(Party) C.K. Kelly Martin Guest Blog + Contest

Posted May 25, 2009 by shooting in Uncategorized / 40 Comments

Guest Blog: C.K. Kelly Martin, author of One Lonely Degree
http://www.ckkellymartin.com/

Some girls will tell almost anyone their problems, like the fact that they have some drama in their lives makes them important. I’m not like that. It takes me a long time to trust someone and mostly it just doesn’t happen at all. So anyway, I don’t want to get into the messy details of what happened between Audrey, Jersy and me and how back at the start of tenth grade Adam Porter did something that made me feel almost like I wasn’t myself anymore. What I really want to write about is something else entirely, but I guess it’s kind of related too because you can’t talk about music you like, music that really means something to you, without revealing something about yourself.

The thing is, I’m this huge Our Lady Peace fan and they haven’t had a new album in FOUR years. The entire time I’ve been a fan they haven’t had an album out and now there’s going to be a NEW one, which is already recorded but hasn’t been released yet. My anticipation level is beyond crazy and people like my friend Nishani and even my parents (and other people I can’t mention by name because that would be telling) have to listen to me talk about how fantastic Burn Burn is going to be and stuff like details about the interview I saw with the band during the video shoot for the first single, All You Did Was Save My Life, a few weeks ago.

Since I still have almost two months until the album is out I have to keep hitting YouTube to watch live clips of OLP playing All You Did Was Save My Life, Dreamland, White Flags and a bunch of other tracks from Burn Burn. There are times I watch them over and over, which makes the anticipation that much sharper so that sometimes when I’m just walking around the mall or eating dinner or whatever I’ll suddenly remember about the new CD coming out and get the same buzz that other people probably do when they’re drinking or doing drugs. Actually, I think a music buzz is exponentially better than a chemical one. I know lots of people would disagree with me but I don’t get the fascination with frying your brain. Personally, I’d like to hold on to mine for a few more years.

All You Did Was Save My Life. If it was a book, I’d devour it. If it was a movie I’d go to the theatre to watch it. What can be bigger than someone saving your life? And it’s really weird (but in a really good way) for me because that’s sort of how I feel about OLP. Not literally because it’s not like I ever wanted to stop being alive but there were times when it was so hard that I didn’t know what to do besides let my friend Audrey promise me I was going to be okay or listen to Our Lady Peace. Honestly, there were a lot of times like that and they went on for a long time. If I couldn’t sleep I would lie under the covers and listen to Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida sing into my ear and what he sang would help, I swear to God. And yeah, I do have a thing for Raine Maida (who is beautiful in a way that seems almost impossible) but it wasn’t just that. What he was singing would help at a time when I was too fucked up to have a thing for anybody.

He has a voice like burning gold but it wasn’t just that either, it was what he was saying, like he understood how tough things could be and it was personally important to him that you didn’t give up, like he says in A Story About A Girl:

“Baby girl, stand up and fight
This is not some paradise
Oh it’s just where we live”

The song Life is inspiring in kind of the same way:

“Life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up,
but we’ll survive”

And Raine Maida’s solo album from about a year and a half ago is amazing too. His song Earthless is so beautiful and delicate that there are moments while I’m listening to it that I forget to breathe. But I think my favourite song of all could be Innocent because I do believe (although I sometimes need reminding) that we can all be innocent, even when other people want to yank that away from us and make us feel shitty. If I could add up all the times I’ve listened to OLP tunes that one might win. But really, I love them all – Thief, Naveed (especially the part where Raine sings “I can’t live here anymore”), 4AM, Clumsy, Automatic Flowers, everything. They all rock and they’re real and intense and they mean something, not like so many of the chart topping songs, which, if you’re a girl are mostly about jiggling your body parts while singing about how hot you are or if you’re a guy are mainly about watching some girl jiggle while you talk about how hot she is. I can’t even believe how much of that stuff is out there. There’s, like, a pandemic of jiggling booty and boobs.


So when Burn Burn hits record stores on July 21st (which hopefully will get here fast so I don’t explode from waiting) I’m going straight to HMV to buy it so I can stack it up next to my copies of Gravity, Spiritual Machines, Healthy in Paranoid Times etc. And I’ll lie under the covers and listen to Raine sing, even though I feel pretty good these days and don’t need my life saved in the same way. The music still makes me happier, makes things easier, and it’s pretty amazing that people you don’t even know can do that for you with guitars, drums and the right words.

I’ll be on the lookout for Toronto tour dates too because you know when OLP hit town, I’m there. Nishani and her sister Aneeka have already sworn they’ll buy tickets with me and Nishani now knows all the lyrics to Innocent by heart, which is partly my influence and partly testament to what an incredible song it is.

I know I said at the beginning of this that I didn’t want to talk about Audrey or Jersy or give too much away – and that’s still true, but the one thing I want them both to know, if they don’t already and if they happen to be reading this, is that they are the best friends a person could have and, like the music, they helped me too.

– Finn Kavanagh, May 1st, 2009

“Innocent” by Our Lady Peace (Live)

* The first single from Burn Burn “All You Did Was Save My Life” hits radio today – Monday May 25th. One Lonely Degree by C.K. Kelly Martin arrives in bookstores May 26th.

Contest:

Enter: Comment on this Guest Post!

Open To: U.S. and Canada!

Ends: June 15th

Prize: – a signed copy of One Lonely Degree

– Playlist: The Very Best of Our Lady Peace CD (which was just released in March)

– Burn Burn CD (which will be forwarded to winner upon its release, the other stuff C.K. Kelly Martin will send off right away)

Remember: One Lonely Degree is released tomorrow so definitely think about picking up your own copy. It looks amazing and I really want to read it!

40 responses to “(Party) C.K. Kelly Martin Guest Blog + Contest”

  1. Carlene

    One Lonely Degree does look amazing. I cant wait to read it. Please include me in your giveaway.
    Thanks
    Carlene
    iluvreading(at)verizon.net

    Reply
  3. Steph Su

    Haha, I’ve never heard of OLP, unfortunately, but I understand when something/someone is SO good that you just want to devour it/them in all different forms: TV, movie, writing. It’s all good. Thanks for the giveaway!

    stephxsu at gmail dot com

    Reply
  4. Max Brown

    That’s exactly the way I am – it’s really hard for me to trust people enough to tell them personal things. I’ve never heard of OLP, but it sounds really good. And the book looks AMAZING as well. Thanks for the guest blog, and thanks for the contest!!! My email is max(dot)e(dot)brown(dot)94(at)gmail(dot)com

    Thanks!
    Max.

    Reply
  8. Belinda M

    I would like to read this novel. Please enter me in the giveaway

    “Canadian Contests, Freebies, Coupons, Deals, Games and Fun:
    CoolCanucks.ca”

    Reply
  10. deltay

    One Lonely Degree looks intriguing!

    And very nice guest post – ahhhh! Our Lady Peace! Finn’s got good taste in music 😉 I really like their song LIFE from a few years back, that one was stuck in my head for quite a while, playing on loop on my MP3 player 😉

    lucidconspiracy at gmail dot com

    Reply
  11. Amy W

    AHHH i love these kinds of books, and i am definetly going to get this one.. especially b/c it looks like the main charachter is MY AGE and a fan of OLP!!!!! WHICH IS MY ULTIMATE FAVORITE BAND!!! AMAZING =D

    Reply
  13. Liviania

    I liked how this began:

    “Some girls will tell almost anyone their problems, like the fact that they have some drama in their lives makes them important. I’m not like that. It takes me a long time to trust someone and mostly it just doesn’t happen at all.”

    I prefer not to talk about my drama with people. It’s too private. I’ll talk about other things but that only goes to trusted confidants, who seem to number fewer every year.

    Reply
  31. Anonymous

    Mary
    zenrei57 (at) hotmail (dot) com

    Sounds like a good book worth the reading 🙂 Please enter me and thank you so much!!!

    Reply
  37. Book Spot

    That looks like such a good book and I've loved the cover since she first posted it on her Myspace blog…I really do hope I can win it 😀

    book.splot[at]gmail[dot]com

    Thanks for the contest.

    Reply

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