monday through monday

Polaris Long List Revealed!

2010-06-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. The Polaris Music Prize announced the 2010 nominees yesterday. A lot of repeats from previous years, Shad and Basia will get to go head to head again! You'll also recognize a lot of bands who've come through London in the last year or so. It looks like a pretty good list to me, lots of variety and it's nice to see some familiar faces. A lot of my fav albums are on here, with the shocking exception of No Ghosts by the Acorn and New Inheritors by Wintersleep. I guess they only just came out, but still...

Anyway, without further ado, here's the list!

Apollo Ghosts - Mount Benson (Vancouver)

Bahamas - Pink Strat (Toronto)

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night (Montréal)

Blue Rodeo - The Things We Left Behind (Toronto)

Brasstronaut - Mt. Chimaera (Vancouver)

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (Toronto)

Basia Bulat - Heart Of My Own (London)

By Divine Right - Mutant Message (Toronto)

Caribou – Swim (Dundas)

Jason Collett - Rat A Tat Tat (Toronto)

Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (II) (Toronto)

Amelia Curran - Hunter Hunter (Halifax)

Fred Fortin - Plastrer La Lune (Montréal)

Frog Eyes - Paul's Tomb: A Triumph (Victoria)

Hannah Georgas - This Is Good (Vancouver)

Ghostkeeper - Ghostkeeper (Calgary)

Holy Fuck - Latin (Toronto)

Karkwa - Les Chemins De Verre (Montréal)

LeE HARVeY OsMOND - A Quiet Evil (Hamilton)

Greg MacPherson - Mr. Invitation (Winnipeg)

Dan Mangan - Nice, Nice, Very Nice (Vancouver)

Misteur Valaire - Golden Bombay (Montréal)

The New Pornographers - Together (Vancouver)

Owen Pallett - Heartland (Toronto)

Plants And Animals - La La Land (Montréal)

Radio Radio - Belmundo Regal (Montréal)

Justin Rutledge - The Early Widows (Toronto)

The Sadies - Darker Circles (Toronto)

Shad - TSOL (London)

Elizabeth Shepherd - Heavy Falls The Night (Toronto)

The Slew - 100% (Montréal)

Meaghan Smith - The Cricket's Orchestra (London)

South Rakkas Crew - The Stimulus Package (Toronto)

Tegan And Sara - Sainthood (Vancouver)

The Wooden Sky - If I Don't Come Home You'll Know I'm Gone (Toronto)

Hawksley Workman - Meat (Huntsville)

You Say Party! We Say Die! - XXXX (Vancouver)

Young Galaxy - Invisible Republic (Montréal)

Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde (Vancouver)

Zeus - Say Us (Toronto)

Eventfully: This week and next!

2010-05-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

You may or may not have noticed a serious absence on my part. Between organizing Oh! Fest and the Olenka and the Autumn Lovers tour (and then actually going ON the tour for a month) my life was just a bit too busy. But here I am now, ready to start updating this again. There's a lot going on this week!

Thursday, June 3:
Say Domino w/ the Dead Letters + Bryan Pole
@ The Black Shire Pub, 9pm
19+ ,$5
Facebook Event

Friday, June 4:
Slow Six, A Priori + Wild Domestic
@ The Practice Loft (366 Richmond St, above Exhale Lounge) 8:30pm
All Ages, $7
Facebook Event

Saturday, June 5:
Open House Arts Collective Presents: Handsome Dan and his Gallimaufry, Shawn Clarke (CD release) + the State Bird of Idaho.NOTE: Handsome Dan will be headlining.
@ Chaucer's Pub (upstairs) 9pm
All Ages, $7
Facebook Event
Thursday, June 10:
LOLA Presents: Grouper, Julia Kent, M. Mucci and Les Beyond
@ Museum London, 8pm
All Ages, $12/$15
Facebook Event

Friday, June 11:
Open House Arts Collective Presents: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Rah Rah and the Racoon Wedding
@ the Practice Loft (366 Richmond St)
All Ages, $7 at the door
Facebook Event

June 12: London Underground -dance night, indie/brit
@ The Morrissey House. 10pm
Free, 19+
Facebook Event

June 11-13: Lady Fest. Held mostly at EVAC I believe. Here's the Facebook Event.

Well there's some good stuff for you to go to over the next couple weeks. Hope you can make it out to a few of these... they all look like rad shows.

Oh! Fest 2010 Lineup Announced. April 22-24

2010-03-29T15:18:00.001-07:00

Hey all, as many of you know I'm involved in the Open House Arts Collective and I happen to be Artistic Director of our annual music festival, Oh! Fest. Check out the lineup!

Eventfully: This Week

2010-03-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

I have sorely neglected my eventfullies this last little while, but here's some cool stuff going on this week!

Tuesday, March 23:

Headsup y'all, it's friends and family event at American Apparel. 25% off. Get your hip on.

Wednesday, March 24:

EVAC is hosting a Bike Kitchen.
Fix up your bike, borrow tools, exchange know-how etc.
4pm-7pm, FREE!
Facebook Event

Thursday, March 25:

Schomberg Fair @ Moon Over Marin
rock/traditionals/rockabilly (sort of?)
$7, doors at 9pm. Facebook Event

Friday, March 26:

Oh! Presents Bruce Peninsula at the Wave (On campus)
indie/alt-rock/gospel/folk
10pm, FREE, 19+
Facebook Event

Secret Admirer closing at Forest City Gallery (I've got a piece in the show!)
FCG fundraiser show of local artists' work
8pm, FREE, all ages

Ekstasis at The Arts Project
Local artist Angie Quick, show opening (cheese and wine?)
6pm-8pm, free, all ages

Saturday, March 27:

DJ Champion at Call the Office
When I saw him(them?) it was pretty amazing, huge dance party, 4 guitarists on stage
9:30pm, $10, all ages
Facebook Event

Eventfully: Call the Office, Week of Glory

2010-03-08T20:07:00.001-08:00

Did you notice the crazy week coming up at ye olde Call the Office? This is a week of epic proportions. I'm going to try and go to Thursday and Friday.. we'll see how I'm doing after 10 hours of recording each day with Olenka and the Autumn Lovers.

Tuesday, March 9

Electric 6 and Sweet Thing (remember Morgan Waters from CBC's The X? yeah, he's the bass player in Sweet Thing, and he's a total babe... in a childhood crush kind of way. Oh, and the lead singer of Sweet Thing is Freddie Mercury reincarnate)

$10 adv/$12 at the door.

Thursday, March 11

Yukon Blonde, Brasstronaut + TBA (both awesome bands!)

Friday, March 12

Jason Collett, Zeus and Bahamas (Juno nominee!)

$15 adv/$18 at the door

Saturday, March 13

Hot Hot Heat w/ Phantogram and the Ghostkeeper

$15 adv/$18 at the door

I would say, if you're looking for the best and most interesting show, I'd go to thursday night and see Yukon Blonde and Brasstronaut. They're both great.. and really, everyone's seen Jason Collett stumble drunkenly around on CTO's stage before, Electric 6 kind of freaks me (and you) out and since when was Hot Hot Heat relevant again? Bandages, bandages, bandage-e-esssss... reminds me of being 16 and going to call the office... er... wait..

Photos: Woodhands/Diamond Rings/A Horse and His Boy

2010-03-08T19:38:00.000-08:00

I don't review my own shows.. cause that's kind of lame, but here are some photos from Open House Arts Collective Presents Woodhands, Diamond Rings and A Horse and His Boy on March 5th. It was a packed show and I must say, as a promoter I was pretty stoked on the turnout. Loads of different crowds were out to see the stacked bill and the bands had a great time too.

Photos by Thom Pilgrim.

More photos coming soon.

Juno Awards: National Embarassment?

2010-03-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone and it's Juno time once again. It's time for a new round of ridicule.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday a) complaining about the nominees this year via facebook status and b) researching the history of the Junos.

First off, did you know the Junos were started by RMP Magazine? RMP was a magazine that featured Canadian song and album charts. So off to a good start.. already judging music by it's commercial value rather than artistic merit. Granted, they had readers send in ballots as well. After a few years the magazine, rather than merely publish the results decided to start an awards show, dubbed the Gold Leaf Awards, the first official ceremony being held in 1970. There was no ceremony in 1988. If you're quick with your math, you'll realize that next year (2011) will be the 40th Juno (aka Gold Leaf) Awards. This year the awards are being held in St. John's, Newfoundland.

I've resigned myself to the fact that the Junos are.. what they are. It's just hard to get my hopes each year thinking "maybe the Junos will be good this year." This year was especially hard with all the amazing Canadian albums released this year. I don't mind Michael Buble, infact I've found myself humming along to the occasional Buble tune... but he doesn't exactly make me feel proud to be Canadian. A few acts close to my heart managed to snag a couple nominations including Bahamas, Cuff the Duke, Amy Millan, Joel Plaskett, Julie Doiron, Great Lake Swimmers, Howie Beck and Patrick Watson among others (uh.. a very FEW others).

On a selfish note, I'd be pretty stoked if Bahamas won in the "Traditional and Roots" catgegory (what?) because at least then I could say a Juno winner remembers my name. I might add, Bahamas opened for Olenka and the Autumn Lovers in Toronto back in Winter '09.

The most distressing part of the awards is that the album/artist of the year is ACTUALLY determined by sales. I guess this will all change as they realize we're living in a world of variables and not one of universal likes and dislikes.

Check out all the nominees after the jump.

Let me know what YOU think of the awards and this year's nominees in the comments section.

Juno Fan Choice Award:

Ginette Reno
Johnny Reid
Maxime Landry
Michael Buble
Nickelback

Single Of The Year:

Billy Talent — "Rusted From The Rain"
Classified — "Anybody Listening"
Drake — "Best I Ever Had"
Michael Buble — "Haven't Met You Yet"
The Tragically Hip — "Love Is A First"

International Album Of The Year:

Black Eyed Peas — The E.N.D.
Britney Spears — Circus
Kings Of Leon — Only By The Night
Susan Boyle — I Dreamed A Dream
Taylor Swift — Fearless

Group Of The Year:

Billy Talent
Blue Rodeo
Hedley
Metric
The Tragically Hip

New Artist Of The Year:

Carly Rae Jepsen
Danny Fernandes
Drake
Justin Bieber
Shiloh

New Group Of The Year:

Arkells
Down With Webster
Stereos
Ten Second Epic
The New Cities

Songwriter Of The Year:
Carly Rae Jepsen and Ryan Stewart — "Tug Of War"/"Bucket"/"Money And The Ego" (Carly Rae Jepsen — Tug Of War)
Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw — "Gimme Sympathy"/"Sick Muse"/"Help I'm Alive" (Metric — Fantasies)
Joel Plaskett — "Through & Through & Through" (Joel Plaskett — Three)
K'Naan — "Wavin' Flag" (co-songwriters B. Mars, P. Lawrence and J. Duval)/"Take A Minute"/"If Rap Gets Jealous" (K'Naan — Troubadour)
Michael Buble — "Haven't Met You Yet"/"Hold On" (co-songwriters Alan Chang and Amy S. Foster) (Michael Buble — Crazy Love)

Album Of The Year:

Billy Talent — Billy Talent III
Diana Krall — Quiet Nights
Johnny Reid — Dance With Me
Justin Bieber — My World
Michael Buble — Crazy Love

Artist Of The Year:

Diana Krall
Jann Arden
Johnny Reid
K'Naan
Michael Buble

Adult Alternative Album Of The Year:

Nineteen Seventy-Seven — 1977
Amy Millan — Masters Of The Burial
Cuff The Duke — Way Down Here
Howie Beck — How To Fall Down In Public
Joel Plaskett — Three

Alternative Album Of The Year:

Handsome Furs — Face Control
Japandroids — Post-Nothing
Julie Doiron — I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Metric — Fantasies
Tegan And Sara — Sainthood

Pop Album Of The Year:

Hedley — The Show Must Go
Justin Bieber — My World
LIGHTS — The Listening
Michael Buble — Crazy Love
Stereos — Stereos

Rock Album Of The Year:

Alexisonfire — Old Crows/Young Cardinals
Billy Talent — Billy Talent III
Nickelback — Dark Horse
The Tragically Hip — We Are The Same
Three Days Grace — Life Starts Now

Instrumental Album Of The Year:

Beats On Canvas — Beats On Canvas
Bell Orchestre — As Seen Through Windows
Pavlo, Rik Emmet, Oscar Lopez — Trifecta
Sultans Of Swing — Yalla Yalla!
The Hylozoists — L'Ile De Sept Villes

Rap Recording Of The Year:

Big Page, Drake & U.G.O. Crew — Still Fly
Classified — Self Explanatory
Drake — So Far Gone
K-OS — Yes!
K'Naan — Troubadour

Dance Recording Of The Year:

Carmen And Camille — Shine 4U
Deadmau5 — For Lack Of A Better Name
Doman And Gooding featuring Dru & Lincoln — Runnin
Misstress Barbara — I'm No Human
Thunderheist — Thunderheist

R&B/Soul Recording Of The Year:

Danny Fernandes — INTRO
Jacksoul — Lonesome Highway
Jarvis Church — The Long Way Home
Jully Black — The Black Book
Melanie Fiona — The Bridge

Roots & Traditional Album Of The Year: Solo:

Amelia Curran Six — Hunter, Hunter
Bahamas — Pink Strat
Corb Lund — Losin' Lately Gambler
John Wort Hannam — Queen's Hotel
Romi Mayes — Achin In Yer Bones

Roots & Traditional Album Of The Year: Group:

Annie Lou — Annie Lou
Carolyn Mark & NQ Arbuckle — Let's Just Stay Here
Good Lovelies — Good Lovelies
Great Lake Swimmers — Lost Channels
Madison Violet — No Fool For Trying

Jack Richardson Producer Of The Year:

Rob Rock — "Haven't Met You Yet"/"Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (Michael Buble — Crazy Love)
David Foster — "Cry Me A River"/"All Of Me" (Michael Buble — Crazy Love)
Fred St-Gelais — "Plaisirs Amers"/"C'est Mois" (Marie-Mai — Version 3.0)
Kevin Churko — "Look Where You're Walking" (co-producer Kane Churko) (Modern Science — Modern Science) and "The Dream" (In This Moment — The Dream)
Michael Phillip Wojewoda (co-producer Jennifer Foster) — "Palm Trees"/"The Key (Different Than I Used To Be)" (Jennifer LFO — Songs From The Alien Beacon)

Recording Engineer Of The Year:

Dan Brodbeck — "Apple Of My Eye"/"Be Careful" (Dolores O'Riordan — No Baggage)
Darryl Neudorf — "And When You Wake Up" (Blue Rodeo — The Things We Left Behind) and "Fever" (Neko Case — Middle Cyclone)
Denis Tougas — "Save Your Love"/"The Mad Mile" (Kristen Jones — The Mad Mile)
John "Beetle" Bailey — "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Sophie Milman — Take Love Easy) and "Havana City" (Hilario Duran — Motion)
John Drew — "Oh! The Boss Is Coming!"/"Pullin' Punches" (Arkells — Jackson Square)

Recording Package Of The Year:

Alex Durlak — Canaille's Potential Things
Justin Ellsworth, Vanessa Heins, Daniel Romano and Ken Reaume — City And Colour's Bring Me Your Love (Special Edition)
Martin Bernard, Stephane Cocke and Thomas Csano — Beats On Canvas' Beats On Canvas
Rachelle Dupere, Derek Henderson and Evan Kaminsky — Amy Millan's Masters Of The Burial
Thomas Csano and Alex McLean — Patrick Watson's Wooden Arms

Video Of The Year:

Beast — "Mr. Hurricane" (Director: Ben Steiger-Levine)
The Most Serene Republic — "Heavens To Purgatory" (Director: Ben Steiger-Levine)
Classified — "Anybody Listening" (Director: Harv)
Serena Ryder — "Little Bit Of Red" (Director: Marc Ricciardelli)
Land Of Talk — "It's Okay" (Director: WeWereMonkeys)

Music DVD Of The Year:

Arcade Fire — Miroir Noir (Vincent Morisset and Arcade Fire)
Rush — Snakes & Arrows Live (Pierre and Francois Lamoureaux, Allan Weinrib, Pegi Cecconi and Ray Daniels)
Iron Maiden — Iron Maiden Flight 666 (Sam Dunn, Scott McFadyen, Ron Smalwood, Stefan Demetriou and Andy Taylor)
The Trews — The Trews Acoustic: Friends & Total Strangers (Tim Martin, John-Angus McDonald, Larry Wanagas)
DRUM! — DRUM! Live (Aaron Young, Doris Mason, Colin Smeltzer, Daniel Brooker, Brookes Diamond)

Londoner naked in Toronto.

2010-03-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday, Scott Pilgrim --a Londoner attending school in Toronto-- streaked across the Dundas and Yonge intersection for a school project. The assignment? A self portrait. In addition to making waves via facebook friends, now the Torontoist has covered the story. Check out the full story and more pictures here.

Eventfully: This Week!

2010-03-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

There's not much happening during the week, but boy oh boy is this weekend packed! Two big shows at new(ish) venue, Moon Over Marin.

Friday, March 5:
Oh!/CHRW/Steam Whistle presents: Woodhands, Diamond Rings + A Horse and His Boy @ Moon Over Marin.
Electro/dance-hop/indie
$7 adv/AA/Lic
9:30pm, Facebook event

Saturday, March 6th:
Pick a Piper, Ace Kinkaid + Exit 2012 @ Moon Over Marin.
Indie/afro?/rock.. stuff
$5/AA/Lic
8:30pm Facebook Event

Also, if you're in the mood for dancing on Saturday night

"Dance Like an Adult" @ the Morrissey House
indie/rock/dance/dj night
19+, free
10:00pm Facebook Event

Bare your Heart(land): Owen Pallett @ Aeolian Hall

2010-03-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

Aeolian Hall is one of those venues that can be absolutely magical, and other times can be absolutely sleep inducing. You need the right performer to command that stage and captivate the audience. Luckily, Owen Pallett is the right man for the job.

Before the man of the hour took the stage, Snowblink were up first and ready to win us over. Often, the opening band is simply tolerated and seen as that final obstacle before your favourite band comes on. I believe Snowblink was playing to a room a full of converts by the end of their set. Leading lady, Daniela Gesundheit effortlessly filled the room with her compelling and flawless voice. Each song seemed like a carefully crafted, musical poem placed lightly over top of loops, reverby guitars, keyboard and subtle back-up vocals. Beautiful and simple. I highly reccomment picking up their album "Long Live" and keep your eyes peeled for their return to London. It'll be a well worth venture.

photo by Andrew Colvin

Owen Pallett's performance on Thursday was one of the most endearing performances I've seen him give. Pallett's personality shone through in the intimate atmosphere of Aeolian hall and I couldn't help thinking his humanity was showing through more than usual. His banter between songs was witty and the dynamic between Owen and his side man, Thomas Gil was incredibly entertaining... in a sort of sadistic way. When he wasn't poking fun at Thomas, he had the audience utterly captivated. The whole audience looked very much like a deer in the headlights.. Pallett's greatest redeeming quality is his cool head on stage. Mistakes were few, but whether a battery in a pedal had died, something fell or Thomas had to tune before proceeding, he kept his cool and had the audience on his side the whole time. Though Pallett may have felt a bit out of his element playing such a small quiet space in London after having played LOLA just a few months prior, he didn't let it show. In fact, after the performance, whilst congratulating the Canadian music sensation, he mentioned liking larger and LOUDER spaces better. Perhaps it was the quiet hush of the venue, the lack of stadium seating or maybe it was just something in the air over East London.. whatever it was, this was by far my favourite Owen Pallett performance.

photo by Andrew Colvin

And the Winner is...

2010-02-28T11:15:00.000-08:00

Christian Hegele is the winner of the 2 Woodhands tickets!

I assigned each email address a number and used RANDOM.ORG to generate me a a random number. Yeah, that's how you stay legit guys.

Thanks for entering, and I will definitely be having more contests soon!

Win 2 WOODHANDS tickets!

2010-02-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I'm gonna draw the name this weekend instead, Wednesday is so far away and I've had so many lovely responses already, I want to reward you sooner. So this weekend, the deed shall be done.

Woodhands is playing at Moon Over Marin on March 5th with Diamond Rings and A Horse and His boy. The poster is below.

Now you ask... how do I win?

Well, you must find out which artist made this delicious poster send your answer to paterson@openhouseartscollective.com

I will randomly select a winner from the correct answers.

You have one week to complete this mission, should you choose to except. I'll announce the winner ~~next Wednesday~~ this weekend.

If you don't win.. get your tickets at Grooves and Moon Over Marin, or listen to CHRW for your chance to wiiiiin.

Museums!

2010-02-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

Alright, a quick email to Heritage London has produced me a formidable list of museums! Not to mention lots more heritage sites that I may also choose to visit. Here's the list below, I'll probably start with the Banting House because it's around the corner from my house!

Banting House National Historic Site

Canadian Medical Hall of Fame

Eldon House

Fanshawe Pioneer Village

First Hussars Museum

Museum of Ontario Archaeology

London Regional Children’s Museum

Museum London

Royal Canadian Regiment Museum

The Secrets of Radar Museum

Jet Aircraft Museum (WOAH!)

If anyone thinks this might be fun to do, drop me a line and you can be my official museum hunter partner.

Review: Shad @ CTO w/ Grand Analog, Two Crown King

2010-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

photo by Thom Pil grim

It's nights like these that get me excited about live music. Call the Office built it, and they came. By the hundreds.

Read more after the jump!

As I rounded the corner of Clarence and York the sound hit me first. Dozens of chatting, arguing, whining and yelling concert goers snaked down York Street, in line to see London's prodigal son, Shad K. Each one of them sure they could talk, flirt, or threaten their way into the near capacity club.

I arrived minutes before Two Crown King took the stage. Their bio says they met while enrolled in Fanshawe's Music Industry Arts program. I wouldn't say these guys are entirely up my alley, but they were certainly entertaining. A formidable entity on stage; A combination of funk and hip hop (funk hop?) boasting 6 members, including a live drummer, keyboard player, guitar and bass in addition to the two lead men. The live drummer is definitely refreshing! (Who I might add is London's own, Pat Maloney, music programmer at Fanshawe) I'm down with the live dj + backing tracks, but these guys really can claim to being a "band".

Next up! Winnipeg's Grand Analog take the stage. A charismatic 3-piece, they managed to win over the audience with a mix of solid tracks, witty banter and maybe a few too many gimmicks. In between the spacey, delayed kazoo solos and cute girls being asked on stage to pour water on the lead man, Odario Williams, they spat out clear and thoughtful rhymes along to the fattest of bass lines.

Finally, after a short break which included much shoving to get back to the front, our main man Shad, was ready to start. Shad, clad in a Grooves Records t-shirt commanded the stage with just himself and a mic. He never needed the crutch of gimmicks or a big live band to keep the audience captivated. Dj TLO spun Shad's backing tracks plus some creations of his own. Familiar track after track, littered with London references kept the audience happy and proud, while the newer material garnered cheers and a heightened excitement for his new album, due to drop sometime this year on Black Box. As an encore, Shad invited Grand Analog back up on stage to close of the night with some freestyling. (I feel really white just typing that) I must say, Shad had the home turf advantage, reeling out references to most of the highschools in London only to win over the audience even more... if that's possible.

photo by Thom Pilgrim

photo by Thom Pilgrim

Overall, an amazing night. Great performances by all. Definitely worth the ticket price and we won't be seeing a show like that again for a long time. I think I can say, on behalf of all of London, come back soon, Old Prince.

Eventfully: This Week + new blog segments

2010-02-21T12:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start 2 different segments on this here blog of mine. The first is "Museums, Ya Need 'Ems", (maybe I"ll come up with a better title eventually) I am going to visit every single museum in London and review it. I'm not sure if you're aware, and honestly I wasn't until very recently, but there are quite a few niche museums in London. Besides the obvious, Museum London and the Children's Museum, there are a bunch more! Including the "Secrets of Radar Museum" and "The Medical Hall of Fame" among others. Maybe I'll do the cheese museum in Ingersoll too... and the baseball museum in Beachville!

The second segment will be about "Clubs" (entitled "Clubbing"). No, not dance clubs, real clubs where like minded people with similar interests come together and.. do stuff? I'll be writing a profile about each club, what they do, where they meet etc. I'm going to start off with some UWO clubs but I'll be profiling clubs in the greater London area eventually too. Highlights will include (hopefully) juggling, asian board games, knitting, and hamburger enthusiasts.

If you have any suggestions for either of these segments leave a comment or please email me at paterson [at] openhouseartscollective.com!

Also there's a big long Shad review coming soon, but for now here's what's going on this week! Check out the listings after the jump.

Monday, February 22:

The Forest City Gallery presents three London book launches at the Black Shire Pub. "Broken Leg Glen and Basement Ruth" by Mark DeLong and Jason Mclean, published by Nieves, "Cold Pop" by Mark DeLong, published by Seems, and "Alien Everywhere" by S.P. Ehman , Hand-printed, hand-bound paperback. This sounds super cool. Facebook Event.

Tuesday, Feb 23:

"Organic Figures and Delusions" opens at the Arts Project. I know nothing about this art, but there will probably be cheese and crackers! (don't hold me to that though) Facebook Event

Wednesday, Feb 24:

Wilco at Centennial Hall 7:30pm, tickets are $46.00 Buy them online on Centenial Hall's website, which is a brutal website, I might add. Someone with internetz skillz should offer to redesign it.
Oh! Presents: Gregory Pepper and his Problems w/ Rah Rah + Wild Domestic at the Black Shire Pub. Show at 10pm, $5. Facebook Event (this is where I'll be :)

poster by Peter Thompson

Thursday, Feb 25:

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) at Aeolian Hall. $22 in advance, get your tickets online here.
London Underground at Nite Owl. Brit pop/indie dance night, free admission.
Karaoke at Club Lavish. 9pm-2am, free admission. Facebook Group

Friday, Feb 26:

Matt Ridder CD Release at Breakfast at Tiffany's. Opening up is The Whipping Wind and Casey Vestering. Go catch the Whipping Wind in acoustic, solo-mode. $5, 19+, doors at 7pm. Facebook Event

Saturday, Feb 27:

The Bad Ideas, Organ Thieves and Say Domino at Call the Office. Check out Say Domino for a rockin' good time. $5, 9:30pm doors. Facebook Event
Dog Tooth Violet (formerly the Synethestic) CD Release show at Moon Over Marin, 9pm, unsure of ticket price. Facebook Event

Eventfully: Tonight and Tomorrow!

2010-02-19T16:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight!
Shad @ Call the Office
home grown hip hop, made good in the real world
9:30pm doors
$15 adv/$19 door
AA/Lic
Tomorrow!
The Tiny Box Collective presents: Radio Box at the Forest City Gallery.
art and music dance party
8:00pm
$5
Licensed

London: City of Open Mics

2010-02-18T10:50:00.001-08:00

A lot of musicians ask me to put on shows for them or ask advice for starting out in music in London. Even though open mics are generally, as a rule, brutal, they ARE a pretty good place to start. If you haven't played your fair share of coffee houses and open mics, the music gods aren't going to look fondly on you.

My advice: play originals and play often. Eventually you'll be good enough that I (or someone else) will want to book you. You'll also probably meet people while you do it... and then they might want to start a band with you, and you won't be that loser playing acoustic guitar and singing by yourself.

Here are some open mics in the city:

EVAC (east village arts co-op) has just begun an acoustic/open mic style music series. The first one is on March 13th. I think this will be good.. and better than most open mics.. it's not a bar at least. Facebook Event. Email or msg them to play.

The London Music Club has an open mic every Friday in the main hall. $2 cover, sign up sheet available after 8pm.

Moon Over Marin hosts an open mic with Davita G every Sunday night. 6pm-10pm. Free admission. Sign up day of.

If open mic isn't your cup of tea, maybe start off with Karoake. Get your fix at the Richmond on Sundays, Molly Blooms on Mondays, Club Lavish on Thursdays (by far the best in the city) and I think Scott's Corner still rocks a Karaoke night sometime.. maybe saturdays.

But above all... please... for your sake and mine, do not start a cover band.

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of lent for devout Christians.

The calendar people must have had a field day with this week. Fitting in all those special days in one week! We'll start the week off with Valentines day;the most corporate of holidays; the most depressing, then Family day for the Canadians, Pancake Tuesday (Mardi Gras) for the gluttons, partiers and christians alike, then SLAM Ash Wednesday, time to give it all up. Give up those cinnamon hearts, the pancakes and all the rest. You can probably keep your sweetheart though.. if you managed to snag one on Sunday.

I'm not in the least religious, but Ash Wednesday has a certain mystery about it.. It's pretty creepy too. The ashes they use are supposed to be the ashes of the palm crosses they burned on the previous year's Palm Sunday. Also, the minister who puts the ash on your forehead says "Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" when he does it. Holy wake up call, eh?

I was never really into giving things up or making new year's resolutions. First it's New Year's, boy you have a whole year ahead, then you've got Lent, sacrifice something to better your soul, then it's bikini season, better get fit so you look good at the beach, then September, time to start school again? Let's start this year off with great work habits.. and then it's practically New Year's again. Why do we need so many reminders that we should pull it together?

Eventfully: This Week

2010-02-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Another week begins in London, Ontario. First off, today, in addition to being Valentines Day, it is also the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. If you didn't find that special someone to be your Valentine, at least this is the only time of year it's totally okay to pig out at a chinese buffet without shame.

Here are some other interesting things going on (after the jump)

Tuesday, Feb 16:

Best Bet: The Grand Theatre presents a Pay What You Can performance of The Little Prince. Join the facebook event. 7pm start, pwyc.

Later that night, check out the Forest City Gallery for Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone a duo from Brooklyn and local trio A Priori (member of A Horse and His Boy plus others) Facebook event. 8pm, $7

If you're not in the mood for esoteric "pastoral drones" then head over to Empowerment for a punky brand of folk from Davita G, Aaron Lozynsky and friends. Facebook event. 9pm, $5/pwyc

Thursday, Feb 18!:

A Thousand Clowns's first preview is tonight at the Palace Theatre, officially opens on Friday. FB event

Friday, Feb 19:

Shad is at Call the Office. Opening up are Grand Analog and Two Crown King. I must say, Grand Analog are pretty rad, and extremely good looking. Tickets are $15 in advance, 9:3opm, FB event

Saturday, Feb 20:

The only place to be this night is RADIO BOX at the Forest City Gallery. Put on by the Tiny Box Collective. Dance the night away. $5 cover, 8pm. FB Event

All in a Night

2010-02-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last night was a prime example of how London is capable of totally kicking ass.

Being the promoter and in one of the band (O&AL), I started my night off with Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Woodpigeon and Katie Stelmanis at Aeolian Hall. Great turnout, great vibe. As far as I can tell everyone who came out had a grand time and thoroughly enjoyed the openers. Katie Stelmanis blew the roof off and Woodpigeon brought it back down. I had an amazing time playing in my new party dress and I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback (on the show, not the dress.. well.. they liked the dress too, but you know)After our final curtain call I promtly cleaned up the back room, packed up my cello and rushed out the door to go catch $100 and Attack in Black at Call the Office.

I arrived shortly after $100 hit the stage with their unique brand of alt-country, which really.. isn't "alt" at all. Simone belted through song after heart-wrenching song. Polaris Prise long-listers and hot off the release of the 2nd installment of their 7" series, they were just about as hot as they get. They've had a few shows in London but I think this one might cement their reputation and garner them more than a few loyal audience members.

Attack in Black always do well in London. I'm not sure if London identifies with that underlying, yet prominent punk feel or we just think they're babes.. Probably a bit of both judging by the mix in the audience of pretty, young girls and black-t-shirted boys. They rocketed through their set of old and new material. Near the end, while I was waiting at the bar a raucous by the stage caught my attention. My head whipped around only to find Justis, a friend of mine (and AiB) jumping around on the stage singing... well, something.. and provoking a full on mosh pit complete with crowd surfers.

Needless to say, my night was full of variety.

The Alex P Keaton Returns?

2010-02-12T06:52:00.000-08:00

Did you notice that the facebook group for the Alex P Keaton (rip) has changed it's name?

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5244748137

How mysterious.

CTO listings!

2010-02-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

Call the Office has updated their show listings! Going all the way to April. Also, you might want to know, Day 3 of Oh! Fest will be at CTO, April 24th. Bands to be announced.

Some highlights are Shad, Electric 6, Sweet Thing, Yukon Blonde, Jason Collett, Zeus, Bahamas, Hot Hot Heat (weird?) and Two Hours Traffic.

I'll post some preview posts on these as they get closer. Go to the CTO website to check out the full listings.

Eventfully: This Weekend

2010-02-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

There’s a lot going on this weekend. Here are my top picks if I could be 3 or 4 places at once:

Thursday, Feb 11

Museum London: showing of Buster Keaton silent film “Steamboat Bill Jr.” accompanied by a live pianist! 7pm, Free admission, check it out.

Club Lavish: Karaoke! Free admission, if you sing you are entered into a cash draw. Pretty badass.

Friday, Feb 12

No surprise here, Aeolian Hall: Olenka and the Autumn Lovers, Woodpigeon and Katie Stelmanis. $13 in advance, doors at 7pm, facebook event.

Call the Office: Attack in Black and $100. $15 at the door, 9:30pm.

Saturday, Feb 13

Grooves Records: Woodpigeon FREE instore. 2pm. Facebook Event

Morrissey House: London Underground (DJ night), Free. 8pm.

Sunday, Feb 14

Ray Gun (retro night) at Call the Office.It’s Valentines day, suckers, and Monday is Family day so let’s dance.I will definitely be here. $2.