The False Ducks Blahg This Blahg is about me and other things.

February 9, 2022

FREEDOM CONVOY…NOT SO MUCH…GO HOME!

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — sinatrafan @ 9:59 pm

    This blahg will be very short and very precise. I’m not any kind of political activist but it bothers me here in Canada to see what’s happening with the so called “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, Alberta, and blocking the bridge between Detroit and Windsor. When I see protesters in our area, I have a tendency to roll down my window and shout at them. That’s not helping the cause, I know. My wife doesn’t like it when I do it. But sometimes you have to use the platform you have to speak out. That’s why this blahg will be political today.

    First, let’s talk about Freedom. The protesters in these convoys and blockades and occupations say this is about Freedom. Take a look around, if you don’t see iron bars in front of your face then I’d say you already have Freedom. Yes, you have the Freedom to say you don’t like the vaccines or the mandates but don’t make the rest of us pay for your Freedom of making a poor choice. Many of these protesters deny the science behind vaccines but most of them are not scientists or health care providers or researchers. They keep spouting the same incorrect lies and clap-trap that we’ve heard from Americans and Donald Trump. We don’t need that. America has its own problems and Donald Trump is one of them. I’m glad he’s not in power anymore. He’s an idiot and a racist. That’s all the time I’ll spend on him.

   These protesters and truckers in the convoys and occupations are making the rest of us pay for having done the right thing. Vaccines are the right thing. Vaccine passports and mask mandates are the right thing. The majority of us are tired of the mandates but we do what we have to do to keep ourselves and everyone else safe. Again, we are the majority and we don’t picket or protest or upset other people’s lives. No one should reward the Freedom Convoy because the rest of us, the majority, are not asking for a reward for having done the right thing. The only way we get through this is for everyone to get a vaccine, if you can, and not protest against the majority of us who know what is right and do what is right.

   Lastly, this is a message to politicians. The Federal Conservative party want to cave to the demand of the protesters. They want our Prime Minister to end mandates or repeal them. That’s wrong! We don’t negotiate with terrorists and when you’re protesting and terrorizing everyone because you’re in the minority and wrong, we shouldn’t negotiate with you! Stand strong Prime Minister Trudeau. I support our Prime Minister in not meeting with the Freedom Convoy. Again, don’t negotiate with the minority. The majority stand behind you!

    In Ontario, Doug Ford has done very little. There will be a spring election and it will be time to vote him out. He has powers in his tool-kit to deal with the protesters but he doesn’t use them. He should be in the media every day decrying the actions of the protesters and the Freedom Convoy and telling them to go home. If he can’t or won’t do that, it’s time for Doug Ford to go home permanently and let someone else lead who knows that the majority are the voices you need to listen to. Majority equals votes and right now, you’re not likely to get them!

    That’s enough for this blahg. Stay safe and keep up the good fight. Vaccines work and mandates work. I’ll roll down my window anytime and say that. That’s my Freedom.

February 1, 2022

SAY IT AIN’T SO…NO MORE WEEPIES

    I guess the correct title for this blahg should be: “SAY IT AIN’T SO…NO MORE THE WEEPIES.” Scott January 2022Earlier in this month I posted my 2022 False Ducks Video Ramble, THE 2022 FALSE DUCKS VIDEO RAMBLE, in which I mentioned that Deb Talan and Steve Tannen, known collectively as The Weepies, have split up.  I hadn’t heard any news of the duo throughout 2021 so I checked their Facebook page earlier this month and read the following post: 

The Weepies final shows EVER are coming up in January 2022!

It’s been a time of big change all around for sure. Before the pandemic we realized we had to go our separate ways. We are both so grateful for the time we spent making music, putting it out into the world, and sharing it with all of you. It was magical, and we’re both forever changed and enriched by that time. As we move on to other creative projects we hope that you, like us, will treasure the era when we made music as The Weepies.

Thank you for the support through the years. We’ll see you in the days ahead.

All the best to all of you.

Deb & Steve

What a punch to the gut!  I checked out their Wikipedia entry and found that the following last line had been added: 

Talan and Tannen got married in 2007 and had their first son in October that year.They went on to have two more sons later. They later divorced, which was finalized on New Year’s Day 2020

Again, what a punch to the gut.  Readers of this blahg will know that I’m a huge fan of The Weepies and had seen them twice in concert in Toronto.  I wish them the best but I’m still deeply saddened by this news. 

   I guess the biggest thing for me, besides the fact that there won’t be any more new The Weepies albums, is that I won’t get to see Steve and Deb live together again.  Perhaps they’ll tour Canada again separately and I’ll probably go to their individual concerts but I’ll never see The Weepies live again.  I saw them twice in Toronto back in 2016 and 2018.  Here is a picture when they played The Drake in 2016:

The Weepies at the Drake in 2016

   I wanted to take some video of the concert but I couldn’t shut off the bright light on my cell phone.  I decided to record part of the concert from my pocket but I only managed to record part of the song “Jolene” sung by Steve and part of his next song about a Jig.  Here they are:

 

 

   I did manage to find the following video online that someone posted from that concert in Toronto.  This is The Weepies performing “Ever Said Goodbye”:

I wish had recorded more and especially some of Deb Talan’s great vocals.   She sang a couple of songs from her yet to be released CD “Lucky Girl” when she was in Toronto but I could only find the following video of one of those new songs, “Butterfly”, from her Detroit, Ohio concert two nights prior to the Toronto concert. 

  

   Here they are The Great Hall in 2018:

The Weepies at The Great Hall Toronto 2018

   I did record the entire audio of the recording and I thought I would post the entire concert here for download.  Here the link:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/o18w68858tn7zva/The_Weepies_-_2018-04-17_The_Great_Hall%252C_Toronto%252C_ON.rar/file

 

Here are a few individual samples.  First up here is “Hideaway”:

 

Next is Steve’s great version of “Sing Me To Sleep”:

 

Deb Talan closed the show with the following stirring version of “Stars”:

 

   I thought I would take the time to post some of their other live performances.  YouTube has many excellent videos of The Weepies in live performances so I thought I’d re-post some of them here so you can get a feeling of what we’ll all be missing out on now that they’ve separated.  First up is a rare slow tempo version of their song “Be My Thrill.”  This was previously done uptempo so I’ll offer up the official music video of that song followed by the slow tempo version.  The slow live version is from their appearance at the Oregon Zoo on August 20th, 2011. 

 

Also from 2011 is The Weepies performing “Gotta Have You” from their album “Say I Am You” at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA on August 17, 2011:

  

   Staying with 2011 here are The Weepies (Deb Talan, Steve Tannen, Jon Flaugher) performing “I Was Made for Sunny Days” on a beautiful summer evening at the Britt Festival, Southern Oregon – August 23, 2011.  I love  “I Was Made for Sunny Days” and find myself singing this infectious song:

 

   The Weepies went back again to the Troubador in West Hollywood, CA on August 14th, 2016 and here’s “The World Spins Madly On” from that concert: 

 

   Here is a compilation video of The Weepies at the Kirkland Performance Center in Kirkland, Washington on May 17, 2018.  It features the songs “Hideaway”, “Walk On”, “Crooked Smile”, “I Don’t Know Why”, “Old Coyote”, “My Little Love”, “Wish I Could Forget”, and “Sing Me To Sleep”:

 

   Here’s another compilation video from 2018 when The Weepies appeared at Sony Hall on December 16, 2018.  This compilation features clips from the songs “Walk On”, “Growing Up”, “Little Bird”, “All That I Want”, “Gotta Have You”, and “Sirens”:

 

   Jumping back to 2015, this is a full version of “Sirens” from their last album performed live at the State Theater, Falls Church, Virginia on June 21st, 2015:

 

   Another one from 2016, this time it’s a full version of “All That I Want” from their performance at The Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA on December 11, 2016:  

 

   The following is not a live performance but the official video of “Sunflower” incorporates video of a live performance by The Weepies at an unknown venue: 

 

   I wanted to post a couple of videos that I never got to hear The Weepies perform live but are fantastic songs and something rare and unique from them.  The first is “Mend” from the soundtrack of the movie, “Wish I Was Here”:

The second is from a compilation album of Springsteen’s Born To Run album recreated on ukulele by various artists.  I love Steve’s vocal here on “Backstreets”: 

 

   I am sure there are more live videos out there to be discovered.  I’ll keep on looking.  Farewell The Weepies.  I wish Steve and Deb the best. Thanks for all of the music!!

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