I’m so proud of my talented family

First, my photos:

Even better, someone in the audience was recording the whole thing, and posted all the songs up on YouTube, so you can find those here.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned my cousin Nathan here before.

Nathan is a pretty cool guy.  His dad died when Nate was just a wee bugger, but his mother, sister and older brother all made damned sure that Nathan’s life was full of music.  Despite (or perhaps because of) many years of being compared to his father, Nathan has grown up quite nicely into his own skin.  He’s got Stan’s talent, but his very own style and passion.

I went to see Nate play the other day at his CD release party at Hugh’s Room here in Toronto.  I knew he was good (I own his last CD), but he’s even better live.

I’m pretty sure mom would kill me if I didn’t at post a couple of photos, so here he is

I guess you can tell from the recent dearth of posts that I’ve started back to school again.  It always takes me a few weeks to settle in to a new schedule and figure out how to breathe again - I spend the first few weeks alternately being lazy and panicking at how fast time is slipping away from me.  I’m well into it now, though, and feeling a bit more steady.

Speaking of Steady, thanks to a friend who is apparently The Hold Steady’s biggest fan (…groupie…stalker, perhaps?) I got my hands on a ticket to go see them at Lee’s Palace last night.  The show was marvellous.  Craig Finn is an energetic, quirky frontman - he never stops grinning and he seems to be having a personal conversation with every member of the audience.  Of course I’m deaf now, but I had a great night and met a new Scrabble opponent, so the sacrifice was worth it.  Oh yeah, and some chick beside me spent about twenty minutes trying to shove her way through to the front of the stage by leaning on me with her boobs and jumping up and down.

I generally have mixed feelings about sampling in music.  It can be brilliant (Negativland) or horrifying (Vanilla Ice).

This is possibly the most magnificent use of sampling I’ve ever heard.  It’s organic, catchy, and hey, it’s got Mary Poppins in it.