From: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org (navy-soup-digest) To: navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Subject: navy-soup-digest V3 #101 Reply-To: navy-soup@smoe.org Sender: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-navy-soup-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk navy-soup-digest Sunday, June 11 2000 Volume 03 : Number 101 In This Digest: ----------------- OAC/BST: North by Northeast ["Tab Siddiqui" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 02:00:22 PDT From: "Tab Siddiqui" Subject: OAC/BST: North by Northeast Sorry for the crosspost, but I just *had* to share my thoughts about some of the excellent (and not so excellent ;)) music I saw tonight at the North by Northeast fest. When they say you should get a wristband and go trolling as many clubs as you can to catch at least some of the hundreds of acts that are playing, they ain't kidding! I finally did it right this year and hit several shows this evening and plan on doing the same tomorrow. Tonight a group of friends and I saw: - - Anne McCue (singer-songwriter from Australia, formerly in Aussie group Eden A.K.A., that played Lilith Fair in 1998) at C'est What (very pretty, but too intelligent to ever hit the mainstream, I think, and she missed the whole girl-with-guitar thing by a couple years... but hey, there's always the "Felicity" soundtrack... ;-)) - - The one, the only Kurt Swinghammer, King of the Toronto Guitarists @ Oasis in "Swinghammer 6" band formation. Killer. Check out the lineup: Michael Philip Wojowoda twiddling knobs, his wife Mia Sheard on BG vocals, Maza Meze vocalist Jennifer Moore also on BG vox, Creighton Doaone on drums, Andy Stochansky on keys and percussion, Sarah McElechern on sax and percussion, and Drew Birston on bass. For those of you that don't know, that's pretty much the creme de la creme of the Toronto music scene right there on that one stage. They ran through a short-form live version of Kurt's new concept album 'Vostok 6' (it's about the first woman in space). Very arty. As a friend put it: "Man, I *know* that was good, but I felt like I needed to be on some serious drugs to appreciate it." ;-) - - Went over to Barcode to waste an hour before Flux A.D. (pop band from Hamilton) came on, but there was some band from NYC playing that was *so* damn bad that we popped our heads in, cringed, and left. ;-P - - Thank god we did, because despite my misgivings ("We'll *never* get in - it's *the* industry set of the fest"), we got into a packed, sweaty, swingin' Reverb to catch The New Deal (new local trio getting a *lot* of buzz from press and ordinary joes alike). I have three words of you: Oh. My. God. ;-) AMAZING. The hype is warranted, my friends. They play live heavy-hitting organic *funk*. Their drummer is a *machine* that lays down the grooves so thick you can feel the beat in the air. Literally. We got tired of standing and found a perch against the wall, and the walls were *shaking* something fierce. Unreal. They don't really have "songs" per se, they just jam non-stop (they only played 3 "pieces" in an hour), which totally works live because it showcases their unbelievable playing, but they really don't know when to stop , and apparently the album is a lot slower. Which is totally understandable, because there's simply no way they could translate what they do live onto disc. But I'm sure it's still something - I meant to pick it up tonight but clear forgot, so I must hunt that down. - - From there thought it might be nice to hear something *quiet* (considering we literally couldn't hear each other speak after stepping out of the Reverb ;-)), so we went over to Chicago's to see Royal City, which is the new band fronted by Guelph troubador Aaron Riches. Aaron's solo stuff on disc I like, but the stoner folk the band was droning on stage at Chicago's was *not* that. So we went to... - - The Rivoli, and caught the last bit of The Supers' (featuring some great local players like Kim Stockwood's guitarist Tim Bovaconti and Starling's Maury Lafoy) set. Okay stuff - shiny, hooky pop, but no real 'there' there. But judging by a few rabid fans up front, their fan club was out in full force. ;-) So tired. Dunno if I can do this all over again tomorrow. ;-P What am I talking about? That was the most fun I've had in *ages* and the proper way to do NXNE, baby! Can't *wait* to do it again tomorrow. - - Tab :) ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ End of navy-soup-digest V3 #101 *******************************