The day after 'The Day After Tomorrow'

movie review: The Day After Tomorrow

Hollywood special effects blockbuster as social commentary? Whereas, other Hollywood 'disaster' films tended towards cataclysmic events that were either out of our control(eg. Armageddon, Deep Impact, Twister) or were born out of rather contrived movie making(eg. The Core), The Day After Tommorow is predicated on the quite relevant issue of global warming. Global warming is quite within humanity's grasp to manage but whether humanity is willing to take the necessary steps towards preventing a bleaker future for our children and our children's children remains to be seen.

But of course with any Hollywood blockbuster, it's all about the special effects and The Day After Tomorrow succeeds overwhelmingly in this respect. The natural disaster segments such as the tornadoes, tidal waves and 'The Storm' were spectacular. But even moreso, were the film's depiction of New York City as it was transformed from the city it once was to one enveloped completely in snow and ice. Seeing Dennis Quaid's character(who plays a climatologist) walking over a frozen New York Harbour into downtown Manhattan, itself completely enveloped in snow and ice, was very dramatic. The film uses recognizable landmarks such as The Statue of Liberty in New York City or the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles to add a sense of familiarity.

On the other side of the coin, The Day After Tomorrow delves into the personal lives of the characters, but moreoften than not the acting is entrenched in cliche or melodrama. The film features several recognizable actors such as Dennis Quaid who plays a climatologist, Jake Gyllenhaal who plays his son, and Sela Ward who is Dennis characters wife. The actors are quite adequate but the screenplay was just atrocious sometimes, especially when Dennis Quaid's character decides to travel to New York City to find his son during "The Storm". If you see the film, you will see how preposterous Dennis Quaid's character's actions were.

The scientific basis of the events in the film were adequately explained and convincing although there was still an element of fantasy that remained. I doubt anyone leaving the theatre was convinced that anything in the film could actually happen in real life on the same scale, especially within our lifetime. However, I wouldn't have been surprised if some people came out of the theatre and pondered whether they themself do enough to help the environment, or more specifically reduce harmful ozone emissions. Considering the number of cars in the parking lot(myself and my friend included, in separate cars no less, tsk, tsk), it'll take more than a movie to get people to reduce automobile use. On purely cinematic grounds, the film succeeds visually but fails in the screenplay department. More importantly, it'll make you think, at least for a moment.

The Toronto Star: Noise is `toxic' but we love our poison (May 29, 2004) - Invest in some ear plugs for the next loud concert you go to, and your ears'll thank you in the morning.

Let's Push Things Forward

Just some news updates and some commentary today. Slow news day overall...however with the fairly nice weather we've had today, I've been thinking and have decided that "Pacific Theme" by Broken Social Scene is the PERFECT summer song! [song sample here]

Controller.Controller have added some more dates to their 'shows' page, including a couple more in Toronto, June 2 at The Gladstone Hotel and June 12 at Studio 99.

The Streets and Dizzee Rascal are touring together, including a Toronto stop on June 25 at the Mod Club[news courtesy of Pitchfork]. I just got the The Streets new CD "A Grand Don't Come For Free" and it's interesting, although it took me a few listens to really get into. It's definitely mellower than the first CD "Original Pirate Material", which I never made the leap to purchasing the CD from the burned copy I was listening to all last summer/fall... Oh, remembering the drive to Montreal(from Mississauga) last summer when a couple of friends and I were going to the Pop Montreal festival, barrelling down the 401 with the refrain of "Let's Push Things Forward" blasting through my car speakers. Memories.

Just got the NME 'Heroes' issue today which features Morrissey interviewing Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes interviewing Lou Reed, and The Ordinary Boys talking with Paul Weller. [Mind you, these hyperlinks are just excerpts, so do yourself and pick up the magazine, you cheapskates!] Haven't had a chance to read it yet except for some excerpts at the NME site, but just reading that Julian Casablancas was a "bundle of nerves" before interviewing Lou Reed de-mystified the whole, 'rock stars are cool' stereotype. Rock stars are people too. ;-) Now, if Julian had shit his pants, that would have been funny. :-)

So Yahoo has this story today about a blogger who's supposedly a Hollywood actor but is posting anonymously about being an actor in Hollywood and the 'cult of celebrity'. My guess is it's John Cusack(I could so picture him doing something like this)...but then the blogger(pseudonym 'Rance'...as in 'Rants') said in one of the posts that he(or is that she?) lives in Los Angeles, so I could be totally wrong if Mr. Cusack doesn't reside there. Actually, come to think of it, I think Mr. Cusack might live in Chicago. But still, my only plausible guess is that it's John Cusack. He's tolerant of Hollywood, choosing to act in Hollywood films from time to time, while at the same time seeming very cynical about the industry. ...Well, decide for yourself and check out the blog here.

I Have Seen

concert review: Zero 7 @ The Opera House[Toronto, Canada], Monday May 24, 2004

Downtempo music can be downright boring at times but when it's good it's really good. I will attribute the latter to the Zero 7 show at The Opera House just this past Monday. I got to the venue just after 8:30 and was disappointed that security wouldn't let me bring in my digital camera[the security guard said it was the policy of the promoters] so I trodded back to my car to put my camera inside my car and I went back to the venue. At least security were nice about it and the security person from the first time remembered me, waved me in without having to search me again and said "thanks" for co-operating. Although considering some of the camera flashes that went off during the concert, I think they missed some people. Oh well. It was all the more disappointing considering I had a fairly good view of the stage upfront. :-(

The worst thing about concerts sometimes is getting to the venue too early and having to wait for the show to start. And after what seemed like an eternity, a guy sauntered onto the stage and started to work the turntable that was set up off to the right side of the stage. I originally thought it was a roadie setting up for Zero 7 but realized that he was DJ and was opening the show. He spun a great mix of slightly-downtempo, jazzy, funky beats and it was a perfect segway for an evening of Zero 7's chillout tunes.

I was slightly unprepared for Zero 7 in a couple of ways. Firstly, I was only really familiar with their first CD "Simple Things" and secondly, I had never made an effort to find out what the band looked like. In a way, not knowing what the band looked like, held a bit of mystery for me. So to my astonishment, when the members of the group walked onto to stage, I realized how unassuming they looked. There were no co-ordinated wardrobes, nothing really interesting to look at, just a bunch of Londoners(?) in their street clothes. However, I was pleasantly surprised with how attractive the three female vocalists were: the sultry dark-haired Sophie Barker, the playful Sia Furler[vocals on "Destiny"!] and the newest vocalist, Tina Dico, who was quite the cutie with her straight blonde hair, and wearing blue jeans and a sleeveless shirt. Oh yes, there was also one male vocalist named Mozez, who's just a really cool dude.

As the evening progressed, it was interesting to see the vocalist changes and their different styles. Mozez rocked the mic on the awesome "I Have Seen" and got the crowd pumped up with his bouncing and flailing on stage. A highlight of the evening was my personal favourite Sophie Barker and an acoustic performance with just her sultry vocals, over keyboards and guitar; sorry I don't know the song but it was absolutely mesmerizing. Sia Furler brought "Destiny" to life with her purring vocals. Sia was quite playful on stage initiating a child-like dance routine with Tina Dico, which was totally fun to watch and was greatly appreciated by the crowd. Tina Dico was just so amazing to watch sing because her impressive vocals just did not seem like they should have been emanating from her. The band itself was quite impressive as well. The men behind Zero 7, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker, one on keyboards, the other either on keyboards or some sort of sampler, were located on opposite sides of the stage and were quite content in giving the spotlight to their vocalists. Another gent on keyboards rocked the place with his extended funky keyboard solo which brought out some thunderous whoops from the crowd. The guitarist, bassist and drummer, fleshed out the sound quite adequately. The band came back for two encores, both times to thunderous applause. Although considering that the band left the stage the first time only about an hour into their set[way too early for the evening to have ended], and that by the time the band finally left the stage after their second encore, another half hour had just passed, I'm thinking the whole 2-encore set-up was planned. Sneaky but dramatic. When the band finally ended their second encore, all the members of the band gathered on stage, arm in arm, and bid farewell to us. Awesome show!

There was no merch table and I wasn't able to bring in my camera, but other than that it was a totally memorable show! And in related news, Tina Dico will be making a solo appearance at the El Mocambo on June 15, 2004, so I'll definitely consider getting down to that show! Check out the song samples at her site.

In other news, the Beastie Boys will be making an appearance at the 2004 Muchmusic Video Music Awards!

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart [DVD] is a wonderful and insightful look into one of America's finest bands, Wilco. Beautifully shot in black and white, the documentary shows a band that is clearly in transition both personally and professionally. It's understandable that the decision was made to film the documentary at the time of the making of the album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" as this was the album that would finally 'make or break' the band[in terms of financial success]. What's strange about the timing of the filming of the documentary were a couple of key events that occurred. There were the record company woes with Reprise deciding to pass on releasing Wilco's finished album "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" and eventually being dropped from the label [only to be picked up by Nonesuch Records who belong to parent company Time-Warner who happens to own Reprise]. There was the 'amicable split' of member Jay Bennett from the band, who in the documentary admits feeling that he did not have as much of a role in the band as he wanted to. In retrospect, it's hard to imagine whether this documentary would have had the same impact had these events not occurred. The documentary also touches on Jeff's experience with migraines as it shows him hovered over a toilet with an episode of nausea. With Jeff's recent emergence from rehab, the anticipation of the new Wilco record "A Ghost Is Born" being released, and Jeff's generally positive outlook on life which has come out in interviews, it's all more bittersweet, looking back at all the turmoil that the band(and specifically Jeff Tweedy) has gone through over the last several years. After seeing this DVD, I appreciate the band even more and am looking forward to seeing them at Lollapalooza this year.

ps. The musical segments(both during the documentary and on the bonus DVD disc) make this a DVD package worth returning to!

Altered States

Some long weekend. It rained virtually non-stop from Saturday to Sunday but we've got some relief this afternoon as it's cleared up quite nicely. I finished watching Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" DVD this morning[I'll save my thoughts about that for another time]. Saturday, I was able to finally watch the film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys which I can finally cross off my to-watch list. Check out the review below, and comments are appreciated.

movie review: The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

On the surface, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys could have been a standard coming of age film. The film, by my guess, takes place in the late 70's/early 80's. It touches on such common themes as first love, childhood friendships, and children's mistrust of adults. The film is about a group of friends, centering on Kieran Culkin's character and his friend played by Emile Hirsch, who attend a Catholic school run by priests and nuns. On the one hand, is the strict disciplinary environment that the boys are raised in and on the other hand is the rambunctiousness of youth. Boys will be boys. The boys spend their time away from school hanging out, riding their bikes, reading comic books, drawing, and talking about girls. The boys discuss the idea of creating their own comic book, but this is only mentioned as a matter of fact rather than something they ever really get off the ground.

However, as the film progresses, an animated storyline(that's strictly of the good vs. evil comic book variety) takes life and loosely parallels the emotional undertow of the boys' lives. The film alternates between the boys' lives and this animated storyline and its interesting to see the parallels. It's easy to see Kieran Culkin's character in the superhero character(in the animated story) whose able to become a skeletal man, because as mentioned by Culkin's character, nothing can harm a skeleton; later on in the film this sort of invincibility will be explored. The villain in the animated storyline is a more sinister-looking version of the nun(played by Jodie Foster) who's also their teacher.

There's a dark, sombre tone to the film overall and is light years away from the weary-eyed nostalgia of say The Wonder Years. There's quite an unexpected sad ending(that's all I'm gonna say) and part of me wishes for the happy ending. But one ending is the start of a new beginning and this concept is perfectly illustrated by the animated storyline at the conclusion of the film.

Off to see Zero 7 at The Opera House!

Monster Mash

movie review: Van Helsing [2004]

Starring Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing and Kate Beckinsale as some Transylvanian Princess, Van Helsing is a modern reworking of the Dracula, Frankenstein and Werewolf characters. Van Helsing, working on behalf of the powers that be(The Order) in Vatican City, hunts down these "monsters". The Order work covertly to protect humanity from Evil. The beginning of the movie introduces Van Helsing as he is on the trail of Mr. Hyde(alter-ego of Dr. Jeckyll).

Van Helsing manages not to be a bore, but what it accomplishes in visual effects, it lacks in story. Well there is a loose story that manages to tie together the various 'monster' characters. The acting is adequate if sometimes campy[which I'm not sure was the intention of the film]; the Dracula character lacks any of the depth you may have seen of the portrayal of vampires in other films eg. Interview with the Vampire, even Queen of the Damned. There's some comic relief in the film(easily the best thing in the film next to the visual effects) with Van Helsing's reluctant sidekick, who is a Friar, and who works with The Order developing weapons to aid in the protection of humanity against Evil hunting down monsters. Kate Beckinsale's character provides some slight romantic overtones, but other than that is quite useless [other than providing some appealing eye-candy]. (Kate Beckinsale was so much better in Underworld [yes I thought Underworld was a good film] in which she was playing a vampire.)

Van Helsing will entertain you visually but you'll leave the film feeling like it could have been so much better. I vaguely recall talk of a sequel. Hopefully it'll be an improvement.

Super Falling Star

Has anyone caught the new television show The WB's Superstar USA? Muchmusic[in Canada] broadcast it tonight and it's like watching a car crash...it's so excrutiating to watch but then you can't turn away. The premise of the show is that it plays out like American Idol...hopefuls audition in front of a panel of judges[including Tone Loc and Vitamin C] in hopes of performing well enough to get to the finals. The catch is that the 12 WORST singers are being picked, unbeknownst to the contestants, to compete to be the 'Superstar'. I'll agree that some of the singers are just god-awful but isn't there an element of cruelty to string these contestants along? Apparently, the hoax will be revealed to the 'winner' of the competition on the last show. Can this show be real? Can people be so cruel as to make fun of people on national television? In the back of my mind, I'm thinking that the whole show is a setup, everyone's an actor, and the joke's being played on the television viewer. Anyone willing to make a wager? :-) And if I'm wrong, then there had better be one big $$ payoff (a la Joe Schmo[season one]) for the contestants at the end. Or else someone at The WB will deserve a beating.

Ted Leo finally has the mp3 (demos) up on his site as he promised including a take on "Me and Mia" (which I've downloaded and sounds great!)...but as I write this, trying to insert the hyperlinks, Ted's site is down. Hope it comes back up soon because there's a couple more demos that I think are available. ...note: Ted's tagged the 'artist' of the mp3 as 'The Homsars'...anyone know what that means?

I finally purchased the Franz Ferdinand CD, not only because of the fine music contained therein, but also because Sunrise Records was offering a free DVD music video sampler of different artists, which included the video for Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out". For a limited time only with the purchase of selected titles...[Although, I played the DVD at home and 1)there's no onscreen menu and, 2) there's no shuffle capability between videos. There's about 15 videos on the DVD which means that the only way to get to each video is to 'fast forward' to it which is a pain in the ass...maybe it's defective...but then it was free so why should I complain.]

Counting Down the Hours

Another Ted Leo update at his official site. He's tracked the following songs:

- Heart Problems
- Counting Down the Hours
- Bettter Dead Than Lead
- Shake the Sheets
- Me and Mia

Ted has mentioned that he has posted a couple of demos, but there is a Flash problem that is preventing access. I can't wait to hear the new songs!

A recent update at the Luna site, fuzzywuzzy.com, mentions that the Galaxie 500 DVD "Don't Let Our Youth Got To Waste" can be pre-ordered, with the first 500 pre-orders coming with a FREE limited edition yellow-vinyl 7" which includes the songs "Snowstorm" b/w "Pictures" Live at Club Lingerie, LA March 30, 1990. It's a promotional single and will not be available for sale ANYWHERE. (Just a note to Canadians and international customers: I went through the online checkout process, and there was only one shipping method available which added a whopping $14.99 US to the price of the DVD which is $22.00 US...with the exchange rate, it would cost me at least $50 CDN...I think I'll pass for now)

If you like, you can pre-order it here.

Vit Wagner of The Toronto Star today has an article on Jeff Tweedy's emergence from rehab for addiction to pain killers. It's good to read that Jeff's doing very well now, as expressed by a couple of quotes from him like "I just have so much energy. It's just great. It just feels effortless now." and "I can't believe how much better I feel".

The official Metric site has a brand new look!

Michael Moore is at it again.

"Don't Steal Our Sun (You're Just Killing Fun)"

I had a burst of writing energy today, but don't expect nearly as much in the future. :-) Actually, some of the items below were info that I came across last week that I had not had a chance to mention, so forgive me if it's old news.

Is it uncool to like The Thrills, especially when post-punk sounds currently rule the alternative music airwaves? I don't nearly hear enough about the band in the media and I guess that is why they slipped under my radar until now. I got my first taste for the band when my buddy and I went to Coachella. While my buddy took some shelter from the heat that day, I went exploring the Coachella grounds and the airy melodies of the band drew me to the tent they were playing. There were just too many people in the tent for me to get myself close enough to really enjoy the concert so I stood near one of the side entrances of the tent and watched the band for 2-3 songs. They had a country-rock sound, with Beach Boys-influenced vocal harmonys, which was thoroughly enjoyable and perfect music that afternoon.

I think maybe it was having missed out on The Cardigans' show in Toronto this passed Thursday which got me looking for a fix for my live music craving. So then I came upon the info that The Thrills were playing in Toronto(yesterday) and I remembered that I liked what I heard from them at Coachella. I did some research on the band, checked out there website, read some reviews, listened to some song samples, saw some streaming videos, and I convinced myself to go see the band live. No regrets whatsoever. So read my review below:

concert review: The Thrills w/ Matt Mays and El Torpedo, Phoenix Concert Theatre (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) May 15, 2004

This was an early show. I still find it strange to walk into a concert venue when it is still daylight outside. I walked into a surprisingly sparse crowd. The openers, Matt Mays and El Torpedo, had not yet come on so I bought a drink and fiddled with my digital camera. It wasn't long before Matt Mays came on. I hadn't even know he was going to open the show because it hadn't been published in the paper. I had found out that Matt Mays was going to be the opener when I had passed the merch desk on the way in, was looking at some of The Thrills' merch, saw the Matt Mays CD and the guy at the desk(who definitely worked for The Thrills) asked me if the Matt Mays CD was good and I had expressed that it was a good CD of 'country-rock'. Matt Mays opening up the show was an entirely logical choice.

Not much to say about Matt. If you like early Wilco, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, you'll dig the music. I think I'd have dug the music even more if they added some pedal steel guitar now and then, but that's just my opinion. I think I'll pull out Matt's CD and listen to it again. Matt did tell a story about him and the band driving from Ottawa and their van breaking down...partly due to all the gadgets running off the van battery at various times(eg. DVD player, Playstation One) but also getting caught in a traffic jam on the 401). Poor guys.

So then a lengthy intermission followed as The Thrills' roadies set up the stage and gear. Once the roadies finally finished, to everyone's surprise some half-naked,chubby, pasty caucasian dude in a towel came onto stage and gave the audience a look like he had made a wrong turn somewhere. But then he started to banter with the crowd[some girl in the front row took some pictures of him], told some jokes and I realized it was all part of the show. So after some brief laughs he made the perfect rock n' roll introduction as he introduced the band and the band came on stage. Perfect.

The Thrills played a great set of slightly-countrified rock songs, sort of a countrified Teenage Fanclub, with hints of Wilco, Grandaddy(mostly in the vocals), Beach Boys, and some might say The Eagles[does only knowing "Hotel California" justify me making this comparison ;-) ] The vocalist enthralled the crowded and didn't miss an opportunity to thank the fans for welcoming the band back to Toronto for the second time within six months. One of the guitarists had an anti-Bush T-shirt, although the band never brought politics into their stage banter. If I remember correctly, the band returned for one encore, playing a new song as well as their 'sunny' "Don't Steal Our Sun". Thoroughly enjoyable concert!

I think this was the first concert I ever left, when it was still light outside.

Check out my pictures here. [they're kinda crappy, because I didn't use my flash(except for one picture)...oh well]

BTW, I bought The Thrills CD "So Much For The City" today at Futureshop. It was priced $10.99 but when the customer service rep scanned it at the register, it scanned at $13.99 and she told me that it was store policy that if an item scans at a higher price than stickered, they will knock $10.00 off the stickered price. So she sold it to me for $.99, plus tax. Hey, I told her I don't mind paying the $10.99, but she insisted, so who I am I to complain?

Hey, I finally found out what song that was that I've been digging for the past month or so but was never able to catch the name of until now. It was "Darts of Pleasure" by Franz Ferdinand. While I was at HMV today they were playing the CD, and I was in the store long enough to hear about half the CD, including "Darts Of Pleasure". Now I know what all the fuss is about! I didn't purchase the CD today, but it's on my wishlist!

The Fall Media Project is hosting two The Fall related items for download:

- a concert(in mp3 format)
- an .avi(of decent quality) of the band performing the song "Walk Like A Man" (live in Irvine, Magnum Leisure Centre on 20th February 2004)...Mark E. Smith has aged apparently, but then haven't we all.

Now, if The Fall would come to Toronto...I'm still pissed off ever since they cancelled their last planned Toronto tour date from a couple of years ago.

King Cobb Steelie is set to release their fifth album "Destroy All Codes Now" on June 29, 2004 through Outside Music. A Canadian tour for the summer/early fall is being planned.

Did ya' hear? Mandy Moore has signed to Sire Records. Currently Sire Records hosts bands such as The Distillers and The Von Bondies. Sire was also The Smiths label in the past. Yes, Mandy Moore, of "I'm missing you like candy" and A Walk To Remember fame. Actually, it's not too surprising that Sire Records has given her chance since Mandy Moore has eclectic taste in music, as seen by her recent(well not that recent; more like fall of 2003) "Coverage" CD which features covers of songs by the likes of XTC, Blondie, Joni Mitchell and The Waterboys.

So Close and Yet So Far

No Cardigans show for me yesterday. And I'm really bummed about it. I went bowling with some co-workers yesterday and then after I headed downtown to Lee's Palace around 9 pm to see if I could pickup a ticket from a scalper for the Cardigans show yesterday. While driving down Bloor St., I saw the lineup for admission into the venue, which I assumed was for ticketholders only. I figured I'd go kill some time at Sonic Boom across the street from Lee's Palace before looking for a scalper to buy a ticket from. Hey, I was ready to spend at least $30-40 to get a ticket[for a ticket that had a face value of $18.50]. I figure I spent more time at Sonic Boom than I intended to because it was almost 10:30 pm before I headed towards Lee's Palace. The lineup into Lee's was inside by then, and I couldn't find any scalpers [althought there were several people outside Lee's asking if anyone had any extra tickets]. So in defeat I gave up and headed home. (The only consolation was that I was able to purchase Wilco's "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" DVD for a decent price of $30.99 CDN.)

But to my horror, after catching some comments at Chromewaves today, I read that Lee's Palace had some tickets for the show available at the door. WTF!? Apparently, there was a sign outside the venue which indicated that some tickets were being sold at the door. Well, I either missed that sign, or that sign must have been taken down by the time I got to Lee's around 10:30 pm yesterday. What f!*kin' bad luck I have some of the time! So to all who got in to the show yesterday, hope you had a good time.

Going to buy myself a rabbit's foot.

There's a new update at Ted Leo 's site today. He had been posting comments about his recent tour in March of this year and he had posted comments for gigs up to March 17, 2004. And now he's decided to put the tour diary on the back burner, which means I guess he won't be posting anything about the March 25, 2004 show which I was at. It could have gone something like this:

Man...Toronto was just so awesome! Canadians rock! That's why I've decided to come back for a second Toronto gig in June. I wish all my fans were as enthusiastic as my Canadian fans. When I get back to Toronto, everyone gets a free t-shirt and CD at the show!

Now how hard could that have been Ted. ;-)


...A slight consolation, is that Ted mentions in today's news update that in the future he hopes to post a daily diary of the upcoming recording process for the new album as well as posting some song demos in mp3 format!

...Hey, while were on the topic of Ted Leo, I just thought I'd remind you that Sharing The Groove has at least one Ted Leo show that is available in lossless format for download at this very moment. I'm currently downloading the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 08/15/2002 SouthPaw show. Did I mention that Sharing the Groove is such an awesome site?! I feel like a kid in a candy store everytime I go there.

Long Gone Before Daylight ... aka Live and Learn

I'm not having any luck tracking down tickets for The Cardigans' show tomorrow in Toronto at Lee's Palace. Rotate This is out of its stock of tickets and Ticketmaster.ca also says that the show is sold out. I know, I know. I should have bought my ticket sooner. But then I just came back from Coachella and I wasn't sure if I'd be in the mood for another concert. It's surprising how fast I've adjusted back to Canadian life(from that California good-life). (or maybe it's just the recent warm weather which has made the transition smoother) My question is, WTF are The Cardigans doing by playing such a small venue as Lee's Palace, especially since 1)they haven't released an album in five years and there are alot of Cardigans fans just itching to see them live, and 2)IMO, The Cardigans could easily sell out a larger venue such as The Opera House? And then a glimmer of hope today; the Lee's Palace web site indicates that the show is 'almost sold out'. I've gotten nowhere trying to call Lee's Palace on the phone to inquire if there are still tickets to the show because they don't answer the phone. And to add insult to injury, I made the trek down to Lee's Palace after work only to find that 102.1 The Edge employees setting up for a concert tonight and there weren't any Lee's Palace employees around that I could ask about The Cardigans show tomorrow night. Anyone think there'll be scalpers tomorrow?

Anointed One

What's this? Is this my first scoop [not that many people are reading this blog ;-) ]? ....The Ted Leo site has a bunch of new tour dates in June including a show in Toronto on June 21, 2004 at the Horseshoe Tavern. Sweet! The Ted Leo show in Toronto back in March 2004 was an eye-opener and he's so much better live. If you think his Dirty Old Town DVD live performances are good, you gotta catch the real thing.

The music equivalent of a psychic connection, it's funny that I've been listening to Supergrass' 'Life on Other Planets' CD recently and I just purchased a used copy of Supergrass' Supergrass CD over the weekend, and now Tiny Mix Tapes reports that the band is releasing a best-of CD entitled 'Supergrass Is Ten - the Best of '94 to '04'' on June 4, 2004. The best-of will include two new songs, including the new single 'Kiss Of Life'.

...ps.The Supergrass official web site is interesting if you have the time to explore it but is a little bit of a headache to navigate if you're trying to find information. Hey, at least it's better than the Radiohead site [someone must have been on drugs when that thing was created.]

"Don't Mess With The Death Cab"

article: Toronto Star: Why The O.C. sounds so good to us: Non-mainstream music peps up mainstream TV

mp3: The Guided By Voices site recently announced the release of Robert Pollard's newest solo album entitled 'Fiction Man' [#30 in the Fading Captain series]. An mp3 of the song 'Their Biggest Win' is available for download. Another winner!

tour diary:The Belle and Sebastian 'Diary' section was recently updated with Stuart's thoughts of life on tour. I haven't made it through his most recent post dated May 4, 2004 which covers the month of April and up to May 1. However, his post dated May 3 is quite the charmer, as he reveals his crush for Christina Ricci! Good taste my man! He also comments on jumping on stage in an animal costume during The Flaming Lips Coachella set!

Modern Nature

I'm still trying to gather the strength to write up a rundown of my trip to California. I estimate sometime next week I'll be able to post some thoughts. At least I've unpacked my luggage and started to weed out some of my digital camera pics which weren't up to snuff[ie. the pics which came out crappy]. I'm still thinking whether I should be complaining or be thankful for the rainy weather this weekend[in the Toronto area]; that heatwave in California since April 29/04 was just brutal.

Boohoo :-( ... the Sondre Lerche show today at the Horseshoe is sold out! And speaking of Mr. Lerche, according to his web site, he will be performing on Late Night With Conan O'Brien on May 11, 2004, so don't forget [something which I tend to do alot!].

In the meantime, check out Ted Leo's site as he continues to post his thoughts of his late-winter 2004 tour through the U.S. [I'm still waiting for his thoughts on the March 25/2004 Toronto date!; as of today he's only posted his thoughts for his gigs up to March 17, 2004]

Coming back from Cali

I'm back from a whirlwind tour of California! My buddy and I spent two days at the Coachella festival(Pixies, Radiohead, The Cure, etc...), 2 days in San Diego(one night seeing Belle and Sebastian), and the whole trip was book-ended with stays in Los Angeles doing mostly tourist-y things. Combined with having to stay at 4 different motels over the course of 6 nights and driving a rental car between cities, I'm pooped. I took alot of pictures(concert as well as tourist-y), some coming out good, some well..., and I'll try to post a rundown of my trip some time in the future, if I can muster up the strength. For now, more sleep beckons!