Guigsy's Goods

GObama!!

2008-03-18T21:39:00.004-04:00

in my lifetime, i personally, have not heard anyone in a position such as this speak in this manner. it's about time someone came along for this generation. truly amazing:

wish i could vote for him.

do you see my smokin' guns?

2008-03-16T16:31:00.001-04:00

they're smokin' from shootin'.

snow filled triangle

2008-03-14T19:30:00.007-04:00

someone's an early riser

let's go

the triangle was snowed in

but the queen E was plowed...

see.

i dont think the germans were pleased.

or the armenians.

or number 15.

please stop.

steve's cold.

and this is a little much now.

comin' outta "the woods"

2008-03-07T15:18:00.003-05:00

if the last 5 years of my life has taught me anything, it's to never give up on the things you hold dear to yourself, the things you truly believe in. everyone does it differently, and i'm not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination, but i still have faith in my dreams and my love.

"if there's one thing i know to be true
let what you love be what you do
and it may take time
to tear down walls
but anything big must first be small"
-bbarr

here's to hangin' on. even if sometimes only by a thread.

i hope they do.

2008-02-12T19:12:00.000-05:00

barack obama - yes we can.

reason #138 i love living in ottawa....

2008-01-31T15:23:00.000-05:00

... skating on the canal in the afternoon, then stopping for some backbacon on a bun and a steaming cup of maple syrup and boiled water, while a middle aged troubador butchers neil young songs.

all just steps from my apartment.

nero reunion shows 2008

2008-01-29T12:21:00.000-05:00

two epic nights of monstrous music courtesy of nero, and the annual pilgrimage to ottawa for the phamily reunion made for one ridiculous weekend for the record books.

so much could be said about these shows, but you should really listen to them for yourself:

night one
night two

my highlights were..

- the opening intro leading into breakline to kickoff night one
- that nasty stuff dave started pullin' off in the middle of darius
- all the heavy shit
- everlasting beautiful night - a great song that totally reminds me of my other favourite trio
- both of the choice cover tunes, especially the Time and Breathe (reprise) to close out the 2nd set on night 2
- actually, the entire 2nd set on night 2 - it was like bombs exploding in my brains.

its pretty amazing to me how well these guys pull it off playing only once a year, obviously with minimal rehearsel time - somehow they manage to keep it fresh, and push some new and different directions, and that takes a lot of guts. makes one wonder what the evolution could have been had they kept playing all this time.

i tell ya, there's not much better than losing yourself in one of their jams only to open your eyes, look up, and see dave really goin' for it, the punk thumpin' it out, and jay's big smile as he's holding the groove down. then you look around and see the faces of everyone else in the room, and you can feel everyone in the room feeling the same thing... pretty awesome.

steve played the role of 40 main (r.i.p.) both nights post show, and i was pretty surprised at how well that all went off, too - its a pretty important thing for the nero phamily to have a place to reconnect with each other, its a really unique thing thats been built around this band. we were happy to provide a venue for that and were completely impressed with how respectful everyone was - cant wait for next year!

lets youtube!

2007-12-12T13:51:00.000-05:00

warning: you'll never get these minutes back.

enjoy.

ball talk

2007-12-02T23:48:00.000-05:00

baseball's annual winter meetings begin tomorrow morning in nashville and im in the mood to talk a little baseball... with healy in korea and me living with 2 females now, i dont get to talk a lot of ball these days, so im gonna use this as a bit of an outlet...

first, with all the big news pretty much already non-news (torre to the dodgers, a-rod back to the yanks, hunter to the angels), and the free agent pool sporting a sign that reads "NO DIVING IN THE SHALLOW END!!", it seems all the good action this winter will be coming in the form of trades.. and with some top quality players on small market teams heading into their free agent/arbitration years, you can bet there's gonna be at least a couple big moves.

a message for wayne krivsky

as far as my cincinnati reds go, i like what they've done so far getting dusty and signing cordero, and i think we're in a great position and with one or 2 more key moves we could be set up to compete for a long while. you listening, wayne? we could have the next big red machine on our hands here, its up to you not to fuck it up. you do, and we could be screwed for another half decade. i say go with the youth movement. phillips, hamilton, votto, cantu, encarnacion, bruce.. this is the makings of a tough, powerful, young line-up. what does that mean? good-bye dunn, freel, hatteberg, griffey.. hello pitching. a package including some of those guys should net them a bonafide #3 starter to compliment harang and arroyo, and sit in front of homer bailey who should blossom over the next few years in the 4 spot. i think freel and dunn have to go to make room for the younger outfielders (hamilton, bruce, possibly hopper, sometimes votto)... yes, freel can play the infield, too, but with encarnacion, phillips, cantu, gonzalez and keppinger already taking up 3 spots, where's he gonna play? he's too injury prone, and lets face it, balls out and fun to watch, sure, but he doesnt hit like any of those aforementioned players... and with the reds recent pitching history, they need all the runs they can get. a line-up like this gives the team a lot of depth and flexibility because so many of these guys can switch up positions. votto lf/1b, cantu 1b/2b, keppinger 3b/ss, etc.. over a long 162 game season the ability to keep players fresh would really show its dividends. dunn and hatteberg might be attractive trade options for teams looking for solid left handed hitting, but i might consider hanging onto griffey. he's a hometown guy who's just shy of 600 homeruns - he's still the draw in cincinnati, and as long as this team is losing they need to find ways to put bums in seats anyway they can.. and not only that, i'd imagine he'd be a great mentor for the younger outfielders coming up. his contract is up at the end of this season anyways, so you can look to the mariners when they're making their play-off push around the trade deadline. he should have already hit the milestone and sold the tickets, so give him a chance for a ring if we're not in the hunt as well. truthfully, though, i think we're still a couple maturing years away. so far, i like what we've done with the bullpen, and im really hoping they've targeted livan hernandez as an innings-eating #3 starter.. a soft-tosser who's pitched 200+ innings every full-season he's pitched in the bigs, except 1 where he pitched 199 2/3's innings. this is something they need to give that bullpen some rest - especially in a #3 slot, where it can give some key guys a day off before you get down to your 4 and 5 starters, where you typically know you have to rely on your relievers more. having shored up the closer role by signing cordero, they move weathers back to his more natural set-up role and have burton there as well adding depth to the late innings. the back of house is lookin' good, and if bray, majewski, and/or livingston start to pan like they're supposed to, and coffey regains form, they've got a fairly solid foundation in the pen. the reds bullpen has endured some painful years recently, but these guys are young, and i think with the hardknock experience and now the added confidence in the end of game scenario, you'll see a different pitching staff next season. if we can keep our young line-up intact, possibly move dunn/freel/hatteberg/maybe gonzalez/maybe griffey later on, and get a decent #3, some experienced and proven bullpen help, and/or pull of a hernandez-like signing, i think this team could be set for great things for the next 5 years, and start to make a real push within the next 2. if we lose the opportunity on some of these guys, or trade away too much of our youth, i think we can kiss our asses goodbye for a good long while. its already been 17 years, dont fuck this up, krivsky.

whew.. ok.. done with that..

so, the real biggest news, now that a-fraud has slipped the pinstripes back on, is who the next big yankee acquisition will be - and what it will take to get him. johan santana. for possibly, the previously untouchable phil hughes, coupled with melky cabrera and a tba. if im the twins, its a go. if im the yanks, im obviously doing it, but i think im pretty stupid. santana is 29 and coming off a not-so-santana like year. whats this penchant the yankees have with signing players on the downswing? im not saying santana is done, not by any means, but shit, hughes is 21. twenty-one. and dynamite. i think cashman would be wise to remember the names maddux, smoltz, and glavine and what they meant to someone else's organization, and think what the names chamberlain, hughes and kennedy could mean to his. there is fear, obviously, of the red sox landing him, and part of the prestige is having the current, albeit arguable, "best pitcher in the game", wearing pinstripes. they open a new billion dollar stadium in 2009, they have the next home run king playing 3rd. they are the new york yankees. of course they are going to get johan santana. when will they ever learn?

of course, there's still the possibility that the sox could pull off a deal - they're said to have put previously untouchable ellsbury into the mix, a key element for the twins who've just lost star centerfielder torii hunter to the angels. how could anyone possibly deal with a rotation that consisted of beckett, santana, dice-k, an emerging clay bucholz or jon lester (whoever the twins dont get in the deal), and an aging curt shilling and tim wakefield? no thank-you.

the consolation prize could very well be dan haren, at a slightly lesser cost, which, in my opinion, in the long run, may be the way to go anyhow. again, you gain a few years on a pitcher going into his prime years, rather than about to be exiting his prime years, and you likely get to hang on to something. other teams said to be in the mix for these guys are the mets, dodgers, and angels, but i wouldnt say any of them have the bargaining chips that the yanks or sox do.

another blockbuster deal that could be made involves the bat of miguel cabrera... the marlins looking to unload a contract for young talent, and more than a few teams looking for a power bat at the corner infield, especially with the a-rod sweepstakes over so quickly. apparently the marlins are asking for quite a lot, so its possible a deal may not get done, but again, you gotta expect he'll be going to a larger market who can pay him for quite a while... either of the los angeles teams, is my best guess.

i also wouldnt be surprised to see the orioles dangle bedard and tejada once the santana's, haren's and cabrera's have been plucked and teams are looking for final pieces.

the free agent class is lacking punch this winter, but the bigger stories will likely be which owners overpaid for which remaining centerfielder... rowand, jones, or cameron... somewhere, someone's going to get screwed, i guarantee it. i think even with the weak free agent class, there'll be enough signings and movements through trade to make for an interesting re-shuffling of the deck next season, but i think the real stories at the end of the year, as usual, will be which teams stayed true to their systems and built from within using what they had to fill key holes, as opposed to just blowing a wad of cash on a bunch of numbers accumulated elsewhere.

with that, im sayin' go reds, and screw the yanks! come on, wayne, let us hear it one more time... "... and this one belongs to the reds!"

- r.i.p. joe nuxhall

weekends at steve

2007-11-26T16:22:00.000-05:00

Limbs

oh, there you are....

2007-11-21T14:50:00.000-05:00

thought i forgot about you, eh? nahhhhhhhhhhhh... its just, you know, some things came up... lets see... there was the month of october... then i moved again... made some coffee, and here we are.

october was blurry as hell... lots of bus rides back and forth from the boonies to downtown, some wicked rock n roll, a thanksgiving for the ages, and a halloween i would be wise to always keep in mind.

how 'bout a rocktoberfest rundown... i'll see if i can remember all that i saw...

eric's trip, grand theft bus, torngat, plants and animals/the acorn/elliot brood, bruce springsteen and the e-street band, jimmy swift band, ween, and the golden dogs. was also supposed to see voxtrot, but that got cancelled, do make say think sold out, and i bailed on shout out out out out and a few others... if anything, that month was too much!

at the beginning of november, i moved back across the river to ontario... aylmer, as nice as it is, just wasnt my scene. too slow, too quiet, too far away. but, it did have a nice beach and a cheap depanneur, so it wasnt a total bust. im now living with 2 girlfriends in a big place downtown, which also includes a studio space, sort of just off elgin in what they call "the golden triangle". i can walk just about anywhere now, and the buses are a lot more reasonable, when necessary. its perfect so far, and could potentially be one of the better living situations i've found myself in.

so thats where we are now... novembers winding down and things are settling in... the cold might be on its way, but im feeling pretty warm about things these days. its about time.

silence is deadly

2007-10-05T09:54:00.001-04:00

and its been very quiet lately.

chicagoholgapanoramic

2007-10-04T17:48:00.000-04:00

on a team scott mission to chicago a couple years ago, i fucked up a roll of film in the holga - but put together and viewed as one long piece, i think it ended up turning out kinda cool. click on the image for a larger view:

akron/family dozen

2007-09-27T16:02:00.000-04:00

akron/family @ barrymore's - sept. 26, 2007

r.i.p. cocoa

2007-09-26T15:59:00.001-04:00

best girl i ever knew...

may 1994 - sept. 19th, 2007

who likes the slow jamz?

2007-09-23T17:08:00.001-04:00

ween's releasing a new album soon, and the last song on it may be the best slow jam ever written.. this chorus is gonna stick in your head for weeks:

we had the best time at your party
the wife and i
thank you very much.

check it out: 'your party' download.

Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, Sept. 19/07, Theatre St. Denis, Montreal

2007-09-20T23:16:00.000-04:00

well, i only got 1 song from my mental list of tunes i wanted to hear (cold roses), but that didnt matter at all, this show was absolutely stellar, top to bottom. got in around 8:30, missed the first couple tunes, but still got a full 2 hours out of him.. was a little nervous when they left the stage at 9:27, but the 3 encores amounting to another hour or so more than made up for it. not only do i think they were just having a ton of fun up there, part of me thinks they burned through a lot of songs fairly quickly and just realized how early it still was each time they got backstage. mockingbird almost felt like it was in double time, and dear chicago also felt a little sped up.. i actually felt that way about a bunch of the tunes in general, though things like easy plateau, i see monsters, and magnolia mountain were jammed out. setlist looked like this:

1. Please Do Not Let Me Go
2. Peaceful Valley
3. Beautiful Sorta
4. Wildflowers
5. Off Broadway
6. Dear John
7. Goodnight Rose
8. Blue Hotel
9. Mockingbird
10.Magnolia Mountain
11.Shakedown on 9th Street
12.I See Monsters
encore I:
13.SYLVIA PLATH (solo piano)
14.Sweet Lil' Gal (solo piano)
15.Rescue Blues
16.Dear Chicago
17.Cold Roses
18.Games
encore II:
19.Nightbirds
20.Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard
encore III:
21.Easy Plateau

highlights:

first, the atmosphere. really dark and subdued, sometimes you could hardly see the dudes on stage... the big curtain behind them was lit up with tons of small lights that kinda looked like stars, and there was a massive disco ball.. totally enhanced the headiness, and the band definitely plays to that as they got pretty pyschadelic at times.

the cardinals in general totally knocked my socks off.. what a tight tight band!! and such a sweet smooth sound, those guys can certainly play and they're definitely well tuned to each other. the harmonies they were creating, as well, were out of this world. such depth, at times the harmonies were as pyschadelic as the playing. dear john blew me away, and the end of easy plateau, where they kept repeating "heeeeeaaaaaaaad.. heeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.. etc etc.." was great, too, not only because of how good it sounded but for its borderline comedic effect for how long it went on for. ryan, on his own, has some of the most incredible vocals... so clean, so crisp and straight from the heart. soul-baring. i was really amazed at how great he sounded, considering he had the flu/fever this week - you'd never guess he even had it in the past year!

the banter was pretty good, too, some good self deprecating humour (ryan "captain reasonable" adams).. and the summoning of the "god's of fret action" before starting up games with a big "oh, fuckin right!" - fuckin right, indeed!

as for the tunage, well, damn, whats to say after looking at that setlist.. so good.. a little surprised that we only got 2 songs from the new album, but the biggest surprise was probably the Sylvia Plath! where did that come from?!?! i loved all the piano tunes.. sylvia, sweet lil gal, rescue blues, nightbirds... sweet lil gal had me tearing up a little.. ok, maybe a little more than a little... made me miss my dog - i had found out a couple hours before the show that our family dog had passed away that afternoon, and that was one of the tunes where she came wandering through my mind. magnolia mountain was a little "birdsong-esque" in the middle, the closing easy plateau jam was awesome, and the chords coming out of the jam in the middle of cold roses, before they sang the last part, it sounded like ryan had cranked it up to 11 - i just leaned back and loved it!

all in all, i was really impressed with the show - the band was stellar, ryan's vocals were awesome, they all seemed to be in a great mood, and it didnt look like ryan was ever gonna pull the plug on this one. hell, when they came back for the 3rd encore, the lights were on, the music was on, and half the people were leaving. the guy sitting behind me was pretty funny, though - everytime someone yelled something out, he got a little nervous... "ooohhh shit.. oh shit!", to big nervous breaths and sighs.. hilarious. ryan musta been in a pretty good mood, though, some of my friends ended up meeting him and the band when they were having their post-show meal and they got him to pose for a picture with them.. i totally regret not going down the street with them. next time...

steph w/ r.adams and the cardinals

negman, kat, and crystal w/ a golden god.

none of these pictures are mine. i stole them from my friends. :)

the rest of the day in montreal was pretty awesome, too.. after checking out a couple record shops we wandered into this park o' crazies, where we were entertained by the family tree flag guy, the birdman, a group of scavenger hunters, a dude riding around in circles on his bike with headphones on *singing* nonsensicly very loudly, mr. manboobs across the way, and 2 drunk girls with 5 teeth between them who needed their beers opened, then proceeded to tiptoe around the park hiding from the cops. fucking awesome. also got to hang out with the carpenter for a few hours before the show, and that was absolutely tops - been far too long since i'd seen the fish.

here's the birdman yelling at the fountain before summoning the birds.

gettin' wasted with the carp, pre-show.

rock'n'roll. what a show.

phew!

2007-09-15T11:50:00.001-04:00

so far, so good...

;)

The Shock Doctrine

2007-09-12T23:31:00.000-04:00

by alfonso cuaron and naomi klein.

meanwhile...

2007-09-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

.. as the continent is happily distracted by britney, its looking as though more new shit is going down in the usa, as we roll over the 6th anniversary of "9/11".

the us air force has been ordered a complete stand-down for september 14th, meaning on friday the united states will have zero air defences. remember what happened last time they were on stand-down? yep.

so, why the stand-down? well, see, its so everyone can be on the ground in order to review safety procedures and protocol. why would they need to do that? well, see, someone accidentally shipped 6 nukes across the country on a b-52 bomber.
link.
another link.

first of all, i think its crazy to think that nukes can just "accidentally" get moved around like this. that's just naive. this has been planned by very high level people and something is going on.

why would they order a complete stand-down of 100,000 active-duty airmen when they just made an announcement warning of new high impact al-qaida attacks? link. just after the release of the new "bin laden" video? does it not seem weird?

well, the conspiracy nut in me thinks its just getting weirder...

there's been some recent stock market activity that is eerily similar to the activity that took place in the weeks leading up to 9/11. basically, *someone* is betting close to 2 billion dollars that the stock market is going to collapse before september 21. how? perhaps a "terrorist attack". or maybe the u.s. is about to bomb iran, which would send oil prices skyrocketing, and likely cut off much of the world oil supply, which would kill their dollar. there is also speculation that china is going to dump u.s. currency, which would be a massive move on a world economic scale. this link has a lot of information about that, but if you're up on the financial technical jargon and whatnot, check this thread out.

then there are some weird israeli connections... such as an israeli terrorism and security website (debka.com) stating at the top of their page that from sept. 11th, reporting will be limited to special security events, returning to regular programming on sept. 18th.

a little closer to home, there's something else that makes this a little more worrisome. there were talks about it at montebello, and its been in the works since 2005. The North American Union.

what would it take to get that ball rolling? well, 9/11 worked so well for the patriot act, how bout another mass attack? maybe this time, a little bigger. (what was that again about the nukes?). it would allow the opportunity for the president to declare marshall law and pave the way for the amalgamation of the continent under security purposes. come to think of it, an economic collapse would also pave the way for the amalgamation for global economic reasons. so, either way...

it really feels to me like something big and completely fucked is happening soon. it just all adds up. with the iraq report coming up due, a new bin laden tape, the cia warning of coming attacks, nukes being moved around the country, options being sold on the stock market predicting a collapse... then you have the political climate in the u.s. to factor in, pre-election posturing, etc... hey, why did tony snow, white house press secretary, announce his resignation effective sept. 14th? what does everyone seem to know about the days we're heading into? and why isnt anyone talking about it?

i cant even imagine what might be up... well, i can, and it makes me sick... if something goes down in the next 10 days, i really hope people finally start looking on the inside and we finally get some truth in this world. its getting to be a little much.

happy 9/11.

Miller Time

2007-08-23T14:02:00.000-04:00

"The cancer of time is eating us away. Our heroes have killed themselves, or are killing themselves. The hero, then, is not Time, but Timelessness. We must get in step, a lock step, towards the prison of death. There is no escape. The weather will not change."

"Human beings make a strange fauna and flora. From a distance they appear negligble; close-up they are apt to appear ugly and malicious. More than anything they need to be surrounded with sufficient space - space even more than time."

from the first and last pages (respectively), of Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, first published in 1934. next time you're at the library, or browsing a bookstore, it's worth sticking your nose into.

ponds

2007-08-18T17:53:00.001-04:00

(click 'em to see 'em bigger)

i think i've found my calling

2007-08-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

well, i think i've decided i'd be best applied at a "think tank". thinking seems to be what i do best, i put a lot of effort into it. and i can think with the best of 'em, about anything, and with a great deal of stamina. a real thinking man's thinker. world class. so, if you've stumbled upon this and you happen to be part of a think tank, or know someone, or know of a think tank looking for new thinkers, dont even give it another thought - let me do it for you. im ready to think... i think.

atlantic city

2007-08-11T12:15:00.000-04:00

well now, everything dies, baby, thats a fact
but maybe everything that dies someday comes back
put your hair up nice
fix yourself up pretty
and meet me tonight in atlantic city

- bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce

here's 3 versions for your afternoon listenining pleasure...

i. the original
ii. a live version with the seeger sessions band
iii. covered by hank williams III on the nebraska tribute

this link will self destruct in 7 days.

king of swing

2007-08-10T09:29:00.000-04:00

the baseball world had one of its biggest weeks in a long time, with alex rodriguez becoming the youngest player to reach 500 homers, tom glavine earning his 300th career victory, and barry bonds tying and breaking hank aaron's 33 yr. old home run record, the record they say is the most hallowed in sports. or hollow, depending on which sportswriter you read.

the controversy surrounding barry bonds, in case you've been under a rock since the turn of the century, is performance enhancing drugs. steroids. regardless of the fact the man has never tested positive for the substance, there is a dark cloud looming over his head because of some disproportionate growth he sustained as he got older, some leaked grand jury testimony, and the fact that his good friend and personal trainer is behind bars for refusal to speak with the feds in the investigation.

it's really all thats talked about when barry's name is mentioned. what seems to be forgotten is how a home run is hit. if you were to believe everything that you read, you'd think steroids make you hit home runs. but they dont.

let's remember what we're dealing with here. a round ball coming at you from 60ft away, at upwards of 100mph, and sometimes as low as 65mph, and sometimes with a curve. you have to hit it with a round bat. round ball, round bat. ball spinning. fast. 60 ft away. we're talking a split second to make multiple decisions and movements.

home runs are achieved by having an incredible sense of hand-eye co-ordination, great timing, patience, and consistent mechanics, with power from your legs and rotation of hips and wrists to generate bat speed. not from having hulking arms and a massive chest and using brute force. but the mechanics of a homerun arent nearly as sexy as saying "wow, look at that monster hit!" - so they get passed over by the writer who never made it past house league, and was usually one of the last 2 to be picked during highschool sports - you know, the kind with an axe to grind.

the thing that makes barry's power numbers so astonishing is the amount of pitches he achieved them with. this is a guy who set and broke records for walks 3 or 4 years running, with a ridiculous total. thats a lot of lost at-bats. he was walked intentionally, he was pitched around... basically, he was given few pitches to hit, and nobody made more out of what they got than barry bonds did. bar none. not only did the home runs increase as he got older, so did the batting average - this isnt a one dimensional show. this is a product of patience, picking your pitches, and making the other guys pay. this is a product of consistency, learning, and wisening with age. this is the most feared hitter of our time, and perhaps all time.

but still, there are people calling for his head, calling for the asterix. i say put the record in the books, but leave the asterix out of it.

baseball is rich with history and lore, its part of its charm, and this is just another chapter in that book. baseball records are meant to be broken and stats are meant to be debated. there was the "dead ball era", the draft era, fewer games, expansion, the 80's, and now the "steroids era". if cheating is having an unfair advantage over another player, than we have to look at who is really cheating, and how it came about.

after the cancellation of the 1994 world series, baseball was in dire straits. they needed to put fans back in the ballpark and start generating some revenue to get the league back on track. this is often looked at as the beginning. along came mcgwire and sosa in '98... the home run chase to break roger maris' record of 61. mcgwire ended up with 70, sosa with 68 (i think? maybe 65), and the league was back in celebratory fashion. there was a little fuss made about mcgwire's incredible hulk like physique (have a look at his 1988 rookie card for a funny comparison), but it was chalked up to creatine and that was that. baseball was back and making money and no one batted an eye.

then barry came along and broke the white man's record (with 73 at age 37!) and all hell broke loose. all of the sudden people wanted to know what was going on and they needed a scapegoat. its not like they didnt already know, but i guess timing is everything, and testing began in 2004. if you were to believe that owners and mlb officials and executives had no clue what was going on for that decade, i would have to guess that you have never spent time in a corporate environment. it's always top down. big brother always knows all. im tired of the naive notion that baseball knew nothing of what was happening under their noses. they saw it. they may have even conspired it. they made their money. and thats why you havent seen any real punishments come down - how hypocritical would that be?!

another question: since testing began, a higher percentage of players who have tested positive for banned/performance enhancing substances are pitchers.. why isnt more of a stink made about that? are relief pitchers not as sexy as home run hitters? clearly.

this is the (north) American mentality of BIGGER, BETTER, ULTIMATE, MAXIMUM, MORE MORE MORE, YEAH YEAH YEAH!!! that we've created and built up to extravagant levels. there's no turning back now.

so, if you're calling for an asterix on this record, i say you're calling for an asterix on every pitch from 1995 - until the first test. because, how could you know who's on what? if the pitcher is juiced, than that pitch is tainted. if the pitcher is not juiced, but players on his team are, than that game is tainted.. and perhaps some of tommy glavine's 300 wins. see what i mean?

this is an era and a record that will fall in with the rest of the lore of baseball and wind up in a big book to be read about and fascinated on by some kid 50 years from now.

but i give this record 8 years, tops.

if A-Rod plays into his 40's, and stays healthy, he could wind up hitting 900. vegas odds on what his controversy will be?

long music weekend

2007-08-07T10:50:00.000-04:00

Thursday - Horseshoe, Toronto
Yonder Mountain String Band
27 strings and 120 penises. great music, but i would have preferred a sunday afternoon in the grass over a thursday night at the sweaty horseshoe.

Friday - Jimmy Jazz, Guelph
Run With The Kittens
kinda like prog-ween. wicked chops and tight changes, with a great sense of humour and lots of confidence. a super slick guitar player that seems to always know exactly what to throw down at the right time, a rhythm section to hold it together like crazy glue, and a frontman with all the energy you want. a young band that's only going to get even better.

Monday - Opera House, Toronto
The Hold Steady
straight up sweaty rock n roll the way it should be. big meaty hooks, catchy lyrics and clever turns of phrase. 5 guys giving it their all with shirt-soaking energy, a full bar giving it back in the same way, great interaction and audience participation. the hold sweaty almost killed me.

hillside by holga and horizon

2007-08-01T21:43:00.001-04:00

Hillside Has It All

2007-07-31T11:17:00.000-04:00

well, it's been about a day and 2 sleeps now, so i guess its time to talk about my first hillside experience... hillside being a music and community festival held at guelph lake conservation area for the 24th year. i'd always heard great things from friends who had gone, and every word of it was true. from the quality of entertainment, to the quality of amenities and camping, the world class ethnic foods served on reusable dishes and washed by volunteers, reusable beer mugs that are brought back from year to year by patrons, the size and comfort of the festival, the no hassles vibe and friendly atmosphere, the lack of anxiousness and loads of relaxation. this is a green festival whose engine is cranked by over a thousand volunteers and five thousand attitudes who keep it close to their heart - there is very little, if any, corporate sponsorship, its small, independent, and theirs to share.

it also helps to have a great crew to share in the experience, and this weekend we had exactly that: headed up with scottie and diane to meet with eric and denise in guelph, and some of their friends who were holding campsites for us in the overflow - and once onsite it seemed like there were friends staked out all over the place. its always great to spend time with old friends you rarely get to see.

friday night, after getting set up and settled in we headed down to the island, and it was only a quick 10 or 15 minute walk from the overflow - like i said, very comfortable. started off at the island stage, and barely left the entire evening.

Kick This Thing Workshop w/ Shad and That 1 Guy
No Borders Workshop w/ Rock Plaza Central, Jah Youssouff, Dave Clark and friends
Monsoon Melodies Workshop w/ Dya Singh, Madagascar Slim, Treassa Levasseur and friends
Mike Sharp
Martin Sexton (main stage)
Golden Dogs

really enjoyed what that 1 guy and shad were doing when we showed up, and the no borders workshop was cool, but the monsoon melodies sticks out the most for me from this night, that was a great workshop... east indian trance meets chicago blues, a lot of great energy in the tent and it really felt like the festival had finally kicked off - for me at least. next up was mike sharp, but he looked too much like booche for me to pay much attention to his music - eric had shown up by this point so were likely getting beers and primed for the closers... he and denise were pumped for martin sexton and based on their recommendation i decided to check out the first part of his set and was quite impressed. total one man show with a vocal range that is out of this world - he's good with the vocal trickery, too, to fill out other arrangements within a tune. just a brilliant musician and singer. my veins were starting to boil with adrenaline though, and i needed to rock out, so after 5 or 6 songs i booted over to the golden dogs back at the island stage for the last half of their set. i managed to catch a bunch of songs i love to hear, 1985, saints at the gates, yeah, runouttaluck, and a couple others. pulled up beside this big bearded super dreaded hippie who was just about jumping out of his skin - said he'd never even heard of 'em before that night. i love that shit.

capped the night off back at the campsite where the lovely Anne came to visit and kept us entertained over beers and a smorgasbord of snacks. a pretty good introduction to hillside, i'd say. going to bed, i couldnt wait to wake up for day 2.

saturday started nice and slow with a cool breeze and special coffees... pouring over the schedule, building a plan of attack, mounting excitement... by 1pm we were going to be back at the island stage for the uh huh! workshop with members of apostle of hustle and do make say think. saturday would wind up looking something like this..

Uh Huh Workshop w/ members of AoH and DMST (island stage)
Socalled (lake stage)
Tannis Slimmon, Jude Vadalla and Katherine Wheatley (island stage)
Great Wooden Trio (sun stage)
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life w/ Ron Sexsmith, Lynn Jackson, Melissa Ferrick, Angela Desveaux and Pat Robitaille (sun stage)
Rock Plaza Central (island stage)
That 1 Guy (main stage)
Besnard Lakes (island stage)
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (main stage)
Do Make Say Think (main stage)
Apostle of Hustle (island stage)
Shout Out Out Out Out (island stage)

saturday afternoon/early evening consisted of a lot of wandering around between stages, stopping here and there to check something out, meeting up with friends here and there and going along with them, trying to find shade, taking pictures, and generally chilling out and relaxing while taking in some fine music... saving up the party for the night time..

the uh huh workshop was really cool, though, it sounded pretty much what you'd imagine it to sound like - its not such an out there combination to throw together, considering some of the other workshops throughout the weekend. nevertheless, a great post-rockin' set. the great wooden trio and the workshop with ron sexsmith at the sun stage was really great to just throw a blanket down, chill in the shade and listen to some well written songs by some great artists. pat robitaille was someone new who caught my ears from that stage. back over to the island stage for rock plaza central and there i met up with my buddy luke and we spent the next few hours splitting time between stages checking out whatever we could. luke's gone through a bit of an ordeal over the last few months, so i really enjoyed hanging out and spending some time with him. rock plaza central sounded really strong, i enjoyed them much more live than i had previously on disc... err... computer... didnt really pay much attention to that 1 guy, as we mostly stayed to the back grassy area, but people seemed to really be enjoying him. we didnt stay long there before we headed back to the island stage to listen to besnard lakes. i had seen that band a couple weeks prior here in london and overall wasnt that impressed - liked the album, but found myself bored with the live show. sitting at the picnic table outside the tent, though, they sounded really good. seemed to be putting on a great show. after a while luke suggested that we go for a walk to check the last bit of blackie and the rodeo kings and stake a space for dmst.. it was one of those things, i went into the tent to tell everyone else i was splittin' for a bit, and was totally taken by the music - the sound in the tent for besnard lakes was so powerful, and the only way to describe it was like a real whoooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa experience.. i kinda fumbled over the words, but eventually we were on the way. DMST put on a strong set as the sun was going down, and again it was really cool to just sit and listen to a band like that. nice and relaxed. i saw most of that set then headed back to the island stage for the rest of the night for what would end up being 2 of my favourite sets of the weekend: Apostle of Hustle and Shout Out Out Out Out. Apostle put on a great crunchy show that really showcased andrew whiteman's raunchy guitar abilities and clever songwriting. excellent set up for the Shout's, which kinda deserves its own paragraph....

this was definitely going to be the heavy party set of the weekend, the hard throw down, and everyone getting themselves involved knew it. scottie says to eric and i before they started that they would have to do something seriously major to fuck up with that kind of energy waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting some more for them. turns out, they were waiting for something, too. somehow, they had managed to forget likely the only piece of equipment they would NEED for their show, that they certainly wouldnt be able to borrow off of anyone else on the island. when the announcement came that this piece of equipment was in a cab en route to the stage from the hotel, you'd think the place was going to turn riotous. but this was hillside. some grumbling and groaning, some people went to cry with the dears, but we waited a little longer. and i must say, it was worth every good goddamn second. once this band got going, it was everything everyone had anticipated it to be. they took the stage, announced they were a dance band and said "i see this tent is full, so lets see it." - they saw it alright. a sea of people dancing on the picnic tables, the tent packed to the gills, the band tearing through their shortened set, surely pouring out any and all frustrations, and the audience, forgiving, and giving back, eating it all up. if you can find some youtube videos, its worth having a look just for the room energy alone. a seriously intense throwdown. the 2nd saturday sweat.

good thing we let eric drive the bus saturday night, it was full of laughs and adventures - jaybone had invited us back to his campsite and after a little hike we spent a few hours killing the night with their crew around the campfire with guitars and singalongs. the walks there and back were half the fun, hahah. the clouds formed a jesus fish, the moon made the eye, we followed it back home.

aside - how bout that moon and that sky??? nice!!

for some reason i was up early and feeling refreshed, so i got packed up and left myself with nothing more to do but party the day away. we missed the gospel hour on sunday morning, but had our own little prayer session before heading down to the island for the band tribute hour. looking ahead at the schedule, i dont think i would have predicted that sunday might turn out to my overall favourite day musically, even with 2 slip sets, but, as everyone always says, hillside is as much about the things you dont know, as it is about the things you do.

When I Get Offa This Mountain Workshop w/ Tom Wilson, Ron Sexsmith, Stephen Fearing, Jude Vadala, Tannis Slimmon and friends (island stage)
Angela Desveaux (island stage)
The Slip (island stage)
Gourds and Guitars Workshop w/ Jah Yousouff, Vieux Farka Toure, Madagascar Slim (island stage)
The D'Urbervilles (lake stage)
Slippery 12 Lane Highway Workshop w/ Dave Clark, The Slip, Mihirangi, Lewis Melville and friends (lake stage)
Vieux Farka Toure (main stage)
Los Campesinos (island stage)
Mother Mother (lake stage)
Ani Difranco (main stage)

so sunday started out with music of the band, perfect for the afternoon sun when you've got 5 beer tokens left to use. no keys or bass, but some fun renditions of tunes you know by heart - cant really beat that. i stuck around for angela desveaux more or less because i wanted to stake us out a good spot for the slip - it worked. obviously i was looking forward to seeing my favourite band, and i was really happy to see the response they got - a nice standing O, considering most of the place remained seated for their set, aside from a dozen or so usual rabid followers, ;). i think scottie put it best saying they seemed to play a bit of a reserved set that highlighted their softer side, but may have left a first timer with a skewed impression of the band. i'd say thats fairly accurate. my favourite parts of the set were the broke the promised land opener and happy snails closer - that had a really sweet and clean build to it. next up was another favourite set of mine, the gourds and guitars workshop. it seems like i never left that island stage in the afternoon, haha. but this set was great, some amazing world class musicians on stage, i mean, these guys are HUGE where they're from.. and apparently it was the first time jah youssouff and vieux farka toure had ever played together, even back home in mali - so this was also a bit of a historic jam. when vieux farka toure came out he told a little story of how back in the day at home the farka toure clan were actually slaves of the youssouff clan.. good thing anne was there to translate it for me. the music these guys made together was amazing. with madagascar slim up there as well, they were just a force. some great grooves were laid down, accented by beautiful selfless soloing from all of them. i didnt stop dancing the entire hour. after that, i grabbed some food with eric and it was off to the lake stage for the last bit of the d'urbervilles and to get set up for the slip workshop.

i guess the 12 lane highway is an infamous workshop at hillside. dave clark (former rheostatic) plays conductor and drums, and you have a smattering of musicians going on all cylinders. the cast this time was held down by The Slip, with canadian folk legend Lewis Melville on guitar, New Zealand vocalist Mihirangi, another djembe player, a fellow on stand-up bass, and occassionally more people on keys, guitar and various other percussions. this was certainly the outlet for the slip to play through. this workshop totally delivered and was also a highlight of the weeknd for me. a big sound coming from the stage, these guys locking in like freight trains, and turning on a dime at dave clark's request. the vocalist had an incredible range and she would throw it through these effects and play with it.. brad would take samples and muck around as well, and there was great call and answer, note for note, going on between them. marc and andrew played excellent roles showcasing their chops as well. lewis melville may have been the most surprising one on stage, though - he was all over the place on all kinds of instruments, and he tore it up on each and every of them. never saw it comin'.

the rest of the night would yield some big time world music, the 2 surprise acts of the weekend, and a little bit of the festival headliner. sat in the grass and listened to vieux farka toure at the mainstage and got reacquainted with the sounds of west africa, before heading to the island stage for the first big surprise act of the weekend: from wales, los campesinos. a new arts and crafts signing who were apparently making their north american debut. well, they came out guns a blazin'! some speedy synth pop with catchy lyrics and melodies and a shitload of energy - the crowd totally ate it up. stayed for their whole set then went on to see the next big surprise act of the weekend at the lake stage - man, these came just in the nick of time, eh? haha. mother mother, from vancouver were over there, and they were frickin' fantastic! amazing 3 part harmonies from 2 lovely females flanking the male lead, they showcased some really clever hooks and played a really tight set of bouncy pop. seek 'em out. last up was Ani on the mainstage, and though im mostly indifferent to Ani, it was cool to see what i did of her - she is obviously an important musician to a lot of people for a reason. i did dig what she was doing up there, but after a half hour or so, we split to beat the traffic, and it turned out to be a great decision.

so, thats it, thats how my first hillside went down. it was absolutely incredible, obviously, as you can see from my verbosity, i cant seem to say enough about it. i've already got it marked on the calendar for next year.

honourable food mentions: the african peanut stew, diana's indian, and the spring rolls i had from some place tucked in the corner of the food tent. mmmmmmmmm.....

quotes of the weekend:

"hey eric, are you double fistin'?" - "yep" - "that's a lotta fistin'!"
"dont worry, we've still got enough [supplies] to make sure we dont end up hating life."
"i have a duck."

happy hillside! see you next year!

need some clowns?

2007-07-27T11:49:00.000-04:00

you never know what the weekend will call for...

i love you, steve, i wish you the best.

french revolution

2007-07-27T00:26:00.000-04:00

i lived in london during the war. no, not that london and not that war. small-time london and a myriad of bullshit wars. that's likely how i'll remember this place. i've gotten bored, uninspired, stale, and generally disillusioned with much of everything.

there doesnt seem to be a whole lot left for me here.

if timing is everything, then i suppose the time is nigh.

time for resolution and revolution. reorganizing, restructuring, rebranding, reinvention, and reemergence.

look for me on the french side of the river. i'll be the one spilling my wine.

i dig dug

2007-07-13T13:35:00.000-04:00

doug martsch and built to spill: some of the most humble musicians you'll see on stage. a solid 15 years of pent-up hooting, hollering, cheering, clapping, song requesting, encore calling out, etc etc, overcame the toronto crowd at lee's palace and it was fun to see doug and the bands reactions and almost awkward thank yous after each tune and at the end of the night. this was wednesday night, the 2nd of the 2-night stand at lee's, marking the band's first trip to toronto in it's existence of about 15 years and there was a huge energy of anticipation and appreciation in the air. i met a few people who were at the first show the night before and all gave glowing reviews - though mixed accounts on what they actually played, hahah. my favourite was the waster in the bathroom who announced to me he was at the show the previous night... when i asked if he loved it he stared at me... "what do you think?"

"shitty?"

wednesday night's show was just as massive as the response. maybe moreso. the only song i really wanted to hear going in was Car, and i got it - basically doug solo with some light bass accompaniment. i knew everything else would have been gravy for me, and it was. they opened with Liar, the tune brian really wanted to hear going in, so all in all we couldnt lose. the encore was just like buffalo, a monstrous 20+ minute Randy Described Eternity. the drummer had his kit torn down before the final notes had come from doug's guitar. other favourites of mine were a hole tearing Conventional Wisdom, Big Dipper, and Time Trap. the set looked something like this, though im sure they're out of order and im missing a tune here or there... i always do..

Liar
Made-Up Dreams
The Source
Big Dipper
Car
Conventional Wisdom
Stop The Show
Kicked It In The Sun
Time Trap
You Were Right
Carry The Zero
Brian Eno/Bauhaus cover.. Third Uncle? (i didnt get the title, but that cover has popped up on recent setlists)
and a song from the first album which i cant remember the name

encore:
Randy Described Eternity

each time i've seen them i've been impressed by the selfless dynamic the 3 guitar players have.. this time was no different. you kind of expect to see Doug take a lot of the big solos and be the real center of attention the whole night, but he's not - he allows tons of room for the other 2 guys, and they're quite good - all of them do such crazy stuff, and its heavenly when they're doing it all at once. there's so much going on between the 3 of them, it's awesome to focus in on them individually once in a while and really focus on what they're doing to contribute to the wall. see who's layin' what bricks...

the only complaint comes from my ears to my eyes: "great sightlines, man, but those guys make us pay!"

jack the riffer

2007-07-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

by the time jack white had tossed his belt into the crowd, mid-riff seguing into only the 2nd song of the night, perched up on his monitor gesturing to the crowd like "c'mon, give it to me!", and the crowd responding, arms up, giving it to him, he had earned my vote for this generation's modern rock guitar god. pure rock n roll showmanship. he had seemingly already earned 5000 or so other votes. i saw the white stripes at the JLC on the weekend for the first time and was totally blown away, all expectations thoroughly exceeded.

they opened in a big way, with a filthy dead leaves and the dirty ground going into icky thump, with the aforementioned frenzy inducing antics in the middle. the set was longer than i was expecting, and they seemed to play tons of songs.. and lots that i was wanting to hear and that had been swimming around in my head during the day leading up. highlights were im slowly turning into you, with the crowd doing big "HEY!"'s in between the organ parts, hotel yorba, finding it harder to be a gentleman, cold cold night where meg came out from the kit to sing and jack let her have the stage retreating towards the back, playing kneeling down with his back to the crowd. she maybe got the biggest ovation of the night. there was a proposal set-up, followed closely by an awesome union forever and a martyr for my love for you. the set finished with a wicked medley starting with the big 3 killed my baby > i think i smell a rat > little cream soda w/ parts of big 3 > astro (which was started earlier in the set) > i think i smell a rat. lot of energy packed in there, they had the place eating out of the palms of their hands. the encore was huge, too... i just don't know what to do with myself, you don't know what love is (you just do as you're told), hardest button to button, i can tell that we're gonna be friends, seven nation army, among others...

the stage was set up all in red with a riser at the back and a few ladders going up... jack used it as a stage for some big time riffing and soloing, stomping around in a powder to create a sort of smoke effect around his feet. a silhouette of meg filled the background most of the night, her kit was set up on an angle kind of off to the side of jack... over to the other side were an organ and some other keys that got a fair bit of use.

the crowd was totally into it all night, too... clapping along, chanting out "hey!"'s when appropriate, singing along - no doubt jack's energy was a big part of whipping them into shape.

it's kind of amazing the kind of show these 2 people can put on, without the use of a full band. to me it actually seems like the perfect dynamic for what they're creating, in a live setting it makes so much sense - i kind of wasnt expecting that, either. seeing them live gave me a whole new respect for the band, even though its not like i didnt like them before. i guess i just kinda see it a different way now. with so much amazing music out there, they're another great example of a creative way to get it out there. jack's monstrous playing certainly doesnt need any accompaniment on the guitars, and meg, for all her criticisms, i think is actually perfect for the part. she can drum, and her thrashy style is perfect for that sound and that stage dynamic - i couldnt really imagine how it could function any other way.

they continued the tradition of the afternoon secret gig on this tour, this time playing up at the arva flour mill - unfortunately, i didnt make it up to that, but by all accounts, it was pretty incredible. with this ambitious tour and all these little shows they've been doing, on top of the ridiculous rock n roll they've been dropping all over the country, i think it's safe to say this is going to go down as one legendary canadian tour.

White Stripes
John Labatt Center
London Ontario
07/07/07

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Icky Thump
I'm Slowly Turning Into You >
Canon >
I'm Slowly Turning Into You
Hotel Yorba
I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentelman
Astro / Jack the Ripper
Death Letter
Cold Cold Night
Apple blossom
The Union Forever
A Martyr for my Love For You
The Big Three Killed My Baby
I think I smell a rat (riff)
Little Cream Soda (w/ big 3 words at the end)
Astro
I think I smell a rat

Encore

Blue Orchid
Party of Special Things To Do
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
Hardest Button To Button
Catch Hell Blues
We're Going To Be Friends
Seven Nation Army
Boll weevill

sometimes choices arent so clear...

2007-07-07T11:09:00.000-04:00

since i was avoiding ryan the last few days, i went back to last couple Rheos shows, and specifically this little nugget from the Horseshoe show...

queer > saskatchewan > queer reprise. (click to download the tunes)

queer's classic dave, and its good to hear, but i recommend using that first 4 minutes to prime yourself for what's to come in the 2nd and 3rd acts.

saskatchewan could very well be my favourite Rheostatics song, and its often the one i'll play for people if they're unfamiliar. the double live version, though - the definitive. haha. this saskatchewan is nothing like that at all, but i think it's a pretty emotional and telling version, given the context of swirling rumours and drug references scattered through the couple shows. the noodly intro is almost a little awkward but comes together very sweetly as they dissolve into one another. from there, the band interplay takes on this very soft touch with the guys providing this cushiony pillow for martin to play in for 5 or so minutes. then things start to get deep. and dark. and perhaps downright scary. the musical equivalent of a spiral into Heady Hell (or Heaven, depending on your perspective). martin cranks 'er up and bares his soul through some gut wrenching and beautifully harsh guitar play and with his final words on the matter, they ride it out into the reprise...

... which comes back with a bidini roundhouse to the chin. as far as im concerned, this was dave at some of his finest on these last few shows. the angst, fervour, and energy that he was rockin' that bar with, he had the whole place on his team. and imagine a sardine packed horseshoe, shaking the floor, not a person standing still, barely a soul left to its owner. some of the best energy i've felt at a bar show in toronto, ever, this is gonna go down as a top 5 musical moment of 2007 for sure.

you can download both of the last 2 Rheostatics shows on the rheostaticslive site, here.

take it easy, tiger

2007-07-03T16:29:00.000-04:00

so far, today is marking the first time in about a week and a half that i havent listened to ryan adams' new record, easy tiger, about 3 or 4 times through. though, i'll admit to clicking a few tracks here and there (pearls on a string, ripoff, these girls..). i dunno if i can keep it up, though... must.. resist.. temptation... might.. lose.. mind... album.. is.. so'good...

Happy Canada (yester)Day

2007-07-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

had a great day yesterday.. started off with 18 at echo valley, had a good shoot in the evening, then finished it off watching the fireworks down at the Forks. i gotta say, i was pretty impressed with the display this sleepy city put on. more than a few times i threw depth perception to the wind and immersed myself in those visuals - with the clear black sky as the backdrop, sometimes those big suckers look like they're shooting right at you. there were some big boomers, some fancy dancers, and some stunning patterns of exploding dust lighting up that sky - and with a shit eating grin on my face, all i could think was "someday, that's gonna be me".

here's to another 140, Canada...

weekend at izzy's top ten listzy

2007-06-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

i've been to izzy's campground in waterford a few times for some music festivals, and generally, i dont have very good memories of that place - from heartbreak, to sickness, to ugly truths on bad trips, something always seemed to get shitty there. i mean, it had its share of good times, too, dont get me wrong, some decent music, but overall, those festivals got kinda sketchy. this past weekend, though, i had a chance to go back there with some friends from around SoOn that i know from going to see live music, but without a music festival going on. just some straight up camping and good times.
no shittiness. no crappy bands. no wooks.

and i gotta say it was incredible. it was really nice to hang out with all these folks outside of a live music setting and just have some laughs, relax, and soak up all the great weather. even when the rain came pouring down, just as i was about to fall asleep sunday morning and i realized i hadnt put the fly on my tent, the tree coverage and mesh in my tent made it a great cool light mist to fall asleep in. and my tent wasnt even wet inside when i woke up. beautiful. i met some more great people and learned some things, too.

to switch it up a bit, i decided to compile a bit of a top 10 highlight reel from the weekend - here goes:

10) no one had to take schwa to the hospital.
9) becky's prom dresses. all of them.
8) *ding* "ALL OF THE MARSHMELLOWS ARE DISAPPEARING FROM THIS PLANET!"
7) the many wisdoms of corey.
6) potato chip alley
5) the encounter with the shakey handed lunatic who proclaimed himself my worst nightmare, after he got all pissed off from nearly getting nipped by Luna - im sure the dog knew what she was doing, prick.
4) *ding* "HELP, I'VE FALLEN....er ..... HELP ME UP!"
3) brian's fires.
2) reaching peak relaxation around the fire before going to sleep on sunday morning.
1) late-night psychadelic glow-in-the-dark frisbee in a field of fireflies beneath the stars. wow.

it was actually because of a stroke of bad luck that i was able to go there this weekend in the first place, but in the end, i'd say my luck turned out just fine.

berries, cherries, and... peppers?

2007-06-15T11:38:00.001-04:00

27

2007-05-29T00:41:00.000-04:00

now what?

tank you, tanqueray

2007-05-27T23:05:00.000-04:00

for providing me with the worst day after drinking day ever. on the hour puking for nearly half the day, apparently i was green, and i couldnt even keep water down. im gonna feel this tomorrow, me thinks. i've said it before, and i'll say it again: im never doing THAT again. ;)

so the occassion was the golden dogs at call the office, and a bit of an early birthday get-down... i mean, who wants to celebrate on a tuesday?

i wish i could say i remembered much about the show, but all i do remember is that it was pretty short, there were at least 3 brand new songs i'd never heard before, and it rocked super fucking hard. no one rocks like dave azzolini. 2 songs in and he'd reached rock-god status (again) with us, the rest was gravy. i do remember a kickass 1985, and thats about all i needed.

i tried to take some pictures... they were pretty weak, but at least i know i was there.

lemons > lemonade

2007-05-22T18:11:00.001-04:00

another slip weekend

2007-05-21T17:43:00.000-04:00

the long weekend this year brought another little 2 night Slip run to ontario, and for me it also marked the 4 year anniversary since i first saw them at come together in '03.

friday night in Toronto they played at the mod club, and i actually missed most of it, after missing a bus out of london, being on a late running train, and not anticipating that the band might start before 11. i got there around quarter to twelve and the doorman told me they were just about done... sure enough, i only caught the tail end of the set and the encore, moonlight mile, which was cool to see again. when they choose to, they do some great covers.

afterwards, we went over to the horseshoe to hook up with an old friend, and it turned out that Heavy Trash (the sadies w/ jon spencer) were playing to a sold out room... but, the sound at the front of the bar was great, and we chilled inside for a couple drinks and listened to the last couple songs and encore of that show, too.

saturday night in Hamilton was at the casbah and it was a show of shows. totally made up for missing most of the toronto gig.. this is probably mostly of out order, but the set looked something like this:

life in disguise
there's a lie
even rats
weight of solomon (new/alternate version)
airplane/primitive remix
get me with fuji
suffocation keep
heartbreaker (zeppelin cover)
soft machine
yellow medicine
wine and white soda
modern love (bowie cover)

encore:
74

the whole show was one big massive highlight, but for me, it was awesome to see 74, yellow medicine, and weight of solomon... 3 big tunes that i'd yet to see them do live. 74 had a bit of a different flavour, not being played with a banjo - more of a rocker - its been a favourite of mine for a long time and tends to take me back to a stretch of hwy 102 when i hear it, so i was pretty happy when they started it up for the encore.

weight of solomon and yellow medicine are old school classics, and to be honest, i've always kinda come from the camp that never really cared all that much how often they went to the back catalogue to pull some of these monsters out, BUT, i gotta say, after experiencing a yellow medicine live and in-person - yeah, i can see why people want them to reach back a little more often. it was incredible. andrew took a huge solo in the middle of it, and seeing the other guys reactions while he was hammering it out was priceless - brad cheerin' his brother on, marc lovin' it. talking to andrew after the gig he said he realized how much of an "i dont give a fuck" kinda song that is, and they totally displayed that attitude when they laid it on us.

the whole night they seemed to be having tons of fun. they looked really loose, and were obviously firing on all cylinders and knew it, which i think allowed for them to just lighten up and pour it on.

they tried out a techno kinda remix of airplane/primitive that came off really well - one thing i always appreciated about these guys was how different the same song could sound from night to night, and this was a great example of their creativity.

fuji and heartbreaker also featured some great shredding from brad.

i was trying to shoot in hamilton and i mostly wanted to catch their reactions to each others playing, but i was having a terrible time so i gave up to just enjoy the show they were putting on for us. i didnt shoot at all in toronto.

i also brought a couple first-timers to the shows, and after the hamilton show scully told me they renewed her faith in live music.. certainly, i know the feeling. it was that kinda show again from the boys.

i'm no poet.

2007-05-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

i wish i could play guitar so i could write a song
to say sorry to all the people who i've done wrong
to let them know how i feel ashamed
and let them know how i'm trying to change

i wish i had the voice to carry the tune
i'd sing it loudly and often and right at you
i'd hope you'd hear it and i'd hope you'd see
i'm just trying to be the best i can be

i saw the arcade fire last night.

2007-05-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

so there's lots i havent written about lately... there was a slip show in montreal. a female icelandic string band, called amiina, in toronto. there were the final rheostatics shows in waterloo and toronto, at the horseshoe and massey hall, in all their bittersweet goodbye to heroes laryngitic glory. i've been working on promo, looking into studios, and thinking about taiwan. my stomach went from bad to worse, then i had a cheeseburger at patty's, and it got better again. i've been reading lots of news, and watching lots of hockey. there was sharkwater, and im in the middle of the planet earth series. i saw eternal sunshine of the spotless mind for the first time, and im not sure i ever want to see it again. the words of springsteen and adams have run back into my life like a hurricane... neil's been around, too.

that should bring us pretty close to date, to last night, when i went and saw the arcade fire at massey hall.

take me to the river and wash me in the water.

i was curious how this would pan out during the first song, black mirror, looking around a sold out massey hall, everyone on their feet, but generally apprehensive otherwise - still feeling out the room, the band, the crowd - but i got my answer when the song finished. Win, in a move surely designed to give the massey hall staff a coronary, invited anyone who wanted to to come up as close as they could, use up the aisles, and have a rock n roll party. good call, Win. from then on, it was a massey hall shitshow. the energy in the room went up hundred-fold, the band obviously fed off it and delivered a powerful set of tunes from their records, highlighted for me by Antichrist Television Blues (for jerry falwell, hahahah), Ocean of Noise, the Neighbourhood's Tunnels and Power Out, and Rebellion (lies). sincerely, it's hard to separate it all - one pocket of glory to the next - when you have so much intensity coming at you from all angles, in every moment of the night. the arcade fire use upwards of 10 humans with big voices and a wealth of energy, heavy percussives, driving bass and guitar rhythms, organs, keyboards and string instruments to create this monstrous apocalyptic wall of sound gospel rock. it may not sound anything like what you think gospel music would sound like, but hell if it aint near religious to some degree. they can also contain it all, mellow it down and tug softly on your heart strings, which despite its brilliance, leads to my only critisism of the show: coming out for the encores, with so much of the crowds energy in the palm of their hand, and pulling off a mellower tune.. great perfomance, but the rocker in me wanted them to use our energy up for all it was worth.

and i didnt get to live a Wake Up in massey.

off-stage, the highlight was easily the toronto crowd. *gasp*!. i know. did i just say that? its true, though. the crowd was incredible. easily the most diverse and eclectic group of people i've ever seen having the same reactions all night, and as if it wasnt enough to just be simply having reactions, as most toronto crowds are pretty dull, these folks were into it, BIG TIME! from start to finish, i've never seen massey hall entirely on her feet. absolutely beautiful.

tonite is night 2, and i can only imagine what they have in store for that crowd.

go see the arcade fire if you ever have the chance.

friends...

2007-05-16T02:05:00.000-04:00

this afternoon with you was something like a letter. the kind that someone writes but never sends. and when you look at me like that, i know someday its gonna end. and when you get old, i bet you miss your friends.

these things inside me they repeat like broken records, spinning pretty somethings behind my eyes. and when i cant look at you, i can paint your picture perfectly in my mind. and when i get old, im gonna miss you all the time.

- r.a.

what's eating grampa?

2007-05-14T01:46:00.000-04:00

if you've got a clue, i'd love to know.

the stones have left the building, and the brunswick's being bulldozed.

spring has flushed the swedes from the coast and brought the winds of lament, so thick you can taste the yeast in the air. batty and blue.

but, we escaped russia, alright.

if that's all we ever do....

this blog sucks.

2007-04-21T16:06:00.000-04:00

seriously.

once upon a time i thought i might have shit to say.. now im not so sure.

and who really cares, anyway?

new website and blog address

2007-02-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

ok - so we're going through some changes over here.

i've switched to a blogspot address for the blog here, so if you've had this page bookmarked, you'll have to rebook it - http://scottography.blogspot.com is the new address.

it's also received a slight make-over to coincide with the much larger make-over received at www.scottography.com - check that out when you've got some time as well.

i'll get that link fixed over there, too....

do.make.say.think.02.22.07.cto

2007-02-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

pure post-prog orchestra rock.
the bar was packed, the band was loud.
i closed my eyes and watched a picture show.

did. made. heard. thought.

His Message

2007-02-06T00:36:00.000-05:00

golden dogs 02.01.07

2007-02-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

.. caught the golden dogs at call the office last thursday night after bowling (we took 5), and they completely rocked the place, as was to be expected.

a short set, also kind of expected, that ploughed through mostly newer stuff, but threw in a few from the first record as well.... opened with birdsong, closed with Yeah!... highlights of the night for me were Dynamo, and 1985... the Dynamo just got so huge with everyone locked in, just some big ass rock 'n roll, and 1985 is such a disgusting Wings cover they do, when dave gets rippin' into the solo, it's all over.

no encore, which was a bit of a bummer considering the shortness of the set, but i guess that gives them more reason to come back.... and soon, i hope.

nero reunion shows

2007-01-30T22:02:00.000-05:00

so a couple weeks ago i went to ottawa with scottie and diane (and a crapload of nero fans spanning half the country) to relish in the nero reunion shows for 2 nights at maverick's. January 12th and 13th 2007. a lot of familiar faces from a lot of places, and the tunes we'd all been missing since the band took a hiatus after their new years 2004 show, was recipe enough for one of the best weekends of live music atmosphere i can recall.

first of all, i had a sh!t eating grin on my face all weekend, since about belleville, on the way up. i remember saying to scottie at one point that there's enough people travelling up that damn highway for these shows that they better open with 401 Theme. if not, it could potentially ruin my weekend.

thanks for not ruining my weekend, nero. ;)

but, really, think about it... so many chapters of nerodom gathered in one place.... i think chatham had a representative from just about every city, but we (team london) represented... there was team k/w, guelph, hamilton, team toronto, peterborough came to play, folks from kingston, likely quebec, and i know the maritimes were out in full force with folks from fredericton, moncton, saint john, and the island.

and then of course, there's the home team. team ottawa. we converge on them and, with loving arms, they open their doors to their couches and their floors... and oh, what a time we have...

so, you have all these people converging on one place, for 2 nights, to see these 3 guys play their music that they havent played for 2 years. that's a lot of miles, but not really. not for this. what's more is that's a lot of power in that music to get those wheels moving, i think. to bring all those people together. 2 sold out nights, there was some serious energy in that bar. like i said, many chapters of nerodom... having toured relentlessly when they were around, they developed a legion of devoted fans, and really, created some kinda community around them. starting in ottawa playing 2 gigs weekly in town, then branching out playing festivals, and eventually touring the regular circuit in ontario, and coast to coast. they seemed to touch people wherever they went, which is evidenced by the amount of travelers, and the miles logged, and even moreso evidenced by the atmosphere they have created around them... friendships formed around a love of 3 guys and the sounds they create - it's quite a feeling being in that room when nero is rocking out.

the music itself, what we were all there for, was incredible. i went up expecting them to be sharp and wanting to play good shows, not just play for the sake of playing, but i dont know if i expected them to be quite that good. really, i mean, 2 years off? they hit their changes, controlled their tempo well, and just plain tore the roof off the fuckin' place! friday night was a huge rock show with stuff like the year of... and medicated. holy sh!t, medicated. one of my favourite moments of friday was standing behind tungsten during medicated and watching him get his head blown off. that sh!t was so heavy. a half hour condor? thank you. i liked the dead flowers cover, totally un-nero, but a great tune. i really felt like dave really went after it that night, he was just eating his guitar... a big sound from the guy for sure, he seemed to really enjoy playing with a band again and rocking out.

i dont know what i can say about the saturday night... i was totally immersed in the music from start to finish, at times their sound was just like this perfect little couch for me to sink into.. i dont think i ever stopped moving, whether dancing or swaying and spacing... i loved it. opening the show with a half hour effervescence > miko mard really set the tone for the night: this was night 2, it was going to blow the roof off, it was going to be special, and it was going to leave you wanting more. going back to johnny joe and dropping a new song on us were 2 surprises that came in the first set - the new song, i especially liked as it sounded pretty "slippy" to me, which is always a welcome sound, hahaha. the drumming, to me, was reminiscient of 'airplane/primitive', and some of dave's playing was very brad barr-ish... listening to the recording i can pinpoint the moment (around the 7:30 mark) i said to andre "dude, that was soooooooooooo brad barr....", but i digress...... the 2nd set was where it was at. i think the band knew it, too. it was some of the most energetic live music atmosphere i've felt in a bar in a LONG time. my memory of the night is so vivid, i can literally still see reactions across the stage, people gettin' down, people losin' their heads, people raising their arms in disbelief at the monstrous beauty coming from the stage, the band rocking, people jumping, it was incredible. they came back from setbreak and opened with pink floyd's 'hey you' and it was on. my favourite moment of the weekend came during that song, when Jay surprised the entire bar and took the lead vocal for the 2nd verse... i do believe it was his first time singing with the band, and the reaction from the crowd was explosively appreciative... i remember i had my eyes closed, heard the voice, heard the crowd, looked up, and there was jay, grinning ear to ear in acknowledgement, singing out the last couple lines... beauty... the jam that came after, leading into centranogme was a four on the floor shitshow of a throwdown if i ever saw one. the punk locked into this wicked bass riff and just tore into us... into a run like hell, back to centranogme, into a whispy mountain wonder, and it was a good 45 minutes before they gave us a chance to breathe. unbelievable. the sounds, atmospheres, and sonic pockets they took us to were immaculate, and impeccably placed... they played the tension and release game to a T, and left us wide eyed, salivating, and demanding more... so, on came the lemondust encore and we were given one last chance to dance like it was our last chance to dance - hopefully it wont be, but i can tell you if it was, everyone in that bar gave it everything they had. what a great way to finish these 2 great nights of music.

i just really thought these were 2 incredible shows musically that also felt like a lot more personally - there arent many bands that do that, and for a while there we'd lost one. nero means so much to so many people, it was good to have 'em back even if just for a weekend.

so with that, thanks for a great weekend boys, and here's to another one down the road!

night one:

ero
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mavericks, Ottawa, ON

Set I
-----
401 Theme
Tonto's Underwater Paradise
The Year Of...
Downside Up > Basheeba > Downside Up

Set II
------
Chocolate Monkey Machine
Medicated
Dead Flowers[1]
Condor

Encore
------
Breakline

get it on the archive here.

night two:

nero
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Mavericks, Ottawa, ON

Set I
-----
Effervescence >
Miko Mard
Johnny Joe
Everlasting Beautiful Night
Darius

Set II
------
Hey You[1] >
Centragnome >
Run Like Hell[1] >
Centragnome >
Whispy Mountain Wonder
Zedonk

Encore
------
Lemondust

get it on the archive here.

good morning, 2007

2007-01-17T06:51:00.000-05:00

well, it looks like i slept in a little, but here i am. wide awake in 2007... or something like that. so far, it's been a good start to the year, if even a little lazy... errr... umm... or a lot lazy.

i rang in the new year with a nice little year-ending musical roadtrip (fitting), first down to plattsburgh, ny / burlington, vt to meet up with some friends and catch apollo sunshine opening up for grace potter and the nocturnals at higher ground in burlington on the 30th - apollo sunshine were pretty good, though their set was marred by sound problems and the blowing a bass amp. phyllis was definitely the highlight of the show, and it seemed to be the tune where they got to let off the most steam, hahah. grace potter and the nocturnals started out great... when it was just grace potter singing a sweet gospel/blues type number, acapella, and playing a bit of organ for the first 4 minutes or so... once the nocturnals kicked in, though, it was lights out. i didnt enjoy that band anymore than i would have enjoyed any of the other thousands of bands playing watered down white blues funk. there was no identity there, just a lot of predictability, a lot of cheese, and a lot of things i've already heard a thousand times before. too bad, cuz that lady's got some pipes! i dont think we gave them more than half a dozen songs before we hit the road.

on the 31st, i trekked from plattsburgh up to ottawa for a 3rd straight new years, and for the 2nd time to celebrate it with the burt neilson band. i had a great time at the show, and actually thought it was pretty good overall, 2nd set especially. the first set had a bit of a different feel to it, im not sure if it was the room energy, or what, but the bar didnt feel all that energized, even though i thought the band was playing well. 2nd set was a different story. a total monster, highlighted for me by the No Quarter cover, coming by surprise at the end of holes. the band certainly did their part to change the atmosphere in the 2nd set, coming out with a rage on and not really ever letting up throughout the long set right on through the near 20 minute chevron encore. well done, boys!

the afterparty was a great time, though it seemed to fly right by. always seems to be the way up there: never enough time to spend with everyone you want to. still a great way to ring in the new year, though - im glad i went!

after sleeping the day away on the 1st i made it back to london in record time (5hrs. 5mins!), and basically went back to bed for 2 weeks, waking only to bowl and for the occassional video game.

decompressing, destressing and trying to learn how to relax again. i started the yar unemployed, and not having a store to manage and a dozen people to be responsible for has taken some getting used to... that lack of responsibility... lack of a place to be in the morning.. a bus to catch, etc... it's weird. but i cant say i dont enjoy it. it's my time, and now that im starting to wake up, i think that 2007 is gonna be just fine.

and if last weekend's nero reunion shows were any indication, i think im right. could the year have started any better? more on that later....

well, let me be the first...

2006-12-25T12:13:00.000-05:00

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

and so ends the first half

2006-12-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

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.

joel plaskett - london - 11.24.06

2006-11-27T00:40:00.000-05:00

checked out joel plaskett at call the office on friday night... and it was the first time i just didnt enjoy a joel show. after all these years of seeing him with the hermit, the emergency, and on his own, i guess that's not bad, but really, this was just a disappointing show. this time it was the emergency, and they dropped a lot of new stuff on us - bad new stuff. these songs sounded like he was really trying to write a "plaskett" song, but c'mon, we dont need another 'come on teacher'.. "drunk teenagers" was possibly the worst song i've heard in 2006. the direction he was headed with la de da was such a step forward, but this show took the songs 2 steps back... none of the songs had much power behind them with this new emergency arrangement, there wasnt much depth to the sound, and overall they just felt sluggish to my ears.

i guess if you go see someone for long enough you're bound to see something you dont like - i've seen disappointing shows from all my favourites - and i guess this time it was joel's number that was up.

i'll say im very much looking forward to the next show, though.

rollin' stones

2006-11-26T21:50:00.001-05:00

we've been on a bit of a tear recently.. 5 points to start the month, 4 points 2 weeks ago, and 3 points this past week... still hangin' on. we limped into the alley down one doctor, up one nurse, walter with a bum back and me low on blood, and luckily $hakey's brain was no where near the exam he was to have the next day - hope it went well, buddy.

a game pitting the Twin Towers of Brunswick Huron against each other, we steamrolled game 1, and dropped the next 2 against the mooseknucklers, thanks to a couple huge 200+ games from one of their guys.. but we stayed close enough those games to get the overall score and the extra point to take the series 3-2.

the week prior we dominated the bombers, who lived up to their name and did nothing but get bombed all night. good show. we bombed the last few frames of the last game and it cost us the game and the 5th point, but still a solid 4 points and a total team effort on the lanes.

only a few weeks left in the first half and then we'll have to kick in high gear for our second half rise to the top...

burt neilson band 10 year anniversary photo story

2006-11-12T16:11:00.001-05:00

vil and schwampy

burt neilson band - opera house

mike and vince spilchuk

serena southam (w/ jeff in background)

mike filipowitsch

mike and peter elkas

josh williams and jer

todd gilles and jeff

jeff heisholt (w/ gavin mcguire in background)

mike filipowitsch (gavin in background)

danny simmons (banjo) and b jay nathans (mandolin)

the bass laser

mark crissinger

mke and mark

scott farmer

jer little

mark crissinger hitting it!

from L - R: danny simmons, jeremy little, josh williams, mike filipowitsch, matt barber, shelby kerr, steve "elmo" murphy, mark crissinger, jeff heisholt

SET ONE

By the Door
These Days >
The Bench >
Yellow Pants (1)
Finer Than Fine Print (2)
Holes
Stop Draggin My Heart Around (3)
Full Tilt (4)
Hungry Heart (5)
Rotan (6)
Waves (7)
St Andrews
In the Belly

SET TWO

Distraction
Fresco Lopez >
Revolution Blues > (8)
Fresco Lopez
Stuck Inside (9)
Down with the Sound (10)
Glad Tidings (11)
Whipping Post (12)
Martian
Stop 28

E1

Acadian Driftwood (13)
Funkin Shoes (14)

E2

Don't Do It

(1) w/ Vince Spilchuk on trumpet
(2) Bodega song, w/ Andrew Rodriguez on guitar/lead vocals
(3) Steie Nicks & Tom Petty cover, with Serena Southam on lead vocals
(4) w/ Serena Southam on backing vocals and Vince Spilchuk on trumpet
(5) Bruce Springsteen cover, with Peter Elkas on lead vocals/guitar, Serena Southam on backing vocals, Robbie Grunwald on organ
(6) Fat Cats cover, with Todd Gillies on guitar/lead vocals, and Josh Williams on vocals/harmonica
(7) with Todd Gillies on guitar

(8) Neil Young cover
(9) with Danny Simmons on banjo and B Jay Nathans on mandolin
(10) with Shelby Kerr on backing vocals and Mark Crissinger on guitar
(11) Van Morrisson cover, with Scott Farmer on lead vocals and Peter Elkas on acoustic guitar
(12) Allman Brothers cover, with Mark Crissinger on lead vocals/screaming guitar

(13) The Band cover, with Matthew Barber, Shelby Kerr, Steve Murphy, Scott Farmer, Mark Crissinger, Todd Gillies on lead vocals, plus lots of people on stage... all the other performers and friends, and Danny Simmons on fiddle
(14) with Shelby Kerr on vocals, Robbie Grunwald on clavinet, Vince Spilchuk on trumpet

what an incredible show!! cheers to the burt neilson band and congrats on 10 years - cant wait for the 20th anniversary!

once the boys settled down and stopped worrying about playing a great show, and just started playing, i thought they put on an amazing show. some great guest appearances - it was nice to see these guys going off and challenging the bnb boys... gilles, andrew rodriguez, crissinger, particularly... they werent novelty guests, they obviously came to play. the 2nd set was an absolute monster highlighted for me by the fresco > revolution blues > fresco - they destroyed that neil cover! what a heavy hitting beast that was. stuck inside followed, and that was a real treat for me - it's been a favourite of mine since i first heard By The Door, and i dont believe i'd ever seen it live.. but when picked up the acoustic and the harmonica, i mean, i didnt know it was comin'.. but i knew, y'know? sweet tune. the crowd picking up the down with the sound vocals was tingle worthy and whats to say about crissinger on whipping post??!! martian makes me move exactly the way i love to move, and the encores were fantastic.

quite a rager afterwards, and the whole night was just a big celebration. so great to see some old faces and meet some new ones. thanks to everyone involved, it certainly was quite a night.

these guys are canada's premier "jamband", but they're truly the definition of "indie"... having crisscrossed this vast country a good 15 times, on their own, released 4 albums independantly, and developed a legion of fans across canada by word of mouth, the sharing of music, and keeping it entirely grassroots, these guys are the real deal and we're lucky they keep doin' it for us.

long live the bnb!!

and in other news...

2006-11-06T23:59:00.000-05:00

... bob dylan played the JLC on friday nite... and it was terrible. i missed the thunder of the double drums and the dual guitar attack from the previous show i saw, and this didnt even carry any of the energy i witnessed at darien... this band sounded to me more like watered down blues for a soft rock radio station. i actually like what dylan does with his arrangements, i like his attitud and approach in that regard.. i just didnt like the way the band played them. they werent engaging in the least, and quite honestly, i found myself nodding off at least half a dozen times. the 3rd wasnt the charm this time...

5-0 stones

2006-11-06T23:28:00.000-05:00

few days late and a few dollars short, but the stones came up big last thursday with a 5-0 vic against greg's ladies... which was a bit of an anomaly, considering neither greg was there, nor were enough of his ladies to make them plural. 9-pin Lynn was there for her team, but that 10th pin just never seemed to be and it cost 'em... BIGtime. $hakey rolled off as well, so with just the 4 of us on the lanes, we cruised through a relaxing few games in record time and got a much needed boost to the point total just in time for our big climb. walter's got a new ball and it's working like a dream, and i've found myself a new line that's keeping my ball from crossing over brooklyn, and i've been smashing the pocket. i had a perfect no-tap game in my 2nd. walter also did the monthly mystery score roll off and, like $hakey a month before, struck on his first ball to go to a final... where he landed an 8, matched by his opponent to go to one more sudden death final... where he lost 9-6... that's 2 months in a row, who's it gonna be next month?

about 6 weeks to go in the 1st half... we're climbing... the huskies are running slower... things are gonna change... i can feel it...

slippin' into the maritimes

2006-10-24T12:09:00.000-04:00

welcome to the merrytimes! shit, that's cheesy! but hell if it aint true, everytime i go down to the maritimes it's just the best time, and this past weekend no different. saw 2 slip shows and one golden dogs show. hung out with some great friends i dont get to see too often, watched some serious baseball (holy kenny rogers!) and made sure i got my fill of weird tv news.

moncton > saint john > halifax > moncton was the way it went. after a night of watching some kickass ryan, wilco, bruce, etc.. dvd's and some intense nlcs baseball... which i missed the ninth inning of (damn!)... and a day of lounging around reading, running some minor errands with sean, and generally just hanging out, we made our way to saint john for the first slip show of this little run, at neptunes.

2006-10-20
Neptunes
Saint John, NB

- 12:47 -
intro jam > Children of December
Even Rats
If One Of Us Should Fall
Airplane/Primitive
Get Me With Fuji
Suffocation Keep (w/ female vocals sample)
Poor Boy
The Original Blue Air >
Paper Birds

E: Baba O'Riley
- 2:16 -

thanks to dave for keepin' the setlist. the show was a rocker from the very beginning... i thought the opening intro to december's was up there with some of the best i've heard (see 08.07.05 later set, for example) - it was certainly beefy, as were a lot of the beginnings of tunes, i felt. they really had a deep sound to them when they came charging out of the gate. airplane/primitive was a monster. it felt very together. it was easy to tell that these guys have honed in on each other and this set of tunes, and airplane is a perfect example of that. it was neat to hear the vocal samples on suffocation keep... though, it's just making my mouth water more for the album. it was the first time i had heard the song with the featured vocals of Ua, their japanese pop-star friend. paper birds closed out the show and it was the other big winner on the night. i really love how the song is structured live, with the different ending and vocals, it's bouncy as hell. they did the who cover a lot better than i had heard on previous recordings, as well.. i thought it was pretty good, and no doubt they rocked it out.

partied the night away at god only knows where and ended up back at the hotel staring at the ceiling somewhere around quarter to 7, i think... damn hilton folk wouldnt give me a corkscrew to keep 'er goin'! not much sleep had that day, but we made a pitstop in moncton on the way to halifax for some relaxing and power naps. once we hit the road we made it in plenty of time to roll into westoby's and get ourselves some pizza and some pops before heading out to stage 9 for the golden dogs and raising the fawn.

i had missed the golden dogs 3 times in a span of about 6 weeks over a year ago now and hadnt since found myself an opportunity to see them again until this weeked - they were also playing as part of the halifax pop explosion on saturday night, and although it was a long time comin', it was certainly worth the wait. they play with so much energy, so much fervour, so much vigour, so much soul, so much sweat... a powerful live rock band to be sure. after they blew through their 45 minute set, which started with birdsong, and ended with Yeah!, and featured a lot of the new stuff in between, most notably for me "saints at the gates", we had to pick ourselves up off the floor, give ourselves a shake, splash some water and try to put ourselves back together again. we were baptised once more at the church of rock n roll, left disoriented, confused, and elated.

when sean told the guitar player in the band (not azzolini) that plaskett was there checking them out, he nearly shit himeself. apparently there was a suit from nonesuch as well, that sean talked to. he was doing his best promo to get people over to the attic to check out the slip at 1:45... seemingly the latest show in town. we did have enough time to check out a bit of raising the fawn, and i was a little so-so on them. they started out really strong, i loved the first or second tune... heavy bass driven, with a chunk, and some nice overlapping vocals.. it was a really cool song.. but after that i started to fade away... i wanted to get over to the attic for the slip, and after a half hour or so, we did.

2006-10-21
Halifax, NS
The Attic

- 1:55 -
Soft Machine
Even Rates
Airplane/Primitive
I Hate Love
Get Me With Fuji (w/ Brad playing a strat)
Paper Birds
Children of December (w/Brad climbing on amps, etc and crowd surfing)

E1: If One of Us Should Fall

E2: (What's So Funny 'bout) Peace Love and Understanding
- 3:16 -

thanks again to dave for the setlist and notes. man, i love late night slip shows. who remembers set 2 in hamilton 10.15.04, starting at last call and going till 3? this was a set reminiscient of that, balls out and rockin' with some super sweetness, and bringin 'em all together for the encore. we called the opener. we called the encore. we called the i hate love substitution. going down there for 2 shows i was pretty aware that i'd likely be getting basically 80% of the tunes x2, but i was also pretty excited to see that - to see what differences popped up, how tight they were... and they seemed very well prepared and very well rehearsed - they didnt seem like they had to find each other much, but rather that they were already locked in. very focussed on this night. i particularly loved the soft machine, airplane, and paper birds again. maybe one of my favourite moments of seeing rock n roll so far all these years was seeing the look on friedman's face to the crowds reaction to even rats, singing along to the "ooh ooh oooooh's", goin' like mad for the song - nice to see all the smiles and the gestures between him and the brothers, like "you guy's seein' this? holy shit!" kinda happiness... completely and totally deserved, kudos to the boys. the crowd really was eating it up all night... i'd venture it was about 500 strong packed into the bar, and i was way up close... some seriously rockin' kids that night.. dude's grabbin' each others faces to show how much they loved something.... i dunno... kids... but, hey, you know, cause and effect, right? the slip brought it hard, so thats what happens. get me with fuji was played with brad on strat, which i'd never seen before... it seemed to take on a bit of a different flavour, and gave way to a different sort of weirdness breakdown... i really dug it... and again, paper birds, the ending was fantastic.. crowd was eating it up and dancing like crazy, the band was so on point, i thought they were gonna wind it back up again. sean got ahold of the setlist after the show and the if one of us.. looks like it got moved down out of the set into the encore position... maybe they were feelin' the energy and didnt wanna bring it down any? either way, good call saving it for the encore, it worked really well. the crowd wasn't lettin' 'em leave, though, so they came back out and raged a costello cover on us... a common cover for them, but again, one that just hadnt been played at shows i've seen.

confusion with inebriated friends and a terrible cab situation in halifax kept us from getting to an afterparty for quite a while, but after arriving we realized that that was probably a-ok. we didnt stay long than tried to endure the cab situation one more time to get back to westo's. it was a long night, but we did manage to beat the sun, which on a night like that, was fine with me.

back to moncton in the afternoon on sunday, said goodbye to dave and spent the rest of the night watching guy terrifico and kenny rogers tear the cardinals to shreds. enough with the pine tar talk, alright? kenny fucked 'em up and if he gets a chance, he'll do it again. what an intense performance to watch - man, i love baseball!

as i finish this up, it's occurring to me now how much conviction and focus, emotion and intensity mean to me in the things i love. im a baseball guy, and i saw it again in game 7 of the nlcs and game 2 of the world series, and for a dude without cable who never gets to see the game played, i'll admit i was in my glory watching this shit go down. chavez in the 6th with that catch one pitch after randolph left perez in the game! holy bejesus!! rogers amped up like a kid in the biggest game of his life cruising through the 8th with a 2 hitter... why leyland opted for jones in the 9th i'll never understand. it makes no sense to take the best pitcher out of the game when he's pitching the best game! but it renewed some lost love in me, restored some type of faith in conviction. when i saw the slip playing with the stark focus and determination of their sound and what they were trying to create around them i thought that though this didnt sound like the band i first fell in love with, no doubt this was still the same band i love. i dont know if you could call it a renewal of faith because i never lost any, but it brought back something thats for sure.... i simply love the slip.

new album Eisenhower comes out on november 7th - do yourself a favour and grab a copy for yourself and someone you love. giftmas is coming.

last week in bowling

2006-10-16T10:30:00.001-04:00

we lost to a team of handicapped people.

i think that's all that needs to be said about that.

789
456
123
FOX!

darwin's team

2006-10-06T02:01:00.000-04:00

here we are, we're darwin's team
we came to you as if a dream
cut across your lawn on our unicorn
as mean and drunk as women scorned
the time is nigh for evolution!
the tide is high for retribution...
On $hakey! On Walter! On Dr. and guigsy!
when the Stones roll in it's time to get busy.

week 5: stones 4, other guys 1. though not very deserved.

darin was the boy that carried that weight... a long time. a great series, but i cant remember his numbers. i bowled a 196 my first game then the mushrooms kicked in right around the time we found the monkeyfist and it all went to hell. 3rd game first frame mandatory monkeyfist was the turning point for the stones to squeek out the extra 2 points, though, im sure. $hakey was up in the month end mystery score bowl off tourney and hit a strike his first ball to go to a sudden death final.... where he guttered. it was one of those kinda nights for us - ups and downs - strikes and gutters. but there was also an air of syncronicity. it felt good tonight, regardless of how we bowled, and it was good to get the points for it - sometimes you need a night like that.

monkeyfist monkeyfist we love you
you've got 4 holes and we all plugged you
third game first frame mandatory
we summoned your power and you gave unto thee

built to spill - 09/30/06 - town ballroom, buffalo

2006-10-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

the mission:

the missionaries: me plus these guys..

the set:

Goin' Against Your Mind
Made Up Dreams
Else
Distopian Dream Girl
Kicked It In The Sun
Mess With Time
Re-Arrange (The Gladiators)
Sidewalk
[New Song - starts: "daylight feels like midnight"]
Conventional Wisdom (dedicated to Hugo Chavez)
Bomb Shelter
Big Dipper
Carry the Zero
E: Randy Described Eternity (25+ minutes.. an absolute monster!)

hello ridiculousness! what an incredible show!! i walked out of there, mind completely blown, and i probably couldnt put it any more straight forward than that. right from the getgo with the goin against your mind opener - 2 songs later i finally got my else... i hadnt even seen the slip cover it.. the closest i ever got was a tease in toronto, and although this was the real deal, it was still an abbreviated real deal - but hey, when its built to spill and its else, i'll take what i can get. distopian dream girl was a real surprise for me - just not a song i would have thought i'd hear going into it, but such a treat. nothing wrong with love was probably the first album of theirs i fell in love with and it stirs up some good memories for me - needless to say i was belting it out at the top of my lungs. no matter, i couldnt even hear myself from how loud it was in there - probably didnt help that we set up shop 8 ft. from the speakers. the re-arrange cover was great, and the band really kicked it into high gear to close out the set, starting with an insane conventional wisdom - damn that is such a great song, that sweet breakdown can make anyone feel good... great dedication to mr. chavez as well, hahah. bomb shelter was a great jam with some interesting pre-recorded speech about eco-terrorism and right wing nut jobs - i like to see bands speaking out in their own way and built to spill certainly did that throughout the night. big dipper was another great cut from nothing wrong with love and the set finished with a big big BIG carry the zero... i thought my head was gonna explode, and again, i think i tore some vocal chords, but hell if i could hear myself. i really liked their use of the video screen throughout the show, as well.

the encore, i had thought was 2 songs, but upon finding a setlist, i guess it was only one. but i do remember how monstrous that one was. Randy Described Eternity went on for nearly an eternity, a solid 25 plus minutes of the crunchiest, heaviest, thickest, waves of music. they took the outro and jammed the living hell out of it, building up this incredible wall of sound that just kept climbing higher and getting bigger and coming harder - it was a class 1 lake superior storm if i ever heard one. a beautiful wash of sound to be drowning in and i lapped up ever second of it, jaw to the floor, tongue out. i noticed doug gave way a fair share of solos to the other guys throughout the show, but man was he a force on Randy - he was huge. i love doug martsch's guitar playing, i mean, what fan of built to spill doesnt, so i was just in my glory being able to take it all in from so close - i consider the man a legend in this world of rock n roll.

overall, the show was incredible. the venue was amazing, and the sound was great. even though we were close in to the speakers, and it was so loud, you could still pick apart all the instrumentation and even hear the vocals pretty clearly. props to the sound guy for controlling that gorgeous room. i wish i could see all my favourite bands in that venue, it was that sweet. great sight lines everywhere, 3 levels that are comfortable and easy to get around on, holds maybe a thousand people, but i'd say maybe 750 - 800 were there. perfect.

opening bands werent really worth mentioning... well, the 2nd opening band was, but only for how terrible they were, so i wont go there. lines of the night, courtesy of the heckler:

"jammin' for jesus... for christ sake!"
"you got a can of cream of corn soup in you beard!"
"you look 9 months pregnant, and beautiful"

bowling stones: 2 week update

2006-09-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

well, i never did get around to updating week 3, so i'll roll it into this update...

first off, in the previous stones' update i alluded to the fact that we'd likely soon be making enemies... mostly in a facetious sort of way, you know, not really meaning it... but, you know, When in Rome...

so it only took us 3 weeks to get into our first confrontation - last time i think it took at least half a year. and this time around, the stakes are a little higher - no one's yet to threaten use of a gun, but if i was a bettin' man, my money would be on Old Man Flip-Up. your typical angry old man with camo gear, yellow tinted flip up sunglasses, and a batman t-shirt. the east london riff-raff version of dick cheney. he got his knickers in a knot when they called for practice to halt and a couple people near our lanes were still standing up on them - no ball in hand, but still. so he gets a little vocal about it, and $hakey got a little more vocal about it, basically tellin' him to relax. which he did not. after the game started he comes stormin' down the alley to get in our faces... or, i should say, MY face... demanding to know what i said... to which i just kept laughing with my arms folded telling him i didnt say a fuckin' word. i was gettin' a kick out of watchin' this guy get steamed over my stonewalling, until $hakey piped up and told him what it was like. once this lunatic realized he couldnt intimidate the Bowling Stones he put his tail between his legs and shuffled off down the alley. a tense start to the night, and we never really did get back on track. we were on lanes with a group we never really got comfortable with and wound up dropping a few games... no worries, though, coming into week 4 we were still holding strong onto 3rd place, with one of the highest total team scores in the league. things are looking good for the stones this season!

week 4 went last night and we were up against a team from the newly joined SouthSiders league... on paper things looked pretty evenly matched, and that also translated out onto the hardwood. both teams were throwing rocks last night, and i'd say we probably put together our best 3 games yet this season, walter had a life-time high of 207, the doc put up a 186 in his last game, $hakey was solid throughout.. but it just wasnt enough against a team consisting of the new Johnny 175 and a girl named Linda Lou. the 2nd game (which featured walt's 207) also featured a 205 from Johnny, and a 213 from Linda who boasts a 131 average!! 3 Hole Punch started the game with 10 straight marks and never looked back. Linda was the slow silent killer all game, reminiscient of a young Anne McNeil, who we all hope is recovering well from her surgery this past week. get better soon, anne - the stones miss your fiery passion and inspiration on the lanes! we squeeked out the last game to get a point for the week, but there's really not much more we could have done - props to the Puncher's for comin' to play and handing us our asses. we'll remember this for next time...

... and we'll remember you, too, Flip-Up. bring it.

bowling stones reunion tour

2006-09-14T15:15:00.001-04:00

the bowling stones are back!

it's been 3 years since we've laid leather to hardwood and slid our balls 60 ft. across a greasy floor, but last week we made our triumphant return to the Huron Husky bowling league and picked up right where left off - taking 4 of 5 points and both 50/50 draws! greeted to a heroes welcome upon arriving at the alley, they had our photo up at the front and were more than stoked to have the Bad Boys of Bowling back at Brunswick. the league has grown considerably since we last rolled with them, going from 7 teams up to 16 and being run by a more ambitious and competent executive, which should make this year a lot more fun. didnt get a great look at the competition, but no doubt it'll be as stiff as ever. Smooth Talkin' Ray Daamen is still terrorizing the league - BBN and One Step are still there.. chatty natty... waresy doodle dandy... big shane... the turkish de-lite... and a whole host of new people who im sure will grow to not like us very much in the near future.

week 2 goes tonite and the boys got a good headstart with my roll-off yesterday... watch out huskies... the '03-'04 league champs are here and ready to take back what's theirs!

lollapawaitsa photos

2006-08-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

oh yeah, i got some photos up on flickr, of lollapalooza, the house on the rock and the tom waits show.

check 'em out here.

lollapawaitsa

2006-08-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

ok, this is potentially going to be my biggest post yet, or ever. it's taken me a while just to formulate what i want to say and how, and i still dont even know, really, but it's a doozy. lollapalooza > house on the rock > tom waits. chicago > wisconsin > chicago. august 3rd - 10th. lets get to it...

lollapalooza - day 1

i figure i might as well do this in days, rather than a mash up of bands or one big meandering whatever. at least try to keep some sort of order. anyways, the festival itself, lollapalooza 2006, 130 bands, grant park in chicago, a dozen friends - the writing was on the wall for some serious magic, y'know. festie voodoo shit with chicago as your playground. too bad i lost 6 key ingredients before we left. no matter, i was going to be seeing bands i've been waiting upwards of 8 years to see - and some that i should have always wanted to see - and some that were just so new to me that i hadnt even yet had the chance... so it was to be a weekend of a great many great musical firsts. sounds great! alright, enough..... we stayed at the congress which was perfectly situated right in front of grant park, and miraculously right beside the auditorium theatre where we were to see tom waits on the following wednesday. gettin' lucky in chicago. so lolla overtakes massive downtown grant park for 8 stages worth of musical mayhem with enough sounds to satisfy anyone's tastebuds, really. i saw so much music and quite a bit of it sounded different. there was tons i missed that probably sounded even more different. diversity, kids. oh, and yeah, stuff for kids, too. first up was the eels, and although they didnt really do it for me this time, im gonna chalk it up to a time and place thing - the sound wasnt quite right to begin with, and i just wasnt feelin' all that distorted everything. i certainly didnt hate them, and im sure im in the minority, but it just wasnt where i was at. my mind was on ryan adams and the cardinals. over the last year ryan's dominated my stereo and his music's been fairly important to me, so no doubt he was one of my must-see sets for the weekend. he came out wearing a "love a nurse today" shirt and i think that's all it took for rachelle to jump on board. but i thought his set was incredible, and im really glad he didnt blow it, or get all pissy - he gave lollapalooza a fucking great set, and a little bit of ryan at the end extending it beyond the stage managers preference.. that was a funny scene to witness... ryan hammering out the outro repeatedly, looking right at the guy while he's giving the cut signal and on the walkie-talkie gettin' red faced and angry... looked like the drummer got a kick out of it, as well. he busted out 3 dead tunes (he's gone, wharf rat, and franklin's) and a gram parson's tune, hickory wind, as well. on one hand i wish he played some more of his stuff, but in a way i wonder if it was a bit of a homage to jerry who died that week 11 years ago, and played his last show not far away at soldier field. ryan does the dead well, and it was all it took to find the other 6 hippies in the crowd. the dude beside me who had brought his son along just about lost his mind when they hit the opening notes to franklin's - he turns to me and yells "IT'S OUR LUCKY DAY!!" - a glorious moment. but of his own stuff, dear chicago, peaceful valley, cold roses, shakedown on 9th st., i see monster's.... yeah, i could deal with that. he was awesome. as convicted as i hoped for and more controlled than i expected. after that i pretty much wandered around, got some food, cuz the pulled pork taco i had earlier just wasnt doin it for me - and by the way, thumbs down to pulled pork tacos at lollapalooza. sick. i opted for a big plate of rice, and mmmmm, was it good! sat under a tree and ate mostly, wandered on back to the stage area to listen to iron and wine close out his set while getting a decent spot for my morning jacket. one thing about having 8 stages is that when you have quieter acts, it kinda becomes a bit of a battle of the bands, as patti smith put it, so, iron and wine was more background music muddled with some other shit in it's background - and i didnt bother getting close enough to pay attention. so, rachelle and i got a decent spot for my morning jacket and waited for jim james to come tear our faces off. at dawn > off the record to start and it was on. and i mean, SO on. he was a madman, all over the stage, owning it, throwing out so much energy - the whole band was really. the crowd was giving it right back, it was such an energetic show to be a part of - i'll admit when he slowed it down a bit, we wussed out and took a spot in the grass. but it was fucking sweet to lay there and listen to the man pour his soul out in golden. magheetah was a great closer and satisfied the 3 big ones i wanted to hear. i wasnt really surprised at how much i dug that show, but in a way, i kinda am - i mean, i really thought they played a great set as well. lollapalooza was totally spoiling us already. the trek over to the main stage where Ween was closing the night could easily take 20 mins - to a half hour, with traffic, maybe a pit stop, you know - maybe longer. ween was up in an hour and no fucking way did i wanna miss ween in chicago. so we made the trek did our business, stuck together and actually got to check out maybe 15 minutes of the violent femmes from one of the softball pitches in grant park. beauty. once they were done and ween were a-go we surged up, lost some members of the team, and after not being able to find them in the crowd, took our spot and took in a fantastic ween set to close the night. death cab for cutie were on the other main stage, and apparently had a massive crowd, which probably helped ween feel so comfortable, regardless of the fact there were probably still 60/70 thousand people there. we found our spot up near the front left side under the monitors to be great sounding and spacious enough to move around - it was perfect. i really thought the band took off in the 2nd half of their set.. there seemed to be a point, maybe around mr. would you please help my pony, that they just kinda hit turbo and went off. it was like it took 'em to that point to go 0 - 60, then from 60 - 120 in about 3 seconds. and they didnt let up after that - voodoo lady, baby bitch, buckingham green, captain, hiv song, piss up a rope, the mollusk, i'll be your jonny on the spot, waving my dick in the wind, ocean man, dr rock, you fucked up, someday - good lord, it got rockin'! ocean man had the crowd in a frenzy, voodoo lady was big, you fucked up was just as abrasive as it needs to be, dr. rock rocked, and piss up a rope had me goin like crazy. what a way to end day 1 at lollapalooza in chicago. after realizing i was locked out of my hotel room i went to wander downstairs, and when the elevator opens 2 more friends from guelph are staring right back at me. that was one of those great reunion type moments, haha. they were on their way to secret machines with some friends, and im not really sure what i was doing. i did end up seeing bill perry in buddy guy's legends blues club, after running into the rest of our crew from london on the street, en route back to their hotel from gettin' some food. it's weird how you find your friends.

lollapalooza - day 2

if day 1 was the day of seeing newer bands that are important to me (ryan, mmj), then day 2 was the day i finally got to see the bands that have been important to me for quite some time - built to spill, flaming lips - and one that i should have had on my radar, but mysteriously havent - sonic youth. actually, it started with the upbeat british outfit, the go! team - and it was a great way to shake out friday and get loose for saturday.. at the time i thought they would be a great band to play later in the night to get people partying, but in retrospect, a little exercise in the early afternoon could probably do us all some good. on the way to the go! team, we actually stopped and checked out a bit of the cold war kids, and i thought they were pretty fun, too. reminded me of apollo sunshine, and i'd love ot check 'em out again sometime. so anyways, after about of the go! team's set, we bolted over the other stage to listen to the last bit of feist while setting up for built to spill. i had the same problems for feist as i did for iron and wine. but i was ready for built to spill. i've been ready for a long time. this is one of those bands that is pretty huge on my list of musical favourites and inspirations. and they never come to ontario. so, after about 8 years of being a fan, since i was introduced to them by a friend, here i am, giddy with anticipation. and they came out and delivered with a great goin' against your mind opener. i was really disappointed that the crowd wasnt into most of their set, or at least they didnt show much of a response to it at all. doug had to play off, or ignore some comments other band members make about the corporations not needing them, and perry not needing them, etc... i think overhearing people in the crowd say they "didnt get it" was the true disheartening thing about that. i mean, have an opinion one way or the other, fine, but to not get it? c'mon, pay attention. i think the set could have been better, but they didnt seem to really care to be there, anyhow - conventional wisdom was a highlight, the rearrange cover was brilliant, and carry the zero was as great as i'd expect it to be. after that it was just a little bit of wandering and a little bit of listening to calexico from the grass... it was a set worthy of taking in from the grass. the day was basically just getting started here, sonic youth was up next and i'd never really cared about sonic youth, and i dont why, considering so many of my favourite bands and bands that i've gone to see have been influenced by these guys. i mean, as far as "that sound" goes, they're it, man. and you know, i found myself thinking at the show that i've seen so many bands do it wrong, and here i was, finally, seeing these guys do it so right, and rightly so. its theirs. sonic youth was definitely a surprise highlight of the weekend for me. took another wander around to get some food, recharge the batteries because up next was going to be a party: the flaming lips. another band i've been needing to see for a helluva long time, and now im finally getting my opportunity on a stage like that. wayne coyne came out and got into a space bubble to surf over the crowd, there were tons of giant balloons being tossed out into the crowd, confetti bazookas, streamers, giant characters on stage consisting of a santa claus, aliens, astronauts - like brahm said, it was like a birthday party. incredible. i met a dude who flew up from atlanta that day basically just to see the lips, and he said it was so worth it - i'd have to agree. they were doin their part to speak out against the war in lebanon, as well - trying to stop it with loud sing-a-longs, as they said... we tried hard on free radicals.. fanatical - FUCK!... we tried hard on the yeah yeah yeah song, and when they closed with do you realize. i, unfortunately, had to pee when they werent using jelly. it was a completely fun set, full of insane energy and so much youthful bliss from guys with grey wings. and why not, when you're signing asses and throwing parties like that, it must be a damn good time. after the lips we caught a little bit of the theivery corporation, again made a drink re-fill stop, and caught a little bit of the new pornographers towards the end of their set, which sounded pretty good, and then we were headed back the other way to the main stage where manu chao was playing, opting out of the craziness and crowdedness that was to be for kanye west on the opposite main stage. i know kanye's important to a lot of people right now, and im sure for good reason, but i didnt need to be there, and manu chao is an international artist with a fiesta flavour, and after the flaming lips party, thats kinda the mood i was in - so rachelle and i headed over there and had a great time dancing it up in a totally uncrowded area, to some great world beats - and i got to see a great world artist that i might not have otherwise, i love introductions like that. and so ended day 2, we jumped out of manu a little early to grab some egg rolls and get a game plan for the rest of the night - unfortunately we had heard that the brain damaged eggmen was sold out, so our afterparty plans needed a re-adjustment. team hotel essex decided to pack it in for the night in hopes of having a solid finish on sunday, and a good plan indeed. team congress decided to venture out for a walk and find something to eat. we ended up mostly just walking and not getting anything of substance - came back to the hotel, watched some latino tv and passed out.

lollapalooza - day 3

i dont know why, but i didnt have much interest when rachelle wanted to go so early to check out perry farrell on the kids stage. instead, ren, crystal and myself went for breakfast at our favourite diner before making our way into the park. turns out, however, that perry went on a little late, so we got to see some of the end of his set, as well - maybe the last 2 or 3 songs, he was singing while peter distefani was playing acoustic guitar. tahitian moon is really all i remember, but it was cool to see him sing a few songs like that. when he was done he surprised everyone by calling patti smith out onto the stage. patti smith on the kids stage with an acoustic guitar! she comes out and proceeds to tell the kids that "any asshole can play guitar", and then does a 3 song acoustic set consisting of a newly written protest song about the war in lebanon with some very graphic lyrics about the dismemberment of little limbs, and the disfigurement of bodies - referring to the children that died in a recent bombing - all on the kids stage. rock on patti! met up with rachelle there and after that we checked out a bit of the frames, and to me they sounded like most of a lot of other bands around these days, typical indie sound, but they had a couple tunes that really stood out at the end, and you know, if they played my town i'd probably go check 'em out and they'd probably blow the roof off the bar. again we ran into pete and tash en route to nickel creek, so we went with them and got a good spot for my surprise act of the weekend, hands down. nickel creek blew me away. they were so good on each of their instruments, all string band, fiddle, upright bass, mandolin, and acoustic guitar. so slick. and their voices, good lord! they could all sing, too! i didnt know any of their originals, it was a first time hearing kinda thing for me, but i thought they were great, and the cover choices were fantastic: a radiohead song off the bends whose name escapes me right now, toxic by britney, and the weight by the band. toxic really got the crowd's attention, but my favourite moment, and a candidate for favourite musical moment of the week, was when they brought their guitar tech on stage to sing rick danko's verse in the weight, and he did bang on with all the emotion you'd expect from danko! man, it was so awesome! the rest of the afternoon consisted of gettin' some grub, wandering around, getting re-fills of lemonade, and checking out the last half of andrew bird who's sweet voice kept pulling us in closer. we stayed till the end of his set and were glad we did - another great new artist find on the weekend. after andrew we trekked over to the far mainstage again to catch the beginning of matisyahu, and although i wasnt diggin' it too much, he definitely had a good crowd and had people moving. i just really didnt think he was that good, is all. i left with enough time to go catch the last bit of the shins and stake out a spot for us all for wilco. the shins were pretty cool from what i heard - maybe 4 or 5 songs. they played the only tunes i know, which was great for me, haha. but to be honest, they really didnt sound much different than i expected them to be, and didnt grab me enough to make me love 'em. when they were done it was an hour till showtime for wilco, and there really wasnt anything else on schedule that i wanted to see, so, i moved to a nice spot on a manhole cover by the fence under the monitors, stage left, and held down ground for the team. it was the one show we had all agreed we wanted to be together for to see so we had a makeshift plan that started as a bit of a running joke - lemons up. you're lost in the crowd, you got this giant cup of lemonade with a lemon on top, raise it up. your friends will find you. so thats what i did. i stood on this manhole cover with my lemon in the air for an hour, and sure as shit, they all rolled in. first it was ren and crystal that spotted. then rachelle. then scottie and team essex from way back! i could hear people on cell phones within listening radius telling their friends just to look for the guy with the lemon. it obviously worked. we all got together and took in a most kickass wilco show. they were pleasantly surprised at the vast crowd and massive response for their return to chicago, and treated us to 4 new tunes, and went back only as far as summerteeth in the catalogue, but hammered us with tunes like shot in the arm, via chicago, i am trying to break your heart, handshake drugs, jesus etc... and a dedication from jeff to his wife of 11 years, i am the man who loves you and hummingbird to close the show. this band owns chicago. they have really come into their own, and it was a great affirmation that the show we got here in london was the real deal - that these guys are the real deal. such power and conviction in their playing, they throw themselves at you on stage. wilco is in a great place right now and they're writing some great great songs to back it up. the new one, what light, was probably the highlight for me again. we stayed right till the end while some other forged ahead of the crowd across grant park to broken social scene - maybe the better plan. when we got there, there wasnt a whole lot left, maybe half the set or less, because it was a short one right before the chili peppers - probably the shortest set for a bigger name band, they only got like 45 minutes - but they were given the biggest respect and one hell of a long encore call out, that name came to fruition. they did come out for a couple curtain calls and jump down to crowd level to meet some fans, though, which i thought was really cool. they surprised everyone by bringing out emily haines for anthems, and closed with a most rockin' ibi dreams of pavement. another candidate for song of the weekend. it had so much raw energy and power, the band brought it so hard. it was a dedication to their touring soundman who was doing his last show with them. what a great way to go out. we should have taken those words with us. instead, we checked out a little bit of the chili peppers and i was least impressed. shoulda gone out on the BSS high note, but oh well. i just found the chili's to be mostly lame and almost having become a parody of themselves. i dunno, i wasnt into it much, so it didnt take much convincing when rachelle wanted to take off to the merch booth at the end of the night. not much was left, so we regrouped back at the hotel for a journey on up to the abbey pub for our sunday latenight fix, bustle in your hedgegrow.

bustle in your hedgegrow - abbey pub

this might be the story of the weekend. we go up to the abbey pub to check out bustle in your hedgegrow, and team A arrives 4 strong, waits in line, gets our wristbands, goes to pay and finds out unless you got tickets or are on the list, you aint gettin' in. shit. we go to the pub next door to regroup and figure out what to do. in the meantime, team B arrives 6 strong, and 2 of them buy extras outside to go find us inside, assuming we had gotten in. after a drink, i notice scottie out on the street through the pub window - we were just about on our way out anyhow, so i go meet him and he gives me the scoop. the key to this exchange is that when we came in first and got carded and whatnot we struck up conversation with the id guy who was wearing a very touristy canada t-shirt. turns out this guy loves canada. i mean, LOVES CANADA, to the tune of having a bootleg bell express vue sattelite dish - bootleg canadian tv!! he loves canadian idol, peter mansbridge and corner gas. he carries lucky loonies and twoonies. he's an avid blue jays fan. the man lives in the home of the world series champions and he cheers for a canadian baseball team!! so, as team A and 2/3 of team B are devising plans to grab cabs and head back downtown, figuring brahm and angie will eventually realize we didnt get in and just enjoy the show, our honourary canadian, Leroy, comes over and with his stamp held high ever so subtly begins to go around our circle and stamp each of our hands. he then tells us to go in through the pub, wait a few moments and then start to come in, and smaller groups. when its our turn to go through we get up to the front and start to go in and he changes into a beast and starts yelling "i told you guys to stay in here! no more ins and outs! you here me?! you're in here the rest of the night!" - totally played it off for us to the doorman and away we were. 10 strong for bustle in your hedgegrow. amazing to get hooked up for what was destined to be an amazing show. a band which consists of benevento/russo on keys and drums, dave dreiwitz on bass (from ween!), and brendan bayliss on guitar, from umphrey's, filling in for scott metzger who couldnt be there. they do all instrumental led zeppelin, unless of course the crowd picks up the vocals, which certainly happened a few times. brendan also sang on fool in the rain - a highlight of the night which also included marco jumping off stage to play the crazy piano breakdown on the actual house piano behind these black curtains that just happened to be RIGHT BESIDE where we were taking in the show - ren got a great photo, mine is shit. slow reaction time, and the crowd really surged. that show was a totally balls to the walls rock extravaganza. it was so hot, so sweaty, people were rockin' extremely hard, and i think we all lost a good 10 lbs.... which is probably a good thing, bowling season is coming and i need to get in shape. they played some awesome zeppelin, and totally had us beaten into submission by the end of it. the band looked like they were having more fun than the crowd, too, which no doubt kept everything moving like a freight train. we left puddles of ourselves, said our goodbyes, and waited for the cabs to drag our asses back home. it seemed like forever.

house on the rock

on monday we ventured up into wisconsin so we could hit this crazy "museum" called the house on the rock. we stayed at a wicked inn and hit the pool/hot tub late night for some kickass relaxin' after the 3 day fest. we saw the museum tuesday morning before heading back to chicago. this was quite literally a house built on/in the rock in rural wisconsin. and modified, expanded into a pyschadelic walk through kitchy creepiness. room after room of weirdness. a carousel with 300 "things" and not one horse head. crazy flying mannequins with one breast showing. dolls. lots of dolls. miniatures. history of aviation stuff, old town walks, old cars, a giant whale tangled up in a squid. lots and lots of musical stuff - set up puppet orchestras. and everything was so very very grande. it was truly a spectacle, took us 3 hours to walk through and get our creep on, before we came out and had no idea what we should even be reflecting on. hit the road back to chicago, checked into a hostel, grabbed a bite and went back to grant park for their tuesday night free movie in the park - this night it was american graffiti, and we didnt stay till the end. back to the hostel where rachelle tried to sneak me into her dorm room and "hide" me under a single sheet in a single bed when we got busted. you cant even imagine the ridiculousness. like it was a cartoon or something, i could just tiptoe out when their backs were turned... uh huh.... anyways, eventually the morning came and it was wednesday. merry waitsmas.

tom waits

august 9th, 2006. rachelle and i spent the afternoon doing some touristy stuff... started the day at the sears tower, going up to the observation deck to get a wicked glimpse of the city. i personally think i enjoyed the veiw from the hancock last time, but only because you could see more shoreline from it's location. the sears gives you a better overall view of the city. i had a bit of a moment when i caught soldier field and remembered that today was the day jerry garcia had died 11 years ago and that was the place of his final show. i stared a little longer and said a little something for jerry... my eyes might have watered a little, too. after some lunch at portillo's we got on a gangster tour and it was really awesome. saw so much more of the city than i figured we would, got entertained and learned some of the mobster history from chicago while seeing the great historical sights. that took us to our hotel check in time where we met up again with ren and crystal, then i went on a crazy t-shirt mission, and eventually we got some dinner, not all of our dinners, but some of them, didnt pay for any of them, and then got in line and waited for waits. and when it was time, when the man hit the stage and the band struck up, when the anticipation was over and it had become a reality, this is what happened...

Tom Waits
Auditorium Theatre, Roosevelt University
Chicago, Il.
08.09.06.

Make it Rain(1)
Hoist That Rag
Shore Leave
God's Away on Business
All the World is Green
Falling Down
Tango Till They're Sore(2)
Tom Traubert's Blues(2)
Eyeball Kid(3)
Down in the Hole
Don't Go Into that Barn
Shake It
Trampled Rose
What's He Building in There?(4)
'Till the Money Runs Out(5)
Murder in the Red Barn
Lie to Me
Get Behind the Mule(6)
encore 1:
The Day After Tomorrow(7)
Singapore(8)
encore 2:
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Time Time Time(9)

(1) - it finally happens. tom hits the stage and chicago nearly blows up.

(2) - exit band, enter piano. just tom and larry taylor on the upright bass playing super soft. great banter about local streets and how they change, with a little tip of the hat to "9th and hennepin", a mention of being shot, and a bit about the Weiner Circle and its, umm, hospitality. crownd loses their fuÇking minds for tom traubert's blues.

(3) - casey waits beatboxing, larry taylor using his mouth as an instrument, too... strange arrangement.

(4) - my heart nearly stops.

(5) - another great arrangement, took me a while to figure out what it was.

(6) - i love you, tom.

(7) - tom on the acoustic, and if you werent listening closely, that's all you'd hear.. the band was playing ever so softly behind him, it was incredible.. such controlled touch... just... barely... enough. 2nd time that day i had a tear in my eye.

(8) - raging.

(9) - one last time on the acoustic. thank you. goodnight.

incredible incredible incredible - my mind was blown from start to finish. the band sounds like the way marrionette's dance, and tom totally plays to that role, as well - its such a beautiful way for music to exist in a space like that. he's such a commander of the stage and the crowd, but shows no sign of ego on stage. the bands knows their spots and tom gives way accordingly. and i really cant emphasize enough how controlled the show was, on each and every one of their parts. it was just really well constructed and put together, the sound was amazing, the set choice was fine by me, and tom waits is just tom waits and thats all there is to that.

(i had already written that elsewhere, but i see no reason to say it any different - it says it all. the show was amazing.)

so, in the end, another great trip to chicago. we got lucky when we needed it, saw more of the city than i could have imagined, took in an amazing music festival, a crazy museum, we also made time for touristy stuff, like the art institute where i totally got re-inspired by a guy named harry callahan, a bus tour, and just walking around and taking in the city. i'd say we really packed it in. and we finished it all with a legend in a glorious music theatre. a trip i'll never forget.

same time same place next year, right?

grab 07.18.06

2006-07-30T09:06:00.000-04:00

a conversation last night about this show prompted me to put the tapes on for a re-listenin'/re-livin', and then i remember that i'd been meaning to type something up about it.. wish i could go through the minute by minute play by play as it was in my brain that night, cuz that, my friends, was fucking cool. i had a kickass time at the show, it exceeded any and all expectations i had going in.

grab.. mike and the italians... ambiguously trey duo... trey and mike with the duo... whatever you wanna call 'em... they played at the hummingbird center in toronto, and it was my first time in there... and i totally lucked out with the seats i ended up in.. long story short: scottie's extra. but the best part was someone took our seats, so we ended up taking in the show from the second set of steps, like 4 steps up, on the first balcony, dead center. it was just awesome. the sound couldnt have been better if i had it cranked to 11 in my living room. and the perspective was just incredible.. you could see enough crowd to get their energy, and make the connection of interaction with the band... the lights took on a whole new dimension, and to see different parts of the playing and make the correlation with the sounds hitting my ears, that was pretty cool, too.. for example all the footwork, the timing... i mean, you always know thats how it works, but when you're on the floor you dont see it the same way... it was just a neat way to watch the music. and the music itself, like i said, was great.

GRAB - 7/18/06
Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Marco Benevento and Joe Russo
Hummingbird Centre, Toronto, Ontario Canada

1. Sand
2. Drifting
3. Trouble
4. Sleep Again
5. Something For Rockets
6. Goodbye Head >
7. Plasma
8. Waste*
9. You've Got Me Floating*
10. On The Road Again*
11. Mexican Cousin*
12. Suskind Hotel
13. Who Are You
Encore:
14. These Eyes
15. Dragonfly
16. Tuesday

* acoustic Trey and Mike only

the sand opener just about knocked everyone on their ass, and drifting was a pretty sweet comedown.... it was great to hear mike so big in the mix from where we were, and he thumped away all night. joey russo, i thought, was incredible at just reading the crowd and giving 'em that little pick me up whenever they needed a little kick. the trey/marco interaction was interesting, too - you could see how marco would push trey early on, but i really thought as the show went on the tables kinda turned and trey really took over.. trey seemed to really want toronto, he played to the crowd and was very well received - and rightly so. the acoustic section with gordo on the banjo was probably my favourite part of the night - included a waste sing-a-long, a willie tune, a hendrix tune, and a fun phish tune. after they strapped the electics back on and got the band out they warmed up with one before launching like a cannonball into Who Are You - i remember the room just about exploding. end of the set, and i think everyone felt a little beat up. the encore was a request from the party they had the night before, and you know, as cool as it was and as sweet as it was to say what a great hometown the band had and whatnot, memo to trey - that hometown is winnipeg. they sorta pulled it off, but it was mostly fun anyways and the end of these eyes was pretty funny with marco pushing trey higher and higher up the scale - you could see them laughing on the stage trying to get through it, a good fun way to start the encore, that mostly was a let-down after that. didnt matter, though - they hammered us most of the night, and it was nice to see trey and mike having so much fun up there with the duo rockin' it out. good times.

high-fives to the hummingbird center staff for being pretty cool, and to that place in general - what a beautiful venue, with incredible sound!

wilco is cock

2006-07-09T22:07:00.000-04:00

you can write it on a flag, but please, for the love of god, DO NOT PISS ON THE MONUMENT!!

the surprise of the summer, wilco played london fucking ontario last nite, at centennial hall, to one of the most jubilant crowds i have ever seen, and been a part of, in this fair city. london, you surprised me last night, a great big kudos to you.

the show was just a thrashing of left jabs, right hooks and crushing uppercuts... i mean, they probably couldnt play anything disappointing to begin with, but i think they really pulled out all the stops, and more importantly, the flow, and energy they kept up throughout the entire show, they were just relentless. nils is a fucking madman. john stirratt is still one of my favourite bass players to watch and listen to - man, there was one point in the encore when he just got rockin', jumpin' up and down, hammering down on that bass, so thick givin' it right back to tweedy, just awesome. they all had so much energy. i really think the crowd helped that out, they were totally into it all night, singing along, getting excited, crazy encore call out, i think that really goes a long way into making the show rock that much more - the band plays to that. tweedy was incredible as always, didnt say much to the crowd, but was corgial when he did. the waving to the audience might have been one of the funnier things i've seen - or, rather, the waving back. and i swear, if he was dirty blond he'd be a dead ringer for boyko. dirty cottage boyko. sorry, man - we got photos, though. anyways, he sounded great all night, and now the 4th time i've seen them since 2001, and he just seems to get better and better at his craft - the front man... the guitar player... the songwriter - consistently improving. the new songs they unleashed were quite good - especially the opener. here's a setlist:

new song-There's a Light
The Late Greats
Misunderstood
Far, Far Away
Company In My Back
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Handshake Drugs
new song-Impossible Germany
War on War
At Least That's What You Said
Jesus, etc.
Walken (Talking To Myself About You)
Theologians
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird
---------------------------------
Airline to Heaven
Forget the Flowers
She's a Jar
Kingpin
I'm A Wheel
---------------------------------
A Shot in the Arm>
Spiders (Kidsmoke)

was really glad to hear misunderstood, as thats probably the song that really made me a fan.. she's a jar is in a similar class, as well... other highlights were forget the flowers, company in my back, jesus etc, and handshake drugs. i mean, everything was a highlight, but those ones keep sticking out to me.

oh, and great job on the sound at centennial hall. that's always my beef with that place, but it sounded fantastic last night.

so that was easily the best wilco show i've seen yet - far and away. havent felt like that leaving a show since the ice cream truck. wonder what chicago's got in-store....

was real good to hang out after the show with craig, sari, kaidy, lacey and brian, too.... good times in the park, hahahah, good times... man, i love great shows so close to home.

Canada Day Weekend - Ottawa

2006-07-05T11:43:00.000-04:00

well, we're getting better... 3 days after the fact is a little better than 10, eh?

so rachelle and i went up to ottawa for the big canada day weekend celebration... we left late thursday afternoon to hopefully beat holiday traffic, but still managed to get somewhat fuckled by traffic and construction, and arrived after about 8 and a half hours on the road... the trials and tribulations of my late afternoon prior to leaving, coupled with the joys of holiday highway driving made for a cranky guigsy, and no doubt made the ride somewhat hellish for rachelle... sorry 'bout that.

friday afternoon i hit the links with jordan while rachelle went out on a big 3-4 hour cycle tour... had a great game of golf, shot 101, and my short game was unstoppable. chipping from the fringe and beyond was easy as pie, long range putting - no problem. i even had some success off the tees - if i could learn to hit my 3, 4, or 5 iron, i might put a decent game together one of these days. jordan's a damn good golfer, and it was a treat to watch him play - i picked up a few things just from observing, so that was cool. blew through 5 or 6 groups of people, and finished 18 in just about 3 hours or so.

after some dinner, time for the burties....

Burt Neilson Band - Mavericks, Ottawa 06.30.06

distraction >
holes
down with the sound
untied
in the belly
full tilt
stop 28
these days >
by the door
st. andrews
wyld knights

encore:
watchin' tv that no one else could see >
jack lumber

and, whoah boy, did they rip it up!! full tilt and untied are 2 new songs, and wyld knights was an older one they dusted off, after about 5 years on the shelf.

full tilt was a more upbeat jeff song, featuring a trombone (nice to see a horn back in the burtie mix!), and untied sounds distinctly like a mike song, a good groove and progression, a nice bit of writing for sure.

my highlights from the show were the distraction opener, that song just gets better and better each time i hear it, it's really evolved into a great tune... down with the sound is always great to hear, and this night was no different with a deep spacey chevronesque jam in the middle... stop 28 brought it hard, and how can you argue with the watchin' tv > jack lumber encore? great show, high energy, thanks boys!

next up...

Canada Day Party at 40 Main

so many great bands throughout the day, 28 kegs of steamwhistle, johnny's pizza from carlton providing the grub, McVelvet on the mic keepin' us entertained between bands, and all sorts of various this' and that's of goodness.

my favourite acts on the day were the spades, my first time seeing them and loving every second of their brand of alt-country-rock, and dave lauzon doing a rockin' solo set, a real treat for me, having not seen dave play a guitar since nero's new years eve finale a couple years back. the man brought it hard and rocked our faces off... lotsa layering and building, keys and acoustics... loved it.

and i cant forget El Beejay covering the rheos saskatchewan, rocked up style, and LURE sounded pretty good, too... both featuring jay mcconnery from nero on the kit. vanderpark sounded alright, and it was towards the end of their set that the po-po came and shut 'er down... not bad, we got through 9/10 of the day, anyways... but i really woulda loved to see Bullmoose... they rocked it last year!

so much fun hangin out with so many great people, playing with balloon animals, catching the fireworks, etc...

the folks up in ottawa really know how to show out of towners a great time... to all the folks at 40 main who threw the party, the folks that helped make it run so smooth, jordan and lisa for giving us some crash space, thanks so much - it was great to be up there celebrating the weekend with you guys.

moment of the weekend: getting my thrush hermit t-shirt back after almost 2 years!
game of the weekend: fog or mist
quote of the weekend: "the room smelled like death slept over and fucked your mother"

see ya next year.

bachman cummings retirement drive

2006-07-03T23:12:00.000-04:00

i have to learn to get better at writing sooner after things have happened... it's already been a week, but last-last saturday, june 24th, i, along with about 8 or so of my fellow henrys colleagues, got kicked down some bachman/cummings tickets for their show at the JLC... great seats, too.. and my pair included a meet'n'greet - gotta love the management perk! thanks Vivi!!

shelly took my extra and probably had more fun than anyone in that arena - i shouldnt have been so blown away that she knew the words to pretty much every song, save 1 or 2... a champ, for sure. i know my guess who fairly well, but the solo stuff gets a little messy for me...

anyways, they dubbed it "a celebration of the songs they had written together" - fair enough. at least i was warned. what followed was truly a lesson in self indulgent rock'n'roll cheesery, a hit parade drenched by swirling tungsten bulbs and propped up by the 4 guys hiding in the misses. no need giving a setlist, you know the songs. grab greatest hits vol. 1 and 2, add a couple BTO classics, and you got the idea. london ontario decided "takin' care of business" would be the highlight of the night. sorry, burton.

of course i knew this going in.

but you cant help but hope for these guys to celebrate each other in self indulgent rock'n'roll wizardry, like they were once capable of. they had some balls back in the day, it's too bad they hung 'em up somewhere along the way. but i guess everyone's gotta get back the money they pissed and snorted away, eh?

of course the playing was well executed, obviously well rehearsed, and bang on. but neither did anything out of the ordinary, except for when burton was off stage and randy got to talkin' about lenny breau and played some pretty cool jazz licks - it woulda been nice to hear randy do some new shit that he's into and let him go off, i bet he's a more interesting and diverse guitar player than he lets on.

i cant say it was a bad show, it was certainly entertaining, and i actually had a lot of fun, but... you know.. it's old hat.. done... over.. it's the retirement drive.. the self indulgence got old fast, the classing themselves with the dylan's of the world, calling themselves geniuses, i mean, who does this? the celebration just seemed silly.

the meet and greet was hooked up by panasonic canada, i believe they were the tour sponsor. that was certainly interesting. bachman was first out and he was real interested in talking about the air conditioning and the temperature of the place - fair enough, you meet a lot of people, what're ya gonna say? he seemed cool enough. they had to call burton out for the photo op, and when he came out to shake hands he didnt want any names because "he wasnt gonna know them anyways", after he went down the line i commented on the sweet patches on his jacket and he spun around, pointed to one on his lower left stomach side and said "do you know what this one is?" - it was a Dead patch, but i didnt know the album.. didnt matter, before i could finish my sentence he cut me off and in a most pretentious voice said "oh, you young kids these days.. this is the grateful dead and an album called terrapin station, and on that album is a song called estimated prophet which was written in 7/4 time." - then he turned around, we took a picture, and he was on his way out. what the hell do ya say to that? i mean, there are lots of songs written in 7/4 time. that doesnt make bobby a genius. besides, the best thing about any estimated is the eyes that usually comes before or after. my head could have very easily exploded.

anyways, he kinda redeemed himself when the tour manager held him back to meet some more people that were waiting and one dude had brought a couple 7 inch singles from germany, one for randy, one for burton, and neither of them had any idea that they had released either of those 2 songs as singles at any point in their careers. they seemed genuinely blown away and sincerely thankful to the guy, which was cool... i mean, he seemed like a real music fan, right, not just someone who was part of a sponsored meet and greet. fair enough.

a month in the making...

2006-06-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

well i've managed to neglect this little place pretty good over the last little while. lots has been goin on, though... lets see, we had the may 24 weekend, i turned 26, seen some bands, been to a couple weddings, went on the work retreat.... consider this the monster update...

so i've seen a few shows since i wrote last.. first was Islands, they did an early gig at Call The Office a few wednesday's ago... i dunno... they werent really my thing, exactly... i decided they were indie's answer to the string cheese incident... SCIslands. they had an equivalent sound and persona, just in a different genre... i got a kick out of that, actually. i remember the fiddle players standing out, but thats all i remember standing out. for the most part, they were pretty predictable and boring, i found... an amalgamation of a lot of sounds and bands, certainly falling within the canadian indie rock mantra, but just ultimately weak.

the jimmy swift band also rolled through town at the beginning of june, and that was actually a real treat to see them... it had been about a year and a half or so, at least, since i'd seen them, so i was excited to hear some new stuff - had heard a lot of this new drummer and some of the new rocker tunes... well, the new drummer certainly wasnt a disappointment, but i dont think he's the god-send that some people make him out to be. though, he certainly fits their sound nicely, and may be part and parcel to an emerging sound from them... that bigger heavier arena rock sound. some of the new tunes they unleashed on us in their 50 minute or so set were full of fresh pop goodness, catchy and full of hooks for sure. Medicine Chest is a stand-out new song that goes from 0-60 in about 2 and a half seconds, cranks it up Van Halen 1984 style, eases into a sweet dub/ska groove (surely inspired by fellow east coasters, slowcoaster), then finishes with a strong left hook. all in just over 3 minutes - there's no reason it shouldnt the radio hit of the summer. lookin' forward to their new release, slated for july or august, im told. nice to get back into some JSB, i think that shorter set was perfect for what they gave us, and im lookin' forward to more from them in the near future.

up next was g. love in toronto - went out to the big smoke to hang out with aagaard and catch the show... had a big fattie meet-up with basher and julia in the park beforehand, and once the heads were taken care of, into the show we went. it'd been 7 years since i last saw g. love, that was also the last time he did a headlining slot in toronto, so im sure im not the only person who was just buggin' to see him... this time, a bit of a step up venue-size-wise, i think... the Phoenix this time, vs. Opera House last time. truth be told, i preferred him the first time around. by no means was he bad, or having an off night, i dont even think, i just dont think this incarnation of the band did as much for me as the last one: this time he had a 5 piece, the main trio, plus a 2nd drummer, and a guy on keys. at times the show (and playing) seemed to lack some cohesiveness, and the vocals were mostly lost in the mix. that said, the band seemed to have a lot of energy on stage, and the set was pretty good, too. the thing i really love about g. love's guitar playing, although he may not be the craziest virtuoso out there, he gets this great sound from his sweet touch and carries a brilliant tone.. he really is a treat to listen to when he's goin on off on his laid back swanky blues... i really coulda used more of the laid back and swanky g. love and special sauce trio feel, but the sound this band puts forth is a little more rock than that... setlist highlights: baby's got sauce, and cold beverages for sure. love the old school.

last on the showlist was bright eyes, that happened last tuesday. another hit and miss show. the band seemed to really lack the intensity that they can carry on their albums... which is usually backwards in a live setting, but oh well... a tuesday night in london to a half empty concert hall, i think maybe they can be forgiven. Connor Oberst had his moments, but he seemed to be really choosey as to when he was going to let loose for us... i wish he would just go off - the guy seems to have endless potential. the band was mostly a disappoint.. i didnt think they had any real stand-out players at all, and in fact the drummer was just terrible to watch. too.much.ro.bot.ics.

so, what else? oh ya, i mentioned i turned 26. yes i did. may 29th. i feel pretty good about that, so far so good for 26. i didnt really do anything for my birthday, had dinner with rachelle and hung out with some friends at scottie's later on - it was cool of him to have some people over for me. the last few years have been some pretty crazy show-goin birthday times, so maybe it was time i took a year off. haha. we'll see how we can up the ante next year...

james had his surprise wedding and it went off without a hitch... i wish i was there for the whole thing, but the box of wine after JSB got me and i spent most of the next day horizontal - i did make it for the dinner and reception, though... just wish my stomach was in better shape to enjoy that roast beef. gotta give the guy credit: he totally pulled it off and set the romance bar at an astronomical height. way to go, big guy.

and also marian had her hawaiin wedding last night, and man that was a blast, too... all the people in their hawaiin/polynesian get-ups were awesome to look at... some beautiful colours for that wedding...

so congrats to all of them, too... james and steph, marian and ryan - way to go, guys!

and lastly to finish this update... the managers retreat was last weekend. and sweet holy jesus, what a time. Henry's did a good job for us at the White Oaks Golf and Spa Resort in Niagara-On-The-Lake - from tee off till the moment we left i had a blast. played a great round of golf sunday morning, i dont think i'd ever been consistently hitting the ball better, both off the tee and in my short game, i had a great day. rode with Nathan as well, and that was a lot of fun - it was good to catch up throughout the afternoon.. and he brought wicked stogies! dinner and drinks the first night brought a lot of laughs and was a great ice breaker with the baby picture/current picture game... though, i think the real ice breakers came with the card games and the excess boozing later on, but thats where the real conference takes place, right? heheh. i won the first poker game and the weekend continued on the up and up from there.. had a blast getting to know different people, and getting different perspectives and approaches to our jobs... enjoying the company of some people i probably never would have had the opportunity to, otherwise, and generally, just loosening up and letting our guards down, so to say... there certainly was not a dull moment from 8am - 3:30am, action packed, and fun. even the facilitations were interesting and informative, and good groups of people to keep it serious, but light enough as well. they brought in a comic on the last night for us, and she was a riot, too... they loaded her up with a lot of personal ammo on all of us, and she went to town... good sports, around.. really, i cant say enough of how good a time it was. and i succeeded in not puking in front of the owner, too.... though, the same cant be said for all of us.

:)

last week in music...

2006-05-18T18:52:00.000-04:00

Heavy Trash - 05.09.06, Call the Office

a band comprised of jon spencer, matt verta-ray and the sadies, how could this miss? gritty, greasy, and loud as hell. the band is obviously full of some seriously talented musicians - the sadies never seem to miss a beat, no matter what outfit they're playing in, they're just spot on with each other, with seemingly very little stage interaction.. or noticeable interaction, at least. it always amazes me to watch these guys - and though their proficiency shone through on the night, there were definitely some moments where i felt they were a little outta step with mr. spencer, and mr. verta-ray. spencer is full of raucous rock n roll grit, growling and screaming his way through songs... a man of his (smaller) size, producing a sound of it's own (larger) size, is quite a juxtaposition in sight and sound. definitely there were some great moments, pockets of songs, that really stood out, but for the most part i found the songs much weaker than the strength of the playing. eventually it was too much of the same old, and by 12:30 i was starting to nod off in the bar. for me, the night was made most enjoyable from watching sean dean (bass - the sadies) hammer away on his stand-up, and from picking out dallas good's parts and listening intently to those - the man has quickly become one of my favourite guitar players, and i thought his accents were perfectly placed and tastefully executed all night. all in all, its always a treat to see musicians such as this come together, especially on a quiet tuesday night in the city, but i really do wish that the songs themselves stood up to the playing.

Small Sins - 05.12.06, Call the Office

well, my 3rd time seeing small sins (first time they were the ladies and gentleman), and i really do have to give these guys credit. i will say, of the 3 shows i've seen, this was probably my least favourite in some respects, but it wasnt bad, and there were some things i was really glad to see. first of all, these guys are a poppy indie-rock band, and you wouldnt expect much jamming or re-arranging, but i gotta say the songs have really grown in their own ways, outside of and apart from the album. the first time around the show was absolutely excellent - blew away all expectations, and after picking up the disc that night and giving it a listen, you could really hear where they were trying to take those songs to the next level. the 2nd time we saw them was incredible. even blew the first time away! the show was rocked up even more, the songs had developed their own charm and taken on their own flavour in a live setting. this time around, there was certainly more of that, but i felt as if, at times, they were again trying to take some of those songs to yet another level. trying to really create something within them, push them in one direction or another. its a hard thing to describe, at least i am finding it hard right now, but definitely, to my ears, the songs had a bit of a different flavour to them, and i wont go so far as to say they were perhaps in an "experimental" mode, but maybe it was a little bit of "well, what about *this*, *here*.. " kinda thing.. if that makes any sense. who knows. the band was still very much in-sync with each other, we got our favourite keyboard solo, and i got to sing along with some great tunes that are becoming more and more familiar to me everyday. and, i always enjoy seeing a band try new things within their songs, whether or not they come off perfect everytime.. if you never try, you'll never discover the possibilities.

Black Crowes - 05.13.06, John Labatt Centre

alright, the big one! the black crowes, reunited once more and rocking canada coast to coast, making a saturday night stop in london, ontario, a mere 3 minutes away... my first opportunity to see them was foiled by a silly "of-age" law in early winter '99, so i was completely stoked for this. the JLC had the whole theatre vibe thing goin on, closing it up to 3000 people or so, and we had floor tickets so all was good. missed the openers, matt mays, but for there in time for the crowes to rock our faces off. and they did. with a big southern swampland wall of guitar sound and jammy gospel goodness. chris robinson could be the frontman of all frontmen, wailing away, dancing, clapping, in all his divine jamrock god glory... rich robinson, his brother, perhaps one of the most underrated, underappreciated guitar players in rock n roll grabbed my attention with his tasty southernfriend licks all night. marc ford, the other guitar player in the band got to show off his chops quite a bit as well, and you could tell there was no ego between the 2 guitar players... trading solos, giving away to each other when the time called, it was a great lesson in playing together. the band pulled out a bunch of their older hits including sting me, thick n thin, wiser time, a conspiracy, she talks to angels, remedy, and thorn in my pride, along with a couple choice covers, most notably, dylan's this wheel's on fire, to close out the encore. for me, the highlights of the night were remedy, which seemed a little sped up, she talks to angels, this wheels on fire, and thorn in my pride.. in fact, the jam leading into and the jam in the middle of thorn in my pride were the clear winners.. some seamless movement of music right there. i was super impressed with all their jamming all night.. they opened the night welcoming us to a night of music for heads, by heads, and they certainly delivered. and the next day, my head hurt a little.

after the show ended we took the party back to 175 dundas, and it was nice to entertain some out of towners for a little post-show come downer... scottie and his buddy paul got out the acoustics and treated us to a drunken little latenight rooftop set, highlighted by the soulful singing of mr. king and the smooth stylings of mr. aitken... a perfect way to cap off a sweet week of music in london rock city.

3 dollar chinese

2006-05-10T18:36:00.000-04:00

old whiskey river

2006-05-04T19:35:00.000-04:00

willie nelson kicked off his canadian tour last week at the john labatt centre here in london! holy shit! what the f??? willie!! WILLIE!!!

seriously...

we (brahm, rachelle, and i) decided to check the box office, night of, to see what we could get and take our chances.. showed up right near the end of the nitty gritty dirt band, needed 3 seats in a row, and hit the friggin jackpot! we were 3 rows up from the floor, perfect eye level, just off to the side of the stage on a great viewing angle - beautiful! all day when i was checking online all they had left were nosebleeds... just after we got to our seats a woman came by ranting about how her mother ordered tickets and was told she'd be in a great spot but, when they got there, they ended up way up in the rafters or something, and wouldnt you be disappointed if you came all the way from windsor and they stuck you way up there, i bet you would, she ordered these tickets for herself and i told her i would bring her, all the way from windsor, for her 81st birthday... well, wouldn't ya know, ma'am, we came from down the street 5 minutes ago and they stuck us right here. *shrugs*

great show overall, and man, i was impressed by willie - totally exceeded all my expectations. the pace of the show, the sound, loudness, i thought was great - the ease with which the band with each other.. trading off parts here and there, transitioning from songs.. it was great to see and hear. they opened with whiskey river and wound through a good 4 or 5 tunes before taking a break and addressing the crowd.. i was impressed with that. and willie's lead playing, i thought, was phenomenal the entire show. the man can play! and all on the acoustic all night, it sounded so nice.

i dont remember the setlist exactly, but i know he opened and closed with whiskey river. everything else you'd probably wanna hear was in there.. then he threw in some waylon, and hank.. then some more stuff you'd recognize but i dont know the name of. it was great.

willie nelson, baby.

tamarindo, costa rica: the pictorial

2006-04-30T21:37:00.000-04:00

click here.

tamarindo, costa rica: the editorial

2006-04-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

whoa.. it's already been a week since i returned from 10 days of beach, sun and hammock in Tamarindo... where has the time gone?? oh right... i've been working.. and... umm... exercising... or something... and all the while musing about how i might like to document my trip, in typed form, on this little piece of world wide web real estate.. i wrote a ton while i was down there, and have been taking ideas and themes from that, but in the end, here i am, typing away, with no real ideas... off the cuff we go...

so - tamarindo - hmm... well, they say a picture paints a thousand words, but i suppose you need the right picture. does the opposite hold true? can a bunch of words create a thousand pictures? sometimes, maybe. i'd ask you to close your eyes while i got it all out, but then, well, you wouldnt see anything on the screen... so, you're gonna have to do 2 things at once here.. like walking and chewing gum... i know some of you can do it - the rest, well, maybe time for a little evolution, hmm?

evolution is maybe where i should begin. the town has evolved, and continues to evolve more fully, into a haven, a paradise, for rich white people. from the way the land is being sold off and developed to the sizeable amount of tourists... someone told me it is the most touristy place in the country - not surprised. if you're one of those people who is looking to invest in a piece of land, tamarindo may be the place for you: you're hard pressed to go anywhere and not see a billboard for Century 21 or Re/Max. the boom is apparent as soon as you move 3 or 4 streets deep into the town - there is construction everywhere - future vacation palaces being built for a buck 50 an hour. i was taking some pictures one day of the moon through some trees, i happened to be in front of a construction site, and a local walking by asked me if i was "recording the destruction of tamarindo" - i got him. in talking to some locals, i realized how quickly this has happened. in talking to some others, i got the feeling that this has always been happening to them.

i am a white person. by no means would i say i am rich. but parts of me still felt guilty for feeding into something that i dont necessarily agree with. it was a little difficult for me to deal with for the first part of my trip while i got settled with where i was. i didnt stay at a resort. in fact the place i stayed was incredible and exactly what i would have hoped for - and i'd recommend it to anyone. in fact i will right now:

Casa Tamarindo, owned and operated by Kyle Zelley - a little property with a couple bungalows and a house and incredible rates for the area, with a great host, and a perfect location, given you're far enough away to avoid the noise and craziness of the nightlife, but also close enough that you can jump right into it, or onto the beach, with a short 3 minute walk down the street.

the town itself really panders to the tourist. cool - makes it real easy. but sometimes, its a little much: such as showing up for a brazilian music night at a restaurant, and yes, granted there was a brazilian on stage, however the songs he was singing were far from brazilian. not even the same hemisphere. the food was good, though.

actually, the best places i found to eat were the ones that weren't pandering to the tourist... the best food, feel, and prices came from the most authentic.

there is lots to do, if you have the cash and the right number of people to do it with. otherwise, the beach is beautiful and the hammock's are comfortable. and sometimes, for some people, thats all you need. i certainly got my fair share of relaxing in - so much so that i started to get bored. i guess it is possible to relax too much.

left the town one day, we rented some scooters and went on a little adventure, which was a lot of fun... took backroads to Avellanas on Easter Thursday. it was neat to see parts of their "countryside" - is that what you'd call it? i guess for lack of a better expression.. and for me, the most intriguing part about it was seeing some of the little villages and housing.. i wish i got more pictures than i did, but we took a different way back and missed a lot of that. basically, a lot of shacks, or poorly constructed dwellings, but hell if they didnt have their own little charm! thats probably when i felt most connected to where i was - exploring and seeing that side of it.

i mentioned Easter Thursday. i wasnt even thinking of this when i planned the trip, but it happened to fall right into their Easter Fiesta celebrations... and they take that shit SERIOUSLY! i guess everything around the country shuts down from Thursday on, but being in a resort town, we didnt feel that crunch at all. well, they did stop selling alcohol until saturday, but that was it, really. so, Easter is a big deal... thats when all the Tico's come to town and take over - and good on 'em! but good lord, do these people party! you know, i've partied once or twice in my life, but even i felt out of my element amongst them. when we ventured down to the circle on good friday night to check out the scene it was like out a movie with all the people bumpin' and grindin' on the streets, in the backs of pick-ups, drugs and alcohol everywhere you turned - mayhem is about the only way to describe it. mucho mayhem. after a few trips through the crowds and deciding it was all too much for me, i decided to regroup on a log on the beach, where i ended up hanging out with a gay costa rican who wanted to fuck my brains out. it wasnt all that bad, he was actually cool to hang out and talk with, and given my state of mind at the time, i thought it was rather funny that this was happening to me - of course it couldnt have been a sexy beach bunny - c'mon! he likened my name to Scott Paper Towels with a remark about kimberley-clarke (talk about attention to detail!), and i told him he'd always think of me when he wiped his ass. i later found out they dont do that down there (it's a luxury for the tourists, apparently), which made me even more glad that i didnt get raped. they're forward as hell, though: i had to tell him "no" more times than i was comfortable with before i bolted. i might not have stuck around as long as i did, but like i said, alcohol sales stopped on thursday, and well, he had some beers for me... the aftermath the next day is something to see, as well... drunks sleeping in beach offices, crackheads down the way sprawled out, chewing their faces out, lotsa litter, the whole deal. interesting to see and experience, though.

the rest of my experience there basically consisted of lounging on the beach, or lounging in the hammock, and eating... like i said, a ton of relaxing. i got about 200 pages into Another Roadside Attraction and wrote a shitload. day 3 i got burned so bad on the tops of my feet that i could barely walk for 2 days. my head, too - it bubbled up and eventually started leaking and peeling in a most sexy manner. settle down, ladies....

i'd say, though, on the whole, i learned more than a few lessons on that trip. i think i learned some things about myself, and the way i feel. i learned a bit about the culture, though i really do with they showed their identities more. and i learned a little spanish along the way, too, but dont ask me to speak any... most of it is likely forgotten by now....

one of my best memories of the trip will be the spanish lesson i received from a 47 year old woman whom i met at dinner my first night in town - somehow in her broken english and my non-existent spanish i agreed to meet her for a morning swim, that surely would have killed me had i gone through with it, and turned into a vocabularly lesson in the pacific ocean. not a bad welcome to the mighty pacific.

my other favourite memories spawn from the thoughts and feelings i had within myself during my times hanging out at on the rocks at langosta point, watching the sunrise, sunset, and moonset... my walks on the beach puffin' cubans, and the little interactions i had with the locals, getting a feel for the way they live, and the way they feel... and also from the people i met while travelling, whether by shuttle bus or plane, or hangin' in the airport.

overall, i cant say this was a bad trip at all. certainly it had its ups and downs, but on the whole, it was really good for me. i think i got most of what i needed out of it, and the rest, well, its a good excuse to go back, right?

stay tuned for the pictorial, coming soon.....

blowfly

2006-04-01T13:10:00.000-05:00

thursday night, brahm and i went to check out blowfly at call the office. a pioneer of rap/hip hop, the man claims to have recorded the first rap album ever, in 1959. he was hip hop before it was even dreamed up, so i was curious about this gig.

going into it, i knew very little, but i knew i was in for some serious raunch, and likely some funky music. i could certainly deal with that.

we get there and we're among 20 or 30 people or so in the bar. ouch. sat through the opener, a rapper from new york city who's name i couldnt make out anytime he said it. he didnt have a DJ, so he was alone on stage rappin' over an audiotrack to about a dozen people or so.. he seemed a little perturbed by the sparse turnout, but quite honestly, who had ever heard of the guy? he wasnt advertised, and in the end he was mostly boring.

has anyone ever noticed how standard and cliche hip hop mannerisms are? they all do the same thing. they all walk the same, use their hands and arms the same - it's like a code, and you cant break it. where's the creativity in style? compare that with rock n roll, and you got windmills, strutter steps, laid back slinky guitar playing, rock ninja kicks, swagger, all kinds of creative body language. i dunno, just an observation.

so, enter blowfly: a 60 yr. old crackhead in a superhero outfit and a mask with a generic white boy funk back up band, rappin' about dirtier things than have ever entered my head. brahm likened him to a extra raunchy hiphop weird al yankovic. not a bad take. for example, instead of queen's another bites the dust, we got treated to blowfly's version, a song about young girls called "another one learns to fuck". so you get the idea. add to that a few drunken dudes at the front "masturbating" their beers until they "splashed" all over each others faces, and you've got yourself one weird fucking scene at call the office.

im not even sure what else i can say about it. it was just a night of filthy listening in a vastly empty bar. the novelty wore off after a few tunes, but i guess it was entertaining for a night out. 3 girls in the crowd and they were picked on quite a bit, but were good sports about it - even eggin' him on here and there.

i guess at the very least i can say i've seen blowfly - whatever that means.

thank you, canon!

2006-03-30T12:14:00.000-05:00

last night i got to see my first NBA game, live and in person, as a guest of canon canada in their private box at the air canada center. mountains of food, rivers of booze, a great view of the game, and a great group of guys to be hangin' with - one of my fellow henry's managers hooked this up with our canon rep and about 8 or so of us, along with our staff development crew of 2, and a "warehouse guy" went along to live it up for a night, get shitfaced, and see the raps lose.

once we had everyone in tow, the headcount in the caravan stood at 8. with a combined weight of Lord Only Knows, but i'll say this: half of the guys in the van were 4 of the biggest dudes i know. im the smallest of the crew and somehow i lucked out with shotgun. sorry bout your luck in the back, boys - hilarious ride up.

got there and walked into a cozy little suite all decked out with sushi trays, cheese platters, and someone waiting to take my order. i ate so much i had to go puke to make room for the rest of the rye and beer. if you're in a gut wrenching situation and there is ice cream involved, you can take comfort in the fact that cherry garcia ice cream bars taste about half as good coming up as they do going down - not bad. FYI. keep that in your back pocket. i think the ribs were the clear winner on the night, though. meat just driiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipping off the bone. aaaahhhhhhhggglgglllrrrrssshhhhhhhhooohhhhhhhhyeah. .

the game itself was pretty good, i thought. bosh was out with the sprained thumb, alonzo was out for the heat, and shaq wasnt dressed. but mo'pete stole the show and played an amazing game - unfortunately it wasnt enough, as dwayne wade lead the charge for the heat and put 'em to bed late in the 4th. the raps played a great game and at times lead by 15, only to run out of steam in the end. they started taking it to the outside way too much as the game wore on and they werent having much success - but they were having great success on the inside for most of the game. oh well, 98-94 finish for the heat, and an exciting game right down to the last basket (which was an over/under deal breaker for some of our crew - someone owes someone some chicken wings, i think. in the "$11 range").

and lemme tell ya, fellas out there, the scenery at a basketball game is unreal. all i've gotta say about that is "smirnoff". scanning the crowd and other boxes with the binos was a lot of fun. saw chewie from london sitting a few rows below us, that was hilarious - nice to chat with him... and, as luck would have it, we also spotted pretty much all of our bosses and head office folk about a dozen or so boxes away from ours - so much for keepin' our little boys night out a secret. hahah. funny scenarios all over the place all night.

the bill at the end of the night was ridiculous - glad that wasnt my credit card. we gave a hundred dollar pizza to a homeless guy on the street instead of change. probably the biggest score he's ever gotten.

cant wait for the retreat.

unintended in london

2006-03-24T15:52:00.000-05:00

no, not a witty slogan for my time spent here in this city. this week i had intended on attending the unintended at call the office. the show was last nite, and indeed i did.

my cronies along for the ride: scottie, brahm, darin and erin.

the unintended are The Sadies with Rick White (Eric's Trip / Elevator fame) and Greg Keelor (of Blue Rodeo fame).

canadian rock n roll at it's ugliest and most pyschadelic. they ploughed through most of their only release to date, a self-titled album that was born on keelor's farm in the winter of 2003, and mixed in some newer tunes and some ridiculous covers for the encore. it was obvious to me that Dallas Good is the pyschadelia in the band, while Keelor is the man keepin' it heady... the grin never left his face all night... due to rock n roll or hashish, i dont know, but i'll take it either way. i've seen Keelor twice before on larger stages, so it was great to see him in a club setting like this. also, having seen the sadies before, it was a real treat to see them show off some of their more grittier skills. at times, the 4 guitar assault was mind bending and ear piercing, but very welcome... throw dallas on the organ, close your eyes and drift... put keelor on the 2nd kit, and the double drum attack had me thinking back to my grateful dead collection, reminiscing of a sweet '68 Eleven jam. right on! i cant offer a setlist, but i can tell you my favourite of the night was Stay Calm - a super heady subway that winds it way through a snowy forest and reminds us to stay calm in the cold... yes.. will do... thank you. i think it was The Collapse that closed the set and that was an absolute monster - massive jam to finish the show in a big way, or rather, to set up for an even bigger encore... they came out and launched into a raucous version of neil young's Are You Ready For The Country, then followed that up with 2 successive tracks from pink floyd's Pipers At The Gates of Dawn.... are you kidding me??? the most EPIC of encores!

this was a real treat to see this little canadian supergroup, especially in a little club 3 minutes away... show was sparsely attended, maybe 40 or 50 people, and as usual, we missed the opening act, Andre Ethier of the Deadly Snakes... which is too bad cuz i really wanted to see that, and darin said he was real good. shit.

all in all, a great show, and im real glad i was one of the few lucky londoners who got to take this in. looking forward to more future unintended related musical goodness - if they're ever in your neck of the woods, dont miss 'em.

happy birthday mom

2006-03-23T17:39:00.000-05:00

i know as i've gotten older and started to build my own life i may not call or come around often enough, but that doesnt mean im not always thinking about you.

you're one of my biggest inspirations in life, and a true survivor in every sense of the word. to be the person you are with all you've endured in life is absolutely amazing and gives me hope for my genes.

love you, mom.

may you always be 39.

the boys are gettin' stinko

2006-03-17T19:49:00.000-05:00

today has been a very good day.

happy st. patrick's day.

thought for the day...

2006-03-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

asspants.

if you're going to wear asspants, it might be a good idea to make sure they fit first. not only will this help to ensure that you can walk straight throughout the day, you'll also likely be more comfortable, as will those in your general vicinity.

thank you.

what am i for?

2006-03-14T23:05:00.000-05:00

if not to lie among the palms?

montreal > buffalo

2006-03-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

phew, it's been a good week! 2 little road trips, 2 slip shows, lotsa good times...

only in montreal....

so healy and i got to montreal last wednesday night, and turns out carpenter was still at work, so we chilled out with his roommate, got settled, watched school of rock, saved the rental from getting towed, searched for a parking spot, cursed the city like the devil when we couldnt find one, and eventually, about a half hour and 2 and a half blocks later parked the car and made our way back for the rest of school of rock and the imminent arrival of our host, the fish himself. carp found us shortly after midnight and we spent the rest of the night catching up and getting drunk

next morning/afternoon found us having breakfast at chez cora's and good lord what a breakfast it was! so good we went back the next day as well. in fact, all i ate in montreal was breakfast. and a slice of pizza.

breakfast is over. healy's not happy.

we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxin' at carp's place gettin' ready for the slip show at the main hall. it was gonna be a doozie, i'd been waiting for this for a while... very excited! it was gonna be healy's first slip show as well. Needless to say, his slip cherry got fucking smashed. we took the metro uptown for a good 40 minutes and hit up this really cool place, whose name is escaping me at the moment, i should write this shit down, but anyways, it was a wicked little bar with cool lighting and seating and whatnot, great vibe, very bohemian.. anyways, we had a drink there then headed on up to the show in time for most of apollo sunshine's opening set.

met brad outside on the way into the show and he told us they still had about an hour to go, which was good, we had time to get some drinks, get our bearings, and catch the openers... and good thing - apollo sunshine were a great treat, and an awesome new music find for me. wow, they really got my attention. i bought the cd, then it got stolen. so i bought it again in buffalo. it's really really good. i think if i had to describe them, and to keep with the breakfast theme, i'd call them a meaty rock 'n'roll breakfast skillett. it had everything. madness to ukelele duets. great rock melody to all out noise assault. 3 guys and great to watch live, as well. so after them came the big show, the one we were in town for: the slip.

i guess this was really their own first big show in their new hometown, and they came out swinging! they put on a great show with a setlist packed full of pretty much all of my favourite new songs - not much in the back catalogue, but no big deal to me, i like their rock n roll quite a bit. brad's voice was sounding really good on this night, and marc was a man possessed, playing rock star on a dime - man, he is so fun to watch when he's layin' it down. andrew shone as always, and he got a chance to showcase his vocal talents as well, for a verse in sleepyhead.

The Slip
Main Hall, Montreal QC
03.02.06

Even Rats
Wine & White Soda
I Hate Love
Sleepyhead
Paper Birds >
Mudslide
Lonely Boy
Children Of December

encore:
Soft Machine*
If One Of Us Should Fall

encore 2:
Poor Boy

*w/ simon angel - introduced as brad's neighbour

my favourites on the night were soft machine, i hate love, and paper birds > mudslide - ohhhh, that was awesome!! sleepyhead was really fun to hear, as well, as it's been a bit of an anthem of mine for a little while now... and of course, the even rats opener had to happen - the spring is nice is canada.

lotsa friends from all over the place made the trip up, and the party afterwards was a lot of fun - back at the econolodge with team ottawa representin' a dozen or so strong, very nice indeed! new brunswick even made an appearance! haha! great times all over the place and we eventually cabbed outta there around 5 or so in the morning.. montreal looked great from the back of the cab in the pre-dawn not quite black... buildings nicely lit, gorgeous architecture.. whatta trip... one of the best parts of the whole adventure. once back at the fishtank we chilled for a bit, passed out, and it wasnt long before morning came and we had to think about getting back on the road for the monster trek back home.

not before we got some breakfast though. where we got the brilliant idea to go bowling before leaving the city - leave with some dirty montreal alley grease under our fingernails.

one lane, one game, to settle an old score.

that's right. (cue 70's badass bowler theme music..)

it'd been a while since the doc and i had been on a lane together, and this was pretty much reminiscient of old times - us sucking it up for the most part. after 6, we were tied.

but it wasnt long before the doc put me in the proverbial camel clutch and locked in for the win..

Doctor 1 - Dio 0 - the fish very respectable. i wish we coulda had him on the team.

we only paid for one game, but the doc upped the ante... he wanted to have another go at it... so, we had at it...

that's right.

so, with that, back on the road to london, and what a drive it was... man, i was so tired. but we did it, pulled in town ultra late, and i grabbed a couple hours sleep before work... had to work the weekend and most of monday, then it was on the road again....

next stop: buffalo!

monday night the slip were playing the icon in buffalo, so i made sure i was gonna check that out... it's not often they play that close to home, and i didnt care that it was a monday night. went out with craig and sari and shain was there as well, writing for jambase - i did some photos as well, but most of them were shit. we had a bit of a border stop, they didnt trust us good little canadians, and that held us up long enough to miss apollo sunshine, which was a real drag cause i was lookin' forward to that, but, we did get there in plenty of time for the slip. and they put on another rockin' show filled with some nice improv, some big rock, and a couple older crowd pleasers.

The Slip
The Icon - Buffalo, NY
03.06.06

Sleepyhead
Wine and White Soda
Even Rats
I Hate Love*
Get Me With Fuji
As Long As There's One Of Us Standing
new marc tune (mostly instrumental)
Cowboy Up*
December's Children

encore:
Before You Were Born
Take A Beetle To The Badlands

* w/ a guy on keys from Sam Champion - forget his name

the new marc tune is 'mostly' instrumental in the same way Proud is - with Brad bringing in some big vocals at the end of the tune.. but it winds its way through a few changes and keeps picking up steam as it goes... it was like a weird train, that doesnt necessarily chug along, but more or less kinda clamours and fights its way through.. i really liked it.

bit of a strange venue... i guess it was like a car garage turned into a rock bar - kinda cold and cavernous... maybe 50 people at the show, really light on the attendace, which played to a weak kind of energy in the room.. i thought the band did well to overcome that, but there still seemed to be a bit of apprehension in the crowd. still a solid monday night out in buffalo - the show was over by midnight.

im really glad i got to get to both of these shows this past week - the soul got rocked to satisfaction, and i got my slip fix for the next little while.

thought for the day...

2006-02-26T15:27:00.000-05:00

sometimes it's nice to greet people with a standing ovation.

Even Rats

2006-02-26T12:54:00.001-05:00

just click and listen.

rise and shine sleepyhead

2006-02-22T10:01:00.000-05:00

rise and shine sleepyhead
up and at 'em
outta bed
the day is new
love's been lookin' for you
rub your eyes
ya got somethin' to do
you're a miracle, boy

i've been sleeping.
but i've been listening. constantly. to these:

surprise me, mr. davis - 11.23.05
ryan adams bedhead 5 live compilation

nathan moore and ryan adams do wonders for my soul.

(above lyrics by nathan moore)

the flu.

2006-02-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

well, it finally caught up to me - months of resistance are now proving futile, and it's making me pay dearly.

sweating buckets while shivering.
enormous coughs that dont do anything to move the cue-ball sized ball of phlegm in my chest cavity, which oddly enough feels absolutely hollow with each cage rattling hack.
diarrhea.
sinus' pounding.
energy low.
and aching bones and muscles that make it nearly impossible to stay in any one position for a prolonged period of time.

put a fork in me.

at least i've got Lord Lionel to watch over me.

gospel. voodoo. bunk.

2006-02-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

said thorgnor.

the constantines are a damn good rock n roll band. heavy in the tradition of fugazi - fuzzy, raspy, loud, political, intelligent - and homegrown. i believe they call guelph home, though i'm pretty sure a couple of the guys are from right here in sunny london, ontario.

they played call the office on friday night, sold the place out, and put on another great rock show in that bar - man, i love their energy. although i've been a fan for quite a long time, i never got a chance to see them until last august, the last time they played the orfice - that show was mostly a showcase for the new record, as most of the tunes from that night appeared on the album when it came out... friday was no different, lots of new stuff, but no Draw Us Lines, the lead track on the new album - which i really wanted hear - however, i did get to hear Justice, a favourite of mine from their first album, that they didnt play last time. see, i guess all things balance out.. haha..

i wish i remembered more, but we had a bit of a rager back here afterwards, plus it was 2 days ago - im toast. Team London had a full roster for the night, queen mary of toronto made an appearance, a bunch of folks from the bar that i dont know and might never see again, and a couple guys from the cons. a long night indeed. i dont even wanna get into the debauchery, but i think it was some kinda gospel voodoo bunk shit.

(9:30am, saturday morning - the results.)

the bus stops here

2006-02-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

yesterday, tough yardage running back extraordinaire jerome bettis, one of the games greatest and most respected, fulfilled every kid's dream who ever played a sport: to win your sports world championship in your hometown in your final game ever. wow. i was a baseball player when i was growing up, and at one time in my life i tricked myself ino thinking i might be able to take it somewhere (kids....), and believe me, that was my dream. so i can only imagine how that man must be feeling. on top of the frickin' world!

congrats to the bus and his pittsburgh steelers!

scottie threw the superbowl party so we watched the biggest sporting extravaganza* in north america over at his place (*i'll come back to this). 2 screens, i brought my projector and we had that on one wall, and then the tv in the living room as well... and the little guy in the kitchen so you wouldnt miss anything when you went to get a beer. played some tiger, played some madden, watched the game, ate and drank a shitload, and had a great time! woke up this morning and paid for it dearly. crazy heartburn to wake me up, and my morning shit was marred by all the cheese bunging me up long enough for the chili to sear my colon. jesus hubert christ. the chicken wing dip won the prize for sure. however, there were no chicken wings involved.

so im gonna go back to the "biggest sporting extravaganza", and i wanna type about something i was thinking about yesterday when al michaels went on about the sheer size of the thing and basically what it is to america - it is quite a celebration. the biggest. and really, of all the major's (nfl, nhl, nba, mlb), the superbowl is the newest of all the major titles. so i made some comparisons and drew up some parallels that kinda got my noodle goin'. i thought if this game is

america

's new past time, let's look at it against

america

's old past time, baseball. football vs. baseball, nfl vs. mlb, world series vs. super bowl, whatever. and let's look at western culture and social values, or rather, how the culture might be perceived, then and now.

im a baseball man. i love the game, i played it growing up, i wish i still could, and in fact i just might again. as a kid i was always fascinated with the lore.. the history of the game is incredible. i loved reading books about old-time baseball, or reading my total baseball encyclopedia pushing stats through my head for fucking fun. watching ball talk videos, you name it. baseball held a certain respect that got my attention at a young age. baseball had a feeling. and it was looked upon as a gentlemans game, tough and competitive, but with a certain civility. and that aspect, i think, was part of the celebration of that game at that time - it was a certain pride, a standard the game was to be upheld to. it was the game - respect it. now, the baseball timeline im using for this analogy is old time baseball, say, loosely, up to the halfway point of the 20th century. (in real baseball historical timelines i'd say that extends a couple era's beyond old time baseball, but thats not really the point here...)

all that said, i love me a good football game as well. i also played organized football as a kid, and grew up with a certain fascination for that game. my dad was a green bay packers fan. i can tell you that, but i couldnt tell you what his favourite baseball team was. vince lombardi was his man. so naturally, my fascination had more to do with the history of the super bowl than the game itself. but, really, the super bowl is the game. the super bowl has become the most celebrated sporting event on this continent.

america

goes apeshit for it. hell, so does

canada

! moreso than our own grey cup event! 4 hour pre-game shows, star studded events, the half-time show, all of it - the whole deal is incredible - and we all eat it up. but its really the sport that is being celebrated... and the sport itself is mean as hell. in the last 40 years the sport has risen to unprecedented heights. it's tough, it's rough, and its our favourite. the trash talking, the cockiness, the badass gangster attitude of the sport is where the love now lies. the special segment from last nights superbowl was about the a guy who was arguably the meanest, hardest hitter the game has ever known. and as this sports popularity has increased and become dominant, baseball has gone the other route.

it's quite a contrast.

then i started thinking about our culture, my own perceptions, history classes, history books (though, who's to say what our future history books will look like - depends on who's in charge, i suppose), various topical studies, culture studies, social/political, etc etc. and when i go back in time, to my old time baseball era, i see a culture that had heroes. real heroes. people to be proud of. class. some of them were in uniform, many of them were overseas, some of them even wore suits. i see a culture

that, in some ways, could have been seen as a hero itself. i feel like the people held themselves to a higher standard, a better respect. there's something about that time in our history that lines up very nicely with baseball at that time.
i thought of us now and football now, and the progression through time, the evolution of a species socially, (un)ethically, and the changes that have occurred, the people in charge, and the eras that have come in between to get us from there to here. and here feels kinda filthy. it doesnt smell so good. there is nothing sacred. and man, there is a ton of smut. corruption, greed, and people with little respect for anything runnin’ the show. then we look back at the nfl - the players that get the most airtime, the ones setting the example, are the ones who are the most disrespectful, the greediest, the most arrogant. you have the minnesota vikings throwing sex parties on boats, and panthers cheerleaders gettin' it on in bar washrooms, and hey, fine and dandy, that's cool and all, you do what you like, but man, there is a ton of smut! who's thinking of the children? you've got hold out players, juice monkey's, showboats, etc etc... there's an attitude that surrounds the game and it’s not so different than the attitude today's

western culture

is perceived to have, the world over. and the future doesnt look too bright.

so with all this on my mind, i watched the bus pull into detroit, put it in park, and turn off the lights. and with that, the game lost one of its greatest role models. and it couldnt have come at a worse time.

the kids need heroes.

campbell's martini party

2006-02-05T09:32:00.000-05:00

my buddy mark and his roommates threw a martini party the other night at their place, and wow, big party! 2 in a week like that, and man, i wasnt sure if i could do it! im gettin' old! i only knew, literally, a few people there, and it was definitely a university party, and though im not so far removed from that and certainly no stranger to the party, at times it was still a little strange for me in a bit of a nostalgic kinda way, remembering back to my good ole college days partyin' it up with all my good people... it's an interesting perspective being an outsider... and kinda weird not really having an answer when someone asks what im doing in school. hahah... but yeah, good times, in ways made me miss a lot of people, in others, made me feel real good about where life is now and where it's headed... a good reminder that although the faces and places may change, good times and good people are just that.. nostalgia aside, plough on - the good times dont end if you dont let 'em.

[spoon] all i need is a crew...

l - r: mark, box, myself, erin

erin and some dudes...

one that can stay on cue...

one that can act as if..

uh-huh, alright... [/spoon]

(pictures courtesy of the lovely lady in the hat)

Operation: Full Throttle.

2006-01-30T21:56:00.000-05:00

11.28.06 - Jambands.ca Fundraiser - Lancaster Tavern, Kitchener Ontario.

the mission: to have a grand ole time turning ourselves into little balls of human goobly goo with a couple hundred of our closest friends, rock the fuck out, party the night away, shake hands with the sun, and meat ourselves into submission.

i was also on photo duty, however, i failed miserably. i hope the photograph i donated made up for it and they were able to raise some coin from it.

the team: ian, lesley, scottie and myself - sometimes known as team scott.

we caught a ride to k/w with lesley and ian - lesley is our saviour whenever we go to k/w - and started the night at uncle schwampy's, where he presented me with a kotke and gordon show for winning his caption contest! score! we partook in the regular pre-gaming festivities and then headed down to the lanc for the show.

2 floors of SoOn Jam: harvard mouse, high plains drifter, what the thunder said, diesel dog, fat cats, and superfly.

harvard mouse got it kicked off with a nice little warm-up groove session, and high plains drifter followed to set everyone up for the rest of the night. what the thunder said opened the stage upstairs with a high energy set that really caught my attention, very groovin', totally rockin', and interactive as well - great stage presence those dudes have. diesel dog headlined downstairs and ploughed through a set of heavy hittin grooverock that got everyone movin' and shakin' and smilin' and primed up for what was set to go on upstairs: the fat cats closed the night and ripped the living hell out of 2 sets showing why they're among canada's finest when it comes to rocking, rolling, and jamming like monsters. somewhere along the lines i lost track of time - i was shocked when it ended - i thought for sure that was only 1st set!!

parking lot gathering was perfect at the end to get the bearings, chill out, enjoy some company - we chilled with the st. catherines crew while trying to make plans - so awesome to hang out with dup, deany d, anz, and mike - the chicken wing and garlic bread was killer! after holding lesley up we opted out of a ride back to schwa's, instead going for the manglefest over at mangle mansion - good times - but crowded as hell - cleary showed up with a pizza and that was golden! we bolted shortly after the cops showed up, but had no idea where we were, and only an address of where we needed to get to, without a sense of direction. we took to walking and waiting on a miracle when a car flyin' by grinds to a halt and calls us over - dave and deb! they offer a ride, but also have no clue where the address is, MISSION ABORTED, a cab is coming down, better option, he'd know, we jump outta the car, yell and flag the cab, he goes flying by, dave and deb take off thinking we're saved, and we're back to square one at the corner of weber and bridgeport, laughing like idiots.

we did make it back to schwa's eventually, and the party there was still going - awesome! we kept it going, drinkin', laughin', jokin', listenin' to tunes, well into the morning. another successful mission for Team Scott.

think i might have caught a 45 minute half in/half out nap before i was fully awoken by the most horrific generic boring shitass hippie dippie jambullshit i had ever heard. i was enjoying some great fucking silence and this girl who was leaving decided to put something on (as an exit??) no one else was awake.. i loathed it. i got up to shut it off and decided whatever it was that came out of that tray would be damned in my head forever more and i would go out of my way to not seek it out. the label on the disc said: S.K.B. fuckin' kimock... what the hell was that? i've seen you. you're better than that. not much, but you are. while i was up i had to take a picture of team chatham - granted it was 11am, these boys can party, hell, keri threw the party, but still.. i love it - swifty sitting up, keri hunched over, rankin face down, and in the background, you can see chandler's foot sticking out - he's sleeping on a fucking toolbox! awesome.

early afternoon we hit the huether (is that right?) for some breaky with schwa, craig and sari, while ian and lesley visited with some family.
coffee. keep it comin. big ass water. 5 or so chicken wings as an appetizer. medium. steak and eggs, hashbrowns, rye bread, and extra pemeal. steak medium, eggs over easy. dont want too much blood mixin with the yolk - that's sick. wrap steak in pemeal, dip in liquid chicken. yummy! wish i had a picture...

shortly after that, with full bellies, deep breaths, and paralyzed muscles, we teleported back to london with lesley at the wheel, and voila: reality!

all in all a great night in k-dub. great people, great music, great energy, great parties, great hosts, great everything. we accomplished all our missions, and i really hope mark and keri accomplished their mission and raised some money for the website.

harper it is, bitches.

2006-01-24T21:17:00.002-05:00

well, just about 2/3's of all us canadians voted yesterday, and just over 1/3 of that 2/3's decided that stephen harper is the man to lead our country. into where? who knows. but we've got a front row seat now. and it comes as no real surprise, really. i feel like the liberals lost this election more than the conservatives won it.. more like the people of canada just gave 'em a little slap and said "nope! cant do that... this is what happens." - hopefully they'll learn. i must say, though, im very happy with the ndp pick-up.

so, now what? well. i dont know. but im not as pissed as i thought i was going to be. i needed a day to really think this over. i think there's a strong enough opposition to keep 'em in check this time around. socially, im not so worried about new legislation really fucking us over, rather im more concerned about taking steps backwards - canada's come a long way recently, something im very proud of as a canadian, something that i feel is looked upon with high regard around the world. we were on the road to some other great things as well, and now these things arent even in sight, and if they are, it's for all the wrong reasons.

but we better not be going to war. then i'll be pissed.

and the GST cut is the fucking bullshit. gee, thanks. blow me, harper. but hey, the sexy headline worked. fucker. ok, that got me pissed. IT'S NOTHING UNLESS YOU HAVE A LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's like reverse robin hood: rob the poor (of their services that depend on taxes) and give to the rich (by way of not paying). and i dont believe that nothing will get cut.

but it's over. and the ndp have a stronger voice, which is all i was really hoping for, so all in all i cant be anything but happy - we all knew harper wasnt gonna lose this time around, so we had time to brace ourselves.

i watched the Your Turn program when harper was on and i remember one question, which i believe came from a woman from London, Ontario, if im not mistaken, and she asked about the party slogans and why they were different in french and english canada. the meaning behind that. i kinda thought to myself, you get on national tv, you get the chance to ask the next prime minister a question, and that's what you come up with? the slogans? who gives a shit? we all know slogans are bullshit. who cares what they mean in any language. no one really loves mcdonalds. we all know tim hortons is not always fresh. i thought everyone knew to take slogans with a grain of salt, no? which got me thinking more... if i was running for office, what could i use as a slogan? if people really care about this, if this on their minds, if it actually does mean something, well, i had better give it some thought, right? so, here's what i got...

A Different Kind of Country - A Different Kind of Guigsy.
The Guigsy Goes Straight to your Head.
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this week in review

2006-01-23T01:24:00.000-05:00

well, another week come and gone... this was a long one. the beginning of the week was filled with work, the end filled with fun, there was no middle, and now it's done. i received good news, i received bad news, i had good times, i had bad times, i got to see many friends, but missed many more, i heard some no's, i heard some yes', i questioned some, laughed at others, and in the end it was just one of those weeks. everything goes. the best of all worlds.

the weekend, however, was a good celebration of that very notion: everything goes and the best of all worlds. timeline:

Friday, Jan. 20
shortly after 8pm - arrive in toronto
get our buzz on
10:30ish - keller williams at lee's palace - fun show, i had trouble with the sound, but i got it. highlights of the show were the high time > man smart woman smarter and the encore, what i got - the energy for that, throughout the crowd, was incredible - just a big sublime love-in. beautiful.
Saturday Jan. 21
1:30am - onward to the elmocambo to catch slammin' jack's aftershow - been a long while since i've seen them, and wow, they've gotten so much better! definitely a great way to close the night.
3:30am - up to the danforth for the afterparty (cheers to margaret & carrie) - madness ensues.
8am - i think i passed out around here
11am - think i woke up around here. had a couple cups of tea.
1pm - back to homebase (cheers to rob) to spend the afternoon gettin' 'er back together
8pm - maybe the best steak i've ever eaten? (cheers to scottie)
9:15pm - arrive at the Koolhaus for Broken Social Scene !!!
10ish - bss take the stage - madness ensues. opened with All The Gods, then slid into Shoreline and brought Feist out and from then on for the rest of the night that little ball of fire owned me. but it was kevin drew's show. the man was in command the entire evening. my favourite moments of the night were the Ibi Dreams of Pavement to close, man i love how huge that song gets, and then the Lover's Spit to start up the encore, with an honourable mention to drew's stage banter/antics during the encore break. but back to that Lover's Spit - such a beautiful song, and such a grand version on this night. how many people on stage? 13? 16? incredible. makin' it work, takes a little longer, makin' it work, takes a little time! but that encore coulda been 7 songs long - they played forever! almost 3 hours when all was said and done... a slow superconnected, an EPIC It's All Gonna Break to end it all, throw in a couple major label debut's for good measure (slow, then the faster reprise later on), send us to the hotel, give us the shampoo suicide, cause=time, a beautiful Anthems For A 15 Year Old Girl, the list goes on and on, and somewhere in there they managed to throw in a Hockey Night in Canada tease. some other observations: the soundman must be a fucking genius to be able to balance all those instruments at once and make it sound that good. there were as many as 16 people on stage at any given time. upwards of 5 guitars, bass, double drums, various other percussions, keys, how many voices? trombones, trumpets, sax, man alive. they just about killed me.
Sunday Jan. 22
1am - hotdog cart saves the night. my back is killing me.
1:30ish - back to homebase for a nice chill nightcap and finally some fucking sleep.
noon - headin' 'er outta town
12:30pm - arrive at the Swedish Embassy and spend the next 2 and a half hours in a home furnishing amusement park. my berries are not as red as they used to be. but my speakers now have shelves. 2 hotdogs and a pop for a buck 75? yes please.
3pm - on the road again....
4:45pm - arrive back in london
5pm - pick up digital projector and spend the rest of the night re-arranging, re-wiring, cursing and swearing.
2am - finish lame ass story and go to bed - we've got a big day tomorrow...

tomorrow (today), the country could get a face lift.

... and we begin again.

2006-01-14T23:37:00.000-05:00

so, i went to sign up to be a "blogger", and my user name was taken. so i guessed a password for myself and, sure enough, i've been a blogger since late december 2004! a late night resolution gone wrong, i suspect. or, perhaps just a late night resolution arrived late. but what an odd resolution... to blog? hmm....