2010 Winter Olympic Games

Feb 23, 2010 - Travel Day.

So another RCRF ! Termed one day long ago with some American friends in my travels as The Royal Canadian Rat Fuck. It has become a quite regularly expected event in my journeys.  Yet I have developed affection for the RCRF.  Why would I have affection for a Rat Fuck? because whatever that is – it doesn’t sound very nice does it.  Yet the RCRF brings me moments of clarity, thought and pause. All things that more people need to have when travelling.

Here I go..as I sit beside a Timmy’s ( which im pretty sure are in every terminal in every airport across the country now days) overcome with the aroma synonymous with Canada, helping with my Olympic spirit !  I can see the woman and her man slave across the way that I was just lucky enough to experience her rath. Firstly the situation - basically due to weather and lack of crew I got bumped  but my luggage didn’t.  Inconvenient sure, worth losing my shit over like this outrageously rude bitch across the way from me – no chance.  It baffles me how people get so bent over travel delays.  Travelling is a privilege not a right I always say and when the rude and ugly shows its face it just makes me laugh at this point. Sometimes I wanna get into it with these people.  On the poor flight staff’s behalf, because they cant. They have to stand there and take all the shit from these jerks who think they are royalty who should be treated as such  (natallie & jeff – westjet)  The result usually works in my favour due to my laid back attitude. Getting put on the very next available Direct flight – twice the fare I paid and being put in a emergency exit window seat, combined with Jeff telling me im a laid back cool dude and Natallie going the extra effort and finding out exactly where my bag will be and how it will get delivered to me. Meanwhile snaggletooth and her choke chained man servant get the least amount of respect and care available.  People need to chill the fuck out ! Regardless of plans you have or appointments missed. Your still getting there hours before game time.  Granted some staff can become overwhelmed and push some buttons back on customers making a bad situation worse. Which I believe is what happened in this case.  But all too often I see people lose there shit for no other reason than they think there entitled to special care.

The delay brings me to my initial anger of what made me sit, take a breath and write about this subject.  Extra time in an airport usually means 1 thing to me – where’s the bar !?  Well sometimes like this one – its 6am and even if it was open that’s a lil too early even for me. Well maybe not, but with the week I have ahead of me, I’m in no hurry to start drinking.  So with no bar, the shops are next.  Olympic fever is everywhere and its awesome !  Im wearing my jersey proudly. Regardless of our loss to the yanks, today’s elimination game against the krauts and then next the Russians if things go our way, only demand that I wear my jersey while I travel today.  I got the spirit  and some time to kill so im gonna check out the Olympic merch.  The Offical Merch – no knock off shit on my dime !  Well whats the fucking difference these days really ! I am so worked up and disappointed in our country – and im sure the world – as ALL official Olympic merchandise is made in China ! My first tweek to the testys was that my official nike mens hockey team Canada jersey was ordered direct and shipped/manufactured in China.  Then with curiosity comes me looking into all the official merch and low and behold – it looks like all of it comes from China.

I am not sure if Its true when I say we have nothing but ourselves to blame in this such case, as there’s no other alternative.  We have no clothing manufacturing in this country anymore.  In a world of outsourcing finding something that  is home grown these days is but a memory.  I find crazy irony when I see the masses on Robsons street, and the sea’s of red in the arena’s, stands, streets all over B.C. and  the entire country for that matter.  Cheering on our athletes, standing tall with our national pride in check !  When in fact of it all, were all wearing and supporting China !!

I don’t pretend to have the answers. Im just another asshole complaining about the shit in our world.  Actually im kinda the next level asshole because I so clearly see the problems and issues and yet I do nothing but bitch about it.

Time for flight ! Check my grumpyness in baggage ! GO CANADA GO !!

Feb 25, 2010

Well i dont feel 40 ! Thats the key i am pretty sure.  Day 1 for me was a pretty nice start. Hookin up with my old bud Vic to catch one of the biggest games we'll ever face. Canada vs. Russian did not dissapoint.  My First experience with new peeps.  A nice thing about my travel spirit is when im in the zone - i got no probs sittin down at a table of strangers, minus 1 usually.  Its how it should be.  I have many groups of friends who dont really meet new people. They get older, have their group - which is awesome ! but the new contingent doesnt happen or happens less frequent thats for sure.  I could be going the wrong way i sometimes think as i spread my shit pretty thin and doesnt seem like i am fully in with any 1 group.  I dont beat myself up about it, life is pretty fucking good on my planet, yet the planet might not be so fun and loving down the stretch,,,baaaaa this piece is about celebration so fuck all that phsycology i say.  My new table of strangers are friends in-side of the first period as this place is going off.  If you werent here then you cant understand how every bar, every restauraunt, every living room in this city is line-up city ! Im not one for lines anymore i used to think anyway. Well i discovered maybe i am when the mood strikes me.  Awesome game with these friendly peeps. Upon victory its time to make our olympic way to some music as Damien Marley playing the stage.  A 40th birthday win over the russians and a vip enterance pass into a Damien Marley show complete with Fireworxs ! Pretty sure i have zero to complain about ! EVER ! but hey im a canadian so im sure i'll find something !

Today is womens gold medal hockey vs. usa then a front row knaan birth day show :) lifes pretty kick ass !

Mar 2, 2010

Well i missed a few days to post as i jump to present sitting in the awesome YVR ! This airport really is what i wish YYZ was and hope to be some day. So many kick ass things about it im not gonna get into it - it would take to long. But my view right now is pretty nice, lets leave it there. So i'll back track best i can but no promises there will be continuity because that Gold Medal Sunday was a day to blow all days right out of the water.  We knew it coulda been and boy ohh boy was it !

Im sure im not the first to say i wish it was the olympics everyday.  The love felt in this city is like ive never experienced. I must have given best guess between 700-800 high fives and 200-300 hugs i figured. Not lame ones either - the full on loven life pssion kinda smack and grabs ! Complete strangers completely recipricated.

Mar 6th, 2010  cost of doin buisness. can i enter voice note recording here ?

JOHN BUTLER TRIO - TORONTO, FEB 2010

John Butler Trio – Wed, Feb 11, 2010 – The Mod Club, Toronto

Opening Act - Toby

The Mod is one of the best live music venues of it's size in Toronto, quite possibly the country based on my observations. I am almost certain with John's first sold out Canadian show - this is going to be a good night. I have not verified this fact its based on my edumacated guess.:) But when it comes to JBT, I got some skills, so based on those 2 facts needless to say I am looking forward to this show !

Chickened out on bringing in a camera. I wrestled with the decision all night. I need to ratify and tighten up my shit in this area.  But its hard to rock out and do the camera/media thing at the same time.  It almost seems like 1 or the other, and at this point, I am not ready for the other just yet. Not for this show anyway.

I have always been a big fan of a good opener as it sets the stage. The opener this night = Toby was my first nice surprise. I found out with some last minute research that one of the key band members to be someone I toured with extensively in Canada & Australia in the past. Someone who I also would consider a kick ass musician on a stand up and fretless bass. I was not aware of Toby’s music before but as an opener they were successful in getting me! A great voice this woman from Australia.  I don’t know much more than that right know but her presence was felt. She did a super Joplin cover of Bobby McGee, which ya don’t hear done well very often. Ya gotta have some balls to think your going to pull off Joplin successfully. I mean ya cant really do it like Janis but doing it in your own way and doing it well is the key. Well Toby has the female version of  testicles as she did it with grand applause. Great range on her voice and I am looking forward to checking out those sexy birds some more !

My main negative observation of a stiff crowd is the same one I am recognizing in many places these days, and its either negatively trending, or I am.  The crowd vibe was way stiff.  I wouldn’t say I am a Toronto hater, I dig the town.  I just can’t catch a break lately with a live music crowd here.  Your a bunch of uptight stick up the ass-clowns.  Unless you're pressed in the first few rows, very few are grooving out.  Peoples expression threw dance is just not evident in this city.  With special exception of very few spread around the venue, that usually don’t keep it up due to the feeling of  the uncomfortable judgy death stairs from surrounding statues. I do sometimes wonder If I am trending to one of those crazy hippie/tweeker dancers that I make fun of ?  

John Butler is a fun grooving kinda kat. His vibe is definitely something that must be danced too. Even just a little bit people!  I mean the guy plays a bad ass banjo for Christ sakes !  Who doesn’t like throwin down a banjo jig !?  If ya never have, I highly recommend that soul smiling exercise.  It changes your experience from a good night to a great night – I promise you !

John started off with a bit of a crowd buzz kill when he had to school some screaming young girls in the front row that were really giving it to him. He made some statements - nicely - but basically telling them to shut the hell up. He's a pro and did it at the right time and place and carried on un-fazed.

A little more than 25%  of the set list was new material of which only the single has been released as yet from their new joint "April Uprising" due early 2010. A nice long show of 18 or 19 tunes with some nice long jams and stage moments thrown in for an entertaining evening.

A crowd thrown harmonica lands on stage and Johnny lays it down ! A completely random baaaad ass horner jam ensues.  Maybe 45 seconds to a minute long I am guessing. I coulda used it twice as long and have it roll into a who knows what, but i am not a greedy man and i'll take what i can get.

During Better Than, one of his most commercially successful tunes to date, inspired some motivated gals  to jump on stage uncontested and conducted a “riverdance” style of jig.  It was appreciated by the band and crowd. Made we wanna be a little closer to the action as the fun level was rising.

I wondered how many of the crowd in attendance, what percentage, are even aware it’s a new trio? Almost everybody I talked to didn’t know. That shit bums me out a little but I suppose I just might have too much time on my hands, so I try to not let it get to me too much.  But I am excited mostly to see what this new trio is all about.  I had grown quite fond of  his old band mates, Shannon & Michael and sad to see them part ways for “artistic differences”. Which hopefully doesn’t mean money in this case. But I have my suspicions, as it usually does involve that shitty thing called Dolla’s.  

Bomba the drummer is John’s brother-in-law and has some history of playing in the trio. He is a heavy kat and I loved seeing him pound it live.  The soul is pretty clear also on the new bass Byron Luiters.  Byron is an unknown to me but these 2 dudes got the passion no question. Its clear the 2 of them and John have some chemistry. The mad Dr. Frankenstein kind of chemistry. I’ve been told Bomba has some of his own stuff that’s worth checking out, so I will be doing just that.

 I don’t know where my show count is these days but its high for John solo and his trio combined. I have toured internationally with this guy and his music, and it’s the heaviest I’ve yet to see/hear from him.  The show was successful for me as it got me super pumped to see a few more shows this summer. JBT has a few more sold out gigs in the states before returning home to the staple festys, then on to UK and Europe, just in time to get him back for some of the always busy summer festival circuit in the States. That's where these guys shine.  Bonnaroo in Manchester Tennessee will be a fan fave this year for these guys. Bet on it !

John's songs about life’s experiences and world issues, is of a poetry both musical and written that few are pulling off together. The consistency of a quality product is undeniable!  If ya haven’t read his lyrics then your missing out !  Just check out  lyrics to One Way Road and you’ll see that at 35 he’s as youthful as I remember him a decade ago and still getting better every tour.  I see big things on this blessed mans horizons and I am all aboard for the long haul !

Now’s time to be part of the solution raise your fist if you believe in revolution

Doesn’t mean I ain’t got no fight now just because I don’t got a gun
The lyrical is heavier than lead and this guitar is my canon
Just like Martin and Mahatma I’m gonna love I’m gonna over come

John Butler _ One Way Road

Links:

Opener: http://www.tobymusic.com.au/

JBT: http://www.johnbutlertrio.com/

Bomba:  http://www.myspace.com/nickybombasolo

Bonnaroo: http://www.bonnaroo.com/

Avatar is not a surprise.  It is yet another example of how were just going down the toilet. familiar story. were doing. indians and shit. graphics.

GZA in Barrie !!??

First thing comes to my mouth and im sad to say it but the security blew it on this night. I have high respect for security. More than most. They got a tuff job no question, especially with added pressure of an all ages, big name legend hip hop show! In Barrie !! No way do I wish that on any security force.

Dealing with drunken outta control high people! Mostly early twenty-somethings. Sheesh those dummies would put even the best of tempers in an edgy mood. I’ve been in that situation and as I said i respect security – right ? moving on !

Where they lost me last night, is the territory should be known going in and it should be acknowledged and prepared for. The good ones are. Several of the guys were not on this night and they got rattled. It happens.

I’ve been trying with Barrie for so long, honest I have been. But we just can’t seem to get our selves together on representing and giving good musicians the proper respect they deserve by showing up and showing up right. I think it’s just a matter of the law of averages really. Perhaps there’s just not enough population to provide enough of the crowd with the “right stuff”. I Feel a bit of a stuck up, old dick for saying it like that, but its truth. I have paid dues internationally, in all types of crowds, and as far as I can tell - its truth ! I have no interest in speaking anything less than what I observe.

Some of you unfortunate dumb asses got your shit way too loose and you got under the skin of the security tonight, and the bomb just went off. A couple of good fights in the crowd that continued all the way out the door and outside. That’s going to light the fuse of security every time. I witnessed a couple of guys get deservingly beat down real hard.

By near the end of evening it was too late to recover. 50-60% of you shouldn’t have been tossed Id say. It didn’t seem they had a Cooler on staff, and thusly a lotta good people who are causing no harm, just enjoying themselves, do suffer the Un-cooled, over tweaked, over ego’d staff.

We in Barrie did in-deed get a treat with a visit from the GZA. Hats off props to Liquid Chrome for makin it happen. They are really making a great go of bringing some heat to town. Much of the crowd represented well and enjoyed the hell out of the talents on that stage. I am not a fan of seeing all the other people on stage that don’t really need or belong up there. There’s a time to be seen and I have never been a fan of seeing others than the artists on the stage, but that’s just me, and regardless - We all respected, we appreciated and we got our mutha fuckin W’s way up in the air. It was a great show.

My small disappointments that it should have been sold out in advance, and too many of you were fucked up Dbags, with drunkn high ass bitches in your crew. You messed things up for a lot of people around you that didn’t deserve it. To those people I got nuthin and can only apologise to the others for the ignorance of the few. You know, they know, not what they do. They don’t care and they will tell you so most of the time. Basically people not being able to keep there shit tight were in numbers on this night.

But for the rest of us…! They make us look good and Shhh Shhhhit ! GZA was in Barrie in a small club, small crowd, and he was in the house bringing the heat ! Yes im a white cracker, up yours ! ;)Choclair made a big impression on me before GZA even got there. Wasn’t expecting that but he got me right in the mood. As did the dj. I don’t pretend to be an expert and im unaware of who D-sisive is or the dj on set breaks, nor the host dude on mic doing intro’s, but all you people as well as the behind the scenes peeps clearly did a solid job from what I observed.

Advanced Set times were pretty far off but that was to be expected on a night of bad weather and with a line-up of rap/hip hop friends, that’s kinda what you would expect anyway. It went much later though and I think they lost many people due to work/school night show.

I loved seeing the after show stage fan love. GZA stuck around signing autographs, posing for pics, doing the fan thing for a lot longer than I sure would have expected. He didn’t/doesn’t need to do that. But it’s sure nice to see when guys do. He stuck around longer than I did.

I hit the streets for a walk to finish my night and witness the rest of the downtown debauchery. Always entertaining walking the Dunlop strip. Fights outside of every establishment, people on there face on the frozen ground, lots of cops, drunkn arrests, assaults from men and women, pretty much your average Friday 2 am downtown Barrie.

All be it you do entertain me, I’d prefer you stay home and ufc yourself in your own basement. I see more harm than good come from you In public.

Clean it up dickbags ! Your making the good people stay home, or travel outside of Barrie.

… Actually..hmmm..I do love to travel – never mind then, as you were.

Yet This all comes from a clown who gets thrown outta the Random Ranch for drunk & disorderly, so I am aware of a grand thing called hypocrisy. But it was Halloween and i was in costume, so my excuse is a good one ! :)