William Fitzsimmons

Don't be alarmed by the massive facial hair. He's safe.

LOL.

Last month, Jer and I ventured into Toronto one fine Friday evening to go see William Fitzsimmons in concert. We left a bit earlier, so we could go somewhere for a bite to eat. Along the way there, he decided on going to an oyster bar. I recall seeing that Oyster Boy was only a few blocks from The Great Hall, so we found a parking spot at the nearby Green P and walked over.

It was a nice evening and at one point, we were walking behind the great man himself! That was exciting for me, especially since I didn't notice. Jer had to point out to me that the "disgusting smokers" we were walking behind, was William and some other people I could only assume to be in his band (turns out it was his band manager and the opening act).


The oysters were delicious of course (St. Simon variety from New Brunswick).

Oh, yes. The concert was absolutely fantastic too.

We got back to Guelph really really late/early. Aka, sleep timeee =D

Kate Voegele!

So I was super excited for this concert since I knew she was coming (months ago!) and the date had finally arrived!

I had planned it out with my aunt that we would drive to the concert Friday night, but stop in after it was over for a good night's rest. The next day, I had tickets to the FoodNetwork's Delicious! Food Show and was super hyped about that too! What a great weekend in Toronto!

The concert was listed to start at 730 but it began at 7. There were 2 opening bands, Grady *something* and Michou. I had heard Michou before and really liked them live, so I bought their CD after the show and got it signed too! The guys from the band are laid back and great and it definitely showed on stage.

After the openers, Kate Voegele was up! I knew she was thin, but couldn't believe how much more than I thought. Anyways, she was great and it was an awesome show.

Here are some photos of the night.

More on my trip to the FoodNetwork Show in a later post!

Young Rival

I am back from Asia, and went to a concert this week!

I haven't properly organized my Asia photos yet, but once I get everything organized and remember everything I did, I shall post it all.

We went to see Young Rival Thursday night at e-Bar. There was a band before them (I can't remember their name) and Yukon Blonde to headline. The first band was nothing to write home about and since the concert started so late, I didn't hang around for Yukon Blonde.

Yay for seeing Young Rival all the time!

Hawksley Workman

To follow up with my claim to post Hawksley Workman concert videos that I took (see this post), here they are:

Piano Blink -




Striptease -




Smoke Baby (extended play) -



I may have already said it, but the concert really was great. He's an awesome entertainer and left us laughing all the way home.

Hawksley Workman

Woop woop!

Oh Susanna opened for Hawksley Workman last night. I didn't know who she was, and I didn't know who the opener was going to be beforehand. She was an okay act. Her songs were all very similar and she was kind of a boring act to watch. No expression when she would speak and always looking down and not at the crowd when she spoke. Not anything spectacular. Only polite golf clapping from the crowd.

The main show was hugely different. Hawksley's so eclectic, his show was fantastic.


He didn't play much (or anything) from his latest CDs, so it took some adjusting for me to remember what songs he was playing. I only fully versed myself in the latest songs. I should have seen that coming though, since he's got 13 years of material for him to pick and choose from..

Line up change for the encore

I shot some videos too, and will post them as I get them online!

Pork anyone?

I don't normally write about meat because I don't eat it, but just because I don't eat it doesn't mean I don't know how to cook it.

Most of my day yesterday was wasted. I didn't sleep Thursday night, so that I could catch the Royal Wedding. That meant I woke up before 7am Thursday morning, and didn't sleep again until around 9am Friday morning. And by sleep, I really mean that I was lying in bed while a flurry of people texted and called me during the morning. Needless to say, sleeping was not an option that morning, so I got up by noon.

Clearly, I wasn't going to get much work done...

I was also going to a concert that night, so I had to make an easy dinner. Not an easy task when there's basically no food in your house to begin with. We're leaving for over a week in just a few days, and buying groceries almost seems like a hassle at this point.

Pork tenderloin was on the menu, as I needed to get it out of my freezer. I tried an apple glaze on it, with apple jelly and a touch of balsamic vinegar. I didn't have apples at home, so I substituted carrots into the onion slurry.

Paired with a head of roasted broccoli and a chickpea quinoa salad.

Adam said that pork was delicious. I'll take his word for it. I very much enjoyed the salad. Mmmm quinoa...

Apple glazed pork tenderloin with chickpea quinoa salad

EuroTrip Day 15-16: Manchester

May 11
I had purchased my concert ticket for La Roux well ahead of time, and was very very excited for it. I had to take the train up to Manchester to see her, but it was definitely worth it.

I left mid-morning on the 11th from St. Pancras Station. The train ride to Manchester was by far the worst ride I had taken in the duration of my entire trip. I was able to read, play sudoku and look out the window for extended periods of time on all train rides except for this one. I could feel the headache coming on within 30 minutes, so I had to sit still for another 90 minutes after that. Luckily, sleep comes easily on a train - even on bad train rides.

Manchester is a beautiful city with a lovely campus. The church on campus, next to the chaplains centre was a historic building that didn't have the classic glass painted pane and detailed carvings like France, but had a old English feel to it.

The concert was starting at 730 but La Roux wasn't going to be on until 930. However, learning from the LCD Soundsystem concert about how packed it gets, I wasn't leaving it to chance, so I arrived at 715 to get in (the already very long) queue.

There were 2 artists before La Roux - Jamiewoon and I Blame Coco. I didn't like Jamiewoon, and I Blame Coco had an Automatic Loveletter type of emo rocker chick feel to it that I semi-liked. The lead singer also danced like Rob, which is very evident in a short video clip I took of her.

Finally, La Roux came on, and it was a FANTASTIC show. I enjoyed it so much more than LCD Soundsystem, because it wasn't so freaking hot and there weren't as many obnoxious people around me.

It concluded around 1030, and I walked back to where I was staying.

Note to self: don't EVER stay above a bar again.

When I booked the hotel, I knew it was above a bar, but I thought it would be quaint and I wanted the "drink then head upstairs to sleep" experience. Unfortunately for me, I didn't want to drink at that bar, and the sleeping part does not exist in this equation. I happened to get the room directly above the soundstage, which means I don't think I fell asleep until 1 or 2am. The saving grave is that I already stayed at Bordeaux, so this was nothing compared to the atrocity I experienced there. I can now say I have done the typical of staying at a bar, but I don't think I would ever do it again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

May 12
I spent part of the morning perusing the streets of Manchester again, as I walked back to Piccadilly Station. My train would get me back to London at 1pm, where the plan was for Nate to get me to go to Camden Town.

Fun fact: I was rocking out to I Blame Coco at the La Roux concert when Gordon Brown stepped down from Prime Minister in front of No.10. Conservative Party leader David Cameron was asked by the queen to lead the country. I was going to bring the newspaper clipping back, but I somehow managed to lose it. AKA I threw it out because I forgot.

EuroTrip Day 11-14: Paris

May 7
After a rough night in Bordeaux (see previous post, and read more below), I was so glad to make it to Paris to see people who I knew - my family.

I arrived at Montparnasse Station in the early afternoon, where my cousin Geoff picked me up. We took the tube back to his house, just outside Paris, in the suburb of Courbevoie. I dropped off all my stuff and we went to Champs Elysees get macarons and chocolat.

What a treat! The macarons are a stunning creation, which I am super pumped to try to recreate. We bought 2 dozen, to share with everyone when they got home. I was feeling dirty as heck from Bordeaux, because they didn't have hot water to shower and I managed to get an unclean room (READ: bugs), so I needed to shower PRONTO. All of my clothes were in the washing machine to get rid of anything nasty, so I was left with one set of clean clothes. I switched into those, and headed across the hall to my uncle's wife's family's place for dinner.

I met the last of the cousin on that side who hasn't been to Canada yet, and finally got to see the grandmother on that side. Never in my life in 3 days have I been told repeatedly so many times by so many different people that I am a cookie cutter image of my mother. Because I think my mother is gorgeous, I don't mind the fabulous compliment.

The rest of the night was left to call my mother and grandmother back home from my uncle's.

May 8
My cousin Flo had a university entrance exam at Versailles in the morning, so I accompanied her there so I could go to the palace. Her examination was all day, so we went back into Paris where I toured all the "must see" sights. Geoff was sleeping (it WAS a Saturday...) so my uncle took me to see everything. Espace Grande Arche, Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Musee d'Orsay, Place de la Concorde, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Pont de l'Alma and many many more.

Of course, all the sights were fantastic and breathtaking. My favourite photo I managed to get was this one of the Eiffel Tower. The unfortunate thing about Tour Eiffel is that they have the netting on the tower all year round because people throw things off from higher up, and there are attempted suicides all the time.

After a longgg day of walking and tubing everywhere around the city, we were dining at a one-star Michelin ranking restaurant (READ: YUM!). The view is also fantastic, as it is virtually outside the Tour Eiffel. Dinner was FABULOUS, I don't think I had lamb that tasted that good ever, it almost melted in my mouth... I'm drooling just thinking about it.

After a super stuffing meal and a huge dent in the wallet, we tubed it back home again and called it a night.

May 9
I went shopping with Flo and Camille in the morning at the la Defense shopping centre by their home. After having a yummy lunch of kebab and frites, Geoff took me to the Louvre. I found all the pieces I wanted to find (unless The Last Supper really IS at the Louvre)...

After the Louvre, we went back home where I changed and got ready for LCD Soundsystem at le Bataclan. The show was pretty great, but it was disgustingly hot in the cafe. I had to leave early because I was drenched in sweat and ready to pass out. I got out to the back and found it significantly cooler than up front row, but I could no longer see the stage so I just decided to leave. I also wanted to make it back home before my aunt and uncle went to sleep because I wouldn't be seeing them before I left Paris.

LCD Soundsystem rockin' out.

May 10
As it was a Monday, all the cousins went to school and all the parents went to work. Geoff didn't have class so he was kind of lazing around doing nothing for the day, while I decided to relax at home and catch up on internet life.

For lunch we headed across the hall to the other side of the family's where my aunt made us lunch. The cousins come home for lunch so I got to see them one last time. I said my goodbyes to them all, to the aunts and uncles and to the grandmother on that side as well, before Geoff took me to Nord Station to catch my train back to English speaking areas - London!

EuroTrip Day 4-5: Ghent

April 30
Leaving Amsterdam to head to Ghent, it took ALL DAY (as previous post explains).

I finally made it to Ghent to see Laura Jansen at the Charlatan.

Laura was a sweetheart, and asked in the middle of her performance where the Canadian girl (ME!) was! She came to chat with me after her concert and let me hang out with her for a bit. I got her to sign my CD and took some photos too! The concert was great, and seeing her perform was so awesome. I had a blast, and it was worth the 10 hour trek from Holland!

May 1
Since I was delayed 6 hours yesterday, I had to make up for lost time. I got up earlier than I wanted to, so that I could go to Gravensteen. The Gravensteen is a beautiful castle in Ghent, that has been restored and is set up as a tourist attraction. After touring that, I walked the long way to Sint Pieters Station to catch the train to Bruxelles.

Young Rivals @ The Albion

Kendra and I have been excited about going to see Young Rival all week. Hurray for the weekend coming so soon!

The first band was Make Your Exit. An interesting looking band (Movember attempts?) with a great sound. Hailing from Toronto, they have a jazz feel to them, with the incorporation of saxophone in a few of their numbers.

The Albion wasn't quite full at the start of the live performances, and pretty much stayed that way the whole night. But it made for a fun night of dancing around like silly to 3 really good bands.

The second band up was Birthday Boys. By far the prettiest of the 3 bands, the 2 lead singers clearly spent more time on their hair than the entirety of my time spent in the bathrooms on a typical morning.

CBC Radio 3 lists Birthday Boys as a band that has received recognition from as far away as England and Italy. They were the best band to watch perform, as the lead singers not only sing and play the guitar, but also dance along like crazy while performing.

Finally Young Rival was up some time before 1am. Late night indeed, but it was worth the wait. I've listened to them on myspace throughout the week, but the live show is definitely a million times better.

Another pretty boy band, the drummer was quite cute (there so totally IS a widow's peak!!), and the lead singer not bad to look at either.

A fight broke out about halfway through their set, next to where Chris, Kendra and I were dancing, which was quite shocking, as we were at the Albion. The scrap was quickly broken up and some guys kicked out, but the group next to us was quite big and drunk and starting things with everyone around, so there was a lot of shuffling about for the next 10 minutes. Sket-chyyy. Eventually it fizzled out, as most of them either left, or made their way to the bar to drink themselves even further into oblivion.

Being my first time at the Albion, I definitely had a lot of fun. The place could have been hopping a bit more, but it's always a fun time with Kendra! Not to mention the wickedly delicious quesadilla from Salsateria on the way back to Kendra's. Hurray for late night bar food, and sleepovers!

City Sirens

Last night, City Sirens were playing live at the Brass Taps.

City Sirens are a local band from Hamilton, Ontario, a group of fresh high school graduates who draw their unique sound from bands like RHCP, Incubus and The Beatles.

Kendra, Chris and Rob met up at my place for some pre-drinking before the concert. We sat around drinking watching SYTYCD Canada on TV passing time until the concert. It was chilly out so the walk to campus has quite the sobering effect.

Seeing as it was a Thursday, the Taps was rather empty. It wasn't difficult to get a decent table there, so we quickly grabbed that and our drink orders.

City Sirens live at the Brass Taps

Having already had two drinks prior, Rob stressed several times how he would only have one more drink. Right. Three rye & cokes and four rounds of shots later, he was still insisting he would only have one more drink.

It was definitely a nice full of silliness. The band was playing a slew of cover songs but there was no one on the dance floor. Kendra and I had enough to drink to want to go out and dance, but Rob wasn't quite there yet. We eventually got enough in him to get him out, and Chris followed suit.

Following our lead, people from the other tables came out to dance, and after the first set, the drummer and guitarist/vocalist in the band, Jake and Eric, actually came up to our table to thank us for getting people out of their seats. We continued to dance for their 2nd and 3rd sets and finally realized that we were the last group left in the bar. Hrm, that doesn't happen very often now does it.

The band was great. I was hoping they would play more of their original songs rather than cover songs, but it was apparently at the request of the bar manager. Probably to get more people to come out to it, to dance, and to buy drinks.

Not to mention the fact that they are super nice guys and actually liked talking to me in between their sets. Although we were all under very high suspicions that most of them were still in high school (I checked, they have all graduated, but Jake the drummer only graduated high school earlier this year).

Rounds:

• Tequila shot
• B-52
• Rocky Mountain Bear Fucker
• Liquid Cocaine

Highlights of the evening:

• Rob wearing the same shirt as the guitarist
• "I'm pretty sure that drummer wanted to BONE you and Kendra. Hardcore." -Rob

Thanks Rob. Thanks. ♥

Tiesto!

So the Tiesto concert was this past Saturday.

Jerlene came to pick me up early Saturday morning for the drive out to Toronto. We made our breakfast pitstop at Denny's on Hurontario before heading all the way out east. I got to Ray's place some time after 10am, where we did a little clean up before heading out for the day.

We went to Pacific Mall where we wandered around looking at random things before going to lunch. I don't know the name of the place we went, but it was a bubble tea restaurant, which there are many of in Toronto). The slush was pretty good, and the food was cheap so it was nice. After lunch we went to Vaughn Mills to shop. I got a really warm zip up hoodie and Ray got some jeans. We perused the stores to find him a high pop collar zip up to no avail, so we ditched and went to pick up Jenny.

At Jenny's, I met Remi, where she proceeded to "learn" me by smelling my crotch. Interesting... We left afterward, with Jenny, to pick Winnie up from the store. The next stop after we had everyone in the car was Sharon's mom's place for dinner. Kean, Sharon and Linda were also there for dinner, so it was definitely a packed house. There was lots of food to be eaten and by far not enough people to manage, but it was delicious nontheless.

The Tiesto concert was beginning at 9pm, so we headed out some time after 8pm. We needed to get coffee into Ray's system so we found the Tim Horton's by the airport and took a long break there. We arrived at Arrow Hall around 930 and found a massive line up that was starting to wrap around the building. It took about 10-15 minutes to get into the building, as the line was moving steadily.

Talk about obsession with lines: there was a patdown line, a coatcheck line and a wristband line. Then when you got inside the actual concert hall, there was a line for beverage tickets and a line up for alcohol.

The man at the wristband station was a total jerk to me and wouldn't let me in with my Alberta license. The house rules said either an Ontario issued piece of ID or a passport were the only accepted forms of identification. I had a massive fit and ended up yelling random smart alec comments around and argued with security guards. Eventually I found a security guard who thought it was ridiculous of them to not give me a wristband, and helped me get in line to secure my ticket to drinking.

The concert was absolutely amazing. Although the hall wasn't full to the max, it was more than enough people to make a raunchy stench as you got closer to the stage. Winnie and I managed to get very near the front - there were probably about 5 rows of people in front of us. I was surprised at how unwilling people were to move for people walking by. Even as we made our way back out, it wasn't an easy path.


Tiesto is HOT in person.

I've always thought he wasn't the hottest of DJs because his photos always make him lot sort of odd. But actually seeing him from 10 feet away really puts his pictures to shame. I really think he should fire his photographer.

Anyways, Tiesto came out roughly around 1130 when I was in line for my beer. Winnie went out with my camera to get photos of his grand appearance. I downed my tall boy so we could leave the designated drinking area and scope out a better view of Tiesto.

We left the concert roughly around 230am, and the party was still going strong, but we wanted to hit up Nuit Blanche before sunrise. We parked on Bloor so we could go to the ROM, but it turned out to not have a very entertaining exhibit. The Vanity Fair Photography Exhibit did not strike my fancy. I was expecting more intricate photography styles, but found mostly still frontal shots and actually a lot of drawings. The only photograph in that exhibit that caught my eye was an absolutely gorgeous stillshot of Princess Diana, just a few weeks before her untimely passing. We saw a few more exhibits before finally calling it a night. Winnie and I got back to her place at 5am!

The night was definitely a huge success. I had fun spending the majority of the day with Ray, since it's been a long time since we've had alone time together. Dinner with my extended family was a lot of fun because I get along quite well with these cousins. Nuit Blanche was definitely a whole new experience - eating hot dogs and going to museums and galleries at 3am. And of course the concert was absolutely mind-blowing. Steve Aoki is coming to Guelph on Wednesday of this week and I'm supposed to be headed out to that as well. I am super excited because these techno concerts are fantastically amazing. =D

me with my street meat at 3am on Bloor

Our Lady Peace

Our Lady Peace was in concert on Thursday of last week, as part of the Capital Ex (KDays) exhibit going on. Gail and I went to see them after our Thursday swim.

We met up with Greg and Mike there, but that was definitely a trip and a half, wandering and squeezing our way through the mass of people to get to where they were.

Eventually we made it to where Greg and Mike where, I think more than half way through the concert, but I got a really good view of the stage. I sat on Greg's shoulders for a bit so I could see, but I get the feeling that I really irked the people behind us. Sorry!

The concert was really good. The classic OLP songs are the greatest and although I haven't really heard the new CD yet, I liked the songs instantly. I'll have to go to FutureShop sometime this week to pick up the latest CD. And dig around in my basement for all the old ones too.

Coldplay

OMG the Coldplay concert was AMAZING!

I scored some last minute tickets from co-worker the day before, and took Gail with me.


Howling Bells and Snow Patrol were the opening guests, but we got to the concert a little late, and we also waited in line for t-shirts, so we missed Howling Bells. However, we got to see probably about half of the Snow Patrol set, and they were amazing.

Coldplay came on stage right at 9pm, which was impressive for me. I rarely know any concerts that go perfectly according to schedule. And given Coldplay is such a huge band now, the fact that they aren't the prissy celebrities that demand everything ridiculous on earth, made me quite happy. I loathe celebrities that think they are so big and demand stupid things for absolutely no reason.

The concert was absolutely amazing though. Coldplay sounds ridiculously awesome live, and the show was fantastic. They had 3 "stages". There was the main stage set, which changed 3 times over the course of the show. Then there was a miniature one at the end of stage, where they did acoustic-ish songs. The last one was actually a set within the crowd. It was in section 110ish, where they stood probably around row 10-15 and sang some most acoustic songs. Chris Martin actually gave his harmonica to one of the girls sitting in the row around him, after he was done with it. Lucky bitch! This 3rd set was in the section below us, so I potentially could have catapulted myself toward him and touched his sweaty body, haha =)

I'm on a concert rush, I want to go to so many this summer but unfortunately money is the ultimate objection towards this...