Today's Horrorscope

"I'm a naturally happy person and she's not. I'm an Aquarius and she's a Libra... it's not a good match. Besides, her perscriptions were $300-$350/month!"

The dimming of love in the post-chemical age.

Today's track is from Public Image Ltd. Flowers of Romance. Fourth studio album by John (Rotten) Lydon's post Sex Pistols project. Where the early efforts featured minimalist white funk and incantatory post-punk Flowers stripped things way way back to Martin Atkins' stark and edgy drum patterns plus Keith Levene's chordless guitar atmospherics with Lydon's keening vocals parked on top. Not an easy listen, but a haunting one at least.



Go Back

Lazy, hazy... er, Macy Gray... no, no.

Just a second. The weekend in point form:

Friday: Katherine, Andrew, Andy and John... Snooty Fox... 3 dozen baskets of finger food, each one hotter than the preceding. Then John, Andy and I... Phoenix. Drunk pretty girl comes in... gets drink... sits alone drinking drink... gets up... leaves.

Saturday: Howard's... Howard, Linda, Michael, MK... Beer. Peat Whiskey. Spiced Rum. We Are Scientists. Walk home... fall backwards onto my elbows behind City Hall. Drink one more beer. Go to sleep watching the old The Fog.

Sunday: Smitty's... John and James. Breakfast Much choice. Much expense. OK food. Not great. Return? Probably no. EB Games... Outlaw Golf 2 for PS2.

Sunday afternoon: Outlaw Golf 2 for PS2:



Today's track:

Mike Doughty was the lead singer of Soul Coughing. A favourite of mine. Live shows of his started showing up on Archive... at first mostly acoustic versions of SC songs, but eventually new tracks by the man himself... solo and with a variety of new friends and players. Got signed to BMG/ATO... re-issued two previously self-released e.p.s Skittish and Rockity Roll, and eventually a proper full length called Haughty Melodic. Check out his blog, as linked in my sidebar... and the track below which is a bonus live track added onto the double e.p. release.

Some say he sounds like Dave Matthews. But that could just be playful cruelty.




The Only Answer

Ahh, the Twofer.

Psychic flash of the week... 2009:

Prime Minister Belinda Stronach


Right?

Cabbie quote of the day:

"I have no problem with women; I just wish they'd do a little more."

This is by the same driver who laid down the deer hunter/car insurance rap.

The store has been fairly free of bizarre shenanigans over the last couple of weeks, but today there was some fun. I'm on the phone leaving messages for people whose special orders have come in when I catch movement at the door out of the corner of my eye.

For those of you who don't know, Backstreet Records is on the second floor of a building... you have to come up a flight of stairs and we're back and to the left at the top... just follow the clever indie music sounds.

Anyway, standing in the doorway are a woman with stringy grey/blonde hair cascading limply onto her faded powder blue ispo jacket. Her mouth is an open, puffing "O" denoting simultaneous astonishment and lack of breath. Standing with her is a slightly stooped 6+ foot man with a complimentary slack jaw beneath a thick unwatered -grass-brown tangle of moustache. He is wearing a toque in the peculiar way you sometime see... barely perched on the very top of his head with the bulk of it completely empty. I think maybe these people take to heart the assertion that 90% of the body's heat escapes through the top of the ol' noggin. Whatever.

I'm on the phone for about 30-40 seconds and they just stare at me from the doorway like I'm some sort've exhibit. When I finally put the phone down they lurch forward together as one and I can see they're each carrying grocery bags of records. I brace myself.

Woman [breathing heavily, for effect]: Hooo. Those stairs... hooo.

Me: Yeah there's more than a dozen of them.

Woman: Hooo. We have... hooo... these records to sell. We went into to the record store next door [note: there is no record store next door, so I figure she means either Tony's, a musical instrument store, or The Owl's Nest, a used book store] and they sent us over here. We took them into Digital World [pawn shop further uptown], but they only took 3 of 'em.

Me [already peaking inside the first bag]: If Digital World couldn't use these it's unlikely we'll be able to take them either. [Looking through the water and nicotine damaged offerings] I don't see anything we'd have much hope of selling here. They're in rotten shape, plus all the titles are either bad easy listening or country... we don't have anyone looking for stuff like that, ever.

Woman: So, nothing? We carried these all the way over from Fraser Ave

Directions from Fraser Ave to Backstreet Records:

Start address: Fraser Ave
Fredericton, NB
End address: Queen St
Fredericton, NB
Distance: 3.6 km (about 6 mins)

Head northeast from Fraser Ave - go 50 m
Turn right at Hickory Ave - go 0.1 km
Turn right at Fulton Ave - go 0.7 km
Turn left at Main St/Rue Main - go 0.8 km
Turn right at Devonshire Dr - go 0.2 km
Take the ramp to Fredericton Centre - go 0.4 km
Bear right at Westmorland Street Brg - go 0.5 km
Continue on Westmorland St/Rue Westmoreland - go 0.3 km
Turn left at King St/Rue King - go 0.4 km
Turn left at Carleton St/Rue Carleton - go 0.1 km

Me: Sorry. If you're just looking to get rid of them so you don't have to carry them back, you can drop them off at the library.

Woman: The LIBRARY?!?!

ME: On Carleton St.

Luckily just then someone came in I knew so I could strike up a conversation and not draw out the litany of huffing and whining that follows a full-on refusal of merchandise.

So.... That was that, right? No.

About half an hour later another tall, lurching, toqued and bearded man shambles into the store carrying three grocery bags. I recognize him as a fairly loud voiced panhandler from the greater downtown area.

Man [slurring]: I'll give you all these records for five dollars.

Me: Did a couple just give you those in the street? I told them I had no use for them... to take them to the library and get rid of them.

Man: Get rid of them? Oh.

So he stumbles back out, dropping the bags in the hallway, down the stairs and outdoors in search of other more lucrative ventures.


Here are two tracks to get you through the weekend. During the summer and fall of 1992 there were two album that seemed to get more play by me and mine than any of the others... Automatic for the People by R.E.M. and It's a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads. It's not that they were the best albums of the time, though they were and are both fine albums, but both seemed to find their way onto the stereos of everyone I knew. R.E.M. was great for early evenings with a beer on the sun porch and The Lemonheads was great for... well, anytime really. R.E.M. continued their upward trajectory in the decade+ that followed, but Evan Dando and The Lemonheads burned brightly and briefly before slinking off into the wings of indie rock.

The track Into Your Arms was written by Tom Morgan of Australian band Smudge and first appeared as a B-side to the single, Mrs. Robinson from It's a Shame About Ray... that single is also, obviously, a cover... of the Simon and Garfunkel classic... though the cover was not originally on the Lemonheads album, only added later after it's appearence on a soundtrack. Another version of Into Your Arms was also included on the 1993 follow up to Ray, Come On Feel the Lemonheads.

The second track, Ride With Me, is also a CD B-side, this time to the double A-Side single Confetti/My Drug Buddy... two tracks also from Ray. This is a live version of the track that originally appeared on their 1990 album Lovey.



Evan Dando Where Are You?

Into Your Arms
Ride With Me

...and finally I realized...

It's the subconscious that's in control, you realize that right?

Or maybe you don't. And that's the point.

In the case of deciding what your likes and dislikes truly are, sometimes you can fool yourself... initially preferring the outwardly obvious, quick fix things... but coming around to realize that the more subtle, perhaps backgrounded, of things is what you're actually drawn to:

Example:

Outward

Subtle


Not so similarly there are occasionally songs or albums that I like and can't quite figure out why. One example of this is Bows and Arrows by The Walkmen. It made it up quite high on my list of favourite albums for 2004... but there wasn't any definable reason I could point at to explain. There's a barnburner of a song called The Rat, but there was something else going on...

Today I was listening to a second hand copy someone had brought in... and on track five, My Old Man, it struck me: This is a song with a single note, unchanging bass line! That's the way to go, man! Have a listen:


My Old Man

Sorry.

I didn't get a track for today.

But here is an Ivan Brunetti cartoon:

Election

Back in 1973 Alice Cooper's very fun Billion Dollar Babies album featured a song called Elected. The lyrics went thusly:

I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice
I wanna be elected
I'm your yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce
I wanna be elected
Kids want a savior, don't need a fake
I wanna be elected
We're gonna rock to the rules that I make
I wanna be elected, elected, elected
I never lied to you, I've always been cool
I wanna be elected
I gotta get the vote, and I told you about school
I wanna be elected, elected, elected
Hallelujah, I wanna be elected
Everyone in the United States of America
We're gonna win this one, take the country by storm
We're gonna be elected
You and me together, young and strong
We're gonna be elected, elected, elected
Respected, selected, call collected
I wanna be elected, elected

In the run off of the track there was an improvised rant about the "creation of a new party, a third party... THE WILD PARTY!!!" Well it's 33 years later and maybe, just maybe the wild party did win out after all. We went from the Clinton sex scandals to the Bush Beer Bong Blow-Up Fest over the last 10 years. I can't help but think that Alice didn't have this in mind exactly. But you can ask him yourself when you go and see him at Harbour Station in May (with Helix!!!).

Here in Canada it's election day... and whether there is a Wild Party (outside of the Marijuana Party, who likely bust out more of a mellow party than a wild one) is debatable. The sponsorship scandal supports a claim of the Liberals being pretty lame in their wildness... giving kickbacks to Quebec companies to downshift the sovereignist support system (possibly, allegedly)... it actually is somewhat patriotic in a real underhanded way (which is the best way arguably). The NDP is wild in a lets get together and responsibly enjoy each other's company and strive for communal betterment. Wild? No. Good idea? Yeah... if you like communal betterment (it's a new concept and maybe not grammatically sound). And the Conservatives? Well the name is a give away isn't it? If your idea of wild is Republican-lite then Wooooo and also Hoooo!!!

Well by now it's too late anyway... polls have just closed. And if you're poorly like most of the folks I know then life will continue to suck in the same mildly variable way... and be joyful in the same old ways... I mean ALICE COOPER!!! HARBOUR STATION!!! HELIX!!! AVIAN FLU!!! Errr... maybe not the last one so much.

Today's track is another cover. Sylvain Chauveau is a French artist with a great back catalogue of works from minimalist solo piano pieces to drone based works in a duo called ON, and more. One of his recent works is with the Ensemble Nocturne, billed as "An Acoustic Tribute to Depeche Mode" and titled Down to the Bone:


Enjoy the Silence [taken down]

Now Hiring.

If any of you are experts in the ENGLISH LANGUAGE you may want to write to this company, based out of Quebec, and offer your services in translation and grammar checking (click on picture to enlarge):



I especially like it when they mis-spell quality as "quaility." The distro itself seems pretty well run, so don't hold their enthusiastic linguistic reconfiguration against them (at least not to the detriment of commerce).

In the spirit of translation, today's track is a cover of Japanese metal moppets MELT-BANANA by DISCORDANCE AXIS from their recent release: Our Last Day.



Ulterior [taken down]

Synchronicity 2

I had this quicktime movie from the group Sad Little Stars tucked away in a folder for a few weeks now... Mandy hipped me to the website... and I kept meaning to post it so everyone could take a look, but just as quickly intention fronted and forgetion locked it up old school...

Then just now I was perusing a few other blogs I read on occasion and noticed that Sasha Frere-Jones had a link to it too. So now is the upside of never for us, friends.

Sad Little Stars Quicktime Movie

Rappie Pie Blues

It's raining buckets in Fredericton right now and the new fallen snow on the sidewalks downtown has taken on the glutinous appearence of Rappie Pie. I guess you had to be there on Sunday night at James' place. If you were, you know.

In other news I believe I may have found the most hardcore blues song of all time. None of your Robert Johnsons with "Hellhounds on My Trail." None of your Blind Lemon Jeffersons with their "See That My Grave is Kept Clean." I'm talking about a track from this classic album:



And this is the track I'm talkin' 'bout:



When you consider it most blues songs rest upon the existential crutch of things not possibly getting any worse. Here Grover takes a slight step backwards from the abyss and considers his fate: Things obviously have gone wrong. Who done bad by who is not clear... but... BUT, "Still, We Like Each Other." I mean, what a kick to the nads!!! He's obviously not going to get his CDs back from his girl/guy/mop/whatever. He's never going to see the sweater he forgot at her/his/its place. If she/he/it starts dating someone new they obviously wouldn't find it inappropriate to hang out in the same bars Grover goes to... not worried if he sees them because, "Still, We Like Each Other." I mean... that's the friggin' blues, man.

Our song today comes from a late 2005 release by Bonnie "Prince" Billy. A Kickass live album called "Summer in the Southeast."


Death to Everyone [taken down]

More things.

It's not that I'm obsessed with cab drivers...

I take 4-7 cab rides a week... that averages out to just around $100/month... so I figure if I derive occasional entertainment from their quirks and peculiarities it still works out to be exceptionally expensive entertainment. Thankfully there's transportation included.

Yesterday's driver picked me up at Sobey's on Regent as I was getting my week's worth of dinners for the lab. He began the conversation with:

CD: What do you do at the University.

ME: I work at the media lab. I sort've manage it at night...

CD: Media lab? What's that?

ME: Computers. Video editing. People doing Power Point... er, you know... computers.

CD: Ah. Listen. You wouldn't know anyone up there who works in Human Rights, would you?

>>>Now I have to break in here and explain that this particular driver is quite an adept mumbler. Not only does he mumble, which he does, but he seems to have a selective mumbling pattern which is compounded by his tendency to jump into and out of sentences without warning<<<

ME: Human Rights... the nearest I could suggest might be checking out the Sociology department. Maybe?

CD: MMmmm. Yeah... [mumbles] some advice about theft and property.

ME: Theft?

CD: Yeah... The government, not only... [mumbles]... kind of a make work... [mumbles]... but at the end, about 6 or 7 years of livelihood, or you could... [mumbles]... really my life.

>>>Had I been a little brighter I would have let things rest there, but...<<<

ME: How did they take your livelihood?

CD: Well... [mumbles]... in Moncton, and they had it all drawn up, but... [mumbles]... in the end it was just make work for the highway guys... do you know the scandals in Ottawa? The sponsorship... [mumbles]. Anyway the companies were all in Quebec and... [mumbles], so they'd keep them IN. And the highway companiew are all from, in Moncton, Quebec... and... [mumbles]... just sold my gravel pit recently, but then the evaluator charged me based on his evaluation... [mumbles]... but my paperwork was already IN! And the lawyers are a protection agency, all work for the same people... [mumbles]... and my neighbour was told 43 thousand, but on the books it worked out to 143 thousand! But... [mumbles]... just a make work for the highway, the Quebec company, keep them in Canada. So I need someone... [mumbles]... not, like the lawyers, not a protection agency for the government. So if... [mumbles]... let me know. OK?

ME: Yes.

Today's song is from Tricky's 1996 side project Nearly God.


Tattoo [taken down]

I should have noted earlier but each song will stay up for one day only.

Brandon Lee

My theory now is that UNB is dead.

How else do you explain the hundreds of crows in the trees behind the SUB and in front of the LBR every night around sunset. It's eerie. Not all but some of them stay in the trees in front of the Old Arts Building all night. When I walk under them on the way home their wings sound like dozens of old leather straps flapping against the branches in the wind... in the dark. AAAAIIIEEEE!

I should also mention... as others have before me... that the one and only Ja Born has an important performance at Memorial Hall tomorrow evening. The details are outlined as such:

GroundBeat #1: John Born Drum Performance at Memorial Hall January 13

GroundBeat is a showcase series highlighting the eclectic character of our community's art, music and performance. Challenging prevalent conceptions, GroundBeat is set to change perceptions, delight, and inspire everyone with eyes to see, ears to hear and senses to be tantalized.

Born to Reincarnate: Undivided Man – John Born Drum Performance
"Without music, life would be a mistake" F. Nietzsche
Memorial Hall
Friday, January 13
$5
8:30 pm

It starts with a message, embodied and organic, and the need to connect with others, to create allegory through music and have the rhythm of life awaken in all hearts that hear. It is as basic as it is polyphonic - the experience of the spirit as it crosses the line into the afterlife and meets itself - and is as rudimentary as the equation which connects the drumkit and the bloodstream pounding out our often taken for granted days.

Performance sets aside time: time to reflect and interpret, orchestrate meaning and arrange sound. Born to Reincarnate: Undivided Man is a measured and studied exploration of five international pieces of music and one original score - though, as in all musical interpretations, once reworked a version is more homage to the original (voice) than direct copy.

As an investigation of music, this piece intimately understands how sound makes meaning; as performance, it believes in our time on this earth; and as rhythm, this piece speaks from heart to heart.

For more information contact Andrew Titus, Program Development Officer, UNB Art Centre 452-6360 or atitus@unb.ca

This is my artist's rendition... knowing nothing of the details of the show... of what you can expect:



SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!

Back dans le Saddle encore

Ah friends...

Sorry to have left you to your own battery powered devices at the end of the year.

For me it is a time of worry and fret... of stomach acid tides rising and lapping at the very back of my throat. Who amongst us likes waking up three or four times a night coughing because there's a brush fire just below their uvula? Not I, you say, not I.

But we made it through another holiday season. Here are some things I've seen and/or learned.

1) On one of my last nights of work at the lab I left a little later than my usual 10 pm knock off time and heard what sounded like the all-too-usual high voiced yelping of drunken idiots outside the Social Club in the SUB. When I noticed it was coming from behind instead of in front of me I turned in time to see two foxes dart out of the woods and up to the door of the building I'd just exited... not 25 feet away. Fun.

2) There are some questions you have to question... long before you can ever hope to even try to answer. Example: Young man with the skittish movements/expression of one either picked on too much or not enough comes in the store and has the following query: "I'm interested in listening to music on vinyl. Is there anything you'd recommend?" So, how do you approach this? Does he think music on vinyl is different from music on other formats? Does he just want me to stack up a bunch of records for him to buy? Before I could begin to help he follows with, "and this may be a silly question, but do you know where I could buy something to play the vinyl on?" Oh well.

3) The door locks freeze. Everywhere.

4) If you need to travel by bus it will snow hard. Even if the forecast 2 days earlier called for 4 degrees celsius and a 30% chance of rain. Snow.

5) Coupons will always be the best thing you receive.

6) If you have a choice between 3 things you can spend a Xmas bonus on always pick the least useful one (for me it was a PS2).

7) One thing you should find out when asked to take care of someone's cats while they're away for the holidays is what their names are. Although big gray kitty and little gray kitty worked out fine.

8) #1 album of 2005 Sufjan Stevens-Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty). For a list of my Top Fifty you can go over here.

I'll bring you more news of wonderment and discovery soon. For now I leave you with this: