i fail

Last post: Tuesday, February 17, 2009. This post: Tuesday, May 12th, 2009. I fail at my blog.

I don't even know where to start. So much crazy shit is happening in my life, all of which is awesome. At the end of this month I may be embarking on a new and awesome adventure which involves everything I am passionate about. A few of you already know. Everyone else, you'll find out in the next two weeks ;) Part of this adventure involves me moving back home to Orleans to live with my parents. I love living downtown more than anything, but sometimes you have to give up the little things to persue your dreams.

In July I am venturing out west with my band The PG-13s and our good pals The Rough Sea for 15 days of rock n roll, crazy shenanigans, and long, restless voyages across the trans-canada highway.

Anyways, enough about my boring life and onto cool things:

I saw Spaceballs with Big Baby Campbell last night. Spaceballs never gets old. My favourite Mel Brooks movie and one of my favourite movies in general.



Anyways more posts to come

movies and mix tapes

I guess I'll back track to the weekend. The show was amazing! It went well over 11pm but no complaints and no police, luckily. There was way too many bands for one show, but luckily it worked out. The house had well over 100 people. In the end it ruled and I'm glad to see basement shows continuing in Ottawa. They're the most fun and truely DIY and truely represent underground music. Tylers house fucking rules for keeping basement shows alive in Ottawa.

The rest of the weekend included lot's of hanging out with my homie, BSC brotha and friend, French Iain. On Sunday we hit up the Mayfair to see Malcolm X. A three and a half hour flick starring Denzel Washington about the story of Malcolm X, an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. This was my first time fully watching Malcolm X and I thought the movie was awesome. Spike Lee did an amazing job of capturing the true story of Malcolm X, without putting a complete hollywood twist to it. Denzel did a beautiful job. Malcolm X was definitely a historical icon and paved the way for racial equality in the world.

Malcolm X's assassination in the movie. Seeing this on the big screen was, wow.:


After Malcolm X ended, we grabbed some poutine, did some stuff and came back to see Flicker. Flicker was fucked. It's about this object called the the Dreamachine created by modern artist of the 60's and 70's, Brion Gysin. It's a machine that gives you a high by looking at it. Read the link for Dreamachine to learn about what it fully is. The movie featured Iggy Pop, The Yeah Yeah Yeah's and other wacky people. It was interesting to say the least.



We ended the night by getting our drink on at the Dom, and going to Zaphods to make Matty play some Municipal Waste. Awesome night. The next morning I hit up the Mayfair again with Iain to see E.T. Not much to say, but that E.T. rules, especially on the big screen. More movies need bike chase scenes.




The rest of the weekend I spent with Cas. We watched Friday The 13th on Friday. Awesome classic horror movie! 924 Gilman Documentary on Sunday. Good documentary. I wish we had a place like this in Ottawa that was co-op run with DIY ethics. A wicked place for independent bands to play. We also watched Searching For Bobby Fisher on Sunday which stars Max Pemeranc, Joe Mantegna and Laurence Fishburne among some. Great movie based on the life of prodigy chess player Joshua Waitzkin.




I made the sickest punk rock mix tape this weekend for Cas:

Here's the track list:
Side A:
Gunmoll - Less Than You Hoped For
The Creeps - I Broke Your Hymen, You Broke My Heart
Osker - Strangled
Fifth Hour Hero - Cut Me Dead
Small Brown Bike - Shadow
Against Me! - Pints Of Guinness Make You Strong
The Queers - See You Later Fuckface
Dwarves - Dominator
Gob - Censorshit
Sack Lunch - On Your Own
The PG-13s - When You're Around
The Transit - My Murderer And Me
Screeching Weasel - Hey Suburbia
The Lillingtons - X-Ray Specs
The Ergs - Boston, Mass
Statues - Pinpoint
Bouncing Souls - Punks In Vegas
Good Riddance - Salt
blink 182 - Apple Shampoo

Side B:
88 Fingers Louie - Something I Don't Know
Digger - I Want My Hat Back
The Arsons - Magoo
Jersey - This Town
Descendents - Nothing With You
Samiam - Bad Day
The Get Up Kids - One Year Later
The Gaslight Anthem - High Lonesome
The Loved Ones - Jane
The Bellabombs - Super Glue
Four Stroke - (We Don't Sing About) Rock And Roll
The Visitors - Vietnam
The Valveenus - Waiting For The Day
Off With Their Heads - I Hate My Stupid Ass
Banner Pilot - Deadender
Lagwagon - Sleep
Diesel Boy - Titty Twister
Bracket - Talk Show

I'm going to end this blog with The White Wires music video, which I can't stop watching/listening too:

i choo choo chooooose you!

So today has finally arrived and I'm super stoked! 6 bands at 62 Bell St. for everyones favourite fabricated holiday, Valentines Day! (or as I called it on punkottawa 'Hardcore Punk Valentines Day'). Ok, I'm not original with names. Names are for suckers? Anyways, here's the glorious lineup:

Picked On (crusty hardcore punk hailing from kingston)
The Castevets (in your face hardcore punk straight outta montreal)
Vile Intent (brutal power violence from montreal)
Four Stroke (everyone's favourite punk rockers)
The Dirty Nuns (east end hardcore punx)
Harsh Supplement (FIRST SHOW! oldschool noisecore)

Last show at 62 Bell St. was Seasick, Killin' It, It's Asshole Time and H.O.P.E. and the turnout was nuts. I think around 75 people were in the house. It was nuts, especially considering the bus strike was on. This time the bus strike is over, buses are free, and in general more people I've talked to are coming out. Let's hope it runs smoothly!



Critical played a lot with Picked On and The Castevets, so I'm excited to see them again and hang out. Party!

kman is about to rule your life

I just had an amazing weekend. I had two lovely dates with Cassandra. Friday we went to Mavericks to see Killing For Friday, a band she use to play guitar in. We got their late and missed their set. Since we were on the guestlist, courtesy of Shawn, we decided to stick around for the other bands, even though they were terrible. After the show we headed back to my house to grab more beer and head over to my friends house to see The Rough Sea and dishouse Jason's new band. We ended up stopping at Winterlude along the way. Some of the sculptures were unbelievable! I bought Cas her very first Beavertail, and she loved it. We eventually got to the show and made it just in time for The Rough Sea. The house was packed and I was pretty drunk. The Rough Sea played an awesome set. The whole room was singing along. After them was Jason's band. It was himself and two friends making noise (not even oldschool noisecore, just straight up noise). It was interesting to say the least. After they played people started heading out and a small group of us stuck around. About 10 of us ended the night by having a dance party in the kitchen, which included someone eating mustard out of a jar and stage diving off of the counter, and a mannequin leg smashing the light fixture to pieces.

On Saturday I went to my friend Corey's to sit in on mixing with my band, The PG-13s, for our 7". I just joined the band, so unfortunately I'm not on any of the recordings. The songs are sounding amazing though! After that I went to my friend Derek's for a bit where Cas met up with us. Cas and I then went to see Dig It Up from Montreal with The Wellits, Jon Creeden and Ashton Starr at Ashton's house, The Book Depository. The Wellits were a sick folkish celtic punk band. They had mandolin, which is awesome. I've always loved mandolin. Dig It Up were amazing. Straight up. I can't even explain their sound. They remind me a bit of Turbonegro or The Bronx. Super rock and roll esc punk. Melodic and aggressive. The turnout was amazing and everyone went nuts. I've been to a few shows in Ashton's basement, and this was the first time I saw people mosh.

And now, Kman! He is my new best friend:

good vibrations

Here's some music I've been digging lately and bands I think you should check out. I've been listening to a lot of melodic punk rock and folkish stuff. Mainly everything No Idea Records related. If I could, I would have sex with No Idea Records.

I'll kick the blog off with sharing Living With Lions new music video. They're a kickass pop-punk band from Vancouver. They write hella catchy tunes and are always fun live. This video rules. I wish more bands, especially punk rock bands, made fun videos like this.



This next video is of Orphan Choir. They're one of my favourite Canadian bands. They remind me a lot of Hot Water Music. The vocals are really distinctive. I know a lot of bands who play this style try to rip off classic bands like Hot Water Music and don't pull it off, but I find Orphan Choir has their own edge. They add their own originality to the genre and do it well. I don't even know if I could just throw this in the "melodic punk rock" genre. It's a style of it's own. Not to add that theres no other bands like them in Canada. They have a couple 7" and CDs out. Definitely worth picking up!



I don't know if you guys are familiar with a website called If You Make It, but it's basically two guys and a gal who document bands they're friends with and love. They have whats called the Pink Couch Sessions where they have bands come in and do acoustic sets on this pink couch. They also film bands live. They just did a bunch of footage at The Fest this past fall. I'm in love with this website and pretty much every band they document. Recently, they just started uploading their videos to Vimeo. So now you're able to copy the embed code and spread their videos around! So here's some bands/artists I'm currently in love with that are on If You Make It:

This first band is Blacklist Royals. They're an awesome punk rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Here's a video of them doing a Pink Couch session. You can also click on their name for a link to their myspace page.


Blacklist Royals - Things They Say from If You Make It on Vimeo.

This next one is of Good Old War. They're a folky/indie band from Philly? I don't even know what genre to put them under. They're going on a big tour with The Gaslight Anthem soon which rules. Awesome band. Here's their Pink Couch session.


Good Old War - Coney Island from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Here's American War. Awesome, awesome folk. Don't know what else to say..catchy tunes, awesome voice. Love American War!


American War - Bricks from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Nana Grizol is a weird band. Weird in a good way, though! Really catchy tunes. I'm not sure how many are in the band but they have a variety of instruments in their songs (horns, keyboard) and lots of clapping!


Nana Grizol - Blackbox. from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Well, thats another post! I think I'll end this one with a wicked video I found of old Montreal punk rock band All The Answers playing live. They ruled so much!

flu vs. 123 punk

So who else picked up the flu (or in my case the flu and possibly strept throat) in the past week? I got hit on Tuesday and tried to take it with a grain of salt. By Wednesday afternoon it really hit me hard and I felt like grabbing a knife in the kitchen and ending all the pain. Instead, I threw on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and attempted to get to Bogus Journey, but I was already out, asleep. Or was I? Maybe for an hour before waking up. I was waking up every hour, sweaty and feeling like death. Thursday night I went to my parents because I couldn't handle all the crazy stuff having to my body, or I should say coming out of my body (I'll save the nasty details). Lot's of movies, mindless television programs (I watched the security dude from jerry springers new show!), soft foods, liquids and an episode of 123 Punk on Musique Plus, which played these three amazing music videos, were my best friends:

Gob's You're To Cool:



Belvedere's High School Heroics:


Belvedere was the first actual punk show I ever went to. They played at Club Saw to maybe a 100 kids. Us Against Them and I forget who else opened. I believe it was Springfield and Driving Phoenix? Correct me if I'm wrong? I had a blast and still remember the show very well. I got the State of the Union comp at that show which had all Union/Stomp Records bands and my life forever changed! Saw Belvedere again a million times.

Reggie & The Full Effect's Congratulations Smack and Katy:


Never saw Reggie & The Full Effect live, but that video urged me to listen to them more often and I definitely will.

I'm going to bed
peaacccceee

titles are for suckers!

Hey friends! Welcome to my blog about 'The Bizzaro Ska Jeff'. If you haven't already noticed I love None More Black, and as do they, I have a love for Seinfeld. So welcome to my blog. I'm boring.. I'm dull.. I'm uninteresting.. so I really don't even know why you're reading this, especially considering everyone reading this blog will consist of my friends, people who already know how lame I am. If you don't know me, leave now before you fall a sleep on your keyboard.. you've been warned!


Here's some shit that rules (mostly, actually probably all music related):

Off With The Head's playing live on a moving city bus. Off With Their Heads is in my top 5 for bands I really like right now. Their new album 'From The Bottom' has some of the catchiest punk rock songs I've heard in a long time. Plus, when was the last time you saw a band play live on a moving city bus?



This next video is of a band from Australia called Extortion. I've been listening to lots of power volience and really fast hardcore lately. Exortion is easily one of the fastest bands in hardcore right now. This video is of them playing 8 songs at a show in Australia. They're currently touring west North America. They're doing a show in Vancouver and Victoria. Fuck, someone fly me out to see them! Anyways, get stoked on this video! Hell, punch a whole in your fucking wall!

(shoutouts to t-bone for also loving extortion)




I did a show for a band called Seasick from New Jersey a few weeks ago. They were on tour with Killin' It who are also from NJ and who have been here before. I think Ottawa was waiting for a good punk show, and this was it. My friend Tyler and his room-mates let us use their house to host the show. Tyler's amazing noise punk band Humans Of Planet Earth and everyones favourite local east end hardcore punx, It's Asshole Time, opened. Over 75 people packed into the house and went ape shit! The singer of Seasick is one of the most intense singers I've ever seen live. He was climing over everything possible in the basement. I had already had a Seasick 7". Their split with ANS.. but never really had payed much attention to their side of the record. After the show they crashed at my place and gave me another split 7" they did, their 10" and their new 12" EP titled 'Ouroboros'. Words can't even explain how fucking amazing this band is. Check them out, and then kick yourself for not being at the show!

This is what you missed:


In highschool I use to be into a lot of skate punk like Belvedere, Pridebowl and pretty much every other band of that genre that was big in the 90's. I still am, but not as much. A lot of new bands that jam skate punk bore me. Maybe because I've heard it before? But that can be said with any genre really. However this was not the case on Friday. I booked a show for my friend Antoine from Montreal. His band Endover wanted to come with a band from Albany, NY called After The Fall. I really liked the tunes on their myspace so I said fuck I'll do it. I was pretty excited about the show when I booked it, until I found out a bit later Toronto's Fucked Up was playing the same night downstairs at Mavericks (my show being upstairs at Cafe Dekcuf). Not to add my band somehow got slipped on the Fucked Up bill (stressful night). FYI I couldn't care a less about Fucked Up. In the end my turn out wasn't bad and I broke even. After The Fall on the other hand blew me the fuck out of the water! They're a three peice with a vocalist/guitarist, bassist and drummer. We partied all night and then crashed at my place. Mike, the vocalist/guitarist gave me their first CD and I can't stop listening to it. It fucking rules!

Here's a video of them playing when they were a four peice:


I'm going to bed so enjoy this shit for now.

oh and a shout out to the BSC CREW!