about a girl

Neon Bible follower

2007-05-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Arcade Fire at Massey Hall last night put on such an incredible show, I can't even describe it. Mind-blowing? Spine-tingling? Life-changing? Just fucking amazing.

It was an equal mix of songs off Neon Bible and Funeral, and every single song was fused with fire-starting energy and feverish conviction. The ultimate moment occurred at the end of their main set when they transitioned from Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) into Rebellion (Lies). Every single person in the room was on their feet, clapping their hands high in the air, moving along with the music as Win Butler got off the stage and walked down the aisle into the crowd. It was one of those Moments that makes you remember why you love music. I got goosebumps.

And at that very moment, when all eyes were on Win standing on the seat, all hands were clapping in sync, all voices were shout-singing, "Every time you close your eyes... Lies! Lies!", I knew that if Arcade Fire decided to start a new religion, every single crowd member would follow without question. It was completely frenzied, dizzying, heart-stopping.

Let It Snow!

2007-03-01T16:50:00.000-05:00

It looks like I wasn't able to keep my one new year's resolution. But I would argue that February has only 28 days, so really, March 1st can still be considered part of February, especially if we were in a leap year. Plus it's snowing outside as if it were still February or even January. I'm going to let this slide if you will. You will? Thanks =)

I have nothing exciting to write about. OH. Except: WHAT THE HELL DID I GET MYSELF INTO???????? This is another example of my passive aggressive behaviour. It's not like I didn't think long and hard about getting involved again. I did. But I guess I wasn't prepared for the issues that arose, which I should have anticipated considering I am getting involved after the somewhat hasty and ungracious departure of another person. But I needed a major project and this unexpectedly came calling, so I am grateful. But the mess! The stress! I will hopefully have things under control by the end of the month.

You know what really bothers me? Extremely long recordings in voicemail messaging systems. You know, where the person you're calling leaves their own personal greeting asking the caller to leave a message, then the automated message with the woman speaking asks the caller to leave a message, then finally the beep. People, there is a way to turn that damn woman's voice off! I don't want to listen to the woman telling me to leave a message after the tone after you just told me to do so. As if waiting 5 or 6 rings for you to not pick up isn't long enough, I then reach the voicemail, and have to wait another 30 seconds before I can actually leave a message! To turn it off on Rogers Wireless, enter your voicemail, then: Press 4 (Personal Options) --> Press 2 (Administrative Options) --> Press 3 (Record Prompt) --> Press 2 (turn it off!). Or go here and click on the link to the voicemail feature map. I am not sure how to do it for Bell and Telus - their websites didn't have the voicemail feature map and I use Rogers so I only know how to use its features.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T11:37:00.000-05:00

2007 is off to a great start: The O.C. has been cancelled! The demise of that show is a lesson Hollywood must learn and that most of us in the real world have learned, ironically, in our adolescent years watching teen flicks: if you try too hard to be cool, you will fail.

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I know it's been a record eight-months since I last blogged. Sorry! Life gets in the way. So here is my ONE new year's resolution:

1) Blog more often, at least once a month.

And now that I've posted this, I must congraulate myself for achieving my resolution for now, so soon in the new year! Wow, at this rate, I may be able to go way beyond my expectations. See you next month. Or maybe sooner...??

ahhh bibliotheque!

2006-04-16T19:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Wendy for finding the link to that commercial I talked about in the previous post. Stupid me, the reason I couldn't find it was because I thought it was a Dominion commercial when in fact it was an A & P commercial. Anyways, here it is. LOL.

http://v2.vidman.ca/video/aaah_bibliotheque.html

ou est la salle de bain?

2006-04-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

The funniest commercial on TV now is a Dominion Supermarket ad. Do you guys know the one? There is a guy walking around the bakery speaking very bad French with English subtitles... only the French he's speaking is not about how fresh their bread is (which is what the English subtitles suggest). The guy is just saying random French words & phrases, the only ones he remembers from elementary school... in a horrible accent no less! It's HILARIOUS! I've been trying to find the commercial online but I can't!! Next time you watch tv, pay attention for this commercial. I laugh out loud every time I see it.

Shoe-aholic

2006-03-19T22:39:00.000-05:00

Don't you hate it when you can't have something you want.

These are the hottest shoes ever. And they are not available in my size :'( Honestly, this is very upsetting. I want them so bad.

"The All-Rights"

2006-02-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

After a last-minute email from the band itself, Pilate confirmed they were playing the Horseshoe Tavern on Tuesday night as part of Nu Music Night. Woohoo! But Janice couldn't go. And Wendy already had plans. What other friends do I have? None. Well, I considered calling Naomi, but then I remembered when she got back from Japan & listened to them, she was "not very impressed." !!! Anyway, what to do. Go by myself, of course. Monday night, I was determined to go. Tuesday while working, that feeling did not remain so. Then Wendy decided to start dinner without me right after she called to invite me! Anyway, when work was done I trekked over to the Eaton Centre food court to grab something to eat and decide whether I would be conscious enough to go. I was actually zoned out when I got a call from Wendy saying she'd join me!

It has been SO long since I've seen Pilate live. And it's been even longer since I first heard Caught By the Window back in 2003!!! Talk about a long wait. After seeing them last night, I cannot wait for Sell Control for Life's Speed to release. Their first performance of their new songs was tight and showed great promise. And yet they still rocked on their old material. There was a singalong during "Into Your Hideout," even with the 3 girls next to me who were not even there for Pilate (they were there for the next band, Lye). Until last night I had momentarily forgotten how great they are live. Todd Clark's voice was just as angelic as I remembered it, and I'm glad that he continued to break into his beautiful falsettos in the new songs too. He was pretty funny too... He didn't talk too much but at one point he was wiping the sweat off his forehead and trying to push his now-longer hair from his face and he remarked, "Having hair has its issues!" How cute was that. Ruby Bumrah seems so modest & quiet - but when he sings backup, his voice complements Todd's very nicely. Bill Keeley is always smiling. And he played the drums barefoot! If that doesn't prove rock stardom, what does? Chris Greenough played some kickass guitar. He makes playing the guitar look so easy! And I have to admit, I am completely partial to Chris. So my eyes were on him a lot ;) And that was easy to do too since Wendy and I were front left again!

After the set, Wendy grabbed Chris' setlist. We waited for the band while they got their equipment off the stage so the next band could set up. Todd came out and we got a photo & autograph from him. But Chris didn't emerge :( Todd said he might come out later but we couldn't wait much longer so we left. On our way to the car, the girls who were waiting with us after the set to see Todd walked to the back of the Horseshoe (near where we parked our car) and stalked the band while they finished loading their van! I had a serious debate whether I should follow them, especially since I hadn't got a Chris moment yet! But I was so tired and both me & Wendy had to work today so we didn't follow those girls. I regretted it when I got home last night :( But then I thought about it today, and I honestly feel like I would have had a Wendy-meeting-Todd-Clark-at-York moment. I don't know what I would say to Chris! It's different from all the other rockstar boyfriends. I think it's because I was extremely obsessed with Chris Greenough back in 2003/2004. He was my First Serious Rockstar Boyfriend as an adult. HAHAHAHA. Am I embarrassing myself. I don't care. Chris Greenough is the best. And he's the entire reason Concert Gang started the "to the left!" rule.

Here's the official setlist - Pilate (or "The All-Rights") @ Horseshoe Tavern, Feb 21, 2006:

1. Knife - from where album title, Sell Control for Life's Speed, comes
2. Ambulance
3. Over-Ground - "A great song," said Todd. I agree.
4. Into Your Hideout
5. Turn the Lights On
6. Barely Listening - first single off Sell Control for Life's Speed. It's streaming on their myspace site.
7. Don't Stare
8. A Kind of Hope
9. Alright - this song fought a tough battle between "Mercy," "Don't Waste Your Breath," and "Collide" and won my heart over as my favourite song from Caught By The Window

Now somewhere in there, I forgot when, they threw in "Out On My Feet." I think. Hmm.. Now I'm doubting myself! But I definitely know Todd sang some of "Endgame" at the end of "into Your Hideout." Pilate is BACK!!!!

See some pictures here from Wendy's Flickr account.

Wake Up, Canada

2006-02-16T11:41:00.000-05:00

So the Juno nominations are out. And I cannot express how disappointed I am with the Canada Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and this country's voters. If you haven't already heard, Nickelback leads the pack with SIX nominations! That's right. Not only are they nominated, they are actually nominated for the most number of Junos this year. The academy decided to stick with their status quo nominees of bland artists who sell a large number of boring albums. It's disappointing to see that they didn't provide a larger recognition to the Canadian indie scene that has practically taken over the music world the past year. Sure, Arcade Fire got 3 nominations, but Broken Social Scene, Metric, & Feist only managed one or two nominations each, and only Feist got one in one of the major categories, Single of the Year for "Inside and Out". But how Nickelback's "Photograph" also got nominated in that same category is mindboggling. And how can two mediocre Canadian idols each get into the Album of the Year category?! And Theory of a Deadman still exists?! *RAGE* What irks me is that there are people out there who actually buy this music. That's the only reason these crappy bands are still producing crappy albums and there. Who ARE you people!!

I guess I can't be too surprised; it's always like this with these types of awards. Award the best-sellers, ignore the best. Like I said, it's disappointing to see that the academy can't or is unwilling to understand the difference between crap and talent.

Actually, it's more like they are quite arbitrary in their crappiness versus talent decision - afterall, Massari and Shawn Desman were thankfully nominated for only one award each.

Full list of nominees can be found here.

hype be damned

2006-02-09T22:53:00.000-05:00

In constant rotation: The View From the Afternoon. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured. A Certain Romance.

Arctic Monkeys will be released in North America on February 14th.

I can't wait until March 21st to see them at the Phoenix.

That is all.

IT IS DONE!

2006-02-02T18:14:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's a miracle!!! I've finished cleaning & organizing my room! Here are some pics. The "before" pics aren't a true reflection of the mess that was my room because I decided to take the photos after I had already started cleaning up my room...

Before...

This is that mess in the left corner. I had already emptied some of that shelf and cleaned up a few piles of books.

In progress...

I had to put a lot of stuff in the hallway so that I could move some furniture around.

Almost one month later...

The frames of greg & tim are up :)

So it is done. I am quite satisfied. I just have a few minor organizational matters to finish...like the closet issue. I also had to remove several band posters because it didn't look right next to the fancier framed pics of greg/tim. But overall, I'd say I am happy with the new arrangement. Sorry, all the "after" pics haven't turned out too well... When I turned on the light, there was a reflection in greg's photo, so this is the best I can do. You can come visit if you want a true sense of how my room turned out! Thanks to Naomi, Janice, Liz, and Man Yi (and Wendy? I don't know her part in that bday "surprise") for framing those pics, for the pillows, and for the candles :)

cleaning my room!

2006-01-04T16:24:00.000-05:00

But not doing a very good job. I think it's a little more organized, but it's still a big mess, if that makes any sense. And I haven't even tackled the closet yet. I have serious issues because I have clothes all over my room, I can't seem to get rid of any, and I keep buying more!! Help!

I am taking a break from it right now. I know what a huge task it is, which is probably why I've been putting it off for so long. In fact, I got distracted while cleaning it just now... I just spent the past hour looking through old Christmas/birthday/thank you cards I've collected over the years. And now I'm in a nostalgic mood. It's CRAZY! Especially when you realize for how long you've known people. For example, I found a card written by Naomi way back when we had first period lunch together! I remember we had lunch together, with Tamanna, probably in grade 10, but I forgot it was first period. Anyway, she spelled my name with a "C"... grrr... it's ok, I forgive you :P

I also found a card from Man Yi. Even though we were in high school, some things about a person never change - i.e. in the card Man Yi wrote about owing me money and about food. HAHAHAHA. I don't think she owes me any money at this point (in fact, I think I owe you a little...) but she definitely is always hungry when I'm with her!

One birthday card made me laugh out loud - Vinay & Corinna both drew phospholipid bilayers with my birthdate either acting as the actual phospholipid or a protein trying to pass through the membrane! I tried to take a pic of this just now but it's not turning out too well. OMG pharmacy folk are geeks!

Looking back at these cards & letters reminds me of how much I've forgotten. I guess most of the things aren't important. The things I do remember are the important ones - the most important being that my friends were there through good & bad times. I appreciate them and I probably don't tell them enough. Maybe that will be my 2006 new year's resolution - thank you.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-02T22:54:00.000-05:00

2006 has been off to a non-eventful start. For me anyway. It doesn't feel like a new year has begun. Maybe it's because I haven't made any new year's resolutions this year. I don't feel like it. Why do it when I know I'm not going to accomplish it anyway. I must be in a mood, to have this defeatist attitude...

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In other exciting news,
CONGRATULATIONS to Rob and Christina on their engagement! For those who know them, I think we can all say, it's about time :P They are going to be so happy with their life together.

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I just logged onto Friendster. Wow, has the site changed. I haven't been on in many many many months and the only reason I logged on was because someone mentioned it recently. It is kind of scary how you can stalk people or people can stalk you, and not so anonymously anymore with this newer version. It will probably be another half year before I log on again so I just have one request for MAN YI: Please take off that picture!

What I'm Trying To Say

2005-12-19T19:10:00.000-05:00

The Stars concert was the BEST concert of 2005. Hands down. I had high expectations and Stars blew my mind away. I can't even express how I felt. On Saturday night, I felt I was witnessing, experiencing a transcendent performance of musical genius. Amy Millan's unique voice is so pure, almost ethereal but so powerful at the same time. Torq Campbell's voice is also amazing - I fell in love with his voice the very first time I heard it. He has amazing stage presence and he can sing love songs without sounding gay and without any irony.

Lee's Palace was transformed into a winter wonderland. There were small Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling and around the speakers. White Christmas lights lined the stage, which also had a backdrop of a cabin in the middle of a snowy forest. There were two projections on opposite walls of another wintery scene. To top it off, the show was being taped for a music DVD and a music video (for "The First Five Times"), so there were cameras set up everywhere. The Stars' Christmas present to the town in which they grew up. I think the Toronto shows are the largest - six sold-out shows! I don't know how large are their other venues on the tour, but I am so thankful to them that they decided to keep it small for their Toronto fans and played at Lee's Palace.

The highlight of the night was when they played "One More Night" followed by "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead." That was when I felt like I was going to cry. Obviously I love it when a band plays the song you want them to play during the concert, but when they play my two favourite songs, it's such an emotional high, it's numbing.

Other memorable moments:
- When the opening band, Birling, sang Log Driver's Waltz. I remember watching the short film from the National Film Board when I was a kid. I got really nostalgic because I had completely forgotten about the song & the film.
- Torq timing the lighting of the sparkler to the line "we will always be a light" during "Ageless Beauty."
- The crowd love of the band. This audience knew their shit.
- The sing-alongs, especially during "What I'm Trying To Say."
- Evan putting on his pimpin' white fur coat during the last song of the evening...
- ...which was a cover of The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York."
- When Torq said, "This song is decided to James." And then Jimmy Shaw of Metric came on stage to pass Evan an acoustic guitar for the final song.

What an incredible end to a very eventful concert year. I hope this DVD comes out soon. I hope Stars comes back soon.

Usually after a concert, I will listen to the songs of the band maybe once or twice more before I move on to another CD. Afterall, the concert experience is usually the climax of my experience of an album of a particular band. But this time, after the Stars concert, my love for the band has just intensified 10 000 times. I have been listening to them non-stop since the concert. Death repeat. Love it.

all i want is one more chance to be young & wild & free

2005-12-15T15:50:00.000-05:00

I can't wait for the Stars concert on Saturday. Seriously. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Set Yourself On Fire. I don't know whether I will cry on Saturday or be speechless with awe. Don't worry concert gang, I will not embarrass. (I seem to be putting a lot of expectation on my last concert of 2005. But I know it will be amazing.)

I was just talking with Man Yi, who is currently doing something I must do. CLEAN MY ROOM. That's right folks. How many months have passed since I posted this. And at that point, I had already talked about cleaning my room for several months. Hmm. I will get this done. Hopefully before the new year. If not, it can be another new year's resolution I will not accomplish :P

i can't control myself

2005-12-01T21:19:00.000-05:00

$756.41.

$756.41 is how much I've spent since last Monday. On clothes, DVDs, and CDs. On myself. Hmm.

That doesn't even include the $700 I spent on winter tires. Or the $506 for the OPA membership renewal. Hmm.

I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet. Hmm.

Away & back

2005-11-24T18:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been away... to Italy!! Wendy has finally finished combining our photos. Click on her Flickr account here to view them. What can I say, Italy is awesome. I think I enjoyed the country a lot more this year than when I went on the European tour last year. I paid a lot more attention to the history & cultural aspects. And despite having two major fights, I had fun with my sister. Italy = fun times.

Also had my b-b-b-birthday. No celebration required. Please. I would, however, like to thank all of you who attempted to surprise me. It was very thoughtful and I was very touched :) Too bad I was violently ill. But you know what, I still have not cleaned my room. In fact, it is even messier because of the Italy souvenirs I've brought back and haven't given to most of you yet. I will clean it this weekend... I hope!

mmmmmm

2005-10-25T23:31:00.000-04:00

I still need to catch up on posts about The Frames, the Amazing Race Toronto, and about how last week was a really great week. But I don't have time so....

I am posting about this. Tim Horton's Hot Smoothies. MMMMMM. Wendy & I saw a commercial of it tonight so we decided to go out and get some. We wanted it so bad - I even had to change out of my PJs! Wendy had the hazelnut, I had the orange. Both were good. I hate that I am so limited in my hot drinks because I don't drink coffee...but now there's more choice at good ol' Timmies :)

catching up

2005-10-20T11:06:00.000-04:00

Highlights of the pass couple of weeks:

Matthew Barber on Oct 4 at Horseshoe Tavern - This venue is so small, it is awesome. And the concert was free! The bad thing was that this place is so dirty...ugh. Anyway, Matthew Barber rocked. As my concert gang says, "He is so dreamy!" (And no, we have not actually said it in unison...). We didn't stick around to see if we could get a photo with him because we were all tired and we all had to wake up early. But, this is definitely a rockstar boyfriend I NEED to see again.

Aqualung on Oct 11 at Mod Club - Seeing Aqualung three times in one year seems pretty dramatic. But Matt Hales is so charming! He makes the concert very enjoyable. Janice couldn't make it so it was just me & Wendy again. We decided to sit and lounge this time, at the very front though. The good thing was we got to sit - I had worked that day and I was very tired. The bad thing was there were several towers standing in the pit and despite our elevated area, sometimes our view was obstructed. Also, I spilled my Smirnoff on me and I was pretty much uncomfortable the entire evening :( BUT it doesn't matter because at the end of the show, I picked up a mug at the merch table... and we scored autographs and a pic with Matt! (Wendy, please send to me!) Despite his charm on stage, he seemed a little more distant in person, not as personable as Tim Fletcher was to us, even though we told Matt we'd seen all three of his Toronto shows. Ah well, at least we got an autograph and a kickass pic (Wendy, we have to post to make J jealous :P)

Franz Ferdinand on Oct 18 at Ricoh Coliseum - or as Wendy likes to call it, the "Roche" coliseum. LOL. I didn't finish work until 6:30, plus I had to eat and drive there....so I missed the first opening act, Cut Copy. When I arrived, I realized what crapass seats we had. Stupid ticketmaster & their "best available" arrangements. I arrived on time for TV on the Radio. They were pretty, and their ending was pretty rocking but to be honest I couldn't pay attention the entire time because I was so tired. You would think I'd learned my lesson back in September when I had 4 concerts in one week to never do it again. But I can't give up a concert if I know I can fit it in my schedule! Who needs sleep! Anyway, Franz Ferdinand came on at 9pm (that's the only good thing about larger shows - they start on time). And they ROCKED. Like Janice, I also cannot believe I missed their previous Toronto shows, but once we found out they were coming to Toronto, we HAD to go. Every single song they put out was so of energy - I wished we had gotten general admission tickets so that we were up front (well, sorta, I was supertired...). Anyway, I can't believe this but almost our entire section was not moving. How is that possible, you ask? I DON'T know. Seriously, how can you not dance to FF? When I'm listening to them on my ipod on the subway, it takes a lot of conscious effort to not move and appear freak-like. Anyway, other than that (and the fact that only 1/2 the coliseum was filled), there did seem to be a lot of band love. During the encore, Janice & I really wanted them to play "Eleanor put your boots back on" but they didn't :( But they played all the goodies, including "Outsiders" and "The Fallen," two songs I can't stop playing off the new album. All I can say is, next time, I think I will have to be on the floor for FF.

tagged!?!?

2005-10-06T14:10:00.000-04:00

...ok, I will participate in this game. Only because I am random & weird...

Rules of the game: Post 5 Weird and Random facts about yourself, then at the end list the names of 5 people who are next in line to do this. Also leave a post on their xanga (but do blogspot because it's better) to let these people know.

So here goes (some pics will be posted later after I find my camera):

1. I am a pack-rat. I still have my grade 4 report card. In fact, I still have EVERYTHING from elementary school through university - textbooks (even that useless communication one from 1st year pharmacy), class notes, those Spiral exercise books from elementary school in which we did our spelling or math homework, that letter from 1988 saying it will be pizza day on Friday, etc etc. These will all come in handy one day, I tell ya.

2. Some of you already know this - I have a big fear of stepping on a pigeon. You wouldn't think this considering my constant expressions of hatred of the feathered rodent & their invasion of people space. But I do have that fear.

3. I honestly do not understand people who don't listen to music. I know a few people who are aware of the more popular songs, and that's about it to their musical knowledge. They don't listen to the radio often, they rarely buy CDs, and forget about downloading songs. And it's not even like they listen to older tunes that predate their generation. They just don't listen to music... and I just don't get it. In Banana Boys, one character in the book is a DJ and at one point he states that he would rather go blind than deaf. I think feel the same way.

4. I sneeze in triplicate. When I sneeze only once or twice (which rarely happens), I feel uneasy, as if my lack of sneeze portends an unfortunate event in my life. Thankfully that hasn't happened so far, but still... *shudder*

5. I enjoy typing. Weird. I could be a good executive assistant if I wanted to. If anyone wants me to type up an essay or report, call me!

Ok, done and done.

Are we supposed to name the source of our tagger? I will anyways because it's more fun that way. That way you can all read about Naomi's freakiness... I mean uniqueness :P

I tag Wendy, Man Yi, Rob, Bobby, and Leo! I need more friends who blog....

list

2005-09-27T23:25:00.000-04:00

to do: CLEAN ROOM

Running down corridors/Through automatic doors

2005-09-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

Concert gang and I went to see Athlete at the Opera House last night. Janice had class until 9pm so she was going to meet up with us after she was done. Wendy & I arrived around 6:30pm, parked, and ate our wonderful coronary-inducing fish & chips. When I was in the store, waiting for our order, Wendy called me from the car saying there were already 4 people in line. I told her to calm down, that it would be all right. We ate our fish & chips and at 7:00 the line was still only 4 people long. Then we noticed more people lining up - but on the opposite side the line is supposed to form (i.e. west side of the entrance). We got out of the car around 7:15 and saw there were about 12 people ahead of us - all lining up the wrong way. We wanted to start lining up the right way but Wendy suggested to wait for the security people to come out and tell everyone to line up the right way. It wasn't until about 7:25 that this happened. Up until this point, it just felt WRONG to be lining up the other way. haha. All was right after 7:25 pm. Another interesting thing about the line: there was a (Chinese) mom with her daughter & daughter's boyfriend just ahead of us - all 3 of them going to the concert! And the mom actually knew Athlete because the Jam Van started playing Athlete and the mom said, "Hey, they're playing them" to the daughter. We also spotted another Chinese mom further ahead in the line - but she was just keeping her daughter company until her friends arrived. This was a little bizarre but I thought Chinese mom #1 was pretty cool for knowing & going to see Athlete.

Behind me in line was this university boy and his Asian female friend. (Aside: there were a lot of chinese people at this concert... that was surprising, like Travis, except these kids were less fob). This boy was very annoying because he kept saying to his friend, "When we saw Stereophonics here, there were this many people in line, but they all went to the bar when we got in so we were able to rush the stage...I hope that happens again tonight." Note a very bad thing to say. Except he said it, or made some reference to the Stereophonics concert, at least 3 times. In a very loud, obnoxious voice. I don't know why, I tend to attract these loud-mouthed idiots at concert lineups. Anyway, that was extremely annoying but we finally managed to get inside.

UNFORTUNATELY, Wendy & I were not able to secure a front row spot! Everyone in line in front of us went to the stage. We couldn't believe it. After we each took our washroom breaks, we decided to be centre, 3rd row. That's when this blonde teacher bitch squeezed her way in front of me. She was by herself but she kept looking around so at first we couldn't tell. Then she struck up a conversation with short girl next to her (and in front of Wendy). Let me say, the only reason BTB started talking to SG is because BTB wanted to appear cool with her "esoteric" music knowledge. It was fucking annoying. She said many many many things to SG: how she can't believe how many people were at the Opera House beause they aren't that popular here but are "SOOO big in Europe"; how she doesn't listen to the radio here; how she thinks the radio here sucks; how she thinks kids these days only listen to music because it's "cool" not because they really like the music (WTF); how shows like The O.C. are perpetuating this kid-attitude (I have to agree with her on this, but it was the way BTB talked that pissed me off); how "no one here's heard of Aqualung... I'm going to their concert next month"; how she forces her kids at the private school at which she teaches to listen to "her" music; how she's had "many many" years of concert experience so she was able to tell SG that the opening band won't even come on till about 9pm; on and on and on. GRRRR. I was so annoyed. I was talking to Janice & Wendy, later in the car, about how we can't stand other people who "know" music. It's not that I dislike them; I guess it's the way they talk about it. Basically, I don't like loud, pretentious dilettantes. Really, who does.

Back to the concert itself. Apparently Working Title's equipment got stolen on the weekend so they had to cancel their tour with Athlete. The opening band was Raising the Fawn (or Pawn?). Who sucked. They were very boring and they didn't really have any stage presence. There were people in the crowd cheering really loud - I guess they were drunk or they were friends of the band.

During their entire performance, Wendy & I kept checking our phones to see where Janice was. At 9:20 she called Wendy and said she JUST got out of class because her prof wouldn't stop talking. Eeek! Good thing she made it about 10 minutes before Athlete got on stage. Another good thing was she missed the entire performance of the opening band.

Athlete kicked off their set with "Yesterday Threw Everything At Me." I think I was expecting a lot from this band because of their surprisingly good performance when they opened for Snow Patrol (a sing-along for opening band is so rare!). This time around, they were good but not as good as I remembered them at Kool Haus. Joel is definitely a charmer. He engages the audience very well. Pretty cute too. Married. Actually, I think half the band is married. Anyway, it was hilarious because at one point Wendy leaned over to me and said she could see this girl at the front trying to pass Joel a love note. LOL. Yes, we were among the kiddies. At one point, Joel was talking to some girl in the front and asked for a shot. She never got it for him but luckily some other girl, near the end of the set, made her way to the front with the shot Joel wanted. They ended the set before the encore with "Wires." During the encore, the were many shouts for them to play "Chances," including one from me, and several from "siren boy" (he kept doing the siren scream... I think he was pretty drunk but it was good he was really into the show). But Athlete did not play it :( Ah well. At the end of the encore, Joel "fell" off the stage into the crowd on the right, leaving his guitar there. That was pretty awesome but I thought out of character because he didn't really rock out that hard during the set. Maybe that's his schtick.

Overall, a good show. For some reason I can't say much about it. It was good to hear them live. Joel has a good voice but I still think the Kool Haus show better showcased his and the band's talent. Will I see them again? I don't know. I think the next time they come back to Canada, they will be as big as Keane are. I.e. the show will probably be at Kool Haus. One thing's for sure, if they do come back and the concert gang does decide to go, we are going to lounge. There was a consensus in the car. We are getting old. We must learn to lounge at concerts. With exceptions, of course.

I am glad my concert week is over. Four concerts in the span of one week is crazy! I've been really tired going to work on this concert/work/concert/work schedule. Back to a "normal" life.

Thanks for the great love

2005-09-19T16:14:00.000-04:00

Friday, September 16th

The Stills.

What can I say. I have a soft-spot for this band. The concert gang went to see them in 2004 - three times in three months, one of which was a show in Montreal. After many many many rumours and speculations in the past 6 months about Greg Paquet (one of my rockstar boyfriends) leaving the band, we got a confirmation last week that Greg had officially left the band. I'm sure you all heard my heart breaking. I didn't know what the concert in Hamilton would be like. No Greg, Dave on vocals/guitar, new drummer, new (well, now officially part of the band anyway) keyboardist. AHH. But we had to go see them. They are our band. Our first road-trip band.

Friday afternoon, I picked up Janice at her house about 4:15 pm and I recounted my jaw-dropping reaction to U2 walking on stage to Arcade Fire's "Wake Up." That's when she informed me that she knew for months but didn't tell me because she didn't want to spoil it for me! Don't I have the best concert gang ever?! Thanks for the surprise :)

Wendy got home from work around 5 pm and we were on the road (after a pit stop for gas and steeped teas and danishes from Tim Hortons) by 5:45 pm. Hamilton...hmmm takes maybe 1 hr, maybe 1.5 hrs since we were sort of driving in rush hour traffic. How long did it take us? OVER 2 HOURS!! We didn't get to the club until 8:05 pm. People don't know how to drive in the rain, and people like to stare at trucks pulled over by cops. Idiots. GRRRR. Anyways, we parked in the lot across the street from the Underground, and ventured to look for washrooms and food. Let me just say, Hamilton is seriously sketchy. At least 6 crazy people passed us. Who would want to live there voluntarily, I have no idea. Even temporarily living there is something I don't understand. After walking down the street for about 5 minutes and passing nothing but Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Chinese-Canadian/Korean-Japanese restaurants, we decided to turn back the way we came and headed further along. Thank goodness we found a Pizza Pizza.

We got back to the Underground at 8:35 pm, where we realized at 9pm we were in the wrong line :( We got in the right line for the people with phone reservations...and the doors finally opened at 9:20pm. No worries, we secured our front left spot. This club was tiny. Really really tiny. It was amazing - we were right up front, and only one foot away from the band.

Openers Alive & Living took the place of Wintersleep. They were all right. I can't even remember much of their music. At first I thought they'd be interesting because they had a violin player. But they were pretty bland and I now I think they just had a violin player because they thought it would look kind of cool but they didn't make much use of that instrument because they didn't add to their sound. And I didn't like the guy's voice much.

Finally at about 11:45 pm, The Stills came on. Oh, it was actually really cute because they had to set up their own equipment so in fact, they were kind of on stage a little earlier than 11:45. They started off with a new song, sung by Dave. Then they played "Lola" (woo-hoo) and then another new one, "Mountain." All's going well until some drunk idiot shouted out, "Why don't you play the drums" out to Dave. At first, it seemed Dave was going to take it well because he just stepped up to the mic and said, "You know what, FUCK you." But then, for the rest of the night, Dave wouldn't shut his own fucking mouth, going on and on about how he's "unfortunatley," singing the next song, why shouldn't he sing, and why the heckler should try to sing. At one point, Dave called the heckler up there to tell the audience why Dave shouldn't be singing. I think the kid was shocked. He went up there and sort of apologized and tried to hug Dave - he looked like he was sincere. To be honest, it looked like it was just a joke but the kid didn't know what to do so he just went up on stage. Oliver and Tim tried to calm Dave down, and Tim told the kid to get back into the crowd. WTF is wrong with Dave. When you have such a drastic lineup change, you have to expect people to throw around these kinds of remarks, whether they are meant as a joke or meant as an insult. Obviously Dave has some insecurity issues or he's just an asshole. He couldn't just brush it off. What a loser. His moodiness just ruined the concert for me. The entire time he was pouting. During the encore, he stood off in the corner and at the end, he basically walked off without a wave to the audience.

Back to the music itself, they played "Lola," "Gender Bombs," "Changes Are No Good," "Yesterday Never Tomorrows," "Still in Love," and "Love and Death" from Logic. Their new songs are all right. I can definitely say I like the new songs Tim sings better than the ones that Dave sings (I love "Halo the Harpoon" and "Helicopters"). Tim's voice is so much better. Dave can't sing very well, although it is an improvement from before, and he has absolutely no stage presence (or rather, poutiness is not an acceptable stage presence). And his guitar playing skills are not up to Greg's rocking performances. And he kept stepping in front of Tim, which sucked because Tim looked really hot. I normally don't like facial hair, but it works really well with Tim so for him, I'd make an exception. At one point in the concert, a bunch of girls right behind Wendy and Janice screamed for the band to play "Killer Bees" and Tim looked in our direction and said, "That's a possibility." I almost melted. That was hot. HAHA. I am crazy.

The concert ended and I was really close to getting the set list again. The guy beside me (who was with his gf - they were an extremely ANNOYING PDA couple) grabbed it first. BUT Tim had tossed his guitar pick on the ground, so I grabbed that right away. Score!

After the concert, we went to the bathroom and when we came back out, we saw Tim signing stuff for fans. We waited our turn and Janice broke out the Montreal silver marker. I was quite upset at myself for leaving the CD at home :( But Tim was so nice, we talked about how we saw the band at Club Soda in Montreal, how we're from Toronto... and then he signed Janice's CD, "To Janice (and friends) - Thanks for the great love." How awesome is that!! Because Greg is gone, Janice has graciously decided to share Tim as me & Wendy's rockstar boyfriend of the Stills. We also got the merchandise lady to take pictures for us. So after four shows, we finally met Tim. Nice!

Lessons learned: Dave is a jerk. Tim is really hot. Next Stills concert, we will be hanging around the front right in front of Tim and Oliver. Never go to Hamilton again unless absolutely necessary.

U2

2005-09-19T15:18:00.000-04:00

...very very behind in my concert postings...

Wednesday, September 14th

U2 was exactly as I expected - they put on a great live performance and they deserve to be called the greatest rock band in the world. Bono really knows how to work the crowd and despite his preachiness, I really enjoyed the show. U2's music has that unique sound that fits very well in a large venue and they proved it on Wednesday night.

I had reservations about going since I was not going with my concert gang and, even worse, I was going with my "scalper friend" Galen, concert virgin Dinesh, and their friend who is odd and who I don't like very much. I was even more put-off and insulted when he found out my age and said, "You're not a fan," referring to the fact that I was very young when U2's first few albums came out. I wanted to say, "Fuck you," but I didn't want to make things too awkward so I just said, "You don't know me, or specifically, me and my obsession with music." THEN this guy says that he was a musician and he actually played in a band before. I had a lot of trouble believing him, so I looked at Dinesh to see if there was any truth to that, and Dinesh kind of nodded his head. Well, whoop-dee. It doesn't mean that you know more about music than me and it definitely does not mean you can brush me off - especially since we both paid the $175 for our lower bowl seats. I've spent too long on this. Moving on...

The good thing about large concerts is that they usually start on time. Dashboard Confessional came on at 7:35 pm and put on a lively 45-minute set. I am not the biggest Dashboard fan but I really enjoy a few of their songs. Unfortunately, in such a large venue, all their songs started to sound the same. No matter. They closed the set with "Vindicated" and many humble thank-yous to U2 for allowing them to be the opening act.

After their set, I was enjoying some pretty good background music. During Radiohead's "Idioteque", Galen said, "I think U2 come out during this song," but then it didn't. Another song came on, still no U2. Then, Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" came on and I started singing. And Galen said, "No, for sure it was this song," and I knew he was right because they were blasting this song louder than all the other songs. I was like, "WTF, Janice is gonna flip!!!!!!" I was very excited because it was the perfect walk-on song. The lights dimmed. And all of a sudden, Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry were on stage and playing "Vertigo."

Snazzy snazzy production. It is a $50 million tour so I guess I do expect all the fancy lights and projections. There were actually these curtain-like vertically-moving screens that were made up of individual light bulbs stringed together. That was pretty awesome. And the catwalk was cool too because it allowed Bono to walk further out. In fact, everyone in the band walked out at once point during the concert on the catwalk.

I don't like too many songs from How to Dismantle, but I really like "City of Blinding Lights," "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own," "Miracle Drug," and "Yahweh." They played all these songs, "Yahweh" during one of the two encores, and of course he dedicated "Sometimes" to his father. The highlights of the evening for me, though, were "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "One," my two favourite U2 songs. I think just before "One" (it was either before "one" or before some other song that I can't remember now), they had a video screen projection and a voice reading the Declaration of Human Rights that all the countries should follow. It was touching, and expected. After all, there were Amnesty International booths set up all around the ACC, and this was Bono, superstar ambassador of the world. I tend to get cynical whenever someone famous becomes the spokesperson for a charitable or human rights cause. But watching Bono and listening to him speak, it seems like he is honestly concerned and really passionate for his causes, and if people will listen to him (if only because he is a rock star), then let him preach a little during his concerts.

The double encore was great. They ended the show with a long rendition of "Bad," which kicked ass. That's also one of my favourites. I guess I like the oldies.

Would I go to a big stadium concert again (without complaining like I did for Coldplay)? Probably only for U2. Hopefully for the Montreal show...with AF as opening act. How mind-blowing would that be.

bloc party-ing it up!

2005-09-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

It seems like I only blog when I've been to a concert. I don't mean to but I guess it just works out that way. I've also had some computer issues the past month and since I have no tolerance for slow computers, I haven't been spending that much time online. I've also been working a lot. I seem to have a lot of excuses. ANYWAYS I have to blog now because 1/3 of my concert gang wasn't able to make it to the Bloc Party concert on Monday night. School's important, yeah yeah...but in this case, Janice, you SO should have come because Bloc Party was fucking awesome!

We arrived at the Docks at about 6:40pm and there was already a lineup. I am glad Wendy decided to come with me because we could at least split the $15 parking cost. There were about 25 people ahead of us already in the lineup, and doors didn't even open for another 1 hr 20 minutes! While in line, Wendy & I got our over 19 years wristband. We looked at the line that was forming. There were barely any others wearing the yellow wristband. Damn. We also deduced that these kids were there so early because school ended for them at 3pm. That's right folks. We were among really really small kiddies. I saw this boy a few spots ahead of us - he looked 13 or 14. Damn all ages shows.

The wait in line was a killer. Other than these high school kids annoying us, there was also this group of 4 early-university students just before us. One guy was fucking LOUD. He was practically shouting at his friends right beside him - and he wasn't even drunk. I have no idea why he was talking so loud. Actually, I'm sure it's because he thought he was cool. Unfortunately he wasn't. How can you be if you use the word "gnarly" on a regular basis. Everything to this guy was "gnarly." Wendy was on the other side of me and didn't really hear much of the conversation but when I told her how this guy said "gnarly" she couldn't stop laughing. It was so annoying. The wait actually gave me a headache.

FINALLY at 8:05 pm people started moving in. And get this - a stupid teenage punk girl actually pushed me from behind. WTF. I was already annoyed with the loud dude, and this girl just made it for me. When we got in, I went to the ticket counter to confirm I had tickets (unfortunately since I got it through ticketpro last-minute, I don't have an actual tangible ticket as a momento). Then we started to walk in - and a whole bunch of girlies RAN, SCREAMING to the stage. At that point, Wendy & I decided to forget about securing our usual spot. We couldn't take these kids. Damn kids. We walked calmly to the merch table, where we each bought tees and I bought some pins for Janice.

We secured a spot on the right side, about 5 rows back, just behind this piece of equipment under the speakers. I'm not sure what it was but it allowed us to rest our elbows and provide some space so that we wouldn't be standing directly behind anyone. Anyway, we just stood there waiting and bitching about the young'uns till Noisettes appeared. We couldn't even get a drink because the Docks is retarded and cordones off a section for purchasing and consuming alcoholic drinks. WTF.

Noisettes were interesting. The lead singer had a lot of energy and her voice was unique. A lot of screaming. Some of their tunes were interesting but not enough to compel me to buy their EP. Actually, I didn't see any non-Bloc Party stuff at the merch table.

The Kills were SO boring. Who wants to see a female It jumping around on stage with the same synthesized beat for all their songs in the background? Unfortunately they were on for about 45 minutes.

At this point, during the setup for Bloc Party, I heard a girl beside me say to her friend, "I can't believe the audience is so old. I think there's 26 year-olds in here!" WTF. I turned and looked at her - this girl was AT MOST 19 years old. And all I can say is that this girl is fucking retarded and blind. Everyone surrounding us was younger. EVERYONE. Holy crap. As you can imagine I was in serious rage/annoyance mode by now.

At 10:30pm, Bloc Party got on stage. I was expecting Bloc Party to be a good live band - but I never thought they would be that good. Silent Alarm is a very high-energy album...Every song live was louder, built more tension, and had more energy than the album - if you can imagine that. I just wanted to dance the whole night!

They kicked it off with "Like Eating Glass," which is also the album starter. And despite my bitching about the crowd, they sang along right from the opening line "It's so cold in this house" so I knew the rest of the concert would be all right (in terms of band-love). Then they played "Positive Tension" (Janice, Wendy has a surprise for you)...and then "Banquet." This was a surprise because they played their biggest hit in North America 3rd song into the set. This was when these kiddies started moshing. Damn. It's funny because I felt like I was at a 1990's punk show. Anyways, I was really happy they played 3 of my favourite songs right away! At this point, Matt's shirt was already off and Kele had already stated how much they love being in Toronto. He also said they were thinking of moving to Canada - and this brought a lot of cheers from the crowd. But then he kind of ruined it by saying "well, to Vancouver." hahaha. It was nice anyway. Their set also had new songs, including "Hero" and "Two More Years," which rocks live. "Blue Light" and "This Modern Love" were also highlights for me...it's so great that the band can have such loud songs such as "Positive Tension" and "Luno" but also two of the
best love ballads of 2005. Hmm...I can't quite remember how they ended their set...

But it doesn't matter because they had TWO encores. The first one, they came back out and sang a new song but I couldn't quite get into it because this BITCH sat on that speaker-like thing Wendy & I were standing behind. Wendy asked her to get down, then a guy behind us asked her but she didn't move. There was a beer bottle beside her that still had some beer in it. You have no idea how tempted I was to take it and pour it on her. After the song she got down, I'm glad. I honestly would have poured that beer on her. I told Wendy that and she said she was thinking the exact same thing. Anyways, during encore #1, they also played one of my favs, "So Here We Are" which sounds so beautiful. Then someone threw a bra on stage...and Matt decided to wear it for one song! They closed encore #1 with "Pioneers."

Encore #2 was actually unexpected. People already started to leave but then the band got back on stage and everyone cheered. I can't express how energetic their show was. They are a great band to dance and go crazy to. The show ended at 12am and Wendy and I were debating whether to go to the drake hotel where they were rumoured to appear after the Docks show. But we both had to work the next day so we decided to head home.

Despite the terrible kiddie crowd (read this), I had an awesome time. I can't believe how great Bloc Party is when they play live. I will definitely see them when they come back to Toronto.

P.S. Sorry Janice, I don't know if Wendy uploaded the pics yet...I am using her computer but I can't find them so I figured I better stop snooping before she finds out I am using her computer. Haha. I don't think she reads my blog very often so I think I'll be ok.

countdown

2005-08-02T16:02:00.000-04:00

So I will be seeing Coldplay in a few hours. Finally. A good sign: concert gang and I will each be getting a $10 refund. How? It's quite convoluted. Aspiring scalper/"friend-of-a-friend" was actually not able to get rid of that last ticket (the other guy backed out). Last night a friend of mine decided to go - on the condition that she pay cost for her ticket and aspiring scalper gives $10 each back to me, Wendy, and Janice. WOO-HOO. So now my $100 crap seat ticket cost "only" $90!

I am finally excited about the concert. I'm always excited on Concert Day but usually for highly-anticipated ones, I am giddy & jumpy a few days before. I wasn't so much for this one. I think it has to do with the fact that I have not been listening to X & Y non-stop. That's a complete surprise because I thought it would be my album of Summer 2005. I still enjoy many songs on the album, but it's no Parachutes or Rush of Blood. That's ok - Coldplay live will be awesome.