The Dudes - Girl Police

Wow. When people tell me they love Calgary's The Dudes I'm not surprised. Especially when those people are typical indie rockers, 'cuz The Dudes are rawkers. But when fifty year old ladies tell me they like the Dudes, well, then I can only imagine that the band's on to something.

With their new video for "Girl Police", it's the bumpy bassline break in the middle about who loves who and good ol' Jess listening to Pet Sounds alone in her basement leading into the Thin Lizzy inspired "lovin' is easy" that wins'em over every time.

And of course, it would be a party with the Dudes if the cops didn't show up...

Bitter Moon (1992) - Roman Polanski

Roman Polanksi was arrested this weekend and it reminded me that his Ninth Gate (1999) was on last weekend. I had never seen the movie before and was surprised to see that it also starred Emmanuelle Seigner, who was in his Bitter Moon (1992). In searching the web form confirmation, I came across this quote about Bitter Moon from Roger Ebert, "Polanski directs it without compromise or apology, and it's a funny thing how critics may condescend to it, but while they're watching it you could hear a pin drop."

He's totally right. I remember it being the weirdest film I'd ever seen. I saw Bitter Moon in the theatre, with some friends of mine from the Parking Lot. We often got off work with just enough time to make it to one of the local art houses to catch the late show. I'm pretty sure I saw this in high school, which means technically, I snuck into the theatre to watch it, but by this point we were regular enough theatre goers that no one thought to check us for ID. I think there were maybe twenty other people there. No one walked out. Even when I thought things couldn't get any weirder, and then they did, as the movie cut to Peter Coyote crawling around on the bedroom with floor wearing a pig snout playing a twisted barnyard sex game, the audience was as quiet as Ebert described them.

When I watched the film, there was even a moment when the reel snapped, or ran out, and the theatre announced there would be a fifteen minute delay and offered refunds by way of apology. No one left. No one asked for a refund. Bitter Moon wasn't bad, it was just beyond.

Once someone criticizes a film, it's easy to gang up on it, but Ebert's quote was great, because it didn't leave anyone off the hook. It recognized that Polanski had crafted a story, however bizarre and taboo, that nevertheless enthralled us.

Empire, Imperialism, and Demographics

My background and training is in historical studies, specifically intellectual and cultural history. While preparing for my Master's Degree on the history of American Punk, my advisor introduced large components of social history to my understanding of historical processes. However, it really wasn't until I started hanging out with the good folks from The Daily Wenzel that I began to appreciate the role that changing demographics could play.

Lately I have been thinking about the role that demographics might have played in the late twentieth century.

I am familiar with the old Leninist-derived argument that suggested that late nineteenth century imperialism stemmed from a need to acquire cheap resources to fuel the growing manufacturing processes in the home countries. Colonies were viewed as a source of raw materials and later as possible markets for the consumption of those finished goods. This is the classic understanding that I was brought up with it, but at some point during my Daily Wenzel days I came across another idea, one that not necessarily contradicted, but certainly complemented this understanding.

I do not remember where the idea came from, but it has stuck with me for awhile. I don't remember what exactly we were talking about, it might have been a result of having watched Heath Ledger's Four Feathers. I always assumed it to have been based on someone else's historical work, though I have searched in vain to find it. At any rate, I do not assume the original thought to be mine.

This new argument for imperialism rested on the expansion of the middle-classes, specifically those in Britain, and suggested that part of the need for imperialism rested on the closure of traditional entry level positions for the clerical and professional classes in the home countries. I don't recall seeing any evidence to support this, but I imagine that a scan of population and tax rolls can be used to support demographic ideas, while tax records for businesses can also be used to determine whether the per capita business start-ups kept pace with the number of clerical and professional graduates being produced. The lack of employment opportunities at home created a pool of labour willing to travel abroad to gain the necessary job experience before returning to middle management positions in Britain. Since the army and navy were also viewed as viable employment positions for young men, this period of time also saw the rapid grow of the lower ranks.

As I said, I liked this idea but it wasn't until recently that I began to think about it in turns of the twentieth century. Since the 2008 Presidential Campaign my consideration of the role that demographics can play has increased. The other day I thought about this model in terms of the rise of multinational corporations. The baby boom presents us with a similar demographic increase as the Britain experienced during the late nineteenth century. Increased post-secondary education, as a combined result of the G.I. Bill and the perceived need for families to send children to post-secondary institutions, also created a similar surplus of highly trained clerical and professional pool. The decline of European economic activity abroad created the opportunity for American corporations to expand their field offices with these new hires.

This model of interpretation also neatly explains the turn towards locally owned subcontractors that many multinationals began to favour during the late-1990s. As the last vestiges of the so-called Greatest Generation began to return, the numerically inferior Generation X was perhaps sufficient to replace them. This retrenchment continued through the first decade of the new millenium, the one that saw the first of the baby boomers begin to retire while the millenials had yet to enter the professional and clerical workforce. It will be interesting to see how the shift in industrial activity impacts the millenials. Numerically, they are much larger than Generation X and so one would expect them to experience similar pressure to work abroad, or at least colonize new fields, such as those opened up by recent IT Developments.

How To Write A Pop Song

How To Write A Pop Song

First, an admission: the total number of songs I’ve ever written is precisely two. The sum of their combined airplay is probably less than 10.

Second, I have spent the last 15 years as a music critic and sometime radio DJ, so I’ll admit right now that whatever terrible notions you have about rock critics being the lowest form of life are all probably true.

However, during that time I’ve listened to hundreds of records and thousands of songs. Some of them were good, some of them bad – a few were even excellent. But here’s what I noticed:

1. A pop song can be built around one of three things; either a catchy melody, phrase, or hook. The best songs have all three.

2. A good pop song really should last only three minutes. Always leave them wanting more. You can stretch it out an extra half minute if you throw in a time change or an extra hook.

3. If your pop song is four minutes long and only has one hook you’re being indulgent. Either your intro or your outro is too long or you need to reconsider that middle solo.

4. Ballads and epics are the only songs that should ever be four minutes long. A lot of people think that a ballad is a love song, but they’re wrong. A ballad is a love story, just like an epic is a story as well. These songs need extra time to develop characters and plot.

5. The problem with most four minute love songs is that quite often they’re given mid-tempo rhythms to allow the singer a chance to show just how sensitive and/or hurt he or she can be, but remember, if you still only have one hook and aren’t telling a good story, then really, you’re just being boring.

6. Unless you’re bringing every trick you own to the party, no song should ever hit the five minute mark. As a DJ, the only time I was ever interested in a five minute long song was when I had to go to the bathroom.

7. If your song is longer than five minutes ask yourself: Am I sure it has a hook, melody, and a snappy phrase? Am I telling a good story? Am I sure this song isn’t going to be used to send everyone outside? If you can look yourself in the mirror and say yes to all these things, then go ahead and write the next "Paranoid Android."

Summer Heat, Summer Memories

It's been unseasonably hot here in Calgary over the last few days. Yesterday set an all-time heat record. Driving across town in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, I overheard this song on CJSW. Not suprisingly, it makes me think of New York. But so do heat waves. In part this is because when I was in New York doing research for my thesis, Tune In, Turn On, Go Punk, the city was in the middle of a late summer heat wave.

It also doesn't help that the heat wave theme turns up in a lot of New York-based movies, such as A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, In America, and perhaps most memorably, Do The Right Thing.

From The Rooftops Of Calgary

A couple of days ago, I woke up grumpy. I overslept and it threw my rhythm off. I missed that quiet part of the morning where I enjoy a cup of coffee and do some writing, or read a chapter of a book (something I haven't managed to do in almost a week, by the way). But I went for a walk. My daughter came along, riding her bike, as we went down to City Bakery for some fresh bread. The women who work there gave us some treats, I bought some coffee. We sat in the park and then came back home. We all came back very happy.

A lot of time people try to decide where to live based on the size of house they can afford, or the kind of schools that are nearby. Sometimes they choose it based on commute times. When was the last time you heard about someone buying a house based on the neighbourhood's ability to make them happy? How do you monetize that? How much is it worth to live near a nice view of they city, or tree lined streets?

Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

My friend over at Spin City got the job on this one a few days ago, but it appears that David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews With Hideous Men is being turned into a film, coming out at the end of September.

Still waiting for someone with news on that supposed Infinite Jest movie . . .

Ghosts Of The US Open Rise Again

(or why we love the US Open)

Oh, there's nothing like late night at the Open. It's one of the most exciting midnight sporting events in the world. The crowds never fail to cheer, often switching allegiance mid-match in the hopes of more tennis to come, but also never failing to reward good play, or holler their displeasure at poor performances, be it from the players, or officials.

Perhaps there's something about the clocking winding its way to a new day, but the late night crowds are rarely disappointed with controversy. Many former champions, Nastase, Lendl, Courier, Sampras, Capriati, Hewitt, and even Serena Williams herself, have all had match-changing linecalls leading to full-blown arguments with the linespeople and tonight proved to be one of those occassions.

After waiting some eight hours for the women's semi-final to begin, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters treated the New York fans to a little over an hour of tennis. Clijsters, having dominated Williams for most of the first set, had pushed Serena's to 15-30, 5-6 in the second when Serena double-faulted on a line call. Standing at the baseline, now at 15-40, Serena began vigourously yelling at the lineswoman and shaking her racket at her. Called by the chair umpire to report what happened, the lineswoman repeated the abuse given her by Serena, and the umpire gave Serena another code violation, ending the match. Everyone in the stadium was incensed and Clijsters, informed by Serena what had happened, attempted to protest, but to no avail.

Despite her outburst, Serena Williams exhibited a great degree of class after defaulting from the match, shaking Kim's hand and explaining to her what had happened. Obviously upset as she left, she appeared at the post-match press conference calm and composed.

Serena now has the dubious distinction of having two of the most notorius linecalls go against her at the US Open. The first was against Capriati, and the miscall cost Serena the point, but was so clearly wrong that it led to the introduction of the player challenges in subsequent years.

These things never seem to happen at Wimbledon or Roland Garros. The Australian Open has its own issues with violent and rowdy fans, but there's nothing like the Open. Maybe it's that the US Open, along with the Australian Open, are the only ones to schedule night matches, and the officials are tired. Maybe the media presence in New York, or the extremely emotive crowds make the players edgy. As often as we see these startling linecalls, we more often see players rising to the occasion with fantastic plays, feeding off of and interacting with the crowd. So maybe it's a mixture of all these things, some unique combustible combination of officials, crowds, cameras, and players.

There's nothing like late night at the Open.

August Music Updates

It appears I'm slightly behind the times in reporting in on August's main musicial interests. Much of the month was spent preparing for Spectrum's Beatles retrospective as well as another upcoming feature that I'll keep secret for now.

At the end of July I acquired the new self-titled Wilco album, as well as the new Magnolia Electric Co. Josephine, providing me with much of my holiday soundtrack, ideally suited to a long drive through the American Mid-West. Unfortuntately, that wasn't really my destination, but Wilco nevertheless managed to provide a pretty stunning soundtrack to the dense mountainous forest of the Pacific Northwest and Josephine fit quite nicely with that long arid patch between Idaho and the inland side of Seattle.

The rest of the month, as I said, was rounded out with some stuff for Spectrum, notably Sudden Death record's archival release of Ottawa's long-defunct The Action, and Still Life Still, a new band from Toronto.

Somewhere in between I also picked up the old Breeders' Cannonball EP and "Cro-Aloha" provided some happy moments of nostalgia.

August Progress Report

Short Stories:

"Of Light and Darkness" - in revision*

* this is part of my Twilight of the Idle short story series along with"Labellypock", "A Night on the Fronde" and "Out of Time (Ped Xing)"

"Psychic Hearts" - in revision

"How My Uncle Faught The Spanish Civil War" - 1000 words

"Il Brute" - 700 words, a short story about living in Bridgeland

Novel Ideas (and working titles):

A Saturday Afternoon By The Slurpee Machine - 2100 words, growing up in NE Calgary, circa 1990

Games of Chance - 11000 words, quasi-related to the current economic downturn

The Last Days of the Daily Wenzel - 8150 words

Father Borsato di Sangi - notes only, about a priest in small town Alberta, circa 1910,

Mt. Pilatus Calls My Name - notes only, a corporate satire

Good Ideas At The Time (Whole draft novels):

joculatores domini - in revision, a novel about parking attendants and the Calgary Stampede

The Liminal Trip - in revision, backpacking through Europe,

August's Total Word Count: 11000*

I have no idea what my word count for August actually was as I was on holidays. I did a fair bit of writing - I'm quite happy with the amount that I wrote, but it was all handwritten in one of my notebooks, so I don't know what kind of word counts I accomplished. I'm hoping that I'll be able to type it all up during September, however, given how going back to work is putting a considerable cramp in my writing time we'll see how things go. Plus, as some of you have noticed, I've started doing some writing for Spectrum Culture in addition to my regular gig for Fast Forward Weekly.

Based on my start of summer calculations, my word count for end of September ought to be closer to 45,000. However, to be honest, if it was even close to 25,000 I would be very happy, since it would represent a fair bit of typing. I also found an older short story of mine, "Psychic Hearts" that was written after the four Twilight of the Idle stories, but before "Summer of Sloth", so editting that would also be an accomplishment.

Not that anyone cares, but for the last ten years I've done the bulk of my writing in my old university chemistry laboratory notebooks which are A9 Bluelines. Super durable and cheap, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming of these.