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.
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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’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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“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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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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I’m the first to admit my year-end lists are not conventional. Not because I think I’m some cool indie rock hipster. It’s actually the opposite. Those guys tend to close their minds to anything outside what they think is cool. But I kinda think all music is cool. That doesn’t mean I love it all, just that I try to be open to most of it, and that coolness is subjective. Continue reading
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. Continue reading
Weird is good. Weird is to be celebrated. Both the album, Juliana Hatfield’s latest, and the concept. I want to make sure that’s established before you think my listing of the weird in this album is anything but a celebration of the not-normal.
My Shuffled Life 