Sunday, October 5th, 2003
There were some concerns early on that maybe Calexico had overestimated their draw by booking two nights at a venue the size of Lee’s Palace on their cross-Canada tour. On this, the second night, the crowd was still mighty sparse when openers The Frames took the stage just after their scheduled 7:45 start time (the early show may have had something to do with the size of the crowd as well). Instead of being discouraged, they dove right in and proceeded to charm the slowly-growing crowd with their anthemic folk-rock in their uniquely Irish way and by set’s end they had the audience calling for an encore. Because of time restrictions it was not to be, but they made it up to their fans later on.
Calexico are touring across Canada at just the right time, coming to inject a little dose of southwestern heat into a too-frigid October. Travelling as a six-piece and outfitted with an enormous array of instruments, Calexico alternated from hand-clapping, hip-shaking mariachi numbers to spacious soundscapes evoking the Arizona desert they call home. Local boy Dallas Good joined them onstage for a couple numbers and some of The Frames guested on the encore finale – a rousing cover of The Pogues’ “Fiesta”. Frames frontman Glen Hansard did his best to channel Shane MacGowan’s drunken spirit, and while he was a little too intelligable, it was a good try.
Oh yeah, there was no need to worry about the attendance over two nights – the Saturday night, at least, ended up being packed anyway. And complaints? $25 CDs. Hello, what the fuck is that?
I’m not too thrilled with how my photos turned out. I had a terrific vantage point from a table at the front of the mezzanine at stage left, and thought I’d try going flash-less for this show. I was close enough and the Calexico lightshow was bright enough that I seemed to be able to get some good atmospheric shots, at least from the camera preview. And while there technically was enough light to get the effect I wanted, I’m not steady of hand enough to keep things from getting too blurry. I’ve got 20 shots up – I took a helluva lot more that just weren’t usable. Still, practice makes perfect.
np – Gram Parsons / GP/Grievous Angel
Saturday, October 4th, 2003
Peter Saville was the house artist for Factory Records and the man responsible for all the cover artwork for Joy Division and New Order, among many others. If you check out his website, you can browse through a gallery of his work – he has a fantastic style. And as a bonus, you can download a whole bunch of the fonts he used on JD and NO album artwork – perfect for creating, oh, little banner ads advertising the Joy Division vs New Order tribute night at Sneaky Dee’s on Friday at which we will be playing. Plug plug.
Now 517 will be along shortly with an expansive commentary on Peter Saville and his work…
The Cure were supposed to release a 4-disc box set of b-sides and rarities called Join The Dots – The B-sides & Rarities Collection on October 21, but that has been pushed back to January 13 of next year.
Off Records is now taking pre-orders for the all-star Hedwig & The Angry Inch tribute album, Wig In A Box. The less devoted can wait till it comes out on October 21, but they will miss out on the FREE POSTER that Off is, er, offering.
Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy has been mauled by a tiger during one of their shows in Las Vegas. Now I don’t really wish ill on anyone, but come on – what the hell did you think was going to happen? It’s called the law of averages. Look it up.
np – Beulah / Yoko
Friday, October 3rd, 2003
School Of Rock is getting astonishingly good reviews – 86% at Metacritic and 89% at Rotten Tomatos, and this is with most if not all of the major outlets’ reviews already in. I thought it looked funny, but from the commercials and trailers, it seemed a little formulaic and kids in movies is always dodgy, but it looks like Jack Black and Richard Linklater has got themselves a slam dunk with this one. Cool beans.
Further on the topic of schoolteachers-turned-rock-stars, word is the openers for the November 14 Guided By Voices show at the Opera House will be The Constantines.
np – The Shins / Oh, Inverted World
Thursday, October 2nd, 2003
You may note over on the right that the Clem Snide/Califone show is out and Mojave 3 is in. They kick off their North American tour in Toronto on Wednesday, October 29 at Lee’s Palace, tickets $15. Sorry Clem/Califone, maybe next time. I love Mojave 3. There will be another North American tour in Februrary, and yes, I’ll be there too.
The December 3 Broken Social Scene show is a fundraiser for the George Herman House, which provides housing and support for women with mental health issues. As it turns out, the George Herman House is just up the street from my place. How about that.
Did anyone else watch The West Wing last night? Did anyone catch exactly how the FBI found Zoey? I watched the last segment twice and didn’t get any clue. Smells like a little too much deus ex for my liking. But seriously, if anyone caught something I didn’t, please share.
Election day! I’ve found a polling station close to work so I can get that taken care of sooner rather than later. It’s handy working in the same riding that you live in.
Update: It turns out I actually *have* to vote at the polling station by my place, I’ve been registered there. Alas.
np – Mojave 3 / Excuses For Travellers
Wednesday, October 1st, 2003
Broken Social Scene make a triumphant hometown return on December 3rd at the Phoenix after conquering the US in September and the UK in October. Not sure what they’re doing in November. Tickets are $15 and already on sale at Rotate This.
517 sent me this interesting article on manufacturing diamonds. It’s fascinating reading, and anything that makes De Beers worried is okay in my books.
Speaking of books, I got Steve Earle’s short story collection Doghouse Roses and Paul Auster’s latest Book Of Illusions from the library. I’m going to get started into them when I’ve finished reading The Dark Knight Returns, which is for my money THE best comic book story ever written. And that’s saying something.
And the costume for the Catwoman movie is quite possibly the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. The producers of Daredevil must be high-fiving each other as they prepare to pass on the albatross of ‘worst-looking comic book adaptation of recent memory’ to Halle Berry and co. And that’s also saying something.
All hail the King of the Hobos. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Russell Crowe.
np – Neil Young / On The Beach
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