Retro #14: June

What the hell, July is half over already and I’m finally looking backward at June… it was such a full month, I feel so blessed! 

It was a great month for shows. One of the standouts was Cadence Weapon in the back room of the Cameron House(!) with an eight-piece funk band (!!!) playing most of his great new album Forager, plus some old hits. I’ll be bragging about that show forever. A live band is so perfect for him, IMO—I always prefer live musicians, it’s a heavy bias I have, but I think it fit his style really well (and the interactions between him and the band were such a treat). (Also, what the hell, they completely flipped the layout of the Cameron back room since I was last in there… I know it’s been awhile but damn!)

I also got to see one of my favourite bands of all time, The Flashing Lights, who I’d never had the chance to see live before. They reunited to celebrate a reissue of Where the Change Is and Chris Murphy of Sloan filled in for the late Henri Sangalang on bass. This was just so great—everyone singing along the whole time, tons of Halifax Pop Explosion band shirts, the works. High school me was freaking out. (37-year-old me was also freaking out.) (Here’s a clip.)

I’m also really enjoying the World Cup. It’s fun as hell, I am sorry! I know we all understand that FIFA is cartoonishly evil and in bed with corrupt politicians, and that the themes of colonization run through any international event but especially this one, and, we can hold those thoughts in our heads while enjoying the “country sleepover” and the cultural vibrancy and the excitement of an international sports tournament. Toronto is a great place to witness the World Cup any year, hosting or not, thanks to being one of the most diverse cities on the planet. There was a Senegal watch party on my very street (RIP to that very fun team). And how could you not enjoy the Cabo Verde Cinderella run?

I also, finally, got to the peony edition of the Toronto flower market, and it did NOT disappoint.

This post is already getting long (big month!) but I also played three shows with Survival Club in Waterloo, Hamilton, and Toronto. I’m heartened by how many people showed up to the Toronto show in the basement of a sports bar while the World Cup group stage matches were on upstairs, and how many of them showed up early to see the first of four bands. As I frequently say on stage, leaving your house is harder than ever these days, and leaving your house to show up for the first band is sometimes even harder, and whenever people do that for us or anyone else I feel so grateful.

Some things I liked this month:

• I loved Lindsey Adler’s profile of Amy Wallace, the only sibling of David Foster Wallace.
• Stop eating Lady Gaga’s Oreos.
• The mirage of the gifted child. Look, it’s such a millennial cliché by now, but I was in a gifted program for a short time as a kid (I really enjoyed it!) and this stuff is fascinating and bleak to look back on now.
• My friend and former colleague Kristen Spencer has revived her newsletter and I think it’s great. Check out the newest issue for notes about interesting fiction and dressing up casual style.
• The aforementioned Cadence Weapon album Forager  - I love “Alpenflage” and “Step Out” back to back.
• Another friend of mine has started a nail polish company called Lucky Lacquer. I ordered some things from them recently and I am not exaggerating when I say this totally reignited my love for nail polish. I cycle through being really into it and being completely uninterested in it every few years, but I’ve been really excited again since trying Lucky Lacquer—Kit did not tell me to say anything about their company, either, I just love it and think you should check it out!!! (My favourite so far is Mountain of Fire, followed by White Peach.)
• The band who played first at our Toronto show was the mighty Crowd Surf: their EP was produced by two members of PUP, and it’s really good.