On Friday night i was very excited because I was planning on going to see a small intimate show with the band Pilate. They're an up and coming Toronto homegrown band, now getting serious rotation on radiostations. Pilate can be described as an emotive alternative pop band, with heavy influences from Coldplay and old Radiohead.

Anyway, I became a fan just as they got their first song on edge102. I heard about them 2 years ago, and last year i went to an indie music festival called North by North East (NXNE). That's where I started to really get into them, and within a few months I heard them on edge102 and the rest is history!

I went down with a friend to see them perform at the University of Waterloo. yes, ladies and gentlemen, that means me driving back to my favourite dead end industrial town, Waterloo! The weather didn't help either, b/c it was a serious snowstorm. I was leaving our pollution-heated city, and so it only got worse. At one point the snowflakes were to huge that it looked like a trippy screensaver like the one on windows95 where you're flying through space. It was hard to concentrate on the road because of this bloody distraction. Miss Mazda's headlights didn't help either, since the light from other cars were the primary sources of visibility for me.

We got there in one piece and went to the show... As we arrived, we heard some hip hop, so we were a bit saddened since we assumed that we missed Lesley Pike, a great new singer/songwriter whom I've seen a few times and have shared the stage with. We assumed that they were just playing some in-house CD's while the band was setting up.

As we were being greeted at the door, I double checked by asking if Pilate was playing.

"Pilate? oh they already played"

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, they played from 4 - 6 or something"

"WHAT!?"

WTF?! Who fucking plays a pub show at 4:00 p.m.?! What, you want to make sure you get in time for evening tea? Need to make sure you can catch the episode of Boston Public at 8:00 p.m.? C'mon people! So i asked why... and after the answer was given, i wish it was because of Boston Public.

It was because MAESTRO was performing. So that hip hop music was HIM performing. I was wondering why there were skanky girls in basketball shirts and sailboat shorts roaming around the place. My gosh, so basically i drove through the screensaver weather all the way to Waterloo to listen to "let your backboooooone slide"

...for a cover charge of $9! HA!

There was a silver lining through all of this unfulfillment. Chris (the guy on the right), a band member from Pilate was still chilling there and came out to chat with us. He was a great guy, and totally was appreciative of us making the trek from Toronto. We chatted for a few mins (e.g. i asked about the CASBY Awards, upcoming show with David Usher), and he seemed like a really cool guy.

These guys are totally going places, so may be in a few years when they're filling the ACC and we're all totally sick to death of their songs, I'll go up to him and say "HEYMAN, i was THERE MAN, I WAS THERE way back in Waterloo that one night.. can i get some backstage passes?" :)

Well, I am planning on going to their show in Toronto with David Usher. I wasn't planning on fighting with the chicks for David usher, but since I've missed Pilate that night, i think I'll scrounge the funds to make it out.

So it wasn't a total bust. I still had a good time for the crazy road trip. I can't wait for the DMB road trip in a few weeks! it will be incredible!

...Learning my Lesson
That reminds me... for the first time since "Before These Crowded Streets" that i haven't bought a DMB album as soon as it came out. This time it was a TRIPLE DISC LIVE CD, totalling about $26 including tax.. Seeing that i'm unemployed and it was almost boxing day, i thought i could hold off until then.

BOY HAVE I LEARNED MY LESSON. My friend put on the CD and let me listen to it, and needless to say, it is probably the best live release of the album i've ever heard, 2nd to Live at Luther College (which is just Dave and his friend Tim Reynolds though). DMB played a free show (of which we were supposed to go to!) at Central Park in NYC. They performed TWENTY songs, with a guest appearance and lots of jamming. There was so much power in the music, reminding me to not mess with the best band in North America! Unstoppable man. WOW. I got so into the music that on the drive back from Waterloo to Toronto, i missed my Hwy 400 exit by 20 mins! Suddenly I saw the Avenue Rd. Exit and I thought "omg, SHIT! i have been in DMB land!!" heh.

I'm not going into the specifics of why I died over this live Cd, since i'd bore so many of you poor readers who are already on skim mode at this section of my entry. So in sum, i have learned my lesson of holding out on DMB cd releases. Geeze! I think I should go tomorrow and pick it up...!

Take care,

RE

"...could I have been in new york city!" dm @Central Park