Back to Reality

Upon the conclusion of the OAC jury, I decided to stay in Toronto for a couple of days and catch a few shows. The guys in LSD/City Sweethearts/Dany Laj were nice enough to let me crash at their swinging pad for a couple of days.

On Friday night, I took in the Pick a Piper/the Skeletones Four/Ruby Coast/Green Go show at the Horseshoe Tavern. The fellows from Ruby Coast were nice enough to get me a guest list spot. Ruby Coast now have horns in the their band and they sound terrific. These nice young gentlemen are going places, let me tell you. Once their full length is done in February, they are going to BLOW UP.

On Saturday night, I caught HEALTH at Wrong Bar. I was a little disappointed by the quality of the opening act Torontobeat (who had some good ideas but sounded under-practiced), and the fact that Pictureplace got turned away at the border, but HEALTH was awesome! Wrong Bar is a weird place. It's a little too clean and over-air conditioned. HEALTH played most of the stuff from their first album and a bunch of stuff from the new record, which is super pumpin' to hear live. There were about 200 people there, maybe more. I was right at the front and watched the lead guitarist writhe around in the fetal position for most of the night.

Afterwards, I managed to catch the end of Windom Earle's set at Rancho Relaxo. I managed to catch all of BA Johnston and Horses though. BA's got some new jokes! I missed Orphan Choir and the other opening act (I think they were called Cousins?) unfortunately.

So now I am back at home and I just spent most of today cleaning the garage. It is super tidy. Tomorrow, I will clean the jam room in our basement, which I am very excited about. There's nothing like a clean room to allow you to focus on creating.

Also, tomorrow (Wednesday) there is a house show at mine and Jon's place. If you are reading this, you are invited. I will not post our address on the Internet though. Performing will be Andrew Laviolette, Little Albert and Thunder Bay's JP De Roover. Hope to see you there cool guy.

Last Night

Last night I stayed up until about 4 AM listening to Patton Oswalt's stand up routines on YouTube. Needless to say, I feel like a failure pile.



After having listened to EVERY SINGLE BIT OF RECORDED STAND UP BY PATTON OSWALT, I have noticed some similarities between him and BA Johnston's onstage persona. They've both got this weird mix of haughty above-it-all-ness while at the same time they can admit that at times (leading me to suspect most of the time), they are more pathetic that you are.

But, I think we can all relate because who hasn't pulled their oranged cheeto claw out of an empty family sized bag of Cheetos and exclaimed, "What have I done?!" I like to think that our pathos is what unites us as a species. That way, I don't feel so bad when I am being pathetic.

On another note, there is a show this Saturday at Adanac at 5:30. Come out! Here's that poster again:

Remember: Friday the 5th

This concert will be a fun time. For realsies. There will be food and drinks! We even got coverage in the Sudbury Star.

Also, check this out. The Birthday Cakes are number 16 on the top 30 on CKLU!

I hear there's lots of snow in Sudbury therefore it is time to SHRED! I leave the mine tomorrow and will get back to Sudburytown on the 4th. I am looking forward to two solid weeks of playing music and snowboarding.

BA Johnston

HotKid

Bunnies in Berlin

the Birthday Cakes

posters and james bond

I went to see the James Bond movie tonight with my dad and my brothers. I found it very hard to follow. The action scenes were super sweet though.

Jon and I posted a new song from the upcoming Meadowlark Lemon album, "Twists", on our myspace:

Click here

Here are some posters for upcoming shows that my bands are playing:

Bass Fishing Video Games

My mom's friend gave her a whole stack of old microsoft PC video games. They are all pretty crappy but the one that really caught my eye is Microsoft Pro Bass Fisherman.

I have no idea why such games are in existence. I've been fishing. It is boring as hell. Video games are supposed to be the sweet shot of morphine that diverts our attention from the gaping wound that is day to day life. Bass fishing games are not morphine. They are a salt coated dildo being jammed into that self-same wound with utter carelessness.

Anyway, the Neuroscience show went really well. We had a pretty good turnout, and all the bands played great! And I say that with complete humility considering I played in three of the five bands. We didn't get the EEG up and running during the Birthday Cakes' set unfortunately, but we did have some good videos on brain dissection and I think everyone had a good time. Our friend Brandon Grey took the following pictures of the Birthday Cakes. (Thanks Bran!):

Click Here

The next one will be the BA Johnston/HotKid/Bunnies in Berlin/Birthday Cakes show, which will be at the Adanac Ski hill shack at 5 PM on Dec. 5th.

Then, on Dec. 13th, the Birthday Cakes will be opening for Rabbit Transit, Upheavel of an Excorcist, and the Holly Springs Disaster at the Jubilee Centre at 6 PM because we are heavy as fuck.

That same night, Dec. 13th, Meadowlark Lemon will be holding our CD release at the Townehouse featuring Matthew de Zoete. We will be preforming the songs from our album with a full band, and we will then do a whole set of our new noise rock material.

"Look out everyone,

Lightmares' dad is coming around the corner and he is FUCKED UP!"

-James Millard Sr.

The Birthday Cakes and Meadowlark Lemon played a show in Lightmares' garage with Bunnies in Berlin, Lightmares, and the Hometown Hecklers on Friday, and it was a blast! JR tried to crowd surf over the assembled twelve people. Nothing but good vibes and memorable quotes from the aforementioned James Millard Sr. Thanks a lot to everyone who came out to make it an extra special evening.

I will upload a recording of Meadowlark Lemon's 18 minute version of "Fire Hawk" soon.

Last night, both of my bands went out to North Bay to join the Hometown Hecklers at 211 Highland. It was a wicked place and we met yet another cool guy named James who owned the place. We sold a CD and a T-shirt!

On November 7th, both Meadowlark Lemon will be playing at Laurentian University's Pub Downunder with Life Blown Open.

On November 8th, Meadowlark Lemon will be playing a show with Bucket of from Toronto, Ontario with some other local bands TBA at Ridgecrest Park in New Sudbury.

On December 5th, the Birthday Cakes will be playing with BA Johnston, HotKid and Bunnies in Berlin, also at Ridgecrest.