International Music 10 - CANADA

Oh the greatest country in the world, how I salute thee. Where do I start. I could choose so many artists and bands but today I'm going to feature the three great ones I have played with.

Ayah - In My Lifetime

Lori Nuic - Something's Gotta Give

Slakah the Beatchild - What's This Feeling

International Music 9 - Golden Earring (Netherlands)

Being that my mother is Dutch, I should put the Netherlands up here. I will admit that I don't know much about my Dutch heritage. I don't even know if that's a good thing or not because I know so little about it. But every Euro and World cup, I wear my orange to support the oranje. I have also grooved to one of the most recognizable rock bass lines of all time, which happens to be Dutch.

Much like the Teddybears and Mad Cobra, almost everyone has heard this song. I say almost because they're always one who hasn't. Most people also but probably didn't know where it came from.

Most rock bass players around my age, I say most because there's always one who hasn't, played this riff when they were first learning bass.

It's also one of the greatest tunes I like to have in my car when I'm driving the open road.

Here's Golden Earring's "Radar Love."

International Music 8 - Tata Bojs (Czech Republic)

The Czech Republic has given the world some greatness. One of my friends is Czech, and her mom can COOK! Also, they have given the world Jaromir Jagr, Domenic Hasek, and the rest of the hockey team that beat Canada in Japan. So they must be pretty great. Did I mention the beer? It's great too. So naturally I figured if I looked a little bit, I would find a good band. And I did.

They're signed to Warner Music Czech Republic. Presenting The Tata Bojs. I have no idea what they're saying, but their tunes are good. This video is from their album "Kluci kde ste?" I have no idea what that means. The tune is called "Skovka" and I also don't know what that means. But the music is good.

International Music 7 - Sondre Lerche (Norway)

I was recently going over the medal count at this year's Olympics and realized that I have not represented Norway. As a country, they're near the top of the medals, with more to come so they need a mention on the Inside Randall's Pocket International Music list to celebrate these Olympics.

I continue today with another soundtrack: Dan in Real Life. If you are unfamiliar with the movie, it has Steve Carell of the office as the main character. The picture is to the right. I would never make a Norwegian connection to this movie, but the music was composed and performed by Norwegian Sondre Lerche. Unfortunately I have no footage to provide of this movie so this will have to do. So next time you watch this movie, give a little love to Norway.

International Music 6 - Coco Lee (China)

I don't really know much about Coco Lee but I have the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. She sings the main song on it in both English and Mandarin and the English version is called "A Love Before Time." The madarin version is really beautiful and though it has some "My Heart Will Go On" (Titanic) tendencies, it is far superior. My theory is that it's because I can't understand how cheesy the lyrics are because of the Mandarin as a second language issues I have.

At the turn of the century North America became infatuated with Chinese kung-fu movies. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was the most popular one. It was nominated for a boatload of Oscars, one was Best Original Song, which was sung live at the Oscars by Coco Lee.

For these Oscars I was watching at a friend's apartment as I attended her annual Oscar party. She had an Oscar pool, which I won. I only got two picks wrong all night, one was Best Original Song. I don't even follow movies and one of the two picks I get wrong is the music one. Go figure.

But the real losers were the voters because I don't know how you can be nominated in a field that included a swan-wearing Bjork, a mumbling inaudible Bob Dylan, and an annual appearance by Randy Newman for whatever movie he scored that year, and not win. Seriously, I think the voters should stick to movies.

Here is Coco Lee performing the English translation of the song "A Love Before Time" at the 2001 Oscars.

International Music 5 - The Choir (USA)

Today's blog is about one of my favorite top five bands ever. The Choir. I first discovered them because my dad won their cassette called "Wide Eyed Wonder" at a local Christian bookstore a long time ago. I would say late eighties or early nineties tops. We went to see them play a year or two later and all I remember is my father losing his hearing for three days. It was that awesome (for me anyway).

Over the years I have picked up all their material in some way, shape, or form. The band is relatively obscure and unknown. I'm certain more people would think he is snowboarder Shaun White's (also American) very cool dad as opposed to guitarist and lead singer of The Choir. Their material has had as much influence on my playing as the more well known influences such as Rush and U2. Even more importantly, they are right up there with any other influence when it comes to my approach and direction, both musically and lyrically.

The following two videos can be found on their website.

The first video is a live version of Tear For Tear/About Love. It's from their Circle Slide album. You'll probably find it here on Ebay for relatively cheap including shipping and I suggest you pick it up. It's good. Just one more note before this video. I've been hearing some rumblings over the past month that I have apparently not been giving credit to the right people when it comes to how I met and fell in love with my wife. The lyrics in verse two of this video describe my opinion on this situation. I think it's pretty clear. Enjoy.

The second clip is a great tune called Weather Girl from their album "Speckled Bird." Get that one off of Ebay too.

and he really does look like Shaun White's cool rock star dad.

International Music 4 - Teddybears Sthlm (Sweden) & Mad Cobra (Jamaica)

What are the odds that the flags of my two favourite olympic teams will be up together? 100% because I'm talking about the Swedish hockey team and the Jamaican bobsled team of course. Yes, tis true. I would not board the plane in Montego Bay until I got my picture in the Jamaican bobsled. I have it lying around my office somewhere.

I'm sure a lot of readers are wondering about the connection between these two extremely different countries but there's a real popular song that most people would recognize, but also most people would not know the name of or who sings it.

To start, I first discovered the song on a beer commerical a few years ago. The guy drinks a beer and starts to dance all funky. I tried this with a friend of mine. The more I drank, the funkier I danced. Those were some good times, but bad dance moves.

The song has also been featured in the movies After the Sunset, The Honeymooners, The Benchwarmers, and Man of the Year.

The song was the theme music to the pilot of Chuck later to be replaced by the song "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" by the group Cake.

Ok, enough already. Here's the video of Teddybears Sthlm featuring Mad Cobra singing "Cobrastyle." Hit it boys....

International Music 3 - Air (France)

One of the greatest things about working at a used CD store for the years that I did was that I got to discover new music through the other employees that worked there. One of those artists was Air. The first time I heard "La Femme D'Argent" the guys had me hook, line, and sinker. As a bass player, I easily fell prey to their mellow bass grooves combined with their brilliant sounds and harmonies. This stuff is so nice to listen to.

I'm going to put up four videos. Watch them in order. I don't know what goes through their minds when these guys create videos, but I like them.

The first is "La Femme D'Argent":

The second video is "Sexy Boy" and I'm going to say hi to my sister and her own French sexy boy. So "Hi guys."

The third video is "All I Need."

The final video is "Kelly Watch the Stars."

These are the first four tracks on the album "Le Premiers Symptomes." If you like these, you'll like the album, so go buy it.

International Music 2 - Die Toten Hosen (Germany)

I first discovered Die Toten Hosen when a friend of mine went on a high school German exchange program. When her friend came over here, she brought a bunch of music for her brothers. Once I got my hands on a copy of the cassette, it was then that I knew I would be listening to Die Toten Hosen many years down the road. The first song I ever heard by them is "Hier Kommt Alex." I was blown away, and imagine my excitement many years later when a friend texted me as soon as he found out "Hier Kommt Alex" was available for download in the Rock Band games.

My friend's brother and I did go check them out a couple years after I discovered them when they opened for Green Day on their "Dookie" tour. I would love to play a video of theirs but I find them kind of cheesy. So here is a clip of them live, which is much better. Enjoy Wünsch Dir Was, which I believe loosely translated means something like, "What's your wish."

International Music 1 - Morcheeba (England)

On Saturday I saw that Skye Edwards had posted an article from NME. It seems that she is re-uniting with Morcheeba. You can read about it here.

So realizing that hell must have frozen over, I immediately contacted her for comment. She got back pretty quick which was nice, and informed me that the blog explaining how it all came together, was now posted on her MySpace page.

This news perfectly coincided with what I was blogging about for the next two weeks. To celebrate the winter Olympics I am going to be introducing my favorite 10 international artists, in no particular order. In the spirit of the games I am going to try to keep only to bands that are not household names, much like the athletes. This way I may introduce someone to a band they may like.

Well obviously, my first one is Morcheeba. I am very excited they are reuniting as they did some great stuff together. When I first heard "The Sea" I knew I was going to like this band for a long time. Because I can't find the video for it, I'm going to post one of my other favorites, "World Looking In" Enjoy.

Freedom Fridays - The Beginning of the End

I should have sensed it. The winds were changing. Last Friday at the Anokhi magazine 7th anniversary gala I was invited VIP. Instead I was treated like a mule. It seems the good people at Anokhi, and they are good; placed their event in the hands of a clearly inexperienced PR company and it turned into a disaster. The event started at 8pm, but I left at 7:30, knowing an impending train wreck when I see it. After hearing stories from people that did stick it out, it is no wonder I have not found any significant coverage about this event online.

So I just went home with my wife to drink and watch movies. Bride Wars is definitely not Star Wars, but it was far better than the gala.

The following Monday I received, and accepted a job offer and it turns out that I'm going to be working a lot of Fridays until 9. That is still better than what I was doing on Friday's before my Freedom Friday's resolution, but the road trips that have been planned have to be put on hold as I also have to work Saturdays. Such is life.

I will still be keeping people posted regarding what I do on Fridays because 9pm is still relatively early and gives me time to reach events, but it was a good run being completely free on Fridays.

Remembering ...

Yesterday I went to the funeral to celebrate the life of my friend's father. He was a great man and someone I did not know long enough.

In 2001, a place was needed to celebrate my impending nuptials so he and his wife gave up the house for the weekend. Many times I would go over and whenever he talked to me and inquired about how me and my loved ones were doing, it felt like an honour to be talking to him.

But my favourite story comes in 2004 when I was recently separated. They had heard about it and I was invited over to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family. During the dinner conversation I was telling my friend's father I was getting back into playing again so he asked me what I thought of Traynor amplifiers. I LOVE Traynor amplifiers. I explained to him that my uncle played bass way back in the day and he had one back then, and I love playing that one. Also, I don't remember playing a Traynor amp and being disappointed. I continued on saying that my father has a couple for his guitar work. Then he tells me, "Good, I'll let him know. Did you know that I'm friends with Pete Traynor." I'm sitting there thinking, "I'm sure glad I don't think they suck!"

I had last bumped into him at a friends wedding. I arrived late because I was coming from a job and saw him and his wife outside. After 10-20 minutes of some heavy catching up, it looked like I arrived even later when I finally got inside, but I'm glad I took the time.

Playing with my Dad

Approximately a decade ago, I had the rare honour of having exclusive access to one of the most awesome home studios to do my music work while at college. My friend has a father who is quite successful at music and I was fortunate to be able to use what I needed to finish my projects.

The thing that I remember most of the times my friend and I worked on these projects together, is that his father was omni-present. I also remember my friend playing me demos saying "My father and I did this together" or "My father really likes this one." His father was always excited about the projects we were working on and when "the old man" was interviewed in magazines he loved mentioning his son. If you scroll down to the last question in this article you'll see Adrian gets mentioned. Our project gets mentioned in the second paragraph of this one.


I believe this is why we got along. I can say it as simply as Adrian and I both have cool dads, which is true. But it's more to the fact that my father and I have the same kind of musical relationship as they do.

As I get older and more children start coming through my life, (I kind of address this in a previous post about my niece) I really look back and appreciate being able to share music with my brother and my father, or the relationship between me and my niece, and to see the relationship between Adrian and his father. The picture to the left is of me, my brother, and my father all playing together in church one Sunday morning. I never really liked playing there in general but I would never turn it down for the opportunity to be with my family doing music. Those services were always special to me.

So it was to my complete joy that one of my best friends sent a video to me of her and her daughter jamming. This video embodies everything I love. It's just so incredible to watch. The little lady is not even two and she's grooving HARD. Please feel free to enjoy a family enjoying music. Roll the clip.

Superbowl Halftime - Who Were They?

As per every first Sunday in February, I partake in an annual ritual called the Superbowl party. This year it found my wife and I in Newmarket. The game was pretty good as the winning team threw everything but the kitchen sink at the opponents to defeat them.

But the halftime show was terrible. I have never been so disappointed, but I'm not surprised.

Before I discuss my theory about Superbowl halftime, I am going to go over recent halftime acts BJTPO (before Janet's titty popped out, or 2004) and approximately how long these artists have been performing on the main stage when they got this gig:

• 2003 - Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting (average years: 16)
• 2002 - U2 (26 years)
• 2001 - Aerosmith, N'Sync, Britney Spears, R Kelly, Nelly (average years: 9)
• 2000 - Phil Collins, Joe, Enrique Iglesias, Babyface (average years: 11)
• 1999 - Chaka Khan, Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (average years: 13)
• 1998 - TLC, Aretha Franklin, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, Treach (average years: 20)

So let's look at AJTPO, shall we?

• 2005 - Paul McCartney (35 years not including Beatles)
• 2006 - The Rolling Stones (43 years)
• 2007 - Prince (29 years)
• 2008 - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (32 years)
• 2009 - Bruce Springsteen (37 years)
• 2010 - The Who (46 years)

Before, it seemed like the NFL was booking their halftime show artists with age ranges that would cater to everyone watching. Halftime was an event not to be missed, but now Post Janet's Titty Popping Out, viewers have been subject to one artist per event, all who have been around for three decades or longer. All of the artists have been making records and performing shows before most of the players on the field were even born. And half the acts aren't even American, and only one is black. This is ridiculous.

Gone are the days where I would look forward to see which performers would be paired together. Some of the greatest performances on the Grammys and at the Superbowl were pairings and duets.

I believe that the NFL is rigging the halftime show to disinterest the Madden video-game generation, not because of Janet Jackson, but to put the emphasis back on the football being played. Since JTPO, I have remembered a lot more of the games that have taken place as opposed to how great the half-time show is. Though maybe not the greatest played games, the Superbowls AJTPO have been very close, with each game being decided in the final quarter:

• Superbowl 44 decided by an interception return with 3:12 remaining
• Superbowl 43 decided by a game winning touchdown with 0:35 remaining
• Superbowl 42 also decided by a game winning touchdown with 0:35 remaining
• Superbowl 41 decided by an interception return with 11:44 remaining
• Superbowl 40 decided by a WR option pass for a touchdown with 8:56 remaining
• Superbowl 39 decided by a field goal with 8:40 remaining

The NFL wants people to remember the game, not halftime. By using Janet Jackson as a scapegoat, the NFL is succeeding in putting the emphasis back on the game.

Taurean Clarke Quartet

A couple Fridays ago, I subbed for a friend of mine at the Evolution of Gospel rehearsal. He was here, at the Pero Lounge, playing bass for the Taurean Clarke Quartet. Taurean is a friend I met a Humber College the second time I went through the program. I've played with him once, and I have bumped into him a few times as we both play charity events for the Regent Park area.

He is a great pan player. He's completed a B.A. in Music at Humber College/TRU on the pan. To me that blows my mind as I can only imagine what kind of talent it takes to complete a world class jazz program on steel pans.

He has a cd out, which I own a copy of, called "A Pannist's Dream" which is pretty good. It's definitely different than the usual music I listen to, but that's why I really like it. Quality can come in all forms.

Here is a clip from the show from a couple Fridays ago:

Freedom Fridays - I'm a VIP by Association!!

This year as most of my loyal readers know, I decided to clear my Friday schedule so I may do more things. To keep everyone up to date I have decided to keep an ongoing log to let everyone know how much more of life Friday's is giving me now.

JANUARY
Friday #1 - Drive home from a successful Haliburton New Year's job
Friday #2 - Play in church for a slammin' and jammin' special service
Friday #3 - Sushi with the niece, bar with the best friend, took a call about an audition, dropped off something at my wife's work
Friday #4 - Saw Avatar in 3D
Friday #5 - I subbed in for a friend for the "Evolution of Gospel" rehearsal

FEBRUARY
Friday #6 - Tonight my wife and I are invited to the Anoki magazine gala and VIP after party. She did some work for them in one of their issues so now we get to celebrate the finest in south asian entertainment and culture. I am looking forward to seeing Anjulie perform as I know the bass player and drummer from her recent tour. It is open to the public as well so if you are interested in popping by, here's the info for the event.

My Jacket

Everywhere I go. People comment on my winter coat, and it's all positive. People ask me where I got it so here's the details about my coat.

It is a 100% wool jacket created by Toronto based menswear designer Phillip Sparks. I bought it at his sample sale in 2009. It was invitation only and lasted for one evening. Because my wife works in the industry, she got an invite. For those who are unaware, a sample sale is where fashion designers unload some of their older work so they can make room for their newer creations for the upcoming fashion season. The longer the clothes hang around the studio, the more discounted they become with each seasonal sale. Because I ended up saving $1100 on this beautiful piece, my wife pays attention to whenever Mr. Sparks has his sales.

The great thing about Phillip Sparks is his personal service. Buying the jacket was a pleasant experience. For some reason I have this perception that I wouldn't like fashion designers, but Phillip Sparks is a very classy dude. When I got there, the champagne was waiting and the jazz music (vinyl, might I add) was filling the room. And when I could not make his last sample sale due to being out of town he let me come in the next evening and have a look. I snagged myself an extremely discounted pair of handcrafted pants.

I always try to buy something because the value is incredible, and I love supporting local talent, especially if they are good enough to be on the international stage.

The Greatness that is Rock Band

Saturday I was invited to my friends' birthday party. It's an annual event that I try not to miss.

I remember a couple years ago I was on a job so I originally thought I couldn't make it. While on this job I got a frantic phone call from one of my other friends at this party explaining that my friends have received guitar hero for a present, but they didn't know how to play very well. Truth be told, I had just learned how to play because my friend RJ had explained the whole concept to me over lunch that week. So I went up to King City after my job was complete and we all tried to make the best of it. This turned out to be a legendary evening where we stayed up until past 3am rocking out. A tradition was born.

The last two Christmas Eve's we have been privileged to hang out with another friend's family, who we feel a part of. Once again, out come the beverages but this time it was Rock Band. My wife took the kit, and I sang. Then we started passing the mic around, and once again, it got a little legendary. We stayed up until past 2am rocking out and another tradition was born.

Four days ago, it was a double bill of Beatles Rock Band and guitar hero 5. I lost my voice, my one friend almost lost his fingers trying to play "The Spirit of Radio" on medium. Really, how do these kids do this without developing carpal tunnel.

But the one thing we didn't lose was our dignity. That's what makes these games so great. It doesn't matter how much better one person is than the other. One person was on the mic, but everyone sings along. These games enable everyone to celebrate their love of music together.

Now only if the Grammys could do the same thing.

Welcoming Back Nonsense

Last Friday as I was working on some articles I noticed, with much delight, that Ms. "No-Such-Nonsense" had returned!!! And return she did. Check out Late Night Wars and get the real low down on Leno.

I never really understood why she would create a blog and then never post anything until I read an article in the latest issue of Business Week. Yeah, Business Week or Blogspot, who would you rather write for? Anyway, congratulations to Lady Nonsense and I hope to read many more articles in the future, in both Business Week and on No-Such-Nonsense.

My First Celebrity "Twitter" - SKYE

Last Thursday I was discussing Twitter and how I was debating actually following people with celebrity status as opposed to just friends of mine. So I decided to follow Skye Edwards, my favorite female vocalist of all time.

Before Adele, Duffy, and Estelle, God created Skye. She used to sing for a project called Morcheeba but something happened and she was no longer in the group. I don't know exactly what happened but in the court of public opinion she was in the role of Conan O'Brien and the Godfrey Brothers of Morcheeba were playing the role of NBC. Anyway she is now having a successful solo career.

The reason why I added her is that she seems very honest, delightful, and most importantly, humble. I also feel like I'm talking to a regular person, like my friends. She was in a band which took Electronica into the mainstream and has the voice of a goddess but you would never know it if you were to deal with her. Also, her body of work over her career is very solid.

Here are my top 5 "must haves" for a collection, in order:

Skye - Keeping Secrets DIGITAL ALBUM ("Boo Hoo," "I Believe," and "Exhale" blew my mind)
Morcheeba - Big Calm CD (when I first heard "The Sea" I almost melted)
Morcheeba - From Brixton to Beijing DVD (this is incredible)
Morcheeba - Who Can You Trust CD
Skye - Mind How You Go CD

I extremely-hot-weather-alert recommend you check out these recommendations, as well as her MySpace page to see her videos and hear her tunes.