Morning, kids. sweetdisaster Big Cheese's sleep schedule is well and truly trashed, so it's a tossup whether his first night at Pearson Canada Solutions will be a rest-deprived disaster(no pun intended) or not. Who knows. Isn't the building square, squat and cute, though??
Brampton's own Moneen were scheduled to make a record this past summer - they didn't. Instead, however, they instead wound up making an impromptu documentary called The Start To This May Be The End To Another that's coming soon. Check out a teaser over here. [bedlam]
This is a bit of a shocker: frontman Jimmy has decided to leave Haste the Day; his last show with the band he's done vocals with for four years will go down December 30th in the band's hometown of Indianapolis. "Before anyone jumps to any conclusions, it was my own decision," he said in a statement on the band's myspace page. " I feel like this chapter in my life is coming to a close and it is time for me to move on. The guys in my band are my best friends and my brothers and my decision to leave has been a difficult one." Never has a guy who sounded so much like Zao's Dan Weyandt still impressed me so much. Good luck to HTD as they find a replacement. [IVM]
Picked up the new No Innocent Victim, To Burn Again, over the weekend, and it's one masterful slice of no-nonsense hardcore. Recommended to fans of bands like Terror, Figure Four and the like that grew up on NIV. Expect a glowing review here at the Big D sometime in future.
Pittsburgh metal kids Demise of Eros have signed with Strikefirst; you can get a preview over here. They've got some work to do, but promise is indeed shown. Some sweet breakdown action in 'Truth Unlived'.
Even I have to admit as a dedicated fan, U2 frontman Bono sure sounds a little pompous saying things like he thinks their songs occupy "an emotional terrain that didn't exist before our group did." Well then. This article says the singer hopes his band is remembered more for their music than his own activism come a hundred years from now - hoping, obviously, that the problems he raises awareness for will have ceased to be by then. Whatever happens, this Friday will find sweetdisaster's chief rockin' out with some friends at the U2 show here in Ottawa. Woohoo! [rockrebel]
Switchfoot are playing Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight, November 22nd. Too bad I'll be at work. I'll have to find it online tomorrow.
I remember seeing this band at a high school here in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven(south side!) and watching singer Jason Dunn dunk his head in a bucket of ice water. And now, they're doing this, and touring with the likes of Newsong and Toby Mac. Wow.
The guitarist credited with inventing the power chord, Link Wray, died at 76 a couple of weeks ago(yeah, we're slow on the uptake sometimes). Wray passed in his home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Apparently he achieved the fuzzed-out sound that birthed thousands and thousands of crap bands(and some very good ones) by purposely punching holes in the speakers of his amps. Innovative! [MTV]
Tommy Boy Records is doing their 25th anniversary(25!) in style, releasing a total of twelve CD retrospectives; the first four are in stores now, with two more installments of four to follow on January 24th and March 7th. It would take forever to list who's all included, but this label is one of the pillars of hiphop, so you can pretty much take a shot in the dark and make a hit on anyone. The compilations as a whole are called Hip Hop Essentials 1979-1991. Those dates seem kinda fishy...
In what has to be a first, the entire good state of Texas has sued Sony/BMG over their foiled embedded-XCP-spyware scheme that was outed last week. Houston-based Attorney General Greg Abbott had this to say: "Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak-and-dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers." Yeah, I'd say that pretty much covers it. Thievery! Secrecy! Big Brothery!!
How come aversion's funniest stories always seem to be from here in Ontario? Like, say, this one. Geez!
After three years off, Silverchair are getting together to record again. The next studio project could see the light of day late next year or early 2007(it might seem like a long time, but really it's not). Diorama, the band's last album(2002) was well-received in their homeland of Australia, but not really anyplace else - we here at sd.com have heard raves about it, particularly from Underoath, among others. With singer Daniel Johns apparently overcoming his various health problems, things seem to be a go. [chartattack]
The new Harry Potter flick ka-chinged over a hundred million bucks in the biggest non-holiday opening of all time. I personally have seen none of the movies, nor ready any of the books. Sue me. Meanwhile, the Johnny Cash movie that I actually wanna see took in a modest $22 million. [Relevant]
I hope I can watch this, because it's been a long time since I've gotten to watch The Late Show with David Letterman on a regular basis, and at least that long that he's been begging Oprah to appear on the show. She's finally accepted, and will make her bow on TLS December 1st. How 'bout that. Their little feud goes back ten years when Dave hosted the Academy Awards and made some snide remarks about Oprah, or as I call her, The Ope.
I don't care who says what: competitive eating is not a sport. Take it away from me.
Christina Aguilera got married over the weekend. I don't care. And furthermore, I predict it'll last about as long as Britney Spears' soon-to-end marriage. G'head, Dirt Princess, prove me wrong. I dare you.
We mentioned Underoath a couple minutes ago - apparently they played 'Reinventing Your Exit' at the Flower15 Booking anniversary week in Chicago recently for "the first time in months". This explains why they didn't play it on the Thrice tour. Yes. [AP]
The third leg of From Autumn to Ashes' tour supporting Abandon Your Friends has been announced:
12/01 - Indianapolis, IN - Emerson Theatre
12/02 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
12/03 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Ballroom
12/04 - Milwaukee, WI - The Eagles Club
12/05 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Club
12/06 - Sauget, IL - Pop's
12/07 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogarts
12/09 - Rochester, NY - Penny Arcade
12/10 - Toronto, ONT - Opera House
12/11 - Montreal, QUE - La Tulipe
12/12 - Winooski, VT - Higher Ground
12/13 - Poughkeepsie, NY - The Chance
12/14 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts
12/15 - Boston, MA - Axis
Openers are Emery, FATA side gig Biology and Classic Case, and no, it isn't hitting Ottawa. Bummer.