Suggested listening:  Sugar, We’re Going Down Swinging (Live) – Fall Out Boy
Note: Don’t be put off by the Suggested Listening; just read on…
Old
Holy Christ, I got old fast.
Last night, I sat on the shitter for 15 minutes, absently listening to Celtic instrumentals and random sections of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas book-on-tape.  My iPod [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube

If you visited YouTube last Sunday, you might’ve noticed the screaming banners all over everything, proclaiming U2’s live free-stream concert in L.A.  It started at 12:30 a.m. our time.  Didn’t watch it?  Huh.  Can you be blamed?
Music is in the shitter.  No one goes to concerts anymore.  The bands scalp [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube
Bono’s first monologue
On the Black Eyed Peas:
Says they’re “true pioneers from space” and “Xena meets Parliament/Funkadelic”.  Oh, I see.  Irrelevant past meets unrealistic future.
On the band being in Hollywood:
Larry Mullen Jr. is U2’s James Dean.  Adam Clayton is Rhett Butler/Clark Gable because “Frankly, my dear, he doesn’t give a damn.”  [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube
In a Little While – One of my favourite cuts.  This usually blows my mind live.  Johnny Ramone breathed new life into the band when they discovered this was the last song he listened to.  But Bono’s playing with me, with us.  This is a song of heartbreak; of miscarriages, [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube

Vertigo – “Honey, I’m home.” The Edge’s Telecaster moans like a siren. Bono has a new pace for the vocals to go along with the new stage. “I can’t stand the beats/I’m asking for the cheque.” I know the feeling. “Give me something I [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube

One – Bono again sports the guitar but doesn’t strum for a while.  I’ve seen this song performed a few hundred times.  This, honestly, is just one more.  Nothing special.  The Edge plays a little lick after the first chorus, but that’s about it for musicianship.  This is choreography.  Unless [...]

Suggested listening – U2 on YouTube

The crowd chants “Ole”.  The screens show tumbling stars and murky comet belts.  The constellations must mean something.  A rush of sound takes over, and what looks like a chipper HAL9000 takes over.  The crowd quiets.  Baby-HAL asks “What time is it in the world?”  This is Popmart, ZooTV without [...]

Suggested listening: Living on a Thin Line – The Kinks
Todd is fucking broke.
The other night, my roommate Brandon and I decided to head up to Wendy’s on Prospect for some late-night grub. Todd came along, despite literally having three dollars in his bank account and 25 cents in nickels and dimes to his name. [...]

Suggested listening:  Ryan Adams – Political Scientist

These ideas rattle around my mind like empty beer cans on a rented school bus.  The moment’s tall, dark, and handsome, and I ought to fuck it.  The metaphors come dancing, but motivation plays wallflower.  If you’re with me, it looks like we’re on our own on this one.
Why’d [...]

First day of classes kicked my ass.

Starting the school year with a 9 a.m. class was a mistake. I live on Smythe, so the 20-minute walk (I forgot my student ID when I moved up, and had to drop $10 for a new one this afternoon) to school swiftly chopped my eager learning mood.
[...]