No Dejalo

Hi, friends. Last night I went to see Jenny Lewis's hotpants Rilo Kiley at the Phoenix, a cool old venue on Sherbourne. It reminds me of the TLA in Philadelphia--big, old, with lots of red and cool lighting. Now, my friends J and A (and probably their dogs) agree with me that the last RK record, ballyhooed though it may have been, was not all that great. Kinda boring--no songs stood out... yet they rode it to a major label deal and an opening slot on a Coldplay tour. Go figure. Now the one before that is a different story (as the same trio agrees). That's The Execution of All Things, and that is quite the record. I put it in my Top 9 of the year it was released.

Anyway, they have a new one, which is oddly poppy and danceable for them, but it's growing on me. They put on a good show. Lewis's voice was superb, and she bounced around from guitar to keys to bass. (And she was wearing sort of a hotpants/jumper combo.) The new song "Dreamworld" sounded especially good, although they infuriated me by not playing the excellent tune "Dejalo." One song from Execution made it into the set list: "Paint's Peeling."

The middle act was Lewis's boyfriend, Johnathan Rice. He's a weird chap who writes some pretty good songs. He tried the banter angle with the crowd, but the crowd wasn't that interested until Lewis came out for a duet. He was a little better than the time I saw him at the 9.30 Club, opening for someone (Belle & Sebastian or Napalm Death--can't remember which).

The first band... my my my. They're named after the nickname for a political party, and they're fronted by a woman who sings and plays the drums. But... she uses a headset microphone. Oh dear. You could be the love child of James Brown and Sugar Pie DeSanto, but if you use a headset microphone, I'm not gonna take you seriously!! Think about it. What do you associate with headset microphones?
A) McDonald's drive-thru associates
B) boy bands
Need I say more? I'm sure it helps her play the drums while singing; nonetheless, I dock her 600 rock and roll points.

OK, switching gears--it's time for some late breaking Canadian political analysis! I know you've been on the edge of your seats waiting, so wait no more. Turns out there were some by-elections a few days ago for the Canadian parliament, all of them in the province of Quebec. As you might suspect, politics are a bit different in that province. One of the biggest parties there doesn't exist in any other province. It's called the Bloc Québécois, and it aims for a Quebec independent of Canada. While it's federal, it has a sister party that operates on the provincial level called the Parti Québécois. The Liberal Party has done well of late in Quebec, while the Conservatives have been clawing back some ground they had lost (conservatism makes sense to a province that is overwhelmingly traditional Catholic). The NDP has next to no presence traditionally in Quebec.

So, there were by-elections in three ridings (AKA districts/constituencies). Here are the results:

Roberval-Lac-St-Jean
Conservative gain from the Bloc Québécois

Outremont (Montreal)
NDP gain from the Liberals

St-Hyacinthe-Bagot
Bloc Québécois hold

As a whole, it was pretty embarrasing for the Liberals, as their national leader is a Quebecer and he's looking to solidify his position. That he presided over a loss of a seat to the NDP (only the second NDP victory in Quebec EVER) in his home province will not be construed as a sign of strength. The Bloc's loss doesn't bode well for them, either, as it was in one of their traditional strongholds. The Conservatives are looking strong, and because they're the governing party the prime minister may be more likely to call an early election (ah, the British system--the PM can call the election when he/she feels like it, as long as it's within five years of the previous one).

Oh, and Halloween stuff is everywhere in the shops. And Canadian Thanksgiving is October 8th!