Meet the residents: The Banff Centre expands its embrace of indie rock
Arriving at The Banff Centre late on a Wednesday evening, the complex feels undeniably spooky. Due to a major construction project, the usually open expanses of the centre have become a series of pathways lined with construction fences in Halloween orange. A perfect setting for the October 31 concert that marks the conclusion of The … Read more
TIFF Day 9: More Herzog, Ricky Gervais and the last press screening of the festival
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (dir. Werner Herzog) Like Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Herzog’s second film at TIFF is at its core a cop movie. But where Lieutenant camped up and darkened an otherwise straightforward procedural, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done takes a hostage situation and … Read more
TIFF: Day 4 — Bees, war and Michael Moore
Colony (dir. Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell) Confession: I was planning on watching the new Ricky Gervais movie this morning, but accidentally went to the wrong theatre. Lack of sleep can make navigating these festivals a bit tricky. Fortunately, it led to my catching a decent documentary on honeybee colony collapse disorder. It’s a pretty … Read more
TIFF Day 3: Gilliam, McCarthy and some other stuff
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, but that I think is pretty key in getting across the feeling at TIFF’s industry screenings: Unlike CIFF, press and industry attend entirely separate screenings from the general public out here, so the tone of the press & industry screenings is much more subdued than the enthusiastic public … Read more
TIFF: Day 2 — Coen Brothers, George Clooney, Michael Haneke and a ninja Puritan
Alright, so it’s actually my first day at the festival, but it’s the second day of the fest itself, and I’m always one for going along with the official rules. Missing the first day was a bit of a bummer (I’m still very curious about the new Pedro Almodovar film and Lars von Trier’s almost … Read more
Corporate video games still suck
Two years ago, the Internet was abuzz with anger and indignation at the posthumous indignity facing Kurt Cobain. The grunge rock icon was to be the centrepiece of a string of ads for Dr. Martens shoes — a series that would also include late rockers Joe Strummer of The Clash, Sid Vicious of the Sex … Read more
The Flowers of Hell – Come Hell or High Water, Saved by Vinyl
If a band can be judged purely by the fans it attracts, The Flowers of Hell is a damned good band. Greg Jarvis’ pan-Atlantic space-rock symphony has performed with members of Spiritualized, Broken Social Scene, Guided By Voices — they were even specifically requested as an opening act by My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields. Don’t … Read more
Share – Slumping in Your Murals
Share’s Slumping in Your Murals is just low-key enough to catch you off guard. Early on, it feels like one of those albums that’ll be easy to like but next to impossible to love. Singer-songwriter Andrew Fisk clearly knows his way around a folk-rock tune and the spacious production perfectly complements the music, but there’s … Read more
Meta-post: Blog plans
Figured this is as good a time as any to start collecting all my writing (FFWD and otherwise) in one blog. Most of the content here can also be seen at http://www.ffwdweekly.com, but if I’m particularly inspired, I might go back and add anecdotes and context to some of the interviews and reviews, more because … Read more
Taking back Woodstock
In Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee’s ode to the landmark music festival that has served for 40 years as shorthand for peace, love and good ol’ fashioned youthful rebellion, the case is once again made that Woodstock was a high-water mark for youth culture. A free concert attended by almost 500,000 hippies, freaks and open-minded fellow … Read more
