Daniel Lanois was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and i didn’t win the contest to attend the ceremony. Blurg. This video is what I have to settle for.

Wilco visited Vancouver a few nights ago, almost two years to the day since the last show they played here. In an unbelievable stroke of luck I scored third row seats right in front of Nels Cline’s spot on stage, a photo pass from the band and—best of all—the show was on a Sunday night which meant Allison was able to go.

I wrote a review which was featured on No Depression. I had to skip the Seattle show, which means the next one might be a while but there’s always flights to Chicago…

Wilco Set List: Vancouver, BC, Orpheum Theatre, February 5, 2012

“One Sunday Morning”
“Poor Places”
“Art Of Almost”
“I Might”
“I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”
“One Wing”
“Radio Cure”
“Impossible Germany”
“Born Alone”
“Spiders (Kidsmoke)”
“I’ll Fight”
“Handshake Drugs”
“Via Chicago”
“California Stars”
“I Must Be High”
“Pot Kettle Black”
“Dawned On Me”
“A Shot in the Arm”

Encore:

“Whole Love”
“Heavy Metal Drummer”
“Walken”
“Red-Eyed and Blue”
“I Got You (At The End of the Century)”
“Outtasite (Outta Mind)”

So many parties, so little time. Tonight it’s time to party with these guys. I’ll be back tomorrow.

Who knew Swee’Pea was such a great dancer? Genius. I know Allison would say that violence is never the answer, but that Wilco brand spinach really sparks Popeye up.

Whitehorse played the Rio Theatre in Vancouver a few nights ago. My review of the show is on No Depression or you can read the text after the break.

“We didn’t want this band to be a marketing venture while we continued our solo careers…”

With that line, about 20 minutes into a live show, Luke Doucet makes it clear that Whitehorse is more than the sum of its parts. This is a good thing because its parts are significant and talented: Whitehorse is a duo with Doucet—one of the finest guitarists in Canada by reputation—and Melissa McLellard whose beautiful voice has anchored strong songwriting for years now. The two have been married for a while, and they finally released their debut album as a duo last year.

And what an album it is. While both Luke and Melissa continued to tour solo after the album was released they finally embarked on an inaugural Whitehorse tour which brought them to Vancouver’s beautiful Rio Theatre last weekend.

On a night that was wet even by west coast standards, a nearly capacity crowd filled the seats at beautiful venue by the time the show opened with a video montage set to the album’s opening track Eulogy for Whiskers, Pt. 1. With at least four guitars on the stage, a keyboard, kick drum and two different sets of microphones, promising sounds lay ahead.

With three different guitars used in the first three songs of the set, it was clear that all of that instrumentation wasn’t going to go to waste. Doucet switched between an open body acoustic model before finally picking up the white bodied Gretsch Falcon guitar he’s well known for playing. Doucet was apparently quite sick (with McLelland saying they had even considered cancelling the gig) but you couldn’t tell it by the guitar playing: this was the finest night of live guitar I’ve heard since seeing Daniel Lanois last August.

The duo’s cover of Springsteen’s I’m On Fire was an unexpected highlight early in show, particularly with McLelland bridging from the last verse of the song into a couple of verse’s of At Last. With news of Etta James’ death coming earlier in the day, the touching tribute brought a round of applause from the audience.

McLelland’s Passenger 24 made it clear what the telephone handsets each musician had hanging from their main microphones were for. Singing into these instead of the main mics produced the distant hollow sound that the recorded version of the song features prominently.

The couple were obviously comfortable on stage and shared stories of a music soaked life with the audience. Doucet introduced Broken as a reworking of an old song of his and the first song the couple wrote together while sitting drunk on a patio in Budapest. The song’s “…you gotta have a heart / to have a broken one…” is one of the album’s more memorable. Another highlight of the album is Emerwald Isle (featured below,) written after Doucet ran his first marathon in Ireland and was surprised to find McLelland waiting at the finish line despite the fact that she was on tour in Australia at the time. Travelling halfway around the world on a tight schedule to see the person you love finish a marathon? That’s love if I’ve ever heard it. (You can see a video of the song below.)

Doucet’s daughter Chloe joined the couple on stage next for an upbeat cover of the Dolly Parton classic Jolene. It’s clear that talent runs in the family,and I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the younger Doucet’s next gig.

With the show winding down Doucet and McLelland started talking about their next album, currently a working in progress. A title’s been chosen and with Doucet keen to share it McLelland interrupted and suggested a contest of sorts: the album’s name is derived from Wonder Woman postcard on one of the tables at the nearby Templeton Diner. The first person to send the band the name of the album gets a free lunch. Go forth and try to collect friends: I stopped in for breakfast the next morning, but didn’t quite figure it all out. I’m probably just as happy to leave it a surprise for you guess at: it’s the second table in from the door, on the left.

With an extensive back catalogue to draw from and an album of new material that’s almost certain to be nominated for next year’s Polaris Prize things look good for the future of Whitehorse. McLelland and Doucet are both tremendous fun to watch perform and their enthusiasm for the audience and each other is infectious. See the couple when you can, and keep an eye out for that new album because you’re not going to want to miss it.

Wilco made an appearance in the most recent Popeye strip, immortalized as a brand of spinach. In the last panel at the back of the line that’s the boys in the band unloading the ship.

Despite the fact that I have a well deserved reputation as a Wilco fan, it really just takes one track with Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris to tear me away.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to see Mavis Staples sing The Weight live on a pretty magical night of live music. I’m not sure I’d ever anticipated hearing that, and it’s a fond memory of the year.

Mavis singing The Band classic with Wilco live in Chicago? I think my mind would have been blown. It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t there. This will have to do for now (though you can hear the live version in the Roadcase on the Wilco site for now.)

What Child is This by Justin Rutledge and The Beauties

Oh Holy Night by Jenn Grant and The Beauties

Silent Night by The Beauties

…and the crazy kids at Google apparently didn’t think that they needed a selector list that displayed more than three lines when you add a video to your YouTube lists. Go figure.

In general, selector lists should have some relationship to the average length of the list that’s on them and I suspect that most YouTube users don’t even have playlists like this. Of course with a user list that runs in the tens of millions, it’s hard to imagine that most YouTube users share anything in common.

There’s a basic principal of lists like this that they should at the very least provide a reasonably sized view of the list so that it can be scrolled easily. The problem with a three item view is that a small scrolling movement shifts the list entirely and you lose the context of what you’re doing. It’s too easy to get lost.

Five items is a reasonable minimum—this is what Apple uses for the dials that show up when you choose a list like this on your iPhone. Shift the list by one on a five item list and you’ve still got some sense of context.
I’ve said before that I sort of think of Google’s interface design as non-design really. I think they spend so much time not thinking about things that they wind up just deploying a lot of user interface elements that are coded without much thought.

This is all kind of boring, so why don’t we watch the video in the screen shot above instead. It’s the latest from Kendel Carson’s Belle Star project, and it’s pretty awesome.

A couple of weeks ago, I popped down to the Wild Buffalo to catch Blind Pilot a couple of days ahead of their show in Vancouver. A good time was had by all, and I reviewed the show for No Depression.

Despite my best attempts, this space does occasionally seem to slip into being a music blog. When the music concerned is Kathleen Edwards’ new track Change the Sheets is that really a problem?

Voyageur comes out on January 17th. Get it.

In a moment I can only describe as…exciting might not be quite the right word…my office has made the cover of the new Nickelback album and right there, in the fissure running vertically through the album cover you can see the desk I sit at right now (though that’s likely to change.)

I think if you look closely enough you can see me expressing my thoughts on Nickelback as a band in the window.

Ryan Adams is an incredibly talented and remarkable musician, not to mention a very contentious one. Moments of beauty like this one shine through his arrogance often enough to make it worth taking the good with bad.

There’s an awesome new video set to Wilco’s Art of Almost by one of the band’s regular photographers, Richie Wireman. It’s awesome, but I can’t embed it: you need to watch it here.

Richie Wireman is one of my favourite music photographers, though I may be biased by his subject matter to some extent. A huge amount of my favourite work in Wilco’s online photo galleries was Richie’s. The video above is a very cool time lapse shot over two nights of Wilco gigs at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium.

One of these days, I’d like to see a show there.

Also: remember a couple of entries ago when I said this blog was not a Wilco blog? I’m not even sure I’m falling for that line anymore.

Jay Farrar came to the Wild Buffalo House of Music in Bellingham, Washington and didn’t cross the border into Canada. This suited me fine, since the Wild Buffalo is one of the most beautiful clubs in the area and one of my favourite places to see live shows..

I posted a review on No Depression. You can also read it by following the link after the video below.

Jay Farrar at the Wild Buffalo: November 3, 2011

I feel, really, that this review should start with a confession of sorts—the kind of raw admission that characterizes so many addiction related groups so here it goes:

I’m Skot, and I’m a bit of a Wilco fan. I am, in fact, one of the fewer than 1,000 Wilco fan that owns that particular band’s 2-inch tall Unipo dolls. Yes, I’m that fan.

Being a Wilco fan means that my relationship with Jay Farrar’s music is inevitably skewed by the prism of a rivalry that seems largely imagined and manufactured, but persists nonetheless. I had Trace, of course, but much of the rest of Son Volt’s library languished in my laptop largely unlistened too. It was until the release of Farrar’s brilliant collaboration with Ben Gibbard on One Fast Move Or I’m Gone that I dug deeper into the material. 2009 was a very good year for Farrar, and his Son Volt album American Central Dust also took a place in heavy rotation in my listening.

With a new album of material based on Woody Guthrie material coming out in 2012, Farrar has hit the road on a tour of the Western United states. Forgoing a stop in Canada, the tour started at Bellingham, Washington’s beautiful Wild Buffalo House of Music. The Buffalo is about an hour from Vancouver and a better venue that most comparable ones in my hometown anyway, so I headed down for a late Thursday night.

Taking the stage at about 10:30 after an opening set Bobby Bare Jr., Farrar quickly got to business opening with material from American Central Dust. With no rhythm section on stage, the pairing of Farrar’s acoustic guitar and with Gary Hunt on the electric guitar, fiddle and occasional ukelele for accompaniment made for a quieter take on some of his harder edged material.

It wasn’t until Big Sur that Farrar first chatted with the attentive and appreciative crowd. Ben Gibbard is a Bellingham local, and I’d half expected him to make an appearance at the gig. He didn’t, but the material from One Fast Move was as strong as I’d expected live and got the modest crowd fully engaged in the gig.

I’ve got a friend who has a musical theory that says that when Uncle Tupelo split up Farrar and Son Volt took the “long hairs” and Wilco took the “short hairs.” If she’s right—and she usually is—it wasn’t obvious tonight with a crowd as diverse as any I’ve seen.

The acoustics at the Buffalo are excellent, and go a long way to showing why the venue is becoming a favourite stop for tours in between Seattle and Vancouver. Farrar worked through a playlist that included more material from One Fast Move before introducing Holiday Machine, a new piece from next year’s Woody Guthrie album (the video is here) that shows tremendous promise.

The Son Volt classic Tear Stained Eye followed, and with the night running late and 1:00 a.m. ticking past on my watch I left for the drive home.

Farrar’s touring down the coast towards Los Angeles over the next month, and shouldn’t be missed. He’s in fine form, and the new material being played shows that there’s much to look forward too in 2012’s collaborations and whatever the future brings for Son Volt. As a songwriter Farrar’s material remains strong and his musicianship is at least its equal. The change to see him perform in smaller, more intimate venues isn’t one you should pass up.
As for that prism? The one that colours my perception of Farrar with its lens of Wilco fandom? It’s fair to say that this show shattered it, and seeing Jay live finally gave me the opportunity to see a great songwriter without prejudice. I’m looking forward to the tour that hopefully accompanies next year’s release. If it does, I’ll be there.
See video of Jay Farrar playing Hoping Machine from next year’s Woody Guthrie collaboration here

I swear this isn’t a Wilco blog. Really. Since nobody’s going to believe me anyway, why don’t we just move along…

Wilco are coming to Vancouver on February 5th of next year at the Orpheum. I’m not fond of assigned seating venues, and I’ve never seen Wilco indoors so I was a bit worried that I’d wind up with some crappy ticket off in a corner. The band started their pre-sale today, and I somehow—miraculously—managed to grab a pair of third row seats just ten off centre. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I’m just going to embrace it.

Next week on Thursday night Jay Farrar is playing the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham and I’m going to head down for it. I love the Buffalo—it’s a beautiful, scenic venue—and I’ve never seen Jay, so I’m looking forward to this one. I definitely fall on the Wilco side of the Uncle Tupelo split, but at least two of the three Son Volt albums Jay’s released have been outstanding, not too mention his One Fast Move or I’m Gone which had a place on my favourite albums list for quite a while.

So, it seems like the perfect time for Jeff Tweedy telling an awkward story about bumping into Jay on the beach in Mexico, long after their acrimonious but unresolved split. Alternatively, the little moment below which is the only time I have ever watched George Strobolopolous I swear!

Not, you know, that I want Sylvester Stallone to make another Rocky movie but if he does, maybe he’s got a theme song here?

It’s October, and that always means a melancholy time of year for me. A shift in the soundtrack of life happens as days get shorter, temperatures drop and we spend more time indoors. The music I listen to gets quieter, more contemplative and more inward looking.

Fall is a time for new beginnings for some: kids go back to school and in a lot of houses it’s more like the start of a new year that the actual start of a New Year. New routines get sorted out after the lazy days of summer, and schedules adjust.

For me fall starts at the end of August, when the calendar turns on another arbitrarily selected anniversary in my life. This year I turned 40, which is a fact of some significance to some people. Though I shrugged it off as it happened (amidst a week of vacation with friends, family and more live music than is probably healthy for most people) it’s a fact of significance to me too: the last ten years, in particular, haven’t always been easy or kind but this list year…this last year…this has been the happiest year I can remember. Things are just perfect right now. It was a good time to turn 40.

That vacation included a very short stop in Trenton, Ontario. We were there less ten minutes, but I stopped to visit my grandfather’s grave for only the third time in the 21 years he’s been gone. It’s not the frequency of the visits that counts, but the sentiment right? Maybe.

My grandfather died in the fall. He died late in the night one September 19th a long time ago. It was five days shy of his 74th birthday. It’s one of the reasons fall is always a sad time for me: I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember the song that was playing in the store when I bought his birthday card; I remember the birthday card; I remember getting the call when I was at work. September’s never a happy time for me. I remember too much.

Today is the birthday of two dear friends: one lives in Ontario and is now married with three kids. No matter how hard I try to focus on the happiness in her life, I can’t help but remember the other. Richard Charteris died a few years ago. He was 49. He’d have been 57 today. Richard was one of my closest friends when I knew him in Toronto. In a moment of serendipity his youngest daughter found me a while ago through a photo I’d taken and got in touch. Knowing that his kids are doing well was nice: they lost their father so young, and so unexpectedly. October’s not a very happy time for me. I remember Richard every year.

Richard and I were close but not alone. We were a rogues gallery when partnered with Al. Al was the oldest of us, but probably had the most energy. That guy could spend a whole day whipping out a brilliant marketing plan, head to the bar for a post work beer, sing a full set of rocking blues with a nine piece backing band and then wake up and do it all again the next day. One day, when I’m 65, I’d like to be half as cool as Al.

He still has more hair on his head than I do too, so there’s that too.

A few days ago—just a few days before this anniversary of Richard’s death—Al sent a mass email out. He’s been diagnosed with what he’s describing as an “aggressive case of prostate cancer.” It was late at night when I got the email. I was shocked: I was also glad he’d told me. He didn’t have too.

I haven’t seen Al in over ten years. It was before I moved to Vancouver. I lived in Charlottetown for a while and he was in Halifax, but we never quite got together. Worse, he was in Whistler at the end of August and bad timing meant we missed each other when I left for Toronto. We overlapped in Toronto on only one day but I had dinner plans with the oldest of old friends and couldn’t see him. It’s been ten years, but I’m going to have to get to Toronto to see the old guy sometime soon. It will happen.

This stuff all happens in the fall, and it sort of sucks. I’m always happy to have it over with, even though in Vancouver it inevitably leads to the grey skies and rain of November. At least my friends aren’t disappearing. This too, shall pass.

It’s time to cue the music now, and it always starts with Hawksley Workman at this time of year. At least the music’s always good.

I think that ghosts like
The cooler weather
When leaves turn colour
They get together
And walk along ways
These old back roads
— Autumn’s Here, Hawksley Workman

English singer-songwriter-punk-folk-rocker Frank Turner stopped by Vancouver’s legendary Biltmore Cabaret a couple of days ago. It was a Monday night. Vancouver, on a Monday night, is not a place to ply a show: people stay home, they cocoon, they don’t leave the house.

But not this time.
The show sold out about a month before the date. I’d never heard of Frank—a friend (with much better taste in music than mine) urged me to go—and it may be the smartest thing I’ve done this year.

Frank is a live performer like nobody I’ve seen in quite a while. The Biltmore is often filled with crowds of adoring aloof hipsters listening to roots tinged Americana style rock and roll (and yes, I’m more or less one of them.) Every once in a while someone manages to engage that crowd in a short sing along and possibly some witty banter, but for the most part the crowds are pretty…sedate.

Not Frank. Frank did that for almost two full hours. Hands were in the air, songs were sung along too, requests were played and a mini mosh pit formed near the front of the stage.

Sometime through the night I described it as being like seeing Bruce Springsteen before he was The Boss or Bono before he became, you know, Bono. Imagine that with 450 people instead of tens of thousands, and you’ve got an idea of what it was like. I think he’d have kept playing all night if he could have.

Good times indeed. Frank ended his set hanging from the stage singing a killer rendition of Queen’s Somebody to Love. It was a bit of a counterpoint to his own Eulogy, sung earlier in the evening:

Not everyone grows up to be an astronaut
Not everyone was born to be a king
Not everyone can be Freddie Mercury

and a brilliant way to end a night when a whole bunch of people in Vancouver clearly found exactly what they were looking for.

More photos after the break, or on Flickr.

NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts are a treasure and one of the best podcasts online. The gentlemen from Wilco stopped by recently to play a tiny show, and it’s well worth watching. Make sure to check out those tiny drums.

You know those times you go to a show and you’re not sure who the opening act is? Last night was one of those nights for me.

The opening act for last night’s Mavis Staples show at the Chan Centre was Allen Toussaint and just because I hadn’t heard of him doesn’t mean I didn’t know his work. The prolific composer organized the horns for The Band’s Last Waltz and has worked with just about everybody. An engaging, friendly and upbeat performer Toussaint played a brilliant set of slightly more than an hour.

Mavis Staples took the stage later in the night, after a short intermission. Her joy at being in Vancouver was infectious, and the third song of her set was The Band’s The Weight, a number the Staples Singers sang at that long ago and deservedly legendary Last Waltz. I just about died.

Robots is not, in my opinion, the strongest song from Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice honour would go to Fair Verona in the quirky world of my musical taste—but it’s most definitely the most crowd pleasing. Dan played the song in LA at a Canadian Blast Grammy show once and tweeted afterwards that he’d seen Emmylou Harris singing along to the chorus. She’d have to be heartless not too.

On a warm dry night, there’s not a better place in the city to catch live music when than the Wild Horse Canyon Stage at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. The Ruffled Feathers did a nice job of showing why

It’s been a music soaked couple of weeks around here, and it’s not looking like it’s slowing down anytime soon. Kathleen Edwards & Julie Fader played the Black Sheep Inn around and about my fourtieth birthday, and I was lucky enough to get out there for the show (hot on the heels of the Harvest Picnic, which included both Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris.) I wrote a little review of the show for No Depression.

There was new material played, so its no surprise to hear the announcement of a new album. Wakusp is a beautiful song that’s been released as a preview.
Kathleen Edwards - Wapusk (featuring Bon Iver) by Kathleen Edwards
Things aren’t slowing down here either: there’s new albums coming from Dan Mangan and Wilco at the end of September, and I’ve got quite a few shows lined up between now and mid-October including Blue Rodeo & Mavis Staples.

There’ll be time enough for sleeping when I’m dead, I’m sure. I’m putting that off for a while though.

Kathleen Edwards - Change The Sheets by Rounder Records

There’s been much going on in life lately, and it’s been easy to lose track of things. One thing that’s sort of slipped through the cracks lately is the fact that there’s a new Wilco album due on Sept. 27th. The video above features a solo performance by Jeff Tweedy of the song Down with Me. Far be it from me to judge, but I’m kind of amazed he didn’t punch the photographer while it was being shot but maybe I’m being too judgemental. There’s an interview to go with the video.

The video below is a trailer for the album that looks like it was shot at the Wilco loft in Chicago. It. Is. Awesome.

Excited? A little bit.

Only five more sleeps and one more plane flight until Daniel Lanois’ Harvest Picnic event just outside of Hamilton, Ontario featuring a list of talented music too long to do justice too but headlined by Emmylou Harris. This one’s going to be the stuff that memories are made from.

Quite unsurprisingly, Six Shooter Records recently signed Melbourne, Australia’s The Wagons to a distribution deal in Canada. I could’ve predicted this was going to happen. Those guys sign everybody I like eventually. The video up above should give you some indication of why.

I met Henry Wagons, the band’s lead singer, about a year ago when he played the Vancouver’s Legendary Biltmore Cabaret as the opening act for Justin Townes Earle. It was such a fantastic night of music that I headed down to the Wild Buffalo in Bellingham the next night to catch a repeat. Photos are on Flickr from those gigs.

The Wagons are playing the Railway Club the day after I get back from Toronto: this is going to be a great show.

A day that includes a killer breakfast, a visit to a farmer’s market, a stop at Gourmet Warehouse and, and outdoor with Neko Case and the New Pornographers in Stanley Park is a very good day.

Halifax based Jenn Grant doesn’t get out to Vancouver that often: it’s a long way from home, across this great big country we call home. Her last visit paired her with fellow Six Shooter Recording artist Justin Rutledge for one of the most fantastic nights of live music I had in 2010 at the quiet and beautiful St. James Community Square in Vancouver. On this visit Jenn played the Biltmore Cabaret and the show was quite a bit less quiet.

Jenn’s album Honeymoon Punch was long-listed for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize and the night was full of material from it as well as the often overlooked but incredibly beautiful Echoes.

Playing with a full band made for a stark contrast with her last visit, when she was accompanied only on violin. Upbeat bouncy tunes like Oh My Heart and Getcha Good sounded fuller and kept the night moving along. Parliament of Owls lead to a crowd pleasing moment with the audience hooting along.

As entertaining as the music was with witty stage banter. Watch her Awkward Interviews at CBC Radio 3 to get an idea of what it’s like. Jenn’s funny tales of life in a shared house in Halifax are worth the ticket price alone and as much a guarantee of a good time as any other live act I’ve seen. Now off touring back east, as they say out here, catch up with Jenn as soon as you can.

Despite the fact that a lot of information it contains is dubious at best I like Wikipedia on the whole. It has it’s charms. One of those is that nothing ever gets deleted: the Wiki software tracks changes and you can review them anytime.

A while ago, somebody updated the entry for The Humpty Dance to include a detailed summary of the dance. It’s since been deleted (you can “see the diff including the entry here”::http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Humpty_Dance&action=historysubmit&diff=434709715&oldid=427162403) but I thought it needed to be preserved. It’s written in an encyclopaedic style, and represents the kind of genius that is both inspired and an stunning waste of time.

Mr. Hump gets everyone’s attention by requesting they end the task they are performing at that time. Mr. Hump then proceeds to take one’s perception of what’s popular and make it no longer appealing. He then goes on to say that despite his comical appearance he is very wealthy, and the planet earth should prepare for his arrival. Mr. Hump invites a group to give their undivided attention as he explains that he has recently moved to the area and he does not make wise decisions. This is of course irrelevant due to his music being produced by his group Digital Underground. He then warns everyone that he will consume all of their cognac that they own. Mr. Hump now decides to introduce himself in a sort of condescending way by removing the initial letter of his first name and then repeating it to the listener. Mr. Hump tells all of the female listeners he would like to perform intercourse with them and issues a request to the current top ten popular rap artists to allow him to be above all of them on the music charts. The listeners should note Mr. Hump seems to be walking on stilts. He then compares the listeners to a Humpty Dumpty where an egg falls from a wall. Pursuing this metaphor, Mr. Hump claims his loud music will cause his listeners to share the same fate with said egg. Mr. Hump then energetically describes some of his favorite things which include: using words that sound alike, his music to have a strange odor emitting from it, and his breakfast oats not to be mixed well. Mr. Hump claims that he is an ill gang member who does very well with members of the opposite sex. Despite all of that, once in a while his absurd behavior causes him to consume all of the listener’s saltines and twizzlers for an undisclosed reason. Mr. Hump then gets the attention of his overweight female listeners by using some offensive phrases. Mr. Hump then points out the fact that even though he is significantly smaller than his overweight listeners he has never had a problem having sexual intercourse with women of their stature. Mr. Hump admits he is a sexual deviant who prefers females with an extremely large posterior, and that he once had intercourse in the restroom of a Burger King. Mr. Hump shares with his listeners that he suffers from some type of mental disorder but will somehow make up for that by leaving his listeners in awe. Despite the fact Mr. Hump is by most standards not a very attractive man he still manages to find himself in situations where women allow him to rummage around in their trousers. Mr. Hump finally reveals to the listeners that he has a dance named after him known as the humpty dance. The audience is now encouraged to perform this dance and observe Mr. Hump perform the dance as well.

Mr. Hump has a very high self-esteem, even though his peers are constantly judging his appearance. Some individuals who oppose Mr. Hump sometimes give him menacing looks and it seems Mr. Hump has a restraining order on said individuals. Mr. Hump exceeds expectations on the dance floor. The females all have strong feelings towards Mr. Hump. Mr. Hump genuinely cares for members of the opposite sex, and proves it by letting them know in advance that his prosthetic nose will stimulate their anus while he performs cunnilingus on a woman who is lying on top of him performing fellatio. Mr. Hump is not embarrassed by his oversized nose, because it has provided him a very good living; instead he compares it to a cucumber that has sat in vinegar for an extended period of time. Mr. Hump wants the listener to know once again he has intercourse with members of the opposite sex. He then compares his social status to the size of his nose which as mentioned before is quite great. Despite the fact Mr. Hump can be quite intoxicated, his archery skills are comparable to cupid that makes people fall in love on Valentine’s Day. Mr. Hump informs the listeners’ he uses words that have no meaning and cannot be found in a dictionary. Mr. Hump goes on to confide that he was a performer on the album ”Doowhutchalike”, (pronounced “do what you like”); however, in the event the listener did not by chance hear that album, Mr. Hump had advised his listeners to grasp the flour-and-water mixture that was baked and served during breakfast. Mr. Hump claims he warned the listeners he enjoys using his teeth on them, as well as making use of a pencil and paper, which he feels is self-explanatory. Mr. Hump further informs the listener he will perform the dance named after himself, if the listener will allow it.

Mr. Hump requests that his band mate responsible for bass sound make special notes for him to imitate, which he does presumably to the best of his ability. At this time Mr. Hump takes the opportunity to instruct the listeners on the correct method of performing the dance known as the Humpty Dance. The first thing one would do when performing the dance is move sideways like an individual who has suffered a fractured leg. Next the dancer will move in such a manner that a reasonable person would assume the dancer was burning, but the flames were not present at that time. By this time while Mr. Hump is performing the dance, his peers would tell him he resembled MC Hammer freebasing cocaine. Mr. Hump assures them he is doing the dance properly, and it is supposed to resemble an epileptic suffering from a seizure. This activity can be practiced by anybody who so chooses, and Mr. Hump once again reminds the listener the dance is named after him. When performed correctly, two or more people will not perform the dance in a synchronized manner. The dance must give the perception the person performing the dance is clearly not enjoying themselves, possibly even considering a pain remedy. Mr. Hump then encourages the listener to stand up for themselves and continue dancing if by chance a man should confront them with the evidence of an unknown accident that has left that man with only part of his digit.

I like my Bruce at his lyrical and quiet best, but there’s so much Bruce that’s lyrical and loud it’s hard to really be that picky.

Clarence Clemmons died this weekend, rather suddenly. The world of rock and roll doesn’t see a saxophone like this often, and it’s been changed forever. That sax line that lays underneath Born to Run—a song that every motorcycle dealership in the country should really have playing on constant repeat—didn’t just happen, and it’s not going to come around anytime soon again.

It’s a reminder, too, that the first generation of huge rock stars is aging and will end. Springsteen is 61 right now: not exactly old, but closer to the end than to the beginning of his career.

Roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair
Well, the night’s busted open
These two lanes will take us anywhere
We got one last chance to make it real
To trade in these wings on some wheels
Climb in back, Heaven’s waiting down on the track

The music industry’s been fairly quick to embrace social media—perhaps a result of the hard lessons learned in the early days of the Internet—and by now most musicians have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, mySpace pages (even though they should be moving to Bandcamp) and any number of other outlets which help them build a community with their fans. Entire careers have been built on these platforms in the last few years.

The point of social media is to build a conversation with your customers and fans. Joanna Newsom’s Facebook page hasn’t been updated in almost a year at this point—sine her last album was released. Don’t make the same mistake. You’re writing music, recording music, touring, and probably going to other shows. Tell your story.

Young Galaxy are one of the finest emerging bands in Canada. I caught them at the Biltmore and Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in 2009, and late last year when they were opening for Stars on their national tour. Photos from the latter show are on my site or in a more complete gallery at Guttersnipe News.

The new album comes out on February 8th, 2011. Look forward to it, and buy it. You’re not going to regret it.

Don’t let the video fool you: Christina’s not nearly that tough. Photos from her Peak Performance Project show are in my Flickr stream and I shot some stills at the video shoot for Christina.

The man, he is a genius. Truly.

Vancouver’s beautifully voiced and wonderfully talented Nadia von Hahh has a new video out. Photos from her recent CD release party are on my Flickr photostream.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council recently ruled that Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing, which includes the use of the word faggot in a satirical sense, can no longer be played on Canadian radio unless the word is edited out.

The fact that the song was recorded in 1985 and has probably had less airplay in the last fifteen years than any number of misogynistic and profanity laden pieces of popular music released since appears to be lost on the Council. The decision could lead to subsequent bans on songs like The Pogues Fairtytale of New York no more television airings of various Austin Powers movies, all the while allowing Ice T to scream Copkiller, Britney Spears to implore someone to Hit Me Baby One More Time and Biz Mark E to sing about Sittin’ on a toilet / Waitin’ for my bowels to move. Well played, CBSC. Well played.

The fact that a regulatory body has the time to waste something like this while virtually every other similar institution does nothing is astonishing. (Hello CRTC? Have you noticed that cell phone rates in Canada are amongst the highest in the world these days? Maybe you should get on that.)

The ridiculousness of the situation has generated tonnes of press coverage, all of which has seemed to gloss over a simple but critical fact: Money for Nothing is a horrible song. Dire Straits is a legendary band and Mark Knopfler’s guitar playing is astonishing to listen too (he was once described by Douglas Adams as having “…an extraordinary ability to make a Schecter Custom Stratocaster hoot and sing like angels on a Saturday night, exhausted from being good all week and needing a stiff drink.” but Money for Nothing is not his strongest work. It was a huge hit, and took the band’s popularity to new levels (particularly in North America) but there are at least ten songs that you should be listening to instead of it. Even Knopfler has said in the past that he’s not happy that the song has become the band’s best known legacy.

There are at least ten songs you should be listening too instead of Money for Nothing though, and here they are.

Telegraph Road

Epic and thirteen minutes in length when played live, Telegraph Road eschews the conventions of the rock and roll epic and remains beautiful throughout. The version on Alchemy: Live remains high on my playlist.

Brothers in Arms

The closing track for the album that opens with Money for Nothing this song couldn’t be less like that pop jingle. It was featured in an episode of the West Wing which gave it a boost of popularity in the late 1990s.

Sultans of Swing

Listen to that guitar. Listen to it again. You can thank me later.

Tunnel of Love

Romeo and Juliet

Once Upon a Time in the West

This is the first track on the Alchemy: Live double album. That the album only gets better from here is amazing, considering how good this song is live.

Why Worry

Another song buried in the Brothers in Arms album, Why Worry is a beautifully written and played tune.

Expresso Love

I’ve continued to overlook the seeming spelling error in the title of this song—I assume it was intentional on Knopfler’s part—because of its energetic brilliance.

Industrial Disease

As pop songs go this commentary on modern society’s addiction to our own technology has actually stood the test of time much better than Money for Nothing has. The fact that Sting’s not singing the backing vocal track is probably partly why.

Ride Across the River

Brothers in Arms really is an incredibly strong album. This song anchors the middle.

Bree is there on the upright bass, but it’s just not the same with Josh on the fiddle. Fun nonetheless.

A few days ago, I posted my list of the best concerts in Vancouver in 2010. The year is long and with a lot of shows seen I naturally forgot one, and the funny thing is it was probably the best all round show of the year.

The thing is, I didn’t have my camera with me. The show was actually before I bought my Canon 5d Mark II, and I didn’t pack my G11. Without a photographic record of it, the concert sort of slipped from my memory.

Often called the best live band in Canada, The Sadies stopped by Vancouver’s Legendary Biltmore Cabaret in early June. By the end of the almost four hours of music I’m surprised the place had a roof left on it.

To this day I find listening to The Sadies on album a bit uninspiring. It just doesn’t do that much for me. When these guys get on stage it’s like setting a fire. At a gas station. With a dynamite truck filling up at the time. I frankly thought they were never going to stop playing.

So, to Mike and Sean and Dallas and Travis, my sincere apologies for leaving you off the first list. It wasn’t intentional, and I’ll blame a memory which relies on a camera as often as not. I’ll be there next time right at the front of the stage.

I’ve never been fortunate enough to be in Toronto when Nuit Blanche was happening. For the last few years I’ve jealously followed along as sites like BlogTO and Torontoist have covered Toronto’s annual twenty-four hour festival of arts and culture.

According to the Globe and Mail a group in Vancouver has formed hoping to bring the all night festival to Vancouver. I’m happy about this—I’ve repeatedly said that I wanted a Vancouver edition of the festival—but I also can’t help but wonder if the focus on creating a new festival is the best strategy. Vancouver has a thriving arts community with a number of outdoor festivals already. Cuts to arts and culture funding have been hard on these festivals in recent years and it’s possible that adding a new festival to the mix has the potential to do as much harm as good.

The Public Dreams Society is probably the best known of the groups that produces free outdoor events in Vancouver. The society’s annual Illuminares lantern festival and now seemingly semi-annual Parade of Lost Souls are amongst the most notable public festivals in North America, but both were reduced in size substantially this year. Illuminares has moved from its gorgeous outdoor location to a smaller indoor venue on the downtown eastside, while the Parade of Lost Souls no longer occupies the entirety of Commercial Drive that it used too.

The hard times that both of these festivals have hit were caused by sudden cuts to government funding and a lack of corporate sponsorship. It’s notable that Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival is, in fact, the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. The marriage between arts and commerce has always been a bit tense, but the London Drugs Parade of Lost Souls just doesn’t quite have the same ring of magic it. Despite this, I know that a Nuit Blanche style festival in Vancouver won’t happen without sponsorship and I hope it doesn’t happen without the Public Dreams Society.

Even events with corporate sponsorship have suffered in Vancouver. The most notable example is the annual Celebration of Lights Festival. Fireworks festivals across the country hit hard times a few years ago with only Vancouver’s surviving thanks to title sponsorship from HSBC but the hard times hit again this year and the festival was officially canceled before being rescued at the last minute. The addition of a concert series to the four nights of fireworks expanded by the scope of the festival, but the Celebration of Light lacks the dynamic and mixed media nature that Nuit Blanche has. People tend to get to the beach early and park themselves on a blanket and relax in the (hopefully) sunny weather rather than moving around between venues.

The Eastside Culture Crawl is one of the Vancouver arts communities great success stories, and may serve as a good example for Nuit Blanches. This weekend long celebration of East Vancouver’s visual and textile arts is more of a collective of artists selling their work than a produced festival, and hasn’t seemed to have suffered from a lack of funding. The three day celebration runs on Friday night and through the day on Saturday and Sunday and sees thousands of people touring multiple venues throughout the city. The Crawl gets bigger every year, as anybody who’s visited the warmth of Joe Blow Glassworks on those chilly November evenings can attest. It seems like it would be easy to expand the Crawl, but the November weekend isn’t ideal.

The Vancouver International Fringe Festival is an excellent example as well. When the Fringe takes over its Granville Island location the sedate public market transforms into something completely different with buskers, musicians and performers of all kinds taking over the space under the bridge and slightly beyond. The Fringe is at heart a theatre festival, but it plays a bigger role than that in the Vancouver arts community and serves as an end of summer treat for fans of arts and culture.

With no lack of family friendly public events already, what’s the point of proposing a Nuit Blanche for Vancouver? The Toronto festival is something of a combination of all of the examples above: it celebrates visual and media arts with a dash of music thrown in as well. It focuses on outdoor performances and venues, but indoor galleries participate as well.

The twenty-four hour nature of Nuit Blanche is its most unique element, and one that Vancouver could benefit from. This is a sleepy town that goes to bed early. Keeping Vancouver up late is hard, though the success of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Fuse events is a testament to the fact that it can happen outside of the Olympics. An all night event such as this will draw press coverage and an audience that all artists benefit from, not just the ones who already have substantial public profiles. The mixed media nature of it will help families expose their kids to art forms they may not have experienced before.

In order to succeed a new all-night festival needs to work with prominent local musicians, performance groups and visual artists. The festival needs to extend beyond the city’s sterile downtown core to embrace East Vancouver and the Waterfront, hopefully including North Vancouver. Translink could help by keeping the Seabus and Skytrain systems running all night, allowing people to easily move between geographically dispersed venues. Vancouver’s unique geography offers opportunities for equally unique events: the Stanley Park Seawall could be an integral part of the celebrations if city hall decides to allow it—technically the park is closed after 11:00 p.m.

That’s a lot of cooperation, in a city where arts groups and politicians don’t always seem to cooperate well.

Whatever happens, I’m hopeful that a new event creates a lasting legacy and becomes a core pillar of Vancouver’s arts community. The traditional mid-summer Illuminares festival offers a good starting point for growth. Typically good weather and the legacy of an annual outdoor event that could be incorporated into something new and perhaps bigger may offer an easier path to success than starting from scratch. By integrating with other arts and culture groups Nuit Blanche’s legacy can be one of helping to build the existing community—one that’s suffered greatly in recent years—rather than competing with it.

Perhaps the Nuit Blanche name will offer a fresh start in the public’s eyes, and some familiarity based on its Hogtown history. Perhaps it can become one of the focal points for Vancouver’s arts community. Either way, on the eve of 2011 it’s nice to think that we have something new to look forward to in 2012.

Recorded in support of The New Gay’s contribution to Dan Savage’s It Gets Better initiative. Adventures in Solitude is a Canadian classic.

Writing about music is an inherently subjective thing. One person’s best album of the year could leave another scratching their head. It simply can’t be helped.

I see a lot of concerts: there are certainly people who see more than I do, but the vast majority see less. My personal taste and my distaste for stadium venues means that most of the shows I see tend to be small to mid-sized shows in venues that hold between 300 and 1,500 people (though I spend a fair amount of time in places that hold fewer than 50 people as well.) As a result, any list I make isn’t likely to include the biggest shows of the year. Amongst those I missed that I’m sure would make this were Arcade Fire at the Pacific Coliseum and Rogers Waters’ performance of The Wall.

Having said that, I couldn’t let December roll past without a summary of the best concerts I’ve seen this year. Without further ado, I’m going to dive right in. The shows that made this list are the ones that stood out as something special and unique through the year.

Yes, the concert you were at that blew your mind should probably be on this list but alas I may not have been there. You can always let me know about it, and I promise to try to make it next time.

Wilco - LiveCity Yaletown

It’s no secret that I’m a Wilco fan, but I’m not the only one. Wilco kicked off Vancouver’s two week long Olympic party at the outdoor LiveCity Yaltetown. Lineups were epic and it poured rain but a crowd of over 8,000 stalwarts braved the weather for this one. With Wilco (The Album) almost six months old America’s best touring band played a mix of new and old material. Watching Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy jam out to perennial crowd favourite Spiders should have been enough to convince anyone they were watching something special.

Calexico -Vancouver International Folk Festival

If the three rules for concerts were the same as the thee rules for real estate—location, location and location—the Vancouver International Folk Festival would have little competition. The Jericho Beach location is beautiful and the mid-July weekend reliably delivers in spades with warm sunny days that faded into warm sunny nights. Calexico closed the first night of the festival this year under a clear, starlit sky and the forlorn sound of a lone trumpet wailing into the night was the perfect way to end a day and start a weekend. Don’t miss this Tuscon, Arizona based band’s Tex-Mex tinged Americana when it comes to your town.

Justin Townes Earle - Legendary Biltmore Cabaret / Wild Buffalo House of Music

Justin has been both burdened and blessed by having a famous father throughout his career. Living up to such a strong legacy can be hard. On the other hand the reason I first went to see Justin at the Media Club a few years ago was loyalty: the first live concert I saw as a kid was Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road show in Toronto, and I wanted to support his son. Justin was great that night, but this tour—his second time playing Vancouver’s Legendary Biltmore Cabaret an epiphany. Justin’s finally shed the burdensome part of that legacy and now shines as an artist in his own right. The following night’s show at the Wild Buffalo House of Music was even better.

I saw Steve Earle this year as well: Justin’s shows were better.

The Gertrudes - Vancouver International Folk Festival

With a large grounds and multiple stage playing music going all day, the hardest thing about the Folk Fest is being in the right place at the right time. After leaving a mid-day workshop featuring Sarah Harmer I sort of wandered the grounds aimlessly until my ears were hit by the sound of Kingston, Ontario’s The Getrudes. With nine musicians crowding the stage with a mix of banjos, fiddles, and guitars and two lead vocalists the Gertrudes have a big sound that’s reminiscent of the Band, the Waltons and other southern tinged swamp music. Their Dawn Time Riot album is one of the most fun I’ve heard this year. They haven’t been back to Vancouver since, but I can guarantee that I’ll be there when they are. CBC has the Folk Fest concert on demand: you can listen to it here.

Yukon Blonde & the Wooden Sky - Legendary Biltmore Cabaret

Vancouver is a fickle town, and even on the best of nights a great lineup can play to an almost empty venue. With two of the indie rock scenes’ up and coming bands on the bill for a Saturday night this was one Biltmore show that didn’t disappoint. Packed to the gills with people—including half the musicians in Vancouver, as near as I could tell—I could hardly move. Either one of these bands would have been worth it. Both? This was as perfect a night of up and coming indie rock as I’ve seen.

Dan Mangan - Vogue Theatre

I’m not even sure I could count how many times I’ve seen Dan Mangan this year but it was his Vogue theatre show in May that I’ll remember. Coming on the heels of touring his Nice, Nice, Very Nice album around North America, Europe and Australia May’s show at the Vogue was a triumphant homecoming for one of the nicest guys in the Vancouver music scene. Selling out in about 8 days—even Vancouver based supergroup The New Pornographers took weeks to do that—the show was a moment in a career that was beautiful to see.

Said the Whale, Kyprios and Vince Vaccaro - Commodore Ballroom

It’s pretty tough to choose a best show from the Peak Performance Showcase Series: there were five nights at Vancouver’s Red Room (I missed one of them) and a grand finale show at the Commodore Ballroom. I’m going to go with the Commodore Ballroom show sort of by default. All three acts that night were killer but a particular tip of the hat to Kyprios. I don’t do rap. I did listen to rap once, but it was the early 80s and it was groundbreaking stuff that my neighbours in Toronto passed along to me. Kyprios blew the roof off of that place, and had that horse hair sprung dance floor hopping higher than I’ve ever seen it. Said the Whale and Vince Vaccaro’s sets were just as good.

Malahat Revue - Vancouver International Folk Festival

Here’s where i make it up to Said the Whale: they’re the only band to make this list twice. The Malahat Revue was a group tour including Jeremy Fisher, Aidan Knight, Hannah Georgas and Said the Whale. They toured a good portion of Southern BC by bicycle and performed each other’s works as a group. The smile on Hannah Georgas’ face above on the last day of the tour says it all, I think: that’s a woman who’s exactly where she wants to be, and couldn’t be happier.

Jenn Grant & Justin Rutledge - St. James Community Square

Jenn Grant’s Echoes was one of the most underrated albums of recent years. She’s based on the East Coast which means she doesn’t get out this way that often, and when she finally did she paired with Justin Rutledge to play the beautiful St. James Community Square. This was such a fantastic and beautiful night of music that ended with with Rutledge leading the audience in a singalong version of Don’t Be So Mean Jellybean. Without a doubt my favourite small gig of the year.

Maria in the Shower - Vancouver International Fringe Festival Bar

I realized at some point this year that pretty much every band I liked had either a banjo, a cello or an accordion in it. Of course if you look through this list you’ll notice, no doubt, that almost none of these ones do. Go figure.

Nonetheless this was the first year I discovered Maria in the Shower, a band of roving musicians who bring a Mardi Gras vibe wherever they go. The band opened the first night of the Vancouver International Fringe Festival music series at the Fringe Bar and it was a warm, clear, starry canopy that welcomed a full audience to one of the most beautiful music venues in the city for its 10 day run. About half the days were rained out and moved indoors, but the memory of that first night of outdoor music lingers on.

Rich Hope is one of Vancouver’s most talented guitarists. Rich’s music is a bit blues tinged but also comes in a country flavour every once in a while. A little trouble came his way during the filming of his latest music video.

The 2010 Peak Performance Project wrapped up this week with a grand finale showcase at Vancouver’s always beautiful Commodore Ballroom featuring the top three artists in the competition: Vince Vacarro, Said the Whale and Kyprios

Kyprios took home the top honours winning $100,500 to put towards his music career. Said the Whale took second winning $75,000 and Vince Vacarro took home the $50,000 third prize.

The Peak Performance prize is one of the richest music contests of its kind, and in its short history has become a key part of the development of young musical talent in British Columbia.

A more complete gallery of photos is on Flickr.

Philadelphia based Matador Records recording artist Kurt Vile was in town for a gig at the legendary Biltmore Cabaret. Before the show he stopped by Kitsilano’s Zulu Records for a solo acoustic performance. I stopped by to shoot photos and caught video of three songs of Kurt’s set. The full photo set is available on Flickr.

Nadia von Hahn has a new album out called Wait and See What Happens. It’s a lovely collection of seven songs from the Vancouver based singer-songwriter. The album is available on iTunes as well as your local record store of course.

To celebrate the release she threw a party at Vancouver’s Media Club with a few of her friends including Chantel Upshaw, Christopher Arruda and City of Glass. On a damp Tuesday night the Media Club was packed, which was nice to see.

Thrill the World started in 2007 as a relatively small event intended to set the world record for the number of people to simultaneously dance Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance. When Jackson died on June 25, 2009 the event was vaulted into the limelight as a way to honour the memory of a performer who—whatever you think of his…antics…later in life—was the King of Pop at a time when that took real work to achieve, not just a few minutes of internet infamy. Jackson’s legacy is undeniable, and the Thrill the World dances that happen simultaneously world wide are proof.

Vancouver’s event was held on October 23rd, 2010 at the Roundhouse Community Centre and 284 people participated in raising funds for the Vancouver Food Bank. I shot stills during the rehearsals—a complete set is available on Flickr a video of the final dance performance.

Thrill the World Vancouver 2010 from Skot Nelson on Vimeo.

Superchunk - Driveway to Driveway in store at Vancouver’s Zulu Records from Skot Nelson on Vimeo.

Superchunk dropped by Kitsilano’s Zulu Records for a rare acoustic performance yesterday that lasted about a half hour. The band took audience requests and played a few of their well known songs including Driveway to Driveway which you can see above.

Maybe the funniest part was when bassist Laura Ballance claimed to not know any of the songs when they were announced. She promised that she’d know them all at their Biltmore Cabaret performance in the evening.

Justin Townes Earle has resumed his tour, which is good news for fans of the Southern roots music Justin calls himself a preservationist of. At the beginning of September Justin rolled through Vancouver and I caught his show at the Legendary Biltmore Cabaret then headed down to Bellingham to see him the next night at the Wild Buffalo House of Music. I posted a video from the show earlier, but no photos.

Both shows were excellent. I’ve seen Justin every time he’s come to Vancouver—once at the Media Club and twice now at the Biltmore. This was the first time that the Earle name and legacy seemed to have been fully shed. Justin has really come into his own and out of the long shadow of his father (who’s Copperhead Road tour, incidentally, I count as the first live concert I saw.)

I almost skipped this show, after a long and tiring weekend at the Live at Squamish Festival. I’m glad I didn’t: it was the best concert I saw all summer.

Yuca performed at the fifth and final showcase concert of the 2010 Peak Performance Project. The three piece band from Langley plays pretty straight ahead rock and roll.

The complete set of photos of Yuca is on Flickr along with the rest of the Peak Performance Project photos.

Kuba Oms brought his brand of soul infused pop to the final Peak Performance Project Showcase this week performing for an obviously appreciate audience. Kuba is one of this year’s returning artists from the 2009 edition of the project, and his experience from previous years showed.

The complete set of photos of Kuba’s performance is on Flickr in addition to the full set of photos from this year’s Peak Performance Project Showcases.

Greg Sczebel has apparently won a Juno award in 2005, which just goes to show how long it’s been since I paid attention to the Juno’s as a tool for finding music to listen too. Greg kicked off the final night of the Peak Performance Project Showcase concerts at the Red Room with a show that included a lightboard, a group of well coordinated dancers in the crowd, a keytar and Hank Insell on bass. Greg’s brand of bouncy happy pop music got the crowd moving nicely.

The complete set of photos of Greg’s performance is on Flickr as well as others from the Peak Performance Concert series.

Kyprios drew the closing slot for the final concert of the Peak Performance Concert Series last week and he certainly made good use of it. With a sound like nobody else at the showcase concerts—none of the other acts even really had a hint of hip hop to them—the Vancouver based hip-hop artist had the crowd hopping in no time with the help of a backing band that consisted of something like 10 musicians. Despite a friend’s tweet that she “…still refuse[s] to accept that jumping is a dance move” it was pretty hard to deny that the crowd was having a good time. As a performer Kyprios delivered one of the most kinetic shows I’ve seen in a while. This made it hard to shoot with my usual lens from my initial seat right in front of the stage and I switched to a wide angle 20mm lens for a while.

The complete set of photos of Kyprios’ performance is on Flickr. as well others from the Peak Performance Concert series.

Yukon Blonde and the Wooden Sky played a killer set at Vancouver’s Legendary Biltmore Cabaret to kick off their national tour. Calling the crowd for this show packed doesn’t do justice to the number of people there. The only reason I was able to move was a front row full of Vancouver’s independent musicians who graciously let me move around to get the shots I wanted.

A complete gallery of Wooden Sky photos can be found at Guttersnipe News.

Steph Macpherson opened the fourth of the Peak Performance Project Showcase concerts at Vancouver’s Red Room. The Vancouver based singer/songwriter played to a packed crowd and was obviously moved by the crowd’s response to her performance.

One of the challenges the Peak throws at the artists is a requirement to do a cover song by a Canadian artist. Steph very bravely chose Stan Rogers’ North West Passage and performed a beautiful down tempo rendition that I couldn’t help but sing along too. My sincere apologies to those in the audience near me.

The complete set of photos of Steph Macpherson is on Flickr in addition to the photos from all the Peak Performance Project showcases.

Said the Whale closed out the fourth Peak Performance Project Showcase with a rocking set that hit all the right notes and featured guest appearances from the boys in We Are The City as well as Aidan Knight for the grand finale. Watching these guys live is one of the most entertaining ways I can think of to spend time. Each and every one is a fine musician and has great stage presence (Peter Carruthers on bass stands out in particular—a lot of bassists are relatively stationary and not that interesting to watch play.) They also happen to be about the nicest collection of people you could hope to meet, so there’s that going for them.

At least one of the artists in the competition has fingered Said the Whale to win this thing. If the judges have made up their minds it hasn’t shown yet. There’s still a week left.

The complete set of photos of Said the Whale’s performance is on Flickr in addition to the complete Peak Performance Project photos.

Adaline had a very bad day yesterday, with a car accident at about six in the afternoon. Despite the setback she made it out to play a great set at the Red Room including a cover of Corey Hart’s Sunglasses at Night. Adaline was handing out sunglasses. I scored a pair, but gave them to someone else in the crowd.

More photos are available on Flickr. You can follow Adaline on twitter.

Photographs from the third Peak Performance Prize Showcase held on September 23, 2010 at Vancouver’s Red Room.

The Peak Performance Prize is one of the country’s premier music contests and is dedicated to developing artists in British Columbia.

Ben Sigston live at the Red Room.

Photographs from the third Peak Performance Prize Showcase held on September 23, 2010 at Vancouver’s Red Room. More photos are available on Flickr.

The Peak Performance Prize is one of the country’s premier music contests and is dedicated to developing artists in British Columbia.

41st and Home Live at the Red Room

Photographs from the third Peak Performance Prize Showcase held on September 23, 2010 at Vancouver’s Red Room. More photos are on Flickr.

The Peak Performance Prize is one of the country’s premier music contests and is dedicated to developing artists in British Columbia.

Christina Maria played at the Peak Performance Project showcase at the Red Room. Shortly after her set began the stage lost all power taking all the microphones. More photos from the evening’s performance are on Flickr.

Photographs from the third Peak Performance Prize Showcase held on September 23, 2010 at Vancouver’s Red Room.

The Peak Performance Prize is one of the country’s premier music contests and is dedicated to developing artists in British Columbia.

Christina Maria is performing at a fund raiser benefit conference for the Intrepid Pens literacy program for the women of the Downtown Eastside on October 14th. Admission is by donation. Attend.

Vancouver’s Yes Nice is one of the contenders in this year’s Peak Performance Project. Their show at the at the second showcase in Vancouver packed the floor and sent waves of energy off the stage that had the crowd in the palm of their hands. The set included a cover of the Lisa Lougheed classic Run With Us, also known as the theme from the Racoons cartoon show.

A more complete set of photos from last night’s Peak Performance Project Showcase in in my Flickr photostream.

I’ve seen Aidan Knight before. He opened for Patrick Watson last year and was a part of the Malahat Revue tour that I saw twice. Jasper is one of the best tracks I’ve heard all year. When it gets in your head it sort of sticks around for a while in a good way. He’s an extremely talented singer/songwriter, and is one of the contenders in this year’s Peak Performance Project.

The second showcase for the project happened last night, and Aidan was the first person to hit the stage. He played a great set with a full band and it was clear that the audience was full of fans.

Towards the end of his set Aidan jumped off the stage and headed down into the audience with his band in tow. One of those moments when you’re just glad you had your camera in your hand and even when the results aren’t quite perfect they capture the moment nicely.

More photos from last night’s Peak Performance Showcase are in my Flickr photostream.

Rex’s Blues is an old song by one of the greatest singer/songwriter’s who’s ever lived, the legendary Townes Van Zandt. The song was well served when Justin Townes Earle covered it at Bellingham, Washington’s Wild Buffalo on Tuesday, September 7th.

This was shot in High Definition so make sure to view it at the best resolution you can.

Shot with a Canon 5D MkII and an EF 100mm Macro lens. The audio was recorded using the onboard microphone, which is somewhat limited.

The members of Said the Whale were at We Are The City’s serf stage performance at the Live at Squamish Festival. They graciously gave me a few moments of their time for some shots on the Loggers Sports Grounds.

I wanted to use this machinery as a backdrop all day and was lucky to catch Cayne, David and Andy from We Are The City near it.

The inaugural Live at Squamish weekend ended in style tonight, including a guest appearance the festival’s champion Square the Bear on stage playing bass for Bad Religion. Good times.

I shot 1021 photos and will be sorting them out tomorrow. They’ll be up soon at Guttersnipe News.

Live at Squamish is a new festival set in the beautiful mountain town about an hour’s drive north of Vancouver. Sound check was today, which provided an opportunity to check out the site. The Stawamus Stage is nicely framed by the granite massif of the Stawamus Chief in the background, promising a beautiful sight as the sun set for the next two nights. Look for a complete set of photos and review at Guttersnipe after the weekend. With weather that’s suppose to hold up, the festival looks to be a good time.

The complete set of photos is on Flickr.

Presented by the Shore 104 FM Shorefest showcases some of Vancouver’s best music as a prelude to the Celebration of Light Fireworks show in English Bay. Concerts are broadcast live on The Shore. Listening would, of course, require that turn my tuner dial to something other than CBC.

Tonight featured Kendel Carson, Jon and Roy and Dan Mangan. I swore I wasn’t going to go—the crowds on English Bay can be a bit much to deal with—but the prospect of a sunset show featuring Dan was too compelling for my camera.

The complete set of photos is on Flickr.

Naturally, by the time Dan took the stage the crowd was so dense I could hardly move. Travelling by bike? Great decision—next time I’m going to leave it with the Bike Valet and walk (although my shiny new kickstand was most useful in this case.)

I wrote daily wrap ups of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival for Beyond Robson (click to read Day One, Day Two and Day Three on the site) which kept me busy and up late during the festival itself, so I didn’t write much here. A week later, I’m finally getting around to it.

I have a full collection of photos on flickr to browse through. I’ll excerpt some of those here along with some thoughts. Read on.

Day One

This was my first Folk Fest, and I was planning on being pretty mobile and taking pictures which means I didn’t rush down to get a coveted blanket position. This worked just fine for me, but I was amazed at the size of the crowd that was already there an hour after the gate opened. If I had been staking out blanket space I would’ve been well back from the stage. Impressive turnout, Vancouver. Nice show of enthusiasm. Now why don’t you go see any other shows? Sigh.

Day One only uses the Main Stage, with a constant rotation of acts. A pattern emerged of having a main act play followed by—and I apologize for the inelegant term here—a small, filler act. These acts keep the music going, which is a lot nicer than 20 minutes of silence while a stage is rejigged.

Day one’s highlights were Shane Koyczan & the Short Story Long, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, the Avett Brothers and Calexico whose horn section was the perfect accompaniment as the sun set fire to the crowd. I’d absolutely see Calexico again in the right venue.

Lantern Procession

Thanks to a twitter comment I caught along the way, I knew there were going to be lanterns at the Folk Fest, but I didn’t know that there was going to be a nightly lantern parade. It’s hard to describe how beautiful these lanterns can be, especially in a starry outdoor sky. They hover in the air like spirits aglow, and the Folk Festival parade serves as a guide to light the way out of Jericho Park. There was a science fiction or space theme to some of this year’s lanterns, naturally making me a very happy boy. The Mr. Spock lantern was built by the talented Jacquie Rolston (who was also dressed in a Princess Leia costume) and the Serenity lantern was made by Jeannie. I got a little obsessed with both of these: sorry ladies!

Day Two

A night of solid sleep after spending the day in the sun got me back to the festival fairly early the next day, and I caught the first of many workshops. This one was called Troubadours and featured Sarah Harmer who was definitely the star of day two if the opinions of my friends mattered.

I left the Troubadours to the sounds of Four Strong Winds and my ears took me off to the left (this might be the unique bias created by being deaf in my right ear, but I’ll leave it up to you decide.) The Gertrudes were packing the stage with something like nine musicians. A definite find for the weekend, I’ll be at every one of their Vancouver shows when they make it back here.

Other highlights included Playing for Change’s African rhythms which are trying to do nothing less than change the world, Alex Cuba’s latin infused rock and roll, the beautiful voice of PEI’s Catherine McLellan and Matt Epp. Day two was a day for exploring and finding, and the Folk Fest didn’t dissappoint.

Day Three

I slept in a bit on day three, and got to the festival grounds at about noon. This means I missed a performance by The Gertrudes, but I can live with that.

The highlights of day three were concentrated on Stage Five for me, with the United Steelworkers of Montreal, The Gertrudes, Matt Epp, The Deep Dark Woods and the Malahat Revue all playing on the secondary stage. It was a definite home for the local indie rock crowd: there were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd.

All Things Must Pass

Three days of sun, fun, lovely people and wonderful music in the glorious sunshine of Jericho Beach are no exception, and all things must come to an end. Will I be back next year? Count on it.

I’m taking a little break from the Vancouver Folk Festival to chill out a bit for the morning and have lunch at home before heading down. According to Twitter this means I’m missing some great morning performances, but the afternoon and evening should more than make up for it. My photos from Day One and Two are here on Flickr and I’ll organize a few of them and post them here tomorrow. Between getting them on Flickr and daily articles for Beyond Robson time is scarce.

I need to do a little bike maintenance: one of the pads on my rear brake fell out on the road last night. I may just take a different bike down to the fest today, but I feel compelled to note that it seems like a fundamental design flaw if a disc brake pad is even capable of falling out of its caliper. Changing disc brake pads is a pain, so I tend to delay the change as long as I can. Just a little advice for those of you who do this sort of thing: if your brake pads look like the ones above, it probably means you waited just a little bit too long.

The New Pornographers played two nights at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre. Neko Case apparently missed her plane and didn’t make the first show, but was there in full force for the second one.

With the Vogue’s stage fill with nine of the finest musicians you’ll find, it’s hard to imagine a better band. Opening the show with the slow burn of Myriad Harbour (whose opening lyric I took a plane I took train / Who cares you always end up in the city seemed like a reference to Neko’s travel problems yesterday) the first song the band played from the brilliant new album Together was the pop masterpiece Crash Years. The show was a nice mix of new material (Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk, My Shepherd) songs and old (My Rights Versus Yours, All The Old Showstoppers) and the normally quiet Vogue crowd was on its feet for the entire time.

There wasn’t much stage banter—this was definitely about the music—but after spotting a male audience member in the balcony with no shirt on, Neko started riffing on references to the infamous incident at the Ryman Auditorium when she removed her shirt, apparently resulting in a performance ban. Joking about her boobs being offensive but this guy’s “man boobs” being OK, she was in fine form with comments like “I can make milk with my fuckin’ boobs” and, perhaps the night’s funniest moment, “I’m gonna go home to my hotel room and just take of my shirt and go ‘look at those useful things.” This last, naturally, led to a reaction from the men of the crowd. So predictable.

The New Pornographer’s Together is the most obvious omission from this year’s Polaris Prize Short List. It’s a brilliant album that reminds me of why I fell in love with this band in the first place, the equal of the much earlier and brilliant Challengers and—frankly—a stronger album than Broken Social Scene’s Forgiveness Rock Record and certainly strong than Tegan & Sara’s newest. It’s not going to matter anyway since the prize is going to go to Dan Mangan’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice but it’s an oversight nonetheless.

This show kicked off what I’m expecting to be a music saturated weekend with the next three days of my life being spent at the Vancouver International Folk Fest. I’ll be back to the real world on Monday.

More photos from the show are on Flickr. I wasn’t able to take my “real” camera, and with assigned seating my mobility was limited. The photos are unashamedly Neko heavy—she was directly in front of me on the stage and the other side was somewhat obstructed. Yeah. That’s my excuse…we’ll go with it.

Headwater calls their blend of roots and folk music tractor jazz. It’s pretty hard not to love these guys. I met a group of people who happened to be taking the ferry one day when Headwater were on the boat. An impromptu practice session started up at the bow of the ferry, and pretty soon the stern was almost completely empty as a crowd gathered. That’s how you make fans.

Last night was the first in a series of weekly shows at Lynn Valley Library and Headwater played for about an hour and a half. It is, after all, their local library.

More photos are on flickr.

The Malahat Revue is a collaboration between some of Vancouver’s best independent musicians. Hannah Georgas, Jeremy Fisher, Aidan Knight and Said the Whale are embarking on a tour of British Columbia by bicycle. Jeremy’s toured extensively by bike before, but never with a group this large.

To start the tour the gang gathered at CBC Plaza on Hamilton Street in Vancouver and put on a free show. With summer having finally arrive in Vancouver, it was a glorious day.

More photos from today’s set are on flickr.

The Malahat Revue Teaser from Jonathan Taggart on Vimeo.

Victoria’s Current Swell played a live set at Yaletown’s David Lam Park as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival

More pictures are available on flickr.

Mimosa are a Vancouver based bilingual jazz(ish) band. They played a live set at Yaletown’s David Lam Park as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and were blessed with beautiful, rare sun throughout the performance.

More photos are available on flickr.

The Western Front is one of my favourite Vancouver arts organizations. Located in Mt. Pleasant, the front providers rehearsal and performance space as well as runs arts education programs for children.

The Front stages events in other locations, and this weekend’s Sonic Playground is happening at Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Centre. It’s a participatory art exhibit targeting the entire family, and also a whole lot of fun.

I suppose you could argue that it all started here. Of course I owned Yankee Hotel Foxtrot before this, and it got listened to…a lot. This was my first Wilco concert though.

Strictly speaking a Jeff Tweedy solo show, but with Glen providing backing drums that’s two Wilco band members so let’s just call it a Wilco show by proxy at least. Wilco is more than Jeff, but the line between Jeff’s performances and Wilco’s is blurry at the best of times.

It was an amazing show. One of the best I’ve ever seen. I went with a friend—a date, actually—and we had a great time. I didn’t know at the time it was going to be our last date. There was music played that I’d never heard before.

The relationship ended the next day. We still talk, though not often, and when we do she occasionally talks about how great the show was. She remembers California Stars vividly. That song is a gateway drug to Wilco, trust me. I think I spent most of the show standing behind her, with my arms wrapped around her waist. Given that I was probably singing softly into her ear, I’m happy to know she still loves the song.

The rest of the tour was recorded on video and released as Sunken Treasure - Live in the Pacific Northwest a full length concert on DVD. Well worth watching and owning.

One of the disadvantages of not having a TV is that every once in a while something like this happens and I don’t hear about it. Ah well. At least I can ride out over the tubes here and see it after the fact.

Watching Neko Case take out her aggression on a fan is pretty darn funny. Wait until the end when she demonstrates her business savvy: “Still good. We could resell that.”

Local band Wintermitts held a video launch party at local vegetarian restaurant Cafe Deux Soleils. A good time was had by all.

Arcade Fire at the Notman House from POP Montréal on Vimeo.

More new Arcade Fire at the Notman House from POP Montréal on Vimeo.

More video from the Great Lake Swimmers show at the Vogue Theatre in January.

Michael Geist, Canada’s most recognized expert in online rights, writes thoughtfully about the government’s proposed copyright reforms in The Tyee.

Mr. Clement, Loosen Those Digital Locks!
Unfortunately, the legal protection for digital locks — unquestionably the biggest and most controversial digital copyright issue — is the one area where there is no compromise. Despite a national copyright consultation that soundly rejected inflexible protections for digital locks on CDs, DVDs, e-books, and other devices, the government has caved to U.S. pressure and brought back rules that mirror those found in the United States. These rules limit more than just copying as they can also block Canadian consumers from even using products they have purchased.

Interestingly, on the same topic, I received a response to a note I sent to CBC Radio’s Spark about their coverage of the copyright act which seems to suggest that Tony Clement hasn’t read and certainly doesn’t understand the act that he’s rewriting.

Surprised? Read on.

In an article titled Industry minister admits to breaking copyright law to build iPod collection the National Post quoted Industry Minister Tony Clement as saying this (the emphasis is mine):

“Well you see, you know I think I have to admit it probably runs afoul of the current law because the current law does not allow you to shift formats. So the fact of the matter is I have compact discs that I’ve transferred, I have compact discs from my children or my wife that I’ve transferred onto my iPod. None of that is allowable under the current regime,” Mr. Clement, a music buff who also legally purchases songs from iTunes to build a digital database that now stands at 10,452 songs.

The thing is, current copyright law in Canada explicitly allows the duplication of music for personal use. Section 80 of the current copyright act states:

80. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the act of reproducing all or any substantial part of
(a) a musical work embodied in a sound recording,
(b) a performer’s performance of a musical work embodied in a sound recording, or
© a sound recording in which a musical work, or a performer’s performance of a musical work, is embodied
onto an audio recording medium for the private use of the person who makes the copy does not constitute an infringement of the copyright in the musical work, the performer’s performance or the sound recording.

The act is quite clear in providing the exemption, and provides it only for musical work[s] embodied in a sound recording. No such exemption is provided for video recordings or written works, though various court rulings have clearly extended the fair use doctrine to protect the latter. Photocopying portions of a book or magazine for research purposes has been explicitly recognized as legal by the Supreme Court while photocopying an entire novel for the purposes of reading it would likely be illegal.

The Canadian Recording Industry Association argued Section 80 didn’t apply to digital copies, and Geist commented on this in 2005, saying:

Second, CRIA recently argued that the private copying right does not apply to copies made to personal computers. A review of the legislative history of private copying provides little support for this interpretation, however, as the statute was intentionally drafted in a technology neutral fashion such that it could be applied to new copying media, including computer hard drives.

but the senior minister seems to have missed that.

The new proposed copyright legislation—Bill C32—is being sold to the Canadian public as ‘making legal what most people are already doing’ while protecting the rights of content creators and owners. In fact, it does exactly the opposite by making it illegal to break what’s being referred to as “digital locks.” Since there’s no such thing as a digital lock, it’s reasonable to presume that the minister is using this as an analogy to refer to encryption or copy protection in almost any form.

Music CDs are essentially the only digital format that currently ships without any form of encryption. The Compact Disc was, in fact, the first mass produced and mass marketed type of digital media. While software had long been sold with various forms of copy protection ranging from serial numbers to old tricks like inserting known bad sectors into legal copies (illegal copies that didn’t match the known bad sectors would fail) Compact Discs had no such protection. The industry tried to introduce new formats to replace the Compact Disc—Audio DVD and SACD were the most notable attempts—but failed. With little noticeable difference in sound quality, consumers didn’t bite. Every format introduced since (including digital downloads of music) has included a digital lock in the form of content encryption. They’ve all been broken, but the locks are there nonetheless.

Because the copyright act explicitly allows the duplication of music, including format shifting, the new provisions of Bill C-32 give the Canadian Public nothing and, in fact, may take away some rights that aren’t explicitly codified. I keep Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity on my laptop. I own the complete DVD set, but copied them—format shifting as Minister Clement would say—to make them easier to carry, and to serve as a backup copy protecting the original media.

Under the current copyright act this might be legal under the fair use doctrine, although it’s not explicitly legalized because its not a sound recording but a video recording the nobody’s lost anything here. It’s the same principle as copying my music for personal use: I just want to watch what I legally own in another format. What use is my iPhone if it doesn’t have Captain Tightpants and his crew on it?

Under Bill C-32 this would be illegal. The DVDs I copied them from were encrypted with a digital lock, and despite the fact that I bought them legally C-32 restricts my right to do what I did. It would require me to purchase them.

Tony Clement isn’t giving us anything, but he is taking something away. What annoys me most is that he doesn’t even seem to know this. I’d expect a senior minister to at least read and understand a piece of legislation before writing its replacement.

More Reading

Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights
Michael Geist
Lang Michener on Bill C-32
Bill C-32 as introduced in Parliament

There’s nothing quite so perfect as old school Being There era Wilco to introduce a Blackhawks game.

Toronto altCountry legends The Sadies played Vancouver’s Legendary Biltmore Cabaret last night. The place rocked, my ears are still ringing and for the first time in over two years of regular attendance, the band played two encores (including an awesome cover of Van Morisson’s Gloria.)

The most pure fun I’ve had at a live show since Young Galaxy at Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern.

Norah Jones seems to have been playing this around—there’s a video of her performing it at Neil Young’s Bridge School Festival as well. There doesn’t seem to be all that much love for this in the Wilco community. I’m a bit on the fence.

This was a great show, and a surprise number for the encore.

This soul infused cover of Wilco’s I Am Trying to Break Your Heart has been making the rounds, and I’ve been rather slow to post it actually. Other things on my mind I suppose.

It’s fairly awesome, and works the refrain from Theologians into the mix as well.

The funny thing is I’m a pretty good candidate for not liking this, but I do. I most often describe I Am Trying to Break Your Heart as a song that reaches deep into my soul and tears it out every time I hear it, and I mean it.

This version turns the song into a pretty entertaining and much lighter romp, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

“My next guest may be the best rock band in the world working today.”

I didn’t say it. Craig Ferguson did. It must be true.
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To see an artist in their hometown is always a special thing. Playing at home in front of family and friends artists are at ease…more natural. Performances become more intimate because of the connections to the audience, usually a more established and obviously appreciative fan base.

Dan Mangan lives in Vancouver, and last night he played one of Vancouver’s premiere venues—the Vogue Theatre. Calling the night electric doesn’t do it justice. From the moment Dan took the stage, it was obvious that he was right where he belonged.

Opening with the uptempo Sold from last year’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice got the crowd started quite nicely. A more straightforward and rocking song than much of the material from the album, it was followed closely by Road Regrets, a song which has ended forever the debate over the age old question “What’s the best rock and roll road trip song?”

Most of Nice, Nice, Very Nice was played throughout the night, with Dan playing the occasional number solo on stage. About half way through the show he was joined on stage by Ivan E. Coyote who told a love story—her version of it at least—interspersed with verses from Pine for the Cedars. I saw Dan and Ivan at the Anza Club last year and it was one of the most interesting live events I’d attended. The crowd at the Vogue was more raucous than that intimate show, but no less appreciative.

Dan also played two new songs during the night: one inspired by travels through the small and dwindling towns of North Ontario which seems likely to be titled Oh Fortune; the other I can’t recall.

As the night went on and the clock approached the curfew time of 11:00, Dan left the stage and came down into the audience. Initially joined—tentatively, it should be noted—by two younger girls he was quickly surrounded and overwhelmed by an adoring fan base that rushed the stage (something I’ve never seen happen at many Vogue shows.) Playing from the audience floor for almost an entire number, Dan clambered back on stage at last. I half expected him to do a bit of Peter Gabriel Lay Your Hands on Me style crowd surfing.

Reliable crowd pleaser Robots followed, with the crowd staying at the foot of the stage for the inevitable sing-along chorus of “Robots need love too” , ending the first part of the show at about 10:30. An encore followed, naturally, including the quieter and more contemplative So Much for Everyone from Dan’s first full length album Postcards and Daydreaming. Accompanied by the crowd—dubbed by Dan as the Granville Street Choir—the night came to a quieter close, followed by another round of raucous applause until the house lights went up.

Seeing an artist in their hometown is always special. When it’s an artist with the immense talent that Dan Mangan has, it’s not just special—it’s magic.

A larger selection of photos from the show is on Flickr.

I was kind of hoping to see Neko throwing some kicks here, but I guess you can’t have everything. An awesome new album will have to do. This was apparently filmed in a Steveston dojo.

Sinéad O’Connor - WAR - SNL