In this post, I will compare results for the same prompt I entered in Google Gemini and ChatGPT. It will be FUN, trust me!
Background:
On Friday evening I hung out with an old friend and he mentioned that he had been playing with Google Gemini.
On Sunday I woke up with an idea for a one-panel comic. It being Sunday, I decided to try to make my idea a reality, using Google Gemini.
The Prompt I entered in Gemini:
Please draw a one panel carton of a superhero sitting at a bar having a drink with another person. He is sad and complaining.
The caption should be “I moved out of Gotham years ago, and now they want to charge me congestion pricing for flying back in. The real criminals are at city hall if you ask me.“
After using Gemini, I entered the same prompt in ChatGPT. Interestingly, neither used my words exactly in their suggestion. Gemini left my words out completely, and ChatGPT just kind of mangled them.
I suspect to avoid copyright infringement/plagiarism issues.
Gemini Results:
Angry and AggressiveDespondent and Defeated
What I find most interesting is the very different emotions and connotations that Gemini created from the same prompt. (I added the captions here.)
Secondly, I think these images are highly effective but could have been even better by simply swapping the drinks. Angry and aggressive seems more in line with downing a bottle of whiskey than sipping a craft cocktail.
Lastly, I find it interesting that Gemini used Batman without me specifying which Superhero to use.
ChatGPT Results:
Superman makes an appearance!Batman 3, Superman 1
ChatGPT came up with something much closer to what I had in mind – I had envisioned a New Yorker Daily Cartoon I suppose.
Adding that to the prompt might be a way to finesse the results and get something closer to what I had in mind.
I wonder if ChatGPT produced something closer to what I wanted because I have been using it for a while and it sort of “knows me”.
I encourage you to play with AI and learn about it
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
Mark Twain
I truly believe that that philosophy is the best way to deal with AI. Yes, there are some very real risks and concerns. However, being blindly afraid of what, at this point, are mostly very good tools, and avoiding AI like the plague is doing nobody any favors.
In other words, play with AI and break down your prejudices about it!
Besides, playing with tools like Google Gemini and ChatGPT is FUN, and humans learn from playing. Playing is not quite on the same level as physical travelling, but it is related.
So go have some fun with AI, but avoid Angry and Aggressive Batman if you see him sulking in a bar in the New York City area.
Disclaimer: The featured image was created by WordPress. AI created it in color. I changed it to greyscale, finding it more fitting with the post.
What WordPress AI said about this post: “The comparison between the results from Google Gemini and ChatGPT is intriguing. The feedback about the emotions conveyed and the suggested improvements for the images created by Gemini is insightful. Adding a reference to the New Yorker Daily Cartoon in the prompt for ChatGPT is a useful suggestion. Additionally, the encouragement to embrace AI and explore its potential, alongside the reference to Mark Twain’s philosophy on travel, is a compelling way to address any apprehensions about AI. Overall, the post provides a thought-provoking analysis and a positive attitude towards engaging with AI tools.”
Visiting Michigan Central Station (MCS) wasn’t the primary reason for my trip to Detroit. Still, the opportunity to do so was certainly a lucky coincidence. That is because MCS is open to the public for the first time in 36 years. Initial visitation hours were limited and only ran from June 21 until Labo(u)r Day, 2024.
My friends picked me up at the train station in Windsor, Ontario, and we made a beeline for the recently reopened Michigan Central Station. It is a short trip, even if it includes driving under the Detroit River and crossing from Canada into the United States of America.
Tailgating in Detroit’s Corktown before visiting Michigan Central
The weather in Detroit that day was 85 degrees (30C), sunny, and humid when we arrived. We arrived before visiting hours began, so we retreated across the street to the cozy confines of one of the top bars in the world – Sugar House.
I enjoyed a couple of gin rickeys. Gin and lime on a hot day after a long train ride seemed like a good recipe for getting me to Relaxville, USA.
I forget what my hosts enjoyed. One of their drinks arrived with a burning piece of cinnamon attached to the glass.
The heartbreaking history of Michigan Central Station
Michigan Central Station was owned for decades by a family that can only be described as “kooks.” They also owned the Ambassador Bridge, an international link between the United States and Canada. Over 40K people use the Ambassador daily, and a couple billion dollars worth of trade crosses the Detroit River every week thanks to this bridge.
The Ambassador Bridge in many ways IS the Canadian economy. It represents so much trade that it even matters to the United States. Protestors shut it down during the pandemic/lockdown, but they too were soon shut down.
The same family left the glorious train station to rot for decades. No windows, no love, no anything. Just imagine being outdoors in the Michigan climate for 30 years or so.
So for decades, the once glamorous building sat there aging and slowly crumbling. To make matters worse, there were no other tall buildings in the immediate area, so Michigan Central Station stood there, almost giving the middle finger to anyone who could see it. This included much of Detroit and part of Canada.
Bill Ford sits inside Michigan Central Station prior to renovations.
At the same time, the owners of MCS were seeing their massive asset decline in value. Fortunately, Ford Motor Company acquired ownership of Michigan Central Station in 2018, and the “socialist” government of Canada is building a bridge that will be an alternative to the Ambassador, linking Ontario and Michigan. The new bridge, The Gordie Howe, will be a massive improvement for people on both sides of the Detroit River and throughout the Great Lakes States. The Rust Belt is getting a new lease on life, in other words.
MCS is in Corktown – Detroit’s oldest neighbourhood
Michigan Central Station is just down the street from where Tiger Stadium (aka Heaven on Earth) was located, so there are a lot of great old-time sports bars. It is also Corktown, one of the many places in Detroit currently enjoying a renaissance. Corktown itself is a destination, check it out.
Speaking of Tiger Stadium…
Tiger Stadium was located at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull and was often called “The Corner”. Tiger’s first Opening Day happened on the same weekend that the Titanic sunk, and the last MLB pitch was tossed there on September 27, 1999. (The Tigers lost to the KC Royals, 8-2.)
Attending a game at Tiger Stadium was heavenly for me. I can hear Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell saying “Welcome back to The Corner” as I type.
While Tiger is “long gone”, on that same piece of real estate is The Corner Ballpark. It is a facility operated by the Detroit Police Athletic League, and it hosts a plethora of events, most of them sporting. It is a great endeavour, building trust between the public and the police, getting kids active, and keeping them off drugs and away from crime.
Also, the playing field is now ringed by affordable housing instead of grandstands.
Superstars of tomorrow overlook The Corner Ballpark, formerly Tiger Stadium.
Entering Michigan Central Station
Roosevelt Park in front of Michigan Central has also been restored. It is 13 ages in size and gorgeous. This is just a small corner.
Properly lubricated and refreshed, we walked back across the street to get in line, which was now moving. Hell, you can’t tell me that Howard Carter didn’t have a couple of Pimm’s Cups before cracking open the boy king’s bachelor apartment in Egypt 100 years ago.
Slabs of limestone covered with graffiti, on display inside Michigan Central Station in Detroit, not unlike artefacts at King Tut’s tomb..
And once inside, I had a thought – when they first started renovating Michigan Central Station, the inside must have looked a lot like King Tut’s tomb when that was first discovered.
I mentioned that to my friend, and he said
“Yeah, but instead of mummies, they found hobos.”
A look inside Michigan Central Station and some technical background
First look inside Michigan Central Station is a great video produced by WDIV in Detroit. It includes interviews with the CEO of Michigan Central Josh Sirefman and Head of Place Michigan Central Melissa Dittmer. It is a fantastic look inside the renovated MCS, a heartfelt telling of the project.
My experience strolling through Michigan Central Station
Entering Michigan Central Station is like stepping back in time and entering the future all at once. The building has the grandeur of times long gone, but everything is immaculate and restored to perfection.
Rich wood walls in places, beautiful flooring, and gorgeous windows that are several stories high let natural light flood in. It all works to perfection. Restored Michigan Central reminded me of Union Station’s Great Hall in Toronto. Words like opulent and welcoming all sprung to mind as I wondrously strolled through MCS. I was amazed at every turn, full of wonderment and optimism.
Accidental picture of a Herringbone wooden floor at Michigan Central Station in Detroit.
Small portions of a wall remain unrestored, covered in graffiti. It is a fascinating and successful choice. The wall pays homage to the less glorious decades of Michigan Central Station, reminding us that “Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it”.
Graffiti inside Michigan Central Station that wasn’t removed.
Limestone for MCS resto sourced from the same quarry used 100 years ago
The inside of Michigan Central Station looks phenomenal, and there are all kinds of interesting photos, plaques, artifacts, and things to see. A 2-minute video played on repeat on a giant video cube.
Michigan Central Station closed in 1988 and was left to the elements, vandals, thieves, critters, scavengers and who knows what else for 30 years. That means that a lot of things had to be recreated. What is really cool is that Ford was able to source limestone for the recreations from the original quarry in Indiana used over 100 years ago. Dark Hollow Quarry had been closed for 30 years, so trees had to be cut down and an access road built to facilitate the procurement of Limestone.
The Spirit of Detroit is alive and well at Michigan Central Station
Probably what struck me the most was the positive vibe. From the friendly and knowledgeable people working there, to the visitors, to Ford, who spent a Billion dollars revitalizing Michigan Central Station, everyone was hopeful and on the same page.
That’s The Spirit of Detroit that I first experienced nearly 40 years ago and have loved ever since.
The innovativeness and creativity of Detroit is on display at Michigan Central
Great care and love have gone into the restoration of Michigan Central Station, both inside and out. Roosevelt Park, the “front lawn” of MCS, has also been restored and is ready for picnics, football tossing, games of frisbee, and hell, smoking dope since it is legal now.
Detroit’s artists tend to use materials that are a little unusual. Tyree Guyton uses abandoned houses to create The Heidelberg Project. Jewelers use removed graffiti and Fordite to make broaches, earrings, and cufflinks.
And Michigan Central? Oh, they use old railway tracks to make stunning fences that are on par with the wrought iron balconies one sees down in New Orleans.
Closeup of a fence at Michigan Central made from rail tracks.
Cinder blocks and Blade Runner – dinner at TAKOI
After our “immersive experience” at Michigan Central, my hosts scored us a table at a Thai restaurant across the street called TAKOI.
They sold it to me as “Blade Runner inside a transmission shop”, and that was fairly accurate. In Michigan, or at least Detroit, there are a lot of establishments made from cinder blocks. That is pretty much a no-brainer – cinder blocks don’t burn, and they offer some protection.
TAKOI also has a very inviting patio with an incredibly tall chain link fence protecting it. Those suffering from arthritis in their neck might not be able to look up to see the top of it. Inside is jam-packed with happy, cool people, and the food and service are great. In other words, primo Detroit.
The bar inside TAKOI in Detroit, and one of their delicious Thai dishes.
TAKOI exemplifies Detroit
The story of TAKOI is quintessentially Detroit, too. TAKOI (originally KATOI) started as a food truck, got popular enough to become a pop-up in Ann Arbor, then a brick-and-mortar (literally) place in Corktown. Shortly after opening, KATOI was the victim of arson but sprung up again at the same location six months later. (bamboo grows quick).
Not only has TAKOI been a Corktown staple since reopening in 2017, but they also source a lot of their produce from a Detroit farm located about a mile away.
Nemo’s – an old-time sports bar in Detroit’s Corktown
Opened in 1965, Nemo’s is about the same distance as a punt return for a touchdown from where Tiger Stadium stood.It is also about a mile east of Michigan Central Station, right on Michigan Avenue. Along the way, you will pass Slows Bar BQ, a destination restaurant that has been featured on national TV shows. They also have a patio and an impressive collection of craft beers. They are most definitely worth a visit.
But back to Nemo’s. This Corktown sports bar has been in the same family since day one. Many people thought that Nemo’s days were number when Tiger Stadium closed, but it has been thriving for over 20 years now sans Tigers. Part of the continued success is the fleet of shuttle buses they run over to Woodward Avenue for Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings games. When Nemo’s bought the buses, they spent more on painting them than the school buses.
Nemo’s and one of their shuttle buses in Detroit’s Corktown.
At least 2 Lincolns have ended up inside of Nemo’s. In 1975 the Lincoln belonging to a Teamsters official was blown up in the parking lot. Another time William Clay Ford Sr.’s driver forgot to put his Lincoln in park, and it rolled through the front windows.
And yes, William Clay Ford Sr., son of Edsel Ford, was the father of Bill Ford, the man responsible for purchasing Michigan Central Station and restoring it.
Babe Ruth enjoyed Detroit speakeasies, and Nemo’s in Corktown remembers
Back in the Babe Ruth era of baseball, the New York Yankees would arrive at Michigan Central Station in Detroit for baseball games against the Tigers. The Bambino was famous for having fun off the field as well as on, and he was known to frequent many speakeasies for “extra innings” since it was also the era of prohibition!
Babe Ruth hit the longest-recorded home run in MLB history while playing in Detroit, jolting a ball 575 feet at Tiger Stadium. Ruth almost became the manager of the Tigers, but a trip to Hawaii kiboshed the plans of Tigers owner Frank Navin. Incidentally, Tiger Stadium was known as Navin Field in those days.
Nemo’s on Michigan Avenue remembers Babe Ruth’s on- and off-field heroics in Detroit by hosting a birthday party for him every year in February. Peanuts, Cracker Jacks, and Baby Ruth candy bars are served. There is a cake and Coney Dogs, and the annual event has been happening for almost 40 years.
All of this, my dear friends, is what Detroit and Corktown are all about.
For the last couple of years, I have spent a decent part of most holiday Mondays listening to an all-request radio program on CKWR. The format of CKWR is “adult alternative”, which means music from my teenage years that I mostly like and can mostly tolerate.
CKWR bills itself as “real community radio”, and that is true. Weekdays between 6AM and 6PM is indie/alternative music from the ‘80s. Being a Canadian station, CKWR plays a lot of cool Canadian music from the 80s that most people have forgotten or never heard.
Most of what CKWR plays is good, and an even vaster majority never gets played on commercial radio. However, the playlist does seem to be computer generated, so the songs repeat a bit, and the diversity of genres could be wider.
However, on holiday Mondays, CKWR goes all-request between 10AM and 2PM.
The algorithm goes out the window, and the music explodes.
Legendary DJ Pete Fowler hosts, and he generally has someone on the air with him from the Kitchener-Waterloo community. Pete also gently encourages listeners to act by donating to a charity or supporting a local event. Usually, it is both.
Fowler shared sobering stats from the Kitchener-Waterloo food bank
In 2023, two million Canadians used a food bank. That works out to about 1 in 20 Cannucks.
In Toronto and the Waterloo region, 1 in 10 people now rely upon food banks. That is up from 1 in 14 in Waterloo last year.
In the Waterloo region, of the people who relied upon the Food Bank:
14,074 children were between 0 and 17 years old, a 19% increase over the same quarter in 2023.
1,467 seniors65 and older, a 13% increase over the same quarter in 2023.
20,269 adults 18 and older, an 11% increase over the same quarter in 2023.
“If you sent in a request and we played it, why not think about donating $5 to the Food Bank?”
Fowler also said that at the end of his radio show, and it got to me. Radio still has the power to do that, to connect people as if they were across the table instead of across town, or across the world. It is the “warm medium” after all.
“I played like 60 requests. Imagine if everyone who got a song played gave $5.” – Fowler
“Imagine if everyone playing the office lottery donated the same money to the Food Bank instead.” – me
I hadn’t made a request, but listening to great music meant that I was in a great mood. Without Fowler’s all-request show, I would have sunk into depression. Also, I had heard two great songs that I hadn’t heard in ages:
Micro Chip League (MCL) – New York In my little corner of the world, this song was everywhere when it was new. It was so omnipresent that it would be playing in the principal’s office if you got sent in for skipping hockey practice. I was indifferent at the time, but now I think I kind of like it. The computer saying “Bro-dway” alone is worth the price of admission.
New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Stockholm This gem was all over the place when it was new as well. Poutine parlours, skate-sharpening centres, lacrosse pro shops… …they all had it on 24/7. Fowler mentioned that , New FADS played with Consolidated somewhere in Kitchener-Waterloo. There’s a show!
The singer for New Fast Automatic Daffodils was even on Coronation Street. That’s bigger than Banksy, mate!
Why I donated more than $5 to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region
1. Uponclicking the Donate button, you see a message that says, “For every $1 you give, we can provide 2 meals to those in need.”
I did the math, and ten bucks will buy 20 meals. Ten dollars will also buy a pint of beer. In other words, 20 meals or 20 ounces. The choice is clear. I doubled my $5 to $10. The $0.90 comes in because it is a processing fee that the Fintech company charges to process the donation. You can either pay it or have it taken out of your gift.
2. Your Employer may match your donation – double your impact!
Here’s your chance to make the uber-rich pay their fair share! Many employers have a donation matching program that will double or triple the value of your donation! Don’t worry about their financial well-being, they’ll get a tax receipt. And so will you!
3. Dedicate your donation!
Your donation to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region can be dedicated to anyone you wish. The person you specify will receive an e-card via email alerting them to your kind actions.
Here is another opportunity to make the uber-rich pay, or at least send them a message.
By taking up Pete Fowler’s challenge, I felt empowered. I wasn’t helpless to help. I contributed to the well-being of people and the well-being of the community of Kitchener-Waterloo.
In this post I am going to talk about 10 great cover versions of popular songs by Killdozer, an independent rock band from Wisconsin that existed from ’83-96. Killdozer covered disco, Britpop, old hippy songs, Neil Diamond, and classic rock icons Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their covers ran the musical gamut, and nothing was sacred. And as listeners, we are all much better for The Dozer’s efforts.
Killdozer did “fact checking” with their covers before fact checking was a thing. A Killdozer cover is what happens to a song after it has been discussed at several high-level roundtable discussions, “kicked up a notch” by Emeril Legasse, re-engineered by NASA, and then given back to the people. Killdozer restores sound artefacts, and by doing so they make history authentic again. The ‘Dozer does all that and more with their covers. Probably less, too. I hope you enjoy listening to them.
I recently watched a 3-part PBS documentary entitled Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution. It is excellent and you should watch it. You should watch more PBS, too. Disco was initially the music of The People. The poor, the people of colour, people of non-binary sexual persuasions. Disco had the same roots as Hip Hop.
Disco was destroyed by Big Corporate Money. John Travolta will have to answer for Saturday Night Fever someday, as will all those cigar chomping CEO vacuum cleaners at RSO and the other record companies.
A lot of people think there is a “WTF” in the lyrics of the original. I wish there were, but I personally can not hear it. Those words were likely PINE-SOL®‘d out by concerned Washington PMRC wives. Killdozer “takes one for the team” and re-adds those filthy but accurate words.
The number of copies of this cover that Killdozer sold is confidential, but EMF did quite well with this song, going gold in Australia, Canada, and the United States. The UK could only offer up siler. Combined sales in those 4 capitalist countries was at least 785,000. Rico Suave!
The Steve Miller Band has sold more than 30 million albums. Personally, I find Steve Miller’s music to be audio anesthesia – it just puts me to sleep. My favourite thing about Steve Miller’s music has little to do with their music at all.
My favourite thing about The Steve Miller Band was when filmmaker Michael Moore was trying to bring tobacco company Philip Morris to task. Moore couldn’t get in to interview the CEO of the legalized drug pusher in person.
In response, the Roger & Me director stood on the sidewalk with a bullhorn and pleaded to the CEO:
In the Killdozer version, the lyrics “I gotta gotta have it” remind me of the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket leading his Marines as they jog. The DI was training his recruits to be killers. Killdozer was training us all to be good Communists.
Kubrick may have been a genius, but he brought in $120 million for those Hollywood/Harvey Weinstein fat cats. Talk about Strangelove!
This antiwar song appears to have been conceived in Canada by a group of hippies in Alberta who called themselves The Original Caste. That makes sense – Canada was run by draft dodgers. It is also preachy, juvenile, and sounds like something suburban women used to indoctrinate their children with back in the 1970s. Most episodes of The Smurfs were not only more complex, but also more rewarding on a humanist level.
If you like your politics and antiwar points of view to be thinner and flimsier than a wet sheet of paper, you have two choices:
Watch Family Ties reruns and wish you could have a group hug with Alex P. Keaton’s parents
Schlock sells. Soulless, sugar-coated, white bread wrapped up in the flag sells really well. Witness Forrest Gump. The original version of this song went 5X platinum in Canada, 2X platinum in the UK, and 3X platinum in the USA. Sales were probably north of 5 million.
Madonna even sold over a million copies of American Pie with her creepy/cringy “CliffsNotes/TED Talk” version, 30 years after the original made the Western World a whole lot more mayonnaise.
Killdozer attacks American Pie like they attack all songs they cover. First goes the photoshopping, then goes the Botox, next comes the fact checking, then finally, when they get to the heart of the matter, if indeed there is a heart, “The Dozer” gets all Dr. Frankenstein on the song and gives it a soul. A dirty, real-life soul.
Useful idiot translation: To be clear, Killdozer were always non-fungible. They were singular, historic, and sustainable.
More CanCon for the igloo dwellers living north of the 49th parallel.
Back in 1985, Killdozer did their “thing” to Cinnamon Girl, a song originally released by Neil Young in 1969, Neil was down on his luck in those lean years, pretty much just an oddity. People referred to Neail as “that hippy weirdo who does something interesting every couple of decades”, mostly just that thing he did with Devo that was interesting for about 3 seconds.
Neil Young is still treated like a national treasure in Canada. He is a totem pole that can not be touched. He is sacred. The nationally sanctioned thinking goes: “Nobody could sum up Kent State like Neil. 32 “la’s” and repeating “Four dead in Ohio” 32 times”. Something in the maple syrup, I guess
The truth about Neil Young is…
Neil Young songs are like a trainwreck that never ends. You could have a nightmare that lasts all night long, get through the waking day, fall asleep, pick up the same nightmare still going on, and still the same Neil Young song would be playing. La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.
I once read that Neil Young was the 2nd largest landowner in California. Only Ronald Reagan owned more Golden State property. So Mr. Soul is all about the environment, so long as he owns it.
There’s also a pretty substantiated story that Neil is so land rich that he turned a couple of barns into speakers. That’s Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos crazy. I doubt Mythbusters could have gotten financing to confirm that story as plausible or not.
Nowadays Neil is just a hardcore nut. From his Pono nonsense to “taking his songs of Spotify and going home” to “only touring when it is sustainable”, one could write a book or three.
Neil Young spotting someone not paying 5 cents for a plastic bag or something.
The fact of the matter is, Neil Young is no different than a televangelist who fills an arena with suckers he wants to fleece. It is ONE person performing, 10,000 idolizing, and nothing, NOTHING changes in the end. Except Neil, or The Preacher Man, gets a whole lot richer.
In retrospect, Neil Young seems like he might be one of the easiest “artists” for Killdozer to cover.
Only Killdozer could expose Neil Young for what he is
Who else but Killdozer could strip down the pomposity of Neil Young? Who else but Killdozer could take that ridiculous hippy hubris and turn it into something actually worthwhile? Flipper wouldn’t touch Neil Young with a 40 meter fishing pole!
Killdozer covered Cinnamon Girl in 1985. I would venture hard-earned cash that Neil got wind of it and that is the reason why Mr. Young invited Sonic Youth to open for him on the Ragged Glory Tour in 1991.
Neil Diamond is about as big as you can get as a musician. 130 million record sold, 10 #1 songs in the USA, 38 top 10s… His success and accolades are endless, and well-deserved.
Shane MacGowan covered Cracklin’ Rosie and made it his own, yet you could still “feel” Neil as Shane slurred and stumbled his way through it. I don’t think that there is any doubt that Shane added Cracklin’ Rosie to his repertoire with genuine love.
I also believe that Killdozer covered I Am… I Said with the same authenticity. Just listen to those Killdozer vocals. Listen to that crying guitar. The bass that carries on like a good soldier, even if lost between the coasts. The drums, the inner self, forcing the storyteller to move on and go forward with their life, because there can be NO other way.
Just listen to Killdozer bring I Am… I Said to life!
The gut-wrenching, soul-searching pain of leaving your past and not feeling like you belong to your present can be felt in the feral Killdozer version. The “emptiness deep inside” is on full display, almost as like a mural for the driver of a car about to smash into it at 75 mph.
I remember walking down the beach in Cancun one time, laughing and holding hands with my late wife. For some reason the Killdozer version of I Am… I Said popped into my head, and I started singing it. I sang it loudly, proudly. It was a very different lost, a happy lost. Killdozer has a way of pulling your heartstrings when you least expect it.
The Lynyrd Skynyrd version is the equivalent of a neatly trimmed pork chop you happily buy from your local butcher. You bring it home, cook it for your family, and it is all very clean. Almost as sterile as getting one’s teeth cleaned at the dentist.
The Killdozer version cuts to the bone, pun intended. In the hands of Killdozer, Sweet Home Alabama is the equivalent of a hog recently slaughtered, its skull caved in. The hog’s carcass lays on the floor of the abattoir, its guts slowly oozing from its body. The hog bleeds slowly, yet determinedly, a Crimson Tide oozing towards the drain.
Life is gone, the deed has been done. There is only a red stained floor now, and Killdozer.
Killdozer’s version is tactile, it affects the listener
In Killdozer’s version of Sweet Home Alabama, the listener can see, feel, and even smell the Spanish moss hanging from the tall trees that serve as curtains for the swamps and other nastiness of The South.
When you listen to the Killdozer version you can feel the intense, overpowering grief that comes with seeing or having someone you know, perhaps a family member, become “strange fruit“. There are no words for that grief. It is the pain persists through generations, through centuries. The listener can feel that sort of inhumanity, that sort of cruelty, when listening to the Killdozer version of Sweet Home Alabama.
Again, Neil Young is to blame
Skynyrd’s version of Sweet Home Alabama, at its core, is just a well-crafted song, a bunch of guys jamming. It is interesting to note that none of the writers of Sweet Home Alabama were actually from Alabama. Also, the lyrics are a response to Neil Young’s songs Southern Man and Alabama.
Neil knew about as much as Alabama as he did about hygiene at the time. Isn’t that the Canadian way? Point your finger at America and pretend to be “above all that”.
Without Neil Young, Skynard might have very well have called the some “I Love Deep Sea Fishing”.
Neither Young nor Lynyrd Skynyrd had any real skin in the game, no real personal involvement in Alabama. They were just rich, spoiled rock stars behaving like rich, spoiled politicians in Washington.
Killdozer’s aces up their sleeves
Killdozer’s slow, prodding style of play is perfect for Sweet Home Alabama. It makes the listener feel like they are trudging through a swamp. There is no hope. It is terrible, it is a hell that Canadians can not even fathom. Progress is next to impossible, and there is no end or help in sight. Still, we must trudge on.
ONLY Killdozer could reveal Sweet Home Alabama for what it truly is.
But wait, there is more! And it is Zeppelin!
At the end of Killdozer’s version of Sweet Home Alabama, they take a swipe at Led Zeppelin by including a whiny, self-absorbed copy of Robert Plant’s nonsensical lyric “And she’s buying a stairway… …to hea-hea- ven.” That little nugget alone makes Killdozer’s version priceless and necessary.
Zeppelin, a band of white English men, became very rich and very famous by literally stealing the works of black American blues musicians. Once again, ripping off people who had been dragged across an ocean and forced into slavery by white men from what is now the UK.
Those first couple of Led Zeppelin albums are total theft, and only Killdozer, a band of proletarians from Wisconsin, has the courage to call out the English Aristocracy.
All in all, I doubt Killdozer could have been more American at all.
An old friend of mine sent me a YouTube link to the David Hasselhoff cover version of Iggy Pop’s old song The Passenger. He included these instructions:
“Don’t laugh! I’m a fan of this song now. Give it a chance, it’s a good song.”
The Passenger first appearing on Iggy’s fantastic 1977 album Lust for Life. Give that record a spin if you haven’t heard it for a while or if you never have. David Bowie had a huge hand in making it.
Hasselhoff’s decent cover of The Passenger reminded me of not only Siouxsie’s excellent version but also an interview I heard on CFNY (102.1 The Edge) about 30 years ago.
Paul Westerberg, someone I consider one of the best American songwriters ever, was being interviewed. Check out these gems, for instance:
The interviewer extolled the talents and achievements of Westerberg, then asked a question that she probably thought was clever and got an answer she most likely didn’t expect.
Interview with the Replacement
Interviewer: “You are so well-respected and accomplished as a songwriter and have written so many great ones. Are there any songs you didn’t write but wish you had?”
Paul Westerberg, after a pause: “Oh, um, jeez, I dunno. Maybe Happy Birthday?”
Interviewer, laughing: “Oh my gosh, yeah! Think of the royalties!”
Paul Westerberg: “No, not at all. It is just a great song that anyone can sing.”
The Passenger is like Happy Birthday – it’s a great song anyone can sing. Even David Hasselhoff.
And now, here he is, the Knight Rider himself, David Hasselhoff!
The park at the top looks like a backwards L or maybe a boot. It is kind of like a speakeasy park known as Adelaide Courtyard.
You can access it via alleyways on Yonge, Victoria, or King. The main entrance is via Adelaide, but even that is deceptive. It is truly a hidden gem with two fantastic water fountains.
Adelaide Courtyard
I only learned about this island of humanity because there was a McDonald’s beside it back in the day. When I worked down the street, I would go to Rotten Ronald’s and pay good money to make myself sick every so often with toxic food.
Mmmm just remembering the smell makes me… …nevermind.
Across the street on King is the HQ of CIBC and Scotiabank. Big money. BIG FUCKING MONEY. Rush tells me it makes the world go round! CIBC on the south side is old, classical architecture, and Scotia on the north is modern. Both are GORGEOUS.
Geddy Lee from Rush is basking here.
Bask in it, baby. Bask away – you can bask all day. La la la
You can walk through CIBC and find Commerce Court Square, another speakeasy type of park. It is gorgeous. There is a big round pond, benches, and greenery. It is an oasis. I visited when I worked in the hood and sought solace.
Water fountains – Your source for calmness and soothing
Berczy Park is just phenomenal. One of the best views of the Toronto skyline, peaceful and tranquil, and the fabulous flatiron building is there. There are even some buildings that give you a taste of Old Toronto. When I worked across the street, the fountain was pretty good, but nothing like the awesome sauce it is now.
One time, Michelle and I saw Bjork perform across the street. I’ll bet dollars to whatever currency they have in Iceland that if Bjork had known about this fountain, she would have climbed it and gifted us her concert while perched on the top of it.
Berczy Park in Toronto
A river soothes through it
Similarly, when I lived in Windsor, I would go down to the Detroit River, sit beside the Ambassador Bridge, and gaze at America. It was so close and yet so distant. The solace would seep in through my Canadian nooks and crannies.
Maybe it wasn’t solace that I found down by the Detroit River. It could have been industrial sludge seeping into my soul. Misty toxins wafted up from the water, coating my body and soothing my mind. It was the weird, evil stew I needed. It was a familiar drug cocktail, and it reminded me of where I grew up – next to the Niagara River and close to Love Canal. Google that, brothers and sisters, Love Canal.
Zug Island – one of the manmade wonders of the world
The Niagara and Detroit rivers are like spas for the worthless. Sitting next to them and feeling their power feels good. They are my version of Lou Reed’s White Light, White Heat.
Suddenly, I feel like I am at an AA meeting. My name is george, and I admit it: I am a product of toxic mist. I am a product of The Rust Belt Womb.
The Vessel is utterly unenjoyable. It is not just a mistake, it is a premeditated assault on what is left of mankind’s redeeming values. It is not just lifeless, it is life taking.
To quote Bloomberg, “The mega-luxury of this mini-Dubai was financed in part through a program that was supposed to help alleviate urban poverty.”
The Vessel is Stalinist in nature. All good and decent people will cheer when it is pulled to the ground and spat upon like a Saddam Hussein statue being pulled to the ground and spat upon by good and decent people.
No joy is given or created by the building of this conspicuous display of wealth by the uber-wealthy.
Instead, those of us who are sub-billionaires have to squint and try to get our heads around why someone with $200 million burning a hole in their pocket decided to give back to the community by creating an eyesore that doubles as an invitation to suicide.
Art is supposed to inspire, to heal, to celebrate humanity and encourage creativity. It is easy to imagine wanting one’s money back after seeing a bad movie. As an artefact, The Vessel makes people think that life is nothing but pain and agony, and it is better to end it ASAP.
Visiting a $200 million staircase to nowhere is a justifiable way to spend an afternoon?
When it first opened, people were paying $15 for the privilege of climbing The Vessel. Fifteen bucks to climb a half dozen stories of stairs, walk around in a circle, then bring it on home. At least you padded the stats on your Apple watch or Fitbit.
Matt Shaw, a New York-based architecture author, editor and curator who teaches around the country had this to say about The Vessel in dezeen:
“An object with no function, the Vessel gives nothing back to the city – it only extracts from it. No wonder the public similarly cares little about it. No one cares about the Vessel because no one asked for it.”
Why not just walk into a high-rise, any will do, and pull the fire alarm?
Everyone exiting via the staircases will have the same experience as those visiting the Vessel. Maybe have local graffiti artists to paint murals in the stairwells so that those evacuating can take in some culture in a safe, responsible way?
And, of course, the horrendous disaster that is The Vessel is exclusive: only able-bodied people can climb it.
Depressing, isn’t it?
The United States Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging that because of the number of separate landings within Vessel, most of the structure was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act!
Those who use a wheelchair to get around will have to wheel off the edge of a subway platform and hope for the worst. But then again, The Vessel IS the worst.
How privileged and self-involved does one have to be to choose to climb stairs and walk around in circles for entertainment?
This privileged and self-involved.
The Vessel is so stupid that it would fit perfectly into the movie Spinal Tap. But then The Vessel would actually serve a useful purpose, and the joke might be lost.
The Vessel is un-American.
The Vessel is un-American and inhuman. It belongs in London, some Old World country, or maybe a place like Zaire. Mobutu Sese Seko would surely love it. Of course it was designed by a British designer (Thomas Heatherwick),
This isn’t Mobutu Sese Seko with the Dutch Prince Bernhard looking at The Vessel, but it very well could be.
Just imagine if the people responsible for The Vessel were a bit more like Andrew Carnegie. Just fucking imagine.
AI summary of this post:
The Vessel, a structure in New York, is strongly criticized for its lack of purpose, joy, and accessibility. It is deemed as a display of wealth and privilege, contributing nothing positive to the city. Its exclusive nature and non-compliance with laws make it an un-American symbol, prompting a call for better alternatives and social responsibility.
I’m finally giving Kim Gordon’s new album The Collective some time.
I can’t fully comprehend the record yet. However, I am increasingly drawn to it.
I play one track, then another. As the music plays on, Kim weaves a spell around me. The Collective soon becomes irresistible, and I am soon addicted: “Just one more song.” Before I know it, I am on my third full playthrough of The Collective, engrossed in it.
At first, I thought “This music is something you’d hear at a party/event where you move from room to room. It would be the music in one room amongst many others. And it is more of a soundscape than music.”
I am not so sure about that now.
I also thought that The Collective sounds like it is from a different dimension. Maybe it is a whole new kind of music drug that the kids dig, but I don’t quite understand.
Perhaps these songs are further indications that the future has arrived. But to me, it might sound like the future from the past. Something from the old Kathleen Turner movie Crimes of Passion, perhaps.
1) My friend Morris gave me a taste of the “Oakland vibe” mentioned in the article
When I went to SF with my friend Morris in ’94, he insisted we go over to Oakland to check out a Pacific Coast League exhibit at some museum in Oakland.
I’m glad he did, too, because it was awesome. Jigger Statz! The SF Seals, Sparky Anderson. I learned about the SF Seals Stadium having three dressing rooms because two teams shared it as their home field. There were two home dressing rooms and one away. I also recall something about Seals Stadium having a private box for wives and girlfriends and how they got a bouquet at every game.
After checking out the PCL baseball exhibit, we went for a couple of pops at a bar beside where we parked. Al’s Court Lounge!
Later it became a cool place called the Ruby Room. Green Day has a song about it. I wouldn’t know. I cannot tolerate Green Day. They are:
corporate
soulless
contrived
an insult to our intelligence
It is bizarre that Green Day hails from Oakland!
As I recall, aside from Morris and myself, there was only one other patron at the Court Lounge. And even though it was empty, my memory insists that it was smokey. Al, the owner, was bartending. He had a nasty cough. I said something like “Hey Al, once you are done coughing up that lung, can you get me a beer?” afterwards.
Morris asked where to get a bite nearby, and Al pulled out a couple of menus from a place in the hood. We grabbed burgers or something and ate at Al’s Court Lounge.
Entrance to the Court Lounge, later known as the Ruby Room, in Oakland California.
Morris was impressed with that business arrangement and let Al know. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Great way to do business, Al.”
All of us at the Court Lounge were white, but my visit did give me a small taste of Oakland flavour discussed in the ESPN article. From this brief encounter, I suspect that Oakland is not that far removed from Detroit.
Michelle and I were big into side trips when travelling.
On one side trip we took while in Vegas, we had a bus driver who was a brother. He was cool as cool can be and talked pretty much nonstop.
In addition to whatever script he may have had, he spilled his guts, telling us his entire life story. He’d pronounce his name as if he had a Fonzie AY in the middle of it: “Grayyyyyyyg“. It was impossible not to like this guy.
Greg told us about why he moved to Vegas from California. I remember him being from NoCal, maybe even around Oakland. He went on about “developing a taste for the wine, over at Da Rio! Ohhhh, yeah!” after moving to Vegas, even though he moved from California.
He laid out the financial decisions for moving to LV from CA. He would NEVER be able to afford a house back home, but in Vegas, it was easy. His income was higher in Sin City, and his cost of living and taxes were way lower.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting 3 or 4 brothers like this. Impossible not to love them.
After John Tory resigned as Mayor of Toronto, he stuck around long enough to push his budget through. In addition to a sex scandal which might make Vince McMahon blush, we learned after the fact that he had signed a massive deal with FIFA for Toronto to host some World Cup soccer games.
Tory’s deal is for half a billion or thereabouts, with a LOT of money going to Rogers. Tory was always a Rogers man and was on the Rogers payroll while “serving” as Mayor. At one point, Tory took a couple of days off from being Mayor of Toronto to work at Rogers on a big issue (a Rogers family dispute – you can’t make this stuff up!)
Former Mayor of Toronto John Tory: He had an affair with a woman younger than his grandchildren and left Toronto in a far worse position than he found it. Rob Ford was an addict. What is John Tory’s excuse?
The justifications politicians use for these massive handouts of public money to gigantic corporations are the same ones mentioned in the article. More tourism, money spent at hotels, restos, etc.
That argument holds water in Vegas. It doesn’t in Oakland, and I doubt it does in Toronto.
If it is all about tourism dollars, why doesn’t Mirvish get the same financial support as a media company that has earnings of several billion dollars per year? Mirvish is a theatre company that stages Broadway-type shows in Toronto.
I suspect the Mirvish clientele is far more likely to spend money on a hotel room and restaurant than Jays fans who commute into the city for the game and then head right back to where they came from.
It looks like a lot of the World Cup money will be going to the cops, as well. I shoulda known.
Takeaway: Cops gonna get paid, Mayor gonna get paid, Corporations gonna get paid. “The rich get richer, the poor get the picture.” – Midnight Oil
AI summary of this article:
The article captures the Oakland ambiance and contrasts it with the allure of Las Vegas. Personal anecdotes reveal the city’s distinctive character. Additionally, Toronto’s Mayor John Tory’s controversial actions with FIFA and corporate deals are dissected, raising questions about public fund allocation. The intricate web of politics, business, and culture is unveiled.
January always makes me feel like I am wearing an old WW II helmet that somebody dug out of the mud in Europe. It is rusted, with disgusting insects and bugs crawling all over it, screaming in silent voices that only January can hear. It is heavy. Heavy because of the metal and muck, but emotionally and psychically heavy.
Wearing it sours my heart and curdles my charisma. Wearing it weakens me mentally and physically and then physically and mentally. It makes walking upright burdensome and pointless. Most January days mean that getting out of a chair is an undertaking that needs to be planned and prepared for.
January is the physical embodiment of cancer. January is a cold, dirty, and inescapable death. January stinks while possessing no aroma. The cruellest of months compels me to ponder my mortality, my brutality. It reminds me that I am less than worthless. Maybe I deserve it, and maybe Rod Stewart is singing You Wear It Well.
Rod Stewart realizing that January is around the corner.
And yet, the January helmet I wear is just a piece of tin, likely formed in a stamping plant in Detroit or somewhere else in the Rust Belt. That same factory might now be pressing cans that eventually get stuffed with dolphin-free skipjack tuna. Or maybe it has been deserted and repurposed as an art gallery by opioid addicts and bored teens.
Being jailed by a January sky is the Chinese finger trap of emotional imprisonment. A January sky allows almost no light to leak through. There is no light, never. And since January’s torment is an old trick, I asked Penn & Teller for suggestions on removing my “January helmet.” They are yet to get back to me. (They haven’t been the same since Alyson Hannigan left Fool Us.)
On the bright side, if there is one, I might try collecting rent from the bugs, filth, and Depression-era depression now encasing my brain. Rent is cheaper than sending a man to the moon these days, so if I can get these parasitic squatters to pay their fair share, I might have a new side hustle.
Perry's Pen 