Street cleaners at five in the morning

As McJagger gets comfortable (finally) in the house, I sit and blast Freelance Whales. The album is amazing, and I've only took a quick listen. I like it alot. I also really like it when the cutest kitty ever sits on my lap for ever while I pet her. She has gotten tired of the petting, and is now exploring all of the counter-top space. This rules.

I am going to eat cherries now.




Freelance Whales - We could be friends
Freelance Whales - Broken Horse (this one's for Alexis)

photo by Alexis Nexus

HANDSHANDSHANDS

Tomorrow from 9 am to 4pm we are hosting the 2nd HAND DOWN YOUR PANTS at McNabb park on Percy street! We are getting very excited, as we pack all of the clothing and accessories into the car in preparation for tomorrow morning! As of now, the weather looks great!!

Come with an appetite and a shopping bag, because we're going to cookin' up wienies and some delicious deals!!

Lots of clothing for men and women; records; jewelry; shoes; accessories; snacks.

CANADA DAY

Ladies and gentlemen of the night,
Canada Day is fast approaching, and we can feel the city scramble as they rush to get themselves suited up for the big festivities! I know my Thursday evening attire is currently being fine-tuned.

Babylon is going to be bursting with boys and girls with no faces - eep! Just the way we like 'em! Come by after the fireworks, after deadmau5, after you've gotten nice and sloppy in your backyard - but be prepared for a rager. DJs Sir Ett and Gregular of the SnobMob will be serving you some decadent beats on a shiny silver platter, dripping in sweat and alcohol. YUM!

'Nuff said. Be there.

Babylon Nightclub - 317 Bank St.
11 pm
$3 with a mask; $5 without

I hate waking up in the middle of the night, feeling anxious about you don't even know what.

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Sleep All Day

The Shins - Sleeping Lessons (RAC Remix)

St. Vincent and the National - Sleep all Summer

Modest Mouse - Measure My Sleep

Top of the World Presents Insight

This weekend at Top of the World is sponsored by Insight, an awesome men's and women's brand from Australia. Come by during the day tomorrow to get yourself a FREE sno-cone after you shop! If you spend some scrilla, you can enter into a draw to win up to $250 dollars of Insights clothing!! (FREE SWAG!!) There will be some featured photography in the shoe room from an artist that has worked closely with the brand!

Exerpt

I'm missing things that never existed:
rooftop home,
ceiling-to-floor hide out,
sailed ships of summer;
nails chip paint off
cracked-wood beds,
while fenced-in hearts
lay heaped in dwindled leaves,
a mangle mass of made-up meanings...

he said roaming would be easier.

Don't Haunt this Place

I want

I just want a simple road bike. Even an old trash bag that I can fix up. Needs to be small enough for a girl 5'4". Help a kid out.

In a Dream

I want to see this documentary.

Alex posted this video, and I love the song so much. The images are all from the "In a Dream" documentary. So beautiful.

Wrestle with heavy wind

I've got blood dripping from my knees
like I'm looking at you for the first time


Lisa Hannigan - I don't know
The Books - Beautiful People

Cannot get enough of Sleigh Bells. They are playing with Die Antward in Montreal on July 21 at Le National. I am very excited about this show. I can't get enough of Sleigh Bells, and I'm dieing to see Die Antward live.

Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill

Although negative comments can sometimes be discouraging, the fact that I have visitors to my blog is sort of enough on its own to keep me posting. I will take the comments as criticism that I can use to make my content less repetitive with a wider variety of topics. I enjoy blogging, and I'd like to create a site where people enjoy their visits instead of cringing.

On that note, here are a few blogs that I visit frequently. For those that are feeling uninspired by my posts, maybe these creative kids can help you find what it is you are looking for.

Raised by Wolves

People on Parade

Enfants Seuls

The Fragrance Separate to the Flower

Club Mumble

Dans le Monde de Mes Reves

Small Fists


(photo by AlexisNexus)

Day off

Today was the best day ever. Rain and errands; Crafts; buttons, sewing, flora, paint, clay; sandwiches; cheese, brie, cherries; friends; alexis, laura, phil. Pictures to come.

Woods - Rain On
Sleigh Bells - Kids
Dodos - Fools

Going to Ritual shortly for the show. I am very excited. Someone come with me; I'm currently traveling solo. I need to find batteries for my camera.

Keep checking my blog for more "narcissistic" posts.

x0 - Joe

UPCOMING!!

This summer has been packed with things to do every day of the week! Here is a list of what's up and coming this week specifically:

Tonight, Tuesday, June 15
Barrister's at Parliment Pub - $4 to get in; outdoor patio with DJs Bustin Jella and Frame

Wednesday, June 16
The Dodos, Frog Eyes, Pearly Gates Music and more at Ritual Nightclub - doors at 8pm; tickets $15 in advance (available at Vertigo records)
(this show was two seperate shows before, but got combined)

Battle at the Barrics at Babylon Nightclub - $3; cheap drinks between 11 - 12; Ian Gauthier vs Trent Matley & Caro Farrell vs Captain Tom

Thursday, June 17
Rock n' Roll Pizza Party at Nine on Elgin street (free)

Drop it Like it's Hot - Drop-shot Thursdays at Ritual Nightclub

Friday June 18
Mindgames June Edition at Babylon; Jokers of the Scene & the SnobMob: Gregular, Sir Ette, Gold Phillings; $5 before midnight, $7 after (DANCE PARTY CENTRAL BABY)

Saturday, June 19
the first Raised by Wolves event at Ritual (in the lounge, downstairs); $5- the 3rd Saturday of every month; DJ Bustin Jella and DJ Calkuta

I think that's enough for now! See you everywhere

x - Joe

THIS WEEKEND IS GOING TO RULE!

Last night at RRPP was the kickoff of GAGA Weekend 3!! Such a fun time! Awesome crowd, sweet venue, and great bands! Can't wait until Ritual is taken over with GAGA-goers. Watch out DUMBSMACK!

FRIDAY JUNE 11th at BORED TO DEATH

ZEBRASSIERES
STRANGE ATTRACTOR
MOTHER'S CHILDREN
FIRST BASE
PEACH KELLI POP
GIRLFRIENDS

+ DJ STEVE ADAMYK

@ RITUAL ON BESSERER STREET
$6 - 9PM - 19+

YESSSSSSSS

Raining

It's raining and I don't want to get up!

I have to work, and there is nothing more tempting than just staying in my bed all day, and dealing with the consequences of not going to work tomorrow. Hmm...

Pinback - Penelope

This is who I want to be hanging out with all day! Instead I'll just listen to this as I walk to work:

The Very Best - Rain Dance (feat. MIA)

Studly

Have not posted anything in a long time. I have some serious 'splaining to do!

Last night at Babylon Nightclub was the first round of The Battle at the Barrics. While the dudely skaters were going head to head in a game of S.K.A.T.E, the ladies were drinking their beers on the sidelines. Here are some photos of the cutest outfits of the night.

I'm not sure who you are

...but your photography is beautiful.

Sometimes not knowing is better.

Love Is A Dog From Hell

Happy Everywhere

more to come
x - joe.

Eskimo Skins

With years of experience comes a unique stylized fragment of a moment that many artists strive to achieve. However, it is often the work of a young, innocent eye that delivers raw images filled with emotion and narrative. The photography of Matt Skuza (often taking on the persona of Utah) is an amazing example of inexperienced artistry at its finest. He has the ability to take any viewer of his work to a place of untold adolescent dreams, and dark adult fantasies.






If you could blink your eyes and be anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?
If I could blink my eyes and be anywhere in the world right now, I think I would be in Iceland with 5 huskies, living in one of those houses that are under the grass. Wouldn't mind not having electricity either.

When did you embark on this journey as a photographer? When did you begin to truly see your self as a photographer?
I started taking photographs at the age of 17. I'm not sure if I'd consider myself a photographer; I think that description gets misused a lot. To be a photographer I think you must grow first - it doesn't happen over night - it takes many years of fucking up. Photography became my art of choice in an odd way. I needed an outlet for expression, and considering I didn't know how to draw at the time, I explored the world of cameras. I always loved black and white photography and the way it made me feel so in the beginning I only shot with black and white. I use photography more like therapy.






Why have you chosen film over digital photography as your medium of choice?
I decided to use film pretty early on. The way a film photograph looks to me is a lot more honest, a lot more character involved. You can almost see the emotion without it being clouded. People always give me their opinions about film versus digital, and they just don't seem to get what I get. They think it's a lot more wise to get involved with digital because it's somewhat cheaper... But its not about the money. Its about the process; its about singing on rooftops.

Many of your images make me want to transport to a different time, place, and universe all together. Do you find your photography allows for your imagination to wander to spaces that you can't go physically?
I don't think they do, maybe cause it's my work. But the way I look at my work and the way others look at it are completely different.

In one word how would YOU describe your work?
Lonely

You often photograph spaces that are very earth-based, like forests or fields. How do you find photographing nature or rural landscapes differ from photographing urban settings?
I do tend to photograph a lot of fields and forests - I don't know why, I just seem to have this attraction towards it. Calms me down. Feels like those types of places accept me (or anything). Urban settings are more hostile, and I feel like I get confused with myself.



I find your photos are mysterious in a sort of whimsical way. Do you intend to capture images that portray this (or any) specific feeling, or do you think that the moments just allow for it to happen on its own?
Well, from working on my portfolio lately I've discovered how my photos make me feel. I've found that they make me feel lonely, almost sad. Sometimes I guess I somewhat plan it, but I think most of the time it just happens that way subconsciously. I think my work is really honest.






I particularly love your new set of photos from Toronto; I find there is a stronger sense of the viewer as dominating the camera. When taking a photo, do you imagine the lens as someone's view on the world, or simply as a moment within a particular time in space?
I think it's both; my photos act like a library to my personal life. I look through the camera to capture a moment in my life that at the time I felt something.

Despite the presence of familiar faces in your photography, I always find your photos attribute a story to the subject that is different from their existing story in reality. What role do you envision people playing in your photos?
I don't really enjoy taking photos of people posing for the camera and I find that when you take pictures of friends they seem to only want to pose. Ifind that boring. I don't want a photo of someone presenting themselves in a fake version of themselves. I want to take a picture of someone who's not looking at me, who mostly doesn't even know I'm looking at them. I feel that's honesty. I feel like when that happens, it's true and contains a lot more emotion. The role I envision people playing in my photos would be to be as free as birds, the birds that wake you up in the morning.

At this exact moment in time, what would a road map of your future look like?
Well right now I'm throwing my portfolio together to get into a school. Probably going to work on it for another year, the program I want to get into is 2-3 years in length. During all that, I'd like to have a few shows. AFTER ALLLLLL THAT Id love to move to SanFran.

"Being an artist." What does that phrase mean to you?
Being an artist... I don't even consider myself an artist. I think everyone on this planet needs therapy and I'm thankful I found mine.

Would the world be a better place if we were all animals roaming a natural, element-ruled kingdom?
I wish!! But maybe in a different lifetime we will all experience that. What I really want is to be blind and for everyone else to be blind, at least just for a few years. I figure if we all went through tha,t we would appreciate some things a lot more. I wake up every morning pumped that I have vision. People only miss it once they lose it; let's lose it and then be pumped to have it back and live everyday knowing we can see the small things for more than what they really are.


















Walking with Utah

Cave Singers - Beach House

FRIDAY!

..will be a long day. Although it is so beautiful out, I will be in the cave that is Top of the World from 10 am until 9 pm. Visits will be appreciated, followed by Fuzzy Peaches, coffee, grapefruit, or Oreos. Fourtunately I will get a two hour break somewhere within all of my inside time - hopefully to sit and bask in the lovely sun reading either Vice or Nylon - there are things to look forward to today!

Grandfather

...dreams about being rescued by a king
flying with birds
holding jet packs to get out of town
again, the sun sits across my eyes (only)
and I shut it out until nighttime
I am finally able to listen to "Two-Headed Boy"
without feeling like the entire world is crashing down

XX - Heart Skipped a Beat

listening without my ears

m83 - we own the sky (udachi remix)

Band of Horses - Funeral (Tom Ato remix)

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home (RAC remix)

Aquarium Drinker

owls weld
woeful sleds
two-hundred people
wowing skeletons and squirrels
sitting with kaleidoscopes
doubled by idol worlds
assisting damned working ladies


My Morning Jacket - The way that he sings (live)
Wilco - I am trying to break your heart

remember now, often
feel the hot crowd,
suddenly quiet
the house
hand holding her back;

see the lake storm
the walls, red and yellow
mended, side by side.
small black eyes
enviously look.

silence.

red, half-hidden mother,
white and scared
never to cease
memory of agony; sitting
clenched wooden girl

remember, flood
pouring memory
snow. spring.
good-bye.

My body hurts a lot. Not sure why; guess I must have slept weird last night (when I finally did go to bed).

My night consisted of devouring a grapefruit, snacking on delicious pistachios and a pack of juice boxes, and disappointingly sour blueberries, all while watching Blow and brainstorming tattoo ideas (imagine a mean owl flying, carrying a carcass zombie T-rex in its talons while the T-rex has a possessed unicorn in its mouth where the unicorn's horn is bleeding, and the horn has a person's head speared onto it, and the person's head has been ripped from its body, and its spinal cord is hanging down and a little boy is holding onto it, floating, thinking it's a balloon, while there is a mouse in the boy's pocket. IMAGINE!)

Song for today:

Neutral Milk Hotel - King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1
(such an amazing version)

This is a roof; and these are shoes&socks with hearts.


Run Toto Run - Always like this (Bombay Bicycle Club Cover)

these two things go together well;

The Tallest Man on Earth - Love is All

(Latin Saver)

Was at Bridgehead today from 3 til the chick told me to leave. My brain is on Livesay, Birney, Carr, Archie Belaney, and the move from colonial thinking to modernist thought!! I LIKE LITERATURE, BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH!!

Here are songs. I like them. Especially the second one. I think it rules hard. Super, duper hard. (I'm tired, and my brain is seeping out my ears.)


Utah

Joy Orbison - Hyph Mngo (DJ Dials Vocals Edit)

How to Dress Well (blog) - Decisions

Dana Falconberry - Crooked River

The National - Sin-Eaters

Three Blind Wolves - Three Blind Wolves

Hannah Georgas - Bang Bang You're Dead

leave my mind

Radical Face - Wrapped in Piano Strings
(At first I wasn't into it, but I gave the whole "Ghost" album a full listen, and now it is all I can listen to! This track is my favourite.)

GAYNGS - Faded High
(This entire album is incredible; I bought it before I had even heard a single track. Check out their myspace and read the About GAYNGS; you will understand)

Sleep, and hopefully great dreams.

beautiful thinking

Minds grim with nihilism still find first light inspiring. Mild pink in tint, its shining twilight brings bright tidings which lift sinking spirits. With firm will, I finish climbing, hiking till I find this inviting inn, in which I might sit, dining. I thirst. I bid girls bring stiff drinks -- gin fizz which I might sip whilst finishing this rich dish, nibbling its tidbits: ribs with wings in chili, figs with kiwis in icing. I swig citric drinks with vim, tippling kirsch, imbibing it till, giggling, I flirt with girlish virgins in miniskirts: wink, wink. I miss living in sin, pinching thighs, kissing lips pink with lipstick.



from Christian Bok's volume of poetry titled Eunoia, in which each chapter uses one single vowel only. I've only read the chapter of "I", and it is beautiful. I must get my hands on this book. (birthday present??)

Hot, Reckless, Totally Insane!!

We just did renovations at the shop on Easter weekend, and last night to celebrate, we threw a party, Thrashin' style! Here are some photos from the night, from Cleo's camera, taken by Cleo and myself!






Tom and BrittW



Ian, some dude, and Celina



Szeto



Sarai!









Lovely Emma C



New Top video



Highneken


Courtney and Francis



Bro-love



Me and Meg are clearly besty-ing up here






The Fashion Press



Slaysh



DJ Skid Vicious



Claire



Top of the World