Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight

Well, last night... and not me, but them.

I can't remember who said it, but during MTV's Unplugged era, it was stated that a true measure of the musical talent of a songwriter is if their work can stand without the amps, distortion, and other accoutrements of the modern rock era.

I believe that. Comedy, and especially satire, often shines a light on the ridiculous through hyperbole.

So what happens when you combine the two? In 1984, This is Spinal Tap came out to mock Rock n' Roll in all its forms. People focus on amps going to 11, and spontaneously combusting drummers, but the history of Spinal Tap had folk, prog rock, flower-child psychedelia, and of course, 70's and 80' metal. Over-the-top songs with thinly-veiled double-entendre, goofy lyrics, screeching vocals, and overbearing guitar solos with the goal of making your ears bleed.

And last night, with a few acoustic guitars, a bass, a keyboard, and a bare-bones stage setup, they had their hits covered by 3 guys named McKean, Guest, and Shearer. These guys also did some Folksmen tunes, along with a few other songs from Waiting for Guffman and A Mighty Wind. Hell, they even did that ridiculous Start Me Up cover.

And they didn't leave much out:

The Colors of My Life
Hell Hole
Never Did No Wanderin'
Clam Caravan
Bitch School
Loco Man
This Bulging River
All the Way Home
Blood on the Coal
(Listen to the) Flower People
Corn Wine
The Majesty of Rock
All Backed Up
Stonehenge
Start Me Up
Cups and Cakes
A Mighty Wind
Saucy Jack
Big Bottom
The Good Book Song
A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow
Rainy Day Sun
Sex Farm

ENCORE:

Gimme Some Money
Old Joe's Place

SECOND ENCORE:

The Colors of My Life (reprise)
Heavy Duty

Mixed in with those were some fan-made videos of Back From The Dead and Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight, old Tap footage, a little Corky St. Clair video, and a whole lot of joking, back-and-forth amongst the band, and even an audience Q&A. Naturally, some overzealous fans got smacked down as they yelled out unoriginal lines from the movie. The verbatim recitation of the censor notes when an attempt to air This is Spinal Tap on NBC in the 80's was a great moment.

So, how'd it stand up? The majority of the songs worked incredibly well when stripped down. There's no doubting that the three comedians are incredibly talented musicians as well. Shearer's All Backed Up kinda sucked though. Big Bottom went the opposite of the Live Earth concert - there, they had 12 bassists - here, only one bass, as McKean and Guest sang sans instruments in a finger-snapping jazz style.

Was it a fun show? Absolutely. Was it a rockin' balls-to-the-wall Spinal Tap experience? No... it wasn't meant to be. What it did was showcase the music of three comedians who have been singing and playing together for around 40 years. It's funny in it's own way that doing "spoofs" of musical styles gave them the freedom to travel between styles and turn out some actually solid pieces, each with their own wink to the audience. They have a few shows left in the northeast, I suggest seeing them if you can.

Because the next time they're together is a Spinal Tap world tour, for one night only at Wembley. As Nigel Tufnel said - At least they chose Earth as the world.

Mashed Potatoes

So I missed The Mookie and The Bad Beat on Kidney Failure last night. I couldn't have played in either anyway since I have 40 cents on Tilt at the moment (holding fast to the no reload until December promise... instead pissing away points on token attempts).

No, instead I was in the town of Oshawa to catch some old guy play the keyboard and mushmouth his way through some songs. What was his name? Oh yah...

Bob Dylan.

Now I like Dylan. I'm not a super-fan, I recognize a handful of his songs that aren't the popular fare. That said, until the encore, I probably couldn't tell you WHAT he played. Between different arrangements and his usual mumble-sing method, even some of the big fans around me were often guessing what they'd just heard. Luckily, these sort of things show up on the Internets.

The stadium show also didn't seem to suit him. I'm not saying he needs to be in a bar, but a concert hall would be better I think. Something like the Sony Centre, where I saw Leonard Cohen a few months ago, would be ideal. The loud, echo-y nature of a hockey arena just doesn't work for the intimacy of his songs, especially as he's slowed them down.

On top of that, I felt like I was watching Bob Dylan doing his best impression of Mark Knopfler. He sounded like him, but enunciated like Dylan. His band had a very Dire Straits tone to it as well. It was kind of odd.

That said, there's something special about watching a muscial icon perform live. In many ways, the 67-year old's show reminded me of Cohen's. Moving slowly and minimally, when he did "dance", the crowd went nuts. Pulling out the harmonica garnered cheers - every time. When he came out for the encore and started Like A Rolling Stone, with a decidedly different arrangement than you're used to, even those of us who had been somewhat lost for the previous 90 minutes got swept up. His arrangement of All Along the Watchtower was a brilliant combination of the original, the Hendrix remake (which Dylan told Jimi was how he should have done it originally), and the modern "I'm 67, gimme a break" Dylan method. The encores were the highest energy moments of the night for Bob.

But what struck me the most was one particular lighting choice they kept returning to. The stage was simple - instruments, amps, and a black backdrop that had different light patterns throughout the show. But there were songs where all the lights were down except for a sepia-toned glow surrounding the band. It invoked images of sitting on a porch during a prairie sunset... and couldn't have been more perfect for the performer we were watching.

Jazz, Thai, and Poker

Another summer weekend goes by with me wiped out on Monday.

Friday - Beaches Jazz Festival. Yes, Toronto has beaches. No, you really don't want to swim in them. But the area known as "The Beach(es)" is a nice place to walk around. Lots of bars, restaurants, funky stores, people-watching, boardwalk, etc.. Every year they hold a weekend jazz festival and close off Queen St. so the thousands of attendees can walk around. It's crowded, busy, and usually a good time.

But you know what they were SEVERELY lacking this year? Jazz.

Swing, Blues, Soul, Reggae, South-American pan flutes, "jazzed up" classic rock and pop, and more blues-based rock... but where was the jazz to be found? Oh, there it is! In the form of Big Band and the Crooner-style (think Sinatra, Bennett, etc.)... and some Amy Winehouse (Rehab of course). Come ON people! Where's my Coltrane? Getz? Gillespie? Ella? Satchmo? Peterson? One interesting acid-jazz-fusion version of Drive Time, and a big-bandy Don't Get Around Much Anymore doesn't make the quota! It used to be that every corner had a small band playing JAZZ at the JAZZ festival, they weren't always good, but at least they were playing the music the fest was named after! Now it's a bunch of bands that don't recognize the defining lines between musical forms of a similar era. I'd be less perturbed if they just renamed the thing to the "Beaches Music Festival".

Saturday was me sleeping in most of the day, then not getting dressed, then rushing to get out of the house to a friend's birthday dinner at a Thai place in a largely Italian suburb. I love my city and it's surrounding area. Dinner was decent, if a bit bland for Thai (basil chicken was good though, which would explain why it was the first thing finished). The night would have been the usual affair with this group except for one major announcement from a buddy. I won't reveal it here since you never know who's reading, but it could certainly have repercussions among some people in that group.

Sunday - Poker! Went to the regular home game (3rd in a row, a new record for me). This is a pretty soft affair to be honest. I came in 2nd, making 3 straight final tables, 1 win, and this cash in 3 visits. 2nd place put me back on top of the TOC leaderboard with only 1 or 2 more games to go, so my seat is safe.

The first hand of the tournament (rebuys for first 4 levels) saw me with 64s. I told everyone I had aces and they should just fold. One other guy says, "you too?" Flop brings A2x. We have around 4 or 5 guys see the flop. It checks around to me and I bet my aces to get one call (the "you too?" guy, who was last game's winner), I put him on Ax. Turn brings a 5, giving me a 6-high inside draw. He checks, I check. River is a beautiful 3, he bets, I raise enough to keep him in, and he thinks before calling. I show my straight and he flips his jackace. Everyone has a good laugh at my aces.

The next hand I find AKo, raise it preflop to no callers and show.

I give away some chips, get some back with a turned boat that nobody gives me action on, give away most of the rest when I decide my OESD against two all-ins is worth it (I was in much better shape than expected as they both had TP, no kicker), and then triple up with AJo. The next hand I push with A6s into AK that has me covered and rebuy.

I think I had another rebuy, but can't remember why...

Soon I see 66 and get in against the host, who is a decent player but hasn't really improved over the years I've played with him. Flop comes A59 rainbow and he bets a little over 1/2 the pot. I say "that's some bullshit 'I have AJ and want a call' bet, but I'm dealing and dirty." I called. Turn comes 7 giving me an inside draw. He goes all-in and I'm pot-committed in a rebuy so I call. He flips over 55 for the set and is amazed I'm still in with 66. I peel off the 8 on the river for my perfect-perfect straight and he throws up a little in his mouth.

I was my table's chipleader after the rebuy period ended, but the 2nd table had been more active than us and I would have sat 3rd or 4th there. It didn't take long before we merged to a final table and once again we were staring at some monster stacks sitting down with us. Perfect.

I doubled up against the biggest calling station in the game (and chipleader of course). I then took down one of my original tablemates with QQ vs his AQ on a brick of a flop (he just couldn't let go of one of the best hands he'd seen that day), and doubled up again against the same calling station. We were at the bubble of 4 pretty quickly and that held for a good 35 or 40 minutes. The bubble burst by the chipleader taking the 2nd place chipstack out (great). Then my QT rivered a T to beat the shortie's KQ.

HU was a mess. I had enough chips to make a move or two, but the chip differential was huge. I think I was able to take the blinds twice, once when he folded to my raise and once when he mucked his SB. I seriously wondered if this guy had ever made it HU before, constantly asking "am I big or small?" when he got the button, and min-raising all day. Knowing he'd call just about any raise or all-in from me, I couldn't push with 42o, 83o, T4o, etc.. I mucked a QT that I though might be good when he actually raised preflop, and finally decided J9 was good for a push... he called and showed JT. Neither of us improved and I was done in 2nd place.

I was upset the whole way home that I didn't have one decent HU hand to go to war with and instead let my stack dwindle. I was also upset with my J9 push when I redid the math and realized I could have held on a couple more hands. Ah well, 2nd ain't terrible, and I'm still feared there, but not for my starting hands.

Awesome

I had a big long post about the Mookie, but blogger mangled the last half. It may make an appearance in some form. We'll see. It's down below now.

Anyway. Despite being picked by 2 or 3 people who obviously haven't been reading, I didn't make the Riverchasers tonight. I'd been saying all week I wasn't. Which is why the Mookie and MATH were key for me.

A got a call a couple of weeks ago from a friend.

"Hey, my company is having a secret concert at the Air Canada Centre. I can bring a guest, want to go?"

"Sure. Who's playing?"

"That's the secret part."

"It better not be Nickelback."

"If it is, we can leave."

So then the rumours started. It was John Mayer. Okay, I could leave then. Then some strong names started being mentioned, and they were confirmed before showtime. Especially with T-shirts being sold.

The Air Canada Centre, for those who don't know, is the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Toronto Raptors. Big arena. Big company to rent it out for a concert.

We arrived, took our seats, and were told the show would start in 10 minutes. 2 minutes later the lights went out and the first act started. A lone voice says, "We're the Tragically Hip."

Awesome. They do a great show. I posted about one a while back. This one was shorter and less intimate (14,000 people can do that). They mixed new with old and still put on a great show. Gord Downie sweat up a storm, but wore black this time. That's a good thing.

After their set the lights came on and the crew went to work. A quick trip to grab some drinks and we were back as the lights went down. During the break, a blimp floated over the crowd with the name of the headliners on it. Just in case anybody hadn't heard or seen the merch.

A screaming guitar riff tore through the air. Lightning fingers tore down the frets. The black curtain dropped as the lights flared to life, and the opening chords to "You Really Got Me" brought the crowd to its feet. Mr. David Lee Roth waved the giant red flag while Eddie, Alex, and Wolfgang Van Halen did their thing. VAN FUCKING HALEN.

Nothing like a second stop in Toronto to play a private corporate show on your way to from NY to LA.

And they rocked. A few extra deviations from script (or so they claimed... a brief cover of The Who's "Magic Bus" was interesting), a killer solo from Alex, and another from Eddie (who screwed up and apologized to the crowd as he hadn't "played this in years".) But in the end, seeing The Hip and Van Halen live for free is pretty awesome in itself.

Could Have Been the Willie Nelson

The Tragically Hip is the biggest band in Canada that never made it south of the border (that's the US, not Mexico, although I don't think they made it too big there either). It could be the fact they're unapologetically Canadian, with references to cities, towns, lakes, landmarks, events, hockey, etc. in my fine country. It could be because they're just a bit... off. I've never been able to classify their genre. Blue Rodeo is rock-country, Barenaked Ladies are pop, The Guess Who are classic rock, The Hip... I think the best fit is "Canadian". They're a bar band that made it. They get airplay on rock stations, classic rock stations, alternative stations, top 40, pop, easy listening, and I wouldn't be surprised if a song or two has ended up on a country station. Regardless, they've been HUGE here for over a decade.

I've always been iffy on them myself. They have some songs I love, a bunch that I can listen to, and some that I turn off when they come on. I've never had the desire to buy their albums beause of this.

Last night I saw them at large bar in a small town called Bala. The bar is famous in these parts - The Kee. Essentially a barn on the water with a big patio, it's managed to pull in some big Canadian acts over the years in the summer. It's the best concert venue in cottage country. The Hip are never more at home than when they're playing in a bar. So, you have the perfect venue for the quintessential Canadian band, and it holds less than 1000 people. Tickets were nearly impossible to come by. You had to use the fan-club password, could only buy a maximum of 4, and whoever bought the tickets had to provide ID at the door to get themselves and their friends in. This was all done to prevent scalping. Kudos. A buddy of mine got 4, and needed to find 3 people to go with him. I was happy to oblige.

It was a great show. A great selection of their hits, with only a bit of the new stuff. The crowd singing along all the way. Gord Downie bouncing around the stage, playing to the crowd, and sweating like a sponge. Seriously, he must have lost 10lbs during the set. Even I, a fairweather fan at best, had a blast, and a new appreciation for the band. I knew they put on a great show, now I've finally experienced it.