TheGoodRev

Well, we'd be talking about a weekend to start. So far the Zep deal has allowed us to bypass the whole process of playing weeknights until we draw a crowd large enough to merit giving us a weekender.

Anyway, I think a pub that books bands is perfect for us, especially because it seems that people enjoy getting loaded and being blasted with Zeppelin. I'll look into Dekcuf and Irene's, thanks for your help Brad.

That's tough, Brad. None of us know anybody in Ottawa (except for me, what with the Skank connection, but I'm not expecting all of you to pour in for Zep tribute). Maybe a pub that holds ~100-200? "Decent sound" is kinda just wishful thinking...we can make a bad sounding room sound good .

Thanks dude. We're thinking about Ottawa over the summer. Any idea of a not-huge place with decent sound that will book a tribute?

Lazlo's got some sick mic skillz over there, and then he rocks the Casio keyboard rhythmz. Fresh.

Ollie you rocked it too. Good work.

I'm still rockin it out with Red Zeppelin, fronted by the incomparable Joan Smith. Come see us slay the Zep classics and (almost) forgotten favourites at the following gigs:

Tuesday, March 28th

McMaster University

Bridges Cafe

Hamilton, ON

Benefit for a group of Mac students heading to Mexico City to do some relief work.

$PWYC, with a suggested donation of $5

Also on the bill: The Front Runners and Charlemagne, whose first record, I don't mind mentioning, I am in the process of producing.

Saturday, April 1

Crowbar

577 King Street West

Toronto, ON

with Franklin's Fault

$TBA

Saturday, April 8

Clark Hall Pub

Queen's University

Kingston, ON

Two sets @ approx 11 and 12:30

support TBA

$5

Friday, April 21

Clinton's Tavern

693 Bloor Street West @ Clinton (Christie subway)

Toronto, ON

Two sets @ approx 11 and 12:30

with special guests The Jack Keroac Knapsack Band

$5

Yeah, we're a tribute, but we're good. If you have an itching to get loaded and hear some Zeppelin, come on out to one of these*. Cheers!

*Except the Bridges gig, they don't serve booze there.

Right on. I'm a HUGE NMAS fan, and I acknowledge that Luther's vocals have been somewhat of a lowpoint for that band all along. Did this Potter gal play any keys for the show? I've found their sound to be pretty thin since DuWayne Burnside departed. His style was a little too gritty Chicago blues I think, but at least it filled out the sound of the band a bit.

I'm gonna go check out this Grace Potter, she sounds good.

That's fucking awful. The monetary value aside, I know what it feels like as a musician to lose a piece of gear you love...and I'm not even a career musician here, and I'm talking about two guitars that were stolen from me. This is literally the band's ENTIRE arsenal, minus guitars (it appears). Those blackface Super Reverbs with original transformers are gonna be difficult to replace...I'm sure they'll find something with their combination of fame (as it were) and connections. Fuckin bummer though, man.

Haha...I played 'Pirate Radio' from the June 24/05 show you taped this morning on my show, Brad...and then completely forgot to mention this show. Whoops. Can't make it to Toronto, but a couple friends of mine are trucking down the QEW for the show. I hope it's a great time...cheers.

Done!

Phunky yours is comin up too!

Right on man, thanks! Anything I can play for you?

bumpity bump

CFMU Fundraising Drive this week...tune in to hear me pitching for pledges like a mustached, tweed-jacketed C-list on WUTV.

Rockin some good tunes too! All kinds of CDs to give away in exchange for a $20 donation! I'm reading the titles on the air and I'll try and post a few here if I have the time. Gimme a call at 905-528-9888 to pledge, I might even put you on the air...as enticing as that is here on the campus/community station...

rock

I've been in the same position a bunch of times and have also been ticketed. The best thing to do is talk to your neighbors ahead of time and give them your phone number so they can call if they get pissed. Most people are reasonable if you explain the situation and ask them to complain to you instead of the cops.

I should have mentioned, when we first moved in I sat at the drumkit in the basement and my roomate walked outside to see how far he could hear it. He didn't think it was too far, so we talked to the old woman who lives next door. She didn't even want to take our phone number, she said she loved music and she was half-deaf anyway. To the other side of us is another student house, so we didn't even bother talking to them. I wonder if it's them who's complaining.

Anyway, further to your suggestion Brad, that was the only logical thing I could think of last night: draft a generic letter and drop it in the mailboxes of, say, the 8 surrounding houses. 'We don't want to inconvenience anybody etc, just want to know when the best time is for us to play' or something to that effect. We haven't checked the local bylaw ourselves, but the noise officers told us last year and last night that complaints can be made 24 hours a day. What the hell? In Toronto it's 11pm ain't it? Sometimes I miss my hometown (though I love the Hammer otherwise).

And Deeps: you'll get the first invitation if we throw a party like that. Thought it'd probably mean another ticket so we'd have to build that into the keg pricing.

I live in the student ghetto in Hamilton. I've lived in this particular house since September. We've got a full band set-up in the basement with a drum kit, a bunch of amps and a PA. We've been rehearsing in the basement without incident since we arrived. My particular band has been playing at the house every other Wednesday since late December (in Toronto on off weeks), and we've had various short-lived projects and one-off jams play in the basement. I know that Hamilton's noise laws are applicable 24 hours a day; I learned that the hard way at our house last year. But I figured we'd test the waters, and if we got a complaint, we'd know our limits. Anyway like I said, we've been rehearsing since September, always careful to cut things off by 11pm, and never had a problem.

Then a week and a half ago I let it go until 11:30 on a Friday night. We stopped and came up stairs and sat on the couch. 10 minutes or so later, the bylaw enforcers are at the door. They told us this was the 'wrong neighbourhood to have a band' and so on, and let us off with a warning. Ok, I figured, 11 o'clock is the cutoff with my neighbours; maybe even 10:30 to keep everybody happy. I was kind of impressed that I had gone so long in this place without a complaint.

Then tonight I'm having my regular Wednesday reheasal, and at 9:30 we hear a knock at the door between tunes. There are three guys at the door: One of the pair who was here last week, one big mustached guy I didn't recognize, and a man whom I can only describe as the chief of bylaw enforcement officers (that fact determined by his miltary haircut and prominent display of bright badge and squawking shoulder radio). This third fellow, the chief? I recognized him...because he had knocked on my door at my house last year on at least two separate occasions.

Anyway what this comes down to is a ticket for $125 and a fine to my landlord for $180. I realize I was the one making the noise, I just wish whoever it is who keeps complaining would have thought to knock on our door months ago if they wanted us to turn it down. Can I get a witness? Or am I about to be put in my place?

The very same, Sari, the very same. Good times.

Seriously, though, you can learn about mycology at McMaster as part of their Mecical Microbiology Program:

The first year of microbiology training can include up to six months of bacteriology, 3 months virology and one month of each of mycology, parasitology and mycobacteriology, as well as rotations in clinical infectious diseases. The second year includes infection control, laboratory management, anaerobic bacteriology, media manufacture and quality control, public health microbiology and further experience in the first year disciplines at the request of the resident.

I also know that there's an Agricultural College in Kemptville, Ontario (between Kingston and Ottawa I think), and they're now affiliated with the University of Guelph. I can't find a way to search their site but maybe you want to go through it: http://www.kemptvillec.uoguelph.ca . Good luck dude!

Hey, why not combine a mycology major, with, say, a Fine Arts degree? A final project/thesis on mushrooms + the works of Van Gogh could be interesting...

Aloha,

Brad

Sounds like a shitty final project to me.

Thank you, I'll be here all week!

Nnn-glaben! Clash of the Spelling Corr-ek-tors!

My god, is this band good

My god, am I drunk on a Tuesday night

But may I add, my god, is this band good

I can't make it but wish I could...Torontonians, if you haven't seen the Spades, do yourselves a favour...

I'd say it was a rousing success! Close to 250 people in attendance and, while I'm not normally big on going out to see/hear a DJ (as opposed to a live band), all three DJ's were awesome and animated, really getting into the party. Congrats Amy, it was a blast!

The Steamwhistle Roundhouse is a huge place...but a bill like that, free of charge, could probably fill it. Sounds like a good time, Margy.

I did my high school co-op with a promotions team that put on a huge show at the Roundhouse...I drank free Steamwhistle all night and was blind tanked when all was said and done, absolutely didn't know my own name. Have a blast!

...who cares about the incessent Phish Is Returning rumours?

I'll care about the Phish Is Returning announcement.

Word.

Until then, fans can expect Trey to play a short oysterhead tour

YES

The band will play their old songs, but at least half of the phish songs will never be played

again. My source who has spoken with Trey many times about the whole issue said that Trey refuses to sing/play any songs that remind him of certain years from phishs career or that remind him of the bands old childish ways. The band wants to come back in a very serious manner and will do away with the pranks/theatrics and other childish things that would occur on phishs stage."

This part sounds stupid and made-up. "Do away with the pranks/theatrics"? Bullshit. If Phish v3.0 or whatever is Phish v1.0 minus humour, I won't be interested.

I found a bunch of great audio interview clips on 'Kill Ugly Radio Some More', which I assume were a series of radio samplers (I found it at the campus station). My signature comes from one of those clips.

If you're looking to discover Zappa musically, I might be of some assistance. Zappa is tough because he released something like 65 albums in his lifetime; this not including multiple authorized bootleg albums and compilations, many of which contained original material (I just came across 'The Mystery Disc', for example). Anyway I consider myself still pretty new to Zappa, but I'll tell you what I've heard and enjoyed and maybe you can go from there.

I started with Strictly Commercial, his greatest hits package, when I was in grade 12

While I loved most of it, I didn't explore Zappa any further until a few years later. Tunes like Don't Eat the Yellow Snow, San Ber'dino, Dirty Love, Cosmik Debris, I'm the Slime and Valley Girl (I could go on) all showcase Zappa's sharp wit in combination with fine songwriting. A tune like Sexual Harrassment in the Workplace, for example, showcases his prowess on the guitar, a talent that often goes overlooked because of his ridiculousness.

From there, I heard Hot Rats (1969)

You jam kids will dig it, I think. Easy to understand where some of Phish's quirky side came from when you hear a song like Willie the Pimp, and also easy to see the compositional influence Zappa may have had with a tune like Peaches En Regalia.

After that, the live Zappa/Mothers Roxy and Elsewhere (1974)

It's quirky at times, but the playing and writing are classic FZ.

From there, you can go a number of ways; I'd recommend Waka/Jawaka if you really like Hot Rats, and the Mothers' Fillmore East: June 1971 if you like Roxy. Overnite Sensation and Apostrophe are also winners. Enjoy the Zappa, love him, become him.

p.s. cool vids, thanks for posting

Now I admit that I'm bordering upon girthly myself. But tonight I was checking my G-mail, and they have Google ads embedded in the G-mail. So I was in my spam box and accidentally clicked a Google ad link for "Spam Recipes" and was taken to this page:

Title: SPAM HASHBROWN BAKE

Categories: Main dish

Yield: 8 Servings

1.00 pk Frozen hashbrown potatoes,

-thawed slightly (32 oz)

0.50 c Butter or margarine, melted

1.00 t Salt

1.00 t Pepper

0.50 t Garlic powder

2.00 c Shredded Cheddar cheese

1.00 cn SPAM Luncheon Meat, cubed

-(12 oz)

1.00 cn Cream of chicken soup

-(10 3/4 oz)

1.50 c Sour cream

0.50 c Milk

0.50 c Chopped onion

0.25 c CHI-CHI's Diced Green

-Chilies, drained

2.00 c Crushed potato chips

Heat oven to 350'F. In large bowl, combine potatoes, melted butter,

salt, pepper, and garlic powder. In another bowl, combine cheese,

SPAM, soup, sour cream, milk, onion, and green chilies. Add SPAM

mixture to potato mixture; mix well. Pour into 2-quart baking dish.

Sprinkle with potato chips. Bake 45-60 minutes or until thoroughly

heated.

MMMMM

Good thing they added them pitater chips, I was getting worried there wudn't enough grease.

Holy shit! Three Canadian stops, and one is Hamilton!

Thursday, April 20th

Club Seventy-Seven

Hamilton, Ontario

Tickets $35.50 available at http://www.seventyseven.ca

I don't think it's ENTIRELY about prowling for a lay, Brad. I'm attached and I'm going, and I know a few straight girls who are going. The point of the party not being held at a gay bar, I think, was to make it more inclusive.