Saturday, November 9th, 2002
It’s Like Soul Man
This afternoon I felt compelled to go to Vortex. I can’t explain why, it’s not like I haven’t bought anything in a while (well, a week), but I just had to go. Sure, going to used CD shops is sort of my default activity when I don’t have anything else to do, but whatever.
Not a half block from my apartment, who do I see walking down the street than one Sarah Harmer. I had already walked on past but I did do a double take. Coincidentally, my brother and I had a discussion on the low-key nature of Canadian celebrity today. Perfect example, one of the finest singer-songwriters our country has produced in decades just wandering innocuously through downtown. I didn’t stop to say hello, because I’m always at a loss for intelligent things to say to people, but it was cool.
So my sixth sense about going to CD shops seemed to be well-founded. My haul for the day:
Mark Eitzel / Songs Of Love (Live At The Borderline 17.1.91) – A pretty rare live set from the UK, it’s just solo acoustic Eitzel doing material mostly from California and Everclear. This set predates the release of Everclear, so you get earlier versions of those songs. It’s an excellent recording and backs up my opinions of Eitzel’s live prowess from his show last month. Interestingly, a lot of the material on this disc was still on his setlist over a decade later. For the ages, I guess.
Tobin Sprout / Carnival Boy – GBV hasn’t been the same since Tobin left. His pop songs were always the perfect break in the Bob Pollard rawk song sequences, and I do miss them. I’d meant to hunt down his solo stuff for a while, so I was pretty pleased to find this disc and for cheap! $6.99, on account of some light marks on the outside of the disc. However, since the album clocks in at barely 30 minutes, there’s nothing recorded along the outside perimeter. Cha-ching!
Ryan Adams / Demolition – My current opinion on Ryan is as follows – great potential as an artist as long as he pulls his head out of his ass. He’s gotten too caught up in being a ‘rock star’ and his work is suffering as a result. First off, what he needs is an editor. The fact that this disc exists as it is and not as the four-disc box set he’d threatened to release earlier this year is probably a good thing. Further thoughts after I actually get to listen to it.
Elvis Costello / Cruel Smile – I will comment on this one after I give it a listen. But in Elvis related news, Mister Declan MacManus has a) been inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame (along with the Clash, the Police and ACDC) and b) will be on the Simpsons tomorrow evening. Huzzah!
np – Mark Eitzel / Songs Of Love (Live At The Borderline 17.1.91)
Saturday, November 9th, 2002
Ninjai
The latest chapter (number 10, for those keeping track) of Ninjai is up. I don’t follow many (or really any) online cartoons or such, but I really like this one.
It’s the story of a little guy who’s really more samurai than ninja, if you want to be picky. I’m not entirely sure what the overarching plot is yet, but it’s certainly engaging enough to keep me interested. The animation is really something else, and the little bird is cute. If you’ve got time to kill, head over and check out the past 10 episodes.
np – New Order / Substance
Saturday, November 9th, 2002
Dr. Thomas Chen, 1936-2002
Attended the funeral services for the husband of my old piano teacher today. He passed a couple weeks ago after a long, lingering illness caused by some head injuries he suffered as a teenager. I don’t remember an awful lot about him, having moved away from Scarborough when I was 10, but I do remember him being a kind and friendly man, and from the eulogies today, he was also a remarkable doctor and surgeon. My parents were unable to attend, so my brother and I represented our family.
Rest in peace, Dr. Chen.
Friday, November 8th, 2002
Fingerprints
Okay Vic, just for you, I’ve enabled the little bookmark tag that allows you to link to any one of my posts for the rest of time. Clicking on the little [+] icon down below will give you a linkable URL that you can put in your blog, skywrite, scrawl on washroom walls, whatever.
Addendum – Bah. There Vic, just cause it was your birthday. A # instead of a +.
Freak.
np – Galaxie 500 / Copenhagen
Friday, November 8th, 2002
The Business
Since Vic has decided that having comments on his blog page are contrary to his elitist principles of blogging, I have to link to specific entries on his page if I want to comment on them. Bastard.
All I wanted to say is that Iain Banks is one of my favorite authors but his stuff is all over the place. One book is often nothing like his last. The Business, his last one, was not one of his finer efforts in my opinion. As always, his narrative style is excellent but the plot is thin and never really comes to a satisfying resolution. It’s more like, ‘there’s these people, some things happen, that’s it’. I was disappointed – and I hold the fact that this one was published as a mass-market paperback at least partly responsible. Trade paperbacks are synonymous with quality! Bigger is better! And other such baseless, inane comments…
Banks stuff I’d recommend to the interested would be the Crow Road (a sort-of coming of age wrapped around a murder mystery of sorts), Espedair Street (burned out ex-rock star reflects on his life – funny and sad), Complicity (a mystery/thriller) and The Wasp Factory (an utterly deranged character study of a young child with homicidal tendancies). I’d avoid A Song Of Stone. The Bridge was the first novel I read, and it was a mind-fuck. Takes place in the subconscious of a man in a coma. A testament to Banks’ abilities as a writer that it remains engaging and doesn’t become incomprehensible. Walking On Glass is pretty good and messed up, Canal Dreams left me indifferent. I haven’t read Whit. He has a new one, Dead Air, that I must seek out.
Look at that – lengthy discourse on something that’s not music. Will wonders never cease?
np – The Jesus And Mary Chain / Honey’s Dead
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