DevO

I'm gonna try to make it tonight!

Thanks for the feedback! I will check them both out but the Koodoo one sounds like it may be best for me, with the LD options. Can I use the phone that I already have? Its a Nokia and its "unlocked" so should be able to take any sim card.

Hey all, I've just moved back to Canada and was wondering if prices for cell phone services have made any strides in the past 6 months. I recall the government "opening up the market" around 6-8 months ago and a handful of companies made successful bids to begin operations in Canada. I might add that I've never been to any other country where its so expensive to use a cell phone like it is here! I need a phone, and I'm very close to broke. What's the best deal out there for me? There must be something out there by now other than Rogers, Bell and Telus. Thanks for the tips!

I'm gonna have to give this a read.

Damn, Luther would've been perfect! Ah well. Thanks for the tips, I'm in for a rub & tug.

Hey! I will be in Ottawa for a debriefing thing from Saturday til Wednesday and was wondering if there's anything happening around town. I don't get into town til kinda late on Saturday (and will probably be exhausted from travel) so I know I couldn't make it out to Wakefield for the Steelworkers show. Kinda busy the whole time I'm in town - not sure if I'll have time for catching up with folks - but if there's anything special going on I might try to make it. Tues Feb 3 is the most ideal night, as the next day I get to sleep in. (sidenote: I'm going to see the Sens on Tues Feb 3 as well!) Cheers, kevO

Looks like a good time. Any tickets still available?

Jesus that album sounds nasty! I will download it soon.

If Phish were going to get horns again I would hope they would enlist Alan Toussaint to work his magic a la The Band 'Rock of Ages'. I bet he could pull off something great. If he's still alive, I have no idea (??). Speaking of which, you know the Wilco song "I'm The Man Who Loves You"? You know the horn section at the end, on the studio version? I've always thought that was a very Band-esque horn section. Maybe Toussaint did that, what do you think?

I just got back to Kampala after an epic 3 week vacation! About 11 nights in Zanzibar, then took the night ferry to Dar, then bussed straight up to Arusha. We did a 3-day safari out of Arusha: Tarangire national park, Lake Manyara Nat'l Park, and Ngorogoro Crater. The crater was unbelievable!! Then the long 24 hour bus to Kampala via Nairobi. There's lots more to the tale. I just wrote a group email describing it all, will post it here if anyone wants! Blane I'll send you an update soon. Everything's good. I'm going to be in Ottawa Jan 31 - Feb 4, and then back in TO Jan 4th.. Can't believe 5 months is up! Hope all is well.

I passed through Kenya the other day.. The only thing I can say is, avoid Akamba buslines!! We had an extra 6 hours tacked on to our 20 hour busride from Arusha to Kampala due to breakdowns.

This is so good! Thanks guys. I can't wait to see shows like this again.

Also, check out this new release! http://www.planethelix.com/Albums/MerchChristmas.htm

Mele Kalikimaka _ Bing Crosby Its my Christmas theme song this year (I'll be in Zanzibar!)

Looking forward to checking this out, cheersies.

That's a heavy hitting lineup. Carlos sat in with Kevin & Harry at the show in Peterborough last Fall and that was something to behold! Has the new Supergenerous album been released yet btw?

great story!

Happy birthday Scottie!

I was hoping for some Omeemee content.

Listening to this now, thanks Brad!

Thanks dudes. Too bad about the low turnout, I guess it was a Wednesday or so though. I wonder if its in the cards for The Rising Sons to reunite sometime.

Not really.. The show went til 6am... I left at 12:30! I had to get up at 530am and pull a 17 hour day on the Sunday.

Hey everybody, I've been here for over 2 months now and have been meaning to send a musical update of sorts! Kampala is a pretty lively city, but its taken a while to find the live tunes, what follows is my results thus far. Initially it seemed to me that Kampala skipped 1950-2000 entirely and went straight to the hip hop of the 2000s in terms of music in bars and clubs, save for the odd reggae ditty here and there. I couldn't find any rock and roll for the life of me. I commented to friends that perhaps that is my true calling here in Uganda: to give the gift of rock and roll. I found this one place that has "rock night"; unfortunately it was of the Creed/Nickelback variety. Uganda seems to lack the musical richness of West Africa. That said, there is "jam night" every Monday night in this small room upstairs in the National Theatre, its labelled as a reggae jam and its where its at. Sandwiched between bad covers of Kissed By A Rose you get the odd catchy roots reggae tune. The last Monday of the month they move the party outdoors, and the party grows. Unfortunately the last time I went someone horked my phone, but good times besides that. There was also the Kampala International Jazz Festival, which was 2 nights in a row at Speke Resort in Munyonyo.. Beautiful location right on Lake Victoria, big grass field, great stage set up, etc. Here I saw Miriam Makeba, Oliver Mtukudzi, Third World Love, Isaiah Katumwa, Joel Sebonju, Baxmba Waves, Godfrey Lubuulwa and Soul Beat Africa. Great night dancing under the stars with perfect weather. ( story here) And more recently, I took matters into my own hands and put on a show myself. As Coordinator of GuluWalk in Kampala, I organized a show dubbed the GuluWalk-Luo Festival, at a local club in town. We had a large crew of musicians down from the north of Uganda and it was a great celebration of northern Ugandan culture and music. Huge turnout and the music went til 6am! What I found coolest about this event was, when these type of performances pass through Canada they are usually reserved for the sterile atmospheres and audiences that corporate-sponsored-and-paid venues breed.. City festivals or Harbourfront Centre type places. This event was at a downtown club, full of students getting their groove on, and it felt a bit more real than the showcase events we get at home. PICTURES HERE! (in there there are also pics from the GuluWalk Charity Golf Tournament that I organized, which took place the next day). And finally: AL's BAR. This bar is notorious and infamous as being the sleaziest in town, a place that really gets going at 5am when it fills up with prostitutes and dirty old expat men. I'd been avoiding it, but its RIGHT across from my office, and then I heard that its one of the only places in town with a foosball table. Now I am a big foosball enthusiast and so finally ended up at Al's. I went at a decent hour of 8pm though, just a few prostitutes hanging out and no old white men except Al, the owner. This place is AMAZING!! Great set up, one of teh best foosball tables I've ever played on, blaring Beatles, Zeppelin and P-Funk on the stereo, and the walls are decked with concert posters from The Dead, The Stones, Hendrix, all your favourites. The icing on the cake was a concert poster from The Band, actually SIGNED by Danko himself! I spoke to Al about it and it is legit. So I finally found some rock and roll, shown the light in the strangest of places. That's it for now!

Setlist and reviews anyone?

Maybe visiting family?