Like a ray gun to the head

Lets start at the top.

Last Sunday I shook off my two-day hangover long enough to go to Wavelength, a weekly night at Sneaky Dee's featuring various up-and-coming acts that few people have heard of - in fact, some of the first shows by Broken Social Scene & Peaches were performed at Wavelength. I was there to check out two bands I'd heard steady buzz about - Tyvek, from Detroit and an intricately-titled band from NYC called ca-USE co-MOTION. Opening was a member of Montreal weirdos Think About Life!, in a project called Miracle Fortress.

Tyvek were great! They were all jangly and raw and reminded me a bit of Metamatics (no, not THAT Metamatics, the one on Troubleman.) I dug up some Tyvek doing their 'hit' song "Honda". Peep dis!


ca-USE co-MOTION were also dope, though a little underwhelming after the ass-walloping of Tyvek. At least they knew how to rock AND roll. Check their track "Baby, Don't Do It!" from a S/T 7" EP on What's Your Rupture? Records. FUN!



I've spent the week doing a lot of thinking. About friends, the future, what I'm doing here, where it might take me. Things are feeling...unsteady at the very moment, but not in a bad way - just...up in the air, shall we say.

That said, I'm still totally crushing on Toronto - and thinking lots about that too. I've been meaning to put together a list of things I've noticed about Toronto and moreover, Torontonians, since I've moved here. Here goes, in no order:

1. Torontonians litter.
It's true, don't lie. They litter ALL the time, everywhere. And not just like, gum or cigarette butts, but McDonalds bags of styrofoam, cardboard boxes, whatever! And strangely enough, the city remains clean as a whistle...which perhaps explains why people don't care about dropping a thing or two on the ground. Within an hour or two a street cleaner will zip by and clean it up. It's true! They ride these vacuums on wheels like a rider tractor; its so futuristic! Even the mayor helps out!

There are those standing up though.
Check Bigass Superstar's funny story about litterers vs. citizens to see what I mean.

2. Torontonians love to stand in line.
Everywhere! They line up to get ON the bus, OFF the bus, at the bank, in restaurants, outside of clubs, everywhere. It's a totally acceptable circumstance of being SO GADDAM 'URBAN', and people never whine or get fed up about it. It's odd!

3. Torontonians are hot.
I don't know if it's the water or the air or the once-a-week-sushi, but Torontonians are a bunch of HOT people. Seriously, I don't think I've been to a better looking city. I know that people rave about Paris and Montreal and Berlin and Barcelona as having a good looking population, and they may have, but I think it's Toronto's internationalism that has the rest of the world beat.

4. Torontonians smoke.
This is somewhat related to littering, but I sometimes think that there are more smokers than not in this place...everyone smokes, even just a bit. If you're saying "not me", you're probably lying to yourself. Seek help.

5. Torontonians have things you don't.
Like peameal bacon. Corner stores on EVERY corner that all have sign outside that says "Milk - Eggs - Sundries". WTF are sundries? Apparently Torontonians know, and you don't.

They also have BRUNCH, not breakfast.

And you can't buy booze in a store later than 9 PM, unless you look REALLY hard, and then it's only till 11 PM at the very latest.

And they drive stupidly fast, all the time.

And they drink, a lot.

They also tend to appreciate 'the little guy' when it comes to Starbucks VS. Steve's Espresso Stand...there are much fewer franchise locations here than I expected to see, which is nice.

Its been interesting seeing Toronto through western eyes. My cousin and roomie Caitlin is also from Edmonton and has lived here for almost four years, and laughs when I talk about these little differences because she saw them too when she moved eastwards...which makes me think of the ideas I had about Ontario culture before I came out here myself. As an Albertan, we're highly conscious of the "BC Ethic" that exists to the west, where hippies hug trees and people vote left, and to think that in EACH PROVINCE (and by extension, state - hello neighbors!) has its OWN set of words and practices and habitus is kind of mind-boggling.


Just like that.
Before I go, I'll leave you with something that rocked my ears all morning, first during my run (RUNNERS! GET THIS! SRSLY!) and then on my way to work (COMMUTERS! GET THIS! SRSLY!). A two-hour mix from Optimo, Glasgow's finest and perhaps the BEST WORKING DJs TODAY. Yep, I said it. The best. The tracklist for this bad boy is right here. Dig it, and take care. I'll do my best to do the same.

ps: Michelle over at Inter-Office Dance Party is the toughest girl on earth. Click to see why.