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.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
lollapawaitsa
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?
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?
Sunday, July 30, 2006
grab 07.18.06
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!
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!
Sunday, July 09, 2006
wilco is cock
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Canada Day Weekend - Ottawa
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.
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.
Monday, July 03, 2006
bachman cummings retirement drive
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.
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.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
a month in the making...
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.
:)
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.
:)
Thursday, May 18, 2006
last week in music...
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
old whiskey river
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.
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.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
tamarindo, costa rica: the editorial
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.....
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.....
Saturday, April 01, 2006
blowfly
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.
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.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
thank you, canon!
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.
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.
Friday, March 24, 2006
unintended in london
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.
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.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
happy birthday mom
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.
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.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
thought for the day...
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
montreal > buffalo
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.
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 SlipThe 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.
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