Category: Life

bookmark_borderSinging on the streetcar

Posted on by Christine Elias

On the streetcar today I encountered a gaggle of day campers. They were all sitting down and fairly well behaved. This was a good thing as the car was packed full of work-weary people.

But one counsellor insisted on singing with/to the kids. I knew the song of course but I was in no mood for singing that sauna. I was in the mood for a Margarita.

In my day, we kept (or tried to keep) the campers quiet on the TTC. Singing was an at-camp activity or something we did on hikes. We knew better than to torment people in public. I almost said something before I realized (duh) that these poor teenagers were supervising about 20 kids on a streetcar…the last thing they need is some cranky adult complaining about the noise. What they needed — I bet — was a Piña Colada. (It takes a few years for the young to truly appreciate a tequila cocktail).

bookmark_borderI just want to listen to some music

Posted on by Christine Elias

So today I was updating my iPod. The reason? I’ve moved offices. My new office is a concrete block room with a solid wooden door — it’s very soundproof. And soundproof means music! I didn’t play music in my old office as it had very thin walls. I tend to play music loudly (I don’t hear well) so this was not really an option before.

Earlier this evening, I was thinking about which songs I wanted to add to my collection. My first thought was Luba. I loved Luba. But iTunes does not have much Luba going on. I only managed to locate “Everytime I See Your Picture” on a compilation of Canadian pop classics. Luba released eight albums and had several hits including “How Many” and “Innocent (With An Explanation)”… and there was only one damn song on the site.

LUBA

This annoyed me.

I don’t like Maroon 5. I don’t like Coldplay. I have no idea what Chris Brown sings or who/what Ne-Yo is — I just looked them up and apparently they’re popular. Wonderful. I wish them all the success in the world but I want Luba. And maybe some Joe Jackson stuff I don’t have on CD already. Why does this have to be so hard?

I think there should be a new online music store called “Peaked in the 80s”. For people who are not too old to figure out their iPods (and even have blogs they administer themselves) but who are too old (or set in their ways) for the Top 40.