Thanks to James for sending these my way.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpig/sets/72157607996040207/
Categories
Month: July 2009
On Thursday night, Maureen and John paid me a visit for the weekend which was excellent. They were on a whirlwind tour of Ontario and had just left Troy and Connie’s place that afternoon, stopped into Mississauga to go to the Playdium and then headed to our place. It was a long day of driving and when they arrived around 10:30 that night, they looked pretty haggard. A few pints were drank but nothing crazy happened as they were beat.
The next morning it was raining (no surprise there this summer!) so we headed out to T-Basil for some thai/vietnamese food (they wanted to explore all ethnic food options available to them!) and then headed to the Museum of Nature to check out some dinosaurs!
I have never in my life been to the Museum of Nature. I got close one year when Eric was visiting from Kingston and we decided to walk down to it on a cold winter’s day only to find out it was closed. So we were all looking forward to checking out the dinosaurs.
We were not disappointed. For $5 we gained access to a land of dinosaur bones. Alas, there were no T-Rexes but there was this huge turtle (probably the size of my living room) hanging from the ceiling. I had visions of prehistoric travel on the backs of these turtles! I shall have some pictures off of my sister as we took a few that day! Especially around a picture of a T-Rex with a hard hat on him. Hilarious!
The next level of the museum had the mammal area. The coolest factoid I found was that of the wolf…because there are long periods of time that they may not find food, there systems are used to eating up to 20% of its own body weight. In comparison to us, that’s about 160 hamburgers in one sitting! That was incredible.
The next level was the exhibition level. They had some asteroid exhibition geared for kids and also a photography exhibit. That was pretty neat.
The final level was the bird level. Birds don’t interested me all that much so we didn’t spend that much time in there.
All in all, we were done the entire museum in two hours which is fine by me. The dinosaurs were well worth the admission price and I’m glad that we went.
A funny event happened when I was standing next to a T-Rex statue and there was this kid trying to reach up and grab it’s teeth but couldn’t quite make it. So I picked the kid and realized he was quite heavy and then put him down. John and Maureen were wondering what the heck I was doing picking up some random kid and in hindsight, I suppose this world we live in doesn’t allow for gentlemen to help a kid touch a dinosaur’s teeth. I’m just glad that no harm was done (aka some parent freaking on me!).
We then headed home to relax for awhile and play with John’s new remote control helicopter. Vero came over and we had a good supper and then invited Simon, Emily and Eric over for a few drinks. We even broke out the bottle of Grappa that Vero brought up from Italy! It was quite horrible!
That night we headed out to Mike and Melissa’s stag party out in Kanata. Vero graciously offered to drive us and we took Simon and Emily’s rented SUV which would hold six of us a lot better! Unfortunately for Vero, there were torrential downpours along the way (to the point where we found out more than 500 houses were flooded over the night and some streets were closed down!) but we managed to finally make it all the way out to Kanata from Orleans through this madness and got to the Legion.
When we arrived, I must admit that we were surprised to see that not one of our friends showed up. Wait, Collin and Becky were there but had to leave shortly after we arrived. I suppose that during the summer, it is hard to make plans with people as they are all on vacation.
We found ourselves a nice table and grabbed a few cheap Legion beers (interesting to note that the same sugar taste out of the taps in the Legion in Kapuskasing is also in the Kanata taps. Must have something to do with the buildup in the lines?) and chatted with a few people I knew. It was good to see some familiar faces such as the Valenti clan, Ken and his wife (expecting a second child!) as well as Scotty.
There were some hilarious games going on including one where they asked for partners to come up and as soon as I was right behind Vero, she managed to grab some old guy instead of me as her partner! What the heck? I felt denied in a way no man has been denied before. More beer was needed.
I did end up winning the 50/50 draw and Vero got the chance to throw a pie in Melissa’s face. There was also this great feast that we devoured at the end of the night. In fact, I think it was quite silly of John and I deciding to go to Marroush after that for a schwarma as I could only eat half of mine. John did love seeing the Schwarma Nazi though and that made his weekend I believe.
Good times were had and I’m glad that everyone had a great precursor to Mike and Melissa’s wedding!
The next day we meandered around the house and eventually headed downtown to the market to meet up with some of John and Maureen’s friends. It was a nice day out and we made our way through some shops. I ended up in the meat market where I bought this excellent jar of jerk sauce. It’s a shame that I managed to drop it on the floor at Ma Cuisine and it shattered all over the place! Argh!
After some munchies at the Heart and Crown, we returned home for the night and watched an excellent mini-series called Dead Set (recommended by Benoit). It revolves around the behind the scenes of the British ‘Big Brother’ TV show but while this is being filmed…woops, zombies attack and the Big Brother complex may very well be the safest place in town. It was quite an awesome display of zombie carnage…it reminded me of 28 Days Later in that the zombies were quite fast moving (which I’m totally fine with!). I highly recommend this mini-series and it should run about two hours in total viewing time.
All in all, a successful weekend with John and Maureen was had. I think they appreciated having some low key time at my house at the end of their vacation as they had been on high gear for the week prior! They are definitely welcome any time in the future and perhaps we can check out the Palladium (which we found out was also in Ottawa!)
Categories
B(ike)log: July 21, 2009 – Afternoon
View Bike Trip – July 21, 2009 Afternoon in a larger map
The way home was…interesting. I felt like it was a struggle for the most part and the trip took me 75 minutes. Granted, I took a bad route along the river which had me backtrack for a kilometer. In the end, even though I felt like it was a struggle, I made it in approximately the same time.
Mental Notes:
– The King Edward bridge is the one to take, although Laurier is horrible for potholes once you’re on the Quebec side. Perhaps I can find a route along the river?
– The path through Rockcliff is great. But it seems like I can only easily get to it heading home, otherwise I would have to cross the street to get to it coming into work.
– Crossing the Parkway to get to the path IS A PAIN! I waited five minutes for traffic to subside and gave up. I then biked awhile longer until I found an opening and took it.
– Past Aviation Museum, do not keep following the path unless you want a nice leisurely stroll by the river. Actually, come to think about it, perhaps this is the best route to take considering I bike an extra kilometer by accident and all I ended up with is five extra minutes on my time. I shall try out the river pathway again now that I know the cutoff.
– While on the River pathway, take the Ottawa River Pathway exit to go back up, otherwise you end up on an alternate route which just adds a kilometer to your trip.
– Ease into it! The calf muscle was pulsating near the end and it was near impossible to bike any longer.
View Bike Trip – July 21 2009 Morning in a larger map
It’s been a long time of procrastinating, but after watching the film ‘One Week’, I was inspired to hit the road with the bicycle. What a trip it was!
First time biking to work from Orleans. All in all, I am impressed with the trek and it can only get better after I iron out details like “Hey, where does this path go?” and “Wow, I need a lot more energy around the 10km mark!”
So in the end, starting from the Mall parking lot and with a few wrong turns, it was a trip of 21.75kms and it look me 70 minutes. I am pretty sure I can shave an easy 10 minutes off the time due to wrong turns.
For example, as soon as I left the parking lot, I appeared on a street I didn’t know. I then saw a high school with some bike paths so I decided that one of them must take me somewhere…and it took me to the back of the schoolyard and ended there! Woops!
At the Rockliff Sailing Club there is supposedly an area where I can cut across Rockliff and go through some suburbs instead of staying en route. But it’s quite hard to cross the traffic to get to it so I’m not sure if I will take the time to do so, or just suck it up each day and drive on a James Bond like road up in the mountains with traffic.
Mental Notes:
– Do NOT take the Alexandria Bridge! Those wooden slats are ridiculous! Try that bridge over near Sussex.
– Remember to bring some small travel sized shampoos for the shower next time.
– Remember that the combination for the shower is on the door, not the keypad next to the door.
– There seems to be a path on the left hand side of the road around Rockliff. Investigate this further on your way home.
– Remember to eat something before leaving work! Get some energy! At the 10km mark (around the Aviation Museum) I definitely lost my steam and it was hard going for the rest of the trek. Uncle Gerry, if you’re reading this, let me know if there is something I can do to give myself more sustained energy…bigger meal in the morning? I had a bowl of oatmeal. More water? I didn’t drink all that much along the way.
Categories
CBC – Concerts on Demand
I saw this site a few months ago but never noticed of interest. Now I stumbled upon it again and noticed the pop/rock section. There’s an excellent Matt Mays concert on it. Too bad the song ‘Terminal Romance’ isn’t on it, but I’m not complaining. Some live Matt Mays is what the doctor ordered.
There’s some other good concerts as well…The Dears, Great Big Sea, Tributes to Neil Young…check it out!
It was a long ride through the Gauntlet but I must admit, it was a fun ride this year.
For some reason, there weren’t too many bands that I was dying to see, but there were enough that made me want to check them out. A good litmus test would be to say “Who would spend $60 to see?” vs. “Who would be good to see for $20?”.
Logistically, I thought Bluesfest had everything going for them this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the no-wristband policy for the entrance as it allowed me to sell of tickets I would not have used anyhow. The beer wristband policy was a pain some days as the lineups to get a wristband were as long as the beer lineups. I understand completely why they wanted to do this but I am not sure if it sped up matters. In the time it takes to check my ID and take my cash at the beer counter, the person getting the beer has returned from the back. So it’s not like they are wasting TOO much time. Either way, this is a minor, minor issue.
The selection of food is great, the stages are set up nicely, the sound bleed isn’t TOO bad. This year was the year of ‘abide by the by-law and don’t crank music over 90 decibels!’ I thought that some concerts were lacking in their oomph of volume (Sam Roberts) which took away from the otherwise perfect show. I wonder if there is a way to get an exemption to a by-law or how much the fine is?
Once again, the lawn chair war was waged. I can’t say I encountered too many lawn chairs as we had a good system of avoiding them by hanging out near the walking path. The KISS concert incident where Vero got pinched and shoved by lawn chair people made me realize once again, that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they had a separate section for the lawn chairs. I am not entirely sure why they don’t bother trying that again.
I also enjoyed that Vero had a pass and came out every night with us. It’s nice to share these moments with your girlfriend.
My favourite night would have to be Thursday when Metric and Ben Harper with Relentless7 played. What a night, what a couple of shows! Incredible!
Standout Acts:
Metric
Ben Harper and Relentless 7
Stone Temple Pilots
KISS
Acts that I Knew Nothing About But Turned out to be Amazing:
BEAST
Paolo Nutini
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Acts that I thought I would think were amazing but really just dragged on:
Jeff Beck
Two thumbs up to the organizers of Bluesfest this year. They have outdone themselves with the amount of great acts they managed to bring to our fair city! Cheers!
On Sunday, we headed over to Duncan’s (my) old place in Bayshore to help him move. He was moving out at the end of the month and there was a lot of work to be done. Luckily, they managed to rent a truck which was the best idea ever. We would have been there for days if he didn’t have that truck with him.
Unfortunately, Duncan had not really packed anything beforehand so it was a little awkward to always ask him where certain things went. Mike and I dealt with the heavy stuff…getting that couch out of the basement was ridiculous and even more so after we realized we had to throw it into the trash! Bayshore House had accumulated approximately 20 roommate’s worth of junk since 1998 when I first rented the place. A lot of good memories were had there and I will miss the place. It has now become nothing of its former self…Duncan lives with two roommates which he doesn’t really talk to as they are not friends with us. He decided to finally bite the bullet and move out with his girlfriend.
So there we were, throwing out BBQs, patio furniture, furniture that had been there for years and no one would use…packing the moving truck. It wasn’t a hard move, but it wasn’t fast moving either! No matter, it was a decent day to do some moving.
The greatest part of the day was when I started hauling stuff from under the stairs to discover that it was primarily some stuff I had left there for the past decade! I found an old pair of skis, a dumbbell and the Holy Grail, my old record player! Beauty! Too bad that the left speaker input seems to be blown. I’ll have to see if I can re-solder it one day.
We then packed everything up, headed to a storage area where he’ll keep his stuff while the basement gets renovated in Kristen’s house and voila, the day was done by 6PM which was great timing as I was heading back out to the final day of Bluesfest.
I was in no shape to go to Bluefest and it wouldn’t have bothered me not to go. I was tired from moving, tired from Bluesfest, tired from the night out…I was tired! But Vero and I decided to go for the final night and I was pleased with the decision.
First stop was the food tents…I picked up some excellent fish and chips while Vero picked up some random pad thai dish which tasted like an Italian pasta dish. Vero was not pleased, threw it out and then bought a poutine instead. We sat down to watch The Dead Weather, which seems to be on everyone’s mind solely from the power of Jack White (of White Stripes/Raconteur fame) being in the band (on drums nonetheless!). Perhaps it was the fact that I was dead tired and hungry, but I didn’t really appreciate anything coming from the stage so we headed over to see Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women which was some country/blues band who were entertaining as Dave played guitar with an backing band of women. I had a nap over there and when I awoke, we headed over to catch the final act of the night, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Benoit had told me he thought this band was excellent and I had heard this from a few other people as well. We positioned ourselves center stage and when the band finally hit the stage, it was…interesting. The music was quite catchy in an indie/punk/dance kind of vibe. It took awhile to get used to the singer who would basically sing and then scream into the mic. Vero didn’t really care for the vocals at all but I must admit that we both thought the band was decent musically and I’m sure I will enjoy studio versions of their songs.
Oh, I forgot that they released this giant inflatable eyeball into the crowd which stayed there for the better part of the night. At one point one guy actually ran away with it which was hilarious as this eyeball was quite large. I didn’t think one guy could handle it.
They definitely have convinced me to pick up an album of theirs and give a listen which is probably the best thing a band could ask for!
For the life of me, I can’t recall what I did on Saturday afternoon…I’m assuming we relaxed around the house for awhile. But at night, we headed back out to what had to be a great show…Lynyrd Skynyrd! We arrived while Ludacris was playing the Rogers Stage, grabbed a beer and headed to ‘the spot’. We couldn’t get close to ‘the spot’, so we just planted ourselves where we would be comfortable as well as convenient to nab a beer. We did end up right in front of Joe’s brother Ivo and his wife so that was fun.
Lynyrd Skynyrd did not disappoint whatsoever. Only this band would call their tour the ‘God and Guns’ tour and they had a backdrop to show it! I don’t know MANY songs from the band, but Mike was loving every moment of it. We did manage to make it closer up front near the end of the set and at that point, there was a guy chatting to Mike who was PLASTERED drunk but was amusing. He even saw me and say “Hey, do you know this guy (pointing to Mike)? I work with him!” where Mike just shakes his head meaning “I have no idea who this dude is!”. We managed to convince him that his friends were ahead of us so he shuffled off closer to the stage.
Of course, the highlight of the night was witnessing Free Bird in the live format. Mike and I were ecstatic! This was THE song which has infiltrated rock and roll pop culture…I’m sure if Beethoven were alive, someone would ask him to cover that song! It was great and definitely one of the better 10 minutes in rock history for us. Awesome!
Mike, Matt and I then headed down to the Market to meet up with (another) Mike’s bachelor party which was in full swing. Thank the Lord for cellular phones as we would have had no idea where to meet them. We stood in line at the Heart and Crown before deciding to hit up the gentleman’s club which was going to be their next stop. Then it turned out that they decided to go elsewhere and that we should meet them at the Heart and Crown. There was Mike in all his glory and I had a good laugh seeing him in a blissful state. It was good to see a bunch of the guys I haven’t seen in awhile. Shannon made it down for the event which was great!
We ended up deciding to head out to another gentleman’s club so we piled into the truck and by the time we got to the club, we had lost half the entourage as they had gone home for the night! What the heck?
In the end, the night was decent…there was another bachelor at the club who was beyond repair and was amusing to see. I also noticed everyone in the bar wearing Corono straw hats and I found out later that there was a promotion that night if you bought a bucket of beer.
The night ended as it always does…too soon…but it was a good time all around.
Mike, Vero and I went to Bluesfest on Friday night to catch some old faves, some new ones, and one that we skipped altogether. Cake was playing the Rogers stage and they were entertaining. Karilee was upset that they didn’t play The Distance but I didn’t notice whatsoever as the band had a good rapport with the crowd and played a few tunes that I recognized as well as some tunes that I thought were simply outright funny. It was sprinkling on us a little from the clouds overhead but we didn’t let that deter us.
Onwards and upwards…we decided to skip out on Blue Rodeo to check out a supposed sensation..Paolo Nutini…some Scottish lad with an Italian name. My colleague Visar was heading out to see him so I figured he must be a decent act if people who don’t generally frequent Bluesfest are now coming out.
He had quite the band up on stage…rockers and horn section and everything. Ben had described him as a crooner but he definitely was not. His music did resemble the classic 50s style bands where their music had one goal…to make people dance! I swear I was part of the Enchantment Under The Sea dance from Back to the Future at one point! Paolo was definitely a fun act to watch and I believe I shall pick up his album. He had so much energy and the band was great as well. Vero couldn’t get over the fact that he seemed to be hunched over like a Hunchback while singing. I didn’t really mind it…I suppose it was his ‘thing’.
Most of the set was quite energetic and then they hit a slower song spot before getting back into the energy. Every band has this going for them but I thought his slow set was quite long. 4-5 songs from what I remember. It is a shame that they never came back out for an encore as the crowd was demanding it. This also happened with Metric earlier in the week. I guess there’s a strict ‘no encore’ for non-main stage bands?
I give as many thumbs up as I can for this act. It was fun, the crowd was loving him, and he was slugging beer like a true Scotsman. Good show!
On our way out, we headed towards the main stage to catch the end of Blue Rodeo’s set. We heard “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” as well as “Try”. Actually, we heard these songs while walking back to the car. I was just too tired to stick around for another few songs and then have to push through 30,000 people to our car. We called it a night and headed home once again.
Now, after a rocking night of KISS, it is possible to keep the rock alive? Thursday night looked to be a semi-bleak night. We had the amazing band Live but then it was followed by Styx. (I know Trish is out there seething at me right now).
I headed over to Krista’s place where Mike was staying for the week. We ended up picking up a nice cooked chicken meal at the grocery store for the night. We drove by some Cordon Bleu restaurant and we had a good chuckle at the fact that we prefer the ‘take home chicken’ from Loblaws!
After a nap and a few beer and some general chatter, Vero picked us up and we headed to the concert. Have I mentioned that I feel that the Bluesfest Gauntlet is getting to me? I can’t do it any longer! Rocking until 11, get home around 12…get up at six….it’s getting to me!
When we get there, we are surprised to see that Busta Rhymes has not arrived to his stage yet and it is nearly 8PM. This poses a problem as Live is supposed to take the opposite stage at 8PM. They can’t have two bands going on at once as the sound bleed would be horrendous (or so we think. It turns out that it’s not that big of a problem when it happens later on.) So there you have it. The Beer Identification Bracelet lineups are insane for some reason, crowds are cheering for Busta Rhymes, other crowds are cheering for Live to come on the other stage…it’s pandemonium. In the end Busta Rhymes comes onto the stage around 8PM, an entire hour later than he should be, sings for 25 minutes, cuts into Live’s stage time and is ridiculous sounding. What the heck?
Live promptly gets to the other stage as soon as Busta Rhymes leaves. They make a comment later by thanking him for finally leaving the stage! Live opened up with a few tunes off of Throwing Copper, as well as playing my all time fave song off of Secret Samadhi…Gas Hed. Ah, good times. Krista, Mike, Vero, Trish and I were on the left hand side of the stage near the VIP fence. Turns out that Karilee gets a great view from this spot.
The rest of the night had them play a couple of new tunes…Forever and the one from the film Zack and Miri (which was a Throwing Copper leftover). I feel that the crowd is a lot less rocking than they used to be. Perhaps everyone else is hitting the wall as I am? I really didn’t feel the crowd got into it until much later into the set when the sun went down. The band were giving it their all but to no avail. They even sang MJ’s ‘Don’t Stop Till you Get Enough” during I Alone!
The band left the stage by the time Styx was already playing at the other stage. Dang Busta Rhymes taking away from Live’s set! Argh. But the band came back and played a couple more tunes, including Lightning Crashes and They Stood up For Love. All was well in the world.
Setlist:
Top
All Over You
Selling the Drama
Forever
Gas Hed
I Alone
The Distance
Turn My Head
Hold Me Up
Dolphin’s Cry
Lakini’s Juice
Heaven
They Stood up For Love
Sophia
Lightning Crashes
As for Styx, I will let my friend Trish, write about them as she is a big fan of them and singer Gowan. All I can say is that I enjoyed hearing the classic tunes I recognized (Come Sail Away) and the band was quite entertaining. In fact, they had a lot of energy that I thought was needed after a night of KISS.
—–
Dish is flattered that she would be selected to provide a Bluesfest review for Palmer’s World. It takes her back to the good old days of the guest rant. Contrary to popular belief, Dish is not actually a huge Styx fan. She is familiar with only some of their musical repertoire and basically started listening to them because her beloved Gowan joined the band as the lead singer in 1999.
Let’s just say that, even as a member of Styx, Gowan did not disappoint. His energy and enthusiasm are contagious. And the man is talented. Dish last saw him on his final solo tour before he joined Styx. At that time, he was playing small venues. He shouted out to the crowd to name a song, any song, and then he would proceed to play it, no matter what it was. The man could sit down and play Spice Girls on his keyboard on the spot and you know that is not something he secretly practiced for hours at home. That is a sign of incredible skill.
As further evidence of his talent, during the Styx concert, he was seen to play his keyboard the wrong way around – right hand where the left hand should be and black notes where white notes should be). Completely amazing!
All in all, this was money well spent. Although the set list consisted of all Styx songs, except for “Criminal Mind,” which was the best part of the show, Dish was thoroughly impressed. The music was upbeat and the crowd was enthusiastic.
One slight disappointment is that apparently the band no longer plays “Mr. Roboto” or “Babe” live because of some legal troubles with Dennis DeYoung, Styx’s former lead singer. This is too bad given that these are two of Styx’s cheesiest hits. “Babe” is definitely a great “get out your lighter” song and, as for “Mr. Roboto,” the song speaks for itself: “Secret, secret. I’ve got a secret.”
Regardless, Dish was still happy listening to some of Styx’s other greatest hits, including “Too Much Time on my Hands,” “The Grand Illusion,” “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man),” “Blue Collar Man” and, of course, “Come Sail Away,” which involved a sad amount of confetti being launched out into the crowd. This made Dish laugh, but she felt that what would have been more effective than confetti is if the crowd had been given paper sailor hats like they were when the cast sang “Sailing” at the end of Tonight’s the Night, the Rod Stewart Musical.
Final verdict: Styx should be given a pat on the back for their smarts in recognizing that Gowan would make a great addition to their band and another one for bringing the masses a special kind of cheesy rock. Dish gives this concert two thumbs up.