RIP Levi Stubbs

The world lost quite a voice this weekend with the death of Levi Stubbs, original lead singer of The Four Tops. Stubbs had battled cancer for several years and had a stroke a few years ago.

Stubbs had a booming voice. "Bernadette." "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." And especially, ESPECIALLY, "Reach Out I'll Be There." The urgency in his voice is stunning, particularly in the "I know what you're thinking/you're alone now/ no love of your own... just look over your shoulder!" lines. The timing is interesting--just over a month after my first trip to Detroit and a wonderful visit to the Motown Museum/Hitsville, USA.

Here's another great one --> "It's The Same Old Song"


In other news, the Canadian general election happened last week... and it was pretty uneventful. Parliamentary elections happen quickly (this one was 6 weeks after it was called), so there're no years and years of campaigning. Ultimately, Prime Minister Stephen Harper got the election called because he didn't feel like he could move forward after 2+ years of his minority government. So he was rewarded with... another minority government. Though his party, the Conservatives, picked up some seats, they're still 12 or so seats short of a majority--thanks mostly to the nationalist Bloc Quebecois, who got (as usual) 2/3 of the seats in Quebec (a big province). The left wing NDP made some gains (and held my own riding of Trinity-Spadina), while the usually strong Liberal Party struggled (particularly out west) thanks in no small part to a leader with the personality of a dish towel--Stephane Dion. That his English is worse than that of the Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe did not play very well out west.

Canadians seem to be far more interested in the US election, for which I recently sent in my absentee ballot...

ladies and gentlemen...

Telly Savalas. And his cigarette.

the groop

New Stereolab + 70s Sesame Street footage = YES.

even further north

Hej hej från Uppsala, Sverige.

Winding up my trip after good days here, in Göteborg and in Stockholm despite more RAIN than I've had on any of my trips.

Sounds like I missed a giant explosion in the Great White North.

OK, Icelandair, get me back safely...

food for thought

Is it appropriate for a restaurant called Tortilla Flats to play a song by renowned Dutch singer Taco for its patrons? Apparently so. I heard Taco's "Puttin' On The Ritz" while eating a quesadilla at Tortilla Flats...

Nez

The Beatles are my favourite band (with The Charlatans and Doves safely ensconced at 2 and 3), and I agree with the somewhat harsh depiction of The Monkees as the "prefab" four. They were, in fact, put together by executives for the purpose of playing a band on TV, and then becoming a band themselves. That said, they were also musicians (well, Davy was just a singer) who wanted to play on their own records and had multiple fights with management until being allowed to do so.

Mike Nesmith was already a songwriter before the Monkees gig, and the 1-2 songs per record he was allowed hold up well today. (He also wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit, "Different Drum.") His Texas background helped foster a sound that blended folk and country with rock, at the same time the late period Byrds with Gram Parsons were making similar moves. "Mary, Mary" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" are his best known Monkees songs, and I think this one ("You Just May Be The One") is underrated. Judge for yourself:



One current artist quick to acknowledge the influence of Nesmith's songs is Stevie Jackson of Belle & Sebastian. Although Stuart Murdoch is the acknowledged genius of B&S and the writer of most of their songs, I usually prefer Stevie's 1-2 per album. He's written some of their best B-sides, too, such as "Mr. Richard" and "I Believe In Travellin' Light."

Here's one of Stevie's best, "To Be Myself Completely." Enjoy!

greetings

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Let's see... how to catch you up?

Well, I've been to Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City on a road trip, I've been to New York City for a conference (and a performance by my favourite comedian, Mr. Izzard), and last but certainly not least I've been to the old homestead for none other than my sister's wedding. All good fun, with the latter essentially perfect.

Last night I made my first visit to the Opera House, a cool old venue that's quite a bit east of Yonge Street (most of my life takes place west of Yonge Street). My friend and I were there to see the best band from the Kingdom of Denmark, The Raveonettes. Their new record is fantastic, and they sounded great as always (was the fourth time I've seen them). I still prefer them as a five-piece touring oufit (they were three last night), but that's OK... Also made my first trek to the nearby Dangerous Dan's, a great local haunt unless you're vegetarian (I'm not).

Here's a new one from The Raveonettes--"You Want The Candy" -->


Otherwise I'm enjoying another holiday weekend. We had an offsite meeting at the Royal Ontario Museum on Thursday, and no work again until Monday.

Switching gears rather abruptly, I've been reading a lot about the ongoing political stalemate in Belgium. A coalition government is finally in the works, but many believe the differences between the Dutch-speaking Flemish in the north and the French-speaking Walloons in the south will soon be too much to sustain a united country. The new Prime Minister is from Flanders and wants more autonomy for his region, though it has an incredible amount already for a region of a country. As always, the BBC is collecting thoughts on the matter. This quotation from a Belgian really stuck out to me:

We live in a small country and we also have a small mentality. We host the capital of Europe and sadly we do not see beyond the language boundaries of Flemish and Walloon in our own country. Welcome to Belgium. Come visit us before there's no more Belgium.
Catherine, Brussels, Belgium

More details are here.