Stubborn Fool is Everywhere

Free  fill up with every follow on StubbornFool.com. Deli will cost you a bundle though. Is that Schwartz's?

This is a $200 question.

Yeah. Well, they tried. 

Just as long as you don't drink and drive. That's why I drink at home.

Cheapest rental truck. I need a truck that big to carry my ego.

They welcome me. And then show me to the door.

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.

It's St. Patty's Day, so it must be U2

I'm posting this at 11:15 p.m. on Saturday March 17, so technically it's still St. Patrick's Day. Therefore, it seems only right to me to posit my personal Top 10 Best U2 songs on this, the Irish day of green beer and hangovers.

So, without further ado (and because I have always had an unhealthy man-crush/music hard-on for Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.) here's my "desert island" list. What do you think and what would you, if you are a U2 fan, have chosen?

U2: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr 

10: I Will Follow (Live at Red Rocks) - Is there a better raw anthemic rock song from the 80s?
9: Ultra Violet (light my way) - Probably the most overlooked U2 song in my opinion.
8: All I Want is You - Rattle and Hum wasn't great, but this song sure was.
7: Walk On - Nice "comeback" album. Nicer song.
6: Stay (Faraway, So Close) - Hated the album. Way too weird. But man, this song. The passion!
5: Please - Pop was a mixed bag, some cool shit, some throwaways. But "Please" is a triumph.
4: Love is Blindness - Listen to any live version of this from the Zoo TV tour and tell me you don't get chills.
3: One Tree Hill/Exit - Most underrated song on The Joshua Tree. (And yes, "Exit" was supposed to be a part of "One Tree Hill", so it counts as one song in my book.)
2: Bad - Could've been my number 1 pick, but for the sheer overpowering awesomeness of...
1: Where the Streets Have No Name - An incredible opening track to the best fucking atmospheric rock album ever made. Here endeth the lesson.

Honourable mention:

- The rest of The Joshua Tree.

I Will Follow (Live at Red Rocks) 

Happy Birthday

February 14th marks the second anniversary of Stubborn Fool. So grab a glass of wine, read a comic book and sing along to this wonderful song. My birthdays were never like this. Are you planning a party for your kids? Tired of the usual party centres? Don't want to take the kids to McDonald's or Ponderosa? Cleaning up the house can be such a bother. For a perfect birthday recipe here is a terrific birthday party idea for your child's next birthday. It's freaking hypnotizing.

The song is Hum Bhi Agar Bachche Hote from the 1964 Indian made film Door Ki Awaaz.

Things I don't like (as much... anymore)

So here it is, full confession: things I have discovered in my middle aging that I no longer have as much "like" for as I did in my younger days. Which admittedly is not that long ago. OK, ok, I'm riffing on Mr. O'hara's previous post. So sue me. No, don't. Please?

1. NHL hockey. Yes, I am STILL a pretty big Habs fan. But four things have now mitigated my once-intense love for this game. First: Concussions concussions and the very unfortunate habit of those with concussions to suffer devastating life challenges moving forward from said concussions. Second: My three children. All of whom I hope never want to play contact hockey. See? Four things. Now Go Habs Go!

Chicken Wings

2. BBQ Chicken wings from restaurants like Buffalo Bills, Wild Wing and everyone else who makes chicken wings. Heartburn! When the hell did I start getting heartburn? Lately. So no more chicken wings. Or take-out pizza. Or KFC (yes, technically chicken wings territory, but still.) Where's the Pepto?

Jazz

3. Jazz. I think I used to like it more when I was young, because it was supposed to be "cool" and "not rock". But you know, I just don't get it. Well, except for Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue". That shit's the shit.

4. If you're from Montreal, you know Premier Moisson breads. And man, I used to love those baguettes like Tim Tebow loves Jesus. But lately, living the last seven years in Toronto (where we do have access to Premier Moisson breads) I gotta say, I think there's better. Namely, Ace Bakery baguettes. Awesome!

5. Crappy classic rock stations. I was listening to Q107 here in the Big Smoke yesterday and I turned on the station three times during the day. I swear, I heard "The Logical Song" each time. That's not cool. I used to like that song. I'm sure the same crap happens on classic rock stations all over the place, including beloved CHOM FM with a renewed, slimmed-down Terry DiMonte. Yes, I'm well aware that classic rock is no longer being made, because it was all made back in the classic age of rock. But GEEZ! Guys, start playing more "deep cuts" from albums or something, it's becoming so... fucking... repetitive.

6. Mondays.

7. Facebook. Yes, it still is my essential reminder of all my friends and acquaintances' birthdays and I get the occassional tidbit of news or interesting video post from someone's update. But with this new Timeline function set to take over all our accounts, I just can't be bothered as much anymore. Zuckerberg, figure out a way to re-coolify your little program. It's gettin' stale.

8. Coffee Crisp. Just lost the taste for it. Don't know why.

9. Endless blog lists.

Here endeth the lesson. What say you?

The Barr Brothers

I just heard about this group. The Barr Brothers, that is. Great new band out of Montreal. Well, not so "new", since they've been around paying dues live gigging on the road since 2004. But they just caught a huge exposure break on David Letterman recently, and I assume many like me instantly took notice of their awesomeness in the form of their tune "Beggar in the Morning." Watch their vid for the song below. Wow. I mean... WOW. When's the last time you heard some smooth-ass, uncategorizable tunage like this?



Might be a little late coming to the party on this one, what with being a parent, hitting 40, and generally being out of the "young and hip" loop now that middle age is upon me. But enough whining about all that.

These guys are the shit. I've been looking for some new music to inspire, hit home and just plain evoke emotion from me. Last band to do that out of the blue for me like this was The Arcade Fire and their first album, Funeral. Another Montreal-based outfit. Go figure.

Anyway, The Barr Brothers... their eponymous first album hit the streets and stores and online retailers last year. Took awhile to filter to the masses, it seems. Hopefully this little, inconsequential blog helps change that a smidgen.

The Barr Brothers Photo Credit: Andre Guerette

Do yourselves a favour, go to their website. Have a listen/look. Close your eyes. Immerse in the band's fucking awesome soundscapes and if you like it as much as I do, buy this shit up. I haven't heard a bad tune out of this album yet. I sure hope they get the credit and sales they deserve and can roll out six or seven of these album-gems in the coming years.

Mature alt-rock-atmospheric-aural-gold. Nice.

And oh yeah, when's the last time you thought of a harp as an essential instrument to great mainstream music? Watch the little instrumental ditty below. Slightly reminiscent of Lindsey Buckingham's instrumental ode to Stevie Nicks called "Stephanie." Sweet, sweet... SAH-WEET!

Like I said, how do you categorize these guys? You can't. And who cares?! They rock... or whatever. The Barr Brothers, with opening act Alexi Murdoch, will be playing as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival on July 1st, 2012 at the Metropolis.


THE BARR BROTHERS - Sarah Through The Wall Vimeo.

Please Do Not Adjust Your Sets

A change is coming to this blog. Nothing drastic. With the ever increasing number of hits I thought it time to register my domain name. It was a simple process and the site stubbornfool.blogspot.com will now be known as www.stubbornfool.com.

The transition should be seamless for you the reader, you will be redirected to the new site. I may have to update a widget or two, I've already noticed a couple errors. Updates are going on over the next day or so. You will be automatically transferred over to the new site once the transfer is complete.

You are welcome to update your links to www.stubbornfool.com.

Interesting enough, I was able to register the domain name through blogger. Blogger allows me to keep the same template. I should have more flexibility with the layout. stubbornfool.blogspot.com will remain but will automatically forward you to www.stubbornfool.com.

Stubborn Fool