Filling the gaps

The problem with my new 'blog every couple of weeks instead of every couple of days' system is that I forget what happened in between entries. Most times it amounts to a list of bands that I've managed to catch in the last dozen days...so lets start with that.


Fucked Up were one of the best bands I've seen all year. They encompass so much of what is right about music here and now, the revisionism that is a tribute, not a ripoff. They don't have a myspace, they have
a blog... and they don't sign major, the go with a major indie. And most importantly, they have something important to say.

I saw them play at an outdoor stage wedged between a parkade and a business tower at St. Catherines Ontario's SCENE Fest. It was a really fun and interesting event - 150 tiny to fairly big bands, over a dozen venues, for 14 hours straight. It was a long, intensely hot day, but it was interesting to get out of town and see what other scenes look like. In this case...a whole lot like other scenes. Other highlights of the fest: The ye olde Constantines were deadly. SO heavy. The opposite of heavy was a rare acoustic show by Moneen, old bros of mine from back in my promoting days. They touched on new and old tunes, took requests...y'know, respectful-like.

The combination of my job and living in Ontario has afforded me the opportunity to check out a lot of different festivals. In fact,just this past weekend Leah and I went north to Guelph for their annual Hillside Festival, a gorgeous little party along a lake with 5 stages, 3000 people and one of the best vibes I've felt at a summer festival in years. I'd heard it referred to as "the best festival in Canada", and I have to say that it really did step up to prove that claim. It was just so well organized, the music is top notch; Do Make Say Think playing at sunset on the main stage was a spectacle of its own, while Apostle of Hustle and The Besnard Lakes in a tent by the beach proved to be a sublime time too.

A 180-degree switch up came the next day when we attended the first annual Rogers Picnic...I won't gush about it, because there is simply less to say. It reminded me of being 14 and going to EDGEFest, seeing an odd balance of old and new acts, some on the verge, some past it, all propped up under gigantic logos, lineups for everything snaking around the site, oh, and Bad Brains scaring the hell out of the crowd.


That part was cool.

That catches us up on the festival front...club-wise I saw some interesting stuff in the last couple of weeks - They Might Be Giants were predictably weird, funny and iconic, all at once. One of the best surprises came on a night when I went to go see my peeps in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and this PHENOMENAL band opened...

Shapes & Sizes are from Victoria, and now housed in Montreal, and are signed to Asthmatic Kitty, Sufjan Stevens' label. The band plays the most delicious combination of post-punk jazz-funk in the vein of the Slits or 23 Skidoo, but with a new-school math/spazz vibe that caught my attention the moment they stepped on stage. The band isn't going to be selling a million records, but they could be coming to yr town...so get into it!

------

I'll leave on a personal note - there are those in my life, and I'm sure in yours, that are hurting inside right now, deeply and truly. Take a moment, as their friend, to reach out. Trying is still just that - an effort to let those people know you're there for them. It could make all the difference.

Take care friends, I'll try to be a more frequent visitor to the blogtron4000.

hug it out.

I rarely, if ever post news...but this is just TOO good not to share:

Attempted robbery ends in group hug

Fri Jul 13, 4:40 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Police on Capitol Hill are baffled by an attempted robbery that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses.

Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. Then one guest spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, told the man. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle.

The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants.

The story then turns even more bizarre.

"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said before apologizing. "Can I get a hug?"

Rowan, who works at her children's school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed.

"Can we have a group hug?" the man asked. The five adults complied.

The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt.

(hold the phone. did he steal something or not?!)

Once he was gone, the group walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other — speechless. Rabdau called 911, and police came to take a report and dust for fingerprints.

Police classified the case as strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect. The witnesses thought he might have been high on drugs.

"We've had robbers that apologize and stuff but nothing where they sit down and drink wine. It definitely is strange," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, adding that the hugs were especially unusual. "The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged him."


Hug someone you love today.

Monday, Monday...

Sorry I've been MIA. Balls have been rolling, gears working in motion. Y'know.


I moved. I rocked out to Built to Spill 2 nights in a row. I shook it. I biked. I ate. I was visited. I spun out of control, gently, briefly.

Those are the headlines, now the news.

I MOVED! It's true...it was a sweaty ordeal, involving friends, russians, a typewriter, many records, a freaked out cat and, at the end, some serious feelings of relief. It looked like this:


It wasn't my finest (looking) moment.

Shaking, biking, eating...same old same old. What's NOT old is visitors. I'll never get tired of seeing familiar faces pop by. Michelle is a friend from back home who made a point of stopping by the big smoke for a few days as part of an extended vacation, and I'm so glad she did.

We put "food, dancing & drinking" on the agenda and we did all three on the shores of mighty Lake Ontario. "Beats, Breaks & Culture" is a festival hosted by the Harbourfront Centre, and hosted performances by Shout Out Out Out Out, The Cinematic Orchesta, my ol'buddy Vitaminsforyou and the stunning genius of Keiran Hebden & Steve Reid. I've been waiting to see the latter project for years. I love the record. As Michelle pointed out, "there are Four Tet fans and then there is Eli"...it's true. I have a man-sized crush on the dude. His music is so hypnotic and colourful, and with a live drummer, nay...a LEGENDARY drummer, his rhythms come to life with the concentration and ferocity of a lion waiting for the kill.

Speaking of killing - er...what a terrible segue. I offed a few livers on the weekend rocking the fuck out for my birthday. That's right, today I turn 27 and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I'll let you know after its a 12-oz steak and 2 bottles of wine later. That's how I'll test my age, by how well I enjoy my meal tonight.

Thanks to everyone who made 26 a thoroughly confusing, challenging, exciting, tiring, invigorating, joyous, thrilling, adventurous and needless to say, life-altering year. You know who you are. Maximum hugs.