King Arthur Movie Tristan

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush - Spirit of Radio.

Christmas always brings with it novelty songs. Whether it's Irish Rovers singing about Grandmas and Reindeer, or Bruce Springsteen warning of Santa Claus's imminent arrival. Corey Harts Rudolph phase or anybody and everybody going for a Sleigh Ride, Christmas is littered with music that would never get made otherwise. It is one of the things I love about Christmas.

This year is like any other with a plethora of new Christmas music, whether your taste runs to Melissa Etheridge, Faith Hill or Cheryl Crow there's a Christmas CD for you. Sadly, this year seems to lack the heavy metal title to make it interesting, unlike 2006's Twisted Sister entry into the canon.

This years more interesting Christmas music are of the single song variety. There are two, specifically, that have caught my attention this year. Two songs that sit at the opposite end of the musical spectrum, as different as the Pogues and Bing Crosby (although the Pogues probably did a song with Bing Crosby at some point; everyone else certainly seems to have done). In fact, my two favourites from 2008 are being compared to The Pogues/Kirsty Mccall and Bing Crosby.

The first I heard about on a gossip mailer I get called Popbitch. They referred to the new Cyndi Lauper and The Hives song, A Christmas Duel, thus:

This week we are listening to Xmas songs:

1. The Hives v Cyndi Lauper:
The new Kirsty MacColl/Pogues?

For those unfamiliar, The Pogues song being referred to it is Fairytale of New York, a wonderful song that blends wonderfully the romance of Christmas, New York City and those old Bing Crosby movies with punk sensibilities, a verse full of insults and an opening stanza that occurs in a drunk tank. A deft bit of writing and a magical performance have made it a Christmas favourite among the under 50 set.

The Hives v Cyndi Lauper on the other hand, is just a song of two people fighting. A load of insults, some sexual innuendo, an unapologetic drunk and a death threat finished off with a promise to "spend-spend-spend this Christmas together." A different take on Christmas it certainly is; the best thing Cyndi Lauper has done since, well ever, very possibly (What is it with the Brits anyway? If you were a Minor celebrity once, 20 years ago, you're a celebrity forever?); The new Kirsty MacColl/Pogues? Not a chance.

All that said, it's listenable, it's fun and it has one of the all time great lines in song:

So whatever you say, it’s all fine by me
Who the f@#k anyway wants a Christmas tree.

So I'll take it, I'll listen to it with a sly smile, and I'll turn it off when my mother-in-law walks in the room. But it's no Fairytale of New York.



The second song comes from a different world altogether. Canada's Conservative savant, Mark Steyn has teamed up with comedienne Jessica Martin in a duet of A Marshmallow World. The 1949 song originally popularized by Bing Crosby has induced MacLean's magazine to call Steyn, "the new Bing Crosby." It's a fun song, a catchy ditty and Steyn is an alright singer, for a writer. In truth, it's enjoyable because of the spirit of the thing more so than the singing talents of Mark Steyn (Jessica Martin on the other hand is not a bad singer).

I offer fair warning, however. This song has infested my brain and it won't shut up. If you want to go around between now and Dec 25th with Mark Steyn warbling "It's a marshmallow wooooorld," incessantly playing in your head, by all means blow $0.99 on the MP3. Although it has been noted I seem in an awfully good mood the past few days: don't say you weren't warned.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush - Spirit of Radio.

I noted a year and a half ago that I'm a big Steve Howe fan. When I was a teenage guitar player with big ideas about what I would do with my life, I learned early that versatility was what I wanted in my playing. Can you play country? they would ask, and I would reply with some crying guitar in a major scale. Acoustic guitar? I would flat pick, finger pick and toe tap. Jazz? I'm a hot cat who plays it cool. Classical? Baching right.

It started with Jimmy Page. He can comfortably handle any style, all the while sounding like a rock player. But when it comes to playing in many varied styles with virtuosity no one can compare to Yes guitarist Steve Howe.

I cottoned on to Howe with Yes's Fragile album. The rock/classical album features the legendary Roundabout that has Howe starting the piece with a classical intro, segueing into some jazzy harmonics before flat out rocking the chorus. Truly an awe inspiring song to a young impressionable with a penchant for guitar versatility. Fragile also features the Spanish tinged rock/classical masterpiece Mood For a Day. A few years ago the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet covered this song a really brought out the flamenco side of it. It was, in fact, the first classical style song I ever played, and I was tickled when the LAGQ legitimized it in the guitar repertoire.

So a few months ago when I received an e-mail from fingerstyleguitar.ca announcing a Steve Howe performance I didn't think twice, I didn't call anybody, I didn't send around e-mail seeing who was interested. I immediately ordered a single ticket, knowing that every second I waited I would get farther from the stage. It paid off, and Thursday night I sat in the fifth row, almost dead centre, and watched one of the great guitar players doing what he does best. Half a show with a nylon string playing his classical tinged material, and half with a steel string playing fingerpicking stuff. His playing is elegant and almost flawless, even if his memory isn't what it used to be.

There is something truly magical about seeing a master musician, up close and personal, nothing but his instrument. When it is someone who's music, and musicianship, you have admired for many years it is magical. To have a chance at a meet and signing afterwards is worth every penny. To hear Mood for a Day and The Clap from 25 feet away: priceless

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.

Rush - Spirit of Radio.

Now that it's available at a more reasonable paperback price, I picked up the Eric Clapton autobiography Clapton. I have never not liked Clapton, but I have never loved him either. I have a friend who thinks he's the greatest guitar player ever, a position I think is absurd. However, he's done some good things through the years.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.
Rush - Spirit of Radio.

If you gave a group of Bruce Springsteen fans a time machine and said, you have one use, and return it in six hours, that machine would undoubtedly be making a bee-line for 1978: the golden age of Bruce. 1978: The Darkness on the Edge of Town tour. 1978: The legendary period of Bruce Springsteen concerts that bootleg recording today confirm Springsteen's band was as tight as any band in the business, and video shows the Springsteen showmanship at it's absolute peak.
Whenever I hit the gym in the corner of our basement for a run on the treadmill, I throw a video in the DVD player that the treadmill faces. I often chose music videos for a couple of reasons: 1) if I only watch 40 minutes of the video I'm not walking away feeling like I missed something; 2) I can keep the video on through the whole work out - stretching & weights on top of running - as back ground music. This week, it's been Springsteen circa 1978.

A couple of years ago I downloaded a video called "Pièce De Résistance: Capital Theater, 19th September 1978." Here's part of the blurb:

This release features what many consider a peak of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band [sic] incredible 1978 Darkness on the Edge of Town tour; a three show stand in an intimate theater on home ground in New Jersey. This was the first of those shows and was broadcast live on the New York station W??W (it's indecipherable), which is the excellent source recording for the main body of this release...

An amazing document of one of the highest moments on Springsteen career[sic], black and white professional multicamera footage...

Who "professional, multicamera black and white" films in 1978, I don't know, but it's a stunning watch. Springsteen is that good here, a 24 song set list with no weakness, an almost three hour show of raw emotional musical energy. That, however, is not enough. To have kind of show is one thing, to capture it is another trick altogether. This DVD manages to capture it, and it is spine tingling good.

Moment in history captures are often disappointing, making the watcher yawn with unfulfilled expectation. The great thing about this DVD is not just the sense of history, but the fulfilment of expectation. You watch it and think, oh man, if only I didn't go to see Nirvana in 1991 when I had that time machine. But Nirvana it sadly was and I'm left with a black and white DVD, which thankfully is an entirely satisfactory replacement.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music.
Rush - Spirit of Radio

I changed the name of this feature for a reason. It has always been my little celebration of music, but with a title like This Week in My i-pod I always felt constrained by what I heard through ear buds. Ear buds, however, are not the only way to listen to music. There's always, for example, the car. It has always been a great place for listening and many an artist has road tested a new album pre-release by going for a drive. How does it work in the car? It can be a defining test for a good rock and roll album.

There's also concerts, and I attend a few - although at today's prices not nearly as many as I would like. But concerts are valid area of listening and not unworthy of mention. It should be added that a lot of music gets heard while out in public or on TV, possibly even something worthy of mention.

Then there's the record player. I'm one of those guys who believe a record on a turntable is the best way to listen to, and absorb music. But there are caveats: a good turntable, a large space and decent speakers are required. I have a lot of records and have always had a working turntable. But it's always been in a small space. For a while my turntable was in the closet where I keep my records. My son and I used to sit on the floor, close the door and listen for ages. But I'm 45, sitting on the floot of a closet isn't as easy as it used to be. Then I put it in my office, but it to is a small skinny space, completely devoid of any real comfort. Last winter I put a projector in the basement, painted a screen on the wall and hooked up a 5.1 surround sound system. This summer it occurred to me I had a free input, so a couple of clicks to phonopreamps.com, and I have proper turntable sound with couch seating. Perfect.

Once the turntable is hooked up, then what? I have a few thousand LPs, now I'm supposed to pick one over all others? It turns out I had one in mind. In July they re-released a couple of early Elton John albums: his first, Elton John and a later release, Tumbleweed Connection . They reminded me how good some of Elton John's very early material is, why he stood out above the crowd from early on. And it put me to mind of an all time favourite album, John's fourth studio album, Madman Across the Water.

One of the great things about LPs is sides. A side of a record was 17 - 25 minutes long, usually coming in around 20. Both sides combined rarely exceeded 45 minutes. If an artist could piece together 4 - 5 good songs, they had a good side, consequently a good record. By this standard, Madman Across the Water is an excellent album. Here's side one:

Tiny Dance
Levon
Razor Face
Madman Across he Water

We can ignore Razor face, because it's the unknown, average not bad not great song that almost every album has. But look at those other three.

Remember when I said turntable is the best way to listen to music? Tiny Dancer is an excellent example. All that orchestration on CD, or MP3, or FM Stereo (I have listened to all three many times) give a nice song. On LP, the song is so warm. The orchestration wraps around you like a blanket, it has depth and, here's the real key, dynamics. Dynamics in music are the basic: louder softer. But they are so much more, and any good musician gets this. It's a change in the energy. And Tiny Dancer, LP version, has that: energy that comes in, and goes out, that charges the song with motion, and feeling and warmth. It's not just a pretty song, it's a moving song.

The same can be said for the rest of the album, Levon being another good example. Madman Across the Water deserves mention as one of Elton John's less known underrated songs. What a marvellous piece of music and writing, yet its an unknown in the Elton John canon simply because it gets overwhelmed by the music he was writing at the time.

It's hard to discuss Elton John and album sides, without discussing Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, side one. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was John's double album, with three big hits, Bennie and the Jets, the title track, and Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting, as well as a later hit, Candle in the Wind. Here's side one:

Funeral For a Friend
Love Lies Bleeding
Candle in the Wind
Bennie and the Jets

Top it off with side two sing one: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and you may have one the best starting five in any album. An amazing listen, and one of the few times it's worth turning the album over for just one song. It's hard to imagine that Elton John was ever a serious musical artist, but he truly was. Sides one of Madman Across the Water and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road prove it, and prove he's worthy of fame, even if we he seems to be famous for much of the wrong reasons.

Whenever I sit and write this feature, or anything else, there's a style and voice I'm aiming for. I rarely seem to fully find it, but when I do, I like the results. Music to Die For from August two years ago is one of those times when I hit that voice exactly the way I like. Going over it again there are changes I might make, the kind of thing an editor would do for me. But I wouldn't change the tone, the style or the voice one bit:

Sunday, August 06, 2006
This Week on my i-pod: Music to Die For

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I play guitar: I know because it says so in my profile at the top left corner of this page (I play Guitar, mostly classical because that's easy to do in the basement after the kids go to bed:)). Classical mostly, although lots of other styles as well. I didn't start a classical player; in fact many people who know me would be surprised to hear me call myself a classical player. I have done the rock band thing, became quite a folk/children’s music picker when my daughter was young and I would sing to her every night, play slide poorly, and dabble in mandolin. But mostly I play classical, practice it every day in fact.

But that's not what I want to talk about.

I have been thinking a lot about death this week. Specifically, my own. Not for the usual reasons that someone I know died, or they found something in my tests. It's not even because of Fidel's intestines that I have been pondering my mortality this week. A couple of years ago someone, in a drunken conversation around a kitchen table, asked what music I would want played at my funeral. I had no idea.

I consider myself a music aficionado, very specifically rock and roll. But what rock and roll really belongs at a funeral? Dust in the Wind? Please, I want people to weep knowingly, not gag. Stairway to Heaven? Yea, because my funeral should resemble a grade eight dance as much as humanly possible. See the problem? Even the serious rock and roll stuff just doesn't cut it here. Nick Hornby, in his defense of Pop music "songbook" says he wants Van Morison’s Caravan. Problem is, it's the live version, with an extended string section, where “the sax weaves gently in and out of the cute, witty, neochamber strings…” Anyway, it has a part where Morrison introduces the band and, “isn’t that too weird?” So rock and roll presents problems, unless your sense of humour is far more interesting than mine (Jamie’s Cryin’ or No Particular Place to Go sproing to mind here).

But Classical guitar! As I play (did I mention that?) I thought I should know a nice classical guitar piece or two that's appropriate. But the more I thought about it, the less I came up with. Nothing I knew would fill the bill. So for the last few years I have been wondering, what song? And who would play it? Surely a live performance is in order, not a CD recording of, say Segovia, who's already been dead 19 years, and I'm only 42 (OK, OK 43 -honest I forgot I had a birthday (again)), and how long will Segovia have been dead by the time my turn comes (more than 20 years, I hope).

Which brings me to another problem. I don't belong to a church. I don't have any great desire to give up my Sunday mornings, except when I attend a funeral. Any funeral I go to is in one of two places, a funeral home, in which case I always think, I want my funeral to be so much more. Warmer, gentler, a minister who has met me, dealt with me, understands why there's a guy in the corner playing classical guitar. The second kind is in a church, in which case the deceased, having been a member, gets a proper send off. Real music, by musicians, A nice organ sending heavenly air breathing through it's pipes, imploring the Lord to accept my poor sinning, carcass.

I want, however, the kind of church that are hard to find anymore. One with a large choir box, and a large, talented choir. A proper organ, with pipes rising up the wall, imploring God to Hear thy Music (can't expect Him to accept my carcass with less), and a proper organist, playing the great music written in His name. No folk musicians need apply at my church, please. I could even contribute to the music once in a while, if I could just have the place when my funeral comes.

But that's not what I want to talk about.

I won a book from a radio show, "Classical Guitar Alive." It's a real show, mostly on PBS stations, but I listen to it as MP3 downloads after the fact. The book is an autobiography of Classical Guitarist Christopher Parkening, called Grace Like A River. My review is here. The long in short is, as an extreme Christian, Parkening is as annoying as he is talented. And talented he is: the book came with a sampler CD, with Jesu Joy of Man Desiring; Albeniz's Rumores de la Caleta; and the Adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo 's Concierto de Aranjuez.

I am playing at a friends wedding in October, and I have started working some music for it. Lots of basic stuff, Romance, another Romance by Nikita Koshkin (Classical composers tend to lack the Led Zeppelin knack for interesting titles), Jesu Joy of Man Desiring, and the Bach/Genoud Ave Maria (not the more typical Schubert, which translates to guitar awkwardly). As well, I found an interesting composition called Canco trista on the internet, which I'm working up, and a rather lousy Russian reduction of the Adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez.

When the Parkening book came in, I threw on the CD and realized, the Adagio, while possibly the most stunningly beautiful for any instrument (go to your library and rent a CD with it on, trust me it is shivers up the spine beautiful, even when poorly done), it's quite sad. There's a reason they play Ob La Di Ob La Da on the organ before a wedding, cause weddings are happy occasions.

Legend has it the Rodrigo was writing the Concierto de Aranjuez while his wife was pregnant. The first and third sections where written, but the slower middle section was leaving him a touch befuddled. His wife lost the baby in childbirth (or miscarried it, or the baby died an infant, I’ve read different things on this) and, upon returning from the hospital wrote the adagio. It shows! If ever God chose to put his touch on a piece of music, ever the Divine intervened for the strict purpose of entertaining man, this was the moment. It is a haunting, mesmerizing piece of music.

So I thought, my funeral. That's it, that's the piece I want played at my funeral. But how? The logistics are a nightmare. It's a guitar Concierto, for crying out loud. For those that don't know, that means guitar with orchestra. This will never work in one of those tinny funeral homes, so you see; I really must find a proper church, with space for an orchestra.

Then who? There's a reason only the best in the world play this concerto, it's very difficult. And the one thing I don't want (are you listening honey?) is a lame version of any music at my funeral. My God I'm dead, I deserve the music to be well done. Then there's the problem of rehearsing an orchestra and guitarist in such a time frame. I expect my demise to be somewhat of a surprise. Let's face it, unless you’re Hunter S. Thompson, you don't plan your dying down to the day. Even if you have a protracted illness, the exact day isn't a known variable. And I don't really want to be kept on ice for two weeks while the musicians work up their parts up. So a live performance probably isn't going to work.

But, does a CD really cut it? It will have to and, fortunately I have a number of performances of this piece on my MP3 player. John Williams, Julian Bream and Paco DeLucia come to mind, as well as Parkening's. I have spent the week listening to them to decide, and frankly can't. Williams is my favourite player, but his Adagio leaves me a touch cold, and lets face it, I’ll be cold enough. Parkening’s is nice, but not preferred. Bream does a lovely job of it and DeLucia’s while superbly performed, is a touch flamenco-y for me. So I guess I need to keep digging, to find the person who captured my death perfectly.

The truth is, I would really like to have the whole concerto performed, but it's a good half an hour long. I suppose I could request no eulogy, just play the music. The Priest could say something about me, then announce the piece, much like a DJ would, and everybody could hear it. The exciting Allegro con spirito, followed by that lovely 13 minute Adagio. People would cry, I know they would. They would cry because it's a sad piece, but also they would cry because it would prove, when it is most wanting proven, that God exists and I am with him. Of this I am sure, more than anything the Priest or my forlorn family could utter, That Adagio would say to all, he is with Him now. Finally the Allegro gentile, quicker and quirkier, somewhat like me. Something for people to dry their eyes to, before the Reverend DJ announces there will be “tea and cakes at such and such a place after the interment.”

But it's probably not feasible, the priest might even not approve of being usurped in such a way. Probably best is having the lovely Adagio playing when people came in and took a seat. People could sit, marvel at the sheer beauty of the music, and know that they weren't just at a funeral, but they where at a celebration of life, and that the life lived was touched by beauty, and knew a good piece of music when he heard it.

That's it for best ofs, in fact that's it for this feature. Starting next Sunday there will be a new feature, with new title and format, but an expanded repertoire of musical possibilities.

Sometimes on this feature, I have fell into sheer review. It's a mistake. This was never meant to be, "what a great CD." It is much more about the effect music has, the feel I get from listening, how life is improved through the sheer act of music. This was one of the moments when I almost fell into review, but escaped through expansion of the original idea. Thus one of my all time favourite musicians, and people, Bob Seger, got some Looking Back:

Sunday, September 17, 2006
This week on my i-pod - More Bob Seger

With the new album out, I have spent much of the week with Bob Seger playing. Whether the new CD, or a classic album I have covered a lot of Seger ground this week. By Friday afternoon, I decided to pick a bunch of songs and have the MP3 play them randomly. It's always interesting to pick songs instead of full albums, as it gives you a closer look at what is moving you.

On this week, I picked two of the new songs: Wreck This Heart and Wait For Me, the first two tracks on the album. Working backwards, there is only one song from the last album, "It's a Mystery", that I bother much to listen to, but it's one of the greats. Lock and Load is a great Seger rocker, possibly even the best in the last 30 years.

Of course The Real Love from "The Fire Inside", Like a Rock and American Storm from "Like a Rock", and Even Now from 1982's "The Distance". The mid 70's is his best years and was well represented. However, it was one old and one new (fairly) that where the true gems of the listen.

Turn the Page is the Seger song. All other pale in comparison. Not just Turn the Page though - Turn the Page from the "Live Bullet" album. I have the "Back in '72" album that the song comes from originally, have quite a few bootlegs and have seen him numerous times. I can assure you, that one performance of "Turn the Page" is heads and shoulders above the rest. It's not really surprising. He was playing the mid-west bar circuit, travelling club to club. Then he came home to Detroit to sell out Cobo Hall on two consecutive nights; 10,000 people a night. And you sing this song:

Say, here I am, on the road again. there I am, up on the stage.
Here I go, playing star again.
There I go, turn the page...

Out there in the spotlight your a million miles away,
Every ounce of energy, you try and give away,
As the sweat pours out your body like the music that you play.
Later in the evening as you lie awake in bed,
With the echo from the amplifiers ringing in your head,
You smoke the days last cigarette, remembering what she said.
Now here I am, on the road again. there I am, up on the stage.
Here I go, playing star again.
There I go, turn the page.
Here I am, on the road again. there I am, up on the stage.
Ah here I go, playing star again.
There I go, there I go.

Is it any wonder the song had a little something extra in it. After all the years of living the song, finally he wasn't playing star, he was a star. Yea, that night was special and it came across in one of rock and rolls greatest moments. Turn the Page is a good song - even Metallica couldn't ruin it (God help them, they tried though. They tried!) - but on this night a great song was born.

The other song was 1998's Chances Are with Martina McBride, from the Sandra Bullock movie "Hope Floats". I don't have much time for country music, mostly because I can't take the whiny twang of the singers. But there's a couple of the lady singers I like: Shania Twain is one; Martina McBride the other. Martina McBride might just have the nicest voice in music. It is stunningly beautiful, clear as a bell and pitch perfect note for note. Bob Seger, on the other hand, has a "smoke too much, ah hell it was close" kind of voice. A singer I have always loved, a distinctive interesting voice, but let's not kid the troops. Like Seger himself, it is a working man's voice, a voice not presented upon birth as a gift from the Gods, but a voice that is solid only through hard work and years of performing. And when McBride and Seger put them together, it's magic.

I have discussed my wife's romantic dances on the deck before, how I'm responsible to a) attend and b) supply the music. I have decided that Chances Are belongs on our deck next time, is a song that I can comfortably sing to my bride, knowing she would appreciate it:

Chances are you'll find me
Somewhere on your road tonight
Seems I always end up driving by
Ever since I've known you
It seems you're on my way

All the rules of logic don't apply
I long to see you in the night
Be with you 'til morning light

I remember clearly how you looked
The night we met
I recall your laughter and your smile
I remember how you made me
Feel so at ease
I remember all your grace and your style

And now you're all I long to see
You've come to mean so much to me

Chances are I'll see you
In my dreams tonight
You'll be smiling like the night we met
Chances are I'll hold you and I'll offer
All I have

You're the only one I can't forget
Baby you're the best I've ever met

And I'll be dreaming of the future
And hoping you'll be by my side
And in the morning I'll be longing for the night
For the night

Chances are I'll see you
Somewhere in my dreams tonight
You'll be smiling like the night we met
Chances are I'll hold you and I'll offer
All I have

You're the only one I can't forget
Baby you're the best I've ever met


It's the kind of song you expect Bob Seger to write. According to Greatest Hits 2, he wrote it in 1990. There where rumours at the time of an album that got mostly scrubbed because the centre-piece was Tom Waits' Downtown Train. He told Rod Stewart about it, Stewart recorded and released Downtown Train first, so Seger returned to the studio and released "The Fire Inside" in 1991 instead. If 1990 is the date for Chances Are, then we can assume it is from the lost album, and we can are left to speculate how good an album we missed.

This one comes from my fifteenth anniversary. A little different in that it didn't involve quiet listening of MP3's, this is more what I hope the new feature will be like. Current addendums to the list would include Bon Jovi's Seat Next To Me, Kid Rock's Blue Jeans and a Rosary, Bob Seger and Martina McBride's Chances Are (from the movie Hope Floats) and for fun, Delbert McClinton's One of the Fortunate Few:

Sunday, April 30, 2006
This Week on my i-pod #8 - To Dance

This week I am doing this a little different as it is my 15th anniversary. I have tried to express in this feature how music is an important, vital part if my life. This holds true in my marriage as well. My wife is a great music lover and has said my passion for it is one of the things that attracted her to me in the first place. A couple of years ago on her birthday, my wife's one request was a dance on the patio: it's romantic or something. So this year for our anniversary, I offer the following dance on our virtual patio.

Any talk of anniversary music must begin with our first dance. We struggled to come up with the perfect song, and were having no luck. Then we saw an episode of the Wonder Years, where Kevin and Winnie have there first kiss, and they played an Elton John song called Seasons, from his album the soundtrack from the movie Friends:

For our world, the circle turns again
Throughout the year we've seen the seasons change
It's meant a lot to me to start anew
Oh the winter's cold but I'm so warm with you

Out there there's not a sound to be heard
And the seasons seem to sleep upon their words
As the waters freeze up with the summer's end

Oh it's funny how young lovers start as friends
Yes it's funny how young lovers start as friends

It was perfect and we went to some trouble to make it work perfectly, editing the orchestral section for brevity, even finding the song took some work. Nobody cared, nobody listened but it was without question a special song to us. We still have the cassette with the edited version on it, and have played it for our kids, to great yawning indifference.

But through the years other songs have taken prominence, probably too many to mention here. But the last few years when she has a yearning for some romance and asks me to dance on the deck, always the music is my part of the responsibility. What the neighbor's think when they look outside their kitchen window and see us fools dancing I have never heard, nor do I really care. But for our anniversary, if she wants a dance, this is my choice of music:

Shania Twain - You're Still The One. Not the old Orleans song, but the far more modern Shania song. I'm not a big country fan, and neither is she, but Shania Twain isn't bad. Our daughter is a fan so we have her Greatest Hits around, and I always think of my wife when I hear this song:

Looks like we made it
look how far we've come my baby.
We might have took the long way,
We knew we'd get there some day
They said, I bet, they'll never make it
But just look at us holding on
We're still together still going strong.

Still the One
Still the one I run too
The one that I belong too
Still the one I want for Life
Still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
Still the one I kiss goodnight

Ain't nothin' better
we beat the odds together
I'm glad we didn't listen
look at what we'd be missin'

Can you beat those lyrics to sing to your lady or man? Especially when they are true. And for my wife let me say, you are Still the one.

Next up is some Dave Matthews Band from his latest album Stand Up. There's a few lines on the song Dream Girl that are so appropriate:

You’re my best friend
And after a good, good drunk
You and me wake up and make love after a deep sleep
Where I was Dreamin’, I was Dreamin’ of a
Dreamgirl, Dreamgirl, Dreamgirl, Dreamgirl

I was feelin’ like a creep
As I watched you asleep
Face down in the grass,
in the park, in the middle
of a hot afternoon
Your top was untied
And I thought how nice
It’d be to follow the sweat down your spine

But that's not the song of choice here. For this dance, I choose Steady as We Go.

I'll walk halfway around the world
Just to sit down by your side
And I would do most anything, girl
To be the apple of your eye
Well troubles, they may come and go
But good times, they're the gold
And if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

Any place you wanna go
Know I'll be next to you
If it's treasure, baby, you're looking for
I'll search the whole world through
I know troubles, they may come and go
But good times, they're the gold
So if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

So if your heart wrings dry, my love
I will fill your cup
And if your load gets heavy, girl
I will lift you up
Well troubles, they may come and go
But good times be the gold
So if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

The sentiment is syrupy, but true. After all, how do you survive 15 years of marriage? Steady As We Go.

When the storm comes down you shelter me
When I don't say a word and you know exactly what i mean
In the darkest times, oh, you shine on me
You set me free and keep me steady as we go

It's simple sentiment, but honest. If not Steady As We Go, I would replace it with John Hiatt's Have A Little Faith in Me, the Delbert McCLinton version:

When the road gets dark
And you can no longer see
Just let my love throw a spark
And have a little faith in me

And when the tears you cry
Are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try
And have a little faith in me
And

And when your back’s against the wall
Just turn around and you will see
I will catch, I will catch your fall baby
Just have a little faith in me

That's what we have done all these years, have faith in each other and it has never let us down. This one would usually be higher on this list, except it's old to us, so down she goes.

Finally, I offer The Temptations Sugar Pie Honey Bunch because it's an anniversary, not a funeral, and what's wrong with having a little fun on our anniversary?

Oooooooooooooooh!
Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch
You know that I love you
I can't help myself
I love you and nobody else...

'Cause, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch
I'm weaker than a man should be
I can't help myself
I'm a fool in love 'ya see

Besides, she married me, and fell in love with me, when there was more playful child than man ready to take on the challenges of family life about me. Doesn't she deserve that guy once in a while?

So there it is. If my neighbours read this wonder no more, we are dancing. And sometime this week, next week or next month we will no doubt be doing so again. I'm sure you'll find the soundtrack familiar.

For much of 2006 I wrote a Sunday item called "This Week On My i-pod." Here's how I described it on the first one, back in Feb 2006:

Starting today, I 'm going to do a new feature "this week on my i-pod." I listen to an mp3 player all week. Over time a variety of stuff gets listened to and, as my job is dead boring, the mind wanders. Often what I listen to provokes a thought, a connection maybe even an idea. Sometimes I just end up analyzing some piece of music that I have fallen in love with, or fallen in love with all over again. In this place every Sunday morning, I will ruminate on the music and the thoughts created through the music. So grab a coffee, and spend a few minutes this Sunday morning remembering along with me:

Beginning in September I am going to replace this week on my i-pod with similar feature, but with a broader musical scope: I listen to music in the car and at home without an i-pod. In fact all but 2 of the this week on my i-pod's I didn't actually own an i-pod, but an RCA 40gig Lyra. Nice MP3 player, but not an i-pod. As well, I have hooked up a turntable to my basement surround sound system, so record listening just got easier. So I will expand the feature to include other forms of listening, give it a new name, a new look and, hopefully, an old feel. Meanwhile, for the next three weeks, I will offer my favourite three from this week on my i-pod:


Sunday, March 26, 2006
This week on my i-pod #6 - Henley and the Summer of 85

Music is at it's best when it moves you beyond all rational reason. For me music can create an emotional connection that visual art or movies simply can't. It can be for different reasons: sometimes it's a memory that it returns me too. Sometimes it just stirs an emotion in me that is unexpected.

This week, I turned on Don Henley's greatest hits and was immediately, wonderfully transported to the summer of 1985. A lot happened that summer, two that matter here. I had broke up with the ‘love of my life’ that spring, and I went to a Don Henley concert. The break up is relevant because the Boys of Summer always, always reminded me of her. To this day it is like Don Henley is describing her in that song:

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your
Sunglasses on, baby...

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
I see you walkin’ real slow and you’re smilin’ at everyone...


I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on baby...

I can see you-
Your brown skin shining in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and
Those wayfarers on, baby...

That's her all right, the slicked back her, brown skin on the beach. I can sense her still in that song, all these years later. And his Henley’s response to her is so visceral, so copmpletely on the mark to what I was feeling then:

And I can tell you my love for you
Will still be strong after the boys of
Summer have gone...

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream?
Now I don’t understand what’s happened
To our love,
But babe, I’m gonna get you back
I’m gonna show you what I’m made of...

Out on the road today I saw a deadhead sticker
On a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, don’t
Look back. you can never look back.
I thought I knew what love was,
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-


That was it exactly. I was going to wait her out and I was going to show her. Here it is, more than 20 years on I think of her rarely, unless Boys of Summer comes on, then she gets some memory time. All the girls I knew, all the times I was heartbroken, there is not one song that brings back a person and time like Boys of Summer does for me.

Then there was the concert. I dated a girl that summer whose name, sadly, escapes me. She was one of the nicest women I ever dated, and she was in the process of mending her own broken heart. We were dating really casually, more like friends than lovers, and it was her birthday. Nothing was planned because, well that's not the kind of relationship we had going. But I heard an ad for Don Henley at Kingswood (Wonderland), part of the $5.00 concert series, and called to see if she wanted to go. So off we went, caught a couple of rides, then to a show neither of us had any expectations for.

I don't know why I didn't know what to expect, I had been a big fan of Henley’s first solo album, I Can't Stand Still, when it first came out, had been an Eagles fan all thorough high school, Sunset Grill and All She Wants to Do is Dance had been hits off the Building the Perfect Beast Album, and Boys of Summer was on the charts at the time. But for some reason I had tuned out Henley that summer, and had forgotten I was ever a fan.

Then a funny thing happened, the rains came. It poured an hour before the show, and we had lawn seats. Huddled under a one of those cheap plastic dollar rain ponchos, unable to sit because our seat for the night was now mud, we met our neighbours up on the hill. The next thing you know, we are having a good time with a good group of people, who haven't much to do except a) complain about the weather/mud seats or b) enjoy themselves. We enjoyed. Dancing to the pre-show music, sharing laughs and (if I remember right) somebody’s smuggled bottle.

Katrina and The Waves were the opening act – Walking On Sunshine was a hit that summer as well – and they were OK. I expected bland pop, but they were better than that. It was a good omen, but who knew. Then Henley came on. What I remember so distinctly was he opened with the song Building The Perfect Beast. It has an 80’s electronic feel, and he came out robot dancing, everybody choreographed like they were Devo. We are wet, standing on the hill looking at each other and thinking, how many songs do we give this? I’m planning on getting some rides in within 20 minutes, and my date is thinking the same thing. Then Building The Perfect Beast ended, and Henley says “Now that we got the crap out of the way...”

From there on it was one of the best shows I have ever attended. He played nothing but great songs, all the solo hits plus some Eagles material. The only choreography was at the very end, when he tangoed with one of the singers while the band played the solo section from Hotel California. He played a song I was unfamiliar with, A Month of Sundays and we all stood on the grass weaving back and forth, like they do on TV concerts. It was a perfect night, a great concert, made all that much better because it was unexpected.

So now when I listen to Don Henley, I always manage to remember that night – and Boys of Summer takes me even further into the summer of 85.

February 5, 2006: Pat Benatar & REO Speedwagon
February 12, 2006: Live Albums: REO Speedwagon & The Yardbirds
February 26, 2006: Delbert McClinton
March 5, 2006: Led Zeppelin's Presence and Physical Graffiti
March 12, 2006: David Gilmour
March 26, 2006: Don Henley and the Summer of '85
April 02, 2006: Tristan Prettyman
April 23, 2006: Sam Roberts
April 30, 2007: The Anniversary Dance
May 7, 2006: Prettyman (again) and Springsteen
May 14, 2006: Green Day and The Clash
May 28, 2006: Bachman Cummings Songbook
August 6, 2006: Music for my Funeral: Adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez.
September 3, 2006: Fighting the Foo
September 17, 2006: Bob Seger
December 17, 2006: It's a Twisted Sister Christmas
September 9, 2007: Bon Jovi's Lost Highway
October 21, 2007: Springsteen's Magic
January 6, 2008: The Return of Zeppelin
January 13, 2008: Kid Rock

It's not supposed to be this way, I'm not supposed to like Kid Rock. He's a jerk, in the news for fights at awards shows and pancake houses. His trailer mansion is in the same park as Britney's, he married that perennial tramp Pam Anderson. I'm not supposed to like him. I recall the first time I watched the movie Snatch, Guy Ritchie's movie about Irish gypsies. The only thing anyone told me about it was it was Guy Ritchie, and it was good. I was determined not to like any movie by the guy who married Madonna. Nuh-huh wasn't going to happen. So what happened? I loved it, it's now one of my favourite movies. And so it is with Kid Rock: not going to like him, no way, no how, nuh-huh girlfriend. I was even told by reliable sources that I wouldn't like Kid Rock. So how come I like Rock and Roll Jesus so much? How come it is one the best albums I've heard in a long time?

Rock and Roll Jesus starts off with 4 of the best songs in a row that I've heard on a CD in years. Like last years surprise gem, Bon Jovi's Lost Highway, the cross between rock and roll and country works very well. Title track Rock and Roll Jesus is a straight up rocker, with an intro drum pull that is a lift of Bob Seger's Ramblin' Gamblin' Man. I've listened to this album enough to know it's not accidental, and it's not a steal, more homage being paid. We then move into Amen, a pretty little piece that again, lifts Bob Seger in the opening bars, this time the acoustic guitar track from Against the Wind.

From there we get into All Summer Long, a direct tribute, both lyrically and musically to Sweet Home Alabama. While using the basic song structure of SHA, All Summer Long, uses a piano up front, making it exactly Werewolves of London. The congruity between that and Sweet home Alabama is dynamic, and makes a really good third song. Lynyrd Skynyrd pianist Billy Powell even shows up to reprise his Sweet Home Alabama piano solo. Lyrically, Kid again pays a little homage de Seger, referencing a "Northern Michigan Summertime."

The fourth song of the album Roll On is a mid tempo feel good song about growing older, even while having the privilege of not having to act it. It has a great sing a long melody and hooks you in, much like Shawn Mullin's Shimmer or James Blunt's Billy:

Money and success
I don't complain about the stress
I wanted this and now it's here
So I don't bitch
And I swear that time's a trick
It disappears in oh so quick
Man I was just sixteen
And now I'm starin' at thirty-six
But I'm still havin' a good time

Roll on Roll on Roller Coaster
We're one day older and one step closer
Roll on there's mountains to climb
Roll on we're on borrowed time
Roll on Roller coaster
Roll on tonight

Special Mention must be given to Blue Jeans and a Rosary, a beautiful piece written from, presumably, Kid Rocks past:

All my life I've been searchin'
All my life I've been uncertain
I been abandoned and left alone
At fifteen I had to leave home
The black sheep, the bad seed

At a roadside bar in Tennessee
I met an angel to rescue me
She rescued me
She wore blue jeans and a rosary
Believed in God and believed in me
All her friends think she's a little crazy
She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve
Don't give a damn what the world thinks of me
She tells me it's all good
She's happy with a bad seed
Happy to be misunderstood

Two packs and a pint a day
To hide the shame
And wash away the pain
Aww the pain
Every road was a dead-end street
Runnin' from the law
And runnin' on empty
You couldn't shake the marks that were left on me

At a roadside bar in Tennessee
I met an angel to rescue me
She rescued me

She wore blue jeans and a rosary
Believed in God and believed in me
All her friends think she's a little crazy
She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve
Don't give a damn what the world thinks of me
She tells me it's all good
She's happy with a bad seed
Happy to be misunderstood

Nicely written, nicely performed and worth the price of the CD.

Also worth mentioning is Kid Rocks piece for ex-wife Pam Anderson, Half Your Age. I love when rock and roll gets nasty (Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road or Rod Stewart's You Got a Nerve come to mind), and this is some of the nastiest, especially considering it's no secret who it was written about:

I found someone new who treats me better
She don't bitch about things we ain't got
When I sing this tune it don't upset her
She's half your age and twice as hot

Oh she wakes up every morning and she folds my clothes
Doesn't care about the strippers dancing at my shows
She knows that I love her so I just wanted you to know

I found someone new who treats me better
She don't bitch about things we ain't got
When I sing this tune it don't upset her
She's half your age and twice as hot

Oh she don't start trouble cuz she dont need drama
She likes it in the mornin' and she loves my momma
I'm her big poppa an she's my little rock n roll...

Nasty, funny, and great rock and roll.

This CD is full of interesting, introspective songs that pay homage to those who came before. While it has a couple of pieces I don't like, and don't like them a lot, they are two or three songs out of twelve. They keep this CD from being a great one, but none the less, boy it's pretty good. And that's more than I ever expected from Kid Rock.

Finally, the name of this feature matches the reality. That is to say, I actually own an Apple i-pod for my personal music experience, instead of the RCA Lyra I have been using the past three years. There was nothing wrong with the Lyra, you understand, it's just that I called this feature "This week on my i-pod," and it has always felt false. Well now I have a shiny new 80gig video i-pod that Santa left under my tree, and I can get back to a bit of feature writing. The nice thing is, I can also now expand this feature to include videos, TV shows I may be watching, movies, music videos, take your pick, and I'm sure I will.

This week however, it's music I'm interested in writing about. More Led Zeppelin if you can stand it. Not long after the London concert on Dec 10th, recordings of the show started popping up in the usual places. So far, three recordings, and a couple of incomplete videos have turned up. The videos suffer from their incompletion, and being recorded on devices less suitable for that purpose than would be preferred. The audio recordings, however, have been the real disappointments. In an age when incredible live recordings are being distributed on the internet, when recording devices have gotten so good, the first two recordings of the Dec 10 Led Zeppelin show are worse than some of the shows people recorded with smuggled in tape recorders in the 1970's - even the early 70's in some cases.

The third recording, however, is a great improvement, if not a great recording just yet. It is extremely listenable, with fairly clear sound and little distortion. Called the trainspotter recording, it is this recording that made it's way to my i-pod (note: another apparently better, recording has since emerged).

It's a fun feeling listening to a live show that you were at, especially one so memorable as the Led Zeppelin reunion, which one critic called the greatest rock show ever. After the show you often try to remember some part, a song or what the singer said, and listening after allows you to review it in a calmer way. It also, however, helps you re-live the moment. And when a moment was as good, as special as Dec 10 at the 02 arena, it's great to be able to sit in work re-living it as often as possible (I even have some pictures from the show on my i-pod). That is the magic of modern technology.

And magic is the right word: The i-pod itself is magic, but the moment, the show was pure magic, and reliving it while drudging away my time at work, there's a trick I would be impressed if Harry Potter could duplicate.

I had tickets to see Springsteen on his way through town this past Monday, and much enjoyed my sixth Bruce and the E Street Band concert. While I spent the past few weeks catching up on Springsteen, listening to recordings of earlier shows on this tour, listening to some of the best live shows from previous tours, remembering how good Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born to Run or even The Rising is, much of my listening has been his new CD Magic.

This is for two reasons. 1) It is featured fairly prominently in the current live show and I didn't want to be sitting going "I don't know this song" when he played something from it. 2) It's a good CD.

I liked his last CD too, The Rising, but it was too long. Springsteen's best work, Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born in the USA are 8 - 10 songs long and come in at about 45 minutes. The risings 15 songs come in at well over an hour, and could stand to be tightened up. Make it a 9 song 45 minute CD and it possibly ranks up there with Springsteen best stuff.

At ten songs and 47 minutes, Magic is a little tighter. It's also loaded up with fairly good songs. From the opening Radio Nowhere, which has been playing on the Radio Everywhere it seems, a good solid rocker that I liked on first listen and still do. You must, however, excuse the lift from Jenny Jenny (867-5309). the opening guitar line and verse chords are almost identical, although Springsteen rocks the line up while Tommy Tu-tone chose to go poppy.

Another lift is the lovely Girls in their Summer Clothes, which is melodically a slower version of the Who's The Kids Are Alright. None the less it's a nice song, that's romantic and hummable. Livin' in the Future, despite it's political overtones, is one of those great Springsteen numbers that lifts a Motown feel, reminiscent of 10th avenue freeze out.

Springsteen, unlike most of his peers, has lost very little of what made him great. He still writes great, fun songs, and still gives an energetic performance. His voice still growls and he seems not to have really settled down. His legendary work ethic has kept his skills up, and Magic is a CD that belongs in the Springsteen library: unlike a lot of acts of his vintage that are still putting out music, Springsteen seems to still have something to say, and still has an interesting voice to tell it with.

I'm not a huge Bon Jovi fan. I do have Slippery When Wet, and like half of it. Livin' on a Prayer is the very best of the 80's hair-metal, in my opinion, and Wanted Dead or Alive was always a favourite. And to be fair, Jon Bon Jovi seems pretty cool and down to earth, and Ritchie Sambora was married to Heather Locklear, so he doesn't need to do much with the guitar to impress me. None the less, he impresses me as a guitar player.

All that said, I heard some good things about Lost Highway, and decided to give it a listen with very little in the way of expectations. The thing about having no expectations, is sometimes you are simply blown away: I was blown away.

Now mind you, this is not one of the great albums of all time, nor is it a uniquely remarkable achievement in the history of rock and roll. It is, however, a very good album, and possibly my favourite of the year (the Foo's and Robert Plant still have works coming down the pipe, so I'll not offer a definitive).

Much has been made of the albums country influence, but other than a few pieces, particularly the duet with Leann Rimes, We Ain't Strangers Anymore, and the fun, I Love This Town there's not a lot of country: calling this album country is a bit like calling Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door country based on Hot Dog. Bon Jovi treat country like a mannerism to have some fun with, not a serious music style to copy. There's nothing wrong with that: with songs like Summertime (no, not that one) and the title track, they treat rock and roll the same way, and that's what makes this album so good. It's OK music, but Bon Jovi just doesn't take themselves, or the music seriously throughout the album. Result? A fun, rockin good CD, the way rock and roll was meant to be.

Honourable mention goes out to Seat Next To You, a gorgeously romantic song that has earned it's way onto my back yard dance disc.