cringleman

It was in Saint John, New Brunswick. Not St. John's, Newfoundland. At a tiny, tiny bar called Elwood's (on whose stage I have seen larger bands than Matt's, but I won't fault him for deciding to play acoustic). And I, too, am interested. Also, I would like to know what this "Metal Sword of Power" is, but I am beginning to suspect that this show was one of those things you had to be there for to have knowledge of.

Show was the best I've seen in Halifax, so far (only my third, though). The rendition of Giant was particularly solid, and was definitely the highlight of the night for me. Gotta love the keyboard player and his samples. Last, the new guitarist (Stu, I think?) is fantastic. Wicked lap steel playing, and good reworking of Matt's solos and of Dave's solos. Drummer's solid, and the bass player's good, but looks bored, most of the time (except, notably, during Giant). Have fun at Elwood's, guys. It should be pretty intense in that little sardine can. PS And you all thought I'd left for good!

Sorry, guys. Dunno what I was thinking: the pre-bridge breakdown goes: >Breakdown: (repeat ad nauseum) E|--------------------------| B|--------------------------| G|---10--9--9--7--7-9-8~-5--| D|---10--9--9--7--7-9-8~-5--| A|--------------------------| E|--------------------------| So that's that, in case anyone was fiddling around trying to play it. If Julian, the dude from the MGTA, reads the Bored, he may feel free to add this tab to his Archive, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks, dude.

Hey folks -- been a long time. I just tabbed out a rough version of Born Losers. Just the rhythm part (i.e. the chord progression) and the breakdown, pre-bridge. The bridge is close, but probably not quite right. It'd be easier if I could skip back and forth and rewind in the track to listen, but it only plays once in a 5-minute track and I'm working with the streaming version, so I does what I cans. As with just about all of Matt's songs (So Long Mrs. Smith is standard with capo 2 or something like that, for example), this is tuned flat (half a step down, to EbAbDbGbBbeb). Don't mind the hyphenated words (like conti-nent and be-long); they're to emphasize the syllable the chord changes on. Rhythm is fairly simple, and there are some simple frills in the strumming, akin to what he does in If I Were A Tidal Wave. >Born Losers by Matthew Good Tabbed by cringleman ([email protected]) Verse: G Am C F Well there ain't nothing to this but your daughter G Am C F and the life you would not give her break your plans G Am C F traipsed across the conti-nent a squatter G Am C F for your lies at night to sleep be-tween my hands Chorus: Am C G F We're back where we be-long Am C G F straight back where we be-long C G Am C G F no days for nights, no co-caine cons Am C G F just back where we be-long Breakdown: (repeat ad nauseum) E|------------------------| B|------------------------| G|---10--9--9--8--8-9~-8--| D|---10--9--9--8--8-9~-8--| A|------------------------| E|------------------------| Bridge: G F C Go put it in the ground G F C G go bury it some place it can't be found G F go put it in the ground Corrections welcome, especially to the Bridge. The breakdown might actually be barre chords and not the two-note chords I have there, but it's easy to add another finger into the mix for that. Enjoy!

Obligatory promotion of Halifax coming: I've lived in the Maritimes my entire life, but traveled quite a lot. There are two places I've loved this much: Halifax and Ballarat (in Victoria, Australia). It's just very important to bear in mind that Halifax isn't actually all that big -- it isn't a city on the global scale at all, and probably not even so on the national scale. What it is is a lot of fun, if you enjoy any of the things going on, here (great music scene if you're into anything like Matt Mays, Joel Plaskett or the likes of Jimmy Swift or Windom Earle; hella good climbing in the vicinity; super-saturation of bars in the downtown; etc.). Additionally, Dal's PoliSci programme isn't too bad, and King's is supposed to have a great journalism reputation (though you should be warned that their Foundation Year Programme is supposed to be pretty tough). I know Dal also has an International Development stream, but I have no idea how it ranks (plus we're boycotting the MacLean's survey, so we're not even in any rankings). [Edit: In line with previous comments, Dal's campus ain't real sightly, though. If you want to do some urban bouldering, though ... the buildering here is pretty good.]

In summation of what I previously read, Not Graham (I hope you don't mind my calling you that, since that's what your profile says ;)) speaks well for my line of thinking. It's odd, I'm actually beginning to feel that I'm one of the few people on the Bored who hasn't had to take medication for this type of problem. I had no idea it was so prevalent, but, then again, perhaps it's Matt's music has something to do with it -- obviously I'm not saying it causes depression, but perhaps it's much easier to relate to if you've seen some rough times. I know that's when I started getting into it.

Truffle Pigs is a good one, Strange Days has pretty decent lyrics, Near Fantastica has some sweet lines (especially the acoustic "remix"), as do Rabbits, Blue Skies Over Bad Lands, Omissions ... I think that's just about one from every album (if not two). Just remember that the newest record (White Light, that is) is a little more straightforward and somewhat less open to wide interpretations to the degree that albums like Audio of Being, Avalanche and Beautiful Midnight are. Not to say that it isn't at all ... just less so.

I think it's difficult to make any assertion that artists don't speak about personal experiences at all, or even to insinuate that personal experiences and symbolism and metaphor are mutually exclusive. With that said, it's also na

I really need to read this board more often, just in case people ask questions I can answer. The Wii online service is free (entirely unlike Live), unless it's specific to the game that you have to pay (like subscription-based games). It's also got built-in wireless capabilities, so if you have a router that broadcasts a wireless connection, then you're gold. And despite having played with every major console that's been out since the 3DO went under (that I can think of, at least), and some that I should never have touched (a friend's Virtual Boy, for example), the PC still rocks the house. [Edit: Though, as before, I'm still very excited to see the Wii. Also, I've never played a PSP or N-Gage, and don't care.]

As actually the best platform (since it's technically not a console) to play games on, a cutting-edge computer is better for most games. Note that there are a couple of exceptions. It also has the best online community (it has the original "online community," after all), but it's by far the most expensive of the four. Of the actual consoles listed, I'm most interested in the Wii, simply because, after gaming for probably a decade or so, now, it's the first time, in a while, that I've seen anything new and truly intriguing brought to the table. The advent of true 3D graphics for the first time is the only comparable thing I can think of. Of course, without good games, it could be a total flop, so we'll see what happens. I don't buy into the "more powerful = better" hype that's being spread, especially with regards to the PS3, which some tech analysts don't even believe will be that much more powerful than either of the others. Also, I couldn't give a crap about Blu-ray or watching blue-laser discs on my console, since I don't have an HDTV, and won't be able to afford one for several years hence. The 360 and Wii make most sense to me, as gaming consoles, right now, and I find the Wii very intriguing. So that's my pick.

Don't. Just go for dreads. ([Edit:] I'm all about the efficient solution.)

Seeing as "virtuoso" implies a great deal of inherent natural talent, I'm going to have to add another vote to the Mike Patton camp. Of course, if you go back in history just a bit, it's not allowed to overlook Janis Joplin. Thom York does have a pretty decent range, and okay control ... Gord Downie has some pretty impressive abilities (and an absolutely irrepressible stage presence). Maynard Keenan, certainly. I dunno. If we're just talking about stuff we like, then I'm all over Matt Mays, Joel Plaskett and Jeff Tweedy, lately.

I hope he's on Surreal Life. Not that I've watched more than a couple of episodes (how can Ron Jeremy living with a televangelist not be funny?), but it's just where he ought to go. Is it wrong that I've become so accustomed to reading about huge sums of money that a $123 million divorce doesn't impress me at all?

I'm also a huge fan of Hello Highway, from that album.

The person I was talking to was actually at the Wintersleep/Sam Roberts show, last weekend, but she doesn't necessarily have any kind of ear at all. Happy to hear positive reviews for the Cunard Centre -- especially from someone else with good ears. As for Paul Murphy's voice, I can certainly see how it might not be everyone's cup of tea. It's got a lot of character, which is to say it's certainly not technically perfect, in most any way.

Man, he should call it, "I hate record companies and my ex-wife's taking half my share, so please don't actually buy this record." And the jewel case should be empty, just to spite you if you buy it.

With all due respect, Shiri ... where? If you search "cover" or "covers" in the search engine, you don't really get anything that jumped out at me.

Actually, whether you believe the rest of that book or not, there's been a fair amount of historical evidence dug up that some guy named Jesus did, in fact, happen to be around about the time that's often claimed. Coincidence or not, there was actually some Jesus dude around, back in the day. Personally, I'd like to go back to when Chad Kroeger was about 16 and kick his ass pre-emptively for one day making a bunch of pseudo-musicians around the world think that selling out is cool. Maybe not kill him ... that's a little extreme.

The simple way to answer your questions, supercanuk, is to say that there really is no answer. The military won't be shifting into predominantly reconstruction mode until it feels it won't be doing more defending against belligerent aggressors than actual peace-time work. This is what they're sticking with the search and destroy plan, for the moment, for. I can understand your ideological disagreement with their methodology, but I hesitate to put faith in the viability of alternatives. If you accept that premise -- that the military won't start training and rebuilding in that country until they feel it is feasible to do so -- then it's easy to see that there are two timelines that would need to be estimated to provide your answers: firstly, and both most important and difficult, is the estimated completion of their searching out and destroying of aggressive remnants of the former regime. Putting a timeline on the duration of reconstruction and training would be comparatively easy, and I think the lack of an easily-available goal for completion of the overall Afghan mission is a reflection of the uncertainty the military has as to when they'll be able to switch over to peace-keeping again.

Okay: I didn't think anyone was actually taking this seriously anymore, but that site's just a viral ad for Rainbow Six: Las Vegas, which is coming out, some time soon. So it's fake -- no worries.

Thanks for the tip; I've heard conflicting things about the Cunard Centre, but so long as it's not the giant, echoey space I initially got reports on, it sounds excellent. The longest song on the newest album is Nerves Normal, Breath Normal, which weighs in at 7:23; the rest are under six minutes. I can't speak for the performance on Saturday, but Paul Murphy's voice generally records quite well, and the band comes through as quite together, and usually fairly energetic even on recordings. Mostly, it's thanks to their drummer, Loel Campbell's fantastic rhythm work. Especially on the newer album, their sound is all about atmosphere and building to an emotional crescendo. It's a remarkably cohesive effort, for a sophomore release. For cool tracks, I'd check out Orca and Calibre (from the first album; try not to get too put off by the odd, fakely-angsty growling of 'monster' at the end of Orca), Jaws of Life, A Long Flight, Migration and Nerves Normal, Breath Normal (from the second album -- listen for the sick drum work in the mid- to late sections of NNBN). That ought to demonstrate a fairly wide range of their stuff, though I'll admit there isn't much other than dark material in their catalogue, so it'll all have that sort of feel. They also have a killer version of We Three Kings, incidentally.

Since the ad's been linked to, now, has anyone actually played Rainbow Six: Las Vegas? I haven't played those games since Rogue Spear.

Um ... Their Majesties? The Grass? B. A. Johnston? Windom Earle? Grand Theft Bus? The Fussy Part? Slowcoaster? The Jimmy Swift Band? I really only know of fairly local acts (all of those are from the Halifax area, except for Slowcoaster, who are distinctly from Cape Breton, and GTB and the Fussy Part, who are from various parts of NB, and share a very, very, very talented drummer). Come to think of it, you can check out the highly-danceable stylings of Windom Earle for free on their website: Windom Earle.

For the exact opposite reasons of the other Chris, I think it'll be an awesome show; I'm not going, though. Just don't feel like shelling out the cash. Instead, for like 20 bucks cheaper, I'm going on a brewery tour at Propeller.