Thanks for the solo...

I get a little on edge now whenever I hear music in the middle of a newscast. It's usually not good - especially when it's music I like. Last February, when I heard the Cramps in the middle of World Report on CBC Radio One, it was not good news. This morning I heard music and I didn't recognize it, but I stopped to listen anyway. This time: Dan Achen.

Dan was the guitarist for Junkhouse, a band I never cared for much. He was also the guy who was nice enough to bring a mini-van full of tube amps down to a make-shift studio where an unknown band were trying to make their first real (meaning, not a 4 track in their practice space) recording. I remember clearly not appreciating his donation of time and wisdom at the request of Jay, our bass player. We probably didn't even give him a token thank you or a copy of the cassette when it was done. I know Jay saw him more often than the rest of us and I leave open the hope that a thank you was relayed. He was a nice guy and he likely understood that we were stupid kids who thought it was "punk" to not take advice from real musicians.

Anyway, although it's too late now and we were likely forgotten amidst the fonder memories acquired by such an accomplished musician and producer, I'd like to offer a simple thank you to Dan Achen for providing his encouragement and lending his time to an unknown group of kids - and for making a guitar solo by a guy who still can't really play guitar sound like a million bucks. You were the only one who could ever do that.

Cheers, Dan.

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Chart Attack Article

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...But He Can

"Baby you look good enough to eat. I'd like to go around the world with you. I'd like to lick your bottoms of your feet. And drink fizzy booze from your shoes. Inside out and upside down with you. I'd like to go around the world with you. From your bottom to your top. You're sure some lollipop. Inside out and upside down with you. Baby you know I'd knee deep in love with you. The vision and the taste of your flesh. Your candy kiss, your orange lipstick too. The nuclear fission of your love factor F." I couldn't have said it better myself...

"When I need love, I love how you feel, when I need dough, I love how you steal, I love your sick way you think, the way your perfume makes you stink... ooh, you look good... ooh, you smell good..."

I Can't Explain

Valentine's Day is pretty corny - another excuse for us to buy shit we don't need. My wife and I generally opt out. Sometimes we buy each other something for Halloween, sometimes we don't. I know - I sound like an Anne Rice fan there but autumn is awesome and hopefully I'll be a little more on the ball this year to post why and the best songs to listen to as the air starts to chill. Anyway, it's nice to be able to just do something for your other half if you think of something good and not worry about it if you don't. I know she won't be devastated if she doesn't get flowers on February 14th. A couple days ago, though, I did slip some chocolate into her purse so she'd find it when she needs it. I think it's important to continue doing little things and big things to show someone that you love them. People who stop showing affection and appreciation for someone after they've been together for a long time are fucking lazy. In my case, my wife decided over 10 years ago to share her life with me. How crazy is that? People do it all the time, I know, but people do a lot of stupid shit all the time without thinking about it - including getting married. They convince themselves they're happy or that something will make them happy - like getting married. My wife isn't like everyone else. I know you saw that statement coming - sorry, but it's truer than true and predictability won't change that. So when she decided to marry me and glue her life to mine, I didn't take it lightly and 10 years on I still don't. I never will. I think that in a lot of ways it matters even more that you show love, respect and a healthy amount of effort as your years together start to add up. It's not always easy. Easy is making sure you don't smell bad when you start going out and trying your best not to swear or drink too much in front of her family. It's nothing to avoid cutting your toenails in front of her when you're dating, but leaving your clippings on her side of the bed after you've been married for 15 years just because you can? Christ. Do you really want her thinking "I didn't know being married would be like this"? After all, there was a time when you'd only let her see you at your best - why is it now ok to wear baggy, soiled track pants around her all the time? Sure, she can take it from time to time, but unless you've got the flu - make an effort. This person gave you their life - the least you can do is look half decent, make some dinner and leave her a loving note on a semi-regular basis.

This Valentine's Day I tried to write my wife a song. I've done it before - a couple times, at least, with her being the sole inspiration, but I'm not good at it. I think I can write pretty good songs about a variety of topics. I've covered the Mike Harris Common Sense "revolution", Paul Bernardo, being in a band, prostitution, etc. - all to good effect, if I do say so myself. But I totally suck at writing about what matters most to me. I've never been able to express what having a daughter and son has meant to me - how awesome they are and what I want them to get from life. I also can't explain how deeply, wholly and unbelievably in love in am with my wife. Simply put - she makes my heart stop. Thoughts of her throughout the day cause me to stop what I'm doing and go into a trance. When we're sitting together on a Friday night, watching a movie - I've never wanted to be anywhere else. When she leaves for work in the morning, I'm enchanted with how beautiful she is. Even when I'm grumpy and seem miserable, the stream of affection that she's generated in me continues to run deep and constant.

But how do I say this and make it rhyme and follow a chord structure? I've been trying for 18 years and sometimes get a few emotions across - but not all of them. Recently, I've rediscovered someone who generally hits the target for me. He gets it right every time - and it's no surprise why, since he was part of a devilish duo who were partners in love, lust and crime for 20+ years....

I Want To Listen...

I need something to get me though the darkness that keeps coming at me like freight train, something to work with me against these winds as they cut through my skin and sneak in all the parts I unknowingly left exposed. The kids want to play outside, I want to drink myself to sleep and wake up when it's spring.

Past cold as fuck listening:

Concrete Blonde - Free: I still have the rectangular cover CDs used to come in.

Help Me (I used to know the truth from a lie just by looking in their eyes)

Run Run Run (run run run)

Happy Birthday (how much longer, how much more?)

Little Conversations (there's never time enough)

R.E.M. - Automatic For The People: Lost on a Friday night, walking through the snow, heartbroken for no real reason. Find The River always reminded me of a John Denver song my mom used to listen to.

Try Not To Breathe (These are the eyes that I want you to remember)

Find The River (This life has passed before my eyes... I've got to leave to find my way)

Nightswimming (The photograph on the dashboard taken years ago, turn around backwards so the windshield shows)

Sarah Harmer - All Of Our Names: Taking Tuesdays off to stay home with my baby girl. The old house got so cold but you warmed my heart. We could see the lights across the city on winter nights.

Pendulums (the distant lights are twinkling, it means there is a wind)

Almost (you left an impression long after you'd gone... marks only I can see)

New Enemy (we're waiving our white flags)

Silver Road (had you been thinking that you were all alone while I still thought of you?)

I need something new.

For those of you who thought you'd be forgotten...

I don't know exactly when a memory is formed. Sometimes I'll be traveling somewhere, listening to something I've listened to many times before, and I'll think "I'm going to remember this every time I hear this song" - and I will. Other times it's less direct and I don't know when my brain drops that aural bread crumb.

I also don't know why I felt the need to start a blog to write it down. Generally hearing a song will bring almost everything back to me, but I might be worried about things getting a bit foggy.

My grandmother has Alzheimer's and she doesn't remember much anymore. I don't know what the use of living so long and acquiring so many memories is if one day they'll all be wiped out. Thinking that one day I might not remember what it was like to look into my daughter's eyes while I held her minutes after she was born terrifies me. I do wonder, though, if that ever happens, many, many years from now, if something will come alive if I hear She And Him's first album. Will I remember walking across John Street, holding my daughter's hand, on the way to the record store to buy it? Will I remember the first time I heard her sweet voice coming from the back seat, singing "For those of you who thought you'd be forgotten..."? I can only hope so. I guess I can hope for that, at the very least.

Cottage Cheese

Sean Cullen had a radio show on CBC Radio One for the past couple summers and part of it was a feature called "Cottage Cheese", where he'd play cheesy music that people often tend to listen to in the summer - I guess while at the cottage or vacationing. I don't know if this is a particularly Canadian phenomenon but I can attest to it's existence. A couple of years ago I made a compilation for my sister's birthday that contains such gems as "Valerie" by Steve Winwood and "Paperlate" by Genesis. We both truly like these songs but in the absence of warm sunshine, a lake up north or a summer bbq, we probably wouldn't listen to them. Not having been brought up with the same summer vacation rituals as we were, our significant others often have to suffer through the "While You See A Chance" and "Invisible Touch" and get down right testy after more than a couple listens. I can't blame them. Sure, Madonna's "Holiday" will take me back to the mid 80's and I'm cool with that once and awhile, but on regular rotation I'd go nuts. We all don't share the same memories when we hear songs, but it's sometimes interesting to hear where songs take other people.