Category Archives: music

The Concert List

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Montreal Philadelphia Vancouver Seattle Coachella Los Angeles London Europe 2008

1970s
Beach Boys (x2) (Great Adventure and a free concert for 4th of July in some park in Philly

1980s
Flock of Seagulls (Queen E)
The Fixx
Simple Minds (x2) (UM)
China Crisis (x2)
Thompson Twins (UM)
Midnight Oil (Le Spectrum)
X (Le Spectrum)
The Spoons (McGill Student Union)
Dead Kennedys (Le Palladium)
Violent Femmes
Front 242 (Le Spectrum)
Rainbirds (Goethe-Institut)
Chameleons (Le Spectrum)
March Violets
Mighty Lemon Drops
Anne Clarke (Palladium/South Shore)
The Cure (Vanier Arena)
Book of Love
Einstürzende Neubauten (Stadtpark Hamburg)
Depeche Mode (Vanier Arena)
New Order (Vanier Arena)
Flesh for Lulu (Le Spectrum)
The Smiths (Tower Theatre)
Paul Simon Graceland Tour with Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mombaza (Veterans Stadium?)
Chris Isaak (Tower Theatre)
Duran Duran (The Spectrum)
Erasure

1990s
Flesh for Lulu (Revival)
Lard (Trocadero)
Pigface
Shonen Knife (Trocadero)
Laika and the Cosmonauts (Khyber Pass)
Original Sins (x3?) (What’s that joint on South Street?)
Tragically Hip (The Ardmore East)
George Clinton & the P-Funk All-Stars (Century Club)
Brian Setzer Orchestra (Century Club)
those reggae Elvis guys, what are they called? (Universal City Walk)
5 Blind Boys from Alabama (HOB New Orleans)
U2 (some fucking enormous stadium in Philly)
Ministry (Paramount)
L7
Smashing Pumpkins (x2) (GM Place, BC Place)
Our Lady Peace (BC Place)
Deftones
Soundgarden (final tour, PNE Forum)
Everclear (Plaza of Nations)
Depeche Mode (PNE Coliseum)

2000s
Flogging Molly (Shim Sham, New Orleans)
Jane’s Addiction (reunion tour, PNE Coliseum)
Moby (Plaza of Nations)
Bauhaus (Queen E)
Beck (Maple Leaf Gardens)
Hawksley Workman
Pearl Jam (GM Place)
Idlewild
Nashville Pussy (Richard’s)
Beck (x2: Queen E, Orpheum)
Flaming Lips
Black Keys
Radiohead (x2: UBC Thunderbird Stadium)
Christopher O’Riley (Knitting Factory LA)
REM (UBC Thunderbird Stadium)
Wilco
Dandy Warhols
Beta Band
Malkmus
Tragically Hip (Queen E)
Christopher O’Riley (that theatre in Tacoma)
Stereolab (Commodore)
Ima Robot (what’s that place I went in London…? urgh!)
Junior Senior
The Shins (Commodore)
Zero 7 (Commodore)
Violent Femmes (Commodore)
Sonic Youth (Commodore)
Pixies (Plaza of Nations)
Metric (ENDfest, White River Amphitheatre)
Muse
Psychedelic Furs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Franz Ferdinand
Echo & the Bunnymen
X
Violent Femmes
Franz Ferdinand (Commodore)
Futureheads
Ministry (Commodore)
Tom Waits (Commodore)
Flogging Molly (Commodore)
Interpol (Paramount)
Secret Machines
Interpol (Commodore)
Secret Machines
Trail of Dead (Richards)
(International) Noise Conspiracy (Commodore, can’t remember exactly when)
Death Cab for Cutie (Commodore)
Blonde Redhead (Commodore)
Helio Sequence
Le Tigre (Commodore)
Lesbians on Ecstasy
Robosapien
Chet
Arcade Fire (Commodore)
Nina Hagen (Commodore)
The Scissor Sisters (Commodore)
Will Freedom Power something LOL
The Hidden Cameras (Richard’s)
The Blow
Interpol (Paramount)
Blonde Redhead
Futureheads (Richard’s)
—who opened for the Futureheads at Richard’s?
Kasabian (Commodore)
The Music
Pedro the Lion (Richard’s, left early)
Bloc Party (Richard’s)
Shonen Knife (some little pit in Gastown)
Hot Hot Heat (Commodore)
The Futureheads
Coachella 2005….I have to remember, basically, my diary of that whole trip is lost. Fuck.
Futureheads
Gang of Four
Bauhaus
Kasabian
ARCADE FIRE
Nine Inch Nails
Autolux
overheard Snow Patrol and Weezer on Day One while recuperating from the heat in the shade of the VIP tent, walked away from Coldplay *shudder*
Gang of Four (Commodore)
Kasabian (Commodore)
Architecture in Helsinki (Media Club)
Tom Jones (GM Place)
Beck (Queen E)
Le Tigre
Sufjan Stevens (Richard’s)
Sigur Ros (Orpheum)
Death Cab for Cutie (Commodore)
Arcade Fire (PNE Forum)
Wolf Parade
Bell Orchestre
Front 242 (Plush)
Sisters of Mercy (Commodore)
Franz Ferdinand (Coliseum)
Death Cab for Cutie
INXS (GM Place)
Futureheads (Commodore)
Psapp
Juana Molina (Richard’s)
Radiohead (Berkeley)
Deerhoof
Radiohead (San Diego)
Deerhoof
Sufjan Stevens (St Andrew’s Wesley)
My Brightest Diamond
POLYSICS (Plaza)
Fun 100
Interpol (festival set, Commodore)
Bjork
Interpol
Jesus & Mary Chain
Of Montreal
LCD Soundsystem
Blonde Redhead
Arcade Fire
(Travis overheard)
Hot Chip
LCD Soundsystem (Commodore)
Yacht
Burt Bacharach (River Rock Casino)
Ryan Adams (electric) (Commodore)
The Aliens (Richard’s)
Augie March
Ministry (Commodore)
Meshuggah
Bob Mould (Richard’s)
Radiohead (Westerpark, Amsterdam)
Radiohead (Main Square, Arras)
Sigur Ros
Radiohead (Berlin)
Die Aerzte (Berlin)
Nine Inch Nails (Key Arena)
Radiohead (Thunderbird Stadium)
My Bloody Valentine (WaMu Theatre)
Lou Reed (Lollapalooza)
Crystal Castles

Metric (V-Fest)
Our Lady Peace
Jarvis Cocker
Sonic Youth
K-Os
The Dead Weather (Commodore)
Shonen Knife (Biltmore)
Flogging Molly (Commodore)
Skinny Puppy (Rickshaw)

Infected Mushroom (Commodore)
Asobi Seksu (Media Club)
Nouvelle Vague (Venue)
Philip Glass (Chan Centre)
Spoon (Orpheum)
Deerhunter
Evelyn Evelyn (Venue)
Public Enemy (Commodore)
Massive Attack (Malkin Bowl)
LCD Soundsystem (Malkin Bowl)
Pavement (Orpheum)
Arcade Fire (PNE Forum? Coliseum?)
Sufjan Stevens (Orpheum)
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Vogue Theatre)
Grinderman (Commodore)
Front Line Assembly (Venue)
Interpol (Orpheum)
Ryoji Ikeda (SFU Woodward’s)
Meat Beat Manifesto (Venue)
Maceo Parker (Commodore)
Owen Pallet (CBC)
Pixies (Orpheum)
Short Circuit Fest (Roundhouse, London)
Portishead (PNE Forum)
Amanda Palmer/Neil Gaiman (Vogue)
Peter Murphy (Venue)
OhGr (El Corazon, Seattle)
Gotye (Vogue)
Radiohead (Key Arena)
Thomas Dolby (Rio Theatre)
X (Showbox, Seattle)
Santigold (Commodore)
Jack White (Queen Elizabeth)
Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside
Liars (Biltmore)
Dead Can Dance (Orpheum)
Amon Tobin (Paramount)
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra (Commodore)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (El Rey)
The Specials (Commodore)
KMFDM (Showbox SoDo, Seattle–My MD saw them; I left early)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds (Vogue Theatre)

SADs

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So I guess I probably get the SADs. The Wikipedia tells me the winter SADs make you oversleep and overeat, while the summer SADs (I didn’t know there was such a thing!) make you insomniac and anxious and lose weight.

Clearly there’s no way I could participate in a mood thinger that would make me lose weight! but I’m glad not to have anxiety issues. Once in a while I get like that, a sort of generalized anxiety about everything, and it’s unsettling to say the least. So on the whole I’m happy to suffer from a hibernating kind of thing, as compared to some of the other things I might have.

But so it definitely makes me like nihilistic about writing even a blog post. I mean actually, it tends to make me nihilistic about even tweeting, as compared to more convivial and happier-mooded times of year.

Anyway. A generalized plus ça change, plus c’est la même fucking chose mood along with the aforementioned nihilistic attitude is making me feel like nothing worth bothering to write about. And yet, there are a few things to say:

Concert plans! we have tickets for a few shows related to the Coachella migration. We’re seeing Killing Joke, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and The Specials, in March-April-May. What year is it, again? Then in July, rather than see The Postal Service in Rogers Arena, we’re going to head to Portland for a couple days and see them in a Portland arena instead. I have barely spent any time in Portland, aside from an overnight to visit Carey and Lise when they were living there, and that’s a while back. So that should be fun. We may take in a few whiskey distilleries while we’re at it.

It’s kind of funny, because we went from having no concert plans to having four shows lined up in the matter of two weeks or so. Killing Joke has been announced for a while, and it’s for $20, so how do you NOT go? the Nick Cave tickets are for a show at the Vogue, general admission, which is really fucking annoying in a seated venue. But we really didn’t want to miss him, and the Paramount Seattle show is on a Sunday night, which is just a PITA, logistically. I’m listening to the new album now, and it’s kind of low key, reminiscent of some of his older stuff. But he just puts on a great show, and we were supposed to go see him in Seattle a few years ago, but the MD couldn’t get here for that show (before he moved here), so I ended up not going either.

Anyway, I generally function better when I have something to look forward to, and now I have some things to look forward to, including Pine State Biscuits in July, so yeah. Days are getting longer, although they’re still as wet as a wet mother fucker. But I hope to become a bit less blue soon :)

Yo, Baby, what’s up?!

So there have been a few things going on since last I wrote.

The MD and I went to Victoria at the last minute last weekend, to say hello to some friends and to visit a friend‘s art show at a gin distillery. We had some fantastic pizza at Prima Strada. Cannot recommend too highly if you’re on the Island. The show was a success (although we didn’t get anything; we still haven’t put up most of the art we already have, and buying more at this point seems a bit silly. But one day I will! I love his stuff!). The weather was pretty good if on the cool side, and the hotel was cheap although the number of hairs stuck to the wall of the shower gave me pause. We’ll spend another $20 next time to save me the shudders.

The night before we went, some douchebag scraped the side of the Bunny pretty badly, oh yay, another massive deductible. No note, of course. How do people live with themselves, wrecking people’s stuff and just fucking off? The side mirror was totally snapped back and even the wheel cover is all scraped, so there’s no way the driver didn’t know they’d hit the car. Maybe they said “Oh, their insurance will cover it, who cares?” Yeah? well, I care, $500 isn’t something that comes so easily that we won’t notice. So, a big, hearty, “FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE,” to all the hit and run drivers out there. I hope karma bites you on the ass a little extra-hard.

Last weekend the Main Distractor and I both had haircuts, and I started the road back to blonde. I am currently sort of orangey-gold, or prawn, depending. Which is fitting since we went to the Spot Prawn Festival on Saturday and ate some lovely fresh little dudes. The lineup to get some to take home was too long, though, so my planned prawn dinner will wait.

Instead we went to Cafeteria because it had been too long and they had shrimp and grits with cheese and bacon on the menu, and it had been calling me, “Deeeeeeeeeeb!” It was delectable. You know, if you follow them on twitter, you can keep up to date with important happenings such as the presence of shrimp and grits with cheese and bacon on the menu.

Spring seems finally to have arrived. Not a moment too soon!

***

The post title is, of course, a Beastie Boys line. Today Maurice Sendak died, and that’s a pity, too,  but he was 83 years old, so….it’s nothing like the big glaring pile of awful that came with the news of Adam Yauch’s death last Friday, aged 47. My friend Sandra, whose boyfriend Robert was from Queens, introduced me to the Beastie Boys in 1983-84 or so. We were already listening to Run-DMC and Grandmaster Flash et al., but Sandra and I were about the only people who would race to the dance floor for “Cooky Puss.” (Take me home and eat me, yeah!)

“Licensed to Ill” was just so much awesome punctuated with the dumb jock song…had some great times listening and dancing to that record. Oh my. “Hello Nasty” was a big part of the road trip P. and I took up to the Yukon in 1999, too. Is there anything quite as fun as listening to loud music with the sunroof open, on an empty highway on a beautiful day?

Anyway, I have 100 Beastie Boys songs on my iPod, from the old days to newer stuff, and I listen to them still, all the time. Other people, more eloquent than I, have said all kinds of lovely things about MCA and the difference he made to so many people’s lives. I just know that my life wouldn’t have sounded, or felt, as great as it has all these years, if not for the Beastie Boys and Adam Yauch. Thank you.

Collapsing…I can’t make the joke.

ANOTHER stage has collapsed, at Pukkelpop Fest in Belgium. That’s three (there was one in Ottawa a few weeks back and one at the Indiana State Fair last week). IIRC Ottawa resulted in injuries but no deaths, but with 5 dead in Indiana and 6 reported dead at Pukkelpop, that makes 11. I’m just shocked! and how horrible for everyone concerned. Oh, and DIY says that a Flaming Lips stage collapsed also, albeit before the show; I didn’t remember that one.

Is this due to shoddy workmanship in assembly? or just hyper-volatile weather?

It’s just so sad.

London

So my Main Distractor and I had been foregoing out-of-the-country travel while we awaited renewal of his work permit (he had “implied status” but would not be able to be readmitted to the country until the actual paperwork went through). So we didn’t book Coachella, or the Wax Trax Retrospectacle (which we were really very very sorry to miss). In the end it came through, of course, but it was too late. So when a friend on the Gibson board mentioned the Short Circuit festival in London, which featured a bunch of Mute recording artists, and when I found a charter airfare from Vancouver that was affordable, we said oh what the hell? we can go now, so let’s.

So we booked that, and I found a flat in London that was relatively affordable and much more comfy than a hotel would have been, and arranged to share it with our friend.

Then about a month later, we got a letter from the government telling us to show up for an interview regarding the MD’s permanent residency. We anticipated an interview. Instead he was “landed” or whatever it is, and got his PR, so his work permit was revoked, and everything’s groovy, except he can’t cross the Canadian border in a hired conveyance until he has his actual physical PR card. Which takes 31 business days. So flying to London and back was a little problematic unless we bought the plane or something, which seemed unlikely. So when we got there, we would have to go the High Commission and get a “travel document,” which should be relatively painless. OK.

Anyway. We flew Saturday, arrived Sunday, and the weather in London was much better than it was in Vancouver: sunny and 20º.

I left my iPhone at home, which put paid to my plans to enter relevant telephone numbers into my Europhone while on the plane, since the iPad contacts don’t include telephone numbers. What genius decided on that, Jobs? my paper address book can’t make a call either, but that doesn’t mean I might not want to look up someone’s telephone number in it.

Anyway. We had a very fun time, including friends old and new, cake, music, museums, and a half-day cooling our heels at the High Commission (I want a tax refund! vacation hours are worth a lot), a Warm Leatherette 7-in. on white vinyl, colds, friends who got up at ungodly hours to retrieve us and drop us at the airport, and click for some pics.

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A plug

For Quinn’s awesome music blog, From Blown Speakers. There’s been a link in the sidebar for a while, but then again, he’s been on hiatus for a couple of months. In any case, he’s back, and always has good listings for upcoming concerts in Vancouver. He and Sean both reviewed the recent Pavement show.

The Main Distractor and I have a pretty good concert calendar coming up ourselves: Arcade Fire, Sakamoto, Grinderman, Blonde Redhead, and Sufjan Stevens, not in that order. A bit eclectic, I guess. :p

Eep!

I feel so neglectful…negligent I suppose is the word I’m looking for :D

I’ve been tweeting, but things have been busy (Shonen Knife concert, Flogging Molly concert, Skinny Puppy concert, I’ve been cooking a fair amount, stuff like that).

We got our vaccinations for our honeymoon trip at Christmas (we’re going to Mexico! yay! v exciting, I haven’t been in years, and I’ve never been to the Yucatán peninsula at all, v interested to see the archaeological whatnot). Also got flu shots, hope they work as advertised.

We’re finalizing our plans for our Olympic-time trip, we have our New Orleans hotel set and will book our air soon. We hear bit by bit of people who may join us, and that’s really exciting! if you read this regularly and you were not aware of the trip, and think you might care to join a rag-tag assortment of friends and family from ALL OVER, yay! drop me a line so I can let you know about dates and such. I mailed invites to everyone whose address I had that I thought might come, essentially, but there are a lot of addresses I don’t have (and people who didn’t answer my pleas for same).

Meanwhile. WTF is with these fucks trying to stop the healthcare? and Stupak, who the hell do you think you are?! Fox News, we can tell the difference between two separate marches on Washington, DC, neither of which was as big as you said it was…And they can scarcely give Sarah Palin’s book away, lol. $9 each for hardbacks! HUGE profits there!!!!!!

Need Christmas gift ideas for my fam, if you can think of anything good please let me know. I’m not adding to Sarah Palin’s sales figures, either (not even for the FIL, who will probably read it).

Going to roast a chicken and some potatoes, and I’m considering making a pecan pie, seeing as I have these nice pecans in the cupboard. Of course I could just stuff my wee chicken, couldn’t I. Oooh.