Right step forward, giant step with the left

And now the state line felt like the Berlin wall

Death Cab and Franz played last night. Here are some random thoughts on the concert:

- I finally figured out who the band is one that Telus commercial with the parrot and the cell phone, but only because they were playing that song when we got to the show. In case you are interested the band is The Cribs and they are from Wakefield, England. I will be checking them out because their live show was fairly entertaining and I like to see how that translates onto a CD.

- Death Cab for Cutie had what was definitively the best set design I have ever witnessed in a concert. Granted it was no U2 Pop tour, but who wants to listen to the same song played by 40 year olds for three hours anyways? So Death Cab's set consisted of two small, crooked white houses, some large silhouettes of trees and then behind that what appeared to me to be large office towers, or just the lights from their windows. I have no idea if that is a good description of what was going on, but it definitely had a good vibe to it, and made the show more enjoyable. How often do set designs do that?

- When Ben Gibbard played “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” the whole place erupted for the “You and me have seen everything to see, From Bangkok to Calgary” line. It was so loud that Gibbard had to step back and laugh before following up with the next line. Definitely a high point.

- Death Cab played damn near everything from Plans, and a bunch of older stuff. I am fairly confident that their set was substantially longer than Franz’s set.

- Franz opened with This Boy and I was honestly disappointed with Alex K’s vocals on it. Luckily they picked it up for each and every song after that. Alex K. is probably one of the more entertaining frontmen I have seen. He has good personality, and seems like he is having fun. Unlike their bass player. That dude seemed out of place for the whole show.

- For “Outsiders” (maybe?) which I thought was the last song before the encore Franz’s keyboard player jumped from the keyboards to the drum kit and proceeded to rock out on the same kit as Paul Thompson, facing the drummer. It was just pretty cool until all of Death Cab ran out and kicked it on random percussion instruments for the rest of the song, then it got awesome. There was a solid two minute drum breakdown in there which I would describe as thunderous. It was a pretty cool way to go out.

That was probably one of the more enjoyable concerts I have been to of late.

Peace.

Of all the ways to skin a cat

So I haven’t had much to put in here lately. My weekdays have involved work and then watching hockey, and my weekends have mostly been snowboarding. At least from what I can remember. So I’m sure it wouldn’t be all too interesting for anyone to recap viewing a hockey game, or the sweet faceplant I did off a rail in Jaspar, so instead I’m just gonna do this.

Random shit:

I’ve taken to listening to Catch 22 and Streetlight Manisfesto’s versions of Keasby Nights back to back trying to figure out which one is better and I have been unable to come to a decision. I am pretty sure anything I end up thinking about it is tainted by the fact that Catch 22 is now unentertaining, and Streetlight is the only good ska band in the world. This prejudice has very little to do with the music and more to do with the band’s history. For those who don’t know, most of the guys in Streetlight used to be in Catch 22 before some bizarre insurrection forced them to start up some other band. Now Catch 22 used to have a very distinct style, but once the band split they lost pretty much everything that made them good. Streetlight on the other hand picked up the ridiculously fast ska torch and have been running with it ever since. From what I understand they always played the old Catch 22 songs at shows, but eventually got around to recording their own version of the Keasby Night album. I’m sure this was just as much out of spite as it was for whatever small financial gain they stand to make.

Here is some live New Pornographer’s caught in Boston, and yanked from Bradley’s Almanac. My only complaint is that they skipped playing Stacked Crooked which is my favourite song off of Twin Cinema.

“Dogs in Headlocks” is by far the greatest song title I can imagine. Just sit back and picture that shit.

Avery Why has a myspace page. I’m going to leave this one at the brilliant band description: “A genius on acid with a talent-less/confused band backing him up (its hard to play along with someone who doesnt know where he is).” I think that about sums it up.

And that’s it. I’ll get better at this again soon.

Peace.

I’ll be damned if I’m gonna grow up poor

In honour of everyone of I work with going away for the summer and leaving me to work on their shitty jobs, I have decided to take a week off in June (or around there) to head down to Maui with Mark. This will be my first time back to Maui since I was 11 or around there. Last time I was there I had a sweet bowl hair cut thing going on, and I am pretty sure most of my clothes were of the fluorescent variety. Hot shit. We also spent lots of time touring around looking at volcanoes and forests and stuff. I am pretty sure this trip will be different. Not different in a Palm Beach kind of way, but different in the activities we partake in. There are obviously some things I did with my family (sit on a beach) that we will likely be doing, but there are other things I didn’t get into with them (surfing, being a dirtbag) that will likely occur on this trip.

As to the surfing I am sure some of you know I am not exactly a “strong” swimmer. I am fairly certain that I failed whatever level it was I had to take in grade 3 or 4 with Andy, Paul and Jord (who all passed), and any actual instruction I did get was in my grandparent’s backyard pool, where I spent most of my time floating around on various devices. I will not let this deter me from being a mediocre surfer though, as I can hold my breath for a really long time and I think that should be skill enough to get by.

Normally I would post a song but I am too lazy, so if you have it listen to six days at the bottom of the ocean by explosions in the sky. If not, fuck you.

Other things happening around here:
- I haven’t seen Timmy in weeks. He is going to die from a stroke or something if he keeps working that hard.
- Sunshine is going to be open until May 22nd this year. I can’t see how we won’t be riding dirt by then, but if they keep it open I’ll keep showing up a little after noon.
- Drank wheatgrass because it is apparently retardedly healthy, plus its fun to drink something that tastes like a freshly mowed lawn.

And that’s it.

Except for that Metric show I went to see two nights ago. I have to tell you, not going to see this band is a bad idea. I think that their live show it one of the more entertaining I have seen of late. They only have 2 cds worth of tracks (as far as I know) so it’s pretty easy to get caught up on what they are doing, and everyone knows shows where you know the words to the songs kill all other shows. Emily Haines is a great. I would love to see Broken Social Scene play with her singing. Not that I thought Lisa Lobsinger was bad, but listening to them play the songs she helped write would be awesome. So ya, I don’t know if Metric has been through the whole country yet, but if you do get a chance go check them out. I doubt you will be disappointed. Even you Mike.

Peace.