I bought into the Bills in Toronto series when it was first announced, opting for the three-game ticket package. Aside from a close, competitive exhibition game against the Steelers in ’08, the Bills hardly delivered on my somewhat-considerable investment. This season, sensing that the Toronto natives were getting restless, the organization threw us a bone by bringing Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to town.
Unfortunately, it was another freakin’ exhibition game.

If you book it they will come, right?

Wrong. In the city of Toronto, home to hundreds–if not thousands–of bands and dozens of events every evening, putting on a gig is no guarantee of attracting any audience whatsoever.

Although it’s still over a month away, I’ve been counting the days till September 11th for a little while now. But I’m not some sick creep who gets off on seeing the Twin Towers fall, nor an American patriot who watches the all-day memorials playing ad nauseum on cable news networks.
Do I remember where I was when the planes hit? Yes. Do I care to remember it? No. But September 11 is about to become a much more memorable date for me moving forward…

After reading the review of their recent Toronto show (I was at High on Fire, BTW) and coming across their Against the Seasons album while digging through my CD collection for this all-CanCon thing I’m doing on Sunday afternoons, it occurred to me that I have no fucking clue what happened to the Woods of Ypres shirt I bought in 2005. I know I didn’t get rid of it, but somehow, the fucking thing seems to have disappeared…

I’m sure that y’all remember your first beer, first kiss, first Iron Maiden record (Number of the Beast FTW!) and so on, but there are some firsts that aren’t quite so pleasant.

Yesterday was the first time I had to pay customs on a package arriving from the States. It fucking sucked.

While Smokin’ Green is my pride and joy, I occasionally co-host another metal programme called The Great Northern Trendkill on Indie Love Radio. The format is all-CanCon underground heavy rock/metal, and it airs on Sunday afternoons from 3 till 5 on the interweb.

Let it be known that I was not amongst the group of Hellbounders who approached the Rush feature with the same excitement as the Maiden thing we did last year. Although I could listen to my entire Rush collection in about 40 minutes, I was not feeling particularly patriotic when it came to contributing to our Canada Day Special. Like the thousands of Torontonians who fly foreign flags when Canada Day lands smack dab in the middle of the World Cup, I do not have any attachment to our country–or rather, its most successful band–on this occasion.

That being said, Sons of OTIS at the Hard Luck Bar (812 Dundas W) is well worth my five dollars this evening.