Holy Mother of God Cannolis

I am not Italian and do not say I can spell the word cannoli so f- off.

I'm in Vegas.

I just bought my new single most expensive item of clothing (Scandal bolero is out): a bra. My single most expensive item of clothing is a US$130 bra (agent provocateur, Hilly; it's hot, and they carry my size!).

Heaven help me.

Osheaga Day 2 and The Rainbow

Well, that was fun. Worth the money, worth the feet and back ache. Worth the weather (which wasn't bad at all), the portapotties (also not so bad) and I don't know what else. It's actually hard to think of things that weren't great about Ocheaga. Maybe the Wolf Parade's lame sound check while they were already on stage ("this always happens to us". Um, could you figure it out then?)

The gang sans Greg (home sick, we're told) but plus "the other" Mary met for a not-so-wet music and dancing extravaganza. We were mostly on our feet today, beginning with Islands. I love the violin child-prodigies touch that I noticed when they opened for Beck too. The girl that also sings is great and I hope she gets famous soon. Neil: cute as always. Remember when we met him at the SAT, Jenn & Nick? Awesome. We were born unicorns.

We ditched the Wolf Parade (I still love the music, but the scene was too much today) to go see Final Fantasy. I have his "Peach Plum" on iTunes, care of the song sharing group. I think it was Carolyn that sent it, but I might be wrong (see more on this unusual ocurrence -me being wrong- later). Lots of fun; I think Brian likes it most. We spotted the dude from Belle Orchestre and Arcade Fire and he seemed to pretty much be everywhere we went for a while.

Best band I'd never heard live until today was The Hidden Cameras, closely followed by Bedouin Soundclash. I heard a girl say THC weren't so hot live, but she was wrawng. They were infectiously upbeat, good to hop to. I did most of my dancing to Bedouin Soundclash, though, and their ska-y, reggae-y whatever it is they do.

I saw the Belle Orchestre I can't remember when but it was at a loft party Charles invited me to. He's friends with the trumpet player, I believe. They were astonishing then and now. But I do think I prefered seeing them in the small but ample loft, filled with spider plants and smoke. The positive of today's show in comparison: less body odour! Oh, and an aside: the drummer is totally Brian's doppelganger. We have photos.

Since I'm leaving for Vegas tomorrow tres early, I had to cut out during Flaming Lips, but it was pretty much the same show I saw at Metropolis, so it was ok. They're always a blast and a great happy trip, with giant balloons and streamers. The rain started to drizzle and it felt like just a different type of confetti. I think they do more to spread a certain message to audiences than that guy Ben Lee with his "we're all made of atoms, we're all in this together" lyrics.

Superstar tonight was Kid Koala. He *is* the adorable koala, he was very sweet on the mic and he played wonderfully, including his version of Moon River.

Oh, and the rainbow! During Bedouin Soundclash, when we were all happily dancing to Maytone, a beautiful full rainbow appeared behind us. It was perfect.

***
an "I can sometimes be wrong" addendum to Ocheaga 1 post: Tom says a) we heard The Magic Numbers on the CBC the first time and b) I didn't ask him to download them; he just did of his own iniciative. PS I tried to buy the CD today at the merch tent but it wasn't available.

Osheaga Day 1

Oh, yeah. Brazilian Girls, say yeah!

Osheaga, the two day outdoor music festival being held for the first time this weekend, has so far been pretty much everything I expected. Brian and I arrived very early, at about 11:30am and found no crowds ahead of us. Until about 3 in the afternoon, the audiences at the main stages were easily managed and no crowd-maze-ing was necessary to see the performers on stage. This is how we saw The Magic Numbers ("oh what's my name? what's me naaaaame?" Now I can't remember where I heard them for the first time, but the important thing is I asked Tom to download them for me and so I've ahd their songs on my iTunes since then). Oh yeah, and it was *amazing* to see the band in person, because they are *nothing* like one would expect from such high-pitched, poppy tunes producers. They're like Fleetwood Mac fetishists! All men in the band are fat, and wear long black hair in a way that makes you think they're going to break into prog rock any second... The women look exactly like the men. And their voices are beautiful and I love this band. I'm going to buy their record and prove that downloading is only another form of promotion.

Later, we walked through the woods on Ile Ste-Helene, where the festival is being held, to the MEG stage (what does MEG stand for?) to see a band Cecilia recommended: Hushpuppies. They're French dandies and HOT! We chose the keyboardist as the hottest, but what else is new? I only wish that they played songs in French, since they are, en fait, French. They did a fun cover of The Kinks, "I'm not like everybody else".

Maude and Greg eventually joined us, and we met up with Mary Roach, who was working at the Engineers Without Borders kiosk. Until about 6pm, Brian and I had been cat napping and being lazy (great party on Friday) on the hill that faces the main stages, but at 6:15 it was time for Metric and we never sat down for long after that. I've seen Metric three times, I think (La Tulipe when it was called Cabaret du Plateau; Ottawa Blues Fest and last night), and they're always aweome and almost mystical in the way they create a bond, and a vibe with the audience. I felt like crying at the end, in the best way. Everybody loves Emily Haines. It must be very hard to be her. Oh, but an aside: there was a balcony where the backstage passes could watch the stages from. You know, the artists. Well, they never clapped! They took pictures, and watched us, and watched the stage, but they never clapped after any performance. WTF is up with that? (snooty voice) "Well, as an artist, you see, I *approve* of this performance, ta. It's satisfactory."

The best band we'd never heard before was Brazilian Girls, by FAR. So much fun! I heard some guys on the way out saying it was really all about the singer's sexuality (she's hot) but I disagree. I wasn't particularly affected by her sexuality but I was contaged (my word, copyright) by their super catchy, dancey music. I would definitely go see them on their own in the future. As in, pay for a ticket to see just them.

And we wrapped up with one full Sonic Youth (The Geriatrics, heh) song, as a compromise between those that were ready to go home and those that weren't. It was a good song. And I caught "one of those that were ready to go home" totally getting into it...

I came home exhausted, collapsed, and slept a lot. Now it's 11:55am and I'm ready to call Brian to see if we're going to buy rainboots before heading out again. I'm so ready for it, rain or shine! First up: Islands. I LOVE IT.

The most annoying things I can remember about call centers

All true stories:

* Punching in your account number only to have the operator who takes your call immediately ask for it again.

* Being asked to enter your PIN... number.

* Calling to enquire about the status of a credit card application and not being able to speak to a representative until you punch in a valid credit card number (???)

* Getting "Emily", the automated voice-recognition customer service agent, on the line. Or worse, the guy version of "Emily", who always ends up saying "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat that please?" after I'm swearing and hoping THAT'S being &$^\@(^ recorded for quality control purposes!

* Getting a "smart" voice maze that REPEATS the ENTIRE menu back to you if you DARE press 0 before letting the recorded voice get to the part of the message where it finally says "... and if you wish to speak to an operator, please dial 0 now".

* Speaking to "Steve", a human who tells you your application status is "approved pending action". Then the next day speaking to "pronounces Other like Auto" who tells you, actually, there's no record whatsoever of your application. No, really.

* Getting asked what "your favourite colour" is as a security question.

* Having to explain your situation all over to each new person who takes your call. Every month because every month they forget to apply your 15% bundle discount. "I'm putting a note in your file to make sure this doesn't happen again". Riiiight.

Part-time Roommates

Now the phone at my place rings all the time, and it's never for me. Good thing I got that old school answering machine that lets me screen calls. Calls that *could* be for me, but aren't.

They're for my part-time roommate, Courtney Wing. Remember he stayed here while my mother and I were in Cape Cod? He's still looking for an apartment (3.5, no roommates, in the Plateau/Mile-End if you know if a place) and all the prospects are calling to make appointments. No luck so far, but a few close ones. I guess it's rough finding a place these days. Makes me even more certain of staying put for a few more years.

I don't know where Courtney's staying these days, but basically having a part-time roommate means I share space with his duffel bag and assorted belongings (all discreetly tucked under the dining room table) and occasionally come home to find another human being sitting at my desk. It's all good: it means the benefits of a roommate (chats, airtime for my crazy dramas) with little of the annoyances (I think we all know what those are).

In other news, Canadians' number one more feared scenario has happened to me: my identity was stolen! That's right, someone has attempted to purchase about $1200 + in "computer software" using my credit card number. The card itself is safely in my wallet, but some meanie has obtained the number and is trying to scam me. I noticed because my available credit dropped radically and I contacted the bank. Thank goodness I didn't have to go through the confusion of trying to purchase something only to be told my card is out of money. Absurd! So now the account is closed (are you reading that, you crazy thief!?). I'm leaving Monday for Vegas which means, once more, I have to travel without a credit card. Sucks. I can't believe I'll have to use cash; it's so passé.