Whale Tale

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A New Feature - Band of the Week

It seems I'm always listening to some group that borders on the not-too-well-known, or maybe even the un-known, or according to Suzanne "why are you listening to that crappy jazz again?".  Regardless of disagreements over my obviously mature musical tastes, I thought it would be fun to drop a new group on you every week just to (a) offer you some different tunes and (b) to help move you toward a more open-minded, less Hollywood directed collection of music.  So here is the inaugural week's nomination.

 

              The Boomers.

For starters, there is a party band in Florida that claims this name.  That is not who I'm referring to.  The Boomers I enjoy are from Ontario.  That's in Canada eh, not the one in California.  The core of this group is a fellow named Ian Thomas.  He has a well known brother, Dave Thomas, who was half of the SCTV Bob and Doug McKenzie - "Hey - Take off hoser!".  You might remember them.   While brother Dave was feigning being a beer-swilling Canadian hockey fan (and making a pile of dough on tv and the movies), brother Ian was making some incredible music.  He was in a number of bands before joining up with the group that in 1991 became The Boomers.

Let's start with their biggest hit - at least here in the Lower 48 -
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxEmnYFvAm0

Here is another wonderful tune - four guys in a classic two guitar / bass / drum band with an absolutely pure and simple song that incorporates clean solid rhythm, some fabulous bass playing and crisp vocal harmonies -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_2ZT7QzwAw&feature=related

And here is a song that I just can't play loudly enough while I'm driving in the car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKMcVHFZlYI&feature=related

Here's a tasty little tune that just makes you want to bounce..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FO0hIQ_bkU&feature=related

When I bought my first Boomer's album, I found myself categorizing it as Rock-Psychology since so many of the lyrics are deeply personal, penetrating and exceptionally thoughtful.  The band has four albums.  Check them out.

More info at - http://www.almarecords.com/artist.php?id=15

Doing the Impossible...

I have a friend who is climbing Mt Baker this coming weekend and is making ready for the trip with training both mental and physical.  I noted today she had a post on her Facebook page about having a conversation with the climbers she is going with and she mentioned it was like "climbing with 5 Ueli Stecks".  I recognized the name of Ueli Steck having just recently seen a video of his made while climbing a Swiss mountain.

Take a few minutes and watch this video....then ask yourselft what, exactly, in any of our lives is so difficult as to be impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdHlyjM_8_E

The World's Smallest Political Quiz

If you're at all unsure of your political position - and who wouldn't be given the complete idiocy in the current political arena - here's a tiny quiz to take that will clearly define to you just where you stand in the political spectrum.

http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

I scored as as Liberal.  Guess that's no surprise to anyone.  What choice do I have? I'm not rich enough to be a Republican.

Have I slipped back in time???

I've been a satellite radio subscriber for several years now.  I spend a lot of time wandering the channels but I have several that are favorites including one called Margaritaville.  You can guess who the mainstay of that one is.  It turns out that Jimmy B and I have a number of things in common, including (a) being old (b) we're both pilots (c) both members of the airplane crash survivor's club (d) we've both been shot at and (e) both are writers.  I have to admit, he's had a bit more success at publishing his works that me but still, we're obviously kindred spirits in this nutty world that expects more adherence to convention than either of us have been able to adopt.  Oh, ond we both like the odd and sometimes offbeat musician.

So last night, while doing my best to confirm to a common sense approach to life and driving to Famous Project Manager's school, the folks at Margaritaville popped on a tune by a band called "The Explorer's Club".  That caught my attnention because, of course, the Explorer's Club - the real one not the band - is an extra cool bunch of adventurers the likes of Robert Peary (first to the North Pole), Roald Amundsen (first to South Pole), Sir Edmund Hillary (first to the summit of Everest), and Neil Armstong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins and if you don't know what they were first at I think you might be hopeless.  Anyway, the "new" Explorer's Club seems to have decided to channel the Beach Boys.  These South Carolina guys stopped me cold when I heard them sing. 

Check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgLiYy5uYhw

Then, just to show you I'm not really nuts - give a listen 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QB2Ck00YZ8&feature=fvst

Game Seven...What a Series!!!

Game Seven for the cup....

At times I find myself comparing life to a hockey game, or more correctly comparing life to a series such as we are seeing played out now.  Some days I just don't want to get up and keep pushing, I'd rather lay around and watch a little tv, read the paper and then maybe go for a hike.  I don't think it works that way either in life, or in hockey.  It certainly hasn't for the teams from Boston and Vancouver, who somehow manage to keep finding the strength to skate one more time.  Maybe those plus one million dollar salaries help, but still, after being pounded for six hours, I think I might just drift off to the side and try to be invisible.

Tonight is the final meeting of the teams for the 2011 Stanley Cup when Vancouver meets Boston in Rogers Arena in Vancouver.  I'm hoping to see a bit more of what's pictured in the attached photo with the puck somehow managing to slip past the incredible wall of Tim Thomas.  It's hard to wish defeat on him given the completely unbelievable performance he has had in this series, but I do wish the best for the "almost" hometown Canucks.

After this, no more hockey until October.  Grrr.

The Stanley Cup

Hockey. In my opinion there is simply no other sport to rival it. The speed, the intensity, the barely contained violence, the grace, the skill - all these things combined into one high speed, high-def, tecnicolor expression of the most elemental competitive spirit exhibited by man.  And the Stanley Cup represents the culmination of all those things. 

The Stanley Cup - The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, or even the Holy Grail it's sometimes called - is the reward for a season of skating and hitting and, ultimately, winning more than any other team.  The original cup was awarded to the top ranked Canadian amateur team - the Montreal Hockey Club - in 1893.  Since then it's passed to the professional teams in the NHL - starting in 1926. 

In the NHL each team plays 82 regular season games.  That's 82 games of intensity and pain.  The reward for the teams with the best records at the end of the regular season is the chance to play more.  The top eight teams from the two conferences - East and West - have three playoff rounds of best-of-seven series to qualify for the Stanley Cup game.

Tonight - May 12 - the San Jose Sharks and the Detroit Redwings face off in game seven of the Western Conference semifinals.  The winner advances to play the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference finals.  In the Eastern Conference it's between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The last few games of the year will dial up the intensity of an already intense game.  Take the time to tune in for some of these contests and see for yourself if you can imagine what it takes to invest the energy required into this line of work.