Tomorrow

In about ten and a half hours I will start my first half-marathon. The Energy Capital 1/2 Marathon to be exact. My training has tampered off quite a bit lately. It's a concern along with the gimpiness displayed in my knees since I returned from Chicago. Outside of that I feel relatively fine. I haven't came to terms with what I'm about to undertake tomorrow morning. I think it'd be healthy to be a bit nervous or excited. I'm not really feeling either right now. My stomach is going through some strange motions after taking in some Gatorade but outside of that I don't feel a whole lot. It's strange. I have printed out a course map, course description, and an elevation profile. I'll study them a little for the rest of the evening and gather my gear for the morning. Weather looks decent. 1000+ will be in the race. Last half of the race looks pretty flat. The 15km on Canada Day was a blast. The last 5km in that run felt magical. If I even experience a fraction of that feeling tomorrow it will be amazing. From a practical stand point I am concerned that anything after the 15km marker may bring some trouble physically & mentally, a wall so to speak. I hope to fight on and if I have anything left after that 20km marker I am going to try and give every ounce of energy that my body has left into the home stretch. Finish strong. Results tomorrow, cheers

Swan Lake

When I got back, I stumbled across the first released song from Canada's next supergroup, Swan Lake, entitled All Fires. The song has been on heavy rotation on my headphones ever since. Something about Spencers voice. Scary Good.

upcoming shows

I guess concerts are still goinig down at Red's aka The Venue.

Frank Black
Thursday November 9 @ 8pm
The Venue (Red's)
ticket info here

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead & The Blood Brothers (leaked tracks here & here)
Tuesday December 12
The Venue (Red's)
no place for tickets yet
source

My trip to Chicago has sucked my concert fund dry, so I will most likely will not be attending either of these shows. Don't let my brokeness stop you from enjoying, what should be, two amazing shows.

Listen to Cold War Kids!

One of the many highlights of the trip was seeing Cold War Kids, not once, but twice. This fearsome foursome from outsid LA are phenomenal. Carl from the New Pornographers gave them a shout-out during his set. I think these guys are one of the best things out there right now.

reflection

i don't know where to start. the whole experience was a whole lot of wonderful. so many brilliant bands. this trip basically condensed a whole year of concerts into five days of festival goodness. i hope to break the trip into little sections and share it on this forum. who knows how that'll work out? i've begun sorting through the various photos and touching up the usable ones and trashing the shitty ones. i will return shortly with hopefully a lot more. until then, cheers

back

at home after the amazing trip
so much to share
sleep first
look forward to reliving the experience

i'm at lolla!!!

live from lolla
i'm in the at&t blue room at day 2 of lolla
it's been awesome

greeting from illinoise!

i write from clark and berwyn in the beautiful city of chicago. the trip has been a blast so far. i can't believe everything we have seen and experienced. pitchfork festival was a brilliant sucess. cheers

you meant everything

almost half past 2 in the am. a good nights rest has become a decent nap. probably forgetting something but i always do. i don't think anything has sunk in at all. this sore throat is a slight worry. food will be an interesting prospect. the bands...what can i say?...the reason i'm going, I don't have one particular group or artist that brought me to this journey. a hodge podge of beautiful music is what i hope to see. next stop my bed...after that CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!

fest tips

MTV News with an awesome article on being prepared for festivals

ing

After returning from Chicago, I will be taking part in a half-marathon. All the info is here. I have a lot of things going on between now and then. The thought of the run is frightening (not that much) and exciting (a lot). Doing a few of these organinzed runs/races this summer has been a blast. This competive energy that hasn't had a proper outlet since high school is allowed to come out. Normal runs become training runs. Those runs contain competition against yourself but being in the races it's a whole 'nother game.

so close

2 more sleeps. So much left to do, logistic wise, and I guess I should pack some stuff too.

Reading up on the Muse messageboard. The venue for Thursday's show sounds a bit sketchy.

Forecast for Chicago is hot. What I expected, but still a tad intimidating.

I still would like to share some more thoughts on Warped tour, don't know if it'll actually happen though.

Got new glasses today. I now have D&G senior-esque glasses. Feel free to point and laugh.

1 year of bliss is marked today. Love is trully a beautiful thing.

Warped

Warped on Thursday was a blast. I don't listen to a whole lot of emo/scremo/punk/hardcore anymore. One would think that this would sour a Warped experience. I beg to differ. I had a blast. The third straight one I've been to and I've had fun at all of them. This year's stop in Calgary was the best attended one I've been to. Calgary Hearlad write up say's 16 500 was the attendence. We arrived before the crowd was let into the staging area, a first for me. We were able to catch all the early sets before the majority of the crowd even arrived. By the middle of the afternoon the size of the crowd was striking. By the end of the day set's by NOFX & AFI were massive. Sunscreen and water were life savers. The day was a nice prep one for what it'll be like at Pitchfork & Lolla. My advice to all the festival goer's out there, be prepared. Sunscreen, as much water as they'll let you bring in, snacks if they are allowed, and a small day pack are a must. I wish I'd brought a bandana for the dust along with sun glasses. Live and learn. more thoughts to come...

Dancing Through Sunday

Bloody Hawt today. Didn't feel like doing anying but sleep.
AFI played the Shaw last nite. Good show, nice stage set-up and performance. The outfits were a great idea. Having seen them Thursday & last nite I must say that the use of taped stuff used in there performance is very disheartening for me. I like to see bands play all of the sounds coming from the stage. I don't want to see a Britney-esque performance with all sorts of pre-arranged music and lip-syncing and the like. On song's like 'love like winter' all the synth stuff and most of the background vocals were just the taped stuff that you hear on the record. How hard is it to add a keyboard player on stage. Band's like Green Day have added touring player's to accompany an ever expanding soundscope. To me it take's away from the experinece and does make me think twice about listening to the band in the future. I did not take any pics but I do have some from Warped, go here to see them. 5 sleeps till Chicago.

wiped from warped

very late...or early depending on how you look at it
recently arrived home from calgary
exausted
work in 4.5 hours
should sleep
before i do that i will share a pic

long haul

10 sleeps until Chicago. The trip should be amazing. It has gone overbudget a fair bit. That's life. I don't want to look back and think awe...I could of seen muse or could of seen cold war kids, I'm gonna see 'em, damnit, and it's gonna be kickass. Need to do a lot of research still, logistical stuff. Right now I'm pretty amped to see Voxtrot play the Pitchfork Pre-Party and of course Muse & Cold War Kids have the potential to be real highlights. I see that the Pitchfork Festival has posted times and stages. The connector stage is where I'll be parked for most of that fest. Any time I look at the Lolla schedule I come up with a different set of acts I wanna catch. I'll have to sort that out before I leave.

Last night I finally got my act together and registered for the half-marathon. 21km of pure fun. 5min/km is the pace I'm aiming for. I think I'm physically capable of doing better. Saying that I want a realistic goal and am factoring in that I've never ran the distance competively. It should be fun.

mmj

Holy Shit!
My Morning Jacket has been announced as the surprise guest for Lolla!
I hit Chicago in 20 days. Life is beautiful.

Dashboard put on a terrific show last nite. Pics at flickr.

Wilco last week made my all-time top 10, with potential for an even higher placing.

Added Mates of State w/ Cold War Kids concert to the Chi-Town ittenerary. It's part of the Lolla after show series, even though it's the nite before the fest.

cheers

theologians

Wilco was amazing. One of the best shows I've been to in awhile. Two encores. Sheer joy throughout the evening.

15km Canada Day run in 8 hours. I suppose I should get some sleep.

Updates to come.

Falling Away

Tomorrow Lolla will reveal band times and hopefully fill out the rest of the line-up. I don't expect anything to drastic. Crossing my fingers for one or two specific bands. On the Lolla board this was posted as the headliner list
Friday: Ween, Death Cab for Cutie, and Panic! at the Disco
Saturday: Kanye West, Manu Chao, and the Flaming Lips
Sunday: Wilco and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Makes sense, except Panic, seemd odd for them to get so much respect considering how new they are.

I have also made some rearrangements to my travel plans and will now be getting into the Windy City a day earlier. This allows me to see the amazing MUSE!!! I am so stocked about that.

On Pollstar they have Wolf Parade listed as making a stop in Edmonton Monday August 14 @ the Starlite. Still on the lookout for ticket info.

On Ticketmasters website they list a July 6th show for Dr. Hook at the Venue Formly Known as Red's. A bit puzzling.

Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes, originally uploaded by shook_one.