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My walk to "Le Salon Vert” was an interesting one.

Walking on upper St. Laurent, being distracted by all the really cheap Indian restaurants, my senses were cut off by a mass group of interesting people gathered outside a gallery exploding with indie music and laser lights. For a brief moment I thought to myself that this concert might actually be pretty exciting, with all the glimmer and interesting-looking people.  

Unfortunately, this awesome venue was not the Green Room. I continued walking down the street and then I recognized a tiny group of smokers, clad with punk attire that always reminds me of Middle Ages garb. The Green Room is a grungy bar with a tiny platform for performers. The place wasn’t even filled and it reeked of body odor, I badly wanted to unleashed an Axe-spray bomb into the crowd.  

The two opening bands, Unfun and another whose name I couldn’t wrap my ears around, because the music, if you can call it that, blockaded my eardrums and prevented any sound from entering. A slight exaggeration yes, but these two opening bands were unbearable. I have no clue how anyone around me could even make out the lyrics, if they even had any, or could relate to the angry smashing and ghoulish screams they were making.  

What was nice about the Green Room was that they close doors at midnight, the opening bands started at 9:30, I couldn’t wait for Pierced Arrows to finally get on that stage, so I could get the hell out of there.  

Finally Pierced Arrows on the stage. Pierced Arrows was originally a band in the '80s that combined garage rock, punk and country and originally called themselves Dead Moon. The original Dead Mooners, singers/guitarists/songwriters Fred Cole and Toody Cole, which have reached a prime age of retirement, still kick it in Pierced Arrows with Kelly Halliburton on drums. These veteran artists know how to excite the crowd. I found it interesting that there would be a rock/punk band, in which the lead singer is married to one of the members. It totally goes against the image of the life of a rock-star who sleeps with all his groupies.

As happy as the crowd was to hear this veteran band, I couldn’t decide what was worse, their terrible combination of genres that came out sounding like garbage or their saggy skin flowing back and forth on stage. I do give them credit for fighting the years to stay young, but their uncouth appearances just gave me the feeling that I was watching a group of junkies ranting on and making a racket.

After a few songs, I could not take this genre of music anymore. I decided that I would sacrifice the chance of seeing them eating a vampire bat or resurrecting the dead, I quickly ran to the door and went to Reggie’s bar, anticipating the cheap beer and slightly quieter music.

-David A.

Beard Of The Week is a column of life, music, people, and their beards. Each week Lachlan Fletcher of The Subplot and Unabridged will give you a great beard and shed some light on its significance, hopefully helping both the bearded and unbearded alike down the road to enlightenment.

Scott Niedermayer

Do job interviews make you nervous? Are you ever unsure of what to wear or what to say?
Tune in to Sunny Side Up with Adam and Kim this Tuesday to get all the tips you need from personal image consultant Monica de Liz.

You can also sign up to Monica's lecture at Concordia, Backpack-to-Briefcase; Dressing for Success
Wednesday Dec. 10 2010
4:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
Henry F. Hall Building, room H-767 (Faculty Lounge)

To all Cool Cats of the disc siftin’ record liftin’ vinyl retrieving age. I know most of you go loopy for obscure Jazz riffs and rare funk recordings. If you are only beginning to discover the beauty in what lies beneath those tried and true hip-hop favourites than this would be a good time to sit down and listen to the original tracks that of the most, and least respected, hip hop artists have dabbled in order to create the funk-Jazz-Rock and other types of fusion. Where are the beats procured? I have dug superficially this time to procure 5 excellent tracks for a more refined ear to hear. The list consists of artist, name of original track, the record label on which it was released, and the year of release. I will match each with a hip hop track where you can find a sample of the original recording. I will also give the equivalent information-wise on the hip-hop track. 

1.       Mad Lads - No Strings Attached (Volt 1969)   Vs.    De La Soul - Change In Speak (Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. 1989)

2.       Weldon Irvin - We Gettin' Down (RCA 1974)   Vs. A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour (Jive 1993)

3.       George Mccrae - I Get Lifted (RCA Victor 1974)  Vs. Pete Rock - Pete’s Jazz (BBE Records 2001)

4.       Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park (Fantasy 1975)  Vs. De La Soul - Ghetto Thang (Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. 1989)

5.       Lamont Dozier - The Picture will never Change (Fantasy 1992) Vs. Pharoahe Monch - Desire (Street Records Corporation/Universal Motown Records 2007)

Warning: It may be frustrating to find some of these songs but if you come across them it is pretty rewarding. That being said: Happy Hunt!