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New York Doll Hospital

Posted in history 101, music, tagged , , , , , , on February 23, 2009| 1 Comment »

That Pearl Jam song “Jeremy” ends with Eddie Vedder going, “arararrRRRrRRRrrAAaaaaRRRR.”

I think that’s cool, get it out Eddie, get all those demons out.

I am listening to a 90s playlist on my iTunes right now… can you tell?

***

Last night, I watched a documentary on Arthur “Killer” Kane of the New York Dolls. (on the CBC of all places!)  I didn’t really know too much about the tragic story of the group.  In the early 70s, the band a wee bit before curve of popular culture.  They started a style of rock and roll that would dominate punk and 80s glam metal right into the 90s.  But the band disintegrated before they could cash in on any of the success.  They had a series of Spinal Tap-esque tragedies with members dying and eventually went their separate ways.  The front man, David Johansen actually saw some success in the 80s as a joke act.  Remember that song “Hot Hot Hot?”  Yeah, the former front man of The New York Dolls.

um yeah… that dude invented punk rock in 1973!  And the crazy ghost cab driver from the Bill Murray classic Scrooged?  yup you can guess it, David Johansen.

But the documentary, “New York Doll,” is not about David Johansen… it is about Arthur Kane.  The New York Dolls called it a band in the mid 70s and Kane tried to keep something going.  He bounced between coasts and eventually settled in LA.  One day he got completely blasted and attacked his wife!  He tore all her clothes off her and she ran away.  Kane thought the the best way to head her off at the pass was to jump out a third story window.  And as he says in the documentary, “In AA, they call that hitting rock bottom.”

Kane’s wife left him and he found god… well the Mormon version of God.  He then would live most of his life in relative obscurity working in the Family History center for the Latter Day Saints, fixing copiers (the scene that brought the LOLz was when he talked about how hard it is to pick up Mormons).  He rode the bus, he lived off welfare, his bass guitars were in the pawn shop.

Then in 2004, Morrissey (who was a huge fan in 1970, heading up the groups UK fan club and everything) called him up and said, “hey get the band back together… I got a show in London for you.)

The Mormons gave him a few hundred bucks to get his bass outta the pawn shop and a plane ticket to New York.  There he would meet up with the two surviving members of the group Sylvain Sylvain and Johansen.

Kane has a hard time with Johansen because he has many unresolved feelings about the break up of the Dolls and Johansen’s later commercial success while he lived in poverty.  The boys manage to reconcile their difference, rehearse and have an excellent show.  Kane is exuberant and plans to tour with the New York Dolls.

The documentary ends sadly when Kane gets leukemia and suddenly dies.

Serious downer to an excellent story, yet also uplifting.  Kane discovers religion which brings him a measure of peace and he did get that final shot at the prize to end his life on an up.

***

Go with yourself.

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sometime before the weekend

Posted in ...this is your father speaking, music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , , on February 20, 2009| 1 Comment »

dsc_0679

According to my Last FM page, here is what has been getting the most play at home over the past 7 days.

01) The National
02) Jimmy Eat World
03) Face to Face
04) By A Thread
05) Explosions in The Sky
06) Coheed and Cambria
07) Led Zeppelin
07) Braid
07) Fleet Foxes
10) The Frames
10) Grand Archives

That sounds about right.  As you might notice, heavily influenced by the top 20n records thing I wrote the other day, revisiting some albums.  And Explosions in the Sky get played all the time.  They’d be higher on the list, but their songs are about 8 minutes each, so they get half the spins of say… Face to Face.

In car, its all the new Franz Ferdinand or even some Gaslight Anthem.

***

Madelyn turns one next Tuesday.  The big birthday party in on Sunday, fun.

She almost walks, she almost talks… but almost doesn’t pay the bills! do better baby!

***

I was thinking about adding some work to make some more money.  Before I even advertised that I was looking for work (kinda, there were some emails and some rejections or no replies…), two companies contacted me looking for my expertise.  Neat.  No deals closed so no job attained yet.  But if it happens then I can’t wait to share some future projects on here.

The work will be welcome.

We decided to up our level of catering for the wedding a few notches (OK a bunch of notches!).  Our good friend Alix works for a company called Feys and Hobbs and they do A-list event food.  We had a fairly frugal budget but they asked to make a bid anyways.  Sure enough, their price was above what we could pay but the quality is way above… so two things happened… we asked our friend Alix to get on her knees (as in begged, nothing sexual  you filthies!) to her boss for us to get us a better price (achieved) and Coral’s father stepped up with a contribution for our catering.  So Coral and I are basically back to our old financial commitment for the B-level food but we can deliver the A-level experience to our family and friends.  Needless to say, Coral and I are very happy and grateful.

Thank you Alix and Rob and Roberta!

This generosity comes on top of money already contributed by my folks which (depending how much people drink) should cover the bar… so the next morning when you’re puking up my Feys and Hobbs in the toilet cuz you’re so hung over, you can cheers, Grandma Mom and Grandpa Jack!

***

It has been a challenging month for me but is now looking up.  The Clubhouse had a great crowd on Tuesday which I hope is the start of some momentum heading into Spring.  I have some stellar ideas and some contacts to try and make those ideas reality and finally a couple promising leads on some more work so I can pays me bills and save for our wedding.  Actually last night I started sketching out a game changer concept for wi-fi radio! whoa, blew my own mind last night.  Bad cuz I didn’t get much sleep, good because… well its a good idea.

Next week, an interview with the local author of the book “Becoming Batman,” Dr. Paul Zehr.  Capital Rock City has an interview with Carpenter, in town Friday to open for Gob @ Lucky Bar.  I am working on interviews with Chixdiggit and John Franco of By A Thread.

Go with yourself.

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Wake Up in New York

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John in the morning on KEXP turned me onto this music video.

Pretty video from classical composer Craig Armstrong featuring Evan Dando of Lemonheads fame.  Song is called ‘Wake Up in New York.’  Not gunna lie, I kinda want to live in New York at some point in my life, and I think Coral wouldn’t object to that.

and this is an interesting track that you can download if you like.

The group is called O+S and the song is ‘We Do What We Want to.”

Click and listen: O+S – ‘We Do What We Want To’

Not bad right?  Sorta dreamy and sweeping.

***

Montreal band Beast is on the show today at 3PM!  wow.  Tune in please.

Beast
TONIGHT!
Zone Show #170
@ Lucky Bar
Doors: 8PM and done in time for The Daily Show.

Go with yourself.

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20 Special Records

Posted in history 101, music, tagged on February 17, 2009| 13 Comments »

The latest social networking autobio exercise floating around the internets tubes.

20 (or some people write about 25) important records to them.  So here are 20 important records to me.

boss

01) Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born in the USA’
– not my favourite Boss record today, but when I was like 4, sorta a big deal

02) Chris de Burgh – ‘High On Emotion: Live From Dublin’
– the soundtrack to many a Baker family holiday.  My brothers and I can sing along to the whole thing.  Its kinda spooky.

03) Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Siamese Dream’
– one my earliest memories of being obsessed with a record.

04) Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’
– I was now a Smashing Pumpkins fan and watched way too much Much Music.

metallica_and_justice_for_all

05) Metallica – ‘…and Justice for All’
– I got a job at Subway and with my first paycheque I went CD shopping.  I don’t listen to a ton of Metallica today, but as a snot nosed suburban kid, Metallica was played A LOT.  Like a lot, a lot.

06) R.E.M. – ‘Green’
– Critically not the best REM record, but I was new to the band in high school and I must have bought ‘Green’ out of a discount bin.  I played it every night in my discman before bed… every night, until I got…

07) Alice in Chains – ‘Unplugged’
– I don’t think any one record has gotten more play in my life.

08 ) Headstones – ‘Picture of Health’
– the soundtrack to my grade 12 year.  Really their whole catalog got played, but this was the gateway album to my love of the Headstones.

09) Radiohead – ‘The Bends’
– this record has floating in and around my life for a long time.  I remember being into it mildly as a kid when it was on the radio and Much Music… then it was the sound track to pretty much every house party at Rusty’s place.  When Coral and I first started dating, she’d put this album on and we’d make out. awwwww, sick.

propagandhi

10) Propagandhi – ‘How to Clean Everything’
– started DJing at CiTR.  The show before The Morning After Show was called Vengence is Mine.  I was a mega nerd and hung out at CiTR all.the.time.  I’d sit around the lobby, drink beer and listen to Trevor play all sorts of bizarre music that my suburban brain had never processed.  Propagandhi was the band that cut through the noise.  I loved it.  I thought, “holy shit, anyone can make a record and get played on the radio…” then I heard…

11) Blink 182 – ‘Enema of the State’
– holy shit, ANYONE can make a record and some of them will even get famous.  I better start a band… then I heard…

12) Tool – ‘Opiate’ ep
– and then things clicked… like even Tool used to be a sorta half decent bar rock band.  And they practised and stayed true to their art and became the juggernaught they are now.  But listen to Opiate… not “brilliant” in the traditonal sense.  But my favourite Tool record.  My old band used to jam on “Jerk Off.”

braid

13) Braid – ‘Frame and Canvas’
– by now I had been a Vancouver hipster for a bit and was starting to get into post everything rock… I dunno what to call it.  The CiTR monthy rag Discorder needed someone to interview Braid on like a Tuesday night and I was a glorified bum so I agreed to truck on down to the Starfish Room and hang out with Braid.  There might, MIGHT have been 25 people there and it didn’t seem to bother the boys.  They blasted through and unbeliveable set and left me a fan.

byathread

14) By A Thread – ‘The Last of the Daydreams’
-pretty much the bestest band I played on the Morning After Show.  Had a pretty big man crush on By A Thread’s style of post grunge rock hipster emocore?  sure.

15) Thursday – ‘Full Collapse’
– I was writing for an internet website, living in Burncover and later Commercial Drive.  The website was based outta Cape Code and all the scenesters there were into this band called Thursday.  And they were like, ‘Whoa, you’re form Vancouver, you know By A Thread!  You’ll like these guys.”  Yup I sure did.

16) Taking Back Sunday – ‘Tell All Your Friends’

– kinda the last major obsession I’d have with a band while in Vancouver.  The style of music Iwas into now had swung back to pop.  These guys are masters of pop rock and this record is a masterpiece IMHO.  I still put it on and smile.

17) Mission of Burma – ‘Signals,Calls,and Marches’
-I moved to Victoria to work on the Zone.  I bought a box set of 80 alterna rock and MOB had a song on there called “That’s When I reach for My Revolver.”  Changed my whole world.

18 ) Jimmy Eat World – ‘Clarity’
-Started dating Coral and she was a huge Jimmy World fan.  I said, “congratulations, ‘The Middle’ is totally awesome!’  She said, “wait a minute, you’ve never heard Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Clarity?’… for shame Jeremy Baker, for shame.”

the-national-boxer

19) The National – ‘Boxer’
– another game changer record.  I think the National is the best.  Tyson turned me onto the National on a pretty random day.  He comes over and brings me some new music.  A real shit mix of some of his favourite latest stuff.  ‘All The Wine’ from the National was in the mix and it stuck with me.  I had to get the new record “The Boxer” (new at the time at least) and it has remained my favourite record.  If someone asks, “what is Jeremy Baker’s favourite band?”  I say the National.

20) Grand Archives – ‘The Grand Archives’
– the soundtrack to my life when Madelyn was born one year ago (almost).

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A Skin, A Night

Posted in music, tagged , , , on February 17, 2009| 1 Comment »

Its just a trailer, but I love how this documentary is shot.

I love the colours of the graphics, I love how they tie into all the graphics and colours of the band.  I love the sounds, I love the images.  Its just a trailer and I watch it over and over.  I would have bought the video right now if it was on iTunes but thankfully ( I am so broke and should leave my credit card in the wallet) it was not!

“One day I’ll get money, I’ll get funny again.”

The first 15 seconds or so of The National’s “All The Wine” sounds like the score music of Friday Night Lights.  Being an old and busted Dad type guy means I spend a lot of Friday nights at home and lately I am all about that show.  The musical score makes the hour pretty special.

Turns out a lot of the score is from the group Explosions in the Sky which oddly, has become a recent fave of mine… no wonder I was picking up on the musical score of the show.

Neat.  They refer to their music as “cathartic mini-symphonies.”  Cathartic, good word.

I know Huckdoll is a big fan of Friday Night Lights… but I don’t think its for the music.

Go with yourself.

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In France they say c’email!

Posted in music, tagged , , on February 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

—–Original Message—–
From: Ewan *** [mailto:***@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 7:02 PM
To: jeremy@TheZone.fm
Subject: sum 41

Hey,

Earlier I thought I heard you have a caller comparing a couple of
songs, saying one sounding like another.  For the fun of it I thought
I’d send in my own comparison of two songs.

A few years ago Sum-41 released their album “Does This Look
Infencted?” with one single being ‘Still Waiting’.  For some god
unknown reason, while listening to the chorus of the song (“So am I,
still waiting, for this world to stop hating”) I totally could hear
the theme song to Bananas in Pyjamas theme song.

Bananas in Pyjamas:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNHSIge21LM
Still Waiting:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7W3Ahx05vg

I am not claiming that these two songs sound “totally the same”, but
now every time I hear ‘Still Waiting’, all I can do is picture two
giant bananas head banging along with the music.

Ewan

***

and then have  a listen to Sum 41.

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I won’t fuck us over /I`m Mr. November (errr February)

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 13, 2009| 3 Comments »

bwoar, I want fight my toshiba.  It somehow (well I somehow) toggle the French characters on, and I have no idea how I do it or any idea how to turn them off without resetting the computer!  Now I want to fight technology!

***

OK, I broke down a resetted the old computer.  I really do need to learn to toggle the french characters off.  I tried searching on google but didn’t find very much that was helpful.

***

Its Friday the 13th!  wow, spooky.

The top referrers to my blog this week are (not including The Zone dot FM or my social networks):

Drowning in Kids
Laura
PrettyMuchAmazing
Coral
Miranda
VanCityRockGirl
ZeroOutofFive

Thank you!

***

Since we’re jibber jabbering (or I’m going on about lists) lets have a look at the first ever Jeremy’s Top Bands.

I signed up for Last FM last week so now I have my own personal chart of fave bands on my media player at home for the week.

01) The National
02) Propagandhi
03) The Killers
04) Bruce Springsteen
05) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

and my write in vote is The Boxer Rebellion which I’ve been jamming out at work in the studio but I don’t have a Last FM scrobber thingy there.

***

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day.  Coral says she doesn’t celebrate the day, but I do… so we do. Ha.  I am hosting an event at Element tomorrow if you’re looking to party on a Saturday night.  Bring your special someone or come with friends.  We have all sorts of fun shenanigans planned!

Before the big day, I think we’ll cook up a scrumptious dinner.  I saw David Fey and Rod (My aunt Melanie’s brother) on A Morning today cooking up something I’d like to attempt.  But try finding a website with the details and you’ll be disappointed.

Should you be fortunate enough to get laid on Valentine’s Day… Kid Carson posted this neat-O! link on his twitter.

Devine Pleasure Poses?  Yes please.

OK, I better get in the shower… its almost 11!  I got a ton of work to do today.

Go with yourself.

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Seattle is King, Regina means Queen

Posted in music, tagged , , , , , on February 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »

One of my favourite cities on the planet, subject of a new song by The Brighton Port Authority.

Dig it.

and Direct from the Queen City Regina, Saskatchewan, Rah Rah.

Pretty darn good, have a listen. I know right?  Indie pop from Roughrider country… who’d h’ave thunk that!

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I Guess This is What Assholes Get

Posted in being cheap, music, tagged , , , , , , , on February 12, 2009| 7 Comments »

Cue up: The National – “Theory of the Crows”

***
not enough money
to buy a PC
so i come in this weekend
asleep on my feet
and if i forget you
ill have nobody left to forget
i guess thats what assholes get

traded my day light
for a career

but i need you to disprove
my theory of the crows

pouring my fingers across the keys
will someone review my salary please?
im selling my time to the man who sells style
that time should be mine to waste on you

ill suck off investors
ill suck off VCs

im losing my posture from time on my knees
they treat me so well
cause i’ll do anything
its in my nature of service

***

I am jamming out The National which always makes me happy. “Theory of the Crows” came up and I went, “hmm.”  Timely track.

Last night I guested at Lucky Bar for WTF!  Lots of fun to DJ in a club that was A) full and B) the people were really into dancing to ANYTHING.  It was cool.

There were three of us tagging in at the controls, Liam Lux, DJ Fatso and myself.  I felt really old.

I plugged in my laptop and was using iTunes to DJ (lame I know).  I was telling Fatso how much I’d love to get a proper rig one day (I’ve been talking about FOREVER) .  Fatso said, what, you can’t drop $1,000 on Serato?

I said, “I’d love to, but my DJ money goes to the kid or bills or diapers or food.”

he looks at me oddly, “how old are you?”

“29.”

“Wow!  you are one young looking 29 year old.”

He was cool, he apologized and said, “yeah I’m 22 and my DJ money is weed money so….”  Then the dude turned me onto this program called Ableton.  He said you can buy it at Long and McQuade or… um, download it off the internets.

Fatso was a good man and showed me what it can do.  Requires no controller which was rad.  He had a little channel mixer thing that he wasn’t even using but said costs like $80 is I wanted to go there and have a controller of some kind.  Fatso was a real wizard with Ableton, so I think if I can get my hands on the program I might be able to elevate my game from “dude that pushes play on CDJs” or “Music Nerd that makes fantastical playlists on iTunes.”

It was sorta neat at Lucky, I saw a bunch of old regulars from my days playing at Hugo’s.  It was odd, never thought I’d miss the weekday party kids… till they were gone.  I wondered what became of them after Hugo’s closed.  I’d hoped some would come to the Clubhouse for my new Tuesday but they are all at Lucky on Wednesday now I guess.

clarity_tn

Coral and I are pretty excited to learn that Jimmy Eat World will be reissuing their brilliant record Clairty on vinyl.

I was never a big Jimmy Eat World fan before I met Coral.  I had always thought they were a pop band that we played on the radio.  Never really dived too deep into the lore.  I met Coral and that all changed.  She told me how amazing they were.  I thought she was amazing, ergo JEW=Amazing.

Coral’s favourtie record is Clarity.  One of those discs that is just so good but never meant for mainstream accolades.  A record, that when enjoyed in the right context will change your entire perspective.  Beautiful, challenging and hmmm… I want to say gliding?  but I don’t think that is a word.

Coral and I like to collect our favourite records on vinyl.  Not so much cuz we are overly snobby about our tunes (the record player is in Madelyn’s closet) but because we like displaying the album artwork on the wall (and I like to have the albums).

Clarity has always been high on our list of acquisitions but the dude at Ditch Records says it is a real collector and a challenge to track down.  Until now.  10th year anniversary reissue!  huzzah!

Now I don’t have the money to take Coral to San Diego or San Francisco for a 10th Anniversary show, but I can probably scrounge $30 for the LP.

She get an IOU on Valentines day… coming in the mail… your Clarity record.

That’s all I got.

Go with yourself.

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EMAILZ

Posted in music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , on January 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

cue up this gem from South Africa.  How exotic.

—–Original Message—–
From: rowanstuart@webmail.co.za [mailto:rowanstuart@webmail.co.za]
Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 11:34 AM
To: Jeremy@thezone.fm
Subject: South African music

Hey, Jeremy.
Do you still play music from South Africa? My name’s Rowan Stuart & I’m a
South African solo artist. My album’s more alternative pop than rock, but
definitely worth a listen, if I may say so! I’d be happy to send you a CD
if you think your station might be interested. Otherwise, I’ll leave some
links to check out my music, in case you wanna.

Thanks a lot!
Rowan Stuart

http://www.myspace.com/rowanstuart
http://www.rowanstuart.com

rowanstuart@webmail.co.za

***

An email from Dave between him and another Zoner behind the lore of USS’s new track, “Laces Out.”

—–Original Message—–
From: Oscar *** [mailto:oscar@***.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 9:20 PM
To: Dave Sawchuck
Subject: Laces Out – Ace Ventura Reference

Hey Dave,

A quick regarding USS “Laces Out” and the potential Ace Ventura.  You are right on the money.  Here’s the specific remarks from their manager when I asked:
“Yes – that’s where it’s from.  When USS performs the single live, Jay usually asks the crowd if they know which way the laces should go according to Ace Ventura – of course they yell “out” and then Jay gets into a call and response with the crowd with him yelling “laces” and the crowd shouts back out” – now they’re ready to play the song!”
Awesome!
All the best,
Oscar

***

Coral and I decided long before Madelyn was even born that she would be a music snob when as she is growing up.

Teacher:  “Alright class, time to do a sing-a-long.”  How about Ba Ba Black Sheep.”

Madelyn:  “swa, That song sucks.  Just stab me in the ear, that would be easier than listening to this pedestrian shit.”

Keeping with Madelyn’s educational goals, Sara P found this wonderous product.  And hey!  Madelyn has a birthday coming up…

The Indie Rock Alphabet Book

***
Yeah yeah… I bought a cell phone on Saturday.  My first cell phone ever in my 29 years roaming the planet.  I love the future, I am totally not going back!

Go with yourself.

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