Steve Says

SXSW 2010's Eating Challenge

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 5:34pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 26, 2009 5:34 pm
The gauntlet has been thrown down. A challenge has been put before me in response to my spending a week in Austin, Texas without spending a penny on food before, during or after the South By Southwest Music Festival. Frontside Group's Gary McDonald says his company will donate $250 to the charity of my choice if I can do the same thing again...
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In John and Yoko's footsteps

Submitted by Steve McLean on Wed, 03/25/2009 - 4:09pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 25, 2009 4:09 pm
I've been invited to have dinner at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel in suite 1742, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their bed-in for peace and recorded "Give Peace A Chance" on June 1, 1969, as a guest of legendary music photographer Bob Gruen and Brian Liss of Toronto's Liss Gallery. I had a great conversation with Gruen when...
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A Great Celebration Of Joe Strummer

Submitted by Steve McLean on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 11:11pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 16, 2009 11:11 pm
I was pleased with a lot of bands I saw during Canadian Music Week, including The Lovely Feathers, One Hundred Dollars, SNFU, Blacky Jackett Jr., The Bicycles, Les Handclaps, The Golden Dogs, Hexes & Ohs and Vancougar. You can read reviews of all those acts in our Reviews section. But none of those shows were as entertaining or as moving as...
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Canadian Music Industry Awards

Submitted by Steve McLean on Fri, 03/13/2009 - 2:03am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 13, 2009 2:03 am
There was an hour-long reception at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel beginning at 6:15. There was an open bar — if you were willing to drink Budweiser, Bud Light or the red or white versions of Dan Aykroyd's wine. After sitting down at our table, Gene Simmons made his entrance into the banquet hall and was immediately swarmed by people...
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Hitler's Pissed Off About Terrell Owens

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 1:28am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 12, 2009 1:28 am
Buffalo Bills fans seem to be split on the pros and cons of the team's signing of talented but controversial wide receiver Terrell Owens. I have mixed feelings. But this guy definitely isn't happy about it:
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Welcome back, Colonel

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 1:00am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 12, 2009 1:00 am
I'm a big fan of both baseball and the late, great Robert Goulet of poulet: Colonel Harland Sanders. Even though it's been a few years since I've eaten KFC, I've read his biography and there's Colonel and baseball paraphernalia all over my house. So I love it when two worlds collide and I discover a story like this: Colonel Sanders still...
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Futomomo Satisfaction

Submitted by Steve McLean on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 9:49am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 9, 2009 9:49 am
If you're looking for some Japanese satisfaction (with trombones and bikinis): http://sxsw.com/music/shows/schedule/?a=show&s=82327 They're playing at Opal Devine's (which has a great microbrew selection) after an all-female Catalan ska group called The Pepper Pots that I'm interested in seeing at the South By Southwest Music Festival in...
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Any Degrassi fans looking to dance?

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 3:21pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 5, 2009 3:21 pm
Fans of Degrassi Junior High who wonder what Spike and Caitlin are up to in adulthood should check out Toronto's Annex Wreck Room on the first Friday of every month when Amanda Stepto and Stacie Mistysyn (the actresses who respectively portrayed the two characters) spin '80s tunes to get the dancefloor hopping. Maybe you'll be able to cop a feel...
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Jon Langford, The Sadies And A Choir

Submitted by Steve McLean on Mon, 03/02/2009 - 11:57pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) March 2, 2009 11:57 pm
Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern provided a great night of entertainment on Friday, starting with an hour-long performance by Jon Langford (The Mekons, The Waco Brothers) and the 30-piece Burlington Welsh Male Chorus, comprised of mostly older Canadian Welshmen all dressed in black pants, white shirts and ties. The chaps are used to singing in...
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Toronto's Festival Of Beer on the move

Submitted by Steve McLean on Fri, 02/27/2009 - 5:26pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 27, 2009 5:26 pm
Toronto's Festival Of Beer is leaving historic Fort York after 14 years and will move to Bandshell Park at Exhibition Place for its Aug. 6 to 9 run this summer to accommodate the bigger crowds that have been showing up every year. I believe I've attended all 14 years of the fest and I have some great memories (although there are probably a few...
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Can I eat for free for a week in Austin, Texas?

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 1:36pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 26, 2009 1:36 pm
I'm sure I've kept my South By Southwest Music Festival food budget under $50 for each of the five years I've gone, but in light of how the worsening economy has adversely affected my finances and the fact that I enjoy a challenge, I think I'm going to attempt to spend absolutely no money on food this year. I think I've been invited to enough...
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The Music Tapes

Submitted by Steve McLean on Wed, 02/25/2009 - 7:18pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 25, 2009 7:18 pm
Julian Koster's The Music Tapes project will be at Toronto's Lee's Palace on Friday while I'm farther south in the city at the Horseshoe Tavern seeing Jon Langford, The Sadies and The Burlington Welsh Male Choir. But even though I'll miss his show, Julian was such a gentleman when he performed at my house with his singing saw Badger in...
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Cadillac Records

Submitted by Steve McLean on Tue, 02/24/2009 - 4:58pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 24, 2009 4:58 pm
I saw Cadillac Records, a film based on the story of Chicago's Chess Records label, on Monday night. The label run by Polish Jew Leonard Chess signed what were known as "coloured" artists who made "race music" back in the '50s, and was responsible for introducing the world to blues greats Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie...
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The Harder They Come

Submitted by Steve McLean on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 12:29pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 17, 2009 12:29 pm
I'm not a fan of stage musicals, but there's one coming to Toronto from London, England's west end in July and August that I'd be interested in: The Harder They Come. If you haven't seen the Perry Henzell-written and directed film starring Jimmy Cliff as an early '70s Jamaican gangsta Robin Hood, or at least listened to its excellent reggae...
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Geeks

Submitted by Steve McLean on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 10:57am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 17, 2009 10:57 am
I'm making my way through the South By Southwest Music Festival schedule to figure out what I'll be able to see in Austin, Texas next month, and I came across a Japanese band called Geeks. I didn't think much of the song they posted on the SXSW website, but I hope you enjoy the description they wrote about themselves as much as I did: GEEKS are...
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Peter Tork

Submitted by Steve McLean on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 5:49pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 13, 2009 5:49 pm
Peter Tork turns 67 today. Even if he wasn't in The Monkees, I'd still enjoy saying his name and occasionally incorporating it into my personalized version of the Rheostatics' "Torque, Torque" that occasionally runs through my head.
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Any ladies looking to do some painting?

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 11:54pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 12, 2009 11:54 pm
The interior of my house could use a few coats, but that's not why I'm posting (although I am open to offers). I went to see Inkheart at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre on Thursday night and, before entering the auditorium, a lovely young lady gave me a jar of chocolate body paint. She unfortunately wasn't able to take part in a demonstration of...
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See Alanis Pee

Submitted by Steve McLean on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 3:12pm
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 12, 2009 3:12 pm
I was sent a link to a video that some people might find disturbing, but I'm not one of those people. I can't 100 per cent verify that it's Alanis Morissette in the clip below, since I wasn't there, but it certainly looks like her. Marvel at her aiming abilities:
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American Hardcore

Submitted by Steve McLean on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 11:02am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 10, 2009 11:02 am
I watched American Hardcore for the second time on television early this morning. I hadn't seen it since just after the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival a couple of years ago, where D.O.A. and Flipper played the after-party at the Horseshoe. I was (and am) much more into late '70s U.K. and Irish punk than early '80s American...
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Happy birthday, Stompin' Tom

Submitted by Steve McLean on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 11:52am
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By Steve McLean (CHARTattack) February 9, 2009 11:52 am
Stompin' Tom Connors turns 73 today. Celebrate it in a manner that would make him proud.
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