Another hit: Barry Bonds

I knew and liked the song “Gold Digger,” but I never had listened to much else Kanye West stuff. The last few weeks I’d noticed rave reviews of his new CD, Graduation, so, what the hell, I figured there must be something to this guy beyond embarrassing MTV moments, Hurricane Katrina comments and Armani underwear, so I downloaded it, making me possibly the oldest and certainly the greyest buyer of his music. Oh, well.

(As an aside, I vividly remember Bill Livingstone round about 1989 raving about Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,” so I guess what comes around . . .)

I really like Graduation. It’s brilliantly produced and engineered, and the guy is unbelievably clever and funny (e.g., “You know how long I’ve been on ya? / Since Prince was on Apollonia / Since O.J. had Isotoners.”)

It strikes me that one of the many genres of music that pipe bands have not explored are rap and hip-hop. And, speaking of Brown, I’d bet that if any band is going to have a go at it, it will be the Peel Regional Police.