Martin Parisien Signed EP

Last night, I had the pleasure to headline a unique show that featured three solo performers: Martin Parisien (formerly of Huis Clos) hit the stage first, a solo blues-tinged rockabilly act, then Vincent Letarte (from funk-country act Hangover Lobsters and blues-rock outfit Young Dogs) followed with his "Into The Beat" piece, which is pretty much a 15-to-20-minute drum solo. And then I got up on stage to sing selections from my French and English songbooks (feel free to buy a copy or two).

Letarte's name goes around as someone who can backbone a group of virtuoso musicians and will remain recognized as such, but Parisien is bound to become a household name for his songwriting, if not for his entire act. It's the beauty of being good at something: sometimes, others ask you to do it for them. Songwriters can expand their circle of influence to include that of other songwriters and even interpreters; the growth can be exponential.

I'd traveled with both guys to Toronto for Canadian Music Week in late April - there were nine of us in total, from five different bands, in fact - and we had a blast. At that time, Martin gave me a physical copy of his EP, and he jokingly signed it last night:

It's definitely worth checking out.

Les Deuxluxes Signed CD

I went to a concert on Thursday night at Club Soda, where the headliners were the Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project, but openers Les Deuxluxes really stole the show in my opinion (though my friends who are huge QRBP fans might disagree).

They were reminiscent of The White Stripes because (wait for it...) they're a two-piece, riff-based blues-rock band (yes, the same criticism I face at nearly every show), and they're a woman and a man as well, so the comparisons are obvious. Too obvious. Too easy.

Here, the drums are played by Étienne Barry - the one with natural facial hair. And it's mostly just the bass drum, as he plays lead guitar as well. He keeps things steady and on pace, and can be aptly described as ''band leader'' or ''maestro'', but the true star is frontwoman singer and guitarist Anna Frances Meyer, whose powerful voice, fine guitar chops and moves just mesmerize.

She is strong, energetic, confident, a terrific crowd leader, captivating, compelling and sexy as all hell let loose.

I met them after the show and purchased their EP, which unfortunately isn't up to par with where they're at in terms of power, energy and presence at this time, and they signed it for me in gold sharpie:

It's not bad by any means, but if we're going with the White Stripes comparison, it's like measuring The Big Three Killed My Baby off their eponymous first album (1999) next to Seven Nation Army (2003) or Icky Thump (2007).

I hope their next release catches their primal intensity a tad better and sounds maybe a little dirtier, in the vein of their newly-released French-language Christmas single (in which Barry sings lead).

And perhaps we can one day share a bill and they can upstage me as well.

Reversing Falls Autographed CD

I went to my friend's band's album launch on Friday - Reversing Falls, at Casa del Popolo in Montréal. You can read my review here. You can download most of their stuff here.

My friend - and former survey call center employee! - Tyler Crawford, signed my CD insert for me:

It reads:

To Seb, my old boss (colleague), stop telling me what to do!

I met a lot of my friends in call centers, which at least in Montréal seems like the type of go-to place for creative types - musicians, artists, designers, actors, directors, writers. The job itself isn't the best - who wants to get insulted over the phone for 8 straight hours at barely more than minimum wage? - but the people in it were mostly incredible.

Autographed Diaper From A Comedy Show

Talk about unique memorabilia...

Almost every night of this year's ZooFest, I went to see a show or two, and it started with Les Papas (Martin Félip, Jonathan Roberge and Jérémie Larouche) on July 5th at Théâtre Ste-Catherine, where hopefully I will never have to go again, but for reasons unrelated to this show at all.

The show was ok, I'd seen Félip live maybe a dozen times because he's a friend of my ex's and, as the years pass - maybe because he's getting older or perhaps because he's more desperate to enter the mainstream comedians' club - I've found him less and less funny each time. Not by that much, but over time, it goes from a 4/5 performance to barely 3/5, maybe 2.75/5.

He used to host and headline shows, now he's opening them.

Roberge was a notch better. I also saw him in the XXX show this year, and he brings good jokes and that something extra to the table. For Les Papas (''The Dads''), he recycled a skit from his web series where he's on video talking to his son, and took it into the future. He did two bits with this and was pretty good.

But the biggest surprise was Larouche. A tall, skinny guy who doesn't look a day over 19, he was hyperactive, expressive and really funny.

All in all, I'd give the show 3.5/5, or 70%. Some parts were amateurish, others half-funny, but all in all it was an hour spent in good humour, a good time.

Green Go Autographed CD

Last Sunday I attended the Green Go / Nightwood / Sandman Viper Command show at Green Room in Montréal; you can find the full show review, in which I may have been a tad harsh on Green Go, here, on my regular blog.

I've since listened to their record a lot, and three songs really do it for me: Put Your Specs On Boy (which is a bit reminiscent of the first Franz Ferdinand record, for the voice and danceable beat), Cash Money Gremlins and You Know You Want It. I will likely be listening to these for months.

After their performance, the four regular members (their leader, Ferenc 'Fez' Stenton couldn't make it due to illness) signed my CD - Jessica Tollefsen (top right), Kyle Squance (bottom left), Mark Andrade (lower middle) and Adam Scott (top middle), as well as stand-in member (and star of the show, in my humble opinion), Rouge's Kelly McMichael (top left) - check out their song Sex Money Revolution from their MySpace page for an accurate sample.

They all signed with the same black sharpie, and Kelly even added Fez' name in parentheses, thus acknowledging his worth to the band and relegating herself to ''replacement part'' in the process.

Nightwood also signed their vinyl record for me, you can read about that, here.

Nightwood Autographed Vinyl Record

I attended the Green Go/Nightwood/Sandman Viper Command triple-album-launch show at Green Room last Sunday and walked away with all three releases. You can read my review of the show(s) here, on my 'regular' blog.

Nightwood released their new record on vinyl-plus-mp3, which I think is a terrific way to go; it rocks like few other albums, and I expect them to start making a very comfortable living with this and their many other endeavours, including taking care of a 'zine called Lickety Split.

All three member were more than happy to sign my copy in thick black sharpie, each adding their own message: singer and guitarist Amber Goodwin wrote: ''Don't stop the R-O-C-K!''; singer and guitarist Erin Ross wrote ''Hell 4 Evah'' (which is both awesome and ensures it'll never be on sale on Ebay), and drummer extraordinaire Jeremy MacCuish added ''Thanks, enjoy'', which I already have.

The Capitol Years: Autographed Vinyl

As I mentioned in the previous post, opening for Daniel Johnston last Friday was The Capitol Years, who also served as his backing band for the second half of the show.

Oddly enough, I preferred them on their own rather than just letting Mr. Johnston dictate the plays. The bandmembers have a real tangible chemistry that floats between all of them, both despite and fueled by the fact that their guitarist is actually a replacement musician - as their old guitarist is now behind the drum kit sitting in for the former the drummer - who is on hiatus.

Their set was relatively short, but sweet enough to seem to have lasted longer and been more enjoyable than the set they shared with Mr. Johnston - maybe not in a 'pure show' sense, but at least in an 'interaction with the public' one.

They were warm and personable - traits that also came out when I hung out backstage with them.

Here's a limited-edition blue vinyl seven-inch, which all four members signed the cover to. I'm eyeing a spot on my wall where the cold colours of the sleeve will fit nicely.

Daniel Johnston Autographed CD

I attended the Daniel Johnston concert at the Ukrainian Federation - basically a church - this weekend (Friday, October 16th, 2009, to be exact).

I did everything to see this show: I applied to be the opening act (and was declined because he didn't require a local opener, seeing as he's touring with his own openers who also work as his backing band for the second half of his set); then I purchased tickets - which I ended up giving away when, finally, I was hired to work security for the show.

They didn't know where to park me for this, though: they started by putting me out front to make sure the doors to the place were shut at all times, and to keep the conversation levels low for the people outside, so they don't disturb the neighbours of this residential area, who aren't used to having concerts be held at their local church.

But an acoustic/semi-rock show held in a church isn't the place where you require security in front of the stage to prevent moshing, body-surfing or injuries...

Eventually (and to my satisfaction), I was put in front of the backstage area, and my job was to make sure no one who shouldn't be allowed in to wander there. A really easy task that kept me in contact with everyone who was performing that night, from openers The Capitol Years (the likely subjects of my next post) to Mr. Johnston himself.

As a member of the staff, I was allowed free beer - and the show was co-organized my my 'arch-enemies' Pop Montreal, so - while I did remain in total control - I wasn't going to shy out on the free beverages. I likely ended up having a dozen Griffons - quality local microbrew.

Saving $80 on beer, though, I did spend cash on merchandise; I bought a vinyl from the opener, and the Daniel Johnston Discovered / Covered double-CD (one record a compilation of his songs, the second one the same songs, but by current indie musicians like the Flaming Lips, Beck and Eels), a DVD of The Devil And Daniel Johnston (a superb documentary), and was given a recyclable hand-made knit bag to stuff everything in it.

Which brings me to the subject of this post.

I really wanted Mr. Johnston's autograph, and two fellow fans wanted to have his picture taken with him after the show. But Johnston was just walking around everywhere, avoiding eye contact with anyone, turning around as soon as anyone would open their mouths in his direction. Like a shy child, you could say. Which, you know, fits with the character we've come to love from the documentary.

I ended up asking a member of his entourage, who said it'd be easier if we got a girl to pose with us, because he ''loves the ladies'' (can't blame him, really), so I did manage to find one, but it took so long to get the star close enough for a picture that she'd gone by then. But we got it made anyhow, it's right below, and you can see how thrilled he was...
As soon as the flash came on, he was ready to just up and leave - he made a 180-degree turn and was just going to walk into the wall right behind us when I asked him if he could sign my CD. He was gracious enough to say yes, grabbing a marker from the table right next to us, signing the inside jacket of the double-digipak I mentioned earlier, then proceeded to hand me the marker back as if it was mine.

- Uh, no, sir that's yours.
- Oh, it's mine?
- Yes.
- Huh.

Then he put it back on the table and left the scene quickly.

You probably can't tell from looking at the picture of seeing him in person, but that man is quick on his feet - I'm talking Olympian Speed Walker-type speed.

What a night. It was good, it was weird, it was short and definitely sweet. Everything I expected it to be, and I got souvenirs and saw it for free from a terrific angle.