I Was There, Part 6 of ?

This was the first time I saw Pat Metheny. I'd been a fan for so long before this show and it's been so long since then that it's hard for me to believe that there was a time that I hadn't seen him. I mean, I had seen Dizzy Gillespie play my high school years before - a fluke of luck booking for the concert series that usually catered to the blue rinse crowd. But PM was probably the first jazz musician I remember being an actual fan of, partly because my dad would always play American Garage when we had dinner guests and I remember they did a lot of entertaining back then. I had just moved to Montreal back then to start a stint as a fill-in reporter for RCI. My dad had helped me move up, right in the middle of the jazz festival, and Pat (yah, like we're on a first-name basis) was playing that night. But that's not really the story. The real story is that it's one helluva walk from Place des Arts to Club Soda. Like along the highway, through an overpass, "where the hell are we going?" kind of walk. Damn near missed the show and jeez, were we pissed at the guy who sold us the tickets, seeing as Montreal has subways and all. It's still not much of a story, granted, so apologies for those of you who've stuck it out this long  and were hoping for some big reveal  - like, we saw Pat and his band at a stoplight and got a ride in his limo, or we got invited backstage to chill with Roy Hanes, or maybe even mugged. But none of that shit happened. I'm really only writing this to get back into the writing game. So much of what I do now is simply copying and pasting that I think i've forgotten how to actually write - and what I do manage to stab out seems boring even as I write it. So apologies again if you've not yet come to your senses and are still with me by this point. This is also part of a project I have on the go to scan in all these old ticket stubs that I have and string them together into a story of some kind. Or at least another book with blurb. But the prospect of writing a book in one fell swoop was kinda terrifying, as I can't seem to write much more than a headline or ass-covering email these days, so i thought I'd roll them out - hopefully as amusing anecdotes - as I had the time and inclination. This is only the first. I think i have other, more interesting stories to accompany my other stubs. At least let's hope so - for your sake and mine.

I like Ted Dot Com.

And photography. i had lots of national Gs hanging around growing up. maybe some of it rubbed off. Very good video here about how photos connect us to the world. i'd embed it but blogger is giving me grief, like every other technology i use today.

Hooray!

Researchers at Oxford have compiled a list of the most irritating expressions. Top of the list?

"At the end of the day..."

Screw you, Cambridge.

(Not so) Idle hands

I doodled a lot in school. During dictation, like. Seems old habits die hard. Too bad I turfed all my old notebooks.

Take your kids to work day!

Find out why Daddy drinks.

On TV at the dawn of a new age

TVO:  10 days to war

Global: "I'm looking for 53 calamaris! let's go!"

A-Channel: "This nightmare is going to end. I didn't know I was doing anything illegal."

CTV: That's Ohio's flag.  Put up Cuba's flag....I knew it!

CBC: Allison Smith is wearing nice pearls. Very Leave it to Beaver.

NBC: Brian Williams' tie knot is too narrow. People people people, it's a double windsor now...don't you ever pick up a magazine?

TVA: ben, quoi? calis..

TQS: allez..le but! let but!

CBS News: "Clinton overreached in the minds of many."

CTV (?) : Lloyd Robertson is still alive? 

The Shopping Channel: "We use a lot of nice butters."

ABC: Wow...can't people hold the camera steady?

The Weather Network: Overnight, 9 degrees. 

Vision TV: If you're really going after God, brace up.

Newsworld: Peter Mansbridge is getting old man nose.

Spike: Couture vs. Lesnar, Nov. 15. I don't care how many tattoos Lesnar has, my money's still on Couture until he shows he can't do it.

Another french chanel: "one hundred percent. y'all just ripped the show for me." (subtitles)

AMC: Rocky! Get up, Rocky!

This kills me

Work in Progress

finally got the work station set up in the basement. enough room for slides and laptop and speakers and stuff. confused the hell out of the cat, as this required moving some stuff around. but i think she'll cope. hell, if she can deal w/the dog, she can deal with anything.

a little late now, but Salon.com posted a pretty decent list of the best horror flicks. I pretty much agree with all of them, though i would add Eraserhead to the list. check it out the next time you're alone in the dark.

More half-baked ideas

Didja ever want to have a recorder in your head? like, one that took every snapshot and recorded every bit of dialogue that ran though your brain but that you weren't able to record for whatever reason? For me it's usually laziness. I'll say to myself, "I'll write about that later." And then I never do. 

At least they're here now and not floating around in my head, where my somewhat cavalier cerebral filing system might mis-label them. They probably won't make sense to you, but if in time they make any more sense to me I'll flesh them out. No blog is ever really done, right?

Facebook updates are the new blogs.

I'm spending far too much time thinking of clever facebook status updates. Is this my legacy? 

Unfair.

Driving is difficult this time of year. Low sun makes for long shadows.

Why do I always spell "shadows" with an "e"?

Carry a notebook, you schmuck.

Making sense of it all?

So I was in Toronto this past weekend, and among the billboards was one for the perenially number three network, Global. The tagline? "Making sense of it all."

Where do they get off?

Now, being a certified student of the media and a former news guy (however briefly), I know it's the job of the fourth estate to "make sense of it all" for the rest us poor schleps who don't enjoy their access, perspective, and so on.  

And still.

I've been reading a lot lately about the shit that's going down (and it is going down) in more than one pub from a lot of different perspectives. And from what i've seen, no one has a fucking clue how to make sense of it all. 

I think the truth is that no one - news hack or not - has any idea how to make sense of it all. From where I sit, we're just making it all up as we go along. But I think we'd all be better off if we all just droped the charade.