DREAM: I'm the lead guitarist and co-lead singer for a
Canadian rock band. I use the term 'Canadian rock band' to give you an
idea of how popular we are, since I think the phrase invites a certain
understanding of our mid-tier status. For children of the 1990's, my
band is the type that would have a lead single on the MuchMusic Video
Countdown, but we'd top out around #6 or #7. Our second single and
video could also make the Countdown but get no further than #14 if we're
lucky.
Anyway, that's what kind of band we are. We're playing a show in a medium-sized venue, say around 1000-1500 people. (If you've ever been to the Opera House in Toronto, it's basically that.) It is, nonetheless, a packed house. We're up on stage and, after the opening song of our encore, I invite my brother up on the stage. My brother is dressed in a plain white t-shirt and beige cargo shorts, the same outfit he was wearing in our hit video, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "She's So Cold." Our video for this cover was just my brother essentially standing in spot doing a very basic arms raised/legs slightly moving dance that you'd see from any guy who's trying to dance without actually knowing how to dance. When I say this was 'just' our video, I mean it --- my brother was the only person featured, very similar to the Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" video.
Anyway, my introduction of my brother gets a big cheer from the recognizant crowd, as he's become something of a viral celebrity due to our video. He takes the cheers in good humour and good-naturedly goes his dance during our song. And then I woke up.
ANALYSIS: Even in my wildest dreams, I'm only in a mid-range Canadian rock band, though if you think about it, it's kind of the perfect type of stardom. I'd never want to be actually famous since celebrity seems like an enormous bother. If you're a mid-tier Canadian rock star, however, you'd get recognized maybe once a week? Twice if you happen to venture into a used record store? I could deal with that, for sure. Just enough dap to make one known, yet not so famous that I couldn't go to the grocery store without getting mobbed. I don't need paparazzi to see me buying my boxes of Rice Krispies.
Adding to this minor fame is the fact that arguably our biggest 'hit' isn't even an original song. I don't think I've heard "She's So Cold" for weeks or even months, probably not since the last time I popped in my Stones greatest hits album. I doubt I've heard it on the radio since frankly, if you're an oldies station and you're going to play a Stones tune, you have a lot of better options (still a very good song, though). Therefore, I have zero idea why it's popping up in my subconscious, especially since our cover was about 96% the same as the Rolling Stones original. For the record, I didn't sing, the lead vocals were taken by the other guitarist/singer in my imaginary band --- none of the faces of the other guitarist, bassist or drummer were people I'd ever seen before in my life. They were just A Band (not The Band).
So anyway, the weirdest part of the dream is clearly that my brother is now The Dancing Guy From That Video. This is actually the kind of quirky thing I could actually see him doing. He once actually won a significant cash prize playing Roll Up The Rim, so all bets are off for zaniness in this kid's life. Actually, the weirdest part probably isn't him dancing, but rather that we're getting along, as we're the kind of brothers who instantly revert to chirping each other and arguing like children whenever we spend any time together, even though we're both men in our 30's. Perhaps music is the great equalizer between us. We've been arguing about U2 and Nirvana for the better part of our lives, but maybe we can find common ground with the Stones?
It occurs to me that a video of a lone dancing man makes no damn sense for "She's So Cold," which is entirely about how the singer is so hot for a woman while she is (spoiler alert!) so cold to him. Wouldn't it make more sense to show a split screen image, with one half being my dancin' fool of a brother, and then the other half showing a woman just sitting there? It'd be the most PG-rated way possible of showing hotness and coldness in a relationship sense, but still, it'd be funny. If we'd used this other version, we would surely have shot to #1 on the MuchMusic Countdown.
Also of note, we did have an original song kicking off our encore, though it was such generic Sandbox-esque or Odds-esque rock that I can't remember it. Just great. Paul McCartney goes to bed and literally dreams the tunes to "Yesterday" and "Let It Be," while I go to bed and can't dream up anything memorable. Could it be possible that McCartney is a better musician than me?! No….it's the children who are wrong.
Anyway, that's what kind of band we are. We're playing a show in a medium-sized venue, say around 1000-1500 people. (If you've ever been to the Opera House in Toronto, it's basically that.) It is, nonetheless, a packed house. We're up on stage and, after the opening song of our encore, I invite my brother up on the stage. My brother is dressed in a plain white t-shirt and beige cargo shorts, the same outfit he was wearing in our hit video, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "She's So Cold." Our video for this cover was just my brother essentially standing in spot doing a very basic arms raised/legs slightly moving dance that you'd see from any guy who's trying to dance without actually knowing how to dance. When I say this was 'just' our video, I mean it --- my brother was the only person featured, very similar to the Black Keys' "Lonely Boy" video.
Anyway, my introduction of my brother gets a big cheer from the recognizant crowd, as he's become something of a viral celebrity due to our video. He takes the cheers in good humour and good-naturedly goes his dance during our song. And then I woke up.
ANALYSIS: Even in my wildest dreams, I'm only in a mid-range Canadian rock band, though if you think about it, it's kind of the perfect type of stardom. I'd never want to be actually famous since celebrity seems like an enormous bother. If you're a mid-tier Canadian rock star, however, you'd get recognized maybe once a week? Twice if you happen to venture into a used record store? I could deal with that, for sure. Just enough dap to make one known, yet not so famous that I couldn't go to the grocery store without getting mobbed. I don't need paparazzi to see me buying my boxes of Rice Krispies.
Adding to this minor fame is the fact that arguably our biggest 'hit' isn't even an original song. I don't think I've heard "She's So Cold" for weeks or even months, probably not since the last time I popped in my Stones greatest hits album. I doubt I've heard it on the radio since frankly, if you're an oldies station and you're going to play a Stones tune, you have a lot of better options (still a very good song, though). Therefore, I have zero idea why it's popping up in my subconscious, especially since our cover was about 96% the same as the Rolling Stones original. For the record, I didn't sing, the lead vocals were taken by the other guitarist/singer in my imaginary band --- none of the faces of the other guitarist, bassist or drummer were people I'd ever seen before in my life. They were just A Band (not The Band).
So anyway, the weirdest part of the dream is clearly that my brother is now The Dancing Guy From That Video. This is actually the kind of quirky thing I could actually see him doing. He once actually won a significant cash prize playing Roll Up The Rim, so all bets are off for zaniness in this kid's life. Actually, the weirdest part probably isn't him dancing, but rather that we're getting along, as we're the kind of brothers who instantly revert to chirping each other and arguing like children whenever we spend any time together, even though we're both men in our 30's. Perhaps music is the great equalizer between us. We've been arguing about U2 and Nirvana for the better part of our lives, but maybe we can find common ground with the Stones?
It occurs to me that a video of a lone dancing man makes no damn sense for "She's So Cold," which is entirely about how the singer is so hot for a woman while she is (spoiler alert!) so cold to him. Wouldn't it make more sense to show a split screen image, with one half being my dancin' fool of a brother, and then the other half showing a woman just sitting there? It'd be the most PG-rated way possible of showing hotness and coldness in a relationship sense, but still, it'd be funny. If we'd used this other version, we would surely have shot to #1 on the MuchMusic Countdown.
Also of note, we did have an original song kicking off our encore, though it was such generic Sandbox-esque or Odds-esque rock that I can't remember it. Just great. Paul McCartney goes to bed and literally dreams the tunes to "Yesterday" and "Let It Be," while I go to bed and can't dream up anything memorable. Could it be possible that McCartney is a better musician than me?! No….it's the children who are wrong.
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