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Artist: Kids on TV
Song: Poison
Recorded at Pride Toronto, South Stage, June 27, 2009.Kids on TV - Poison
My notes for this set can be found here
Artist: Kids on TV
Song: Poison
Recorded at Pride Toronto, South Stage, June 27, 2009.Kids on TV - Poison
My notes for this set can be found here
Artist: Gentleman Reg
Song: How We Exit
Recorded at Pride Toronto, South Stage, June 27, 2009.Gentleman Reg - How We Exit
My notes for this set can be found here
Hooded Fang / Gentleman Reg / Kids on TV
South Stage, Pride Toronto. Saturday, June 27, 2009.
Ah, Pride. Political statement, cruising ground, big-ass party,1 corporate sell-out. Or for some of us, a break from imposing our heteronormative patriarchal agendas2 and a nice day out. On a warm, clear day, absolutely perfect for an outdoor concert, the big draw for me an well-curated evening programme at the South Stage under the rubric of "Just Gimme Indie!" so A. and myself braved the snaking queue on Church St. and inched our way closer, finally getting in as the crowds eased out after The Cliks' set. For all the waiting it was unsurprisingly empty inside, so we had plenty room to sit for a few minutes and still find some nice turf to watch once Hooded Fang hit the stage. Decorated with rainbows, the band (now down to six members) is still playing basically the same set of dance-worthy, catchy new-wave pop as when I saw them this spring, but they did a great job up on the big stage and seemed like utter naturals up there, uncluttered and confident. Except for Lorna Wright's vox being buried a bit at the start, the sound was very good, and Daniel crooned with authority. The half-hour set hit all the right notes. The area in front of the stage wasn't all that crowded at this point, but if you added up all the people inside the fence, it was probably more than you'd see at a club show, so hopefully the band turned a few heads.
J. found us during the set and we had some time to chat during the changeover. Not to mention some time to move away from the filthy, wigged-out dude, looking like he'd woken up in a flowerbed, who was staggering around erratically and kicking empty beer cups around randomly. He was somewhere away from us by the time Gentleman Reg hit the stage, launching into an intense, amped-up version of "How We Exit". "This is the rock set," he told us, and the band backed up his words, the set starting up with a couple mean two-guitar attacks. A couple covers in the middle, including a reinterpretation of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart"3 and what Reg promised to be "maybe the gayest thing you see today," a take on the Brian Adams/Mel C. number "Baby When You're Gone". That was followed by "one of our own hits", a version of "We're in a Thunderstorm" that totally nailed it. A closing romp through "The Boyfriend Song" was just icing on the cake. Quite fabulous — this band has gelled since I saw them at CMW and are firing on all cylinders.4
Listen to a track from this set here.
There's a fascinating — and as of yet untold, so far as I know — story to be told about Kids on TV. Here's a band that played the same stage a year ago and is now playing an almost entirely different set and developing a new sound. KoTV are reinventing themselves — the new songs getting over on less raw, dirty energy, but still keeping the groove moving. Of the new stuff, at least two songs sound like clear winners: the X-Men disco tribute "Dazzler" as well as "Poison".5 What has become the core trio (Roxanne/Scott/John) were supplemented by Isabelle Noël on beats6, as well as some guest vox. KoTV appear to be working hard to reconcile their radical art origins with their presence at the rather corporate Pride — Roxanne in particular seemed to be chafing at the sponsor-heavy environment and rueful that the band could have a big Bud Lite logo or nothing on the screen behind them, but not their own well-constructed projections. The set ended with a mildly chaotic version of "Breakdance Hunx" that gave the impression that after the new, less familiar stuff, the band was "giving one back" to the audience. A good set, and KoTV should be saluted for not resting on their laurels.
Listen to a track from this set here.
I forgot my camera at home for this one. Thanks to A. for lending me some of his pix. He has a kick-ass camera that takes very good pictures, so I had to meticulously digitally fiddle with them to match my usual standard of distant/blurry looking.7
1 This could also be rendered as "big ass party", for those so inclined, I suppose.
2 I don't, like, carry pamphlets around or anything.
3 This might owe something to a similar arrangement of the song by L.A. band Abe Vigoda. Anyone know of any interesting connection that might have led to this?
4 Worth noting that Reg is playing a free show at Harbourfront, on July 25th. Attendance is de rigeur.
5 Hopefully this doesn't preclude a future cover of the Bell Biv DeVoe track with the same name.
6 Excitingly, she was playing a tenori-on, the first time I've actually seen one in real life action.
7 I also noted that suckingalemon was onstage taking pictures, so those'll be cool to see if they turn up.
Artist: Ohbijou
Song: New Years
Recorded at The Opera House, June 25, 2009.Ohbijou - New Years
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: Mountain Song*
Recorded at The Opera House, June 25, 2009.Evening Hymns - Mountain Song
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Thanks to a commenter for provider the title to this one.
Ohbijou / Great Bloomers / Evening Hymns
The Opera House. Thursday, June 25, 2009.
The local CD release party for Ohbijou's excellent new Beacons album was much-anticipated. Even had it gone off on its original late April date, it would have felt rather a long time in coming, with several of the new songs having already had a fairly lengthy tenure in the setlist. But: good things/thems that wait/etc.
I was a tad apprehensive at the fact the gig was at The Opera House — not one of favourite venues to see one of my favourite bands. Though I've seen some great shows there, I've also had some negative experiences including sweaty, claustrophobic overcrowding and muddy sound. While I has hopeful that Ohbijou wasn't going to draw as much from the pushy, angry demographic of concert-goers, I was mildly worried that the room might muffle the beautifully detailed interplay of their sound. At the very least, I thought to myself on arriving, the band was able to use the big stage at The Opera House to their advantage, having taken some extra effort to dress it up with dramatically-hung sheets overhead and so forth.
First up was Evening Hymns, a local-via-Peterborough act, playing a set of Hayden-meets-Counting Crows-eque pop. Frontman Jonas Bonnetta has a plaintive voice and some vaguely pretty tunes that were at their best when delivered with a a six-piece backing band, adding flourishes on keyb, trumpet, and Sylvie Smith's backing vox. It was a spirited set with a nice energy level, but most of it didn't particularly connect with me. There were some good moments, and one winner in a new "Mountain Song" carried by James Bunton's (guesting from Ohbijou) rollicking beat, but overall, count me amongst the unconverted at this point.
Listen to a track from this set here.
I'd seen Great Bloomers in a much smaller room this spring and was left with no strong impression. A bigger room with an enthusiastic crowd did not cause much change. The band is mildly MOR, but not unforgivably so, and actually led off with some fairly strong stuff, but I soon found it sagging a bit. Perhaps the well-executed cover of the Muscle Shoals classic "The Dark End of the Street" revealed the answer — the band's own material (as of yet) just hasn't reached that next level. It did pick up again towards the end — "Dark Horse" and "Speak of Trouble" both demonstrate some emergent popcraft, the former also showing that the band shouldn't be afraid to flex its country-rock muscles.
But in any case, all was prelude to Ohbijou's taking the stage. Boasting an enhanced lineup with extra strings and Kiely Russell's trumpet in addition to the core seven-piece, the band played an hour-long main set, very heavily leaning on the new album — only "St. Francis" from Swift Feet made it into the main set.1 This garners to complaints from this corner — it's highly exciting to hear the band playing the newer stuff with full confidence and in lush sound. The band seemed rather happy to be playing for the hometown crowd, forging one more connection between band and place to add to the ones they celebrate in their songs.2
There was a good crowd on hand, but down on the floor it wasn't packed in and felt fairly comfortable.3 And the sound, in the end, was pretty good, with all the players audible in the mix and nothing too overpowering. In terms of sheer performance quality, this might have been the best I've even seen from Ohbijou — this band is performing at a remarkably high level right now. There was also a pleasing visual aspect to the show, with the sheets above the band's heads acting as a screen for some live projections of colourful Brownian motion. A three-song encore began with the ineffable sweetness of "Thunderlove" and ended with the all-hands-on-stage percussion spectacle of "The Woods". Quite a time. Ohbijou are one of our best bands, and hopefully this album does them well.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 I can't put a title to the last song of the main set, tho I'm sure I've heard it played before. The lyrics start with "I'll lay it down". Can anyone help here?
2 Like the empty hole in Queen Street that always puts an echo of "Memoriam" in my mind when I walk by.
3 Though I have no love for the guy who started loudly yelling "encore!" with two songs left in the main set.
Artist: The Hoa Hoa's
Song: Grew Up on The Seeds
Recorded at the Silver Dollar, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.The Hoa Hoa's - Grew Up on The Seeds
My notes from this gig can be found here.
R.I.P. Sky Saxon
Artist: Nightwood
Song: Unknown*
Recorded at Rancho Relaxo, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.Nightwood - unknown
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* I'm guessing this one is called "Play the Dishes", but I can't find anything to back that up.
Artist: Woodpigeon
Song: The Alison Yip School for Girls*
Recorded at the Horseshoe Tavern, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.Woodpigeon - The Alison Yip School for Girls
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Note: This was broadcast live-to-air by the CBC, so if you dig around somewhere on their website, you could most likely find their version of it as well.
Artist: Zeroes
Song: Mudslinger
Recorded at the Silver Dollar, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.Zeroes - Mudslinger
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Mika Miko
Song: Business Cats*
Recorded at Sneaky Dee's, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.Mika Miko - Business Cats
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Thanks to a commenter for helping out with the song title.
Artist: Matt & Kim
Song: Yea Yeah
Recorded at the Whippersnapper Gallery, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Silverghost
Song: Bad Blood
Recorded at Neutral Lounge, NxNE Festival, June 18, 2009.Silverghost - Bad Blood
My notes for this set can be found here.
Artist: catl
Song: The Last Road
Recorded at the Silver Dollar, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.catl - The Last Road
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: The Mark Inside
Song: There is Nothing to Admit
Recorded at the Velvet Underground, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.The Mark Inside - There is Nothing to Admit
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Clydesdale
Song: Unknown*
Recorded at the Silver Dollar, NxNE Festival, June 20, 2009.Clydesdale - Unknown
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Do you know the title of this track? Please leave a comment!
NxNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto 2009.
Saturday, June 20, 2009. Featuring: Clydesdale, Woodpigeon, The Mark Inside, Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, catl, Nightwood, Hank & Lily, The Hoa Hoa's
8 P.M.: Clydesdale @ Silver Dollar
After the afternoon show, had some non-rock time to stretch my legs and grab a bite to eat, but it wasn't too long before I was back at it, starting off, again at the Silver Dollar. I'd never heard of Clydesdale, but the members' past credentials (Tangiers, Deadly Snakes, Grasshopper, The Killer Elite) were pretty impressive, so I figured I'd take a chance. It turned out to be a vital, exciting set. Classic rock in, say, the way The Only Ones or The Replacements were classic rock, and filled with the sort of energy you might've heard in a Tangiers or Deadly Snakes song. The four-piece were rigourously tight behind Shawn Leger's raspy vox. Even some technical problems with the drums couldn't slow the momentum. No weak songs, though one with Yuri Didrichsons on keyboards had an especially catchy edge to it. A band this good won't be playing the first slot of the evening for long.
Listen to a track from this set here.
9 P.M.: Woodpigeon @ The Horseshoe Tavern
Down to the 'Shoe (for my only appearance there during the festival) to check out Calgary's Woodpigeon for what turned out to be part of a live CBC3 showcase. I was a bit late getting on board with this group, now basking in Polaris-related buzz, but was curious to see what I'd heard praised as a solid live show. Based on the songs and voice of Mark Hamilton, the band takes simple songs and gently fabricates elaborate arrangements around them. This live set worked with a similar logic, starting quiet and small ("the slow jam portion of the evening") and gradually building up — in intensity as well as the number of players on stage. With strings, keys, and vibes (courtesy of local guest Paul Aucoin) there's an orchestral sweep to this music, intercut with a Tango In The Night pop sensibility (as Hamilton confessed in introducing "The Alison Yip School for Girls"). For my money, this worked out pretty well, and I was well impressed by Hamilton's superior form of soft rock. The band seems to still be gaining strength, as witnessed by a nice new cut "The Saddest Music in the World", complete with sampled looping whistle. The band played a longer-than-usual set, capped by the presentation of an award from Galaxie radio. Safe to say we'll be hearing more from 'em.
Listen to a track from this set here.
10 P.M.: The Mark Inside @ Velvet Underground
Tried my hardest to find one more band named after an animal to complete the trifecta, but no luck. Looking at the listings, the most promising thing close at hand seemed to be the unenticingly-named Dirtblonde from Liverpool, whose blurb promised "white noise racket" and namechecked Sonic Youth. So I ducked into the Hideout, a venue not normally on my radar, right on the hour to see a very non-British, non white-noise-racket bunch with Flying Vees, headbands and lather pants completing their setup.1 I was quite confused until the one with the headband announced, in a very un-Liverpool accent that "the band they hired didn't show up, so they got us instead — and we're a much better band". As they launched into a Sunset Strip-styled sleaze-rock riff, I was already fishing out my schedule. When the backup singers, wearing miniskirts and angel wings, came on stage I ducked out the door.
Cutting my losses, walked a few doors down to the Velvet and got in just as The Mark Inside were beginning their set with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for vocalist Chris Levoir's father. This was a perfectly acceptable consolation prize, as the only reason they'd not been on my list of things to see is that I'd seen 'em a couple months ago at CMW. Looking back, my remarks at the time seem unduly negative now, as my memories of the set ended up being warmer than my contemporaneous notes. Or perhaps I was just more receptive on the second time around, but I enjoyed this set pretty well, especially in the first half when the tempos were at their fastest, and Gus Harris' rhythm guit had a pleasingly insistent edge to it. "There is Nothing to Admit" received an especially pleading reading. I'm still a bit less sold when they slow down and get more of a bluesy vibe, such as on "Shots". A brand new track "Everything is a Daydream" hit closer to the mark, with its slightly manic vibe and torrent of lyrics more suggestive of a nightmare. An enjoyable set, and I'm glad I had this second viewing.
Listen to a track from this set here.
11 P.M.: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers @ Bread and Circus
Coulda easily stuck around and taken in the Zoobombs, but once again was feeling the itch for something different, and soon I found myself walking the length of Augusta to get to Bread and Circus, a spot totally unfamiliar to me. Moving from drizzly outside to sauna-like inside, my glasses actually steamed over, forcing me to blindly grope my way towards the back room, a squarish space with tall ceiling and raised tiers of tables at the back. It had the look of a sit-down place where you'd more likely go to see a play than a gig, so perhaps appropriate for something I was expecting to have a sort of cabaret feel. The band was on stage when I entered, but still going through a fairly lengthy soundcheck process, so I had enough time to compose myself and find a spot. This would end up being the venue with the loudest talking crowd of anything I saw at NxNE2 which I think cut into my enjoyment some. As for the band, starting with the sprightly opener "Odessa", we got the promised folksy jaunt, with sweet harmonies, strings, stand-up bass, and occasional accordion decorating the songs. Having no other familiarity with the band, I don't know if it was by design or just a product of the venue's sound that Olenka's acoustic guit was very front-and-centre, overwhelming all the other elements to the detriment of the sound. There were a few places where I felt the swooning romantic roil the band seemed capable of, but overall I found it muddled and mildly underwhelming.
12 A.M.: catl @ The Silver Dollar
In theory catl are the sort of act that I should have taken pains to avoid at the festival — they're local and play a reasonable number of shows. But I'd never been able to put it together to go out and see them, so I wanted to seize this opportunity, even if it meant missing out on some out-of-towner who might not pass this way again. Turned out to be a grand time. Catl's elemental blues-rock might be superficially compared to the John Spencer Blues Explosion, but there's a slightly different dynamic at play here. Originally a drums/guitar duo of Johnny LaRue and eponymous singer-guitarist catl (ex-Pecola) — whose aggressively slurred vocals gave the songs a vibe like The Fall covering John Lee Hooker. Added to that is the organ/percussion/vox of Sarah Kirkpatrick (ex-Shitt Hottt), who fleshed the songs out even more. Although seated, catl put a sweaty workman's effort in.3 The intense forty minutes was about the right length to appreciate this — and the band are definitely on the list to be seeing again.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 A.M.: Nightwood @ Rancho Relaxo
With no pick for this slot, went with a bit of a random choice, and I settled on this as much as anything because I wanted to be at the Rancho an hour down the line, but this Montréal trio turned out to be quite entertaining. Two women up front on guitars and vox plus a non-woman drummer behind. Both Erin Ross and Amber Goodwyn played more on the bottom strings, so the absence of a bass player wasn't really felt. There was a strong musical interplay between the two, both on guitar and in their tag-team vox. The band mostly dealt in slow-burning tunes — I don't know if any of their songs were actually about things you'd find in the woods at night, but they gave that kind of implicitly menacing vibe. Well, mostly, there were a few more upbeat numbers, including one with a chorus of "play the dishes, wash the guitar" which brought to mind the domestic adventures of Sleater-Kinney's "Little Babies". The band staked out a clear sonic space and did a good job of exploring that little patch of the woods.
Listen to a track from this set here.
2 A.M.: The Hank and Lily Show @ Rancho Relaxo
Watching the set-up during the soundcheck for The Hank and Lily Show, one could get the impression that a show was about to begin. But even then, there was still was a burst of anticipation when a voice started to sing with the stage empty, "Don't be afraid / don't be afraid / 'til I tell you why you ought to be afraid". Making their way through the crowd Hank (in a sort of steampunk gas mask) and Lily (wearing miniature deer antlers) led their followers (a bassist and a trio of backing singers) to the stage. And soon we were plunged into an old-fashioned medicine show, complete with testimonials for the snake oil and comic books available at the merch table. Although they were playing with this old-timey country imagery, the music was more blues-based. Not that any such book-learnin' distinctions meant much in the face of a sweaty good-time spectacle. Clearly a band that decided to stake itself on an ability to entertain, and in that department they delivered in spades. Hank (with a wireless mic concealed in his mask) delivered his vocals in a low-down hoodoo growl, contrasting with Lily's naif, chirpy sweetness. The songs about sin, prison and the apocalypse included lots of audience participation and generally led to a sweaty bit of fun craziness. Very much worth seeing live.
3 A.M.: The Hoa Hoa's @ Silver Dollar
Ended off the whole marathon of a day with The Hoa Hoa's, who I'd seen (and been pretty rocked out by) at the same venue during CMW. Commenting, "let's go on a trip together" the band launched into its thick and syrupy brand of psychedelic garage rock. An even better show than the first time I'd seen 'em, I was totally captivated, despite being a little bit exhausted. A fine way to end the festival and try to drag myself home before the sky started to get light.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 I can't honestly say with one hundred per cent accuracy that anyone on the stage was wearing leather pants, but the band had the aura of leather pants.
2 I found it striking that a member of another band on the night's bill was standing at the opposite side of the room from me, holding an audible conversation during the set.
3 In fact, I can't recall the last time I saw so much sweat running down the body of a guitar from the player's arm.
Artist: Laura Barrett
Song: Sorting Hat*
Recorded at Rolly's Garage, June 20, 2009.Laura Barrett - Sorting Hat
My notes from this gig are here.
* A tip of the hat (as it were) to Paul for providing me with the title to this one.
Artist: Times Neue Roman
Song: Roq Roq
Recorded at Rolly's Garage, June 20, 2009.Times Neue Roman - Roq Roq
My notes from this gig are here.
Artist: Lightmares
Song: Ghost You're a Liar
Recorded at Rolly's Garage, June 20, 2009.Lightmares - Ghost You're a Liar
My notes from this gig are here.
Daps All-Ages & No Shame Afternoon Extravaganza (feat. Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees, Lightmares, Spiral Beach, Times Neue Roman, Pick A Piper, Laura Barrett)
Rolly's Garage. Saturday, June 20, 2009.
Despite a late night before, managed to get up on Saturday and head down for this all-ages matinée. The fact that it was put on by the capable folks behind the No Shame and Daps All-Ages series made it feel like the quality control had been taken care of and some good bands guaranteed.1 Plus, I was interested in checking out the venue, a converted auto repair shop, on the happenin' Ossington strip. It was grey and drizzly out, but by showing up in time for the first act I managed to avoid the full-on rain that came a bit later.
It was also worth the early start to catch Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees, a Halifax DOR outfit fronted by Rebekah Higgs. I'd seen Ms. Higgs in her solo incarnation at a CMW showcase in '08, and had vaguely enjoyed her tunes but wasn't particularly struck by them. So it was a surprise to see the magnetism that she unleashed in this context. Sampling and manipulating her own vocals, Higgs led the three-piece backing band (guit/drums/beats and effects) through an energizing set of 80's-flavoured dance rock.2 She even stepped in front of the monitors to challenge the slight crowd at hand to get into it and dance. Good songs, good energy, and a lot of fun.
The all-ages element felt in effect for Lightmares, a young trio out of Sudbury who played a quick, five-song set of energetic rock'n'roll. Bassist Nicholas Millard — a dead ringer for Dennis the Menace — sounds like he's absorbed a Four Seasons compilation3 and put it to good use with his falsetto backing vox behind guitarist Jamie Millard's leads. The band bashed out their tunes with gusto, and it sounds like they're starting to get a handle on the songwriting process. Worth keeping an eye on.
Listen to a track from this set here.
In the original announcement the next band up was Swirling Shores, listed as "An unforgettable showcase of fearless performance style and sophisticated songwriting skills". Given that there's a million bands out there I've never heard of, it didn't seem strange that that didn't strike a chord, although as it turned out, I was apparently the only one not in on the open secret that this was an undercover show for Spiral Beach, concealing themselves from the NxNE authorities. So, after having seen them the night before and being entertained beyond my expectations, it was a nice turn to have a chance to reinforce my new disposition. Opening up with an improvised goof to call bassist Dorian Wolf to the stage, the band played a half-hour set that semi-overlapped with the previous night, although the first part of this show had more of a gently swirling vibe until kicking things into dancing gear with "Made of Stone" and "Dominoes". All told, the sort of lucky chance that really turned me around on the band.
A pleasing change of direction after that, with hip-hop crew Times Neue Roman taking over. Consisting of Rob Bolton's raps backed by live keys and DJ augmenting their well-produced tracks, the band had a variety of musical flavours, ranging from electro to reggae.4 I'd broadly put Bolton's flow into the broad category of "post-Eminem" — though to say much more would put me seriously out of my depth and probably reveal my ignorance about contemporary rap music. The band did a good job of bringing it live, with the keys and turntables adding a spontaneous feel, and the crowd that had assembled by this point were fully appreciative. They even had a fair number of fans out, calling, at set's end for a track called "Hands" to cap things off. I had no expectations coming in, but was fairly impressed.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Next up were the rhythmically intense Pick A Piper, with two drummers at the centre of a frenzied squall, towering over the guitar and bass in front of them. The songs were built up from pre-recorded synth lines and juxtaposed the tribal pummeling against more gentle and rhythmic elements. I recognize the band's talents, especially in keeping two drummers going full-bore without them stepping on each other, and having strongly defined dynamics allowing the songs to build up and ease off. There were some undeniably good moments when everything simmered nicely in a groove, but sometimes I got the impression that, with the drums pounding away, there was no other gear to shift into. A powerful band, but not necessarily with a strong power over me.
The show was completed with the highlight of the afternoon, a set from the always-awesome Laura Barrett, playing solo but bearing a fancy new bass pedal.5 Playing a mix of old and newer material, she managed to charm those hearing the songs for the first time as much as the older hands. By the second song, most of the audience was sitting down and paying close attention. In a spontaneous moment, during "Robot Ponies" Rebekah Higgs started to throw in some harmonies and was quickly invited up front for a do-over duet version. The set closed with the lovely "Deception Island Optimists Club", ending a most pleasing afternoon's proceedings.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 Not to mention the work that had gone into the funky art decorating the space. And the barbeque.
2 Revealing cover: Paula Abdul's "Cold Hearted".
3 Or possibly a whole lotta Weezer.
4 Though I wouldn't've picked them as a bunch to have a band name based on a font joke. I wonder if anyone has broached the issue of them starting a beef with noise-punks Times New Viking?
5 And also bearing biscotti, showing that entertainer's knowledge that the surest way to an audience's heart is through their stomach.
Artist: The Homosexuals
Song: Bruno Speaks / Unknown*
Recorded at Sneaky Dee's, NxNE Festival, June 18, 2009.The Homosexuals - Bruno Speaks / Unknown
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Do you know the title of this track? Please leave a comment!
Artist: Golden Triangle
Song: Neon Noose
Recorded at Velvet Underground, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.Golden Triangle - Neon Noose
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Spiral Beach
Song: Unknown*
Recorded at Whippersnapper Gallery, NxNE Festival, June 19, 2009.Spiral Beach - Unknown
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Do you know the title of this track? Please leave a comment!
NxNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto 2009.
Friday, June 19, 2009. Featuring: Spiral Beach, Matt and Kim, Parlovr, Zeroes, Golden Triangle, Mika Miko, The Homosexuals, Experimental Dental School
7 P.M.: Spiral Beach @ Whippersnapper Gallery
Making my way through a College Street under siege, booths busily being set up for Taste of Little Italy, found a bit of a queue in front of the Whippersnapper Gallery as ID's were busily being checked. Still managed to get in a few minutes before seven and found a patch of floor not too far back from the stage. For the "big time" of NxNE there were a couple lighting rigs flanking the stage, adding a bit of visual flair to the venue.
I'd only seen Spiral Beach once before, December '06, when they opened for Tokyo Police Club at the Horseshoe. Though I'd sampled and enjoyed their first alb, the live show left me feeling unimpressed — I recall thinking this was a young band with more spirit than songs. After that, they'd sort of been put on my mental backburner while they continued to garner a lot of positive vibes. But let it be said I'm willing to give second chances, so I came to the show with an open mind to see what'd changed in a couple years. As it turns out, although the band still looks shockingly young, there's been a whole lot of development. Although still usually pitched as a good-times-party kind of band, Spiral Beach's music had a darker, psychedelic edge than anticipated. Even on the faster numbers — including a new one that sounded like Piper at the Gates of Dawn hooked up to a primitive drum machine — there was something that suggested, "even if I'm dancing, I'm still in the middle of a bad trip". Interesting stuff, and it brought me around enough that it occurred to me I'd see 'em again.1
Listen to a track from this set here.
8 P.M.: Matt and Kim @ Whippersnapper Gallery
Stayed on — hell, I'd gotten here early for — Matt and Kim, a band I was curious to see live. Despite the fact that the album didn't quite sit right with me, I'd gotten a notion that there was something to this Brooklyn duo. They took the stage with an instrumental fanfare and Matt was soon oozing positivity ("it's a beautiful goddamn day in Toronto") to the enthusiastic crowd in the stupidly hot room. Kim, meanwhile, was fighting the aftereffects of some bad Thai but still put in a spirited performance. It wasn't a visually satisfying experience, what with both musicians playing while seated on a low stage, I only caught a glimpse of either when they stood up. But musically, it was a worthy effort. Though there might have been one too many instrumentals in the short set (including a quick run through "The Final Countdown") the band's irrepressible gusto was impossible to deny, so I can say I left liking them more than I did when I came in.
Listen to a track from this set here.
9 P.M.: Parlovr @ Supermarket
After that, walked over to see Parlovr ("one of Montreal's most talked-about unsigned acts") at Supermarket2, part of a showcase for Nevado Records. The three piece featured a dual-guitars-no-bass setup, though Louis Jackson's guit had a split output into the guitar and bass amps to prop up the bottom end. On a stage decorated with traffic signals, the band played a reasonable set of post-Strokes indie rock with a Montréal twist, guitars cleanly intertwining around slightly howl-y adenoidal vox. They were entertaining and brought some pleasantly goofy banter (including an onstage argument over Heath ledger versus Val Kilmer) but the songs weren't so memorable. There's a good base here, and I wouldn't write this band off, but I wasn't totally convinced by what I heard.
10 P.M.: Zeroes @ Silver Dollar Room
Wandered over to the Silver Dollar to see Zeroes, another Montréal band. Which made for an interesting compare and contrast, I guess. Zeroes had a bit more of a colder, post-punk edge — the guitars more menacing and the keybs icy — hints of, maybe, Magazine and bands of that ilk. I liked the band's textures, but found their stage presence to be a bit lacking in charisma: even when, say, grinding a guit against an amp, it seemed a little rote. That's petty, sure, but given the onslaught of bands I was in the middle of, the marginal things tend to stand out a little more. Interestingly, on listening to the playback of my recording of this set, I found myself liking it more than I remember, which might indicate that I was hitting a bit of a wall at the time. Possibly a good soundtrack for wandering the city while the drugs aren't quite doing enough to squelch the voices in your head — which may or may not be your idea of a good time on a Friday night.
Listen to a track from this set here.
11 P.M.: Golden Triangle @ Velvet Underground
By this point, I was definitely looking for something outside the broad category of "boys with guitars", so, looking over the listings, grabbed the streetcar down to Queen and walked over to Cameron House, thinking that The Hank and Lily Show would be a good change of pace. But inside, I found about a dozen people in line waiting to get in to the back room. That didn't seem entirely promising, so I ducked back outside and looked at the listings again and decided that the answer was just a bit further down the street at Velvet Underground. Got in with Brooklyn's Golden Triangle already on stage, a repeating riff echoing through a thick layer of reverb. When the drums, muffled like they were being played in a room a couple doors down the street, kicked in, I felt at home. This band's sound could probably be captured with a fairly reductionist blurb like "imagine if The Vivian Girls had convened as a surf band". Which might sound like pithy snideness save for the fact that, to me, that sounds like a bloody marvelous idea. With dual female vocalists up front, those snake-like guitar lines, and the primal drumming, I was totally into this — just the right mix of murk and sass. One of the best sets I saw at the festival.
Listen to a track from this set here.
12 A.M.: Mika Miko @ Sneaky Dee's
A bracing walk up Bathurst gave me a bit of a second wind. I'd been a bit eager to check out Mika Miko and was a little worried, given some buzz, that I might round the corner on College to find a line-up. Turned out to be no problem — possibly the demand had been spread out, given that this was the band's second set of the night. Veterans of the same Smell-based L.A. scene that has produced No Age, Mika Miko have a more straight-up punk feel — the rapid-fire songs came with shades of Liliput, Wire, Undertones and so on. But as with all first-class rock'n'roll bands, their energy made it all seem new and spontaneous. The duelling vocals of Jennifer Clavin and Jenna Thornhill were the most powerful weapons in the arsenal, but the whole band was on fire. I can't really say if this was objectively good, but in the moment it felt ferociously vital — which kinda means it seemed fantastic.
Listen to a track from this set here.
1 A.M.: The Homosexuals @ Sneaky Dee's
Oh my. I guess I could pull cred and say I was familiar with original-wave British punks The Homosexuals, but, quite honestly, I'd never heard of them. I had no idea what to expect from this set, but from the moment I saw the blazer-clad older British chap pulling his carry-on towards the stage, I was guessing this was not going to some rote re-hash of the glory days. Instead we got a tour through the mind of Bruno Wizard, who claimed to have fired his crack band after catching them listening to Bruce Springsteen and was now backed by "the future of fucking rock" in the form of Fiasco3 — or at least two-thirds thereof. After some introductory comments, Bruno moved behind the drum kit to give a history lesson about how all rock music is derived from African rhythms before picking up the guitar and playing a couple songs. He was then joined by Jonathan and Julian, who backed him sympathetically and ably, even if it was evident on occasion that they had as little idea as the rest of the audience what Bruno was going on about. Songs were interspersed with free-association digressions on cosmology and history (what was that about riding on a beam of light with Einstein again?) until Bruno deigned to start a song or Jonathan could sneak in a count-in. Fortunately, Bruno seemed to be canny like a fox and I think — I think — that to be entertained by his erratic tangents was more like the sort of sharing vibe he was encouraging, and not a case of "let's laugh at the nutter". The set ended with an extended version of "You're Not Moving the Way You're Supposed To", which was pretty fantastic — in fact, all of the tunes on which the Fiasco lads got a groove on were pretty hot. Bruno announced that when Fiasco's bassist was done school, they come back for another gig, which would be free for anyone in attendance "with love in their hearts". A baffling and unique experience.
Spend a few perplexing minutes with Bruno here.
2 A.M.: Experimental Dental School @ Rancho Relaxo
Well. One could imagine anything'd be a letdown after that but I felt like I had one more set in me, so walked over to Rancho to see Experimental Dental School, who, possibly fortunately, were really neither. That is, not so much experimental per se as a minimalist pop act using a double-decker rack of guitar effects to stretch out their sound some. Drummer Shoko Horikawa and guitarist Jesse Hall traded off vocals and took the songs out on little excursions, but didn't drag things so far away as to crumble the foundations. They also exuded a cool, positive vibe from the stage, seeking high-fives from anyone digging the sounds. I'm willing to concede by this point of the night I was more just surfing on the vibe rather than listening carefully, but this was enjoyable. A nice vibe to end the night and head home, a little exhausted.4
1 Which, as it turns out, came to pass a bunch sooner than I'd expected.
2 Slogan: "Kensington's least grungy venue".
3 Recently in town at the Over the Top festival.
4 It looks like the band is offering a free album for download on their website — which I'm now going to check out and recommend to you as well.
Artist: Ume
Song: Captive
Recorded at Neutral Lounge, NxNE Festival, June 18, 2009.Ume - Captive
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Chang-A-Lang
Song: Throw Away Litres*
Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room, NxNE Festival, June 18, 2009.Chang-A-Lang - Throw Away Litres
My notes from this gig can be found here.
* Thanks to w4st3l4nd for providing the title.
NxNE — North by Northeast Festival, Toronto 2009.
Thursday, June 18, 2009. Featuring: Chang-A-Lang, Silverghost, Ume, Kittens Ablaze, Wildlife, Amy Campbell
8 P.M.: Chang-A-Lang @ The Silver Dollar Room
For Thursday, had very little of an agenda, and, to be honest, hadn't done much in the way of research, so I was free to sort of just go with guesswork — a sort of triangulation of venue, band name and well-written blurbs. Going with the first of those, it seemed safe to start at The Silver Dollar, where Dan Burke's hand-picked bands can usually be relied upon to bring the rock. So, first up: Toronto's Chang-A-Lang, a three-piece bringing offerings of rock'n'roll in exchange for sweat. The band had a nice stock of power pop-ish tunes, mostly sung by guitarist Brian Okamoto, though bassist Jeanette Dowling took the reins for a couple, and provided sterling backing vox throughout. The band would be right at home at a packed party and might've been a bit out of their element playing the early slot to a smaller, less jumpy crowd but still managed to entertain by giving the impression that they were entertaining themselves. Fun stuff.
Listen to a track from this set here.
9 P.M.: Silverghost @ Neutral Lounge
Walked over to the top of Augusta to head down to the mouldering depths of Neutral, a venue I'd not previously visited. Before it filled in with people, it had a sense of cool damp, and that musty smell of an unfinished basement in an old house. Not a superb layout for live music, with a small stage, raised one step up, tucked into a corner in the shorter half of the room, leaving the larger half of the room with lousy sightlines. It wasn't crowded at this hour, so I had no problem there, but I'm guessing this would be an awkward venue for latecomers if it were jammed. The blurb for Detroit duo Silverghost, featuring Marcie Bolen (ex-Von Bondies, guit/vox) and Deleano Acevedo1 (vox/keybs/beats via laptop) had promised "male/female-fuzz-analog-pop" which sounded worthy of checking out, the pair largely cashed in on that promise. Bolen — in a styling pantsuit (very 1981) — was the more magnetic presence, but the tag-team vox were well-done. The first couple numbers featured a classic Detroit rock sound, with fuzzy organ and tambourine-laced drum track, and might have been the best overall. The songs following had a bit more of a new wave sound, and brought to mind fellow Detroit rockers The Slumber Party. Although the programmed beats mostly fit well into their aesthetic, there were some moments where the I felt the absence of a live drummer. But the band had good songs and executed well. Worth checking out if you are a fan of the "male/female-fuzz-analog-pop" genre.
Listen to a track from this set here.
10 P.M.: Ume @ Neutral Lounge
Instead of shuffling venues, stuck around for Austin's Ume, who had been hotly tipped by Frank Chromewaves. This trio brought a rock attack not unlike a single-guitar Sonic Youth, powered by the proficient Lauren Larson. Although I was expecting perhaps something "heavier", Larson's playing showed a crafty range that unleashed a variety of bracing sounds thrown into relief by her demure looks and small voice chirping "thank you" at the ends of songs — like, say, an anime heroine destroying marauding invaders with pulsating energy bolts only to transform back into an unassuming student. It was an enjoyable set that hinted at greater possibilities — I felt at times that the band was a little... contained and in such heightened control that the songs couldn't breathe as much as they might.2 I'd also wager that the band would sound better on a more powerful sound system, so here's hoping they return to play a slightly bigger room.
Listen to a track from this set here.
11 P.M.: Kittens Ablaze @ Rivoli
Looking through the blurbs, my eye was caught by "Americana-indie rock band... orchestral... full of violin and cello riffs" and that seemed worth a go, so grabbed the Spadina streetcar down to Queen to head into Rivoli for Kittens Ablaze. With keyboards on the floor and on an ironing board, not to mention a cello with extra tall spike for stand-up action playing, the co-ed six-piece had a chaotic edge, bringing a ramshackle approach to what is normally a staid style of orchestrated pop. So, some credit for that, but there was also an air of diverse elements merely heaped on top of each other, and the songs too often felt under-arranged. There were a couple moments where everything came together, but overall, I didn't really connect with this.
12 A.M.: Wildlife @ Rancho Relaxo / Amy Campbell @ Free Times CaféIn a world without lineups, I'd've probably slipped next door into the Horseshoe to see The King Khan & BBQ Show, but I didn't feel like waiting in any sort of queue. At Spadina, let chance carry me when I saw a streetcar coming and headed back up to College instead of heading further down Queen. I was feeling whimsically random and just followed my feet without checking the schedule and found myself going upstairs to Rancho, just a couple minutes before Wildlife started playing. A song-and-a-half's worth of slightly yelpy modern rock rubbed me the wrong way somehow and made me feel like this wasn't what I was in the mood for, so I headed back out.
Again, by random chance, instead of turning left to go to the Silver Dollar to check out the rock onslaught of Montréal's Red Mass, I turned right and started walking. When I passed by Free Times Café with it's NxNE sight outside, I thought, "what the hell," and ducked in. Settled in amongst a spare crowd in the back room where, except for the blueshirt working the door, I was the youngest person in sight. On stage turned out to be the folksy Amy Campbell, singing and playing an acoutic guit, accompanied by a stand-up bassist. At first I thought it was some sort of oddly arranged three-piece, as the song in progress as I entered also included table-top percussion by a guy sitting up front — but when I saw the people behind him shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, I realized that he was just a really obnoxious drunk who was pretty oblivious to what an ass he was being. So — two kinds of entertainment at once! Besides seeing how Campbell would deal with the drunk guy, my decision to stay put was sealed by the bass player's entirely sympathetic and effortlessly nimble lines. So I settled in and ended up enjoying it pretty well. Campbell's voice and songs reminded me of, say, Shawn Colvin, and made me think back to a time when I actually listened to a fair bit more music like this. "Oh Heart, Oh Highway" — the title track from her latest album — was given an especially fine reading. She was also a good storyteller between songs, and the drunk guy eventually mostly wore himself out. For something completely random to drop into, a nice surprise.
After that, I had some thoughts of hitting the Silver Dollar to see The Zoobombs, but the outside air hit my like a wall and I suddenly realized how tired I was on what had been a get-up-early workday. And once it occurred to me that seeing one more set would mean foregoing the subway home, that more-or-less clinched it. Caught the streetcar up to Spadina Station and headed home to bed.
1 Rock t-shirt: Rolling Stones, lips logo.
2 Though this also gives the impression (that I have in no way tested, yet) that the band is capable of disciplined and focused studio efforts.
Artist: Amos the Transparent
Song: New Beginnings
Recorded at Sunrise Records, in-store performance during NxNE Festival. June 18, 2009.
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Artist: Dinosaur Bones
Song: Ice Hotel
Recorded at Sunrise Records, in-store performance during NxNE Festival. June 18, 2009.Dinosaur Bones - Ice Hotel
My notes from this gig can be found here.
Amos the Transparent / The Coast / Dinosaur Bones
Sunrise Records. Thursday, June 18, 2009.
Getting away from work earlier than expected, I headed downtown with plenty of time before the NxNE showcases started, so I decided to take in some action at the Sunrise Records just off Yonge and Dundas. There was a small, low stage set up, just enough room for a drummer plus two people up front. Walked in just as Dinosaur Bones were getting ready to play, and that tiny stage meant that Dave Wickland (keybs) and Branko Scekic (bass) were relegated to the floor alongside, but the rudimentary P.A. and monitors had a bit of a democratizing effect, pushing Wickland's Roland up in the mix a bit. The band played a solid half-hour, including a good new song, "Highwire Act".
Listen to a track from this set here.
After stepping outside for some fresh air, headed back in to find a smaller crowd waiting for The Coast to finish setting up. The band seemed a bit out of their element with the in-store setup — perhaps they hadn't brought all their usual gear along, or weren't anticipating the stripped-down system, but there was a faint awkwardness at hand, such as a power cord from a pedal stretched taut in the middle of the stage, creating a bit of a tripping hazard. I got the impression they weren't entirely satisfied with their sound and performance, although I found it generally satisfactory. Although these local lads have been hotly tipped in some quarters, I'd garnished a (probably unfair) impression that they were filed under retro angophilia, which doesn't normally cause me to rush out of my way to see a band. From what I heard live, I wouldn't categorize them so narrowly. With a textured two-guitar sound, The Coast's songs weren't in-your-face hooky, but had plenty of crinkly bits around the edges to keep one engaged. They also tried out some new material, including one with Luke Melchiorre moving from bass to keyb to give a different sound to the bottom end. If this was what they sounded like when playing within in-store constraints then I would imagine the full show would be good stuff.Ottawa's Amos the Transparent are a band that gets large bloggy love in this town. Despite their many local appearances, I'd only caught them once — spring '08, opening for Basia Bulat — and came away feeling rather neutral. So no reason not to stick around and see if I was more struck the second time 'round. The band decided to tackle the limitations of the in-store environment in a different way, going with a acoustic, sit-down performance. This seemed to push the band out of their comfort zone a little, as the arrangements were a little off-the-cuff, but it gave the proceedings an unforced, enjoyably casual air — "we're playing at The Drake tonight," Jonathan Chandler said, pushing their later showcase appearance, "and it sounds nothing like this". The band was also playing to a small crowd, although it looked like everyone present was filming/taking photos with elaborate cameras, ready to add to the online cavalcade of Amos-love. The songs were all enjoyable and had lots of room for vocal interplay between Jonathan Chandler and Kate Cooke — and for variety a nice one from Mark Hyne. Although this might not be typical of the band's sound, it was a nice chance to witness the band's genial personalities in a relaxed atmosphere. Put me in a good frame of mind to begin the "night" part of the night in a series of dark, dank bars.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Founded as a blog about one curmudgeon's love affair with the em dash, Mechanical Forest Sound has grown to become a community-based archive of local musical culture. Assuming that "independent music" isn't just boys with guitars and "culture" isn't just some sort of pageant, MFS is an investigation of a wide range of artists, reflecting on concerts as shared experiences, acts of citizenship and a chance to get down — fuzzy photographs and clear-sounding original live recordings a specialty.
Current manifestations of this project include Track Could Bend, a monthly concert series featuring "improvised music and weird rock offshoots", presented in a casual environment.
At one point I wrote full-on concert reviews, and for longer I thought I would catch up and write about shows in the past. But these days, because of, y'know, life, do not expect much in the way of full show reviews — but live recordings with blurbs will be posted as quickly after the fact as is feasible.
Check out my original live recordings from many of the gigs discussed here.
You can also check out full sets uploaded to the Live Music Archive. [not currently active]
N.B.: All recordings should be available & playable. If you come across any broken links, invisible or non-functioning players, etc, please leave a comment and I will tend to it ASAP.
ALSO N.B.: I'm perpetually on the lookout for a new place to stash my MP3's online. If you know of any place that allows a couple gigs of stuff to be openly linked to for streaming, drop me a line!
All comments are welcome, or you can reach me at email@example.com.
All MP3's on this blog are audience recordings shared as a reminder of the excitement of seeing live music. If you are an artist who doesn't want their music shared in this way, please contact me and I shall remove it forthwith.
If you're so inclined, you can also follow me on Twitter: @TowerofBabbling
Music: Racism, Power + Privilege 101 [not a gig! but very important!] ("discussions, questions + answers" feat. Alaska B / Cris Derksen / Damian Abraham / Max Mohenu / Simone Schmidt / Kim De Laat / April Aliermo) / The Music Gallery 2015-11-24 (Tuesday – PWYC!) [FB event]
Dilly Dally (The Beverleys / Vallens) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-11-27 (Friday) [FB event]
Live in the Stacks (feat. Jennifer Castle) / Toronto Public Library – Yorkville Branch 2015-11-28 (Saturday) [FB event]
The Diableros [You Can't Break the Strings in Our Olympic Hearts 10-year anniversary show] (Yardlets / Terror Lake) / The Garrison 2015-11-28 (Saturday) [FB event]
Queer Songbook Orchestra: Billy's Birthday, a Billy Strayhorn Centennial / Burdock Music Hall 2015-11-29 (Sunday) [FB event]
Track Could Bend #9 (feat. Doomsquad / New Chance / Rub Out the Word) / Dundas Video 2015-12-01 (Tuesday) [FB event]
Silent Shout Festival (feat. Lydia Ainsworth / Ben Gunning / Lockbox / Hush Pup) / Smiling Buddha 2015-12-04 (Friday) [FB event]
Silent Shout Festival (feat. Phèdre / JOOJ / Scott Hardware / New Chance) / Smiling Buddha 2015-12-05 (Saturday) [FB event]
Hoover Party [Another Bankrupt Hapsburg Legacy digital album release] (Karen Ng & Brodie West / Matthew A. Dunn / Amelia Ehrhardt / Victoria Cheong) / Array Space 2015-12-09 (Wednesday) [FB event]
Emergents I: Collideoscope [curated by Germaine Liu] ("a showcase of new works where composition and movement work together without hierarchy" choreographed, composed and performed by David Baldry / Aline Homzy / Chris Pruden / Raphael Roter / Sully Malaeb-Proulx / Paige Kobe / Nicholas Rusica) / The Music Gallery 2015-12-10 (Thursday) [FB event]
Long Winter, Volume 4.2 (feat. Lydia Ainsworth / Isla Craig / Allie / New Chance / LUKA / Nailbiter / Petra Glynt / Mitchell Akiyama / Great Death / LAL / Blunt Chunks / Egyptrixx) / The Great Hall 2015-12-12 (Saturday – all ages!) [FB event]
The Cluttertones (Germaine Liu [solo percussion] / John and Waleed) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-12-17 (Thursday) [FB event]
Surinam (DAS RAD / Champion Lover / Alpha Strategy) / Smiling Buddha 2015-12-18 (Friday) [FB event]
Nightmare Before Xmas II (feat. Big|Brave / Jessica Moss / Gates / Northumbria) / Geary Lane 2015-12-19 (Saturday) [FB event]
These are shows that I can vouch for, but that I probably just won't have time to make it to.
Beams [November Tuesdays residency!] (Torero) / The Dakota Tavern 2015-11-24 (Tuesday) [FB event]
Raphael Weinroth-Browne/Diane Roblin/Heather Segger / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-11-25 (Wednesday – early!) [FB event]
Slight (Bantam Wing / BART) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-11-25 (Wednesday) [FB event]
EONS (Merganzer / Melody McKiver) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-11-26 (Thursday) [FB event]
The Cosmic Cinema Trike (human powered film projection with live manipulation of 35mm film loops feat. live ambient sounds by the Bubble Pop Collective and Roger Wilson] / CineCycle 2015-11-26 (Thursday) [FB event]
Strands (Sasha Chapin / Blunt Chunks) / Double Double Land 2015-11-26 (Thursday) [FB event]
Norman Blake and Joe Pernice with Special Guests [November Fridays residency!] / The Dakota Tavern 2015-11-27 (Friday – early!) [more info]
DUST / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-11-27 (Friday – early!)
Scott Merritt with Jeff Bird (Sandro Perri) / The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-11-27 (Friday) [FB event]
The Ryan Driver Sextet / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-11-27 (Friday)
Evening Hymns / The Drake Underground 2015-11-27 (Friday) [more info]
Dany Laj & The Looks [Word on the Street vinyl release party!] (Kensington Hillbillys / Boat Culture) / The Old Laurel 2015-11-27 (Friday) [FB event]
DDL 6TH Anniversary (feat. Prince Nifty / Carl Didur / Fresh Flesh / Whip Kisser) / Double Double Land 2015-11-27 (Friday) [FB event]
Gnosis (feat. David Virelles w/ Román Díaz) [world premiere!] / The Music Gallery 2015-11-27–2015-11-28 (Friday & Saturday) [FB event]
Germaphobes [EP release!] (Blonde Elvis / Kurt Marble / Plasmalab) / Soybomb 2015-11-28 (Saturday) [FB event]
Sensi Splurge (feat. JOOJ / Petra Glynt) / Kapisanan Philippine Centre 2015-11-28 (Saturday) [FB event]
Rough Idea + Somewhere There Present (feat. Frode Gjerstad Trio / Nick Fraser + Jay Hay) / Ratio 2015-11-28 (Saturday) [FB event]
Ride the Tempo Presents Girls Night (feat. L CON / Nyssa) / Handlebar 2015-11-29 (Sunday) [FB event]
Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble / The Emmett Ray 2015-11-29 (Sunday)
Thin Edge New Music Collective: Light Show /The Music Gallery 2015-11-29 (Sunday) [FB event]
Tanya Tagaq (Owen Pallett) / Massey Hall 2015-12-01 (Tuesday) [FB event]
troubleshooting~ v8 (feat. Brian Abbott/Zach Clark/Ted Phillips) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-12-02 (Wednesday – early!)
Somewhere There presents (feat. Versa / Mikatron) / Ratio 2015-12-03 (Thursday) [FB event]
---- ---- (Greys / Mexican Slang) / Lee's Palace 2015-12-04 (Friday) [more info]
Soupcans [Soft Party release show!] (Cellphone / Running / Plasmalab) / CineCycle 2015-12-05 (Saturday) [FB event]
Feast In The East 55 (feat. Fat As Fuck / Mannerisms / Haolin Munk) / Jam Factory 2015-12-05 (Saturday) [FB event]
---- ---- (Weaves / Mimico) / Lee's Palace 2015-12-05 (Saturday) [more info]
Nite Comfort 28 (faet. Ambsace / Andrew Roy) / Handlebar 2015-12-06 (Sunday) [FB event]
Audiopollination #37.1: Self-Curation Project (feat. Wendalyn Bartley/Martin van de Ven/ Adele Armin / Cathy Campbell/Darlene Cuevas / Matt Miller/Nathan Petitpas/Nicolas Buligan / John Creson/Ted Philips/Adam Rosen) / Array Space 2015-12-08 (Tuesday) [FB ebent]
Perfect Pussy (Fielded / Foxmoulder / Casper Skulls / Mollot) / Smiling Buddha 2015-12-08 (Tuesday) [FB event]
Shining Wizard (Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Brahja Waldman / Keep Them Alive) / Ratio 2015-12-11 (Friday) [FB event]
Audiopollination #37.2 (feat. Craig Pederson, solo trumpet, plus trios with Michael Lynn/Tania Gill / Karen Ng/Bennett Bedoukian) / Array Space 2015-12-11 (Friday) [FB event]
Aluminum Origami [Avesta Nakhaei/Chris Weatherstone] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-12-11 (Friday) [FB event]
Mexican Knives (Beach Fox / Dirty Safes / Cupcake Ductape) / handlebar 2015-12-12 (Saturday) [FB event]
Jenny Berkel (Marine Dreams) / Burdock Music Hall 2015-12-18 (Friday) [FB event]
The Sadies (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift) / The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-12-31 (Thursday) [more info]
2015 Gigs
Starry Night (Skeleton Forest)
Holy Oak Café 2015-01-02 (Friday)
Feast In The East 44 (feat. Doomsquad / MATROX / Barbara / ZONES)
The Jam Factory 2015-01-03 (Saturday)
No Angels Dancing
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-01-04 (Sunday)
Money House
The Emmet Ray 2015-01-05 (Monday)
The Living Daylight Stringband
Holy Oak Café 2015-01-08 (Thursday)
Bernice (Body Help)
Holy Oak Café 2015-01-08 (Thursday)
Long Winter: Year Three, Volume Three (feat. Miracle Fortress / Bile Sister / Dilly Dally / Alden Penner / Mas Aya / VOTIIV / ZONES / Moonwood / DAS RAD / Tenderness)
The Great Hall 2015-01-09 (Friday)
Somewhere There Presents: The Second Sunday of January (feat. Paul Newman / Raphael Weinroth-Browne/Shahriyar Jamshidi)
Array Space 2015-01-11 (Sunday)
Mark Segger Sextet
Array Space 2015-01-12 (Monday)
Audiopollination #26 (feat. Michael Kaler/Jamie Thompson/Chris Wallace / Michael Kaler/Jamie Thompson/Arnd Jurgensen / Michael Kaler/Enuma Flux/Heidi Chan/Aki Takahashi)
Array Space 2015-01-13 (Tuesday)
Jeunesse Cosmique presents a night of elevation and trance spirit dance (feat. Hazy Montagne Mystique / Noordwiijk / TRANZMIT)
The Central 2015-01-14 (Wednesday)
Meandering Streams of Consciousness
Array Space 2015-01-16 (Friday)
Weyes Blood (Petra Glynt / Anamai / Schønsee)
Smiling Buddha 2015-01-19 (Monday)
Nidus (DUST / Tomasz Krakowiak/Holger Schoorl)
Ratio 2015-01-22 (Thursday)
Slim Twig (Michael Rault / Tasseomancy)
The Silver Dollar Room 2015-01-23 (Friday)
Toy Piano Composers featuring CelloPhone: GRIT
Heliconian Hall 2015-01-24 (Saturday)
Wavelength 635 (feat. Jason Sharp/Lina Allemano/Ryan Driver/Rob Clutton)
Wavelength Pop Up Gallery @ Huntclub 2015-01-25 (Sunday)
Emergents II (feat. Dan Fortin Trio / Robin Dann/Claire Harvie/Phil Malanson)
The Music Gallery 2015-01-30 (Friday)
Absolutely Free (U.S. Girls) / Geary Lane 2015-01-30 (Friday)
Owen Pallett (Foxes in Fiction)
Lee's Palace 2015-01-31 (Saturday — matinée)
The Cluttertones (Isla Craig / Brodie West)
Double Double Land 2015-01-31 (Saturday)
No Angels Dancing
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-01 (Sunday)
Wavelength 640: Ghostlight's The Winter Womb (Fifteen Wavelengths: An Ambient Suite)
Wavelength Pop Up Gallery @ Huntclub 2015-02-01 (Sunday)
Wavelength 641: INVOCATION T.O. presents Musique Fragile (feat. Saltland / Nick Kuepfer / Khôra)
Wavelength Pop Up Gallery @ Huntclub 2015-02-05 (Thursday)
The Music Gallery's Departures Series (feat. Peter Evans / Brian Ruryk / Germaine Liu)
Ratio 2015-02-06 (Friday)
Wavelength 643: The Holy Gasp (Hellenica / The Sulks)
Wavelength Pop Up Gallery @ Huntclub 2015-02-07 (Saturday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-10 (Tuesday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-10 (Tuesday)
Wavelength 646: Wavelength 15 Festival Pre-party (feat. Speedy Ortiz / HSY / WISH)
The Garrison 2015-02-12 (Thursday)
Wavelength Music Festival 15 – Night 1 (feat. Art Bergmann / Controller.Controller + Classic Wavelength/Toronto Tribute Sets: Most People [playing Broken Social Scene] / Delta Will [playing Caribou] / Hervana [playing Constantines] / More Or Les [playing Toronto Hip-Hop Classics] / Lockbox [playing Owen Pallett] / The Skeletones Four [playing Jim Guthrie])
Sneaky Dee's 2015-02-13 (Friday)
Wavelength Music Festival 15 – Night 2 (feat. Lowell / The Acorn / Del Bel / Last Ex / Ginla)
SPK Polish Combatants Hall 2015-02-14 (Saturday)
Toronto Homicide Squad (Brian Shirk)
June Records 2015-02-15 (Sunday)
Wavelength Music Festival 15 – Night 3 (feat. Mozart's Sister / Fresh Snow / New Fries / Tenderness / BART / Cellphone / Look Vibrant)
The Garrison 2015-02-15 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #27.2 (feat. Tim Crofts with Ted Phillips/Nilan Perera / Nicole Rampersaud/Pete Johnson)
Array Space 2015-02-17 (Tuesday)
Nicolas Buligan (Lisa Conway)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-18 (Wednesday)
Thin Edge New Music Collective with Ensemble Paramirabo: Raging Against the Machine
The Music Gallery 2015-02-19 (Thursday)
Somewhere There Creative Music Festival (feat. Marie LeBlanc-Flanagan [talk] / Transcombobulation / Riverrun / The Uplifters)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-02-20 (Friday)
Somewhere There Creative Music Festival (feat. Allison Cameron [talk] / Denison/Ballyk/Davis / c_RL)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-02-21 (Saturday)
Somewhere There Creative Music Festival (feat. Brodie West / Rob Clutton & Randi Helmers / The Muted Note / Brass Knuckle Sandwich / Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-02-21 (Saturday)
Somewhere There Creative Music Festival (feat. Nilan Perara [workshop] / JunctQín Keyboard Collective / Tomasz Krakowiak/Michelangelo Iaffaldano / William Davison/Nilan Perera)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-02-22 (Sunday)
Somewhere There Creative Music Festival (feat. The Imperative / Imaginary Flesh / Peripheral Vision)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-02-22 (Sunday)
King Weather (Faster)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-22 (Sunday)
Healing Power Records presents (feat. Tax Haven / Zone Support)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-02-25 (Wednesday)
Mimico (ZONES / Bodies That Matter / Ken Park)
Smiling Buddha 2015-02-26 (Thursday)
Planet Creature (Terror Lake / Persian Rugs / Hurricane & Able)
Magpie Taproom 2015-02-27 (Friday)
Old Haunt (Babel / Beard Closet)
The Tranzac (Tiki Room) 2015-02-28 (Saturday)
Music Africa: Black History Month 2015 (feat. Afrafranto)
Gladstone Hotel (Melody Bar) 2015-02-28 (Saturday)
June Records 2015-03-01 (Sunday)
Audiopollination 28.1 (feat. Bill Gilliam/Glen Hall / Michael Snow/Diane Roblin/Nobua Kubota / Michael Snow/Diane Roblin)
Array Space 2015-03-01 (Sunday)
PPOP Presents (feat. The Dories / WHIMM / Wolfcow)
Johnny Jackson 2015-03-01 (Sunday)
TorQ Percussion Quartet: Sextet (with Greg Oh and Wesley Shen)
The Music Gallery 2015-03-06 (Friday)
Batuki Music Society presents: The Sounds of Saba (feat. Fantahun Shewankochew with guest Netsanet Mellesse)
Alliance Française de Toronto 2015-03-07 (Saturday)
Continuum Contemporary Music: 30 More!
The Music Gallery 2015-03-08 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #28.2 (feat. Parmela Attariwala with Adele Armin / Branko Dzinovic/Robert Aitken / Jeff Burke/Casey Sokol / Shahriyar Jamshidi)
Array Space 2015-03-10 (Tuesday)
Long Winter: Year Three, Volume Five (feat. Elsa / Hank / Not Of / ASMR Buds / Several Futures / Dirty Frigs / Fake Palms / Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People / Pretty Boys / Vag Halen)
The Great Hall 2015-03-13 (Friday)
The Lanka Suite [feat. The Thing Is / GREX / Jane Bunnett] (Khôra)
The Music Gallery 2015-03-14 (Saturday)
Kurt Marble (Germaphobes / Digits)
Handlebar 2015-03-14 (Saturday)
Audiopollination 28.3 (feat. Aalborggroup / John Gregg/Tiina Kiik / Faster / William Davison/Maxwell Boecker)
Array Space 2015-03-16 (Monday)
38th Annual Martian Awareness Ball (feat. Mary Margaret O'Hara + Guests)
The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-03-17 (Tuesday)
Piano Party 2 (feat. Isla Craig / Ali Berkok)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-03-18 (Wednesday)
Josh Cole/Brandon Valdivia/Colin Fisher
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-03-18 (Wednesday)
Emergents III (feat. Geoff Mullen / Jonathan Adjemian)
The Music Gallery 2015-03-19 (Thursday)
Pendrith Trio
The Emmet Ray 2015-03-23 (Monday)
Queer Songbook Orchestra Play Songs of Resilience
Church of the Holy Trinity 2015-03-26 (Thursday)
Wavelength 653 (feat. Brian Borcherdt / Sean Paul / Slime / Toblerone Boys)
Ratio 2015-03-27 (Friday)
Mexican Slang (The Ukiah Drag / Moss Lime)
S.H.I.B.G.B.'s 2015-03-28 (Saturday)
Crosswires (feat. Paul-Julien Tanti / Faiyaz & the Wasted Chances / Ugly School / The Jim Storie Juniors)
Handlebar 2015-03-29 (Sunday)
Just a Shot Away: Optical Sounds Benefit Show for War Child Canada (feat. B-17 / The Auras / Prince Ness)
The Garrison 2015-04-02 (Thursday)
Feast in the East 47 (feat. Picastro / Charles Spearin's Roadside Silhouettes / Isla Craig / A. Minster)
Jam Factory 2015-04-04 (Saturday)
No Angels Dancing
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-05 (Sunday)
Nite Comfort 20 (feat. I Am Robot And Proud / dreamSTATE)
Handlebar 2015-04-05 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #1 (feat. Allison Cameron / Michael Keith/Michael Lynn/Bob Vespaziani / Jesse James Laderoute) / Johnny Jackson 2015-04-07 (Tuesday)
Sir Richard Bishop (Robert Millis / Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro)
Ratio 2015-04-08 (Wednesday)
Nick Ferrio (L CON / The Lonely Parade)
Junction City Music Hall 2015-04-09 (Thursday)
Norman Blake, Joe Pernice and Guests
Dakota Tavern 2015-04-10 (Friday)
Black Spirituals (Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro / Postcommodity)
Double Double Land 2015-04-12 (Sunday)
Moon King (Lee Paradise / Blunt Chunks)
Smiling Buddha 2015-04-14 (Tuesday)
The Mike Smith Company
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-15 (Wednesday)
eldritch Priest: Boring, Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and the Aesthetics of Failure
Array Space 2015-04-16 (Thursday)
Biblical (PANIC / Overnight)
The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-04-17 (Friday)
Record Store Day 2015 (feat. Comet Control / Mimico / Anamai / Carl Didur)
Sonic Boom 2015-04-18 (Saturday)
Contact Contemporary Music: Professor Bad Trip (The Michael Eckert Large Earth Ensemble)
The Music Gallery 2015-04-18 (Saturday)
Record Store Day Afterparty (feat. Soupcans / Mmm Mmm [Sexy Merlin/Man Made Hill] / Crosss)
8-Eleven 2015-04-18 (Saturday)
Audiopollination #29.2 (feat. John Oswald/John Kamevaar/Germaine Liu / Michael Snow/Paul Dutton/Glen Hall/Mani Mazinani / CCMC)
Array Space 2015-04-19 (Sunday)
Healing Power presents (feat. Dohn Valley, Fresh Flesh, P0ST3RB0Y)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-04-22 (Wednesday)
Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston (Heather Segger/Germaine Liu)
The Music Gallery 2015-04-24 (Friday)
The Music Gallery's Departures Series (feat. Tim Berne's Snakeoil / Barnyard Drama / Brodie West & Fleshtone Aura)
Array Space 2015-04-29 (Wednesday)
Zoobombs (Surinam / Vallens)
The Silver Dollar Room 2015-05-02 (Saturday)
Track Could Bend #2 (feat. Ah! la lettre! + Kayla Milmine / Brian Abbott + William Davison / Nidus) / Johnny Jackson 2015-05-05 (Tuesday)
c_RL (The Ryan Driver Band)
Ratio 2015-05-08 (Friday)
Final Blocks Concert (feat. Nifty / Austra / The Barcelona Pavilion [2002-2004 Lineup] / Les Mouches / Bob Wiseman + Liz Hysen / The Phonemes / Hank / Matias / Ninja High School)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-05-09 (Saturday)
Wavelength 658 (feat. Marker Starling / JFM) / Lula Lounge 2015-05-10 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #30.1 (feat. Bea Labikova/Phil Albert/Adele Armin/Cassie Norton / Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera / Karen Ng/Branko Dzinovic / KGB)
Arrayspace 2015-05-12 (Tuesday)
Blonde Elvis (Twist / B-17 / Your 33 Black Angels)
Handlebar 2015-05-22 (Friday)
Toy Piano Composers and TorQ Percussion Quartet: Impulse
Array Space 2015-05-24 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #30.3 (feat. Sarah Peebles/Andrew Timar/Glen Hall / Glen Hall/Aki Takahashi/Sarah Peebles)
Array Space 2015-05-24 (Sunday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-26 (Tuesday)
Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot (Nick Fraser + Doug Tielli)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-26 (Tuesday)
HPR presents (feat. Doc Dunn & The Cosmic Range / Not The Wind, Not The Flag)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-05-27 (Wednesday)
Continuum Contemporary Music and Subtle Technologies: Collide
The Theatre Centre 2015-05-28 (Thursday)
Mechanical Forest Sound Presents (feat. Moonwood / Manticore / Mirrors)
Ratio 2015-05-29 (Friday)
Wavelength 663: EXVEE (feat. Digits / L.atasha A.lcindor aka L.A. / Man Made Hill / Ayo Leilani / Still Boys / New Fries / Farang / MALOO / New Chance / Etiquette)
Artscape Gibraltar Point 2015-05-30 (Saturday)
Ryan Carley (Merganzer)
Holy Oak Café 2015-06-01 (Monday)
Track Could Bend #3 (feat. Someflowers Of Hell / Brigitte Bardon't / Demerised Elf Funk)
Dundas Video 2015-06-02 (Tuesday)
troubleshooting~ v2 (feat. Ted Phillips / Zach Clark / Nicolas Buligan)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-06-03 (Wednesday)
Crosss (Coarse Language / Carl Didur / Lizzy Boredom)
Double Double Land 2015-06-04 (Thursday)
Dany Laj and the Looks (The Almighty Rhombus / Terror Lake / Running Violet)
The Silver Dollar Room 2015-06-05 (Friday)
Dundas West Fest (feat. LIPS / The Royal Crowns / Neon Wave / Good Enough Live Karaoke / Mexican Slang / Blonde Elvis)
Lakeview Stage 2015-06-06 (Saturday)
Wavelength 666 (feat. Fresh Snow / Corpusse / Several Futures / Century Palm / Badminton Racquet)
The Silver Dollar Room 2015-06-06 (Saturday)
No Angels Dancing
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-06-07 (Sunday)
Nite Comfort 22 (feat. Ghostlight / Le 4e Discours)
Handlebar 2015-06-07 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #31.1 (feat. Robert Cruickshank + Heidi Chan / Neil D Retke + Dominique Banoun / Michael Kaler/Mike Daley/Arnd Jurgensen/Martin Loomer)
Array Space 2015-06-09 (Tuesday)
Surrender Heads (The Taste / Selina Martin)
Burdock Music Hall 2015-06-10 (Wednesday)
Doldrums (She-Devils)
The Drake Underground 2015-06-11 (Thursday)
Sound Séance I: Night 1 (feat. EXPO 70 with Dirty Inputs / Olivia Neutron-John / Babel/ Caro Diaro)
Geary Lane 2015-06-12 (Friday)
Sound Séance I: Day 1 (feat. M.Mucci / Silver Pools / Blunt Chunks / Zoë Alexis Abrams)
Geary Lane 2015-06-13 (Saturday)
Sound Séance I: Night 2 (feat. Suuns + Jerusalem In My Heart / Technical Kidman / Mimico / Jay Holy)
Geary Lane 2015-06-13 (Saturday)
Sound Séance I: Day 2 (feat. Knurl / Lorde Awesome / William Davison / Isles Day / Brigitte Bardon't / Sexy Merlin)
Geary Lane 2015-06-14 (Sunday)
Sound Séance I: Day 3 (feat. Wrekmeister Harmonies / Jessica Moss / Off World / Carl Didur)
Geary Lane 2015-06-14 (Sunday)
Avesta Nakhaei + friends
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-06-17 (Wednesday)
Ken Aldcroft & Scott Thomson (Germaine Liu & John Oswald)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-06-17 (Wednesday)
Lloyd Cole
The Great Hall 2015-06-18 (Thursday)
M for 159 Manning 2015 (feat. Serf Kanata / Jr. Mintz / Vallens / beauts / Heaters / Pat Jordache / Clairmont The Second / Dead Obies / BART / Sasha Chapin / The Muscadettes / Birds of Paradise / Fat As Fuck)
159 Manning 2015-06-19 (Friday)
Sonic Boom + PPOP Label Fair (feat. HUSH PUP / Old and Weird / King Creep / Surinam / Un Blonde / Vallens)
The Garrison's front room 2015-06-20 (Saturday)
C.R.E.A.M. Afternoon All Ages (feat. Tonkapuma / Ken Park / Lido Pimienta / Petra Glynt / Hooded Fang)
Double Double Land 2015-06-21 (Sunday)
Wavelength 669 (feat. The Ex / Swedish Azz / Brodie West & Fleshtone Aura)
Hard Luck 2015-06-23 (Tuesday)
Mob Job with Ted Phillips
Holy Oak Café 2015-06-24 (Wednesday)
Eric Boeren 4tet
Burdock Music Hall 2015-06-24 (Wednesday)
The Ryan Driver Quintet
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-06-26 (Friday)
troubleshooting~ v3 (feat. Tanya Goncalves / Marc Couroux / Cory Latkovich)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-07-01 (Wednesday)
Within (Albert James / BABEL)
Holy Oak Café 2015-07-02 (Thursday)
Hassan Hakmoun
Harbourfront Centre – W------ Stage 2015-07-04 (Saturday)
Track Could Bend #4 (feat. Dr. Dunn & The Cosmic Range / Castle If / Doom Tickler)
Dundas Video 2015-07-07 (Tuesday)
Operators (Most People / Wish)
The Garrison 2015-07-09 (Thursday)
Kith & Kin: The Hollow Square
The Music Gallery 2015-07-10 (Friday)
Mdou Moctar
Harbourfront Centre, W------ Stage 2015-07-11 (Saturday)
SoundClash Music Award: Shortlist Performances (feat. Ronley Teper's Lipliners / Digits / Above Top Secret)
Harbourfront Centre – Lakeside Terrace 2015-07-11 (Saturday)
The Highest Order (Army Girls / New Chance)
Wade Avenue studio 2015-07-11 (Saturday)
Somewhere There presents (feat. Nidus / Troubleshooting Trio)
Array Space 2015-07-12 (Sunday)
The Draperies (Rob Clutton)
Ratio 2015-07-13 (Monday)
Audiopollination #32.2: Self-curation Project (feat. Michael Lynn/Neil Wiernik/Lara Solnicki / Heidi Chan/Alec Brady/Andy Dolgin / Ben Sirois/Andy Yue/Alex Fournier / Zach Clark/Kayla Grant/Pedro Ferreira)
Array Space 2015-07-14 (Tuesday)
Hooded Fang (Darlene Shrugg / Heaters)
Mercury Social Club 2015-07-17 (Friday)
Monomyth (Nap Eyes / Joyboy)
Smiling Buddha 2015-07-18 (Saturday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-07-19 (Sunday)
Somewhere There presents The Slow Burning Torch Series (feat. Brass Knuckle Sandwich / Broken Consort)
Array Space 2015-07-21 (Tuesday)
The Music Gallery's Departures Series (feat. Jessika Kenney & Eyvind Kang / Andrew Timar & Bill Parsons / Manticore)
Jam Factory 2015-07-22 (Wednesday)
Live on the Patio (feat. Tamikrest)
Roy Thomson Hall Patio 2015-07-23 (Thursday)
Freak Heat Waves (Fake Palms / New Fries / Vallens)
Smiling Buddha 2015-07-23 (Thursday)
Event Cloak (Jeffrey Alexander / Love Thy Will Be Done / New Chance)
Ratio 2015-07-25 (Saturday)
Crosswires (feat. More or Les / Proof of Ghosts / Childs / Doc Pickles)
Handlebar 2015-07-26 (Sunday)
HPR Presents: SUMMER BASS 2K15 (feat. Bile Sister / Dohn Valley / Petra Glynt / New Chance)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-07-29 (Wednesday)
Audiopollination #32.3: Audiopollinating the Tranzac (feat. Brian Abbott/Karen Ng/Kayla Milmine/Michael Lynn/Branko Dzinovic)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-07-30 (Thursday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-07-31 (Friday)
No Angels Dancing
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-08-02 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #5 (feat. Ghostlight / Lido Pimienta / Slime)
Dundas Video 2015-08-04 (Tuesday)
Mechanical Forest Sound presents (feat. Noordwiijk / Allison Cameron / Debashis Sinha)
Ratio 2015-08-05 (Wednesday)
Mermaids (Ways)
Ratio 2015-08-06 (Thursday)
SummerWorks Music Series: What Happens to JOOJ in 24 Hours: According to Bojana & Alex
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-07 (Friday)
SummerWorks Music Series: To Cast a Stone (feat. Animalia)
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-08 (Saturday)
Four Corners V: A Benefit for Girls Rock Camp Toronto (feat. Surinam / HSY / Cellphone / New Fries)
United Steelworkers Hall 2015-08-08 (Saturday)
SummerWorks Music Series: What Fate Awaits Them? (feat. Most People / MATROX)
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-09 (Sunday)
SummerWorks Music Series: Melancholiac: The Music of Scott Walker
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-11 (Tuesday)
LUKA (Isla Craig/Marine Dreams)
Burdock Music Hall 2015-08-11 (Tuesday)
SummerWorks Music Series: all you can hold (feat. LAL)
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-12 (Wednesday)
SummerWorks Music Series: Heat Shuts Off Overnight (feat. Germaphobes / ANAMAI)
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-13 (Thursday)
SummerWorks Music Series: 2016 Spring Collection (feat. Still Boys)
Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement 2015-08-14 (Friday)
Habari Africa (feat. Ethio Zema w/ Fantahun Shewankochew)
Harbourfront Centre, W------ Stage 2015-08-15 (Saturday)
Accumulations: a 6-hour symbiotonotopic experiment (feat. Nidus)
Ratio 2015-08-16 (Sunday)
Bernice (Devon Sproule)
Burdock Music Hall 2015-08-16 (Sunday)
Queen West Yacht Club 2015: Henri Fabergé's Feint of Hart
MOCCA 2015-08-19 (Wednesday)
The Channels (Crosss / Imaginary Flesh)
Handlebar 2015-08-22 (Saturday)
Wei Zhongle (Nick Storring / Bears & Children / Mirapolis)
The Cavern Bar 2015-08-23 (Sunday)
Picastro (Loom / Laughing Eye Weeping Eye)
Ratio 2015-08-27 (Thursday)
Camp Wavelength (feat. Holy Fuck / Doldrums / Dirty Frigs / Kurt Marble / Zoo Owl / Above Top Secret / Allegories / RAVETAPES)
Artscape Gibraltar Point 2015-08-28 (Friday)
Camp Wavelength (feat. The Wooden Sky / Moon King / Prince Rama / Doomsquad / LIDS / Blonde Elvis / Slow Down Molasses / Etiquette / Most People / Digits / Kidstreet / Mar Aberto SoundSystem)
Artscape Gibraltar Point 2015-08-29 (Saturday)
Camp Wavelength (feat. Do Make Say Think / The Weather Station / Loscil / Pierre Kwenders / Avec le soleil sortant de sa bouche / Anamai / Scattered Clouds / JOYFULTALK)
Artscape Gibraltar Point 2015-08-30 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #6 (feat. Basmyn Jurke / Alaniaris / Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro)
Dundas Video 2015-09-01 (Tuesday)
troubleshooting~ v5 (feat. Jonathan Adjemian / Glen Hall and Eugene Martynec / Zach Clark) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-09-02 (Wednesday)
Somewhere There presents (feat. Brick Quartet + Joe Sorbara / Knurl / Clutton/Grossman/Liu/o)
Ratio 2015-09-03 (Thursday)
Intersection (Day 1) (feat. The Element Choir / Flowers Of Hell / Music In The Barns with 1000 Strings / Tatsuya Nakatani / Not The Wind, Not The Flag / Taktus / Christof Migone / Cory Latkovich & Rob Grieve / Knurl)
Yonge-Dundas Square 2015-09-05 (Saturday)
The Music Gallery Departures Series/Intersection Day 2 (feat. Shalabi Effect / "Doc" Dunn & The Cosmic Range / Jason Doell's Dominions)
Jam Factory 2015-09-06 (Sunday)
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-09-08 (Tuesday)
bedroom superband
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-09-08 (Tuesday)
Fresh Snow (Carl Didur / Zones / Nailbiter)
Smiling Buddha 2015-09-09 (Wednesday)
John Cooper Clarke (Ronley Teper and The Lipliners)
The Garrison 2015-09-10 (Thursday)
The Sounds of Sleeping Giant (feat. Bruce Peninsula)
John St. TIFF Stage 2015-09-11 (Friday)
Robyn Hitchcock and The Sadies (Emma Swift)
The Drake Underground 2015-09-13 (Sunday)
Wavelength 679 (feat. The Nihilist Spasm Band with Joe McPhee / HSY / The Dead Are Those Who Have Died)
The Garrison 2015-09-17 (Thursday)
Bloor Ossington Folk Festival: "Exile On Bloor Street" (feat. Michael Feuerstack / Jon McKiel / Lullabye Arkestra / Soupcans / The Pucumber Sasssquash Family Band / Chris Ladd)
Menalon Restaurant + Bassline Music Bar 2015-09-18 (Friday)
The Bloor Ossington Folk Festival (feat. Cousins / The Burning Hell / Fiver / The Holy Gasp / Sandro Perri / Asiko Afrobeat Ensemble / Weird Lines / Construction & Destruction / TOKKA / Chris Ladd / The Idaho Stop)
Christie Pits Park 2015-09-19 (Saturday)
The Bloor Ossington Folk Festival (feat. Julie Doiron & Friends / Crosss / Absolutely Free / Stanley Brinks & Freschard / Blonde Elvis / Overnight / Lindy Vopnfjord / Walrus / Shi Wisdom / Nick Ferrio Sebastian Brown)
Christie Pits Park 2015-09-20 (Sunday)
Diatribes (Bespoken feat. Germaine Liu / Ido Govrin) Ratio 2015-09-23 (Wednesday)
In The Sea feat. Tristan Honsinger (The Visit)
The Music Gallery 2015-09-25 (Friday)
Norma Beecroft: Pioneers Of Electronic Music [book launch] (feat. Canadian Electronic Ensemble)
Canadian Music Centre 2015-09-26 (Saturday)
Audiopollination #34.2 (feat. Ellwood Epps /Karen Ng/Paul Newman/Germaine Liu/Rob Clutton / Yves Charuest/Nicole Rampersaud/Joe Sorbara/Ken Aldcroft / Ellwood Epps/Yves Charuest)
Array Space 2015-09-27 (Sunday)
Wavelength 680: Your Band Sucks (feat. Jon Fine)
The Garrison 2015-09-28 (Monday)
Body Help
The Emmet Ray 2015-09-28 (Monday)
Yo La Tengo feat. Dave Schramm
Queen Elizabeth Theatre 2015-09-30 (Wednesday)
Not The Wind, Not The Flag (c_RL / Nifty)
The Tranzac (Main Hall) 2015-10-01 (Thursday)
Feast In The East 53 (feat. Jerusalem In My Heart / Jessica Moss / Rose Bolton & Music In The Barns / Khôra)
Jam Factory 2015-10-02 (Friday)
Brian Abbot + friends: Electric Vexations
Propeller 2015-10-03 (Saturday)
Track Could Bend #7 (feat. Body Help / Karen Ng & Sexy Merlin)
Dundas Video 2015-10-06 (Tuesday)
Lina Allemano/Karen Ng/Rob Clutton/Nico Dann
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-10-11 (Sunday)
Kulture II (feat. Cetacea / Hybrid Frequency / Hexzuul / Mandelbrut / Ruin)
The Steady Café and Bar 2015-10-13 (Tuesday)
X Avant X (feat. Lori Freedman / CCMC / Michael Snow & Casey Sokol)
The Music Gallery 2015-10-15 (Thursday)
X Avant X: MG Encore
The Music Gallery 2015-10-16 (Friday)
X Avant X (feat. Tyondai Braxton / New Chance / Pantayo)
The Music Gallery 2015-10-17 (Saturday)
X Avant X (feat. Absolutely Free / Keita Juma)
The Music Gallery 2015-10-18 (Sunday)
THE AMBiENT PiNG presents (feat. Snowday / Isles Day)
Ratio 2015-10-20 (Tuesday)
Slim Twig (Crosss / Drainolith)
The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-10-21 (Wednesday)
Nicole Rampersaud/Carl Didur/Colin Fisher
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-10-23 (Friday)
Not The Wind, Not The Flag (Sacred Lamp)
June Records 2015-10-25 (Sunday)
Cheka Dioubate
The Gladstone Hotel (ballroom) 2015-10-25 (Sunday)
Somewhere There presents (feat. Paul Newman with Heather Segger and Karen Ng)
Array Space 2015-10-27 (Tuesday)
Deciduous (Sweet Session / Organballoon)
Ratio 2015-10-28 (Wednesday)
DEATH TO T.O. V (feat. Sportsfan [as The Strokes] / members of Hollow Earth, Weaves and Cell Memory [as Wings]) / The Two Koreas [as Clinic] / members of Beliefs, Rolemodel and Teenanger [as Portishead] / members of Century Palm and Germaphobes [as The B-52's] / Explorer feat. Matty Dee [as Alice Cooper] / members of Sloan and Good Enough [as Descendants] / members of Ice Cream, Slim Twig Band and Vallens [as Alanis Morissette] / Sahara [as Cocteau Twins] / Only Yours [as The Police] / Blonde Elvis [as David Bowie] / Greys [as The Smashing Pumpkins] / Fake Palms [as Television] / Calvin Love [as Iggy And The Stooges] / Biblical [as The Who] / The Dirty Frigs feat. Doomsquad [as No Doubt] / B-17 [as Kiss])
Lee's Palace + The Dance Cave 2015-10-30 (Friday)
Nite Comfort 27 (feat. Pale Eyes / Ellson Graywell)
Handlebar 2015-11-01 (Sunday)
Track Could Bend #8 (feat. SlowPitchSound / APA / Vorvis + Thomson)
Dundas Video 2015-11-03 (Tuesday)
416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival: Spoken Word (feat. Brent Peers / John Oughton / James Owen / John Evans / O.E. [Bill Gilliam, Ambrose Pottie, Michael Lynn, Glen Hall])
The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2015-11-04 (Wednesday)
Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series (feat. Fisher+Gennaro / N/A/D/S 4tet)
Array Space 2015-11-08 (Sunday)
Audiopollination #36: Self-Curation Series (feat. Avesta Nakhaei + Manuel Morales / Andrew Kay + Brian Abbott / Manuel Morales + Kayla Milmine / "Alexandr Nabokov" + "Buck McKenzie")
Array Space 2015-11-10 (Tuesday)
Internet Mountains: Clive Holden meets Debashis Sinha
Canadian Music Centre 2015-11-12 (Thursday)
Chandra (Petra Glynt / Bile Sister / New Chance)
Jam Factory 2015-11-12 (Thursday)
Long Winter 4.1 (feat. Sasha Chapin / Eyeballs / Practice Wife / The Muscadettes / Elaquent / C418 / Sahara / Cris Derksen / Calvin Love / Dilettantes / PONY)
The Great Hall 2015-11-13 (Friday)
Mechanical Forest Sound and Somewhere There Present (feat. Colby Nathan + Matt Robidoux / YlangYlang / Blunt Chunks / Colin Fisher)
The Imperial Pub (backroom) 2015-11-15 (Sunday)
Gravitons and Not The Wind Not The Flag (Man Made Hill)
Array Space 2015-11-16 (Monday)
Michelle McAdorey Band
Monarch Tavern 2015-11-18 (Wednesday)
Dilly Dally (The Beverleys / Vallens)
The Horseshoe Tavern 2015-11-27 (Friday)
Live in the Stacks (feat. Jennifer Castle)
Toronto Public Library – Yorkville Branch 2015-11-28 (Saturday)
The Diableros (Yardlets / Terror Lake)
The Garrison 2015-11-28 (Saturday)
Longform reviews of these shows are not currently likely. Recordings from many of these can be found if you dig through the tag cloud below.


text:
Updated 12/04/2013
After several visits to New Mexico, Ernie Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize–winning news reporter, built a house in 1940 that now contains the smallest branch of the Albuquerque Public Library. On display are photos, handwritten articles by Pyle, and news clippings about his career as a correspondent during World War II and his death from a sniper's bullet on April 18, 1945, on the Pacific island of Ie Shima.
900 Girard Blvd. SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87106, United States
Website: www.cabq.gov/library
Sight Details:
Updated 12/04/2013
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subset: commoncrawl


text: Bite Your Nails? You Might Have an Official Disorder Severe cases expected to be categorized as OCD By John Johnson, Newser Staff Posted Nov 1, 2012 4:56 PM CDT STORY COMMENTS (28) (Newser) – Those who can't stop biting their nails might soon be able to lay claim to an official-sounding excuse: They have obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Health on Today blog reports that the American Psychiatric Association plans to classify severe cases under the OCD label when the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is updated next year. Casual chomping gets a pass, but those who "have bitten so much that they are getting infections" or have limited the use of their hands qualify, explains a psychiatrist. (Shutterstock) ADVERTISEMENT(Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) « Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow todayhealth.today.com (Source Grid ») Health • Great Finds nail biting • obsessive compulsive disorder • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders • timeless news CLICK BELOW TO VOTE 18% 19% 49% 3% 8% 3% RETURN TO THE STORY To report an error on this story, notify our editors.


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November 30, 2015
Mannington, W.Va. (AP) -- It's not quite Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," but former Mannington mayor Frank White says he's had enough of the winged creatures for a long time.
White says his neighbor, city councilman Jeff Michael, has been providing a regular smorgasbord for birds, with seed, bread and even french fries.
As a result, white says there are up to 60 birds at a time on his property.
He says most of the birds are pigeons, which he calls a nuisance.
He's asked the city to intervene, but current mayor bob garcia says he's not sure exactly what powers Mannington has in the situation.
Garcia has asked Michael to curtail the bird buffet for a while, and the mayor says Michael has agreed.
(Copyright 2009 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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Western Australia is divided into 59 electoral districts for the Legislative Assembly, each electing one member (59 in total) and six regions for the Legislative Council, each electing six members (36 in total).
To check which electoral district you are in, confirm your enrolment by using the check your enrolment tool.
Electoral districts have changed since the 2008 State general election due to the 2011 Electoral Distribution and review of electoral boundaries. For more information view Why has my electoral district changed?
District profiles will be available shortly, providing information on:
- candidates (after nominations close)
- the Returning Officer
- local governments
- area size
- suburbs in the district
- enrolment statistics
- region.


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Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007)
Video Game | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy | 6 November 2007 (USA)
In Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, you can now experience all 6 episodes at once. Containing the same levels and locations. Only with newer features and improvements. Such as more extras... See full summary »
Writer:George Lucas (characters and universe)
Stars:Ahmed Best, Peter Cushing, Anthony Daniels | See full cast and crew »


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The Vikings lived in the area around the Oslofjord about 1,000 years ago. In Sandefjord, their presence can be clearly seen in the artefacts and monuments they left behind. You can also find clear traces of activity of other inhabitants from even earlier periods of history. Special places of interest include The Gokstad Mound and The Rock Carvings and Standing Stones.
Sandefjord's history is inextricably linked to whaling, which reached its apogee here in 1954. The Whaling Museum is Europe's only museum dedicated to whaling and its history, and The Whaling Monument is Sandefjord's most famous sculpture - a memorial to whaling, created by Knut Steen at the end of the 1950s.
The whale catcher "Southern Actor" is the only whaleboat found in its original condition from the modern whaling era. It is moored in Sandefjord Harbour and is open to the public in summer.
The former home of shipping magnate and philanthropist Anders Jahre is now public property. The estate has a unique park containing a number of sculptures and offering a fantastic view over the Sandefjord fjord. The park is open to the general public.
Midtåsen has a dedicated pavilion and sculpture park where 16 works by the artist Knut Steen have been collected. Knut Steen's sculptures in interplay with the panorama of nature, glass and concrete create a unique art experience.
Sandefjord Airport is home to Dakota, a stylish veteran passenger aircraft. The Dakota, an American Douglas DC3 aircraft built in 1943, flies routes around Vestfold during the summer season.
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In Sandefjord you can walk in the footsteps of the Vikings, visit the Whaling Museum or enjoy an unique art experience at Midtåsen Sculpture Park.
Attractions in Sandefjord
Source: Visitnorway
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Reversed 80 Planar gives me about 1.6x magnification. I get around 3x magnification on the reversed 50 but I'm not entirely satisfied with the performance. I don't see myself wanting more than that for 6x6. As it is, it requires exacting technique to shoot at these levels of magnification.
I'm experimental by nature - if I can squeeze some more resolution out of the enlarging lenses, they're worth a try. If not, just as well since the Zeiss lenses will be a whole lot easier to use!


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|Moppet and Me
|Spend some special time with your favorite child. Enjoy a basic service for yourself, and a mini service for your small companion.
|Manicure - 45 Minutes - $25
Pedicure - 60 Minutes - $40
|Time for Two
|Pamper yourself and someone you love with some special spa time for two. Enjoy a spa service with your best friend or significant other, and show them how much you care.
|Manicure - 60 Minutes - $65
Pedicure - 90 Minutes - $85


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Meet local hydroplane driver Kip Brown at hydroplane museum's season preview
April 17, 2014
NEW — 6 a.m. April 17, 2014
Local hydroplane driver Kip Brown will be at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent when it hosts an H1 Unlimited hydroplane season preview April 19.
Fans of the sport will get to meet with Unlimited hydroplane officials, team crew chiefs and drivers. Brown is with Preston-based team Our Gang Racing.
Top sports stories of the year
December 31, 2013
Issaquah athletes take top state honors
It was another successful year for Issaquah community sports.
Athletes at the three district high schools took home conference titles and state championships, while an Issaquah racing team made a splash on the water.
Kip Brown finishes third in 2013 High Point
September 24, 2013
Preston's Our Gang Racing, and driver Kip Brown, completed its best season ever, finishing third in the National High Point Championships.
The 95 Spirit of Qatar finished behind hydroplane circuit legends Jimmy Shane and Steve David in H1 Unlimited racing.
It caps a season in which the team had three podium finishes, including a win in the Gold Cup.
Kip Brown takes third at Diamond Cup
September 10, 2013
Driver Kip Brown, of Preston's Our Gang Racing, placed third at the Diamond Cup Championship in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Sept. 1.
The competition represented the return of Unlimited hydroplane racing in Coeur d'Alene after the sport's 45-year absence.
It is the second-straight third-place finish for Brown who, driving the 95 Spirit of Qatar, finished third at Seafair in early August.
Penalty costs Kip Brown in Columbia Cup
July 30, 2013
Nearly two weeks after Preston-based team Our Gang Racing celebrated Kip Brown and the 95 Spirit of Qatar's Gold Cup win, the team was back in the state competing in the Columbia Cup.
The team could not duplicate the success it had in Detroit, though. It placed seventh in the final heat of the Unlimited hydroplane competition held in Tri-Cities.
Brown, the driver, was plagued by a one-lap penalty he received after he prematurely crossed the one-minute buoy.
The team will next compete for the Albert Lee Appliance Cup at Seafair in Seattle Aug. 2-4.
Good as gold
July 16, 2013
Preston team's Kip Brown wins Super Bowl of hydroplane racing
The National Football League has the Super Bowl; Major League Baseball has the World Series; but for hydroplane racing, it's the Gold Cup that stands as the pinnacle of the sport's achievements.
Local hydroplane team goes gold: Kip Brown wins 2013 Gold Cup
July 15, 2013
NEW — 5:25 p.m. July 15, 2013
The National Football League has the Super Bowl; Major League Baseball has the World Series; but for hydroplane racing, it's the Gold Cup that stands as the pinnacle of the sport's achievements.
Local team Our Gang Racing, of Preston, took home that gilded trophy, after driver Kip Brown came in first place in the Detroit American Power Boat Association's Gold Cup July 14.
Brown, of Ravensdale, drove the 95 Spirit of Qatar, in what Our Gang Racing principal owner John O'Brien said was one of the best races he had ever seen.
"It's got to be one of the best races in the past 10 years as far as deck-to-deck competition and the dueling," he said. "I think they must have changed leads seven or eight times."
Kip Brown finishes fourth at Big Wake Weekend
June 11, 2013
Competing in the 95 Spirit of Qatar hydroplane, local driver Kip Brown, of Preston, took fourth at Sacramento's Big Wake Weekend.
After a weekend in which the team struggled to find speed, Brown earned just enough preliminary points to make it to the finals.
The 95 Spirit of Qatar placed fourth out of seven teams at the June 1 event on Folsom Lake.
The team will now head back to Preston to get the boat ready for competition in Madison, Ind., in July.
Learn more at www.ourgangracing.com.
Kip Brown wins heat at world championships
February 12, 2013
The familiar red, yellow and blue of the Miss Red Dot hydroplane was not present at the 2013 Oryx Cup UIM World Championship in Doha, Qatar, but that doesn't mean that local crew, Our Gang Racing, wasn't properly represented at the event.
Our Gang Racing, including driver Kip Brown, of Preston, competed as the 95 Spirit of Qatar team, donning the white-and-maroon colors of the Qatari flag.
Brown captured his first ever heat win for the Spirit of Qatar team, delighting the home crowd with a convincing performance, on Feb. 9.