Friday, June 20, 2008

a line from Sloan

I put this to him at the book shop, a short while ago as I bought John Lanchester's Family Romance. I had given the bookstore owner a couple of copies of Taking The Stairs books and he said, "let us see how they do, $21.95 Canadian?" He got the calculator out and had a right go at pricing the thing -- he looked up with wary but clear eyes, "A tenner is a bit much for a book, most of these go for £8.99 and below in price." I said, "OK, how the poetry nights goin?"
He said, "We've stopped them, a dead loss." Then he took the book, "We'll price it as a tenner. See you in a week?"

So when back, in a weeks' time, in full suit and looking a little bedraggled, he went straight to till as I loomed in, pricing a book in his hand and there was a mad woman in there, (mad in the sense that she was fifty-odd, blond, a little sidetracked, speaking a list of book titles into a mobile phone) who seemed curious about everything that was happening. So I said because I was kinda giddy and had been receiving emails from a friend, I said "There is a line from a band in Canada, they are called Sloan",
and he said:

"OH,"

and I said, the line is:

"Once Upon a time I was on the scene,
with an attitude and a jacket of jean,
these days I'm up to my ass in routine..."

And he said:

"Right." (Waiting, I suppose, for there to be a point to this...?)

Anyway the mad woman was listening to all of this, and she gave me a glance as if to say that she either:

1. Wanted to add her bit
or
2. Wanted to wring my neck because I lost her place in the listings.

Ummm. Well...

This will unlikely get my books into the shop window, but I can't complain, and I like the tune, you know. It was on the strength of another person's enthusiasm, to be fair, but still. And someone in Ontario once remarked, (editor/poet I think), "Why is it that we seem to be embarrassed about where we are from and you folks from Nova Scotia, seem to be proud of it."
I don't know, but, well, that's all right then, isn't it?

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Just Taking Instruction...

A "portable" version of the Scouts are Cancelled film is just $2.99.
Available "left, right and centre."

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Wait now, you listen up

Chapter 46 The Insolent Boy.

This passage from The Insolent Boy was written in 1996-1997 and was the first time I started to get the idea of writing in the valley voice, the valley voice that came out most prominently in Scouts Are Cancelled which was published in 2002 in Toronto and which was made into an award winning film by John Scott in 2007. This was recorded at home a few years ago, so please excuse its' length, a few pauses, loogies and so on.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Valley boy...(in with the squaddies...)

NATO: A-Z ----------------ANNAPOLIS VALLEY A-Z

A: Alpha ---------------- A: Apple……. ….blossom fest….
B: Bravo ---------------- B: Boys …………..oh boys…….
C: Charlie ---------------- C: Charlie ………..Lemon……..
D: Delta ---------------- D: Dandy………….apple………..
E: Echo ---------------- E: Eh..(?)…………..wha?……….
F: Foxtrot ---------------- F: Fairy………… fine fruit…….
G: Golf ---------------- G: Gravenstein……bin………….
H: Hotel ---------------- H: How………..yah doon?……...
I: India ---------------- I: I…….wun’t touch her w/….….
J: Juliet ---------------- J: Jumpins ………..oh, my!……..
K: Kilo ---------------- K: Killer………Karl Krupp……
L: Lima ---------------- L: Lamb…………oh my……….
M: Mike ---------------- M: Magin’……………………….
N: November ---------------- N: Nice…………..some nice……
O: October ---------------- O: Over..shldr bldr hldr………..
P: Papa ---------------- P: Prix……..wrasslin.. ..gran…..
Q: Quebec ---------------- Q: Queer …n a tree dollar bill…
R: Romeo ---------------- R: Right………wild……………
S: Sierra ---------------- S: Sumpin …..isn’t……?……….
T: Tango ---------------- T: Terble…………some terble…
U: Uniform ---------------- U: U-Pick…………………...……
V: Victor ---------------- V: Village………stripper……….
W: Whisky ---------------- W:Wall………..we’ll see yus……
X: X Ray ---------------- X: X ……………..tra scoop…….
Y: Yankee ---------------- Y: .wanna spend nite jail(You?)
Z: Zulu ---------------- Z: Zinck’s…….Transport………
How Yah Doon? - Blogged