I SOMETIMES KICK MYSELF... DAMN IT! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID I SOMETIMES KICK MYSELF. IT'S COVERS.

Here's what makes a good Sunday. For the normal people, I mean a good Saturday.

Wake up past 9 a.m. Brush your teeth, wash your face and rinse your mouth with (unsaid, but really loved) mouth wash. Read about 25 pages of "Lif of Pi", by Yann Martel. Head out to get a coffee at Cafe Beanno; have a cigarette while walking home and sipping said coffee. Come in and mess with the cats for a few minutes. Head back out. Walk to Ship & Anchor, have two pints of Kold along with a grilled chicken sandwich with a great borscht. Then have two double Jack Daniels in a tall glass with lots of ice. Talk to a divorced local who's contemplating wether (correct usage?) to sell stocks to buy a house or keep on trying the market. Nice guy who seems more into football than hockey. Next, pay the bill and head out puffing on your fifth cigarette of the afternoon. Stop at Megatunes and buy The Shins' "Oh, Inerted World" and Tortoise/Bonnie Prince Billy "The Brave and The Bold". Get home and get lost in the latter.

(This album has a date of 2005 on the back, but I believe it was released in 2006.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome GUY TERRIFICO!!!!!

"Well every night's another Saturday night.
I get it rollin' with the reefer and rye..." (Saturday Night)

I think it was 1996, it may have been 1997, when Forkhead said let's go to the Starfish Room and check out a band. It only cost $7 and we had nothing to do so we headed downtown. We saw the Super Friendz that night, and to this day it is easily one of the best rock shows I've ever seen, and I'm sure Forkhead will agree. Matt Murphy was jumping, kicking, and singing all over the small stage and the rest of the band was tight.

Murphy is now Guy Terrifico.



Terrifico is a fictitious hard living country star from years gone by. He was created by Michael Mabbott and Murphy was brought in to star in the film and make the soundtrack.I'm not usually a country fan, but Guy Terrifico is not your run of the mill CMT faux-country crap that most "country" fans now listen to. He is the real deal. How can you argue the beautiful truth of lines such as, "Oh whiskey you can save me, when the world has let me down, and there's no woman around." (Whiskey, You Can Save Me)? You can't. Guy Terrifico lived a hard partying life to entertain the masses and he was damned proud of his Canadian rye and reefer. God bless his immaculate soul.

Murphy and Mabbott wrote pretty much all the songs on the soundtrack and Murphy's brother Chris, of Sloan, does most of the drumming. It's fun stuff, it's good stuff, and it's pure country. Go buy The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico and while you listen to it try to imagine you could live an Alberta minute in his boots.

Tomorrow afternoon I plan on getting my reef on and a bit of my rye on before heading to the theatre to check out the movie.

MAKE WAY FOR THE S O V

"It's Miss Sovereign, the tichy (?) t'ing,
Naw I don't have 50 rings,
but I got 50 things to say, in a cheeky kind of way, okay?"
- Ch Ching

This girl is the hottest thing to come out of hip hop in a while. No surprise Jay-Z's got her taking over North America. She's the self-proclaimed "white midget" from England.

That accent fits hip hop very well.She's cocky and funny. Props to her producers. Check out the e.p. Vertically Challenged. It's all I've heard so far but I'll be checking out some more. She's got a Basement Jaxx-produced song about hoodies and has a Save The Hoodies campaign going on to get some respect for hoodies and their wearers; sounds very Conan O'brien, which is good.

Anyways, to us on this side of the ocean she'll sound similar to M.I.A., also a good thing. And her "Ch Ching" and what follows is better than Gwen's. She's short and sassy like a young Liz Phair.

THERE WAS PLEASURE TO BE HAD, UNDER THE TOWER.

This past Saturday several hundred Calgarians and I were crowned queens and kings. Bell Orchestre were our minstrels. Unfortunately, instead of a castle were were seated in the Vertigo Playhouse theatre under the Calgary Tower. Actually, it's a pretty damned sweet playhouse that seems to be playing some funky shows right now; I'll have to go back.

In any case, I was hit hard that night by the Bell Orchestre. Just as hard as falling to the floor of the Warehouse at a Clutch show, but in a different way. After downing a couple of Kokanees at home I made my way downtown. I got there a bit early, picked up my ticket and went outside and smoked a joint under the tower. Once inside I grabbed a double Jack Daniels in a tall glass with a lot of ice. After downing that I made my way into the theatre and grabbed a seat near the back.

The five of them entered the stage in the dark, each wearing tape the color of light and all white clothing. Richard Reed Parry and Stef Schneider began playing a xylophone and soon after Sarah Neufeld slowly brought in the violin. Pietro Amato took up his french horn and Kaveh Nabatian hit a sound machine before picking up his trumpet. So began a night of amazing music, blissfully absent of a human voice, brought to a pretty diverse crowd. The show was the band's second as part of the High Performance Rodeo put on by the One Yellow Rabbit theatre group. The band said it was their fourth show in Calgary which made it the place they've played the most outside of their home of Montreal. This won't be for long. This is a group that should tour the globe on a constant basis.

They've managed to cature people's attention playing instrumental music. I think they're hitting a good young crowd that mostly thinks of instrumental pieces as twenty minute long overtures; that of Bach, Mozart or Godspeed You Black Emperor! That's more of the thing I'm usually into, but it's great that Bell Orchestre is blurring boundaries.

Anyways, they went on to play for a little over an hour, including a nice little encore. The band seems truly appreciative of the response of all the different types of fans. I could have easily seen there being a choreographed dance in the background, or all around the performers. This would have been keeping with the theme of the festival, and I think the band's music would work great with some form of visual arts. Nevertheless, it would be just as good if the band was behind a white sheet with a light.

They switched up instruments on a regular basis and several times Parry was basically dancing with his big stand up bass. Neufeld had pretty much every man and woman in the audience fall in love with her swaying and sexy winter boots. There was much instrument thumping, hand clapping and whistling, all by the band. Bell Orchestre make music with such feeling and passion, and play every song as if it's the last song they will every play.

I was lucky to be there that night. I highly recommend you see this band when you have a chance. This past fall they opened up for The Arcade Fire (which Parry and Neufeld play in) so you've likely had your chance. Now keep your eyes and ears peeled for your next one.

I've posted a message to them on their myspace site asking them to consider playing the Chan Centre the next time they're in Vancouver. That place was built for sound. And the Bell Orchestre make some of the best sound I've heard in years.