Sled Island 2008 Rundown

Lets start with the complaints:

1. It was too awesome. Too awesome in a bad way, like, seeing so many bands over the week just made the whole thing kind of numbing. Like “oh, you got uppercutted in the nuts during Fucked Up’s set on Saturday night? That is nothing: I went to a BBQ that the members of WIRE were at. Oh yeah? I had a beer with Mark Sultan at the Legion!” That kind of thing. There was more awesome squeezed into one week than many people experience over a lifetime. I suppose I just like my awesomeness spread around a little so the rest of my year doesn’t seem so fucking pathetic.

2. The outdoor shows. The venue was fine. The weather was nice. I just prefer seeing bands in a dank club. This is mainly because I am not an “outdoors” person, and also I honestly think that it is harder to connect with a band when it is sunny outside.

Also: why were there so many cops lingering around, acting like total fascists. I passed one in particular that looked like he was ready to beat my ass down for no reason, other than I was staring at the sound-measuring-device that they kept using to make sure it didn’t get “too loud.” Cop count at the indoor shows: 0.

Now for my positives:

1. The bands, specifically local ones, were particularly impressive this year. I know that I have been guilty of it in the past, but so many Sled Island rundowns have seemed so fucking obvious, and it doesn’t seem like people are taking as many chances as they should be (illustrated by a few really poorly attended shows – like Hunter Gatherer, a new local band who put on one of the best shows of the week, had like 8 people watching). Really – you saw Grizzly Bear, then The May Shi and finished with Blitzen Trapper? Good for you. The Calgary scene is amazing right now, and it shouldn’t take a writeup in Pitchfork for locals to pay attention to it.

2. The shows were more or less run like clockwork. I can’t think of many times we were left waiting for things to get moving, and I think this is a testament to the volunteers.

3. The weird side shows at places like Tubby Dog, or in some basements (my band Endangered Ape ended up playing a really fun basement show with The Ex-Boyfriends, complete with seizure inducing strobes and a fog machine). Though these shows weren’t officially Sled Island promoted, I hope that more of this kind of innovation happens in the future.

4. The audiences were generally attentive, easy going, which made almost all of the shows I saw that much better. Save for the secret shows (where bands like WIRE, Okkerville River and Broken Social Scene played at 2 am when everyone was exhausted from rocking out in the previous 8 hours). People – especially other bands – were really nice and it is nice to come away with a few new friends and contacts.

Bands seen in 2008: The list so-far (64 Unique bands). Bands with * were particularly good.

Atrophy Manuscript (x2)
Azeda Booth
BBQ (Mark Sultan) (x2) *
Beiruit
The Breeders
Broken West
Built to Spill
Cold War Kids
Crudo (Mike Patton / Dan the Automator)
The Cure *
Cryptomaniacs (x2) ***
Dead Confederate
Death Cab for Cutie
Deerhunter *
Destroyer (X2) **
Devon Williams *
Drive By Truckers
Elliott Brood
The Ex-Boyfriends (x2) *
The Flaming Lips *
Fleet Foxes (x2)
Flight of the Conchords
Fucked Up (x2) ***
Grand Archives
Gutter Twins
Hayden
Hazard Lights (x2)
Heat Ray ***
The Hives *
Hot Little Rocket
Hunter Gatherer *
Langhorne Slim
Mars Volta
Mogwai
Mt Royal (x2) **
The National
The New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Okkervil River
The Ostrich ***
Portastic
Presidents of The USA
Rambling Ambassadors *
REM
Jonathan Richman
Rogue Wave
Secret Machines
Seven Story Redhead
The Shaky Hands
SIDS (x2) ***
65 Days of Static
Suicide Wrists **
The Summerlad **
The Sweater Contest
Throw Me The Statue *
The Throwaways ***
Twilight Hotel
The Void
The Wet Secrets
The Whigs
Wire
Women (x2) ***
Yeahsayer
Yo La Tengo

Too true

Not Paul Lawton

I am not multi-instrumentalist Paul “Lolly” Lawton of the Vancouver BC alt-rock band The Paperboys.

I am not Paul J. Lawton, author of historical fictions.

Nor am I a Paul Lawton, historian who studies the role of U-Boats in WWII.

Definitely not this Paul Lawton, illiterate with a fondness for fast cars.

You can ask my friend Jeff, but I can assure you that I am not Paul Lawton, deck-builder.

Pretty sure I can design a better “home page” than this Paul Lawton.

I am not the Australian soldier Paul Lawton who died in Iraq, and whose parents were informed via a quick cellphone call… RIP other Paul Lawton.

Not Paul Lawton, CEO of Comms Business Interactive, nor am I Paul Lawton on Lawton & Lawton law offices.

I honestly think I have the potential to be the most well-known Paul Lawton in the entire world! Come on other Paul Lawtons, give me some competition here, you guys are making it easy!?!

Virgin Festival Calgary

The lineup is up…

Stone Temple Pilots
The Tragically Hip
The Flaming Lips
City and Colour
Mathew good
Three Days Grace
The New Pornographers
Stars
Corb Lund
Fact to Face
Constantines
Attack in Black
Pride Tiger
Crash Parallel
The Dudes
The Whitsundays
Ten Second Epic
The Spades
Said the Whale

Weekend pass: $125

I almost had to eat my words about this festival. Last week, Morrissey made a statement that read

I am also pleased to be asked to join the bill at the V Festival at the Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, and also at Fort Calgary in Calgary.

I kind of lost my mind when I read that. I have been obsessed with The Smiths and Morrissey since I was a lad, and have yet to see him live (when that day comes, I am stalking his tour bus, getting him to sign my arm and then getting it tattooed there). Then that statement continues:

However, as we all know, the psychologically and constitutionally sickening Canadian seal-kill has started and is once again in full-cry.

Oh christ, here we go. Look Morrissey, you are awesome and everything, but punishing your Canadian fan base (most of whom likely agree with you that the barbaric seal hunting practices should stop) is really stupid. YOU PLAY SHOWS IN THE US, A COUNTRY THAT KILLS MORE IRAQI HUMAN BEINGS IN A YEAR THAN CANADA DOES SEALS!!! Ugh. I get really worked up about this all the time. Shit, I would have sat through Three Days Grace, Mathew Good AND City and Colour to see Morrissey, but alas, that is not to be. Just as well, as that is the musical equivalent to being bludgeoned to death by a sealing club (which, might I add, I am morally opposed to).

What happened to the lip service to having “local music” on the bill? I see the Dudes, The Whitsundays (from Edmonton, which should count I guess, but they are also playing the superior Sled Island, so fuck that), but that is it (and in order to say that for sure, I looked into some of the bands I hadn’t heard like Crash Parallel from Ontario, and who are apparently “drawing comparisons to artists such as Coldplay, The Fray, David Gray and Counting Crows” (which, aside from their music are four reasons why they must be avoided at all costs). Oh shit – Ten Second Epic (which is subsequently the length of time I could listen to their myspace) are from Edmonton too.

Sure there are a few Annotated Everything favourites on the bill (Flaming Lips, The New Pornographers, Constantines), but most of this festival just reeks of the dying (not soon enough) corporate music industry. A lot of the bands (and the structure behind the bands) are still desperately pushing music as a “product,” and talking (in a very 1990’s way) about “content” (”Get the digital release for bonus CONTENT!”). For those bands that avoid that way of doing business in the music industry, the stink kind of wafts over to them as well (whether they like it or not).

Secondly, who is this lineup going for? Are Stars fans going to want to sit through Attack in Black? Will Attack in Black fans sit through Said the Whale? Will anyone want to sit through Three Days Grace? To paraphrase Pierre Bourdieu, “taste is nothing more than the distaste of the taste of others” – something that I will admit fuels a post like this. Yet, it is one thing for me to think that this lineup is full of shit, and it is another for me to react against this form of blatant “focus grouped” lineup that appears to these eyes to be nothing more than a vehicle to move “units” (as opposed to a way for music fans to come together and enjoy a nice day in the sun without the taint that is a Branson-sponsored shill-fest).

Sled Island Message Board

I am a nerd and started a Sled Island Message board.

Don’t ask me why I do things like this. My academic life is spent thinking/talking/writing about online groups and aggregates of people, and I love nothing more than bringing like minded people together to talk about music. Plus: Sled Island is awesome.

I wrote a post in October about my concerns for Sled Island going up against VFest West, but it looks like that won’t be a huge concern, as Sled Island is happening June 25-28, and VFest will be going the week earlier on the 21-22 – so there won’t be an overlap,  and both festivals can co-exist without bloodshed. Though, with rumors of the VFest headliner being LINKIN PARK (?), I don’t think that the crossover would be that big anyway.

Initial Sled Island Festival Announcement

I stopped breathing when I read this list:

Wire
Of Montreal
Jonathan Richman
The Gutter Twins (Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan)
Jose Gonzales
RZA (Bobby Digital)
Mogwai
Scott Kannberg aka Spiral Stairs
No Age
Deerhunter
Dodos
Drive By Truckers
Extra Golden
Miss Murgatroid and Petra Hayden
Woodpigeon
Beans
Hot Little Rocket
The Broken West
Cave Singers
Wet Secrets
Pride Tiger
Portastatic
Headlights
Ramblin’ Ambassadors
Bison
Mother Mother
Elizabeth
Modern Man
Luther Wright
Whitsundays
Elliot Brood
Carolyn Mark

Sled Island out-does itself – what an amazing lineup. Here’s hoping for a spot for me to play!

The Stuff White People Like Guy is Totally Stalking Me

You have heard about this site already, so this post is nothing new. Well, except I think that the person writing this knows me, and is trying to slowly drive me crazy by revealing one thing after the next of my “true nature.” Witness this week’s entries alone:
#82 Hating Corporations – in which the author makes fun of white people who have copies of No Logo and subscribe to Adbusters (check, check)
#81 Graduate School – in which the author makes fun of white people who are doing a PhD (check / way too close to home)

After acquiring a Masters Degree that will not increase their salary or hiring desirability, many white people will move on to a PhD program where they will go after their dream of becoming a professor. However, by their second year they usually wake up with a hangover and realize: “I’m going to spend six years in graduate school to make $35,000 and live in the middle of nowhere?”

#78 Multilingual Children – in which the author makes fun of white people who have their children in multilingual schooling (check)
#77 Musical Comedy – in which the author makes fun of Flight of the Conchords fans (check / if hating the Conchords is wrong, I don’t want to be right)

Creepy.

Bag of Hammers

This is Thao Nguyen, who will be at this year’s version of the Sasquatch Festival. I got my tickets this morning – three days of music for $150 bucks, seeing huge bands like REM, The Flaming Lips, The Cure as well as tonnes of smaller acts and also… Destroyer (which trumps all of the rest of it anyway, at least for me).   Myself and 5 others are renting a giant RV for the trip, which should be great.

In other news about me that might be of interest for those of you still reading this one for some reason – I handed my dissertation prospectus to my committee, and am scheduled (tentatively) to do my written PhD candidacy exam on the last week of April, and I am doing my oral examination on May 9th (!!!). I am really anxious about this, but because I have such an awesome relationship with my supervisor, he has been really helping to keep me focused on my project since last Summer, and I think that will come through in my exams. If all goes well, I will have ABD (all but dissertation) status in a little over 2 months. Which is huge and awesome and scary and all that jazz. It feels like a long time coming, but at the same time I feel like it has gone too fast.

Porn in the Woods

For proof that the Internet brings people together, see this (one of my all time favourite) 2005 Ask Metafilter Post that asked: “Did you, as a kid, find Porn in the Woods?” To which hundreds of Mefites responded “YES!”  Similar web communities have tackled this same issue (also, a hilarious David Sedaris essay). It seems a that hundreds of kids have shared this communal experience; finding a secret cache of porn mildewing in the wood, behind an out of the way dumpster or under the occasional bridge.

To wit, this is exactly where I found my first ever porn stash, as a seven year old let loose with other seven years olds in rural Moose Jaw Saskatchewan. My comrades and I would bike around aimlessly, playing in construction sites and looking for treasure. And treasure we did find, in the form of a stack of 1970’s era Playboys, rotting away under a giant tree stump in a treed area, just waiting to be found by children. Burned in my memory was four little kids, not sure what they were looking at, but knowing instantly that they shouldn’t have been looking at it, dividing up the few mags that hadn’t decayed too badly. All was good in life for a week or two, with these magazines being the highest form of schoolyard capital, until (predictably) one of my friends was caught with one by his mom, and was grounded for a month. The rest of us, fearing the same consequences, ritualistically ripped up the magazines and let the pieces blow away in the wind.

This all comes up because yesterday, on a walk with Jane and my son, found… porn in the woods. Well, kind of. We were walking through Henderson Lake yesterday afternoon, a man-made lake with a walking path around it that is generally “DESTINATION LETHBRIDGE.” We were walking over this bridge, when something shiny catches my eye:

Kind of a bad photo, but what you are looking at (the red bits) are a handful of pornographic DVD’s (one with the title “Spring Chickens”) that had been… ritualistically snapped up and thrown under the bridge.  My son, not knowing what he was looking at (or pretending not to), wanted desperately to be allowed to go “investigate further,” to which I had to say no.

This brought up so many questions to ponder:

1. What is behind the porn in the woods phenomenon?

To which I can can think of two possible answers:

1. To keep pornography hidden in an area that it won’t be found easily, so that it can be used in an accessible, but private surroundings
2. To dispose of pornography in an area that will not point to one person (i.e. disposing of it in the garbage can out back).

Will the internet age slow (or eliminate) the porn in the woods phenomenon?

1. Yes. It is easy for kids to access pornography with the Internet.
2. Kids aren’t even allowed to play outside in the woods anyways.

Which means that we will no longer have stories like these:

Has anyone noticed that smell forest porn always has? Kind of musty, but unlike any other kind of smell in the world. It always smells exactly the same. The forest porn smell….

I will never forget the smell of rained on porn mags that have been dried up. For me, it’s the smell of porn.

What’s f–ked up though, is that to this day, my brain associates the smell of ferns with porn. No lie. We hid our rescued stash in a small cave that was hidden by a blanket of ferns.

What I found the most interesting in our discovery yesterday was the way that these dvd’s were disposed of – in a well travelled area, but out of the way enough that most people would not have discovered the stash. Also – with seven or eight destroyed DVD’s, one was noticeably unharmed. Perhaps an homage to a childhood experience lost to a digital age?

DANCE

This dude goes around Hamilton, Ontario (Canada, The World) and sets up a camera in public spaces to record himself dancing. It is pretty awesome.

This girl is going to blog everyday for 90 days (well, 84 more now), at which point she is going to commit suicide. Not very awesome.

This is the FAIL blog. It is pretty awesome. Witness:

RPM Challenge

I am already 10 days into the RPM Challenge, which, if you don’t already know, is a challenge to “record an album in 29 days, just because you can.”

Here are the rules:

• Ten songs or 35 minutes of recorded material, on a CD, postmarked or hand-delivered by noon on March 1 to:

RPM HQ
10 Vaughan Mall, Suite 1
Portsmouth, NH 03801
USA

• Recording can only be done in the month of February – no prerecorded songs.

• All material must be previously unreleased, and we encourage you to write the material during February too.

• Participating bands get their own page on the site, which you can blog to as much as you want. You also get access to the band-only discussion board, where you can swap ideas, resources, etc., and the ability to e-mail and private message with the other participants.

• All the completed albums may be put up in the jukebox on the website, if you so choose, so people can check it out; conversely, if you’d rather not share your work with the public, then no one needs to hear it but us.

Write some instrumentals, split up the songwriting duties amongst band members, form an RPM side project, write songs on the piano or clarinet instead of your primary instrument, make that metal album you’ve always wanted to – buy a ukulele! Just do your best to make the best album you can. Be unafraid.

So, as if I had nothing better to do (ha!), I decided to take this on. I am adding a few more limitations to myself in order to fit this into my crazy as hell schedule, namely

1. That no song shall be worked on for more than 3 hours. That includes composition, recording, mixing and all that.

2. That I work in styles that I haven’t worked in before – my album is going to be blown-out fuzzy psychedelic/garage rawk in the vein of the Goth bands I was into in the 80’s (mostly Bauhaus and Joy Division – did you know that I sport a Bauhaus tattoo? Bet you didn’t). I am also trying to rip off Blank Dogs as much as I can, because that is whom I am listening to the most right now and it just kind of “seeps” in. Essentially, I am attempting to make music that is unlistenable to anyone other than the 1% of the people in the world who can appreciate noise.

3. When I am done, I am burning a shitload of them and sending them to random college radiostations and boutique 7″ labels.

That is it. Oh yeah, my band is called “ENDANGERED APE” and you can check out my progress here: http://www.myspace.com/endangeredape

The Road

So, everyone in 2007 (well, not everyone, but Oprah for sure) was going on about this book called “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. It’s this book about this man and his son (eight years old-ish?) trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

So, I read said book (can’t remember exactly when, maybe in August?), reading in two sittings, and it still hasn’t left me. I think about this book all the time. There are things in my head now that The Road placed there, and they won’t leave me. I dream about this book all the time (such as last night, and one other night this week), and these dreams are terrible dreams. I am haunted by The Road.

I am not going to give anything else away. I didn’t know much going into this book, and I was glad that I didn’t know. There are a few sections that I had to read a dozen times just to piece together what was happening, to fill in as much of the puzzle in my head as possible. You should read The Road to see for yourself.

I am three books deep into my book a week project for 2008. Reading a book called “The World Without Us” which is about what would happen to the world if humans dissapeared. I am scheduled for my candidacy for May, so I need to start reading for that asap.

Tick tick tick

Christ,

It’s almost 3 am, and Dr. Insomnia strikes again. Since my coursework ended, I have been battling my sleep pattern, trying to feel tired and work like a normal human being, but old habits die hard. Or this is what they say. Jerks. This lack of sleep makes me feel like I am feeling really sick and ill – but I am neither. Just experiencing yet another general malaise. Bored and boring. Meandering. This is how I feel when it is almost 3 am. I don’t feel like this all the time. Just when I am tired, but not tired. Its a hopeless state, and blogging about it isn’t helping much.

Teaching again – first class felt awful, but second class went good. I was funnier, and it paid off. Gotta entertain those undergrads, make them feel like they are getting their money/time’s worth. Lots of neato students this time around, so I can feel the potential of this semester. Got pulled aside the other day because I am getting rave reviews from my other classes. This is a good feeling. Thinking of finishing out my career (before it has begun, natch), in a small town community college, just so I can do good all the time. I thought I would get over that sick feeling before and after a class by now. I haven’t.

My big dollar grant proposal made it out of Calgary, into a national competition. Officially, my hopes aren’t up, but that is a lie. They are up. Way up. Scholarship office messed up when they sent out the “you made it past round 2″ email and didn’t BCC people, so everyone who made it could see everyone else. Didn’t see any familiars, but I could be mistaken.

Been wrapping up prospectus tonight. It will be in on Monday rain or shine. Same as my first ethics application so I can actually, officially start talking to people for my dissertation. Art sez I should start with software developers, so I will. Good a place as any + minimal ethics hold up (apparently, there isn’t a huge concern that software developers might be harmed by an interview from a grad student). Trying to make it through this Grandparent study. If there is one thing Grandparents love, it is talking about their grandchildren. I’m doing this as a tribute to my Noni and Papa, who I am giant fans of.

Changed the name of my psych-pop band from LIGHT YEARS to THE STEELIE DANS. The new stuff we are working on sounds like Thin Lizzie meets Belle and Sebastian meets Slayer. Square Waves Patrick is a total dick for moving away to Winnipeg, so the Square Waves are regrouping temporarily as Favour for a one off show in Feb. J.A. Brooks is back!

Also, the new Destroyer album leaked yesterday. Trouble in Dreams. Very good.

And all is well.

Check out this video 

Brilz:

Reconsidering Star Wars IV in the light of I-III

This essay is essential reading.

Movies I have seen lately

Well well well, what do we have here?

I kind of crashed and burned over the last couple of weeks, watched a lot of movies and slept a lot. Coming around now, waking up from my slumber, clearing the cobwebs (etc.). Thought I might relive some of the movies I watched.

The Good

Once – which I actually watched twice, and ends up being my favourite movie of 2007. An indie movie about this guy writing songs about his broken heart, and then singing them. Sort of like a musical, but not. Really, I cannot recommend this movie enough.

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead – the tale of two brothers who fuck up their lives really badly. This film is RELENTLESS.

Control – Finally saw the Ian Curtis/Joy Division bio-pic. In that I have read the book that this is based on, and have idolized Curtis since I was a lad, there was much surprise here, save for the killer performance segments which left me marking-out. So good.

I am Legend – I love the sparseness of this film, and Will Smith is fantaxstic, but the movie kind of shits the bed in the end.

Gone Baby Gone – Ben Affleck directed this, and as such, I didn’t expect to like this enjoyable little Private detective movie. Yet I did.

No Country for Old Men – I watched this days after reading the book (I went on a Cormack McCarthy binge recently), and this movie is as awesome as everyone is telling you.

The Wire – Not a movie; I am almost finished season one, and it is blowing my mind how good this show is.

The Not So Good

The Science of Sleep – Too “all over the map” for my liking, especially with the main character who just sort of acts differently in every scene/situation.

I’m Not There – That Dylan movie you heard so much about, what with all the different actors playing Bob Dylan? Suffers from being incomprehensible.

30 Days of Night – I was scared up until the last act when it just got kind of stupid.

Superbad – In this, my second viewing, I can confirm that this film suffers from being too funny in the beginning, leading the rest of it to be mildly amusing.

Art School Confidential – Spot on 1st third, the rest is utter garbage.

American Gangster – I love a good gangster movie. This movie seems like a good gangster movie, but ends up being average. Yawn.

Shoot ‘Em Up – Shit.

City of Rott – Animated zombie movie that is about the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. Not even exaggerating. Just terrible.

Next – I love me some Phillip K. Dick, and everything about this movie is actually ok, save for one thing: Nicholas Cage’s face, which looks like it was removed and replaced with a botox-mask. His face actually ruined my enjoyment of this.

Dragon Wars – I watched this other Korean movie this year called “The Host” – which was really great. This Korean movie was terrible.

The Invasion – in which I remember why watching movies with uber-low Rotten Tomato-meter scores never pans out.

Something to make you feel good

I am a mountain, I am a tall tree, ohhhhh
I am a swift wind sweepin’ the country
I am a river, down in the valley, ohhhhhh
I am a vision, and I can see clearlyyy

If anybody asks you who I am
Just stand up tall
Look ‘em in the face and saaaaay

I’m that star up in the sky
I’m that mountain peak up hiiigh
Hey, I made it
I’m the world’s greatest
And I’m that little bit of hope
When my back’s against the rooopes
I can feel it
I’m the world’s greatest

I am a giant, I am an eagle, ohhhhh
I am a lion, down in the jungle
I am a marchin’ band, I am the people, ohhhhh
I am a helping hand, I am a heroooo

PEACE.

More Canadian DMCA info…

 According to Boing Boing:

 The roller coaster that is the Canadian DMCA has taken another turn. Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, the government decided to hold off. At 10:00 am this morning, the introduction of new government bills came and went without a new copyright bill. The Industry Minister’s press secretary has advised journalists that the bill will not be introduced today or tomorrow. Since the House of Commons will break at the end of the week, the Canadian DMCA will not be introduced until at least late January.

A minor victory? Right after I just wrote another letter to my MP (Rick “stock response” Cassson)!

Lethbridge College Horizons Magazine

The image above is small, but is the best I could find of the new issue of Lethbridge College’s Magazine Wider Horizons. The cover depicts a woman with the African continent superimposed over her face , and the lead title:

College brings humanity to the Dark Continent

Is this really how they are phrasing this? The Lethbridge college is “bringing” humanity to the “Dark Continent”? I am not sure what they think they are bringing over there (”humanity??!?”), but they are bringing the worst kind of ignorance over here.

Looking inside, the article is almost as bad. Titled “Shining a light in South Aftrica” (as if the whole continent is dark without our “white” light), the article tells the story of a half dozen LCC students who used their time to “bond with the villagers and deliver their message on hygene.”

Good intentions aside (setting aside time to help people in need is always an endeavor worth pursuing, and good for the students for taking on this project), the college should be absolutely ashamed for having their name on something so wrongheaded, so ignorant, and someone should be losing their job over this.