In Praise Of The Yellow Pages

This post is slightly off topic. "Talking About Music and Stuff" is the subtitle of this blog, so file this post under "Stuff."

The other day something showed up on my doorstep. I was quite excited to see it and I always enjoy its arrival. I'm talking about the new phone book. More specifically, the new Yellow Pages. Imagine, every business in the city listed categorically and alphabetically. Need a starter for your car? The "Used Auto Parts" section is the place to check.

Now, some of the younger generation, who shall remain anonymous for the purposes of this post, think the Yellow Pages and the white pages are out of date. Why bother with the bulkiness of these books when you can find the same information on the Internets?

You know, it is a good point. Why bother? Well, despite the fact the Yellow Pages website may purport to have the same information as the printed version, I don't think that's true. My results, when I search yellowpages.ca, seem fewer than the listings in the printed version. I haven't counted them, but it seems the local listings are lacking on the website. There are, however, a lot of national ads. No help there.

And then there's the time it takes to boot up what ever device you use to do your stuff on the Internets, whether it's a computer, an iPad, or a smartphone; it takes time to wake the thing up, start the browser, type in the address, search, look through the results, and not find what you're looking for. And if you're spelling challenged it can take even longer. On the other hand, I can find what I need from the printed Yellow Pages in less time than it takes on an electronic device.

I also realize that getting rid of the printed Yellow Pages makes environmental sense. It's got to take a lot of paper to print all those copies. And I realize that eventually the printed Yellow Pages will end up in the same place as the drive-in movie theatre, rotary dial telephone, VCR, and other technology past its Best Before date.

But, until the Yellow Pages appears on my doorstep no more - long live the Yellow Pages! (the book not the website that is)

Just sayin'.

Has The Internet Really Destroyed Rock Music?

The Internet has taken a bashing lately from old rockers John Mellencamp (nee: John Cougar Mellencamp, nee: John Cougar) and Stevie Nicks (ex-Fleetwood Mac). Both assert the Internet is destroying rock music. Mellencamp thinks the Internet is more dangerous than an atomic bomb and Nicks thinks the online music industry stifles talent.

Neither of these artists really have to use the Internet. Mellencamp and Nicks have already had successful careers that were established under the old music industry regime. The A&R (Artist & Repertoire) person finds the new act either by solicited demo tapes or the chance meeting in a nightclub. The new act is signed to a major label, the promotion machine kicks in, the Great Unwashed gobbles up the product, and voila, a star is born.

While that may have worked twenty years ago, in today's world that does not hold true. It is not necessary to be signed to a major label or to avail oneself of the promotion and distribution that a major label offers. It is possible to build a successful music career from a grassroots or cottage industry base that is entirely online. Independent artists and labels can now have global distribution simply by offering the music for sale at a website such as eMusic or AmieStreet. Perhaps the poster child for a successful music career that is entirely Internet-driven is Jonathan Coulton. Coulton writes geek rock, which is, I think, the best description of his music. He regularly draws a substantial audience to his shows, has a considerable online catalogue for sale, and produces his own DVDs. In addition to the online sales, he sells product at his concerts and has managed to garner considerable interest from online press such as Wired and ArsTechnica.

Mellencamp and Nicks are acting like curmudgeons. All that is missing is for them to yell "Get off my lawn you rotten kids!" As well, their comments are based more on aesthetics, or what they consider "good" rock music, than anything else. Maybe they don't like the new rock acts or the new rock music, but that doesn't mean the Internet is at fault. The Internet is a tool for musicians, plain and simple. No, you don't have to slog it out in the clubs or on the road anymore. Paying your musical dues means something different today. No longer is it the months and years of playing before the awesomeness of signing to a major label, in fact the opposite is true. Bands can be signed with no live experience at all (I'm looking at you Everclear). That doesn't mean they perform well live though, there is something to be said for years in the clubs. But it does mean that the Great Unwashed potentially has access to the music in a manner that dwarfs what the traditional major label paradigm can offer.

There's a whiff of Luddite in what Mellencamp and Nicks have to say too. Plenty of folks over 50 can only and barely check their email, let alone figure out how to upload songs to a website or create a website of their own. Perhaps if Mellencamp and Nicks were starting their careers they might have a different attitude toward the Internet. Given the questionable accounting practices of the major labels, one would think they would welcome a new way to sell and promote their music that is driven by them and not some multinational entertainment conglomerate. I guess it's the "old dog new tricks" adage come to life.

I wish we had the Internet when I was on the road. It used to cost around $4000.00 to record and manufacture a 45. But just because you had a 45 didn't mean you got airplay either. When Killer Tumbleweeds released "When The Rain Comes" as a single, we managed to get airplay in the US, but here in Canada, all we got was criticism about the production values. As if a radio DJ in Peace River would know how much reverb is needed on the voices. Most radio DJs I have met are a "good voice" and that's it. Suffice to say, Killer Tumbleweeds received no airplay in Canada. Thanks for the support.

So, has the Internet destroyed rock music? Hardly. If anything the Internet has diversified rock music. The traditional gatekeepers no longer have control and there is plenty of new and exciting music available. Music hybrids are cropping up, musicians that otherwise would remain in obscurity now have a place to be seen and heard, and global distribution is all but guaranteed. All that is required is an Internet connection and a MySpace account. 

It is harder, however, to separate the wheat from the chaff, but more choices are better than fewer choices. The "old" music industry offered fewer choices, the "new" music industry offers more, and that's a good thing. Mellencamp and Nicks are off-base and showing their age. I mean really. "Pink Houses" and "Don't Stop" only go so far.

While you're at it, check out my MySpace page. Got some tunes posted there.

It Takes A Lot Of Years To Play Classic Rock, Or Does It?

Back from my self-imposed summer hiatus, I have some not earthshaking news. Randy Bachman and Fred Turner have reunited to form Bachman & Turner, a kind of twenty-first century BTO revival. They have released a new album Bachman & Turner with the first single "Rock And Roll Is The Only Way Out" being an anthemic, Kiss-style rocker complete with chantable chorus, "Whoa oh, rock and roll is the only way out." [pump fist appropriately here]

I'm not trying to promote the album but rather it serves as a segue to the real point of this post. Mike Ragogna of the Huffington Post interviewed Randy and Fred. Randy is asked about the retro BTO sound of the songs on Bachman & Turner, to which he replies, "I wanted to give them a taste of new classic rock, as if it was '77. You can't do that with guys in their twenties. It's almost like blues, where if you want really great blues, you've got to get a Buddy Guy or somebody who is of a certain age and has lived it. It's hard to get somebody twenty-two and really get an authentic evening or a whole album of blues because they're only touching on it, they've only just started the journey."

This got me thinking. Is Randy right? Does it take similar life experiences as playing blues to authentically play classic rock? This would mean classic rock has become a unique genre, like blues or country music. Never mind that classic rock encompasses several genres ranging from singer/songwriters like Elton John, Billy Joel, and James Taylor to bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Grand Funk Railroad. With all the genres and sub-genres, classic rock is a massive style of music. If you think of it that way.

But, Randy is not thinking of classic rock as this monolithic genre, rather he is suggesting that, like blues, in order to play which ever genre of classic rock you choose, there must be a degree of authenticity that can only come from individual life experience and years of practice and performance. That ephemeral degree of authenticity is what makes a performance "real." In the words of Jerry Doucette, "He's too young for the blues, he's still inside his first pair of shoes."*

Now, Randy is not entirely off-base with his statement. Anyone can play the blues. How many times have you seen a new or amateur band play a questionable cover of Cream's "Crossroads" or any other blues song for that matter? The parts are there but something is missing. That missing "something" is the small degree of authenticity that seasoned musicians have. And this is what Randy is alluding to. Being a seasoned musician means playing countless hours and umpteen songs. Practicing. Practicing. Practicing. Paying dues in crummy clubs. Being shafted by club owners, managers, record companies, and other musicians. Living the life. Dreaming the dream. Not everyone can pull that off nor does everyone have the desire to.

It does take particular performance practice techniques to ensure that the music being played conforms to what is expected for that genre. In other words, you have to play the guitar or any other instrument a certain way for blues and a different way for country. Each genre has its own rhythms, song structures, riffs, and melodic characteristics. In fact, this applies to every genre and style of music.

Certainly new styles can be created by amalgamation or cross-pollenization, but this is not what Randy is talking about. He means experience. And again, this applies to all music. Seasoned musicians are a pleasure to hear. They impart emotion and give the illusion that their musicianship is effortless. They know the value of playing "in the pocket" and their playing makes people dance, or at least want to. Seasoned playing is what people expect.

For much of the Great Unwashed, classic rock is musical comfort food. It's what they grew up with and what they still enjoy. And while there are numerous bar bands, wedding bands, party bands, weekend bands, basement bands, garage bands, and jam bands playing classic rock songs, it takes that certain type of musician to authentically recreate, or even create, the classic rock music experience - at least in the way some people remember it. 

You'll know it when you hear it. 
 
*"Mama Let Him Play" by Jerry Doucette (1977)

Remembering a Calgary Stampede Tradition

The Stampede has started in Calgary, Alberta. That venerable time of year when the city goes from urban to rural overnight. Wannabe cowboys appear everywhere, storefronts are decorated with barn boards and hay bales along with the requisite "yahoo" painted on the windows. Pancake breakfasts abound. This year there is an iPhone app that will find the elusive flapjack feasts. Maple syrup fans rejoice. Country music oozes out of stores, cars, and bars. The city fixes the roads. Okay, I was kidding with that last one.

Stampede's arrival used to mean the arrival as well of the Big Downtown Cabaret. A past hallmark of Stampede festivities, the Big Downtown Cabaret (BDC) was a popular meeting place, a keep-the-buzz-going-after-the-Stampede-bbq-at-work place. The BDC was a place where you could create Stampede stories that would be told and retold for years to come. "Remember when you [insert embarrassing activity here]?" It was a place where you could become someone else for a few hours. A someone that only comes out at night during Stampede. A someone that drinks beer from a cowboy boot.

There once was more than one BDC. And they had fanciful, good-time-will-be-had-by-all names such as The Golden Garter and The Silver Slipper. And the people would start queuing up as early as 2 pm. Doors open at 6. These BDCs were essentially big, empty boxes, convention areas in downtown hotels, filled for the occasion with tables, chairs, and "country" decorations. Usually three or four bands would provide the two-stepping fun. People would dance and throw up. A good time was had by all. The BDCs were the place to go.

Times changed and the BDCs moved from the downtown hotel convention facilities to downtown nightclubs. Cowboys erected a tent beside their building which added another 2000 or so drunken patrons to the already filled to capacity nightclub. Other nightclubs followed suit. There were lots of good bands playing. There was lots of beer. Good times continued to be had by all. 

Then Cowboys lost its lease.The owners tried to open another Cowboys a few blocks from its original location but downtown merchants wouldn't have it. "We don't want the trouble that comes with nightclubs," they said. "We are scared," they meant. The gentrification of Victoria Park, the area around the Stampede grounds, was in full swing. Another nightclub BDC conveniently located two blocks from Stampede Park was swallowed up by city appropriation. And with that, BDCs disappeared. Good times too. Now where can people go to gather and collectively get as drunk as possible? What can be used as the excuse for calling in sick at work the next day? Where do you go to hear Hank Williams' songs?

The end of the Big Downtown Cabarets is the end of a unique time in Calgary when live music was king, especially during the Stampede. This is not to say that live music has entirely disappeared during Stampede week, there are still bands and singers playing here and there, but the ubiquity of live music during Stampede has substantially dwindled. In a lot of ways it's too bad. The BDCs were the reason people went downtown. Stampede was sure to vitalize not only the hotels that hosted the BDCs but also the restaurants and other clubs in the vicinity. They were a destination. They added an atmosphere of decadence and depravity, a kind of safe walk on the Dark Side, complete with boots and hat. In short, they were a lot of fun, not only for the wannabe cowboys but the musicians that played them.

Here's to the Big Downtown Cabarets. May they rest in peace.

Festival Express: Rockin' Across The Country

Canada Day. July 4th. Big celebrations at the start of the summer. Woodstock, Monterey Pop, and Altamont Speedway, big rock festivals that have become symbols of the counter-culture and hippiedom. This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of another big celebration and festival - Festival Express. While the other festivals cemented their place in popular music history, Festival Express quietly slipped into obscurity.

What's Festival Express you ask? Well, it was a cross-country concert train that travelled from Toronto to Calgary, Alberta and included some of the more famous groups and singers of the time. Imagine The Band (above right), Grateful Dead (right), Janis Joplin (below), Mashmakan, Tom Rush, Buddy Guy, Ian and Sylvia, Delaney and Bonnie, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Mountain, Traffic, and a host of others gathered together at the same time. All the musicians were sequestered on a Canadian National Railways train and they travelled across the Canadian Shield and the prairies. They jammed together, drank together, and hallucinated together all in the name of freedom, peace, and musical goodwill. Sounds fantastic I know, but it really happened.

Festival Express was supposed to begin in Montreal on June 24, but the date was cancelled; so instead FE began at the CNE (Canadian National Exposition) grandstand in Toronto on June 27 and 28. Riots occurred during the TO shows largely as a result of Woodstock, the famous festival at Max Yasgur's farm in New York state in 1969. There, over 300,000 people essentially stormed the gates and turned what was originally a ticketed event into a counter-culture love-in (see my previous post on the anniversary of Woodstock). Because Woodstock was ostensibly "free," thousands of concert-goers in TO thought FE should be free too. TO police quelled the uprising adding a black mark to the reputation of the show. The Grateful Dead ended up performing a free concert in Varsity Park to placate the protesters.

From Toronto the train rolled west to Winnipeg, Manitoba for a show on July 1, which was Dominion Day back then not Canada Day. The show went off without a hitch and the train chugged off to Calgary for the July 4 show, which was the last one on the bill. The final show was supposed to be in Vancouver but, like the Montreal show, it was cancelled leaving the McMahon Stadium show in Calgary the final one (video clip below the fold). An amusing event occurred after leaving Winnipeg when the train ran out of liquor. It made a pit stop in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and the musicians descended on the closest liquor store buying all of the Canadian Club rye, among other things, the store had. Restocked and happy, FE trundled on to Cowville.

Financial difficulties plagued the tour from the start and when it was all said and done, the organizers and sponsors, which included Maclean-Hunter and Thor Eaton (remember Eaton's department stores?), lost close to half a million dollars. In Calgary as well, controversy hit again as then-mayor Rod Sykes confronted the promoter Ken Walker demanding the show be free, like Woodstock. Walker, smarting from the financial debacle as it was, responded by punching the mayor in the face.

I remember when FE came to Calgary. I was a young, impressionable teenager that just started playing the guitar. As I recall, tickets were around $14.00 or $15.00, which was pricey for the time, and there was no way my parents would let me attend a festival that had The Band, Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin. Horror of Horrors! So, despite the best laid plans of me and my best friend (his parents wouldn't let him go either), attending FE ended up being something we wished we could have attended.

Festival Express faded into oblivion until 2003, when the movie Festival Express premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Originally, the tour was filmed and the audio recorded for a concert movie and soundtrack album, again like Woodstock. But this was not to be as the film production company went bankrupt. The original film footage was lost and then discovered gathering dust in the garage of Gavin Poolman, son of Willem Poolman the producer of the 1970 footage. Anecdotal evidence reveals the film cans were used in a quintesstially Canadian way - as goalposts for road hockey games. Apropos? I think so.

Festival Express (the movie) is a valuable piece of popular music history. Mostly because of the performances and partly due to the fact the Calgary show was one of the last concerts that Janis Joplin would ever play. She died of a heroin overdose in October of 1970 a scant two months after FE (note: Joplin's last performance was August 12, 1970 with The Full Tilt Boogie Band at Harvard Stadium in Boston). Festival Express (the movie) is available on DVD and comes loaded with a host of extras such as concert performances not featured in the film along with commentaries by musicians, journalists, and academics. My Ph.D. supervisor Rob Bowman gives his usual astute analyses in the movie, for me this is worth the price of admission alone.

Festival Express (the DVD) is available at HMV, Chapters, and Amazon for less than twenty dollars. If you haven't added it to your collection, I highly recommend you do so. Festival Express (the DVD) is entertaining and enlightening, plus seeing and hearing these artists is a walk down memory lane you won't soon forget. And it's educational for the youngsters that have no idea about these artists or the movie.

Festival Express. Only in Canada, eh? Sweet.


Check out this performance of Janis Joplin doing "Tell Mama" in Calgary.