2006-01-17 - 1:15

On concert plans and politics

Some missed opportunities combined with the usual December lull has added up to a two month gap since I last saw a concert. Fortunately, things are picking up, starting with Feist on Thursday, who managed to sell out the Capital Music Hall. That's probably not a surprise, considering the huge reaction that she received when she was last in that club, taking the stage with Broken Social Scene in October.

The last concert that I caught before this long hiatus was Controller.Controller, who return at the start of February, opening for OK Go. This would be my fifth time seeing C.C, and they've always been great, whether opening or headlining. I didn't compile a best-of list for last year, but their X-Amounts release would certainly have warranted mention. (I think that Laurie may have won me over with Wolf Parade for my top pick.)

One of my big misses last year was not catching the New Pornographers and Destroyer in Montreal. As it turns out, I'm planning to see both bands in Montreal this March, although on different tours. The New Pornographers are opening for Belle & Sebastian, while Destroyer will set the stage for Magnolia Electric Co.

As far as distant plans go, I also have second row tickets for Alice Cooper in May, which feels like a long way away on a day like this one, when it's twenty degrees below zero.

Actually, the weather can't make its mind up lately, so I respond accordingly. When it warmed up last week, I made it downtown to see Capote, which I enjoyed a lot. When the cold snap returned on the weekend, my entertainment was confined to gawking out the window at the fifteen discarded Christmas trees that someone rounded up from the neighbourhood and stuck in my neighbour's snowy lawn. Well, okay, I did play some Mario Party 7, as well, but that also required no exposure to the outside.

I haven't talked about the federal election here but with only a week to go, it's looking like people are finally going to vote out the Liberals. Yay! They had some good beats back in the day--I voted for them the first two elections that I was eligible, mainly for their budgetary success--but I'm hoping to see them get tossed now. After voting Green last time, the Conservatives definitely have my vote this election.

From my perspective, the Conservatives are better than the Liberals on almost all major issues. Even ignoring the Liberal scandals, the money that they plan to throw away on a child care program would be enough to lose them my vote. (The Conservative child care program doesn't excite me either but it's not nearly as bad.)

I also have to laugh when the Liberal response to recent gun crimes is to propose a ban handguns, which have been all but banned for decades. Oh, so how many of the Toronto shootings were committed by lawful handgun owners who passed a course, are allowed to carry their guns only between predetermined locations, and must keep their guns safely secured? Oh yeah, none. So your policy is intended to do what? Sound good to uninformed people but accomplish absolutely nothing? Gotcha.

I can't blame politicians for trying to appeal to dumb people with the way that they run their campaigns. It's only good business sense to know your customer, after all. But when the substance of your policy, and not just your presentation, could only appeal to the ignorant, it makes it hard for me to vote for you.

For the Conservatives, in my mind, the worst thing that they have going for them is the fact that they want to bring up the gay marriage debate in Parliament again. Considering the court decisions (federal and provincial), unless they want to use the Notwithstanding Clause, a Parliamentary vote is useless. If all that they want to do is impose a distinction between the words "marriage" and "civil union," they're wasting their efforts.

Language is decided by the populace. Regardless of what is decreed in Parliament, if I know two guys who are married, that's the word I'll use. If someone feels uncomfortable using that word, they'll call it something else. Neither of us will think, speak, or act differently because of a government bill.

I do find it interesting that in the U.S., the Republicans are generally opposed to any recognition of gay partnerships, while the Democrats, if they're willing to bring up the issue, are usually pushing for benefits under the banner of civil unions. In Canada, the gay marriage bill passed due to the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc, while the Conservative proposal is to offer the same spousal benefits, as long as the terminology "civil union" is applied, rather than marriage. So, our right wing party supports what the American left wing party is too timid to push for.

Overall, though, I think it's a useless debate; and I'm always surprised when I listen to CFRA (local talk radio) and people consider it an issue that will sway their vote. I guess that a politician's views of butt sex and nomenclature are more important than their explanations of why a database cost two billion dollars to implement or how taxpayer money was funneled back into their party without anyone at the top being responsible.

At any rate, I have it easy on this issue, since the Conservative candidate in my riding, John Baird, has been vocal in his support of gay marriage. There is even an independent candidate running just for the sake of opposing Baird on this issue. I'm curious to see how many votes that guy gets.

Assuming that the current polls reflect the upcoming results, I can only hope that next week is the start of a larger turnover. I actually dislike the provincial Liberal government more than I dislike the federal, and I think that our city council stinks too, so I'm really hoping to see them all get turfed.

J.