Attack of the Clones
One of my favourite songs of the moment is "Southern Girls" by Cheap Trick. It's fantastically catchy slice of '70s power pop and your life is incomplete if you haven't heard it. I only have one problem with the song. Its chorus is remarkably similar to a part in "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" by the New Pornographers. Of course, "Southern Girls" was written about 20 earlier but I heard "Slow Descent" first.

With its fantastic title I dearly wanted to love "Slow Descent" (indeed, with a name like that it could've been my own personal anthem) but the reality was the song just isn't that good. Sure it has a great title but it also has that tinny production and plinky rhythm that all New Pornographer songs have. It grates on my nerves and I can never listen to the entire four minute song.

So in a strange kind of way I feel validated that the best melody in "Slow Descent" was actually Cheap Trick's all along. Of course, it could be possible that the New Pornographers have never even heard "Southern Girls" and it's all a case of melodic coincidence. But that seems unlikely since the NPs are supposed to be the new breed of power pop.

But what bugs me about the whole situation is that the melodic similarities to "Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" interrupts my enjoyment of "Southern Girls". Every time the chorus rolls around in "Southern Girls" I instinctively start singing "my, my, my, my slow descent…"

I find this "Attack of the Clones" experience strange because it doesn't happen for me with other sound-alike songs. For instance, the striking similarity between Oasis's catalogue and other people's songs is much documented but it's never bothered me. Similarly, I can listen to George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and the Chiffons' "He's So Fine" as completely separate songs without one impeding on the other. But "Slow Descent" always creeps into "Southern Girls". Why does my brain continue holding on to the inferior product now that I have the original?

I only have one other example of this syndrome, and it also involves an indiepop act. I bought a used copy of the Mull Historical Society's Loss on the strength of that super-catchy "Watching Xanadu" single. The rest of the album was utterly dire. Months later, I heard "Darlin'" by the Beach Boys for the first time. The melody to "Xanadu"'s chorus was almost identical to the opening verse for "Darlin'" and now I can't stop singing lyrics to "Xanadu" to "Darlin'".

So my advice: listen to "Darlin'" and "Southern Girls" now before the clones infect your brain.

I alluded to this in a previous post...and I promised someone I'd write more...

I had a dream last week in which I was at the library searching for music magazines. But where Mojo magazine should've been there was a magazine with Paul Martin on the cover. Sometimes my subconscious is not very subtle. Clearly, it meant politics has taken over the space in my life that used to be reserved for music.

To backtrack a bit -- Before I was a music junkie I was a political junkie. Yes, this was a long time ago, around the ages of oh, nine to 14 (yes, I was a geek). Then I discovered music and guitars and Adbusters. Basically, I became a teenager. My "anti-establishment" phase and lasted pretty much through university. I still cared deeply about current events and politics but I thought I could work outside the system as a journalist to improve things (it didn't occur to me that journalists were part of the system, I guess). It was easier to be a political sloth when I was in my teens. It was the "safe" '90s with Clinton and Chretien.

Well, what a difference a few years makes. The whole 9/11-war on terror-Iraq situation has really driven home to me how important it is to get involved in the political process. I saw Ralph Nader speak here in Halifax in April and it inspired me to get off my butt and participate in the democratic process. I worked on a local candidate's campaign in the provincial election and had a good time. I joined the party and since then I've been doing some odd jobs and attending meetings. And it feels really good! For the first time in my life I feel I am helping contribute to the national debate.

The downside of my rediscovered love of politics is that music just doesn't seem all that important in comparison. It's not that I don't love music anymore. I'm always finding new artists and genres that manage to excite me. But I'm not interested in arguing about music anymore. I've long accepted that the general public eats up any old shit that gets tossed their way and nothing is ever going to change that. Plus, I don't have the patience to read long-winded Pitchfork-style uberhipster reviews that are too clever for their own good. I just want to know if the record is any good.

If you like the music, listen to it. If you don't like the music, don't listen to it. Why the heck should you let your tastes be dictated by what other people are listening to? Life's too short not to do the things you like. My mother has a saying: "Don't let other people make you unfree." (I think it's her version of Eleanor Roosevelt's "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.")

I'm saving my energy for the arguments that matter. For the first time in life, I'm genuinely terrified as to where our society is headed. More people need to get involved in the political process, specifically the mainstream political process. Frankly, culture jamming and protests in the street aren't going to cut it anymore unless they're complimented with action within the system.

Now, one thing I am sad about is that I'm not writing about why I like the music I enjoy. But I think that's part of a larger writer's block that I've had of late. But, as this entry can attest, I'm trying to work through it.

Rick James comes to Michael Jackson's defence This is a transcript. I'm sorry I missed the live interview with Kyra Phillips. It sounds classic. An excerpt:

JAMES: I mean, all this pedophile crap, you know, why didn't they go after Elvis Presley? He was the biggest pedophile at all. He had Priscilla when she was 14, 15. Why didn't they go after Jerry Lee Lewis. He the second biggest pedophile of all. He married his first cousin. She was 13 years old. Why don't they go after Santa Claus? Why don't they do psychology references on him? They don't know who he is. He's 100,000 different cities and kids sit on his lap, telling him what they want for Christmas.
PHILLIPS: I don't know, Rick, i've sat on Santa Claus' lap, i've never had any issues with Santa Claus.

(Via snap culture)

Curb on DVD!! I'm so excited! Bonus material too! I was kinda hoping for some bloopers though. Considering the fact they shoot so much film for each episode I would assume there would be lots of funny stuff. Maybe they're saving it for the "special edition"...

Dumbing Down the News
Today, while having my lunch I turned on the TV to see what was happening in the world. NewsWorld informed me of the bombings in Turkey, the reaction from Bush and Blair and the huge protests in Britain. CNN, on the other hand, spent about five minutes on Michael Jackson, then spent time on the Scott Peterson case and THEN finally got around to the fact that dozens (including the British consul-general) were killed and hundreds of people were wounded by four al Qaeda bombs. Talk about your fucked up sense of priorities. No wonder so many Americans have a warped sense of their country's relationship to the world. This isn't even a case for the old "right wing" vs "left wing" bias debate. This was appalling behaviour from a supposed "respected" news organization.

I don't write about pop cultural things much lately. My interest has shifted to politics and current events (I'll write something on that later). Anyway, one of the main reasons is that pop culture just isn't doing it for me lately. In fact, it's pissing me off. Last night the West Wing finally sunk into unwatchable territory, which was inevitable since the departure of Aaron Sorkin. And tonight, ER (a show I agree should've been cancelled a few years back but I still watch anyway) killed off my favourite character in stupidest and most unoriginal way possible. And the worst part? No one even noticed he was dead!! What do these two shows have in common (besides the fact they used to be great and they're on NBC)? They're both under the creative control of John Wells. I hate you, John Wells. HATE. YOU.

There. I feel slightly better now.

Sloan to play Paul Martin's victory party. This shouldn't upset me, but it does. Still, it's not quite as disturbing as the scary picture of Bono that accompanies the article.

In the past few days I've become obsessed with the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) website. It's a web project where participants write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Since I always over-think my literary projects to death before I even start to write, it would seem like the perfect project for me. However, I still found some lame excuses to avoid taking part for this year's competition. Part of the problem may have been my ridiculously over-ambitious concept -- the tale of a gang of gay cowboy outlaws. Too much research.

However, after reading several NaNoWriMo participants' entries of varying quality last night I became inspired to start writing anyway. I came up with the title, Our Generation Got Sold, based on my mis-hearing of a lyric from Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers" (Hey, it worked for Salinger). The opening scene consisted of my main character lying bed with an intense hangover, recalling the events of the previous evening. Write what you know, after all.

An excerpt:

--It's the curry, McCallum murmured, wiping the spittle from his lips. -- I knew I shouldn't've ordered the vindaloo. It doesn't...sit well. He tried not to look at the chunky yellow puddle he had just deposited onto the sidewalk.

Oooh, classy. It's rather obvious I've been reading Irvine Welsh lately, is it not?

I must admit it was liberating to just sit and bang out some nonsense but I soon freaked out at the realization I had no plot or characters. Maybe next year...