House concerts

Last Sunday Eric and I attended our first Owen Sound “house concert”– which wasn’t actually in a house at all but at a vegetarian juice bar called The Bleeding Carrot. We didn’t know anything about the band or what to expect.

The concert turned out to be fantastically cozy, about 25 or so people in a space that seated just about that many (and everybody here is really nice!) We had tea and snacks and I just loved, loved, loved the trio from Toronto called The Jessica Stuart Few.

Here’s a video of theirs called “Winter Warm” appropriate for today:

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54-40

For the most part, Eric and I are nostalgic about the same set of 80s songs. Occasionally, though, when we’re driving he bewilders me by changing the station on something that is so obviously an awesome classic. We’ve come to realize there is a single reason for the discrepancy: Canada.

Kim Mitchell. Gowan. Honeymoon Suite. Glass Tiger… all shockingly unknown to my Missouri boy.

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If you haven’t already, it is now time for you to discover E Pak Sa

This is modern “bbong-jjak” music, which I guess is retro now because it’s from the 90s. Wikipedia calls it “Techno-trot“. The best explanation I could find is from Fancy Mag:

It sounded like a spastic auctioneer on methamphetamine chanting furiously over cheesy Casio keyboard riffs… Each [track] was a 25-minute non-stop party comprised of nonsensical scat yodels backed by a hypnotizing aerobicized beat…

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Stevie Wonder is downtown

I’m so happy to have a friend who knows what is happening in this city. Stevie Wonder is opening the Jazz Festival tonight, for free. Renata and I will be there as long as she survives my homemade dinner.

[grooveshark player removed]