Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

« Older Entries

The Return of the Duke

Friday, September 26th, 2008

My birthday, I have to say, was pretty awesome. It was everything that I wanted it to be, which to some might sound boring; but to me was nearly perfect. The only way it would have been better is if Holly hadn’t been so sick.

As it stands, we traded horrible illnesses on eachother’s birthdays this year. I had a four day bout of stomach flu for her birthday, and I don’t know for sure what she has right now but it is really terrible. I fear for my life if I catch it, because she hardly ever gets sick.

The whole birthday experience has really been extended into more of a season this year. It started in August while we were in New Brunswick to visit my family and go to a wedding. And it will end on November 24th, when we go to see the Detroit Red Wings annihilate the Vancouver Canucks. I’m thinking 5-2.

I really can’t wait to go. I have never had a chance to see the Red Wings play live. Hank, Pavel, Nick, Ozzie; it’s going to be a great time. Even if I am the only one in the arena cheering for the Wings.

To top it all off, in all of 3D Realms’ infinite wisdom, Duke Nukem 3D came out on Xbox Live Arcade on my birthday as well. I downloaded it and jumped right in. Within a couple of minutes I was laughing and flat out loving it. I’ve missed Duke. Any time you take lines from old Sam Raimi and John Carpenter movies, and throw them into a world being invaded by aliens… it’s just magic. Why Sam or John haven’t made a Duke Nukem movie, I’ll never know.

Tonight there will be some Duke Nukem happening for Friendly Fire Friday. I always look forward to FFFs, but I’m really looking forward to this one. I expect the universe will step in and cause the internet to implode so that it can’t happen.

I think I’m going to start adding some tracks of the day to my posts.

Tracks of the Day
Kids by MGMT from Oracular Spectacular
Big Casino by Jimmy Eat World from Chasing the Light

Posted in Life, Music | No Comments »

Mute Math

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

We went to see a concert a few weeks ago. Alanis Morrisette opened up for Matchbox 20. We happen to be fans of both. At least we were. I realized that I only liked Alanis’ Jagged Little Pill album.

Matchbox 20 put on a pretty good show. They played most of their faster paced songs and made an effort to get the fans up and dancing a few times. The video and light show was interesting as well. They were a little weak between songs though. There was a lot of dead air as they setup for the next song each time.

The true gem of the show was the opening opening act, Mute Math. The most adequate way I can describe Mute Math is by saying that they are more enjoyable to watch than to listen too. They really put on a wild show.

The drummer for Mute Math was unlike any other drummer I had ever seen. His style was clearly influenced by Animal from the muppets. Where most drummers use a lot of wrist and forearm power and movement to drum, this guy drummed with wide, energetic swings. He seemed to have almost limitless energy.

Initially when the started playing you would never expect to see the show turn into what it eventually does. They move a little and play enthusiastically, as any band starting out does; but then it just goes crazy.

The lead singer was running all over the stage, spring boarding over the piano, slamming himself into the keys making a perfect sound for the song. Over and over he just three himself into the keys on the piano, and it all sounded right.

After that things calmed down a bit until the end of the final song they played. At that point, the show went berserk. The drummer ran around drumming on everything in sight until his sticks broke, then he’d pull out another set and go drum on something else. At one point he stacked the drum on top of the piano, then climbed onto the drum and started clapping his hands. The place went nuts!

Then he hopped down and ran back to the drumset, dumped some water on the drums, and drummed away as the lights strobed. It was a fantastic effect. I’m not sure if their part of the show ended because they ran out of time, or because they had broken all of their instruments, either way; it was great!

As soon as their set ended, Holly ran out and bought the album :)

Posted in Life, Music | 1 Comment »

A One Song Day

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

God said it would rain for forty days and forty nights, and that it would destroy every living thing on the earth… except fish.

It feels like it has been raining for the biblical forty days and forty nights, maybe even eighty days, but everything hasn’t been destroyed yet.

The oppressive grey that I once thought was so reverant has begun to weigh heavily on my soul. I’m sure that once we get a couple of weeks of sunshine I’ll feel better, but right now it’s terrible. I have no drive to do anything. It takes forever to convince myself to leave my bed and longer to leave my apartment for work. I seriously wanted to call in “grey” today. That’s close to sick right?

All of that adds up to today being a one song day. What’s that song? Alexisonfire – This Could Be Anywhere In The World. Why a one song day? The constant nature of one song is soothing in an odd way.

And now I leave you with:

Heavy mist shrouds the mountains
Light droplets fall from the sky
The fire and blue are hidden
Held captive by water up high
Cherry blossoms hang heavy with rain
They bow as though they pray
For the shining source of life
The yellow hidden beyond the grey
- Hidden Pugmarks

Posted in Life, Music, Writing | 1 Comment »

Goo Goo Dolls : Main Event

Monday, November 6th, 2006

The Goo Goo Dolls definitely delivered last night. It was an early Sunday night show and they still delivered a great show. One of the great quotes from the night, while Johnny was interacting with a heckler in the crowd was “If you want me to take off my pants, come back on a Friday or Saturday show!”

The first thing about the show that came across as extremely amazing was the diversity of the crowd. There were people there from the age of 10 all the way up to probably early 50s. The GGDs just have a sound that appeals to everyone. They have a gift for lyrics and catchy hooks.

The show started with a tremendous bang. There was complete darkness one moment and the next the guitar and bass players were jumping in the air and hammering down on their instruments as the lights flashed on. Every concert should start like that. The band just completely throwing themselves into the show.

Admittedly other than the entrance, the fist song was a little week. The band had to warm up to it a bit. From that point on though it was fantastic. Everyone was out of their seats for the whole night (the current throbbing pain in my feet can attest to that).

During “Black Balloon”, black balloons started filtering forward through the audience. The crowd kept them bouncing through the air, slowly up onto the stage.

I think the only real downer of the night, is that it wasn’t a sell out; or rather it was a sell out, but the scalpers didn’t sell all of their tickets. Row 4 was essentially empty.

It was a fantastic show and I’m glad I got to go. The GGDs haven’t toured Canada in four years, and it’s hard to say when they might pass through again.

I give the Goo Goo Dolls a solid 8/10.

Posted in Music | No Comments »

Goo Goo Dolls : Opening Act

Monday, November 6th, 2006

The opening act for the Goo Goo Dolls was a guy by the name of Tommy(ie?) Zwick(e?).

The light show was okay. Actually it was really good for an opening act. It worked well with the floor of the show.

I’m pretty sure that hidden somewhere behind the music and the mumbling that the lyrics might have been good. As I watched him perform I thought of an active Bob Dylan. Mumble, mumble *guitar twirl* mumble, mumble Oohhhhhh Yeeeeeaah eeaah eaaah! mumble *finishing strum*.

Tom seemed a little musically lost to me. One song he was a jazz man. The next song he was folk. He tossed in a little acoustic alternative. And at the end he played some hard rock. I give him kudos for his last song. It was really wonderful. Captivating and leaving the listener wondering if there might be more to the singer and the music. Both Holly and I agreed that we should give his album a listen. Though she definitely liked his music more than I did.

For me, the most interesting thing that came out of seeing Zwick play was the conversation afterward. A couple of days ago Holly and I were talking about how we interpret food. She is very much an artist when it comes to food. When she eats something she picks it apart. She appreciates the subtle undertones of flavour and can discern an amazing list of ingredients from something just by tasting it. More than once we’ve gone to a restaurant, had a dish, and then a while later she has recreated it at home from “flavour memory”. I on the other hand categorize food as “Mmmm Mmm Good”, “Enh”, and “Bleh, Gross”.

When it comes to music though, our roles are reversed. I appreciate each portion of the show. How was the entrance? Was the band visibly into the music? Is the sound mix off? Is there good showmanship? How is the inter-song banter, if there is any? Did they get the crowd into it? etc.

This all came about because I was picking on the fact that the drums were overpowering the bass line and the vocals were mixed too low. That is one of the reasons I am willing to give his CD a listen though; to see if it is mixed better.

I give Mr. Zwick a 6/10

Posted in Music | No Comments »

« Older Entries