Junior Boys - Chop Suey - 5/28/05 

Junior Boys - Chop Suey - 5/28/05 

Wow! I'm a little tired. Dubtribe on Friday. Junior Boys on Saturday, and Architecture in Helsinki at Sonic Boom yesterday. And the best part of it all? They were all really good shows.
Dubtribe was at Club Trinity which I was a little dubious about, but it ended up being all right. Trinity used to be the Bohemian which got that hip-hop crowd, and it was part of the 15 clubs, 1 cover thing. The good thing about it is that there are three rooms--one retaining the hip-hop flava of the past, but the largest room was reserved for the house headz. What really made the show great was everyone, and I mean everyone, was there. Here's a run down:
Karen, Jen, Bernadette, Kris, Rachel, Chris, Paul, Matty, Tom, Jenna, Rachel, Jon, Turtle, and Ramiro. And tons of people who totally dig on Dubtribe. Sunshine and Moonbeam were adorable. They sat on their knees on the ten inch high stage and sang, and played their music. Everyone was dancin' and havin' a good ol' time. I bailed at 2:15 cuz I was tired and didn't think I would make it til 3.
Then Saturday night. I got to see my much beloved Junior Boys. I was a little nervous--you never know how people are going to re-create their sound, but from the first track, I was sold. They ran down their modest catalog and performed a few new songs. What really surprsied me was their musicianship--you don't really expect it from guys who create a lot of their sound on a laptop. I wanted to yell, "You're so sensitive," and throw my thong undies up on the stage.
Then Sunday afternoon was Architecture in Helsinki. It was a great little in-store. I really dig on their ebullience at using non-traditional instruments and funky body-part percussion.
So, here's two pics from Saturday night's show. Needless to say, my camera is crap. I didn't want to use a flash cuz those pictures always come out all washed out. So, we've got the slow shutter going on. Anyway.

R.I.P. - Ismail Merchant

Now a time for quiet reflection.
When I saw A Room with a View ca. 1990, I didn't know what to expect. I had never really seen a period piece--rather a costume drama. I had never read E.M. Forster, but much like the heroine Lucy Honeychurch, someone had entered my life and given me a window through which I could view a part of the world I would otherwise never have seen.
Ismail Merchant died on Wednesday due to complications from ulcer surgery. His legacy includes over 50 films and television programs and an array of awards and nominations. I became aware of Merchant and his partner James Ivory around the time that I was becoming aware of my sexual orientation. Their film Maurice was a comforting story for a confusing time in my life. It led me to the works of Forster and an better understanding of queer history. Knowing that Merchant was an independent--that he could wrangle finances for a period piece outside of the studio system--always filled me with admiration. His contribution to the art of filmmaking is indelible. He will not be forgotten, but he will be sorely missed.

Q: What do internationally renowned DJs play in Vancouver?

A: Cruel Summer - The Bangles, Mr. Roboto - Styx, Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic, and that song by maybe The Killers or somebody about jealousy. You know what song I mean, you have a radio.
Not that I can blame him. I mean, I walked into Club Plush and was equally underwhelmed. A bunch of amateur clubbers rolling their asses off, wandering from place to place, and talking way too loudly. The floor was cheap linoleum tile, like in your high school cafeteria. There was a huge concrete pole in front of the right cluster of speakers. A vodka Red Bull cost $11.50 a bottle of Heineken cost $6. Yeah, that's Canadian, but still ridiculous. Of course, there was never a line for any of the three bars--because everyone was on drugs. And you'd think that a bunch of e-tards would be up for some dancing, no? Well, apparently, they weren't. And what's even freakier? I was one of the better dancers there--and I'm not a good dancer.
And you know how you're always sort of excited to be in a different town because you'll be all anonymous and stuff? That wore off as soon as we hit the club. Lisa, my co-worker from my Kinko's days, was there. So much for any air of mystery. Plus, she's the type of person who always introduces me as her "gay friend." Cringe. I guess I should start introducing her as my, "fucked-up-on-E-Indian-dot-not-feather friend."
And even though Sander played totally stupid tracks (ok, there were a handful of decent ones), he looked so adorable. The crush still exists.
Plus, Vancouver is such a great town. It feels diverse and large. And on the Canadian Cartoon Network, I was introduced to perhaps the world's worst cartoon. Rocket Robin Hood. If you ever have a chance to watch it, I'd recommend it. It really is the low water mark which demonstrates how far animation has come.

Makes the Bourgeoisie and the Rebel

Holy Crap! Do I know how to party or what? Tomorrow night, hittin' the Re-Bar with Tom and some of his buds for a mash-up night. Sunday, headin' to Vancouver for Sander Kleinenberg with Matt. Then nose to the grindstone until Friday when I'll go see Dubtribe Soundsystem with K and the gang (no, not Kool and the Gang). Saturday is Junior Boys (all by my sensitive self) and Sunday is Architecture in Helsinki. Are you freakin' kidding me?
Please come out and play with me.
Today's picture courtesy of Google Images: Bourgeoisie.

Serenity

So, its no secret that I'm totally enamoured of Joss Whedon. He based my beloved Buffy on my favorite X-Men character Kitty Pryde (aka Sprite, Shadowcat). Recently, I've been catching up with Firefly, the short lived sci-fi series he created for FOX. I missed most of the episodes due to poor programming, but have really been enjoying catching up with it. If you're a dork, you might like it, too. What I'm super-psyched about, however, is Serenity. Its a movie based on the Firefly TV show--and you should check out the trailer.
Now put Firefly in your queue on Netflix, and let's all go see Serenity on Sept. 30th, ok?
And maybe, if the movie's a big success, we'll see the return of the crew of the Serenity.
My guess is NBC will pick it up--since its a Universal movie. And cuz NBC is in a pathetic 4th place. That'll make Joss the creator of the only two shows (that I know of) that left one network and went to another.

Chocolate Fountain

no. i did not go to the gym today. even though i went to bed at 10:30 last night. i think i like my new bed too much. then, to make matters worse, it was another party day at work. there was a chocolate fountain straight out of willy wonka. fresh strawberries and blueberries and watermelon to dip in the chocolate from the fountain. but what did i dip in the chocolate? chocolate chip cookies. and chocolate chocolate chip cookies. i am fat. and i am proud. in fact, i think we homos should re-thnk pride. pride should be about chocolate.

Books need rubbers, too

Two nights ago I was rapt in the new Murakami novel. I took it from my couch to my bed, and as I read in bed, my eyes became like lead. There was nary a scrap of paper that I could put between the pages to keep my place. The dust jacket was safely in another room, and I couldn't muster the energy to leave my comfortable bed. I opened the nightstand and, like every responsible bachelor, discovered a cache of prophylactics. A green plastic-wrapped, mint flavored condom got put between page 56 and 57, and I drifted off to unsettling Murakami inspired dreams.
The next morning, after turning the alarm off every seven minutes for an hour and twelve minutes, I awoke and began my morning ritual. As I was leaving, I realized that I didn't have my bus book. Ah yes, I thought, It became my before bed book last night. So I nabbed the book and placed it in my nap sack.
The new Fabriclive was bangin' in my ears as I got on the bus. The cute guys that read were on the bus. One was reading The Trial and one was reading Kafka was the Rage. I sat on one of the sideways facing seats in the accordion section of the bus. I would attract both of their attention, I convinced myself, with my equally cereberal yet more contemporary literary selection. I reached into my bag and flung open the book (forgetting what my bookmark was). The mint flavored condom spun across the floor. I grabbed for it, but it was too late. Nearly half of the bus saw my secret--even the two boys.
So, instead of occasionally looking up from my book to make fleeting eye contact, I spent the bus ride never once looking up and barely re-reading the same paragraphs over and over.