I watched the Super Bowl half-time show yesterday. I was underwhelmed by yet more lip syncing by an artist I actually liked when I was ten. Flanking her for part of the show was Nicki Minaj, who grimaces too much for the camera, and M.I.A. who flipped us
Clive Young tells a great story about Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y." from his 1982 solo effort The Nightfly. Everyone does play “I.G.Y.” It’s become the “Freebird” of pro audio—visit a linecheck at a major concert venue or a speaker demo at AES or InfoComm, and
Full disclosure: my nephew's mother's cousin directed Organized Rhyme's video for Check the O.R. Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Check the O.R., a CanCon hit from 1992... Organized Rhyme is now most famous for including Tom Green, but back in '92 I knew
I friggin' love Neil Young, so when he talks, I listen. Neil Young had some very interesting things to say on the stage of D: Dive into Media the other day. "Young is calling for a new digital ecosystem of high quality music files and he believes that Jobs would
There are only two nominees for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Awards. The Oscar will either go to the folks behind Real in Rio or Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie's pretty awesome Man or Muppet. It's pretty bizarre that only two songs were deemed worthy of being
Who else remembers Spookey Ruben? If you don't know the name, you might recognize this: If you were watching MuchMusic in the mid-90s, you likely remember Spookey Ruben. I hadn't heard his name in years until Rob Pagetto mentioned Spookey was a bud. Hi Spookey! These Days Are Old is
I missed Lana Del Rey on Saturday Night Live last weekend, but judging from my Twitter feed she was terrible. Most people were probably hearing her name for the first time, and from what I've read she was a little nervous and had an off night. People love to hate,
Walk off the Earth's YouTube video for Somebody That I Used to Know is everywhere these days. I'm sure you've seen and heard it by now, but if you haven't, here it is. It's a fantastic tune. I love it, and can't get enough of it, but it doesn't belong
Absent Minded & iLLvibe are Blunts & Roses. The album is a mash up of Legendary Classic Rock tunes by The Eagles, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Queen and more, and I've been playing it all week. Blunts & Roses by Blunts & RosesOh yeah, and
Band of Horses' The Funeral is aging very, very well. It was released almost six years ago, yet when it came my iPod earlier today, it sounded better than ever. Like a fine wine, I'd argue The Funeral is getting better with age. Damn that's good.
What year is it? I've been on a steady diet of The Wire and Wii Mario Kart and am just now coming up for air. I hear Cee-Lo performed John Lennon's Imagine just before midnight on TV last night. I also hear he changed a lyric. Here's what he sang:
My buddy Pete was tweeting tonight about an 8-year old he caught singing "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5. I asked Pete what bugged him so much about what he witnessed, and he said it was that she was singing a shite song. I agree with Pete, Moves Like Jagger
Yesterday, I shared that sweet rendition of O Holy Night from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Today, I'm going in a different direction. Sung with Little John and the Rinky Dinks, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Johnny Bower's "Honky the Christmas Goose" was released in 1965 and enjoyed a significant
I share this MP3 every year around this time. It's from Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" which I actually enjoyed but you've likely never seen. "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" is long gone, but five years later a song that aired on that series still makes
Australian comedy group Axis Of Awesome want us to know that lots of songs are based on the same four chord progression. G, C, F and A. Songs in 4 chords: SONGS in 4 CHORDSJourney -- "Don't Stop Believing"James Blunt -- "You're Beautiful"Black Eyed Peas -- "Where Is
The worst Christmas song of all time is Christmas Shoes by NewSong. This is a great bit by Patton Oswalt in which he picks Christmas Shoes apart. I dare you to name a worse Christmas song.
On December 6, a new Elvis Costello box set entitled "The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook" will be available, but Elvis Costello doesn't want you to buy it. From his blog: Unfortunately, we at www.elviscostello.com find ourselves unable to recommend this lovely item to you as the
I love this. It's every Kanye sample. Ever. Download part 1 in MP3 and part 2 in MP3.
I caught the Spoons in concert last night. If you're too young to remember the Spoons, they were a pretty big deal around these parts in the 1980s. They were part of that synth pop scene you've heard in old John Hughes movies. They sounded great. I grew up hearing
It's funny how things change. In 2006, I listed my five favourite R.E.M. songs, and they were as follows: Follow MeDriveEverybody HurtsMan On The MoonIt's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)I still love those five tunes, but I think my
I guess when you don't consider yourselves a band, you can't actually "break up". The collective we know and love as Broken Social Scene has announced they're breaking up, but they refuse to use the b-word. In Kevin Drew's words: While we were on the road, we kept saying we
I never liked the Tea Party. I'm talking about the now-defunct band from Windsor, of course, not that silly political movement in the States. The Cancon band Tea Party owns TeaParty.com, and Business Week says that could make them rich. There’s no hotter name in politics right now
In 1989, when I was in grade nine, Let Your Backbone Slide broke. It was everywhere, and I loved it. I picked up the 12" single because it contained the Power Mix, the Acapella Version, and the Club Mix . The video was shot in Toronto, naturally, and MuchMusic played it
This past weekend, I heard I Mother Earth on the radio. I think it was "Used to be Alright", but it might have been "Another Sunday". It was definitely an Edwin tune, because I immediately wondered what had become of him. I know Edwin left I Mother Earth in 1997,
I started collecting music when I was about 9 years old. In the very beginning, I collected both vinyl albums and cassette tapes. I'm not sure when I stopped buying vinyl, but it was after 1987 because I remember buying a 45 of Billy Idol's live cover of Mony Mony.
