Tag Archives: BC Place

Canada’s Soul: Whitehorse to Vancouver

Posted on by

I took a bus up to Whitehorse, Yukon. (I didn’t hitchhike because I was scared of being left in the middle of nowhere and getting eaten by a bear.)

July 20: A 24-hour delay seems possible due to the massive bridge washouts – sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Throughout the journey, women – making up the majority of the population – sleep, smoke and drink without complaint. So I’ll smoke my way to sleep.

The silhouettes of the great mountains dominate the scenery. A dark black storm cloud approaches; hell is bound to break loose. The trees await in silence as the silver bus rushes on.July 22: I hiked alone up Grey Mountain, on the outskirts of Whitehorse, and wrote at the top: Humanity – a definition. Impossible. It is so assorted. There are some with no legs, some with no eyes – mentally and physically – and some with no heart. Some cloud their eyes with darkened glasses and some wear not what they need but what others say. (It goes on.)

July 24: I took a 26-hour bus ride down to Vancouver. Graffiti on Pink Mountain Inn: #1: Why did God give seagulls wings? So that they’d be able to beat the Indians to the dump. #2 Toking is like working here. The harder you suck, the higher you get.

Arrived in Vancouver where I stayed at the hostel for five days and saw Peter Gabriel and David Bowie and the newly-opened BC Place Stadium.

The Ten Worst Concerts of My Life

Posted on by

Concerts are not always what we expect. Indeed they can be so fraught with the promise of excitement, that they turn into just the opposite. BadticketsUnderstanding that some of the worst events have probably been permanently deleted from my brain, I offer the worst concerts which I remember:

10. Amon Tobin (Brooklyn Masonic Temple, October, 2011) Amon Tobin - ISAMA spinning electric thing mess that clacked and clanked, all so monotonous and loud.

9. Sebadoh (The Rage, Vancouver, September 1996) SebadohLiveMikalaTaylor4The highlight of the evening was the lead singer announcing that tour t-shirts were available “for anyone who still has a pulse.”

8. Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman (Ontario Place, Toronto, July 1990) 220726_198378933539730_171771132867177_538449_2519996_oBob Weir should never play lead guitar nor sing Take Me to the River again. Ever.

7. Elton John (Barclay’s, Brooklyn, October 2013) Elton John-1342899The song-writing great went through his catalogue and butchered every last one. That wasn’t Rocket Man, was it?

6. Destroyer/Dan Bejar (Miller Theater, New York, September 2009) destroyer_daniel_bejar_googleganger_1-1Bejar subjected the audience to a naval-gazing slide show and wincing music.

5. Cabaret Voltaire (Concert Hall, Toronto, May 1985) cabaretvoltaire310112wArriving two hours late, the band played a haughty 45 minutes with slaughterhouse videos as a backdrop. No encore, thank goodness.

4. Bob Dylan & Tom Petty (BC Place, Vancouver, July 1987) farmaid_2Great music transformed into distorted abominations. Like a Rolling Stone wasn’t even decipherable.

3. Jimmy Cliff (Roman Amphitheatre, Carthage, July 1989) amphitheatreCliff’s terrible Las Vegas style performance was undoubted torture for the performing ghosts from centuries past.

2. The Grateful Dead (Syracuse Dome, Syracuse, October 1984)1983-03-29warfield6Terrible sound and energy, low-lighted by Jerry Garcia missing verses and, in the end, unable to pick up his coffee off the amp.

1. The Who (CNE Stadium, Toronto, July 1980) 7104372_f496A bitter experience with fights in the stands, hollow sound and the empty realization that live music was sometimes a terrible disappointment.