After a very long day yesterday our heads finally hit our pillows in small town Iowa. We’ve been reunited with John’s family and all of his nieces and nephews (that I can tell he misses dearly since he can’t stop playing college football on Playstation with the boys).
We didn’t accomplish much today but I did get in some shopping that included checking out every retailer from Walmart to the local fabric store/kitchenware/drug store (this was after we tried to get into the tanning salon/accessories shop but it was closed).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love small town America.
Thanks to my new adventures as a freelance blogger, I’ve been able to experience more concerts this year than ever before as a guest contributor for E!Online.
However, when not on the clock for E!, RadioZoom, or Miss604, we still made time to catch amazing acts just cause. Here are some of my top Vancouver concert picks from 2008.
March 2008 Nada Surf
John introduced me to Nada Surf years ago and although some in the crowd only knew their song Popular or the single the opening band had on the high school pop drama Friday Night Lights, it was a great show.
April 2008 The Black Keys
One of the loudest shows I’ve seen at the Commodore, The Black Keys were amazingly heart-thumpingly awesome. These two men from Ohio rocked our sock off and provided so much base our nostrils tickled and shot glasses bounced off tables in the packed ballroom.
Also in April, No Use for a Name played the Commodore with NOFX. I had an interview with NUFAN but I was double-booked that night (I think it was the VIDFEST launch). I’d pretty much give anything to get a double bill like that back in town.
May 2008 Von Bondies
I admit, I first heard of the Von Bondies when John introduced me to Rescue Me in 2005 (their song C’mon C’mon is the opening theme) but soon-after explored the rest of their catalog. It was another great show with a band we love to enjoy, in an intimate live venue.
Our pal Matt played an amazing full-band show at the Orpheum for his hometown fans. He went on to releaseLive at Massey Hall in the fall of 2008.
September 2008 Hanson
You didn’t think I would miss talking about how we hung out with the boys from Hanson do you? I brought Keira along with me for a podcast and online article interview with Zach, Taylor and Isaac.
September 2008 Less Than Jake
The absolute highlight of my year as Less Than Jake was the reason I created my first website in 1997 and 11 years later, I was interviewing them and covering their show at the Commodore. John took some great photos, which are in his set on Flickr.
What made this even better (and the concert of the year in my books) was that Reel Big Fish opened up for them. I couldn’t stop smiling (or singing or dancing) the entire night.
It’s a pleasure to experience such talent – whether by using my own credentials as a respected blogger and music podcaster, or simply being happy fan in the crowd. I look forward to getting out to more local shows this coming year and can’t wait to see who will be rolling through town in 2009.
If you’re a local band and you’d like to introduce me to your tunes, get played on RadioZoom or have me cover your show, please feel free to contact me.
One of the stars of Sex and the City and with numerous other credits under her belt, Vancouver Island’s own Kim Cattrall will be speaking at UBC next week.
Cattrall will talk about her career and issues such as women in the workforce, post-feminism, and self-image, at an appearance in Vancouver on January 7 (noon to 1 p.m.) at the Frederic Wood Theatre (6354 Crescent Road, UBC), where she’ll be interviewed by Jerry Wasserman, the acting head of the UBC Department of Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing. [Georgia Straight]
There is no cost for admission although you will need to call in advance for tickets.
If I were in town this wold be a not-to-miss event as Cattrall is engaging, powerful, and a strong career woman whom I’d love to hear speak and give insights.
In 5 hours my husband will be home from work. 6 hours later we’ll be heading out to the Midwest. I’ve packed, I’ve cleaned and scrubbed the house (since we have a house-sitter), and I’ve booked a ride to the airport.
The internet was just down for many users in the Vancouver area (as I can see from all the Tweets) although just before it went out I found Sleeping Sickness and I’ve been replaying it ever since.
It seems like many people got a Twitter account for Christmas; It’s great to see so many new faces, organizations, and businesses using this tool that connects so many across the globe.
For a bit of background…. “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.”
Over the last year or so I’ve reviewed Twitter clients and applications however it’s always those fun little web-based gadgets that create a bit of buzz. Here’s a quick list of some “fun” Twitter tools.
Just for fun
TweetCloud
Find out what you’re talking about the most on Twitter by way of a generated tag cloud. (http://tweetclouds.com/)
TwitterKeys
Since Twitter only allows for 140 character updates, why not use some fun little symbols instead? TwitterKeys is a super simple copy/paste guide to the usable symbols and tiny images you can use on Twitter.
StrawPoll
Create your own polls on Twitter and view the results on StrawPoll.
Twitt Groups
Being the 4th person to join the Vancouver “TwittGroup” it was pretty fun to spread the word and watch it grow. It’s a way to reach, comment and message all who have joined and also find new people to follow in your city. (http://twittgroups.com/)
Just Tweet It Very useful blog and website that contains directories of Twitter users. Find new people to follow and add your name to the list using personal, industry, or professional keywords so people can find you. (http://justtweetit.com/)
Statistics and Rank
Twinfluence
Find out how influential your tweets are (based on followers and reach) with Twinfluence (note: this is one of the online services that asks for your account name and password). (http://twinfluence.com/)
Twitemperature
This quick and easy gauge simply measures how hot your topics are based on your last 100 tweets. It checks to see if you are a part of the conversation and if so who else was talking about the same thing. Warning, this can change quickly and you can go from Volcanic to Wet Fish in a heartbeat (don’t take it personally).(http://twitemperature.com/)
Twitter Grader
Because people love stats (even if they say they don’t) and they also love lists (even though they say they don’t). You can type in your account name and get your “grade” then see how you compare to others in your city in terms of number of followers, updates etc.
Grader also gives you “suggested” folks to follow and a quick one-step “are they following me” check box. (http://twitter.grader.com/)
Tweetstats
This graphing system visually displays your update frequency and volume, while also providing details like who you “@” the most, hourly and daily stats. (http://tweetstats.com/)
Friend or Follow
This website allows you to see who you are following, who is following you, and who you are following who isn’t reciprocating. (http://friendorfollow.com)
Trends
There are several ways to keep track of the top “trends” on Twitter.
Hashtags or Twemes follow topics when people title their conversations such as #Canucks or #WordCamp.
Tweetstats has a tag cloud and a few graphs that represent the most mentioned keywords over the last 10 hours.
Twist allows you to search for any specific word then see its trending popularity on the line graph while also showing what’s “hot now”. You can also click on the word you’re searching and eventually visit every tweet that mentioned it.
Summize or search.twitter.com searches Twitter for any word, keyword, topic or person and displays when they were mentioned. It allows you to follow conversations and also view top topics.
I’m also curious about many more applications, like Snitter or even Power Twitter – since dragging/embedding Flickr photos into tweets sounds pretty fun.
It seems like there’s a new tool every week so with gaining momentum and exposure I’m pretty interested in seeing how Twitter will grow and develop.
Very useful blog and website that contains directories of Twitter users. Find new people to follow and add your name to the list using personal, industry, or professional keywords so people can find you. (