The pasta salad at the Kingston, ON, bus station is completely unparalleled. It’s not simply the best pasta salad in the 1000 Islands Region, or Southeastern Ontario, or even Canada – it is the best pasta salad in the universe. See, I’ve made plenty of grueling, 9-hour bus trips along Highway 401, – having lived in Montreal with family in Toronto – and I can confidently say that the pasta salad was the only good thing about making the trip.
And it’s comforting to know that the pasta salad will always be there for me. Though my trips to Montreal have been increasingly infrequent, I traveled there last month, and I’m glad to say that the quality of their pasta salad has been uncompromised despite the ravage of the years. No; Kingston’s pasta salad is beyond the mere sum of tricolore rotini, chopped celery and carrots, and fresh garlic; it’s the last vestige of God, his eulogy, since he was proclaimed dead in 1882. And it will always be there for weary Coach Canada travelers.
And as Kingston’s pasta salad will always provide support despite life’s staggering lows, so will Cancon. Rarely understood by outsiders, there’s a unifying element to Cancon that’s unidentifiable to non-Canadians; the music that’s produced and distributed in Canada is both quietly spectacular and comforting.
Now, while there’s a lot occurring in the present in my very city – this weekend brings Nuit Blanche to Toronto nights, Dillinger 4 secretively announces show at Sneaky Dees (October 9th, 12:00 AM, $10), and we’re fresh off the heels of the Canadian Electoral debates and the plummeting popularity of Stephane Dion's Liberal Party - this Friday’s post will focus on pop-Canadiana, both past and present; this Friday (and maybe next), we’ll be scraping the resin from the Cancon canon (henceforth referred to as the Cancanon). And I hope you find these five videos as reassuring as the 401’s oasis of starchy hope.
And it’s comforting to know that the pasta salad will always be there for me. Though my trips to Montreal have been increasingly infrequent, I traveled there last month, and I’m glad to say that the quality of their pasta salad has been uncompromised despite the ravage of the years. No; Kingston’s pasta salad is beyond the mere sum of tricolore rotini, chopped celery and carrots, and fresh garlic; it’s the last vestige of God, his eulogy, since he was proclaimed dead in 1882. And it will always be there for weary Coach Canada travelers.
And as Kingston’s pasta salad will always provide support despite life’s staggering lows, so will Cancon. Rarely understood by outsiders, there’s a unifying element to Cancon that’s unidentifiable to non-Canadians; the music that’s produced and distributed in Canada is both quietly spectacular and comforting.
Now, while there’s a lot occurring in the present in my very city – this weekend brings Nuit Blanche to Toronto nights, Dillinger 4 secretively announces show at Sneaky Dees (October 9th, 12:00 AM, $10), and we’re fresh off the heels of the Canadian Electoral debates and the plummeting popularity of Stephane Dion's Liberal Party - this Friday’s post will focus on pop-Canadiana, both past and present; this Friday (and maybe next), we’ll be scraping the resin from the Cancon canon (henceforth referred to as the Cancanon). And I hope you find these five videos as reassuring as the 401’s oasis of starchy hope.
Age of Electric – Enya
Age of Electric’s first video, Enya, came prior to their top 30 success (that disntinction belongs to Big Shiny Tune ‘Remote Control’), and is far, far less tantric than the song title suggests. Of note, one of the Dahle brothers – not the soul-patched, bowling-jacket toting one, but the one who resembles an abused puppy – has since participated in a number of mind-bogglingly good Vanocuver-based projects, including the New Pornographers, Limblifter, the Awkward Stage, and Vancouver Nights.
The Doughboys – Fix Me
Though I initially – and unsuccessfully – tried to find a clip for ‘Shine,’ the lead-single from the Doughboys’ excellent 1993 album Crush and theme song for the Sook Yin Lee hosted Muchmusic show the Wedge, this song will have to do. Crush is one of my favourite Cancon releases of all time, and if you look past dreadlocked Asexual John Kastner, you can spot a young Jonathan Cummins in this video. Cummins is currently best known as Montreal’s finest uber-embittered, scraggly, ginger-goateed rock critic; he’s also contributed to a few excellent bands, including Bionic and an early incarnation of the Besnard Lakes.
The Mission District – Youth Games
As the only contemporary band listed amongst these videos, the Mission District are in some pretty distinguished company. They have emerged from Montreal’s Anglo call-centre community, and in their short existence, they’ve managed to release a delightful record (also entitled Youth Games), secure a spot on an upcoming edition of Big Shiny Tunes (a fixture in every young Canadian’s record collection), work with Big Wreck’s producer, and threaten to unload their collective semen on Perez Hilton’s face on national television. However, they are still Perez favourites, and I suspect that they’re vying for a spot in the Cancanon, as well.
Gob – Soda
Ah, the irreverence of youth. The song features the lyrics ‘but it’s so cool / that we’re together / and we’re smiling, drinking soda / I want to jump in a lake / sun shining down on the beach in the summer.’ The video features BMXes, spiders, and, quite surprisingly, people jumping in lakes. Created prior to Gob’s renaissance as a snowboard ensemble, this is precisely the song that, during early adolescence, was the soundtrack to waiting in line to see an acquaintance’s band play in an overpriced battle-of-the-bands. Note: Gob’s Theo, he harbouring a mouth full of spiders, would entirely be an average-looking dude if he didn’t make Quasimodo faces in their videos.
Blue Rodeo – Hasn’t Hit Me Yet
Alright, I lied – Mission District weren’t the only contemporary band on the list. Though Jim Cuddy and Blue Rodeo still perform, ‘Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,’ released in 1993, might be themost memorable song in their surprisingly solid career. If ‘Soda’ is the soundtrack to queuing at amateur punk rock shows, ‘Hasn’t Hit Me Yet’ is the equivalent song given three years of maturity – it’s the soundtrack to eating mushrooms in Muskoka, going wakeboarding in otter shit, and making out with questionable girls from Gravenhurst, ON.
**Note: The image heading this post is the second painting I've stolen from the Torontoist, alongside the fantastic painting of Igor Kenk; they deserve some credit.
5 comments:
This post is just a pantload of memories surrounding that rare time when MuchMusic actually played a lot of videos, and I was young enough to sit around watching them all the time.
Firstly, I love how Age of Electric's Bass player is rocking out as if he was pounding out thundering lows in Tool. This, coupled with his baffling hair, are generally the first signs of someone who will eventually leave the band due to "creative differences", and nobody will be surprised. The most classic example of this phenomena is Wes Borland.
The other thing this made me think of was the Gob shirt featuring the baby blue toilet that I had. Being 14, I had everyone in the band sign it with permanent marker, and then wore it to school, atleast once a week, for easily over a year. I'm not sure if this was something everyone did, or just me, but every article of clothing I had that I liked, was worn with obnoxious frequency.
granted, my memory of classic mark conversation steams is marred by intoxication legal and otherwise, but i seem to recall the FRENCH FRIES at the kingston bus station being the object of your fancy and not the pasta salad. i have never had the pasta salad, its true. but, i have had the fries several times, as i recall before you first mentioned them) and i GUARANTEE that they are more noteworthy than the pasta salad. now, you might have a new fave, sure, but your neglect of the old standby troubles me. oh, and gob was cool. i even liked that zombie soccer music video shits.
Actually, I've never had fries at the Kingston bus terminal... what are you talking about?!
your inclusion of the mission district in this post automatically removes what little remaining credibility as a music critic you may have had. welcome to the bottom. we've missed you.
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