Last night’s Pernice Brothers/Tyde show was just the thing to remedy what had been a pretty frustrating day. The Tyde, which consists of members from Beachwood Sparks and drummer extraordinaire Ric Menck (Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush), played a good if overloud set of California-fied pop, much more upbeat and less spacey and countrified than the Sparks, but still in the same general zip code. A shame about the volume though, it robbed them of a lot of the dynamics that would have benefitted their set. Either way, they still got a good enough response from the crowd to come back for a one-song encore.

There was a much fuller house for Pernice Brothers than their last time through – I was able to watch that show from a table off to the side of Lee’s. This time, I needed to get right up front to get a good view. Besides allowing me to get some good photos, I was also able to stare in awe at Peyton Pinkerton (best name ever!) on lead guitar. The man has crazy chops and is such a tasteful player in the context of Joe’s songs, it’s just silly. And he actually has more pedals than me! The set was well-balanced with material from the three Pernice Brothers albums, with some Big Tobacco and Chappaquiddick Skyline material added in the encores. Highlights included the blazing cover of The Pretenders’ “Talk Of The Town” and the New Order-channeling “Sometimes I Remember”. Though usually stacked with Canadian content, the band was missing locals Mike Belitsky and future Mrs Pernice Laura Stein. But since Joe will soon be Canadian by marraige, we’ll forgive that. The absence of a merch table was disappointing (I will have to wait to get that “I Hate My Life” t-shirt, I guess), but that was a very minor complaint on a great and inspiring show.

Belle & Sebastian’s new long-player, their first proper album since Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant, is entitled Step Into My Office, Baby and comes out September 9. The title is thought to come from conversations overheard while Stuart Murdoch was interviewing cellists to replace Isobel Campbell.

The legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio is up for grabs on ebay.

The official word on the Television reissues.

Some photos from Lake Holiday’s show this past Monday.

np – Pernice Brothers / Yours, Mine & Ours

Want to conduct an educated boycott? Find out what records have been released through members of the RIAA and which haven’t. Of course, I fully expect those who download albums with the rationalization that they’re boycotting the RIAA to come up with a new excuse to download albums that aren’t released by member labels. From Traveler’s Diagram.

Top floor of Eiffel Tower on fire. French surrender.

Everytime I see a banner ad for Classmates.com at the top of my screen, I swear to God the picture they’re showing is a guy I used to go to high school with. No shitting. But ironically, I’m not interested in getting in touch with him…

np – Tobin Sprout / Let’s Welcome The Circus People

Richard Lloyd has a bit to say about the upcoming Television reissues.

The Superchunk DVD Crowding up Your Visual Field will be released November 4. It features every ‘Chunk video from No Pocky For Kitty through Here’s To Shutting Up as well as a tour documentary, live footage and all sorts of other goodness.

In related DVD news, I finally got my copy of Standing In The Shadows Of Motown from Kyle. Now when I’ll get a chance to watch it, I don’t know. This week is already crazy-go-nuts with shows and trying in vain to catch up on sleep.

I dropped off the lease and cheques for my new apartment yesterday – got a cute girl to witness it as well. I guess I can stop hedging and start thinking of the place as mine. It’s pretty exciting, I gotta say. For locals who might know where I’m talking about, the place is on Madison Ave about midway between Bloor and Dupont (Madison being the N-S street one block east of Spadina). It’s a basement in a 100-year old home, but a big basement with high ceilings and decent light and in really good shape. I will probably be moving in the last weekend of August and taking the first week of September off to get my house in order – literally. I have the most exciting vacations, don’t I?

np – Wheat / Hope & Adams

Post-mortem of last night’s show:

The Good – Elephant Micah, all the way from Richmond, Indiana, were really good. Nice blend of Varnaline, quiet Sebadoh and Son Volt – wonderfully laid back midwestern folk, too. I happily bought one of their CDs. We were also pretty good, especially in light of the 10-month layoff since our last show. I made a few gaffes, some a little obvious, but I’m allowed. The cello sounded very good and there was a tightness that had been rather fleeting in rehearsals. Good stuff. Also, a better than expected turnout for a rainy Monday night, especially since many folks decided to wait for the Wavelength show on August 3 to show their support. I got to see some friends whom I haven’t seen in upwards of a year and a half for whatever reason. Also nice to meet some folks – namely Graig and Carla – whom I’d only talked to through blogs and email before. Thanks for coming, guys.

The Bad – The first band cancelled, or more accurately, we figured they cancelled when they just didn’t show up. The ‘promoter’, whom none of us had spoken to or even knew was involved with this show, who a) took over the door, b) jacked up the price of admission when he saw it wouldn’t be a huge crowd (my sincerest apologies to everyone who had to pay $7 to see just two bands) and c) disappeared with all proceeds from the door before we finished our set. The next hour was spent hassling the management at the club to try and find the guy, as they had no idea where he was either.

The Ugly – We were ready to open up a case of Happy Tree Friends on the promoter when he was finally tracked down at another club. Since he said he was coming straight back to settle up, it let the rest of us haul the gear back to the rehearsal space. I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 (see previous post) and got up at 6:30. Needless to say, I am not terribly awake or alert this AM. Also filed under ‘ugly’ is my right index finger. Trying to draw blood while hammering away on your guitar may seem like a good idea at the time, but it’s really not. And I didn’t even manage to do it – just a nasty blister.

So after a long layoff, we’re back into the live performance end of things and it feels good. We need to get some more material, continue rearranging some of what we’ve got and figure out how to get shows while working around the asshole factor that seems to be endemic to the club scene here in town. I begin to understand the kvetching that goes on with bands around here.

There are some pictures from last night that’ll go up here and on the Lake Holiday website when I get them processed, probably tonight. And by “processing” digital camera shots, I mean photoshopping our heads onto Whitesnake’s bodies.

np – Elephant Micah / Your Dreams Are Feeding Back

I have to be up in four and a half hours. I’m really hungry. And sweaty. And tired. And while the show itself went okay, the associated bullshit around the show – namely GETTING PAID – has been shit. We left Brad at the club at 1AM with the other band to try and collect our share of the door while gear was humped back to the rehearsal space. Hopefully it’ll all get sorted out and we’ll get our money. Welcome to the world of show business, I guess.

I will report more tomorrow.