Share – Slumping in Your Murals
Share’s Slumping in Your Murals is just low-key enough to catch you off guard. Early on, it feels like one of those albums that’ll be easy to like but next to impossible to love. Singer-songwriter Andrew Fisk clearly knows his way around a folk-rock tune and the spacious production perfectly complements the music, but there’s … Continue reading
Meta-post: Blog plans
Figured this is as good a time as any to start collecting all my writing (FFWD and otherwise) in one blog. Most of the content here can also be seen at http://www.ffwdweekly.com, but if I’m particularly inspired, I might go back and add anecdotes and context to some of the interviews and reviews, more because … Continue reading
Taking back Woodstock
In Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee’s ode to the landmark music festival that has served for 40 years as shorthand for peace, love and good ol’ fashioned youthful rebellion, the case is once again made that Woodstock was a high-water mark for youth culture. A free concert attended by almost 500,000 hippies, freaks and open-minded fellow … Continue reading
Review of Taking Woodstock
(for ffwdweekly.com) For a movie about one of the culturally defining moments of the last century (at least in terms of baby boomer nostalgia and the mythology that surrounds it), Taking Woodstock is surprisingly flat. Based on the autobiography of Elliot Tiber, the man responsible for bringing the floundering music festival to the sleepy hamlet … Continue reading
Happy Avatar Day! Granted, it’s not a holiday so much as a bit of publicity-drumming from the marketing department at Twentieth Century Fox, but that’s no excuse not to grab a beer, light some fireworks and watch the just-released trailer for James Cameron’s 10-years-in-the-making follow-up sci-fi fantasy. As an added dollop of holiday cheer, Cameron … Continue reading
The Cave Singers – Welcome Joy (Matador)
These days, it seems like you can’t shake a tree without at least one bearded folkie falling out, picking up an acoustic guitar and recording an album of Neil Young- and Bob Dylan-inspired tunes. While the trend towards stripped-down instrumentation and roots-oriented songwriting isn’t going away anytime soon, at least it’s bearing some sweet fruit.Welcome … Continue reading
Wax Mannequin – Saxon (Zunior)
After two albums of dunderheaded bluster and blissfully bizarre twists on hard rock cliché, Wax Mannequin steps away from his “president of indie rock” persona on Saxon. Though not quite a return to the twisted prog-folk of his first two albums, Saxon is a far subtler effort than 2004’s The Price and 2007’s Orchard and … Continue reading
Statistical muddling at the Calgary Herald
I don’t usually get into politics on this blog, but lazy, misleading statistics are a particular pet peeve of mine. Last Friday’s Calgary Herald featured a column on hybrid cars, which pointed to a study on the efficacy of rebate programs in encouraging people to buy hybrids. From the article: “Researchers at the University of … Continue reading
Virgin fumblings: Fest’s Alberta stop gets awkward
With less than a week to go before Virgin Festival’s second Calgary stop, the fest added another 11 bands to the lineup it announced five weeks ago. According to a press release issued on Tuesday, Aug. 4, the new additions include Juno Award-winners Wintersleep, indie-pop collective Library Voices and local rockers Secret Broadcast, Static in … Continue reading
It Came from the Library: In a Lonely Place
For a connoisseur of pop-cultural flotsam (and a cheap bastard), there are few better sources than the Calgary Public Library. Movies, TV series, comics, records, even books — the potential for finding hidden gems is nearly limitless, and It Came from the Library will chronicle my excavation. The find: In a Lonely Place (1950), starring … Continue reading
The Consumption 