Six weeks, six new songs! I can’t say he makes it look easy – as you’ve seen, it hasn’t been – but I can marvel at the fact that he continues to create a brand new, and amazingly good, new song every week! This week’s song is a hard-rockin’ full-band-style arrangement, leaving behind the acoustic vibe from weeks four and five. Check out “House of Cards” here or on the YouTubes. Send your friends. And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the Connor McGuire YouTube channel.
Connor’s Week 5 song for his ‘Song a Week Project’ could be his best yet, despite the fact that it ended up being a ‘Song a Day Project’. The suspense is killing me! Please support Connor’s work by subscribing to his YouTube channel and leaving encouraging comments.
Every week of Connor’s ‘Song a Week Project’ has had it’s challenges. Week four was no exception. His plan to simplify the process by eliminating a full band arrangement and writing on an acoustic guitar just created a higher expectation for the lyrics – which became a struggle. I’m proud to say that Connor won that battle, and that “Getting Over It” (or whatever the official title will be) is a truly beautiful, thoughtful and damned catchy song. I’ve been singing it all morning!
If you know anyone who would take the time to view and comment on Connor’s ‘SWP’ vids (or, better yet, subscribe to the series), please direct them either to this site or to the YouTube page where it’s hosted.
What Connor is doing with his ‘Song a Week Project’ is brutally difficult work. Making something from nothing – the delicate alchemy of songwriting – can be a gut-wrenching endeavour at the best of times, and doing it on a schedule like this is something I don’t think I could do. I watch his progress with a mixture of fear and loathing … and pride.
It was touch-and-go, but Connor has managed to complete his second song in time for week two of his “Song a Week Project”. As a not-uninterested witness to the unfolding events that he chronicles on the making-of video, I can confirm for you that there was a significant amount of dramatic tension and excitement involved.
This instalment features Jim “I like my coffee” Black, dropping some mind-bending guitar, a visit to the best studio in Vancouver, Connor’s alter-ego “Pack Mentality” rocking the house and, of course, the finished recording of the song. Honestly though, the best (and funniest) ten-seconds opens the clip, with Connor attempting to remember the date.
So once again I ask you all to click on this link to his YouTube page to watch the two short videos and *leave a high rating and a positive comment*. If you don’t have a YouTube account, which I think you might need to leave a comment, PLEASE take a minute to sign up so you can offer your support to Connor on this excellent project. (SPOILER: This week’s song is just as amazing as last week’s AND it’s in 5/4 time!)
Connor decided a week ago that he would try to write a song a week. Then, in a moment of what I would characterize as foolhardy overconfidence, he added a video camera into the mix – recording the emotional peaks and valleys of his pressurized songwriting process.
As most parents probably would, I gritted my teeth, far more concerned about the outcome than he seemed to be. And, although he started out strong he had ground to a halt by the middle of the week.
In the hopes that I’ve built both your interest and suspense, I ask you all to click on this link to his YouTube page, watch the two short videos and, if you feel it appropriate, leave a high rating and a positive comment. (SPOILER: The resulting song is amazing and more-so after you’ve watched him piece it together)
It’s been a very long time since I’ve played a song over and over again.
I played this video, by Wax Mennequin from Hamilton Ontario, five or six times in a row when I first heard it. I tried to link to it yesterday, because Connor and I were going to see his show at the Railway Club, but it had disappeared from the internets. It’s back now, and you should all watch it/listen to it now before it disappears again. Wax and the Burning Hell killed it last night. There is still plenty of their Hear Some Evil tour left for you to check out. Here’s a web page devoted to the tour. Also, buy the Wax Mannequin CD, Saxon.
Trooper’s first album was released 35 years ago, on July 1st, Canada Day, 1975.
1975 is the year the Vietnam war finally ended, and Sony first introduced Betamax video tapes – the first home videocassette tape recording format.
Bill Gates & Paul Allen wrote the first computer language program for personal computers in ’75 (and then went on to form Microsoft) and the two Steves were hunkered down in a garage in Los Altos, California, working on their first computer – incorporating Apple Computers the following year.
Jaws, The Towering Inferno and Young Frankenstein were box-office hits in 1975. Bruce Springsteen released his amazing third album, Born To Run, the film version of The Who’s “Tommy” premiered in London and Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC.
As large stretches of time always do – it seems like an eternity ago – and it seems like just the other day.
This was my submission for the 2009 “Cindy & Monty’s 3-Minute Film Festival” (discussed earlier, here). We had the best time ever at this year’s event – and I showed my film to great critical acclaim – but I withdrew from competition because, despite my best efforts, my 3-Minute film turned out to be 3-Minutes too long! It’s a twenty-something travelogue, documenting Connor McGuire’s solo month in Europe. Check Connor’s website to see *his* 3-Minute film …
ra mcguire dot com is mostly about music, culture, and minor celebrity in 21st century Canada. For more about me, this site, and my career in music and media, click here.
This collection of hard science snippets - presented in the form of a new-age self-help book - is fascinating and entertaining, but I found myself jonesing for deeper and more detailed information.
Brubaker is writing some of the finest stories in comics today. This visceral collection of dark, super-realistic crime fiction might be the best of those.
Stieg Larsson's 'Millennium Trilogy' was a revelation. Individually and as a collection this was the most engaging and entertaining reading experience I can recall. As I said recently on Twitter, after finishing 'Hornet's Nest'; "It is my sincere hope that Stieg Larsson faked his death and is currently working on his next three novels." I recommend these books to every kind of reader.
An annoyingly sparse and off-putting-ly flip book about how the authors ignored traditional business wisdom in the creation of their web empire. Their recommendations? "Pick a fight" - which was not convincing. "Planning is guessing" - which could possibly be true. Since it is an online sensation and only took a few hours to read, it was worth a look.
A truly contemporary book that wanders shamelessly through time, observing the tumultuous lives of a cast of characters all vaguely associated with the music industry. I liked it a lot.
Another crime fiction roller-coaster ride with today's second best protagonist (recently bumped by Lisbeth Salander), Jack Reacher. Two down, twelve to go! I will read them all.
A powerful and personal book about God by one of Canada’s greatest writers. “I believe that all of us, even those who are atheists, seek God — or at the very least not one of us would be unhappy if God appeared and told us that the universe was actually His creation. Oh, we might put Him on trial for making it so hard, and get angry at Him, too, but we would be very happy that He is here. Well, He is.”
I have failed in my first attempt to read this much-acclaimed magnum opus. The same thing happened with Ulysses. I’ll try again one day, once I have steeled myself to not be so annoyed by it.
An important book about the food we eat and the difficult choices we face in a world suffering from what Pollan describes as a “national eating disorder”.
