Taps Reversed - Lyrics

-- Christine Fellows and John K. Samson

All the unpaid bills wrestling interest rates
while past due dates wait with their boutonnieres

And the slumping bike
strangled with the lock that we forgot the combination to

The old house drinks everything we hide
and hum sad songs that keep us up all night

With the doorknobs loose
and the pipes that burst
with the fuses blown
and the taps reversed

The calendar requests a meeting to discuss the time we waste
when would be good for you?

And the sidewalk cracks spell the way back home
in one uninterrupted palindrome

The old house keeps all of our receipts
in envelopes secured with rubber bands

Oh the blinking snow
and the dark dispersed
with the smeary moon
with our taps reversed

-----
Note: This is transferred from my old writing collection blog, as I had noticed that it was the most popular page and search referral from Google. Thought it'd be more at home here.

Enjoy; I listened to it numerous times labouring over the different words, and it is a lovely song. It can be found in CBC Radio 3's Make Out Podcast from 2007.

VFMF Weekend Review (plus photos)

Writer's note:
Posted at NxEW.ca.
As Alex (AlexOfAnders) has been so thorough with his Vancouver Folk Music Festival daily recaps, I'll try my best not to overlap.

This past weekend was probably the hottest and brightest on record so far this year in Vancouver. Being located on Jericho Beach, Vancouver Folk Fest had the advantage of drawing in not only music lovers, but curious sunbathers as well. That, along with its tradition of having hippie-ish arts bazaars by its premises, meant that there was an eclectic mix of attendees, from mothers changing babies on beach blankets, to the most hardcore of indie fans.

The festival was run very well this year. There were an abundance of Christmas light-lit porta-potties, which were clean (!). The water refilling stations with local filtered tap water was a nice touch. I didn't eat much, but there was a whole section for food with over 2 dozen vendors. Cute kitschy vendors selling everything from hammocks to hats lined the walkways. I took public transit to get to the festival site, which took about an hour total in commute time from a local municipality (Richmond). So in conclusion, you would not be roughing it in the wild.

Onto the music; there were 8 stages in total, with the main evening stage complemented by 7 numbered, smaller stages.

Friday night (July 17)

I arrived the main evening stage to overhear Joe Pug, a singer-songwriter from the States. I was not super impressed with him; seemed like typical guy-with-guitar fare. However, he had a surprisingly old-soul voice for a 23-year old.

After a short meeting with fellow NxEW-ers at the beer garden (good view of evening stage), I went off to snap some photos of the Weakerthans' set at the main stage. They opened with Night Windows (my favorite song from them) and put on a strong, hits-filled set, especially near the end when they blazed through Civil Twilight, Aside, and Sun in an Empty Room.

John Samson was more than willing to banter back and forth with the audience. Before launching into One Great City!, he threw his support behind those who oppose the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in 2010. This was no surprise, looking at the topic matter addressed in the song. After agreeing to disagree with a few audience members, he mentioned that he'll be at the beer garden after the show, to continue the debate then. Sadly, I cannot confirm whether or not that happened. Read Alex's interview with John Samson here.

After the Weakerthans, Iron & Wine took to the main stage. I'm not very familiar with his music, but he played a hits-filled show as well, according to fellow blogger Lauren from Backstage Vancouver.

Arrested Development, the headliners of the night, were definitely a highlight for me. They've been performing "uplifting hip hop" for over 17 years, and the infectious and joyous noises they make roused the 1000+ crowd to their feet to dance. Everyone from grandpas to hipsters were flinging their hair and swinging their hips. It was a sight to behold and truly a pleasure to witness. The festival's Lantern Committee wandered through the crowds and complemented the music by their light show, and sporadic fireworks went off in English Bay across the waters. It was a magical night. I unfortunately do not have any (good) photos, as I was (fortunately) dancing.

Saturday afternoon (July 18)
My first session of the weekend ("Folkestra") was hosted by Rock Plaza Central, and included members of The Breakmen and Great Lake Swimmers. There really is nothing quite like the experience of lying in the hot sun and listening to some of the most talented musicians serenade an appreciative crowd.
The bands alternated between songs and occasionally contributed to each others' instrumentation. At times, a song sounded like it had the help of a 12 piece backing band, which was what happened for Great Lake Swimmers' Still, which is a beautiful song off their Polaris-shortlisted Lost Channels. Expect my Youtube video of it up on this blog soon...
(On a side note, while they were playing, a pair of dragonflies were courting right up front and centre of the stage. They had the best view.)


Rock Plaza Central played a handful of songs off each of their albums, especially from their latest ...At The Moment of Our Most Needing and the thematic Are We Not Horses from 2006. After the frontman Chris Eaton borrowed Tony Dekker (of Great Lake Swimmers)'s guitar, they rounded up their set with the catchy song My Children, Be Joyful (mp3) which had the entire tent, as well as the audience, singing along.

The Breakmen
, a Vancouver-based folk/roots band, played songs such as That's Where I Lay Down ("written on a day much like this one"), as well as an unnamed one which had the whole stage singing "oohs" for back-up. I don't know their music well but am looking forward to checking them out more.

After the session, we made it over to a nice shaded stage for Basia Bulat's set. I was very excited to see her live for the first time, after falling in love with her voice two years ago. Due to a mix-up with scheduling, or the artist before her overstaying his time, her set began half an hour later than scheduled. That didn't frazzle Bulat, who launched into a high energy foot-stomping set, including hits like In The Night. Erik from the Great Lake Swimmers played guitar and banjo in her backing band.
She wrapped up her 12-song set with Snakes and Ladders and an a capella song, which had her crooning to the audience complete with foot stomping and clapping for percussion. You can read an interview between Alex and Basia here.
After Bulat's set, I raced over to Joel Plaskett Emergency's free set in Surrey, BC for the Surrey Fusion Festival. That adventure will be outlined in a later post.


Sunday evening (July 19)

After bolting between Surrey and Jericho beach (again) after a friend's bridal shower, I made it back in time to catch Rock Plaza Central and Great Lake Swimmers again at a side stage. GLS were headlining that particular stage.

They each performed several songs that they played during the sessions, ramped up, as well as several other songs.

Chris Eaton, lead vocals and guitar for Rock Plaza Central, was clearly appreciative of the large attentive audience. He connected with the audience well, which definitely complemented his band's amazing songwriting and his captivating "scream-folk" voice (as dubbed by me). Once again, they wrapped up their set with the two extremely catchy songs (Don't You Believe The Words of) Handsome Men and Be Joyful. Handsome Men has been stuck in my head ever since their set.

Great Lake Swimmers, whose performance I'd been waiting for the whole weekend, surpassed my expectations with their set. By the time they got on stage, a sizeable crowd had stretched far back, waiting to hear this ethereal band led by Tony Dekker's singular voice. They were not disappointed. The Swimmers played a 12-song long set, strumming through hit after hit. Let's Trade Skins, Chorus in the Underground, Palmistry and Pulling On A Line started the set, while the captivating Various Stages had the entire crowd sighing to the words,

I've seen you in various stages of undress
I've seen you through various states of madness

Basia Bulat joined the Great Lake Swimmers for the ending part of the set, adding a jolt of energy to Your Rocky Spine (which, by the way, totally blows John Mayer's Your Body Is A Wonderland out of the water). The entire set was wrapped up with the beautiful and hopeful Still. I'm sure I speak for the appreciate audience when I say that no one wanted the dream-like set to end. As the sun was setting and music from Mavis Staples floated over from the main stage, Great Lake Swimmers got a standing ovation for being a sparkling highlight of the entire weekend.
Sunburnt and sleep-deprived, I could not have wished for a more soulful, musically-filling weekend.

See a set of photos from Vancouver Folk Fest on my Flickr here.
Here's another very thorough VFMF review by my good friends Mel and Lauren of Backstage Vancouver.

Photos from VFMF up on Flickr

More here.

Basia Bulat

Great Lake Swimmers (x2)

Rock Plaza Central

The Weakerthans

Photos from the Joel Plaskett Emergency concert will be up later tonight or tomorrow.

Condensed, sleep-deprived weekend review

Yays:
- Got to catch the following artists at VFMF: Weakerthans, Iron & Wine, Arrested Development, The Breakmen, Basia Bulat, Dan Mangan, Rock Central Plaza, and Great Lake Swimmers among others
- Caught Joel Plaskett Emergency (+ Peter Elkas) for free
- Chatted with Basia, offered pie to Dan, and Tony Dekker drew me a guitar
- Grabbed set lists from JPE and GLS shows
- Had my interview questions for Basia used although I couldn't make it personally due to a close friend's bridal shower
- Dancing and praising God in a flowy skirt during Arrested Development's twilight (and night time) performance. (Now how to distill that magnetic, spiritual energy into Sunday mornings?)
- The Lantern Committee's light show at night time during AD's set, and then lining the pathways to lead the crowd out of the park
- "Banjo Wars 2009" between Rock Central Plaza, The Breakmen and Great Lake Swimmers during their session. Lying down right up front feeling like I could float, I could fly, like branches and boats and birds in the sky. (Joel Plaskett)
- Basia Bulat's stomping heels, rich voice and warm attitude
- Hanging out with Alex(OfAnders), Justin, Mel and Lauren. Singing along with Dan Mangan to Robots with Alex and a thousand other people at the main stage.
- Great Lake Swimmers were plucked from the ear of God themselves. Tony Dekker has a voice that not only makes memories, yet takes previous ones and puts a sepia tone to them. Dreamy yet grounded, and singularly spectacular. Read these words:

I'm still a note that's unplayed, ink on a page, I'm still, I'm still
I'm still a cry in the night, lonesome and high, I'm still, I'm still

I'm still tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design
I'm still looking for direction, some kind of sign

I'm still tuning myself to the great key, I'm still, I'm still
(Great Lake Swimmers, "Still")

After that, it's hard to go over the ughs. I'm extremely sleep deprived and have skipped most normal meals for the past three days, but that's not because of the set up of the festival but how entranced I was with the music. And how long it took to upload pictures and videos onto my computer.
I'll upload some pictures onto Flickr and write a proper write-up on NxEW when I get home. There are a lot of photos, and a couple of videos... depending how the bass turned out in them, I might upload them onto Youtube as well. Don't forget to check back :)

Festivals Coverage in Vancouver This Weekend

This upcoming weekend is an exciting one in terms of music in Vancouver. Not only is there the annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the line-up of which features the lovely Basia Bulat, Great Lake Swimmers, The Weakerthans, Dan Mangan as well as international acts such as Iron & Wine, but Surrey has also shocked with their Fusion Festival line-up, which includes the Joel Plaskett Emergency, Said The Whale, Alex Cuba, among others. Did I mention it's free?

I'll be covering the both of them, to the best of my abilities (and cell phone bill limits) via Twitter, Flickr (for photos), on this blog, as well as on NxEW. Yes, this does mean racing from Jericho Beach, which is in downtown Vancouver, to the suburbs. Below is a tentative schedule of the acts and sessions I'm hoping to catch this upcoming weekend. Of course, if I get sidetracked or blown away by something I happen to pass by, I'll note those as well.

Friday July 17
VMFM
7 pm - The Weakerthans
8 pm - Iron and Wine
9 pm - Arrested Development

Saturday July 18
VMFM
10 am - Fresh Folkus (hosted by Basia Bulat; ft. Joe Pug, Kate Reid, Dan Mangan and Great Lake Swimmers)
1:30 pm - Folkestra (hosted by Rock Plaza Central; ft. Great Lake Swimmers and The Breakman)
3:10 pm - Basia Bulat
SFF
7 pm - Said The Whale
8 pm - Barney Bentall & The Grand Cariboo Opry
9 pm - Joel Plaskett & The Emergency

Sunday July 19
VFMF
5:30 - 9:30 pm - Rock Plaza Central Great Lake Swimmers

For the full schedule of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, click here. (PDF)
For the full schedule of the Surrey Fusion Festival, click here.

To get you hyped up for the weekend, read my preview review of the Vancouver Folk Fest Revue (now say that ten times really quickly).

Musical updates!

Firstly, "Everything sounds better autotuned"



Indeed we are on very thin ice, since it's...

Summer! Bright lights, warm breezes, long days. That means a couple of things...

Festival season -- In Vancouver, we have the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. It's happening July 17-19 at Jericho Beach. After a long string of years of being really boring and mundane with the performers' lineup, this year we're seeing a change after a change in I believe the musical director. A short sample of artists I'm excited about:
Basia Bulat, The Weakerthans, Dan Mangan, Great Lake Swimmers, Rock Plaza Central, Steven Page (of ex-BNL fame), Iron & Wine, The Proclaimers...
Early bird tickets are available until June 12th.

In Edmonton, their folk fest has an incredibly enviably awesome lineup. If anyone reading this from the Metro Vancouver region is interested in going, holler at your girl!
Short list: Jill Barber, Neko Case, Joel Plaskett, Kathleen Edwards, Danny Michel..., also many of the artists from the VanFolkFest. Complete list here. Tickets go on sale June 1st.

And in Calgary, it's just nuts. Sled Island Festival is selling out before the schedule is even announced. Now that's good reputation.

In other news,

the wonderful Arkells got banned FOR LIFE (4 lyfe?!) from a club from their hometown Hamilton for trying to get in through the back door. Related news, club in Hamilton has bad business sense.

also, they would like you to know that "Unlike Billy Bob, we were very polite when we went on CBC radio program Q with Jian Ghomeshi."



"I've yet to witness much forgiveness in this business" -- indeed.

Joel Plaskett and Peter Elkas make beautiful music together. Sigh. Dreamy. The single is called "Poor Young Things." To be fair, I haven't heard it yet and cannot yet vouch for its degree of dreaminess.

Speaking of Joel Plaskett, three reviews of his Three tour on NxEW. Mine, Amanda Putz's, and Rockstar Aimz's. Overwhelmingly positive.

Hey Ocean! wants you to design a T-shirt for them!

Shad, Brasstronaut and Twin Castles play benefit show for funding community arts programs in East Vancouver. $1 parking lot BBQ!

Rolling Tundra Review

Here are some photos from Rolling Tundra Revue pt. 2 at the Commodore Ballroom on Saturday night. (Man, the Commodore is beautiful. If I ever get married I want to throw the reception there. Anyway, I digress.) The opening act was Lightning Dust from East Van, followed by The Constantines and The Weakerthans wrapped up the night.

I was pleasantly surprised by the complementary The Waking Eyes Holding On To Whatever It Is CD (and Weaks Cons-erve button) that they gave out for those who carpooled or took transit to the show. I ended up bringing home quite the haul of music!

More pictures on my Flickr.

Weakercons

Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony
Get clobbered on by courtesy
In love with love and lousy poetry
And I'm leaning on this broken fence between past and present tense
And I'm losing all those stupid games that I swore I'd never play

Seeing the Weakerthans and the Constantines tonight with fellow blogger Alex(ofAnders). Looking forward to discovering more of the W.'s back stock as I only own Reunion Tour and a couple of previous singles. And the Cons are pretty much new to me.

It seems that people have strong opinions for only one of the bands versus the other. Or perhaps this is just a fake dichotomy stirred up on NxEW to encourage banter :) Either way, having only heard one song by the Cons (and unreleased, FYI) I'm firmly planted in the Weakerthans' camp. I'm looking to be challenged however, and would happily sit upon this particular musical fence.

Who knows, maybe I'll eventually dub this tour the Constanthans. (which is not a typo on Blogger, FYI)

Edit: day after concert
Weakerthans' Aside is officially more awesome than it already was.

Weekly-ish recommendations

Ok, so this is where I'm going to list a couple of songs that have really touched me in the past little while, kind of like an evolving musical diary of what I'm currently listening to.

Why? Well, I've been thinking. The music you listen to really becomes a background track of your daily living; the music that speak into your situations will dig just a little deeper into your eardrums and stay a little longer in your temporal lobes. Reciprocally, those songs will inform the lens in which you view your life events as they come up.

They won't always be new songs; in fact, since I'm just starting out, there'll likely be a few from the archives. I will try to link to the mp3 wherever possible.

And please buy music! =)

Here we go. Week 1.

1. The Weakerthans - Night Windows
The Weakerthans has a wonderful way with words, of turning the mundane into something beautiful. From the haunting echoes of the intro, reminiscent of ticking clocks of the time that crawls by, to the "Remember how... I'm sorry that... I miss the way... Could we?" pleadings of someone who has recently loved and lost. This song speaks in quiet replayed never-to-be-had conversations.

2. Joel Plaskett - All The Way Down The Line
This song from disk 3 of his latest sent shivers down my spine when I first heard it. A lovely melody with an equally lovely ode to a quietly vibrant love. The complementary harmonies in the bridge entwine and emerge as something envious, something divine.

3. Hey Ocean! - Alright
"'Cause you're alright in my eyes, I would forgive you anything. And I will never ever think differently 'bout you babe... no no way... no no way." =)

In case the link doesn't work, and because Hey Ocean!'s strength is in their live performances:


4. Metric - Gimme Sympathy
"Oh, seriously. You're gonna make mistakes, you're young." Looking forward to buying this addictive (so far) album at their show on Thursday!



5. Kathleen Edwards - Sure As Shit
This is a ditty to love, both restrained and free, hopeful yet careful. But it's definitely not vague in its honesty. Indeed, people cuss both offhandedly and to make a point, and this song captures that dichotomy.