Cameron Carpenter: The ABCMW’s Of Rock’n’Roll

This column is dedicated with love to my friend Jay Smith – The Rock Ranger. RIP my friend.

How do you begin to describe a Canadian Music Week that started with a brisk walk through a blizzard for a Tuesday afternoon acoustic performance from The Box Tiger and ended early Sunday morning with The Dirty Nil channeling Fugazi? Thoughts of David Byrne singing “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” come to mind.

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock – W

Was (Not Was)

There might not be a more eclectic album in my collection than 1983’s “Born To Laugh At Tornadoes” by Detroit’s Was (Not Was). I mean tell me another record that has a list of guest vocalists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Mel Torme, Mitch Ryder, Doug Fieger (The Knack), Marshall Crenshaw and Sweet Pea Atkinson? Throw in some guitars by the likes of Vinnie Vincent (Kiss) and you have a stew of rock, pop, funk and torch songs. Although they had their biggest hit with “Walk The Dinosaur” in 1988 this is the record that defines David Weiss (Don Was) and Donald Fagenson (David Was).