Of Zeppelin, The Habs and Toronto sports radio idiocy

As U2 once sang, "It's a beautiful day!" The Habs' nutsoballs ex-GM, Pierre Gauthier is gone. The birds were chirping today. The sun was shining and as soon as I heard the news of the firing of Monsieur Panic Button, Led Zeppelin's "Rain Song" sprang into my head. Why? Because it may simply be the most beautiful song ever written by the iconic band, and I recently saw, via YouTube, a 1994 live rendition of the song that blew my mind.

In fact, here it is. Let it soothe you and bring peace upon you. Afterwards, I'll tell you some more about how there's no question that Toronto sports radio folk have no clue about evaluating on-ice talent. Meanwhile, here. Relax. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.



Now, let's re-up on the anger intake for a sec. OK, Toronto sports radio personalities, you know who you are... I get it. You rant for ratings. You compare and contrast and speculate on who will get what job, which athletes deserve their salaries, which teams are great, mediocre, shit (ummm... Blue and White jerseys, anyone?) But boys, when you state that the Habs are a worse mess than the Maple Leafs going forward after this season, stop smoking the wacky weed and talking crap.

Yes, the Canadiens had a marginally shittier year than the Buds. Yeah, more was expected from them and they had a GM that made Brian Burke look like Scotty Bowman (at times), but let's evaluate TALENT for a moment.

Habs vs Maple Leafs, Who sucks more?

I'll put up four names on the Habs' talent depth chart and let's see if the Leafs can compare. And I'm just talking bare minimum nucleus of the core of the teams that can help propel each one forward to some measure of success in the coming year.

Habs: 1. Carey Price 2. Max Pacioretty 3. P.K. Subban 4. David Desharnais
Leafs: 1. Phil Kessel 2. Joffrey Lupul 3. ??? 4. ???

And Leafs fans, if you scream at me that Dion Phaneuf compares to P.K. Subban in any form or fashion, or that James Reimer or Jonas Gustavsson comes even close to Carey Price in net, you're so delusional you need professional help.

This, combined with the fact that the Canadiens also have a bona fide warrior/power forward in Eric Cole and a solid emerging corps of D-men in Emelin, Weber, et al, clearly makes Montreal about 85 million steps closer to "good" than whatever Toronto has at the moment.

That said, today on TSN's 1050, the good lads on air had the audacity to say the Habs' were worse off than the Leafs. This crap drives me nuts. Guys, get a grip. Your team absolutely sucks. There's little hope. Randy Carlyle will have a big job ahead of him. Meanwhile, in Montreal, you're looking at a team that was in disarray all year because of managerial decisions and a lame duck coach. But never forget, the Canadiens went deep in the playoffs two years ago and last year took the eventual Stanley Cup champs, the Boston Bruins, to a seventh game that could have gone either way. With pretty much this same lineup.

Also, it's quite possible that your sister station in Montreal, TSN 990, has more hockey knowledge in it's office toilet bowl than your 1050 staff.

What have the Leafs accomplished so far this millenium? Haven't seen the playoffs since 2004. That's eight years folks. Could be eight more the way they look now.

Rant over.

Plant Turns a Page

The George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight premiere aired on Monday on the CBC with former Led Zeppelin (and Honeydrippers) lead singer Robert Plant. The show used to be called The Hour, but was reworked for the new season. I can understand the name change, Stroumboulopoulos may be a mouthful to say, but "Strombo" has built a big following, on TV and radio. Aside from Plant, the show had an interview with Canadian opposition leader Michael Ignatieff who stuck with the usual spin. The Liberal Party of Canada is in trouble with Ignatieff at the helm.

The Robert Plant interview was the highlight of the show. Plant spoke about his latest album "Band of Joy", named after his pre Zep group and of course, Led Zeppelin. The band announced their break up in 1980 shortly after drummer Jon Bonham's death. Plant was thirty-two years old at the time. The surviving band members, Jimmy Page, Plant and John Paul Jones decided the band could not go on without Bonham. Imagine stopping your career at the age of 32 years and starting over. I am not questioning the reasons for stopping. I was trying to imagine what I would have done if at the age of 32 I had decided to start a new career.

And then I realized, I did.

It was actually as a thirty-something that I decided to move on from the world of radio broadcasting and move into the world of the 9 to 5 job.

What a way to make a living.

• No more 3 AM wake up calls.
• No more eight cups of coffee a day.
• No more going for a beer at 11AM. Or 8AM.

Working 9 to 5, is the world of responsibility. And it isn't 9 to 5. What a load of horse shit. Stupid song. I work 8AM to 6:00PM. In my radio days 30 hours was considered full time. I love the job I do today. I do miss the shorter schedule.

But back to George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. I cannot understand why the CBC cut the show from one hour to 30 minutes this season. It's a terrific interview show and one of the freshest programs on TV. In August, the network announced the changes to the show, now in it's seventh season, and indicated the revamped shortened format was due to the  "changing tastes in late-night television". Sure. You can watch repeat episode on the CBC site. Or check out the YouTube channel.

Break Up Songs Part II

Continued from Break Up Songs (They Don't Write Em) Part 1. I split this in two parts. It was a little clunky to load. More upbeat breakup songs. There are a lot of those slow, sad love ballads and breakup songs. But how many upbeat breakup songs are there? Did I miss any?


So She's Leaving - The Trews
This first song was a late addition. The Trews, hailing from Nova Scotia have released four studio albums and two EPs. From their 2005 release Den of Thieves here is The Trews with So She's Leaving.



Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) - Looking Glass
Sing along to the Looking Glass' number one song on Billboard’s Hot 100 from 1972. It features Elliot Lurie’s rich vocals.





Don't Go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee
Kiki and Elton’s clowning around make this the most fun video of the entire lot of breakup videos. No vayas a romperme mi corazon.





Here is Cake responding on behalf of all men in their cover of I Will Survive. While in Gaynor’s version she is shouting out to the world, here John McCrea’s take is less of anthem and more of a self reassurance.







Maggie May - Rod Stewart.
I love early Rod Stewart when he was still Rod the Mod and was rocking the Blues. That was before he became Rod the Disco sell-out and before he became Rod the Pop sell-out. Maggie May is in my Top 5 favorite Rod Stewart songs.





96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians
One of the most distinctive keyboard sounds of any song.


Blue Moon – Marcels The up-tempo version the song.

There’s Always Something There to Remind Me - Naked Eyes
Burt Bacharach wrote this in the early 1960s. The Naked Eyes version is synthed out and set to 80s electric drum beats in this New Wave hit.


Jealous Man - Hoyt Axton
Not quite a break up song, Axton refers to it as a love song. But it could just as easily be the jealous ex-boyfriend singing. Axton is one of America’s greatest storytellers, the big man with the guitar, you’ve got to believe every word he says. Or else.
(Also try if you can to find his haunting (and hard to find) cover of House of the Rising Sun. It is beautiful)

(don’t know why this is set to video from Taxi Driver aside from the fact that it kind of fits)
And if you are in the U.S. via Hulu you can stream the episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Axton performs the song.


Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Led Zeppelin
Robert Plant, Jimmy Page. Plant howls about the road a callin’ and overpowering his want to stay.



Gone, Gone, Gone - Bad Company 70s super group. The first to sign to Led Zeppelin created record label Swan Song.
“Well, I been havin’ a little trouble lord
But I'm keepin’ it together yeah
My baby just walked out the doors
She said this time forever...”

Listen for the wicked good chorus.






You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette
This song that sparked Morrisette’s comeback and re-branding.





(I Hate) Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe.
I forgot about these guys. And probably will again. But it’s a fun song.



Click here for the Top Ten
11 - Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) by Looking Glass
12 - Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee
13 - I Will Survive by Cake
14 - Maggie May by Rod Stewart
15 - 96 Tears by ? & The Mysterians
16 - Blue Moon by The Marcels
17 - There’s Always Something There to Remind Me by Naked Eyes
18 - Jealous Man by Hoyt Axton
19 - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin
20 - Gone, Gone, Gone by Bad Company
21 - You Oughta Know by Alanis Morrisette
22 - (I Hate) Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe

There are fewer 90s songs that could be considered classics. I also had trouble finding songs from the 00s and 10s that fit the bill. There are plenty of ballads or slow songs but not many upbeat tunes. I had the urge to throw in Fiona Apple’s Shadowboxer but the song was too somber so I just threw the CD into the player and had a beer. Once my lover now my friend… Can you think of any? What else did I miss? Here's the link to Part 1 of Upbeat break up songs  Break Up Songs (They Don't Write Em) .