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!