SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Jackson Triggs, St.Catharines, ON (August 12, 2017).
I have been catching up on the last few remaining recent (relatively) shows that the Rheostatics played. These are all shows since the release of Here Comes the Wolves.
Great soundboard show from the beautiful Jackson Triggs Winery stage with Kevin Hearn on Keys/vocals and Hugh Marsh on violin. Very chatty show with one of the longest stretches of banter I can recall at over 8 minutes of straight comedy.
The show begins with the spoken introduction from Group of 7 “A tall white pine stands between me and the tree I’m trying to see … also a tall white pine.” Then Martin starts a gentle “Northern Wish.” It’s followed by “Legal Age Life” which has a wild keyboard solo. Kevin continues to shine on a lengthy intro for Dave Clark’s fun new song “Supecontroller.” It’s kind of a dopey song but it’s one of my favorites.
Kevin says to the audience, Say hello to Dave Clark.” Dave says Jackson Triggs has treated us fine and gave us all kinds of good food. (and plenty of wine).
A delicate “Music is the Message with lots of violin including a solo. Kevin introduces Tim and Dave tells a joke about the difference between a piece of cheese and a piece of string that I don’t get (something about crickets). And then someone talks about playing and there were crickets after every song–it was pretty rough.
After a boppy “Easy to Be with You,” Kevin plays keys like at an ice skating rink as a segue into a soaring “Stolen Car” with a lengthy solo form Martin and Hugh.
They thank the opening band Common Deer and say that High and Kevin will be with them all summer long: Hugh Marsh Kevin Hearn Summer Experience. Tickets: $5.99 at your local fairground.
They mention CDs and Martin in great, funny form says, we’ve lived through many formats. The wax cylinder the vinyl disc, the compact disc (Tim: “they said they’d never skip but all mine skip now”). Martin: they skip in the most painful, digital… the universe conspired to make it more annoying than previously existed. When a vinyl skipped you’d go hmm, weird did they write that like that? When a CD skips deh deh deh deh deh–a drill to the center of the mind. Unless you’re a Squarepusher. Hugh had many intentional skips on his recording–the king of the skip.
Don’t bug Hugh. Hugh has no way to defend himself except for his instrument. Sure he does, he’s the best looking dude in the band. And he’s like 73.
DB says, from 2067 it’s “PIN.” I really got my FM radio voce on tonight huh?
Dave you’ve always had a voice that is delightful on the radio as when you hosted Brave New Waves in the early sixties?
DB says Dave Clark influenced my life so much when he said “Do you want to be someone playing the bands on the radio or do you want to be the band?”
Martin: That’s very good advice Dave Clark and also demeaning to people who promote our music and celebrate it. My opinion of you has changed. You told that story and now I hate you. Dave Clark does not have that fulsome overtone. DC: But Ii have a better personality. My teeth would have been straight by now. How does the teeth work into that? CBC benefits! CBC teeth.
That could have been you on Corner Gas.
Dave Clark says he has a show to pitch to the CBC.
Kevin: I have an idea for this show–play the next song.
Kevin plays in Barenaked Ladies and they talk a lot. Kevin was so excited to play with us here as a band who doesn’t go on talking about nonsensical things.
Kevin: You’re even worse. Dave B: “way worse.”
Martin: Kevin before BNL you were in a band called The Look People “5 is the number that makes me want to boogie.”
After “PIN,” there’s some scratching sounds and a Mr. Rogers intro into Michael Jackson. Nice harmonies at the end.
Soaring keys swell for the intro to “California Dreamline.” Martin gets a little wild singing in the dolphins part. Keyboard washes segue into “Claire.”
Big shout to those who came down form St. Catharine’s a city that supports the arts. When I think of Niagara Falls. i think of Dale Morningstar and his shenanigans. Ron Sexmith
Can I tell you one of Ron Sexsmith’s original jokes? Hey, did I just sit in maple syrup? You bet your sweet ass you did.
Kevin: By the way I was told we’re good for time as long as we don’t do any more fifteen minute intros. Man they run a tight ship around her.
DB to an audience member: Want to come up and model our new shirt? No I’m not going to sign it now, I’m working. It says nothing on the back. You can write your own inspirational phrase on the back.
Kevin: Are you finished?
DB: Yes but I was selling merch it’s important.
MT: This is from Saskatchewan the Musical (that’s bound to be next). Martin sings:
I don’t know what I’m doing here
I feel so different from everyone else in this town
Saskatchewan.”
Coming in the fall of 2025.
Then martin gets serious, and sings the song properly but sings the end in a slurry drunken way.
Then introduces: “This is Queer: The Musical.”
A jam in the meddle where Kevin plays nearly two minutes of keyboard fills before they jump to the bouncing ending. It’s followed by a lively “Dope Fiends featuring a lengthy drum solo.
At the end as they sing “dark side of the moooooon,” Tim starts playing Pink Floyd’s “Money.”
After an encore break, Kevin comes out and starts playing pretty chords. “Shaved Head” sounds very different with gentle keys.
It’s a great summer set and a very fun show.
[READ: April 21, 2021] Backwards
I’m not sure what got me on my recent Red Dwarf reading kick (finding out that they had just released a new series on DVD was certainly a spark). I was sure I had read all of these books before and yet none of them were familiar to me at all.
The Grant Naylor team wrote two books and the second one ended on a cliffhanger.
Then for reasons I’m not willing to look into, both Rob Grant and Doug Naylor each wrote a sequel to that book. But neither book is like the other and they both go in very different directions. Naylor’s book was really dark and very violent.
Grant’s book is also dark but in very different ways.
The previous book ended with an old Lister being sent to a planet where everything goes backwards so that he can de-age to about the same age he was when he was on the series. They plan to meet him 36 years later at Niagara Falls.
But this book opens with a prologue about Arnold Rimmer aged 7 and how he continues to fail in school. His teachers suggest he be held back, but his mother interferes and that lets him move on.
Then the book starts properly with the crew of Red Dwarf: Rimmer, Cat and Kryten landing on Reverse World and trying to locate Lister. Because everything goes in reverse (which takes some time to wrap your head around) all of your actions are predetermined. And, essentially, if you do something dangerous, you know that if you’re not already hurt, you won’t get hurt because you would be hurt to start with. What? You’ve already jumped off the cliff, now, you’re doing it backwards. But you already landed, so you’d already be hurt and going backwards would un-hurt you.
It also means that you un-eat food, good to sleep when you are refreshed, wake up when you’re tired. And you don’t even want to think about going to the bathroom. (more…)
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