TV on the Radio - Live at the Commodore

"Show you what that howl is for..."

The Best Venue in the Known Universe

If Carlsberg made gig venues, it'd probably be the Commodore.

Hand on heart, I swear to John Taylor that I have found the best live music venue in the world. And it's on Granville St, which is the Faliraki high street of Vancouver. In the heart of El Furniture Warehouse and Bridge n' Tunnel crowd land. The land that time forgot.

Now, see, I thought Richards on Richards (or Dicks on Dicks as the locals call) was pretty fuggin' cool. Exposed brick. Space for only 400 kids. A balcony. A bar for every appendage. So far, I've seen Steve Malkmus from Pavement, Dom from the Stanton Warriors and Sebadoh there. It's a pretty decent venue and most UK bands like to play there. It's cosy. I walk by it every day (saw Lily Allen's tourbus this morning there). Cold and the toilets always are flooded, the security guards don't care unless you light a spliff (but they don't care really). The floor sometimes gets so rammed that you can't spin around like windmill, but not bad.

But the Commodore is something else. Hoo-ee.

Now, picture this: holds 1000. A floor infront of the stage that BOUNCES so no pesky charley-horses after a particularly good live throwdown. Around the stage is carpet. CARPET! And tables and chairs - even as close up as a spit away from the action. You can reserve these tables or luck-of-the-draw it and nab one during the opening act (as we did).

As if that's not enough, there's table booze service. A WAITRESS WILL COME AND SERVE YOU BEER WHILE NO MORE THAN A GO-GO-GADGET ARMS-LENGTH AWAY, YOUR FAVOURITE BAND IS PLAYING.

But what if I have to pee? I hear you ask. Not to worry. For there are two more layers of un-muddled seating around the tables and chairs. This is your exit strategy - the walkways clear. We call this the "30-Somethings Layer" where people who are quite cool but hurt in their joints can sit down, further away from the madding crowd. Then there's the "Grey Layer". The highest balcony which wraps round and where older people or people who only like their music far away, sit. But you can see from everywhere.

The toilets are glistening and plentiful. The bars unrammed. THE BLINDS ON THE WINDOW GO UP AND DOWN AUTOMATICALLY - up means it's time to get a beer. Down means Rock Business.

And Rock Business, in this case (on 24 March), was a wicked show from New York's TV on the Radio. Preceded by LA nutjobs "Subtle" (ironic as they had a flautist, a cellist and an insane mohawked singer with glasses who sang a break-up song called "I F*cking Hate Her" - rather quite good - while he rapped at a skull and jawbone. Excellent props.

But anyway.

TV on the Radio were ass-shakingly awesome. Vancouver's no-smoking inside policy (or anywhere, really, don't you know this is a healthy city?) was bent by many to allow fairly copious pot smoking instead. Beer was consumed with most excellent friends Beth & Simon (of Harringay) and Fiona Lane (of somewhere in Oz).

I bought a TV on the Radio bag (see photo) from the nice-looking butch dyke and then we rolled on home. Visions of hmmm, I think the Kaiser Chiefs and the Bravery gigs dancing in my head. Maybe even Interpol because I met someone called Phil who works on my floor in town and although he's got two young kids and his favourite band is Rush, he's a decent guy and has friends with a gig promoter who can maybe get us in to stuff. Sha-weet! I'm on a "see bands you've never seen before" trip.

Oh and there's Dinosaur Jr there on 23 May, too. Might see Mr. Lou Barlow again on that trip, got my fingers and toes crossed for that.

Anyway, I never need to find another venue. For I am HOME.

xM

The Very Definition of Irritation

PET PEEVE
–noun
a particular and often continual annoyance relating expressly to tiny dogs in Yaletown, the West Coast of North America and most parts of Paris. Tiny dogs with coats on. Tiny dogs with coats on and who, apparently, have been bred to exist without use of their legs. Tiny dogs whose owners fear that the regular flow of pedestrians might suddenly, hmm, suddenly shift and GO MENTAL, thereby stomping on little Pinky Poo - so they carry them. Everywhere. Everyday.

Usage example:

Question. "Mikala, why are you so angry at that blonde woman in LuluLemon nylon tights carrying that tiny teacup-poodle-shitzu-chihuahua blend?

Answer: "I hate them and I hope they all get trampled on. Carrying dogs is a personal Pet Peeve."

[Origin: 2007, Anglo-Canadianism]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2007.

Holy Cow!

Well I have been proven well and truly wrong. When we left England's green and pleasant pastures I was quite worried that I wouldn't be able to get the following...

1) Good Beer - not a major worry, but a man needs to have his priorities sorted.
2) A cup of tea - I don't actually drink tea; this was more for the homely feeling than anything else.
3) Decent Curry - having spent three years in Nam (Bermy Nam, that is) I hold a fairly high standard when it comes to Indian cuisine.

So...

The beer is good.

And I can get a half decent cuppa. Should I need to.

But the curry...

..is OUT OF THIS F**KING WORLD!!!!!!!!

I shit ye not, Ladles and Jellyspoons. This week I have sampled what can only be described as the best curry in the known universe. And probably some of the unkown parts as well. It comes from a place called Vij's...

It may not look like much from the outside, and, to be honest, it doesn't look like much from the inside either, but Vij's is widely regarded as one of the poshest restaurants in Vancouver and the food is to die for. It's a kind of Indian / West Coast - dare I say it - "fusion". The menu is constantly changing and they encourage guests to sample several dishes. And who were we to argue? Fortunately our dining partners for the evening were Momma Folb, Judy (our lovely landlady), Jessica her daughter and fiancé Matt, so we managed to order quite a few dishes without feeling too greedy. Among the mouth-watering morsels tasted were...

• Garam Masala Sautéed Portobello Mushrooms in Porcini Cream Curry
• Japanese Eggplant (that's Aubergine to you and me) in Tamarind and Kalonji Curry with Couscous
• Grilled Duck Breast in Lime Leaf Curry with Ginger Jalpeno Basmati Rice
• Demerara Sugar and Tamaring Marinated Beef Tenderloin with Black Cumin Curry and Khoa Paranta

The highlight of the evening was Vij's signiature dish - Lamb Popsicles in Fenugreek Cream Curry on Spinach Potatoes. Yummy!

Super big thanks to Judy who's bright idea it was to take us out for dinner as a wedding gift. Who needs more pots anyway? Certainly not us.

So, all in all, a pretty nosh-tacular eatery. It is safe to say that good curry abounds in The 'Coove. And you know what - the beer and tea were great too!

Love,
Dan

Just Gimmie Indie Rock! - An Ode to Sebadoh

Okay, so this will probably be of actual interest to maybe three people, those fans of American Indie Rock Circa 1989-1992. But anyway.

For the remainder of you, rest assured that despite our move to SuperHealthy Land, I have still managed to unpack my Groupie bag, dust off the Rock Hands and consume a large part of a band's backstage beer allotment. Please indulge me.

So, SEBADOH came to town last night.

I should qualify: Sebadoh are three guys originally from Boston way, icons of lo-fi grungy indie rock. Lou Barlow is also a member of Dinosaur Jr, Folk Implosion, Sentridoh and does solo stuff. Jason Loewenstein and Eric Gaffney make up the rest of the 'classic' line up, reassembled for this tour - much to the delight of bearded record store clerks everywhere.

I have loved this band so intensely since a guy called Steve Sandor introduced me to them on a blank tape he gave me in first year uni. Their albums are by turns crunchy, stupid, mental and astoundingly beautiful.
Barlow's been a bit of a hero of mine for ages too - since I first met him (actually in Vancouver about 14 years ago and the day I got my first tattoo) and he and I got wasted together with Eric and Jason downstairs of Van's former Town Pump Club.

I wrote him once - he wrote back, a handwritten note and sent a cassette of some solo stuff he'd been doing. He said I reminded him of a waitress in him and his girlfriend's favourite restaurant. I then saw him over the years, in Toronto and, as he reminded me, about three or four years ago in London. He is a lovely, understated and funny nerd. And a stunning songwriter sadly, overlooked by the mainstream. Honestly, where Sebadoh is loud, Lou's solo stuff is quiet greatness.

So when I heard they were coming to town, I was stupidly giddy. I emailed him, he emailed back with promises of guest listage and his mobile number so we could hook up on gig day. Huzzah!

After chatting earlier in the day, I agreed to come down for soundcheck. Hung around, re-met the lovely Jason (who was flat out from some weird stomach bug) and the delightfully cocky Eric. Also met the FABULOUS opening act, a Netherlands band (comprised of one Englishman and two Scots!) called The Bent Moustache. All truly decent humans.

Managed to convince both bands to go to El Furniture Warehouse (where I took Dan on V-day) but somehow, the bar had transformed from deeply ironic and slighly cool dive to some sort of weird, loud sh*thole. Hmmm. A serious knock to my cred - though the boys were all gentlemanly about how crap it was and happily said that it was the best "Heavy-Metal-Mexican-Sports-Bar-With-Peanuts-On-The-Floor" that they'd ever been to. Bless. It was funny, though, to be at a table of five musicians all asking the waitress to turn the music down...

Oh, El Furniture, you let the side down...

Anyway, spent the rest of the evening, bantering with the venue's staff and drinking the band's beer on their insistance - they had to drive back to Seattle immediately after the show as they had an 11am radio performance the next day.

Stonking gig aside, during which the band played my request (Forced Love from Bubble & Scrape, fact fans), I helped load out by carrying booze and bottled water to the truck then bid my adieus to my old friend Lou, poorly Jason and new friends from the Bent Moustache and set off into the night - full of Coronas, quesadilla and the satisfaction of knowing that being backstage is still fun and that it is possible to RAWK Vancouver.

xM

Back in Blighty

Prepare to be boarded...

...Dan and I will be in London from April 6-15.

We'll be spending Chocolate Egg Weekend with the Mother of all Generosity (Dan's mum Janine), the Sister Swiss (Gab) and Big Brother's Little Brother (Dom), then riding some sort of packed, toxic tube into town around Monday-night-ish where we'll be staying with our friend Suze.

Party on Friday, the 13th in Battersea.

Oh yes.

xM