14 June 2005, lunch time
I met up with Rishi late on Sunday night to attend a concert at the Horseshoe; the last band I saw there was fucking amazing. The singer we were going to see was Juana Molina from Argentina. She is apparently a former sketch comedy star turned singer. Sounds like a strange transition to make, I know, but she has certainly done a great job making it.
Her set was very acoustic. She stood alone on stage with a guitar around her neck, a lone microphone, and an assortment of keyboards and other electronic devices to her side. She would sit and play some music on a keyboard for a few moments, very melodious ambient stuff, then the background music would kick in, she would turn to the microphone, pick up her guitar, and starting singing and playing. It was very impressive to watch. All the more so when I realized the stuff she was playing at the start of her songs were all the loops that would play during her songs. What I had assumed was preprogrammed background music was in fact the things she was playing at the start of each song. Her live show was really quite amazing.
I liked all the songs she did. Rishi called me up on very short notice, and I’m glad he did. It was one of the most unique shows I’ve been to. She is playing in Montreal in July. If you are in the city, you should check her out.
[1] Music | Life
11 June 2005, mid-afternoon
After going to Embassy, Supermarket, and Sneaky Dees, I split off from my Scarborough posse and headed off to The Midtowne with Yathavan, Shannon and Amanda. Matt, Aaron, and Laura had headed straight there instead of making a detour for food at Sneaky Dees. Yathavan and I arrived at around 1:00 at the bar. It was just down the road. Matt and his friends were playing pool at the back of the bar. The place was pretty nice, but looks very plain when compared to everything else in the area. We loitered around at the Midtowne for an hour and a half or so, and then headed off for food. Yathavan and I met up with Gary and Steph and a few of Gary’s friends at Pho 88 on Spadina. It must have been close to 3:15 at this point. It was my 5th stop of the night—I was tired.
Life
8 June 2005, lunch time
I snapped two photos of Rishi; the first just before his train arrived, the second just as he was getting on it. I was standing on the opposite platform at Bathurst station. My train arrived minutes after and I got on board. I was sitting on a fairly empty train; at midnight, the trains aren’t usually busy.
“What were you taking pictures of tonight?” The girl who asked was a cute white girl, her hair cut short, wearing jeans and a baby-t. She reminded me of someone I knew, but I couldn’t figure out who. She was probably a bit drunk. Her friend was sitting a few seats away. She had wandered over to where I was sitting, apparently because I was carrying my giant Pentax camera.
“My friends.”
“Oh really. Is that what you do? Are you a photographer?”
“No, I’m a programmer. I take photos as a hobby.” I was trying to keep the conversation short. Shima tells me I can’t become a photographer because women will want me to take ‘artistic’ photos of them. I’m not sure if that is actually true or not. Shima also tells me I can’t talk to strange women.
I didn’t do a particularly good job of keeping the conversation short. I like to talk to people I guess. Earlier in the day an old Tamil lady had struck up a conversation with me on the train ride home from work. She told me, in Tamil, that the train was cold, they must have AC. I looked up and smiled; she was probably right. I guess she thought I was an idiot, or not Tamil, so she asked me in Tamil if I was Tamil, and told me to come sit next to her. She must have been close to 60 years old, someones grandmother I suppose. I chatted with her from Kipling to High Park, which was when I got off the train.
This white girl was basically the exact opposite of that old Tamil woman. The girl was young, 18 years old. She went on to explain how she works in Kitchener as a Yoga instructor, and was in town for some health conference. Her and her friend were coming home from an Alanis Morrisette concert.
She got off after a few stops, and I was left alone on the train. I told Shima about my night when I got home—she wasn’t that impressed. I should have told Mezan first.
[4] Life
30 May 2005, lunch time
A freak accident involving a CD stand resulted in my ending up with tickets to see Kaiser Chiefs at The Mod Club last night. Heather, Ben and I had planned to meet at 9:00, in order the see the opening act, but ended up meeting closer to 9:30. When we walked in to the club, the band was midway through their set. We should have met at 9:00.
OK Go were the opening act for the Kaiser Chiefs. The band have a very britpop sound to them, despite the fact they are originally from Chicago. The band’s music was really good; I enjoyed all their songs. The band was really great on stage; they were very lively performers. The thing that really makes them stand out, and will make them stand out in my mind till the end of time, was how they ended the set. After playing their last song of the night the band started to pack up. They asked the guy running the show, “Do we have a few minutes left?†Then, to the crowd, “I think we have a few minutes left.†They then cleared out some space on the stage. “We’re going to do something a little bit different.†I was expecting an acoustic set — silly me. “We’re going to dance.†And dance they did. They had a serious dance routine. The bass player lip-singed along to a song I didn’t know, the whole group dancing in unison. It was fucking awesome. After the show they were outside chatting with the crowd and signing up people for their mailing list. They came off as a very humble group. I really hope these guys end up successful, they seemed like a really nice group of people.
Kaiser Chiefs were up next, and really had to work hard to follow OK Go. I hadn’t heard of the band before, but Dave said they were good, and Heather and Laura had been bigging them up the week before. From their opening song to their last I thought they were great. They had some serious energy. The band are very much a britpop group, all dressed up in suits and ties singing rock music and dancing around on stage. The lead singer kept on mocking the crowd out the night before, letting us know that we were in fact the most bestest crowd ever. I wonder if he was being sincere? The band had the crowd dancing around for most of their set, and the lead singer got everyone to throw their hands up in the air for their last number. They were a great band live, so if you can see them in your city you definitely should. I thoroughly enjoyed their show.
It was quite the Sunday. I’m listening to my new “Ok Go†CD — I couldn’t resist their dance moves.
[2] Music | Life
29 May 2005, evening time
Dave and I met for lunch today, and then made our way over to the Toronto Comics Art Festival. There were a bunch of artists Dave wanted to see, and since I like comic books so I thought I’d tag along. Two tents were set up to house the artists. One was a tent for artists that do comics for Children, the other was for everyone else. Andy Lee was outside painting a picture of Optimus Prime when Dave and I arrived. His shirt wasn’t as black as the last time I saw him, but it was getting there.
The first tent wasn’t that busy. Besides the children’s comic artists, there were also the guys and girls that do the Flight anthologies sitting at one table, and Kid Koala and Louisa Scabas, who did Nufonia Must Fall together, sitting at another. I almost bought Nufonia Must Fall a few years back when I saw it at Chapters. I bought the comic today at Dave’s suggestion. The comic comes with its own ambient soundtrack that is quite good, albeit short. After Dave chatted with a few of the artists from the Flight anthologies, we made our way over to the second tent.
The second tent was packed full of people. There was table after table of comics and art for sale. Everything looked impressive, so it was hard to force myself not to blow all my money on new comics. I’m not really hip to the comic book scene, so I didn’t recognize anything or anyone—that is until I saw a book with a stick man on the cover. It turns out Sam Brown from Exploding Dog was at the show. His site is amazing. I told him as much. He came off as a very humble guy. I picked up his comic Amazing Rain. Apparently Sam Brown used to live next to Richard Stevens, the artist behind Diesel Sweeties. Stevens, who was sitting right next to Sam Brown, was also a very nice guy. I snapped a photo of the pair, before Dave and I headed out.
On our way out, Andy Lee was painting someone a picture of one of the covers from the Marvels series.
Life | Comics and Books
18 May 2005, early evening
Last night, after watching Crash and eating Chinese food with Dave, I headed off to Lee’s palace to try and catch British Sea Power in concert. Laura and Heather, two friends of Tyler’s I have successfully annexed (or have they annexed me?) already had tickets to the show, so I thought I’d try my luck getting in. Sometimes I’m lucky. I walked to the door, and the guy in front of me was asking the bouncer how he can return a ticket he had bought online. That was convenient. $15 dollars later I was inside. I found my friends and listened to the opening act play. They were good, though I don’t think the girls were as impressed. British Sea Power were quite good; definitely a band my brother would have liked. They played British pop/rock music. Heather thinks the lead singer sounds a lot like David Bowie, and I would agree. I also think he sounds a bit like Bryan Adams. The show was quite long, and quite good. They made their exit in a somewhat cliche but nevertheless impressive crazy rock-and-roll fashion: climbing on top of speakers, jumping into the crowd, and basically acting like maniacs. Torontoist has put up a few MP3s of the bands music, so you can give them a listen.
[3] Life | Music
10 May 2005, lunch time
I’m in love with the Shoestrings. I can’t stop listening to their CD.
I first heard them when I was in Waterloo for my first year of university. I was living with a fellow called Steve who wanted to go see a fellow called Momus at what would end up being my favourite place in Waterloo, Jane Bond. Momus is a one-eyed synth pop-star song-writer extraordinaire. I enjoyed his performance, but was more in love with the soft-spoken Japanese French starlet Kahimi Karie. I thought her wispy voice and bubbly pop music was excellent. I bought her CD KKKKK as soon as her set was finished. It came with another album, a compilation called Was it Him or His Music. My favourite track on that CD was The theme from Kiss Me Goodnight. The song is sappy, but thoroughly charming.
5 or 6 Years later, Le Grande Magistery re-launched their web site. Le Grande Magistery are the same label Stars put music out on way back when. CDs on the site were on sale for $15 bucks, which included shipping to Canada. I hate paying for shipping. It’s the biggest scam in the world of e-commerce. The free shipping was enough for me to shell out my money for the Shoestrings first CD. I hadn’t heard anything on the CD, and the sample MP3 on the site didn’t work, but I guessed it would be good.
And the CD is good. It opens with a short acoustic song, Rollercoaster, featuring the feminine half of the Shoestrings, Rose, singing a few words. It then jumps into a bouncy pop number Coffee. My favourite track on the CD is Whipped, a canonical pop-song if there ever was one. The music is quite light and accoustic for the most part. The album ends with a more melancholy number 1st Grade Love Affair, which still seems to fit with the spirit of the album.
You can grab a copy of the CD from Le Grand Magistery. I imagine they aren’t going to press another one anytime soon, so you should grab a copy while you can.
When I feel your presence
brush along side my body
I feel, I feel content.
When you whisper in my ear
I hear the oceans in the sea shells
I feel, I feel content.
— Oceans In the Sea Shell by Shoestrings
[1] Music | Life
1 May 2005, early evening
David Mack
Two years ago I went with Dave to a big comic book convention in Toronto. I had started reading Daredevil—I’m not sure why—and wanted to get the rest of the trade paperbacks I was missing. At the convention I got to speak to Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack. I asked David Mack to sign my copy of Wake Up, which he illustrated and Bendis wrote.
While signing, David Mack asked me if I had read any of his other comics. I hadn’t. He promptly went on to explain the details of his Kabuki series. He spoke at length on Kabuki, and how each volume in the series had a unique art style that suited the story. He was quite passionate about it all, so I felt a bit obligated to buy something. I bought Circle of Blood, the first trade paper back in the series.
It was good—really good. (When I’ve read the whole series I’ll definitely sit down and write about it.) Unfortunately, getting the rest of the series proved a little bit difficult. Most comic book shops I visited either didn’t carry it, or were missing books. I decided I would buy the rest of the series next time I saw him.
Dave, Howard and I went to the 2005 Toronto Comicon yesterday afternoon. There were several writers and illustrators we were all fans of at the show, including David Mack. We got there after lunch and started wandering around. This convention was much smaller than the one Dave and I went to two years ago. This may be in part due to the fact this convention wasn’t also part of an Anime and Sci-Fi convention. All the big name artist and writers were at the back of the convention centre, all sitting behind a long row of desks.
There was a huge line-up to see Bendis. He now seems to be writing every single title Marvel puts out. As such, he is a popular fellow. Sitting next to him was David Mack, and thankfully, the line to see him was much shorter.
“I bought Circle of Blood last time I was here, and I thought it was great,” I told him.
“Thanks. I’m glad you liked it,” he replied.
“Can I get the rest of the series?”
He paused for a second, and then said, “Yeah sure.”
We struggled with trying to figure out how much the comics were worth in Canadian money. I handed him a wad of cash, and left with the rest of the Kabuki series and a print of one of the characters he created for the Daredevil series, Echo.
Independents
There were lots of independent artists and writers at the show. Howard was harassing one artist about how he had seen his artwork in a Batman comic before. The artist was quite sure he hadn’t been featured in a Batman comic. He actually knew which artist Howard was thinking about. Howard, nevertheless, bugged him a bit more about how he had seen his work somewhere.
At the last comic convention Dave and I went to, we saw a black dude in a pimp outfit tearing up an original XForce something or another comic. He was ranting about how the industry was lame and generally causing a scene. His name is Mathew Mohammed, and he writes The Black Bastard. The comic, as one might guess, is about a black dude who is a bastard. We saw him again at this convention. I bought the first issue since the dude was from Scarborough. It’s not the most sophisticated of comics, but it has its moments.
Howard and I bought greeting cards from one artist. His cards were all pretty interesting. The one I liked the best was his rendition of Captain America, done up so he looked like a soldier from WWII. He had a Galactus card. I don’t know who you could send that too.
Andy Lee
While Dave lined up to speak to Bendis, I watched Andy Lee paint. He was sitting two spots down from Bendis. He was covered in paint. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anyone paint the way Lee does. Someone would ask him to paint something, and his body wouldn’t stop moving for the next 10 minutes. It was really amazing watching him work. I stood there for a good while watching him paint. I would snap the occasional photograph while he worked; I hope they turn out.
I asked him to paint me a picture of Daredevil. The first thing he did was dip his fingers in the water he used to clean his brushes, and rub that water on the middle of the page. He then got to work with the brushes, moving them here and there in no conceivable pattern. He works so fast. Slowly you start to see what he is seeing, and the image takes on a shape you can understand.
“Do the comics you do also look like this?” I asked. I was so impressed with his work, but I couldn’t imagine a comic book with art work like his.
“Yes,” he replied, “That’s why I don’t get many jobs.”
[1] Comics and Books | Life
23 April 2005, mid-afternoon
I watched Mamma Mia with Shima last night. The musical takes place at a wedding; the first act is the day before the wedding, the second act is the day of. The story is simple, but funny enough. There aren’t any flashy dance sequences or crazy sets; I don’t think the show needs them. The show is of course written by the two Bs in ABBA. As such, the music is top-notch. It’s interesting to see how they managed to work all the music into the story. I don’t remember the last time I listened to a song by ABBA, but it was really nice to hear so many of them again. I don’t think I appreciate just how strong an emotional attachment I have to the band. I think just like talking smack, loving ABBA is something I picked up from my mother.
[3] Life | Music
20 April 2005, lunch time
Carvill needed to buy some shampoo; I needed some solution for my contacts. We were in the pharmacy inside of the Wal-Mart at the Scarborough Town Centre looking for the items in question. While trying to decide what contact solution to buy, two middle-aged woman approached me; one of the women was Middle-Eastern, the other Indian. They walked past me, and stood a few feet away looking at another shelf of pharmaceutical products. The Indian woman worked at the store, and was helping the Middle-Easter woman find what she was looking for. I started to laugh—quietly, to myself, but laugh nevertheless. I looked over to Mezan, who was busy entertaining himself looking at random stuff on the shelf next to the shelf with all the contact solution; he hadn’t noticed what I had noticed. What was the woman buying? KY-Jelly. And it wasn’t for her, it was for her mother.
[3] Life
9 April 2005, terribly early in the morning
I saw three bands tonight. The last of the three was Magneta Lane, who I had seen a couple months back at the Drake Hotel. They’re my band of the moment, probably because they remind me of my most favouritest band ever, Elastica: they both play short songs, and there are 3 girls in each band. Actually, Elastica had a 4th member, a guy, but that’s neither here nor there. Actually, I think Magneta Lane are probably more reminiscent of Hole than Elastica. Well, actually, I think making comparisons like this is probably a little silly, but what can you do? Perhaps I can work the word actually into one more sentence? Here goes: I actually think I simply like the band’s melancholy lyrics. I am a fan of all things vaguely depressing after-all.
She keeps, standing there, waiting to be noticed.
In-between sets, I would head upstairs to chat with Matt and Neil, who were spinning for their Dynamite Soul night. It was a quiet night for them, so I got a chance to chat with them both, which was nice.
Music | Life
8 April 2005, evening time
The TTC are on strike as of Monday next week. Son of a bitch.
Update: No they aren’t. Wicked.
[5] Life
30 March 2005, evening time
I wasted my time today heading down to Bloor and Spadina to check out a photo-mart in the area. Annex Photo was recommended to me in a reply to an Ask.Mefi thread I posted some time back. I wanted to get a roll of 400 ISO film that I had pushed to 800 ISO developed. Shoppers Drug Mart does this just fine, so I expect proper photo-marts to be able to accomplish such a task.
I was told Annex Photo couldn’t develop my film as ISO 800; they’d have to send it out, and that would cost a lot of money. The place was already quite expensive, so I can only imagine how much sending it out would cost. Worse of all though, the guy helping had no idea why I pushed my film the way I did. He thought I should set my ISO lower and overexpose all my photos. If I wanted to use slow film I would; I’d also probably carry a tripod and not take pictures of anything that moves.
I’m so disappointed. I love the Shoppers Drug Mart near my house, but they have a bad habit of scratching my negatives. My search for a good photo-mart in Toronto continues.
Update: The Shoppers at King and Yonge is good. Now you know.
[3] Life | Photography
28 March 2005, lunch time
Laying in bed last night, I was woken up by the sounds of people yelling in the hallway outside of my apartment. Someone who sounded like an old lady was ranting about something. There was some sort of argument going on. I tried to listen to what was being said from my bed, but I couldn’t make anything out. When the argument didn’t stop for quite some time, I debated getting out of bed to tell people to be quiet. I was too comfortable to do that, so I just tried to sleep. Eventually I heard my neighbours coming out of their rooms to tell off the people arguing. The reason I couldn’t make out what the people arguing were saying was because they were arguing in some Eastern European language. Eventually things quieted down. I guess the lady decided to leave.
Then some time later, very late at night, the lady was back, yelling up a storm.
[2] Life
25 March 2005, late afternoon
One of my coworkers stood in like from 8:00 in the morning till 12:00 at night to be one of the first people to get a Play Station Portable. He brought his new toy in to work the next day. I want one. The screen is absolutely amazing. I watched part of Spiderman II, as well as clips from various games, and it all looked great. The screen is so sharp. I really don’t see how the Nintendo DS is going to compete. It looks so kludgy in comparison.
[4] Life | Technology
18 March 2005, the wee hours
I just got back from the PubliCity exhibit being hosted by Toronto Free Gallery. Spacing were the sponsors for the night, and happened to be selling their TTC buttons at the show. I am now the owner of a Kennedy Station button. I couldn’t find myself a High Park Station button, which is a shame. I brought my SLR out with me to snap a few pictures. A room full of photographers is strange. People don’t flinch when you take out a camera. No one gives you strange looks as you take photos of strangers. The photographs on display were amazing. It was very inspiring. I feel like I should start updating my site daily again.
Life | Photography
17 March 2005, lunch time
“I’m not trying to be reasonable,” I told Tyler and his friends. My meagre attempts to elevate the status of Scarborough in their minds fell on deaf ears. (Actually, since I was doing a pretty bad job at defending my favourite suburb it’s not fair to say say my words were falling on deafs ears.)
It’s hard to defend Scarborough because it is a bit lame when compared to downtown Toronto. Nevertheless I tried. I told them that one of the reasons I like Scarborough is because it’s so ethnically diverse. Tyler’s friend Heather asked if I simply meant there are less white people there. I told her no, I mean it’s more ethnically diverse. She’s probably right though. I think when I say a place is ethnically diverse, I totally mean there are just less white people. I didn’t bring that up last night though. It wouldn’t have helped my cause. I tried to explain how Scarborough had character, but that’s something that’s hard to quantify. I guess at the end of the day my Scarborough zealotry is irrational. The whole topic came up because I was making fun of stank-ass-Mississauga.
I met Tyler at Supermarket, a bar in Kensington Market, a bit past 11:00. As you can imagine, I’m quite tired today. Supermarket has a mod night on Wednesdays, and apparently it can get quite busy. At 11:00 the seats and booths were all taken, but the place was far from full. By 1:00 the place was much busier. The dance floor was full of people. The music was great. They played lots of motown and old soul music.
A couple sitting across from us were playing a game together. The girl would pull the top of her blouse forward, and thy guy she was with would try to spit ice cubes into the opening.
[13] Life | Restaurants and Bars
16 March 2005, lunch time
I had read many a good thing about Hood prior to seeing them last night. Now Magazine, in a very short review of Hood’s new CD, had compared their last album to something Zero 7 may offer up, high praise in my books. Other reviews of Hood compared them to Radiohead. They are apparently looked upon quite favourably by music critics.
I met Steph around 9:30, and the two of us headed off to the Drake, where we would meet up with Tyler and two of his friends. When we arrived there was already a band playing. The group played very experimental progressive rock music. The lead singer sounded like his microphone was being played through a flanger. I think the band would have been alright, had they hired a good drummer. Everyone else had lower opinions of the band. All of us hoped that the band playing wasn’t Hood.
Thankfully, they packed up a half hour later an announced Hood would be on shortly.
Hood are a quartet. For the most part everyone would take turns playing different instruments. Each song usually featured a keyboard, guitar, bass, and drums. Occasionally they would throw other instruments into the mix. They are in some ways similar to Radiohead, but I don’t think similar enough to warrant comparisons.
I liked them more honestly.
The band’s drummer was amazing. His performance was phenomenal. I remember being quite impressed when I read that Breakbeat Era had live drummers playing the beats when they toured. Now Hood don’t sound like Breakbeat Era, they have a more heavy, pounding, off-tempo sound to their drum line. My point is simply that I was impressed the drum line wasn’t programmed into a machine. The energy from the drummer was intense. The second last song of the night had a drum line that would make the most avid electronic music fan smile.
I bought their new CD and am listening to it now. It’s very mellow. It’s a shame you can package up the energy from a show into a small plastic disk.
Life | Restaurants and Bars
13 March 2005, mid-afternoon
I was watching Au Courant with Shima this afternoon, a television show on the CBC about current events in Quebec. I’ve seen the show a few times and thought the host looked familiar, but couldn’t figure out where I recognized her from till today. The host is Mitsou Gélinas. When I was a younger boy she was a pop star, somewhat like Madonna in that her music videos were usually a little bit racy. She had earned some notoriety for a music video she made called Dis Moi, Dis Moi, in which she, and most everyone else in the video, appeared nude — yummy. It’s a little bit strange seeing her hosting a current events show on CBC Newsworld.
Television | Life
4 March 2005, lunch time
Dave and I were waiting for Controller.Controller to start their show. The Canadian Independent Music Awards were running ahead of schedule and their was a small pause in the festivities. Two girls were leaning against the left side of the stage in front of us. One of the girls looked familiar. I turned to Dave and said, “That girl looks like the lead singer of Magneta Lane.”
“Which one?” Dave replied.
“Over there, against the stage.” I then made a meagre attempt to describe the girl so Dave would know who I was talking about.
By the time Controller.Controller had taken to the stage the two girls were right in front of us. I don’t recall exactly how we started talking, but we did end up exchanging a few words.
“Are you the lead singer of the Magneta Lane?”
She smiled, leaned back a bit, and replied, “Yeah, I am.”
“Your show at the Drake was excellent.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you since that show, what’s your real name?”
“Lexi—”
“Bullshit—come on, what’s your real name.”
“It’s really Lexi.”
“Really? You looked to me like a Roshanak or a Sarah,” which was my not so subtle attempt to tell her she looked Middle Eastern.
“She’s not Indian, she’s Mexican,” interrupted her friend, a British girl.
Now, I wasn’t calling her Indian, I was calling her Middle Eastern, but I decided there was no point bringing that up.
Lexi then went on to describe that Lexi is in fact a strange name regardless of whether you are Mexican or not.
[6] Life
3 March 2005, terribly early in the morning
I saw Esthero live tonight, and she was fucking amazing. I have so much to say about the night, but it will have to wait till I have some time to write. She sounded incredible.
[5] Life
26 February 2005, terribly early in the morning
Dave sent me an ICQ messsage telling me he wouldn’t come downtown to see Femme Generation tonight. I suppose I don’t blame him, the trek from Scarborough to Downtown Toronto is long to say the least. I was torn as to whether I should go out alone or not. I discussed the matter online with Shima for some time. Since the last time I went out by myself worked out well enough I decided why not try going out by myself once more. Plus it was Friday.
I arrived at the Drake at 9:00. This was my second time there, but this time I was in the Underground, not the Lounge. The show had been postponed an hour, probably because the place was still quite empty.
I got a beer and stood at a table by myself. Two other fellows joined me since I happened to grab the last empty table. I didn’t feel like chatting, so I just drank my beer quietly. Then I noticed Neil across the dance floor. Neil is an old friend from Woburn and Waterloo who I haven’t seen in quite some time. I got his attention and we started chatting. He was there with his girlfriend Helen and his friend Phaedra. So, as luck would have it, I didn’t have to spend the evening by myself.
Femme Generation
Close to 10:30 Femme Generation finally stepped up on stage. This was the second time I saw them perform. I thought they were amazing the first time, and was looking forward to seeing them again. There is something about hearing a band live that you just can’t beat. We made our way to the front, in part because most of us were short, in part because its the polite thing to do when the band requests people move up.
The band played several songs from their EP Circle Gets the Square, and a couple songs I didn’t recognize. I’m hoping they put out an LP some time soon. The keyboards and guitar were sounding great; the bass player is a maniac on stage. They put on a really good show.
Femme Generation are playing at the Comfort Zone March 5th as part of the Canadian Music Week. If you are in the city, they are worth checking out.
Magneta Lane
The ladies of Magneta Lane were up next. The trio make rock music—not quite punk, but it’s loud and distorted. One day I will be able to tell you more clearly what a band sounds like, but I still haven’t mastered that skill yet. Thankfully you can just listen to them at their myspace homepage.
They sounded a lot more raw and a bit less professional than Femme Generation. The lead singers microphone wasn’t powered enough for the first half of their set, which made it a pain to hear her sing. Of course, I think part of the bands appeal is probably that they sound a bit raw—they aren’t a progressive rock band.
The lead singer, Lexi, has a delightfully low and flat sounding voice. If I may digress for a moment, the lead singer’s “name” is Lexi Valentine. She reminded me a bit of Shima’s friend Roshanak. She didn’t look like a Lexi—at all. The drummer was called Nadia, and she looked like a Nadia. If the band is two-thirds Middle-Eastern I would give them even more props. You don’t see too many slightly ethnic rock bands out and about in the city. But, as I said, I digress. (Update: I met Lexi. That’s her real name. I couldn’t believe it.)
The band played a short set, in part because their songs are all pretty short. I thought they were quite good. I bought their CD which Neil’s friend Phaedra took around and got signed by all the band members. (Shima would be proud I didn’t go talk to any strange women.)
On a side node, the ladies are on Paperbag Records, which is the same record label as Plastikman, Controler.Controler, and Stars.
After the show we all headed off to the Gladstone, which has a karaoke night on Friday. I will need to write about that one day, but not today.
[2] Life | Music
24 February 2005, lunch time
Walking along Queen St. last night I noticed there were plenty of end-of-season sales going on. Queen St. is littered with little boutique shops selling over-priced designer fashion for rich raver kids, fobs, and artists types. I walked in to a random shop to see how good its sale actually was; there were plenty of clothes marked down by as much as 60%. At first glance that’s not a bad sale. Of course, if you are selling 200 dollar diesel sweaters, that moves them from the realm of being really expensive into the realm of being just expensive. I didn’t feel like spending that much money on a jumper. What caught my eye was a pile of hats on sale for $15. It was cold outside so it seemed like a good idea to get a toque—a designer toque no less. I could impress my friends, family, and strangers on the street.
How much was the original price you ask? $55 dollars—for a toque. Chances are the store still made money when they sold me the hat for $15 dollars. That’s 72% off.
Now that’s what I call a mark-up.
[2] Life
22 February 2005, lunch time
Ju-lian and I had devised an encryption scheme when we were in University called Eve’s Not A Bitch Encryption. The security of the scheme hinged on the fact no one wants to read your stupid email.
[2] Life | Computer Science
20 February 2005, evening time
The plan was to meet up with Rishi, various law school students, and a few of Rishi’s friends for drinks last night. The problem with this plan was that no one actually said where or when to meet. When I left my house at 7:00 to meet some other friends for dinner I hadn’t the faintest idea how I would actually end up finding Rishi. (I wasn’t the only person in this predicament. Steph had a dinner of her own, and was supposed to meet up with us after. Carvill was watching a movie with her friend Jose, and was supposed to show up after the movie with Mezan and Jose. None of them had managed to get a hold of Rishi either.)
Of course, by the time we were all finished with our respective dinner plans, we still hadn’t heard from Rishi. We decided that we’d just meet at Butt’r and figure out what to do later. Butt’r is a nice lounge in Little Italy that is usually quiet and empty. The last time I was at Butt’r was a lot of fun.
Carvill, Mez, Jose and I arrived at Butt’r first, a little bit past 10:00. Steph needed to get ready before coming out, which usually means she’ll be late—very late. The place was quite busy when we arrived. Since new years I’ve been trying to drink more and more Champagne; so Jose, Mez and I split an Italian sparkling white wine between us.
Shortly after we arrived, a girl with a blue top walked in. I wrote down my initial thoughts about her in my Moleskine:
And then out of the blue Rishi called. He had been at work all of Saturday—the poor son of a bitch. We explained where we were, and he said he’d meet up with us shortly.
I called my friend Philippe to see if he wanted to join me and my friends on our misadventure. I haven’t seen Philippe in years, but stumbled on his telephone number because my friend Yang has done a better job at keeping in touch with him. Philippe was ready as ever for a night out drinking, and showed up shortly after with two of his friends, Kevin and Ryan.
Steph arrived shortly after Philipe; not as late as I has initially expected her to be. Rishi arrived with Sheliza, Constantine, and James. The law school students had decided to sleep, so only Sheliza remained to represent the Queen’s law school massive.
So, there was a big posse of us out now. At this point Butt’r was busy and loud. We got bored of yelling at each other and decided to head out to a new bar. This was a foolish time to leave, as last call in Toronto is 2:00AM, and we left Butt’r at 1:30AM.
We managed to go to 2 more bars before calling it a night.
[3] Life | Restaurants and Bars
