embrace the lyrics

This song has been on my computer for like four days.  I listen to it about five times a day at least.  Do yourself a favor…

n the words of Canadian songwriter Dallas Green, my nerves will be the death of me.

Lately I’ve been thinking about the economy again.  A recent episode of Newsworld with Peter Mansbridge (God bless the CBC) put me on edge.  How is it that we’ve come to rely on China for so much?

I didn’t have to think too hard about that.  All I had to do was make myself an ice cream sundae.  I pulled out my brand-new ice cream scoop and studied the price tag before snipping it off the handle.  Made in China, it proclaimed in a tiny sans-serif font.

Made proudly in China, more like.

Quietly, industriously, China’s products have turned into the quality consumer goods that we (well, not I because I was born too late into the century) came to associate with goods made in America.  Sturdy, well-made, long-lasting…these are all characteristics that made us proud to buy local.  And better yet—cheap.

Now buying local often means higher prices.  Why?  Manufacturing is expensive in North America, materials are scarce, and the labor is unionized.

So instead we buy products in Walmart made in China because they’re well-made and cheaper than anything made in our own country.  China has grown fat with money off the spending habits of North Americans who shop solely in the ‘Mart.  And with that money, they’ve bought US debt. $800 billion in US Treasury bonds, if the article I linked earlier in this post is right.

And any day they could call in that debt.

So, I worry.

But why do I worry?  What could I possibly do?  Get out of debt myself, of course.  Learn to live within my means like my grandparents would have done before me (if they lived in Canada instead of Communist Poland, where they HAD to live within their means because their means meant their share of rations).  But it’s hard.

Of course it’s hard—all habit breaking is hard to do.  Just ask any smoker or heroin addict.  Okay, don’t talk to heroin addicts, they might steal your wallet.  But, you know what I mean.  Using credit is a habit that we’ve grown up accepting as the norm, but it’s not and it’s far more dangerous than we think.  Because, whether or not we know it, with each purchase put on that credit card, we’re giving China a little more reason to call in our debts.

A pretty grim sentiment, one I wish I could shake off but, like the persistent flea on a dog’s back, it keeps making me itch.

So, have I made any decisions to help me get this Chinese dragon off my back (pardon the terribly metaphor)? Not really. I’m living on a prayer for the time being, like mostly everyone else who don’t even want to know that there’s a looming threat in the horizon, but my insight isn’t helping me much at all. Sometimes I wonder if Ignorance really is Bliss. At the very least, it would make my shopping less stressful.

The ethos of punk dictates that small, sweatbox venues, with no room to swing a strat, deliver the best brutal intimacy. It would be all too easy for that sense of band-fan cohesion to be lost in the deep, dingy corners and towering, upper-seated deck of the formidably sized Forum.

After eight years working under a band name coined after the worlds only lactating contortionist porn star, Alexisonfire’s English fan base is lapping it up more than ever. “England is our home away from home” professes lead vocalist George Pettit, before dropping into Waterwings, a song from their distant self-titled debut released in 2001.

Touring earlier this year on the release of their fourth studio album – Old Crows/Young Cardinals – means the filtration of the newer material into the set is taking pride of place. Pettit has taken a new direction with his vocals, leaning more towards a Henry Rollins’esque, hardcore aggressive shouting style. Despite the frosty reception from fans upon its release, tonight there isn’t much on the set which isn’t vociferously received.

Alexisonfire display their persistent drive of the new record tonight by opening with newbie Heading For The Sun. Most of the crowd remain tight-lipped and static at first, not entirely sure of the lyrics, awaiting the arrival of some older material for sing-along value. However there’s a palpable sense of pride the band holds with their new album, filling nearly half the set with newer songs, trying to force feed fans with their new found maturity.

Young Cardinals, the first release from their latest record, is played with tenacity and seething passion. The crowd pounces on the song, snatching the opportunity to sing along to guitarist/vocalist Dallas Green’s harmonious chorus.

Tonight the Canadian five-piece seize the stage, utilising it as a platform to torrent their relentless energy and passion to the sold-out venue – the lingering cloud of B-O vapour above the fans serving a true testament to this.

Three songs stand from their first two records. Accidents is homage to their more post-hardcore orientated sound and they couldn’t afford not to play this song. But the pizzazz and zeal that is enthusiastically portrayed with new songs like Old Crows, is weak and feeble when playing older songs, love undoubtedly lost into the ether after innumerable plays.

Also here’s my interview I had with them on that night, thrown in for good measure.

It’s been a pleasant week. Evenings have been passed painting, Days by drawing with the occasional tattoo making. Here is a photograph of the painting I recently completed. It is part of a series that should be completed by the end of the month. Part one, of a series painted in ink, watercolor, and liquid acrylic. I’ve decided on the title “Interventions.” It captures a lot of thinking that I’ve been doing as of late. As the human virus steadily continues to chew itself out with a renewed hunger in the name of “change”, I continue to lead my insignificant existence seemingly unaffected. I’m starting to wonder how much longer this wool can be kept covering our eyes. What a shame it is, that I was ever brought into this consciousness. Dallas Green wrote “My nerves will be the death of me.” I think I’m with him.

I’ve included a few photographs of the detail of the deserted city and of the emblem. I hope that “Interventions” conveys some sort of feeling, whether its sorrow, glee, confusion, comprehension, or any number of others or in betweens.

This upcoming week marks the unlucky date of friday the 13th. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

My day of days has arrived! The sale of the Cubs from the Tribune Company to the Ricketts clan is official now.

TribCo purchased the team in August 1981 for $11M. They sell today for $845M. I’m sure the company’s happy with it’s 27-year reign. Its return is nearly 78 times greater than its initial investment! The team set attendance records nine times. Tribune Tower suits, Cubs front office honchos, the players, coaches, ushers, security people, washroom attendants, vendors, and even Chicago cops out directing traffic after games all raked in piles from the money tree.

The results on the field? Eleven Cubs teams finished above .500. One made the playoffs as a wild card entry. Five were division champs. One team won a playoff series. No team reached the World Series.

Big deal.

The Trib’s first act as proprietor was wise; it turned the keys over to Dallas Green. The irascible Texan cracked the whip, sending a letter to all players in the organization to get the hell in shape before spring training. He cleared the clubhouse of fat and happy paycheck-cashers and actively sought players who’d trip their own grandmothers as they rounded third. He modernized and professionalized all facilities and departments. He realized Wrigley Field needed lights for the team to compete financially so he threatened to move if the city didn’t give him permission to play night games. In his third year at the helm, he sensed the Cubs had a shot at the division title so he traded a couple of promising young studs and a beloved oldster for a couple of pitchers who made it happen. His farm system a few years later began producing the likes of Greg Maddux, Rafael Palmiero and Mark Grace. He was the man who’d lead the Lovable Losers to the Promised Land.

Of course, Dallas Green was forced out after six years on the job. Since Green’s ouster in October, 1987, very little TribCo has done in the name of the Cubs has made any goddamned sense.

Good riddance.

Now we have an owner who became an adult in Wrigley Field. Tom Ricketts fell in love with the Cubs as an 18-year-old in the bleachers in 1984. He met his wife there as well. His brother lived in an apartment across the street from the ballpark. It’s the next best thing to me owning the Cubs.

Of course, Tom Ricketts is now a few hundred mill in debt. But his family runs TD Ameritrade and he founded Incapital LLC. He’s been in high-end investment banking and stock trading all his life. He’ll find a way to dig up lunch money. It’s just that he won’t be dumping bushels-full of cash at every free agent who hits the market.

That’s okay, too. Nobody ever built a championship team solely by signing free agents  — not even the New York Yankees.

The advantage Ricketts will have over previous team owners is he’ll have an emotional stake in the fortunes of the team. I’m hoping (and praying to the god I don’t believe in) that he won’t be satisfied merely by a healthy quarterly report from the team’s accountants. Oh sure, he’s a businessman. He wants the firm to make dough. But here’s hoping he has the good sense to shed a tear or two while he’s counting receipts after a year in which the Cubs fail to make the playoffs.

That said, here’s my unsolicited advice for the new Cubs owner:

Call Alan Trammel in and tell him he’s the manager after Sweet Lou retires next fall. Forget good old Ryne Sandberg. Dreamy-eyed sentiment has no place in this decision. I never thought Ryno was an intellectual titan. Nice guy, I’m sure. Loves baseball. Loves the Cubs. Loyal as the day is long. So what? Those qualities describe me as well. I doubt Tom Ricketts would consider me for the job.

Rid the team of Milton Bradley. Not an easy task, sure, but it has to be done. Signing Gameboard was the dumbest-ass thing Jim Hendry ever did. If Hendry can’t find an equitable trading partner for him, he has to work out a financial settlement with Bradley that would grant him immediate free agency.

Speaking of Hungry Jim, I’d call him into the office and tell him I’m bringing in a Vice-President of Baseball Operations with whom he’ll have to work hand in hand. Hendry may not care to share his responsibilities. Fine, I’d say, let’s work out out nice severance package. Thanks for everything.

Hire a smart, creative, risk-taking, envelope-pushing GM. Someone like Kevin Towers, Billy Beane or Kim Ng. It’d be fascinating to see what any of them would do with a $125M+ player budget.

See what the trade market is for Carlos Zambrano. Perhaps the strongest personality in the clubhouse, Big Z is another in the Cubs’ long line of dumb ballplayers. He can’t control his emotions and he tries to do more than he’s capable of. He’s the anti-Greg Maddux. If the Mets, say, want to talk about sending Jose Reyes or Carlos Beltran here, I’d have to listen to them very carefully.

See what the trade market is for Derrek Lee. I love him. He’s a terrific hitter, a fine fielder and an upstanding citizen. He’s also just about ready to become a very old man. Among the teams that hope (rationally and otherwise) to compete for division crowns next year, the Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners, Braves and Mets all could find a comfortable spot for Lee. Might the Bosox, for instance, wish to move Kevin Youkilis back to third base and ship minor league monster Lars Anderson our way for him?

Find a second baseman, shortstop and centerfielder. You don’t win without superior talent up the middle. As I’ve yelled before, the Yanks became a powerhouse only when they started running the likes of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada out there. You won’t win anything with Ryan Theriot, Mike Fontenot and a platoon of Reed Johnson and Sam Fuld, especially if Geo Soto continues to suffer from the terminal munchies.

See? That’s all you have to do to reverse a hundred years of bad luck, bad decision-making and bad baseball. Ha! I hope Tom Ricketts has half as much emotional strength as ready cash.

Green's solo project highlights his beautiful vocals and powerful lyrics

Canadian musician Dallas Green is already well-known in the alternative music scene as being guitarist, and sharing vox with fellow bandmate George Pettit in the post-hardcore outfit Alexisonfire. Already well known amongst Alexisonfire fans for his melodic, piercing vocal range Green’s high standing amongst music fans is further solidified by his solo project, City and Colour. What could be considered a folk project, Green takes a turn from his post-hardcore roots and plays acoustic, banjo, and piano in City and Colour, and obviously being responsible for the whole of the lyrics written. City and Colour started out as Dallas releasing songs to his fans on the internet then reworking them into his debut record “Sometimes”. An overall soul-bearing record “Sometimes” expresses the distance related with constantly being on the road an indecisive feelings of leaving a loved one behind. After sporadic tour dates around Canada and the tour with Alexisonfire, Dallas took time in recording the sophomore effort Bring Me Your Love. Departing from  Sometimes minimalist style to incorporating a full band, Bring Me Your Love is an ambitious record, though I have some reservations with the recording style taken with it. Recorded almost entirely in a church-turned-recording studio there is a natural reverb that occurs within a majority of the record that can, though at times be overbearing adds an ambient mystique that is truly beautiful. Listen to Dallas not just for the music, but for the lyrics that will most likely break your heart, but reaffirm a belief in love. Hey that’s what we’re looking for right?

“Save Your Scissors”  from Sometimes

City and Colour Website

City and Colour – New song? Idk!

I haven’t listened to Dallas Green in forever but this song is reminding me that maybe I should start again.

dallas green is incredible. here’s a new song he played a few nights ago at what seems like a high school that’s well off and sprung for a very high thread-count curtain.

excited about any new solo DG material. i’ll let bring me your love and sometimes lull me to sleep tonight.

-grizzly

1948

Nace Mark Farner, guitarrista de  Grand Funk Railroad.

1962

Nace el guitarrista de bandas como  Megadeth, Savatage, Blue Öyster Cult , Al Pitrelli.

1963

Nace el bajista de Primus, Les Claypool.

1967

Nace Brett Anderson vocalista de Suede.

1980

Nace en canada Dallas Green de  Alexisonfire.

According to their website, Tegan and Sara’s newest album, Sainthood, is set to go on pre-sale today (album release 10/27).  With the album pre-sale, fans can also purchase three books chronicling the lives of the Indie rock darlings over a good portion of their tour in support of The Con and while they worked on Sainthood.  The books, titled On, In, and At, will also feature writing from openers such as Dallas Green, Northern State and An Horse, and photographs from Lindsey Byrnes and Ryan Russell.

The band premiered six songs from Sainthood last week at the Rifflandia Festival.  It sounds like Sainthood is set to be their best album yet!

Alligator

The Ocean

On Directing

The Cure

Red Belt

Hell

I do believe you can find the youtuber who posted these vids at http://twitter.com/wojo4hitz. Thank her for her awesome videography.

Posted by Garvey

As Cities Burn  ”Come Now, Sleep”

It Prevails  ”Capture & Embrace”

Brightwood  ”Wake”

Above The Golden State  ”Self titled”

City and Colour  ”Bring Me Your Love”

Descoberta de duas semanas atrás, que o vício em Long Beach (que ainda persiste) me impediu de postar aqui.

De boa, esse cara tem o dom nas letras….ainda faço um post decente sobre!

Boa semana.

Eu geralmente não gosto muito de rap/hip-hop e derivados. Mas tenho que admitir, às vezes aparecem umas criações MUITO boas nesse meio, como, por exemplo, um rapper canadense chamado DL Incognito, que sampleou a belíssima música “Sam Malone”, do Dallas Green. O resultado foi bem interessante:

Outro exemplo do hip-hop se juntando ao “mondo pop” é o Kid Cudi chamando o MGMT e o Ratatat para participarem da linda música “Pursuit of happiness” – que está no debut do cantor, lançado esta semana. O rapper se apresentou com o Ratatat ao vivo no programa do David Letterman:

Pra finalizar, temos o mais bem sucedido rapper da atualidade: Jay-Z, é claro. Além de contar com inúmeras participações especiais em seu novo disco, The Blueprint 3, ele ainda é casado com a Beyoncé. Tenso, né? Abaixo, o vídeo da grudenta “Run this town”, com participação fundamental da Rihanna cantando nos refrões e também de Kanye “EscrotoIdiotaRidículo” West:

Dallas Green é mais um dos guitarristas jovens, da “nova geração”, que usam ES-335.

Canadense, Green é guitarrista da banda de hardcore Alexisonfire. Independente da qualidade da banda, o que me chamou atenção mesmo foi um projeto paralelo dele chamado City and Colour. O projeto, na essência, é acústico, porém Green faz shows usando uma ES-335 Dot branca.

Vale a pena conhecer, e pra ajudar separei um video:

.

Até amanhã!

City and Colour - Comin Home

Hoje está a rodar.

Para quem não sabe, Dallas Green (city, Dallas and colour, green) é guitarrista e vocalista de Alexisonfire, mas tem este projecto a solo acústico/folk desde 2005 aproximadamente, ano em que lançou o primeiro trabalho “Sometimes”.

Sim, está um pouco na “moda” este tipo de projectos, e já se começa cada vez mais a ver coisas dentro deste género,  acústico e folk com actuais ou antigos membros de bandas de hardcore e punk. No entanto ao que parece no caso de Dallas e city and colour não foi algo muito premeditado e feito com o intuito de evidenciar individualidade em relação a música, ou como forçado sinal de “maturidade” que por vezes irrita um pouco neste tipo de trabalhos quando vêm de pessoas de bandas e géneros nada a ver.

Boas letras, bom som. Gosto muito de City and Colour, não é diferente mas é bom.

4 músicas para quem não conhecia:

Sometimes (I Wish) – Sometimes 2005

Body in a box – Bring Me Your Love 2008

Sensible Heart – Bring Me Your Love 2008

love dont live here anymore – The MySpace Transmissions 2008

Já agora vou deixar uma entrevista ao Dallas sobre City and Colour que está dividida em 5 partes, eu gostei de ver para quem tiver paciência está agradável, apesar da rapariga que está a fazer as perguntas ser um pouco “esquisita” e um pouco irritante até.

Lee.

]]> http://brentstephensmith.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/music-that-slipped-through-the-cracks-part-vii/ Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:24:40 +0000 Brent Stephen Smith http://brentstephensmith.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/music-that-slipped-through-the-cracks-part-vii/ http://introshurt.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/ii/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:11:19 +0000 stevenedge http://introshurt.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/ii/

My fascination with Dallas Green seems to be getting stronger.