Sinking Ships

Having only been to Toronto venue The Boat once(to see The Two Koreas & The Diableros: [my review]) I was pretty excited to discover a cozy new music venue to go to. Just steps from the heart of Kensington market, it has a nautical theme going on with port holes on the wall to give it that feeling of being aboard a ship. What really excited me was the non-existent stage which really could make for an intimate performance as the artist/band(in my case when I saw Two Koreas & The Diableros) would be performing at eye level with the audience. It's a little disappointing to hear the talk on Stillepost about the calling of a boycott of the venue due to an incident of sexual harassment by the owner towards a female patron after hours. The thread at Stillepost is reaching record-length proportions and I haven't even read all the comments but there seems to be a division between people calling for the boycott and others saying a boycott is ridiculous. From what I've read there was an incident of inappropriate touching: not a full on grope but something more along the lines of a flirtatious "brushing sort of contact". Some comments raise the question of whether there should be a sliding scale of sexual harassment while others say that when dealing with the bar scene, you're always going to encounter shady characters. The question of whether she was flirting comes up. But really does it matter whether she was? It's really quite a moral dilemma for bands and music fans alike. Should an incident like this be a factor as to whether one continues to book with/patronize an establishment? As far as I know, there hasn't been any legal action taken. For me, I think it'll all come down to a matter of principle and personal comfort. I'd continue to go to The Boat until I personally observe conduct I don't agree with(and on principle would have to discontinue going there) or if I just didn't feel comfortable going there. ...Although, this patron review of the venue, doesn't necessarily help.
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According to rootmeansquare, Ted Leo/Pharmacists return to Toronto for an all ages show at The Mod Club on September 29th. Tickets, $15.00, onsale on July 21st at Rotate This, Horseshoe, and Soundscapes.

Also on sale July 21st are tickets for Antony And The Johnsons with Coco Rosie who'll be playing in Toronto at Trinity St. Paul on October 1st, tickets $21.50.

You Ain't No Picasso has a link to a video download of The Decemberists' performance of "We Both Go Down Together" from their appearance on last night's Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Thanks also to YANP for pointing to The Confabulators who offer a torrent to a higher-quality video of the same performance.

Sufjan Stevens will be performing a live session for Morning Becomes Eclectic tomorrow[July 14th], 11:15 PST(2:15 pm EST).

Watch the semi-animated video for The Dears' "22: The Death of All the Romance" which is available from July 13th to 17th on MySpace.

Welcome To The Midwest has graciously posted mp3's of Stars' recent live session for KEXP!

Yet another torrent available of a live show by The New Pornographers, this time being their show at The Gothic Theatre in Englewood, CO on 2003-06-03.

Rotate This is now listing tickets for the October 9, 2005 New Pornographers show in Toronto as being at the (much-hated) Docks. Tickets are $22.50.

Said The Gramophone offers a little anectdote(as well as an mp3 download) of what I'd have to say is my favourite Sloan song ever, "Deeper Than Beauty"!