Speaking of shows, here’s what I have planned for April and May:
The Trews at the Roxy (!!) – Tuesday, April 26
The Corin Tucker Band at the Biltmore – Sunday, May 1
The Pixies at the Orpheum – Tuesday, May 3
Guitar Wolf at the Biltmore – Wednesday, May 25
So 3 killer shows just before we head to Cuba and then Guitar Wolf when I get back. May is going to be a great month!
If you have any interest in the direction of the music industry then I highly recommend reading The Unbundling (and Re-Bundling) of Music by Ian Rogers on the Topspin blog.
I’m excited to see what’s happening now that the CD format has (finally!) died and artists are selling directly to fans. On April 26 we’re going to see The Trews play the Roxy. Instead of shelling out a bunch of money to Ticketmaster, Sharon and I purchased tickets directly from the band’s website. For $40 Sharon gets a t-shirt, the new album on CD, and a ticket to the show. I splurged on the $45 bundle which gives me a vinyl record instead of the CD along with my shirt and ticket.
There’s a big change now that record companies are no longer the gatekeepers for an artist’s music. I still think there’ll be a role for them, but it will be greatly diminished and we’ll see more of the money flowing to the artist, which is where it should be going.
Brent Butt, the guy from Corner Gas, showed up in town to work on some new stand up comedy material so we got to see him at a club downtown last night. Funny guy. Makes me want to see Corner Gas again.
Friday night I hit up the game with my friend Chris. We managed to wrangle seats in the Lamplighter, which was packed by the time the game got going. Vancouver won (yay!) which should set up some intense games in Chicago this week. Tonight I think I’ll put the game on at home and chill out before an intense work week this week. We’ve got an end-of-month deadline that got dropped on us and there’s a tonne of work to do so I’ll be tied up for the next dozen days or so.
In 2008 I attended the Sled Island Festival in Calgary where I saw a band called Wire perform. They’re a band from the late 70’s that’s had a strong influence on a number of groups that I like so I was curious to see them. Their show didn’t impress me and I dismissed Wire as a lame band that was of interest to indie musicians in the 1980’s. Little did I know that they were to become one of my favorite acts.
Several months after Sled Island I had that Elastica song in my head and found out they’d pulled the main guitar riff out of a Wire song called Three Girl Rhumba off their first album, Pink Flag. I started to listen to Pink Flag and quickly professed it to be THE GREATEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME! (Note: I say this often, but that album has remained in heavy rotation throughout the last 2 years which makes it truly great for me)
I started to hope that Wire would play again and I could see them after becoming more familiar with their work. Well that day came today! I just got back from their show. Super-cool but I can see how it would be hard to get into if you’re not a fan. Their songs tend to stick to a simple rhythm and use subtler textures instead of in-your-face dynamics that slap you to keep you interested.
There was a good mix of material, most of which I didn’t recognize. The songs that I did know (they have 12 albums – I have only really listened to 3 of them) were performed in a very different fashion than what the band had recorded which made it more interesting for me. I like it when bands change it up.
Last week I nearly fell asleep at Thursday night’s Rural Alberta Advantage show so I had a post-work nap today and was much more lively tonight. I’m going to do the post-work nap for all the upcoming weeknight shows.
On the subject of napping, I’m going to bed.
Rural Alberta Advantage, a band I haven’t listened too very much but Reilly and the gang like, rocked out at the Venue last night. Fun band, cool instruments (Moog bass pedal!) and an acoustic cover of Eye of the Tiger. Since that’s my all-time favorite song I was quite impressed.
I was sleepy though so I skipped out early to get to bed at a reasonable hour. I’ve started running again and between that and the gym visits I’m not much for missing my beauty sleep anymore.
What else have I done? Saw the brilliant B-movie splatterfest that was Hobo With a Shotgun! The title says it all. Only surprise was the George Stroumboulopoulos cameo. Loved it! Blood! Hobos! Shooting!
Also saw Limitless last weekend. Good film. Our friend Shanman had a cool wicked party that featured poetry readings. I picked a spicy Bukowski poem. There were some fantastic readings as well and we all passed around a copy of Ginsberg’s Howl.
So ya, you only get a quick hilight reel this month :) Tomorrow I’m hiking up the Chief with Sharon. So I should get some more beauty sleep. G’nite!