Some funny news in this morning's Ottawa Citizen: local DJ Jeff Brown was apparently kicked off the air by CHEZ FM 106.1 after playing - get this now - three hours of Stompin' Tom Connors on his drive-home show yesterday. Why, you're asking, did this individual take this course of action? Apparently because he's outraged that Connors - admittedly a Canadian music legend - is not playing the Barrie, Ontario edition of the massive Live 8 concerts happening next month. Word is still out on whether this guy will have a job next week. Don't professional radio stations have, like, producers around to control things like this? I'm still laughing.
There was a minor heart attack had here at sweetdisaster HQ this morning upon receving an email that "Blindside is apparently playing at El Salon in Montreal tomorrow night!" Something immediately didn't ring true; Blindside sold a large bunch of records on a major label once upon a time, and bands that big don't play the four-hundred-capacity El Salon. So I did some checking and sure enough they're in Louisville, Kentucky tomorrow night. Woulda been awesome though!
If you're going to Cornerstone Festival(I still can't believe a week from now I'll be there) and you remember Value Pac, two dudes from them will be playing in the Andrew Wesley band at Cstone, Wesley being formerly of The Aunt Bettys way back in the day. [IVM]
Canal Fulton is expecting like twenty thousand people this weekend for the annual Alive Festival - and one of them will be my cousin Renae! Hi Renae, when you read this!!!!
Some rap outfit called The Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. apparently guests on the new P.O.D. album. We're not kidding.
Word has it that Darkest Hour guitarist Kris Norris absolutely shreds. That's what qchc.com thinks, anyway, in review of the latest from DK, called Undoing Ruin.
They should've taken precautions, but c'mon, you gotta feel bad for the guys: Rufio had everything they had with them on tour stolen the other night in Montreal. Trailer = gone. Everything in it for their tour with Alkaline Trio = gone. It sucks entirely, and a big Screw You to whoever did it, but I did find this funny, taken from the Comments section over at aversion: "DON'T BE SO STUPID YOU DIMWITS".
The Militia Group has signed a band from Jerusalem - as in the one in Israel. Man Alive(also appearing at Cornerstone in a week's time) will have their debut Open Surgery in stores everywhere in September. A cursory listen to their purevolume stuff sounds like pretty much a slew of other bands in their genre, with a good melodic sense. I like this crew. Maybe I'll catch 'em at Cstone.
In another signing, some friends of Throwdown's from Australia, Day of Contempt, have been picked up by Epitaph Records. I saw DOC opening a mother of a Throwdown show two years ago and I was pretty impressed. Nothing original whatsoever, but they're fun.
I can't remember the last time we mentioned Our Lady Peace around here, but they do remain a longtime favourite(1994's Naveed still kills) and they're doing some newsworthy things. Firstly, they'll be opening for the massive Rolling Stones show here in Ottawa August 28th that I'll go to if someone bestows upon me a free ticket. Beyond that, Healthy and Paranoid Times, OLP's new album after three years between, hits this fall, produced by that Bob Rock guy from Metallica infamy, not that that really has an impact on whether or not the album is good. I bet I'll at least enjoy it. [chartattack]
Rjd2 is amazing. Go read about him.. Then find Deadringer and get lost in the beats. As if I'll miss his Ottawa performance(July 13th with Buck 65, Bluesfest) due to WORK. DOH!
A Chicago festival this November will bring out performances from Jimmy Eat World, Isis, Local H, Ted Leo/Pharmacists - and a reunion show: The Promise Ring. Wow. All the info is over here. What a bill. [altpress]
Lastly, in memoriam: Karl Meuller died last Friday after a year-long battle with cancer; every single one of you probably remembers Soul Asylum from the mid- to late-'90s with hits like 'Black Gold' and that monster song 'Misery' - Meuller was their bassist, and died at the age of 41. Rest in peace.
Posted by mike at June 23, 2005 10:24 AM