Party: Santa Cruz / Dynamite Soul

9 PM: SOB - yummmm!
i haven't been to Sushi on Bloor (515 Bloor Street West - 416.516.3456) for a long while. It's good to have Amy back in town. After the film, we went to SOB for dinner. We ordered two sushi pizza with one spicy one, a vegetable tempura, 3 sets of handroll sets and Eileen ordered her usual nori odon noodles. It was soooooo goooooood!

10:30 PM: Santa Cruz - Inbreds / Fox the Boombox
Gahhhhh line up, after dinner when i was going to the bank, i was shocked to learn that there was a huge line up wrapped around Lee's Palace already. Everyone was there for The Inbreds reunion gig, why? Because everyone looked at least 30 and they are all coupled, unknowingly that Santa Cruz is a hipster-single-hookup-meetup event! BOO! Luckily, Nancy let me in for free hehe it was already very packed when we got inside the venue. Host Adam and Dave introduced the first band of the evening, Fox the Boombox, a five piece made up from member of The Sick Lipstick, hipster cute - has the looks but can't play for shite. The Inbreds hit the stage shortly after midnight. Was too late to run to El Mocombo for Republic of Safety's gig. The Inbreds played all their classic hits for 45 mins. The crowd were very into it. It was good but amazingly packed, so i retracted to the back for the rest of the show.

1:30 AM: Dynamite Soul at El Mocombo
It was near the end as we finally reached our third party of the night. Poor Adam and Ben looked tired and bored on the couch as we entered. We completely missed the band and it was relatively empty whilst a couple of people still moving on the dancefloor. I got myself a Keith's. Trevor suggested Nina to prank call MattBlair again. It was hilarious. It was more hilarious to see MattBlair's reaction as Nina revealed who she was. He litereally took steps back and was shocked. hehe.. as the night wind down, we said our goodbyes at the corner of College and Spadina... it was a good nite.

Film: Happy Together

**** Hong Kong. 96 min. B&W/Colour 1997. Directed by Wong Kar Wai
Written by Wong Kar Wai. Cast: Leslie Cheung, Tony (Chiu Wai) Leung, Chen Cheng

05.11.03.05 @ 7pm FFF: Innis Town Hall with Amy, Eileen and Makeda.

Beautiful film. It was really sad for me to see the late Leslie Cheung on the screen. I grew up listening to his music and watching his telly soaps, he was part of my childhood. He was only 40 when he suicided by jumping off from the roof of a hotel a few years ago. The film started off with a very open sex scene between the two lead characters, Lai Yiu-Fai (Leslie Cheung) and Ho Po-Wing (Tony Leung), rumoured that Tony Leung agreed to be in the film on the basis of a fake script and only learned of the requirement of doing a gay sex scene after arriving in Argentina for filming. Then they decided to go to Argentina for road holiday, they got lost and money are spent, somehow the relationship drifted apart too. It was also about Po-Wing's quest of himself through Chang (Chen Cheng) of finding "home". The storyline goes back and forth with the love relationship between Fai and Wing, and the dependence of each other. "Let's start all over again" was said frequently but never once a "I love you". The film was beautifully shot between black and white and colour. Soundtrack was very incoporated, the actors were excellent. i really like the film, it was brilliant.

Gig 25: Zoobombs Fever

The Zoobombs // BBQ
04.10.03.05 @ The Silver Dollar (486 Spadina Rd)

Yes, another night with The Zoobombs! This band never stops! But this is their final Toronto stop, after CMW, the band travelled to nearby cities for more shows every night. You can tell this time they were tired, but they still gave them their best shot. They should really get a roadie though, poor Don always breaking strings and have to restrung during the gig, plus no one is tuning for him as well! They were very grateful for the audience and the Toronto support, i wish them good luck and come back here in the very near future.

Gig 24: Death from Above

Death From Above 1979 // Red Yellow // We Are Wolves
02.08.03.05 @ The Opera House (735 Queen Street East)

It reminded me once again why i hated all ages show. We Are Wolves are from Montreal, seems like the current trend that every band has some kind of "wolf" figure in their band name. They are alright for what they are, the singer was weird with this chicken whaling vocals. Second band was Read Yellow from Massachusetts. They are totally ...And You'll Know Us by the Trail of Dead wannabe but ended up crossdressing as Alexisonfire.

A stand up comedian Terrance, a buddy of Sebastien's, told us a few jokes whilst DFA was setting up. He was funny. DFA played for an hour including encore. Bodysurfing and mosh pit from songs to songs, Sebastien even had to stop the show at one point to tell the kids to stop bodysurfing because they were kicking people in the face and it's not cool. I like the comment he made about this particular guy who shouted that Sebastien had a haircut. (Of course, i love any comments about hair in general) Sebastien goes, "Yes, i have to cut my hair sometimes, unlike yours" and then went on mentioned kudos to the bald guy that he just have to wake up brush his teeth and fly to work and that dude who needed a haircut has to spend heaps of time fixing his hair and still look like shite. That was the hilight of the evening. They were their usual best, but all these kids... arghhhh..

Quiet Evenings are the New Loud

Dinner at Bo De
RW was gone today. Spoiled my day with nothingness. Sudden post of having dinner at Bo De with ambivalent, automatic, spark and merckeda.. and i tagged along. It was good dinner. I want more spring rolls!

I <3 Dinner Party
It's oh so quiet, and low key. Last night, i went to Callie's for a dinner party. Also invited were the boys, who were dressed nicely. :) Fucking TTC got me there so late, was stucked underground for ages.. i was sooo late. I made cardomin apple/pear pie, they were so cute, they were all little individual pies. I specially made Toby a maple apple crumble because he's vegan and it was very difficult to make dessert without egg and dairy. Heather made Gado-Gado, a brocoli-rabi with chick pea salad, a scalloped sweet potato and potato with caramelized onions, and a sorta curry but not curry dish served with injera. It was fantastic! After dinner, Tobes had to go run distro at Wavelength whilst the rest of us stayed behind for more drinks, chit-chat and we played Hot Dice! HOT DICEEEE! It was a very very lovely evening.

Gig 23: CMW Day 3 - Femme Generation / Shikasta / Two Koreas / Gentleman Reg / Boy Ballz / The Zoobombs

The Zoobombs // Boy Ballz // Gentleman Reg // Two Koreas // Shikasta // Femme Generation
06.05.03.05 at The Comfort Zone (486 Spadina Avenue)


Femme Generation: Oh so Rock 'n' Roll
Femme Generation were much better this time than at Rock n Roll Slumber Party. Maybe partly because singer Bernard had the ridiculous make-over, or i was too busy watching pillow fight and hogging over the chocolate fondue table. They were rocking, at the end, Bernard was such a rockstar, he knocked down everything.. go Pinko!!

Shikasta: *Yawn*
Terrible. I was so bored during their set, i had to go to the next door 7-11 and take a break but the crowd seemed to like them but they weren't my cup of tea.


Two Koreas: A Bunch of Critics
Two Koreas are a bunch of local music critics and a member from Uncut all melted together to form this band. They were pretty good, lots of people were there for them, but I must say i prefer Uncut. if it wasn't for Ian Worang really..


Gentleman Reg: Makes Rufus seems Straight
I've heard good things about Gentleman Reg, i was looking forward to see them. They were made up by two-thirds of The Hidden Cameras, they were good. Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy played violin for them. Owen is absolutely fantastic!

Boy Ballz: Where are their ballz?
Very interesting. Bunch of them dressed up as b-boys or the Village People rather, the singer was totally Ron Jeremy-esque pimpin' and they asked if anyone likes to lick a pussy?!? Ehrm..


The Zoobombs: The Japanese Bomb
THEY WERE AWESOME!!! This was The Zoobombs third show of CMW, this band gave it 120% everynight. High energy rock 'n' roll, jamming for 2 full hours without stopping in between songs. I danced and danced. Damn these Japanese, they were all so effortlessly cute!

Gig 22: CMW Day 2 - Run Chico Run / The Frames / Radius & Helena

Limblifter // Leeroy Stagger // The Heck // Hedley // Run Chico Run
05.04.03.05 @ 9PM at The 360 (326 Queen Street West)

Stop 1: Run Chico Run at The 360
Good ole' Thomas and Matt from Victoria, BC! I almost didn't recognized the Run Chico Run boys when i saw them! Matt's hair has grown to incredibly long and he has a full grown beard, he could almost join Bionic! Thomas had this supermariostache (is this the trend?)! There were a few bodies were there for them, there was a two-men mosh pit during the show, and as their final song of the evening was playing, these two guys invaded the stage and danced. Later on, one of them found a random drumstick from the ground and started banging the drums with it. Whilst, another random guy jammed with them on the keyboards. It was very unusual and unexpected, especially for a 9PM slot band.


The Frames // Mark Geary
05.04.03.05 @ 11:30 PM at The Opera House (735 Queen Street East)

Stop 2: The Frames at The Opera House
After a quick goodbye to Matt, Eileen and i scooted over to Dangerous Dan for some late night poutine and headed to the Opera House. We headed to the balcony, it was quite packed. The Frames blew my mind! The melodic singing and the acoustic guitars. They rocked out a few songs. I was amazed by the amount of people that knew their material well during the many sing-a-longs of the evening. The Frames, excellent!


Radius & Helena // Clothes Make The Man // The Bicycles // Jeen O'Brien // Hill
06.05.03.05 @ 1 AM at Rancho Relaxo (300 College Street - 416.920.0366)

Stop 3: Radius & Helena at Rancho Relaxo
We left during the encore of The Frames and headed back west to Rancho Relaxo for our final stop of the evening. We got there shortly after 1am, and Radis & Helena has already started playing. Fink-Nottle and Merckeda were already there, good to see them made it out to Steve's gig. Steve even went shirtless after a few songs.. haha! What an eventful evening!

Gig 21: CMW Day I - Guitar Wolf / Cuff The Duke / The Downbelows / Lullabye Arkestra

Guitar Wolf // Cuff The Duke // The Downbelows // Lullabye Arkestra
04.02.03.05 @ Lee's Palace (529 Bloor Street West - 416.532.1598)

Lullabye Arkestra was already on stage when i arrived at the venue. They're a 7-piece band formed by Justin Small from Do Make Say Think and Deep Dark United's Katia Taylor. They are loud, retro thrash metal thrown in some 60s soul. Not bad. Second up was your typical punk garage band The Downbelows. Of course, a mini mosh pit of two also started by the end of the show. Cuff The Duke however stole the night i must say. I have seen them before last year at CMW, this is the best show i've seen them played. Initially i thought it was odd to put them on this Rock bill because they are more "alt-country" if you have to stuff them into a genre. The whaling guitars, Wayne Petti's indie outfit was tops! Especially when he walked on the ledge and rocked out, oh so Rock'n'Roll! At last was Guitar Wolf, hailing from Tokyo, Japan, one of the Japanese headliners of CMW. This trio all dressed in leather, covered with tattoos, they are LOUD, they ROCKED. The crowd was completely insane before they even came on stage, and when they did, they rocked out the complete sold out Lee's Palace! They never stopped in between songs, they just kept playing like a rock machine. Half way through the set, they were soooo out of tune but they didn't care, they kept on rocking! Now THAT'S ROCK N ROLL!

Film: Bride & Prejudice

*** UK/USA. 111 min. Colour 2004. Directed by Gurinder Chadha
Written by Jane Austen, Paul Mayeda Berges & Gurinder Chadha.
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Daniel Gillies, Navven Andrews

03.02.03.05 @ 7pm Cumberland with Amy and Nina.

Exactly how it would be if Jane Austen meets Bollywood and Hollywood, and it worked! What a fun film. Gurinder Chadha (also directed Bent It Like Beckham) gave Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" a Bollywood treatment: with all the stereotypes of Bollywood film where for no reason it breaks into singing accompanied by dancing. And like other Bollywood films, the main characters never kisses, though the evil "villian" in the film didn't have a moustache! Aishwarya Rai is stunningly beautiful and Martin Henderson was charming and HOTT! I actually expected it to be much funnier than it was but it was great fun. This film is a musical romance comedy, and it will keep you laughing and "screwing a lightbulb and petting a dog"! FUN!

Henri Faberge & The Adorables
Another great night. Poor Merckeda waited an hour for me as we were very late. We went to grab food after the film and time just flies when three girls started chatting. When we arrived to the Embassy (223 Augusta St. 416.591.1132), we only got to see 2 1/2 songs by Henri Faberge & The Adorables, but it was good fun! Henri and i had our matching hot pink lightning bolt earring tonite. synergy! Gargamel and Billington were also there, no nipples. It was lowkey, it was a good night.

Gig 20: Ian Brown wanna be adored

Ian Brown
01.28.02.05 @ The Mod Club (722 College Street)

GOSH! $36 ticket, better worth it! Despite the shitey weather, and no appearance of "special guest", it was worth it. It was worth it just to see Ian Brown swaggering with the tamborines alone. He has hired a cover band as his back up band. There was a saxaphone player, and a turbin wearing Goldfinger on hand drums and other peculiar percussion instruments.

Highlight of the night for the sold out venue was when he did the Stone Roses songs: "Waterfall", "I wanna be adored", "Sally Cinnamon", "She Bangs the Drums" and "Made of Stone". It was awesome. It was awesome even when Brownie cannot actually carry a tune. Maybe it was due to the fact that he has been experiencing monitors problems all night, and that he couldn't hear anything. He threatened a couple times that he will walk off and to get our money refunded. Whilst the crew were replacing the monitors he came back on stage and banged the drums for a bit while everyone just kinda stood around shocked at what we were seeing. The audience was a tad on the violent side as some guy knocked down the mic stand as another threw a beer bottle onto the stage. Sweaty British guy in suit and his blonde bimbo girlfriend was annoying, he was standing too close to me, i had to turn around and tell him to back off and fuck off.

There was no "special" guest, apparently he was there but refused to come out. We waited around for a bit as Mark Holmes came up to me and informed that there will be a Meet & Greet upstairs in the Orange Room. So i went up, my friends were hesitant at first to go up but i insisted that if they don't go i wouldn't too. We waited around for a long time, as we decided to leave, i got stopped by Mark at the doors, he told me that Ian will be out in 5. So we waited yet again.. what do you know! Brownie was really there!! He's a shrimp! He was shorter but nicer than I thought he would be. I've got a chance to meet him, in our brief meeting, we talked about shoes as it quickly got stolen away by another conversation. However, i did snapped a pix with him.. weeeeeeeee!