Rock Snob: June 2006

oh canada

The details of this Toronto Island mystery music festival are announced today at noon!

Lil' Kim is a free woman again on Monday! Ironically they're letting her out of jail early for "good behavior".

All-star line-up for a Leonard Cohen tribute concert in Dublin this fall. Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Jarvis Cocker are among the performers.

Kasabian's new single will have a World War One-themed video.

Torr has a great Q&A with Boy Kill Boy!

CBC Arts makes a fantastic Canada Day mixtape!

Saturday is Canada Day! You can celebrate by checking out a free show by The Dears at Harbourfront Centre (9:30). There's also loads of other Canada Day celebrations happening around the city. What's everyone else doing this weekend? Any suggestions?

There was a time when everyone would have loved to see Britney Spears naked (SFW)... but NOW is not that time.

I watched my first NBA Draft on Wednesday and really enjoyed it with the exception of Steven A. Smith and his obnoxious voice... apparently I was not alone. Additional props to my boyfriend for trying to explain him to me as being "the Tucker Carlson of basketball".

Remember how my cell phone died like two months ago? Well I finally got a new one (a Nokia 6682) on Wednesday and it's a real beaut! And because it has a sweet camera it means I can post a lot more pics and videos of my adventures and stuff on here! Yeah, I'm totally excited!

YouTube video of the world's most dedicated raver. Kinda brings new meaning to the phrase "rave to the grave". From Holy Moly!

Have a HAPPY CANADA DAY weekend everyone (even all you non-Canadians)!

the day after

I am feeling more than a little hungover this morning! Not too much music news today but I did my best!

The Strokes are playing not-so-secret show at the Natural History Museum in London next week. You gotta win to get in.

For those interested, you can listen to Johnny Cash's final album (American V: A Hundred Highways') which will be released on July 4th.

The suspense is killing me but in Richard Branson I trust.

The Organ play a show at the Drake tonight. I wish I could go.

Broken Social Scene are the musical guest on Letterman tonight.

From the Toronto Star a few days ago, here's a list of some "essentially Canadian music". Interesting.

Tomorrow (June 30th) four Toronto repertory film houses – the Revue, Royal, Kingsway and Paradise – will close. I'll be at the Revue.

I don't know who's worse... The woman wearing the "outfit" or the person who designed it. (NSFW)

What the hell happened to Lohan? She looks like my Grandma (no offense Grandma)!

Monkeys are awesome.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!

Happy Birthday to my awesome boyfriend!!! XO

Sleater-Kinney have announced they're breaking up. Shitty.

Goldfrapp have been asked to record the new Bond theme which subsequently has serious potential to be THE SEX.

Many of the big winners from Cannes will be coming to the Toronto International Film Festival.

Alex from Arctic Monkeys turned down a date with Kate Moss... at his mother's insistance.

The Killers declare war on emo. Best thing they've done in ages.

Jeff Buckley's life story is going to become a film. Oh God, I hope its well made or I'll be very sad.

Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips) has called Richard Ashcroft "a pompous dick" and "a worthless twat".

You can stream the new Muse album over on their MySpace.

OK, I have to go cry some more about now having anything to wear tonight.

can't shut up

I'm in a ridiculously good mood today!

Arcade Fire have recorded 15 songs for the new album the the band hopes to record some more songs with a full orchestra in Budapest.

Axl Rose arrested in Sweden early today for BITING a security guard in the leg. Is he trying to be like Pete Doherty?

Gwyneth Paltrow is writing and recording with William Orbit. Ugh, I knew this would happen.

Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) will have Kate Moss reading a poem at his wedding next month.

Three classic Pulp albums (His 'n' Hers', 'Different Class' and 'This Is Hardcore')are being reissued with bonus discs! The UK re-release happens in mid-August.

Perez Hilton has the hookup to that unreleased Chris Martin/Nelly Furtado track. What do you think?

"Beck has revealed his new album focuses principally on his love of hip hop."

Noel Gallagher admits plagiarism because apparently he's stupid and wants people to sue him!?!

Torr has a link to the new single from The Dears. Suweet!

Here's some Lily Allen songs I hadn't heard before.

Courtney Love's looking cleaned-up and thin! But still haggard!

Popjustice reviews Paris Hilton's album. HA!

Keith Richards will make an appearance in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Toronto is the most expensive city to live in Canada. Thanks Captain Obvious!

If you're in the city, this sounds like a fun (free!) way to spend a Tuesday evening.

world in motion

It's official. I've caught World Cup fever! That Portugal-Netherlands game yesterday was so bad it was good!

So apparently Babyshambles split up over the weekend!?!

The Ian Cutis biopic 'Control' is going to have a killer soundtrack including David Bowie, Roxy Music, Iggy Pop, Buzzcocks, Lou Reed, Sex Pistols, and Joy Division and New Order (obvs).

The tracklisting for the new Razorlight album has been released.

Art Brut want to play the last ever Top Of The Pops! Sign the petition to make it happen!

Decent review of The Streets in Toronto on Friday night.

Great review of the Broken Social Scene/Feist/Bloc Party show at Toronto Island that happened on Saturday.

Victoria Beckham recently paid a visit to "lovely" Winnipeg.

Does anyone use Skype? Is it good?

If, like me, you're going through a Quarterlife Crisis, this article might help you feel better.

warning! slow news day!

Former members of The Smiths (the boring ones, Mike Joyce and Andy Rouke), have signed a new record deal together.

Nick from Franz ferdinand won't be cheering for England to win the World Cup. Brave admission.

Kate Moss has slept with another Libertine. Dirty bird.

The Streets and Lady Sov play the Phoenix tonight while Broken Social Scene with J Mascis are at The Mod Club.

Victora Beckham's in Toronto. Here's hoping our paths cross and some of her anorexia wears off on me.

Pride Parade in Toronto on Sunday. Always a good time.

Aaaand I'm going shopping now! HAPPY WEEKENDING!

crazy in love like beyonce

Pete Doherty has signed a book deal. A "best of" Doherty's journals will be published early next year... Here's hoping he doesn't blow the £150,000 on drugs!

JJ72 have decided to call it quits. I was a huge fan of their debut album back in high school!

Graham Coxon is releasing a cover of Libertines classic "Time For Heroes" as a b-side on an upcoming (vinyl only) single.

CBC Photo Essay... For Those About to Frock: A salute to music’s craziest costumes!

Kylie's is planning to resume her Australian tour later this year! (The tour was postponed after her cancer diagnosis.)

Pillow Fight League 2 is tonight!!! Go cheer on my homegirl Sarah Bellum!!!

first day of summer and i'm sick of the heat already

Top Of The Pops, the longest running music show in the UK, is being cancelled this summer after 42 years! I'm really saddened by this news!

Richard Ashcroft was arrested for drunkenly storming a youth centre! So bizarre!

Luke Pritchard thinks his band (The Kooks) "could surpass Britpop". I like men with confidence and The Kooks but how dare he try to mess with my beloved Britpop!

Dirty Pretty Things are getting an American mini-tour to conincide with their North American album release... but there's no Toronto date. :(

Oh and just for the record, I'm not pleased The Ark aren't coming to visit us either.

Lou Reed, Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker are among loads of acts featured on a new album dedicated to "the songs of the sea". Johnny Depp is responsible.

Pete Doherty has a massive head.

Rivers Cuomo got married.

CBC's got a great feature today, "Hot Stuff: The best of summer '06" for those in need of direction to the buzzworthy.

Furthermore, there's an interesting article in The Guardian today about hype/buzz.

Sometimes I love Canada.

sometimes quickies are good

Arctic Monkeys bassist Andy Nicholson has officially left the band. WHY?

Pete Doherty has been fined after police in Sweden found traces of cocaine in his blood. I wonder how much money was wasted on last week's rehab stint?

Snow Patrol have rescheduled a their cancelled North American tour dates.

Pitchfork has a great feature on 100 Awesome Music Videos with YouTube videos in case you missed them the first time around!

Interpol burger = only funny because it's true. (Link from Ultragrrrl)

the morning after

Last night was the annual MuchMusic Video Awards. I don't know what to say... I can't believe I watched the whole thing (despite being put off by idiots like Massari and Simple Plan and Nickleback winning awards just because they're Canadian)! There were some good bits (Rihanna in general, VJ Leah's dress, Paris Hilton, etc.) but I think this summary of the awards from pop (all love) does it justice.

"'Sweaty hippies' join rock fans at Bonnaroo festival" - I do believe that headline speaks for itself. More proof that hippies are sweaty and therefore dirty, and rock fans are, uh, just rock fans.

Friday night in Sweden, just hours after leaving rehab, Pete Doherty was carted off a plane in an alleged “drug-fuelled high”. He was also later chucked out of a nightclub for starting a brawl. So much for the wonders of rehab!

Last week Rufus Wainwright successfully recreated Judy Garland's famous Carnegie Hall concert. How fabulously gay of him.

One of George Bush's daughters attended a recent Radiohead show and Thom Yorke was not too pleased.

Thom Yorke admitted that his solo album was born out of boredom with Radiohead. That's gotta make the rest of the band feel great.

Katherine Heigl ("Izzie" on Grey's Anatomy) is engaged to musician Josh Kelley. Geez, even I'm a little sad to hear she's off the market.

The rest of Canada hates Toronto... and someone's making a documentary about it... cos that's what we do here.

If like me you have no money but really enjoy drinking (in Toronto) then take a look at this! BEST NEWS EVER!

It's like a beautiful dream come true!

we stole the songs from birds in trees

The Kooks have been asked to support the Rolling Stones. Well done boys.

Speaking of, The Rolling Stones summer tour is still on despite Ronnie Wood checking into rehab.

Police won't let Fatboy Slim throw another beach rave in Brighton. That's the one rave I wouldn't tease people for attending.

The White Stripes have won their court battle against a former producer.

Kaiser Chiefs won 'Best Band' at the annual Nordoff-Robbins Silver Clef Awards. The pressure's really on for their next album.

Pitchfork gets the scoop on the Go! Team's new single and album plans.

Liam Gallagher caught picking his nose in a "hideous" pink leather jacket. Is that seriously newsworthy you ask? (I think so!)

There are rumors Pete Doherty is working on a solo album in Portugal after checking himself out of rehab.

Extra tickets for Reading Festival have been released. I confess, I was tempted.

Pitchfork's Music Festival Mp3 Sampler has a few worthy downloads!

Props to Janice for informing about the Oshega Festival in Montreal with tons of great bands performing including The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Wolf Parade, Final Fantasy, K-OS, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Malajube, The Stills, Lady Sovereign, Islands, Starsailor, the Magic Numbers, and many more!!

All the Toronto kids should check out Now's Hot Summer Guide 2006 for lots of things to get excited about!

Happy Weekending!

for a laugh

"Why dogs attack people... and rightly so."

I have to take my dog to get groomed. I'll make a normal post later this afternoon.

we should be making hay

According to Popbitch, a new Happy Mondays album has been recorded but Shaun Ryder's fallen out with his bandmates again so the comeback album/tour might not happen.

More drama at the White Stripes court trial. Involves nasty notes stuck to doors with knives!

A musical based on the music of The Ramones is hitting a stage in London. Who seriously thought this was a good idea?

Remember that guy who was trying to raise $10,000 for a date with Lady Sovereign? HE GOT IT! And you can read all about it on his site!

Liam Gallagher "busted" buying an interior design magazine. What's wrong with that?

Kate Moss will not face any drug charges for her coke scandal last year and willr etain status as "luckiest girl that ever lived".

Pete Doherty decided to get clean after a visit from Jesus.

The most annoying thing on the Internet. By far.

i didn't forget you... ok maybe i did just a little

Shit! I totally forgot to blog this morning!

Toronto's new opera house, the Four Seasons Centre, has its gala opening tonight. I want to find an excuse to go scope it out.

Ronnie Wood's checked himself back into rehab which might result in more delays/changes to the Rolling Stones summer tour plans.

Muse have announced a North American tour this summer. They roll into Toronto on July 30th at the Docks (poop!).

Pete Yorn is preparing to release his a new album 'Nightcrawler' which he says might be his final solo album.

"Bird Flu Dance Craze Sweeps Ivory Coast"! Gosh it's only a matter of time before this trend crosses the pond!

Screech has fallen upon hard times...

random

So the baseball game was frickin great last night despite the fact that the Jays lost and my friend (who supplied us with the VIP tickets) lost his cell phone. (And the fact that I never got to eat a hot dog.) Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed making fun of the players and singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". Did baseball suddenly become awesome? Or is just everything better in VIP?

True confession of the day... I think this picture of Bobby Gillespie is kinda hot.

You can hear "Hard To be You", the song Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) wrote for Carl Barat (Dirty Pretty Things), on Tim's solo MySpace site. You can also see a picture of the boys looking cozy (boytouching!) at a bowling alley.

HURRAH! Cerys Matthews has announced details of her second solo album 'Never Said Goodbye'! I can't wait to hear the new single!

Lily Allen badmouthed Carl Barat and The Kooks on her blog. I still adore her - and the boys.

PeeWee is in The Raconteurs new video for "Steady As She Goes". Much better than the old video - and that Brendan Benson sure makes an attractive looking hick.

The White Stripes royalties trial began in a Detroit court yesterday.

The Futureheads new album 'News and Tributes' drops today. I'm excited!

Razorlight's new album will be self-titled and hopefully not shit.

Charlotte Church reckons she looked pretty good naked. if she wasn't younger than me she'd be my role model.

The trailer for Borat! (The Movie!)

Polar bears are becoming cannibals. Not really relevant - just sad.

street meat

NXNE is over and done with and although I didn't attend any shows I can honestly say that I don't feel like I missed anything... Or did I?

Jon Brion has tendonitis... which naturally impedes his music-making abilities.

Kylie made a brief comeback at her sister's show in London on Saturday night.

Billy Bragg has pulled his music from MySpace. Could this finally be the beginning of the backlash I've been hoping for?

Nelly Furtado beat all the World Cup songs and made it to #1 on the charts in the UK! Well done!

There was a really great article about Mike Skinner (The Streets) in The Guardian on Saturday.

When Kate Moss vomits she's got Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) to hold her hair back. That's rock'n'roll!

After Dirty Pretty Things festival debute at Isle of Wight over the weekend, frontman Carl Barat went home with his Mum. How cute is that!

If there ever was a reason to watch the MTV Movie Awards this Gnarls Barkley perormance was it!

As if I didn't adore Anderson Cooper enough... He has fantastic taste in music too! Bless his heart!

I've been invited to go to a baseball game tonight... Don't tell anyone but I'm just going for the excuse to eat a hot dog. Seriously.

hooray for hooliganism

World Cup Soccer insanity begins today! I'm looking forward to the hooliganism!

Kasabian have covered David Bowie's "Heroes" as the theme music for a British TV station's World Cup coverage. I hope it turns up online at some point.

Chart's review of Radiohead's first Toronto show on Wednesday. I'm so jealous of everyone who got tickets!

The big news yesterday was that Pete Doherty checked himself into rehab in Portugal. Essentially they're just knocking him out for a week so he doesn't have to do it cold turkey but his lawyer says the treatment is "going well".

The Glastonbury spin-off "The Lost Weekend" has been cancelled. Tis a shame.

Gnarls Barkley have announced more shows including a Toronto date on September 9th!

Razorlight have gone into the studio with Ray Davies to record a new version of "Sunny Afternoon". Great song so I have high hopes Razorlight won't fuck it up.

David Bowie will be making a guest appearance in an episode of the second series of Ricky Gervais' show 'Extras'.

The Pipettes new video for "Pull Shapes" is so cliche and cheesy I get pink in the face just watching it. (That's a good thing!)

Keane are trying to prove to everyone that they're bad-ass by swearing a lot.

Torr posted a great link to Stylus' Top 10 post-Britpop (commercial) flops. I don't care what anyone says, I really liked Catatonia's 'Paper Scissors Stone'.

The Automatic covering "Gold Digger" = hilarious.

Aaaand have a great weekend everyone!

i'm gradumacated

I hope everyone has fun at Radiohead tonight for all those of us who can't be there.

Billy Preston, the "Fifth Beatle", has died. Unfortuantely his song "You Are So Beautiful" lives on.

Beck's finished work on his new album. No details yet but it's due out in autumn.

Kasabian's next album will be titled 'Empire' and they it's apparently sexier and naughtier (and therefore better) than their debut!

Stereogum has Razorlight's new single "In The Morning".

I see Muse are back with another wacky and weird album cover.

Morrissey once asked Linda McCartney to play keyboards on "Frankly Mr. Shankley" on 'The Queen Is Dead'. She said no.

Jarvis Cocker, Air and The Divine Comedy are all making appearances on Charlotte Gainsbourg's forthcoming album. That has potential to be the sex.

Mike Skinner (The Streets) limits himself to sleeping with only 3 girls a week on tour. Sigh. How hard it must be for him.

Kylie Monigue is Glamour magazine's 'Woman of the Year'.

Paul Oakenfold seems to think Paris Hilton is the new Kylie. I have to disagree (but I do think "Stars Are Blind" could be worse.)

The Guardian has a little feature on siblings in bands together.

Watch footage of a hilarious huge fuck-up at the Mrs. World 2006 pagent where the wrong winner was crowned. Bahahah.

6/6/06

Because it's not too late to throw some punches...

let's covocate!

Soon Canada will have its own equivilent of the Mercury Prize called the Polaris Music Prize. The shortlist will be announced on July 4th.

The Raconteurs have added some extra dates to their North American tour. Toronto didn't get any love (but Montreal did)!

The Kooks are stormin the UK charts.

Ricky Wilson's account of his recent hit-and-run is in the new NME. Serves him right for leaving a rock show early!

Doves have started work on their next album.

Ottawa's going to be quite the happening place this July with loads of amazing bands lined up for Ottawa Blues Fest.

Pete Doherty responds to the "bloody syringe in the airplane toilet" incident last week.

Lily Allen's new video for "Smile" is fantastic! It's a great way to start the week!

There was some drama in Canada on Friday... Some terrorists were arrested for plotting to blow up locations in Southern Ontario. Scary! I'm just happy they were caught before any damage was done!

I finally got to go to the Toronto Zoo yesterday (for the first time since I was like 7). It was fantastic! Check out Budi the baby orangutan!

I finally got around to renting "9 Songs" over the weekend. If you're into porn and indie rock you'd enjoy it.

I'm going to be busy graduating from university tomorrow so there won't be a post. I'll be back on Wednesday with a few extra letters to put beside my name!