rheostatics

Went to see the Rheostatics at the Reverb with David on Thursday night.
We met on the corner of Queen and McCaul. I was there first, and was a bit creeped out by a couple of overly-friendly men passing by. After one asked me if I wanted to go somewhere for a beer (!), I decided to wait inside the corner magazine store instead and let David find me. We had dinner at a place called Chicago's, then window-shopped along Queen St. W. until we were allowed into Reverb. The warm-up band didn't start playing until 10:30 pm, and was called Ratwurst, two guys with big hair and dark glasses and thick Cockney accents. David said it was a bad sign when a band had to hang up a banner with their group name on it.

Their songs were all 3-note melodies and insipid lyrics. They were so incredibly bad that they were good. :-) Partway through their set, it was obvious that Ratwurst was a goofy Spinal Tap type of band. I bought one of their CDs ($6) and got it autographed. :-)
Anyway, the Rheostatics were pretty good, tho David said they were better last time. I had never seen the Rheostatics live before...cute guys, some great songs. I started to fade around 1:30 a.m., tho, so David & I left.

Went to Jeff's company Christmas party last night. It was at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) in a special reception area, and the theme was swing music. They had even hired professional swing dancers to give lessons on the dance floor, though it was a bit intimidating (but fun) to watch them. Swing's all the rage now, isn't it? Interesting how the past comes back to haunt us from time to time, almost as if we've run out of original ideas and have to dig up old ones. I've noticed that trend in the movies as well, all the remakes of old versions as well as turning old TV favourites into movies.

So how many of you are planning to see STAR TREK: THE INSURRECTION on opening day this Friday? Jeff and I (and some other friends of ours) have made it a ritual to try to see Star Trek/Star Wars movies on opening day. We're all taking time off work on Friday to stand in line for hours, something we usually hate doing.