Things That Make Me Happy

This week is RyeACCESS' Ryerson Disability Awareness Week and we did our annual barrier labelling campaign today. We only had time to cover the newer buildings on campus and in doing so we got to tour the brand new Ryerson Business building. It's not perfect but I was seriously impressed with the standard of accessibility. All floors had a private, accessible washroom with an automatic door button, an automatic lock and an intercom in case you need assistance. All of the major lecture halls have automatic doors and designated wheelchair seating with special tables and the building has not one, but three elevators! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is a HUGE difference from the accessibility of the other buildings on campus. Even the Engineering building, which is only three years older is littered with accessibility flaws. I'm really interested to know why they suddenly seem to be paying so much more atrention to accessibility issues. I think I might try and do a bit of research. It gives us hope, but it's hard to know if it's a standard that the University is planning to continue with. Is it simply that the particular developer is more attentive, or does it have something to do with the extra money that they got from sharing the space with Best Buy and Canadian Tire (yup, you heard me right...don't ask!) either way I'm seriously considering becoming a business major *hehe*.

While I was procrastinating against my Soc essay tonight (oops!) I discovered that Anthony Rapp has a new website complete with blog, appearances, merch(which doesn't have anything in it yet) and it seems ALBINOKid will also have a website soon, yay! For now if you click the link you can watch a short video of Anthony and the band. I saw the paperback version of Without You in the bookstore the other day...=). Yeah, yeah, I'm a dork, I know. But so exciting!

We made a Facebook profile for RyeACCESS the other day so I decided to make one for myself too. I thought Facebook was kind of boring before I signed up but the last couple of days I've been a little bit obsessed with it. Pathetic I know, but it's really cool to see all the people that you know somehow--and people respond so quickly!

And the last thing that makes me happy right now is that I got tickets today to see Gordon Lightfoot on Friday. It should be a GREAT show. I'll finally get to hear the original version of Early Morning Rain live and yeah, we all know Gord's Gold will be stuck in the back of my mind the whole time. =p.

It was too good to be true!

The McGarrigle Christmas tour has been cancelled! What's with that? Which McGarrigle had to go and get sick? Okay, so I don't wish sickness on Kate or Anna...or God forbid, Martha *snicker*, but honestly, was canceling the whole tour really necessary? To add insult to injury the NY Carnegie Hall show on Dec 13 is the only date that's still a go, but it's now become "the *Wainwright* Family and Friends Christmas." That probably means that it will include Loudon, which the other show did not. Gah, I've said it before and I'll say it again, Why don't I live in New York?! I guess all I can say now is either bring Judy to T.O or finish that album faster boy! I need a little fabulousness in my life!

While we're on the subject of Rufus, (for those of you who haven't already figured it out, it's not exactly his family that I'm upset about missing) but while I was Googling the appropriate photo to go with my MSN screenname I came across this:

I was not unaware of our boy's Lumberjack tendencies, but that doesn't mean I understand them...

Bleary-eyed and achey...but one wristband richer!

Ryerson has decided to rent space in their new business building to Best Buy and Canadian Tire. Not exactly educational, in fact, quite unpleasant. As if our campus wasn't corporate enough already. But I guess they had to pay for the building somehow. The Best Buy store is a big deal it seems and they're having a weekend of grand opening celebrations in Dundas Square, which include a free show by Beyonce tonight (skipping that) and John Mayer on Saturday. I took my fangirlishness to a new level this morning and got up at 5:00 A.M. to lineup at Best Buy to get a VIP wristband for Saturday (first 250 people in line were promised wristbands)--I think I'm officially on a John Mayer kick. I was sure I'd get there and there would be a million people in line but when I arrived at 6:30 I was #29. They kept telling us that despite the ad's promise of wristbands before noon they were going to wait until there were 250 people in line no matter how long it took. By 8:00 there was still only about 60 people in line and by the time they gave the wristbands out at 10:00 there had to only have been a little over 150...they took pity on us out in the cold and didn't make us wait any longer. I couldn't figure the low turn out! All I could think of was that people just assumed that there would be a lot of people there and didn't bother. It was very weird...I totally didn't need to get up so early, ARG! It worked out perfectly though. I had a class at 10:00 and I was worried they'd go over after all of the conflicting information we got about times. But they gave the wristbands out at exactly 10:00 and was able to make it to class in the alotted 10 minutes, yay! It was kind of an important class so I couldn't really miss it. But after waiting in line for 4 hours and having a guaranteed wristband, it would've been pretty tough to leave without getting it. But I didn't have to=).

Two John Mayer shows in less than a month woo!! It should be a lot of fun...even if I did get up at 5:00! I haven't listened to the new album yet. I'm saving it for the trip to school tomorrow.

They're back!

Once upon a time a group of Fruheads gathered in Toronto's Opera House for the dreaded "last" show. Little did they know that they were about to discover a little band called The Supers, who would quickly make their way on to many of their favourite band lists....

They took us through the powerpoppy sounds of their first album "Spklanng" and later the quieter tunes of "Mystery on Pop Mountain" and then...the music stopped...

After several awesome live shows in the years after the infamous Opera House show Maury, Graham, Mark and Tim all took alternative projects respectively and joined the ranks of Jann Arden Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Harmer, k-os, Jason Plumb, Sho Mo & The Monkey Bunch, Danny Michel Starling, Great Atomic Power and the like, putting their Supers endeavors on the back burner. BUT...after 3 years, last night they came back!! Last night at the Rivoli they released their long awaited third album "Rearrange". Sadly it seems that Tim has been permanently kidnapped by Ron Sexsmith and didn't return. However, we got a pretty good replacement...the album's producer, Ian Lafeuvre of Starling, Major Maker etc. And so The Supers are once again a full-on rock band! They've got a bunch of pretty new guitars and Maury's even traded the upright for a snazzy white and blue electric bass. That's going to take a little while to get used to after so many years of his uber-cool upright though. Unfortunately the sound in the Riv last night was iffy at best. It's not really the best venue for loud rock shows and "The science of the Rivoli" as Danny Michel has dubbed the guitar buzz was very evident and the bass was way too loud. Oh well, It was still a great show. We can't exactly criticize too much on their first real show back. I'm sure they'll iron out the glitches. I can't help but add a little criticism though. Were *2* openers really necessary guys? Dustin Bentall's twangy countryish sound was pretty cool and the fact that he's Ridley Bent's Roommate made him even cooler. But though Valery Gore's Sarah Slean-like vocals might've held my attention on a Sunday afternoon or something, at 11:00 when I just wanted to see The Supers and go home, she wasn't makin' it. Her extream nervousness and constant mention of the fact that her clothes were too tight was just annoying. Why would anyone wear two pairs of nylons anyway?

The highlight of the night was Graham's antics though. It wouldn't be far fetched to mistake him for being on something, the pointless ramblings went on so long. At one point they included him wondering if Maury and Mark were standing behind him checking out his butt while he was singing, which turned into several minutes of a Graham butt show. SO funny! I can never tell if the stiffness of Maury's banter is intentional or not, but that's quite funny too.

For some reason they skipped two songs that they had set for an encore, but they did Turn!!! Aw man Spklanng is a good album! I've just come to the last song on "Rearrange"and after hearing them play through it live last night and then listening to it straight through today, I can honestly say that it has it's very strong moments but they still haven't managed to top Spklanng....it's kind of a sound that's a mixture of "Spklanng" and "Mystery on Pop Mountain. I particularly like "Tin Man", "All About You", "Man in the Alley" , "Something about You", "Can't Stop", "Any Idiot", and "Hometown". Don't get me wrong. Spklanng is going to be a really hard one to top in my books. Rearrange is pretty darn good.

Oh, did I mention that I couldn't help noticing that Maury was sporting a new piece of bling? Yes, it's true, after 16 years, Maury and Shoshauna officially tied the knot in June. SO COOL! Next thing we know there'll be a little monkey bunch to follow...aww=).

You've got to be kidding me!

Is John Mayer really dating Jessica Simpson? Of all people, come on?!!! He just seems so much cooler than that....EEEWWW!!! Is it a Southern thing? http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/30/people/main1949290.shtml All I can say is they better not start doing duets together!

It's not an indie rock show unless there's at least one half naked guy in a skirt!

I really should go to bed but it's just one of those nights that despite the fact that it's 2:15, I'm wide awake. It seems most of my posts are written late at night anyway so I guess this is as good a time as any. This weekend was an unexpected delight.--I FINALLY discovered some new music for a change. Harbourfront was hosting the IndieUNLIMITED festival and as many of the bands had been reccommended by Mr. Radio, J-Gho himself, I decided to go down and join the hipsters. I'd seen a couple of the members of the Hidden Cameras (billed as the entire band for some reason) at the Andy Kim Christmas show of all places and...though they had potential, I couldn't quite figure out what all the hype was about. Even though we were forced by the rather large crowd, to stand extreme stage right where all we could see was the back of the band and where the vocals were muffled, they were still an act totally worth writing home about. Clearly the flaw before was the fact that there were only two members. Similar to a group like Broken Social Scene they had several members (like possibly 10+...I didn't actually count) with several glockenspeils, violin, viola, piano, bass, guitar, drums, keyboard, cello etc. They've been dubbed "Gay Church Folk Music". I'm not exactly sure what that means but whatever it is, it's good. Kind of a mixture of power-pop and mellow folky I guess? Their new album 'AWOO', which I highly recommend might be more helpful when trying to define their genre. Bottom line, their set made me realize that I don't go to enough fun indie rock shows anymore. The days of Carnations shows and indie rock boys seemed so far away all of a sudden. Sure I still catch the ocasional Meligrove Band and Cuff the Duke shows, and those Carnations boys aren't exactly out of my life. Far from it in fact. It's just that Small Sins shows seem subdued in comparison. Last night just made me realize that there just aren't enough shows in my life where in a wink of an eye there's a full on dance party on stage with members of almost every hipster band from here to Montreal. Oh yeah, it's just not an indie rock show unless there's at least one half naked guy in a skirt.=)

Afterwards I headed over to the Lakeside Terrace, the "after hours" area I guess you could say, to see Spiral Beach. I've seen these kids a few times now and they're always a lot of fun. But after their behaviour at the MIT-City show that they played (let's just say the fact that they're 15 shone through like a beacon) it's getting harder and harder to overlook their age for their talent. They've been getting a TON of critical acclaim in the past year or so and it seems everyone who's in tune with the Toronto indie scene has heard of them by now. You'd think they'd have gotten some sort of stage banter perfected as a result but, hmm...nope! At first the fact that the stuff they talked about on stage was (juvinile to say the least) was kind of endearing. But now it's just annoying! Granted most people go to their shows to dance and are probably too drunk to care what their talking about. I'll admit that it's pretty hard to stand still when they're playing but hey, some of us actually come for the show. So if they're planning on really following in their big shot parents' footsteps, the fact that they can put together a snappy powerpop tune isn't going to hold up forever. Grow up I say! What has to be pointed out as most obsurd though, was that while nobody in the line escaped being carded the 15-year-old band-members were openly drinking on stage. Oy, does being an indie hipster even give you leagal priviledges?

This afternoon was a little more mellow.--The Hylozoists, a purely instrumental medley, again on the larger side, made up of members of Cuff the Duke, The Weakerthans, and just about every Canadian indie band there is. They are the Ultimate! They also have a cool philosophy "Traditionally, hylozoism is the belief that all matter holds life. Evidently, these Hylozoists believe every available minute bears opportunity," I like that. I'm not really into the instrumental thing but this is an exception for sure. I'll let you all read and listen for yourselves on the link above but, they're just...really cool! Nothing like funky instrumentals and Wayne Petti on a Sunday afternoon. Did I mention that there will be some CD shopping happening tomorrow?

I also spent most of the afternoon on Saturday finishing off the first season of Veronica Mars. Okay, you've got me. I'm hooked! Kat, you were right, it's totally about the characters! Though I was eagerly watching it about half way through, it was the last 4 or 5 episodes that really drew me in. I'm a sucker for love stories, what can I say=). I won't go into detail in case anyone else dcides to go the Mars route too, but wow, the last little bit was SO good! I watched the first and second episodes of the second season tonight and I can't say I'm exactly thrilled about the way her love life is headed but we'll see...I might warm up to this one.

My name in print!

My article is finally out. We got our delivery of the new issue at work today and there it was on pg.41-42. Getting to see it in print was a little anti-climactic after such a long time, especially after already getting to see the layout, but I'm officially a published journalist...woo! I can provide a few copies to those who are interested since we have quite a few at work. But it's generally available on most newsstands. Chapters/Indigo I know for sure.

Back to the Grindstone

Just a quickie to say that I'm once again employed...well, for the next five weeks anyway. After that it's up to the powers that be and this year's available funding to decide if RyeACCESS is in the cards for me for a third year in a row. But for now I get to play Orientation Coordinator.--Wear my RSU T-shirt with pride and promote my cause to the newbies and the unaware. So far (6 hours) it's been fun...minus the broken desk drawer and the malfunctioning FileMaker Pro database. My four partners in crime I either know already, which is nice, or seem pretty cool and I'm liking Alex (My supervisor) in this new role I think. I'm going to give it a bit more time before I make my professional decision. It's only the first day afterall. I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed just yet but the sudden thrust into productivity after over a month of doing next to nothing is a bit of a shock to my system. I've apparently got two days to attend 4 info sessions, complete all of the office tasks that need doing, prepare all of my promotional materials and tabling stuff for next week's FROSH activities, and provide all of the Student Services with printed material. Not to mention the fact that I was already let in on a meeting with the ACCESS Centre and asked to speak at their event next Wednesday...My head a splode!!

The good news is that aside from a few early mornings and a lot of setting up of tables, next week will just be a lot of volunteer recruitment in the Quad, which usually doesn't require too much energy. It also looks like the events that are printed on our postcard this year might actually happen since the person who planned them is still there...woo! My biggest surprise though is that they've FINALLY managed to secure an accessible desk! After two years it's finally coming! Don't get me wrong mind you, I'll believe it when I see it. But the fact that it's supposedly on it's way is super exciting.

...I'm also in the handbook and the pamphlet again. Looking significantly better than last year I might add!

John Mayer, MOD Club 8/21/2006

As promised here are the pics from last night's John Mayer concert. I decided I didn't want to wait till I could get my hands on another copy of my camera driver software. I wanted to see these pics on a larger scale than my camera's LCD screen will allow so I decided to just get Black's to stick them on a CD for me. Unfortunately it seems that I can only post so many pics per Blog entry so I picked my favourites...

....I see London, I see France, I see Johnny's underpants!

...If I had any doubts that last night actually happened, I don't now. On my way out the door this morning I looked down and lying on my scooter was one of John's guitar picks!! One of the roadies tossed a few of the extras into the audience before he started breaking down the gear. The girl beside me said she thought one had fallen into my basket, but we couldn't find it. I guess it just fell through the basket and we couldn't see the black on black in the dark. I'm amazed that it stayed there all the way home. Unfortunately it's not one of the ones that John threw personally but it's pretty darn cool.--It says John on one side and has a portrait of him on the other=).

....

His Body is a Wonderland...OH BABY!!

CAUTION: Being less than a foot away from John Mayer for two hours will turn you into a puddle of goo!

...They say the third time's a charm but in this case it was the fourth....A few weeks ago they announced that John Mayer was doing a Toronto show, which was very exciting. However, not long after I found out that it was an exclusive fanclub show. I have a big problem with having to pay money to be considered somebody's fan. So unfortunately I didn't have the "priviledge" of buying tickets to this particular show. But, when I found out that it was at the MOD Club instead of the usual HUGE venues that he plays (Molson Ampitheatre, the ACC or the Kool Haus) I REALLY wanted to be there! So I went down to the MOD Club tonight only to find out that there were no tickets at all.--Nobody had any extras and the waiting list for any tickets that John's VIPs weren't using, was already overflowing. I put my name on the list anyway but only four tickets for 30+ people were released. I was about to leave when one of the girls who was handling the list flagged me down saying that her mom had an extra ticket! She could've sold it to anyone but once again my pitty-points came through in my favour. Yeah disability perks!

About half an hour before doors I asked if I could use the bathroom inside the venue. Not only could I hear the soundcheck (AWESOME!) I came out just as they were finished, so they let me in early and I proceeded to plunk myself right smack in front of John's mic. I was expecting his fans to be really annoying teenyboppers but I actually met some really cool people. Most people were cool except for the psych girl towards the end that is. During the last couple of songs this crazy girl roughly pushed her way up to the front and proceeded to stand right in front of the girls who had been there for the whole set and with a crazy look on her face numerously gave John the finger! It was so bizarre...and creepy!! Luckily she went back to where she came from after a while.

Unfortunately they were about half an hour late starting the show but when they did...OMG!!! I honestly think it was by far the best show I've seen all summer...quite possibly one of my favourites ever! I've seen him 3 other times but somehow being close enough to touch him made the music so much more intense. Being close enough to just sit there and watch him play guitar is just incredible! You can see him entering into another state and jamming. He can seriously play like nobody's business! And he's just SO pretty! Oy, let me tell ya, it wasn't just the lights that were makin' me sweat! The undulating...oh my the undulating...and the FACE MELTING SOLOS!!!

He was quite quiet as far as banter tonight, I remember him being more vocal in the past. "I've learned not to talk when tuning" he told us. But he did have a couple of cute exchanges with loudmouth audience members.

Loud Guy: "John play wheel so I can die happy!"

John: Who's dying?"

LG: "I will if you don't play Wheel"

JM: "What kind of incentive is that for me to play a song?"

LG: "Okay, I won't die!"

JM: "Then I won't play it. Ha! I gotcha!"

....You kind of had to be there but it was funny=).


...He still hasn't filled in the last square on the T-shirt tattoo yet=).

I'm really excited for the new album. He did the single "Waiting on the World to Change" and a few others. I think it's going to be a really good mixed album, with a nice combination of the Room for Squares pop and the new more bluesy stuff. The new material is really good but they did mostly old stuff, which was great..."Clarity", "Daughters","Something's Missing", "Why Georgia", "My Stupid Mouth", "Not Myself" etc.

It was my lucky day! Best $50 I ever spent! GFan Club shmanclub. In your face, I found a loophole!The only thing that sucked about the night was that he only signed posters for the people on the other side of the stage...grr!

I got some great pictures. I'll post them as soon as I can get my camera software up and running again. I'm working on it!

Sadly, Soraya Jackson passed away in the early morning on Thursday August 17th. She is said to have passed peacefully after her long battle. The benefit will still take place to celebrate her young life and help ease the family's financial burden. Be there if you can!

...Condolences to Luther and his family

Fruvous lives!

Okay, okay, maybe we haven't seen more than 3 of them together in one room for over 5 years...and even I'm beginning to use a past tense when talking about our beloved foursome...but I couldn't resist a quick mention of the fact that I was just informed that "I Will Hold On" was being played in the framing section at IKEA yesterday. I was excited when the Drake was playing a little Bargainville in the summer of first year (the last time I was treated to anything radio-like related to Fruvous) but the Drake is a hipster Queen West Hotel that probably has a few employees who would be old enough to remember the good old days...hardly a big box store. I'd like to think it's a sign. But for now I'll stick to getting used to past tense. Especially since, despite my noticing the fact that IKEA definitely has a soundtrack that's on the cooler side, there was no Fruvous at IKEA during my shelving shopping-spree a mere two days before.

Out of sheer boredom I jumped on the Veronica Mars bandwagon tonight. A couple of my friends have been raving about it since it started...in fact, there hasn't been a time yet where it hasn't come up in conversation when we've all been together. They burned season 1 for me to take with me to NYU last summer, but there just wasn't enough lonely dorm room nights to start watching it. I'm not sure why I've neglected to start watching it since. I've caught a few minutes here and there on TV and wasn't really impressed. But perhaps I should give it the benefit of the doubt...beyond a few minutes.

I watched episodes 1 and 2 tonight and I didn't hate it. I don't see where the popularity comes from yet but maybe that comes later. I can't quite get past the fact that it has an uncanny resemblance to all of the bad teenybopper "dramas" on YTV or the family channel...that, except that in the first episode they were already tackling the *adult* subjects that only come up in the night-time favourites. Perhaps that's what gives the show it's appeal? The quirky flip-flop between highschool and adulthood. It has a certain Dawson's Creek charm to it I guess. Thank goodness we get to escape the same level of academic-speak that came from 30 year-olds who were unsuccessfully trying to pull off characters half their age but at the same time that unrealistic highschool ideal is painfully apparent. It's safe to say that that's TV Land for ya though.

Despite my misgivings I'm strangely intrigued. I think I'm going to give it a few more episodes....

On a completely unrelated note...Luther Creek (Roger in the Canadian cast of Rent and Mark in the touring cast) along with several other past and present Rent castmembers and members of the Broadway community are putting on a benefit for Luther Creek's nine-year-old niece Soraya Jackson who has been battling brain cancer for the past year. Please visit www.myspace.com/songsforsoraya for more information and if any of you are in the New York area and can drop by the Cutting Room on August 27th, $25 is not a lot if it will do anything to help a sick child and her family. I'm not sure if there is anything that those of us who can't make it to the benefit can do to help but people have been commenting on the site asking where they can send donations and such so hopefully they will let us know. But if nothing else, kind words speak volumes so leave a comment on the site if you feel so inclined. I haven't yet but I think I might sidestep my usual aversion to leaving comments for celebrities and do so.

As a handful of my friends know, there is a special place for Luther Creek in this little Renthead's heart. It's slightly tacky to be promoting this event in this case, I know. But I stumbled upon the sad news by accident the other day and maybe it's the fangirlish memories of waiting outside the stage door at the Royal Alex way back in the days of grade 8 for a certain blonde rollerblader that make my feelings all the more apparent but it's hard not to feel for Luther and his family. It has to be said...this is why we have to remember "No day but today!" I really do hope Soraya can beat it!

Boo, I'm lapsing into a pattern of infrequent posts again. Truthfully it's really been due to the lack of things to post about...I am SO looking forward to going back to school! This summer has suddenly started to feel VERY long. But I got an E-mail the other day asking me to apply again to be orientation coordinator for RyeACCESS. The application deadline is supposed to be August 17th. So I'm hoping to hear about it fairly soon. Unfortunately it's only a 5 week contract but it generally leads to the full-year position, and either way it will be nice to have an income again.

My article should be out any day now. They never did give me a specific date beyond "sometime at the end of August" but they've already sent out the topic for the next issues, so I'm assuming it'll be out soon. I'd like to pitch to the next issue, but they've only allowed about 5 days before the deadline (this publication is EXTREMELY disorganized if I haven't mentioned it already) and I know very little about adaptive technology so coming up with a story in such a short time might be close to impossible.

Against my better judgment I skipped Kevin Hearn's CD release on Wednesday to go check out Chris Brown & Kate Fenner. My friend Elyse is absolutely obsessed and as she's been raving about them for years, I decided it was time to go see them. It was a good excuse to see Elyse too (it had been WAY too long). Unfortunately it wasn't as fun as it could've been though. First of all the doors ended up being more than an hour later then we thought so my friend that I was with decided that the $15 cover was too expensive for the short amount of time that she could then be at the show. So she ended up leaving and I reluctantly paid the $15, which I regretted slightly later on. It was nice to see Elyse but she was with a bunch of her friends that I didn't know, and a noisy club isn't exactly the easiest place to get to know people. So most of the night was more anti-social than anything, which was a shame, and I'm sorry to have to report that I REALLY didn't like Chris Brown & Kate Fenner. I wanted to, I really did! They are very talented musicians but I just didn't find anything particularly special about them. There were a couple of political tunes that were pretty good but Chris Brown was mostly pretty dull and though Kate Fenner has a good voice, it was kind of shrill on the high notes. She's also scarrily skinny, which I found a little hard to watch. I find it really hard to believe that she just had a baby. Elyse has a huge crush on her...to each his own I guess=p. The funny thing was that Elyse's friend told me that she's been dragged to see them a million times but she doesn't really get them either. Apparently Elyse saw them years ago at some festival and totally fell in love, but all of her friends were puzzled as to why. I totally understand the love for a band that people don't get, so I guess I shouldn't talk. But, I don't get it! Elyse has a tattoo of some of their song lyrics so after the show she showed it to them and they apparently serenaded her acoustically. A huge highlight obviously...she was all giggly for the rest of the night *hehe*.

Went to Major Maker's CD release on Friday night. They get better and better each time I see them. Lindy has even almost gotten the scary falsettos under control=). I was also quite pleased to find that Lindy is actually on the ball, and that my copy of the CD (sent by some guy with bad writing and a LONG Icelandic name *hehe*) was waiting in my mailbox. There was also multitudes of free buttons on each table, which we took advantage of. It was a very strange show though. Usually the band that is having the CD release plays last. But in this case Major Maker played second...very weird, so we ended up just leaving after their set...without stories of Tommy-boy's tour...boo=p. The first band that was on was called Stirling and in the dark the frontman had quite a resemblance to Thom. He was wearing a suit, which should've been our first clue. But we spent a good 10 or 15 minutes going, "Why is Thom wearing a suit? Is that Thom? It is him! Wait, no it's not." The guy was also too tall and his nose was too big but he does a mean hair-flip that definitely rivals Thom's=). Sterling was boring but the frontnan was pretty so it was okay *hehe*.

BTW, can anyone think of guy's names that start with 'K'? ;)

The sounds of summer

Well, thus concludes my three nights of awesome music at Harbourfront. Thursday night I didn't have anything planned so I picked up a last minute ticket to see Sarah Harmer. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful night and since it was a ticketed event everything was very mellow and orderly, which isn't usually the case in the bandshell there.--It was packed but didn't feel so...it was very nice. She had shimmery fabric draped from the roof and twinkle lights all over the place. Since we were down by the water she kept a pretty consistant water/nature theme and the lights guy projected wave-like images on the back of the stage. Though I do love her, for some reason Sarah Harmer isn't someone that I can see over and over again. But I think enough time had gone by that I was ready to see her again. She was very laid back and happy, did all the hits, and a few I'd never heard before believe it or not. I haven't heard her new CD yet (I picked it up that night) so I think they must have been from that. However, I don't think she played Basement Apartment or Hideout=(. I suppose she can't play them everytime, but I thought they were pretty solid staples at this point. She might've played them when I was in the bathroom, TWICE...teach me to drink beer, blah! but I don't think so.

...Did anyone else know she could drum? At one point during the set she went and sat down in the back and at first I didn't see the small drum kit and wondered why she was just sitting there. But then she started to drum while singing and made jokes about the drummer from the opening band waiting in the wings in case she messed up. But I thought she was pretty impressive.

The only weird thing about the night was for the first time I didn't recognize anyone in her band...or anyone in the hipster audience either.

***

Friday night was the beginning of the "From the Peg!" Festival, which featured several artists from Winnipeg. We went down to see The Duhks, who I hadn't heard of but were guaranteed by Kyla to be good. They definitely didn't disappoint. They're kind of tradional folk (fiddles, banjo, drums guitar) fused with a contemporary sound. They kind of reminded me of The Paperboys without the Spanish stuff. They did a lot of covers (Sting & Tracy Chapman) a few that were written for them (one by the Mammals) and then several interesting instrumental pieces that seemed to be arranged by the fiddle player. I was particuarly impressed with the guitarist...not only was he cute *hehe* but he was an extremely strong guitar player. Nothing particularly fancy per se, he just struck me as very good. My only real criticism was that the lead singer was clearly fronting the band but each time they did an instrumental piece she left the stage. It was weird, it sort of wrecked the continuity of the set I found.

For some reason there were people giving out paper Burton Cummings masks too. It was very bizarre. I mean yeah, the Guess Who are from Winnipeg...but it's not like they were there or anything=p.

***

Saturday night topped them all though. Sarah Harmer was nice and all. But she was still $35! Now, you just can't top a two hour FREE Weakerthans set with a 7 song encore. SOO GOOD!!!! If it wasn't for the stupid indie kids it would've been flawless. We got there three hours early and secured a great spot in the front row, but as soon as the Waking Eyes went on at 8 all the oblivious, inconsiderate losers started filling the miniscule space between the seats and the barrier and stood right in front of us...OY, SO RUDE!! Luckily we didn't mind just listening to the Waking Eyes but when more little idiots tried to cram themselves into the space before the Weakerthans went on, that's where we drew the line. We reamed a couple guys out who jumped over the benches from like 5 rows back back to try and cram themselves into the already non-existent space...which had gotten even smaller when everyone crowded under during the brief downpour. Eventually we just got security to let me parallel park right up against the barrier. My friends had to stand, which sucked after waiting for 3 hours, but we had a great view anyway. Needless to say we were extremely unimpressed with the lack of crowd control...geeze! It made no sense cuz the seats were hardly jam packed and there is a perfect view from the back of the venue. There was no reason for them to allow that.

It was a seriously awesome show though. They did EVERYTHING but the best part was that they opened their "From the Peg!" set with One Great City. It was so much fun to yell out "I HATE WINNIPEG!" after hearing everybody gush about how great it was for two days.=) I'm still not quite up to snuff with all the words to every song yet and I don't know all the titles either, but, wow! They did almost everything off of Reconstruction Site, including Plea for a Cat Named Virtue, yay!! and a few older ones that I didn't really know. John did a very cool Propaghandi cover that I would love to hear the original of. It had excellent lyrics. I'm always so impressed by the Weakerthans lyrics...they're really phenomenal. Poetic, with a contemporary twist.

They said something about October as they were leaving the stage but I didn't hear if it was an album or a tour. Hopefully both.

...I got a T-shirt with the Cat Named Virtue on it...cute!=).

.

***

...On a bit of a random note, what is with toddlers with squeaky feet? Is it some sort of new incentive to get your children to learn to walk or something. Today I saw the second child that I've seen with shoes that were kind of like squeaky toys. Everytime she took a step it sounded like she stepped on the dog's chew toy. I don't know about you, but I think I'd find that kind of annoying if nothing else.

I went for a picnic with my dad in the wildlife sanctuary over by the Humber Bay where he lives. I had no idea there was so much country in the city there. We sat by the water and watched the boats, fed the many different types of birds...ducks (including a mother duck and her 5 cute babies), geese, starlings, swans, gulls etc. Most of the time you can't see anything but water and wildflowers...not a trace of the city, even though it's only over the trees. The best part though was that on the way back we saw a white heron and a BEAVER!!! There is a HUGE beaver dam in the river and we saw the beaver having a lovely old time swimming around and chewing on a stick. I've seen many a beaver dam up at the cottage, but I don't think I've ever seen a real live beaver. I never thought I'd see one right smack in the middle of the city.

There was also this really funny older man wearing a speedo, with his cell phone clipped to it who was literally strutting up and down the shore. It was very funny=p...and very weird.

By, Saburah Murdoch

I was asked to look over the layout of my article for Abilities Magazine tonight. It's official, it's done!

Except...I'm feeling that weird feeling that I get when things that I write are edited to death. Mind you, saying that this was edited to death is a bit strong I guess, but I definitely noticed some changes from the final draft that I sent in. I know that's to be expected, especially at this early stage in my journalistic writing. But whether it's my profs, my friends, or in this case a real editor changing my words I can never help but feel like a little bit of my vision is being taken away. I'd better get used to it, I know...especially in this business of angles and "styles". It's just hard to send my work off into the oblivion of E-mail and have it return appearing different. I kind of hate the sub-titles the broke it up into too--"Pizza & Politics"...oy! I know that's something that I'm definitely going to learn to surrender cuz generally writers don't have any involvement with headlines or the like. Granted I'm not very good at them anyway but I was hoping I would escape a bad one this time.

I think what's really throwing me off though is the personal twist that I was asked to take it to in the end. They wanted me to end it with a student quote. But as those (especially ones coming from students with disabilities) are rather hard to come by in the summer, I decided to use a personal anecdote. Rather then ending with that though, they decided to expand on it and put it in the sidebar with my picture. I was sort of leaving out the detail about my working for RyeACCESS to avoid any bias issues, but once my picture was going to be included, I kind of had to tell them. So then that info was added too (except that they kind of mixed it up and I hope they'll take my corrections) and the few lines that I originally provided became this big story. I hate mushy exaggerations that turn people's experiences into sob stories...so I couldn't help but suggest a few word changes to avoid bordering on that. But the bottom line is that the full medical term for my disability is prominently placed and I'm being painted in the light of "disability". I don't know, I suppose I could've said no, but at the time it seemed okay...it still is okay...it just doesn't necessarily feel like me. It's not that I deny that I have a disability, or want to hide it, on the contrary. I just don't necessarily make it who I am...I just feel a bit medicalized. I think I wanted my first published experience to be a little less personal and a little more anonymous, for lack of a better term.

Oh well, I generally write about things that are close to home for me and this was no different. I suppose it might've been expected. C'est la vie!

On a side note, I was in the bookstore the other day and I happened to come accross Kyle Maynard's new autobiography. For those of you who don't know him, he's definitely someone to check out. He was born a congenital amputee, meaning that he was born with no legs below the knees and no arms below the elbows. However, despite his disability he went on to compete against able-bodied athletes on his highschool football team and has since become a champion wrestler, beating able-bodied oponants right and left. My mom saw him on Larry King Live a couple of years ago and I saw him on an episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I read about half the book today and there is no doubt that he's a very inspiring guy... and despite the slightly iffy writing-style of a 19 year-old boy, it's an interesting book. But writing about disability, and then writing a bit about my own experiences this book gave me a bit of a different perspective. Kyle's book is called No Excuses and his no excuses philosophy, which acts as his motivater, runs throughout. It's a good philosophy but I can't help but find it slightly problematic somehow. The obstacle that I've always faced with disability advocacy and with working for RyeACCESS in my own life, is the idea that by pointing out the fact that people with disabilities are equal within society, we are segregating ourselves slightly. Like I said, this could just be related to the inexperienced writing style of a 19 year-old, but Kyle has written his story in a very fluffy way. It has that Easter Seals quality to it that I notice is generally present in most disability writings. Now I know Kyle didn't intend it to be this way, as he is clearly talking about overcoming and succeeding. But, and as with the way they edited my personal blurb in my article, he talks about his obstacles in terms of an able-centric view, about wanting to be normal. By comparing disability to ability are we not creating a divide by default? By presenting stories of triumph and inspirsation is that not putting your differences out there even more?

Either way, check out Kyle's book. I don't agree entirely with the way he's being "marketed" but he's pretty cool. I can only hope that my writing (or something) will get me as far as his athletics.

Mr. Jones and me, telling each other fairytales...Except that we're not, because they didn't play it!

I can finally cross seeing Counting Crows live off of my to-do list. August and and Everything After was the first album I ever bought...way back in the day of the cassette tape. Geeze I'm old=). They're one of those bands that rarely comes to Canada and when they do they're opening for some serious heavy-weight and so the tickets are $100+. So, needless to say the opportunity to pounce on $30 tickets seemed very lucky. It was a strange double bill with the Goo Goo Dolls so despite CC being the headliner they only played for about an hour. I really only know a couple of Goo Goo Dolls songs so we opted to skip their set. We caught the tail end...BORING. I'm not exactly disappointed that we missed them, despite my friend's assurances that my missing them was sacrelidge.

I'm still not entirely sure what I thought of Counting Crows set. It was just...good. not fantastic, but...good. I've always felt that it says a lot about a band when they sound exactly like they do on the CD. Adam sounded great but he didn't sing any of the songs the way they normally sound. They were kind of delving into a bit of a jammy thing, which got slightly annoying after a while. I mean, they did an 8 minute version of 'Round Here' for gosh sakes! My friend said she thought it was kind of interesting that they were playing around with the sound. But I think there's something to be said about being able to sing-along the way you're used to...not to mention being able to sing-along to the hits.--They barely played any of their really well-known songs. By all means play the more obscure ones, but with a band that has so many hits, it's just not fair not to play them. Not playing 'Mr. Jones just doesn't make sense! Especially since it was playing on the radio everywhere I was throughout the day. I wanted to hear it live damn it! We did get 'Omaha', 'Round Here', Long December', 'Mrs. Potter's lullaby' and 'Hangin' Around' so it's not like the night was completely free of my favourites....even if they didn't sound the same.

We actually really got our $30 worth. by the time we got there the place was packed and everyone was standing up. I didn't want to pay the $65 for wheelchair seats so I just got regular ones. But even if I could get through all the people to the seats, there was still nowhere to park my scooter. So we found a really nice security guard who took us to guest services and convinced them to move us from the 400 section to the $65 wheelchair seats in the 200 section. They're sort of raised above the crowd so even though everyone was standing the whole time we could still see perfectly. I did it again! I might as well use this disability thing to my advantage...why not?

I must say that the highlight for me was getting to know Adam's political side. I didn't know about The Counting Crows Outreach Project but I was really impressed with the initiative...and with the fact that Adam spent a good chunk of the show explaining it and urging people to support local organizations and make a difference. I *think* a portion of the ticket proceeds was donated to several Toronto organiations too. An incredibly admirable thing for such a big band. It makes me feel much better about paying Molson Ampitheatre prices. Adam also pointed out the fact that this is an election year in the US and encouraged any Americans in the crowd to take responsibility and VOTE. To any Americans who might be reading this, I'm extending the message. Step up! Help to change the situation in the US.

I don't visit http://www.countingcrows.com very often but I wanted to check it out after the show last night. I still maintain that they are one of the coolest, and most socially aware bands that I've seen, but I lost a bit of respect for them when I saw their site. A good part of it it restricted to Fan Club Members. A lot of bands have a Members-only section but when you have to pay to view something as simple as photos, there's something wrong! Make people pay for concert tickets and T-shirts (people like me *hehe* Hey, it's a really cool shirt!) not your website!

Free-thinkers unite!

Slacker? Uninformed? Don't Care? Lazy?

Maybe...

It's easy to say that the reason I'm the journalist that doesn't keep up with "hard news" is because of similar words like the ones above. But, I just had a realization... Is it possible that the reason really is that I want to keep my reality to a minimum?

I've been listening to Sounds Like Canada pretty much every morning now and so I've been catching the CBC hourly newsbreaks. If I pay attention to the news at all, the last thing that I care about is business news. But today it brought quite a shocker. Apparently my career as a journalist is possibly even more at risk of becoming part of the likes of Rupert Murdoch and his pals. The big business story today is that Bell Globemedia is rumored to be buying CHUM Ltd, which includes Toronto's City-tv. It's not to say that City is really independent by a of the busineny meanss but I think it's safe to say that it is still thought of as one of the last groovey stations where you might still be able to apply any sort of artistic expression. As a culture junkie I personally consider even the possibility of this take-over to be a real tragedy. The word independent is quickly losing its meaning. Is the opportunity to be free-thinking disappearing?

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/07/12/chum-bell.html

"These are my peeps!"

Kyla and I went to see Great Big Sea last night. You can't really go wrong with them. They're just one of those bands that's guaranteed to get you up on your feet...even me! *hehe* I think I need a little time before I see them again though because we just saw them a few months ago so this show wasn't exactly a new experience. Alan cut his hair, which made his signature hair flip less exciting. But who am I kidding? Doyle is just Doyle...always totally delicious, yet we're not quite sure why=p. His parents were there too...aww! Bob and Sean on the other hand just look dirtier each time I see them. They're both sporting these long, kind of truckdriver doos that are just horrible! Remember when Sean used to be the cute one? Not anymore! not to mention the fact that he's playing up his stupid falsetto harmonies more and more, which just drives me up the wall. It was the last show of the tour so they did a good variety of new and old...(Charlie Horse and a few others from The Hard and The Easy, Sea of no Cares and then all the old faves...Rant and Roar, Old Black Rum, Consequence Free, Mari Mac etc.) my only real complaint was that they seem to be playing around with things too much. I say if it aint broke, don't fix it. They've been doing kind of an acoustic version of Sea of No Cares for a while that is just boring and they're playing a few others as electric numbers now. Alan just put down the lelectric guitar. Sean's comment about having to call him Alan Van Halen was funny but that's about it.

It's kind of become our game to watch the dynamics between Alan and Murray.--They can be quite hilarious sometimes. Alan's always coming up and teasing Murray somehow or making a silly gesture. Last time the highlight was Alan saying "Way to Go Murray" and this time when Alan introduced Murray he mentioned he was from Toronto. Everyone cheered...Yay! and then Murray said "Yeah, these are my peeps, my people!" Murray's People return woo! He spoke!!! 10 lashes with a wet fish Foster!!! Alan once said at the beginning of Murray's stint with them that you had to be in the band for 7 years before you got to talk.=) I'd just like to know what is with the T-shirts? When he's back in T.O the Murray shirts kind of come back but at a GBS show, without fail Murray will wear a T-shirt. Weird! Oh, Alan promoted http://www.murraythebastard.com Where did it come from? It just kind of appeared one day...obviously Murray's friends playing a joke. But it seems to get more serious all the time...hmm.

I bought a T-shirt with the fish head lady on it. It's cute but it's slightly ill-fitting. I suppose it's fine for the few times I'll wear it to a show or something but it makes me mad that for $30 I didn't get something that I can really wear. Strange thing....I decided I wanted to wear it last night so I went into the bathroom to change and I put the shirt down for a minute but it fell on the floor and I didn't notice. I took my other shirt off and went to grab the new one only to find it wasn't there. I looked EVERYWHERE and I couldn't figure out what had happened. Finally I went to see if I'd dropped it outside and as soon as I stepped out of the stall some cleaning woman who didn't really speak English handed me my shirt. When it fell on the floor she evidently grabbed it from underneath and didn't say anything.

I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean The Dead Man's Chest tonight. Kyla and I attempted to see it twice this weekend but both times things came up and I couldn't make it...boo! But I was out with my friend Emily tonight so we just decided to go. Definitely not one to see if you're looking for a good thick plotline but all-in-all a good summer action flick. Johnny Depp I found slightly lacking this time around. Some of his sharp wit that was in the first one just didn't come off as well. But he was still fabulously flambouant. I think I've finally jumped on the Orlando Bloom bandwagon. He's SO hot! For a while I couldn't get over his gay elf days but in this pirates movie he's taken on a more masculine persona...excellent! this movie is worth seeing for the makeup and effects if nothing else. The giant squid and the pirate sea creature people are really cool. I wanted Orlando and Kiera to get married in the end. But I guess we have to wait for the third one...I just heard Kieth Richards may or may not be in it...weird!

Oy, if I hear another honking horn or race car as long as I live it will be too soon. This weeekend there was a million things going on in the city.--Festivals galore! But one of the events was the Molson Grad Prix car race. I unfortunately live right by the lakeshore and aside from the fact that watching a car go round and round all day is the LAST thing I'd want to spend my time doing, it's sounded like giant bees have been attacking the city all weekend. It also made getting to the GBS show(and anywhere else in that area for that matter) extremely hard because there was a detour every two feet...gah! Toronto also has a large Italian population so going anywhere outside tonight meant getting your head blown off by constant honking horns. Okay, I know it's insanely popular but I'm totally not into it. What I really can't understand is the honking and the waving of the flags out car windows. I mean what? Do they just sit at home watching TV with the car at the ready in case they win? Either way I'll be glad to finally have some peace and quiet now that both things are done.

Andy Warhol is a Scream. I hang him on my Wahahahahahal

Little known fact: Campbell's Soup wasn't just a random image for Andy Warhol. He had Campbell's Tomato soup for lunch every day of his life!

I went to see director David Cronenberg lecture about Andy Warhol at the AGO tonight. It was a complete fluke that I got in at all actually. Being the HUGE Warhol enthusiast that I am I've been waiting anxiously for the opening of the AGO's Andy Warhol: Supernova show (opening tomorrow) and my friend Abi, who's a member of the gallery got an E-mail about Cronenberg's lecture. I of course was dying to attend, but just my luck it was sold out. I put my name on a waiting list but I still hadn't heard anything by this afternoon. So I went over to the gallery to check it out. Turns out I was number 25 on the list but they said there was very little likelihood of anyone getting last minute tickets. However they said I could try and come back just before it started and try my luck.

The whole thing seemed to be handled really badly. I mean, it's Cronenberg and Andy Warhol. Did they not think people weren't going to come?! They had it in a space that was far too small and then they didn't even fill it with chairs. They claimed that they couldn't add anymore seats because the space was being used during the day by the art camp and they needed the extra space to store their supplies. But from what I could see that was a totally messed up excuse. ANYWAY, I was out with a friend all afternoon and I didn't look at the time until I was already late. But I got there and had only missed about 5 minutes. I asked if there was any possibility of me just squeezing myself into the back.-- Especially since I brought my own seat *hehe*. But of course the people at the door were all skeptical..."Oh, it's sold out. I don't have the authority to allow that, blah, blah." So they sent me down to the actual lecture hall and since it had already started the guy didn't care and he just let me watch from the upper balcony area. Unfortunately I found it difficult to see a lot of the projections from that far away and at times I couldn't hear everything Cronenberg was saying, but it was really interesting. I mean, what was on everybody's minds was why a movie director was curating an art show in the first place. But Cronenberg is extremely well spoken and he talked a lot about the parallels between film and visual art and the parallels between Warhol's paintings and his films...why they chose to include his films in the show/pair them with certain paintings etc. What particularly interested me though was how he went into detail about Warhol's personality and his fascination with the celebrity and how that was very connected with the idea of death.

I've never really been able to fully explain why I like Andy Warhol so much...and I still don't think I can. But it was really refreshing to hear someone not only justify Pop Art and Warhol's "style" but go into detail about the deeper complexities that the works have...that you don't see upon first glance. He was so passionate and descriptive when describing each piece rather than the regular dismissal of low art.

A couple of other people without tickets came in after me and just stood and watched.Then when it was all over we we looked at each other and said "Did you pay? " "No, did you pay?" The ticket guy disappeared so we ended up seeing the lecture for free. I guess we were meant to be there!

I didn't get to see the actual show because today was a members-only preview and Abi backed out when she thought we weren't going to get into the lecture. But I can't wait to see it! It's open to the public tomorrow but I think I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks and see it with my aunt when she's in town. I bought the special Cronenberg audio guide but I think I should probably wait to see the show before I listen to it.

It's the little things that give me joy

Great Atomic Power played a free "lunchtime" show in Yonge & Dundas Square yesterday and though I really should've stayed home and tried to make a dent in my work, I couldn't resist going. For those who don't know, Great Atomic Power is a fairly new musical endeavour by Tory Cassis, David Matheson, Murray Foster, Mark Mariash and Jason LaParde. It started when the guys were asked to play a fundraiser for a local Toronto church last year. They put together a collection of covers of their favourite (as the guy put it yesterday in his introduction "old-timey music") and a few of their own original tunes. They probobably didn't expect to play again but since then they've played 4 more times and it looks like when they're all not off galavanting in their "regular" gigs we might hear a lot more from them. Everyone was in full form yesterday (especially Dave-o it seemed) they definitely get better everytime we see them. I just saw them about a month ago but this time there was significant improvement.

Obviously the music brings me immense joy in itself but yesterday's tunes were acommpanied by a rare event. Those of us who go to all of the various "perpetual hiatus" Fruvous "spinoff" and solo projects know that unless it's one of those rare times when a couple of the guys are actually playing together (like yesterday) the different members of Fruvous rarely go to see each other's solo projects. Yesterday however, Fordy stopped by the square to catch the show and before sitting down he went up to the stage to say hi to Dave and Murray.--And there it was, three quarters of Fruvous... in the same place! I can't even remember the last time that happened. As usual Jian is on the other side of the country so there was no chance of all four...wtg J-Gho! But just the same there was something about the scene that gave me that warm fuzzy feeling. They all seemed so happy to see each other and even though this little sighting had nothing to do with Fruvous' music it was the guys! Fruvous may remain a fabulous memory in the back of our subconscious musical catalogue but I think no matter what they're doing seeing those particular men together will always give me joy. I was on a great high for the rest of the day after that.

Did I mention Dave looks good in baseball caps and western shirts? *Hehe*

The War on...fun?

I had to be up at a half-decent hour this morning so I turned on Sounds Like Canada...for the first time this summer...oops! Anyway, I had to laugh because given the recently passed Canada Day, and it being the 4th of July, the show was about nationalism. True to character good ol' Ji-Lo was challenging his interviewee to his usual down home, Canadian mom 'n'pop business argument. He was on his regular winning track until the other guy made the point tthat regardless of how grassroots the business is, they no doubt get their products and or produce from elsewhere...i.e. our "evil" neighbours to the South, therefore there is no way of completely consuming and supporting only Canadian content. Jian cut him off when he started on the advantages of Wall Mart (can't say I blame him), but the other guy was making some pretty convincing arguments that totally burned Mr. Starbucks...bad!

I only had time to listen to a couple of segments but the second one was an interview with Western Standard editor Ezra Levant about his new book The War on Fun. Yikes! Right-wingers freak me out! I must say this guy was so over the top that I am slightly tempted to actually read his book however. Without reading his book (not that I'm sure I'll be convinced afterwards either) he came off as a bit of a quack. But basically the premise of the book is explained here--Keep in mind that this is a review that is obviously in favour of the book, so it's biases will be clear. Once I read the book I'll let you know if I'm my leftest tendencies are swayed to the right and I'm led to believe that my SUV and fast food liberties are being denied. Quite a far-fetched idea in any case. To say the least, a guy who was admittedly sitting in his Hummer, ranting about how the environmental concerns about SUVs are just an attempt to trample our rights to the car of our choice, was good for a laugh. Needless to say the comment that was made shortly after summed it all up..."Gee, a right-wing thinker from Alberta...What a surprise!"

Television nostalgia is the best kind

If you're part of my generation chances are you were watching Beverly Hills 90210 in the early 90's. At that point (along with my cousin, everyone I knew, and even my Uncle!) I was engrossed in Spelling-mania. Despite it's incredibly high cheese factor, Bev Hills was one of the most popular dramas on TV for over 10 years. Now why pre-tell has every other flash in the pan come out on dvd and the adventures of Brandon, Brenda, Kelly, Donna, Dylan, Steve, David and Andrea remain mere television memories? I honestly don't get the logic. Aaron Spelling, the legendary king of trashy TV dramas died the other day, so perhaps that will trigger a release of his "works" or something. I just think it's silly that they haven't at least started reruns in the ten some odd years it's been off the air. Until now...

PRIME (Channel 54 on Canadian Cable) recently changed it's name to TVtropolis and started showing a number of old TV hits, including 90210. Unfortunately it's on at 3:00 in the afternoons on weekdays and 10:00 on Saturday mornings, which is not exactly convenient for those of us who work or go to school. But Bev Hills is back, woo! The best part is that on this lovely holiday Monday they've been showing a Bev Hills marathon, ALL DAY!!! I attempted to tape all 11 episodes but sadly the old tapes that I had weren't as long as I thought. Oh well...I guess I'll just have to wait until those bigshots in TV Land come to their senses and put the series out on dvd.--My only complaint about this marathon is that (though I see their logic) instead of running consecutive episodes they're running a selection of favourites. It kind of sucks though because for those who haven't seen the show before, or those of us who can't quite remember all the details, all of the juicy references to episodes that they're not showing, not to mention some major cliff-hangers at the end are just too much of a tease!

It is actually pretty amazing how much I remember from episodes that I haven't seen in years. I suppose that's one of the qualities that makes a good show though right? In any case, I can't help but notice that the show that in third grade seemed so racy and full of forbidden "adult" subjects seems so dated...still fabulous...but dated. I guess I'm all grown up. *Hehe* NOT!

139 and stronger than ever! Happy Canada Day!

Ooh, I can see the fireworks out my window...pretty lights!

I don't think I've done anything particularly exciting for Canada Day in a while. Today was very nice though. My friend Kyla and I went out to Toronto Island armed with a picnic.--Almost missed the ferry but luckily the holiday crowds kept it behind schedule.

I always find that Centre Island is too touristy so we walked over to Ward's and ate our picnic under a tree in the soccer/baseball field...very nice. We had huge sandwiches and multiple helpings of salad followed by brownies, which we decided to pair with ice cream from the snack bar, espresso flake...YUM! After lunch we met a really cool artist guy who was selling handpainted t-shirts, the majority of which were sunflower paintings (which of course is what attracted me.) At first I thought he said they were $14 so I was really considering buying one of the really large ones to make a pillow out of. But it turns out he really said $40...I wasn't about to pay that obviously. We ended up talking to him while we were waiting for the ferry. He's an Island resident so he was totally into everything...very enthusiastic! He told us about a really cool theatre production that's going on in August that I'd really like to go to. Apparently each scene takes the audience to a different part of the Island...neat! He was so much fun that despite my attempts to be frugal (who am I kidding huh? We all know I'm no good at that!) I couldn't resist buying something from him. He had a kids shirt that was only $20 with a sunflower on it so I went for that. It'll probably be too small and it's not as nice as the bigger ones. But it's cute and if it doesn't fit I'll make it into a pillow...I thought I could make a cool petal-like boarder to make it really nice.

When we got back to the city side we headed over to Harbourfront to meet our friend Dyan and catch Mike Ford's set on the "Canada stage". Perfect thing to do on Canada Day! Why sit at home when you can learn a little Canadian history and have fun doing it? *hehe* The silly woman who introduced him introduced him as "perhaps best known as one fourth of the ecclectically successful vaudville group Moxy Fru*vouse*." Now how exactly do you gain ecclectic success?

The kids (young and old) were getting a kick out of him. It was a lot of fun. He seemed slightly nervous and looked a little hot and stuffy in his all black stage outfit. I mean, when it's 30 degrees outside we'll all understand if your couteur doesn't come off as totally suave Fordy! He did The Seaway, Les Voyageurs, Louis & Gabriel, I'm Gonna Roam, Crossroads, a song that I hadn't heard before that is apparently by "a great Canadian musician", The Arrogant Worms' We Are the Beaver, I've Been Everywhere and one of the new ones that is set to appear on the upcoming Canada Needs You vol 2. We totally failed in the trivia department though. Fordy likes to ask random Canadiana-based trivia questions and today he asked the one about Diefenbaker's dog again and neither of us could remember the answer...blah, bad history students! Then he prefaced "We Are the Beaver" by asking "It's Canada Day and we are the...?" We figured out the Arrogrant Worms part but the rest was just a big DUH! I'm sure the question was directed at us too...oops! In all fairness the Worms do have a lot of songs about Canada.

I wore my "I Love Canadian Boys" Fruvous shirt, both as a joke...and because it really is my only Canadian-themed garment. When we were talking to Fordy afterwards he looked at my shirt and said "hey, I forgot about that shirt! I lobbyed pretty hard against it." *Heh* I probably would've too if I were him...but how ironic! He did comment on his fine handiwork though *hehe*.

Poor Dyan had to hightail it outta there shortly after the show because as usual she has a million things on the go that she is behind in. Hopefully she'll see the light at the end of the tunnel soon. But Kyla and I walked around and looked at all the pretty things that were for sale.--Kind of a painful practice when you're totally broke, but we both ended up getting a pair of earrings. I got a pair that are large pieces of white shell with red birds painted on them. They're kind of tackey but I really like them.

I was supposed to head out to North York tonight to catch Cuff the Duke at Mel Lastman Square with my friend Tara. But when I came home to change around 6:30 the sky got black and it started to pour rain. Tara said it was even worse out there so sadly, we decided to forget it. I had a feeling that it would clear up (and I was right!) but by the time it did it was too late to get all the way out there in time. Boo...now I've missed Wayne twice in two weeks! I suppose it's just as well cuz I was out in the hot sun for almost 8 hours today and I'm SOOOO tired! I really did want to see CTD though...grr, stupid rain!

*Heh* before I left today I grabbed a pair of red earrings out of my beading box so that they would be all Canada-themed and match the red in my shirt. On my way to the ferry I thought one of them had fallen out of my ear, so as not to look silly wearing just one earring I took out the "remaining" one and put it in my bag. I just went to scratch my ear and it turns out the earring was just caught in my hair a bit and I didn't feel it earlier. So I spent the day in an A-semetrical earring situation anyway!

The Doucets are gaining a daughter, the McClellands are gaining a son...but we're losing our favourite indie couple!

Did anyone else know we were losing Luke and Melissa after the honeymoon? According to this they're planning on moving to Nashville. It's not like Luke is a Toronto native or anything, but c'mon, Toronto just got him! They article claims that they both plan to continue to be active in the Canadian music scene...but I was enjoying having them both play fairly frequently in t-dot.

They were both on Sounds Like Canada talking to Jian this morning. Sadly I was too lazy to get up before 10...sad I know! I wish I'd gotten out of bed though...clearly details like joining the country ranks go unnoticed when you don't get up in the morning. In any case, as Jian puts it, "the royal indie wedding" took place last Saturday. Congrats Luke and Melissa! May there never be another bitter breakup album again!!

I lost Taylor and he punctured my can!

Well after having my set of awesome MIT-City buttons for all of 24 hours I've gone and lost Taylor...BOO!! The pin (wherever it went) punctured my unopened can of Coke as it was disconnecting itself from my bag, causing the sticky liquid to spray like a small pressure hose all over my scooter and my feet. Thanks a lot Taylor...geeze! *hehe*

Lamp posts aren't supposed to fall over right? Not since the last time I checked anyway. I was enjoying the gorgeous weather, going along listening to my iPOD when I heard a crash behind me. I looked back and a huge concete lampost had fallen right over...hmm, City of Toronto not doing their job. Luckily nobody was hurt, but...dude!

Oh yeah, it's not exactly important, but I forgot to mention that when I was on my way to the MIT-City show on Wednesday night I passed by the MuchMusic parking lot and Billy Talent was playing. First of all they were completely inaudible and incohearent (not exactly a surprise, I know)...I couldn't help but laugh at their rediculous screaming. But I just thought it was kind of ironic that aside from the people who had wristbands, there wasn't really anyone watching them. Usually if someone who is even remotely popular is anywhere near the exterior of Much Queen St. is packed. Granted it was about to pour rain, but I found the scene enjoyable somehow. I guess you kind of had to be there.

Crazy teenagers!

I went to see MIT-City w/ Spiral Beach Money Money and Riley last night. Awesome show! Spiral Beach is always fun.--Power poppy tunes that are sure to keep you bouncing. I discovered them a few months ago when I saw them play as one of the opening bands at the MOD Club. They're incredibly talented, and the thing is...they're only 16! Don't you hate it when kids a fraction of your age have more talent in their little finger then you have in your whole body? I've seen them a couple times since and they seemed like nice kids. (Their claim to fame is that they're the offspring of various Torontonian folkie heavyweights) But last night it seemed as if even in their ripe teenage state, they've become too big for their britches. They didn't put together a guestlist for their band (slightly unprofessional to begin with) and their friends kept showing up wanting to get in for free. Needless to say this didn't exactly please my friend Mike's mom who was doing doors. One of these "friends" turned out to be fellow folk child (son of Brent Titcomb) Liam Titcomb who showed up with no cash. Mike's mom wasn't letting him in so one of the Spiral Beach kids came up and said right in front of her..."Just say you're with the band!" Here's a tip...when you're trying to sneak someone in, be discreet! Oy! Mike's mom can be kind of intense in general but that kind of crap didn't sit well with her. So apparently she and Liam Titcomb got into a screaming match. I was outside, but boy would I have loved to have seen that! *hehe*. He got in either way and spent the duration of Spiral Beach's set dancing up a storm up front. That was definitely a sight to see=). Did I mention his hair grew back abnormally fast? It was like he never cut it! Yeah, yeah, I'm a creepy dork. Anyway, right after they fiished their set Spiral Beach and they're entourage of younggans abruptly left. Apparently they were being annoying from the moment they arrived and then they didn't even have the courtesy to hang around for even part of MIT-City's set. Geeze! I mean, Mike did arrange for the show to be all-ages for their benefit afterall. Clearly they need to get their heads out of the clouds. They've got plenty of time to be jaded.--And Liam, aren't you supposed to be a big rockstar now? You should know better then to leave the house without cash! =p

MIT-City was great! They've gone through a bit of a transition in the last few months with the introduction of two new members...Taylor on keyboards and Ben on drums. It's a bit of a different sound from the former duet stylings of Jesse and Mike but I'm definitely down with it. It's a much fuller sound...as Mike put it, "it's like a real band!" They've been practicing constantly and you can really tell. Their dynamics are tighter each time I see them. They're newest song (that has a rediculously long tittle that I can't remember at the moment) about terrorist activities and crazy governments is awesome! They made buttons too! Buttons always make the merch table festive...yay buttons!

Riley was a keyboarding chick singer duo. They were good, but got kind of boring after a while. Money Money on the other hand made me question the music business. They were the only band on the bill that had a real record deal and a MuchMusic video etc. etc. and they really sucked! The ironic thing was that they were the only ones who were guaranteed door proceeds and they had the smallest audience by the time they went on. Ha ha! Mike said it best: "It was a good show...this is just the after party."

On my way home some guys stopped me saying "Hey, you were at the Money Money show!" To which I replied: "Um...I'm friends with MIT-City!"

The deprivation is over...Thank God!!!

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Protesting the wrong issue completely...

To the shock and dismay of Gay rights activists and much of the Ryerson community, Ryerson University gave an honorary degree to renowned McGill Ethics Professor Margaret Somerville on Monday morning. Somerville expresses strong homophobic, anti-same-sex marriage viewpoints and extreme opinions that artificial insemination for lesbian women is wrong. She maintains the stance that children have the right to a mother and a father (preferably their biological parents) and therefore same-sex couples are unfit parents. Somerville says that by allowing same-sex marriage we are "eroding the role marriage plays in child-bearing." Despite the protest and a petition, which as far as I'm concerned, carried more than enough signatures to sway the decision she was given the honor anyway.
Ryerson is supposed to be one of the most inclusive and progressive institutions (in the city anyway) and having them go ahead with this action is really disappointing Especially after all the work Ryerson and RyePride have done to push for an anti-oppression model and break down homophobia and to promote exceptance of same-sex marriage. The University claims that they didn't know of Somerville's position upon making the decision and may have thought twice if they had. I think that's kind of weak but I do like President Sheldon Levy's quotes that appeared in MACLEAN'S Magazine:
Ryerson president Sheldon Levy said the university stands by its decision to honor Somerville, whom he called a "wonderful recipient."
"Even though there are many that will disagree with Prof. Somerville, myself included, it doesn't mean that she isn't welcome back," Levy said.
"She will hear our views as well as she will express her views. That's what the university is about."
Levy said the university does not support Somerville's views, but in fact supports and celebrates diversity, equality, and the legal right to live free of discrimination.
Or, as Levy quoted Voltaire as saying: "'I might disagree with you, but I would go to death to defend your right to be able to say it."

I still think that by going through with the honor, Ryerson has presented a position that is greatly misrepresentative of it's community and extremely contradictory to its so-called values. Unfortunately in doing so, not only have they tainted all of our degrees to a certain point, they have presented themselves (despite individual disagreement and however indirectly) in solidarity with her. It's really too bad...and the fact that they did it on the first day of Pride week, is just bad taste!

However, I respect Levy's position, afterall it is the corporate Board of Governors who are ultimately making the decisions, not him. It is true, free speech, no matter how controversial it is, is important. As a journalist I have to agree with Levy's quote.

I feel really stupid for not going to the protest though. In the end are we really entitled to an opinion of we don't fully act upon it? I was really conflicted about it. I really wanted to go and show my support for RyePride etc. but I was under the impression that convocation was going to be disrupted and I thought...'Would I want my grad to be screwed up after I worked my ass off for 4 years just because my school fucked up? Probably not!' I didn't really have time to go anyway. But my ultimate decision was to respect my schoolmates right to the celebration of their accomplishments. I talked to someone from the Students' Union today though and it turns out they didn't disrupt anything and that it was an extremely tasteful and peaceful protest. In retrospect I think I was concerned about the wrong issue. Are equal rights not more important than one convocation? Oops! In any case my heart is in the right place. I do not support any of Somerville's points of view and I fully support our LGBTQ community. MY RYERSON INCLUDES EQUAL RIGHTS!!!!

The Good Ship Algoville

Did you ever think you could sit and listen while two guys talked about a boat for 2 hours?

Neither did I. But it is definitely possible. Last June two of Canada's most fabulous musicians, Mike Ford and David Francey, sailed from Montreal to Thunder Bay on a laker, The Algoville. Well, they had a fabulous time and came back with countless stories to tell and a few new songs under their belts. Using Mike's Canada in Song connections, the two then visited grade 6 classrooms in 5 port cities to sing these songs for the kids and teach them a little bit about the important (and virtually unknown) jobs that Canada's seamen have...and then encourage the kids to write songs of their own. After that the guys set out on a little mini tour, performing their new and old seaway songs in each city for the public.

And that's what my friend Kyla and I did on Thursday night. The event was held in the Edward Day Gallery on Queen W. (a very cool place I might add...very nice owner!) and Mike and David did a presentation of pictures from their trip sprinkled with musical interludes. I didn't know boats were so cool! It was a fantastic presentation. Living in the big city you really take a lot of things for granted...like where we get the grain for our pasta, how far it has to come and all the work that goes into getting it here, wow! There are so many things to know about lakers too. I was just baffled by the end of it. Sometimes dorky Canadiana is just SO COOL! It was kind of like one of those educational video segements of Sesame Sreet...but for grown-ups. Of course it helped that the guys were extremely entertaining, despite the fact that Fordy said he thought they were boring cuz he was so tired...

I'd forgotten just how fantastic David Francey is too. His voice is so beautiful, and he's a great songwriter. I've only ever seen him live one other time and I've had so many chances to go see him at Hugh's Room but I've never gone. He's playing there again on July 24th but of course I'm going to see Counting Crows that night...grr! That was awkward having to tell Dvid and Fordy.--Yes two men who are the epitome of fabulous grassroots Canadian folk music. I can't come and see you at Hugh's Room because I'm paying tons of money to go and see a big American rock band! *hehe* Apparently Fordy likes their bass player though, so it's okay=p.