Hux

It can result in criminal charges. They cheated in the last election and as such are an illegitimate government. Paul Martin should technically still be Prime Minister.

I hate that when she enters a room with over 6 peope in it she automatically sticks her front teeth out as far as humanly possible while grinning like an idiot.

Hey Ottawa Skanks, Just want to give you the heads-up on the 2nd Annual Blues for Kids that is going down next Friday night at the Rainbow. Several of you were there last year and as you can see we've grown the event quite nicely this time around, securing a better venue, night and some great bands! Easter Seals is a great cause, it would be awesome to have your support! The 2nd annual "Blues For Kids" Fundraiser will bring together local blues talent to benefit Easter Seals Kids in the Ottawa Region. Featuring: Bruce and the Burgers Bruce and the Burgers have been together as a band for twenty years. The band consists of six members: lead singer Bruce MacGregor, lead guitarist Glen Porteous; keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Brian MacMillan, bass guitarist Rocco Romeo, drummer John Gilmour, and saxophonist Fred Russell. All but Gilmour are original members of the Burgers. The group was first assembled in 1985 to perform at a Glebe Collegiate teacher's party. The Coggs http://www.thecoggs.com In the thick of Ottawa's blossoming musical community, The Coggs have become a unique and important part of the city's maturing indie rock scene. With their rich blend of traditional blues and indie rock, this trio made up of Jeff Coghill (guitar and vocals), Travis Hood (bass) and Mike Brittan (drums), lays down a heavy yet polished garage-blues sound in the vein of The Black Keys and The White Stripes. Formed in May 2003, The Coggs have been performing throughout Ontario and have been inspired by the people and musicians they have come in contact with along the way. With the release of their sophomore album, Mean Dog Howl (November 2007), this explosive group has more than lived up to the high expectations of their loyal fan base. This 13 song disc presents a blend of tight musicianship, soulful vocal melodies, penetrating lyricism and a fevered intensity for which The Coggs have become renowned. The Coggs' first album, Blackjack and Cigarettes, was released in May 2006 to very strong reviews and was named one of Ottawa's top independent albums of 2006 by Dave Ardvark of CHUO and Birdman Sound. It has received consistent airplay on most of Ottawa's major radio stations and also through a great number of College radio stations and Podcasts throughout Canada, the U.S. and other foreign markets. The Lee Bowie Band http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=101637847 Gatinau hills based singer/songwriter/guitarist rocks your world with wheel squealing blues/rock and sappy cry in your beer pop tunage. Heavy Hammond and accordion keep your ears clean and refreshed between guitar wails. The Twentieth Century Boys A home grown collection of local Ottawa talent will open the show! Admission: $15 By attending Blues for Kids, your donation will help children, youth and young adults with physical disabilities achieve their full individual potential and future independence. Easter Seals funds disability solutions through financial assistance, summer camp, the Recreational Choices funding program, research, advocacy, and public and consumer education.

You can try to catch my empty Becks tallboy cans as I toss them back Liam styles...

I got sec B row 20, seat 6/7 where are you at?

^bump Tics just went on sale for this.

Nice work, although there are some eerie similarities to this essay I wrote a few years ago... Ratdogheads The Empowering Nature of Subcultures For almost twenty years an American rock band known as Ratdog has been a touring phenomenon. Fuelled by a rabid fan ready to follow them anywhere, the music of this band attracted young music lovers the world over. Travelling from city to city, the followers of the band forged their own subculture. Complete with organizations, trends, fads, and a common language, Ratdog fans shared more than just a common appreciation for music; they shared a lifestyle. However, Ratdog culture was not singular in nature. Nor was it cut off from the American culture of which it was apart of. The following that this band created drew directly from American culture through horizontal intertextuality. Incorporating and morphing the American culture and media from which they sprung, “Ratdogeads†empowered themselves with various communication mediums to thrive and expand. No matter how prolific this subculture might be, much like Bahktin’s idea of the Carnivalesque, members of this subculture live the majority of their lives outside it. Although Ratdog fandom may be a lifestyle, it is still a leisure activity. Its isolation from, but simultaneous incorporation of, popular culture is why Ratdog is a perfect candidate for examining Silverstone’s “mechanisms of engagementâ€. By examining Silverstone’s idea of play and performance, we will gain an understanding of the impact this subculture has on its members. Much like Bakhtin notion of the “Carnivalesqueâ€, Ratdog’s essence required there be no separation between performer and participants (Bakhtin, 250). The concert experience was unlike any other. The gathering would draw tens of thousands of people from all over America. Since everyone was from difference places, they were able to enter with a clean slate. Furthermore, the concert itself was unlike any other touring act at the time. Each show would be a continuation of the other. Rabid fans would keep tabs on performances, sell goods outside shows, and follow the band on full summer tours. The group’s tours, concerts and festivals created the kind of environment described by Bakhtin. People would “live in it†(Bakhtin, 251). Silverstone’s concept of “play†applies, but is enhanced drastically. Unlike a sport or game, the Ratdog touring lifestyle required an entirely different shift in lifestyle for a substantial amount of time. Therefore, it would call for an altogether new performance. Similarly, Bakhtin refers to this altering of performance as a “new mode of interrelationship between individuals (Bakhtin, 251). Although living within the Ratdog lifestyle requires that people alter their everyday performance, this performance is limited. Silverstone writes that everyones performance is entrenched with boundaries that shape their day to day engagements (Silverstone, 70). Within Ratdog culture, these everyday performative boundaries still remain, but are allowed to be pushed to their limit. The kind of environment created at concerts is very attune with escapism. Fans are encouraged to push their limits and briefly escape from their performative boundaries. A kind of group consciousness is achieved where people’s societal reservations are shed. The widespread use of psychedelic drugs only enhanced this process. Brief escape however, does not necessarily mean a change of performance all together. It is for this reason that even the most inclusive, all encompassing kind of games do not posses the power to break performative boundaries. Bahktin’s Carnival is this kind of all encompassing experience, much like the Ratdog touring lifestyle. He too stipulates that persons within the Carnival are allowed to alter their day to day experience, but never enter the realm of taboo (Bahtin, 251). For an example, we turn to the phenomenon of drug use occurring at Ratdog gatherings. An individual who’s boundaries allow them to experiment with drugs will no doubt partake in this kind of activity while on tour with Ratdog. However, if a person’s boundaries do not allow for drug use, this will remain the case. Even in an environment where drug use is widespread, and widely encouraged, the individual will still stick with their own boundary. However, because Ratdog culture is an all encompassing game where the nature of the game is to shed the boundaries of one’s performance, an interesting phenomenon does occur. An individual who normally would not partake in any kind of drug use, might in fact indulge while inside the world of the game. This break of boundary however, is still within the nature of their own performance. All this boundary simply required was the proper environment until it was pushed to limit of breakage. The same kind of breakage can be seen in other lifestyle altering experiences; University, for example. Furthermore, any kind of break would, in turn, become the performance itself. Bakhtin writes “the laws, prohibition and restriction that determine the structure and order of the ordinary are suspended†(Bakhtin, 251). Ratdog allows for this phenomenon to occur; it is the ultimate game, it is the Carnivalesque. Only in this kind of world, a world Bahktin refers to as “a world turned inside outâ€, can performance be stretched to the limit and be shaped into something new. This ability to inspire the change of performance is what makes subcultures like Ratdog such a powerful culture force. In his study of popular culture, MacCabe writes cultural products are most effective when they break the national grid (MacCabe, 9). He backs this theory giving reference to Motown, The Beatles, Joyce’s Ulysses. All of which have all had their own sphere of cultural proliferation. Here, MacCabe suggests that in the study of popular culture, we must look at the “fault-lines opened up by these cultural products†(MacCabe, 9). Ratdog is a subculture that has clearly broken the national grid. Bringing about people from all walks of life, Ratdog has not only brought them to one cultural core, but has also implemented various communication mediums to keep them together. Internet message forums truly brought Ratdog culture to the fore. By staying in touch through various interest groups, then Ratdog lifestyle no longer became a summer excursion. Daily, members of the community are able to keep in touch, swap ideas, and motivate new trends. If influence is gained by breaking the national grid, then the internet has provided the hardware for doing just that. The Ratdog community is a prime example of the internet’s ability to empower subcultures to grow and thrive on a national level. At a Ratdog concert, everyone in attendance is a Ratdoghead. With the internet, these Ratdogeads always have a place to remain Ratdogeads. This ability to escape the popular culture of one’s existence into the realm of subculture is extremely empowering. Adorno theorized that the culture industry had effectively integrated itself with society and created mass consumption to organize “free†time (Bernstein, 4). In this instance, Adonro is presenting popular culture as a negative. Capitalist ideals are fused with mass entertainment within society to create an ever consuming culture. From this point of view, Silverstone’s concept of play is no longer about personal growth or escaping boundaries. It is merely about consumption. As Berstein writes, it provides “easy amusement from the relief from labourâ€. This would once again support the notion that our performance is not altered by our play. However, the play of Ratdog culture is an inherently different kind of game. It is the all encompassing game of Bakhtin’s “carnival†and therefore has a much deeper power over its participants. The power of subcultures like Ratdog is they require a different kind of performance. A performance that differentiates itself from Adorno’s culture industry. It is for this reason that subcultures are a significant in their ability to alter one’s existence. Kramer too makes direct reference to musical gatherings and their ability to transcend mass culture. He writes: “These enormous gatherings seemed to create small cities with civic as well as commercial cultures†(Kramer, 149). According to him, mass gatherings of people from various walks of life demanded a new understanding of “public†to develop. Ratdog culture is not merely a gathering of music fans. Kramer theorizes that it is an associational life in which participants are able to explore the complexities of civil society (Kramer, 150). In this light, Ratdog culture is able to present a new kind of civic society. Empowered with the ability to tour anywhere in North America and draw tens of thousands of people, this rock band brings this notion of a new public on a national scale. Kramer writes: “As both direct and mediated experience, the festivals suggested that individuals and groups might actively engage in the making of their social worlds, rather than be dominated by authoritative forces such as the state…†Participants in the Ratdog community engaged in such experiences. They forged their own society and created an alternative lifestyle. The environment that grows around a venue where Ratdog is playing on a given night is fuelled by the love of music. However, it culminates with cultural togetherness. It is only in these kinds of environments, these kinds of subcultures, that we are able to escape the roles entailed for us in our mass consumption cultures. Only then can we forge and shape our own performance.

This is ripe for some photo-shopping...

If you can't track down Bluegrassy High, The New Main Street Singers should be included.

I'm an Oasis fan - what did you expect?

Radiohead f'n blows.

I'm not an asshole, but really like Oasis, and it's better than most of the crap everybody here listens to.

Anne Murray - Snowbird.

Didn't they play that at some awards show like, 4 years ago?

At last, a video game I will excel at.

HBD bradm!

Oasis>Phish.

Knock Three Times - Tony Orlando. Don't go there.

Is that with sauce?

I think the foodeze forum is the best working sub-forum, and who can be a dick about food? good times.

I think being able to easily ignore a segregated politics folder is a good thing...but sometimes I just have to wade into the candy shop.

Condolences Bro.

I could haul the dishes out with the jeep - that good for a 6-er?

Yeah, someone take a pic of the McRib will ya? We used to eat them in high school and put so much extra sauce it would run down our arms... I ain't eatin' one but I'd like to check it out, like a car accident.