Kid A

As the bus passes the area where i was born, the beautifully
melancholy Tom Waits song "House Where Nobody Lives" plays. Ever feel
like you had a soundtrack?
(Note: maybe not. Next song was Summer of 69. That's pretty jarring.)

In Rainbows

We're pulling into Montreal as Radiohead's Reckoner comes on my
headphones. Just a few hour til the show. I'm a long time Radiohead
fan, but this is my first concert. Something always came up. Hope this
much effort makes up for all the other times.

O.K. Commuter

Bus makes a pit stop in Kingston. Timbits and iced tea to get me through the other half. Remembered that on any road trip, never pass a chance to stretch the legs. Last 2 songs on ipod are Nada Surf - Hi Speed Soul, Black Flag - Rise Above

Radiohead in Montreal

Why am i going to see Radiohead in Montreal? Toronto sold out quick,
and with scalpers charging $200 for lawns, a bus ticket and my show
ticket still keep me ahead of the deal. Bonus is a meet up with my
good friend Nikita. More later- sent from phone.

"Organic Firewood for sale"

I'm back from Hillside Festival, dry and happy. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was - great performances, delicious variety of food, a community atmosphere. I'm tied up for today, but I've got the pictures and words all sorted out and will have the write-up going tomorrow. I may divide it 3-fold

• Hillside - The Music, where I see some great bands and get blown away by a couple of performances, notably a video of Thunderheist putting on a clinic on how to hype a crowd into a dancing booty shaking mass.
• Hillside - The Festival Experience, where we see get the ideal experience of how a festival is run, and I rave about how f'n clever the organizers are.
• Hillside - Lessons Learned for Next Year, where I jot some notes down about what worked for me this year and what I would do differently next year - and you're all coming with me.

Off to Hillside Festival

I'm off to Hillside Festival for the weekend - I'll post all about it on Monday, and then I'll be working on getting posts up with more regularity. Have a great weekend!

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

What's a writer, like say Buffy the Vampire/Angel/firefly creator Joss Whedon, to do with spare time during a writer's strike? Why, you put on a musical comic book video thingie. Presenting Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. It's over the top and wonderfully funny - NPH makes a villain the hero of his own story, and Nathan Fillion is great as the brash and oblivious hero Captain Hammer. If they ever made a Futurama movie, Nathan Fillion is Zap Brannigan.

Joss's Master Plan

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

The videos are available on iTunes for a nominal fee for keepsies.

Feist on Sesame Street

Take kittens, roll them in fluffy bunnies and let them loose in a cupcake store, and it wouldn't be half as adorable as this appearance by Feist on Sesame Street. She looks like she's having a ball, and check out the expression on her face at the end of the clip after the song ends.

Feist announced at Canada's Juno awards earlier this year that the day she spent taping the segment was the best of her life.

"I mean, c'mon please, it's the Muppets we're talking about," she said.

"('1234') brought me two days ago to Sesame Street and it was the Muppets and it was the best day of my life. I'm sorry Junos, but the Muppets trump everything!"

With a whiff of nostalgia and a hint of vanilla perfume...

IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO TODAY: The top ten singles from July, 1988:

"Pour Some Sugar on Me" -- Def Leppard
"The Flame" -- Cheap Trick
"New Sensation" -- INXS (causing flashbacks to my Grade 7 trip to Quebec City)
"Hold On To the Nights" -- Richard Marx
"Mercedes Boy" -- Pebbles
"Roll With It" -- Steve Winwood
"Hands to Heaven" -- Breathe
"Make Me Lose Control" -- Eric Carmen
"Nite and Day" -- Al B. Sure
"Dirty Diana" -- Michael Jackson

Comment which you can't really disagree with:

In Diablo Cody's "Candy Girl," the memoir of the time she spent in the exotic dancing industry, she refers to "Pour Some Sugar On Me" as the greatest song for those purposes ever.- Matt

via ALOTT5MA

Pass on Gas

An always pleasant topic of conversation these days is the rising cost of gas. These days $20 barely gets a VW Golf a quarter tank. I'm getting nostalgic for the days when I paid less the a buck a litre.

But with all your money sucked into the gas tank, what are you cutting out of your budget? This was prompted by a comic reviewer I read mentioning that with it costing $70 to fill his tank, he's cutting back on comic book purchases and being more selective in the quality of the ones he does pay for. And I imagine it's the same for other "entertainment" purchases - music, books, games, movies. I'm going to be more likely to dish out $12 to see Iron Man than The Love Guru if we're talking value for the buck.

Maybe these gas hikes may have a domino effect and consumers will demand more bang for the buck, be unwilling to risk their diminished dollar on entertainment that may not deliver, and create a demand for higher quality products.

So how are you coping with the cost of gas? Cutting back on magazines? Doing more downloading of music to "try before you buy"? Taking public transit more? Or is the thought of moving closer to your workplace a lot more tempting these days?

Comedic Icon George Carlin passes away

Shame to be the bearer of bad news, but apparently George Carlin, one of the true icons of stand-up comedy has passed away from heart failure. He was 71.

We were supposed to celebrate his legacy while he was still with us, as it was announced earlier this week that the 2008 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, a lifetime achievement award presented to an outstanding comedian, would be awarded to George Carlin, in a ceremony to be held on November 10, 2008.

Here are some favourite Carlin clips (via ALOTT5MA), as George talks about stuff, or the difference between baseball and football, the hippie-dippy weatherman, and in his most famous bit the seven words. George Carlin was a wonderful observer of life, and a master of social commentary whose influence can been seen on comedy clubs around the world and on TV in shows like "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report". His legacy stretches over 50 years, and managed to remain relevant and insightful and most of all, funny as all hell over every one of those years up until today.

Some numbers of note from a recent Washington Post article:

• George Carlin was the first host ever of "Saturday Night Live"
• He appeared on "The Tonight Show" more than 130 times?
• He released 22 albums, and won four Grammy Awards, between 1973 to 2002
• George Carlin starred in 14 specials on HBO.
  
• His three books have been bestsellers
• His TV shows have been nominated for five Emmy

Frequently when I introduce myself, the reply is often "Carlin? Oh, like George Carlin? Any relation?" None that I ever found, but I would have been proud to be.

RIP George, thanks for the laughs that will go on forever.