Kissing Alma Mater
Wilderness is that capacity of all things to elude the mind’s appropriations.
D. McKay

That’s some cool shit, eh? Not unlike

the sunny revelations of an afternoon’s worth
of good reefer, a mouthful

of whispy words and a Kilimanjaro look
in an eye, it has

just enough gravity to keep itself on the page and physic its
way into the way
you see the world. Man

that stuff blows my mind.

But here’s where we part ways, my scholar
and mentor and
closer friend than you know. You’ve
carried me a long
time, but I’ve seen enough of the landscape
from the back of your
metaphoric
pick up. So, I’m hitting the blacktop, thanks

for the lift Don, I hope
the birds keep you well and the Leafs
win the cup.

The daily practices of mindfulness and compassion are far easier to spout on about than actually accomplish. In recent months, these seemingly simple things have awakened demons (namely Guilt and Anger), brought about radical questioning into things that I had always considered to be rock solid (the work I do, the attitudes I hold), and have made it virtually impossible to take for granted all of the many things I just considered to be part-and-parcel of being me... Waking up, it seems, in metaphor certainly as much as in tangible reality, is far harder than going to sleep.

I am focussed on this path though, take it one step at a time, and look for guidance wherever it comes from.

It's in 1980. What the hell do I know? I'm like 10 years old, but in a short 4 years my world will be transformed by the glorious rips and chords of punk rock. Like a train waiting for collision, Ian Mackaye is in Washington DC preparing to make history.

As a recent article in Exclaim ! says:

"The last Teen Idles show takes place in November at the new 9:30 Club, with management heeding the band’s wish to allow X-marked minors inside; X-marked hands eventually become the key signifier of straight edge punk. After the show, Nelson and MacKaye resolve that their new band will be called Minor Threat but, along with Groff, re-visit their old band’s recent recording session. Using the Teen Idles’ savings ($600), MacKaye, Nelson, and Strejcek press and self-assemble 1000 copies of the Idles’ Minor Disturbance E.P. seven-inch on their own label in December, which MacKaye dubs Dischord Records. (“The Teen Idles,” Putting DC on the Map, Dischord Records, p.16) Minor Threat play their first show at a house party opening up for Bad Brains in December and, miles ahead of the ramshackle Teen Idles, they floor everyone with their prowess and intensity with a sound soon dubbed “harDCore.”

Ready, the Straight Edge scene and the Hardcore scene strat together. You see, it's not a Joe-Dick-let's-all-get-wacked-and-blow-our-brains-out, and neither is it the-only-way-is-the-violence-way... Punk is non-conformity. The Anarchy symbol doesn't stand for punk rock, punk is that 'A'... preaching means nothing.

DIY now and forever. Do it different-like.

***

Maybe I'll just put this here... who's to say what could happen.

It's in 1980. What the hell do I know? I'm like 10 years old, but in a short 4 years my world will be transformed by the glorious rips and chords of punk rock. Like a train waiting for collision, Ian Mackaye is in Washington DC preparing to make history.

As a recent article in Exclaim ! says:

"The last Teen Idles show takes place in November at the new 9:30 Club, with management heeding the band’s wish to allow X-marked minors inside; X-marked hands eventually become the key signifier of straight edge punk. After the show, Nelson and MacKaye resolve that their new band will be called Minor Threat but, along with Groff, re-visit their old band’s recent recording session. Using the Teen Idles’ savings ($600), MacKaye, Nelson, and Strejcek press and self-assemble 1000 copies of the Idles’ Minor Disturbance E.P. seven-inch on their own label in December, which MacKaye dubs Dischord Records. (“The Teen Idles,” Putting DC on the Map, Dischord Records, p.16) Minor Threat play their first show at a house party opening up for Bad Brains in December and, miles ahead of the ramshackle Teen Idles, they floor everyone with their prowess and intensity with a sound soon dubbed “harDCore.”

Ready, the Straight Edge scene and the Hardcore scene strat together. You see, it's not a Joe-Dick-let's-all-get-wacked-and-blow-our-brains-out, and neither is it the-only-way-is-the-violence-way... Punk is non-conformity. The Anarchy symbol doesn't stand for punk rock, punk is that 'A'... preaching means nothing.

DIY now and forever. Do it different-like.

***

Maybe I'll just put this here... who's to say what could happen.

GOOD
GONE
DEAD

Our days are filled with the bitter and the sweet, with moments lost and those forever instilled - and still, I can hardly believe what it was that I witnessed over two days in Toronto. The Rheostatics, after all those miles and years and litres and goals of music... just stopped. The last note sounded and then faded away. The people smiled inside and some wept openly and all of us were left milling on the street outside Massey Hall and couldn't believe that it was over.

Where does it go? What will we do?

It went nowhere and everywhere of course, and we will continue on, perhaps even richer for the experience.

My wife and I sat in silence afterwards, wondering outloud at the perfection of it all. Of how they could muster all that strength. Of how the glowed and shone as only falling stars can. Of how even laryngitis couldn't hold back the final, long, bitter sweet note.

We are the winter. It feels good to be alive.

BLACK TOP MOTORCYCLE GANG hits the pavement hard!

The satisfaction of starting something new can only be surpassed by actually accomplishing something with it -- and in under a week, we seem to have done both...

FredROCKton is filled to the gunnels with crazed people and their equally crazy plots. From Sir Charles GodDamn Roberts &c., up to and through the middle century antics of the street trolling stock car racers, and into the punk and jazz infused late 20th century, this place has always been a hotbed for the weird and wonderul, the exiled, the lunatic. (Remember everyone -- where nothing happens, anything is possible... don't forget, DTK records started here, the UNB Art Centre has pumped out shows on everything frojm the Holocaust to grafitti and tattoos, the creative writing department here is the oldest in Canada, Eric Hill lives here and Walter the Farting dog passed his gas on our hallowed streets...)

The BalckTop MotorCycle Gang, our quiet city's latest collective is set to squeel forth and lay down the rubber on the main drags. Watch out for us at art openings, and local coffee houses, birthday parties, weddings, and any open green space we can find.

You know them all.
You love them all.
Now feel the power of the Spoken Word...

Jeannine Gallant
Matte Robinson
WhiteFeather
John Heinstein
Biff Mitchell
Eric Hill and here
Old Skull

Strange how sometimes it takes so long to discover something -- how, for some reason, it just slips you by.

Well, regardless of all that time that I spent in the mosh pit in the mid 80's, and despite how much and how long I have loved and lived for punk rock, Tim Armstrong and Rancid have just entered my life -- and how very happy I am to have them here...

That combination of early style Clash/ east cost hardcore/ west coast growl is, well, music to my ears. A beautiful swirl of angst and anger and fun and love and hate and authenticity...



And speaking of happy accidents, these are the Weakerthans. Comparable to discovering Marilyn Manson and White Zombie when Rage Against the Machine broke up, it is a serendipitous moment that I should fall for these fine Winnipegian songsters just as the Rheostatics prepare to play their final gigs (at Masey Hall and the Horeshoe Tavern next week -- a moment in Canadian music history which I will be in attendance/ awe of and will report back to you directly)...

Never forget -- the world is BIG (really, REALLY BIG) and music is everywhere -- even in places where you figured you'd flipped all them rocks... As a matter of fact, if you still think you know it all, and just can't find anything new worth listening to, check THIS out.

Over and out,
A.

Watch it and weep...

One more time Sportsracers.