Forgery League

Seen recently:

I knew it would happen.

With a name like ours, it was inevitable: an unfamiliar name; a hastily scribbled listing in block capitals in a dark corner of the bar, passed to an innocent signwriter… And so we arrived at the Cameron House last night to find ourselves billed as “Fuckershow”.

It was a good gig. The folks at the Cameron are very good to musicians, and the sound was excellent. David’s band rocked - they’ve made amazing strides since their first gig only a month or two ago. And the Peyote Kings were wild jam lunatics and nice guys. As for us… we’ve done better sets, but this one went quite well all the same. I’m increasingly aware that I like bass much better than guitar, and apparently it shows. Seeing Davy’s songs come alive with a full band sealed it for us: we have to find a lead guitarist, and soon. Not to mention a drummer.

I’m off tomorrow to try out with a new band, too, whom we met at an open stage a couple months ago. I’m really looking forward to it - I haven’t played with new musicians in far, far too long! And perhaps I can snag one or two of them into playing with us. We’ll see.

“Just so you know, this is really testing love.”—Sean, watching me spoon an experimental breakfast offering onto his plate.

It was pretty atrocious, actually.

Last night, on the GO bus home from Grandma’s, we saw a sign in front of a restaurant specializing in wraps, and both did a double take. After a moment, we realized that the light behind the first panel of it - reading “If the SIZE doesn’t” - had burnt out, leaving only the Yodaically cryptic “AMAZE you the TASTE will!”

Reminded me of a little while ago, walking down Queen Street. A restaurant’s neon had gone out in places, leaving the letters “RE RANT”. And I confess, the first thing that popped into my head was: “...RINFORMATION.”

Planning continues apace. We have a real estate agent now, and a possible mortgage broker. We’ve each broken the getting-a-house idea to our respective parents. We’ll see if we can scrape together a down payment…

Other ideas: get business DSL and host our own sites, rather than shelling out an insane amount for someone else to do it. The server could double as print server and household MP3 cache.

Jammed last night with a friend of J’s from university, who writes songs himself. He’d be great to have around for a gig - and in fact we tossed around the idea of each taking up a second instrument and being playing backup for one another. I’m liking the idea. In fact, it might get me off my butt and trading in a couple of presently unused pieces of equipment for a bass.

Today’s bon mot:

M: “Do you guys have a phone book?”
Me: [intending to say “You mean the White Pages or the Yellow Pages?” but far too drunk] “You mean a telephone book?”

Betcha didn’t know that Avis, the car rental agency, has a big department devoted to predicting future geopolitical scenarios. According to this startling map from their web site, the Canada of 2012 will be quite a different place, wracked by climate change and international and interregional tension.

First, and most obvious: the entire lower half of British Columbia will fall into the Pacific along with California (and Oregon and Washington). Also, much of the Great Lakes dry up.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t nearly enough to satisfy skyrocketing US demands for oil in the US, and Alaska annexes part of Yukon, who in turn take over the old Northwest Territories, who in turn take over Nunavut.

A new Quebec referendum on separation finally results in a “Yes” vote. Frantic negotiations result in a new partnership, with Quebec remaining within Confederation, as long as it can have all of Eastern Ontario, inexplicably including Ottawa and Toronto. They want Mississauga too, but nonagenarian mayor Hazel McCallion scares them off.

Rising sea levels will claim Prince Edward Island, whose residents will move to Cape Breton and claim it as their own. In retaliation, Nova Scotia cuts itself off from the mainland by means of the new Fundy Canal.

A chilling glimpse into a future that might just happen…

On second thought, a more plausible explanation is that Earth is stuck by an asteroid, causing the the entire country to be jettisoned into space.