2000-11-21 - 23:40

This next song is a fast one

Today was unexpectedly cool. I went looking for confirmation of PJ Harvey's Toronto concert, which I found: December 1st at the Phoenix, the same venue where I saw Henry Rollins give a spoken word performance in '98. Tickets go on sale Thursday; and I'm definitely psyched for that one.

While I was searching for that concert, I decided to check the local listings and I found out that there was a punk show going on at Carleton University tonight. Very cool. I recognized the headlining act, Satanic Surfers, from Maneesh's CD collection (and from a doodle that somebody drew on his cast after the plane crash he was in). I let him know about it and, sure enough, we were off to Oliver's Pub.

Actually, going to Oliver's was kinda funny, because it reminded me of another interesting night I had early on in my first stay in Ottawa. Of course, that night there was no live band, so I ended up sitting around a bar that was playing dance music, which sucks if (a) you don't drink and (b) you don't dance. Anyway, tonight I was much more in my element; and I had a great time.

You know, it is my new mission to never go to a concert without having the crowd laugh at me. I've started a good streak for that goal. (More on that later.)

I'll probably come up with a real concert review later tonight (or more likely, tomorrow), which I will add to the Tomes site and my Jambalaya home page. I do have a few comments for here, though.

For starters, I'll say that the show was well worth ten bucks. It didn't compare to the other amazing concerts that I've seen this year; but it was fun to get in a mosh and enjoy some music. I knew none of the three bands on the bill; but each won me over, to some extent.

The openers, a local band called District Seven, were particularly cool. I'll have to look into these guys more closely. A few technical snags brought them down (two broken guitar strings?!); but they put on a spirited show.

The laughter that I mentioned earlier came during the second act, Layaway Plan. As it turned out, these boys were more metal than punk. Inevitably, I had to let loose a little bit and give it my headbanging treatment. Maneesh got a chuckle out of that one; and he told me that a few people were definitely laughing at me. Heheh. I don't mind . . . I had fun! I had to tell Maneesh that I wasn't actually quite going full-out, though, which he found surprising.

The headliners, Sweden's Satanic Surfers were pretty good. I can't say that I was completely sold on them; but I had fun in the mosh. It certainly wasn't as draining a mosh as the ones for Rollins Band or the Misfits; but it was cool to hop and bop a little bit.

The downside came afterwards, when I found out why Maneesh and I never crossed paths in the mosh. It turned out that he twisted his ankle during the Surfers' set. That sucks. On the whole, it was a fairly well-behaved crowd, and I escaped uninjured. I'd say it was the standard knucklehead percentage; and most of the crowd knew how to mosh properly and they were there to have fun.

All in all, it was a fun night out; made even better because it was completely unplanned until early this afternoon.

J.