Queen in Edmonton

Our family recently returned from our annual pilgrimage to West Edmonton Mall and the TELUS World of Science up in Edmonton. On these trips, I hold out little hope of finding Queen-related items in Alberta’s capital city these days but was pleasantly surprised this past weekend when I came across four unexpected sightings.

My first find was totally serendipitous. The hotel we were staying at had a tiny games’ room that harboured a single upright arcade game and a table hockey game. (And judging by the uniforms of the miniature players, it was an Oilers-Bruins showdown.) For some reason, whoever used the game before my 11-year-old and I visited the room, had left before their time expired, so the sound effects were still being looped. There was the standard play-by-play commentary and the odd snippet of organ music you’d expect to hear at a real hockey game. Surprisingly, I kept hearing the familiar STOMP-STOMP-CLAP, STOMP-STOMP-CLAP as the sound effects kept looping. Okay, I think there’s my Queen fix for the day.

The next day we headed to Whyte Avenue, a trendy shopping area down the street from the University of Alberta. Our oldest kiddo is trans and wanted to check out a store called the Quiltbag, which focuses on 2SLGBTQI+ merchandise. In my experience, these niche stores usually have a curated book selection and this one was no different. A pink book cover stood out amongst the small collection: Queer Icons: From Gay to Z. Hey, I wonder if Freddie is in there. Sure enough, there he was. So I picked up this title to add to my Queen collection at home. Another Queen sighting I didn’t expect.

The following day, we paid a visit to TELUS World of Science. We have annual passes for the science centre here in Calgary and most science centres in North America have a reciprocal agreement where a membership at one grants them free admission to another, so admission was free. While we were wandering around in the NASA exhibit, my wife caught a sign promoting a Laser Queen event scheduled for the following night, so she suggested I take our youngest to the laser show. Okay, I’m not opposed to that.

For all the times we’ve been to this science centre, I don’t recall attending an event in their dome theatre, so I was eager to check out the venue as much as I was to see a Queen laser show. Upon entering the dome, the first thing I noticed were all of these full-length body pillows piled up on the floor in the centre of the viewing area. My 11-year-old ran to claim one but after lying down and looking up at the screen, he changed his mind and joined me in the front row instead.

I was curious to see what this laser show would look and sound like. I was struggling to imagine how exciting a bunch of random coloured laser beams was going to be, but I’m thinking that, at worst, I’ll get to hear some Queen tunes played really loud. The first song was WATC and sure enough, the corresponding laser show resembled a kinetic sine wave that simply followed the beat of the music. Because the lasers were set against a backdrop of a starry night, the light show at times felt like digital fireworks. 

As the song list moved from one to the other, the imagery generated by the lasers morphed into realistic objects. The Flash Gordon sequence gave us a spaceship and a variety of planetary line drawings. Now I was curious as to how the lasers were controlled and I started to respect the effort it probably took to incorporate realistic imagery into the arbitrary laser patterns usually associated with a laser show.

Fat Bottomed Girls took the animation to a whole new level, in my opinion. Whoever designed this show took a real tongue-in-cheek approach to visualizing the song. To my surprise, there weren’t any naked bike riders in this segment. (I wonder if Queen Productions needs to vet this type of event before it goes public?)

Overall, I really enjoyed the laser treatment of Queen’s music. As a designer myself, I was intrigued by the imagery and how it complemented the music. If I were to produce a Laser Queen show, I’d give serious thought to pitching a song selection that is more deep cuts than greatest hits. What would a Queen II laser show look like? What about The Prophet’s Song or She Makes Me? I get why the organizers went with the popular songs because they have to sell tickets, but I’m pretty sure there’s a market for the more robust Queen fan to enjoy obscure tunes that also have a story to tell.

Although I was still on a high from the laser show the night before, I was totally unprepared for seeing John Deacon on the morning news as he celebrated his 73rd birthday on our last morning in Edmonton. 

Four days in Edmonton. Four Queen sightings. Awesome.

The last time I had a Queen-centric moment in Edmonton was back in 1993 when I drove up to see The Brian May Band open for Guns N’ Roses at the Coliseum. That show was memorable for a couple of reasons: a) it was the first time I had seen any Queen member live, although I’d been a fan since 1975; and b) Brian said “fuck.” Hearing that surprised the hell out of me. I always thought he was pretty buttoned-up with his language. Perhaps he was preparing the crowd for Axl and crew?

Diamond Jubilee Concert

Media Moment: CBC coverage of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert

Queen-related: Brian May sighting

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert the other night and for the hell of it I PVRed the program wondering if Brian and Roger would show up.

There was no sign of Roger, unfortunately, but within five minutes of the start of the program, Brian was shown sitting in the Royalty Box next to Anita. That was strange, I thought. What was he doing in the audience when he should be on stage? Maybe he was just wasting time until he’s called up to play some guitar as part of the backing band or something.

It turns out he wasn’t part of the concert at all, which was a 180-degree turn from his castle-topping guitar solo from the Queen’s Golden Jubilee ten years ago. Well if he wasn’t going to be in the show, they must have a stellar lineup of musicians planned since Brian took the time out to be a spectator instead of a participant.

Nonetheless, Peter Mansbridge, the news anchor who was covering the broadcast on behalf of the CBC, actually mentioned Brian May and his rooftop performance of GSTQ at the Golden Jubilee 10 years ago; but it was merely a segue into announcing that Madness would be performing on top of Buckingham Palace this time for a performance of Our House. 

As I watched each artist do their thing, I was constantly reminded of how much Queen should have been on the stage. As a matter of fact, I didn’t have to look far to find connections between a lot of the musical guests and Queen:

Robbie Williams – His cover of We Are the Champions in 2001 for A Knight’s Tale prompted rumours of him replacing Freddie. His performance of Let Me Entertain You at tonight’s concert didn’t help distance him from the Queen catalogue either.

Sir Cliff Richard – had a longstanding friendship with Freddie.

Annie Lennox – remember her duet with Bowie at the FMT concert?

Rolf Harris – If I remember correctly, he did an interesting cover of Bohemian Rhapsody back in the early ’90s.

Dame Shirley Bassey – She recorded The Show Must Go On in ’96.

Sir Elton John – Close friendship with Freddie.

Sir Paul McCartney – Not sure how close he was with the band members but I do recall he knows them well enough to comment on them in The Magic Years videos.

Prince Charles – Brian’s participated in the Prince’s Trust Concerts for years.

God Save the Queen – Inextricably linked to the Queen catalogue, not to mention this is what Brian performed at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.

Come to think of it, if I hadn’t seen the “The” in the event name, it could have easily have been mistaken as a Queen tribute concert instead. The branding between the band Queen and The Queen seemed to borrow from each other.

Case in point, this beefeater’s outfit looks suspiciously like a Queen t-shirt design or something with the elongated tail of the Q and the crown above. Since when did Queen Elizabeth use a single letter Q to represent her?

The one performer that I thought was curiously out of place was Stevie Wonder. Wasn’t he the only performer from a non-Commonwealth country? What was an American doing paying tribute to the reign of a British monarch? Perhaps The Queen is a die hard fan of Mr. Wonder and requested his participation? He did a great job, mind you, but I’m struggling to find the rationale for him being there.

Back to Brian . . .

It was great to see him almost every time the camera panned across the Royalty Box. And when he was on his feet during McCartney’s performance of Magical Mystery Tour, that was unexpected. Rarely is he shown as a member of an audience enjoying the show in front of him.

And what about the spectators in the Royalty Box that were seated around him and Anita? What warrants them to be amongst such distinguished company? I’m sure they have impeccable peerages or have been acknowledged for their contributions to British culture — like Brian, I suppose — but were they aware of who they were seated next to?

I still left wondering . . . why wasn’t Brian and Roger asked to perform?

For an interesting article on what songs should have been played at The Queen’s Jubilee Concert, click here. Queen, the band, makes an appearance there, too.

Jubilee logo: http://www.jubileeconcert2012.co.uk/

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She came without a farthing...

I attended a local numismatics club meeting here in Calgary the other night. They were having a guest speaker give a presentation on Masonic coins and related numismatic collectibles so being a fan of the craft, I was very interested in hearing his talk.

After going through his collection of Masonic drink tokens and lodge medals, he showed a British coin whose reverse face had been punched with a Masonic compass and square symbol. The specific coin he showed was a farthing.

A farthing?

Here in Canada, this is not a well-known term. As a matter of fact, the only time I’ve ever heard the word was in All Dead, All Dead which probably explains why I was hearing the song in my head as the presentation wound down for the evening.

And then I got thinking about Brian’s series of sixpence coins he’s had minted over the years. From what I can find online, he first had them produced for this Back To The Light tour in 1993, another series was produced for the We Will Rock You show at Paris Las Vegas in 2005, and another series for the Queen-Paul Rodgers tour in 2008. Damn, I’ve been to all three of these events and haven’t been able to find a single coin.

I wonder if Brian ever considered producing a Queen farthing coin. It wouldn’t have the same connection to his preference for sixpence coins as plectrums, but it would have been a unique collectible from the News of the World era.  

I see that the Canadian penny will be suffering a similar fate that befell the lowly British farthing back in 1960. Canada will be removing the penny from circulation in the fall of 2012 due to the rising cost of production and peoples’ tendency to hoard them instead of using them as currency.

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Celestial Licks Master Series

Way before YouTube and its league of armchair Brian May wannabes were showing you how to play his solos in super slo-mo, there wasn’t much available for tutorials on how to play like Brian.

That was, until the Star Licks Master Series of videos brought a how-to-play-like-the-pros approach to guitar playing and featured Brian in 1983.

I was lucky enough to pick up a copy through a bulk purchase of Queen items I made, and have—I’m ashamed to say—only watched it once. Here is what the back cover states (note: bolding is indicated as it appears on the sleeve):

Brian May
Brian May, founder of Queen, and one of rock’s finest guitarists, has set standards of excellence throughout his career. Always the innovator, Brian has contributed greatly to the success of the band and has influenced countless other musicians in the process. Few have been able to emulate the unique Brian May guitar style, which has become such a recognizable contribution to the Queen sound.

The Brian May Package
Brian explains in depth, how he creates “The Queen Sound” by taking you on a complete run-through of his equipment. This features his guitar (the fireplace), amplifiers (VOX AC 30’s), and effects (each individually demonstrated). In addition to all this, Brian takes you step by step through a fantastic selection of his hottest licks and solos, featuring material from 11 different Queen albums. Each example is played twice, once regularly and once slowly. during this incredible 45 minute tape, you’ll learn to play the licks and solos from such songs as: Brighton Rock, Bohemian Rhapsody, Tie Your Mother Down, Dragon Attack, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and many more. And finally, your tape would not be complete without spending a few minutes on harmony soloing, which Brian discusses and demonstrates at the conclusion of the tape. Your accompanying Star Licks booklet comes complete with easy to follow diagrams and notation, which correspond exactly to your Star Licks cassette, so there’s no need to read music. This is truly a unique opportunity for you to receive a “Private Guitar Lesson” from one of today’s foremost gutiarists, whose musical contributions have spanned over a decade of popular rock music.

© 1984 STAR LICKS, 2210 WILSHIRE BLVD, SUITE 124, SANTA MONICA, CA 90403

The top label reads:
Star Licks Master Series
Brian May
Warning: Federal law probides severe penalties for unauthorized reproduction or use of copyrighted video tapes.
© 1986 Noma Video, Inc, Los Angeles, CA

The side label reads:
Rumark Video Inc.
P.O. Box 8, Postal Station S
Toronto, Ontario
M5M 4L6

If you’re interested in knowing more about the exact song list, the solo times, etc., there is a comprehensive description of the video contents on the Ultimate Queen website here.

My only beef with the video has nothing to do with the video contents: it’s that juvenile attempt at a “licking” metaphor with the ice cream cone. Thank goodness they changed their branding of this series to “Star Licks Video-Tutor: Master Sessions” and dumped that cone motif.

Brian’s astronomy background gives the “Star” Licks reference a whole different dimension, eh?

The Sounds (and looks of Queen)

Media Moment: Late Show With David Letterman
Queen Related: Musical guest using Red Special copy

Usually I only watch the first few seconds of Letterman’s musical guests before finding the delete button on the remote, but a recent band on his show caught my eye, however. Not because the lead singer appeared to be the second coming of Debbie Harry, but because the guitarist looked like he was playing a Red Special.

Sure enough, when the camera passed by Felix Rodriguez a few more times, I could see that he was definitely playing an original Guild BHM1 guitar. If I remember correctly, these guitars were an early commercial endorsement by Brian although he withdrew his support when Guild failed to address some quality issues.

Felix didn’t sound like Brian—at least not the song performed on Letterman—but his use of the Guild knock-off must be a Queen homage. He could have opted for any garden variety guitar but why pick Brian’s and then not try and sound like him? To be fair, I suppose, he may simply like the feel of it, rather than the sound.

But as I dug a bit deeper into The Sounds website, I noticed that their merchandising included a t-shirt with a small crown in the design. Queen coincidence? Maybe. What about one of their singles called Queen of Apology? Maybe it’s a song about their lead singer, Maja Ivarsson? Who knows.

But that Guild Red Special says a lot about their overall identity and they must have been aware of the Queen reference it suggests. Being from Europe (Sweden), Queen’s musical legacy in that part of the world was most likely stronger than a lot of other acts so who can blame them for acknowledging them as possible influences.

Whatever is going on with Felix is fine. He certainly piqued my curiousity and I will definitely keep an eye out for them from now on. Here’s a link to one of their videos so you can see Felix and his BHM1 in action.

Photos from http://the-sounds.com/photos/

Dr. Fred N. Furter

Back in the ’70s, everyone was wondering who could portray Freddie if his life story were to play out on the big screen. And at that time, it seemed that Tim Curry had landed the role that Freddie was born to play—Dr. Frank N. Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Hey, what if Tim played Freddie? That could work since Tim looks like him, has an overbite, and sings pretty good, too. But it wasn’t meant to be, I suppose, although Adam Ant’s name came up a few times in the early ’80s as a possible shoo-in for playing Freddie.

What about now, since there’s a much-hyped Freddie biography in the works? Apart from the speculation of who would front the band, playing Freddie on-screen is a much different challenge. Johnny Depp was being played up in the media as a possible candidate (personally, I can’t see it), as was Sasha Baron Cohen, whose Borat character is supposedly based on Freddie. (Cohen, I believe, could pull it off.)

Although Freddie didn’t make it into the RHPS, Brian did, in a 1995 London production of the show. He guest-starred as “Eddie” (Meat Loaf’s character from the film) and did a superb rendition of Whatever Happend to Saturday Night (Hot Patootie). The soundtrack can be found here. Brian’s wife, Anita Dobson, was one of the main headliners for that run.

One final Queen–RHPS tie-in . . . Richard O’Brien, who plays Riff Raff and is the main creative force behind the entire production, was also in Flash Gordon.

Bat Out of Heaven

I’ve been a fan of Meat Loaf since 1977, roughly the same time I discovered Queen. It’s taken me years to realize that it was Jim Steinman’s songwriting brilliance that propelled the first Bat Out of Hell album to the top of the all-time best-seller charts.

I do have a soft spot for Meat Loaf, himself, though, and actually got to meet him in 2001 at the airport in Toronto. (On the downside, I kept picturing him as “Bob” from Fight Club the whole time we talked.)

I’m also a huge fan of Steinman’s 1981 solo album, Bad For Good. I understand that these songs were originally destined for Meat’s follow-up album but his voice was shot and Steinman couldn't wait forever. So, he recorded the songs himself.

Also around 1977, I discovered the fantasy art of Peruvian-American illustrator, Boris Vallejo, and have followed his work to the present day. As a side note, I think Boris’ work has weakened considerably since divorcing Doris, his first wife, and marrying fellow fantasy artist and bodybuilder, Julie Bell. They are definitely a power duo in the commercial art world, but painting together on one composition just doesn’t work, in my opinion. Nonetheless, anything with Boris’ finger on it will catch my attention, even if it's his wife’s.

So imagine my surprise when Bat Out of Hell III is released on Halloween Day, 2006 and I discover that my three great passions have converged on one album: Brian guesting on a Jim Steinman song (Bad For Good) on an album whose cover art is painted by Julie Bell (who’s married to Boris). The stars have aligned…finally.

Brian’s distinctive multi-layered guitar kicks off the song (which is a very different intro from Steinman’s album version) but Brian’s strongest contribution to the song happens at the 4 min 30 sec mark as the guitar lead begins. Brian’s trademark sound is all over this track and I could definitely imagine Freddie singing it instead of Meat.

The Rockman and the Red Special

I’ve always drawn a parallel between Brian May and Tom Scholz, of Boston. As guitarists, their styles are immediately recognizable and their innovative use of multi-tracked guitars is still, I suspect, a pioneering achievement few others have mastered.

Aside from their musical similarities, they have many interesting connections.

With higher education:
- Tom is a graduate of MIT with a Masters in mechanical engineering
- Brian has a PhD in astrophysics

With electronics:
- Tom built the Rockman, a commercially successful pocket amplifier—not to mention he worked at Polaroid as a Senior Product Engineer. He could probably make a VCR out of a pack of gum and a jack knife.
- Brian built the Red Special, a one-of-a-kind guitar whose tremelo bar rarely goes out of tune even though it’s made from motorcycle parts and a knitting needle.

With philanthropy:
- Tom has been a vegetarian for years and actively supports PETA and Greenpeace as well as supporting homeless shelters, food banks, stopping world hunger, animal rescues, and advocating for children’s rights.
- Brian is a vegetarian and supports the following charities:21st Century Leaders, 46664, Nordoff-Robbins, Prince’s Trust, Teenage Cancer Trust, Whatever It Takes, and the Mercury Phoenix Trust.

And, of course, they’re both pretty tall. Tom is 6' 5" and Brian is 6' 2".

Fiddler on the move

Media Moment: David Garrett: Live in Berlin
Queen Related: Cover of Who Wants To Live Forever

Public television has some interesting programs and last night’s broadcast of a David Garrett performance in Berlin was no exception. I've never heard of him before so I normally wouldn’t have bothered watching the concert, but I happened to catch the program’s summary which mentioned WWTLF. Hey, I’m open to seeing how a violin (or is it fiddle?) virtuoso plays homage to Highlander, so I PVRed it and watched it this morning.

The song was third in the set—after Michael Jackson’s Smooth Operator—so I didn’t have to fast forward to find it. Garrett does not mention Queen or Brian but instead says, “One of my favorite tunes is Who Wants To Live Forever from the soundtrack to the film Highlander.” And thus begins the haunting opening lines that we all expect Freddie and Brian to sing.

Immediately following WWTLF, he introduces a medley of ’70s and ’80s songs which started off with the familiar, stomp-stomp-clap. After this intro, the medley didn’t include any more Queen, to my disappointment.

His violin performance reminded me of Lucia Micarelli’s marvelous (and spontaneous?) interpretation of Bohemian Rhapsody on Josh Groban’s Live at the Greek CD/DVD.

I ain’t lyin’ when I say I heard Brian

Media Moment: The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)
Queen Related: Soundtrack features Brian

Well, I didn’t even have to wait until noon today before I got my first Queen sighting...I was flipping through the TV channels and stumbled across The Adventures of Pinocchio. You know, the one that features Brian on the soundtrack. He does a duet with Norwegian soprano, Sissel Kyrkjebø, called What Are We Made Of, as well as contribute music and voice to a fairly elaborate opera scene in the movie. I’ve heard rumours that he actually has a cameo in this film somewhere so I’ll have to PVR it and watch closely.

As for the movie itself, it is a strange mix of Team America-style puppetry, SNL-type humour with Rob Schneider, and Warhol-inspired lunacy with Udo (“are you a were-gin?”) Kier as the bad guy...all directed with a bizarre family-friendly, Fellini-esque feel.

Come to think of it, maybe this Pinocchio puppet should have made a cameo in Team American (everyone else did!). I’m sure there’d be a deleted scene on the DVD involving that nose of his.

I’ve got a dead body on board!

You know when you’ve just picked up a dead body from the medical examiner’s office and you’re heading back through traffic to the funeral home, but you’re driving slower than usual because the body and stretcher could flip on its side if you go around a corner too fast, and the drivers around you get upset because you’re taking too long and they try to peer in the windows as they scream by but they can’t see into the transfer van because the windows are tinted so the general public won't get freaked out if they knew that they’re within arm’s length of a dead person?

We’ve all been there, right? And don’t you also wish that you could hang a “Body on Board” sign in the back window to clue in the other drivers that you’re actually respecting the deceased person you’re transporting. But I’d hazard a guess that even death isn’t enough for some people to curb their driving habits, which is a shame.

What does this have to do with Queen? Well, when I was driving the transfer van, I would listen to some Queen tunes to kill some time. All of a sudden, All Dead, All Dead would start up, I’d get a waft of decomposing goodness, and the song takes on a very different meaning at that moment. The lyrics become literal. Sorry, Brian.

Roger screaming

What drew me to Queen as a 10-year-old? It was catching a ride with a schoolmate in his dad's Gran Torino while playing the newly released News of the World album on his 8-track stereo. Sure WWRY and WATC were on the radio at the time so I had some peripheral connection to the album, but it was actually Roger’s screams (or is it singing?) on Fight From the Inside that caught my attention. In hindsight, the song wasn't the most popular one on the album and one would expect a Freddie or Brian song to appeal to the masses, but for me it was the hook in FFTI.

I was so enamored with Queen that I did something I had never done before—I scoped out a used record store and bought my first LP, Queen II, for $7.00.

Welcome to Queenville

Queen has been a constant in my life since 1977 and, thanks to American Idol, TV commercials, and a general resurgence of their music, I get a Queen fix at least once a day whether I'm looking for one or not. So, I thought I'd start a blog that reflects my general thoughts on how Queen has impacted my life for the past 32 years.