np – various artists / The Amos House Collection Vol 2

The DVD had been sitting on my shelf for weeks now, but I finally found the time to sit down and watch Standing In The Shadows Of Motown. Telling the tale of the Funk Brothers, the musicians who played on all of Motown’s records until the label’s move to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, Shadows is a celebration of some of the greatest music ever to come out of America. These musicians are justifiably proud of the work they’ve done and their legacy in popular music, and bask in the attention and acclaim that’s long overdue. The celebration is bittersweet, though, as they remember their fellow Funk Brothers who’ve passed on over the years, including keyboardist Johnny Griffith and drummer Richard “Pistol” Allen, both of whom appear in the film but died before its release. They’re given special tribute in one of the DVD’s bonus features.

The musical performances featuring the Funk Brothers backing up current R&B/soul singers mostly came off well, though Ben Harper’s cuts were just too stiff to do the originals any sort of justice. It was on the final performance of the film, Montell Jordan and Chaka Khan taking on Marvin and Tammy’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” that I realized just why I loved Motown yet was left utterly cold by modern soul and r&b. Today’s music just doesn’t have the Funk Brothers, and the magic they created in that little basement studio, that musical alchemy that just moves you and makes the world feel like a better place. Motown, man.

np – Broken Social Scene / You Forgot It In People

Uhh… today. Got rained on. Dried off. Got rained on again. Learned the hard lesson that while the weatherman is sometimes wrong, he is also sometimes right.

Kill Rock Stars has an mp3 from the forthcoming Decemberists record, Her Majesty The Decemberists, for your consideration. Link from Donewaiting.com.

From the Believe-It-Or-Not files: A positive review of Gigli. The mind boggles.

np – Galaxie 500 / The Uncollected Galaxie 500

I’m not a football fan. I don’t dislike the game at all (though the fans and surrounding culture is another story), and I understand the rules well enough to follow a game if I felt so inclined, but I don’t follow the sport at all. So when I found myself at my second-ever CFL game tonight with the BC Lions in town to face the Toronto Argonauts, it was mostly for something to do and to see my university friends who’d come into town for the game. As it turns out, though, I had a really good time and saw a very exciting match.

The Canadian Press does a much better job of reporting on the game, so I won’t try too hard. It started out looking like a rout of the Argos by the Lions, but the home team staged a pretty impressive comeback to put it into overtime (I didn’t even know football had overtime). In the extra frame, they traded field goals until the BC kicker inexplicably hooked a 19-yard field goal wide of the mark and gave the Argos a 28-26 win. Especially noteworthy was Toronto quarterback Damon Allen completing a 30-yard pass in the fourth quarter to give him more than 60,000 career yards – only the third player in professional football history to reach that mark. As I said, I don’t really know football, but I do know that Warren Moon and Dan Marino are pretty esteemed company. It was nice to be there for the moment, particularly since it came against Allen’s old team.

The halftime show was pretty curious. Some of the players from Evita, which has just rolled into town, came out and did a lip-synched dance routine. Because, as everyone knows, football and musical theatre go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Huh.

Yeah, I’m actually talking about football. How about that?

np – The Tyde / Twice

So I get out of the subway coming home from rehearsal last night, and this is what I see. The entire intersection at Yonge and College plus about at least a half block in every direction is cordoned off by police, gawkers and emergency services vehicles everywhere. I didn’t see any of the vehicles involved in the chase or pile-up, but I didn’t hang around to try and get an eyeful – that’s not my thing. But wow, that’s some crazy shit to go down two blocks from your apartment.

Rehearsal itself was longer and louder than usual, but necessary considering we’ve got a show in a couple days, haven’t practiced all together and plugged in in over two weeks and were trying to work a couple new songs into the set. But if anyone attending the show on Sunday thinks we sound sloppy or confused, the party line is WE’RE DRUNK.

It’s August. AUGUST. When did this happen? (About midnight, last night). Oh, ok. Thanks, smart ass. It will be Autumn before you know it. Summer 2003, we hardly knew ye.

np – Guided By Voices / Mag Earwhig!