While aimlessly noodling around on the net the other day, I realized that I had not taken a look at my blog’s comments for some time; almost a year in fact. Where does the time go? November last year, we were polishing the last few notes on Fortune’s Favour, arguing about the cover, wondering whether we should just forge ahead with another one right away, all that stuff. And now, here we are in the throes of the tour itself. Life in a band is a funny thing.
Anyway, on with the cute rejoinders, witty asides and pointed replies:
GBS deconstructed, via Rankin Street - My attempt to explain GBS’s arrangement models, via our days in the pubs, was in retrospect putting too much intellectual weight on a flimsy foundation. Even so, it was a popular entry. Dan’s comment that ‘Turn’ was our first grown-up album is interesting. I could agree, it was the first album where we really played together. On the other hand, the debut album, which we managed to create without the benefit of a (a) real producer, or (b) a clue, remains a bit of a benchmark. It was also amusing to hear from someone who saw the Rankin Street cable access TV shows. Just thinking about those makes me laugh. The results were so bad and embarrassing that at one point we contemplated a collective move to Toronto, in hopes of escaping the constant jibes.
Saddest Songs - A meandering essay about sad songs elicited many responses, most offering their own choice. The whole thing got rather depressing. I shan’t be doing that again!
St. Patrick’s Day - I was quite happy with this entry, I felt I actually managed to say what I actually wanted to say - if you have tried to write something for public view, perhaps you know what I mean. Everyone who replied agreed with me, however, which did not make for the most exciting debate in the comments section. So in the interest of stirring the pot, I have now decided that Planxty suck, the Pogues influenced nobody, and the world would be entirely better off with a few less fiddles. So there.
Supergrass and Morrissey - My return to 80s & 90s music, (again), was not as positively greeted as one might have hoped. It seems there is a great discomfort about one’s musical past. One group is thoroughly embarrassed, while the other wants to put on the hairspray and wallow in the nostalgia. As a member of GBS, one has to take a different view of such things. Having made albums, videos, toured and otherwise remained in the public musical eye for a decade and a half, to a huge chunk of the world we are nostalgia. Many a loogan Canadian college student who is now a respectable adult, with family and mortgage, enjoyed their first beers to a GBS soundtrack sometime in the mid-90s. It is rather hard for us to disavow our past, when we review it every night.
Silly Wizard et al - Not my most popular entry, but it struck a chord with a few people. Perhaps you needed to see Silly Wizard to really get it. The late fiddler Johnny Cunningham really was something else. I saw him play a solo show in Toronto, years after the band, and he was one of the funniest performers I have ever seen, anywhere. He probably played for 20 minutes in the two hours he was onstage, the rest of it was him talking nonsense. It was hilarious and engaging, and no one went away unsatisfied.
My Hardcore Memoir - The responses to this one were interesting - very few commented on the long piece about my hardcore years; instead everyone gravitated to a side anecdote about dressing as Jesus for a school masquerade day. I noticed recently that some kid in the US got into trouble for wearing the same costume. He got kicked out of school, made the national news, and is no doubt about to appear on a reality show for millions of dollars. For him, fame and fortune awaits. People just thought I was weird, and my Mom cried. Once again, I was ahead of my time.
Ireland & St. John’s - My favourite of anything I have ever done on this blog, an honest attempt to be funny, poignant, and still capture the aimlessness of a summer afternoon. And judging by the paucity of comments, I need to either (a) get a grip, or (b) post more often, before my readership departs altogether.
Lift - Obscure corners of folk music are a passion of mine, but do not seem to generate much interest among readers. Ah well, someone has to write about Joe Cooley. Disappointing to note, however, that the wonderful Youtube video I linked to has since disappeared. It can be found on an RTE archival DVD, which features many such clips. It is worth seeking.
New Music - I am both bemused and dismayed to discover that many people do not find the Brazilian Girls as funny as I do. Everyone on the bus thought they were hilarious. Perhaps, like most sports, Hooters, fart jokes, wrestling and Circuit City, it is a bit of a guy thing. I promise, my next entry will demonstrate the hitherto unnoticed influence of the View, Oprah, Fried Green Tomatoes and Margaret Atwood on our music.
Just kidding.