Ahhh, Conan. Night one of Late Night in Toronto was… well, I can’t be objective – I was kinda giddy, as was the audience. You got the impression Conan could have done anything – ANYTHING – and he would have been met with rapturous applause. The jokes and the sketches were just on the right side of corny, but shoot, it was just neat. I love this city, and it was very neat to see scenes and places I come across every day used in the opening montage and commercial lead-ins. I do wonder for viewers south of the border… was it like watching some bizarro looking glass version of the show? “That… *looks* like Conan… but I have no idea what anyone is talking about…” Har. That stand up comedian, however, sucked ass. Sorry about that – somehow they managed to book the one non-funny Canadian alive. Reports on the show from The Sun and The Star. Looking forward to night two.

The once and future Spiral Stairs will be bringing Preston School Of Industry to the Horseshoe on April 1 to support Monsoon, out next Tuesday. I was recently set straight on how much Mr. Kannenberg contributed to Pavement’s sound (I was under the impression SM did all the work and SS was just essentially a hired gun for touring), so maybe I should take another look at the PSOI stuff. Anyone have opinions?

Also coming to town April 1 are Rainer Maria on a bill with a bunch of bands I’ve never heard of (Coheed & Cambria, Brazil and Funeral For A Friend) at the Opera House. I like RM, but I suspect this show will be waaaaay too emo for me.

Aussies Sekiden and BC’s Salteens play a CMW hangover gig Sunday March 7 at the 360. It’s likely an all-ages matinee show. I missed both these acts their last time through town last year, so I’ll try to make it this time.

Elf Power have made a rip-roaring, two-fisted track from their new album available on their website. “Never Believe” is from Walking With The Beggar Boys, out April 6.

Rashomon asked me to contribute my top-10 desert island discs list for no particular purpose. It actually took some thought because after the first handful, I don’t actually have a preset list, it’s mostly what I feel like at the moment. But here’s what I came up with last week (in no particular order):

Belly / King

Ride / Going Blank Again

Elvis Costello / King Of America

Luna / Bewitched

Neutral Milk Hotel / In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

The Shins / Oh, Inverted World

Teenage Fanclub / Bandwagonesque

Uncle Tupelo / Anodyne

Wilco / Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Yo La Tengo / I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One

…though I am already kicking myself for omitting a bunch of crucial records. Like completely forgetting The Replacements’ Let It Be, or bumping Steve Earle’s El Corazon at the last minute. I suck at these lists… I could do one per decade, easy, but all-time? No way.

Tick… tick… tick… 24 – Man, I know how they felt at CTU when that worm hit. Once, I was like, using the internet? And then the internet connection went down? And I was all like, “Hey, I can’t get to the internet”. And it sucked. But at least now I know what happened… it was Nina. NINA. And Sherry? Damn, that woman is COLD. I won’t even comment on the baby. Unless Chase is the mole, and the baby is some kind of evil human/mole hybrid, THERE IS NO GOOD THAT CAN COME OUT OF THIS PLOTLINE. None at all.

np – Centro-Matic / Love You Just The Same

Christopher Nolan had this to say to Variety about his new Batman film:

“This time around, it’s about the genesis of Batman: How billionaire Bruce Wayne makes a series of decisions that turn him into the Caped Crusader. Batman will be more realistic and less cartoonish. There are no campy villains. Wayne — younger, more vulnerable, more human — will be getting as much attention as his masked alter-ego. ‘felt like doing the origins story of the character, which is a story that’s never been told before,’ says Chris Nolan (“Insomnia,” “Memento”), who takes the reins of “Batman” from Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher … ‘The world of Batman is that of grounded reality,’ he says. Burton’s and Schumacher’s visions were idiosyncratic and unreal. Nolan says, ‘Ours will be a recognizable, contemporary reality against which an extraordinary heroic figure arises.’ Nolan, a self-confessed James Bond fan as a child, is keen on reinventing Wayne as more of a modern-day Bond than hapless playboy — an action-adventure hero who has mythic qualities and battles the odds to save the world … ‘If we’re successful, the thing that will be talked about a lot and on what we worked on the hardest is that the audience will really care about Bruce Wayne and not just Batman,’ [scripter David] Goyer says. ‘It doesn’t matter how much you spend on special effects — if it feels hollow, no one gives a damn.'”

Sounds pretty damn good to me. From Comic Book Resources. Liam Neeson’s name is now also being mentioned in casting for the film, possibly as Captain Jim Gordon. Update: Neeson has confirmed for Batman: Intimidation, but will be playing a villain. Baddies rumoured to be in the film are Ra’s Al-Ghul, The Scarecrow and mob boss Carmine Falcone. Also on the topic of the Caped Crusader on celluloid – There’s a new animated series coming called The Batman. I do love the definite article. There are a couple teaser pictures from the new series here. And as a bonus? Adam West will be voicing the mayor of Gotham City. Hope he’s as nutty as the mayor of Quahog!

And some sad comic book news – former DC head honcho Julius Schwartz has died. Schwartz was largely responsible for the ‘Silver Age’ of DC comics in the fifties, revitalizing many of their flagship characters in the incarnations that they’re best known as now. Rest easy.

Sample tracks from all the performers at SXSW this year, in .ogg format. Yeah, .ogg. Don’t worry – Winamp plays em. What’s that, you don’t use Winamp? Tough noogies. Now those who will be attending SXSW can get a sneak preview of the many many many artists playing, and those who aren’t can turn up the .ogg files real loud, light four dozen cigarettes and turn up the TV so loud that you’re straining to hear the music… Just like being there. Bonus – they have a track from the new American Music Club album on offer – “Ladis And Gentlemen, It’s Time”. Yes, it really is. Give us the new record, already. Link from LHB.

As part of their 2003 year in review, Magnet has officially declared Toronto the next big ‘scene’ town, citing the successes and potential of the local heroes The Constantines, Stars, Royal City, Metric, Hidden Cameras and Broken Social Scene. I don’t know if we’re going to be the next Brooklyn or Seattle, but at least the sounds of all these bands is certainly different enough that no one’s going to pretend there’s such a thing as “the Toronto sound”. But if we are going to be the next Seattle, then goddamn we have to finish recording our album soon so we can get in on the inevitable major label feeding frenzy… I want to be the next Candlebox!

np – Elf Power / A Dream In Sound

…but not Toronto. Or the east coast at all, for that matter. Winnipeg? TWO shows in Saskatchewan?!? What the hell. What. The. Hell. Willy – you’re in Saskatchewan, you have to go to one of these shows for me.

Pixies tour dates:

April 14: Winnipeg, Manitoba (Burton Cummings Theatre)

April 15: Regina, Saskatchewan (Doris Knight Ballroom)

April 17: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Prairieland)

April 18: Edmonton, Alberta (Red’s)

April 19: Calgary, Alberta (MacEwan Hall)

April 21: Victoria, British Columbia (Victoria Curling Club)

April 22-23: Vancouver (Commodore Ballroom)

April 24: Spokane, Wash. (Big Easy)

April 25: Boise, Idaho (Big Easy)

April 27: Eugene, Ore. (MacDonald Theatre)

April 29: Davis, Calif. (Freeborn Hall)

May 1: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival)

Boooooo. From Billboard, via Burned By The Sun. Oh well, at least I’m saving some money on my concert budget.

np – Pixies / Complete B-Sides

Finally some news about the solo record from Rachel Goswell of Mojave 3. Waves Are Universal is coming out in May, preceded by The Sleep Shelter EP in April. She also has her own website up at www.rachelgoswell.com, but there is absolutely nothing there right now. Hopefully that’ll be changing in the upcoming weeks. I’m really looking forward to this album, since her vocals have gotten fewer and further between on each M3 record. I also hope she tours as much as Neil Halstead did for Sleeping On Roads – I think he came through town three times in half a year. Toronto does love Mojave 3. And in other Mojave 3 news, “Billoddity” from Spoon & Rafter will be featured in an upcoming episode of The O.C. (February 18, to be exact). OHMIGOD OHMIGOD OHMIGOD!

We Could Live In Hope – A Tribute To Low is a spin on the traditional tribute album theme. A variety of high-profile artists will be covering the entirety of Low’s debut 1994 album, I Could Live In Hope. The record will feature tracks from Mark Kozelek, Idaho, Warn Defever and Hamiltonians A Northern Chorus. Expect a late April release on Fractured Discs.

Merge Records is feeling the love for J Mascis. Not only will they be releasing his new solo disc later this year, but they’re also reissuing the first three SST Dinosaur Jr records, Dinosaur, You’re Living All Over Me and Bug. No word yet if there’s any bonuses on the reissues.

The new Hidden Cameras album is called Mississauga Goddamn and should be out in the Spring, sometime between April and June.

A nice little piece in the new Magnet by Nada Surf guitarist Matthew Caws. It’s a four-stop tour diary from last Fall including the Toronto and Montreal shows, and it even includes a shot of the crowd at the T.O. gig. And yes, I tried pretty hard to pick myself out of the picture, but to no avail.

There was no earthly reason for me to watch the Grammies, espcially when Whatevs’ minute-by-minute play-by-play is doubtlessly more entertaining. But do you like how my mp3 of the week predicted the big winner? Yeah, I know you do.

np – Drive-By Truckers / Decoration Day

Last night’s Wrens show was the first concert of 2004 I was really looking forward to, The Meadowlands being my favorite ‘new discovery’ album of last year. Before the headliners, though, there were a couple of local openers hoping to make an impression on the punters.

Nassau didn’t succeed, at least not for me. Drawing inspiration from the sludgier, riffy side of Oasis and shoegaze in general, they were hampered mostly by a drummer who hit hard but only had one (slow) tempo and a weak vocalist. Mine wasn’t the concensus opinion, though, since I heard a guy asking them if they needed a keyboardist right after their set. Okay.

Raising The Fawn are currently best known for being one of the many feeder bands for Broken Social Scene members and for being fronted by that guy who works at Soundscapes. Well I can personally add to the list that he’s also the guy who bought the Telecaster I sold at Songbird last Fall. Seriously, as they were setting up I saw him pull the guitar out of the case and I spent most of the set trying to confirm visually that it was indeed mine (which it was). It’s worth noting that he broke a string on it halfway through the set, so while my old guitar did make it onstage at the Horseshoe before I did, it also choked like an Ottawa Senator. The band themselves were alright, I liked some of stuff, didn’t care for the more experimental bits (they do sorta spacey, atmospheric pop if you’re wondering) but did like the guitar sounds. Don’t regret selling the Tele, though.

The Wrens travel with a LOT of gear. Way more equipment than I would have thought necessary, but I guess they like to reproduce as many of the sonic nuances of the record live as possible. Watching them set up, they looked like a car pool of substitute teachers but as soon as the rock kicked in, it was like a shower in the fountain of youth. From my earplugged vantage point right up front, they sounded great but an opinion from further back in the room wasn’t quite as impressed with the sound or vocals. I could understand this, these guys aren’t really touring veterans with hundreds of gigs under their belts. I wouldn’t doubt it if nerves and excitement were contributing to a little performance slop, but the sheer energy and exuberance of the performance made up for it in my opinion. They were apparently coming off a less-than-successful show in Montreal last night, and were truly gratified by the overwhelming response they were getting from Toronto (it was pretty much a packed house) and their joy was contagious. After getting called back for two encores, they had to end it there because they really did run out of material to play. I would like to think that Toronto made enough of an impression that they’ll be back the next time they load up the van and head out of the Garden State. And maybe next time they’ll have something more than CD-Rs of their old albums to sell (somebody reissue Secaucus already!).

Being up front really does afford the best photo opportunities, and with high-energy jump-around shows like this one, I don’t feel bad about using the flash (the stage lighting was so dim that it was impossible to get a shot otherwise). Hopefully the pics can convey some of the energy of the show. It really was a barnburner.

Dave at Largehearted Boy always does a great job of selecting artists worthy of his evangelicism and providing the audio evidence to back it up. Today, he’s spreading the word about Laura Cantrell, who has certainly caught my ear after just a couple tracks. She sounds like Lucinda Williams’ younger, less world-weary sister. Or cousin. Yeah, cousin. I also picked up the new Drive-By Truckers record, Decoration Day, pretty much entirely on his recommendation. Also good.

Hold My Life is a new blog that gets a shout-out from me not only for the Replacements-inspired name, but for helping stock up the cover of the week bombshelter with material. Stop by and welcome Mark to the crackhouse that is blogging.

Another Conan in Toronto interview, this one by JAM!.

Salon.com and their readers lament the death of the mix tape, as do I (In the interest of fairness, Salon also celebrates its passing). I was a holdout for a while, being a firm believer in the art of the mix tape – balancing levels, track selection and sequencing, the importance of side A and side B, all that High Fidelity stuff. I made my last mix tape a couple years ago for a friend of mine in Italy who was driving a cheese delivery truck with only a cassette player to keep him from going mad. Now, I don’t even own a cassette deck. I can’t say I’ve become a convert to the mix-CD either – I’ve made one, ever. Besides not having any compelling reason to do so, it just doesn’t feel the same. It’s too easy. There’s not the same investment of effort and care in the process. I think part of the problem is that in the process of ripping and burning, you’re at no point required to actually listen to what you’re doing. It’s all point, click, wait. Decide you don’t like the track sequence, you can just go back, drag the songs around and re-burn. With the tape, you were physically involved in the creation of your mix. Pushing buttons, listening for cues, flipping sides. You had to really think about what you were putting on the tape and in what order, because any mistakes were a pain to rectify, if you even could. You had to care. I’m not suggesting that we should abandon the conveniences that modern technology affords us (I say as I continue to download season upon season of The West Wing), but it is true that progress never comes without a cost, and sometimes it’s a shame what’s lost.

np – Stephen Malkmus / Stephen Malkmus