Yer Blues

I'm more than a little miffed at this recent trend: cancelling concert festivals due to poor ticket sales. First Lollapalooza was cancelled. Now The Toronto Bluesfest. I'm not sure how much they considered the fact that people might be purchasing tickets at the last moment. I hadn't made my mind up about what shows I'd be attending at The Toronto Bluesfest because on first glance, most of the artists that I was interested in were playing on different nights. I definitely had to think it over to decide whether I'd be purchasing individual day tickets or a weekend pass. But I would have definitely been going to at least one day. What's so frustrating is that they cancel the Bluesfest just days before it starts. I'm wondering about all the people outside of Toronto [and possibly the province, if not the country] who booked lodgings or bought plane tickets to fly in for the show. I'd really be pissed off if I were them. Considering the Bluesfest is young [the inaugural one being last year], I think organizers should have considered absorbing the loss and think about next year. It's weird though to read in today's Toronto Star the schedule for the festival considering it's now not happening. Guess it was too late to even print a retraction....All the more painful considering that The Black Keys  got the cover story for  the current issue of Eye,  and I was really hoping to see the band during the festival.

I may be going to the N.E.R.D. concert this Monday at the Kool Haus with my bro'. This is the closest I'll ever get to voluntarily going to see an r'n'b group. But then N.E.R.D. aren't quite r'n'b in the traditional sense of say Usher or whoever the kids listen to these days. At least N.E.R.D. have an [rock]edge to them that'll be sure to get the indie/alt rock fans out to the show.

From Eye concert announcements!: KING COBB STEELIE CD release w/ The Barmitzvah Brothers. Lee's Palace. $TBA. Aug 6.

For a band that's barely finished completing it's baby steps, it's strange that The Hives have re-released "Your New Favourite Band", albeit with a DVD including three of their videos. It reeks of opportunism,  considering the new Hives CD "Tyrannosaurus Hives" will be released in Canada this July 20, 2004. I already have the Burning Heart "Hang The VJ" DVD compilation which includes, I believe, the same videos as this new release. However, I think I'll still be buying this new one. As I remember reading on the CD packaging, there are also some live cuts and rare tracks, that hopefully make this purchase worthwhile. Pitchfork has a review.

Yahoo! has been pimping the new Resident Evil: Apocalypse movie. Canadian/Toronto fans, check out the trailer and a familiar Toronto landmark being blown up [no, not for real].