, and the angles of his lines are often harsh.  So I was really unsure what to expect in an “erotic” story from him.

The fact that one of the first few pages states that this book is not to be sold to anyone under the age of 18 should let you know that by erotic, they mean explicit. (I did notice that the caveat was buried a few pages in, though).  And, indeed it is.  Far more than I imagined it would be. (more…)

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Tom Bissell–3 book reviews (Harper’s, August 2013)

Posted in Adelle Waldman, Alice Munro, Barenaked Ladies, Book Reviews, David Foster Wallace, George Eliot, Harper's, Jim Guthrie, Kathleen Edwards, Kevin Hearn, McSweeney's, Neil Young, Peter Orner, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, Sloan, Susan Choi, Tiny Desk Concert, Tom Bissell on September 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

aug2013SOUNDTRACK: JIM GUTHRIE-Tiny Desk Concert #294 (August 10, 2013).

jimgI was unfamiliar with Guthrie before this set and I almost didn’t play it because of his mustache–he just looks so country to me.  But then I read that he and his band drove 9 hours from Ontario just to do the show (which is 11 minutes long, so that’s pretty crazy).  But the set is really good.

The three songs come from Guthrie’s new album Takes Time (his first solo album in ten years).  And I was hooked…not right from the start, but 15 seconds into “The Difference a Day makes” when the guitar plays the chorus riff.  There is something so… Canadian about the melody line.  It reminds me of Neil Young, Sloan, Rheostatics, even Kathleen Edwards, all of these great Canadian songwriters who play with slightly different melodies.  The fact that he sings “doubt” and “out” with an Ontario accent solidifies it.  It’s one of my favorite mellow songs of the year.  “Before & After” sounds a bit like  Barenaked Ladies mellow song, like something  written by Kevin Hearn.  I tend to not like the Hearn songs, but I thin kit’s that I don’t like Hearn’s voice, because I like this song quite a lot.

Guthrie has a delicate but strong voice–I can’t imagine him screaming, but he conveys a lot.  Especially in the final song, the more mellow (and minor key) “Like a Lake.”  I’ve heard Tiny Desk shows that go on for five or six songs.  I wish that Bob and Robin had let them play for ten more minutes. Now I’m off to find his records.  Check it out.

[READ: September 10, 2013] 3 book reviews

Tom Bissell reviewed three new books in the August 2013 issue of Harper’s.  I like Bissell in general and since I’ll probably wind up writing about these when they get collected anyway, why not jump the gun here.  Especially when there’s three good-sounding books like these.

sagamoreThe first is Peter Orner’s Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge.  I know Orner from McSweeney’s mostly, where I’ve read a few of his things  But one of the stories that Bissell mentions from this short story collection sounds familiar and yet it doesn’t seem to be something I’ve read.  Hmmm.  Well anyhow, he says that Orner’s previous book (with a title that Bissell assumes he had to fight to keep–The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo) was a great piece of fiction about Africa, and that his previous collection Esther Stories was also very solid.

This book is a little stranger—bundled into 4 sections, it includes more than fifty “stories” and is all of 200 pages.  (Sounds like just the kind of thing I can get into).  Bissell suggests that the stories have a layer of remove, like someone telling a story about someone telling a story.  Or, if they were about a bank robbery, the story would actually be about someone describing having once met the guy who sold the robbers their ski masks.  But the real selling point for me was this pithy description of the collection: imagine Brief Interviews with Hideous Men written by Alice Munro.   That sounds hard to pass up. (more…)

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