Blocks Recording Club Thursday Confidential - see you there!

BB is getting ready to play Blocks Recording Club's Thursday Confidential with Tomboyfriend at the Gladstone this week. The whole event gets going at 9pm. The whole event is FREE, which is fantastic, and it is co-presented by the amazing Blocks Recording Club and The Gladstone Hotel.

Blocks is a workers' co-operative based here in Toronto. Visit this link to read more about this important local institution.

For this show, Sheila, Jo and I will be joined again by the ghost of a drum machine. This might be a permanent haunting.

We hope you will join us for this special evening.

xo
BB

Of All the Things We've Made

A little while ago my friend Chris Korte sent me a link to the great History of Electropop series that some dear soul added to youtube. I made the mistake of watching the OMD profile before 'going to sleep' - but after seeing the clip, sleep was not possible!!

For those of you who aren't already superfans, OMD, or Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (a name they later regretted choosing, for its pretentious flare) released a series of innovative, dark, and unprecedented works between 1979 and 1983. Inspired by Kraftwerk, they were contemporaries of Joy Division, sharing with them a dark, bass guitar driven sound and a love of The Velvet Underground that placed OMD out of step with other UK synth bands of the era. Their period of greatest inspiration and experimentation culminated in the album 'Dazzle Ships,' recorded before the cookie cutter smushed down on the raw dough of synthpop. While some songs follow pop standards of verse and chorus, many of the tracks are tape collages of radio announcers voices and ship horns. It's the White Album of synthpop- with better cover art.

When I was living the musical life of the Littlest Hobo, touring with The Hidden Cameras, I fell asleep to Dazzle Ships every night. It's always taken me a long time to cool my thoughts before sleeping, but the combination of a nightliner bunk, a "sleep toque" pulled over my eyes, and "Romance of the Telescope" in my ears was even better than a bedtime Gravol. To the tune of the ship horns that open side two, I closed my eyes and imagined what the lights of the Wirral Peninsula might look like to the members of OMD. Soon the twinkling industrial scene darkened in the calm black shadow of sleep.

The procession of successive artists feeding on and reinterpreting a work of art is a testament to its greatness. A few years ago in Toronto, Owen Pallett covered side A of Dazzle Ships, imitating all the synths and samples with wood and string. It was the best possible tribute the the genius of Dazzle Ships, honoring the album and at the same time creating something higher than a cover- like a great director mounting a stylized version of Beckett's Endgame . While it's not the highest quality video, the youtube clip taken from a different staging of the piece will give you a taste of the experience.

By taking the sounds of ship horns and time signals out of context and building them up into a thing of beauty, OMD have punctured one of the illusions of the present. A time signal could be a melody, an accidental echo could be a call to a person in a far off land. The order of things is fragile and temporary, and the everyday could easily be quite different.

BB is playing the Beaver on Thursday for the 1234 V launch

Hello! This is just a quick note to let you know we are playing at the Beaver on Thursday for the 1234 V Zine launch. What is 1234 V? Have a 'look and learn' session by clicking on this link, but maybe not while you are at the office. All of the stories are true, and none are anonymous. Jo Snyder and Sarah Michaelson, the publishers of 1234 V, will be on hand to discuss the project and solicit submissions for the next issue. Jo will also be playing guitar with BB, and Sarah will DJ (Mama Cutsworth.)

In addition to my chums Sheila and Jo, BB will feature two super guest stars singing their hearts out: the now familiar Lief Mossbaugh AKA Panther Pants, and Stephanie Markowitz (pictured). Stephanie, best known for her film and theatre work, is a regular performer with The Phonemes, and appeared on keys with BB at the Tranzac last year. On Thursday you will have a chance to open your ears and receive the glorious sound of her voice. You can also wish her a happy birthday, if you are feeling bold (it's the night before the show.) Lief, who joined us for a tune at the last show, will be joining us to perform a brand new song I wrote with his powerful pipes in mind. It's called "It gotta man."

Please join us for this special night.

How to predict a tornado

One of our favourite comedians is Toronto's Kathleen Phillips, best known for her stand-up routine and for the hilarious short films she posts online. Recently, Kathleen created this educational video about a weather predicting dog:

I first met Kathleen in 2005 when Stephanie Markowitz and I were casting for the first run of our musical The Rat King. A natural beauty, petite Kathleen reminded me of Badlands era Sissy Spacek- until she stood up on a chair and howled like a ghost with indigestion. We enjoyed the audition, though I knew she had the part before we asked her to howl. Kathleen played the role of Carson Cannon in all three stagings of our musical.

Apart from the role of Carson, towards which I am naturally biased, my favourite Kathleen piece is probably Aqua Landlord. Imagine coming home to your apartment, only to find your landlord in the tub. Naked. Actually, you don't have to imagine it, Kathleen has done that for you already.

For more Kathleen, visit her youtube channel, her blog, or show her a little love on facebook. Be careful though- some of her videos will make you laugh quite loud, so if you are hiding in a cubicle pretending to work, cover your mouth with your hands, or maybe bite down on a bundle of socks so you won't get caught amusing yourself.

We put a tune up on myspace

For a little preview of the EP we've been working on with James Bunton, visit our newly revamped myspace page and have a little listen. The tune is called "New Job."

Happy Saturday, my friends.
xoxo
MM

When you hear the alarm bell ringing you better come runnin'

A big thank you to everyone who came to the show at The Beaver last night. We had a great time and it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces in the room.

Toronto has such an amazing art & music community, and Will made The Beaver a place where this community could convene, as well as a place where strangers to the scene wouldn't feel so strange walking in to enjoy an evening out, or even just an afternoon coffee. Now that Will has left this world, it feels extra special to play a show at the space he built, with that massive piece of art by General Idea hanging in the background (you can see it behind Light Fires in the above photo.)

Backstage at the Beaver, Sheila Sampath and I had quite a time trying to get into our elaborate fireman & engineer costumes, so we ended up not wearing them, but I thought I would include this shot so you could have a peek at the elaborate show-stopping looks we tried to rock for the evening.

Free show tonight at The Beaver

Tonight we will be playing a free show at the Beaver with the new band Light Fires. Who is/are Light Fires? Gentleman Reg and James Bunton. You might know James as the drummer from Ohbijou, or as producer/engineer to any number of your friends' recordings (if you live in Toronto, West of Bathurst Street, the odds are pretty high that someone you know is working with him right now.) We have been working on an EP with James as well, and he's pretty great. As for Gentleman Reg, he is a familiar face to readers of this blog. Light Fires is a departure from Reggie's usual material- more Hot Nuts* than Horseshoe Tavern- and it will be their last show for the summer, since James is touring with Ohbijou until the temperature drops and the leaves turn yellow.

Reggie will also be performing his special song "The Man in The Middle" with Betty Burke- and he's not the only special guest. We are proud to present, on vocals, for a soulful number from another (imaginary) era- Mr. Lief Mossbaugh (pictured above). Lief plays with The Hidden Cameras, and can often be heard singing falsetto harmonies on their tunes. He's also an esteemed Oboist, joining Regina's orchestra for the 2010-2011 season, after a successful run with the Saskatoon symphony. Lief will be singing a tune called "You Can't Stay Young." He may even bring along another special guest, but we'll keep that under wraps for now...

The show starts at 11 pm and it is 100% FREE. The Beaver serves dinner until 11, in case you want to come early to see our muscley arms pull the amps in. I'm sure a few of us will be tankin.'

Hope to see you tonight.
xoxo
MM


*Hot Nuts is a monthly drag party at the Beaver.
*Tankin' - wearing a tank top. Not me, but probably Reggie.