Happy going back to school time. I feel the pain even though I have a job and work all year round. The summer months seem a little slacker than the rest so I have not been looking forward to September either. But alas there’s lots to look forward to this fall in Vancouver. Shows coming up, chestnuts on the ground, Halloween, and a lot not too look forward too: no more swimming in the ocean, no more BBQing, and lots and lots of rain.

Speaking of rain. On a rainy Labour Day I drove down to Seattle with a few friends for the Bumbershoot festivalwww.bumbershoot.com. We left at 8:00AM. I had not been up before 10 in 2 weeks so I was a little groggy. We stopped at Taco Bell for breakfast on the way down. Mmmmm, Taco Bell. When are they going to open one in Vancouver?? Come on! We all love 7-Layer burritos (well, at least I do). And we stopped at the Vans outlet store for me to try finding checkered slip ons. Do you know how hard it is to get Vans in Canada? It is very difficult. For one you can’t order shoes online if you are outside of the United States which seems pointless to me because if you are an American you can probably buy them anywhere! Boo. So I had to order some shoes on line and get them sent to the outlet store which is in Burlington, WA. 2 hours from Vancouver. I’ll have to plan another road trip.

We got to Bumbershoot just in time for my friends to check outWilco and Luna playing… I on the other hand went off to interview Gene, one of my favourite* Brit Pop bands from the mid-90s. Come on you remember them? Got compared to the Smiths all the time? Anyway, I hadn’t seen them since I was 16 (5 years ago) when my friend and I snuck into their show here in Vancouver. So today’s interview and show was a bit of a nostalgia/reunion for me. I told their tour manager (same guy from before!) about how he’d snuck me into the show when I was 16… he didn’t really remember but I thanked him all the same. The show was amazing! They played lots of old stuff, a fair chuck of the set seemed to be from Olympian and Drawn to the Deep which was good for me because I’m less familiar with their 2 recent albums,Revelations and brand new one Libertine. The show was in the EMP sky church and to my delight and surprise seemed to be quite full… I hadn’t thought there would still be any Gene fans with a 5 year absence from North America. The only thing that could have made it better was if they actually played Vancouver and Martin Rossiter had grown his hair back in. I’m not too down with the shaved head look. He used to be so hott. Oh well to each their own.

What else is new? I’m digging the new Sleater-Kinney record, One Beat (listening to it as I write this update). Oh, I’m actually attempting to get my license now (5 1/2 years later). I finally want to drive. It’s weird. It’s sort of like losing your virginity it’s better to wait until you’re ready. And I’m glad I waited on the driving thing…I’m actually really into it. It’s going to take a while though… it takes a minimum of 2 years in BC to get your full on drivers license. But better late then never. Also, my band theEwoks has just finished recording enough songs for a CD EP and we’re looking for someone to put it out. Any takers? Oh, and I’m in a brand new band as well! I’m playing bass again. First time in 2 years. My new band is called The Engagedwww.geocities.com/theengaged (even though I wanna change our name to the Racket). I’m the only girl in the group which is weird for me because I’ve only ever been in girl bands before… but it’s really fun. We’ve been playing shows around Vancouver a bit. People say we sound like the Strokes but I think we’re a bit more punky then them. Punky? Punky + New Wave = The Epoxies who I saw last Saturday. They’re from Portland and I reviewed their CD on here before but this was the first time I saw them live… and they are totally all about being a live band. Roxy Epoxy, the singer, has really good dance moves, she wigglers her hips a lot and the rest of the band has got the new wave look down as much as you can, stripes, checkers, ties, b&w, ductape, tight pants, sunglasses, etc. They were the headliners of Vancouver’s annual scooter/music fest Geared to Go Go and definitely the best band playing the fest. www.the-epoxies.com

All right… well I promise to write sooner than last time but it was summer! I was lazy that’s my excuse. Now that it’s going to get colder and wetter I’ll be spending more time in doors and more time in doors = more time on the computer. Werd. xoxoMar

*Canadian spelling