Epitaph has been taking out massive subway station ads to promote the release of The Weakerthans’ new album Reconstruction Site next Tuesday. Quite an odd thing to see on the subway.

Lemmings! All in DHTML! I have no idea how they did this, but it’s cool.

I’ve noticed a lot of hits on my site from people looking for information on Gregory Hines’ burial here in Toronto – my hometown of Oakville, to be exact. I don’t have any particular information, it came as a pretty big surprise to me as well, but there was an article in The Star about it over the weekend.

I bought a new lock for my bike, cost me a cool $120. I don’t know if it’s going to make a big difference, but it offers a little more piece of mind, considering that the next cheapest one was the one I had when my last bike got stolen and was on display behind the counter, all bent and warped, as an example of how easy it was to break them open. It didn’t really inspire confidence. So I got the more expensive one, will register it for the warranty and put a big tag on the lock that says, “If you are intending to steal this bike, please at least leave me the pieces of the lock so I can collect on the warranty. PS – YOU BASTARD”. I will be keeping the bike in the office from now on while I’m at work, though. I think the key to keeping my bike, along with the big-ass lock, will be NOT leaving it sitting outside for 9 hours a day.

First band practice in a fortnight tonight. A little sloppy, just running through the old stuff to get the rust off. We’re going to be adding new material to the set, build up what they call ‘a repetoire’. Crazy, that. It felt good to plug in and crank it again – it’s been a little while.

Radiohead have tenatively rescheduled their Toronto show for September 6. Official confirmation still forthcoming.

The Tyde are no longer joining Nada Surf on their Fall tour. It’s entirely possible, however, that there could be one ass-kicking bill of Barsuk bands for Toronto and Montreal in the third week of October. The Nada Surf website reports, “Also, info on the Toronto/Montreal shows will be updated soon and if things work out like we’re expecting, our neighbors up north will be privvy to an exceptional evening of tunes.” Hmm, wonder if this has anything to do with with Death Cab For Cutie/Long Winters tour that was rumoured to be coming to town around the same time…? It would be irresponsible of me to speculate.

Big new release day tomorrow… new Sloan, new Guided By Voices, new Superchunk (well, a double-disc comp anyway) and the reissue of Neil Young’s On The Beach, for the first time on CD. Three other old Neil albums as well his new one, Greendale, are also out tomorrow, but I’m not so interested in those. On The Beach, though. Gimme.

np – Sloan / Pretty Together

Check it out – satellite photos before and after the blackout. CRAAAAZY.

They made us wait more than two weeks, but Strong Bad makes it up to us. All is forgiven, Strong Bad. After all, your muscles can beat us up.

I’ve been informed that I don’t get to move into the new place till the 1st of September. I’d initially hoped that I’d be able to get in there the weekend previous, as it’d be easier to conscript help, but I don’t think that’s happening. Will should still be able to assist me with his parents’ van, though. The van is key.

np – Teenage Fanclub / Grand Prix

I went home yesterday and retrieved my old racing bike – it still needs some work, but is in better shape than I thought. It’s a totally different beast from my mountain bike, though. It’s so small! The frame feels absolutely dinky, but the bike is remarkably light. The seat is too low and I don’t have the proper tools to adjust it. My rims need to be trued something fierce. I think the biggest adjustment for me will be the suspension, or complete lack of. This thing is stiff, and I am going to feel the road, yessir. Not really looking forward to discovering just how good Toronto’s road maintenance is. This thing will get me through the Fall but I think next year I’ll have to get something else, better suited to the rigours of city riding. While I’d like to spend the afternoon riding around, I think it’d be more prudent to just bring it into the shop ASAP so I can get it back that much sooner. The brakes aren’t in terrific shape.

Tiny Mix Tapes has dates for the Autumn Shins tour, and there is no Toronto date. There are a couple slots where a T.O. date would concievably fit, but they’d also be logical travel days. Umm, that’s not right. Not at all. And the closest date – Detroit – is on a Monday. Again, not right at all. Didn’t we show you guys love last time you were here? Sure we did. Come to Toronto, Shins. I will buy you a pizza pie. According to the Shins website, Chutes Too Narrow will be released two weeks later than initially reported on October 21. Why don’t you guys just come over and punch me in the kidneys, already? Yer killing me.

The tracklisting for the Doves b-sides comp, Lost Sides, has been announced:

‘Break Me Gently (Incidental)’

‘Darker’

‘Your Shadow Lay Across My Life’

‘Meet Me At The Pier’

‘Down To Sea’

‘Crunch’

‘Zither’

‘Valley’

‘Northenden’

‘Hit The Ground Running’

‘Willow’s Song’

‘Far From Grace’

It contains 7 of the 11 tracks from the original promo-only version of Lost Sides from 2001, with the five new tracks being The Last Broadcast-era material. It’s coming out on the 29th of September in the UK, and while it will be released domestically in North America, I haven’t found a verifiable release date yet.

np – The New Year / Newness Ends

What a remarkable thing.

In the northeastern United States and southern Ontario, there are 50 million Blackout of 2003 stories. This is one of them.

Thursday Afternoon – I’m working away, click click click. BAM. That is the sound of every piece of electronic and equipment in the office shutting down. BEEP BEEP BEEP. That is the sound of the UPS hooked up to the server screaming, “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!”. “What the fuck?” That is the sound of me. After we figure that the power isn’t coming on anytime soon, we call it an afternoon and agree to come in a little early Friday to make up the time (yeah, okay). So we stagger out into the gross, sticky afternoon and take in the sight of people just starting to flood into the streets from their offices. In the craziest of random coincidences, I run into my friend Becky right outside my office, on her way home from work. Having no other plan of attack, we go and hang out in a park for a few hours to wait for either a) a return to normalcy, or b) the end of the world. I assume that band practice is cancelled.

Thursday Evening – Thankfully, Becky’s building has generator power to allow the keycards and elevator to work (not that we’re fool enough to try the elevator). In her place, we find that there is at least running water and some food that has to be eaten or it will perish. So we eat it. Cue some more sitting around wondering what’s going on, interspersed with climbing around on rooftops.

Thursday Night – The city gets dark. Really dark. People roam the streets, mostly just taking in the unexpected and probably not unwelcome return to the Dark Ages, having beer on patios, chatting on functioning cellphones, etc. From my vantage point, I see no signs of panic or opportunism. There is concern about not having flashlights or batteries. I find out that my apartment, besides having no power, also has no water. That is not good. It’s decided that it’s better if I just crash on the couch at Becky’s since at least there’s running water. I make a run back to my place, through the frequent pitch blackness of College St, to pick up supplies – flashlights, matches, etc. And Scrabble (Which I proceed to get my ass kicked at). The Toronto night is amazing to look at, though the emergency power in the skyscrapers down in the financial district ruins the opportunity to see the skyline in pitch blackness. And you could see stars. When was the last time you could see stars in downtown Toronto? Hello, big dipper. Been a while. Oh yeah, and I saw Mars. That was way cool.

Friday Morning – 6AM, there is still no power. Not the case at the Second Cup, so Becky has to go to work. 6:30, let there be light! The power returns, and there is much jubilation. A quick phone call home reveals that it’s not a widespread phenomenon, and my place is still electricty and water-less. There’s no reason to go home, so I spend the next six hours or so loitering in the wonderfully air-conditioned Second Cup, reading newspapers and doing crosswords. Business is crazy with people seeking their caffeine (and A/C) fix, but everyone is pretty happy and doing alright despite the extenuating circumstances.

Friday Afternoon – Power throughout the city is still being restored, my apartment is apparently still further down the list. It is stiflingly hot out. Of course, Scrabble in the park is the obvious thing to do. I get my ass kicked again.

Friday Evening – Hooray for electricity, and the opportunity to make food that it affords. The television fills us in on what has gone on in the past day, and what the next few days will hold (rolling blackouts, etc). Then the cable goes out. The electricty holds, thankfully. I get mine back, kicking some ass at Scrabble for a change, but lose a $5 bet because I don’t recognize S Club 7 on television. The Radiohead concert is officially postponed, to no surprise. I expect the rescheduled date to be in the first week of September, which is fine with me.

Friday Night – We’re going to go try and meet some people at a pub, so I finally head home (electricty having been restored in the afternoon) to get changed and grab the car. I have not showered in well over a day and a half. Nice. The change of clothes and fresh socks are very welcome. From what I can see driving through the city, everything looks back to normal, save for a single set of blinking traffic lights. I am exhausted and gross and sweaty. Sleep is welcome, if a little tough to get to since we’re being good citizens and keeping the air conditioning off.

I have to say, I’m impressed. An incident of this scale and severity, and we as a society don’t descend into anarchy. I don’t flip out from being kept offline for a day and a half. People are more concerned with getting beer than they are with looting. It was all pretty damned relaxed. This was easily the most laid back and fun state of emergency ever. It was good to have my usual routine shaken up some, the blackout was probably the most fun I’d had in a while.

As for what happens now, I’m not sure what’s going on with my weekend. I will probably try to head home and get my old bike. Our food situation will need to be assessed. With Radiohead being cancelled, I have nothing to do now. Showering should be on the agenda though, definitely. Like right now. Yuck.

np – Dot Allison / Afterglow

I went to see Easy Rider last night. Ignoring the fact that the theatre had a pretty lousy print (choppy sound and everything had this unsettling pink wash over it), it was an interesting film. I can appreciate the historical significance of it, coming out in 1969 this would have been a real clarion call to that generation – it’s a fascinating look at what hippy and drug culture was like at the time, and not filtered through the lens of hindsight. That said, I couldn’t really relate to the film on a personal level. I’m not a biker, a drug user or a longhair. But hey, it was still interesting. Killer soundtrack, though, and watching a young Jack Nicholson – already with the grin and the acting style that would become his trademark – and a whacked out Dennis Hopper was fascinating.

Aussies The Sleepy Jackson are opening for My Morning Jacket on their Fall North American tour.

The Sadies play the Horseshoe on September 13… just because.

Sloan rate the cover story in this week’s eye.

np – Blue Rodeo / Tremolo