Pinned Together, Falling Apart

Super Mario

Found out today that I won a meet and greet pass with The Goo Goo Dolls for their upcoming show here. I'm pretty excited!

I finished my Hallowe'en costume for this year. Last year, I went as Max from Where The Wild Things Are and we went trick-or-treating. This time around, I'm going as Super Mario.



I still remember the time when I finished the original Super Mario Bros game on NES in one life. That was a good day.

Jackie, Dressed In Cobras

Did a show with the guys from Lions In The Street on Friday. They put on a solid and rocking set. Looking forward to working with them again in the future.




***

Went to see The New Pornographers play at the Plaza Club last night.

We arrived just before Immaculate Machine took the stage. The Victoria three piece did a nice job with their catchy riffs and harmonies. The last time I saw them perform, Brooke was singing and playing guitar while holding himself up on crutches. The trio sang part of their songs in french as they recently put out a french EP, consisting of selected songs from their previous releases.

The New Pornographers came on and started off their set with Sing Me Spanish Techno. A.C. Newman and crew sounded very tight as a unit. Drummer Kurt Dahle was sporting a funny Hitler-esque moustache. He was quite entertaining to watch, throwing his drumsticks in the air in-between beats and having a huge smile on his face the entire time. It was hilarious when he was drumming and singing along to Execution Day while doing so with a cigarette in his mouth.

Kathryn Calder has a strong voice and presence, and did a great job filling in for Neko Case's vocals. I thought the harmonies by Kathryn and Kurt sounded awesome.

They came out for their encore and didn't know what to play so they took some audience requests. A.C. also discussed the unusual early curfew time due to the dance club night after the show and mentioned they were gonna play right until curfew, even if they didn't know enough songs to play.

Some other highlights for me during the 1hr 15min set included The Bleeding Heart Show, The Jessica Numbers, Twin Cinema and Miss Teen Wordpower.

After the show, we picked up a special NP limited edition live album they were selling. A.C. Newman said that only 1000 copies of the album were made and joked that if we wanted, we can stock up on this collectors item and sell them on Ebay.

Look Beneath The Floorboards For The Secrets I Have Hid

Went to see Sufjan Stevens play Saturday night at St. Andrews Wesley Church. When we got to the venue, there was a huge lineup that apparently wrapped around the church. It was also pretty cold that night. We found a way to avoid the lineup and got inside quickly, settling into our seats (amongst the pews) for the evening.

It was my first time seeing a music show like this inside a church. The lighting was pretty budget and we had reservations on whether the sound system would hold up for the performance..... in the end, the venue acoustics were great and everything worked out fantastic.

My Brightest Diamond opened the show. Shara Worden was accompanied by a few of Sufjan's string players onstage. Shara also plays in Sufjan's orchestra, doing backing vocals, guitar, xylophone and other instruments for his set...so she's basically pulling double duty on this tour.

The thing that stood out most during Shara's set was by far her soaring vocals. Her range is so vast and definitely strong enough to do opera. My Brightest Diamond played a 45min set that drew from her release, Bring Me The Workhorse. She also threw in a Nina Simone cover.

Sufjan Stevens and his 14 piece orchestra came onstage and opened with an extended intro that later transitioned into Sister. Stevens came out wearing these large wings on his back that made him resemble one of his new songs that he would play, the Majesty Snowbird. His orchestra came out decked in what looked like butterfly wings. Everyone also stepped onstage wearing masks.



One of our friends is currently playing trombone in Sufjan's orchestra, touring with him across the States and soon throughout Europe. We discussed his travels and he mentioned to us that for every stop on the tour, 5 of the 14 member orchestra are locals hired to play that one show. This helps to cut down some travel expenses for the crew, especially when you're traveling for a few months over thousands of miles.

Sufjan's set included many songs off the Seven Swans album, along with some selections from Illinois, one from Michigan, one off a soon to be released Christmas album, and one new song. What really made the night was that the music was epic, and the song endings were completely haunting at times. Seeing the emotion on everyone's face as they played, and how each musician was affected by the music being presented just magnified everything.



The Detroit native also took the time to share with the audience a few stories. He mentioned the time when his parents would cut out National Geographic pictures and hang them on the wall during the middle of the night. He could literally hear the hammering of the nails into the wall as he tried to sleep. Sufjan also told us the summer camp story of him and a boy named Franco and how they came upon a predatory wasp.

Everyone gave Sufjan and his orchestra a nice standing ovation as he left the stage after Chicago to close off the main set. People then started to bang loudly with their hands crashing on the pews as we waited for an encore. The atmosphere in the place was electric and the appreciation for the music was off the charts...all this happening while considering we were inside a church. Sufjan came back onstage with a few members of his orchestra (everyone with their wings removed), to close off the night with The Dress Looks Nice On You.

Highlights for me during the 1hr 45min set included Transfiguration, The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades..., John Wayne Gacy Jr., Jacksonville, and Majesty Snowbird.

Overall, an excellent show and an absolutely wonderful evening.



Notes:
-Worst Agatha Christie Novel Ever! on the setlist = That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!
-Dress Looks Nicey Nicey Nick Lachey on the setlist = The Dress Looks Nice On You
-Casimir Pulaski and others listed below it were not played as we had already reached the 11pm sound curfew for the venue.

Wedding Crasher

Two longtime friends of mine got married today.





I've known the groom for over 10yrs and the bride since we were in kindergarten. It's really nice to see two people that are totally meant for each other get married. Congratulations to the newlyweds!

Midnight Show

The Killers played the Orpheum Wednesday night.

A band from San Franciso named Immigrant opened. They were pretty forgetful...though I must mention that the bass player kinda resembles James Iha.

The Killers came onstage to a Sam's Town western theme set and opened with the title track off their new release. Playing on tour with them is an extra keyboard/synth player so that Brandon Flowers can spend more time canvasing the stage and working the crowd.

Brandon did a good job with his stage presence, while guitarist Dave Keuning had his rockout moments as well. Dave has quite a creepy look to him, with his intense eyes and crazy big hair.



Some of the new material went over well with When You Were Young, Read My Mind, and For Reasons Unknown being highlights.

Flowers sounded kinda flat at times as he moved around the stage singing, though the set was still quite enjoyable overall. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine and Glamorous Indie Rock And Roll were other highlights through the 1hr 15min performance. The bass lines in those two songs are infectious.

Setlist:

Sam's Town
Enterlude
When You Were Young
Somebody Told Me
Smile Like You Mean It
Bones
Bling
Read My Mind
Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine
Uncle Jonny
Glamorous Indie Rock And Roll
Mr. Brightside

My List
For Reasons Unknown
All These Things That I've Done
Exitlude

Cash Cow

We Are Scientists and Art Brut played a double-headlining show at the Commodore on Friday.

The avant-garde rockers Art Brut came on and played a high energy set. Their music didn't do much for me but they sure were entertaining. During the set, singer Eddie Argos went into the crowd and walked all the way to the bar on the other side of the floor. When he came back onstage, Eddie mentioned that some people near the bar probably weren't paying attention to the show because they thought he was just a crazy person going up to them. For the end of their set, they played up the crowd well with a rocking finish.




The We Are Scientists music and comedy show started immediately as soon as the guys hit the stage. Chris picked up his bass and it didn't work...so Keith did what he does best...he started to heckle his bandmate to get things going already. He told Chris to hurry up and that "Dude...you're wearing goggles and a white v-neck shirt...you're ready for some scenester action". The insults and witty banter continued back and forth throughout the whole set between the two as they tried to outdo one another.



The New York trio started the set with Lousy Reputation and played most of their debut album along with a few new tunes. I noticed that they slowed down the pacing of some of their songs a bit.



During the set, Chris went into the crowd along with his cordless bass to play. Keith meanwhile turned his attention to insulting someone in the crowd from Toronto. He then moved onto insulting the Art Brut guys who were standing side stage.




The members of The Spinto Band showed up for some pranks.



For the last song, The Great Escape, the members of Art Brut decided to seek their revenge and came onstage to wrestle down the We Are Scientists guys.



Keith attempted to give Eddie from Art Brut a Boston Crab / Lion Tamer / Walls Of Jericho.



The craziness continues...




As usual, there was a guy in the crowd that was completely hammered and so adamant about making it to the front of the stage. Once he finally got there near the end of the show, he didn't know what to do next....so he jumped onstage. Security was about to take him away so the guy decided to stage dive back into the front row. Seeing the drunk idiot come flying towards me, I did the best thing possible....I stepped aside....and he proceeded to hit the cold Commodore floor... OUCH!...that's gotta sting. Everyone had a good laugh...except maybe him.

Some other highlights from the 1hr set included Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt, It's A Hit, Inaction, and This Scene Is Dead.

The Geese Of Beverly Road

Went to see The National play at Richard's last night.



The Fall Collection opened the show. The pop/rock/electro quartet features former MGB drummer Ian Browne in it. They played a brief set with some catchy numbers. I was mostly watching Ian's drumming as I haven't seen him play since he was counting beats for Alarm Bell ---> now converted back to Limblifter.

Took it easy on this night and decided to gain a different perspective watching the show in the balcony of the venue. For The National, I found a really sweet spot that had a clear and solid view of the stage. It was close enough so I didn't feel distanced from the energy of the band, and it also allowed me to lean against something and relax during the performance.

The six piece from Brooklyn opened their set with Secret Meeting, followed by Lit Up. Singer Matt Berninger sings with such emotion, and intensity. He also likes to sing while hunched over a bit and standing on his toes....it's quite a site to see.



Wow...the sound of the violin in their songs made it for me. The Geese Of Beverly Road rocked my socks! All The Wine and Mr. November were highlights too. The last song of the main set was awesome and featured the two guitarists Scott and Bryce coming to the edge of the stage and rocking out hard. Scott then grabbed some drum sticks and joined the drummer...before coming back to the front and switching up guitars with Bryce to finish off the song.

Set time was 1hr 25mins. This turned out to be surprisingly one of my favourite shows so far this year.

This is birth and this is death, all in the same breath

Jason Collett played the Van East Cultural Centre Tuesday night.

Ridley Bent opened. The solo country / folk rock artist entertained us with his clever and witty lyrics. He did a good job setting the tone for the evening at the very intimate VECC venue.

Jason Collett came onstage backed by the four piece Paso Mino and opened with the brilliant song, Tinsel And Sawdust. He opened with that same song earlier this year when we saw him at Richard's. Paso Mino actually kicked off that show back in March before coming back onstage that night and doing a double shift as they are also Collett's backing band.

Collett and Paso Mino have such a strong chemistry together onstage. The set featured the majority of the songs off Idols Of Exile, plus some new tunes.....one of which came to fruition only a week ago during soundcheck.

Jason shared with us some thoughts and stories in-between songs, including one about his youth that involved twinkies, beer, and a grassy knoll. His set lasted only 1hr 15mins, but definitely felt a lot longer. Some other highlights included Fire, We All Lose One Another, Waiting For The World, and I'll Bring The Sun.

Setlist:

Tinsel And Sawdust
Fire
We All Lose One Another
Hangover Days
Pink Night
Pavement Puddle Stars
Parry Sound
Brownie Hawkeye
These Are The Days
Not Over You (new song)
Roll On (new song)
Blue Sky
Feral Republic
Waiting For The World (new song)
untitled new song
-------
untitled new song
untitled new song
I'll Bring The Sun