Jaimoe

This one's for Booche. From Tuesday's Jays-Sox game: http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=XJlrNCqGt9A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdeadspin%2Ecom%2F

and relentless. Grier has been fantastic.

Almost no boogie room. Expect to be standing to watch or sitting for the show. That is how it has been for me at every show there. You certainly can dance in front of the stage. Lesbians have been doing just that for years at every single Crazy Strings Wednesday show.

The Sharks are really fucking good. They can roll 4 lines and Joe is a machine. They have an underrated defense too, and I don't know why.

I noticed that the Pistons-Raptors game was in REAL HD, instead of that non up-converted stretched picture they've been trying to fool us with (to no avail). Let's hope the Score has finally turned the corner on HDTV broadcasts.

Holy Smokes. I was ready to kill and then congratulate Andre since I email/conversed with him all afternoon and he didn't mention anything about being a daddy or an uncle.

How early for a 9pm show time? What's the capacity? Go early and settle in - say around 8pm. It's a blues bar with a good vibe, so have some drinks and get ready for the show.

My friend's birthday is that night. I'll let you know closer to the day.

The Silver Dollar has a juke-joint/jazz club kind of set-up, meaning that the stage sits in the middle of the room, with the bar ten feet away. There's tables on both sides of the stage, both on the floor and elevated. It's a tight fit front and centre, but the place has lots of room along the sides. Get there early and sit at the bar. The pitchers are cheap and the wings are good. The place has lots of character.

Why beat a dead horse. The name makes me sad, but it's an awesome festival.

Nice game from Chacin... and he even pitched into the 7th inning!

Great festival list. I'm like seeing Buddy Guy, Watermelon Slim, Janiva Magness and The White Stripes.

It's only evil if you can't manage your finances and spending habits.

Often, the artists are powerless regarding sound and acoustic issues. I've been to many a concert where the sound/acoustics mar an otherwise good show. Too bad for you, but that's the way it goes. Complain to the venue's PR department or better yet, try to bring this to the attention of the local media.

I heard Gowan kicked The Killer's ass.

Credit card interest rates become an almost non-issue if you have a line of credit from your bank. It's something you should investigate with your bank. My line of credit has saved my skin many times over the years.

Nice hit and an entertaining series so far. I don't care who wins, but I like a lot of the Sens players.

Ryan, Glaus and Johnson out. The Jays are in deep shit.

She's no Killers, but you should enjoy the show regardless.

I can't wait for this album to drop, especially after reading this early unstructured and albeit overly Zeppelin-focused review: The White Stripes' "Icky Thump" 2007-04-11 12:56:37 Two and a half minutes into "Icky Thump", something happens which is so perfect, you almost suspect the White Stripes' press officer magically orchestrated it. Continued... We are sat in the boardroom at XL, listening to "Icky Thump" being played to us at generous volume. The title track comes first, and it sounds terrific. The Stripes have reminded me of Led Zeppelin plenty of times before, but I don't think they've ever sounded quite this big. "Physical Graffiti" comes to mind, but there's also this weird North African riff being played on a synth, and an organ solo which is pure Jon Lord. Meg White is hitting the drums with immense weight, while Jack continues to deconstruct rock structures as he goes along - stuttering when you expect him to charge, messing with the levels. The thing is, it eventually occurs to us that the levels are being messed with a bit more than White had planned. In fact, "Icky Thump" is so powerful, it appears to have blown XL's fancy stereo. We take the CD out, and the speakers are still crackling. A few minutes later, we start again in another office, and first impressions prove correct. "Icky Thump" is yet another great White Stripes album, and one which amps them up in a new and grandiose way. If "Get Behind Me Satan" was predicated on piano, marimba and White's experiments with pop, "Icky Thump" is all about electric guitar and giant drums. In one way, it's a return to the elemental first recordings of the band: songs like "Bone Broke" and "Little Cream Soda" recall "Cannon" and "Astro", if memory serves, punctuated with those shrieking, high-frequency solos. The sound, though, is much heavier and fuller, at the same time. Again, I keep writing Led Zeppelin in my notes, even when the sound becomes folkier - as on the astonishing "300mph Torrential Outpour Blues", where the meticulous layered guitars are strikingly close to a full band sound. During "Rag And Bone" (ostensibly Steptoe & Son re-enacted by Jack and Meg), I start suspecting my critical line may be a bit narrow, when the riff reminds me of Them's "Baby Please Don't Go" - played, of course, by Jimmy Page. On one listen, "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)" sounds like the hit: a sort of Beatles/Southern Rock hybrid that would have fitted nicely onto the soundtrack of, sigh, Dazed And Confused. The next step on from "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground", perhaps. The strangest two tracks are "Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" and "St Andrew (This Battle Is In The Air)". The former begins like, yes I know, "Gallows Pole" before the bagpipes turn up and the Scottish imagery gets denser and wilder. Eventually, it shifts into "St Andrew", a heated expansion of the musical and lyrical themes with a spoken word vocal by Meg. Describing it all makes it sound like whimsy - and their ongoing obsession with perceived British eccentricities can be seen in the cover shot of the pair in full Pearly Queen regalia, too. But these songs are intense rather than throwaway. The prevailing atmosphere of "Icky Thump" means that even the playfulness is delivered in a forceful frenzy. Mexico figures, too. One of the redheaded women who stalk these songs is a "redhead senorita" (in "Icky Thump" itself), while "Conquest" (a Corky Robbins song popularised by Patty Page, apparently) is basically metal mariachi, with Jack going to head to head with trumpeter Regulo Aldama. I haven't had much time to pull the lyrics apart yet, but there doesn't seem to quite as much playing with the brother/sister/family business. The notable exception is "I'm Slowly Turning Into You", inspired by a Michel Gondry video treatment that has Jack gradually morphing into Meg. It's a full-blooded love song (about Karen Elson, we could crudely assume?), but the complexity of the concept - and of Meg sharing the muttered chorus with Jack - means that their relationship remains the object of much sport from this most devious and compelling of bands. "Little Cream Soda" seems to be about the loss of innocence - another recurring theme, but one which gathers bigger apocalyptic resonances with every album. The weakest track on that solitary listen seemed to be "Catch Hell Blues", a slide guitar workout that's technically brilliant but not immediately memorable. Really, though, I'm pretty sure they've done it again - given classic rock one more vicious and inventive twist. When I get to hear it another time, I'll let you know.

The Opera House is also on the Queen Street streetcar line. No excuses, other than Galactic themselves.

St. Louis wings are my favourite wings ever. No matter if you get mild or suicide, they are made the same way. I believe they are baked, but unlike most wing places switch to hot-sauce with any wing above mild, the wings at St. Louis all have the same flavour, but get hotter. I love their dipping sauce and the smattering of wedge fries too.

I had the regular chicken two weeks ago and have had dreams of it ever since.

I can almost guarantee this won't be sold out. It's a tough venue to sell out.

Screw that. The best burritos are on Queen Street West, just east of Bathurst called New York Subway. They don't load up the burritos with beans and rice. They make the best burrito I've ever had. http://toronto.ibegin.com/restaurants/new-york-subway