Weakerthans, Kathleen Edwards, Said the Whale, Trews and more playing free Paralympic shows.

Remember the Olympics? Although it didn't get as much coverage the Olympics had alot of great free shows and the Paralympics (March 12 - 21) are no different. Among the acts slated to perform at LiveCity Downtown in Vancouver and the Whistler Medals Plaza and Village Square venues in Whistler are Said the Whale, the Weakerthans, Kathleen Edwards, the Trews, Luke Doucet, the Waking Eyes, Rah Rah, Hey Ocean!, Justin Hines, 54>40, Serena Ryder and the Saidies.

See the full calendar and details on all the shows at straight.com.

Islands Disappear Vancouver CD Release

Said The Whale had its Vancouver CD Release show for their album Islands Disappear, opened by Hannah Georgas.

Here are some photos from the show:










CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE!!! www.mcavoy.ca/IslandsDisappear

Dan Mangan CD Release Videos - Aug 28

Songs performed live at The Cultch on August 28 2009

"Robots"*


"So Much For Everyone"**



"Et Les Mots Croises"*


*filmed by Christine McAvoy and **Random Audience member

What Darlings, The O'Darling...

It was a busy Sunday evening in Vancouver.

Matt Epp was performing again...this time at the Railway Club and he was just as great as the night before. I had to miss
Ann Vriend to jump over to the Media Club for show #2...



By the time I got there I had missed Benny Schütze, Said The Whale, Aidan Knight and only caught the last song by Hey Ocean!... From what I hear it was a free-for-all of Vancouver's indie music scene. Dan Mangan was in the crowd and got called on stage, performed two songs and then it was on to the main act...
The O'Darling.

They are a pretty amazing band...apparently originally from Victoria, but based in Toronto now. They had the entire crowd on their feet, many of them dancing. Aidan joined them on stage for a few songs too. (He will be performing at Dan's CD Release show on Friday.) By the end of the evening most everyone's facebook and twitter statuses changed to praise for the band and the evening.
Here are some shots from the love-fest at the Media Club:

Dan Mangan: Live at Zulu Records

I learned via Dan's Twitter account(@danmanganmusic) that he'd be playing live in-store at Zulu Records at 5pm yesterday (August 22). So I grabbed my camera and walked the whole 10 blocks downhill from my house to Zulu and was hit with this:

It dawned on me later (not to mention, made me feel old) that it's technically an all ages show, which explains the vast amount of young girls in attendance.

The show was short and sweet, and ended with the entire store singing along to "Robots".
Many of Dan's friends from the Vancouver music scene showed up as well: Peter Carruthers, bass player from Said The Whale, Josh McNorton from The Painted Birds, Zach Gray of The Zolas and singer-songwriter Nadia von Hahn.

To see all the photos, click here: www.mcavoy.ca/DanManganLiveAtZulu

Dan's CD Release is at The East Van Cultural Center...two nights (Aug 28th and 29th) and tickets are almost sold out!

Here are few of my favourites:

Said The Whale, The Zolas & We Are The City cover Arcade Fire's Wake Up

Recorded at Habitat in Kelowna, BC on July 11th - The cover (performed by Said The Whale, The Zolas and We Are The City) transitions back to Said The Whale's Goodnight Moon
(Said The Whale's soon-to-be-released record titled Islands Disappear - out October 13th)

The Grassy Knoll Under The Wooden Sky...

On a cool Wednesday night at John Rogers Park in Vancouver, The Wooden Sky played to a crowd perched on the hillside.

I saw these guys in Toronto a few years ago, but sitting watching the sun go down with 100 other people, kids on the swings, dogs and bikes everywhere...all while the band played, was a pretty amazing treat.

And on top of that they were joined for a few songs by the glorious Debra Jean Creelman!

Here are a few of my shots:








Blog post also located here: www.mcavoy.ca/blog.html