canada day.

saw no concerts, except for pitchblack men with drums and smiles and drums drums drums. the NAC symphony show was full-up. u2-producer or no, i wasn't about to sit through a daniel lanois show.

mucked about downtown then went to a barbecue, washed away by sudden (thrashing) rain. gareth put on Sublime (part of the pantheon of summer bbq music, along with Cake and the Tragically Hip [particularly Phantom Power]). later, the beta band's 3 eps, then some album by roni size (it had too many beats. frenetic. for dancing or spazzing.). I had no idea roni size sounded like that. for some reason, had the delusion that they were a new-wave-meets-hip-hop kind of crew, or something. the talking heads crossed with kardinall offishall. i must be going crazy.

later, caught patches of fireworks through the trees and between buildings. people stood on Bank Street, necks craned, squinting at streaks of blue, snippets of gold. airplanes circled overhead. the smoke pushed off westward; i could see it far longer, far better, than i could the rainbow lightbursts from the hill.

on the bus down bank (towards downtown), people wore glownecklaces and canadaflag capes. enormous foam mapleleaf hats. drunken grins. eyes flicked and made contact - happy canada day happy canada day. everyone was leaning into the aisle, smiling, quiet. boom. we could feel the thunder more clearly than we could see the source. everyone trying to glimpse a splash of firedust.

later, took the bus down carling. this was away from the fireworks, away from the crowds and the noise and the national anthem. onboard: the people not hanging around to see the fancy lights. no flagcapes. no foamhats. fireworks were still booming. sputtering behind us. the bus was mostly empty. no one looked at each other. faces down. people sitting solo. me too.

my soundtrack today, when alone, was the new okkervil river record. at first (yesterday, two days ago), i was unhappy. it is less folky, this one, less dusty. the will robinson sheff band, instead of an ensemble. but listening today, there are bits so spectacular that i forgot my past criticisms. the songwriting is so fine. so very fine. songs soar, break hearts, tumble, shatter, gleam. i'll write a review soon.