Month: March 2010

The other night I read an IFC interview with Carrie Brownstein where she mentions that she’s in a new band with Janet Weiss and that she can potentially see Sleater-Kinney becoming active again! Being that Sleater-Kinney is my all-time favorite band I am, in the words of the article that first alerted me to this, on the verge of having a million excitement-induced heart attacks.

I’m hopeful that this new band puts out some material soon too.

Quasi, the band that Janet Weiss is in, has put out an amazing new album that’s becoming my favorite right now. They’re playing in Portland this weekend and I’d contemplated going, but I really need some downtime after a whirlwind few weeks.

Now to see if Reilly wants to make some noise under the guise of making music.

Saw the Electric Six tonight. Singer dude looked like he’d stumbled off a bender in his rumpled suit and half lidded eyes. Good show though. I had to sneak out after Gay Bar since I’m a little wiped this week.

Sharon had wanted to see this band called Paper Lions from PEI. We missed them at the Olympics but they were opening for Electric Six tonight so we made sure we got there early. Good thing we did because they were fantastic! Second song in and the drummer went off on a wild drum solo while the rest of the band put down their gear to sit back and watch. I think I have a new favorite drummer now. Sharon knew I’d like them and I’m happy we went. Their music is diverse but everything sounds really good. Other cool thing was the band dropping into Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody during one of their songs. That got the drunken fratboy in front of us enthusiastically pumping his fist and jiggling his beer gut around the dance floor.

Bed time now! Been a little wound out this week so I’m looking forward to sleep. Am planning on not doing much this weekend. Maybe stare at the wall. Might chew on some chocolate, if the doggy drops it.

My sister’s on her way to Winnipeg now. It was good to see her before she ran off east. At least I have an excuse to visit Winnipeg. Probably not this summer but likely the next. CBC was broadcasting the Vinyl Cafe from Winnipeg on Sunday and I got to hear Stewart McLean talk about his favorite stops in the town. The place I’m most interested in is the Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company which sounds like the ultimate bakery experience. They mill their own flour and everything! It’ll be my first stop when I roll into Winnipeg.

Saturday night was our good friend Miranda’s 30th birthday party. She and Reilly threw a party at their place to celebrate the occasion and asked that people try and fancy it up a bit. Everybody went over the top with their ensembles as you can see below. Reilly, Josh, and I hit Watts Costumes for some cool outfits. Reilly and I were parading around like upper crust Britons all night.

Good times… this is the way parties should be done! Esp. when you have a camera set up.

Update: Just discovered that Reilly put together a 2-minute video with all the shots taken that night. So much fun to watch!

I’ve only got a few minutes so I’ll make this quick.

My sister has rolled into town on her way to Winnipeg, where her and her husband are moving to after living in Dubai for a couple of years. It’ll be a big change for him; he’s only lived in India and Dubai.

It’s been good to see Theresa for the past few days. We’ve been hanging out, talking about stuff and playing cribbage. On Thursday Sharon, my sister, and I went over to Naam for tasty vegetarian food. Last night Theresa was dealing with the Ford dealership where she’s buying a new Ford Ranger. She’s pretty excited about that.

While she was working the deal over there, Sharon and I went down to Granville Island to see a Saskatchewan band, The Deep Dark Woods, lay down some jam music. Great band! Lead singer is a lanky lumberjack lookin’ fella who speaks in growls and whispers but sings very well. They’d go on these great jams and it wasn’t long before people were spilling into the aisles to dance.

Wednesday night our band got back together for our first jam in almost a month. It sounded better than I thought it would and I was worried that I’d had forgotten how to drum. My timing was a little shaky but I was able to get through our session without sounding too much like a drunken ape.

Alright, Sharon and I are heading back to my place to make a late breakfast and see how my sister’s truck deal turned out. She was going back to the Ford dealership this morning to seal the deal.

Shan, the talented singer in our band, also has a secret identity as a hip-hop dancer and has written up an excellent post about her performance as part of Sunday’s closing ceremonies. Go read it right now! I’ll wait…

Done reading? Interesting article eh!

Things have wound right down in Vancouver. My walk to work wasn’t through throngs of tourists and Olympic staff and it felt like a normal day. There’s still some signs of the Olympics and I walked past the German House as it was being torn down. I’m sad that the Olympics are over, especially since I want to be at the Atlantic House again tonight watching more incredible east coast bands. Last Friday Sharon and I were too pooped to line up at the Saskatchewan house to see the Deep Dark Woods but we’ve just scored tickets for their March 12 show. The best part is we won’t have to wait for 2 hours in a lineup to see them! I won’t miss the lineups even though I won’t get to see free shows every night.

Tomorrow night our band is getting back on the horse with a rehearsal. I’m hoping we pull it together for another show soon, even if it’s only at an open mic.

What else? I’ve been baking more. Last night I made some buns for sandwiches today and then tonight I had a craving for lemon poppyseed loaf. After I mixed together the ingredients I realized I didn’t own a loaf pan so I improvised using a lasagna pan and some tin foil. I think everything’s turned out alright even if the shape is somewhat creative. At least I have the loaf to eat! Who cares how it’s shaped.

And now I watch a couple more SNFU videos on youtube and then I go to sleep.