Tom Waits – The Piano Has Been Drinking

They sounded as good, if not better, live than in their studio recordings. It’s not just the music, though, it’s the full show: pyrotechnics, smoke, fireworks, giant mummy skeleton, huge walking demon cyborg thing. Everything was over-the-top in a cheesy, but awesome, heavy metal way. It’s the sort of music that just shines live.

Iron Maiden – Phantom of the Opera

It was worth the ticket price, the time off work, the ferry ride to the mainland and back, sitting through Lauren Harris (Steve Harris’s daughter, who opened, and was terrible), and the dodgy hotel room ($120 for four people should probably have tipped us off). Catch them live if you have a chance.

Here’s his solution to the Palestine/Israel conflict:

On having an open mind:

And a love song:

He’s worth checking out. He seems to be most famous in Australia, his homeland, and the UK. I hadn’t heard of him here in Canada yet.

Whenever I’m on a flight, I think of this song. I first heard it while watching Hackers back in 1995 and became obsessed with it. It’s played during the opening scene, when Dade Murphy is flying to New York, and it sets the mood perfectly. Hackers had a lot of cringe-worthy moments, especially for anyone with some knowledge in computing, but it had geeks that weren’t completely socially inept, interesting pop culture and technology references, Angelina Jolie, and great music, so I think that made up for it.

Orbital was a great UK electronica duo, unfortunately now defunct, and this is from their second album Orbital 2, released in 1993.

I love the smooth and simple sound of this track. It’s unfortunate that he decided to throw the Beat Happening sample in the chorus. It feels so out of place and unexpected that it nearly ruins the song for me. I got used to it after a couple of listens, but the first time it came on I thought someone behind me had started singing. This gave me quite a fright, as I was leaning back on my computer chair with my eyes closed in what was supposed to be an empty apartment. Nearly fell straight off my chair.

I also love Primus, claymation, and all things devilish, so I was very happy to find this video just now.

Bill Bailey’s fantastic.

And for the less jaded out there, here’s ‘Love Letter’ from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, from their And No More Shall We Part album. Nick Cave appeals to my over-dramatic side. He’s a really creative writer, and his songs are usually fairly intense and contain a lot of interesting imagery. His solo stuff seems to dip into a weirder zone that I really like, so it’s worth checking out if you haven’t heard any of it. It has an almost Tom Waits-ish vibe. Not that anyone can really be like Waits, but he has a similar uncompromised vision in his work.

We ate and drank at some great restaurants, did a little shopping, and generally had a good time. Chris even made a nice home-cooked meal for us to enjoy, which was excellent and very appreciated. This last month, I’ve gone off cooking a bit. Sometimes it just seems like more hassle than it’s worth when you live alone, but it’s unhealthy and expensive to eat out too often.

I happened to visit during a freak snow storm, which is just my luck. I was catching a ride with another friend from Victoria, and we had to make a quick trip down to Abbotsford to grab his bike before returning, and for the first 30 minutes of the trip we were averaging about 10km per hour on the highway. The last thing you want to do when you’re tired and hungover is drive through fresh snow surrounded by Vancouver drivers.

I think I’m going to return to Vancouver in a couple of weeks to watch Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets, an avant-garde play from William S. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, and Tom Waits, the coolest man on earth. It should be an interesting show, I think.

On an unrelated note, I made haggis tonight for a belated Robbie Burns Day. I now have enough left over to keep me frying for a week.

Here’s ‘Clap Hands’ from Waits’ Rain Dogs:

It may be the sleep deprivation, but I thought they did quite a good job with this:

Seems like a fun office!

“Engwish Bwudd” is from Six Demon Bag. It’s a great album, and I’m really looking forward to their next release, Rabbit Habits, that’s coming out this year. I’d love to see them live. Their personalities come out in the music, and I imagine they put on a fun show.