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.

Why do good things always have to end so soon?

Well as do many...I've been catching up on my TV shows during these lazy summer days. I got into the WB show Everwood last year but I only really watched it on and off. I got into it seriously about mid-season this year and I'm seriously hooked now. I bought the complete 1st season on DVD the other day because I wanted to start getting caught up on the 3 seasons that I missed and I must say, it was a fabulous watch=). I was all set to go out and get the second season only to find that it was never released ARG! That's what I get for not falling in line with the masses.--Apparently the 1st season didn't sell well enough for anymore to be released. I've been trying unsuccessfully to make the only available torrent of the second season download, but it just won't cooperate. I just bid on the 3rd season on Ebay (cross your fingers!) but I can't find anyone who's trying to sell the other one. To top it all off, just as I'm getting into it they've cancelled it! My friend Kyla kept trying to tell me that the new WB merger didn't pick it up for a 5th season, but I hadn't heard anything about a "series" finale so I refused to believe her. It turns out she was right. I just saw the commercial for Monday night's two hour series finale. Grr, why now?! I have so few fave TV shows these days as it is.