2003-08-30 - 2:12

This fiery chorus

It has been a week of much hecticosity. Laurie got back in town on Saturday; so, after taking care of a few things at the house, I got together with her.

Her roommate moved out Sunday morning, so I lent a hand cleaning up the apartment in anticipation of a new arrival. The place definitely lost the majority of its clutter factor. After the clean-up, we got together with Aaron for a Gatineau trip. We walked the Pink Lake trail, which I hadn't done before. Good stuff.

While Laurie was on vacation, her computer went kaput. I narrowed down the problem to a best guess of "faulty power supply." Unfortunately, the PC was a compact-case proprietary dealie, which didn't even have the room to accomodate a normal-sized power supply.

Soooo, I ended up following the only logical course of action. Namely, I picked myself up a nice new computer and gave Laurie my old one (with a fresh OS installation and a few parts swapped around). I had been running the same computer for almost three years, so the new machine is quite a step up, although I have yet to put it through the paces.

I wasn't quite able to find the time to get Laurie's computer running before her new roommate arrived on Tuesday; but I was there for the move itself. As of tonight, though, all systems are go.

In the midst of that set-up, yesterday was the Bonnie "Prince" Billy concert. Very impressive. Will Oldham is a genuinely odd man to watch on stage, with his strange facial movements, but he is definitely a charmer. He delivered a great show to what was, I believe, a sell-out crowd at Babylon.

Billy played a solo set on autoharp and electric guitar, fitting in more than twenty-five songs, including a long stretch of audience requests. Included on the stellar setlist were "Ohio River Boat Song," "I am a Cinematographer," "Riding," "Nomadic Revery," "Sweeter then Anything," "I See a Darkness," "A King at Night," and "Grand Dark Feeling of Emptiness."

The definite highlight for me, though, was an amazing rendition of "(I Was Drunk at the) Pulpit." Previously, that wasn't even among my favourite Will Oldham songs; but last night's version ranks among the best live songs that I have ever heard, displaying an amazing side of Oldham's vocal approach.

As a fallout from the computer purchase, I reluctantly scrapped my plans to attend tonight's Bj�rk concert, which would have been a rather expensive endeavour. My concert schedule remains well loaded, though, so I am content.

It has been a rather full week, so I am definitely looking forward to the long weekend. As of yet, I have no major plans; but that could be the best way to have it.

J.