dear 2010. i wanna blog with you.

2010 is my year to be 'fiscally responsible" waoh waaaaa. boring.

SO. I'm also going to start writing again. and reading more. and swimming again, and so far, so good. Thanks to a smart Moleskine from santa, a great book from a boy and new goggles for the pool - i'm back. and so far, 2010. i like you.

oh, and in 2010, i still love lists. and pretty pictures. so here goes.

Most anticipated music of 2010

1. Hot Chip new album

2. Arcade Fire does something (this is their last chance…)

3. Yeasayer

4. Strokes on tour

5. GLASTONBURY

Best albums of 2009.

(in no particular order, and, admittedly no real surprises)

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist

3. Julian Casablancas – Phrazes for the Young

4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus

5. Julian Plenti is…Skyscraper

6. Fever Ray – S/T

7. Raveonettes – In and Out of Control

8. Dark was the Night - Various

9. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

10. Blue Eyes meets Bed Stuy: The Notorious BIG/Frank Sinatra mixtape (new to me)

Best tracks:

1. Crystalized – The Xx

2. Daylight – Matt and Kim

3. Parallel Lines – Junior Boys

4. Hellhole Ratrace - Girls

5. Feel it All Around - Washed Out

6. Should have taken Acid with You – Neon Indian

7. Daniel – Bat for Lashes

8. 40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

9. Howl – Florence + the Machine – bonus: Dub Step remix

10. Stillness is the Move – Dirty Projectors

August: my front yard.

October: I got older.

September: NYC is shocking.


September: My favorite DJ threw down before leaving town.

September: Brooklyn is for tourists.

So are Lower East Side taxis.

September: Jenja dance party for the books.

August: subway corporate art parties

February: Phil Collins dinner parties

Summer 'o9: bike gangs

Summer '09: patios.

October: new digs.

April: heaven.

August: Animal Collective made the best album of the year - a perfect show for sequins.

Y/N/M

The sweet and the sour of weekends past, present and future.

YES.
A pretty close to perfect Saturday. Eat delicious brunch outside. Lay in the grass with an old friend. Talk about stuff that matters (to us). Nap.

Later that night we rushed to my favourite gallery to see 2 parts Born Ruffians, 10 x talent.
I’ve seen Luke Lalonde before and I’m pretty sure he’s one of Toronto’s most underrated frontmen. Joined again by his sister Jessica on vocals, his quirky, careful cadence is engaging, tight and dripping with potential.

The set was good, but short. The family vibe set up a lengthy discussion on the genetic predisposition of musical talent. So many great musicians come from other great musicians. The majority of my closest musical friends come from musical families. What is the music gene? I want it. I blame my tone deaf parents for my lack of musical acclaim.

NO.
SUFJAN FUCKING STEVENS.
I really like Sufjan Stevens. I Really do. So when I hear he’s playing a one-night only, will call, limited ticket show at Lee’s... I was you know, a little excited. I solicit my card-carrying besties. We call. 10:34 a.m. was too late. 10:00:06 was probably too late, to be fair. FAIL.

MAYBE.
Summer might be here.

NXNE is a hit and a miss every time.

The problem with pilling 500 bands into 20 venues over 5 days even with a 4 a.m. curfew is that Toronto doesn’t have the trunk space. And usually, I’m fine with that. I don’t want to watch Matt and Kim at Circa EVER AGAIN. BUT, I do want to see them at my friends’ gallery with 75 other genuine fans. That’s the thing about NXNE. Every media outlet, marketing firm and product pusher in the city gets passes and those of us who aren’t willing to wait for 2 hours to see a 45 min set just get annoyed.

Buuuut. In the midst of a few minor annoyances: here are the 5 shining minutes of amazing from this year’s lineup.

1. 17.06.09 – 9:53 p.m. VICE magazine party at Amsterdam Brewery. always a big barfy Vice-who’s who of the skinny jeaned vapid scenesters – but also – always a good time. Ignore the coked out waifs vying for a chance to chat up indie label drummers, and you’ve got good 60’s revival tracks spun by a goldtoothed Black Lips member, free beer and uh, isn’t that enough?

2. 17.06.09 – 11:43 p.m. Lioness and Woodhands kill it at the Drake Underground. Lioness has such a great sound – so disco bravado – and that track is still good no matter how many times I hear it…and Woodhands had my friends screaming and fist pumping like regular sportsfans…

3. 18.06.09 – 12:37 a.m. The Field makes us dance like crazy at (lame) Tattoo…..Bad venue – good set. I was expecting a fully digital assault but instead was pleasantly surprised to see a full band looping electro gems before Juan McLean took over. Unfortunuately my “responsible” conscious took over at the same time and I missed what everyone is calling “the best dance set of the week”. Booooo day job.

4. 20.06.09 – 2:54 a.m. Japanther and Matt & Kim –hot sweaty dance mess at Wrongbar. Surprisingly no lineups, actually enthusiastic crowd, and Matt making our night intro-ing “Daylight” with “….I wrote this song in Brooklyn but tonight it’s about Toronto in the summer of 2009”…

5. 21.06.09 – 3:34 a.m. Bathurst NXNE secret house party. Less music, more throw down. OPOPO dj’s apparently had us dancing in between Steamwhistles…”apparently” because after 3:30 I pretty much don’t remember anything.

So overall, NXNE, you’re ok, I just still want to date other festivals.

Oh, and summer is here. now if we could just get someone to clean the pools for the 3 a.m. skinny dipping... it’ll really be something.

Wolfgang Amadeus Amazing-eus.

Holy hannah this band is tight.

Top 5 Reasons that Phoenix might be the coolest band, like, eva.

1.They keep a 70/30 mainstream to west end crowd engaged for a 10 minute instrumental.
2.Minimal banter, minimal bravado, straight goods. also: French.
3.Reminding us how encores used to be (and they used to be epic).
4.Oxford shirts, levi’s, haircuts and good shoes. Style without hairspray.
5.Hand-SOME.

Phoenix have been around for a while. They consistently deliver solid albums that never tire on repeat, make everyone at your party happy (not to mention continually ask “who is this? This is good”) and they’ve got that whole, style without effort or pretention thing down. Their sound tips between strong modern rock and modern electro, no synths – just danceability. Musically they manage to squeeze in instrumentals in between pop gems that stand out. Their rendition of “Like a sunset” got the biggest reaction from the crowd last night.

And you know what? The Phoenix is a pretty good venue. The sightlines are decent, it’s pretty intimate (ok, compared to the Kool Haus) and you can actually move around pretty easily.

Except:
1.ONE Bartender per bar is NOT OK. I’d pay $6 for a beer if I could actually order it in under 20 minutes.
2.Mainstream-ish bands bring mainstream-ish boys. Dude. Why are you wearing a giant hoodie? You weigh 250 and it’s fucking hot in here. And standing right in front of me and devil-horns-ing arm-pumping through this song? Pull yourself together Mooose. ALSO. Goatees are NEVER ok. Like, never.
3.Uhhh, umm…so I only have 2 complaints. Heh. Looks like I kind of like this place?

Oh yeah, and NXNE starts tomorrow. I am kelly’s anxious liver and pending ulcer. Also. kelly’s complete and utter lack of enough cute outfits.

Y/N/M

YES - $100 at the Horseshoe




NO - Let's hope no one remembers Carmen/Skin Divers this weekend so I get the good seats.










MAYBE - Joining the circus. (ok. becoming a trapese phenom anyway.)

while distracting yourself

If pondering the impossibilities of futures for the futureless, I hope you too, have stumbled on the idealized greatness of Kim Gordon.

A beacon of style, grit and talent – Gordon makes those of us who never wanted the trappings of the traditional dream think ‘what if….’

If I wake up, at 50, to find myself beside the better half of one of the most seminal rock bands of our time, clad in my own stunning clothing line, staring at Brooklyn-raised well-spoken pixies of children and suddenly acquire a set of killer legs under the covers, I think I’d be happy. So, to summarize. If I start a band, marry the hot/talented guitarist, define a generation of female musicians, create my own clothing line, paint/create in my free time, move to Brooklyn, start a charity and stave off the aging process –

I might settle down.

So, there, I said it.

Also. why is that every time something amazing is set to happen outside, it fucking rains? It’s like Toronto doesn’t want us to get too big for our britches. Ooh, you want to watch a vintage German horror movie outside under the stars set to the live musical score of Final Fantasy, for free?? Alright. Here’s a torrential downpour. Enjoy your drinks at Woo.

f. Toronto, why you gotta be like that?

If it rains for the next Drake Drive In, I’m shipping out.

Solutions to save you* from yourself*

*me; * myself

Warm yourself in the knowledge that the Toronto Star, doctors and smart people everywhere, do, too, hate Oprah.

Drink more coffee. Fuck the haters that say caffeine is bad for you. Coffee tastes delicious. While you’re at it, smoke, too.

Fill your office with good things. I used to think this was so Angela of The Office, but when I’m pouring over cancer-related drivel, thinking about night swimming and making out in Florence makes me hate everything less.

Like this.

from the mess to the masses

do you ever get emails from your long-distance best friends that make you laugh out loud? Make you smile with a cupped hand over your work-day face? Stare off thinking of how amazing they are and how you are never thoughtful enough to try and 'catch up'

and you think...ok. reply. I have to be clever. and interesting. something good. there's so many things to say. No time will suffice. I'll totally write back at lunch.

and you never do.

dear friends, readers, lovers, fans. This is my returned delayed email reply.

there's too much to say - to go from then to now.

Let's go with an old-school top three, for today, and today alone.

1. I don't care how many times they Play '1901' on whatever lame FM radiostation Torontoians listen to. THE NEW PHOENIX ALBUM IS GOOD FROM START TO FINISH. And even the remixes I've heard so far are making me think this album is going be the Bill Murray cameo of every Kelly/DJ Deadbeat dad mixtape for years.
Today I really like this one: http://hypem.com/#/track/836504/Phoenix+-+Fences no wait, this one: http://hypem.com/#/track/835607/Phoenix+-+Single+Lisztomania+A+Fight+for+Love+25hrs+A+Day+Remix
seeeeeee? so many gems.

2. ONCE in a WHILE the best solution to a Saturday hangover is not to solve it at all. Wallow in it. Eat no vegetables. Spend a mere hour outside in the beautiful June sun but complain incessantly. Read "11,002 reasons to be miserable" out loud in the park (my current favourites: Oprah. nostril hair. babies.) eat the food of jock-girlfriend-abusers (we like: wings. big macs. french fries. gravy.) make the livingroom a fort. But most importantly: lay back and let a complete TV series wash over you in utter comedic gluttony for hours on end. If you pick 30 Rock, we'll be friends for life.

3. I'm quarter-life crisising. I knooooow. I'm a fucking white-middle-class-post-graduate-city dwelling-cliche. I'm lying in a permanent unmotivated milky white haze of hangovers and slothlike ambition. I'm content to swim through this malaise of modernity. for at least another week.

How to win the weekday war.

1. Tease. At ONE MINUTE long – the newest Erol Alkan remix for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Zero is already burning a hole in my overworked little office speakers. I kind of forgot about the YYYs…maybe I’ll go see them in like, California or something. They’re headlining some festival I think I’m going to …. As for you, Alkan, you amaze us as always. Love, hearts, stars, applause.

2. Dance. AGO Massive Party – recipe for success? You have to know the official party planning committee guru…then watch as your most talented friends of friends come together with all of your favourite sweetly dressed girlfriends…throw in a billion free drinks and make eyes at the suits…and you’ve got a weeknight party that could seriously ruin any semblance of Friday productivity you had envisioned…

3. Race like someone’s counting* I have officially met my morning lane swim match. AND! He’s under 70. I know! Today I threw down a good 60 laps. Thanks i-have-no-idea-what-your-name-is swimming friend. I am actually exhausted.

*I am.

Trust me on this guys. It's gonna be good*

*quote: Dan Deacon set - Coachella 2008

Everyone has a friend who’s a bit hard to handle. Won’t shut up. Hits on your friends, doesn’t get the hint…but the truth is, those hyper-active, obnoxious ones are pretty much always a guaranteed good time.

That’s so Dan Deacon. Sometimes you want to punch his annoying overthetop beats in the fucking face. BUT. in the meantime, while listening to his newest schizophrenic amphetamine-fueled dance gem – Bromst – you are going to get pretty pumped up. You’re gonna wanna dance. You’re going to get happy. This shit would make the crabbiest old man in town* fucking break into a little Paula Abdul dance-off.

*or the staff at Ted’s Collision.

I think Deacon makes music with a huge fire pit. He calls up all of his bandgeek childhood friends and they all throw everything in the flames. Then they drop acid and watch as the fire mixes with the xylophones and the keytars and the synths and the recorders…and the result is out of control, unstoppable dance music that makes you wanna get naked and start rock-star kicking around the fire.

So yeah, suffice to say, I like this album. Oh and, he’s coming to town in a few weeks.

See you there.