South Park

Tonight, my favorite television show returns for the second half of its 16th season!  I am excited.

Welcoming viewers since August 1997.

I was a huge fanatic when "South Park" started in August 1997.  I remember the pilot episode aired on one of the Wednesday nights before I got cable installed into my studio apartment, so it took several months before I saw that pilot episode, but I remember specifically the interaction that completely won me over was in the fourth episode titled "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride," where Chef (acting as Coach) was talking to the elementary football team and said, "Ok children, I know that you are all extremely excited & nervous & anxious about the Homecoming game against Middle Park."  Kyle asked, "Who's Middle Park?"  Cartman added, "What's Homecoming?"

If I were from South Park...

After that line, I knew this show was something special.  In the early seasons, a lot of their humour was in pure randomness and, growing up as a fan of "The State on MTV," I loved it!  The other immediate trademark was intentionally-outdated pop culture references from Tina Yothers to John Stamos('s older brother).  Many times I was just left speechless, whether I was laughing or just so flabbergasted wondering "how do they even think of these things?"  Seriously, who thinks to write the kids training a dog to respond to a command like "Don't be gay, Spark!  Don't be gay!"

The second season began with an epic April Fool's Day prank, which somewhat backfired because most viewers apparently did not have a sense of humor about themselves.  Except me.  I was such a huge fanatic that when the first season ended with the promise that the next episode would be in four weeks to reveal who Cartman's father was, I ran to a calendar and pinpointed the date.  Immediately, I noticed it was April 1st, and for the next four weeks, I told anyone who would listen that it would be an April Fool's prank.  While I didn't predict that the episode to air would focus on Terrance & Philip (I expected Comedy Central would simply air a short vignette saying "April Fool's Day"), that T&P episode actually became my favorite single episode for the first several seasons (all the way until "The Death of Eric Cartman" in season nine).

GO HABS GO!

By the fifth season, I had trouble keeping "South Park" in my weekly schedule.  I usually enjoyed new episodes when I saw them, but the show was not a priority in my schedule.  As a result, I never bought any South Park DVD sets when they were released.  In fact, it really wasn't until "South Park" came to syndication that it became a regular program on my TV again.  Many nights I would be *almost* asleep when suddenly they popped off with a punchline that sent me into a riotous laughing fit.

One Sunday night, I could not sleep and I eventually gave up around 3 a.m. to search for something on television to put me to sleep.  I expected to fall asleep during any given program, but instead I found an episode of "South Park" where I was hooked from start to finish, but completely drained from all my laughing that I went straight to sleep as soon as it finished.  The episode was their season 11 opener, "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," which started with Randy Marsh in the bonus round of Wheel Of Fortune getting stumped by the final letter to "People Who Annoy You," after being given "N _ G G E R S" (the right answer was naggers; of course, that's not how he answered).

Eventually, "South Park" became a television obsession for me; it attained the rare status of one of those shows that I could watch every time it aired, regardless how many previous times I had seen the same episode.  Even though the show was on syndication each night, I still felt as though I needed to have it more readily available at my disposal, so I purchased "South Park: The Hits, Volume 1."  Most fans would not have wasted their money on this purchase since all of the episodes were available on prior box sets, but I had not purchased any of the season box sets, so this set was all new episodes to my collection.

Ya know?

Contrary to my original intentions, I slowly started buying the season box sets.  Luckily (ok, I planned it this way to a large degree), most of the sets had been out a while so they had fallen from their original "new release" prices.  I don't think I have paid over $20 for any set, all the way up to last week when I bought Season 15 for under $15, and I own every season (except season 11, for select reasons).

While a lot of the show's characteristics have remained the same, the story telling and humour have definitely evolved.  Whereas the humour used to be its pure randomness, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have developed into incredible satirists.  Whereas the show used to have subplots in each episode, nowadays they can fill an entire episode with one story (beginning with "Scott Tenerman Must Die").  The shock factor has worn thin, but the brand itself remains strong as Comedy Central's most successful show.  And for the fans who still follow it, the show is still pretty special.

Even the Stanley Cup loves "South Park."

Trey Parker and Matt Stone have perfected the ability to satire both sides of arguments, then sound like geniuses by conveying a reliable lesson on moderation or simplicity at the end.  Their scope of satires has been pretty impressive as well, ranging from The Dark Knight trilogy to "The Real Housewives of New Jersey," from Wal-Mart to Hooters, and from the 9/11 conspiracy theories to Cash For Gold stores.  Almost every organized religion and sport has been satired at some point in the show's history.  Yet occasionally, they will tug on the heartstrings of even the most jaded viewers as proven by "You're Getting Old," the mid-season finale last year.

All in all, it's pretty impressive for a group of today's 10-year-olds who would have originally been born in 1991.

This is why I remember their birthdays...

Kyle & Raegan celebrating my 30th birthday in May 2007.

My favorite married couple are Kyle & Raegan Sonnenberg, and this is their birthdays.  It's easy to remember because they were born on September 25th and September 26th in the same year (I'll withhold their birthyear, in case they care to keep that information somewhat classified).  For many of the past several years, I have sent one email to both of them as the clock turned to midnight between the two dates.

This year I consider to be an extra special birthday though, because Kyle has a gig tonight at Sail Inn.  Actually, it's less the gig that makes it special and more the fact that (A) I will get to see him to celebrate his birthday ON his actual birthday, and (B) I have a very unique birthday present for him.

Back on February 8, 2012, I wrote a blog entitled "This is not an emergency" about the Caterwauls.  Towards the end, I noted my latest endeavor of making a Caterwauls Live CD of that title, having recently discovered how to extract a single song into MP3 format from a video.  I had a handful of live performances from 2005 and 2006 from which to choose, and after several months of attention and several months of neglect, I completed the project and "This Is Not An Emergency" is ready for release!  For the most part, I am using "completed" in the Tom Petty sense of the word when he said, "you never finish an album, you just abandon it."  And I am using "release" completely incorrectly as distribution of the album will be limited to a handful of people.

Initially, I had the Audacity to hope I could eliminate the drone of chatter on almost every recording, but unfortunately, that program could do a lot of things (mostly beyond my scope) but it would take a far greater piece of technology than Audacity to pull off that trick, so I stayed with what was within my $0 budget.  Honestly, I think that chatter adds an element of liveliness to the album as a whole now.  Additionally, I was hoping to be able to get all of the recordings to sound mostly identical, but again, it was impossible without the patience of a saint (or, at least, the knowledge of a music producer), so I have grown to appreciate the album as a collection of live tracks.  It comes off better than trying to make the album sound congruent.

Finally, there was the selection of tracks to be considered.  This was where I am most pleased.  Many of the songs never appeared on a Caterwauls album, and some others have never been released by Kyle Sonnenberg on any album.

Final version of my cover for the Caterwauls live CD.

1. Emergency. Title track, and one of my favorite songs when I first started following the band in 2004.  Kyle played this song (much to my surprise) at the First Friday event at the Paper Heart in May 2006.  I had organized the evening myself, and (having nothing to do with the Caterwauls) it was nearly disastrous.  Regardless, I was thrilled to learn that I had this track recorded and that thrill inspired this entire project.  This song was never recorded for any (other) album.

2. Happy. Easily my favorite of Kyle's songs, and sometimes, I even list this track as my favorite song period (although Great White's "Psychedelic Hurricane" may have it beat, in all honesty).  I figured if this album were my project, then my favorite song was required.  Plus, if I were to listen to any Caterwauls CD, then I would want to hear this song, so I made sure that happened here.

3. Sweet Honey.  This track also came from the Paper Heart show, and Kyle gave it a humorous introduction.  Including some of those random introductions was important to me because it captured the *fun* of attending Caterwauls live shows.  Most times, I would laugh almost as much as I would dance (and the Caterwauls remain the only live band to get me out on the dance floor).  Kyle recorded this song for one of his miscellaneous solo albums, but it never appeared on a Caterwauls CD.

4. Claustrophobic/Punk Song.  This song was the first song on the first studio album "Prescription Pill," a point that is documented at the outset of this track where Sam Conrad surprised Kyle and Tony with the CDs.  Kyle humorously quips that "this is our CD release party, HOW HUGE CAN THIS GET!"  Which was especially funny to a room of less than a dozen people.  That interaction justified its inclusion, although the performance of these songs was phenomenal.  I didn't use performance as a factor on whether or not to include a song.  If I had, then the track listing would probably look a lot different.

5. Someday. Another song that the Caterwauls played at so many shows, but it slipped through the cracks when it came time to record an album.  More often than not, this song was performed on acoustic guitar, and it captured the uniqueness of the Caterwauls almost perfectly (punk, funk, & melodic junk).

6. Stonehead Guru. This song was a gem with Tony Juarez on drums, and they even recorded for their first studio album, but for whatever reason (i.e. Kyle wasn't satisfied with it), it was nixed from the finished product.  Lucky for me, it was included on their official website but I could not download those tracks.  Kyle recorded this track with DSFA in Canada and recently brought it into SFA sets, but this is only recording I have of the Caterwauls performing it.

7. Song In Progress. This song was never quite finished, but Kyle played it a few times live.  Unfortunately, this particular show was a sketchy performance and one that I'm sure Kyle would not endorse its inclusion, but I did not have the heart to remove it based on how catchy the rhythm of the song is and my pure amusement in the opening and ending interaction between Kyle and Sam.

8. Interplanetary Picture Show. This performance was only done because I requested it, and I requested it because I wanted to have a recording of the song.  Quite perceptive of me, eh?  This song had great potential, and the lyrics were so far out there that it truly felt he made an interplanetary connection with another galaxy.  This song was not released on any other album.

9. Blissful Kisses. These last three songs are fittingly together because they were the last three songs I tacked onto the album before I considered it finished.  This song was filmed in May 2006 at a sports bar that was playing the Edmonton Oilers bid for the 2006 Stanley Cup, a point worth noting since Kyle called a goal at one point in the song.  This song was always a personal favorite, but it was mainly included on this album because (A) of the Oilers goal, and (B) I liked how Kyle ended the song live more than how he recorded it on "Rozepedals" (the second studio album).  The performance itself was a little sloppy in parts, but the song itself can make up for any of those shortcomings.

Back cover  (track listing) of the live Caterwauls CD.

10. Judgment Day. This song was another favorite, but I only had one recording of it and, initially, I did not think it was good enough to be included on the album.  But when I returned to the project after shelving it for several months, I could not find out why I ever objected to it.  It was written in 2004 with the Presidential Election looming closer and closer.  Religion was often overpowering more relevant issues on its own merit, so (although Kyle and I are miles away in our religious views) I respect every word in this song!

11. Setting Son. This song is never one of my favorites, but it was one of few recordings I had where Kyle signed off, so I decided to include it.  This performance was from August 2005 when Caterwauls competed in a Battle of the Bands after performing a full set at Rio Salado Brewery a couple hours earlier.

Overall, there is no way Kyle will appreciate this album as much as I will.  But I know he will appreciate the effort behind it.  After all, not many local musicians have fans who would make their own album of a band as a labour of love.