Ray Davies @ HMV (In-Store Performance)

It was a brief performance, so I figured I'd throw up a brief review before hitting the hay early on a Friday night. First of all, it should be mentioned that the HMV at 333 Yonge Street in Toronto has hands down the worst setup I've ever seen for an in-store performance. By mere fluke I got there mega early, and as it turns out, it's a good thing I did. The setup made it possible for maybe 20 out of the ... um ... way more than that, to see what was going on. However, waiting over an hour to see a 20 minute show will not go down as one of the brightest moments in my personal history. On the other hand, how often do you get to stand a few feet away from a true rock legend?

Ray Davies was here on one of only a couple of appearances to promote his new CD "Working Man's Cafe." The man of course, is an incredible songwriter, and the songs that he performed from the album sounded quite good, for a first listen. He's always been applauded for his often satirical lyrics, and his presence and banter during this performance proved that he is just as witty and amicable as ever. I could've sworn that he promised to play a few Kinks classics, but he only played "Lola," which had everybody singing along, as they should. Aw well, one is better than none, I guess. Afterwards, he stayed behind to do the autograph thing, but the line was long and I've never been a big autograph person. I already had a better view of the show than almost everybody else there anyway. Because I was an hour early. Because I'm cool. And now I'll get back to going to bed early on a Friday night.

Photos: Ray Davies @ HMV on flickr
Myspace: Ray Davies
Video: 'In A Moment' on David Letterman on youtube

The Nature Of The Game

Today, I'm just going to throw up a bunch of information that appeals to me personally in the world of music, some that I've been very neglectful in sharing due to the winter blahs making me incredibly lazy.

First of all, on Wednesday night I finally went to check out Elvyn at The Boat. I've been meaning to check them out for a while for two reasons: first of all they're sort of mild acquaintances of mine (i.e: two of them I may or may not have possibly met in the past through mutual friends and the other one I knew when I was a kid but haven't seen in about 15 years.) The other reason is that their music is so incredibly right up my alley. They're from Peterborough and they blend the styles of Teenage Fanclub, Neil Young and The Jayhawks to create a style of pop music that not enough people are trying these days. It's beautiful in that it does not sound forced or gimmicky in any way, it's simply a flawless example of straight ahead good music. It was one of those nights that was as much about hanging out as it was about hearing them play, so I forgot to snap any photos from the show, but I'll get them next time.

Myspace: Elvyn

Darren Gaines and the Key Party (whom I raved about last year) is in the process of putting some other stuff together and it sounds like it's going to be more lo-fi junkyard gutter rock, that he pulls off so effortlessly. The new songs sound a little bit more mature and varied while still staying true to his style. In fact, he's so confident with what he's accomplished here, that he's offering them all for free download on his myspace page. "Snowdrift" (as much as this year's winter has made me despise the title) is absolutely beautiful. My other favorite is "The Litterati" where his gruff gravely voice is gloriously pitch imperfect as the horn accompaniment sounds like he's slapping around Henry Mancini for some kicks. Can't wait for his next full release.

Canadian Music Week is fast approaching, and I'm going to see how successful I can be at getting into some of the "limited wristband admittance" shows. I have a backup plan in case some of these don't work out, which is fine because there's a lot of great local acts playing around the city. But if I do get in to some of these, I'll definitely be getting some substantial bang for my 35 bucks. First off, it sounds like The Hives and The Donnas are accepting all wristbands for their March 3rd appearance at Kool Haus (*shudder) so, in theory, I should have no problems with that one. I'm most excited with the fact that it appears that they'll be letting some in to the Steve Earle / Alison Moorer show at Massey Hall on the 4th. I'm not getting my hopes up, and even if I do it'll likely be nosebleeds but still... On Thursday night there's Jason Collett at Lee's. That's another tough one for me because my Thursday nights are occupied until about 10, so the chances that there will still be room at Lee's after that are slim, but nothing ventured, nothing gained 'eh? Birds Of Wales come on after him. And then there's Hawksley Workman at Danforth Music Hall on Friday night and the triumphant return of The Breeders at The Phoenix on Saturday, limited entry for both of them. On the Saturday however, Fox Jaws and Beth In Battle Mode are both playing at Rancho Relaxo. How can that be nothing short of ridiculously fantastic? So, we'll see how that week shapes up but if I make it into even a smidge of these shows, I'll feel very king-like. CMW takes place March 5-8.

Two of the shows that I've recently attended are available in downloadable mp3 form on the interweb. Basia Bulat's in-store at Criminal Records is up at I Heart Music and Nicole Atkins' amazing show from last Sunday at Lee's is up at Hater High. Basia is performing with Amos The Transparent (yay!) at Lee's on March 29th.

And this just in....according to For The Records, Ray Davies of The Kinks is playing an in-store at HMV on 33 Yonge Street TODAY at 6pm. The Kinks are one of my all time faves, the benchmark for all of the 60's styled bands that I so enjoy today. Color me excited.

I've got way too many CD's to get through these days, but I will try to tell you about them next week, if I can. A couple of them are beyond fantastic. Laterz.