Teenage Fanclub, Elephant Stone @ Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (September 23, 2010)

  Norman Blake & Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub: photo by Michael Ligon

It's been a good five years since Scottich power popsters Teenage Fanclub last played Toronto touring their last album Man Made but with a new album to promote entitled Shadows, the band have once again hit the road, last week stopping in for a two-night stint at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. I was fortunate enough to take in the second night.

Opening the show were Montreal's Elephant Stone. Brainchild of Rishi Dhir, a founding member of Montreal psych-pop veterans The High Dials, Elephant Stone mined similar pysch-pop territory with the usual bass, keys, guitar, and drums but infusing their sound at times with sitar. With Dhir on sitar sitting on a raised platform onstage was somewhat of an odd spectacle in the Horseshoe Tavern of all places, and while Dhir's sitar licks were admirable, I found the instrument a bit at odds with the band's instrumentation at times - on a decent track like "Savage Soul", for me the sitar sticks out like a sore thumb. It was actually the sitar-less songs that made the stronger impact on me. It's probably no coincidence that given the band's name, they reminded me a lot of The Stone Roses circa their debut album and ultimately that provided me a level of satisfaction. But on the other hand, given the choice, I'd still rather listen to The Stone Roses.

Rereading my review of Teenage Fanclub's last show in Toronto at The Mod Club on July 25, 2005 I was reminded of my observations of the band at the time having grown older are far different from the scruffy long-haired lads I'd seen when they appeared on Saturday Night Live back in the early 90's. Five years later and that hasn't change; and in the case of vocalist Norman Blake, he's postively looking Dad-ish. On the other hand, Gerard Love looks as boy-ish as ever, while lead guitarist Raymond McGinley has cropped his hair from the last time he was in town and looking somewhat more dapper these days. Filling out the band was drummer Francis MacDonald and a touring keyboardist/guitarist.

After kicking off the set with a nice rendition of "It's All In My Mind" from Man-Made, the band played a song off the new album Shadows entitled "Sometimes I Don't Need To Believe In Anything" which I'd not heard previously but did maintain my belief that The Fannies are as relevant and vital as they ever were. Then the band cranked up the guitars for Bandwagonesque favourites "Alcoholiday" and "Star Sign". It's no doubt that the band has mellowed over the years especially on new album set inclusions like "The Fall" and "Baby Lee" and encore inclusion "Sweet Days Waiting" but it's something I'm willing to accept so long as their setlist(like last week) still includes more upbeat and or harmony-laden favourites like "Don't Look Back"(one of my personal faves of the night), "I Need Direction", "Ain't That Enough", set closer "Everything Flows", and encore closer "The Concept". A deeply satisfying evening from one of the best bands ever. With lead vocalist Norman Blake now residing in Kitchener, Ontario with his wife who is Canadian, I still don't expect The Fannies to be playing Toronto that often given the rest of the band is still based in Glasgow, Scotland, but perhaps we'll get some solo shows from Mr. Blake every now and then. You know, I'm starting to see a trend. Norman marries a Canadian and moves to Canada. Mr. Joe Pernice (of The Pernice Brothers) did the same thing(ie. marry a Canada and move to Canada) a few years back. Not that I'm condoning all our good Canadian women being swept up by non-Canadians but hey if it means bringing up a few good musical artists up our way, that might be worth it.

Photos: Teenage Fanclub, Elephant Stone @ Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto (September 23, 2010)
MySpace: Elephant Stone
MySpace: Teenage Fanclub

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Seven

The END!

Wooot, it was kind of challenging to blog everyday, but kind of fun at the same time. Helps that I took a week-long break from Twitter and had all this extra time - Twitter = giant time suck (but I'll be back, bien sur :)

For my last outfit, I went for an ice-blue and brown combo. I know the combo is pretty "90's" and maybe that's why I like it, but it also proved that the dress wasn't just for summer. Brown + pastels = Fall. Actually, brown is just an awesome colour for this season.

The jacket is fairly new, I bought it on the way to cover the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle - seems I neglected to bring a jacket to Seattle (yeah, I'm a dumbass) and I swung into the mall at the last minute. Came in handy too, as the third day of the festival was Rain City. But more on that experience later this week....

I wore this outfit to see Tom Green and Neil Hamburger at The Vogue Theatre. You can read my review here: http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/09/26/tom-green-gets-vancouver-high-with-laughter-924/ . Seems all of Granville St was in goofy mode for the Global Comedy Fest, with giant whoopie cushions and .... chickens.

Hamburger and Green were hilarious, and we were invited to the after party for some beers. Good times!













Jacket: Wet Seal; Dress: ASOS; Boots: Bata; Bag: Mango MNG

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Six

I call this my "Santa Fe" look - maybe because I'm currently writing a book set in New Mexico (btw, I'm at 25,000 words already woot!), or maybe because the Modcloth dress was actually called "The Santa Fe Dress." Either way, I always thought it would pair perfectly with my vintage leather jacket, and it does.










Leather jacket: Vintage; Belt: Vintage; Bag: Vintage; Boots; Vintage; Turqouise necklace: Vintage.... dress by Modcloth :P

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Five

WOW.

Five days of posting EVERY DAY is pretty epic. For me, anyway. But here I am, still plugging away.

I wore my infamous aqua jacket (you know the one that was marked down from $1080 to like $20 cuz it's "discoloured") on a beautiful September day. Went out for drinks with my friend Odette, sat in the burning sunshine and said good bye to what was probably the last nice day of the year. Le sigh.

Good news though, I finally was able to take some photos by this mural that's around the corner from my apartment. Even better news... I kind of match! Pastels FTW.


















Jacket: Liliu; Silk tank: F21; Skirt: Catherine Malandrino; Bag: Mango MNG; Belt: ASOS; Sandals: Kelsi Dagger.

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Four

So back to the concept of skirts and dresses riding up when you walk. It happened to me AGAIN the other day. I wore a dress that I normally wear tights with and within minutes I was reminded of WHY. The dress got to obscene leg/crotch-flaunting levels really quickly. And what was worse was that I was on my way to a job fair and couldn't go home and change! So I basically held down one side of my dress with my hand for my 1/2 hour walk. Awkward! Luckily when I stood still, the dress went back down to more modest levels. Maybe I just need to stop being such a prude...

Anyway, Job Fair was a huge waste of time and money ($5 to get in, which I guess isn't much). But there were barely any companies, most were just telling people to apply online anyway so what was the point, and there were a lot of schools trying to suck you in. You know what? I have so much education it's not even funny... I'm not sure more education and more debt is the solution here in the waning job market.

I managed to hand in one resume to a travel agent and that was it. Everything else was just a rouse of sorts. I did want to apply at Labbatt but, go figure, the line-up was 30 people deep haha.

I'm considering other options though, such as going back to the headhunters who got me my last job. I'm also thinking of applying to be a new Canadian Host for MTV. I think that would be pretty sweet... especially with all my work in the music business.

That said, I don't have much on camera experience, aside from a few acting lessons.

I HAVE done on camera interviews with Kirk Shaw of the now-defunct Insight Film Studios...

And of course, WHO can forget what happened with David Copperfield? If you've been a reader of this blog for a long time, then you know very well. Of course, I was on the receiving end of the camera that time but still... (if you don't know, you can read about it here and here. I'm stupidly proud of the ridiculouness :D).

On to the jacket!













Pleather jacket: F21; Dress: F21; Bag: F21; Boots: ASOS

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Three

It's hard taking photos everyday... with the waning daylight hours and my growing aversion to the self-timer, I'm running out of places to take them. Also, running out of poses to do lol.

I love this jacket though it's a tad on the big side. I got it last year from Ebay... it was sold as "real leather" but I honestly can't tell... well, if it's a good fake, then it's a good fake.

I paired it with something floufy and feminine, just so I don't look like a total 80's punk from Birmingham or something. The boots hadn't been worn until this point.... I wasn't able to get my foot into them because the zipper is non-functional and selling them on Ebay would have yielded nothing. So what did I do? I did what I usually do and took scissors to them. Scissors always fix the problem. I cut a few inches above the zipper and now the opening is large enough to put my feet in them.

I'd totally wear this out somewhere cool...

Like this Friday - did you know Tom Green will be in Vancouver, with none other than Neil Hamburger? I'm looking forward to this show like nothing else. Neil is a hoot and Tom is Canadian hero... I remember watching his show on Much Music back in the 90's (before it got picked up by MTV). Good times!

If anyone wants to join me, his World Stand Up Comedy Tour is playing
Friday Sep. 24th

The Vogue Theatre

918 Granville St.

Vancouver, BC V6Z 1L2

And you can get your tickets at: www.tomgreen.com/tour

I'm officially part of his street team.. you should join me. Beerz with Tom!














Jacket: vintage (leather?); Skirt: H&M; Flower top: unknown; Necklace: F21; Boots: Zigi NY

A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day Two

Continuing on with my week of "must maximize my leather and pleather jacket collection" I decided my pink leather Piazza Sempione jacket would go beautifully with soft, muted tones. It's funny how when you start wearing stuff you don't normally wear, you pair with other stuff that also gets overlooked. Case in point: I had never worn either tank top or skirt before.

Later I realized I probably won't wear the skirt again because it rises up like a bitch when you walk. Le sigh.














Leather jacket: Piazza Sempione; Skirt: Forever 21; Top: Only Hearts; Bag: thrifted; Patent boots: Loeffler Randall

NZFW 2010

NEW ZEALAND FASHION 
WEEK 2010 SEPTEMBER 
21st-25th



Stolen Girlfriends / Marc Moore & Dan Gosling / AUCKLAND





Stolen Girlfriends / Marc Moore & Dan Gosling / AUCKLAND








 Nom* D / Magarita & Chris Robertson / AUCKLAND



A week of leather/pleather jackets - Day One

It's that time of the year again when we start putting away our easy, breezy Summer clothes and start piling on the layers. As much as I hate to see Summer go though, I do like the fact that I can start wearing light jackets again. And going through my closet the other day, I realized I have a hell of a lot of leather and pleather jackets.

As such, I'm going to wear a new leather/pleather jacket each day for the next seven days. Yep, that means I'll be posting every day - and at the end of the week, I'll have a nice big giveaway in store for my readers, what do you say?

Here's the starting point: my tan pleather jacket I picked up from Target in April. I decided to pair it with some gorgeous Fall coulours.











Jacket: Target; Skirt + Top: Forever 21; Necklace: ASOS; Booties: BC Footwear; Belt: Vintage; Bag: Mango MNG


Trying to find a necklace to wear for this outfit made me realize how badly my jewelry collections is really lacking for Autumn outfits. Sure, I've got lots of feathery and ethnic stuff that works for Summer, but what about Fall? I've definitely got to get myself a new gold bracelet or two, I seem to have too many wooden bangles, and maybe get some kind of necklace in jewel tones?

I dunno, do any of you switch up your jewelry when the seasons change?

The Stills @ Marilyn Bell Park, Toronto (September 10, 2010)

Update [Sept 19/2010]: Review now below.

It's been over a week since I saw The Stills perform a free show down at Marilyn Bell Park as part of Rock The Boat, an evening of dragon boat races and live music. The band's been doing the rounds attempting to seep back into the consciousness of the music-buying, concert-going public, having just prior to that also playing a free show down at the Distillery District. For a band that seemed bound for stardom back in 2004 when I first saw them live (strangely, it was outside of Canada at the Coachella festival in California), having released their debut full-length Logic Will Break Your Heart in 2003 through the uber-hip Vice Records label, the band's popularity seemed to wane over their second and third albums with original guitarist Gregory Paquet leaving the band in 2005, and drummer Dave Hamelin moving to guitar and vocals and guitar vocalist Tim Fletcher taking a bit of a back seat. But with the return of Greg to the fold earlier this year, and with Dave moving back to drums and Tim to lead vocals, and with Liam O'Neil on keys and Olivier Corbeil on bass, the band's original lineup was back in place. Perhaps the band will experience a bit of a resurgence going forward. As it seemed from the band's general posture on stage and their facial expressions, the band were enjoying themselves this night.

I was a fan of the band's debut when it came out but for no other reasons than too much music to listen to, didn't follow them too closely after that. But within the circle of music-minded individuals in Toronto I've met at shows and grown to know, my impression is that The Stills don't get too much love. The band do have a certain radio-friendly sound (well at least for alternative rock radio) but I will maintain that like their recent live set at Marilyn Bell Park, the band do have a more raw sound live. For a free show, it wasn't nearly as packed as I'd have imagined although I don't think it was really promoted that well, but given that night's(September 10) multitude of other things to do I'd sooner assume people were taking in other events. The crowd swelled to great numbers by the band's third song it seems, the band's set a mix of faves from all three of their albums and also including about 6 new songs (note - the band recently tweeted on September 3 that they were going into the studio in the country soon to begin recording their next album). I felt Pacquet's guitar tuning felt a bit flat, and Fletcher's vocals a bit over-reaching at times but otherwise, led by Hamelin's solid drumming the band performed a solid set of tuneful rock songs. They expressed a good variety of sonics throughout the set, a bit of dissonant guitar sounds, soothing keys, thick bass, and anthemic qualities at times. While summer hasn't technically ended yet, that night was one of the last warmer summery nights of the year. Generally, it wasn't a show that provoked strong feelings - I think it was satisfying at best - but when the band came back for an encore to play one more song, their hit "Still In Love Song", it reminded me that the band can really nail it sometimes.

Photos: The Stills @ Marilyn Bell Park, Toronto (September 10, 2010)
MySpace: The Stills

Bohemian Island Rhapsody

Last weekend of August. A chill wind had swept Salt Spring Island but I still thought a Fiesta-type dress would take me from the vineyards to the mountain tops.























Dress: Blue Plate; Jacket: swap find; Sandals: Union Bay; Purse: Mango; Flamingo necklace: ASOS


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