D'oh!! If you thought Michael Jackson's "Artist of the Millennium" statuette was pretty crappy there's a reason -- it wasn't a real award. Yes, apparently Michael just misunderstood Britney's introduction. Oh, well. Judging from his appearance he's planning a new career as a baseball catcher anyway.

I think I'm finally warming up to Nick Drake. I bought Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake years ago when I was first getting into Belle and Sebastian and Drake's name was being bandied about as an influence. But while I liked bits and pieces of Drake, I just couldn't stand him in doses longer than 3 or 4 minutes. It probably had something to do with the tracklist and song choice of the CD but I still didn't quite get it.
But lately I've been listening to a lot of sparse acoustic singer-songwriter type stuff, inspired by The Royal Tenenbaums, which features Drake's "Fly" in one of my favourite scenes. The film's music set me off collecting similar sad acoustic guitar songs for a mix I'm making. I've given Drake another try and over the past few days I've found myself playing the CD for longer and longer periods of time. I still can't listen to it all the way through but his melodies and voice aren't quite so grating for me now.

I'm thinking of starting a band because I'm so bored with music. Well, that's not entirely true. It's not music I'm bored with -- it's musicians.

For me music has never been more exciting than it is right now. I'm listening to -- and enjoying -- lots of stuff I would've sniffed my nose at a few years back. What bothers me is how so many bands just stick to the same style and formula. What's the point of being in a band for years if you're just going to write the same song over and over again? (Well, money I guess but that's besides the point.)

I just wish I could hear an album that sounds like a good mix tape or CD instead of just variations on the same song. Where's the invention and the adventure? Whenever I see "musicians wanted" ads it's always the same boring "influences": Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Tool, Pearl Jam, Creed, etc. Why oh why is it only these kind of people who pick up instruments and start bands? Is it a side-effect of the mullet gene or something?

One happy outcome of my interview with Remy Shand is the encouragement to just go out and do it myself. There's always the tiny detail of my lack of musical training but who cares. I can passably play the guitar and somewhat less passably sing. Now all I need is some songs…Hmm. This may take a while…

Eeek! What's going on here? I don't post in weeks and then the first thing I come back with is an apology to a musician? Things been bad...

Gosh, I'm so embarrassed. I just saw Remy Shand interviewed on TV talking about the media's obsession with describing him as a "white guy from Winnipeg who sings soul." Guess what the lead in my interview with him for Reverb is? ;-) Ugh, I guess I'm officially a music hack now. But to be fair, I had never heard of the guy until two days before the interview since I've been away the past year. And I did have another lead ready, it's just I thought this was punchier. So sorry, Remy.

Just in time for the 25th anniversary of his death I found a 2 CD Elvis Presley collection in the library. Since I'm such a music geek I'm loving the lesser known gems like "Kentucky Rain", "Rock-A-Hula Baby" and the Elvis-as-single-dad weepie "Don't Cry Daddy", which features the unintentionally hilarious lyric, "Don't cry, Daddy/Daddy, please don't cry/Daddy you've still got me and little Tommy/Together we'll find a brand new mommy" (Almost as good as Nelly's "It's getting hot in here so take off all your clothes/It is getting so hot, I'm gonna take my clothes off" but that's another story).


It's a shame that Elvis the icon has eclipsed the music. With the JXL remix of "A Little Less Conversation" there's been the usual propaganda in the media about how Elvis is still as popular as ever. But really, how many people actually sit down and listen to his music anymore? There's so much Elvis already floating around in commericals and movies we've taken the music for granted. Elvis was such a groundbreaking visual performer we forget how great a singer he really was. So instead of debating Elvis' lasting cultural legacy or whether he's living in Argentina with Hitler we'd all be do a lot better to listen to the music today. I know it's kind of crazy but give it a try. Thankyouverymuch.

OK, I've become really lazy about this blog lately. Give me a break, it's summer and I've been at the beach. And I've had a shitty week. Blah.

Planning your next covers mix tape? Try The Covers Project. It's a huge database of cover "chains": "A cover chain is a set of songs in which each song is a cover of a song by the band who covered the preceding song...So far, we have 27,749 songs (14,406 unique) and 10,767 artists catalogued. The longest 'chain' we know about contains 104 songs." (Via Captain's Log)

(Just a warning to those who are intending to see Signs that there are some spoilers here...)

I saw Signs last night and I'm still trying to decide whether I liked it or not. It was a great popcorn summer thriller (the first time in a long while I heard people in the theatres genuinely screaming) but I guess I just expected more than a Spielbergian riff on War of the Worlds. I found the whole message about hope and miracles a bit clunky but what really bothered me was the ridiculous ending. Although not as corny as Minority Report it was still a little tough to stomach. I won't get into details but I think it must be said that for all their planning and superior technology those were some pretty dumb aliens.