Friday 29 April 2011

Summer Concerts and $12 Beers

i can't figure out what's going on
i found an old music magazine from 5 years ago
and none of the bands listed in it are still around today
i picked up this weeks local rag
and i hardly know any of the acts playing around
i'm cool with this
but
the times are changing
in fact they've already changed
and moved on without me
and perhaps my generation

i try to seek out new music
but there's so little time
i still put on dark side of the moon and listen to it
i've seen it performed a thousand times
yet it still corners me and forces a listen

i like traveling with mark stewartson
he always has a trigger finger on the ipod
and knows who's got the what what
most of it drifts by me
but i like that he's on top of it

when there is down time
i return to the music that defined me growing up
dylan
springsteen
stones
all the classic rock
but those three compose my triangle of soul
it's like a grilled cheese sandwich cut diagonally
you can't mess it up
and it always sits pretty in your stomach

this summer's concert line up at the molson amphitheatre is perfunctory

supertramp without roger hodgson interests me
i don't know what happened there
but they need to be peanut butter and jelly
but the songs on both sides of the bread are buttered nicely

looking forward to peter gabriel - i've never seen him live
i heard stories about him being the first crowd surfer
if he still does this
i'm grabbing him and bringing him home
while the band chomps on salsbury steak

frampton is doing all of frampton comes alive
and i imagine the spark that spurned this
stemmed from a comment
where someone brought CAL to his attention
(i have a springsteen story about this - but i've saved it for the book)
shari and i have already staked out our ground
the box awaits along with twelve dollar beers
(never once have i ordered a twelve dollar beer and felt good about it - like 'yay! $12 beers! - this is a sentence i will never utter)


i will say that hair metal ages poorly
not only do the songs not hold up
but gravity has taken it's toll on band members
and no amount of make up or hair spray is going to rectify the sags and flabs
lumping def leppard in with iron maiden
is like confusing frank zappa with the bee gees

i'm worried about seeing kiss
i saw them last in 1976 at varsity stadium here in toronto
the destroyer tour and all their demons were in tact
but now the demystification has weeded in
and we know gene simmons is there doing head counts
as he plods through 'shout it out loud'

i can't think of a good motley crue song
'kickstart my heart' maybe
i keep confusing them with poison
the mascara seamlessly bleeds from one poser to the next

i like steely dan
the aja record goes nice with an armchair
they toured entire albums a couple years back
i'm told they heard about CAL and dug the idea
cool
but live i've always been disappointed
master musicians indeed but i'm hoping for a couple of volts of joy
to hump them into grooving a bit

journey has a couple okay songs
i can't think of an album that defines them
but i could be talked into flicking my bic for 'don't stop believing'
their new singer is supposedly fantastic but it's a new singer
i miss the original guy that looked like a duck

meanwhile CAL is heading into new summer venues
we have 12 new shows to announce this week
4 nice little 3 night mini tours in the north east united states

and our old stomping grounds - the zooz (niagara safari) is back with 4 shows
if you haven't been to a zooz show - make the effort to attend
and bring your family
it's old school and layed back
and out doors
and fun

we're also very excited to be back at the king center in melbourne florida
this is a serious show for us
we do big numbers here
and the crowd are heavy music lovers
it'll be nice to hang with tater again
and all the crew and staff there

i know i'm out of touch
i know there's a lot of good new music
but it seems to disappear so quickly

we could use a good summer
last year was rainy
and winter never ended here in the great white north
even today is chilly with grey skies under
i need an outdoor celebration to rattle loose the summer hippie in me

craig martin
april 29, 2011
chocolate milk and chicken nuggets with jack

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