This summer I'm working with an electrical construction company, basically doing alot of labour like digging ditches and layin' pipe.
Today was another useless day at work. Went in for 7 as usual, and went home at 9. Looks like a shitty paycheque coming up, but there's not much we can do in the rain and lightning.
Monday morning we showed up to find a ridiculous mess in our outdoor yard. We leave all of the materials and trucks in the yard, which includes a dump truck, an auger truck, two bucket trucks, and a pickup. Plus a few back-ho's and mini bulldozers.
As it turns out a 15 year old and an 8 year old had broken into the yard (which is locked and barb-wired) at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night. A major problem we discovered was that the keys were all left in the vehicles, and they weren't locked up. The damage they caused is estimated to be around $50 000, including one truck that had to be totally written-off.
By the looks of it they drove one bucket truck in a circle, left a searchlight on, and killed the battery. But that truck was in the best shape of em all.
The other bucket truck had a window smashed out, all the lights smashed out, oil poured in the cherry-picker bucket itself, and had tons of shit taken out of the storage compartments and thrown around. We're talking about circuit boards, expensive lightbulbs, and heaps of other random shit. Then by the looks of it they drove the pickup into the side of the truck, busting some compartment doors.
The dump truck had lights, side windows, mirrors, and the windshield smashed in. Then the kids drove the pickup right into the front of the dump. By the look of things they were going pretty damn fast, as we had to use a mini bulldozer to peel the trucks apart on Monday. The 8 year old was the one who drove the pickup into the dump, since we could see where the other kid put his head through the glass on the passenger side. (apparently he was bleeding down his forehead and face). And I guess before they drove the truck into the dump they had smashed down our front gate, completely fucking that up too.
They had only started on the auger when they got caught, but had time enough to open compartments and throw shit around, as well as spraypaint the inside and outside of the cab.
Fortunately a city worker stumbled upon the kids and called the cops. One of the mothers had to be restrained from getting at the kid once she'd been told what had gone down.
So all day Monday we swept up piles of glass and emptied the trucks so we could vacuum them out too. Then glass guys got called in to replace the windows and stuff. I guess things could've been alot worse, especially if the kids had started fires. We have gas tanks laying around, and things could've been far more dangerous.
It's pretty unbelievable that a fucking 8 year old took part in this, let alone the kid who was 15. I guess the parents will be liable for the damage, and the older kid will get charged as a young offender, but the 8 year old will likely get off easy.
And everyone scratched their heads and asked, "Where the fuck are the parents in the lives of these kids?"
The End.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Monday, July 25, 2005
The Rules
#1 - The first rule of Hillside is, you do not talk about Hillside.
#2 - The second rule of Hillside is, you DO NOT talk about Hillside.
I'll break the rules for a brief moment.
Lowest of the Low sucked, played too much new stuff. Coulda/shoulda/woulda been great.
Arcade Fire was mint.
Weakerthans were my personal fav's, so awesome that they blew the power twice.
Stars were good, but the album sounds alot better.
The rest was quite a mix of stuff, most of it good. Some not so good (Hidden Cameras blew cack)
I got ruined Saturday night, which burned me out. So I left early Sunday, besides which it was a rainy miserable day.
All in all a good time. Met alot of people, had alot of good food, and got to hear my cousin Sean bitch and moan about the world. I'll be going back next year for sure.
#2 - The second rule of Hillside is, you DO NOT talk about Hillside.
I'll break the rules for a brief moment.
Lowest of the Low sucked, played too much new stuff. Coulda/shoulda/woulda been great.
Arcade Fire was mint.
Weakerthans were my personal fav's, so awesome that they blew the power twice.
Stars were good, but the album sounds alot better.
The rest was quite a mix of stuff, most of it good. Some not so good (Hidden Cameras blew cack)
I got ruined Saturday night, which burned me out. So I left early Sunday, besides which it was a rainy miserable day.
All in all a good time. Met alot of people, had alot of good food, and got to hear my cousin Sean bitch and moan about the world. I'll be going back next year for sure.
Friday, July 22, 2005
And the power's out... in the heart of man
In a few hours I'll be off to Hillside down in Guelph. I've been looking foirward to this weekend for months now, since I bought my ticket a long while back. It's bascially a 3 day concert on an island with a few stages set up. I've never been, but my cousin Sean's been down a few times, and he says it's always a great time. We're doing the whole camping/lazing around/boozing thing for the entire weekend (naturally we'll also being going to the concert, make no mistake), which is gonna be great. I hope we have some good neighbours at our site.
The list of bands performing is long, but a few that I'm really lookin forward to seeing are: The Arcade Fire, Stars, Sam Roberts, Lowest of the Low, The Weakerthans, Cuff the Duke, Broken Social Scene, and The Most Serene Republic.
I'm sure I'll find a few more that I like; Sean tells me there's a ton of other great acts.
As it turns out, my friend D from London actually knows the guys from The Most Serene Republic too, which is pretty cool. Maybe I'll run into Adrian and say, "Hey man, you know D and Findlay right? Me too!" Then he'll buy me beer and introduce me to all of the bands and I'll be invited to play with BSS for a few songs. Banging pots together or something. Not likely.
I'm sure I'll write all about it when I get home Sunday. But for now I gotta go pack and get some stuff done.
The list of bands performing is long, but a few that I'm really lookin forward to seeing are: The Arcade Fire, Stars, Sam Roberts, Lowest of the Low, The Weakerthans, Cuff the Duke, Broken Social Scene, and The Most Serene Republic.
I'm sure I'll find a few more that I like; Sean tells me there's a ton of other great acts.
As it turns out, my friend D from London actually knows the guys from The Most Serene Republic too, which is pretty cool. Maybe I'll run into Adrian and say, "Hey man, you know D and Findlay right? Me too!" Then he'll buy me beer and introduce me to all of the bands and I'll be invited to play with BSS for a few songs. Banging pots together or something. Not likely.
I'm sure I'll write all about it when I get home Sunday. But for now I gotta go pack and get some stuff done.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Mintvis weighs in on the London attacks
Consider the following:
(note that this list is anything but comprehensive, just a few snapshots of "terror" in the world)
February 24, 2004: 100 Iraqis die in two suicide bombings in the Baghdad area.
January 30, 2005: 16 Iraqis die in a series of suicide bombings and rocket & mortar attacks on polling stations in and around Baghdad.
February 25, 2005: 30 Iraqis – mostly civilians – die in a series of suicide bombings throughout Iraq.
May 1, 2005: 25 Iraqis die in two suicide bombings in Baghdad, 20 at a police academy graduation ceremony and 5 at a nearby police station, bringing the death toll for that day and the previous four to 90.
May 5, 2005: 29 Iraqi policemen die in a series of suicide bombings in and around Baghdad.
July 7, 2005: 52 people die in suicide bombings in London.
July 13, 2005: 27 Iraqis, mostly children, die as an SUV explodes in a suicide attack in Baghdad. 25 more were injured in the attack.
Now think about this...
How many of these attacks have you heard of? Or, more importantly...
How many of these do you actually give a shit about?
I'd like to start off by saying that the attacks in London werdespicablele acts of violence that only primitively-minded people would resort to. There is simply no excuse for the indiscriminate killing of civilians, who play no direct role in the fighting of wars. Everyone, all around the world, should feel safe while riding the bus, train, or subway to work on any given day. We should all have the right to go about our lives without fear of being targeted by a governmental, religious, or ideological "opponent" that might wish harm upon us.
That said, we have to look at the London attacks objectively if we are to learn any thing at all from them. After all, if we look at things subjectively, we might as well point the finger at all of our Middle-Eastern neighbours and friends. Those guys killed my countrymen, lets kill them. An eye for an eye, right?
As far as I've learned (and in all honesty, I assume) the attacks were co-ordinated by an al-Qaeda linked group.
And while some Westerners think, "How could this happen in England, in the mighty West?!?!", one only needs to understand the following statement made by Osama Bin Laden: "IF YOU BOMB OUR CITIES, WE WILL BOMB YOURS."
It doesn't get much simpler than that.
So why are we so shocked that it happened? It happened in Spain, and the desired effect was achieved; the Spanish withdrew from Iraq. It happened in the U.S. on 9/11, which eventually threw the world into this mess. And it will happen again, no matter how secure our governments claim that we are.
Naturally Bush and Blair used this tragedy as a fresh log on the fire. They claim that this attack only strengthens their arguments that the world should continue on the current path of fighting terror, blah blah blah. What they fail to realize is the most logical of things: the war on terror breeds more terror.
Terror for Iraqis, for Afghanistan, for the Chechens and the Russians, for soldiers, for children.
East, West, North, South!
Terror terror terror!
I'm fucking tired of hearing that goddamn word.
But back to the London incident. Why do you suppose we care so much about that attack, and so little about the others listed above? Are those people any less dead? Do their lives hold less value than the Brits? Do we think to ourselves, "Well gee, that's terrible, but it's so far away, don't ya know"? Or maybe our apathy comes from the media, which spoon-feeds us certain details, and ignores the rest. (It's no secret that most of us buy into whatever we're told to buy into. That holds true for a great many things, such as fashion, movies, or even your favourite beer.)
Maybe in the end we just don't give a shit. We think every Iraqi name printed on the list of casualties looks the same. We think we're better than the rest, and deserve all that we have. They deserve what they get too, those stupid people from the desert that speak some stupid language and believe in some inferior God or ridiculous principles.
We're too lazy to investigate why things happen (9/11 in particular). We'd rather watch our mindless TV dramas than read the newspaper. And we'd rather change the channel when we see footage of a kid missing his leg, because an American missile hit his school.
I've got a sea of thoughts in my head right now, and none of it's coming out right in this post, so I'd better stop for now.
Oh ya, does anyone remember that "Live 8" thingy, or the "G8 Summit" meeting?
Didn't think so.
(note that this list is anything but comprehensive, just a few snapshots of "terror" in the world)
February 24, 2004: 100 Iraqis die in two suicide bombings in the Baghdad area.January 30, 2005: 16 Iraqis die in a series of suicide bombings and rocket & mortar attacks on polling stations in and around Baghdad.
February 25, 2005: 30 Iraqis – mostly civilians – die in a series of suicide bombings throughout Iraq.
May 1, 2005: 25 Iraqis die in two suicide bombings in Baghdad, 20 at a police academy graduation ceremony and 5 at a nearby police station, bringing the death toll for that day and the previous four to 90.
May 5, 2005: 29 Iraqi policemen die in a series of suicide bombings in and around Baghdad.
July 7, 2005: 52 people die in suicide bombings in London.
July 13, 2005: 27 Iraqis, mostly children, die as an SUV explodes in a suicide attack in Baghdad. 25 more were injured in the attack.
Now think about this...
How many of these attacks have you heard of? Or, more importantly...
How many of these do you actually give a shit about?
I'd like to start off by saying that the attacks in London werdespicablele acts of violence that only primitively-minded people would resort to. There is simply no excuse for the indiscriminate killing of civilians, who play no direct role in the fighting of wars. Everyone, all around the world, should feel safe while riding the bus, train, or subway to work on any given day. We should all have the right to go about our lives without fear of being targeted by a governmental, religious, or ideological "opponent" that might wish harm upon us.
That said, we have to look at the London attacks objectively if we are to learn any thing at all from them. After all, if we look at things subjectively, we might as well point the finger at all of our Middle-Eastern neighbours and friends. Those guys killed my countrymen, lets kill them. An eye for an eye, right?
As far as I've learned (and in all honesty, I assume) the attacks were co-ordinated by an al-Qaeda linked group.
And while some Westerners think, "How could this happen in England, in the mighty West?!?!", one only needs to understand the following statement made by Osama Bin Laden: "IF YOU BOMB OUR CITIES, WE WILL BOMB YOURS."
It doesn't get much simpler than that.
So why are we so shocked that it happened? It happened in Spain, and the desired effect was achieved; the Spanish withdrew from Iraq. It happened in the U.S. on 9/11, which eventually threw the world into this mess. And it will happen again, no matter how secure our governments claim that we are.
Naturally Bush and Blair used this tragedy as a fresh log on the fire. They claim that this attack only strengthens their arguments that the world should continue on the current path of fighting terror, blah blah blah. What they fail to realize is the most logical of things: the war on terror breeds more terror.Terror for Iraqis, for Afghanistan, for the Chechens and the Russians, for soldiers, for children.
East, West, North, South!
Terror terror terror!
I'm fucking tired of hearing that goddamn word.
But back to the London incident. Why do you suppose we care so much about that attack, and so little about the others listed above? Are those people any less dead? Do their lives hold less value than the Brits? Do we think to ourselves, "Well gee, that's terrible, but it's so far away, don't ya know"? Or maybe our apathy comes from the media, which spoon-feeds us certain details, and ignores the rest. (It's no secret that most of us buy into whatever we're told to buy into. That holds true for a great many things, such as fashion, movies, or even your favourite beer.)
Maybe in the end we just don't give a shit. We think every Iraqi name printed on the list of casualties looks the same. We think we're better than the rest, and deserve all that we have. They deserve what they get too, those stupid people from the desert that speak some stupid language and believe in some inferior God or ridiculous principles.
We're too lazy to investigate why things happen (9/11 in particular). We'd rather watch our mindless TV dramas than read the newspaper. And we'd rather change the channel when we see footage of a kid missing his leg, because an American missile hit his school.
I've got a sea of thoughts in my head right now, and none of it's coming out right in this post, so I'd better stop for now.
Oh ya, does anyone remember that "Live 8" thingy, or the "G8 Summit" meeting?
Didn't think so.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
One day you'll wake up, and they'll be advertising on police cars...
Last night marked the third time I got to see Matt Good live in concert. And I gotta say it was the best show he's put on yet.
It was my first time at the Kee to Bala, which turns out is an awesome venue. It doesn't look like much from the front, but the inside and back are set up nicely. The main floor is about 7 feet below the stage, so no fans can fuck with mic stands or cables or anything, and a horseshoe shape is raised up around the main floor so people can see over the heads of the jumping fools. Then there's the upstairs portion, and the deck outside that overlooks the water. It's a pretty sweet setup, and if I ever get the funds to do it, I'd like to own a place like that to host bands and stuff.
I went to the show with Shan and Lauren, and boy-howdy did we ever fucking sweat. It was a hot night all around, and the Kee doesn't have any air conditioning, unless you count opening the windows as AC. Mind you, the air outside was warm anyway.
Alot of his solo tunes were played, mainly from the latest album. He played a few long songs like Avalanche and Blue Skies, which kinda rambled on and on in the heat, but they were good nonetheless. My personal highlights were Suburbia with Matt only doing vocals, and Rich on the keyboard, as well as Advertising on Police Cars. I'd never heard those ones live before, and they were awesome. He also showcased the new single Oh Be Joyful, which hits the radio in about a week I think. Sounded pretty good for the first time hearing it.
The show wrapped up with the classic encore, started by the crowd chanting "K-I-C-K-A-S-S, that's the way we spell success", and the band busting out Giant. The final song was Matt alone with the acoustic, singing Apparitions while the band all jumped in the lake to cool down.
Even after only 3 or 4 songs the band was soaked in sweat, much like the opening act was. They went by the name of Mobile, and played about 10 songs I think. They were pretty good, and really got the crowd into the mood I thought. Apparently one of the dudes passed out from the heat or something.
Oh ya, the second song that Matt and the guys did was Alert Status Red, and he fucked up the lyrics right off the bat. He screwed it up and then said "stop, stop, fuck it." He went on to explain that when a singer forgets the lyrics to a song, he generally looks at the audio guy and pretends that his mic is fucking up on him. It was pretty funny that he admitted that he screwed up, and they restarted the song and played it properly.
Pretty sweet night overall, and definitely an unforgettable one. I've never experienced that kind of heat and discomfort at a concert before, and I doubt I ever will again. It was a rockin' good time, and the feeling of the floorboards drooping below us during the jumping of Hello Time Bomb and Load Me Up was also something to remember.
Can't wait till he's back in town again.
It was my first time at the Kee to Bala, which turns out is an awesome venue. It doesn't look like much from the front, but the inside and back are set up nicely. The main floor is about 7 feet below the stage, so no fans can fuck with mic stands or cables or anything, and a horseshoe shape is raised up around the main floor so people can see over the heads of the jumping fools. Then there's the upstairs portion, and the deck outside that overlooks the water. It's a pretty sweet setup, and if I ever get the funds to do it, I'd like to own a place like that to host bands and stuff.
I went to the show with Shan and Lauren, and boy-howdy did we ever fucking sweat. It was a hot night all around, and the Kee doesn't have any air conditioning, unless you count opening the windows as AC. Mind you, the air outside was warm anyway.
Alot of his solo tunes were played, mainly from the latest album. He played a few long songs like Avalanche and Blue Skies, which kinda rambled on and on in the heat, but they were good nonetheless. My personal highlights were Suburbia with Matt only doing vocals, and Rich on the keyboard, as well as Advertising on Police Cars. I'd never heard those ones live before, and they were awesome. He also showcased the new single Oh Be Joyful, which hits the radio in about a week I think. Sounded pretty good for the first time hearing it.
The show wrapped up with the classic encore, started by the crowd chanting "K-I-C-K-A-S-S, that's the way we spell success", and the band busting out Giant. The final song was Matt alone with the acoustic, singing Apparitions while the band all jumped in the lake to cool down.
Even after only 3 or 4 songs the band was soaked in sweat, much like the opening act was. They went by the name of Mobile, and played about 10 songs I think. They were pretty good, and really got the crowd into the mood I thought. Apparently one of the dudes passed out from the heat or something.
Oh ya, the second song that Matt and the guys did was Alert Status Red, and he fucked up the lyrics right off the bat. He screwed it up and then said "stop, stop, fuck it." He went on to explain that when a singer forgets the lyrics to a song, he generally looks at the audio guy and pretends that his mic is fucking up on him. It was pretty funny that he admitted that he screwed up, and they restarted the song and played it properly.
Pretty sweet night overall, and definitely an unforgettable one. I've never experienced that kind of heat and discomfort at a concert before, and I doubt I ever will again. It was a rockin' good time, and the feeling of the floorboards drooping below us during the jumping of Hello Time Bomb and Load Me Up was also something to remember.
Can't wait till he's back in town again.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Blue Skies Over Badlands
I forgot to note the absence of Matt Good on the Live 8 bill.
I only mention it because
A) I'm a fan.
B) He's been a supporter of MPH for along time now, long before Live 8 ever came to be.
C) He's awesome live.
D) His songs relate to the whole cause, since he's all about politics and human rights.
The bands had to be invited to play, and it's unfortunate that he wasn't.
I'm tellin ya, Blue Skies would've been fucking mint.
I only mention it because
A) I'm a fan.
B) He's been a supporter of MPH for along time now, long before Live 8 ever came to be.
C) He's awesome live.
D) His songs relate to the whole cause, since he's all about politics and human rights.
The bands had to be invited to play, and it's unfortunate that he wasn't.
I'm tellin ya, Blue Skies would've been fucking mint.
Live 8 - Gets Barrie on the Map
Off the top I'd like to say that when I first saw the Live 8 logo, I thought it was a dollar sign woven into the guitar. I bet a few others did too. I was lucky enough (I guess) to get tickets to the show up here in Barrie.
First I'll talk about the music itself I guess, then rant about the rest of it.
Personally I found Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot to be a great part of the show. Both had their turn going up in front of the crowd alone, with only a guitar in hand. Cockburn's songs were good because they actually had something to do with the meaning of the whole show. And Lightfoot's performance of If You Could Read My Mind was probably the best single song of the show. I think it's awesome that he was nervous as hell before taking the stage. The dude's been performing for years and years, but I guess a crowd of 35000 is at least seven times as many people as he'd used to getting. He handled himself admirably though.
Jet was pretty good as a live band, but Cold Hard Bitch doesn't really do much to raise awareness for the starving African kids. Then we had to listen to that insufferable Look What You've Done. That song single handedly sucked all credibility from the band as a whole.
I'm not a big Our Lady Peace fan, but they were quite good, especially with the song that was written by Leonard Cohen. Nice addition to the show. BNL did the expected songs, but were also good live. BTO was pretty solid as well, along with Deep Purple. But those guys are ancient and flabby now.
The rest of the bands were all good, save Great Big Sea. They coulda been a highlight, but came out with no instruments, except one dude with a drum. The whole crew just sang, and the one song about the donkey was a fucking joke. It would've been better if they'd avoided showing up all together, after a performance like that.
Neil Young polished the show off in style. But I'd been waiting for a great rendition of Rockin' in the Free World to cap off the show, and it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. All of the day's performers came out to sing it, but mics were cutting out like mad and noone but Young and the Barenaked Ladies seemed to know the lyrics. They missed the final verse of the song completely, the one with the kinder, gentler machine-gun hand. BNL saved face by leading the whole lot of us in singing Oh Canada as the grande finale.
The weather was great, and no shithawks were around at all. All in all a great day with classic tunes, and good intent behind the organization of the thing.
Alas, I have alot to bitch about. Big surprise. Where to begin...
I guess I'll start off with the white bracelets. I doubt many people took note of where their bracelet was actually produced in the world. Before the show I read about alot of them being made in Chinese sweatshops. (It turned out that the ones being sold at the show were actually made in Canada.) However, this has to raise an eyebrow or two, doesn't it? How exactly are we helping the world's poor by exploiting them further? Like most things, it was probably just cheaper to do it in the East, which just supports the economics of the rich staying rich, and the poor getting poorer. This actually goes for all of these rubber band things, it just happens that this cause is the most hypocritical.
Next I'd like to discuss the fact that it was actually held in Barrie. I don't know about anyone else, but I quickly got tired of hearing Toronotonians bitching and Barrie-ites gloating about the location. Who the fuck really cares? The point of the show was not to raise awareness for Barrie, but that's what it seemed to do. It was supposed to be about something more important than which town got to sell out their hotels and rip people off for parking.
The radio station 102.1 the Edge was bad for complaining, not to mention the fact that they expressed brutally uninformed views about Live 8. Their DJs and talk show guys were obviously bitter about Toronto losing the bid for the show, and voiced their displeasure in the most embarrassing of ways. They chose to belittle the entire operation by saying shit like, "We're glad Toronto doesn't have to play host to these has-beens of the music world" and, "Kids can't eat awareness... just send money to Africa... don't worry about going to the show." These guys clearly missed the point, but more importantly they kept joking about things that made them look like fools, as they had no real grasp on the problems of Africa. Which brings me to my next point...
Anyone who says "just cancel the debt to the poor countries, problem solved" is completely lost. Now you may have heard that we rich countries have pledged to "eliminate" debt to the very poorest of countries in the world. But if you do get rid of the debt for the poorest 25 countries, for example, I'm pretty sure the children from the 26th poorest country are still gonna starve. Well done, we're fucking heroes now, right? (As a little note, the city of Barrie wanted to use Live 8 as a vessel to raise awareness for poverty right here in town, but Geldoff refused to allow it. So now our poor are merely second class poor. Nice message to endorse there pal.)
What you probably haven't heard about are the conditions that the West has imposed upon these poorest of the poor countries. In exchange for debt elimination, the West has secured the rights to fuck over the average Joe again. We've got it all set up to move our companies in and rob the poor of their valuable natural resources, not to mention our exploitation of the environment in the process. So rather than hold a huge number over the heads of these countries, we'll simply sneak in there and take what we please. As it turns out, it's predicted that the overall gains will provide more money to the West than the debt would have! It's time to call a spade a spade folks, not simply rename it.
Next on the chopping block is CTV. As far as I know they were the only Canadian station with coverage of the whole show. Here's a question for ya: Do you think all of the revenues collected from the TV commercials were gladly handed over to the Make Poverty History fund? Not fucking likely. Enough said. Oh, and those $40 t-shirts for sale at the show... you think nobody's got their fingers in that honey pot?
As for the performers, it was assumed that everyone would be doing this show pro bono. However, it's been confirmed that gifts for the performers could total about $12000 US for the band partaking in the show. This included Rolex watches and $3000 suits. I'm assuming that this wasn't the case for most bands, but it's worth noting.
And as for the assumption that simply dumping a wad of cash on a government would solve anything, you've got another thing coming. Money is useless in the wrong hands. Particularly hands that were brought into political power by the West in the first place. (Fun Fact: the only democratically elected leader of the Congo was assassinated by the U.S. and Portugal for daring to say that the people of his land should reap the rewards of their work and resources.) When money is given to dictators, odds are good that the people who need the funds will be left high and dry still. And the kickbacks to Western governments could be substantial.
Lastly I'll comment about the massive increase in album sales for performers worldwide. Bands at the London show saw an average increase of 1000% for their records. Pink Floyd did the honourable thing by pledging all extra gains to charity. (It's also awesome that they came together for a reunion in order to support this cause. It had been something like 24 years since they were last together.) Naturally the rest of them followed suit, but it's tough to say if they would've done so without Pink Floyd doing it first.
All I can really say about this entire thing is this: Live 8 was a display of how uninformed most of us really are. I don't claim to know it all, but at least I'm putting in an effort to learn. Most people probably only cared about how many tickets they could grab and how close they could get to the stages. Though the intent was good, the commercials were effective, and the performers did their best to remind us why we were there, the truth is we'll forget about all of that in a few weeks or months. Millions upon millions of people blindly signed that live8live petition, but how many of those people actually cared to investigate why there's so much poverty and death and starvation in the world??
The reason is simple:
It's us.
It's our greed that makes them poor. Our gluttony that makes them starve. And our conceit that ensures that nothing will ever change.
First I'll talk about the music itself I guess, then rant about the rest of it.
Personally I found Bruce Cockburn and Gordon Lightfoot to be a great part of the show. Both had their turn going up in front of the crowd alone, with only a guitar in hand. Cockburn's songs were good because they actually had something to do with the meaning of the whole show. And Lightfoot's performance of If You Could Read My Mind was probably the best single song of the show. I think it's awesome that he was nervous as hell before taking the stage. The dude's been performing for years and years, but I guess a crowd of 35000 is at least seven times as many people as he'd used to getting. He handled himself admirably though.
Jet was pretty good as a live band, but Cold Hard Bitch doesn't really do much to raise awareness for the starving African kids. Then we had to listen to that insufferable Look What You've Done. That song single handedly sucked all credibility from the band as a whole.
I'm not a big Our Lady Peace fan, but they were quite good, especially with the song that was written by Leonard Cohen. Nice addition to the show. BNL did the expected songs, but were also good live. BTO was pretty solid as well, along with Deep Purple. But those guys are ancient and flabby now.
The rest of the bands were all good, save Great Big Sea. They coulda been a highlight, but came out with no instruments, except one dude with a drum. The whole crew just sang, and the one song about the donkey was a fucking joke. It would've been better if they'd avoided showing up all together, after a performance like that.
Neil Young polished the show off in style. But I'd been waiting for a great rendition of Rockin' in the Free World to cap off the show, and it ended up being a bit of a disappointment. All of the day's performers came out to sing it, but mics were cutting out like mad and noone but Young and the Barenaked Ladies seemed to know the lyrics. They missed the final verse of the song completely, the one with the kinder, gentler machine-gun hand. BNL saved face by leading the whole lot of us in singing Oh Canada as the grande finale.
The weather was great, and no shithawks were around at all. All in all a great day with classic tunes, and good intent behind the organization of the thing.
Alas, I have alot to bitch about. Big surprise. Where to begin...
I guess I'll start off with the white bracelets. I doubt many people took note of where their bracelet was actually produced in the world. Before the show I read about alot of them being made in Chinese sweatshops. (It turned out that the ones being sold at the show were actually made in Canada.) However, this has to raise an eyebrow or two, doesn't it? How exactly are we helping the world's poor by exploiting them further? Like most things, it was probably just cheaper to do it in the East, which just supports the economics of the rich staying rich, and the poor getting poorer. This actually goes for all of these rubber band things, it just happens that this cause is the most hypocritical.
Next I'd like to discuss the fact that it was actually held in Barrie. I don't know about anyone else, but I quickly got tired of hearing Toronotonians bitching and Barrie-ites gloating about the location. Who the fuck really cares? The point of the show was not to raise awareness for Barrie, but that's what it seemed to do. It was supposed to be about something more important than which town got to sell out their hotels and rip people off for parking.
The radio station 102.1 the Edge was bad for complaining, not to mention the fact that they expressed brutally uninformed views about Live 8. Their DJs and talk show guys were obviously bitter about Toronto losing the bid for the show, and voiced their displeasure in the most embarrassing of ways. They chose to belittle the entire operation by saying shit like, "We're glad Toronto doesn't have to play host to these has-beens of the music world" and, "Kids can't eat awareness... just send money to Africa... don't worry about going to the show." These guys clearly missed the point, but more importantly they kept joking about things that made them look like fools, as they had no real grasp on the problems of Africa. Which brings me to my next point...
Anyone who says "just cancel the debt to the poor countries, problem solved" is completely lost. Now you may have heard that we rich countries have pledged to "eliminate" debt to the very poorest of countries in the world. But if you do get rid of the debt for the poorest 25 countries, for example, I'm pretty sure the children from the 26th poorest country are still gonna starve. Well done, we're fucking heroes now, right? (As a little note, the city of Barrie wanted to use Live 8 as a vessel to raise awareness for poverty right here in town, but Geldoff refused to allow it. So now our poor are merely second class poor. Nice message to endorse there pal.)
What you probably haven't heard about are the conditions that the West has imposed upon these poorest of the poor countries. In exchange for debt elimination, the West has secured the rights to fuck over the average Joe again. We've got it all set up to move our companies in and rob the poor of their valuable natural resources, not to mention our exploitation of the environment in the process. So rather than hold a huge number over the heads of these countries, we'll simply sneak in there and take what we please. As it turns out, it's predicted that the overall gains will provide more money to the West than the debt would have! It's time to call a spade a spade folks, not simply rename it.
Next on the chopping block is CTV. As far as I know they were the only Canadian station with coverage of the whole show. Here's a question for ya: Do you think all of the revenues collected from the TV commercials were gladly handed over to the Make Poverty History fund? Not fucking likely. Enough said. Oh, and those $40 t-shirts for sale at the show... you think nobody's got their fingers in that honey pot?
As for the performers, it was assumed that everyone would be doing this show pro bono. However, it's been confirmed that gifts for the performers could total about $12000 US for the band partaking in the show. This included Rolex watches and $3000 suits. I'm assuming that this wasn't the case for most bands, but it's worth noting.
And as for the assumption that simply dumping a wad of cash on a government would solve anything, you've got another thing coming. Money is useless in the wrong hands. Particularly hands that were brought into political power by the West in the first place. (Fun Fact: the only democratically elected leader of the Congo was assassinated by the U.S. and Portugal for daring to say that the people of his land should reap the rewards of their work and resources.) When money is given to dictators, odds are good that the people who need the funds will be left high and dry still. And the kickbacks to Western governments could be substantial.
Lastly I'll comment about the massive increase in album sales for performers worldwide. Bands at the London show saw an average increase of 1000% for their records. Pink Floyd did the honourable thing by pledging all extra gains to charity. (It's also awesome that they came together for a reunion in order to support this cause. It had been something like 24 years since they were last together.) Naturally the rest of them followed suit, but it's tough to say if they would've done so without Pink Floyd doing it first.
All I can really say about this entire thing is this: Live 8 was a display of how uninformed most of us really are. I don't claim to know it all, but at least I'm putting in an effort to learn. Most people probably only cared about how many tickets they could grab and how close they could get to the stages. Though the intent was good, the commercials were effective, and the performers did their best to remind us why we were there, the truth is we'll forget about all of that in a few weeks or months. Millions upon millions of people blindly signed that live8live petition, but how many of those people actually cared to investigate why there's so much poverty and death and starvation in the world??
The reason is simple:
It's us.
It's our greed that makes them poor. Our gluttony that makes them starve. And our conceit that ensures that nothing will ever change.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Headwires
Tonight I happened to walk upstairs and see my step-dad watching Drop Dead Fred. Weird that I just mentioned that movie the other day. I haven't seen it or head jack-all about it in years. Just another strange coincidence I guess.
On the other hand, I might have received an errant brainwave from our favourite mind-reader in London. Or wherever the hell he is these days.
On the other hand, I might have received an errant brainwave from our favourite mind-reader in London. Or wherever the hell he is these days.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Super Squirrels
It has occurred to me that we're probably bringing about a strain of super squirrels. We're picking off scores of the weak and slow with our cars every single day. Evolution is happening as we speak.
Some day maybe we'll have talking squirrels running around. I bet they could infiltrate every part of our society if they organized themselves. They could sneak into almost every building and start shutting down power transformers and shit. It would be chaos in the streets. Fucking havoc man! Anyway...
Gotta go get ready for Live 8. I'll post about the concert later.
Some day maybe we'll have talking squirrels running around. I bet they could infiltrate every part of our society if they organized themselves. They could sneak into almost every building and start shutting down power transformers and shit. It would be chaos in the streets. Fucking havoc man! Anyway...
Gotta go get ready for Live 8. I'll post about the concert later.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Hey Mr. Wilson
For some time now, say a month or two, I've been thinking of writing a post about Walter Mathau. I wanted to talk about the day he died, and it occurred to me that I should write my post on the anniversary of his death. It just seemed fitting.
So today I decided to look up what that day actually was. And curiously enough it was actually today (July 1st, 2000) that he died. It gave me a weird deja-vu kind of feeling when I read that on the page. Anyway, here's my two cents at last:
When I was a kid I really liked that Dennis the Menace movie. The chickletts in the dentures, the rare blooming flower, the creepy bum eating beans under the bridge (for the record, I once cooked beans on the stove while they were still in the can, then ate them straight from the can with a fork). It was a movie that was on the level with Drop Dead Fred and Problem Child when I was a youngster.
Mathau played Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace, the grumpy old man (no pun intended) that lived next door. I can honestly say it's been years and years since I watched that movie last.
But the death of Mathau taught me a lesson in life. Growing up, I always figured the world would completely stop for a moment when he died. But nothing happened. I heard of his passing on the news as a flash, then the anchor was onto the next story. It baffled me, but it seemed that noone really cared. The world kept turning; it didn't slow down at all.
So I suppose you could say that July 1st, 2000 was the day my childhood officially died. (Granted, it was a wheezing, hacking mess at the time. I think its kidneys were failing and it had some sort of liver disease as well.) Regardless, that was the end. I learned that the world won't stop for anything, or anyone. No matter how great you are, or how many people you've influenced.
But I guess that goes to show that we ought to do the most we can in life. That way, when we die, at least the world will stop for a split second in the minds of the people we knew.
So today I decided to look up what that day actually was. And curiously enough it was actually today (July 1st, 2000) that he died. It gave me a weird deja-vu kind of feeling when I read that on the page. Anyway, here's my two cents at last:
When I was a kid I really liked that Dennis the Menace movie. The chickletts in the dentures, the rare blooming flower, the creepy bum eating beans under the bridge (for the record, I once cooked beans on the stove while they were still in the can, then ate them straight from the can with a fork). It was a movie that was on the level with Drop Dead Fred and Problem Child when I was a youngster.
Mathau played Mr. Wilson in Dennis the Menace, the grumpy old man (no pun intended) that lived next door. I can honestly say it's been years and years since I watched that movie last.
But the death of Mathau taught me a lesson in life. Growing up, I always figured the world would completely stop for a moment when he died. But nothing happened. I heard of his passing on the news as a flash, then the anchor was onto the next story. It baffled me, but it seemed that noone really cared. The world kept turning; it didn't slow down at all.
So I suppose you could say that July 1st, 2000 was the day my childhood officially died. (Granted, it was a wheezing, hacking mess at the time. I think its kidneys were failing and it had some sort of liver disease as well.) Regardless, that was the end. I learned that the world won't stop for anything, or anyone. No matter how great you are, or how many people you've influenced.
But I guess that goes to show that we ought to do the most we can in life. That way, when we die, at least the world will stop for a split second in the minds of the people we knew.
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