Monday, February 14th, 2005

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Thrasher’s Wheat has started a petition to get Neil Young’s “lost” album Time Fades Away rereleased. The third part of the so-called “Ditch” trilogy, it’s companion records On The Beach and Tonight’s The Night are for my money Neil’s absolute best works and I’d love to hear Time Fades Away in any form. But while I’ll certainly sign the petition, I’m not sure how much good it’ll do. It’s my understanding that it’s Neil, and not Reprise, who doesn’t want the album released, and if there’s one thing that’s certain about Neil Young, it’s that no one – and no one – is going to make him do anything he doesn’t want to do. But still, it’s worth a shot.

Just last night, I was commenting to a friend that it’s been well over a year since I’ve been to the Opera House (October 2003, to be precise), my least favourite venue in the city. Well, that little streak is coming to an end on June 4th when Low come to town for the first time since October 2002. If you want an idea of what to expect from the Low live experience, Bradley’s Almanac has some mp3s recorded at their show last week in Somerville, MA.

icWales profiles Doves. Some Cities out March 1. From Largehearted Boy.

I have nothing to say about the Grammies. Yes, I know Wilco won a couple. I still don’t care. The only thing about the Grammies that could possibly have interested me was if a giant lizard rose up out of the Pacific and destroyed the venue where they were holding the ceremonies. THAT would have interested me. But did it happen? No. So there.

Dear NHL and NHLPA – Go fuck yourselves. Both of you. I’ve been a hockey fan for as long as I can remember. I was buying hockey cards before a third of the players in the league were even born. I have lost copious amounts of money in hockey pools (hey – I said I was a hockey fan, not a SMART hockey fan). But you know what? I don’t miss the season one bit. Anytime I think I MIGHT start getting a little wistful that there’s no hockey this year, I read any of the news stories about your so-called labour negotiations, and I’m disgusted. Nothing makes me happier than the fact that you – and I mean ALL of you – are losing money. You swear you’ll never play under a salary cap and yet, you have no problem going to the European and minor leagues and playing for far less money, all the while taking jobs away from other players – but I bed you’d all cry bloody murder if the owners tried to bring scabs into the NHL, right? And to the owners – it’s your own goddamn fault. No one forced you to pay $12-trillion dollars for Bobby Holik or Darius Kasparitus. Salaries are where they are because you’re idiots. So to the players and the owners, I give you a hearty YOU ALL SUCK. I hope your children go hungry. I hope your dogs pee on your carpets. I don’t care if you ever come back. Seriously. It’s actually nice to not have to be disappointed by the Leafs in the playoffs for a change.

And the Raptors suck, too. We traded Vince Carter for what? An opportunity to buy out Alonzo Mourning for $10M? NICE DEAL. God, is it baseball season yet?

And while I’m ranting, damn do I hate computers sometimes. Without getting into details, one of my IDE ports decided to take a little vacation last night for about an hour, and then inexplicably return just as I was about to tear my hair out. That, I did not need. Update: Now my computer at work will no longer play CD-Rs. I HATE COMPUTERS.

Ahh, piss and vinegar. Happy Valentine’s Day… Bah, humbug. Heavy Black Frames is somewhat less cynical about the occasion, offering a rather nice MP3 mix that covers many facets of that many-faceted thing that is love. Of course, I don’t see anything to represent my favourite facet: seething, festering bitterness.

Oh, I’m kidding. My bitterness doesn’t seethe. It just sort of… I dunno, percolates? Do you think that if I made dinner reservations for tonight for two at a fancy restaurant, showed up all dressed up and sat there for an hour looking progrssively more dejected and stood up, I’d get a free pity meal? Because I’m not above that.

np – My Bloody Valentine / Isn’t Anything

By : Frank Yang at 9:18 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Michael says:

    Here here on your NHL comments. Couldn’t have said it better myself, except for maybe mentioning disappointment with the Kings instead of the Leafs.

  2. Maria says:

    Hey, you should come to the single bloggers get-together tonight at C’est What.

  3. thrasher says:

    Hi Frank,

    Thanks for the link on Neil’s Time Fades Away!

    Seeing some nice traffic to the petition from CW readers.

    Keep on Rockin!

    Thrasher

  4. ST says:

    loved your vitriol against the NHL – ugh what a nightmare….however, i must say i enjoyed those grammys…nothing better than seeing Scott Weiland outtrump Norah Jones for most heartfelt singing, with Slash beside Stevie Wonder.

  5. Torr says:

    Some of the teams in the league are losing LESS money by NOT playing than they do when their team IS playing. Go Stars, or something.

  6. Frank says:

    yeah, the owners were prepared for this with thier goddamn ‘war chests’. Still, a pox on both their houses.

    I remember back in 94 when baseball went on strike, how folks said that the fans wouldn’t come back. I didn’t really understand what that meant at the time – I do now.

  7. Erik says:

    1. If you love hockey…this labour dispute should not bother you (It’s a business right? This kinda stuff happens in business) Plus, the CHL and AHL have awesome leagues that are very entertaining.

    2. You should be pissed at the way the negotiation process is done between NHL and NHLPA. Not the fact that there’s a lockout situation.

    3. If you’re a hockey fan…you should miss this season a whole lot!!! If you don’t, were you ever a hockey fan??

    4. Question: If the season would be saved and you had tickets to the first game your favorite team plays, would you:

    a) boo them

    b) cheer them

    c) sell your tickets

    Looking forward to hearing some answers and comments.

  8. Frank says:

    1 & 2) when the whole lockout situation began, I was optimistic that both sides would be rational enough to come to some sort of reasonable arrangement. Then as time went by and all I heard was rhetoric, hipocrisy and utter bullshit, I cared less and less. Neither side gives one shit about the game. Bettman and Goodenow are just trying to save their jobs. So they write off this season, what about next season? If either side is honestly unwilling to budge, then disband hte league now. But if there is an actual agreement that will eventually be arrived at, get there now and to hell with all the posturing and chest puffing. I don’t give a fuck that it’s a business.

    3) I am a hockey fan, though not the foam finger/face painting kind, but I don’t miss this season. I have other interests too and no hockey has given me the time to do other things.

    4) Even if the lockout hadn’t occurred, I wouldn’t be very excited about the Leafs this year. All they did in the off-season was re-sign the players who were too old and too broken to get past the second round last season. What the hell do I have to look forward to? I wouldnt’ be in a hockey pool, I’d be in an injury pool. By the time this labour dispute is resolved, half the team will have to retire anyway.

    To hell with them all.

  9. jb says:

    If curious, register (free) at http://…/ and check out various goodies under the cassette icon at top-left of page.

  10. alex says:

    time fades away is one of my faves by neil. together with after the goldrush, on the beach, live rust and ragged glory. it is extremely underrated. good luck to you and the other petition signers for convincing neil to re-release it.

  11. John says:

    Hey Frank….. At least the Leafs are undefeated this year. Also… Bettman should hold the season canceling news conference in the mens bathroom at Union or Grand Central station. He should put a puck (urinal or hockey) in the crapper and flush, then say "Any Questions?"

    In regards to Neil…. After the Goldrush and On The Beach are great older Neil albums. But Greendale had its moments.

  12. John says:

    Hey Frank….. At least the Leafs are undefeated this year. Also… Bettman should hold the season canceling news conference in the mens bathroom at Union or Grand Central station. He should put a puck (urinal or hockey) in the crapper and flush, then say "Any Questions?"

    In regards to Neil…. After the Goldrush and On The Beach are great older Neil albums. But Greendale had its moments.

  13. david says:

    I second the NHL comments, and professional hockey is by far my favorite (favourite to you Canadians) sport. Bettman has guided the owners very poorly, their inflexibility lends new meaning to the word, "negotiations."

    On the plus sides, instead of catching 30+ Predators games this year, I have more time to catch bands. I may be one of those fans who loses interest in the live game experience.

  14. Rachel says:

    Wow. Who knew bloggers had such passion about things other than music and movies. You indie kids and your rants. Give ’em hell, Frank. You give ’em hell!!!

  15. huskermould says:

    you can get a version of ‘Time Fades Away’ with some bonus tracks (catalogue # RS2151 as best to my knowledge, unless it’s a bootleg). Trust me, I’ve looked for it for years, and a friend picked it up for me in the U.S. Demo tunes, live tunes, bonus tracks are all here. PS yes, with the handle ‘huskermould’ I am a fan of Bob Mould (as is mr.chromewaves)

  16. exdj says:

    Bettman is an idiot and should have been canned years ago. He screwed up with the expansion, should have put a team in Hamilton instead of Carolina or Nashville, and he couldn’t promote a wet tshirt contest in Daytona properly. What hurts the most is that Yzerman and a bunch of other players will end their careers because of this crap.

    On the upside Grinder (Darren McCarty’s band) has the time to do a Canadian tour. they’re not that bad–check them out if you can. (Ok my friends are in the band and it helps pay the rent). Mac is also supposed to play in a tournament in TO over Easter.