I’ve just returned from a wild Art Brut show at the Biltmore where Eddie Argos, the singer, shouted about DC comics and failed relationships while his band muppeted around on stage behind him. They’re a great live band, especially in a small venue like the Biltmore. My favorite part: Eddie jumped into the crowd during Modern Art (which they’d changed into a song about DC Comics) and went on a twisted narrative about their visit to the DC Comics head office.

Last night we watched Regina Spektor put on an amazing performance at the Orpheum Theatre. She’s one of the most creative songwriters I’ve ever heard and I was looking forward to finally seeing her live. The crowd was too because I’ve never heard a crowd that loud in the Orpheum! I though I might have to put on my earplugs even though the music was at a reasonable volume.

There’s an emotional depth to Regina’s voice that has to be heard live to appreciate. Her albums are great, but seeing her live is a whole other thing. You know, I can’t even describe this show other than to say it was one of the best goddamn live shows I’ve been to in my life.

Back to Saturday we were part of a surprise birthday party for our friend Barry. His girlfriend had dressed up as a gangster/pimp type and when Barry rolled in the door he was whisked upstairs to be transformed into the sketchiest looking East Van hooker you’ve ever seen! The party was awesome since it got rolling with a bunch of food and beer before an outrageous amount of fireworks were lit off in the backyard. We had so much fun with the fireworks that Barry and a small posse went out at 1opm to score some more before the stores weren’t legally allowed to sell them anymore.

It’s been an action-packed week so far and I’m looking forward to taking it easy tomorrow night before I pack up and head to Tofino on Friday. Tomorrow I’m going to be at the Agile Vancouver conference where I’ll (finally!) get to see Eric Evans speak about Domain Driven Design. If you’re not a software monkey you won’t be interested in that, but it’s exciting for me.