The Northern Pikes and Chalk Circle live 1988

I'm finally getting around to transferring some old videotapes to DVD & uploading the interesting bits to YouTube. You know, I could have sworn this aired in 1987, but at the end it says (c)[somethingsomething]VIII. At the time I thought this concert was really awesome - and the performances are still pretty good today. This double bill was aired as part of MuchMusic's Big Ticket Concert program.



The Northern Pikes' set features material from its major-label debut Big Blue Sky and one as-then unreleased song which would be recorded for the next album - by which time they'd gotten terrible haircuts and the hammy guitarist started doing vocals - all of which lead to the cock-rocking career nadir of "She Ain't Pretty." Ugh. But this set is still pretty good. It's nice to see 1980s French boys singing along to deep cut "You Sold The Farm" - and I always thought one of the Le-Chateau-looking chicks in the front was Erica Ehm, but now I don't think so. The performance of "Dancing In A Dance Club" was later used as the official music video for that track. The performance includes the hits "Teenland" and "Things I Do For Money."



Chalk Circle's set mostly features tracks from its first full-length album, Mending Wall and the two hits from the first EP. Again, 1980s Quebec teenagers knew their Canadian rock deep cuts - opener "My Artificial Sweetener" gets a much more emphatic response than might be expected, but the performance is pretty great. In fact, this is a solid set from Chris Tate & co., marred only by the steel-drum sounding violin-plucking of special guest Hugh Marsh. Tate's hand is bleeding through the last couple of songs - a sure sign of a good show. Hits played: April Fool; Me, Myself & I; This Mourning; 20th Century Boy.

A benefit E.P. for Japanese relief efforts.

The Linger Effect has released an E.P. entitled Watercolour. All profits from the sale of this release will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross to support relief efforts in Japan in light of the recent earthquake and tsunami. There is a minimum payment of $5.00 CAD, but if you are able to donate more please pay what you can!

Get it here: lingereffect.bandcamp.com/.

Please blog, tweet and otherwise spread the word!

Now look at them yo-yos...

The recent ban on the unedited radio broadcast of Dire Straits' tedious 1985 single "Money For Nothing" has resulted in a huge public outcry in support of the continued unedited broadcast of the song. Anti-censorship bantor has been bandied about mercilessly in Facebook status updates and website comments sections with very few people applauding the recent decision against CHOZ-FM by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Mark Knopfler's lyrics are being defended as a stance against ignorance -- any fool can see that the song is a brilliant piece of satire of Norman-Lear-sitcom-type proportions at best, and a snapshot of a former society's prejudicial norms at worse. The ban against the unedited version of the song is being compared to the recent decision to publish a version of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn with the word "nigger" replaced by "slave" because "Money For Nothing" is apparently just that artistically and culturally significant.

Before I discuss this further I wish to take a moment to present some information about the CBSC, OZ-FM's obligations as a voluntary member of that council, and the appeal process. From the FAQ section of the CBSC's website:

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) is an independent, voluntary organization created and funded by Canada’s private broadcasters to administer the broadcasting standards established by its members. Although the CBSC is a non-governmental agency, it operates with the approval of the federal regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Consequently, complaints made by members of the public to the CRTC will be referred to the CBSC for resolution when they concern CBSC members.

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The CBSC’s membership rolls include nearly all of Canada’s private broadcasters, including radio and television stations, networks and specialty services.

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Those private broadcasters which are members of the CBSC have all agreed to be subject to the Codes and other standards administered by the CBSC.

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If a CBSC Adjudicating Panel decides that the programming has violated one or more Code provisions, the broadcaster must announce that result on air. It must make the announcement twice, once within three days following the release of the decision in prime time for television or peak listening hours for radio, and again within seven days following the release of the decision in the time period in which the offending content was broadcast. It must also write a letter to the complainant(s) within 14 days thereafter indicating that the announcements have been made. The broadcaster then must provide the CBSC with a copy of that letter and with copies of the tapes containing the broadcast announcements.

It is also expected that a similar violation will not recur; that is, the broadcaster will not air similar material in the future. It is up to the broadcaster to determine the appropriate means to ensure that the offending type of broadcast does not recur.

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The CBSC does not have an internal appeals mechanism, which would permit an appeal from the decision of one Panel to, say, another appellate Panel. Consequently, in the event that a complainant is discontent with a CBSC decision, he or she must take the matter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Upon receipt of a request to review a CBSC decision, the Commission undertakes a review "de novo" of the matter, that is to say, they will not confine themselves strictly to standards of appellate review but will rather look at the matter afresh. As part of this review, they will likely ask for further submissions from the "appellant" and the broadcaster in question and they will request that the provide them with our file, including the broadcast tapes, relating to the matter. Any member of the public, even those who have no connection to the initial complaint, can request that the CRTC review a CBSC decision.

In summary, almost all Canadian private broadcasters are voluntary members of the CBSC, including OZ-FM. All members agree to follow CBSC broadcast codes, and to follow the decisions made by the panel when confronted with a complaint from the public. If a broadcaster or a member of the general public wishes to appeal a decision made by the CBSC, an appeal can be made to the CRTC to review the decision.

During my time as music director of the local campus radio station, I was responsible for telling people what they could and could not play on the radio - usually due to lyrical content (violence, obscenities, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc) - so that we did not receive listener complaints and thus possible reprimands from the CRTC. We received a shitload of CDs daily from record companies - including "clean" versions for airplay (such as obscenities changed to more innocuous words or "beeped" out).

Radio stations have been playing "clean" versions of songs for decades - from Pink Floyd's "Money" to Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" to just about everything in the current top 40 - so as not to offend listeners ("Forget You" vs. "Fuck You," anyone?). Free-to-air television stations have been editing movies and other programs of potentially offensive content for probably longer. These are common events in the broadcast industry - from shooting Elvis from the waist up on The Ed Sullivan Show to looping new dialogue for films in place of obscenities (or removing scenes altogether). Only cable channels and public radio and television stations such as the CBC have ever gotten away with broadcasting racier material here in Canada. Very rarely does anyone cry "censorship" when this happens as it is understood that radio and television stations are required to offend as few people as possible by not airing material which contains obscenities or explicit content.

Private radio's regulatory body is saying "Money For Nothing" should not be played on the air without that one word being edited out - the same as fuck, shit, cunt, or nigger. I am puzzled about the uproar over the CBSC's decision. Yes, the song has been played countless times on the radio over the past 26 years and yes, the song won awards, but does the song really possess such intrinsic historical and cultural value that it should not be subjected to the same standards as thousand of other songs being played on the radio in 2011? No one is saying the song cannot be played in a "clean" format. No one is burning Dire Straits records or demanding the song be removed from iTunes. No one is suggesting that Dire Straits CDs be removed from store shelves unless all copies of the song are edited, and this is why comparison's to the nigger-less Huckleberry Finn fall flat - especially considering the record company has provided a radio edit to stations for years now.

Until this recent event I had never heard anyone justify Mark Knopfler's use of the word "faggot." I've never heard anyone on the radio explaining that Knopfler is in character as a bigoted moron before or after airing the song (I've certainly never even heard anyone on the radio alerting listeners that there would be material aired which may be offensive to some, an act commonplace on television). I am weary of giving Knopfler the benefit of the doubt as this is not the first instance where he has been called on potentially homophobic lyrics. "Les Boys" was criticized by many at the time it was released (see Robert Christgau's review of "Making Movies," for instance). I must confess that I do not find either song offensive, personally, but I have a hard time deciding what Knopfler's motives are, and I do not think he has ever made it explicitly clear - flip remarks in ancient Rolling Stone interviews be damned.

A common argument about the "faggot" ban is removing this word diminishes the power of the song. I do not see how this is the case when any put-down can be substituted in its place and the meaning of the song remains clear - the character remains the same. When he reviewed the parent album, Christgau asked "'I mean, why not 'little nigger with the spitcurl' instead of 'little faggot with the earring,' Mark?" The answer then is the same as the answer today: there are triple standards in society where racism is intolerable, while other forms of bigotry are viewed as less offensive and shrugged off. (I'm guessing that OZ-FM wouldn't dare play John Lennon's "Woman is the Nigger of the World" in this day and age although it has a much more important social message than the supposed satire of "Money For Nothing.")

It isn't 1985 anymore and throwing out the insult "faggot" without good reason is no longer acceptable.

I, however, would have no problem with any radio station airing Joe Jackson's 'Real Men" which also uses the word "faggot," but in a completely different context.



In the interest of full disclosure I should probably clarify that during my time at campus radio I participated in a comedy program which included a series of skits called "The Unknown Faggot" - written by and starring myself as the titular character. This gay superhero, disguised by a paper bag worn over the head like the Unknown Comic, traveled around combating homophobia. The only skit which I can recall involved sneaking into a Boy Scouts meeting and painting pink triangles over all of the merit badges to the chagrin of the Scout leaders. Whenever the superhero's name was spoken it was spoken by a chorus for emphasis - the unknown FAGGOT. This was done (a) because I thought it was funny, and (b) as my own pathetic attempt to reclaim the word from homophobes. Was it a Kids In The Hall rip-off? Probably. Am I a hypocrite for criticizing Mark Knopfler for using the same word? Probably, but I don't think I'll lose any sleep over it.

(see Queer Liberal's opinion)

(see McNutt's opinion)

Fingerprint File

(Warning: some language is NSFW.)

A few years ago I compiled a CD of some of my favourite Rolling Stones songs. A couple of months ago I thought I would like to compile another Stones CD so I could put their R&B, funk and disco songs together on one disc. I did this, but it bothered me that I now had two Rolling Stones CDs with different genres sprinkled throughout, and there were songs on each disc which I thought would better compliment songs on the other. I usually compile single-artist discs chronologically, but this time I wanted discs which flowed nicely. Now that this had turned into a double disc set I was unhappy with the overall flow. (Yes, I am a geek.)

So... I threw all of the songs from both discs into one folder, rearranged the contents and separated them into two 80-minute chunks. By gently editing some extraneous seconds of silence from a few tracks and using a single edit of one song I was able to add a couple of extra songs with this new arrangement. Win/win.

I thought I would share the tracklisting, although I have no intention of sharing the actual music files herein. I'm sure one can find them in whatever legal or illegal fashion one prefers, cos, like, it's the fuckin' Stones, mang. The band is slightly popular.

The Rolling Stones
Fingerprint File
1966-1983

Disc One:

01. 19th Nervous Breakdown
02. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?
03. Jumpin' Jack Flash
04. Street Fighting Man
05. Under My Thumb
06. We Love You
07. 2000 Light Years From Home
08. Sympathy For The Devil
09. Gimme Shelter
10. Midnight Rambler
11. Sister Morphine
12. Cocksucker Blues
13. Let It Bleed
14. Let It Loose
15. Wild Horses
16. Moonlight Mile
17. Waiting On A Friend

Disc Two:

01. You Can't Always Get What You Want (single edit)
02. No Expectations
03. Sway
04. Live With Me
05. Bitch
06. Happy
07. Star Star
08. Shattered
09. She's So Cold
10. Start Me Up
11. Undercover Of The Night
12. Hot Stuff
13. Dance
14. Too Much Blood
15. Emotional Rescue
16. Miss You
17. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
18. Fingerprint File

While there are a few big singles included, this is not exactly a greatest hits. I think "Cocksucker Blues" is a great song - one of my favourite Stones blues dirges. It would have fit on Sticky Fingers nicely. From Snopes:

When the Stones decided to leave Decca Records and start their own label (Rolling Stones Records) in 1970, Decca informed them that their contract obligated them to deliver one more single. The Stones dutifully complied by handing over the unreleasable "Schoolboy Blues," also known as "Cocksucker Blues." (Strangely enough, the song was eventually released by Decca in Germany, as a bonus single included with the 1983 four-LP boxed set The Rest of the Best. The set was quickly pulled and rereleased without the single.)



"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?" is one of the weirdest singles they ever released - such an awesome rave-up.



I am not thinking eloquently enough to comment on some of the more transcendent songs included ("Sway," "No Expectations," "Let It Loose," "Moonlight Mile)." Let me just say that sometimes Stones songs can be unexpectedly moving.

I am not thinking eloquently enough to really comment on some of the more rocking songs included, but let me say that "Bitch" makes me want to get up and dance every single time I hear it. However, I mostly just dance in my heart. I am the Jimmy Carter of dancing.

Sometimes the Stones can be endearingly goofy:



I was going to include the video for "Waiting On A Friend" because (a) they're hanging out on St. Mark's Place, and (b) Mick and Keith really make me giggle, but I can't embed it. You can see it here.

However, I can include the video for "Too Much Blood" - the song which was the impetus for compiling the second disc. I think that the Undercover LP is hugely underrated, and this song is especially fun. Mick is really amusing and Keith and Ronnie wield chainsaws in this video - what's not to love?



"Oh no, don't saw off me leg, don't saw off me arm." Classic!

I think that's more than enough embedded videos to cause my browser to freeze... I think this is a nifty double disc set. Hopefully someone else will agree.

Babe magnet in a scarf.

Oh dear. I stumbled upon this today (via Unreasonable Faith):



...which then led to this:



Did God make Adam Hood the way he is just to torture him for the rest of his life with innate longings he is not allowed to fulfill? The majority of fundamentalist and evangelical Christians (including Adam Hood) seem to think that this is how their god works.

And now Adam is 'cured?' Who does this queen think she's fooling? Gay men have been marrying and having sex with women for thousands of years, and it hasn't made one of them straight. It just helps them to pass as straight, and I guess - to some minds - sex with a woman is better than no sex at all.

No, it hasn't made them straight - it's just made them desperate and sad and delusional. Apparently lying to oneself, one's wife, one's child, and everyone else is infinitely holier than being an open, honest, well-adjusted, happy human being.

If this supposed god is as omniscient and all-powerful as people have been led to believe for thousands of years, then surely s/he knows exactly who you really are, anyway, and there is no point pretending to be something you're not. How can you have an honest relationship with your god if you can't have an honest relationship with yourself?

Religious leaders who do not practice what they preach often get their asses handed to them - and quite rightly so.

The site Christian Gays has a lot of information regarding the Bible and its misuse with regard to homosexuality. If you find yourself at conflict with your church, but are determined to remain religious, either find a denomination which accepts you for who you are, or disregard the aspects you don't like. People do that all the time in religion - if not, people would still be selling their daughters, stoning adulterers and keeping slaves.

The Christian Gays site above also has numerous links to support sites for people struggling with these issues. A couple other sites of interest:

Steps to Recover from Bible Abuse
Recovering Fundamentalists

But, back to poor, misguided Adam above... Not all homosexuals are fatherless. (I was not fatherless until my father, sadly, passed away last year.) Not all homosexuals participate in anal sex (see here) -- and certainly anyone of any gender/orientation with a grain of sense in 2010 practices safe sex, which it seems Adam does/did not. (Also, Adam, I'm not a biologist, but I don't think sperm eat anything.) Not all homosexuals use Ecstasy, GHB, or Ketamine (never tried anything harder than pot myself). Not all homosexuals suffered from abuse (never experienced any myself - except verbally from fundamentalist Christians). It sounds like Adam had a very unhappy life and is now trying to blame it all on his sexual orientation.

I wonder how Jesus felt when Adam screamed his name upon consummating his sham marriage? I wonder how Jesus likes his scarf? I'm sure Jesus likes the very straight finger snaps punctuating a couple of his statements. The last couple of minutes of that second video seem like something from an SNL skit.

"Ex-gays" like Adam really boil my blood. In conclusion, I say:



(There are errors in the lyrics displayed in that video, to my dismay, but I didn't create it. The proper Lily Allen video is quite amusing, but I couldn't embed it. See it here.)

Einstein Game Goes Mental

When I was a young lad I owned a game named Einstein. This was a hand-held electronic memory game - a knock-off of the very popular game Simon. The game played "Charge" if you won and "Beethoven's Fifth" if you lost -- and if you got pissed off and smacked it in the right spot it spat this out at you:

...and would keep doing so until you turned it off or until the batteries died.

I recorded the possessed Einstein onto audio cassette sometime in the mid-1980s. I am not sure what became of my game after this. I presume it got sucked back into hell.

You can learn more about Einstein from plasticfetish, from whom I stole the images used in this video (thanks).

Come on in - the water's lovely...

So, first Sean Hayes came out last week, and now Ricky Martin this week... I think it is always a good thing when a celebrity comes out - regardless of how long it takes.

While coming out is not always easy and everyone has his/her own reasons for staying in, here's a tip for those still in the closet: almost everyone knows who you are already. I guarantee it.

Surely Sean Hayes and Ricky Martin coming out is no surprise to anyone. Can Kevin Spacey be far behind?

'A'-week celebrations

I am participating in 'A'-week on Facebook to "help raise awareness that the world is full of people who are 'good without God' and who don't need religion to influence their lives."

While all theistic belief seems equally ridiculous, I am most familiar with the Abrahamic God, and I cannot fathom how this petty, jealous, sexist and vengeful being would be worthy of worship if he did exist.

What this week needs is a theme song. This one might be good:



[via some other blog I forget from a few days ago...]

I Feel Disco Good

This probably should have been the first post last year...a simultaneously silly and awesome disco song from the wonderful and frightening world of Henri Belolo and Jacques Morali (a/k/a Can't Stop Productions).

Let's do it, baby.

Drunk Girls

Excerpts from the upcoming LCD Soundsystem LP are beginning to appear around the web.

This is the official listening post from Parlophone for the first single:



It's OK and to be honest it grows on me a little more with each listen, but I prefer the sound of this sort of thing more:



...which is a cover of a Peter Gordon & Love of Life Orchestra song:



The cover isn't slated to be on the new LCD album, nor are recent excellent singles "Big Ideas" and "Bye Bye Bayou."

...Big Ideas:



...Bye Bye Bayou:



Am I evil for hoping the full album leaks soon? People seem to have copies...

Defending the indefensible: Kiss - Unmasked

I have to confess I have a soft spot for the post-solo-album mess which was Kiss in 1979-81. Dynasty, Unmasked, and (Music From) The Elder were released at the height of my pre-pubescent Kiss obsession so it's possible that nostalgia accounts for any lapse in judgment. It isn't too difficult to find an online treatise extolling the virtues of the first or third of this triumvirate, but very few people are fool enough to claim to like Unmasked. Kiss, I will be that fool for you -- and I'm not even Australian.



The opening track from Unmasked is "Is That You?" (written by a fellow named Gerald McMahon). It kinda sounds like new wave Kiss - you know, like "It's Still Rock N Roll To Me" is new wave Billy Joel. The guitar solo is pretty classic Kiss-like, but Vini Poncia's production is too clean for this to get very gritty. That said, if more of Unmasked sounded like this it I don't think it would be nearly so maligned.



It's a well-known fact that "Shandi" - the most sickeningly saccharine Kiss single of the make-up era besides "Beth" - was a top ten hit in Australia. It's a terrible song, but it's much better than those to come in the Diane Warren/Michael Bolton/Desmond Child collaborative era ("Forever," anyone?). Paul Stanley is the only actual band member playing on this flaccid pap which sounds like it could have been performed by anyone from the Bay City Rollers to the Little River Band. I think it would work better buried on side two instead of being the second song on the album, but then I'm no purist - I frequently enjoy playing Kiss albums on random play (this especially works well with Rock And Roll Over).

The hilarious video was the last appearance Peter Criss made with the band until 1995 and he didn't even play on the album (Anton Fig played drums as he did on Ace's solo LP and most of Dynasty). I love from 2:19 to 2:35 - Ace's performance especially. The bits where he points his finger at the camera and pretends the keyboard sound is feedback from his hoisted guitar are almost as amusing as his bits on the infamous Tom Snyder interview in 1979. I also like when the camera pans from Peter to Gene and Gene has this "get me the fuck away from this guy" look of disgust. I am fond of Gene's ridiculous costume from this era - did he get demoted from god of thunder to god of aluminum foil? God of concrete? He reminds me of Thing from The Fantastic Four.

Paul Stanley's other contributions (besides "What Makes the World Go 'Round" which is pretty bland and overlong) are interesting, but hampered by the production. "Tomorrow" is a nifty pop song and should have been a hit. I like the way the call-and-response vocals build toward the end of the song and if that's not a classic Ace guitar solo then Paul is doing a really good Ace imitation. "Easy As It Seems" is really weird with this traveling bassline (which I suspect was not played by Gene) and the most dated keyboard sound this side of Styx. This could be something from a musical segment on Fame. I can see jazz hands during the "it's easy -- EASY!" part.



I love Ace. Ace makes this era of Kiss really enjoyable for me - drunk off his ass and contributing the strongest material after his great solo LP sold more than the other three. I really love his songs from Dynasty ("Hard Times," "Save Your Love," Stones cover "2000 Man") and his tracks from this record are pretty good, too. "Talk To Me" is the best of the bunch - solid power pop with typical Frehley rhyming (vibration/sensation/relaxation/reputation/fascination/relation/infatuation/frustration) which always makes me giggle, as does the way Ace shouts "crazzay." I also really like how the middle 8 builds and leads into his solo and then is used again to lead into the outro refrain.

Ace's "Two Sides of the Coin" is not quite as great, but is still pretty good. The rhyming is hilarious as usual, and there's something bumblingly charming about the clumsy couplet

then you decide to pick a mate
because you're tired of all those dates.

When I was a kid, embarrassingly enough, I thought Ace was saying "honeytime" instead of "I need time" during the chorus. (I hereby give you permission to use it as a pet name for your significant other.) There's a nice chiming/jangly guitar build during the instrumental break in place of a proper solo and I think it shows what a classy, restrained guitarist Ace could be - he didn't always feel the need to play a flashy solo.

The other Ace track, "Torpedo Girl," has pretty insipid lyrics (by even Ace's standards), but it does have a funky bassline played by the Spaceman himself and the "ooo-waa-ooooh" backing vocals are pretty dreamy. The guitar parts are a little Jimmy Page-y (think Houses of the Holy era) and again Ace provides a nice restrained guitar break instead of a flashy solo. Bravo, Ace!



Gene Simmons' "She's So European" is another really odd, new wave-tinged song. The keyboards during the pre-chorus are pretty great - not unlike something Depeche Mode might write. I presume the song is about a poseur ("She still speaks with an accent from a week in San Tropez") with whom the protagonist is disgusted ("I wouldn't look if you paid me") -- and yet infatuated ("I wanna take my time, she's so refined, is that her screamin'?"). "She's so European" is a puzzling remark. Is "European" a euphemism for something? I love how in the above clip we see Gene tapping his big concrete foot along with the beat and nearly stepping on Ace's cape - the tension as we wait for the Spaceman to fall over is nearly unbearable.

Gene has rarely been in better voice than he is on this album, but the Demon's other two contributions aren't quite as interesting. "You're All That I Want" is let down by a pretty rudimentary chorus after building nicely through the verses. "Naked City" is about loneliness or something in NYC, but it's a bit plodding and boring. One line puzzles me: "Older women with younger men, I've got a feelin' I'm in trouble again." What's wrong with cougars, Gene? MILFs and cougars have certainly come a long way since 1980.

While this album is certainly a departure for Kiss, I am open minded enough to give them room to experiment and/or fail. I am glad they didn't make the same record over and over again. A lot of people scream SELL OUT at the mention of Unmasked, but Kiss has always been about selling out. They have never hidden their desire to sell a shitload of records and certainly have never shied from plastering their name over any piece of merchandising available. Kiss is all about making money in every conceivable way.

Oh, and good times. Unmasked is a playfully good time. Congratulations Australia on realizing this.

Autobahn

This is Kraftwerk doing an awesome version of 'Autobahn' on the US TV programme The Midnight Special.

Automatic Lover

How did I manage to go so long without hearing this song?