we never really knew eachother anyway
I caught Ed Robertson and Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies on the Hour tonight, and came away rather impressed.
The guys talked about how their forthcoming tour will work with a plethora of great organizations, as well as a ton of other things that they're doing to do their part (and probably more) to help out the environment. They also talked about the benefits of file sharing, followed their management's lead and spoke out against suing downloaders, came out against DRM, in favour of fair use, and talked with Strombo about selling their music via flash drive.
I'm still a fan of good ol' compact discs, but a USB drive definitely bridges the gap between a CD and a downloaded purchase. You don't get liner notes like a CD, but it's a reusable storage device (for a couple bucks more than the median price of an empty drive). And while it's not waste free like a download, there's extras that you certainly aren't getting on iTunes.
I still don't think much of their music, but if more artists dealt with the business side of music this way, it'd be a great thing. And, especially when it comes to the dinosaurs that run the industry, it often takes the bands that move units to incite change, so my hat goes off to them (not that they need that, as their millions of dollars can by dozens more hats. Of course they wouldn't, because the sustainable man doesn't need that many hats).
Perhaps that was all old news to you, but if not, you can check out the video here.
In less heartwarming news, the roof is coming down at the Plaza of Nations. Since the roof was deemed unsafe, this is in and of itself, a good thing. However, all of the tenants - save for the Edgewater Casino - have been told to hit the road, and the city is down another venue. The place always had crap sound, but it was an all-ages venue, and Vancouver is sadly lacking those. The city's said they're "committed to building a long term, permanent, covered venue," but with the glacial pace of politics, don't hold your breath for a replacement anytime soon... unless it's needed for the Olympics or something.
So, even though it was a pretty mediocre venue, you've got to have a favourite Plaza of Nations memory, right? Mine's definitely Beck on the Midnight Vultures tour.
There's still tickets to the original date (on February 7th), but a second Of Montreal show's been announced for February 8th. Trevor Risk spins to get you warmed up on both nights.
Leeroy Stagger is in UBC's Gallery Lounge on February 1st for the low low price of... free! Matt Hopper supports.
Matthew Dear is playing Lotus on the 31st (I think that's for sure now). This proves that Chris is almost always correct when it comes to these things, and I should probably take his word instead of official places like an artist's booking agency.
Brooklyn Vegan reports (via Billboard) that the reunited Police are rehearsing for their upcoming reunion tour at North Van's Lions Gate Studios. It's a bit strange to rehearse on a sound stage, but maybe it's easier to keep a low profile there? Even though Sting has used his solo career to completely obliterate the aura of cool that surrounded his old band, a warm-up gig in town would be pretty mind blowing.
Large Hearted Boy is celebrating his 5th year anniversary by giving away 50 CDs.
Since Rob is doing show listings this week, I'm going to take a page from his book by letting you know that Pinder updated.
now playing: Spank Rock feat. Amanda Blank - Blow
6 Comments:
Did I just get zinged?
By 
, at
10:07 a.m.
ha! thanks for the support
By , at
10:29 a.m.
Beck circa Midnight Vultures is also my most memorable Plaza show ! I loved when the bed came down from the rafters and he pretended to make love/croon to a woman on it.
By , at
11:40 a.m.
zinged? no way.
i just beat you to performing a public service.
By 
Quinn, at
11:48 a.m.
Yeah, Beck there on that tour was awesome. I really enjoyed the White Stripes gig there in 2003 as well...once I got the hell away from the psycho moshers.
And V Festival in Vancouver??? wtf??
By , at
4:27 p.m.
How about the Flaming Lips bouncing huge inflatable balloons into the crowd? Or the Pixies doing a reunion tour that didn't suck? Or the short girl that nearly ripped my head off when I stepped in front of her at Moby circa 2000?....Well, maybe that isn't my favourite, but it was memorable.
By , at
2:23 a.m.
