badlybent.ca

By Stevie Z

    Well, it’s that time of the year again: time for either myself or The Luverly Michelle™ to purchase something for ourselves.  Every year at Christmas we are ‘allowed’ to buy something worth more money then we would usually spend.  I don’t mean ‘allowed’ by each other, but more along the lines of it taking most of the year to save up the cash to purchase something that costs a little extra dough.  Each Christmas we buy each other a few smaller things, and then we alternate each year on whom gets the bonus ‘goodie’.

     Just to clarify - we’re not talking thousands of dollars here, last year I got an M-Audio MIDI controller keyboard, this year Michelle is getting a sewing machine.  These things generally amount to only a few hundred bucks.

      Since this year is Michelle’s year to get ‘The Big One’, it’s my year to get smaller stuff.  I’m always easy to buy for as far as the category of gifts go - something music-related.  See? Easy.  Where it gets agonizing is trying to decide which subcategory I’m leaning towards.  I look at it as 2 choices.

     Creation Vs. Consumption.

     Since I’m also a songwriter, and am aspiring to be a producer/engineer to some degree as well, I’m always looking at acquiring the stuff I need to achieve my goal of creating great songs, whether writing and playing my own, or helping someone else with theirs.

   While I know some people have a bad case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) wherein they’re always pining after (and buying!) the latest, greatest guitar/mic/software/effects, etc, I have a very concrete idea of what I want to achieve, and know what I need to get it.   I’ve never been a fan of newest/shiniest anyways, not when older/used/less expensive gets the job done. 

     At the other end of the equation sits Consumption.  By this I mean the act of listening to music that others have created, such as the latest Corb Lund album.   My MP3 player is an older Sansa SanDisk 8GB, and it’s starting to show it’s age.  When you think that I use it for an average of 4-5 hours per day for listening to podcasts and music in a not-so-healthy-for-electronics environment, I believe it’s held up amazingly well, and was a very good buy.  The only problems are, as I say, it’s getting older, and starting to act a little eccentric now and again, and also, for some reason nobody (including Sansa or Apple apparently) understands, my Mac won’t acknowledge the fact that it exists when I plug it in.  This means that I have to download music and podcasts to a memory stick, then use a windows (ick) based machine to transfer it to my MP3 Player.

     I know, I know.  I keep thinking it too: “Good lord you lazy bastard, 10 years ago the technology for this kind of portable music player wasn’t even within your grasp, and now you’re bitching because it takes you an extra 5 minutes to be able to perform the miracle of being able to hear whatever music you want, whenever you want!”  Yeah, it is kind of nit-picky.  And also, I feel really guilty whenever I think “man, I wish this thing was bigger then 8GB so I could have more music on it.”  I mean, seriously?  My first computer had, I believe, a 256k hard drive!  8GB is a lot of tunes.  I don’t really need an iPod….I mean, they’re neato, and shiny, and do lots of neat stuff, and if I spend enough on one (an iPod Touch, for example has music creation apps available for it) then I can kind of  bridge the gap between creation and consumption.  But we’re talking $400 plus, and I can’t really justify that, not even to myself, never mind Michelle.  Actually, Michelle is a lot more easy-going about that kind of thing. 

   So to help me decide, I asked myself the following question:

    Do I want the ability to be able to listen to Peter Judd’s songs wherever and whenever I want to, which I can already do, but make it slightly easier, or do I want the ability to help amazing songwriters like a Peter Judd or a Robbie Hancock get their songs out so other people can hear them?

     Feedback from other people who share this dilemma is welcome…..

    Stevie Z

(Photo by  Gurumustuk Singh)

….so there I was at Eastside Mario’s in Cambridge last night.  I highly recommend the joint - great food, great atmosphere and fantastic service, which is quite often hard to find in a chain restaurant.

I’m on the patio watching Robbie Hancock and Dennis Napper performing (by the way, these two guys play very well, both together and in their other respective combos) and enjoying a pint of my favourite chilled, hop and barley flavoured beverage, when he appeared.

I don’t know his name, so I’ll call him Chicken Wing Face.  It’s appropriate, trust me.  He got up from his table, where he was sitting with his buddies, and swaggers-slash-staggers up to the ’stage’, waving a half-consumed chicken wing bone  over his head, sauce dripping.  From his nose to his chin, and pretty much almost ear to ear he had chicken wing sauce smeared everywhere.  Not sure the flavour, and I wasn’t going to ask him….or lick his face to find out.  He looks back at his friends, convinced that they should be impressed cuz he’s got the  ‘mojo’ and the ‘moxy’ to actually speak to the performers.

Then, with an air of a dictator decreeing the new law of the land, he suggests that the band should play ’some ZZ Top’.

Now, before I continue, bear in mind that this is a singer/songwriter duo with acoustic guitars, on a restaurant patio.

“Sorry, no, we don’t know any ZZ Top.” says one of the performers apologetically.

Looking like a child whom had just had someone pee on his puppy, Chicken Wing Face makes his way back to his table, head down, partial chicken wing held dejectedly at his side.

And people wonder why I don’t like to go out in public that often.  I won’t be able to eat chicken wings for 2 months now thanks to him.  Unless, of course, somebody offers me one.    Mmmmmm……chicken wings……and ZZ Top…..

Stevie Z

I had one of those “aha” moments the other day.  No, not that A-Ha, the Swedish band from the 80’s.   Although come to think of it I was singing Take on Me last week too.  Wow, 1 sentence in and I’m already off-topic….that’s a new record, even for me.

As I was saying, a deep, profound thought occurred to me as I was being cut off in traffic be some asshat in a Mercedes who was obviously more important then I am.  Actually, two thoughts occurred to me, but I won’t print the first one, instead I’ll enlighten you on the second.  That thought was this: we could solve almost every single problem in the world if we all acted like everyone else on this planet was as important to us as we are to ourselves.

Or, as Bill and Ted said “Be excellent to each other.”

Makes sense, don’t it?  I mean, think about it, there probably isn’t a problem we couldn’t solve if we started putting others before ourselves.  Let’s take a look at a few examples:

•     World Peace - That’s kind of a duh.  We sure wouldn’t want to invade other countries and shoot people if we valued their lives more then our own.  And religious persecution and wars would halt immediately because we’d all just realize that you can have your God, I can have my God, and hey, what do you know, pretty much every God says we should all just get along and treat our fellow humans with respect.  Go figure.  People wouldn’t be persecuted for being gay, for being a different colour, etc.  We’d all just look at each other and say “cool, you like to do that, I like to do this.” This of course does not include fans of the “Twilight” vampire movie.  They will always continue to suck

•     Greed - One of the main reasons that the “hands of the have-nots keep on falling out of reach” to quote Gordon Lightfoot, is that you’re trying to get yours, and I’m trying to get mine.  There aren’t many people on earth who couldn’t give up something to help someone less fortunate.  And if we all cared more about other people, it would be a lot easier to put the systems in place so that what was needed got to where it was needed without involving massive corporations, charities, etc.  And corporations would stop making ‘getting your money’ their number 1 priority.

•    World Hunger - See above.  As I mentioned, if we all just gave a certain percentage where it was really needed, people could be fed.  And since a lot of hunger is caused by things like abject poverty, wars, and greed, then yeah, it could be fixed as well.

•    Disease - This one is both tricky and easy.  If I were a better writer I would sure as hell come up with a better way to say that, but here’s what I’m saying:  Do you know what kills more children in the world every year then anything?  Diarrhea.   Yup, good ole-fashioned diarrhea.  Children drink water that isn’t clean, it gives them diarrhea, and they get it so bad, and for so long, that they die of dehydration and malnutrition.   And it isn’t even that we have to purify the entire world’s water either, although that’d be a good idea too.  There are re-hydrating tablets available that can both help stop the diarrhea AND rehydrate the cells of the person.  They’re literally pennies a tablet.  PJ O’Rourke once looked into this very issue, and concluded that nobody gave a shit (pun intended) because it’s not a ‘glamorous’ cause, like AIDS or breast cancer.   He figured that to raise public awareness we should all wear brown ribbons and go with the slogan “Diarrhea, it can be contained”.  You should read him, he’s brilliant.  Oh, and while we’re on the subject - hey breast cancer marketing people, wanna lay off for a bit? Thanks.  There are a lot of other types of cancer that are out there too, all of em horrible and terrible, but all we hear about is breast cancer.  I should hire those P.R. people to work for me.  Which reminds me - you all know what a huge fan of irony I am, well, apparently there’s a company out there, I’m thinking it’s TFal for some reason, but I could be wrong, that’s selling Pink Frying Pans, with the proceeds going to breast cancer research.  Funny thing is, they’re Teflon coated pans……and Teflon is being researched as a possible cause of….drum roll please….CANCER.  Insert heavy sigh here…..

• The Environment/Climate Change - Look, we can all debate whether or not we humans are destroying Earth until, well, until the Planet dies, but let’s look at a couple of important things.  Firstly, if you look at most of the studies that are saying that humans are not responsible for climate change, you’ll find that they’re funded by interests that pollute.  They have a vested interest.  I don’t trust vested interests.  Hell, I don’t even trust people in vests.  Or ascots, the most unfortunately named piece of attire ever.  Say this out loud “hey, look everyone, I have my ascot around my neck!”  See?  In the interest of complete disclosure I’ll give you my view.  I think that part of what’s going on is a natural cycle.  Since we humans only live for about 80-90 years or so, if we’re lucky,  we tend to forget that the universe and nature can work in cycles of, say a million years.  It’s hard for us to comprehend because we as people think that we’re the centre of the universe, and that things started, and will stop with us.  Having said that, however, I also think that whatever natural cycles are taking place, human beings are also trying their damnedest to destroy the planet too.  How can even the most anti-climate change person in the world argue that cutting down areas of Rain Forest the size of Simon Cowell’s ego can be good for the planet?  Besides making Iceberg Vodka, what good are the polar ice caps melting?  Please tell me the advantage of forcing species after species of animals into extinction.  Cancer, asthma, etc.  rates are through the roof, and you can’t site there and tell me that at least some of that has to do with what we breathe and eat?  If you can seriously tell me that you honestly believe all that, then…well…..I don’t even know what to say to you.   “But Steve, what the hell does this have to do with putting others first?”  Well, it also relates to greed as well - people just have to have more money, and more stuff.  To do that, corporations just have to post as huge a profit as possible, almost to the complete exclusion of consequences, as long as they don’t break the law.  “Hey, this new manufacturing process that we have uses asbestos, UFA, arsenic, and Thalidomide, but it’ll raise our dividend an extra 4 cents per share” Most people don’t need a big huge SUV, but dammit I can afford it, so screw the rest of you.

• Stress - Most stress is caused by other people.  Traffic stress, job stress, etc.  People put stress on us because they are stressed out.  Assclown in the Mercedes that cut me off is under stress because he obviously has to get where he’s going in a hurry, so instead of driving with consideration, he drives like a maniac, not caring whom he cuts off.  Deadlines are caused by someone not having enough consideration for people to make sure that there is enough time to get things done properly, and without freaking out.

Okay, there you go - in one fell swoop I’ve solved everything.  All before lunch.  I’m kidding, obviously,  knowing is sometimes less then half the battle.  But if we don’t as a species, start thinking more about our fellow person, then we’re hooped.  Oh, just so anyone doesn’t sit there thinking “Gee, I wish we could all be perfect like Mr. Stevie Z here” then you’re way off.  I’m part of the problem.  The difference between me and some people, I think though, is that I recognize that I’m part of the problem, and am trying to fix it.   I said trying.  It’s not easy.  The fact that we live in a society that almost forces people to put themselves first doesn’t help.

So, what do we do?  Well, try this: every day, do one or two things that put other people first.  Even small things.  Let that guy in front of you who’s trying to turn out of that parking lot onto a busy street.  Give something to a food bank, or better yet, give some time to a food bank.  It’s really really easy, honest.  If everyone did that, there’d be 10 billion really, really nice things happening every day.  Wow, that’d be cool.

Stevie Z

Quick confession:  a lot of things have been getting me down over the past few months.  Don’t worry, I am going somewhere with this.  Everything from the ‘house renovation blues’ to my computer woes to the ‘issues with the misses’ to my complete and total musical block have really been taking their toll.  The real reason I think that things were getting to me, however, was that I forgot a key thing: PMA.

PMA stands for “Positive Mental Attitude” and it’s often the difference between being happy or miserable.  Someone famous once said something along the lines of “it’s not what happens to you in life, it’s how you deal with it”.  I’m not sure whether it was Ghandi, or maybe Mr. Hooper from Sesame Street.  Regardless, it’s the kind of thing that bears repeating:

“It’s not what happens to you in life, it’s how you deal with it”.

I’m not talking about walking around with a drooley smile on your face, ignoring the iceberg that you’re bearing down full speed on and simply ‘pretending’ that everything’s peachy.  That would be stupid.  I’m talking about how, when something comes along that falls in the ‘bad’ side of life, you process it and deal with it.

I’ve learned better ways to deal with crap from two people, and I’m going to discuss the first person here.  He goes by the handle of “Scarborough Dude” and you can find his blog and podcast here. (One Caveat: the language can be strong, and the opinions can be as well)

On his podcast he discusses his life:  his past, his present, and sometimes, almost begrudgingly, his future.  The two most common themes, however, are honesty and looking at the positive side of things.  His journey seems to be one of discovering why stuff happens. One of his common phrases is “what does it mean?”  I’ve tried to incorporate more of the honesty (to both myself, and others) in my daily life, and my writings.

The other part - the looking on the positive side, has been slightly more difficult.  I have had a bit of a temper for most of my life, and an urge to be ‘on top’ of things, as well as a definite bad reaction when things don’t go the way I think they should.  As you can imagine, this is not the easy road to travel.   Being a Production Manager for many years helped hone my desperate need to always be in control of everything…at all times.

Let me give you an example:  The Scarborough Dude loses half of his year’s income in one email.  He is upset, as he should be, however since there is literally nothing he can do about it, he doesn’t have a complete freak out, and he deals with it appropriately.  I get stuck in traffic, adding an extra 20 minutes to my drive and I act like someone is sawing off my right foot and have a meltdown.  In short, I’m not dealing well with stuff. Especially the little, stupid stuff that doesn’t matter in the big picture.

But, I’m getting better.  I’m starting to (slowly) learn to let go of what I can’t control.  I can’t control the weather, I can’t control other people in traffic, I can’t control my guitar strings breaking, I can’t control rude jackasses in bars braying loudly their idiot sentiments and pointless opinions on stuff nobody cares about, all while someone is pouring their heart out in a song they wrote and….oops, there I go again.

I’ve actually found, when I get into situations that start my blood pressure soaring,  and get my dander up, asking myself “What would Scarborough Dude do?“  And then, if nothing else, I get a chuckle out of it, but ya know, I also find myself more and more often just talking myself down off of a ledge I shouldn’t have been on in the first place.

So do yourself a favour - head on over to The Scarborough Dude’s website, and have a listen to a few of his podcasts.  I recommend that you commit to 5 episodes.  It takes a few episodes to get used to his particular style, and leanings.  I’ll admit that the first time I listened to his show I thought he was a hippie-wacko-pinko-lunatic.   After calling myself a fan for over a year now…..well, I still think he’s a hippie-wacko-pinko-lunatic…but I also now mean that in an endearing sort of way, and I do believe I’ve learned a few things along the way.

So, thanks Dude.

Stevie Z

By Stevie Z

    I was speaking to a couple of artists last night, and as per the usual pleasantries and conversations we exchanged contact info with a look at doing some future projects together.  They both gave me MySpace info.  (Insert frustrated sigh here).

    It seems that most musicians and artists I meet are either completely oblivious to the importance of an online presence, know that ‘yeah, I knowI should do some online stuff at some point’, or just kinda dabble in ‘the usual’ IE MySpace, FaceBook, more recently Twitter, etc.

     I think that what most people miss is the fact that all the above-mentioned sites are great for connecting and promotion as well, but when you get right down to it, you control nothingwhen it comes to your image if your presence ends there.  MyBook and FaceSpace et al are all companies that could disappear tomorrow.  And if they did, so does your online world.  There have been cases where a band had a MySpace page, and MySpace decided for some reason that it violated their Terms of Service, and POOF, page is gone.  Any of those companies could shut you down for any reason they feel like, not to mention the company could just shut everything down without notice.  I know a lot of people who started building an online presence with mp3.com back in the day.  That went sideways and a lot of people were left with nothing online.

   Another thing to remember is this - all these free social media sites make money because they bring information to advertisers and other companies.  Why should you bring your fanbase to them?  Why give Facebook all your best:  songs, blog posts, photos, etc.  Same goes for YouTube.  Sure, you can post your stuff to YouTube, but then own your own domain where you can link to the video (thereby saving yourself the bandwidth) but have control over the context the videos live in.

   Also - comments.  A lot of these sites require people to be signed in to their service in order to comment on, or in some cases, sadly enough, even see your content.  What if I don’t want to be a member of Facebook - oops, can’t read your post unless I am….guess I’ll just move along….

   If you wrote it/took a photo of it/composed it/whatever, then you should own where and how it’s offered to the world.

    Bob Goyetche, podcasting and social media guru-type-guy once gave me some very sage advice over a beer at a conference called Podcasters Across Borders (check it out, it’s an amazing conference that takes place in Kingston, Ontario Canada every year in June).   I had asked him about this very type of thing - about the social media sites that everyone seems to flock to.  One of the best pieces of advice that Bob gave me was to get my own domain (hence the badlybent.ca website) because no matter what happens, as long as I pay for it, I’ll own it.  I can move it from provider to provider, from host to host, and that site, and any emails I attach TO it, will always be mine.

    So if you’re a band, or an artist, or have something to promote at all, one of the best possible things you can do for yourself or your career is to get yourself a domain.  Even www.yourname.com for example, is a great start, and then you can build from there.  That’s another great piece of advice that Bob gave me - have yourself as the ‘brand’ and then have all your projects branch out from there. 

    That’s all pretty damn good advice, and I think I should probably buy Bob a beer for it.  Of course, you can buy Bob a beer too, if you like.  I’m sure he (and his liver) would appreciate it…..

Stevie Z

   If you want some more info about getting your own domain, or host suggestions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at badlybentpub@yahoo.ca. 

By Stevie Z

I was hurtling down the 401 Highway this afternoon listening to my MP3 player.  Janis Joplin came on doing one of her best tunes: Mercedes Benz

It occurred to me that she wouldn’t have had a chance in hell to make it in the world today, in mainstream music.  Not even close.  She wasn’t blonde, she didn’t really dance, and didn’t have large breasts.  If someone like her (and I mean someone like her, not one of the cheap imitations running rampant today) showed up at an American Idol audition, she’d be driven off the set by Simon Cowell and his band of mule holes in seconds.

First, they’d mock her appearance.

Then, as soon as she spoke and they heard her voice, they make assinine comments about that too.

Finally, as soon as she started to belt out a tune (take the aforementioned Mercedes Benz for example) and poured her heart, soul and guts into it, she would have been met with derision.   None of what they do is about music or artistry, it’s all about making money, which is why it’s evil and needs to be kicked in the lovelies.

I’m using Ms. Joplin as an example, but seriously…..how many of the artists that we consider ground breaking and truly distinctive could even get a foot in the door in today’s “American/Canadian/Insert Country Here Idol” climate?  Bob Dylan? Bruce Spingsteen?  Willie Nelson?  John Hiatt?

The music ‘industry’ is dying day by day, and they can’t figure out why.  One of the myriad problems is that they’re not looking for the next talent to come along and change music, they’re looking for the next in a line of things we already have.  They’re looking for the next Britney Spears, or the next BackStreet Boys, or the next Justin Timberlake, or Pussycat Dolls.

And here’s the problem with that, jerkasses:

The demographic of the people that you’re trying to peddle this crap to is the same demographic that has no problem downloading music for free.   Par example - I buy every John Hiatt, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Springsteen, Fred Eaglesmith album that comes out.  Buy.  The CD.  I want a copy to put on my shelf.  Heck, I’d buy the albums and hang em on my wall if that were an option.  Let’s say by some miracle or fluke that Britney Spears ever did release a song that I enjoyed.  Would I buy it?  Most likely I’d just download it.  Or, I’d buy that one song on iTunes.  Of course, it’s a moo point because if Spears ever actually did perform something that I liked to listen too, I’d check the rearveiew mirror for locusts and horsemen because it would surely be one of the signs of the End Times, and pestilence sure probably wouldn’t be far behind.   I think that I maybe have purchased more CD’s in the last 6 months, come to think of it, then I have in the last couple of years.  Of course, several of those were from ‘indie’ artists who didn’t even have stuff in wide distribution.  Maybe that says everything about the music industry and where they still insist in heading.  Maybe it only says more about me.

All I know is, if Janis Joplin played in Kitchener this weekend, I’d buy her CD at the venue.   And get her to sign it.  And ask for a little kiss.   Come to think of it, I’d buy two copies of her Cd.  One for me, and one to show Mr. Cowell what an artist is.  He obviously has no idea.  And I’d probably ask for another kiss.  From Janis, not Simon…..

Stevie Z

By Stevie Z

I was cleaning up my hard drive the other day, and realized that I had several GBs of music on it.  All, of course, gained through legal and proper means.  I needed the space, however, so for the past week or so I’ve been going through the collection, literally song by song, and deleting those that I didn’t think I needed to hang on to.

Then I got to thinking:

If I want to hear the new album by, say John Hiatt, I just have to fire up Bit Torrent, and in a few minutes, poof, there it is.  It’s too easy.  There’s a truism out there that it’s hard to really appreciate anything you didn’t work for, at least a little.  This can be seen, for example, in the lifestyles of a lot of either the children of very wealthy parents, who were given anything and everything,  to a lot of people that I’ve seen on Welfare and/or Unemployment Insurance.  If it’s handed to you scott free, then there’s almost no way you can appreciate it as much as if you’ve really worked for something.   Of course there are exceptions to the rule - when I was 15 a neighbour gave me my 1967ish Fender Telecaster guitar, for free.  I love and appreciate that more then you could ever imagine.   The general rule, however, stands. And this will especially hold true for my home studio, when it finally comes together, because I have been waiting, and trying desperately to piece one together, for 23 years.

In order to bring this back around to my point, I’ll switch to another musical artist, Bela Fleck, banjo player extraordinaire.  I remember when I was about 20 or so driving in my car and listening to CBC radio (Canada’s Public Radio) and hearing a jazz instrumental which featured predominately a banjo and a harmonica.   It was one of those moments where I actually had to pull over and listen, pretty much staring at the car radio.  I was floored.  And transfixed.  At the end of the song, the announcer gave the artist, the track title and the name of the album.    I immediately started driving around town, trying to find a music store that had the CD.

Being as this was Thunder Bay, and being as it was a jazz banjo playing band, I couldn’t find it.  No one in town had it.  Not even the place to go at the time for odd and import stuff - St. James Stereo.  They could, however, order it for me, it would take about a week.  So, I paid the $29 and waited.  It was literally driving me nuts - I needed to hear that album.  I talked about it to everyone I knew, I thought about it a lot, and after 5 days started calling the poor folks at St. James Stereo every day.  It finally arrived on a Saturday, and I drove straight there.  I bought a portable CD player (the ones that were like the Sony Walkmans….I believe they were called Sony Discmans) and the Car Accessory Pack.  I wanted to just drive around and listen.  Or maybe grab a burger and park at the Friendship Gardens and listen.  I just wanted to hear it right now!

That CD changed the way I listen to music, to a small degree, but that’s not really the point here.  I treasured that CD.  I still do to this day.  When The Luverly Michelle and I move to our new place, I’m finally going to have my own room to turn into my music studio.  On the walls I’m going to hang, framed, 10-15 or so CD covers from the jewel boxes of CDs that have affected me over the years.  That one’s going up for sure.

One of the reasons I treasure it so much, I believe, is because of the incredible amount of work and patience it took to get it.  I drove ALL over town, to about 5-8 music stores.  I had to order it, I had to wait.  I honestly think that if I had just heard the song, gone online, downloaded it and listened to it, it wouldn’t have meant as much to me.

The other reason I think that music has become so disposable is because now people can have so much of it at once.  I love Warren Zevon, for example.  If I wanted to, I could go to BitTorrent, and within a day or so most likely download his entire catalog.  Then, I’d zip through the songs, giving each one a listen once, deciding my favourites, and maybe even deleting the ones that didn’t immediately grab me.  Tell me if this has happened to you:  You  purchased an album and started listening to it, and as track after track went by thought “don’t like that one much, that one’s kinda cool, that one sucks” etc.  Then, after owning the album for a while, sometimes days, weeks, occasionally even years , you start to find the tracks that maybe were ‘just okay’ are now becoming your favourite tracks ON the album.  Now, if you’d downloaded them, you might have deleted them without much thought.

I used to work with a guy who would download a pantload of music, burn it to a CD, listen to it for a couple of weeks, and then just toss the CD out.  Forget the environmental aspect of it, but I think it’s just sad to treat music that way.  Even CDs that I’ve purchased and turned out over the years I didn’t really like, I’ve always given to charity so that they could be resold and maybe end up in the hands of someone who will appreciate them.  Same thing with books.  I don’t think I’ve ever thrown a book away either.

So whether you download music or not, do yourself a favour - spend a few days listening to the tracks you’ve just downloaded, even the ones you don’t think you like - you might discover some great songs that you would have otherwise deleted.

Stevie Z

By Stevie Z

Obviously, the Conservative Party of Canada (formerly the Reform and Alliance parties before they merged.  Maybe they decided to change the name because the Canadian Reform Alliance Party spelled “CRAP”, which, in my opinion, is more accurate ANYWAYS, but I digress….wow, and only 6 words in, too.)   Anyhoo, obviously the CRAP doesn’t read my blog at all, because HERE I plainly asked them to stop sending me their propaganda shit in the mail.

Not only have they NOT stopped killing defenseless trees and sending me the remains (by the way, you want to see the Conservative’s attitude towards environmental issues?  Take a look at how much stuff that they’ve cut down trees, processed using toxic chemicals, printed using MORE toxic chemicals, and then mailed to me, all of the previous using fossil fuels and creating more greenhouse gasses.  Thanks, Stephen Harper, for thinking that one through!  Kudos to you!

Actually, I’ve started saving all the shit they send me…them and Rogers Cable.  I get flyers from them too….almost EVERY SECOND DAY!  No foolin!  So I’ve started saving all the crap the Conservatives send me….and I’m thinking of shredding it and dumping it in their office here in Kitchener.  It won’t be considered littering, I’m sure - their offices are already full of useless garbage…oops, I mean Conservative Party Members….hehe…I said “members”.  Come to think of it, that’s not even a double entendre, because when I say ‘members’, I mean well…libel is a gray area, isn’t it?  Come to think of it again, do you realize that the word “libel” is only a couple of letters away from “Liberal”?  Or that if you switch a couple of letters in the Hadron Collider, you get Hardon Collider?   And the Conservative Party of Canada is only a couple of letters away from “big business loving, ass-kissing, ignorant, heartless bastards”?  I’m not saying they ARE, just that the spelling is REALLY REALLY close.

Um, what was I talking about before I started frothing ?  Oh yeah:  today I got the second stupidest letter I’ve EVER received or even SEEN in my entire life.  The first stupidest (but not by much) was a letter from Sears Canada outlining all their new great Sears Club (IE Credit Card) bonuses, etc. and how much they’d love to present a brand new card.  It was all very standard stuff, if it hadn’t been addressed to Michelle’s mother, whom had PASSED AWAY SIX MONTHS PREVIOUS!   “Bah, easy mixup” you say.   It wasn’t the fact that it was junk mail addressed to someone who had shuffled off this mortal coil, but the fact that Sears Canada was joyfully offering a credit card addressed “To The Estate of…”  Now THAT is stupidity.  I’ve still got copies of that letter, and I’m saving them for a major Sears asskicking someday.

But back to my ORIGINAL, original point:  today I received a letter from the Conservative Party of Canada.  ADDRESSED TO ME.  Let me stress that:  It was very much addressed to me, with my name, and address and everything.  I opened it, and there were 2 pieces of paper inside.  One was a letter with a lot of writing on it, which I couldn’t read because it was in Polish.  The second was Polish on one side, and english on the other.   It explained in fair detail how much a supporter my local candidate was, is, and always will be of the Polish community.  Neato.  That’s great, I’m glad he supports the Polish community.  I know many Polish people back in Thunder Bay.  In fact, my all-time favouritist teacher was Polish.  Ah, Mrs. Orzech, thanks for showing me that being an idiot was going to make life difficult should I proceed down that path.  I also LOVE Polish food.  I DO have to wonder, however, why our local candidate (Stephen Woodworth, btw) informed me of his special love for Polish people since I’M NOT POLISH!  Seriously.  I’m Ukranian.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not offended because he though I was Polish…after all, Poland has more culture then a lot of countries - the USA comes to mind…but that he ASSUMED that I was Polish because my last name starts with a Z, and has a lot of consonants in it.  It also has a Y at the end of it.  I could understand the confusion a LITTLE more if, say, it ended in an i instead.  But a Y?  I’ll tell you Y - because, like most Conservative candidates, from what I’ve seen, have no clue, and don’t CARE to have a clue.  Look at how many CRAP members have had to resign IN THE LAST MONTH or so, because of everything from stealing speeches to mocking the relatives of brave soldiers killed in Afghanistan, to belittling Native Canadians.  It shows a deep ignorance, and, dare I say it, a RESENTMENT of Canadians.  At least, Canadians that don’t own banks or oil companies.

This is an ACTUAL jpg taken from Stephen Woodworth’s website,  for a link.  I think it probably is a great representative of the slack-jawed, dairy cow, deer in the headlights kind of intelligence of some of these people.

Wow.  I guess I should take it down a notch, eh?  I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.  If you’re a Conservative supporter…well, that’s what democracy is all about, eh?  To each his own.  Besides, it’s not like the other parties are throwing up much in the way of alternatives.

One last thing though, even if you’re as pissed off and frustrated as I am over this joke of an election (that, according to Harper’s own “election laws” should be illegal) then don’t NOT vote.  Seriously - if you don’t vote at all it counts as apathy.  If you vote for one of the ‘fringe parties’ then it gives those lunatics validation, so don’t do that either. Spoil your ballot by doing one of the following:  A) put an X at the bottom and write “None of the Above” next to it, or 2) Put an X at the bottom and write “badlybent.ca” next to it.  A vote for Stevie Z is a vote for….well, me, I guess, but I’m not running.  Maybe next time.  Problem is, someone once said something along the lines that if you’re going to wrestle pigs, you’re going to get muddy yourself. 

   Of course, I’m just sayin’

   Stevie Z

by Stevie Z

   Well, The Sieve! Monthly Song Challenge is about 6 weeks old, and I’m already blown away by a few things.  First of all, the quality of the music is amaz….err…..aweso….um….incredible.  I promised Michelle that I’d stop using those other 2 “A” words so much.   So far I’ve received 5 songs in total, and they are all simply fantastic. 

   One thing that surprised me was how many people have thanked me for kick-starting their creative processes.   I know so  many writers who haven’t written anything for quite a while, and all I wanted to do was encourage that talent and maybe help to provide that tiny spark that some people need.  That was one of the main reasons for starting this challenge in the first place.  I’m also greedy. I know a lot of people who have created some great music already, and I wanted to get them to create more, so I could hear it.   So far, my plan is going exactly according to….well….plan.   I didn’t really do anything, all I did was say “go and write something, dammit!” 

   Also, it helps create content for my show….cuz face it, anything that someone else sends in, is one thing less I have to personally create. 

   But I guess one of the main reasons is (and this is where I start getting deep) because you all can create this wonderful art, and can bring such joy, happiness and entertainment to people, you should.   All I’m doing is creating a conduit for it to happen.  Much the same what that Bob Goyetche and Mark Blevis with the Canadian Podcast Buffetcreated a space for Canadian podcasts to shine and be heard, that’s all I’m doing here - but with less wit and charm from the host(s)….

   Any time someone creates something fantastic, the overall worth of the human race notches up ever-so-slightly, and this is desperately needed at times such as this, when so many seemed determined to bring the Collective Unconscious down as far as possible.  I could have written a song every day for the next 1,000 years and I wouldn’t have written one like the ones that anyone has created so far.   And that’s what makes me smile to myself every so often over the last month or so - knowing that there are at least 5 more songs in the world so far that have helped make it a better place.

   So thank you again to everyone that has created something wonderful and shared it with 7 billion other people.  Thank you for creating, and thank you for sharing.

  Of course, I’m just thankin’

  Stevie Z

By Stevie Z

    To censor or not to censor?  That is the question.

    Lemme explain:

   As most of my readers know I have a monthly song challenge called (appropriately enough) The Sieve! Monthly Song Challenge.    As I’ve always stated from day one, if anyone were to submit something that was outright racist, sexist, hurtful or hateful, whether in Guest Blog, Song Entry, or even comment form, I wouldn’t allow it, or I’d delete it.

  But…..

   What about something that may be construed as offensive to someone.  What about something that’s kinda funny, especially in the context, and especially considering the source and intention, but, as I said, could possibly be deemed as offensive? 

   Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to hop on the “Politically Correct Bandwagon”, and I oppose being on any sort of wagon at all - I much prefer to be off the wagons wherever possible, band or otherwise.  

   To get a little more specific:  a song was entered into the song challenge that had something in a line that in my opinion, was funny, and compeltely harmless, but some people might object to it.  As a knee-jerk reaction I asked the songwriter if they’d mind changing it, and they did without complaint or arguement.  Actually, I believe that the line is even funnier now, but that’s not the point. 

   Here’s what I’m asking people’s opinions on - did I have the right to even ask someone to change something they’d created?  Should I have just put a litle disclaimer at the beginning of that particular tune?   I could pull out the “it’s my challenge so I have every right to decide what goes in and what doesn’t” line, but that’s not how I feel about it.  Other then extreme examples that are meant only to hurt, should I allow anything and everything?  Should I reserve the right to go to someone and say “Um, that one line in there about (…..) kinda worries me, would you mind possibly changing it”?  What if they say “no, the line stays”? 

   The other reason I bring this up is because I’ve really gone out of my way to keep ‘flame wars’ from erupting.  Every time conversation degenerates into virtual shouting then pretty much all meaningful conversation comes to a hault.  This particular corner of the intertubes is mine, and I want to keep things as pleasant as possible, but should that include censorship from contributors because someone might take offense?

   Since I know that quite a few people that are much smarter then me read this, I would really appreciate your comments below.   And if I did go too far when I asked someone to change that line in their song, should I offer to play the original version instead if they wish ?

   Of course, I’m just askin’

   Stevie Z