New Dear Rouge: “Fake Fame”

Three years ago – 2018 – was a big Dear Rouge year. Their bombastic second album, Phases, dropped, I saw them live twice, chatted with them once, and just generally fell deeper in love with them. On the new music front, they’ve been quiet ever since, yet still engaged with their fans, especially during the pandemic, performing full albums during livestreams (which I tried to enjoy like I was actually there), on Instagram, etc. But today, finally: new music! So here are my first thoughts on “Fake Fame”:

My Shuffled Walk #4: Aurora

We used to live in Aurora, until a little over eight years ago. Since I found myself in the area with a little time to spare yesterday, I thought I’d do my first “My Shuffled Walk” since October. So I put my music on shuffle and took a picture during each song I heard, and now I’m going to try to write my way into connecting the two. Wish me luck.

New Beaches: “Let’s Go”

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.

#MuchMusicMemories

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.

So good to be back in Jack & Meg’s world

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.

My Shuffled Walk #3: Acton

“Acton?” you ask? Yup, Acton. Why not Acton? I’d never been, it’s like 25 minutes from home, I had the day off, I like to explore new places, and it’s fall so everything is pretty. So why not Acton? It was nice. And like I’ve done a couple of times before with these things, I listened to music and took one picture during each song to sort of represent it. And away we go…

R.I.P., Eddie Van Halen

Yesterday, after I heard the news of Eddie Van Halen’s untimely passing at the age of 65, I strapped on my rollerblades and skated for almost an hour, listening on shuffle to all the Van Halen music on my iPhone. I needed to be alone with the music.  

My Shuffled Walk #2: Newmarket – Fairy Lake & Main Street

Just over a year ago, I took a walk along Toronto’s College Street and embarked on a fun little experiment: put my songs on shuffle, take a picture to represent each song as it’s playing, then see if I can tie the song and image together through words. Yesterday I had a little time to myself in my old home of Newmarket, where our boys were born, and decided to take a little stroll from lush parkland to dusty industrial sideroad. Here’s how it sounded and how it looked…

My Seinfeld Script: “The Cold”

Today I’m unveiling my big creative quarantine project: I’ve spent parts of the past 10 weeks or so writing a Seinfeld script.

My Shuffled Walk, College Street, Toronto

Let’s call this a little art experiment: I got off work early today so I thought I’d take a really bloody long walk along the entire length of College Street, throw my songs on shuffle, and take a picture while each song played. Two rules: no skipping songs and no picture do-overs. Is there any way I can write my way into making each picture make sense for each song? Good luck with that, Kev. But there’s definitely one near the end that blew my mind. I know, that’s a little click-baity, but it’s true.