As previously reported/rumoured/stolen from msn.ca by us here at the ol' D rock train, former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden has indeed announced his candidacy for a Toronto riding Liberal party nomination; he'll be leaving his position as a higher-up with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. But, see, what blows my mind still is his stats when he was a player thirty years ago. Check it out: 258-57-74 record all-time with 74 shutouts, all with the Canadiens. Do you have any idea how phenomenal that is? It's unheard of! Anyway, just wanted to mention it.
MSN Messenger is sucking today. Just wanted to mention that too.
Like, really sucking.
A word from Smallman Records: "After spending years trying to convince everyone that Winnipeg is an okay place to be(good standard of living, great arts community, blah blah blah) we are officially throwing in the towel today. As we're shoveling through 10cm of snow in mid-May we realize everyone else was right. You win. We lose. Winnipeg sucks bum." That's from their email. I'll restrain my smart remarks in favour of getting to the real news: as previously reported here, Hamilton quintet The Reason is the label's newest prize, a band Smallman call "a combination of anthemic punk songs and great vocal melodies mixed with a slight hardcore undertone." I remember telling vocalist Adam White two years ago that The Reason reminded me slightly of .hopesfall and he'd never heard of them. I knew I was right! Anyway, The Reason are here in Ottawa Wednesday night(May 19th) at the Montgomery Legion Hall(330 Kent St.), no doubt playing songs from their upcoming Smallman debut Ravenna. C'mon out. 6:30 door time(I believe), eight bucks. Can't beat the rock.
There's also in this Small email a story by moneen frontman Kenny Bridges as quoted from the current issue of Alternative Press, but it's pretty ribald, so I'm gonna refrain from laying it out here. Go find the magazine somewhere and look it up. Great paragraph.
And now, some Floodgate Records email news, in bullet form:
- Cool Hand Luke's sophomore Floodgate album The Fires of Life is almost upon us.
- Mourning September, a highly-anticipated band and debut, have finished their new album; Further Seems Forever vocalist Jon Bunch guests on two songs, and the record is called A Man Can Change His Stars.
Essential listening for May 17th(happy birthday, Jen!!) is Caedmon's Call's 1999 masterpiece 40 Acres, perhaps still their best. Thoughtful, intelligent pop by one of the Christian scene's best acts. Will they ever play in Ottawa? I do not think so. *clutches head in agony*
Green Day(surprised to hear that name here?) are putting out their first album in four years; American Idiot will come out September 14th. Who wants to bet the title is a jab at President Bush? [aversion]
In support of their upcoming feverishly-anticipated album Miss Machine, The Dillinger Escape Plan are gonna be doing some touring, including two dates in Toronto: July 26th and 27th at Club Rockit. No word on an appearance in Ottawa.
Strongarm are rumoured to be playing Hellfest this year; that's probably nothing more than just that: a rumour, but man, that would be something else. I might have to hop a bus to Jersey if that action is going down. [hardcorechristian]
On the heels of Evergreen Terrace's amazing show here over the weekend, check out some photos of the band tearing it up in Australia back in Februrary. Diggity.
Weird. Over at chartattack, there's a picture of Blindside in the news section...but no corresponding article. Anywhere. However, there is a bit about Winnipeg's own burnthe8track and their upcoming album The Ocean, coming out soon through Abacus Recordings. This band is fronted by ex-Guy Smiley vocalist Derek Kun, and they're really good.
Not that I got a chance to watch very often, but Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey's Weekend Update bit was my undisputed favourite part of Saturday Night Live over the last few years; unfortunately, Fallon apparently announced over the weekend on SNL's season finale that it was his last show. Another one bites the dust. [relevant]
Evangelist Billy Graham was hospitalized last Friday after a fall that resulted in a possible hairline pelvis fracture; keep him in your thoughts.
Some movie news, because that's obviously what you come here for: Jim Carrey is apparently mulling over doing a sequel to Bruce Almighty! Awesome movie.
The first single from U2's still-untitled forthcoming album(due out later this year according to frontman Bono) will hit radio in September; this news comes after the man himself was in Ottawa last week, talking with Prime Minister Paul Martin, who pledged fifty million Canadian dollars to help fight the African HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Speaking of big numbers, NASA apparently found an accounting error - to the tune of $565 billion dollars. What? Are you kidding me? Look, I flunked math from fourth grade on, but I bet I could've kept the books a little better than that.
You know the big Ferret Records tour that's rolling through Ottawa June 12th? Where Zao is headlining? Another band playing that show is Scarlet, and they feature ex-members of Spitfire, one amazing metal band. So go see the show.
Posted by mike at May 17, 2004 04:48 PM