This week in Reading

Good Afternoon,

I am nearing the end of my Reading Week vacation, so I thought I'd bring you up to speed on all the interesting things that have happened over the last 8 days or so.

On Saturday February 19th, I embarked on a journey to Toronto with Anastassia. The drive there was fun, what with the snow and wind that didn't stop until we got to Oshawa.

My uncle arrived shortly after we did (he generously allowed us to stay at his house for 4 nights, in case you were wondering why he was there). We all went shopping for supplies, then came home and made dinner. As we finished dinner, a friend of my uncle's arrived, so while they tried to fix some issues with an Xbox, Anastassia and I cleaned up and went to watch some old episodes of The Big Bang Theory, until she fell asleep.

The next day was Strato Day - a day that occurs once a year at my uncle's place in which 4 - 8 of his friends show up to play a board game based on hockey. The guys who are on a bye play NHL 11 on Xbox while they wait their turn. I took this opportunity to go shopping with Anastassia at the Oshawa Centre (similar to Vaughan Mills, but with few parking spaces). We also saw a movie, Just Go With It, Adam Sandler's latest masterpiece. After the movie, we went for dessert at Demetre's, a small chain that serves only dessert. It was REALLY good and I'm considering bringing a franchise to Kanata. After that, we went back to my uncle's for dinner and more episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Monday was Family Day. Most things are closed, and my Uncle got a call from a friend/client so Anastassia and I went for a drive. Then we came back and everyone watched TV for a while, then made dinner. On Tuesday, we all went to Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, for a few hours of exercise and wallet-emptying. Afterwards, we made our way to the Mandarin Buffet (delicious every time!) and then to the Yann Tiersen concert which I just reviewed on this blog about an hour ago.

On Wednesday, we drove home. The last few days has been a flurry of homework, skiing, dancing, concerts and dinners with friends. I am now on the last push to finish my work for Cross-Cultural Management and Multi-National Policy. Should be fun.

Hope you all enjoyed your respective Reading Weeks. Tell me about them in the comments section! :D

Comfortably Numb: A Concert Review

Location: Théâtre du Musée de la Civilisation - Gatineau, PQ

Date: Saturday February 26th, 2011

Opening Act: None.

Main Act: Comfortably Numb is the "Canadian Pink Floyd Show", and boy, is it ever Canadian.

The main singer is a rather polite 6-foot Native American with a voice most suited to Roger Waters' later works (The Wall and The Final Cut come to mind). With him were a talented keyboardist, a talented drummer, a pretty good bassist/vocalist, and a talented female vocalist. More on her later.

The band opened with "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" from the Animals album. Great song, and generally well-performed. They then continued with selections from Dark Side of the Moon, one of my favourite albums. Suffice it to say that the singer's voice does not lend well to that album's style, and also he forgot the words to "Time". The shining moment of this part of the show was the female vocalist's rendition of "Great Gig in the Sky". Like when I saw the Australian Pink Floyd Show a few years back, this performance sent chills down my spine from the sheer talented awesomeness of the lead female vocalist. By the end of the first half, I had gotten over the main guy's mistake and had decided the only real issue was the poor quality of sound production (likely thanks to a very lazy, deaf sound guy. Idiot.)

The second half opened with "Sheep", another strong start. In this half, however, the issue of sound balance became very obvious. With incredible performances of the first half of The Wall, and the most of Wish You Were Here, it was obvious that this Canadian Pink Floyd Show could hold its own with the best Pink Floyd tributes, but the quality of sound management by the techies was poor enough to take away from the show. It didn't help that the venue was too small for this type of show. It did not allow for proper acoustics at the desired volume, and the light show left a lot to be desired, mostly due to a lack of room for proper equipment.

Overall impression - It was a good show, but these guys didn't get the support they deserve. The band has a lot of potential, but they should focus more on playing The Wall, The Final Cut, and a few selections from other albums ("Great Gig in the Sky" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" were very well-performed). The main vocalist needs the most work, but the talent is clearly there.

If you have a choice between Comfortably Numb and the Australian Pink Floyd Show, pick the Aussies. If memory serves, the Canadians charge $40 per ticket, and the Aussies about $60 (for what I thought were amazing tickets). The extra $20 is worth it when the talent and presence on stage is as good or better, since the Aussies had way better support, sound engineering and a larger venue with a more impressive light show.

If you don't have the choice, Comfortably Numb (The Canadian Pink Floyd Show) still pays a good tribute to the masters of the concept album. Worth checking out for fans of Pink Floyd everywhere.

Yann Tiersen: A Concert Review

Location: Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, ON

Date: Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

Opening Act: Some terrible band from Michigan.

This band consisted of a drummer, a singer/guitarist, and a cellist. While the drummer and cellist seemed talented enough, the singer was a train-wreck of bad storytelling and poor vocals. I'm convinced the music was written, and potentially performed, while all three members of the band were high. It was like that episode of Family Guy where Peter and Lois discover their singing abilities... Just awful.

Main Act: Yann Tiersen and his rock band.

For some background, Yann Tiersen is a French composer/artist who has written music for a number of movies, including Goodbye Lenin and Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulin. He also has a number of separate albums, including his most recent, Dust Lane. He is a talented pianist, guitarist, violinist, and singer.

What I was expecting - A guy with a piano and maybe some background percussion and strings playing selections from his movie scores and his new album.

What I got - A ridiculously talented frontman with his rock band all the way from France. They did in fact end up playing selections from movie scores, but mostly just his newest album. Rather than keeping the usual relaxing and musically rich ambiance of his music, Yann Tiersen and his band explored the new album from a prog rock perspective. Imagine Steve-Hackett-era Genesis rocking out to Howard Shore. It was awesome! Completely different from what I thought, but the 6-piece band did not fail to impress.

The venue was small enough to provide both good acoustics for the way the music was played, and a good view for just about everyone in the theatre. I felt it was a very fitting adaptation of Tiersen's style and an overall enjoyable show.

Would I go see him again? Absolutely. At roughly $30 per ticket, it's a steal for a great show.

A week for Reading, or not

Good Afternoon.

It is presently a warm February afternoon in Ottawa, and I have nothing to do other than catch up on all the NHL trades I've missed over the last few days. (As it turns out, Ottawa got rid of its two best Defensive Forwards for a couple of draft picks, then traded awful goaltender Brian Elliott for CRAIG ANDERSON?!?!?!)

Anyway, my Valentine's Day was interesting, to say the least. I had an 8:30 am class, a 1 pm dentist appointment, work from 3:30 - 5:30, then an exam from 7 - 10. Though I did get to stop by my wonderful girlfriend's place for an hour or so after my exam, so that's good. :)

Tonight is B's official birthday dinner, which will be a lot of fun. Tomorrow marks the beginning of Reading Week, and so I have prepared for this by cleaning the house and packing for my trip.

What trip?, you might ask. My trip to Toronto, I would reply.

Yes, I'm going to visit Mon Oncle Daniel in Oshawa for 4 days (with Anastassia, of course) and I could not be more excited. I will tell you all about it when I get back.

Hope you all enjoy the next week, I certainly will.

1 month down, 3 to go

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The last two weeks have been legen- wait for it - tedious. Yes, tedious. Nothing happened.

Ok, a few things happened.

I have now been back at the Homework Club for 4 weeks, and working away on assignments for about 3. Nothing is more boring than the academic and professional portions of my life right now. Nothing. Not even Adam Sandler movies. Not even shoveling snow twice a week. Not even those machines they use to find oil or minerals deep in the earth. (see what I did there?)

As it stands, I should be reading a case for Multinational Business Policy. It's my favourite class, and by far has the most charismatic professor. A tip of my hat to Professor Tyler Chamberlin.

I do not, however, feel like reading this case at present.

My laptop is officially dead. The Fraternity of Equality-seeking Libertarians is on my case again. Uncle Dalton wants his money back. To top it all off, I have an exam from 7 - 10pm on Valentine's Day. Somebody hates me, and I intend to find out who it is.

I guess I can't complain though. Oh, wait. Yes, I can. And I just did. Huh, go figure.

May you all greatly enjoy February and your 6 more weeks of whatever you call this season of 2 feet of snow and -25 one day, and -5 and sunny the next.

I'll be in the basement keeping warm, and studying / not studying.