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.

the next movement

It's official. Chi-Town is gonna be amazing.

oh Pitchfork

So I head to Pitchfork after work today and am greeted with the headline "Sunset Rubdown, Voxtrot, Joggers to Play Pitchfork Fest Pre-Party, More Events Announced" and I'm thinking please be while I'm there. I open up the page and find out that tix are on-sale and that it is the night I get into Chicago. The only problem is that I've already purchased Dashboard Confessional tickets for that evening. DC is supposed to start @ 7pm while Pitchfork is slated for 9pm. Do I try and catch both? I have a reeling Pitchfork will go alot later into the evening. DC does have two openers and could stretch long. The venues are 5 miles apart. Do I try and do two shows in one night on my first night in a city I've never been to? I'm leaning yes, my travel companion will make the final call. Oh, and BV says that The Roots may be playing the Windy City July 31st. If that's true I think I'll have to hit that up. This trip is shaping up to even more kickass than I imagined. Cubs game anyone?

Chulahoma

Wow!
Check this ep out.
The Black Keys are amazing.

i waited

A couple of days ago Pitchfork revealed some tour dates for Neko Case. Edmonton made the list. July 5 @ Myer Horowitz Theatre. On her homepage the date is not listed & ticketmaster has nothing. I'm thinking about maybe checking the show out if it indeed takes place.

Dashboard Confessional has scheduled a bunch of summer dates south of the border. They will be playing Chicago July 28. The same day I will be arriving. I'm thinking about picking up some tickets.

I guess I wasn't the only one that got screwed by Apple over the pre-sale code for Chili Pepper tickets. I'm glad that I splurged for a fan club membership or I would be in a rock and a hard place for good tix to the show. With service charges tickets came to $82 a pop. That doesn't include the fanclub membership factored in to get the tix. Crazy. I might end up selling them. I've seen them before and have a chance at Lolla to see them again.

I was able to get a pair of tickets to see Radiohead in Toronto & New York. I was in utter shock. I sold the New York pair immediately. The chance of me attending that show was financially impossible. The Toronto show is possible. I'm seeing Bright Eyes the night before in Edmonton and it would be feasable to catch a flight to the T.O the following morning. The financial reality will probably force me to unload them...still it is nice to dream.

The Strokes play on Monday. I have put little to no thought into that show. I read that the opener will be The Most Serene Republic. A complete disappointment for me. Nothing against the group, it's just that they've played Edmonton at least a half dozen times in the last 6-8 months. I saw them twice in the fall of last year. I liked how on The Strokes homepage they linked to the myspace page of the Most Serene Republic. Too bad it hasn't been updated since Feb. I was hoping for an act that normally wouldn't play the markets on this tour. I haven't really listened extensively to The Strokes in awhile now. I'll have to get them into the playlist over the next couple days.

Check out the Puffin for a Muffin site to see the results of last weekends run. If you look closely you'll see yours truely had a nice day.

Waste :(

Yesterday, Waste held a pre-sale for all the June Radiohead shows. Before I even knew it existed the bloody thing was sold-out. Most of the shows go on-sale Friday & Saturday. The Canadian dates are insanely priced. With the exchange rate at levels not seen since the 70s this makes no sense. $70+ CDN for Canadian shows while all the American gigs are around $40 USD. $1USD=$1.10CDN. Crazy. Pitchfork reveals openers for the tour. I'd love to see the Black Keys followed up by Radiohead. I don't know who Willy Mason is and Deerhoof would be alright. Friday & Saturday will be interesting.

RHCP album leaked yesterday. Flea isn't pleased. In today's world, if your at a level that the Peppers are at and your album only leaks a week before it's supposed to hit stores you should be thanking your stars.

I got my hands on some great tix for Dashboard. I had great Wilco tickets in my shopping cart through the pre-sale but, I couldn't bring myself to pay for $23USD in shipping & service charges. I'll wait till Friday to go through Canadian TicketMaster where I won't have to pay as steep service charges.

Dashboard info

Dashboard Confessional are coming to town w/ City and Colour Thursday July 6.
The emos will be out in full force. I expect a quick sell-out.
Pre-sale begins tomorrow (Wed.) @ 10am with HOB, Sonic?, & DC all offering shots at tickets.
Show is at Rexall with a Theatre Bowl setup.
Regular on-sale hits Friday. Check here for more info.
HOB & Sonic will probably be sending passwords sometime today, when I get 'em I'll post 'em.
more to come...

Update:
Sonic password is amission waiting on HOB

wet snow

I guess mother nature got confused today. The white stuff is supposed to fall in January not May.

Congrats to the Oilers. Great effort. Crossing fingers for the battle of Alberta - Playoff Edition.

The Chili Peppers unveiled tour info. I believe fan club sales begin on Sunday May 7th while pre-sale iTunes people (me included) get a shot on Tuesday May 9th with the general on-sale starting next Saturday May 13th. Look forward to the album. The Edmonton show is slated for September 17th with Calgary taking place the night before. A dreaded Sunday night show. I'm still not sure if I'm gonna go to this one. I'll snatch up tickets and make a final decision after Lollapalooza.

Radiohead finally revealed their tour itenerary. This has been painful for me to follow. Most of these dates have been locked up for awhile. Fairly small venues, tickets will sell-out in micro seconds.

Wilco pre-sale begins tomorrow through there homepage. Friday brings general sale. Thankfully tickets are fairly priced. It's looking like I'll check out this one. Never been to a show at the Jubilee before.

Coachella round-ups for all. MTV, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Spin