Hartamophone

Wow - great news. I'll be back East for Christmas and might be able to swing the NYC show. Their album is still in regular rotation for me.

Given our much closer proximity to the US and our inferiority complex, I say it would still be just as big a deal.

I hope he's smiling down from that great big Burbank in the sky.

That guy is a fuckin' creep. He works security at the Halifax Metro Centre, and is a little too committed to his job when patting down females on their way in.

First year university I was Gene Simmons. We had all four members of Kiss, fully decked out and in full make-up. Last year, I was Will Ferrell as the cowbell player from Blue Oyster Cult. Rocked the cowbell all over town that night, and one of my last memories is of a bartender pouring free Jager shots into the cowbell for me.

I remember being at the Heart and Crown in the Market (Ottawa) a few years ago and there were undercover police officers in there arresting people for being drunk. No, I'm serious. These were plain clothes officers taking people out of the bar who were being a little too revelrous for the officers' liking. Being that I was, uuhhhh, a little lubricated at the time, I was kind enough to tell the officers my opinions of that particular exercise, using the phrase "Way to go, tough guy" more than once. Good times.

I agree, but when it's "just another excuse to party" for so, so many people, it becomes rife with overcrowding and price gouging, as far as it goes as a night out. That said, I've always had great luck with lower-key NYEs or house parties, so I've never felt the need to hit the town.

[color:purple]I heard that next year they're going to try Vegoose Northeast.

I'll most likely be ringing in the new year with a few close friends in a cabin in the Adirondack mountains. Can't think of a better way to do it. I think the only NYE I've been at a bar/show for was DSO in Burlington a couple of years ago. Good times, but I much prefer low-keying it on what is a largely irrelevant night.

Oh the delights that spawn from musical cabin fever. In the midst of an extended break from live performances in order to focus on the recording of a new album, Victoria’s Noises From the Toolshed emerged from hibernation at Steamer’s on Saturday night to bring their groove-drenched proggy jazz to the masses. The band showed no signs of rust as it cruised with musical eloquence through a ninety-minute set that balanced spot-on technical proficiency with inspiring musical lift-offs, throwing in a healthy dose of pop-friendly hooks for good measure. The four-piece band – Stephen Franke on guitar, Chris Van Sickle on keys, Alex MacCuaig on bass and Allan Cameron on drums - was bolstered by the addition of a baritone saxophone player for most of the show, adding texture to the sonic low end and making for a fuller sound, all-around. The horn player gave the songs he performed on a sense of completeness that the four-piece has not always been able to offer them in the past. These were the songs – mostly NFTT originals - the way they were meant to be played, reaching their full multi-layered potential. As each song progressed, the lines between the structured components and the alternating solos taken by the players were repeatedly blurred. Time and again, the band members would simultaneously but delicately pour their musical energy through a collective funnel to have it gathered by a soloist who would seamlessly take the musical baton and run with it, only to have as smooth a transition back to the core of the song at solo’s end. Especially strong in this regard was the salsa-infused instrumental “Half Moon Bayâ€, as well as some of the fresh material being prepared for the new album. The quarterback of these transitions and the standout musician on the stage was, of course, the bandleader himself. The love that Stephen Franke made to his hollow-body Paul Reid Smith was incendiary and furious, yet deliberate and restrained. Franke made every note count, both when playing rhythm behind his band mates and stepping up to take solos of his own. It takes a confident musician to walk as purposefully as he does along the border delineating mature technical mastery and self-indulgent wanksmanship while remaining on the right side of the fence. This balance was perhaps best illustrated on one of the evening’s three cover tunes, “Tumbleweed Teaâ€, originally performed by Toronto’s Kevin Breit & The Sisters Euclid. The band attacked the blazing, country-infused groove from all sides, diving head first into the song’s rapid time signature without letting themselves get carried away. Breit and company are much loved in their hometown of Toronto, where they pack in the crowds every Monday night for their resident gig at the fabled Orbit Room. As I looked around at the much thinned-out crowd remaining at show’s end on Saturday night, I couldn’t help but marvel at what a shame it is that Victoria can’t show the same love on a seasonal – let alone weekly - basis to its own native sons.

Happy birthday. Get drunk.

A dog who needs some time to be a cat on a pretty regular basis.

Smokin' show. The band has been holed up working on a new record, and the hard work definitely showed last night. The tightest show I've seen from them, and the addition of a baritone sax player on most of the tunes really filled out the sound. Covers of Scofield's "Kool" and The Sisters Euclid's "Tumbleweed Tea" rounded out a set of mainly instrumental original material that included "Half Moon Bay", "Floating in the Oxygen", "Lighthouse" and some brand new tunes (no tapers though...bummer. Aloha, Hart). Embarrassingly, attendance was average at the beginning, and God awful by the end of the show. Victoria doesn't deserve this band, but I'm excited to see where they take the new material, musically speaking, when they head out on a proper tour in the springtime after the release of the (all instrumental) new album.

It was at Steamer's, on Yates (at the corner of Government, I believe). It's a great venue all-around, in my opinion. It feels intimate, but there's plenty of room for both people who are focusing on the show and those who aren't.

Smokin' show. The band has been holed up working on a new record, and the hard work definitely showed last night. The tightest show I've seen from them, and the addition of a baritone sax player on most of the tunes really filled out the sound. Covers of Scofield's "Kool" and The Sisters Euclid's "Tumbleweed Tea" rounded out a set of mainly instrumental original material that included "Half Moon Bay", "Floating in the Oxygen", "Lighthouse" and some brand new tunes (no tapers though...bummer. Aloha, Hart). Embarrassingly, attendance was average at the beginning, and God awful by the end of the show. Victoria doesn't deserve this band, but I'm excited to see where they take the new material, musically speaking, when they head out on a proper tour in the springtime after the release of the (all instrumental) new album.

I'm not sure you did Sarah. "Voodoo Lady" is on "Chocolate & Cheese". It's also on the "Dude' date=' Where's my Car?" soundtrack. (In my defense, I learned then when I downloaded the tune off of Limewire when I was trying to expose myself [ahem'] to some Ween.)

Ween forum, please.

That was like Baraka on acid.

#313: The Game Of The Name: Song Titles Which Include The Name (First And Last) Of A Real Person 1. Sisters Euclid - A Cousin Of Martin Scorsese 2. Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead 3. Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll 4. The Rheostatics - Ballad of Wendel Clark (I and II) 5. Bob Loblaw - Quentin Tarantino 6. The Hip - Courage (For Hugh MacLennan) 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

#310 Songs with Animal Sounds in them 1. Jane's Addiction - Been Caught Stealing 2. David Lindley & El Rayo-X - Werewolves Of London 3. Pink Floyd - Seamus 5. Beck - Jackass 6. The Beatles - Good Morning 7. Blind Melon - Mouthful Of Cavities 8. Pink Floyd - Sheep 9. Sublime - Waiting For My Ruca 10. Jingle Cats - White Christmas 11. The Hip - Wheat Kings 12.

Everybody wants something.

#306: Why don't you arrest me? Songs referencing jail. 1. Grateful Dead - Bertha 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Theme #305: Songs that have an unofficial 2nd title, list only the "2nd title". Maybe other people can guess the actual name of the song, if they want to. if they want to. 1. Bob Dylan - Mother Revisited 2. Hawkwind - Assassins Of Allah 3. Grateful Dead - To Unlimited Devotion 4. Woody Guthrie - Blowin' Down This Road 5. Dave Matthews Band - #36 6. Husker Du - Mary Tyler Moore Theme 7. The Who - Teenage Wasteland 8. Patti LaBelle - Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? 9. Bob Dylan - The Cough Song 10. Emerson Lake and Palmer - Come On See the Show 11. Beck - Mountain Dew Rock 12. John Mellencamp - Ain't That American

I came across an mp3 this weekend of Eddie Vedder covering "No Surrender". Despite the audience noise and vocal flub, I find this to be a pretty moving rendition of one of my favourite Bruce tracks. Enjoy. Link

Set I Alambama Getaway Pride of Cucamonga Friend of the Devil Deep Elem Blues Deal Bertha ---- Oh how I wish I was there! Some of the best Phil I've ever seen has been in "Upstate" New York, and we just might have a doozie on our hands here. I'm betting that Sober Trey has some serious steam to blow off (and not in the Coventry "Glide" sense), and I can't wait to hear this one.