Evolve Music Fest in Novia Scotia

Dave didn’t say much, he just left.

He usually takes off on his bicycle. Last year he tried for the West Coast but got as far as Missouri. This year he’s taking his tiny scooter all alone all the way up to Canada to this festival with a bunch of obscure (to us yanks) Canadian bands. He’s going mainly to see !!!, but Man Man, Mark Farina and Battles are also playing.

This is the message he left us (links his):

I’m heading to the next time zone to the east. Who knew it was there?

I will be on two 12″ wheels dumping 200cc’s of premium gasohol into a shoddy carburetor.

Antigonish or bust. Depending on time, I might hit Newfoundland and maybe even Labrador. I wonder if those dogs will be there? Or maybe those Belgium barge dogs will be there too- they are smarter than most humans.

I might also have to negotiate an extra day or two off of work.

I’ll be posting to my flickr account via my cell. Roaming charges googledruple as soon as I cross the border, so posts may be infrequent. When I have time to type it out… I’ll post my coordinates too.

Not promising anything exciting… as par for my photo stream.

Check here or add me to your rss reader. Nothing current there yet… just an old checklist. I cannot spell towel btw.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90193248@N00/ or search flickr for tags “200cc” and “65mpg”.

I know I know… no pedal power this time. I considered bringing my BMX as my support vehicle, but it weighs 50 lbs. I do have AAA btw. You have to buy an RV level of service to cover a cycle. They lobby against public transportation. They will pick my ass up… even in Canada.

I also have a good helmet. See it being made here.

Feel free to pass on if I missed anyone or you wanna share.

Hit me on gmail if you notice that I’m going the wrong way,

d

Leaving Philly Wed afternoon.
–
DDOGG es un animal.

I hope he left that schwag homegrown at home.

The Big Day- Dr. Dog’s Fate is Here

Dr. Dog’s last LP We All Belong was the last ACTUAL CD I bought so it’s no surprise that I’m going to head out to AKA Records today to pick up their long-anticipated new one and hope to get the free 7″ with it.

Speaking of AKA, the guys had to cancel their in-store appearance there due to Toby getting hit in the throat. (They did a live in-store at AKA last year too).

Edit: They just postponed by a month their sold out Bowery Ballroom NYC and Brooklyn shows for this week because of Toby’s throat.

They DID however make it onto Conan last Thursday. You might not have recognized them with their dapper turn-of the-century era train engineer garb and their clean-cut facial hair.

The new album is available everywhere, and there’s even a new video on their Fate website but you have to dig to find it.

How’s it sound? Amazing. The guys still sound like the Beatles, Beach Boys and The Band but they manage to make it sound perfectly original. They’ve even cleaned up the production- they’ve moved away from the low-fi sound just a bit without managing to sound too slick. Every track is great without a clunker in the bunch. They even included the excellent From which I believe first surfaced on they’re Daytrotter session.

You can listen to the album on their myspace page.

See you at their free show in Philly August 13.

MP3: Dr. Dog- The Ark

Edit #2: Dan Deluca wrote an interesting article today on the band and their new album. Of note, we finally learn where the band resides: Toby lives in Wilmington and the rest live in West Philly- They only lived in West Chester while attending college there. The new album was recorded in their studio in Kensington. We also get more details on Toby’s neck injury- he was accidently head-butted by his wife!

What’s on my iPod?

Pique Nique et Jeux dans l'Eau

Zooey: This French band has a newer release but this 2005 EP Pique Nique et Jeux dans l’Eau is better than the others. It’s amazing Stereolab-like bleepy pop. Best of all? It’s free!

Get it here. You won’t be disappointed.

MP3: Zooey- You Gave Love to me Softly

Zooey on myspace

Mrandmrsmays

(Man I just realized I unintentionally posted TWO boobage pics in a row)

Remember Bow Wow Wow? They’re back! Not really, but this track from MrandMrsMays sounds a lot like them. They’re yet ANOTHER great act from Austin- There’s Alejandro Escovedo, Brazos, Butthole Surfers, The Octopus Project, Spoon, Voxtrot, Peel, White Denim, & Okkervil River to name a few.

MP3: MrandMrsMays- B-05

Some summertime disco house from Friend- a producer who’s stuff is so authentic you’d swear it was straight outta the 70s:

MP3: Friend- Secret

Five great tracks including a remixed Chic classic are available in high quality mp3 on Friend’s myspace page (link above)

Some summertime R&B outta Ohio- Gotta have soul in the summer:

MP3: J. Rawls and Middle Child-Til The Sun Comes

And the summer wouldn’t be complete without some roots reggae:

MP3: Luciano- Youth Dem Dangerous on the Genesis Riddim

Speaking of reggae, The great roots rock family band Morgan Heritage are making a rare appearance at the Trocadero this Saturday, July 19. The last time they were here was at the Bob Marley People’s Festival in Wilmington four or so years ago. Bob lived in Wilmington off and on in the late 60s. No word on this year’s lineup.

While I’m on the subject of shows I gotta mention a few others- My bro-in-law is a big live music fan but I swear, every time he visits there just happens to be no good live shows. He’s coming this Thursday and yet again it’s a slow night. If he’d have come the previous or latter five days we’d have a plethora of choices:
The aformentioned Morgan Heritage show or the Black Dice at the Barbary on Saturday; Andy Rourke from the Smiths(!) at the Khyber; Jay Reatard this past Monday; The Dodos was tonight before they cancelled (damn); The Prairie Spies at the Khyber next Wednesday. It’s not that much but this is the summer.

Looks like the only choice we have is to see Blktop and Bing Ji Ling at Johnny Brenda’s. Bing Ji Ling does a soulified version of AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long. Should be interesting.

It’s About Time- Philly Joins the Rest of the Industrialized World

Philadelphians no longer have to sort recyclables from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Northwest Philadelphia is the last area to join single stream recycling. Guess which area I live in? Finally I don’t have to separate glass/metal and paper. I can also recycle #1 and 2 plastic! No more schlepping it to work and sneaking it into the recycling dumpster there, but there’s no word on whether we can also recycle corrogated cardboard. Reminds me of Mr. Burns greeting Ned Flanders at his door:

Ned Flanders: So, recycling is just our way of giving Mother Earth a great big hug!
Mr. Burns: Yes, well, it does sound delightful! I can’t wait to start pawing through my garbage like some starving raccoon!

Mr. Burns to Smithers: Release the hounds.
To Flanders: Well, neighbor, I see you’ve got your running shoes on. That’s a good thing.

This move brought Philly from an embarassing 3% recycling rate to 8%. The national average is 18%.
The biggest reason we’re not even close to that goal is because recycling is still collected every OTHER week. Plans are in the works to increase it to weekly by January. Cool.

Looks like Curby Bucket is doing his job. Just in time for the city to implement garbage fees or “pay as you throw”. Environmentalists think it will help our recycling efforts, but I think it’ll make our litter and illegal dumping problem even worse.

Is that possible?

Smoking Popes, John Legend and Estelle; In Philly for the 4th

Got wet more than once over the holiday weekend.

Friends went to see the recently reunited Chicago band Smoking Popes at Johnny Brenda’s so the wife and I tagged along. I knew the name but didn’t think I knew any of their stuff. She was pleasantly surprised when they played “I Know You Love Me”, an old tune from the first mixtape I made her when we were first dating.

When I got home I dug up the CD that contained the song- it’s from a freebie compilation CD which CMJ included with their magazine each month. I still have every CD from the magazine from 1995 to 2001.

I’m listening to a few of them today and out of the many clunkers from has-been bands, there are a few nice tracks. I uploaded a few of them so take a listen (below).

I also braved the crowds and the rain (and the trash) to see John Legend at the Art Museum. I was VERY pleased when he brought Estelle out on the stage. She not only did a duet but performed a few of her own tracks (including Come Over below) from her amazing second album Shine, executive produced by John Legend. Nice.

MP3: Estelle- Come Over

MP3: Smoking Popes- I know You Love Me
From their 1997 LP Destination Failure

MP3: Smoking Popes- Need You Around

Link from Instrumental Analysis

Some other interesting tracks from the CMJ comps:

MP3: Dream Warriors- California Dreamin’

An old favorite from the 1995 LP Subliminal Simulation

MP3: Menthol- USA Capable

From their 1995 self-titled LP

PW Concerts in the Park Schedule

Philadelphia Weekly, the better of Philly’s two weekly rags, has announced the lineup for this year’s free concerts in Rittenhouse Square. What a great lineup.

This year it’s a mix of up-and-coming and larger local acts- all Philly-based.

I actually rescheduled a planned vacation around The first show on August 13. I’d have to be crazy to miss Dr. Dog since I missed them when the played the very same event two years ago.

August 13, 2008: Dr. Dog

August 20: Adam Arcuragi with The Capitol Years

August 27: Jotto with Bitter Bitter Weeks

September 3: The Hustle with Black Landlord

All shows free, Wednesdays @ 7 PM

Expect some stuff from Dr. Dog’s new LP Fate which will be released July 22nd.

MP3: Dr. Dog- My Friend

MP3: Dr. Dog- Hang On

Both from Fate LP

MP3: The Capitol Years- Let Them Drink

MP3: Adam Arcuragi- Part of the Sky

Local man originally from Georgia who sounds a lot like the late Nick Drake.

MP3: Jotto- Backyard Circus

MP3 from Philly’s Bag of Songs blog.

MP3: Bitter Bitter Weeks- Danger in the Halls

Diggin’ the Wheat in this Heat

I attended the 4th annual South Philly Taproom Wheat Beer Fest over the weekend. It was a great concept- a small brewfest with $3 beers. It took place inside and outside on part of the side street.

I took the Broad Street subway for the first time in my life.

Went with my buddy Porter and found out that he’s friends with Casey Hughes, head brewer at Flying Fish. FF didn’t have any beer at the event but Casey just happens to live in the neighborhood (who doesn’t?)

Here’s what I sampled-

Victory Mad King Wheat
Walt Wit from PBC
Brooklyn Weiss
Penn Dunkel Weiss

The hit of the day coincidentally WASN’T a wheat but Legacy’s Hoptimus Prime double IPA.

Here’s Dan Conway from Shangy’s beer mecca in Emmaus with Casey.

I’ve done a wheat beer tasting of my own- I’ll report my findings later this week.