Happy thirteen and all those in between! Many more to come for Beauty and the Bum.- Andrew
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Right Back Atcha, Sweet Feet!
Happy thirteen and all those in between! Many more to come for Beauty and the Bum.- Andrew
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Rawk
Last week was the Halifax Pop Explosion, a big rock festival that happens in town every year at this time. Most of the good local bands played, and a bunch of acts from out of town and around the world came to show our little isolated peninsula the current state of international indie rock. It's usually a weekend-long event, but this year it ran for five days.
The highlight for me and a lot of other people I've since talked to was a loud and energetic performance by this Japanese band called Zoobombs. I didn't really know anything about them going into the show, but remembered seeing a video of theirs on MuchMusic's "The Wedge" about ten years ago or so and thinking it was pretty exciting and then not being able to find out anything about them and soon forgetting about them entirely until I found out that they were playing at this year's HPX. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lead singer and guitarist, Don Matsuo, was basically a Japanese Matt Murphy, quickly whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his hot guitar playing and intense, frantic manner. "Everybody! Everybody!" he kept shouting, apparently seeing no reason to elaborate. Another surprise was that even though they often slipped into funk-inspired rhythms and riffs, it didn't make me feel gross like it does when white bands do the same thing (Talking Heads excluded, of course). Why is the funk somehow less offensive when attempted by a Japanese band? I'm not sure, but their apparent worship of manic energy over technical precision played no small part, I think.
Anyway, if you ever get a chance to see these guys (actually three guys and a girl, the latter pretty hot stuff on the distorted drony keyboard), you should definitely take it. Their live show is really inspiring and exciting and fun. I bought their latest CD from Matta, the parenthetically mentioned keyboard player, and it's a live album recorded in Toronto so the energy and excitement I witnessed is happily captured. Here's a sample. I can't help but suspect they've been somewhat inspired by legendary German 70s band, Can, though they're not listed in the influences on the Zoobombs MySpace page. But Don was definitely channeling Damo Suzuki at times. And it's not just a Japanese thing, because at other times he sounded like Malcolm Mooney, Can's original singer. Check out this Damo track for easy comparison.
In other music news, I was in HMV the other day, looking for a particular Jonathan Richman album (they had none whatsoever, surprise) and this song started playing where the main part was a really nice, harmonically simple but rhythmically complex electric piano line, and my ears perked up to check it out. It was quite groovy and I was enjoying it a lot before I realized that it sounded kind of familiar. In searching the corners of my brain, trying to figure out where I'd heard it before, I suddenly stumbled on the very weird feeling that it was actually a recording of me playing a melody I'd created on my own Wurlitzer. And then I realized that it was a track from the upcoming Buck 65 album and the weird feeling was accurate. It sounded great! Feels pretty good to be digging your own material without knowing that's what it is.
- Andrew
The highlight for me and a lot of other people I've since talked to was a loud and energetic performance by this Japanese band called Zoobombs. I didn't really know anything about them going into the show, but remembered seeing a video of theirs on MuchMusic's "The Wedge" about ten years ago or so and thinking it was pretty exciting and then not being able to find out anything about them and soon forgetting about them entirely until I found out that they were playing at this year's HPX. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the lead singer and guitarist, Don Matsuo, was basically a Japanese Matt Murphy, quickly whipping the crowd into a frenzy with his hot guitar playing and intense, frantic manner. "Everybody! Everybody!" he kept shouting, apparently seeing no reason to elaborate. Another surprise was that even though they often slipped into funk-inspired rhythms and riffs, it didn't make me feel gross like it does when white bands do the same thing (Talking Heads excluded, of course). Why is the funk somehow less offensive when attempted by a Japanese band? I'm not sure, but their apparent worship of manic energy over technical precision played no small part, I think.
Anyway, if you ever get a chance to see these guys (actually three guys and a girl, the latter pretty hot stuff on the distorted drony keyboard), you should definitely take it. Their live show is really inspiring and exciting and fun. I bought their latest CD from Matta, the parenthetically mentioned keyboard player, and it's a live album recorded in Toronto so the energy and excitement I witnessed is happily captured. Here's a sample. I can't help but suspect they've been somewhat inspired by legendary German 70s band, Can, though they're not listed in the influences on the Zoobombs MySpace page. But Don was definitely channeling Damo Suzuki at times. And it's not just a Japanese thing, because at other times he sounded like Malcolm Mooney, Can's original singer. Check out this Damo track for easy comparison.
In other music news, I was in HMV the other day, looking for a particular Jonathan Richman album (they had none whatsoever, surprise) and this song started playing where the main part was a really nice, harmonically simple but rhythmically complex electric piano line, and my ears perked up to check it out. It was quite groovy and I was enjoying it a lot before I realized that it sounded kind of familiar. In searching the corners of my brain, trying to figure out where I'd heard it before, I suddenly stumbled on the very weird feeling that it was actually a recording of me playing a melody I'd created on my own Wurlitzer. And then I realized that it was a track from the upcoming Buck 65 album and the weird feeling was accurate. It sounded great! Feels pretty good to be digging your own material without knowing that's what it is.
- Andrew
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Happy Birthday, Dad!
Wish we could be there to celebrate it with you. I hope the day there is nicer than the meteorological mess we've got going on here. If so, I REALLY wish we could be there.In case you happen some time in the near future to come into the possession of a potential, but thoughtlessly unspecified, piece of literature or music, and are wondering how this potential should best be actualized in a birthday-appropriate (i.e. enjoyable, entertaining, fun) manner, here's a couple of suggestions:
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, is a hilarious, insightful, LOOOONG novel (with many, many footnotes) about entertainment and addiction and the problems of post-modern living in North America. I'm finally past the halfway point myself, and still enjoying it and ripping it off as much as when I picked it up a year and a half ago.
100 Days, 100 Nights, by Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, is a contemporary album of soul that is not an album of contemporary soul, meaning that it actually sounds like soul music and not some pyrotechnical diva belting out vocal gymnastic routines that display her lack of soul. This woman's been around since the 70s, but only recently started making a name for herself, and she's GOOD! Think Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner.
Breaking the Spell is Daniel Dennett's most recent book about materialism, consciousness, evolution, and meaning, both linguistic and life-related. This one addresses religion — how could it have evolved and what good does it still do us, if any — and makes a nice, clear-headed, slightly less reactionary though no more apologetic companion-piece to his friend Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion.
Finally, I hear the latest Bruce Springsteen album is quite good. I'm not usually a fan, don't know about you, but Alison just heard it and claims to be converted. I know you like some of those intense, gravelly-voiced singer-songwriters with something important to say.
Of course, should you be granted the opportunity of choosing a new book or CD, I realize that the choosing-to-fun ratio in such cases can easily be at least .50. These suggestions, therefore, should be taken only as such, and represent no greater legal or moral liability than, for instance, an enthusiastically bellowed "Happy birthday!"
Happy birthday.
- Andrew
Monday, October 15, 2007
Update on Cliff
He did break his collarbone. All the way through. Plus a couple of other fractures. There was a possibility of invasive surgery to make sure it stays in place, but he's opted instead for a sling and a prayer. There'll be no drumming for quite awhile. And it turns out it was a tripup from his shoes, and not any kind of macho never-say-die attitude, that sent him sailing racquetfirst into the next court over. I still feel bad, though.
- Andrew
- Andrew
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Shows and Other Disasters
It's been awhile since I've blogged, and I don't want anyone to get the impression that this is all we've been doing during that time or anything, but I have to admit we've been watching quite a bit of these video collections called TV Carnage. They're these compilations of random scraps of really terrible television, but put together in a pretty hilarious order. Sounds stupid, I know, and of course it is, but Ali and I got fairly addicted for awhile there. Seems like any time you turn on the TV you're going to see total crap anyway, so why not watch the crap that someone has selected as representing the absolute crappiest? Here's a couple of the "better" things we discovered. I think they're both from the same show, which I regrettably never saw when it was on.
And speaking of questionable performances, I played a recorded show with Al Tuck yesterday, opening for Ron Sexsmith. Pretty cool. It was part of a series called "Pop In Sessions," which are short shows played in a local recording studio and filmed for later release on the internet. Buck 65 did one recently that I guess was mind-blowing, though I didn't see it or even hear about it happening at the time. Here's one by Brent Randall and His Pinecones that turned out really well, in my estimation.
Anyhow, so this show went OK, I guess, although I think we've played better. But Al's recently moved to Sackville, NB, so there wasn't much opportunity for rehearsal. There was also some awkward tuning between tunes and a song that had to be started over due to technical problems in the sound booth. Every time I looked out at the audience to get a sense of how it was going over, they seemed to have expressions of concern and even fear on their faces, sort of like when you drive by a potentially horrific accident on the highway and can't help but looking even though you're pretty sure you'll wish you hadn't. It was kind of making me giggle a little. I've since been assured that everyone was just engrossed in the intensity of Al's lyrics. I'm not entirely convinced, but I guess you'll be able to judge for yourselves when the show comes online.
Oh yeah, and Ron Sexsmith, he has GIGANTIC hands! Before the show, he was playing this song on the piano and it was really nice and I recognized it as one my mom used to play when I was a little kid, so I asked him when he took a break what it was, and he told me the name even though I forget it now and said that it was something he'd always liked as a kid because it sounded like vampire music and asked if he'd ever met me before because I looked familiar but I said I didn't think so, as if there was actually a little bit of doubt about it, don't ask me why, and then I introduced myself and held out my hand and the hand that it ended up meeting halfway between us was GIGANTIC! It was also very limp, with almost no grasp at all actually, possibly because Ron, who seems like an especially sensitive and caring individual, worries that people whose hands he shakes will be afraid, if only briefly, that their own hands might be inadvertently crushed upon envelopment in his GIGANTIC meatloaf of a manual appendage.
And speaking of crushed bones, Alison and I were playing some tennis this afternoon with Meg and Johanna and Cliff, when Cliff dove for a particularly tough shot I now wish I hadn't hit to him and fell onto the concrete, breaking his collarbone. We had to call an ambulance for him and pull his partner, Angie, out of her yoga class to come to the hospital. She's promised to call us to let us know how he's doing. It was very upsetting. Cliff may now be out of commission for up to six weeks! Poor guy. He'd just been starting to go to the gym regularly, too. And this is pure selfishness speaking, but as he's the drummer in the band at present known as Lowlands, that project's going to move along even slower than usual. Bummer.
I'll keep you posted.
- Andrew
And speaking of questionable performances, I played a recorded show with Al Tuck yesterday, opening for Ron Sexsmith. Pretty cool. It was part of a series called "Pop In Sessions," which are short shows played in a local recording studio and filmed for later release on the internet. Buck 65 did one recently that I guess was mind-blowing, though I didn't see it or even hear about it happening at the time. Here's one by Brent Randall and His Pinecones that turned out really well, in my estimation.
Anyhow, so this show went OK, I guess, although I think we've played better. But Al's recently moved to Sackville, NB, so there wasn't much opportunity for rehearsal. There was also some awkward tuning between tunes and a song that had to be started over due to technical problems in the sound booth. Every time I looked out at the audience to get a sense of how it was going over, they seemed to have expressions of concern and even fear on their faces, sort of like when you drive by a potentially horrific accident on the highway and can't help but looking even though you're pretty sure you'll wish you hadn't. It was kind of making me giggle a little. I've since been assured that everyone was just engrossed in the intensity of Al's lyrics. I'm not entirely convinced, but I guess you'll be able to judge for yourselves when the show comes online.
Oh yeah, and Ron Sexsmith, he has GIGANTIC hands! Before the show, he was playing this song on the piano and it was really nice and I recognized it as one my mom used to play when I was a little kid, so I asked him when he took a break what it was, and he told me the name even though I forget it now and said that it was something he'd always liked as a kid because it sounded like vampire music and asked if he'd ever met me before because I looked familiar but I said I didn't think so, as if there was actually a little bit of doubt about it, don't ask me why, and then I introduced myself and held out my hand and the hand that it ended up meeting halfway between us was GIGANTIC! It was also very limp, with almost no grasp at all actually, possibly because Ron, who seems like an especially sensitive and caring individual, worries that people whose hands he shakes will be afraid, if only briefly, that their own hands might be inadvertently crushed upon envelopment in his GIGANTIC meatloaf of a manual appendage.
And speaking of crushed bones, Alison and I were playing some tennis this afternoon with Meg and Johanna and Cliff, when Cliff dove for a particularly tough shot I now wish I hadn't hit to him and fell onto the concrete, breaking his collarbone. We had to call an ambulance for him and pull his partner, Angie, out of her yoga class to come to the hospital. She's promised to call us to let us know how he's doing. It was very upsetting. Cliff may now be out of commission for up to six weeks! Poor guy. He'd just been starting to go to the gym regularly, too. And this is pure selfishness speaking, but as he's the drummer in the band at present known as Lowlands, that project's going to move along even slower than usual. Bummer.
I'll keep you posted.
- Andrew
Friday, October 05, 2007
Yuck
I feel like crap today. I'm at work right now, in the sense of physical location, but my brain is so curdled and my eyes are trying so hard to close themselves that I don't feel like stretching the prepositional attitude out into any further senses. Plus, I keep seeing this guy in the corner of my office.
Should I be worried?
- Andrew
Should I be worried?
- Andrew
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Quickie
Pizza's here for dinner and we're about to start watching the season's second episode of The Office, but I want to get a quick post on here as part of my quit-ruminating-about-it-and-just-do-it-scrappy-style philosophy I'm trying out sporadically.
Ali and I just played some tennis in a surprise doubles match with our friends Jenny and Sarah, who happened to be there too. It was super duper fun and we're planning to do it again.
Work's been insanely hectic. I've already logged over 40 billable hours this week, and there's still a day to go. Last night in bed my head was surrounded by a buzzing and vibrating energy field that was radiating into and out of it. Some people pay good money for such experiences, but this one wasn't pleasant.
I sent some people emails asking them to sign a petition for the Chinese government to step in in support of the Burmese protestors. Hope no one was offended. Seems like a fairly important and uncontroversial cause to me. There's demonstrations going on all around the world at noon on Saturday.
OK, pizza's getting cold and Johanna's on her way over (recently back from Europe) to watch TO with us and Krista. Hope it's a good one!
- Andrew
Ali and I just played some tennis in a surprise doubles match with our friends Jenny and Sarah, who happened to be there too. It was super duper fun and we're planning to do it again.
Work's been insanely hectic. I've already logged over 40 billable hours this week, and there's still a day to go. Last night in bed my head was surrounded by a buzzing and vibrating energy field that was radiating into and out of it. Some people pay good money for such experiences, but this one wasn't pleasant.
I sent some people emails asking them to sign a petition for the Chinese government to step in in support of the Burmese protestors. Hope no one was offended. Seems like a fairly important and uncontroversial cause to me. There's demonstrations going on all around the world at noon on Saturday.
OK, pizza's getting cold and Johanna's on her way over (recently back from Europe) to watch TO with us and Krista. Hope it's a good one!
- Andrew
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