Thursday, August 30, 2001
Ack, I haven't updated this page in ages. My baby sister Erin's wedding this past weekend went exceptionally smoothly, and the week prior only had minimal hassles. Everything just went perfectly.
I have tons of stuff to prattle on about, and I'll get to it in the next day or two...
Sunday, July 22, 2001
Oh, give me a stinkin' break.
Saturday, July 21, 2001
About the On The Road cd's that Steve found in Edmonton (see below)...I got my copy today, and we checked the ISBN catalogue number, and the ISBN number on the price tag was different than the one on the cd box. So Steve did an ISBN search at the Chapters-Indigo website, and lo and behold, it turns out that the dolts at Indigo in Edmonton put on the price tag that applied to the paperback version of the book instead of the tag for the unabridged audio book. At Indigo they scan the barcode on the tag rather than the barcode on the book or cd, so when they scanned the cd, instead of charging $74.99, we were charged only $19.99. Multiply that by two, and we saved about $110.00. Even more unbelievably, Steve asked a flunky in the store to check that the outlandishly low price was the right one, and the guy brushed him off saying that yeah, it was, without running an ISBN check.
Do I feel guilty? No way. We didn't find out this info on our own until the cd's were 600 km away from the store. Tee hee...we've hated Indigo books for the longest time, anyway...their CEO lady is clueless (her solution to improving business is to stock fewer books in stores, completely defeating the purpose of big-box bookstores. If you're going to run the indie stores out of town, why not stock tons of books?), and their website, before merging with Chapters, was sub-sub-subpar. So all in all, it was a great pleasure to learn that we wound up taking full advantage of the ineptness of Indigo Books. A bookstore that actually had employees who knew something about what they were selling would never let such a faux pas happen.
Another thing about Chapters: when they first started, it was nice to be able to kill time in the store, grabbing books to skim, flip through a few magazines, and enjoy a coffee. Goodness knows I did enough of that...many hours were spent the Edmonton South Chapters as well as the one in Richmond, and certain members of my family even surreptitiously "liberated" a recipe from a cookbook that was left back home. But things really started to sour in my eyes when we were wandering around Vancouver's Robson Street one Sunday night last November. We stopped inside the nice new Chapters building, and we couldn't walk anywhere without tripping over a loiterer. The place was teeming with people doing nothing...folks (normal folks, not just homeless people) would just find a quiet corner, drop on the floor, and sit against the bookshelves. Didn't take long for people to abuse Chapters' leniency. Now all the stores have removed most of their chairs and are trying to discourage loitering. No wonder that chain is sinking fast. Long live the indie bookseller.
My fave indie stores? Black Sheep Books in Vancouver, and the outstanding folks at Titles here in Saskatoon. That said, the Beat Generation section at Vancouver's Virgin Megastore never fails to make me want to drop to my knees and weep with joy...
One more thing: Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um is one fine, fine, record. Got it on right now, and I love it.
Thursday, July 19, 2001
So I'm sitting here all alone at home doing nada, when, from out of the blue, I get a call from good bud Steve in Edmonton saying he was at Indigo Books and came across a couple of copies of Kerouac's On The Road on cd, unabridged, read by Matt Dillon. For twenty dollars. Canadian. Originally listed at seventy-four dollars. So he scooped a couple for he & I, and now I'm pretty durn chuffed. I've wanted the twelve hour cd set since last fall, so today was a good day.
I finally picked up Lucinda Williams' new cd last week...very good, but leagues behind Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. It's completely different than its predecessor, much more mellow. My review is up on my amazon page...link's on the left.
Surprise surprise, Bob Dylan has a new album coming out on September 11. Supposed to be more of a bluesy effort and not so much like Time Out Of Mind. Typical Bob. What is good to hear is that he recorded it with his touring band, which, as we Bob fans all know, is one super-tight unit.
My new favourite tv show is Channel Four's Banzai. Simultaneously chaotic, psychotic, and plain hilarious. The Japanese-accented narration is like Iron Chef on speed. "Betting...ovah!!!" Kudos to City TV for airing such a cool show here in Canerda.
Wednesday, July 4, 2001
So long, Napster. It was nice while it lasted. In the meantime, I've hopped on over to Gnutella, and it's been pretty decent so far. File sharing still lives...
So the first six months of 2001 have come and gone, and as I usually do, I look back at the best new music of the early part of the year as a precursor to my annual (and rightfully, huge) best-of-the-year list. Trouble is, this year, so far has been the weakest year in ages as far as good new music goes. I look back on the past six months, and am left scratching my head, thinking, Is that it?
2000 was just too good a year for tunes, the best since 1994, and well into this year I still was catching up on my 2000 'must-have' list. The 2000 leftovers, the ones purchased this year that (obviously) didn't make my best-of list last December include Doves' brilliant debut Lost Souls, Outkast's Stankonia (the best rap album since 1993), Godspeed You Black Emperor's epic Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven!, Chicks On Speed's mimimalist wackfest The Re-Releases Of The Un-Releases, and most notably, the ethereal masterpiece Agaetis Byrjun, by Iceland's Sigur Ros.
The albums by Sigur Ros and Doves, although technically 2000 releases, are far and away the best albums I've heard this year, and my entire top ten from last year, perhaps even my top twenty, are better than the stuff from 2001 so far, with one exception.
Tool's Lateralus is a near-perfect, brooding opus that gets better with every listen. Complete with intricate musicianship, seething lyrics (without becoming too cheesy), and majestic melodies hiding in the ultra-dense production, Lateralus is clearly the best album of the year so far.
Runners-up? It's a weak, weak field, but there's good stuff, just not a lot to choose from:
The Invisible Band - Travis: A huge improvement over The Man Who that is disarmingly sincere and unabashedly optimistic. A breath of fresh air.
Essence - Lucinda Williams: Okay, I don't have this yet, but it's a very good record. Not as great as Car Wheels... and a whole lot mellower, it's a quality follow-up to one of the best albums of the nineties.
Amnesiac - Radiohead: A worthy sequel to Kid A. Not as complete an album as Kid A, but its five highlights shine brighter than anything on its predecessor.
Weezer - Weezer: Who knew? They rose from the dead and put out a wildly fun cd. A bit one-dimensional musically speaking, and extremely short, but not a second is wasted. A blast.
What is there to look forward to over the next six months? Nothing exciting, really. Slipknot's Iowa comes out in a month, and it might be worth a try, but judging by their new tune 'Heretic Song', their lyrics have already become laughable. The Beta Band could surprise...'Al Sharp'is a real cool song, and if they can harness their noodling a touch, the new record could be a winner. Other than that, we'll have to wait for someone to come from out of anonymity to wow us. I'm talking to you, members of The Strokes...
If the hype doesn't swallow them alive, The Strokes could be one of the best bands of the year. 'This Modern Age', 'Barely Legal', 'Last Night', and the new single 'Can Hardly Explain' are dead-on groovy throwbacks to White Light/White Heat-era Velvet Underground. Rock music at its purest. The cd comes out in September, and could be the one of the only bright spots in the next six months. I'll keep my ear to the ground in the meantime.
Thursday, June 28, 2001
My review of Tool's Lateralus cd is up on my reviews page. Link's on the left, if you're interested.
There's an excellent, very detailed anaysis of the film Memento by Salon.com here. It's a riveting, mesmerizing movie, one that demands repeated viewings. Very funny at times, too.
Finally watched the entire special edition Spinal Tap dvd recently...the hour-plus long deleted scenes were fun to see, and hardly the waste of time most deleted scenes are. The best part was the commentary, not by Guest, McKean, and Shearer, but by Tufnel, St. Hubbins, and Smalls, and is almost as funny as the movie itself. Brilliantly done. Also, it was great to see the old tv spoof 'Heavy Metal Memories' once again, after fifteen years or so. And yes, that's W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless you're seeing in that promo.
My favourite line from David Mamet's State And Main:
"It looks like Edith Head puked and the puke designed that dress."
Runner up: "Cue the dead horse and somebody get a crate of donuts for the teamsters."
Saturday, June 23, 2001
So whaddya think of the page's new look? My images look a bit primitive, but it's a bit of an improvement, I think. It's a start, anyway.
Tool's Lateralus is a most excellent album. Review coming soon. Dank, dank stuff.
My review of Chicks On Speed's latest cd is up on my reviews page. Link's on the left.
Thursday, June 14, 2001
My reviews of Radiohead's Amnesiac and Travis's The Invisible band are up on my reviews page. Link's on the left.
My reaction to Travis's cd the past couple weeks ranged from being a bit indifferent to only slightly impressed, and I was contemplating whether or not it was worth buying. Turns out it was well worth it. Fine album...quite a bit better than The Man Who. And after a week of listening to Amnesiac, I still feel Amnesiac peters out during the last two songs. Only a minor drawback.
Cheeseball director Joel Schumacher is going to direct the film version of On The Road. This is a bigger travesty than the scroll manuscript auction...I complained bitterly to the excellent movie writer David Poland, whose columns I read daily, and it turns out my e-mail made today's column. Right at the top, too. Anyway, you can read my rant and the rest of his column here.
That tune by Tool, 'Schism', really grows on a person. Subtle buildup, and when it climaxes, it works well. Also, The Beta Band's 'Al Sharp' is one trippy song. I'll have to hear the rest of their new one...they can be either very good or a bit monotonous. Comes out in a month.
Thursday, June 7, 2001
Travis is currently previewing their new album, one track per day. The first track on The Invisible Band is 'Sing', but since that's the current single, it's being passed over for the other stuff on the album. If you haven't heard 'Sing', which is a mighty fine song, then shame on you. Anyway, the links are below, with my initial reactions to each of the tracks. Enjoy.
'Dear Diary'...not bad. A bit mopey. "Dear Diary/what is wrong with me?" Sheesh. C'mon, Fran.
'Side'...now that's more like it. A winner of a song.
'Pipe Dreams'...a shuffling, midtempo, partially acoustic song. Nice.
'Flowers In The Window'...Breezy, complete with seagulls and ocean sounds (!). Goodness, Fran sounds happy. This Is McCartney-level sappiness we're talking about here. Not that there's anything wrong with it...
'The Cage'...another upbeat tune, sorta like 'I'm In Love With A Girl', by Big Star.
'Safe'...Safe, Side, Sing...I'm spotting a trend. Good acoustic ditty.
'Follow The Light'...a terrific, jangly tune. A good follow-up to 'Coming Around'.
'Last Train'...dreary, droopy, dark song. This Radiohead soundalike is a bit of a gloomy departure.
'Afterglow'...the entire album is shaping out to be a good one. Good, but not astoundingly great, either.
'Indefinitely'...very good shuffling ballad. One of the high points. Gotta say that alarm clock at the end sounds too close to mine, which is a bit disturbing.
'The Humpty Dumpty Love Song'...by far the goofiest title I've heard in a while, but the song is great. Builds up to a gentle string-laden crescendo. A fitting closing song.
Wednesday, June 6, 2001
Wow, has Twisted Sister's Dee Snider ever lost some weight. And he seems to be getting uglier as the years go by, too. Ecch. But that's the price we gotta pay, all the games we gotta play. Makes me wonder if it's worth it to carry on. Ah well.
Pyramid Song, man, Pyramid Song. Chills on the back of the neck. Best song of the year so far...great vid as well. Amnesiac is a hair below the level of Kid A, but a fine, fine cd in its own right.
Tuesday, June 5, 2001
First thoughts on Radiohead's Amnesiac album: yeah, it's in a simiar vein as that of Kid A. More accessible songs, true, but there are also similar sonic experiments that baffled people when Kid A came out. Impenetrable? No, not at all. Does it have a heart, a pulse? Most certainly. Is it as good as Kid A? Almost. Is it still worth buying? By all means, yes.
Standout tracks after the first listen: 'Pyramid Song', 'I Might Be Wrong', 'Knives Out', and that wacky 'Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box'.
Interesting lyrical twist: the tweaking of Kid A's 'Morning Bell' in 'Morning Bell/Amnesiac'. Instead of Yorke singing "put the kids to bed", it's "cut the kids in half." A bit grim...
It'll take a few more listens before I can figure out what I think of the whole thing. A good place to read the lyrics to the tunes on Amnesiac is at Green Plastic Leaves.
Friday, June 1, 2001
If you're wondering where all my silly blatherings went, I archived the February-May stuff. The link is over there on the left.
