'Sup In March [Canadian Music Fest and Beyond]

Well, this post is going to be a bit of a lengthy post since the month of March is looking pretty dang busy as far as I can tell. It's that time of the year when Canadian Music Fest (or Canadian Music Week for all you traditionalists out there) rears its crazy head from March 11 to March 14th, and although I'm not going to be able to share with you all of the goings on, I can at least give you a taste of what to expect.

The week prior to the big festival showcases a few interesting shows, beginning with And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at Lee's Palace on Wednesday March 4th. They are in town to promote their latest release, entitled The Century Of Self. Tix are $18.50. [Myspace: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead]

Sure to be a real blasty blast is the One Hit Wonders Night at Rancho Relaxo on Thursday March 5th. If you've ever had the desire to hear one hit wonders like Reel 2 Real, Marcy Playground and Afroman covered from some of your favourite local bands, then this night is for you. $7 [On the bill is B'MO Crazy, Left Of Zero, Santa With Muscles, PDF Format, The Cheap Speakers, Recordbreaker, The People Of Canada, Fresh Blintz w/Da Regulars, Doc Pickles and Patrick Brealey]

On Friday March 6th, Sebastian Grainger & the Mountains is playing The Horseshoe. Tickets are $10.50. [Myspace: Sebastian Grainger & the Mountains]

Saturday March 7th has a couple of cool shows. The triumphant return of Zygiella VII is taking place at The Old York (167 Niagara Street). As an avid supporter of all things Zygiella, I'm actually ashamed to admit that I've never attended one of these. Hopefully that'll change with this show featuring Carnival Moon, The Wilderness Of Manitoba and the outstanding Leif Vollebekk. Cover is $5. [Myspaces: Carnival Moon, The Wilderness of Manitoba, Leif Vollebekk]

Also on Saturday March 7th is The United Steel Workers of Manitoba, Jon Rae Fletcher and The Schomberg Fair at The Horseshoe. Tickets are $10. [Myspaces: USWM, Jon Rae Fletcher, Schomberg Fair]

On Wednesday March 11th, AC Newman is at Lee's Palace. Tickets are $15adv / $18door. [Myspace: AC Newman]

Which brings us to Canadian Music Fest!! You can see the full schedule here, but here are my recommendations:

Wednesday March 11th: There's the 60's garage sounds of The Job (Gladstone Hotel, 9pm), the fun fun fun dance pop of Foxfire (Gladstone Hotel 11pm), and the pure rawk sounds of Songs From A Room (Tattoo Rock Parlour 10:30pm)

Where I'll be: It's been a while since I've seen Sloan (pictured above) so I'll be checking out their show at The Mod Club with Will Currie and the Country French opening for them. (9pm and 10pm)

Thursday March 12th: There's the sweet sounds of Emma Lee (Glenn Gould Studio 9pm), We Are The Take (Lee's Palace 9pm), the amazing Ketch Harbour Wolves (Silver Dollar 9pm), classic country twang of $100 (Horseshoe 9:20pm), an acoustic set by The Trews (Glenn Gould Studio 10pm), the highly recommended garage rock of Invasions (Silver Dollar 12am), Chad VanGaalen (Horeseshoe 12:10am), the unbelievably amazing prog sounds of Quest For Fire (Horseshoe 1:10am) and one of the best bands out there Rural Alberta Advantage (Gladstone Hotel 1am)

Where I'll be: I won't be able to get out any earlier than 10pm, so I'm thinking that I'll likely head to Lee's Palace for The Waking Eyes (11pm) and Matt Mays and El Torpedo (12am). After that, depending on how tired I am, as much as it kills me to miss Quest For Fire and RAA, I think I'm going to check out old favourite Rob Szabo (who I haven't seen in over 5 years) at Library Bar (1:15am) simply because he doesn't come around very much, whereas the other two are here all the time.

Friday March 13th: There's the cutesy pop of Hooded Fang (Gladstone Hotel 9pm), the experimental folk of The Weather Station (Savannah Room 9pm), We Are Wolves and Bloc Party (Kool Haus 9pm), and, for those who want to chillax with some legendary Canadian perfomers, there's the songwriter's cafe at The Mod Club featuring Arkells, Serena Ryder, Sass Jordan, Tom Cochrane and Burton Cummings, all starting at 7pm. There's also the late night offerings of Hot Panda (Horseshoe 1:10am) and Schomberg Fair (Horseshoe 2:10am)

Where I'll be: For the first little while I'm gonna plant myself at The Horseshoe so I can FINALLY see Dinosaur Bones (8:30pm) followed by Daniel Wesley (9:20pm) and The Bicycles (10:10pm). After that I haven't decided if I'm going to stick around for Handsome Furs (12:10pm) or if I'm going to head on down to Rancho Relaxo to catch the last bit of Black Diamond Bay (11pm), followed by Black Hat Brigade (12am) and my faves Amos The Transparent (1am). I'm thinking probably the latter.

Saturday March 14th: Whew, still with me? There's good clean fun with The Ting Tings (Mod Club 8:30pm), Rob Szabo (Graffitti's 9:30pm), Whale Tooth (Rancho Relaxo 10pm), Young Galaxy (Horseshoe 10:10pm), Dog Day (Drake Underground 11pm), Young Rival (El Mocambo 11pm), Two Hours Traffic (Horseshoe 11:10pm), The Marble Index (Hideout 12am), Modernboys Moderngirls (Rancho Relaxo 12am), Jenn Grant (Reverb 12am), The Golden Dogs (Horseshoe 12:10am) and Melissa McClelland (Reverb 1am).

Where I'll be: Although both The Horseshoe and Rancho Relaxo both look like great venues to stay put at, I'm going to Lee's Palace for Jon-Rae Fletcher (9pm), Herman Dunne (9:45pm), Basia Bulat (10:45pm), Elliott Brood (11:45pm), and Cuff The Duke (12:45am). Once again, depending on the exhaustion factor, I might swing by The Silver Dollar to catch psych rockers The Disraelis at 2am.

Sunday March 15th: The fest is basically over by Sunday but a few venues are still accepting wristbands on that night and I may or may not stretch it out by going to Rancho Relaxo to see Said The Shark (9:45pm), Walter Mitty and the Realists (10:30pm), Make Your Exit (11:20pm) and Acres of Lions (12:10am)

Admittedly, I'm more likely to attend a non CMW event at The Boat on Sunday March 15th. Audio Blood's Rock 'n Roll Tea Party is taking place featuring Great Lenin's Ghost, The Paint Movement, Our History Of Cowboys and Holler, Wild Rose. Tix are $5 and there is rumoured to be lots of free tea!

And finally, on Thursday March 26th, former Eric's Trip-sters unite when Rick White opens for Julie Doiron at The Horseshoe. She's celebrating the release of her new CD I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day. Tickets are $10. [Myspaces: Rick White, Julie Doiron]

Whew. Good night.

'Sup In June?

Short answer? Tons. Grab yourself a drink and some cereal, sit back and relax because this is going to be one lengthy post. June is a month of legends and NXNE and it's going to be so full of the rawk that I'm going to make sure that I chill out a little bit in July. I won't pull another January hiatus or anything, but I'm fairly sure that June is going to cause me some significant wipe out action.

Things get all started tomorrow night when I see the reunited Eric's Trip at The Mod Club. For those that aren't in the know, the Trip are one of the truly great lo-fi bands of the 90's, cranking out four official CD's and several independent EP's and cassette releases during that time. Since then, Rick White and Julie Doiron have gone on to have some more success in their own write, but nothing compares to the insane heartbreak fueled distortion that they created when they were together. I've been listening to Love Tara and Forever Again all day today in preparation for the show, and it's amazing how well those songs hold up. Can you tell I'm excited? When picking up the tickets, the brother at Soundscapes told me that I should be sure not to miss the opening bands because they're also spectacular. He's got impeccable taste so I'll take his word for it. They are Quest For Fire and $100.

Myspace: Eric's Trip
Myspace: Quest For Fire
Myspace: $100.

If seeing Eric's Trip isn't enough, Sunday June 8th marks the day that I FINALLY see R.E.M. In the next few days, I'll be composing my love letter to R.E.M. that will help you more fully understand why this is such a big deal for me, but for now let's just say that, in many ways, R.E.M. has made me the obsessive musical compulsive that I am today. Also, Accelerate is their best album in 15 years. The opening bands are not too shabby either and you may have heard of them also. They are Modest Mouse and The National. Familiar with them? Opening for R.E.M. should give them that little push that they need in their little careers. (YES! Sarcasm, give me more!!!) It's been a long time since I've been to a show in an amphitheater setting, so we'll see how I handle being in the 200 level as opposed to being up front like I always am. Hopefully I don't get too grumpy.

Myspace: R.E.M.
Myspace: Modest Mouse
Myspace: The National
Video: R.E.M's Hollow Man on youtube

Which brings us to NXNE! Boy, did I have a hard time deciding where I was going to go. There's a lot of great stuff going on, but a whole whack of conflicts as well. However I think that I discovered a feasible schedule that has the greatest number of good bands with the least amount of traveling. So take a deep breath .... and here goes:

The fest doesn't officially start until Thursday June 12, but there are a few early shows that are part of the NXNE-Extra series. Wednesday night (June 11) I'll be trying to attend Lightspeed Champion at Lee's Palace. This might be tricky since the press badges are not available for pick up until Thursday at noon, but I'm trying to see what I can do. I'd like to get in though because I think that this will be an incredibly fun way to get the festival started.

Myspace: Lightspeed Champion

On Thursday night (June 12), I plan on making my way to The Supermarket to see Cancel Winter (10pm), followed by Amos The Transparent (11pm). Amos' Jonathan Chandler eluded to the fact that this was going to be a very exciting and different show the last time that he was in town, so I'm looking forward to finding out what he meant by that. I would go and check out Sloan at The Mod Club, but I'm not available until 10, and they come on at 9. However, there's a rumour circulating that they will be heading on up to Lee's Palace afterwards for a 1am show. If said rumour is true, then I'll be leaving after Amos The Transparent's set and heading down to Lee's. If not, then I'll just stay put and check out Great Bloomers (midnight). Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Myspace: Cancel Winter
Myspace: Amos The Transparent
Myspace: Sloan
Myspace: Great Bloomers
Stream: Sloan's Parallel Play on yeproc records.

And here's a short list of the band's that I also want to see but can't due to there only being one of me: The John Henry's (Criminal Records @ 7pm & Dakota Tavern @ 10pm); Krief's Black Diamond Bay (Clinton's @ midnight); Danielle Duval (C'est What @ 10pm); Melissa McClelland (Dakota Tavern @ 11pm); The Coast (The Horseshoe @ 9pm); Two Hours Traffic (Rivoli @ midnight) and Key Witness (Velvet Underground @ 8pm)

I'm going to try to start things off a little bit earlier on Friday night (June 13) by zipping on down to Yonge and Dundas Square to see Hospital Bombers at 8pm, followed by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at 9. The rest of the evening was very difficult to choose but I think I settled on seeing Julie Doiron (11pm), followed by Evan Dando (midnight) at The Horseshoe. I loved The Lemonheads but they're another band that falls into the love 'em but never seen 'em section of my life. Afterwards I might take a chance and tunnel through the center of the Earth to catch Swervedriver (1am) at Lee's, but I'm really not going to get my hopes up for that.

Myspace: Hospital Bombers
Myspace: The Lemonheads
Myspace: Julie Doiron
Myspace: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Myspace: Swervedriver
Download: Julie Doiron's No More mp3

Download: Julie Doiron's Snow Falls In November mp3


And here are the acts that I wanna see but cannot on Friday night: Will Currie and the County French (Drake Hotel @ midnight); Ruby Coast (Drake Hotel @ 9pm); Songs From A Room (El Mocambo @ 9pm); Jason Plumb and the Willing (Gladstone @ 11pm); Beth In Battle Mode (Holy Joe's @ 11pm); Oh No Forest Fires (Kathedral @ 9pm); the whole line-up at The Reverb was very very tempting, namely The Priddle Concern (9pm); Great Lake Swimmers (10pm); Laura Barrett (11pm); The Meligrove Band (midnight); and Justin Rutledge (1am). Missing Fox Jaws (Rivoli @ midnight) and Golden Hands Before God Conducts Incredible Magic Band And The Spirit (Savannah Room @ midnight) is also killing me! But I had to go with Dando because opportunities to see him are far less frequent than the other local bands. And I've seen Fox Jaws five times. And I'll likely see them many more times. This year.

And now for Saturday night (June 14th)! If Thursday and Friday night are as action packed as I think they'll be, then I'm going to look forward to spending time with my wife on Saturday because it is our anniversary. 11 years! Where does the time go?

However, once dinner and a movie is done, the wife and I are still planning on catching a couple of shows and here's the plan. Spiral Beach (10pm), followed by Hey Rosetta! (11pm) at The Horseshoe. Some may feel it's sacreligious to exit before Matt Mays and El Torpedo (midnight) takes the stage, but I've been looking forward to the next show at Lee's Palace for a long time. We start with Miss Derringer (midnight), followed by another blast from the past in Redd Kross (1am). Should be fun! If we still have an unbelievable amount of energy, then we might go to El Mocambo to see Patrick Krief's latest project entitled Black Diamond Bay (2am) But probably not.

Myspace: Spiral Beach
Myspace: Hey Rosetta!
Myspace: Miss Derringer
Myspace: Redd Kross
Download: Spiral Beach's New Clouds Hot Clouds EP for free at Zunior.com

I wish that I could see these bands too but alas, I cannot: Entire Cities (Cadillac Lounge @ 1am); Revival Dear (Cadillac Lounge @ midnight); The Two Koreas (El Mocambo @ 11pm); The iSpies (El Mocambo @ 10pm); The 6ixty 8ights (Hideout @ midnight); Serena Postel (Free Times Cafe @ 11pm); Tin Bangs (Kathedral @ 1am); Grace Emily's (Neu+ral Lounge @ 8pm); Foxfire (Reverb @ 11pm); Magneta Lane (Rivoli @ 1am); Matthew Barber (Rivoli @ 10pm); Spookey Ruben (Yonge-Dundas Square @ 7pm) and Bran Van 3000 (Yonge-Dundas Square @ 9pm)

Exhausted yet? If you've read this far, you're the king. But wait there's more! On Monday (June16), I'm breaking my promise and actually going back to the Kool Haus to catch Besnard Lakes with the mighty mighty My Morning Jacket, one of the greatest live bands ever in the world ever. I am puh-huh-mped about this one!

Myspace: Besnard Lakes
Myspace: My Morning Jacket
Download: Besnard Lakes' And You Lied To Me mp3

Download: Besnard Lakes' For Agent 13 mp3


And so ends my ridiculously full month of June. Unless you include Ohbijou with Jill Barber at Harbourfront Center on June 28th. Which I don't see any reason why you wouldn't.

Myspace: Ohbijou
Myspace: Jill Barber
Download: Ohbijou's St. Francis mp3

Download: Ohbijou's Steep mp3


Whew.