Your Best Friend hates poetry

Travel by Your Best Friend

As my legs grew longer, the city became smaller.
The world became smaller as my wallet got fatter.
And as my wallet grew fatter, so did my legs.

CUFF THE DUKE

I recommend beginning to listen to the first video while reading. The images aren't important and there are no lyrics for a couple minutes.

To pull the goalie? To usurp the throne? I'm sure one could also come up with some more sordid theories as to the meaning of the name 'Cuff the Duke,' but what it means to me is consistently impressive, underrated music.

Their folky sound is often categorized as 'indie rock' or 'alt-country' but I deem it too rural for rock and too good for country. They have released three great albums, earning the respect of their influences such as Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor. After touring as Hayden's backing band last fall, they spent the first part of the winter recording 14 new songs on Keelor's farm. They played a few of these songs live for the first time last Thursday during an unadvertised show at The Dakota Tavern. First impressions tell me that the new album will be a welcomed addition to their quality catalogue and the intimate setting was an ideal way to debut them. Keelor was even there to provide backing vocals on one song.

With only two original members remaining, it's hard not to give most of the band's credit to singer/ songwriter Wayne Petti. His 2007 solo album 'City Lights Align' plays just as well as the Duke records, though it lacks the full, layered sound that comes with the variety of instruments the band incorporates. It still baffles me that jokes like Nickleback experience international fame while truly great Canadian songwriters remain in near obscurity and work part time jobs.

Though I thoroughly enjoyed last Thursday's set list, old and new songs alike, two of my favourite songs I was confident would be played were neglected. 'Ballad of a Lonely Construction Worker' and 'Confessions from a Parkdale Basement' from the first and third albums respectively, are extremely complimentary in their reversed structures. Whereas 'Construction Worker' begins with a long instrumental introduction, 'Parkdale Basement' begins with a steady stream of lyrics before Petti is joined by the rest of the band for the instrumental finish. Both of these songs are built from two clearly distinct halves (the change occurs at almost exactly the halfway point in each track), and do away with the traditional 'verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus' format by replacing it with something much fresher.

Here is a fan video of 'Ballad of a Lonely Construction' so you can hear what I'm talking about.

The album version of 'Confessions from a Parkdale Basement' was not on youtube, so I posted this. At first I was just going to use a few pics of the band as the image, but I got a little carried away. You'll notice a picture of the aforementioned Dakota Tavern, which is in fact a basement on the outskirts of Parkdale, and the cover of 'Sidelines of the City' the album on which the song is featured.



The new album won't be out until summer, but another chance to hear some of their new songs before then will be March 14 at Lee's Palace.

Cuff Links:

While they're not great at updating their websites (it was sheer luck that I heard about the Dakota show), you can find out more about the band at their myspace and official website.

Also worth checking out is Wayne Petti's myspace. The Wiki article on the band which gives a good breakdown of the various members to pass through the group.

Rich Aucoin has provided occasional accompaniment to the band, his Brother Paul has produced their last two records. Rich is also an old friend of your best friends' best friend (confused yet?), and a very talented musician himself.

What's he hiding?

Watch it. Watch it again. Then try not to watch it a third time. No wonder this thing has almost 10 million views.

Welsh Psycho?

Yesterday an audio clip was brought to my attention that has been popping up all over the internet recently. It's about four minutes of Christian Bale administering a verbal beating to the 'Terminator Salvation' director of photography Shane Hurlbut for adjusting lights during a take last July. Listen to the clip below to hear a conniption fit that makes Bill O'Reilly sound mild mannered.

Sure, being distracted from your work can be bothersome, but I couldn't help but hypothesize other reasons for this outburst of Hamlet proportioned humors. Here's what I came up with:

1. After beginning his career with Steven Spielberg and having the more than respectable Christopher Nolan as his most frequent recent collaborator, he was working for McG, whose most notable accomplishments are the Charlie's Angels films and getting away with being called 'McG.' (this hard-nosed director can be heard in the clip controlling the situation with contributions like "I didn't see it" and "fair enough")

2. He was working on a dying franchise while promoting his starring role in the biggest franchise alive right now.

3. He's playing a character made famous by Edward Furlong.

4. In recent years, the actor has put his body through drastic treatment for his roles. Most famously losing over 60 pounds to play 'The Machinest' in 2004 before bulking up for the first Batman film, and again shedding all his muscle to play a POW in 'Rescue Dawn' before becoming Batman for the second time. This physical yo-yoing must take its mental toll as well.

5. In Bale's defense, the assistant director and associate producer Bruce Franklin (presumably the same Bruce Bale tells to "shut the fuck up" during his rant) has said "It was the most emotional scene in the movie. And for him to get stopped in the middle of it - he is very intensely involved in his character." Clearly he mistook the director of photography as a T-800 machine with no feelings.

6. His mother and his sister were currently pressing charges against Bale for verbal assault. Though I see how this could be upsetting, lashing out in front of tons of recording equipment was probably not the best way to deal with those woes.

7. Actors are generally emotional people, it's part of the job. I can never see myself getting this outwardly angry at someone, but I also can't summon all those other emotions on demand the way a talent like Christian Bale can. To do what he does, you need to be passionate, and being passionate will lead to the occasional freak-out.

8. Perhaps he was inspired by the Apatow bunch, and it's all an elaborate ruse. If so, man that guy can fuckin' act!

9. Not to get all sentimental, but as I already mentioned, this was apparently recorded in the same week 'The Dark Knight' was released, an occasion that was supposed to be shared with co-star Heath Ledger. The performance was garnering (and obviously continues to) much acclaim, and his friend wasn't around to reap the benefits of his hard work. This couldn't have been far from his mind.

10. Maybe Bale is just a prick.

Seriously though, Christian Bale has been one of my favourite actors for years, I'm glad his career has taken off and it's too bad stuff like this has to taint our image of him (though I will watch video of this if it ever surfaces). I thought he was a great choice for Batman because I believe that he comes closest to matching the tunnel vision and commitment it would actually take for Bruce Wayne to make his transition. Ever since his first film role at 13 in Spielberg's 'Empire of the Sun' his skills as an actor have been praised, and he's continued with multiple breakthrough performances such as his brilliant turn as 'American Psycho' Patrick Bateman. Along with Jeffery Wright, they completely stole the film as the baddies in 'Shaft' (underrated movie). All this to say, it's no wonder the guy has an ego, takes his work seriously and suffers the occasional emotional flare-up. I don't know what David O. Russel's excuse is.

Joe Canadian

Last Wednesday night, during 'American Idol's commercial break, a TV spot for the new film 'He's Just Not That Into You' aired that contained a very quick 'Beaver shot' so to speak. If you blinked, you may have missed it. A day later, I went to the Internet to find out if I really saw what I thought I saw. The TV spot was nowhere to be found on youtube, only the movie's official trailer, sans Beaver. Interesting? Not really. What I actually thought I saw in the TV spot amidst faces belonging to Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connolly, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Justin Long and many others was a familiar Canadian face. An actor that I recognized from a lot of commercials as well a short lived sketch comedy show from a few years back. I wanted to figure out if I was right, since it's kind of a big deal to see a local guy that used to get by on commercials in with such a big Hollywood cast, but I had no clue what his name was. The Internet Movie Database has a cast list of about 80 members for this film, over ¾ of which have careers important enough to warrant headshots. I hadn't seen the film, I had no idea what the character's name was or how big of a role he even plays, not that it matters as there's no order to the long list anyway (the bit parts are all listed first with the stars all grouped near the bottom). Plus I didn't even remember the name of the sketch comedy show he was on, and commercial credits are not listed on IMDb. Since I didn't know what I was looking for, I was about to deem the task hopeless and certainly not worthy of the time I had already spent on it. But just before reaching the point of defeat, I thought to myself “I could look for a Canadian- sounding name” whatever that is. I kid you not, less than 2 seconds later my eyes landed on 'Mike Beaver.... Cousin Jay.' I clicked on it and sure enough it was him.

Born in Saint Catherines, Ontario, this Ryerson theatre school alum has actually done a lot more than I had previously given him credit for. He's written two films with Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones. 'Ham and Cheese' in 2004 and 'Cooper's Camera' in 2008. These films also featured Beaver in co-starring roles along with Jones, his fellow Daily show correspondent/ wife Samantha Bee, and David Foley rounding out the Canadian club, probably with a glass of it in his hand most of the time. Beaver can also be seen in 19 episodes of 'Billable Hours' and was a co-founder of the sketch comedy group 'The Bobroom' (IMDb calls this group 'famed' but I found their television show easily forgettable). Okay, so Beaver has popped up in more than just a couple commercials, but it looks like this new film is his first role in something that wasn't shot in Toronto. Even though I've never seen most of his work, he was memorable enough for me to want to find out more about his career. Needless to say, I would have never figured who he was if it weren't for the name association. I hope Mike Beaver's "Northern star" continues to rise with this new movie that I will never see. I will try to see those Canadian films he wrote though.

He loves Japan

This video was brought to my attention by my friend Bobbo's blog, one that inspired me to start my own. I probably won't be posting for a couple days, so check out this awesome video, and many others at Action and Action.

Killer set list

While 'Killshot' may not have been playing in Toronto last Friday, The Killers were and I was fortunate enough to catch that show. A lot of people dis this band for being too poppy and mainstream, but I think they deserve respect for writing good songs and putting on a damn good live show. I couldn't stand 'Somebody Told Me' when it first hit the airwaves, but I fell in love with their second single 'Mr. Brightside' when I saw them perform it on SNL, and then seeing them perform 'When You Were Young' at the Brit Awards in 2007 really sold me on the band. Of course that song was from the much acclaimed second record 'Sam's Town' which still stands out as their best.

The only advantage to going to big arena shows like this one are the efforts and money put towards complimenting the music with light shows and pyrotechnics. These were impressive additions, but made me wish I was closer and higher. The highlight of the show was probably 'Mr. Brightside' as there's something about the drive of that song that works so well in a live performance. Brandon Flowers has to have one of the best concert voices I've ever heard. You could really appreciate it on the slower songs like 'A Dustland Fairytale.' They opened with their new single 'Spaceman' which they're currently promoting with this video:

Pretty excessive stuff. I guess part of reaching this level of rock stardom is having the flamboyancy and ego that Flowers seems to have in spades. It seems the band has re-invented themselves with each album thus far, but like I said, these often excessive, sometimes gimmicky personas are what's expected of our rock stars. It's all part and parcel with the design heavy arena shows where people pay hundreds of dollars and want to see something larger than life. This is why I find it hard to picture a group like the Sam Roberts band, who really don't seem as image conscious, doing arena shows, even though they had to add an extra night to their three at The Music Hall last November.

Though it would have been cool to hear a few songs from their b-side compilation 'Sawdust,' the new album-heavy set list combined with the singles of their first two still made for a pretty satisfying concert experience. Here's the full set list:

1. Spaceman

2. Losing Touch

3. Smile Like You Mean It

4. This Is Your Life

5. Joy Ride

6. I Can't Stay

7. Bling (confessions of a king)

8. Bones

9. A Dustland Fairytale

10. Neon Tiget

11. Human

12. Sam's Town

13. Read My Mind

14. Mr. Brightside

15. All These Things That I've Done

Encore:

16. For Reasons Unknown

17. Shadowplay

18. Jenny Was A Friend of Mine

19. When You Were Young

The Killers have earned their place among the many memorable shows I've attended in the last twelve months. Hopefully soon to join those ranks will be Ben Kweller (Feb. 22) and Bloc Party (March 14).