ColdPlay ‘X&Y’ and Arcade Fire ‘Funeral’ – Olivia’s Birth. These 2 albums were played a couple weeks before her birth and quite often in the hospital room over the 3 days we spent there.
Echo & The Bunnymen ‘Siberia‘ – Building my arcade cabinet. I played this a lot during the building of the cabinet PLUS Sean and I went to see them in concert in Nov ’05 in Toronto.
James ‘Millionaires’ – I bought this album in ’99 when I was in England for the Symbol / Sybase / PGA scoring collaboration. It was not available in Canada yet and was nice to get before anybody else back home. I listened to it many many times over those 3 weeks in England and in Spain during the event. It was during these sessions when I drew the impetus to make the biggest decision of my life.
Erasure ‘Chorus’ – I was in Belgium/England to give Dynamo training when one night I had a few too many Chimay Rouge and Hoegaarden’s. It was my first Belgian beer extravaganza and was not aware of the punch these beers could pack. I passed out in my room listening to Erasure and was VERY late for my training session the following morning. The killer was that I not only had to teach that day but had to also fly back to London that night. Ouch.
James ‘Seven’, ‘Stutter’ and ‘Strip-mine’ – In the summer of ’96 I had just graduated and was beginning my illustrious Sybase career. I was still living in the basement at Box Grove albeit by myself as both Jay and Rick had moved out. I would spend a lot of time biking around and listening to these albums.
Genesis – Belmont Place in Jan ’95
Queen “It’s Late” and News of the World – 1st co-op term at Watcom (’95). Driving home in my new Honda Civic in January listening to this song ON TAPE. A couple months later the head unit was stolen and thus began my CD in the car experience.
Love & Rockets “Haunted (When the Minutes Drag)” – In the basement at Box Grove, the last day of work in 2nd co-op term at Watcom (fall of ’95). Phillips blared this song in the morning. I had a serious hangover from the co-op party the night before.
Robyn Hitchcock – I grew up with this music and the likes of The Smiths, Shreikback, etc. But the more impacting memory is about living on Ezra Street in the summer of ’95, my last summer at school. With the Honda Civic I would often play this music, especially when driving down to Toronto to party with J Phillip
Eagles – One of these nights – 2 memories, quite recent: 1) Wonderboy ’08: One of the ‘late’ nights when I finally went to bed, I listened to this song on repeat until falling asleep. The song was literally absorbed by my brain. 2) In NYC this spring we walked into that ‘Italian Bar that’s in the Sopranos’ that Sonia and I discovered back in ’01 before it was ‘that bar in Sopranos’. Located on Mulberry Street, this small hole in the wall had a jukebox that just happened to have this song. Along with the 2 disinterested bartenders and the 3 other customers, we all enjoyed the crooning of Henley.
The Smiths and Morrissey Again, grew up with this music, but have vivid memories of listening to this in the summer of ’95 when I drove to many places including PEI. The Greatest Hits, Southpaw Grammar, and Vauxhall and I are the albums I recall most clearly. This includes the times I listened to it while playing Descent at work.
Nazareth – You’d think that these memories should come out of high school or even earlier, but they are more about my 2A term at UW living at Batavia place. The ‘anthology’ came out that year. Also, in 1A, I received one of the cassette tapes in the big first purchase from Columbia House (do they still exist?). Yes, cassette tapes. I would listen to this during my walks to class in the dead of winter (1B). “Heart’s Grown Cold” is a big memory maker. Side note: It was during this period of purchasing albums from Columbia House that I made the transition to CDs. Wow. Double side note: My Nazareth Anthology was eventually stolen while living on 3rd Street (near Lansdowne) in Ottawa. One day Scott Murphy and I bought a couple of these keg contraptions holding 36 beer equivalent that Labatt’s was trying out for their Genuine Draft product. All day in the backyard we were sitting around listening to old vinyl Metallica albums that the neighbour was ‘introducing us to’. I don’t know how it happened but for some reason 2 absolute strangers joined us in the fun. These guys were shady at best (think mullets, cut off jeans and wife-beater shirts). They eventually left and seemed like nice guys. Later that day Scott and I went out to shoot some pool and when we got back, my bedroom window had been broken into and these guys (obviously) were the culprits. But they only took 2 things: my jar of change and my Nazareth Anthology. True story!
James Addiction – Strays Trip to North Bay on my 30th birthday weekend
Tom Cochran The Symphony Sessions remind me of the grind of running 20-25 laps around the track behind the highschool in Grade 13 and 1st yr university. The live “Boy Inside the Man” often made the difference between achieving my goal or falling short. Another memory relates to the Life is a Highway album. It was released when I was going into my 1st term at Waterloo. I remember walking to class and studying to the CASSETTE TAPE! The pinnacle memory is whipping through my calculus midterm as quickly as I could in order to get in line for the concert at Fed Hall. I was in such a rush I lost my calculator 