The Side Project

First, the title. I have another blog that I share with some of my homies. I'm not going to say what it's called or provide a link as I prefer to keep its readership to a minimum. I mean really, why would you write something that you want people to read? What's the point of that? Anyway, now that I'm part of this site, albeit temporarily, it's like joining a new band. I'm happy to be the lead singer, the rest of you can distribute the instruments amongst yourselves. Except for the tambourine. That is also mine.

Second, the purpose. Almost everyone who reads my other blog is someone I spend a lot of time with in person. What this means is that anything I write about there is stuff I've already told them in person or, even more embarrassing, they were actually involved in the recorded events. Even though my friends and I are a bunch of egomaniacs, we can only take so much of ourselves. So, I've decided to use this spot to talk about stuff that would only be redundant on my other blog.

Hence, the island show. I would have posted about it sooner, but it has been a particularly busy week. (scroll down past all this text for the pictures)

Max (Wong), William (Cheng), Jess (Pang) and I (me) headed to Centre Island last Saturday to catch Feist, Bloc Party and Broken Social Scene. Shirley would have been a perfect fit for this outing, but for some reason she couldn't make it. We got there super early to make sure that we wouldn't miss any acts. This may have been a bad idea. It was EXTREMELY hot and in truth, I was only looking forward to seeing Bloc Party. They're the only band who I have much experience with. The first two acts were Raising The Fawn and J Mascis (formerly of Dinosaur Jr.). I enjoyed Raising The Fawn, but J Mascis came off as repetetive and boring. That could be due to the fact that anytime you throw three or four guitars into a live act, those of us unfamiliar with that band's songs hear nothing but a wall of indistinguishable noise.

Feist came on after what seemed like an eternity (or about five hours). At this point, we'd moved from our original positions and found a spot under a tree. It was harder to see the acts, but our flesh was no longer being seared from our bones. I'll take that. As Max ventured into the roaring masses to take pictures, I actually began to doze off in the shade. Feist's voice is so sexy and soothing at the same time. My nap was not due to disinterest, but rather a result of being charmed by this fantastical creature working her magic through a microphone.

I was well rested for Bloc Party. This time, I decided to follow Max for a closer look. The set seemed to go by all too quickly. Even though they were guests of Broken Social Scene, I'm willing to go on the record as saying that they owned this show. The energy level was off the charts. If you were to squeeze out the pure rock juices from this performance, you could extract enough raw fuel to power a city the size of Atlanta for, at the very least, six years. I warn you, my calculations may be a bit off there.

We couldn't stay for the entire Broken Social Scene set. We all had to go home for various reasons. Also, we're old. I didn't want to see them that badly, since I know nothing about them other than a couple of singles and I didn't want to be exposed as the poser that I am.

Overall, it was a great show. Sure, we had to sit around for about eight hours before we finally got to the headliners, but there are worse fates than sitting around on an island all day. For example, I could have been at work (SEGUE!). My last month at Food Basics officially started on Canada Day.

Shirley, when next you see me, it shall be as a free man.

(click to enlarge)

Raising The Fawn


J Mascis


Feist


Bloc Party


Broken Social Scene (all 600 of them)


Photos courtesy of Max Wong. Sorry there weren't more, but I suck at posting pictures.

- Big Al
12:38 pm