2004-01-28 - 0:20

Ain't bad

Well, the weekend plan almost came together perfectly. Friday night went off without a hitch. After a quick supper, Laurie and I bussed to the NAC to see My Dad vs. Yous open for . . . As the Poets Affirm. I think that I enjoyed this My Dads set better than the first that I saw from them, probably a product of (a) me knowing their music better; (b) the band playing a longer set with new songs; and (c) the sound quality being a step up. The only snag that I noticed in the sound was that the xylophone started too quiet; but that flaw was remedied mid-song.

The headlining act was another Ottawa instrumental collective. Even though I seemed to be in the minority in the crowd, not being a blood relative of anyone on stage, I still left impressed enough to pick up a CD. The drummer was the most striking component of the group, tending to dominate when the band hit the full-on, noisy parts.

Immediately after that show ended, we rushed over to Babylon to see Jim Guthrie. Although this concert was Laurie's pick, she did turn me into a Guthrie fan after a crash course on the first two albums. This concert concentrated on his third disc, which seems to be the best of the lot. The performance was a little on the short side; but left no other cause for complaint. I even snagged the set list, my third such acquisition in recent memory (after Yo La Tengo and The Dears).

Saturday, we slept in before getting together with Loralei. With her work schedule covering all weeknights, we don't get to meet up too often, so that was fun. We all had spaghetti and garlic bread at my place and then caught The Corporation at the Bytowne. I was very impressed by the movie. It dipped a bit near the middle; but it really packed a lot of interesting and provoking information into the time.

There has to be value in questioning the dominant cultural institution of our time. I'm sure that the average individual living in an era of aristocratic dominance would have felt that it was inevitable that the nobility held power, that things could be no other way, and that there was no conceivable replacement for that system. Similarly, in our time, it is natural to feel that corporations must inevitably exist in their present form, that business must dominate society, and that there is no conceivable replacement for the current system. I found that The Corporation helped to counteract such easy thinking.

The downside to Saturday was that I did not make it to the the White Cowbell Oklahoma concert. Specifically, I made it to the club, but started feeling quite ill and actually had to bail (which I have never done before). That was a disappointment, for sure.

Otherwise, though, it was a great weekend. And considering that I have never before attended a concert in the month of January, catching two in one night is still above pace for the dull of winter.

And since Neubauten scheduled a Montreal show for April 27th, it's difficult to curse fate too strongly.

J.