August 1, 2006

Hey, welcome to the new East London@Nite page. I have been the Vancouver@Nite girl for a full 5 1/2 years and finally after living in London for 2 of those years I’m making the official switch. Now everyone already knows that Miss Mira Manga is the official London coolgrrl but I think there is room for the 2 of us and hell, she hates East London and usually stays in her West Side zone barely ever crossing this great city… so there is definitely room for the both of us. Or if she has a problem with this we shall have a great big mud wrestle on top of Centre Point at Tottenham Court Road for everyone to bare witness to.

The Duloks

me, kitty & mira in camden

Speaking of Mira I’m in a new band! Bridging the gap between East and West London, Mira and I have started a band with Alice. Mira and I have known each other for 5 years now through being Coolgrrls but now we have a reason to talk everyday… we’re in a band together!

We formed 2 weeks before my 25th birthday so we could play the party. We had 3 practices and played in the living room from that we got booked the next weekend to play some boys’ birthday party at a club in Shoreditch. We continued with the birthday theme and played Mira’s party in March and finally in April, a mere 2 months after we formed, we played our first non-birthday party at the Tired and Lonesome night at the Social.

We’ve recorded twice and have an 8 song demo which you can hear 4 of the songs on our myspace page. We’ve played out of London a few times, done 10 gigs now, and dress up to play every gig, our most famous costume is our track and field jock outfits.

www.myspace.com/theduloks

www.duloks.com

Upcoming Gigs:

September 14 – Go Ape!, Moles Club Bath, UK

September 15 – The Do Club, Brighton

September 24 – Ladyfest, Newcastle

Rock On London

I started doing a podcast last November cos I was getting really antsy not doing any radio for so long I just couldn’t hold off any longer and decided to start my own.

It started out slow but now I’ve got quite a few listeners thanks to being mentioned in the NME a couple months ago in their article about podcasts: www.nme.com/indiepodcasts

www.rockonlondon.com

Tent Street Squad

I’ve also moved house 3 times in the past 4 months. After breaking up with the live-in boyfriend things got a bit messy but I’m finally settled in to a lovely place with 3 amazing boys. We have even started a household gang called the Tent St Squad. We’re looking for rival household gangs in East London to play football (soccer) or other fun sports with.

We’re so incredibly dorky we even have a myspace for our house

www.myspace.com/tentstreetsquad

Swimming in the Heat

London has been insanely hot. I’m sure all over the Northern Hemisphere people have been suffering from the heat waves but London is just not a city built for heat. I’ve been spending most of my time sat around my house in underpants or trying to find swim spots. So far I’ve tried the ponds at Hampstead Heath. They’ve got 3 swimming ponds, a mixed one, a ladies only, and a mens only. I’ve obviously only been able to try 2 out of those 3. The ladies is the nicest by far but you can’t swim with yr boyfriends which sucks. The Lido (outdoor swimming pool) at Hampstead Heath is also amazing. It costs £4.10 which is a bit steep but it’s brilliantly nice and they have a free locker system.

This week I went swimming in what was called the Serpentine Lido in Hyde Park which I assumed would be an outdoor swimming pool hence the title Lido. Turns out it’s just a roped off area of the Serpentine which isn’t the cleanest lake in the world. It’s £3.75 but doesn’t have free lockers and has worse facilities than the Hampstead Lido.

There are only about 10 outdoor swimming pools in London and unfortunately they are mostly out in the middle of nowhere. London Fields has a new one opening up but not until October this year and that will be the first one in East London since it closed in 1988.

Lidos in London

I’m gonna go cool off by showering and eating an ice lolly but expect more East London updates on a regular basis and possible wars with West London Cool Girl Mira Manga.

xx Mar

November 6, 2005

I know I haven't updated for God knows how long, and Frank should have kicked me off the site ages ago, but here I am updating! You know what it took for me to finally finish an update? Being stuck on a bus for an hour and a half this morning. There was a major traffic jam as I made my way to work and I thought, what better to do than finish my coolgrrrls update?

Okay, so I am the Vancouver@Nite girl, but I actually don't live in Vancouver anymore. I moved to London, England home of the lovely Mira Manga. I'm living here with my boyfriend (yes, who is English) and two wonderful flat mates. My boyfriend, Den, runs a weekly night here called Our Disco check it out! I don't go anymore because I work Friday nights. I'm working at a crap chain pub right now. The people I work with are great, and so are our regulars, but the pub has no personality or character… it's just a chain. I'm also working another job (where I'm heading right now on the bus) teaching radio production skills through a community based program called Ape Media. It's a really good idea. It's basically for people who probably wouldn't have the opportunity to learn these skills and it's getting ordinary people from the community on the radio and an output for their ideas. It's in conjunction with the community radio station Break FM which you can listen to online.

I've also finally started a new band. I know, it took long enough! But it's hard when you move to a new city. You need to meet the right people and that takes a while. We've only just started, so give us a few months to write some proper songs. We are called The Scandelles. We practice in my bedroom in East London. This is how all my bands seem to start, practicing in my room. I'm always the one who seems to have all the gear.

This summer I went back to Canada to visit, and I mean I visited the whole country… Vancouver to Halifax! I spent the first 2 weeks in Vancouver. Since this page is called Vancouver@Nite I guess I should talk about Vancouver a little bit at least. Well, not too much has changed since I moved away. People still love karaoke, they still have Mod Club, a Union type night, and Pat's Pub. Vancouver was awesome. I hadn't had a proper Vancouver summer in 2 years, so it was amazing to be able to go to the beach everyday for 2 weeks straight. I've never been very patriotic before, but moving away has made me appreciate what a wonderful place my hometown is, and Canada as a country.

The whole reason I visited this summer in the first place was because my mom moved from Vancouver to Halifax, which is on the complete other side of the country (7000km about 5000 miles away from Vancouver). Den and I went back to drive her car across the country for her. It took us just under 3 weeks and we drove through 8 provinces and 8 states. This is the journal I kept along the way and some pictures from our trip...

Day 1: [30 Aug 2005|06: 01pm ]
I PASSED MY ROAD TEST!
Yeah, I just passed my class 5 road test, which means no more road tests EVER! I am out of the graduated licensing program forever!!! wooo!
It's raining and I have a cold, and I still passed!
Okay, now I have to go pack and leave.

We only made it to Hope, BC the first night.

Day 5: [04 Sep 2005|02:49pm]
I'm in Winnipeg. Den is here. I smashed my face in Saskatoon...we don’t know how cos we were both so drunk... but I woke up with blood all over the pillow and I have 3 cuts down and around my nose...my nose is all bruised too... I have pictures.

My poor broken face.

That night was fun...we got to hang out backstage at a Billy Idol show! He walked by me twice but I was too shy to do anything, so I only ended up meeting Steve Stevenson, the original Billy Idol guitarist.

Billy Idol and some groupie girls.

Dan and Den finally met in Saskatoon and it was great! Lots of booze and hanging out with the bif naked crowd. Woo. Then we ate at a husky's at 1am... and I made long distance phone calls on the husky phone at the table on my credit card...to my mom and dad...it was 4am for my mom. Ooops!

How happy and drunk do I look?

We also went to the West Edmonton Mall (the largest mall in the world) and I got to go to the World's Waterpark, which I have wanted to do for 17 years (the first time I went was in 1988 and I've always wanted to go back). The mall is so crazy big, it's got an amusement park, water park, seal shows, an ice rink, mini golf, underwater adventure, and more all in the mall!
We stayed above a bar that night in Vegreville, Alberta, and the woman who checked us in was missing a limb. The bar didn't close until 3am and our room was right above the band.
We're driving to the states today!

Day 8: [07 Sep 2005|11:30am]

We're in Chicago.
My nose healing...looks a lot better.

We went to the biggest mall in the world in Edmonton ...and yesterday we went to the second biggest mall... "Mall of America" in Minneapolis . They have a cool Lego store and an amusement park called Camp Snoopy in the middle of the mall... I didn’t realize Snoopy was so popular???
I bought Care Bear uno!

Oh, and we dorked out in Minneapolis, and played Lord of the Rings Risk with Alden's room mates. We are geeeeeks!

Chicago has been really nice. I went swimming today in Lake Michigan at a downtown beach. The water was amazing! It was really clear and clean. We tried Chicago-style pizza, which was interesting, but I prefer regular pizza. Chicago style is just way to rich and intense. We stayed with a friend of mine, Kirsten, who plays in a band called The Capricorns, who are an amazing 2 piece keyboard outfit.

Look how clear that water is!

Chilling out in Downtown Chicago

Day 13: [12 Sep 2005|12:42am]

We're in Toronto now. Saw Niagara Falls today! The American falls...yeh... really small! The Canadian ones are like 5 times as big. It was 33 degrees and full of tourists! I just wanted to jump in I was so hot.

Niagara Falls!
Toronto is rad. The first night we were here, we went to a Vice party with an open bar and saw Brutal Knight play. Last night, we went to a Fifth Column tribute with Kids on TV, Lesbians on Ecstacy, and Fox the Boombox playing at Sneaky Dee's. I swam in Lake Ontario yesterday, which is my second Great Lake of the trip. I tried to swim in Lake Erie. We stopped in Erie, Pennsylvania but I couldn't find a beach.

We made a detour on our trip through Ohio and around the American side of Lake Erie just so we could go to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. They have loads of different trinkets, costumes, and souvenirs from over the years, but I was most impressed with Jim Morrison's Cub Scout uniform and Tiffany's jean vest from the "I Think We're Alone Now" video. They had a whole section on teen sensations, some of it wasn't very rock'n'roll, especially the 'N Sync stuff.

Day 16: [15 Sep 2005|07:22pm]
some good things and bad things...

- I lost my glasses in Toronto and now can't drive or be a very good navigator
- We went up the cn tower
- I went to a blue jays game and they won
- I saw black dice, awesome, and some other band
- I saw the new Simpsons and family guy premiere way before the UK
- I visited the Parliament buildings and the infamous cat sanctuary on Parliament Hill
- I got new Vans
- I finally found a Nordiques t-shirt in kids sizes
- I finally got to visit the expo ball in Montreal, it's see-thru!
- We're going out for Poutine and Lee's new Montreal night.

Day 18: [17 Sep 2005|03: 03pm]
So our last day, we drove straight from Montreal to Halifax all day and night, and since I lost my glasses, that means Den did ALL the driving. It was so nice to get to my mom's at 3am and get hugs and see her dog, who I love so much.

That's it for me. Now that I have updated from London finally after moving here over a year ago, I will do my best to keep you up to date on London happenings. Mira Manga lives in the west and I live in the east, and so I think we've got it covered.

Take care,
xx Mar

In Nottingham I hung out with Hot Hot Heat. We were actually on the same plane flying to London a couple weeks before so we planned to hook up in Notts. I was most excited to see Glasgow dance-rock band Franz Ferdinand who were one of the openers. They are my new favourite band of the year. I love HHH but I’ve seen them at least 10 times so new bands are always more exciting. After the show we went to the Social where Franz Ferdinand were doing some guest DJing but first we had to watch this band Whitehouse who were so bleeding awful! It was like constant static and noize for about 45 minutes. We all got fairly pissed and Dustin and I ended up going to this guy Ricky’s place for about 10 minutes, I ended up trudging back to Matt and Neil’s house at around 3AM when I realized I had lost my key and I had to wake them up with the door bell. Neil came and let me in he had a very large quilt wrapped around himself.

The next morning I was off to Holland. The reason I was going to continental Europe was I was supposed to drive Scout Niblett around on tour. But that’s not what ended up happening. I got ditched in Dordrecht! In a foreign country half way around the world from my home. I was totally freaked out but I got my shit together and I took a train across Europe for 8 hours and got into Berlin where I spent a wonderful week. Luckily for me I have rad relatives there who put me up and gave me lots of food and such. I partied down Deutsche style (which means drinking all night) and ended up lost at an s-bahn station in the early hours. So it wasn’t all bad, I ended up seeing Scout Niblett at the Berlin show. I really liked Germany I think I could live in Berlin (any one looking for a room mate?? Haha). I’m even taking German class in January for a few weeks.

Some sad news this week… January 2nd was the last Ewox show ever! I play drums in the Ewoks and we’ve been around for 4 years but our singer is moving to Montreal so we are going on a long hiatus and don’t know if we’ll ever play again. Boo! We played with Channels 3&4 who we are passing the torch of most annoying keyboard/drums 3-piece too. They’ve even covered one of our songs before! You can still buy the Ewoks 7" and we have pink buttons for $1. Our web site is http://ewoks.cjb.net

Oh and Kayla from Fuck Me USA and I are starting a ladies DJ nite on Wednesdays at DV8 in Vancouver, it’s called CRIME. We are going to fuck shit up. Well, I’m just going to genre jump and play whatever I feel like it. So come down if you are bored on Wednesdays it’s no cover and the food at DV8 is tasty.

Ok, so I guess it’s new years resolutions time which I think are usually quite stupid but on my list of things I’d like to do this year are… move to another country, play some shows with my new band The Jangs, and be nicer! Haha. I don’t know… resolutions are so dumb no one ever keeps them.

August 10, 2003

Whew.
I just spent the long weekend (in Canada) moving and painting. I’m so excited my new place is sooo much nicer then our last. We only moved across the hall so it’s a bit pathetic. Not a BIG move but it has made a world of difference. I live with 3 people, my boyfriend, best friend, and Rob. All 4 of us were living in a 3 bedroom which was fine but now my boyfriend and I have the master bedroom with our own bathroom and walk in closet which is very nice! No more 4 people sharing a shower. Ick.

Other than that I have been having very unhealthy obsessions lately. Right now I’m addicted to frienster.com which is quite embarrassing. I figure once I reach 100 friends I’ll never go back again because I’ll get bored with it. I also heard they might start charging money for it which means I will for sure never go on it. Pay money to be on some online site? No thanks. But seriously what is the deal with all these makeoutclub.com clone sites? Makeoutclub was the first one I think. Then there’s been lipstickparty.com, lipstickandcigarettes.com, madradhair.com, onlyundiesclub.com, and of course the newest and best friendster! The thing that’s nicer about friendster is it isn’t just for hipster scenester kids. Like your mom could be on friendster. I think the other sites are pretty much all the same except of course only undies where your picture has to have you just in your undies. Argh, I have been spending too much time on line. I get bored at work easily and it’s a bad habit. But seriously does anyone know how many of these makeoutclub clone sites there are??

I’ve also been really into this miniseries on TV, Taken. It’s about alien abductions and it’s been on all summer on CBC. I don’t have cable and only get like 3 channels so if there is something good on it is pretty exciting! Monday nights are Taken night for me and my boyfriend we usually get some sort of take away and eat in front of the TV. I won’t even pick up the phone during the 2 hour period it’s on television. Yes, I realize I’m coming off pretty pathetic but I think it’s the boyfriend syndrome I don’t know. You know the syndrome when you are single and you are always out hanging out with friends, going to shows and parties, next thing you know you get a boyfriend and you never go out. Well, my boyfriend and I live together so it’s very easy to stay home and hang out. We both like board games and old school video games which twiddles away countless hours of fun. Or maybe I’ve just changed. I still go to shows and parties but just not to the same extent as I used to.

I’ve spent this summer bumming around Vancouver, swimming in the ocean lots and I even went camping once! I joined a new band this summer as well. We haven’t agreed on an exact name yet but we have written a bunch of songs. It’s always exciting to be in a new band. This is my fourth one. I’m also still in the Ewoks and Zsofia Ewok just moved into my old apartment right next to me and Jenny so we all basically live together. I’ve always wanted to be a band that lived together. Hahaha.

I’m listening to the Sounds right now. I won their CD in a contest and I still haven’t got it. Boo! This is the most random update I’ve ever written. But that’s my mood right now. I’ve been listening to a lot of my older records, things I bought when I was younger like bis, Pulp, the Smiths, basically a lot of brit pop... even some Michael Jackson and Boney M. I think I’m trying to rediscover my record collection. I’ve gone threw so many phases since I started collecting records that I’ve got an album for every mood.

I just went on pollstar.com and noticed there are quite a few rad shows coming threw Vancouver in the next few months. I always do this… list the shows I wanna go to at the end of every update…I’m so predictable.
Sept 28 – The Ravonettes @ Richards
Sept 30 – Goldfrapp @ the Commodore
Oct 5 – BRMC @ Richards
Oct 6 – Ladytron DJ set @ Sonar
Oct 8 – Billy Idol @ Orpheum

Oh yeah, and my favourite new Vancouver band is Fuck Me USA. They are hott shit! Snotty synth-punks who will soon have a record on Global Symphonic. I want to know if you are an American if you are offended by that name? I think it’s actually quite a compliment. Apparently the origins are from when Vietnamese prostitutes would write FMUSA on their butt cheeks to allure American soldiers to their services. Hmm… we all have a story.
Short and sweet, this update and myself,
xox Mar

April 5, 2003

Hey There,

Mar here from your friendly neighbour to the North, Canada! Hello my fellow Human beings. Ok, as a Canadian I'd just like to do a little rant about the war and such. First off it really irks me how the American government is mad at Canada for not helping them in their war with Iraq. Well, excuse me! Last time I checked we were our own country entitled to our own opinions separate from any other country's (and ahem, where was the USA for the first few years of WW2??? Huh?). Secondly, I wish the US army would stop killing innocent Iraqi people because you're pissed off at one man, who apparently has weapons of mass destruction. I am not a Saddam Hussein supporter. I think he has done horrific things in his life and I would like to see him out of power. but I just don't think it is right to risk the lives of so many innocent Iraqi civilians to get at Saddam. I agree with Alisha's comments "War is stupid and people are stupid and love means nothing" I played that song (by Culture Club) on my radio show. Oh yeah, on a lighter note I'm hosting my own national radio show on CBC Radio 2! Ooh, it's so exciting. Except my show airs midnight - 4AM on Saturday and Sunday nites, and I don't know how many people listen to the radio at 3:30AM Monday morning. Ha. The show is called Radio On. So if you live in Canada or just south of the border you can here it on CBC Radio 2. I have been so stressed with this new job, doing 8 hours of radio a week is a LOT of programming for one lil’ person such as myself. Boo!

Oh yeah, I haven't done much in the past 7 weeks because I broke my hand. Boo! (See picture). It's out of the cast and all better now, but now my body feels like a big blob of glutton because I'm totally out of shape. I haven't been able to play drums or bass or ride my bike. All the stuff I do which helps me stay fit. It sucks. And it wasn't even my fault it was someone else's fault I got hurt. See I was riding my bike along when this dude in a car decided to swerve into a parking spot right in front of me without signaling. I ended hitting his hub cap off his car and crashing on the ground. It was very painful. I'd never broken a bone before. An ambulance came and took me to the hospital (same one I was born at) and it was my first time back since then. Anyway, I'm done being a gimp I'm back to normal and ready to play shows. The Ewoks (my band) have 2 shows coming up this month. We're playing one with Stinkmitt www.stinkmitt.com and Gravy Train www.rapbitches.com from San Francisco. This show is going to be HOTT! Both Gravy Train and Stinkmitt basically only sing about SEX and the opposite SEX (or maybe not the opposite. depends) anyway, the Ewoks are in for a night of raunchy ass lyrics. We're shaking in our fur. Ha. Oh and Johnny Marr is coming May 1st!! I am so excited, the Smiths are my favourite band of all time so hopefully I'll get to interview him for CBC and meet him and tell him my name is his last name. Woo. Hahaha. I'm a dork. I think I need to go eat some food.

Some shows worth checking out:
April 11 - The Soundtrack of Our Lives @ the Commodore
April 16 - Gravy Train, Stinkmitt, the Ewoks @ the Pic
April 17 - Polyphonic Spree @ Richard's on Richards
April 18 - The Organ, the Dears @ Commodore
April 25 - The Ewoks, Operation Makeout @ South Arm Community Hall, Richmond
May 1 - Johnny Marr @ Richard's on Richards

Ok, see everyone soon. xoxo Marski

February 3, 2003

Werd.

So, it's my birthday in a couple weeks. I'm gonna be the big 22. I was only turning 20 when I first started writing for coolgrrrls so now it's been an official 2 year stint (excluding the last 6 months which I haven't written anything). My bad. But that's all going to change as I'm going to start being more organized (how many times have I actually said that??). Ha. So what the hell have I been up to since September?? Well. lots of things.

Probably the biggest and coolest thing I did was go to the UK for the first time in 15 years!! I went for 2 weeks and bummed all around the country. The first week I went on tour with the Secretly Canadian tour (actually an American label) www.secretlycanadian.com; . The tour consisted of June Panic, Scout Niblett, and Daniel from the Danielson Family. MY friend from Holland, Gijs, was the tour driver so that's how I got to go along as the tag-along.

The first nite was in Brighton at this club called the Palmers Bar. It was in the basement of an apartment type building (which meant no drums tonight!) and it was probably the smallest bar I've ever been in, in my life!! It was like someone's basement recroom. And hot and smoky as hell! We crashed with at Sam and Lindsay's place and had tea and toast 'til 3AM (made me feel very English).

The second night was at the Social in Nottingham (a club I ended up frequenting quite a bit during my UK stay). My penpal of 7 years lives in Nottingham and we crashed at his place that night. I had never met him before so it was pretty funny, almost like a blind date or something. His roommate Neil was so funny and made the best food. I ended up going back there after the tour for about 4 days. hanging out with Matt, Neil, and Luke. And Eating lots of good vegan food. Good food whether it's vegetarian, vegan, or not is hard to come by in the UK. Unless you are eating Indian (best Indian I ever had definitely).

Speaking of good curry, the third show of the tour was in Manchester at some bar called the Tmesis which was freezing!! But after the show we went to the "Curry Mile" in Rusholme (like the Smiths song Rusholme Ruffians). The Curry Mile is a strip along Oxford Rd which is just Indian/Curry restaurants for about a mile and they ALL have neon lights!! It looks a bit like Las Vegas. I went there a few times while I was in Manchester. I also came back to Manchester later to see Ladytron. Who I have to admit are kind of a boring live band. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan and love dancing to them at club nights in Vancouver. but live they just didn't do it for me. They just stood there as still as robots and didn't even speak in between songs or anything. It was also the loudest show I'd ever been to in my life. I thought I was going to vomit.

Anyway, after Manchester we made our way up to Glasgow, Scotland. Where I slept through most of the show in the van. The jet-lag was hitting me by this point. We stayed at Chris from Eska's place and I slept on his hall floor.

By the time I reached Edinburgh at the end of my trip I was fully accustomed to the UK time zone and was staying up well past 5:30AM partying the nights away. I went to a couple club nights here... and shopped until I dropped. I bought a new parka and had to leave my old one hanging over a fence in Grass Market. There was no way I could cram it into my bags. I also got to catch a couple cool shows on the trip El Guappo, Radio 4, the Faint. I'd never seen the Faint before and holy crap it was a good show! Definitely recommend going to see this band anytime you have a chance. Probably my favourite show of the year.

Back in Vancouver, things plug on. My band the Ewoks has a new record, "The Ewoks VS. The Awful Dynne," and it's coming out on Magic Teeth Records from Victoria http://magicteeth.tripod.com; . Woo Hoo. We celebrated 3 years of existence with the Rogers Sisters from NYC on January 13. Minimalist organ rock is here to stay! Other good things happening to Vancouver bands. the Organ (featuring one current and one ex-member of the Ewoks) just signed a crazy deal with Mint Records and 604 Records. Mint has put out tons of good things such as the New Pornographers, Maow, Duotang, New Town Animals, and even my old band The Riff Randells! 604 is famous for being the label Chad Kroeger from Nickleback founded. but seriously I don't know if the Organ has ever even met him! The real man behind the deal is Chad's partner Jonathan Simkin who used to be the Mint lawyer and has had a love affair with the Organ for the past 6 months. So yay for the Organ! Good luck! Also you can check out the Organ's track "Sinking Hearts" on the Cool Grrrls Kick Ass comp! They sound like they came from a time in music when depressing bands like the Smiths, Joy Division, and the Cure dominated the charts. Ahhh, my child hood. Lots of haunting vocals from singer Katie Sketch who has the most wonderful voice in the city! www.theorgan.ca;

Other Vancouver news. The New Town Animals just broke up. Guitarist Jeff Mcloy has decided to leave the band which means it's over for the rest of the guys I guess. I went to their last show at the Pic on Saturday and it wasn't much of anything. Not too many people came out it was actually kind of depressing. Boo for the NTA. Sorry guys. Hmmm. What other gossip can I fill you in on? Well, Canadian good news. Legendary English label Rough Trade has signed Toronto bands the Hidden Cameras and Royal City! The new Hidden Cameras album should be out in March sometime and their first English single will be out February 24. Everyone knows Rough Trade from being the Smiths label. So cool. The Constantines have signed with Sub Pop. And everyone already knows this one but Victoria band Hot Hot Heat have signed a major $$$ deal with Warner US. You should see their apartments now! Lots of new DVDs, turntables, and nice BIG beds! Quite a change from when 5 of them all lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. Ha. So Canada is finally getting the recognition it deserves for having good independent music. Most people only know us for Celine Dion, Alanis Morrissette, Nickleback, Barenaked Ladies, Nelly Furtado, and such. well there's lots more too Canadian music! Not to mention all the legendary musicians from Canada. Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, The Guess Who, to name a few. Watch out world 2003 is going to be the Canadian invasion! Hahaha.

That sort of brings things up to date a bit with me. I'm planning on going back to the UK this year for a bit of a holiday.. And other than that we'll see what happens. I've got a boyfriend in Vancouver right now so I'm not going anywhere for a bit. He's rad though. Anyway, ahem. yes, things to look forward in the Vancouver area in the next little while.

February 14 - My 22nd Birthday @ Mod Club/ Honey

February 27 - Sparta @ Commodore

February 28 - Ted Leo @ Pat's Pub

March 5 - Ladytron and Simian @ Commodore

March 19 - Supergrass @ Commodore

Yeah. and go check out the Organ in Ontario on their 10 day tour. Feb 25
- March 9 if you live in the province.

Happy Winter everyone! Stay safe. Hugs and Kisses, Mar

September 7, 2002

Hey Hey Hey Girls and Boys,

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 festival www.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 out Wilco 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 the Ewoks 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 Engaged www.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

June 6, 2002

All right People, what’s going on? Summer is fast approaching and everyone’s getting ready to take their holidays, rolling out the camping gear, adding up the airmiles, or whathaveyou. As for me I’ll probably just be hanging around Vancouver for most of the summer. I’m thinking of going to Europe in August but I only get 2 weeks vacation time and I don’t know if I want to use it all up in August. Maybe a road trip down the Coast? Or maybe just some weekend camping trips? Decisions, decisions....

Anyway, I just went and saw a new Canadian film called FUBAR which you all must go see. It’s a tribute to the banger and it’s soooo weird and funny. The soundtrack, well I should say album related to the film because it’s actually not a soundtrack, actually has a few big names on it for an independent film, Sum 41, Sloan, the New Pornographers, etc. The film is a mockumentary about two bangers, one who has testicular cancer, and their battle through life. If you’ve ever wondered what a headbanger does? And what the hell "just give’r" means? Go see this film because it will enlighten you on the Canadian trailer trash, mulleted, metal-tshirt wearing, beer drinking, idiots we all love to make fun of. www.fubar-themovie.com.

Speaking of beer drinking, a few weeks ago was New Music West, Vancouver’s annual music industry festival. It was 5 day party in the city. I haven’t seen so many people out in the clubs in Vancouver for a really, really long time. Oh, and there was an industry conference as well. I saw Gene Simmons talk, woah, total loser. Sorry, but I went in there having no idea what he was really like and after seeing him talk for an hour I walked out of the Commodore disgusted. We all know the guy is extremely sexist and all he cares about is money and well, I applaud the guy for at least being honest. But he made some really inappropriate comments about sweatshops in other countries. I just don’t think that’s cool. You don’t make jokes about people who practically live like slaves. But anyway, there were much more enjoyable aspects to the festival I got to check out a whole whack of bands. Things started out Wednesday nite at GM Place for the over-the-top mainstream rock festival FoxFest with Sum 41, Gob, Sloan, Edwin, and a bunch of bad bands. Not really my thing, but I got free tickets so I went with some friends to see Sloan and Sum 41 and now I remember why I don’t like stadium shows. Lots of preteens and teens at their first shows ever just freaking out, bad bands, bad sounds, no personality. Ugh.

Thursday nite was the Endearing Records showcase at the Piccadilly. First up was my new favourite local band, The Organ. I always say if Joy Division had been girls they would have been the Organ. Total moody, new wave, early Cure type band. I love it. One criticism, they need more songs. The few people who were there blinked and missed most of their short set. I took a break from the Piccadilly and strolled down to Luvafair to check out the last few songs of the Spitfires set. The Spitfires are known as being Vancouver’s best drunk live band. I don’t know how they do it. This show was no exception with lots of sweat, booze, and rock’n’roll. These guys have a new album out on Longshot. www.longshotmusic.com; check it out!

Friday nite was the Teenage USA/ Three Gut Records showcase which my band The Ewoks was actually playing at. It was a really fun show to play. There were tons of industry peeps and scenesters there and the other bands were really, really good. The only band I would say I was sober enough to review was The Cinch. The girl singer sounds like she should have been in some modish Brit pop band back in the 80s. The Cinch’s crunchy awesome vintage-guitar rock blended with pop melodies makes one hella catchy sound. I loved the jams and grooves, totally hypnotic, but not in a hippy stoner way more garage like. This band has been around for a few years now and I can’t believe I didn’t discover them sooner! I feel like an idiot. The other bands playing that night were Juno-nominees The Constantines, London Ontario’s Weekend and Two Minute-Miracles. We had a party after the show and invited half the bar back to our house. I drove in a van with 21 people! Let’s just say our neighbours were not too pleased. They came over to our place and screamed in my face. It was 4:30AM and I was so incoherent I didn't know what to say other than kick the last stragglers out. We wrote our neighbours an apology letter the next day and since then they have been really sweet to us.

Saturday nite was a show hopping night for me. The evening started off with Britain’s finest, the Super Furry Animals at Dick’s on Dicks. Watching the SFA set was like being inside a Chemical Brothers music video. They had a big film screen behind them with crazy footage of "trippy" visuals, curling videos, and other sorts of weird stuff. The set started off with amazing high energy with upbeat songs like "Rings Around the World" and "Respectable for the Respectable" and then gradually got into the slower side of things and didn’t pick up again until close to the end. Then it was off to the Video In for the Mint Records anti-NMW showcase. I caught Operation Makeout who were on fire tonight, especially singer, Katie Makeout. I’ve never seen Katie so powerful before I was almost intimidated by her. It was definitely the best Operation Makeout show I’ve ever seen. And up next were mod rockers from the ‘peg, Duotang. Watching Duotang is like watching an old married couple (with all the bickering between songs) but unlike an old married couple the passion is still there. Rod Slaughter sweated so much his white shirt turned flesh colored pink. They dedicated a song to me and I was happy. Then it was off to the Cobalt "Vancouver’s only Hardcore bar" for Montreal garage legends the Gruesomes, who definitely did not fit into the "hardcore" atmosphere. The Gruesomes are one of those very reliable bands you know what you’re going to get because they haven’t changed in 15 years. Bobby Beaton actually said "If you like our new stuff then you’ll like our old stuff because it sounds just the same and visa versa". Ha! However, the band just did not match up with the venue and its crowd. The Cobalt attracts a rather rowdy punk audience who were starting fights and knocking people over during the set. The Gruesomes did not look pleased. Aw well. I went back to the Mint nite to say good bye to some friends and retreated home for some much needed sleep. ‘Til next year I guess.

But before that there’s a couple shows coming up for people to go to here. I’m unfortunately missing nearly all of them because I’ll be outta town but take my place!

June 6 - Tuuli and the Cinch @ The Pic

June 9 - White Stripes @ Commodore (sold out in 2 days)

June 10 - Andrew WK @ Richard's

June 15 - Bratmobile, Tennessee Twin, The Organ @ Piccadilly

July 28 - Billy Idol @ the Orpheum

Werd Nerds, xoxoMar

May 4, 2002

Hello Everyone!
I’m back with a quick update about what I got up to last week. I work for a radio show on CBC called RadioSonic and the last part of our show is always guest hosted by an up and coming journalist/musician of some sort... anyway, this particular evening we had two special guest hosts in Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings) and Franka Potente (Run Lola Run). It was totally weird hanging out with them... I was actually star struck. But Elijah is a pretty cool guy he likes good music at least. He programmed all the music and Franka did a German set...playlist highlights include The Hives, Stooges, Television, White Stripes, Stones Roses, Pulp, and waaaay more. I was quite impressed to find out he liked a lot of the same bands as me and we are actually the exact same age...2 weeks apart and both Aquarius’s! I didn’t get to talk to Franka as much because she was a little quieter but she played this rad song by a band I’d never heard of before called Phillip Boa and the Voodoo Club. Totally awesome German indie rock from 1985. I told Elijah all about seeing the Hives in Vancouver (back in December) and recently seeing Clinic in Toronto... he was completely jealous! He almost had a hyper spazz in our office over how much music we had (I think he wants to come back and visit soon). Oh, and I got this totally rock photo with Elijah and Franka that is now the wallpaper on my computer. Ha!

Lots of stuff coming up in Vancouver the next week or so. New Music West is next week which means tons of shows. Everything starts on Wednesday (May 8) with the Georgia Straight Music Awards and that Fox Fest at GM Place (blah) but Sloan is playing so there’s one cool band at least. Thursday night there is a ton of stuff going on!! I don’t know how I’m going to make it to everything... The Spitfires and friends at Luvafair, The Endearing records showcase at the Pic w/ the Waking Eyes and the Organ, the Radio at the Sugar Refinery, and Puffy Ami Yumi from Japan at the Vogue. Friday nite I’m playing with my band the Ewoks at the Teenage USA showcase along with the Constantines, etc at the Piccadilly. Then Saturday nite is yet another show-hopping night... the Mint Records showcase at the Video In, Super Furry Animals at Dick’s on Dicks, The Gruesomes at the Cobalt, Flash Bastard, 3 Inches, and The Nasty On at the Royal (new bar I still haven’t been to), The Gay and the Gossip at the Piccadilly, and many many other shows I won’t even bother mentioning because there is no way anyone could make it to all of these events in one night! It's going to be awesome! I'm so excited because a bunch of my friends from outta town are coming either to play or to attend the festival. Oh, and happy wedding times to my friend Shawn who is getting married on the Thursday. It's going to be a crazy week. I'll fill you in when it's all over but for now check out my reviews of the new Hot Hot Heat and Epoxies on our Sizzling CDs page.

xoxoxoMar

April 19, 2002

Hey Dudes,

What's shaking? My life is all topsy-turvy right now. Things are all up in the air at my office. Not getting along too well with one of my co-workers. Very emotionally stressful. Bawh (as my friend Craig Laskey would say). My life has also been a little chaotic due to all the traveling I've been doing lately. I've been to Toronto four times in the last 3 months. I feel like it's my second home almost and maybe it will actually be some day. I've been so torn between the two cities (and they sure ain't close!). The last trip to TO was amazing because I got to stay for about 9 days. I finally got to really spend sometime hanging out in the city. I went out w/ CBC to do a live RadioSonic broadcast from the Exclaim! Magazine hockey tournament where one lucky team can win the Exclaim! Cup. Teams in the tournament are made up of musicians and music industry types from all over Canada. Congrats to the Bovine Sex Club (Toronto) and the Eels (Hamilton) for winning this years cups. The festivities spread thru 'til the next weekend which was actually the Exclaim! 10th Anniversary party with a huge party at Lee's Palace. Exclaim! Is Canada's only monthly national free music paper and it's atually cool. Ian Danzig the publisher and his wife Atsuko actually took me out for Korean food while I was in town. Ian thinks I'm such a freak because I always get this egg dish called Bi Bim Bop but without the egg. It's really good that way though, I swear. www.exclaim.ca

The first nite I flew into Toronto some friends and I had started out drinking at the Horseshoe before making our way over to the Tequila Lounge (the new El Mocambo) for the Mooney Suzuki show. By the time we got there they had already hit the stage and sadly I missed the Carnations and Meligrove Band. Both I heard had good sets. The Mooney Suzuki though had an amazing set! I'd never seen this band before but they did indeed "rip it up". There was classic jumping on speakers and amps posses, then hopping down into the crowd to mess around as they rocked out, and the drummer would even come out from behind his set and hold up a big plastic cobra to rile up the crowd. I was drunk so I was blown away but I think sober people would have been as well. After the show I met two girls (Michelle and Maggie), who were taking the Suzuki boys to some post show party. I wasn't too interested at first. But after Sammy Suzuki demanded we all go to this party I went along. Dan Burke (booked the ElMo and now the Tequila) came along, as well as Craig Laskey booker of the Horseshoe, Damir a DJ at Mod Club, the entire Mooney Suzuki and their booking agent, as well as a few other friends and tag-alongs (me being the biggest one). There was beer, Jaggermeister, gin, vodka, and more flowing at this party. It was drunken debauchery with people making out and long distance phone calls. Good times.

The second nite I was super super hung over but still made it out to the Saturday nite Mod Club at Revival. I’ve talked about this club before because I always go. I go so much they finally gave me a gold card. The Saturday nite’s rather lame but my good friend Damir DJs downstairs in the "Cavern" so I went to hang out for a bit. The Wednesday nite one is the best. It’s free and all these hilarious mods go. Mark and Bobbi who run the nite are hilarious themselves. Both ex-pats from England they have held on to their accents for a long time. This visit I actually got to meet some guy who goes by the name "the Mod Father" says he supposedly started the whole Toronto mod scene. He was wearing a Versace suit. Is that mod? Maybe I should ask the mod grrrl on this page but I doubt it. I got completely loaded I think I might have stuck my tongue into some boys’ mouths. But that’s just between me and you, ok? www.themodclub.com

I checked out some newer nites in Toronto during my stay as well. One was a brand spanking new monthly rock’n’roll nite at the OPM Den called Roxton Road. The OPM Den is a little club in China town run by this crazy lady who gave us all free shots and told me I should call her next time I’m in town. They have a tiny little stage but it’s a super cool little spot. I’d recommend all touring bands to play there. Build up the China town scene! Woo. I attended another ongoing monthly nite called Popscene which is the first Friday of every month at the Manhattan Club. As their flyers say they "play good shit". Everything from Britney Spears to the White Stripes to Ladytron to James Brown and beyond but somehow it is one of the coolest club nites I’ve ever been too. Maybe because of how bizarre the bar is. The actual bar only came up to below my crotch and you have to bend over and look waaay down at the bartender to order a drink. Very odd. They also had a plate of strawberries that the girls running the place were nibbling on which they generously shared with me and every else. I got loaded again.

I also saw a whack of shows while I was in Toronto. Liverpool’s Clinic were wearing their surgical masks at Lee’s Palace on Sunday nite. I’d heard their latest record and liked it but the live show was way better. I think their songs were sped up or something because it was way more upbeat. A lot of bands do that when they play live. People get excited and play the songs faster but it was really good. I also saw Toronto’s Do Make Say Think at Lee’s on the Thursday but I have to say they really aren’t my thing. Post rock, noisey, drawn out, emo, whatever songs… I’m not into it. I saw Dressy Bessy twice but seemed to miss them both times. My friend Scott and I drove down to Hamilton to see them and I was really excited about the opening band The Deathray Davies I spent Dressy Bessy’s whole set talking to them about Texas
(they’re from Dallas). I think I want to visit Texas. I’ve never been there.

Anyway, I’m back in Vancouver now for a bit. It’s sunny and warm right here but we’ll see how long that lasts! Werd nerds… xoxMar

Shows coming up in Vancouver…

April 19 – Boss Martians and The Gay @ The Waldorf Hotel (part of a 60s nite put on by www.rumbletone.com)
April 19 – Les Savy Fav + Hot Hot Heat @ Piccadilly Pub
April 27 – Exclaim! Party in Vancouver @ Sonar w/ Buck 65 and the Anti Pop Consortium
April 27 – Reserve 34’s last show! @ Video Inn w/ Blue Monday and the Red Light Sting
May 2 – French Lounge Pop @ Purple Onion w/ Coal and others
May 3 – Nasty On @ Piccadilly Pub
May 8 – Sloan @ Gm Place
May 8 – Ladytron @ Top of the Pops in SEATTLE/$10
May 8-12 – New Music West Festival
May 11 – the Gruesomes @ the Cobalt
June 1 – The Hives@ TBA

And Toronto…
April 19 – Forgotten Rebels @ Lee’s Palace
April 20 - Joel Plaskett @ Lee’s Palace
April 21 – Atom & His Package @ Horseshoe Tavern
April 24 – Les Sexareenos @ Tequila Lounge
May 31 – The Dictators @ Horseshoe Tavern
June 8 – The Hives, Pattern, and Mooney Suzuki @Opera House

February 26, 2002

Welcome once again to Mar’s world and a belated Happy New Year to Everyone! This is just a quick update to get re-aquainted I have been behind in my writing but I have also been very very busy! So please forgive my lazy ass.

First thing’s first. I turned 21 last week which means I can now go drinking south of the border but more importantly tour, go to shows, and of course attend Cool Grrrls parties in the US of A! Alright. Except I have no actual plans to travel south at the moment. I’m very much content with traveling around my own country at the moment. I’m off to Toronto for Canadian Music Week next week...which has a pretty lame line-up this year. All the good shows are on the same night which also happens to be the nite I’m teching the live broadcast. No partying for me. Blah blah blah... listen to me complain. How boring. Since I last wrote I have been on 2 trips. First trip was to Toronto (you can tell I like that city, huh?) where I met my hero Peter Mansbridge. Now, Peter isn’t your typical "cool guy" type. He’s a Dad, a national news anchor, and very bald. Not that being bald is a bad thing but he’s REALLY bald. But still a stud among middle age women here in Canada. Anyway, I got to do a radio interview with him for RadioSonic where I found out more than most people know about the man behind the news desk. Check www.120seconds.com for an interactive web piece entitled "Mansbridge and Mar."

I also got to check out the Wednesday nite Mod Club at the Lava Lounge in Toronto which is run by non-other than Mark Holmes, that dude from Platinum Blonde, remember them? I’ve talked about them in previous updates if you care to scroll down this page. The Mod Club is tons of fun. They play everything from northern soul, r&b, 60s garage rock, right up to brit pop. Good times for dancing. Recently I was in Toronto (yet again!) and I went to the Saturday nite Mod Club (yes they have 2 nites!) which is at Revival and it wasn’t as good.

Lots and lots of yuppie, jock types, etc... and when I say lots I mean lots! There were 800 or so people squished into the club, you couldn’t dance let alone move! I still like the mod club better than the other brit pop nite I went to in Toronto which will remain nameless. Check out www.themodclub.com for more info about the nites and special events.

Also, on my last stop in Toronto I met the famous porn star Ron Jeremy whose known for having a 9 _" cock as well as having sex with 4000+ women! Pretty incredible for a guy who swears he’s never used viagra and he’s been in the porn industry since the 70s. There’s a new movie out called "Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy" and I went to the opening nite. It was a good documentary of his life but it painted him as a pathetic, sad character. Pathetically trying and trying to break into mainstream acting. And amongst all the sex with various hot girls Ron has only ever had 3 girlfriends. He seems like a very lonely and sad guy.

Speaking of Porn I was just in Montreal which seems to be the capital of Sex clubs/theatres/shops in Canada. I went to one club called L’Axe where it says on the outside (in French) "Couples Erotiques Feminins" which is supposed to mean something like Girls Having Sex. There was nothing like that inside though. Just your regular strip bar. Pretty gross if you ask me. I’m not really into seeing girls show off their bodies to sleazy men. It was only the 3rd time I’ve been to a Strip Club in my life.

Montreal is really neat because it’s one of Canada’s major cities but it’s in Quebec, which is like going to a different country. Everyone speaks French in Quebec! And outside Montreal hardly anyone speaks any English. Montreal is very bilingual so I could get by with my pathetic knowledge of the French language. Hey, I’m from the West Coast we’re closer to California than Ontario or Quebec. But it’s really a whole different culture there. Just going to McDonald’s (yes, I’m admitting I eat there) I ordered a McPoulet et frites.

There are government regulations that says signs must only be in French except things like McDonald’s, Subway, etc that have been trademarked. Montreal bars close at 3:00AM as well so it’s a real "party" town. I got toured around the town by my good friend John Davis who plays in legendary Canadian garage outfit The Gruesomes (www.gruesomes.com) just a quick plug! We had hot bagels, drove up to the top of Mount Royal and looked down at the city, and or course ate Poutine! For you people reading this not from Canada, you may not know what Poutine is and you must know you are missing out big time! Poutine is french fries covered in cheese curds and gravy and it is soooo good! Very unhealthy and all that but good poutine is amazing! Burger King makes poutine across Canada as well if you want the cheap fast food kind. I was disappointed when I went to the Burger King in New York and they had no Veggie King or Poutine... I was like "I can not eat here!" I’ve just realized I’ve spent the last paragraph or 2 talking about the fast-food places I eat at... well, now that I’ve admitted to you all that I have a terrible diet I’m going to get back to work.

Events coming up in Vancouver people in the area should not miss...
March 2 - The Hanson Brothers @ the Cobalt
March 5 - Dressy Bessy @ The Piccadilly Pub
March 7 - The Deadly Snakes @ The Piccadilly Pub
March 9 - Anna Makeout's Birthday Party @ The Piccadilly Pub w/ Volumnizer, The
Ewoks, Operation Makeout, Clover Honey, and the Accident
March 11 - Whap's Birthday Party @ Mesa Luna w/ Radio Berlin (All Ages)
March 30 - The Sadies @ Piccadilly Pub
March 31 - Young & Sexy Free In-store @ Zulu Records (All Ages)
April 1 - Hot Hot Heat CD Release Party @ Mesa Luna (All Ages)
April 13 - ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead @ Richard's Richards

Ok, that's all I can think of right now.
If you are in Toronto for CMW next week don't miss...
March 1 - The Hidden Cameras @ Reverb
March 2 - RadioSonic Live Broadcast from the Horseshoe Tavern w/ New Town
Animals, Stars, Buck 65, and more! (I'll be there working as well)
March 2 - Les Sequelles and The Datsons @ Rancho Relaxo
March 2 - The Exploders @ Kathedral

Rock On! Leave the House! Go to more shows! Dance lots!
xox Mar

December 2, 2001

Whoa... Mar here with another update already! I must be chained to my computer. I never get more than one entry done a month. But I just had to talk about what's been going on in the Vancouver area.

First of all i spent the last week hanging out with Orchestral Pop Noir Romantique superstars The Dears who's home town is snowy Montreal. They had never been east of Ontario before so the long drives were wearing on them and they were glad to be back in a big city like Vancouver. On their very first day here I met them at CBC where the Dears were recording a session for RadioSonic. I took George, Martin, and tour manager Joseph out later that night to Brit Pop night at the Purple Onion. Just get a quick plug in for the Monday nite Brit Pop here... it's the best in Vancouver and the 60s room hosted by DJ Lee Modern is an added Bonus! Thursday night was the actual night of the Dears' show which sold out the Piccadilly Pub. All the scenesters were out to catch a glimpse of this fresh band's first appearance in Canada's premiere RainCity (and yes, it rained that night as well). They played past the Pic's curfew of midnight with the house lights blinding everyone. Steve Balogh of the Vancouver Nights preceded to unscrew the lights bulbs of the house lights so it was dark again. But the set was cut a bit short by an employee of the bar and the Dears were forced to sell their merchandise on the street... because everyone was kicked out into the cold. I don't blame the Piccadilly staff though, they are trying to get a better license so their bar can stay open 'til 1:00AM and having people in there past midnight doesn't help.

Other big Vancouver news The Black Halos Vancouver's biggest rock'n'roll export have broken up but not officially yet. Here's the story... Guitarist Rich Jones announced he was leaving the band earlier this week to join Los Angeles metal band Amen. Soon to follow was second guitarist Jay Millette who announced he was leaving, and there are rumours that the rest of the band is quitting as well. The Black Halos X-mas show at the Commodore Ballroom December 22 is still up in the air... if it does in fact happen Rich Jones will not be playing the show as the rest of the band has asked he not play. The Black Halos were at the height of their popularity so everyone is a bit shocked including myself. And on the same note Vancouver girl rockers Clover Honey have also called it a day. Their web site hasn't been updated since September and it's rumoured bass player Anita has left to go back to school. ??? Somebody please fill me in on the details.

Ok, back to good news. The well dressed and very serious Victoria boys Hot Hot Heat have just signed to Sub Pop. That's right loose one Canadian band (Black Halos) sign another one. Also Hot Hot Pants (as I prefer to call them due to their extremely tight pants) are touring Hawaii in the New Year and I wish them the best of luck with their musical career!

Ok, I'm going to the Psychedelic Furs/ Echo and the Bunnymen show tomorrow night for free. Wooo... and then next week I head off to Toronto for some CBC related stuff and I'm hoping to finally meet CBC Television's news anchor Peter Mansbridge. That guy is my hero!
All right check ya later... xox Mar

PS. George Harrison was my all time favourite Beatle. I spent yesterday listening to all my Beatles albums in my room. I'm gonna miss that guy!

November 20. 2001

Hey dudes. It’s Mar from the Pacific-North West. Bringing you some cross-country Canadian flavour this time. I’ve done a bit of traveling the last month. I went all the way out to the East Coast of Canada to Halifax, Nova Scotia for the annual Pop Explosion and last week I made my way to Regina, Saskatchewan (the Queens city) and home of. well not a lot, for some flat Prairie time action.

The Halifax Pop Explosion (the title being a play on the historical event of the Halifax Explosion) is a 3-day music festival at all sorts of clubs in Maritime Canada’s biggest city. I got to go out with the CBC and broadcast live from there, which entitled me to a full pass for the event. So this is my story of all-night parties, lots of bands, and even more alcohol!

The first night was the "Pop" night at the Marquee. The evening started off with London, Ontario’s poppyer than pop kids The Weekend. I unfortunately missed there set completely because I was talking on the phone in my hotel room while mindlessly watching the first Survivor episode. can anyone say Geek! Anyway, I got there just as Les Sequelles had started there purely French garage rock ye ye sound! Wow, I love this band! They make me want to learn French! And seriously I am considering it. If I ever want to work in Montreal I’ll have to learn our "other" official language. Four years of high school French hasn’t really prepared me for much. I met Les Sequelles after the show and talked to them about Quebec Separatism for about an hour, turns out they’re "real" separatists! I’d never met any separatists before. being from the West Coast and all where the official language is more like Mandarin than French. It was interesting to hear the other side of things. For all you non-Canadians reading this, I’ll give you some background: Quebec is the French province in Canada and has been teetering back and forth on whether they would like to separate from the rest of Canada (which has a majority of English speakers). Ok, enough of the Social Studies lesson back to the show! Russian Futurists were well just 1 Futurist, as the whole band couldn’t afford to come out from Toronto. Main guy, Matt, took a 30 hour train ride out just to play this show! That’s dedication.

He delighted the audience with his quirky computer driven pop sounds. Not much of a live presence as he just sits at a computer but the music was good. Last but not least was headliners, The Heavy Blinkers who I actually missed due to the aforementioned "separatist talk". What I could hear through the ceiling of the downstairs backstage sounded good. The rest of the night I can't really remember because at this point I was fairly hammered. Halifax has cheap booze and their bars stay open 'til 4:00AM! How crazy is that?

Second night was a very Winnipeg centered nite. Actually the whole weekend kind of was. All my friends from Winnipeg had come out to play the festival, Duotang, Novillero, The Weakerthans, Projector, etc. I almost felt as though I was in Winnipeg. Mint recording artists and professional party-animals Duotang headlined the bar downstairs from the Marquee known as Hell. The show went off seamlessly until Rod forgot how to play one of their songs from their second album, which was actually quite funny. In the audience for this show was Much East VJ, Mike Campbell, who I’d only ever seen on TV representing the East Coast scene. He invited us all to a party back at his house after the show. When we got there his house was empty and everyone was in the backyard in a makeshift Tiki Bar stocked with plenty of cold ones and assorted liquors only your grandmother would drink. I had already consumed like 9 drinks back at the bar so I wasn’t really up to more drinking but more into making out, which I got to do with an old flame. Woo!

Completely hung over the next day I went to the afternoon zine fair to see the wonder that is the Weakerthans. The kids were so into them and it sounded great but I had to cut-out early to go to CBC to get ready for our LIVE broadcast which actually went really smoothly. Tonight was the big headliner night with Chicks on Speed from Germany playing. What can I say those "chicks" blew me away! Cool dance moves, all my fav songs, lots of beats, insane bubble-letter belts, and matching white pants made for an amazing show! Peaches followed with her raunch-rock, which was entertaining. Oh and I forgot to mention Novillero played as well earlier down in Hell. It was nice to see the pop lovers again since I’d only ever seen what is known as their "worst show ever", in Vancouver a while back. Everyone’s flights were super early the next morning so Novillero and moi stayed up all night in my hotel room and went to the airport together where I ran into Chicks on Speed going through security. They took away my plastic toy switchblade comb, which made me sad, but at least we were safe. I slept for about an hour on the plane and then went to the Strokes show at the Commodore. I know how to live the rock’n’roll lifestyle.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT - October 31, 2001 my dear old friend Jeff Mcloy from the New Town Animals and his (then) girlfriend, Ingrid, had a unique wedding. Set in the dingy underground bar Ms. T’s known for it’s drag queens, punk shows, and leniency on Ids, the bar was transformed into a Wedding Chapel for the evening. Monster attire was required, so I went as Alice Cooper the most monstrous rock star. There was Halloween candies, a dance party, and grandmas dressed up as witches. The Justice of the Peace was Medusa, one of the witnesses had a knife sticking out of his head and blood all over, but the best of all was the bride and groom who were Wednesday from (Addams Family) and Pee Wee Herman. The actual vows were done in Klingon (Sp??) that Star Trek language and they had plaque cards held up with the English translation. It was very entertaining and I guess. ah. very romantic? The Smugglers played dressed as a mob of Skeletons, which I thought, resembled the bad guys in Karate Kid. Anyone remember that? The best costume prize went to Tom Selleck (Magnum PI era) who isn’t much of a monster but does look scary with all that hair! It was a great wedding and one of the best Halloween’s I’ve ever had. Congratulations Jeff and Ingrid and good luck with all the fun years of marriage ahead of you!

Next up my trip to Regina, Saskatchewan probably one of the ugliest towns in Canada. But hey I had fun despite the beauty of the place. Sloan were playing the night I flew in which was cool coz I got to see my buddy Jay. We went to Value Village and I got lots of good deals on winter jackets and old Canadian 45s. The show was at a bar which when full holds roughly 400 people but tonight wasn’t sold out which is weird for Sloan but maybe it had something to do with the $18 tix. Ouch! Expensive but not as expensive as the $25 Vancouver ones! Anyway, it was awesome for me because I could actually enjoy their set in a small bar atmosphere. They played all the hits and during their last song "Underwhelmed" I got dragged onstage to play bass and I made a fool of myself mucking it up! Oh well, no one knows me in Regina. Everyone in Sloan and their crew went out gambling after the show and lost lots of money, except for Jay and me being the nerdy responsible people we are, we watched TV.

The next day I went to work and ended up hanging out with movie star Kevin Polluck (Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men, etc). He was in town with the Just for Laughs comedy tour and all the comedians, backing band, crew, etc were staying at the same hotel as me. They put me and my friend, Zach, on their guest list and after the show we all went out partying at a bar where I ended up singing "God Save the Queen" (Sex Pistols version of course!) on stage. 2 nights in a row I embarrass myself! But it was fun never the less and then we were all on the same plane the next day to Calgary. One of the comedians who was on the Just for Laughs tour and is in that new Blockbuster commercial for DVDs declared I was "a shit-bag full of FUN". Wow, I guess I’m really fun. Werd.

So that’s it. I’m back in Vancouver now for a while. no traveling plans in the immediate future except a brief Vancouver Island stint with my band The Ewoks for our record release. As it gets closer and closer to Christmas touring bands seem to come less and less but there is one really good show coming that everyone must see.

Dec 8 - (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Hives, and The Smugglers Everyone knows (I)NC are amazing but wait until you hear the Hives! Also from Sweden the Hives are my band of the year. They’re so good! I love them even though their manager supposedly writes all their songs for them. They are not to be missed and this is their first Vancouver date. So don’t miss out!

Ok, I'll catch ya later. And everyone stay warm!

xoxo Marski

What a weekend! I partied from Thursday night to Monday! No kidding - 5 days straight!

This was the first Mint night - aka: the Country Nite w/ Neko Case, Carolyn

Mark, and Tennessee Twin. I missed Tennessee Twin because the show was an early one. I saw parts of Carolyn's show but spent most of the night catching up with old friends and trying hard not to let myself buy any expensive drinks. Richard's is such a rip-off. I advise people to get drunk before they come to the shows there, but please drive safely! Neko was suffering from a bit of a cold and h

ad some throat problems but still seemed to blow everyone away as she normally does. However, the Corn Sisters didn't end up playing due to Neko's condition. The coolest thing about this night was there was a huge box of free Chupa Chups at the merch table and everyone who bought tix to both Mint nights got a free CD sampler. Woo, free stuff is always A-OK in my books. Oh and towards the end of the night Duotang decided to show up. I hadn't talked to those Winnipeg boys since the last Mint show at Richard's (w/ Duotang and the New Pornographers). The first words out of Rusty's mouth were "Hey Mar, how's it going? We're staying at your house, right?" So then the chaos began: I fell asleep at 3:00AM.

Duotang boys for the free Mint food spread. Veggies, dip, deli meats, etc. Jeez, I have never spent so much time at the Commodore (8:00PM - 3:00AM - that's 7 hours baby!). The New Town Animals were on first and the 30-day tour they just arrived from that day definitely showed! Whoa, tight ass. They played to a fairly small crowd but slowly things began to fill up. Duotang was next who were good as usual. This time at least the button fly on Rod's super tight pants didn't break. The last show I had to lend him a safety pin right before they went on. By the time The Evaporators hit the stage the room was well packed. They did the Thor thing again (second time I've seen it) and he still didn't manage to pop the hot water bottle. I started chatting up Chris Nelson from MuchMusic at this point who then, before I Am Spoonbender went on, snuck me backstage! I spent I Am Spoonbender's set catching up with an ex-boyfriend of mine I never talk to anymore. The dark synthesizer ambient noize/music was a nice break from the rock. The Smugglers went on with singer Grant Lawrence announcing the show was now sold-out (Hurray for Mint!). A special appearance from ex-cub member Lisa Marr singing "My Chinchilla" was definitely the highlight of the set. Everyone was dancing for that one. At this point I was in desperate need of a bathroom and made my way up to the dressing rooms (where I spent the rest of the evening missing most of the New Pornographers set). At the end of the night everyone was so hammered and so happy backstage of the success of the evening it felt like Christmas!

After the show we went to a party at an apartment owned by Jason Priestly. My friend Shane's girlfriend Karen is actually Jason's stepsister and they rent out their place from the Beverly Hill's 90210 star. It was a small party but the cops managed to come by twice. I fell asleep at 5:30AM.

Unfortunately, I had to get up and work this afternoon. Today was the 4th annual

RadioSonic Barbeque (the show I work for). We broadcast live from the CBC plaza and we have a live band, this year it was the farfisa-rock combo the Tonics, and a BBQ. This year we had "celebrity" Chef's as Hamm (Slow, Copyright, Jungle, Canned Hamm) came buy to cook up some wieners, as well as Sean Allum from Duotang and Sara Lapsley from Vancouver Nights. I was operating the soundboard and such so I

wasn't getting much of the food or social action but everything seemed to go smoothly.

This night was the Geared to Go-Go (part of the Vancouver Scooter Rally) night at the Ridge Theatre with bands, Groovie Ghoulies, Girl Trouble, Skablins and more playing! And downstairs in the bowling alley they had dancing (w/ DJ Todd Tomorrow) and drunken bowling. I got there more than fashionably late and only managed to catch Girl Trouble and the Groovie Ghoulies. I had never seen Girl Trouble before and wanted to check them out but was a little disappointed with them so I headed downstairs to the dance party. Back upstairs for the Groovie Ghoulies, fully drugged-up and loaded I had the best time dancing between the theatre seats. B-Face didn't come up for the show so Kepi was on double duty as bass player and singer. They were taking tons of audience requests and seemed to be having a great time. Simple Ramones inspired punk rock about ghosts and vampires - who could ask for anything more?

After the show a bunch of us piled into two vans, Jenny, Duotang, Sara, and myself in one. In the "Gaylord Home Securities" van our friend Steve and some people from Seattle. We went in search of the beach scooter party but by the time we found it (after lots and lots of driving through the woods) there were 2 scooterists left revving their motors to take off. So we stumbled along the beach anyways and came across a "rave" type dance party up a hill in the woods. Steve managed to barf all over the grass, I smoked some grass, and everyone else rolled around in the wet grass. We kidnapped an extremely tall gay man from Miami named Tyron who had lost his friends, and went back to my house. I think we had another dance party at my house to the Stones but I don't remember much after this part other then my squeegee punk neighbors coming over at 5:30AM and telling us to shut up. I woke up the next morning to find Tyron passed out at the foot of my bed still in his suit and boots!

I don't think I could be any hung over than I was this night but what did I go out and do? Party! Brit Pop night at the Purple Onion usually lands on Monday but this weekend because of "Geared to Go-Go" and everything it was a day early and that day early sure made a difference! The place was packed, completely sold out! I've never seen it like that. It was amazing! Of course I was drunk so anything would have been amazing but this was night was really fun. Scooterists from all over came to shake their "booty." Most people were from the Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle regions but a few came from far off places like New York and Arizona. The two rooms were split, as they normally are on Monday nights: Brit Pop in the big room and 60s soul & rock in the smaller room. Duotang played in the smaller room and you could barely move it was so squished with mods. Everyone was really into them, which was the upside of the evening, the downside was that their van got broken into. Rusty lost his wallet and all of his ID! People when you come to Vancouver don't leave your bag with all your valuables in your car if you park it in a bad neighborhood. I've lived in Vancouver all my life and never have had anything stolen out of a car before but you can never be too careful.

After the show everyone went back to Ska-T's (Canada's King of Ska) for a house party that went to 6:00AM. I really wanted to make out with a mod boy from Victoria but by the time I got to the party he had left so I settled for an old friend to smooch with.

Whew, so that was my Labour Day weekend. Coming up in Vancouver lots and lots of stuff to see! Go check out these shows if you can.

Plus on Oct 10 I'm heading out to the East Coast, Halifax that is, for the Halifax Pop Explosion festival. My work is paying for the flight, hotel, etc. so it's going to be pretty fun. We're broadcasting live on the Saturday Oct 13 so I do have to work (it's not all fun and games) but the rest of the time I'll be checking out bands like Chicks on Speed, Peaches, Les Sequelles, The Weakerthans, and more. Alright, so get out of the house and go to some shows!

Oh yeah... and I got my electric blue Bubble Bag in the mail the other week.
Woo... my whole house smells like grape bubble gum. Yum! Everyone at my work was so jealous. It's really small only big enough to fit my keys and maybe a credit card... I want a bigger one so I can put more stuff in it – it is so cool!
www.mybubblebag.com

September 21, 2001

Dear Cool Girls and readers....

Things have been CRAZY lately. I wrote an update on Sept 10th (the day before everything happened) and have included it below but I just had to write a new one as well. I was completely shocked. I watched the news for 2 days straight! Working at the CBC didn't help either with the TV on constantly in my office and people running around all over the building trying to report on what was happening. People in my office are still working over-time trying to cover everything from different angles. The radio show I work for had to be completely overhauled to make sure we didn't play anything "inappropriate".

When it comes to what has happened I really don't know what to say. Except: everyone who has lost someone, had their lives taken from them, lost jobs, or had their lives destroyed in any way, you have my deepest sympathies. I can't imagine something like this happening in Vancouver. I don't know what I'd do. It also seems totally surreal to me because I was just in NYC for the first time in August and a few weeks later this all goes down.

I think this is a time to reflect and analyze to ensure that something like this never happens again! Lots of love, Mar

Here's my other update...
Sept 10, 2001
Hey Ho..ooo...oooooooooo...
Blah. I was just in a bicycling accident where me and my bike and the side of a car met face to face. Eek. So nothing's broken but I'm very bruised and stiff from the accident which happened on Saturday night. I still managed to go to Billy Idol that night and rock out! But since then I haven’t been doing much since I'm in a lot of pain. Anyway, just wanted to write a quick note saying my NYC/Toronto trip update as well as my Mint Record's 10th Anniversary update will both be in shortly! I just need some time to heal. Plus last week I started my new job as Associate Producer of RadioSonic and they haven't hired anyone to fill in my old job yet so I'm technically doing 2 jobs! Busy and hurt - that's me. Poo.

Quick Billy Idol review though: Awesome! Seriously! The guy still has it and seeing him in a small venue (the Commodore Ballroom holds about 1000) was amazing. He played all the hits.... White Wedding, Rebel Yell, Mony Mony, Dancing With Myself and even a Generation X song Ready Steady Go! Steve Stevens is on this tour which makes it so much better since he co-wrote most of the songs with Billy. The only shitty thing about the show was the audience, a bunch of rednecks who've probably been to 2 shows in the last year. I got elbowed and smooshed by a bunch of bitchy women. I never go to big mainstream rock shows so it was a bit of a shock for me but still worth it to see the blonde-haired rock star.

Ok, I'll write more soon when I'm feeling better!
xoxox Mar

August 8, 2001

Marr here from the rainy city of Vancouver BC. It’s been awhile since my last update and I’ve got many things to report on so let’s get started!

Canada Day weekend June 30/July 1 I headed down the I-5 with my friends Jenny and Andrew to the home of grunge, Seattle WA, but not for a Nirvana reunion or ripped jean convention but for the annual Scooter Rally’s big whoop-a-ding-ding at the EMP (Experience Music Project - you know the Jimi Hendrix museum). Headlining the show was Vancouver ambASSadors of rock’n’roll the Smugglers. I caught the second band on the bill the Boss Martians who were totally excellent. I’d never heard of them before but they are quite well known in the Northwest. Next up were the Smugglers who played their usual brand of party rock to perfection. Surprise guests the Groovie Ghoulies were in the audience and lead-singer Kepi was brought up on stage to sing "Stop, Look, and Listen". During the final number, "Kings of the Party", Kurt Bloch of the Fastbacks jumped on stage for an impromptu guitar solo! It was good times. After the show everyone was heading out to some guy named "Jason" house for a scooter party. On the way we decided to stop and pick up some Taco Bell and alcohol. There must only be one Taco Bell in Seattle because we drove in circles for an hour trying to find one to satisfy my craving for a 7-layer burrito. The booze was easier to find, which is what I find really odd about America. you have to be 21 to drink (which in my mind is really strict and harsh) but you can buy beer anywhere! Every gas station and Safeway stocks cold ones. It’s nutty.

After chowing down on some Mexican fastfood we embarked to find this party which then took us another 2 hours! Seattle has got to have the most screwed up streets. It’s like Shaunessey (the rich neighborhood of Vancouver) only about 10 times worse! Streets would disappear and reappear going the opposite way or curve around in circles to dead ends. After seeing the same Pizza Hut 20 times we finally found the party only to find a bunch of drunk American mods and our Canadian scooter buddies had already left except Canada’s king of ska better known as Ska-T who was just leaving. So we ended up wasting 3 hours of our time to go to a party for 5 minutes! Then go home with Ska-T and his friends to watch the "shit" episode of South Park.

At about 3:00AM we started driving back to Vancouver because Jenny had to work the next day. I fell asleep in the back of the car and at about 5:00AM woke up to find we were parked on the side of the road. Our car had broken down and we didn’t know where we were. Luckily Andrew had AAA and we called and were waiting for a tow truck when a friendly State Trooper came by and gave Jenny and I a ride to the border (turns out we were only 10 miles from the land of the Maple Leaf). We left poor Andrew with his broken car and ended up walking across the border at 6:00AM. We waited in Canadian customs for my mom to come pick us up. They had toy flags and little pins out to celebrate our nations birthday. Happy Canada Day! I slept the whole rest of the day.

July 19-21. My second journey to the states was for the infamous week long Yoyo-A-Go-Go festival held every few years in Olympia WA. The festival welcomes indie rock and underground acts from all over to come play at the Capital Theatre in downtown Olympia. Jenny and I went down with my co-worker and friend Grant in his mom’s car on the Thursday to check out fellow Vancouverites the Evaporators. We stayed at the lovely Golden Gavel motor inn. That night the Evaporators welcomed a special guest on stage, none-other than Canadian heavy metal legend Thor! He sang the Evaporators "I Don’t Need My Friends to Tell Me Who My Friends Are" and Thor originals "Keep the Dogs Away" and "Anger". Not only did Thor perform along with the Evaps he also bent a steel metal bar in his teeth, twisted a microphone stand around Nardwuar’s neck like a pretzel and blew up a 10-pound hot water bottle! The indie kids were so down with the king of Heavy Metal they all showed their support in fist pumps. Headliners for the show the Tight Bros from Way Back When had a lot to live up to but managed with their MC5, AC/DC screaming, loud rock’n’roll. I went to sleep very satisfied that night.

Day 2 of the Olympia experience was Jenny’s 20th birthday! Every year Yoyo-A-Go-Go happens at the same time as Olympia’s state fair "LakeFair" so Grant took Jenny and I to win some prizes… he spent over $30 and ended up with 2 dinky harmonicas. Thanks Grant. The show tonight I was most excited for and was the reason we drove down to see the lovely new San Francisco Bay area band The Pattern fronted by ex-PeeChees singer and current President of Lookout! Records Chris Appelgren. Their set was too short for me but I guess those are all the songs they have since they’ve only released 3 7"s. An album is on it’s way sometime soon but right now the Pattern are off touring Britain. The Need was playing next but I missed their whole set to sit outside on a curb with Otto Matik from the Prima Donnas/Gene Defcon and drink rum and Coke from a plastic bottle. Yum. I hadn’t seen the native Texan for over a year (since the Ladyfest incident last summer) and we needed catching up.

Day 3 we drove back to Canada because I was throwing a huge rock’n’roll shindig at my house for Jenny’s b-day. We also gave Nardwuar a ride home as well. If you don’t know who Nardwuar is just visit www.nardwuar.com and explore his world. He’s a 30-something year old, guerilla journalist and local celebrity, who fronts 2 bands Thee Goblins and The Evaporators and still lives with his mom! The whole way home he quized Grant on crossing the border "Citizenship?"
"Do you have any tobacco, alcohol, or firearms?"
"Purchases?"
It was quite funny. We stopped at the Vans outlet store to pick up some cheap shoes and at Taco Bell for some cheap Mexican fast food. Nardwuar was a little disappointed we weren’t going to the "Box" (Jack in the...) since we don’t have the "Box" up in Canada but the Bell satisfied our hunger (and we don’t have that in Vancouver either!).

We got home at 6:30 just in time for my roommate and I to clean our house. We had 2 bands playing at our house that night Hot Hot Heat from Victoria and Jenny and my band the Ewoks. There must have been over 200 people there and though no one from Slayer showed up this time it was still really fun. It was also Dustin from Hot Hot Heat’s 25th birthday so in a drunken stupor I took him behind a parked car across the street to give him some birthday kisses when the car pulled away and everyone across the street could see us and were cheering and hollering. How embarrassing... fortunately I don’t remember much of it.

July 27 - 29. The return of Mudhoney at the Starfishroom with locals, you guessed it, teenage zit rock angst sensations The Evaporators featuring Nardwuar the Human Serviette opening up (sans Thor). The show was really fun and I got pulled on stage at the end to help carry around a sweaty hairy Nardwuar. Eek. Mudhoney were loud and feedbacky and had lots of guitar solos but they couldn’t hold my interest as much as the boy I was hanging out with so we left to make out. Sorry Mudhoney, next time. The next day was Snojam a beer company sponsored corporate rock/snowboard festival. Woo sounds like fun? Well it wasn’t. 4000 people all smooshed together and really bad bands. Sloan (who had flown out from Toronto for the show) were the only good band playing. I hadn’t seen them since last summer in Whistler. My friend Owen and I went down 10 minutes before they went on so we wouldn’t have to sit through any of the other crap. I was happy because they played my favourite song "Snowsuit Sound", Jay wore his Expo 86 shirt (which I gave him) and we then left (right after someone had already taken a swing at Matthew Good). Blah.

Sunday a friend of mine took me out to this fancy restaurant in Stanley Park and I got my first (ever!) marriage proposal. Unfortunately I’m only 20 and don’t plan to get married for a while but fortunately I think my friend was just drunk and saying whatever first came to him. Anyway, it was fun none-the-less and then we went home to watch Billy Jack movies. Good times. Well, I think that pretty much brings it up to speed of where I am now. I’m going to New York for the first time tomorrow and applying for a new promotion at my work so there’s lots of changes going on and I’ll have lots to spill when I get back.

‘Til then stay cool. xoxo Marr (with 2 r’s now like Johnny!)

June 21, 2001

Ok, so I was going to write a detailed account of all that happened during New Music West but now because of my determination to be the world's finest procrastinator it seems a little old to "report on". Let's just say the NMW weekend (May 10-12) was wild. I had 3 boys from Winnipeg sleeping at my house who like to drink.... a LOT. I was permanently either hung over or drunk for 5 days straight. I'm getting prepared to do it all again this week as Duotang (the boys from Winnipeg) are coming out to Vancouver to play a show with Canada's most exciting new band (even though they are 2 years old) The New Pornographers. June 21 "tonight" at Richard's on Richards. If you live in Vancouver come out! You'll be missing the best band in Canada if you stay in.

Speaking of Canadian bands but definitely not up there with the Pornographers, my band The Ewoks are finally releasing our The Ewoks/Lottie Collins split 7-inch this July on white w/ a blue swirl vinyl! Oooh how exciting. <magicteeth.tripod.com> Magic Teeth records from Victoria is putting it out. Run by a boy named Gareth who draws lots of comics and manages a comic bookstore, Magic Teeth has also put out stuff from Run Chico Run and the now defunct pop punk heroes Bum.

Oh and last time i wrote (which was soooo long ago - I know I'm bad) I said I was moving out of my mom's house for the first time. Well, I did it and I've been living on my own for a month and 1/2 and it's awesome! I'm never moving back... I can't believe I went so long living with my mom. It's not that I don't like my mom, I love my mom and we get along great. It's just living on your own I have so much freedom now. Having boys over is great too coz I don't have to introduce my mom to any of my boyfriends anymore.

My current room mate has moved/gone (i don't know if he's coming back) to Spain so i have the place to myself before my friend Dave moves in on July 1st. The location is great, you can walk to downtown which is great since the bus strike has been going on for almost 3 months now and doesn't seem to be ending soon.
I'm getting sick of being in the same city. I spend most of my time working, going to shows, and hanging with the same people i hang out with all the time. I need a change. So I'm really excited because my best friend Jenny and I are planning to go to New York this summer and both of us have never been. I get to get out of the city for a bit and go to an even BIGGER city. I'm a city girl at heart so it'll be fun. When I go on vacation i wanna go somewhere like NYC, I don't want to go camping or fishing... leave that to the hippies and middle aged men.

The past 2 weeks were super fun for me though because my friend Jay Ferguson (guitar player for Sloan) was in town from Toronto. Sloan were out here mixing their new album (out in October maybe - Jay?) and the one song I heard repeatedly "People, people, people... something something, something about rock'n'roll" well that song sounds great! And I'm not just saying that coz I know Jay will be reading this it's awesome. So hopefully the rest of the album will be just as good. While Jay was out here though we got to go out to a bunch of shows... Forgotten Rebels the legendary Canadian punks from 1977 are still around! Singer Mickey is the only original member. I got pushed around and my drink spilt on me by various rowdy members of the crowd who i then spat on all night. It was pretty punk rock, but I hate people who ruin the show for everybody else. I also got a chance to see Chicago movers and shakers Tortoise... and the misfortune to have to interview John McEntire. The guy's legendary he p