The Toronto Star ran this piece yesterday about what it’s like to be a youth in my hometown of Oakville, Ontario. I found the article abso-freaking-lutely hilarious, as the culture described is still as familiar and alien to me as it was when I was a bored-as-hell 19-year old Jokevillian a decade ago. Familiar because I know well what it’s like to drive aimlessly through the city looking for something – anything – to do. Driving from Sharky’s to Arnold’s to the Oar House to Philthy’s for no discernable purpose. Just killing time, really. Oh yeah. And it’s alien because, well, the folks profiled in the article were not the crowd I ran with, not even close. We weren’t affluent, though I won’t insult my parents by implying we were from the wrong side of the tracks or anything – we certainly weren’t. It’s just that by Oakville standards, well-to-do is REALLY well-to-do.

It’s funny that the girl in the article went to the same high school as me, because it was just that clique-y when I was there and I can probably tell you what clique she was in… God, the roles in high school never change, do they? Just the names and faces. I was one of the clique-less, I think. Unless geeks count as a clique… which they probably do. The Geek Clique. Dear Lord. The demographics mentioned in the article surprised me – 87% European descent and only 2.3% Chinese? That’s amazing because when I first moved there, there were a helluva lot fewer Asians than that. In high school the Chinese population seemed to increase exponentially as the influx of folks fleeing Hong Kong before 1997 began.

I’m surprised a single fluffy article in the Life section of the paper could spark such a wave of nostalgia in me. Actually, nostalgia is probably the wrong word – I have only the faintest yearning for my salad days, and that’s only because at that point I hadn’t quite fucked up my life yet. I don’t miss Oakville itself hardly at all, and it’s only hardly because most of my high school friends have stayed in the Halton region for reasons unfathomable to me (yeah yeah, cheap houses – they all own homes and I rent a basement. Thanks for reminding me). It’s true, you know. You can’t go home again – and for that I’m eternally thankful.

But enough about me – let’s talk about …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead – their new album is out September 21. This news comes on the heels of the announcement that bassist Neil Busch has left the band on account of poor health. They hope this situation is only temporary, but from the sounds of it his condition is fairly serious. Best wishes for his speedy recovery.

The worst-named band in the UK The Music will be at the Mod Club August 23, tickets $16. Have you ever tried to do a google search for “music”? Yikes.

Franz Ferdinand just won’t stop touring. The Mercury Prize nominees (and odds-on favourites) will be back in Toronto for a third go-around this year at an even worse venue than last time – catch them October 1 at The Docks, tickets $25. Apparently tickets were supposed to go on pre-sale through their website yesterday, but I can’t find anything about it.

VH1 has Tanya Donelly’s latest record Whiskey Tango Ghosts available to stream in its entirety right now. It hits stores official-like next Tuesday. From Stereogum.

The Washington Post has taken the time to catalog and document all the types of annoying concert-goers out there. Read these over and if any of these have EVER been you, hang your head in shame. SHAME. They did miss my personal bugbear, though – a local variant on The Stander. Namely, those three or four 6’4″ frat boy-looking guys who make a point of standing right in front of me no matter what show I’m at. What is that all about? What’d I ever do to you?

Scotsman.com reports on the amount of sex, drugs and booze that one can expect to go down in the Olympic Village in Athens this Summer. Apparently Australians take the god for most boozed-up partiers at the Summer Games and Canadians hold the title for the Winter Games. Canada, represent!

Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado is getting shit from certain quarters because he doesn’t support the Iraq War and won’t stand while they play “God Bless America” during the 7th inning stretch. For voicing his opinion, a Puerto Rican playing in Canada has been branded “un-American”, “a member of Al Queda” and “a terrorist”. For the love of God people, what’s wrong with you? Have you seen his numbers this season? He’s not even terrorizing baseballs, the way he’s swinging the bat. How are people so flippin’ stupid? How how how.

Oh – my photos from my trip are now online, thanks to the simplicity of Folderblog. Check them out here – I didn’t realize how many shots of wildlife I’d taken. I’ve rejigged all my non-concert photo galleries to use Folderblog. Quite handy – I might reskin them eventually to match the rest of the site, but probably not. Lazy, y’know.

np – The New Pornographers / Electric Version

Centro-Matic frontman Will Johnson’s new solo record Vultures Await will be out September 7. You can preview a couple tracks from Misra Records’ artist page. The solo stuff is generally more stripped-down and starker than Centro-Matic’s plugged-in guitar assault. I’m still working out how South San Gabriel (another Centro-Matic offshoot) stands in relation – probably somewhere in-between.

I’ve been moderately obsessed with the Austin, Texas band since picking up last year’s Love You Just The Same on a lark, note unheard, last Boxing Day. Their combination of raw, skronky guitars and raspy, world-worn vocals just do it for me – they’ve obviously done time in the Neil Young school of rock, but they have their own thing going on as well – it’s hard to put my finger on it, but they’re definitely more than just your standard alt-country act. Some have used The Flaming Lips as a reference point, and while I don’t really hear that, there is something deeper and trippier going on under the surface. There’s a slew of sample mp3s and some videos on their website – give a look/listen. My only gripe about the band is that they don’t tour up here. The closest they came was Buffalo this Spring… Why didn’t I go? Come on. BUFFALO.

Mac McCaughan is making the rest of us slack motherfuckers look bad. Besides running Merge Records and its 15th anniversary celebrations, Superchunk will be putting out another Clambake-series live album. When We Were 10: Live at the Cats Cradle 1999 could be another limited edition like the first two Clambake live records, so pay attention to ‘Chunk land if you don’t want to miss out. Pitchfork has full details. Mac also says that fans’ll have to make do with the archival releases as there won’t be any new Superchunk material anytime soon – family commitments. But that’s not stopping him from starting work on another Portastatic album, working title of Every Generation Gets Bit in the Ass. And seeing as how Superchunk and Portastatic have gradually become almost the same band over the last few years, that’ll have to do.

A couple more concert bits – The Weakerthans will make up for their cancelled Bluesfest appearance with a show at the Mod Club this Friday, July 23 (doors at 7, show at 8), tickets $15 at the door only. They’ll be boasting an expanded lineup featuring Brian and Dave from The Fembots who will be contributing additional instrumental wackiness. This also applies to the shows in St Catherines and Hamilton on the 21st and 22nd respectively. Raising The Fawn open the Toronto show.

Scotland’s Trash Can Sinatras will be at Lee’s Palace on September 23. Their new album Weightlifting is out August 31.

Bryan Singer has signed on to direct the new Superman film. That’s right, no more McG behind the camera, no more J.J. Abrams script, no more Brendan Fraser in tights rumours, no more… X-Men 3? The powers-that-be want Supes on the screen for while the other powers-that-be want X3 in theatres by May 2006… Some are already writing off Singer from directing further mutant madness, others are saying that he’ll make the third X-Men film after Superman Returns (as the working title seems to now be). No official comments from Fox yet.

Just call him Shallow Hal Jordan – Jack Black has been confirmed to play the title role in a Green Lantern film. It’s going to played as a “zany comedy” in the spirit of The Mask. Oddly, my cousin and I were discussing just the other day how absurd a lot of DC heroes would play out on celluloid, and I guess the folks at Warner agree with us. And before the purists get any further up in arms, think for a minute – we’re talking about a guy who made giant green fists from a Cracker Jack prize and couldn’t affect anything yellow. That’s pretty silly.

Also silly – hit the snooze button twelve (12!) times this morning to get to work an hour late. I don’t remember a single one. I will blame the jet lag.

np – Loretta Lynn / Van Lear Rose

Monday Monday Monday. Let’s ease back into the routine with some lighter lifting… Who likes concert announcements? Everyone, that’s who.

Motown classic pop revivalists Saturday Looks Good To Me and Athens, GA psych-popsters The Sunshine Fix (featuring thebilldoss of The Olivia Tremor Control) will be at a to-be-determined Hogtown locale on October 20 for an evening of mirth and revelry. SLGTM’s new album Every Night comes out September 14 and The Sunshine Fix’s second long-player Green Imagination is out August 17. Download first single “Enjoy The Teeth” from SpinART.

More Elephant 6 alumni, Of Montreal and The Late BP Helium (also Of Montreal guitarist), are also coming to town – September 25, venue TBA. Of Montreal are supporting Satanic Panic In The Attic which came out this Spring. BP Helium’s debut album Amok is out on October 5.

Good news and bad news for everyone who missed out on The Fiery Furnaces’ sold-out show at the Mod Club last month – you’ll get another chance to see the buzziest band in buzzville. The good news is they’re doing two Toronto shows on September 12 and 13. The bad news is that they’re at the Drake Hotel, which by all accounts is even smaller than The Mod Club (I can’t confirm this as I haven’t ever been). Their Blueberry Boat just came out last week. I haven’t heard it, no idea if it’s worth the hubbub.

An evening of finer bleepy-bloopy music takes place October 27 at Lee’s Palace – German outfit Mouse On Mars are in town with Ratatat and Junior Boys to support.

NME has the video for my official favourite single of the Summer, Charlotte Hatherley’s “Summer”. I’m serious, I love this song like I love popcorn. I also approve of the patent leather dress Charlotte wear’s in the video…

REM will release their umpteenth album this October and have officially replaced departed drummer Bill Berry with Bill Rieflin, who used to play in Ministry. Full story here.

CMJ on Wilco. Nothing new here.

Rob Schnapf and Joanna Bolme talk about finishing Elliott Smith’s last record without him.

Rolling Stone has an excerpt from their rare interview with Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, the cover story of the latest issue. Trudeau was a student at Yale the same time as one George Doubleyou Bush back in the late 60s and has some interesting recollections about his former classmate.

I’ve come into work this morning and I have a new computer waiting for me, so that’s fun. Moving all my files over is a little bit less so, but I’ll get by. Didja miss me? I know you did.

np – Ken Stringfellow / Soft Commands

My constant travelling companion on this trip has been a progressively beat-up copy of the lastest issue of The Big Takeover. As much as I fretted about running out of reading material, I always had this huge spider-whomping-sized mag for backup. I just finished the interview with Joe Pernice wherein he revealed a couple interesting bits of news. One, there will be a second Chappaquiddick Skyline release very soon, this one a 6-song EP. Two, he’s moving to Canada! No doubt a condition of convincing the lovely and talented Laura Stein (ex-Jale, ex-Pernice Brother and expat) to marry him last year. No details on where in Canuckistan he’ll be setting up shop, but hopefully it’ll be Toronto – what a treat it would be to run into him around town.

Also Pernice-related, I picked up a copy of his Meat Is Murder contribution to the 33 1/3 series of books while in Seattle. Though Pernice puts it forward as fiction, it’s hard to believe much of it isn’t autobiographical – particularly the bits about how the album affected the adolescent protagonist growing up in mid-80s Boston. Of course, teenage angst, lust and suicide (don’t do it!) are universal enough themes, but Pernice makes it all ring true. A quick read, but a very solid debut novel(la) for Joe Pernice. I hope he continues writing, though not if it takes time away from his musical output. Coincidentally, Largehearted Boy also just finished a trio of books in the 33 1/3 series including Meat Is Murder.

Also from LHB – Calexico have begun posting their live shows on The Live Music Archive. Nice.

So you may have noticed that the mp3 of the week got updated as usual last night – this is because I came straight home from the airport instead of going back to my parents’ place for the night. I was just ready to come back home and get settled in. There is some jet lag going on but it should be shaken off in time for work tomorrow. It was a great trip but it’s good to be back. The flight back was uneventful except for the Dutch lady sitting beside me having some sort of diabetic attack halfway through and going nearly comatose. Her travelling companions didn’t seem overly alarmed so I didn’t worry much, but it was still unnerving as they were shaking her and slapping her around to try and get her to respond. The in-flight film was The Whole Ten Yards, which was about as unfunny and unnecessary a sequel as I’ve ever seen. And since it was edited for showing on a plane, they cut out anything remotely offensive – basically, Amanda Peet’s breasts (which we all know she has no problems flashing at the drop of a hat, God bless her) and women getting slapped by men. On the other hand, we were spared the sight of Bruce Willis’ bare ass so I guess there’s an up-side.

I’ve started going through the photos of my trip and when I find a decent way to present them, I’ll post them online. In the meantime, I’ve inserted some images into the past week’s blog entries just to spice them up a little.

I have no food in the house and am feeling kinda zoned out. Bleh.

Went to see I, Robot last night (after a long day of doing nothing and napping) and I have to say – it didn’t suck, not nearly, and I was fully expecting it to suck. Now I’ve never read the original Asimov book beyond the back cover (and since the moviemakers distanced themselves from the source material by saying it only “suggested” the story, they may not have either), so I wasn’t coming at this as a purist ready to scream bloody murder at Hollywood trashing a sacred cow. No, I just thought it looked bland and predictable from the trailers. Surprisingly, it turned out to be somewhat deeper and more engrossing than your typical Summer blockbuster, which I suppose isn’t saying much, but it’s not just a brainless action film. It’s a little bit mystery, little bit philosophy and a lot action but it all comes together in a decent couple hours of entertainment. There’s nothing revolutionary put forward in either story or execution, sure, but neither are there gaping plot holes or maddening narrative inconsistencies. Effects are good, performances are decent. Count me as one reasonably satisfied moviegoer on this eve. Now I’m sure I’ll get a slew of comments from people who hated it – feel free to vent, but don’t expect me to defend the film. I’m just saying it’s not nearly an abomination. That’s all.

Redesigning the books to feature the movie art, however, is just wrong.

The 100 greatest comics of the 20th century – from Tim O Thompson.

Popmatters has a review of A Ghost Is Born and extended band profile all in one convenient article!

My plane leaves around noon today, so I’m outta here shortly. Just wanted to mention that despite my being so proud of myself for setting up the mp3 of the week to automatically update last week, I totally forgot that I wasn’t going to be getting back to my computer till tomorrow sometime so this week’s update will be about a half-day late. That’ll teach me. And while I’ve only been away a week, I’m pretty sure I’ve completely forgotten how to do my job. Monday will be interesting.

That’s it from the West Coast. Excelsior!