Okay, I love sports

1. So, my mom bought a bike. She says she was inspired by the Olympic athletes. She's 48 going on 49, and she has never ridden a bike. With my dad overseas for business, she's got no one to teach her in Vancouver, so she's trying to teach herself how to ride a bike, with rear-coaster brakes nonetheless (which I never mastered). Her goal is to surprise my dad when he comes back to Canada. She is, by far, the cutest.

2. Norwegian curling team pants 1:0 Canadian cross-country skiing team fishscale suit.

On that note, the day I understood the point of curling (read: yesterday) is like the day I was granted my Canadian citizenship. I'm so proud.

3. Okay, somebody explain ice dancing to me. What the heck is it? But long live the quadruple toe in men's figure skating--to quote Elvis Stojko, "In what sport do you have to hold back in order to win?" ISU judging system is still a work in progress--it's not perfect, nor was the 6.0 judging system. I hope this doesn't get abandoned in the works. These athletes need to be encouraged to progress, not regress. Nonetheless, Evan Lysacek did skate beautifully, and I do commend the artistry of (my future husband #348204) Stephane Lambiel.

4. I have discovered my love of snowboarding. Shaun White isn't human, right?

5. I don't care if they're milking it, I love Alexandre Bilodeau and his gold.

6. I also don't care if any national media, Great Britain to say the least, is ripping apart VANOC for its various flaws; safety at these games, however, is something else. Petra Majdic's fall, the flips at the bobsleigh competitions, unprecedented number of DNFs at alpine skiing events and the tragedy of Nodar Kumaritashvili--it's terrifying, actually. I do not understand the logics behind the architecture of these athletic structures, of course, but it's disconcerting.

6. Tonight I'm going to see Shutter Island, but in turn I'm missing short-track skating. This is what they meant when they invented the phrase "win-lose situation".

LOL WUT

I hearby call on Stephen Harper to sing all his rebuttals to Michael Ignatieff.

Canadian Music Binge

I am so CMW-ed out! Ten artists in three days (sixteen including those that were not a part of Canadian Music Fest) and fifteen hours of combined sleep. It was my first festival experience (don't even ask why I've never done CMW or NXNE before) and I'm happy to have made it alive.

I took this photo before I decided to me quasi-rude and start using flash, so I apologize for the blurriness. I'd heard of the $100 fame before, but it was my first time seeing the band, and Simone Fornow's voice is seriously something else. Listening to their myspace now, I have to say it was quite different in person, but in a good way. There's something rural about this band, rolled together with hardness. And I love steel guitars. It was such a good way to start the three days.

I should mention that I'd never seen the Horseshoe Tavern like this before. It's definitely one of my favourite venues, but it was packed, I felt like I was a croissant baking into golden perfection in the oven. Women, ironically made up of five dudes, was of a genre that I haven't yet familiarized myself with, so I reserve all judgement. I have a good gut feeling about them, though.

I love Reg Vermue! I think everyone in Toronto has a secret soft spot for Gentleman Reg that gets revealed once you see him perform. The sweet banter and constant good humour, backed by the danceable indie pop lines and his endearing voice, is enough to make him one of my favourite acts to see live (my fourth time and counting). Watch my video from the night of The Boyfriend Song.

CHAD VANGAALEN!!! If you remember this post I had named his 2008 album Soft Airplane as my favourite of the year. That opinion hasn't changed much, and seeing him live only encouraged my sentiment. I have this belief that the reverb/delay pedal was pretty much invented for his voice (I'm not a master of pedals, so don't quote me on what that pedal's called). He opened with Willow Tree (click for my video. A rhetorical question to the MFers who are talking through the first twenty-five seconds of the song about being rude: Irony?). When I listen to him I feel like I'm listening to every sound on the planet. Not sure where that feeling comes from, but it sure is amazing. I just learned yesterday that I'll have missed him by 2 days when I get to France in 12 weeks (!) and had a mini-heartbreak.

If there is one band in Toronto that I feel like I'm watching grow, it's Hooded Fang. My friend Sharmin (who has been my common-law wife for the CMW period, and has very good reviews on her blog as well) and I speculate that their name probably comes from Jacob Two-Two, just as I imagine these magical boys and girls of the indie-pop band would. They are exactly what to call indie-pop, and I love it. I saw one of their very first shows, and now they are polished--nothing complex, nothing too serious, just the things that they do so well, catchy lines and fun harmonies. Watch for yourself here.

These guys from Iceland gave us some good options for leaving the venue safely and arriving sound in our homes: Learn to say their band name, or buy an EP. I learned to say their Icelandic name from Snorri Helgason, the lead singer himself, how to say their name, and safely left the place (I thank him for his humble kindness that remained even after he found out that I wasn't playing the following band). They call themselves "Icelandic indie pop for the masses", and that's pretty much bang-on. It was hard not to pick up their energy and throw it around the room myself.

As a lover of indie music, I want to have nothing bad to say about indie bands. Unfortunately, I have nothing good to say about these guys. There is a fine line between showmanship and self-indulgence, and that line was crossed every which way.

Black Hat Brigade, on the other hand, is a completely different story. Definitely one of my favourites from the festival. I have a lot to thank them for, seeing as they are the band that prompted me to go out, look for and support indie music, back sometime now. They are so solid from any angle, carry the best energy and know how to hook you. Their new EP is coming out in May, titled "Fathers", look out for it.

They've already featured this video on their myspace, but they're so damn good I'm going to embed it right in here.

I'm dedicating this to Bryan, who fills up my Facebook inbox to keep the fans up-to-date.

I actually only caught one song by Herman Dune (his myspace sounds great), but this picture pretty much sums up the crowd at any CMW Showcase. Thanks for showing up.

I'm in love with this girl. She is as adorable as one can be, but with one of the biggest voices in Canadian music today. She's got those love songs and prayer songs, ukuleles and autoharps, and with the lacquer of violas and drums it's just got a permanent place in my heart. Watch Before I Knew here.

There, I'm done. Thanks for reading!

hey hero brother

Happy belated Family Day! It's a pretty hilarious provincial holiday, apparently only practiced in Alberta, Sasketchewan, and our beloved Ontario, since last year. It's reading week, so it really made no difference to me, but I did go up to my parents' house.

On that note, big brother & little sister...

Seen at Postman's Park in London

The favourite sixes of 2008

So, everytime I've tried to make a top 5 list, I found myself always wishing I could add one more... so I composed a top 6 list. This list is music-related stuff only, and I am without a doubt fickle and may be making changes to the list... but all the albums that I've been waiting for this year have come out (the last one being A Mountain is a Mouth by Bruce Peninsula, and it did not disappoint!) and hopefully it'll stick! I'll stress that this is a favourite list, which isn't necessarily to say the best and of course, I have probably heard 1/97204865203th of music being made in the world right now, but this is where I am, and I love everything here.

Six Favourite Shows
February 21 - Bruce Peninsula and Plants & Animals - Drake Hotel
March 12 - Bell X1 with David Ford - El Mocambo
March 29 - Basia Bulat with Katie Stelmanis - Lee's Palace
August 27 - Final Fantasy with Nico Muhly, Samamidon and Doveman - Danforth Music Hall
September 20 - The Swell Season with Smog - Massey Hall
November 27 - Broken Social Scene with Land of Talk - Sound Academy

Six Favourite Canadian Albums of 2008
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Katie Stelmanis - Join Us
Timber Timbre - Medicinals
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain is a Mouth (this album is only available online until February 3 2009, I stream it on CBC R3)
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Hooded Fang - Hooded Fang EP

Six Favourite Canadian Songs of 2008
(...by artists that haven't been mentioned so far)
Laura Barrett - Deception Island Optimists Club
Hawksley Workman - Piano Blink (los manlicious remix)
Feist - Brandy Alexander
Jill Barber - Oh My My
Hello, Blue Roses - Shadow Falls
Plants & Animals - À l'orée des bois

Six Favourite Non-Canadian Albums of 2008
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Skinny Love was my ringtone for a very long time)
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (The First Aid Kit cover of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song is wicked good, thank you!)
Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
Loch Lomond - Paper the Walls
Tapes 'n Tapes - Walk It Off
Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain

Six Pre-2008 Albums that I Still Listen to
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Opposite of Hallelujah is my new, much-happier ringtone)
Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
Elliott Smith - XO
Christine Fellows - Paper Anniversary

--

Hope you all had a year full of fantastic music! E-mail me--adroitiste at gmail dot com--if you'd like anything mentioned up there/have stories to share, I'll do what I can.

ps. Supposedly there is a freak storm coming to Toronto, I'm slightly afraid, I won't lie.

In Canada, it means I love you

1.

To this, the CP24 reporter said, "in Iraq, to throw shoes at someone is to show signs of contempt". I don't think I enjoyed journalism as much as I did in that precise moment ever before.

2. On that note, according to a recent poll conducted by CP24, 50% of those that answered thought that we directly elect our prime minister. Grade 10 civics, anyone?

December is lively

Things that are making this winter so far:

1. Copious amounts of cooking and baking. I am now the queen of carrot cakes as acknowledged by my roommates, and last weekend I baked a delicious banana loaf that I see in my dreams. The roomies and I also made a huge pot of beef stew with some old wine we had left and it's some epic form of hearty. I almost want to go swimming in it.

2. I am usually invincible when it comes to the temptation that is Starbucks Red Cups, but their salted caramel signature hot chocolate is magic with sea salt on top.

3. The air vent right over my feet when I sleep.

4. The notion of the Liberal-NDP coalition, while it lasted (well, we'll see in January). I cannot believe how effective Harper's "this is ~*undemocratic*~" line really was. And now Parliament is somewhere else, playing for seven weeks. I could easily go into a rant here, but that is for some other day.

5. My dad is in Korea, and he bought me a glockenspiel!

6. I am officially unemployed from Drugstore Pharmacy, and the pharmacy team took me out to dinner for the last time. I baked them my (famous) carrot cake and banana bread, and they bestowed upon me heaps of gifts and the cutest card in the world that make me burst into tears... from laughing. I will miss them lots, but a girl's gotta find her way!

--

I've been listening to a few songs with the word "Christmas" in them for festivity. There's no Christmas tree or stockings or lights or wreaths in our basement apartment (how college of us) so music will have to do. I'll share soon!

Music week.

I've been to three shows in the last three nights; all Canadian, all amazing musicians. My roommate (whose blog you can check out here) once said that my iPod may as well be CBC Radio 3 (which you should definitely listen in to, in case you don't already--Canadian "indie" goodness), and this is probably a valid point. Although I'm not originally from Canada, when it comes to the arts I'm aggressively Canadian (and parts Irish, but that is a conversation for another day), which does well to explain my criticism of Harper for partially obliterating the importance of arts and culture here.

Anyway, the three bands I saw are: Dan Mangan from Vancouver, BC; the infamous and incomparable Broken Social Scene (they organized a food drive with the Daily Food Bank for the homeless--the participation was a bit disheartening, but my friend Adam and I Campbelled it up) ; and Hawksley Workman. Weeks like this, I really love living in Toronto. The Acorn, Ohbijou and The Rural Alberta Advantage (one of my favourite bands from Toronto) played together at Lee's Palace the same night of Broken Social Scene, as well as Black Hat Brigade and The Schomberg Fair at the Horseshoe.

I name-drop incessantly because I just want to point out how much there is to see and hear in this city--in every city, for that matter. And they've all got things to say, outside of their music as well. All songwriters are thinkers, and they are all bound to have something to say about something you've never thought of before.

So... seek them out! I assume there will be a Best of 2008 list at the end of the year, no matter how incomplete and limited my hearing range has been this year.

ps. If you go to shows, and you just absolutely must blaze/drink from the bottle right at the venue, please don't pick fights with my friends. Or start imitating the keys guy on my sister's head. It's annoying. Just sayin'.

pps. Last day of classes woo! But the upcoming Week Fourteen of Death is... frightening. So is the Last Day of Work Pending Unemployment--coming this Sunday!