You are lost
The text for my piece in the December issue of The Walrus is up. For interested parties: Let's Get Lost.
Labels: writing
Comments (2)
Tea and figs
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Sunday, June 10, 2007
NXNE x 2 + 3
After three crazy nights, my NXNE trip is over for another year. But I am pretty pleased by this year's adventure. Only a few misses. Nights two and three went as follows:
FRIDAY:
UltraMagnus
Spiral Beach
Dance Yourself to Death
Five Hot Bitches
Had to leave the last one, I'm afraid. I like Peaches (and some of her derivatives), but at the end of night #2, just couldn't get into the headspace necessary to tolerate a band who were screaming at me.
SATURDAY:
Always be prepared, and when it's a hot ticket show like Saturday's lineup at the Horseshoe, go ridiculously early. We were there at 8, had a table, and were laughing and drinking beer while the throngs lined up around the block to get in. Lineup was:
The United Steelworkers of Montreal
Oh Bijou
Sebastien Grainger
We Say Party, You Say Die
Good times, good music, and good to have seats with the place packed. Oh Bijou was my favourite. After hearing Casey play the NP acoustic set a few weeks ago, I thought the band would be like a bunch of balloons blowing around the backyard in the sunlight. And while the band was heavier than I thought they would be (maybe balloons filled with water?), the result was just as delightful as I had hoped.
Last year I gave up mid-festival, tired of lines, and only seeing bands that I already knew and liked. This year was great: saw some fantastic shows, ran into friends, only waited in one line, and got some nice story ideas out of the mix.
FRIDAY:
UltraMagnus
Spiral Beach
Dance Yourself to Death
Five Hot Bitches
Had to leave the last one, I'm afraid. I like Peaches (and some of her derivatives), but at the end of night #2, just couldn't get into the headspace necessary to tolerate a band who were screaming at me.
SATURDAY:
Always be prepared, and when it's a hot ticket show like Saturday's lineup at the Horseshoe, go ridiculously early. We were there at 8, had a table, and were laughing and drinking beer while the throngs lined up around the block to get in. Lineup was:
The United Steelworkers of Montreal
Oh Bijou
Sebastien Grainger
We Say Party, You Say Die
Good times, good music, and good to have seats with the place packed. Oh Bijou was my favourite. After hearing Casey play the NP acoustic set a few weeks ago, I thought the band would be like a bunch of balloons blowing around the backyard in the sunlight. And while the band was heavier than I thought they would be (maybe balloons filled with water?), the result was just as delightful as I had hoped.
Last year I gave up mid-festival, tired of lines, and only seeing bands that I already knew and liked. This year was great: saw some fantastic shows, ran into friends, only waited in one line, and got some nice story ideas out of the mix.
Friday, June 08, 2007
NXNE
Last night I explored the grungy, uneven depths of NXNE, managing to get to three venues and more than one decent show. Which, given past years, is an accomplishment.
Started off with Jer & Dani at The Gladstone to see Hey Ocean!, a Vancouver band that continues to impress. The music is an unusual mix of jazz, funk, r&b, pop, and fantastic performance. Very high energy, fun, inventive and musically rich -- they could play Massey Hall with such a professional set, I'm convinced. There are some songs kicking around on their myspace, I think, but the live set blows away the recorded stuff completely.
From there, we rushed to Reverb to see Spookey Ruben -- which was maybe more of an exercise in musical nostalgia than anything else. Haven't seen Spookey perform in something like seven or eight years, but his style remains distinctive. I had a very happy moment watching the show, remembering getting into music in high school and going around to see local bands. Seriously, if anyone has any Dig Circus or Leslie Spit Tree-o kicking around, I'll be set in adolescent memory. It was gratifying to remember that we liked good music back in the day. Spookey's style hasn't changed much, but that's kind of gratifying.
We hung around after with Spookey (who knows Danielle through an incredibly complex tangle involving exes). Watched Jason Faulkner (the man + guitar thing is pretty flat with an electric guitar and not too interesting). Met Dave Foley (cool) and his creepy lawyer-producer friend (who kept commenting on how girls' looks were working for them and talking about L.A.).
A slight tangent. I do not understand the appeal of L.A. I have a beautiful image of California, constructed of wisps of Joni Mitchell songs, Joan Didion prose and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and his dog. Why anyone would move to a town where young stars imagine themselves as bohemian in vapidly self-referential "art" movies like Don's Plum is beyond me.
I escaped at around 1 and cabbed it to Lee's where I hung out with Jason, caught the end of Ron Sexsmith and the whole sexy Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet show at 2. Amazing. Great show. Perfection. Skipped out on Blue Rodeo.
Surprisingly good times for NXNE. More tonight.
Started off with Jer & Dani at The Gladstone to see Hey Ocean!, a Vancouver band that continues to impress. The music is an unusual mix of jazz, funk, r&b, pop, and fantastic performance. Very high energy, fun, inventive and musically rich -- they could play Massey Hall with such a professional set, I'm convinced. There are some songs kicking around on their myspace, I think, but the live set blows away the recorded stuff completely.
From there, we rushed to Reverb to see Spookey Ruben -- which was maybe more of an exercise in musical nostalgia than anything else. Haven't seen Spookey perform in something like seven or eight years, but his style remains distinctive. I had a very happy moment watching the show, remembering getting into music in high school and going around to see local bands. Seriously, if anyone has any Dig Circus or Leslie Spit Tree-o kicking around, I'll be set in adolescent memory. It was gratifying to remember that we liked good music back in the day. Spookey's style hasn't changed much, but that's kind of gratifying.
We hung around after with Spookey (who knows Danielle through an incredibly complex tangle involving exes). Watched Jason Faulkner (the man + guitar thing is pretty flat with an electric guitar and not too interesting). Met Dave Foley (cool) and his creepy lawyer-producer friend (who kept commenting on how girls' looks were working for them and talking about L.A.).
A slight tangent. I do not understand the appeal of L.A. I have a beautiful image of California, constructed of wisps of Joni Mitchell songs, Joan Didion prose and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and his dog. Why anyone would move to a town where young stars imagine themselves as bohemian in vapidly self-referential "art" movies like Don's Plum is beyond me.
I escaped at around 1 and cabbed it to Lee's where I hung out with Jason, caught the end of Ron Sexsmith and the whole sexy Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet show at 2. Amazing. Great show. Perfection. Skipped out on Blue Rodeo.
Surprisingly good times for NXNE. More tonight.
Shameless plug
Hey,
Little article written about me in the National Post a few weeks ago [link].
Kind of happy about it, though the last question still strikes me as incredibly bizarre. And I was flattered that they wanted to write about me, but I do find it funny that they managed to label me both "activist" and "radical" in the display copy.
Little article written about me in the National Post a few weeks ago [link].
Kind of happy about it, though the last question still strikes me as incredibly bizarre. And I was flattered that they wanted to write about me, but I do find it funny that they managed to label me both "activist" and "radical" in the display copy.
Labels: media, navel-gazing
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Party !
Hey all,
Come out to the Shameless launch at the NOW Lounge on April 21 from 1-5. It's all ages, and there will be live music, free cake and punch, among other exciting goings-on.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Shameless !
So word is finally out: I'm taking over as Editor of Shameless magazine, starting with the summer issue. It's been in the works for a while, and it's great to finally be able to talk about it openly.
Nicole and Melinda have been unbelievably generous about giving up their baby, and the three of us have been working together to assemble a great team. And you can look forward to more Shameless in the future: we're planning new editorial sections, more content and features on the website, and some great events and workshops.
And we're having a big party. We're launching the new issue (Spring) at the NOW Lounge on April 21 from 1-5. It's all ages, and there will be live music, free cake and punch, among other exciting goings-on.
More soon.
Labels: events, journalism, shameless
New Pollution #12
New issue is up -- with pieces on Grizzly Bear, The Wooden Stars and The Carps, and a brand new podcast, of course. I took the pics for this issue, too -- it's a treasure-filled dollar-store extravaganza. The Maraschino cherries on the photography page are my favourite.
On a related note: anyone who is in need of a bird-shaped candle holder, fake flowers, plastic parachuting men, or who happens to like Maraschino cherries, get in touch and they're all yours...
Labels: new pollution, photography
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Zoi Zoi
Went out to fete Paul's birthday last night and we ended up at Zoi Zoi at Rancho. Now, call me conservative, but I think that dancing in Toronto hasn't been the same since Blow Up left the El Mo and the managers turned it into a dance studio (the only hint of the old El Mo was some bathroom graffiti which read "the new El Mo sucks").
Zoi Zoi is the best dance party I've been to in a long time. It's a night of French music: psychedelic bubblegum pop, rap, disco, new wave and soul. Tout en Francais! Magnifique!
Zoi Zoi is the best dance party I've been to in a long time. It's a night of French music: psychedelic bubblegum pop, rap, disco, new wave and soul. Tout en Francais! Magnifique!
Happy birthday to us
The new issue of The New Pollution went up yesterday. It's our birthday issue -- I can't believe it's been a year since we started the mag in my living room. Jason let us use his fantastic photos from Buenos Aires for the main pages, and we have great shots of Geoff Berner from some friends out West. And--no bias here--Jer wrote a terrific story about Wayne Petti, the Cuff the Duke frontman who's just launched a solo project. Anyway, check out the issue at www.thenewpollution.net. And come to our party, Friday, March 2, 10:00 p.m. at Sneaky Dee's. The new print issue will be out, and there will be cupcakes too !
Labels: new pollution, news
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Birthday extravaganza
Next Friday, The New Pollution
celebrates its first birthday. And it's second print issue. And the second time that I'm going to make cupcakes until my kitchen breaks.
Come to the party.
March 2
10:00 pm
Sneaky Dee's (College & Bathurst)
special guests A/V, Ultramagnus and The Carps
$8
Labels: events, new pollution