Album Review:

Streets of Hastings - Three Streets to The Wind


Due to be released on St. Patrick's Day (March 17, 2012), The Alt-Celtic based Streets of Hastings hailing from Ottawa, Ontario Canada  are set to unleash their debut album entitled "Three Streets to the Wind".

Having been born and raised in Ontario Canada, I had grown accustomed to the "Distinctly" Canadian Sound afforded to us by bands such as The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo and to a lesser degree Our Lady Peace. The first thing that struck me once I began listening to the album is that, I was not fitting it into that mold.

What you are presented with, is an album that pretty effectively spans multiple genres. The opening tunes seemingly have a flair for that late 60's, early 70's sounds akin to acts such as Black Sabbath, David Bowie and Iggy and The Stooges. One of my favorite tracks on this release is #4. "1812 (Proud Canadians)". It has a anthemic quality about it and a street punk style of sound. This song truly leaves me feeling proud to be a Canadian, and in fact makes me a little homesick !

The latter half of the album is washed back with a handful of drinking inspired Celtic songs, all of which I enjoyed tremendously. My absolute favorite tune on this album is #9. "Kelly Ann", this is a drinking song, a love song, a fighting song and a song, which in the most bizarre of ways captures "The Canadian Identity".

The album is capped off with "House of The Rising Sun". Originally a sixteenth-century English folk song, later made famous by the Animals. Despite having been covered entirely too many times, horribly by most, Streets of Hastings nail this!  I would half expect that Eric Burdon might even find himself rocking out to this tune as well.

The bottom line is Streets of Hastings deliver a solid album in their first offering. I would be willing to bet that one of their live shows would be an intoxicating event of beer fueled, fist pumping, crowd driven sing alongs. Should I ever get the chance, I will most certainly be there soaking it all up, or drinking it all down.

Cheers,


Phil - Host of The Grinning Beggar Celtic Music Podcast - www.grinningbeggar.com

Band Name:    Streets of Hasting
Album Name:  Three Streets to The Wind
Home Town:     Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website:         http://www.streetsofhastings.com

Track Listing:

1. Comfort No More
2. Rupture
3. Don't Go Away
4. 1812 (Proud Canadians)
5. Faceless
6. 31 (I ain't gonna make it)
7. Red Eyes
8. Sea Bag
9. Kelly Ann
10. Drinkin' Like its free
11. Slainte
12. House of The Rising Sun

Shitbags for Shamrock

So you love live music right..?  You really LOVE live music.  A band you have been dying to see is finally coming to a venue close enough where you can drive to see them and yo uare stoked right?

Then the unthinkable happens, you go to buy 2 measly tickets and the damn show is sold completely out..!  You look low and you look high on ticketmaster and there isn't jack to be had.

All of a sudden you get this brilliant idea to just do a quick search of the internet, to see if by some odd chance there are tickets available on Craigslist or some other god forsaken site.  And low and behold there are, your heart is almost beating right out of your chest until you click on the link only to discover that an ordinary $40 cannot be had for less than $200/seat.  That's right 200 feckin' dollars!

I only have one things to say to these people..  You are the worst kind of scum.  I love live music, I feel it's a true measure of a bands talent and a great way to support my music scene and the bands I love.  Even though I despise Ticketmaster and their bullshit fees I still willingly pay them.

But to see these arseholes taking tickets out of a fans hands and money out of the bands pocket...  That's just fucked up. Greedy pricks... let it be know there is a warm seat next to the furnace when you arrive in Hell.

BTW if anyone has 2 EXTRA tickets for the DKM show in AC on March 9 hit me up.

Slainte..!

Phil ~ The Grinning Beggar

Just say No !!

So I was trying to make hotel arrangements for our annual outing to the Celtic Fling in Manheim, PA June 22-24, 2012.  While typically we stay at the Hampton Inn Manheim when we go (As it is directly across the road), I made a discovery last week that really pissed me off.

While calling a reserve a room for that Friday and Saturday for my wife, myself and our 2  children, I was informed by a pleasent sounding woman that The Hampton Inn Manheim is only accepting reservations for 3 days or more for that weekend. Furthermore, the rates for that weekend had gone up, just about $50 a night from the previous year. I just could not see spending $600 attending a festival that is actually within driving distance.

So anyway, my fantastic and thrifty wife did some foot work and located the Holiday Inn Express Lititz, the hotel gets 3/5 stars, is less than $150/night with a AAA discount..!. The place has beds, showers and an indoor pool. The latter has made my son so excited that he has already started packing for the trip (swimsuits anway), and it's only 10 minutes away from the festival.

Cheers,

Phil AKA
The Grinning Beggar

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