rah!

you HAVE to give credit to DFA for putting in 3 days (and 4 shows) at the horseshoe-I mean at this point, a one-nighter at kool haus would likely sell out and the band would be wealthier and less weary, but the guys would have none of it I guess.

and so they arrived on stage well after midnight, to the most-packed version of the shoe I have seen in my 2 years here. and...nothing. a bad cable on Jesse's bass gave Seb 3 or 4 minutes of time to fill with some awkward impromptu standup. but they recovered, and played a load of new (or at least unknown) songs mixed in with the current favourites. even the very vocally demanding Black History Month was pulled off quite seamlessly.



the shoe's PA didn't quite measure up to the big sound I would be used to with DFA, and the ground-level stage rendered seb all but invisible whenever he was drumming, which was obviously a lot. but for a band destined to be on a cavernous ACC stage this upcoming november on the fall acronym tour with nin & QOTSA, they filled the room very well.

onwards and...

mr. nash...nice number!


LAST night was very folky/bluegrassy, I must say, with a triple bill of justin rutledge and the d. rangers and romi mayes from winnipeg. the riv was pretty much packed from the get go, and crowd response enthusiastic for everyone. Romi was of particular interest to both myself and other people in attendance, and it was great to finally meet her after some e-correspondence over the past year or so. She didn't disappoint, nor did anyone else on the bill, and a similar lineup in the future may very well have to be in a much larger venue.

TONIGHT brings mr nash to town for his charity game, and lucky me scored in for some air canada club status thanks to my new favourite work-colleague. thanks sarah! later will also be checking out the somewhat-hyped slave to the squarewave

also: James! I got a new mouse from microsoft! much better.

np: who the fuck cares?

rather good

amaztype makes research on amazon visual, by compiling related images from the site related to a title or author. clicking any of the images produces info. on the specific product.

artful marketing?

the last to see this

will no longer be me whence you see it too-yes it's been all over everywhere but is far too important for us, as active members in society, to overlook. click on 'videos' once you get there. parts one through five, oh yes.

I will be inclined...

to see these guys in September

wrap it up

Kid Koala spins for the kids and old folks

THE WRAP

returned to the "reno'd" and re-opened dance cave on friday night with a mixed group of friends on hand for some dance action. not sure what they've done with the place, save for maybe adding an extra 'exit' sign near the back so we won't all perish in an evitable blaze there. less broken glass on the floor was another notable improvement. also ran into rochelle outside afterwards and a 'peg reunion dinner be in the cards.

also took in Yes earlier, and Cheryl has a review here in her new work-related (sorta) bloggo. I would tend to mostly disagree with her comments though, as I found it a little too reliant on the concept (a mix of rhyming verse, with poetry-like cadences), as I also did for Memento's own concept. But then, I really wanted to see Pete Tong anyways.

Sat had us at harbourfront for Kid Koala, who in my estimates I have now seen about 5 times in the past 3 years or so. Much of the same charm as always from him, with the Moon River and Drunk Trumpet sequences easily winning over a quite large and fairly new-t0-him crowd. Two large screens on either side aided in revealing his talents on handling the 4 decks, and today many more seniors and babies in the GTA appreciate him, I am certain.

legal beagle-ing

so on top of recording podcast (still hate that word) shows as tests, I've been working through a lot of legal dealings for copyright and all the related issues to putting music out online. my research (which included an intense discussion yesterday with one high-level official) has found 2 schools of thought on this:

1) keep it relatively under wraps and play whatever the hell you want-legislation and enforcement on podcasting are probably at least a year away
2) fess up now to Socan and the other agencies now to avoid future legal hassles.

it's not surprising that basically the only major music podcast game in North America right now is CBC Radio 3, as they have clearances from all artists registered with New Music Canada. so I guess we'll record 20 minutes of pure talk about music then. reasonable? ha!

just watched the new clip for metric's the list, evidently shot at the recent Island show in toronto with some sporadic euro tour footage as well. 6 videos for that album yet nothing for its best song, Wet Blanket-hey, if they don't wanna be huge that's cool, that's cool.

one year in...

WOW, just about coming in on 1 year on the job here, I guess monday will be the official anniversary but I'm not the type to be that hardcore about things like that. looking over it, it has 1) flown by and 2) hasn't honestly been a day that I haven't wanted to come in. also, free items like those pictured above don't hurt either. (and they sound GREAT by the way). so yeah, one year in, and yet another to come?

the struggle

most likely the most 'appropriate' artist to appear at Canada's version of Live 8, K'naan recently put out The Dusty Foot Philosopher, and though I haven't yet heard the whole thing, what I have is outstanding.

when most people hear him for the first time they make a connection to Eminem's nasal vocals (unfortunate), combined with K-os' conciousness and delivery (inevitable). with this, it's hard not to react one way or the other to him, and in my books that makes the mark of a unique artist.

word is his live performances, which mix his music with stories of a sometimes vicious upbringing in Somalia and Harlem, run at a highly emotional level, and I look forward to seeing him soon.

particularly strong is new single stugglin', which was produced in Toronto by the ne and visible here.

unfortunately, sony/bmg is way off the mark on itunes, and none of his stuff is on there yet. but k'naan's own site does have some (lo-fi) audio available. will he achieve the platinum success of k-os? one thing seemingly in common is that neither care either way.

testing...

ran our first 'pilot' podcast in studio yesterday, and hearing it later back at home on itunes is almost sounded pretty...legitimate! thank you Cool Edit magic compression!

more trial runs later in the week, as we race towards actually putting something out there for public consumption. As it is, Radio 3 continues to dominate the itunes podcast charts internationally, largely because it actually has *legal* access to a lot of music thanks to New Music Canada. I wonder if this medium's going to break bands like video did in the 80's...

busted scene

knowlingly booking a free show (with a nice fee from the city) within weeks of a $50 show doesn't always help the karma situation.

'jus sayin.

but I still like them.

and zoilus, it's not that I dislike you personally or anything, it's just sometimes I can driven to the point of crazed frustration --> the coldplay review horse-death-beating was a big one, though you were not solely at fault on that one, I suppose.

'jus sayin.

also: jon-rae more formally takes over part of the world tonight, by ship.

sweatbox

is an easy way to describe Lee's last night for the big show hyped here (and everywhere else) over the past week or so. the room was cool at 9 when we arrived for Ninja High School, but things quickly burned up when they took the stage and frenzied up a somewhat slightly sparse audience on hand. no shortage of enthusiasm, or oranges, on hand though. NHS is 2-D is great, but their in-crowd house shows will likely remain their staple, I would figure.

a quick note on the bar itself, as this was the first show back post-reno style. Lee's is quite different now in terms of layout with an L-shaped bar along the back of the room. the old oval is gone, and though it was often inefficient in terms of execution, I will miss its charm.

maybe it was the cameras that adjusted the feel of the room as well, as a fucking camera CRANE was along the right side of the room, as well as a sightline-obliterating setup by the mix desk, and two men on stage for the entirety of the Go! Team set. all apparently for DVD recordage, and the question quickly arose-who the hell is paying for all of this? we'll find out soon.



and if NHS was a precusor in enthusiasm, Go! quite viciously blew the roof of the room right from the start, with Ninja working the crowd like a seasoned, black female Mick Jagger. Never have so many hands flown around in the air, a thick layer of sweat visible floating up in the big TV lights as the night wore on.

there are some problems though. the sample-heavy material demands playing to a track pretty much at all times, and the distant, layered group vocal sound is shuttered in favour of the much more in-your-face Ninja. this takes some getting used to, as a lot of the wonderful subtle elements of Thunder Lightning Strike are shuttered-but save for adding probably another 4 or 5 people on stage how else can you do it? are 2 drum kits really necessary? some real horns would have been adored.

so it goes. they came and killed, I loved it, but leave room for loving it more down the line.

mere HOURS

to Go! Team/NHS.

my custom NHS ambulance will be waiting outside Lee's, serving freezies as a sweat-relief triage.

ok not really.

under something

Currently coursing through Season Three of Six Feet Under on DVD, and it's proving to be quite enjoyable, with each episode juggling the usual, let's see, 5 or 6 major storylines at any given time. It would be almost interesting (if one had the time) to sketch out how an episode is constructed, as it hardly seems linear in terms of doling out even time and even intervals for each of the storylines throughout each episode.

The interactions between Nate and Brenda at this point in the series are so coldly distant, yet something really intense seems to be still burning away there.

This is why I really appreciate the television medium in some ways-the ability for serious, drawn-out character development and complex structure that just can't be achieved in most feature films. James has his own beefs on some films as well.

Live show wise, will this be the show of the year tomorrow?

freesome

well the controversy over the giraffes has *mostly* boiled away over the weekend, and so with that I proceeded to Harbourfront last night to catch Out Hud, playing as part of the Breaks, Beats and Culture there all weekend. I seem to remember being one of oh, 3 people who took in Junior Boys' afternoon set on the Star stage at this same event last year, so I wasn't sure quite to expect with this one. Dance music and outdoors don't always mix-at least in the daytime.

arrived to find the band just getting going, as Ben informed me that they had some tech. problems that delayed getting things going. the next 50 min. or so was sort of a surreal mix of dance groove numbers, with notable electric cello and mostly machine-produced percussion. it was absolutely strange to see parents grooving to it right by the stage with their babies in tow-and a fair shake of seniors filling out the seating area. this is a free show mind you which brings out all kinds of people evidently.

frontman Nic Offer practically stood on his head to get the somewhat mobile crowd more active, but it sort of all felt kinda out of place on a still sunny saturday evening (as mark noted, 'so temperate!'). Offer took a turn upstairs above the stage, hands clapping, but we felt even more concious that they could see us, sitting, not shaking.

tooo much

ahh, at last!

loads of music last night. LOADS.

arrived in front of H&M at the appointed hour to find a rather giant crowd going crazy for Great Big Sea. easily upwards of 10000 around, quite possible a lot more down Yonge as well. who knew?

met up when Ben, James, and Joy and then came the Giraffes. really they're a brilliant idea on paper to have something in the crowd doing the stage changeover, but this caused an already late-running show to go much later, with BSS talking the cut on the set time.


briefly cute troublemakers

this has also been discussed heavily at the hangout since, and I've certainly expressed my displeasure at getting pushed around and barraged with annoying cicus music for 90 minutes. frank noted that it's a free show, and something different, and while I tip my hat to the bookers taking some risks, they really should have had a better handle on the entire production, as the whole thing was late, not just the controversial giraffes. (the show also contained not-so family friendly content, but when is opera ever pretty?).

also obscure was the decision to leave Dundas open! too expensive this year? what a mess.

all that vented, I thought BSS were terrific, and fun, and had a great mix overall. the new songs do sound very strong and from those I know who've heard the whole album we'll be in for a treat later this fall. until then, we're at the mercy of the wildlife.

disconcerting/concerting

it's really disconcerting when they take on public transit, as matters of prevention seem virtually impossible-how can you avoid something that can be so seemingly random and everywhere?
I guess we can only carry so much of the world on our shoulders, eh?

to the concert-ing, stepped into the Spy party last night in their compound HQ, but it was TV and commercial industry-heavy and music-lite so I bolted soon upon this realization. great open bar though.

tonight brings on the big free show at Yonge-Dundas, and I might even check out the giraffes at 9 as there is something decent advance buzz on them! BSS of course follows, in what will likely be a relatively short set, and then it'll be onto Les Chiens D'or at the rivoli afterwards.

woof!

fake prom '05

from what I hear...

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not to be missed!
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reunion

though the above-pictured video for Stars' Reunion has been bantered around a bit already, it has hardly been done so with any substantial commentary. All I really want to say is, it's nice to see Torquil take centre stage in the single and related clip for once-not that I don't like the Amy, really I adore the Amy, but after seeing them at the Mod Club late last year, I feel his role is just as central to the Stars as it is her. As for Evan, someone please tell him to stop looking at the camera!

At that particular show, Millan was, shall we say, 'out of it' to some degree but Torq beat away past criticisms of his own erratic onstage antics to play consumate showman. Perhaps he always does this when family's in the house, but he really came off as the one to watch that night.

Incidentally, had our own little 1-year class reunion last night at Bier Market, and it was great to see a bunch of the old crew! Some I hadn't seen since school ended, others I see all the time, but collectively it was great as there was certainly no shortage of things to catch up on and MUSIC to discuss. good times, 'yo.

"why does everybody link

to him"?

my response: I don't know.

I undestand that blogs serve agendas at times, often very personal agendas-as I do with mine. Maybe I'm sick of seeing plugs for agenda-based events and things I really, really, don't care about. so I pulls the link-o.

just met

Bob Ezrin, who came by the office today.

no bad at all!

behind the scenes...

on the making of Canada's live 8. an enjoyable, if not very surprising read.

beautiful day(?)

Feist, wanting the mood lighting

Tom Cochrane is on right now. the same old fucking tired hits from many years ago. But then, I saw Sir Elton play some tired old hits from London earlier this morning, but he got some help from Pete Doherty, and THAT my friends, makes all the difference.

the whole crowd hasn't quite made it to Barrie yet, they must have stopped off at the Swiss Chalet/Harvey's.

that said, Feist last night was as good as expected, with a crowd that rivalled the Island show in size and enthusiasm (but I think that says more about the island show than vice versa). 'twas the largest crowd I've ever seen on the Harbourfront stage, and thus was very far away and very blurry.

back there we were stuck with the casual fans (yelling for the single), and the oblivious, but freebies can't be choosers, right?

also in attendance was Blurton, who was also at the rivoli the night before, where post-show HV told me that he's producing their debut LP! this is very exciting, and I look forward to the further hype ah, 9 months from now I guess at CMW...