Hi everyone!
The Birds have two new songs posted!!! Give them a listen:

Birds of Wales Myspace

I know Chris did background vocals for most of the songs on the new record but didn't play any instruments this time around.

Had a really great weekend - we went to the cottage on Saturday and spend the afternoon on the boat and my little sister came home from Ottawa and we had a great family BBQ together on Sunday

I also got my first iPod!!!! My sis gave it to me - she has a new one, so she gave me her old one I never really needed one before - I have a home stereo, computer stereo, car stereo, portable stereo for the patio.....you name it
Only exception was when we travel and I could never bring myself to spend the money........but every time I buy new music, I have to burn a new CD for the car or go without which was driving me nuts......plus, the car stereo that my hubby bought me has an iPod hookup. So now I can change songs as much as I want and just hook the iPod up! Life is good!

How was everyone's weekend?
Justin, how did your conference (?) go and your big wedding weekend??

Laurie, I hope you visit with a review of your Matt Good concert tomorrow night! Have FUN

Stef, did you see Josh on Sunday? What about the MMVA's??

first of all, hearing tin soldier and philanthropist recorded is AMAZING!!!!!!


those are my two fave birds songs... so really, it made my morning when i woke up to go to work and got to listen to those before heading out the door... tin soldier sounds especially fantastic! ( i adore the piano in it)


Congratulations on the Ipod, Laura! Its truly an awesome thing to have.. i really couldn't live without mine... i dont have a cd player, so i have a dock for my ipod in my living room, and i listen to music on my laptop in my room...


as for josh on sunday, i tried to make it out, but got caught in the POURING rain out at queen and augusta shopping!!!!! we made a mad dash for the streetcar, and ended up spending the day at the eaton center keeping dry, as it was awful, and both my friend and i were wearing sandals... and our jeans were soaked from top to bottom, so we didnt make it out to the distillary.. i am going to make a point of seeing josh next time cuz im dying to see him live!!

the mmvas, welllll i met hedley.. *rolls eyes*.. as much as they are my guilty pleasure when it comes to music... ive met these guys so many times, it just doesnt matter anymore! lol.. and again, got caught in the pouring rain! haha

all in all, it was a busy weekend as my best friend from bc was here, but it was great!


i think ive listened to tin soldier and philanthropist about 12 times each today.... they sound so fabulous!!


Anywho, hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend!!

<3 Steph

I love the piano on Tin Soldier too - it's a great song
Maybe we'll see Josh together, Stef

OH! for anyone interested, I posted pics of the puppies born last week on FB and myspace. They're only one week old and look like little guinea pigs Hopefully one of them will be mine - I'll probably only know around the middle of August.....

Hey Laura!
I tried listening to those songs, but it kept saying that an error occurred when I clicked on the link. Ah well, I keep meaning to listen to BOW one of these days to see if I'd like them (since I hear them mentioned so often on here), and I'm sure it'll happen one of these days .

Congratulations on the iPod as well. I've sort of wanted to get one for awhile now, but could never justify spending that much for something I would probably get very little use out of.

As for my conference and my brother's wedding, both went pretty well. I got to Halifax around 10pm on Tuesday, and we were staying in St. Mary's University residence (much cheaper than a hotel). Once we got unpacked, we went exploring the streets in search of a decent looking bar. We went to a place called Maxwell's Plum, which was nice enough that we ended up returning there the next night. I had a bit of trouble getting up for the conference because of a mild hangover and only 4 hours of sleep, but our presentation went smoothly. Apparently we were very over prepared. I knew the poster session was a minor event of the conference, but we ended up hardly having to do anything. I'm glad I went though because I can still put that on my CV, and because all of the talks were interesting. The guys that I went down with were a couple of fellow students that I am somewhat friends with, but I didn't know that that well and was worried that it would make for an awkward road trip, but luckily it went well.

I got back to Fredericton around 4pm on Friday and was back on the road by about 5:30 or 6 to go to Miramichi. My girlfriend came with me and it was her first time staying up in Miramichi. It was a pretty busy couple of days leading up to the wedding, and I was somewhat anxious because I was an usher but had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be doing. Come the days of the wedding, I still didn't really know what I was doing, but luckily it all worked out in the end. They had a nice ceremony and the rest of the day was taken up with pictures, the reception, and a dance. Luckily there was really great weather that day, because I was told that earlier in the week they had been calling for rain.

I came back to Fredericton Sunday morning and have been trying to catch up on sleep ever since then. The week just sort of flew by, and although I enjoyed it, I'm kind of glad to be back here where I can relax...well at least partially relax while also partially stressing over the job hunt.

Sorry to hear that you didn't make it to your show on Sunday Stef. We've occasionally had some bad rain here over the last couple of days too (we usually get your weather once you're done with it ). That's neat that you met Hedley though. I personally don't care much for them, but I came to accept that my opinion wasn't universal long ago haha. I've been forced to see them live twice now (once because they opened for Three Days Grace at a festival and once because my ex asked me to go with her) and I guess that neither time really did it for me. Ah well.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Welcome back, Justin!!

Myspace was updated yesterday and today, so it was wonky for a while. I just checked the link and it worked for me.....

Glad to hear your presentation (and the road trip) went well - hangover and all Best to be over-prepared than under-prepared too. Good for you!

Didn't you know that ushers at a wedding are never told exactly what they're supposed to do? LOL
It all works out, so no description is ever required. You can return the favour when it's your turn
Sounds like it was wonderful

I've got Roz Bell, Hello Operator, Tupelo Honey (YAY!) and Brian Melo tomorrow night at the Foundation

I woke up this morning with Hello Time Bomb pounding in my head, so . . . yeah, good concert last night!

Downside was I had to go alone, bleh, and also would probably have enjoyed it more if I was more familiar with Matt Good's music (I only know Hospital Music and Beautiful Midnight). But on the whole, really glad I went, the audience was into it, the venue was great, and the music wasn't overloud, despite being a full out rock show. The lead guitarist (Stuart Cameron, I'm not sure but I think he's John Allen Cameron's son?) was awesome! It would have been interesting to have seen Matt Good's acoustic show last year for comparison's sake. Almost half the songs played last night were off of Hospital Music (which is more folk-sounding than rock) and I'm not sure they all benefitted from the rock treatment, I think I'd enjoy them more performed acoustic. Matt must have been feeling good last night, as we got a four song encore, including Hello Time Bomb, which is probably why it's stuck in my head today.

Stef, you mentioned Hedley . . . I have the demo the Jacob made with "Old" Hedley and still really enjoy listening to it. As I recall, Jacob's musical hero at that time was Matt Good, and it shows in the songs he wrote for the demo. I know it's kinda silly, but whenever I listen to that demo I end up feeling a bit peeved or robbed or something that Jacob didn't end up going more that direction. He's a talented songwriter. He's learned to craft his songs so that they are commercially successful (and how!). I'm not into "New" Hedley, but still am interested to see what direction they head in next, how they develop.

Justin, good to hear about your poster presentation (is it okay if I ask what it was about?). If you go the grad school route, there will probably be more of them in your future, and apart from being a good experience and good on your CV, it's a chance to travel a bit too. I remember my husband got to present at conferences in Ottawa and Chicago as part of his grad school experience.

Have fun tonight, Laura, I'm curious to hear what you think of Roz Bell and Brian Melo.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the show. I'm actually not sure whether I preferred the acoustic show or the full band one, but I'm glad that I was able to catch both. Matt's a really great songwriter and has proven over the years that he can take pretty much any style and make it work for him.



Of course you can ask! I apologize in advance though, because this is going to be long . Basically, we (me and another student) were presenting two studies about the effects of language fluency on evaluations that people make of others. A lot of past research has shown that people tend to evaluate foreign people more negatively when they have poor language fluency in English. My supervisor was interested in whether language fluency could actually have beneficial effects as well, so she decided to study how it affects evaluations when people engage in culturally inappropriate behaviour.

An example of culturally inappropriate behaviour would be if someone asked "does this dress make me look fat?" In western culture, the normal thing to do is to politely say "no, of course not." In eastern culture however, they will tend to be very honest about that sort of stuff. So, if someone was to immigrate to Canada from, say, China, and answer "yes, that dress makes you look fat," that would be a form of culturally inappropriate behaviour. Past research as shown that people who do those sorts of inappropriate behaviours are usually evaluated more negatively, possibly because we think they are rude or their behaviour might make us feel uncomfortable. My supervisor was interested in whether poor language fluency would perhaps signal ignorance on the part of the foreigner, and thus we wouldn't judge them so harshly because "they don't know any better." If a person is having trouble speaking English, it is more obvious to us that they are new to this setting, and thus we are a bit more understanding of their ignorance of cultural norms.

I won't bore you too much about the details of the two studies, but they involved participants watching video clips of a foreign individual speaking with either good or poor language fluency, behaving either appropriately or inappropriately. We then had the participants rate the foreigner on a few different scales. Between the two studies, we found that poor language fluency does shield people from negative evaluation when they behave inappropriately, but this doesn't apply to measures of competence. Basically, if a person has trouble speaking English and behaves inappropriately, we are more forgiving about their personality, but still tend to evaluate them as less intelligent.

I hope that answered your question. I know that was long and I probably didn't explain it very clearly (or perhaps I explained FAR more than you actually wanted to know haha). If I was unclear or if you have any questions, feel free to ask. You're right though, this certainly won't be the last time that I'll have to make a presentation like this. This was just my beginner presentation to get a feel for it in a small, friendly environment. Here's a picture of the poster itself. It's too small to actually read it, but for those that are interested.

That was interesting to read, Justin and the poster looks awesome!
If there's one question in the universe that makes hubbies (north american ones anyway) run screaming from the room, it's "does this make me look fat?" LOL


Hi Laurie! You asked....

There were 4 bands playing last night. Tickets $15. All ages show. Place was half full at most by the end of the night. Not even 1/4 full for the first two acts I guess Thursday nights are hard, but WHERE is everyone?!? There were so few people there and we were so close to the stage that I noticed all kinds of stuff too and everyone (band members included) was just wandering around talking to everyone else Roz Bell brought his Mom and Dad - they were so proud of him
They all loaded and unloaded their own equipment (in minutes!!) - Tupelo's stuff was literally piled right beside me - I even had to ask if they wanted me to move and they told me they'd just work around me LOL

Hello Operator played first - they were pretty okay

Roz Bell was on second. Just him and an acoustic guitar. I'm not a huge fan, but he was REALLY good. He said that they produced the hell out of the songs for the record and playing them acoustically was really showing how they were all written in the first place (man, if I was a huge fan this would be my version of heaven on earth).
He has a really nice voice and a bit of a reggae/funk tinge to his music that I never noticed before.

Tupelo Honey was next. They were the ones I really went there to see. They didn't disappoint! I was about two feet away from one of their guitar players (Tyler or Dan - don't know which was which) and he was AMAZING. It was so cool to watch him play and switch guitars!

Brian Melo came last of course and by then the club was about half full......
He had more of an entourage (and a bit more help setting up) - two guitar players (one played with Tomi Swick when he was touring with our guys - blonde curly hair, don't know his name) bass, drums and keyboard and him. He plays harder rock than I've heard on the radio. His band was awesome - he was really good. I think I had more fun watching his adoring hoardes at the front of the stage (I was on the side in a chair - same spot when I was there for Stabilo two years ago) than anything else
They did a shockingly good cover of "Fake Plastic Trees" and they also did a fantastic instrumental version of AC/DC's "Back in Black" while Brian got some water and took a little break. Those were the highlights for me - he played one song that I really really liked instantly and I'm now on a quest to find out what the heck it was........

That was my night.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!! HUGS to all of you

No, not too much detail at all, Justin, you explained it really well. Neat project!

Did you manage to track that song down yet, Laura? I know there's a bunch of videos from a recent concert on YouTube, maybe you can find it there.

Random Brian Melo fact: his band Stoked opened for Stabilo in Hamilton awhile back.

Hi Laurie
I tried listening to clips on iTunes and that didn't help......I did go on youtube quickly tonight, I think it might be Emily, but I'm not positive.

Do you know if we have that Stoked fact in the concert archives on OMP??

Yep, it's in the Concert Archive, and the Hamilton Spectator article (20-MAY-2004) as well.

wow im behind! haha...

justin, the weather has been sooo odd lately!! Reminds me of vancouver's moody weather for sure!!!

buuuut we do what we do and deal with it!!!


laura, glad you enjoyed the show!! whats next for you?

ps-thanks for the message about morgan.. i was even more excited when i found out that they were playing! its going to be a great show... coming?

Yes - but I COMPLAIN
Vancouver's summers are like THIS?!? ewwww! I need H E A T. I need to get in my pool and go to the beach...... and the rain! We even had HAIL on Saturday!! Sheesh

What's next for me? *wails* I don't have any nexts yet!! I'll shut up now

You're welcome re: the message It'll be pretty close to your dream show, won't it? Not too sure I'll be able to go yet - that's the Film Festival week, but I'll let you know

Have a good weekend