My history with the cops

This week, I almost choked on a piece of high school upon hearing news that the Police might bite the bullet and get back together for a 30th-anniversary tour in 2008. Along with help from guitarist Andy Summers and the ubiquitous Sting, my own personal relationship with the drums is locked to their drummer, Stewart Copeland. Back in 1986, I used to play a busted nine-piece kit under the basement stairs, desperately trying to play as fast and as tight as Copeland on “Truth Hurts Everybody” and “Next to You.” Seven years later, I would have a short conversation with Stewart Copeland backstage while working as an usher at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto. I can remember telling him that the Police had to reunite because I’d never seen them live, and telling him how I’d skipped school to have Sting sign my copy of his book about saving the rainforest. I remember Copeland saying something like, “Well, not any time soon, that’s for sure...” But he signed my book and shook my hand, and that was all she wrote. Strangely enough, the very same day that this reunion news reached my ears, I came across Stewart Copeland’s movie Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out while fumbling through Archambault, of all places. Basically, it’s a first-person account, from Copeland’s point of view, of the band’s rise from obscurity to supergroup status. It’s a ruff mishmash of footage taken from over 50 hours of super-8 film that Copeland shot over several years, and for a top-drawer Police nerd like myself, a real look at the band that had such a big influence on my own personal beat.

Don’t forget about the first Montreal appearance by roots reggae act Midnite, all the way from St. Croix, Virgin Islands, performing at les Saints tonight, Thursday, Feb. 1. They’ll share the stage with Inword for what will be a great night of conscious music, for $25 Looks like the trickle-down theory is in effect as Montreal follows New York, and then Toronto, in being the latest city to adopt a hip hop karaoke night after favourable and fun results in both the other cities. Setting up shop at Lola Lounge on Feb. 27, Hip Hop Karaoke has a Web site at www.mtlhiphopkaraoke.com, where they ask for song suggestions—send yours to info@hiphopkaraoke.com. Get your list in order, ’cause you know the repertoire is only what you make it. I’ll let you know when I find out more about this one.

Seven reasons I could use a rub:
1. Common ft. Bilal “Play Your Cards Right” (Polydor)
2. Elmore Judd “Your Eyes” Yam Who rework (CDR)
3. DJ Rogal ft. Wumni “Silly Question” (Perfect Toy)
4. Butta Verse “Grow Up” (CDS)
5. Hell Raza/Talib Kweli/Viktor Vaughn “Project Jazz” (Blacksmith)
6. Jazzanova “Theme From Belle & Fou” (Sonar Kollektiv)7. Innocent Sorcerers “One Dollar Race” (Raw Fusion)

With one breath, with one flow... fathead@videotron.ca

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