Some Slipping and Sliding

The past 2 days have been fun.

On Friday, I went to see a local band called Mariana's Trench play at the Backstage Lounge. Before the show, we hit up a restaurant called Sophie's Cosmic Cafe. The inside of the place was decorated with a bunch of memorabilia dating back many years ago. Lunchboxes hang from the wall, as do Elvis and Beatles record covers, along with a restaurant menu that showed the price of food some 40 years ago. Man, the lobster meal for $.50 would have been awesome.

I first saw Mariana's Trench when they opened for Matt Good about two years ago. They have since evolved their sound and matured in musicality. The band played music that resembled a modern pop/rock sound. Comparitively, they sounded like Switchfoot at times. Their harmonies were great. With all four members utilizing vocals, it added another element to the sound. Since they are all classically trained musicians, you could see them holding one finger against their ear while do some vocals and feeling out the tone. Their last song of the evening was done in a capella. Apart from the inside of the Backstage Lounge being pretty hot throughout the set, I very much enjoyed the show.

Came back from two friends' birthdays on Saturday. Much fun was had. I had my first encounter with a slip 'n slide. I've wanted to do this for a while and it didn't disappoint. What also made it fun was having drunk friends play on the slide with their asses hanging out and doing all sorts of stupid things....such as getting the wooden fence dented and cracked after a buddy slid right into it. I also placed a bucket over my head and proceeded to slide while blinded. Luckily, I still have all my bodyparts. Since we stuck two slip 'n slides together, we were able to go a lot further. Next time, we'll aim for three slides and score some inflatable bowling pins.

A Classic Triple attempt

WWE Great American Bash Review.

So I was constantly falling asleep while watching the show...not a good sign. The booking was horrible. From Heidenreich and Animal winning the tag titles, to Benoit losing to Billy Blanks, to the JBL-Batista DQ finish, the show pretty much sucked. Animal seems like he came back mainly just to promote the Road Warriors DVD, and now he's a tag team champion. It would be nice to see Benoit win the U.S. Title and drop it to Christian at SummerSlam, but both Benoit and Christian lost on the PPV. Eddie lost to Mysterio for the sixth time in a row, making him lose any credibility left to main event. Hassan looks like he's been written off SmackDown after Undertaker killed off his character last night. The SmackDown SummerSlam main event will probably be Batista defending against both JBL and Taker. Overall, this PPV licked and gets a thumbs down.

After the event, I decided to score a Wendy's Classic Triple meal. Complete with three patties, the sandwich looked a bit intimidating but I managed to scarf it down no problem. The best part is that I didn't even puke afterwards....but I later had to take a No.2 Oh well, mission accomplished.

upon the showboat

Went down to the Showboat at Kits beach last night. The weather was gorgeous all day. There's usually swingdancing at the Showboat every Thursday. Instead of dancing, I spent my time walking around taking pictures and doing some writing. I'll have to upload some pics once I'm finished being lazy.

Found out that I'm gonna be heading down to the Gorge in George, Washington on September 1. I've always wanted to see a show there. Now I finally get to, and it's an evening with Pearl Jam. We might camp out there that night after the show, then drive back up to Vancouver the next day for their show in Vancouver. It's gonna be good times.

Just picked more tickets for upcoming shows. So far, I'm up to nine shows over the next 3 months. So much for taking a break after my Spring Rock Extravaganza.

Here's what I have lined up so far:
Fri Aug.19 - Wil
Thurs Sep.1 - Pearl Jam
Fri Sep.2 - Pearl Jam
Thurs Sep.8 - Oasis, Jet
Sat Sep.17 - System of a Down, Mars Volta
Fri Sep.23 - The New Pornographers
Mon Sep.26 - Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age
Mon Oct.3 - Death Cab For Cutie
Tues Oct.4 - Franz Ferdinand

Burn One Down

Went to the Ben Harper show last night at the Commodore. I was very fortunate to be in attendance as tickets were sold out within seconds, literally. Tom Freund was the opener for the night and put on a solid set. I had never heard of his material before, but thought he did a good job. It was also the first time I have seen a solo artist sing and play the string bass. He even played a cover of The Beatles' Revolution on the instrument. His acoustic songs were also well done. I'll have to take a listen to his album.

A friend of mine noticed that the crowd for the show was very mainstream compared to other Ben Harper shows. Being that most tickets available were purchased through scalpers, I can see why many hippies weren't in attendance.

On this evening, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals put on one hell of a show. Having a chance to watch them perform in such an intimate venue like the Commodore was truly once in a lifetime. They played for 2hrs 20mins with 3 encores. The vocals were amazing. Ben barely talked between songs, but his emotion was showed in his lyrics and delivery. The music sounded extremely tight for a six piece band that included a drummer, percussionist and keyboardist. I really liked how Ben included the fan's participation in a number of songs. The second encore that included 3 acoustic songs were a definite highlight. Tom Freund came out during this time to play Pleasure and Pain with Ben.

Experiencing this show has made me appreciate Ben Harper even more as an artist whose music transcends boundaries of being categorized as one genre. In fact, I would consider this show as one of my top three shows so far this year.

Setlist for the show:

set [1]:
• Don't Take That Attitude To Your Grave
• Glory & Consequence
• Brown Eyed Blues
• Breakin' Down
• Homeless Child
• One Road To Freedom
• Diamonds On The Inside
• People Lead
• Gather Round The Stone
• How Many Miles Must We March?
• Please Bleed
• The Will To Live
• Burn One Down
enc [1]:
• Take My Hand
• Where Could I Go
• There Will Be A Light
• Please Me Like You Want To
• Steal My Kisses/Pressure Drop
enc [2]:
• Another Lonely Day
• Walk Away
• Pleasure And Pain
enc [3]:
• Amen Omen
• With My Own Two Hands/War

An updated list of my top 10 shows seen so far in 2005:
1) U2
2) Ben Harper
3) The Tea Party
4) Collective Soul
5) Keane
6) Rilo Kiley
7) The Dears
8) Velvet Revolver
9) Wil
10) David Usher

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

On Friday, I went to a friend's fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at the Plaza. I hardly ever go to clubs unless there's a concert happening. Overall, I had a fun night of dancing minus any alcohol except the free shot that was offered with the admission ticket.

Last night was an enjoyable evening of swingdancing. It's funny how certain people that you think have disappeared completely from your life can one day come back and become a big part of it.

WWE Roster Cuts

The annual WWE spring cleaning has started with already 19 roster cuts so far. Here is the list of talent that have been released this past week:

Jim Cornette
Joy Giovanni
Kenzo Suzuki
Hiroko
Matt Morgan
Charlie Haas
Jackie Gayda
Marty Jannetty
Dawn Marie
Mark Jindrak
Maven
Shannon Moore
James Yun (Akio)
David Heath (Gangrel)
Billy Kidman
Spike Dudley
Bubba Ray Dudley
D-von Dudley
Kevin Fertig (Mordecai)

Thoughts:
One of the largest roster cuts in history. I don't wish for anyone to lose their job and not be able to support their family. Many talented wrestlers were cut, most notably Charlie Haas. 4 cruiserweights are gone. I'm sure the Dudleyz will do well if they go to TNA. Matt Morgan was in the midst of a push without being pinned when he got cut. Tough Enough Winners Maven and Jackie are gone. Old divas have been cut to make room for new ones. Kenzo, Hiroko, and Jindrak were just traded in the recent draft lottery roster trades. Marty Jannetty wa arrested recently for DUI and didn't have a chance to make it on the roster. Hopefully, there won't be too many more cuts.

fall in

Went to see a friend's band play last night at The Backstage Lounge on Granville Island. The band is called Second and they put on a solid set. Playing with them were other two other local bands, Hejira and The Februarys. It was my first time seeing a show at The Backstage Lounge. It's a pretty small place with a gorgeous outside view that overlooks the surrounding body of water.

The Raw and Smackdown Draft has concluded with the following selections:

To Raw
-Cena
-Angle
-Carlito
-Big Show
-RVD

To Smackdown
-Benoit
-Orton
-Hassan
-Christian
-Batista

Looks like Raw got the better end of the deal. Losing Cena and Angle, the top two guys for the brand, were huge for Smackdown. As I expected, Batista ended up making the switch. I'm happy for Christian's move as he would have been lost in the shuffle on Raw. Hopefully, he'll have a chance to main event someday. Too bad Tomko couldn't go over with him as his bodyguard. I'm surprised that RVD got put back on the same show as Triple H. Looks like once Batista is done with his JBL feud, he can continue his feud with Orton once he comes back.