Nostalgia

Advent Calendar of 90s CanRock – Day 11 to 15

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I took a bit of time this week to map out the rest of the month and there are so many bands, songs and memories that I could keep doing this right until February without repeating, but thinking I’ll just save some of them and do this again next year.

Day 11 – 54-40 – Crossing A Canyon

Every summer in high school my friends would get their family cottage for a weekend just for us with no parents around and they were always the best times. Fishing, barbecue, hot tub, sauna, drinks, good music and great friends… some amazing memories from those trips.

One summer a friend joined us for the first time and he brought his new girlfriend. Without meaning to and without any agenda on either of our parts, her and I just ended up hitting it off and chatted a bunch during the day. That night we were all into the idea that we should all go into the sauna, then run out to the cold lake and jump in and race back to the sauna where the cycle would repeat. Our friend was passed out but his girlfriend was into the idea and joined in.

In one of the trips to the lake, she and I were talking and decided to stay in the lake when everyone else went into the sauna because the sauna was cramped with all of us in it together, and that then put us on an opposite schedule from everyone else, as we headed to the sauna when they came back out to the lake. We must have done that for an hour, talking, learning about each other, laughing uncontrollably every time we had to steel ourselves up for running back out to the lake.

Nothing happened outside of this obvious flirtation, I would never do that to my friend, nor would she, I’d like to believe, but I remember this being such a magical night and an example of how timing can sometimes be everything when it comes to finding romance.

The next morning, the lake was quiet and as everyone roused themselves and came back to life, we poured caesars and put on some music. I remember sitting down at the dock and our friend and his girlfriend came down to say goodbye, they were heading home earlier than the rest of us who were going to make the most of the day, Sunday traffic be damned.

I remember her giving me a little squeeze as we hugged good bye, hopefully imperceptible to her boyfriend who had not rejoined the party at all after having passed out.

I honestly don’t know if I’m mixing up my memories or not, because I absolutely remember sitting on that dock, content, quiet, with this song playing and echoing across the water, I’m just not sure it was the morning after that amazing night.

I’m choosing to believe that it was.

“I’m no prophet, but I’ve seen things
When right and wrong become too close
In that moment of my greatness
I become afraid and watch it go.”

 

Day 12 – The Age Of Electric – Remote Control

No specific story or memory associated with this song, although an image of our kitchen in our shitty off-campus apartment after a massive party does come to mind. I can’t even see the sink or counters with how many empties and other party remnants are littered everywhere.

There was no escaping this song for a time and it definitely belongs on any 90s party playlist.

 

Day 13 – Treble Charger – Red

This song is in the top 10 in the 90s for me… chill and rocking at the same time, everyone knew every word and it was one of the first songs we all learned on guitar, those of us who played.

The soundtrack to those backyard barbecues with Sloan and so many of the other bands I’ve listed already would not be complete without “Red”.

 

Day 14 – The Watchmen – All Uncovered

The first guy I met in res in Frosh Week wasn’t my roommate but he was two doors down on the same floor. We shook hands heartily, me from Toronto and he was from Ruscom, Ontario. Population 52. He and his immediate family made up over 10 percent of the population.

One of the things I loved most about University was meeting people from everywhere that wasn’t Toronto. I loved hearing about Ruscom and small town life from my new friend.

The main act that night to kick Frosh Week off was The Watchmen and we were both stoked; him because he had never been to any concert before, ever, and me because The Watchmen were playing at my SCHOOL.

I remember so many things about that night, navigating the crowd on the hill, chatting up some girls from the all-girls res, only to be pushed out by some guys from their brother-residence, the loudness of the music, the coldness of the shitty traveler beers we were carrying with us.

This was the next major phase of our lives after high school and we cheersed to new friendships and new adventures.

And The Watchmen absolutely killed it.

This is my favourite Watchmen song.

 

Day 15 – Great Big Sea – Run Runaway

This is, strangely, a band I’ve never seen live, though I had many chances.

The closest I ever came was at the door to the bar in first year University. The bar typically did not ID everyone, but tonight they were, which made us nervous because one of our friends was just days away from turning 19.

They caught him out at the door and turned him away. The kicker? He was FROM Newfoundland and had even been to one of the weddings of one of the members of the band.

We pleaded our case but it was a firm no. Our friend told us to go on in without him, but in a show of brotherhood and solidarity (with a group who had only known each other a few weeks), we all left and went back to the res, determined to show him a good time.

This turned out to be the moment he had been prepared for because this was when he brought out his bottle of screech for the first time.

While not a proper screeching in, and no cod to kiss, we all became honourary Newfoundlanders that night and had one of the best party nights of the year without going out and it cemented friendships that last until this day.

Pro-tip:

Do not use a full size bowling ball along a carpeted hallway as the friction burns will absolutely destroy the carpet, as we learned that night.

Fast-forward to the end of the school year and the res office is doing floor audits to ensure there is no permanent damage. They see the friction burns from seven months previous and say let us know the whole floor is responsible for the $1500 it will cost to replace the carpet.

Playing right into a stereotype, one of the guys on the floor is Persian and his family owns a rug store. He gets down on his hands and knees to examine the carpet and lets the res office people know we can fix this and to come back in an hour.

He says we all need to get some forks… and we all have cutlery in our rooms lifted from the cafeteria, so we get out the forks and he shows us how we have to carefully use the forks to gently scrape the carpet in the opposite direction of the friction burn to lift the fibres back up.

Here we are, 12 or 13 of us, all on our hands and knees, trying to fix the carpet because it is the end of the school year and NONE of us have any money to pay for the damages, especially since half the floor would have refused to pay because it was our screeched in stupidness that caused this in the first place.

The res office people come back and while we think we’ve done an incredible job, we are all sweating while they examine the rug.

When they give us a thumbs up and let us off the hook, the entire floor cheers, one of the last amazing memories we will all have together as a floor before exams hit and people start leaving res.

Two amazing memories and friendship bonds that last until this day, all because we did NOT go and see Great Big Sea.

Advent Calendar of 90s CanRock – Days 6 to 10

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The holiday countdown continues and the memories keep coming back with them.

The friends you have when you can first start going out in the city on your own hold a special place in your heart for the rest of your life. The friends who call you up when they see those important two words before any show: “all ages”.

Coming into my musical own in Toronto in the mid 90s introduced me to so many things that went beyond the music… venues, after parties, places in the city I had never been to before.

Life is very good right now, but I find myself thinking the same three words every day when I post my song… “Take me back…”

Day 6 – Headstones – Cubically Contained

I’m a little older for this one and at res in University. We have an unwritten door open policy on the floor, which means your room door should only be closed if you are seriously studying (hardly ever happened) or sleeping.

It’s close to the end of the school year and money is TIGHT. I am even watching the balance on my meal card. But still, we want to go out so getting the cheapest beer we can off campus and drinking in the res will save us those dollar bills needed for the one or two drinks we’ll need at the bar.

I remember sitting around our room, a couple of people on the Sega Genesis, a guitar strumming out in the hall and this song on the radio. No drama, no stress, everyone just ready to have a good time on a Wednesday night.

It seems like such a simple time, looking back, full of simple pleasures.

When did life get so hard?

 

Day 7 – Weeping Tile – In The Road

On the way to my girlfriend’s family cottage in the Ottawa valley there’s a long road before you hit the dirt entryway and there’s a bend in the road with a huge maple.

This song comes on and I’m hearing it for the first time and it’s so beautiful that I want to hear it again, but don’t have time before we get back to the cottage so I pull over and rewind the tape she’s made for me.

It’s fall and the leaves are changing colour and the maple is a dark, amazing red, and it dominates my view as we sit there, listening to the song again, taking it all in.

 

Day 8 – Eric’s Trip – Allergic To Love

Another song off that same mixtape and an instant favourite. Quickly learned it and added it to my campfire repertoire on the guitar as well.

 

Day 9 – Emm Gryner – Acid

I am at a Spirit of the West concert and Emm Gryner is opening for them. I had never heard of her before and, from the reaction she was getting from the drunken crowd, neither had anyone else. They did not come here to see her and they were letting her know it.

Diminutive, with a quiet demeanour, she sat there, playing piano solo on the big stage where SOTW were going to come out with a far bigger sound fairly soon.

She played a couple of tunes and was visibly put off by the comments and calls coming from the crowd.

“Acid” is a song that starts out quietly but has some very strong notes in it later on where she gets the chance to sing with all her heart.

The crowd hated it and continued to call her out, but she pressed through and sang it with such forceful emotion she was able to drown them out.

It is one of the strongest musical performances I have ever seen and I was an instant fan. I bought her album the next day.

 

Day 10 – The Doughboys – Melt

Crush is a perfect album so it wasn’t a question of if it would make this list, but when and which song.

Not knocking the amazing tune “Shine” (RIP The Wedge on MuchMusic which adopted the song as their theme), but “Melt” has always been my favourite song on the album.

This one takes me back to riding in my friend’s car with his CD/car-adapter on my lap because the holder is broken. I’m holding the whole thing carefully so as not to make the CD skip when we hit the bumps in the road.

The sunroof is open and this song is just blasting as we head out for the night for food, parties and just good summer fun.

 

Just… take me back…

 

Advent Calendar of 90s CanRock – Days 1 to 5

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The #30DaysofCDN90sSongs challenge on Twitter started by the Rave and Drool podcast has been a fun trip down memory lane so far this month. It’s been a lot of fun connecting with others who have the same appreciation for that particular era of music, but I’ve been finding myself limited by the Twitter character count to properly share my memories and thoughts around my song choices.

Then I remembered, oh yeah, I also have a blog that I keep ignoring, and as the basic notion behind this site is to track and reminisce about the soundtrack of my life, it’s a perfect opportunity to expand on those choices here and get back into the habit of writing a bit more regularly.

I’m a 1977 kid, which means that my teen years coincided right alongside an explosion of talent in Canadian alternative music. Being able to buy my own music with my own money (and not from Columbia House) as well as being able to attend all ages shows with my friends meant that my access to this talent explosion came at a time when I was also the most impressionable.

A lot of the songs in this advent calendar are still played regularly around the house today and they bring me right back to those teen years and the mishaps, misadventures and misplaced emotions that came along with them.

The one rule is that we can’t repeat an artist or band so, with that in mind, let’s check out the first 5 days of 90s CanRock.

Day 1 – The Killjoys – Someplace

My high school girlfriend had really strict Italian parents. Missing curfew could lead to a restriction on how many nights a week she could go out, or potentially not go out at all.

We are down on the Lakeshore in the West End of Toronto, parked, having just got back from a walk along the boardwalk where we saw swans. Swans! Romantic!

We turn the radio on and start listening to one of my mix tapes while we do what teenagers do while parked listening to mix tapes.

It’s soon time to head home and I go to start my car but running the radio has drained the battery and my car won’t start!

We start freaking out. This is it. We will never be allowed to see each other ever again. We will grow old and each die alone. I hope the make-out session was worth it, because it will be our last one.

I get out of the car and pop the hood, completely delusional that I would even know what to do with anything under there.

It turns out that this was a good move as a man from further down the parking lot gets out of his car and approaches us and asks us if we’re having car trouble.

I blurt it all out, how we were making out, the battery drained and if we don’t get her home by 11, I will never be allowed to see her again. She may even be forced to move schools to ensure it.

He chuckles and says, don’t worry, I can help. He gives me his CAA card and points over at the phone booth.

“Call them and tell them you’re me and they’ll come and give you a boost. I’m just passing through town and resting my eyes in my car before driving all night, so I’ll be just over there if they give you any trouble.”

I thank him profusely, call them and we wait, trying not to imagine her father having a heart attack. It’s an agonizing wait while it’s happening but they actually show up super quickly. We get our boost, no further questions asked, and before we drive away, the man gives us a thumbs up from his car, then we are on our way, speeding home.

We make it home in time. We will live to see another date. Our love is intact.

At least until the following year when I go away to University and we break up on Valentine’s Day, but that’s a story for another time.

This song always reminds me of that night.

 

Day 2 – The Waltons – Truth And Beauty

Now, not as much of a story to this song, but it was on the mix tape we were listening to in the car and the sweetness and heart in it always brings me back to that relationship as well.

 

Day 3 – Skydiggers – Slow Burning Fire

That girlfriend of mine at the end of high school LOVED this song, but that’s not why it’s on this advent calendar. This part of the list is like Valentine’s Day, 1997: we’re now moving on past her.

I’m 16 and it’s Friday night and we are all out drinking down at the pit, and we’re happy to be at the pit, having gotten there first and thus claiming the campfire. If your group didn’t get to the pit first, you’d have to settle for the bridge, and if the bridge was taken, you’d have to go all the way to the second bridge, and nobody liked going to the second bridge.

The pit was the place to be.

Our group was joined by another group not too long after we settled in and had a fire going, having used our 2-4 cases as kindling. They were a bunch of kids from another school who we didn’t know but seemed cool enough, and we had more people than they did, so it was still our fire and they were our guests.

One of the girls in the group was named Delaney and she sat down on the log next to me and as we all laughed and told jokes, music playing in the background, the hormone-filled tension in the space between us on that log was so thick it almost prevented us from moving closer together. Almost prevented us.

As our shoulders touched she giggled and my heart leapt.

We kept chatting and eventually she said she had to go to the bathroom and asked where she could go. It was her first time at the pit.

I pointed at the path that led up the hill and into the trees, guys on the left, girls on the right, those were the rules, and she looked nervous.

“Want me to go up there with you?” I asked.

She nodded and I followed her up the hill, into the trees and gave her her privacy as she walked off to the right.

When she came back out onto the path, she kissed me on my cheek and thanked me, and headed back down to the fire.

WHERE HER FRIENDS WERE GETTING READY TO LEAVE.

I can still feel the hug around my neck that she gave me to say goodbye and then they left and I never saw her again.

I honestly don’t know if this song was playing that night on the cassette player, but there’s a good chance that it might have been.

Regardless, this song always reminds me of sitting on that log and the slowness with which the space between us disappeared.

 

Day 4 – Sloan – Coax Me

The twins had the greatest party house and parents who were often away on weekends, a potent combination when you’re 16 and part of the tighter inner circle.

Frozen burgers and Diana sauce were on the menu. Ah, Diana Sauce… the perfect combination of affordability and class, at least in our eyes.

This album was played constantly on many a backyard barbecue night, when the evenings turned from ridiculous dancing to those quiet, late-night talks about life, our future and our place in the universe.

Up until that point in our lives, it was the best our lives had ever been…

 

Day 5 – The Hardship Post – Garbage Truck

Have you been to Toronto’s newest, hottest club?

Located in Yorkdale Mall, you haven’t been clubbing until you’ve been to Club HMV.

Yep, totally lame, but we used to use the listening stations at the HMV at Yorkdale to hear new music before buying anything; headphones attached to the wall and buttons you could press to change between the newest CDs.

We would ROCK OUT on these things, motioning to each other from down the aisle trying to guess which CD the other person was listening to. The first silent disco parties.

I heard this song and didn’t even finish it. I wanted to grab the tape before it sold out.

I bought it and didn’t hear the end of the song until I was in the car on the way home.

Absolutely fantastic song and band.

And, in case I wasn’t totally clear, I absolutely understand how lame Club HMV was in hindsight.

 

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You can catch the advent calendar daily on my Twitter, days 6 to 10 will get posted next week!

And, to that stranger passing through town with his CAA membership and Delaney, should either of you be reading this, thanks for those memorable nights…

Tape the VHS

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In the early 90’s my family bought a massive 32 inch television screen in the basement that was connected to my dad’s stereo system for amazing sound.  I’ll never forget the day we first connected everything: my family spent that whole first day watching A New Hope, Empire and Jedi eating all the candy and chocolate and chips that we could, just amazed at how big the picture was and how incredible it all sounded.

I don’t have pictures of my dad’s stereo system but, searching around online, I found this picture that closely resembles the setup he had.

He was a bit of music nut, my dad.  Over 300 albums organized by artist on coloured planks of wood, held up by cinder blocks, and a passion project to convert them all onto cassette tape.  He had probably close to 200 tapes, all arranged neatly in a cassette decks on top of the albums, his precision all-caps handwriting showing what was on side A and side B of each.  Artists were often mismatched on the same tape with no real order to his album conversions.  It was thus normal to have Fleetwood Mac on one side followed by Muddy Waters on Side B.  Bryan Adams and Queen.  Genesis and Gordon Lightfoot.

Around this same time I was very into movie soundtracks and I asked my dad if his stereo could tape from the VHS player the same way he was converting his albums.  He didn’t know and, in a shocking move, he gave me permission to fool around with the cables and wires to see if I could get it to work.

After some doing, I managed to get it to work and I will never forget how excited I felt because suddenly a whole universe of mix tape opportunities had opened up to me.  You could buy movie soundtracks at the store of course, but generally I was only interested in the main themes of the movies and some movies weren’t popular enough to have their own soundtracks available.

So many Sunday mornings spent monopolizing the TV, going through our VHS collection (which was also vast enough in it’s own right) and fast forwarding the movies to the end credits just so I could tape the theme onto cassette.

I found one of those tapes this morning and I’ve been listening to it while composing this post and it’s bringing me right back to my childhood.  I would listen to this tape on my walkman constantly and fall asleep to it.

As I type this I’m on the 2nd Jurassic Park track on side B and I remember that this track, the 1412 March (miswritten as it’s the 1942 March) and E.T. I ripped off a John Williams “Best Of” cassette, but all of the others came straight from the VHS.

So many painstaking hours.  And SUCH good music.

Because it’s easier to do than sharing the cassette experience I’m currently enjoying, here are three themes from this cassette on YouTube that aren’t the well known John Williams ones.

The Great Escape

My go-to answer for “what is your favourite movie of all time?”  I’ve watched this movie at least 15 times and part of me wants to write it into my will that this is the music I want playing when I’m dead during my cremation.  I think that would be hilarious.

Crocodile Dundee

There is no mistaking how huge a movie this was when it was released, and probably one of the things it was known least for was its soundtrack.  A perfect example, in my mind, of why this setup with my dad’s stereo was so incredible to me.

The 3 minutes and 15 seconds of slow build before we get anything resembling a melody, the infusion of horns with the didgeridoo… modern (for the 80’s) and traditional at the same time.  So good.  And the blend into the love theme at the 5 minute mark… seamless.

A soundtrack is also elevated when it cannot be separated from the story it is helping to tell.

I’m sure I’ve posted this belief before, because I seem to remember getting a lot of blowback on this claim, but the ending to Crocodile Dundee is in the top three best movie-endings of all time.

Here is that soundtrack again in the context of that incredible final scene.

Willow

The 80’s were an amazing time for fantasy movies and, born in the late 70’s, I was the prime target age for movies like The Black Cauldron, Labyrinth, The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story.  Not every movie was great (even 8 year old me thought Legend sucked), but one that I was completely bought into was Willow, a movie that I feel still holds up to this day.

This is a great review of the movie, and of George Lucas’ storytelling methods, that puts into words far better than I could as to why the movie still holds up.

Having watched the movie at least 30 times in my life, this soundtrack, almost more than any other, brings me right back to childhood.

And, having taped it from the end credits from the VHS, I remember how HARD it was to get it started at just the right time because I wanted the main theme and not the village folk-band piece that started the credits.  This one took me hours to get right on the cassette tape.  And now, in the space of ten seconds, here it is on YouTube:

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Further Reading: Greatest Film Scores Of All Time

After listening to this, do you agree that this should be #245 on the greatest film scores of all time?  Behind such musical tour de forces such as The Untouchables and Tron: Legacy – both in the top 100?

If you don’t agree, click that link above and scroll down until you see the movie and give it a boost, would ya?

Now that I’ve done that, I think it’s about time to watch the movie again.

Rave & Drool

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90’s Canadian Alternative Rock.  If I had a wheelhouse, this would be it.

There are a few people looking to document this time in music history with a film called Rave & Drool and I am all over it.

I have been following the campaign to make this movie quite closely and it’s triggered my nostalgia glands which, by the way, totally medically exist with symptoms including misty-eyed smiles and looking off into the distance.

I also recently purchased Apple Music and am finally starting to resign myself to the idea that I no longer need to physically “own” every song I listen to.  Not everything has to be in a “playlist” created from my own versions of “mp3s” stored in “folders” on my “computer”.  Maybe, just maybe, the music I’m listening to will actually from now on be forever available to me and I don’t have to worry about a format change sweeping everything out from under me any more.

As I dove into the wormhole that is streaming music I didn’t know where I would end up, following recommended links and albums continuously to see what else Apple Music would uncover for me.

Now, had I actually thought about it, I should have known exactly where I would end up.  90’s Canadian Alternative Rock.  As I cycled through all the albums that have made their way through my collections over the years, from tape to CD to mp3 and still comprise a good chunk of my current playlists on iTunes, one album stood out as it was one that hadn’t survived the format changes over the years into digitalization.

Lik My Trakter by The Waltons.

I put some headphones on, turned the lights out and laid down in bed and suddenly I was 15 again, doing the exact same thing, only with a walkman instead of an ipad.

Every word from every song came back to me, even though I hadn’t listened to the album in probably 15 years.

The Waltons were a staple on the live music scene around that time as well.  I had seen them at CFNY’s acoustic Christmas several times and they routinely played with other big names like Barenaked Ladies and The Skydiggers.  They were winning Junos, they were all over the radio but after breaking up in the mid 90’s they just faded away.

Because I am nostalgic for pretty much everything and spend a lot of my quiet moments reliving and remembering the events that have led up to now, it’s a little rare for me to rediscover a full album in this manner.

If you don’t remember The Waltons I’ve got three songs here for you that, if you listened to the radio at all in the 90’s, you would have heard.

In The Meantime was one of the most played songs on Canadian Radio in 1993.

And this is why I do this blog.  I don’t do it for people to read, I do it to relive and discover things anew about the music that has helped shape my life.  I didn’t even know this next video existed until this exact moment that I’m writing this.

Mel Lastman Square, New Years Eve 1993.  I was 15 and this was the first time I had ever gone out for New Years Eve to do something without my parents.  I remember exactly where I was standing and I remember this song perfectly and the fact that someone has uploaded this to YouTube with whatever crazy size camera they must have been holding… well, the Internet is a special place sometimes.

The Naked Rain.

And, last but not least, one of the most popular songs off the album, Colder Than You.

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Further Listening:

I know I got a little sidetracked in focusing on The Waltons, but lots of good stuff to do with the Rave and Drool movie is out there.

Check out their Facebook Page where they have Cover Song Saturdays with 90’s Canadian artists doing covers.

They’ve also got a wicked Spotify playlist that rivals a few that I’ve put together myself; further proof that I need to let go of the idea of owning my own music library and just dive into this online world of subscriptions and sharing.