Gig 30: Bloc Party

Bloc Party // The Ponys // The Golden Dogs
06.02.04.05 @ The Opera House (735 Queen Street East) // Sold Out // 19+
Alex + Amanda + Amy + Christine + Eileen + Elsie + Lindsay + Ren + Sef

What shitey weather! It was both snowing and raining with thunder. We weren't going to line up early so we stayed at Dangerous Dan for the longest time as possible even though our dinner was extremly slow. The venue was on time, shortly after 9:30pm, The Golden Dogs came on stage and put on a decent rock set. I enjoyed the performance of Dynamo and Saints at the Gates. I think they are alright, kinda fun, whatever. It could be worse...


Little bit before The Ponys hit the stage, there was this bald snob who kept asking Sef and I about The Ponys and claiming that they're going to blow off Bloc Party on stage. They were not bad but wasn't mindblowing as that guy claimed. Sef and I agreed that the band could also used a little more stage presence, actually maybe more than a little.

Like Eating Glass
Positive Tension
Banquet
This Modern Love
Luno
The Marshals are Dead
She's Hearing Voices
Helicoper
Little Thoughts
-----------------
So Here We Are
The Price of Gas
Tulips
The Answer

Bloc Party's engergic performance has created a real party at this soldout venue. Everyone was dancing during the entire show, which is quite rare occurance in Toronto. Matt Tong was magnificant on the drums! (He's quite exotic actually, geeky Asian indie boy with British Accent.. purrrrr) Other than the quiet Russell, everyone had some small chatter in between songs and Kele Okereke commented at some point in the evening "the BEST music right now is from Canada". And he's right: Final Fantasy, The Arcade Fire, The Stills, Broken Social Scene, k-Os.. etc. In my opinion, Banquet and The Marshals are Dead were the best highlights of the night. Their set was short, after a short break, the band came back and performed 4 songs in the encore. It was definitely a party. I was disappointed that their manager, Simon White, wasn't on tour with them. I was meant to stalk him all night because he used to be in Menswe@r back in the Britpop days. Apparently, he got regconized quite a bit last time he was here, so he doesn't tour as much now. I didn't stick around with Amanda and Lindsay to go out with the band afterwards, I was still shitey from the night before and the weather was shitey. Ah well..

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stupid April's Fool. I was the fool. TODAY FUCKING SUCKED!

Film: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

**** USA. 118 min. Colour 2004. Directed by Wes Anderson. Written by Wes Anderson + Noah Baumbach. Cast: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum

05.01.04.05 @ 7pm FFF: Innis Town Hall with Adam.

I heart this film. This was my second time seeing it, ironically, the first time I saw the film was with his other roommates. Like other Wes Anderson's films, The Life Aquatic is filled with interesting characters. I always love how his film, in particular The Royal Tenenbaums and his latest, has a sense of timelessness to it since he used all these interesting yet wickedly smart vintage looking gadgets in the film. It looks retro yet modern, but quite imaginative, I could never put a finger on when the story is taking place in the past, modern or future.

I love all the nerdy jokes in the film. Pelé Dos Santos (played by Seu Jorge) in between scenes acoustic Portuguese cover of David Bowie, The Zombies and Iggy Pop was absolute GOLD! My favourite character has to be Klaus Daimler (played by Willem Dafoe) who always wanted the appreciation to be on the "A Team". The aquasuits scene was tops as well as Klaus had shorts and Pelé's was sleeveless. I love detailed oriented films, not necessary the plot but the props. I want a pair of Zissou Adidas and the Zissou Society ring!!

Exhibition: Mr. Brown vs. Val Kilmer

Mr. Brown vs. Val Kilmer
04.31.04.05 @ Artlab (457 Richmond. W., Toronto)

It was a very tiny show but it was awesome. It was awesome because it's both Mr. Brown and Val Kilmer. I was actually a bit disappointed that it was so tiny, and i was expecting more photography or video of the Mr. Browns and Val Kilmers around the city. Both artists were present, thank God, there was no cops! Also at one point of the night, a guy with a video camera asked if he could asked me a few question about Val. I agreed to it, after sourcing to the correct "lighting and background" for this video, he asked if i could hold Val, then as soon as you know it (i'm not even sure how this exactly happened) but I was pretend-making out with a cardboard cutout celebrity! ALL CAUGHT ON TAPE NEVERTHELESS!! And i bet it's going to wind up in some Asian-making-out-with-celebrity-cutout festish porn site somewhere on the interweb!