Pass The Mic – Beastie Boys

Empty House – Delta Spirit

Gimme a Beer – Diamond Rugs

Bludderbuss – Jack White

I Don’t Know – Beastie Boys

I Took Note – Diamond rugs

Song For Love – Plants and Animals

American Idol – Plants and Animals

-Peter

Being a kid in the eighties was like living in a Golden age of copper.  You could find pennies everywhere and pretty much nobody wanted them. I would clean the house to find pennies. People would sell big jars of them at garage sales for a dollar.  I rolled them up and though putting them in the bank would have been the smart move, I bought candy and hockey cards. Store clerks didn’t raise an eyebrow when you paid with 4 rolls of pennies instead of a two dollar bill.  Remember the two dollar bill??

The generation before ours was the one who first disregarded the value of a penny. Your parents and grandparents always said “save your pennies” and rightfully so. My grandmother used to complain about the cost of things saying that in her day, a bag of groceries was 10cents not ten dollars.  Now even that’s rare unless it’s puffed wheat or a sack of potatoes. 

Have a look at these prices from a hundred years ago – my Gran was born in the late 1890′s…

In the year 1910…

Butter (Pound) $ .39 
Eggs (Dozen) $ .36 
Washing Machine (non-electrical) $ 7.15 
Bicycle $ 11.95 

The average U.S. workingman earns less than $15 per week.

In the year 1900…

Meat Prices 

Spring Chicken 7¢ lb. 
Beef 10¢ lb. 
Sausage 12.5¢ lb. 
Hens 7¢ lb. 
Pork 10¢ lb. 
Turkey 10¢ lb. 
Veal 10¢ lb. 
Bacon 12.5¢ lb. 

Dinner Menu 

Appetizers 

Half of a Cantaloupe 10¢ 
Sliced Orange 10¢ 
Young Onions 5¢ 
Sliced Tomatoes 10¢ 
New Radishes 5¢ 
Sliced Cucumbers 10¢ 

Soup 

Old Fashion Navy Bean 10¢ 

Main Course 

Channel Catfish 20¢ 
Pork Tenderloins 20¢ 
Omelet with Jelly 15¢ 
Roast Pork with Applesauce 20¢ 
Chicken Fricassee 20¢ 
Roast Beef 15¢ 
Pork and Beans 15¢ 

Vegetables 

Corn on the Cob 10¢ 
Buttered Beets 5¢ 
Mashed Potatoes 5¢ 
Pickled Beets 5¢ 
Cole Slaw 5¢ 
Salad 10¢ 

Dessert 

Lemon Layer Cake 5¢ 
Ice Cream 10¢ 
Ice Cream and Cake 15¢ 
Raspberries and Cream 10¢ 
Rhubarb Pie 5¢ 
Green Apple Pie 5¢ 

Drinks 

Coffee 5¢ 
Milk 5¢ 
Tea 5¢ 
Buttermilk 5¢

They say (the internets) that a penny in  1900 would be worth about 30cents now… But I bet you can’t find buttered beets anywhere these days for $1.50!

There are some exceptions to that stat though – in 1997 the US minted 1933 ‘double eagle’ penny fetched 7.5million  at auction.  Seems like bad math to me but what do I know??

To me it feels like the loonie is the new penny. I’ll always bend over for a dollar coin if I drop one or see it on the ground.  A quarter? Probably not.  Just sayin. 

The fact that it was costing Canada 1.6 cents to mint pennies was a great reason to stop producing them. We could have done away with them years ago and likely saved the country millions of dollars…
I’ll probably never roll pennies again in my life. I’d likely sell a jar of pennies for a buck rather than deal with them. I can’t deposit them in the ATM, and seriously, am I going to be that guy in the bank with a sack of rolled pennies? 
The word is that in the next 3 years, Canada will introduce a $5 coin. It will be annoying, but the toonie has saved us over 600 million dollars (what would have been spent on bill maintenance and replacement) since its roll out in 1996.

You kids out there save those quarters, dimes & nickels. Nobody really cares about them anymore. Roll them up and put them in the bank – or blow the $ on your pokemons and Bieber magazines – Whatever you like…
But they’ll stop making those too, just like they did with the penny this week.

Anyone want to go for an omelette with jelly and a glass of buttermilk?

G

This made me ask myself – why are these athletes, who seem to have so much good going for them, brought to this point in their life where the only choice that makes sense is suicide??  There may be a bigger issue at hand with athletes – like the ongoing concussion debate – but the question for me is; how do these people not have any sort of support network to help get them through these times??  Maybe the answer is easy….money doesn’t buy friends and not everyone has a family…..but these multi-million dollar franchises must have some way of monitoring this stuff….right?!?!?!

Many in the Vancouver (and Canadian/International) music community were shocked to hear that one of our own – Todd Simko – took his life last week.  I can’t say that I ever knew Todd, but I know a lot of people who were touched by him, and it came as a complete shock to everyone I’ve spoken with.  No one saw it coming…..no one saw the signs.

I don’t know that I have any answers to why these things happen, but I do know this:  through our involvement in the BC Schizophrenia Society’s Reachout Tour we learned how incredibly important it is to overcome the stigmas associated with mental health issues.  It is okay to seek help.  It is okay to talk with your friends about what your are experiencing….no matter how crazy it may seem.  It is okay to go to a Doctor, and it is okay to go to the hospital.  Everyone needs a support network….beit one friend, a family member, an employer, or a family doctor.  Talking is the best way to prevent these tragedies from happening.

If you have the time, check the following links.  Even it doesn’t help you out, it may help out someone that is close to you.  No one is perfect….we all have problems….and we’re all here to help each other out when we need it. 

Mind Check – www.mindcheck.ca

Reachout Psychosis – www.reachoutpsychosis.com

Anxiety/Depression BC – www.anxietybc.com

M2

Then pick 3 bands (dead, alive, whatever) and a venue without restriction (think the grand canyon or something)

Kinda stupid, kinda awesome.

My shows:
Real one
Dawes , Grace Potter, Dave Matthews band at the gorge.

Fantasy one
James Brown, Led Zepelin, Pink Floyd Somewhere in the arctic circle and the Northern Lights are part of the later show.

Share yours on our Facebook page.

G

Levon was best known as the backbone of The Band, and was the lone American amongst the group of ragtag road warriors that rose to fame first supporting Ronnie Hawkins, then Bob Dylan, and then finally breaking away to put out their own iconic albums. In his later years, Levon hosted the Midnight Ramble at his farm, where the music would go on till the wee hours and you would never quite know who might show up to play.

It goes without saying that Levon and The Band are great inspirations to The Matinee, and having studied their music and their history for many years, they have directly influenced our esthetic and our band dynamics.

On more than one occasion we have all sat, glass in hand, with our eyes fixated on Martin Scorsese’s film ‘The Last Waltz‘… which depicts The Band’s final performance, accompanied by a whole cast of noteworthy musical friends. And while, it is clear that there was some partying going on that night, they were all putting on a show, and Levon was no exception.

Often grinning from ear to ear, and belting away with his raw and honest voice, all the whilst keeping locked in the groove on the drum kit, Levon lived and breathed his music each and every day, right up until his passing.

It was only last week that we were in studio and our producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) was telling us of recently paying a visit to Levon and seeing him looking frail and weak, but as soon as it came time to take the stage for the Midnight Ramble, he sprung to life as though nothing was ailing him at all. If that’s not evidence of the power of music, and the power of having a passion, well I just don’t know what is.

I can only hope that my own personal journey will lead me down a similar path. To have a life filled with memories of shedding blood, sweat and tears upon stages ’round the world, and surrounded by a group of musical brothers all along the way… that’s a tall order, no doubt. With Levon leaving us, I am compelled to work even harder, and to appreciate the opportunities and supportive friendships we have developed as a band.

Thank-you Levon for all that you gave to the great big music book we all worship. I never had the good fortune of seeing you play live, but I am sure there will forever be a part of you on stage in some old concert hall somewhere every night. You just needed a place where you can rest your head.

Matt Layzell

It’s with that sense of optimism that I turn my focus to the Canucks game tonight.  I know they’re down 3-0….I know that only 3 teams have only ever come back from that deficit in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs….and I know that the Canucks have been playing like shit over the past month.  But I have faith in this team, and they’re going to come back.  Mark my words (I’m going Messier on this one), the Canucks are going to come back and beat L.A., and it’s all going to start tonight.

So in lieu of a long blog, I’m now going to turn my attention to the CBC (which by the way, got raped in our latest federal budget…….so do our country a favour and write your local MP and ask them what the fuck is wrong with our government?).  It’s going to be tough….but I know that the Canucks can do it, and it all starts now.

The glass is half full….the grass is greener on our side…..and it is possible to beat the odds.

Go ‘Nucks.

M2

Rember the old days when records were nowhere near perfect? Tale a listen to any stones record, or the Band… Those harmonies aren’t even close to the lead vocal, sure the notes are what they need to be, and the words are mostly the same, but it’s like they weren’t even listening to each other’s voices.

This (to me) is what makes older rock records so appealing. There is such an honesty in that delivery. You know that they just rolled tape and gave it hell – you truly feel like you’re getting an honest performance.
As we continue to lay down tracks on this session, I’m happy that we’re getting the best possible takes and looking at every aspect of what the performance needs to be, but part of me will always be nostalgic for the old recordings and the ‘honest’ records of old. that’s not to say that what we are doing isn’t honest. It really is. But it’s a bit more calculated and planned out. We still do group takes ‘live off the floor’ style – we want these songs to have the character of our live show as much as we can, but it’s definitely not a loose and likely booze/drug aided ‘shot’ at getting the song captured.

Either way, we are going to give you alot to listen to very soon we will ‘catch’ the performance and ‘release’ it to you soon, so get ready friends…
It’s close

G

But then I hear this blazing song and it makes me wanna say screw it, and get deep into that bottle of Jim Beam that has been waiting patiently for me in the liquor cabinet. It’s not just the song, which by the way is really well-produced and catchy as a Juicy Fruit jingle, it’s also the singer’s voice. Or should I say – the Sinner’s Voice? The band is called No Sinner, and the song I am referring to is titled ‘Boo Hoo Hoo.’ You can hear it right here in all its glory and there’s a smoking video too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIhDILaxLxw

This band oozes the sexy, soulful confidence of a bourbon street mistress, and they leave you begging for more. It is not often you will here a voice like this either. One that is in charge of your ears from the very note. And wouldn’t you know it, they are from right here in Vancouver with most of the musicians being faces you just might recognize.

I was sold on first listen, and I have since found out that there’s a good chance we’ll be sharing a stage or two later this summer. Seems like a smoking hot, barn-burning good time to me. Which is why I’m just not so sure that I will hit the sheets at a reasonable hour tonight. I may have to crack open that bottle, and take a few swigs while No Sinner plays on repeat. Then I’m gonna throw on my boots and hit up The Biltmore for some soul revival. That’s medicine!

Matt Layzell.

my own bed, good cheap sushi and a very sweet girl – what a way to feel like I am where I belong.

We had the pleasure of spending 4 blurry days and 4 insane nights in the centre of the universe this week.  Flying out was great though they wouldn’t serve us until about halfway through the flight…

Leaving a cold grey Vancouver and arriving in humid, hot & sunny Toronto was a nice treat, that our instruments were in the same condition as when we left was even better.  Picking up our rental car was easy and quick, we were all in a great mood – the beginning of another adventure with our pals always has a way of holding the promise of great times to come – and this trip definitely did not dissapoint.  Traffic, however, on our way into the financial district, was a nightmare.  I’m always blown away by how crazy it gets there in rush hour… there are a million routes and a million lanes (compared to Vancouver) but it still gets so hectic.  The honking is insane too, the city can be so impatient and people use their horns in a way that we tend to avoid at home.  Alas, that hiccup aside, we got to the impressively huge and beautiful (yet antiquated) Royal York Hotel.

After check – in, we checked out the conference for a bit then headed out to get some dinner and to catch the Canucks game.  Now you have to understand that this week was supposed to be about spreading the word that is The Matinee to a wider audience and to create more awareness among the power-players back east of what we do and why they should be taking notice…  that said, we met up with some home town friends for the game, we surely would go out and meet some new people afterwards but it just makes sense to watch the canucks with canucks fans right?

After the game (and a fair few drinks that complimented the handful we had on the plane) we were ready to head out into the wild Toronto night – after a quick few drinks with some more BC friends who were at one of the hotel bars…  when we finally did go and check out some music – it was because we hooked up with some more friends from town & we did an absolutely terrible job of meeting anyone new, we were way too loud, and mostly incomprehensible which likely made us unaproachable.

Cue the late night snack and hotel room party – then bed.

Day two

okay so i’m not going to give you a detailed account of everything we did, but we ended up seeing Sidney York, Katie Rox Washboard Union and Steph Macpherson and hanging with the guys from Redgy Blackout & Acres of lions (HAMMERED!!) and meeting some new people from (wait for it) BC!! blah blah poutine… blah blah… hotel party etc etc

Day 3 – we had a much later start than anticipated – spent the day trying to clear our heads and making the rounds at the convention exchanging business cards then running our set in the hotel room. we headed out to the Rivoli for the music BC showcase… we hung out all night with our grad class from Peak Performance Project and all the other awesome band folk we know and love from the west.

( Portage & Main, JP Maurice, British Columbians, Belle Game, Current Swell )

When we finally left the Rivoli we headed to the Horseshoe to catch a last minute – top secret set from no other than BC`s Dan Mangan.  The hotel party was sponsored by Smokes Poutinery, Epic burger, steam whistle beer and tetley (they make teabags right dan tanner…)

Day 4

wowsers, wake up to gravy & curd covered forks, hotel room coffee supplies scattered around the room and empties everywhere…

we treated ourselves to a $120 breakfast at the hotel restaurant – 5 brunch items – no booze and promptly headed back to the room for some hard earned naps.  Mid afternoon we got it together and met some friends in the hotel bar.. you know, fellow bc artists, Quinn Best, washboard guys… the usual.  We actually managed to go from there to the Prairie music showcase to catch the end of CowPuncher`s showcase and though we only caught a few songs, they definitely did impress.

we then headed out to catch Matt Rose on stage playing guitar & banjo with Dallas Smith who is anothe BC naitive.  We ended up hanging at the cadillac lounge with washboard union till the wee hours (Lazy stumbled into the hotel around 7:30 am and slept under a towel) and we barely got 3 hours sleep before it was time to get to the airport to come home.

We did make some good contacts, we did meet lots of people from back east and we did schmooze with alot of the people we had targeted when we set out, but it just goes to show you that home is where the heart is.  We have so many outstanding friends and comrades from our unbeliveably rich and strong music scene in and around Vancouver.  People definitely took notice, not only how many artists of the highest caliber are emerging from here, but of how united and connected we all are.  We don`t compete, we support each other and we raise each other up through our love of each otrher`s music and our love for each other.  We get so much help and love from the fine folks at Music BC, guys like Rob Calder and all the other bc industry folks who make it their mission to get our music out to the masses…

Flying over the snow capped mountains into the most beautiful city I could ever imagine wanting to be, I reflected on how lucky we are to have such great family, fans and community – Vancouver and BC are showing very strongly on a national and international stage right now and what people are noticing most is that though diverse and varied in style and substance, we are a united front – a growing family that is strong and growing stronger.

There`s no place like home

G

follow the links on all the names for some of my favorite songs from these awesome BC artists!

While considering the fact that I will be some 30 000 feet above the earth moving 500 or so Mph, I realize that I am going to need some music to listen to…

So here it is, my top 5 songs about flying

Pink Floyd – Learning to Fly

Tom Petty – Learning to fly

Joni Mitchell – This Flight Tonight

Kenny Loggins -Highway To The Danger Zone

Foo Fighters – Wheels

Enjoy,

Geoff