TheGoodRev

Sorry c-towns, didn't see this earlier. Alaska 9 - 9:30 Boys Republic 9:45 - 10:15 Ben Somer and The Task at Hand 10:30 - 11 The Wooden Sky 11:15 - 12 $8 cover We're playing the main floor, where the stage is - i.e. the room you walk into from outside. Downstairs is generally reserved for bigtime DJ nights. Absinthe is an alright joint, for sure.

I'll also be playing pedal steel with Matt Paxton who is the first opener on the Hamilton show.

The Wooden Sky is playing at Absinthe on Thursday night. They're pretty good. I'm playing guitar and pedal steel in the opening band, Ben Somer & The Task At Hand. www.myspace.com/thewoodensky www.myspace.com/bensomer Not sure what cover is, I think $5 or $6? Tomorrow night at Casbah is a big Arkells show (formerly known as Charlemagne). Openers are Sweet Thing from Toronto (recently signed to EMI) and the Cam Malcolm Militia (formerly frontman of the Sweet Homewreckers). www.myspace.com/arkellsmusic www.myspace.com/sweetthingmusic www.myspace.com/cammalcolm On Saturday night, Wax Mannequin, Kilhuminzu and Fire:End:Water are playing in my basement. www.myspace.com/waxmannequin www.myspace.com/kilhuminzu www.myspace.com/fireendwater www.myspace.com/rockysaugeen PM for details on that one.

I had a great time...thanks to both bands for letting me sit in.

Holy shit, is that for real?!

Just spoke to Steve Murphy, looks like I'm going to sit in on pedal steel for his set. ...this won't be like last time when I said I was sitting in at PJ's and didn't make it. I'll be there for sure.

Haha, yes, both Tyler and Nick, as well as the bass player Morgan Waters, are in Sweet Thing (who have just signed to EMI by the way). All three are actors - Morgan has a new show he's writing, producing and starring in called Cock'd Guns. Basically a modern Spinal Tap for TV. It's pretty hilarious. I think it's on Wednesday nights on IFC which is some new cable channel.

In December I played a session at Rogue Studio in Toronto for Nick Rose's upcoming EP. He's just put a couple tracks up on his myspace and I think Wintersong sounds particularly good. If you like what you hear and you're near Toronto, I'm going to be sitting in with Nick and his band at Tranzac on Saturday night, January 26. http://www.myspace.com/nickrosemusic

This Wheel's on Fire changed my whole view on The Band. Haven't read the other one but I highly recommend Levon's book.

Yeah man, just seems a little out-of-place here. And for the record, even though it's fake, I think it's a sweet lineup.

Dwight Yoakam?

Slow Hand Motem is from Dundas. He is both a man and a band, and a beast from deep in the valley. Over the past 4 years he has released no less than 36 albums of varying lengths and funkiness. Consider him your electro-garage-funk messiah. The band is playing the following dates: Fri Jan 25 Alex P. Keaton, London Sat Feb 2 Pepper Jack's, Hamilton A few tracks from his latest EP "Dansewerks" are on myspace. http://www.myspace.com/slowhandmotem A representative of Gebbz Steelo Industries gebbzsteelo@gmail.com

This thread made a lot more sense last night when there were about 8 new drunken popoweenie threads with not an English word among them. Here's to ya, popo!

but I don't know who it is.

First set shouldn't start later than 10:30. Not Fade Away should be safely tucked towards the end of Set 2 Laurie.

Christopher Clause is going to do a couple acoustic Buddy tunes in between our electric sets.

I didn't buy the guitar, I just borrowed it. I already own too many guitars. Buddy was a righty, and so am I, and so is that guitar.

I just borrowed myself a SWEEEET two-colour sunburst Stratocaster with maple neck for this show, to match Buddy's. It's gonna be a good time.

Dear large musicial instrument chain store, Most of the time you're pretty sweet, but then there are those times that you let a bunch of young wankers crank up the amps and SweetChildOMine my face off for four hours or so. Then there are the DJs who roll into the PA department expecting to leave with our four biggest subwoofers for the night, with approximately $13 to spend. I know there's nothing you can really do about this, but man do those customers annoy me. Outside of that, though, you're a pretty sweet company to work for and I appreciate your kind regard for your employees; you're likely the best employers I've had, and for that I thank you. Dear College Jazz Music Program, I'm a feel player who recognizes the irreplaceable value of a well-written pop song, and you look down upon things like musical texture and atmosphere, and the accesibility of a simple melody, and you want me to think of music as math. I do appreciate the ear training classes, though, and the improvisation classes where we talk about things like why a certain groove works and why another doesn't. Lately, though, I feel like I've been going through the motions and we might want to start seeing other people. I'll keep this to myself, though, at least until this school year is over. Dear musicians who employ me as a steel player, guitar player, bass player, or drummer: I love you. Let's make more records and play more gigs.

Didn't even see you there last night Jay, the place was rammed to the rafters eh? Just getting ready to leave the Hammer now.

Has anybody been going? I was there last night for Down at the Khyber, and I thought it was killer (though the few key pedal steel parts were noticably absent, but I'm biased). Pete Elkas played keys and guitar all night with him, and Gordie Johnson sat in for a fair bit of the post-Khyber set. Lots of great, great moments; it was great to hear tunes that you never hear live like Love in the Air, Unconditional Love, Blinding Light...and I'm a sucker for Catching On/Cry Together back-to-back. He'll often play both tunes but not together. I'll be there tonight for Truthfully, Truthfully. Anybody else checking out this unique run of shows?

Are you serious man? Those two albums couldn't sound more different from one another in my opinion. I group Shorty and Phantom together, I think they sound alot alike, even though Shorty is all blues standards and Phantom's got a fair bit of Luther's writing. You can't get down with tunes like Sugartown and Lord Have Mercy? They stand closer to tunes like Po Black Maddie > Skinny Woman than tunes like Otey and whatever the hell else is on Polaris.

At one time I was a massive fan. I know I came to them late, but I first saw them after Polaris was released. The show I saw was mind-blowing - Oct 1/03 at Lee's. I listened to it for ages after that. Picked up Shake Hands with Shorty and 51 Phantom and they're both monstrous records, I love them. I finally got my hands on Polaris a while later and realized why everybody was hating on them just as I was starting to like them - it's an incredibly shitty record! Don't care much for Electric Blue Watermelon either. I saw them two nights in a row at the Horseshoe in early 2004 and those shows were also great. Saw them again the next time they were through, at Lee's again, after Duwayne Burnside had left, and thought it was so-so. Not that Duwayne added a great deal - most of his tunes were Albert King-style Chicago blues rockers - but the stuff they were able to do with two guitars was what impressed me. Chris Chew is NOT a heavy bass player at all; I think if they're going to sound good live again as a three-piece they've gotta get Chew playing like Allen Woody. In any event...I might check it out to see what they sound like these days.

Sky Blue Sky was almost certainly my favourite (and most played) album this year. The Wilco and Ryan Adams shows at Massey Hall would be tied for best show.