Game 7 tonight. Woke up feeling calm and serene about this one, but listening to interviews and reading stuff all day has the nervous fires burning deep in the sub-cockle areas.
I am thinking Montreal is 50-50 on this one with as good a chance as the Pens of coming out with the victory. The thing is that this team is really impossible to predict as there are few if any playoff parallels to draw.
Normally for a bubble team to make a deep playoff run knocking off top seeds a few of the following are required:
- A hot last 30 games of the season
- A big greasy lineup that can wear people out on the boards
- Some sort of superstar forward or D-man who leads the way
Well Montreal was the last placed team to make the playoffs, squeaking in on the last day of play, they are a short-statured and there really is no superstar (Crosby, Ovechkin, Lidstrom, Brodeur etc…) just a team of grinders all pushing in the same direction that bounce back like a punching bag as they are pummelled by bigger and more talented teams.
So really there is no saying.
However if the Gods have a sense of justice, then the Habs should advance tonight with another nervy 1-goal win that drives me to drink and scream at my TV and finally stampede out onto the roads to take in that most sweetest of Montreal moments – the savouring of victory.
¡Ojala!
It is about 12:10 AM. This is late for the man who has munchkins or in my case munchkin. But this week the munchkin is on a west coast roadtrip with mother in tow so I am on the couch and contemplating what to do next.
Lone week should be sleeping week but strange and unwelcome insomnia is causing bed fear - i.e. the strange compulsion to do anything but go to the room of sleeping and the bed. I also have TV ennui which is the feeling that TV is a welcome way to empty brain of useful thinking. TV lurks on the wall like bed in the room - sort of alluring but kind of dirty too (I leave choice of apt metaphor to reader of blog).
Consequently I am surfing about looking at music blogs and listening to Myspace streaming music from my buddy Nicolas's band Long Voyage based in Leipzig Germany. Highly recommended lo-fi folk:
http://www.myspace.com/longvoyageband
I think being in front of a computer all day at work makes one a bit obsessive. In many ways I want to get rid of this laptop and go to bed or do something more apropos for a bachelor on a Friday night.
Actually I probably don't.
It is now 12:20 AM.
Posted by Rob at 12:10 AM| Permalink
I believe it was James Bond who said that the world is not enough. But it's a good place to start.
Today marks the official globalisation of Friend of all the World with the digital release of 'Up these Branches' on Itunes, Emusic, Napster, Rhapsody and about 36 or so other download sites available across the globe.
So for those awaiting the release with baited breath, it be done.
Posted by Rob at 03:58 PM| Permalink
Today marks the official web-launch of an album I've been working on for the last year and a half or so. The project started in the fall of 2008 with a core of tunes that came together over the year I lost my Dad and a few other from various places.
Slowly, over the last 2 years of tracking in my home-studio and mixing at a small studio here in Montreal, the 16 songs got whittled down to 9 tunes that sort of meshed together and conveyed the theme I was going for.
Apart from launching the new album, this blog also launches Friend of all the World, my new project and one which will hopefully be fruitful and offer a rich canvas upon which to put down a lot of ideas that have been circulating through my head on 4-track tapes, hand-held recorders, scraps of paper and an increasingly full external hard-drive.
I've decided to launch this album as a totally new project and not under the Robert Cole moniker for a few reasons. First and foremost was the goal of giving these songs some space, to let them breathe on their own without needing to adhere to me and my changing whims. I've always felt that a song was there before you came by it and will continue long after you've moved on or lost interest. Having a lone side-project creates a world where these and future songs can roam free and pursue their own courses.
My good friend Nicolas Huart has set up a web-site for the band at: www.friendofalltheworld.com where you can listen to 3-sample tracks and find a link to buy a copy of the full album on CD. This is the hardcover release so to speak. In a few weeks the album will be available on Itunes and just about any other (pay) digital download service you can name. So if, like me, you tend more to the digital download for reasons of reducing wastage and saving the poor planet then I would advise waiting a few weeks to get your digital copy. Buyers of the CD, however, get to appreciate the magnificent album artwork put together by my good friend and long-time design advisor Tim Andrews of Slide Designs.
If you still need convincing, check out the first (largely positive) review of the album More news on the project and an official off-line album launch to follow in the near future.
Quick edit on this one... I think I have been too discouraging of people buying the actual CD. It is really quite a nice little package and available for only $15 from my website. Also, for people in the Montreal area, I have 100 copies that I am selling so if you are local and want a copy, drop me a line.
Posted by Rob at 04:59 PM| Permalink
