Jaimoe

Hey Timmy, are you planning on staying over in Kingston? Some of us have tentative meet-up plans before and after the show. Nice mini-review by the way.

In Flanders Fields By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow Between the crosses row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

Thanks Shain. The ribs still hurt like an S.O.B. and I can't workout because of it. Fucking hell. However, the worst thing is that I may not be cleared to cover the Hold Steady/DBT show tomorrow. Fucking hell fucking hell fucking hell.

I can't believe how Hedges name doesn't resonate amongst casual guitar enthusiasts anymore. Normally when an innovator (and a popular one at that) dies, he or she are revered more than ever. Not so with Hedges. He's still being ripped-off too. Sad really.

The Tir Na Nog is a good place, but I'd consider The Merchant Tap House (right beside the Holiday Inn on lower Princess and the Toucan/St. Patrick's up a few blocks from your hotel on Princess. I think I may be at the Kingston Brew Pub after the show, which is on the other side of Tir Na Nog on Clarence Street, just north of Ontario. It looks like this:

Has anyone seen, or plan on seeing Paul Gross' acclaimed film about Canada in WWI? It's doing fairly well in the theatres.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but the late Michael Hedges deserves lots of props.

As rock acoustic players go, Pete Townshend is the most powerful in my books.

I'll be around on Saturday and will try to hook-up with Ollie in the afternoon, so if you are around...? There are a few record stores left downtown on Princess Street (one is Turks Furniture at 281 Princess near Clergy). There is a Sunrise on Princess too as well as the institution known as Brian's Record Option a few blocks north of Turks near Division Street (still on Princess). I believe there are a few more between Brian's and Turks.

My great uncle Eric Ball (he's in his mid 80's) was in the Korean War, in the navy.

Don't forget that Lenny mastered bluegrass at a shockingly young age.

And then there's this hack:

Terrible news. I'm a fan of Hume's and I hope he gets better.

Martin Taylor

It's SOLD OUT. I'm scheduled to go to this but if it falls through, I will be very very angry.

There's also a series of Asterix live-action films; a few are recent. They are big-budget, attracting some of the biggest stars in French cinema. The cast includes Gérard Depardieu as Obelix, Christian Clavier or Clovis Cornillac as Asterix and several famous actors have co-starred in the films like Roberto Benigni, Monica Bellucci and Alain Delon. The films aren's supposed to be very good though, but they are popular.

There's always something going on live music wise in Toronto. Even if you don't know or like the acts booked in the bigger venues on any given night - like last night - the usual suspects like The Rex, The Horseshoe, Grossman's etc... will have something going on.

They started earlier and ended later than your date, plus many harkened back to an earlier time than 1945. Herge had issues that's for sure and he was a kid himself when he wrote some of the stories. Tintin in America is horribly offensive (but tastelessly funny nonetheless) and so is Tintin in the Congo (Funny? Not so much).

Turkey is normally a great and appropriate beef substitute since the ground form has the same texture and weight as beef; emulating it very easily and tastily (my wife's turkey lasagna fooled her militant beef-eating father).

Ground turkey, preferably organic, is awesome instead of beef too.

Although kids certainly love Tintin, adults were also an intended market. The books work on many levels and are historically and politically relevant for the time. Read them again and we'll talk. Racism existed in some of the books (not to mention fascism, class struggles, drug-use, alcohol abuse etc...). For example, the Japanese, like in The Blue Lotus, are drawn stereotypically whilst the Chinese have softened features and are portrayed sympathetically. Blacks don't come off too well either nor do Gypsies (see The Castafiore Emerald). Asterix is also very racist, but then again, it is from Belgium.

I hope the upcoming Spielberg and Peter Jackson digital 3D Tintin films are good. At least they should be far better than Spielberg's Hollywood Will Smith remake of the Korean revenge masterpiece, Oldboy.

Friends.... I bring you some difficult news. The revelry call went out to start the tour, and all reported to duty except for one. We, along with our entire team, have been working long hours to prepare for this upcoming US tour, which we have all been excited about. All except one. There has long been consensus with the original 4 members of the group....we agree on purpose and vision, we believe deeply in what we are doing, and we have been forged together in the kiln of tragedy which has made us unbreakable. We all share that. All except one. We believe that it is a great privilege to do what we do. It is an honor to stand onstage before you all and play these songs, and we will endure just about anything to do so. We have unity on this...all except one. Travis does not share this with us. Two weeks ago when we cancelled the first half of the tour, Travis was having problems with his voice and the doctor recommended that he rest. Though it hurt us to cancel the shows, we were understanding towards him and supported him because nobody wanted him to injure himself or damage his obviously amazing voice. God dropped a Stradivarius down Travis's throat, but the reality is that he treats it like a broken pawnshop fiddle. It is very difficult to maintain a rigorous touring schedule while chain smoking. Early this week Travis was due to again visit the doctor, a specialist that we found for him who is the very best available. The doctor wanted to make sure everything was OK before we embarked on the tour. We told Travis that we would cancel the rest of the tour if his voice was still hurting, regardless of what the doctor said. Travis will tell you that we fired him because his voice was fried, but this is not true. All singers go through vocal problems from time to time, and we understand that. We did not fire Travis, he abandoned us. The plan was set, it was solid, and we were confident. Everybody was on board...all except one. Not only did he bail on the doctor, but he did not return anybody's calls, texts, emails, telegrams, or carrier pigeon messages for the last two weeks. We're talking about a LOT of attempts to communicate. This has been a pattern from the beginning of our involvement with him. The reality is that Travis did not want to go on this tour, and his reasons for this changed many times. The touring life is not for everyone. Had he told us that it was just too much for him, then that would have sucked for us but we could have dealt with it. But the dilemma was that HE WOULD NOT COMMUNICATE WITH US. We finally started calling family members to try to locate him. Members of his family were very helpful and the good news is that they had spoken to him and he was alive. We were all relieved but curious as to what was going on. One of Travis's cousins finally got him to agree to call our manager yesterday evening and they spoke for about 20 minutes (we were all waiting to figure out if we should get on airplanes today or stay home). Travis stated that if we couldn't understand that he needed this time to himself, then he didn't want to be in a band with us anymore. He complained about being underpaid and overworked (we all make the same thing and we all work as hard as he does). He said that he didn't want to play the US anymore and that he was under-appreciated. He complained about playing the same songs in the same towns. We could not make him understand that the wheels were in motion for this tour for 6 months, and that to blow it out just because he didn't want to do it was a very bad move (we think his voice is probably fine now, by the way, though we could never say for sure since he neglected his doctor's appointment and did not call us to tell us that it was not well). There was no indication that any of this was coming at the end of the Canadian tour. We had great success up there (thank you Canada) and we were encouraged by what was ahead of us. We were all set to record a live album on this tour, we just booked Japan, and we were in the process of putting together Europe and South America. People have been working very hard on this stuff...lots of great people who we are very much lucky to be working with. Travis is unable or unwilling to care about how his actions affect everybody else, and he's been this way since day one. We have passed up or blown many opportunities because of his actions, and this has made it very difficult for us to function effectively. For the 2 weeks worth of shows that we have cancelled in the last year, there have been countless others that were on the verge of not happening. Many nights we have sat in the dressing room or on the bus wondering if Travis was going to show up and what condition he would be in if he did show up. None of us want to be in one of those bands that is held hostage by a single person's whims and demands. Travis's talent is enormous and deep, but after two gut-wrenching years and countless setbacks and heartbreaks, we can no longer work with him. We want to make this clear that this calamity is not just about the most recent events. For many different reasons, there has been a division that slowly developed from the beginning. Travis came into a very difficult situation, and in a lot of ways he handled it very well. But for whatever reason, we could never get him to come fully into the fold. We tried to achieve unity and balance in the band and we welcomed him with open arms as a full partner. But in a band you are dealing with a bunch of highly creative and impulsive people in suspended adolescence who are also oftentimes maladjusted. It must have been very difficult for Travis to figure out our relationships and to find his place. When things got tough, Travis would fire off an email and threaten to quit the band....this happened at least a dozen times. Eventually, confidence within the band as well as with the people who worked with us became undermined. Everybody around saw what was going on and were probably taking bets on how long we would last. The real back-story to this is very deep. If you squint your eyes and read very closely between the lines, you might pick up a hint of it. There is no way that we could accurately tell you what has transpired over the past two years without breaking some ethical codes and spewing a bunch of angry stuff that will just sound irrelevant to you. We don't want to hurt Travis or say anything more than what is necessary to tell enough of the story. We believe that to publicly air out all of the prior details of what brought us to this place would be counterproductive. We will have our side of the story and Travis will have his, and the two shall not meet. And you as the reader will be left scratching your head and wondering who is crazier. You'll probably also wonder why we can't just kiss and make up and play the goddamned songs. We can only say that we have tried everything that we could to get to that place. We sincerely hope that Travis finds a musical situation that makes him happy. As previously stated, his talent is prodigious, and that is why we thought he should play in the big leagues, but now it is clear that he was drafted by the wrong team. He belongs onstage, and that is where we got along with him best. He is a GREAT performer and we are hopeful that he will end up in the right situation for him. So the next question is "what are we going to do"? First of all, we plan to begin the tour in Allentown, PA on Monday. Chris Shin, who formed Unified Theory with Brad and Christopher, is coming with us and is ready and willing. We are enormously grateful to Chris for accepting this somewhat daunting challenge. After the tour, we will begin the process of finding somebody who understands, as previously stated, that it is an honor to perform for ya'll, and that it is important to pull together and work together in order to create something truly great. We intend to play all the shows that are on the schedule, including the New Year's eve show, and we will make up the shows that were cancelled earlier this month. We're going on a journey and we'll bring you back something great......thank you for everything that you've given us. Blind Melon November 6, 2008

I'm a huge fan, even with its unfortunate racist undertones. I like them all, but my two favourites are: Flight 714 and Tintin in Tibet. I like Asterix almost as much as Tintin.

Thanks Todd.