evil shananigans: Logs & Tongues

What a weekend of music. After catching Wide Mouth Mason at the Harbourfront, Saturday was supposed to be filled with pre-production for The Noble Rogues next album. Due to some technical difficulties, we just ended up drinking and playing a lot of poker instead. However, we did make good use of our night.

Ever since NXNE, we'd been itching to see The Speaking Tongues live again, and, in the past, the Horseshoe hasn't done me wrong. The boys hit the stage at 11pm and started to tear it up as they know so well how to do. Throw in a bit of the 'ol harmonica, some spicy guitar, and those gruff, in your face vocals, and you've got yourself a gig that I could get a little cozy with. The only negative which I have to point out is that a lot of the intimacy was lost from their last gig. I think this was primarily because the 'shoe is so much larger than Hideout, and just a trickier room to get comfortable in as a band.

It got me to thinking; maybe the shoe isn't such a great a venue. A lot of bands who I normally love live, have been swallowed up by the size, coldness and usually uninvolved crowds present. I think to pull off the shoe well... and I mean damned well, you just have to be so bloody sure of yourself that nothing will give you even a moments pause to hesitate and think twice.

Enter Mr. Bob Log the third. Now I've seen a few one man bands before, and I'll openly say, they've all stunk up the joint. As I pointed out in a previous post, the issue with a one band band is that if you are having an off night, you have no one to fall back on. The solution? Be awesome 100% of the time. This seems to work for Mr. Log.

Now, I suppose it helps if you're wearing a rocket ship helmet with a microphone shaped like a phone receiver attached to it while you grind around stage in your 1 piece velvet jumper. I'm sorry, if that sentance alone doesn't make your realize the level of awesome we're dealing with here, then you're reading the wrong blog. Known for crowd surfing in an inflatable dingy, playing a song called 'Shit on My Leg' while having two women sit on either of his knees (he uses both legs to operate a kick drum pedal and a high hat pedal) and constantly pleading with the audience for more 'liquid applause', Bob Log is the definition of the word showmanship. Active for almost 20 years, Log currently hits over 150 shows a year while touring in more than 30 countries. I'd say more... but seriously.... just watch the damned videos.