Insomnialmanac

There are so many things worth saying, I know that now.  I look at other people's content (famous people) and I find it hard to believe that I censor myself so completely.

I have been feeling a need to write about my mom, lately, and I've been holding back.  It seems kind of silly, now, though, reading about a guy farting while working out.

There are so many things I want to say about mom.  So many wonderful things she's done for me, for other people. Quite a few not so wonderful things.  Let's face it, we've all got those -- we're human. 

I like to think the positives outweigh the negatives for mom.  Then again, I like to think the same for most people.

My aunt shared a memory that her son had of mom, when she was here for the funeral.  He and his sister had very sharp recollections of mom singing to them when they were younger.  It really resonated with me because mom singing was a constant throughout my childhood. 

She liked Ella FItzgerald.  She liked BIllie Holliday.  She liked the Beatles.  She liked Barbara Streisand and Melissa Manchester.  She liked Aerosmith.  She liked the Band and the Traveling Wilburies.

Through her appreciation of music and her love of singing, mom opened doors for me.  When I'm happy, I sing.  Sometimes, I have a hard time keeping a filter in place at work.  I'm sure notes have squeaked out here and there, and it's all mom's fault. 

Mom was a very protective woman.  I'll always remember how a friend of hers promised me a job and when she didn't come through, mom kinda snapped.  I won't say that it ended their friendship but it did change things.

I needed mom, a lot.  I'm sure that everyone could say that, but it doesn't make it less true.  I'm a momma's boy and I feel no shame in admitting that.

Mom was second-mom to a lot of friends.  Not just my friends, but my sister's friends and my brother's friends, too.  Simon, who lived with us for a time, was welcomed into the room with the family during the funeral and I was certainly glad to have him there.  He certainly feels like a second brother to me, sibling rivalry and all.

Since mom passed, I've been trying to plough straight ahead, as if nothing has changed.  For the most part, I've done a pretty good job of it, but I will admit that I've been feeling more temper and less patience, lately.  I'm hoping that getting all this off my chest will take some pressure off and help me be the husband and father I want - and need - to be.

One more thing to say, and then I'll leave off this morose piece of text:

Kyle and Erron, I don't talk about her much, because it's sure to bring tears to my eyes, but I need you guys to know that Katie is never far from my thoughts.  All I need to do is to look at the light in NIck and Lilly's eyes and know how lucky I am to have them. 

I want to extend to the both of you my love, my admiration, and my condolences.  Also, I want to congratulate you on your upcoming move.  Hopefully, we won't have to wait so long between visits, any more.

Okay, that's all.  I'm done for now.  Until more later on.

Doin' the Dishes - System of a Down

I was doing the dishes tonight, and decided that I would listen to a single album and then post my thoughts on that album. It might become a series, it might be a one-time shot.

I picked System of a Down tonight for two reasons. One, it was on the iPod. Two, I was in the mood for something a little faster, a little heavier. So, with no further ado, here are my thoughts on System of a Down's self-titled album:

I got System of a Down from James one day in 1998. I had originally thought that it was 1997, but Wikipedia, ever my faithful companion, tells me that the album did not exist at that juncture. This was during my "Roommates" phase with James. A time that was transformational and brought me out of a shell I didn't even know I had around me.

James was into different music than I was. I seem to remember listening to a lot of Faith No More and some old-timey lounge music at the time. James was into Korn and a bunch of others that I'd heard of but not paid much attention to. He mentioned this album and it intrigued me so I borrowed it from him and made a copy tried it out.

For the next several months (during which I would have the tumultuous ending of a friendship, start and leave the bleach factory, build bikes, build golf courses and consort with waitresses servants of the great egg) I listened to a near-continuous stream of System of a Down. They were loud, they were fun, they were sometimes annoying but they were almost always on. I'll give my thoughts on some or all of the songs below.

Suite-Pee - My only thought on this song is that my brother originally thought this was the title of the CD so my copy evaluation version actually has Suite-Pee as the title.

Sugar - My most vivid memory of this song is James singing it at Karaoke. Which also brings back the memory of Kyle and Erron fighting at Karaoke, which filled James with glee because he could run home (I remember him actually running down the street - boy got some quicks) yelling, "GREAT! I get to watch Buffy!"

Suggestions - I remember listening to this song on the way to and away from a movie at Silver City. I don't remember what movie it was. It might have been the second Star Wars prequel but I'm not sure.

Spiders - This and War? are my favourite songs on the album, for completely different reasons.

War? - WE WILL FIGHT THE HEATHOOOOOOOOOONS!

So, that's all I got for the first edition of Doin' the Dishes. Maybe there'll be a second edition. We'll see. There's always more dishes and I have lots of albums.

Guitar

So, lately, I've been practicing on the guitar that Kim so lovingly gave me for Christmas. It's an Aria acoustic guitar, six strings, frets all over the place, some turny knobs at the top that tune the guitar, and some other technical stuff like a nut, a neck and some other things.

Lately, I've decided that I want to learn how to actually play this thing. I mean, it looks pretty good propped up against the bookshelf in the office, but that really doesn't do anything for the sound.

So, I had to overcome a hurdle. One of the frets sounded just like the fret beside it on the high "E" string. I looked the problem up on the internet (thank you, Al Gore!) and apparently, it's called dead fret. I googled those very words (thank you Larry Page) and one possible reason is that the fret became separated from the neck and could be put back in place with some taps from a plastic headed hammer. The flashlight is plastic, so I smacked it against the fret a little and it worked.

Next came finding resources to learn how to play guitar. I googled "Guitar Lessons for the Absolute Beginner" and came to http://zentao.com/guitar which has ... you guessed it. Guitar lessons for the absolute beginner.

So now I'm getting more familiar with the notes on the fretboard, scales (major and minor, for now), chords (which are way harder than scales, at least at this point) and picking and strumming techniques.

So far, I can play "Mary had a little lamb", "Twinkle Twinkle" and I'm scratching my way through "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

It's a bit of an obsession with me right now and it's nice to actually be able to tell that I'm making progress.

Historical Edmonton Radio musings

Doing the dishes.

Not enough sleep.

Surly as all git-out.

What comes on the radio? "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. The most overrated song in the history of the 80s.

I'm suddenly transported back in time to even before I had the mullet. 630 CHED morning crew.

"Well, we've tallied your votes on 'Make it or Break it' and it doesn't look good for Katrina and her waves. 20 votes to 1 that that song breaks it." I don't remember the DJ, whether it was Rob Christie (before his loudmouth blowhard stage at Magic 99) or someone before him (Bruce Bowie maybe?) but I remember that session of Make it or break it better than I remember probably 90% of University. Very clearly.

Why couldn't we have been right, Edmonton? Now I've got some stupid song stuck in my head and feeling a Rob-Christie rant coming on.

My biggest problem with Magic 99 is not that their DJs are blowhards. It's impossible to find a radio station without a blow-hard. It's their insistence that they're different. Better. Don't spoon-feed me that bullshit. Just because you act better and fill your between-songs time with name-dropping anecdotes that are exactly the same each and every time the same goddamn song comes on does not mean that you're better than the others. You have a wonderful variety of songs that you could play. You barely touch them. Instead of some simpering weenie singing about how I'm beautiful or lamenting my bad day, reach back. Pull more Bobby Darrin or (God forbid) Mel Torme off the shelves. Instead of pretending the only artist back in the day was Frank Sinatra, blow the dust off some Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald or even some modern-ish swing. Yeah, I like Michael Buble and Diana Krall but mix it up. Give me some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or Big Rude Jake. Throw some themed shows into some time slots. Learn a lesson from CKUA. Pick a prime-time hour and play all old stuff. Pick a weekend hour and do some small-label stuff. They've done wonders for local artists like Sandy Foster and Ann Vriend but it would be really nice to take it to the next level.

My other gripe with Magic is their "we're just folks" attitude. Just because I like listening to old standards and swing music doesn't mean that I give a crap about Mercedes or winging my way down to the sunny Caribbean. I certainly am not for going in for a Botox injection to get rid of the wrinkles on my face. Or liposuction for my gluteus-assimus. Don't try to cozy up to me and talk about how we all want this or how everybody knows that.

I'm out of steam.

More on Sandy Foster

Okay, so I cut my first post short. And after the clamouring of my fans, I’ll post a little bit more. (it’s easier here than in a comment anyway)

Sandy Foster sings jazz. Her music varies from slower and softer jazz to latin-flavoured up-tempo stuff. Her range is quite high and she sings quite a bit of her music with a breathless quality which I suppose some people could consider off-putting, and which I probably would if she used it for everything instead of using it as a tool like she does with the rest of her stuff. She has a very powerful voice which she uncorks at the right times. She doesn’t wail like Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston. I’m sure she could knock the crap out of either one of them doing their songs, if they weren’t so inane. She does all of this effortlessly and it’s very easy to tell that she loves what she does.

She’s a bit older, she’s a wife and mother and she uses her life experiences in the songs she writes. As I said before, she doesn’t experiment with wild new music but her band is tight and they do their jobs very well. Her lyrics speak of a whole bunch of different things. She can slip into silliness a little, like with Cranberry Jazz, where she explores the fun of her relationship with her husband, she can sing a song where it sounds like she’s mourning a decaying relationship in Meet Me Here, and Marooned I can identify with because it explores themes of isolation and not entirely as a negative.

As I’ve said before, there isn’t a bad song on the CD and the more I listen to it, the more I agree with myself.

Damn I’m smart.

Sandy Foster