yikes. lotsa schtuff to tawk aboot.
let's get the misc. stuff outta the way first--
rach--that hockey game you went to that had jag and christian from IME playing--was that for exclaim hockey??
cam--i did not get the mraz tix 'cause i had no time on monday.
cgal--guess what. i dunno if you remember, but i got a promo cd for tegan & sara. i was gonna sell it, but you can have it if you want.
also, i will probably be home next week--do you wanna do the bata shoe museum outing sometime then?
anyone interested in seeing the walkmen w/ me at the horseshoe on monday? anybody?? halllooooo???
how 'bout the dream in high park? i just wanna explore high park.
and yes. it was me who was pushing broken social scene on you ppl. and boy did you miss out. more on that below.
so last thurs i came home and finally watched some danged movies!!! i had a mini liev schreiber fest--kate & leopold, a walk on the moon and RKO 281. surprisingly, i kinda liked kate & leopold!! liev had a bigger part than i'd thought. the ending wasn't very satisfying though. walk on the moon wasn't bad either. RKO was pretty great--fun to watch him as orson welles.
and now onto hillside:
more ppl have to come w/ us next year. it is seriously pretty damned wicked. it'd be even more fun w/ more ppl though. get your shite together next summer and plan ahead and apply to volunteer when i tell you to.
if you volunteer, you get the convenience of camping on the island and you can eat for free if you don't wanna spend $$ on the great food they have at the food pavilion. pancakes for breakfast, grilled cheese sandwiches & veggie burgers for lunch & dinner. re-useable smiley mugs. muffins. fruit. it's a damned good deal. and you get to see a shiteload of amazing acts for $16/20. the volunteering part isn't all that bad either.
we got to guelph a little later than expected (and discovered sean fitz works as a cashier at vibrin in the process!)--around 5:30/6 pm?
marc and i proudly pitched christine's bro's tent w/out instructions and w/ no previous experience! it only took an hour...
we picked a good spot to camp, too. jason collett of broken social scene parked his van thinger right next to us. on friday nite, we couldn't sleep 'cause this crazy drum circle thing was banging away until around 4 in the morning, so i heard them playing songs on the guitar. i'm so bad. i was totally eavesdropping. nathan lawr was there, and i heard names like andrew (possibly hot guitar man?!), chris (brown?), kevin (drew?), some girls...they played songs like john denver's take me home, country roads, gigantic by the pixies, their own things, they tried to play a rufus wainwright song (the name escapes me) but they couldn't remember the words...and then i heard them play a BSS song--almost crimes. at the time, i didn't know that it was jason collett who was beside us, so i wondered if they were BSS ppl since they knew how to play the song...pretty cool.
anyway, onto the acts:
sarah harmer was the headliner on friday. she was fantastic. she played some new songs which i really liked. her new cd should be out in jan. played a pretty long set. i think marc enjoyed it as well.
on saturday i watched a bunch of workshops where different musicians were put together and they either jammed together or they took turns playing songs. hot guitar man looked pretty terrible. he did not look like he slept well at all. and he's growing a moustache or something. no. i wonder if he thought i was stalking him by the end of the day when marc and i were front row centre for BSS. :D btw, marc--i think he was posing for you when you were taking pics of him. he was doing weird flamingo poses w/ his legs!!
the workshop that had a lot of ppl from BSS in it was hilarious. chris brown (of chris brown & kate fenner) joined 'em, and i think ppl from the dears and metric were supposed to play as well, but none of 'em were there. or they showed up late. anyway, it was really funny. they played that song "close to you" for like 20 mins. it was actually pretty amazing until they lost it at the end b/c chris brown went a little berserk on his keys. then it all fell apart. they also had gentleman reg go up and sing that fun, catchy summer song of his. twice. pretty great. they finished early, so chris brown made kate fenner go up and they sang one of their songs. it was goood.
afterwards, i met up w/ marc again and i think we went to the main stage and napped a bit in those cool chairs. ooh, and i had pad thai. yuuuummm.
we caught metric on the island stage at 8 (and the tailend of jim bryson's set). i was smart and bought their cd before they went on. it sold out afterwards. tons of ppl fell in love w/ emily haines by the end of their set.
next, we all moved over to the main stage for the dears. it was really easy to get kickass spots. 'cept these bastards rudely went in front of us. but we moved a bit and then all was well again. we took pics. marc, i want doubles! their set was pretty good, but i wish they'd play more old stuff.
then came BSS. oh man. they blew me away. it was a fantastic show. they had all the original ppl from the cd on stage that night. plus chris brown in the brass section. emily haines finally sang her part on anthems for a 17 yr old girl live since recording the cd. leslie feist was there, everybody! i love watching them play. there's something about having so many guitars on stage at one time. it's BEAUTIFUL. it even inspired me to finally re-string my guitar and practice again.
ppl were mad that they weren't allowed to play more after 11.
sunday--the day i discovered my new fave bands.
marc sold beer at the lake stage, so he luckily got to hear emm gryner play as well. she has surrounded herself w/ some cute boys in her band. she played the popular stuff that i like. summerlong. 89 days of alcatraz.
caught chris brown & kate fenner at the island stage. lots of BSS-ers were there. we all said "bye" to them as they left for their US tour dates.
listened to kathleen edwards (accompanied by jim bryson) in a workshop w/ emm gryner, mia sheard and others. she's good. i wanted to hear her play the main stage, but there was a conflict w/ cuff the duke. i'm happy w/ my choice. i fell asleep on the grass by the water before that workshop, and i woke up w/ emm gryner standing two feet away from me going over her duties as a host.
and now onto my great new finds.
i was curious about seeing boy live. he's the guy who went to the same high school as andria. i've listened to his stuff online and wasn't all that taken in, but i really enjoyed him live. his band is great and they did these wicked transitions into songs. would love to see 'em again. i bought his cd on monday (t'was cheap), but i think the production of it just isn't all that great. much better sound live. he has good fashion sense, too.
and now--CUFF THE DUKE!! holy shite i'm converted. they were the highlight of the weekend!!! perfect close for the fest for me!!! their energy is unbelievable!! the lead singer is like a cuter rivers cuomo and less angsty and they are just fucking fantastic! they are great performers and their songs are pretty diverse. fun countryish stuff, pop, rock, prog rock, quirky stuff. they even did the sigur ros thing and played the guitar w/ a bow. and they had keyboard songs like spoon. i love that. and they understood my kathleen edwards scheduling dilemma! i am in love. must see them again.
well, that was pretty much the weekend. so much great music in 3 days. yummy hazelnut gelato to top off the experience. mmm. satisfying.
let this be a lesson. listen to me when i tell you to go somewhere!!! pictures to follow.