nuts!

OK, not a lot of time to stick around here, as I've got about a week's worth of work to jam into 2 days before I leave on my International Tour on thursday aft. As JH would say...yikes!

Seriously looking forward to returning to minneapolis though, I know the caribou tour will be there on the weekend as are the dears, and I might catch some of that.

zoom!

ass backwards into fun

SO yesterday evening kicked off a little on the early side, with a rendezvous with expats Brian and Darin and the sneaky corner, where some pitchers were quaffed and nachos ravaged over. they had just been out longboarding, and Waterloo-based Darin was interested in checking out the little italy.

so we strolled, pretty much to the end of the strip on the south side and then back along the north side. on the way out I noticed the kaiser chiefs' bus was in front of the mod club for their show there, and when we came back by we fell ass-backwards into some free passes courtesy of the edge interns!

I expressed surprise to them about this papering of the house, but as good interns do, they played dumb to the terminology. so in we went, longboards and all, into the club just in time to catch the end of Chicago's Ok Go's famous set-ending dance routine. quite funny.

now I have a bit of a history with the chiefs and generally was impressed that first fateful night. I had been kind of keen on seeing them again, especially since I actually have the album now. the verdict? bloc party are not this year's franz ferdinand, the kaiser chiefs are this year's franz ferdinand! in one word-fun-you get to see what these guys are all about.

the upbeat numbers from employment are downright explosive live, and with singer Ricky Wilson's classic mod rock antics, even my friends who had never heard of them before last night had a really good time. at one point Wilson invited a girl onstage for some protracted dance moves, nearly dropping her off the stage (deservedly?) at the end. Later a Damon Albarn-lookalike (mod club owner?) to sloppily sing along for 'I predict a riot'-was that Damon anyways?

so yeah, great times, followed by some great diplomatico and the dining room. none of it planned. all fun.

financial administration

THROUGH the course of any given week, various people in my life ask me about the basic nature of my job-what's the title? what exactly do I do again? etc. etc.

today I offer an example of some of the stuff I do, presented in a real-world example, some work I did this afternoon:

Analysis

1 710mL bottle Becks @ $3.75
price per 100mL = $.528

1 660mL bottle Pilsner Urquell @ $3.00
price per 100mL = $.454

1 6 pack Steamwhistle (2046mL) @ 11.95
price per 100mL = $.584

so there you go. finance is sexy.

fahrenheit 450

Stones tickets go on sale here this week. Having already seen them 3 times there's really no interest here to go, especially with top price being a whopping $450!

And this is a SkyDome (will not call it that other name) show, where good sound is hardly a guarantee.

Wild Schtuff.

So yes, had a great meeting with Bryan last night-basically this site will be changing dramatically over the next couple of weeks, with some interesting new audio content coming online for y'all in mid to late june. These are very exciting times right now and we're looking to really get in on the neat new ways to present music to people.

stay tuned!

3 reviews

caught episode 3 last night before the show, but in lieu of a review- some links! (much funnier if you've seen the movie already)

http://darthno.ytmnd.com/

http://cnnoooooooo.ytmnd.com/

http://notimesthree.ytmnd.com/

http://letsnooooooooo.ytmnd.com/

the band was ok, not exactly mind-blowing but the crowd was also lacking in both size and response, so maybe that was part of it. Definitely some good things going on musically, but not sure where they fit in the grand scheme of things, at least yet...

my tsn highlight of the night had to be Burrito Boyz. Bennie and Grant were there so that just more than c0nfirms the too-hot-to-trot status of this place. GO!

furthermore...

SO it sounds like there was in fact no encore at kasabian. still unsure whether LSF was in the set.

also on a good note, my hand is feeling more normal, though some sensation is still missing in my pinky-still wanna know who was I slapping?

tonight brings maps of the night sky to Bookie's usual free night at the horseshoe. this band features at least one winnipeg music expatriate, and I've been meaning to see them for some time.
they're on at 9:30. ski ya there!

recovery

poor circulation? what does it mean when your hand has that slept-on-it tingliness at all hours? for 2 days now?

this can't be good.

Friday held the 3rd and final visit to kool haus for the week, with probably the smallest audience on hand for kasabian, a band who I passed on last time as they were playing on my exact birthday. we arrived-or should I say stumbled-into the club just as mad action was saying their goodnights, and frankly the next 90 minutes or so of my life can only be documented from me as a maddening blur.

I do remember accidentally knocking heads with at least 2, maybe 3 people. I do remember set closer Club Foot, and leaving shortly thereafter but I don't remember personal favourite and summer rock-anthem-to-be LSF. where the hell was it? (the encore, I am assuming).

the night only denigrated from there. regrets? yes I have a few, but then again, too few to mention.

SATURDAY built the promise of a better day, though the after effects of friday were still very much following me around. that would include dinner at Trimuti with friends, and then even more excitingly, off to Atom Egoyan's new cine-bar Camera, where we took in Memoria Del Saqueo in the back theatre.

the film documents Argentina's ongoing economic and political crises, from a unique view of the people, and a less than flattering portrayal of those in charge over the years. filmed in DV and loaded with aggressive titling, it comes off as a bit much (perhaps reinforced by the theatre starting with about 20 people and having just my group present by the end!) and maybe 30min. too long. it's a fascinating and troubled story, I hope better smoother documents of the events come out sooner than later.

camera itself was fairly quiet but has great ambience and decent drink prices. and I will definitely be keeping tabs on further screenings there.

lastly, molson's doing the blind date thing again, with oasis. june 16th? I would've thought here, but it may very well end up here.

my heads up with the birds on the t-hut

positively *interesting* developments happening late yesterday re: taking this site to the 'next level'. hopefully will have an announcement of some sort next week...

Snow Patrol
w/ Athlete
Kool Haus
May 18/05

stunned to see the area outside the club a veritable empty wasteland last night, which maybe shouldn't have been too surprising given the presence of Bright Eyes, Deerhoof, The Blood Brothers and others all playing in the city this same night, but nonetheless weird.

Kool Haus officially reverted back into stupid mode as well after monday's very promising show in terms of sound and layout, as the 19+ corral was back up and pissing off again. We arrived just in time for about 20 minutes or so of Athlete, who are sort of a Keane-lite(!) or something, but more gangly and cuter I suppose. They did the requisite big-single-last routine, and yes, Wires did not disappoint.

Snow Patrol, though tardy, focused on a lot of the crowd-pleasing material off of Final Straw, with some extra new and older tracks to fill out their 70-minute set. Singer Gary Lightbody was most amiable, taunting the audience to cheer loud enough so "Conor could hear us down the road" and even jokingly breaking into Bryan Adams' Run To You before Run.

Perhaps the critical difference between these 2 emotive bands last night was that SP had the awareness of the sometimes shlockiness, while Athlete still seems to be taking itself way too seriously.

Another issue was that although louder and more intense live, the songs didn't really transcend their recorded forms. Run is an anthem, but still clocks in to the second as the album version. Build it up already!

doves (courtesy of J Tilberg) 

dove'l it up

doves
w/ Mercury Rev
Kool Haus
May 16/05

In what seems like YEARS ago, there was a planned interview with the guys in doves scheduled the day of their show at the Quest Club in Minneapolis. Last Broadcast was newly out, and a couple of outlets lined up to run my piece, but lo as it happened, the Big Guy called and the show and relating interview were cancelled in favour of a national TV appearance-can you blame them?

AND SO we walk into a blaring Kool Haus last night, where a blaring Mercury Rev are rather noisily (and dreamily) working through their set. Some ok visuals happening behind them, but there seemed to be some confusion between 'atmosphere' and 'LOUDNESS', and it was difficult to take in the Rev objectively under these conditions.

doves on the other hand, were quieter, yet far more powerful sonically. with a set list that picked some of the best numbers from their 3 record catalogue, the show was a nonstop tour de force of great music (and very cool visuals). highlights for me included sea song, black and white town, cedar room, and here she comes-which had a perfectly timed dance scene on behind them.

there was minimal banter from the stage, but it seemed fit to keep the music coming. house taker-downer there goes the fear stripped the last bit of restraint from a very enthusiastic crowd (...for toronto...on a monday) that definitely wanted more than the 75-minute capped set.

very much lived up to keep them wanting more.

spotted: we rocked out all night long to an equally rocking gord downie.

insert 'bees buzz' joke here

one of the better (and sneakier) videos I've seen this year is the clip for Horsemen by UK's Bees.

thanks to Wedge-esque for the link.

3 nights at kool haus this week for doves, SP, and Kasabian, respectively. Wish my knees luck!

sing it!

Last night featured some b-day related karaoke for my good friend (and hat stealer?) cheryl, who will be passing the quarter-century mark this tuesday! I'm officially amazed at XO's song selection, which always includes ultra-recent material (but not quite yet the Arcade Fire...)

that helped lift what was otherwise a very tough day, emotionally, as some bad stuff went down with people close to me, but I remain convinced that it's a blessing for them in disguise...

now on: russian futurists - paul simon download here!

when bands attack.

as mentioned last night contained 2 events, the first being the nxne launch party which entailed some fine catering courtesy of shanghai cowgirl which entailed both mashed potatoes and grilled cheese sandwiches!

the event itself was surprisingly brief, with the edge's Dave Bookman manically listing off a bunch of events and nxne director Andy McLean handling the requisite sponsor thanking. the festival has a presenting sponsor this year, and I hope the additional revenue will help drive this thing further and further south, by south-west!

a quick run home and back out again found me at the phoenix with cheryl, where we took in the stereophonics, on the road in support of Language. Sex. Violence. Other?

now to be frank, I'm not the biggest fan of these guys in the world, but I *do* know the hits, and at least on the other side of the pond, they have quite a few.

too bad they didn't play any! choosing to focus on new and otherwise obscure material, the sold out crowd was downright antsy after an hour of relatively unknown songs, save for Dakota and a Kelly Jones solo Maybe Tomorrow in the encore.

Jones also looked positively asso-holic with a leather jacket and shades on for most of the night, and the vibe in the room was far from fantastic, despite being packed with fans.

there was even one moment of rock and roll acrimonity when Jones told the crowd to shut up, I believe (I was way far in the back) along with some threat that cold beer was awaiting them in the back if need be. the moment quickly passed and I'm not sure what exactly happened or what was said, but it wasn't cool-kinda like the whole show.

rumors

had a desire to run up to the 401 with morning with a straw...

this may make me sound like an old man, but they just don't make albums like Rumors anymore. Albums with 6 or 7 (or more) bona fide hits is super rare, but maybe it's the story behind the album that's the really intriguing thing...the relationships between the band, the breakups, the drugs, the icy stares on their reunion shows.

There are reasons why certain albums sell 20 million copies, and in this case the story is without a doubt in part responsible.

This evening brings the nxne press conference, and I'll be there quaffing and imbibing.

Later on at the Phoenix, the 'phonics! Apparently they pulled an Oasis in Vancouver so I'll be shouting out for the hits.

coming soon...

Olympic Island Sunday June 26

Modest Mouse
BSS
Metric
Do Make Say Think
Most Serene Republic
Triumph of Lethargy

maybe: Keren Ann

tickets $36.50 edge.ca presale
$42.50 regular (on sale saturday)
+ $6 ferry charge

REALLY want to do an island show this year...is this the one?!

paging Dr. Del

mix 7 parts vodka & soda

add one part red bull

add one beer

add 2 parts Peach Scnhapps

results? SEVERE STABBING PAIN IN STOMACH THAT FEELS LIKE INTERNAL BLEEDING.

passes in 30 minutes.

top I

From Fiction
Golden Dogs
Thunderbirds Are Now!
The Inflation Kills

Sneaky Dee's
May 6/05

Though maybe not *the* completely hip place to be last night, Sneaky Dee's played host to a fine set of very varying forms of rock last night.

Came in around 10 and caught the tail end of Inflation Kills, a brusque-sounding band not unlike Wintersleep, who play at the same venue tonight. Sounded like they played for 70 minutes, which given all the energy ready even at the end, was decently impressive.

Fill-ins and also playing tonight were Detroit's Thunderbirds, who brought in sort of a screechy, danceable set of dare I say? ok, death disco numbers for the audience. Response was good, but things got a little long in the tooth around the 40-minute mark when things became decidedly less danceable. As James noted, the synth lines were overly simple and maybe more annoying than helpful.

The Golden Dogs opened with front-people Dave and Jessica teaming up for a ukelele/paper bag arrangement, which decently bewildered the crowd until the full band roared on stage after them. A suit-and-tied Azzolini drew up a famously heavy sweat, moving quickly through some unreleased songs and the standard Wings' 1985 cover. No word yet on whether american label interests present took the bait.

From Fiction was established beforehand to not fit in with the rest of the bill, and that certainly was the case. I think most of the crowd found them like I did, too loud and proggy for my tastes. So we split and got chunky fries. yum!

Hank Snow

in honour of the legend-let's move on to various business of the days ahead!

Over the past few weeks I've been watching HBO's Angels in America the ambitious 6-part Mike Nichols project which originally aired on that network in late '03.

With a budget of $60M(!) and a truly allstar cast of Pacino, Streeep, Emma Thompson and others, it is rare to see something of this scale launched for TV-but the sheer length of the original play demanded a mini series format.

Though I'm only about 1/2 way through now, I would say the series is very engaging but also difficult in parts, as supernatural elements mix very fluidly with the natural, creating the oft-repeated feeling of "what the hell is going on?" throughout.

Nonetheless, I'm sticking with it and looking forward to the conclusion. If you missed the first few weeks I'd more than suspect Showcase will repeat it soon enough. (Also of note-Canada is one of the last countries in the developed world to air the series, a full year behind Sweden and others!)

Coming up this weekend is promoter wunderkid Eric Warner's Over The Top Festival which I hope everyone gets a piece of over the weekend. I'll be at Sneaky's friday and saturday, by the looks of it.

give up

You know it's not all reportage here-granted I throw a LOT of editorial into any given show recap, but sometimes I might just indulgently throw myself into the personal, and there's nothing you can do about it!

SO sometimes you just have to suck it up and throw the towel in. I hate doing it, giving up, as I guess the eternal (naive?) optimist in me always hopes for the best, but sometimes the harsh, blinding daylight that is reality sets in and the formerly avoidable becomes unavoidable.

I think in the past I've maybe given up on things too early, where maybe if I can put my foot down and been a bit more assertive something more may have developed-chases can be a give and take, and a lot of those out there resist as a first reaction. God knows I have. But when does the effort for trying to win over come off as desperate or creepy? This I don't know, and thus why I've generally always erred on the side of stepping off, and moving on.

The prospect of dying alone scares a lot of people into not-so-great situations, and I wonder if at some point that'll happen to me.

Nah.

monday ramble

are taxes due today? businesses file GST today (at least, the cool ones) and that results in quite a lot of work when there are 9 or so ones to do that for. nonetheless, it's all in and good. exciting!

now everybody here has seen Sin City, as I caught it yesterday, but not before reviewing the oft-compared to Pulp Fiction the day previous. For the record, most of the people I know who responded badly to the former also didn't like the latter, so I was keen to see how they resembled each other.

Though both films contain an intertwinding trifecta of stories, Sin City ties them together much more loosely than Pulp, and frankly provides too much story for the time given. Perhaps if they had focused on the Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke(!) sequences and saved the Clive Owen one for later...

Stylistically the movie is cool, but not mind blowing. The green screen techniques are sly, if repetitive, and I'm sure many people who saw it didn't realize it was done sans sets. Yow!

The film certainly has been a conversation piece in the past few weeks, but hardly seems apt to make waves in the long term as Pulp Fiction did. the movie has made back its production budget, but has a long way to go to match marketing. if there is a sequel, it may be of a smaller scale, or not at all! we shall see.