Playing Robert Pattinson

No, I haven't seen the Twilight movies, and hopefully I never will have to. I haven't read the books either, but that's because I'm still reading things I haven't read from my favourite authors: William S. Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Paul Éluard, Daniel Pennac, and a slew of others that get in the way.

But Kristen Stewart is in town filming On The Road, directed by Walter Salles, based on the Jack Kerouac book of the same name (who many don't know is actually of Quebecer origin - although he never lived here himself, proper - both of his parents being natives of La Belle Province - he even initially started On The Road in Quebec French!).

Now, I was never a fan of Stewart's (again, not a Twilightee), but I'd seen a few films she was in, such as The Cake Eaters and The Messengers - typical ''meh'' Hollywood fare. But her turn as Joan Jett in The Runaways was fucking dead-on. Flawless. Perfect.

And since Megan Fox is taken (just kidding! just adding to my readership count again!)... maybe I could take on acting myself, play her boyfriend, film a love-making scene... just for fun.

Video Of The Week: Ice Cube

I find it hard to believe I hadn't featured Ice Cube in my Video Of The Week segments yet...

Born O'Shea Jackson, the man now known for directing pothead comedies and acting in safe, made-for-children light comedies was actually a brilliant, foul-mouthed songwriter and rapper, first with an act called C.I.A. (Cru' In Action), then with the infamous N.W.A. (Niggas With Attitude), in which he took a backseat to star Eazy-E despite being the group's main lyricist. Cube even wrote half the lyrics on Eazy-E's first solo album, Eazy-Duz-It. It didn't take long before he realized he was getting ripped off, so he left the group - and its label, Ruthless Records, which happened to be owned... by Eazy.

Cube's career soon really took off, with 5 successful solo releases between 1990 and 1994, a successful foray into the world of film with a co-starring role in Boyz N Da Hood, and a verbal war with his former N.W.A. mates Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella (as can be heard on N.W.A.'s 100 Miles And Runnin' and Cube's single 'No Vaseline').

The mid-to-late-90s saw Ice Cube act in more movies rather than make solo albums, although he would regularly contribute a track to the film's soundtrack, often one that described, pretty much word-for-word, his character's storyline in the flick, such as Higher Learning's 'Higher', or the title song to Friday. He also tried forming an aggressive-rap supergroup but came up short with Westcoast Connection, whose only star was himself, with relative unknowns Mack 10 and WC providing support.

His 1997 acting turn alongside Jennifer Lopez in the crap-fest that was Anaconda was what brought him to the mainstream, and it was pretty much downward from there - from 'black' comedies to safer-and-weaker (and less and less funny) 'family' comedies.

To counter-balance this, Cube starting getting his rap back on, first with his dual War and Peace concept discs, then with the hardest rap he'd ever done, bringing the political side of his early N.W.A. days mixed in with possibly needlessly aggressive and swear word-heavy in amazing tracks like 2008's 'Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It'.

Two years later, we are here, with the upcoming I Am The West, and its lead-off single, 'Drink The Kool Aid', linked here, and appearing below, in a video directed by Dah Dah. He is quoted as saying, by the Baller Status website, that the lyrics aren't attacks on Eminem (whose latest album is called Recovery) and Dr. Dre, but rather ''just style and grace''. Here are the lyrics:

I ain't the doctor / This ain't the patient
This ain't that nigga always on vacation
This ain't no white boy's rehabilitation
This is crazier then a boat full of Haitians

In any event, it's in the same vein as Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It: brash, funny, smart, groovy, and very good.

John Cusack's Public Nose Job

I think Chris Chelios and/or Eddie Vedder will have a talk with John Cusack, maybe tell him he shouldn't pick his nose on national TV.

Then again, there isn't much to do but drink at a baseball game, and neither of them are holding a drink. Although Vedder doesn't have a good track record of being drunk at a Chicago Cubs game.

Hard to believe a team that hasn't won a championship in 102 years has so many famous fans...

(from deadspin, originally)

Dance Movie, The Lindbergh Line & Sébastian Hell @ Bar St-Laurent 2, August 3rd, 2010

I got at Bar St-Laurent 2 at 8:45PM and, to my surprise, the only people there were the Former Lady Of The House, her friend and her friend's boyfriend. That's it - one table's worth of humans. Even the bartender wasn't at his post behind the bar - I had to go fetch him behind the sound console for him to start making any money off of us, and I hope he was glad I did, that was 8 beers right there, and 6 more 15 minutes later when three of us had finished our first two.

It took until 9:30 for anyone else to come in - and even then, they were the other acts performing that evening, so me and my buddies were starting to wonder if I was going to be playing to an empty room. It was, after all, a stormy Tuesday evening. Luckily, the closer it got to 10PM, the fuller the place got. Not full enough to start earning free beers, but enough to ensure whatever happened would end up being a good time for all.

By 10:05, Will Austin - my drummer for the evening - and I got on stage and sound-checked an improvised rendition of Prince's 'My Name Is Prince' and then proceeded with the show. I'm not narcissistic enough to critique/review my own performance, so I won't, but I'll say this: I had a good time. And the setlist was:

1. My Love
2. Let's (Last) Dance
3. My Music Is Rock But My Love Life Is The Blooze (instrumental)
4. Sonic Reducer [a Dead Boys cover]
5. Selfish (slow version)
6. Bitter End
7. Daughters

Next up was my favourite new band of 2010, the previously-blogged-upon (and playing only their second show ever) The Lindbergh Line, who again were up to par. So much so, in fact, that the crowd requested an encore after their set... and I don't blame them one bit! As a band, depending what you're willing to focus on, there's always something interesting going, whether it be the songwriting, their ability to play their instruments, the tightness of their sound, the tribal pounding of Denise Williams on her drums while she's hidden in the back, the unfairly good looks and terrific rock stance of bassist Karl Leblanc, or the surprising power and stamina of could-have-been electro-pop queen Myriam Chebat's vocal-and-guitar attack, with each song building in intensity from her presence alone.

Then it was time for Halifax's own Dance Movie, which on this night consisted of... well, pretty much singer and guitarist Tara Thorne, with Denise Williams sitting in on drums. Their MySpace mentions three band members, and I do know Denise is only sitting in on half the shows of the tour they're on together, so my guess is the actual drummer just couldn't make the first part of the tour.But Tara has a good enough stage presence to pull off whatever setting she chooses - alone, as a duo, or in a band. Her songs hold up too, and the Former Lady Of The House actually thought she had been the best performer of the evening, with the best songs, one of which is set to play in the upcoming season of Degrassi... it was like witnessing a cross between old-time Soul Asylum (in the days where Dave Letterman called them ''the best live band in America'') and Death Cab For Cutie when they, themselves, were good. All-pro, all good, right there.

So good, in fact, that I opted to stay for even more beer to reminisce after the show ended when the initial plan was to leave at midnight no matter what because I had an early day this morning...

If you can, catch the tour as it heads to your town: St. John, NB (5th), Fredericton (6th), Antigonish (7th), and Halifax (the 8th).