Without a Yard

If 20hz. Is the lowest audible frequency for the human ear to pick up…& also the now infamous indie messaging board that has been bonsaii’ed by new El Mo owner…I don’t even wanna know how many hz. were lobbed thru these two lobes at the Horseshoe last night.

Beside the ringing ears, the Mando Diao & the Comas sets were memorable for musicianship & energy. ‘Tho the posse was less than impressed with the Comas, I was up front & thoroughly enjoyed the subtle & sharp guitar fills by Nicole Gehweller (sp?) & the organ-keyboard combo parts. I especially liked the stand-out lyricism of “tuneIdunno” that catalogues all the ins & outs of OfficeSpace-y life & lists benefits (literal, health & dental) as a catchy chorus…

After buying the newest Comas album (w. DVD – what’s up with all these DVD combo sets of lates? It reads that Michelle Williams, of not-dating-Tom-Cruise-ex-Dawson’s Creek-castmember-fame, is starring in the vignettes….ugh, that’s a rainy day option after I have alphabetized the canned goods), I was ready to check out this band that had been praised enthusiastically from Toshi.

After reading many local journos’ pieces on the show beforehand, I was actually expecting the quality of the music to go down after the Comas…but I was very wrong – Mando Diao earned their headlining spot a thousand times over. The high-energy tightness was just incomparable to the low-fi early Weezer-Kweller-NerfHerdery of the Comas.

Once lead singer Gustaf Noran intro’d Motown Blood with a wailing harmonica piece, I was transported to grotty Brit cavernous clubs that once mashed up the Delta blues wail of Sonny Boy Williamson with the chops of the Yardbirds. Absolute highlight was Noran’s calling out the less than exuberant TO crowd on their (usual) sheepishness – “We’ve worked hard for ten years to give you this, you should give us something, too.”

I made a quick exit after the show wrapped – a lil’ too quick for the posse & the beau – but all apologies for my still-hungover grogginess aside, there’s nothing much better than being thisclose to a rollickin’ hard-working rawk band & then collapsing in bed with the bass cabinet still rattling your chest cavity & aching calves from my lame-o Smiths-y swaying & bobbing dance-ish bop….No hards, folks, I expend more energy watching & enjoying a gig than discussing it afterwards, I guess…Need that subconscious downtime to filter thru blog entries….

On that music-filled entry, had some Boss ‘human touch’, too – talked to ATX bud Robert whilst he trekked 3 hrs. for a promising lassie in Houston…Wicked & weird road hog that he is….any excuse to be in that VW is a good excuse…riiight?

Finally been e-chatting with UC bud, Allison B who’s surviving intercontinental long-d with poise – hopefully we will be road trippin’ also for another UC gal’s shower outside of my public transit tentacles’ reach…

Anyway, since I don’t work at UO until Tues night…which should bring with it news of my interview as well…I’m compiling CD-less care packages this week(end)….maybe, if I feel creative…snagged some cool stuff last night & finally invested in postage….

Wishing everyone a peaceful & dry weekend…
Meegs

Currently listening:
Means & Ends [Bonus Disc]
By Matthew Barber
Release date: By 08 February, 2005

now say “it’s in God’s hands”
but God doesn’t always have the best goddamn plans, does He?
—————————————————————————————–
& on that quote…If April showers bring May flowers, what the hell brought the hail this a.m.? Jeez. I was lucky to not get trapped in it between gym & errand runs & waited out the heavy crazy rain - trudged it to UofT campus to distract masself before the nerve-wrack-athon interview in T-minus 2.5-ish hours….

That’s right - live & direct from my alma mater….I feel like the ghost of Laidlaw Library past & want to clank around with chains & study cue cards falling outta my pockets, freaking out the frosh…

Other ghosts of UC/UofT past have been crossing paths with me of lates, ran into anotherMeghan last night & had to, ahem, admit that I was on my way back from UO training….That was….humbling.

Maybe instead of lyrics as bylines I’ll start extracting quoteable quotes from one of my three (3???) training manuals for all to enjoy…I thought it was a slacker-laid-back-employer, too, folks…but offical is as offical does & this co. is paranoid like a mofo about getting ripped off by it’s indie/street cred staff…that is, when the co. itself isn’t ripping of street cred ideas, designs & art from it’s legit staffers…things that make you go hmmm…or wtf?

Talked to my Master’s-completing-bud in ATX last night - he’s riding the high of a MarsVolta show & counting the days until he submits his masterpiece on alt energy sources for an Engineering MSc..Unlike Quixote’s windmills - Toshi’s chasing the real thing & maybe i”ll bust out some of my renewable energy facts at the interview today on the dawn of ON gvt’s promise to close down the coal-i-o stacks in the future…or I might just stick with the safe artsy fartsy stuff….

My parents are off to cash in their random-luck prize…all the way to Jasper on the VIA - hitting up the West Edmonton Mall & visiting the Mom-side-fam. Off to Trashcan Sinatra’s today with an ex-colleague from C-toon U, then Mando Diao on Friday….Might have to work this w/e…still no sched…ugh. Anyway, I will report on the interview later & wish everyone a great moku-yobi (Thursday)

peace
meegs

Currently listening:
I’ve Seen Everything
By Trashcan Sinatras
Release date: By 04 May, 1993

Just talked to my always bullshit-free Uncle Jimmy (my Dad’s BF since TO miner-niner glory days) posed this question: How many people do you know that love their job?

This is just too simple & brilliant for me not to share. As Peg contemplates documentarianism & Rob’s on her way back to school & Tam’s thriving as a teacha & Waub’s writerly voice has reached bajillions of homes in print…I am getting the hint…

Please post musings on this - Jimmy added that, for him, working in sports he has even encountered tons of people that ‘hate thier jobs’….which must be dream jobs for so many other people….discuss…

Currently watching:
Northern Exposure - The Complete Second Season
Release date: By 30 November, 2004

And we will blame it on you!

Loverly. Blogging. Talking to masself taken to the next level - now to air my grievances long before the fam congregates for Festivus. Bilss.

I have already subjected many unlucky cyber souls to my ramblin rants in email….now I might spare ya & start directing folks to this forum…please do use the reply function at the junction…Blogging is meant to be a 2-way street…& like all Bi-Furious Fans say - The buffet is better going at it from both ends, riiiight?

What’s is, indeed, “On the Horizon”, I ponder…as the title suggests…meh. I have been signing, slothing, loitering, loafing & surfing of lates. All 5 food groups of a mid-twenty-something mental meltdown. Idle hands, etc, etc. Tho I would rather enlist myself as a member of the KISS Army or be a devil’s plaything instead of this squatting phase.

Been going to the gym, which raises the spirits & justifies the Nibs-mainlining (WTF is IN that red dye ..40??). Do y’all do gym-math? Seems to be the only synapse stretches that keep my arithmetic brain cells alive…barely (Honest Ed note - Meeg’s did less than stellar on a temp test for summing octo-digits..ahh boo - but typing has improved since the information superhighway placed itself squarely down the middle of her correspondence plans). Gym math is all about counting down without counting down….& makes one realize that those towel over the display peeps are ahead of the game…:
4 mins down in a 30 min run….Hmm..what seems like less 4-30ths?, 2-15ths? Somewhere floating between 1-8th & 9th?. Harumph. Sadly this is the philosophical stimuli that plagues me daily…

Until I start fantasizing about my sauna time. Being the Finn chick that I am, I can inhale that sweet cedar steam until my skin drops off like a rattler. Whilst jogging, I start swapping the word ’sauna’ for summer & wanna in pop tunes… a la:

“Sauna in the City” The Lovin Spoonful
“Saunatime” DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
“I Sauna Dance With Somebody” Whitney Houston (pre-crack)

Sad, really. I’m gonna stop before I completely embarrass masself. Apologies.
Hmm, I’ll blame it on Derrida’s death & hope that it’s just a phase.

The real horizon is somewhere between a Sailor’s Warning & Starship-Airplane’s Afternoon Delight. A pinkish hue between dawn & dusk - the ‘AskAgainLater’ from the Magic 8 Ball (Kudos, Cub reference ..1-down - Indie-Nerd Ed.)

Missed my midterms & flunked shampoo, it seems. Soliciting advice from all ends of the earth, literally, sadly…& coming up with nada.

Currently reading ‘lines’ & studying furiously (in the traditional sense, not frenzied, I’m good-ol-fashioned mad at masself for not having a photographic memory, or at least a decent knack for retaining politico info) to audition for the role of…..intern. Not that I’m bad at auditions, I mean, interviews….I channeled the Reality Bites Garofolo gal to seize a gig at U-O (Unnecessarily OutlandishStylee, Unoriginal Options, Undergarmets Overpriced…figure it out – Cryptic Ed).

Good news for my buds, tho – If the unlucky in love = luck in cards….New equation: Meeg’s unlucky in employment = brilliant times for boss babes.

Justin-time for an election threat & headless-chicken-running on the Hill, Rob’s headed to the oft-overlooked (not by Ben Lee fans & surfing enthusiasts) continent…AUS for REG. Congrats on having the cahones to leave the j-o-b….Even if friends don’t let friends go to York….Peeps in C-toon U Graduate Glass Apts, aren’t exactly allowed to throw stones (Impressively, the MA diploma WASN’T Xerox’ed – silver lining, etc, etc).

Big Red’s planning another round with the crooked-toothed-tots across the pond. This is a ballsy go, too, Tam – I’m equally psyched to see London town with you & your beau.

‘Nother old-school bud has comic timing in spades – chance Timmy Ho’s encounter ..837 brought me Dor. My Dad served barely-insulated portable time as her Grade 4 prof back in the day, then we bonded over a mutual appreciation of Boyz II Men in my Grade 5, her 6 year…Dramaville in HS, brief Improv stint…then crossing paths in the GTA as she was a bright young comic. Back from the barrens with a promising screenplay in tow, I’m grateful to reconnect with a creative & energetic gal like Dor.

Those are all the gal updates I can muster for now. More bloggin later. Must remove masself from keyboard & return to the civ’n.

meegs

Currently listening:
Navy Blues
By Sloan
Release date: By 28 July, 1998

Saturday, April 23, 2005

When I wake up in the morning….
Current mood: annoyed

Odd subconscious battles to fight of lates,

First & foremost is what’s been plaguing me every morn for the past coupla days. They’re testing the fire alarm system with an old fashioned bell ringin at the gym & there is this Pavlovian urge for me to grab a Quaker Dipp bar or Fruit by the Foot pouch and run right outta the Y into the streets for some 10:15 or 2:30 debauchery.

Then….in an odd twist, after mentally organizing my snack-time archives…I unearthed the unthinkable…ugh. I wish that I had taken 1st year psychology so at least I’d have a text book propping up a table somewhere rightaboutnow to seek out the mysteries of the human mind & HOW THE FUCK ANNOYING SONGS GET STUCK IN MY HEAD ALWAYS!

Like Kurtz in the jungle…I am trapped, thanks to this alarm, with the theme song from Saved by the Bell. Over and over. and over. I can actually SEE the opening credits streaming in over a flourescent-obnoxious 90s pastiche of sunglasses & skateboards & Max shakes. God almighty, at 15 I memorized the periodic tables for all of….8 days-ish…but this song…just…will…not…stop.

Anywhoo, I guess to be fair, I have wrought my own jingle havoc on my peers - I was notorious b.i.a.t.c.h. for planting Mary_Kate & Ashley Olsen (SO before their US Weekly coverage) in the brain of my ex-roommate (more on how to get a long list of Exs…to come)’s first HIT single…Brother for Sale..ad nauseum (how else can you describe that tune, ever if it’s only played but once?)..I guess I’ll sign off for now & pray that the gods of syndication, residuals, & scrunchies meet soon to grant me a reprive.

Meantimes,
meegs

Currently listening:
Saved By The Bell: Soundtrack To The Original Hit TV Series
By Various Artists
Release date: By 11 April, 1995