The Great Dark Wonder

So. Sparkly vampire action.

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:37:54 GMT

Yeah, yeah. I bought a copy of Twilight last night. I'm only a couple of chapters in so far so I haven't gotten to any really painful parts yet, but a note or two to begin with:

1) I am fine with the fact that the main character is attractive to the vampires. There has to be a reason for a particular character to be the lead in a particular story, so within story constraints it does make sense for her to be the Vampire Whisperer. However, it's just stupid to make such a thing about how she's never had any friends, ever, and then make her the centre of a social whirl the second she gets to the new school. I can only assume the writer wanted to avoid having to worry about too many ties to her old home--realistic human relationships are such a pain--but in that case the character should have been a bit of an outcast at the new school, too.

Or, you know, put a little effort into making friends.

2) The author note thanked her editor for helping make the book better than it was before. However, nobody seemed all that interested in narrative consistency, both for the reason given above and the business of Bella fainting in biology class when they did the blood draw. I notice she was fighting fit in the emergency room when Tyler was swathed in gory bandages after the van incident.

Okay, Ihave been skimming ahead.

3) The bit about how Edward can't read Bella's thoughts because "you don't think like everyone else" was a stroke of genius. Bella is the absolute dead norm of every dull little self-obsessed teenage girl you have ever met or been. So readers, who almost certainly think just like Bella get to feel SPESHUL, too!

4) The thing about how the vampires hunt animals. They prefer to go to places "where there is an overpopulation of predators." Um, exactly how do they figure that out in the three days before the predators disperse in search of new food? Do they hang around new housing developments encroaching on predator territory and wait for some desperate animal to come out of the woods?

An extra special stake through the heart for grizzyl killing Emmett, too.

Further use for tape crosses

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:25:39 GMT

It occurred to me on the way to the barn last night that there might be another use for the adhesive tape cross I wrote about a couple of posts ago. I tend to slouch a bit when I ride, as well, and my head tips forward when I concentrate.

I think, although I would have to do further testing to be sure, that there is probably a spot on your upper back where a tape cross could let you know if you were letting your head drop forward. It wouldn't actually interfere with anything, but it would provide a reference point--if I go so far forward, I feel the tape tug at my skin.

Of course, you would need an assistant to put the tape on properly, because there's no way your neck would remain in the right spot while you were twisting around to apply the tape. (Not to mention the risk of your hair getting caught.) But I mentioned it to Coach Girl and it might be worth trying. I'll let you know if we do.

The Song Of the Library Staff

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:16:40 GMT

The Song of the Library Staff (all six verses)

By Sam Walter Foss, Librarian of Somerville (Mass.) Public Library
Read at the 1906 ALA Annual Conference

Oh, joy! to see the Library staff perpetually jogging
And to see the Cataloger in the act of cataloging
("Catalogs - Log-books for cattle," was the schoolboy's definition, --
A statement not to be despised for insight and precision)
Every language spoke at Babel in the books that pile her table,
Every theme discussed since Adam -- song or story, fact or fable!
And she sweetly takes all knowledge from her province, as did Bacon,
All the fruit that's dropped and mellowed since the Knowledge tree was
shaken,
All the ologies of the colleges, all the isms of the schools,
All the unassorted knowledges she assorts by Cutter's rules;
Or tags upon each author in large labels that are gluey
Their place in Thought's great Pantheon in decimals of Dewey;
Oh, joy! to see the Library staff perpetually jogging,
And to see the Cataloger in the act of cataloging.

See the reference librarian and the joys that appertain to her;
Who shall estimate the contents and the area of the brain to her?
See the people seeking wisdom from the four winds ever blown to her,
For they know there is no knowledge known to mortals but is known to her;
See this flower of perfect knowledge, blooming like a lush geranium,
All converging rays of wisdom focussed just beneath her cranium;
She is stuffed with erudition as you'd stuff a leather cushion,
And her wisdom is her specialty -- it's marketing her mission.
How they through to her, all empty, grovelling in their insufficience;
How they come from her o'erflooded by the sea of her omniscience!
And they know she knows she knows things, -- while she drips her learned
theses
The percentage of illiteracy perceptibly decreases.
Ah, they know she knows she knows things, and her look is education;
And to look at her is culture, and to know her is salvation.

See the Children's gay Librarian. Oh, what boist'rous joys are hers
As she sits upon her whirl-stool, throned amid her worshippers,
Guiding youngsters seeking wisdom through Thought's misty morning light;
Separating Tom and Billy as they clinch in deadly fight;
Giving lavatory treatment to the little hand that smears
With the soil of crusted strata laid by immemorial years;
Teaching critical acumen to the youngsters munching candy,
To whom books are all two classes -- they are either "bum" or "dandy";
Dealing out to Ruths and Susies, or to Toms and Dicks and Harriees,
Books on Indians or Elsie, great big bears or little fairies.
For the Children's gay Librarian passes out with equal pains
Books on Indians or Elsie, each according to his need,
Satisfying long, long longings for intellectual feed.

See the gleeful Desk Attendants ever dealing while they can
The un-inspected canned beef of the intellect of man;
Dealing out the brains of sages and the poet's heart divine,
(Receiving for said poet's heart ofttimes a two-cent fine);
Serene amid the tumult for new novels manifold, --
For new novels out this afternoon but thirty minutes old; --
Calm and cool amid the tumult see the Desk Attendant stand
With contentment on her features and a date-stamp in her hand.
As they fee beasts at the circus to appease their hungering rage,
So she throws this man a poet and she drops that man a sage,
And her wild beasts growl in fury when the do not like her meat, --
When the sage is tough and fibrous and the bard not over-sweet;
And some retire in frenzy, lashing wrathfully about,
When the intellectual spare-rib that they most affect is out.
But she feeds 'em, and she leads 'em and beguiles 'em wiht sweet guile,
And wounds 'em with her two-cent fine and heals 'em with her smile.
Oh, the gleesome Desk Attendant -- who shall estimate her glee?
Get some mightier bard to sing it -- 'tis a theme too big for me!

Now my Muse prepare for business. Plume your wings for loftier flight
Through the circumambient ether to a super-lunar height,
Then adown the empyrean from the hights where thou hast risen
Sing, O Muse! the Head Librarian and the joy that's her'n or his'n.
See him, see her, his or her head weighted with the lore of time,
Trying to expend a dollar when he only has a dime;
Tailoring appropriations -- and how deftly he succeeds,
Fitting his poor thousand dollars to his million dollar needs.
How the glad book agents cheer him -- and he cannot wish them fewer
With "their greatest work yet published since the dawn of literature."
And he knows another agent, champing restive to begin
With another work still greater will immediately come in.
So perfection on perfection follows more and more sublime
And the line keeps on forever down the avenues of time --

So they travel on forever, stretching far beyond our ken,
Lifting demijohns of wisdom to the thirsty lips of men.
See him 'mid his myriad volumes listening to the gladsome din
Of the loud vociferant public that no book is ever "in";
And he hears the fierce taxpayer evermore lift up the shout
That the book he needs forever is the book forever "out."
How they rage, the numerous sinners, when he tries to please the saints,
When he tries to please the sinners hear the numerous saints complaints;
And some want a Bowdlered Hemans and an expurgated Watts;
Some are shocked beyond expression at the sight of naked thoughts!
And he smooths their fur the right way, and he placates him or her,
And those who come to snarl and scratch remain behind to purr.
Oh, the gamesome glad Librarian gushing with his gurgling glee! --
Here I hand my resignation, -- 'tis a theme too big for me.

Also, observe my userpic: anyone who has ever read about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi knows that a mongoose is a sort of small furry reference librarian.

Speaking of "good kids"

Fri, 16 May 2008 16:03:16 GMT

Yeah, I've been reading the Fugly blog, and I know she would disapprove of a ranch where large numbers of foals were bred every year and sold as infants. I suspect PMU action, frankly. (And if so, congratulate them for not dumping all their mares when the market crashed.) But also, congratulate them on trying to produce good-quality babies: these foals' daddy is Foothills Beau Dunit, a point-earner in reining and quarter horse shows. He's an own son of Hollywood Dun It and out of a daughter of Colonel Freckles. And a few of the mamas that I looked at are daughters and grand-daughters of some very famous horses.

All of which means there is no need to ever breed Mitzi. if I ever get a bad case of baby fever and can afford a second horse, nice babies are not so hard to find.

And just look at their little Hollywood Dun It faces!

Good kids and following the rules--more writing notes

Fri, 16 May 2008 15:21:48 GMT

Regarding rules and the following thereof: I had a bit of an epiphany while working on this latest story. (Ask any writer: you learn more stuff by writing a story, including stuff about yourself.) I was one of those rules-obeying kids who worried a lot about conciliating figures of authority so they would like me. And when I started trying to create Jordy, who is not like me, one of the things I knew about him was that he has no doubt about whether the important people in his life love him. But the thing is, I kept expressing that in my mind as, his parents love him in spite of his various flaws and the fact he doesn't live the type of life they do. And at a certain point I looked at the character, and I looked at the source material for the character, and I realized that the character's loved ones do not love him in spite of his flaws--they love him because of his virtues. Which led me to think harder about his good points and how they are expressed. Because it turns out that it is entirely possible to be a person who doesn't live the way your parents did, or think the way they do, and still have respect and affection for them. The difference between being a rebel and just being your own person may be at least partly a matter of attitude, and also possibly courage. Which was an interesting thing to discover about the source material for Jordy, and it's kind of cool to try to get that across in the character.

Late to the party (well, just on my way to it, really)

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:54:24 GMT

So. Twilight.

Half the people I know on the Internets are reading this series, and I think I have to get in on the fun. The copy at my public library is checked out and I am like eightieth on the holds list, and I have technical issues with the ebook...

So it looks like I might actually purchase this sucker. Dang.

I can tell myself it is an exercise in learning how not to write a spine-chillingly creepy relationship between two young characters. This is useful because Jordy, the main character in the Kowalski story, is not supposed to be creepy about his girlfriend Vanessa. It's not a big problem in this story because she's at home and he's in Texas, so she participates mostly via telephone calls. And Jordy is too worried about, you know, people getting killed all around him to have much time for creepy thoughts.

The thing is, I'm pretty sure I can avoid creepiness without such research. Jordy is not by nature inclined to try to control Vanessa's behaviour, and she is not by nature inclined to put up with that shit.

But hell. Even the excerpts people are posting all over the Internet makes this look like a creepy, creepy book. The author has said the no-sex-no-drugs story is an attempt to represent "the good kids who play by the rules." Based on the excerpts I really wonder whether her definition of "good kids" means ill-humoured and self-centred ones like her female lead, or controlling stalkers like her male lead.

I should add here that I have never really gotten the bad-boy thing. No, really. Heathcliff gives me hives and Wuthering Heights is not romantic in that way. Yes, I know--I am all about the dirty rock stars. Thing is, my initial interest in dirty rock stars began when I fell for Bruce Springsteen, who had the dual benefits of being attractively scruffy but also, inarguably, a fundamentally decent person.

[Oh, okay. I had the misfortune of seeing the movie Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when I was eleven or so. And yeah, the villain band (revealed at the end of the movie) were represented as Aerosmith playing "Come Together" at the height of their filthy, drugged-out period. And I immediately sat up straighter and thought, "Wait, what's this?" and promptly rooted for the Future Villain Band, who were so much cooler than the good guys. But that was an abberation. And also, you know, Aerosmith. I don't agree that the devil has all the best music--hello, U2 and the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen!--but he certainly has a lot of it!]

So my thing is, I have nothing against "good kids who play by the rules," but the the kid in the excerpts I am reading doesn't strike me as a particularly shining example of being a "good kid." (We'll let the vampire off the "good kid" hook because--vampire!) She's uncharitable, unkind, and mentally inert.

I suppose the question is, whose "rules" do the kid characters play by? By my standards a sexually active dope-smoker who is actively kind to other people is a better example of a good kid than someone who stays within all the lines prescribed by adults but resents the hell out of everyone around her. (Yeah, I know--a lot of adolescents do go through a period of generalized angst... but this kid doesn't seem to care about or be interested in anything. Almost diagnostic for pain-in-the-arse kid rather than good kid, at least in my book!)

And, in an outburst of common sense rarely seen on the Internet, the major gripe people seem to have about this book is the way it makes it okay for the girl to be controlled by the boy. A whole lot of people have addressed this much better than I can (and cleolinda's is really damned funny) but I also appreciated the Amazon citizen reviewer who remarked that she has no fear of her daughter getting mixed up with a vampire, but she doesn't want her getting into a relationship with one of the zillions of selfish controlling abusive bastards that populate the world. When you think about the messages books send to "good kids"--well, that's a real fucking doozy.

To get back to my initial point, I could say I'm reading this for the how-not-to points. That's a lie. I want to read it for the snark.

But I have a feeling some of the things I'll get out of it won't be strictly amusing...

Bandage on my lower back

Fri, 16 May 2008 12:13:21 GMT

Nope, not an injury.

And I didn't get a tattoo.

Yesterday, just before I left physio, the physiotherapist put a big tape "X" on my lower back, so whenever I tried to slouch the tape would tug and remind me to straighten up. Worked so well that I put a large Band-Aid on this morning to serve the same purpose. There is more give to a Band-Aid, but it seems to be working.

Also, I have duct tape if need be.

Anyway, I've had a few bad days and am still in the "be careful" stage, so I've reconsidered my decision to start riding again for now. But correct posture? Is in fact a good thing.

CD release poster

Thu, 15 May 2008 18:13:02 GMT

I may have mentioned that Gloryhound & the Skyhawks' CD is being released on May 31st. Well, I'm mentioning it again. And here's the poster advertising the party!

L-R: Evan, Shaun, Jeremy, Dave

(Nope, Adam is not pictured. As of June he has moved on to another project. Which I can guarantee means you have not heard the last of him on this blog, either...)

Recent writing

Thu, 15 May 2008 12:54:26 GMT

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I've been writing, but not necessarily on my mystery. It seems Gloryhound & the Skyhawks needed sort of a press release written for The Coast, our local free weekly. Someone had written them a draft that wasn't working out, the deadline was looming, and I understand at some point the question was asked, "Okay, who do we know who might be willing to write something about us?"

Well, now that you mention it...

Outside of work I am really not used to writing anything that comes with guidelines, so this was fun and kind of different. It was supposed to be 400-600 words. I sent Evan a message asking him a couple of questions about the major points I planned to cover. His responses were detailed enough to use as quotes (it was a bit like an email interview, really) so I wrote the first draft based on what I thought was important and sent it to him. The band had a look at it and Evan got back to me with their thoughts about what parts should be emphasized. We agreed to go over the word limit (which I did... by about 200 words.) It turned out the word limit was in fact firm, but at that point I knew what the band really wanted in the release. (We could have gotten to that immediately if we'd been in an office together working on the thing, but this wasn't an inefficient method either.)

So I went back and cut around the band's most important points, got the article down to within range of the word count (there was a little rewriting involved, as well as a few waste words to be removed, but fewer than I would have expected considering it's me) and sent it back to the band.

So we made the deadline with plenty of time in hand and the bandmembers I've spoken to seem happy with the results. I don't think there's any guarantee The Coast will actually use it, but I got it in under deadline and I think it expressed what we wanted it to. So yeah, kind of a fun thing.

I assume, if it's used, it'll be in the issue for the last week of May, to promote the CD release party at the Seahorse on May 31st. I've mentioned that, right? ;)

"And the whole damn place goes crazy twice ..."

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:57:08 GMT

So, the Leonard Cohen show. As I mentioned some time ago, I did try to get tickets back when they first went on sale, and had no luck. Which was disappointing, especially since I was hoping to give one to my mother as a Mother's Day present.

As it worked out, though, an old friend of hers is really ill so she wouldn't have come to town for the show anyway. So I guess better to have the disappointment early.

However, yesterday I was talking to a professional colleague about something else entirely and he mentioned he knew someone who, due to illness in their group, was looking to sell a Cohen ticket for face value. So I called, and I got the ticket.

The show was at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, kind of a little jewel in terms of sound quality and sight lines. I've had some good times there. It was not, however, nearly as great in terms of seats, which means today I am a bit gimped up again.

I'll live.

The show started pretty much on the dot of eight, and the first standing ovation of the night occurred at about 8:01, when Cohen walked onstage in a dapper suit and fedora, looking like a cross between a Buddhist monk and Michael Corleone. He was warm and gracious, much like Kris Kristofferson when I saw him, and he seemed quite touched by the nearly-ecstatic reception he and his songs received. The nine-piece band was a terrific unit and Cohen introduced each member repeatedly, pointing them out by name as they finished solos, so that by the end of the evening we were beginning to know them by name. There was a definite feeling of a real band playing together, although Cohen was the obvious, effortless focus of attention.

As the woman I got the ticket from remarked, I hope I am half that cool when I am Cohen's age. He's always been more of a vocal stylist than a singer, but in fact the older he gets the more texture his voice has. It's deep and raspy and he's sometimes hard to understand when he speaks because some words hover at the bottom of my hearing range, but it is a captivating and strangely beautiful sound. The audience had the habit of reacting to specific lyrics as if they were addressed straight to us, and Cohen took that up a little so some songs had the quality of soliloquies in Shakespeare, as he stepped into the footlights as if only we could hear him.

I scribbled down the setlist in the back of a notebook and was surprised at how many of the songs I knew. Some were rearranged or given new introductions but the majority of the audience was harder to fool than me and twigged immediately to most. There was almost no singing along. The woman behind me actually squeaked with delight when he began "So Long Marianne." I think I teared up over "Suzanne," and I have no idea why.

Just a wonderful show. I'm so grateful I lucked into that ticket!

Set List
Set #1

Dance Me To the End Of Love

The Future

Ain't No Cure For Love

Bird On A Wire

Everybody Knows

In My Secret Life

Who By Fire

Anthem

Break
Set #2

Tower Of Song

Suzanne

The Gypsy's Wife

Boogie Street

Hallelujah

Democracy

I'm Your Man

Take This Waltz

Encore #1

Heart With No Companion

So Long Marianne

First We Take Manhattan

Encore #2

That Don't Make It Junk

Closing Time

Encore #3

I Tried To Leave You

So, apparently I'm going to Leonard Cohen after all...

Tue, 13 May 2008 14:40:29 GMT

A colleague just put me in touch with someone who needed to rehome a ticket for the show tonight.

Leonard Cohen, y'all.

That'll make the physiotherapy go down easier, for sure!

Imaginary foals--possibly the best kind!

Tue, 13 May 2008 13:20:14 GMT

Yes, I have started reading the Fugly Horse of the Day blog.

No, I never really planned to breed Mitzi in the first place.

Yes, I have abandoned any such non-plans.

However, the bloggers do occasionally post bitter references to online horse-breeding games that deluded would-be breeders should play with instead of screwing up real live horses.

And those? Sound like fun!

On second thought, maybe I DO bite...

Tue, 13 May 2008 12:30:00 GMT

So I stayed at work pretty late last night (not work-related, more on that in a while) and then took the bus home as usual. City bus seats being what they are, and my leg being sensitive to pressure points, I was sore, hungry, and getting cranky by the time I got off the bus at about twenty after nine.

Before I started supper I figured I had better do my exercises, so I was down on the floor when the phone rang. It seemed late for a telemarketer, and I had missed a call from sagitare over the weekend, so I lurched (definitely the appropriate verb) to my feet, leg twanging, and limped over to the phone. Picked it up and said "hello."

Nothing for a second, then a young male voice said something like "Yo." And there was silence.

Me: (dangerously politely) "Can I help you?"
Young Male Voice: (slightly puzzled) "No, no help needed."
Me: (with vicious courtesy) "Well, then, you have a nice evening."

And I hung up and went back to my exercises.

About five minutes later the phone rang again, and I let the answering machine get it. Nobody spoke. I went about my business.

Five minutes after that it rang again, and I heard my sister's voice saying, "Sorry about a minute ago, your saucy nephew assumed you knew who it was!"

Yes, dear reader, I had hung up on my own nephew. The boy who, on any list of my ten favourite people in the world, would appear twice. He is, in fact, a major reason for my affinity for the young and spacey.

He is, in fact, a whole lot like me, and since he knew he was calling me, I think he assumed that I knew it was him calling.

Which, if his voice hadn't gotten so damned deep over the past year or so, I might have. Thank God I didn't say anything rude to him!

Anyway. Back to physio tonight, and I hope it helps my brain as well as my leg!!

Oh--and Lease Girl's lesson...

Mon, 12 May 2008 16:17:15 GMT

...didn't happen. It rained buckets all day long so Mitzi's sense or lack of it was a non-issue. So we have time to get our act together again this week--if it ever does stop raining for five minutes...

Speaking of Mitzi and Joel Plaskett...

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:56:57 GMT

Last week, between the rain and the new physio exercises getting to me, I wasn't at the barn nearly enough and when I was we didn't do much. So by Saturday I knew I had to at least longe Mitzi or Lease Girl would have a crummy lesson.

It was cold and windy and Mitzi not only spooked at bits of paper coming into the barn, she actually shook on the cross-ties because she was so hyper. (With that said--the spooks were the old "Eek!" ones where she didn't do anything, and she stood still and shook. Credit where it's due.)

Anyway, I got her wrapped and booted and we went out to the ring--

--where we discovered the gang of local teenage boys who work around the barn (in exchange for garage room for various project cars, as far as I can tell) were shoring up the arena fence over by the driveway. There was much shovelling, hopping over fences with shovels in hand, and some flinging of dirt.

Mitzi completely forgot that these are the same young men who give her hay most evenings, and it took a while for her to stop imagining they were going to chase her down and eat her. I had to get after her to stand still while I closed the gate, because ooh! Scary! (Mitzi, as you may be aware, has a vivid imagination.) Anyway, she did the tail-in-the-air snorting thing, the I-want-to-run-in-circles-because-I-feel-safer-that-way thing, and the drop-and-spook thing for the first few minutes.

She got a lot better when I started singing "Happen Now" to her. I'm just sayin'.

And in case you're not familiar with that song--here you go.

Weekend comments

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:52:47 GMT

I'm in at work right now, not doing anything work-related--I was actually writing, but not a story.

However, I even got a little work done on the mystery this weekend!

I went to see Paper Lions at the Seahorse on Friday--they were really good again, and I will probably post something about that. I was talking to Adam before the show and he mentioned that the Final Tribeca Show actually ended in a great big jam session after the bar closed (I believe Adam was on his way home at about the same time I was getting up to put the coffee on.) Joel Plaskett stuck around for that and according to Adam he is That Guy onstage even when there are only six people in the audience and he knows them all. It's just something that happens to him. I am not surprised to hear that.

It occurred to me that one reason to be sorry I don't drink is, if I had been plastered on Thursday night I might easily have gone teetering up to Joel, when he was at the other end of the bar, and announced that my horse is a huge fan of his. I mean, it's just as well I didn't, but you have to admit it would have been pretty funny.

Although come to think of it he probably gets that all the time.

Right. Survivor finale is on tonight. Cirie had better win!

Battle cry meme

Sun, 11 May 2008 18:03:50 GMT

As George Harrison said, "All things must pass"...

Fri, 09 May 2008 11:59:25 GMT

Last night's Gloryhound & the Skyhawks show was notable for a couple of reasons. One of which, as noted, was the opening set by Dave Marsh and True Love Rules. More on that in a minute.

I went down early, immediately after Survivor (about which I will only say, for the moment, that as far as this season is concerned Kipling was absolutely right, the female of the species is more deadly than the male. Or possibly just smarter) because I thought things might possibly get started a little early. And they did, because it turned out there were three acts playing last night. Busy!

First up, just after ten-thirty, was Lonnie James (don't have a MySpace link for him yet) who used to play drums for the Super Friendz. He did the solo-acoustic singer-songwriter thing, played about a dozen songs and got a good reception. I think I'd have to hear the CDs to form an opinion about him, though.

Next up was Dave Marsh with True Love Rules (Scotty on drums, Paul on bass and guitar, Tim Brennan on guitar and bass, Adam when needed on keys, and Joel Plaskett a couple of times on guitar and backing vocals.) When I arrived the bar area was so crowded I went and sat at a small table near the stage but when the second act went on the crowd sort of moved forward so I made my way back to the bar to pester Erin. The stools are more comfortable than the chair I was in originally, anyway.

I've only seen True Love Rules once before, at a show at the Seahorse, and I was favourably impressed. It's a pretty eclectic record--on different songs you might hear a reggae influence or a sort of electronic pop thing or something like that. I bought the CD at the end of the night and if I come up with some more coherent observations you'll be the first to know.

True Love Rules played about ten songs and then Gloryhound came on at probably sometime after midnight. (I generally don't wear my watch on Thursday nights, because I tend to just stay until it's over.) They ended up playing one long set and went over well--a lot of people stuck around until the end, and at one point I was treated to the sight of Joel Plaskett at the other end of the bar, air-drumming along to one of their songs.

And to bring this back to the post title, it turns out that last night was the final show in the weekly Tribeca series. The news took me by surprise (I'd have figured it out eventually...) but all things must end, and it was nice for this one to go out on a high note. Erin and I agreed we were getting a little sentimental by the end of the evening, and I think Paul thought we were crazy, but there you go.

Set List

Rockaway Beach (The Ramones, a new one to me from these guys)

"Sure don't feel the same"

Out Of Hiding

Standing Still

Bright In the Dark

On My Back

See You Round

Flee the Scene

Don't Do It (The Band)

Where I Lie

LA Woman (The Doors, with Scotty on drums)

Last Dance With Mary Jane (Tom Petty, with Harper on harmonica)

You Gotta Learn

Before You Fall

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Bob Dylan, Adam: vocals and guitar, Evan: drums, Shaun: keys, Scotty: emergency running repairs on the mic stand)

Going Home (Ten Years After)

The set ended amid shoutouts from Gloryhound to the other bands on the bill, and to Tribeca and its staff for being more than great to them, and to the folks who came out regularly (a bunch of whom, led I think by Ryan, were in the process of giving the band a standing ovation at the time.)

And so it ended. Gloryhound's next scheduled show is the CD release party at the Seahorse on May 31st, after which they'll be playing several shows around the Maritimes.

I myself have no firm plans for future Thursdays, but I'm sure something will come up.

And it kind of bears repeating: it's been a lot of fun to follow this series. I've mentioned before that I generally only find out about bands after their second CD or so, and it has been really cool to watch Gloryhound closely over the past year and a bit. The Tribeca series gave them the opportunity to work out new songs and experiment, and they are definitely a tighter band now--they've gone from being a very promising band to being a very good one (not to mention kind to the elderly--thanks), and it's been a lot of fun to watch. It should be just as much fun to see where they go from here.

And on that note--see you May 31st at the Seahorse.

Tribeca tonight

Thu, 08 May 2008 20:14:19 GMT

As noted, Dave Marsh (of the Joel Plaskett Emergency) and his solo project (including Paul and Scotty) are going to play a few songs.

There is a slight possibility Joel himself might stop by and sit in.

I would so be there, if I wasn't there already. So to speak.

Last Idol lyrics post

Thu, 08 May 2008 18:49:11 GMT

Okay, one last post about Jason Castro forgetting the words to "Mr Tambourine Man":

He missed less than a line.

But it was "In the jingle-jangle morning"! Who forgets that line, and remembers all the rest of the incredibly but typically wordy lyrics? (I mean. Dylan packs a lot of words into his songs. And the kid only forgot the five best-known ones. Hee!)

Forgetting lyrics--Idol Kiss Of Death

Thu, 08 May 2008 17:34:10 GMT

Considering how much blithering cheese the contestants are allowed to get away with (or, really, rewarded for) I always find it amusing that the one unforgivable sin on Idol seems to be forgetting the words. Yes, I know--you should be able to memorize one song a week if you're a real performer. And yes, the fact that actual real performers learn their songs a little less cold-bloodedly means nothing. Gloryhound, for God's sake, seems to be able to nail a new song in an afternoon and there are five of them learning parts. Just learning the lyrics should be a snap.

I suspect the attendant bullshit that fills these kids' time can interfere with rehearsal time--I mean, those awful Ford commercials would take a while.

But I also find it awfully hard to get all up in arms about a singer fluffing a lyric every now and then. Bryan Adams once choked on the national anthem. Yes, "O Canada." At a hockey game. Something distracted him, he lost his place, and he tee-totally blew it. And you can't tell me Bryan Adams doesn't know the words to "O Canada."

Adam from Gloryhound--well, I probably shouldn't say this, but I always think he must have been the kind of small child who never got away with anything, because when he forgets a lyric he always confesses--"Shit! Sorry!"--and then regroups. Probably just as well he's not on Idol, actually, but let's just say Jason Castro is not the only Bob Dylan fan to ever muff a Bob Dylan lyric.

My favourite "I forgot the lyrics" moment involved Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, the lead singers of Blue Rodeo, in a television interview. The interviewer wanted to play a little game called "Name the song," so she read out isolated lines from various Blue Rodeo tunes and Greg and Jim were supposed to name the song the line came from.

And Cuddy could not do it.

Now, Cuddy could name every one of Keelor's lyrics, but he didn't get a single one of his own until the interviewer threw him one from his just-released solo record. He got that one, barely, but the ones he had been singing for years almost didn't register. And yes, once in a while he fluffs a line in a show. Who cares? (Keelor knew all his own lyrics as well as his partner's. And yet he always appears to be the more addled of the two.)

During the tour for The River, Bruce Springsteen got into the habit of letting the audience sing the first verse of "Hungry Heart." That tradition began one night early in the tour when the song started and Bruce dried up totally--just lost all the words, and the audience filled in. I don't know if that's how Greg Keelor got into the habit of letting the audience sing the first verse of "Hasn't Hit Me Yet," but I would not be surprised.

So, while Idol contestants do a lot of things that cause me to cringe, forgetting lyrics hardly registers. It might be unprofessional, but it happens to the pros, and it often has nothing to do with whether they know the song.

Not an unmixed bummer...

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:50:26 GMT

The physio clinic called a little while ago to cancel my appointment for this evening, due to the physiotherapist being ill. I've been doing my exercises faithfully, and though they are wimpy little exercises they seem to be working (the physio thought my spine felt better.) They are also kicking my ass, and I think that's why I'm so sore this week. (The last couple of nights have been rotten, I wake up around two and painkillers and liniment do nothing to help.)

So it's probably okay to have a few extra days to acclimatize to doing the stuff I'm already doing before anything else gets added. With any luck I'll get to the barn tonight and at least try to longe and maybe do a few little carrot stretches.

And then of course I'm going out tonight, but I might as well, considering if I stayed home I wouldn't be able to get to sleep anyway. Also, I need to look for cushions for my kitchen chairs, since all my other seating options are really uncomfortable right now.

Might be time to bite the bullet and replace my older-than-me family-heirloom (;)) couch, too...

Speaking of Idol this week

Thu, 08 May 2008 12:10:43 GMT

The song list was the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

Hmm. Given that list, what song would you have chosen?

I am mightily tempted by "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"...

American Idol--Goodbye dreads-boy, and hey Bo Bice!

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:51:17 GMT

I ran out to the barn last night for just long enough to run a brush over Mitzi and have a chat with her. (And this morning I found a message on my work phone from Lease Girl asking if she could go out and ride. I messaged her my home phone number. Damn!)

Anyway, I got home about halfway through the results show of American Idol. I don't follow that show closely anymore--I used to like the Hollywood rounds but those episodes are really truncated now, and I have an increasingly lower tolerance for the karaoke elements of the show. However, as with a lot of reality shows, I like to watch a few early episodes to get the cast figured out, so then I can drop in at any time of the season and more or less know what's going on.

(I did see part of the performance episode on Tuesday, but... it was pretty lame, and I quit. David Cook singing "Baba O'Riley" sounded hopeful and started well, but he had less time than I thought he would and he ended up completely neglecting the dynamic that is the coolest thing about the song.) (I mean, fuck singing "teenage wasteland" over and over. Come on.)

Anyway, I turned the results show on just as Maroon 5 was finishing their performance and then Bo Bice played his new single. I still watched the show regularly when he was on, and I liked him pretty well then but haven't given him much thought since. Since Bo was the first "rocker dude" to do much of anything on the show I guess I have blamed him a little for the annoying Nickelback retreads who have started appearing lately. I mean, when the judges on American Idol start proclaiming "That's rock'n'roll, baby!" it's a bit like the old Shaun Cassidy single, by which I mean, it's nothing of the sort. Rock'n'roll, according to Idol (and most other musical reality shows including Rock Star) is an extremely limited thing. Rock'n'roll as an actual living thing is... not.

So, I was a little pissed off at Bo on general principles. But at this point I was on the floor doing my physio exercises and I didn't feel like flailing around for the clicker.

And colour me astonished! I had sort of forgotten that, although Bo was the guy who made it okay for all the Chad Whatsisface (honestly, why can I never remember the last name of Nickelback's lead singer?) wannabes to try out for Idol, Bo himself wanted to be the third Allman Brother or something. In fact, it's possible the reason his career hasn't really taken off is, the damned fool plays music he likes instead of trying to sound like everyone else on the radio right now. He's far from original, but the song he played last night put him firmly in the throwback-seventies-rock camp, which places him in the company of a bunch of artists I like very much. It's downright weird to hear an Idol alumnus who doesn't seem to be trying to sound like whatever is popular right this minute. He sounded... like a real guy playing a real song. And then he was charming and gracious in his interview with Seacrest.

I have never bought an album by any Idol alumnus so far, not on principle but because I have never been sufficiently interested. I might... I might be sufficiently interested in this one.

And then we had the eliminations, and I really thought the girl was done for, because the dreadlocked little Texan dude seemed to have such a fan base. I haven't determined whether he's particularly talented but he can sing all right, he's charming, and he's kind of distractingly pretty.

However, when Seacrest was interviewing the two potential boots, I started to really hope the little guy was going home, because he seemed so ready to do so. I've seen some good-sport boots in the course of watching this show, but this kid's whole attitude was redolent of "this has been a lot of fun, but now I'm in really deep water and I don't want to do this any more. Please." He wasn't a bit snippy or passive-aggressive or anything, he was apologetic about his poor performances the night before, he just sounded like he knew he was in the wrong place and he wanted to get out before he couldn't remember the fun parts.

Actually, he sounded like he had figured out that winning this show would be, for him, a fate worse than death, and he was happy and relieved to be out of it.

I can't imagine why I would want to listen to this kid sing anywhere except at a campfire, but I did end up liking him. He would make a dandy character in a story. And you never know, maybe someday he will...

Fail!

Wed, 07 May 2008 23:32:45 GMT

So apparently it's still too early to cut back too much on painkillers. I tried that this afternoon and ended up so achey I couldn't think straight and had to go home early. I'm just on my way to the barn now after another epic nap (chronic pain? Is very tiring!)

I suck. Sorry, Mitzi.