Within Earshot

The last Jig

by Colin Hunter                                                                            

Tonight marks the end of an era in local radio as Dean Clarke takes to the airwaves one last time after nearly 20 years of hosting Jigs 'n' Reels, a show devoted to all things Newfoundland.

I interviewed Dean for a story a couple of weeks ago and I could immediately see why thousands of listeners tune in to Jigs 'n' Reels every week (both on the radio and online). He's a sincere, instantly likeable personality whose passion for Newfoundland is infectious. But he is also a devoted dad of two young girls, and he has decided he would rather spend Monday nights with them instead of in a radio studio. You can't fault him for that logic.

Dean has said many times that "there won't be a dry eye in the house" during tonight's final broadcast, and I bet he's right. So grab a box of tissue and tune into 98.5 FM or www.ckwr.com tonight at 6:30 p.m.  It'll be something special.

A Lemony snippet...

by Colin Hunter

A wee follow-up to my last post about Lemony Snicket...

His performance of The Composer is Dead with the K-W Symphony was as surreal and over-the-top as the best-selling children's novels for which he is best known. Lemony Snicket (or Daniel Handler, the real-life alter-ego behind the persona) could easily transition to acting or stand-up if the whole writing gig becomes tiresome.

Perhaps his funniest performances happened immediately after the concert in a private reception hosted by conductor Edwin Outwater, during which Snicket/Handler was nervously approached by several youngsters clutching books for him to sign.  Rather than scribble perfunctory autographs, he completely engaged his tiny fans in long, strange conversations.

"Have you ever considered running away from home?" he asked one wide-eyed nine-year-old girl, who blushed and shook her head. 

"I really think you should," Handler continued. "I think there are a lot of adventures awaiting a nine-year-old girl in Waterloo."

When he signed her book, he wrote a message urging the girl not to trust her grandmother (who was standing there, laughing, the entire time). It takes a special talent to deliver terrible advice to children, in full view of their parents, and be thanked for it.

A Series of Not-So-Unfortunate Events

By Colin Hunter

I'm off to Centre in the Square tonight to see The Composer is Dead, the rather mordid and off-kilter collaboration between the K-W Symphony and best-selling author Lemony Snicket.

I was excited to interview Lemony Snicket (or Daniel Handler, as it says on his driver's license) by phone a couple of weeks ago, since I had no idea what to expect of him. Judging by the weirdness of his published work, I half-expected him to answer the phone while riding a wild emu around San Francisco, or hanging by his ankles inside a hall of mirrors or something.

So the first thing I asked him was: "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm trying to get the plastic shrink-wrap off a literary magazine," Lemony Snicket said.

"Oh," I said.

"Sorry it's not something more interesting," he said.

"That's OK," I replied, but I think the disappointment was audible in my voice.

Then we had a lovely chat about The Composer is Dead, which Handler created a couple of years ago in San Francisco with musician Nathanial Stookey and conductor Edwin Outwater.  When Outwater got hired as musical pooh-bah at the K-W Symphony, he knew he'd bring the show to town. Mr. Snicket himself will be narrating tonight's show, which is apparently a murder mystery in which every instrument of the orchestra is interrogated about the slaying of a composer. Should be interesting -- a helluva lot more interesting than removing shrink-wrap from a magazine.

All that jazz, with a side of Rickard's...

"The only specifically American inventions that have made this a better world are Alcoholics Anonymous and jazz, and jazz has no bad side effects."   -- Kurt Vonnegut

I'm reminded of that Vonnegut quip every time I go to a Saturday afternoon Dixieland jazz concert at The Lancaster House. For three hours every Saturday, The Lanc is the happiest place in town. Of course, this happiness could be partly due to the vats of Rickard's Red that my pals and I ingest at the shows, which makes me wonder if I should look into the other great American invention Vonnegut mentioned.  Regardless, Dixieland jazz is by far my favourite of all the jazz offshoots. There's nothing heady or elitist or avant-whatever about Dixieland. It's pure and raucous and timeless and goes well with Rickard's.

And this Saturday, March 29, the Lanc is going to swing even harder than usual, since Jon Seiger & The All-Stars will be recording a live CD of their 4 p.m. show.  Seiger is awesome for many reasons, including his virtuosic trumpet playing and his growly Louis Armstrong-esque vocals. Oh, and the fact that he's also deaf. Mucho impressive.

Go, clap loud, get yourself on a live CD, buy the CD, thank me later.

 

Sweet dreams aren't made of this

by Colin Hunter

I had this crazy nightmare that I was a little boy again and I was lost in the woods at night with only my teddy bear to keep me company, and then a giant version of my teddy bear materialized in the forest and beckoned me to follow him into this shack that turned out to be a funhouse, but that's when things got really scary because some weird guys were in there playing loud music and screaming, but then the giant bear gave me a raygun which I used to shoot everyone and...

...Oh wait. That wasn't a dream.  It was the debut video by What's He Building in There, Waterloo's resident metal-funk-jazz-rock psychopaths.

Behold:

Granted, their music may not appeal to more sensitive (read: wussy) palates, but you've got to commend What's He Building in There for creating the some of wildest music, and the wildest accompanying video, to come out of Waterloo Region in, well, ever. I love/fear it. 

They're playing The Gig Theatre on Friday April 4, opening for fellow metallurgists Of the First Born Son.  Be there or be sane.

Coolest band ever... for today

The joy of writing CD reviews, aside from getting paid to listen to music (which, don't get me wrong, is pretty fantabulous), is occasionally coming across a disc that makes me drool with its sonic glory.

This has happened only a few times since I first started writing album reviews in my undergrad days of yore.  The first time I spun Mogwai's genre-defining album Young Team, for instance, it melted my brain with its hyperdriven swirling guitars and beautiful crescendos (crescendi?  Quiet-to-loud thingies?).

Of course, such moments of serendipity are counter-balanced by all the barely listenable schlock I've also reviewed (a techno album featuring vocals by X-Files star Gillian Anderson springs to mind).

Lucky me, an album of the former category arrived in my mailbox the other day: Knives are Falling From the Sky by a Guelph band called Arrows.

Arrows is a married couple -- Ryan and Jackie Stanley -- who make stark, emotion-drenched post-punk that deserves to be approached with an open mind and open ears. That is, if you really like Nickelback, don't even bother trying to listen to Arrows, 'cause you're already pretty much dead on the inside.

Wanna know more? Read my review. Wanna have a listen? Pay Arrows a visit.

That is all.

Listen Up

Greetings all and welcome to Within Earshot, a blog dedicated to the sights and sounds (and, if the technology eventually permits, even smells) of Waterloo Region's entertainment scene.

Regular visitors to Within Earshot will find: local CD reviews, concert reviews, heads-up alerts about noteworthy shows, amazing psychic prophesies, sound clips and videos of local bands, random musings about what's happening around the K-Dub, and fabulous prizes to be won!!!*

In a band with a new CD you want reviewed? Drop me a line. Upcoming gig? Lemme know.

Feel free to comment, rant and complain about anything you read here. Just keep in mind: I know where you live.**

Over and out.

Colin Hunter

chunter@therecord.com

* Amazing psychic prophesies and fabulous prizes are purely fictional.

** I don't actually know where you live. But still, be nice.