The "celebrity mentor" of the week was Anne Murray. And the contestants all sang songs from her catalogue. It turns out Anne has covered a few unexpected tunes ("The Joker"? Srsly?) but the highlight of the night was Drew singing "Hey Daddy," from Anne's album There's A Hippo In My Tub.

Yes, it's a children's record.

I actually only saw the last few seconds of the performance episode and I was frankly crushed at having missed that performance, but--thank you YouTube!



I like the show a lot better when I don't think it expects me to take it seriously.

No, really. Apparently some guy got arrested for streaming tracks from the upcoming Guns 'N' Roses album Chinese Democracy.

At this point I must confess my first thought was, "There are tracks?"

They actually exist?

Honestly, I thought they'd spent the last ten years fucking around and erasing the tapes regularly. Maybe this thing will be released one day after all.

I hope not. That would spoil the fun.

As I recall, last time I posted about a Tribeca Tuesday show I commented that I had better get the post written just in case Canada won the showjumping and I lost my marbles and never got back to the post.

Wasn't that prescient of me?

I refrained from buying a round in honour of Eric Lamaze and Hickstead and just enjoyed the show instead. The Tuesday Night Band was back to Jason, Rob, Dave and Brian and they added a couple of songs into the set that I am pretty sure this configuration hasn't played on a Tuesday before. (Including one by Hank Williams III that I've never heard them play, period.) Great fun.

Thanks to a catastrophic and unexplained computer crash this morning I am posting this entry very late, so I think I had better cut to the set list for now. See you next time!

( Set list )

I looked at my little notebook last night and realized I am three shows behind in musical writeups. My intentions were honourable, but then the showjumping went down and I lost my mind. The individual event is coming up so I think I better get this entry written, just in case the best-case scenario happens and I have to run screaming into the streets.

Ahem.

( I know I didn't cut any of the showjumping entries, but I'll cut this one for you. Not because I'm thoughtful, just inconsistent. And also because this one is long. )

So that was Saturday. My lunch with various relatives has a post of its own, so we'll resume our story on Sunday night at Tribeca-- ( or, 'I'll put Steve Earle back on if you don't hurry up!' )

Monday was the showjumping. You've already heard about the showjumping.

Tuesday night was back at Tribeca. ( With a variation on the Tuesday night band, as well as a few revellers. )

And on that note... I reckon we're up to date!

CBC Radio 3's recording of the show. This link should take you directly to it. If not, you can search their podcasts and it should come right up.

This is the show the band played at the Horseshoe a couple of nights before the MuchMusic Video Awards (the awards show the whole band got thrown out of--in separate wristband-related incidents. I laugh every time I think of it, and plan to kidnap the idea for my own sinister purposes just as soon as I get around to it.) Apparently the Horseshoe set some sort of house record for booze sales that night.

This is also the show in which something went wrong with the drum kit (a kick drum pedal?) just before "Rock Ranger Record," so the band had to stall for time while that was fixed. There's kind of a funny moment when Matt starts talking about something, and Andy begins playing a bass part I don't recognize, and Matt explains "This is what happens when we get nervous: Andy plays Dr. Dre, and I start mumbling."

And then, in desperation, Matt starts telling jokes, and the thing about the jokes is, he must spend a lot of time flying because they sound exactly like the kind of jokes you hear from flight attendants on Westjet ("I went to a wedding over the weekend. These two antennas got married. The wedding kind of sucked, but the reception was great!"... "Did you hear they opened a restaurant on the moon? The food is really good, but there's absolutely no atmosphere!")

And then Tim Jim plays something and Matt exclaims, "Oh thank God!" and they go back to the music.

In context, it's funny as hell. And it's a good show, too.

I made it downtown last night, which would not have been an accomplishment except for the fact it was hammering down raining when I reached Sackville Street (seriously, if it had been raining that hard in Clayton Park I might not have left the house)--I could hardly see, and then my driver's side wiper blade came apart. Lovely. Good thing it as too dirty for pedestrians, because I never would have seen anyone trying to cross the street. Until I was digging them out of my muffler.

I made it to the parking garage, put the blade back together (benefit of having fingernails again--they are handy tools!) and made it into Tribeca just as the Tuesday Night Band (Jason, Rob, Dave and Shaun) was getting underway. Apparently the power had been flickering a little earlier but our luck held. I spent the evening hanging out with a group composed of newbies, regulars, and Dave's fan club, so that was fun.

Set List
Set #1

All Right for the Shape I'm in (BR-549)

Nothing Stays the Same

Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones)

Hickory Wind (Gram Parsons)

I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)

A Million Miles Away

Lonesome Soul

Tiger By the Tail (Buck Owens)

Wearin' Thin (with Dave on harmonica)

Wicked Game (Chris Isaak)

Break
Set #2

Waiting For Me

Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain (Willie Nelson)

The Last Time (Rolling Stones)

Make It Through

Wild Horses (Rolling Stones)

One Piece At A Time (Johnny Cash)

Drinkin' Alone

Sing Me Back Home (Merle Haggard)

There's the Door

Stealin' Hearts

I haven't seen Canadian Idol in weeks, but just now I stumbled upon the information that Nova Scotian contestant Mitch MacDonald did a pretty decent version of Joel Plaskett's "Love This Town" last night. It's linked off the right side of this page.

Note for judge Jake Gold: the nicely-integrated fingerpicking you note in this version matches Joel's, note for note. So it's more a really faithful version than anything innovative the contestant did.

Even so, mucho props to the kid for song selection. If he survives this week I'll have to vote for him next week.

Not that he's as good as Joel...

There's a thread going on over at Halifaxlocals about musical tastes. One comment that interested me was from someone who finds it frustrating when he asks people what music they like and he gets a response like "oh, a little bit of everything" and no examples to show what "everything" means to this person. The poster thinks that cuts a conversation off at the knees, and I tend to agree.

As anyone who reads this blog has probably noticed, I like music. But I was at the Seahorse a few weeks ago and spotted a poster for some band I had never heard of. The poster included a review excerpt that talked about how original and truly cutting-edge the band was, and I realized that I had no desire to check them out, because I wasn't sure whether they were being "cutting edge" because they had something to say, or because they wanted to think of themselves as "cutting edge."

And I do tend to like a variety of popular music. I'm not into jazz--never developed a taste for it--or classical--I've been exposed to that stuff all my life and I just don't find it interesting. I don't care whether a band is all original and cutting edge--my favourite bands have really strong influences, and I am more interested in whether the music seems well-executed and the band has a vibe than whether they're playing something I've never heard before. I mean, there's such a thing as being derivative, and I draw the line there, but I'm happy to play guess-the-influences and find out bands I like are into the same bands I am.

So I could waffle and say, "Oh, I like a bunch of things" if someone asked me what music I like. But then it occurred to me that a better illustration would be to check out the "recent purchases" playlist on my iPod.
At the moment it consists of:

The dirty version of Buckcherry's "Crazy Bitch" (the only Buckcherry song I have any desire to listen to. Yes, I have a trashy side)

Four Buffy Sainte-Marie songs

Dean Martin's "Little Ol' Wine Drinker Me"

Robert Rodriguez's theme for Grindhouse

Not a huge variety, but a pretty good illustration of "a bunch of stuff."

Anyone else have a new-tunes playlist they'd like to tell about?

At Ginger's, even!

Jason, Rob, Dave and Shaun played a set opening for a songer named Norma MacDonald (who was charming and funny and I think I'll look up her CD) at Ginger's last night. I'm in haste, so here is the set list:

Set List

Make It Through

Lonesome Soul

Wearin' Thin

All Right For the Shape I'm In (BR-549)

Hickory Wind (Gram Parsons)

Nothing Stays the Same

There's the Door

I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen)

Tiger By the Tail (Buck Owens)

Waiting For Me

Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones)

Also, the Tuesday Night Band will be opening for Gloryhound & the Skyhawks next weekend at the Seahorse. In case you're wondering what I was--yes, Dave will be playing both sets. I forgot to ask about Shaun, since the drummer situation in the band is a little more fluid these days. Even so, should be fun.

Okay, let's see if I can fit all of yesterday into a single post.

I had a really good visit with my parents, the Buffy Sainte-Marie show was great, I got to see some relatives I don't see much of and catch up (at the show) with some folks I worked with at the Metepenagiag School.

Yesterday around noon I left to come home for the Steve Earle show. As I started the car my mother remarked that my left front tire looked low, but the parking lot slopes so I figured it was weight distribution.

A few clicks out of town, with a big truck on my tail trying to chase me up over the speed limit... my left front tire blew. I haven't had a flat since about 1991, so at first I didn't know what the noise was, but it was obviously something unfortunate connected to the car. I signalled, the truck went around me, and pulled over.

Tire was flat, flat, flat.

Luckily, there was a paved driveway right there and the homeowner didn't mind me pulling in to change the tire. As I say, I haven't had a flat since '91, and that time there was a road crew working right there and a nice young man came over and helped me. This time I was on my own. It turned out to be surprisingly easy, although I had a little trouble figuring out the jack and I had to stand on the lug wrench to get the nuts to budge.

And then I lowered the car and it turned out the spare, which I had never checked, was pretty flat too. (I dunno how I'd have checked that if it had occurred to me, but I suppose I could have used a gauge to check the tire pressure. I suggest you consider that for your own spare.)

Anyway, I put on my four-way flashers and limped without incident to a service station, where a nice young man reinflated the spare (I can use the air machines but my tire gauge was in the Cursed Corolla when it was stolen and I can never figure out the kind they offered to lend me.) And then I drove back to town very carefully and got the tire replaced.

And drove to Halifax expecting another flat all the way. And didn't have one.

Incidentally, my tires are relatively old, but I get them checked as part of the "seasonal" package every time I get my oil changed, and as of a couple of weeks ago they had plenty of tread and were in good shape. I must have hit a pothole wrong.

Got to Halifax, picked up the Steve Earle tickets, rendezvoused with my brother and our friends at St. Matt's. Alison Moorer opened, she wasn't too chatty at first but has a lovely warm manner and was very well received. She opened for Steve the last time I saw him and I think her stage presence has come along considerably since then. She always had a beautiful voice.

It was too dark to take down a set list, but Steve's part of the show went on for more than an hour and included songs such as:

Christmas In Washington

Devin's Right Hand

Taneytown

Galway Girl

Guitar Town

Jericho Road

I Ain't Ever Satisfied

Jerusalem

Lay My Hammer Down

And a bunch from the new record and a few I don't know the titles of. Like Buffy, he and Alison sounded more determined than angry, although they've go to be angry as hell. It was a great show.

And then I wandered down to Tribeca to see what was up. Jason seemed to have the night off, so Evan was singing. And Dave was playing guitar. While Shaun played drums. If it hadn't been for Rob on bass it would have been a Gloryhound show. (Rob could have played keys, is all I'm saying.) I arrived just as the second set was starting:

Swingin'

Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

Hoochie Coochie Man (featuring Basil from the Mellotones on bass)

Pancho and Lefty (Dave: vocals; Basil: guitar)

You AIn't Goin' Nowhere (Dave: vocals)

Listen To Her Heart (with Damien from the Mellotones among others on drums)

Like A Rolling Stone

Going Home

Mr Soul (which I haven't heard in a while--I do like this version)

Powderfinger

Friend Of the Devil

When I left, Dave Marsh and the True Love Rules had taken over the stage, but by then it was nearly 1:30 and three shows in one day seemed excessive, so I figured I had better keep going.

All this and I didn't even break a nail changing the tire!

I have to say, my concert karma has been awfully damn good lately. I mean, in the last three years I have been to shows by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan. The sound guys let Lightfoot down (he was fine, but you could hardly hear him or his band) but the rest of the shows have been wonderful.

My streak continued tonight with the much-anticipated Buffy Sainte-Marie show in Miramichi. The band consisted of her on keys or guitar, a drummer, and a bass player. They had a bunch of prerecorded accompaniment as well which might have bothered me with someone else, but since I am sure the folk song festival could not afford to bring in a six-piece band, First Nations drummers, and a couple of troops of powwow dancers (which Buffy totally deserves!) allowances were made.

Besides, her voice is so big it pretty much showed all the other instruments who's boss, anyway.

The show was the big opening of the week-long festival, so there were speeches to begin. Half-a-dozen dignitaries spoke. I estimate the total time consumed was about ten minutes. Fully half the audience was from the various aboriginal (mostly Mi'kmaq) communities up and down the river, so our Member of Parliament used his two minutes to speak about the contributions of the First Nations communities to the local culture, which got a deservedly warm reception and caused me to think I have underestimated the man.

And then a local fiddling group played some tunes, and then Buffy came out.

She is way tiny, and full of energy, and an object lesson in channeling anger, because there is no way anyone could be an activist for over forty years and still be writing activist songs and not be angry. But her approach was to act as though we all were on the same side and we all knew we're in this thing together. Which, you know, we are and we do.

Actually, she talked as if we were all members of the aboriginal community, which was a beautifully inclusive feeling.

I think I want to be Buffy when I grow up. Also, as noted, her voice is huge. When she sings in Cree, or goes to what I call the powwow style because I don't know how else to describe it, the sound lodges somewhere between the top of my windpipe and my heart and I'm surprised I didn't flat burst into tears.

She didn't sing "Native North American Child," but she did hit every other song I was hoping for.

Set List

Piney Wood Hills

Fallen Angels ("a song about greed and corruption")

That's What Little Kids Do

Indian Cowboy in the Rodeo (possibly the best song ever written about a crush--"once he stopped and talked to me/ I found out how dreams can be/ With a big wide smile, and a big white hat")

Johnny Be Fair (a "fake folk song" Buffy wrote and Rita MacNeil has recorded)

Cho Cho Fire (a new one with a powwow sound)

Relocation Blues (Floyd Red Crow Westerman, again with that great powwow sound)

Up Where We Belong ("It won me an Oscar and I didn't even have to sing it!")

Cod'ine

Until It's Time For You To Go (written when she was still sneaking her own songs into her set)

Universal Soldier (still universal, unfortunately)

No No Keshegeshe You Can't Do That No More (from the new upcoming CD. I am spelling it phonetically, but "keshegeshe" is a Cree word meaning, loosely, "greedyguts." Another song about greed and corruption)

Darling Don't Cry (another great powwow love song)

The Piests Of the Golden Bull

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (the bass player switched to guitar and scorched the earth. I am so glad I heard this song live one time)

Star Walker (the post title comes from this song, dedicated to "everyone making a difference in their communities")

Then the director of the folk song festival made several presentations to Buffy, including a scrap book and very articulate letter from some local school children, after which she played:

Goodnight

Was it worth the drive to New Brunswick in the rain? I'd have walked.

This is shaping up to be a great long weekend: Joel Plaskett is playing Alderney Landing tonight, then tomorrow I go up to Miramichi to visit my folks and go see BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE with them. I am so excited!! Then Tuesday, Steve Earle and Alison Moorer at St. Matt's Church.

And here's a little Buffy to get us in the mood:

So the other weekend my brother and some friends went up to our hometown to visit. I sent my parents a copy of Jason Haywood's CD Nothing Stays the Same and Gloryhound & the Skyhawks' CD. I was pretty sure my mother would enjoy Jason's CD and she's heard so much about Gloryhound I thought she'd get a kick out of it.

We spoke a couple of nights ago and she cheerfully announced she's been playing both CDs non-stop since she got them. She loves Gloryhound.

My mother is sixty-five years old.

Which means she's a member of the first generation of rock fans. As a teenager she had a crush on Buddy Holly and once tried to convince my grandparents to let her go out on the road as a female Elvis impersonator. (I need hardly tell you it didn't happen.)

So yeah, I have no idea why I didn't think she'd dig a little rock'n'roll.

After all my "OMGTwilightWTF?" this week, I got on the bus this morning and what song came up first on my iPod?

The Band: "Twilight"

Featuring the line, "Don't leave me alone in the twilight."

I'm sure people sitting near me were wondering why I kept snickering...

Yes, there was a show at Tribeca last night. Yes, I went and had a great time.

This morning I got into work and the library's computer network was down. It came back up just as my 8:15 appointment arrived. I've been playing catchup pretty much all day, and I have another appointment with the same person tomorrow at the same time. No telling when I'll get back to musical posting, which annoys me much more than it probably annoys most of you.

However, I did sort out the work-related "Argh!" I mentioned a few posts ago. It turned out to be nothing mortal, and everyone involved is relieved to discover the fix will be tedious but not complicated. So, yay.

Okay, my vacation is coming to an end--if I have read the calendar correctly I'm back to work on Monday. I accomplished exactly what I set out to do on vacation: nothing. Zip, zilch, nada. Okay, I visited Mitzi a lot, did a tiny bit of writing (but refuse to get down on myself for not doing more!) and went to a bunch of really good shows I have not had the time to blog about. I may post a bunch of assorted pictures next week when I get back online properly.

I have also learned that Coney the Wonder Cat can hear a nap from anywhere in the apartment. It's true: my head hits the pillow and ten seconds later there's the sound of a jingling collar and a big ol' purr as he scrambles up his little steps to join me. Best. Cat. Ever. (For those readers who feel they also have the Best Cat Ever, may I introduce you to what dog writer Susan Conant refers to as the Transcendant Paradox Of Pet Ownership: We're all absolutely right.)

I know the vacation has done its job because I have nails again. I'd bitten them all my life, quit when I decided to leave Texas (nothing like fleeing Republicans to take the pressure off) and hadn't bitten them for five years when the conference and the chronic injury got me all stressed out and biting them again. Two weeks ago I splurged on some nail care items and my hands are now the best-groomed thing about me (not hard, I know.) Also, Mitzi appreciates my renewed ability to scratch the roots of her mane really deep.

Gloryhound played in Fall River last night--really good show, Scotty did the sound, and they now have t-shirts so, naturally, I do too. Pictures and set list on Monday.

Okay, that's it for my update, I'm off to look at yours. Cheers!

I am never sure when the Tuesday Night Band will get started, but last night I arrived in the nick of time and noticed another revision to the lineup. (Seriously, half the fun of the Tuesday Night Band is finding out who will be playing any given week.) I may have mentioned before that I get a huge kick out of finding out how quickly a bunch of really good musicians can get their act together. Well, last night Brad Conrad was nowhere to be seen so instead Dave from Gloryhound played guitar. It was sort of an exercise in finding out how fast someone could learn a whole bunch of new songs.

Um, really fast, as it turns out. Also, should Dave ever decide to pursue a side career as a country guitarist, he should have no difficulty. He was really impressive--not that this surprised me.

Ryan Cook, of Ryan Cook and Sunny Acres, dropped in and was shanghaied into playing a couple of songs in the second set. I had to be told who he was because last time I saw him he was wearing a cowboy hat. I've been meaning to check him out again and this was another reminder to do so.

Once again I'm short on time so that's all for now. Be interesting to see what the lineup looks like next time!

I've been taking this vacation thing seriously: checking email and commenting on a few friendly blogs, plus looking out for musical events on Facebook, has occupied most of my Internet time at the public library. I haven't gotten nearly as much writing done as one might hope, but I'm going to try to get my cops through a couple of interviews this afternoon and then return to Kowalski's perspective.

Mitzi-time has mostly involved brushing the dirt of ages off her and topping up her fly spray. It was hot enough Friday that she was sweating in her stall and shedding her summer coat. We agree that hot weather sucks. It's raining today, which should make the pen a little easier to work in--Saturday evening we got in a longeing session but it was so dusty and the ground was so hard we didn't stick at it for long.

I've been doing some reading. A friend loaned me a book called The God Of Animals, about a hard-luck family out in a desert town, who run a boarding/training stable and barely scrape by. Oh my GOD, it was a sad book. ( Sorrow and spoilers )

In much happier artistic endeavours, last night my brother and I joined half the people I know in Halifax at the Seahorse for a show by the Novaks. The Novaks were the hot East Coast band a few years back, with their record getting play on Little Steven's Underground Garage and opening for Matt Mays & El Torpedo's Wicked Come Winter tour in '05. I haven't heard from them in a while although I know they played shows that I missed. The fact they were charging $5 cover seemed to indicate a fall from grace.

Well, no. Actually, it indicated that they and ex-Big Sugar, current Austin-resident-producer Gordie Johnson (who spends a lot of time now with East Coast bands) wanted to preview the new songs they are about to record, in advance of the recording. The Novaks' last record was great but I found them less engaging onstage. They have remedied that little flaw and were awesome, also louder than God (with Gordie on rhythm guitar so--not surprising) and now we're all jazzed for the eventual record. Which, since Gordie noted that if we all left before the set was over they'd have to go back to the drawing board, is a relief!

Other plans for the week include taking in the new Hellboy movie. I know nothing about the comic or the mythology, but damn, I do like the big red cigar-chomping Sam Spade dude. My brother's off this week so we plan a matinee on Wednesday or Thursday.

And with that, I believe we're caught up.

I had a recheck with my physiotherapist yesterday. No, I am not past the "neurological issues" part of the situation yet. (Which incidentally means not that the problem is all in my head, which it isn't, or that I am nuts, which I am but this isn't the proof, but that I still have "referred" pain down my leg which means the nerve problem is still active.) However, I've been in considreably less pain since exhausted and weepy Friday (and even at that, I was in less pain than I have been, it just crept up on me because I was tired and it was nagging that day.) And when my leg and spine were manipulated I had fewer symptoms than in my last check. So, yay?

He did warn me that, especially when people have drawn-out recoveries like mine is going to be, they sometimes go ahead and try other interventions. I knew he meant chiropractic before he said it, but he went on to explain that chiropractic is often a perfectly cool idea, but when you have extrusions from your disc... I told I'd already heard that suggestion and decided against it because... extrusions from my disc!

However, I've had a few hours here and there where I hardly even notice the leg, and I'm sleeping better. Definite yay. And though I do not like hot weather, apparently it does help the leg and back muscles.

And that's all I have time for today--there was a show at Tribeca last night but unfortunately I don't have time to write about it. There's another one tonight from a band I saw at the Seahorse last weekend who were so loud I don't know what they sound like. I'll see what I think tonight...

I have, however, made a little progress with the Kowalski story. Yay?

And wormed Mitzi yesterday. Apparently Eqvalan Gold tastes yummy!

For some reason HMV in Halifax anticipated the release date and I got a copy of Terminal Romance yesterday. As I have said elsewhere, possibly the saddest loud record I have ever heard. I'll try to post something substantial about it later but I've been thinking about the title track. When I heard it played in the latest shows I commented that it isn't quite as wrenching as it was when they first started to play it. I take that back. The album version kills me.

It also occurs to me that the song is, as much as anything, about choices and living with them. The character in the song had to know that "if A and B, then C." The question is, is it worth having A and B if you know that means you'll lose C? I think the character made the choice and is prepared to live with it, but reserves the right not to like it. Which is fair enough.

Anyway. Definitely the loud guitar pop album we were told of, and definitely a change of pace from the first CD. Live it sounds more rock'n'roll. And again, one thing I like about Matt Mays as an artist is, he'll let the record take him where it wants to go.