Today was like that Kids In The Hall sketch where Kevin MacDonald is power-walking through downtown, list in hand, repeating “Got seven things to do today. Seven things to do”. I took the day off to get shit done, and by Jiminy, I was going to.

In no particular order, I paid off my Visa bill, bought RRSPs, bought a new computer, bought some tools at Canadian Tire, picked up my new guitar at Long & McQuade. A lot to accomplish in the span of four hours, but I did. And I won’t elaborate further since it’s of little interest to me, so I can’t fathom why anyone else would want to hear about it. The only salient points are that I get to pick up my smoking new computer tomorrow night and I spent all afternoon sitting cross-legged on my floor surrounded by tools, electronics components and guitar parts.

Most people, when they get something like a new guitar, will play it. Well, like most people, I did. Then, unlike most people, I then gutted the thing. Tore out the pickups, replaced the pickguard, installed the ones from the old Telecaster (which I also gutted) in the new guit, spent forever trying to get the wiring to do what I wanted it to, failed badly, gave up and restrung the thing as is, adjusted the neck, set the intonation, and then FINALLY got to play it for a bit. Sounds good, but I won’t be really happy until I figure out what about the wiring mods were not working. I took a couple pictures of the new and improved guitar, but am too lazy to process them right now. Maybe tomorrow, unless I’m spending the whole night getting the new computer configured. So much to do, so much to do. And I still have to rewire the Squier so I can sell it.

And my head hurts from sniffing solder all afternoon. Whoo.

And I’m going to Sleater-Kinney in a couple hours. I should eat. Or something.

np – Loose Fur / Loose Fur

I have found the girl of my dreams and her name is Gemma Hayes. Check out the ‘releases’ section for videos. Her debut album Night On My Side is released in North America on April 22. This fansite has far more content than the official one. A girl with a Telecaster is a million times sexier than every MTV diva mashed into one uber-skank.

WOW. A 1989 demo video featuring one Fred Durst. What this is a demo for, I have no idea, but with moves like that, he had to have won. Link from Large-Hearted Boy.

Ever wish you could have your own personalized action figure? Of course you do. Well now you can. I wonder how much extra it would cost to make my breathe fire and launch missiles from my stomach. Or transform into an M-1 tank or something. Or have karate-chop action at the very least. Link from Mark, who I have no doubt is counting his pennies so as to immortalize himself in swivel-arm battle grip form.

I don’t think clothing retailers have been outside lately – there’s almost nothing on their racks with sleeves. Did I miss a memo or something?

np – Rilo Kiley / The Execution Of All Things

Found this on a bulletin board – suggested anti-war protest sign slogans. Some of these I saw yesterday, others I wish I did:

– Drunken frat boy drives country into ditch.

– Bush/Cheney: Malice in Blunderland

– War begins with ‘Dubya’.

– Bush is proof that empty warheads can be dangerous.

– Let’s bomb Texas, they have oil too.

– How did our oil get under their sand?

– If you can’t pronounce it, don’t bomb it.

– Daddy, can I start the war now?

– Preemptive impeachment.

– Look, I’ll pay more for gas!

– He is a moron and a bully.

– It’s the stupid economy.

– Draft dodgers shouldn’t start wars.

– War is sweet to those who haven’t tasted it Erasmus).

– Different Bush, same @#%$.

– Stop the Bushit.

– Just war/just oil.

– You don’t have to like Bush to love America.

– Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld: the asses of evil.

– Stop the excess of evil [gives figures for the multibillion dollar defense budget].

– $1 billion a day to kill people — what a bargain.

– Consume -> Consume -> Bomb -> Bomb -> Consume -> Consume

– Smush Bush.

– America, get out of the Bushes.

– Don’t make me come back here [to a peace rally] again.

– Disarm Bush too.

– An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind (Gandhi).

– Mainstream white guys for peace. (Sign held by three mainstream-looking white guys)

– Let Exxon send their own troops.

– There’s a terrorist behind every Bush.

– SUV owners roll over for terrorism.

– We can’t afford to rule the world.

– War is so 20th century!

– 9-11-01: 15 Saudis, 0 Iraqis.

– While you were watching the war, Bush was raping America.

– Don’t waive your rights while waving your flag.

– Leave Desert Storm to the desert.

– Drop Bush not bombs.

– Sacrifice our SUVs, not our children.

– Bush is to Christianity as Osama is to Islam.

– I asked for universal health care and all I got was this lousy stealth bomber.

– 2 sided poster, one side has a picture of a chubby feline, with the words: GOOD FAT CAT other side has a picture of Cheney, with the words: BAD FAT CAT

– Colorfully dressed drag queen carrying a sign that says: I am the bomb.

– Picture of the peace symbol: back by popular demand.

– A picture of Bush with a red-stained upper lip: Got blood?

– A picture of Bush saying “Why should I care what the American people think? They didn’t vote for me.”

– A picture of Bush saying “Ask me about my lobotomy.”

– Beneath a picture of a menacing soldier pointing his rifle/bayonet toward the viewer: Say it! One Nation under God. Say it!

And some fine satire :

– Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction

– Gulf War 2 game

So stated the placard we conveniently found discarded outside the Eaton Centre en route to the peace rally which as far as I could tell, had no official name. Despite some dubious grammar, we decided to hang onto it, and if nothing else, it was very useful as a homing beacon amongst the tens of thousands of other marchers.

I’d never taken part in something like this, not normally being the activist-y sort, but despite the bitter, bitter cold it seemed like the right thing to do. And anyway, I had nothing better to do this Saturday except buy socks, and that was easily postponed till today. It was a pretty impressive mass of people, though being at ground level I couldn’t get a proper appreciation for the size of the rally. Newspaper estimates seem to range from 10,000 to 80,000 – Best I can offer is ‘lots’.

It was interesting to note how many causes were out in full force trying to piggyback their messages on top of the general ‘Don’t Bomb Iraq’ sentiment. ‘Less war, more beds for the homeless’, etc. All well-intentioned but curious nonetheless. The speakers were emphatic and sporadically inspiring, but had a tough sell to the crowd who either couldn’t hear or were anxious to get moving and get some blood circulation back.

It’s a pity that ShrubCo couldn’t have started beating the war drums a little closer to, oh, June or something, because the cold was really something to deal with. Before we even got out of Dundas Square, my feet were numb and I was thinking about cutting through the Eaton Centre and catching up with the protest later on. I didn’t, but I thought about it.

Observed along the march were:

– A single pro-war protestor camped out in front of the US consulate waving an American flag

– A whiter-than-white fellow in a turban screaming really unnecessary epithets at the police maintaing the perimeter around the consulate, with his small child, also sporting a turban, in tow. I have to think that this guy had some rage issues totally unrelated to anything political that need addressing.

– Small packs of shoppers along Queen St regarding the oncoming hordes of protesters with more than a little fear in their eyes.

We did make it all the way to Metro Square, and while I would have liked to have stuck around and listened to some more speakers, I was really concerned that all my toes were not accounted for, so it was off the the Black Bull for Coke and onion rings. Hey, I told you I’m not a hardcore activist.

Reading the reports from news sources around the world, and wrapping my head around the sheer numbers of people participating yesterday, I feel good about having been part of it. Not only because it’s always fun to be part of a mob, but because it helped allay some of the feelings of helplessness I’ve had about the whole rigmarole. A single person can be heard, if they have a few million other people alongside them.

Some news articles on the rallies worldwide:

CBC News : Canadians join global peace rally

Globe & Mail : Antiwar protests held worldwide

And my own pics from yesterday.

np – J Mascis & The Fog / More Light

So my list of music I want to get has gotten mighty small. Any sane person would take this opportunity to re-allocate that portion of their budget to cover other niggly little costs of living, like socks, clothes, food. Me? I’m downloading stuff from Epitonic like mad.

Last night’s Wavelength show was fantastic. First off, the new El Mocambo is unrecognizable from it’s previous incarnation. Well, that structural support beam right in front of the stage is still there, but everything else is unrecognizable. There’s a quite nice and well-lit front cafe area, and the main live music room is considerably larger, or at least the available space is. The stage is much wider and deeper… All in all, it’s an impressive facelift. Sound was pretty good as well. My only complaint would be the concrete floor. Unforgiving on the tootsies.

Anyway – the acts. First was Lederhosen Lucil, still as funny, quirky and adorable as ever. It remains to be seen how much mileage she can get from her schtick, but she’s definitely talented and a great performer. And she had trading cards at the merch table. How can you not love that?

+/- was ostensibly the reason I came to the show, Five Seventeen having berated me for missing them the first time through a couple months ago. Their main claim to fame is being half of New York City indie rock legends Versus, but they deserve to be known as an utterly brilliant live act in their own right. I deserve an Artie Fufkin-style ass-kicking for taking this long to come around. In my defence, their recorded material (I bought the CD there, duh) is more sedate and textured than the live readings – more electronics, samples and production – and while good, didn’t floor me the way they did last night. DAMN.

The Dirty Hearts were alright, mining a sort of cowpunk vibe, though they were undermined by some overly-harsh guitar tones and an unbalanced mix. My main impression was that I think the one guitarist bought his Telecaster from Songbird about three years ago. I know this because I saw that exact axe on their website at work one afternoon and actually took off early to try and snag it. But alas.

Atomic 7 is the new outfit from former Shadowy Man On A Shadowy Planet Brian Connelly. To my non-discriminating ears, the new band sounds a lot like the old one, which is awe-inspriring surf/rockabilly instrumental rock. The man is a six-string demigod.

I didn’t stick around for this week’s NOW cover stars Lullabye Arkestra, as my ears were sufficiently ringing and my feet hurt. Overall, that was probably the best Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had. I am definitely going to be attending more Wavelength shows, the sense of enthusiasm and hipster-yet-not-there-to-be-cool was contagious and refreshing. But as for us playing there… I realize these acts were the cream of the crop, trotted out for the anniversary show, but the level of musicianship on display was muy daunting. We’re nowhere near ready to play up to that sort of standard. But someday – soon, maybe even. Alls I know is I need to practice…

np – +/- / Self-Titled Long-Titled Debut Album