Tuesday, January 26, 2010

16 days to go

If it's Jan. 27 that means it's 16 days until the 2010 Winter Olympics open in Vancouver.

The musical countdown continues with Sweet 16 by Billy Idol. The poignant ballad from his mid-1980s Whiplash Smile has a wistful guitar riff and simple black-and-white video of the Sneering One. There is a very colourful version from a 2008 episode of Elvis Costello's Storytellers.

The lyrics are prophetic for Vancouver in 2010. ("Well, memories will burn you; Memories grow older as people can; They just get colder; Like sweet sixteen.") There are pockets of Olympic fever. But there is also Olympic fear and Olympic frustration among segments of the populace which realize the costs may outweigh the benefits of the Games.

A Billy Idol song offers an apt segue to plug the Feb. 20 DOA "anti-Owe-Limp-Ics" gig at the Rickshaw in Vancouver with the Olympic city's best-known critic Chris Shaw. Two days later in Whistler, an official VANOC event at the medals plaza features DEVO. Yes, the spuds from Ohio are going to be in Whistler. Too bad they're not going to Pemberton, which is Spud Valley.

No comments:

Blog Archive