I’m sure that most of the drivers on the streets of Accordion City
have driven in winter before. Hence my loss to explain why the first
snowfall of the year causes a number of them to drive like a drunk
rookie. This morning, in the short distance which I bike to work, I saw two cars go into power skids and one spin out.
Be careful out there!
Last night, I attended Brett Lamb’s excellent Christmas party. I chatted with a number of folks. The “Funniest Line of the Party” award goes to Christie, who talked about her experiences as a gamer:
“I took up Counter-Strike to get off Everquest.”
James “Consolation Champs” McNally and I replied by saying “Methadone!” nearly simultaneously.
Nothing livens up a party like a suave, snappy dresser with an accordion!
Last night’s party was a success — with the comings and goings
throughout the night, I’d estimate about 60 or so people showed up
(still big enough to warrant the traditon of filling the bathtub with
ice), many of whom were totally or relatively new Greater Toronto Area Bloggers (a.k.a. GTABloggers)
gatherings. We wnet all multimedia this year — not only was my
PowerBook doing musical duty in the dining room/accordion stage, but
Rannie’s PowerBook and an LCD project were set up in the living room
showing the Toronto Area Photobloggers’ excellent work.
It was a great intersection of three different local blogging groups:
not just the GTABloggers, but the Toronto Area Photobloggers and the
Toronto-and-area LiveJournal contingent (and yes, the “Did you hear
about the LiveJournal girl in Alaska who killed her mom?” conversation
ensued at one point).
The Phineas Fogg award for the guest who travelled the longest distance to attend the party goes to the lovely and talented Min Jung Kim, who came from San Francisco the hard way: flying to Detroit to visit friends and family, then driving to Accordion City. She also had her first taste of icewine last night, and I think we’ve ruined all other dessert wines for her.
My thanks to everyone who came, everyone who brought food (great food,
too!), everyone who helped set up and clean up and especially Rannie,
who is the heart and soul of the GTABloggers.
The first batch of photos have been posted on the GTABloggers blog; you can check out the photo album in either album or slideshow form.
Rannie dropped by the office last week and took this picture of me at my desk:
Click the photo to see it at full size on Rannie’s weblog, Photojunkie.
The “Hail Ants” shirt was made by Chris “Planet Simpson” Turner. He’s selling them to support expenses incurred during his book tour.
It’s at my house. I still have the karaoke mic. Special out-of-town guest Min Jung Kim.
In case you need more convincing, check out last year’s party, in either album or slideshow version.
And yes, Wendy’s first visit to Toronto included last year’s GTABloggers party. I wish she could be here, but she’s got her hands full helping organize next week’s Internet + Society Conference at Harvard.
Wendy and me, in the rock star wigs that we keep handy at my house.
Want an invitation? See this entry in the GTABloggers blog.
Last Wednesday’s Pixies concert
marked the start of my mini-vacation for American Thanksgiving. This
reunion concert was one that nobody expected — in spite of their
relative obscurity, this band is so loved by alt-rock fans that tickets
for the show sold out when they went on sale six months ago.
When the tickets went on sale, I simply bought four and assumed that it
would be easy to find three other people who would want to attend.
Deenster and Paul, just before the show began.
Those three people turned out to be my housemate Paul, Deenster
and her boyfriend Chris. They’d arranged to meet me at the office, from
where we’d hop into my car and drive to the show. For some reason, the
concert was booked to take place at the International Centre, a
cavernous warehouse typically used for auto and computer shows located
in a bleak industrial park right by the airport. Still, we were seeing
The Pixies, providers of inspiration for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit,
key players in the soundtrack of my years at Crazy Go Nuts University,
and we’d have gladly seen them play at a sewage treatment plant.
Deenster arrived first with two guys named Chris. One was her
boyfriend, the other an internet friend from the HappyRobot.net online
community. HappyRobot Chris was accompanied by his girlfriend, Becky. I
invited them into the Tucows kitchen, where they were impressed by our
vending machines and assorted free coffee, teas and hot chocolate.
We’re livin’ the high life in this office!
After giving my guests some hot drinks, I showed them my desk, located
in the dead centre of the Tucows offices. Becky noticed a photo of Wendy that I had on my bulletin board.
“I know that girl!” exclaimed Becky.
“That’s Joey’s fiancee,” said Adina.
“Wait…you know Wendy?” I asked.
“I know Wendy from NTI!” Becky replied.
I knew Wendy attended NTI — short for the O’Neill National Theater Institute
in Connecticut — about ten years ago, back in her school days. That
clearly ruled out any possibility of mistaken identity; it was just
another one of those strange coincidences to which I’ve grown
accustomed.
Becky and Chris,
just before the show began. They came up from Jersey to catch the show.
To the right of the photo, an unknown hand attempts to do some product
placement.
We arrived at the International Centre in the middle of heavy rain. The
pairs of glass doors at the entrance had a sign with this laser-printed
on it on each left door:
And each right door had this laser-printed sign:
I interpreted this as:
…but…
ANY ACTIVITY WHICH WE KNOW HAS A HIGH RISK OF HARMING YOU AND THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, WELL, BE CAREFUL, EH?
I resent the fact that Ticketmaster thinks that by dint of booking an
act, they own your experience and the right to take some snapshots of
it. We really need to spank the music middlemen.
I had my Nikon Coolpix SQ in a case attached to my belt. I told security it was a cellphone and they waved me through.
I ran into a number of friends at the show and even saw Miranda the Accordion Girl and her friends (although they didn’t notice me waving “hello”).
Chris and Deenster suggested going back downtown for drinks after the show, but I had to decline.
“I fly to Boston at 6 a.m.,” I said.
“6 a.m.! It must be love,” said Chris.
“You better believe it.”
Me, phasing in and out of our space-time continuum just before the show. I had a 6:25 a.m. flight to catch to Boston the next day.
It’s been a dozen years since I last had a chance to catch The Pixies
live in concert, and I must say that they sound much tighter this time
around. Perhaps the fact that bassist Kim Deal requested that it be a “dry tour” — she was famous for playing sloppily onstange because she was drunk or high — helped.
Black Francis (a.k.a. Charles Michael Kitteridge Thomson IV) gets things rolling.
Here’s some video that I shot during the show. The quality’s not going
to be the greatest, but it should give you an idea of what the show
was like:
eye Magazine is one of Toronto’s “alternative” weekly magazines.
Last Thursday afternoon, I was in a small town outside Boston, eating Thanksgiving hors d’oeuvres
at my future in-laws’ place. During that time, I noticed that I’d
received a phone message. I checked it later that evening and got a
rather excited voice mail from Meryle telling me that The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century had won “Best Local Blog” in eye Magazine’s 2004 Reader’s Choice Awards.
I didn’t even know that they were taking nominations, so my thanks to eye Magazine and all of you who voted for me!
