Arctic Monkeys
Lee's Palace
11.14.05

Last Monday, I went down to Lee's to see the newest UK garage punk child, Arctic Monkeys. They're a batch of 19-year old lads from England, playing a high-energy 45-minute set that finished 1 minute before their 11PM curfew (thankfully looks like their dad's were there to supervise). AC is a testiment to a positive outcome of downloading: This band does NOT have a released album; their explosive popularity has stemmed from word-of-mouth and a handful of EP/low demo quality tracks which fans posted online. Great to see 'em at such a small venue when they're huge overseas! Anyway, rather than writing another review, my buddy J. who was with me wrote about the show. Enjoy!

***
The hype descended on Toronto Monday night as Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys took the stage at Lee's Palace. Having already assaulted the UK music charts in ways the Beatles only dreamed of, the four screaming faces laid into scorching renditions of their favourite downloadable classics. With an album not on the horizon until January, an elated crowd and a rambunctious pit clapped and stomped along knowingly.

It wasn't long before one nubile groupie attempted the stage - it wouldn't be a British Invasion without a few willing femmes on board. During the second song of the night, Dancing Shoes, she made her presence known to Andy Nicholson via an ill-fated attempt to grind with the surprised bassist. An overly large member of the groups entourage escorted her off the stage, before spending the rest of the set in a highly visible and distracting dialogue with drummer Matt Helders. Like, the stage is for the band, maaan.

A mosh pit (yes) opened up during the band's single "I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor", as bottles kicked and bounced around the audiences feet. Soon the crowd began taunting singer Alex Turner with chants relating to regional rugby rivalries (Sheffield v. Yorkshire?) and references to Turner's wardrobe (Air Jamaica!). Turner politely asked the lager louts to "Stop being silly!" and to "Please stop doing that!", which only made the hecklers heckle and the girls swoon.

Forty-five minutes later, at the stroke of the eleventh hour, the band dropped their instruments and left the stage. Feedback enveloped the room and all hopes of an encore were crushed as the microphones and pedals were packed away instantly. No pictures or cameras were allowed, a rule that remained unenforced. The crowd left feeling fulfilled, all things considered, and at the back of the bar a Geordie picked up two girls from Newcastle - a rare sight, even in Toronto.

J.

So I was at the Dora Keogh (?) Pub on Danfoth the other day, and I got into this conversation with this guy about men's attire. He was a cool dude and coincidentally was wearing some really nice casual clothing too. He mentions this men's apparel place downtown that sells really nice stuff - not the average GAP/Old Navy/AE stuff found everywhere else.

I was intrigued since this place apparently focuses on slimmer sizes, me being a very slim guy. I have had "growing" issues with stores increasing their sizes in order to accommodate the growing population. This basically meant "large" was now simply called "medium", old "medium" called "small" and creating a new XL.. The only store where i've found the size lowered is Lulu Lemon, but c'mon, how much yoga lycra/spandex can you get? He suddenly adds a qualifier the store by saying that the salesmen are most likely gay because of stereotypical effeminate qualities...i.e. flaming queens. He's probably right. And this guy continues to mention that they've got a lot of style, but feels reserved and a tad intimiated due to the fact that he believed that when the were helping him, they we dressing according what they'd want him to look like.

Intrigued, indeed I was, since I knew he wasn't an ignorant heterosexual male who believed that just because a guy is queer means that he want him (Sorry boys, you are NOT worth it; the straight girls can keep most of you, except for Colin Firth). I probed a bit further and it was because he would rather have his gf there to find things that she personally liked him in.

...

...OK i guess -- but honestly, if a girl was helping him, would the same question cross his mind? I don't know. If these guys have good style, then they'd help you dress to what you like and make you look good -- not to just their eyes, but in general!

I went shopping w/a buddy getting him some new digs for his new job. If I had my way, i'd probably dress him a lot differently than what we ended up getting for him (which i still thought looked sweet, casual and swankin'). We took his own needs and comfortability into account when shopping. If these guys were so good, they'd do the same. Sure, some personal taste comes into play, but that's with everything becaause we all have our own consious and subconsious biases. It would be the same if some girl was helping you at a store.

So i've come to a tenative conclusion: No matter how proliferated the queer community becomes, there's always going to be some underlying fear that we may, when you men least expect it, pop you from behind when you least expect it...

In that case, bottoms up!

-RE

"eat drink and be merry"

So the writers block continues. I've been trying to write and play new stuff for sometime now, and nothing seems to stick. It's annoying actually since i have written a few fragmented songs this summer, but either tossed it or got bored. I can't blame not having time, since leaving my old job for one that's more managable was a goal i successfully accommplished earlier this year.

What have I been doing with my time lately? Checkint out indie bands (who is into "Final Fantasy" - holy crap i can't stop hearing about this violin guy! Geeze.), daily dose of imagery gazing, watching hockey games, chatting on MSN, watching shitty shows like "RU da Girl". Sad indeed.

On the other hand, I know i have shifted focus to other things like reconnecting with old friends, spending time with SBF, renovating my parent's basement and going to lots of concerts. So it's not all sad.

Light at the end of the tunnel: i have a framework for a song that i'm really liking. I played around with a friend the other day on it and it started to give me the bubbily feeling that I get when i've found something i like. I'm feeling the vibe on this one!

(we'll see... back to watching Tyra on her sudden quest to defeat women's body image issues and obesity, while at the same time running America's Next Top Model)

-RE

A shot I took of a guy in front of me while walking down Yonge (by Dundas). I burst out laughing.. Pricess! Gotta love Toronto.