Tonight: Meaghan Smith live in Vancouver!

After work, I'll be hopping over to the Media Club a block away to catch Meaghan Smith. Up until a week ago I had only vaguely heard of the Halifax-based singer-songwriter, but I was googling something about Kid Koala (who's latest project The Slew with two former members of Wolfmother hits the Vancouver Jazz Festival in June) when I stumbled on this music video:



It sounds like a retro throwback a la Jill Barber, but with a modern flourish courtesy of Kid Koala and I love the tribute to 1920s/30s cartoons. I was further sold on Meaghan when I watched her wonderful animated biography and found out that she had actually gone to school for animation before becoming a singer and that her producer on her debut album The Cricket's Orchestra was none other than Les Cooper, who (surprise, surprise) produced Jill Barber's latest Chances. Fortunately when I checked her upcoming tour dates I was just in time finding out about the Vancouver show tonight. [Post-Show Edit: she played awesome covers of If I Only Had a Heart and Fly Me to the Moon, the latter on her omnichord!]

Meaghan Smith - Here Comes Your Man [originally by The Pixies]
Meaghan recorded this cover for the soundtrack to last year's (500) Days of Summer.

6 May 2010 Vancouver, BC
7 May 2010 Victoria, BC
12 May 2010 Canmore, AB
14 May 2010 Calgary, AB
15 May 2010 Edmonton, AB
27 Jun 2010 Montreal, QC
16 Jul 2010 Lilith Fair St. Louis, MO
17 Jul 2010 Lilith Fair Chicago, IL
18 Jul 2010 London, ON
23 Jul 2010 Montreal, QC
29 Aug 2010 Kensington, PEI

Official Site
Myspace

Goodbye Mama Shrimp, Papa shake my hand

Last Thursday, Danny Michel came through town on the last leg of his tour. He's headed back to the studio this fall to start working on a new album (yay!), but this time it'll be his home studio in "an old farmhouse" he recently bought. It was the fifth time I've seen him live and every time someone inevitably shouts out for him to play the "Shrimp Song". Usually he says no because he promised himself he'd stop playing it, but this time he relented when it became apparent most of the crowd hadn't heard it before (or they kept silent because they secretly wanted him to play it). Now the Shrimp Song AKA Song of the Shrimp is a cover of a bizarre, tragic, hilarious ditty originally performed by The King of Rock 'n Roll himself, Mr. Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley - Song of the Shrimp [written by Roy Bennett and Sid Tepper]
Song of the Shrimp was written by the songwriting team of Bennett & Tepper for the 1962 Elvis film Girls! Girls! Girls!. In total, they wrote 42 songs for various Elvis films and albums. In its original incarnation, it's a light-hearted albeit warped Belafonte-esque tune about a baby shrimp saying goodbye to his loving parents and jumping on a shrimp boat to Louisiana to "find his fortune" (he reads an ad in the Shrimp newspaper for a free trip to New Orleans!). Little does he know there's a "Big Creole gal" waiting to help young shrimp such as himself out of their shells. Essay topic: in 500 words or less, discuss how Song of the Shrimp is a metaphor for sending young men to war.

Townes Van Zandt - Song of the Shrimp [originally performed by Elvis Presley]
In this live cut, Van Zandt can barely make it through without breaking down, frequently laughing and commenting at the inherent absurdity of the song. Carolyn Mark who was co-headlining with Danny Michel has a free "living room tour" album for download on her site with a handful of covers that coincidentally includes Van Zandt's Lost Highway [EDIT: actually it's originally written by Leon Payne and made famous by Hank Williams].

Frank Black - Song of the Shrimp [originally performed by Elvis Presley]
Frank Black sings this one straight on his 2005 album Honeycomb, showcasing a darker side to the lyrics. In an interview, Black reveals that he was inspired by Van Zandt's version and has actually never even heard Elvis Presley's version. This time when hearing Danny perform the Shrimp Song (I'd only heard him play it once before at my very first show) I realized that his version seems to be based in turn on Frank Black's cover. So, a cover of a cover of a cover. Over a year ago on his blog, Danny teased about posting his version of Song of the Shrimp, so I suspect he has a recording in his archives somewhere and hope we'll hear it someday...

In Today's Harvey Danger news...

Some notable news from the world of Fong Songs fave, Harvey Danger:

If Rock Band 2 is your thing, Harvey Danger's Cream and Bastards Rise was released today as a downloadable track. That's pretty awesome. Last month on the HD forums, Harvey Danger guitarist/pianist/Microsoft employee Jeff Lin mentioned they had to provide seven different versions of the song to make up the final Rock Band track. I don't have the game nor envision getting it in the foreseeable future, but on a lark I downloaded demos of Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero Aerosmith just to see if it was possible to play with no guitar controller... though obviously not that satisfying in the rock star sense (imagine Keytar Hero), it's bizarrely entertaining and challenging, not to mention surprisingly intuitive. I was able to muddle 75% through Walk This Way (feat. Run DMC) on hard before getting slaughtered at the guitar solo.

Harvey Danger - Cream and Bastards Rise Reprise
The original Cream and Bastards Rise was from Harvey Danger's 3rd album Little by Little..., which has been available as a free download from their site since its release in 2005. This radically different version of the song appears on the bonus disc, which you got if you purchased the physical album. I'd love to hear more songs like this in Rock Band. Someone needs to make an Indie Rock Band or something.

Last week, it was also announced that Barsuk Records would be re-issuing Death Cab for Cutie's debut album Something About Airplanes as a deluxe 10th anniversary edition CD, which will feature "extensive liner notes" by Harvey Danger vocalist Sean Nelson. The set will also include a bonus disc with a "recently-unearthed" recording of DCfC's first ever show in Seattle. Harvey Danger happened to be the headlining act at that February 1998 gig at the Crocodile Café and Sean Nelson joined DCfC to sing lead vocals on a cover of The Smiths' Sweet and Tender Hooligan. That whole shaboodle is due out November 25th. Mark your calendars.

Finally, last Friday a stripped down Harvey Danger played a live show at Neumo's in Seattle that was recorded by Seattle radio station KEXP. It was just Jeff on piano and Sean on vocals, plus a couple special guests. Fortunately for our purposes, they also performed a couple covers including this one that surprised me:

Harvey Danger - Bone Machine (feat. Ryann Donnelly) [originally by the Pixies]
Sean Nelson is joined by Ryann Donnelly, lead singer of the Schoolyard Heroes on this piano & vocals Pixies cover. She sings the Kim Deal bits.

Happy Record Store Day!

For the record, today's a holiday. Record Store Day! Celebrating the existence of independent record stores across the US and Canada, and probably elsewhere. Hundreds of special events going on: sales, free stuff, prizes, exclusive merchandise, and such. You and I know both know the first artist that comes to mind when you think "indie record store"... Metallica! Um, yeah, so they're kicking off the festivities with a in-store signing and fan meet & greet at Rasputin Music in Mountain View (near San Francisco).

450+ record stores are participating in the events. Lots of local bands performing in-store. An incomplete sample of artists involved can be read here and here.

• If you live in Massachusetts and have a Newbury Comics near you, check the list of events here. Coolest in my mind, at the Newbury Comics in Cambridge, Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls will be acting as "employees" between 2 and 5pm. In addition to helping out at check-out, Brian will be acting as store DJ and Amanda will be painting a picture that will be given away at the end of the day. Coming soon from the Dresden Dolls: No, Virginia a collection of b-sides and newly recorded versions of songs left off Yes, Virginia. There's a pre-order contest here. Grand prize? A wicked-looking toy piano (a baby baby grand), a copy of their new songbook The Virginia Companion (literally a Dresden Dolls tome), and pair of tickets to every Dolls concert in North America and Europe that you can physically get yourself to. 5 runners-up get all of the above minus the piano. Nice.
  
  
• Concerts all day at Sunrise Records (click for full line-up) on Yonge Street in Toronto. Hey, at 4:30pm, Fong Songs fave Laura Barrett will be performing there.
  
  
• Check here for events across Canada as compiled by the folks at CBC Radio 3. Here in Vancouver, I've heard there's a few indie record places to check out: Red Cat Records, Zulu Records, and Scratch. Since moving here I've only been to Red Cat which is probably closest, but today I may just do a little circuit to see what's going down. Unbelievably it hailed and snowed last night-- hopefully it warms up soon.

So yeah, support your local record stores. Sure it's all fun to download and stuff, but nothing beats flipping through stacks of CDs and finding gold.

Record Store Day Grab Bag!
Mates of State - Starman [originally by David Bowie]
Long Goners - Ball & Biscuit [originally by The White Stripes]
The Bad Plus - Velouria [originally by The Pixies]
Metallica - Stone Cold Crazy [originally by Queen]
Furillo - The Final Countdown [originally by Europe]
Cansei de ser Sexy - One Way or Another/Teenage Kicks
[originally by Blondie/The Undertones]

Deals on Amie Street

Just read that indie digital retailer Amie Street, who I'm a big fan of, has signed a deal with Beggars Group (Rough Trade, XL, 4AD), Matador and Polyvinyl, adding their music to the site today. What does this mean for you?

• Great deals on the The New Pornographers catalogue. All their albums for under $5. Twin Cinema for $3.98? Sold! If I could, that is. Ironically, the Canadian band is only available to US customers...
  
• Cat Power and her two cover records are now on there. Again, US only.
  
• former Polyphonic Spree member, Annie Clark AKA St. Vincent. Um, US only... hmmm, I'm seeing a pattern here.
  
• Other stuff: Of Montreal, Pixies, Basia Bulat, Vampire Weekend, Interpol, Belle & Sebastian, The National, The Mountain Goats, and more!
  
• FREE: Natacha Atlas, who appeared on the David Arnold Shaken 'n Stirred James Bond covers album is one one of the added artists. Covers of You Only Live Twice and I Put a Spell on You are, as of this moment, free (sigh, US only).
  
• **Update: Five FREE Pizzicato 5 albums! A free Kimya Dawson album too.
  
• Don't forget Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are on there too!

Official word from Amie Street is they're working on the "US Only" hurdle...

Get 'em fast. If you're unaware, songs on Amie Street start off free and as they become popular, the price goes up. It caps off at $0.98 per song, so it never gets out of hand. Format is DRM-free MP3s (160 kbps, I think). There's also a deal today that credit is 50% off! So I just bought $50 worth of credit for $25. Sweet. Now, we just have to wait for them to let us Canadians/rest o' the world at those new songs. Leave a comment if you find any good covers on there!

Celebrity Turing Test: John McClane Goes Undercover

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago on the heels of Bruce Willis's surprise visit to the Ain't-It-Cool News talkback section. If you missed it, a breakdown of what went down is over here. Basically, in response to a long rant about the PG-13ing of Die Hard 4, the mysterious Walter B appeared to alleviate everyone's fears about a castrated John McClane. At first hinting that he "worked on the movie", it quickly became apparent that Walter B was in fact Bruce Willis himself or an imposter (note: his full name is Walter Bruce Willis). Well, it turns out it was the real Bruce. But in the days before this fact was finally confirmed, the talkback was full of rampant speculation and numerous "tests" to prove that Walter B was who he claimed to be. If you've got a lot of time on your hands, the talkback a fairly entertaining read particularly because Bruce Willis hangs around to talk about the movie and other random things in spite of vehement doubters and surly commenters. The funniest part is that Bruce actually fails a lot of the so-called tests to prove his identity, though really how could internet fanboys undeniably prove that they're chatting with Bruce? The answer is iChat, though it took quite a few days for them to figure this out and even though Bruce was openly asking people to join him on iChat, apparently no one on the talkback had a Mac (Bruce is a Mac guy). There was also a fear that they'd come face-to-face with an internet pervert... which is justifiable, I guess.

Some tests that Walter B failed (my interpretation):

==========================
The REAL Bruce Willis would know how to spell John McClane and use grammar.
Walter B: Fool, the Real Bruce Willis don't proofread. Proofreading's for suckas!

At the 50th anniversary of the Cannes film festival, what hotel were you in and what could you see outside the window?
Walter B: Hell if I know!

The real Bruce Willis could not possibly forget the premiere of The 5th Element.
Walter B: Who are you to decide what Bruce Willis remembers and doesn't remember?

==========================
I was reminded of a great piece by Maciej Ceglowski called Celebrity Turing Test from his site Idle Words, in which he discusses Pixies' frontman Frank Black's visit to his own forums. The article charts a parallel chain of events with Frank Black faced with the same sort of reactions that Bruce Willis would face almost 4 years later... even things such as the moderators stepping in to flatly deny the imposter's claim and then the belated confirmation followed by pages of adulation.

Yet another similar incident occurred with Ben Folds when he visited his fan forums.

Of the top of my head, those are the other incidents that come to mind, but I'm sure there are several other instances of a celebrity dropping in unexpectedly on a fan site and being subjected to random identity tests.

Bruce Willis - I'll Go Crazy [originally by James Brown]
Bruce Willis - Under the Boardwalk [originally by the Drifters]

Pixies - Ain't That Pretty at All [originally by Warren Zevon]
Reel Big Fish - Gigantic [originally by the Pixies]

Ben Folds Five - She Don't Use Jelly (Complete Sessions at West 54th) [originally by The Flaming Lips]

Cover Answer #4 (sort of)

Alright, no time for a proper post-- but I figured it was about time I revealed the answer. I've been told the answer can be discovered with a little help from Google... Damn you, Google, ruiner of trivia!

So the answer is that the three songs prior were used as the music at the end of three consecutive films of David Fincher, a near-great director who's been missing in action for the past few years though seems to be on the verge of a comeback with films coming out this year and next.

1. Se7en (1995) - Trent Reznor's remix of Bowie's "The Heart's Filthy Lesson"
2. The Game (1997) - Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"
3. Fight Club (1999) - Pixies' "Where is My Mind?"

These films are bookended by the flawed Alien 3 (1992) and the disappointing Panic Room (2002), which may have only been disappointing because it happened to follow SE7EN, THE GAME, and FIGHT CLUB. I would easily consider Se7en and Fight Club to be two of the best films of the 90s. Coincidentally, both containing Brad Pitt back when he used to act instead of playing himself. Fight Club also marked the last time Edward Norton was in anything worth watching. Prove me wrong, Ed, prove me wrong. Se7en also features a pre-Scrubs John C. McGinley who is described as "hardcore" by Fincher and Pitt on the DVD's commentary, which I still distinctly remembered when I started watching Scrubs years later. The Game is oppressive and relentless with its story, yet simultaneously darkly amusing. Highly recommended as well.

But the conceit of these cover riddles is that I answer in the form of covers... so you can ponder what I might post in the near future (when I have more free time!).

Cover Riddle #4

Riddle me this, riddle me that: How does anyone find the time and motivation to post on their blog on a regular basis?*

After a disappointingly easy Cover Riddle #3, I tried to come up with something a little trickier. That said, I guess it's very obvious if you already know the answer... (well, obviously). Also check out this week's Coverville episode, for Brian Ibbott's version of Cover Riddles. My guess is that it has something to do with the Oscars-- at least three of the songs are featured in Oscar-winning films, though I'm not sure about the others. I'm amused because a couple weeks ago Brian also beat me to a video games cover post, which I may still do in the future because he left off one of the best ones...

Alright, what is the unifying link between the following covers?

The Heart's Filthy Lesson by Lunasect [originally by David Bowie]

White Rabbit [originally by Jefferson Airplane]
For some reason, when I first heard White Rabbit I immediately thought it'd make a good cover song for an up-tempo rockin' version. I've yet to hear the perfect cover of it, but The Damned's is pretty damn close. I have 14 covers of White Rabbit and these are the best ones:
Karen Abrahams with The Austin Lounge Lizards
Blue Man Group featuring Esthero
The Damned
The Murmurs (this one is distinctly Björkish)

Where is My Mind? by Ghoti Hook [originally by the Pixies]

=========================
And now for something completely different...

Watched the Oscars tonight and it played out just about as expected including the not-so-shocking "upset" of Crash for Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain... Memoirs of a Geisha was nominated for and won more Oscars than I realized... this year they added elevator music to the thank you speeches to distract the winners, I guess... more arbitrary montages than I remember in past years: tribute to biographies! tribute to epics! Jon Stewart quipped: "Coming up next, tribute to montages!"...

It was slightly embarrassing that they let a bunch of sound editors/costume designers/actors ramble on while totally gypping the winners of Crash (twice) on their speeches. Shouldn't the winner of the night's ultimate prize get to speechify to their heart's content? No. Crank the music, cut to ceiling shot, and show another JC Penney commercial featuring non-stop Bang A Gong remixes. Classy stuff. If they're trying to save time, seriously cut the barrage of montages.

Some favourite moments from the show:
-montage of controversial/socially conscious films including clips from (among others): In the Heat of the Night, Born on the Fourth of July, Hotel Rwanda, The China Syndrome, Network, The Insider, Philadelphia, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Day After Tomorrow. Way to go, Roland Emmerich. Your important contributions to cinematic history are duly noted.

-some Oscar winner for Memoirs of a Geisha thanked director Rob Marshall-- and the camera cut to a nodding Steven Spielberg. Ha.

-Crash wins Best Picture and half the crowd stands up and hugs because apparently everyone was in Crash

-Jon Stewart's analysis after the Best Song Oscar for It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp: "Martin Scorsese: 0; Three 6 Mafia: 1." Frightening, but so true. Robert Altman got his honorary Oscar too... he's now tied with Three 6 Mafia.

-Rachel Weisz wins her Oscar and as she's walking up, the announcer proudly announces she was in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns

-sorta of lame opening with past hosts, but then Mel Gibson comes on in full-Apocalypto mode (my sister has no idea what's going on)

-bizarre camera angles from behind the Oscar winning speeches like an SNL monologue with continuous reaction shots from Matt Dillon

-after Paul Haggis' speech, the co-writer for Crash steps up to the mike and is brutally cut off with the camera cutting away to an agog Charlize Theron who is clearly appalled at the Academy's lack of class

-the South African winner for foreign film demands the cameras to show the two stars of his film, Tsotsi.

-Stewart looking to Spielberg for a Jewish Tragedy Trilogy: "I can't wait to see what happens to us next!" Spielberg did not seem overly amused.

-Ang Lee gives props to China; my dad walks in and asks: "Is that John Woo?"




Cover answers next week (hopefully sooner than later).


*I have absolutely no idea.

Neil Young covered

[EDIT 11/16/05: OK, I've (hopefully) fixed all the broken links there. I'm not sure why some links worked and others didn't but I'm back to SaveFile until I find something better. I did in the meantime get a hold of that Phantom Planet cover and have added a link to that below as well.]

So the new Philosopher Kings album Castles hits stores in less than 2 weeks. I've got all their albums (only 3) and I thought I had heard all their one-off contributions to compilation albums such as "Work", which was on a 30 Hour Famine charity album. I was wrong. Just a couple weeks ago at the library I stumbled onto Borrowed Tunes, a 1994 2-disc tribute album to Neil Young, and lo and behold: there's another Philosopher Kings track. The entire album features Canadian artists covering Neil Young and includes such names as Treble Charger, 54·40, Big Sugar, and Randy Bachman. Here's a few tracks from that album (I particularly liked OLP's cover) and some other Neil Young covers:

The Philosopher Kings - Coupe de Ville
Our Lady Peace - The Needle and the Damage Done
Lawrence Gowan - Heart of Gold

Oddly enough on a Canadian tribute album to Neil Young, there were no contribution from Tragically Hip or Rush. Though Rush did do a version of Mr. Soul on their covers album Feedback: Rush - Mr. Soul

Pixies - Winterlong

Devo - Ohio [originally by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young]
Interesting factoid: Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale were on campus during the Kent State shootings. Casale's first-hand account of the shootings can be read here.

Dread Zeppelin - Suite: Judy Blue Eyes [originally by CSNY]

Some big names covering For What It's Worth [originally by Buffalo Springfield]:
Robert Plant
Ozzy Osbourne
Rush (also from their Feedback album)

Phantom Planet also does what sounds to be a pretty good cover of CSNY's Our House for the soundtrack to The Chumscrubber (a snippet is featured in the trailer). I intended to buy it via iTunes but for some reason it's only available in the US and it wouldn't let me buy it through my Canadian account. Bah!

[EDIT 11/16/05: Got it! Check out Phantom Planet's Our House]

(Yeah, trying a new file-hosting site too)

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.