Friday, February 25, 2005

GET THE LED OUT - It seems that the popular music
of today is taking a turn for the worse. I mean, come on, let's get
real here for a minute. Please don't tell me (for any of you suckers
who actually watched the grammys in entirety) that you didn't
HATE every single band that both performed and won awards
that night. Maybe I'm simply becoming a music snob like one of
those guys from High Fidelity who works in a record store and
critiques almost every new band that comes out in mainstream
format. With the slight exception of Green Day (who have a new
hit song that is really contrived and boring, a poor follow up to
American Idiot and Boulevard) who I don't even really like, let's
do the list; Maroon 5, Los Lonely Boys, (I didn't know these guys
took themselves seriously - the first time a friend played me
'How Far is Heaven' on his computer, I thought it was a joke
song, like a bunch of musicians trying really hard to suck)
Franz Ferdinand, Gwen Stefani (let it go, she's mediocre at
best, more of a model than a musician), Black Eyed Peas
(ok, these dudes are decent but get a new song please
because 'Let's get it Started' got old the second time I heard
it. I know they want to get it started. It started and ended
a long time ago. Let's get it stopped.) and some others I'm
sure I've forgotten due to mental scarring. These bands were
the bands who performed in the opening sequence of the
GRAMMYS? Come on, please. How could Master Bono of
U2 lie so blatantly later on when he said 'this has been the
best Grammys he's ever been a part of' and why the hell wasn't
U2 in the opening sequence or Green Day for that matter?

Let's pause, in all brevity, for a moment.

Yesterday, while walking to work, I took 2 CD's to listen to
along the way; 'Who's Next' by The Who and my recently
acquired and added to my re-built collection 'Led Zeppelin
Four' by you know who. With one guitar, one bass, one voice
and a kickass drummer, these bands created complexity
and ethereal compositions out of mere simplicity. Sure, they
screwed around alot in the studios and layered all the tracks
a thousand times over but in live performance, they still
managed to make the unbelievable sound come to life. Their
legendary music lives on in my mind now, as vividly as it
did when I was 19 (thats almost 10 years ago). They put
into their music what cannot be described by words. A
feeling, a theme, an essence.

In my mind, there really can be no comparison between
then and now because as Billy Corgan stated very plainly
in an interview when the Smashing Pumpkins broke up
'The Music industry has gone the way of the entertainment
industry. It's really not so much about the music anymore
as it is about the performer, the clothes and the make-up
they wear.' Though I see that statement as not completely
true, I understand what he was getting at.

'The Mainstream,
though, will always shine brighter than the underground
river but just remember all that glitters ain't gold.' -JA
don't forget the truth is out there.

U2 Run DMC
Pavement Foos
Moneen QTip's Tribe
Tori

posted by Matt McKechnie @ 7:47 AM Comments: 5

Saturday, February 19, 2005

What's up world? I'm in another good place at the
moment which would be the land of milk and honey,
otherwise known as Kingston. I've done alot of
growing and learning in this place over the years and
it always feels great to get together with people here
and download alot of crappy music on Olivia's computer
and clog her harddrive with 45 different versions of the
same Gob song. Josh, my long time homie, is playing
his quickpick style of guitar on the floor of the room
right now and Katie, Sarah and Olivia are having
some good girl time on the bed. Long overdue, I think.
Life seems to be changing and careening down the
road in so many ways that I cannot control. But I
guess the trick is learning to embrace it all, every
nuance, every disaster and every thing that pisses
you off about law-bound Christians. It takes many
kinds to make up the peeps we call our friends. Josh
is gonna be starting a post. Boom Blickity. I'll add you
on fo sho ma nizzle. By the way music lovers, The Man
has a new album out this coming tuesday. Peace. I'm
back to the Saint of C.

posted by Matt McKechnie @ 9:02 PM Comments: 3

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Just thought I'd throw a post out there, being here in the
land of Nostalgia and upbringing. Ottawa is a great city,
it really is, and after being in such a dumper town like
St. Kits for so long, and living in other shacks, I can
really appreciate the nation's cap for all it's glory. Been
chuggin around town with Sarah and just taking my time
with life, as one should do on a week off. Funny how I
took her out for valentines and what I thought would
be a nice, romantic night downtown ended up being
a serious discussion that left both of us stressed and
a bit upset. But I am glad that happened. Because we
are coming to a place where that crapper stuff doesn't
phase us too much and whatever ass juice comes down
the pipe, we can think, regroup, pray and take it one
day at a time...hell, sometimes even one minute at a
time. Saw 'Assault on Precinct 13' with my father last
night. A good father-son time. Pretty junk movie but
some good action death scenes. The old icicle in the
eyeball never seems to get old. Keepin it real for now.
Adam, we need to hang out. Drop by 26 keppler for
dinner tonite. I think Mom's getting shwarmas. Home
will always be...in this city...for some odd reason.

posted by Matt McKechnie @ 10:33 AM Comments: 2

Monday, February 07, 2005

A great time was had recently with friends and where else
could it have been...but Guelph. It seems the place that I hated
to be most, a few years back, is a place now that is so loved
and sought after. I guess any mixture of feelings and emotional
gout can make one feel ANYway towards a geographic location,
which is probably a big reason why I hate St. Catharines so
much (so far), but since I left the land of the Hanlon, Angels
and the Bookshelf, I've since wanted to spend as much time there
as possible. Take friday night for example; Sarah, me, Josh, Justin
and Justin's new gal. We decided to head to Cambridge for a pub
night but THE BADGER has lost it's liquor license. So we ventured
to this wanna-be pub down the street but it had too many
expensive wood furnishings and over-40 business men to make
it authentic. And for some odd reason, all these male cougars
flooded the bar area though there were MANY empty tables
at which to sit. Idiots. So after one $6.95 pint each, we all
decided that this place was too ritzy and that as kitchens were
closed everywhere (being after 11 pm) it was time to hit the
road to another more suitable watering hole. And OHHHhhh
my did we find one back in Guelph. The pub strip was HOPPIN
at 11:20 on a friday night and so we hit the Woolwich Arms
(known fondly as the Wooly by all who know its charm) and
not only was there an actual server who knew what he was
doing, but there were a multitude of fine lagers on tap for
5 bones/pint AND...get ready for this...the kitchen was still
open. 2 bison chili nachos and 1 XL poutine later, a pitcher
of Creemore and 2 pitchers of SPA, we were living life, friends.
Unreal. Things like that blow me away. Where it seems your
hopes are dashed for the night but then rebuilt in a matter
of minutes.
ALL HAIL GUELPH! Why did I leave that place? I saw the
SuperFriendz at the Albion last year there and it was one
of the best damn shows I've ever witnessed. I had a job
delivering envelopes for over 20 bones an HOUR! I had friends
who I took for granted all too quickly and left to Ottawa.
Sometimes...I wish I had done it different. I'm spent.

posted by Matt McKechnie @ 6:34 AM Comments: 3

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