I'm a liar, I'm a fighter, I'm a skater, I'm a Beatle

+ I got the Tranzmitors CD in the mail yesterday, which was licensed to Stiff Records. Who knew Stiff Records was still around?

We all know that Shane McGowan was in the Nipple Erectors before he fronted the Pogues. The Tranzmitors sounds like what Morrissey or Robert Smith's first band could have sounded like if they fronted a late 70's punk band. In other words, really really good. They are hard to describe. Let's just say the lead singer sounds kind of sad, but maybe happy to be sad. Plus they are super catchy, and that album art kills me. I guess you could call them power pop. Also, it's really great to see a CD by a late 70's power pop punk band sporting the classic Stiff Records logo.

+ I am heading to Broken City to see the Paperbacks tonight. I haven't seen Doug in a while. Surprsingly, I am missing the Weakerthans while seeing the Paperbacks. Tomorrow, I see Andrew Bird and Calexico.

+ The dirty bird sells a vegetarian chicken sammich now. I'll probably try it.

+ A. will be paying me a visit in exactly one week. I get to go many of my favorite Calgary places in one weekend with my favorite person in existence right now.

+ For some reason, I've had some posters sitting under my bed that I never bought frames for. Yesterday, for yet another unknown reason, I decided to change up the wall art situation a bit. It's fun. I have new posters up, and I took some down. Now I get to stare at angry Chiba all the time.

+ In a strange twist of Facebook fate, I discovered that my former upstairs neighbor in Montreal was roomies with the lady who runs the video store near my house.

+ My hillbilly neighbors were cleaning house and left all their broken junk outside. The crack addicts have been picking through it all day. Some days I notice more than others that there are a lot of really weird people in my neighborhood. I remember seeing drug addicts in Minneapolis and being really scared. Now it's a daily occurence and I am usually unphased.

+ On Thursday night, I get to see the Paperbacks. On Friday, I get to see Andrew Bird and Calexico. Then, the Thursday after that, Amanda will be here for five days. It's been a slow summer up until now...mostly just movies and hanging out. It's all good, though. I've needed it.

+ Apparently there is this Bruce Lee celebrity lookalike who collects cans for recycling money from the back alley behind Amanda's apartment building. The other day she said he was collecting cans while wearing a motorcycle helmet. I suggested he probably died and they replaced him with a body double wearing a motorcycle helmet like they did to finish "Game of Death".

+ I saw the new Bat-Movie last night, and it was pretty fantastic. I don't remember liking "Batman Begins" that much, but this one was so well-done and it the two and a half hours just fly by. I don't know if Heath Ledger is Oscar worthy like everyone says but he reinvented the Joker and did an astounding job of it. I like how they didn't bother trying to explain how the Joker came to be. I also like Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon an awful lot.

We saw it at Westhills to avoid the sound and projection that plague Eau Claire. We got sound and projection issues.

+ The Watchmen trailer is up, and I'm already excited. That is a long overdue film adaptation, and it's not looking to be too full of obnoxious CGI bufoonery. In other news, I think I'm seeing "the Dark Knight" tomorrow.

This is probably the oddest thing I've ever seen on YouTube. I don't understand. For some reason, Sham 69 is playing to a room full of children and older people, and enjoying every minute of it. Why are they so happy to be playing snotty punk rock?

+ While watching the Simpsons, I heard a really loud crash out the window. When I ran to the balcony to see what happened, some guy was trying to enter his underground parking lot and he must have forgotten there were two bikes standing on the roof of his car. They hit the top of the parking lot door, and flew off the car, smashing his back window and the bikes, too. Then I watched the very deflated and dejected car driver pick up the pieces of his bikes and put them aside as a neighbor shouted "Wow, that's gotta suck!" from the balcony.

That'll be expensive, when you factor in the smashed window and two pricey yuppie bikes. And his pride, but that has no financial value.

+ It sucks when you discover a great band just after they played in your city. Jeff pointed me in the direction of the Tranzmitors, who play fabulous '77 style punk and are from Vancouver. They might even sound a bit like a punk band fronted by Morrissey or Robert Smith before they got depressing. They just played here, and I had no idea who they were. Hopefully I have the chance to see them soon. That rainy city has been on my mind a lot lately, anyhow, so maybe I'll find myself there in the near future. My heart misses someone in particular, cheap sushi, Zulu Records, Scratch Records, ocean air, and now, '77 style punk rock courtesy the Tranzmitors.

+ Boats! are comin in a few weeks, and I'd be stupid not to check them out this time. I will be missing Black Francis to check out Boats!. I also bought a ticket to see Against Me! in September. This is very exciting. I will finally get to see them.

+ This week at work was very draining in a lot of ways. There were many highs and lows, but mostly two big lows. I give myself three weeks to enjoy the summer, and then it's time to plan the next phase in my life personally and professionally. I think everything is finally coming together for me, but it requires some big changes on my part. I feel like I'm always making change, but I'm glad my life isn't stagnant.

+ One of the advantages of being in a relationship with a younger, cooler type is that she can point out good bands to you when you are stuck in a rut of listening to pre-1997 music. She made me a CD before my trip to hang out and the song in the video in this post by the Black Kids caught my ear in seconds. It sounded like a sort of happier Cure. Then I watched the video and they were all young and attractive but play sad music. I like the odd mix of styles in their music. I was done in by their backing vocals and keyboard parts, and 80's throwback sound. And because the Black Kids are young and internet saavy, they released their first EP for free over the internet to hook you into buying their full length record and build hype. I plan on buying it. \

+ I had a pretty nice weekend. I managed to avoid the Stampede mostly.

+ Since I needed a haircut anyhow, I went to Chinatown in time for free Stampede breakfast. It was the usual pancakes/sausages/coffee or watered down orange drink. Then I went to the little creepy mall where I go for haircuts, and there was a homeless man sleeping and a Chinese lady who was around 4 feet tall . She started yelling something at me in Cantonese, and I kind of shrugged my shoulders and she yelled it again. Then she kicked the sleeping homeless bum in the foot and started yelling at him in Cantonese. It was pretty amazing. After my haircut, I noticed she had actually woken him up to give him a plate of pancakes and sausages.

+ I saw the older version of Emo Phillips again. I also saw around 800 skanky cowgirls, a bunch of cologne-bathed jocks and other confused tourists. I hate tourist season. You really can't tell the homeless people from the tourist riff raff this ime of year. I just feel bad that the bums probably can't find benches to sleep on because they'd have to fight the drunks for them.

+ I stopped by to say hello to Toby at the library, and walked out with a stack of CDs and DVDs. I grabbed a CD of Jonathan Richman which features a bunch of songs he did last week at Sled Island. I never thought to check him out before that, but now I'm hooked. I think you have to see his stage persona to properly enjoy his music. The CD is fantastic. I've been listening to a lot of Joy Division this week, too. You'd think I was depressed, but I'm not in the least. They're one of those bands I've been meaning to check out, I guess. I wish they'd come out with a remastered CD with all the singles on it.

+ Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to talk about this. I saw this dude at Sled Island who was wearing an 80's style sleeveless t-shirt. It had the album art for Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures" album printed in rainbow ink. It was very, very strange. Ian Curtis was not sexually gay, nor was he gay in the more traditional happy sense of the word. Joy Division and rainbows really don't go together at all.

+ I just realized I've been officially unsingle for an entire month! Which is odd, because in my case, not being single means doing a lot of the stuff I used to do and being alone but having way more phone conversations and MSN conversations. But still, it's kind of strange to not be single any more. And pleasant. And I swear, I don't just sit around listening to power ballads all day. HONEST!

+ I barbecued tandoori chicken yesterday, and it turned out crazy delicious. It's from a mix from some Indian grocery store in the middle of nowhere. I wonder where else I can buy it?

+ I am obnoxiously tired lately and way behind on movies, but way ahead on music. I am also already enjoying summer a lot.

+ All the Stampede crap is out in full force. The rides are up at the fairgrounds, and all the buildings have tacky murals and are advertising free breakfasts. Does it make sense that I hate AND love the Calgary Stampede? I love the free food during Stampede season and the obnoxious flashing lights and smells at the Stampede grounds. I hate that this city turns into a huge meat market complete with cologne-drenched jocks and girls with short skirts, revealing tops and fake boobs.

+ It looked like we were in for a serious storm for a minute there, but I think we avoided and just got rain.

+ I used to know this fellow in Montreal named David Martel. Big surprise: he's a good friend of Fiona. I guess his band broke up and he went solo and his new record is getting good reviews. I just ordered it. I like buying the things my friends put out. I know they put hard work into it. Which reminds me, I need to buy the Proof trade paperback, too.

This is a hint of what I was up against last night. Unabashed weirdness meets freaky new wave beats from Athens, Georgia.

+ I would have never thought to pay for to see Of Montreal, and I mostly went in for a closer look because it seemed like the thing to do. I stayed up at the stage for the entire thing! First of all, they were musically fun and original. However, they also made good use of masks, costumes, exploding glitter balloons and confetti guns. I think the enjoyable part was the element of surprise, and the surreal quality the stage antics had. I actually bought a CD right after they finished. It's not often a performance makes me immediately go back and buy a CD.

+ I was worried about the musical performance abilities of the older more mature version of Wire, but they were solid. Really, really tight and loud. Sure, the vocals were a little weaker and they looked a little ragged, but they still managed to remind me why I love Wire so much. Also, Colin Newman seemed like the nicest guy. I shouldn't be surprised. Wire were never angry punks, they were artistic punks. Oddly enough, the new songs were all really good and sounded a lot like the old Wire.

PS. If you've never heard Wire, pick up "Pink Flag" and "Chairs Missing" and then try to tell me they aren't influential.

+ Jonathan Richman started off with a small crowd of devoted onlookers and wound up with a huge crowd who needed to see what he was all about. I like the Modern Lovers and knew nothing of his solo stuff, but he was instantly a hit with me. The guy is having so much fun on stage that you can't help but enjoy it or be entranced by his hilarious but bizarre dance moves. I'd imagine he was a big influence on the Violent Femmes. There was a lot of similarities. I also want to watch "There's Something About Mary" again just to see his parts.

+ There was a scenester with a strange half-sized skateboard. That was really weird.

+ While on the C-train today, I saw an elderly version of Emo Phillips! He was around 90 years old and had the hairstyle (which could have also belonged to Nardwuar or Javier Bardem), and a red plaid shirt. He got on the train, said something to a young lady, and then fell down and had to be picked up. I didn't catch what he said because I was wandering through the iPod forest, but I'm pretty sure it was "Hey, hot mamma!"

+ WIRE! WIRE! WIRE! WIRE! TOMORROW! And also, right now via an amazing clip from 1979.

+ Recently, Amanda and I figured out that we were both at the Bonaduces reunion show. I can't remember if that was 2001 or 2002, but it's when we both lived in Winnipeg. That was one of the best shows of my life. I wonder if she was one of the scenester girls I admired from afar that night? Probably. I wonder if she served me coffee and I had a coffee server crush on her? Probably not. I only went to that coffee shop a handful of times.

+ Plans for the future include: move to Athens, Georgia, start a band, buy an eyepatch and grow my hair to look like the guitar player from the Buzzcocks.

+ My copy of the Voice of the Mysterons CD arrived today, and I am thrilled. Naturally, being a huge Blaster the Rocket Boy fan, I was totally excited to find out about this and the wait has been crazy. So far, I don't like it as much as "Succulent Space Food For Teething Vampires" but more than "the Monster Who Ate Jesus". It's weird. The trademark Otto vocals are there, but musically, they remind me of an angry NoMeansNo or Blenderhead with long song titles and sci-fi lyrics. It's fast and bass-heavy with those crazy Jello Biafra-ish vocals. I can't wait to listen to this many more times.

+ On the way home from work, I noticed a man passed out in the parking lot across from my building. I thought he might be dead, but then he stirred and I figured all was well. When I was using my barbecue on the balcony, someone had called the ambulance and they showed up to tend to him. It was crazy. I guess I'm so used to people passing out in my neighborhood that I don't call the ambulance.

+ I am counting down the days until Fiona arrives and then we get to see Wire. This is going to be a super fun weekend, I can already tell.

+ I stumbled on a website about "sustainability" (being able to keep up our fat, bloated, richie lifestyles when the economy can be a bit of a yoyo, especially lately) that I particularly like. I don't think I've ever been so aware of this concept since I moved to Calgary where a lot of people have craploads of cash from oil money, and live as though the big crashes that have happened in the oil industry in the past will never happen again.

With oil prices shooting up, I get scared when I see no one wants to be bothered to change their lifestyles. It seems like we get stuck in a cycle of useless spending (myself included). People feel entitled to spend a lot of money on a lot of things, and they claim they deserve it and get made when they don't get the money they feel they deserve. I've been flat broke, and I don't feel I deserved it, but it was just something that happened to me. Money comes and goes. Anyone can go broke. The key is to find happiness in the dumb little things. Just be happy you can eat and sleep and have people that love you. One of those dumb little things could also be sharing your old stuff and resources with people who don't have much. People did that with me in the past. They bought me lunches and gave me stuff when I had nothing, and I always appreciated it.

And while you're at it, don't forget to buy those canvas grocery bags.

+ I bought my ticket for the mainstage of Sled Island next Saturday. I really struggled with the decision, but I'm happy I'm going. Where else am I going to see bands like Mogwai, Of Montreal, Johnathan Richman and Wire in Calgary? I am particularly looking forward to seeing Wire. I believe it was Jeff who pressured me into buying "Pink Flag", and I never regretted it. I still need to buy "Chairs Missing" and "154". I've had them in my hand with the intention to purchase on many occassions and never did it. It'll probably happen.

+ I bought a new pair of shorts and today will be my first chance to wear them. I think summer weather is actually here now.

+ When I switched to a cellphone, my plan came with call display and all that crap. I can finally avoid telemarketers and phone surveys! It's great! They can call, but I don't have to pick up. I also like the option of making a wallpaper for it, making a ringtone. Right now I've got the final fight music from "the Karate Kid".

+ I have Stampede Breakfast on the brain lately. I have to try to get to at least a few again this year. We might do one at work, but there's always a couple around the neighborhood or over the bridge. It's great. You can have free breaky the entire Stampede week. Sadly, Stampede also means lots of whore-y women and sick jocky men trying to "hook up". I may try to see the Superdogs again.

+ This work at week has been super relaxed. We've taken walks to get sun, and today we went and got Tubby Dog. Tomorrow we're meeting my friend at another office for Edo. We also bought popsicles made with juice today, then passed them out to coworkers because there is no freezer at work. People love popsicles. Everyone was happy to get a free popsicle.

man 1: i'm sorry! i'm so sorry!


man 2: an apology just isn't good enough.


man 1: but i'm really really sorry. please forgive me.


man 2: look, i don't know what to say here. there's really just no excuse for touching another man's balls.


man 1: well, i gave you my explanation. i said that i was sorry and i meant it. i just don't know what the next step is here.


man 2: i think you'd better leave or i'm calling the cops.

(I would have seriously paid money to hear man 1's explanation, or to find out what exactly happened to initiiate the conversaiton.)