John Hallett

And behind door number two, another bar!

2005-12-13T22:26:52Z

Who: Many bands
Where: Many venues, Austin, TX
When: Dec 5th & 6th
How Much: $0-$10

So, it turns out that Austin is cram full of bars, and those bars are, as a rule, live venues. I mean CRAMMED full. I cannot stress this enough. Here's a good example:

While walking down the main drag there, I (and a few university types from far flung corners of the globe) spy a particularly awesome looking bar with a great-sounding blues band playing. However, there are no doors facing the street, just windows.

So we head around the side, spy the entrance and wander in. Damn. This is the wrong bar. So we head around back, spy another entrance and try again. Damn. This is NOT a big building (about the size of a 2 storey house). How many bars can there be?

We found it on the third try. The point? Bars are literally crammed into every conceivable space in that town. Man.

So that's my update. No particulars or even band names, since I didn't get any and/or was not in a state to remember.

Sidebar: Is looking at this a bad idea?

Music Blog?

2005-11-03T18:08:58Z

So, since I update this thing about once a new moon, I've decided to use it primarily as a record of the various rock shows I've attended. I think it'll be interesting to see, after a year, what I was into 12 months ago.

Without further adieu, here we go.

Last night was the Four For Fall; details:

Where: Richard's on Richards
Who: Shout Out Out Out Out, Luke Doucet, The FemBots, Whitey Houston
How much: 13.75

4 awesome bands for 13.75? Can't complain. WH, of course, being my friends Lyle and Gravy from Edmonton, making my attendance mandatory. I found out late yesterday that I was on the guest list, but I'd already bought my ticket. Oh well, can't win em all. I think poor advertising killed the attendance for this show. There were only about 200 people there, possibily a construct of a) my never seeing a poster and b) the tickets only being available at Zulu.

The highlight had to be Shout Out Out Out Out, a rock/techno fusion band (incorporating all of Whitey Houston, too). Hard to describe, but awesome. I guess that's why they made them the headliner. The girls were absolutely wired by the time we got out of there.

Individual Notes:

Whitey Houston: Missed most of this set due to the hockey game (sorry guys, I thought you were on second). However, I did catch a few songs at the end. As usual, they rocked far too much to just be two guys in a ryhtem section.
High: Lyle's still awesome furry hat.
Low: No Liberty Mutual? WTF?

FemBots: Modern pseudo-psyc rock from back east? Xylophones? Sure thing!
High: Seeing someone play a xylophone with a bow.
Low: A bit slow, especially when following Whitey.

Luke Doucet: Luke, as always, is a solid entertainer. Jer has a theory: the lower to the ground he plays his guitar, the better he is playing. He was pretty low, but I've seen him on his back before.
High: Melissa's new hotness, and Luke's 6yo daughter singing Gun Street Girl, and just plain nailing it.
Low: No Judy Garland? WTF?

Shout Out Out Out Out: Aside from sillily saying their name with way too many Outs, I didn't know what to expect from these guys ahead of time. However, their crazy techo/rock blend (if such a thing can be imagined) was pretty cool, and got the small crowd dancing.
High: The band promising to pee their pants if everyone in the place started dancing.
Low: None. Nadda.

Next up: Geoff Berner is back!

Second. Best. Show. Ever.

2005-09-29T16:23:08Z

The North Mississippi Allstars rock my world. After the Polyphonic Spree, they're the best live band I've ever seen. Hands down.

It's hard to believe how three guys could incite the entire crowd to boogie down like that. Heck, I even suspended my 'no dance' rule temporarily. There was no helping it.

The only drawback was the attendance. I'd say the Commodore only had about 200-250 people in it. However, if they ever come back that is sure to at least double.

What the fuck?

2005-09-01T06:18:06Z

So, on my way home from work gas was 110.6. Not cheap, but whatever there's a war and hurricane on and whatnot. 45 minutes later on my way to the bar, I noticed the price was 101.9 at the same station. I would have bought gas, but I didn't have my truck at the time.

Just now, walking home from the bar, the price was 113.8. Three passes in six hours, three different prices. It'd be a bit presumptuous of me to assume that all the price changes were visible in my random 3 samples. So we're looking at at least 3 different prices in six hours, probably more. What the fuck, man?

That's all. Just what the fuck. Man.

San Francisco

2005-07-18T04:44:19Z

Well, I haven't even been in this city 24 hours and it's already my favorite US city, by far. I've been to three pubs with >40 micro brews for sale (I didn't even search em out, I just happened into them), and walked down Columbus St, which is like a super-friendly Commercial Drive that never ends. (in thick Italian "You look like a hungry man! Come in and I make you something special, eh!")

The throngs of tourists are a bit painful ("Pay $3 to ride the cable cars! They're just like normal buses, only 3x as expensive and 6x slower!"), but I can't complain too much since I guess I'm one of them (not that I rode that freaking thing; I walked and beat it by 20 minutes). However, the laid back atmosphere and lax US liquor laws makes for some fun times. Imagine a Cambie that had 15 good beers on tap and didn't serve food, relying on the hotdog vendor outside to feed their clients. I was there tonight.

All they need now is an island offshore to mitigate the relentless eastward winds and fog and we'd really be on to something.

You can't make this up

2005-06-23T16:37:16Z

Sometimes I just love the things people do without thinking:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/23/nb-hummer050623.html

Hmmm....

2005-06-17T20:46:20Z

Sure, this is satire:

http://swiftreport.blogs.com/news/2005/06/gay_coloring_as.html

But it makes you wonder how long it will be until it isn't. Especially when you can see something like this:

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050617/homo.shtml

which ISN'T satire, on the same day.

.
.
.

Just saying, is all.

Today's gonna suck

2005-05-29T18:19:50Z

Oh man. You know you're not doing well when you beat the unstated goal of getting home before dawn by a scant 15 minutes. Fuck. They should make liquor illegal or something.

Oh well, it's not like i was planning on doing anything today anyways.

Well this is new...

2005-05-06T21:24:20Z

Hot off the presses...

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/06/sex.ed.lawsuit.ap/index.html

Basically, a Christian group has--successfully--sued a Washington DC school district to stop them from teaching about homosexuality in their sex-ed class.

Their reasoning, now get this, is that teaching kids about gays unfairly favours religions that are tolerant of homosexuality over those that are not... but somehow treating the topic as taboo doesn't do the opposite... brain explodes...

Sigh. I gotta love it when US courts are upholding peoples' freedom to hate, bigotry and prejudice.

The Sadie

2005-05-06T16:49:42Z

Short update today:

Saw the Sadies last night. In short, they rocked my world. Wo! When they come back to town run, don't walk, to get tickets.

Yup, trust the government

2005-04-01T21:45:34Z

The US gov't has just recently published a helpful website for parents who want to talk to their kids about sex. The two main salient points from this helpful guide are:

1. Abstinence is the only real option for teens (safe sex doesn't work, so don't promote it)
2. If you think your child might be gay, take them to therapy.

Man. I love that country.

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/04/01/government.abstinence.ap/index.html
Site: http://www.4parents.gov

Scientific American rules

2005-03-27T00:16:45Z

My level of respect for them has shot up somewhat.

http://mrbobhatesyou.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_mrbobhatesyou_archive.html#111147519912475081

Can you believe this?

2005-03-21T21:17:51Z

First, it was school text books. Now IMAX theatres, who are about the only theatres to show science documentaries, are refusing to air films concerning evolution and cosmology.

Linky (free reg req't): Here

So, not only do they want to stop people from learning about science in schools, but now they want to stop people from even knowing about these theories. What's next? Book bans? Internet filters?

Nothing quite like watching society slowly slip into a faith-based theocracy.

can't win em all

2005-02-24T06:29:58Z

Well, I didn't get to go see Luke Doucet. Turns out my once-a-year 24hr illness elected that very morning to show up. Of all the &*#$#! luck. And I didn't get to go to Barcelona for work (double &#$%^*!). However, on the upside, I'm now swearing like Mr. Weatherbee.

And, I guess, I did get to see Ted Leo at Dick's on Dick's, which was an awesome show (of course). And, the Weakerthans seem to have responded to the good thought vibes I was sending them, and are coming back to town. And I won $25 at poker tonight. So I guess all isn't a loss.

But, on the other hand, I did miss a once-in-a-lifetime surprise reunion show of the Corn Sisters (aka Neko Case and Carolyn Mark) at said Dick's.

So I'm not sure how mad/happy I should be about this past month. So here's a big meh.

Sigh.

Woooo!

2005-02-02T04:37:47Z

Well, lookee here.

http://www.therailwayclub.com/cgi-bin/calviewer.cgi

May I draw your attention to Thursday the 10th.

Thank you.

Oh America

2005-01-24T21:58:26Z

Well, I'm officially back after my most recent week in the states. This time, only a few things struck me as culturally odd.

First, it would appear that east coast americans are adverse to walking. Sure, I'd heard about this when I read Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" but I didn't really believe it. So, on Thursday, when it became known that I intended to walk back to the hotel from the office, people were concerned. Very Concerned.

I had offers of rides. Not "I'll drop you off en route" offers, but "I'll leave work, drive you, and come back to work" offers. People asked me why I didn't call a cab; they just looked at me weird when I said I'd rather walk.

The hotel was 200, maybe 250m from the office. Of course, the walk was a bit sketchy because *no where* on that entire trip were there sidewalks or any other pedestrian-oriented construction, but I still made it unscathed.

Second, I went to a "Canadian-themed" restaurant. I will not discuss this in great detail, as I'd rather just plain old forget about it entirely. As a friend of mine once said about India: "I'm really glad I went, but I would never, ever go back."

Let's just say there was a talking moose.

Piece of crap

2004-12-16T22:18:09Z

Oh Dell C640, let me count the ways I love you. Oh wait. I don't. Cuz you're a freaking peice of crap notebook that has now crapped out on my no less than 7 times. 7. Times. In the 18 monthes I've had you. This includes:

- Fried Battery (x2)
- Fried DVD drive
- Fried CD drive (replaced DVD drive)
- Fried motherboard
- Fried hard disk
- Fried hard disk (replaced other hard disk... last week...)

That and my current batteries (yes, I have two... since I don't need the slot where my CD drive was, see above) only last about an hour. God I hate this POS laptop.

In other news. License Plate Game: After months of seeing 021s everywhere I went, I finally saw a 020! Wo! And today I saw my first 022. Ugh.

Frustration With The Universe

2004-11-24T05:41:52Z

Ahem.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/22/opinion/polls/main657083.shtml

ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Next thing you know they'll be teaching kids that eggs stand on their ends only during equinox and that water drains different directions in the different hemispheres because of the coriolis force. Oh wait, they do. Sigh.

Yay party

2004-11-20T21:40:20Z

Well, that party was fun. I think about 25 or 30 people were here at the peak, which isn't a record for this place, but a nice number none-the-less. In the past, I've had /both/ floors full, not just the main level like last night.

The best part is that this party was, apparantly, self cleaning. All I have to do today is pack up the empties (which are nicely stacked in the kitchen) and put them outside for the magical recycling gnomes. Well, that and clean the floor by the keg fridge. As I was watching last night, a guy comes over, looks at the tap sheepishly, then pulls on it... without a mug under. Yay!

crazychuck @ 2004-10-26T09:16:00

2004-10-26T16:17:17Z

License Plate Game: 19! Yeah! Wo!

Sigh. I need a new hobby.

Bumbershoot!!!!

2004-09-07T20:06:46Z

So, Bumbershoot was awesome, and I had a great time. I saw a giant whackload of bands. Here's a short list:

Friday: TAARKA, Kultur Shock, Memphis Radio Kings
Sat: foghorn string band, drive-by truckers, black keys, the girls, the catch
sun: these arms are snakes, Plastilina Mosh
mon: pixies/built to spill

The reason for the dropoff on Sunday is that a) I was really tired and b) I started working at Flatstock (the poster exhibit). The booth I was at was for gigposters.com, so we got to meet lots of cool people. Clay (the guy that runs gp) even let us stick up some of our posters on Monday, and we even sold a few. But mostly we traded with all the other artists there and came home with a giant stack of new posters. Wo!

Anyways.... I think I need some sleep now

Wo! Party like smokey!

2004-08-19T04:17:02Z

Snicker. Sometimes the world amuses me so very much.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/08/18/bear.beer.reut/index.html

Unrelated note: license plate game update: 18! Wo!

What a show!

2004-08-09T19:10:22Z

Wo! That was an awesome show. I don't think I've ever seen the Anza quite that packed.

I showed up before the doors opened, so I could set up my table for poster-selln', and there were about 40 people lined up outside to buy tickets. This was because all 3 records stores carrying tickets (Zulu, Redcat and Scratch) sold out a few days before. Yikes.

The worst part was that we only had 8 spares available for sale. So a lot of disappointed people could't get in, but they were pretty cool about. Some even bought posters.

Overall, the show was awesome. And drunk. D-Runk. Man, those Aussies know about beer and also seem to know how to put in in their stomachs with amazing speed. The Battles were very good, and Pink Mountaintops didn't disappoint (one of the singers even got nekid on stage. Wo!), but the real highlight for me was the solo work by Dan Bejar in Destroyer. Classic Dan.

I sold a lot of posters, and wound up working the door and as security for a while, so I guess Frank Rumbletone is going to let me into his shows for free from now on :) Although I did get told off by one guy who seemed insulted that we were selling posters for $5 each. "So don't buy one" didn't seem to cut it. Not quite sure what his problem was. In the end, I think we sold enough to actually break even for this poster, which is a pleasent change of pace.

Lastly, Nancy (the promoter) was aghast to learn that we don't have any other poster gigs in the near future, so she agreed to set up a show just so we could do some poster work! How awesome is that? Looks like it'll be The Neins and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? which should make for an awesome poster. Stay tuned.

Rawk n Roll!

2004-08-04T18:20:04Z

So I picked up Ford Pier's latest effort on the weekend. I must say, while it is very, very good, Ford Pier is one weird dude (you have to hear it to get it).

Also, the show for which I recently did the poster is this Saturday, and I expect every single person who reads this to come out. The show is the Pink Mountaintops and Destroyer at the Anza Club for only $8. Cheap Storm beer will be on hand, as will tonnes of Aussies and Kiwis, so a fun time is guaranteed to be had by all. See you there.

Geek no more

2004-07-26T16:25:14Z

To attone for my recent geekiness, I did some screening on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week. The results are here: http://gigposters.com/posters.php?poster=33183

This should be a great show, as the Pink Mountaintops haven't played in a while, and a lot of people are anticipating it. Tix should sell out fast, and no, I can't get you in for free (despite getting in for free myself). They're a slightly, er, sensual band... I mean, one of their songs is "Sweet 69."

This poster was the Thursday/Friday part of the endeavour. Should have been just Thursday, but Jer burnt the last screen backwards, so I had to cut out of work early on Friday for some pre-3 Inches of Blood screening (awesome show at the Cobalt, I might say... although I did make a wrong turn inside the bar and wind up outside, but I digress).

Saturday we tried to do a contract print for the Aurora Bistro on Main, but it was just too damned hot, and the emulsion (stuff that makes screen printing possible) finally had had it. What a disaster. We ran about 35 posters before we called it quits, and managed to only net 3 or 4 good ones. We're going to try again this week. Keep an eye out for them.

Lastly, if anyone wants one of our posters, we sell em for a scant $5 each (the price of a single beer!), both here and at the shows, so keep an eye out. I'll be at the Anza Club on the 7th selling em in person. I'll be up front, probably swamped by cute indie girls who, for some reason, think screen printing is sexy. It's a tought life.