Velvet

That's his toe, not his thumb. Pardon me if you already knew that.

I don't know but let me guess....Too long?

Wonderful. Okay, now how 'bout posting some Kevin Breit?

What an invigoratingly good show last night. Apart from CRAvery blowing my fucking mind in the last two songs I caught, Kevin's set was utterly different than any Kevin show I've seen. Total bonus that he had John Geggie accompanying him on double bass. What a talent.

Hey S&M, Jp is coming with us tonight (a rare and happy occurance) so if you can save three seats, well great! If you are getting surly looks, then just save two and we'll work it out. Working until 8:30 then breaking all speed limits.

Not much of a story now that I think of it, but it left me shaking my head for days.

Okay, quickly then: As mentioned, I'm a big fan of the Creeggan Brothers, and was delighted to find they were releasing cds of their own. I bought both and Andy's solo disc and loved them. I saw them play in Ottawa twice and this was back when I was booking shows so I tried (unsuccessfully) to book them a couple of times. So I was at H.O.R.D.E. in Toronto and walking back from Gov't Mule stage I smoked a joint and upon putting it out I saw Jim and Andy Creeggan right in front of me (Andy was no longer in the band), and Jim was talking to a few younger BNL fans. I was pretty high, but I sauntered up. I turned to Andy and said I was a big fan. He looked at me and said something like, "Sure you are," I can't remember exactly, but I percieved that he was saying, "dude, you are too old to be a BNL fan, and you just want to talk to someone famous and I'm standing here with the bass player so you assume I'm in the band and why are you wasting my time like this?" My jaw dropped, and I was so flummoxed that instead of saying, "No Andy, I have Andiwork and the Brothers Creeggan cds and your mom even included a nice handwritten note with my cd order and didn't you go to Ottawa U.?", I just walked away.

My other BNL story is an Andy Creeggan story too, but it's not so pleasant.

Okay, here's my BNL story: In my first year of university I lived in residence and my roommate was also a music major. He played piano and sax, I played guitar and bass. A guy on our floor loaned us a tape of his two friends from back home in Scarborough who called themselves the Barenaked Ladies. They were gigging as a duo and had made a 4-track demo of about fifteen songs (this was not the wonderful yellow hamburger tape that was to come). Anyway, me and my roommate (let's call him Ryan, 'cuz that was, and I suspect still is, his name) liked the tape, and even learned to play two or three of the songs together (one of which was an early version of $1,000,000). So xmas break comes and goes and dude on our floor comes back and says he was talking with Ed and Steven and they had gotten a drummer and were looking for a bass player and a keyboardist. He told them about Ryan and I and they said to ask us if we wanted to come and audition for the band. We actually seriously considered it because we thought the demo was pretty cool, and of course the guy on our floor talked them up, but in the end we realized that if we got in we would have to drop out of university and here we were just halfway into our first year of a pretty cool music program, so we decided not to tryout for the band. The day their debut cd Gordon was released it sold 300,000 copies in Canada alone. And that day after working late and rushing to the mall to buy a copy I sat in my room and listened to it twice in a row, staying up wayyy too late for my early summer job wakeup and revelling in the glory of how good the album was, especially (I might add) the unbelievable talents of the Creeggan brothers on bass and piano/congas. To be honest, for me the BNL took a big hit when Andy Creeggan left the band after their second cd, and even though I was a big Look People fan I never heard Kevin Hearn fill the void Andy left. Anyways, they added so much to the band that I have never felt bad about our decision not to audition for the band. Anyways, that's my BNL story. Okay, I have another, but I'm not a very strong typer.

Gordon was one of the best albums of the nineties.

Yay! See you tomorrow night (unless of course you are going to the clinic this evening, in which case I suppose I'll see you tonight as well).

I don't know, but if you have an Amex card they are offering up their Front Of Line presale tickets for these shows.

Hey S&M, if you guys get there before phorbesie and I can you save us a coupla seats? I have to work tomorrow night and we will be booting it out there asap.

Wow. I might be alone here in this forum, but I think this is big news. BNL are a seriously good band that started as a duo, Ed and Steven. Not to make light of it, but it's like Nigel leaving the Tap. This is a damn shame, and I hope like hell that the drug charge, and well drugs in general are not the reason. This does make me wonder about those xmas shows that got cancelled at the last minute. I'm gonna go put on a BNL cd.

Luciana Brasil called me this afternoon to make sure I had filled out the online form. Looks like the case has worked south of the border. I think people are kinda crazy to not get in on this. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/02/24/ticketmaster-suit.html#socialcomments B.C. lawyer in $500M Ticketmaster suit calls U.S. deal 'encouraging' But no compensation for Canadian plaintiffs yet, she says Last Updated: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 | 3:16 PM ET Comments23Recommend16CBC News A lawyer representing Canadians in a class action suit filed in Ontario against Ticketmaster welcomed the company's decision to reimburse U.S. customers who were charged inflated prices for concert tickets. Luciana Brasil of Branch McMaster in Vancouver also told CBC News that more civil suits in Manitoba and Alberta are likely to be filed soon against the ticketing and artist management company but did not specify when. Brasil's comments come a day after Ticketmaster and the state of New Jersey reached a settlement following an investigation over whether the company broke state laws by charging allegedly inflated prices for a Feb. 2 Bruce Springsteen concert. Fans complained that initial attempts to buy tickets to the New Jersey concert simply redirected them to a Ticketmaster subsidiary, TicketsNow, which offered the tickets at an inflated price. Monday's settlement requires the firm to halt a previous advertising arrangement that had customers Googling Ticketmaster being automatically directed to the TicketsNow website. It will also pay the state $350,000 US for costs related to the investigation and reimburse the 2,000-odd customers who complained about being overcharged. "It's really encouraging to hear that Ticketmaster is removing the web links to TicketsNow and is prepared to refund the higher prices paid to customers in the U.S.," Brasil told CBC Monday. "But to my understanding, there is no compensation being made available to Canadians." Lawyers from Sutts, Strosberg in Windsor, Ont., and Branch McMaster say they're representing a client who allegedly paid more than $500 for two tickets from TicketsNow that would have cost about $130 if they had been available from Ticketmaster. The law firms claim Ticketmaster and the other defendants owe a total of $500 million in damages to their client and others who were overcharged in the past two years. They also allege the defendants violated Ontario law. Ticketmaster has said in response to prior complaints that the company's ticket-selling system is fair and doesn't violate the law.

I saw this and thought it sounded interesting. I stopped by the NAC box office this afternoon and picked up tickets. They are free and you can get as many as you want. They show will be at Dominion Chalmers Church, which I think is where that great John McLaughlin show happened. Saturday, May 2 Hard Rubber Orchestra John Korsrud, conductor Prepare for daring, unpredictable music when the Hard Rubber Orchestra takes the stage! The National Arts Centre’s eXpressions festival features a performance by B.C.’s vibrant and energetic musical troupe that has been referred to as the "Godzilla of the Vancouver jazz scene." This 18-piece orchestra, consisting of Vancouver’s funkiest musicians, is a highly active jazz/new music ensemble that has toured to Europe and across Canada, released two CDs, and is the recipient of Canada’s largest arts prize, the Alcan Performing Arts Award. Composer, conductor, and trumpeter John Korsrud leads this acclaimed post-modern ensemble in a wild, eclectic musical ride. The program includes three of John’s own works, plus compositions by fellow B.C. composers Bill Runge and Brad Turner.

Excellent. Not to step on bradm's toes, but do they look at you like you're an alien or do they look at you like they're aliens?

Terribly sorry to hear this. Fingers crossed for a full recovery for you.

Oh, and thanks for the presale info!

Four on the floor for Kingston! I tells ya, hitting this whole tour would be a hell of a Canadian vacation!

How did it handle? How much different was it to drive than a regular bus? I saw on tv years ago that to get your bus license in London you had to recover a double-decker from a 360 degree spinout.

Any info on the presale?

Kingston onsale is Friday at 10am. Please post if you hear about presale info!

Here's the whole list: After completing shows in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, Live Nation announced today that music icon Neil Young will return to his native land to perform multiple dates across Canada. The tour starts April 6 in St John’s Newfoundland and will travel across Canada making stops in 10 markets - several of which he has never played. Photo courtesy: Peggi Young Cities include: Halifax NS, Saint John NB, Kingston ON, London ON, Sault Ste. Marie ON, Saskatoon SK, Edmonton AB, Lethbridge AB and Kelowna BC. The 2009 tour is a continuation of his successful 2008 tour, which included sold out performances and earned rave reviews. The concerts will feature Young with the same band that so ably backed him in 2008 - Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young. Song sets are expected to be eclectic, featuring both newer material and classic Neil Young hits. Story Continues Below... All shows for this tour will be general admission floor with reserved seating in the stands. For complete tour and ticket information visit: www.livenation.com or www.neilyoung.com. NEIL YOUNG With Special Guest… EVEREST FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009 ESSAR CENTRE – SAULT STE. MARIE Door: 6:30PM Show: 7:30PM The Neil Young Tour is being produced by Live Nation Global Touring. Neil Young Canadian Tour Dates: April 6 St John’s, NF Mile One Centre April 10 Halifax, NS Metro Centre April 11 Saint John, NB Harbour Station April 13 Kingston, ON K-Rock Centre April 15 London, ON John Labatt Centre April 17 Sault Ste Marie, ON Essar Centre April 20 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre April 22 Kelowna, BC Prospera Place April 23 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place April 25 Lethbridge, AB Enmax Centre Live Nation – Canada For more show information please contact: Erin Smyth - 416-260-4226 erinsmyth@livenation.com

Okay, I found this is the London Free Press: The buzz was right — Canadian rock icon Neil Young will play the John Labatt Centre. An announcement this morning says Young has a date at the downtown London arena on April 15 at 7:30 p.m. The announcement follows a report in Saturday's Free Press that industry buzz had Young on the radar here. The date was expected to be close to an early May concert at a New Orleans festival where Young was already scheduled. The Young tour starts April 6 in St John’s N.L.and will travel across Canada, making stops in 10 markets. The 2009 tour is a continuation of his successful 2008 tour. The concerts will feature Young with the same band that backed him in 2008 - Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Chad Cromwell, Anthony Crawford and Pegi Young. Tickets for Young's first show here in years go on sale Friday, Feb.27. Visit johnlabattcentre.com for details.