Guided by Robots ‘Glad Girls’—video

“Hey hey glad girls!”

More video wonderment from the ANZA Club Saturday night (Dec 15).

Several ladies got up onstage for a performance of one of Guided by Voices’ most beltable anthems, “Glad Girls”.

There have been drunker renditions with more people singing this song at past Guided by Robots shows—annual events featuring members of Vancouver band SK Robot with vocalist Kevin Perley paying tribute to Guided by Voices—but this one definitely captures the evening in all its celebratory messiness.

Word up: the song doesn’t actually kick in ’til about the 1:20 mark.

Video—Guided by Robots and friends, “Glad Girls”:

More Guided by Robots video—’Tractor Rape Chain’

Aaron Trory with Guided by Robots at ANZA Club, Vancouver, Dec 15 2012.

Number three in our series of videos recorded at Guided by Robots on Saturday (Dec 15) night, this one featuring members of Vancouver band SK Robot with Aaron Trory. We met Aaron earlier in the evening and were excited to find out it was his first night attending the annual celebration of the Only Band That Matters, Guided by Voices. He rocked it on “Tractor Rape Chain”, too.

Video—SK Robot with Aaron Trory at the ANZA Club, Vancouver:

This is weird—vinyl at London Drugs

Apparently vinyl has now reached a pinnacle of some sort. Even legal drug supplier London Drugs is getting into the act.

The franchise has begun selling records along with all their other electronics, CDs (remember those), DVDs (ditto), Blu-Rays and etc. So last night I saw this:

Back to Black’s Aja reissue.

Unfortunately, if I’d thought that I might save some money by getting my vinyl fix through a chain, I was mistaken—this baby was $37.99, and nearly all of the other records–nearly all classic album reissues or vinyl from Today’s Hitmakers—were in the same price bracket.

Guided by Robots 2012—’My Valuable Hunting Knife’ (live)

Guided by Robots at the ANZA Club, Vancouver, Dec 15 2012.

Okay, I’m getting around to this later than I’d hoped. This is night two in the roll-out of GBV/GBR videos from the ANZA Club Saturday night Dec 15. In other words, this is members of Vancouver band SK Robot backing Guided by Voices fans in the GBV-aoke portion of the annual Guided by Robots event.

We think one of the ladies is named Lauren.

Video—Guided by Robots with friends, “My Valuable Hunting Knife” (live):

Guided by Robots 2012—another rousing night of Guided by Voices fun!

Guided by Robots at the ANZA Club, Dec 15 2012. Shawn Conner photo

Guided by Robots is now in its tenth year, which means that for ten years Vancouver-based fans of Guided by Voices have had something to look forward to every fall. This year saw some changes, however. Instead of mid-November, the usual time of the event, it was mid-December, when people are busy with holiday and Christmas things. And instead of the ANZA Club’s cozy basement, the band—members of local indie-pop outfit SK Robot with Kevin Perley on vocals—played upstairs, where there is no pool table in the way and there is an actual stage and sound system and lights!

A couple of the band members seemed a little nervous about the move, fearing that the more “rock-show” elements might deter the faithful from joining in on the GBV-karaoke portion of the evening, and that the timing of the event might deter some folks from showing up. Me, I was a little nervous because the bar upstairs is way more limited in its choices than downstairs.

Guided by Robots at the ANZA Club, Dec 15 2012. Shawn Conner photo

Fortunately a good number, maybe 60-70 people were smart enough to ditch other Xmas plans for the event of the year. And the stage didn’t stop anyone, newbies and vets, from trying their vocal chords on Guided by Voices classics like “Gold Star for Robot Boy”, “Chasing Heather Crazy”, “Game of Pricks” and a whole bunch more.

As usual, there were a few repeats—the band had already torn through a substantial portion of GBV’s most popular songs during the two sets that kicked off the evening—as well as some surprises. These included the relatively obscure “Hey Hey Spaceman” (performed once by the band with Perley and again with someone named Geoff, according to the sign-up sheet my girlfriend grabbed on the way out) and “As We Go Up We Go Down”… I think.

Anyway, the night’s a bit of a blur, but that’s par for the course for Guided by Robots night in Vancouver.

I recorded some of the songs on my phone. Here’s the first; I’ll post three more in the next few days.

“Flat Beauty” (Guided by Robots featuring Kevin Perley):

Bruce Springsteen at Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Nov 26 2012

Bruce Springsteen at Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Nov 26 2012

Almost skipped this show but boy, am I glad I didn’t.

This was my sixth time seeing Bruce Springsteen and probably the best. Three hours of (almost) non-stop energy. Which is to say, “My City of Ruins” slowed things down considerably, but when the set includes “Streets of Fire” and “Darlington County”, I’m not going to complain. Much.

Anyway, here’s a few pics from the show, including a photo of Springsteen with a cardboard red-headed woman (a sign someone brought along to request the song”Red-Headed Woman”) where Bruce is playing with the articulated limbs, a photo of Springsteen and a Santa plucked out of the front rows (for “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”, during the encore), and the singer in the audience.

Bruce Springsteen at Rogers Arena, Vancouver, Nov 26 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patton Oswalt on Vancouver

Patton Oswalt in Blade Trinity.

I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Patton Oswalt as one of my least favourite interview subjects ever, only slightly better than David Cross but worse than just about any other comedian I’ve ever interviewed.

Anyway, this past week the AV Club posted an interview with the stand-up comic/actor about the various roles, from cameo to supporting to lead, he’s played over the years. The exceptionally long interview’s notable for about two things—the way Oswalt justifies his paycheck for Two and a Half Men, and what he has to say about Vancouver, where he filmed Blade: Trinity (2004):

“… it was a very troubled production. Wesley [Snipes] was just fucking crazy in a hilarious way. He wouldn’t come out of his trailer, and he would smoke weed all day. Which is fine with me, because I had all these DVDs that I wanted to catch up on. We were in Vancouver, and it was always raining. I kept the door to my trailer open to smell the evening rain while I was watching a movie…

“And he tried to strangle the director, David Goyer. So later that night, Ron Perlman was in the city. Everyone who makes movies in Vancouver stays in the same hotel [probably the Sutton Place Hotel-SC]. It’s like an episode of The Love Boat. Every time the elevator stops, you’ve got a different celebrity getting on. Like, [announcer voice] ‘Hey, now we’ve got Danny Glover!’ So we went out that night to some strip club [most likely Brandi's-SC], and we were all drinking. And there were a bunch of bikers there, so David says to them, ‘I’ll pay for all your drinks if you show up to set tomorrow and pretend to be my security.’ Wesley freaked out and went back to his trailer. [Laughs.] And the next day, Wesley sat down with David and was like, ‘I think you need to quit. You’re detrimental to this movie.’ And David was like, ‘Why don’t you quit? We’ve got all your close-ups, and we could shoot the rest with your stand-in.’ And that freaked Wesley out so much that, for the rest of the production, he would only communicate with the director through Post-it notes. And he would sign each Post-it note ‘From Blade.’ [Laughs]“

Ray Davies at the Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, July 13 2012

Ray Davies at the Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, July 13 2012.

It was kind of a last minute thing, but boy, am I glad we made the effort to see Ray Davies.

Originally I wanted to cover the show, his first in Vancouver since 2006 I believe, for my site, The Snipe News. But when the promoter (Perryscope) didn’t get back to us drastic measures were called for. Fortunately I noticed on Twitter that @weareperrsycope was giving away a pair of tickets. I RT’d, but knowing my girlfriend has all the luck (and more followers) when it comes to these things, I asked her to RT as well and voila!

We were on the beach (Wreck, but that’s another story) when we heard, so we didn’t have as much late-Friday-afternoon relaxing time as we would have liked. No matter; Davies put on a phenomenal show. He was backed up by second guitarist Bill Shanley (acoustic and electric) and, for a few songs, the opening band, L.A. power-pop quartet The 88.

This was the start of the songwriter’s West Coast North America 2012 tour, and I can promise that most if not all Kinks fans won’t be disappointed – as long as they’re not hoping for immaculate versions of Kinks klassics. Indeed, some of the songs approached garage-rock, with three electric guitars onstage for some tunes that appeared to have been, shall we say, under-rehearsed.

Still, Davies’ energy and charm, as well as The 88′s enthusiasm to be let loose on one of the best classic-rock catalogues ever, carried the show. Highlights for me included a rollicking version of “Where Have All the Good Times Gone”, a sweet “Come Dancing”, a sublime “Celluloid Heroes” and “Misfits” and even “You Really Got Me” – a played-and-covered-to-death number that I didn’t think I ever needed to hear again in my lifetime but which suddenly felt like we were witnessing the birth of the creation of the world, witnesses to the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle that underlies all rock ‘n’ roll.

Anyway. Davies only came out for one encore – “Low Budget”. We demanded more – I can’t remember the last time I was at a show where the audience kept up this noise level for this long – but it was not to be. It wasn’t enough, but then, he would have had to play all night.

The strange and terrible saga of Beluga

Dave Curran with Beluga at the Fairview Pub, July 7 2012. Robyn Hanson photo

Okay, well maybe it’s not so strange. Or terrible.

But Vancouver band Beluga has been kicking around town for over 12 years (at least – records show the group won a battle-of-the-bands contest at the Backstage Lounge on Granville Island in 2000). I’ve probably seen them as many times over the years and I’ll give them one thing; they’re consistent.

On Saturday night, Beluga played their first gig in awhile, though I haven’t really been keeping up and I’m not on their email list (if indeed they have one). I’ve felt a little bit bad for the band in recent years, because it seems to me they were one of the first Vancouver bands to embrace a Pacific Northwest sensibility with their name, only to see their earnest efforts overshadowed in recent years by the likes of Hey Ocean! and Said the Whale, two fish-oriented collegiate acts that probably have never heard of Beluga, or if they did thought it was all a bad dream.

At any rate, the reason I even care about Beluga is that the group’s drummer, Mike, is a good friend – I’ve known him over 20 years now, all the way back to when he and Dave, the lead singer of Beluga, were in another band called Water (who split up when one member went to form Sweaty Cheddar and another went to play bass with Daniel “Had a Bad Day” Powter. That’s Vancouver rock ‘n’ roll for you).

Also Beluga is, on a good night anyway, a hoot. Sure, the setlists have no rhyme or reason – they five-piece will follow a classic rock number, usually by the Who, with an original about Chewbacca going back to his home planet to get laid (“Chewie’s Gonna Get Some Action”) or Evel Knieval (“What’s So Evil About Evel Knieval”). And in truth their original songs often sound like they were born in a hazy practice space when anyone who might have acted as an editor was out buying beer.

Mike Herle and Dave Curran with Beluga at the Fairview Pub, Vancouver, July 7 2012. Robyn Hanson photo

Speaking of beer: on Saturday night, singer Dave mentioned something between songs about “the billion beers” that had contributed to his current form. Indeed, the days when Dave could fit into his Captain Canada costume (probably what you imagine, including cape) could be over. They’re a funny band to see – Dave is animated and a little stocky, Mike is thin and has a bushy head of hair, while the other three guys all have short hair and similar (fit) builds and say nothing, just studiously play their instruments.

But Beluga is still going strong; their version of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was a killer, with Mike nailing Keith Moon’s drum fills. I can’t say I’ll ever be a fan of some of the band’s originals, but the banter between Mike and Dave alone is worth putting up with ”Chewie’s Gonna Get Some Action” or “Golf is Like the Universe”.

Zig-a-Zigallery – Spice Girls Art Show at the FALL

Spice Girls diorama at the Fall Gallery Vancouver July 7 2012.

Before the Dukes of September show last night (read my review here) with the fogies at the Orpheum we stopped in at the Fall Tattoo and Art Gallery to see what the kids are up to these days.

Turns out they’re into their own form of nostalgia – remembering/celebrating the ’90s by way of the Spice Girls.

Vancouver nurse/gallery curator Christina Chant put on the show, a follow-up to Bill You Murray Me, another celebrity-inspired gallery from earlier this year. The idea is to come up with some Spice Girls-inspired art; everyone, no matter what their degree of talent, is invited to submit.

As with the previous show, Zig-a-Zigallery offered an embarrassment of creative riches. These pics, as bad as they are, don’t do justice to the variety and imagination on display, but they give some indication of the art. Not pictured: a two-page comic strip; Spice Girls envisioned as Futurama-ish disembodied heads; and the drag version of the singers, who were to make an appearance later on in the evening.

Spice Girls via Picasso at the Fall Gallery Vancouver July 7 2012.