Well the beginning was good times, but it ended fairly tragically for me at around 9:30PM Sunday.
My friend Bob came over to visit from Vancouver and we met up in the morning to watch his hockey game at Pearkes. From there we hit my place to watch Maddy while Coral was at work.
The plan was innocent enough, dinner and the hockey game at Veneto. But I made the mistake of tipping back a few too many fine cocktails at Veneto.
Coral picked up Maddy and took her home and Dave and Tyson had other plans so they left and Bob and I wandered to Rehab. Fortunately, they’re good folks and didn’t serve me any more beer. Just water.
There wasn’t much going on so we decided to head back to my place and leaving the bar for the cabs I tripped and smashed my head on either A) the ground or B) a van or C) both.
I was so lucky that Bob had his head screwed on and he got me in a cab and home.
I don’t really remember anything from my head hitting the ground to being in my PJs in bed with Coral waking me up.
Apparently I was a fairly troubling person to deal with before they could get me into bed.
I woke up the next day with cut-up knees, hands and a wicked goose-egg on my head.
Thankfully, Boitano and Pol were able to cover my shift yesterday so I could sleep and rest.
Needless to say, I think I’ll be the designated driver at the Zone Christmas Party next week.
I really could have been in a serious situation if it wasn’t for Bob getting me home and Coral, Alix and Bob staying up with me to make sure I would be fine.
Madelyn standing in the pouring rain. Chinatown, Vancouver
Part of me thinks I’ve titled my blog with those same Japandroids lyrics before? huh.
I had a very fulfilling adventure to Coquitlam and Vancouver with Madelyn. Over the couple days we covered a lot of ground. Had some fun times with Grandma and Grandpa and Matt and Andrea. Visited with Paul and Sarah. Saw some sights, explored some city. All the while, pissing rain.
Whenever I visit the lower mainland I get nostalgic and think I want to move back. But then I drive in rush hour traffic and scratch my head. How and why do any of you do it? Life is too short. I’d be a transit cat for sure. (which I love and so does Madelyn).
Driving around one afternoon and sampling the radio I heard the DJ talk about a band called Sick Puppies.
This Aussie band sometimes gets requested on the Zone by people that are into “alternative rock.” I’d never heard of them before so I was intrigued and cranked it up.
Sick Puppies – “Maybe”
I guess. Rock, kinda. Alternative, no.
The DJ even quoted the lyrics on the radio like they were some sort of deep manifesto. Change? Being Unique? Fear? Challenge? Trying for something more? All these great points lost in distortion, soaring vocals and syrupy production.
Alternative rock should push you a little. Its should be vulgar, off center, and intriguing. All I take from “Maybe” is a smooth and even listening experience, if I forget the lyrics. Listening to the message of the song makes me mad. The song takes some basic human emotions and puts virtually no unique spin on them… just presents them. The melodrama violated my ears. Think of the word genuine… then to described Sick Puppies use the antonym. I need something a wee bit more left of the dial. God bless ya if that’s your style of Alternative rock, but it ain’t mine.
I don’t want to be hard on the Sick Puppies. They’re just a band trying to make a buck at rock and roll. They wrote the best song they could and it got played on the radio a half world away. Anyone should be commended by that feat which is truly a unique and challenging thing to do… Maybe I am more upset in the mass buy-in required to create the half world where that is possible. There are worse songs that get played in the mainstream more and better songs that never do. Weirds me out man.
Just got back from a quick holiday to scenic and historic Coquitlam to visit my folks.
And like any good journey to the distant east, I come bearing alcohol.
The last time I visited my parents we settled on an evening of Old Fashions. This past weekend almost became more of the same. As I was heading out the door of the Veneto Lounge after a DJ set, head bartender Simon Ogden, asked if I wanted another Bulleit Bourbon Cocktail to add to my skill-set.
The Manhattan is considered one of the 6 basic cocktails. If maybe.,.. you’re my wife for example, and say… maybe have every episode of Sex and the City on DVD, then you know about the Manhattan because that is what the girls drank. (also Frank mutha fucking Sinatra)
The Manhattan is basically 2 parts whiskey; 1 part sweet vermouth; a couple dashes of Angostura Bitter; stirred in ice; strained; with a maraschino cherry for garnish.
Like any great cocktail, the Manhattan is a place for the truly creative bartender to flex their brain and excel at dazzling your senses while remaining true to custom.
I don’t know if this is Simon’s “Manhattan” or just a recipe he threw together for me knowing what I can do and with ingredients that anyone can muster.
Combine and stir in ice until very cold. Strain into an ice cold martini glass (or you know, plastic cup as case may be).
Slice off a hunk of orange peel… some spinnster may try and give you a Christmas orange. Slap this person in the mouth, unless its your mother, then politely decline. It should be a real orange.
Flame the peel and spritz the essence onto the cocktail.
Garnish with a Griottines cherry (this might be the challenging product to track down. Historically you can use a Maraschino cherry. Simon says; no cherry is better than anything radioactively red or use a real cherry.)
If you are throwing an “oh wow” party, splurge on the cherry. Both my folks loved the cherries. And the orange peel trick is a crowd pleaser too.
Questions, comments, concerns? Making a cocktail is an easy and fun thing to do but you can always visit the Veneto and ask Simon. He’ll answer your questions and show you how to do it.
And remember: “(David A.) Embury stresses frequently that the drink will never be any better than the quality of the cheapest ingredient in it, and hence he stresses constantly the need for the highest quality spirits, liqueurs, cordials, and modifiers (fresh squeezed lemons, etc.)”
Oh no, the poor Cruze this morning. I blogged about this yesterday but I love it.
The car wishes you safe journeys.
whoa… journeys is spelled with an “eys” and not “ies.”
huh.
I’ll tell ya, I could not have picked a better week to have a tester car. I planned on driving it to Vancouver, maybe a station event or two then have to give it back. but instead I have turned into a commuter.
The bad news… riding my bike way less and my bike is my one form of cardio. I keep planning to fire up my own bootcamp at home. I need a couple (or one really) medicine balls and a resistance band and maybe a jump rope, and I can do all the exercises form bootcamp. Just haven’t got there yet. I have a car, I should drive to the sporting goods store!
I am concerned that I am slowly drifting further away from any type of physical fitness. Radio DJing is not exactly physical work. Its not physical at all. Lounge DJing, a bit only because I lug gear and stand. Sometimes they let me fetch ice or clear tables…. but that’s it.
“WOLD” is a song based on a true story about radio presenter Jim Conners. Conners worked at a Boston AM radio station in the early 70s and was responsible for championing Harry Chapin and getting his first single “Taxi” to become a hit. While at the studio for an interview, Chapin overheard a phone conversation between Conners and his ex-wife.
The song “WOLD” is presented as a phone conversation between an aging radio presenter and his ex-wife where he looks back at his life as a radio broadcaster and how all the years later, what he really misses is his relationship and family.
I actually used to jam this song out on college radio. weird. But I love it.
Its such a great song, because as a radio broadcaster, its true. radio broadcasting makes you fat. period.
It got me thinking about the time I used to write for a music blog back in the day before the word “blog” was invented. It was a site called Indulged.com and was started by Andy out of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He had a small stable of writers and one of the dudes was a guy named Matt. They were all into By A thread which I thought was cool, because they lived across the continent.
Indulged is long and gone. Andy lives and works in North Carolina now and Matt… Matt what do you do?
I still cyber stalk the boys on Facebook and Matt was telling me that By A Thread was supposed to release a second record. Sure enough, John Franco facebooked me to say that indeed, the record is done and it is up to their record label, Revelation to release.
If/when it happens… I’ll be sure to blog about it.
***
I received an email from a recent Victorian settler named Dave:
Hey Jeremy,
I want to request the song Air Combat by an up and coming band from Kamloops called Sharks! On Fire!
These guys are playing at the German Cultural Center in Nanaimo on Nov. 26th w/ On Call Heroes and The Kick Off’s.
p.s. My wife and daughter and I moved here in July from Kamloops, and just want you to know I haven’t heard radio this good in a long time, and I truly mean it. My turn month was frig’n rad and love all the new and old music you play.
Thanks, the zone rocks!
Cheers
Dave
***
Thank you Dave! Lets have a listen to Kamloop’s Sharks! On Fire!
Its funny… growing up, I was never much of a car guy. My folks always had a car I could borrow. I bought an old 1969 Triumph Spitfire in highschool. It was dilapidated by the end of grade 12.
In college I bought a Dodge Colt for about $400 from my brother (who had bought it from my Dad).
I shared that car with Alex (my old girlfriend). And by shared I mean, she mostly drove it and I took skytrain to work. When we moved to Victoria, she drove it till it literally died in the street and needed to be towed.
Her brother gave us his old car, a Hyundai, the worst car ever. But it was free and we needed it at the time; it was a pretty clutch gift. The car smoked black smoke all over the city. It was so bad, that sure enough at a stop light, someone would say, “hey, your car is smoking.”
I was on my way to the ferry to pick up my sister when it died on the Pat Bay by the funeral home. I had to call Sara P on the radio and a Zoner picked me up!
After that, Alex bought a Volvo. Then she moved to Vancouver. So I was walker.
Driving me to the ferry one morning in the rain, she spun off the road and we crashed. The RCMP drove me to the ferry.
Then Alex bought a Suzuki sidekick or something and we broke up (gosh dang sidekicks!).
And then I was for sure a walker (no not a Zombie!). I also bought a scooter. I lived a long time without a car.
When I met Coral, she also had no car. Oy Vey!
It wasn’t till me moved in together that my aunt gave me her old pick-up truck. Then Coral got pregnant so we sold that to her Mom and leased a Jeep.
But mostly Coral drives the Jeep.
I ride my bike or walk most the time.
Until now.
I borrowed a Chevy Cruze from Dave Wheaton Chevrolet and almost immediately, we became a two-car family that seems to NEED two cars!
This morning, the challenge was getting Madelyn to Nana’s then to work as Coral also had to go to work at the same time.
Madelyn didn’t seem to appreciate our commitment to keeping a schedule and fought me all the way to the car. In her pajamas! In the snow!
I clipped her car seat in and while doing that she decided to run in the snow.
She also doesn’t appreciate that the “red car” is a borrowed lender/test drive dealio. Ugh. Snow everywhere in the back seat.
It did calm me down when I turned on the car and the display screen said “Be careful, there could be ice on the road.”
Whoa… the car is smarter than my two-year-old.
Being a music/radio guy, the stereo is THE most important part of any car. To me, the car is a rad stereo system on wheels.
I don’t know what they charge for a Cruze, but the information center is big and easy to navigate around. The thing also has XM satellite (boo), but secretly… I dig it.
If there was a way to put the satellite and radio together in a way that compliments both, this is the system. I have had satellite in a car before and I had to turn on the Sirius, or the radio… but with this car, I get to have The Zone as button #1, and then 60s on 6 as button #2. And I can flip. (The DJs on 60s on 6 are so tragic). Then maybe Coast-to-Coast AM as button #3 and all my fave stations, on different formats and frequencies are all in one easy place.
I do have a new theme song because of 60s on 6.
I think my radio show needs a theme song at the beginning (and one at the end).
The old Morning After Show had this long intro I made that eventually settled into “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers. And we ended every show with the “Why Do You Build Me Up” by the Foundations.
The Modern Rock Countdown starts with Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watch Tower” and ends with Ennio Morricone “Ecstasy of Gold.”
But how about this song?
The Happenings – “I Got Rhythm”
But I think it would be more hilarious if I sang it or had an a cappella group sing it. The song sounds like the theme music to a 1960s buddy comedy sitcom. I love it.
This morning I awoke to a perfect and cold winter day (and still a scratchy throat). Coral was running a bit behind and I still have the Chevy Cruze, so she asked me to take Mads to Step-Up to Pre-School.
Driving back to The Zone, I was jamming out Pol Plastino and he punched up Gob’s “Ming Tran.”
“Ming Tran” is from Gob’s 2002 ep F.U. EP. I remember this record being big on the radio back when I worked at a Starbucks in Vancouver and we’d sing it all the time.
Back then, I used to listen to Gob all the time and play them on my radio show, The Morning After Show (hence the name of this here ole blog). My favourite, favourite Gob song was “Self-Appointed Leader” off 1998’s How Far Shallow Takes You. Back then, I didn’t really get how radio “works” so I’d call up David Hawkes (best DJ!) on CFOX at night and request the song. He’d tell me it was a great cut and take a minute to talk some Vancouver rock and roll with me and then play “What To Do” or some other Gob-esque type song that might have been getting a little attention. Pop-punk (or ponk) was pretty popular in the late 90s and early 00s.
Gob – “Self-Appointed Leader”
I was pretty new at CiTR in the winter of 1998 and Gob’s record was new (and my show was a new Canadian music show so…..) and I played it quite a bit.
As I grew a bit more sophisticated in my musical taste, taking the bus out to Vancouver at least once a week, turning 19 and going to shows, and starting my own band… I really got into the Vancouver band By A Thread. Their debut album The Last of Daydreams came out in November of 1999 ( I think, no wikipedia for these guys that I could find).
I loved them. I played this record on my radio show all the time and made a point to see them live when I could afford it and had the time.
By A Thread – “Surface”
By A Thread – “The World To Me”
To this day, The Last of the Daydreams remains one of my favourite records from those early mornings on the radio.
Listening now, it does sound a little dated and obviously, DIY. The album cover has graphic design of so many indie bands of the era… so sometimes its hard to separate the nostalgia from the quality. But it doesn’t really matter. By A Thread was a big part of my soundtrack growing up.
Vince Vaccaro at the Peak Performance Project. Photo: McAvoy
I woke up today much like any other; with a sore throat.
It just won’t go away. BUT unlike any other day, I also woke to a winter wonderland! Which normally I love, but it did give me a moment of heart palpitations as I am currently driving a borrowed car.
Yeesh… a borrowed car? Yes. Its been awhile since I last blogged because I have been so busy putting out fired and starting new ones.
Last week was the Peak Performance Project in Vancouver featuring my man Vince Vaccaro, plus music from Said the Whale and Kyprios. The concert was a music prize showcase and the winner would win $100,500.00 in grant money to help boost their career.
Vince called into my show last week and had an extra ticket for me if I could find a ride.
Twist my arm… I’ll take a free car. Thank you Brett and off to Vancouver I went!
My adventure to Vancouver began on the 7AM ferry. I piled all my broadcast gear into the trunk of the Cruze, filled up the gas tank and away! The ferry took me to 100.5 The Peak where I hung out with James Sutton and Tamara Stanners. Then off to downtown to broadcast my afternoon show from the Tom Lee Music on Granville.
Vince stopped by the show with Nick Blasko for an interview. He may have tried to grab my penis after I called him Sam Roberts.
The party at the Commodore Ballroom was completely sold out. Vince was the first guy up and being the homer that I am, I thought he was the best.
In the end, Vince finished the competition as 3rd place. He earned a grant for $50,000. Said the Whale finished second ($75k) and Kyrpios ($100k) won the whole dealio.
me and Ben Worcester of Said the Whale.
Tyson from Acres of Lions and Jeff from The Racoons.
looks like Lewis from Acres of Lions and the lovely Laura Smith.
Vince Vaccaro with his hilarious novelty sized cheque.
Vince Vaccaro – “Costa Rice” (album edit)
Thank you Brett and Dave Wheaton Chevrolet for allowing me to use the Chevy Cruze on my adventure. Thank you to Vince Vaccaro and my freinds at the Peak and at Tom Lee for allowing my broadcast to run smoothly in Vancouver. And the Victoria team of Bossman John, Boitano, Doug Marin, Jade, Webguy Bud and Russ for taking care of the project.
It takes a lot of people to make the radio go and the DJ is just one cog in the machine.
Victoria performer, Liv Wade sent me a nice message the other day in regards to some of the new music she is working on.
Jeremy,
I hear you’ve got some good listening ears, especially music. I’ve just been in studio in Vancouver working on my first studio songs. The first one is done and I’d love for you to hear it — and enjoy.
Be well,
Liv
***
Well here it is:
Liv Wade – “Out of Love”
Very pretty song. Reminds me of something I’d hear during an emotional scene of a WB drama.
The weekend was a bit of a mess.
The Morning After 