WOLF PARADE INTERVIEW

Well, besides the comparison to HHH and the Blood Brothers (SUPREME, if unintended, INSULT!) this is a pretty decent WP interview done by Jeremy Brendan. Insight from Dan concerning tight-pants, the Nation of Ulysses and hipster San Diego!

VAGABOND UPDATE

I will be getting drunk in a park somewhere either in or around the Plateau in the city of Montreal tonight. Readers who find me will be rewarded with a sarcastic lecture on the abysmal qualitry of their record collections that will smart for days.

EULOGY TIME

Westcoast Goldkixx readers should all raise a glass of Baby Duck champagne in honour of Blackball Records in Nanaimo, BC, which, as of April 17th, closed its doors forever after a taxing and anguishing period of decision-making by proprietor Andrew McGregor. No doubt Jack Tileman (former owner) is miffed. And what of the youth of Nanaimo, now destined to spend lazy afternoons in 7-11 parking lots, drinking malt liquor and fucking each other in the bushes? Nanaimo already has a high enough teen pregnancy rate, Blackball's closing will certainly not help. A good record store proprietor is one-half curmudgeon, one-half counsellor - a surrogate parent with taste, and without tendencies towards molestation. McGregor was just such an owner. I recall my first Blackball party - I was to deliver an MC5-like speech before the Crusties took to the stage, but Jack Tileman decided I was far too drunk. I knew that behind that highly controversial decision lurked the goblin of anti-semitism, and I chased him about the Queens, looking to even the score by embarassing him with a push-up competition. It all came to naught, and later that night I passed out on Ken's couch. Visit the page. Console Andrew McGregor.

Montreal

Either I'm allergic to pollen or I should taking the warning not to mix Red Bull with alcohol seriously. I've been in a brain-fog of sorts since Saturday, which accounts for my astonishing lack of wit as of late. Please don't hold it against me, I'll vindicate myself in the future.

The Chinese Stars performance at El Salon on Friday left me a lot more excited and enthused than the flatly recorded EP that they brought along with them. AIDS Wolf were impressive, even with the new lineup change...

Tonight Victorian ex-pat (and former editor of The Real Deal) David Barclay performs with the multi-voiced Parka 3 in an event touted to be their last show ever (though rumours are that they'll reform in the fall) at 2106 Bleury. It's free.

Possibly the only people in Montreal who could give you a definition of what the C86 Movement was without resorting to a googlesearch, the killhimhidethebody duo begin hosting a series of weekly Wednesday events at Saphir (3699 St. Laurent) tomorrow with "Aloha Cuteness." It's a little difficult to figure out what the connections are between twee britpop and Hawaii, but I'm sure there hearts are in the right place.

Stay at home on Thursday. Bake something. Phone your mother. Clip your toenails. And would it hurt to clean some dishes once in a while? Yeesh.

Have you been craving a reminder of exactly how obnoxious youth culture can be? Suffering from a bad case of jaded, post-21 year old depression? Japanther, possibly the only band left that could save the People'sPotatoCore kids from their own damn self-righteous selves will be performing on Friday at El Salon, with the unwashed Les Angles Morts. Bring deodorant.

Montreal

If you're not spending the week gearing up for the release of Shaolin Soccer (which coincides with this week's visit to Canada by the Dalai Lama) as no doubt multitudes are, there are a number of shows and vernissages worth your time. A rule of thumb - drink cheaply at the vernissage, smuggle your own for the shows.

Slaves of the Soul Jazz label (I know your type, I've spent enough time responding to your queries in a record store) will be attending the Sharon Jones performance. While it probably won't top the Wolf Parade show on Saturday night (and what could?), the Chinese Stars (ex-Arab On Radar, 6 Finger Satellite) performance at El Salon will no doubt prove a memorable and sweaty occasion, hopefully transcending the high-school dance feel the venue exudes. Pop and chips?


Tonight

Elf Power, Zumm Zumm @ Café Petit De Gaule

Thursday

Lorraine Oades et François Mathieu vernissage at CACQM 4247 rue Saint-Dominique, 5pm

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, DJ Kobal @ La Sala Rossa

Friday

The Chinese Stars, AIDSWolf, LesbiansOnEcstasy, Who's The Ghost @ El Salon ($8adv/$10door)

Rufus Wainwright, Teitur @ Metropolis

Détournements Exhibition opens @ Skol #511-460 Ste-Catherine W.

Saturday

Kraftwerk @ Metropolis

Today's Globe and Mail features the first in a snappy three part series on Belarus and President Alexander Lukashenko ("Europe's last dictator") penned by Mark MacKinnon. This is obviously part of a campaign by the Western Media to discredit moustachioed heads of state.

"Europe's 'last dictator' flexes iron fist"
President Alexander Lukashenko

Last WOLF PARADE show for 3 months...

Montreal..... Wolf Parade's going into hibernation. They'll be playing a final show before this this upcoming Saturday.

WOLF PARADE w/ NAOMI WATTS, SUNSET RUBDOWN
& DJ dance party spectacular.

SAT. APRIL 17th, 2004
@ GO RIN DO 4064 St. Laurent (above Barfly)
10pm / $5

New-wave Vancouver band The Organ will be performing tonight at Richards on Richards with Toronto's The Metric (who, truthfully, I have little taste for - seems to me that most groups scrambling about the Rough Trade/Factory Records vaults east of the rockies in Canada are almost totally inept at it)... They've got a new album out "Grab That Gun," the original recording of which couldn't be salvaged from the overbearing production overdubbing and of an unnamed New Pornographer with delusions of Spector and had to be re-recorded. (This uber-producer probably not all that angered by the re-recording, expecting that in 10-15 years his legacy will be assured when the tapes are discovered, released by Rykodisc and his heavy hand is praised to high-heaven by the indie-press of the day...)

The after-party's at Shine, rapidly becoming the 4AM-friendly den of choice for the Vancouver kids exhausted with slumming it in the squalid dives of East Hastings, and pleased that the unisex bathrooms allow you to share your coke with members of the opposite sex. Also, it's dark and loud enough that you never notice that you're grinding it with the early 30s, unemployed quasi-paedophile that your roommate took home last night, and that took your other roommate home the weekend before.

Yes, yes, yes, I'm midly hung-over and unfortunately being assaulted by the memory of the gaggle of flailing hippy art-students that took over the Long-Haul/Hall's dance-floor last night. Yes, yes, I'm eating chocolate peanut-butter popcorn and drinking iced-coffee (INGREDIENTS:WATER,COFFEE,MILK,SUGAR) and contemplating huffing some white-out and recalling Blonde Redhead's completely inspired, baroque, gorgeous and slightly melancholic performance last night... (On another note - the reaction to the Unicorns by their hometown crowd was slightly underwhelming. Unfortunate.)

My weekend...
TONIGHT: Wasted on St. Denis, aggravating the Francophone patrons of the establishments I'll be at with my wretched accent.
SATURDAY: Winding down at Corovo (on St. Laurent), listening to some other guy named Jay spin records.
SUNDAY: Stereolab, Clearlake @ Club Soda (....errrr, maybe not.)

Baron Samedi Tourdates

Have Organ, Will Travel
Baron Samedi, Esq., light-years ahead of the indie-rock kids just now turning their ears on to no-wavey/funk/free-jazz fusions and helping James Chance pay off the debts incurred from those dark and desolate years between "James White's Flaming Demonics" and the release of his box-set by Tigerstyle, will be embarking on a west-coast jaunt quite quickly. Go see them!

WED/APR/28 Vancouver, BC @ the railway
SAT/MAY/1 Calgary, AB @ night gallery
SUN/MAY/2 Missoula @ the ritz
MON/MAY/3 Denver, CO @ larimer lounge
TUE/MAY/4 Lawrence, Kansas @ replay lounge (TBC)
FRI/MAY/7 Austin, Texas @ beerland
SAT/MAY/8 Tuscon, Arizona @ the vaudeville cabaret
MON/MAY/10 Los Angeles, California @ the echo
TUE/MAY/11 San Francisco, California (TBC)
WED/MAY/12 San Francisco, California @ bruno's
THU/MAY/13 Chico, California (TBC)
FRI/MAY/14 Eugene, Oregon @ luna lounge
SAT/MAY/15 Seattle, Washington @ the hideaway

swoon.

It's going to be a busy, busy spring, once the snow clears away and those blustering winds stop freezing my face and destroying my hair...


CBCRadio3, fourty times more adventurous and entertaining than CBC's ZedTV or any late-night variety show hosted by either that Jonovision guy or one of the down-and-out, contracted-for-life cast members of Degrassi High, will be touring a multimedia/music/photography exhibit across Canada starting in April and carrying on until May, under the moniker "Connect The Dots." Groups such as Chet, Young & Sexy, The Unicorns, The Floor, P:ano, Russian Futurists, along with the token yawn-inducing Maritimers and a whole smattering of photographers... The Victoria event is taking place at the Second Story Cafe/Bookstore, an absolutely amazing space run by Kate and a gentleman (who's name I've sadly forgotten!), located where Renaissance Books used to be on Johnson St.

Pertinent to the Goldkixxers...

VANCOUVER Friday, April 23

@ Scotiabank Dance Centre w/ Young & Sexy, Chet, Quadra, No Luck Club

VICTORIA Saturday, April 24

@ SecondStory Cafe w/ Young & Sexy, Chet, Quadra, David Chenery

MONTREAL Wednesday, May 12

@ O Patro Vys w/ The Unicorns, Controller.Controller, Leiderhosen Lucil

Later this spring, another cultural caravan, this one without the strong arm of the state behind it, will be wandering across Canada. Pine Magazine will celebrate the launch of their premiere issue with an initial party in Victoria, followed by a tour.

VICTORIA Friday, April 30th

@ SecondStory Cafe, doors @ 9

VANCOUVER - ST.JOHN'S

May 1st - May 19th (details to follow)

end times.

Even the apostates, heretics and naysayers amongst us are unable to deny the spiritual magnitude of this upcoming tour. A crusade? A wet-dream for the glassy-eyed members of the Pitchforkmedia cult? Destroyer(Merge Records), Frog Eyes(Absolutely Kosher) and Pink Mountaintops (JagJaguwar/the hallucino-sexual alter-ego of Black Mountain, formerly known as Jerk With A Bomb) will be storming across this god-foresaken craggy and rocky nation, spreading a doctrine of LOVE and TRANSCENDENTAL BLISS and SALVATION, healing the sick and lame, forgiving the cursed sinners and performing hymns of such sublime and everlasting beauty that the heavens will open up, the oceans will swell, lambs will lay down with lions, and so forth.

Fri April 23 - Victoria @ Second Story Bookstore
Sat April 24 - Kelowna @ TBA
Mon April 26 - Edmonton @ Sidetrack Cafe
Tue April 27 - Calgary @ Night Gallery
Wed April 28 - Saskatoon @ Amigo's
Thu April 29 - Regina @ The State
Fri April 30 - Winnipeg @ West End Cultural Ctr
Thu May 6 - Toronto @ Lee's Palace
Fri May 7 - Ottawa @ Babylon
Sat May 8 - Montreal @ El Salon

JWAB/Pink Mountaintops/Black Mountain

Well, it probably wasn't the best time to be recording an album - Fuck Me USA was in the process of disintegrating, along with my long-term relationship and any love I had for Vancouver... Nonetheless, Colin Stewart of the Hive was a genius of sorts behind the console, ably guiding our rotting vessel through the choppy waters. You'll probably never hear the album (Christ, even I haven't!), but there are plenty of other bands that the Hive's worked with and will be working with that you'll hear a lot from in the next while. Black Mountain (formerly Jerk With A Bomb) will be recording and Baron Samedi, Esq. finished up their album a couple of months ago, which won't be available for a little while yet.

Vancouver might be an agonizing place to watch your life fall apart in (as compared to say Vienna or something), but there's a lot of great bands/musicians in the city...

Hive Studios & Hive-Fi Recordings (live recording of the Walkmen at Zulu Records can be found under the LIVE section on the Hive site)

"...didn't even know it."

montreal

Yes, non-virgins will be allowed entrance into the upcoming Unicorns/Blonde Redhead performance at Club Soda this Thursday, but not before paying $20. It's probably best to get the tickets as soon as possible, as there's a distinct possibility this show will be sold out. Keeners & former lovers of the band's members might be interested in driving the 2 hours to Ottawa the night prior to catch the Unicorns at Zaphod Beeblebrox (hey, 6 Finger Satellite played there!)...

On more quick note: shame on all of the people who missed the Weird War performance last night.

Montreal

The Observant Goldkicks reader might be preparing for Passover, buying the Matzoh and Massor, anticipating a week of baking under the 18 minute rule for Chametz, brushing up on her or his Haggadah reciting skills.

our weekend
Friday - upper Eastside birthday soiree for a photographer, an English lit student and Sir Braithwaite. (GOT TOO STONED / WENT HOME EARLY)
Saturday - Weird War @ Le Salon (GOT TIPSY / STAYED LATE)
Sunday - Ol' Time Relijun (w/ Lenin I Shumov & American Devices) @ Casa Del Popolo (STAYING HOME TO READ A BOOK)
Monday - Seripop art opening (w/ DJing by NIREVERSE) @ Casa Del Popolo

peace!