#79 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, Manteca, Fire Me Up

(Sorry for the delay. Dealing with some unpleasant vertigo symptoms that have limited my time on the interwebz.)

Yum-Yum's comment from my January 5th entry:
"Who the fuck is Manteca? :D"

If the esteemed Mr. Yum, who had some great things to add about the really odd last entry, is asking who the fuck Manteca is, well, that speaks volumes about the band's uber-obscurity. Turns out they're a Juno-winning Canadian jazz-fusion band who reformed in 2007. (Odd to see a jazz-fusion band on CFNY's countdown, but their programming was always eclectic.)

See the rest of their Wiki page here:
Click to learn more about Manteca

And here's a video from around the time of their 2007 reformation:


And that's all I got. :D Sorry Manteca fans.

#80 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, Various Artists, In Demand

This entry made me test my Google detective skills, as I had no memory of this one at all. Actually, it was All Music to the rescue.
Reviewer Sean Carruthers writes:

As a snapshot of Toronto (mostly) in 1987, perhaps this doesn't exactly do the trick, but as a snapshot of a fairly tight subset of the scene, it certainly does the trick. Chalk Circle was just getting started and Parachute Club had just wound down, and maybe those two touchstones are as good as any to get a feel for one of the sound of downtown Toronto at that point: clean guitars, lots of keyboards, and an eclectic style. It's not as representative as it could be: Chop Sticks Haul Water appear three times, there are two versions of the same song by Eva Everything, and both Scott McGregor Moore and Kurt Swinghammer appear multiple times in different incarnations. The most interesting pieces are the all-electronic numbers by Alberta's Ohama, an instrumental piece from Radio Silence, and a reworking of Swinghammer's caustic "Canada Ha Ha."

I can't say that jogs my memory at all. Yum-Yum, my favorite Canadian blogger, are you there? Does Tona Walt Ohama ring any Torontonian bells? And what kind of band name is Chop Sticks Haul Water?

#81 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, Bruce Cockburn, Waiting for a Miracle

Once again, no wheel re-inventing.
Here is what I wrote on November 1st, 2008:
"When I was going through some old Night Flight tapes, I came across this song. For whatever reason, I don't recall ever hearing it before--and this particular tape got a lot of airtime chez Karim Amir. I probably couldn't wrap my 13-year-old brain around the complex sociopolitic/socioeconomic arguments in the song (International Monetary Fund?). So many years later, I have revisited it...and it is quite freaking good."



"IMF, dirty MF." Brilliant.

The next entry required me to do some Google detective work. :)

#82 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, The Big Supreme, "Don't Walk"

I won't reinvent the wheel, so go here for what I previously wrote on The Big Supreme's "Don't Walk":
Clicky.

And here's The Big Supreme's "Please Yourself":

#83 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, Wire, The Ideal Copy

A few things about "Ahead"
1. Six people disliked this video? They suck.
2. I haven't seen Carlos, but according to some YouTube commenters, this song can be found in the movie. Awesome-sauce, as the youngins say.
3. I can't remember where or when I first heard this song. I think my first listen predated the CFNY countdown. Did I see it on 120 Minutes? Possibly. Rochester radio? Another possibility.

A few things about Wire:
1. Wire's latest album, Red Barked Tree, was released Tuesday.
2. I've had this odd ringing in my ear this week, so of course, I had to listen to this Wire gem:

But my favorite song on It's Beginning to and Back Again is "In Vivo."
3. I never heard their pre-Ideal Copy music until the late 90's. (Unless you count Elastica's "Connection." LOL.) Here's an early song of theirs:

#84 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, Bo-Day-Shus!!!

"Elvis needs boats/Elvis needs boats/Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis Elvis/Elvis needs boats!"

One of my favorite novelty songs ever.

Useless trivia: Steve Wynn sang backup vocals on "Feeling Existential," a song that can be found on 1986's Frenzy. Steve Wynn is awesome.

#85 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, BoDeans, Outside Looking In

The BoDeans were yet another band I first discovered thanks to USA Network's Night Flight, when I saw the video for "She's a Runaway" from their 1986 release, Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams. Outside Looking In was released a year later. I always liked the band, but then again, I have a soft spot for this type of Americana.
Surprisingly, I can't find much BoDeans material on YouTube. except for live performances.



The band's claim to fame here in the States might be the use of their song "Closer to Free" as the theme for Party of Five, the show responsible for foisting Jennifer Love Hewitt on us.

#86 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, The Dolphin Brothers, Catch the Fall

As a huge fan of Japan, I was very saddened by this week's news of Mick Karn's death. After Japan's split, the very talented band members went on to other musical endeavors. Karn teamed up with Peter Murphy and Midge Ure, among others. David Sylvian has had a prolific solo career, also featured on CFNY. And Richard Barbieri and Steve Jansen (Sylvian's brother) formed the Dolphin Brothers, who released Catch the Fall in 1987. I seem to remember having a hard time tracking down this CD years later, but I don't think I've listened to it in at least a decade.

Bonus video: Mick Karn's collaboration with Peter Murphy, Dalis Car:

#87 of CFNY's Best 87 of 87, The Call, Into the Woods

Not really a countdown, but more of a personal remembrance.




I can't say that I remember this album from The Call. One of the college stations in Rochester used to play the fantastic "The Walls Came Down," from 1983's Modern Romans.
RIP, Michael Been.

Mixtape Memories

Somewhere in my music hoard, I have a CFNY mixtape with The Proclaimers' "Letter from America" on it. The final few seconds of the song were taped over with the opening bars of The Silencers' "Painted Moon," so whenever I hear "Letter from America," I expect it to be immediately followed by "Painted Moon." In fact, I used to get The Proclaimers and The Silencers mixed up due to their overlapping proximity on my mixtape.

I thought about useless piece of information when I heard about the death of Gerry Rafferty yesterday. (He co-produced "Letter from America.")

I'm including "Painted Moon" here to try to replicate the memory of my two-decades-old mixtape. More useless information: the mixtape consisted of songs from CFNY's Best of 1987 list, a scan of which is found here:

Asking why I didn't tape the songs between #60 and #46 is a perfect valid question. Some of my favorite bands are in that range.

Producer Guild Nominations

From Awards Daily:
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2011/01/producers-guild-nominations-2010/

127 HOURS
Producers: Danny Boyle, Christian Colson

BLACK SWAN
Producers: Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver

INCEPTION
Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas

THE FIGHTER
Producers: David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Producers: Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray

THE KING’S SPEECH
Producers: Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin

THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

THE TOWN
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Graham King

TOY STORY 3
Producer: Darla K. Anderson

TRUE GRIT
Producers: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

I've seen all but one: 127 Hours.

Film log 1/2/11

True Grit -- mixed
Once again, I cannot get into a Coen Brothers movie. Sigh.

Film log -- 1/1/11

1/1/11

The Kids Are All Right -- pro
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days -- mixed

I doubt I'll watch a movie a day (or two!) once school begins. :)