Short Thoughts - Arafat's Death, RedBird Nation, Hayden and Cuff the Duke

On Yasser Arafat's Death

• Yasser Arafat’s passing marks the end of an eventful and controversial life. I didn’t always support the means Arafat’s organisations used to try to achieve their goals, and my knowledge of the Middle East isn’t deep enough to properly gauge whether I think he made a mistake in not accepting the Camp David offer of Barak or whether he had true control over the Palestinian people in order to prevent, at least most of, the terror attacks during the second intifada. Regardless, I support the cause to which Arafat devoted his life, which is the creation of a Palestinian state in the Middle East, allowing the Palestinian people independence and sovereignty. The least one can say about Arafat is that he spent his life working towards a cause he believed in, and that he suffered along with his people to work towards realising this goal.
• If Canada doesn’t send Pierre Pettigrew to Arafat’s funeral in Cairo, I will be disappointed. Whatever you may think of Arafat’s legacy his funeral is about more than his life; it’s also about commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people. To not send the Foreign Minister shows a lack of concern for their plight, and slights them on the international scene in a way that obviously attempts to deligitimise their cause. Countries around the world have recognised this and most nations are sending their foreign ministers, the most obvious examples being Jack Straw of Britain, Michel Barnier of France and Joschka Fischer of Germany. For Canada not to follow suit is an insult to the Palestinian people.

On Brian Gunn

• Brian Gunn, the author of RedBird Nation, one of the best baseball blogs in existence, has decided to retire from the blogging world. Gunn’s site was constantly informative, well-written and was full of material that one wouldn’t find anywhere else. Basically, his blog was what every topic-focused blog aspires to be, in one sense or another. I don’t know where I’m going to turn for St. Louis Cardinal news anymore. Here’s wishing him a happy retirement.

On Hayden and Cuff the Duke

• On a personal note, today I went to see Hayden and Cuff the Duke play at a local nightclub. It was a very good concert and it gave me the chance to see an artist I had always wanted to hear more of, but had never really got round to doing so. The opening band, Cuff the Duke, is from Oshawa. I had heard good things about them from the last time they were in town, but I didn’t really know what to expect. Whatever I expected, they blew it out of the water. They were fantastic, probably the best opening band I’ve ever seen. A four-member band, Cuff the Duke rotated instruments throughout their set, except for the drummer, demonstrating the musical versatility of the band. I couldn’t name a song of theirs before the show, and I don’t know if I can now, but the set was great. Lead singer Wayne Petti showed good vocal ability, and the songs were full of rocking, often-extended instrumental sections. They would have been worth the ticket price alone.
• After Cuff the Duke came Hayden and his backup band, the Elk Lake Serenaders. The thing is, the Elk Lake Serenaders are Cuff the Duke, or three of the quartet to be more accurate. Hayden’s set was quite good again. His new stuff, from what I’ve heard which isn’t a lot, is harder and more upbeat than his older material. If that’s the case than Hayden seemed to play a good mixture, as he frequently alternated between harder numbers and softer ballads. The songs were great and Hayden’s haunting, soulful voice was given a great stage to shine on. The only problem was that apparently the audience chitter-chatter was amplified onstage and Hayden found it hard to concentrate. Despite three requests at various points in the show from him, the offending members of the audience never quieted down. It prompted Hayden to say at the end, “Some of you paid $20 to sit here and talk. You could have gone to Hooters.” Despite a few inconsiderate members of the audience, most other people seemed to really get into the set, like they did for Cuff the Duke. The Elk Lake Serenaders were quite good, and Petti lended backup vocals to Hayden on several songs which worked out fine. I was quite pleased when Hayden ended his main set with Carried Away, which is probably my favourite song of his. He came out for an encore of four songs, which included a Tom Petty cover.
• There were also some memorable moments of engagement with the audience. Hayden’s understated sense of humour became apparent when he asked, “How’s everybody doing?” Following the standard audience applause and cheers he said, “That sounds good.” Before another song he said, “This song’s about robbery and murder. If you have fright issues you should probably leave.” Unfortunately, there was also someone present who was either not a fan or drunk, as she shouted out about 2/3 of the way through his set, “Play something good." What a terrible thing to say to someone, especially a talented performer like Hayden, at a live show.
• Maybe it’s because I’m associating it with the band who played the concert, but one of my favourite moments of audience interaction was at the Wilco concert at Massey Hall where, during some dead time as sound levels were being adjusted, a a fan shouted out, “St. Louis Cardinals.” Without missing a beat Jeff Tweedy replied, “St Louis Cardinals? How very cryptic of you.”