AdamH

It's funny that she couldn't take maternity leave and/or that Trudi didn't give her a little leeway. Evidently they've got several chefs so it's not like she was their only resource. That salary of $50,000 seems kind of low for the job but I read also that she doesn't have the requisite skills to get a hospitality job now...which is why the award is more than a year of wages I guess.

I added my remainder. There wasn't much though.

Fettucine's is ok, I find their stuffed pastas pretty bland but it's not something you can make every day at home so I'll get it once in a while. Has anyone been to Manila Hut (Somerset and Bayswater?) I'm going on Friday having never had Filipino food before.

It reads not that Sting is a jerk but that his wife is a jerkess. It's gotta be pretty hard to fire a pregnant underperforming chef. Could've just waited it out until the baby popped and then kicked her out. Or ask "when are you due?"..wait 5 minutes and follow with "..your pink slip?"

Great laugh but he's too much of a pussy to pick on Zambia?

In the last week I put more toxins in my body than I do for most of the year. It's kind of like post-op general anesthetic in that you feel worse 2 days later, not the next day. This time 2 weeks from now I'll probably be missing it though.

Nice one. Hopefully we'll have leeks soon at lansdowne. Instead of whipping cream I can make this 100-mile friendly by mixing yogurt and light cream and letting it stand for a day at room temperature - creating creme fraiche.

Week 2: back on track after a few drunken slip-ups during bluesfest. I figured it would happen and embraced it but you know what's funny is that my drunken slice of pizza and drunken poutine weren't actually much of a reward. That is I felt the craving but when I was eating it it wasn't satisfying. I should've planned my cheat to be something like Pho or some Ma Po Tofu because I'd love nothing more than asian spices and tofu. This past week we got into garlic scapes and fresh apples from Lansdowne market. We had lots of friends over for dinner and also made a cider and maple glazed pork roast alongside a mix of bison, pork, chicken and turkey sausages from Sasloves that all fit the 100-mile diet (spices in the sausages were all good except our allowed salt and pepper). I've also been able to buy some decent whole wheat bread from the Wheat Berry, which is a nice compliment to the very dense and near untoastable Rye from bread and Sons. I'm still a little concerned with our fat consumption and am considering a subbing-in of olive oil to mitigate butter and cheese with every meal. Yeah sure I could have steamed vegetables for diner but with no condiments how is that going to taste? I can fake a decent oilless salad dressing using a lemon verbena vinegar I made and adding maple syrup but some olive oil would be pretty damn helpful. Not sure the cider brand LXQ but we got some from lansdowne last week and have been enjoying it.

That concert was booooooring. But I understand she doesn't really do the live thing well or often. So how did she get an ACL gig that was also booooring I ask?

Great show. Weird rap. He was a bitch to everyone backstage.

I loved Todd Snider's wit and would put a vote in for that. Otherwise I'll give Cat Power a try and maybe Steve Miller. It's pretty slim pickings tonight and with the rain there will probably be a small turnout.

I've added the one item from yesterday worth mentioning to my post above. It was truly unbelievable.

At least start at Built to Spill. I would be very surprised if you left halfway to see Edie.

Fucking Sprial Beach. I was a kid once too but I was never as retarded as those twits. Not knowing what a rider was, and being 90% underage, they drove to Hull and bought their own beer. When they found out we would give them booze but card them they got all pissy. Then they decided that My Dad vs. Yours had stolen their gear. A quick-thinking stagehand also caught them loading a very nice gibson in with their gear...said gibson belonging to My Dad vs. yours! Then they went and got more beer and loitered just outside the fence until midnight when their manager, the "oldest" guy there being about 22, finally drove away...leaving someone's passport and shoes on the stage. It felt like running a kindergarten. Other than the dark-haired brother of the twins set and one other dude they were tiring. I liked their music though.

In the case of black sheep most of my headliners have had their own sound guys. All of the stages this year have a few paid staff: usually FOH, boards and the stage manager whereas in the past it was just the stage manager that was paid.

I've not got much for you this year except the following: 1. Cat Power's rider contains two novel requests: an autograph from Bob Dylan, and a pair of Ray Ban Sunglasses. She will get neither. 2. One of my backstage volunteers went on a champagne run for the white stripes. Their tour has several "bus moms" who are in charge of keeping thins stocked, picking up the after-show and load-out meals and so on. Evidently one of their bus moms had left the tour and they'd held elections to pick a new one. They were announcing the winner that night on the bus. 3. Surprise surprise Manu Chao loves the ganga! 4. Hawksley Workman was sociable, polite and sober. The complete opposite of the previous bluesfest show he gave. I told him he looked less like a goth and more stocky and built, almost like a fit soccer hooligan and he said it's because he's stopped binge drinking and instead smokes pot that gives him "wild sexual hallucinations" 5. Though their music blew, in-flight safety reigns supreme as the absolute nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure of serving at bluesfest. 6. We have had 3 backstage lockdowns so far this year: Dylan, Morrison, White Stripes. This effectively removes every person from the backstage area except the hospitality manager and the artist's guest list. 7. George Thorogood had a mysterious shrine of incense and dreamcatchers, packed very professionally into a road case, that was to remain open for the entire pre-show and after-show period. There was a picture of a black man inside it but I had no clue who it was. 8. 20 bras in the backstage area after Hedley's performance yesterday. 9. The diapered dude from George Clinton shat all over the floor of the washroom trailer backstage. My poor cohorts had to clean up human feces. 10. After the clearout of Dylan's backstage area, he went into his trailer and emerged wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses 11. I drank Kanye's leftover Hennessey 12. Todd Snider and manager blew through a half ounce in two days. It's not really gossip more an observation 13. Someone in Alexisonfire's party likes the yayo 14. Umm..Xavier Rudd drinks soymilk? 15. Danny Michel's trunk latch broke 16. Sharon Jones Rider includes 2 bottles of Jameson's, and only a half bottle was leftover. 16.5 I got to kiss Sharon Jones on the cheek Overall this year was pretty mundane and unexceptional except the dropping a load on the floor. next year I'm hoping for more wildness, sex and drugs especially if it's coming from artists and not roadies, backstage volunteers and other less interesting people.

Go team! From: Globe and Mail story When it comes to smoking a joint, Canada blazes past every other industrialized nation. The 2007 World Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has found that Canadians use marijuana four times more than any other developed country, with 16.8 per cent of those between the ages of 15 and 64 having used cannabis at least once in 2006. The world average is 3.8 per cent. Papua New Guinea was ranked as the biggest marijuana-using country, with 29.5 per cent of its population using a cannabis product last year. It was followed by Micronesia at 29.1 per cent, Ghana at 21.5 per cent and Zambia at 17.7 per cent. "[Cannabis's] consumer market is large, roughly 160 million people; its production centres are widely dispersed, existing in almost every country in the world and its factors of production can be both flexible, rudimentary and small scale and permanent, highly technical and large scale," the report reads. The report mentions that while cannabis production in Canada is significantly lower than in the United States or Mexico, the country - particularly British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec - remains an important source for high-THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) cannabis consumed and trafficked into the U.S. The report also found that Canada had a high rate of cocaine use, with 2.3 per cent of the population using the illicit drug. It ranked third behind Spain and England.

It's been a week of 100-miling and I'd say it's been a pretty smooth experience so far. We can buy locally grown and milled flour at Herb and Spice (produced by mountainpath, available in bulk as "organic white hard (bread) flour") and that's meant fresh bread and fresh pita bread. Saslove's, Aubrey's and the Glebe Meat Market have good and numerous option for locally raised meats. The largest majority was available at Aubrey's but for variety we were able to buy pork, chicken and pork sausages from Saslove's yesterday. Veggie-wise we're all set with potatoes, carrots, onions, beets, peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. We're getting close to garlic season which will be a nice addition to the fresh herbs we use from our backyard, and the allowance we made for salt and pepper. Fruit intake consists right now of raspberries and strawberries Dairy? There are actually too many options: cheese has been easy, yogurt and sour cream from Liberté (Which is in Brossard, Que and is about 5 miles outside of the 100 miles...whoop dee do) and a fantastic tzatziki from Skotidakis farm that's available from herb and spice. Observations thus far: 1. I do feel good. It's probably because I'm eating less and not eating anything processed 2. With no local oils this diet is almost atkins-esque..and that's troubling since I have been eating more dairy and meat. It's hard to find a butter alternative that can be used for cooking that is local. How any vegan could attempt this is mind-boggling. 3. As expected it gets expensive buying all of this organic local meat. On the other hand I am saving money by not eating out at all or buying my lunches while working 4. You need alot of time to do it. We needed almost a half-day to make pita bread, coupled with all of the packed lunches and dinners that I'm eating at Bluesfest this week. Not to say it's impossible but there's much more preparation and planning when it comes to having a few options to choose from and not being resigned to eating the exact same thing every day.

That was beautiful. I loved the work of the projectionist too.

I'm all the fuck over this.

I would gladly quit volunteering to come to any picnic that popo attends. There's not much worth noting this year, so I would also hit dirienzo's or somerset beforehand.

If one were to put together a package of photos of lawnchair "scenarios" as bouche described, along with a copy of the flyer and a note explaining why you're undertaking this campaign, I can give it to Monahan because his trailer is right next to my stage area. I do think he's receptive to this kind of feedback mechanism.

Great show last night, I walked in with the same "low expectations" that were borne from the last time I saw him and I was really surprised. I too agree with the Sun reviewer because, by comparison, he WAS looking youthful and his voice was pretty good. I couldn't believe the variations on some of his songs, Girl from the North Country in particular.

Katie and I have decided to give this a try for two months. If you're not familiar with it the 100-mile diet challenges you to consume food produced within a 100-mile radius of where you live. You can make your map here: http://www.100milediet.org/map/ It is day two and so far so good: We're almost at peak farmer's market time so there is no shortage of vegetables available particularly at Lansdowne. I just now found out that Bread and Sons bakery on Bank Street has Rye bread produced with Rye that's locally grown and milled (as opposed to just locally milled) We're allowing ourselves a couple of cheats: salt, pepper, coffee, VQA wines and locally "brewed" beers...in the latter two cases you'd be hard pressed to find a beer or wine made with locally grown grains and locally cultured yeast I suspect but I might be wrong. If we're invited to someone's house we'll eat what they serve. We'll probably go to the Manx a couple of times and eat there. But otherwise we're trying to be diligent. We aren't sure just yet whether we'll allow ourselves to eat what's in the house that doesn't qualify but we probably won't.

Cool.