Asleep On A Train

You know just last week I mentioned/complained to a friend how there’s really not a lot of great indie shows on the horizon and how our city seemed to be in a sort of announcement funk. His response was, on hindsight, fairly obvious: Would you want to tour Canada, let alone stop in Winnipeg, in the winter?

Point acknowledged. (Aside: Let’s hear it for the weather today! Oh, glorious reprieve!)

Anyway…over the past ten days or so a remarkable number of exciting shows have been announced and here are some more:

Plants and Animals - Polaris-Prize Nominees / artists who earned the #5 spot on my Top Ten Records Of The Year List (which is, arguably, just as good as a Polaris nom) - play the Park Theatre on March 24nd. Pending school, I’ll be there.

The creatively-named dd/mm/yyyy will be at The Albert on 23/02/2009.

According to The Park Theatre’s website The Gaslight Anthem will be here on April 5th; however, I can’t seem to find any corroborating evidence for this show, hence me typing the blame-deflecting “according to”. Until I find a second source, I won't put this on the right.

Senses Fail are at the Garrick on April 13th.

Infinite Playlist: Mum - Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is Ok

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Bloc Party Presale - Deus Ex Machina

Just got a flurry of emails about presale passwords for Bloc Party's gig at the Burt: MARSHA or ONEMON or ONEMONTH. I used MARSHA and got wicked seats!

Also, Propagandhi is at the Garrick on March 20th.

Infinite Playlist: The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead

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A Sunday In Our City

One of Britian's greatest indie exports Bloc Party is rolling through town, playing the Burton Cummings Theatre on Sunday, May 3rd. Presale starts tomorrow if you have the password (I don't. Help anyone?). Public sales take place next Friday. I am so thrilled about this - can't wait!

A founding father of the Wu-Tang Clan GZA stops by the Pyramid on March 30th.

Local alt-rockers The Waking Eyes are there on March 7th.

A Kurt Cobain Tribute show featuring Giv'R will be held at the Pyramid on April 3rd.

And finally, Serena Ryder is at the Garrick on March 22nd. Presale starts Friday and the password is piano.

Infinite Playlist: Royksopp - The Understanding

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Us V Them

A Buddy Holly Tribute show is taking place at the Park Theatre on January 30th featuring local denizens Greg Crowe and The Scarlet Union, The Magnificent 7's, The Farrell Bros, and The Stiff Bishops - it's been 50 years since the bespectacled icon played his last show!

Punk vets Gob are at The Albert on February 5th.

Kram Ran is there the day after.

Port Amoral the day after that.

Germany's Destruction play The Albert on March 14th w/ Krisun and Mantin Ritual.

Boats stop by The Lo Pub on January 31st w/ The Liptonians and Blue Sky Addicts.

Oh, and no word yet on when tix for Bonnie Prince Billy's show go on sale.

Infinite Playlist: LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

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Red Squirrel In The Mornin'

A veritable member of indie-rock royalty is gracing out town with his regal presence: Bonnie "Prince" Billy will be at the Pyramid on March 21st. You can bet this'll sell out, so get your tickets on the asap (I have no idea when they go on sale though). I'm pretty excited.

Junior Boys are sure to get everyone dancing away remnants of winter blues at the Pyramid on April 4th. I'll probably hit this too.

Montreal's BEAST are also at the Pyramid on February 24th.

Winnipeg heroes The Weakerthans have added a second show: they will also be playing The Burt on April 18th.

Update: Presale password for The Weakerthans' second show is tundra. Ticket sales commence Thursday at 10.

Infinite Playlist: Fleet Foxes - S/T

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Mr Pine CD Release Party - Live At Aqua Books

(This last one is my fav)

So I hit local folk-act Mr Pine’s CD release party earlier, and it was a pretty fun time.

I missed all but five songs of opening act Kerri Woelke’s set because this show was held on the second floor of Aqua Books, and I became seduced by the Siren-lure of the bookstore on the first floor, and hypnotically browsed through the stacks before heading on up. The five songs or so of Kerri’s set I did catch were enjoyable, thoughtful folksy numbers, all with a light melancholic tint, while Kerri herself proved to be a cute, confident and winsome singer-songwriter.

Now if you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that the two leaders of Mr Pine, Matt and Kevin, generously took part in my 11 Questions segment just over a month ago and were rather good sports about it. The long-awaited cd release party for their latest longplayer Rewilding - which topped the UMFM charts for a few weeks - was a pleasantly intimate affair held in a spacious room with decent acoustics. I thought it was the ideal setting for their alt-folk stylings.

Standing seven members tall, Mr Pine understandably leaned heavily on tunes from Rewilding, and the material sounded great performed live. The odd number from their debut The Gift of Wolves, though, slipped into the set, including my personal fav, the instrumental 'Field of Glass Houses' (which surprisingly the band dedicated to, well, uh, me).

Unanticipated-self-indulgent-moment aside, this talented septet not only proved they could artfully reproduce their varied chamber folk sound live, they also proved why they are one of Winnipeg’s most unique and impassioned folk acts.

The only downside: this was an alcohol-free event. Then again, this just helped me maintain my New Year’s rez.

Infinite Playlist: Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane

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So This Is The New Year

Thank you so much for visiting my blog over the past 365 and leaving all the wonderful comments. I'm happy to report my readership nearly doubled this year, and hopefully this trend will continue in 2009. I plan on pursuing more local talent and asking them to take part in my "11 questions segment", and possibly even introduce some new features. We'll see.

Anyways...

Happy New Year Folks!

The latest incarnation of the legendary Yardbirds play McPhillips Street Station on February 18th (unfortunately, they are sans Clapton, Page and Beck).

Mishka is at the Park Theatre on March 7th.

Black Label Society feat. Zakk Wylde rock the Burton Cummings Theatre on March 21st.

For some Mindless Self Indulgence hit the Garrick on March 23rd.

The Taste of Chaos Tour stops by the Garrick on April 5th. The lineup includes Thursday, Bring Me The Horizon, and Pierce The Veil.

Pat Dinizio is at the Park Theatre on February 8th.

Infinite Playlist: Silence (watching the Winter Classic)

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