What's that Ashley MacIsaac song again?

So, not too long ago, I went through this weird stretch of about a week where I kept hearing songs that I hadn't heard in ages. Like, "She Ain't Pretty" by the Northern Pikes and "Anna is a Speed Freak" by Pure, that sort of thing. It was kinda cool, really, and I suppose I should thank CBC Radio for x-raying my brain and finding out what was on the stereo back when I lived in residence. You may see where I'm going with this -- one of the songs I heard was that Ashley MacIsaac song, but as luck would have it, I didn't catch it when the DJ told us the name of that particular ditty. No biggie, I usually have pretty decent recall when it comes to that sort of thing, I was pretty sure it would come to me eventually.

But then, it didn't. I wasn't wracking my brain or anything, but usually if I just let my mind wander something will come to me. Fairly easily, I knew that the song was off the album "hi how are you today?", with the incidental realization that the follow up album was titled "fine thank you very much." I also could remember that the woman who sang the Gaelic verses over top of Mr. MacIsaac's fiddlin' noises was Mary Jane Lamond, and I even remembered that her name was pronounced LAMM-und, as opposed to la-MOND -- but even with all this peripheral info crowding around, the name of the song just was not coming.

I let this percolate for about a week and a half, and nothing came to me. It wasn't particularly irksome, more kinda fascinating. I know I could easily have Googled the info, but that didn't seem like the point. For instance, I happened to catch some of Ashley doin' his thing at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, which leads me to believe that it's assumed the majority of Canadians should at least have some sort of idea who this guy is and what he does. Which sort of means that for me, a guy who was in his prime music-paying-attention-to years when Ashley MacIsaac was popular, I should have had a pretty decent handle on his career, but I couldn't have named one song for you. Weird. It made me wonder -- am I the only one, or is Ashley that much of a riddle wrapped in an enigma? Did he really just fill that niche so completely that he can be the fiddle playin', possibly scandalously bisexual guy and just be famous for being famous for the rest of his Canadian life?

So -- I took the question to the people. I sent out the email question, "Hey -- what's the name of that Ashley MacIsaac song?" to about 30 of my friends, with no other context, and with everybody in the BCC field. I deliberately kept it super-vague, partly to encourage any and all responses, and also partly because I enjoy a slight tendency towards jerkitude, and thought providing some minor frustration to my friends would be a hoot. I got about a 35% response rate, which I'm pretty happy with (although I am surprised that of all the crazy emails of mine that he has responded to, this music-related one is the one that the guy who compiles Top 1000 Song Lists lets slide by). The fun thing is that the first three guesses were "Devil in the Kitchen," which left me with a sort of ambivalent feeling -- it sounded not wrong, but somehow not right either. Then, since I'm sure the suspense is killing you, the winner rolled in, and it's "Sleepy Maggie." I'm sure you'll all sleep better tonight.

Thanks to all who responded, and thanks for all those who refrained from responding with a sarcastic, "What, is the Google key on your computer broken?" Special thanks to the three possibly facetious but definitely humorous responses: "The Devil's Laundry", "My Boyfriend's Back", and "Stroke That Scrotum Gently."

Oh, and if anybody knows the name of the other well-known Pure song that isn't "Anna is a Speed Freak," feel free to send that info my way. For some reason, I think it starts with D.

Antidisestablishmentarianism

So, for those of you interested in an update...

Atmosphere:

     The event took place in Tallulah's Cabaret, the bar adjoined to Buddies, which meant that both audience and participants were suitably fueled for a raucous evening. The place seats, oh, probably 150 people or so, and I'd say we were pretty much at comfortable capacity. Pretty much exactly the right amount of perversion in the air, too -- I mean, it's a room full of people who just paid money to attend a strip spelling bee, you know there's a decent lust quotient at work, but it never hit creepy. The vibe was pretty relentlessly positive and supportive, and the biggest cheers of the night were usually reserved for when somebody actually spelled something correctly. Good time had by all.

Contestants:

     There were 13 brave souls who took part, 7 men and 6 women. (There was a moment when an unusual bulge seemed to indicate a transgendered contestant, but later visual evidence proved otherwise.) There were varying degrees of readiness for what lay in front of them -- a couple of them looked like they had just stopped by on their way home from the library, while others had some specialty lingerie going on underneath. One guy showed up in a luchador mask, and stayed in character by Hulkamaniac-ing his shirt off when the time came. The amount of disrobing was totally up to the individual participant, with one girl dropping out completely after the second round (to disappointed applause, if there is such a thing). Everyone who stayed after that would be expected to get down to their underwear or to naked, whatever they were comfortable with, and there was probably about a 75% conversion rate. Obviously, there wasn't a whole lot of shy on stage to begin with, but it's worth pointing out the little known fact that people become 64% more confident and attractive when they're on stage in front of a room full of wildly cheering people. It's been proven by science, or possibly Girls Gone Wild.

Words:

     Well, there were 13 contestants who went through three rounds of one word each, plus a one-word spell-off at the end to determine the winner. Taking in to account the speller who dropped out, that means there were 39 words used in the competition. Four were spelled correctly.
     The organizers were pretty up-front about it -- they're here for the skin, so they deliberately chose words that would mess people up. To be fair, I think the people on stage were more interested in the strip part of the equation, so if you were looking for spellers you'd probably have better luck in the audience. You could often hear a buzz as people whispered guesses to the person beside them, but I'm guessing the scores weren't too much better than they were on stage. I consider myself a pretty good speller, and I can remember 7 that I would definitely have gotten: choucroute, algorithm, nebuchadnezzar, gusset, flibbertigibbet, verisimilitude, and detumescence. There were probably a couple of others that I might have guessed right at, but there were also a whole lot of others I had never heard of -- nisi, nuchal, and autochthonic, to name a few. It's not for the faint of heart.

Verdict:

     From a conversation overheard during a between-rounds break, it seems the organizer has done a few of these events in Montreal, but wasn't sure how it would go over in Toronto. Now that he's done one, and he's pretty confident that the cover charge will pay for the room rental and his train ticket back and forth, he'll almost certainly be reprising the event in the future. I could definitely be convinced to go again -- if it happens, I'll keep you posted.


Now, just for fun, I'll leave you with some spelling-related video.


UPDATE: I never really expected to be linking to the Toronto Sun in anything but an ironic way, but it's funny how life goes. We appear to have contrasting information on the size of the venue, but otherwise we're pretty in sync. Granted, she has a bit more biographical info/participant quotes, but I mean, come on, she was obviously cheating. She had a notepad.

Come sit for a spell

I was thinking -- I like to cultivate the impression that I am a well-rounded individual. I'm a theatre major who knows what Avogadro's number is, I can rattle off five Coen Brothers movies or the starting five for the Miami Heat, and I know both what the T in James T. Kirk stands for and what it's like to have kissed a girl. I mean, I tend to steer clear of politics, but if I was thrown into a random cocktail party and told to mingle, I could probably hold up my end of the conversation.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if, given a large enough sample size, certain patterns started to appear. Like, with all of these posts, I assume it would become apparent that I talk about some things more than others. For example, I haven't personally done the math, but those handy label thingies over to the right indicate that basketball and lacrosse pop up sorta frequently. And, if I just cast my mind back to the most recent missive, I have a hunch a couple more representative topics popped up -- namely, when I got all excited about a Rubik's cube giveaway, and when I discussed the prospect of people disrobing at a concert. If I had to guess, I'd say my oeuvre would skew heavily towards promoting the geeky and the people gettin' nekkid -- full frontal nerdity, if you will. (By the way, I'd love to take responsibility for coining that phrase, but no, I can remember Ben Seaver using it in an episode of Growing Pains around 20 years ago. Side note: I feel old.)

I bring this up because an event has come to my attention that seamlessly combines these two -- heck, if you allow 'competition' to be the umbrella my sports posts fall under, then I've hit the trifecta. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you -- a strip spelling bee.

Yep, that's correct, basically a strip poker game, only instead of cards, the contestants spell things. The very concept leaves me nigh-speechless. The other thing that I can hardly wrap my head around is that it is happening in Toronto, and in less than 48 hours from now, and that tickets to attend and observe this phenomenon are $10, well within my price range.

You understand, I have to go to this. It's not really an option not to. I mean, it's like if someone told you that they found a show where a monkey had been dressed up like a pirate and was going to be punching a cow -- you'd have to go. It's just non-negotiable. However -- this is where I discovered a touch of latent homophobia in myself. The shindig in question takes place at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which has left me unsure as to the gender representation of the contestants. It's not the fact that I might be in for a night of all-male spellin'-and-strippin' that worries me, so much as the thought of looking like a single man who paid for the privilege of sitting by himself to watch a bunch of dudes get naked. I could take a deep breath and get over that, but if anybody here is interested in coming as my back-up, I'd feel a little more comfortable, all the more so if that person or persons possesses more ovaries than I do.

I would also whole-heartedly support any acquaintance who feels the urge to participate. You know, strictly for altruistic reasons.