Canadian Cover Content #13: Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada Day today, which means it's also free agent frenzy in the NHL, like a double national holiday. Like every year it seems, there's lots of high drama surrounding my hometown Oilers trying, and often failing in a spectacular manner, to lure the big fish to town. I'm a big fan of our goaltending switch (from Roli to the Bulin Wall), but that's enough hockey talk for now. I've got my all-CanConCover playlist going and I'll share some tunes with you in honour of our country's birthday.

Damhnait Doyle - Everlong [originally by Foo Fighters]
The most overlooked and underrated cover album of 2008 has to go to Damhnait Doyle's Lights Down Low, which was produced by Danny Michel. You'd think with Danny's involvement I'd be all over this, but for some reason I neglected to check it out until earlier this year when I stumbled on it at Amie Street. Maybe it was the track list that didn't blow me away which includes a few that have already been over-covered like I Want You to Want Me or Love Will Tear Us Apart (again and again). But I was wrong, Doyle's versions they're worth listening to regardless. Danny's fingerprints are all over the album from his distinct guitar sounds, back-up vocals, and even the song selection. Covers of Train in Vain and a duet with Damhnait on Bob Marley's Is This Love? shouldn't surprise anyone who knows Danny digs The Clash and reggae in general as evidenced during his DJ stint on CBC's Under the Covers. Here's a gem (among many) from the album, an atmospheric cover of the Foo Fighters' great Everlong. For all their stature here in Canada, The Tragically Hip don't get a lot of cover love so it was cool to hear Damhnait's version of Bobcaygeon on the album too.

Danny Michel - Helpless [originally by Neil Young]
Colin James - Heart of Gold [originally by Neil Young]
Speaking of Danny Michel, a couple weeks ago he was part of Luminato 2009 in Toronto where a ton of Canadian musicians including Jason Collett, Cowboy Junkies, Steven Page, Sarah Slean, and more gathered to re-create Neil Young's 1971 concert at Massey Hall. The whole show can be streamed here, but here are Danny's cover of Helpless and Colin James' reggae-tinged version of Heart of Gold. By the way if you missed it, a very special guest showed up in the middle of Neil Young's frequent concert closer The Beatles' A Day in the Life-- great youtube vid here.

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For [originally by U2]
In the past 6 months, this has probably been one of my most played covers. It starts off fairly normal with just a pair of voices and guitar before the gospel choir resoundingly echos the chorus and later lines. Then the cover takes a bluesy rock turn and kicks it into high gear with the choir still in tow. Most excellent.

The Euphorics - When the Night Feels My Song [originally by Bedouin Soundclash]
I prefer the sound of four-part a cappella groups over the big college a cappella groups, so I was very pleased to discover The Euphorics whose album Born to Sing includes great covers of Billy Joel's River of Dreams, I Wanna Be Like You (from Disney's The Jungle Book), Neil Young's After the Goldrush, and this version of When the Night Feels My Song by fellow Canadians Bedouin Soundclash.

John Stetch Trio - The Mighty Hercules (live in Edmonton) [originally by Johnny Nash]
I don't often get an opportunity to trumpet hometown cover content, but earlier this week I learned about Edmontonian jazz pianist John Stetch whose Juno-nominated CD TV Trio is all jazz covers of 70s and 80s TV themes. And there are some awesome cover picks from the Looney Tunes' This Is It, The Price is Right, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Star Trek and many more. However, my favourite pick is of the 60's Canadian cartoon The Mighty Hercules, which featured a theme written and performed by Johnny Nash, later of I Can See Clearly Now fame. There have been some doubts whether it's the same Johnny Nash, but all my research seems to point to yes. The show must have been re-aired in the 80s because most of the people I know distinctly remember Hercules, his centaur sidekick Newton ("Herc! Herc!"), and Toot the pan-piping satyr battling the villanous Daedalus in crappy, often re-used animation. AND the awesome theme song: "Softness in his eyes, iron in his thighs, virtue in his heart, fire in every part of the Mighty Hercules!" sung without a trace of irony. I love it and it's great to find someone finally cover it. This live version recorded at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton is from a show that's up on CBC Radio 2 in its entirety.

TV Trio is available at iTunes, Amazon.com (um, not .ca for some reason), and CD Baby. Check out the Japanese version of the theme here.

Wide Mouth Mason - Billie Jean [originally by Michael Jackson]
One more MJ cover for you, a bit of a rarity from Saskatchewan rockers Wide Mouth Mason. I actually got this from a Wide Mouth Mason Greatest Hits album that was only released in China. I didn't realize until I got back that their cover of Billie Jean only appears on that album, so I lucked out when I picked it up in Beijing though it's probably a bootleg.

D.D. Jackson - Head Over Feet [originally by Alanis Morissette]
D.D. Jackson - Hand in My Pocket [originally by Alanis Morissette]
Here are two great piano renditions of Alanis Morissette's Head Over Feet and Hand in My Pocket by Ottawa-born jazz pianist D.D. Jackson. This is from a tribute night to Alanis Morissette, a CBC's Radio 2 concert that is unfortunately no longer available online.

Coincidentally, I'll be down in Seattle this weekend for Jason Webley's Elevanniversary Spectacular and Camp Tomato, so for the very first time I'll be in the US for Independence Day festivities. Amanda Palmer has also twittered her presence at both events with a potential ninja ukulele gathering in the works... should be an awesome weekend.

80s Weekend Hangover

Grrrr, my internet's been cutting in/out all day... and the only cure is a monster batch of even more 80s covers! Here are some that didn't make the first cut, mostly because they don't carry the same personal resonance as some of those earlier picks. Some I just plain forgot to include and the 80s police got mad at me.


The Pigeon Detectives - The Power of Love [originally by Huey Lewis & The News]
Tropical Jazz Big Band XI - Hip to Be Square [originally by Huey Lewis & The News]
Huey Lewis is so synonymous with the 80s, in no small part due to The Power of Love's prominent role in Back to the Future (possibly the greatest 80s film?), it was extremely difficult to resist the temptation to load up on Huey Lewis & The News covers the first time around. The Pigeon Detectives do a fine take on The Power of Love, representing the year 1985 on the BBC compilation of covers, Radio 1 Established 1967. The instrumental Hip to be Square cover is a hoot too.

Lostprophets - Need You Tonight [originally by INXS]
INXS covers are surprisingly hard to come by. This one's kind of a wasted opportunity because I think the music takes some interesting twists, yet the vocals adhere way too closely to Michael Hutchence's inimitable delivery and thus pale in comparison.


Francis Soto Band - Sunglasses at Night [originally by Corey Hart]
Here's my CanCon for the post. We can't talk about 80s music in Canada without mentioning Corey Hart, now can we? Here's a German metal cover of his big hit, Sunglasses at Night. Weird trivia via wikipedia: Corey Hart turned down the role of Mrty McFly in Back to the Future! Luckily that role went to Edmontonian (yay!) Michael J. Fox. When I think Canadian 80s music, the real king is Bryan Adams, covers of whom are sadly lacking except for a couple I've posted before. I also wanted so bad to include a Glass Tiger cover, but I couldn't track down anything worthwhile.

Dondero High School - Love in an Elevator [originally by Aerosmith]
Here's one I left off since I don't really associate it with the 80s, not surprising since the album it's from Pump was released in September 1989. This hilariously great cover is from the annual Dondero High School Pop Concert (1971-2006) in Royal Oak, Michigan. Each year, the student choir and musicians would perform 20 or so covers of popular songs. Archives of concerts held between 1995 and 2005 are available for free download (hosted on the Internet Audio Archive). Lots of inspiring cover choices, prepare to clear out some hard drive space for these. Interesting factoids: the school was opened in 1927, became Royal Oak Middle School in 2007, and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey is a former student.

Rilo Kiley - Simply Irresistible (live) [originally by Robert Palmer]
Robert Palmer covers are pretty scarce as well. If not for the lyrics, this slowed down indie cover by Rilo Kiley would be pretty much unrecognizable.

Spunge - Centerfold [originally by J. Geils Band]
One of the most sing-a-longable na na na na na sections in 80s music. I knew nothing about the J. Geils Band, so I was mildly surprised to learn 1981's Freeze Frame was the band's 12th album and they originally formed in 1967!


Mose Giganticus - Mr. Roboto [originally by Styx]
Self-described electronic/synthpop/punk/rock band Mose Giganticus perform this surprisingly faithful Styx cover except with more aggressive vocals. My first exposure to Mr. Roboto was actually through some lyrical quotage in the Barenaked Ladies' The King of Bedside Manor. I was mildly obsessed with this song when I "re-discovered" it in high school, presumably through this 1999 VW Golf commercial. Coincidentally, this ad came up last week in an AV Club article where I found out the man singing/dancing in the car is none other than Tony Hale AKA Buster Bluth on Arrested Development (AHA!). Up until last night, I ignorantly assumed that people were making ironic Styx references when they used "Kilroy Was Here" when it turns out it's a popular American expression dating back to WWII. Geez. Leave it to wikipedia to provide much needed context. Mr. Roboto inadvertently resonates with me because of Graeme Base's 1989 children's puzzle/mystery book The Eleventh Hour, in which someone eats all the food at Horace the Elephant's 11th birthday and all his guests are suspects. It's full of elaborately complex clues, lavishly detailed illustrations, and a sealed section at the back which reveals the big mystery. I spent hours poring over this book and still ended up half-guessing, then all out sneaking a peek at the sealed section, painstakingly reading it without actually breaking the seal, which is still intact today. If you know the song and you've read the book, you might know what I'm talking about.

B.A. Baracus Band - Growing Pains [originally written by John Bettis]
Here's another guilty pleasure from the B.A. Baracus Band. As Long As We've Got Each Other, the theme to Growing Pains, was performed in most seasons by B.J. Thomas, probably best known for singing Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, and Jennifer Warnes. I remember my sister watching the show because it had Teen Beat cover boy Leonardo DiCaprio in an early role. Mind you, this was in during the show's last season in 1991...

Julian Velard - Here I Go Again [originally by Whitesnake]
From a session on BBC 2's Dermot O'Leary, New York artist Julian Velard flips Whitesnake on its head by performing this cover, unless it's my imagination, in the style of Barry White. Barry Whitesnake?


Speak Low - Thriller [originally by Michael Jackson]
An early nightmare image from my childhood derives from my uncle showing me a VHS recording of the Thriller music video at my grandparents' house while on a sleepover. Basically just the scene of MJ in the woods turning in a werewolf (er, cat) while his girlfriend screams in terror... the eyes, the yellow eyes! I don't remember the song or even the rest of the music video after that point, so maybe I didn't even watch the whole thing. In fact, for a long time I thought I had just seen some excerpt of a feature-length Thriller movie, which I vowed to never see. And now it's considered one of the greatest music videos of all-time. Petra Haden does an amazing a cappella cover of Thriller, but my favourite version is this wah-chicka-wah/Hammond organ/Shaft-like instrumental funk cover by Speak Low. It always grabs me right when the horns make their entrance and never lets go.

Robin McKelle - Abracadabra [originally by Steve Miller Band]
This is a fantastic big band jazz cover by relative newcomer Robin McKelle. When I was talking about the Mini-Pops the other day, I can't believe I forgot about Abracadabra, which introduced me to the Steve Miller Band long before I heard songs like Rock'n Me, The Joker, or Take the Money and Run. I'm flying back home for Thanksgiving (next Monday for Canadians) and I'm going to dig up that Mini-Pops cassette in the basement.

Reel Big Fish & Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer - Don't You Want Me [originally by Human League]
Can't believe at forgot this one. A popular singalong on roadtrips for my sister and I by virtue of being one of the few duets on any mixtape, ignoring the creepy connotations of kids singing this (not unlike the Mini-Pops). When I was about 8, the Yellow Pages had this automated music trivia quiz I used to call all the time where they would play a song clip and ask multiple choice questions about it, answering with the touchtone phone. On one of these quizzes the clip was Don't You Want Me and that's when I learned the artist was Human League after enlisting in some help from my mom.

The City on Film - Come on Eileen [originally by Dexys Midnight Runners]
An acoustic guitar and violin cover sung in loving tribute of one of the most enduring one-hit wonders of the 80s.

Tori Amos - I Ran [originally by Flock of Seagulls]
In my mind, Tori Amos is basically her own subsection of covers. This Flock of Seagulls cover is from her 2005 tour, in which she devoted one section of her concert to playing covers that fans could vote for in advance on her website. Six of these shows were recorded and released as The Original Bootlegs and featured covers such as Aerosmith's Dream On, Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger, and George Michael's Father Figure.


The Wrong Trousers - Video Killed the Radio Star [originally by The Buggles]
The Wrong Trousers - Handle With Care [originally by the Traveling Wilburys]
Lastly, but certainly not leasty... The Wrong Trousers, who I've mentioned in a previous post because of their great cover of Such Great Heights. Since then, I bought their debut CD off CD Baby and loved it. I'd describe their sound as joyful, but not cloying. Their covers were a promising indicator of the quality of their originals, which are awesome. This was a request from Boyhowdy over at CLD who heard their Video Killed the Radio Star recently and was wowed. I completely overlooked this when compiling my earlier 80s post and glad he reminded me because it's definitely worthy of attention. He also alerted me to their Traveling Wilburys cover that I didn't know about. Thanks! The cover world can always use more Wilburys covers. The Wrong Trousers first gained attention with a youTube video of them as teenage buskers covering The Buggles. As a mandolin, harp, and upright bass trio, there's the immediate threat of being dismissed as a novelty, but their music is full of heart and major talent to be reckoned with. In fact, one of their members was accepted into UCLA this year and is currently studying mandolin with a major in Ethnommusicology! I think they've got a new EP or LP due soon and I'll snap it up as soon as I can. Technically, Video Killed the Radio Star was released in 1979, but it made 80s history after becoming the first music video to ever be played on MTV when the channel debuted in 1981, at the same time cementing its place in Trivial Pursuit for ever more.

Canadian Cover Content #6: Juno Weekend

This weekend is Juno weekend and I don't mean last year's much-beloved indie film, even though that does has more than its fair share of Canadian content-- director Jason Reitman, Ellen Page, Michael Cera... even Jason Bateman has a Canuck connection: he's Paul Anka's son-in-law! Anyway, the Junos are the annual music awards given out by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Think Canadian Grammies. Ironically, Juno (the film), despite being filmed in Vancouver with its Canadian stars and director, was ineligible for this year's Genies (think Canadian Oscars) because it wasn't made with Canadian money...

No, not Juneau, though coincidentally the Junos are named after Pierre Juneau, one-time head of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and architect of our Canadian content regulations. This year's Junos are being held tomorrow night in Calgary, Alberta with host Russell Peters.

There's a bit of controversy this year's awards. At first, Anne Murray's album Duets: Friends and Legends (which has some covers on it, FYI) was left off the list of best album nominees due to an error in the way sales figures were calculated. They've since added her to the nomination, but now there are 6 nominees, leaving everyone wondering who's the weak link of the category... The other nominees are Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion (with two nominations), Michael Bublé, and Feist. A lot of nominees for the major categories are based purely on sales and there's even a Doritos (ugh) Fan Choice award. I have no idea what's the deal with the "International Album of the Year" category with this year's nominees Bon Jovi, Fergie, Josh Groban, Rihanna, and Timbaland. Clearly a celebration of Canadian music. Juno nominations have always been a little suspect: in 2004, Fong Songs fave Danny Michel was once nominated for Best New Artist after his 5TH album since 1997, eventually losing to Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé.

Record sales and stuff aside, at the very least the Junos remind us how awesome Canadian music can be. To celebrate here's a tasty sampling of covers by and of some of the nominated artists.

Danny Michel - After the Gold Rush [originally by Neil Young]
One Juno nominee honours another. Neil Young's Chrome Dreams II is nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album (whatever that means) and Danny's live DVD is nominated for Music DVD of the year. His newest album Feather, Fun & Fin just came out a couple weeks ago and he's currently on a cross-country tour with a stop in Calgary for the Junos. His live shows are not to be missed and I'll probably be seeing back-to-back shows here in Vancouver at the end of the month.

Serena Ryder - Some of These Days [originally by Shelton Brooks]
Serena Ryder - It Doesn't Matter Anymore [originally by Buddy Holly; written by Paul Anka]
Serena Ryder is nominated for Best New Artist of the Year and my vote's for her, though admittedly I'm pretty unfamiliar with the other artists (Belly, Jeremy Fisher, Justin Nozuka, Suzie McNeil, and Jill Barber). I'm still not sure what the criteria for this category is since her debut album is from 2005 while her collection of Canadian cover songs If Your Memory Serves You Well came out in 2006. Her soulful renditions of Some of These Days and It Doesn't Matter Anymore just floor me. I was also blown away when I found out that deep rich bluesy voice was attached to someone in her mid-20's... in fact, younger than me by a few months. Très bizarre.

Suzie McNeil - Remedy [originally by The Black Crowes]
Another of the New Artist nominees is Suzie McNeil, a former contestant on the reality show Rock Star INXS who came in 4th overall. In fact, of the 15 contestants vying to be lead singer for the Aussie rock band, three were Canadian including the eventual winner JD Fortune. From the show's official soundtrack, she does an okay job covering the Black Crowes.

James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez - Follow Me Up There, Carlos [originally Follow Me Up to Carlow by P. J. McCall; traditional]
James Keelaghan & Oscar Lopez first teamed up in 1997 for the album Compadres, combining Latino and Celtic influences into what they dub "Celtino". I first heard them at the 2000 Edmonton Folk festival and became hooked on that album, which features this traditional Irish tune. I didn't even realize it was a cover until I heard a Celtic punk cover last year. Their long overdue follow-up Buddy, Where You Been? is nominated for a Juno in the category of Roots & Traditional Album of the Year (Group).

Feist - Inside and Out [originally Love You Inside Out by The Bee Gees]
Feist - We Can Work It Out (with Arthur H) [originally by The Beatles]
Jack Penate - 1234 [originally by Feist]
Feist, who's already won a few Junos in past years, could walk away with a few more this year with 5 nominations including Album, Artist, Pop Album, Single (1234), and Songwriter of the Year. Her Beatles cover with French singer Arthur H is from the French TV show Taratata, which I'm starting to realize is a great source for live cover songs. In 2006, Feist was even nominated for a cover song! Her Bee Gees cover was up for Single of the Year, eventually losing to Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé.

The Corb Lund Band - Sixteen Tons [originally by Merle Travis]
Corb Lund's Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier! is nominated for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year (Solo). The first time I heard of Corb Lund he was playing a show in the basement theatre of the downtown library I was working at. Earlier this week, he and his band The Hurtin' Albertans played to a hometown crowd of 6000 fans at Rexall Place, home to our Edmonton Oilers (who are now packed up for the golf season). What a difference a few years makes. Even just last night I happened to catch a feature story about him on The National (Canada's national news broadcast). I'm one of those people who say "I listen to everything... oh yeah, except country music". Of course there are always exceptions to that and Corb Lund is one of them. His debut album Modern Pain was released on cassette in 1995 with only 1000 copies in circulation. It was re-released in 2003 with some bonus tracks including this live cover of Sixteen Tons. To me, the deep baritone of Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of Sixteen Tons will forever be associated to Grade 12 art class where this and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue seemed to be in constant rotation (no complaints though, I love 'em both!).

Jamie T - When the Night Feels My Song [originally by Bedouin Soundclash]
English singer/songwriter Jamie T performed this cover of Bedouin Soundclash's biggest hit on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge show. This year, Bedouin Soundclash is nominated for Pop Album of the Year and Video of the Year. A couple years ago, When the Night Feels My Song was nominated for Single of the Year, eventually losing to Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé.

Pascale Picard - Wish You Were Here [originally by Pink Floyd]
Québécois artist Pascale Picard is in tough against Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Feist, and Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé for Artist of the Year. Not sure how Picard's only nomination ended up in this category. Artist of the Year with no other nominations? Her debut album came out last year and she's not even up for Best New Artist! Silly Junos. She contributed this cover and a great Shine On You Crazy Diamond to the compilation album Pink Floyd Redux, an underrated album that I've posted about a few times.

Michael Bublé - I'm Your Man [originally by Leonard Cohen]
From this year's nominee for Best Album, Call Me Irresistible, Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé swings Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man. He's also up for Best Pop Album, Artist, Single, and the Doritos (ugh) Fan Choice Award. Call Me Irresistible has already won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at this year's Grammies down south. Bublé was nominated in that same category at last year's Grammies too for his Caught in the Act, eventually losing to Tony Bennett's Duets: An American Classic... featuring Juno juggernaut Michael Bublé.





Tune in tomorrow on Juno night for more Canadian covers!

We'll Miss You, Jeff Healey

I was saddened to learn today that Canadian blues rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey passed away yesterday after a prologued bout with cancer at the age of 41. I was oblivious to the fact that he had been fighting cancer for over a year, so this came as quite a shock. A candid, yet positive note to fans last September regarding his treatments can be read here. Blind due to a rare form of cancer since he was a baby, he learned guitar at age 3 and developed a distinct style of playing with the guitar in his lap. Known primarily as a rock guitarist in the vein of Stevie Ray Vaughan, in recent years he's pursued his true love of 20's/30's jazz with three albums distributed by Edmonton-based indie label Stony Plain Records: Among Friends, Adventures in Jazzland, and It's Tight Like That (with guest Chris Barber). When he wasn't touring, he hosted a jazz show on local Toronto station JAZZ.FM and performed as part of the house band at Jeff Healey's Roadhouse, a live music venue named after his role alongside Patrick Swayze in the cult 80's film Road House.

I saw him years ago perform alongside Ronnie Hawkins at a baseball game in Edmonton (baseball in Edmonton-- weird thought, eh?). In 2005, I brought my dad to see Jeff Healey & The Jazz Wizards at the intimate 500-seat Arden Theatre in St. Albert, a city just north of Edmonton city limits. In addition to being a phenomenal guitar player, Jeff also plays trumpet and clarinet. It was a wonderful night of joyous jazz standards with the band exchanging solos, chatting with the audience, and having as much fun on stage as we were out in the crowd. Following the show, the whole band was in the lobby to sign autographs and mingle with fans.

Over the years, he's done a bunch of covers including a great version of While My Gently Weeps and a full cover album in 1995, Cover to Cover. A new album Mess of Blues to be released next month was going to be his first rock/blues album in 8 years and looks to have some covers on there including The Weight. Here are some of his other covers with his Jeff Healey Band and jazz standards with his Jazz Wizards. He will be missed.

The Jeff Healey Band - Harvest [originally by Neil Young]
The Jeff Healey Band - While My Guitar Gently Weeps [originally by The Beatles]
The Jeff Healey Band - Run Through the Jungle [originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival]
The Jeff Healey Band - Communication Breakdown [originally by Led Zeppelin]

Jeff Healey - You're Driving Me Crazy [originally by Walter Donaldson]
Jeff Healey - My Blackbirds are Bluebirds Now [originally by Irving Caesar & Cliff Friend]

Terra Hazelton - Let's Do It [originally by Cole Porter]
Terra Hazelton - Ain't He Sweet? [originally "Ain't She Sweet?" by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen]
That show in St. Albert featured jazz vocalist Terra Hazelton as a member of the Jazz Wizards. That year Jeff Healey produced and played on her debut album Anybody's Baby, which also featured backing by the Jazz Wizards. After visiting her website, I found out she has a new album due soon and she's trying to reach 500 pre-orders by March 15th. Some special guest include Toronto jazz vocalist Alex Pangman, Drew Jurecka (of the Jazz Wizards), and the Valleau brothers (of the Polyjesters). Listen to some of her other stuff on her myspace page.

U2 3D

Saw U2 3D the other day. The 3D is quite spectacular but the show didn't exactly blow me away. I just couldn't shake the feeling that these were the umpteenth time these songs have been performed, though at the same time I didn't want to hear their newer stuff too much either. So basically there wasn't any way this movie was going to work for me, though some more Achtung Baby may have helped. I love Sunday Bloody Sunday but honestly how long must they really sing that song? The best part was seeing the massive crowds in South America. There's a fantastic bird's eye shot of a solid mass of people jumping up and down during Where the Streets Have No Name that looks like a human earthquake. I was surprised to see that one of the co-directors was Mark Pellington who directed the underrated Arlington Road then hasn't done much since. I'm a casual U2 fan at best, so it never really occurred to me that the high-pitched background wails common to many a U2 song are sung by The Edge and not, as I had previously assumed, an overdubbed Bono.

The best U2 cover is by the Pet Shop Boys, but here a few others:

The Smashing Pumpkins - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) [originally by U2]
James Eric - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) [originally by U2]
This is my favourite U2 song, so I was excited though ultimately disappointed to discover cover songs of it. Billy Corgan with James Iha performed this stripped down acoustic version at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concert in 1999. James Eric used to have a bunch of his covers on his site including Stay (Faraway, So Close!), though you have to do a little digging to find them now. Apparently trumpeter Al Hirt performed a cover on the 1994 Brit Awards compilation and I can't even begin to imagine how that sounds, though I'm definitely curious...*hint, hint*

Jarvis Church featuring K'Naan - One [originally by U2]
I can always find an excuse to re-post this wonderful cover by Jarvis Church, the alter-ego of Philosopher Kings lead singer Gerald Eaton. The song, from the War Child compilation Peace Songs veers nicely into gospel territory and even gets a shot of hip-hop courtesy of guest K'Naan.

St. Fiachra's Junior School Choir - Sweetest Thing [originally by U2]
Liza at Copy, Right? posted this once and it's a great discovery. It's from the U2 tribute album Even Better Than the Real Thing, Vol. 3 and oddly enough I do like it a lot more than the real thing. The original kinda makes me cringe with its repeated "Oh-oh-oh, the sweetest thing", but this children's choir makes it sound adorable and charming in a Langley Schools Music Project way.

U2 - Sweet Caroline (Live in Edmonton) [originally by Neil Diamond]
[**UPDATE: I've been informed that this is, in fact, The Edge (not Bono) singing karaoke. Same goes for Daydream Believer the next night. So is it a cover? Kind of, not really. This goes to show that we were so far from the stage it was like watching ants perform.]
This bootleg is from a concert on June 15, 1997, the second of two nights they played in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium. My mom had gotten tickets for my sister and I to the previous night, which was one of my first big rock concerts ever. Though we didn't get Sweet Caroline, Bono The Edge led us in a round of Daydream Believer. The only other thing I remember is that there was a giant lemon on stage and we were very far away. Three songs from this show were featured as bonus material on the PopMart: Live from Mexico City DVD released last year. Also, With or Without You recorded that night appeared on the officially released Please EP.

Misery Waits in Vague Hotels

If you missed it, I was shocked to learn that the Batman cover I posted a couple days ago was performed by none other than Boyhowdy's brother's band Skavoovie & The Epitones. In the semi-immortal one hit wonder words of OMC: "How Bizarre." Well, a little back and forth in the comments has led to an open invitation for Boyhowdy to guest post on Fong Songs whenever he feels a hankerin' for posting some non-folk covers. Speaking of which, his latest post is a swack of Beck folk covers, which, of course, is awesome. And that has directly inspired me to post my own Beck covers, particularly of my all-time favourite Beck song Tropicalia.

Last year, I was working on a massive post that was unceremoniously wiped out by blogger before I finished. This established the dreaded post label I CAN'T BELIEVE I WROTE A GIANT POST AND DELETED IT (WHERE'S THE BLOODY AUTO-SAVE??), which unfortunately has two victim posts to its credit. So there's still a draft post dated 12/06/2007 lingering forever more, in which I was all ready to post covers of Beck's Tropicalia. Well, here's a good excuse to revive at least the Beck portion of that post. :)


Tropicalia, from the 1998 album Mutations, is chock-full of some of my favourite lyrics ever. From the chorus: "Misery waits in vague hotels... to be evicted". I rectroactively attribute my overusage of the word "vague" and its derivatives to this song. In fact, if you search for "vaguely" on my site (as I just did out of sudden curiousity) you'll find that in two years I have used it over 15 times as recently as the last post. ...OK, 45 minutes have lapsed between the last sentence and this one as I obsessively tried to figure out how to plot my word usage over the life of this blog. After filtering out some overly redundant words that appear on every post (i.e. links, labels, fongolia), this is what I came up with using the nifty word cloud generator from TagCrowd.com:

ago (57) andrew (51) artists (50) batman (46) ben (162) best (65) bird (52) blog (51) bowie (74) called (62) canadian (101) cd (60) check (62) classic (48) coming (46) concert (42) couple (78) cover (594) danger (42) danny (44) david (67) days (41) disney (49) dolls (60) dresden (54) edmonton (87) ever (48) fact (65) favourite (85) features (45) film (82) folds (105) folk (60) going (53) head (42) heard (77) heart (44) jack (70) later (61) led (55) listen (92) love (91) movie (48) music (129) night (80) nut (73) people (45) performed (62) playing (47) pm (78) pretty (54) probably (49) quite (46) really (57) released (48) rock (61) session (50) shows (48) since (86) soundtrack (76) squirrel (72) stage (60) started (43) stripes (103) sure (51) theme (104) think (90) tour (52) track (84) version (110) week (51) whole (47) year (114) zeppelin (81) zippers (95)

created at TagCrowd.com

Hmmm, no surprise at the most common word, though I didn't realize I talked about "Ben" so often.

Anyway, back to the lyrics of Tropicalia. I simply love the rhythm and punctuation of the chosen words even if I have no idea what they mean. I'm reminded of something John Lennon once said (I may be making this up) about writing lyrics with the emphasis on the sounds of the words rather than the meaning, rhythmically finding the perfect combination of words whether it's walrus gumboot, elementary penguin singing hare krishna, or studying pataphysical science. In fact, I have a tendency to blindly apply that logic to any lyrics that I don't understand. Like the Beatles' Come Together, Tropicalia is full of juicy word combos such as "equatorial haze", "colonial maze", "anabolic and bronze", "millenial fogs", all of which baffle and delight me. Even my favourite non-lyric is from Tropicalia. For years I loved the lyric: "I'll see them rise and fall into the jaws of a Pasternak love," which I always thought as a particularly poetic image (Ah, a Pasternak love!) until one day I found out the actual lyric was "jaws of a pestilent love". I hereby lay claim to the lyric "jaws of a Pasternak love". Hmmph, that's why I don't really like to read lyrics too often and would rather wallow in my own nonsense lyrics. The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead is another song where my enjoyment has lessened since finding out the actual lyrics. It's not so much I don't like the real lyrics, it's just that my brain conspicuously hones in when it gets to that particular point in the song with corrected lyrics and I can't listen to the song naturally anymore. At least it takes a long while to hear it smoothly again.

In retrospect, it's funny how MP3s and iPods have changed the way we listen to and collect music. This was one of the first songs I remember digitally recording off the CD using some Windows Stereo program into Wav format (yeah, I used to collect those). Napster would arrive on the scene a year or two later... This is all a very long-winded way of expressing my love for Beck's Tropicalia and my gleeful surprise at discovering multiple covers of it.

Eliane Elias - Tropicalia [originally by Beck]
I distinctly remember Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias from the latin jazz film Calle 54 performing in barefeet. So when I heard she was covering Beck (Tropicalia, no less!) I was excited to hear her version and was not disappointed. This fabulous cover comes from last year's album Around the City, which also includes covers of Oye Como Va and Bob Marley's Jammin'.

Dr. Lonnie Smith & David "Fathead" Newman - Tropicalia [originally by Beck]
This comes from an 11-track cover album called Boogaloo to Beck with selections from the pre-2003 Beck catalogue lending themselves nicely to the groovy jazz instrumentals. Some of the tracks that are pushing the 10-minute mark are destined to be mere background noise (I'm sorry, they just outstay their welcome just a little bit). Tropicalia seems just about right, though I may be biased.

The Smiling Salami's - Tropicalia [originally by Beck]
OK, I really hope Boyhowdy doesn't have any siblings in a band called The Smiling Salami's... because this cover is terrible. I only include it here for the sake of completeness. By the 8-second mark, it descends into surreal chaos as creepy elves incoherently mutter the lyrics to their own random rhythm, completely independent of the ad-nauseum guitar strumming and drunken thumping of some sort of beat. Thankfully it's over fairly quickly as you wonder what the hell you just heard.

Beck - Tropicalia
I guess by this point if you have no idea what I'm rambling about, you should probably hear the original.

Beck - Tropicalia (live on KCRW, November 1998)

Beck - Funky Little Song [originally by Bruce Haack & Esther Nelson]
Ding dong, funky little song. A couple years ago, Beck contributed this (funky) little gem to a tribute album called Dimension Mix: A Tribute to Dimension 5 Records, a label started by electronic music pioneer Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson. Not only were they early artists in the realm of electronic music, the music they released was aimed at children. Not your standard kiddie fare, but apparently hugely influential judging by the pedigree of artists involved on the album including the likes of Eels, Stereolab, and Apples in Stereo. I don't really know much about Bruce Haack having first heard of him via the tribute album (which incidentally features another fav artist of mine, Fantastic Plastic Machine remixing a song called I'm Bruce), so here is where I would normally re-direct you to a wikipedia article so I don't just rehash it here. However when I went to read about him, I stumbled upon a couple of fascinating facts that couldn't just slip by without comment. For the full story, I recommend checking out the bio on brucehaack.com, a site run by a former acquantaince of his (Haack passed away in 1988).


Bruce Haack is an Alberta boy(!), born near the Rocky Mountains in the town of Nordegg in 1931. At some point he moved to Edmonton to study music at the University of Alberta (my alma mater!) although he was rejected for lack of musical notation skills and ended up getting a degree in psychology. While at university Bruce "met Charles Laughton who introduced the idea of going to New York City". Whoa, whoa, whoa... what!? The E-Town connection sure surprised me, but how does legendary actor Charles Laughton fit into the picture? As best as I can tell using my formidable research skills, Charles Laughton was in town most likely in 1951 performing Don Juan in Hell with The First Drama Quartet, which was also made up of actors Charles Boyer, Cedric Hardwicke, and Agnes Moorehead (little Charlie Kane's mother?!?). The only online mention I can find is from this U of A alumni article here. Apparently, Laughton must have attended another play opening while he was in Edmonton and is described as "demolishing almost all [of the theatre administrator's] supply of imported cheeses". HA! I'm guessing during this time he must have crossed paths with Haack and inspired him to move to New York. Note to self: Bruce Haack and his music merit further investigation. A documentary came out in 2004 called "Bruce Haack: The King of Techno" made up of current interviews with associates and archival footage of Haack including an appearance on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. I must seek that out.

White Stripes Secret Show in Edmonton

Hmmm, do you think I'm in White Stripes heaven right now? Here are some pics I took at the secret show they did a couple hours ago at an inner city youth sports centre.

White Stripes in Edmonton? Hell yes!

I should be sleeping right now, but The White Stripes just had to go ahead and announce their tour! True to their promise, they're crossing Canada full-on. Woohoo, here are the dates and Edmonton's confirmed!

Sun 06/24/07 Burnaby, BC Deer Lake Park
Mon 06/25/07 Whitehorse, YT Yukon Arts Centre
Tue 06/26/07 Yellowknife, NW Yellowknife Multiplex
Wed 06/27/07 Iqaluit, NUN Arctic Winter Games Arena
Fri 06/29/07 Calgary, AB Pengrowth Saddledome
Sat 06/30/07 Edmonton, AB Shaw Conference Centre
Sun 07/01/07 Saskatoon, SK TCU Place
Mon 07/02/07 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
Tue 07/03/07 Thunder Bay, ON Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
Thu 07/05/07 Toronto, ON The Molson Amphitheatre
Fri 07/06/07 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Sat 07/07/07 London, ON The John Labatt Centre
Sun 07/08/07 Ottawa, ON Cisco Systems Ottawa Bluesfest
Tue 07/10/07 Moncton, NB Moncton Coliseum
Wed 07/11/07 Charlottetown, PEI Charlottetown Civic Centre
Fri 07/13/07 Halifax, NS Cunard Event Centre
Sat 07/14/07 Glace Bay, NS Savoy Theatre
Mon 07/16/07 Saint John's, NF Mile One Centre

This is my bank account's worst nightmare. That is until next year's Ben Folds rock vacation... let's celebrate!

White Stripes covers:
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - The Hardest Button to Button
The Flaming Lips - Seven Nation Army (Harry Potter and George Bush's Severed Head Army Mix)
Bree Sharp - We're Going to Be Friends
Nina Persson - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

Random Jack White stuff:
Blanche with Jack White - Who's to Say
Jack White - Love is the Truth [Coke ad]
Electric Six feat. Jack White - Danger! High Voltage
The Flaming Lips - Thank You Jack White (For The Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)

Bonus Mash-up
Mountain Con - Variations on Outkast, The White Stripes, and John Lennon

White Stripes in Edmonton? pt. II

Just a quick follow-up to a White Stripes in Edmonton? post I made last month. Sorry, no mp3s today-- I'm just so excited about this White Stripes thing I had to post right away!

A friend saw Jack White being interviewed last night on MuchMusic (our Canadian music channel) and he re-iterated that The White Stripes intend to tour in all 10 provinces and 3 territories.

"We're not going to leave any stone unturned. And if any new provinces or territories get made up during the tour we promise to play the new ones as well." says Jack. [via]

So now it seems as though it's no longer a matter of if they're coming, but rather when and where. Speculation is rampant on the Little Room forums as to which stops they'll make. If the rumour is true that they'll hit the Ottawa Blues Festival, expect an announcement on April 25th when the festival line-up is unveiled. I imagine a full tour announcement would come around the same time.

[EDIT: 4/18/2007 It's confirmed. The White Stripes will be taking the stage at the Ottawa Blues Festival July 8th! Press release here. That didn't take long! Let's hope full Canadian dates are on their way.]

Yesterday brought word that they'll be touring in July in a bunch of states they haven't visited before, so their story is checking out so far.

My own plans for a Western Canadian roadtrip are already underway...

White Stripes in Edmonton?

After a slew of hoax tour dates for their upcoming album Icky Thump, there were further developments today as the band sent out their newsletter that included the following tidbit:

"In fact, The White Stripes have yet to confirm their North American routing as of yet. But we are happy to say that it will include all 10 provinces and 3 territories of Canada, as well as the remaining 16 states of the United States the band have yet to play. A few major markets that have been journeyed to in the past will be also be included."

An article in today's Edmonton Journal thinks ol' Jack & Meg are having a joke at the expense of Canadians (their argument being that even the White Stripes wouldn't venture all the way up to Nunavut). And yet it wouldn't shock me in the least if they did decide to be one of, if not the first, rock band to tour the Canadian territories. Despite mentioning the hoax dates, the article still ends by laughingly pointing to Vancouver tour dates on August 7th and 8th.

Hey, I went to both those shows two years ago and they were THE two best concerts I have ever been to! In fact, looking back, August 11th, 2005 was the day this very blog started with (what else?) a White Stripes post. It's a little creepy and embarassing to look back at those tentative first few posts. Creepy in a listening-to-a-recording-of-yourself sort of way and embarassing since I haven't changed much since then, though I have gained about 3000 covers. I was living in Vancouver for a couple months at the time and I remember sending this crude drawing to taunt friends back home in Edmonton:

The White Stripes - Death Letter (Live Aug. 7, 2005 - Vancouver, BC)
[originally by Son House]

The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit (Live Aug. 8, 2005 - Vancouver, BC)
These hardly capture the energy and excitement of these epic shows, but I still think it's cool to have a recording of them. As evidenced in the past few years, I think professionally recorded discs of the concert you just went to are probably among the best souvenirs one could get. I still get flashbacks when I go back and listen to the Pixies and Who Edmonton gigs. The technology's there, I hope more and more bands jump aboard. I know The Raconteurs did it on some of their gigs last year, so it wouldn't be stretch to hear a White Stripes Canadian tour set down the line, eh? I'd be all over that! Here's hoping for a tour announcement soon so I can start packing for a concert roadtrip.

The Raconteurs - Bang Bang (Live At Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 24/10/06)
[originally performed by Cher]
The Raconteurs - It Ain't Easy (Live on BBC Radio 2) [originally by David Bowie]

KT Tunstall - My Doorbell
Jack Johnson - My Doorbell
The Dresden Dolls - My Doorbell [via]

I generally hate the Pickin' On albums which churn out bluegrass covers in a little factory somewhere, but I think the White Stripes material lends itself very nicely to bluegrass makeovers and someone did a good job with these ones. Check out Jack White's contributions to the Cold Mountain soundtrack for some similar sounding material from the man himself.
Banjo Army for a Bluegrass Nation - It's True That We Love One Another
Banjo Army for a Bluegrass Nation - Fell in Love With a Girl
Jack White - Sittin' on Top of the World

By the way, check out Frunoflckr for that missing Tino Casal cover of Life on Mars?. My Spanish is a bit rusty (as in non-existent) and if Babelfish is to be trusted, which is doubtful, then "The uncle is Fongolia."

Thanks, Fruno! :)

Edmonton Folk Fest Megapost

Wow, I last posted to say I was still alive and then disappeared for about 3 weeks. I just got back into Edmonton last week and I have been utterly consumed by the 4-day Edmonton Folk Music Festival which started last Thursday. This is the first year I've attended the festival on a more than casual basis. While I was away my sister picked up full passes for the whole weekend, so I've been in 100% festival mode for the past few days. That is to say I woke up, went to festival, went home to sleep, and repeated for four days. To compensate for lack of postings, I'll try to generously pepper this post with related mp3s.

Among the many performers: Linda Ronstadt, David Gray, The Neville Brothers, Sarah Harmer, Bedouin Soundclash, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Bruce Cockburn, Chumbawamba (?!), and Ricky Skaggs. The stand-out artists for me were in that category of "heard-of-but-never-actually-heard-before". So I'm a newly minted fan of Feist, Susan Tedeschi, Geoff Berner, K'Naan, and Hawksley Workman.

Chumbawamba was an eye-opening performance. Knowing them only for their annoying 90's hit Tubthumping, it was a shock to find out they've evolved into (or always were) English folk anarchists singing political rebel songs and medieval-sounding ballads. The beautiful four-part harmonies and playful guitar strumming are a stark contrast to the angry lyrics and political themes of their songs (see Homophobia). They're a hoot to see live and they entertained the crowd with goofy in-between song banter and translations of the sometimes overly British lyrics. They finished their set with a funny anti-Queen song, an extension of the Beatles' Her Majesty. I was able to record it with my digital camera, which isn't great quality but not bad considering. The line about showing the queen around Edmonton is particularly amusing because she did come to Edmonton last May for our province's centennial celebrations amid much fanfare. I snapped this photo last year at city hall and was so close I could have slapped her if I wanted to (not that I would...).

Chumbawamba - Her Majesty (Live at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival)
Chumbawamba - Her Majesty [originally by The Beatles]
Chumbawamba - Homophobia


Apparently Bedouin Soundclash's rise to fame and eventual Juno for best new artist began last year when their song was used in a Zellers ad campaign. Being somehow one of the only people to not hear/see this ad, I had to ask a friend to point out which song it was. They put on quite an enjoyable reggae/ska set. Here's that song for your listening pleasure, which is good song, might I add):
Bedouin Soundclash - When the Night Feels My Song


I'm not a huge hip-hop fan, but K'Naan was a refreshing voice rapping about actual issues and not just the ghetto, girls, and bling, which he actually takes issue with in one of his songs. K'Naan was born in Somalia and he raps about growing up in Mogadishu surrounded by hunger, warlords, and armed children. The first time I heard K'Naan was in this cover of U2's One with Jarvis Church for a peace album. Of course, Jarvis Church is the stage name of Gerald Eaton, lead singer of The Philosopher Kings, who also co-produced K'Naan's first album The Dusty Foot Philosopher.
Jarvis Church featuring K'Naan - One [originally by U2]

Though not exactly my cup of tea, I ended up seeing a sidestage session with Ricky Skaggs because I wanted to see Rodrigo y Gabriela (who were no-shows). It was still a fun show, especially because local artist Oscar Lopez was called to fill-in and he jump-started some awesome jam songs with Skaggs, Dirk Powell, and Seamus Egan (of Solas).
Ricky Skaggs & Jim Varney - Hot Rod Lincoln [originally by Charlie Ryan]

Feist impressed me when I saw a session where she shared the stage with Hawksley Workman, Geoff Berner, and The Waifs. She performed a really cool jazzy number that I don't know the name of and can't seem to find on her albums (something about everlasting love?). The sidestage performances were great because artists were thrown together and encouraged to jam with each other, which sort of depended on whether the artists were open to such an idea. Luckily at this session, they helped each other out on a few songs which is cooler than each individual artist taking turns playing. This was a prelude to a full set she played on the main stage later, qhich was really good although I did prefer the stripped-down set of tunes (just Feist and her guitarist).
Bright Eyes with Spleen - Mushaboom [originally by Feist]

The Blind Boys of Alabama were a treat and brought everyone to their feet with their inspiring gospel music (regardless of religious beliefs). This version of Amazing Grace, which the performed on Sunday night, is unexpectedly yet succesfully combined with the music of House of the Rising Sun.
The Blind Boys of Alabama - Amazing Grace

In '93, Randy Newman put out an album based on his Broadway reworking of Faust and cast various singers to play his "dream cast" including Don Henley, James Taylor, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, and Linda Ronstadt. Linda Ronstadt played the "good girl" role and Bonnie Raitt the "bad girl", but on Thursday night Ms. Ronstadt said she was going to sing one of Bonnie's songs because "bad girls have all the fun". And the song she sang is Feels Like Home, which I enjoyed even though it's atypical of the most of the stuff I listen to... but that's what Folk Fest is all about: exposing your ears to different sounds.
Chantal Kreviazuk - Feels Like Home [originally by Randy Newman]

For her encore, Linda Ronstadt covered this Warren zevon song, here covered by Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne:
Bonnie Raitt & Jackson Browne - Poor Poor Pitiful Me [originally by Warren Zevon]

Bruce Cockburn took the main stage on Saturday night and performed this song. I also enjoyed a song called Slow Down Fast, which is off his new album and features Hawksley Workman who was on hand to help perform it live.
Barenaked Ladies - Lovers in a Dangerous Time [originally by Bruce Cockburn]

Geoff Berner - Lucky Goddamn Jew
This guy reminded me of Ben Kweller with an accordion, at least in terms of vocal stylings. He won over the crowds with quirky sometimes angry punk accordion songs such as Maginot Line, Whisky Rabbi, Song Written in a Romanian Hospital, and this one: Lucky Goddamn Jew, which he performed in front of 20,000 folk-festers. At the end of the weekend, Geoff received an award and cheque from Galaxy Satellite Radio for best new artist. Check out his site here for some more MP3s. Strange celebrity sighting: as I was walking to the bank yesterday I saw Geoff on Whyte Ave buying a newspaper. That's random, thought I as I mosied on by.

A hilarious song Geoff sung was called Don't Play Cards For Money With Corby Lund. FYI: Corb Lund is an Albertan artist and sometime Edmontonian who apparently is a bit of a card shark according to Geoff Berner. A Corb Lund cover for you:
The Corb Lund Band - Sixteen Tons (live) [originally by Merle Travis]

Sarah Harmer was the closing act on Sunday night and included in her set was a cover of The Shins' Gone For Good. Here's a version of that song that Sarah Harmer performed with the Weakerthans on a CBC radio program. I nicked this from B(oot)log but I'm mirroring it myself because I was having a spot of trouble with his EZarchive link.
Sarah Harmer with The Weakerthans - Gone For Good [originally by The Shins]
...and another Shins cover for good measure:
Of Montreal - Know Your Onion! [originally by The Shins]


Hawksley Workman was a huge surprise for me. I knew nothing of his music and I was totally blown away by his main stage performance and other sidestage shows. A friend made an interesting comparison to Adam Sandler (Hawksley often ventures into falsetto) and he reminded me vaguely of a edgy, crazy Billy Joel probably because there's a very faint physical resemblance (at least without my glasses on) and he's accompanied by his piano player Mr. Lonely. Here's a video I got with my digital camera as I attempt to implement YouTube for the first time... At this particular session, he shared the stage with Lynn Miles, Michael Joseph & The Ridges, and Lorrie Matheson and you can see Hawksley motioning at Lynn Miles' drummer to join in. This song is Jealous of Your Cigarette off the album (Last Night We Were) The Delicious Wolves with a little Pink Floyd thrown in near the end.




The HUGE major highlight of my weekend was getting the opportunity to see Rodrigo y Gabriela and their abrupt 30 minute performance was so epic it deserves it's own post... so tune in next time for that.

-----------------------------
On the topic of my last post regarding the Dresden Dolls, I see that Amanda Palmer recently updated her Dolls blog which talks about the hell of Panic! at the Disco fans and the experience of the Fuck the Backrow shows, one of which I partook in (read about that here. Later down in her post she talks about how Ben Folds randomly called her up and chatted for 2 hours, inviting the Dresden Dolls to play at the Sydney Opera House since both of them would be touring Australia around the same time next month. The mere idea that Ben Folds (probably my favourite music artist) randomly called up one of my other favourite bands and invited them to play almost makes my head explode with excitement. If this leads to some sort of collaboration or double-billed show, I'd be very very very very very very very very happy.

The Dresden Dolls - Mandy Goes to Med School
The Dresden Dolls - Pretty in Pink [originally by The Psychedelic Furs]
Ben Folds - Songs of Love [originally by The Divine Comedy]

Red Shag Carpet

Just a quick plug for Red Shag Carpet, some local Edmonton rockers. My friend's brother is the singer/guitarist (all four of them do vocals). They just had a rockin' CD release party on Saturday for their 2nd album Lift & Drop. Check 'em out on their website: www.redshagcarpet.com and listen to three tracks off the new CD. They're hitting the highway this week for a cross-Canada tour from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia. Good luck, guys!

E-Town Pride

After the last post on Alberta's centennial, I was inspired to throw out some tunes with an Edmonton connection (a couple covers for good measure too).

The Arrogant Worms - We Are the Beaver
A couple years ago, the folk-comedy group The Arrogant Worms came to town to perform a show at the Winspear Centre with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. All dressed up in tuxes, they unleashed their comedic stylings on the crowd with an epic orchestral oomph. Being a long-time Worms fan, I was lucky enough to get to go to this concert, which was also recorded for a TV special on Bravo I think. In their words: the US is the eagle, Russia is the bear, and Canada.... well, we are the beaver.

Captain Tractor - London Calling [originally by The Clash]
My favourite Edmonton band who just had their 10th anniversary party gig a few months back. This Clash cover is off their 2nd East of Edson album and is my favourite version of the song.

Captain Tractor - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
[originally by the Arrogant Worms]
At the Arrogant Worms symphonic gig, they were jokingly resentful of Captain Tractor's success with this cover.

The Arrogant Worms - The Last Saskatchewan Pirate
Another one accompanied by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

Painting Daisies - Don't Leave Me Here
This all-girl bluesy rock band hails from mighty E-Town and won CBC's The Great Canadian Music Dream, a television series that was sort of like Canadian/American Idol but with real bands.

The Corb Lund Band - Mora (Blackberry)
The first time I heard of Corb Lund was when I was working at the downtown library and he was playing a gig in the library's basement theatre, which was odd since there aren't a lot of gigs down there. Now he's got a few albums out and his band was a double winner at the 2004 Canadian Country Music Association Awards. Plus, he got a Juno nomination in 2003 as well. He's about the closest thing to country that I enjoy.

King Letus - It's Still Rock and Roll to Me [originally by Billy Joel]
I found this at the library on an Alberta punk compilation.

Procol Harum - Conquistador (Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra)
This band is probably most famous for the oft-covered A Whiter Shade of Pale. In 1971, they recorded a concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the Jubilee Auditorium.

U2 - With or Without You (Live from Edmonton)
On their 1997 PopMart tour, U2 played two shows at Commonwealth stadium here in Edmonton. I got to go to one of the shows, which is odd since this was years before I started actively going to concerts. This track was recorded at one of the shows and featured on their Please EP.

Pixies - In Heaven / Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
[originally from David Lynch's Eraserhead]
When the Pixies reunited last year, Edmonton was in the first wave of gigs they had played in 10 or more years. In fact, almost all of the shows were small venues across Western Canada, thus frustrating many fans south of the border and abroad. I was able to buy 4 tickets for an unbelievable price of $30 per ticket (scalpers were getting $200-300 from rabid fans!). I was right up there just couple metres away from the stage as the Pixies blew us away. And with some fancy DiscLive technology, we were able to purchase a "professional" bootleg of our show just minutes after it ended. Probably the best souvenir one could get from a concert... more bands should be doing this. Trivia: Pixies opened for U2 on the 1992 Zooropa tour.