weekends at steve

Limbs

oh, there you are....

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

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

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

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

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

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

silence is deadly

and its been very quiet lately.

chicagoholgapanoramic

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

akron/family dozen

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

r.i.p. cocoa

best girl i ever knew...



may 1994 - sept. 19th, 2007

who likes the slow jamz?

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

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

check it out: 'your party' download.

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

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

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

highlights:

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



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

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

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

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


steph w/ r.adams and the cardinals


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

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

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


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


gettin' wasted with the carp, pre-show.


rock'n'roll. what a show.

phew!

so far, so good...

;)

The Shock Doctrine

by alfonso cuaron and naomi klein.

meanwhile...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

happy 9/11.

Miller Time

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


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


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

ponds

(click 'em to see 'em bigger)

i think i've found my calling

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

atlantic city

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

- bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce

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

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

this link will self destruct in 7 days.

king of swing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

but i give this record 8 years, tops.

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

long music weekend

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


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


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

hillside by holga and horizon

Hillside Has It All

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

quotes of the weekend:

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

happy hillside! see you next year!

need some clowns?

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



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