I mean, it’s not every day that you get a Christmas greeting from a rock goddess…
It turns out that Cherie came across my female rock memoir writeup via Google Alert, and posted it on her Facebook fanpage. I stopped by to set the record straight on a coupla things, and shortly afterwards, I saw the above message in my inbox. Let’s just say I’ve been singing this song for the past 18 hours:
On the other hand, I’ve not yet heard back from Pat Benatar. Hmm…
I first heard about this a couple weeks ago, and have been stopping by on a daily basis ever since. UK-based fashion rag Love Magazine has put together a Christmas calendar on its website, only instead of chocolates, each day you get a two-minute video of a model dancing in her underwear to Christmas music. There are a coupla “nasty surprises” along the way, but I won’t tell you which days to avoid, so you’ll just hafta figure it out for yourself. Personally, I’m anxious to see what they’ll unveil on Christmas Eve…
…
On that note, I’m gonna be taking a week off from blogging as I head outta town for the holidays. I’m sure the lingerie models will keep you company till I come back. 
From: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/23/holiday-travel-airport.html
Today is one of the busiest travel days of the year, with an estimated 100,000 people passing through Pearson before it’s all said and done. Good thing I’m taking off from the Toronto Island airport!
A reminder from the CBC that “passengers who are travelling with gifts in their carry-on luggage are being asked to leave the gifts unwrapped as those packages may be inspected at security check points” has prompted the following response:
Hey, as long as the security guards escorting you from the premises aren’t the same ones that are screening my stuff, I guess that’ll make the line somewhat shorter, won’t it? It might not get perfectly, but as long as it gets me to the gate on time…
Prothèses mammaires: Breast implants.
As seen in: « Le fameux “principe de prévention” va donc être appliqué aux 30 000 Françaises qui se sont fait implanter des prothèses mammaires de la marque PIP, puisque certaines sont remplies d’un gel de silicone non médical qui entraîne des risques accrus de fuite et de rupture de l’enveloppe de la prothèse. »
(Translation: “The famous Prevention Principle will be applied to 30,000 Frenchwomen who received PIP-brand breast implants, as some of them are filled with non-medical silicone that increases risks of leakage and rupture of the shell of the prosthetic breast.”)
Admittedly, basketball’s not my favourite sport, but I’m hardly ignorant of its existence. As a matter of fact, I was one of those weird kids that played basketball instead of hockey when I was growing up. (Saved my parents a ton of money on equipment!) Last season, I tried to keep tabs on the Toronto (C)Raptors, mostly during commercials/intermissions of whatever football or hockey game I was watching, but it got to the point where I just couldn’t be bothered, since I knew they were gonna lose anyways. The only game I went to last year was when the Phoenix Suns were in town to A) See Steve Nash in the flesh and B) Boo Vince Carter. Suffice to say that the Suns still won, though I can’t even remember the final score.
Sure, there was some excitement when Vince was in town, and the team was headed to the playoffs–I’ll admit, I even bought his jersey–but lately, the Craptors have been prime practitioners of bad basketball. Without Chris Bosh anymore, the team will be relying on a handful of young players, none of whom have shown they can play defence, and it doesn’t look pretty. (Mind you, Bosh didn’t D up much either when he wore a Raptor uni…) In fact, in a recent Toronto Star poll (scroll down for it), 82 per cent of respondents had the Raps winning less than 30 games this year, with 27 per cent pegging their win total at 10 or less. Even with the lockout knocking 15 games off the calendar, Toronto’s still gonna be in for a long season.
Mind you, after they announced the end of the lockout earlier this month, it took me a good two weeks just to remember the names of Toronto’s starting five. This made me realize that not having the NBA from Halloween through Christmas wasn’t such a huge loss. Somehow, a league of overpaid multimillionaires with a salary cap that’s soft like Charmin playing a large slate of high-scoring games where points don’t mean much–and most games don’t really matter till you get to the playoffs–has made such a small impact on me that I didn’t even notice it was gone. Hey, wake me when it’s April, alright?
That’s not to say I haven’t been watching basketball though, having caught all but a couple of Gonzaga’s first nine games. Although Toronto has been Canada’s Team by default since the Grizzlies moved to Memphis (why they never changed that team’s name is beyond me!), the Gonzaga Bulldogs, with two key starters from north of the border, have a lot more Canuckian hoops cred than a team that’ll be bringing Jamaal Magloire off the bench for the first time this year. Unlike the NBA playoffs, which resemble the clutch-and-grab postseason play of the pre-lockout NHL, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is one of the most exciting events in sports, with its fast-paced, frenetic, one-and-done format–and I fully expect the Zags to make their 12th straight appearance come March. As for the Raptors chances? Well, I think I’ll leave that one to Jim Mora…
The age-old question: does killer weed kill more than booze or ciggies? Most CBC.ca readers say it’s the least dangerous of the Big Three. In fact, this guy puts it waaay, waaay down there on the list:
Out of curiosity, what’s number 34,344 on that list?
Paralume: A screen or shade that dims the amount of light emitted directly from a light source, ie a screen for fluorescent lighting. Can also refer to a concrete structure in a tunnel that filters light.
As seen in: « Transports Québec a fermé complètement le tunnel Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine en direction sud mercredi soir même, afin de retirer des paralumes, a-t-il annoncé à peine quelques heures avant.»
(Translation: “Transports Québec has completely shut down the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel southbound as of Wednesday night, in order to remove its light filters, as announced just a few hours beforehand.”
http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/regional/archives/2011/12/20111221-185731.html
If you wanna get music books for cheap, HMV is a good place to go. Last week, I picked up Between a Heart and a Rock Place, Pat Benatar’s autobiography, for a mere eight bucks–almost 70 per cent off the list price of 27. I gotta say, I’m a big Pat Benatar fan, right up to her 1980 album, Crimes of Passion. Her later work was too new wave for me, too commercial. But those first two records have got some rockin’ tunes!
Anyways, it turns out that she didn’t really lead the rock star life, not like you’d expect. The narrative really shows what a decent, kind-hearted person Pat Benatar is, and when she says that she stayed away from all the drugs and the drinking, you believe her. Between a Heart and a Rock Place is largely a rock ‘n roll love story between Benatar and Neil “Spyder” Giraldo, her longtime lead guitarist/producer, who remained buried behind the scenes for most of her career. Sure, the book touches on sexism in the music industry, and how Pat sees herself as somewhat of a pioneer for female rockers, but while there are some less-than-kind words for the folks at Chrysalis Records in here, she otherwise doesn’t try to step on too many toes.
If you like Pat Benatar’s music, and wanna know the inside story behind all of her records–not to mention the legendary video shoots for “Shadows of the Night” and “Love is a Battlefield,” then this is an interesting read. But I’d say that if you’re not already a fan, this play-it-safe memoir isn’t all that exciting.
…
On the other hand, one of the most riveting rock reads I’ve picked up recently is Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by Cherie Currie. Now this, on the other hand, is a true sex, drugs ‘n rock ‘n roll story, made all the more captivating by the fact that its protagonists were all teenagers at the time. Originally published as a Young Adult book in the early 80′s, it’s clear that the 2010 edition has undergone significant rewrites, as this book is definitely not suitable for younger audiences. Currie taps into her memory bank for vivid tales of being raped–not once, but twice–being set up with a “famous pop singer” (though she doesn’t name names) when she was 16–and on her period–and being locked up in an English prison, not to mention the everyday band drama and going through mounds of blow and crack cocaine, particularly in her post-Runaway days.
Yes, the movie with Dakota Fanning and that girl from Twilight was adapted from Neon Angel, and while you’ll find most of the movie in here, this book takes it to a whole ‘nother level. You don’t hafta be a Runaways fan to be shocked and awed by this Angel either, as Currie shows a seedier side of the music industry that a pop starlet like Pat Benatar seemingly didn’t experience. Currie lays it all out on the table here–much like Theo Fleury did in Playing with Fire, and the results are astonishing. Not for the faint of heart; but a wild ride for the rest of us.
ADVANTAGE: Currie.
From: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/12/21/pol-robert-chisholm-withdraws.html
Today, Robert Chisholm, an NDP MP from Halifax and former provincial party leader in Nova Scotia, announced that he’s withdrawing from the party’s leadership race, primarily because he doesn’t think he can learn French in time to fulfill his duties. Although I didn’t watch the NDP leadership debate (was it even televised?), word has it that he needed a translator to understand questions asked in French, and was the only candidate who then had to answer in English, though I’m told that some of the other candidates spoke approximate French, at best.
Hey, kudos to him for recognizing his limitations. The province of Quebec, from which most of the NDP caucus hails, has already seen a lack of French-language representation at the highest levels of business and government—to say nothing of Randy Cunneyworth…
Offrir en pâture: To put something (or someone) up for grabs or to use as bait.
As seen in: « Ayant appris que son amie de 15 ans avait eu des contacts sexuels non souhaités, mais rétribués avec un prétendu photographe rencontré par l’intermédiaire de l’internet, une adolescente de 16 ans se serait offerte en pâture, dans le but de vérifier si son amie disait vrai et de coincer l’individu. »
(Translation: “Having learned that her 15-year-old-friend had undesired, paid sexual contact with a supposed photographer she met online, a 16-year-old teenager offered herself up for grabs in order to see if her friend was telling the truth—and to entrap the man in question.”)
