2021’s musical selections are strong. Lee Aaron proved she has the album necessary for a good-time summer, and Polychuck played well in the car. ZZ Top was obviously spun in tribute to the late great Dusty Hill. When Afterburner concluded, we played “I Got the Six”, and “Sharp Dressed Man”.
On the Sunday drive home, Jen slept while I got nostalgic for the year 1989 with:
My feelings this time out were that Dr. Feelgood is tremendously overrated while Pump is not. Pump is solid and probably the last time Aerosmith nailed it front to back.
On the front deck this weekend, I spun a lot of music. Most notably Guns N’ Roses’ new song “Absurd” about six times in a row. I also listened to a new album by group out of Halifax called War & Sin that you will be hearing about. The album is called The War Within and it hits all the bases, like good heavy metal with diverse influences. The singer reminds me of Blaze Bayley, but in a good way. You can check out the album on iTunes.
I had a couple good fires this weekend, and the soundtrack of Kiss went well in that setting. A cottage weekend without Kiss just isn’t right for my soul. This weekend I chose Dressed to Kill and Destroyer. I brought the laptop over to the fireplace and let Kiss do the rest.
It was a solid three day weekend anchored by music, fire, food and swimming. On Saturday I believe I went for five swims total. The last was a sunset swim and we got some pretty cool video footage that you can now enjoy with me.
Sunday was what we call an “indoor day” at the lake. This is what I did with my indoor day.
The video took me most of the day, because my poor old laptop (10, this year) couldn’t handle all of the large files at once. So I started over from scratch and figured out a workaround until I was done about 7 hours later. I cooked, I went outside, I played with action figures, and I drank coffee until it finally saved without errors.
This video should scratch itches for a variety of people including:
1) Max the Axe fans – the full song “Randy” is included.
2) Dr. Kathryn Ladano fans – the full song “Masked” is included.
3) Those who enjoy driving videos. This is my first extensive use of my dash cam.
4) Nature buffs. You will hear real lake noises, rainstorms, and waves. You will see more cool underwater footage from the beaches of Lake Huron, and the legendary Greatest Sunset in the World.
5) Marvel / action figure fans. Look for a special “Build A Figure” Hulk.
You will not get:
1) Audio of me singing “Kissing Time” by Kiss; this was lost with the first version of the video.
2) Any of my pork chops.
But you can freely:
1) Live vicariously through me and absorb the good vibes through your monitor and speakers.
While visitors showing up on our little private road was not unexpected on a long weekend, it is disappointing when they show such little respect for the people who live here. A guy parked his ATV on our grass and said “Don’t get your knickers in a bunch” when my mom asked several times for him to move it. This came after arguing that he had the right to park there due to a “snow allowance”. There is no such thing.
Then we had Kenny the fireworks guys shooting off a “truck bed” full of firepower at 9:30 Saturday night. That was…distracting. As much as I love this place it certainly has changed in the last 45 years. Enjoy the video — the good the bad and the ugly!
Enjoy music just a little different from the norm? Here are Kathryn Ladano and opening act, combining members of Harp+ and Seagram Synth Ensemble at the TWH Social After Dark Space January 11 2020. My Samsung couldn’t get a good image in the dark, but the audio is decent in full stereo. Enjoy the track “Flow” from the new album Masked and clips from other tracks on the disc!
The synthscape of the opening act was quite awesome. Now, I don’t normally drink, but I was with Max the Axe. Before long I had a rum and Coke in me and I was taken on this wild synthesizer trip through the cosmos! For roughly 30 minutes, a stream of music emanated through the room, like a slideshow of NASA photos from the 1960s. Can’t wait to hear the Seagram Synth Ensemble’s album which was for sale and now in my collection.
Kathryn Ladano played interpretations of music from her album Masked. “Interpretations” because the music is improvised and never the same twice, they just follow the same rough blueprints. “It’s better live” whispered Max (you can hear this in the video), and Dr. Ladano agreed.
Making mix CDs was a lot of fun (and work). I used to make custom Christmas discs that didn’t suck, for my family and friends every year. Why did I stop? I ran out of good Christmas songs. Let’s face it: unless you’re one of “those” people, Christmas music is nails on a chalkboard. You can only take so much. If you’ve worked retail in the past (or present), you probably can’t take any at all!
2010’s Christmas CD is a good example of what I used to make. You’ll notice there’s no Trans-Siberian Orchestra on there. I used up all their best stuff on the previous instalments. I tried to avoid duplicating songs from previous years although Hawksley Workman’s Christmas album is so good that I made exceptions for him. Hawkley’s Almost A Full Moon is the best Christmas CD that I own, and probably the best one I’ve heard. I bought it twice. He reissued the album after only a year with two extra songs! I forgave him, because Almost A Full Moon is so warm and perfect.
What do you think of the Christmas 2010 CD? Would you have wanted a copy that year?
1. Bill Ward – “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. Yes, that Bill Ward! The Black Sabbath drummer did a spoken word recording of the classic Christmas poem, and I opened the CD with it. I can tell you that when we played the CD at dinner time, this track was a failure. Nobody paid attention.
2. Kathryn Ladano – “Jingle Bells”. I got their attention back by putting on a track by my sister. This instrumental version on bass clarinet is from her CD The Christmas Album. Of note, her Schnauzer Ali is credited for barks on “Jingle Bells”!
3. Lemmy, Dave Grohl, Billy F. Gibbons – “Run Rudolph Run”. This breakneck Christmas carol is done in the Motorhead style. I played it in the car for sis. “This is shit!” she proclaimed. “Why do these guys get to put out albums and not me?”
4. Marillion – “Let It Snow”. This drunken favourite is from 2007’s Somewhere Elf. The spirit is intoxicating, as I’m sure they were!
Found some booze in a flight case, And I’m afraid that we’re all shit-faced, So I guess that we’ll have to go, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
5. David Bowie and Bing Crosby – “Little Drummer Boy / Peace on Earth”. This is the David Bowie song that your grandma likes. It’s just lovely. I didn’t own anything with this song on it, so I had to download. That’s why it didn’t appear until 2010!
6. Helix – “Happy Christmas (War is Over)”. Yes, it rocks, but not too hard! Helix covered Lennon for their Heavy Metal Christmas. Singer Brian Vollmer is trained in the Bel Canto technique and he’s more than capable of singing songs for your Christmas dinner in mind.
7. Extreme – “Christmas Time Again”. My mom always liked Extreme, or “Nick Strean” as she thought they were called. This isn’t the greatest Christmas song in the world, but it doesn’t suck.
8. Hawskley Workman – “3 Generations”. Told you there would be some Hawksley. This touching song is about three generations of women in the kitchen making Christmas dinner together.
9. Elvis Presley – “Blue Christmas”. I must have downloaded this one too. I am a bit of a sucker for Elvis. I included Joe Perry’s instrumental version on a previous CD.
10. The Beatles – “Christmas Time is Here Again”. Not one of their best songs, but it’s the Beatles so it had to be included eventually. This version comes from the 1995 CD single for “Free As a Bird”. Relatively few have heard it, and I thought that would get people’s ears perked up, but by this time, the wine was out….
11. Steve Vai – “Christmas Time is Here”. This is from the first Merry Axemas. It’s a lovely track and not too shreddy. Remember this song from the Charlie Brown Christmas special? Steve does it on guitar, of course!
12. Jethro Tull – “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman”. This funky flute version will get the toes tappin’. Hard to believe that this is from Tull’s final studio album in 2003, The Jethro Tull Christmas Album! It would have been nice to get one more, but Tull’s Christmas Album is a good one to have around. If you need to tolerate Christmas music, you may as well listen to Tull jamming it out.
13. Brian Vollmer – “The First Noel”. Helix’s Vollmer put out a rare charity album in 2005 called Raising the Roof on Mary Immaculate. “The First Noel” is one of the best tracks. Vollmer is the first artist to get two appearances on my CD.
14. Ted Nugent – “Deck the Halls”. Much like “Run Rudolph Run”, this one smokes! It’s a guitar instrumental at full speed. Grandma didn’t like this one.
15. Twisted Sister – “O Come All Ye Faithful”. I really don’t like the Twisted Christmas album. This song was a hit though, and since it’s virtually identical to “We’re Not Gonna Take It”, I can…errr…take it.
16. Cheap Trick – “Come On Christmas”. My sister was a huge Cheap Trick fan at one point. She had this song before I did. Essentially just a Cheap Trick pop rocker with Christmas lyrics. Sounds like classic Cheap Trick to me.
17. AC/DC – “Mistress For Christmas”. I put this song on as the joke it is. I like to remind people that AC/DC did have a Christmas song. “Jingle bells, Jingle bells, jingle all the day. I can’t wait to Christmas time, when I roll you in the hay.” Hey, it counts.
18. The Darkness – “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)“. In my review, I said, “Even though the guitars are thicker than a good ol’ bowl of Thin Lizzy pudding, there is no mistaking this for anything but a Christmas song. It is a joyous rock re-imagining of a Christmas carol, with the unmistakable Justin Hawkins falsetto.” Plus, sis likes The Darkness.
19. Jon Bon Jovi – “Please Come Home for Christmas”. I like this one. Fuck off.
20. Jimi Hendrix – “Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne”. From an EP called Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Jimi and band jammed out some impressive licks but the dinner party didn’t enjoy.
21. Jim Cuddy – “New Year’s Eve”. Cuddy’s solo debut All In Time is tremendous CD and comes highly recommended by this guy right here. It’s like listening to a Blue Rodeo album, but only the Jim songs. The sentimental “New Year’s Eve” is a lovely ballad that fits right in with the Christmas theme.
22. Bob & Doug McKenzie – “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. You gotta end with a classic. From 1981’s The Great White North comes the big Christmas hit. We used to hear this every single year on my mom’s old clock radio. We’d squeal with laughter trying to sing along. “A beer…in a tree…”
How would you rate this one? Trying to avoid overlap was previous instalments was my Achilles’ heel. I’d swap out a lot of the lesser songs for better ones, but it’s not bad. It’s listenable. It’ll do.
Another spin ’round the sun, another basket full of goodies!
Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. Here are some of my favourites. You might recognise some of these people!
Had a lovely dinner at Borealis with the family & Dr. Kathryn. And so we get to the gifts!
First up! A signed first edition copy of Dr. Ladano’s The Improvising Musician’s Mask: Using Musical Instruments to Build Self-Confidence and Social Skills in Collective Free Improvisation. That’s a mouthful and a generous gift. These books aren’t cheap, even for her! The funny thing is that when I grabbed the wrapped hardcover-shaped package, I said “I hope this is a copy of your book,” but I didn’t actually think it would be out so soon!
Dr. Kathryn also gifted me some music. Ho! It’s Derek Smalls’ debut solo album Smalls Change! Appropriately considering the occasion, it is subtitled Meditations Upon Ageing. I can’t wait to spin this one. She also got me this nifty Worf (Star Trek) not-Lego head. These look great in the office. I have Spock as well.
The lovely Mrs. LeBrain was amazing to me as well. She trekked up to Encore Records where she met my old pals Al “The” King and Chris Boyne. They hooked her up with some live Ghost, on vinyl. This is my first Ghost vinyl. Ceremony and Devotion is a great album, and the vinyl has two “exclusive” songs…that are also on the CD! Anybody know what’s up with that?
It doesn’t really matter. Double live albums have a certain intangible quality that almost always makes them better on vinyl. Scientists have been trying to figure out why that is since the advent of digital media.
Since my wife also dresses me, check out the cool shirts. I think I’m going to wear that getup to work tomorrow. Han Solo and BB-8 look awesome together.
Thanks again everyone for the happy birthday wishes. I keep getting older, and you keep getting awesome-er!
Now that NUMUS‘ most recent season is finished, I just want to say that next season, I can’t friggin’ wait to present Sasquatch: The Opera – composed by Roddy Bottum of the band Faith No More. I saw this at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last summer and knew that we had to find a way to bring it to Kitchener/Waterloo. It’s happening in February 2019! We’ll be doing four performances which will feature the original cast and the NUMUS orchestra led by Roddy himself!
I poached this one from the social media of world famous bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano. She blamed this mess on her Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Industrial Orchestra. [That show was April 14 cancelled due to an ice storm.]
This just proves even world class musicians are human beings…who need coffee to function!
mikeladano.com 