Month: March 2009

Carrie contacted me last week with some amazing news…Evil Dead the Musical was in town! Turns out that the Sock ‘n Buskin Theatre Company was holding the musical over at the Kailash Mital Theatre at Carleton University over the next two weeks.

Vero, Mike and I headed over last night (Carrie was up near the front with some work friends) and grabbed some tickets, posed in front of the Ash paper maché statue and found a good spot in the middle of the theatre. I also wore my (fake) blood soaked t-shirt that I had originally worn to the Toronto production a few years back.

The musical put on by this theatre was quite excellent. It brought back some good memories of the first time I had seen it and did not stray far at all from the original production I saw. The only complaint I have is that they did not incorporate my favourite part of when the trees in the woods were chasing after Cherryl!

Even though there were a few minor technical problems (microphone feedback), this is to be expected on an opening night event. It in no way should reflect badly on this performance. It was top notch. I loved the actor’s portrayals of the characters, I love their body movements and I love, love, love the songs of this musical! Who can’t love songs such as “All The Men in my Life Turn into Candarian Demons”, “Do the Necrononicon” or “Ode to an Accidental Stabbing”? The jokes were solid, the delivery impeccable and the audience were in stitches the entire way through.

Alas, my only other disappointment with this particular production of Evil Dead The Musical is the diminished amounts of fake blood! I remember gushes and gushes of it spraying into Ash’s face when he saws off his evil hand. I couldn’t even tell there was anything hitting his face this time around (but this may have been a technical mishap). But it was something that was amazing to see the first time out. I’m hoping they can incorporate a little more as the weeks go by.

If you’re interested in going to see this musical, it’s on for the next weekends at the Carleton University theatre. Here’s some information: http://www.ottawaevents.org/event_details.php?id=4125

I tend to go onto Ebay from time to time but I never thought about going onto it to look for CDs until the other day.

Here’s some deals I won within the past week:
Candlebox Live CD/DVD – $1 USD
Bob and Doug 24 Anniversary DVD (the same one I got Rob for his birthday!) – $1 USD

Granted, I had to pay about $5 shipping for each of them but that’s still cheaper than I can buy them for in the stores. What a steal of a deal!

I’m going to scour Ebay for great music/dvds from now on. I’m also in the running for the Doug McKenzie action figure which will complement my Bob McKenzie action figure. He was always so lonely.

I stumbled upon some news concerning Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins appearing before a US Congressional hearing concerning the royalties perfomers receive from radio play.

Essentially (and I haven’t confirmed if this also applies for Canadian radio), when a song is played within the US, the songwriter receives royalties for the tune, however the performer does not. There is hope to make changes to this legislation to properly reward musical artists.

Billy Corgan presented his view which was quite interesting (read here) and it talked about how performers should be properly compensated for a song that ends up on the radio.

I agree with the changes in legislation. Take a closer look at such popular songs as ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell (thanks Mike!), “Blinded by the Light” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, or ‘Last Kiss’ by Pearl Jam.

Now in the above scenarios, ‘Tainted Love’ was actually written by Ed Cobb and recorded by Gloria Jones. This happened in 1964. Then in 1981, the band Soft Cell revamped the song and that’s the version that is most popular on the airwaves today.

‘Blinded by the Light’ is actually a Bruce Springsteen tune off of his first album ‘Greetings from Asbury Park’ N.J.’. Then Manfred Man’s Earth Band comes along with a souped up version and voila, a hit single is born and is the version that people are most familiar with. Wikipedia reports an interseting factoid concerning this song. “As of 2008, the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recording of “Blinded by the Light” is still Springsteen’s only Number 1 single as a songwriter on the Hot 100.” That’s interesting.

‘Last Kiss’ by Pearl Jam is actually one tune that I recognized was a cover song. I remember years ago in the summer months that the Shell gas station would have some cassette tapes for sale each week over the summer. I believe they were the Solid Gold Hits or something to that effect. I remember listening to these tunes on trips down to Gaspe. Before Pearl Jam came out with their version a few years ago, Wayne Cochran wrote this tune and performed it with his band Wayne Cochran & the C.C. Riders back in 1962. Now, there is also a version covered by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers in 1964 and that seems to have had major commercial success. I’m sure someone out there can tell me which version I would have been listening to.

A sidenote: Is it not really interesting to see that bands were re-recording their own versions of songs that came out a few years prior? Most cover songs that I can think of have been around for a long time but I can’t think of many cover songs that are fairly recent. I wonder what people would think if I re-recorded a version of a Nickelback tune? I seriously doubt that it would get any radio play. But who knows?

Now, should the performers of these songs not get their share of the profits? I believe they should. Imagine yourself being a new band on the market with a great tune written by someone else which becomes a hit on the radio. Granted, they are still getting something out of it with the deal…their name becomes popular and linked to this song, it may be bring larger album and tour sales. I don’t even know how many royalties come in from radio stations. But if you can imagine the number of radio stations across the US and then think if they play your song once a week, how many dollars and cents would be coming your way?

On that note, I’m off to find a brilliant tune to cover.

What do I love?  I love when Eric, Mike and I get into a good debate.  There’s some good debating going on and I also love when one of us (myself included) throw out ludricrous statements to see if someone will challenge us on them.

Last night, we got onto the topic of the rock genre in general and how one defines rock.  While that isn’t part of this entry, it spearheaded talk of how Mike had been listening to Allan Cross’s Ongoing History of New Music radio program and they had a segment about Christian Rock.  They mentioned how U2 was affiliated with Christian rock and even bands like Evanescence were even signed to some Christian Rock distributor for their first release.

I found this intriguing.  I couldn’t understand how bands like this were labelled Christian rock but at the same time, I realized that I had a very narrow definition of what Christian Rock entails.  I assumed that the majority of your lyrics have blatant Christian themes and you’re not shy to play a church or two (and no Mike, playing in a church for the sake of playing in a church because it’s an awesome acoustic venue doesn’t count!).

But after doing some research, it looked like Christian rock deals with any music relating to Christian themes…faith, higher power, all that jazz.

What the heck?  A LOT of bands must have Christian rock in them somewhere.

But the real kicker is when Eric pointed out that Christian rock is the only ‘lyrically subject’ theme that appears as a genre.  He hit the nail on the head with that comment.

Think about it…we can’t think of one other genre that deals with a subject matter.  Old country music and blues songs may have a general mood that they wish the music and lyrics wish to convey, but a mood is a vast repertoire to create stories about.  My dog died, there’s a tear in my beer, someone stole my last potato chip…all these lyrics deal with the mood they are trying to convey.

I can understand if Christian rock should be reclassified as ‘uplifting rock’ or ‘gospel music’.  That would make much more sense.  But to base an entire genre on one subject?  It doesn’t make much sense at all.  I ask anyone out there to bring me examples of ‘subject’ based music genres.  We really want to know if we are missing the boat on this one.  I want to be on the boat.  Ah, Lonely Island, your album is too funny.  SAXMAN!

iplaying: The Wolves (Act I and II) – Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago)

Last night Vero, Mel and I headed to Jean-Francois’ surprise birthday at the Banc Sushi restaurant on Montreal Road. There was a good turnout of people.

Now, as for sushi, I haven’t been known to delve into it too much. I had purchased the vegetarian sushi at work for the sheer factor of frugalness. It filled me up the same as the sushi I would pay more for if it contained crab meat, etc. Now, I’m not a fan of seafood in general and that bodes well for my relationship with Vero as she is allergic to it.

So we didn’t know what to expect at this all you can eat sushi place. We started out with some none-seafood elements but once I saw a tray of assorted sushi plop down in front of Jean-Francois, I partook in the festivities and I must admit that I didn’t really mind it. I guess when it comes to seafood, if it’s wrapped up in rice and seaweed, I guess I don’t really mind it, compared to taking a big hunk of crab meat or lobster into my mouth.

I was getting adventurous and when the boys wanted to order some eel, octopus and other assorted goodies and said “Sure!” but I think there must have been something lost in translation as none arrived for me. There was this really strange eggplant dish that arrived and we swore it was alive. It pulsated. We thought it was live octopus or something.

In the end, I have to say that I’m a fan of the sushi in all forms at this point and wouldn’t mind going for it again. I can’t say that I’m a fan to the point where I would actively seek out a sushi restaurant to eat at, but I wouldn’t pass it up if the opportunity presented itself.

I never did get to see the elusive Red Dragon dish though. We were disappointed that it never showed up.

Matt Mays + El Torpedo are on a jaunt across Canada right now (sadly no stop in Ottawa, even more sad that I had to sell my tickets to see them back in November to go see the Smashing Pumpkins) and I spied this amazing tour poster on their website yesterday.

I immediately contacted the management of the band to find out how I could order a copy for myself as they were not playing in Ottawa. They were nice enough to put up a high-resolution image on their website for me to download and get printed!

I sent it to Staples through their on-line submission process (which was quite painless) and lo and behold, 24 hours after seeing the poster for the first time, it is now framed and hanging in my entrance!  The beauty of it is that it only cost me $11 to print out.  Scratch that!  What the heck?  I found the receipt in my jacket and it wasn’t for $11.12, it was for $1.12!  Smooth!

I really love the artwork to this poster. There’s something magical about it. Looks like it was designed by a company based in Ottawa called Rocket57.

There must be a list out there that we can submit this as a nominee.

http://ijpeffwa.friendsofsmash.co.uk/

What’s that tune?  I have it on the tip of my tongue…

First off, let’s talk about the upcoming U2 tour promoting the No Line on the Horizon album.  Details will be released this morning but Ottawa Sun reports that two Canadian stops will be on the first North American leg…Vancouver and Toronto.  Not having Ottawa on the list is not a big surprise considering this tour will be a stadium affair and…I don’t think there are any stadiums to handle U2 coming to town!

Anyhow…can’t wait for that tour!

As for the new album, I waited a few days to pick it up as I was trying to win the super box set option on Chez 106 but alas, it was not meant to be.  So I went to pick up the regular CD edition on Saturday.  I had some great opportunities to listen to the album in the car this weekend and I was impressed.

Now, I don’t know what it is about lead singles off their albums but I’m never impressed.  Remember Vertigo off of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb?  I thought it was a little hokey.  The rest of the album was decent, but at the same time, it didn’t blow me away.  If anything, I found that it didn’t have an album feel…where it’s one cohesive piece.  It was more like a collection of songs.

The same thing does not happen with their new album No Line on the Horizon.  With the help of Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, they make it feel like you’re on another world listening to their music.  I don’t know how to describe it in words…there’s an atmosphere to the album.  It’s creating some sort of space.

Getting back to the discussion on lead singles…Get on Your Boots is an odd song.  It’s not that bad but I must admit the bridge is quite wacky in comparison to the rest of the song.  So I didn’t know what to expect.  But I realized that the lead single is not usually indicative of the rest album (in my own personal views on new U2 albums).  This was a correct assumption.  The rest of the album is nothing like the lead single.  There’s some moody pieces on the album and some interesting guitar work done by The Edge.  After first listen, I think I shall enjoy this album more than their last few albums solely because it seeks out not to become a greatest hits album, but to create something subdued and different.

I’ve only listened to the album twice but there’s already melodies sticking inside my head.  If I were to offer any critiques, I would say that Bono’s lyrics have lost some mystery over the years.

Kapuskasing to obtain a second lane of highway from Riverside Drive to Clear Lake Road.

WOWIE!

http://www.kapuskasingtimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1462177