NOW previews a couple shows on my calendar this week. First off, there’s Luna’s farewell show at Lee’s Palace on Sunday night, and then on Monday night there’s the Velvet Crush (whose crappy website has gone AWOL completely), opening for Matthew Sweet at the Mod Club (and Pulse Of The Twin Cities has a piece on Matthew, courtesy of Largehearted Boy).

The Crushing Sweetness show, as I just decided to call it and which I’m sort of regretting now that I see it on the screen, will be one big power pop love-in, with Sweet and his bassist Tony Marsico playing with Paul Chastain, Ric Menck and Peter Phillips as Velvet Crush, and then the same lineup backing Sweet for his set. I expect they’ll be playing material to promote their latest album Stereo Blues, which I honestly found to be a modest disappointment. They try too hard to bring the rock and that’s just not where their strengths lie. I expect to be one of many who wants to hear more Teenage Symphonies material, but whichever way they go it should be a good show. Hell, at $25 a ticket it damn well better be.

Billboard declares The Shins to be “successes”. I’m sure they’re pleased to hear it.

Not many shows being announced as the calendar year winds down, but there’s still a trickle. Like that The Gossip are at Lee’s Palace December 5. And some more info on the Stars show at the Mod Club December 18 – tickets are $15 and Gentleman Reg is opening.

Teaching The Indie Kids To Dance Again has given a lot of thought to what the outcome of the Presidential election means to those on the left, and what happens next. The Incredible Hulk has some more succinct thoughts on the topic.

Thinking about fleeing the United States? Harpers offers some helpful tips. Or we can look into redrawing the borders along partisan lines – this proposal looks pretty good to me, or this one (from More Cowbell). Though that reminds me – I’m going to be in Chicago in a week. I should really figure out what I’m going to do there.

np – Superchunk / Come Pick Me Up

Check out the excellently low-budget but wonderfully-executed video for Ted Leo & The Pharmacists’ “Me And Mia” here. From Donewaiting. Also make note of the official fan site at timorousme.org and Torontonians should know that tickets are now on sale for his December 5 show at the Mod Club ($12 at Rotate This) and the openers have changed. Matt Pond PA and The Vague Angels will no longer be warming things up, instead we’ll have locals The Junction and The Meligrove Band. For my part, I am absolutely loving Shake The Sheets. It started out as a pretty solid ‘like’ but has really shifted into a higher gear with recent listenings and is totally kicking my ass right now.

Monday night I stopped by the 360 to check out Aussie pop combo Augie March. I didn’t really know any of their stuff going in – my attendance was based on some positive buzz on a few mailing lists I’m on and a couple of positive comparisons in the show ads (Wilco/Flaming Lips/Sparklehorse, etc). As it turns out, Augie March were not what I was expecting – they were far more conventional and less bent than I was led to believe. Regardless, I enjoyed their set which reminded me more of the Hothouse Flowers or James (thanks to Inaam for the second reference point), mostly thanks to singer/guitarist Glenn Richards’ smooth voice and penchant for dramatic vocal inflections. There were some moments of fine three-part vocal harmony and whatnot and all in all it was a set of finely polished pop tunes, but the band were a little lacking in stage presence and it wasn’t revelatory by any means. Local openers The Old Soul were peppy and entertaining, if a little on the shambolic side. The first half of their set was comprised of some peppy keyboard-led pop songs while the second set wandered into jammy territory. Stylistically, a good match for the headliners. Some photos here.

In the latest issue of Harp, there’s a feature on Paul Westerberg in which they sum up all the activity going on with the Mats back catalog. Here’s the lowdown: Next Fall, Rykodisc will be putting out expanded editions of the Twin/Tone albums (Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash through Let It Be) with the requisite remastering and bonus tracks and Rhino will do the same for the Warner titles (Tim through All Shook Down). The box set, which will cover both eras, likely won’t show up until 2006 and a compilation of Westerberg’s solo material will be in stores next Spring courtesy of Shout! Factory.

Filter has made available their interview with Rilo Kiley from their Summer issue.

Ivy’s fourth (proper) album has a name! In The Clear will be out on March 1 through Nettwerk, not February 1 as previously reported.

Rolling Stone finds out what the world’s got in store for Nellie McKay. It appears the matter of her age is settled as she’s noted as being 22-years old. Not that that was important, anyway. Nope.

The Music are coming back to Toronto, just four months after their last show. This time, they’re at the Kool Haus on December 14.

Bernard Butler and Brett Anderson’s new outfit The Tears have a website. Not much there yet, though, unless studio pics float your boat. From Ms Pop Tart.

I went to bed last night before things were looking too clear, though it wasn’t very encouraging for the good guys. First thing I did when I got up this morning was load up the news and… you’re fucking kidding me. I’m sure there’ll be challenges and recounts and blah-diddy-blah, but I doubt that will change anything. I want to crawl back under the covers now. Everyone and their grandmother will be offering their commentary on the election, so I’m not going to bother too much. I’m feeling many things – disappointment, disbelief, fear, anger, ennui, hunger… Actually, what started as disappointment has been quickly growing into full-on depression as I wrap my head around what a Bush win means for America and the world, and utter dumbfoundedness that despite all the deception, incompetence and all-out evil that were hallmarks of the first Bush term, the American people have decided that he deserves another four years. And this time, there’s no conspiracy theories to hide behind for the defeated – I think the results speak for themselves.

This time, Bush didn’t steal the election, it was given to him by the American people – both the voters and the non-voters (17% voter turnout for 18 to 24? Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic). He won the popular vote, he won the electoral college, the GOP took more of the House and Senate, his ban on gay marriages were resoundingly supported. To me, this says that the majority of Americans actually want his brand of ‘leadership’, his vision of morality and his agenda of fear. I think all the high-profile activism of the past month and the political circles I hang out in have presented a skewed perspective on the political landscape in the States – if you were to go by the whole “people I know” thing, Kerry would have won in a landslide. So this is… sobering. I am, however, interested to see how many of the American touring bands I’ve seen in the past year who promised to move to Canada in the wake of a Bush win, and that’s pretty much all of them, make good on their promises.

And speaking from a Canadian POV, it was frustrating to not have been able to cast a vote or influence matters in any way at all even though the ramifications of the election are obviously going to felt globally. I do still want to do my part, however, so I’ll offer to help any Americans fleeing Bush’s America get settled up here in Canada. 8×10 glossies required, Y-chromosones need not apply.

np – Idlewild / 100 Broken Windows

Happy election day! This blatently partisan public service announcement is brought to you by the back of Drive-By Trucker Patterson Hood’s guitar and is endorsed by Velvet Elvis and Trucker Jesus.

And this non-partisan one comes courtesy of the Music Bloggers for Democracy movement:

Hey!! Stop what you’re doing! You’re not going to find that Arcade Fire live bootleg today, you’re not going to stumble across the b-side to “Hand In Glove”, and you’re not going to find the unreleased Pixies album.

If you have the right to vote in the US election then find your nearest polling place and get prepared to vote.

Tell your friends to vote, tell your enemies for that matter. But just vote.

I am not an American citizen, but I will be calling and emailing all my American friends to make sure they plan on voting. Participation is crucial. The decision of the American public will affect each and every one of us.

I don’t care who you vote for, all I am asking is that you exercise your democratic right to have your opinion counted. I want to believe that your new president is the choice of the majority and is not elected as a result of low voter turnout.

Moveon.com : RockTheVote.com : JohnKerry.com : GeorgeWBush.com : MusicForAmerica.org : DeclareYourself : JustVote : GetEducated

And since this is an mp3blog we’ve added a song or two as well.

Vote by Chris Stamey w/Yo La Tengo

Get Out And Vote On Novemeber 2nd. Regular Blogging Will Commence On November 3rd.

Thanks,

Music Bloggers For Democracy

and everyone that has agreed to post:

the big ticket : songs:illinois : last sound of summer : moerex : pwi : barsandguitars : scissorkick : radiobabylon : Kingblind : TeachingTheIndieKidsToDanceAgain : TheNapkin : Tuwa’s Shanty : RummageThroughTheCrevices : Lost Bands Of The New Wave : Enchilada’s Blog : Aurgasm : Bradley’s Almanac : Largehearted Boy : The Witness Exchange : Something I Learned : mystery and misery : Alternate Tuning : Republic of Replicants : ScissorKick : Pecados De Nada : Fat Planet : Silence Is A Rhythm Too : 10:51 AM Toronto : Bolt

While I am no fan of Michael Moore, this last-minute plea to voters seems genuine and heartfelt, and is worth reading.

And a final word:

“I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean

I love the country but I can’t stand the scene.

And I’m neither left or right

I’m just staying home tonight,

getting lost in that hopeless little screen.

But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags

that Time cannot decay,

I’m junk but I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet:

Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.”

– Leonard Cohen, “Democracy”

If you can, vote. If you can’t, pray. See you tomorrow.

I’m not sure there was any sort of plot to Napoleon Dynamite. It seemed more an hour and a half of loosely related, desperately quirky sight gags and non sequiters. The characters are so over the top awkward that you can’t help but laugh with or at them. Jon Heder as the titular character and Efren Ramirez as his sidekick Pedro both seem to have been given “autism” as their main bit of direction. Either way, the results were often amusing and on occasion laugh-out-loud funny, particularly Napoleon’s grand finale dance-off.

It’s guaranteed to be a cult movie hit, and therein lies my main reservation – it felt like it was made to be a cult movie hit. Like the thing was put together deliberately and calculatedly (is that a word?) to appeal to the indie/geek demographic. But, that’s a minor complaint and even if that’s the case, it was still a fun, if slight, film. And I enjoyed hearing When In Rome’s “The Promise” over the closing credits, in a completely unironic sense. I really liked that song – my brother even had the 12″ with all the unnecessary remixes. Honest. Footnote – Even though “Napoleon Dynamite” was a pseudonym Elvis Costello used in the 80s, writer and director Jared Hess says that he got it from someone he met while on a mission for the Church of Mormon.

Lazy-I finds out where Matthew Sweet has been hiding the last few years. Matthew is in Toronto at the Mod Club next Monday night. Thanks to Eugene for the link.

Nude As The News interviews soon-to-be-ex-GBV guitarist Doug Gillard on the end of one era and the start of a new one. Doug’s first solo album Salamander came out October 19.

Tiny Mix Tapes, who like to brag that they were all about the Arcade Fire waaaaaay back when, talks to the band in the midst of their continent-conquering tour in support of Funeral.

The Guardian fondly recalls their past interviews with John Peel and The Times considers his legacy in pop music.

The Denver Post catches Jeff Tweedy wondering why everyone makes such a big fuss about his band. Link (and the last one) from LHB.

The Stars show at the Mod Club has been confirmed for December 18.

np – J Mascis & The Fog / More Light

Toronto’s own Emm Gryner was an honourary Cardigan this Fall when she toured with the band on the Chicks With Attitude caravan as keyboardist and backing vocalist. The Cardies website has a cute little interview between bassist Magnus Sveningsson and Emm about their respective home and native lands of Sweden and Canada. Emm has become quite the sideman to the stars, having sang backups for David Bowie on his world tour a couple years ago, including making her (inter)national television debut with him on Saturday Night Live. All this and she still manages to be a prolific solo artist – her new album, Songs Of Love & Death, is supposed to be out now but I’ve not managed to find a copy of it anywhere yet, not even on her online store (which I’m disappointed to find is now run through Musictoday which means excessive shipping costs to Canada). And she’s hella cute, too. What’s not to love?

Thanks to Exclaim!, I’m now the proud owner of a DVD I didn’t really want and a video game I can’t play. I was one of the winners of an online contest for a Van Helsing prize pack which consisted of the movie and XBox game of the aforementioned film. I’m certainly not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when it looks like Kate Beckinsale in a corset, so I’m not complaining. I’ll have to sell the XBox game, though, since I didn’t win the grand prize which included a game console. Oh well, the luck only goes so far.

To pick up the prize, I had to go to the DVD release/Hallowe’en party for Dawn Of The Dead. They were running the movie on the monitors behind the bar and I actually watched the whole thing, sans sound. It’s really not hard to follow a zombie movie even without the dialogue. I’m curious to see it properly though, I’m sure I missed some crucial plot points and all that. And it was so nice to see Sarah Polley back on the screen. There was also a musical component to the night, courtesy of The Tijauna Bibles. They’re a gimmicky sort of surf/punk band who perform in Mexican wrestling masks – Fun enough stuff, but I didn’t stick around for their second set.

The Guardian names off their choices for the 10 worst cover songs ever. It’s a fairly Brit-centric list, but I can agree that Duran Duran’s take on “911 Is A Joke” is a crime that transcends borders.

Observant readers may notice that I picked up a copy of Luna’s Rendezvous yesterday. This should not be interpreted as an indication that Jetset’s lame-o distribution has finally gotten copies in stores – it actually means that I lucked out and found a used copy before there were any new ones available. I feel a little bad for not giving Dean, Britta, Sean and Lee the pittance in royalties they’d have gotten if I’d bought it new, but they have only their label to blame. And anyway, I’ve already bought tickets to see them in two different cities in a couple weeks, so there. As for the album itself, I’ve given it a few listens and I think it’s a marvelous swan song. The live-off-the-floor production really gives it a warm, intimate vibe and start to finish, I’d say it’s their most consistent record since Penthouse. There’s even more excellent guitar work (read: solos!) than has been present on the last couple records. The two tracks that Sean takes vocals on are a real surprise – if you didn’t know it was him singing, you might just think that Dean had discovered a slightly different vocal style, they sound that similar. It’s a little odd to have “Astronaut” make another appearance, but it’s a slightly different version than the one on Close Cover Before Striking EP (I don’t know if it’s a remix of the original version or a new recording), but it fits well in the flow of the record album and is a truly kick-ass song, so it can stay. While I’m still sad that they’ve called it a day, I’m glad that they’ve gone out with such a strong record. Thanks, guys.

Wanna see a sneak preview of The Fantastic Four movie? Sure you do.

np – Luna / Rendezvous