Sometimes the unexpected happens. Years ago I had a day off during the making of Beautiful Midnight. Two friends had dropped by my place to get me, as we were going out. While sitting there, we somehow got into a discussion about writing quick songs about nothing. So I picked up this crappy old classical guitar that belonged to my ex-girlfriend and proceeded to play do-do-do-do-do…click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click…do-do-do-do-do. And then the words came - “I found me a reason, so check me tomorrow, we’ll see if I’m leaking, push and push and push till it hurts…”

In about 45 minutes I had what would basically be Hello Time Bomb, which later that night I quickly recorded onto a cassette and we tracked the very next day.

Sometimes the unexpected happens.

Of course, never in my wildest dreams did I think that that song would go on to become one of my biggest singles. I mean let’s face it, I wrote it on a dust covered classical guitar that had been sitting unused behind a large plant for years. But, in the end, that’s how it happened.

Now, that’s not to say that in an attempt to create spa music as a joke I wrote a future hit single – that’s hardly the case. But while messing around with various sounds in an attempt to produce something funny I did accidentally end up with something altogether different.

Sometimes the unexpected happens. Like Great Whales Of The Sea.

Sorry everyone, preview’s over.

I don’t have much for you today. Not that there isn’t a lot going on, just that I’m not particularly in the mood. I might post something to listen to a little later today, so check back for that. In the meantime, here’s something that some of you might find interesting.

- If The World Could Vote.

What do you call a place that you have to smuggle livestock into using a kilometer long tunnel? A prison? Well, logic dictates that if you had a kilometer long tunnel you could escape from that prison and wouldn’t need to smuggle in livestock. Unless, of course, that prison is the Gaza strip and you can’t use that tunnel because the Egyptians simply wouldn’t tolerate some 1.5 million people popping out of it.

Instead, to meet the demands of Id Al-Adha, the Islamic feast of sacrifice in which animals are slaughtered to feed the poor to seek God’s forgiveness, livestock have to be smuggled into Gaza using one of an estimated 800 tunnels that are used to transport goods between Egypt and Gaza. Weapons, of course, are forbidden to be smuggled through the tunnels, as Hamas has their own network for that. So, in short, to get around the blockade that has crippled Gaza, goods are brought in underground.

By the way, the dictionary definition of ghettoization is…

“Put in or restrict to an isolated or segregated place, group, or situation.”

Just for your information.

While doing a search for something unrelated, I discovered that I’m on the Internet Movie Datebase for some bizarre reason. Anyway, while I was checking it out I came across something on it that answers a question that I’ve been curious about for a few years…

“A portion of his song, “Put Out Your Lights”, was played during the 2004 World Series using a loophole that allowed them to play it without permission or payment because the portion was of a certain, short, length.”

Not that I’m complaining. The fact that anything I’ve written was used during the World Series is cool in my books.

Would that he the same Bible that contains Exodus 20:13? Never mind Matthew 5:43.

I was having a conversation with a friend this afternoon about the current financial crisis - he thought it was over. I looked at him with a perplexed look on my face and asked “why makes you think it’s over’? He responded by saying that because the bailout package in the States was passed that everything would soon correct itself.

So how serious is all of this? More serious than many people are aware. In fact, it is so serious that the United States is currently printing money so fast that the Adjusted Monetary Base is floating around the trillion dollar mark. Put simply, the compound rate of inflationary growth since mid August is 114%. That’s almost comparable to the state of economic chaos that resulted in the Argentine economic crisis.

Regulation legislation aside, this situation isn’t about simply creating jobs and righting the housing market, as both Presidential candidates have asserted. It’s gone beyond that. This situation will result in a global recession and its impact will be felt most severely in the world’s poorest nations – those which are routinely exploited for their cheap labour in various sectors, and, not surprisingly, the ones who had nothing to do with the creation of this mess.

The Pitt River Bridge was closed this morning for two and a half hours after a bomb threat was made to 911. The threat turned out to be a false and the bridge was reopened. Thus, reports that an al-Qaeda sleeper cell may be operating in the greater Pitt Meadows area are obviously false. No word yet on whether a mob has gathered at Roosters Country Cabaret with torches and a rope intent on looking for foreigners.

Some hours early, in Fernie BC, a 19-year-old kid somehow shot himself in the head with a crossbow. No details have been released other than he was flown to Calgary to have the bolt removed. Was alcohol a factor? I’m going to say yes given that the incident occurred during a party at the boy’s home. Either that or he thought he was Ted Nugent and mistook himself for a bear.

Punched!

A reason to get punched?

About to get punched?