Zeebou

If you're lucky enough to know Jane or I in person, you'll most likely have heard about African Dance. We rave about it constantly. Which is why it's so exciting that we were able to convince our teacher to come and teach classes in Hamilton, instead of us making the trek to Toronto each week. If you want to be a part of something totally amazing and have a ton of fun and an incredible workout at the same time, join us with Sani-Abu of Ijo Vudu Dance on Sundays at 2pm at the Sky Dragon Center. It will be the one recommendation that you should definitely take from me. Classes start this Sunday!

Modern Kicks

Have you heard about Mike Long and his new website Dance Futura? He's a fellow Hamiltonian and a sweeeeet dancer. He posts a new video every day featuring a different song, different location, and some of those sweeeeet moves. He's going to be doing this every day for the next two years.

You can check out ALL of his videos on YouTube if you've got a hankering for some more.

I'm Going Back Home To The West Coast

Ok Birthday List. You have officially begun.

1. Nighttiming, by Coconut Records (or, you-know-who).

With Potted Flowers In Our Blood

I don't know if it's a Canadian thing or what, but when I close my eyes and listen to Basia Bulat's CD Oh My Darling, all it makes me envision is dusty roads up north, towering pine trees, clear blue lakes, and beautiful red rocks. And I mean that in the absolute best way possible.

(For those who want a more tangible review, if you like Feist, you will most probably enjoy Basia's haunting voice and poetic lyrics as well.)

No, I Love You

I don't care if it's lame that I'm posting at 11pm on a Friday night. This couldn't wait until Monday morning. Tomorrow night, if you're not doing anything, you should run out and rent/buy/borrow Once.

I would go into more detail about how incredible this movie is (that music!!!), but it's Friday night and I want to get back to chillin'. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

I'm A Vampire, I'm A Vampire

I am on a total Juno high. This movie is so great!

The story is great, Ellen Page is amazing, Micheal Cera is adorably awkward as always, the highschool experience is rendered perfectly, the opening credit sequence is brilliant and... I loved every minute of it!

But I think one of my most favourite-est parts that I love the best is the cuter-than-cute-yet-still-happy-and-pessimistic soundtrack.

Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants are dark and sweet at the same time... And they threw on some Belle and Sebastian for good measure.

Is it a testament to the quality of this collection that I've listened to nothing but this soundtrack for the past 26 hours?

Let Them Knock

Undoubtedly, one of my favourite albums of this year was Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. I fell in love with the 60's funk/soul revival immediately. But now I know why it was so good. I present to you - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the spearheads of the funk/soul revivalist movement. The Dap-Kings worked on six of the eleven songs on Back to Black, and even became her backing band on her first U.S. tour.

Dare I say that Ms. Jones' voice might even put Ms. Winehouse to shame.

Great Lake Love

I saw Feist in concert last night, which I think goes without saying was pretty amazing.

More of a surprise though was how equally amazing the opening band was. Great Lake Swimmers completely captivated me from about halfway through their first song until the end of their fantastic set. I bought their latest CD immediately after the show, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, so I can't really vouch for it.

I can say though, that their live show was totally amazing, and they sing a lot about the Canadian landscape, which for some reason, is awesome. I also absolutely loved the song Changing Colours.

Stop And Hold My Breath And Watch The Way You Used To Be

I don't buy CDs anymore, but when I got an HMV gift card last week I thought long and hard about what I would purchase... And it HAD to be The Weakerthans latest bundle of wonderfulness in album form, Reunion Tour.

'Tis perfect to listen to on many an occasion.

I love this 37 minute album so much, I've enjoyed it:
- in the car
- while doing work
- while making dinner
- while reading
- while listening to video games in the background of my life.

Listening to "Night Windows" makes me want to put on a cozy cozy wool sweater and take a camera out into nature and photograph trees and then make some crafty Christmas cards and send them out to people I like in packages full of ribbon and almond bark and other holiday treats.

Or maybe it was the effect of the pretty snowfall today.

Our Existence Has Serious Side Effects

It's no big surprise that I would immediately fall in love with the new Wintersleep album, Welcome to the Night Sky, but to give you an idea of how much I love it, I just listened to the song "Dead Letter" about seven times in a row. IT'S THAT GOOD.

For realz.

You're My Hero

So I was going to post this and try to pass it off as something for the boys, since Ty has been harping about buying this game for the past, like, hundred years.

BUT. We picked it up yesterday morning and BOTH of us have been playing it non-stop ever since. Yes, I'll admit, I do enjoy Guitar Hero III for XBox 360 with the wireless remote guitar (my male counterpart made sure that I included those special details).

While he plays a whole career's-worth of songs on "Medium" or "Hard", I can pick and choose which little Ditties I can handle on "Easy". My personal favs to rock out on are School's Out for Summer, Rock You Like a Hurricane and My Name is Jonas.

If you had XBox Live I could even challenge You!

Ok, seriously, did I just write that? - This game is transformational. Now we just need to buy Rock Band and then I can play bass like I want to.

A Dirty Town Gets Me Down

Touch Up by Mother Mother is the next CD you should buy/download/sell your soul for. I mean it.

You should also probably get on that very soon, so that by the time they play The Casbah on November 1st (for all you Hamilton area kids) you can sing along to all their ridiculously addicting songs.

Don't believe me? I dare you to listen to Dirty Town more than twice and not try to sing it.

Lomo Fidelity

Not to have a total camera boner all over LIAL for the 2nd time in a week, but I just find it so bizarre that The White Stripes have teamed up with Lomography to create the JACK Holga and MEG Diana+. They are limited to 200 pieces each, so if you're a lomo fan and a White Stripes fan, scoop one up!

His Master's Voice

These speakers are incredible.

I just don't have anything else to say about that.

Retina Scan Complete

I can't take how small technological devices are becoming. I just touched an iPhone for the first time this weekend, and I almost had a heart attack due to sheer awesomeness.

And now this? I can't take it anymore. Just install a tiny LCD screen into the palm of my hand, please.

Good Golly Miss Molly!

There is something about summer that just makes me Love listening to CCR.

Maybe it's the lazy summer days that make you want to dance around on the lawn in bare feet to Porterville or shoot back a couple and get down on a dancefloor to Fortunate Son, or just drive along with giant sunglasses on, smearing on lipgloss like an addict, rolling down the windows, turning up Run Through the Jungle while zooming down country roads...

It just makes me wanna run down to the Southern states, jump on a veranda swing, drink lemonade and eat like, bbq'd corn on the cob and cajun shrimps and chicken and rice while looking at alligators in the neighboring bayou. Anyone else?

Whatever it is, I think everyone should rush out and pick up the Creedence Clearwater Revival box set - Just Look at how many delicious tracks are squished in here!

PS - I gotta give some props to my dad for recording his CCR tunes from vinyl onto tape cassette for the car and making me listen to them for hours on end on roadtrips... every summer since I was 12. Props, Pops.

If You Don't Vote, I'll Kill A Dog.

I'm a bitter man, they say.

And there are those who say I don't love things very much.

But there are certain things that I love... muchly.

Number one on my list right now, is Austin's sexy powerpop/indie band Quiet Company. (Fronted by erotic man-beast Taylor Muse, husband to infamous blogger and Loveitalot guest-star Leah Muse.)

And what do I love more? Voting for them to win the ACL (Austin City Limits) show grand prize. There is nothing I love more than helping a talented band catch the breaks they deserve.

GO! VOTE!

Buy the album! Lurve them!

You Jump I Jump

I think I might be really, really late to jump on this band wagon, but I have a very important question:

Why aren't more people talking about Regina Spektor?

First of all, she is great. Second of all, her video for Fidelity is one of the cutest videos I have seen in a long time. I feel a little dumb for singing her praises so late, I mean, even Perez has rambled on about her, but wow, I am addicted.

Build A Wall Of Books Between Us In Our Bed

So at least 58% of the Love It A Lot posse (if not more...) stood in line on Friday night for their copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I'm betting that if it were a possibility, 100% of the Love It A Lot posse would stand in line tonight at midnight for the release of The Con by Tegan and Sara. At least I know I would. I have been listening to this album non-stop for the last two months (from their Myspace, not from any, ahem, illegal downloading) and I absolutely love it. It's exactly what you'd expect from the most talented twin sister songwriters out there; melancholy, hauntingly beautiful, and a little experimental. You'll have to wait until the stores open tomorrow to get it, but once you listen to it, I'm sure that the wait will have been worth it.

Can We Go Back To The Days Our Love Was Strong

So with only two days left until I leave, I'm experiencing a mad packing frenzy. How many pairs of shoes do I bring? Should I leave my jewelry at home? Daypack or purse? What about my iPod?

The iPod I have decided to leave at home because I just don't know if I'll be able to find a place to charge it every night. Plus, I'll have to actually bring the charger plus a voltage converter, and I just don't have that kind of space to spare in my backpack right now. I kind of wish that Beryl had send us the link to this wonderful Solio Solar Charger from Boys to Men Gifts sooner. Since it uses solar power to charge your iPod or cellphone, it eliminates the need for all those messy wires, and thereby eliminates at least one of my packing dilemmas.

Now seriously, is five pairs of shoes too many?