Economic Collapse (plus) Farewell Layton, The Joy Formidable and a '58 Vette

Issue 11, Volume 1

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Our On The Streets section occurs in a parkade, where I often see this panama yellow '58 Corvette, complete with appropriate year of Alberta plates. The iconic American sports car seen here was still in its' infancy. Imagine that only a few years before this car could only come with a 'blue flame' inline 6 cylinder. It was the late 60's where large eight cylinder engines with more displacement and more power started to be pushed by guys like Virgil Exner, or GM president Harley Earl, champion of the 'Vette. Still a C1 (first generation corvette) in 1957, the Corvette would gain and be the poster child for Chevrolet's 283 cubic inch V8 putting out 290hp in fuel injected form. The 1958 model gained the twin headlights and more chrome seen here. Although carbureted engines would become the more popular option until the 1980's, in the late 50's Chevrolet wanted exotic sports car status. One of the most exotic and winning race cars of the era was the Mercedes SL300 (gullwing) sports car, which featured fuel injection. The 283 engine could be even had in trucks, and sedans like the bel-air 150/250 versions. This car frequently is seen in the parking lot, and is sometimes replaced by a Jeep Grand Cherokee on inclement weather days. With summer drawing to a close, this individual may not be taking his prized possession to work too much longer. By the way, tying it all in; there was a steep recession in 1958. Between 1958 and 1964, things weren't so fantastic, but they weren't nearly as bad as they are now. Probably was one of the reasons the Edsel failed so hard, thinking back.

Economic Collapse: The Second Recession

If you've ever taken a look at a chart at a bank, usually there's one on the wall somewhere. These charts are available for special order every year, and feature just about everything on them. They include the value of the dollar, value of gold, GDP, market index (TSX, S&P, NYSE), price of oil, interest rate...basically everything you could use to see how an economy is doing, except maybe unemployment (and I don't know - that very well could be on there). If you happen to take a look at one of these graphs, you'll notice that just about everything except the price of oil (which seems to go up and down based on no other factors) is always consistantly up. That means if you wait long enough, the mutual funds you hold will eventually be worth more than they are today. Meanwhile, you'll notice they take a dip and rise back up about every 10 years or so.

What you don't see: them take a dip, plateau, slowly rise, and then take another dip within 5 years.

Indeed Benjamin Tal, Cheif Deputy Economist at CIBC believes we are inches away from being in the depths of another recession. Himself, and other economists are calling this the worst period in economic recovery since the great depression.

Consumer confidence is down, says Tal, but it's a great time to buy houses. That is because the interest rate is so low, and the market is down. Meanwhile, we are experiencing a horrible time of 'stagflation' - inflation in price without economic growth. Usually what you get paid, coincides with price increases. Except one day we had huge inflation, and now everyone puts everything on their credit cards, and finances stuff. Alright, moving along...

It was estimated that inflation was about 3% overall for Canada, which wasn't too bad. The things that inflated the most, however, are things we're going to feel. So while the price of a flat screen television might have changed from $680 to $700.40, we don't necessarily need to buy a flat screen T.V. this year. We can hold on until our wage rate goes up. But what do we need to do. Well we need to eat, and put gas in our cars. Gas was up a staggering 27% over this time in 2010. Food was up something like 14%, and the cost of home insurance and utilities, 9%. Meaning, on average, paying for things you actually used went up about 17% in price. So if your household bills, say, your utilities cost you $300/mo, gasoline $200/mo, and groceries about $300/mo for a grand total of $800/mo, you would be paying $936 a month now without any increase in volume, service, amount, or pay rate.

So, what's the solution? Well, unfortunately, for Canada, all we can do is hold on. This isn't a regular recession. A regular recession would see interest rates stay low, and consumer confidence stay high to assist recovery. However, this recession was created by the United States nearly defaulting, and their dollar devaluing so much. We depend on our dollar being lower than theirs, because we are largely an exporting nation. While we hold our interest rates low (great if you're paying back prime + ___ loans or buying a house) to keep our money as worthless as possible, it's not helping.

Here are some great economic tips during this time:

-buy some mutual funds if you can afford it.

-pay down as much debt as you can right now while interest rates are low.

-find ways to save. Shut off the lights, wear a sweater, use alternative transportation.

-buy locally -> spend money on Canadian products, that will help our own economy

-eat locally -> buy your groceries at a farmers' market, etc.

These will inspire Canadian market consumer confidence, and as well, save you money, while you don't have to resort to eating KD. They will assist at a local level first, which is where the growth needs to stem from at this point.

Good luck!

Jack Layton; A Few Words

The honorable Jack Layton recently left us due to that ugliest of C words - cancer. I have only a few words to say. I think whether or not you voted for him, or particularly liked him, you recognize at this point now what he is worth to Canada as a whole, and Canadian politics. Layton brought the NDP, and its new-generation politics to become the official opposition, after being irrelevant for years. He, and the party, were champions of welfare and equality. Even if you are a Conservative, you recognize that you live in Canada, and things like 'social programs' are essential. That's what Layton stood for. Not afraid to poke fun at himself, we remember him smiling into the camera with a pitcher of beer from a pub during the Olympics. We remember him stealing Rick Mercer's bike on the Mercer report. While the NDP will get a new leader, there likely won't be another like Layton, at least for a long time to come. I would like to extend my thanks, not as anyone who is rah-rah NDP (I'm not going to reveal my political affiliation here, because it's irrelevent) to Jack Layton for his fight for Canada.

Thanks.

The Joy Formidable: The Big Roar

So once upon a time, there was this band I'd never heard of that was all of a sudden put on the Sonic Boom lineup list. And then they had sort of an infectious song called, "Whirring."

Well, I have news for you, if you've only been listening to this band on the radio. That song has a wicked double kick section that only a metal enthusiast would be able to truly appreciate that they don't play.

I have more news for you: female vocalist lead bands are...making a comeback? Making headway?

I've never seen such a time where male and female in rock music had been so equal, except at certain points. The first was the inception of rock n' roll. June was on Johnny and the rest of Sun Records' tour. Then there were a few bands along the way, until the late 60's, when Joplin killed it as the lead of Big Brother Holding Co. And then during the punk movement, there were artists like Patti Smith became famous.

But then there were the 80's, and that was horrible. There was the 90's and that was horrible too (except for grunge) and the 2000's which was also horrible. And there were the spice girls. That ruined it for everyone.

Now girls don't sing in girl groups anymore. They take control of groups like the Joy Formidable.

So how does that album shape up? Aside from the fantastic Manchester accent of Ritzy Bryan, this album is the standard in alternative rock today. A lot of synthesizers. Luckily there was that great wall of British fuzz guitar throughout, with some punk undertones that I could hang on to. Had this been another synth-pop-alt-rock standard equipment group, I wouldn't be talking about them right now. But overall, their song writing is solid.

The Joy Formidable released The Big Roar, their first full length on January 24th of this year, and it took a while, since it was their first full length, to catch on. It hit only 31 in the UK, but 8 on the US charts. Meanwhile, Whirring, the first single off of that album has hit 10 on the CAN charts, 38 on the US Rock charts, and hasn't placed on the UK charts. Crazy, eh?

The first single, Austere was actually a re-release of their 2009 UK single. For this, the album is a little disjointed. While Whirring is upbeat and fast, and sometimes a wall of noise, other songs are darker, but all with a fairly steady pace, and a lot of distortion. This wasn't a band that was influenced by The Cure, for example, or even maybe The Clash. Instead we get a lot of classic brit-rock licks, as if AC/DC snuck in there somewhere and lent them their huge Marshall stacks (indeed TJF does play with big Marshalls) but then, the sensibility of brit rock got angry and New Order showed up and gave them some keyboards too. Actually, I could probably draw a pretty good line between Joy Division and The Joy Formidable, especially with Rhydian Dafydd, bass player, indicating the album is emotionally manic depressive.

Highlights include the extended version of Whirring and other tracks like The Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie, which force the listener to enjoy sonic walls of music. Then there are more simple tracks, like the closing The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade that are simply enjoyable to listen to because of their poppy and simple beats.

You could easily slip this album into your 'sounds of summer' collection. I'm glad to hear a synth pop band that hasn't abandoned it's rock roots, and can still make a wall of distortion in a minor key. I rate this album about a 6.5/10. I feel TJF still has a ways to go before doing something that will really hit audiences hard and chart well. This album, being some newer songs, some written on the road, and some older EP re-releases isn't cohesive in all places, and certainly not linear. But it's a great first album from a band that you can bet will be back in a big way, if they can keep the excitement of songs like Whirring going on their sophomore effort.

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

Next Week

-It's the end-of-summer edition, with all sorts of cool wrap up articles, many suggested by you, the reader. What did you love about this summer? What did you hate? The sounds of summer music list, and photos!

Milestones

Our fashion issue proved to be our most popular issue, and we now have over 400 readers. Thank you!

Rude Society (also) economic update and some old BMW's

Issue 10, Volume 1

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Our on the streets feature is a few old BMW's from the Lutz era. Bob Lutz was known most famously for bringing about the Dodge Viper and releasing radical cars at Chrysler, and then on to GM where he fought to have the Volt released as his last hurrah. Lutz, a former Marine Corps pilot, attended college at UC Berkeley with a degree in Production Management and later an MBA. Although he was a great businessman, his head was in styling. Although not a designer himself, he would often rag on his production and design team to come up with better and more outrageous things. His first experiment was the Opel Kadett for GM Europe, followed by the BMW 3 series, shown above. He would later move on to Ford to have the infamous Taurus approved, and then to Chrysler for the Viper, and GM afterwards. He had a keen and unique sense of what the public wanted; often did battle with what the 'bean counters' wanted to do. Remember when all the GM vehicles were all the same, whether badged Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Chevrolet? Lutz put an end to that. Lutz has a new book out called Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle For The Soul Of American Business. At BMW, Lutz saw the original styling of their new 3 series model, and indicated that the car had to be completely changed. It was redesigned into what was basically seen above. This is a collection of a few old BMW's by my old house on the North End. The one with the famed 'M' sport paint job is a 1975-1983 (E21) model, likey a 318 (1.8L 4 cylinder) or 320 (2.0L 4 cylinder). These cars earned a great deal of market notoriety for BMW in North America; turning the brand into an upscale household name for German Luxury cars, where once only Mercedes and Porsche reigned. Very few are still in any sort of shape. The silver car is a 325e, a rare bird indeed. The 1983-1990 models (E30) were available with a 2.5L 4 cylinder. The 325 was the standard non-fuel injected model. The 325i was the upscaled injected model. However, there was a rare and affordable '325e' with the 'e' standing for 'economy' that was a no-frills, gas sipping model. The red one appears to be an E28 5-series model, still rare for these parts. Whilst most of our neighbors are out there souping up their pickups, we still have some that have strange and inquisitive automobile tastes; but luckily, are preserving history, in however perverse a manor (and likely to the chagrin of their neighbors).

Rude Society: Homicide Edition

Someone asked me if I'd discuss the homicide rates, since that's what's been dominating the news. So: yeah, we have a big huge homicide problem (apparently). The reason I say (apparently) is because there are discrepancies with how the numbers are tallied. For example, two of the 34 homicides were actually from last year. It was up to the medical examiners to add them to this year's statistics. Two more of the homicides took place in a penitentiary, and two more were police shootings. So that brings the number down to 28, which is still alarmingly high, I know. Compared to Detroit, which had 308 murders in 2010. But they're celebrating, because apparently the amount of murders had dropped 15% prior to the year before.

But this is Canada, and of course we're not comparable to Detroit, by any standard. Except that we are part of North America, have McDonald's and Wal Marts and auto manufacturing and drug gangs and...well pretty much everything the US has except summer.

Generally the Police are indicating that the problem is mainly among the homeless, while advocates are indicating it's because too many people are carrying knives. Well, yeah, why are people carrying around knives? Because they don't want to get mugged?

Ultimately what it comes down to; for those that aren't homeless and of sound faculty of body and mind (the police indicate that those committing the crimes among the homeless are either mentally ill or under the influence of alcohol and drugs most of the time - this isn't a statement about homeless in general), is that a culture of violence is becoming more rampant. Is it video games, obesity, bad parenting? Who knows. All I know is that now it's more than acceptable to honk at someone because you don't agree with what they're doing in traffic. I remember a time when honking was only done if you were in imminent danger of a collision. Now it's secondary to the finger. Which, by the way, why is it okay, because you don't like someone going slower than you, or making a left turn, that they held you up, to give you the finger? Or if someone generally makes a mistake in traffic? Oh well, let them go. It's not like you're perfect. Remember the CAA study I discussed a few issues earlier about how people felt other drivers were discourteous? Most of the individuals polled rated themselves a B+ in driving, while rating other drivers a C-. So in that case, the study shows most people believe they are good drivers and everyone else is a bad driver. Well that's impossible. But the biggest finding were that people were simply discourteous and impatient, not necessarily lacking skill.

This bleeds over to other areas of society too. Things that would never have once been acceptable are becoming so. Last week, a website, cheaterville.com, regarding the defamation of anyone (you can make a profile about ANYONE you want to with stories about how they are a cheat) was brought to attention by news media, after advocates were curious how the site was able to operate. Defamation law, however, when it comes to the internet is uncertain, and thus at this point lawyers are hesitant to go after defamation suits, even by individuals who have indicated their lives have been ruined by untrue defamation of ex jilted lovers. This generally, without social media, would have been impossible. Just imagine if 15 years ago, someone was talking on the phone or writing a note to someone else the entire time you were talking. Of course, they'd need to carry the entire cord around with them. We accept things are okay with this, generally, because we're unfamiliar with what etiquette should be associated with technology.

Is this acceptable?

Ultimately I find that people have generally became one of two ways:

-extremely self centered

-uncaring of what others feel in general

I know those sound like the same two things, but a person can care mostly about themselves while still wanting their existence to cause no harm to others. While the second category indicates that people don't care if they do cause harm to others. They just can't see other people as having any feelings like them.

Oh, wait, maybe they have no feelings.

Anyway, the homicide situation will continue to be a problem as long as people continue to backslide in general human morality and etiquette.

Letters To The Editor: Job Market Update

I recently got a note from Jen who had found herself unemployed and on 2 weeks of EI. It wasn't long until she found placement agencies. She said soon she found a job she was qualified for and had great benefits and salary. Her advice was to dress up nice, spruce up your resume, and generally 'attack' employment agencies to place you somewhere. Many of the positions may be initially temporary. However, many of them may end up with much better results for you in the long term.

In addition to this, Banks usually are a good marker of how the economy is doing. RBC just hosted a massive open house for hiring where you could actually apply via a regular paper resume. Oh wait, I know a lot of you won't remember what that might be.

If you'd like to comment on anything I've written about; or contribute to the blog, you can get me at rbw2@ualberta.ca

Milestone

Our last fashion issue saw almost 40-50 hits, and that put us over the 300 hit mark. Thank you so much for your support and for reading!

The Fashion Issue

Out My Passenger Window

Fashion Issue

Issue 9, Volume 1

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

How To Have A Successful Martini Party

In these days of electro-disco-punk, and retro-mod chic, we've found an emerging new trend that has picked up quite a bit of steam in the last few years. The postwar era, call it what you may, be it the 'mad-men' era, or 'rockabilly' or what have you, the era from 1945 to 1970 was extremely influential in fashion and lifestyle. We've found through throwing the perfect martini party, that celebrating economic and fashionable good times is a few simple steps away. So forget the credit-card financing blinged out and musically confused times of now. Step back into the good times of yore.

Nothing like a dance to some Bing Crosby or some Johnny and June Carter.

A good martini parti must have good martini mix-ins. Cups: Dollar Store. Martini Shakers: original vintage. Colored bowls: Ikea.

Cars were a big part of the era. Muscle became more and more important up to the 60's with the invention of the muscle/pony car. Now the big sedan is gone, but the muscle is still present. Seen here; 2011 Mustang GT, and 2010 Camaro LT as owned by the proprietors. In the rockabilly era; it was hot rods and customs that ruled the streets. Now, cruising in these machines is back.

With the party in full force. Seen here Jeremy, in mad men style, wearing a simple white shirt, his own glasses, and slacks. The skinny tie was something he 'dug through the closet to find.' In the back, note Lizzy, who actually made the hat herself.

It's unlikely you will find an original old steel table set that hasn't rusted through, but that doesn't mean you have to be all original out back. Mixing styles is okay. The patio set and gas grill are not period appropriate, but serve to make a very comfortable party. Note the carriage style painting on the 1952 garage.

Bow ties and old style fedoras and hats are easy to find; seen here in a blur of explanation is Ben; hat by H&M. The bowls on the table are original vintage.

Decorating your house with memorabilia is part of the look. If you can't be IN the era, you can pay tribute to it. Seen: Steve McQueen and The Beetles paying homage to the 1960's, while the Fender classic design stool and neon sign say 50's. Many replica classic vehicles take up the book shelf.

Food for your party? Keep it simple. Hot dogs and hamburgers (whether they are vegetarian or not) is simple, and just about everyone loves them.

An inviting living room will help keep your party from gravitating in the kitchen as they usually tend to do.

Although the couches have a retro look and pattern, they are totally new and from the brick. You can go for older luxury furniture of the original vintage style; but it will set you back (unless inherited) quite a bit for so-so quality.

Little touches like the phone seen in these last two photos really make the retro feel. This one is a working original vintage rotary; but you can always pick up a Stanley built retro (this or a pay phone) for a reasonable price. They look rotary, but are actually touch-tone.

Party going full bore; note the mad-men style, which works about as well at a martini party as a rockabilly style. Note: ask your guests to dress up. A lot of people are just waiting for something like this to escape.

It's not hard to go new-retro. Large Amsterdam photo: Ikea; Coffee Table: Stockholm: Ikea; 'martini olive' chair: Pier One. The magazines were vintage originals picked up from a retro store. Curtains were hand sewn.

Going Mad-Men with retro shirts isn't difficult (white shirts, grey slacks). Going rockabilly is equally as easy. Ryan pictured here with shirt by Piston, shorts are Circa and shoes are Chuck Taylor style UGP shoes - vintage made. Sunglasses are Mercury Sun.

Good housekeeping meets pin-up Vixen. Sarah with Dress by Lip Service.

Martini parties are best experienced in the summer, where the mad-men can step outside to smoke a cigar with their drinks.

You need not set up a giant table to feed everyone. Allow the food to take up the table, and use paper plates, or the plastic hot-dog holders (think ball-park style) we found at the dollar store to allow people to roam with their food. A good hostess at work (above).

Presentation is important; even the table set up is vintage style, with chip and punch bowls actually retro.

The living room; comfortable for you and your guests. Have people bring their vintage music or search for some at thrift stores. The case is a Billy from Ikea, the turn table is new from Sony, and can convert your LP's to MP3's if you wish. The vintage-style Epiphone EJ is a great accessory.

Unless you have little kids running around; or your friends are huge liabilities, don't be afraid to show some of the things like your collection of musical instruments to create the appropriate atmosphere.

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

We will be back next week with regular social commentary.

Fat Nightmare: Ousting the Overweight (also) On Street Bike Paths are a Parking Lot and The Naked and Famous

Issue 8, Volume 1

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Our On The Streets section is a photo from 113th street and Jasper Avenue at roughly 9:00pm. The photo is of Sarah and I going to coffee at the Second Cup at which we first went to coffee one year ago to discuss guitar lessons. That would eventually turn into a beautiful relationship. It was also the site of a pedestrian-car collision earlier that week. This was a much more joyous occasion, however. You might have noticed that we don't have our fashion issue this week, and for that I apologize. It will be coming next week. We'll be examining the latest trends in everything from clothes, styles, furniture, toys, cars, music and more, complete with a photo spread.

Fat Nightmare: Ousting The Overweight

This isn't the 80's, and being a railroad track of bones isn't attractive. But numerous campaigns that advertise beauty in any body type; to be comfortable in your own skin may be going over the top.

A friend of mine recently indicated that a coworker had made fun of her for losing weight. This is acceptable. But certainly, it is never acceptable to make fun of gaining weight. The very same point was a joke on the redneck comedy tour. It's okay to alienate smokers, but we don't alienate obese people the same way. We try to teach them that their bodies are beautiful. How beautiful is type II diabetes, congestive heart failure, COPD, hypertension, and early death?

It's not beautiful.

The fact is that the United States used to be the fattest nation in the world. Now its us, at a whopping 49% of the population that is overweight. And please, spare me the rhetoric of redefining what 'overweight' is - this is a medical thing, not an aesthetic thing. Curves are fantastic, until curves ultimately kill you.

This is a difficult thing to talk about. I am in no way trying to say that anyone who is overweight is a bad person, or isn't attractive, or isn't beautiful. But should we hold our tongues when it comes to making mention of their weight? It truly is okay to say, "hey, you look skinny, you should put some meat on those bones." Imagine going up to someone and saying, "hey, you look like you've gained some weight. Maybe you'd better get off your fat ass and get some running shoes on, and change your high sodium and sugar diet for a reasonable portioned dinner based on the Canada food guide!"

But, hey, get this! That 49% of people will likely be hospitalized more than a few times for the complex care they require, because they will likely have two, if not more, of the things I mentioned above that will lead to extreme complications by the time they are in their 40's. And since we have universal health care, that means a weight our system might not be able to bear.

We don't have to say overweight people are bad people. We don't have to say they are ugly if they're pretty, and we don't have to say they're stupid for being fat. But should we be saying, "be comfortable in your own skin?" Because ultimately you will be very uncomfortable in your own skin.

Just remember, BMI no more than 25; a balanced diet based on the Canada food guide, and an hour or so of physical activity a day. And no, I'm not saying I'm perfect and exempt to my own preaching.

On Street Bike Paths Perfect for On-Street Parking

I didn't steal this one from Metro, The Sun, The Journal, CTV, or any-freaking-where else, than driving down our own 106th street.

I mentioned a few issues back about the On-Street bike paths, and how it was just paint and signs. Oddly enough, a few days after semi-bashing the idea, some city councilors called the idea ridiculous because the paint was going over badly worn and pot-holed-heaving streets. What I saw was hilarious.

Signs that indicated 'single file' for cars and bikes were immediately followed by sings that said 'share the road' showing a car and a bike next to each other, completely contradictory. As for the dashed line that marked off the curb lane from the regular vehicle lane so that cyclists could have their on street path - residents took this a totally different way. It seems as though the lanes are roughly about 6 feet wide, or about the size of a standard parking lane. So the curb lane is now entirely resident parking. And with no 'no parking' signs, the city is without anything to do about the problem, whilst cyclists now either have to bike single file or share the road with cars on extremely thin residential roads.

Now I recognize that some sections are probably single file, and others are shared sections, but this isn't indicated too clearly.

Thank you, Edmonton, for that fail. Oh yeah, and the potholes still aren't fixed. But do we really want more construction?

The Naked And Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You

I decided to check out if the Naked and Famous were legit, after the success of their most popular single off of their 2010 release Passive Me, Aggressive You. The late-coming single to North America (on local modern rock radio and Alt-Nation on Sirius-XM) is due to the fact that this 'indie rock' electro-pop quintet hails from Auckland, New Zealand. The digital download of the first single off of their album did not hit North America on November 14, 2010. The entire album was available in September of 2010 as a digital download in Canada, but not on actual vinyl or CD until March 14, 2011. The single Young Blood, still didn't hit charts until later though, but had many television appearances, including on the series Chuck and on Gossip Girls.

Young Blood reached #1 on the NZ charts, and as high as 10 on the Canadian alternative charts, and was certified platinum in NZ; very popular in their own country. For international success at this point though; with a top 10 single internationally and still on an independent label, that is phenomenal for any group, especially in alternative where there are so many different types and styles of music. Let's face it, it can be pretty hit and miss.

So how does Passive Me, Aggressive You shape up compared to the single Young Blood? Not too shabby. The entire album does not sound like the first single, although distorted synthesizers are a big part of this. The heavy drums you hear in Young Blood; distorted and pounding, reverberate in A Wolf In Greek's Clothing; an electro-punk romp that will make you think of some things you heard in the early 90's - very nearly sub-pop records material. In fact, the fuzzy synths and drums on most of the tracks will remind you of Trent Reznor and old NIN, which is a good thing here, just not as 'hurty' as Reznor went.

Funny; because their label is called 'Somewhat Damaged' - if you recall, a track from The Fragile. In fact, the beginning of Girls Like You - supposedly the third single from this album, sounds like Echoplex. Go even further, in the middle of the album you'll find a track called The Source, which is essentially a version, as I see it, as The Frail, although I've also been told it sounds very similar to Right Where It Belongs off of With Teeth.

But they aren't rip-offs of NIN. Just inspired. Couple that with the fact that they have a very nice Stars-type boy-girl thing going on, with a little 80's pop (the good stuff we remember), and you have a group that hits heavy. And the Naked and Famous wouldn't be so heavy if they were a one trick pony. Take Girls Like You, and what you might hear is a direct comparison to The Cure. Not all of it is upbeat though. Frayed is decidedly down tempo, whereas The Sun is downright dark. There is just enough here to appeal to a wide range of listeners, and The Naked and Famous do it well. Fantastic for a group that is only as young as 2008, and who's first album's singles didn't register on charts at all, not even in their home NZ.

There are some songs on here that are pretty much copies and could have been B-sided, however, and that definitely takes some points off the album; as it's not one that you can listen to without skipping a track or two that you're not interested in. But the solid effort by this New Zealand tribute to NIN and the Cure and any electro-synth-pop boy girl band earns them a solid 7/10 for their efforts.

Letters To The Editor

Soon we will have a frank discussion about the YEG Slutwalk. Until then:

rbw2@ualberta.ca if you have anything to add or discuss with me!

Next Issue Of Out My Passenger Window

-Fashion Issue: Clothes, Cars, Furniture, Martini Parties!

The Walterdale Bridge and BMO 63: Infrastructure vs. Heritage (also) Green on Go, Pushing Singles and Matthew Good

Volume 1, Issue 7

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Our On The Streets photo shows the first of 7 days of rain; the thunderstorm last week that occurred as I was driving home from work. Note the solid wall of water on the other side of the 97th Avenue Legislature Underpass. Edmonton finally emerged from the rain to three thunderstorms yesterday. This type of traffic is generally what I sit in every day. A recent poll done by CAA indicates that 86% of motorists feel that people have become 'rude' and 'in-courteous' whereas they rate themselves a 'B+' in terms of their driving habits while other drivers are a 'C+'. This indicates people are also unwilling to realize that the problem may be them. The question is continuously raised about why drivers in Edmonton have become so horrible. Could it be the infrastructure? Could it be that the city wants us to drive badly?

YEG Stupidity; Heritage versus Infrastructure Growth

Perhaps you've seen this:

This is a designer's rendering of what the new Walterdale Bridge replacement will look like if all goes as planned. But wait, whilst improving infrastructure, we will be throwing away a 100 year old piece of Edmonton history...(!)

The reports indicate that likely the bridge project will go ahead as planned, citing the Walterdale would cost $12 mil for a rehabilitation, and in spite of that $2 mil afterwards for upkeep each year. That is one huge money-sucking project when you think of ALL of the infrastructure in the city. The project was approved in April after costs were said to be $130 million for a new one; half of the original estimate. Considering you could probably get another hundred years out of the new bridge, that's a savings of $82 million over one hundred years, assuming the costs of

maintaining this bridge cancel out any other rehabilitative projects of the old bridge, and that the Walterdale would continue to cost $2 mil a year to fix. It's creative math, I know.

Ultimately I have heard some things like, "pieces of the bridge would be used in other projects." Or put in parks, around the city, what have you, to preserve the heritage. And then, just last week, a group of business owners said that the Walterdale should be kept open, but as a pedestrian bridge/cycling bridge. The great freaking hilarious thing about that is that the bridge would still require a $12 million overhaul, and $2 million a year in upkeep. Of course, the salon that patroned this idea did not say they were interested in ponying up any dough to keep the Walterdale going.

So if it's so cut and dry, why am I sharing an opinion about this? Well ultimately I feel like it's

the cries of the Edmonton Historical Board that the bridge has important historical value, specifically to native peoples (I'm not sure how this works out), and should be preserved. I feel that this is the cry of a desperate board that has let too many important buildings get destroyed in the name of expansion and are now trying to save ones that don't matter. It's an old bridge. Yes, that's kind of sad, okay, it's been there for 100 years, but let's face it, it's not an architectural juggernaut by any means. It's an old mess of scrap metal that the city has said has come to the end of it's usable life. Yes, the span of the bridge is over, heh heh. Joking aside, this is a piece of infrastructure, and as much as we love the historical here in Edmonton, it seems like fixing our failing infrastructure system should be first and foremost the priority. A new usable bridge that makes it easier to drive, bike, and walk, and costs less to maintain is probably exactly what we need there.

But It Gets Worse: BMO 63

You might also recognize this thing:

This is the tenement that stands on the corner of Jasper Avenue and 100th Avenue. It is the 1963 BMO building, which apparently has sat vacant since the early 1990's. There have been many petitions to save 'Edmonton's first modern bank' but unfortunately GE Capital, the owner of the building, is going to demolish it. The 'Save BMO 63' petitioner's website indicates the historical architectural value of the building as the reason for saving it, and that it was made of, "superior materials that will stand the test of time." Well, actually the building is a complete piece of shit, and no one wants it. That's why it won't be retrofitted, and GE Capital, to ensure there's no more blocks, have jumped the gun on taking it down. See the structure is not quite 50 years old, and if they wait until 2013, then it qualifies to be added to the city's heritage building inventory, and thus it'll be harder to knock down. The society has asked that the structure be revitalized and retrofitted into the current plans GE has for the space. But here's where the problem occurs. Representatives from GE indicate they've tried; and it can't be, because the granite and brick that hold the building together are actually decaying quite rapidly, and unfortunately the building is falling apart. In other words, they tried, they had plans to, but it won't work because it's structurally unfit.

That sucks, but such is buildings; sometimes they fall apart. Especially when no one wants to use them for up to 20 years, indicating that there must have been a problem with either Edmonton's commercial incentives to set up shop in a highrise here, or the Downtown Business Association, for not pushing to get someone in that space.

What really sucks is what GE is deciding to do with the location, and this, I think, should be intervened with by the DBA and the City of Edmonton. They plan, get this, to put up a two-story low rise with a parking garage. That's right, more fucking parking, and a two story building right in the heart of downtown. I think that if the plans say it can accomodate 30 stories on the new plan sheet that the city released after the airport runway closures; that's what SHOULD go in there, not a recommendation. So we lose a highrise to a two story and parking garage structure. That's disappointing. That's Edmonton as usual.

Speed On Green: Blatantly Taking Your Money

I read an article in the Metro (yup) where city representatives finally said that the initiative to put 'green on go' or 'speed on green' cameras back into effect. The city had to return $16 million, according to CTV news, after supreme court judges found the 'checks' ticket processes went through were inadequate and quashed 105,000 tickets. The company that originally had the cameras up said the tickets went through 5 different checks before they were sent out, but judges at all levels saw it differently, when a ticket came through the system that indicated a man sitting in gridlock was doing 140km/h. Now the cameras are going back up, and there are 'several checks' that the tickets have to go through before being sent out. Wait, weren't they already going through 5 checks? Also, according to CBC, the problem with the cameras were a breakdown in insulation in the electric wiring, which caused the cameras to malfunction. Now the cameras are said to be '100% foolproof.' To me, saying something like that is setting yourself up for looking like an ass later. Why not say, "they are much more accurate and reliable." Or, "With the new retrofitting, the cameras are so reliable and accurate that we cannot find any fault in the system after rigorous testing." This is obviously the mistake they made the first time.

The city estimates it will take about a $1 million cut from the cameras per month, and indicated they were 'hemmorhaging' this amount. Pretty much blatantly indicating the cameras are required for proper functional budget. They tried to cover their tracks by indicating to CTV that the accidents at intersections since the cameras went down were about 10 times higher. Of course, we don't get to know what intersections those are, or if there's a seasonally adjustable variable. I have a hard time believing this stat, because you're not really supposed to know what intersections have speed on green cameras. So what the city is trying to say is without them, accidents at intersections are ten times higher, as if we all know all where they are, and all knew when they stopped working, for how long, and during that time, we were all speeding and it was causing 10 times the accidents. Really? That's kind of a stretch. The EPS actually indicated they did not have firm data to back up the city's claim, not ones to have their physical officers with radar guns upstaged by fixed cameras.

To me, I consider photo radar a 'speed tax.' Getting hit with demerits that up your insurance and potentially spiral into you getting your license taken away is an actual punishment and a way to remove repeat offenders. Traffic cams are simply cash cows. I don't believe they stop people speeding, but they sure shove money into city coffers. What makes me angry is that the city doesn't just admit this. Just admit that you make money off them. Publish what the accident rates are monthly and what they are at intersections before and after camera installations. If you're going to call it a safety measure, show us the data that it works. Otherwise, don't try to pretend. We're not that stupid. You only hope that we're that nonchalant and have enough disposable income to keep speeding through the damned things.

The city WANTS us to drive irresponsibly. If we didn't ever speed through intersections with fixed cameras, the city wouldn't ever make any money from us. Not even enough to justify spending on the cameras, because they wouldn't break even.

Think about it. If these things worked perfectly, they would cost the city money.

Pushing Singles - An Introspective into Current Music Industry Trends

Matthew Good, forty years old, recently was interviewed by Sonic 102.9FM's Rick Lee. The subject was his current single Zero Orchestra off of the album Lights of Endangered Species. His problem was the conceptual idea of modern rock radio playing a song that he called, "...[his] best shit..." but something that was entirely devoid of guitars, made up of piano, cello, keyboards, violins, and a horn section. Zero Orchestra in fact, does include an actual orchestra. Although it is conceptually difficult to play music like this, there is a reason that modern rock radio can get away with it; and there is also a reason that In Place of Lesser Men got bumped so fast for the second single. The same is true for Foo Fighters and Rope, which quickly was replaced with Walk. The reason, in my opinion, is that anyone need only know that these albums from these modern rock powerhouses (Matt Good at least in Canada) exist to go out and get them.

This is in stark contrast to groups like Foster the People, where Pumped Up Kicks has been on the airwaves since the snow was still flying. It takes a lot more convincing for individuals to buy an album now. We are back to the days of singles with iTunes, where people don't need to get entire albums to hear songs they want to listen to. They just have to pay $0.99, as if they were buying a 7", and have the song. The great thing about the 7" single is that it either always came with some other bonus, or introduced you to a different song that wasn't a radio single. There is a certain persuasion, or even duping if you will, that goes on by pushing one single for so long on modern rock radio. Take Middle Class Rut for example, who's song New Low has graced the airwaves for quite some time now. Listening to M.C. Rut's album, you find that their music is actually decidedly harder than that simple single. Foster the People's next single may not be at all similar to Pumped Up Kicks from what I listened to (that's really up to you to decide). People need to be tricked into buying albums.

How does this new industry trend fare for the larger acts? Not good. Each play on a radio station earns a couple of pennies worth of royalties. This means your favorite larger groups like the Foo or Good earn less money for their music by not being pushed on the air as heavy as brand new groups.

How does this fare for the new acts? Also not good. The overplaying of one song, and flooding the market constantly with new music inundated and barraged into listeners could turn them off of the group completely; not to mention possibly making the songs irrelevant and disposable.

My solution would be to let the best man win on the countdown charts. Instead of pushing certain new singles more; trying to get other people to buy into the idea of new groups like Foster the People, Awolnation, and the like, play all the singles equally, and let the better songs be voted upon. But then, I believe that people will like pretty much anything you feed them. For example, how the hell did Christian Hansen get popular? That one will never make sense to me.

Matthew Good - Lights Of Endangered Species

Since 40 year old Good nearly offed himself with ativan and beer (by accident) after his divorce, spawning the release of Hospital Music, he has been riding a wave of success and a somewhat new wave of sound. His latest album, Lights of Endangered Species is a continuation of that. In this album you will hear songs that could be B-sides from Vancouver, such as Extraordinary Fades. Then there is some new, great stuff, like In Place of Lesser Men, and What if I can't see the stars, Mildred? that show a clear progression in Matt's work under his 'new' sound. Finally, Zero Orchestra doesn't even feature an acoustic guitar, which is what we've been expecting from Mr.Good lately, and instead features a real orchestra. In fact, Matt's credit list is 19 people long of musicians that joined him, mostly classical.

Ultimatley we're starting to get used to this sound from Matt since Hospital Music, and it's really working. Unfortunately, Matt stands in the shadows of some great acts this year, like The Black Keys, Foster the People, and on the other side of the coin, the return of Blink 182, making his music get buried in the lists of other stuff that take a back seat to his time tested and well honed song writing. You don't consider your own stuff, "the best shit you ever wrote" unless it is really, really, really, really, really, really fantastic. To a bipolar perfectionist like Matt Good, he really means it. I give this album a solid 8/10. I hope that it doesn't get lost.

Letters To The Editor

remember to hit me up at:

rbw2@ualberta.ca

if you have something you'd like to discuss. I'll post your thoughts right on the blog.

Speaking of which, we actually released our second most popular issue last week, showing our new circulation date is working great. Thanks to all that are reading.

Next Issue

-Rockabilly Retrospective: The Fashion Issue

Clothing, furniture, decorating, cars, music and more from the hottest new trends. Plenty of photos, plenty of style ideas.

Female Leagues (also) Distinctly 70's Vette

Volume 1, Issue 6

Monday, July 11, 2011

As you can see, we've changed our circulation to Mondays. I feel like people read a little more during the week, then over the weekend. Especially time-wasting-at-work blogs. So Monday it is. This week's On The Street comes courtesy of Londonderry Mall's parking lot. It's difficult to tell the exact year of this Corvette, other than the fact that it was built between 1968-1982. A few things would make it a little easier; for example, from 1968-1973, The Corvette had a gaping hole in the side of the front fender for a vent that was somewhat like a '#' if I can describe it correctly. From 1973-1974, although this vent was gone, the car retained a flat tail panel. In 1974 the car got the tapered tail panel. Unlike C4 (1984-1996) models, the C3 models did not have a removable panel here, it was part of the entire fiberglass body structure. But outside of that, we can't really tell. It has a custom hood, and custom headlights, the 1980-1982 'euro' nose, which could have been added after. The tail-lights had been replaced with old bullet style lenses, and the wheels and sidepipes are straight out of the 1970's. Same with the paint job. It's not rare to see a custom Corvette, but it is rare to see one that looks like it was owned by Hyde from That 70's Show. Who is harbouring these vehicles?

Female Leagues - An Introspective Into Female Sports

I was walking through West Edmonton Mall on a little shopping excursion this past Thursday, and was able to watch a little of the Brick Invitational hockey tournament. Specifically, it was the Boston Jr. Bruins against the California 2001's in tournament play. If you are unaware, the Brick Invitational is a hockey tournament, put on by overzealous hockey-dad Bill Comrie since 1990, pits 'super novice' teams of 9-10 year olds against each other. I imagine it's a hell of a lot of fun to travel across country and play other teams in a tournament like this, fueled by parental cash from other rich hockey parents and ex NHLers like Doug Weight, who coaches one of the teams. And on California, plays Scott Niedermayer's kid, who even wears his #27.

As I was watching the game there were a few things that occurred to me. One was that these kids were obviously in the process of being groomed for NHL careers. The other was a lot more upsetting; that the 10 year old, little redheaded girl playing for California would never see a career like most of these boys would.

NHL is a funny league, because it's one of the few sports leagues that you don't get a college grant for going to play. You don't play NCAA before you get drafted into the league, because there's so many other minor leagues. That means, generally, hockey players in the NHL can be complete morons. The bottom line salary for an NHL player, whether or not they have a 1 way, 2 way contract, or continue playing in the minors after drafted is $500,000 a year. Look, I'm not saying they didn't work hard to achieve that, spending their entire lives focusing on being better at hockey than anyone else rather than, say being mediocre in university level Calculus and English or whatever to get your average joe-schmo job and live an average life. The thing is that one little girl who was kicking ass up and down the ice could spend as much time and energy on her craft as anyone else, and she's not going to achieve that type of salary.

It, quite simply, broke my heart.

At the Olympics, or international tournaments, we cheer on the women's teams. In curling tournaments we remark at how attractive they are. When it comes to the big bucks, they're shit out of luck.

I have to think, if we really loved hockey as much as we say we did, we would have no problem with decent-money women's leagues. We get MORE hockey, right? What's wrong with that?

The little girl in super novice is the general problem we're still facing in society today regarding the feminist movement. It's cool for her to be there, but it's still odd for her to be there. And where she can go in that career is basically, well, nowhere that makes any decent money, or could even support a household, let alone make $500,000 a year. The fact is, many careers are still seen as 'man jobs' in spite of there being no reason for this. At the top ranks of hockey, sure a guy can generally skate faster and hit harder than a woman because physically they end up larger. I'm sorry about basic problems of anatomy. But outside of that, why are there so few women in engineering?

We support that girls can do anything, and then go, hey, a girl in super novice hockey, well she's good now but she'll never go anywhere. And it's sad that she doesn't know that now. I'm glad she gets the support she needs to play super novice, but it'll be a sad day when she realizes that society is going to take a giant piss on her dreams because of a strange gender inequality that needs not exist.

What's the solution; at least at this level? Well luckily new generations of people are being taught that boys and girls are equal. Being taught you should make the same and can do the same as a boy as a girl should make you demand it. And a large demand often results in change. However, on super novice hockey teams do we employ affirmative action? Like the CFL makes Canadian players required, should a girl on your roster be a rule rather than an exception. Or does that effectively move us backwards? Let the girls play who've practiced and earned it, and really want to be there, rather than have teams reluctantly select one and bench her. This girl was second line and got a lot of ice time, I should mention. She played her way into that position.

I'm always a proponent of non-affirmative action 'the best person for the job' but unfortunately in society we may not have reached that time where we can all adequately compete with each other without some sort of distorted view fucking that up. We still have people who believe 'the white person for the job' or 'the best man for the job' and then you bring in affirmative action and you might get 'the brown person for the job as subject to minority percentages' which to me, is about as inappropriate. Why didn't you get hired for a job? Because I was a white male, and there are some people who still exclusively hire white males for any job and give them higher pay and more respect, so now instead of having an equal paying job, I have no job at all? All of us majority, we're not especially blessed to have been the privileged for so long, only to become part of the problem, and then part of our own problem. I don't want to be hired because the boss was an old-boy-club-smack-ass-white-power-womanizing asshole. I don't want to be not hired because I'm not a minority.

Disregarding that, I'll still have a lot of opportunities in my life. Labour and Delivery Nurse may not be one of them. But I didn't practice my whole life to become that. The little girl on California's super novice team, she has practiced her whole life to be a hockey player. What does she understand of the opportunities available to her?

Pushing Singles - Pushed

I apologize to everyone, due to some issues with streamlining blogger and the new Google+, I lost most of my work from this week. Next week:

-Pushing Singles: The state of the music industry

-Matthew Good: Lights of Endangered Species reviewed

Letters To The Editor

rbw2@ualberta.ca

Let me know what you think of the new distribution date!

Canada Day Special: 10 Things I Love About Canada (also) What You Love About Canada, Road Crew Firings and Young The Giant

Issue 5, Volume 1
Friday, July 1, 2011

This special Canada Day Issue reviews some of the great things about Canada. Above photograph for the On The Street section is from Ottawa, circa 2008. This is myself, on the Lester B. Pearson statue.

10 Things I Love About Canada
I've been a Canadian all my life. And although there have been many times that myself, and others that I know try to discuss our cultural heritage as if it belongs to the Irish, German, French, Ukranian, etc. - in the end, we are all Canadian. I am Canadian. As much as I rag on our patriotism, where's mine? Well I'd like to show a little by including the 10 things I love about my country. This is in no particular order.

1) The Music
We are all a part of The Canadian Sound: the interesting isolated and frigid music that we identify as having a sound all our own. The Tragically Hip, for example, have used a ton of references or written about, specifically Canadian things. It's one of those things where you have to live here to get it. In terms of our independent musicians, Canada cranks out some of the best indie has to offer. Think about Arcade Fire's international success, for example. Our music is good, thoughtful, and has a certain sound that we all love.

2) The CFL
I've heard people complain before about how 'Canada is the United States of the North' and that we let too many franchises like McDonalds or Wal Mart set-up on our soil. The CFL is an example of an unwavering Canadian institution that is uniquely ours. Most of our CFL clubs date back to the turn of the last century, which is more than the NFL (AFL/NFL formerly) can brag about. Through time, we have always kept the CFL consistant by requiring a certain amount of non-import players (and if you think this can't make the CFL good - look at the Riders' former canadian air force of Fantuz, Dressler et al that ate defenses alive). We have also stuck to our own rules, field size, and amount of men on the field.

3) Our Alcohol
We've got some of the best booze on the planet, which is strange for a relatively young country. Our microbrewed beer is always the best; and the less mainstream labels like Sleeman's and Keith's are decidedly better than most other countries in the world. Canada has always been able to brag that we have good beer. But hey, look at Crown Royal. We've got some great other stuff too.

4) Our Geography
Where else can you go that has prarie, frozen tundra, mountains, glaciers, two different oceans, boreal forests, rain forests and technically a desert zone. Yeah, okay, the States, but ours is all way closer. In Alberta alone we have prarie, grassland, mountains, foothills, forests, lakes, rivers, tundra, desert, and if you keep driving into BC, you can also see rain forest and the pacific ocean. Not bad. Not bad at all. The great thing about our geography is that we have so much of it for only 35 million people or so. In other words, we all get to use it quite a bit.

5) Canadians
I've been able to work with Torontonians, party in Ottawa with their locals in a sports bar while the Sens were making a cup run. I've gone to Karaoke at a Legion with Vancouverites. I've worked with a lot of Newfies (and haven't we all). I've got friends from big cities and small towns. And everyone, when it comes down to the fact we're Canadian, gets along. There is some question of how we treat each other lately, unfortunately, but for the most part, we're all awesome.

6) Our Famous People
I'm not talking about Celine Dion, Justin Bieber or Michael Buble here. But for the most part, our internationally known stars always stay Canadian. We're always proud of them for all the things they do. Michael J. Fox, Ryan Gossling, Mike Meyers - these are people we see, and go "hey he's Canadian you know!" And they always do us justice by being great, polite, well mannered and behaved ambassadors from our Country. When was the last time you heard about a Canadian star being on house arrest for drunk driving?

7) Our Economic System
We are lucky to live in a Keynesian economic system. Our partially socialist state allows post secondary education to be affordable for most people (I priced out UCLA, that stuff is messed compared to here), to have the ability to have free health care, and to have social programs that help assist us through rough times. In addition to this, our Keynesian system means that our country will always attempt to adjust interest rates and stick a hand in where they feel they might help us economically speaking. Now, of course, I am a very critical of our system, but that's only to prove on the great stuff we already have, or to keep what we have from falling apart. But ultimately, we do have a high quality of life.

8) Our Political System
We live in a place where we have the ability to vote for our elected leaders, and are free from persecution for our political beliefs. Post election, there are a lot of you that are upset, especially about the ruling to withdraw funding from parties on a per-vote basis. However, we aren't in a bi-partisan system, a dictatorship, or a pretend-democracy like so many other places around the world. We had a socialist 'communist' party run in our riding. They didn't get shot by military personnel. Their members didn't get blacklisted and put in jail for possibly being communists. We're free to express our political nature, our religious beliefs, our sexual orientations, our outlook on life, and I can freely bash the government on here all I like. In China, I probably wouldn't have access to a blog.

9) Literacy
Although rates have fallen in the past few years, we're still one of the most literate countries in the world. What goes with this? Not only do we know the capitals of our own provinces and territories, but we also know the capitals to a lot of states and provinces in other countries, and find them on a map too. We can sing the US anthem, when a lot of their own performers forget the words. We are smart people. But - we are also humble about it. Canadians don't need to brag.

10) Our Armed Forces
Now and in the past, our Armed Forces have always done the best we could to not only uphold our country's freedoms, but uphold the freedoms and human rights in other countries with the UN and in peacekeeping missions. Of course, our greatest achievements, and something we should never forget, are our victories in World War I and World War II, where we sent many a brave men to die on the field of battle, and in spite of America's late entry in to the conflict, so many battle victories can be pinned squarely on the Canadian Forces.

Things You Love About Canada
What exactly do other Canadians love about Canada? Aside from hockey and beer. Jamie indicated, "that I have the freedom to leave it behind me, to not participate in elections and to say I fucking hate the way this country is run without being subject to the threat of violence by our authorities." There is a lot in that one statement that represents the type of freedom we have here. While a lot of the time we blatantly insult or ignore our federal system, this is okay for us to do, because we live in Canada, and freedom of speech, without commiting hate crime, is acceptable. Commentary is the biggest thing. We can talk about our country as poorly as we want, but the worst someone can say is, "maybe you should move." Being critical of our own political system does not constitute treason here. On a more positive note, Craig simply wrote, "the people." I indicated the same earlier. That no matter where you go, you can find polite people and people who could potentially be your friend; and that we're all united by that one simple fact that we are Canadian. On a lighter note, Ashlee wrote that, "they have the best ceasars." True to this fact. I know that Ashlee has tried Ceasars in Mexico and in the States and the taste there has come up short of however we happen to make them here (slightly different than anywhere else apparently). Hey, sometimes it's the little things that mean the most.

I Have No Editor - Road Crew Firings
So I read this in the Metro, I know, great source right? But then I saw it later on Global, so it must be true. Apparently Edmonton felt that so many projects were not taken care of on time or on budget, and too much meandering was done, that most of the individuals in charge may be sent packing. Meanwhile, city infrastructure is reporting that they realize that there are too many projects right now, and that Edmontonians are frustrated, but we are in a period of low construction costs, and therefore are trying to get as much done as possible.

What I'm hearing is essentially two conflicting stories. On the one hand, the city is blasting their infrastructure department because things were ill planned, and on the other hand, you have the infrastructure department saying that we're doing this because the city told us to get as much done as possible while the price is down. The city is saying these officials have f'd around enough to be paying too much for projects. The department is saying they are doing so many projects to avoid paying too much. So who's right?

I agree with getting things done on time, and on budget, and if budget means a specific time, then so be it. It's better than us living with a giant infrastructural mistake for several years, as we often do in this city. But 'recognizing Edmontonians are losing their patience' isn't enough. It takes me 45 minutes to make a drive home that usually should take me under 10 minutes at non peak times. And if you recommend transit to me, I don't see how that's a fix. The bus has to sit in traffic just the same as I do.

Ultimately the city might just be blasting the department so we all feel a little relieved. "Oh, the city gets our pain now, thank God." Yeah, well, that doesn't mean anything's being done about your ridiculous commute.

Music This Week - Young The Giant
I was going to do Matt Good, I really was, but actually there is a good reason I'm saving it for next week. So instead, I wanted to listen to another chart topping artist, and tell you if this one is really worth it or not.

Young The Giant hails from Irvine, California (that's in Orange County) and their self titled debut was released in late 2010. Strangely, on Roadrunner records (formerly mostly metal), YTG has found most of it's success with their first single My Body on the Canadian Charts, where they reached as high as #2 on the CDN Alt Rock charts and #4 on the CDN rock charts. They rose only to #5 on the US Alt charts and #16 on the US rock charts.

One of the reasons for this is that YTG has a little more in common with bands we seem to love alternatively here in Canada. The quieter and more subdued tracks on this album draw a parallel to Pilot Speed, like in Islands or perhaps the Shins or the Stills. There is even a little disco-rock sound on the track St. Walker reminiscent of Finger Eleven.

Ultimately though, I find this album fairly boring, and something that would make great background music. Sure the album has a great lead off single in My Body and their next single Apartment will probably be decently well received, but aside from tracks like St. Walker and Cough Syrup, the album begins to sound very sonically repetitive after a while.

Great work for their debut, but all in all, I'd have to give this album a 6/10. In other words, getting this album on vinyl is a waste of your money. But downloading it and putting it on as background music during dinner with your friends works.

Letters To The Editor
Write me at rbw2@ualberta.ca and I will post and respond fairly to your letter.

Next Week
-Pushing Singles: The State of the New Music Industry
-The AutoShare Revolution: Don't need a car all day, every day? Share it.
-Matthew Good and The Foo Fighters
-All New Art

Have a fantastic Long Weekend, and Happy Birthday Canada!