Video Of The Week: Dolly Parton (featuring Linda Perry)

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The world got a little bit bleaker today when the news came out that Dolly Parton had passed away at 80 years old, after a short battle with cancer. She was a legendary songwriter, a talented singer, a renowned philanthropist, as well as an accomplished actress and businesswoman.

Although I had heard her duet with Kenny Rogers, Islands In The Stream, when I was a kid, from it playing on the radio once in a while, I only really got acquanited with the Queen Of Country Music's art via the 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Winette, which came a year after Whitney Houston's cover of I Will Always Love You for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. From then I fell into such classics as Jolene and Coat Of Many Colors, and the poppier 9 To 5.

She was inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2022, a nomination she initially wanted to pass on, but was convinced to accept after fan pressure and the Hall explaining that her influence surpassed the realm of country music and that "Rock And Roll" had a meaning that extended beyond the straight line from Elvis Presley to The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Soundgarden. But she insisted on making a "rock" album to justify her inclusion, with such luminaries as Sting, John Fogerty, Steve Perry, Ann Wilson, Steven Tyler, Warren Haynes, Joan Jett, Rob Halford, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Pat Benatar, Peter Frampton and Stevie Nicks, among others, offering to lend a hand in what was ultimately a gloriously tacky record that warrants an A for effort and C+ for execution. From the second disc of that album is a cover of 4 Non Blondes' What's Up, featuring frontwoman Linda Perry:
I'm not sure how happy Mrs. Perry was that Mrs. Parton changed so many of the lyrics to the song, but this version reflects the way Dolly Parton saw life - with hope and positivity. I'll give it a try myself in her honour.

Video Of The Week: The Tragically Hip

Well, it had to happen, and so it has: The Tragically Hip's lead singer and central figure, Gord Downie, has passed away from his incurable brain cancer.

My own personal history with the Hip began with their 1989 "true" debut Up To Here's second single, New Orleans Is Sinking, the first (Blow At High Dough) not making a dent in what I was listening to at the time at 10-11 years old (Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction and GNR Lies, Kiss' Crazy Nights, N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, Def Leppard's Hysteria, Michael Jackson's Thriller and Bad, Prince's Batman soundtrack, Queen's The Miracle, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Mother's Milk, and Bon Jovi's New Jersey). But New Orleans had something, a feel, a groove that I could deal with. I say "true" debut, by the way, because I'd seen their self-titled Tragically Hip 1987 EP release in stores at that point, but didn't buy it until 1992 or 1993; Up To Here was their first full-length endeavour. I didn't really think much of the rest of that record, so I waited for the second one, 1991's Road Apples, to be very discounted (under $10) to give it a go, and I loved Little Bones, Twist My Arm, and Cordelia right away. I liked the rest of it, too, but not as much as the one-two-three punch at the beginning of the record, which I still go to in order from time to time.

1992's Fully Completely was a whole new ballgame. All killer, no filler. This was what cemented the band as a force to be reckoned with on the Canadian mainstream rock stage, with reason. Out of the 12 songs on the album, only four do not qualify as "hits". They're great nonetheless, but the Big Eight just pack so much: Courage (for Hugh MacLennan), Looking for a Place to Happen, At the Hundredth Meridian, Locked in the Trunk of a Car, Fully Completely, Fifty Mission Cap and Wheat Kings all became staples of their live shows until the very end, and remain in full rotation on Canadian rock radio to this day.

1994's Day For Night was even better, with such classics as Grace, Too, Greasy Jungle, So Hard Done By, the tear-inducing Nautical Disaster, Inevitability of Death, Scared and An Inch an Hour. With sleeker production, this was a band at the height of songwriting genius made to sound like early R.E.M. - and it worked. It felt real, honest, and raw.

1996's Trouble At The Henhouse might be their finest work, with standouts Gift Shop, Springtime In Vienna, and the masterpiece Ahead by a Century. It has a more acoustic feel to it, it seems warmer and softer then their preceding works.

They released Live Between Us, a live album recorded in Detroit, in 1997, containing most hits, then went in the studio to make 1998's Phantom Power, with standout tracks Poets, Bobcaygeon, Something On, and Fireworks. It was a fine record, but nothing original; it was The Hip sounding like The Hip - not as generic as future releases, but there was a comfort level setting, there wasn't much surprise.

The same can be said of 2000's Music @ Work. If anything, even the four singles (My Music At Work, Lake Fever, The Completists and Freak Turbulence) sound almost sarcastically like keeping with the band's signature sound. And titles like Tiger The Lion do nothing to dispel that notion. This is where I moved on from the Hip a bit, so I bought 2002's In Violet Light because I'd bought all the others, but I played it twice in its entirety and never really went back to it. They made videos for It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken and The Darkest One, and that was my lone contact with this album.

2004's In Between Evolution, however, struck a major chord in me. Perhaps it's the fact that unlike others, it's politically-charged, in the midst of George W. Bush's Iraq War, or maybe they just started trying again, but songs like Heaven Is a Better Place Today, Summer's Killing Us, Gus: The Polar Bear from Central Park, Vaccination Scar, It Can't Be Nashville Every Night, As Makeshift as We Are, One Night in Copenhagen and Goodnight Josephine really resonated. The album was produced by engineer extraordinaire Adam Kasper (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Queens Of The Stone Age, R.E.M., winner of two Grammys for his work with the Foo Fighters), which probably helped.

2006 brought World Container, which I remember liking, but The Kids Don't Get It is the only song from that album that's made its way into my Permanent Playlist. It's pretty much the same for 2009's We Are The Same: Coffee Girl, Now the Struggle Has a Name, The Depression Suite, and Love Is a First are all fine tunes, but Queen of the Furrows is the only song off that record that I still listen to on a regular basis.

Then there was the two-album conclusion, Now For Plan A and Man Machine Poem, the latter of which is named after a song from the former. Confused? Good. These are good records, introspective, deep in thought, with dark yet groovy pieces of music. Not what I would recommend for someone who has never heard the band (the 1992-96 output would be a better starting point, in my opinion), but for a casual fan or radio listener who was curious to find out how their 1990s sound evovled with age and technical skill, I'd recommend these two ahead of the previous two.

Pretty much as soon as the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, the band embarked on what doubled as the Man Machine Poem tour and its farewell tour, playing 15 shows in 10 cities - it was originally 10, but controversy surrounding ticket scalpers getting the bulk of the tickets (promoter Live Nation estimates upwards of two-thirds of tickets were purchased by bots, not people) forced the band to add a show apiece in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, and two in Toronto; the tour did not go farther East than Ottawa, meaning Québec (specifically the rather large Montréal market) and the Maritimes drew blanks. The final concert was held at Kingston's Rogers K-Rock Center, in the heart of the group's hometown.

I bring this post home with the song that first caught my ear, New Orleans Is Sinking:

I don't know who directed it, but if I come by it, I will update this post.

#FuckCancer

The last few weeks have been trying in my immediate circle with health scares and warnings, ranging from heart conditions to burn-outs and depression to erectile dysfunction to my own appointments and checkups regarding diabetes.

But the word that came back the most often this week was cancer.

One of my brother's best friends, in his early 20s, wrote this heart-wrenching piece - in French - about his current condition with leukemia, which in turn brought my immediate family back to memories of a painful past.

I also decided to bring my Twitter profile back to life - I went from having hundreds of followers to between 50 and 60, a figure that seems to change daily for some reason. No, Traci Lords is no longer following me. (insert sad face here). And I wasn't there a week that I learned more people I know were afflicted with cancer. Three people I know well were diagnosed in 2014, all in their thirties.

And that's in addition to Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray's confession that he has Stage-4 colon cancer and whose only hope at this point is to extend his life, because it's too late to cure. He knows he won’t overcome his battle, but joked he wanted to prolong overtime, like during the famous 1980s game between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals: ''Let’s go to extra overtime and keep playing, like the game we played against the Islanders many years ago, and we went to four overtime periods'', Murray said.

In the long run, no one survives Life. We are all just visiting and must make the most of what we have, try to find happiness and, ideally, try to help mankind evolve. And no one is immune from accidents, but seeing someone who knows his time is up, and trying to make the best of it while not dwelling on the fact that he's nearing the end really hits home. Hard.

And he becomes the second Senators hockey operations member to seemingly spend the end of his life as an actual member of the team in just about a decade, after Roger Nielsen in 2003.

R.I.P. Philip Chevron (The Pogues)

Who knew when I featured The Pogues last week it'd be ''celebrating'' the final few days of one of their members' lives?

Indeed, guitarist Philip Chevron died of cancer at the age of 56 yesterday.

Prior to joining The Pogues (first as a replacement, then as a permanent member), he'd been a founding member of punk band Radiators From Space.

Cancer takes no prisoners, but no ones survives Life, either. All you can do is do your best and try to leave a lasting impression, hopefully a good one, perhaps even bring joy and light to the world. Chevron certainly did that.

Video Of The Week: Divinyls

Holy shit - Divinyls lead singer Chrissy Amphlett died this week, at age 53, of breast cancer! She couldn't undergo radiation therapy because of her concurring multiple sclerosis.

She fronted her band with bigger balls than many of her male contemporaries, and it's for that reason that I didn't go with the obvious singles (I Touch Myself and Make Out Alright) and instead opted to feature their cover of The Troggs' Wild Thing for the soundtrack to Reckless Kelly, in which Yahoo Serious is pretty much dressed like Lara Croft.

Other known versions of Wild Thing include those by Jimi Hendrix, The Runaways, Sam Kinison (who butchered it and turned its meaning around), X, Cheap Trick, Hank Williams Jr, and Liz Phair, and it is most often used as a b-side or soundtrack cut.

It's a shame I couldn't find a better-looking version of the video, but as with many overlooked great bands deemed ''one hit wonders'' by the general public, this important Australian band (they may not be on AC/DC's or the Bee Gees' level, but are definitely worthy of mention alongside or ahead of Split Enz, Crowded House, and Hunters & Collectors - far ahead of Air Supply, Men At Work and Silverchair) stopped being supported by their American labels - yet they kept making hits in Australia - and their web presence is thus almost mute.

When she wasn't playing in her band or on stage in a musical, Amphlett wrote songs for other strong-willed singers such as Chrissie Hynde and Cyndi Lauper.



I'll have to feature I Touch Myself someday just to touch upon the huge controversy surrounding that song but, again, I felt it was too obvious for this week's choice. Soon, though, I promise.

Hugo Chavez Is Dead

The man who had been Venezuela's youngest elected president in 1998, Hugo Chavez, has died of pelvic cancer.

Both his Vice President (and the one who will represent his party in next month's elections) and opposition leader have called for unity:

Tearing up as he announced Chavez's death after a long battle with cancer, (VP) Nicolas Maduro called on Venezuelans to remain respectful.

"We must unite now more than ever," Maduro said.

Henrique Capriles Radonski, a former presidential candidate and opposition leader, said Venezuelans should come together.

"This is not the time for difference," he said. "It is the time for unity. It is the time for peace."

There will be seven days of national mourning, during which flags will hang at half mast. Cuba and Ecuador will also honor him with three days of mourning each.

Not all shared in the spirit of celebrating the man who brought more equality to his people, land reform, sensible nationalization and anti-poverty programs: U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (a position maybe he shouldn't have been in charge of, but then again, Michelle Bachmann is head of the House Intelligence Committee, and she had less than a third of a brain) had this to say:

"Hugo Chavez was a tyrant who forced the people of Venezuela to live in fear. His death dents the alliance of anti-U.S. leftist leaders in South America. Good riddance to this dictator. Venezuela once had a strong democratic tradition and was close to the United States. Chavez's death sets the stage for fresh elections. While not guaranteed, closer U.S. relations with (this) key country in our Hemisphere are now possible."

 Except this dictator was elected four times (with 52.8% of the votes in 1998, 59.8% in 2001, 63% in 2007, and another believable margin in 2012), and his food pricing policy alone is responsible for bringing total food consumption over 26 million metric tonnes in 2012, a 94.8% increase from 2003 - meaning he fed his people regardless of class, which should be the beginning of the bottom line for any state leader. Says the Wiki gods:

In October 2009, the Executive Director of the National Institute of Nutrition (INN) Marilyn Di Luca reported that the average daily caloric intake of the Venezuelan people had reached 2790 calories, and that malnutrition had fallen from 21% in 1998 to 6%.

And while our leaders always seem to forget bringing up human rights when dealing with, say, China, or while we tend to overlook human rights abuses from our military and political leaders and suspend others' rights (seemingly) at will, Chavez increased protections for indigenous peoples and women, and established the rights of the public to education, housing, health care, and food - all by referendum, meaning he got the required number of majority votes to do so each and every time.

How many of our governemnts' decisions make it through such a rigorous process, and how many times do they work for the greater good? Pretty much none, yeah.

I don't care what anyone thinks of Chavez, honestly - I'm ambivalent myself. But he's he was a better politician than 99% of the assholes we're paying with our taxes in North America, that's for sure.

It's Movember

R.I.P. Sally Ride

Sally Ride, the first woman in space, died yesterday of pancreatic cancer.

Mitt Romney had this to say about her, to try to gain capital on her demise:

Today, America lost one of its greatest pioneers. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride inspired millions of Americans with her determination to break the mold of her time. She was a profile in courage, and while she will be missed, her accomplishments will never be forgotten.

The thing is, she ''broke the mold of her time'' in more ways than just jumping a shuttle and flying above the planet: she was also in a same-sex relationship, and her partner of 27 years Tam O'Shaughnessy will not be allowed to receive any federal benefit because, well, they are of the same sex.

I think it's safe to say that when you've co-authored 4 books, lived together and been a couple for 27 years, it's a stable relationship...

At least one blog took offense:

Memo to Mr. Romney: If you don’t support our most fundamental relationships — if, in fact, you dedicate a significant amount of your political career to undermining those relationships, and make political hash out of marginalizing us and playing on people’s fears and hatred of us — you don’t get to speak about us with sentimental gushing after we’re dead.

Second memo to Mr. Romney: Fuck you.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Now, since she decided to keep her sexual orientation on the down-low, can't we all just let her go away in peace?

R.I.P. Adam Yaunch (a.k.a. MCA) Of Beastie Boys

Shit, man. 47 years old. That's younger than both of my parents. Fucking cancer.

Not that I was a huge Beastie Boys fan - their records left me lukewarm (apart from Paul's Boutique, which I liked a lot, I'd usually just go for 3 to 5 songs per record), and their 1998 concert at the Molson Centre was disappointing to say the least. But still.. I thought Adam Yaunch was going to beat this thing, because he can't, he won't, he don't stop.

His band's videos will live on forever, as does his participation in the mid-to-late-90s Free Tibet movement.

Goodbye Movember

It was good while it lasted.

Especially for this guy:

December/winter/depression starts in 5 minutes...

Breast Cancer Month

Cancer. The organism that grows in more than half of us, eating away at our organs, stealing our energy. We're not sure how it appears, how to prevent and/or properly cure it, but we're fighting it.

A co-worker of mine has breast cancer. The doctors are satisfied with their progress, they're winning. Good, 'cause she's a terrific human being.

To raise awareness for Breast Cancer Month, SHOP Breast Cancer released this NSFW video.

Me? I choose to celebrate the breasts themselves, not the disease, and that's why, as an alternative, I offer you a relatively-safe for work page ''art & design'' blog (yeah, right!) Clement & Co's post about Jacques Magazine's films celebrating voluptuous boobs - not that it hasn't been done before by Russ Meyer, but Great Art is great art!

Let's combat cancer by raising awareness about breasts. Please. Do your part.

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio

Cancer's a motherfucker. So is old age.

Dying of stomach cancer at 67 is a tad premature, but not unheard of. It's what happened to Ronnie James Dio, of Dio, Black Sabbath (and later Heaven & Hell), and Rainbow fame.

A hell of a legend of rock, and possibly the inventor of the ''devil's horns'' hand signal, which supposedly his grandmother used to do to him when he was a child, to ward off the ''evil eye''. His career spanned six decades, which is longer than the Rolling Stones' or Paul McCartney's - and that is despite ''heavy metal'' only being invented at the tail end of the 60s.

Regardless of whether you like the style of music or not, his powerful voice (even at a sick 67 years of age) was unique, and his talent must be recognized. His career is one worthy of the Hall Of Fame.

Germany's Top Goalie Plays Despite Incurable Cancer

If I had half this guy's will power, I'd sleep even less.

He has terminal brain cancer, yet still plays hockey at a top level in Europe.

He also has a wife and two kids, mind you, and maybe if I were in his situation, I'd try to see them a little more often than not, but you have to keep doing what you love to make it through the day, and if he can make time for both family and work/passion, all the better for him.

Hats off to you, Robert Müller of Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks) in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.