Hi everyone,

May has been quite the month of ups and downs. Looking back I've done a lot of things worth mentioning in a blog, however it will take forever to write about all of them. Here's the highlights:

Back in the scene!

Yes, it has been awhile but finally I went back clubbing in the village. I'd say it hasn't been since last year since i've been to a gay club. I've been itching to go and let loose awhile, and my sbf has never been to FLY. What better time to go then the beginning of spring! It was packed that night, heating up by 1:00 AM. From the times that i've been there before, usualy it doesn't get busy until at least 2 AM.

Boy, was it HOT! It was that usual FLY night, with lots of huge topless guys and pumping circuit music. The dance floor was totally packed and it felt like it was pride! It was some sort of Quebec night b/c there was a giant fleur-des-lys hovering above us. em, French men :). It's sad since I didn't know any of the music, but it was great to dance to. It was also great to come with a bf to the club too -- You'll have to ask me for details about this one personally.. :P

Just reminescing about this night I'm already starting to get the itch to go out again. It looks like that time will be during PRIDE, which is in only 3 weeks! Now THAT's one of the best parties of the year!!

Dashboard Confessional
On the next weekend I saw DC live in Toronto and Niagara Falls (Buffalo side). It was SO amazing to see dashboard live, since i've been hooked on them since last summer. Sure, it's quite valid to say they're another "i got dumped waa waa waa" adolescent angst-filled whining band, but i love them! They're such an anthem band. I just can't stop singing along to all their songs.

They performed at Arrow Hall, just by the airport. It was the first time i've ever been at this venue, and when I got there I was suprised at its massive size. On the inside it looks like a big airplane hanger facility, with giant bay doors that open on the side of the building where planes used to probably go in and out of. It's probably a great space for conventions or auto shows, since the loading area is so large.

Line-ups
What first annoyed me was how they managed the lineup to get into the venue. They treated it like it was a festival, with a GIANT line outside just to get into the place, opening the doors 2 hours before the 1st band came on stage. Doors were at 5:30, and we didn't get there until about 5:45. We stood in line outside until 6:45PM ! The first band didn't come on until 7:30. With thousands of people coming to the show, they had TWO single doors open to get in. Can you believe that? What was this, Edgefest? It's not like we're rushing the stage and will be there for 12 hours or anything. I guess because they didn't have designated seating they decided to run it like this.

The fans
The fans were quite young, but not as young as I had first anticipated. Sure, there were some 14-year old kids running around, but i saw more ppl in the middle of their 1st or 2nd year university. 'Course, these days that could mean as young as 17! I think the average age was probably 18-20 - Yes, that mean's i am "over the hill" in this respect. bah! Ah well. at least it wasn't full of yelling girls screaming "OMG OMG HE'S PLAYING MY SONG!!". Oh wait, It was me who was doing that that time :) (just kidding).

The opening acts
There were three bands opening before Dashboard. That's a lot of bands eh? But seeing that this is emo, the roadie set up time was longer than most of their sets!

This was a blessing in disguise beause the first band wasn't that good. Called "Say Anything" -=> more like "Say Nothing".
The next was "The Getup Kids". I have one of their albums, so i recognized a few of their songs. They set was good, but just too short! They've got great harmonies and catchy tunes.

Finally, the last band, THRICE came on stage. There is quite the following for this band, because the crowd went NUTS as soon as they burst out of the blocks. And boy, they came out HARD. They're of a thrasher emo band, with parts with nothing more than screaming and blasting power chords and punk drums as loud and fast as possible. Some crazy moshing ensued, and soon I was caught it in the middle of one right beside me! :). All in good fun eh?

They did have a few great tunes, i have to admit. I don't know much about them, but from hearing them you could get a sense of 2 general sounds they have -- perhaps from one album to another. One falls under the thrash punk to the more edgy emo/harmonic zone. Let's hope they latter is what they're growing into!

Dashboard
Finally DC came on stage. WHAT A SHOW! It was incredible. They pulled out all the stops here. It wasn't just another sing along, which I was afraid of. Sure there were a few parts where he stopped to let the crowd sing, but for those moments it was exhilarating and yell the lyrics at the top of my lungs (sorry for those bootleggers out there. They played an amazing set, with parts w/the full band, some solo acoustic, and a few with him and John (guitarist).

What was also nice was to hear Chris (lead singer, songwriter) tell the crowd how excited he was and how this is the biggest crowed they've ever had (i.e. their own show, not a festival / opening act). He could have been just saying that, but at the next gig he didn't say anything along those lines. yee haaww :)

Dashboard Part II
I was pumped to see them again in Buffalo the next day! My friend and I drove down on the Sunday to see them in Buffalo. This show wasn't as good as the Toronto show, but it was great to be at a smaller venue. It reminded me of the Lyric, and old theatre converted to a concert call in Kitchener. We stayed on the balcony and got a great view, although i did miss being down at the centre of the action. At least this time I wasn't DRENCHED in sweat and about to pass out from exhaustion!

Rather than standing for 6 hours, we drove down at got there for 9:15 PM, just as Thrice was finishing up. Just in time :). It was great because we scored a spot on the balcony on the railing. We got to watch the show from above with a great bird's eye view of the gig.

DC has been co-opted by Honda, as part of the "Honda Civic Tour 2004". Basically they showcased a new Honda + had tons of video games to play outside... Not to mention loads of Honda advertising and pamphlets. Good thing we walked right past it and to the show!

I will post some highlights from the next two weeks in May shortly.. My hands are getting tired!

Take care,

RE

"eat drink and be merry"

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well over wherever you are. These past few weeks have been fun busy times (as usual), and finally I have some time to relax and write here. There has been some good news at work, where one of my clients has thanked us for our hard work and being proactive in their program. Woo hoo! If only they knew the insanity that happens behind the scenes to get the program up and running! (knock on wood that nothing goes wrong now...!)

Anyway, where to start? How about my bday..

Bday
I had a great Bday week. I got to see/speak with many of my friends, as well as got to see DAMIEN RICE! He's an acoustic singer songwriter based out of Ireland. He's totally up my alley, with intimate acoustic songs and use of "howie day"-esque pedals. Rice occasionally switched to a distorted microphone and manipulated an array of effects pedals, demonstrating that he can do more than emotional ballads too! The show was at Convocation Hall at UofT, surrounded by college kids about my age. It felt good, since I haven't been in an environment with all the same demographic in awhile.

I also went to the next installment of the Pontiac Quarterly during my bday week. It wasn't as good as the first one, however I did miss the first part because i was STARVING and they didn't offer any food there. I felt that this round seemed like they were a bit scarce on the submissions, and many of the readers seemed a little less enthusiastic about their pieces. To be honest, my favourite submission was an audience reading about the "Transition of the hooker played by Julia Roberts after Pretty Women" :) Chris Murphy from Sloan was there, reading a 15 minute essay on Kiss... So good times had by all!

Also during the weekend of my bday I went out with some friends to have sushi on Yorkville. OK, it's not the expensive primo restaurants you usually find in this area, but one that is quite well priced-- they totally make their money on volume! I do have some pictures but I shouldn't post them w/o permission from everyone (I've gotta post a password protected site sometime soon...). It was a good time though! I also got some great gifts, such as a tripod for my digital camera (some great panoramic pics will be coming shortly!), tea/jasmine rice as well as a framed picture. From the family i also got a copy of novel, "The Corporation", some CDs (indie arie, massive attack, best of pink floyd, zero 7), and a huge memory card for my digital camera.

Band Website
In other good news, my band website was launched in the beginning of May! I'm really happy with it so far, even though we are in desperate need of putting some newer music on there. Right now there's just a couple acoustic numbers, and nothing that includes the new members of the band. I have 2 live shows recorded and need to get those up and onto the website. We have a few gigs that are coming up soon, so i'm excited about that. What i'm MORE excited is that we've heard word of a new indie acoustic folk rock label that has started up and could be interested in us. How perfect does that sound for us? We need to get our act together and put together a demo CD for them. We'll see.. I'll keep y'all updated!

Dinner with the next John Tory
Last Friday I met one of my super boyfriend's high school friends. We went to the Living Well restaurant and basically discussed Canadian politics and the primary school education system all night. It's crazy because this guy was about 25 years old but had the mind and mannerisms of a 40 year old. It will be interesting to see what he will be like when he's 41! Anyway, he's doing his master's in political science and was just accepted as an intern in Parliament. He skews so far in conservative waters, and spoke like it was clearly the best party :) I commend his passion for one political party; I am not versed in politics myself, and could not articulate why I was disagreeing with what he was saying, but just that I disagreed. Here's a statement I remember him making (loosely quoting):

"The only reason why Ernie Eves lost in the election was because he did not present himself as an agent of change. Mcguinty did, and for this only reason he won."

He later said that it had nothing to do with the conservatives or what Harris did. He thought that the Conservatives would have won if Eves acted on this positioning to the public right when Harris stepped down. He also made many other statements which some I did agree with, and some I couldn't comment on because I didn't know 80% of the 1970s/80s references to Provincial and Federal political events he was using to argue his point. Anyway, it was great talking to him and it was too bad that there wasn't a stubborn NDP or green party advocate there to duel it out with him :). I'm sure he'll do a spectacular job when he's in Parliament this year, making his way up the political ladder!

Back in the village
Ok, time for a bit of gay gossip. Those two words seem to go hand in hand eh? Last weekend I went with my super boyfriend to meet some of his queer swing friends. They were all older than myself, some older than 40, and some around my sbf's age. We went to Zelda's on Church street, going for the Sunday brunch. I haven't been to the village lately, but in 2 hours I was there, 2 of my sbf's ex-boyfriend's were there, I ran into some friends who I haven't seen since last summer, and I saw one of my best friends' exes! Not to mention an open offer to stay at this guy's place when i'm in the US for DMB shows this summer... Definitely worth the $15 lunch indeed! I don't konw what it is with the Village, but it just seems to ooze for gossip. They're right about 2 degrees of pink separation! I bet i'm connected to 50% of the community by 2 or 3 steps -- It's the Queer Cheers - Everybody know's your name!

I have to say though, to my suprise, I did enjoy my experience Sunday. May be because I haven't been in the area in awhile, or may be because I've been so busy with work/band that I forgotten about the gay community. I have realized that I need to get back in there a let loose for a bit -- i think it's time to go clubbing again! I'm itching to go hardcore for a night, just like old times. Of course, this time I dohave a superbf, so things will be a little different this time around - Well, the only change I see is rather than perhaps finding a date there, i get to bring one with me!

Take care,

RE

"Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall" -Damien Rice