Category: Music

I am an extraordinary thief

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

The new TV On The Radio starts out strong but then fizzles. The new HBO show True Blood is okay but not great, and a far cry from the likes of The Wire, Deadwood or The Sopranos. Federal elections on both sides of the border leave me cold as candidate after candidate spew the safest tripe and make a supreme effort to not say or do anything that might get notices. I adore how Christopher Hitchens explains why God Is Not Great but it ultimately feels hollow because I know only other atheists will read the book. The new Kings of Leon is like a jelly doughnut: tasty around the edges but squishy in the middle. The first episode of Heroes was rubbish, not that I expected otherwise. Fall is setting in and the sky is already turning that shade of gray that sticks around all winter.

Dear world…excitement: please give me it. Or at least inspire me to manufacture some of my own. Maybe have a radioactive spider bite me or have my condo building taken over by Hans Gruber.

[tags]tv on the radio, true blood, christopher hitchens, kings of leon, heroes[/tags]

The lazy way they turned your head

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“Halfway Home” from TV On The Radio‘s latest Dear Science might just be the best song I’ve heard this year.

My convictions about the new Kings of Leon album Only By The Night, on the other hand, are not so strong. The first four songs are excellent; the next five are boring, while the final two are very good. Coincidentally, 6/11 is the same score the album’s running at Metacritic right now.

[tags]tv on the radio, kings of leon[/tags]

They're No Here

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Drat and foo. Mogwai has been forced to cancel their remaining US and Canadian tour dates, including this Wednesday’s show in Toronto, for which I had tickets. Apparently drummer Martin Bulloch was having trouble with his pacemaker:

I was taken into hospital last night almost immediately after the show at ATP. I’ve been having some problems with my pacemaker for the duration of the tour and it unfortunately culminated in me being sent to the emergency room. The doctors there initially thought i would have to have corrective surgery at a larger hospital nearer NYC but i have been given the all clear to travel home on the understanding that i go straight to my cardiologist on arrival back in Scotland.

Tbh, i’m really bummed about having to go home and feel for the folk who had bought tickets for our upcoming shows but i can honestly say it would be almost impossible for me to carry on at this point as my pacemaker has broken skin and the surrounding area has become infected.

Blurg! But it’s good news that Marty seems to be ok. Get well, and come back, soon.

Note for ticketholders: TicketMaster says the original tickets will be honored at a rescheduled date, TBD.

[tags]mogwai, phoenix concert theatre, ticketmaster[/tags]

Now what?

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Ummm, yeah. So I’m done blogging about the MBA. And TIFF is over for another year. So what the hell do I talk about now?

Well, last night we got the remnants of a hurricane. Which was fun. And this morning the American financial system fucking melted. Happy trails, Lehman Brothers. You too Merrill Lynch. Say hello to Bear Stearns for us. Here’s hoping AIG can get up off the mat. Me, I spent the day trying to catch up at the office and wondering how the ass balls I can tame my inbox.

And here’s what’s coming up: Canadiens training camp. A Mogwai concert. A Toronto FC game next weekend. Volo’s cask days. Drinks with two friends and a cousin (all at different times…they don’t know each other) that I’ve been putting off for a while. Dinner with T-Bone. Long overdue blog template redesign. The “some day” category on my RTM task list. PVR annihilation, especially the stuff recorded back in December. Listening (finally) to the following:

  • bonnie prince billy . lie down in the light
  • coldplay . viva la vida or death and all his friends
  • frightened rabbit . sing the greys
  • kings of leon . only by the night
  • lightspeed champion . falling of the lavender bridge
  • mates of state . re-arrange us
  • mgmt . oracular spectacular
  • mogwai . the hawk is howling
  • nick + norah’s infinite playlist . original soundtrack
  • okkervil river . the stand-ins
  • spiritualized . songs in a & e
  • tv on the radio . dear science
  • walkmen . you & me
  • witch . paralyzed
  • wolf parade . at mount zoomer

Reviews:

  • I watched a few minutes of J.J. Abrams’ new show Fringe and that was enough. I liked Cloverfield and all but I want nothing to do with the dude’s shows.
  • The jury’s still out on the new HBO show True Blood. Alan Ball: good. Vampires: boring. Anna Paquin: less hot than I expected. Rutina Wesley, who plays her best friend: my new girlfriend du jour.
  • Bon Iver: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[tags]tiff, lehman brothers, merrill lynch, canadiens, mogwai, toronto fc, volo cask days, fringe, cloverfield, true blood, anna paquin, rutina wesley, bon iver[/tags]

Doot doot plot

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Random-y thought-y-ness. Yay-y.

  • This is the most excited I’ve been about the TIFF in a good long while. The prospect of shutting down my life (I’m taking six days off work) to watch this many films, and get this into the festival, feels pretty awesome right now.
  • I feel like our Canadian election cycle — the Prime Minister dropped serious hints about an election last week and we’ll likely go to the polls in mid-October — makes so much more sense than the American election cycle. First, two months of bleating, braying political ads is quite enough. Second, as Naomi Klein explains in a recent AV Club interview, having a constant two-year cycle of elections & midterm elections makes politicians afraid to actually do anything lest they hurt their upcoming election chances…and with a constant, two-year cycle an election is always upcoming. Not that Canadian politicians are fearless & efficient, but at least the irregular, unpredictable nature of dissolving parliament and calling an election limits the degree to which that plays on a politician’s mind.
  • Mill Street Belgian Wit Beer is good. My wife’s homemade pizza is excellent.
  • I’ll miss the Mars Phoenix.
  • Colin Farrell’s a pretty good guy, apparently. Just ask Stress.
  • In mid-September the LCBO will once again carry the Great Lakes Pumpkin Ale, among others. Between this and the Winter Ale, Great Lakes is fast becoming my favourite seasonal brewery.
  • Every time I listen to Mississauga Goddam by The Hidden Cameras, I’m surprised all over again just how good it is.

[tags]tiff, tiff08, canadian election, mill street belgian wit, colin farrell, great lakes brewery, lcbo, hidden cameras[/tags]

Aw Come Aw Wry

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Whilst taking a break from writing my term paper I put together a little CD for my dad. I’ll bring it to him when I’m back in Nova Scotia in a couple of weeks.

  1. Barry Louis Polisar . “All I Want Is You”
  2. Black Keys . “Keep Me”
  3. Phosphorescent . “Aw Come Aw Wry”
  4. Neko Case . “Poor Ellen Smith”
  5. Track A Tiger . “Sound As Ever”
  6. Pixies . “Here Comes Your Man”
  7. Long Winters . “Cinnamon”
  8. Cat Power . “Song To Bobby”
  9. Avett Brothers . “Go To Sleep”
  10. Great Lake Swimmers . “Put There By The Land”
  11. Arthur & Yu . “1000 Words”
  12. Carrie Biell . “Don’t You Blame Me”
  13. Tallest Man On Earth . “Walk The Line”
  14. Band Of Horses . “Lamb On The Lam”
  15. Bonnie Prince Billy . “Master And Everyone”
  16. Blue Mountain . “Banks Of The Pontchartrain”
  17. Jose Gonzalez . “Heartbeats”
  18. Camera Obscura . “Razzle Dazzle Rose”

As with CDs I’ve made for him before, I expect him to love some and hate others. The Pixies and Camera Obscura might be wishful thinking, I grant you, but he’ll dig the Barry Louis Polisar…which happens to be the title song from Juno, so he’ll be cool without even knowing it.

[tags]mixed cd, music for my dad[/tags]

Final thoughts about our trip

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

  • Pictures of our trip are finally in a Flickr set. I uploaded the 30 I liked the best. Somehow we managed not to take any pictures in Vancouver…I guess we were too busy drinking and cycling.
  • Speaking of drinking, up until the last evening (when we were all about Belgian) we managed to drink only BC wine & beer for the entire trip. Some favourites: the Mt. Begbie Tall Timber Ale, several Mark James microbrews, the Blasted Church Hatfield’s Fuse and the Sumac Rudge Meritage.
  • Google Maps puts the trip from Calgary to Vancouver at just over 1,000 km; including side trips we covered just under 1,200 km. We filled the gas tank of our brand new Toyota Corolla once, in Revelstoke, at a cost of $50. We pre-paid the fuel option on the car for $60 (so worth it…I would’ve paid more than that to fill it up since I brought the car in right at E, and I didn’t have to drive around downtown Vancouver looking for a gas station) so ultimately we paid just $110 for all that driving. Not bad, considering all the griping I hear from drivers these days.
  • Animals spotted: a bear (from the safety of the Whistler gondola), marmots, hares, several gophers / prairie dogs / Richardson’s Ground Squirrels / whatever they were, chipmunks, a pika, an elk & a few big-horned sheep crossing the Trans Canada.
  • The flight attendant I spoke to on the Toronto–>Calgary flight told me about her brother’s blog, where she said he talked about “weird” music. I was trying to describe to her what I usually listened to, and she said it sounded like what her brother wrote about. She gave me the name of his blog. I checked it out…yup. She was definitely in the right ballpark. Check out Everything is Pop.

So…where to next?

[tags]mt. begbie brewery, mark james group, blasted church, sumac ridge, toyota corolla, everything is pop[/tags]

I have the coolest 5-year-old niece ever

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Today is one of my niece’s fifth birthday. My brother sent over some pictures of her party, including one where she’s holding a spoon like a lightsaber. He also included a video of her, in the back of their minivan, clutching a stuffed sheep (I think?), singing along with the Foo Fighters. Not well, mind you, but she’s givin’ er.

This gives me faint hope for the musical taste of the next generation of Dickinsons, which I had all but written off when he sent me video of my nephew dancing along to “Bootylicious.” The time before that it was Great Big Sea.

I guess all my prayers for their souls are finally starting to pay off. Hear me now, kids: “Dylan…Dylan…Dylan…”

[tags]foo fighters, cool niece[/tags]

Frank, AB

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I recently discovered the Rural Alberta Advantage, and I think I like them. Partly because they (or one of them, at least) looks like this, but mainly because they sound like this. And this. And this. And this. And this.

Thanks to Chromewaves for pointing the way.

Oh, and I have come to love “Waiting Game” by Lightspeed Champion.

[tags]rural alberta advantage, lightspeed champion, chromewaves[/tags]