News & Tributes Not in the Top 10

Note: The title to this entry would more appropriately read "Why News & Tributes Won't Make it Into My Annual Year End Top Ten Albums List Even Though I Really Wanted It To."

The Futureheads, the best of the new new wave, were brought into my life by way of opening for the original purveyors of this brand of rock - Franz. This release was much anticipated after countless spins of the self-titled release way back in 2004 (that came in a tight third place that year on the top ten, but ended up having more lasting power than Ferdinand and even the Arcade Fire.) Well all that humming, frantic singing of four layered vocal pieces, and grooving at as many (3) of their dynamic and phenomenal shows as I could get to, brought me up to this release. Okay, not exactly - but I'll get to the in-between single in a second.

So out it comes - all the hype, the news, the waiting, the tributes, the scouring of torrent sites for early releases and finally the disk arrives. Initial disappointment as I'm not hit with the barrage of jangling guitars and rapid fire harmonies that I've been craving. Alright let's try again. I rip through it a bunch more times and some songs do grow on me but I'm still finding it a slight disappointment considering the calibre of the first release.

True they have, oh how I hate the word, matured, and their sound is a little more dynamic - varied from track to track - but maybe that's not what I wanted. Yes a re-release of the first disk is always boring, however I'd fallen in love with that fun-loving, fast-as-sin, straight-ahead sound. That's where Favours for Favours, Thursday, and the title track fall short. Weaknesses between some solid songs.

Then there's the powerful and frantic Return of the Beserker. Which is a real energy boost to the live show with the ripping of guitar strings and insanely fast pace that brings the band, along with the crowd, to a rolling boil by the end. Always being a better live group than recorded (even with the aforementioned fantastic debut) this CD falls short on delivering that live energy. If every time I slipped this disk in my player, Barry Hyde and co. could appear in my room, or backseat, and play it like they did at the Commodore, I would be much more entertained. Instead I have to extract the goodness from Return to the Sea and the soft-to-loud Face, while wading through throwaways like Worry About It Later.

The opener - Yes/No - which grows in intensity, is solid, as is the next track Cope which reminds me of the first LP. However when getting into the deeper cuts of the album the depth of the tracks just isn't there. That is until the bonus tracks come in to save this album from being an absolute waste. Area was that single-between-albums that I alluded to earlier. And it is likely the strongest track on this CD, albeit tacked on as a bonus. Despite its mostly du-du-du lyrics - or more likely because of them, the song is catchy and plays on their strong suit which is to have the vocals take centre stage.The other two new, but bonus, tracks include Help Us Out and We Cannot Lose which are also of high quality. Remix closer and Area B-side, Decent Days and Nights, is of course an outside (Shy Child) mix of the first album single. Sampling the original, it gives it a completely different sound, actually working the chronology of the song backwards, and all in all it gets me pumped to listen to The Futureheads again. It's just too bad that its not this album that I want to spin once more.

Bumber-Shot D1

Tuesday night I was sure going to get to bed early. Well maybe not that early, but I was all too aware that for the next week or so I would be running on little sleep and lots of activity (and most likely fast food).
Wednesday was the frat's end of summer bar party. After a good-bye dinner at the west coast trendy restaurant the Cactus Club with my colleagues from Triumf I walked across the Cambie bridge in the spitting rain and coincidentally met up with the frat friends just as they were unloading from their bus. We headed into the Caprice for a night of dancing and debauchery.
Thursday came all too soon and I found myself desperately patching up loose ends at work and coordinating Jon's arrival from the airport. Working right up until the last minute I finished things off, shook some hands, said my goodbyes and was off like a flash.
Up the road to meet Jon at my place so I could cram as much Vancouver into his short stay as possible. What better way to start the sightseeing tour than with Vancouver's #1 tourist destination - Graville Island? Some walking and a tasting of the finest brews coming out of the city were in store. Meeting up with some friends we raved about the deep fried Wunderbar we had consumed, while taking in a live band and a Stella at Brit night in the Cellar. We were trying to get to bed early because Friday morning was the beginning of our road trip but one thing lead to another and three o'clock rolled around quicker than anticipated.
Hauling ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn, or shortly thereafter, there was a flurry of activity which resulted in us moving myself, Lee and Peita out of the frat house - and in doing so, saying goodbye to frat life forever. Eventually we were on the road to the forest state.
A brief interlude at the border included a loud and clear "No Pictures!" warning, along with multiple other authoritative signs posted by the US border guards.
Finally arriving at the posh Paragon Hotel we hopped in the pool and being in Seattle we naturally went out for some California kitchen pizza and wandered the streets near our place of rest.

Bumbershoot is an arts festival held in the Seattle Center which is located directly below the most distinguishable landmark in the city - the Seattle Space Needle. Heading straight for the main stage I managed to catch the last few tracks from the Gossip. Fronted by a large, humourous and confident front lady, she had the crowd swaying while she danced away on stage.
Next was some true art. An exhibition of roller derby-ing. These girls didn't take no guff from nobody. As thrilling as it was I took off to see the Vancouver pop band, P:ano, only to find that over half the band was noticeable absent The remaining members played a few, mostly piano-based tracks that were not enough to keep me interested.
Moving on, Jon and I caught the last two seats in the auditorium as a comic book writer gave way to Chuck Palaniak, the author. After exposing that his luggage was filled with severed limbs, and creating "halloween for adults" by distributing shots to the crowd he went on to twist my stomach in knots and make me just a tad queasy with his tale of "Guts".
The next act on the Bumbrella stage thoroughly impressed me with his vocals, originality, charm, calm under pressure and humour. Jamie Lidell created his own samples on the fly by recording his own voice and then looping it, adding some effects, and repeating this process until he had layered on a song as thick as my signature footlong veggie sub.

Not having the highest of hopes for the mainstage I was pleasantly surprised with the evening performances. With all 8 (okay 3) guitars blazing, Hawthorne Heights played a rocking set to an appreciative crowd. Of Montreal on the side stage were nothing like that at all. One male member wearing a full-out dress, and the others in similarly funky attire, played a bunch of old stuff and a few tracks from their recently released Sunlandic Twins disc. Though they were a lil wacky I still enjoyed their set before running back through the maze to return to the mainstage for violin-ing Yellowcard. Without, what I consider to be the key component of their live show - a backflip off the drumset- they still rocked (and weren't too sappy relationship-emo). Ocean Avenue - a personal favourite, along with a few other hits ('Believe' included) closed out. There must have been a stage in my life when I listened to a lot of Yellowcard and have subsequently blocked it out because I knew the words to a surprising amount of songs that they played.
Following the same path back out of the main arena, this time Badly Drawn Boy took the side stage. From the get-go Damon Gough ran the show. Although he had a backing band, they were obviously not in the loop and just tried to play so as not to piss him off. Running through the single from the new album as the opener, not once but twice (slow and fast) he continued to play a lot of new material from the disc that "almost killed" him to make. It wasn't until the band went away and Damon grabbed the acoustic to play us some songs we love that the magic started. Looking up at the Space Needle towering above me, all lit up against the night sky, while BDB's beautiful ballads played was surreal. However when the acoustic was put down and he said "I'm going to play a bunch of new songs before the old ones" I had to tear myself away. As much as I wanted to see him, I couldn't justify waiting that long for the songs I wanted to hear while AFI had already taken the stage.
Arriving only a couple songs into the set, AFI played up to the high expectations I had set for them after their excellent, albeit brief, appearance at the warped tour. This time the stage was doused in white, from the speakers to the fake trees, drum kit and outfits - even the techs were wearing white overalls! It looked cool and sounded even better. Again primarily sticking with their 2 most recent efforts they delighted new fans and still appeased older ones with a few throwbacks. A 2 song encore closed out what turned out to be a solid first day of bumbershoot.

Underground

Crammed into what is referred to as "the cage" with about 50 miners we begin our descent. Decked out in my steel toe rubber boots, coveralls, safety glasses and hard hat complete with miner's light I feel slightly weighed down. The cage to me resembles more of a crate; you know the ones that freshly stolen BMW's are shipped in? Besides a couple miner's lamps there are no lights and just a half-door at the front to contain us all. Starting slowly we quickly gain speed and periodically lights from a tunnel flash through the open top-half of the doorway. Jodi pokes me and hands me a piece of gum saying "each level is about 200 feet". That's a lot of levels before our destination of 6800 ft (2km). The gum helps to keep my ears clear as the pressure changes rapidly during the drop.
Nearly all the miners have cleared out, since our lab is at the end of the second deepest tunnel in the INCO mine. I step out of the cage and into a full-out mine tunnel. We walk as a group through the dim, rocky hallway along muddy floors. There are branches at different intervals that go well beyond the range of my light but we continue to follow the main rail track. With wind caused by the ventilation system blowing us through, we pass various vehicles and equipment. After about a kilometer we have arrived at the clean lab. In order to keep it clean all entering persons remove their dirty mine clothing, shower and gear up in similar clean attire on the inside. An air vacuum blows and sucks away any remaining dust before entering the actual lab.
Once on the inside the surroundings resemble any other lab - besides the rocky walls and ceiling. Within are all sorts of tubing, gauges, pumps, vacuums and other equipment that helps in the quest to detect neutrinos. I am given the tour and my week of reading technical documents finally pays off as I get to see the system in action and things fall into place in my mind.
The rest of the day I am the Tails to Jodi's Sonic, since I follow her as she performs light water assays. This is the technical term for turning a lot of valves and checking dials, freezing metal pipes with liquid nitrogen, then heating them up again with heat guns and eventually condensing a tiny amount of radon-filled air into a Lucas cell that is the size of my fist, which is brought up to the surface for analysis.
Besides the occasional explosion heard from the miners blasting in neighbouring tunnels, the day goes by comfortably and my first day underground is an enjoyable experience. Ten hours after making the trip down, we do it all in reverse and I come up to find the fog has lifted and a beautifully sunny Friday evening awaits.

9-1-1

i decide to cut through the park as a change of pace from the road. moments later i drop my bike and rush to his side. initially unresponsive, i reach down to his shoulder and continue calling for him to wake up. after a brief but anxious moment he stirs and murmurs. i try to make some sense of it and ask if i can help him up. indicating that this is okay i heave him to a sitting position and he promptly slumps over and nearly ends up face down again. i can tell that he's not all there but am not sure whether this is because of his elderly age or whatever induced his collapse but he frankly isn't making too much sense. he does reach for his cane but i can't help him to get it since i have been charged with the task of keeping him from falling over again. a lady comes by on her way to work and offers to prop him up while i grab my phone to call the number listed below Ronald's name on his bracelet. this connects me to a care centre of some sort where i wait for a nurse only to be told that they can't do anything and that i need to call an ambulance. Ronald moans at the mention of an ambulance but I can't very well leave him on the ground in a park unable to stand up so I dial 911. requesting an ambulance i forward all relevant details and the dispatcher assures me an ambulance is on its way. the lady who had been supporting Ronald declares that she is late for work and relinquishes her duty to me. i hold him and ask a curious, though not overly intelligent or intelligible bystander to flag down the ambulance when it comes. he wanders off and does a half-hearted job when the ambulance does arrive a short time later. Two female paramedics exit the truck and slowly, in my opinion, approach us as if they deal with this all the time. the first paramedic sits down on the nearby bench, looks at Ronald and asks "Hello. Have you been drinking?" After a moments delay, Ron looks up at her with his dirt-caked face, clears his glazed eyes and says in the most endearing voice he can muster, "Hey Baby".

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.

Challenges

Friday's Challenge: Find a place to party.
Sounds easy enough right? Well when you've got about 20 people and all of their opinions it makes things a little more difficult. Deciding on Wreck beach we hauled ridiculous amounts of food and drink (thanks to Carine the French summer student) down the 438 steps - passing many peope who warned us of the police and imminent crashing of the party they would bring. Fearing persecution (beach closes at sundown, it was 8:30) we walked far along the beach, around the corner and out of sight. Broke into the salads, snacks and sweets and were just about to get into the swing of things when a few hippies came by- warning us to hide the drinks b/c the cops were coming. Sure enough a few minutes later I was looking directly into a maglight and putting $200 worth of food back into bags. Trudging up the stairs not 2 hours after going down them we formulated our back up plan. The rest of the night was spent in my frat house, playing cards, dancing, playing pool and generally carrying on. It was fun to let loose a bit with some co-workers.

After cleaning up after Friday's festivities, and a few hours of volleyball at the beach Saturday's challenge was upon me. This was a Centurion contest (100 beer shots, 100 minutes) About 50 people participated with about a 60% completion rate. 137 minutes after beginning I dropped out to the eventual winner (159 shots). Various chants, beer can pyramids, songs and dances passed the minutes between the drinks and good times were had by all.

Sunday was a volleyball tournament in the bright, hot sun of the UBC sandy courts. A few hours later we found our team in the championship game, losing out in the third set of the best 2 of 3 format round by 5 points. Slightly disappointing but eager to get some shade I headed back to the frat house.

About an hour later I headed out for what was promised to be the largest and best italian meal I'd ever had. Apparently many people knew of this gem so we put our names down and went to wait it out while touring the SFU campus at the top of Burnaby mountain. A nice view, a garden and an hour later we returned to the restaurant. I order Spinach Cheese-stuffed Tortellini and a Ceasar salad. The plate was bigger than my keyboard and had over 60 good-sized tortellini on it smothered in tomato sauce. The challenge: finish the meal. I didn't think I could make it at about the 1/2 way point. But with 20 to go I found my incentive. A free pen. So with my eyes on the prize I buckled down (actually loosened by belt buckle) and ate away. My friends may have helped by nabbing a bite here n there but I got through it and received my "I ate the WHOLE things at Anton's Pasta" pen. One of my motto's "I will not let a meal defeat me" was proved true last night.

Having completed each weekend challenge, tonight I hope to rest up before tomorrow's rockfest with the Stills, BSS and Sam Roberts. Tomorrow Deer Lake Park will be where all the good people have gone.