Matt Elliott’s Online

A Brand New Day

Another business trip this week, as I am off to scenic and historic Windsor, ON. Birthplace of… something. I’m not sure. Let’s say “Jazz”. Windsor, ON is the birthplace of jazz music. It was the wartime warblings of one Jackie “Fats” Lobo in the upper-north-side of Windsor that once gave birth to the genre that has literally been said by musical historians to be, quote, important. Unquote.

That’s all fake stuff I just made up. I’m sorry about that. I don’t even know why I did it. There’s no reason to lie about the historical importance of Windsor, especially considering its the birthplace of both the dude who played Wheels on Degrassi and CanCon Rock legends The Tea Party, veterans of Big Shiny Tuneses 2, 4, 6 and 9.

BRIEF ASIDE: I just looked at the tracklists for the Big Shiny Tunes series and it’s amazing how much better the first volume is than every single one that followed it. Aside from the possible exception of “Scooby Snacks”, it all holds up.

So Windsor will take up the brunt of my week. Other things on the docket include a 5:45 a.m. wake-up call on Tuesday, to head to an event in which I must wear a suit, which I hardly ever do. Later in the week things calm down, and I am likely to take some to sit around in the city in public spaces like coffee shops and mall food courts looking introspective, hoping that someone will ask me to pose for an oil painting.

It’s all been good times since I last wrote, guys. I got my computer and it’s pretty fantastic. I am typing on it right now. The screen is so bright and clear and gorgeous that I imagine this is probably pretty much exactly what Jodie Foster saw when she got blasted into space in that one movie she was in. (It was Nell.) They should have sent a poem, is what I’m saying. Instead they sent me.

Big plans for life as a 25 year old are still developing. Mostly they include writing disjointed blog points where paragraphs start out serious but then devolve into bizarre medleys of non-sequiturs and half-jokes. All dosed with healthy detachment.

Also: Need to book a dentist appointment. And call the cable company to see if they will give me a free HD box. And continue organizing things in this file cabinet I bought. And start exercising more. And discover the terrible beauty of truth in our times.

One step at a time.

i have to take exception with your calling the original big shiny tunes the one that holds up best. oddly, i was also looking at the tracklists of the entire series the other day, and although big shiny tunes 2 was the one i owned and listened to the most when it came out, i was shocked at how strong big shiny tunes 3 was. one or two duds, but it has a bunch of songs i still listen to semi-regularly.

also, the track listing for the new volume blew my mind a little. seeing bands like wintersleep and tokyo police club amidst stuff like die mannequin and protest the hero and… buckcherry? popular rock music has been bizarre this decade.