Bad Saturday. Better Sunday: A Really Long Post

I should get thirty lashes with a wet noodle for neglecting my blog for so long.

Now you know why I never bothered getting a Tamagotchi.
Now you know why not even a cactus would ever survive in my home or in my office.
Now you know why I don’t have children or pets.

Anyhoo, here’s what’s been going on lately.

First off, I spent a good chunk of yesterday (Saturday) at a bar up near Yonge/Eglinton to watch the Vanier Cup game with a few of my fellow U of Saskatchewan alumni.

Fueled by beer, bad chicken wings and better quesadillas (the nachos were somewhere in between), we all watched our U of S Huskies blow home-field advantage and go down to defeat 13-8 at the hands of the Laval Rouge et Or. You would have thought the field conditions - minus-20-something, minus-30 with the wind chill - would have helped the Huskies, but I guess no one plays all that well when they've lost sensation in all their extremities.

My friend Milan and I also discussed the idea of creating a Toronto branch of the Intensely Vigourous College Nine.

Milan (pictured above expounding on his idea) likes the name “Remotely Vigorous College Nine”. I have to admit that that name kinda tickles my fancy too. All we need now is to find some junk horns to play (I’ve, um, learned my lesson about taking a pro horn out on a Nine gig), a few more musically-inclined alums (talent optional), some wacky disguises, and some good excuses to play! We would, of course, have to respect the Nine’s strict no-rehearsal policy. Who knows? This project might actually take wing.

So the day wasn’t a complete loss.

As for today, I spent a chunk of it, as is my wont, at the local Starbucks, reading the paper, people-watching and listening to my iPod.

The “shuffle” function has created a new phenomenon: the instant mix tape. Those of us that came of age (technologically, at least) in the 70s and 80s got into the habit of putting together mix tapes (or mix CDs or, more recently, mp3 playlists). I’ve used them as a good barometer of my mental and emotional state: listening to an old mix tape tells me a lot about where my head was at when I made the tape.

Now, anyone can use their iPod to put together what seems to be a completely random playlist. Every once in a while, though, synchronicity rears its head and what started out as random seems to take on a deeper significance. Today was one of those days. I think this may have been my best iPod day to date. Check out this playlist:

“Stella By Starlight”, Chet Baker – I always think of this tune as a medium ballad, but Baker plays it a little more up-tempo. It almost comes across as perky!

“Lover Lay Down”, Dave Matthews Band – This is a great track by my oldest nephew’s favourite band. These guys do everything well; great lyrics, great feel, great playing, great vocals.

“5/5/7”, Pat Metheny Group – I was living in Paris when I got this album as a Xmas gift. It always triggers pleasant memories, although I wish my dorm room had looked and felt a little less like a prison cell.

“Canary in a Coal Mine”, The Police – A fun little tune that shows why everyone loves, or loved, The Police. Snappy execution, great guitar work, fun lyrics, even (gasp!) danceable, at least by New Wave standards.

“It’s Over”, Level 42 – In retrospect it’s sappy, but there was a time when this was one of my favourite ballads. The remixed version of this tune on the greatest-hits compilation album has a freakin’ steel guitar (!) on it, but this was the original version.

“Presto in G Minor #1 After Bach”, Béla Fleck – Who knew that a banjo player could work out on a classical piece, let alone do it as a duo with marimba? This whole album is a revelation.

“Money Talks”, Living Colour – I love these guys. They’re just intellectual enough, just wacky enough, just in-your-face enough to tickle my fancy. Corey Glover has one of the great rock voices of all time.

“Floating Life”, Level 42 – A fun early track from the founders of the Britfunk sound. I particularly love the doubled bass line in the last half of the guitar solo. Find yourself a good stereo system – a subwoofer is a must – crank it up and feel the sound of the apocalypse!

“What Am I Here For?”, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross – Their first album was entitled The Hottest New Group in Jazz. Hyperbole perhaps, but Dave, Jon and Annie had great jazz chops and sensitivity, and they sang their collective a$$ off.

“Don’t Change Horses (In The Middle of a Stream)”, Tower of Power – My first exposure to TOP was at band camp in 1973. As near as I can figure out, it would have been about 7 am on Monday July 9, when our camp counsellor first blasted “What Is Hip?” as our wake-up call. I’ve been a Tower of Power fan ever since. Chester Thompson (the one who plays keyboards with Santana, not the other one who played drums with Genesis) sounds like a zillion bucks on the B-3 organ, Bruce Conte’s guitar solo is a classic, and no one sings this song like Lenny Williams.

“Changing the Guard”, Mark King – This tune starts out sounding harmonically like an updated version of “Sweet Home Alabama”, but within a few seconds you know that this ain't no Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s a simple tune, but quickly turns to an almost-anthemic feel, and Mark shows that he’s really a very good singer. His bass chops are conspicuously downplayed on this album, but that only serves to play up the quality of his songs and his singing.

“Nimrod”, Dominic Miller – From Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The recent trend of pop artists re-discovering and re-interpreting legit music doesn’t always work, but Dominic gets it right by not messing with things too much.

“My Old Flame”, Charlie Parker – It would just be wrong for a jazz lover not to have at least some Bird on his/her iPod, but I have to admit that this tune makes me smile for a different reason. Every time I hear it I’m reminded of the version recorded by Spike Jones and his City Slickers.

“Green Earrings”, Steely Dan – I came to Steely Dan fairly late in life; I didn’t really start listening to the band in earnest until Gaucho, the last album before their lengthy hiatus. Over the years, though, I’ve come to appreciate the depth and breadth of their work. This is a simple song structurally, but there’s just so much going on inside of it that it easily bears repeated listening.

“Long Life”, Lyle Mays – This track is from Lyle’s solo recording, which has been under-reviewed and generally underappreciated. Lyle is really a brilliant player, and it’s a bit of a shame that he’s spent so long in the shadow of his long-time musical partner Pat Metheny. He deserves far more recognition as a player and composer than he gets.

“All the Tea in China”, Steps Ahead – From the Magnetic album, the most commercially accessible of the Michael Brecker-era Steps Ahead albums. When I first heard it, I was simultaneously put off by the attempt to reach out to the pop crowd and amazed by the technical and musical pyrotechnics that Mike and the gang were able to put into their playing. In the end the album didn’t enjoy much crossover success, but it stands up very well, even more than twenty years after its release. Mike’s playing on both tenor sax and EWI is inspired.

“Midnight Mood”, Michael Brecker – even more inspiration from The Greatest Living Saxophonist. (Feel free to flame me for my choice, but hey: my blog, my rules!) To me Mike is the strongest argument for a Supreme Being, although his recent health problems might lead one to believe that the aforementioned Supreme Being has a crap sense of humour.

“John And Mary”, Jaco Pastorius – It’s well-known now, although not so well-known at the time, that although Jaco was undeniably a genius and a seminal figure in modern jazz music, he was also wildly bipolar. His daughter Mary has also been diagnosed with the same illness. There’s no dispute, though, that Jaco adored his kids. In this track you can hear him playing with them.

“Jack Cannon”, Alain Caron – Over the years I’ve met and spoken with Alain Caron a few times, first in an interview setting, then (slightly) more informally. He’s a terrific guy as well as being a monster bassist. I’ve always thought of this tune as the best TV theme song ever, although to my knowledge it’s never been used.

“80/81”, Pat Metheny – A few years ago, I started playing saxophone again after a break of nearly two years. My re-introduction to the horn consisted of putting this album on and trying to play along as best I could. I don’t know why I picked this album, but it nearly made me hang up the horn for good! In retrospect there are probably fifty other albums in my collection that would have been a better choice to try and get my chops back up to snuff, but listening to Dewey Redman, Pat Metheny and (yes, my hero) Mike Brecker for an afternoon helped remind me of how much I have yet to learn.

“Cousin Mary”, John Coltrane – One of the must-haves in any saxophonists’ collection is Giant Steps. For a 1959 album, everything sounds remarkably fresh.

“Maiden Voyage”, Herbie Hancock – Everyone, and I mean everyone, has played this tune at one time or another. The original recording from 1965 still rules.

“Willie and the Hand Jive”, Eric Clapton – I’ve never been a great fan of Clapton’s singing, but he’s always been a great guitarist, and this tune is just plain fun.

“Superboy”, The Bears – The Bears were one of Adrian Belew’s pet projects right after the demise of the 1980s Fripp/Belew/Bruford/Levin iteration of King Crimson. I always felt that this band gave Ade more of an opportunity to show his playful side. Although the Crims sometimes sound like full-on anarchy at high volume, the fact is that their tunes are tightly structured and the “improv” is very much buttoned down. In any event, the Twang Bar King has a blast on this album, and he takes what would otherwise be a really good bar band to a whole different level.

“Edith and the Kingpin”, Joni Mitchell – Wow. Joni’s 1979 Shadows & Light tour showcased some of the most influential musicians of the time. Joni on vocals and guitar, along with nearly all my faves: Pat Metheny on guitar, Lyle Mays on keys, Jaco Pastorius on bass, Don Alias on drums and percussion, Mike Brecker on saxophone, and The Persuasions just to round things out a bit vocally. I only wish I’d been able to see this band live. I bought the DVD of this show a couple of years ago, but made the mistake of loaning it to a friend who promptly dropped off the face of the earth. Tanya, if you’re out there, I forgive you, but gimme back my DVD, dammit!

“Back in Black”, Living Colour: A great way to end a nearly perfect day of music listening. Yeah, I know, it may be sacrilege to dig a cover of such a classic tune, but the Living Colour version is every bit as much fun as the AC/DC original. In fact, I kind of enjoy the tongue-in-cheekiness of a black (sorry, African-American) band a) doing one of the great metal tunes of all time; and b) paying respect to it while simultaneously freshening it up.

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Whew! This is one long post, but hopefully we’ve all learned an important lesson: don’t go two months between posts.

PS: if you're interested in any of these tunes, post a comment to this post and I'll try to hook you up.