Enough is enough

I don't know if anyone will read this, but I need to say it so here goes. OK, so Cliff’s Notes of the Ford’s radio show can be boiled down to these points. The only people who got to ‘call in’ were of course Ford supporters. 1 a retired police officer who claims to have been a drug squad officer during the time Doug is accused of pushing illegal substances, who says he never came across Doug’s name in his work. Turns out, this particular officer may have accepted bribes from a drug dealer during that same time period – huh. Supporter number 2 – a Don Bosco parent, I expected that. Supporter number 3 – a Richmond Hill Councilor who has never met either of the Ford brothers. Doug does know that his brother is Mayor of TORONTO right? Sorry - I forgot about the 4th caller who actually asked "the" question, whom the brothers Ford proceeded to call a racist after cutting her off and basically hanging up on her. Something that has been bugging me all afternoon is the Don Bosco parent who claimed that teachers are all on the highway home at 3:30 when Mayor Ford is on the field coaching kids. First of all – technically – if Ford is on the football field then, he has left HIS job of being Mayor before 3:30. Secondly, the statement that most teachers are on the road home at 3:30 is incredibly offensive to me as a Teacher. Having worked in the field for over 15 years, I don’t know a single teacher teaching a full day program who is on the road home at 3:30, and Doug supporting such a slanderous statement (by failing to interject/correct) is unconscionable. And as expected, there was an extended mega mix of the back patting that we saw all day yesterday from Doug (Hotel room sales, Rotary service, his family has been giving back for years, media conspiracy, saved the city a billion dollars, “is that the best you got?”…). Both brothers said repeatedly that we should “let the people decide”. So let’s do just that, let’s see both brothers step down and call a bi-election. I know this is not a popular opinion given the cost of such an endeavor, but enough is enough and too much is ridiculous. Let’s get on with the business of running the city shall we?

The day the music died

Today, I am devastated and heartbroken beyond comprehension. Despite claims of possible reunification 'sometime in the future', I fear that this is truly the end for Broken Social Scene. I cannot remember a day in my life when I have been so affected by something that has absolutely nothing to do with me directly. Their music has changed my life ever since the very first time I heard the very first chord and I am not quite sure how to handle a 'post' BSS existence. Time to turn off all the lights, get a bottle of wine and loop Feel Good Lost - which will only serve to make me weep uncontrolably. However, I truly don't know how else to honour and mourn the passing of the people who changed my life and saved my soul, because that is what they did for me, every day for the past 9 years.

Now what?

I am hoping that this is yet another case of "the boy who cried wolf" as Kevin has characterized himself. I will remain hopeful and wait patiently . . . thankful for solo endeavours. If this truly is the end, I will be devastated.

How many is too many?

I now officially have 40 versions of Anthems on my iPod. There has been a suggestion that (from someone who obviously has NO idea) that this is unnecessary. I would argue that is bullshit since each one is different - some vastly so. Here are just 2 of my faves - and shining examples of the differences.

Harbourfront 09

Paris 06

Livin the dream

I have many regrets in my life and one of the biggest is the decision I made back when I was 9 years old to refuse the school band teacher's assignment for me to play the drums and instead force my parents buy me a flute so that I could take the class. An aside - who the hell lets a 9 year old make life altering decisions anyway? As a member of the army known as the flute section of pretty much every school and city band or orchestra in my youth, there was many a time when someone from my section was called upon to play one of the myriad of 'auxiliary percussion' instruments. I was at least smart enough to be the first to volunteer to pinch hit every time. Consequently, I have had the pleasure of playing cymbals, gong, timpani, bells, bass drum and even one time the back of a chair on stage at Massey Hall and Roy Thompson Hall (2 major venues in Toronto).

There are songs I LOVE I could no longer listen to because the feeling of needing to crawl out of my skin because I could not play them on the drums was too overwhelming. When I moved into my own home, I thought that it would be nice to have a set of drums but it was much more of a concept than an actual plan. For 11 years I have imagined and wondered and daydreamed about having a drum set. I am a girl with a percussion fetish, my 2 favourite words in the English language are 'percuss' and 'reverberate'.

As of today I do not have to wonder anymore, I now own (and after 4 hours of hard work, have assembled) a drum set. I have been trying to either talk myself out of wanting or into buying one for 11 years and after having the chance to play someone else's a couple of months ago - it got me really thinking about what it was that was stopping me. Then, 2 weeks ago while I was fast asleep and dreaming - in my dream appeared Levon Helm - and he said "Stop whining and get your bloody drums", and so I did. Who am I to mess with Levon Helm? It is by far the most ridiculous thing I have ever done in my life and it is AWESOME. My life was not complete until I owned a kick drum. Please don't get the impression I think I can actually play , I'm awful, I suck more than a vacuum - but today has been the best day of my life thus far and I'm having a blast trying!

I would highly recommend that everyone live their dream - it rocks!

Oh Canada

Juno noms are in, don't know what to make of them yet. Caribou for New Artist, have I hallucinated 4 whole years? Nice to see names like Owen Pallett, Chilly, Luke Doucet and Holy Fuck on the list though - Junos seem be branching out (better late than never). If Down With Webster wins Group of the Year I'm leaving the country though.

And because even though my heart bleeds BSS (who have 5 well deserved noms), kinda rooting for Owen to win just because he is the best thing to happen to Canadian music lately and if I could write , I would hope to write something as beautiful as Lewis Takes Action, here is some fantastic Owen . . .

The evolution of a song

I absolutely love this song for it's simplicity and have enjoyed watching it evolve with the band over the years. I have to say that they way it is being presented most recently is my favourite - but really, any way will work for me.

2005:


2007:


2007:


2008:


2010:


2011: