The WHO is to lift their dumb-ass travel advisory, effective Wednesday. While good news, I fear that the damage to our economy and reputation is already pretty bad. Will people accept the all clear as quickly as they did the panic alert. Fuck WHO. Fuck SARS. Fuck acronyms.

Well, SAE is an alright acronym. I found this last night – for my fourth year project in university, I was on a team building an open-wheeled race car from scratch. I was responsible for the aerobody. There are some pics up there from the unveiling. I think I’m in one of them. If I recall, we’d been up for around 35 hours straight welding, cutting, painting, etc by that point, so my memories are understandably hazy. I do remember that I needed to go home and get fresh socks at one point. Fresh socks make all the difference, no word of lie. It was a ridiculously stressful way to wind out university, but in hindsight, it was pretty fun. But don’t tell Ross I said that.

np – Ken Stringfellow / Touched

Here’s a nice idea to support your local independent record store – In-Stores Across America. I can attest that the in-stores at Soundscapes here in Toronto rank very high on the cool-event-o-meter.

My copy of Bettie Serveert’s Log 22 arrived yesterday. It’s less polished and more eclectic than its predecessor Private Suit, maintaining the requisite amounts of fuzz. An interesting contrast with the new Cardigans album – one band has dived headlong into mature sophistication, the other… not so much. This is not a slight, just and observation.

Luna bassist Britta Phillips (who I think would be a definite write-in candidate for the Playboy poll…) is auctioning off some memorabilia from 80s cartoon Jem & The Holograms. Why? Cause she was the voice of Jem, dammit! She was also in the best-forgotten 80s rock flick Satisfaction with Justine Bateman from Family Ties, but that’s not as cool. But if it was JASON Bateman, that’d be a different bag of toffee altogether. Anyone remember that sitcom It’s Your Move? My cousin was in love with him on that show. Taped every episode.

Coffee. I should be reconsidering my position on coffee.

np – Bettie Serveert / Log 22

This is fucked up. This studio doo-dad is designed to help singers stay on pitch by – wait for it – administering electrical shocks whenever they stray. Man, crank up the voltage a little on one of these and bring it into the recording sessions for any of those Top 40 ‘pop’ acts, and you’d be able to smell the charred flesh from blocks away.

There’s an interview with Bob Pollard over at Stuff Magazine. I dunno, thinking about Bob Pollard getting groupie action just isn’t a pleasant image. First the Playboy beauty pageant, now this. It’s official – cheesecake magazines love the indie rock.

517 sent a few of our songs to Mark Robinson of Unrest and Teenbeat Records for his critical appraisal. Verdict? He liked “Awake Too Long” and “Beautiful Again”. Heady praise. Now we just need them to bankroll an excessive double-concept album and world tour.

np – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead / Source Tags And Codes

My fun web coding discovery of last night – Netscape 6.0+ now supports the glorious iframe tag. Witness:

If you’re still using Netscape 4.79 (517, I’m looking in your direction), then nuts to you.

My non-fun web coding discovery of last night – Internet Explorer does not like it when you try to use CSS to apply a position:fixed style to an element, be it div or table or layer. I coulda sworn I’d gotten this to work before, but it is not co-operating now. If I can’t get it working, I may have to go to – shudder – frames. (this is for the revamped Lake Holiday website. Not that there’s any new content there yet. I will issue a proper invitation when more of it is working).

Weird site of the day – File under buck-nutty.

np – The Cardigans / Long Gone Before Daylight

Another year, another pair of sunglasses busted. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Oh yeah, because it’s sunny out. Next pair I buy, I’m getting a case for them.

Spent a couple hours in the rehearsal space today, cleaning. MAN that place was dirty! The vacuum cleaner sounded like a box of pop rocks in one of those paint mixing machines or something, so much crap was being picked up. But now that it’s clean, I am filled with a sense of immense well-being and satisfaction. I also got the chance to restring some guitars and swap tubes around in my amp. I find maintenance relaxing, somehow.

Richard Thompson is playing at Hugh’s Room on May 28 touring in support of his new album, The Old Kit Bag out May 6. For those not familiar, Thompson is for my money one of the very finest songwriters and guitarists on the face of the Earth, and has been for nigh on 30 years. I have never gotten a chance to see him live, since well, no one’s ever heard of him and his shows aren’t cheap ($40 for this one), but I don’t think I’ll be missing him this time through. It’s a solo acoustic show at a small, intimate venue. Should be fantastic.

np – Sonic Youth / Daydream Nation