Mr. Don Garber, MLS Commissioner, you will be doing football a great injustice if you do not award Montreal an MLS franchise. They have proved that they are a solid franchise, albeit in the second tier of the football pyramid in North America, the USL. Regardless, the Montreal Impact regularly sell out their home games (13,000) and they have now shattered that record by playing in front of 55,000+ rabid Montreal fans at the Olympic Stadium for the first leg of the quarter-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League. It would be sad to see another potential lame duck American applicant such as Miami or Atlanta, or even Ottawa, be awarded a franchise before a city like Montreal that truly deserves one. The Saputo family built it, and the fans did come…in droves, and they keep coming. Last night’s Champions League match in which Montreal beat Mexico’s Santos Laguna 2-0, proved that Montreal is deserving and has the infrastructure in place to make this a successful franchise for the long haul. This will also bring about another great rivalry between two cities, Montreal and Toronto, that already exists in other sports; Leafs vs. Habs, Argos vs. Alouettes. I’d love to see the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC battle it out four times a year. It will not only be a battle on the field for three points but also in the stands, as both teams have insanely rabid supporters. I can hear the chants, the singing, and the screaming already. Mr. Garber and distinguised members of the MLS board, please wake up and take notice of where the beautiful game flourishes. Do not make the same mistakes that Gary Bettman has made with the NHL by awarded NHL franchises to non-traditional cities and markets where hockey has no marketability. The MLS is still a relatively young and developing league and we need healthy franchises to continue to grow this beautiful game in the US and Canada. Montreal is a diverse and beautiful city, a marketable city, a passionate city, a city that supports its sports teams. It’s about time they are welcomed into the MLS fraternity.
If you didn’t see the game, check out the clip below.
I love the spontaneity of live music. The concert experience still excites me to this day and even though I’ve been to hundreds of shows and work in the music industry I can honestly say that I’m not completely jaded. The possibility of seeing something new, something groundbreaking, something inspiring, continues to fuel my desire to keep coming back to those sacred rooms we call the bar, the club, and the concert hall. It’s a participatory event in which we demand the best from a set of musicians who in turn demand our full attention and enthusiastic energy. I’m not saying that every concert invokes such great euphoria but for the most part I’ve seen and been a part of some really great concert experiences that will live with me forever.
Now strip that concert experience down, strip away the studio effects, add a band and a small video camera and what you got is the one heck of a blog site. There is a blog that I’ve been obsessed with for some time and I had to share. The site is called The Take-Away Shows (Les Concerts a Emporter) and the idea behind it is to film “fairly popular” indie musicians performing on the streets of any city around the world playing one of their songs off the cuff, no rehearsals, first takes, mistakes left in, crowds or no crowds…all in the spirit of captured one truly unique beautiful musical moment. Please go visit it if you haven’t already and I dare you to tell me that this isn’t a great idea and site.
This is a little story, a life lesson if you will, about how a mobile company can fuck you if you aren’t careful!!!
It turns out roaming DOES in fact cost a shit load of money and if you aren’t mindful of your usage you may run into this situation. Lisa, my co-worker, got a call from Rogers today claiming that my mobile usage was unusually high and it was primarily used in Italy. Well according to Rogers I had used enough data and minutes to rack up our company bill to $10,000….HOLY FUCKING DONKEY DICKS! Apparently that was only my share of the bill. You see, Ryan, another co-worker of mine, and I recently went to the MIDEM Music Conference in Cannes, France to do some business and post conference decided to take a couple of days to chill and visit Italy where we checked out Cinque Terra. I’m well aware of roaming charges, but unbeknownst to me, I was accumulating some serious charges by what seemed to be infrequently checking emails or maybe sending a text here or there. The funny thing is I barely used my phone while in France and Italy since, as those who own iPhones know, the battery is terrible and dies within the hour. That’s why the obscenely high amount was really strange to me. Lisa finishes her heart pounding call with Rogers and comes out of her office half flustered, half painfully smiling, “HOLY SHIT SERGE YOU ARE SO LUCKY”. Before any explanation of that statement was made to me, the news that I accumulated almost $10,000 worth of charges during my trip to MIDEM and Italy came from Lisa’s face. My stomach almost exploded out of my mouth. The prospect of me having to pay such a gross amount of money back to the company on top of dealing with my own personal debt, was not something I was seemingly looking forward to…who the eff would. Alas, there is a happy ending to this monetary nightmare. Lisa miraculously managed to get those charges removed from our account and essentially got Rogers to wipe the slate clean. I don’t know how she did it but thanks to Lisa I basically averted a premature midlife crisis! By the way, did I tell you I sold my iPhone just yesterday? Welcome back Blackberry!
At MIDEM at our Canada Stand after the Obama inauguration!
It’s very rare that I actually sit down and watch a full late night talk show program simply because the ubiquity of these programs don’t lend themselves to providing original material on a nightly basis. Well, February 11, 2009 surely proved to be the night to tune into the Late Show. Tonight Joaquin Phoenix, formerly known as child actor Leaf Phoenix, brother of River, and other siblings with nature like names, made an appearance on the show to promote his movie “Two Lovers” which will presumably serve as a book end to his acting career. Joaquin has publicly stated that he is abandoning his acting career to pursue….hold on to your gold chains because this is original, a “MUSIC CAREER”. Not just a music career, but a hip-hop career. Are you shitting me? Is Joaquin playing an elaborate joke on all of us? I’m not going to debate the fact that entertainers don’t know when to draw the line when making career choices, but Joaquin has some serious acting cred and he’s leaving all that to take a crack at beats and rhymes. Are you speechless yet? Video has also surfaced of him stumbling through his fledgling “rap” performances, slurring his “rhymes” and even falling from a stage flat on his face.
On tonight’s program Joaquin appeared to be either stoned, drugged, mildly retarded or all three, while giving incoherent one word answers, appearing agitated with Letterman, Paul and even the crowd. During many points in the interview Letterman attempted to be cordial and polite but Joaquin continued to offer nothing but monosyllabic answers to his questions. Letterman’s only recourse was to relentlessly and unsympathetically mock him during the interview.
Rumour’s are already floating on the web that this was all staged (ala Andy Kaufman) for his documentary being filmed by Casey Affleck (A documentary about Joaquin leaving the acting world to pursue a music career), but I fail to see anything close to acting in this segment. I saw a sad human being who looked like a hobo crackhead in withdrawal. He’s so twitchy and aggravated throughout this interview that if this interview is genuine it is nothing short of a trainwreck. Even though this clip is extremely painful to watch and it’s more awkward than an episode of The Office (UK), it is also one of the funniest moments I’ve seen on Letterman in a long time at the expense of MC Phoenix.
Over a year ago while on tour with Bedouin, Eon showed me this video for “Us Placers” from Child Rebel Soldier, a supergroup of sorts consisting of rap artists Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. If having those three artists featured on the single weren’t enough to create internet buzz, the prominently featured main piano loop and vocal sample from Thom York’s “The Eraser” makes this song a quadruple threat. Though the group have never commissioned a video for this song, the video below, which was produced and directed by Vashtie Kola, caught the eye of Kanye West who went on to praise it on his blog.
*NOTE: I originally posted this on my Facebook page but have since edited it slightly for this post.
The idea of a Top 10 List is a little ridiculous. We all need and want different things from music; it is the soundtrack to different moments in our lives. Therefore opinions will vary from person to person. And with the vast array of music available to us, there is and was certainly lots of it to keep us company and fulfill our every need. That being said Top 10’s are fun and provide opportunities for people to explore and share musical ideals. Year end lists also allow us to open doors to new music for our friends who may love something completely different and vice versa. I’ve always been a huge music fan/nerd and love a lot of different types of music (new country and any Idol programs don’t count), I’m also a music snob…and with those polar opposite views, here is a glimpse into my soundtrack for 2008.
TOP 10 of 2008 (in no particular order):
1. Kings of Leon ‘Only By The Night’
2. TV on the Radio ‘Dear Science’
3. Bon Iver ‘ For Emma, Forever Ago’
4. She and Him ‘Volume One’
5. Fleet Foxes ‘Fleet Foxes’
6. The Gaslight Anthem ‘The 59 Sound’
7. Polar Bear Club ‘Sometimes Things Just Disappear’
8. Torche ‘Meanderthal’
9. Arkells ‘Jackson Square’
10. Constantines ‘Kensington Heights’
There were tons of albums I never got to listening to yet, and I’m sure I’m missing some gems from this past year, but here are some other albums that got me dancing…at least in my mind grapes!
HONOURABLE MENTION:
City and Colour “Bring Me Your Love”
Glasvegas ‘Glasvegas’
Bison B.C. “Quiet Storm’
Kanye West ‘808s and Heartbreak’
Sigur Ros ‘Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust’
Lyyke Li ‘Youth Novels’
Russian Circles ‘Station’
Young Widows ‘Old Wounds’
Thrice ‘The Alchemy Index – Volume 1-4′ (2007, 2008)’
Thrice ‘Live at the House of Blues’
The Gutter Twins ‘Saturnalia’
Anathallo ‘Canopy Glow’
Black Mountain ‘In The Future’
Ours ‘Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy)’
Muse ‘HAARP’
The Walkmen ‘You & Me’
Death Cab For Cutie ‘Narrow Stairs’
MGMT ‘Oracular Spectacular’ (I know this was late 2007, but…)
Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida…’
Santogold ‘Santogold’
The Roots ‘Rising Down’
The Bronx ‘The Bronx’
Sebastien Grangier & The Mountains ‘Sebastien Grangier & The Mountains’
The Sword ‘Gods of the Earth’
Meshuggah ‘obZen’
The Mars Volta ‘Bedlam in Goliath’
My Morning Jacket ‘Evil Urges’
The Hold Steady ‘Stay Positive’
Plants and Animals ‘Parc Avenue’
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals ‘Cardinology’
Vampire Weekend ‘Vampire Weekend’
Common ‘Universal Mind Control’
Estelle ‘Shine’
Adele ‘19′
Elbow ‘The Seldom Kid’
Beat Union ‘Disconnected’
Paper Rival ‘Dialog’
Make Do & Mend ‘Bodies of Water’
Bridge & Tunnel ‘East/West’
Q-Tip ‘The Renaissance’
The Loved Ones ‘Build & Burn’
Jamie Lidell ‘Jim’
Eli “Paper Boy” Reed ‘Roll With You’
Chad VanGaalen ‘Soft Airplane’
Underoath ‘Lost in the Sound of Separation’
GUILTY PLEASURES:
Rihanna ‘Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded’
Katy Perry ‘One of the Boys’
TI ‘Paper Trail’
Girl Talk ‘Feed the Animals’
Panic at the Disco ‘Pretty Odd’ (such a Beatles rip off but a fun record)
LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW ALBUMS IN 2009 BY:
Mute Math
Mew
Wilco
Cursive
Pearl Jam
Bruce Springsteen
Muse
Malajube
Tom Waits (I really hope so, and a tour in Canada)
Propagandhi
Deftones
Jaga Jazzist (I can wish, can’t I)
COMING SOON IN 2009 FROM DINE ALONE RECORDS:
Attack in Black “Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) – Mar 10
Bedouin Soundclash “Where Have The Songs Played Gone To EP – June 16
Hunter “4″ – June 16
Alexisonfire “Old Crows / Young Cardinals” – June 23
Moneen “New Album – TBA” – September 15
The Living End – Aug/Sept 2009
Children Collide – Aug/Sept 2009
Bedouin Soundclash “New Album – TBA” – Spring 2010
Last night I attended my friend Aaron Solowoniuk’s (drummer, Billy Talent) charity art show called CUT TO THE DRUMMER in support of F.U.M.S. (Fuck You Multiple Sclerosis) and MS Scholarship Program. As some of you may or may not know, Aaron has MS yet has never let that interfere with him being able to tour and record with one of Canada’s biggest bands. He has also been on a mission of sorts for the last few years, raising funds for research and awareness of the disease; last night was proof positive of his endeavours.
The event was well attended and the art on display for auction was really good…for the most part. But honestly the price tag of most of these pieces were too rich for my poor ass, even if it was a charity art show. Regardless it was pretty amazing to see the support the show received.
Later in the night, Janet, Aaron’s wife, was looking for all the drummers in the venue (Steam Whistle Brewery House) to perform drum jams on stage. I’m having a beer with another friend unaware that any of this may happen, and I get a tap on the shoulder from Janet who asks me if I wanted to play. I got to be honest, I haven’t played in a band setting in years and I got really nervous when she asked me. While I was still debating the request in my head, Aaron comes over and asks me to play as well and coaxes me to get up there. We start making our way over to the stage, and Aaron introduces me to Dave from Simple Plan (trust me, I’m not a fan of their music) and asks him to play as well. I started thinking, but he’s a bass player, does he really have any chops…drum lingo people, keep up. So we get up there, after setting up some kits, and Aaron and Dave start off the drum jam. They play for a bit and then Aaron calls me up. Dave and I pick a beat to groove on and then we were trading fours for about a 15-20 minute jam. I’m nervous and not very confident in my playing abilities at this point. The two beers I just had prior to playing weren’t really keeping my nerves in check but after that moment of “oh shit, I actually gotta play something” passed I completely let go and got into it. I had so much fun playing again in front of people. And Simple Plan Dave, who’s suppose to be a bass player, holy shit, what a wicked drummer.
Playing last night made me miss live performance so much that I gotta start looking for a band again. After getting great feedback from people I had never met before and even friends who had never seen me play, my enthusiasm and love for the kit was reinvigorated.
I wish I had a photo to post but all I got is a ticket stub.
Here’s the set up; Last August I went on vacation to Portugal where I have a lot of family and my parents have a summer apartment. I had brought two of my friends over to the motherland to experience our beaches, see the sights, devour the food, and introduce them to our culture. We have roughly 15 days to take this all in. I had warned said friends that my relatives will be adamant in their attempts to schedule a dinner or dinners with a blatant disregard for the lack of time we have there to do our thing. That’s not saying I don’t love to hang out with my relatives that I haven’t seen in two years, I’m just saying that I have a pushy family. That said, us pork chops are a welcoming bunch and my family welcomed my Canadian friends Pat and Jen with open arms and got along with them right from the get go.
Anyway, moving along…we’ve been in our small town of Vagos for less than a day, and quicker than you can sneeze, we had scheduled three different dinners all within a span of a week and within the same family; one at my aunt Octavia’s house, one at my cousin Fernando’s house, and one at his sister Carmen’s house.
Scheduled dinner night at my aunt’s house rolls around and we had spent the day at the beach and shopping in the big surrounding city of Aveiro at the Forum mall. I gotta break from the story quickly to mention that it’s very disrespectful to be late for a scheduled dinner at a Portuguese house. And those that know me, know that I’m not always the most punctual person you are going to meet. I forget what the circumstances were but we were going to be late and we rushed back to my apartment to get ready to go to dinner. We get to the apartment, empty the car of our beach gear and shopping bags and rush into the building. All of us are overloaded with stuff walking towards the apartment building. I have my apartment and car keys hanging dangerously loose off my finger with all this other crap in my hands. Again, I gotta preface this next part with the fact that those who know me, know that I tend to lock my keys in the car quite often or lose them mysteriously to later find them say under a bed. It’s safe to say I have no luck with keys. So we approach the elevator, the elevator door opens, we’re gonna be late, and I’m somewhat anxious at this point, and what happens next completely shuts down any sort of logical response mechanisms in me.
Those keys that allow me to drive a metal box from point A to point B, those keys that allow me to enter into my apartment, slip from my finger and fall into the tiniest of cracks between the elevator lip and the foundation of the floor and down to the bottom of the elevator shaft. Rage consumes me…and what do I do…I wind up like a crazed boxer throwing a jab at his opponent and punch a solid brick wall. I know what you are thinking ladies…WOW…what a catch. Not sure who’s IQ was lower on this day; mine or Bush’s. Right away I knew I broke something in my hand but the anger that fueled my rage didn’t allow me to register any pain.
I had to call my cousin and explain why we were gonna be late and the stupid series of events that brought us to this point. He laughed, we called the building manager who luckily only lived about 10 minutes away, and she came to the rescue to retrieve the keys from the elevator shaft.
It was only when we finally showed up at my aunt’s house that the pain started to kick in. While greeting the men in the family with handshakes the pain of performing that simple gesture confirmed that I had obviously broken some part of my hand. This certainly wasn’t a proud moment for me. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to let this rash act of stupidity ruin my vacation so I waited to get back to Canada to check out my hand to confirm whether it was broken or not.
Finally, what you see below is a picture of me at the Dine Alone office coming back from the hospital visit where my stupidity, and “fractured hand” were confirmed by a professional doctor and well rounded human being.
Jokes were made and to this day I keep my disgusting blue cast to remind myself to breathe next time and never get into a fight with a wall. 10 times out of 10 a wall will win.
I’ve been toiling with the idea of starting a blog for a while. This vacuous hole we commonly refer to as the Internet is already inundated with a plethora of social commentary that what would be the point of me starting another page of empty dialogue. Honestly, I don’t know or care, I just like to write but over the course of the thinking about, the plotting, and the procrastination, the idea of starting to share over the interweb got pushed to the bottom of the to do list. Fast forward to today and the desirable time of 3:30am and voila…I have created a forum for me to write about anything I so wish to write about. I couldn’t decide if I should just stick to music, which is my niche, but limiting myself to just that world would honestly be boring. There are so many things I enjoy talking about that I decided this blog will also be a place to share my thoughts and views on anything from music, film, sports, photography, food, comedy, concerts, drums, videogames, and anything else that may interest me along the way. ..perhaps politics?
