How Conveeeeeeeenient!!!

Monday August 27 10:00 PM

Michael Vick and Dana Carvey (aka the Church Lady) linked forever. I'd love to be in Carvey's presence right about now. Convince him to take the Church lady on the road. First stop Hollywood. Paris Hilton step right up. Can Lindsay Lohan be far behind? (and what's with Owen Wilson???)....Paris, after yelling for Mommy, does (soft) time, appears on Larry King to announce that she's found Jesus. Give Vick some credit. He didn't wait for his CNN appearance. Or even HBO's Real Sports. We all got the scoop at the same time. Time will tell if Vick's confession is a righteous one. But at this very moment it seems as though he read from the same damage-control script as Hilton did.

I think Jesus was a helluva guy (sorry, make that heckuva). He intrigues me at least as much as Babe Ruth. Or Eddie Shore. But I can't help but think that if the original JC were around today his face would be filled by a constant stream of tear drops. Much like that commercial from the 70's featuring the Native American crying over what polluters have done to his land.
Don't remember it/Never seen it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3QKvEy0AIk

If I could speak to Michael Vick I'd ask him if he ever listened to Kris Kristofferson instead of Roc-a-fella
http://www.homestead.com/deehymn/whyme.html

http://www.nflplayers.com/players/player.aspx?id=30067&section=qa

Good judgement...hmmm. Could it have been... SATAN???

August 20-July 4 (Or How I Spent My Summer)

Monday August 20, 9:30 PM

1st attempt at a blog in hebrew...back to front...Michael Vick is guilty, now let him plead for mercy on his hands and knees...doggy style...attended 14th annual Ottawa Folk Festival saturday at Brittania Park on the Ottawa River....Kris Kristofferson was headliner, age 72 but looking at least 20 years younger...Buffy Sainte Marie also looks terrific at age 65 (?)(she's the Satchel Paige of singer-songwriters)..plus Jimmy Lafave, Ray Bonneville, Eliza Gilkyson, Oh Susanna, Penny Lang, Michael Jerome Browne and many others....Woody Guthrie was dominant theme...his daughter Nora was featured guest along with Lafave and Kristofferson during saturday afternoon interview session with Mike Regenstreif plus the travelling Guthrie tribute show "Ribbon of Highway" closed the concert after 1 sunday morning...listen for audio highlites on mike's thursday morning CKUT show...kristofferson was truly shocked that woody guthrie is not in country music hall of fame...
http://www.ribbonofhighway.com/


I dont know what Dan Patrick is going to do now(apparently neither does he) but count me among the crowd that will miss him on ESPN radio, especially right before my own show....Patrick signed off friday at 4 after 18 years at ESPN...
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-patrick10jul10,1,1292278.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=2&cset=true

I've had a major crush on Emmylou Harris since the time I first saw her on The Mike Douglas Show in the mid-70's...now 60 emmylou headlined a show in shelbourne, vermont on august 6th...not only does she sing like an angel (and looks even better) but she is a baseball junkie who keeps a portable sportsticker backstage to keep track of her favorite team, the atlanta braves...and is a big time animal lover, especially dogs, fostering three at a time until they are ready for adoption...how do you think she feels about michael vick?...wish she could find out how i feel about her...
http://www.emmylou.net/

What did I learn about myself after taking all but one day in july off?...that i could easily do it again...don't get me wrong, i love this job but after nearly 30 years i discovered that i enjoy doing nothing even more..well, not exactly nothing but just having the opportunity to sit under a tree on the lachine canal...or enjoy a pint on the terrace at hurley's...or meet a friend for a movie...all between 3 and 7...was a real treat...so was pulling my first all-nighter in years...first all-nighter without worrying about being coherent the next day...i'll spare you most of the details other than to say we forced Tony to open up early for us the next morning at Cosmo...and the mish-mash never tasted so good...there was plenty of music to enjoy, as always during a Montreal july but even by montreal standards this past july was exceptional...Dweezil Zappa and friends finished off the month in grand style...his second visit to montreal with "Zappa plays Zappa" in less than a year was sensational....as musician Liam Callaghan observed Zappa played the equivalent of six hours over two nights in town with a different band and did not play a single song twice...I found the moments that Dweezil "shared" the stage with his dad (beamed onto giant screen) very emotional...be sure to check out the videos, exceptional quality of two performances from his first montreal visit last october...
http://www.zappaplayszappa.com/index.html

I'd never say nearly 40 years is worth waiting for anybody or anything but John Fogerty sure delivered during his first ever Montreal appearance on july 17 at Place Des Arts..I heard some sound complaints but fogerty and his band-including kenny aranoff on drums and billy burnette on lead guitar- sounded tremendous from where i was located (corbeil-5th row)...so now that one of the best-if not THE best songwriter in American rock and roll history (that's songwriter-not lyricist) can anybody explain why Montrealers had to wait so long???...
http://www.johnfogerty.com/
http://www.kennyaronoff.com/
http://www.burnette-rock.com/BillyBurnette.htm

Canada week began in style at the JazzFest as I saw The Cowboy Junkies (my last show at The Spectrum), Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, The White Stripes and Buddy Guy from July 2-7.
Dylan, playing at Place Des Arts for the first time since 1966, was tremendous(what-you expected me to say he was crap?)...highlites included a slow, mournful "Shelter From the Storm" and a song that is currently my favorite from Modern Times-"Spirit On The Water"...when Dylan got to final verse of "Spirit" fans in cheap(er) seats had their say....
"You say I'm over the hill", sang Bob...followed by shouts of "NO! NO!"...
"You think I'm past my prime"..again followed by cries of "NO! NO! NO!"...
"Let me see what you got gal
We could have a whoppin' good time"
...we sure did...Dylan is still "headed for another joint"...currently in Australia, he returns to North America in October for a series of concerts in U.S. college towns accompanied by Elvis Costello...
http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/songs/spiritonthewater.html

I knew The Spectrum was too good to be true...I haven't been to every select rock club in north america but I have been to a lot and none of them are/were better than The Spectrum...I consider it a privilege to have played a small but vital role in the history of the venue as a member of BillyBob Productions...we (Lloyd Fischler, Gary Silverman, Andrew Besner) coaxed Jesse Winchester out of hibernation in January of 1998 to help fill the place (with Loudon Wainwright III opening up)...I'll never forget the site of Jack Todd with tears rolling down his cheeks as Jesse sang "Yankee Lady"...Frank Marino, also on the comeback trail shortly afterwards, approached us to promote his return gig there and then to top it all off legendary singer-songwriter John Prine played a sold-out show (we even made money-$300) for us...Prine had previously never been asked to play Montreal...he slashed his usual performance fee (down to 10g) for us as long as we took him out for a genuine french meal...i asked him to play "Bad Boy" which he did...at soundcheck-just for me...perhaps not The Police circa 1982 but historic music nights nonetheless...and it couldn't have happened without us...(you're welcome)...The Prine concert also led me out of a hosting gig on "The Habs This Week" but that's a long story for another time...

Favorite Spectrum Shows (I can remember...)

1. John Prine
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan
3. Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush
4. Steve Earle
5. Jesse Winchester
6. Little Steven & Disciples Of Soul
7. Gary "U.S." Bonds
8. Clarence Clemons
9. Sonny Landreth
10.Daniel Lanois

www.johnprine.net

Spectrum Shows I wish I had seen:

Alvin Lee, Big Joe Turner, Cat Power, Iggy Pop, Joe Strummer, Lonnie Mack, Paul Butterfield, Phish, Rory Gallagher, Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Blasters w/The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Replacements, Wilson Pickett

I've never been hassled by a wrestler before but this Green Phantom guy swears he's coming to get me this week....anyone have Jacques Rougeau's phone #?...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BLvApsbEJbo

Back In The Saddle Again

Wednesday August 8th 11:25 PM

....Now where was I?

Received a couple of humorous text messages on my cellphone recently.....at 3:23 this afternoon:

"I liked Picard better"
From: pj

And from Aug 3 @ 5:44 PM:

"This is Oliver from The Stills. I'm so sorry to bother you but I'm so fucking pissed about the Brisebois signing I just had to tell you! Have a nice weekend!"

Oliver (Crowe) is actually Olivier Corbeil, bass player for the popular Montreal rock group. And that's how I found out that Brisebois was back. Oh, the angst. More on this later in the week. But I'll say this. I'd rather have Brisebois than Luke Richardson (Richardson just signed a similar deal with Ottawa).

http://www.myspace.com/thestills

Where's Bud? (composed 1:30 AM AUG 8)

watchin' Bonds on tv
waiting on the hit
playin' the old expos
do you believe that shit?
without a homer
the game's a dud
but I keep thinking
where's Bud?

the pitcher's name is Bacsik
an ordinary lefty
Hey-there's Tony Batista!
(looking a little hefty)
and Brian Schneider, like Wilkerson in Texas
how their careers went thud!
they're all there in 'Frisco but
where's Bud?

thousands of flashbulbs on every pitch
lighting up the park
watch him go 2 for 2
not a bad way to start
Kuiper and Krukow upstairs keeping it real
(I suddenly find myself thinking of Todd Zeile)
steroids make it unreal?
who am I to judge
the only question I really have is
where's Bud?

Into the 5th; third time up
25 is on every pitch
locked-in, looking good
he's really going to do it
(the son of a bitch)
seven pitches in, the ball strikes
Sam Holman's wood
Deep to right center
and there Barry stood
alone

40 years later it's another love-in
in San Fransisco
but now there's no reason to go
unless you'd like to visit F.P. Santangelo
a New York kid gets the ball
kind of fitting, with Willie in the hall
755 shows some class
a lot more than barry who spent his career
asking everybody to kiss his ass
and suck his
blood
but where's Bud?

let the debate begin
hall of fame? No question he's in
asterisk? Leave alone his next of kin
Barry didn't start this fight
he just took it to a different height
looking for a villian
who's wrong and who's right?
look no further than the man who led the sport
dragging it through the mud
Look! There's Bud

Among many e-mails received today (from our New York producer Stu Hackel)

Welcome back.

I am not among those confused about Bonds, of course. As a Giants fan, I've cheered this guy for 15 years, like all the iconoclasts in San Francisco (which is the entire city, most likely). I may not like his standoffish attitude toward the media or the fact he did steroids, but so did so many others. Brunt alluded to this, that so many people were complicit in Bonds taking supplements, but I think of it in even stronger terms. I think Baseball forced Bonds (and others) to take this stuff by turning a blind eye to it in the quest for home runs, the weapon the sport used to win fans back and revive their business after the mid-90s strike. This is the era in which Bonds played and, not only does Bud Selig have no moral high ground to be critical of Bonds, but no one does. Bonds doesn't do himself any favors by being curt and disparaging of the media, of course, but the media has ganged up on him. He's an easy target and I find the media's treatment of him the same as most of the US media accords hockey, jumping on every little wrinkle and gaffe as proof the NHL is not a major league sport, when in fact, they don't understand the game and have no desire to broaden their shallow understanding of it.

And you know something? I think the MLB players by in large have supported and cheered Bonds on. They understand the magnitude of his accomplishment, they understand the era in which he lived, they know he is probably the greatest hitter and one of the greatest players who ever lived. You don't see a gigantic outcry from the players to condemn him for cheating. The few who have (I think Schilling was one) have gotten headlines, but I sense most of the players are happy for him.

Personally, this guy won a bunch of games for the team I cheer for, a seven time MVP, and -- just like a hated visiting irritating hockey player, a Chelios, a John Ferguson, maybe every sandpaper guy except Claude Lemieux -- every baseball fan would be happy to have had Barry Bonds to have him on their team, wearing their uniform and winning games for them. Given who he is and the way he carries himself, he is fated to be hated in every city he plays in except his home team and their fans..

Stu

A more nastier e-mail was sent by a Montreal wrestler who goes by the name "Green Phantom". Apparently Mr. Greenie took exception to my recent posting of an old Phil Mushnick column about steroids in wrestling.
This ugly guy (must be ugly since he hides behind a mask) says I should "watch my back everday between 3 and 7".
Oooh, I'm scared. At least I know where to bite him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDC08_issBc