well, let me be the first...

to say to you, Jesus Christ... Happy Birthday.

and so ends the first half

and we finished somewhere in the middle of the pack. we closed out this half of the bowling season with a 4 - 1 loss to the Strike Force! king of the jungle tim ware and his gaggle of chatty cathy's simply dominated the hardwood and we had an uphill climb with an absent doctor and a monkeyfistin' mike. $hakey used the monkeyfist (as per my advice) for the first 2 games to no avail, while walter and i tried to keep our heads above water. i actually had a career night, smashing a 585 triple, with a 235, 162, and 188. so close to that 600... i'll get it soon.

next week we start a fresh 2nd half. we win it we go the final. we lose it we go to church.

go stones.

the slip southern ontario run

the slip boys treated us to a few great nights of music last week/end, starting in guelph, ending in toronto, and hitting hamilton in between. wrapping up their tour, which started back on Nov. 7th, in support of new release Eisenhower. the shows ranged from seriously epic, to loose and fun, to straight up full throttle rockin'.



it was great to get 3 big sets, there was lots of room for your favourite eisenhower cuts, plus a few new tunes.. and maybe even a surprise or 2. i thought it was great that they came out and dropped completely new stuff on the audiences this tour, as well, after playing mostly the same repertoire for so long - i dug the irony of mixing it up that way on a cd release tour. let there be horses is a gem, as is the (as of yet untitled?) "black telephone"... and the new song that has the bobby deniro lyrics and a title we're not supposed to quote (it's on the tapes) is awesome, if not a little familiar sounding. i can see this morphing into a monster of a song. marc's strat playing in toronto was incredible to watch. some excellent cover choices as well over the 3 nights... tomorrow never knows in guelph was such a surprise and a great treat - they pulled it off well with a great lead into a rockin' december's children to close the night... hamilton had a super slick it's a long way to the top (if you wanna rock n roll) by ac/dc spliced into a poorboy... it seemed to slide right in outta nowhere, brought the devil horns out immediately, and a slick transition back into the poorboy - well done! toronto had a HUUUUUUUuuuuuuuge baba o'reilly... i dont know what i can say about it, it was packed with energy and launched the crowd into frenzy mode, great choice and probably my favourite version of that tune from them.



they seemed to set the tone right away with the airplane/primitive opener in guelph. they just stepped up and launched into it, and it was like "here was are, now listen!". they had a real command of their sound, and i gotta say, there was no shortage of "jamming" or "improv" or whatever you wanna call it - it may be disguised a little more, but isnt that the mastery of it? their sound is so huge now, there's so much to play with and so much room to play in, and with creative minds like these its inevitable they're going to have some fun with that. the wizardry and proficiency was on display all over the 3 days, and i was glad to see how well they were holding up after such a long tour. they seemed to be totally together, in sync, and right in the pocket. brad's voice was especially impressive over the course of the 3 nights - i'll be honest, i thought for sure it'd be shot by the time they rolled over the border.

here's how they looked on paper..

12.07.06 - Vinyl, Guelph

Airplane Primitive
Even Rats
White Wine and Soda
The Shouters
If One of Us Should Fall
Moderate Threat >
Cowboy Up
First Panda In Space >
Soft Machine
Suffocation Keep
I Hate Love
The Original Blue Air >
Paper Birds
Encore:
Let There Be Horses
Tomorrow Never Knows >
Children of December

12.08.06 - Pepperjack's, Hamilton

First Panda In Space >
Soft Machine
Even Rats
Chasing Rabbits
Airplane Primitive
Sleepy Head
Cupid
Get Me With Fuji
I Hate Love
Untitled New
Cut From The Cloth
Suffocation Keep
Poor Boy >
It's A Long Way to The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N" Roll) >
Poor Boy
Encore:
Let There Be Horses
Children of December

12.09.06 - El Mocambo, Toronto

All I Saw Was You
Original Blue Air >
Paper Birds >
Even Rats
Chasing Rabbits
Airplane / Primitive
I Hate Love
Moderate Threat >
Cowboy Up
Untitled New
First Panda In Space >
Soft Machine
Suffocation Keep
Children Of December
If One Of Us Should Fall
Baba O'Riley
encore:
"Black Telephone"


here's how they looked to me: Slip SoOn Run Photo Gallery.

stats:

50 songs heard / 27 different
probably 6-ish hours of music
probably 6-ish hours of sleep
3 cities / 2 couches / 1 futon
428 kilometers / 2 cars / 1 bus
immeasurable amounts of good times and good friends.



out.