"Should We Find Fortune's Favour" Part Four - The Voice Of An Angel And The Hands Of A King: Favourite Moment From A 'Secret Show'; Plus, A Boatload Of GBS Secret Show/'Fortune's Favour" Promo Show & Gainey Foundation Show Videos
A few image-sequence frames (these piggy-backed on somebody else's flash, with more non-assisted yet still-lovely frames to follow at the end of this entry) from the video of what wound up being my favourite moment of the Vancouver GBS 'Secret Show' (aka the Fortune's Favour promo show) at Doolin's Pub. Sean had begun to sing a haunting and particularly appropriate version of The Police's "So Lonely" in an achingly wistful voice, and then Alan began to weave his own magic spell with compellingly confident hands:
The rest of the vidoes from the GBS Vancouver "Secret Show" (Fortune's Favour promo show) at Doolin's Pub:
Auntie Mary Set, Bob's own 'request" (145 MB)
Second time out live for Gallows Pole (155 MB)
A spectacular effort on Straight To Hell (213 MB)
Buying Time, as best recalled (145 MB)
England, with Murray Love (205 MB)
Has Anybody Here Seen Hank snippet (80 MB)
A gorgeously Doylicious Old Brown's Daughter (145MB)
Impromptu Alan: Wings & Guinness/Grease's 'We Go Together' (105 MB)
Alan shows how to play guitar with his pint (12 MB)
Videos from the Gainey Family Foundation Benefit Show, at the Metropolis in Montreal:
Lukey w. Maximum Bass (200 MB)
Love Me Tonight (The "Easy To Say 'Yes' Song") (230 MB)
Videos from the GBS Toronto "Secret Show" (Fortune's Favour promo show) at PJ O'Brien's:
First-time ever public performance of GBS's version of this song.
A by-request (along with Bad As I Am, Boston, and Beat The Drum) Doyle Family tune.
A Straight To Hell that sure made me amenable to that plea of "Love me now".
Gideon Brown singalong chorus (30 MB)
I Will snippet during tuning (75 MB)
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More image frames from the video of that unforgettably beautiful and most favourite of moments:
No way do these stills do justice to all that was going into the creation of this Favourite Moment; even the video gives only a limited view. Context and perspective, talent and skill, passion and pride, need and desire, compromise and courage...the heat of the moment and the heart of the matter - each an integral component in an act of creative magic, all working together and resulting in one beautifully unforgettable moment.
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That's all of the videos from this run of promo shows and the Gainey Foundation show. There are still quite a few photos (from both "Secret Shows" and from the Gainey show, from Canada AM as well), as well as the customary blather from me about the promo tour as I saw it, several things I really want to say about how they are handling the publicity effort in general (in an unaccustomed nutshell: Damn Well) and about the new CD itself. But for here and now, I'd really rather linger in this favourite moment a bit longer. I have said so many times that even if Alan were neither the accomplished songwriter nor the skilled vocalist that he truly is, I would still come gladly and eagerly to shows for the sole purpose of seeing him play his guitar with his heart and his hands and his whole body; on this night, on a weary night in a sweaty pub at the end of a hard road, he made me utter those words yet again. Again and again and again. Such is the stuff that Favourite Moments - as well as Dreams - are made on.
Pictures and words to come eventually. And special thanks to Christina for getting that last batch of videos uploaded after I ran out of high-speed time.
So far I've only DL'ed Hard Case and your favorite and thanking you won't wait until I've seen them all. Thank you so much! I don't say anywhere near as much as I should how I appreciate your willingness to share with everybody what you see. I heard a rumor you were considering shutting your blog down or taking it private and I hope you don't feel that's your beat option. If you do I sure hope you'll let me keep on logging onto it.
See you soon I hope!
Jennifer
P.S. I LOVE Oh Yeah!!! Cripes it has to be causing terminal panty twisting! :P
Posted by: Jenn | 02 July 2008 at 11:14 PM
Oooooooooooooohhhhh. Need I say more?
L.
Posted by: Laura | 03 July 2008 at 09:02 AM
wOOt! I said it on the last post but it bears repeating...Alan did an FTR today about the pub tour and I LOVE the videos. :D heheheh naked and chaotic...I get such a kick out of that!
Posted by: Mari | 03 July 2008 at 10:44 AM
Every frakin word I've rea elsewhere about the pub tour has been self serving codswallop about how the writer got this or that attention paid to them or song request done and how much the show was really about them. Thanks for a breathe of fresh air. Thanks for writing about the guys.
Cheers,
T
Posted by: T | 03 July 2008 at 01:08 PM
Yay! Lovely videos and a new FTR from Alan today! It's a good day today and hours away from a looooong holiday weekend. Life is good. :)
Posted by: Ellen | 03 July 2008 at 02:21 PM
Ellen, Alan's blog entry certainly lifted my spirits today too, as well as inspiring my imagination. It is great to hear from him and be able to read him, isn't it? I hope you have a grand long holiday weekend. Mine gets spent mostly getting caught up (getting less behind, more like it), but that's good too.
T., I'm glad you're happy with what you've found here. As for whatever you've been reading elsewhere, all I can say is, "Who owns the band, baby?"
I am still bemused by the much-belated realisation that I could have saved myself so much consternation and kerfufflery if I had just listened to Bob way back. Oh well, better late than never. Don't follow my lead; listen now.
At the end of the day, people are going to come away from a show holding on the tightest to whatever it was that meant the most to them during that show. If what means the most to them is how much they can persuade themselves that the show was really all about them, then that's what is going to be the dominant moment and the most-cherished memory.
In the majority of cases, it's a fairly harmless response - with the notable exception, of course, of those few who go cracked over some tiny bit of notice from On High. But for most, it's more often a matter of walking away from a show feeling good about some small thing that is big to them, no harm done and if it keeps them onboard as loyal customer-fans, then that's certainly a positive outcome. It's also a sure sign of a job well done.
Maybe if you view the "codswallop" (great word, by the way) in that light, it will be a bit less tedious - I know it's a point of view that sure works wonders for my own tolerance level these days.
Ah, Mari, I was brought to an absolute standstill by Alan's adjectival dalliance. "Naked and chaotic" is the perfect descriptive phrase, for the pub shows too. A perfectly lovely descriptive phrase, so much so that I keep getting lost in pleasurable thoughts whenever it comes to mind. Which is why I have now dallied for some 20 minutes with this comment response.
More about Alan's most recent (and thoroughly enjoyable) writing in a day or so - I am putting together a series of interviews/reviews/comments, and his blog entry will fit in beautifully. If I can manage to stop being so distracted by thoughts of naked and chaotic, that is.
Laura, I think you have summed matters up quite nicely. Brownie points for succinctness.
Jenn,you are very welcome. Thank you for the thanks. No, I don't have any plans to shut down the blog or take it private. Every now and then I bitch about things - right now I am nearly at my wit's end with the continuing glitches persisting with Typepad's "upgrade" - but I'm good with keeping on with the blog as much as time allows. Same with keeping it public; I've never been inclined toward trying to create some kind of foolish "inside" by making others feel like outsiders. That kind of "inside" feels like a cage to me, and claustrophobes do not like cages, not even figurative ones.
Oh Yeah shakes, rattles, and rolls me to the tips of my toes - hah...just thought about Oh Yeah and "naked and chaotic" all at once and very nearly forgot how to type - and, yes, it's reasonable to expect this song will result in some pantie twisting. After all, there are all sorts of causes for pantie twisting.
I need to stop here while I still have minimal manual dexterity. Perhaps it's time to go set off a few fireworks. Now where is that love bomb that's ready to explode?
Posted by: lynda | 04 July 2008 at 12:18 AM
You are right you take away what is important to you. Right now I love Walk On the Moon most. I guess two kids going to high school, one kid moving away to work and me moving on with life is kind of Walk on the Moon time.
Glad the Promo shows were good and that I still won't be 40 when this tour is over. Also finding it amusing that in Alan's FTR he, who will be forty, said his son will be two my son and youngest is nine. I find it cool that people's paths are all so different. That said would not want to be parenting a two year old now!
Have a great summer Lynda!
Posted by: mary | 04 July 2008 at 07:34 AM
Two points, actually three. Most important one is this is a strong CD, it's work they can all be proud of. I'm grateful to you for giving me a peek at what future shows are going to be like with the new music. The 1st picture of Alan you led with is stunning.
My second point is while it's always been how GBS fans are, it seems to me that it's worse lately with the ME ME ME fixation. Go read the comments on the b'ys blogs. Most of them are transparent attempts to be "remembered" by the guys or to stake claims on the guys. There's not even much lip service being done to anything being about GBS themselves and I don't recall it being this crass and blatant (tacky too) in the past. I don't mean to offend but sometimes I wonder if part of the problem is the preponderance of American fans in the current upfront positions online & at shows. Whatever the reason is I find it very off putting and I don't think I'm alone in it. I didn't used to feel that way about their web site so either it changed or I did. Maybe we both did, LOL.
Third point and I'll shut up. I wish people could learn to live and let live when it comes to personal taste. So you don't like a song on the new CD. Fine. You can dislike it as much as you want (though your opinion would carry more weight with me if you could explain WHY you dislike it in some sort of technical detail) but for pete's sake why do you have to say that it's awful and shouldn't be on the CD? Can't you see how that's peeing on the personal taste of all the people who like the song you hate? Who set you up as an arbitrator of what is good music for the rest of us? There's a big difference between stating your own opinion and putting down the opinions of others so put a cork in it.
There. I feel much better now. LOL! Thank you for the use of the soap box Lynda. :)
Posted by: Darce | 04 July 2008 at 11:41 AM
Love love love the videos and photos! I wish I could have gone to a pub show but I know they're gonna be great come autumn. It's a beautiful CD!
Posted by: Kathy | 04 July 2008 at 02:20 PM
Erm, have you read the latest Tosh (tells no) Tails? Is there cause for worry? :-o
I watched your Police song video again. I like the angel and king description. Alan's got a pair of hawt hands and Sean is heavenly. :D
L
Posted by: Laura | 04 July 2008 at 06:40 PM
Hey Lynda-
Small criticism before the praise, so bear with me:
It bugs the shit out of me when you use words like "grand" in your blog. You aren't a Newfoundlander and it sounds like you are trying too hard to become one. It gets on my nerves the same way it does when I hear Justin Timberlake interviewed and he is trying to sound all 'street authentic'. That being said, you can tell me to Fuck Off. Now for the praise and inquiries.
I love reading your reviews of shows because they are insightful and thorough and you obviously don't mind saying when you thought the band or a member was really off or really excellent. I wish I could download the friggin' videos, but I don't seem to do the mega upload thing correctly. I'm astounded that you can afford to travel the way you do, and I'm jealous as all hell. 100% of my extended family is in Newfoundland, and I can only afford to go once every 4 years or so. Do you write professionally and can take your work with you, or what? I'd love to know your secret.
Also, has anyone else confessed to you that the new album just isn't doing it for them? I can't even get through it. I think it's boring as all hell. I so looked forward to it, and am glad I didn't buy two copies (one for myself and one to gift). I honestly think it sucks. And I consider myself a huge fan. I don't dare post a message like that on the official fan site, because everyone would jump my shit and give me the "if you don't have anything nice to say" talk. Do they not realize that a message board is for posting opinions? Okay enough of my rant, and I know you don't have to post this if you don't want to, but I would like a reply and help about the megaupload conundrum.
See you at the PDX show. I'm sure I'll have a shitty seat way in back, because I don't do the standing in line for the whole day thing, and its General Admission.
Sherida
Posted by: Sherida | 05 July 2008 at 12:36 PM
Hey Linda,
Looks like the shows were great ones, wish I could have caught one of them. looking forward to my chances to see you and the performers in Buffalo, Albany, and Rochester? however the Rochester show is the beginning of their late October tour, not expecting great things their first day back together... (you have to be happy with what you get according to Tosh tales... bugger that...)
Hope the pubs were not too disturbing/rude to the band... people talking through the sets, I hate that beyond measure ...
The Cd itself to me is a good compilation of the directions GBS could go... Reminds me a bit of Michele's CD showing the different appeal across the musical genre's...
Love.. the story of the relationship, need for approval. Like back 80's retro beat)
Walk... Love the backing vocals, the musical arrangements, the hope and truth in Alan's voice.
England... Sean telling a founding story, about the beginning. traditional as I like it. reflecting there own career?
Here... regret of time meets grabbing it and doing something with it...
Long Lost... A decent attempt at ragaee meets traditional.
Oh yeah... Party boy Alan rocking out :)
I am growing used to 'Banks' however it still fells like an unemotional news cast (visualize a bob newscaster, with newsreel of fisherman and shippings
Dream... good story of leaving to survive and regrets of the predicament... Love the 'quickly learn to not look ... kneel' puts you there...
Company... Youthful fun.
Hard Case... Love the female vocals, which story do we go with on this, double meanings abound between the two/three lives that the shanti man has been in. another excuse song. (Is the female singer in this song cute?)
Rocks of Marasheen... traditional, a good story, but not a favorite.
Dance, Dance - Again the youthful rocker Alan in there... okay (slacks bothers me, but otherwise I like the smile playing on his face through this...
Heart of Stone. traditional meets punk sadness
Straight to Hell. :) unadulterated joy of Rocker Alan
Sad that Belong and Gallows are not on the CD itself...I bought it through the Site, and still got them, but Belong shows so much of the Newfoundland plight/ loss of identity as everyone moves away, while Gallows shows a range we don't see from any of the McCann songs on the rest of the CD, and live will not show it justice (considering what tends to occur at these concerts, the he really could rock if he wanted to.
Also liking the story of Wanderinig Ways (GBS original? or remake?)
Any who, I am Enjoying the forth of July with friends, and dogs... Still don't know where I want to be in life. Hope all is well with you and family.. enjoy the current rest up for Toronto and beyond. See you in August? and let me know if you will be up in rochester for Oct 22... I need to take off time and know the better sections of town now, even though I am only a block away from the bad places :)
Love ya and take care
Michael
Posted by: michael | 05 July 2008 at 03:16 PM
You guys are great - some very interesting comments you've made, so much so that I'm going to wait a bit before I put up what will almost certainly be a long blathering response of my own. I want to be sure people who read here notice what you folks have said too and don't just read my own blather.
Posted by: lynda | 05 July 2008 at 03:35 PM
Sorry you missed the pub show in Ottawa. It was fantastic.Just when I thought I couldnt get any closer to the stage I found my face a foot and a half from Murrays mic. It was a fun night.(I tried to give Murray space after the TO incident). As tired as they were, (Gainey showed them a good time the night before) they were great and fun. Alan forgot all the words to Jolly Butcher and Sean did a great job of starting Berry Picking to which the crowd took over. Bob doing the encore Good Girls was great. I love seeing Bob rock out. It was good talking to you in Montreal and now I prepare for Bluesfest. Take care
Posted by: ziggy | 05 July 2008 at 05:25 PM
Hey its me again, for some reason I cant download Gallows Pole I have a Prem membership and have had no prob with the others just Gallows. Is there any other way to get it?
Posted by: ziggyy | 05 July 2008 at 05:30 PM
ETA: Just saw your comments, Ziggy. I checked out Gallows Pole and it downloads fine for me (or would if I let it run for 17 hours on my dialup....the point is that it works). Can you tell me what happens when you try to download it? If you get the Not Available message, all you can do is wait and try again - that seems to be a server issue, specific to the location of the person trying to download. If something different is happening, let me know what it is. I can bring up the problem with Megaupload, especially since we are both Premium members. That ought to get them listening.
The Ottawa show sounds like it was wonderful - in some ways, the Ottawa GBS fans are the most fervent of all and I always love the shows there. You were right where I was at the Vancouver show, very close and personal with Murray. I would have loved to hear Jolly Butcher, never have heard that one live before. Somebody asked for it again in Vancouver, but Alan said they had "stunk up the place" doing it in Ottawa and went with another request instead. Sean led off on Berry Picking? That would have been something to see.
I really enjoyed the Gainey show, and it sure looked like they did too, during and apparently after as well. Good for them. Given the size of the crowd, I might not see you at Bluesfest, so I'll just wish you a great time now. Do let me know if you still can't get Gallows Pole to download - I know how much you'd enjoy being able to see that and there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to.
OK, now for the blather.
Mike, it will be great so see you at Albany, Rochester, and Buffalo. As plans currently stand, I'm hoping to make all three of those shows. You being there for Rochester makes me feel much better about going to that one; I've skipped the last few Rochester shows because of a rather dodgy experience I had there previously, but I wouldn't worry about a repeat of such dodginess if you were there too. It looks as if Christina can make it for the Albany show too, so long as her call schedule does not go to shit on her. We're also doing NYC, or at least we are planning to. I try to make plans with at least few grains of salt.
I think you are going to be surprised by how good they sound even early on in the tour and at the start of individual tour legs. I was totally blown away at the pub shows by how ready the new stuff already sounds. They have been rehearsing and they really sound good. No way is all the new material in its final form yet, but it sure sounds well on the way.
I get the distinct impression they are taking this CD/tour, and themselves, very seriously, and I think this is a wonderful turn of affairs. They have always deserved to be taken seriously, by everyone, and it is so good to see it finally happening.
Actually, the people at the two pub shows I was at behaved remarkably well, outside of some obnoxious camera stuff (well, there was the drunk moron who fell on the stage at the Dakota show, but she was, thankfully, in a class all by herself). I think for the most part the majority of the crowds at the pub shows were more than a little in a state of awe/shock from being up so close to them. Remember, these were Canadian shows and Canadian audiences, not American ones where more of us are used to that kind of intimate show experience with GBS, and a lot of those there had probably never been anywhere near so up close and personal. Awe/shock are apparently excellent bad-behaviour suppressants.
And the sheer intensity of the performances worked spectacularly well to perpetuate and intensify those feelings of awe. Especially at the Toronto show, I loved it that the Warner people were getting a chance to see all of that raw energy and passion that kept crackling back and forth from the stage to the crowd and back again. I'd think that's exactly what you'd want your label reps to be seeing, and they played that sweaty pub, and their eager crowd, perfectly.
Thanks so much for the song-reaction summary. I love reading about all of the different reactions to the new music. I am eventually going to get around to writing about the CD itself, though I am finding myself more caught up in thoughts of overall melody/countermelody of theme, with speculations about resolution.
That's an excellent point about similarities to the spectrum of tunes/musical styles/artistic range on Michelle's CD. As best I know, Wandering Ways is Sean's own tune (no clue about any potential collaborators). Hard Case is actually two songs combined...the verses are mostly a song called "Where We Used To Be" by Kalem Mahoney (I have a video of Kalem and his band, The Monday Nights, doing this song and also his original version of Heart Of Stone here somewhere on the blog) and I think Jeen O'Brien (female vocals on CD) took that tune and wrote a new chorus. At one show (TO, I think) Alan said it is a song about "finding yourself in an awkward sexual situation". And, yes, that female singer/songwriter on Hard Case is quite cute. Is anyone a bit surprised about that?
I do not disagree that Gallows Pole would have made a fascinating addition to this CD. I think it might have gotten them a good bit of buzz too. "GBS does Zeppellin" (never mind that it's actually a trad tune) makes a nice lead for an article.
One of the hardest things for me to accept about this CD has been the fact that Where I Belong is not where it belongs. Separate from how I feel about Alan and his writing and his accomplishments and his collaborations with Russell and about Newfoundland herself (yeah, I know, that's a whole lot of separating, isn't it?), purely from a writing standpoint - an objective writing standpoint - the two best-written songs in all of the new material I have heard from GBS are Where I Belong and England. Nobody - not even the songwriters themselves - is going to persuade me away from that assessment.
This is jumping ahead a bit to what I want to write about Fortune's Favour and don't have it all quite thought out properly yet, but what the hell. Right now what I am thinking, and I might refine/alter that thought in time, is that there was an album that GBS could have made that used Where I Belong and England as successive points along a continuum of experience, opening with the one song, using its brilliant (and I do mean that in the genuine sense of the word, not in the casual way it get used as a catchall adjective by some - I honestly believe England is the best song Sean has ever written) metaphor of the Englishman living far away from his own home, Newfoundland being his equivalent of Alberta or Texas or all of the other far places to which displaced Newfoundlanders have themselves scattered to find work and to long for their children and their wives. Along with the accompanying metaphor of the band members themselves - all of it a persuasively subtle way of saying "What Once Was, Still Is".
To move from that brilliant subtlety to the aching, heartbreaking, stark reality that is depicted with such awesome power in Where I Belong would have, in my opinion, created something utterly unforgettable and deeply powerful. But it would have also made Fortune's Favour into a considerably different work of art, changed both its focus and its resolution.
And I am not at all sure Where I Belong is a song Hawksley should be producing. The way it's done in the bonus-track version - the sole and unaccompanied voice of one man who is on the verge of heading out on his sole and unaccompanied journey, nothing but his own heartache and courage to be heard - is perfect; the indomitable pain in Alan's vocal is equally perfect. It is not a song that would benefit from being made "Bigger" than it is - to try to make it bigger would be to undercut its sincerity and its strength and to compromise its truth - and I do not know if Hawksley could have resisted the urge to do just that to it. I have a feeling that Hawksely is drawn to melodrama because he shies away from real drama, maybe most of all away from tragic drama. There is a certain comfort to be found in the place that is "over the top" - it can be much safer up there than it is down in the non-artistically-mediated passion and heartbreak and turbulence and loss often to be found at Ground Zero.
At least this is what I tell myself to find comfort in the song's absence from the CD. But I do keep thinking what a wonderful close-of-show song Where I Belong could be, GBS's new Rant & Roar, as it were. Imagine a show where they opened the first set with England and took their final post-encore bows with Where I Belong. I still think that would be utterly unforgettable, as well as telling a story whose truth needs to be heard.
OK, enough jumping ahead for now; I really do want to think this through more than I have had time to so far. We are all fine here, humans and cats, the latter in particular getting over a very noisy Fourth. As much as I am glad for some home time, I am also very eager to head back out this time - two days in the Beautiful City and then to see the Big Shows at Bluesfest and Molson. I love their Molson shows...if I had my wishes come true, Alan would play on a Molson-sized stage to a Molson-type crowd (the type of crowd ready and willing to love him each and every night) as much as he wanted to, which I am suspecting would be an awful lot.
Barring any unplanned and unlooked-for kinks in the master plan, I will definitely see you in August. And October, I hope.
Sherida, hello and thank you for the comment. No, I'm not a bit offended by what you said. It's not every day I get compared to Justin Timberlake, and I'm feeling somewhat bemused by that.
I do know what you mean about presumptive language grabbing - it bugs the shit out of me too and I really do try to catch myself from doing it. It's the main reason you do not see me writing (or saying) "b'y". That is an expression that almost never sounds right to me coming out of the mouths of Mainlanders (especially Americans), myself included, most of whom can't even properly pronounce it anyway. I know there are plenty who feel comfortable using it, and that is well and good for them to do so then, but I do not. It's not my word...it is your word. It's much the same as when non-Southerners start saying "y'all". To me, it sounds presumptuous coming from most; it sounds like, as you said, the speaker is trying to pretend to be something they are not.
And I am not at all a Newfoundlander. If I were, whatever "claim" I have to my own particular perspective would be a false claim. I won't make any pretense about it: I love Newfoundland, but I don't love Newfoundland the way a family member loves another family member; I can't ever feel that way because it is not who I am. I love Newfoundland the way someone who has chosen a lover and/or a dear friend loves, up to and including that contradictory rush of passion that comes from knowing the chosen person is the dearest and most wonderful in the world at the same moment they are driving you to absolute distraction with their foolishness.
But language is a funny thing, Sherida. "Grand" is a great example of that oddness...I grew up with that word being commonly used in my home as a sincere description of something great: "A grand adventure" or a "a grand time was had by all," that sort of thing. As I got older, more and more "grand" took on an ironic turn and was only supposed to be used by the too-cool as a put down: "Well, isn't that just grand?" I think that's largely a West-Coast US usage, maybe even specifically Californian, since I do not hear it used that way much here in the Pacific Northwest.
Newfoundlanders in particular - and to some extent, Mainland Canadians in general, especially in the East - still use "grand" the way I did when I was a kid, with none of that obligatory irony attached to it, with all of the wonder and delight still intact. And because I spend months at a time in Newfoundland - next to none of that time around CFAs or tourist-oriented folks - I reclaim that context of the word, lots of other expressions too. Then I try to catch them and weed them out of my writing for the exact reason you've pointed out...not wanting to look like I am trying to be someone I am not.
I get moderately genial shit about it on the home front too. I come home after a long period in St. John's or even on the road in Canada and get told I am not talking "like myself," cadence and accent and word choice are altered. I try to re-discover my California Mediaspeak accent and get the proper idioms back, sometimes with more success than others. I can go back to saying "asshole" instead of "arsehole" easily enough, but I am hopelessly and permanently ruined for the word "pasta," I fear, torn between the Canadian "paasta" and the American "pahsta"; these days, the word comes out of my mouth as a three-syllable compromise: "paa-ah-sta". People on both sides of the border think I have a frigging speech impediment.
Every now and then, someone says I am using other Newfoundland expressions (or Canadian ones) that I would not have thought were such, along the same lines of "grand". Most of the time it is something I grew up with - the first time I ever heard Alan say "Gentle Jesus in the garden" I nearly fell out of my chair, since I grew up hearing that expression from my Mom and have gotten strange looks whenever I have said it any place outside of my parents' home. Not exactly common Californiaspeak, that one.
The more I have compared notes with locals, the more I realise that some of the expressions (and subtle differences in the usage of many words) that some consider specific to a particular area are actually much older and once-common usages that have fallen out of use in some places but have remained consistent in others. Newfoundlanders have held on to many of those older usages/contexts, and for some reason, so did my parents, especially my Mom. Maybe it was growing up in a tiny West Texas town or having Irish immigrant grandparents, or maybe she just held onto a lot of old-fashioned expressions from "back home" to make living in Southern California a bit more bearable; whatever the reason, she did hold on and she passed them on to me, which has wound up being something beneficial to me in terms of helping me understand a bit better what it is some people are really saying. But it is a far cry from that point to trying to sound like someone you are not, so no chance at all of my telling you to Fuck Off for saying how you react to that.
Sorry to go on and on about that...I do love the quirks and tweaks of language.
OK, on to Megaupload. I am not at all clear why it is you can't download the videos. I know some in Europe can't work at all with Megaupload (server issues, as best as I can tell), but I thought all North Americans could.
It would be really helpful if you told me exactly what happens when you click a video link. Does a window open? Is the video link there but you can't get it to download? Do the downloads start but stop before finishing? Can you download them but they will not play?
One generic bit of advice is that some people cannot seem to download at all from Megaupload if they are using Internet Explorer as their browser. I don't understand why that is, but some have told me that once they downloaded Firefox (free download, just Google Mozilla Firefox browser), it worked fine for them. So if you have only tried to use Megaupload in IE, maybe try Firefox to see if it works there.
If it is a matter of being able to download but not being able to play videos, nearly all of the videos I have up here play in Quicktime (another free download, just google Apple Quicktime) because that's how my camera records them. If you don't have QT, then they won't play.
Of course, no way does any of this downloading work if you're on dialup, except maybe for the smallest files. The irony is that I can't download (or upload) my own videos when I am at home, because all I have is dialup here. Thank God for helpful friends with high speed.
Those are just the basics, Sherida. As I said, it would really help to know exactly what happens when you click on a download link. Megaupload is supposed to be universally available to Americans and Canadians (though sometimes you get the Not Available message because of busy servers and have to keep trying), and if that isn't happening, I'd like to take the matter to them, once I understand for myself what's going on.
I don't know...I have had a lot of people say they'd rather I YouTube videos so they don't have to download them at all. I really don't like YouTube very much, but maybe I should consider it as a backup option for people who can't see them any other way.
That has to be very hard not being able to go home any more often than that, though I suppose it does make it extremely special when you do get to do it. Do you usually go home for Christmas when you go back?
There's not really much of a secret to travelling, not to my travelling at least. Yes, I can take work with me when I travel and on occasion I even do that work, and as is true with most things in life, paying the costs of "A" means not paying to do/have "B". I am really lucky in that I have a very good friend I stay with in St. John's (which just might be the only major N. American city in which I have never stayed in a hotel) and a husband who has an impressive amount of patience and understanding, most of the time. Poor man has been waiting forever for me to write my book,and I had to tell him in early 2005 that what I already had half-written was worthless because I had my head up my ass (or arse, both work equally well) and did not understand what I was trying to write about. Now it is 2008 and I look at the current half-written book and keep my fingers tightly crossed, hoping my head is finally where it should be.
I'm very glad to hear you not only enjoy what I write about shows but that you appreciate my sometimes-bumbling attempts at being honest and even a bit balanced. It is a challenge, partly because of that dominant "Say only good things" principle that does indeed permeate GBS-dom, and maybe even more because I really do like these guys and want them to get everything they want, success and happiness and satisfaction, you name it. I'm about as far removed from a disinterested, objective observer as it's possible to be, and for the longest time, I was more or less an adherent of that same "Say only good things" philosophy because I had it all tangled up with being loyal and supportive and with caring.
That attitude changed after a conversation with Alan some time ago about writing about shows in general and about shitty shows in particular; at one point I said I did not write about shitty shows and Alan countered with how problematic that was. That was when it finally hit me that if you Love Absolutely Everything - or if you only write about that which you Absolutely Love - then what that does is make your assessments essentially meaningless.
Which really pissed me off at the time because there were also those things I did not Absolutely Love - there have been times I'd quite cheerfully have kicked them in their collective and/or individual arses, and I know for sure the feeling has at times been mutual - mixed in with the things I really, truly did Absolutely Love, but I (reluctantly) faced up to the truth that until I found the backbone and the honesty to write about those other things, as well as the tact and kindness needed to go along with that backbone and honesty, I had only myself to blame if someone shrugged off whatever I wrote with a dismissive "Oh, that's Lynda's...she loved it, like always". The same review for the past year and a half. Touche.
So I tried to change, am still trying to change. It's really hard to be honestly balanced sometimes, hard for me mostly because of the caring, but hard for others for different reasons too, I think. There is such a turbulent, ugly history on the OKP and I think many people do not want to be the ones who are perceived as trying to start the same old shit up again, that and it's pretty clear the gbs.com admins prefer that things to stay on the level of Happy Talk, understandably enough in terms of how that makes their own jobs much easier to do.
And for all that Bob might say in his journal that the conversation there can go wherever it goes so long as family privacy is protected, it's also pretty clear that the band members themselves don't want their official site being any kind of nuisance to them, no complaining to management about what this or that person is saying.
Peace at any price, and part of that price is an absence of much that passes for intelligent interaction, especially any kind of exchange of thoughtful opinion, most of all so when it comes to talking about the band members themselves, as well as about what they have created. It doesn't mean there are not intelligent, articulate people who frequent the site, only that those who are that way rarely let that part of themselves show publicly there.
It seems a bloody shame to me, even if perhaps it's also a necessary evil. But at the end of the day, if there were any real desire for intelligent, opinionated conversation among a sizeable number of GBS fans, I think by now somebody would have started up an alternate site for that. The fact that this has not happened tells me that there is more of a pressure against doing it - part of that pressure being a fear of being disapproved of by the band members, I think - than to do it.
Or it could just be that others think the same way I do...based on my own experiences, I would rather be poked repeatedly in the eye with a sharp stick than be responsible for any message board comprised of GBS fans who felt free to "express" themselves, especially if that board were left wide open for any and all to join. Perhaps in time enough new fans who are unburdened (and undamaged) by that same past history I've experienced will come along and things will change, either on the OKP or on some alternate site yet to be established. One can always hope. They are certainly artists whose work merits intelligent discussion and a thoughtful exchange of opinions, and it would be wonderful to see that happening.
I think there's yet another reason for the "Say Only Good Things" attitude, also for the ubiquitous "It Was The Most Wonderful Show Ever" reaction: It's what a lot of people seek from their GBS experience. There's a large number of fans who come to GBS as an escape, a happy place of refuge and respite from a lot of things they do not like in their "Real Lives," and that orientation is not one that lends itself to much of an analytical perspective - it is not at all what many come in the door looking for or wanting. GBSLand is "supposed" to be Fun and Cheerful and Carefree, not a place of deep thoughts or well-argued opinions. There are those who do not considered this fitting for the Newfie Party Band, those who fear such an approach will somehow impinge on their happy fun time...though I am hoping the increased depth and thoughtfulness expressed on the new CD might attract additional numbers of those who come in looking more for reality than for an escape from reality.
For those who do not come in with balance in their own perspective/desires, it's not much of a surprise that they will be equally uninterested in a balanced assessment of the men and their music. And, to be fair, it is much easier to approach that kind of a balance when you have the chance to see a shitload of shows, a combination of familiarity and comparison.
Of course, that last point doesn't really apply to how one perceives a CD, which can be listened to and reacted to as many times as you choose to play it. But the prior point - what you come into the experience looking for from the band - is still pertinent. Especially among the very first purchasers of any CD - usually the biggest diehards who get it as soon as they possibly can - there is going to be a large percentage of those who love it largely because they want so badly to love it, along with those who are keenly disappointed because they find they don't love it as much as they wanted to. First-purchasers' opinions are always going to be among the most intense (and often the most polarised) opinions of all.
And this CD really is a departure for them, which means there will be some who love it even more because the departure is in a direction they like and approve of and some who will love it way less for the opposite reason. When The Hard & The Easy first came out, I did not love it overall, only a few tunes on it. It took me a long time and a lot of listens for it to find its own place in my heart. It really wasn't until I listened to TH&TE almost non-stop during a trip we took up and around the Northern Peninsula that I fully embraced that music. Context, as Bob would almost surely say.
My (unsolicited, I know) advice to you is for you to do the same, to keep listening to it, that is. I honestly believe this new CD has far more virtues to recommend it than it has flaws that work against it. Yes, there are flaws, some of them objective sorts of things (lyric lines that do not make grammatical sense, cadence and word choice issues that could have been smoothed out and polished if more time had been spent writing some of the tunes, etc.) and some of those "flaws" are purely subjective matters of my own personal taste (instrument choices for lead solos I would have made differently, vocal delivery styles I don't think go very well with the sense of a particular song, and, yeah, there is that bridge). There are always going to be flaws, objective and perceived, in any work of art - it is part of what makes a work of art a living entity that we choose to love (or not) based on the unique combination of its strong points and its weak points. I find Fortune's Favour well worth loving, when all virtues and flaws are taken into account.
Most of all, I am so proud of them for taking chances and risks and continuing to push themselves and grow, for not settling and taking the safe and easy path of living off their own past by recreating it all over again every few years. The GBS of Fortune's Favour is the GBS I believe in, the GBS who has my loyalty and support and affection. This is the GBS I think is wonderful, even and including those times when I might also feel inclined to kick them in the arse.
As I recall, the Aladdin is one of those GA-seated venues that has a rather large standing area in front of the first row of seats, along with a tradition of those in the back seats moving up closer to the front once GBS takes the stage. I've found that very few Newfoundlanders will stand in line all day for GBS, and they usually do wind up in the shitty seats in the back (actually, the same is true these days with the reserved-seat shows since Newfoundlanders seem rarely to take part in the presales). But they do not always stay in those shitty seats. I hope I do see you there. I'll restrain myself from saying that would be grand.
Do let me know the specifics of your Megaupload problem too, Sherida. I am sure we can get this to work out somehow.
Laura, I will say flat-out that Alan has the most beautiful hands I have seen on any man, if I do not count Michelangelo's statue of David as a man, that is. One of my chief pleasures at GBS shows - very nearly the chief pleasure of all the many to be found there - is to watch Alan watching his own hands as he plays, the way he looks at them as if he were marvelling just as much as I am at how deft and capable those hands are. Most definitely the embodiment of my own personal definition of "hawt". And Sean really does sing like an angel...I will certainly grant you that.
I read the latest Tail, and I can understand your question and concern. That does come across as rather a downer, doesn't it? I guess I could argue that what Sean's doing is continuing to establish and develop the voice and persona of his alter-ego (after all, isn't part of the irresistible appeal of a beagle's eyes to be found in the mournful moroseness to be seen in them?), but that would be a bit disingenuous of me, I suppose. If I go with saying Sean's using the Tosh persona for self-expression in other entries, not very consistent of me to back off from that every time he has Tosh say something that's somewhat disconcerting.
Personally, I have few objections with the notion of all the trouble unrealistically high expectations can get any of us into. What Sean's got Tosh saying at the outset is a very pragmatic attitude, one quite consistent with how a lot of Newfoundlanders feel too. Tosh is being true enough to his roots with that part of it.
What's a bit unsettling is that idea of being unremarkably content with one's mediocrity. Actually, what I suspect Sean needs here is that much-desired-by-me sarcasm font, because personally I believe that's his intent. I get the impression that Sean's got Tosh saying something that he himself hears being said a lot, and, frankly, where that "aim low" attitude that Tosh is espousing most often takes its adherents is indeed smack dab into that unremarkable contentment in their own mediocrity. And the way many deal with that inevitable result is to escape from their less-than-satisfying self-chosen unremarkable contentment by periodically dousing themselves in rum.
So I am going with this Tail being an ironic, mocking piece - a satirical piece in which the writer is lambasting those who think along the same lines he is causing his alter-ego to espouse - though it is clearly not being seen by some others that way. And of course they could be right and I could be dead wrong in how I am reading it.
I feel much more competent talking about Alan's hawt hands than I do explicating Sean's authorial intent, I must say. Safer too.
Kathy, I agree the shows this autumn are going to be wonderful. Enjoy the CD and have a great time seeing them live.
Darce, you're welcome for the use of the soapbox, such as it is. No, I'm not offended by your American preponderance theory (it really takes a hell of a lot to offend me, unless it is a matter of someone being mean to somebody I care about, in which case it takes damn little); I'm not sure I agree with it, but I am certainly not offended by it.
While some of the behaviour that gets associated with Americans is in fact common enough, there's still the danger of falling too much into stereotypes. I have certainly known Americans who are polite and self-effacing, just as much as I have known Canadians who are pushy and greedy. That said, I will agree that in general - with the usual caveats in place against over-generalising - the attitude toward "celebrity" is fundamentally different in the States from what it is in Canada. I have indeed seen some of those differences in attitude playing out among fans from either country, though I think I'd argue further that there are a lot of times that those different methods of behaviour and even the different attitudes are still working toward the same goals and are still motivated by the same impulses.
My first inclination is to agree with you about the unadulterated self-absorption in the forefront lately, the decreased amount of lip service to it being about anything more than that as well. But on second thought, I am less sure. When I look back at how things were when I first came along, yes, it does seem as if they were somewhat more innocent then, but the fact remains that I was somewhat more innocent then too, and I am not sure if perhaps it was actually the same then as it is now and I just did not realise it because of that innocence. I know your own fan experiences go back quite a bit further than my own, so I will leave it to you to decide for yourself if your own perspective might also be coloured by a certain measure of Innocence Lost. All of which makes me wonder about the perspectives and long-lost innocence of the men who live in the target-hairs.
At the end of the day, I suspect that the ratio of types of people - the good and the kind to the greedy and the selfish - has probably remained fairly consistent over the years, regardless of any alterations - real or perceived - in manner of expression or outward behaviour or even country of origin. Though I can certainly leave room for my being completely wrong in that opinion. There's always room for that.
I have gotten to the point where when someone says to me that something sucks or something should not be the way it is, I automatically add in an "in my opinion" to what they are saying. While I think there really are some who believe there is no substantive difference between what they think and How Things Really Are, in most instances I think it's more a matter of a lack of tactful communication skills combined with the passion of the moment. A different matter altogether if someone hauls off and says "I hate it and anyone who likes it is stupid". That kind of person is fair game for the dismantling, should anyone have the time/energy to invest in such an undertaking, though I tend to see that kind of person more as being stuck emotionally at the maturity level of a nine or ten year old and thus simply shrug off whatever it was they said as not being worth that investment of time or energy. "You're stupid!"..."No, you're the stupid one!"..."No, you are!" is not at all my definition of intelligent conversation or thought-provoking debate.
Mary, I don't know how you have handled all you have with your family and done it all so well. You have taken a few of your own walks on the moon, with more to come, I am guessing. I can't imagine dealing with a nine year old right now, let alone a two year old, though I do believe that for the most part, we are exactly as old as we think we are. I have known 22 year olds who are 40. And 40 year olds who are 22. Alan might turn 40 on this tour, but he will still be that sweet and dear (and maddening) 14 year old at the same time. Always.
More and more I am of the mind that whatever people walk away with from the shows, so long as it does no damage to the men on stage and does not interfere with the pleasure and enjoyment of other show-goers, is good enough for me. I am finding it to be a very refreshing point of view.
I hope you have a great summer too. You know, I don't think I have ever been to Winnipeg in the summer. I am so hoping they do Winnipeg toward the end of next spring's tour. I would love to be there when the weather is nice.
Again, thank you all for the comments. You make this all so much more interesting for me, and I am sure for those who read here too.
Posted by: lynda | 05 July 2008 at 08:36 PM
Hi Lynda-
I was crabby when I wrote you this morning about the whole use of 'grand'. I do apologize. Maybe it had to do with my 70 pound dog leaning against me all night panting and whining while my neighbors enjoyed 8 hours worth of fireworks; my neighborhood was a bottle rocket war zone.
Actually, I did have a taste of what you are talking about, because I was talking to a Kiwi friend of mine, and he told me that his daughter was being a 'crooked little sook'. I forget sometimes that it is quite common for expressions that I think are only Newfoundland expressions to be common to, well, any Commonwealth, former Commonwealth or any country where the Queen is on the money.
It's hard NOT to pick up a Newfoundland accent or Newfoundland expressions. My sister and I laughed at my California born brother-in-law, who recently announced that the peaches she bought at Safeway were "some good". And I adopted the use of "Uff Da" when I lived in Seattle because all of my neighbors (in Ballard) used it. I didn't even realize that it was a Norwegian expression....I thought it was a Pacific Northwest thing. So again, I beg your pardon. And I do agree with you with the use of "B'ys" on the GBS message board. To me, it's the equivalent of calling The Beatles "blokes" constantly if there had been message boards around in their day.
Okay, regarding Mega Upload: When I try to download something, it comes to a screen with a bunch of pretty ladies that are looking for dates in Portland. It says the name of the snippet that I'm wanting to download, and then it says that if I have the Free membership, it will take 44 seconds to download, so I click on that, and then, well, nothing. It doesn't download. So I guess my question is, do I have to be a Mega Upload Premium member to do downloads? I use Firefox almost exclusively, because I'm on a Mac, so that's not the issue. I guess I'll live without seeing the clips, but I'd be less jealous of you if I could see them. I'd love it if you posted on You Tube, but I've grown to understand that it's not all about me. :)
About the album comments: I think you are right about it the listening and re-listening process. I did the same thing with the 'Hard and the Easy'. I have the feeling it will grow on me, and I do love "England" and "Gallows Pole" already. I'm just not feeling any of the rest of it. Yet.
The last thing I'll say about OKP is that it is very narrow but vocal slice of the fan base. I hope that the band members know that some of their fans swear, smoke pot, get laid, listen to all genres of music, and are not obsessed with them.
I do not usually make such long posts, but you were kind enough to personally answer me, so I respond in kind.
Cheers, Sherida
Posted by: Sherida | 06 July 2008 at 01:10 AM
I don't know if it's what Seannie meant to say but I like your interpretation. Yeh the medicority part didn't sit well on first read but if it's satire on people who do that then I get it. Christ almighty it sounds lame when they answer back to Tosh in doggie talk doesn't it? :P
There's wrinkles and crinkles in FF but you said it.....that's how it always is and the good parts outweigh the rough parts by a mile. (IMO, LOL!)
I don't believe dumb & happy is a neccessary evil for GBS talk. It's not that way for other bands who have a lot of nutty fans too so I don't see why it's got to be this way for GBS. The more they do songs (especially at shows) that are about something other than escape and emotional highs the more they'll get fans who bring their brains to the table too. Ya gotta have hope, right? ;)
L.
Posted by: Laura | 06 July 2008 at 12:18 PM
While some of the tracks are among the best they've done, over all the new album's still taking some time to get used to. It's not like them and still them, if you know what I mean. I'd rather this than they do Mari Mac til they're old codgers. It's a good time for taking chances and risks.
Posted by: Roger | 06 July 2008 at 08:05 PM
I know exactly what you mean, Roger, and I agree wholeheartedly. It's a very good time for chances and risks.
Laura, as I said, it's only my interpretation. And though I'm not much for attempted chitchat with fictive personae, no worries on my part if that's how some choose to respond on Sean's blog. After all, there are an infinite number of way to sound lame; at least I never seem to run out of new avenues of that form of expression.
There's always room and reason for hope. Always.
Sherida, there's absolutely no reason for you to feel any need to apologise. You brought up a valid point, not crabby at all to my way of seeing it. I feel sorry for what your dog went through, though; we live in Bottle Rocket Land too (I pulled nearly twenty of the little bastards out of my roof one particularly bad 4th) and my cats are terrorised by the chaos every year. I know it's even worse for dogs. I like professional fireworks shows well enough, but I'd sure love to see personal fireworks gotten rid of once and for all.
I have gotten the raised eyebrow at home over that use of "some" too. I slip back into it again about 10 minutes after landing in St. John's every time. I adjust back again at home, or try to, but I am dead set in continuance of the Newfoundland connotation of "stunned". Not letting go of that one, no matter where I happen to be at the present moment.
Hah - Ballard, eh? Oh yes, plenty of "Uff Da"'s to be heard there; I'm married to a fellow who's half Norwegian, but even he'd never heard that being used casually until we moved up here.
I thought "sook" was specific to Newfoundland too - never heard it used when I was in Australia, though I did hear an entire language's worth of new-to-me words being used there, different meanings for some familiar words too. I'm still a bit wary of talking about which team I "root" for.
Good comparison with "b'ys" and "blokes" - same as using "mate" when talking about/to Aussies. Clearly, plenty are comfortable using it as if it were their word too, and I'm sure many locals either don't mind or shrug it off as inescapable. "B'y" does slip out of my mouth on occasion after the second or third pint, or when I am feeling particularly affectionate (most so when both circumstances are occurring simultaneously), which seems to be the only time I pronounce it correctly anyway. But when I am more conscious about what I am saying/writing, I prefer to cede the word to those to whom it belongs.
If you are saying you do get the 45-second countdown to happen on Megaupload, but the countdown ends and you click on the Free Download box nothing happens (what is supposed to happen is that the box that asks you if you want to open or save this file opens up at that point)...then I have two guesses (and, sadly, they are only guesses since I am basically a cyber-idiot) as to the reason.
First guess is that the trouble is related to a pop-up blocker and this is why the Save/Open browser box isn't showing for you. Second guess is that there is a firewall issue (security set high, perhaps) that prevents you from downloading. But with either one of these, it seems that would mean you have trouble downloading other files too, not only Megaupload files.
Beyond that, I am not sure. I normally use a Download Manager (IDM is the one I use) to help me with such matters - it's not free and I do not know how well it works with the Mac. Actually, I know very little about how a Mac downloads at all. But I do know people who read here who have successfully downloaded these video files onto their Macs. One of the nice things about the videos being in Quicktime is that they apparently work well with Macs (and ipods).
Beyond these paltry suggestions, I don't know what else to say that might help, but if anybody else who reads this has a clue, their suggestions would be most welcome. I really am still pondering YouTube too; right now one big problem is that there is apparently no way to upload vertical videos without them playing on their sides. Not crazy about that idea. But still considering.
I have that exact same hope as you do in regard to what the band members know about their fans. Add in hoping they know they have fans who see them as fellow human beings and like them that way and it pretty much covers all the bases.
If you get a chance, maybe let me know if either the pop-up or the firewall suggestion possibly did you any good at all? And if anybody suggests something more, I'll be sure to send you that suggestion via email.
Posted by: lynda | 08 July 2008 at 10:14 AM
Uff da! Of a Pacific Northwest origin? Sherida, you inadvertently provided us with a good laugh. As a Minnesotan born and bred just down the road from Lake Wobegon, amongst the Swedes and Norwegians, I can attest that 'uff da' and 'smorgasbord' are part of my native language.
Anyway, you folks would probably enjoy reading Robert MacNeil's "Do you speak American?" (also a PBS video.
Now back to our regularly scheduled GBS programming...
cheers,
Barb
Posted by: Barb in Minn. | 09 July 2008 at 06:40 PM