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Silversun

This is pretty cool, The Silversun Pickups are on their way to Victoria for a Zone Show tonight and included a picture on their twitter of the Ferry ride.

Yesterday, when I was on the ferry, back from our Kings of Leon concert adventure, we saw whales!  no rock stars, but man, there were so many whales out there on the water.

KOL was a fun shit show.  Coral, Alyx, Gord and I bee-lined downtown to this little pub called Dix.  Dix serves up its own micro-brew, Red Truck.  Why do we know and love Red Truck in Victoria?  Because that fine brewery sued our friend Matt Phillips and made him stop brewing his Blue Truck. (I mean calling it “Blue Truck,” he still brews it as Blue Buck).

What ever, I forgive and I order and you know what?  Good, no Blue Truck, but a quality micro-brew at a decent price consider we were in the tourist ghetto on Vancouver.  Prices were actually pretty decent at Dix.  James and Holly showed up with James’ brother and James let us know you can eat peanuts by the bucket in Dix and toss the shells on the floor Big Bad Johns style.  Fun.

Coral and I wobbled over to GM Place after the Whigs, a couple more beers and KOL hit the stage jamming out one of my fave tracks, “Be Somebody.”

Txts from that night:

me: they totally played sex is on fire!

james: I got crabs!

me: Hey remember that time holly gave me the aids?

James: Remeber that time they played sex is on fire and I got a total semi

They basically jammed out all the hits, good set, humble guys, loud crowd then back to Coquitlam for some John B. Pub.

My sister, her BF and my brother Matt joined us and we slammed back some dirt cheap Molson.  The cover band asked for requests and I said, “KING OF LEON, SEX ON FIRE!”

The band said, “only if you sing it!”

OK.  Um, my sister has the footage somewhere.

The next day was a sunny one and we headed to the water park in Port Moody which is one of the finest family parks I’ve ever seen.  I think I have a new mission from god, and its to build a water park in Esquimalt.

madelyn

right, dreams aside.  Good times.

Go with yourself.

baker1

Look ma! I’m featured on the Burger Blog!

Thank you Donald, that was fun… and I wanna do it again.

Yesterday  I met up with the Vic Burger Blog guy, Donald, to mow down on a burger to add to his outstanding list of Victoria burger reviews.

I wanted to hit Cabin 12 on Pandora Street.  Last week, I met up with Robin Farrell of Kool FM for a bite, and we ventured to Cabin 12 and I was mighty impressed with the service, cost and quality of the meal.  Robin and I rocked wraps, this time, Donald and I would be trying the burger.

Donald ordered some creation with a fried egg, some bacon and cheese on top.  Pretty much a breakfast AND lunch combo thing.  I went with their classic, Cabin 12 burger.

What to say about it?  I loved that it wasn’t too saucy, an overly saucy burger makes me want to drag net the ocean bottom.  The burger came open faced on a hearty whole wheat bun and came with all the standard fixings.

Right away, the burger could do no worse than par.

The patty tasted like some kind of homemade creation from a picnic long past.  It had that “mom” feel about it and some surprises as you bit in.  Red and Green peppers?  sure, I hope that is what it was.  Donald and I had a hard time deciding if this was good or not.  The dude mentioned that the burger was very similar to the Floyd’s Burger, something about the owner being a former employee?

For the $8 something I paid and the funky vibe of the joint I’ll give this burger a firm recommend and it will become a new favourite diner for me.  I’ll need to drag Coral down sometime for a breakfast.  Ha, maybe this morning when I wake up before work.  Friday is pay day!

Go with yourself.

I am working on a new playlist, this one is taking some time to find all the *right* songs.  I can’t share it yet, but I am listening to it now and the opening cut from Appleseed Cast, “Forever Longing the Golden Sunsets” is truly an amazing track.  This playlist is still in its infancy and will require lots of love and listens, but I like that track to open things up.  Can’t wait to share it with you.

***

mmm, today I tried to jam out some grilled scallops and bok choy.

Grilled_Scallops_With_Bok_Choy_003

Mine didn’t look like that, but it is still mighty.  My biggest challenge was tracking down scallops, Save-On Foods doesn’t carry scallops?  For shame.

Ingredients:

Grilled Scallops With Bok Choy

  • 16 x jumbo scallops (16/20 count), clean and debearded
  • 8 x baby bok choy, cleaned and cut in half length ways

Marinade

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce (30ml)
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce (15ml)
  • 1 tbsp honey (15ml)
  • Juice and zest of 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (15ml)
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves (60ml)
  • 3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (45ml)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil (15ml)
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped garlic (15ml)
Directions:

Grilled Scallops With Bok Choy

  1. Preheat barbeque grill to 400°F/204°C or high heat.
  2. Remove scallops from marinade and pat dry.
  3. Oil barbeque grill.
  4. Place scallops and bok choy on grill. Grill scallops for 45 seconds per side or until scallops are golden brown with a slightly crisp exterior. Grill bok choy for approximately 30 seconds per side or until leaves are bright green and heart is golden brown.
  5. Remove from grill. Serve immediately.

Marinade

  1. In a medium size bowl combine all marinade ingredients. Pour half of the marinade over scallops and the remaining half over bok choy. Allow to marinade for 20 minutes.

Where is my red baseball cap?  The playlist I am listening to right now makes me want to punch a clarinet player.

The Mega D-Bagger (some choice cuts)

Rise Against – “Savior”
Shinedown – “Devour”
Three Days Grace – “Time of Dying”
Hollywood Undead – “No. 5”
(yeah that just happened, MySpace music circa 2005)
“Lets take some shawtz!”
Rev Theory – “Hell Ya”
Hinder – “Get Stoned”
Hell Yeah – “Alcohaulin Ass”
Asher Roth – “I Love College”
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus – “Damn Regret”
Sum 41 – “Some Say”
Apocalyptica – “I’m Not Jesus”
Chevelle – “I Get It”

*special bonus D-Bagger tune: Hinder – “Lips of an Angel”

Damn, I hate myself after rocking this set out, but you know what?  Even I break down and want to hear some base drinking tunes.

iTunes REALLY wanted me to download some Puddle of Mudd to you know, make it complete… but I gots none and I’m not sure if its worth the .99 cents.

Rise Against is an old favourite, that I got bored of once they started getting their due on the radio… but “Savior” is bringing me back into the fold.  When that track pops up on the rotation on the Zone, I stop stalking you on Facebook and crank it in the studio.  I thought RA would be a good jumping off point and low and behold, my listening took me into jock rock territory.  I figure if I played lacrosse for the junior Shamrocks, this is the sorta music I’d be listening to before challenging the skinniest kid in the room to a fight… who’d normally be me! ah, but this time I got the letter jacket.

Shinedown’s “Devour” is a song that my man James Sutton turned me on to.  I came into the Zone one day just before he took off to The Peak and he said, “don’t hate me, but I sorta like a Shinedown song.”  I don’t hate you James, just disappointed.  Fuck the song is catchy.

Three Days Grace… spooky, “I will not die! I’ll wait here for you…”  hmmm, future cut showing up on Edward Cullen’s mixtape for Bella?

Hollywood Undead, um… I have no excuse.  Kill me now.  WTF is up with these guys, seriously?  Its like the Mayfair Mall had too many ‘shawtz’ and puked out a band.

Rev Theory is the music I would fire up just before I broke into a drug dealers house to steal his stash.  This might be what dude cheerleader music sounds like?  “Give me a HELL!  Give me a Yeaaaaaaaaah!”  Oh boy, this will end poorly.  “I am a junkie 4 lyfe!”

Rev Theory had some iTunes recommendations for Hinder, but not “Get Stoned.”  You mean the band has any other song?

Oh right, “Lips of an Angel.”  Holy shit, I remember when this song was changing lives and we never played it on the Zone.  But oh man it was requested. all.the.time.  The odd guy… sure I get it, its a fantasy song about being a rock star and having a couple girls on the go… but the ladies that request it…for shame, have some respect for yourselves.  I asked Coral about it once, “Coral, what is up with girls requesting ‘Lips of an Angel?’  First off, ‘Get Stoned’ is the only song by Hinder anyone should care about ever, for the rest of time, on their tombstones, it should say… the guys that got stoned, lest we forget… and second, the song is about Johnny D-Bag lusting after some chick that has ‘lips of an angel’ while his boring ass girlfriend is sleeping in the other room?!?”

Coral said, “no girl is thinking they are the one sleeping in the other room.”

sure…

Hell Yeah… get it, “Alcohaulin Ass.”  cute.

Asher Roth had a brief, very brief, time on the Zone… then banished.  Too bad, hit my LastFM page and it is one of my most played songs!  ha.  I fucking loved college, I loved it so much, I did it twice and I’m trying to go back for a third round.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is that type of “punk” band that ends up on Top 40 radio… so is that punk?  Is Good Charlotte punk?  Is anything really punk?  I think the second your song goes something like… verse chorus verse and you have a branded band name, you left “punk” behind.

Sum 41, the band I love to hate.  I first met these dudes when I did security for Blink 182.  I was trolling around back stage at some huge “punk” concert at Thunderbird Stadium and I happened by the boys.  I had noticed in one of their music videos a reference to the classic film Howard the Duck and thought I’d share it with Sum 41, finally finding my soul mate band that appreciates Lea Thompson and a puppet alien duck as much as I.  They weren’t too impressed and ignored me.  sadness.  The search continues.

(so you know what I’m talking about… 8:02 into this clip of the movie and then Stevo’s jacket of this video.  See! me and Stevo should be besties, not frenimies.)

Years later I had the chance to interview them outside the arena here in Victoria.  Still dinks.  Well Stevo is and the spikey haired one,  but Cone, Cone is cool.

Apacolyptica maybe shouldn’t be on my list.  But I don’t have any Slipknot on my playlist.  Do me a favour… never tell me you’re really into metal then tell me your favourite band is Slipknot… a little part of me dies when you do that.

Chevelle… a perennially guilty pleasure of mine.  They can do no wrong by me… fire your own brother from the band?  Hey as long as you keep making your super dreamy hard rock you can fire Obama!

At the end of my list, if you find yourself asking, “Where’s the Nickelback?” well friendo, you’re a bigger D-bag than me!

Go with yourself.

crc1

Thank you for finding my weekly Victoria rocker podcast, Capital Rock City.  As I continue the march to 1,000 weekly downloads I ask that maybe you’ll share the link to this podcast with a friend or on your social media page.

Download: Capital Rock City #68

Here we go!

***

DJ Notes

01) Funk Vigilante – “On Top of the World”
02) Goodbye Beatdown – “Feel Your Pain”
03) Lizzie and Simon – “Wherever You Go”
04) Black Hat Villain – “Rain or Shine”

Funk Vigilante reminds me of my old vigilante hat.  Many moons ago when I was snot-nosed suburban hipster, I went to the Warped Tour in Vancouver.  During the show I found this trucker hat (remember when those were so hawt!) that had the top cut off so it looked like a real D-bag styled golf vizer thing.  Written in sharpy marker was the word “vigilante.”  Cool.

Funk Vigilante describes themselves as:

The album is called “Civil Disobedience”  it’s like one of those hot lava burritos, blended up, and poured right into your listening hole.

which is much better than anything I could write.

The Goodbye Beatdown are a Vancouver band that is increasingly spending more and more time visiting us here in Victoria.  They’ll once again be here for a show on August 20th at Lucky Bar.

Liz Beattie was (maybe still is?) the bass player for Machina.  Remember that band?  Lately I notice she performs as The Liz Beattie band or on MySpace as Lizzie and Simon.  Simon is the keyboard player for Maurice and together they make some pretty indie pop.  Cute attack!

I end the show this week with Langfordians, Black Hat Villain.  You’ll get a chance to experience their post-grungy sounds live at The Station House Pub on Saturday, August 15th when they suppoert the Armchair Cynics.

Thank you for trying something new with your music and discovering some great Victoria rock & roll.

Go with yourself

Coral and I had a very successful weekend in the land of wedding planning.

First off, we finally got around to booking our flights.  We decided to fly out of Bellingham on Wednesday evening because the flights on Allegiant Air were just $58!

Now that $58 is a super base price, Allegiant is all about the additional fees that will bring that price up quick, but still, three return flights was less than one return on Westjet.  Allegiant wins.

We’ll be heading down to Vegas on the Wednesday and coming home the following Wednesday.  Coral also is putting the finishing touches on the invites (which I know are taking forever, sorry, but they look pretty).

I bought my wedding suit!  And the ties for the Groomsmen.  Both on sale! And Coral had her dress fitting.  Madelyn’s passport should arrive late this week or more likely next week.

All that is left before we go is ordering our wedding bands.  Coral’s will be made locally at Van Isle Jewelers and mine is being ordered from Etsy.  Coral is having her bouquet and some flower arrangements made with fake flowers here in Victoria and then we’ll bring them with us to Vegas and I am in charge of wedding favours.

Funding has improved and our projections are lining up to be in a position that is allowing to us to think about some sort of reception.  Coral is trying to find something that would be fun and affordable.  There will be a reception, but will be a dinner, open bar, cocktails, appetizers, all of the above, non of the above? … well that is still being worked on and it needs to fit into our budget (which, well we have a little one, so that is nice).

Finally, we are thinking about some fun things to do in Vegas.  I know that I’ll be spending most my days trucking after Mads at the pool and the gardens.

Nights?  Well what do people want to do?  I might see if there is a show my Mom wants to do and then do that.  And I want to hit the Mandalay Bay Shark tank.  I’ll likely rent a car for at least a day, so I was thinking of hitting some off strip Casino’s and taking a drive into the desert.  And some golf might be in the cards… Sarah D. wants to do a Zip Line too.

It would be cool to go see a LV Wranglers ECHL hockey game, but their first game is the Friday after we leave!  next time.

So that is some of the plans up to today.

Go with yourself.

Pretty magical.

low level owl

The new video directed by the late Heath Ledger.  Savage and bizarre and wonderful.

crc1

Thank you for finding this week’s Capital Rock City.

Today, its real easy… a sit down and chit-chat with Current Swell and then they perform some songs live.  Basically I took the live broadcast from Thursday, July 30 and replayed it here.  Enjoy.

Download: Capital Rock City #67

And remember friends and lovers, if you like the show please consider subscribing on iTunes or with this fine RSS Feed.  if you best enjoy your radio experience on the MP3 player, you might really like Pol Plastino’s Polcast!  This week he has an outstanding call with a Zoner that tries to make the case for texting while driving.  It makes her a better driver!  You got hear it to believe it!

Download: The Polcast

***

DJ Notes

01) Current Swell – “Nail ’em Up (live)”
02) Current Swell – “Red Shag Carpet”
03) Current Swell – “Mr. Golden Sun (live)”

How cool is this, their first song is based on the film ‘Black Snake Moan.’

“Red Shag Carpet” is a song that began life as a bumper sticker the boys saw while driving around.  That needed to be a song!

Lastly, a real treat on CRC, “Mr. Golden Sun” is a song they have never recorded.  They are thinking of maybe laying down on the next record, but you get it first on this here podcast (well second, if you listened ot my show last week, you got it first).”

Thank you for finding my podcast, if you like the show, don’t be shy and share the link with a friend or on your social network. Next week I am already looking forward to some new music from the Goodbye Beatdown and I might track down some music from bands taking part in the Big Time Out Festival and Sunfest?  sure.

Go with yourself.