Duffy vs Pete Yorn

I just had my condo painted. It's a departure from the organic green that calmed my frazzled nerves. Now, the red feature wall in my living room will somewhat energize my life, apparently. I do love the drama in the walls though, it is a good change. Different, but good. Well chosen. And to think how long I agonized about this decision! It seems so easy, now that it's done.

So, much of my things are in boxes now. I'm taking the time to purge the loads of accumulated crap that I get serving my time on earth as a music (and former arts and culture) publicist. Lots of books, dvds, CDs and such are creatively hidden all over the place. Those cute wicker baskets with lids? You guessed it - filled to the brim with random (and sometimes unopened) CDs which were dragged home in order to listen and learn so that I could spew my newly formed objective opinion on them to unsuspecting journalists. These boxes of good intentions litter the place. And I'm only one person. This weekend, much of this stuff will be boxed up in hopes they can resurface when i move into a larger space, so that I can actually find the right pieces, and accesories to temper the rooms. Again, I'm always the well-intentioned Webster. Always the do-gooder. Always trying to improve just that little bit. It's also why the frames are not yet re-hung on the walls. Why? Well, perhaps there'd be a better place to put them. Perhaps I could find some new things to hang? A new table? A new shelf? A new approach.

What I'm talking about here is both my curse and my blessing. It's the reason that people like working with me in my day job, but also the reason i continuously beat myself up over the details.

Which brings me to Pete Yorn. In one such chinatown-acquired wicker basket, I was browsing through what I thought were mostly promo discs, when I found Pete Yorn's musicforthemorningafter. This is one of those discs I most assuredly claim as my own. In fact, I immediately put it in my car stereo the next morning upon re-discovery to self-indulge. I was amazed it wasn't worn through. I can remember how many a break-up this disc dragged me through. How much I enjoyed the rattling moan of Mr. Yorn's voice, the full sound of the instrumentation serving as a cushion of solace for my own (now clearly minor) worries at the time. And somehow, his voice brought me to Duffy. One of the things I really delight about this Welsh songstress is the tone and edge that her voice seems to carry. It's a nasality that cuts, but has a musicality that is undefined and filled with success. Pete Yorn, in all his broken moaning shows the same dexterity with his vocal chords. And somehow, I think the appeal I find in both of them is similar. Not that I'm ever asking them to share the stage, but I'm always asking myself why I like certain types of music, and certain singers. I try and dissect the attraction because I find that most of my friends, especially those who don't work in the industry, are not as discerning. They'll take any top 40 rock station and run with it. They don't dig, they don't listen and they certainly don't cross-pollinate the genres. As we head into Jazz season I'll admit the most listened to Jazz record of the season for me was a collection of songs from Art Tatum, on the Capitol label. Beautiful emotive Jazz and not many 28 year olds even bother to cultivate an opinion on that. And yet, today, I was in the office listening to the new Judas Priest. Not my choice at all, but I could see what rattles people, what gets their blood boiling with this kind of music. And I've always been a fan of noise too... that's why A Place to Bury Strangers, No Age and Chow Chow have been favorite discs over the past year for me.

I think it must all begin with character and emotion. No matter the genre of music, if these elements are present, I believe I do take the time to consider it for my musical lexicon. I'll listen to anything once.

blurred upheaval

Life has been upside down lately, but I think I can still see the window and it seems to be sunny outside. Not that I would know. In the last two weeks, I think I may have consumed just a little more than my alcohol limit. I've also been the benefactor of some amazing musical concerts. I actually am suprised at how much I've seen in such a short span of time...

It went something like this:
Jamie Lidell, Stars, Death Cab for Cutie, Leonard Cohen, Rich Aucoin, The Superfantastics, Swervedriver, The Bee Keeping Society, Adam & The Amethysts, The Luyas, Brant Bjork, Red Cross, Beast, The Johnsons....

Rather impressive, eh? And peripherally, there was also the New Kids On the Block, Flo rida, and Rihanna who were performing meters away from the MMVA party where I was bumping shoulders with my media and music colleagues.

But, it was all a bit of a distraction. It's back to Monday now, and the head is down, working hard as usual. Summer's here but unfortunately, school is not out just yet. Sorry, Alice.

No more alcohol for a while. I think the body may need a wee detox.

sunshine music

It's misery clouds and rain in Toronto today. Luckily, I spent the day on an exhaustive interview schedule with Mr. Jamie Lidell whose new record Jim is out in stores now around the world. Concert later on this evening in Toronto. Thought it would be a good day to post the video for his new single and the first track on the album: Another Day.

Jamie's a cool guy. As we were driving to the first round of interviews, we passed the Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street where they are currently showing the stage version of Dirty Dancing. A hilarious conversation ensued about Patrick Swayze's hair. He called it cheesy. And then somehow we started talking about cheesy hair. And then, he was laughing hard about how strange cheese in hair would be and that, actually, it would be quite gross. Just another rainy day conversation, really. :-)

rain rain rain

There's a whole lot of soccer games coming up in the next couple of months. Of course, this includes the Euro 2008 competition which begins this Saturday as well as the ongoing season of the MLS league and the hugely supported Toronto FC team.

There's also a charity match that a bunch of my colleagues in music and media are playing as part of the Myspace Canada 2nd annual NXNE Music Conference soccer invitational. Proceeds raised from the game (played at the pitch at BMO field in TO) go to the Right to Play not-for-profit which supports sports for kids in third world countries. Soccer is a sport that unites immigrants, I find. It requires very little accessories to play - just a ball and something that denotes goal areas. Those iconic nike ads often show this - a bohemian street soccer team plays the pros in a dusty terrain area and the whole neighbourhood comes out to watch and support.

My neighbour, who is heading up the game organization for the NXNE invitational, was worried about rain. We were walking home this evening and having a good chat and she brought this up. I didn't say it at the time, but as a yellow cab sped by on the wet pavement, the sound reminded me of home - good ol' rainy dreary Vancouver. It's a sound I fell asleep to most nights, and I often sleep deeper when I hear that wet pavement sound. It also made me think that one of the most formative scents I remember growing up was the fresh cut wet grass smell from the soccer pitch. All of my siblings and my Dad played soccer growing up and when I learned to drive I spent most weekends shuttling them between games and practices. Unfortunately, they'd have to pipe in that comforting scent at BMO field as the surface there is made of some strange rubber type covering and I'm not sure if that would be as 'homey' as the drenched pitch from my days of youth. A good cause to support though, regardless

becoming the church lady

So last weekend, despite the stormy rainy weather in Montreal, I did spent an awful lot of time walking around the city. On one such walk, I happened to notice that a beautiful brick church (I'd hasard a guess and say it was catholic) had been turned into condos. The developers had taken the original structure and added on to the building, creating an almost village-like feeling to the complex. But then, there were the windows that were on the main facade (complete with ornate stained glass windows) of the building that were obviously condos as well.

Now I'm all for the preservation of ecclesiastical buildings. In fact, I think that coming up with a creative way to maintain a historical picture in Canada is paramount to the growth of this country. BUT, I'm not sure how I feel about people living in churches.

It may just be because of my Catholic upbringing. I went to church every sunday without fail. My mum used to pick me up from the coolest sleepover parties to take me to 8:30 mass. I loved the singing so that was why I rarely put up much of a fight. Then again, I knew with Susan Webster at the helm, the fight was futile.

Last year I visited my friend Francis in Ottawa. At the time, he was renting an apartment in a former church. His apartment felt like the church basement because it WAS the church basement. And when we drank copious amounts of tequila one night, I did feel a murmur of guilt in my mind. Somehow, I was acutely aware that this was a sacred space and perhaps we shouldn't be living here, let alone give in to our vices. God forbid (no pun intended) we had wild and crazy sex in this place. I don't even think I could think about it. Just not possible.

This evening I noticed there's a church on Dovercourt being transformed into "contemporary" condos. Asking price is 200 - 600. I don't think you could pay me to consider it. Perhaps the confessional could be my closet? Could you use the baptism font for a sink? An alter for a kitchen island?

Am I anti-church living because I believe more or am I afraid it will make me believe less? I wonder.

life

Just spent six days in Montreal. I worked and played hard. I met some great people and saw some great music. I also had a lot of time and space to think. It's been a rough two years. I'm not sure if this is normal growing pains or just me, but basically, there was a rough patch at work (now sorted, but the job is still as busy and I've been wondering what the next step) and also a lot of rough patches in personal life.

Change is sometimes hard to deal with. One of my most loved people in the world called me while I was driving to montreal and said she had tried to hang herself. I almost crashed the car. I can't imagine the world without her. I was shocked. I hadn't seen it coming. And I also wondered how it had all gotten away from her so quickly without the rest of us knowing how to intervene. Is there any way to help when you are going down this road?

Suicide is something I can't deal with. My dear friend Fraser took his own life just years after we graduated from high school. In some ways, I think he was one of the smartest people I knew - bordering on genius, even. At this time of year, I think of him often because it's a sad anniversary in my own life. Even though he is not with us anymore I still love him. I'm glad he was in our lives - with his funny loping walk, and his easy attitude. He was one of the only people I remember who used to just stop by the house to say hi. I loved it that he did. People these days are so hidden behind technology. If you don't check your facebook, some friends won't bother calling you to invite you the party. Personally, this year has been all about figuring out who belongs in my life. My sisters both had some rough patches too but I'm happy to say we're all pulling through, but not without a huge effort on the part of all of us. Sometimes being from a big family means you have more people to check in on, but seeing where we are all at today, I have to say I feel lucky to have them all.

I'm back at at home now, in my messy little apartment. It's a comfort to be here, but my mind is still a little upset. I'm going to say a little prayer for all of you. I feel like it's been a tough month for a lot of people.