crazy undergrad action

Recently-published Amy Cameron talks to Natalie Krinsky here this week about her new book, based on her undergrad Yale sex columns in the daily there.

Krinsky comes offa bit in the interview as a decently-spoiled Dundas ON (by way of new york-or is it the other way around?) writer, but a look at her work at Yale, including her most famous piece, found out exactly why she's got a publishing deal with movie options, and a running gig with the villiage voice. her writing is frank, funny, if not particularly crass (for a sex column), but the message gets through loud and clear.

SO for some extended weekend reading, I present a selection of some of Krinsky's better columns, many of which are simply laugh out loud funny. go!

on PDA

on downstairs

on ambiguity

on the block

on exes

on first dates

just so juno I won't be here...

OFF to Winnipeg tomorrow for a weekend of pegcity fun. the family sez that if it does indeed go up to 15 on the weekend there that the flood waters with only be hip, not chest deep.

apparently Akroyd is out, and Sarah Harmer will induct the Hip instead...if Neil pulls out there will indeed be much hell to pay

with that, I won't be updating nothing til I'm back on monday, at which point I'll post thorough reports on the shenanigans (or lack thereof) on a day by day basis.

Win's the Boss?

thanks to chromewaves, we have official confirmation that the Arcade Fire are the huge-est band in the world!

looking forward to seeing mcenroe & hunnicutt tomorrow at gyspy co-op. NOW's got it.

(a few reasons) why rock is back

Generally I hate genre-related general declarations about things (especially when Lenny Kravitz makes them) but I can't ignore the obvious resurgence in popularity of rock nowadays. The usual thing with trends is to notice them in their maturity or decline, but the rock resurgence-in stores right now!-is clear thanks to some observations recently made, such as:

1) The Bravery leading off Much Megahits this morning!-remember when rock was all but banished from this channel? even a year ago?
2) yes 50 is at the top of the charts, but Green Day's winning the war-they just cruised past 4x platinum in Canada this week, and will be at 5x platinum by May, quite easily. Expect another round of junior Green Days to be hitting your radio soon-just like 10 years ago!
3) go to Black Market on a saturday afternoon and you'll find it swamped with kinds from ajax/mississauga/richmond hill etc. frantically searching for the best faux-vintage rock t-shirts. the really cool kids were doing the same thing in kensington a year ago
4) where's the pop? A disastrous Destiny's Child album is only the latest in a running series of lacklustre pop performances
5) you can't get into Dance Cave during the weekends, WAY too trendy. the new megaclub Republik has staked its interests in producing weekend rock nights as well
6) the garbage truck on my street this morning was blaring the edge-ok, that's no different.

yar mateys!

talk of the new Captain Morgan blog has people buzzing, but I and others can't seem to find it!

cheesy corporate agendas aside...
would he write in pirate slang-talk?
is he mac or pc?
does his ship have bluetooth or something?
isn't he drunk all the time?

design = $

just saw that David Carson is coming through town to speak as part of FITC - along with many others.

but a pass for the conference is $650! nonetheless, rumours abound that he will be speaking somewhere else while here for cheaper, let's hope so!

why is everything related to design so expensive? 'cause we loves it! that's why.

kids tv

surprisingly energetic for a monday morning! the stifling heat in the office will no doubt put a damper on that. the new term at Harris starts up today, and I'm looking forward to introducing a more revamped version of my course to a whole new crop!

the marks are in from the last term and I have to say I'm quite happy with how the class did. Accounting is now out of the course name too, thanks to JH for making change with me!

a quick note on the RoS show sat.-for certain it was not Tom and mine's cup of tea, but ultimately I appreciate a band that's trying to say something meaningful in a different way. also: Pho Hung killed us! in a good way.

I think RoS, despite some great press in the past week, all over, will have a pretty hard time vastly building their audience. I've been wrong many times before though.

I'm about 2 years behind everyone in only reading The Tipping Point now, but Blink is on deck, and I'm loving the book right now! So much so that I caught Blue's Clues before work and will tape some Sesame Street as well to refresh on 2 of the most intensively researched shows in the history of television!

and speaking of sesame street, I can only picture 1970's muppets and such when listening to these guys.

Helix rock city

the pre-occupying thought when attending a Rock game this year is, what would it be like here with the nhl? with over 18000 in attendance last night, one wonders that, but certain cues about the crowd suggest that it would still be successful. one thing is ticket price, and though mike and I were comped by the lovely (and israel-visiting) tomer (hey! you gots a mention!), the platinum seats were only marked as being 45 bucks. try that for a leaf game.

this made 2 for 2 in my free attendance of acc events, and I can only hope that trend continues for a while (actually it's already been defeated with the acquisition of tickets for events Sept 14 & 17, and yes I got GA floor!)

but there are some issues with the Rock, (though apparently not a factor to the masses present):

1) they place music during game play
2) they were giving away a dirty quad atv!
3) helix is their theme song (surprise!)

turning off the music tells the audience to PAY ATTENTION! since that never happened, mike and I sat and drank and discussed whatever band was played at the moment. mike likes the new jet single for one, but I'm not so sure. he also has a BILLY SQUIER button! awesome!

post-game (I think they won) we ended inadvertently up at the 'official post game HQ' Joe Badali's only as a private event was happening downstairs. alas, some billiards and pink belts couldn't convince us to stay, so a surprisingly quiet underground garage closed the night off. much less public urination witnessed compared to the night before.

saddy mcgee

the scene was straight out of a teen movie-though seth green was nowhere to be seen-small house, about twice as many kids present that could physically fit inside of it, 3 bands, 3 kegs, and a whole lot of defeated expectations. Trevor's party was just too good to be true ultimately, and though some who got in early apparently had a good time, much of the huddled 20hz masses (and assorted strangers from all over) took one look, turned around, and blasted off!

and st. patrick's is a tough night too, as I found out last year in new york with the army of police officers (on duty, very sober), your options are limited by the gangs of clubbers temporarily enthused with the idea of a pub!

so through some dumbass idea of my own, we ended up at a loud and pretentious place, which pretty much was the least irish place you could be in town last night.

bothered by pricy drinks and the reviled mandatory coat check we booted.

the night's best moments were ttc related.

on the way down spadina the streetcar driver encouraged us to 'take our empties with us', and 'ash our cigarettes out the window' as he had 'just had the seats reupholstered'. he also noted he was 'paid the same' whether we 'paid our fares or not'. awesome.

at my subway station? my most authentic st. paddy's moment: a sizeable pool of green vomit waiting for me on the platform just as I stepped off.

Green Day

irish rock band despondency continues. bah!

only trevor's party tonight can save me now!

prospects for work tomorrow not promising.

also: new order gets horny

Ublew!

AHHH!

u2.com has TOTALLY messed up my presale ticket access. a conversation with Kevin this week re: U2 confirmed this: go GA floor or go home! A further lunchtime discussion with past U2 travel pal cheryl about this debacle confirms I just might stay home.

the new album is lousy, then why support the tour, esp. given all these headaches, and a strong possibiltiy of only landing crappy, overpriced seats?? the (rumoured) additional 2 shows here may change my mind, but right now it looks poor. regardless of what pans out, I will be dispatching a letter to principle management's NY office.

goood linkage

it wasn't that long ago that I was really lamenting the lack of available reviews for shows going on in this town and elsewhere. despite having 2 weeklies and a bunch of dailies here, relative little of the 100+ nightly live music events here get post-coverage.

but while that's an ongoing battle our writer friends will keep fighting for, the new way of doing business-and covering events-has blown things wide open. every day now I know I can read up on shows on places like chromewaves and the like on shows I missed. So hence the links to your right. If there's more I should know about, let it be known dammit!

hail kingstonia!

there are a number of ways to measure success in a show. some would by the lineup down the block outside (which was very sizeable at 11pm), others by the rapt attention of the fandom during the show (which was rampant)...but I would by the unprecedented pile of empties at the back of Lee's for the Inbreds last night. I loved how Dave and Mike came out to set things up, and the crowd politely held off on acknowledging them until their 'proper' entrance some 15 minutes later. it's interesting when a band, especially a canadian one, decides to move on to other things. I can personally think of quite a few (including a member of one that was in attendance) that should better consider it...it's not like you stop making music period, but why not try new ideas/configurations/projects?

Regardless, last night was about the old, and the crowd got exactly what they wanted. As someone who spent most of his time relatively oblivious to the inbreds while growing up on the frozen flatlands, I was very much impressed and glad to be around. James and I also ran into Rosenberg and it was cool to catch up and get some more detailed inbred-rock history from the mike man himself.

in the house: fellow kingstonier harmer, cmw triumphant hewitt

off to burlingtonia for some poker! how trendy.

ARGH! jetsblow!

the events of the past 12 hours or so have proven that media and the way we get our information and deal with it has changed immensely. I was getting ready to pack it in last night, I flicked on the computer and came across an earlier version of this story, which was of major interest to me given my upcoming flight back home on the 31st. I tried to corroborate the story with other canadian online news sites (and tv) to no avail, and ended up making the call to book a new flight on westjet just in case this was the real deal. as a call from my dad this morning confirmed, dammit it was!

so I'm likely out $150, and my new flight was a bit more than the old one, but at least I was able to re-book whereas I know of others know who will not be doing so for the same trip I'm making. a few years ago, I would've only heard the story this morning and been busy making calls all day to find a new flight. in this case, I knew of and went to plan B about 8 hours before the pack. thanks internet!

oh, and the story broke too late for all the newspapers to get it in-as another generation is raised away from print media, how long can it last in its current form?

massive design promiscuity

yes I've been playing around with all the genero templates available here on zee blogger main page. I'd like to get into some custom stuff, but the reality is the whole deal will be changing over to the main site, as part of The Master Plan, when the time comes. still, the black thing is badass.

what's up with the Beggars site? it's been like that for too long!

also looking forward to massive change
I really want to get on this one because I usually find with lengthy gallery things if I don't get around to it right away 8 weeks magically fly by and it closes.

also inbreds friday!

1979!

last night was dangerous in every sense of the word, firstly in the usual pre-opera house visit to Dan's (yes I'm shocked they have a website...) which featured the usual mass-beef consumption and a club sandwich that almost consumed Etienne instead of the other way around. Dan's may yet be my favourite restaurant in this city. it is beyond compare.

onwards to DFA, where we sadly missed the opening business, but frankly it's hard to express interest in acts that are virtually stifled from being announced as to their existence on the bill! as everyone knows by now, DFA is explosive, and they proceeded to explode for a full hour, rocking through most of You're a Woman, I'm a Machine with some older and maybe new(?) numbers as well. particularly blazing was romantic rights, but really, the mosh-heavy crowd would have welcomed a DFA'd Shiny Happy People if it was offered up. it's been a while since I've been present for an indoor mosher, and as tempting as it was to jump in for a song or two, my other judgement (and parka and hat) prevailed.

everyone walked out of the show very suitably impressed-with the exception of the street person who had snuck inside the club post-show and was literally bounced back on the sidewalk by the kind folks at the opera house. and what was with that frisk by the way? I got like a double deal! am I that suspect?

the reality is that DFA1979 will someday become so large and mighty that they'll just be able to be DFA if they so desire-but let's hope they stay cooler than Bush X.

against blogspeak

a few of my friends got a blog over a year ago when the whole blog thing really hit the masses. I at the time was unfamiliar (and therefore resistant) to the idea and proceeded to note:

1) people rarely keep it up
2) even if they do, the blog-speak is freakin' annoying!

I think it's the monologue style of the writing that causes this, but it's really hard to not come off as some soothsayer making broad proclamations about everything all the time. here's my commitment to avoid that, but I love the inside references, so watchit! seriously, it's weird, I'm not sure how to handle this-blogs should have a more conversational aspect-the comments are too reactionary and rarely provide a real discourse.

ah well

sat-e-day

I first got the feeling last year when walking into the westin on the saturday morning-tired, somewhat hungover, but nonetheless looking forward to another day of various music-related bizness. and so it happened again this time, though it's a hell of a lot more convenient to get down to the 'york, and they have nice hand towels too!

steve schnur from EA was nothing less than a revelation, with great stats on the gaming market, and when you hear that someone like Peter Jackson is more excited about the future of gaming than films, that messes with you a bit. the afternoon was otherwise pretty lull-y, but got to catch up with a few people in an around the hotel.
word is there was a packed house for mathew knowles, and that that very house was indeed packed with a bunch of morons asking shameless, inane questions about his daughter etc. though I had been interested in seeing him initially, I'm ultimately glad that I missed it. the overdraught was much better.

the generosity of ET lead to Uncle Jimmy & I getting out to the aporia records party at the post-honeymoon drake, featuring Madrid and Beneath Augusta. Madrid was maybe the surprise of the night, with interesting new deal-esque shoegazing grooves and some vintage synth action. I was a little disappointed in augusta though, but perhaps my expectations were a little elevated on them. also ran into JR, as well as Blair from endearing - both great guys with great things happening for them

at healey's we caught the end of liam titcomb, who was much more country than I remembered, and sort of comprised a weird mix as the Telepathic Butterflies are definitely more in indie pop realm. we flipped over to reverb and caught some of the junction, whose live show is indeed an enjoyable/adorable experience, esp. with free jag shots floating around the bar. things were less festivious up in holy joe's, where Leah Abramson was very very quietly moving through her set. good mix by Timmy!

and we had enough, but after the requisite amato run we found ourselves stumbling upon a quite illegal house-music house party near augusta, where the kids had 'just moved in' and unlimited free liquor (after a $20 cover) awaited us and...we moved on.

in osgoode, maybe the best musical moment of the night, as the busker picked out an extremely ethereal 1979 as I stumbled towards the escalator. yah!

fir-day

SO the conference on friday was good but maybe not great, Steve Earle was, as expected, very open about his views on a lot of matters canadian and otherwise. it's crazy that he was a multiplatinum artist back in the day in canada and barely went gold on his big 80's albums stateside. aside from the knowles-fest on saturday (to be lamented later), this was one of the very few panels/interviews to actually have fans in the audience asking questions, what a concept!

2 of my personal highlights came from friday aft. though, one where McBride told lefsetz that he frankly would rather focus on taking advantage of all the cool new digital business as opposed to randomly suing bad guys-of-the-week as per mr tvt records. I mean, why not? the teen forum was also great, and it said a lot about the state of the industry to find it 1/3 full at best. even the antics of the knob co-MC (asking a question and then turning and not listening to the kid?! give me a break!) couldn't prevent the teens from providing major insights to those in attendance, easily the most valuable hour of the week.

as for henderson/lefsetz, though it was mildly entertaining to see henderson pull a Frank Grimes and occasionally lose it, the thing, like the rest of the week, reeked of LAST YEAR.

in terms of SHOWS, The Novaks rocked it hard at lee's but there was some difficulty in hearing any real standout songs. a quicky scoot down to kathredal found my pick of the festival, Inward Eye tearing it up with shocking style and catchiness. Bryan and I were freaking out! After hearing about how great these 3 brothers are for so long now (and esp. their fantastic drummer ), yes it's all true! or at least their opening and closing numbers. love the standup drumming. a shot back up to Lee's found the Golden Dogs in fine form, and apparently earning one of the highest Chart scores (again?) of the fest. dave azzolini is a guitar maniac, and one hopes they finally get out on the real road this year.

the 'crazy and delicious' pizza pizza was merely crazy.

because we're always on the run

hey!

yesterday was quite madness from beginning to end, as it confirmed the wiseness in skipping out early of the indie awards on wednesday-which were shockingly short, by the way, and one has to wonder maybe what the point is of such an event when so very few of the artists are there to accept anything.

anyways, was down at the 'York for the conference yesterday and the early buzz is THE ROOMS ARE TOO FREAKIN' SMALL. state of the industry panel? jammed. A&R session? ridiculously over capacity. though I much appreciate the more centralized surroundings of the new location, some bugs are in place, and one wonders if the whole deal might end up in the sheraton next year (as was the original plan). in honour of today's guest of honour, the rest of this post will be typed HIS way!

as for shows, rockit had some serious PA issues but wintersleep still managed a very capable and well-received set. can't wait to see them in a REAL club.
onlyforward was ok, but I'm not sure if I'd peg my future on them, dare I say it, a little too hyper? gotta play it COOL, like Guitar Wolf! who were pretty wild and crazy and the crowd seemed absolutely IN LOVE with them (as perhaps respected members of the press also in attendance). as my friend James pointed out prior, isn't it CANADIAN music week? I figured seeing one set of legendary japanese punks was offset by the previous 4 canadian bands that night-not that bad a ratio. andre 3000 was also in attendance (as at the indie awards), sans entourage, and seemed to be really into the antics of the 'wolf. ALSO: lee's seems HUGE now post-reno.

I'll be firing off soon to steve earle et al at the conference, LET'S GO.