Man, that opening riff of “Daniel” really made me want bok choy. Just kidding. Bok choy was somehow a surprisingly wonderful theme in Juliana Hatfield’s livestream of her 2000 Beautiful Creature album this afternoon. What that opening riff really made me do was smile, because of how immediately and intensely it took me back to the summer of 2000.
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Normally when I write these, the shows are tied to older albums that bring back memories and I write about those memories, because this blog is all about memories induced by music. But the only way I could have memories of Juliana Hatfield’s new album, Blood, would be if I had a time machine, listened to the album, lived a little and created memories around the album, then travelled back to today and wrote about the memories I’d make in the future. Unless anyone can direct me to Doc Brown and Marty McFly, that’s just not possible.
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It may be a grey day in the GTA, but The Beaches brightened my world by dropping an infectious new song (“Let’s Go”) and the cover of their upcoming EP, Future Lovers, which features (almost) all the colours of the rainbow. More than anything, this song makes me long for the day I can see them live again. They were my last pre-pandemic show last February – maybe they’ll be my first post-pandemic show.
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It’s no secret that MuchMusic, like MTV south of the border, is not what it once was. Formerly home to cool VJs and music videos, music videos and more music videos, as I write this, here’s what’s airing on Much: six episodes of Seinfeld followed by eight episodes of The Simpsons. These were two of my favourite shows during Much’s heyday, but they never would have come near its airwaves back then.
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Ah, I can always rely on my favourite rock icons to make me happy in the midst of a pandemic. Last time it was Chris and Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes and today it’s head Foo Fighter Dave Grohl. A few days ago, he took to a Princely purple-lit studio to talk about one of my all-time favourite songs, “Everlong,” and perform it solo-acoustic style.
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So, it’s only been almost a year since my last Pandemic Positivity post. Way to stick with it, Kev. And it’s yet another reminder that we’ve been dealing with the plague for over a year now. But this is about positivity, right?
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“I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.”
Let’s just let that moment of gratitude sink in for a minute. Juliana Hatfield’s livestream performance this afternoon of her 2008 How to Walk Away album had its share of rough moments for the artist, not to mention that it inspired her to share some rough memories. So let’s feel the gratitude for a minute.
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“This album could’ve been called ‘Lonerism.’”
Juliana Hatfield has had a way with words during her pandemic concert series, which started a couple months ago. Once a month, she plays a full album all the way through, during a livestream on YouTube. This lead-off quote was one of my favourite things she said during today’s solo electric performance of her 1995 album, Only Everything, which also happens to by my favourite.
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Yesterday The White Stripes released a 2005 From the Basement performance they recorded in London for Sky Arts. It was shortly after their penultimate album, Get Behind Me Satan, was released. And it blew me away.
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Once upon a time, we gathered together in sweaty rock clubs and destroyed our ear drums and we loved it. I miss it. My last show was almost 11 months ago now. But it’s comforting to have many artists perform for their fans from afar (like I wrote about Dear Rouge doing a couple months ago), thanks to the internet. Man, this pandemic would’ve totally destroyed us psychologically (not to mention the horrifying physical toll) without the connection the internet has provided us. In fact, during today’s live acoustic performance of her 1998 album, Bed, Juliana Hatfield said that as much as she moans about how terrible the internet can be, she’s grateful the internet provides these kinds of opportunities to play and connect with fans.
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