CMW '10 - almost a month later!

So much to blog about, so little time! March has been an INSANE month (those of you closest to me know why... everyone else... stand by, it will all be announced in good time!). I've been meaning to update about Canadian Music Week for a while now. I'm ashamed to say this, but I haven't even finished editing my photos from the last show I went to (although, in fairness, I did take like, 200+ photos at that gig). Here's a brief recap of the shows I saw.

I was super excited heading into CMW weekend, because I found out that the Our Lady Peace shows were open to the first 50 wristband holders that showed up at Massey Hall. It was also super cool that once I got my wristband for the shows, the seats were down on the floor, pretty close to the front! I was expecting to be way up in the 2nd balcony, so this was a pleasant surprise!)

Short backstory: OLP was my absolute FAVOURITE band throughout my teen years. I was a crazy-die-hard fan. They fell out of favour with me when guitarist Mike Turner - now in the band Crash Karma - left OLP. Now, I've seen OLP in the time since Mike left the band (and in fact, told the longer version of this story here on my blog during last year's CMW recap), and I wasn't really *THAT* into them anymore - however these shows were bound to be different. They were playing two nights at Massey Hall - the first night, they played their entire Clumsy album, followed by an intermission and another set of songs from all the other albums, and the second night was Spiritual Machines, with another set.

I also got to hang out with a whole bunch of my friends from the "Clumsy Congress" days - it truly reminded me of being 16 again.

The Clumsy night was probably one of my favourite Our Lady Peace shows to date (and that says a lot, because I've probably seen them more than 20 times over the years). They sounded REALLY great, and it was amazing to hear the entire album from start to finish. The second set was also well-received, and I found myself even somewhat enjoying a few of the new songs. (Paper Moon is probably the best song I've heard them put out since I stopped listening). I found myself REALLY missing Mike Turner though - especially at the "OO-Wee-OO-OO-Wee-OO" part of Is Anybody Home, and some of my other favourite guitar licks & background vocals.

Spiritual Machines was also awesome. It's one of my favourite albums, and I loved hearing their interpretations of certain songs (like The Wonderful Future, which I don't believe they've ever played live, before this tour!). It seemed to be a little more difficult for the crowd to get into this show - at least, the people around me, who were all CMW wristband holders. Maybe they didn't realize that the first set would be entirely Spiritual Machines. Lots of people sitting down for this set.
There were also less people who showed up to get wristband tickets, so I was able to sneak two of my friends who had tickets up in the balcony down to come sit with me. It was much better being able to share the show with my friends! The best part of this show was rushing up to the front of the stage (when Raine called for everyone to move forward - in an orderly fashion), and really feeling like a part of the shows - just like back in the day.

Here's some shots of the two nights:




The last night of CMW was very exciting for me as a die-hard Twilight Fan. Jackson Rathbone's band, 100 Monkeys was playing an all ages show at Tattoo Rock Parlour. I was worried about the "all ages" bit... but it actually wasn't too bad. In the lineup before the show, most of the people were getting 19+ drinking wristbands (though, I assume that most people just got them to identify as part of the 19+ crowd, because I didn't see very many people drinking). And the younger set that was there wasn't too shriek-y.

The show was opened by two bands, Desperate Union and New Teeth. Both bands were good. Hard to say much more than that this long after the show, because it's not quite fresh in my head anymore. But I do remember enjoying them. And it was nice because I was able to move around to get shots from various angles (Not so much during 100 Monkeys' set)




When 100 Monkeys began to set up their gear, the girls in the crowd got a little more crazy. The set was really cool, I hadn't realized before the show that each of the members of the band played all the various instruments. They would up and rotate every few songs. The music was wicked. I haven't gotten around to editing all my 100 Monkeys photos yet, so there will be more on Flickr in the future, but for now...


Check out more from Canadian Music Week '10 right here

Go Team Canada!

So, I'm not sure if it's a world-wide thing or just a Canadian thing, but I (and the vast majority of my friends) have been crazy about the Olympics this year! Have you been watching?

I gotta say, even though it's way on the west coast of the country, thousands of kilometres away from where I am, there is a definite sense of unity that seems to be bringing Canada together. Every time we win a medal (especially the first time - Yay Alexandre!), every time we suffer a heartbreak (mad love to Joannie Rochette), every time we're disappointed (don't even start about Team Canada vs Team USA last Sunday...) - it seems like the entire country is feeling it, together. My facebook and twitter feeds just explode with commentary and cheering.

I gotta say - it's a pretty awesome thing.

Tonight, we cheer on Team Canada against Russia. A team that we have not beaten at the Olympics since 1960. Can we do it? If the faith of the fans is any measure, yes we can!

GO CANADA GO!

Crafty V-Day Party Part 5: The Photobooth!

The Photobooth was one of my favourite elements of the party (aside from the crafts themselves). It was a really fun, interactive way to get fabulous photos of my guests. Some of them were really into the idea, a few were a little more reluctant, but I managed to capture all my guests at their best!

I found this tutorial linked on Craft Magazine's blog one day, and knew that I had to attempt this for myself. The photobooth itself was actually quite simple to set up. We hung a curtain rod, with a white sheet draped overtop (it actually ended up being one of my mom's sheets from when she first got married that she never ended up using - it ended up with creases in it, even after washing and ironing twice!) and a white table cloth on the floor. We added a banner that said Photobooth (cut out by Amy with her Cricut), and had a basket of props set up for people to play with (we went with things that were red/pink/white to suit the theme).

The end result ended up being a super fun and creative element, that really added to the party!

I ended up doing a little bit of editing in photoshop (playing with some colours, eliminating seams and creases) but the photos looked great even straight out of the camera. It would be really easy to incorporate this idea into ANY party.

I think this is probably the last element of the party that I'll blog about, though there are still actual "party photos" to come - you can check those out at my flickr photo set in the next couple of days, along with all of the rest of the party photos. Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my Crafty Valentine's Party - feel free to leave feedback!

Crafty V-Day Party Part 4: The CRAFTS!

The Crafts were what the entire party centred around, so the pressure was on to think of ways to make this party fun and unique, and make everyone want to participate. I think it was pretty successful! It was billed as a "throwback to our elementary school days," where we all went about the day delivering our Valentine's into our classmates little bins, so I had to do something to recreate this feeling.

To begin with - there were loot bags. The loot bags were filled with various party favours, but they served a dual purpose. When guests arrived at the party, their first task was to grab a loot bag (pink for girls, red for boys), and decorate it any way they wished - but it must have their name on it somewhere. The bag itself then became the place where the handcrafted card would be delivered to.

Amy and I had already decorated our own bags the night before (so that everyone could see an example), so while the guests were hard at work decorating, I began working on these mini-cards. I didn't really have any particular idea in mind, I just kept creating. Eventually I made enough for everyone, and they ended up being thank you's, that I dropped in everyone's bag - so they got two Valentine's from the party :)

As soon as everyone was done their loot bags, we put all the guests' names on a slip of paper in a bowl, and everyone drew a slip. They were instructed to give it back if they drew their own name, otherwise the paper said "Create a card for: GUEST NAME." I thought this was a pretty cute idea, because a lot of the guests hadn't even met each other before tonight, so it was a good way to meet new people, and do something nice at the same time! I drew my friend Mat's name, and this is the card that I created for him.

I thought it was really great that everyone, even the boys, were really enjoying just taking the time to be creative (I actually have a hilarious picture of a moment when everyone disappeared from the table to get food, except for two of the guys, who were busily crafting away!) Crafting & Card-Making is something that I do often, but I think it was a bit out of many peoples' realms, so it was neat to be able to share the evening and have everyone get into it.

Plenty more pics, including what was inside the loot bags (I know you're all curious!) up here! Still a lot more to come (there were 200 pics on my camera! So many to sort through!)

Crafty V-Day Party Part 3: The Food!

Well, you can't have a party without offering food to your guests (or maybe that's just what's been instilled in me, due to my Italian upbringing). Aside from The Sweet Table, we offered up a table of apps, plus main courses for everyone to enjoy throughout the course of the evening.

I actually can't take too much credit for this portion. My wonderfully talented mother was responsible for two trays of lasagne (meat and veggie) and three pizzas (meat, veggie and potato). She also put Amy to work, rolling up the mini meatballs for the lasagne, as well as arranging various app trays. (Secretly, I think this may actually be the reason why my friends show up to my parties - because they love the food so much!)

Here's a little taste of what was offered (warning: you may not want to look at the following pictures on an empty stomach... mmmm....)

The Appetizer Table:



The main course - Oddly, for me who loves taking photos of food, I didn't take nearly enough of the main courses. Here are the couple of pics that were taken:


Stay tuned for more party posts! As always, the entire set of pics are up here.