Jaimoe

I like The Stills. If the price is right, I'd recommend checking them out.

Pretty big venue for them isn't it?? The tickets were selling well when I picked up mine exactly a month ago. The vibe of the venue is excellent for this kind of music too. I'm hoping for a good turn out. My friends saw Once with me on Thursday and they immediately bought tickets to the Danforth gig.

In Toronto, The Fox Theatre in the "Beaches" and also Canada Square are showing the film (Canada Square shows it daily while the Fox is in a limited run).

I'm not a big Joy Division fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Control has been getting raves. BTW, it's easy to find footage of Once on youtube, but I'd recommend seeing the film first. Seeing and hearing those songs for the first time in context is powerful and moving.

I hope her weed addiction won't lead her to experiment with harder drugs.

One odd fact about Bob Cole: he's a born and raised Habs fan.

Mark Lee out west calls a good game too. Whittman and Lee are excellent utility broadcasters. They are excellent at football, the Olympics (especially track and field) and hockey. Cole is more known as a Leaf HNIC guy, but he'd still deserve a career Gemini for his work pre-Leafs and all his Canada Cups, World Cups, Olympics etc...

Johnny Cash, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Elliot Smith, My Morning Jacket, The Pogues. I love CD shuffle!

Yes.

Right now, Bob is in the Top 3, diminished skills (see brain) et al. As hockey announcers go in the history of the game, Bob is one of the best. Bob doesn't deserve the Gemini for last year's work, but Bob deserves a Gemini for his career work. What do I know? I think Don Whittman is the best hockey play-by-play man in Canada. Most improved is Jim Hughson. Worst is Joe Bowen.

I finally watched Once last night. I gotta say it's a beautiful film and it has some of the most emotionally charged musical performances I've ever seen in a film, period. Glen Hansard's songs are achingly gorgeous and heartfelt and Markéta Irglová is wonderful throughout. You gotta hear Glen belting out a Van Morrison cover on the street in Dublin. It would make Van jealous. You can say Once is a musical love story since half the film is taken up by live performances (actually performed live). It's shot in a cinéma-vérité style which adds realism that would be lost in a big-budget flick - Once was made on a 70,000 budget. I gotta say that I actually welled-up with tears during many scenes and not because of sadness. When it comes out on DVD, I'd recommend that you turn off the fucking phone and turn this film up.

Has Bob ever won a Gemini? It would be hard to believe that he hasn't won at least one in his career, but if this is his first, then I'm glad he got it before he retired or got an honourary Gemini.

Thanks Freeker. I've heard of all those potential films and their subsequent reasons for rejection. Long Live The King!

I wonder if Tom Verlaine (Television) is playing with The Bashers? Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Verlaine on stage together would kick ass. Brian Sherman on stage with anyone would not.

Have great birthdays you S.O.B.'s.

Even the part-time characters on WKRP in Cincinnati (one of the best sitcoms ever, even in it's current syndicated 'butchered' form) like Herb's wife, Mrs. Carlson, Arthur Carlson Jr., Del Murdoch etc... were well-written, fully developed and had important roles to play in the series as a whole. Mama Carlson and her trusted butler Hirsch (played by great character actor Ian Wolfe) were fantastic in every episode and scene they were in. Well, Mama Carlson had a great career and she had a good life run. Hell, she almost bedded Andy Travis. R.I.P. Carol Bruce. Check out this great scene with a drunk Mama Carlson calling Les "insane": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzjIIs9xirw From The New York Times Carol Bruce, a promising stage actress and singer from the 1940s who became best known late in her long career as Mama Carlson, the ruthless station owner on the television comedy “WKRP in Cincinnati,†died on Oct. 9 in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 87. The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to an announcement by the Motion Picture and Television Fund. In her recurring role on “WKRP in Cincinnati,†Ms. Bruce was the tough, business-minded owner of a radio station managed by her son, Arthur Carlson, played by Gordon Jump. She played the role, originated by Sylvia Sidney in the pilot episode, from 1979 until the show ended its run in 1982. Ms. Bruce made guest appearances on more than 25 television shows, including “The Golden Girls,†“Doogie Howser, M.D.,†“Diff’rent Strokes,†“Knots Landing,†“The Twilight Zone†and “Party of Five.†She first earned public attention and critical acclaim in 1940 on Broadway in “Louisiana Purchase,†a satirical Irving Berlin musical about politics in the South. She left the show early when she signed a contract with Universal Studios. In 1941 and 1942 she made three movies for Universal: “This Woman Is Mine,†“Behind the Eight Ball†and “Keep ’Em Flying,†an Abbott and Costello comedy about the Army Air Corps. Later in her career she appeared in “American Gigolo†(1980) and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles†(1987). She also continued to work occasionally on Broadway, appearing in a revival of “Show Boat†in 1946, “Along Fifth Avenue†in 1949, and “Henry, Sweet Henry†and “Do I Hear a Waltz?†in the 1960s. Ms. Bruce was born Shirley Levy on Nov. 15, 1919, in Great Neck, N.Y. She worked as a saleswoman and model at Namm’s department store in Brooklyn, and then started her performing career as a nightclub singer in the ’30s. She eventually performed at Café Pierre, the Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza and other rooms. She is survived by her sister, Marilyn Berk; a daughter, Julie Nathanson-Coryell; two grandsons; and two great-grandsons.

I honesty think that any of those street-racing punks that kill innocent people should get punished The Hitcher style. I'll drive.

I've seen a concert at The Roxy. Nice venue.

Speeding and driving safely do not belong in the same sentence. "Other's can anticipate"? What's that supposed to mean, really?

Although I must say that the premiere set-up the second and third episodes perfectly. Andy has been great, especially in episode 3.

I thought the season premiere was just ok, but episode 2 and 3 were really really fucking funny. God bless Greg Daniels and the rest of his crew.

Indeed he was. I didn't get a chance to talk to him, but he was there, looking exactly the same.

There was a fair sized crowd and they were pretty lively. The large lesbian contingent wasn't there, but it was a mixed crowd nonetheless.

Foolish me. For the uninitiated, Crazy Strings are one of the best bluegrass bands in Toronto and have been for many years.

I used to be a Wednesday night regular at The Silver Dollar Saloon (located at the north tip of Toronto's Chinatown). My then girlfriend (and now wife, Vicki) used to love going to see Crazy Strings and then stumble down to Swatow in Chinatown for some chicken with black bean sauce on rice noodles. For no good reason, I haven't caught the boys in a long time. Well, I'm happy to report that they are more interesting now, musically speaking, than they were four years ago. Guitarist Marc Roy can still fire off those awesome lead lines, but he's more melodic and rounded than he was back when he was a punk teenager; he also sings lead now too, and he's pretty good. New to me, is fiddle player and vocalist John Showman, who can play like a bastard and ups the excitement level during the jams. Roy is a fantastic guitarist, but mandolin wiz Andrew Collins continues to be most talented member in the band - he's also a fine singer (he also didn't sing any lead the last time I saw Crazy Strings). Guitarist and lead singer Chris Coole anchors everything and was in fine form last night. They even belted out a Skynyrd cover and joked before launching into the over-done version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky". I'm going back to see them soon.