Creative What???

We all can attest to the fact that music isn't the same as it used to be. Nothing is original anymore. For once I'd like to hear an artist who's tried something new. Hell, there are a few but it takes so much effort that I get bogged down by the monotonous sounding bands out there. I could go on and on about this topic but that's not really what I'm going for here. If there's such a lack of creativity in the music who's to say there isn't a lack of creativity in the artwork as well. I'm not going to get into specific details here I'll just simply post the picture of an old Ryan Adams record called Rock n' Roll and a new Bryan Adams record called 11 (by the way, Ryan Adams also had a record called 29 so Bryan seems to be stealing not only record covers but title ideas) Here you go folks, use your own judgment.

Unknown Legend out!

Ryan Adams

Bryan Adams

Excuses Excuses

You can ask anyone I talk to all I do is complain and complain about the city of Toronto council. However, I'm not going to rant and rave about potholes or the fact that the people in the Queen Street fire were just left on the street like vagabonds by the city. Nope not today. I have other things regarding the city to gripe about. There's an elderly couple that have had problems with a tree on their street where the roots are damaging the plumbing in their house. They have asked the city to chop the tree down as it has cost them $17,000 in damages. The city of Toronto has declined. Saying, they can't chop down a tree because we need as many trees as possible blah blah blah....hippie talk! So the other day a developer spoke to the city about tearing down over 300 trees to build a condo near the Old Mill Hotel. What did the city do?? City = jumped at the opportunity. So, is there a double standard???? Of course there is. If you have money you can do anything. Now the city has backtracked because of all the media attention and told the couple if they can come up with $10,000 the tree will be cut down. Unbelievable. Well, not only that but now the city has decided to close down 40 skating rinks just in time for March break. Quite intelligent don't you say? What does councilor Adam Vaughan say about it? "We don't have any money." WAH WAH WAH!!! I'm sick and tired of hearing about how the city has no money and how we as taxpayers should be breaking down the door to Queen's Park (provincial) or Parliament Hill (federal) to ask them for money to bail out the city. If the city could budget as well as they cry we'd be in a good spot. Oh, and rumours are we'll see gas prices hit $1.40 fairly soon. Boy, if we're not screwed now we will be then. To quote the Vampire Weekend: "No excuse to be so callous."

Unknown_Legend

Bicknell Avenue

My brother sent me an email this morning. It was a little entry I wrote back in 1999. It still rings true today sometimes. Boy was I pretty good little writer back then.

I took a walk today. Ok, so most of you are probably asking
yourselves "big deal." Well, let me tell you a bit about it. I just
had to get away from it all. All the hustle, all the bustle that is
my life. Many things have gone through my mind this past while.
Just wondering where my life is going. What I have done to make it
so memorable. Where did I go you may ask...well, just to the local
Zellers. A very nice store. Well, I decided to go with my mom when
she told me she was going. I haven't spent too much time with my mom
since I was young. Anyways, we had a great walk there. Talked about
how I was doing in school and how my life was. However, on the way
back I decided to walk alone. I walked down my lonely street. The
street where I was raised. Almost 22 years on this little street and
I never realized just how beautiful it really was. I walked down
it. Looking at the sky in its evening glow. The beautiful sky..blue
with traces of clouds. Walking down the same street I had walked
down hundreds of times. This time however, something was different.
The reason it was different was.....I was growing up. I just
recently purchased my first car. Boy am I excited about getting it
out on the road. But that purchase also got me thinking....where did
the time go. Just yesterday I was a little boy still playing
playfully in the street. Today, a man. A man with many goals in my
life. Becoming someone someday. Maybe someday falling in love and
having some great kids of my own...on our little street, in a little
house. I can still remember my mother calling me "Peter, come home
it's getting dark." She would run down to the baseball diamond and
try to get me to come home. "One more inning" I'd cry out. "No
now!!" she'd yell. Walking down that street today made me think of
all the people I knew. The people who were so dear to me and how one
day....we just lost touch. Those who I lost came back to me. I
could feel them again. I could hear them again. "That was a nice
homer Pete" I could see them again. Those who left us way too
young. Those who I'll never forget. Seeing myself walking home all
sweaty after a great game of baseball. With guys I will love
forever. I memorized my steps. "Take care guys" I'd say. "Call
you tomorrow for another one." We never know what we have until we
lose it in the end. I know I won't be in this little city forever.
I must move on. However, I will never forget where I'm from and what
this street meant to me.

*Sigh* Is This Over Yet!?

Well there you have it. Christmas and the New Year have passed and now all we're left with is...snow. I like the cold weather up to a certain point. Once we've hit the middle of January it starts to get a little tiresome. Geesh, I forgot we still have February to contend with. Oh, but with that new family day holiday that whole month will simply fly by (by the way, this is me being sarcastic if you didn't know) Anyways, I'm really looking forward to the warmer weather. Not that anybody needs to see me in a tank top right now but I just like that warmness on my skin. Hell, I'd even kill for a little spring which has never been one of my favourite times of the year but I'm starting to take a liking to it. My goal this winter (and I'm telling my boy Nick) is to get into some kind of shape, and Nick...pear is not a shape! I bought this fitness DVD and I've tried it out. Still getting too lazy to do it everyday, but that will come. I'm going to bring up a point I did last year. My bro and I are thinking about getting some ink work done this spring/summer. I have two options in mind for my arm and I was wondering what the people in cyberland a.k.a. ones I know in real life have to say about it. Oh, since I don't look like that picture leading you all to my domain I've decided to change it. Have a awesome week folks. Oh, don't forget...new Drive By Truckers January 22nd!!! Anyhow, here are the two birds. Which one do you like better?


Unknown Legend



or

Surviving Christmas

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for not blogging as much I did previously. It's been really tough this past month. Merle Haggard once sang "If we make it through December, everything's gonna be alright I know." Well the Hag knew what he was talking about. The reason I've been so busy is these days I'm working two jobs, just moved out and trying to get through Christmas without breaking the budget. I just got back from doing some groceries and I figured I'd let everyone know how I'm doing while my pizza's in the oven. Things are going great. The new place is fantastic, though I really haven't had much time to get rid of some of the boxes so I could invite a few folks over to check it out. It's crazy, there's a big storm set to hit Toronto tonight. They're saying the biggest in years...are we ready? The only way I get through times like these is music. I've recently been listening to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour on XM Satellite radio. He picks a theme every week and plays songs regarding that theme. The one I've been listening to this week is Summer. There are some great obscure artists he plays that some of us would never have heard of. It's really worth a listen. Anyways, things are well. I'll keep you all posted. Hope you're hanging in there. Merry Christmas everyone.

Unknown Legend

Sick To Death Of Being Taxed To Death

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for not blogging the way I said I would. Things have been pretty crazy this past while. Two jobs doesn't give you a lot of "you" time. It could be that or it could be the fact that me ranting constantly on and on about how our governments are screwing us is simply falling upon deaf ears. It's evident that people will vote the way they feel and there's nothing any of us can really do about it. In the past provincial election voters decided to vote for a liar, who has not held his part of the bargain instead of a man who seemed quite genuine in his beliefs and stuck with them. It just goes to show you, people would rather vote for the devil they know than the devil they don't know...and that's unfortunate. There are a lot of individuals who try to make places better to live but continue to be shut down because people vote for the familiar face. That's why I've decided I can't live in Toronto any longer. Don't get me wrong, Toronto will always be home. It's where I was born, learned to drive, fell in love among other things, but it's just not the same. It's evident with the re-election of David Miler a while back that Torontonians are not ready to move forward, they want to move backwards. Well, you got what you wanted Toronto. Congrats, now hard working people are going to have to pay 60 dollars more a year to drive a car in Toronto (on top of the 75 we already pay) and it's going to be harder to buy a house with the property tax increase. Miller has even looked to throw in a alcohol tax but finally realized it wouldn't work because people could simply drive to Mississauga to buy alcohol and avoid the tax. Democracy??? Sure, whatever you say. I have no faith in the voters of Ontario. You've all let me down again.

Unknown Legend

Blood In, Blood Out

I remember being young, thinking I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof. Young people think they're immune to anything, nothing can harm them but that isn't true. I pretty much had an epiphany today. I had a few tests done at the doctor's office. Now, I usually have a pretty good breakfast to start the day for the most part. However, I figured I'd run to the doctor's, come back and eat. Well, I had no idea he wanted me to do some blood work today. Anyways, the blood lady couldn't seem to find veins in either of my arms. When she finally did, she had to take blood out of both. All of a sudden I started to feel really dizzy and felt like throwing up. When I awoke, I saw the lady's face but I didn't recognize her. I had passed out. In my 30 years on this earth I had never passed out from anything before in my life. Which proves my point, when we're young we think we're unstoppable. Even up until today I thought I could take on the world. It takes a split second for us to realize that we're all just dust in the wind. Pretty scary isn't it? Yeah, I didn't mean the Kansas song.

Unknown Legend out