Stuff I'm Listening to #59 - Lawrence Gowan

Aritst: Gowan

Title: A Criminal Mind

Lyrics:
I stand accused before you
I have no tears to cry
And you will never break me
Till the day I die

Despite my derpy, he gave me an autograph <3

Why?: I met Lawrence Gowan when I was working at First Night celebrations years ago at Harbourfront in Toronto with my awesome boss Polkaroo. Yeah... that's right peeps! Polkaroo was my boss! That was the same year, Love Inc. played Nathan Phillips Square for their New Year's fest. But I wasn't into Love Inc., even though you could hear them from Harbourfront in Toronto. 

I'd managed to thoroughly embarrass myself by declaring to Gowan that I had a crush on him when I was nine. Sorry, Lawrence! You must understand, I was very starstruck at that moment. But you were ever a gentleman and I thank you for that! 

He chatted with me for a bit, asking me what songs did I think he should play for his set. And wouldn't you know it... he did. Every single song I'd asked for. So it should only be noted that I stood corrected by him. 'I had a crush' at that point and forever is now 'I've had a crush on him since I was nine.' It's still there. It's never going away. 

He's currently touring with Styx as their lead singer and from everything I've seen online, doing an awesome job of it too.

Thanks to Boom 97.3 for posting this clip about Lawrence Gowan going on about the first time he heard his music on the radio. I love how he relates being super stoked about it. And for my international friends and followers, that intersection he notes in the clip below? Yeah... It's not that far from me. Scarborough represent! 

Happy Canada Day! Peace and Love and Kraft Dinner!

I love Canada. 

My Canada includes KD, and Deadpool.

I remember growing up with all my friends and I remember how it never mattered where are parents were originally from. We were all kids and we liked a lot of the same things and we were all Canadian.

And we all ate our Kraft Dinner and hotly debated on the need to have ketchup on it or not. Did you add Cheese Whiz too? Velveeta? Hot Dogs? Fried Bologna?

And that was it. Kraft Dinner. Ketchup and whatever else you had or not. We can argue up and down about the right way to eat it. And in the end, despite our differences, it was still Kraft Dinner, it was Canadian and we all ate it (or in some cases, didn't like it at all...Eyes those people suspiciously) and we're all still friends.

Here's hoping eventually everyone can enjoy the KD and love each other just the same despite our differences in ourselves or in the way we have our mac and cheese. 

Peace. Happy Canada Day! 

Also for your listening pleasure - Stuff I'm Listening To: The Canada Day Edition: 


Artst: Barenaked Ladies

Title: If I Had Million Dollars

Favourite Lyrics: (which is actually part interchorus banter...)

If I had a million dollars we wouldn't have to eat Kraft dinner 
But we would eat Kraft dinner  
Of course we would, we'd just eat more
And buy really expensive ketchups with it
That's right, all the fanciest dijon ketchups.
 
Why?: Well, it's Canada Day, it inspired me to write the above and because I can think of nothing more of my generation Canada than this.

Stuff I'm Listening To # 52 - Rush

Artist: Rush
 
Title: Tom Sawyer
 
Lyrics: 
No, his mind is not for rent
To any God or government
Always hopeful yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is

Why?: It occurred to me that in the grand scheme of amazing drummers (Both Roger Taylors (the one from Queen and of course, the one from Duran Duran), Lee Harris from Talk Talk, Buddy Rich and of course Animal from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem) that I don’t mention Neil Peart amongst them. I assume it’s because everyone already knows the Professor is an amazing drummer and it goes without saying. Just popping this tune up because I happen to be listening to it right now. And it came up after a few months of absenteeism on my motorcycle riding playlist. Awesome tune to be listening to on the bike, by the way.

Also - “Alright. It’s a Saturday night, I have no date, a two litre bottle of shasta and my all Rush mix tape. Let’s rock.” Philip J. Fry - Futurama

Stuff I'm Listening To #1 - Skinny Puppy

Artist: Skinny Puppy   

Title: Stairs and Flowers
 
Favourite Lyric/Sound Bite:  
“Whatdya mean what happened? I just slipped down these damn stairs!” 
Why?: This was likely one of the first songs I’d heard by Skinny Puppy that pulled me into the world of the Goth subculture. It was this rhythmic noise. It was appealing to my teenage angst. It was dark and helped define my weirdness. I was happy being moody. This song was moody, creepy, strange and funny all at once. 

Note: This was originally published with video link and lyric choice only.