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Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Dammit. Blogger just ate my post. Why is it whenever I write a massive post, blogger eats the damn thing? Anyways... now you get a hastily assembled and moderately bastardized version of the original post. Enjoy, or else...
Have you heard / seen the new Green Day single yet? It's fucking rad. For 13 years Green Day has been postitioned and marketed as a "punk band", yet this couldn't be further from the truth. They're about as punk rock as my earwax.
Until now. Their new single, American Idiot, is totally punk rock. Why? Because in 3.5 minutes the song declares that:
- The American Government is fucked.
- The American Media is fucked.
- The American Government and Media feed off of each other and create a perpetual state of fear / mistrust / etc, thus: America is fucked.
Clearly, this isn't massive social revelation, but hot damn, in today's political climate to call everyone and everything out like that is pretty ballsy, socially charged... and actually legitimately punk rock. This, my friends, is wicked. Color me badd impressed.
FUN: Watch the American Idiot video here.
elsewhere
words that make school children titter wildly | leftnutt video #2
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Monday, August 30, 2004
Team Vancouver went out and saw Wil perform at The Railway Club. Wil was in top form but the crowd was total crap. Everyone was pushing and shovey and rude and mean to one another. I never knew acoustic singer song writer stuff could bring out high school-esque drunken tendencies. Losers.
In the last week I've checked out 16 (!) bands perform. On paper this sounds like a dream of that, less than half were good the other half were total crap. There was no middle ground what-so-ever. I'd like to point out to all the aspiring bands out there that all five band members in matching all-black outfits does not equate to being captivating on stag.
But enough dwelling... before this week is through I'll see 2 more stellar bands: DMB and Jason Mraz... at the Gorge no less. Boo-yaa, bass in my face. I'm not really posting this as a boast, but hot-damn, it's gonna be sofaking good, if not for the bands, for the kids of vanmega who are meeting up. ie:
- Me
- Tk
- Dave
- LL Cool Julie
- Gong
- Sweet
- Sock
- Zeb
- Zeb's brother J
Also unconfirmed:
- Scott
- Scott's Sara
- Jer
- Andy
- Special
Yeah... this has got world class bender written all over it, in indelible marker. Now only if the days of school I have to deal with would hurry up and pass.
elsewhere
rip indian larry | new video download from leftnutt
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Thursday, August 26, 2004
Yesterday, I went to Seattle.
It was like something outta the twilight zone. Sort of.
The plan was to get up bright and early, cross the border, and watch Matt Nathanson perform at in store performance at a book / CD store in downtown Seattle. My partner in crime and driver for the day, Special J, felt the need to stay out the night before until 3am to drink countless rounds of Champagne at Café Barney (really). Either way, J arrived a full hour late to pick me up, and we ended up getting to the store as Matt’s roadies were packing up his equipment.
Dammit.
The weather sucked in Seattle yesterday afternoon, it was wet, cold, and miserable. I was choked that we missed the free Matt show, Special was (literally) barely able to contain his hangover. Plus, there was, like, NO parking anywhere in Seattle. To remedy our spirits we hit the Experience Music Project. There was this one exhibit, which was a working recording studio, complete with guitars, bass, amps, and drums. Me and Special performed / recorded an 8 minute freestyled studio session that can only be described as “a sonic cluster-fuck of indie rock posing and stupidity”. Seriously, it was that wicked, and I hope for your sake that the CD never leaks to the internet.
Post-EMP, the afternoon was effectively killed, and we hauled ass out Redmond. We had tickets to get into the Marymoor Outdoor Amphitheater, the Marymoor was hosting a 1 night outdoor music festival featuring Matt Nathanson, Howie Day, Guster, and O.A.R... basically the wet dream of college-rock. Because of the daytime rain, only about a third of the crowd actually showed up, and in turn we were front row for the entire thing. The funny thing is that all the rain stopped and the clowds parted the second the bands hit the stage. The resulting show was fucking phenomenal – the kind of show where every artist totally deviates from their standard performance - and will go down as one of the most random / flukey shows I’ve been able to take in for years.
Instead of further prolonging this post by using $5 words to try and describe each act, I’ve opted to executive summary the details below:
Matt Nathanson – Performed with an acoustic band for the first time ever, consisting of a lead guitarist, a percussionist, and an upright bass player (not Matt Fish). Usually “acoustic / unplugged” bands sound hokey / cheesy / straight outta 1992. Not this time, the band was killer tight, and the percussionist chose not to be a brainless bongo pounding hippie, but rather perform hip hop-ish / drum and bass beats. We ran into Matt after and hung out for a few minutes… he’s the coolest, I have a man crush on him. Whatofit?
Howie Day – Performed solo, for an hour, without his crappy band!! Meaning, his set list reverted to his Australia-era tunes. This was the setlist I pined to see for years, but was never able to. His looping was flawless as was his singing… the whole things was such a welcome surprize and almost surreal. His on stage mannerisms are starting to mimic that of Thom Yorke a la Radiohead, but it seems to work for him.
Guster – I thought I knew next to nothing about Guster, but apparently I knew the words to 75% of the songs they performed last night. They had a percussionist who was INSANELY good. He looked like a volleyball player, but performed like animal… homeboy even had hockey tape on his fingers. He was just that nice.
O.A.R – O.A.R seem a bit more grown up these days, they look more like polished GAP models, rather than the jam band hippies we saw a few years back. Apparently they’ve been writing more songs, because I only recognized 50% of the material. They dragged Matt Nathanson back out on stage to cover “Sunday, Bloody, Sunday” with the band. Killer.
elsewhere
matt | howie | guster | o.a.r
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Monday, August 23, 2004
I just wanted to point out that once this whole grad school MBA thingy phase is all over I’m transitioning directly from "starving student" to "fucking yuppie".
That’s right, I’m selling out happily. In the epicenter of west coast laid back-ery, no less! Hot dang, I’m really excited about getting an SUV… ohhhh… and a faux-hawk!!
My breaking point and resulting rage against the daisy chain hippie machine was the combination of two excessively common events in the in and around van-city:
1. The fact that whenever there is any sort of event dubbed as a “celebration of East Indian culture” (or some such thing) what actually goes down is the overflowing of a public park with a bunch of middle age’d, white, hippies, spouting off about the pressing need for everyone to "go veg". These anglo mid-life crisis’s in motion, run around in a smug sense of self righteousness. It’s idiocy and it’s the complete marginalization of a culture.
2. The urban bicyclist. I now find myself screaming at bicyclists as I drive from point A to B. I fully support anyone who wants to use their bike as a means of transportation. But I can not handle the fact that 99.8% of all cyclists around here are dinks – breaking all existing traffic laws, jumping from vehicle to pedestrian status as they see fit. Those bastards are lawless, and by pulling stunts like tearing across rush hour intersections diagonally, randomly hopping on and off sidewalks, and mowing down pedestrians, they’re making themselves candidates for vehicular homicide. It’s one thing to be ignorant / lawless, but it’s a whole other thing to bike around with pretentious “one less car” stickers on your helmets, and flash drivers the dirtiest of looks as if to say “how dare you navigate your vehicle close so to me?!?!” as they cut through 4 lanes of traffic without even a shoulder check. Hey assholes, you are not Kevin Bacon and the bumper to bumper traffic on Broadway is not the set from the movie Quicksilver.
Anyways, September 3, 2005 will be the commencement of my yuppie phase. Mark it in your PDA, it’s gonna be sweet. Feel free to stop by my apartment that night for a glass of chardonnay, served by my witty butler (Jeffery from The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air _has_ to be looking for work). Be sure to wear your best leather pants / fur coat combo, and make small talk about your oil and gas stocks and bonds.
/ rant.
elsewhere
raymi explains the bloging | funniest collection of lists ever
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Sunday, August 15, 2004
I saw Garden State last night.
Fucking-A. Get your ass into the movie theatre, go see it.
Not since Swingers (circa 1996) have I seen a movie so well done. Call me finiky, but I feel like every single movie I see caters to this lowest common denominator, with some watered down, waste of time, safe, cliche ridden, test marketed plot, neatly cross-promoted with insulting Pepsi or Taco Bell product placements.
This isn't the case with Garden State.
Garden State was written and filmed with the kind of charm and grace that's so genuine it almost confuses you. It's like you think you're missing something, but in reality what you're watching on screen is a really good script, being filmed in a really stylish and thoughtful way, being acted out by a cast really passionate about their work. Before you know it, you, the viewer, are wrapped up and in love with the whole premise and the whole fucking franchise. This is the point of making a movie, right?
Garden State so perfectly / honestly / humorously captures the wonderfully awkward and blissful struggle of post-college life, that it makes me want to get drunk, get high, sober up, laugh, cry, listen to some kick-ass tunes, laugh some more, hang out with everyone, sit alone in my room, figure out the meaning of life, the meaning of family, goof-off, play air guitar, dance, mutter gibberish, sing outloud, make-out, and laugh all at once. With that said, in reality, what I did right after the movie was go for a two pints to further discuss how fucking lovely Zack Branf's little award winning indie flick really was.
My favorite part in the movie (as trivial as it may have been) was when Natalie Portman gives Zack Branf her set of headphones to listen to a tune by The Shins [mp3]. The scene totally portrays the act of listening and absorbing music in this romantic and personally holistic way. It's the exact way I listen / introspectively freak out to my tunes.
Bottom line: Go see Garden State, it's inspired. Keep in mind the last movie I saw was Starsky & Hutch... my movie watching palate might be a bit tainted.
elsewhere
garden state blog | doofyfuel | alien vs predator
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Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Awsum alert: New Tegan & Sara...
Hey - go to the official Tegan & Sara website-thing-a-ma-jiggy, they've posted 3 tracks from the girls new disk, So Jealous (to be released Sept 14th). Indie rock stylings coupled with pop sensibilities - What's not to love? Based on what's posted on the site, it sounds like a the girls are moving forward along the same path from the last disk... and that's fucking wonderful, son.
elsewhere
A-Team cleared of charges | the superficial | buy me this
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Monday, August 09, 2004
Cripes...
You never know who will show up at an impromptu bbq... which you weren't really invited to.
Here are some facts:
- Aly is now living in England. He's a business analyst, and is looking at getting his CFA. Also, he goes to the strippers every Sunday - in London - from 12 - 3pm. (You're all invited).
- I'm sick of painting. I here-by vow to never paint anything again. Screw it, I'll hire a cabana person.
- Olives = teh greatest foodstuff ever. Also good, Skor Blizzards. I ate both today (and that's about it).
- Johnny P and Donna are moving to Calgary... in a year.
- Andy Collins plays a one off show at the Kings Head Pub tomorrow night in Kits. If you've downloaded a vanmega mixtape or got a copy of the almanac, you've heard his music, and you heart it. [mp3] Come out and support, dammit.
Cord Mag vs Muse!! | Adam Riff | maxim 101
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Sunday, August 08, 2004
Ummmm... as requested and as required by blogging cliche law here is your official west coast move update for those of you keeping track. If you’re not keeping track, here’s a picture of a bitchin' unicorn. For those of you not into unicorns, here’s a picture of Lindsay Lohan. (Cripes, there is no pleasing you pervs).
According to my swatch, the move went down a week ago. So far, so good.
- After a delay due to hangover / inability to neatly pack everything into the car, and despite the +45 degree BC interior weather, the commute went down without incident. Ratio of highway radar traps to tickets issued, 2:0. Total commute time, 11.5 hours.
- Of the first 7 days in van, the initial 3 were spent trying to track down my new roommates just to get a key to my new place. The remaining 4 were spent painting / fixing up my room. Trading Spaces is a scam, painting a room is time consuming and paint itself is hella-costly. (Sidebar: Tk and Colin rule for helping with the overhaul)
- The initial assessment of the new place is that it’s old and basic, but not disgusting, nor unsafe. Now that everyone and their dog are suited up in starter homes and crap, a basic renter in kits isn’t really comparable. However, I am paying less than $400 a month for a full size room that’s easily as big as my place in 1643, located conveniently near the epicenter of rad.
- The roommates all seem cool. Young hipster-ish dudes in their 20’s, generally happy and extroverted. All with a common love of sleeping and beer, it would appear. One guy looks exactly like Chris Cabanna (you try and spell it) from Dashboard Confessional, one guy looks like the quintessential waiter working his way through school, and one guy is soooooo laid back he makes Jamaicans look bad.
- The fact that I live in Kits is fucking stellar, and as dumb as it sounds, one more thing completed on my “to do before I die” list. This is up there with backpacking around the world by my damned self, and writing a novel. I live within skateboarding distance from Tk’s, Colin’s, Nick’s, Rob 2’s, and the beach.
- Me and Colin are both currently retired. We “coffee” at the Kings Head Pub a lot.
- I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for returning to school (read: psych myself into sitting still in a classroom for hours at a time, not actually read business journals or similar nonsense). I’ve received my course outlines for the fall semester... I feel like I’ve taken these courses already. It appears that I’ve taken a POEN 591 type class, a consumer behavior class, and a data sufficiency type class. I am so digging up old papers and handing them in for a second time fo’ sure.
- The local concert line up is smokin' shit-hot for the next 2 months. Between upcoming shows with The Killers, Scissor Sisters, Pixies, Beastie Boys, Jack Johnson, Franz Ferdinand, and Wil, I’ll seriously be rocking out as if it were my full time job. I saw my first show at The Commodore this week (see last post), I’ve decided it’s the greatest venue I’ve ever been too (with except to The Gorge).
- I packed 6 packs of Ichi-ban noodles when I moved. They’re all long gone.
- This week’s to do list will focus on actually moving into the new place, getting a local phone #, cashing student loans, finding some form of part time job, and watching re-reruns of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air on TBS (That Uncle Phil is SOMETHING ELSE!!)
Come visit, jerks. I lhuv you.
elsewhere
new pics on buzznet | cowboy borat | cord vs sam roberts!
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Friday, August 06, 2004
Yesterday night, I hopped in a taxi, went straight to The Commodore, saw a big fat line up of people trying to get into a sold out show...
And I slid past them all, right through the front doors, with no ticket, no less.
Wil and Matt Good were playing the Commodore for 2 blistering nights. Myself and Master Andy were covering the show for Cord Magazine. I know The Commodore has this spooky ability to bring the best out of those on stage, but holy hell…
Wil is beginning to hit his stride as a grown-up rock star. Hit his stride, like whoa. Within the first 2 minutes of his performance I watched Wil lure the crowd with nothing but his guitar wizardry. The place was packed, but the floor was only ¼ full (hey, it was the opening act, who most had never heard of, after all). Wil wasn't having it, he radiated energy by the power of grayskull (or something), and by the final seconds of "Spitfire" the floor was filled right the hell up.
Wil is now playing with a fury I've never seen before. I chose my words carefully here... he plays with a fury, not an anger. He destroys his guitar yet nails his performance, playing each song with unwavering belief in every word found in every line of every song he ever wrote. You can tell he now believes his music will be his career, his income, his life. It's so fucking inspiring to watch, I mean this overwhelmingly positive self-certainty can and should translate into anything in anyone's life.
My favorite thing about Wil's performance is that with each song he becomes more relaxed, more confident, more improvised, and in turn each song is more memorable than the next, annnnnnnnd in turn the crowd goes from skeptical to ape-shit-looney by the end of his 45 minute set. I don't cheer at the end of Wil songs, I nod my head, as if to say "fuck, it's about time you guys caught on". The exception to this, of course, was at the end of his set last night when he decided to play an insane slide guitar version of "Honey Pie" which set me vivid flashbacks of watching him perform the song at some little Calgary pub at 3 in the morning a half foot away from our table... except this time a crowd of 1,000 were watching along side, in the greatest city ever. Killer.
Shortly after Matt Good took the stage. Yadda-yadda-yadda - He was good, and surprisingly hard rocking and professional - Yadda-yadda-yadda – then he started to get whiney and prima donnay - Yadda-yadda-yadda – I sang along real loud to "Load Me Up" - Yadda-yadda-yadda – then I took a cab back home to Kits.
elsewhere
10 questions with wil | broat | teh fashion
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Thursday, August 05, 2004
what we have a is a brand new sound... (sort of)
Have you checked out the new Roots CD Tipping Point yet?
It's good. Not great, but good. By contemporary hip hop standards it's a solid piece of work, but by The Roots' standard of work you'd expect a lot better. However, there's one lone track on the disk that's so brilliant I may have to declare it one of the supra-official-vanmega-doot-com-ultra-jams-of-the-summer.
Download: The Roots - Boom! [mp3]
At first listen the track came off as a concise catchy hip hop track riddled with old school stylings and structure as the mic was passed between Black Thought and two other MC's.
On the second listen I kinda freaked out, realizing that the other two MC's featured on the track were in fact (1) Big Daddy Kane, and (2) Kool G Rap... both of whom were amazing fucking rappers circa the late 80's and early 90's (hello, hammer pants). This changed everything, I suddenly felt like I was in the 9th grade again, sitting in the back of a school bus with my tacky yellow sports walkman plugged in and cranked up. I grew up listening to hip hop, absorbing as much of it as I could every waking second. When I was kid the hip hop acts I loved were completely different from those who are around today. I figured Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap were now dead, or recluses, or were selling real estate like that guy from Bell Biv Devoe. And then out of the blue, I find 2 of the most bad-ass old school MC's, throwing down in top form no less, on a track released less than 2 weeks ago.
I played the song on repeat for 45 minutes.
Then I came home, jumped online, and tried to find out a bit more about the track and Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap's return. (hey if that no-talent mumble mouth Mase can make a comeback, why can't 2 authentically tallented guys do the same?). It appears that I was, in fact, bamboozled and / or tricked by The Roots... Neither Big Daddy Kane nor Kool G Rap appear on this track, dammit. What I was actually listening to was Black Thought doing impressions of both old school rappers!! Holy hell... calling this an "impression" stinks of understatement. Black Thought delivers these faux rhymes with infinite precision, not only building the flows with the same structure as a classic Big Daddy Kane track, but also going as far as duplicating Kool G Rap's swagger and lisp. Fuck me, that's some good shit... and a hot-ass summer jam... even if it is as fradulent as the day is long.
elsewhere
octopus-flavored chips | lacunae | cbcradio3 is dope
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Monday, August 02, 2004
turning right...
For what feels like an eternity, but really has only been the last year and a half, the road sign pictured above has been staring me in the face.
To do anything in this city, be it go to the gym, hang with homeboys, hell even fight rush hour traffic just to go to work, I have to exit my neighborhood. As I hit the first set of traffic lights the sign above and me have a good old fashioned staring contest.
Every single time I get to the lights, I turn left. Turning left gets me into the city, and eventually to my needed location. But what I really wanted to do was turn right. To the right (after a brisk 12 hour drive) is vancouver... the place where I've wanted to be / live / eventually grow up. Anyone who reads vanmega even quasi-semi often knows that me and this city were meant to be. Yet for the last year and a half, I've faced a fucking uphill battle trying to get some stability in the day to day stuff and relocate to the coolest city in the world. It's like that fucking sign would taunt me, day after day, drive after drive.
Today, I finally turn right. And finally move back to vancouver, where I belong. And this time, all signs (no pun intended) seem to indicate I'll be staying for a long-ass time. To say "boo-yaa" right now would be the understatement of the year.
So yeah here we go, bring it on big over-priced wonderfully inspiring big city... here comes Soy. Woo! And so on.
Posts might be far and few this week as I get set up in Kitsilano. So I've posted some treats for your collective asses:
- check out the July photo gallery here
- download the brand new summery themed mixtape #22
- read all the new content posted at Cord Mag
elsewhere
Rivers Cuomo's Harvard re-admittance essay | McDonalds advertising gone wrong | 'swingers' script
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