Kathy Griffin at Massey Hall, Toronto
8PM, 08/08/08

Canada’s Olympic Canoe Team:

Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny, Ian Mortimer, Mark Oldershaw and Andrew Russell: Canoe4Canada
Not that I’m playing favourites or anything, but here’s Gabriel and Andrew in action:

Damn, I’m feeling… patriotic.

A sweaty athlete asked me to hold his javelin in the elevator this morning. Seriously. The handsome, variably-facial-haired, 6-foot-2 guy who lives in my building and always manages to be returning from a run at the same time I’m getting back from my sissy elliptical-trainer cardio session at the gym was fumbling with his backpack [...]

Only in Canada could there be a civic holiday unimaginatively named “Civic Holiday”. Oh, sure, in Saskatchewan this day is called Saskatchewan Day, in New Brunswick it’s called New Brunswick Day and in British Columbia it’s… well, you get the idea.
Alberta — always the shit-disturber of the country — calls this first Monday in August [...]

Blue Hole (Hanlan’s Point, Toronto, 1PM, 3 August 2008)
So it was an almost flawless day at Hanlan’s Point on Toronto Island today. A bit cloudy, sure, but the clouds were welcome respite from the sizzling sun. Mention must be made of the staggeringly perfect physique (and mouth-watering fur on the 8-pack and cannonball pecs) of [...]

Thirty or so years ago, I was good friends with a fellow who said that if the first words uttered on the first day of the month were “rabbits, rabbits, rabbits,” good luck would befall the utterer for the rest of that month. He didn’t really believe that, of course, but on the occasion that [...]

If I was forced to estimate the number of times I’ve listened to A Guy Called Gerald’s “Voodoo Ray”, I’d probably come up with a number in the eleventy-billion region. The number of times I’ve been able to sit still while listening to “Voodoo Ray” is exactly zero.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmoY0A_lfk

From the always-aweseome Tuckova comes news of another, long-overdue collaboration (and tour!) from the architects of my favourite album of all time, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and I’m so excited I could plotz. Whatever you do, don’t tell the government:
Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. [...]

Before the Lightning, Toronto, 28 July 2008

Toronto’s Hanlan’s Point, 27 July 2008