being the lameass losers we were, four of us were sitting at roderick's
spacing out and missing bad luck #13. luckily (HAHA!!) we got to birdland
for nerdy girl's set only four songs into it. this was the all ages show
on friday, by the way.
the performance was one of the best. if it wasn't for the fact rebecca
west played later that night, i'd say it was the highlight of the day.
cecil's on stage performance is somewhat reminiscent of mary margaret
o'hara but she isn't quite as spastic, she's just very involved in her
music. she's quite diminutive but the energy she expresses could fill a
room. nerdy girl as a four piece seems to work.
it was nice to see jimcee happy for once. wow, if nerdy girl's music can
make grumpy old man cooper :) smile, imagine what they can do for you. i
hope you'll all pick up their 10'' and 7'' and keep on supporting this
special little group.
next up...the Fastbacks. yeeehaw!!! a truly energetic performance from
this part cuddlecore part garage rock part mexican jumping bean (kurt
bloch) group. i nearly fell over laughing at kurt's hyperactivity. i was
watching my videotape of this performance a few days ago and i have no
idea how i managed to get him in focus once. good songs, good stage
presence, good show. go see them if you get the chance. :)
we sauntered over towards the oasis for the no-cases but not before we
made a stop at the dairy queen and subway (where i had the misfortune of
eating the world's worst sub EVER). while hanging around outside the
oasis, rod and i stopped to talk to waye mason. i grilled him on video
right then and there. i asked him the tough questions, i pulled no
punches. "so waye, do you try to use every opportunity possible to use
the word `no'?" "um...not really?" very hard hitting stuff. anyway, he
explained why everyone had to pay a cover charge even if they were
important media folk such as myself. ha ha ha... he flashed his fancy
laminated No pass. woooo!
first up, coyote. not as good as their show the night before but still
sweaty and mmmm oh so fun. the best part of all was when their drummer
(um, patrick? tim? i dunno...) knocked over his cymbal and hit his stick
so hard on the drum it went flying up and nearly hit him in the head.
ooh, tough guy act! normally i hate macho rock (ha ha...) but i had to
smile at this. they CAN'T take themselves *that* seriously, can they?
anyway, the songs are pretty cool live.
next up, cool blue halo. hmmmm, i seem to have missed this performance as
i was down at the waterfront watching roderick flash ducks (yes, really,
ask him about it sometime....). you think he's mild mannered and oh so
shy but it's really a coy act. anyway.
we got back up to the oasis in time to catch the last half of those local
losers, the state champs. mmm, good show, chaps! :) they played their
newer (new meaning from this summer i guess) songs, which i enjoyed. the
best part of all is watching jon dacey. he sort of wanks away in a sort
of bored way, it's very comical. he will probably take offense at this,
but it's ok. you have to see it to know what i mean. he is going rock
star with his hands and guitar but his face is like "man....this
sucks....blahblahblah....". nonetheless, he delivers. the first time i
ever heard mark mullane sing (way back in february? march??) i thought
"man, they gotta get a new singer" (raleigh sport) cause i just didn't
know what that whole style was all about. clueless, thats me. needless to
say, it's grown on me, quite a lot. the performance that night was
absolutely charming in my opinion. he seems happiest and most at ease
when he's up there playing and singing. mike catano needs a haircut. for
that matter, jon DIDN'T need one. :) oh, i'm not being fair, i'm judging
them by their physical appearances again. oh well. buy their record, buy
their tape, go see them play live.
we left the oasis to arrive at birdland just in time to meet a bunch of
DRUNK morons (wow, how rare, drunk morons at birdland...) at the door
shouting "what?? twelve bucks? to see rebecca who? what???? fuck man
we're going to the palace!!!!"
thank god.
i walked into the bar as they began a haunting slow(er) version of "good
advice" - that set the vibe for the whole show. intense, moody,
innovative, passionate....i can't tell you all enough how amazing they
are live, at least when i've seen them. this performance was absolutely
breath taking. they played several new songs, all of which impressed me,
in addition to playing tracks from _burners on_ such as "7 days" "breeze"
and "sick". lukas' bass playing was fucking insane!!!! he's a sight to
see, man. allison, as always, blew me away with the amount of power she
seems to play with. definitely the best part of the day, and depending on
my mood, the best birdland show of the whole event (when i temporarily
forget the first thrush hermit show...).
i guess i must have been really tired or something because i think i left
after rebecca west. i missed the fastbacks second show and i don't think
i saw space needle. at least i don't remember seeing them. unless they
were that total feedbacky art rocky white noisy thing that shawn duggan
yelled at me for not paying attention to. wait, yes, that WAS space
needle because we left during their set. sorry, kids. no like-a the space
needle, to bastardize a wagbeard saying.
oh sweet sweet bliss, sleep. :)
--
"A lot of people think Matt's Kato Kaelin."
- Drew Yamada, the Super Friendz
***CJSW 90.9 fm --> http://www.ucalgary.ca/~cjswfm***
