lagging tales: New York, Teletoon and Radiohead

Time has come again to just make me realize on how far behind on this blog i am, AGAIN. Well, as i'm sitting on my couch almost-bored but moreso exhausted from doing nothing and everything at the same time, i decided now's as good a time as ever to fill you in on what i've been up to the last couple weeks.

New York

I headed back to Buffalo for a few days before my dad and i ventured together across the state to Huntington, Long Island. it's something we've never done before, and it was pretty great. my dad and i have bonded the last few years because of music, and the entire nine hours there was spent listening to tunes off of my iPod and discussing the bands that came with it. (On the way back less than a week later, we listened to his iPod and played the game of 'mine' and 'name that band' for almost every song the last four or five hours as half of the music on his player is from me, but i'm terrible at naming bands as i hear them right away).

Anyways, the trip in itself was great. i spent time with my family, visited a friend i haven't seen in two years, and above all, made two day trips to New York City. Now everyone describes the city as magical, and it is. Within twenty minutes of my first trip, I walked past Michael Ian Black in a subway station. Now of course I gaggled and turned into an utter fan girl afterwards, but celebrities you walk by in New York seem even a little bit more magical than they do in Toronto, and that's a hard feat as i've had plenty a chock-full-of-chance times here. Anyways, NYC firstly boggles my mind as i don't think i could ever not get lost there, but there's nowhere to unstick your eyes from. I've yet to take in a concert in that city, but it's always been a dream of mine. How will it feel different than Toronto, even Buffalo? I remember when i moved to Toronto, wondering how the concerts would feel after being so acquainted to the ones in Buffalo, and they are in fact very different in terms of crowds, how they act, and venues. What's the magic like in New York music?

Teletoon and Spiral Beach. The connection?

Visual creativity, and lots of it. Spiral Beach has become one of my favourite bands within the last season, and you can see that from previous blog posts. These kids never cease to amaze me, and last week I got to partake in a little of the fun with them. Teletoon has a new stop-animation show coming out September 1 called Life's a Zoo about seven animals that are picked to play in this reality show to win a mansion in a wheatfield in Saskatchewan. It may not sound thrilling to you, but where it comes at you is the catty amount of swearing, dirty jokes, and unexpected ones too. Where Spiral Beach comes in is the first episode. Each episode has a music video from a Canadian indie band, and SB were lucky to be the first. The show will later on showcase bands like Joel Plaskett, Attack in Black, and Plants and Animals. I wish i had Teletoon. Anyways, I got to go to visit the studios that is working on the show. It was the nicest studio i've ever been to! (er, none, but still, so nice!) they were warm in their greetings, made me the best coffee i've ever had, sat me down on a couch in the swanky lounge next to a television playing the channel, and soon after i was interviewing Maddy and Daniel of Spiral Beach with a girl from Dose.com. Maddy and Daniel were fun, classy in their own way, and interesting, and the Dose girl was nice. After our half an hour, the four of us went on a tour of the studios with two Australian creators. We saw everything from how they fix the broken puppets and all the different pieces to each different scene an animator works on. Each person is only expected ten seconds of stop-animation today! Their jobs seem so amazing yet demand very hard and skilled work that only the most dedicated can do well. That day was one that made me rethink of the magic of Toronto.

You can read my news story about this here, and watch a preview of the show here.

Radiohead

How can i NOT say this was epic? It was and in more than just the band, but the proportions of people and rain. this was a concert my dad and brother were both looking forward to so much so, more than i was, and i was pretty damn excited, but it was so surreal right up until the end. radiohead is this huge band in my head, and of course in reality, but to see them felt like i had an exclusive ticket to walk by a roman god or something. the masses of people, however, disproved this, and made me wary on the ridiculousness of exiting the molson ampitheatre. they put on this amazing light show that i couldn't take my eyes off of; a crazy amount of tubes hanging from the ceiling all the way until the floor radiating colours between red, pink, green, and blue. behind and to the side were screens that have shown the most beautiful shots of a concert i've seen. each screen focused on a different musician; up close, personal, from angles you wish you've seen of thom yorke's head before. the cooing, the drawls, the electronic noises that throw shivers up and down your spine repeatedly. it was a beautiful experience even if i was being bitter because of how drenched i was since getting lost in the Ex and waiting in line. it was an experience of concerts to help finish off my 2008 summer.

(this is five minutes of the same thing, the encore Everything In Its Right Place, but i didn't have the greatest view, so relish the sounds my friends.)

Coming up: Tomorrow I interview Boats! and next week I'll be covering Final Fantasy's show at the Danforth Music Hall.

Also to look forward to: I'll be starting some editorials soon and making a new layout! Funfunfun.

a light goes out before your eyes

returning to my hometown of Buffalo, New York is never exactly an exciting time for me. nothing has lasted long enough to keep me there once i discovered Toronto, and each time i spend my days comparing the two polar opposites. after this two-and-a-half day adventure, my biggest observation was how suburban drivers are far worse than any urban pedestrian i've seen. driving is one of the things i look forward to the most upon my returns, but it was completely dampered last week as countless drivers pulled out in front of me on the busiest streets of my suburb. another observation: the ridiculous amount of blonde-haired, hummer-driving, whiny voiced, Hills mentality that exists in Western New York. what the hell? this is almost the top reason why I don't like it there anymore. yes, this species definitely exists in toronto, but they're much easier to avoid.

Anyways...

my main reason for this short return was to see Sam Roberts Band play at the beautiful ArtPark in Lewiston (pretty much a town named for me.) It wasn't as fun as the first time I saw them (also happened to be another free show in buffalo last summer, but at thursday in the square) but it was still mind-blowing. that's a standard for you! the concert was on the gorge, just above the river that connects america to canada. it happened to be so close my phone went back to Rogers, so of course that was a plus. Brooklyn band Hymns opened, who looked just like Kings of Leon. they were pretty good, but their set got tired after a while. by the time SRB came on stage, the entire gorge was full (probably mostly Canadians) but it filled me with pride. They played a great balance between their three records (however the latest still isn't out in the States) but missed a few of my favourites. i think i'll forgive them. For their shows, it's mostly Roberts and guitarist Nugent that are the show, as the other members are more stationary but find pocketed times to burst. all in all, the performance lasted around three hours with two encores.

the next day, i read a review in the Buffalo News, and one thing that caught my eye was about how SRB have yet to blow up in the states. i don't think they will, at least the way they have in Canada. yes they're getting bigger as they go, and that performance gathered a heck of a crowd, but we're close to the border. Do you think they'll ever get huge in the states, or is their sound an acquired Canadian-esque?

Here's a video of "Brother Down."

More videos can be viewed here.