Re Canadian music _ I think that Tom Lehrer was sctually from the USA (which was certainly where he was teaching when he started writing songs)... Other Canadian musicians that I can remember hearing are _ 'Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians' (OK if you like "sweet" big bands, which admittedly quite a lot of people don't...), Anne Murray, 'The Rankins' (a folk group leaning a bit towards folk-rock, from Nova Scotia, formerly 'The Rankin Family', whom I saw live [over here] somewhen around the mid-1990s when they were touring with 'Steeleye Span, and again the following year when they toured the same venues by themselves) and 'La Bottine Souriante' (a folk-rock group from Quebec).

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"Some days I diet, other days they serve lasagne."

re Canadian Moose-ic :

Don't forget Natalie MacMasters...she's a whiz on the fiddle and comes from Nova Scotia. Rippin' party music for the gaelically inclined.

There's also Shania Twain, Neil Young, Sarah McLaughlin, Tom Cochrane, Gordon Lightfoot, The Band, Rush, The Guess Who, and the list goes on...

I grew up about an hour from the Canadian border and could even get some of the radio stations so I got to hear a bit.

And by the way, Avril Lavigne is NOT that bad. The record label put her stuff out as "punk" when it clearly is not and that created a lot of backlash from the skater type crowd. What it is, is quirky songwriting with a good hook and it's generally good fun. Geez, she's only 18! Give her time!

Bryan Adams, also had some really good stuff in the mid-80's. I agree it got a bit sappy in the 90's, but the early stuff had some good edge before the stylists got to him. Back when it was Levi 501s and white t-shirts, it was good!

Anne Murray: That's good suicide music

But don't judge Canadian or American music too harshly...afterall, you Brits gave us The Spice Girls and Adam Ant....

Perhaps that was because we didn't want them. ;-)



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

neither did we! LOL

I liked Adam Ant !

Stand and deliver (oi oi!) Your money or your life (ooh - hah)

you know the scene in the video where he jumps out of the tree? They only filmed it once as he broke both his ankles.

Sa for shania Twain - they could quite happily have kept her, as far as I'm concerned. And Avril is just Britney Lite - and I agree, definitely not punk. Although punk wsa just as manufactured - the Sex Pistols spring to mind whenever people go on about manufactured images.

The Band I will happily accept, and I guess the Crash Test Dummies had one good song. I never realised Gordon Lightfoot was Canadian, 'If you could read my mind' is one of my favourite songs as it describes a stage one of my relationships went through so well. I still go misty eyed when I hear it.

I'm not sure they make up for Celine Dion, however.

And I'm not slagging off American music, btw. For starters my favourite band is The Eels, followed shortly after by the Lemonheads. I like a lot of the lesser known stuff, but the most of the exports that clog up the charts seriously bore me.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Could anything compensate for Celine Dion ?

I was most annoyed when TOTP cut the end of the 'Stand and Deliver' video, where he nearly gets hanged. I wrote 'Stand and Deliver' on a piece of A3 paper and had it in my bedroom window for weeks (One does these things when one is 13).

Some friends of mine have a Goth band called 'The Way of All Flesh' - TWOF, to their friends. They do a pretty good cover of 'S&D', and a darned fine one of 'White Wedding'. As well as suitably gloomy rock/Goth stuff.

current music: Ashok Prema - Gallery of Whispers.

It's superb. Chilled out electronica, ideal for sitting outside on a warm summers evening, just as the sun is about to dip below the horizon, listening to the birds sing and watching the sky change colour, whilst drinking ice-cold beer.

Or even whilst sat at work trying to convert WordPerfect documents into Word2k.

Just watched TOTP2 Beatles special. Lovely stuff. Avidly watching video for 'Free As A Bird' and trying to spot Beatles refs. Shea Stadium footage of 'I'm Down' fantastic, JL playing keyboards with his elbow ! Much amused by sequence from 'Magical Mystery Tour'. Meant to be a big dance number but as there were no choreographers, there isn't much dancing. John nearly loses his balance coming down the stairs and proves to be hopeless dancer. George looks quite graceful.
Hmmm, suspect Anthology DVD may be on my shopping list soon.

damndamndamn missed it. anyone know if it'll be repeated?

No idea. Just logged onto official Beatles Anthology website and took advantage of Dad's broadband to download all the little film clips on the 1 site. Plenty of obscure stuff to glimpse on there.
Was suddenly overcome with the urge to watch 'Help !', for the sheer daftness of the thing. Sadly, my video is in Sheffield, and I am in Norfolk.

Hmmm...is this the time to confess that I rather enjoy the Canadian band BareNaked Ladies? At least their songs don't just have the same few words over and over.

If I had a million dollars......I'd be rich.



Post Edited (04-03-03 00:24)

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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

no, but BNL's song is sure getting over-used in those stupid Mitsubishi commercials! I didn't like that song to begin with and I have sworn I will never buy a Mitsubishi just because of those stupid ads! LOL

I've actually liked "One Week" ever since the Michigan Daily (college paper) ran a footnoted version of the words to the song, explaining all the references in the lyrics. Some I'd gotten, but several I'd not caught.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

I like the BNL. Got one of their CDs mp3ed on my computer here. Also got a bonus disk with some live stuff on. Very good it is too.

i'm still converting all my music to MP3. I can cureently go two days without hearing the same track twice.
btw, I'm currently listening to 'Broken Skin' by Nitin Sawney. I was introduced to his music after bumping into a couplke of mates at uni who announced they were off to a free concert, I tagged along, and got to listen to some great stuff dancing by a dockside as the sun went down with an Indian sextuplet on my shoulders. Random, and still very warming.



Post Edited (04-03-03 00:19)

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

He ain't heavy, he's an Indian sextuplet.

Nah, doesn't scan.

Plus it was a she. About six years old, if that helps. There was a gang of people with them, who had a sextuplet each, but that left one out, so I filled in. It was that kind of mood. It's a treasured memory, stupidly. Just swaying from side to side in the evening sun, feeling it was great to be human and alive.



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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Treasured memories of autumn 01. Just started work, nice people, flexitime. Decided I wanted to make wine and jam. Spent sunny evenings after work clambering through the brambles and trees in semi-neglected garden of old church converted to student accomodation. I had a lovely time wrestling with the undergrowth and getting my hands dirty, picking scores of blackberries and elderberries. Such an incredible harvest in a small area.
Jam and cordial turned out all right. The wine might be palatable by now. I've never tried making wine before, but I've got friends who have. (In fact I got started because I'm still harbouring a load of brewing equipment that technically belongs to now-married ex, who doesn't have room for it). Elderberry needs time to mature and it's had it by now.
Two demi-johns of beautiful, dark purple wine at home. Must see about bottling it soon.

If it's alcoholic and you need a hand...

I still have nightmares over ginger wine home-brew, mind. Even worse than sui-cider...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.