Adios 09!

What a great year to be a Canadian music fan! Here is my best of 2009 list:

1 Years: Years
2 DMST: Do Make Say Think
3 Apostle of Hustle: Eats Darkness
4 Metric: Fantasies
5 The Happiness Project: The Happiness Project
6 Bahamas: Pink Strat
7 Gentleman Reg: Jet Black
8 Tegan and Sara: Sainthood
9 Timber Timbre: Timber Timbre
10 Amy Millan: Masters of the Burial

The lack of international artists is not intentional - this is my honest assessment of the year that was. And I have rethought my whole “I’m a Torontonian who doesn’t LOVE Toronto” sentiment – if great art is not a good enough reason to be proud of and in love with Toronto I don’t know what is.

Best of 09

The Shit

Everyone should know this chic. Listen and be jealous (I certainly am).









By the way - her name is Tal Wilkenfeld and she is 23 years old and did not start playing until she was 16. Like I said - jealous. . . life ain't fair man.

Borq borq borq

So when I was growing up, kids TV was AWESOME (even though at times politically incorrect and wildly inappropriate for kids). I am longing for a time when life was simpler and this was my solution . . . After spending yesterday evening watching classic Muppet Show clips of the Swedish Chef, at 11:45 pm as I was singing along with the 'borq borq borq' part of his theme song, I decided that I was cut off and should call it a night.










Saved the best for last:

Sucky day

Becase Amy's voice saved my sanity today, and because I am hoping that as usual, the Whitey show tonight will inspire me - listen and be saved and inspired.

Wish I had been there

Don't know if anyone else knows about this, but last Thursday and Friday night the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a humongous concert that boasted a lineup so huge they needed 2 nights to fit everyone in. After having seen the videos and heard the collaborations, I would have sold all my internal organs on the black market to be there. Seriously? The list included appearances from Tom Morello, Billy Joel, CSN, James Taylor, Mick Jagger, Simon & Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Patti Smith, John Fogerty, Sam Moore, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Beck, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Rait, U2, Sting, and John Legend. On Thursday the 'House Band' was The E Street Band and on Friday it was Metallica. I have scoured the web to find footage and audio of whatever I could and this is the result. Some of the audio is sketchy (in particular the Simon & Garfunkel stuff), but I'll take whatever I can get. Highlights for me were Metallica and Lou Reed doing Sweet Jane, Tom Morello and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band with Steven Van Zandt on vocals covering London Calling, Jeff Beck's guitar solo in Superstition and Metallica and Ozzy doing Iron Man. My ears are still smiling. I particularly love how Hetfield noted that when initially approached about the collaborations - his thought was that Metallica are not really a 'jamming' kind of bunch but they had put aside their reservations and gone for it anyway.
The one unfortunate finding is that despite the fact that everyone else sounded in fighting form, Art Garfunkel sounds like shit - he has lost it, which sucks cause he had an awesome instrument.

This is going on my list of Top 10 things I missed in life. Really - Lou effing Reed and Metallica - does life get any better?

A girl can dream

I hope I'm still this fuckin good at my job after I've been doing it for 30 years.

We used to leave the blue lights on

So it took me a few years to 'get' Metric. It wasn't until I saw them live for the first time during the Live it Out era that I fully understood what they were doing. This week, I was lucky enough to see Metric 4 times and I want to go back to the me I was years ago and say "What the hell do you not get?".

Massey Hall is by far Toronto's best live venue. Yes, being tall I get squished in the seats - but the acoustics make it more than worth the discomfort. Metric had 2 sold out nights at Massey Hall this week and the only word for it is brilliant. Not that all 4 members of the band are not ridiculously talented - but I think I have isolated the source of their brilliance, and it's Joules Scott-Key.

Following those 2 marvelous Massey Hall nights, I attended the CASBY awards (Metric won 2 by the way) where Metric played live. The actual awards were awkward for me for unrelated reasons, but Metric were the obvious stars of the night and their performance was, again, brilliant.

Last night I went to Hamilton to see Metric for the 4th night this week. Again, performance - brilliant, venue however - shitty. The Hamilton Convention Centre gives Toronto's Sound Academy a run for it's money as shittiest Ontario concert venue.

If you get a chance to see them on this tour - I suggest that you do, hell, I suggest that you do 4 times.

So by this point, I am exhausted and hating the fact that I do not posses the ability to sleep in. I am now going to attempt to go back to sleep, cross your fingers!


Combat Baby acoustic Massey Hall

FYI

Since this is my blog, I reserve the right to delete moronic comments on my posts. A blog is by nature, generally an opinion expressed by the author in written form. I have a major issue with people misunderstanding the definition of the word opinion. Growing up in my house, my opinion was always different from everyone else – and therefore perceived as wrong. By its very nature and definition an opinion CANNOT be wrong – it can only be yours or mine.

If you have a problem with my opinions, might I suggest you stop reading them. Do not make stupid comments on my blog, I guarantee you the only result will be that I will swiftly remove them. I quite enjoy hearing the opinions of others, so if you have one to share in a calm and rational manner with appropriate language, I would be happy to read it and invite you to leave a comment – if you cannot follow those rather basic rules of common courtesy, I have no time for your bullshit.

This ends my public service announcement.

Feel Great Lost

So if you've read any of my previous entries you may have noticed that I am a bit of a musicophile. More specifically, a Canadian (and even more specifically Toronto) musicophile. I am constantly amazed by the spectacular art that comes out of a city that I have lived in all my life and for the most part I am generally unimpressed with. There really is no other word for my relationship with Broken Social Scene than to call it an addiction, so I thought I would share the song that started it all. In 2002 I was in the passenger seat of a car in Scarborough with the windows open stopped at a traffic light when I was immediately struck by the sounds coming from the car beside us. Going against everything in my nature, I stuck my head out the window and asked the other driver what they were listening to. It was Last Place, and the rest, as they say - is history.

Last Place

You're shitting me right?

"Metric are the Nickelback of Canadian indie music." says Cameron Reed. As a Canadian who is a tireless supporter of all of the GREAT Canadian music that is out there, I am offended on so many levels by this comment. I do not include Nickleback on my list of great Canadian music, hell they're barely even music, let alone great. The best I can say about them is that at least they all actually play instruments. To compare Metric to such pedestrian fluff is like comparing Leonard Cohen to Avril Lavigne - it just don't fly.

Strangely, I am unable to find any of Cameron's 'music' online to listen to so that I can compare it to something equally as shitty as Nickleback.

Once again, I say that I hate it when stupid people review art, it's so ugly.




Excuse me while I head out to go and see Metric live at the Polaris Awards - which would be awards for great Canadian music, funny how Nickleback has never even made the long list for Polaris . . .

This is what cool sounds like

Everyone should be listening to Afie Jurvanen all day, every day. Dude has skills.

Caught Me Thinking

Already Yours

Yup

Most recent addiction

Being Here

That's it . . .

I have decided I'm just gonna change my name to Mrs. Benchetrit and see if I can get away with it . . .

The Assasination of Dow Jones

A word has not yet been coined to express how I feel about Ohad's music.

Wow

I have been addicted to this song lately - the video quality sucks, but if this song does not make you NEED to move you are dead inside.

Moving

Rarely would I say a commercial is art, but I make this exception. What a magnificent representation of all of the magic that goes on behind those doors.

Because I'm a girl . . .

So I get that I am addicted to a show that is marketed to 12 year old girls, but whateverthefuck. I don't give a shit. If this does not make you cry, you are not human.

Really . . . . .

I was going to wait until I was slightly less pissed at having missed this to say anything, but I can not. One of the very few benefits of living in Toronto is that I get to see more BSS than anyone. If you have read any of my earlier posts, you know that I have been waiting DESPERATELY to see 17 people on a stage again for a couple of years now. Not that the smaller BSS incarnations of recent years have not been fabulous and better than anything else out there, but I fucking loved the S/T era BSS when shows were a minimum of 15 people. So imagine my absolute frustration when I found out that my sister's friends decided that July 11 would be the perfect date for her surprise birthday dinner. Not that I do not love my sister and not that there was even any question that I would go - but because I went to that, I missed 19 fucking people on a stage. Not only that, according to the videos on YouTube - it may have been the best show in years, in particular, Anthems with all 3 girls looked absolutely magical. I can only hope that with the new album come more shows like Saturday night - I know, I'm delusional - let's just let me have that pipe dream for now so that I don't have to kill anyone.

Anyway, not much else to say about it other than that I knew my sister was going to be trouble the day they brought her home from the hospital 33 years ago - I told them to take her back, but no one ever listens to me!!!!

I guess this means it's time to grow up now huh?

Fellow Toronto music lovers and radio listeners have been dealt a swift blow today after learning of the death of Martin Streek yesterday. A veteran host at CFNY (yes, I refuse to call it the EDGE . . . I'm old skool) and a huge cultural significance to myself - his live to air shows from various Toronto clubs over the course of his tenure were the last remaining bright spot on an otherwise fairly abysmal local radio scene. He was my last and final reason to tune in to what was once a cutting edge (pardon the pun) media outlet, in recent years turned centrist, pandering, commercial enterprise. Martin was fired a few months ago after 20 years as one of the 4 (the other 3 being Strombo, Alan Cross and Booky) driving forces behind Toronto's local music scene receiving it's due airplay before all the Can-Con quotas. They truly made a lasting impression on the musical fabric of this city as well as on my personal musical existence.
Sadly, yesterday afternoon after posting what now seems ominously to have been his 'farewell' to the world on his Facebook page "So … I guess that's it … thanks everyone … I'm sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though) … Let the stories begin," , Streek ended his own life. He truly had one of the most distinctive voices in radio history, not just in Toronto and I have been hearing his voice echoing in my head all day - spooky. The one thing that keeps popping up in my mind is back in the day when Strombo still worked at CFNY and was the junior member of the team, Martin always referred to him as George Sloppydroopypants - silly, but I keep hearing him say it in my head and it makes me laugh every time.

I remember the first time I met and chatted with Martin in the mid 90's at a Live to Air show at the Phoenix - he was a force in any room. I have since run into him all over the city at various events, shows and clubs and he always had a smile and in most recent years even remembered me each time. I feel like my adolescence has just disappeared, time to grow up I guess. Cheers to ya Marty, listening to NIN and The Clash in your honour tonight brother. You will be missed.

**EDIT - new update:

So I have had to ‘justify’ my sadness over Martin’s passing to a few people over the past couple of days so I thought I would share here why I have felt so saddened by his passing.
I spent 2 years lying in a hospital bed when I was 17 years old. While my sister and friends were using fake ID to get into Martin’s Live to Air shows at the Phoenix on Saturday Nights, I spent 2 years of Saturday nights talking to a friend on the phone (he didn’t go to the Phoenix because I couldn’t go – never really thanked him properly for that . . .), both of us listening to Martin live from the Phoenix. Martin was the voice who made me feel, if only for a couple of nights a week, that I was not missing my ENTIRE adolescence. I met Marty the first time a couple of years after that and thanked him for keeping me up to date and being the voice of my sanity for those years, he was gracious to say the least. I have been running into him all over the city for over 15 years since then and he always had a smile and a wink. In the past 5 years or so he always sought me out when he saw me, and stopped to chat. So to those who have questioned why, I say – I get to feel sad about this because I just do – so there. I will be sure to give a smile and wink at the booth this Saturday. Cheers Marty.

Wayback machine

So I feel like I got in a time machine last night and went back to pre hiatus days circa 2005 ish. What an awesome night! Whitey, Kev, Charlie, Brendan, Sammmy, Liam, Lisa, Leslie, Cranley, Julie, John(!!!), Ohad, Jason, JP . . . epic night. The 6 new tracks were hot, they did some old faves: 7/4, Almost, Fire Eye'd, MLD and the elusive New Country (New Country people - haven't heard that live in about 6 years!), plus the oft heard (at recent shows) anthemic Meet Me In the Basement - new album promising to be stellar. With their new tracks they seem to be waving their indie flag pretty furiously, with less "excessive vocal reverb" and "stabby guitar delay" (yes, that was a dig at Pitchfork).

The AoH set was, as always, an adventure - different arrangements keeping everyone guessing, Jason's set with Zeus was hot in his totally cool way, and then there was the Happiness Project and Years. I don't think everyone in the audience quite understood the artistry of Ohad or Charlie as the DMST boys displayed their phenomenal 'art projects'.

The vibe of the evening in general was much like a high school reunion of sorts (espescially since I did actually go to High School with some members of the band) - like a return home after exploring what the big bad world had to offer and realizing that home is so much more magical than you had remembered. I would have liked to have put my life on pause so I could have replayed it over and over again, I'm seriously hoping it wasn't all a dream . . . and that tonight is equally as fantastic. Going to have a nap now cause I'm old and don't do 3:00 am well - espescially not when I have to do it a few nights in a row.

The Big Smoke

Gotta love Toronto in the summer!!!



This week:
Bell Orchestre
Phoenix
Apostle of Hustle (x3)
Happiness Project
Years
Jason Collett (x2)
The Most Serene Republic
Still Life Still
Zeus
Timber Timbre
BSS

Plus rumoured Feist

And, I'm only working half days this week so I will actually get to sleep in there somewhere!

Anybody know who the 'mystery artists' at Bovine are on Friday night or if By Divine Right is seriously playing Saturday night?

I Wish . . .

I have been listening to Stevie all day at work and have decided that I want a clavinet. I think next to his unparallelled vocal ability and his obvious talent at pretty much every instrument, the clavinet is the source of all his magical powers . . . man he's freakin awesome!

The Shit

There are some artists that just remind you why music exists . . . this week I'm all about the Ray LaMontagne. So simple, yet so beautiful.

Sorry . . .

Pardon the rant but FTW??? Pitchfork reviews Apostle of Hustle's Eats Darkness I have a few issues with this review:
1. 5.9??? Are ya fuckin kiddin me?
2. Whitey is self indulgent. Duh, have you listened to ANY of his other work or EVER seen him live?? Damn straight he's self indulgent, that's why we love him!
3. An "unremarkable voice"? No, the Jonas brothers have unremarkable voices.
4. Perfect Fit is dub? Um, not really, wrong again asshat.
5. Use of "excessive vocal reverb" and "stabby guitar delay". Um, again, have ya heard ANY of his other work or the work of ANYONE he works with? If ya have and ya didn't count on reverb or effects, you're a moron.

I hate it when stupid people review art - it's so ugly.

Blah . . .

Most days I really do believe I have the best job in the universe. Then, I go and see something like this and I realize that my job really sucks. I hate the 9 year old me who decided that because she was a girl she would not play the drums - oh how my life would have been different. Who the hell lets 9 year olds make life altering decisions anyway?




EDIT: And now that I have officially finished Stuart's Book (after reading each section about 12 times before moving on to the next section - it's THAT good), I think my life sucks even more. Boo hiss.

Spring is in the air

OK, so best day in a long time. In less than 2 hours I will have in my hot little hands THE book, I am going to see the Hip at Toronto's awesomest venue tonight and - oh yeah, then there's this . . . from JP's Twitter "departing for chicago in 29 hours. bss new record: activate."
Some days someone out there likes me a lot.

And why would I?

I just had an epiphany as I was telling someone what is in my stereo at home. I have a 5 CD system and there has not been a CD in the stereo that was not an Arts & Crafts artist since Bring Me Your Love occupied tray 5 for a few months back in Spring of last year. It should be noted that I count k-os as an A & C artist (might as well be). So a big thank you to BSS, Feist, Jason Collett, Charles Spearin, Stars, Ohad Benchetrit, DMST, Metric, k-os, Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew, Gentleman Reg, The Stills, Amy Millan, The Constantines and most recently AoH. I have to say - damn proud to be a music fan living in Toronto these days, lots of great Toronto art to be proud of.

I am however going to have to boot out an A & C artist for this in a couple months. But if I consider k-os A & C, I guess these guys are also honourary members so the run continues . . . can we make it 2010?

Sublime

I loved seeing Anthems with 4 girls on stage (rare, but I've seen it), but this is the most stripped down, etherial version of the song ever and it is made perfect by it's simplicity. Makes me wish I was a 17 year old girl . . .

Bring on the awesome

If you are not already listening to this, you should be. So far a great year for Canadian (cough Toronto) music!!!!!!!!

Uptown Girl

The shit

Just cuz I really miss this and Brendan eluded to them being back on the Olympic bill this summer but there has been no news at all about a date or lineup (usually there would have been something by now). . .

Sorry Metric!

So I was wrong and right all at the same time. Metric WAS my call for the favourite album of 09 - it has very quickly been unseated by Ohad. I had predicted that he would give them a decent run for their money and given that while listening to Ohad's album in entirety for the first time this morning - I closed my office door and was actually brought to tears, I think it is safe to say Ohad wins. The whole album is just beautiful, pretty, ethereal music with interesting and unique combinations of sounds and tones. I wish I could make art even 5% as magnificent as this, guess I will have to be content enjoying the fruits of his incredible labour.

Feel the love people!!!


**Edit: So it turns out that in the course of 2 work days you can listen to Years from start to finish 39 times. Just a little math trivia. Is it just me or does anyone else think that A Thousand Times a Day sounds like Deathcock?

Can't Let the Blind Go Deaf

Gold

The early bird catches the worm

So I know it's only the third week in March and a bit early in the year to make my call for best album of 2009, but I'm goin out on a limb and doin it anyway.


Stadium Love

****PS - I am looking forward to Ohad's attempt to unseat Metric in May.

This is a repost of a link that I posted a couple of weeks ago that was then delelted from Youtube and is my answer to those who did indeed have any questions as to why BSS . . .. This is the best video ever made in Toronto and add to it the fact that it is my favourite track off Something, it is just fabulousness all over the place!!

NO MORE!!

I need people to stop sendding me these things and tagging me!! They make my brain hurt! I am convinced a certain person is doing this on purpose just to drive insane.

This particular one took me over 2 hours to do. I clarify - questions 1-3 and 5-20 took me 5 minutes, question 4 took me over 2 hours. I need to let it go, so here are my answers.

1. Who is your favorite band/musician?
Duh – Broken Social Scene

2. What was your first concert?
James Taylor

3. What was the first CD/album/8 track/tape you bought?
The Game (Queen)

4. Who would be the musicians in your “ultimate super group?”
Hmmmm, this is a thinker. This particular group would have a really unique/weird sound, and would have to be a freakin humungous.
Vocals: Amy Millan, Dallas Green and Caleb Followill
Guitar: Whitey, Brian May, Lindsey Buckingham
Bass: Rick Danko, John Deacon
Percussion: Levon Helm, Justin Peroff, Taylor Hawkins
Keys: Chris Martin, Larry Gowan, Garth Hudson

5. If you could meet any music celebrity, dead or alive, who would it be?
Henry Rollins

6. If you could see any band/musician no longer playing, who would it be?
Easy – Queen (not the Paul Rogers version, the real thing).

7. What is your favorite music movie/documentary?
The Last Waltz

8. What band/musician/song is a guilty pleasure?
Musician: Gowan
Song: Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson)

9. Do you play an instrument?
Piano and flute, but sadly neither well enough to make it my life’s work.

10. Have you ever named a child or a pet after a song, musician or musical reference?
I had 2 goldfish named Freddy and Mercury as a teenager, but if I had kids, my daughter would be Ophelia (after the song by The Band) and my son would probably be Brian (after Brian May). My daughter wouldn’t stand a chance on the playground!

11. What or who was an influence over your love of music?
My dad, my first band teacher - Doug Manning.

12. What is the best concert you have ever seen?
How am I supposed to answer this? Can’t pick just 1, assuming that no one wants to read a list of Toronto BSS gigs, we will go with 3 categories.
1. Best: Broken Social Scene – Olympic Island 06
2. Most surreal: Stevie Wonder – ACC 07
3. Funnest: Kid Rock – Molson Amp 08

13. Have you ever missed work/school because of music?
Yup

14. Have you mistaken the lyrics of a song to be something other than what they actually were?
I’m quite sure I have, can’t think of any specific ones though.

15. If e-bay was the only place you could find a copy of your favorite song, how much would your maximum bid be?
I couldn’t put a price on a favourite piece of art, music is priceless. I’d go without food sooner than I’d go without music.

16. Is the ring tone on your phone a music download? If yes, what is it?
Yup – Windsurfing Nation (BSS)

17. What song title best describes you?
Feel Good Lost (BSS)

18. What was the last song you listened to?
4 3 2 1 (k-os)

19. What band/musician would you like to see be “the next big thing?”
I would not wish that fate on any artist.

20. If you could own any piece of music memorabilia, what would it be?
Levon Helm’s kit or Brian May's Red Special.

This is why. Any questions?

Cocaine Skin

25 Random Things

After all the time it took for me to do this on Facebook (thanks a lot Robin!) - I am gettin all the mileage I can out of this sucker.

1. People always think I am joking when I say that I want to be a Roadie when I grow up - but dude - I'm dead freaking serious.
2. I may have to start a 12 step program for my Nestea addiction.
3. I wish I was fluent in Spanish.
4. All of my favourite memories involve the same person. I met him when I was 9 and he changed my life.
5. The doll house my Grandpa built for Claire and I is the most beautiful piece of furniture I will ever own.
6. I would like to go to Spain.
7. I have many regrets.
8. Light switches and telephones baffle me.
9. I miss Elissa every day.
10. I am afraid of swimming in the ocean.
11. There are things about my life from 1992-1994 that I don't remember but my sister does.
12. I have 5 tattoos and am not done yet.
13. I wish I could sing - REALLY sing - not the sad facsimile that I subject children to on a daily basis.
14. I have had a reoccurring nightmare since I was young that while skating a child in hockey skates runs over my fingers with their skates.
15. I would pay money to learn how to sleep in.
16. I find most children's books far more interesting and funnier than adult fare.
17. I do not love Toronto, but I will never leave.
18. 15 years later I still need to leave the room to get away from the smell of oranges.
19. I hate socks and shoes.
20. I might actually have a heart attack if I ever lost my iPod.
21. I did not own a cell phone until my sister gave me one for Christmas a year ago.
22. I trust too many people.
23. There is something about strawberries that just makes me feel better.
24. I love cooking my Grandma's recipes.
25. 80% of the time I would rather talk to a 3 year old than anyone else on the planet - they're funnier and smarter than all y'all.

Holy fuck!

So this is mostly a rant directed at the College where I received my Diploma from and I will be nice enough not to include the name of said so-called post secondary institution.
I attended the Career Fair for students poised on the threshold of graduation which awaits them in a mere 3 months as a potential employer for the 5th year in a row. Half of the 30 teachers that are employed at my school are graduates of this particular insitution including myself a number of years ago. I like to think that I am a fairly reasonable person, however, I am absolutely disheartened at so many things that transpired this afternoon.
First of all - if I was attending a Career Fair - where I would be expecting to network and make connections with employers in my field of study, I would dress as though I was attending a job interview. I however am alone in that inclination - it seems that all of this years studens thought it OK to attend in tear away track pants, dirty sweatshirts and the very few males present even sported baseball caps. In a field of work that struggles every day to gain the respect and recognition of a society that sees us as glorified babysitters, what the hell were they thinking? Though the individual students do need to take responsibility for their own actions, I feel that the College let their student body down by not preparing them properly for the event in terms of encouraging them to present themselves in a professional manner.
Secondly, only about half of the students who approached our booth actually brought their resume with them. TO A CAREER FAIR!! How stupid can you possibly be? And honestly, if you are that stupud - no, you can't email me your resume tomorrow - you are not the calibre of teacher we are looking for.
Thirdly - if you are three months away from graduating with a College Diploma in Ontario - it should be a requirement that you can speak English well enough to string together at least one sentence - for example to inquire if we are currently hiring. I am not saying that everyone in the field has to speak English as their first language, but come the fuck on people - you are looking to work with young children acquiring language for the first time in their life - how hard is it to say "Hello, my name is ________________ and I was wondering if you have any positions available and if I could leave you with a copy of my resume?". That should be the minimum requirement, but sadly, even that was too much for most of the 'applicants' (I use that term very broadly) that even approached us. I hold the College entirely responsible for this shortfall - how is someone who can't even string together a sentence gaining acceptance to your program, let alone graduating after 2 years of study with you?
Which brings me to the fourth issue - most of the students walked by each employer's booth so quickly without even looking up, nevermind approaching us, asking questions about our programs or philosophy, or taking a look at the written material we provided. Frankly, they could not have looked less interested if you paid them.
How are we supposed to fight for professionalism in our field when these apathetic students are the only weapons available for our defense? I am ashamed to say that I am a graduate of this pathetic College and fear for the future of our young children if these are the feet at which they will spend their early childhood. What an embarassing display.
I think I'm finished now - apologies to those who read all the way through this - hope I didn't pass along the bad mood.

Addictive

Happiness is . . .

The best news I've heard in 2009!

Courtesy of Arts & Crafts
"The Happiness Project Live Dates Announced.
Charles Spearin, best known as long-time member of Toronto-based bands Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene, will bring The Happiness Project to life, in a select few engagements all in unique and intimate settings in Toronto, Montreal and New York this March.
Performing with Charles for these events will be: Ohad Benchetrit (guitar, sax), Dave Clarke (drums), Julia Seger Scott (harp), Michael Barth (trumpet), Leon Kingstone (sax), Julie Penner (violin) and Tania Gill (piano)."

Smack in the middle of Canadian music week, to be followed by Gentleman Reg and Young Galaxy - so far looking like a good week to be a Torontonian!

Classic nostalgia

Feeling nostalgic for when kids TV didn't suck.