Black Ghosts and Does it Offend You, Yeah? - LA - July 26

Well, the day finally came! I am in LA! Going to see a show that I have been getting more and more excited about.

This is my first time in LA and it is short. I make a few mistakes.
First, although my hotel was cheap, the true expense was the amount of time it took to get everywhere. My hotel was in Little Tokyo which seemed charming. Problem is that really, downtown LA is not cool....not West Hollywood cool, not Echo Park cool. Downtown boring cool.

Second, LA transit is terrible....maybe this is limited to Sundays but sadly, the majority of my day was spent on public transit or waiting for a bus. One good point here is that I am pretty sure that I saved myself a ton of cash as I got to Melrose way too late to do some shopping damage. Moral of story - rent a car.

The reason and therefore highlight of my trip was to see The Black Ghosts and Does it Offend You, Yeah? This show exceeded my expectations. The set performed by The Black Ghosts impressed me and allowed me to shake it even thought I was feeling pretty sick from some bad sushi that I had eaten earlier. Following is something someone else recorded. I couldn't be bothered to bring my new DSLR but kinda of wish I had.



It was the perfect lead in to Does It Offend You, Yeah? Shaking it, jumping, screaming and craziness in the best way. It included James Rushent getting on top of the bar and shouting his lungs out. The crowd went absolutely crazy when they played We are Rockstars. This is a link that I stole from YouTube.



Without doubt, I will be traveling again to see these masters play. And also without doubt, will make my way to LA again soon...I am certainly not done with it.

MSTRKRFT - Calgary - July 25

I recently read that MSTRKRFT are toe-to-toe with Justice vying for the crown as the new electro kings - at the time I disagreed. I was more closely following Justice and Bloody Beetroots remixes thinking that these were stronger. After seeing this show - my opinion has changed. When I was living in Toronto, I had occasion to see MSTRKRFT - usually by accident. Previous shows, although good did not compare to this one that was recently performed in Calgary.

Link of the show........

The energy of the show was tremendous. Set included a HAUT remix of D.A.N.C.E. Other highlights for me included another MSTRKRFT remix of their own Neon Kings. Mix in some Bloody Beetroots, Vitalic and Daft Punk for good measure and you have a stellar set. Apparently, this set is almost identical to the one that was played on BBC Radio 1 a few weeks back that I missed.

Small Town DJs also played a great set. Calgary favorite.

The only thing that I will complain about is the venue. Although as a space Flames Central is great (don't get me started on the name), it is obvious that this is a sports bar. Aside from the Flames decor, massive amounts of TVs, the sound is terrible. It only comes from the front of the room and although the quality is good, it is evident that the venue is not made to hold this type of event.

This is happiness

happiness, carefree,delighted, bliss, enamored, enchanted, elated, euphoric, inspired, wild, truthful that is what this song makes me think of

Calgary Stampede

It is that time of year - a second Christmas for many Calgarians.....I will admit, I was excited for Stampede this year and now realize that this was a momentary lapse in my judgement.

So it is now 10 days of continuous drinking, yelling, cowboys hats, drinking, yelling, Wranglers, drinking, drinking and drinking. Perhaps I will change my mind after volunteering, in my cowboy hat next week. YIKES