The trip to Vancouver was fun. Time with the brothers, strolling the downtown streets eating all you can eat sushi, drinking red bull to stay awake. The funeral wasn't a funeral, but a "Celebration of Life," in which a small room which resembled a very small gymnasium was rented with small tables and people came and enjoyed the open bar -- especially me! Open bar at a funeral --> Awesome. Although nobody made a scene. My uncle would've, if it were someone else's funeral. It was a humble celebration. I did see some awesome black and white photography done by my grandfather posted on some carboard cutouts, such as: The uncle with a horse, little kids running around in the flowers kind of thing. The fact that a poor farmer in the 50s had a camera says something.
So I bought some artistic works. Ted Hughes - BIRTHDAY LETTERS, poetry. Carolyn Mark - JUST MARRIED, AN ALBUM OF DUETS. At frist I though the Mark recording was not properly threaded through due to several bands bringing in many dynamics. But on the second listening, it's good, and have given it about a dozen listens. The jumps from band to band make the album more about the singing, and the music more about Mark's style fitting into different circles than one circle fitting into all. (Ah? Ah? ;) ) Hardly. It's consistent throughout. And the showcase of talent brings something original to a great idea -- an album of duets. The second track, NORTH COUNTRY FAIR rules.
Generally, Tolan McNeil, guitarist and bassist on most of the tracks, also sound technician on some tracks, and "masterer" of the album, brought consistency to the levels of musicianship. Except during a solo which I thought lacked subtlety, but worked none-the-less.
Perhaps the inconsistency I was talking about stems from the fact that I'm a drummer, so when I hear loads of different drummers, I'm the type of person to notice. JUST MARRIED was playing when I wrote this. It fueled this review. And the totally edited review. The original was a little harsher, and filled with pompous language cuz I just came back from a funeral! Not in the best mood. I'll even admit to changing the review because I noticed that someone googled "carolyn mark" and "just married" and if people are going to be doing that, then I ought to kill someone and bury them out in the desert somewhere, because it wouldn't be too long before someone reported me to some outback-Nazi-agency. . . ya never know in THIS town.