I had the fortunate chance to get Keane tickets at the eleventh hour prior to the concert (well, maybe 'tenth hour')- it's funny because I had no idea that they were heading doing a show until I read the Metro on my way to work in the AM.

God bless Metro.

Inital feelings before the concert was that I was just totally stoked to see them live. For those who haven't heard of them, they're a Euro-alternative band who often been compared to artists such as Coldplay and Radiohead- though I have to say that Tom's (lead singer) voice is no competition to Chris Martin-- Tom's voice is just smoothly amazing. I can't compare to Radiohead as it was a little before my time.

Anyways, I've been totally hooked on the band since their grand performance at the Brit 25 awards back in February. If you haven't seen them perform, I really suggest you to check it out. They are totally into it when they're playing, especially Tim the pianist- he totally moves with the music like no other. When you witness them perform, you just feel their passion and their sense for the emotions and drive.

Massey Hall was a great venue for the concert as it was intimate enough considering their popularity. One small rant was that the seats didn't even appropriately seat a small-framed Asian man such as myself, let alone the big burly men to my left and right. (Maybe burly is a little extreme for Mr. Eric).

It was a great show, and the lead singer's voice just trembles right into my chest cavity. Also, the Tom's piano playing again mesmerized me. He's so into it that sometimes I imagine how he could actually keep his fingers on the correct keys. The show being amazing was an understatement. The show was however on the short side (about an hour-and-a-half), since they're repertoire is still in its infancy. They performed tracks from their lastest, Hopes and Fears, and a few tracks from their new upcoming album.

And of course, I dragged Mr. Eric along after the show to follow my tradition to be a groupie. We waited for them for about 45 minutes after the show- which consisted of Eric stating that he's lost all respect for me.

But the funny thing is that he had no respect for me to begin with. So I have nothing to lose.

Us waiting at the back reminded me of all those times we'd go to Muchmusic too oogle at the musical guests-- I will not disclose which guests I've hollered at Much. It will forever be buried inside me. But ohh, those were the days.

Luckily, we got to meet them and they were definitely fun-loving laid-back modest guys. Check out the pictures on my Flickr page.

Good times had by all.

Comments (2)

Due to the lack of new quality programming these days, I find myself watching (or taping) Canadian Idol.

Somehow I need to get my reality show fix-- that and the fact that Canadian Idol ads are plastered all over the TTC Subway System.

Who am I kidding, I must quit making excuses and admit that I still like watching Idol.

If you happen to be as a loser as I am, you might have noticed that Dave Moffatt made it into the Top 32 candidates.

Dave Moffatt-- you might remember him as the little boy from the "hit" Canadian kid-boy-group sensation "The Moffatts." He was definitely the cutest Moffatt (and no not that loser Clint) out of the four. Wow, it so weird to see him on the show. I have to admit that he's not a bad pop singer-- actually he's pretty good. I caught him during his audition with a duo rendition of Shania Twain's "From This Moment On" and it was impressed.

I guess singing tunes like "Girl of My Dreams" and "Miss You Like Crazy" really helped! Haha.

I was being an even bigger geek and checking out the unofficial Canadian Idol message boards. According to idolforums.com, Dave lives in Winnipeg, works at the Bay (in the fragrance department), and he is gay with a boyfriend. Of course, we never know how credible these sources are, but it's an interesting read. However when asked (in his official Idol profile) which musical act would you most like to see in concert, he answered "Cher."

This is when the famous "Kill Bill" siren would go off in my head. But this not any siren, it's an internal gay alert system. Haha.

I think I'm an outgrown tween girl-- checking out message boards where the predominate demographic are La-Senza-Girl-wearing tweens with awful grammar.

Anyways, I missed it this week's Tuesday and Wednesday shows, so I'm here scrambling to find a torrent for it. I'm totally cheering him on in Round #2-- let's hope he makes Top 10. He's not the best singer out of the bunch of other Idols, however, he's got that pop spunk. C'mon, he's a Moffat-- it's weird how it's like we grew up together-- almost like they were a part of you. Like how almost how I felt like I was friends with the cast of "Friends."

Yeah, I'm fucked. I blame it on nostalgia. Yep, that's it.

Comments (81)

It was definitely a pleasure to see Coldplay live.

After my exhaustive long weekend in Montreal and a demanding day at work, I was seriously in no frame of mind to be attending a concert. I was just feeling somewhat uninterested and just want to curl up at home and go to bed for the evening.

However, of course, I went nonetheless, and Coldplay definitely put on a pretty great show.

Let's start with the opening act, which I later discovered at work to be a band by the name of Rilo Kiley (courtesy of my co-worker David) Blue Mountain. It was by far the worst live performance I had to witness. The band was completely incoherent; to the point that we didn't even manage to get the band's name. During the introductions, the four of us managed to hear, "We're [mumble]......" and that was pretty much all I heard from them when they spoke.

I suspect they're either drunk or high, because I really don't see any reason for such garbage. The music was barely tolerable and the crowd was simply not grooving it-- as we witnessed the large portion of the crowd tuning out, looking elsewhere, and chatted with their friends. They simply didn't attempt to have a feel for the crowd, and their lethargic ambiance totally became contagious.

Coldplay finally got on stage at around 9:15, and they totally rocked the house. After watching many performances on the tube, I've always wanted to experience that raw energy that the band seems to amplify in its music and presentation-- they definitely delivered without disappointment.

They managed to play a variety of hits from all three albums-- with a slight favouritism towards X&Y (obviously), but I wanted to steer particular attention to their performance of The Scientist. It was just amazing-- their ability to feel the music and allow the crowd to join in and sense the way that the band felt for the song.

At the end of the song, he interacted with the audience through what I call an interpretive hum-a-long, where the audience followed along to Chris' free interpretation of tune. It is difficult to explain, but I am astonished how they managed to create that kind of intimate atmosphere in a large and somewhat detached venue such as the Air Canada Centre.

There is something about Chris Martin that strikes me when he's performing. He presents a feeling that he gives it his all-- his passion and spirit-- into his dance and song that is almost radiating.

It was definitely a feel-good concert-- a concert that you leave feeling joyful, carefree, and just wanting to spread my arms and fly. Eugene says that my urge to fly is attributed to the weed that's obviously going around, however, I disagree.

Their humble and warm presence is incredible, and it really causes people to respond, unite and have a good time.

I simply just left the concert feeling wonderful. Performance therapy is what I call it.

PS: All my pictures turned out like shit. I kind of expected it, so as a result of my anger, I will not be posting them.

Comments (7)

Living on campus is just wonderful.

Sure I'm forking about $640 a month in rent this term, but nothing can compare the gizillion files of multimedia on the local Resnet network. Downloading is great, but sometimes, you just want to be able to sample other people's files-- and that's just so great about it, plus it downloads in seconds! Beat that, fucking Rogers!

Upon browsing people's collection of videos and music, I have to say that there were so much music that I've forgotten over the years, and it was so good to have that music part of your collection again?

I actually really miss my high school teeny-bopper pop music of the nineties. Remember before when 90s bop music was generally happier and cheerful? Not to mention that when compared the prominent figures of the recent decade, people were just not as skanky as Jessica Simpson, and Britney Spears-- which seems to define, to a certain extent, the pop age of this decade. The Spice Girls was probably the closest I could think of to skankiness, but that is still nothing compared to Boots Were Made For Walking.

Anyways, here's a list of pop songs I've rediscovered from the Resnet file sharing escapades.

Cream of the Crop
ATC - Around the World
This is the song that has a special place in my heart. Those who listening to Z103.5 (formerly Hits 1035) and enjoyed 'Gino Beats' have to remember this song.

Back in my days at working at Chapters, my colleagues and I would spend countless overnights until 4 or 5 in the morning re-merchandising sections of the store. Anyways, we would always blast the Digital Music Express terminal, and play the Top 40 station-- where they would always play this song. We would go crazy on the now-extinct big comfy couches and shake our stuff. It was just one of those old dance feel good songs, the ones were you just blast it and shake it, shake it like a polaroid picture.

Oh wait, wrong song, but you get the idea. As evident in Urban Design studio courses, tiredness makes people do crazy things like shaking your booty.

Canadiana
McMaster and James - Loves Wins Everytime
I have to say that I really enjoyed their work, and especially their distinctive sound. Their harmonies were particularly different, and used brass instrumentation, as per this song, that added that extra spice to pop music of the time.

What I don't understand is how these great Canadian pop artists just suddenly disappeared from the music scene-- in exchange for bland artists like Keisha Chante, and Canadian Idol's Ryan Malcolm and Kalan Porter. Ew.

The Moffatts - Walking Behind
Aside from my love for Dave Moffat on Canadian Idol, I think that they made a significant contribution to the Canadian pop sphere. I wasn't not really fond of their earlier 'bubble gum' work (a la Girl of My Dreams, Miss You Like Crazy) but the work near their end of the career was super.

Walking Behind for example remained pop with complementary but not overbearing elements of rock-- I really enjoyed this. It is unlike current artists like Kelly Clarkson, Fefe Dobson, where it is rock music with a pop voice.

Come back Moffatts!

Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson
This selection is off from my definition of pop music, however, Barenaked totally rocks. This song, as well as This Old Apartment, definitely hold a great place in my heart. The Ladies really know how to have fun and just forget all your troubles away-- unlike songs that are always angry, or involving teen angst and how life sucks (Simple Plan suddenly comes to mind).

Also, Barenaked is from neighbouring Scarborough, so there was that sense of local pride as well.

Other Canadiana:

• soulDecision - Faded


• Sky - Something Kinda Wonderful


• Joee - Angel


• Len - Steal My Sunshine


• B-44 (!) - I'll Get Down on You


• Alanis Morissette - You Learn

World Domination
Los Del Rio - Macarena
Macarena! That was the best dance of the decade! I remember those school dances in elementary school, I think that during those dancs that I started to learn to get my groove on, albeit ridiculously. It was just so fun because everyone was just so into it.

I think I still remember how to do it.

Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart
I love Toni Braxton. This song doesn't necessary speak to me, but the fact that it brings back so many teen-hood memories. It was one of those first songs where I slow-danced with a girl. Remember those days in elementary school where we would marginally touch the girl at her waist-- and making sure that you have a metre's distance between the two dance parties?

It was great.

Ace of Base - The Sign
If you don't know this song, shame on you. This song rocks. Ace of Base was cool because their music was so dance-able. Remember all those dirty spinoffs of this that seemed to have infiltrated in elementary schools across the board?

I saw your mom, she opened up her legs and said "c'mon."

To be honest, I don't think we were any less dirtier than this generation of youth. Or maybe it's just me.

Anyways, everytime I hear this song, I think of Beverley. Haha!

House of Pain - Jump Around
I remember in Grade Six, we were assigned into groups to perform a song of our choice. I believe it was for the art component of our curriculum. Larry, Ryan and I proformed this song, and let me tell you, there was a lot of jumping and summersaults.

Jump around, j-j-jump around...Jump up, jump up, and get down!

If only I had a video of that performance. It was so bad because it was that "special time" in my adolescence when I was really uncoordinated-- even more so.

I think we should have a reunion tour.

Other 'World Domination':

• Le Click - Tonight Is The Night


• Hanson - mmmbop


• Savage Garden - To the Moon and Back


• O-Town - Liquid Dreams (How could I resist?)


• Janet Jackson - Together Again


• New Kids on the Block - The Right Stuff

I think it's quite powerful how music can invoke so much memories. What songs do you remember treasuring?

Comments (10)

I hate to break this news to all my visitors, but I have to say that we're officially old!

It will be 10 years tomorrow, that the Spice Girls' first single, Wannabe, was released in the United Kingdom. Surely, the Canadian release occurred later that year, but still, it's been ten years folks!

Ten years! My gosh!

I shamelessly admit that I really enjoyed the Spice Girls. Sure I was a closeted elementary school queer, but that didn't get in the way of getting into the Spice Girls groove. I enjoyed watching the continuous reruns of their concert at the famous Wembley Arena on Muchmusic. I also remember going to the puny Scarborough Town Centre Cineplex (now closed) to watch their hilariously ridiculous movie, Spice World, with Mark Kung-- who was also as weird as me when it came to Spice Girls.

Actually, I remember skipping religion class (isn't that ironic?) in high school , so that we can head down to the Yonge/Dundas HMV to get their autograph. Too bad, it was later cancelled.

My favourite Spice was definitely Victoria, Posh Spice. She was then definitely the hottest Spice Girl-- though in retrospect she couldn't sing for beans. As I grew, however, I had an increase liking for Mel C, Sporty Spice. She is indeed a great singer, who would do so well had she came into the spotlight as a solo artist.

Whether you like them or not, these girls have really left a big cultural imprint in the Western world in the mid/late 90's. They definitely revived the pop music scene from the clout of rock and alternative-rock that dominated the airwaves. Many group pop acts followed after their fame-- on the top of my head, I could think of: All Saints, Destiny's Child, Atomic Kitten, Blaque-- not to mention some greater male groups like Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and even B44!

Surely, they're now only good for tabloid gossip, but they should still be applauded for their tremendous impact on youth culture at the time.

It's just so weird to think that almost 10 years ago, I would blast my radio and sing to songs like Wannabe. Now as I recollect my thoughts, Grades 7 and 8 were definitely a very interesting period in my life.

As with any early-teen, I recall going through quite a few bumpy moments, including the whole awkward stage of "changing bodies." Some of you fortunate ones might recall how my legs weren't quite same length, my voice continuously cracked, had to get my first pair of glasses.

Heres'a few other intersting notes of Matt in 1996:

• I still had my nasty braces


• I was actually good at math


• I enjoyed playing double dutch with the girls


• I ate "ball cake" while unsuccessfully catching a football during our famous four-hand touch football games-- it broke my glasses ("Eating ball cake" is a Chinese collequial term describing one who gets hit by the ball in the face)
  
• I hated gym class


• We had a teacher who we suspect was getting it on with the principal


• The French teacher deservedly screamed at me countless times


• My best sport was sprinting-- if that even counts


• I took the big yellow school bus to school each day


• I had longer hair-- similar to this one of Matt Damon-- which funny enough is sort of what I hope to revive (but just less poofy a la Pete Wentz!)

So all in all, Matt was a queer nerd... so I guess not much has changed. Haha.

Spice Girls - [wikipedia.org]

Comments (8)

Tiff and I decided we wanted to re-live our youth by seeing Fall Out Boy. While we were admittedly a bit embarrased about going ot see them, and given that we knew we would be swarmed by cutie teenage girls, it turned out to be an awesome show.

From what I could see from a distance in the lawn seats at the Ampitheatre, Pete Wentz was as hot as usual. That in itself made my experience worthwhile.

Sadly, we missed Cobra Starship perform, the band who brought you "Snakes on a Plane." We actually heard it from a distance just stepping off the 510 Harbourfrount streetcar. This realization that Cobra was playing was following by a big punch to my arm by Tiff. Ouch.

Tiff has the hots for Cobra's lead singer, Gabe, who is so much less hot than Pete.

I think our fun was also alcohol-induced, which is always good. After watching some of the videos, I realized how slurred my speech was. We also had to get wristbands to drink. Plus, we had to chug her down so quickly, because we weren't allowed to drink in the concert viewing area. This is what we get for going to a predominiately underage show. We could've made a killing otherwise, selling drinks to minors.

I'm kidding. No one use that against me.

+44 also played that night, and they actually played a Blink song, Girl at the Rock Show. There was also three other bands, The Academy Is and Paul Walls.

I wanted to be a total teenager and buy this cute but ripoff FOB tee. But sadly, I didn't bring any cash on me. Tiff spotted me the entire night, ack.

Facebook concert pictures (Login Required) - [facebook.com]
Facebook videos - [blogspot.com]

Comments (6)

This article has been in my drafts folder for the longest time, so forgive me for this dated article.

A number of us headed downtown to do all that is Luminato last last Saturday-- and we focussed mainly on the visual arts and design events. We roamed a bit around the financial district to see some of the hanging art that surrounded most building lobbies.

Anyways, he highlight events were definitely those along Harbourfront. I was very surprised so much people down by the water. There was visual arts, music, cultural events, buskers, cultural food, and just lots of happy people enjoying the sunshine by the water.

We spent a helluva a long time at the Bellissima tent just adjacent to the Queen's Quay Terminal. They had very amazing curries, salads, and wonderful cultural live entertainment. If course, we checked out the great light spectcle, PULSE FRONT, surrounding the Harbourfront. Apparently, the light show was so popular that they extended the show to.. today. I really enjoyed the show, and it's so exciting to see Toronto doing something like this.

With events like Luminato and Nuit Blanche, it is clear that Toronto has a real thirst for arts and culture. What best place to do it than a diverse and vibrant place like Toronto? I think that we really can expect great things here in Toronto, and it is really attempting to bring in that 'creative class' that we talk so much about in planning school.

I think the one thing Toronto should work on is to accomodate more places for arts, culture, and entertainment to take place-- free from having to get a permit or to pay some private sector party. I guess this is why some of the public spaces people are so keen on pushing for these places.

It would really be great for arts and culture to just naturally take place. That would be neat.

Luminato - [luminato.com]
A businessperson's notion of a festival - [thestar.com
Pulse Front Photo - [flickr.com]

Comments (0)

Pardon my tween language but... OMFG!

It was announced officially on thespicegirls.com that the Spice Girls are coming to Toronto for their anticipated world tour after the huge response from TO fans from the Spice City competition! Here's the latest note from the website:

We set this [contest] up to give all our genuine fans the chance to turn their hometown into a SPICE CITY. This was all about making your own city a SPICE CITY and since we launched there have been literally millions of votes for us to play in hundreds of cities including places like Rio, Chicago, Melbourne, Manchester, Paris, Alice Springs, Baghdad, and Diss (in Norfolk England)!

But one city had to win and we are now delighted to announce the winner is... TORONTO. Thanks to everyone in Canada who voted for us to play there - we’ll work out the date over the next few weeks and let you know.

Oh man, I'm so proud of Toronto. If you haven't been following the Spice news, there was initially no Canadian date for the tour when it was announced June. Then three additional dates were added to the tour in late July, which included Vancouver as its Canadian date. But now that's all about to change, as we are Spice City! Thanks eager Spice fans who voted, because they helped to put Toronto on the map.

Beat that Chicago! We might not have Millennium Park, but we've got Spice Girls! Na na na-na nah!

Toronto will now join the 14 other concert cities including San Jose, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Vancouver, Buenos Aires, London, Koln, Madrid, Cape Town, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

Oh man, I totally want to go. Who's with me?

PS: Do you remember back in the days when Muchmusic played music programming? I swear, I watched every show that involved the Spice Girls. Oh man, those days were fun.

Fans vote Toronto onto Spice Girls world tour - [cbc.ca]
Your Spice City - [thespicegirls.com]
Hi Ci Ya, Hold Tight - [torontoist.com]

Comments (3)

So I've mentioned before that Muchmusic sucks, and a recent Torontoist article further reminded me of its 'suckage'. However, the article made me wonder two things: (1) does MM actually suck according to its viewers? and (2) is Muchmusic the one to blame its apparent 'suckage'?

Yes ironically, there hasn't been much music on Muchmusic. While I personally don't care too much of the network anymore, I don't necessarily agree that with the notion that MM is no longer the "mouthpiece for Canadian youth culture" as Torontoist suggests. We have to remind ourselves that we as twenty-somethings, are no longer MM's target demographic. I am very interested to know what the target demographic, namely teens, thinks of Muchmusic. What do they think of MM's programming? If there are any teens reading this blog, I'd totally appreciate some feedback.

At the same time, we also need to consider that the whole nature of the music industry is changing. We are increasingly reliant on the internet for our music particularly among youth, which puts a serious strain on music television networks to provide profitable products to televise.

Think about it, we are increasingly reliant on user-control types of media such as Youtube to view our music videos. Thus it becomes a great challenge for a mass media television network such as MM to remain profitable simply by playing music videos in the way that we (as twenty-somethings) appreciated when we were teenagers.

For that reason, I am not overly critical of the fact that MM is out of the business of broadcasting music videos. They are merely adapting to the changing landscape of the music industry. That being said, however, it doesn't mean MM is off the hook. I believe there continues to be opportunities for MM to stay within the confines of music programming. How about more artist interviews? How about more programming on up-and-coming artists? How about more VideoFACT programming? MM needs to focus on featuring local talent-- just like the times of the Barenaked Ladies, for example.

The never-ending reruns of O.C. and So You Think You Can Dance is just a sign that MM is accepting defeat. If they keep this up, we will soon see MM disintegrate completely from the TV landscape.

Comments (2)

Oh my gosh. I just found my theme song. It's called Mr. Lee

This 1957 single was performed a girl group called The Bobbettes. According to Wikipedia, the song was about their former grade school teacher. Sadly, they followed up this hit single with another less popular hit, I Shot Mr. Lee. Oh how awful.

The Bobbettes, Mr. Lee

One, two, three, look at Mr. Lee
Three, four, five, look at him jive
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee

I met my sweetie
His name is Mr. Lee
I met my sweetie
His name is Mr. Lee
He's the hansomest sweetie
That you ever did see

My heart is achin' for you Mr. Lee
My heart is achin' for you Mr. Lee
'Cause I love you so
And I'll never let you go

Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee

Here comes Mr. Lee
He's coming for me
Here comes Mr. Lee
He's coming for me
He's my lover boy
Let's jump for joy

Come on Mr. Lee and do your stuff
Come on Mr. Lee and do your stuff
'Cause you're gonna be mine
Till the end of time

One, two, three, look at Mr. Lee
Three, four, five, look at him jive
One, two, three, look at Mr. Lee
Three, four, five, look at him jive

Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee

One, two, three, look at Mr. Lee
Three, four, five, look at him jive

Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee, Mr. Lee
Oh, Mr. Lee
Mr. Lee

Comments (2)