Dizzy - The Wonder Stuff featuring Vic Reeves

Just random notes today:

This is so simple for some people but I have got to learn to take better care of myself. I was dizzy all day from not taking meds for a while. (It is called broke with no insurance..) I am waiting on a package with my cobra information mailed from the Ex… I almost passed out the night we got into Seattle for the same thing. Today I was just plain annoyed because if I am dizzy, I can’t focus on a computer screen. Mary picked up my meds for now, bless her heart of gold. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be back on track!

* Andrew and I are really into following the Polaris Prize. It is a Canadian music prize of $20,000 to the artist whose record is the best of the year, according to an industry panel of judges. They select a long list of potential records then eliminate it down to the short list of 10 records. We like to try to predict the winner. They air the awards show on CBC3 this Sept 21. I am going to attempt to listen to each record fully before. Of course we have our favorites. Andrew is all for Metric- “Fantasies” to win this year. I believe Plaskett deserves it for “Three.” I even wrote out little odds this year. I will share them soon. My guess to win this year is Chad Van Gaalen for his CD “Soft Airplane.” He lost to Patrick Watson two years ago and I think they will give it to him now.

* It is a well known fact about me; ridiculous things make me burst out in tears. Now I really don’t mean to. It is involuntary most of the time. So please laugh that I burst into tears twice yesterday. First for hearing In-Flight Safety’s “The Coast is Clear” on Iceberg. Then I got sniffles for seeing a young gal driving a gorgeous Chevelle as her daily driver. (In-Flight because it reminds me of my first trip to Halifax and the Chevelle because I used to drive one daily also.)

* Andrew was in Seattle but we didn’t see each other-LOL! He was too busy spending 3 hours at one record store here called EM. I think I better stay away from there for a good long time. Same with the rubber stamp convention here this weekend.

*Unbelievable! John is back in Phoenix as of yesterday. That my friend is a heck of a job that you can manage that amount of time off! I don’t even remember what day we left for Alaska anymore. His fb status was something about the joy of sleeping in your own bed, I bet!! I can’t wait until I can own my own bed again!

*In the Tacoma paper yesterday was an article about what Jim Zorn did for the summer! HEEHEE. It was mainly about training camp starting but it detailed his vacation stops and the books he read. I am just guessing that article did not run in the Arizona Republic.

*I turned the TV on today to find a music trivia game show hosted by Meatloaf. The competition was between Leif Garrett and the Bay City Rollers. One of my favorite singers, Kyle Vincent (In photo above) has been touring with this version of the Rollers. There he was, Kyle on TV. It was fun to watch! Kyle does these Living Room performances where he will come to your house and do a show for you. I had him do one at our home in 2004. I also had him speak to my class about the music industry while he was in town plus play live on The Blaze. Another Phx resident also had him do a show a few years later. He is a wonderful guy with an absolute angelic voice. He was once the vocalist for 80’s band Candy with Gilby Clarke, later of G n R fame.

*On the same channel, The 101, they are showing a concert of Tinted Windows. They are the power pop super group with Bun E Carlos from Cheap Trick, James Iha from the Smashing Pumpkins, Adam Schlessinger of Fountains of Wayne (and wrote “That thing you do”) and vocalist Taylor Hanson. (Yes that Hanson!) I missed it today but it is showing again tomorrow! Can’t wait! Their record is in the running for my favorite of the year!

*I saw a gorgeous shooting star above me tonight reminding me it is all going to work out. I may have gotten my first rejection letter today and been sick but I have the highest of hopes and peace around me!

The Key - Erroll Star

For those of you who may be interested in reading this blog I started back in ’04, you might need a key to terms used often in the Mod Maid language. As with anything, it is best to start from the beginning and attempt to follow. Attempt is the key, a Mod Maid’s mind is tough to decipher sometimes!

Key for terms used on Mod Maid’s Maple Musings blog:

Mod Maid – A nickname given to me at my first college radio station, WQBR at Eastern Michigan University. My on-air name throughout college. Origin of the name comes from the brand name of my 1985 winter jacket. Alliteration of name was used for specialty show playing all Canadian music: Mod Maid’s Mighty Maple Minutes. (at Midnight)

CanCon – Term refers to Canadian radios stations requirements to play a certain percentage of Canadian artists. Canadian Content. I utilize as a term for my favorite music.

The Verge, Iceberg and CBC3 – Satellite radio stations that play all Canadian artists. My sources for hearing my favorite Canadian music and learning new ones.

Andrew – My Canadian music partner in crime… Between the two of us, we own just about every rock-based Canadian artist in some form or another. If neither of us have heard of the artist, they must still be playing in their parent’s basement.

The Blaze – (AKA – KASR/KASC) the campus radio station at Arizona State University. As an undergrad, I was music director and station manager in KASR days. From 2000 to 2008, I was their professional advisor.

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications – My employer at Arizona State University from 2000-2009. The school I have my BA from, 1991.

Cronkite Village (AKA – CV, with year variations-CV1, CV2, CV3, CV4 and now CV5) – A Living Learning community for freshmen students from the Cronkite school. I was charged to form this community and develop it.

Big Red – Nickname for the 1969 Chevy Camaro SS I owned and bracket-raced from 1996-2009.

Dan – The ex-husband. LOL

“Bay Window” – The name of the novel I wrote in 2005-2006. The early portion of this blog is all the emotions I went through writing this novel and editing it.

Patrick and Elise – The main characters in “Bay Window”

Sloan – A favorite Canadian band. After a performance of theirs in 2005 in Tempe, AZ, I was inspired to write “Bay Window” based on all the rock band members I had known and experiences I had lived through in my personal days as an on-air personality in Phoenix radio.
There are also many references in this blog to members Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson (C & J) who once were radio show hosts on CBC3 that I wrote many letters to.

KUKQ, KUPD, KSLX and KZON – Radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona that I once worked for at some point in my radio career. Mary McCann, who has kindly opened her home to me currently, was a colleague at both KUKQ and KZON.

Karen and Nina – My two best friends who I met at Eastern Michigan while working at WQBR.

Blossoms – Gin Blossoms. A band from Tempe, Arizona that were playing clubs while I attended Arizona State University. My life revolved around them during my years at ASU and beyond. I believe I can state I was the first on-air personality to play them and interview them on commercial radio. KASR was also first radio station to play this multi-platinum act. My most prized possession is a Gold record presented to me by the band.

Robin – The lead singer of the Gin Blossoms.

Hopkins – Doug Hopkins, Deceased lead guitarist of the Gin Blossoms.

The Posies – My favorite rock band since 1988. From Bellingham, Washington. I have seen live 16 times, many of which I travelled throughout the country to attend.

Jon Auer – One of two lead vocalist of said favorite band; The Posies. Ken Stringfellow is also Posies lead vocalist. Each have solo careers along with the band they began as teenagers.

NS – Nova Scotia. Mentioned often on blog because of two incredible trips there, fictional location of my novel Bay Window and my desired future home.

AZ – Arizona. The state my parents decided to move to in 1987. I left Eastern Michigan University and transferred to Arizona State University. I lived there for 22 years.

AK – Alaska. The state I moved to for about a month in June/July of 2009. Things did not work out as planned. I retreated to Washington due to, presumably, more career opportunities, more record stores, tons of musical acts playing live in the city of Seattle and because St. John said “I can get you as far as Seattle.”

St. John – A former student and director at the Blaze that has become one of my dearest friends. Inducted into sainthood after agreeing to drive this “crazy broad,” her three dogs and a trailer full of music all the way to Alaska. HE: Re-packed the trailer three times, never allowed me to drive once the entire trip, endured my tears daily, scrubbed an f-ing carpet in Jasper, Alberta, listened to me babble on about Canadian music, didn’t complain about the amount of Kleenex strung through the cabin in Homer when I was sick, didn’t guilt me when I killed my fender on Dino, waited for me to record shop in Canada, drove the horrible roads of the Yukon slow enough so the trailer didn’t bounce too bad, and then…offered to drive me back down to the lower 48 when I decided not to stay in Alaska. That is the definition of a great friend and a saint, ladies and gentlemen….

Dino – Nickname for my GMC Sierra Denali. Did I forget to mention I also had a minor fender bent and broken off in AK also..?

Jasper, Wicket and Brendella – My three dogs I was awarded full custody of. *wink*

Jasper is a mutt, Bassett mix who is a distemper survivor. Named after city in the Canadian rockies of Alberta. He was my parent’s dog. Apprx age: 13

Wicket is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named after the Ewok who befriends Princess Leia in “Return of the Jedi.” He is 7 years old.

Brendella is a black colored Basset Hound. She was named after a manufacturer of drag and ski boats. My parent owned drag racing boats while I was growing up. Most often referred to as “Della,” she is 5 years old.

Lucky Star - Goo Goo Dolls

July 25, 2009

Just finished harvesting strawberries from Mary’s garden! Those were direct orders from her to harvest and eat them while she is at work at KPLU playing jazz music all day.  Found about 20 really red ones that are incredibly sweet.

I have officially been in Washington for a week now. Spent Friday job searching online, I first checked University of Washington (UW) and found two more to apply for. That brings my total at UW to 13 jobs I have applied for. Most have an end date next week so perhaps some interviews will come early August? I spent most of the day on craigslist. That yielded some amusing considerations. I wrote a new cover letter insisting that both advising and radio was the ultimate in customer service. (With my editor’s help – wink) I then applied for front desk clerk at a boutique hotel downtown Seattle. I am a big fan of those hotels that have special flare in each room! I then applied for an attendant on the Victoria Clipper. This is the famed (in my head) boat that goes from Seattle to Victoria, BC. Monday I will return to scouring Universities and Community Colleges in Western Washington.

I had a fantastic last two days! Thursday I met John at Pike Place Market. At first I couldn’t find him..I told him I was the girl in the Sloan shirt-LOL! Then I saw some young dude that vaguely looked like the guy I spent 5 weeks with in a truck with. Hee! The Grizzly Adams beard for Alaska is gone. I guess that means he may finally be getting ready to return to Phoenix. We watched the fish throwers pull out a huge octopus out of a box. Yikes! We ate at my old favorite Athenian where Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner sat in “Sleepless in Seattle”. My mom and I loved that movie so much! John sat in Tom Hanks’ spot. When I was trying to find John, I spotted really cute purse at one of the booths. I am not like most women, I am pretty fussy about purses and don’t have a bazillion of them. While walking by it, I showed it to John. He walked up, looked at that label and said they were his Aunt’s creation! He had told me before his Aunt had a booth there but never even told me what she made. Bizarre coincidence! After a day of tooling around, John had to get back to Port Angeles for dinner his step-mom was making for him. Knowing I am a ferry-loving fool, he suggested I ride the ferry to Bainbridge Island with him and back. It was super crowded as it was rush hour on the boat. It raised my imagination for what it would be like to commute on a boat daily. While I was pleased as punch to be ferry riding, I was pretty sad returning to Seattle knowing it was the last time I would see John for a few months at least.

By missing the rush hour, I made it back to Mary’s in only an hour and ten minutes as opposed to 2 hours the day prior. I-5 is a nightmare when it wants to be. Seattle lesson number 23!

Friday evening, Mary and I set out for Mt. Rainier. She spotted a program in the paper that they were holding called “The Heavens of Paradise.” Paradise is the visitor center area at about 5000ft. They have a gorgeous brand new visitor center and Paradise Inn. Leah’s love of mountains- check, Leah’s love of road trips –check, Leah’s love of lodges –double check and Leah’s love of stargazing- triple check! The road was crazy switchbacks to get there. Narada Falls was a quick stop then we reached the center. Mary and I took a little hike along a path to get a better view of my new favorite volcano, Rainier. Not 50 ft away, a lovely deer having her dinner. We took some pix and relaxed. I stared at the mountain and did some serious praying again that I could find a way to stay in Washington. I would have picked Seattle area had I started out just saying, ok where do I want to move in the United States. I have had a picture of downtown Seattle in my bedroom since the early 90’s. The theme of the talk was wilderness does not just end at the horizon. The talk was inside the lodge. Oh my, I was in awe of the lodge décor. I am a fan of that look. It rivaled Jasper Park Lodge for design and décor! After the talk, we were invited to a “Star Party.” The Tacoma Astronomy club had various sized telescopes set up in the parking lot to allow all of us to gaze into that celestial wilderness. Local Girl Scouts were set up to help celebrate 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy. They helped us built constellation maps. The magnitude of the universe is beyond my comprehension. Looking at millions of other galaxies was mind blowing. I honestly had never looked into a telescope before last night! Mary had a night of shooting stars; she even saw one in a telescope that was not visible to us! I learned so much about Nebula, the Milky Way, Jupiter that was visible and the zillions of stars we can not see with the naked eye. It was fantastic. And more of the peace my body needs right now…

Random music notes:

On the drive Thursday, I heard Superfriendz, Dog Day and Two Hours Traffic on CBC3. THT song “Stuck for the Summer” is apparently the theme song for an MTV show about “band camp.” Yes for one of my bands getting some US airplay!

On Iceberg I heard a double shot of Gowan (random!!) and “It doesn’t really matter” – Platinum Blonde. Of course my distain for DJ Kella on Iceberg increased when she once again talked over the ending of Platinum Blonde. Did they not teach her at her radio school that you don’t talk over COLD endings? URGH!

CBC3 played a band called The Lodge from Halifax. It was killer but it took me a few google searches to find said band because of the generic name. My dear friend Mike has a radio station by the same name!  Turns out The Lodge are former members of The Inbred and friends…of course, Mike O’Neill is involved. Andi, this is info for you dear! ;)
For Andrew: Ten Second Epic has a new single featuring Lights called “Everyday” and I am digging on a band called Contrived.

I Am The Cancer - Sloan

July 22, 2009


I had such a fantastic day I am inspired to return to blogging. Besides, a blog on the “crazy broad” trying to find a new life and job in Washington should be fun read, right? I will post on facebook and return to my blog also.

The day started with an actual hairstyle as I haven’t used a blow dryer or hairspray since my last day at Cronkite. The hair ended up looking 70’s era Kristy McNichols since I had to have most of the two-tone black hairs cut out prior to leaving Phoenix. It was funny looking and made me think about how much I loved the movie “Little Darlings” when I was a young teen. Tatum O’Neal is filming the new Runaways bio pic. See, my hair style may make a comeback when the world sees Kristen Stewart (As Joan Jett!) and Dakota Fanning (As Cherie Currie!) sporting feathered hair!!

The job fair was smaller than I expected. Most of the companies were young male based, like the Army, Navy, CIA and the Edmonton Police. The two Universities represented both informed me their academic adviser-style jobs were sales driven. I have always been aware I am not fit for sales, I would cry every time someone said no! I found humor in the jobs in Alaska that were available. I spent the most time discussing how to become Canadian with the kind fellas from Edmonton. It inspired me to work hard to look into communications jobs in civil service in Canada as they may speed up my goal to get permanent residency. Or convince someone in Canadian radio that I am a one-women Canadian record store…

I went to a small Lutheran school in Michigan. There were 8 students in my graduating class in 8th grade. All the boys at St. Matthews were hardcore football fans. Jimmy, a dolphins fan, Jonathan loved the Cowboys. Being the tomboy in the class, I already loved the NFL and claimed Fran Tarkington and the Vikings as my team. But in 1976, my crush on Tarkington dissipated as I spotted a scrappy lefty who was the quarterback for the new team from Seattle, Washington. That year, our teacher had us write a journal daily. I ended each day with my new daily affirmation: I love Jim Zorn! I collected the articles from the Detroit Free Press every Monday, and then wrote an entire year report on the Seattle Seahawk’s season. They were fun to watch, and as the hormones sparked each year, this girl could not get enough of the duo of Zorn and Steve Largent, his favorite wide receiver. I wrote an A graded short story for Mr. Bond’s creative writing class about said duo! In my second trip to Seattle in 1993, I toured the King Dome. It was only natural that I was overjoyed to travel to Qwest Field in my very first week living in Seattle. I had to find the tour!

I felt like I should have had Cronkite Village with me on the tour! I wasn’t there to see a suite, the field or the press box this time though… I wanted to see the Seahawks history; I wanted to see those players’ photos in that Ring of Honor. The tour guide walked so fast I constantly lagged behind as I tried to photograph all the historic items. I was honestly annoyed that the tour was not focused at all for an actual Seahawks fan. And then, the guide said Zorn was now the coach of the Giants. I cringed at myself; miss know-it-all had to spew “Redskins” to correct him. But come on, the guy is a hero in this town! Get it right! No matter, I was beaming happy as I left the stadium.

My fine host, Mary warned me of the traffic on I-5 after about 3pm. In my truck at 4pm, I tried to decide if I would fight it. As I flipped on my Sirius satellite radio, the guest-DJ take over show on Iceberg was just beginning. The Canadian musician hosting? The one and only Joel Plaskett. SCORE! I will gladly sit in traffic for the next hour! (not to mention, stare at Mt. Rainier while listening!) Oh Joel, he is such a music fan. No question he brought his own stash as he played absolutely nothing Iceberg has ever played. He spoke of his Halifax history, Thrush Hermit tales and his fond memories of seeing Chris Murphy and Jenny Pierce singing “I am the Cancer” live. The show was fantastic! I included the artists Plaskett played below.

Maybe only I find these kinds of connections but as “I am the Cancer” played I started to tear up. In 1993, my first radio job at KUKQ came to a close as the station changed format to all News. By chance, my vacation, a trip to Seattle/Vancouver was planned the week after this surprise event occurred. I considered cancelling my trip but my parents encouraged me to still take the vacation and relax. On that very trip was when I first heard “I am the Cancer” on the radio. It was the song of our trip, as it was in heavy rotation on the alt-radio stations in Seattle and BC. Now I am living in Seattle, staying with a former co-worker from KUKQ and I hear “I am the Cancer” ?! See what I mean? Or is it just me? 

Random notes from today:
Rural Alberta Advantage remind me of Immaculate Machine (No wonder you like them, Andrew!)
I like Lauren Burrows and Lana Gay on CBC3 but not Lisa Christensen
Heard band Green Go today, pretty fun stuff
New Cancon band called Davinport (sorry t, they spell it wrong but you wouldn’t like them)
I am so bad; I bought a Seahawks heart necklace-LOL!
Delicious Blue Cheese hamburger for dinner.
Sleeping puppies all around me!

Tomorrow-Pike Place Market!
Friday – Star Gazing at Mt. Rainier


I love it here  Leah

Plaskett played:
Martha Wainwright
The Constantines
The Nils
Al Tuck
Dave Marsh
The Band
Old Man Luedecke
Joni Mitchell
Sloan
Two Hours Traffic
One track from each of his 3 new records