It's above freezing, it must be spring!

It's warming up, very slowly. By warming up I mean it's generally above zero during the day. If you don't have to wear gloves to walk home, it must mean spring is round the corner. Hopefully. The weather forecasters are still talking about four weeks to go. At least the snow has pretty much gone for now...

One sure sign that this freezing hell is almost over is the start of the baseball season. It started yesterday. In Japan. The Japanese love baseball and have a thriving league, so this isn't about expansion, just making money. It's the American Dream on tour. 

The season properly starts next week. Toronto get to start with an away series at the Yankees, followed by the Red Sox - the World Champions - at home. This is not an easy way to begin the year. But hey, it's a long year. At least my tickets for opening day are in the bag - and it's the Rogers' box for me (that would be the owner's box, HA!). Weird way of watching a game though, surrounded by Toronto's rich elite supping cosmos and downing oysters. Baseball is all about the beer and hotdogs - but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Now UK readers (and, to be fair, many Canadians) don't really get the appeal of baseball. It is, after all, rounders. But that's not fair - baseball is much more than that. It really is a great game - no, it is! It's also part of America's psyche, part of what makes it tick. That's why there was so much fuss about the steroid-taking report earlier in the year. It was as if America itself was in some way being violated by it. Only America could investigate a sport at Senate level - it would be like football being investigated by the House of Lords. Not that bad an idea, actually... 

So, take me down to the ball game and let's play ball!

A More Perfect Union

Everybody should listen to this. This is not just a politician but a Presidential candidate in an incredibly tight race. Amazing. I don't think Gordon Brown's got one of these in his back pocket...

It's forty minutes long, by the way, so you may need to make a cup of tea before you press play.

Wrote For Luck

So, Toronto is warming up. Well, it's over freezing and that's positively roasting. I had to go home and change jackets because the mental Canadian Goose duvet was too much. This is, officially, a good sign.

And I've discovered the wonder and horror of 6 Music this week. Great on some fronts - music you don't get on Canadian/American radio. Shocking on others - hello Lilly Allen, you have a lot to answer for. Kate Nash, OK, kinda your fault but, you know, a one off. NO! Russell Brand and now this tosser, George Lamb. I mean, really? Surely the only, THE ONLY, point of 6 music is people who love music. People who understand Word and the importance of buying the NME when you're growing up. People like I know in London. And we get this asshole. Jesus, how many reasons can there be to not go home?

Anyway, listened to Guy Garvey's show. I love Elbow, and his show was, well, right. Also, he had the best Sting joke for a long time. And Paul Morley's FAC 501 was amazing. My brother just sent me the two Hacienda comps - you've got to love nostalgia. It made me dance like it was 1991. A Guy Called Gerald - I had forgotten and I am sure I'm not the only one...

Back to FAC 501. Tony Wilson - what can you say? Manchester was his for a while. He made it. We lived in it. Now it's gone. I met Paul Morley a fair few times. He was the first person to introduce me to the wonder of melancholy. Thank you Paul - finally got it the other day. And that radio show confirmed it. 

This week (and, to an extent, last Saturday) made me miss old Manchester, when it was more raincoat than WAG. OK, so the unemployment figures were displayed on the town hall, it rained all day, every day, and you were as likely to get mugged as walk out of Affleck's Palace with a '061 - State Of The Nation' tee but, hey, it was real. And there was The Fall, Joy Division, the Smiths, The Buzzcocks, New Order, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, 808 State, Inspiral Carpet and so many more before Oasis poisoned the well. But that city has gone. Long live Rio Ferdinand. Tony would hate it and love it at the same time.

Walk away, in silence...

Canadian Music Wake

Last week was Canadian Music Week - a grim few days where the great and the good of the conference merry-go-round converged on Toronto to discuss ways in which they could screw their constomers. The latest ruse is to remove file-sharers' internet access. The cunning plan is to make the ISPs responsible for policing online piracy with a three strikes and your out law. If you're caught trying to download an obscure northern soul track that is commercially unavailable three times, that's it, no more internet access for you sunshine. Overlooking the obvious marketing benefits of P2P, the fact that most P2P users buy far more music than your average Joe and the sheer insanity of persecuting people who still consider music to be a vital, exciting, life-affirming thing of wonder, who the f*ck do the music industry think they are? Is there any hope that this bunch of pen-pushers and money lenders will be able to drag their sorry faces out of the sand before the game is well and truly up? Unlikely. It seems that all the people who know why the Clash matter have been shoved aside and replaced by people who really don't see the problem with shoving another Jessica Simpson clone down the throats of the masses. Hopefully it won't be long now before the whole shambolic, delusional edifice collapses around their cloth ears.

Anyway on a brighter note, I did meet a friend of, it turned out, lots of friends who was in town to observe the whole sorry mess. It's always a worry when someone tells you that their friend is in town and you should meet them.  But my new best friend Nicola turned out to be fantastic. Like most of my friends in the UK, she's a journalist, and a music journalist to boot. You don't get music journalists in Canada. You have to save up the $14 for Word. We had a lovely afternoon hiding in a pub from the worst storm of the winter. I'm used to it now but she couldn't quite believe that anyone would voluntarily live through a Canadian winter. 

It was the nicest afternoon I've spent in a long time and reminded me of the things I genuinely miss about London. Pubs, for one. And talking about music in that way that only the British do. Oh, and the sense of humour - it's very different from north America. After she'd flown out to Austin I felt quite melancholy for a while. Then I listened to half of Question Time over the internet and realised exactly why someone would do what I've done. Still, cheers Nicola - come back soon, maybe not in early March...

Got home on Saturday evening and within an hour the power went out in the building - all very 70s Britain. It occurred to me that an afternoon down the pub followed by an evening surrounded by candles was slightly dangerous. They should make a public information film about it.

I did quite enjoy melancholy - it's a very misunderstood state.

Go Leafs Go!

So tonight I finally saw a live hockey game. I'm now just Curling away from becoming Canadian. It was, one has to say, awesome - I now get hockey. But boy, the Leafs suck. It was like watching Man City vs Milan. New Jersey barely broke sweat apart from the odd moment when they thought they really ought to score. And they did. Four times. The Leafs are ridiculously over-supported and ridiculously overpriced. As a result, the management can't quite see the point in investing in the team. They sell out EVERY GAME. Crazy, really. As my friend Elliot pointed out, this is a true Torontonian right of passage - Jays can't beat the Red Sox, Leafs can't beat anyone and the Raptors think that the playoffs count as success. As I said, Man City...

Looks like Hillary is becoming the comeback kid (again) tonight. Inevitable really, negative still works well. Obama's speech tonight was still amazing though - however much mud they throw at him, he still stays above the fray. It will probably do for him in the end.

Something astounding I saw today - the UK Tory party's new campaign. Look up 'Conservative UK' in facebook and you will find the most sophisticated political page I have ever seen. They have clearly been watching Obama but are doing it better. Really - the Tories! It is a vision of the future of political campaigning and I plan to steal from it for my online strategy. I am very, very impressed. Well done the boy David...

Anyway, CNN is going on throughout the night but I can't. CNN have given up pretending that this election is anything but the latest US sport. Their daily political show is called 'Election Bowl' and uses graphics from football play books. And they described their coverage tonight as 'flooding the zone'. You've got to love it, really...

In silence...

Going here - not sure why. Well, to be honest, I do, but not going to say. Anyway, later.... Deep down, deep, deep down as E17 used to say...