The Zoo @ the Commodore

The Whalebones had already taken the stage and played some enjoyable, but slightly uninteresting, indie tunes. The male/female vocal sharing was nice and they seemed excited to be there.
I'm not sure if it was the buzz, the beer, the band or the bucks that had been paid by these people to get inside - but the crowd seemed overly excited for Frog Eyes. In my Human Eyes it was a one-man show and that one man annoyed the hell out of me. He stood under his unsuitable cowboy hat and sang constantly, filling every void with an ooh la or da da dah. As mentioned, people around me were eating it up. They inappropriately jumped up and down and they shouted "the drummer is hot" when she clearly wasn't. My most enjoyable moments were the when the pair of singers from the opening band started dancing around on the side stage, when I noticed a girl wearing a shiny chrome helmet in the crowd and laughed, and when I checked my email to find only spam.
The main attraction played fairly well. Playing most of their debut LP the standout songs seemed to standout while the others paled in comparison. Fancy Claps was my personal fave. A few new songs were played that didn't come across as overly original or potential standouts for albums to come but didn't totally bore the crowd either. There was some overly synthy stuff and they didn't remake the album note for note which is usually a good thing but I wasn't overly enthralled throughout.
The encore started out as most encores do. But shortly after breaking into song they started jamming and invited a soon-to-be-topless bald man to the mic to tell a story. Much of this story was garbage, rambled or lost in the mix but consisted of a boy named Alice and the mention of the son of God many, many times. Whether it was a joke, a legitimate story or a stab at impersonating a preacher I could not tell you. While this was going on a bit of insanity was breaking out. The large contingency of backstage pass holders began dancing. As this was a sort of homecoming for the two latter bands there were a lot of people swinging and jiving at this point. People in the crowd thought they would get in on the fun and started popping up on stage and trying to blend in with the others. Some were hauled off by security only to slip away back into the pit, others continued to break it down for our enjoyment. Members of opening bands took over instrument duties, including the one guy who headed for the most interesting noise maker of the night. It looked like a regular FM radio antenna but when you moved your hands near it a shrill noise could be heard that would change in pitch and frequency depending on the shape and movement of your hand. There was so much going on on stage I was having trouble taking it all in. Eventually the first song of the encore concluded with people still scattered across the stage. A singer leaned in and said something along the lines of "We're gonna do a couple more for ...... it seems we've been cut off". The blokes running the Commodore apparently weren't happy with what was transpiring and had pulled the plug. Naturally they had no problem scheduling the bands well into the night so they could cash in on liquor sales - but when it comes to the actual show the entertainment is over just as fast as possible. Dearly disappointed I stood longingly and watched as people hugged and slowly cleared the stage.
The love-in at the end was hectic and fun to watch. A few tunes were done really well and rocked out. Overall the live show did not stack up to the recorded album but considering I more than covered the cost of my ticked by scalping one, I can't complain.

*Whistle

Downhill mountain biking in Whistler was ridiculous. the trails were crazy - really difficult to navigate, what with huge boulders, big jumps, hairpin turns after steep hills. we rocked the easier hills at the bottom for a few hours then decided we wanted to go all the way up, only problem was the trails at the top were all for advanced bikers. i was actually doing well on the upper portion and was getting into a groove til i hear 'flapflapflap' as i catch a flat tire. being so friggen far away from the bottom i was frustrated but at least got to take a gondola ride down. Views from the top were decent; overlooking a bunch of other mountains, couple nice lakes and the castles that are the hotels in whistler village. On the last run of the day i hit a jump going much faster than regular and flew straight up, came down and just slid for like 3m. that's when the pads came in handy cuz my elbow and knee took the brunt of the force and just ended up with a slight burn. seems like an expensive sport, what with our rental bikes being worth $2700, but i d love to be able to do more of it.
that night we met up with a couple of friends in the hotel and had a few drinks in front of a phantom-controlled TV before heading to maxx fish. it was a basement club that was fair sized and was pretty clubby. they did have some entertaining stage dancers. Afterwards we wandered around the village and played on the driving range and snuck into the hotel's pool. ended up being a fun fun night.
we had to fight the urge to drop another couple hundred to bike the day away on sunday. Instead we visited Brohm lake - just north of squamish - where Dave showed me a new thrill that i was seeking. atop a 7m cliff hung a rope, so i grabbed the rope and climbed up another 3m to the top of the next cliff. After some calculating i took the three step walk then lifted my feet as i sailed out past the cliffs below and over the clean, green lake. At the peak of the swing i let go and flailed through the air til i came down with a smack into the water. bruised legs and hand will back that up. Since the first swing was filled with nerves i went for a second round. i thought the weathered rope was going to snap on my second jump and i was going to plummet to a broken neck on the cliff below, or get impaled by one of the tree stumps. however I managed to enter the water with the same lack of grace but less pain.
Overall I'd say Whistler as a town is overrated because it has been extremely commmecialized. Having discovered it in the early days it would have been a mecca for extreme and outdoor sports. from zip treking, to mountain biking, hiking, swimming, skiing and boarding there are heaps of year-round activities for an outdoor enthusiast. Now it seems overdeveloped, overpriced and overly touristy. However it does offer some of the best mountain biking in the world - which would be about the only reason I'd rush back there any time soon.

Keep Pace

I've been trying to keep up the hectic pace of my summer in Vancouver and found that I had to slow it down and take a bit of a breather this weekend. Having spent the last two weekends out camping and sleeping on hard ground the thought of sleeping in on a mattress was absolutely appealing. A couple weeks back a car-full of people went up to Leavit Lake on the way to Whistler. It was about a 40 minute off-road trek in a Bronco up the side of a mountain to a fairly secluded lake. We hauled our stuff another ten minutes by foot and set up amongst the trees on the edge of the lake. The off-roading was a lot of fun and the rest of the weekend was just relaxing in and around the lake. Doing a bit of a hike and sitting by the fire.

Last weekend (the long one) was the big outing to Tofino for the Triumf Summer Student learn to surf adventure. Thirteen of us set out early friday afternoon and pulled into our campsite by evening. Besides an overly restrictive campsite attendant we enjoyed barbecues, music and discussion around the fire. Spent the next couple of days floundering on 6 foot waves in the Pacific ocean, trying to get the hang of the surfing thing. By the second day I was standing up fairly consistently - though I would only stay in that position for maybe 5 seconds at a time. Those 5 seconds were enough of a rush to head back out and wait for the next perfect wave though. We also did some hiking and checked out some rainforests, toured Tofino itself and ferried back late Monday night. A little bit of social drama took place but all in all the weekend was a lot of fun.

My buddy Dave came to visit me at the frat house. We caught up and chilled at the house. I showed him downtown Vancouver and we went out for a night on the town. He may or may not have ended up walking through Stanley Park with his buddy trying in vain to find his way back to my place but I take no responsibility for that and he lays no blame. Just another story to tell. I also was feeling a little 'sick' of work one day and we went to climb the Lion's mountain; located in North Van, overlooking the city. It was a tough climb to the top, and when we arrived we found all views obscured by thick clouds. A real disappointment. We walked along a few mountain tops, frequently cursing the weather, and looking for a final scramble we'd read about. After losing ourselves a couple times and backtracking a little we found the free climb we were looking for. It was only 200 meters of climbing of so, but without harnesses and with the only options being up and off-a-cliff 80 m drop it was pretty thrilling. Breathing slowly to calm my nerves and strictly adhering to the 3-points-of-contact climbing rule I scaled to the peak of Lion's West. It was at this point that the clouds did begin to show us a glimpse of what we'd been missing all day. Carefully climbing back down, the clouds fully cleared now and left us with some breathtaking views of the city and the ocean. The hike down was kept interesting by "choosing" to take a new path down. By the time we ended up at the road we were near the end of the tank and then realized we still had a 5 km walk back to the car. We didn't even have the energy to take in the fireworks competition but the hike was by all accounts a successful one.

I had already seen day 1 of the 4 day annual fireworks competition in English Bay. Watching from Kits beach I was fairly impressed by Italy's display. Apparently the shows only got better from there but unfortunately I was busy and unable to attend them. Ah well - what I saw was still good.

What else? What else? Went to the Broken Social Scene show in Deer lake park. They played in the late evening sun and were excellent. The only disappointment was the leading ladies were all noticeably absent. Amy Millan (stars), Leslie Feist (Feist), and Emily Haines (metric) were no where to be seen. Rumour of K-os dropping by also fell flat. Yet the rest of the huge ensemble played to their full potential. Having as many as 11 members on stage at a time they really did impress me and the crowd. Sam Roberts played afterwards and it seemed that his fist-pumping brand of Canadiana rock was even better received by the Deer Lake crowd. Old favourites such as Where Have all the Good People Gone, Brother Down and Don't Walk Away Eileen were far and away the best - though the new material did come across pretty well too. He really does have a stage presence and his backing band was tight too.

Back to this weekend of relaxing. Friday night was a concert cruise. Some random event I found on craigslist paid off well. Five bands ranging from Celtic to folk to punk and all in between entertained while we cruised out from the Plaza of Nations through the inner harbour, past Stanley park, into English bay, out to the UBC point and back. The city at night is beautiful from the water and the bands were excellent.

Yesterday I visited the PNE. It will have to do as a smaller, scaled-down version of my annual trip to the CNE. Although it is a permanent park, most of the rides are in the style of a moving carnival and scare more because you are unsure of the safety of the equipment than because of the actual ride. There were a couple full sized rollercoasters. The older of which was built in 1958 of wood and was the best ride of the day. Classic ferris wheel and log rides were also enjoyed.

In the next post you can look forward to details of my end of summer bashes with the geeks, I mean summer students, at Triumf and probably one at the frat. Also I will recount my adventures biking down Whistler mountains at break-neck speeds from this upcoming weekend. The Seattle Bumbershoot review will have to be in person or once I'm settled away in Sudbury.

Speaking of which I should let you know of my quick stop in at home come the end of this semester. September 5th I will be flying home and should arrive in the evening (9:30) with Jon Kit, my partner in crime for the September long weekend in Seattle. The next couple of days will be catching up with friends and family in and around Bradford. Hoping to head to Guelph (plus maybe Waterloo) for some frosh week antics and to visit some amigos. Come Sunday the 10th I'll have to boot it up to Sudbury as I start my job bright and early Monday the 11th. Going to be frantic but here's to seeing as many of you as possible in that short window.