Of all the years I can think of, 2011 held a lot of pretty cool things.
I went to my first Jays game (May 9th, versus the Tigers, got throttled 10-5), played a wedding, did my first freelance web project ever (for Cisco Systems, with Robin), tried and failed to build a Facebook app, graduated with a web development graduate certificate, did an internship at a video game trading startup, celebrated my first anniversary with my awesome boyfriend, and finally tried Ethiopian food (which is awesome).
Musically, I joined Del Bel, played a total of 25 shows, filmed videos for Southern Souls (Entire Cities & Del Bel) and bookended the year with CD releases — for Entire Cities’ I Hope You Never Come Home on January 6th, and Del Bel’s Oneiric on December 3rd.
I also started working at my current job in early October on contract, and in early December helped work on the company’s biggest pitch ever–terrifying, exhilarating, exhausting, and pretty awesome. I signed an offer of full-time employment on December 16th, and couldn’t be more thrilled about it. My coworkers are the best, the work is really interesting, and life is turning out to be pretty cool.
Hope you have all had a magnificent 2011 … here’s to a sweet next twelve months. Happy new year, everybody!
Now that I’ve got the hardest list out of the way (I am not cut out for music criticism) … on to the other list. I see a pretty good number of shows in a year, augmented by my job as an usher at Massey Hall, and it’s kind of fun to look back at them.
My first show of the year was my band Entire Cities‘ CD release party at the Dakota Tavern on January 6th, with Wayne Petti of Cuff the Duke and the Strumbellas. A giant snowstorm didn’t stop everyone from packing the place and lining up down the street (seriously, I love you guys), and I Hope You Never Come Home made its way into the world in a totally wonderful way.
The last one was the second of two Fucked Up benefit concerts on December 21st, with Bonjay, Ohbijou, the Rural Alberta Advantage, and Sloan. I barely had the energy to get my butt there but it was, of course, totally worth it. (It’s on the list!)
Also, not including the ones I played myself, I saw 51 shows this year. Not too bad, although 30 of those were at Massey, so my actual concertgoing was a bit slow! Nevertheless, for fun, here’s the list of my favourite shows of 2011:
10. Elliott Brood (with $100), November 18 @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
Finally my first EB show after years and years of being a fan. Dark and rough and rowdy, just the way I’d hoped, and $100 were a perfect addition. They should tour together forever. (Now if only there weren’t so many violent bros at Elliott Brood shows, that would be cool.)
9. Lowest of the Low (with Mick Thomas & Squeezebox Wally), May 7 @ Massey Hall
For the 20th(!) anniversary of Shakespeare My Butt, the band played the entire album front to back at Massey Hall. It was awesome. Great crowd, tons of energy from the band, super tight & blazing performance of a great record … I had a blast and I was working the show.
8. Weird Al Yankovic, July 16 @ Massey Hall
I’ve never seen so many nerds in one place — but what a hilarious show. All the hits, a billion costume changes, a ridiculous, over-the-top, goofy, amazing production. Weird Al is the definition of showman.
7. Sam Amidon (with Ken Reaume), March 27 @ Drake Underground
We all sat on the floor of the Drake like it was storytime and let Sam Amidon’s beautiful tenor wash over us, singing quietly along when prompted, and it felt like we were all an extended family in a giant living room somewhere with a crackling fire. It was a beautiful, happy, wonderfully relaxing evening, and I even got to buy I See the Sign from a very thrilled Sam himself post-show.
6. Sloan, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Ohbijou, and Bonjay, December 21 @ Great Hall
Sloan, playing all of One Chord to Another front-to-back (with horns). Amazing. A ton of material I never thought I’d see now, and done pretty impressively well. Not to mention the stacked lineup — I hadn’t seen the RAA since before Hometowns came out, and boy do they sound great. Just a fun, happy night.
5. Levon Helm (with Lucinda Williams), March 5 @ Massey Hall
Levon’s always been my favourite member of The Band, and while it was heartbreaking that he could barely sing this time around (his daughter Amy held up the vocals with him) he showed no sign of being defeated, instead putting on one hell of a show behind the kit and grinning like a kid all night. He is a magnificent entertainer, and the musicians he has with him … well, it’s a gig I dream of. I admire him immensely and it’s always a treat to see him play.
4. Bon Iver (with Lianne La Havas), December 6 @ Massey Hall
They opened with “Perth”, filling Massey Hall to the rafters with this giant collection of instruments and voices, and from then on it was just layers and swells and heartstrings. Colin Stetson’s insane, skronky extended bass sax solo was obviously a highlight, but it felt like everything was absolutely perfect.
3. Paul Simon, May 6 @ Massey Hall
I’ve been wanting to see Paul Simon play since I was a little kid listening to my dad’s Graceland and The Rhythm of the Saints CDs, so this was a long time coming. Tough audience (surprisingly) so I missed a few songs, but it was all magic. He is tinier than I could have imagined and so much more wonderful. Seeing one of my favourite musicians of all time in my favourite venue ever … yeah. Thanks, Paul.
2. Jeff Mangum (with Andrew, Scott & Laura), August 13 @ Trinity St Paul’s
I’m not one of those crazy people who glorifies Mangum like he’s the Messiah, which was most of the rest of the audience at this show, but … the joyful singalongs to “King of Carrot Flowers” and “Holland, 1945″ (including some boot-stomping), the earnestness of Mangum’s voice, the horns reverberating through the church — it was quite an experience. Sometimes performances are electric. This one was.
1. The Mountain Goats (with Megafaun), April 3 @ Opera House
Another band I’ve been wanting to see for years; from the moment John Darnielle stepped on stage to the beginning of “Liza Forever Minnelli” I was transfixed. The joy of performance is stamped all over him, his emotional investment in everything obvious; everything, from that opening song to the insanity of “This Year” with Megafaun, was jaw-dropping. A banner year for these guys in my life, I think. After the show it took me weeks to come down from the high (I tried to write a review of it at least 5 times and couldn’t manage it)–probably one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, period.
Honourable mention:
Lee Konitz & Brian Dickinson Trio, February 11 @ Glenn Gould Studio.
Neil Young with Bert Jansch, May 11 @ Massey Hall.
Brian Wilson, June 18 @ Massey Hall.
Writing my year-end lists has alerted me to the fact that, once again, I missed out on a ton of good music. I still haven’t heard the records released this year by Wye Oak, Holy Ghost!, St. Vincent, Austra, Bjork, TV on the Radio, or Wild Flag (and plenty of others). Most of the jazz and electronic music I picked up was to fill in gaps in my collection. But here anyway are my more-or-less favourite ten records of the year, plus a few honourable mentions that I couldn’t totally leave off the list.
Also, I’m admittedly not good at writing album reviews, so all of this is probably going to sound like “I like this because it’s fun” written ten different ways. You’ve been warned!
My favourite albums of the year:
10. Sam Amidon – I See the Sign
Some of this album sounds almost otherworldly–these gorgeous textures of banjo and mallets and guitar quietly overlapping each other. I most often listen to it when I’m alone in the house. Traditional folk without being, well, very traditional at all.
9. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
Another album I didn’t expect to like, but ended up listening to surprisingly often–and another alone-in-the-house kind of record. The vocal harmonies on this are wonderfully dense and the whole thing wraps you up like a blanket.
8. The Decemberists – The King is Dead
I unapologetically love the Decemberists already, but the addition of Gillian Welch all over this record just takes the cake. “Don’t Carry It All” sounds like the sunny opening credits to a film. It’s a little less self-serving than The Hazards of Love (which I liked anyway), and a lot more Americana- and pop-influenced — in other words, pretty fun.
7. Destroyer – Kaputt
Smooth. This album is smooth. I consequently thought I would hate it because I have a bit of a crusade against “things that make people hate saxophones”, but in reality it makes a pretty solid case for Dan Bejar being one of the most interesting songwriters we’ve got these days.
6. Elliott Brood – Days Into Years
There are some real gems on here (“If I Get Old” and “Their Will” particularly), but the best part about it is the same kind of cohesion they achieved with Mountain Meadows. Everything fits together so well it feels like a crime not to hear it as an album. Dark, rough, and still sing-along-able.
5. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Weird insane saxophone. Laurie Anderson. Shara Worden. Friggin’ live single takes. This album is totally crazy, ear-bendingly fascinating, and unlike pretty much everything else that is happening right now. Music like this is usually relegated to the dusty “weird stuff” corner of the store, but this found itself on the Polaris shortlist instead — and it’s nice to see a sax player front and centre in the non-jazz world for once.
4. Feist – Metals
I was never totally convinced by Feist’s other records; I’ve had songs I really liked but never enjoyed entire albums. Metals is a welcome departure from that. The arrangements are surprisingly stark at times but always held together by the thread of strong vocal lines, and the absence of cute pop stuff like “1-2-3-4″ is really welcome. If this is Feist’s new direction, count me in.
3. tUnE-yArDs – w h o k i l l
Unlike anything else I’ve heard — there is so much rhythmic brilliance in this record, such a fierce energy. Merrill Garbus has this earthy voice that can croon or wail or squeal or yelp on command, and she does all of those things with acrobatic agility. w h o k i l l is not smooth; rather it explodes joyfully out of your speakers in a sort of crazy musical collage.
2. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Lush, dense, and beautiful. The instrumentation on Bon Iver’s sophomore record has filled out considerably (including aforementioned bass sax virtuoso Colin Stetson) and that makes all the difference here — everything is layered so thickly it’s like you’re buoyed up on sound. Bon Iver meanders off in different musical directions but never strays too far from the thoughtful, melancholy feel that anchors everything together. And there are still a few huge, gleeful, full-orchestra moments (in “Perth” especially) that I love.
1. The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck
John Darnielle is one of my favourite songwriters of all time, and this is one of his best albums–I certainly would place it among the ranks of The Sunset Tree and We Shall All Be Healed. I can’t even begin to think about how many times I’ve listened to this since it came out (but tMG did move up on my last.fm charts this year from roughly 40th to a whopping 2nd). He touches on the birth of mankind, Judy Garland, vampires, Liza Minnelli — and all, as usual, with such lyrical perfection. It’s usually tricky for me to pick one album from the whole year to crown as number one, but this one took virtually no effort at all; I can’t think of a group more deserving than the Mountain Goats.
Honourable mention:
Radiohead – The King of Limbs: I honestly just forgot that this album came out in 2011 until I had finished my list (and didn’t even acquire until most of the year had gone by). Nevertheless, I really really like it, and am basically stupid for having forgotten about it all year.
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What: There’s some filler on this record, to be sure, but when Paul Simon writes filler it’s usually better than a lot of artists’ good material. He still has the voice of an angel, though, and the production is wonderful.
Holiday Rambler – There Is No End to the World, And Nothing Can Shatter the Earth: An album I wish I had written. Full of Southern folk influence, great songwriting, and D. Alex Meeks’ rich voice.
The Weather Station – All of It Was Mine: If we’re counting records I wish I’d made, add this to the list. I’ve seen many of these songs performed many times, but the arrangements — especially the sudden vocal harmonies on “Everything I Saw” — bring them to life. “Came So Easy” is still among my favourite songs of the year.
The last round of revisions is done, leftovers are cleared from the fridge, the last couple of sweaters and pairs of socks are being thrown into the suitcase, and I’m heading out the door to the airport (at potentially THE WORST time of the year–December 23 at 7pm, yikes). Homeward bound!
Serious nostalgia trip–I think the last time I saw the Rural Alberta Advantage was in maybe early 2007 (definitely long before Hometowns was released). I saw them a ton of times in my first year and a half of university, since they were friends of all the bands I was in, and I joined them once at a raucous show at the Embassy in Kensington (actual capacity: something like 25, attendance at those shows: felt like at least 60). It was pretty great to see them play again after so many years and so many shows under their belt.
They broke out “Summertime”, which I once covered at the only solo non-recital performance I’ve ever played in my life. I played two songs (it was at a cabaret/variety show sort of thing) and the other one was a Sloan cover, weirdly enough.
And Sloan … I’ve seen them something like 20 times–I hesitate to go count the actual number–and this was one hell of a fun evening. Horns for “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” and “Take The Bench”, finally a chance to see “Junior Panthers”, “500 Up”(!!) and “Snowsuit Sound” in the encore … and then Leslie Feist came out to kick up the jams for “She Says What She Means”. Basically the best.
I also got to play a great show at the Rivoli last weekend–last performance of 2011–with the old Massey Hall crowd. Plenty of wonderful familiar faces in the audience, including a handful of former Massey friends who came to join us for the occasion, made it a pretty amazing night for all of us on stage. Damn, I love these folks.
I also received a Stockhausen LP and a sweet, sweet lunchbox for Christmas from my boyfriend, appeared in the Toronto Star (full article here), and signed an offer of permanent employment at my place of work–pretty happy to be sticking around with my fantastic coworkers.
Recently at work, in fact, I helped work on an HTML5 prototype for a huge agency pitch the company did in New Jersey at the beginning of December. We did really well, and the project’s taken on a life of its own, continuing to be built and refined; it will eventually (in January) be revised into a real project instead of just a demo, and I’ll be working on that too. It’s pretty neat to have been involved in something so huge only a couple of months after starting. Daunting, to be sure–and there were a lot of stressful hours and a few delirious late nights in the office, including one time where there were only two of us and they were filming a movie down in the alley outside our office building involving many teenagers shrieking at the same time; both of us thought we were about to be murdered, I think.
But here we are now and tomorrow’s the last day before the holidays and I have a job to come back to, some great things on the horizon (like Love is a Poverty You Can Sell at Next Stage!) and a trip home coming up fast. Things are all right! (even though we didn’t get Yu Darvish)
I’ve been an usher at Massey Hall for nearly three and a half years. It’s one of the greatest venues in the country, and one of the oldest–it was built in 1894, and still functions in its original capacity today (it was originally called “Massey Music Hall”). Some of the greatest concerts ever have occurred here. It’s gorgeous, and storied, and falling apart a bit, and I love it.
The first show I worked was Sigur Rós on September 22, 2008 — so the honour of first band I ever saw at Massey Hall went to Parachutes. My second show was Alanis Morrissette. It was an eventful month.
Off the top of my head, I’ve seen David Byrne, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, Blue Rodeo, the Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra, Van Morrison. Robin Williams made me laugh so hard I could barely help patrons find their seats. I’ve cracked up at John Cleese, Bill Maher, Louis CK, Jerry Seinfeld, and David Cross; Anthony Bourdain and Bill Clinton have spoken, and David Sedaris has read. I got to be a microphone runner for Carol Burnett’s appearance, and gave flowers to a soloist for the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (my first time on the Massey Hall stage during a performance — hopefully next time will be with an instrument). Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Mavis Staples, Neil Young, and Paul Simon all finally got crossed off my “people to see before I die” list. It’s been a pretty unbelievable few years.
I’m working full time now, though, and it’s starting to become difficult to work shifts. It almost all came to a head in the past few weeks when I was working some crazy-long days, rehearsing for CD release shows, and trying to figure out how to make it to enough Massey Hall shifts to count.
But then I went and worked a couple of shifts, one of which was the annual Women’s Blues Revue, which I’d love to be in; I was reminded (as usual) how much I love this job. Every night I imagine myself onstage with whoever’s performing, no matter who it is — seriously, no matter, if Hedley decided to pay me to play a show with them at Massey I would. (Although I hope my first gig on that stage is somewhat more exciting than that.) I’ve pretended, in my head, to be John Mellencamp’s saxophonist or a member of the Classic Albums Live horn section when they played The Last Waltz and even the house band for Just for Laughs. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to stay.
So stay I will, for now. I’m sure I won’t be able to keep doing it forever, but seeing all this amazing stuff feels like it might one day be the first chapter in my autobiography, or maybe just some cool stories to tell the young kids of my family when I’m old and they find my shoeboxes full of ticket stubs (I have one for most of the shows I’ve seen at the Hall so far). I can tell them about how Conan O’Brien nearly ran straight into me while careening around the balcony during the Legally Prohibited tour, or note that we all helped in the making of Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young Journeys, filmed over two nights this year. The stories keep on being made in a hall that’s full of them.
And maybe one day, my view will look a little different.
If there’s one thing that two months at my job have taught me, it’s that life is too short to wear boring, run-of-the-mill socks. (Props to Matt for pointing this out.)
Enter the Swedish Happy Socks, sold as HS in Canada. They’re running a little sample sale at a pop-up shop on Queen West, just in time for the holidays. I had to rein in my sock ambitions a little, but I did treat myself to three pairs of goodness:
The red wool socks in the middle have just the right amount of scratchiness, and make me want to curl up on the couch with a mug of tea … I’ve never had real wool socks before, and all I’ve learned so far is that I was seriously missing out. The others are perfectly suited to offsetting the grumpiness of a dreary Toronto winter, too — and it’s pretty hard not to grin a little every time you look at your feet.
If you’re interested, you can grab some Happy Socks for yourself at 1040 Queen Street West, just west of Ossington. The cotton socks are $7 and the wool $10, both of which are pretty discounted, so get your butts over there soon! (You can also buy them online.)
I promise there are real posts with writing in them coming up, but for now here is one of the greatest Dinosaur Comics of all time. (Click to see the original post, which you should do, because the alt text is hilarious.)
Hat tip to Adam Anklewicz for sharing it–I’m behind in my Dino Comics reading!
