MarcO

yer gonna love it NewRider. killer avatar btw.

Steven Page seems like a fun guy to party with.

what does this have to do with The Who?

oooops. that ^^^^ was me.

well, I think Edger's baby will personally kick the ass of any fool who dares trod upon him. Imagine, getting beat up by a baby at a rock concert! What a legacy. Psssst. I'm just sayin'.

all the best to ya brother!

I don't think anyone should go see Brian Wilson without an acute awareness of what he's about. Clearly, he's a delicate flower - as Neil Young once said of him: "he's like a light bulb without the glass, just the filament, burning on and off". Some of these "legends" of popular music are healthy and alert and on their game, others are just living their intensely public lives with problematic personal demons that will see them to their graves. How's Bob Weir doing these days anyway?

348. Songs with noticeable electronica components from an instrument wielding band 1. Holy fuÇk - Safari 2. Tortoise - Glass Museum 3. Wilco - Spiders (Kidsmoke) 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

i'm so fucking horny right now.

oh I see how this works.

Israeli Couscous is the shit. I'm just sayin'!

well, I can't say that I tuck into raw onions much, but I will say they are a VITAL component to most everything I make that isn't sweet. I love red onions grilled on the BBQ, low heat, cover down, tossed in olive oil, lemon juice (fresh of course), garlic, s & p. I LOVE whole green onions grilled on the BBQ until they char, a revelation in eating green onions! Try it!! A little olive oil, s & p and slap them on - goes great with anything, particularly a nice steak. But anything really. I love vidalia onions turned into onion rings. I love diced shallots - a little goes a long way - they can be potent, mixed with lemon juice (fresh, of course) and Dijon mustard and put that on a soiled shoe and you'll tuck right in.

347. Songs that inclued the word "go" in the title 1. Lucinda Williams - Can't Let Go 2. Mr. Something Something - Jim Naa Go Wey 3. The Miracles - Going to a Go-Go 4. Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

by Marc Olszewski The Bermuda Triangle is, factually, a Northwest region of the Atlantic Ocean where it is said various sea vessels and aircraft have disappeared for no apparent reason. Time will surely reveal that these “mysteries†are less paranormal than simply unverified but no doubt the conspiracy theories will continue unabated. It’s an apt metaphor, then, for the career of Richard Thompson, a musician’s musician, beloved by many around the world but who has steadfastly remained a true “cult†figure to thousands of fans around the world, much to their equal parts frustration and delight. To Thompson fans, such as myself, justifying his lack of even marginal mainstream success over a 40 year career becomes like trying to reveal the “mysteries†of the Bermuda Triangle. It becomes not so much a single explanation than a confluence of reasons, each compounding the other. He left an important, semi-successful band on the verge of breaking out (Fairport Convention) to launch a solo career with an album in which he dressed like a giant fly on the cover, the single worst selling album in Island Record’s history for many years. He then enlisted his soon to be wife, Linda Peters (to be Linda Thompson) – surely possessed with one of the sweetest voices ever to grace my ears – and created a masterpiece (1974’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonightâ€) before withdrawing almost completely from the public eye and joining an Islamic Sufi commune, releasing only mysterious records replete with metaphysical imagery and heady Sufi-influenced songs. Career be damned! Crawling out of the swamps of religious solitude, the Thompson's geared towards their most succesful album, 1982’s “Shoot Out The Lightsâ€, lauded by critics and fans alike. The couple fell apart completely, putting paid to their partnership – career be damned! Moving to the US, Richard Thompson paradoxically became almost more painfully British than ever, releasing a slew of excellent albums on Capitol Records that sold a combined total of, oh, maybe 198 copies before being invited to join the indie ranks in the late 1990’s. Career be damned! Not that any of this was a problem to the 500 or so people who attended Thompson’ solo acoustic performance at Toronto’s Music Hall on Sunday night. For they knew that Thompson’s confounding twists and turns have paid dividends with a rich catalogue of songs, some of which will surely take their place in the British traditional folk music canon just as Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson and Hunter/Garcia have contributed to the US folk music canon. Alone, with only one acoustic guitar at hand, he performed a showcase of musical discipline and dexterity set to keen, wry songs of love, life, loss and all points in between. That he should be so unassuming, even awkward, only added to the wonder. The audience leaned in, not a pin drop to be heard, as Thompson delivered a hair-raising performance of his late colleague Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?â€. They sang along with the glum, dark chorus of “Down Where The Drunkards Roll†as though it was a hootenanny crossed with a wake. Unreleased gems like “Hots For The Smarts†broke the ice with Thompson delivering sophisticated, witty line after line, a level of songwriting joined in ranks by the likes of Elvis Costello and Randy Newman. “1952 Vincent Black Lightning†– perhaps now his signature tune – seemed as fresh as it was in 1991, a dismaying modern ballad joining the UK tradition with American concerns, a perfect picture painted in four verses and five minutes. “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me†reminded one and all that folk music has a topical element, and that outside the walls of this fine theatre, war rages in the Middle East and those brave soldiers can often find themselves alone, hated, scared. All of which would have been remarkable in and of itself but the icing on the cake is that Richard Thompson is undoubtedly one of the greatest guitar players of his generation. On song after song – particularly “Valerie†and “Crawl Back†– he indulged himself and the audience with the kind of off the cuff phrases and lines that make other guitar players want to pull their own fingers off. Always in service to the song, his acoustic guitar playing joined the lines between ancient bagpipe reels and jigs, Duke Ellington, cajun music and Jimmy Page, all in single 45 second solos. His technique was phenomenal, a cross between flat picking with his thumb and index finger and intricate finger picking with his remaining digits, not a beat was missed, not a note placed wrong. This wasn’t just showmanship on display, it was a musical lesson for any who wished to learn. This is not to say the show didn’t take a few ups and downs. Solo acoustic-wise, songs like “Walking On a Wire†and “She Twists The Knife Again†missed the mark slightly as Thompson seemed content to mimic the original full band versions rather than reinterpret them more successfully to solo arrangements. And while the setlist may seem like a message from Mars (or the Bermuda Triangle, perhaps) to casual fans, he stuck surprisingly to the more obvious, uh, “hits†from his repertoire, a little disconcerting from a man who estimated he has written 400 to 500 songs. But, like careers, petty criticisms be damned! The truth is, those fans who have known that Richard Thompson is The Real Deal may remain frustrated by his career perpetually being on the sidelines of popular music but they delight in being part of the secret society that gathers music lovers from all around the world in excellent songs and musicianship. Perhaps there’s a musical equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle but if there is, Richard Thompson proved on Sunday night he’s a survivor and thriving because of it. Richard Thompson The Music Hall, Toronto, ON July 6, 2008 One Door Opens Walking On a Wire Crawl Back Down Where The Drunkards Roll Dad's Gonna Kill Me Hots For The Smarts I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight Sunset Song 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Shoot Out The Lights I Feel So Good ?? Cooksferry Queen (new song - "Time's Gonna Break You"?) Who Knows Where The Time Goes? She Twists The Knife Again Persuasion Valerie E1: When The Spell Is Broken Keep Your Distance E2: Beeswing (stock pic, not from Toronto)

Happy Birthday!

now we're all spending more time talking about the 12-Song Game rather than playing it. Fine, Scotland has provinces. Lick my tartan.

maybe I'll work on something tonight. cheers!

We got the birth announcement of a lovely young girl this week from some Christian-minded relatives. Here's what I'll never understand: OK, so you're announcing the birth of your grandchild. That is wonderful news. Yes, you love Jesus, I know that, so maybe mentioning him as a Grammy-style thank you is apropos. BUT YOUR DAMN BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT READ LIKE A FUCKING PR CAMPAIGN FOR JESUS!!! Why are religious minded people so UNSUBTLE about their beliefs?!? Isn't dignity a Christian virtue? It's like "With great joy and awe, the blessings of The Lord has bestown upon our blessed world the fruit of the Lord, a healthy happy baby girl born into Jesus' care and guidance, praise Be! We are so wormly and phlegm-like in his Glory, WE PRAISE HIM for giving us this gift of life once again THANK YOU JESUS!!" Fuck. Just announce the birth, say a quick "thanks" to your silly little Idol and why not keep the PRAISE BE'S to yourself, in private, like dignified crazy people might?

346. Songs about the province/state where you were born by musicians also born in that same province/state.. (the musician can be part of a band, but mention the musician's name and place of birth. It could be just mentioned in the song, doesn't have to be part of the title..) 1. Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys - Blue Moon of Kentucky (Kentucky) 2. Rheos - Christopher - Ontario 3. Neil Young - Helpless - Ontario 4. Rush - Lakeside Park - Ontario 5. Diesel Dog - Ontario 6. Tala - 297-82 - New Brunswick 7. Gordon Lightfoot - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Ontario 8. Holdin Down The Fort- SlowCoaster- Nova Scotia 9. Stars and Satellites - Dan Griffin - Toronto 10. Paul McCartney - Mull of Kintyre - Scotland 11. 12. *** amended to include country of origin if no province or state applies ***

hey - after a leisurely stroll, checking things out, we wound up at Christina's. It was a lovely meal; we decided not to each order dinner entrees as we didn't want to overeat and then go sit in a theater for two hours, you know? So we just split a few appys - flaming saganaki cheese, large Greek salad, lightly fried calamari, some fresh toasted pitas and extra tzatziki. Nothing too ambitious there but we weren't feeling too experimental, looking more for comfort food. And it was all excellent! Munching away on calamari, having a cold beer on a Danforth patio is not a bad way to spend an afternoon. We had time to kill before the show so we popped into Allen's and sat at the bar for an hour. I had a couple pints of their house lager - cold and fizzy, just how I like my beer - and Laurie had a White Russian. The menu there looked very nice, maybe next time. Thanks again too for the parking idea, it worked like a charm. I'm still learning about Toronto in a lot of ways so it was nice to have a new experience there. As for the show, it was ridiculous as you might expect. Maybe I should do a review?!?

Scotland.

what if you weren't born in either a Province or a State?

right on, and thanks for the parking tip!

alright thanks again.... youtube that bouche biznezz. One last thing Jaimoe if you don't mind, or anyone for that matter. It's Greektown...... any particular recommendations for a Greek meal? I know I'll not be disappointed anywhere I go around there but is there a secret favorite we should check out? We love Sotiris restuarant in Burlington. It's not way fancy, just a busy, well run family restaurant that does about twelve things just right and sticks to them, Greek style. It's consistent, generous and tasty as Fuck. We're less the high fine dining types and more the "are we suddenly in downtown _________?" kind of eaters.

right on. thanks!!!