Fuck you.

Sincerely,

Frank

I feel some shame for not having seen That Thing You Do! before now. Naturally, I’m predisposed to enjoy a simple tale of a small-town pop band hitting the big time in the mid-60s, but I think it would be a solid if lightweight film, even without my bias. Tom Everett Scott is a dead ringer for a young Tom Hanks, it’s almost scary, and it says something that even after 1:45, I didn’t get tired of hearing the Adam Schlesinger-penned title song. The nameless bass player (officially dubbed “T.B. Player”) was a nice touch.

The Shortlist Of Music has released it’s list of nominees for 2003. With 86 nominees in the ‘long list’, it’s hardly an exclusive list – the 10 finalists will be named first week of September. My personal top 10 from that list would be Interpol, Kathleen Edwards, The Postal Service, Steve Earle, Spoon, Sigur Ros, Rilo Kiley and Radiohead. However, I am not a judge so no one cares what I think.

Speaking of Radiohead, my seats for the show on Saturday are 100 level, 3rd row. In other words, BETTER THAN YOURS. Ha. That was petty, I know.

The Rub is dead. Long live God’s Audio/Visual Aid. Welcome back, Paul.

William Shatner has a blog. Yippee-kai-yay. Link from Geekent.

Some more Ryan Adams info? The new album, RocknRoll Reverse is out Nov 4th, two Love is Hell EPs out in November and December at a list price of $5 a piece, and the box set of 3 records out next year. There will be a free EP with the purchase of the new album, limited to 20,000 copies. Tours of the US and Europe from October through December.

Support for Interpol’s Toronto show – and probably other dates on the tour – will be Montrealers-via-NY The Stills and locals Broke Revue.

The Dubya action figure. God, where does one begin with this? Now with swivel-arm economy-destroying grip? Push a button on his back and hear him utter one of twelve crimes against the English language? Special getaway car for dodging service in the National Guard sold separately? From Largehearted Boy.

np – Teenage Fanclub / Thirteen

I’m not sure what to make of this Soundscapes article from the Globe & Mail, though this, er FAN blog for the author of the piece does help put things into some perspective. This chick is clueless. From Les Yper Sound.

Neil Gaiman will be at the Chapters in the Paramount on Saturday, August 30 at 1pm to sign copies of his new book, The Wolves In The Wall.

Apparently Tiny Ninja Theater will make it’s Canadian debut this weekend at Harbourfront with its production of Macbeth. Shows are August 15 (7 p.m. and 10 p.m.), August 16 (4:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.), August 17 (2 p.m.). More info here. This looks way cool.

np – The Posies / Amazing Disgrace

I rented The Quiet American last night. A fictional account of Saigon during the last days of French rule and the start of US ‘intervention’, this film was one of the many artistic casualties of September 11, as its portrayal of American foreign policy wasn’t necessarily sterling. I didn’t think it was overtly critical either, but you can’t help but be a little bit cynical at the idealism and naivete of Brendan Fraser’s titular character – representing America itself, natch – given how history played itself out in Southeast Asia. Michael Caine is excellent as the British reporter who becomes entangled in Fraser’s mission as well as a love triangle involving Fraser and Caine’s young Vietnamese mistress. The film operates on many different levels – as a romance, political thriller, war film – that it stretches itself a little thin and while satisfactory, none of these levels is realized as well as they could be. Still, worth seeing. I particularly enjoyed the Viet Nam timeline offered as a bonus feature on the DVD – a good capsule history of the Viet Nam conflict from the 1940s through the 1970s.

Nada Surf and The Tyde will be playing a venue to be announced in Toronto on October 16. Both bands put out very good pop records this year, and it should be a good show. The Tyde did some serious damage to my hearing when they opened for Pernice Brothers last month, but I’ll travel prepared this time. I’m trying very hard to come up with some kind of ‘surf’ and ‘tide’ joke, but am drawing a blank. Tiny Mix Tapes had the pithy “Nada Surf Is Rolling In With The Tyde” for their headline. Man, talk about your missed opportunities. I will blame it on Monday morning.

Stop Canadian Change – truly a cause worth supporting. The FAQ is particularly inspiring.

np – Steve Earle / Jerusalem

Steve Earle will be releaseing a double live album on the 23rd of September as a companion to the forthcoming documentary on the man. Just An American Boy, The Audio Documentary will feature “some of Steve’s best loved songs along with some new favorites”.

As they promised in the Spring, Calexico are coming back to Toronto for a two-night stand at Lee’s Palace October 3 and 4 with Ireland’s The Frames as support. Feast Of Wire has become one of my favorite albums of 2003 and they’re supposed to put on a fantastic show, so I’ll be going to that… Did I say a little while back that my concert sked was awful sparse? Yeah, never mind.

Beggars USA has a track off the new Mojave 3 album for download. Listen to “Billoddity” here. Spoon And Rafter is out September 9.

The secret life of movie trailers. Interesting reading.

RIP to Gregory Hines. Running Scared was a great movie, and 57 is too young.

Since I donated my Traynor home guitar amp to the Lake Holiday cause, I’ve been amp-less at home. While I’m sure my brother and neighbours have been thankful, it’s been a little annoying for me, having to play through the amp simulator on my BR-532 multitracker using headphones. I’ve been resisting the temptation to go out and just buy another amp, since I still don’t have a bead on how much moving next month is going to cost me and I’d rather postpone any unnecessary purchases. Turns out a decent temporary solution had been staring me in the face all along. My BR-532 sits atop a little Fender bass amp, which doesn’t really do much of anything besides act as a stand. Well it just dawned on me that the Boss has a line out, and the bass amp has an input jack and pretty flat frequency response – wouldn’t that be just the thing for a fully-emulated guitar signal? Why yes it would. One cable hook up later, I’m audible again, at reasonable volumes! It doesn’t sound *great* – it doesn’t have much depth and is definitely not a tube amp, but it sounds pretty reasonable considering how jury-rigged it is, and it’s certainly good enough to get me through the next couple months until I can sort out my finances. Yeah, I know no one cares, but I’m pretty pleased with myself.

np – Metric / Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?