A Song and a Story Before Bed

Here's a song I just finished recording for a compilation that'll be coming out on Gooseberry Records. The album will comprise recent recordings by people who were involved in the Halifax indie rock boom of the '90's. I think it's to be called Aftermath. I hadn't recorded anything for quite awhile, and had recently written this thematically apt song about people who were prominent in that scene but then just kind of dropped out unexpectedly, so this was a perfect excuse to get back on the Garageband horse. It's somewhat scrappy, but I'm happy with it.



There's been a lot of movie-and-TV-watching around here, but that's all about to change as the winter weather breaks and our enthusiam explodes. Can't happen too soon, either, I say. Last weekend we watched the entire Academy Awards ceremony. Why? I have no good answer for that. We hadn't even seen any of the movies that were up for prizes.

Alison had an inspiring spring experience on the bus home today. I guess this kid of around 20 got on, and he had one of those haircuts that's all sticking up in the back, so she reckoned him to be a hipster scene guy. But then she realized his hair was just really messy and he was actually incredibly nerdy. She says he looked exactly like the "McLovin" guy in Superbad. And talked kind of like him too.

The bus was crowded, so he stood up and held onto the overhead bar. He had a plastic bag with something in it in the same hand he was holding on with, and it kept swinging back and forth, hitting the girl beside him in the head. He said to her loudly, "I'm sorry my bag is hitting you repeatedly in the head." She smiled and said it was OK. Taking the smile as a good sign, he continued, "I can't wait to get home so I can put this bag down."

Then some more people got on and he said, "They'll have to use a shoehorn if they want to get any more people on here." The girl didn't really react to that one, so he reiterated, "I can't wait to get home." This time, he elaborated that he had a paper to write for Monday.

"Good luck with that," the girl sympathized.

"Yeah, and I also have to study for a midterm," he said, "which is also on Monday." Another sympathetic look. Further encouraged, he continued, "And I have to make some cold calls related to this private detective case I'm trying to wrap up."

The girl ignored this last admission.

"Long story," he rolled his eyes.

And then... he started singing! Quietly, at first, but no one was complaining, so he continued a little louder. Alison didn't recognize the song, but it was something complicated and prog-rock-y about the nativity scene. He sang it in its entirety, and when he was finished, the bus was very silent. Finally, the girl said, "That was pretty good."

"Oh yeah?" he beamed. "In that case, for my next number, a little Genesis." And this time, there was no holding back as he began to belt out a Gabriel-era crowd-disperser. Alison couldn't even look at him, she was trying so hard not to either hug him or burst out laughing. People were grumbling and looking mad. The bus driver eventually told him to shut up, and he did.

"I didn't realize singing was considered offensive in these parts," he mumbled to the girl.

She looked genuinely sympathetic and said, "Well, everyone in this section was enjoying it, and that's no joke."

And that's how two people's days were made. Three, if you count me.