Woman: Oh my God, that guy is totally checking you out. I think he’s on TV or something.
Me: Yeah, that’s Pierre Pettigrew — he’s a Liberal cabinet minister.
Woman: That’s still pretty good.
Whatever. For mo’ better true stories, check out Overheard in New York.
Jason Munn designs some wicked show posters for some kick-ass bands.
The timing couldn’t be better — George Jones is coming to town, y’all.
He’s known as the Greatest Living Country Singer for good reason. Over the past 51 years, George has charted 166 singles — more than any other artist, ever. He turned 74 a couple of weeks ago and continues to notch more than 100 performances each year. I’m out of town for his Oct. 11 show at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, but you should go. You can also catch him Oct. 12 in Victoria, Oct. 14 in Chilliwack, or Oct. 15 in Kamloops.
High-five to Matador Records for lavishing the hoi polloi with delicious ear candy. They’re signing all the indie bands you love these days, and they’re not even jerks about it. Behold this superabundance of MP3s from Dead Meadow, Spoon, Guided By Voices, New Pornographers and other phenoms, available *free* on Matador’s website — how thoughtful is that?
Thursday, September 22 is World Car Free Day. Join 100-million people around the world in cycling, walking, skating, taking the bus or using another alternative method of transportation that day.
In Vancouver, check out the Car Free Day Festival in Gastown for “music, performances and displays that celebrate reduced car use and alternative ways that people can move around”. There’s a parade to kick things off at noon, and a twilight parade at 8:00 pm.
NorthernVoice 2006 is a day-long blogging conference being held at Robson Square on February 11. According to the event’s website, the goal is to “bring together bloggers and blogging neophytes to learn more about social, cultural and technological aspects of blogging”.
On a related personal note, my blogging mentor has left town to pursue new challenges in Germany. I’d like to acknowledge her for motivating me to start this project, say thanks for all the encouragement — and wish her good luck overseas.
Start saving your pennies, because it is on:
The New Pornographers at the Commodore, Sept. 23 (Ticketmaster)
Architecture In Helsinki at Artspace, Sept. 24 (Scratch, Zulu & Red Cat)
Sigur Ros at the Orpheum, Sept. 27 (Zulu)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Sonar, Oct. 2 (Scratch, Zulu & Red Cat)
M.I.A. at the Commodore, Oct. 7 (Ticketmaster)
Arcade Fire at the PNE, Oct. 7 (Zulu)
My Morning Jacket at the Commodore, Nov. 3 (Scratch & Zulu)
Liz Phair at the Commodore, Nov. 11 (Zulu)
Broken Social Scene at the Commodore, Nov. 13 (Scratch & Zulu)
Stars at the Commodore, Nov. 21 (Ticketmaster)
A quick nod today to French artist Olivier Passieux. I’m not usually taken with paintings, but Passieux’s warm, hazy oils are exceptional. Much of his work involves common scenes of people and families — familiar images Passieux transforms into uniquely mysterious eye candy that has been compared to aging Polaroids. Four of Passieux’s paintings are on display at Vancouver’s Buschlen-Mowat Gallery for anyone who’d like a closer look.
The Renfrew Park Community Association and Still Moon Arts Society host the third annual Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival on Saturday, September 17th in East Vancouver.
The day-long Harvest Fair at Slocan Park “links the Asian mid-autumn festival, European harvest traditions, environmental awareness and community celebration” through live music, fresh food and interactive events. At sunset, everyone gathers at Renfrew Park to “view lantern installations, eat mooncakes and watch a spectacular musical and visual finale created by and for the people of the neighbourhood”.
Anyone who ever writes anything makes little mistakes now and then. Myself, I tend toward superfluous commas. I also habitually mis-use ellipses — and mix tenses so often I can’t remember if I’m coming or going (as well as many other offenses you don’t really need to point out, thanks). I’m sure I could have paid closer attention in English class, but I didn’t — and neither did you.
Thankfully, William Strunk was paying attention — and his classic resource The Elements of Style is now available online. This detailed, searchable reference explains the “principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated”.
I once stole a garlic press from my friend’s kitchen and threw it away in an abandoned lot.
I did this because my friend was being a real jackass — but we’d just reconciled after a bitter clash that took weeks to resolve, and our friendship couldn’t survive another conflict. So as I left my friend’s place, fuming at this person’s shabby behaviour, I swiped the garlic press on my way out the door. I stomped down the street a couple of blocks, paused next to an empty lot, and threw that press over the fence as hard as I could. I left all my frustration and resentment there, to rust among the garbage and thistles. It felt great.
Some people think I’m crazy when I tell this story, but that’s not the point — it was the only way I could find peace without kicking this person’s ass. We never fought about what had pissed me off, because I never had to bring it up. I got satisfaction my own way, and moved on. I’ve believed in the transformative power of inconsequential, introspective gestures ever since.
I think that’s partly why I like this idea so much — PostSecret is “an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard”. The site is updated every Sunday with dozens of intensely personal submissions. I believe witnessing these confessions, betrayals, desires and inside jokes helps soothe the people who write them — the same way tossing that garlic press soothed me.
Autumn is an excellent time of year for exploring public art in our city.
Creative Communities is “Vancouver’s Community-Based Public Art Resource” and a great place to start. Their Art Map For Vancouver has a list of projects by neighbourhood, so you can begin close to home. Or, for a more comprehensive directory, visit the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Registry, which has its own searchable map of Public Art by Neighbourhood. Both databases also allow you to search by project and artist.
Go on now — get out the door and soak it all in before monsoon season begins.
Take a trip down memory lane with the Wayback Machine — a very nifty service offered by Internet Archive. Just enter a URL in the search field, and you’ll get a list of dates when that site’s content was archived. Click on any date to view the page as it looked at that time in history.
Thank God for the Wayback Machine — I thought I’d imagined this.
The mob of shiftless anarchists at crimethinc has assembled a sweet little handbook for anyone with a subversive streak. Check out these do-it-yourself instructions for all your favourite countercultural activities — gardening, silkscreening t-shirts, putting out your own records, and more. The entire D.I.Y. Guide is available as a PDF document, or you can download any of the sections individually.
I made a disappointing discovery yesterday. Chris Ferebee, a collage artist I kind of dig, also works in other mediums — and it ain’t pretty. His photos are plain, and his objets d’art take their “uber-modern” label very, very seriously. Worse, Ferebee’s prints are shit — I submit McLuhan Was Right and Yawning At War Protesters and rest my case.
Now I’m doubting whether this retro collage series really knocked my socks off at all.
I’ve only heard two episodes, but I’m enjoying The Sound Of Young America so far. This weekly radio show boasts “only the best from the worlds of literature, the theater, and comedy”. Visit their site for streaming audio, podcasting and mp3 downloads.
Everyone knows the best place to spend time with a foxy date is at the drive-in. The Twilight Drive-In is back, and not a moment too soon. Enjoy!
I’m totally entertained by the Calgary Stampede’s Nickname Generator today. Mosey on over to get yourself a genuine western moniker.
Before your next road trip, stop by David Yanciw’s Big Things Of A Big Country, where “it is not just the size, but the thought that counts”. Searchable by province, artist or subject, this site catalogs all the bigness Canada has to offer — from Mundare, Alberta’s big sausage to the big UFO in Moonbeam, Ontario. There are big Ukrainians, big pinto beans, big turtles, and bigfeet.
For those who’ll never get to visit such attractions in person, you can experience all the magic in one place at the World’s Largest Collection of World’s Smallest Versions of World’s Largest Things — coming soon to a town in a State near you.
If all the bigness is starting to make you feel uneasy, unwind with the Collier Classification System for Very Small Objects — a compendium of items “visible to the naked eye but small enough to go unnoticed most of the time”.
It’s great to be wasting time in Prince George with my family, but I’m anxious to return to Vancouver tomorrow and catch up with everyone. I promise to post something substantial in the next twenty-four hours, but here’s a link to some photos from my trip in the meantime.
Most memorable time-waster this trip had to be the wild cow milking competition.
glenn_ewald [at] hotmail.com
