New Month, New Poll

November is gone, the 'staches have been shaved, and the Seinfeld vs. Friends poll is closed.  And the winner is...

SEINFELD by a landslide.  Final votes were 17 for Seinfeld, 3 for Friends, 3 for "they both suck" and 0 for "they're both good"

New poll is up at the right of your screen, give me your opinion on the 90s.

Grady @ The Pyramid

So I had to write a review for my Journalism class, and it just so happened to be assigned a couple days before the Grady show.  Figured I'd post it up on here.

Of the approximately 170 people at The Pyramid Cabaret to see Grady on November 19, about 20 would have passed a sobriety test after the show.  The other 150 were a blurry-eyed, word-slurring, stumbling, beer-guzzling, whiskey-shooting ball of energy.  And many would argue that is the best way to see a Grady concert.

The Austin, TX based group, who invented their own genre of “cowboy metal”, made their way to The Pyramid for the third time since October 2009, and as usual kept their fans up and rocking until closing time.  Their two hour set began at the stroke of midnight, as the house music (which was, appropriately, The Headstones’ Greatest Fits album) changed to an upbeat country tune and two towering figures topped with cowboy hats made their way through the crowd from the back of the club.  

The 21 song set featured songs from each of the band’s three albums, and six songs written by frontman Gordie Johnson’s original, more widely known band, Big Sugar.  Rather than play a verbatim cover of the Big Sugar songs, the group “Gradified” them, which typically meant turning up the volume to eleven and slowing it down a few beats per minute. 

The show kicked off with an old Big Sugar hit, Ride Like Hell, which was the first track on Grady’s first release, 2004’s Y. U. So Shady?   Without stopping, they launched into three songs from their latest album, released in 2009, Good as Dead.  As they powered through the booze-soaked Whiskey River, fog blew from the nostrils of a cattle skull that hung from the front of Nina “The Queena” Singh’s transparent drum kit, drawing a chorus of cheers from the crowd.  The trio finally took a break to make sure it was “alright if we play a few truck-drivin’ songs?” then launched into the second Big Sugar song of the night, Three Minute Song from Hit and Run, followed by Truckstop in La Grange, which has a brief throwback to the 1973 ZZ Top hit. 

  

A few songs later came the crowd-favourite title track from Good as Dead, which also contains the title of Grady’s newly released live CD/DVD, filmed in Winnipeg, Calling All My Demons.  During Rolling Thunder, from 2006’s A Cup of Cold Poison, bassist “Big” Ben Richardson was so loud it felt as though thunder were actually rolling through the room, nearing the mythical “brown note.”

After strapping on his custom Gibson double-neck guitar for the second time of the night, Johnson drew the loudest applause of the night when he asked “how about a good ol’ fashioned drinkin’ song?”  The drinkin’ song was On The Wagon, which is about a man about to be hanged pleading for one more whiskey and one more song.  The main set ended at 1:40 with Hammer in my Hand, from Big Sugar’s Heated.  The song was dedicated to openers The Motorleague, and saw the band throw in a verse of Rush’s 1981 hit Tom Sawyer.

After a short encore break, Grady made their way back on stage to play a heavy three song encore, with back-to-back Big Sugar songs, Goodbye Train and Joe Louis.  The set ended at 2 on the dot with Chili Cold Blood, and for what may be the first time ever, without Johnson mentioning the fact that he was born here in Winnipeg at St. Boniface Hospital.

The night opened with The Motorleague, from Moncton, NB playing a lengthy hour-long set.  The first song had the crowd on their feet chanting “directly to hell” along with the band during the repetitive chorus.  Unfortunately, that is where the show went as the east-coasters failed to impress the crowd with their generic pop-punk songs and wannabe-rockstar poses.  All but six people ended up back at their table within a few songs.

Big Sugar

So last Friday I saw Grady at The Pyramid, which was awesome, of course.  Before the show, Gordie Johnson was doing a guitar clinic at Long & McQuade which I went and checked out.  It was great to see him up close with just an acoustic guitar, answering fans questions and performing a variety of songs.  Since I've already written about Grady (click here), this edition of Jaremy on Music will be about his older, more widely known band, Big Sugar.

Most Canadian music fans have at least heard OF Big Sugar.  They are a blues/rock/reggae band that recieved a decent amount of exposure during their original run, from 1991-2004.  They had a few songs in regular rotation on the radio and Much Music, but the ones that stick out in my mind from when I was a youngster just discovering good music are Diggin' A Hole, Dear Mr. Fantasy (which I spent a long time loving, unaware of the fact that it was actually a Traffic song), Turn The Lights Out, Nicotina (She's All That) and The Scene.  The group has released 5 studio albums.

One of the things that I find impressive about Big Sugar is their versatility.  Gordie Johnson's guitar style is quite heavy, yet also bluesy, multi-instrumentalist Kelly Hoppe (aka Mr. Chill) brings influence from old school R'n'B and since 1994, their bassist has been Garry Lowe, who grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and brings a heavy reggae presence to the group.  Multiple drummers have worked their way in and out of Big Sugar, and in 1999 a rhythm guitarist named Mojah joined the band.

Earlier in 2010, Gordie Johnson announced that Big Sugar had reunited (though he continues to play with Grady, as well as produce a massive list of bands, including The Trews, Gov't Mule and Taj Mahal).  I'm hoping they make a stop in Winnipeg, since the last time they came through town I was about 10-years-old.

I met Gordie after his clinic at L & M and arranged to do an interview that I had planned to post on here and play on my radio show (warning, shameless self-promotion: Behind the Beat, Wednesdays, 8pm on 92.9 Kick FM) but unfortunately never ended up meeting up with him after the show. I've been kicking myself for not trying harder to do that. I do, however, have to write a review of the Grady show for my Journalism class, which I will probably post on here once it's done, so keep an eye out for that.

Now you internet people didn't think I was going to end this post without a couple of videos, did you?

My personal favourite Big Sugar song, Empty Head, live in 1996.


The Scene, live in 1998, before it was released as a single. I love the Tarzan holler that someone in the audience does right before they start playing.


Gordie Johnson performing an acoustic version of All Hell For A Basement during one of his clinics at a Long & McQuade in Edmonton in 2007. He looks a little different than in the first video, eh?

Red Fang

Once again, I apologize for the inactivity on here over the past little while.  After making it through my week from hell last week, I've been taking it easy and spending a lot of this week actually getting out of the house and enjoying the little bit of free time that I had.  This is going to be a short one, since I plan to have a quick nap before heading out to see Grady (click here) at The Pyramid tonight.

As I promised last week, I'm going to write a bit about Red Fang.  Well, internet people, I'll admit it, I know nothing about Red Fang.  And, for the first time in Jaremy on Music history, I have never seen them live before.  My brother introduced me to this hard-rockin', riff-driven, beer-guzzlin' four-headed machine a while ago, by showing me the video for Prehistoric Dog (see bottom of my last post).  It's probably the best music video ever, and the song is pretty bitchin', too.

All I know about Red Fang is that they are from Portland, Oregon and don't make it up to Canada often.

Until they do, I'll have to just be satisfied with videos on YouTube.  And just in case you're in the same position as me, I've compiled a few of my favourites for your enjoyment.

Wires, the band's newest single.

Good to Die, live at South by Southwest 2009.

Prehistoric Dog, also from SXSW '09.

Holy Crap, I Need To Write A New Blog!

So I'm currently in the middle of an extremely busy week which has just been getting busier as time passes, so I apologize to my internet people about the lack of new content, but you'll have to wait til next week for another music profile.

I'm going to use this time for some shameless self-promotion.  As you read last week (you have been reading all my posts, haven't you?) my good pal Alex White and I will be hosting a show on 92.9 Kick FM called Behind the Beat.  As you also read last week (right?) our debut episode is tonight.  We will be hitting the airwaves at 8 p.m. with some of the most riveting radio you've ever heard.  We are going to be playing a wide variety of tunes, it should be good!

Here's a quick preview of what me may or may not play tonight.  Hint: we are playing it.  Unfortunately, we can't play the awesome music video on the radio, because, well, it's radio, not TV.

On that note, I think my next post will be about Red Fang. Check back next week.

Flash Fiction

*This post is part of an assignment for my creative writing class*

 Earlier on this year in our Creative Writing class, CreComm students were introduced to Arjun Basu, a writer from Montreal.  Basu writes short stories via Twitter, using each of the allotted 140 characters and no less.  He calls his stories Twisters "because everything on Twitter has a stupid name", and they are probably some of the shortest flash fiction (really short stories) you'll ever read.  Click here to read more about Basu, or follow him on Twitter, @arjunbasu.

Our class was challenged to create our own flash fiction (I won't call them Twisters, because we weren't required to use all 140 characters), which turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had imagined.  Here are the ones that I wrote.  Typically I just wrote what was in my mind at the moment (though they weren't true in any way), so some of them are kinda weak/just plain dumb.

"Running to catch up, but my shoe is undone. I fall."

"I left the club with a bleeding nose. Turns out she had a boyfriend."

"Everyone knew the guy, he was an asshole. That's what made it so funny."

"They sat around in a silence for a long time.  Joe said he was going to get a drink, but he just went home.  That place was boring, anyways."

"The game had just started, but no one wanted to keep playing.  Scrabble is fucking stupid, they agreed, and never played board games again."

"There were too many movies to choose from, so that sat and stared at the blank screen instead.  Bad idea."

"He spent all night drawing a chalk mural on her sidewalk. "Now she'll remember my name" he thinks. It rained before she woke up."

So there you have it, an example of some of my creative writing.  That last one was based off of a line in a Raconteurs song, and to keep with Jaremy on Music tradition, here is a video of the band performing that song, which is called Together.

The Raconteurs

Members:

Jack White - Guitar/Vocals

Brendan Benson - Guitar/Vocals

Jack Lawrence - Bass

Patrick Keeler - Drums

Discography:

Broken Boy Soldiers - 2006

Consolers of the Lonely - 2008

As I've mentioned on here a couple of times before, I have a huge man-crush on Jack White.  I love pretty much everything he's done, from his early recordings in a duo called The Upholsterers to his latest album with The Dead Weather.  I didn't always love Jack White, but the song Level off of Broken Boy Soldiers got me interested, and it just sort of snowballed from there.

The group formed in 2005, and has kept the same four members the whole time, despite the fact that they all play in other projects.  They do bring along one multi-instrumentalist when they tour.  In support of Broken Boy Soldiers they toured with Dean Fertita (from Queens of the Stone Age, also part of Brendan Beson's solo project and now plays with Jack White in The Dead Weather) on keyboards, percussion and guitar.  While touring after the release of Consolers of the Lonely, Mark Watrous played keyboards, percussion, fiddle and sang backup.

Another band introduced to me by my very tall friend, The Raconteurs have created their own breed of rock 'n' roll.  Consolers of the Lonely incorperates many different musical styles, from country to bluegrass to folk (okay, I'll admit that those are all similar genres).  Initially I had only heard the group's first single, Steady as She Goes, and wasn't too impressed.  I thought it was just another boring, generic, mainstream pop-rock song, and being the hip young 17 year-old asshole that I was, I had no interest.  Eventually that very tall friend of mine showed me the rest of the CD, and as I mentioned above, the song Level got into my head immediately.  I enjoyed it, but still wasn't a huge fan.

Of course, time passed, things changed.  When The White Stripes released Icky Thump in 2007, I began to really like the work that Jack White did.  I became a casual White Stripes fan, but always steered away from Seven Nation Army (still do).  One day at work (where I'm forced to listen to the radio, unfortunately) I heard a song that I thought was a new White Stripes single, but I never caught the name of it.  Well, turns out that that "new White Stripes" song was actually Salute Your Solution, the first single off of Consolers of the Lonely.  I immediately went home and downloaded...I mean legally purchased...the album and gave it a partial listen through.  Not really what I was expecting, based off of Broken Boy Soldiers, but it was damn good, better in my opinion.  Well as luck would have it, The Raconteurs were one of the bands playing at Bonnaroo that year, and it just so happened that my brother and I were planning on heading down with a few buddies.  The more I listened to Consolers, the more excited I got for their show.  By the time we left, The Raconteurs were easily the biggest draw for me, in a lineup that had, amongst about a hundred others, Pearl Jam, Stephen Marley, Chris Rock and B.B. King.

The show was unreal.  The crowd was pretty big, so we just hung out near the back.  Since it was only the second main stage show we ever saw at Bonnaroo, we didn't know that heading to the left side of the crowd means easy access to good spots (don't know why, but look at any aerial pictures and the left side of the crowd is always half the size of the right).  Their songs sound great in a live setting, and the guys bring so much energy and power to the show that they don't need fancy lights or gimmicks to make their show good.  Nope, they survive on talent alone, unlike so many bands these days.  The crowd loved the show, and the band really fed off that energy.  They played everything with a bit more distortion and aggression than their recordings, which is fine with me.  The show was sort of a hometown gig, since they are from Nashville, and Bonnaroo is held in Manchester, Tennessee, about 65 miles from Nashville.

One part of the show that really sticks out with me is how good Patrick Keeler is at drums.  It was sweltering hot and humid as shit (how humid is shit, anyways?) and this guy was still nailing every single stroke perfectly.  I was most impressed with the way he switched the grip on the drumstick in his right hand in the middle of big long fills without missing a beat.  As my Tom Cruise lovin' pal would say, that's crazy bus.

Interesting fact: due to a band in Queensland already using the name Raconteurs, the group is known as The Saboteurs in Australia.  A member of the Australian Raconteurs explains that they were not told who it was trying to buy the rights to their name, and asked for a larger sum, just to see what would happen.  The plan backfired, they got no money, and Jack and the boys simply changed their name for the Aussie market.

The group's versatility is probably what I like most about them, so I'll try to show that off with these videos.

Consoler of the Lonely live at Glastonbury 2008.

Old Enough live at Bonnaroo 2008.

Blue Veins live at Bonnaroo 2008. Best part is when Jack White bails face first into an amp. Looks like he's crying when he leaves the stage.

Carolina Drama live from The Basement. One of the best closing songs I've ever heard. Check out the killer 'stache that Brendan Benson is rocking here.

The Dungeon Master

*This post is an assignment for my creative writing class, and is definitely not about The Raconteurs*

Usually I am not a big fan of stories from The New Yorker, but The Dungeon Master by Sam Lipsyte, from the October 4 edition, was an exception.  I chose to read this story based solely on the title, hoping that it may lead to a few laughs, and I wasn't disappointed.

There were quite a few things I liked about this story, aside from the humour.  Lipsyte portrays the 14-year-old Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) nerds perfectly, which is surprising, since he is 42.  The way the characters interact with each other makes the story more believable, and Lipsyte brings in characters that everyone will recognize to make it more realistic.

Everyone knew that one weird older guy in high school, since they are usually pretty memorable for some of the weird stuff they are known for (sorry if anyone reading this was that weird older guy in high school).  Reading about the rumours of how The DM hit a kid with a baseball bat when he was younger, flashed a bunch of girls at the ice rink or "set his turds on fire in the school parking lot" made me feel as if I were right back in the halls of junior high.  Thankfully I wasn't.  We all remember the day that the one kid decided that sitting around in your friends basement wasn't fun anymore as suggested smoking pot or watching the neighbour shower (okay, maybe not that specific). Characters and situations like these are what made The Dungeon Master stand out amongst other stories I've read from The New Yorker.

I also enjoyed the way that the author switched between the real world and the D&D world.  In one section, he uses dialogue that the real characters speak, but the action which their in-game characters are doing.  Sounds confusing, but it's not.

Click here to read the story on The New Yorker's website.

New Poll/Exciting Announcement

Another month gone, another poll completed.  In October, Darkside of the Moon beat out The Wall with a score of 13-9.

Check out the new poll to the right of your screen and cast your vote.  It's not music related, mainly because I couldn't think of anything good, and I was watching Seinfeld.  This month's poll is Seinfeld vs Friends.  Sorry Tim, you can only vote once.

On to the exciting announcement!  This one is for my local readers, right here in Winnipeg.  Starting on November 10, my good friend Alex White and I will be hosting a radio show on 92.9 Kick FM, which will be on every Wednesday from 8-9 pm.  We're pretty much just going to play music, talk about the songs a bit,  probably share a few weird news stories, maybe some hockey talk (he's a Leafs fan who hates Canucks fans, I'm a Canucks fan who hates Leafs fans, so proverbial shit may hit proverbial fans) and you'll definitely get to hear me make an ass of myself on a weekly basis.  Good times, my internet friends, good times.

Well, that's all I have to say for now.  One day when I have some free time I'll write a big long post about The Raconteurs, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

The Melvins

Alright, so I'm not gonna come on here and bullshit y'all like I know tons about The Melvins (aka the Godfathers of grunge music), but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna write about them.  My brother introduced me to them a while back, and I've done what I can to get an idea of who they are, but they've been around for so long that it's quite the task.  I'll give you internet people what I can, but this is going to be a pretty basic post.  If I forget anything that you either know already or would like to know, leave it in the comment box at the bottom.

Formed in 1983, The Melvins have gone through a decent amount of members in their 27 years of existence, so I'm just going to focus on the core.  Guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne (the dude with the hair, from now on known as King Buzzo) and drummer Dale Crover have played with 6 bass players in their time together, and played as a two-piece for a small part of their career.  In 2006, without a bassist, they collaborated with another two-piece, Big Business, who were made up of bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis.  Crover is right handed, Willis is left handed, so they made two drum kits into one really big drum kit, sharing some of the toms and cymbals in the middle.  Later that year it was announced that Warren and Willis were officially members of The Melvins, and they have been touring with them ever since.  King Buzzo does most of the lead vocals, but all four members sing gang vocals.

The combination of two drummers and all four guys singing in deep, beefy voices leads to one of the biggest sounds I have ever experienced in concert.  Crover and Willis typically play the same drum parts, giving the kit an illusion of being mirrored in the middle.  Wild stuff, man.

Fun fact: While still in high school, Kurt Cobain used help them load gear, and would generally just follow the band around.  That's right, Kurt Cobain was The Melvins's roadie before Nirvana was even conceived.

I was disappointed to have to leave part way through their show at this past Bonnaroo, but The Dead Weather was about to play, and my man-crush on Jack White wouldn't allow me to miss any of that show.  Luckily, the kind people at Bonnaroo released a decent amount of videos of The Melvins show (and The Dead Weather, for that matter).  Here's a couple of highlights.

Anaconda

Black Bock

This one isn't from Bonnaroo, but it's my favourite Melvins song, so I had to post it. Wicked double-drummer action in this one. The Kicking Machine, live at Amoeba Records in 2008.

Grady

Howdy internet people, and sorry for the lack of activity over the past week, it's been kinda hectic.  I recently found out that Grady is returning to Winnipeg on November 19, for another show at The Pyramid.  I saw them there earlier this year, and it was great, so I'm really excited for this show.

Grady is a "cowboy metal" from Austin, TX.  They feature former Big Sugar frontman Gordie Johnson (fun fact: Gordie was born in Winnipeg) on guitar and vocals, "Big" Ben Richardson on bass and Nina "The Queena" Singh on drums. They have 3 albums out, Y.U. So Shady? (2004), A Cup of Cold Poison (2007) and Good as Dead (2009).  The current tour is in support of the release of their CD/DVD combo, Calling All My Demons.  The DVD is of their 2009 show at The Pyramid (kinda weird that they've played the same place 3 times in the past year, but I'll take it) and features songs from all 3 albums.

If you don't have plans for that night, bust out your cowboy hat, dust off your leather boots and come down to The Pyramid, you won't be disappointed.

What would a Jaremy on Music post be without some videos for my kind readers to watch?

When The Boots Come Off

Chili Cold Blood

Joe Louis (originally a Big Sugar song)

The Social Network

*This post is an assignment for my Public Relations class.  More musical goodness to come, I promise*

Last night I saw the movie The Social Network, which, for those who are out of the loop, is the story of how Facebook was created.  It tells the tale of how one drunken night when Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend dumped him lead to the creation of the second most popular website on the internet (Google Earth takes the number one spot, according to http://mostpopularwebsites.net/). 

I originally had pretty low expectations for this movie, though many of my friends had told me it was actually pretty good, so I went in with a clean slate.  After seeing it, I don’t really understand what the hype was about.  Cinematically it was nothing special, the story was only mildly engaging, and I was left wondering “wow, is Zuckerberg really that much of an asshole?”  A few good one liners made me smile, and the part with the chicken was pretty funny, but all around, a stinker in my books.  The only part of the story line that kept me interested was the outcome of the lawsuits, which I could have easily found out without watching a two hour movie.

As for Zuckerberg being an asshole, I don’t think the writers created a very realistic image of him.  In the movie he treated people like dirt, walked all over anyone in his path, was sarcastic (not a problem with me) and just generally unlikable.  Everything I have seen or heard of the real life Zuckerberg leads me to believe this is mostly exaggeration.   He seems like a friendly guy, who may have a bit of a “holier than thou” problem, but being the world’s youngest billionaire may be cause of that (still not excusable).  The character in the movie really didn’t care about anything; not his friends, not his money, not his image, nothing.  He was portrayed as this dark outcast sort of figure, but the movie made it seems as though it was by his choice.  Throughout the whole movie, Jesse Eisenberg (playing Zuckerberg) has a look of sheer boredom on his face, which makes his character seem like even more of a recluse.

I don’t feel like the release of this movie will have any impact on the popularity of Facebook, for a few reasons:

-almost everyone in the target audience is already on Facebook

-those who are not using the social networking site probably have a reason for holding out

-in the modern online world, no one cares about the people behind the service, they just care about the service itself

Zuckerberg handled the negative portrayal of himself in a calm, reasonable, and light-hearted way.  He made it clear that this is a movie, and that just like any other movie, it’s made up (at least partially) and should be more for fun than anything else.  It is too bad that a movie like this can come along and paint someone in such a negative way that they have to come out and make it clear that it is not true.  I believe he did a good job of making it clear that the character in the movie is made up, which will definitely brighten a few people’s perceptions him.

Best part of the movie?  The fact that opened with Ball and Biscuit by The White Stripes, which played in the background all throughout the first scene.

Lastly, if I ever join a frat, please shoot me.

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

Throughout my posts, you will often see me talk about the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, for one simple reason: it's probably the greatest place on Earth.  It is a 4 day festival held annually in June in Manchester, Tennessee, which now attracts over 70 000 people per year.  Everyone camps out in a giant field on some dude's farm and just lets loose.  Rarely will you see people not getting along (they're hippies, what do you expect) and it is easily one of the most relaxed atmospheres I've ever experienced.

I have been for the past three years, and seen some of the best concerts I've ever seen there.  Pearl Jam, The Raconteurs, Stevie Wonder, The Dead Weather, Conan O'Brien, The Black Keys, The Melvins, Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Galactic, Trombone Shorty...the list goes on and on.  With over 120 acts spread out over 4 days on 5 main stages/tents, and I believe 8 secondary stages/tents, festival goers have the opportunity to see many of their favourite bands all in the same day.  This past year, I saw over 20 concerts in the brief span, with almost no overlap.  One disappointing moment for me was when John Fogerty and Ween overlapped, and I missed the first half of the Ween show.  But seeing Fogerty play an outdoor show in the south in 110 degree sun was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.  

It really is hard to describe Bonnaroo in words, so I'll let the videos and pictures do the talking.  If you ever get the chance, go!  Just don't forget sunscreen, a hat, and rain gear.

An aerial shot taken this past year gives you an idea of how huge the place is.

  The view from the second main stage, The Which Stage.

 Mid-day crowd at the main stage, The What Stage.

 Pearl Jam playing Better Man in 2008.  Eddie Vedder was spectacularly drunk.  Polished a few bottles of wine during the show.

The Raconteurs playing Old Enough in 2008. Check out the tone Jack White has coming out of that acoustic.

The Beastie Boys doing Sabotage in 2009. They screwed it up TWICE! Awesome.

The Dead Weather playing Blue Blood Blues in 2010.

Ween doing Touch My Tooter in 2010. If you haven't heard of Ween, enjoy.

Lastly, The Melvins playing Civilized Worm. Check out that sweet double drummer action!

Jello Biafra @ The Pyramid

First off I want to mention that I will have a few more off-topic blog assignments coming up in the next few weeks, so I'll try to even it out with as many regular posts about music as possible.  Don't want all you internet people to lose interest, now do I?

On to the good stuff.  Last night punk rock legend Jello Biafra, best known as the lead singer in the Dead Kennedys, was in town with his new band The Guantanamo School of Medicine.  I saw part of their set at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween last year, but had to leave early to see (not bragging) George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars.  Had to be done.

Those not familiar with Jello may be surprised at the amount of talking he does during his shows.  Their songs are punctuated with long speeches about all sorts of topics, mostly political.  He has always combined his political views with his sarcastic sense of humour to educate the audience.  Sometimes it's just random goofiness, but usually there is a message behind what he says.  He gets into stuff that just confuses me, and I'm not here to write about politics (at least not this time) so I'll just stick to the band.

His new band is much heavier than the Dead Kennedys, but similar enough that people who come for that are satisfied.  They also do a few DK covers to keep the crowd happy.  Jello hasn't changed much over the years, aside from a few extra pounds and a little less hair.  His trademark nasally near-lisp hasn't changed at all, and his stage antics are wild.  Watching him on stage, you would never guess that he is now 52. 

The show last night at The Pyramid Cabaret was a 90 minute frenzy.  The crowd was pretty nuts, although small, and the mosh pit rarely slowed down.  Jello made it clear right from the start that this would be a no bullshit night, calling out two guys standing right up front.  "Oh, by the way, if you two are here to fight, get the fuck out of this room right now.  There will be no fuckin' fighting tonight."  And he meant it.  When a scuffle broke out during the second encore, Jello stopped the song to make sure it was broken up.  His roadies were busy trying to keep people from rolling onto the stage and accidentally unplugging anything.  All in all, it was a sweaty good time.

The band has one album out, The Audacity of Hype, which is a modest 9 songs long.  They had a new EP coming out in spring.

I found a few good quality videos from the first time I saw Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, so here they are.

Three Strikes

Dot Com Monte Carlo with a short Jello rant at the beginning

Holiday in Cambodia (Dead Kennedys cover)

Russian Circles

What's that, internet people?  You say you wanna hear something entirely instrumental this time?  Well okie-dokie, how's Russian Circles for you?  WHAT?!  You've never heard of Russian Circles?  Well I don't blame you, they fly pretty low under the radar, so let me tell you about them...

A three-piece rock (some would say metal) group based out of Chicago, Russian Circles got started in 2004, originally as just guitarist Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper.  The two had previously played together in a band called Dakota/Dakota, so they were already familiar with each other's playing styles.  Not long after they were joined by drummer Dave Turncrantz, and together they released their first album, Enter, in 2006. DeKuiper left the band shortly after the release and was replaced by Brian Cook.  They have released two albums since Cook took over on the low-end, Station in 2008 and Geneva in 2009.

My first experience with Russian Circles was just this past summer, when they were opening for High on Fire at The Royal Albert (one of my favourite bars as far as shows go).  Having seen High on Fire once before and knowing how good (and painfully loud) their live show is, I wasn't about to miss this one.  At the time I had never heard of Russian Circles, but my long time guitar playin' buddy showed me some of their stuff and I was hooked.  The mixture of hard-hitting metal and slower more melodic rock riffs keeps their songs fresh and interesting, and hardly ever are they repetitive nonsense like so many current songs are.  Also, being a drummer, I couldn't help but notice that Turncrantz was a MACHINE!  This guy is all over the place, playing a mile a minute, and he never misses a beat.  As I mentioned in my earlier post about The Black Keys, I don't think that speed has anything to do with how good a musician is, but being as tight as he is, playing as fast as he is, and doing the things he does is no small feat.

It was only about a month before the show that my long time guitar playin' buddy introduced me to Russian Circles. He had just gotten back from living in B.C. for almost two years, where a friend had introduced him to the band. I had told him about the upcoming High on Fire show, briefly mentioning the openers. Luckily he had his Macbook with him, and loaded up Geneva for me to check out.  After one listen, I was already more excited for Russian Circles than I was for High on Fire.  When I found out that the band was made up of only three people, I was interested to see how their live show translated, because most of their songs have intricately layered guitar parts and all sorts of weird sounds.  Well, thanks to effects/loop pedals (which Sullivan uses flawlessly), they were able to reproduce the sound almost to the tee.  Luckily for me, it was just the sound they reproduced, not the exact arrangements and feel of the songs.  I hate going to see a show and pretty much just hearing the recorded versions of the songs played really loud.   I'd way rather see/hear something original that I haven't heard before, and may never be heard again.

The show was mind boggling, by the way.  The Albert was packed with sweaty metal fans, most of whom were huge and smelt pretty bad.  Me being about 5'7” and freshly showered, I expected to stand in the back and just listen, but was able to force my way forward and ended up near the front.  I got knocked around a bit (especially during High on Fire...did I mention they are one of the heaviest bands ever?) but it was well worth it.  The music was so good that I didn't even notice the pain, just like the time I saw Rage Against the Machine and realized after the show that the blood stain on the guy in front of me had come from my face.  Good times!

Unfortunately, there are not many good quality videos of the group on YouTube, but I found a couple that are decent.  They aren't the songs I was hoping to post, but good enough.

Micah


Enter

Sam vs Judy LIVE @ RRC!

*this post is an assignment for my Journalism class.  Check back soon for my post on Russian Circles.*

Today may be a turning point in one aspect of my life.  Stress on the MAY BE.  The day I became interested in politics.  Up until this morning I had always found politics (and politicians) to be so full of it that it was unbearable for me to follow.  And, like Stan Marsh in one episode of South Park, I was never really a fan of the options I was given on the ballot, so I usually go write myself in as a candidate, just for kicks (anyone who doesn't like their options is encouraged to write my name on their ballot, that's Jaremy with an "a" Ediger).  On top of all the lies and egos, I found most things political about as boring as Coronation Street.  Sorry to any fans, but after hearing that damn depressing theme song every weekend for my entire life as my Mom watches it in the other room has ruined me...also, sorry Mom, I should have told you that in person, not on the internet.

This morning, Red River students had the opportunity to watch Sam Katz and Judy Wasylycia-Leis debate live in the cafeteria of the Princess St (Princess Ave according to Richard Cloutier) campus.  I'm not sure if I would have attended it had I not been required to, but I'm glad I was.  The mayoral candidates duked it out for almost two hours for an audience of mostly students, tackling issues such as Winnipeg's increasing crime rate, crumbling infrastructure, the Veolia contract and briefly touching on the police helicopter recently purchased by the city.  Though neither presented any new ideas or platforms, it was interesting to hear them exchange blows, and be able to watch their reactions right in front of me.  The highlight for me was Judy W-L's rapid shift facial expressions after Katz responded to her scolding him about the Veolia contract with "Thanks, Mom!"  Many people saw that as a low blow, and it even evoked a few boos from the audience.  Personally I saw nothing unethical about it, for a couple reasons... 

1)  Name-calling is part of politics, that much I know.  They're called attack ads, people, it's no different.  

2)  As far as slandering the opponent goes, Judy presented very little of her own ideas, and spent much of her time talking down on Katz, with not much to back it up. 

3)  In regards to being condescending, how about referring to the incumbent mayor as "My dear Sam Katz" at one point.  You had to hear the tone she used.  In fact you can, by clicking here to watch the entire debate, courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press.  Watch for my buddies Garth and Al to ask the hard hitting questions near the end.

Throughout this whole debate I felt like I should be taking notes, in case the big bad Journalism instructor decides that a quiz is necessary (note to Duncan: it's not), but I was too caught up in the debate to even think about taking out my notebook.  The back and forth exchange was so quick and enticing that I doubt I would have been able to write fast enough, anyway

A lot of people are talking about the "winner" of the debate, and though there really is no winner in a debate, I felt that Katz presented himself a lot better than Judy W-L.  She spent too much time talking about Katz, rambled on for too long, and presented arguments that were factually ungrounded.  Katz was more professional, more composed and tackled the issues at hand rather than talking circles around them.

I should mention, though, that I am still unimpressed with my options in this election, and plan to write myself in again.  JAREMY FOR MAYOR!

"Like This..."

Tonight I had the amazing opportunity to stand front row at the Garrick Centre to see The Robert Cray Band.  Cray is someone who I have always known of, mostly as someone who has played with many blues greats in the past, but never seen or been overly familiar with.  When I heard he was coming to town and tickets were a mere 45 bucks I jumped on it.  Boy am I happy that I did.  My long time guitar playin' buddy and I were right up front (he took the picture above with his BlackBerry) and Cray delivered.  Everything from his dreaded bass player's bare feet (complete with painted silver toenails) to the rubber chicken hanging from one of the cymbal stands was perfect.  Talk about dynamic, this guy would go from wailing loud enough to make ears bleed to a barely audible whisper, both vocally and on guitar.  But just as a note to all concert goers, when someone is playing quietly that doesn't mean start yelling stupid shit like "IN THE GROOVE!" or "NICE!" or "SWEET!" or "THIS IS AWESOME!" or "WE LOVE YOU!".  The man is preforming, he doesn't need your drunk ass yelling at him.  Just drink your beer and shut up.  

Sorry for that last little rant, but it really pisses me off when people are stupid like that at concerts, especially during quiet parts.  Don't get me started on the drunken frat boy morons at Neil Young...

Videos You Gotta See

I've been wanting to post a couple videos of covers for a while now but haven't found a good time.  Well, after seeing the video of David Lee Roth from Van Halen (a guilty pleasure of mine, I'll admit) playing a bluegrass version of Jump on Leno, I decided it was time to post some of these videos together, completely out of context and just for fun.  Enjoy!

To start, bluegrass Van Halen, as mentioned above.  I love when he tries to point out the guy playing the solo but can't figure out which guy he should be pointing at. I can't decide if this is awesome in a terrible way, or just plain terrible.  Let me know what you think.

 You've probably seen it, but the Muppets do an awesome version of Bohemian Rhapsody.

This next one is cool for me because I was actually there. I'm pretty impressed with the quality this guy got from so close. Ben Harper & Relentless7 doing Under Pressure by Queen/Bowie at Bonnaroo 2009.

And speaking of Ben Harper, click here to see a video of him on Conan O'Brien's last episode as host of The Tonight Show. Not only is Ben Harper there, Will Ferrell sings, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top is there, Conan rocks the guitar, and just for the sake of being weird, Beck is there as well.

New Poll/Oddity Faire

Polls are closed, all 23 votes have been counted, and the winner is...

Stairway to Heaven!

The final count was Stairway 15, Freebird 8.

New poll is up, Darkside or The Wall?  Vote now on the right hand side of the page.

side note: The Oddity Faire was amazing!  Split Lip Rayfield turned out to be a wicked good three-piece bluegrass band from Wichita, Kansas formed in 1995.  Two of the members switched between guitar, banjo and mandolin while the third played a "homemade one-string bass, named Stitchgiver, built from the gastank of a 1978 Mercury Grand Marquis and a piece of hickory and strung with one piece of Weedwhacker line."

Of course, Primus was mind blowing.  Les Claypool has the best strut ever, and he makes everything look so easy.  Highlight of the night for me was My Name is Mud, but a close second would be Claypool coming on stage in a monkey mask and playing his homemade whamola.  If you don't know what a whamola is you're missing out. 

Here's a couple videos for y'all internet people to enjoy.

Split Lip Rayfield - Never Make it Home

Primus - My Name is Mud

It's About to Get Odd in Winnipeg

The Oddity Faire rolls into the Walker Theatre (okay, the Burton Cummings Theatre, but I really hate calling it that) tonight, featuring one of the oddest bands in the land, Primus.  It also includes opening acts Portugal. The Man and Split Lip Rayfield, neither of whom I have heard.  I usually steer away from bands with punctuation in their name (don't ask why, just a weird bias that I have) but I have been told P.TM is good, so I will look past that period and give them a shot.

I'm pretty much just writing this because I'm super excited for the show.  I have had two chances to see Primus's bassist/frontman, Les Claypool, but both times something arose, and I ended up seeing a combined total of about 15 minutes of those shows.  Disappointing, to say the least.  I can't wait to sit back in a theatre and watch these guys, and not have to worry about leaving to see other shows (love festivals, but there is that factor), or being too drunk (ya, I'll admit it, I missed one of the Claypool shows because I had a few too many rye 'n' cokes before hand).

If you have a ticket for this show, see you there.  If not, that sucks for you.  Unless you don't care.  In that case it doesn't suck for you.

Galactic

I feel like gettin' funky today, and they don't come much funkier than Galactic. These guys have been together since 1994 (originally known as Galactic Prophylactic), maintaining a core group of Jeff Raines (guitar), Robert Mercurio (bass), Stanton Moore (drums), Ben Ellman (saxophone), and Rich Vogel (Hammond organ). They have no singer in the band, but many of their songs feature guest vocalists. Over the years their sound has evolved from a traditional jazzy New Orleans funk to a more modern style, mostly because of their use of electronic effects. They now have elements of hip-hop and electronica mixed into their funky tunes. Their 2007 release From the Corner to the Block features a different emcee on almost every track, including Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Boots Riley (The Coup), Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), Lyrics Born and many more.

They are well known for incorporating multiple guests in both their recordings and their live show. Most of these guests are other New Orleans locals, including Trombone Shorty, Corey Henry, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, and members of both The Neville Brothers and The Meters.

Galactic is another band on the long list of groups that I was introduced to in a live setting, at Bonnaroo in both 2009 and 2010. Keeping with their tradition of playing with guests, in '09 they played with Trombone Shorty and Corey Henry (both horn players) and last time they brought out Cyril Neville to sing and play percussion. I left that show at about four in the morning, RIGHT BEFORE THEY PLAYED MY FAVOURITE SONG! Shit-damn, that was disappointing.

Now, I'll admit, Galactic is one of those bands that I love, but am just not that familiar with song titles. In fact, aside from songs off of From the Corner to the Block, I can hardly put a track title to a song. But they do get me groovin', that's for sure.

The guys have even appeared in a couple episodes of HBO's Treme, a show based in post-Katrina New Orleans, where they perform live, and stir up some trouble with the cops.

On a quick side-note, drummer Stanton Moore also plays in a few side-projects, Garage-a-Trois and The Stanton Moore Trio to name a couple, which are definitely worth checking out.

I had a hard time deciding which videos to include with this post, but I think these are a fairly good representation of what the guys are all about.  I apologize for the size of the videos, you'll probably have to full screen them to see anything.

"Immigrant Song" featuring Boots Riley, Chali 2na and Laidlaw.  WARNING: if you like Led Zeppelin but don't like rap, this video may not be for you.

"Tuff Love" featuring Trombone Shorty and Big Sam.  I like this video because it not only shows off Galactic's talent, but also Shorty's (he's on trumpet in this vid).

Thanks for stopping by, internet people, and come back soon for more another edition of Jaremy on Music.

The Sadies

Hi there, internet people! Today I am here to tell you a little bit (emphasis on little) about a country/indie/blues/rock band from Toronto made up of guitarists/vocalists/brothers Dallas and Travis Good (the sons/nephews of the famous Canadian group The Good Brothers), bassist Sean Dean and drummer Mike Belitsky. Collectively, they are The Sadies.

They have been releasing music since 1998, averaging one studio album per year, and released an amazing live album in 2006. The live album features many guest appearances, including The Good Brothers, Blue Rodeo, Neko Case and many more.

My first experience with The Sadies was seeing them open for The Tragically Hip at the MTS Centre in 2007. From the moment they struck the first chord of “Lay Down Your Arms” to the moment they left the stage I was transfixed. This was the fourth (or fifth, I can't really remember) time I had seen The Hip, and they FINALLY had a good opener. I have since seen them perform at The Pyramid Cabaret twice, and they have gotten better with every show. Aside from playing as The Sadies, they often record and tour with other musicians, most notably as Neko Case's preferred backing band for live shows.

This is the kind of band you need to experience live at some point in your life.

 As always, here's a couple videos of the group in action.

"Intro/Lay Down Your Arms"

"Why Be So Curious?"