What to do . . .

So I am having a dilemma. I have been trying to get my sister out to a BSS show for years, and after the last time I saw them, she made a promise to me that the next time they did a local show, she would be there. I have recently been making inroads in converting her to the world of Arts & Crafts artists and was excited at the prospect of introducing her to the magic that is BSS live. So here comes the dilemma part of the story - they are playing a show in November, however, it is an all ages show at a crappy venue and it is part of Brendan's tour.
This is not the live BSS experience that I want to present to her!!! How do I turn back time to 2005 and take her to a show from that incarnation of the band? It's not that I think that the current line up is bad, but having seen BSS with as few as 6 and as many as 19 memners on stage, the latter is definately an experience that I think everyone should have and the one that I was hoping to present to her. I realize that the chances of a 19 strong show are slim to none these days, but I am torn as to if I actually want her to see this version given the size and material of the current tour or if I want to wait and hope that with the new album promised for next year, the lineup will be bigger and the touring material will be more BSS and less Kev and Brendan's solo work. I want her to see Cause = Time, Windsurfing Nation, Almost Crimes, Pacific Theme, Superconnected, Bandwitch, Anthems, Jimmy, MLD, Stars and Sons, Shampoo Suicide . . . oh, and did I mention that I wanted her to see all of this with at least 2 of the original ladies (Amy, Feist and Emily)? I didn't imagine that the first time I drag her out to a show that we would be fighting our way around high school kids in what is possibly Toronto's worst live venue. I am quite certain that the last time my sister saw Kevin with a bunch of high school kids, it was at our high school graduation. What is a girl to do?




THIS is what I want her to see!!

Who are you?

I am the bee.

Top 10: Volume 2

Top 10 quotes made by musicians (some from actual interviews, some just random ramblings)

"Too much information is a fucking bad thing. Go look at a tree, appreciate it." (Kevin Drew)

“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.” (Henry Rollins)

"For what you know and learn, you are responsible." (Stevie Wonder)

“Before you judge me, take a look at you.” (James Hetfield)

“If you sing, you will be heard.” (Raine Maida)

"What bands like Ministry and KMFDM did with industrial, that's what we're trying to regurgitate for you, only friendlier, and with less leather." (Brendan Canning)

"My life does not suck." (Tommy Lee)

"You can't be greater than Elvis, change things as much as the Beatles, or be as original as Led Zeppelin. All you can do is rip them off." (Billy Corgan)

"I just got an award given to me by a Beatle. Have you had that happen yet Kanye?" (Vince Gill)

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do." (Bob Dylan)

R.I.P 1983

Things I did this week:
-made dinner on the bbq 100 ft from the ocean almost every night
-read 2 entire books (both of which made me laugh at least once every 5 pages)
-went whale watching (MUCH more on this later)
-spent a day walking around Boston
-went to the Patriots pre-season opener game (American football fans are absolute lunatics by the way)
-slept in EVERY day (more on this later too)
-spent 7 entire days with my sister (also more on that later)
-discovered that THEY (whoever the hell they are) were right, you really can't go home again

So here is the fabulousness part of the week:
I went on vacation this week to the place where my family used to vacation when I was little. I probably spent at least a month each year on the Cape from the time I was 3 until I was about 15. I went back once after by myself with my grandparents when I was 18. This time, I went with my sister. As we started to cross the Sagmore bridge onto the Cape, the radio switched songs (by the way - Boston has a kick ass radio station - 104.1) and 'Today' by the Smashing Pumpkins came on, so as Billy sang "Today is the greates day I've ever known" I was in fact crossing over into my childhood - perfect. The trip was fabulous in many ways, it has been years since I spent that much time consecutively with my sister, and for that fact alone, the trip was magical. Also, on this trip I went whale watching. I don't think there is any way to explain my love for this activity. It was definitely the best day of my year and will most probably make the top 5 of the decade. There is nothing I find quite as exciting as hanging over the side of a large boat to get a closer look at a humpback whale. They are truly beautiful and majestic creatures and if I were the captain of the vessel, we would have just found a pod and followed them into eternity. Sadly, we did have to turn around and return to the harbour at the end of the afternoon.

I saw the carousel that we rode on Main St. in Hyannis, I saw some of the old stores that are still there, we went to what was our favourite restaurant when we were kids and ate a deliciously gluttonous meal, we slept late every morning (a feat I am completely unable to accomplish at home), we walked around the ridiculously fantastic homes of Hyannisport (including the Kennedy compound), I collected shells on the beach where we used to make sand castles, basically - we had a fantastic week.

Now the not so fabulous parts:
I went to the Cape looking for something. I went in search of my childhood. I naively expected that time would have stopped back around 1983 and that I could just go back and relive those summers spent with my family. I loved walking down Main St. and seeing the Army Surplus store that has been there since I was 3. I loved seeing the bike rental place along the side street that I remember my parents renting bikes for themselves and trikes (!!!) for my sister and I because we were so young, I was excited to see the kite store where we bought a kite each year to fly on the beach with my Dad - a kite that inevitably never made it back to Toronto with us because we invariably got it stuck in a tree or someone let go of the string . . ., then we were standing in front of what should have been the kite store and it was . . . an ice cream parlour. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against ice cream parlours, we even went there and got home made ice cream that was delicious, but I kind of needed it to still be the kite store. As we walked further down Main St. I saw that the grocery store was gone, the restaurant where we ate brunch on our way into town every time before even checking in at the cottage was also gone. Provincetown is an absolute zoo - it is completely touristy and not anything resembling the quaint artists community that it used to be. The beach we used to go to that we would have pretty much to ourselves had a 45 minute line up for parking. Basically - the quiet Cape Cod that not many people knew about in the 1980's is now a booming hotbed of tacky tourism. On the subject of tacky - what the hell was with all of the airbrush tat booths that seemed to be everywhere? Seriously???

I was hoping to relive all of my childhood memories with my sister. It turns out, my sister does not share my memories. She does not remember the day when we were walking up Sea St. and she fell and skinned her knee and the man who owned the general store came out and cleaned her up, the apartments at Main and Sea St. where we said we were going to live when we grew up, and that we always stayed in cottage 6A. I on the other hand, remember all of it - every last detail, which is kind of a double edged sword for a couple of reasons. The last time I was there was with my grandparents - both of whom are no longer with us, which made it hard to think about memories of that visit. Also, all of my memories of the Cape are so tied to my parents, whom my sister and I have not spoken with in years, making all of the memories somewhat bittersweet. And as we were taxiing on the runway preparing to take off from Logan airport in Boston to return home, I had my iPod on shuffle - which I rarely do because I always know exactly what I want to listen to, and Fleetwood Mac's 'Don't Stop' came on, it almost made me cry.

So the short version of this tale is the following: you CAN go home again, but when you get there, you will find that your home is no longer a kite store, it is an ice cream parlour. I have decided that I shall not return to the Cape ever again, because in as much as there were some things that were disappointing, it was a fabulous week and I would not trade a single second of it, enough things were the same that I was OK. But I feel that if I went back and even 1 more thing were different, it would break me. So I said my goodbyes to my childhood and all the memories that go with it as we drove towards Boston over the bridge on the way off the Cape - coincidentally - the Smashing Pumpkins 'Today' was also playing this time we crossed the bridge.

Oh - and after being delayed in Montreal for our connecting flight home to Toronto because of shitty weather here and once we finally took off 2 hours late, we circled Pearson Airport in the sky for 35 minutes waiting for a runway to land. So just as I was ready to be all "Home sweet blah, I just packed my childhood in a box and waved goodbye to it for the last time so fuck off people", we finally touched down and got in a car to come home - were there not 2 rainbows crossing the highway like arches? Mother Nature man - she's fucking awesome.

I did not mean for this post to be so long, but I needed to get some things out into the ether.

A side note - if you like any kind of music at all - you should read everything that Chuck Klosterman has ever written, he is fantastic and provided much comic relief over the course of the week.

Whales J (cuz I know you're reading this even though you're not supposed to be), whales!!

So tomorrow I leave for what will be my first 'real' vacation in 8 years and I could not be more excited about it. I am going back to where my family used to take holidays when I was little and fittingly, I am going with my sister. We decided that we wanted to revisit our childhood; walk in the same sand dunes, splash in the same tide pools, stay in the same cottages, go mini golfing at the same place, take the same ferry to the Vineyard, visit the same lighthouses, walk the same streets as we did when were younger. It has only been in the past few years that I have truly come to realize how freaking amazing my sister is and I truly regret that we were not closer in the past. Spending the week on the Cape with her is truly the best way I could imagine to spend my holiday and all I can say is that I hope that Stellwagen Bank is ready and the whales are well rested!!

Magic

So I am about to hit the road for the Hillside Festival and I have been having trouble containing my excitement over BSS, Jason Collett, Belle Orchestre, Islands, and Sarah Slean all in the same place!! What I am expecting to be the highlight of the weekend is the fact that Bourbon Tabernacle Choir will be reuniting (a bi-product of many of their members being there with their subsequent projects) for the occasion - a reunion 12 years in the making. I was too young to see them live before they disbanded mid 90's and I am looking forward to some fantatic vocals from Kate Fenner and Dave Wall and some killer Chris Brown Hammond action. Anyway - out the door and I leave you all with my 2 favourite Choir tracks. And yes, that is a very teenage Whitey you see.

Top 10: Volume 1

Since I have nothing monumental to say today, I thought I would let other people do the talking for once.

Top 10 most bodaciously awesome musical quotes not including the 16 bar one from my previous entry here because it's too damn long and not including the two I have tattooed on my body (“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.” Bob Marley, and “Life is waiting for you.” OLP), cuz otherwise I couldn't narrow it down to 10. Phew, I'm outa breath! **Please note, these are quotes that are contained within songs, quotes artists have said in interviews or in passing is an entirely different list for another day.

"They say size doesn't count, but my heart is a house." (Kevin Drew)

"Convinced our voices can't be heard, we just wanna scream louder and louder." (Queen)

"Welcome to the cruel world, hope you find your way." (Ben Harper)

"Music's the reason why I know time still exists." (Elisa Toffoli)

"May your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung and may you stay forever young." (Bob Dylan)

"Regret nuthin' move on I say fuck it." (Transplants)

“Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary.” (Carbon Leaf)

“Let me show you what I’m made of, good intentions are not enough.” (Chantal Kreviazuk)

“Live through this, and you won’t look back.” (Stars)

“Nature is a whore.” (Nirvana)

A bonus: "Did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts." (Floyd)