My Shuffled Walk #5: Georgetown/Glen Williams

Well, I’m on vacation, so I thought it was time for another instalment of My Shuffled Walk. I tempted the weather gods on what was an overcast day, possibly threatening rain, but they were kind to me and even opened up the skies a bit for some sunshine during my 8 km walk.

R.I.P., Taylor Hawkins

It’s so sad to have to type that headline. So shocking. Taylor Hawkins seemed like a man so full of joy and life. And that came through so strongly in his drumming. It seemed like he was always having fun behind that kit. Even though he wasn’t always smiling back there. Often when you looked at his face, he had the determined look of concentration and exhaustion that you see on a marathon runner mid-race. Teeth gritted, almost wincing.

New Dear Rouge: “Life Goes By And I Can’t Keep Up”

I’m like a week late on this. I started it last week, then got busy, but better late than never, right? It’s like life goes by and I can’t keep up or something, you know?

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.