Tag: Music

Running around Seattle, seeing stuff

While we did take some time to stop and eat, meet with friends, read, and relax while in Seattle, this post will focus on the activities we managed to pack in.

The initial weather forecast for Seattle wasn’t that great, but after we got there (in the rain), made it to our hotel, had a snack, and were ready to head to explore, it had become very nice and sunny. Our hotel was right by the famous Space Needle, so we decided to take the opportunity to go up that right away, while the weather was cooperative.

While at, we also bought a City Pass, which gave us access to four other sights along with Needle, saving you about half the cost in entry fees, if you visit them all.

Continue reading “Running around Seattle, seeing stuff” →

Top 10 Canadian albums (with some extras)

CBC recently put out a list of the 100 greatest Canadian albums, which was then discussed on CBC Radio Kitchener. “I don’t anyone can argue with Neil Young’s Harvest being number 1”, said the host. Well…

Look, I own Harvest, I like Harvest. I’m not going to deny that it’s a great collection of songs. It’s certainly your go-to for great Canadian albums, as befitting its also being number 1 in the 2007 book The Top 100 Canadian Albums.

It’s just that I can think of a number of other Canadian albums I enjoy listening to more than Harvest. Such as…

Shakespeare my Butt cover1. Lowest of the Low – Shakespeare My Butt (1993)

(CBC unranked; book #84)

I’ve expounded on my love of this band and album before, but… I can’t see anyone not loving this album, unless they don’t like the genre of rock music itself. The songs are catchy and instantly likeable. On repeated listening, you realize they’re smart, too. And warm. And funny. The album is 20 years old, and the music doesn’t seem dated at all. It contains a hefty 17 songs—and there isn’t a single stinker among them.

Jagged Little Pill cover2. Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill (1995)

(CBC #12, book #6)

This was something at the time, wasn’t it? So much fun to play loud and sing along to. Angrily. To me it still holds up, even if she didn’t know what “ironic” meant. It’s melodic grunge. It’s more than just angry—you also have forgiveness, and learning, and being head over feet in love. I’ve enjoyed Alanis’ subsequent albums, mostly (not so much the India one, and haven’t bothered with the motherhood one), but this one still seems her best.

Tradarnac cover3. Swing – Tradarnac (2008)

(CBC unranked, book n/a)

I discovered these guys on Canada Day at an electrifying performance in Gatineau, and I continue to love this album. They sing in very rapid franglais (French with a healthy dose of English: “Allo, CB buddy! J’tired de m’voir promener sur le highway” and such) over a mix of French folk, rap, and pop that results in music so lively you can’t help but dance to it. Even while sitting or driving. It sounds happy, but has a dark undercurrent in the lyrics, if you can understand them. To me, that just makes it better.

The Suburbs cover4. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (2010)

(CBC #22; book n/a)

I am going to complain the CBC list now: No way that their Funeral album is better than this one. No way. Funeral is fine, but it is right that The Suburbs is the one that earned them the Juno, the Grammy, and the Polaris prize. It’s sort of great that someone made a deep, thematic, almost classical-sounding album—about the suburbs. I took to it really quickly and continue to peel away its layers, this album.

Everybody's Got a Story cover5. Amanda Marshall – Everybody’s Got a Story (2001)

(CBC unranked, book unranked)

I felt this album was unjustly overlooked when it came out, then nearly forgot to list it here myself… But it wouldn’t be denied, in the end. I just love listening to this. As befitting the title, most of the songs tell a story—of waking up with a stranger and a snake tatoo; of life as a blond mixed-race person (“a double-agent on my mama’s side”); of being a taxi driver with a PhD; and so on. The music is fun—more dancey, less bluesy than earlier album, but still showcasing her fantastic and powerful voice. I don’t know why it hasn’t’ gotten more love.

Cover of The Wonderful World of...6. Pursuit of Happiness – The Wonderful World of… (1997)

(CBC unranked ; book unranked (but Love Junk is at #84))

I believe I own every album this band has released, and I pretty much like them all. This one is far from their best known; I don’t think it contains any hit songs. But I list this one because it’s the most album-y of them all: its 15 songs all lead one into the other as though the whole thing were one big rock opera, or something. (Note the little Tommy homage between tracks 4 and 5.)

Now, it doesn’t actually have a continuing storyline, but more of a continuing theme (which is really the theme of every Pursuit of Happiness album) of the joy, frustration, and sheer messiness of love, sex, and relationships. Yet for all that, the songs also stand alone quite nicely. No mean feat. This is a small piece of pop art.

When I Was a Boy cover7. Jane Siberry – When I Was a Boy (1993)

(CBC unranked, book unranked)

I had to list Jane, but it was really a toss-up between this and her first, No Borders Here. I finally went with this more mature work. The opening track “Temple” sets the different tone: “You call that hard? You call that rough? Well, it’s not, rough enough.” Who would have expected that from the quirky singer of “Mimi on the Beach” (although the part of the song where she encourages Mimi to stand up on her surfboard, causing her to drown… Was maybe a clue.) Jane is a bit of an odd duck, but she can certainly put a tune together, and in this album she really seems to be more deeply expressing her soul.

Gordon cover8. Barenaked Ladies – Gordon (1992)

(CBC #25, book #27)

Yeah, they’re funny, but they’re also insanely talented, seemingly effortlessly putting together incredibly catchy pop. And the serious (and still tuneful) ballads like “Wrapped your arms around me” (“I put my hands around your neck)”, “The Flag”, and “Blame it on me” show that it’s not all fun and games, all the time, with this band.

Fumbling toward Ecstasy cover

9. Sarah McLaclachlan – Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (2003)

(CBC #20, book #25)

Sarah’s music sneaks up on me, randomly selected by my iPod, making me suddenly realize that I like it better than anything that was played before it. They’re mostly ballads; strong emotions expressed in a more subtle way—no screaming guitars, or any screaming, period. I guess it’s that haunting voice, or… I don’t know what. It’s not what I usually go for, but this is album is beautiful.

Don't Smoke in Bed10. Holly Cole Trio – Don’t Smoke in Bed (1993)

(CBC unranked, book unranked)

And, I’m not the big jazz girl, usually, but man, I’ve played this album a lot. Holly takes these lovely standards and performs in this slightly twisted, dark way that makes them way more interesting.

The extras…

Songs from the Road coverTop Live: Leonard Cohen – Songs from the Road (2010)

For a very long time I considered Leonard Cohen someone whose songs I loved—as long as someone else was singing them: Jennifer Warnes, KD Lang, Jeff Buckley… Then he started touring with this amazing band. And I began to love his own take on his great songs. This particular collection is his own selection of the best version of each song he did on this tour.

Highly recommended!

Gord's Gold coverTop Compilation: Gordon Lightfoot – Gord’s Gold (1987)

My Dad is a big fan, so I grew up with these songs. As a teenager, of course, I wasn’t going to admit to liking them, but now I can! While I can’t really see buying his individual albums, this “greatest hits” collection is fantastic: “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown”, “Early Morning Rain”, “Canadian Railroad Trilogy”…

The only other thing you might want is Gord’s Gold 2 (for “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “Alberta Bound”, “Ghosts of Cape Horn”…).

From Here on Out coverTop Classical: KW Symphony – From Here Out (2011)

No dead composers here: This CD features classical compositions by Nico Muhly, Richard Reed Perry (of Arcade Fire), and Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead). It’s not always comfortable listening, but it’s never boring, either.

Strange little girls: Great covers of men’s songs, by women

I’m not going to call these “the best” (how would I know?), but here are ten songs originally written and recorded by men, later covered by a woman, where I think the cover surpasses the original. Not in any particular order (because I couldn’t make up my mind).

1. Working Class Hero by Marianne Faithfull

Originally written and recorded by: John Lennon

I love John Lennon’s original version, but Marianne Faithfull’s take, from her fantastic album Broken English (1979), featuring her upper-class accent and broken voice, is just darker and angrier and therefore, somehow, more awesome. Certainly better than Green Day’s fine but unexciting version on the Instant Karma John Lennon tribute CD (which is, unfortunately, full of fine but unexciting covers).

The video is a live version. I’m not sure it’s better than the studio version, but it’s good, and certainly more interesting to look at for six minutes than a static picture of the Broken English album cover.

 

2. Heartless by Dia Frampton

Originally written and recorded by: Kanye West

To be honest, I wasn’t sure I’d heard Kanye’s version of this until today. Having listened to it now, though, I can confirm that I like Dia’s version much more. To be fair, Kanye’s music isn’t the type I tend to listen to anyway. But when Ms Frampton did this version on The Voice, I thought it was one of the greatest things I’d ever heard. Lots of others did too, as it very nearly propelled her to victory on that show.

It’s a bit hard to find a good version of that Voice performance now. You will have to pop over to YouTube to actually see the below.

 

3. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Avril Lavigne

Originally written and recorded by Bob Dylan

This is a probably a controversial choice, but I’ve never been much of a Dylan fan. I don’t quite get him, and I can’t get past that voice. But no doubt this is a really good song. And say what you will about Avril, that girl has a good set of pipes. She covered this song for the War Child charity, which assists child soldiers. I find her singing on it very touching. She may be a bratty 18-year-old here who doesn’t really understand the issues, but that makes her the same age as the young men (usually men) caught up in  war. You may disagree, but for me, this works.

I also find the official video pretty touching.

 

4. Hallelujah by k.d. lang

Originally written and recorded by Leonard Cohen

And here’s the obvious, uncontroversial choice! She kind of owns this song now, complete with dropping one of the original verses (“Remember when I moved in you…”). Hearing her do this one live last year was as stunning as you’d expect. (And I also like her cover of Talking Head’s “Heaven”.)

Going with the video of her Juno performance here, as they may be when most Canadians realized what a great marriage between song and singer this was…

 

5. Real Men by Tori Amos

Originally written and recorded by Joe Jackson

Tori did an entire album of covers of songs by men, from which I’ve borrowed for the title of this post: Strange Little Girls. It has a dark version of I Don’t Like Mondays, a terrifying take of Eminem’s ’97 Bonnie and Clyde, an unrecognizable Heart of Gold. But my favorite is Real Men. I like the Joe Jackson original too, but Tori’s version just sounds great, and you can’t help but see a song about men’s gender roles differently when it’s song by a woman. It seems less snide and more thoughtful.

Here’s a very good version Tori did on TV.

 

6. Enjoy the Silence by Lacuna Coil

Originally recorded by Depeche Mode

Someone I follow tweeted that this was the “best cover ever”. I don’t think that’s so—I believe some on this very list are better—but it is a good cover, of an 80s tune I hadn’t given much thought to in quite a well. It sounds more powerful, more dramatic. And it inspired this post, which was originally going to be just a list of covers in general, until I realized most of the ones I was picking out were of women covering men’s song.

(Know what would be tough list to put together? Great covers men have done of women’s songs…)

Here’s the official Lacuna Coil video for “Enjoy the Silence”.

 

7. The Man Who Sold the World by Jordis Unga

Originally written and recorded by David Bowie

Bowie’s version is somewhat cerebral; Jordis brings a lot of emotion to this song, which she performed on long-ago reality series Rock Star: INXS. She said it reminded her of a friend who had committed suicide. This performance was the show-stopper on this episode of that series.

 

8. Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies

Originally written and recorded by Lou Reed

Not that Cowboy Junkies are all women (neither are Lacuna Coil), but Margot Timmins’s mellow yet sexy vocals definitely contribute a lot to the popularity of this cover. I had a few year’s gap between hearing this and the very different original, which I’m still not that crazy about. But the Cowboy Junkies’ “Sweet Jane” still has that nice groove.

The official video.

 

9. Crabbuckit by The Good Lovelies

Nothing wrong with KOS’s original, but you got to love the gorgeous three-part harmonies The Good Lovelies bring to this, while still retaining the lively beat. Fun group to see in concert, by the way.

Apparently they never did a video for this, so this one of those static sound types. Barely over 2 minutes long, though.

 

10. Darling Nikki by Chairlift

Originally written and recorded by Prince

An unlikely song for a woman to sing, which is partly why I love it. They sort of play around and deconstruct the song while keeping it recognizably, absolutely, Prince’s Darling Nikki. From Purplish Rain, once offered free by Spin Magazine, a collection of rather good covers of Prince’s Purple Rain, in its entirety.

Hard to find any online version of this, but you can listen to the MP3 here: Chairlift – “Darling Nikki” (Prince cover)

What is a normal dinner party?

Though I like to cook and have a reasonable fondness for the company of others, I don’t host dinner parties that often. This is because I can’t seem to just have “normal” ones. Actually, I’m not even sure what a normal one is, but I think it means basically cooking something you normally do, only a little more of it, adding a dessert and a couple nice bottles of wine, and inviting a few other people over to help you eat it.

I always seem to go bigger and more complicated. Perhaps it’s true that everyone needs a challenge once in a while, and this is one I set up for myself. So, for my most recent dinner party, the idea was trying to “harmonize the food and wine for each course to a particular soundtrack, based on mood.” Which indeed was a wee bit of a challenge.

Selecting the moods

How many courses, and which mood would each have? At the start, the only thing that seemed obvious was that the start [snacks] needed to exciting and energizing, while dessert was by nature romantic. Retrospectively only, I realized that what I did from there was segue gradually down from that starting mood to the ending one. So exciting gave way to merely happy [appetizers], then to engaged/interested [main course], and onto refreshed (which I’m still not convinced is actually a mood) [palette cleanser], and finally to the relaxed romantic.

Playlist assembly

Again, the starts and ends were quite easy. Exciting and energizing = dance music to me, and I already had a large Dance playlist. I could afford to get pretty picky with that, knocking out the slower numbers and the ones I didn’t like as much, and still being left with a good 7 hours of thumpa thumpa. And I similarly had a good start on the romantic already, which just required a little removal of some racier items, and the addition of some more love songs.

But happy was tough. Apparently I’m not that big a fan of the upbeat pop tune. I was really having to comb through to find enough to last a sufficient amount of time.

For engaged I looked for songs that were of moderate mellowness and featured smart lyrics. I am much more of a fan of this type of music, it appears, so this was easier to put together. A lot of women artists feaured here—Alanis, Tori, Sarah… even a little Madonna.

And refreshing? I decided that was electronica… Not sure why. As I have only about 12 electronica songs, it was easy to gather them, and that was long enough for the palette cleanser course.

Food and wine

Jean was a big help in getting this part settled. I really didn’t want to do fiddly little appetizer things, because I hate making that kind of stuff, but I was failing to see how I could possibly make soup or salad “fun”. He’s the one who suggested that a two-tone soup, which we’d once had at a restaurant, could be kind of fun, especially with chow mein noodles. So that’s what I went with, adapting a carrot and parsnip recipe that was meant to have everything combined, but instead cooking it in two parts.

Similarly, it was his point that salmon seemed too dull to be the only main course protein on offer, leading to the idea of offering duck as well. Which of course meant we had to serve Pinot Noir, the intellectual wine—as we learned at the KW Symphony’s food and wine concert. And that concert is also where I got the Julia Child chocolate recipe that I thought I would be a suitable dessert.

With those main items selected, the rest just had to be built up around it. And we were so well stocked in wine at this point, selecting those proved pretty easy, and required no special trips to the LCBO. Everything was already in our wine cupboard.

Inviting guests

Oh yeah, the people! On the first date we proposed, very few could actually attend. So we were pretty surprised when, on the second day we suggested, everyone could go! But that’s a good problem to have, since we wouldn’t have invited them if we didn’t want to see them. So we were eight guests, plus Jean and me. Inventory revealed we actually did have enough chairs and dishes—as long as we weren’t too fussy about everything matching—and a little creativity allowed everyone to sit at the same table, albeit covered with three different, small table cloths.

Everyone was willing and able to bring something, and that also helped round out the menu and assuage concerns that someone would go hungry. And on the day, all were really great about helping with music changing, wine opening, and dish delivery and removal. I could definitely see why I wanted to spend time with these people.

So how did it go?

Generally good, I think? Jean and I had fun. Everyone else claimed they did too. I felt most items I made turned out well, and certainly everything brought was delicious. Definitely the most challenging part was the final preparation of the main courses, where we had to cook duck, beans, salmon in sequence in the oven (cause each needed a different temperature) while also preparing the sweet potatoes and reheating the magret, but we mostly managed that. (We probably would have done a little better had we not already had a couple glasses of wine by then, but hey, it was a party, and we didn’t have to drive.)

After that, everything was actually pretty easy to serve, as it was all ready, so then we could largely relax and just enjoy the company and conversation.

As I had typed up the menu for the whole evening, I’ll copy that in here now. Thereby making this the longest post ever!

Continue reading “What is a normal dinner party?” →

Just banging on my old piano

Thought I might periodically start writing about “a few of my favorite thing”—my own, narcissistic version of Stuff White People Like, I suppose. So I’ll get to PVRs, chocolate, and Zomig eventually, but I’d like to just start with my piano. Which I’ve talked about before, but now I have pictures!

Electronic piano that looks like a regular piano, in a corner, with a black and white painting of Paris above it, a lamp on the side, and sheet music. And a piano bench.

It’s gorgeous to look at. It finishes off the living room very nicely. (That room’s come a long way from its empty desolation when we first moved in with only condo contents.)

But more important, it sounds great. Even though I’m the one playing it, and I’m hardly the world’s most gifted player. When we were shopping for it, I also tried out the smaller, cheaper version in the same brand (the one I’d walked in expecting to buy), and the larger, more expensive one with a million complicated doo-dads. Of the three, this one just had the nicest tones. The piano player’s piano, the salesman said.

So I love playing the thing. I’m having no trouble motivating myself for twice weekly practice sessions, which of course is also contributing to it not sound too bad when I play. I wish I had even more time for it.

In shopping for it, we discovered that we get could  a real piano for less than we paid for this digital one. Not a grand, of course. An upright. A “starter” upright, whatever that means. But we stuck with digital, mainly for not having to tune it, for it being so much lighter and more portable, and for being able to get the look of a grand, without the expense.

But I also like some of the digital features. For example, though I do mostly play in “piano” mode, I can choose between Piano 1 and Piano 2. And though I can’t explain to you the difference between the two, I can hear it, and some songs sound better in one or the other. I also occasionally use the more exotic sounds, like harpsichord for Bach, or strings+piano for, say, The Beatles, or electric piano for Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend”. The one thing I’m actually missing a bit from my old keyboard are the synthesizer sounds, but I can somewhat approximate that with some of the weird vibraphone mixes included.

You can also fine-tune things. Like I was finding the touch a little too resistant (after years of playing on a keyboard with no touch sensitivity at all), so I was able to lower that. I can increase the resonance, so the sounds is fuller and richer without me playing any better. And I can take songs in impossible keys, like “Love Reign O’er Me”, which has six (!) flats, and transpose them into another key. Allowing me to play the song as written, except with only three flats (it somehow feels like a song that needs some flats), but it comes out sounding OK, and I can actually get through it.

So yeah, my piano is definitely on the list of things I like.

Something else I like? That Glee is back soon. With Madonna! And Joss! And Neil Patrick Harris! And The Beatles! Squee…

Weekend viewing

In preparation for Tuesday’s concert by one of those Queen tribute bands, I re-watched my Queen Live at Wembley DVD, otherwise know as The Last Concert Ever by the Original Four Members of Queen.

Talk about going out on top. This late in their career, it’s just wall-to-wall hits… so many they can’t include them all, since they also want to include some surprises as well. It’s the end of a long tour, so the set is well-honed; they sound fantastic. The massive crowd is adoring and lively.

Most awe-inspiring: The part where Freddie does these solo gymnastics with his voice, teasing around his highest register, demonstrating why he’s the best rock singer ever. Then followed by Brian May pyrotechnics on guitar. Then “Brighton Rock.”

Most fun: When all four members of the band gather at the front of the stage and swing through a medley of early rock classics: “(You’re so Square) Baby I Don’t Care”, “Hello Mary Lou (Goodbye Heart)”, “Tutti Frutti”, and “Gimme Some Lovin’”. Then BoRhap.

Most heartwarming: The crowd singalong during “Love of My Life”. I love the British fans—unlike the North Americans, they know all the Queen songs, not just the greatest hits.

Most chilling: Freddie, the only man in the room with an inkling that this might be the band’s last concert ever (he hadn’t yet told his band mates of his HIV-positive status), explaining how rumors of Queen’s breakup are highly exaggerated, and that the band is going to be together “until we fucking well die—I’m sure of it!” Then launching into “Who Wants to Live Forever?”.

And then for something completely different…

Jean and I watched Lisztomania, director Ken Russel’s 1976 or so film, very loosely based on the life of pianist and composer Franz Liszt. Definitely one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen. It starts as a kind musical comedy-romance, then gradually becomes this sort of gothic horror movie with vampires and demons, and then there’s kind of a bit with war and Nazis, and finally there’s a space ship. And some singing.

It’s hard to believe this thing was ever made, because it’s not some B movie thing. It’s a high-budget picture with cinematographers and famous people in it. Must have been some really good drugs in the 1970s. And so, while it’s certainly not a good movie, it’s definitely an interesting failure.

Most awe-inspiring: Awe-inspiring? Geez, I don’t know. When Listz sprouts a giant penis for the four ladies to ride? When Richard Wagner sprouts vampire teeth and drinks Listz’s blood? The demon-worshiping scene with all the naked girls and the candles? So many options…

Most fun: The opening scene really is hoot. Liszt and the contessa’s fun romp to the ever-increasing beat of a metronome is rudely interrupted by her sword-bearing husband, leading to duel featuring chandelier-swinging, banana-eating, and a quickly improvised loin cloth made of sheets.

Most heartwarming: Well, the Chaplinesque scene where Liszt thinks back on his romance with the contessa actually is kind of sweet.

Most chilling: You know, when the dead Wagner rises as a zombie Hitler and starts mowing down the Jews—that really is kind of chilling. Especially as it’s intercut with Liszt being tortured, then killed, by his daughter, wielding voodoo pins on a “tiny daddy” doll.

Soundtrack to Valentine’s Day

Billboard Magazine has compiled a list of the 50 sexiest songs of all time. It’s Billboard, so the criteria is sales—the more of those, the higher the position in their chart. And which songs qualify to be counted? Apparently, those who subject matter is sex (even with oneself, as “She Bop” makes the list). So the results are kind of bizarre, unless your idea of great romantic evening is listening to Olivia Newton’s John “Physical” (number 1!), Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell” (number 17), or Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (number 37). Topped off with “She Bop”, I guess (number 49).

We aren’t doing too much for Valentine’s Day this year—just dinner at home, probably with some nicer wine, and a dessert featuring chocolate. But if we can tear ourselves away from the Olympics for a bit, we may put on some “mood” music. Which would not include any of the above songs (or other entries like “Smack That”, or “Sledgehammer”, or “Afternoon Delight”), but might—iPod shuffle willing—include the following (links to YouTube videos of song, where available):

1. I Need You Tonight – INXS

Featuring an intensely erotic vocal performance by Michael Hutchens, possibly the sexiest rock star ever, only highlighted by his charismatic video performance.

“So slide over here / And give me a moment”

2. A Case of You – Diana Krall

Her Bourbon-soaked voice ideally suits this classic, poetic Joni Mitchell song. Blew me away completely the first time I heard her do this (on her husband’s show).

“And I could drink a case of you / And still be on my feet”

3. Save the Last Dance for Me – Ben E. King

An oldie but a goodie, with another sensuous vocal performance. (Background story is apparently that Ben E King was wheelchair-bound and could not dance with his wife himself.) Doesn’t hurt that it was used as the prom dance soundtrack for Justin and Brian on Queer as Folk.

“But don’t forget who’s talking you home / And in whose arms you’re going be”

4. Without Your Love – Roger Daltrey

I do find Roger Daltrey’s husky-to-sweet-and-back-again voice kind of sexy (big surprise, I know), but The Who sure isn’t one for uncomplicated songs of love. Or lust. So it’s kind of refreshing to hear that voice wrapped around one (as I’d probably find it too mooshy if sung by anyone else).

“I could forget my home / Be like a rolling stone / But what would it mean, without your love?”

5. Temple – Jane Siberry

Known mostly for quirky tunes like “Mimi on the Beach” and “Everything Reminds Me of My Dog”, Siberry is probably one of the last artists you’d think of coming up with something so sensual. But from the opening, whispered “gimmes”… wow.

“You call that rough? Well it’s not… rough enough”

6. I’m in Love with My Car – Queen

I know, I know. This one is weird. It’s a completely un-sarcastic song about a guy so taken with his car, he doesn’t want or need a girl. (Or a boy.) But with its driving 6/8 beat and the sheer passion behind Roger Taylor’s singing, it’s just, somehow, very hot. (Much hotter than Queen’s actual songs about sex, like “Get Down, Make Love” or “Body Language” or — God forbid — “Fat Bottomed Girls”.) I don’t think cars are sexy, but this song makes me understand that other people do. They really do.

“When I’m holding your wheel / All I feel is your gear / When my hand’s on your greasegun / Oh, it’s like a disease, son”

————–

That’s enough for now. I’ll be in my bunk.

Legalize everything

This Magazine: Legalize Everything! Heroin, Music piracy, suicide, hate speech, raw milk.

That’s the provocative title on the latest issue of This Magazine.

Of course, they don’t mean everything, everything. There’s no passionate defense of rape and grand theft auto, for example. But it was a good, thought-provoking set of articles.

The most in-depth article was Legalize Hard Drugs. And they do mean hard drugs, not just pot; and they do mean legalize, not just de-criminalize; and they do mean in the sense of being able to go into some LCBO-like entity to pick up your heroin, not having to get a prescription from your doctor. So rather farther than most Canadians would agree to go.

Still, it’s a surprisingly compelling argument. Prohibition hasn’t worked all that well so far. All it’s done is fund the gangs and dealers who make the world more dangerous for everyone. Ounce per ounce, marijuana is more valuable than gold, the article points out—even though it’s a weed. And the only reason it’s that expensive is that it’s illegal.

Money currently spent prosecuting and jailing the never-diminishing number of dealers willing to take the risks for profit margins like that could be spend on product quality control, reducing the dangers of the drugs, and addiction treatment and prevention. It’s certainly a queasy-making idea to think of government supplying cocaine, which can bring on an instant heart attack, but they do sell cigarettes, which kill when used as intended. And alcohol, which has damaged many lives. And gambling, which is a terrible addiction problem for many. The line between legal and illegal substances is arbitrary.

But my favorite article was Legalize Music Piracy, because it laid out a plan that apparently has been tossed around for some time, but I hadn’t heard of it before:

  • All broadband Internet users who want to share music files would pay an extra monthly fee (estimated at about $3).
  • Those users could then download as much music as they wanted, keep it as long as they wanted, and share it with others.
  • Fees would be pooled to pay the artists.
  • Download stats would be maintained so that the more popular an artist, the greater their share of the fee pool.

Doesn’t that sound perfectly reasonable? Musicians like it. Music fans like it. ISPs are OK with it. The only ones truly and deeply opposed are record companies. And they just haven’t done much to endear themselves to most of us.

Defending Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock is a movie by Ang Lee that opened this weekend. Based on a true story, it features one Elliot Tiber (played by The Daily Show’s Demetri Martin), a repressed young man who has returned to his small home town to try and help his parents save their rundown motel. When he hears that another nearby town has banned a planned major music festival, he seizes on the opportunity to convince promoters to hold it in White Lake instead. Despite some bumps on the way, a deal is struck to hold the proceedings on a neighbour’s farm. Soon Elliot, his parents, and indeed the whole town are caught up in a tidal wave of history, as Woodstock brings thousands of young hippies to town.

I’d read about this movie a couple months ago, in the Princess Guide, and always planned to go, just because it sounded like something I would like. And that Jean might even enjoy. But then the day it opened, the critics starting commenting. The movie doesn’t work, they said. No magic. Too many characters; you don’t care about any of them. The main character is dull. The movie is dull. It’s too slow. The split screen only multiplies the boredom. The jokes all fall flat.

Geez.

Forewarned, forearmed, expectations lowered, we decided to go anyway.

And we really liked it. Both of us.

One useful point the critics made is that this is no re-creation of the Woodstock Music Festival itself. It really is a sideways, faraway view of that. It all swirls around Elliot; he is not, he wasn’t, at the center of it.

But that perspective worked for me just fine. It was exciting to see more and more, cooler and cooler, people come to town. It was fun to see the effects on the townspeople. Yes, there are a lot of characters, but I generally enjoyed my brief time with each. The main character may not have been the most interesting of them, but that was the point, and to me made him easier to identify with. The jokes did not fall flat; a lot of it was really funny. And it was quite the cast: Imelda Staunton, Eugene Levy, Robert Downie Jr, and newcomer Jonathan Groff (as Zen concert promoter Michael Lang), whom I expect we’ll be seeing more of.

The split screen, while making it a bit confusing what to focus on, did harken nicely to the famous documentary, as did the mudslide scene. Elliot’s one acid-fueled glimpse at the famous stage really is a gorgeous. And the whole thing was a nice reminder that it was pretty amazing that so many kids came together, in conditions so far from ideal (mud, rain, show stoppages, inadequate toilet facilities, inadequate water and food, traffic jams for miles), yet have the whole thing be entirely peaceful. It may not have been the dawning of the age of Aquarius, but it was still a really nice weekend.

So there you go. If this sounds like the type of movie you would like, if you’re not sick to death of boomers and their nostalgia for the 60s, then try it. I think you’ll like it.

Stupid, immoral, or just weird?

So I’m pleased with myself because I’ve figured out how to record music as it plays on my computer.

Now, I’d be more pleased if I could have figured out how to configure Windows to do this, for free, as is supposed to be possible. But after the simple instructions failed, and then I tried more complicated instructions that also failed, and eventually ended up in the Windows Registry and it was 1:00 in the morning and I still wasn’t recording…

I realized this was insane. So before I blew up the computer, I bought some inexpensive software to do this. Very simple; works great. Anything I play on the computer, I can now convert to MP3 (and other formats).

I wanted this for things like:

  • Ann Wilson and Roger Daltrey singing “Kashmir”, accompanied by a symphony. Awesome.
  • Queen live in 1977, as posted at Wolfgang’s Vault
  • Even the elusive “Dancing at the Feet of the Moon” by Parachute Club

This, my husband informed me, makes me a thief. Even though I pointed out that none of these things seem to be available for sale. He said that the artists should still paid for their work, and I said, well, I’m sure they were paid for their original work and now their stuff is sitting on the Internet for free listening and what difference does it make if I listen on my computer or my iPod? (And actually the argument went on much longer and grew progressively ridiculous, so I’ll spare you.)

But it did make me think that, however I get my music now—and I use many means—someone seems to thinks it’s either stupid, or immoral, or just plain weird.

You buy music? [stupid]

Most commonly expressed by those under 30, who like to point out that everything is available for free on the Internet. I don’t know how immoral it is to never pay for music, but it’s at least kind of tacky.

You buy music from iTunes? [stupid]

Boy, do some people have issues with iTunes! That it’s too expensive, that everything is DRM, that it chains you to your iPod. But expensive is relative, the DRM thing is now history, and as for chaining you to your iPod; well, I’ve never figured that was so hard to get around. For example, I can just play whatever is in iTunes on my computer, and make an MP3 copy of it using my handy new software! Voila, no more ties to Apple.

You still buy CDs? [weird. and possibly stupid]

Amazement that I still acquire some music little plastic disks, which clutter up your life. Especially since the first thing you do is convert it for the iPod anyway.

Now, I used to say all those CDs were my iTunes backup; but now I’ve started backing up my library to DVD.

Or, that I liked the packaging—but I don’t really refer to the CD case, within its tiny print and sad little cover picture, all that often. But I still buy CDs because of:

  • Price (since I often get them used).
  • Better sound quality. Compressing things for your iPod means dropping notes from your songs. I’m no audiophile, but CDs do sound richer.
  • Convenience—at least in my car, where the CD player is better integrated than the iPod.

As for clutter, my neatly organized CDs, all stashed away in cabinets in alphabetical order by artist, then by release date, are really the least of my problems there. But it brings me to…

You still buy albums? [weird]

This is, as opposed to just songs. Of course, it’s wonderful to now be able to just get songs so easily, but yes, I still get albums too. Because…

  • Classic albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Who Sell Out, which have a whole thematic that builds, can only be experienced by listening to the entire album. In order.
  • Some artists are so great in concert, I just assume I’ll like the whole album too. With a band like Swing, I was completely right—with both their albums. Which I’ve since bought more of, to give to other people.
  • Soundtracks, which may not count, since they are just a random collection of songs. Though something like the Trainspotting or Shortbus soundtracks have an overarching sound to them that make them a great playlist in themselves.
  • Reliable artists like Ray Davies, Alanis Morissette (Flavors of Entanglement is great), Bob Geldof… They put out a new album, I’m probably going to get it.

And more ways…

  • [immoral?] Extracting it from music DVDs—I have software for that, too. And I’m pretty sure it’s just another copy for personal use. I’m just thrilled that the mostly useless online help (“the filter pass setting sets the filter pass”) actually contained the one precise piece of information I needed to make the extracted songs stop “crackling”. Was driving me nuts.
  • [immoral?] Borrowing it from friends or family—Yet everyone seems to think this is just a nice thing to do, not immoral at all. Most will gladly make a copy for you.
  • [stupid?] Downloading it, not from a torrent, but from a “file sharing” location posted by someone on a Kinks mailing list. Which, I’m sure, is somewhat stupid. But I do have virus software, and all seems well since I did it, and it is a truly fantastic collections of Kinks songs. The Fan Box Set. Anyone want to borrow it? 🙂