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Gord quotes the Weakerthans


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Nice one Gord... He quoted part of Aside in the middle of Grace, Too... It was a nice touch..

"rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony, get clobbered on by courtesy, in love with love and lousy poetry and i'm leaning on a broken fence between past and present tense and i'm losing all the stupid games that i swore i'd never play but it almost feels ok..."

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One crappy live band quoting another crappy live band... ;)

Dave-O, have you lost it? The Hip are no good live? The Weakerthans are predictable, but still excellent live....

What about these live-shows do you find to be 'missing'?

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That performance last night was a perfect representation of why I think the Hip are terrible. I don't get Downie's shtick at all. He mumbles and screams incoherently through the entire song. And he doesn't give the music any space, even when it's a cool-ass bass line like Grace too. The first song they played sums the Hip up to me - generic 2 chord (not even 3 chord) rock with vocal wankery all over top.

As for the Weakerthans, I like the Reconstruction Site album quite a bit. I liked it better when it was Treble Charger circa 1995, but I like it nevertheless. They are a completely boring live act though.

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Whoh, whoh, whoh Dave-O. You and me gots lots in common, but I ask you to reconsider, good sir (sorry I've been watching alot of Deadwood lately)

The Weakerthans are more than their live show and Reconstruction Site. Left and Leaving, their 2nd album in 2000 I believe, stands still today as one of my top ten Canadian albums. Lyrically brillant, a swinging back and forth of sickly sweet ballads and punk poetry, I urge you to seek this out (perhaps Mr. Taylor has?)

Some examples of their lyrical prowess

1. Everything Must Go!

Garage Sale. Saturday. I need to pay my heart's outstanding bills. A cracked-up compass and a pocket watch, some plastic daffodils, the cutlery and coffee cups I stole from all-night restaurants, a sense of wonder (only slightly used), a year of two to haunt you in the dark, a wage-slave forty-hour work week (weighs a thousand kilograms, so bend you knees) -- comes with a free fake smile for all your dumb demands, the cordless razor that my father bought when I turned 17, a puke-green sofa, the outline to a complicated dream of dignity, and a laugh (too loud and too long). For a place where awkward belongs, or a phone call from far away with a "Hi, how are you today", and a sign that recovery come to broken ones. Or best offer.

4. Pamphleteer.

I'm standing on this corner. Can't get their attention. Facing rush hour faces turned around. I clutch my stack of paper, press one to a chest, then watch it swoop and stutter to the ground. I'm weary with right-angles, abbreviated daylight, and waiting for a winter to be done. Why do I still see you in every mirrored window, in all that I could never overcome? How I don't know what I should do with my hands when I talk to you. How you don’t know where you should look, so you look at my hands. How movements rise and then dissolve, melted by our shallow breath. How causes dance away from me. I am your pamphleteer. I walk this room in time to the beat of the Gestetner, contemplate my next communique. The rhetoric and treason of saying that I'll miss you. Of saying "Hey, well maybe you should stay." Sing "Oh what force on earth could be weaker than the feeble strength of one *" like me remembering the way it could have been. Help me with this barricade. No surrender. No defeat. A spectre's haunting Albert Street. I am your pamphleteer.

As for Gordie, I've always considered what he did as the equivilant of vocal noodling, riffing until he found that perfect solo. Can't comment on last night though.

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Dave-O - I find the Weakerthans to be thorougly UN-boring... Where else can you get that quality of lyrics delivered with a voice that is actually understandable, backed with some very nice songwriting? I can take your points about the Hip, I like their live show, but realise it's not for everyone. But the Weakerthans are pretty freaking sweet.... They don't bore me one bit.

Ah well.

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ANd I think Canada needs to celebrate more poetic wack jobs like Gord... I can probably identify with some of his rants... Who else was talked of all the time at the Junos? Randy Bachman? I mean, I can take care of business, but certainly not every day.

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Since Canadians are a bunch of Scientists (big Up K-os), perhaps we are a little over critical of our artists. That's why they are so good. They have to persevre an army of bitter synical fans who have been spoiled by too much mass media. I'd be really hesitant to put down an act. I know I've hosted enough indie rock nights which were on the verge. It takes more courage to get up on the stage and do what they do than it is to sit on the sidelines and bicker. Even though you may try to knock Gord down, he'll just smile, ponder the inevitability of death, and do it all with grace too.

And yeah, his rants are lyrical noodling... who ever said music was void of voice. And this guys not going to stop, your going to need a truck to move all of his written work once he is dead and gone. MMMMMMmmmm the future!

And yes, nothing but good tidings can come from the songwriting relation between Gord and Samson. Case in point: New Years 2004-2005...

BTW any see the passionate eye last night? Bidini was cuising through Russia on a Hockey Pilgrimage... and even though all those Dirty, wussy North Americans are over there, the home team still won. I could care less about the NHL... you want to keep hitting the gas on a bus that's gone over the cliff. Watch pro-north-american sports. You want to help the world, walk to your community rink, and watch (or even better), play there. Hockey players should not be multi-millionaires. Especially when I know too many people in the Health care industry who shop for food at the food bank.

Hmm, and what's up in the Soudan... why isn't this slathered over the front page of my Newspaper everyday... ::

Mmmm feel much better now that I got that all out. ehehe

~W

edit: I changed one to won. Whoops.

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Whoa, you covered a lot of ground with that post :)

Hmm, and what's up in the Soudan... why isn't this slathered over the front page of my Newspaper everyday...

b/c novel and sudden events make the front page, and the tragedy in Sudan has been neither novel nor sudden. Ever notice how people's eyes glaze over when you mention Darfur? Yeah, the editors have noticed that too ...

(Hey, what was that constant refrain after Rwanda? "We've failed humanity. We must never allow this to happen again"? Hmmm. Funny, that.)

Besides, now it's the logistics of rehabilitation, sanctions, and maintaining the peace. If the blood and carnage wasn't making the front pages, the rebuilding period certainly isn't going to.

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