Musicians and politicians: part one

Well, this has been a tremendous week to say the least. It all started on Tuesday with the much-anticipated Foo Fighters/Bob Dylan show, and for that, I owe thanks not only to Tara for getting the tickets and driving, but also to April, Brandon, and especially Tonezone for holding it down on a solid News section. Unfortunately, after a rather difficult time finding Skillz and less than stellar traffic flow, we arrived at the end of Marigold, the second song in the Foo's acoustic set; it's a song written and sung by Grohl, but released on a Nirvana album - I want to say the greatest hits box set or something.

Anyway, our truancy notwithstanding, Grohl continues to blow my mind. This was my third time seeing them, after the Molson Ampitheatre show last summer and their July 7, 2003 set at Arrow Hall (I remember when I'd only been to 15 or 16 shows and I could recite them all by chronological date - oh, to be that cool again). It was interesting because they played a lot of the lesser known tracks (See You, Next Year, Another Round), as well as a new track called Skin & Bones - awesome, quiet start, but building - and of course, some of the absolute favourites, like Best of You and Everlong. They also did Cold Day in the Sun, which is the song that drummer Taylor Hawkins sings - I'm fairly convinced this dude, who put on a pretty mindboggling display with a triple-crossover drum solo, is Grohl, just a decade behind. I shall definitely have to check out his side project.

But yes, Grohl = God. His stage presence is tremendous, and Skillman, Bri, and I were all in stitches as he explained that he's allowed to curse incessantly because his mom's an English teacher and his dad was a speech-writer, and as such, he's articulate. It was also interesting to ponder the notion of Grohl having a past before Nirvana, and to contrast what sounds thus far like a fairly normal upbringing with the absolute mindfuck of reading about Cobain's twisted childhood in Heavier Than Heaven, a tremendous novel by the insanely-skilled Charles Cross. Anyway, yes - does anyone know of a performer they think could rival Grohl for his stage presence, setting aside your thoughts about the Foo's music? And what makes a good performer, for that matter?

Well, if it's crowd interaction, Bobby D is very low on the list. As I think is perhaps a little more common amongst the aged rockers, crowd interaction was almost nil in the icon's hour and 45 minutes on stage. Frankly, I enjoyed the set. He played more of the songs that I wanted to hear than I could have hoped for, including Tangled Up In Blue, Masters of War, It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) and, perhaps my favourite, Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. The encore also included Like A Rolling Stone and All Along The Watchtower (though Skillman assured me that Hendrix's version is far superior). Basically, had he replaced some of the initial songs with Hurricane and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, I would've suspected he'd geared the set list directly at me.

Now, I would say all my friends were less impressed than me (though my brother liked it, and I have yet to hear the analysis of Mr. Joseph Turcotte). I think their expectations were too high. While I would've liked to see some of the classic Dylan tracks performed in a more stripped-down light with less backing instrumentation, he didn't do too bad. Sure, his voice sucked, but it was never that good to begin with. Do we take it for what it was, or is it fair of us to expect more from a man who has gone through serious drug usage and is in his '60s? Should artists past their prime even be performing? Is it doing a favour to a younger audience by affording them an opportunity to see them, or is it simply tainting a legacy? I found it interesting that Scorsese's documentary paid no attention to Dylan's career beyond the 60s. It almost seemed to me to be an implicit commentary that the years that have followed aren't as crucial to the Dylan legacy. Thoughts?

This post is getting too long. I'm going to break now and Bill Clinton, Jurassic 5 and Adrienne Clarkson will be relegated to another post.

Slave to aphorisms

At Pinchy's request, and because I'm neither tired nor motivated, here goes.

This evening, I was watching No Direction Home, Scorsese's lengthy Dylan documentary (three days!) and there were two points in the movie where Dylan said something that caused me to look around and grab a pen and scribble down what he had to say.

"An artist has got to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he's somewhere. You always have to realize that you're constantly in a state of becoming."

"You can't be wise and in love at the same time."

There's just something about aphorisms that really fascinate me, and I don't know why. Is it something about the writer in me? The hopeless romantic?

“The future belongs to those that believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

As a self-described hopeless romantic, it's hard not to get excited about that phrase. I seem to have this consuming desire to sum up life in all its complexities with a few choice words. Ironically, the only other person I know that shares this overwhelming desire is Adrian Ma, also the only man I know who rivals me in my verbosity.

But these phrases can elucidate so much. They can make sense of seemingly irrational feelings of possession.

“There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.” - Oscar Wilde (the king of aphorisms and, not coincidentally, I'm sure, my favourite author)

They can comfort and amuse me when I feel like I'm trying to carry too many of my friends' burdens for them.

“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa

They can even lend a shred of credibility to my hatred of sleep.

“Sleep - those little slices of death, how I loathe them.” - Edgar Allen Poe

Perhaps it's the idea that anyone, regardless of the rest of their experience and whatever they may do, can have a brief moment of lucid understanding where they see vividly some profound truth (granted, the Teresa and Poe ones there are not so much profound as clever or relatable), and leave an apt summation to the world. I have a seven-page list of quotes on my computer, and they're not all from Wilde and Poe.

“Tomorrow is wonderful with a question mark, but yesterday will always be magnificent with an exclamation point. We worked very hard to always have enough fun to make sure this would forever be true.” - Mark Ciesluk

Chalk that one up to my current nostalgia for a few years ago when my less lofty ambition allowed me to see more of my friends, but I think there's something profound in there.

So, who wants to solve this one for me?

On another note, this week holds Foo Fighters, Bob Dylan, Bill Clinton, and Jurassic 5, so my list of aphorisms could grow.