Here's Matt and El Torpedo playing "Cocaine Cowgirl."


And here is a piece of "On the Hood," with Gloryhound & the Skyhawks joining in!

Whew. In my last post I mentioned that I was looking at a pretty full weekend (in a good way) and last night certainly kicked it off with a bang. The mini Maritime tour involving Matt Mays & El Torpedo, accompanied by Gloryhound & the Skyhawks, came to an end last night at the Cunard Centre in Halifax. Just so we're all clear here, the Cunard Centre has a capacity of 4000 people for concerts (I just looked it up) so we are probably safe in saying it was one of the bigger shows Gloryhound has ever played.

( Once again, long and illustrated, so here is the cut. )

And yes, that was the beginning of my weekend. Can the rest possibly live up to it? Tune in Monday to find out.

So I'm in Miramichi at my folks' place--well, at the friend's house they're staying at (or rather, the actual house of the friend, not the house she owns where they're staying... never mind) and I guess we'll get into my folks' old house tomorrow and help pack stuff up. There are about a zillion books we need to do something with. I wonder if I can sneak away with the complete works of Saki, or if Dad will catch me?

Hastily, the White Stripes were great Friday. Jack wore a kilt and was charming--he seems like such a weirdo that charming was unexpected. Meg may not be a great technical drummer but she held up half the sky like a champ. They often sounded like Led Zeppelin and it is hard to believe there are only the two of them. Yes, Jack referred to her repeatedly as his sister. I will not quibble, since it seems to work for them.

Last night a bunch of us went to see Xavier Rudd at the Marquee. HE was great. The aggressive drunk girl who wanted to fight some guy who wouldn't let her push past him was less great. Memo to me: no matter how annoying the stupid drunk brat waving her arms and sloshing her drink around gets, it's a bad idea to grab her wrist and tell her to stop it. Thank god for the sober guy behind us who grabbed her--I had no plans to clobber her, but I am pretty sure she was pissed off enough to have hit me just to be hitting someone. I'd never heard Xavier Rudd before but he seemed an odd choice for aggressive activity by fans. (Yeah, the last time I lost my temper at a show was almost exactly a year ago, when the drunk guy cannonballed off the stage at the Joel Plaskett show. I don't lose my temper very often but I should work on losing it less.)

The night was saved by the thrilled Rudd fans all around me who were having an AMAZING time. It was astonishingly hot, I had to get out of the crowd halfway through the encore because I thought I was going to faint. I think he just played until he didn't know any more songs, much like Willie Nelson. I think I need to get one of his records, if I can find the one with the most digeridoo.

And then, as noted, I drove up to Miramichi and will be here until Thursday morning. I hope Mitzi will forgive me for neglecting her AGAIN. When I get back I need to make her my top priorioty for the rest of vacation.

Except for the laser surgery. But that's minor.