Pearl Jam 8/21/2009 @ The Molson Amphitheatre

The show itself was rather standard for a PJ show. There were a couple of bustouts of rare tunes that I really enjoyed, but the rest of the setlist didn't meet my lofty expectations. Still, the crowd raged and I have no complaints. I'd rather watch these guys than see most other bands, regardless of the setlist. What did make this show utterly unique, however, was the fact that the lead singer of the opening band didn't make it.
Scheduled to open were Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Around 7:30 Eddie Vedder came out onstage and explained that Ted was stuck in NY and they would do their best to entertain us. Eddie ended up playing a couple of Neil Young tunes followed by performances by 4 of the 5 members of PJ. Then, the Pharmacists came out to play a few tunes sans their lead singer and even became Eddie Vedder & The Pharmacists for an Iggy Pop cover. Pearl Jam basically opened for themselves!
Moral of the story: Never miss the opening band, kids. You never know what could happen.

They played:
Of The Girl, Corduroy, Severed Hand, Why Go, Brain Of J, I Am Mine, The Fixer, Given To Fly, Off He Goes, Even Flow, Unemployable, Faithful, Down, Got Some, 1/2 Full, Lukin, Not For You/(Modern Girl - Sleater Kinney), Do The Evolution
1st encore: Inside Job, Wishlist, Black, Alive
2nd encore: Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Wasted Reprise, Better Man/(Save It For Later), Porch, Rockin' In The Free World

And here's Eddie doing Neil's "Sugar Mountain." Sweeeeeet.

From the University Days

I took this picture a few years ago outside my War & Peace in the Middle East lecture. This huge woman just kept stuffing change into the machine. She could have at least gotten diet. Am I a bad person?

Do you think she ate the bottles too?
Sorry.

If you see a zombie, decapitate it.

Source: BBC NEWS

Professor Robert Smith?, a really weird scientist from the University of Ottawa who has a "?" in his legal surname has built a scientific model of a zombie outbreak. According to the overpaid prof, zombies must be dealt with "quickly & aggressively" in order to prevent a great risk of civilization collapsing.
The entire scientific community is not in agreement, however, that the model is entirely accurate. A chief advisor of the United Kingdom's swine-flu control team acknowledged a variable that the study foolishly neglected; "My understanding of zombie biology is that if you manage to decapitate a zombie then it's dead forever. So perhaps they are being a little over-pessimistic when they conclude that zombies might take over a city in three or four days."

Sigh.

Phish 8/13/09 - Darien Lake

To those who don't know, I'm an avid people watcher. It's really my favourite. I enjoy observing all kinds of people. Some make me laugh while others make me.... laugh as well. To the extent that I am grossed out by the dream world that the real hippies live in, I have to say that they make the most interesting of study subjects and this past Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of attending the people-watcher's paradise that is a Phish concert!

What outsiders might find shocking is the fact that some fully-grown (physically, not so much mentally) "people" wander around the country following their favourite bands... armed with hula-hoops. I don't normally enjoy making fun of the mentally challenged, but these people really need to get a life, really. There's nothing wrong with embracing youth and enjoying the more trivial things life has to offer, but hula-hooping full-time is not a respectable occupation.



The idea of offering free hugs is nothing new. Hippies have been offering hugs for years. But something worth mentioning is a guy I saw wandering around with some beers and a sign taped to his chest that read "my beers for your hugs." What the fuck? Was he not loved as a child? Does he really really really love hugs SOOOOO much that he is willing to pay for them in beers? Is he just a pervert? I don't know and I don't want to know. It's really sick.

The hippie community as whole is very watchable, whether it's pre-show in the "lot" or observing their memorable yet interchangeable dance moves during the concert. If you're not a fan of any sort of jamband music, I'd still recommend checking out a Phish concert once in your life for the spectacle that it is. That or pitching a show to National Geographic or Discovery that observes hippies in their natural habitats. I'd watch.

Beerfest '09

(Disclaimer: I hate the fact that two posts in a row are about beer. My blog should not be getting redundant this early in the game and for that I apologize.)
Thanks to my friends at Steelback Brewery, I had a VIP pass to the Toronto Festival of Beer this weekend. I went last night and had a great time (drank excessively). Not much occurred that's worth sharing but here are my three memories from the evening that are the least clouded by intoxication today:

1. By far, the busiest tent at the fest belonged to Budweiser. This irked me. A lot. I support your right to enjoy the taste of watered-down horse urine, but I thought the point of the festival is to try new beers. I suspect the weaker members of my sex were attracted to the shitty beer by the Bud Girls. Lame.

2. Arrested Development performed! Who knew they were still together? I rocked out hard to "Mr. Wendal", "People Everyday" and "Tennesse." The three songs I know by one of the few hip-hop groups I have ever liked.

3. There was a basketball court and one of my shots clanked off the rim, bounced off the ground and up into the bottom of someone's cup and hit it out of his hand spinning about 15 feet into the air. He got covered in beer. It was the highlight of the night for me. No? I guess you had to be there...

You should have been.

Rickard's White = Blue Moon

I read an article yesterday about the "Beer Summit" that Obama hosted at the White House. The article listed the beers that were selected by the involved parties and Blue Moon was one of them. For the uninitiated, Blue Moon is a white (wheat) beer only for sale in the States.



I've tried the beer several times but haven't had one in a couple of years. I wasn't very familiar with white beers at the time and remember being disappointed to find out that Blue Moon was only available in the U.S., which is why I was surprised to read in the "Beer Summit" article that it's brewed...... in Canada?!?



Did I read that right? Brewed in Canada?
As manifested in the existence of this blog entry, my interest piqued (Bonus English Lesson: in this context, it is a common mistake to use 'peaked' instead of 'piqued'. Now you know.). I immediately retired to my study for further research and consulted the omniscient database that is Wikipedia where I learned the following:
Blue Moon was created in 1995 by Coors, who merged with Molson to form the Molson Coors Brewing Company in 2005. After the merger they moved the Blue Moon operation north of the border, from where they ship the beverage south. "In Canada it is marketed as Rickard's White."

I don't know how I feel about this. On one hand, I have been looking forward to having another Blue Moon and now there is nothing to look forward to. On the other hand, I had a Blue Moon/Rickard's White a few hours ago, which is a good thing. The only thing I know for certain at this time is that I prefer Blue Moon's packaging. I'll leave you with that.