M

HAPPY DAY mister!

Have fun, fun, fun! :: :: ::

Mary

Happy day Marco!

Cheers...

Mary

Happy day, my dear...

Glad we got to rock in your birthday with Mr. Breit... ::

To another beauty year.

xoxo

Mary

HAPPY DAY JESS

Hope it's a beauty one...

See you soon and we will celebrate!

Mary

...my 2 cents...

For some of the pictures that people have posted in the past on this site, i can see the "obvious" humour in them.. but this one, i think it's sad and relatively easy to make the assumption that unless this girl was some sort of "partial nudist" demonstrator or involved in a dare, she was likely fucked up beyond belief and had no clue what she was doing.. . maybe i'm naive, but i hardly think someone's going to take off their pants just to grab the attention of a friend across the bar .. for some, yeah it's just a bare bum and a symbol of nudity and freedom and blah blah blah .... but i think both sean and booche are just expressing some empathy... this reminds me of that wook picture from "a heads tale" that people were posting all around and making fun of the guy... what if there is an accompanying pic of her face that starts making the rounds and somehow this becomes a nightmare for the girl.? especially given the relative smallness of our community...

can you imagine what the crowd response must have been to her? if she was fucked up and had no idea what was going on, i'm sure there would have been at least one asshole in the crowd who might have felt she was "inviting" a certain kind of response given her lack of attire.

as for the guys vs. girls butt debate... i rarely hear of men being raped at shows...most men can walk around shows naked without the fear of being dragged off...

i've heard way too many sickening stories of girls being taken advantage of ... maybe this bare bum is funny... i think my thought was dear god, what the hell happened after this photo?

lastly... even "girls gone wild" requires girls to sign a waiver for permission to distribute the photos and i highly doubt this girl let her pic be taken like this... not that anyone's making money off of selling photos of this girls' ass but who knows....

Making this about censorship is juvenile... god, do you really think booche is big brother and will start changing the sentences we type? all the pictures we post? sometimes things come down to good taste... and i think both booche and NW have both exemplified this...

Here is a list off of Pollstar of all that's going on in the city...

Note that Trey and Dave are joining Orchestra Baobab on Letterman tomorrow night so they no doubt will be popping into a club somewhere after.

There's some great stuff on the list - - enjoy!

FRIDAY, MAY 7th

Orchestra Baobab "Late Show With David Letterman"

Morrissey Apollo Theatre

Way Out West Avalon

Marcia Ball B.B. King's Blues Club

John Pizzarelli Birdland

Kyler England Borders Books & Music / Kips Bay

Sloan Bowery Ballroom

The Voodoo Organist C.B.G.B.

Kenny Garrett Iridium Jazz Club

Super Diamond Irving Plaza

The Subdudes Joe's Pub

Michael Novick Kenny's Castaways

The Midnight Collective Kenny's Castaways

Amfibian Knitting Factory

Cattle Decapitation Knitting Factory

Rane Knitting Factory

Seth Yacovone Band Knitting Factory

The Black Dahlia Murder Knitting Factory

Vital Remains Knitting Factory

Satellite Lost Plaid

Fountains Of Wayne Roseland

Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds Unplugged Terra Blues

Patty Griffin Town Hall

Christian Castro United Palace

Colin Hay (Of Men At Work) Village Theatre

Todd Rundgren Webster Hall

SATURDAY MAY 8th

Morrissey Apollo Theatre

Jeff Mills Avalon

The Machine B.B. King's Blues Club

Van Morrison Battery Park

John Pizzarelli Birdland

Sloan Bowery Ballroom

Cole Guerra Fez Under Time

Kenny Garrett Iridium Jazz Club

Super Diamond Irving Plaza

The Subdudes Joe's Pub

Changing August Kenny's Castaways

Deal With Preacher Kenny's Castaways

Han Shot First Kenny's Castaways

Pappa Roxy Kenny's Castaways

Wayne's Remains Kenny's Castaways

MANDORiCO Lion's Den

The BRIDGE (Baltimore) Lion's Den

Cosmic Rough Riders Mercury Lounge

Great Jones Piano's

"VP Records 25th Anniversary" Radio City Music Hall

Beenie Man Radio City Music Hall

Beres Hammond Radio City Music Hall

Buju Banton Radio City Music Hall

Elephant Man Radio City Music Hall

Morgan Heritage Radio City Music Hall

Shaggy Radio City Music Hall

Sizzla Radio City Music Hall

Feathermerchants Sin-e

Grey Eye Glances Sin-e

Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players Tonic

Patty Griffin Town Hall

Seeking Homer Tribeca Rock Club

Christian Castro United Palace

Colin Hay (Of Men At Work) Village Theatre

Niamh Parsons World Music Institute

" Dave Matthews and Trey Anastasio will perform with Orchestra Baobob, the acclaimed Senegalese band, as the musical guests on Late Night with David Letterman on May 7, 2004. (CBS) (11:35 p.m. ET) Dave and Trey recently traveled to Senegal to perform with Orchestra Baobob for their first performance in 15 years. The story will be featured on Vh1's Inside Out which will debut on May 8th"

Hi guys! It is indeed my birthday today!!!

Thank you all for the well wishes! You fellas rock.

Mary

::

>> From RollingStone.com

NEW WILCO RELEASE DUE

As they gear up for tours of Australia and Japan, WILCO are readying an EP for release early next year. In addition to three outtakes from "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," the set features three new tracks ("Handshake Drugs," "Woodgrain" and "More Like the Moon"). "We've got a few hours of stuff recorded," drummer GLENN KOTCHE told Rolling Stone about the band's next full-length. "Some are regular songs. Some are complete improvs. We're going back in March for a few weeks, and it'll be time to buckle down."

WILCO, SONIC YOUTH MEMBERS GET LOOSE

WILCO members JEFF TWEEDY and GLENN KOTCHE, and SONIC YOUTH's JIM O'ROURKE will release their self-titled debut as LOOSE FUR on January 28th. The experimental album was recorded after the trio performed at the 2000 Noise Pop festival in Chicago. "Jeff was able to express something that at that point in WILCO he wasn't able to," O'Rourke told Rolling Stone. "He has a past in that music and from our first meeting I realized he knew more about this stuff than I thought." The group plans to record again next year between O'Rourke's duty with SONIC YOUTH and the next Wilco album.

Wilco is also artist of the day on RollingStone.com

Click here for more Wilco

Phish are also artist of the day on RollingStone.com

Click here for more.....

***This article on Phish was taken from the Sunday's NY Times.***

Phish Is Happily Reunited to Go Against the Grain

By JON PARELES

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt.

On a Tuesday afternoon in early November, Phish didn't look like a band on a deadline. It had exactly one day to finish mixing its new album, "Round Room." Elektra Records was rushing to release the album on Dec. 10, three weeks before Phish's return to performing — after a two-year absence — with a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve.

Yet Phish, a notoriously meticulous band, wasn't agonizing over last-minute details. "These rough mixes seem to be turning into album cuts," said Bryce Goggin, the band's producer. Trey Anastasio, Phish's guitarist and lead singer, was on the telephone with Mike Gordon, Phish's bassist, who was in nearby Burlington, on tour with the guitarist Leo Kottke. "We're kind of un-mixing right now," Mr. Anastasio told him. Jon Fishman, Phish's drummer, was touring with his band Pork Tornado.

While Page McConnell, Phish's keyboardist, conferred with Mr. Goggin, Mr. Anastasio showed a visitor around the Barn, the studio where "Round Room" was made almost inadvertently. In true jam-band fashion, Phish is reappearing with a combination of strategy and serendipity.

The Barn is a century-old barn that Mr. Anastasio has moved and reconstructed on a hillside with a panoramic mountain view. The interior is dotted with architectural artifacts: a stained-glass window here, a carved Indian doorway there and an iron-mesh catwalk overhead. With its homey exterior and the eccentric touches within, the Barn is a lot like the genial and intricate music Phish has been making since 1983. "It's an improv barn," Mr. Anastasio said.

At a time when recording companies are struggling to fabricate blockbuster hits, Phish is a countermodel, with modest recording and promotion budgets, profitable album sales, insatiable fans and a symbiotic relationship with the Internet. Although its albums are released by a major label, Phish doesn't depend on radio hits or music videos; it makes its living primarily by performing. Phish has not become a pop phenomenon like its fellow jammers the Dave Matthews Band, yet it dependably sells half a million copies of each studio album. ("Round Room" will be in stores on Tuesday.)

Sylvia Rhone, chairwoman of the Elektra Entertainment Group, said: "We do very well with Phish. They are reasonably successful financially because they're very low-dough. Are they ever going to sell triple platinum? It's a challenge that we welcome, and if we never get on top of it, it was still worthwhile creatively."

Phish isn't greedy. It turned down an offer to make its Madison Square Garden show a pay-per-view telecast because it didn't want to reduce the experience to the size of a TV screen. Nor does it slot itself into conventional formats. Where bands generally offer their next single as a "First Listen" on America Online (Elektra is part of AOL Time Warner), Phish chose "Walls of the Cave," a 10-minute song that jams through half a dozen sections. Mr. Anastasio said: "You start thinking, maybe it's too long. But too long for who? Too long for what?" The song was played 300,000 times the first weekend it was available.

With a sprawling online presence that only begins with the band's own www.phish .com and the fan site www.phish.net, Phish followers are among the world's largest in-groups. Like the Grateful Dead and newer jam bands, Phish allows concertgoers to record shows, and fans busily trade live recordings, news, set lists and detailed critiques online. The band paid attention to a Web page called People for a Louder Mike, where fans complained that they couldn't hear Mr. Gordon's bass. "Not only did we turn him up," Mr. Anastasio said, "but we started, in band practice, trying to create musical space where Mike could be heard."

When Phish dispersed, in what its members call "the hiatus," it was at the peak of a continuously expanding career on the jam-band circuit inaugurated by the Dead. Mr. Anastasio, Mr. Fishman and Mr. Gordon, now in their late 30's, were already thinking about the long run when they started Phish at the University of Vermont in Burlington.

"There were a lot of conversations about being self-sufficient," Mr. Anastasio recalled. "We didn't want to be dependent on record companies or any outside force. One of the first things we talked about was buying our own sound system, buying our own van. And we wanted to tour. There was very little talk about getting signed, if any. I clearly remember being surprised when record labels were approaching us."

Mr. McConnell joined the band in 1985, and its current lineup soon solidified when a second guitarist left. Phish sold self-released cassettes at concerts, and an independent label released the band's first album, "Lawnboy," in 1990. Its first Elektra album was "A Picture of Nectar," released in 1992, and by 1994, Phish was starting to headline arenas.

In the late 1990's, Phish could easily sell out multiple nights at Madison Square Garden. It drew tens of thousands of fans to camp out in unlikely places like Plattsburgh, N.Y., Limestone, Me., or the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation in Florida, where 75,000 fans joined Phish to greet the year 2000 with marathon sets.

But on Oct. 7, 2000, in Mountain View, Calif., Phish arrived onstage to the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time." After the show, band members went separate ways. They were weary of continual touring and of a bloated business operation. As Mr. Gordon said in a telephone interview, "Eventually you have to stop being the guy from Phish for a while."

Most of all, they were worried that Phish was getting stale. Mr. Fishman said by telephone, "We thought, `While we're tired and not hating each other, let's take a break.' " They didn't tell fans when, or if, they would get back together.

"We knew we hit a wall," Mr. Anastasio said. "At our last show, we went backstage and we were talking about this grand experiment. What if we now left and had as many musical experiences as we could?"

"Musicians improve by playing with musicians who are better than them," he continued. "So we would all leave our little cocoon. And the only way we could be sure that this experiment was to work was to have no definite plan for coming back. As soon as we had a plan, then no one would really fully embrace their other projects. That being said, I think we all pretty much knew we were going to come back."

While Phish was on hold, it wasn't idle. The band released 16 live albums, each a set of three or four CD's. All four members toured and made albums: Mr. Gordon's duos with Mr. Kottke, Mr. Fishman's Pork Tornado, Mr. McConnell's Vida Blue and Mr. Anastasio's Oysterhead (with Stewart Copeland from the Police and Les Claypool from Primus) and the Trey Anastasio Band. Mr. Gordon also directed a documentary on bass playing, "Rising Low."

Last summer, they agreed to restart the band. Booking New Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden provided a focus; Phish would need new material. Members wedged rehearsal time into tour schedules.

For its don't-call-it-a-reunion album, Phish made a plan that, like all things Phish, was a convoluted intersection of musical challenges and fan expectations. At Halloween concerts, as fans know, Phish performs another band's entire album, handing out a Playbill that redraws the original album cover — the Velvet Underground's "Loaded," or the Talking Heads' "Remain in Light," for instance — as a Phish album.

Phish decided to print a Playbill for New Year's Eve 2002 with the cover of its own as yet nonexistent album. It would record the songs at Madison Square Garden, mix and master them overnight and make them available online by Jan. 2 for downloading as the band's new album. Elektra would manufacture a CD as quickly as possible.

That scenario didn't last. When Phish assembled in the Barn to work up new songs in early September, the members were newly thrilled at the band's intuitive mesh and what Mr. Fishman called "the phenomenal learning curve": 20 songs in 11 days, including complex ones like "Walls of the Cave" and two songs that didn't make the album, "Spices" and "Discern."

Mr. Gordon said: "When we have a song that mixes a compositional fugue and a free-form jam and verses and choruses, it doesn't sound as contrived as it should. The sections of songs that are art-rock or whatever you'd call it are executed with a light-heartedness, like we don't care if we screw up a few of the notes. We do care — it would be better to get them — but the idea is that it should be as light and fluttery as one of the free-flowing jams."

Phish spent another two days playing together, plus a day or so of touch-ups, recording all 20 songs simply for reference before the next set of rehearsals. "It was an emotional event," Mr. Anastasio said. "So after we recorded these demos, of course we started to get attached to them. It's just the four of us in the Barn, ripping it up. We hadn't played together in a long time. We weren't tight. But we decided that that was more exciting than having it be `right.' If we stop perfecting it, then it sounds like Phish."

"I learned the inexplicable nature of Phish," Mr. Anastasio added. "There's this wobbly nature to it that's very strange compared to any other group I've ever played with. I feel like there's these two cement blocks tied together with a rope, and the idea of the music is to move the cement blocks from Point A to Point B. The way the cement blocks get there is by each person taking a couple steps forward and then getting tired, and then someone else takes a couple steps forward, so it's always advancing in this amorphous . . ."

He trailed off. "I feel like I can jump, free-fall momentarily, and somebody's going to pick it up," he said. "But it's always somebody different. I feel held up by Phish, but I don't know who's going to do the holding at any given time."

The band decided that 12 of the 20 songs were strong enough to be an album, and informed Elektra. "We just called them up to say, `We have an album,' " Mr. Anastasio said. " `And you've got two choices: put it out before Christmas or wait until they've all got a tape of a live version after Christmas.' "

Elektra gave the band deadlines; Phish made them all. "We didn't have time to get pretentious," Mr. McConnell said.

Most of the songs came from a marathon songwriting session by Mr. Anastasio and Phish's main lyricist, Tom Marshall. They cloistered themselves with a guitar and an electric piano in a hotel room in Philadelphia. It's usually an enjoyable process, Mr. Anastasio said, but not this time. "Tom and I got in a really horrific fight," he said. "We were screaming at each other, and I sat down and wrote two songs, `Anything but Me' and `All of These Dreams.' I was sitting there as an escape from this fight, with the guitar and the headphones on, singing these songs. I think they express something that I usually am a little too shy to express."

The album has a surprising number of songs about trying to communicate and about re-establishing trust. In the pensive "Friday," Mr. Anastasio could be singing about a Phish jam: "I crashed, I burned, but then I learned to keep my eye on you."

Mr. Anastasio said: "Phish songs usually express jubilation and exuberance, and it all fit together that this album isn't just about that. Everybody gravitated toward the songs because they expressed something that the guys were going through too. That doesn't mean that it's a gloomy album."

Mr. McConnell added, "It just has a little more emotional heft."

If there was ever a possibility of Phish disbanding, making "Round Room" apparently put it to rest. "We won't beat it to death in the future," Mr. Fishman said. "And I know I will never ever be in a situation like Phish again. Not in terms of success or making money, but the productivity, the discipline, the inter-band relationships, the considerateness, the way it fits into all our lives. Everything must end, but if it ends when my life does, so be it, and if it ends before that, it'll really be a sad day."

It's funny how much the Comfort Zone was a mainstay of the scene. It was a given that it was always there. We all moaned and groaned that we had to frequent it... possibly because it was so difficult to admit that it did feel like home. God, I think I spent most of my formative years at that place. Walking in on any given "regular" night..... knowing that you'd know at least one familiar face.

I can't define how I thought I'd never miss that place until last night, sitting around, having a beer with a buddy and craving some live music... and feeling the void of not being able to go to the "dirty zone" as I so fondly call it.

I've seen some phenomenal bands there over the years... too many to name. I've had many memorable and un-recollectable evenings. The awesome bands that have passed through this year that I have been fortunate to catch have included:

> Burt Neilson Band

> Al from Moe.

> Grand Theft Bus

> The Sauce

> Blue Quarter

> Caution Jam

> Mike and Jeff from BNB

> One Step Beyond

> Jomomma

> Downtime

> Nero

> Friends of Hefner

> Mark Wilson

> The Hole and Corner

> Fat Cats

> Days of You

> Deep Banana Blackout

> John Butler Trio

> Smokestack

> The Smoothies

> Jimmy Swift Band

> Wassabi Collective

> Guesthouse

So let's raise a glass and smoke our respective favorite smokes and say goodbye to the Cozo and hope for a hello to other venues that will welcome so uninhibitedly great music and even greater people.....

The "Boney M" xmas album is always on at my parent's place.

Saw the Rheostatics last night - second night of their 12 night run at the Horseshoe. Absolutely unbelievable!!

If you are in the area you owe it to yourself to check out one of these shows over the next week.

The stage for the shows is decorated with a slew of posters (ie: Bob Marley, Destiny's Child!)... giving the venue an intimate "jamming in the basement" feeling. The content of their performance over these shows will vary; last night songs were played from Melville to Whale Music to Night of the Shooting Stars. The band was tight and it looked like they were having a ton of fun - there is no denying the remarkable chemistry that exists between these guys.

I heard Wed night they encored w/ the Pixies' Wave of Mutilation. Highlights for me last night included Record Body Count, Dope Fiends and Boozehounds, and P.I.N.

I read a book with this quote which I have often passed on to friends who are grieving. I think it is beautiful and gives some peace and reason when dealing with someone we love passing on.

*********************************

Dear Fox, old friend,

thus we have come to the end of the road

that we were to go together.

My tale is finished -- and so farewell.

But before I go,

I have just one more thing to tell you:

Something has spoken to me in the night,

burning the tapers of the waning year;

Something has spoken in the night,

and told me I shall die, I know not where, saying:

"To lose the earth you know,

for greater knowing;

to lose the life you have,

for greater life;

to leave the friends you loved,

for greater loving;

to find a land more kind than home,

more large than earth;

Whereon the pillars of this earth are founded,

toward which the conscience of the world is tending--

a wind is rising, and the rivers flow."

--by Thomas Wolfe

from 'You Can't Go Home Again'

*********************************

Take care... it is always an inspiration when someone's life touches another life so deeply.

trev - I'm in... you heading over to Matty's before?

If you're in Toronto at the start of December, this is THE party to be at.

Come on out on the evening of Friday Dec.6th for CHARITY STEP an evening of music & fashion for the Canadian Cancer Society.

CHARITY STEP is a new kind of party with a new kind of purpose.

At the forefront of modern music, fashion, and style, this event will introduce a social consciousness. This year CHARITY STEP is proud to be working with the Canadian Cancer Society, who will receive all proceeds from the event!

CHARITY STEP has brought together a full package of sights & sounds to make this the best party of 2002!

Location: Toronto's hottest venue - the stunning York Theatre (Yonge & Eglinton Ave.)

Music: The Legendary man himself Matt C, plus Neill J Brown, Medved & more!

Fashion: Canada-based label Peros will launch their Spring 2003 collection on the runway!

Gourmet hors-d'oevres, visual arts, more, more, more. Tickets are only $20 in advance ($25 at door, if available). Today is the first official selling day...but already more than half are gone! So get in touch soon or see the website for details, because there's no chance these are going to stick around until December.

Brought to you by Miracle Warriors. For event details, please see www.miraclewarriors.com

Or, you can email me at mary_oconnell@grey.net if you're interested in tickets.

Scientists try for a touchy-feely Net

CNET News.com

Scientists in Britain and the United States will try to shake hands on Tuesday. No big deal one might think — only they will be 5,000 kilometres apart, using the Internet to connect them.

In a technological first, they will use pencil-like devices called phantoms to recreate the sense of touch across the Atlantic, organizers of the experiment said.

The phantoms send small impulses at very high frequencies down the Internet using newly developed fibre-optic cables and extremely high bandwidths.

When a scientist in London prods a screen with the phantom, the sensation should be felt by a colleague in Boston, and vice versa.

"Pushing on the pen sends data representing forces through the Internet that can be interpreted by a phantom and therefore felt on the other end," said Mel Slater, Professor of Computer Science at University College London (UCL).

"You can not only feel the resulting force, but you can also get a sense of the quality of the object you're feeling — whether it's soft or hard, woodlike or fleshy."

UCL will conduct the experiment on Tuesday with colleagues from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Two scientists — one in London and one in Boston — will try to pick up a cube between them and move it, each responding to the force the other exerts on it.

The secret behind the technology is the speed at which the successive impulses are sent — up to 1,000 Hertz," UCL said in a statement.

"In much the same way that the brain re-interprets still images into moving pictures, the frequencies received by the phantom are similarly integrated to produce the sense of a continuous sensation," it said.

The implications of the experiment could be vast, said UCL, which describes the event as the world's "first transatlantic handshake over the Internet."

If successful, it could allow people to touch and feel each other over the Internet.

Happy Birthday!!!

Bill Withers does a great version.

Did anyone go see the show on Saturday at Healey's?

Spencer Tunick is a photographer who travelled across all the states in the US, asking regular people to pose nude in public places. There's a great documentary called "Naked States" that documented his travels and experiences.

You might remember him as the guy that took the nude photo of 1,200 Phish fans at the Great Went (you might have even been in the picture!).

Spencer Tunick wants Toronto to get naked.

Click here to read the story

Used CDs - Vortex Records (also at Yonge and Eglinton - 2nd floor store) 416.483.7437. This store has a great selection of used CDs and vinyl. There's a sister store (another Vortex Records) on 229 Queen Street West just a block east of Much Music. ph: 416-593-8523

Other best music store I forgot to mention is Soundscapes 572 College Street (just west of Bathurst). 416-537-1620

Great independent store that also carries concert tickets, music literature, has in store performances and is also a big supporter of the local music scene. All the staff are really knowledgable about music if you're looking for stimulating conversation.

I'm going to a wedding tomorrow night in Guelph but I am assuming we will be looking to party at a bar afterwards....

Any suggestions? I've only been to the Woolwich Arms (pub), Albion Hotel, The Brass Taps (campus bar) and The Trasheteria there.

Any place that's fun to party at on a Saturday night?

Just read that the Fat Cats are playing tomorrow night (Saturday) at Healy's in Toronto.