Vast Oceans

Late post tonight, sorry (do you even care?). The show last night started with a really lame middle-aged cover band sprinkled with insurance jokes between songs... I don't usually like to be harsh when criticizing musical acts, but sometimes I can't help it. They got points for having their drummer look sort of like John Goodman in The Big Lebowski, but they really needed those points because they couldn't really score any otherwise. I'm not sure if I've ever seen someone playing music that looked so bored as their bass player was, who was casually chewing gum and meekly tapping his foot. Not even a good hip sway or smile. Weak. At the end of their really long set they played a couple of original tunes that were far more entertaining, but not exactly good or tight. Afterwards the DPF levels got pretty high, and Zabsywabs' guitar gave constant and inappropriate feedback. I kind of really disliked, but at the same time kind of did like how he tended to face the back corner of the stage and rock out to an imaginary audience while ignoring the people who were actually there. It sucks playing gear you're not familiar with on stage, and he seemed to have some difficulty finding the sound he wanted from the modelling amp he was borrowing. The night really picked up when Elissa Barclay got on stage with an acoustic guitar and let loose with some tight, dark, and emotional tunes of hers.

The Outsider art show premiere was pretty good -- we showed up after 2am, but there were a bunch of cool people still there, and some interesting art pieces. My favourite was a painting with neon-type colours of a mine shaft that somehow came off feeling dark and mysterious. The show runs for about a week longer, so check it out if you're curious. A burly Scottish bloke was extolling the virtues of squatter culture in Amsterdam, which seemed pretty cool if you haven't got anything else better to do. No seriously though, I kind of admire people who live outside the boundaries of normal society and do it respectfully and earnestly, while taking advantage of abandoned spaces. I just have a problem when people who do that become self-righteous about it and start clamouring for greater punk movements. The beauty of subcultures is that they are a relief from the over-arching dominant culture to which we all partake in to some degree. As in, if everyone turned punk, the cool thing to do would be to become a square.

Clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc42KlA4fpk
The Smashing Pumpkins - Porcelina of the Vast Oceans (live)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMMkP_ofpXg&feature=related
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion