October 2002

The Perp: CRAIG FRAID
The Victim: AARON BOOTH

Heart-on-sleeve confessional songsmith Aaron Booth has certainly seen his fair share of our country over the past few years, whether in making the near-coastal leap of moving here from Calgary with his wife Elizabeth Chorney-Booth, or hitting the road on seemingly incessant tours, both solo and in backing-band-sharing mode with Snailhouse. Our man Fraid conducted the following invasion at Aaron and Elizabeth's Little Korea home in the middle of an ill-advised Thursday-night bender, gratefully accepting a tumbler of Czech schnapps just in case it showed. Professional, as always.

WECHSEL GARLAND
"Komm'" from s/t (Morr Music, 2000)

[A lop-sided high-range keyboard figure slowly solidifies into abstract pop
]Aaron: [After about 10 seconds] Wechsel Garland; one of my favorite records!
Craig: I thought you'd be excited about this album, 'cuz it seemed so mysterious judging by the retro cover, looking as though it was genuinely old until I saw that it was on Morr Music, which gave away that it'd probably end up being some sort of neat weirdly precious techno record.
A: Have you heard this one?
C: No. I like how it has vocals...
A: It's just got that sample, though. It's so hypermelodic...
C: This reminds me of some Japanese stuff that's come out over the past few years, well, specifically this guy Nobukazu Takemura and this woman Aki Tsuyuko.
A: I was driving in Calgary, actually, before Elizabeth and I moved, listening to [local campus/community station] CJSW, and something off of this was playing, so I had to pull over and run to a phone and call the station, and then spent the rest of the night researching about the guy.
C: It's good to have those moments every once in a while, 'cuz you feel sort of silly, yet you don't care if it's amazing enough, because you just have to track it down at all costs...
A: [Smiles] Nice choice.

REVEEN
"Stop Overeating" from Stop Smoking and Overeating with Reveen (Reveen Recordings, date unknown)

[A fake-British-accented hypnotist begins a ridiculously monotonous a-capella monologue: "Overeating is merely a bad habit. Like other habits, it can be controlled"...]
A: [Doing a straight-faced impression] "Euvaheating"...
C: Although apparently obvious, I had to play it...
A: You found some good ones tonight! Oh, Reveen... Did you notice that he was from Edmonton?
C: Yeah, that's why I knew I had to play it after picking it out!
A: Check out the grammar on it, though [is handed the record]; it's full of typos and grammatical problems.
C: It's 'cuz he's all D.I.Y., though! A: [Reading from the liner notes] "Smoking and overeating is simply bad habits, often of nervous origin" -- that's a sentence!
Elizabeth: Isn't that one of two Reveen records you have?
C: Wow, what's the other one about stopping, then? A: Stress. It's a relaxation exercise. I got those in a comedy/novelty bin in Ottawa. I was actually fascinated by Reveen as a child, since he always came to Calgary and did these huge shows. I never actually got to see him, but I always thought he was from the southern States or something!
E: I actually went on a date to see Reveen!
C: What?!
E: Yeah, at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary. He mainly hypnotized people, y'know, "act like a chicken"...
C: Is he still going, I wonder?
E: This was only like four years ago --
A: He actually did a big retirement tour... [Reveen continues: "You are feeling heavy... and relaxed..."]
C: His accent is so strained, it would seem to counteract any hypnotism from actually happening...
E: It works, though... I listened to the relaxation one, and felt quite relaxed.
A: [Commenting on the progress of the "exercise"] "You will eat a nutritious and scientifically approved diet" -- as if you'll just know what that is and you'll begin eating it! [Everyone laughs]
C: I can just see him driving up to the arena in his K-Car...
E: Oh, it's great -- his assistant is his wife, and she looks just like JoJo the psychic, a French-Canadian woman with a big blonde bouffant, very large breasts and a sparkly sequined gown.
C: Wow.

THE IRISH ROVERS
"Mick McGuire" from The First Of... (Decca, date unknown)

[The song is introduced by the band: "This next song is from the city of Belfast. We'd better explain it to yer, well, t'most o'yer anyway, otherwise y'won't un'erstan' a bloody word"...]
A: Now you're diggin' up the dirt! [Laughs] This is The Irish Rovers.
C: Live in Pasadena, apparently.
A: Well, I had to do my homework -- maybe it isn't common knowledge, but I was in fact in an Irish drinking-song group in Calgary, playing bass and singing back-ups.
C: So was that a weekend heavy-drinking-type gig?
A: Actually, I paid my rent with it. We played in some huge bars. We were called The Three Micks! [Everyone laughs]
C: When was this, the '70s?! A: It was about... two years ago! [Cracking-up resumes] It was fun. One time, for St. Patrick's Day, we played three nights in a row, and on St. Patrick's day itself, we played from 12 noon to midnight, doing one set per hour. C: So there was a lot of repetition?
A: Oh yeah, it didn't matter! Also, this was in a tent -- they closed the street off and we played in this tent that held about 2,000 people. Of course, by the end of the night, everyone there was fucking pissed out of their minds. We could have been smashing oil drums with hammers! Mainly we played in the mountains, making like $500 a night each doing these shows, it was insane! I had to learn like 50 songs, though -- the guy who led the band knew 'em all, of course. One time, we played for this rugby team, and they were all into doing their jigs, these 300-pound guys stomping around... Actually, I'm going back to western Canada to do a four-show tour in November, and the Micks are setting up a couple of shows for me... Hopefully that can pay for my airfare!