More about anthems
Tuesday, April 23 2002
Posted by brockp

A theme seems to be developing in this blog: national identities, sports & patriotism. Not exactly what I had in mind when the whole thing began but it sure seems to be a hot issue, at least the national identity part.

The latest installment in the stupid behaviour somehow passed of as patriotism department is this booing during the singing of national anthems before sporting events. Now the whole singing of anthems at such times is a bit weird when you think about it. I mean, maybe when games were not played so often and for so much money and corporate sponsorship and all that it was somehow appropriate...I don't know. Spectators actually disrespecting the singing of a country's anthem by booing or whatever seems to me to indicate that the whole idea is somewhat meaningless to a greater number of people.

Now while my first reaction to hearing about people booing O Canada in Detroit at a basketball game was somewhere between apathy and anger, I think it is mainly because I just got back from the states and was somewhat saddenned to see the token reporting of Canadians in Afghanisthan getting bombed accidently by Americans go pretty unnoticed. Where I was it made a small brief on page 3 of a not so large circulation newspaper. What kind of report was in the NY Times, I wonder ?

I also heard today that a few fans in GM Place last night booed the US anthem before the Red Wings/Canucks game. I wonder if they were booing US foreign policy, Canada's playing along with US foreign policy, the Detroit Red Wings, the Detroit basketball fans, or just the singing of national anthems...

A fair amount of talk about this turned up on the radio today. Believe me, I hear a lot of radio at my day job driving around in a delivery van. Mostly what was said was condemnation of the boo-ers in varying degrees of force. I've gotta say though, that as I think about it now, it seems like a trivial thing to be debating. I mean, people have almost no power to influence what goes on around them in the big picture of things. What are we going to do now ? Start keeping the names of everyone who boos at a hockey game in a government intelligence file ? I mean you can't go anywhere near a pro sporting event without getting pounded with beer ads but if some yahoos get pissed in the nosebleeds and boo during the anthems its a big deal ? And if there is some sort of nationalism or some political motivation in the booing is that forbidden ? Are we always supposed to pretend we are best buddies with our neighbours, whether they be American or Canadian ?

I don't know. Is anyone really surprised that in this day of ultimate glorification of athletes and other entertainers, that these events would turn out to be where public opinion gets expressed ? I expect that this kind of thing will probably only increase along with the exhorbitant ticket prices of the events. (BTW, who pays hundreds of $ to see Britney Spears ? Isn't her audience 13 year olds ? Do the parents foot the bill ?). If I paid big bucks to see a playoff basketball or hockey game, I can easily see how I might feel both a) irritated by clowns publicly embarrassing themselves, and b) entitled to boo if I want to. Weird.

New songs & grilled cheese
Wednesday, April 10 2002
Posted by brockp

Well there hasn't been a whole lotta brocksongs news lately but some of you (Dawg...this means you) may be glad to know that I have finally begun working on a new recording. No title as yet, but the first single is called Big Strong Love and will probably be released first on the new Boss Samplerage CD due out in August.

Tracked drums a few weeks back with Clayton playing bass at the Beefy Treats studio. Thank the stars for ProTools because I can now overdub guitars and vox and whatnot in my humble home. Trust me. Guitar amps sound great in the closet surrounded by old coats. Greenhouse this is not, but then its about $700 a day cheaper...

The Beefy Treats also played again at the Ukrainian Hall on E. Pender on Saturday and, while I missed this show, I'm sure that it was good fun. Paul is the only musician I know who makes grilled cheese sammies for the audience while performing. That in itself is worth the cover.