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Archive for the ‘Rheostatics’ 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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Alice Munro–“Axis” (New Yorker, January 31, 2011 )

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, New Yorker, Pregnancy, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Story, Virginity (Loss of), tagged on February 22, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Live at the Bathurst Street Theatre, Toronto ON, April 5, 1997 (1997).

This is the second of two nights that The Rheostatics played at The Bathurst Theatre.  It is also available for free on their live site.

This concert also features a lot on their Double Live album.  There are seven tracks that come from this show: “Feed Yourself,” “Shaved Head,” “Dead is the Drunkest You Can Get,” “Bees,” “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” “Stolen Car,” and “Good Canadian.”

This recording is a lot better (sound wise) that the previous night’s and the band seems a lot more “on.”  And, the band interacts with the audience a lot.  “Feed Yourself” is great and “Mid-Winter” is stunning (both understandably picked for the live album).  There’s an amusing “drum solo” during “Legal Age Life.”  It’s a great set.

Some interesting notes: this is the first time the band has played “Stolen Car” live (and it hadn’t been released yet). It’s the same version as on Double Live, but here you hear a lengthy pause in which “Martin left the lyrics in his bag” and Dave has to entertain the crowd.  “Good Canadian” also on Double Live, was a spontaneous little ditty that Martin made up.  Also, during the show, they encourage people to listen to Nightlines, because it is danger of losing its funding.  Fans will know that Nightlines went off the air not too long after that and the Rheos played the final show (and released an album of it).

Of the two shows, this one is definitely preferred.  And even if you have Double Live, it’s worth downloading this entire show..

[READ: February 7, 2010] “Axis”

Alice Munro has another great, subtle story here.  This one mixes things up a little bit in the storytelling, which I found intriguing and more than a little fun.

It opens with Grace and Avie, two farmers daughters who are at university.  They are studying intellectual subjects, with the hope (let’s be honest) of finding intellectual boys to marry eventually.  They are obviously not sorority material (just look at their coats), but they don’t really want boys who like sorority girls anyhow.

After we follow them for a bit, we narrow the focus to just Grace.  Her boyfriend Hugo is on his way to visit her at the farm (and to meet her parents).  He does not make a very good impression, and he is not to fond of them either.  And, worse yet, they won’t leave them any time to be alone.  Until Grace hatches a plan for them to be alone, which, if you’ve read any fiction, you know won’t turn out too well (but that’s not the climax of the story, don’t worry). (more…)

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Douglas Coupland–Shampoo Planet (1992)

Posted in Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Douglas Coupland, Funny (ha ha), Greed, Marriage Trouble, Neil Young, Rheostatics, Technology, The Inbreds, tagged on February 21, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Live at the Bathurst Street Theatre, Toronto ON, April 4, 1997 (1997).

This concert is free as a download on the Rheostatics Live website.  According to the on-stage banter, the band had just finished a string of live dates with the Inbreds that were recorded for their amazing Double Live album.  They even say that this night’s show is also being recorded for the disc.  And the set list is pretty amazing.

Which is why this show is such a disappointment.  Part of the problem is obviously the quality of the recording, and you can’t fault anyone for that…a bootleg is a bootleg after all.  But the band makes some really odd flubs and some of the songs seem really lackluster.  This is all the more surprising because the band seems in really good spirits –making jokes with each other and with the crowd (they make someone take off a Mr. Bean T-shirt!).

The biggest gaff comes in “King of the Past” where (I think Dave) begins the chorus a measure early (yipes!).  “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” for some reason removes the loud rocking “Michael!” and “Jackson!” sections and replaces them with whispers.  It’s an interesting change, but the intensity is completely lost.  Something is also missing from “Sweet Rich Beautiful Mine,” there’s no oomph to it.  And, my favorite song “Claire” sounds off to me (I think it’s the recording though).

On the plus side, “My First Rock Concert” is great and well-received.  Dave introduces it as if it was the first time they’ve played it, which is very exciting.  The end of the show picks things up and the band sounds better.  In fact the last two songs are really great (and you can really hear Neil Young’s influence on the guitar).  I’m willing to blame some of my disappointment on the sound quality…it’s missing a fullness that you really need to appreciate the band, but this is not an A+ show.  They played another show the following night there (also available online).

Heh, I just learned that they used a number of recordings from this show on Double Live.  They used “Torque, Torque,” “Claire,” “Bread Meat Peas & Rice” and “Feed Yourself.”  Listening back, “Torque” and “Peas” sound great in the set and “Jesus Was Once a Teenager, Too” is a fun, light version.  “Claire” still sounds funny to me (even on Double Live), but it’s definitely worse on this bootleg.  The mixing is so much better on Double Live (of course!), that it really accentuates the guitar solo and backing vocals much more.

[READ: February 1, 2011] Shampoo Planet

On the inside cover of my copy of Shampoo Planet, I scribbled my name and “December 1992.”  I was in a phase of putting my name on all my books (which is kind of cool looking back, but really rather silly).  This is Douglas Coupland’s second book, and I remember being very excited when it came out.

I’m sure I read it then, but upon re-reading it (admittedly almost twenty years later), I didn’t remember anything from it.  Does that mean I didn’t read it, or that the book was just ephemeral?  Well, in some ways it is ephemeral, because it’s such a document of its time.  It also seems to me that either Coupland is (or was) unique in his writing style, or that very few writers dealt with 90’s culture as directly as he did.  Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another writer who approached 90s culture in the same way

In many ways, this book is all about dealing with the wealth of the 90s, when money was everywhere and people felt free to experiment with their lives.  And, yes reading this now the story feels so light and free and I wish that I had the problems that these kids deal with.  I also wondered if anyone could write a story like this now, with youth culture being so very different.

The inside front and back cover are (different) periodic tables that he has personalized with 103 elements of the 90s.  (Lu=Moon, A=Ambition, Dd=The Dead).  This is the only nod to unconventional book tropes here (where Gen X had all of those definitions that he footnoted).  In fact, the novel is fairly straightforward and conventional.

The main character, Tyler, is a twenty year old who cares more for his hair (he has a vast array of products–my favorite observation: “always better to buy well-advertised products–preferably those products endorsed by a celebrity” (133)).  He was raised in a hippie commune off on Vancouver Island (the only real nod to Canada in the book), but when his parents divorced, his mother Jasmine took the kids to Lancaster, a suburb of Seattle.  And, as seems to happen, the children of hippies became proto-yuppies. (more…)

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Corey Frost–“Summer Plum (Winter Version)” (The Walrus July/August 2004)

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Corey Frost, Flash Fiction, Huh?, Postmoderism, Rheostatics, Short Story, The Tragically Hip, The Walrus on February 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE TRAGICALLY HIP-Live Between Us (1996).

This show was recorded live November 23, 1996 in Detroit.  It’s kind of odd that these Canadian favorites would record their live album in the U.S.

In the intro to the album Downie thanks The Rheostatics for opening (you can hear the Rheos’ sets from other days on the tour, but not this night, at their Live site).

This concert is a great, strong set of songs, and an excellent way to experience the Hip live.  Downie is practically a loose cannon with his extemporaneous ramblings…he’s funy, weird and clever and he’s a charismatic front man.  And the band sounds great (no overdubs on the disc, and none are needed).

The set list is a wonderful selection of tracks from all five of their albums (none from the first EP).  Two each from the first two, Three from Fully & Day and the first four tracks from Trouble (which is probably why I like the beginning of Trouble so much more than the end).

True, any fan will complain about the lack of certain songs on here (no “38 Years Old,” no “Little Bones” no “Unplucked Gems” no “Hundred Meridian” or “Fifty Mission Cap” no “Fire in the Hole”–wow, that’s a lot of great songs to leave off, shows just how many great songs the Hip have).  But with only 14 songs to choose from, they made a great set list and you don’t even miss those songs until you realize they’re not there.

The audience is very responsive and the band seems to feed off it.  If you’re new to the Hip, this is a great place to start.  It’s sort of like a greatest hits of the early years, but it will leave you wanting more too.

[READ: January 26, 2011] “Summer Plum (Winter Version)”

This was the final of seven stories in The Walrus‘ Summer Reading Issue 2004, and it was the final flash fiction.  This story is a bizarre whirlwind from the get go.

It opens with a belief that shredded coconut can make you fly and ends with a paean to a plum.  In between Keds are glued to a driveway and there’s a lot of repetition of “plump plum plump plum.”

I admit I have no idea what this story was supposed to be saying.  It seemed more like a sort of evocative poem, relishing the textures of life.  And yet there’s that whole thing about being glued to the driveway which kind of throws a wrench into that interpretation. (more…)

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Brendan Connell–“The man who saw grey” (in Blind Swimmer: An Anthology of Eibonvale Press Writers) (2010)

Posted in Adbusters, Art, Artists, Brendan Connell, Canadian Music, Guided By Voices, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Rheostatics, Rush, Unlikable main character, Word usage, Yuck! on November 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

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

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.

Te opening track, “I’ll Never Tear Your Apart” is deceptively simple: 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 (and his dark lyrics).  “Voices in the Wilderness” is another delicate song (which opens with a sound that reminds me of Led Zeppelin’s “The Rain Song,” although in no way is the rest of the song like that. This song also (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 don’t know the original, but Tielli’s version is a bit too meandering to be really satisfying (although it fits in with the album style quite nicely).  It comes across as an atmospheric song more than a song proper.

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 the odd rocker “That’s How They Do It in Warsaw” (which features a woman speaking Polish–no idea what she’s saying).  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).

“She Said ‘We’re On Our Way Down'” returns to the more ethereal sounding songs (although this has some great guitar tricks thrown in).  Like the bulk of the album, 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 little ditty.  And the disc ends with the odd, seven minute “Wetbrain/Your War.”

There is a really wonderful review of post-Rheostatics work here at The Ohs.  He’s pretty harsh on the Bidiniband (although I haven’t heard the disc proper, just the live concerts that toured it, so I can’t say for sure) but his assessment of Tim Vesely is spot on (I love the idea of a Canadian Wilburys) as is his review of this disc.  I particularly like the Mary Margaret O’Hara comparison: Achingly beautiful but in need of an editor from time to time.

[READ: November 1, 2010] “The man who saw grey”

One thing I have really come to appreciate about Connell’s stories over the years is that he is not afraid to deal with dark aspects of humanity that many people would rather not think about.

The thing that surprised me about this story is that, in the past, Connell has used very specific language, one might even say two-dollar words (some of which I had to look up), to convey his ideas.  But in this story, he largely refrains from such language, keeping the language down to earth and familiar, much like his protagonists.

So this is a fairly simple story: a man hits his head and can thereafter only see in shades of grey.  What makes the story much more interesting than that simple plot is that the protagonist is a painter (well, his hobby is painting, in reality he is an administrator at the DMV). (more…)

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Jonathan Franzen–“Imperial Bedroom” (New Yorker, October 12, 1998)

Posted in Consumerism, Funny (ha ha), Jonathan Franzen, Neurotics, New Yorker, Privacy, Rheostatics, Sex, The Violet Archers, tagged on October 15, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THE VIOLET ARCHERS-Victoria, BC, October 2005 (2005).

This live bootleg comes from the Rheostatics Live website.  If The Violet Archers were to become a huge internationally famous band (which, let’s face it, they’re not), this would be an awesome bootleg to have.  It’s from a show before their first album was released, and, if the stage banter is to be believed, before they’d even thought of a name for the band.  (There’s a joke that they wanted to call themselves The Gay Apparel, which is awesome).

Indeed, I assume that this show was recorded in 2004, not 2005 as listed online.

So, this show seems like it’s recorded in front of about 20 people.  The recording quality isn’t ideal (the drums sound pretty dreadful) but it conveys the spirit of the show very well.

The first two songs are just Tim and his acoustic guitar (“Simple” sounds great in this context although “All the Good” works better as a band number).  Then the band comes on.  Ida Nilsen is not with them yet, but the band sounds great together and the songs are fully formed (the album is said to be coming out in the next spring).

It’s a great show and Tim Vesely sounds a lot more like he did with the Rheostatics than he does on the regular album.  I guess the live setting brings out the old voice from Tim.  And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the guitarist with the great name: Yawd Sylvester.  Outstanding!

[READ: September 28, 2010] “Imperial Bedroom”

This piece is about privacy. It was written 12 years ago, when the fear of the loss of privacy was in its infancy.  And Franzen makes a very convincing case that we were (and I assume still are) overreacting in a big way to fears of privacy loss.

He opens by noting that the panic about privacy is all the rage, excepted that the public doesn’t seem to be genuinely alarmed.   He sets his argument on the backdrop of the Clinton/Lewisnky Starr Report. And what he bemoans is that this most private of information is coming out of the most public of offices (and the most imperial of bedrooms).  [With the valid corollary–who is ever going to run for office if this kind of shit is going to be made public on such a grand scale?]

He gives us a basic history if the “right to privacy” which he says legally is a tough concept.  Because whatever you call the various forms of invasion of privacy, legally they often fall into other areas–trespass, defamation or theft.  What’s left is emotional distress, which is always a nebulous concept. (more…)

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Jonathan Franzen–”Anti Climax” (New Yorker, April 21, 1997)

Posted in Airlines, Books about writers, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Jane Siberry, Jonathan Franzen, Masturbation, New Yorker, Nick Hornby, Rheostatics, Sex, The Violet Archers on October 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE VIOLET ARCHERS-Sunshine at Night (2008).

This is the second Violet Archers CD.  It’s a fantastic collection of mellow songs.   “You and I” is a delightful acoustic guitar and vocals song (and Vesely’s voice sounds great: soft and delicate without being whiny).  “Insecure” features the vocals of Ida Nilsen (a great voice which works wonderfully with Vesely’s songs).  It also has a wonderful trumpet solo (!) (which consists of only a few notes repeated but which is totally great).  It sounds a bit too similar to Siberry’s “The Speckless Sky” but it wins out with its own identity by the end.

“Transporter” is an electric track (still mellow though).  Vesely’s delivery is great on this, with unexpected delays making it just off the beat.  Although “Tired” (we can tell by the titles that Vesely is not a “Party On” kind of guy) rocks much harder than you’d expect for the title, it’s still nothing like a hard rock song.  “Sunshine at Night” continues in this louder vein, but again, Vesely’s voice is soft, so even a louder song doesn’t rock hard.  This has some great harmony vocals.

“Suffocates” returns to the upbeat acoustic style while “Truth” is its cool minor chord downbeat companion.  “Themesong” is a cute, more upbeat track that finally mentions a violet archer.  “Don’t Talk” is the only song that builds from a standstill (as opposed to just starting) and the drums and power chords make it feel like it’s a bid for commercial viability.  And the disc ends with “Listening,” a quiet lullaby of a song that showcases’s Vesely’s falsetto.

The Violet Archers still tour and there are some downloadable shows available on the Rheostatics live website.  And, of course, Tim was super nice, so let’s hope for a left field smash hit on their next disc.

[READ: September 29, 2010] “Anti-Climax”

This piece is from The Critic at Large section of the New Yorker and it seems to be a kind of Books redux section.

I enjoyed this piece more than I had a right to enjoy a thirteen year old article about sex books.  Strangely enough it begins with a comment about televisions in airports (which I agree with JF that they are the devil and are unavoidable and make it really hard to read).  And I cannot even imagine that 89% of air travelers believe that the TVs make “time spent in an airport more worthwhile” (although you know that is one of the more nebulous survey questions)

But this topic segues into the matter at hand: sex books.  He notes how he is also at odds with the norm when Men’s Health says that lingerie is the US male’s favorite erotic aid.  And I can’t believe how in tune I am with JF Franzen’s comment:

What I feel when I hear that the mainstream actually buys this stuff is the same garden-variety alienation I feel on learning that Hootie & the Blowfish sold 13 million copies of their first record, or that the American male’s dream date is Cindy Crawford. (more…)

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Dave Bidini–On a Cold Road: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock (1998)

Posted in Books about music, Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Culture Shock, Dave Bidini, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Goddo, Guess Who, Neurotics, Radio, Rheostatics, Sex, The Tragically Hip, Travel, Triumph, Van Halen, Wikipedia, Zon, tagged on September 5, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DAVE BIDINI-The Upstairs, Sydney Nova Scotia July 26 2007 (2007).

Dave Bidini recorded three shows in 2007 in eastern Canada which are all available on the Rheostatics Live website.  They were acoustic shows and featured a reading from his then new book called Around the World in 57½ Gigs.

On this particular venue, he gives two readings (and the readings are very good.  His writing has grown even more engaging since this first book).

The songs he plays are a couple from the Rheostatics: “My First Rock Show” which sounds good in this format.  “Me and Stupid” which is almost made for this format and “Horses.”  Now “Horses” is a wild and raucous song, typically full of Martin Tielli’s amazing guitar pyrotechnics.  The acoustic version is much more mellow, but no less affecting.

He’s got a number of what I assume are new songs (I haven’t heard any BidiniBand songs yet, so I don’t know from whence they come).  “Song Ain’t Good” is a kind of jokey song about how the song itself isn’t any good.  Lyrically, the song grows on you as it progresses.   “The List” is indeed a list of people and things that are killing us now: Tim Hortons, Chad Kroeger, Stephen Harper etc.  It’s a protest song and is kind of catchy.

“The Land is Wild” is a more interesting song, musically.  Lyrically it’s about Bryan Fogarty, a dead hockey player.  And the final track is “The Ballad of Zeke Roberts” the story of a Liberian singer.

The other shows feature essentially the same songs (one of them includes “Fat” instead of “Horses”).

The difference with these new songs as opposed to the Rheos songs is that these are more pointedly about something.  They are quite message driven.  And one needs to care about the message I suppose.  Bidini does not have a great voice. Or, more to the point, he has a limited voice that works great for certain things, but it’s not always at its strongest in this acoustic setting.  Nevertheless, he has great rapport with the audience, and is a very charming performer.

I’m rather interested in hearing what the BidiniBand have to offer.  There’s an interesting interview with the Bidini here.

[READ: September 1, 2010] On a Cold Road

So Dave Bidini was in the Rheostatics.  This book is a chronicle of their tour as the opening act for The Tragically Hip on their tour across Canada.

The book offers lots of insights into the ins and outs of touring–the frustration, the loneliness, the elation, the confusion, the shattering disappointments, everything.  As a fan of the Rheos and the Hip, I found this to be a really interesting chronicle of a cross-country tour.

And what I found interesting about the book itself is that the main guys aren’t a small band struggling, nor are they a headlining megaband.  They’re a reasonably small band but they are successful, and are certainly well looked after on this  tour.  So it gives the feeling of being the underdog without actually working too much about pathos.

The Rheos are simultaneously jealous of the Hip, but also very grateful to them.   It makes for an interesting read. (more…)

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Téa Obreht–“Blue Water Djinn” (New Yorker, August 2, 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Atlantic, Death, New Yorker, Rheostatics, Short Story, Supernatural, Téa Obreht, tagged on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Barrymore’s, Ottawa, ON, February 2, 1996 (1996).

This is one of the other early shows from the Rheostatics.  It’s an audience recording.  And what that means is that there are a  few voices (young girls mostly) which have been immortalized and whose conversation has been listened to by many many people over the last 12 years.

The recording quality is okay. (And hearing somebody ask, “What do you think?” is charming.)

But the real reason to check out this download is for their cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.”  The rest of the show is definitely staticky; it’s hard to make out the nuances of the songs, which is a bummer. But on some of the tracks, the band is louder than the crowd (the remastering work is actually quite good) it’s a good (and very long) show.

[READ: August 28, 2010] “Blue Water Djinn”

Téa Obreht is the author with the most to prove in the list of 20 Under 40 authors.  Her first book doesn’t come out until next year! And as far as I can tell her only other published fiction is the short story “The Laugh” in the Atlantic (which I will likely read next week).  So, I’m rooting for her!

Nevertheless, this story is one that I wouldn’t have read based on the opening section.  Although it discusses a dead Frenchman, the remainder of the introduction is about a young boy who lives at the hotel which his mother owns.

There was just something that didn’t interest me about the setting.

The story proceeds with the hotel workers seeking the body of the Frenchman (his clothes were found piled on the beach).  They assume he has drifted off to sea.  The boy lingers at the edges of the workers (he is forbidden from swimming in the sea while his mother is away).   (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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