We watched the 1980 John Cassavetes film Gloria tonight on television (TV Ontario). I knew nothing about this one going in except that it starred Gena Rowlands and was written and directed by Cassavetes, who was her husband. It is quite an engaging film, and Gena Rowlands gave a terrific performance as a former mob moll who protects a child whose parents were gunned down by the same mob. I enjoyed the matter-of-fact style of this movie, not to mention the surprising shooting scenes. If you haven’t seen this film, it’s well worth watching if you get a chance.
I took the dogs over to the leash-free park at South Etobicoke Creek this afternoon. It was a little muddy in parts but it was possible to walk around the soft spots.
Memphis got a bunch of burrs tangled up in her tail.
The creek is still swollen up from all the rain we’ve had. It didn’t stop Memphis and Ellie Mae from splashing around in the water.
I know it was only the other day I posted some fiddle music, but I’ve been revisiting some old time Canadian fiddle music on the YouTube machine, and if you don’t mind I’m going to share a little bit more with you tonight. I think fiddle music is very special and in Canada we’re fortunate to not only have a fiddle tradition but to have a few distinctive fiddle styles. The other day I posted some Ward Allen tunes in the Ottawa Valley style. Here’s another Ottawa Valley fiddler, Reg Hill. Reg Hill was from Avonmore Ontario. He was a multi-instrumentalist but best known as one of Canada’s great fiddlers. In 1954 he joined Mac Beattie’s group, the Ottawa Valley Melodiers.
Here’s Reg Hill performing the Buck Fever Rag, one of his own compositions. This is from his solo record, Ottawa Valley Hoedown (1964) and the washboard player is none other than Mac Beattie.
On The Old Time Fiddler’s Dream, a Mac Beattie recording, Reg Hill plays tributes to Ward Allen, Don Messer and Winston (Scotty) Fitzgerald. I’ve posted this one before, but it’s so good I can’t resist posting it again.
This next tune is Mac Beattie’s tribute to Ward Allen. Reg Hill plays fiddle and bass.
So that’s it for our trip back in time to some of the best old time Ottawa Valley fiddle music.
The Maple Leaf Two-Step, from 1953, was Ottawa Valley fiddle great Ward Allen’s first recording, a 78 rpm record on Alvina. I started learning this one on triple row button accordion in between trick-or-treaters tonight, based on a score I stumbled upon on a fiddle site. I’m playing it in C and the fingering isn’t too difficult. In a couple spots I’m not sure if I really should be pushing or pulling air, but as I get my speed up with this tune, it should be obvious. I think it’s going to take some work to get the inflection just right too. This song is going to be a lot of fun to play, and I hope to learn to squeeze it out it pretty well, but my amateur button accordion playing will never approach Ward Allen’s fiddle.
Here is Ward Allen with The Maple Leaf Two-Step
Now let’s listen to the flip side of the record, the CNE Breakdown.
I hope where you are you didn’t suffer much storm damage. We had a lot of wind but no damage here at Headquarters. Tuffy says a tree came down last night on a nearby street. Here though, the wind huffed and it puffed and it huffed and it puffed but it couldn’t blow the door down. There was plenty of rain too but in our area of Toronto there was little if any flooding. On my way home from work yesterday, I saw some traffic lights that had partially blown down. It delayed traffic but nobody was hurt.
To those who were not so fortunate, my thoughts are with you. I hope you can get everything cleaned up and fixed up quickly. I know some people in NJ and NY lost pretty much everything.
I recently posted some mining songs. Let’s continuing the theme of work with some tunes about log driving. Most of you will know that log driving is the process of running logs down a river to transport them from the woods to the mill. It was a very dangerous job because log drivers would have to balance out on the logs and use big poles and hooks to free up the jams. If you were not quick enough on your feet or just not lucky that day, you could be swept under or crushed by the jam. It was also a practice that was very nasty to the environment, but none-the-less it is a part of our cultural history. There are some excellent songs about log driving. I may have shared some of these with you before in a different context but they’re just so good I know you’ll forgive me for posting a couple of them again.
The Badger Drive is a Newfoundland tune about a log drive from Badger Newfoundland. Here’s a version of the tune by Dermot O’Reilly
Now I’d like to feature a Mac Beattie tune called the Log Driver’s Song. There is a fantastic recorded version of this tune by Mr. Beattie which I can’t find just now. However, there is also a great version performed by Charlie Gardner on the YouTube machine that I like tremendously as well.
I love that chorus…yo hip hip ho keep the logs on the go keep them rollin and twistin and send the spray high…yo hip hip ho through the rapids below where the Ottawa River flows by.
If I could only take a dozen recordings to a desert island, this next tune would be among them. It was written by Wade Hemsworth, who has written some of the best songs I’ve ever heard anywhere, and it was performed here by Kate and Anna McGarrigle. If you’re a Canadian of my generation, you grew up with this song on the National Film Board vignette contained in this video. It’s simply embedded in your genetic code. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Hemsworth’s tunes, enjoy.
Here’s a video all about Log Driving
Finally, I’ll wish you good night with a choral version of the Log Driver’s Waltz.
Lowside of the Road is an unauthorized biography of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns, published in 2009. I’m going to come clean and say upfront that I haven’t read many biographies I really loved and I don’t read that many biographies period. I really liked the Patty Smith book, Just Kids, and although I’m no Rolling Stones fan, I thought Keith Richards’ book Life was excellent. Tuffy P read this one and while she didn’t recommend it without reservation, she said it was well worth reading. We both have been listening to Tom Waits’ music for many years and the draw here for us was to simply learn a little about the man behind the music.
Part of the problem Hoskyns had in attempting an unauthorized biography of Waits is simply that Waits has made an effort to lead a private live, in particular over the past three decades. Work life and family life are separate, although Waits’ wife Kathleen Brennon is certainly a partner in their music-making and their son Casey is also a musician. At the end of the book, Hoskyns published a series of emails from people who chose to respect the Waits’ family privacy rather than talk to the biographer.
The first half of the book was far and away more interesting than the second half. I’ll admit I was curious about how Waits got started about how he developed the early beat-hobo-drunk routine. I was curious about Chuck E Weiss and about Ricky Lee Jones, and I was curious about what the heck Waits was doing opening for Zappa and company to audiences that had no interest in his music. And so now I know, and it’s all interesting enough. More interesting than all that is Waits’ music, music which stands on its own feet very well. As a music fan, I’m interested in who played on the albums and all that business but the book didn’t tell me anything about the music that the music didn’t tell me better.
I’d say if you dig the music and you just need to know, the book is pretty good, particularly the first half. That’s curious, since I think Waits’ music has grown increasingly interesting over the years. While I liked Ol’ 55 and many of the other early songs, Waits’ musical growth has been spectacular.
They didn’t eat the steak and eggs. There was a scene in Looper in which the two protagonists, who are the same person but not the same actor (it’s a time travel thing), sit down together at an unlikely diner seemingly in the middle of nowhere. They both order steak and eggs. The waitress brings the steak and eggs. There’s a nice overhead shot of the steak and eggs. And then they don’t bother to eat them. That’s just not right.
Looper is a sci-fi time-travel shoot-em-up Bruce Willis actioner with a hint of bad horror flick (yes Mr. Willis even does the tiresome smirk). There are a few problems, such as writing, acting, characterization, and believability. In a generous mood, I might call Looper an “OK timewaster”. And yet, this film gets 93% on the tomatometer. You go figure. Richard Roper wrote: “Writer-director Rian Johnson establishes himself as an original talent who clearly believes storytelling must prevail.” Clint O’Connor from the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote: “Looper’s super. An action-thriller that bothers to have a brain.” John Wirt from the Baton Rouge Advocate wrote: “A just about brilliant sci-fi crime-drama-thriller mostly set in the years 2044 and 2074. Rian Johnson is a rare director who creates entertainment with depth.” There are lots more. You can take their word for it or you can take mine.
Fortunately there are plenty of other good films at your local cinema to enjoy.
By the way, in the future of this film, they have the technology to drive around in vehicles that resemble motor-bikes but have no wheel and instead fly, like something out of the Jetsons. They also have Ford F150s.
27th Street 