Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Past Two Behind the Beats.

My apologies for the lack of anything on here.  No excuses, I've just been lazy (and in Chicago...keep your eyes peeled for a blog about that, maybe later on today).

Not only have I been absent from the blog world, I missed two shows in a row a few weeks back.  I was at The Pixies show for one of them and, as mentioned above, in Chicago for another.  Both places present major issues when trying to broadcast from there.  And guess what...I won't be there next week either, since my brother and I are heading down to Fargo to catch a Red Fang show next Wednesday.

May 11/2011 - random tunes with returning guest Dani Finch



PLAY LIST
A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rhyme
Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Bright Eyes - At The Bottom Of Everything
Buddy Guy - Ninety-Nine and One Half
Galactic (feat. Cyril Neville) - You Don't Know
Matthew Good - A Silent Army in the Trees
James Vincent McMorrow - If I Had a Boat
Fort Knox Five (feat. A-Skillz) - Ain't it Funky
Neil Young - Walk With Me



May 18/2011 - summertime songs






(yeah, our Ustream crapped out briefly, so the video is broken into two.  If I can fix it, I'll re-post)

We introduced a new segment this week, called "The Sarcastic Pick of the Week".  Essentially, we'll choose one song that fits the theme, but isn't real good.  Then we'll talk over it and make fun of it.  Because, as I mentioned on the show, we're dicks.

PLAY LIST
Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime (background)
The Allman Brothers - Jessica
Sam Roberts - Brother Down
Robert Randolph & The Family Band - Homecoming
Jimmy Buffett - Volcano (Sarcastic Pick 1/2)
LEN - Steal My Sunshine (Sarcastic Pick 2/2)
The Cat Empire - The Car Song
River City Hum - America's Finest
Sublime - Doin' Time (Uptown Dub remix)

Tune in next week when Al does some stuff, maybe with a guest.  I'll be back on the show on June 1st, when we do a show based on YouTube artists.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz

Recently all first-year CreComms shuffled over to the Rachel Browne Theatre to see former CreComm instructor Armin Wiebe's first venture into theatre.  Wiebe is the writer of the Mennonite-sex-romp that is The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz, a play centred around four characters and one setting.

The story is based around a farmer, Obrum Kehler, and his wife, Susch, and their desire to have a baby.  In the beginning of the play, Obrum finds a broken old "piano-thing" that has fallen off a wagon.  He enlists the help of his old friend Beethoven Blatz, a pianist, to fix up the instrument, and help Susch learn to play.  Through a series of confusing altercations between the three, and Susch's best friend Teen, it is revealed that Obrum cannot get Susch pregnant due to a bout of mumps during his childhood (which I didn't know could affect a man's Gennys, but you learn something every day).  Through a series of even more confusing dialogue with double meanings (what does Obrum really mean when he says he wants Blatz to "tune his instrument"?) a love triangle is formed, with Blatz longing for Susch.  Then it turns out Teen has a thing for Susch, too.  This is followed by a few awkwardly staged sex scenes (done for artistic purposes, I guess), some out of place singing, a few angry altercations, then Susch has a baby.

If my description above sounds a little confusing, that's because it is.  The play itself followed a basic story line, but has a few scenes which make the viewer think twice about what is happening, which begin to make it quite confusing.  Add to that the actor's use of accents, and half the dialogue being in low German, and what do you get?  A confused looking group of first-year CreComm students.  Although the accents were fairly well done (and as an actor, I know how difficult accents can be), the fact that there was a lot of German thrown into the dialogue, it just made the story that much harder to follow.  I know some German, so I was able to understand basic things, but even still, I feel as though I missed out on a lot of the jokes and plot twists.

Wiebe makes no apologies for the way the play was written.  In a talk-back with the audience after the show, he stated that was the way he wrote, and it always has been.  Growing up in a Mennonite family, he was always around the Germglish (I just made that up, it means German/English) that he features so prominently in his writing.

Wiebe later came to RRC to talk with my classmates and I once again.  When I asked about the potential to alienate the audience by using the dialogue he does, Wiebe answered curtly.  "That's the way I write, and I make no apologies for it."

So, if you want my honest opinion (which I know you do), I feel like the actors all did a great job with what they were given, though the accents got confusing.  The dialogue made the play tough to follow, and unless you speak low German, you probably won't get about half of the jokes in the play.  As someone who enjoys theatre, I was mildly entertained.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Behind the Beat "Good 90s" with guests!



You may remember the time when we did our tribute to crappy music from the 90s (if not, watch it here).  This time we decided to play 90s music that wasn't crappy, with a little help from our always well-dressed friend Dani Finch.  Our past (and future) guest Chuka Ejeckam came by near the end and, as always, classed up the joint. 

I'll be away for the next two shows (Pixies show this week, in Chicago next week), but never fear, Al will be providing you with all the Behind the Beat goodness you crave.  

PLAY LIST
The Wallflowers - The Difference
Moist - Push
No Doubt - Different People
Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank
The Tragically Hip - Scared
Rage Against the Machine - Ashes in the Fall
Bad Religion - Drunk Sincerity
Beastie Boys - Body Movin'
Meredith Brooks - Bitch
Pearl Jam - Glorified G

Monday, April 18, 2011

"Kanye Sucks" - everyone at Bonnaroo 2008



As you may know, I am a big fan of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee.  I have been for the past three years, and seen some incredible shows there.  One show that wasn't so incredible was Kanye West back in 2008.  After hearing tons of buzz and watching social networks explode last night over Kanye's show at Coachella, I've decided to share my own story and videos.

It was my first year at Bonnaroo, and the main attraction for me was Pearl Jam.  Sure there was a lineup of great artists from here to the moon, but a big outdoor PJ show just doesn't come around anymore, so I was pretty stoked.  Kanye was originally scheduled to play on the second main stage (Which Stage) right before PJ closed out the evening on the main stage (What Stage).  Of course music goes all night at Bonnaroo, and that night had some great hip-hop (Chali 2na, The Coup, Talib Kweli to name a few) on the side stages and Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead anybody?) on the Which Stage.  Kanye freaks when he hears this.  Insists he needs to play main stage late night.  Schedule gets totally fudged last minute to accommodate Kanye's ego, which results in me missing all of the GOOD hip-hop that night.  Now Kanye is scheduled to play at 2 on the What Stage, hours after PJ is to finish.

There had been a lot of buzz about this show, and I, like many others, planned to check it out, entering with a clean slate.

For those of you who are out of the loop, Pearl Jam is a legendary festival band, and have been since the early 90s.  They ended up playing an epic (and I don't normally use that word, but it's the only way to describe it) three hour show which kept the audience transfixed right through their third encore, a cover of Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower.

Now the details of what happened next are fuzzy, depending on who you ask.  I heard, and like to believe, that Kanye wasn't even in Tennessee yet, but was partying in LA or something.  Others claim that there were technical difficulties with his gear.  Another rumour states that Kanye refused to take the stage while others were performing, causing the festival to cut down Phil Lesh's set (which did happen, so this situation is plausible).  All I can confirm is that the screens by the What Stage initially said "Kanye West, 2 am".  Then "Kanye West, 2 30 am".  Then "Kanye West, 3 am".  Then "Kanye West, up next".

He came out a little after 4 to a chorus of boos and a barrage of water bottles.  I had left by then, deciding it wasn't worth my time.  From what I could hear from my tent and online after the festival, it was a brutal show, with Kanye appearing tired and uncoordinated.  

Most artists would shit themselves at the mere thought of playing at a festival the size of Bonnaroo, but instead, Kanye decided he was above the festival, its organizers, and the 65 000 people in attendance that year.  He wasted everyone's time by delaying his show, showed absolutely no respect for the fans or festival, and did nothing but complain about the show in the aftermath.  For the rest of the weekend, everywhere you went, fans and artists alike were bashing Kanye West.  And rightfully so.

I would like to leave you with some videos and a nice hearty "Fuck Kanye!".

This first one won't let me embed, you'll have to click the link and watch it on YouTube.  It pretty much just tells you what I did, but with some visuals and a soothing female voice.

Audio is a little quiet, but you can get the point.  Side note, Robert Randolph is the man, you should check him out.

These people can't ALL be wrong.

The crowd anxiously awaits, most of them now just waiting to boo the man himself.

This much auto-tuner has NO PLACE in live music. Also, notice that the sun has started coming up.

Funny or Die saves the day!



Lastly, here is a link to a site where you can read Kanye's reaction, which has been taken off of his blog.

http://www.popcrunch.com/kanye-west-bonnaroo-blog/ 

Friday, April 15, 2011

Behind the Beat "I, Me, Mine"



This week's episode, entitled "I, Me, Mine", featured songs with self references in the title.  It was my first show back after a couple of weeks off, and my energy level was a little low.  I guess if I want to do this professionally one day, I'll have to learn how to force myself to be energetic.  Either way, good music!

PLAY LIST
The Beatles - I, Me, Mine
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - I Should Have Known It
Audio Bullys - I Go To Your House
Robert Randolph & the Family Band - Deliver Me
Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill A Man
Galactic feat. Lyrics Born - I Got It (What You Need)
Blind Melon - All That I Need
The Raconteurs - You Don't Understand Me
Roky Erickson & The Aliens - Mine Mine Mind
The Doobie Brothers - You Belong To Me
Pretty Lights - I Can See It In Your Face

Tune in next Wednesday at 8 for our 90s show, round 2.  This time we are going to focus on the good part of the 90s, not the bad.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Behind the Beat (minus Jaremy plus Jason Wysynski)



I had to miss out on the fun this past week, but fortunately Al had a trick up his sleeve and brought his old roommate and (apparently) twin Jason Wysynski to fill the hole.  I'll be back next week (I know, I know, I said that last time, but I didn't expect my soccer team to still be in the playoffs at this point) and Al and I will resume our usually schtick.

PLAY LISTRage Against the Machine - Down Rodeo
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Aeroplane
Sense of Truth - Push and Pull
Hilltop Hoods - Mic Felon
Sense of Truth - Crawling
Flying Fox & the Hunter/Gatherers - Nurse
MC I-Ras - 2007 Poundermix
DJ WyZa - The Birth
The Asteroids Galaxy - Lady Jesus
Spacehog - Lucy's Shoe

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Carolina Chocolate Drops


It's been a while since I've written about a band that I like, and these guys have been stuck in my head for a couple of days, so here ya go.  I first heard of Carolina Chocolate Drops in 2007, when I saw them at Folk Fest.  I remember leaving and thinking "that was pretty cool" but never got around to checking out any of their recordings.  My Dad enjoyed the band, and ended up buying one of their t-shirts, so their name always stuck with me. 

I decided to check them out when I saw their name on last year's Bonnaroo lineup.  After watching a few videos on YouTube, I decided we had check out their show.  Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances didn't allow me to see the whole show (okay, I admit it, I got way drunk the night before and couldn't bring myself to get up in that heat).  The part I saw made me immediately regret not dragging my sorry ass out from under the shade tent and getting there for the start.  This is just some good ol' fashion music.  No overused effects, no auto-tuners, no stupid repetitive loops, no testosterone-drenched cock-rock lyrics, no...you get the point. Just three really talented people playing a variety of instruments and singing.

I don't know much (anything) about Carolina Chocolate Drops, so I'll let the videos do the talking.

Cornbread and Butterbeans


Memphis Shakedown


Covering "Hit 'Em Up Style" at Bonnaroo.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Behind the Beat with special guest Chuka Ejeckam


This week we had our friend and classmate (sort of) Chuka Ejeckam in the studio with us to liven up Behind the Beat.  Having put together the play list for these shows every week since about October, we decided to let Chuka chose all the music, to get a fresh taste in there.  Lucky for our listeners, he is a music genius (as well as an advertising genius) and brought in some great music.

PLAY LIST
J. Ralph - Kansas City Shuffle
Tom Waits - Wrong Side of the Bed
Kasabian - L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
The Clash - Bank Robber
Tom Waits - The Piano Has Been Drinking
The Parlor Mob - Can't Keep No Good Boy Down
Kasabian - Thick as Thieves
Frank Sinatra - This Town
Tom Waits - Whistlin' Past The Graveyard

Tune in next week when Al and I will be doing our "guilty pleasures" edition.  It's gonna be so bad that it's good.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Off Topic: CreComm Quotables

This one is just for fun, 'cause why not.  Anyone who knows me personally knows that I spend a lot of time at school.  Partly because I need to get the assignments done, partly because there's always something ridiculous going on when CreComms are together in a group.  I've decided to share some of the more memorable moments to date, completely out of context to make them funnier.

"You're gonna wish I farted" - Al White

(walking into a quiet class room)
"No man, that's Juicy by Biggy!" - Mike Badejo (aka Black Mike)
"Well how the fuck am I supposed to know that?!" - Garth Hildebrand (aka 30-year-old white guy)

On the topic of Garth, his slow progression from face to heel during first semester was pretty awesome.

(after Ken Finkleman dropped the cunt-bomb while speaking to our class, we had a long conversation about whether it's offensive or not.)
"Well, it's all about the way you say it, right.  What if you were saying 'you have a nice...'...you know" - Evan Paterson (conversation over)

The time Evan gave Garth his cell-phone so he could read some dirty texts aloud to all of us as we ate lunch.

The IPP after-party.  Getting so drunk at 12 noon that Al and I sang "Because I Got High" by Afroman on the karaoke and dedicated it to Steve Vogelsang.

Seeing Matt "Downtown" Nicholson take off one GWAR hoodie to reveal another GWAR hoodie underneath.  And underneath that GWAR hoodie was a Kids in the Hall t-shirt!

GOOSE! (anyone who's been in Dani's class knows what's up)

Hearing Veronica go from speaking in a normal voice to doing a "Fargo" accent mid sentence.

Pretty much anything involving Adam Campbell.

Riding the elevator with several classmates, and two random people.  It began to smell like fart right before one of the randoms got off.  After he left I loudly remarked "that guy farted".  Immediately after, I realized the random dude who was still on the elevator with us was looking rather sheepish.  He was the one who farted.


There's plenty more, and I'm sure I'll post more on here at some point.  CreComms, leave me a comment with some of the most ridiculous shit you've heard.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Behind the Beat Gets Colourful


It would appear that I'm getting lazy with these posts, but really I'm just busy and haven't had time to post anything.  I have two major projects wrapping up next week, so then I'll have some time to write about some wicked bands.  For now, I'll just do this late post of Wednesday's show.

We had a humdinger of a show this week, with TWO WHOLE GUESTS!  Our good and often mentioned pal Sirissa and her buddy Sam joined us.  I can't spell Sirissa's last name, and I don't know Sam's, so they only get first names on here.  The video for this week is pretty awesome, because Al is in the other room, so you get ALL ME!  There was a downside to this arrangement, however.  Al was totally stunned to be in a room with just himself and two women, but he persevered and the show was a bunch of fun.  Also, my pal Dave Hollier was helping out with the phones a bit (strangely enough, we actually get callers sometimes!)  You may see his arm once or twice in the video.  Don't panic.

Our theme for this show was colours, so every band or song title had to have a colour in it somewhere.  For some reason, most of them turned out to be black.  Which, as any asshole will tell you, isn't technically a colour.

I apologize for having part of the intro cut off, but I didn't click record on Ustream in time.  Also, Al said the wrong band name for the first band, it's Supergroove.

PLAY LIST
Supergroove - Your White Shirt
Electric Six - When I Get To The Green Building
Gordon Lightfoot - Black Day In July
Easy Star All-Stars - Any Colour You Like
Why - Red
Red Fang - Wires
Galactic - The Green Minute
Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer
Blue Scholars - Blue School
The Black Keys - Black Door

Tune in next week when our good buddy Chuka Ejeckam will be joining us in studio.  Do I really need to tell you where and when?  Yes?  Okay, 8 p.m. on Wednesday.  92.9 KICK-FM or click here to visit our show page on Ustream.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Behind the Beat Goes Local

 

So I'm a few days late on this one, I know, but I've had a busy week.  Sort of.  This past week, Al and I did our local show, which took us a surprisingly long time to get to.  I feel like we got a pretty good variety in this show, but it's hard to really showcase all of the talent in Winnipeg in one hour.  My best advice is get out and see shows, there's always something good going on here.

PLAY LIST
River City Hum - Easy Jesus Casino
Lovechild Monarchy - The HIV Killed Rock N Roll
Flying Fox & The Hunter/Gatherers - Spring
Enjoy Your Pumas - Sister Rose
The Lytics - Checkin' On My Pumas
Will Bonness - Softly, As A Morning Sunrise
Hot Live Guys - Creamy Illusion
Amuse - Carte Blanche

Join us this Wednesday, same beat-time, same beat-channel, for our colours edition.  Every song/artist we play will have a colour in it somewhere, and it'll be cool and stuff.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Behind the Beat with special guest Joel Nickel




I realize it's been a while since I've done one of these posts, and there's a damn good reason; we haven't done a show for the past two weeks.  We missed the first one because all first-year CreComm students were at the Winnipeg Press Club that night, and Al was out of town last week, while I was off playing back-to-back indoor soccer games. 

We didn't have a theme this week, since we've been busy working on a radio drama series for our Creative Writing class.  We just came in and played a bunch of songs that we like.  And as you can see/hear in the show, our good friend Joel Nickel joined us in the studio tonight.  Way back when Behind the Beat was still just a brain-fart Al and I had after a few too many afternoon beers at The King's Head (initially called "The Superior Sound of Vinyl", which was scraped after we realized our vinyl resources were limited), Joel was kind enough to have us as guests on his own radio show, Guerrilla Ontology.  He brought us back when Behind the Beat became official so we would have a chance to promote the show before it started, and we really appreciated what he had done for us.  Having him as our guest was the least we could do.  And we specialize in doing the least we can do.  Check Joel out on Thursday evenings at 6 pm on 92.9 Kick-FM

PLAY LIST
Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
Fun Lovin' Criminals - Scooby Snacks
Ben Harper and Relentless7 - Shimmer & Shine
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Gorrilaz - Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head (feat. Dennis Hopper)
Blakroc - Dollaz & Sense (feat.  RZA & Pharoahe Monch)
James Taylor - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine - Three Strikes
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Ain't Nothing Wrong With That

Tune in next week, when we'll be doing our all local show.  If you are in a Winnipeg band, have good quality recordings, and want us to play them, leave a comment on here.  Or even if you just have a show you want to promote, or suggestions for bands to play or anything.

Is This Music? Vol. 2

Howdy internet people, and welcome to the second edition of Behind the Blog's Is This Music?

As you may recall, the first edition of ITM? featured Merzbow (click here to view), which I had deemed to NOT be music, and the only responder to the question agreed with me.  Now let me make something clear here, "is this music?" is not just a title, or rhetorical question.  I really want to know what you guys think, so leave a comment, give me your opinion, suggest future candidates for ITM? (this edition comes from a reader suggestion), post a picture of your new puppy or kitty, just do something!  I want some feedback, internet people!

This time, I bring you something which was brought to my attention in the comments on the inaugural ITM?.  Well, I guess I knew about it before, but I wasn't planning on using it for this purpose.  Thanks to mr_viking for the idea.

In 1952, an American composer named John Cage wrote 4'33", and experimental piece which was apparently written to be played on any instrument.  This kicker?  The musician plays nothing.  Nothing at all.  The piece has been performed worldwide by a variety of musicians, groups and orchestras.  Many people argue that this is just around four and a half minutes of silence (and I'm with them), but fans of the piece (see: rich artsy folks) say that's it's not the silence you should be hearing, but the sounds of the environment around you. 

My opinion?  It's a performance, but not music.

What do you think?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Hockey Teams + Music Videos = Hilarity

I'm sure any internet person who regularly visits this here blog has figured out that I'm a music fan.  If not, you should probably learn how to read.  But what some of you may not know is that I'm also a big hockey fan.  I also like to laugh.  Sometimes all three of those things combine, and it's pretty awesome.  I've decided to share some of my favourite hockey music videos with y'all.

The 1986-87 Calgary Flames present: Red Hot
Wow.  Just wow.  The soft focus nicely compliments those beautiful 'staches.

The Leafs Are The Best
It's funny 'cause they're not.

I Just Want To Play Hockey
As a Winnipegger, this is embarrassing.


Hope you all enjoy these as much as I did, and go Canucks!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Pancake Mountain

My brother just showed me a video that I thought was worth sharing on here.  It was from an episode of the kid's show Pancake Mountain, and featured a performance by the Melvins. Typically not very kid-friendly music.  It quickly became apparent to me that this show had some wicked guests on there, but many of them very not the kind of guest you'd expect to find on a kid's show.  Here's a couple videos.

The Melvins


Andrew W.K.


Some notable ones that I couldn't find videos of include:
George Clinton

Cypress Hill
The White Stripes
Wolfmother
Robert Randolph
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

for a full list, see Pancake Mountain's wiki page.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Garage a Trois




Looking back on my posts, I realize it's been a long time since I've written about a band that I like, so here it goes.  Also, Al and I were out on a school assignment tonight, so there was no Behind the Beat.  Sorry!

Garage a Trois (apparently also known as GAT) is a band that I have known about for a while, but never really started listening to until a few weeks ago.  I first checked out their music when Behind the Beat was doing a show where Al and I were supposed to find songs by bands we had never heard of before.  Well, I got a little lazy during the week before the show, and I didn't actually find many new bands.  I took the easy way out and just looked for some of my favourite artists' "other bands".  Stanton Moore has been one of my favourite drummers since the first time I heard Galactic, so I figured one of his other bands would be a safe bet.


I went on YouTube and was instantly impressed by GAT.  How often do you hear someone rock a vibraphone like Mike Dillon can?  Not often, that's for sure.  I was drawn in by their hooky vibe riffs, unconventional drum beats and wild saxophone sounds.  And I do mean wild.

GAT is a quartet made up of Moore, Dillon, a dude called Skerik on sax and keyboardist Marco Benevento.  For four people, these guys make a lot of sound!  They started out as a trio in 1998 (Moore, Skerik and 8-string guitarist Charlie Hunter), when they recorded a (mostly) improvised EP called Mysteryfunk.  The studio time was initially meant to record Moore's debut album, All Kooked Out! but he managed to record two albums in that time.  Both albums recorded during this session were done live-off-the-floor with no overdubs.

They added Dillon to the lineup and took the show on the road.  They became pretty popular pretty quickly, probably due to their ability to mix a variety of genres, from jazz to electronic, into an original, eargasmic sound.  They recorded their next two albums (Emphasizer in 2003, and Outre Mer in 2005) with this lineup, both of which were more produced and planned than the first EP.



Hunter left the band shortly after (my minimal research hasn't answered "why?" for me, yet) and they continued touring with a number of bodies filling the spot.  In December of 2007, Benevento became a permanent member of the band.  The current lineup recorded Power Patriot in 2009, which I recently ordered from Amazon (good luck finding a GAT album in Winnipeg) and it hasn't come out of my car's CD player since.  I drive a lot.


Check out some vids, yo!  These are all from the same concert, during New Orleans Jazz Fest 2010, at the Louisiana Music Factory.  All the songs they play are from Power Patriot.  There's a whole bunch more videos from that venue that are worth checking out in the related section on YouTube.


A couple of my favourite songs from the album, Electric Door Bell Machine and Fragile.  I have to make a video montage for school, and I'm using Fragile for my background music.  I'll post it on here in a couple months when it's done.




Dugout




The title track itself!  Power Patriot

Friday, February 11, 2011

Off Topic: Self Publishing

So you wanna publish a book, eh?  Well, I'm no expert, but if you want my advice, self publish.  I say this for a few reasons, but mainly, it's control.  As with most things in life, you are loosing a decent amount of control over the situation by signing a contract, in this case with a publisher.  At any point in time, the publisher can say "nah, this sucks" and you have to either rewrite that part, or start all over again.  Doesn't sound like a good time to me.  You will have to meet your publishers expectations, and follow their guidelines, which can often take the fun out of writing.

You may have written a book that you think is totally super awesome, so you send it out to a number of publishers.  What happens when they all tell your shit's weak (sometimes in more polite therms) and they don't want it?  You feel dumb and stupid, that's what.  Oh yeah, and your book doesn't get published.

I have no problem with teamwork, collaborations, business partners, or any sort of joint work, but when it comes to something like writing and releasing a book, I think it's a "if you want it done right, do it yourself" sort of situation.

But hey, what do I know about self publishing?  It's not like I write on a regular basis or anything.  (that last part was sarcasm, I write a lot)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to publish this post (see what I did there), get some food in me and go see The Sadies!  I've posted videos of them before, but I'm going to post another one, because they are good at stuff and I always post videos on my blogs.


Thursday, February 10, 2011

Behind the Beat "Before They Were Famous"

So we had another stupid night with the ustream, so there is no video, once again.  If I can ever figure out how the hell to get them online, you'll be the first to know.  Obviously, by the title of the show, we were playing songs by famous people, but that they recorded before they were famous.

PLAY LIST
Eminem - Infinite
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mommy, Where's Daddy
Strontium 90 - Electron Romance
Fleetwood Mac - Merry-Go-Round
The Tragically Hip - Small Town Bringdown
The Black Keys - She Said, She Said
The Quarrymen - That'll Be The Day
Genesis - Harold the Barrel
Scream - Gods Look Down
Kyuss - Allen's Wrench
Green River - Swallow My Pride
Classified - Why

Al and I will be out reporting for our radio class next Wednesday, so we won't be doing a show next week.  Sorry for the inconvenience, but we'll make up for it by doing a wicked sweet show the following week, promise.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Behind the Beat "White Out!"

 
just ignore the ad at the beginning and hit the red arrow, then the green arrow

So we had some technical difficulties on the show tonight, but the biggest problem was our ustream.  The feed kept cutting out briefly, which caused the recording to stop randomly.  This is why there is some parts with the video missing, and I added in the songs that got parts cut out.  After the first song we talk about it screwing up, but I fixed that for this video, so ignore that part.  Also the last song didn't work out live, so I just added the video at the end

Tonight we finally did our White Out on Behind the Beat, a show where every song we play has Jack White in it, which we have been talking about doing since we started the show.  We decided last week that we were going to do this tonight, so it was just sort of a coincidence that The White Stripes announced that they were officially done this morning.  I'm surprised we didn't talk about that more...

Being a huge fan of White, I have heard just about every song he has ever written.  But what I haven't heard are a lot of his collaborations he does, so preparing this show was a lot of fun for me, since I got to hear a bunch of stuff I had never heard before.  It was tough to choose which songs to play in a one hour show.  So tough, in fact, we ended up going past the hour, but not as long as we had expected.  The last song we wanted to play was one we were doing off of YouTube, and it decided to be an asshole and make us look stupid.

PLAY LIST
The Upholsterers - Pain (Gimme Sympathy)
The White Stripes - The Union Forever
Jack White - I Fought Piranhas
The Raconteurs - You Don't Understand Me
Jack White & Conan O'Brien - 20 Flight Rock
Loretta Lynn feat. Jack White - Portland, Oregon
The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
The Raconteurs - Together
The Rolling Stones feat. Jack White - Loving Cup
The Dead Weather - I Cut Like A Buffalo
Wanda Jackson feat. Jack White - Thunder on the Mountain
The White Stripes - White Moon



Tune in next Wednesday at 8 pm for our "Before They Were Famous" show.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Off Topic: Some Cool Crosswalk Ads and a Birthday Twitter Quest

Today I got my first ever request for a blog post, sort of.  My advertising instructor was showing the class a list of crosswalk ads that I had sent him, and they asked if I could post them on my blog, so I did.  You're welcome, guys.  I'm just going to put a few of my favourites on here and a link to the rest.


Click here to see the rest, and other interesting stuff.

On a side-note, today is my birthday (slightly exciting, though not earth-shattering, we all have 'em) and I've gone on a Twitter quest to get celebrity birthday shout outs, just for fun, see what I can get.  My main goal for the day is to get a shout out from Gordon Ramsay.  So far I gotten a traditional "Happy Birthday!" from Frankie Muniz and a not-so-traditional "Have some balls on your B day bitch" from Danny DeVito.  I'll let you guys know if anything else comes up.  To keep with Behind the Blog tradition, here's a video that connects this off-topic post to music somehow.  Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds, on my favourite TV show, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, playing the drums.  For some reason his line at the end is in Spanish, just roll with it.  If you haven't seen It's Always Sunny, you probably should.




UPDATE (4:55 pm, Jan 31)
My celebrity birthday tweet goal has been reached.  At 4:52 pm, central time, I received the following message from the one and only Gordon Ramsay.
"Damn happy happy birthday x"
I would like to thank Mr. Ramsay for helping me achieve my goal, and proving that being annoyingly persistent pays off.

UPDATE (5:13 pm, Jan 31)
Comedian Baron Vaughn is the latest to add to my collection of celebrity birthday tweets, with a classic pun, "You panderer! Happy Bidet."

UPDATE (2:21 pm, Feb 1)
This one has a bit of a story to it.  I had tweeted Baron Vaughn at the same time as Daily Show writer/comedian Rory Albanese, Rob Riggle and ex-Daily Show-turned-Conan writer Rob Kutner, asking them to find funny ways of saying happy birthday (hence the "panderer" comment from Vaughn).  This morning, Albanese sent a tweet to  Riggle, Kutner and Vaughn saying "Holy crap! We missed @ Birthday! Let's all meet at our secret location and plan something."  To which Kutner replied, "Umm, hello? I've been sitting inside this cake in a thing for 48 hours now?"  So if you'll excuse me, I have to go cut a comedian out of a cake.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Is This Music? Vol. 1

Now, I tend to be pretty open when it comes to different styles of music.  Sure there's some that I don't like, but whatever, if someone else likes it, that's fine.  It's their opinion, and even though it's wrong, they're entitled to it.  (note to angry people: that was a joke, chill)  But every now and then some stuff comes along that I just don't get, and sometimes I ask myself "do other people actually like this?"  Well, in this new semi-regular segment on Behind the Blog, I am posing a question to my readers.  I'll post a video or two of the band in question, and your job is to leave a comment and let me know if you think it's music or not.  Sometimes you gotta click on the word comment at the bottom of this post to get to the form.  So here we go, the inaugural edition of Is This Music?

I saw a show listing for the Albert with a dude called Merzbow headlining.  For some reason I found the name intruiging and looked it up on YouTube.  This is what I found...







My verdict: Sorry Merzbow and all your fans, but no.  This is not music.

Check back soon for another edition of Is This Music?

Behind the Beat "Drug Songs"




This week's theme actually has a bit of a back story, it's not just two dumb burn outs giggling because Paul McCartney wrote a song about pot.  A couple weeks ago my advertising class wrote parody ads and presented them in class.  There was some really funny stuff, but the one that everyone really liked was Matt's parody of a BlackBerry ad, where the guy is using the phone to deal drugs and beat people who owed him money.  The ad that Chadd and I made (yeah, we actually filmed it, you can watch below) has a scene of us sitting around a hookah, which got a few laughs.  After class Matt looked at me and said "People like stuff with drugs, I guess."  And that got me thinking, "yeah...people DO like stuff with drugs.  We should do a drug song show."  So we did.

PLAY LIST
Queens of the Stone Age - Feel Good Hit of the Summer
Alice in Chains - No Excuses
Blind Melon - The Pusher
River City Hum - Oceans
The Beatles - Got To Get You Into My Life
Rolling Stones featuring Buddy Guy - Champagne and Reefer
Hilltop Hoods - What a Great Night
Incubus - Deep Inside
Butterfingers - Beats by the Pound
John Butler Trio - Used to Get High

Tune in next Wednesday at 8 pm for "White Out: A Jack White Special".

Monday, January 24, 2011

Behind the Beat "Oh, The 90s..."

As promised in the previous post (see below this one for this to make sense), I am going to insult your intelligence by assuming you're all idiots (just kidding, I know you're not...) and ease you into the changes around here.  Here is what the regular Wednesday post will look like.


Some people love to hate the 90s.  Some people love to love the 90s.  Some people hate to love the 90s, but they do.  We all have mixed emotions about the 90s, so Al and I decided to showcase that with our "poopy 90s show", as Al so nicely puts it.

PLAY LIST
Aqua - Barbie Girl
Smash Mouth - All Star
Shaggy - It Wasn't Me
Chadd Cawson - Hypnotized
T.L.C. - Waterfalls
Nada Surf - Popular
Naughty by Nature - O.P.P.
Salt 'N' Pepa - Let's Talk About Sex
Gob - For The Moment
Treble Charger - Friend of Mine
Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch
Lou Bega - I Got A Girl

Tune in next Wednesday, January 26 for our songs about drugs show.

Click here for live broadcasts and more videos.

Impending DOOOOOOM! Or just a few changes.

Heads up, internet people, there's gonna be some changes coming to Jaremy on Music starting this Wednesday.  First of all, you will notice a quick and abrupt name change.  Out with Jaremy on Music, in with Behind the Blog.  In fact, it may already be titled Behind the Blog by the time you read this!  I will continue to write about bands that I like at random intervals, but I will also have a regular feature on Wednesdays (see below for details).  There may also be some design changes, so watch out!

I've taken the liberty of answering all your questions about this.

Why Behind the Blog?  

No, it's not a behind the scenes look at blogs, because that would be boring.  In reality, I'm going to merge my blog with my radio show, which is called Behind the Beat.  And by merge I mean use my blog to shamelessly promote my radio show (which isn't actually mine, I co-host it with my good friend Alex White, from Funk Stylin').

What is Behind the Beat?

Every Wednesday at 8 pm, Al and I are given an hour to play music, chat, and generally make asses of ourselves on 92.9 Kick FM here in Winnipeg.  We typically have some sort of theme each week, and usually split the music duties 50/50.  Sometimes we talk about the music, sometimes we talk about random crap, and sometimes we have guests.  Every Wednesday night after our show is done, I'll post the video of the show, the play list, and our plan for the next show.

Now, I can already hear you guys out there being all "but I don't have a working radio" or "my radio works, but can't pick up Kick".  Never fear, we have you covered.  You can watch us online (eye-appealing video and all), both live and our past shows, by clicking here.  Or, as I mentioned earlier, I will be posting the video on this here blog website after every show.  That means no excuses, you have to watch it.  Otherwise we're not friends.

"But Jaremy, I'm afraid of change!"

First off, not really a question, more of a statement, but thanks for your concern.

Secondly, of course you are, you're human! So, for your sake, I'm gonna make up a sample of one of these new posts that are gonna popping up on Wednesday, using last weeks show, so just keep your eyes open, it'll be up later tonight.

And of course, even though this blog is technically an assignment for school, therefore officially "for Kenton", I'm writing this for you, the reader.  If you don't like the changes (for whatever nitpicky detail people tend to come up with these days) just let me know, maybe we can work it out.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

River City Hum



Who's in the mood for something local?  I am, and I assume you are, too.  One of the stand out moments in my local show history was the first time I saw River City Hum at Park Theatre, when I was 16.  I was there to see a totally different band (The Playing Cards, I think...maybe The Fo!ps) but left with a new a favourite band after the Hum played.  Unfortunately for me, they broke up right around my 18th birthday, so I never got to see them in a bar, and was limited to the few all ages shows they did.
I'm not really sure how to describe their sound...it's pretty funky, fairly rock 'n' roll and throws in some of the cool spacey shit, too.  They only released two CD's, and there was only 15 tracks between them, and I never even got the first one, Gallery.  Lucky for me their website had it available for download, along with 4 b-sides, so I have the tracks.  Their singer, Deano (I think that's how it's spelled) had always said he had a copy for me, but I haven't seen him in years, so I doubt I'll ever get that.

The best show I ever saw them do was at Shine Thru Rain in 2006, which is a small festival on a dude's farm in Sandilands Provincial Park.  Deano kept telling everyone that they had a big surprise, and it was gonna be awesome, so there was some talk of what it may be, but most people were either too drunk or stoned to really care.  But when their set came around midnight, and Deano walked out into the crowd (warning people "you may wanna back the fuck up, man") it piqued some curiosity.  Next thing you know fireworks were flying all over the place, while Deano stood by grinning, and the crowd (99% wasted) giggled and clapped.

If you were lucky enough to see River City Hum while they were around, I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did/do.  If not, that sucks for you.

I don't have any videos for y'all this time, and for that I truly apologize.  I can't even figure out how to embed a song on here, because I'm apparently not as tech-savvy as I thought I was.  What I DO know how to do, however, is make it so you can click here, and it will take you to their MySpace page where there is some music available.

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Quick Note

New Years is a time of change, and for me that means no longer doing the monthly poll.  I got bored of it, sorry if anyone was a huge fan (judging by the numbers, no one was).  In it's place, you can find a list of blogs that I read.  And on the note of blogs I read, my cousin has recently started up a blog about video games with a friend of his, called Gaming Outsiders.  Click here to check it out, and follow them on Twitter (if you have it), @Mr_McAvoy and @skotelniski.

Alright, Blog, I'm Back!

*for those just interested in the music stuff, you can skip this first paragraph*

Well, I guess I have some explaining to do.  It's been over a month since my last entry, and I have let many of you internet people down.  I have a whole list of excuses, but the honest truth is I just needed a break.  I don't want to make this into a bitch-fest, because I'm not a bitch (asshole: yes, bitch: no), but I felt like I not only needed a break, but I deserved one.  The first semester of CreComm was a bit of a wake up call for my brain, for a number of reasons.  For example, at U of W I had like 10 hours of class a week (optional) and only a handful of assignments (mostly essays) over the entire two years I was there.  At Red River I'm in class almost 30 hours a week (not at all optional) and always have some sort of assignment on the go.  At U of W school was within school hours, but in CreComm evenings are often eaten up with some sort of school-related activity.  Whether it's getting asked to wait in the cold outside Ian Rabb's election headquarters while results came in, phoning 20-something dietitians before getting one to agree to do a quick interview, writing a news release then reading it at least 100 times to catch the dreaded auto-fail (haven't auto-failed yet...but I did get lucky on one, thanks Melanie) or getting smashed at Shannon's and drawing on people's clothing (also not optional) we are always up to something.  After a few months of that, I decided that I would write little to nothing during my break, just to refresh.  Now don't get me wrong, I love CreComm, it may take up a lot of time, but it's mostly stuff I enjoy doing (except the dietitian thing, that drove me fucking nuts) and we get to do some pretty sweet stuff for some of the assignments.  Free Bomber game with my class was great.  So was partying in a funeral home.  No offense to the new class 2, but old class 2 forever!  Okay, I admit it; the real reason I didn't blog for the past month is because I was too upset that Mike Bad isn't in my class anymore.  I'm still sorta getting over it...

Enough blabbing about school, it's a music blog, and blog about music I will.  Rather than do a profile of a band/musician like I've done in the past, I'm just going to talk about the music I saw/heard on my trip to New Orleans that I just went on.  I spent New Years down south this year, which was a great idea, no snow, mild temperature and great food and music.  

After getting stuck in Minneapolis for a day (stupid Delta Airlines, but I won't get into that here) we landed in the Big Easy about one hour before the Dr. John show that we had tickets for.  We barely made it to the show in time, but we did, and the bar was packed.  The show was at Tipitina's, a fairly small bar (dedicated to Professor Longhair) with a second floor with a full bar and wicked view of the stage.  Unfortunately for us, all the good spots were gone by the time we got there, but we could still hear just fine, and it wasn't a problem for me, because last time I was in New Orleans I was front and center at a Dr. John show.

One of my favourite parts of New Orleans is the street music.  On almost every corner in the French Quarter you'll find  someone/a group of someones playing, and most of the time they are AMAZING.  Without exaggeration I can say that  have seen better bands play on a street corner in New Orleans than I've seen play in bars in Winnipeg.  And there's just something about walking down a dark street, and seeing a silhouette of a guy leaning against one of them old-timey lampposts playing a saxophone as the fog rolls in from the Mississippi river.  Oh yeah, and no open-container laws, so you have an alcoholic beverage of choice in your hand at all times.

Heading down there, I knew the highlight of the trip would be New Years Eve.  After a fancy-assed dinner as Brennan's (birthplace of bananas foster) my brother, uncle and I were heading back to Tipitina's, this time to see one of my favourite bands, Galactic (click here).  Ben Ellman walked right past me while we were hanging out outside the bar, and I've been kicking myself for not saying something to him ever since.  Even if it's just a couple of quick words, I really like to say hi to musicians that I like and let them know how much I enjoy what they do.  Having seen the band twice before, I knew that it was going to be a high energy show, but I never expected it to go until 3 in the morning.  And holy shit, what a good show.  They did an unreal cover of Can't You Hear Me Knocking by the Rolling Stones, and later on an equally as mind-blowing version of Manic Depression by Jimi Hendrix.  I picked up an autographed poster on my way out, can't wait to get it back from the framing place.

There was a huge college football game on the day after we were leaving (Sugar Bowl for anyone who cares), so there was a stage set up near the river and stuff going on for the last two days of our trip.  Luckily my parents saw somewhere that Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue were playing there on our last night in town.  Also luckily, my brother and I are both big Trombone Shorty fans, so my parents recognized the name.  Like Galactic, I had already seen TS&OA twice, and knew that it would be a really good show.  We got some handgrenades (very alcoholic and tasty beverages sold exclusively in 5 bars on Bourbon Street) and headed down to the stage.  There wasn't many people there, so we got up pretty close.  Every time I have seen Shorty he has been better than the last.  This time it happened to be his birthday, and he and the band had clearly been partying before the show.  I have never seen a group of people have so much fun while doing their job (or anything for that matter).  They played a set made up mostly of songs from their newest album, Backatown, which was nominated for a Grammy this year.  This show was every bit as entertaining as the Galactic show, and the fact that we just heard about it the day of made it even better.

Since it was an outdoor show, the "backstage" area was just a small fence, and I could see a tour bus off to the right of the stage.  This time I didn't waste my opportunity and went over to meet anyone that I could.  First came Joey Peebles, one of my all time favourite drummers...and he's only 22.  I didn't have a camera with me, so I didn't get a picture with him.  Then I stopped to have a quick chat with their guitarist Pete Murano.  My brother had shown up with his camera at this point.  Took a picture, but I look kinda goofy in it.  Upon returning home, I realized that I looked like a goof in every single picture of me take on that trip.


Finally got to talk to Trombone Shorty himself, which was a huge thrill for me.  I was surprised to find out he had been to Winnipeg before, playing with Lenny Kravitz when he opened for Aerosmith.  This might be the goofiest I've ever looked in a picture.  But I was drunk and excited, what do you want?


He was a cool guy, it's always nice to meet someone you look up to and find out they're not a total jackass.


Tradition is tradition, and this post will not be any different.  For the enjoyment of my internet friends, a couple of videos from the bands I've been writing about.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue playing One Night Only (not Suburbia like the title says) on Jimmy Kimmel.


Recorded at the show I was talking about above!  Glad I found this, even though it's not great quality.  Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue playing Suburbia (for real, this time).  Is it weird that this video gives me shivers?


Again, not the best quality, but here's a video of Galactic playing Manic Depression.


Galactic with Chali 2na and Laidlaw playing Think Back.


Trombone Shorty plays with Galactic fairly often, and this is one of the craziest things I have even witnessed, so I figured I'd include this brief video.