Category Archives: Music

Been hearing some great new sounds lately. But, for me, the best album to hit the shops in recent months is the debut release by The White Labels. Meet The White Labels has it all: cool-looking vinyl; killer song titles like New Slacks, Same Haircut; plus, no Side Two to tarnish the awesomeness of Side One.

Best of all, it doesn’t exist. Continue reading →

Never cared much for that phrase. It is my opinion that it is simply too soon to know whether history has been changed forever. Forever is a long time.

But last week, the history of rock and roll may have turned an important corner. At the very least, a great opportunity presented itself to the geriatric rocker population. And for that, we can thank Mötley Crüe.

Yes, the Crüe. For in a brilliant PR stroke late last week, the veteran band expelled all Liberal Senators from their caucus. No wait, let me check that… OK, it says here the quartet announced its farewell tour. Moreover, (see brilliant PR stroke, a few words back) the Kickstart My Heart combo made it nice and official — by signing what sure looked like a legal document proclaiming that this tour will well and truly be it for the Girls Girls Girls group. Thank you. Cheque, please. Good night. Goodbye. Continue reading →

At 19, when not at home avoiding school and work, John Lennon could be found in Hamburg, Germany, performing for locals by mocking the disabled, goosestepping about the stage and calling the audience Nazis. And possibly pissing on nuns and beating up a sailor or two.

A rock and roll legend in the making, folks.

In recent weeks, a 19-year-old pop star has been much maligned by a mocking media (alliteration, that), in an enthusiastic display of mass schadenfreude. This filthy-rich teen has seemingly gone off the rails, reportedly egging a neighbour’s house and allegedly engaging in a bit of drunken drag-racing on a deserted street. Oh, and smoking the dope. Unacceptable behaviour from a North American teenaged boy, right? Certainly, not activities to which any of us can relate. Here’s hoping they throw the book at this delinquent. Continue reading →

Not so many lifetimes ago I was the manager at a local used-record store. While there, I learned a handful of valuable life-lessons, such as: don’t buy CDs from sketchy guys carrying gym bags; people who enter the store carrying skates never buy anything; and, uh, you’d be surprised what you can sell if you play it to a crowded store. I’m sure I learned other things, but the one that comes to mind at the moment is that not everyone likes The Beatles. (Or, as CBC News would put it, “But not everyone agrees that The Beatles were good…”) Andy, the store’s owner, never tired of expressing his loathing for the quartet and all it stood for.

Not that he hated The Beatles, per se. He will acknowledge the band’s influence and has likely tapped a toe or two to their songs. What he hated were the fans. Or, at least, certain fans. The ones fond of interrupting record-store owner’s train of thought by asking for the German issue of a Beatles album that features Ringo hitting the hi-hat at the start of All My Loving. Or the Penny Lane 45 with the piccolo trumpet finale. Or the mono edition of the band’s self-titled 1968 album. (No fanatical collector would lower himself to calling it the “White Album.”) Continue reading →