Now that a Ritz-Carlton is going up in Toronto, it would seem that the Wellington & John area is the new home to all the shmancy hotels, what with the Soho Met and Le Germain already in the neighbourhood.

On Sunday we watched Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, a documentary that we missed at last year’s Hot Docs. After watching it, I have confirmed something I already suspected: I hate Lars Ulrich. I never liked his drumming, he makes porn star face when he plays and he’s been among the most whiny millionaire musicians protesting filesharing. And, after watching this, I think he’s a snivelling little camera whore. The way he preened and showed off for the camera, the way he got in everyone’s face…argh. I hate him.

Not that Hetfield’s a joy. He’s a guy with monumental issues, as evidenced by his sudden year long rehab, and he’s a full-on control freak, but he really looked like a guy trying to fight his demons…which can’t be easy when one of them’s in his face, screaming his little spandex pants off.

The two best parts of the movie, by far:

• When Dave Mustaine let out 20 years of frustration and envy and abandonment on Ulrich all at once. Not blaming him, just letting him feel a tiny bit of what it was like to be the guy who got kicked out of Metallica just before they hit it big. What would’ve been sublime is if Hetfield had been there.
• When Hetfield, post-rehab, was complaining about how after he’d leave for the day, when he came back all these decisions had been made without him and he felt powerless. Kirk Hammett, in a rare speaking appearance, said “That’s what it’s been like for me for 16 fucking years, man!”. Hetfield looked a bit stunned.

Really, truth be told, Hammett was the only one I felt bad for. Well, maybe Bob Rock too, but mostly Hammett, despite the fact that he too annoys me.

Shit. I think I’m giving the impression that I didn’t like the movie, and that’s not my intention at all. It’s a great bit of drama, and shows that millionaire rock stars are stupid too.

After a VERY quiet winter, I’m looking forward to a bunch of new albums being released:

• may 03: nine inch nails . with teeth
• may 10: spoon . gimme fiction
• may 24: sleater-kinney . the woods
• jun 07: coldplay . x&y
• jun 07: white stripes . get behind me satan
• jul 26: bob mould . body of song

As if the dentist office debacle yesterday wasn’t bad enough, now the woman a few pods over from me is listening to Shania Twain on the radio.

Varnaline is helping me through the pain.

Why do people let the media lead them around by the nose? The way that pollsters and conservative news sources are bellowing from the rooftops, you’d think that the Gomery inquiry has produced evidence of mass genocide and frequent puppy-kicking by the federal Liberal party, and that there’s an angry mob of pissed-off Canadians charging up Parliament Hill as we speak ready to lynch the cancerous bastards.

The latest Ekos poll that people seem to be putting so much faith in says they surveyed 1,125 Canadians, and that 36% said they’d vote for the Conservatives were an election to be held today, while only 25% said they’d vote Liberal. So what are the odds, d’you suppose, that they’ve all read the full testimony from Jean Brault, and understand just why it’s so bad? Isn’t it more likely that they’re just doing what every political commentator is doing, reacting to a juicy scandal because they’re told it’s a scandal and not because of the content of said scandal? How many know who Jean Brault is? How many know what the Gomery inquiry is about? Certainly not all of them.

So Ekos calls these people up and asks an unbelievably loaded question like, “Is this the worst scandal that you can recall?”, you’ll get a lot of people who say, “Yes, dammit, hang them from the nearest yardarm!”, and 36-25 lead for Harper gets trotted out, and words “catastrophic” and “explosive” and “shaky minority” get tossed around by breathless talk radio hosts and all of a sudden we’re on our way to another fucking election as soon as June. But here’s the thing: that same Ekos poll also reveals that even more people said that, while the scandal was bad, it’s no worse than any other scandal. Which makes it not much of scandal at all, by my interpretation. And more importantly, the poll reveals that “just 15 per cent say the election should be called now versus 62 per cent who say it should wait until the inquiry submits its report”. 15%. A whopping 1 in 7. That’s how many people want it now. So relax. I, along with that 62%, suggest that we let reason win the day and wait. If it turns out that an unforgivable scandal has transpired, then I suppose they’ll be punished. But it’s the expected punishment that’s the most laughable aspect of the whole story.

Here’s what I mean: what’s truly baffling is the naiveté of the people who must presume that when they bring down the Liberal government, the incoming conservative government will be the model of honesty and integrity, that no scandal shall ever occur on their watch, that such corruption as this would not occur under a Tory regime. So while news anchors and editorials leap to the juciest conclusion — Liberal bad, Tory good — the viewing public follows along, bleating angrily, not sure what they’re upset about, but dammit, we’d better get answers!

My new dentist plays an easy listening radio station over the speaker. I may have to bring my Nomad next time.

After I left the dentist, I caught the subway at Union station. The train pulls in, a lady gets off. I’ve started to enter the train when a guy in the seat by the door slowly stands up and pushes his bike in front of me. I realize now that he’s trying to get off, but he’s waited so long that the dinging’s started and there’s a couple behind me so it’s not like I can back off to let him out. Regardless, I move aside as much as I can to let him by. As he pushes past he mumbles, “Wait ’til people get off first, asshole.”

Ah, retarded bicyclists. What fun would the subway be without you?

I’ve gone and done it again. As I always do, I’ve revised my list of best albums of last year. Neko and The Von Bondies have flipped places, and discs by The Hidden Cameras, Magneta Lane and Green Day pushed The Division Of Laura Lee, Jolie Holland and Mark Lanegan out of the top ten.

1. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
2. The Walkmen – Bows And Arrows
3. A.C. Newman – The Slow Wonder
4. The Von Bondies – Pawn Shoppe Heart
5. Neko Case – The Tigers Have Spoken
6. The Hidden Cameras – Mississauga Goddam
7. Magneta Lane – The Constant Lover
8. Ted Leo – Shake The Streets
9. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose
10. Green Day – American Idiot

Honorable mentions: Division Of Laura Lee – Das Not Compute, Explosions In The Sky – Friday Night Lights Soundtrack, Jimmy Eat World – Futures, Jolie Holland – Escondida, Kasabian – Kasabian, Mark Lanegan – Bubblegum, Thee Silver Mountain Reveries – Pretty Little Lightning Paw

And no, I still haven’t changed my mind about The Fiery Furnaces‘ Blueberry Boat or PJ Harvey‘s Uh Huh Her.

The CB half of CBGB claims that she no longer listens to new music because nothing good is being made these days (or something like that), that music was better in the early 90s. Of course, she knows that it’s more about our exposures; back then we had cool friends in dorms handing us copies of obscure bands like Nine Inch Nails or Smashing Pumpkins, and channels like MuchMusic were targeting us. Nowadays we’re definitely not in those crosshairs, and our friends are all old and married and uncool. But I’ve decided to show her that it’s still there…you just have to look for it. Or, you know, read someone’s blog. And so, CB, a few suggestions, just to get you started:

1. Bright Eyes. Coner Oberst is looking a little like a modern-day Dylan these days: folk-rock singer from the midwest making a name for himself at a young age in New York. Not as political as Dylan, but much better looking. Start with I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning.
2. Explosions In The Sky is what would happen if you took classical musicians and told them to play rock music. It’s all instrumental, but they manage to convey more emotion and intensity with their instruments than you’d expect. Everything is swells and lulls, and it’s all beautiful. Either of their full length albums (Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live or The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place) would be a great place to start. They also did the Friday Night Lights soundtrack, but it’s not as complete a piece as either of their studio discs.
3. Bonnie Prince Billy is about as stark as they come. His music is usually sung alone with a guitar or two, maybe with a singer doing harmony, maybe not. He could be Johnny Cash, give or take an octave. Best album to start with: Master And Everyone.
4. The Arcade Fire. In my opinion, the best album of last year. By a landslide. Innovative & hopeful & energetic. Start with their breakthrough disc from last fall, Funeral.
5. The New Pornographers, made up of musicians from various Vancouver-based bands, and named by leader Carl Newman after something ridiculous Jerry Falwell once said, have recorded two discs (the best of which was their debut Mass Romantic). On about half of their songs they’re lucky enough to be accompanied by the lovely & talented Neko Case.
6. Speaking of Neko Case, her latest studio disc (Blacklisted) is a great one to check out. She walks to the intersection of blues, torch, rock and twangy country and camps out there for the night. And a good night it is.
7. The Be Good Tanyas and/or Jolie Holland. Either will do. The Be Good Tanyas are more about folk music & harmonies, whereas Holland (an original member of the Tanyas) is more about stark melody and a practically impenetrable voice. Start with Blue Horse by the BGTs or Escondida by JH.
8. For music that’s cool in spite of the fact that you’ll hear it at dance clubs check out LCD Soundsystem. The self-titled LCD Soundsytem disc has genius pieces like “Losing My Edge” and “Yeah”, and it’s smart enough that you won’t feel like a club kid whose heels are taller than her book collection.
9. While we’re on the topic of “smart”, Grandaddy released two albums since the dot com crash and, while his music isn’t directly about that, it’s related. Or, more accurately, it’s pointed at the ongoing effects of us occasionally losing our minds in the face of technology. The dot com crash was just the backdrop that inspired the albums. The Sophtware Slump is a good place to start.
10. Finally, you have your choice of Snow Patrol or The Reindeer Section. Gary Lightbody, leader & singer of both groups, spread his influence around and the two sound kind of similar. Snow Patrol is a band, whereas The Section is a collective made up of many musicians, and whose first album was influenced heavily by The Folk Implosion (as you can see in the liner notes). If you decide to check out Snow Patrol, have a listen to Final Straw; if it’s The Reindeer Section, either of their studio discs (Y’All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! or Son Of Evil Reindeer) are good beginner material.

Just have GB there fire up ye old bittorrent and have a listen; if you like what you hear, pick up the CD and impress your friends at parties.

I can’t believe I’ve never noticed that our friends G&C’s full initials make “CBGB”. make no mistake about it: I’ll be calling them CBGB from now on.

Watched two movies this weekend (so far; nothing says we won’t watch another tonight after the assignment’s done):

• p.s. (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was one we missed at last year’s festival. I like Laura Linney’s work a lot, and I enjoyed Dylan Kidd’s first film Roger Dodger, so I had high expectations for this one. Not quite as good as Roger Dodger (which grew on me more and more after I saw it…I think it took some time to process) but certainly enjoyable. I think Topher Grace has a chance to be a big indie movie star, if that’s what he wants to do. All in all: not groundbreaking, but recommended.
• We saw Sin City (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. Man. Ultra-noir comic book and super-textured black & white visuals really go together, huh? I loved this movie, but I could tell other people in the audience didn’t (the three air-kissing twinkies in front of us, for example). One guy even got up and left during a particularly violent segment near the end. Do these people not read the movie description, or even see an ad before they buy a ticket? Whatever. If you don’t mind surrealist violence and plotlines, go see this movie. It’s a kick.