(Alright, so we've stolen another title again, though props to whoever knows where this one's from!)
For quite a few of us here at The Daily Wenzel, Vancouver is like a home away from home, though in recent years we have not been able to spend as much time there as we would wish. With the city speckled with friends and relations, we always manage to find a welcome as warm as the summer days. However, as we said, the last few years have found us making only periodic trips, every other year or so. This somewhat spotty record has caused the recent construction boom in Vancouver to hit home hard. Our last visit came in 2005, after Vancouver had been awarded the 2010 Olympics, and already the construction crews were at work, converting old homes into row townhomes, such as we had seen in Calgary and Montreal. This time, office and apartment towers were sprining up along the banks of False Creek, while the suburbs of Burnaby, New Westminister, and such, were in the process of growing proper downtown cores of their own, anchored by the now ubiquitous office/condo tower complex.
With all this building, traffic in the City With No Left Turn Lanes has grown almost interminable, as rush hour no stretches unalleviated throughout the day. One of our enduring images from this trip was flying over the Lower Mainland early in the morning and seeing the long lines of cars already slowing down the main arteries. At three hours behind the eastern stock markets, businessmen begin their commute by six o'clock, starting a day that ends early in the afternoon. To capitalize on this rush, the city's numerous coffee workers also move out onto the streets to welcome the captains of industry with a warm cup of java. Flex-time workers in involved in national organizations and shuffle between home and office, also awake early to see how the rest of the world has unfolded, before making there own way into the downtown cores of their respective conurbations by mid-morning. All of these staggered arrivals and departures means that the streets of Vancouver have very few moments of respite.
Speaking of streets, we were very happy to spend time on one of our favourite strips in Canada, Commercial Drive, whose development we have enjoyed greatly over the last fifteen years, including one moment in time where it housed some twenty-seven coffee houses in nine blocks.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Information Economy, Update
A few weeks ago, we posted our thoughts on the meaning of the information economy, where products are imbued with a stories, or detailed information. In a bygone era, products were often viewed as elements of status, with goods designed in, or designed to mimic luxury materials. But in our current age, the luxury is not material, but temporal - time is the new gold standard, and having excess time, or rather the illusion of it, is the new status symbol. Products geared for consumption in this economy come with excess amounts of details, so that their owners can draw upon a wealth of product information, as if they personally had the time to investigate every aspect of the product.
This is no more obvious than in the May 2007 issue of Wallpaper. In "Score Draw", Nick Compton (who has given us economic inspiration before) interviews Jolyon fenwick and Marcus Husselby of the Internet luxury goods distributer 20ltd. On speaking about the origins of the company, Fenwick states "And we thought it a pity that luxury goods were only ever sold by identity marketing, the promise that if you buy this, you will be like this. It was also becoming less effective. And we knew that people were becoming more interested in the product stories." Elsewhere, Fenwick highlights the importance of product story or "surplus information" (insteasd of value), saying "When people look back at our time, all they will see of our luxury product is Kate Moss. There is nothing said about the design or the way things are made. That is wrong."
This is no more obvious than in the May 2007 issue of Wallpaper. In "Score Draw", Nick Compton (who has given us economic inspiration before) interviews Jolyon fenwick and Marcus Husselby of the Internet luxury goods distributer 20ltd. On speaking about the origins of the company, Fenwick states "And we thought it a pity that luxury goods were only ever sold by identity marketing, the promise that if you buy this, you will be like this. It was also becoming less effective. And we knew that people were becoming more interested in the product stories." Elsewhere, Fenwick highlights the importance of product story or "surplus information" (insteasd of value), saying "When people look back at our time, all they will see of our luxury product is Kate Moss. There is nothing said about the design or the way things are made. That is wrong."
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Late, late night kino
With the temperatures in town remaining high well into the night, the Daily Wenzel office has been running showings of Dean Martin's satirical espionage series, Matt Helm. While based on the hard-edged novels by Donald Hamilton, Martin & Co. brought a decidely lighter atmosphere, infusing them with the same pop sensibilities as Adam West's Batman. Likewise, just as one can only watch so much Batman, four nights of Matt Helm left a few of us longing for weighty fare.
However, aside from acting as a license to break out the cocktails and 1960s loungewear, Matt Helm also provided a window to some particular behaviours that we would often like to think we have outgrown. For starters Dean Martin and friends were widely known as rampant alocholics, and often played up this angle during performances. Thus, Martin, as Helm, is constantly drinking, frequently while driving. While this is obvious meant as self-parody, given our current attitudes towards drunk driving, we wonder if these scenes would even be allowed. Another rather startling facet of the Matt Helm movies is the blatant objectification of women as sex objects. Again, parody is a function here, as the movies are filmed during the heyday of feminism and are meant to lampoon the womanizing of James Bond, altough Martin's own reputation as a member of the doll-chasing Rat Pack, highlights the aspect of self-parody.
In case our ramblings have you thinking that we were taking things a little too serious, the Matt Helm movies, with Dean Martin as the womanizing fashion photographer turned superspy, was of course the inspiration for Austin Powers, with Mike Myers effectively capturing the tongue-in-cheek whimsy of the original.
However, aside from acting as a license to break out the cocktails and 1960s loungewear, Matt Helm also provided a window to some particular behaviours that we would often like to think we have outgrown. For starters Dean Martin and friends were widely known as rampant alocholics, and often played up this angle during performances. Thus, Martin, as Helm, is constantly drinking, frequently while driving. While this is obvious meant as self-parody, given our current attitudes towards drunk driving, we wonder if these scenes would even be allowed. Another rather startling facet of the Matt Helm movies is the blatant objectification of women as sex objects. Again, parody is a function here, as the movies are filmed during the heyday of feminism and are meant to lampoon the womanizing of James Bond, altough Martin's own reputation as a member of the doll-chasing Rat Pack, highlights the aspect of self-parody.
In case our ramblings have you thinking that we were taking things a little too serious, the Matt Helm movies, with Dean Martin as the womanizing fashion photographer turned superspy, was of course the inspiration for Austin Powers, with Mike Myers effectively capturing the tongue-in-cheek whimsy of the original.
Turning Pages
Never talk politics or religion at the dinner table, goes the old adage, but that doesn't stop us from swapping literary opinions on the topics. For starters, we were very pleased with Chantal Hebert's French Kiss: Stephen Harper's Blind Date With Quebec. Hebert, who writes for Le Devoir and the Globe and Mail, echoed our earlier election analysis, highlighting the importance that Quebec played as she focuses on the factors that led not only to the (heavily predicted) collapse of the Liberal party, but also the complaceny within the Bloc Quebecois that prevented it from successfully warding off the Conservatives' late surge. While her focus is Quebec, Hebert is able to construct a national context for Harper's victory and compares it to the coalition of diverse interests that allowed Mulroney to maintain power in the 1980s.
The differences between Mulroney and Harper though are perhaps best illustrated by Linda McQuaig, and her new book Holding the Bully's Coat. McQuaig's book on Canadian complicity in post-9/11 American military adventurism has been passed rather quickly through our office. Sean Marchetto even had the pleasure of sharing a cup of coffee with McQuaig on the patio of our favourite coffee shop, Higher Ground. McQuaig's concern with the increasing Americanization of Canadian political and social elites, long documented in her other works, extends here to argue that our history of peacekeeping and reputation as an honest broker, have been placed in jeapordy by the Harper government's eagerness to expand their military roke in the Middle-East. Once the key points to McQuaig's book was the Harper government's permissive attitude towards the torture of Afghan detainee's, a subject that's been all over the Canadian media in recent days.
On a lighter note, we have discovered Continuum Books 33 1/3 series of album reviews and are currently reading Daydream Nation and look forward to the many others they have published over the last few years.
The differences between Mulroney and Harper though are perhaps best illustrated by Linda McQuaig, and her new book Holding the Bully's Coat. McQuaig's book on Canadian complicity in post-9/11 American military adventurism has been passed rather quickly through our office. Sean Marchetto even had the pleasure of sharing a cup of coffee with McQuaig on the patio of our favourite coffee shop, Higher Ground. McQuaig's concern with the increasing Americanization of Canadian political and social elites, long documented in her other works, extends here to argue that our history of peacekeeping and reputation as an honest broker, have been placed in jeapordy by the Harper government's eagerness to expand their military roke in the Middle-East. Once the key points to McQuaig's book was the Harper government's permissive attitude towards the torture of Afghan detainee's, a subject that's been all over the Canadian media in recent days.
On a lighter note, we have discovered Continuum Books 33 1/3 series of album reviews and are currently reading Daydream Nation and look forward to the many others they have published over the last few years.
Music Update
Our musical taste of late have run decidedly electronic. In addition to a resurgent taste for the Beastie Boys ouvre (we're stuck on Paul's Boutique), we've been giving the latest albums from Dj Vadim and Armand van Helden sound fairly constant attention. Soundcatcher, Vadim's latest, is one of the best downtempo albums of the last few years, combining a dense sonic landscape with poignant guest appearances, reflecting the anti-Bush/Blair atmosphere prevalent in particular London neighbourhoods. The globe-trotting musical influences that Vadim displayed with his "band" One Self have settled down a bit into dub and Asian influences.
If Vadim's is a slow expansive, somewhat serious and international style, then van Helden's Ghettoblaster is an out-an-out party album. More than a little tongue-in-cheek, the record is thoroughly evocative of early eighties Brooklyn beat-rock, even before the samples calling for the return of "old school New York hiphop" kick out the speakers.
Also on the stereo, but not quite finding a home, is the two disc best of Antoine Clamaran. Perhaps it's the all-too-adequate lighting and the lack of mirrorballs, but the current French House master is simply failing to register, although we were rather interested in his inclusion of samples for use by the home DJ set.
If Vadim's is a slow expansive, somewhat serious and international style, then van Helden's Ghettoblaster is an out-an-out party album. More than a little tongue-in-cheek, the record is thoroughly evocative of early eighties Brooklyn beat-rock, even before the samples calling for the return of "old school New York hiphop" kick out the speakers.
Also on the stereo, but not quite finding a home, is the two disc best of Antoine Clamaran. Perhaps it's the all-too-adequate lighting and the lack of mirrorballs, but the current French House master is simply failing to register, although we were rather interested in his inclusion of samples for use by the home DJ set.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Toxix Nation Update
Just a quick little something that caught our attention this weekend.
Earlier in the year we had reported on a suggestion by Health Canada to monitor a sample of women and children for chemical exposure. At the time we announced our support for the idea and called for its expansions, something the House of Commons reported on Friday might be a good idea.
While we realize that some may be afraid of such a wide-ranging and potentially invasive measure, we ultimately feel that our unprecedented exposure to chemicals of unknown long-term effect, certainly justifies the governments plans (though an initial volunteer stage would be ideal).
Earlier in the year we had reported on a suggestion by Health Canada to monitor a sample of women and children for chemical exposure. At the time we announced our support for the idea and called for its expansions, something the House of Commons reported on Friday might be a good idea.
While we realize that some may be afraid of such a wide-ranging and potentially invasive measure, we ultimately feel that our unprecedented exposure to chemicals of unknown long-term effect, certainly justifies the governments plans (though an initial volunteer stage would be ideal).
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Environmental Fallout
According to a recent Decima poll, the Federal Conservatives and Liberals are tied in the court of public opinion. Negative reaction to the Conservatives climate change plan has further distanced their more "liberal" wing, while the once-staunch supporters in Alberta are beginning to question their favourite party. What is more troubling for the ruling federal party is that their support in Quebec, among the most pro-Kyoto of the provinces has fallen to below 20% while the Liberals are cruising at 34%. Given that the Conservatives election success was the result of stealing seats from the Liberals in Quebec, the Conservatives are in real trouble should an election happen soon. The trouble could be especially dire if the Liberals were to steal a seat or two from the Conservatives in the Western provinces.
Elsewhere, the Premiers met to discuss "best practices" regarding climate change, and expressed their own disappointment with the Conservative Climate Change plan. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was the lone voice to support the "intensity targets", but found himself in good company when he dismissed a potential suggestion for emission trading among the provinces. Stelmach said, "I’m not one that looks forward to issuing licenses allowing to pollute more," he told reporters. "Especially if we’re going to be trading with other countries."
We find the statement curious, given Stelmach's support for intensity targets, a strategy that would allow total emissions to rise. Perhaps Stelmach simply does not like to issue licenses - this would be consistent with his lack of desire to regulate the oil sands. Furthermore, in refering to other countries, perhaps Stelmach feels that it would be too difficult to devise a made-Canada plan that would be compatible with international standards which are often more strict than those suggested by both the Stelmach and Harper governments. Ultimately though, the biggest barrier to foreign trade in emissions is Environmental Minister Baird's own dismissal of the idea.
In a story that really ought to be getting more coverage than it is, the Alberta government is set to considered a motion to use nuclear energy in the oil sands. Currently, natural gas is used to convert three barrels of water to steam needed to produce one barrel of oil. In order to cut down emissions, the government wants to consider replacing the gas with emissions.
We are, quite frankly, aghast that our leaders would consider nuclear waste as a solution to help clean up the oil sands.
Elsewhere, the Premiers met to discuss "best practices" regarding climate change, and expressed their own disappointment with the Conservative Climate Change plan. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was the lone voice to support the "intensity targets", but found himself in good company when he dismissed a potential suggestion for emission trading among the provinces. Stelmach said, "I’m not one that looks forward to issuing licenses allowing to pollute more," he told reporters. "Especially if we’re going to be trading with other countries."
We find the statement curious, given Stelmach's support for intensity targets, a strategy that would allow total emissions to rise. Perhaps Stelmach simply does not like to issue licenses - this would be consistent with his lack of desire to regulate the oil sands. Furthermore, in refering to other countries, perhaps Stelmach feels that it would be too difficult to devise a made-Canada plan that would be compatible with international standards which are often more strict than those suggested by both the Stelmach and Harper governments. Ultimately though, the biggest barrier to foreign trade in emissions is Environmental Minister Baird's own dismissal of the idea.
In a story that really ought to be getting more coverage than it is, the Alberta government is set to considered a motion to use nuclear energy in the oil sands. Currently, natural gas is used to convert three barrels of water to steam needed to produce one barrel of oil. In order to cut down emissions, the government wants to consider replacing the gas with emissions.
We are, quite frankly, aghast that our leaders would consider nuclear waste as a solution to help clean up the oil sands.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Yann Martel
After spending the weekend thinking about Guy Debord's statement that, in a society of the spectacle the economy has grown to encompass all spheres of daily life, it was quite refresing to stumble across the following quote by Yann Martel, author of The Life of Pi. Martel was explaining his rationale for vowing to deliver Prime Minister Harper a book every two weeks as long as Harper is in office to help raise awareness for the arts.
"It goes way beyond dollars and cents. It's a question of waking up the prime minister to the fact that we're not just economic beings, we're full beings. Quality of life is not just an economic matter — it has to do with the environment, with art and culture."
We also loved that the first book was Animal Farm. Read it for yourself online here.
For more on the story, click here.
"It goes way beyond dollars and cents. It's a question of waking up the prime minister to the fact that we're not just economic beings, we're full beings. Quality of life is not just an economic matter — it has to do with the environment, with art and culture."
We also loved that the first book was Animal Farm. Read it for yourself online here.
For more on the story, click here.
Climate Change Potshots
It seems people are lining up to dump on the Federal Conservatives plan for dealing with Climate Change. At a time when the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is convening to discuss and evaluate proposed measures to deal with the problem, Yves de Boer, the UN's Executive Secretary for the Framework Convention on Climate Change took time to criticise the Tories plans. For starters, he echoed many concerns that intensity targets do not offer any real guarantee of reducing emissions since they do not place any restrictions on production.
Secondly, de Boer stopped short of calling Environmental Minister John Baird a liar when Baird claimed his plan was the most aggressive in the world.
“The Europeans have put a proposal on the table to reduce their emissions by 20 to 30 per cent vis-a-vis 1990 levels, this new proposal is certainly less ambitious than that,” de Boer said.
“California has made a proposal to reduce its emissions by 25 per cent from where it is at the moment. This is also less ambitious than that.”
For more, click here.
We are curious to hear what the IPCC decides and how it compares to both the Alberta and Federal proposals. For more on that, click here.
Secondly, de Boer stopped short of calling Environmental Minister John Baird a liar when Baird claimed his plan was the most aggressive in the world.
“The Europeans have put a proposal on the table to reduce their emissions by 20 to 30 per cent vis-a-vis 1990 levels, this new proposal is certainly less ambitious than that,” de Boer said.
“California has made a proposal to reduce its emissions by 25 per cent from where it is at the moment. This is also less ambitious than that.”
For more, click here.
We are curious to hear what the IPCC decides and how it compares to both the Alberta and Federal proposals. For more on that, click here.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The Information Economy
This idea came out of our concluding thoughts on the Lavazza coffee pods in our last post and echoes some ideas mentioned in earlier posts.
The idea that a cup of espresso represents a blend of coffee beans naturally makes us curious about the percentage and interactions of the various beans. With the recent trends in single-estate chocolate causing a rapid escalation in gourmet chocolate prices, the coffee industry is ideally posied to follow suit in the realm of region identitified branding. To certain extent, we all ready have such labelling and marketing, but on really broad scales.
A move towards providing more information about the coffee beans, such as location, processing method, date of processing, commercial venture type (Fair Trade, etc.) would also be in keeping with certain aspects of the "new economy". While there is much talk about our being in an "information age" the "information economy" gets very little attention.
The ability to find information almost at a whim, creates a demand for more information. Marketers have responded to this by highlighting particular pieces of information regarding their products, creating a story about them, if you will. Thus, purchasing the product also allows you to purchase and retell the story. This was one of the ideas that David Brooks relates in Bobos In Paradise, the bourgeois bohemians, or new yuppies, have a story to tell about every object they purchase, whether it was hand-dyed cloth from a remote Andean village's women's collective raising funds for a daycare centre, or that it was a pair jeans made in Japan on 1940s' Levis technology left behind after the troops went home.
In many cases, the story is part of the allure and creates a demand for the uniqueness of the object. A cup of coffee is a cup of coffee. But how much would you be willing to pay if the coffee was organic and fair trade? Now, what if they told you that it was harvested every other year during a specific three week window by a particualr monastic order? And that the monastics claim that soil nutrients impart certain curative powers to the coffee?
For many, the story is the sell. In the information economy people want to know information about the products they buy, even if they don't necessarily understand what the information is telling them. Is it really important that we know exactly where and in what percentage the beans in our coffee are from? Probably, but only in the same sense that knowing the mineral content of the water we use is.
The idea that a cup of espresso represents a blend of coffee beans naturally makes us curious about the percentage and interactions of the various beans. With the recent trends in single-estate chocolate causing a rapid escalation in gourmet chocolate prices, the coffee industry is ideally posied to follow suit in the realm of region identitified branding. To certain extent, we all ready have such labelling and marketing, but on really broad scales.
A move towards providing more information about the coffee beans, such as location, processing method, date of processing, commercial venture type (Fair Trade, etc.) would also be in keeping with certain aspects of the "new economy". While there is much talk about our being in an "information age" the "information economy" gets very little attention.
The ability to find information almost at a whim, creates a demand for more information. Marketers have responded to this by highlighting particular pieces of information regarding their products, creating a story about them, if you will. Thus, purchasing the product also allows you to purchase and retell the story. This was one of the ideas that David Brooks relates in Bobos In Paradise, the bourgeois bohemians, or new yuppies, have a story to tell about every object they purchase, whether it was hand-dyed cloth from a remote Andean village's women's collective raising funds for a daycare centre, or that it was a pair jeans made in Japan on 1940s' Levis technology left behind after the troops went home.
In many cases, the story is part of the allure and creates a demand for the uniqueness of the object. A cup of coffee is a cup of coffee. But how much would you be willing to pay if the coffee was organic and fair trade? Now, what if they told you that it was harvested every other year during a specific three week window by a particualr monastic order? And that the monastics claim that soil nutrients impart certain curative powers to the coffee?
For many, the story is the sell. In the information economy people want to know information about the products they buy, even if they don't necessarily understand what the information is telling them. Is it really important that we know exactly where and in what percentage the beans in our coffee are from? Probably, but only in the same sense that knowing the mineral content of the water we use is.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
A Good Cup of Kimbo
It's been a while since we've actually talked about the daily staple near and dear to our hearts, namely espresso - ever since we discovered the Illy pods our carefree experimentation and variety-filled days have fallen into a routine and a steady supply of Illy Black. However, we were pleased to discover a box of Kimbo pods at Lina's Italian Market. Rushing back to the office, we set our Nancy a-go and soon were sipping back delightful cups of espresso. Full-bodied and robust, with a slight hint of bitterness (reminiscent of dark chocolate) it reminded us of Sophia Loren, who was recently featured as the covergirl of the Pirelli calender at the tender age of 72, along with the likes of Penelope Cruz and Naomi Watts.
The appearance of the Kimbo pods made us wonder where were the Lavazza pods? Typically, as one of the highest sellers of espresso by volume, Lavazza leads the way in technical developments, even going so far as inventing the frozen espresso - named by Time as one of the inventions of the year for 2006. A quick search on the web found them, along with a description of the Lavazza pods as being a blend of South American beans, with a hint of Asian varieties for fragrance, as well as some African beans.
While this hardly amounts to a full disclosure on the sourcing of the beans, it nevertheless intrigued us. We would like to see coffee producers/marketers label the area of origin of their beans, in much the same way wineries do. Our perfect label would not only denote whether the coffee is Fair Trade, Organic, Clean Hands, etc., but would also go beyond simply listing the country of origin of beans (this in and of itself would be a big step for some producers/marketers).
The appearance of the Kimbo pods made us wonder where were the Lavazza pods? Typically, as one of the highest sellers of espresso by volume, Lavazza leads the way in technical developments, even going so far as inventing the frozen espresso - named by Time as one of the inventions of the year for 2006. A quick search on the web found them, along with a description of the Lavazza pods as being a blend of South American beans, with a hint of Asian varieties for fragrance, as well as some African beans.
While this hardly amounts to a full disclosure on the sourcing of the beans, it nevertheless intrigued us. We would like to see coffee producers/marketers label the area of origin of their beans, in much the same way wineries do. Our perfect label would not only denote whether the coffee is Fair Trade, Organic, Clean Hands, etc., but would also go beyond simply listing the country of origin of beans (this in and of itself would be a big step for some producers/marketers).
Friday, April 27, 2007
Music Update
It's been quite awhile since we last talked about the music gracing the office airwaves of The Daily Wenzel, but lot's of music has come and gone.
First starters, a couple of EPs have caught our attention at the end of march, notably Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson in Crime. This Newmarket, Ontario band has generated a lot of buzz, through their constant touring and appearance at SXSW. They're currently scheduled to appear at Sasquatch later in May. The beauty and grace of The Good, The Bad, and The Queen's live EP kept us mesmorized for a week or two, as did the range of guitarwork displayed by The Ponys on their most recent full length, Turn Out the Lights.
Perhaps somewhat strangely, we have also been listening to Jose Serebrier and the London Philharmonic. Our leader, Elvis Bonaparte, noticed that Serebrier's Fantasia topped the eMusic.com top downloads the week it was released and brought it. It fits in quite nicely with the Storm and Stress self-titled debut and Sonic Youth's Goodbye 20th Century.
More significantly thought,
First starters, a couple of EPs have caught our attention at the end of march, notably Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson in Crime. This Newmarket, Ontario band has generated a lot of buzz, through their constant touring and appearance at SXSW. They're currently scheduled to appear at Sasquatch later in May. The beauty and grace of The Good, The Bad, and The Queen's live EP kept us mesmorized for a week or two, as did the range of guitarwork displayed by The Ponys on their most recent full length, Turn Out the Lights.
Perhaps somewhat strangely, we have also been listening to Jose Serebrier and the London Philharmonic. Our leader, Elvis Bonaparte, noticed that Serebrier's Fantasia topped the eMusic.com top downloads the week it was released and brought it. It fits in quite nicely with the Storm and Stress self-titled debut and Sonic Youth's Goodbye 20th Century.
More significantly thought,
Two men enter, one man leaves
In an encounter we would have paid good money to see, noted environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki confronted environmental minister John Baird over his new proposal to address climate change today. Suzuki's main comment was that the proposal amounted to a disappointment - Baird had promised significant action and yet delivered very little, in Suzuki's view. Suzuki, echoing The Daily Wenzel's own criticism, argued that the Conservatives have demonstrated very little growth in their thinking, as the emission intensities were fundamental to the much-criticized Clean Air Bill.
CBC has the story but we'd love to see some video.
CBC has the story but we'd love to see some video.
Our two cents
We're still looking for a copy of the actual bill proposal, so our opinions may change, but here is a quick synopsis of The Daily Wenzel take on the Conservative Federal Government's proposed climate change bill.
Firstly, we are hearing things that the auto industry is treated lightly if at all. To us, this raises questions about the government's willingness to make foreign industries comply with their climate change policies. Certainly our inability or our unwillingess to create stricter emissions control on an industry dominated by the United States raises some serious questions.
Secondly, while the bill represents a vast philosophic improvement over the Clean Air Bill, it actually does very little to guarantee a reduction in emissions as it still speaks the language of "intensity targets". What we want to see is whether,in any of the projections for emissions reductions, the government posits a stable or increasing rate of production. For example, if the amount of emissions related to the production of a barrell of oil in the oil sands is reduced, but the actual number of barrells produced is allowed to increase dratically, then their will be no net decline in emissions. Instead emissions will actually increases as the oil produced increases.
Firstly, we are hearing things that the auto industry is treated lightly if at all. To us, this raises questions about the government's willingness to make foreign industries comply with their climate change policies. Certainly our inability or our unwillingess to create stricter emissions control on an industry dominated by the United States raises some serious questions.
Secondly, while the bill represents a vast philosophic improvement over the Clean Air Bill, it actually does very little to guarantee a reduction in emissions as it still speaks the language of "intensity targets". What we want to see is whether,in any of the projections for emissions reductions, the government posits a stable or increasing rate of production. For example, if the amount of emissions related to the production of a barrell of oil in the oil sands is reduced, but the actual number of barrells produced is allowed to increase dratically, then their will be no net decline in emissions. Instead emissions will actually increases as the oil produced increases.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Politics as Spectacle
While we are pleased to hear that the federal government announced today that it would support the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs as part of its strategies to cut greenhouse emissions, we were more disappointed by the coverage that the new climate change proposal received. Granted, the proposal officially comes out tomorrow, but nevertheless, it reminds us of the importance of Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle (see right-hand side link).
One of the key aspects to Debord's work was that in a society dominated by mass culture, that is a culture where goods are created and mass-prodeced solely for their commercial, as opposed to folk or cultural, value people live vicariously through their consumption. As the economy grows to dominate all aspects of everyday life, more daily events are turned into spectacles to be consumed passively by an audience. Increasingly, critics have argued that mass media is displaying more and more of these tendencies, specifically when it comes to politics. We hear less of the issues involved, and more on how the issues help politicians jockey for power. Thus, today the news focuses not on the government's new cliamte change policy, but on the circumstances that led to its being leaked prematurely.
Now we admit that The Daily Wenzel engages in its own fair share of speculative opinions, but we do try to provide links to the actual players or documents involved so that our readers can make up their own minds. However, that ought not to diminish the strength of our arguments. So, witness the coverage provided by CanWest/Global with that of the CBC, which does a slightly better job an explaining the proposal, but concentrates more on positioning the reaction of various interest groups.
One of the key aspects to Debord's work was that in a society dominated by mass culture, that is a culture where goods are created and mass-prodeced solely for their commercial, as opposed to folk or cultural, value people live vicariously through their consumption. As the economy grows to dominate all aspects of everyday life, more daily events are turned into spectacles to be consumed passively by an audience. Increasingly, critics have argued that mass media is displaying more and more of these tendencies, specifically when it comes to politics. We hear less of the issues involved, and more on how the issues help politicians jockey for power. Thus, today the news focuses not on the government's new cliamte change policy, but on the circumstances that led to its being leaked prematurely.
Now we admit that The Daily Wenzel engages in its own fair share of speculative opinions, but we do try to provide links to the actual players or documents involved so that our readers can make up their own minds. However, that ought not to diminish the strength of our arguments. So, witness the coverage provided by CanWest/Global with that of the CBC, which does a slightly better job an explaining the proposal, but concentrates more on positioning the reaction of various interest groups.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Adios, Howdy! Adios, Heidi!
We here at The Daily Wenzel freely admit that we have a love/hate relationship with the City of Calgary and find their recent decision to retire Heidi and Howdy, the cartoon polar bear mascots of the 1988 Winter Olympics, sad and frustrating. You will not find us waxing rhapsodic for these two lovable characters that for only a few more short days will grace the entrance to Calgary, via Highway 1. Our problem is not so much with the nostolgia of the pair, but rather that the decision is symptomatic of larger, underlying issues with Calgary.
The official reason for the removal of the Olympic Mascots is that they are inconsistent with the official branding and logo of the city. While their removal has been decided, their fate as not, as some want to keep the two, and others are simply content to have them recycled.
Our problem with the situation is Calgary's decided ahistorical nature. The Winter Olympics, of which Heidi and Howdy are part of the enduring symbol, was a key aspect of our city's emergence on the international scene. It was used to demonstrate that Calgary, a metropolis of less than thirty five years, deserved to be treated on the same scale as the other major cities of the world. That this event did not find some recognition in the new "brand" of Calgary becomes problematic. Furthermore, the potential destruction of Heidi and Howdy is consistent with a city that routinely bulldozes historical landmarks. When the signature lions on the Centre Street bridge fell into disrepair and the City wanted to remove them, it took a fair amount of public pressure to have the lions replaced and the originals preserved at the Glenbow Museum. Surely there is room for Heidi and Howdy at the Olympic Museum at Canada Olympic Park?
Calgary as a muncipality is over 100 years old and it is extremely difficult to find a building that pre-dates incorporation. The population of Calgary was quite small, so this is perhaps understandable. But should it be almost equally as difficult to find a pre-WWII building?Heidi and Howdy are not alone, simply joining and increasing number of historic neighbourhoods and buildings being converted into offices and condos.
The official reason for the removal of the Olympic Mascots is that they are inconsistent with the official branding and logo of the city. While their removal has been decided, their fate as not, as some want to keep the two, and others are simply content to have them recycled.
Our problem with the situation is Calgary's decided ahistorical nature. The Winter Olympics, of which Heidi and Howdy are part of the enduring symbol, was a key aspect of our city's emergence on the international scene. It was used to demonstrate that Calgary, a metropolis of less than thirty five years, deserved to be treated on the same scale as the other major cities of the world. That this event did not find some recognition in the new "brand" of Calgary becomes problematic. Furthermore, the potential destruction of Heidi and Howdy is consistent with a city that routinely bulldozes historical landmarks. When the signature lions on the Centre Street bridge fell into disrepair and the City wanted to remove them, it took a fair amount of public pressure to have the lions replaced and the originals preserved at the Glenbow Museum. Surely there is room for Heidi and Howdy at the Olympic Museum at Canada Olympic Park?
Calgary as a muncipality is over 100 years old and it is extremely difficult to find a building that pre-dates incorporation. The population of Calgary was quite small, so this is perhaps understandable. But should it be almost equally as difficult to find a pre-WWII building?Heidi and Howdy are not alone, simply joining and increasing number of historic neighbourhoods and buildings being converted into offices and condos.
A ridiculous proposal?
After being front page news last week that a serious attempt by Canadians to meet their Kyoto targets would cost $195/tonne in carbon taxes, this little article seemed to have slipped by. As we mentioned, the government's arguments rest on assumptions, and we were happy to see that UK economist Phillipe Crabbe pointed out that the government's price is contingent on it's time frame. Meeting Kyoto goals by 2008 would lead to excessive costs, but phasing in aspects of a climate change programme over several years would still allow Canada to meet its emissions targets while keeping any carbon tax cost to under $50 US/tonne.
Again then, we have a federal government looking to obfuscate and delay on an issue they claim to be concerned about.
Again then, we have a federal government looking to obfuscate and delay on an issue they claim to be concerned about.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Good Grief, Lucy!
We'd like to take a moment to welcome a new blog to the scene, and wish our sports correspondent Alana Marchetto well. Responsible for most of our insightful tennis coverage she has decided to launch her own blog, Good Grief Lucy (based on her resemblance to the Charles Schultz character - making us Peanuts) combining her love of crotchet and knitting, with her incisive knowledge of sports. While we hope she'll still come around to offer her valued opinions during the big tournies, her new home gives her greater scope to cover all of her favourite sports.
While you're there, check out the photos of her great knitting and crotchet projects.
While you're there, check out the photos of her great knitting and crotchet projects.
Lust for Life
Perhaps to the surprise of all, Iggy Pop turned 60 today, celebrating forty years as an artist. Responsible, in part, for birthing punk. Iggy once commented that it was seeing a really bad Doors concert, in which Jim Morrison, drunk and bloated, displaying obvious contempt for his audience, that inspired the creation of the Stooges and the confrontational persona of Iggy Pop. To have survived, let alone continue to make music and perform live with an intensity rarely equaled by performers half his age (we saw him at SXSW this year) is astonishing in and of itself, but to consider that he created music within a context of self-destruction, alcoholism and drug abuse, elevates that success to another level entirely.
For the record, "The Passenger" is one of our favourite Pop tunes of all time (that, and virtually anything of Raw Power), since it provided the soundtrack of our meeting our good Bassano del Grappa. On a student summer tour of Europe, backpacking through northern Italy, a few of us were enjoying some gelato at a local gelateria, when "The Passenger" came over the speakers. Perking up, we caught the attention of del Grappa who explained that we were listening to a cover version performed by some friends of his, and that they would be headlining a small outdoor concert later that night in the piazza. del Grappa offered to show us and around, arrange tickets, and find us a place to crash, and the evening ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, as afterwards, del Grappa and his friends dragged us through the back streets and drinking holes to celebrate the successful show. "The Passenger" had been their finale, and the song's stranger in a strange land atmosphere became very real for us.
For the record, "The Passenger" is one of our favourite Pop tunes of all time (that, and virtually anything of Raw Power), since it provided the soundtrack of our meeting our good Bassano del Grappa. On a student summer tour of Europe, backpacking through northern Italy, a few of us were enjoying some gelato at a local gelateria, when "The Passenger" came over the speakers. Perking up, we caught the attention of del Grappa who explained that we were listening to a cover version performed by some friends of his, and that they would be headlining a small outdoor concert later that night in the piazza. del Grappa offered to show us and around, arrange tickets, and find us a place to crash, and the evening ended up being one of the highlights of the trip, as afterwards, del Grappa and his friends dragged us through the back streets and drinking holes to celebrate the successful show. "The Passenger" had been their finale, and the song's stranger in a strange land atmosphere became very real for us.
Friday, April 20, 2007
A Tale of Two Governments
Both the Canadian Federal Government and the Alberta Provincial government made major announcements yesterday and the results could not have been more different from two Conservative governments.
First, provincial Premier Ed Stelmach announced his inaugural budget which contains $33B in spending. This is perhaps one of the largest public expenditures in Alberta for quite some time and sounds good to a public waiting to hear that the Tories are going to reinvest the provincial surplusses back into the social infrastructure. Granted, a significant amount of the money is simply a restatement of already declared projects, or cost-overrun allocations (themselves problematic and a seperate issue for the government to deal with). But in light of recent movesw to back away from such options as rent controls, releasing nearly half a billion dollars to deal with the housing crunch sounds like the governemnt is interested in solving the problem. What Albertans are looking for is evidence of a vision for the province that is going to reward the sacrifices of the 1990s. Stelmach's budget, while admittedly not containing a lot that is new, nevertheless represents significant spending and an indication that the governemnt is taking a small step in the right direction.
The Federal Government meanwhile, announced it's vision for the environment, or rather failed to do so, instead appeared content to offer a nightmarish interpretation of someone else's. Environment Minister Baird's comment's that Kyoto was a "risky" and "reckless" proposition that threatened 275,000 jobs jeapordizing the Canadian economy with recession. Several critics have pointed out some flaws with the underlying assumptions of the government's report, but at The Daily Wenzel we also noticed the difference between this report and the one the UK releases at the end of summer that attempted to calculate the relative costs of not doing anything regarding climate change. Admittedly this is a much harder task, but even conservative economic estimates would mitigate some of the costs projected by the government. For example, should provincial governments go through with tentative proposals to ban incadescent light bulbs, then certain jobs and revenues would be lost to the economy, however the increase in sales and demand for compact flourescent bulbs would lessen, if not surpass those numbers - certainly this is a very simplistic example, but recognizing the potential economic spin-offs of pro-Kyoto technologies and developments ought to have been incorporated, a feature not reported so far. Also, any projected costs associated with meeting or not meeting Kyoto measures woudl have to include estimations of the economic impact that changing conditions would have on crops and livestock patterns, it could very well be, as the UK report suggested, that the costs of not meeting Kyoto targets or some other significant cliamte change attempt, well outweigh the costs of doing nothing, or very little.
Waiting somewhere in limbo is the government's own Clean Air Bill, which is supposedly in the process of beign revised based on the earlier criticisms. Many Canadians support moves to deal with climate change effectively, and it is widely thought to be one of the leadding, if not the leading issue for the next election. Quebec, as a province, is pro-Kyoto, and yesterday's announcement is unlikely to earn the Conservatives more support in a provine that they need to either expand or maintain support in. Similarly, the disaffected Liberals who voted for the Conservatives in the last election are unlikely to be comforted either, this move simply yet another reminder of the ideological differences between the two parties.
First, provincial Premier Ed Stelmach announced his inaugural budget which contains $33B in spending. This is perhaps one of the largest public expenditures in Alberta for quite some time and sounds good to a public waiting to hear that the Tories are going to reinvest the provincial surplusses back into the social infrastructure. Granted, a significant amount of the money is simply a restatement of already declared projects, or cost-overrun allocations (themselves problematic and a seperate issue for the government to deal with). But in light of recent movesw to back away from such options as rent controls, releasing nearly half a billion dollars to deal with the housing crunch sounds like the governemnt is interested in solving the problem. What Albertans are looking for is evidence of a vision for the province that is going to reward the sacrifices of the 1990s. Stelmach's budget, while admittedly not containing a lot that is new, nevertheless represents significant spending and an indication that the governemnt is taking a small step in the right direction.
The Federal Government meanwhile, announced it's vision for the environment, or rather failed to do so, instead appeared content to offer a nightmarish interpretation of someone else's. Environment Minister Baird's comment's that Kyoto was a "risky" and "reckless" proposition that threatened 275,000 jobs jeapordizing the Canadian economy with recession. Several critics have pointed out some flaws with the underlying assumptions of the government's report, but at The Daily Wenzel we also noticed the difference between this report and the one the UK releases at the end of summer that attempted to calculate the relative costs of not doing anything regarding climate change. Admittedly this is a much harder task, but even conservative economic estimates would mitigate some of the costs projected by the government. For example, should provincial governments go through with tentative proposals to ban incadescent light bulbs, then certain jobs and revenues would be lost to the economy, however the increase in sales and demand for compact flourescent bulbs would lessen, if not surpass those numbers - certainly this is a very simplistic example, but recognizing the potential economic spin-offs of pro-Kyoto technologies and developments ought to have been incorporated, a feature not reported so far. Also, any projected costs associated with meeting or not meeting Kyoto measures woudl have to include estimations of the economic impact that changing conditions would have on crops and livestock patterns, it could very well be, as the UK report suggested, that the costs of not meeting Kyoto targets or some other significant cliamte change attempt, well outweigh the costs of doing nothing, or very little.
Waiting somewhere in limbo is the government's own Clean Air Bill, which is supposedly in the process of beign revised based on the earlier criticisms. Many Canadians support moves to deal with climate change effectively, and it is widely thought to be one of the leadding, if not the leading issue for the next election. Quebec, as a province, is pro-Kyoto, and yesterday's announcement is unlikely to earn the Conservatives more support in a provine that they need to either expand or maintain support in. Similarly, the disaffected Liberals who voted for the Conservatives in the last election are unlikely to be comforted either, this move simply yet another reminder of the ideological differences between the two parties.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Today marked the 25th Anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, a document that came into being with the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The Charter guaranteed Canadians freedom from persecution or discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, religion, and language. It has also been used to extend these rights in to many other realms by the courts, earning it the scorn of conservatives who have long felt that it has allowed the judiciary to make laws, instead of simply interpreting them. That this is still the feeling today was evidenced by the silence coming out of Stephen Harper's government today. Left-leaning and liberal Canadians will argue that it was the reluctance of conservatives to implement the Charter, or avoid dealing with its implications in areas such as sexual orientation that forced the Canadian courts into their current role.
The patriation of the constitution also saw Quebec remain aloof from Federation, creating a constitutional crisis that led to the failures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, as well as the second Quebec Sovereignty Referendum. Ironically, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had envisioned the patriation of the constitution as the first step in taking the institutions of the Canadian government into the 20th century. Charter of Rights and Freedoms
was meant to deal with the lingering 19th century antagonisms between Canada's French and English populations. While individual rights have certainly flourished, Canada is no further down the road Trudeau and hoped for than we were twenty-five years ago.
The patriation of the constitution also saw Quebec remain aloof from Federation, creating a constitutional crisis that led to the failures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, as well as the second Quebec Sovereignty Referendum. Ironically, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had envisioned the patriation of the constitution as the first step in taking the institutions of the Canadian government into the 20th century. Charter of Rights and Freedoms
was meant to deal with the lingering 19th century antagonisms between Canada's French and English populations. While individual rights have certainly flourished, Canada is no further down the road Trudeau and hoped for than we were twenty-five years ago.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
From One Anniversary . . .
It was sixty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play - if you believe such things, but at any rate, this week mark's the fortieth anniversary of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, widely thought to be the greatest, most important, and/or influential album of all time. While many articles and tributes will be written to attest to how great the songs were, how iconic the album was (true, true), we'd like to focus on something that we here at The Daily Wenzel feel is the album's true accomplishment.
We forget sometimes that rock and roll was barely ten years ago when Sgt. Pepper was released. Furthermore, the concept of an album as a single piece of vinyl was less than twenty. Throughout much of the 1940s, an album was a collection of 78s or 45s packaged together. The notion that you could listen to four or five songs continuously was still new. The crowning achievement of Sgt. Pepper was that it was the first concept album, where a theme linked every song together (even if the link was pretty tenuous in some cases). The rise of the concept album became a potent weapon in the rock arsenal during the psychedelic era. It also led many artists to move away from the creation of a radio-friendly single because the Beatles had demonstrated that rock and roll could be a piece of art. These albums quickly found a happy home own the emerging FM band which was licensed by the FCC to be album-oriented so as not to compete with the highly commercialized AM band.
Second influential aspect of Sgt. Pepper was that it was also the first album in which the artists adopted a persona, the Lonely Hearts Club Band, performed not as themselves, but as their alter egos. Without Sgt. Pepper, where would David Bowie and his legion of followers be? Similarly, hip hop is also indebted to the Beatles for the freedom to experiment that they initiated.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stands out as one of the great rock albums of all time for a lot of reasons. These are just two that we like.
We forget sometimes that rock and roll was barely ten years ago when Sgt. Pepper was released. Furthermore, the concept of an album as a single piece of vinyl was less than twenty. Throughout much of the 1940s, an album was a collection of 78s or 45s packaged together. The notion that you could listen to four or five songs continuously was still new. The crowning achievement of Sgt. Pepper was that it was the first concept album, where a theme linked every song together (even if the link was pretty tenuous in some cases). The rise of the concept album became a potent weapon in the rock arsenal during the psychedelic era. It also led many artists to move away from the creation of a radio-friendly single because the Beatles had demonstrated that rock and roll could be a piece of art. These albums quickly found a happy home own the emerging FM band which was licensed by the FCC to be album-oriented so as not to compete with the highly commercialized AM band.
Second influential aspect of Sgt. Pepper was that it was also the first album in which the artists adopted a persona, the Lonely Hearts Club Band, performed not as themselves, but as their alter egos. Without Sgt. Pepper, where would David Bowie and his legion of followers be? Similarly, hip hop is also indebted to the Beatles for the freedom to experiment that they initiated.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stands out as one of the great rock albums of all time for a lot of reasons. These are just two that we like.
. . . to Another
An anniversary that we're much more interested in celebrating, or at least generates far more whistful nostalgia, is the tenth anniversary of the first self-titled Storm and Stress album. While we cannot say that the album burst onto the scene in 1997, it nevertheless quickly achieved cult status. Those of us who liked it found it's atonal meanderings remarkably fresh, a dramatic break from the verse-chorus-verse song structure. Blake Butler, of emusic.com, called it a "garbled cacophony of untamed genius" a phrase we whole-heartedly endorse. Elvis Bonaparte recalls eagerly talking up the album to others who had admited to listening to it.
"I was so excited," Bonaparte says, "It was like nothing I'd ever heard. When people would say to me things like, I can't get past that first song [We write threnodies. We write explosions.], I'd eagerly agree, saying 'Yeah, neither can I, it's just so good' and the other person would just stare at me and I'd realize that they were one of the many who just didn't get."
"Back when I was hosting Radio Free Nowhere during CJSW's drive home slot, I remember playing it one day and someone called in and asked if these guys were going to finish tuning up," laughs Sean Marchetto. "Man, I loved that song. I've kicked myself forever for missing them when they were in town. I think they played to twelve people."
"Somebody gave it to me as an example of what rock should be," recalls Bassano del Grappa. "I never really thought of them as a rock band. They were always a form of sonic art to me. Somehow managing to capture that whole New York no wave thing from the early 1980s, but merging it with the Chicago sound that Tortoise was just starting to get a lot of traction from."
Storm and Stress were Ian Williams (guitar) of Don Cabellero, Erich Ehm (bass), and Kevin Shea (drums). Their first album was produced by Steve Albini, and their second, Under Thunder & Flourescent Lights, recorded in 1999, but released in 2000, by Jim O'Rourke. The Touch & Go promo paragraph for the first album captured our fin-de-siecle sentiments exactly, but the band, with such a jarring break from the prevailing musical landscape seemed to offer a way out, however brief.
Bassano del Grappa
"I was so excited," Bonaparte says, "It was like nothing I'd ever heard. When people would say to me things like, I can't get past that first song [We write threnodies. We write explosions.], I'd eagerly agree, saying 'Yeah, neither can I, it's just so good' and the other person would just stare at me and I'd realize that they were one of the many who just didn't get."
"Back when I was hosting Radio Free Nowhere during CJSW's drive home slot, I remember playing it one day and someone called in and asked if these guys were going to finish tuning up," laughs Sean Marchetto. "Man, I loved that song. I've kicked myself forever for missing them when they were in town. I think they played to twelve people."
"Somebody gave it to me as an example of what rock should be," recalls Bassano del Grappa. "I never really thought of them as a rock band. They were always a form of sonic art to me. Somehow managing to capture that whole New York no wave thing from the early 1980s, but merging it with the Chicago sound that Tortoise was just starting to get a lot of traction from."
Storm and Stress were Ian Williams (guitar) of Don Cabellero, Erich Ehm (bass), and Kevin Shea (drums). Their first album was produced by Steve Albini, and their second, Under Thunder & Flourescent Lights, recorded in 1999, but released in 2000, by Jim O'Rourke. The Touch & Go promo paragraph for the first album captured our fin-de-siecle sentiments exactly, but the band, with such a jarring break from the prevailing musical landscape seemed to offer a way out, however brief.
Bassano del Grappa
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Enviro Update
Longtime Daily Wenzel readers may have noticed that we've been rather quiet on the environmental front these last few weeks. Despite some major announcements by the federal government, and the official opposition party regarding their green policies, we have refrained from commenting. In large part it is because we do not consider this news. Very little substance is being discussed in these reports, and then policies themselves are merely consistent with established frameworks. Even what we would have considered the most interesting piece of news, which occurred some two weeks ago, namely Baird's announcement that Canada would not take part in any international carbon trading scheme - a proposal publicly mused over by his predecessor Rona Ambrose, is in keeping with the Conservative move to retreat from the international stage (peacekeeping not withstanding).
However, we would like to share the following newsbit, as it shows that our feelings are shared elsewhere. The failure to fund new research into climate change only supports the public perception that Stephen Harper and his government are not concerned with climate change, but are simply reacting to immediate developments, in much the same way Harper recognized the Quebec nation to stave off a similar BQ move. Similarly, just as that political powerplay is likely to come back to haunt Canadians, we can only imagine how these environmental moves (or lack thereof) will affect us down the road.
However, we would like to share the following newsbit, as it shows that our feelings are shared elsewhere. The failure to fund new research into climate change only supports the public perception that Stephen Harper and his government are not concerned with climate change, but are simply reacting to immediate developments, in much the same way Harper recognized the Quebec nation to stave off a similar BQ move. Similarly, just as that political powerplay is likely to come back to haunt Canadians, we can only imagine how these environmental moves (or lack thereof) will affect us down the road.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
The Table of Elements
It was a large grin that Il Professore, Sean Marchetto was wearing today (truth be told, Marchetto does not like to be called "The Professor", a trend started by Bassano del Grappa when del Grappa discovered that Marchetto was a school teacher with three university degrees, one of which being an advanced degree in American history, but only a Masters' not a PhD as Marchetto tries to point out, though "professor" is the Italian equivalent of high school teacher). Too many times to mention, when our conversations turn to hiphop, Marchetto will reference the "four elements of hiphop" as outlined by some bygone rapper, and all of us will stare at him blankly. Today, Marchetto appeared in The Daily Wenzel office wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "The Four Elements of Hiphop" done up in the style of a Periodic Table of the Elements, something that Marchetto, as a chemistry teacher, would be quite familiar with. We don't know where he found it, but his was a look of vindication.
So, what are the four elements of hiphop? The emcee, the DJ, the B-Boy, and grafitti - all four post-modern forms of communication - literature, music, dance, and art. More than this we cannot say - we'll have to entice the Professor to give us a lecture, only this time we'll take notes.
So, what are the four elements of hiphop? The emcee, the DJ, the B-Boy, and grafitti - all four post-modern forms of communication - literature, music, dance, and art. More than this we cannot say - we'll have to entice the Professor to give us a lecture, only this time we'll take notes.
The Stuff of Legends
So we had heard from FFWD/Exclaim! writer Aubrey MacInnis that fellow Calgarian Chad van Gaalen had missed his SXSW show because of an argument he had had at the border with US Customs Agents. In further conversations with MacInnis and later, back at the Calgary Airport, with members of the AA Sound System, the story goes that the Customs Agents started searching through vanGaalen's bags, prompting the musician to become irritated and defensive, calling one of the agents a "douchebag", at which point he was denied entry to the US. Rather than simply fill his spot at the SXSW music conference with another artist, the organizers instead helped to arrange a closed circuit broadcast of Chad vanGaalen from his home in Calgary.
How much of this story we do not know, like we suggested though, it is the stuff of legend. Click here to watch the YouTube version of the closed circuit broadcast.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Reliving the Moment
Someone brought in the new iTunes Live in Soho EP of The Good, The Bad, and The Queen and it did what all live albums are supposed to do, evoking for us memories of their live set at SXSW. As good as Damon Albarn's songwriting is, and as much as it makes us what to be young and British and railing against the remnants of Empire, what we cannot escape is Paul Simonon's magnificent bass-playing. Back at Stubb's in Austin, we were captivated by his stylish looks and movement on-stage, but listening to the live EP we began to appreciate his work more and wondered at how much involvement this ex-member of the Clash had in the the evolution of the musical landscape created by The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.
Since Tuesday I think it's been played a dozen times, and something everybody wants to hear once the stereo is turned on.
Since Tuesday I think it's been played a dozen times, and something everybody wants to hear once the stereo is turned on.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Turnin' Pages - Book Update
March was a busy month in terms of book reading. In addition to Douglas Coupland's Jpod, which was quickly passed around the office, quite a few other books made their way through our fingers.
John Sellers' auto-biographical essay, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, caused much chuckling, for his insights into the nature of the indie rock fan (any fan really) were quite funny and many of us could see ourselves reflected in his work at different points. Barbara Ehrenreich's Dancing in the Streets was something of a different story however. Ehrenreich attempted to tackle the sublimation of desire that has taken place in most Western nations, she sees the rise of Protestantism and mass industrialization as working to rid daily life of passion and ecstasy. This is not a new argument, though it is one that we tacitly support, however not for any reasons that Ehrenreich gives. For a child of the Sixties, Ehrenreich really ought to be able to do a better job. Numerous books from the Sixties speak to this same topic, from the writings on sexual repression of Wilhem Reich, to the expressions of free love of Charles A. Reich and Norman Brown. Even Theodore Roszak's The Making of a Counter-culture covers the same ground. It's hard to believe that Ehrenreich never came across any of these authors. By the same token, she devotes a chapter to rock n'roll and later mentions Guy Debord and the role of the Spectacle, but never talks about Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces, a book that served as an introduction to the Situationists for many a rock fan, and even has the same topic for its thesis.
If you've never read any of the above, then Dancing in the Streets may make for a good introduction to a topic that has seen much more written about it than Barbara Ehrenreich would have you know.
Elsewhere, the graphic arts ruled. First through Tara MacPherson's lovely collection of work, Lonely Heart, comprising her first series of paintings, posters, sketches, and concert posters. Playful yet full of gothic brooding, we were instant fans. Second, Susie J. Horgan's earliest photographs have been released in Punk Love, documenting the early days of the D.C. hardcore scene. Horgan was responsible for taking the Teen Idle's album cover of the boy with the x's on his hands, as well as the legendary picture of Alex MacKaye (brother of Ian) sitting at the bottom of some steps with his head in his hands - the image thta was later used for the Minor Threat cover. Horgan's pictures include scenes from the early Minor Threat shows, shots of Ian MacKaye skateboarding, and images of Ian MacKaye and an equally young Henry Rollins goofing around in Rollins' ice cream shop. Finally, Hilly Kristal's photo-collection documenting over thirty years of CBGBs turned up on our desks. How do we rank this? Yes, CBGB's is/was an institution, though we all have our own CBGB's in our own neighbourhoods. Filled with photos of people who have performed or visited the club and interspersed with quotes, CBGB & OMFUG is a good afternoon of reminiscing. A lot of the early photos are available elsewhere, though it is handy to have them all in one collection. The best part perhaps is David Byrne's essay on the nature of the interaction between club and community.
John Sellers' auto-biographical essay, Perfect from Now On: How Indie Rock Saved My Life, caused much chuckling, for his insights into the nature of the indie rock fan (any fan really) were quite funny and many of us could see ourselves reflected in his work at different points. Barbara Ehrenreich's Dancing in the Streets was something of a different story however. Ehrenreich attempted to tackle the sublimation of desire that has taken place in most Western nations, she sees the rise of Protestantism and mass industrialization as working to rid daily life of passion and ecstasy. This is not a new argument, though it is one that we tacitly support, however not for any reasons that Ehrenreich gives. For a child of the Sixties, Ehrenreich really ought to be able to do a better job. Numerous books from the Sixties speak to this same topic, from the writings on sexual repression of Wilhem Reich, to the expressions of free love of Charles A. Reich and Norman Brown. Even Theodore Roszak's The Making of a Counter-culture covers the same ground. It's hard to believe that Ehrenreich never came across any of these authors. By the same token, she devotes a chapter to rock n'roll and later mentions Guy Debord and the role of the Spectacle, but never talks about Greil Marcus' Lipstick Traces, a book that served as an introduction to the Situationists for many a rock fan, and even has the same topic for its thesis.
If you've never read any of the above, then Dancing in the Streets may make for a good introduction to a topic that has seen much more written about it than Barbara Ehrenreich would have you know.
Elsewhere, the graphic arts ruled. First through Tara MacPherson's lovely collection of work, Lonely Heart, comprising her first series of paintings, posters, sketches, and concert posters. Playful yet full of gothic brooding, we were instant fans. Second, Susie J. Horgan's earliest photographs have been released in Punk Love, documenting the early days of the D.C. hardcore scene. Horgan was responsible for taking the Teen Idle's album cover of the boy with the x's on his hands, as well as the legendary picture of Alex MacKaye (brother of Ian) sitting at the bottom of some steps with his head in his hands - the image thta was later used for the Minor Threat cover. Horgan's pictures include scenes from the early Minor Threat shows, shots of Ian MacKaye skateboarding, and images of Ian MacKaye and an equally young Henry Rollins goofing around in Rollins' ice cream shop. Finally, Hilly Kristal's photo-collection documenting over thirty years of CBGBs turned up on our desks. How do we rank this? Yes, CBGB's is/was an institution, though we all have our own CBGB's in our own neighbourhoods. Filled with photos of people who have performed or visited the club and interspersed with quotes, CBGB & OMFUG is a good afternoon of reminiscing. A lot of the early photos are available elsewhere, though it is handy to have them all in one collection. The best part perhaps is David Byrne's essay on the nature of the interaction between club and community.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Hills alive with music and sounds!
So much music has passed through our office this month that you'd forgive us for being somewhat reluctant to post about it all, especially if you factor in the amount of music that we brought back from SXSW and still haven't taken out of our festival bags.
But let us begin in those distant days before SXSW and what we were listening was dominated by The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. While some of us were hesitant, fearing that the band might be caught in a sophomore slump, these fears proved deeply unfounded. From the first listen we were entranced with Arcade Fire's ability to evoke the streets of Montreal, capturing that unique blend of modern alienation and despair thoroughly steeped in feelings of Catholic longing and guilt.
We were also quite taken with a little EP from The Bombay Bicycle Club. Four songs blending the Strokes, Sonic Youth, and the Smiths. Jangly, pop-oriented guitar songs. Beirut's Pompeii EP helped to whet our appetites for their SXSW performance, as did repeated listens of Blonde Redhead's Misery is a Butterfly.
We also acquired Julie Doiron's latest offering, Woke Myself Up, and while we are enjoy her return to lo-fi rockdom, we do not feel that we've been able to give the able its full due, and expect to hear more from it in April.
The Return from SXSW featured the introduction of the Great Lake Swimmers' album, Ongiara, but their quiet overtones were quickly overtaken by the surprisingly catchy pop-work of the Tokyo Sex Club, who we passed up seeing at SXSW in order to see the Stooges. A fair trade, but we realize that we would have been just as happy watching Tokyo Sex Club open for Cursive. Their high-energy three song Smith EP (again owing a debt to the Strokes) demonstrates that the band would have been a much better time than Spoon. We also picked up the Pony's Turn the Lights Out which is proving to be an enthralling textbook display of guitar work.
However, the class of the end of March clearly belongs to Modest Mouse and their new release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. As quirky as ever, but with the extra guitar pop of Johnny Marr, we are perfectly happy sailing off into uncharted waters with the band.
But let us begin in those distant days before SXSW and what we were listening was dominated by The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. While some of us were hesitant, fearing that the band might be caught in a sophomore slump, these fears proved deeply unfounded. From the first listen we were entranced with Arcade Fire's ability to evoke the streets of Montreal, capturing that unique blend of modern alienation and despair thoroughly steeped in feelings of Catholic longing and guilt.
We were also quite taken with a little EP from The Bombay Bicycle Club. Four songs blending the Strokes, Sonic Youth, and the Smiths. Jangly, pop-oriented guitar songs. Beirut's Pompeii EP helped to whet our appetites for their SXSW performance, as did repeated listens of Blonde Redhead's Misery is a Butterfly.
We also acquired Julie Doiron's latest offering, Woke Myself Up, and while we are enjoy her return to lo-fi rockdom, we do not feel that we've been able to give the able its full due, and expect to hear more from it in April.
The Return from SXSW featured the introduction of the Great Lake Swimmers' album, Ongiara, but their quiet overtones were quickly overtaken by the surprisingly catchy pop-work of the Tokyo Sex Club, who we passed up seeing at SXSW in order to see the Stooges. A fair trade, but we realize that we would have been just as happy watching Tokyo Sex Club open for Cursive. Their high-energy three song Smith EP (again owing a debt to the Strokes) demonstrates that the band would have been a much better time than Spoon. We also picked up the Pony's Turn the Lights Out which is proving to be an enthralling textbook display of guitar work.
However, the class of the end of March clearly belongs to Modest Mouse and their new release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. As quirky as ever, but with the extra guitar pop of Johnny Marr, we are perfectly happy sailing off into uncharted waters with the band.
The Politics of Boredom
Alright, so perhaps not quite the posting that we would envision for the above title, and we promise we'll give it a much better go next time around. However, politics and boredom do seem to go hand in hand these days. Despite all of the excitement generated over the provincial elections in Quebec, we at The Daily Wenzel were not surprised in the least to find the Liberals ekeing out a narrow margin. This is perfectly in keeping with the way Canadian politics works. Separatist governments in Quebec only seem to thrive when the Liberals hold power in Ottawa. This is in part because Quebec, like most of Canada, is fundamentally Liberal, and having Liberals in office federally means that we agree on some many major issues that smaller issues can take a bigger stage. People only seem to want to debate separatism after health-care, social services, free trade, etc., have all been taken care of, issues that the Liberals seem to be much better at generating consensus around.
When the Conservatives are in power however, there are so many other issues that the electorate tend to disagree with, that the conversations rarely get to separatism. There is a weird idea floating here that an argument could be made that a Liberal government is bad for national unity, simply by being a victim of their own success.
Federally however, the success of the Liberals in Quebec does not necessarily mean an election is out of the question. The issue with the election is result is to see who made the biggest gains. In the last federal election, the Liberals lost significant ground, allowing the Conservatives to take the rest of Canada. The recent results most likely signifies that the Liberals would be triumphant in Quebec once more, causing Harper and Co. to have to wait for the Ontario numbers before calling an election.
When the Conservatives are in power however, there are so many other issues that the electorate tend to disagree with, that the conversations rarely get to separatism. There is a weird idea floating here that an argument could be made that a Liberal government is bad for national unity, simply by being a victim of their own success.
Federally however, the success of the Liberals in Quebec does not necessarily mean an election is out of the question. The issue with the election is result is to see who made the biggest gains. In the last federal election, the Liberals lost significant ground, allowing the Conservatives to take the rest of Canada. The recent results most likely signifies that the Liberals would be triumphant in Quebec once more, causing Harper and Co. to have to wait for the Ontario numbers before calling an election.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
SXSW X The Numbers
Our final tally:
1 movie
2 conferences
3 cities
4 days
5 assignments
7 magazines
8 bars
10 guest speakers
14 cds
15 hours sleep
31 bands
42 phone calls
72 text messages
550 miles driven
3454 miles flown
1 movie
2 conferences
3 cities
4 days
5 assignments
7 magazines
8 bars
10 guest speakers
14 cds
15 hours sleep
31 bands
42 phone calls
72 text messages
550 miles driven
3454 miles flown
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Twitterpated
We are currently testing out a new software applet called Twitter. Our username is, of course, DailyWenzel, and in theory you can use it to find out on your mobile when The Daily Wenzel has been updated. Bare with us, and send us feedback.
SXSW Band Shakedown
The Good
The Early Years
Voxtrot
The Mountain Goats
Bloc Party
Les Breastfeeders
Polyphonic Spree
Les Savy Fav
Daniel Johnston and his Night Mares
Maritime
Andrew Bird
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Million Year Dance
Art in Manila
Kings of Leon
The Bad (or at least indifferent)
Calla
Aqualung
Apostles of Hustle
The Annuals
Badly Drawn Boy
The Simple Kid
Spoon
The Queen!
Beirut
Blonde Redhead
The Dears
Buzzcocks
Peter, Bjorn & John
Field Music
The Stooges
The Good, The Bad, and The Queen
The Indescribable
Perry Farrell
The Early Years
Voxtrot
The Mountain Goats
Bloc Party
Les Breastfeeders
Polyphonic Spree
Les Savy Fav
Daniel Johnston and his Night Mares
Maritime
Andrew Bird
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Million Year Dance
Art in Manila
Kings of Leon
The Bad (or at least indifferent)
Calla
Aqualung
Apostles of Hustle
The Annuals
Badly Drawn Boy
The Simple Kid
Spoon
The Queen!
Beirut
Blonde Redhead
The Dears
Buzzcocks
Peter, Bjorn & John
Field Music
The Stooges
The Good, The Bad, and The Queen
The Indescribable
Perry Farrell
Monday, March 19, 2007
SXSW #5
On the final day of SXSW we stumbled around the city of Austin little more than zombies, shuffling from bar to bar watching bands. Highlights must include unexpectedly seeing Lee "Scratch" Perry as we attempted to find a UPS station to mail back some posters. In retrospect, one of the more surreal SXSW moments must have been being mistaken for members of another band, as we stopped to watch Million Year Dance perform in an empty parking lot on our way to the Omni Hotel.
At the Omni, we gathered our strength and focused our attention. There were many hard choices to be made, starting with Cursive or the Stooges? Things were not made easier when we heard that 400 Blows was also playing at midnight. Furthermore, some of us wanted to go see Field Music open at the Cursive show, while others were pulling for the Buzzcocks, having missed their earleir show. Spoon and Kings of Leon were also getting big hype, countered with Tokyo Police Club. Most of decided on starting the evening at the Cursive show, catching Art in Manilla and Field Music, before heading over to Stubbs for Iggy and the Stooges, Spoon, Kings of Leon, to meet with those who had gone to the Buzzcocks. Art in Manilla seemed rather etheral and poppy, but it was Field Music that caught us off guard. For starters, our initialy impression (incorrect) was they were somewhat ambient and spacey, easily complementing Art in Manilla. The Sunderland trio took significant time getting set up properly, and the crowd grew restless as they complained to the soundman about minor changes. However, as soon as they began, it all proved worthwhile as they produced one of the best sounds that we heard throughout all SXSW, even though the backyard, chain-linked, tented-awning stage was perhaps one of the crudest performance spaces (only Maritime and Million Year Dance had to deal with worse). Furthermore, their angularity completing surprised us, sounding something like a poppier Mission of Burma, but with keyboards.
Afterwards, we ran over to the Stooges show, only to find the line-up extending all the way down Red River, across the street along 9th and up the block. Realizing that there were hundreds of people in line, we hustled back to the Cursive show, where a half-block line-up had already formed. We texted the rest of our group to suggest that we were bailing on the Stooges. Luckily, it turned out that the hype of the Buzzcocks had been so great that they went from openers to headliners, and our colleagues decided to head straight for Stubbs. They were near the head of the line when we sent our message and quickly ran back to join them in line as Kings of Leon started in all their Texan, trailor-park fury. Queens of the Stone Age might do it better, but that's not really a knock. Spoon on the otherhand, left us cold. Technically proficient, we simply did not understand where they were coming from.
Iggy, however, we understood all too well, and were immediately held in thrall by his vitality. Like James Brown, you kinda get the same show with Iggy Pop but there's still something heartfelt in the animosity he generates. Of all the shows we saw, he was the only one who through himself repeatedly into the audience, hugging and touching its members (though after unzipping his pants and prancing around for ten minutes, we all thought we were going to see his), no doubt causing the SXSW security team to wince. The head of security must have popped a vessel when Iggyy finally invited some fifty people to come onstage at the end of his set to dance. It ws unbelievable.
Once it was over, and we negotiated the ensuing bedlam, we piled into the rental car and drove off to San Antonio where our 6:25 departure was waiting for us, ending our SXSW adventures.
At the Omni, we gathered our strength and focused our attention. There were many hard choices to be made, starting with Cursive or the Stooges? Things were not made easier when we heard that 400 Blows was also playing at midnight. Furthermore, some of us wanted to go see Field Music open at the Cursive show, while others were pulling for the Buzzcocks, having missed their earleir show. Spoon and Kings of Leon were also getting big hype, countered with Tokyo Police Club. Most of decided on starting the evening at the Cursive show, catching Art in Manilla and Field Music, before heading over to Stubbs for Iggy and the Stooges, Spoon, Kings of Leon, to meet with those who had gone to the Buzzcocks. Art in Manilla seemed rather etheral and poppy, but it was Field Music that caught us off guard. For starters, our initialy impression (incorrect) was they were somewhat ambient and spacey, easily complementing Art in Manilla. The Sunderland trio took significant time getting set up properly, and the crowd grew restless as they complained to the soundman about minor changes. However, as soon as they began, it all proved worthwhile as they produced one of the best sounds that we heard throughout all SXSW, even though the backyard, chain-linked, tented-awning stage was perhaps one of the crudest performance spaces (only Maritime and Million Year Dance had to deal with worse). Furthermore, their angularity completing surprised us, sounding something like a poppier Mission of Burma, but with keyboards.
Afterwards, we ran over to the Stooges show, only to find the line-up extending all the way down Red River, across the street along 9th and up the block. Realizing that there were hundreds of people in line, we hustled back to the Cursive show, where a half-block line-up had already formed. We texted the rest of our group to suggest that we were bailing on the Stooges. Luckily, it turned out that the hype of the Buzzcocks had been so great that they went from openers to headliners, and our colleagues decided to head straight for Stubbs. They were near the head of the line when we sent our message and quickly ran back to join them in line as Kings of Leon started in all their Texan, trailor-park fury. Queens of the Stone Age might do it better, but that's not really a knock. Spoon on the otherhand, left us cold. Technically proficient, we simply did not understand where they were coming from.
Iggy, however, we understood all too well, and were immediately held in thrall by his vitality. Like James Brown, you kinda get the same show with Iggy Pop but there's still something heartfelt in the animosity he generates. Of all the shows we saw, he was the only one who through himself repeatedly into the audience, hugging and touching its members (though after unzipping his pants and prancing around for ten minutes, we all thought we were going to see his), no doubt causing the SXSW security team to wince. The head of security must have popped a vessel when Iggyy finally invited some fifty people to come onstage at the end of his set to dance. It ws unbelievable.
Once it was over, and we negotiated the ensuing bedlam, we piled into the rental car and drove off to San Antonio where our 6:25 departure was waiting for us, ending our SXSW adventures.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
SXSW #4
By Friday morning, the plucky staff of The Daily Wenzel needed some time to recharge. Down on sleep, we called for a late morning before heading off to see the trade show, check out the posters and artwork available at Flatstock, sit in on a session about the future of Digital Music, and of course, check out a couple of bands. Perhaps most surprising was the Buzzcocks. Generally, we are not fond of old punk bands reuniting and trading in on our nostalgia. We do not want them to relive their youth so that we can relive ours. We would rather move forward, culturally speaking, and find new ways of saying things that resonate with these times. The shock of the Buzzcocks though, was just how timely the music actually was – they sounded every bit as vital as they did twenty years ago. Perhaps that’s something of an indictment on the current crop of punk bands. Certainly, somewhere out there are bands that would level the Buzzcocks like the old men they are (Adam Kamis of CJSW and Broken City swears that 400 Blows could do it), but in general, the Buzzcocks are more than likely to crush what passes for most people as punk.
Other bands that we saw while hanging around the Convention Center were the Polyphonic Spree and Daniel Johnston and his Nightmares. We were a little puzzled by the attraction of Johnston, a sort of Neil Young character back by much younger men and women, but the Polyphonic Spree made an impression. We had actually passed the backup singers for the Spree in the hallway earlier in the day. They were practicing their “dance” routines, and we mistook them for girls from the previous night’s roller derby. One of the things that caught our attention, was not just the similarity of the Polyphonic Spree to the Flaming Lips, but also the debt that the Arcade Fire owe to the Spree. Many people have commented on a connection between the Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian, a link that we see, but never really made us comfortable. After seeing the Polyphonic Spree, their influence seems fare more important, even if the Arcade Fire have twisted it and made it somewhat darker.
Popping out for a bite to eat brought us to the Pure Ultra-Lounge, where Maritime were setting up shop. Having been passed recommendations by various eastern seabord media outlets, we stopped to check them out. Despite having virtually no stage presence (passing as members of average Joe Public is one thing, but the lead singer actually stopped to answer his cell phone in the middle of the set), we rather enjoyed their songs, but felt they still have quite a ways to go.
We also checked out the rather lacklustre The Annuals, before making our way to Peter, Bjorn & John's second show of SXSW. The Convention Centre halls echoed with the sound of people whistling the melody from "Don't Care About Young Folks", which seems to be one of the top singles of this year's SXSW. As is the way of SXSW, the conclusion of the PB&J show saw us rush off to Stubbs to try and catch Andrew Bird's show. Despite the line-up, we managed to catch the last few impressive songs.
Not recognizing the next band, we made our way to the back of the crowd to touch base with other folks who were feeding us updates on other shows, when the next set began. We asked a Swedish journalist next to us who happend to be holding a SXSW schedule, the name of the next band and he shrugged, saying "The Perry Farrell Featherlife Family". We turned around and saw Perry Farrell, of Jane's Addication and Porno for Pyros, shaking his shiny, silver clad booty at the audience. We, and the bikers to our otherside, were completely taken aback. None of us knew if this was satire, self-parody, or part of Farrell's new age seriousness. It was bizarre, it was riveting. Checking Bands, Blogs, and Buzz the next day revealed that we were not the only ones fascinated by this apparent trainwreck. Did we mention he wore a sweater? Or that he had a go-go girl in a one-piece mini-skirt outfit? That he called us his brothers and sisters and offered to do unspeakable things for every member of the audience if only he had the time?
Perry Farrell was followed up by Badly Drawn Boy, who we normally like, but appeared to have a very off night. He lost his train of thought several times, appeared awkward in front of his audience, stopping and starting the same song several times. Despite this, he closed with a cover of Foreigner's "Don't Stop Believing" and the crowd loved him for it.
The highlight of the night, and indeed perhaps the festival, was Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, who we must admit was almost upstaged by the ever stylish ex-Clash bass player, Paul Simonon. However, Albarn's ability to craft a musical world and populate it with people, history , and details, is a force to be reckoned with. The show was subtle and sophisticated, less a gig than a dramatic musical production. Someone suggested to us that The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, was one of the most important albums about Britain to come out of Britain in the last thirty years. Not being British, we don't feel that we can really agree, but we certainly aren't going to go out of our way to disagree.
Other bands that we saw while hanging around the Convention Center were the Polyphonic Spree and Daniel Johnston and his Nightmares. We were a little puzzled by the attraction of Johnston, a sort of Neil Young character back by much younger men and women, but the Polyphonic Spree made an impression. We had actually passed the backup singers for the Spree in the hallway earlier in the day. They were practicing their “dance” routines, and we mistook them for girls from the previous night’s roller derby. One of the things that caught our attention, was not just the similarity of the Polyphonic Spree to the Flaming Lips, but also the debt that the Arcade Fire owe to the Spree. Many people have commented on a connection between the Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian, a link that we see, but never really made us comfortable. After seeing the Polyphonic Spree, their influence seems fare more important, even if the Arcade Fire have twisted it and made it somewhat darker.
Popping out for a bite to eat brought us to the Pure Ultra-Lounge, where Maritime were setting up shop. Having been passed recommendations by various eastern seabord media outlets, we stopped to check them out. Despite having virtually no stage presence (passing as members of average Joe Public is one thing, but the lead singer actually stopped to answer his cell phone in the middle of the set), we rather enjoyed their songs, but felt they still have quite a ways to go.
We also checked out the rather lacklustre The Annuals, before making our way to Peter, Bjorn & John's second show of SXSW. The Convention Centre halls echoed with the sound of people whistling the melody from "Don't Care About Young Folks", which seems to be one of the top singles of this year's SXSW. As is the way of SXSW, the conclusion of the PB&J show saw us rush off to Stubbs to try and catch Andrew Bird's show. Despite the line-up, we managed to catch the last few impressive songs.
Not recognizing the next band, we made our way to the back of the crowd to touch base with other folks who were feeding us updates on other shows, when the next set began. We asked a Swedish journalist next to us who happend to be holding a SXSW schedule, the name of the next band and he shrugged, saying "The Perry Farrell Featherlife Family". We turned around and saw Perry Farrell, of Jane's Addication and Porno for Pyros, shaking his shiny, silver clad booty at the audience. We, and the bikers to our otherside, were completely taken aback. None of us knew if this was satire, self-parody, or part of Farrell's new age seriousness. It was bizarre, it was riveting. Checking Bands, Blogs, and Buzz the next day revealed that we were not the only ones fascinated by this apparent trainwreck. Did we mention he wore a sweater? Or that he had a go-go girl in a one-piece mini-skirt outfit? That he called us his brothers and sisters and offered to do unspeakable things for every member of the audience if only he had the time?
Perry Farrell was followed up by Badly Drawn Boy, who we normally like, but appeared to have a very off night. He lost his train of thought several times, appeared awkward in front of his audience, stopping and starting the same song several times. Despite this, he closed with a cover of Foreigner's "Don't Stop Believing" and the crowd loved him for it.
The highlight of the night, and indeed perhaps the festival, was Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, who we must admit was almost upstaged by the ever stylish ex-Clash bass player, Paul Simonon. However, Albarn's ability to craft a musical world and populate it with people, history , and details, is a force to be reckoned with. The show was subtle and sophisticated, less a gig than a dramatic musical production. Someone suggested to us that The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, was one of the most important albums about Britain to come out of Britain in the last thirty years. Not being British, we don't feel that we can really agree, but we certainly aren't going to go out of our way to disagree.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
SXSW Breather
Trying to maintain The Daily Wenzel while keep up with everything that's going on at SXSW sometimes makes us feel like the kid from Almost Famous who keeps trying to write his story while on tour with the band. Ultimately he locks himself in the bathroom and takes refuge in an empty bathtub. This afternoon we kind of feel that way, but with a break in action just before the Lee "Scratch" Perry show starts, we have a small opportunity. Some of our members have left to do a radio broadcast for CJSW 90.9 FM back in Calgary so those of us left are trying to get some work done.
Check out our special SXSW site, www.bandsblogsbuzz.blogspot.com to see how the blogosphere hype is shaking out.
Check out our special SXSW site, www.bandsblogsbuzz.blogspot.com to see how the blogosphere hype is shaking out.
SXSW #3
With just a few hours of sleep we are off to San Antontio for a technology conference in the morning, and then back to Austin early in the evening for a session on China as an emerging market for Western music. After dinner, we saw the upcoming documentary Helvetica, on yes, the typeface of the same name. A fascinating, and often humourous film, we have been unable to view the world the same since. A must see.
The evening's music, was located primarily at Stubb's. Despite hearing a lot of hype and a few singles from Aqualung, there set was rather disappointing, coming off as a cross between James Blunt and Snow Patrol, though some may argue whether that amounts to a credible difference. The Apostles of Hustle came on next, and at times delivered a good show, but were a little too stylistically diverse, from their clothes to their sound, and were unable to show a degree of consistency. The problems of the Apostle of Hustle were shown more clearly as soon as The Dears took the stage and, along with Bloc Party, who were headlining and perhaps repaying SXSW for helping to launch last year's phenomenal North American tour, were perhaps one of the most successful one-two pop punches we've seen in awhile. It is arguable who pulled out deserving the No.1 spot more, a win-win for the audience.
The evening's music, was located primarily at Stubb's. Despite hearing a lot of hype and a few singles from Aqualung, there set was rather disappointing, coming off as a cross between James Blunt and Snow Patrol, though some may argue whether that amounts to a credible difference. The Apostles of Hustle came on next, and at times delivered a good show, but were a little too stylistically diverse, from their clothes to their sound, and were unable to show a degree of consistency. The problems of the Apostle of Hustle were shown more clearly as soon as The Dears took the stage and, along with Bloc Party, who were headlining and perhaps repaying SXSW for helping to launch last year's phenomenal North American tour, were perhaps one of the most successful one-two pop punches we've seen in awhile. It is arguable who pulled out deserving the No.1 spot more, a win-win for the audience.
Friday, March 16, 2007
SXSW #2
We left Calgary at seven o'clock Wednesday morning and arrived for our connecting flight in Houston early, at a little before noon. At the airport, while looking for a bite to eat, we heard mention that there had been a tornado sighting a few days earlier, but thought nothing of it, although it soon appeared that our flight was going to be delayed half an hour. A little while later, our flight was delayed another hour, on account of extreme weather at its originating airport. Next, the flight was announced to be overbooked. We began to think of driving straight to Austin and by the time our flight was announced delayed another hour, we were already on our way to the rental agency with our bags when he heard about road closures in southern Houston on account of washouts.
Luckily, we were heading north, and despite the hard rain in Houston, things cleared up about half an hour out of town, and there was just sporadic bursts through to Austin. Once we checked in and picked up our passes at the convention center, it was on to Emo's to catch a double bill of The Early Years, Callas, and Voxtrot in one room, and Beirut, the Mountain Goats, and Blonde Redhead in another.
Highlights here included the crescendo, wall of sound, descent into showgazing reverb madness that was the Early Years, and Voxtrot really made the most of its hometown status, delivering a high energy show. But it was Blonde Redhead in the Main Room that had the audience. Simply taking the stage changed the atmosphere of the club, making things darker, with shrieks of feedback piercing the air like lightning. Playing mostly songs off their upcoming album, things appear to be more muscular and menacing a complete contrast to the innocence and exuberance of Beirut - sweat-drenched, hanging from the rafters, playing their backyard bar mitzah Bowery folk music.
Luckily, we were heading north, and despite the hard rain in Houston, things cleared up about half an hour out of town, and there was just sporadic bursts through to Austin. Once we checked in and picked up our passes at the convention center, it was on to Emo's to catch a double bill of The Early Years, Callas, and Voxtrot in one room, and Beirut, the Mountain Goats, and Blonde Redhead in another.
Highlights here included the crescendo, wall of sound, descent into showgazing reverb madness that was the Early Years, and Voxtrot really made the most of its hometown status, delivering a high energy show. But it was Blonde Redhead in the Main Room that had the audience. Simply taking the stage changed the atmosphere of the club, making things darker, with shrieks of feedback piercing the air like lightning. Playing mostly songs off their upcoming album, things appear to be more muscular and menacing a complete contrast to the innocence and exuberance of Beirut - sweat-drenched, hanging from the rafters, playing their backyard bar mitzah Bowery folk music.
SXSW #1
With little over seven hours of sleep in the past seventy-two, we have planned for a late morning start tomorrow in an attempt to catch up on sleep. However, we promise to update The Daily Wenzel with a complete SXSW update, including an account of our almost, but not quite, harrowing trip into Austin.
With luck, we'll even post some pictures.
With luck, we'll even post some pictures.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Compass Bearing - SXSW
Up and at'em early in the morning. The espresso machines on rapid fire as we all prepare for the short jaunt out to the airport to catch our flights to Austin and SXSW. Once there, we'll be making contact with other members of the Calgary media namely Fast Forward, CJSW, and Beatroute Magazine. We are prepared to be overwhelmed by bands, music, and film. We can't imagine what this week is like for the residents of Austin as a small town of music industry types descend on their city. One estimate we saw suggested that 17,000 people will visit the SXSW festival at some point, though by this time SXSW is really three festivals or conferences in one: music, film, and technology with each one drawing a sizable crowd.
Some things on our agenda for SXSW: the 4AD Showcase tonight, featuring (among others) Beirut and Blonde Redhead, both of these bands have been getting heavy rotation in our office speakers. The film Helvetica. Yes, it's about the typeface - hey, we read The Gutenburg Galaxy, it's only natural. People have been telling us to check out Andrew Bird all week. Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and the Queen seems like a one-time only deal. Most anticipated pre-SXSW rumour? Arcade Fire to play a secret show. They've got a four day window in their Ireland/UK tour to pull it off. Crazier things have happened.
Check out our SXSW side project: Bands, Blogs, and Buzz.
Some things on our agenda for SXSW: the 4AD Showcase tonight, featuring (among others) Beirut and Blonde Redhead, both of these bands have been getting heavy rotation in our office speakers. The film Helvetica. Yes, it's about the typeface - hey, we read The Gutenburg Galaxy, it's only natural. People have been telling us to check out Andrew Bird all week. Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and the Queen seems like a one-time only deal. Most anticipated pre-SXSW rumour? Arcade Fire to play a secret show. They've got a four day window in their Ireland/UK tour to pull it off. Crazier things have happened.
Check out our SXSW side project: Bands, Blogs, and Buzz.
Jonesin' for Jpod
Almost all of us at The Daily Wenzel have enjoyed the many books of Douglas Coupland, though being the reflective academic types, there has always come a point where we choose to disagree with his sense of social direction or interpretation. Rather than wallow in the sense of shiftless and closure to success central to Generation X, we wanted to celebrate it. Shampoo Planet was good, but came too soon after our own European sojourns and our views on its social function and meaning coloured our enjoyment of it. Similarly, a difference of philosophical and metaphysical opinion clouded Life After God.
But not Jpod.
With Jpod, our views and Coupland's finally mesh, as he presents a vision of society that we've always had. Unlike the characters in Microserfs who toiled ceaselessly for the MotherCorp because they believed in the saving power of technology, the characters in Jpod are jaded beyond belief, and use obscure elements of pop culture to try and assuage themselves. More interestingly is there relationship to their work, where they are seemingly trapped in the so-called Jpod, but are free to come and go as they please, showing up for work at all hours of the day, sometimes even going to work specifically to sleep. Technology is no longer a saviour, Coupland scatters late 1990s spam email throughout the book, as if to remind us how naive things once were, but rather a poor substitute. The characters inhabitants of Jpod are so divorced from human contact that one of them builds hug machine for everyone on the floor to use.
Douglas Coupland has once again proven himself to be a skilled novelist, capable of capturing the zeitgeist. We can only be pleased that his interpretation meshes with ours.
But not Jpod.
With Jpod, our views and Coupland's finally mesh, as he presents a vision of society that we've always had. Unlike the characters in Microserfs who toiled ceaselessly for the MotherCorp because they believed in the saving power of technology, the characters in Jpod are jaded beyond belief, and use obscure elements of pop culture to try and assuage themselves. More interestingly is there relationship to their work, where they are seemingly trapped in the so-called Jpod, but are free to come and go as they please, showing up for work at all hours of the day, sometimes even going to work specifically to sleep. Technology is no longer a saviour, Coupland scatters late 1990s spam email throughout the book, as if to remind us how naive things once were, but rather a poor substitute. The characters inhabitants of Jpod are so divorced from human contact that one of them builds hug machine for everyone on the floor to use.
Douglas Coupland has once again proven himself to be a skilled novelist, capable of capturing the zeitgeist. We can only be pleased that his interpretation meshes with ours.
Monday, March 12, 2007
This is Sparta!
Last Friday night we all gathered for an excursion down to one of Calgary's premier movie theatres to watch the debut of 300 on the giant IMAX screens. Readers of The Daily Wenzel will know that we have been somewhat giddy in our anticipation of the latest Frank Miller adaptation, but giddier still were the crowds of people awaiting the opening of the movie.Young college age men, generally speaking, some of whom arrived dressed in cardboard Spartan outfits, were occassionally accompanied by women, but other movies were also drawing heavy that night and the atmosphere was quite heavy with anticipation. Clearly, tonight was a spectacle.
The movie itself was far more stylish than its audience. Background screens were impeccably rendered with fantastical images meant to give weight to the terrors of Classical hyperbole. The action equaled uits anticipation. 300 is a blood fest, but not in the way that some horror movies are awash in gore. In 300 the action during hte battle sequences speeds up during the approach before slowing down for the kill. The computer generated blood literally floats across the screen.
Yes, the movie is ultra-violent.
Yes, it is hyper-masculine.
Yes, it is awesome.
The movie itself was far more stylish than its audience. Background screens were impeccably rendered with fantastical images meant to give weight to the terrors of Classical hyperbole. The action equaled uits anticipation. 300 is a blood fest, but not in the way that some horror movies are awash in gore. In 300 the action during hte battle sequences speeds up during the approach before slowing down for the kill. The computer generated blood literally floats across the screen.
Yes, the movie is ultra-violent.
Yes, it is hyper-masculine.
Yes, it is awesome.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Jean Baudrilliard is alive and well and living in Paris
We have just received word that influential post-modernist thinker Jean Baudrilliard has past away. His thoughts of media and the role of symbols in daily life will continue to influence our thinking nevertheless. One of Baudrilliard's key themes was the poverty of daily experience, matching up quite well with that of Guy Debord and the Situationists. An event, no matter how large or catastrophic, cannot be real unless it is directly experienced somehow. The increasing reliance on mediated images meant that more and more people experienced life second hand, and what passed for "real life" became more and more "unreal".
In keeping with his theories then, for us at The Daily Wenzel, Jean Baudrilliard is alive and well and living in Paris.
In keeping with his theories then, for us at The Daily Wenzel, Jean Baudrilliard is alive and well and living in Paris.
Can we carry the burden of Climate Change?
Speaking in Belgium on proposed European plans for climate change, an EU official talked about challenging developed nations to tackle climate change in meaningful and significant ways. Not only has the EU proposed some large scale ideas, but is also actively pursuing smaller ventures aimed at encouraging the average citizen to take control of climate change initiatives. Recent moves have included tax measures to favour energy efficient appliances (a similar program in Canada was cut by the Harper government), increased use of biofuel mixtures (recently announced by Harper), and the banning of incandescent light bulbs (being considered in Nova Scotia, already underway in Australia, and Venezuela while Cuba accomplished this two years ago).
In Alberta, the big news is Ed Stelmach's decision to reduce "emission intensity" per barrel of oil from the oil sands, while allowing the overall number of barrels produced to expand. The other major announcement was a clever play on the idea of carbon capture and storage. According to British journalist George Monbiot, in his book Heat: How to stop the world from burning, the burial of carbon dioxide is an effective measure for the removal of the gas from the atmosphere, but it is also very useful for squeezing the last bits of oil out of abandoned oil reservoirs, Monbiot confides that this would be his nightmare scenario. Guess what the Alberta plan calls for?
In Alberta, the big news is Ed Stelmach's decision to reduce "emission intensity" per barrel of oil from the oil sands, while allowing the overall number of barrels produced to expand. The other major announcement was a clever play on the idea of carbon capture and storage. According to British journalist George Monbiot, in his book Heat: How to stop the world from burning, the burial of carbon dioxide is an effective measure for the removal of the gas from the atmosphere, but it is also very useful for squeezing the last bits of oil out of abandoned oil reservoirs, Monbiot confides that this would be his nightmare scenario. Guess what the Alberta plan calls for?
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Welcome to the Thunderdome!
Some of us from The Daily Wenzel were taking a break at the nearby Lina's Italian Supermarket and Deli, and over espressos talked about a recent article in Sports Illustrated with some of our neighbours. The article in question was SI's coverage of the Asian Games, recently held in Qatar, and at one point makes reference to a competition between India and Pakistan in which the crowds were whipped up in a frenzy of excitement prior to the match. Describing the scene, the author summed up the situation with the remark, "Welcome to the Thunderdome". One of our party felt that this was a "derogatory remark" in keeping with "prejudiced, colonial notions" about Asians, and particularly the citizens of India and Pakistan, as little more than barbarians. To this we disagree, though we admit that on the surface it may seem that our issue is little more than semantics.
We are moving into an age where people may recognize the phrase "Welcome to the Thunderdome" as coming from the Mel Gibson movie, "Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome" without having seen the movie itself. This presents some problem as people have a tendency to confuse images of the Mad Max film with impressions of the film, compounding this with several terms that have an unfortunate tendency to be used interchangeably. For example, a barbarian is someone who has not been acculturated into ancient Greek civilization while a pagan was someone, specifically in later stages Gaelic, who refused to be incorporated into the Roman empire. This is not the same as a savage, a person who had not been exposed to the Christian theology, while an infidel was someone who refused to accept the Word of God and a heretic being a person who deliberately distorted that Word.
What we have in Beyond the Thunderdome is a population of once civilized persons rendered uncivilized; a people at one time rational and willing to follow a legal code reduced to lawlessness and emotional brutality. This is the terror of the thunderdome, not the encounter with some kind of primitive and violent culture, but rather that that culture could be us. Nowhere in modern life does that occur more frequently than in riots and large scale sporting events such as the World Cup, the Olympics, College Sports, and yes, it would appear, the Asian Games.
We are moving into an age where people may recognize the phrase "Welcome to the Thunderdome" as coming from the Mel Gibson movie, "Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome" without having seen the movie itself. This presents some problem as people have a tendency to confuse images of the Mad Max film with impressions of the film, compounding this with several terms that have an unfortunate tendency to be used interchangeably. For example, a barbarian is someone who has not been acculturated into ancient Greek civilization while a pagan was someone, specifically in later stages Gaelic, who refused to be incorporated into the Roman empire. This is not the same as a savage, a person who had not been exposed to the Christian theology, while an infidel was someone who refused to accept the Word of God and a heretic being a person who deliberately distorted that Word.
What we have in Beyond the Thunderdome is a population of once civilized persons rendered uncivilized; a people at one time rational and willing to follow a legal code reduced to lawlessness and emotional brutality. This is the terror of the thunderdome, not the encounter with some kind of primitive and violent culture, but rather that that culture could be us. Nowhere in modern life does that occur more frequently than in riots and large scale sporting events such as the World Cup, the Olympics, College Sports, and yes, it would appear, the Asian Games.
Friday, March 02, 2007
You Best Believe I'M Talkin' 'Bout Love, L-U-ME
A recent university study into narcissim among U.S. college students suggests that American youth are far more self-centred and obsessed than they have been in the past. This comes as no surprise to us at The Daily Wenzel. We believe that individuals construct meaning, expectations for normative behaviour, and personal identity through the experiences that they have in everyday life. As more and more of life becomes mediated, especially for the young, popular culture becomes more and more of a reference point for normative behaviour. Many shows geared towards youth feature a single main character triumphing over various forms of adveristy. While this character may do so with or without the help of a supporting cast, quite often adults or parents are visibly absent. If you think of popular shows such as Buffy the Vampire-Slayer this becomes quite evident. Buffy's parents were divorced, her father absent, and her mother often unaware of her daughter's activities. Teachers were often sources of conflict in disguise, and the school principal an obstacle to overcome. The only adult was the school librarian who offered advice but generally did not intervene in the conflict itself. This basic trend has been repeated in many other shows such as Kim Possible, Dora, Smallville, and to a lesser extent, Veronica Mars, where while the father may be more involved, he is clearly presented as less a parent, and more an equal.
This is juxtaposed with a prevailing middle-class trend towards smaller family sizes and much more active parenting. In an earlier post about childhood activities such as Murderball, we mused about the rapid disappearance of public spaces where children can gather without parental supervision. Increasningly these spaces are becoming virtual, and tied to ego-centric activities like MySpace pages. All of this inevitably reinforces a child's belief that they are uniquely special and destined for greatness.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/02/27/news/307new0.txt
This is juxtaposed with a prevailing middle-class trend towards smaller family sizes and much more active parenting. In an earlier post about childhood activities such as Murderball, we mused about the rapid disappearance of public spaces where children can gather without parental supervision. Increasningly these spaces are becoming virtual, and tied to ego-centric activities like MySpace pages. All of this inevitably reinforces a child's belief that they are uniquely special and destined for greatness.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/02/27/news/307new0.txt
Unfit to Lead
There's been quite a bit of political news focusing on environmental issues over the past ten days or so, and most of it has been quite embarrassing. Despite promises that they were constructing a "greener" perspective, the Federal Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, continue to talk about"reducing the intensity of emissions". Thus under current proposals, the Alberta Oil Sands projects, which is perhaps the single greatest engineering feat and environmental catastrophe of our time as Canadians, would be allowed to increasing the amount of emissions it generates. Granted, each barrel of oil would produce less pollutants, but the overall number of barrels allowed to be produced in the region is set to expand dramatically.
When asked about the plans, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach expressed his concern that the science behind climate change is not certain enough to risk jeopardizing the Albertan economy.
This in turn led to our favourite moment of the week, as David Suzuki, visiting Calgary on his "If I were Prime Minister" tour, called the Premier out publicly, saying he was unfit to lead.
When asked about the plans, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach expressed his concern that the science behind climate change is not certain enough to risk jeopardizing the Albertan economy.
This in turn led to our favourite moment of the week, as David Suzuki, visiting Calgary on his "If I were Prime Minister" tour, called the Premier out publicly, saying he was unfit to lead.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Young Trudeau book wins prize
When we initially read the first volume of the Nemni's biography of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau, we thought to ourselves that this was historical revisionism in action. The image of Trudeau in the Canadian psyche is so strong, that he dominates our collective imagination, either as the saviour or the devil of Canadian politics. Regardless of one's opinion, and indeed, everyone has an opinion on Trudeau, we all reacted to the same pieces of public knowledge and public acts - the Trudeau we thought we knew, for good or ill. The Nemni's then, succeeded in showing us a new Trudeau, troubled by contradictory ideas and trying to come to grips with ideals given to him through his educational institutions, and those provided by his experiences in the wider world.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/02/28/cohen-prize.html
Similarly, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. served as one of the key "official"historians of the Democrats in the 1960s, being an intimate of the Kennedys, and one of the guardians of Camelot.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/01/schesingerobit.html
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/02/28/cohen-prize.html
Similarly, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. served as one of the key "official"historians of the Democrats in the 1960s, being an intimate of the Kennedys, and one of the guardians of Camelot.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/01/schesingerobit.html
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Music Update
A couple of things have been Floating On the airwaves here at the Daily Wenzel the last few weeks, not least of which have been Arcade Fire's Funeral, or Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Like Bad News, as well their respective singles as we gear up for the new albums. Blonde Redhead's 2004 release, the hauntingly beautiful, yet surprisingly fragile (for a former Touch & Go band) Misery is a Butterfly has perhaps been getting the most play.
In between, Chumbawamba's latest polemic, A Singsong and a Scrap, a collection of pro-worker songs of resistance and rebellion, including the Clash' "Bankrobber", has been finding it's own airspace as well. With all the songs being performed either a capella, or acoustically, the band seems to have completed its metamorphosis from piss and vinegar youthful punks, to thoughtful rootsy hippies. Also making the office charts are two new K7! albums, Appendix, a collection of solid, yet somewhat dissonant remixes from Funkstorung, and the one that we're quite interested in, as it seems a return to more organic, rock-based samples, Joakim's Monster's and Silly Songs.
To be fair, Blood Stained Love Story, from Saliva, a Memphis-based Creed/Nickelback band with serious adult contemporary religious rock tendencies got one play in the office, but has not been back since.
In between, Chumbawamba's latest polemic, A Singsong and a Scrap, a collection of pro-worker songs of resistance and rebellion, including the Clash' "Bankrobber", has been finding it's own airspace as well. With all the songs being performed either a capella, or acoustically, the band seems to have completed its metamorphosis from piss and vinegar youthful punks, to thoughtful rootsy hippies. Also making the office charts are two new K7! albums, Appendix, a collection of solid, yet somewhat dissonant remixes from Funkstorung, and the one that we're quite interested in, as it seems a return to more organic, rock-based samples, Joakim's Monster's and Silly Songs.
To be fair, Blood Stained Love Story, from Saliva, a Memphis-based Creed/Nickelback band with serious adult contemporary religious rock tendencies got one play in the office, but has not been back since.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
March Madness
No, we're not talking about college basketball.
March is shaping up to be quite the music month. The release of the new Bloc Party album , and the new Damon Albarn side project, The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, have only served to whet our appetite for major releases by the likes of The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. That Blonde Redhead have a new set for March doesn't hurt, nor does the slate of new music being released in advance of the spring festival circuit which kicks off with Austin's industry orgy known as South by Southwest, something we at the Daily Wenzel are desperately trying to wrangle our way into.
March is shaping up to be quite the music month. The release of the new Bloc Party album , and the new Damon Albarn side project, The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, have only served to whet our appetite for major releases by the likes of The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. That Blonde Redhead have a new set for March doesn't hurt, nor does the slate of new music being released in advance of the spring festival circuit which kicks off with Austin's industry orgy known as South by Southwest, something we at the Daily Wenzel are desperately trying to wrangle our way into.
Monday, February 19, 2007
In the beginning . . .
A decree went out from Harper Augustus. According to the decree every man was to go to his own city to be passported. (Adapted from the Book of Luke)
Granted our neighbours to the south may have a bit more of a role to play in the sudden passport requirements of Canadians, however, Harper must ultimately be front in centre in what could be a very personal experience for most Canadians with the federal government.
Some of us went to the Harry Hays building last week, the Federal outpost in downtown Calgary to renew our passports. Typically such a visit might take half an hour with a return trip ten days later to pick up passports. On New Year's we noticed the new requirements for visiting the United States on travel websites, and thought it best to wait a awhile, expecting a passport rush leading up to the Jan. 23 deadline. A month later we decided to go in.
From all accounts, ours was a typical day and the people lining up around us were somewhat resigned to fact that they would be waiting at minimum two hours before getting to the passport office with their papers. Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the pre-screening desk and were told that it would be an hour from this point. Officials had been moving throughout the line checking for signatures of guarantors, but it was at this second pre-screening station that people really started to be weeded out. Three of the seven people ahead of us had their photos turned away, most commonly for glare, but occassionally for size or too much smile on the face of a four year old. Luckily, the pre-screeners informed everyone, they still had an hour before their pre-drawn number was up, so they could hurry to one of the photoshops and get new pictures taken. After we made it into the Passport Office Proper, the security guard announced to everyone that from this point it would be at least an hour before we could approach the wicket for processing. He recommended that we all leave and get something to eat to prevent fainting.
Scanning the room, we saw that there were twelve wickets, only half of which were open. While we left to grab a bite, we discussed the Attorney General's press release stating that the Harper government had yet to act of any of her 2005 recommendations to fix security breaches and processing flaws within the Passport Office. We found it odd that a government so concerned over terrorism would be so blaise about security gaps at such a sensitive location. We also found it highly annoying, and somewhat arrogant, that the Harper government would allow the Passport Office to be half-staffed. Either they were unprepared for the numbers of passport applicants or else cared very little for the trouble to average citizens.
Our passports were finally processed after four and half hours of waiting. Instead of ten days, we were told it would be four to five weeks.
Granted our neighbours to the south may have a bit more of a role to play in the sudden passport requirements of Canadians, however, Harper must ultimately be front in centre in what could be a very personal experience for most Canadians with the federal government.
Some of us went to the Harry Hays building last week, the Federal outpost in downtown Calgary to renew our passports. Typically such a visit might take half an hour with a return trip ten days later to pick up passports. On New Year's we noticed the new requirements for visiting the United States on travel websites, and thought it best to wait a awhile, expecting a passport rush leading up to the Jan. 23 deadline. A month later we decided to go in.
From all accounts, ours was a typical day and the people lining up around us were somewhat resigned to fact that they would be waiting at minimum two hours before getting to the passport office with their papers. Two and a half hours later, we arrived at the pre-screening desk and were told that it would be an hour from this point. Officials had been moving throughout the line checking for signatures of guarantors, but it was at this second pre-screening station that people really started to be weeded out. Three of the seven people ahead of us had their photos turned away, most commonly for glare, but occassionally for size or too much smile on the face of a four year old. Luckily, the pre-screeners informed everyone, they still had an hour before their pre-drawn number was up, so they could hurry to one of the photoshops and get new pictures taken. After we made it into the Passport Office Proper, the security guard announced to everyone that from this point it would be at least an hour before we could approach the wicket for processing. He recommended that we all leave and get something to eat to prevent fainting.
Scanning the room, we saw that there were twelve wickets, only half of which were open. While we left to grab a bite, we discussed the Attorney General's press release stating that the Harper government had yet to act of any of her 2005 recommendations to fix security breaches and processing flaws within the Passport Office. We found it odd that a government so concerned over terrorism would be so blaise about security gaps at such a sensitive location. We also found it highly annoying, and somewhat arrogant, that the Harper government would allow the Passport Office to be half-staffed. Either they were unprepared for the numbers of passport applicants or else cared very little for the trouble to average citizens.
Our passports were finally processed after four and half hours of waiting. Instead of ten days, we were told it would be four to five weeks.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Egad. . .
Late night internet surfing always yields the strangest things.
Literally mouth-watering photos of espresso shots from http://espressoporn.blogspot.com/ - we admit we have a problem.
Similarly, we find this http://ben.szobody.com/in.mov altogether too fascinating.
Literally mouth-watering photos of espresso shots from http://espressoporn.blogspot.com/ - we admit we have a problem.
Similarly, we find this http://ben.szobody.com/in.mov altogether too fascinating.
Valentine’s Day Is Over
Yes, Billy Bragg’s “Valentine’s Day is Over” has always been one of our favourite post-Valentine’s songs, with it’s cheerful lyric, “the bicycle chain fell off my bike today, it’s now wrapped ‘round my heart”. In an era of personal playlists, we here at the Daily Wenzel would like to suggest a few easy listening pieces for post-Valentine’s.
Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash hover on the edge of a dillema and we're never quite sure if it's personal or political, but the result is a bass hook and a refrain that lives on.
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division write one for the ages. It was FFWD publisher, Ian Chiclo, who introduced this song as a "Valentine's Day song" one year during his CJSW radio show, "The 2 1/2 Hour Coffee Break". It's always struck with us, again, one of those moments in a relationship where, looking back things could go either way.
Technicolour Girls - Speaking of going either way, Death Cab for Cutie's torch song get's to the essence of post-Valentine's relationship's when they sing about the leather jacket "proving to be on temporary loan".
Butterfly - from a concept album devoted to the rise and fall of relationships, Rivers Cuomo concludes Pinkerton with this image-laden gem.
Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - We freely admit that we have a thing for Cole Porter, and nothing sums up both ends of the morning after spectrum from the despair of Kirsty MacColl voice on "Miss Otis Regrets", nor the head-pounding of nighttime revelry encapsulated by Shane MacGowan in "Just One of Those Things".
Ice of Boston - legend has it that this is the song that got the Dismemberment Plan signed, and all you have to do is listen to the bit about Gladys Knight to capture the vision that we have. Even if it's about New Year's.
Feel free to suggest others.
Should I Stay or Should I Go - The Clash hover on the edge of a dillema and we're never quite sure if it's personal or political, but the result is a bass hook and a refrain that lives on.
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division write one for the ages. It was FFWD publisher, Ian Chiclo, who introduced this song as a "Valentine's Day song" one year during his CJSW radio show, "The 2 1/2 Hour Coffee Break". It's always struck with us, again, one of those moments in a relationship where, looking back things could go either way.
Technicolour Girls - Speaking of going either way, Death Cab for Cutie's torch song get's to the essence of post-Valentine's relationship's when they sing about the leather jacket "proving to be on temporary loan".
Butterfly - from a concept album devoted to the rise and fall of relationships, Rivers Cuomo concludes Pinkerton with this image-laden gem.
Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - We freely admit that we have a thing for Cole Porter, and nothing sums up both ends of the morning after spectrum from the despair of Kirsty MacColl voice on "Miss Otis Regrets", nor the head-pounding of nighttime revelry encapsulated by Shane MacGowan in "Just One of Those Things".
Ice of Boston - legend has it that this is the song that got the Dismemberment Plan signed, and all you have to do is listen to the bit about Gladys Knight to capture the vision that we have. Even if it's about New Year's.
Feel free to suggest others.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Jam-packed environmental action
sEven in this tech heavy era, it seems like we can't stay as informed as we would like, as fast as we would like. With all of the enviro-debates occurring this week we almost wish we could have several direct video feeds set-up to monitor everything. For starters, there seems to be some talk of a post-Kyoto protocol in the works amongst the G8 nations, but whether this turns out to be a Kyoto II, or some kind of watered down Kyoto, or even anything at all, although given recent political developments in Britain it seems likely that something positive will result.
The Canadian federal government meanwhile is gearing up to debate a private members' bill calling on the Harper government to hold itself to the Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Accord. While some view the bill as mostly meaningless, since it lacks any effective measures to hold the government accountable, it gives the political parties another chance to posture on their environmental platforms in advance of a general election.
A little closer to home, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is arguing for greater Clean Air funding for Alberta. Although this is most likely a political attempt to take advantage of federal money since a common complaint among Alberta premiers is the inequality among transfer payments, however there is an element of truth to Stelmach's position. Currently, federal funding is being released on a per capita basis, where Alberta would be entitled to roughly a tenth of the funds, but as the province is home to the pil and gas industry, it is responsible for a third of all the country's emissions and air borne pollutants.
The Canadian federal government meanwhile is gearing up to debate a private members' bill calling on the Harper government to hold itself to the Canada's commitments under the Kyoto Accord. While some view the bill as mostly meaningless, since it lacks any effective measures to hold the government accountable, it gives the political parties another chance to posture on their environmental platforms in advance of a general election.
A little closer to home, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is arguing for greater Clean Air funding for Alberta. Although this is most likely a political attempt to take advantage of federal money since a common complaint among Alberta premiers is the inequality among transfer payments, however there is an element of truth to Stelmach's position. Currently, federal funding is being released on a per capita basis, where Alberta would be entitled to roughly a tenth of the funds, but as the province is home to the pil and gas industry, it is responsible for a third of all the country's emissions and air borne pollutants.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Kino Update
As one might suspect form our sporadic postings, we here at The Daily Wenzel have found ourselves pulled in several different directions, but managed to settle down to watch the lovingly filmed documentary New York Doll, about Arthur “Killer” Kane, the bass player for the legendary New York Dolls. In 1974 the Dolls suffered through a drug induced break-up, with Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan eventually dying of drug overdoses, and David JoHansen and Sylvain Sylvain cleaning up and finding other musical outlets. Arthur Kane however was stuck in somewhere in the middle. Having bottomed out into alcoholism and fallen through a window, he discovered God in the form of the Book of Mormon, and took up a job at the L.A. Temple.
When Morrissey had the idea of having the Dolls reform for his 2004 Meltdown, Arthur had not seriously performed in over twenty years. What follows is a bittersweet story of his return and sudden departure from a musical stage that has haunted him since 1974.
As a side note, watching David JoHansen relaxing and smoking cigarettes, one wonders if he was the inspiration for the Gorillaz’ Murdoc Nicchols.
When Morrissey had the idea of having the Dolls reform for his 2004 Meltdown, Arthur had not seriously performed in over twenty years. What follows is a bittersweet story of his return and sudden departure from a musical stage that has haunted him since 1974.
As a side note, watching David JoHansen relaxing and smoking cigarettes, one wonders if he was the inspiration for the Gorillaz’ Murdoc Nicchols.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Marxism, Post-Marxists, and a slow realization that after everything you've just ended up back at the starting point . . .
Quite a while ago, most of us at The Daily Wenzel would have considered ourselves non-Marxists. While we sympathized with the plight of working classes and riled against the rich and the status quo, our Maxists friends seemed altogether too stuffy and intent on bringing about a paradigm that was outdated and historically flawed. If you keep insisting on asking the same questions, we thought, you were always going to arrive at the same answers. How do you come up with new answers? we wondered. Obviously, asking new questions was they key, but how do we know if the questions are really new and not just different by degree instead of kind? A change in context, we argued, would yield a new perspective with new questions, but what could create a new context we then asked?
Well, we paused and thought. Quite a few mid-morning cappucinnos were consumed, and eventually we felt that a real change in context could only come about by a change in the daily living conditions of people. People constructed context based on how they lived their lives, and so if they somehow changed the way they lived, they could change the questions they thought to ask. What enabled people to change their daily lives, mainly technology, but what fuelled technological change? The economy.
In that moment the image of our laughing Marxist friends loomed large overhead.
That was a few years ago and the technological development of society has continued to increase rapidily. People now commonly speak of living in an Information Age and we find ourselves coming back to our thought on what causes a change in daily life. Our original answer of the economy does not seem so powerful now, as we are coming to the realization that context is dependent on meaning, and the question we should have been asking is what gives daily life meaning? The answer to that varies by time and place. In the feudal age that Marx describes, it was religion. The industrial revolution enabled the economy to envelop all of society. In this so-called Information Age, it is not so much the information that is important, but the manipulation of it. What gives our lives meaning is the lives and meaning we see reflected back to us in the media.
Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle seems more relevant now than ever before.
Well, we paused and thought. Quite a few mid-morning cappucinnos were consumed, and eventually we felt that a real change in context could only come about by a change in the daily living conditions of people. People constructed context based on how they lived their lives, and so if they somehow changed the way they lived, they could change the questions they thought to ask. What enabled people to change their daily lives, mainly technology, but what fuelled technological change? The economy.
In that moment the image of our laughing Marxist friends loomed large overhead.
That was a few years ago and the technological development of society has continued to increase rapidily. People now commonly speak of living in an Information Age and we find ourselves coming back to our thought on what causes a change in daily life. Our original answer of the economy does not seem so powerful now, as we are coming to the realization that context is dependent on meaning, and the question we should have been asking is what gives daily life meaning? The answer to that varies by time and place. In the feudal age that Marx describes, it was religion. The industrial revolution enabled the economy to envelop all of society. In this so-called Information Age, it is not so much the information that is important, but the manipulation of it. What gives our lives meaning is the lives and meaning we see reflected back to us in the media.
Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle seems more relevant now than ever before.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Modest Mouse single released
Just how big has been the impact of Montreal's Arcade Fire? One piece of evidence is a new single that has crept out of the Modest Mouse music camp (and we're quite smitten with it). The new single "Dashboard" retains some of the fast-paced guitar work characteristic of early Modest Mouse, it also includes a lush orchestral backdrop and choral harmonies - demonstrating that Isaac Brock has learned a thing or two from some of his former students.
The new album, We were dead before the ship even sank is due out in March.
The new album, We were dead before the ship even sank is due out in March.
Education - the Alberta Advantage?
Speaking of education, the Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has recently announced that he will be returning over $1 billion of education taxes to municipalities. Prior to the Klein government changes in education funding starting in 1994, local schoolboards acting in conjunction with the muncipalities set a portion of civic property taxes to be used to fund schools. The schoolboard operating budgets came directly out of this levy. Under the Klein government, the province collected this money from the municipalities and then returned to the schoolboards in the form of per pupil grants, with additional monies granted for capital and special projects. Critics of this plan have long argued that under the new system the large urban boards of Calgary and Edmonton have seen their funding levels decrease, inhibiting their ability to meet the specialized needs of at-risk, special needs, and ESL students who tend to migrate to the urban boards. Furthermore, this has put negotiations between local schoolboards and locals of the teachers' union in an awkward place since the schoolboards do not have control over their income, but the union locals cannot negotiate with the province who actually holds the purse strings. Is it any wonder then that labour relations have reached some of their highest tensions in the last thirty years?
At any rate, the education is still underfunded. Urban schools are in various stages of disrepair and the provincial teachers' pension plan has an unfunded liability over the $6 billion mark. Somehow though, Premier Stelmach feels comfortable refunding money to the muncipalities to be used for municipal projects like road construction and repair.
At any rate, the education is still underfunded. Urban schools are in various stages of disrepair and the provincial teachers' pension plan has an unfunded liability over the $6 billion mark. Somehow though, Premier Stelmach feels comfortable refunding money to the muncipalities to be used for municipal projects like road construction and repair.
All Quiet on the Western Front
While we would like to say that things have been quiet here at the Daily Wenzel since we've all been off in Paris at the climate change meetings, the truth is somewhat (alright much) more mundane. Readers waiting patiently for pronouncements or opinions on the recent parliamentery debates between Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Opposition leader Stephane Dion over the environment will have to wait a while longer. Given the reporting in the media these energetic exchanges signify the jockeying for political positioning that accompanies and imminent election. Unfortunately an explanation, exploration, and evaluation of these different proposals has been sorely lacking. Readers familiar with the ideas of Guy Debord contained in his book The Society of the Spectacle (available at right) may recognize this as all-too-characteristic of corporate media coverage.
While we are attempting to find out more about these positions, we were surprised at the various levels of coverage presented to the Paris Climate Change conference report that human activitiy is "likely" (meaning 90% causal) to be the prime influence on global warming and climate change. What surprised us is that while it is difficult to find out information of Canadian political responses through the media, most major media include a direct link to the conference's 21 page report. Putting information in the hands of people is one of the most productive strategies to change opinions on climate change. Educating them however, is also a necessary next step. . .
While we are attempting to find out more about these positions, we were surprised at the various levels of coverage presented to the Paris Climate Change conference report that human activitiy is "likely" (meaning 90% causal) to be the prime influence on global warming and climate change. What surprised us is that while it is difficult to find out information of Canadian political responses through the media, most major media include a direct link to the conference's 21 page report. Putting information in the hands of people is one of the most productive strategies to change opinions on climate change. Educating them however, is also a necessary next step. . .
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