upcoming shows

this is my m.o. - i hear about a concert i want to go to, i buy two tickets, then ask around to see who wants to go. this tactic has left me with tickets to 6 upcoming shows.

april 4 - tokyo police club
april 17 - john mayer
april 17 - john legend
may 5 - ten second epic
may 18 - damien rice
may 26 - fall out boy

ok, so don't judge me on the fall out boy show. i think it's going to be good. outdoor venue, and +44 is on the bill too.

and yes, the two johns are on the same day, so i'm going to sell the john mayer tickets b/c there's no way i can go to two shows in one night.

my "buy now, ask later" policy has also left me with potentially no one to go to the tokyo police club show with. they're playing with the cold war kids, who i've heard about, but have never heard any of their stuff.

so here are my choices:

1. sell the tickets. shouldn't be a problem b/c it's at a small venue and both shows are sold out. i'm pretty wiped from work these days, so a concert on a school night would be draining.

2. go alone. i don't really have alone-a-phobia, but could i go to a show alone? when dallas green was playing 4 city and colour shows back to back last year, i did try and see if there were scalpers who had an extra ticket to the last show, but no luck. good thing i caught the first show. that was for dallas though, i wouldn't think twice at going alone to his show, but for a band i don't know very well?

hmmmmmm, dilemma. thoughts?

on a dallas related note - the live city and colour CD/DVD came out today. everyone should go buy it. the dvd was filmed in march 2006, which were when the 4 shows in toronto were!

random stuff

1. a homeless guy said i was as beautiful as the day. and i still didn't give him any money. he should have called me a cold hearted bitch.

2. the city and colour live CD/DVD comes out on tuesday. can't wait. everyone must go and get it.

3. facebook has taken too much of my time, i hardly even update this blog anymore. oh dear.

and to end off this random babbling.....

***Your Birthdate: September 22***

You tend to be understated and under appreciated.You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way.People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little.Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know.

Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true

Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid

Your power color: Silver

Your power symbol: Square

Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/

yao!

went to the raptors game with my roommate last night and they were playing houston. it totally didn't click in my head why so many chinese people were at the game, but it's b/c yao ming plays for the rockets! there was this guy sitting right behind the rockets bench who would stand up with a china flag during every time out.

the raptors lost, but scored 100 points so we can redeem our ticket for a free piece of pizza at pizza pizza the next day.

yao ming is 7'6" tall. he hardly has to jump to score. but it was pretty amusing watching him run b/c he's so tall and lanky.

a pretty boring post...........

public transportation

normally i walk everywhere. i walk to work everyday, and if it's between a 30 min walk and a 10 min subway ride, i always choose to walk. but because it's been so cold in toronto these past few days, i've taken the subway or the bus to and from work.

between the two types of transportation, i much prefer the subway b/c it comes every 5 mins or less, has way more room, and is much faster. but to get to work, it's easier to take the bus at the front of my building, than to walk to the subway.

i've noticed that there are also very different people who take the bus versus the subway. both days while i have been waiting for the bus, the other person started talking to me, even though i'm clearly listening to my ipod. i don't mind small talking with strangers, but it's after work, i rather not talk. but if i was to take the subway, there would be no way someone would strike up a conversation with me on the subway platform as we wait. do more crazy people take the bus? can't make that effort to go underground and take the subway?

so today after work, while i was waiting for the bus. the other lady in the bus shelter starts ranting about how the old shelters were much better b/c the sides went all the way down to the sidewalk, so air wouldn't come through and make you cold. so she asked me if i remembered these "beautiful bus shelters" she was describing, and asked me why i thought the sides didn't go all the way down. so i answered "it's probably easier to clean." i don't think i was being rude, but i think she wanted me to join in on her rant about how cold it was and how the shelter didn't shield her from the cold at all. nevermind the fact that she was wearing an ankle length coat, and the temperature was maybe -8.

i think i'll be taking the subway from now on.

concert count

#22: Chantal Kreviazuk (24-Feb-07) - Massey Hall

such a family affair. raine maida opened up for chantal, which was cool because i've seen him millions of times with our lady peace, but this is the first time i've seen him solo. he only sang one OLP song (innocent) and the rest of the stuff was new material. sounded pretty good overall, and i love raine, so it was cool to see him perform again. chantal came out to play piano on some of his songs.

then chantal did her set. i've never seen her perform live before, but i highly recommend it to anyone when she swings by your town. her voice is so clear and it was a really good show overall. i thought i wouldn't really know many songs since i've barely listened to her new album, but she sang quite a bit of the older, well known songs as well.

the other thing i liked about the show was that she talked to the audience quite a bit. i like those kind of moments at concerts b/c it makes a more personal connection with the audience. chantal kept saying umm alot, and she was trying to stop it, so she kept trying to replace the umm's with 'right then' because the british always say it in place of umm.

she talked about her kids and then at one point, between songs, her youngest son luca started crying backstage and everyone could hear it. so she called her kids out on stage and they sat on her lap and sang ba ba black sheep into the mike. it was so cute. then on the last song of the encore, her son rowan ran out on stage and chantal let her sit on her lap while she finished the last song. she whispered into his ear "you can sit here if you sit quietly."

one of the best things she did was for the first song of the encore, she came out to the edge of the stage, sat down with an acoustic guitar, and sang a song without a mike. because massey hall is a great venue, she didn't need a mike to be heard by everyone.

good show.

#23: Ten Second Epic (25-Feb-07) - The Opera House

i love going to different venues for shows. this was my first time at the opera house, and it's awesome. reminds me of the phoenix, and they both have similar rock shows all the time.

so there were 4 bands playing this particular night, but i only went to see ten second epic. marco got me listening to them since he knows some of the guys in the band, and it's totally my type of music. on top of that, they're from edmonton, so i gotta support the local talent!

they only had about a half an hour set, but it was high energy and fun. the lead singer was sick and had completely lost his voice in the morning. he went to the doctor and they gave him a prescription for steroids, and his voice came back. so when he told that story, he was saying he had roid rage and that his dream of winning the 100m dash is gone b/c he didn't want to be the next ben johnson.

their songs are fun and they're coming back to toronto in may, so i'll probably go see them again. their video is on heavy rotation on muchmusic right now, so i hope they keep riding this momentum. yay for edmonton!

ludicrous contest

i was on the subway one day and noticed an ad. it was from the canadian cancer society and was a contest they were promoting called 'driven to quit.' basically, they're encouraging people to quit smoking by entering this contest. you have to register before feb 28, and have to quit smoking for the month of march. after the month is over, they randomly draw a name, do a urine test to prove the person has actually quit smoking, get verification from their chosen "buddy," and ask a skill-testing question.

but get this, the grand prize is a car! a 2007 acura csx. and there are some secondary prizes of 32" LCD TVs.

so i'm all for getting people to quit smoking. i personally do not smoke, but know people who do. but to reward someone with a car or tv to stop doing something they personally CHOOSE to do, is completely ludicrous. and who's to say the winner doesn't start smoking again after they win?

what's next? the heart and stroke foundation giving away trips to people who lose weight to lessen their chances of a heart attack?

i understand smoking is highly addictive and a difficult habit to kick. but i really don't think giving away a car is incentive for people to make a long term life change. sure, they'll try to kick the habit for march, but after the contest is over, how does the cancer society help people not to start smoking again?

i'm sure other gimmicks have been tried before to entice people to quit smoking, and maybe i'm being too cynical, but i have a real problem with this contest. why doesn't anyone offer a car to non-smokers who don't start smoking?!

i know some intelligent people read my blog. thoughts?

check out www.driventoquit.ca if you want to learn more about the contest.