MeVille
I've always kind of liked 'The Hold Steady'.
For all the reasons you might expect.
But I've never really become obsessed with anything they've done, maybe because of the notable absence of a glockenspiel.
Anyway...
I was super surprised when Bigger E. gave me the new album by Holder (&nolongerLFTR-PLLR) frontman steadycraig Finn.
She sought the album out because she heard Mr. Finn on Mike Pesca's podcast and became enamoured by the tune 'Newmyer's Roof'.
So, while we were off exploring beaches both old and new (to us anyway) on the far outer reaches of western-most Lotusland this past week we played the album over and over again during all the to-and-froing in the car.
And when we got back to the kids' grandpops' house I waited for an appropriate amount of time before disappearing to plug-in in an effort to find Mr. Finn doing his thing. As is so often the case with this so-called 'indie' - type stuff, the best I could find came from a session just down the I-5...
And, mostly because I was bashing away on the keyboard for awhile at the time, I let the YouTube-thingy turn over. As a result, I listened to a couple of additional live sessions recently recorded in the studios of the fantastic KEXP in Seattle.
Which, by total fluke, led me to fall headlong into new musical obsessions with 'Bully' and 'Wolf Alice'.
Now, if only I can convince E. and e. to become enamoured with these fine musical folks too.
Then my job will be done.
At least for the weekend or, perhaps, late Saturday afternoon at least.
OK?
_________
And, speaking of serendipity....Mr. Beer 'N Hockey used the recent earthquake to echo-locate the latest resing place of Lemmy's bass amp deep beneath the sea bed off of Sidney Island....Who knew.
Image at the top of the post...Taken by C., it's the Whackadoodle and me walking on the rich man's, close-to-Tofino beach formerly known as Chesterman's...We did, however, serendipitously find our way to a fantastic little spot, still untouched by developers' devil hands even though it is a little bit south of the National Park...You can get there by turning right at the 'T' at the end of Highway 4 towards Uclulet and then going 2 km until you come to 'Wya Resort' sign on your right...Turn right onto Willowbrae Rd, go up the hill a few hundred meters and park at the trail head...It's a fifteen minute walk on a good trail straight out to the edge of the cliffs and a one hundred-and-seventy-three stair/step walk along a boardwalk right down to the southern end of Florencia Bay, or you can head left for another 500 meters or so and head on down to the very secluded Half Moon Bay on another very well-maintained many-stepped/staired boardwalk...
May the flukes, kid-assisted or otherwise, be with you in 2016!
.
6 comments:
Man! Brings back memories: lived in Port Albernout for a number of years, used to spend strikes or heat layoffs at Chesterman's---long before, and even a bit after, the houses started to appear. Yeah, long hair turning green with algae, have to walk across the highway to dry out in the sun before heading back into thick scotch mist which might last for weeks near the beach.
Those were the days, highway brand new, drive along the beach 'til a perfect structure of logs presented itself for the summer camp---someone or other from the tribe holding the spot for three-four months. Good place to find an abandoned hound the faux-hippies would cruelly leave behind at summer's end, bandana or beads around its starving neck. Then came the Winnebagos parked three tiers deep, the odd one waking up half buried in the night-tide-shifted sands---ever seen four tow-trucks and a couple backhoes trying to get one of those babies dug out before the next tide? Frantic---an omen: the beach shut down to vehicles, and a beautiful era ended.
We shifted to Pacheena, bring a truckload of beer and other stuff to sell to survivors of the West Coast Trail (its northern terminus at the cove there)---always sold out. Met lots of people from all over there. Then another omen: went on strike for 18% (!) over two years (!!), depending entirely on suds-sales at Pacheena (and locked out of Franklin camp where we worked), picketed off by the pulp workers even after ratifying our own 15% and three (seems unimaginable now)---then, when they settled too, several thousand of us got laid off, about half of us getting a proverbial sandwich wrapped in a roadmap, me included. 1981 will forever stick in my memory. At least I got out of Port Albummer, went to Albetar, got a falling job first day, stayed up at the Olympic village in Kananaskis (under construction). And the rest is just like they say...
Haven't been out to the West Coast for 25 years. I'm still a west coast guy though---just off the east coast of Van Isle. I can see the sun sets a tiny bit north of where it did just a few weeks ago, measured by the peaks and cirques of the North Beaufort Range. It must be New Years.
Anyways, here's a big thanx for all you do in the past year, and best wishes for the new one under way.
And enjoy your holidays!
PS -checkin out the tunes! Dude! You it!
Scotty--
Jeebuz! What a life!
Being just a wee bit younger man...
First time I got to Long Beach it was the Winnebago era when I was still in grade school.
You probably sold beer to my Dad when we would got to the North end of the trail in the mid-70's...We always went south to north... We were crazy - but not crazy enough to end with the hard end (especially back in the days before the cable cars and bridges made traversing many of the ravines a breeze...One of the best of a million memories was crabbing where the Cheewhat meets the sea.
The tunes are pure serendipity downstream of the prodding of my kid the singer...So much so that we're thinking of renaming the Geezers as the backing band in 'Emily and the Pacemakers'.
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May your New Year be filled to Bursting with property taxes
BC Teachers were shown the door when it came to negotiating with Peter Fassbender. Property Tax payers are facing the same .... animal ... Fassbender, holding firm on outdated Home Owners Grant so that Finance Minister Mike de Jong gets to balance his budget! For properties that have not had any improvements made to them, how can the BC Assessment Board (appointed by Christy Clark) penalize home owners based on the possible buying price of neighbouring lots / houses? We're not in the market to sell our homes, and for retirees, no means to find the funds to pay. Vicious circle!!! started by ......
Ross, it's what's in the heart that counts, ain't it!
I met a veteran coming off the end of the trial one time---that first can of beer looked like he was gonna kiss me!---anyways, he told me ''Nam got nothing on this trail!"
I came off the North end of the trail in 1980. Where were you when I needed you Scotty? 70 reservists from HMCS Malahat. That was a great trek!
Ross K, have you seen this?
https://vimeo.com/144828601
Thanks for the intro to Craig Finn solo. A lot of the appeal of the Hold Steady is the writing, and it's way upfront here.
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