Random Musings

The Who could be calling it a day, with Pete Townshend suffering from tinnitus and making it near impossible for them to continue as a band, or at least a two-piece calling themselves The Who. This has resulted in Roger Daltrey now calling out to Jimmy Page to collaborate on a blues rock project, making him look a bit like the ugly dog at a kennel who needs a home badly before being put down.

Public Image Limited -- the band fronted by Johnny Rotten after the Sex Pistols imploded the first time -- has announced a North American tour for this spring, their first in 18 years on this side of the pond. The dates include a Toronto show and then hitting Montreal the following night.

Tom Petty is expected to announce something big next week, with chances are it being another summer tour. Less likely is a tour in support of a new album, but knowing Petty and his way of pleasing fans, he'll release the album online and in stores with him paying fans $7.99 every time they purchase it.

Canadian Music Week is coming up here in Toronto next month, with several hundred bands playing several dozen venues. It's an exercise in controlled chaos, with small stages being invaded in 40-minute spurts. Even funnier is watching bands scurry on and off with their gear on a stage which has the square footage of a Brazilian brothel. Whether I'll receive a pass for this event is unknown, as on previous occasions the media accreditation was denied due to me trying to cover the event for a foreign publication. What better way to promote your festival then to ban foreign press coverage!?!

The Stones are releasing Exile On Main Street as part of their ongoing reissue series. Fortunately this time around they're adding 10 additional songs which Jagger believed were non-existent, much like parts of world tours they did in the '70s. The package will also be far superior than the Ya-Yas Box Set disaster they recently put out, featuring a couple of videos and the complete sets of Ike & Tina Turner.

Ron Sexsmith has a new album coming out, this time produced by Metallica producer Bob Rock. Should make for an interesting listen, although hopefully there's not a lot of pyrotechnics at future Sexsmith concerts.

If You Could Only Read His Mind Now!

For most of this morning and this afternoon, singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot was alive. Then for about 25 minutes reports by The National Post and Vancouver Sun indicated that he had passed away on Wednesday evening at the age of 71,

Naturally, most papers shouldn't report a death until they have confirmation, but some didn't do that, running with what they believed to be true.

Lightfoot's death was short-lived, as at 2:40 Eastern this afternoon his management contacted various outlets stating he was alive.

Even more bizarre was Toronto Radio Station News Radio 680 was interviewing Ronnie Hawkins about Lightfoot's death and the legacy he left behind while Lightfoot's management was calling these outlets. Calls to Hawkins about what the hell happened went unanswered. The Globe And Mail has (as of 3:00 pm) posted an article detailing the confusion.

The story has been removed by these outlets now in Canada but is running like wildfire on various wire outlets. And for every Tweet stating he's alive there are 100 saying RIP and he has died.

Once again, jumping the gun can be a bad thing.

Mayer Is A Weiner?

John Mayer has always, always spoke his mind whether people wanted him to or not. Most of the time what he says perks up a hack's ears, as it's far from the standard cock-and-bull answer artists give.

But last week in a Playboy interview, Mayer not only crossed the line but demolished it while comparing a certain member on his body to former KKK member David Duke. From there it just went downhill fast, using racial slurs which would probably make Andrew Dice Clay do a double take at what was printed.

Realizing the proverbial crapstorm that was to come in light of the interview, Mayer tearfully offered up a mea culpa while onstage during a Nashville concert. And with his band -- the majority of whom are African American themselves -- were supporting him, it seems that Mayer has a helluva long road to hoe before getting back on his feet again.

When he plays and keeps his mouth shut, he's pretty good, often described as a mini-me Slowhand in reference to Eric Clapton. He probably summed it up best on his twitter account after the incident, stating that there were or are no rehab centers for assholes.

The Olympics Post Mortem Singing

Last night in Vancouver -- after a luger died and nothing was really done in terms of an investigation but before a hydraulic lift frigged up during the watershed moment of the opening ceremonies -- there was some singing. And while kd lang got a lot of kudos for her performance of Leonard Cohen's signature, there were a few low points.

Although many panned Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado for them synching their tune Bang Their Drums, it's often the safest, easiest route for performers to do in such a huge situation. The same thing happened during the Beijing Games with their "Olympic song."

But perhaps the worst of the worst was the opening tune, an anthem that's been sung before in Canada because it's our national anthem. It wasn't the singing of the song that was horrid, although making the song come off like a sexy jazz number vocally is ridiculous, but the arrangement.

In a nutshell, that arranger is deaf. You would have to be deaf to listen to that....

Three different tempos and structures were used for the tune, with the English sections in a different tempo from each other while the middle French portion was sped up somewhat to fit the normal pattern of the song. In the end it was just abysmal and embarrassing, almost as embarrassing as watching those poor Native Canadians dancing continually for 3 hours while everyone else stood around or took a break.

Hopefully the concerts they have set for Vancouver come off a bit better than some of those opening acts. They couldn't be much worse.

The Who? Post Mortem?

If you know anything about the Super Bowl halftime show, it's that a big name is given big bucks to expose big nipple-pierced breasts...oh sorry, that was just the one year.

Let's try that again, a big name is given big bucks to cram their hit songs and signatures into about 17 minutes. This can mean a band does three songs from start to finish or, in the case of Sunday's event, give snippets of five or six tunes to create a decent and seamless medley.

The Who's Sunday night performance was the latter, resulting in a hit and miss adventure that showed both Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey struggling to keep up with the tempos they created 40 and in some cases 45 years ago.

Highlights included Won't Get Fooled Again and Who Are You?, but other moments such as See Me, Feel Me, Grope Me seemed to tank rather quickly, looking and sounding like it was thrown in for the sake of adding another tune. Thankfully they did seem to sing during the performance, not relying on a backing track and mouthing the lines as some previous entertainers have during the halftime experience.

Nonetheless, it appears that the Super Bowl will have to search far and wide for the next great band for this slot, as Springsteen, Stones, Petty, The Who and McCartney and Prince have all had their 17 minutes of fame. Green Day, Pearl Jam and others are in the second tier but most likely bound to be asked in the coming years.

But for The Who, it was decent, not great or spine-tingling, but decent.

Lemme At Em

As you can see, the man in pain is Noel Gallagher, the brother of Noel has no idea what's happening and is two feet away from getting tackled or assaulted as well.

Now, Noel Gallagher wants his pound of flesh, or at least have the chance to face his attacker in court with a victim impact statement in a Toronto courtroom. A date has yet to be chosen but it's probably a distinct possibility that Gallagher will have his chance to discuss how the attack affected him and the band, leading to a handful of canceled shows in what would be the band's Toronto gig.

How Gallagher will be able to get through a victim impact statement without fookin' c--t being used repeatedly is anyone's guess. Other vitriolic synonyms are there for the taking, but nothing quite like fookin' c--t uttered from Mr. Gallagher would have the same satisfaction.

No doubt Liam Gallagher will be in attendance also for moral support for the assailant.

Fall Out Of Fall Out Boy.....Oh No

Tis a sad day in emo world rock, for the over-hyped, overpraised, over-everything Chicago-based band Fall Out Boy could be going on hiatus. Or they could be breaking up. Or they're deciding to take a break from the pressures of 13 and 14-year-old girls screaming about how lovely their hairdos are. Whatever, expect no Fall Out Boy album this year or next year. Perhaps it's because they need to come up with more 17-word song titles, something like "My Dog Ate My Binder That Said I Loved You In Big Green Lettering Before He Went Outside To Lick The Fleas Off His Balls."

The band members took to twitter and their message board to explain to fans what was going on, but judging by their offerings they haven't the foggiest either. All FOB fans should continue looking at message boards every 13 seconds to ensure that Fall Out Boy have decided that they will decide to do something when they have come to a decision....