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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social

@alecmcelcheran.bsky.social
286 followers 73 following 1.5K posts
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 9h
Gotta say, i've been on a bit of a Stevie Wonder kick recently, going through his classic 70s albums. And right now i'm listening to Songs In The Key Of Life, an album i knew as a kid but haven't revisited in decades. Pastime Paradise just hit me so hard i burst into tears. This is heavy music.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
i've heard people react to the ingredients of poutine; french fries, gravy, cheese curds, as if it was the most unpalatable combination imaginable... and i really don't understand people. People get weirded out by the least weird stuff.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
i was listening to Marvin's Room on CBC. Song came on, singer doing Stevie Wonder vocalising. But it was all pitch corrected. Now, i don't need chopsy singing. Not my main focus. But if you're doing some Whitney stuff you're kinda saying "check this out". And then it's all tuned? It's just lame.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Remember when Artificial Intelligence was this kinda philosophical sci-fi notion about a far off time when computers developed consciousness, a quantum leap from machine learning to selfhood? And then they developed these impressive data collating programs & called THAT A.I? i'm not on board.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
This might not be a popular opinion; i don't want people to be cancelling Pink or Sheeran. i don't agree with her & he seems kinda gutless.... but this all smells of that easy public display of moral superiority... AND... pile-on. Easy to joing the gang kicking the shmuck.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
There's an spiteful part of me that hears whatever today's stupid hateful nonsense happens to be; blowing up alliances, gutting programs, demolishing monuments... and thinks, do it, ruin everything, make life shitty for your whole country. Show what you are. But no. i don't want suffering.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Funny how i don't need to watch the debates to know how i'm voting in the Québec election. There's only 1 major party that isn't too far Right and/or Nationalist (culturally or otherwise). The QS is cool on everything BUT sovereignty. Anyway, the PQ is gonna win my riding. Could be worse. Not much.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Ah, Québec. Where promising to pay people to have more babies for the Patrimoine is a viable election tactic.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
i will not use IMPACT as a verb. We already have AFFECT. It's a fine word, and the only knock against it that i can see is that it doesn't sound quite as LOUD.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In the dream, i pass by the old house & walk into the backyard. i look in the basement window & there i am, age 16, with friends, listening to records, rolling.... something, talking a lot of nonsense. That time still exists & i felt like i could step back into it. i woke up with a sense of loss.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
i heard premier Danielle Smith get emotional about a unified Canada, all while continuing to push the "Ottawa is the enemy, we're mad as hell" line she's been pushing for years. i admit i don't know Alberta well, but hasn't Smith been feeding into EXACTLY the rhetoric that fuels the seperatists?
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
After my gig i take the road home. i take my exit, roll down the empty boulevard to my street. On the corner there's a shop that went out of business. They left the lights on. A beacon shining out alone in the night. That empty room, furniture gone, that lost dream, 1 abandoned plant left to die.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"C'est ma toune"! i had the wonderful Quebecois experience tonight of playing a song at my gig & having a woman say "c'est ma toune" (it's my song)! You have to hear it with the right pronunciation. It's not "tune", nor "tooon". There's a special vowel... sorta near the "ou" in "would". Happy.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Senator Susan Collins warns Carney against strengthening Canada's ties to the EU. Hhhmmm....
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Please remind me to never ever ever go back to Facebook again. i've checked in a few times despite telling myself not to, and my feed is a cesspit of right-wing shit. Please remind me to never ever ever go back to Facebook again.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Completely trivial topic; someone asking "who do you think was the most influential stratocaster player"? Arguing that it's David Gilmour. Someone argued that it's Buddy Holly. But it can only be Jimi, right? Even if you're not a big Jimi fan (wha?), the iconic strat thing is tied to Jimi.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In Montréal you hear people chatting in French & English, some speaking one, some the other, some going back'n'forth. This is presented as evidence of the slow loss of French. i see it as hopeful. Used to be, Anglos spoke English, Allophones learned English. Now we all muddle thru together.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Tonight i was listening to Innervisions & i realized that when i listen to Living For The City, that middle section where our young protagonist arrives the city & gets 10 years in prison for being in the wrong place at the wrong time always upsets me. i love the song & dread the middle of it.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
So, when you're on the highway and someone pulls some asshole move and it turns out they're driving a BMW, you go "yup". But i've figured out another brand of assholery; if they're driving slowly while being an asshole, and it turns out they're driving a Range Rover, you go "mmm hhhmm".
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I didn't hate Star Trek Disco. i'm not one of those trekkers who objected to all the Woke. No, bring on the inclusivity. i just wish they'd worked it into less... preachy writing. i liked the idea of Disco being after ENT & before TOS, & following a crew member not a captain. It didn't deliver that.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
CAQ candidate Bernard Drainville, a guy i don't often agree with, apologised for saying in a french-language interview, "In the demands he made at the end of the negotiations, there was a real desire to say ‘you Canada, you belong to us, you’re mine.’ Well, f–k you, esti." No need to apologise Bern.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
i really like the sound of Maghreb French.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
i did the CBC's "vote compass" survey for the Québec Election. No surprise, i'm closest to the Liberals, but to the left of them. Québec Solidaire is the only party more left than i am. But ALL the parties are more Québec-cultural-identity-nationalist than i am.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
When i see live Byrds or CSNY, they're lacklustre & sloppy. It's disappointing cuz i like the studio stuff. The Clash are more driving but similarly messy. There's a thing to being tight & punchy live. It doesn't have to be chopsy. CCR, early Beatles, Green Day. Just laying it down.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Listening to Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever. Usually i can't stand Jeff Lynne's production. Everything he touches turns to plastic; ELO, Traveling Wilburies, George Harrison, Free As A Bird, Real Love. But somehow it works for this album. Tom's tunes thrive on the tight arrangements & shiny pop sound.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Of course the PQ & the CAQ are campaigning on expanding Bill 101. Whether they're sincere or not, it plays well to a portion of Quebec's population. i'm so tired of this stuff.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The drive from Beirut to Baghdad, from the capital of Lebanon thru Syria to the capital of Iraq, is 935 km & would take about 13 hours. The drive from Montreal to Havre-St-Pierre on the North shore of the St-Lawrence is 1222 km. i've driven there for a gig.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
i resent having to be impressed with Doug Ford.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
i just saw 10 seconds of the Tragically Hip backstage before that final show in Kingston, and i welled up with tears. It touches me. It hits me.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
A little gem from The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday; Have You Seen Her Face youtu.be/25YxNSkLDB8?...
youtu.be
The Byrds - Have You Seen Her Face (Audio)
YouTube video by TheByrdsVEVO
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
On a cloudy day the light is softer, colours are muted but richer. Robin redbreast is looking for worms, runs across the lawn when he sees me coming. Crickets, or are they grasshoppers, are having their strange conversation while a pair of mourning doves sing their comfortable melancholy song.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
i love tremolo guitar. It's a sound i use all the time. For some reason i thought i wanted harmonic tremolo too & i spent way more on a pedal with more sounds just to end up using the basic tremolo setting all the time. Coulda bought the Boss pedal. It has what i need & it's built like a tank.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Oh, i get it. Aside from being an attempt at distraction from the Epstein files and other gross stuff, getting into a pointless and badly planned war with Iran can now serve as cover for the way the US economy is not, uh, "taking off like a rocket".
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
PQ leader Plamondon wants to delay his promised referendum until 47 is out of office, & everyone's criticising him. i'm not a big fan but i think it makes sense. Yes it's a political move to try to attract non-PQ voters. But how can you measure what people really want in this climate of uncertainty?
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Some Canadian commentator; "Canadians want a deal even if it means making some concessions. Maybe it's time to take a less combative stance with this Us administration ". Give in to a bully? That always works. Some other commentator; "Carney's given too much away already". Calisse. Can't win, eh?
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The Indo-European languages; Germanic, Italic, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, etc descended from 1 language. The people who spoke it brought it to Europe & Western Asia, displacing local languages. But traces of those languages remain. There are words common to Germanic languages that we can't trace.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
"On est tu entre nous". That's an interesting sentence.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
i just heard it. The classic Quebec double Là, as in, "b'en là, là". i swear you could get a third one in there, a quick là before the main two. Like maybe, "là-làaa... là". Know what i mean?
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Reposted by @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social
Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
At first, I was excited to see that a lesbian had won. Then, I realized the candidate was a man. And a Republican. And just like that, the joy was gone.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
i put 13s on my acoustic. i tune down to Eb. i was looking for tone. i just played a set and it's killing my hands. i just found out that those Gibson acoustics that The Beatles played (in standard tuning) came set up with with 14s. Ouch.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
i gotta stop calling him a piece shit. Shit is natural, a positive useful part of the natural cycle. This guy is toxic waste, a useless dangerous end-product of ill-conceived processes we could have avoided, hard to contain, hard to dispose of, poisonous to all it touches for generations to come.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It hurts me that Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus is one of the books these right-wing school board committees has banning. A few rude words, perhaps a touch of nudity, and... oh yeah, the horrors of the Holocaust and the aftereffects on survivors. Should be required reading for kids in grade 8.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
i got pulled into a Left/Right thing. My fault for framing it that way. Old friend who's decided "they're all the same. Corrupt, corporate, blahblahblah". It triggered me. No, they're not the same. Yes, they're corporate. There's no left. But one side is racist, misogynist, transphobic, Fascist.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
i keep seeing this Range Rover ad. It's taken me a few viewings to figure out the message; "We're rich privileged shitheads and it feels good".
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Weird trivia: Chet Powers, the guy who wrote the 60s hit "Let's Get Together", used the stage name Dino Valenti. The guy's real name was Chet Powers and he used a pseudonym? Those of us with unpronounceable last names (at least where i live) wonder how this could be.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Coming out of my Anglo mouth the Quebec town names L'Assomption and L'Ascension sound pretty much the same.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Nice Guy at the gig tonight asking for Doors and Janis, which i played and he grooved to. Then i did a Neil Young song, and he said "old Neil's gone woke on us". Um.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Wikipedia page about Jeff Beck's first album, Truth; "Beck's amplifier was apparently so loud, it was recorded from inside a closet". Um, yeah. That's not weird. That's a pretty normal thing to do in a studio.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Hey folks! You know that beep your car makes when you lock it? It sucks. Offensive. Unnecessary. Pollution. And it isn't hard to turn off. Just look it up.
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alecmcelcheran.bsky.social @alecmcelcheran.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
"BK Skeptics". Apparently this is a thing?
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