POP KILTER

Someone mentioned the name ‘Barlow’ to me this morning and my mind stumbled back to the early nineties when I was on the air at a radio station in St. Catharines, Ontario. We were presenting a couple of Moxy Fruvous shows at a high school. The opening act for night-one was a Toronto band called The Gravelberrys featuring Paul Myers. The next night, The Tom Barlow Band was starting on stage. Tom Barlow had a bit of a Corey Hart meets David and David means Shawn Mullins vibe. I hope he would take that as a compliment – not so pouty though. His songwriting was clean and crisp. And he liked to have fun with his music. I remember listening to his independent CD thinking that these tunes were catchy. (That’s a compliment too.) I liked the idea that it felt like I was discovering music before anyone else knew it existed so I could say “I knew him when…” It wasn’t long after those shows that Barlow (he’s just Barlow now) released his self-title...

There was a time in my life when I use to consume music instead of food. Ironically, when my career (in radio) got too busy or convoluted, 'my' music got lost in my life-mix that was dominated by the tunes I had to play to make a living. The Archies, Anne Murray, Celine Dion, Glass Tiger, Garth Brooks and Craig Ruhnke are currently NOT on my personal playlist. Sorry. I have sadly not schooled my five year old much in my world of musical misadventure. So through outside osmosis, Abi has unfortunately picked up on her own things including Justin Bieber. (For the longest time, she though he was singing "Baybit baybit baybit whoa!") She went through a Spice Girls phase (no) thanks to her grandmother and uncle. That was an unfortunate time in all of our lives -- especially since I was getting to the point where I could identify which Spice Girl was singing which lyric. P But I am trying to change that. And her education has to start with my re-education. Part o...

I decided I don't want to be Sinbad (neither the entertainer nor the sailor.) I have nothing against the guy. He had one hell of a career – especially in the nineties. He was in a hit TV show (‘A Different World’) and he did movies (‘Houseguest’ upstaging the late great Phil Hartman) but by the turn of the century things turned mediocre and I'm not sure why. There are two types of people in this world – those who like Sinbad and those who don’t. There’s no in-between. In 2004, Comedy Central named Sinbad one of the top-100 comedians of all time. Two years later, Maxim magazine named him the worst comedian of all time. He made another top-ten list too – top ten tax offenders in California owing Uncle Sam over 2.5 million dollars leading him to bankruptcy and Celebrity Apprentice (where he was fired in the second show.) I have nothing against the man. But there was never a time in my life when I said "Oh. It stars Sinbad! Let's watch that!" Of course I would imagine...

The autopsy is in. This was a big deal. TMZ streamed the results live online. Smartphone alerts were beeping all around the globe. Tests determined that Whitney Houston died as a result of drowning in her hotel bathroom. But it’s more complicated than that. It always is. There was cocaine in her system. Not a lot. But the narcotic did affect her heart. Some say Houston did have it all. She had a chance to do what she loved and she did it well. She found love and had a child. But in the end, she couldn’t hold on to everything that she thought she wanted and deserved. P.J. O’Rourke once said, “If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.” No coroner’s report can test for that.

I’m surprised my world is not ruled more by resentment. As a matter of fact the list of people I don’t envy can easily be made up by the sad souls from one show – Dancing With the Stars. I don’t think becoming a contestant of DWTS is necessarily a last ditch plea for 15-more minutes of pseudo-fame – though it might be considered a cry for help-wanted. Gladys Knight won eight Grammys! And she’s 67-years old. What the hell is she doing on this show? Jaleel ‘Steve Urkel’ White is dancing this year. He’s more neck than specs now. Plus he’s threatening to pull out the old Urkel moves. Nothing to envy there. And of course there is the saddest case of all. Who the hell is Tom Bergeron and why is he in our lives? Where’s Bob Saget when you need him.

I was sitting in a McDonalds trying not to listen to the conversation between four teenage girls talking about how they can’t get drunk on American beer; when an eighties classic came pouring out of the restaurant’s satellite radio feed like maple syrup on a cold day. The song was Christopher Cross’ “Sailing.” The tune was a monster winning three Grammys. A couple of years later, Cross even won an Oscar for “Arthur’s Theme.” But listening to this saccharine slice of GenX’s paralyzed past made me wonder – how many people between 1980 and 1983 lost their virginity to “Sailing takes me away… To where I’ve always heard it… Just the dream and the wind to carry me… Soon I will be free.” It was an odd thought to have while downing my McDouble and a Shamrock shake. On the other hand, I do have an appreciation for light adult contemporary gold and the remarkably hopeless effects of Old Milwaukee.

I'd like to think that our personal life-soundtracks are always evolving. It's easy to listen back to the music we liked or loved and say that we remember the time in our lives when this or that happened. But sometimes we don't recognize those musically defined moments until they become a memory. And those moments don't have to be big. They can just be... moments. Hearing a new favourite song on the radio when you are brushing your teeth in the morning. Or something that sort of sicks with you while you're sitting on the bus. I was listening to Grant Lawrence's podcast from CBC Radio 3 celebrating International Women's Day. He was playing an incredibly wonderful and eclectic mix of Canadian artists to celebrate the day -- everyone from Sarah Harmer to Emily Haines of Metric. But when Alanna Stuart and Bonjay 's "Gimmee Gimmee" came ripping through my earbuds, I literally stopped everything I was doing just to listen. Like the bio suggests, you...