Wake Up Raise The Curtains
Well I guess this is where it all starts. I’m not sure what this blog will end up as. Even if I was to guess it probably would end up being something different anyway.
Why Northern Wish?
Well I’m a Rheostatic fan. Northern Wish is the third song from the album Melville which recently charted at number 38 in Bob Mersereau’s book The Top 100 Canadian Albums. Back in 2000 it ranked number 5 in Chart Magazine’s top 50 Canadian Albums. It isn’t my favorite Rheostatics song, although it ranks pretty high on my list. I think just referencing it makes me feel proud to be from Canada for some reason.
One of the sites I run is rheostaticslive.com. It is a band sanctioned archive of live Rheostatics shows, videos, photos etc. There are other sites as well that I run. They all kind of look the same. It is easier for me to maintain them that way. They idea of them all at the beginning was really just a glorified FTP site so I wasn’t too concerned about creating beautiful websites. Content is the key for me.
So how did it all start?
My taste in music has always been eclectic, ranging from Progressive Rock bands like Yes, Genesis and Marillion to the New Wave sounds of Men Without Hats, New Musik and Spoons.
About 2 years ago (2005) I emailed Ricky Brennan from the band Wheat about setting up an archive site for live shows. To my surprise the band was OK with the idea and I set up the first site thiswheat.com. At the end of 2005 I emailed Gord Deppe about setting up a Spoons site. I was always a fan of Spoons and was amazed that for a band that had so many big songs, there was only 1 site on the web which was known as Carolyn’s Spoons Tribute Page. It wasn’t really being maintained so I emailed Gord Deppe about setting up a Spoons site that would have music, videos, photos etc. He was cool with the idea and that led to Site Number 2 - The Spoons Music and Video Archive. I then followed that site with Rheostatics Live and The Unofficial Bourbon Tabernacle Choir Site. In 2006 I noticed that Jonathan Moyes had posted some Thomas Trio And The Red Albino footage on youtube from a show they did with The Bourbons in 1992 in Nova Scotia. I offered to host the videos and from there, along with material from him, Stephen Legge, Todd Sauvé, Colin Squires and myself, The Official Thomas Trio And The Red Albino site was born.
Following the last Rheosatics show at Massey Hall on March 30 2007 I set up Good Gone Dead, an archive and memorial to the last show by the best band ever to come out of Canada.
Next came my big idea for a website: The Canadian Music Forum. I’ve been working on it for quite a while. One day it will be done. As of today I have finished the letter “A”. The forum is all set up and ready for action. It is a massive forum of mini forums dedicated to hundreds of Canadian Bands. The site is to mirror the forum’s band list to provide a snapshot of online sites related to each band. Jam Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Myspace, Official sites, fan sites, places to buy their music etc.
Finally there is Fugitland, a site dedicated to my band Tempus Fugit who I have played with on and off since 1987.
There you go, 8 sites in 2 years. Now I’m going to write about stuff I like. Music. Videos. Songs. Youtube. I don’t know, whatever comes to mind.
By the way, if you have any content for any of the sites I have just mentioned, email me at info@thecanadianmusicforum.com.
I’m Darrin
From your deep provincial eyes.
Speak up, for I am certain
That it’s no disguise.
‘Cause soldiers stopping traffic
Couldn’t keep these wheels at bay;
Their guns smoked, then the sun broke,
And we hauled away.
We’ll sail the big dominion.
This song is falling…And did you get my message
On the People’s Radio?
I wrote it in Alberta
Across the prairie spine.
And I’d rather jump the borders
That trail from east to west
And get the booking agent
To find another band.I built my rocket in a shed.
I’m going to launch it at the sun.
I’m going to launch it from my pad.
Oh, could I get this?
It’s my northern wish.
In a parliament of trees,
The ink will crack and dry all up,
But the compass will swing anyways.
And we don’t need mathematics
And we don’t need submarines
To tell how far that the land does go…
Till it hits the shore.
From your deep provincial eyes.
Speak out, for I am certain
This song is over.(Land ho!)