Day 12

Decided the lazy theme should continue for a couple of days so slept long and now that the killer-driller next door seemed to have gone, that was easily done! Had breakfast/lunch with Fe and I mean it in the loosest possible sense, it was just toast. Not really a big breakfast eater. Headed downtown after that to replace the capo that I inadvertently destroyed the other day and also to pick up some contact lens solution. Truly riveting stuff I'm sure you'll agree. Before I went out however, I left a message on facebook alluding to the fact that I was delighted to be going to see Wicked even if it was two years later than planned. I think I had to remind my ex that she was an asshole and the dig was fully intended. With that off my chest I made my way into town and got some contact lens solution at a Shoppers Drug Mart easy enough, but I couldn't be arsed traipsing up Yonge St to that tiny guitar store so I went west on Queen St and my bearings were still spot on as Steve's Music Store (pictured below) was there where I'd left it the last time I was here. It's amazing how, even if you've been away from a place for a good while, you can still find it. That's why I love to wander around places so that I can retain a picture of it in my mind, and sometimes, it even creeps into my dreams. The weather here has been great too, hardly any rain, just dry and sunny cold, the best kind of winter!


Went back to my Uncle Eddie's flat as we were going for a Chinese buffet at a place called the Imperial Palace or something like that. To call it a mere Chinese buffet is probably doing it a disservice as it had Korean, Japanese and Western grub too, hot and cold, and a myriad of desserts. I attacked everything in a manner in which my sister, who loves Canadian-style Chinese buffets, would have been immensely proud of! I've said it one and I'll say it again, if I lived here I would be a fat bastard due to the portion sizes and value for money.

Went home, waistline bulging, to get ready for The Dandy Warhols (pictured below) gig. This was the second time I've seen them play Toronto, believe it or not. The last time was in September 2008 at a place called Guvernment, which was pretty big and overpriced. I had my kilt on that time, which attracted criticism from a hobo who referred to me as 'Rowdy Roddy Piper,' and plaudits from a birthday party from Montreal/Toronto who kinda took me under their wing that night. This time I was on my lonesome and unkilted as I had to get the subway home and thought that it might attract the attention of too many transport weirdoes than normal. The gig venue, the Phoenix Theatre, was smaller but had a better sound as the crowd were packed in as opposed to dispersed, so that always helps with the atmosphere!


I met, what I think were a couple of gay guys, Jonathan and Eduardo from Detroit and Colombia respectively. They may actually have been a bonafide couple but my gaydar is shite. Jonathan was a proper muso and I got on great with him—not in that sense. He knew his UK music too, which is always refreshing and he was a huge Stone Roses fan like myself, good fella! He seemed unimpressed by the support act Blue Giant—a kinda bluegrass cum country Mumford and Sons type band—as he kept sticking his fingers in his ears. I took that as a sign! He was also less than complimentary about Courtney Taylor-Taylor either, as he had met him the night before at The Black Angels gig and said he was a bit of a surly dick.

Anyway, one of the main gripes I have with The Dandy Warhols is that they usually pick the wrong set, but tonight they got it spot on with a great selection of their best tracks: Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, Everyday Should Be A Holiday, Bohemian Like You, Boys Better, The Last High, Godless. Every one a classic. The crowd though, were bizarrely subdued. Jonathan said that was common with a Canadian crowd. In Scotland, the folk in the middle of the crowd would have been drenched in sweat and beer and wouldn't have minded too much, the band wouldn't have either! The only bad thing about an otherwise excellent gig and this is a pet hate of mine, are the clowns who come in late and stand right in front of you. One guy, who looked like a cross between a grizzly bear/Neanderthal man and a serial killer, seemed to have the ability to sleep standing up! Unfortunately, he didn't just stand in front of me, he stood pretty much on me, so I had to dig him a few times to get him to move, which was a risky move given he was almost a foot taller than me—and I'm 6ft 3"—and he looked like a Bond villain (pictured below). Eventually he scuttled off to sleep standing up somewhere else, the crazy bastard. After an aggressive end to the gig from the band, I got my jacket, gave Jonathan one of my band's CDs and go the subway home—which was safe as houses by the way—to slumberland!