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Manny, it’s great that you also embrace the power of the Big Rock Show. Except it was really a Big Rap Show that you attended. But, then, Rock and Hip Hop are like kissin’ cousins these days - it’s all the same poop, different pile, if ya know what I mean.

But I digress. The real reason I’m blogging is to report that there’s electricity in the air at MuchMusic these days - even more than usual, and usually being here is like being struck by lightning, in the best possible way.

The reason for all the hubbub: The 2003 MuchTemp contest! Yes, it’s large and in charge and WHOA do we have some awesome swag for the winner. A beaut of a car; a decadent palace of an apartment; some cold, hard cash; and the best part of the deal: you get to work here at the Beige House Of Rock for the whole summer! Not too shabby, I’d say. I’d enter myself, but, oh yes, I already work here! HO HO!

But seriously, it kinda rocks working here, so if you’re 17 or over, you should definitely enter the contest. Hint: creativity and, above all, originality will win the day.

Now go forth, my flying monkeys, and do your worst (or best…or whatever). Hope to see you soon in The Environment!

Justin, the Easter Bunny always has extra Peeps. I mean, who actually likes them? I have a pack of yellow chicks for ya. You just have to hunt for them. They’re hidden somewhere at Much …

Rainbow FWDed me this link. What?! And I thought my lettuce bikini dare was over the top. I never know if these things are for real or not.
I’m fresh back from the Detroit Hip Hop Summit - the biggest event of its kind to date! Eminem, Russell Simmons, Reverend Run, and close to 10,000 hip hop fans were in attendance. My weekend highlights include hearing Russell talk, Detroit Rock City’s hip hop mayor, and King Gordy and the Fat Killaz. Being so close to Eminem was also a bit surreal, as he’s so untouchable.

Manny, was your favourite the Redman/Methodman performance?

So, Hannah and Kelly are off to Cali for the Big Rock Show…I’m really jealous.

You see, I am a fan of all things rock.  To paraphrase my friends Sum41, rock…is what I’m all about…it’s what I live for…come on, shout it out.

So today on the CrewSpewBlog, since I’m upset about not being at The Big Rock Show, I thought I’d give you guys links to my favourite Stuff That Rocks online.  In so doing, I’ll visit the sites and feel a bit less upset, and you can visit them and agree with me that they do, in fact, rock and that I am awesome.

Let us begin.

Firstly, you will want some music to rock to while you’re visiting sites - and thankfully, we at MuchMusic have just the ticket…MuchRadio!

Once you’re taken care of in the tunage department, visit the best site in the entire universe, bar none (besides MuchMusic.com of course): Homestarrunner.com.  Go there - view every single thing on that site, because you will laugh your buttocks off.  They will literally come right off you, which might be painful but OH will it be worth it.

Nextly, you might be feeling all laughed out, so you’ll want to check out Ninjai.com.  Ninjai is a Flash-animated boy ninja who kicks a lot of ass in beautiful surroundings and yet, his ass-kicking gives him no peace.  He’s on a mission to seek out his true destiny, and it’s fascinating to watch - the future of interactive entertainment, I believe. Right now, the episodes are offline, but they’ll be back soon, so bookmark it.

So now that you’ve checked out Ninjai, you’ll want a pick-me-up - and that can be found at Albinoblacksheep.com.  The funniest Flash animations, audio and pictures on the planet can be found here.

And there you go.  All that stuff rocks, right?  Yeah, thought so.  As Coach Z from Homestarrunner.com would say, I did a Good Jeorb on that list.

Hey Jenn, do you still have those marshmallows lying around?  I want one!

Hey! Kelly is not a jerk! She’s my travel buddy! Kelly, Kristine (Wedge producer), Jessica (representing for MuchMore) and I will be going to Los Angeles tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. (eek!). We’ll be hitting Coachella this weekend and I am so superexcited. I don’t even know where to start about who I want to see most. The two headliners, Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers, are bands that I’ve never seen live, so this will be huge! There are also the bands I love that for some reason or another I have missed every single time they’ve come to Toronto (White Stripes, Interpol, The Music) so seeing those bands will be extra-sweet for me. I’m also really psyched to see The Rapture, Peanut Butter Wolf, the Hives, Black Eyed Peas, Blur (even though I was trampled at a Blur show back in high school - glad to be alive!), Felix da Housecat, Polyphonic Spree. Isn’t the line-up incredible?

While we’re in California, I also want to shop in L.A., visit the beach, and visit les discotheques. In other words, just relax. So, until next week, see y’all suckers. Air kisses.

Who brought the jerk? I’ng jus’ keeeding….

So… what’s up with me… well, the lady is away this week leaving me to fend for myself in the kitchen and to fight of massive amounts of boredom. Most people are releaved to have little breaks from their partner in crime, however I am a lucky man and have nothing to gain by her being away.

Been uber stoked on the new White Stripes album “Elephant“. In my opinion, one of the best rock and roll albums of ALL time! And to add to my revelry, they’re the musical guests all week on Conan O’Brien (no relation) making their premiere lastnight (as Justin pointed out, Conan is a repeat on Monday’s… who knew?) by cranking out “Seven Nation Army”. It is truely amazing to watch Jack White play that octave guitar while Meg (admittidly not the best drummer… but still essential) hammers away on her very basic kit. For those of you who haven’t picked it, as a point of trivia, in order to get that warm, full rock and roll sound the whole album was made without the use of computers. Written on paper, mixed on a basic board and dropped onto reel to reel… they even went so far as to have all of the review copies available only on vinyl. The first time this thing saw a byte of data was when it was burned to CD for mass production. I NEED to pick up the vinyl of this one.

In other news, the shenani-van is about ready to make it’s debut… details to follow
At this point I would like to draw your attention to another jerk… The Shouldice. Give ‘em the dirt…

I know it’s Soph’s turn to blog, but I’m borrowing her computer right now and I rarely get the chance to blog, so I’m jumping in!

I can’t wait for the long weekend! If it’s anything like last weekend it’s going to be great. I went to a party at BradTV producer Paul’s house, and spent most of the time laughing with Manny the floor director. Manny was on a rampage, going off about how he will email with hotmail accounts but not yahoo accounts. He also refuses to drink coffee because it’s too hot, but hot chocolate is okay. I don’t get it, hot chocolate even has the word ‘hot’ in the name!

This weekend I’ll be busy interviewing Groove Armada, watching A Mighty Wind and bumping around at the Jurassic 5 concert.

I’m also hoping to get in a few chapters of my SNL book. Y’know Jimmy Fallon is old news, my new SNL crush is Seth Myers. Oh, but I can’t forget to mention Tina Fey, she’s so cool and I just know that if we met she’d for sure want to be my best friend…um maybe?

Actually, I can’t pick my SNL favourite…I love all of them. They’re like children to me.

Ryan, I hafta agree with you. Matt’s show kicked significant ass.

But I understand, my Klopekian friend, that you ran into some trouble in the ‘Shwa, in the form of moshing young punks. So I think you’ll agree with me then, when I say that mosh pits are dumb.

Oh yeah, I used to think that mosh pits were wicked. My first few concerts I’d bounce around, slamming into people with very little concern for my safety, or anyone else’s. Then came the Sevendust show where Lajon, the lead singer, stage dived on top of me. Nearly took my head off. After that came the Fear Factory show where a large dude’s steel-toed boots smacked me upside the head a few too many times. I don’t think my lower back has recovered.

Mosh pits, very quickly, became a terrifying ordeal - I was looking over my shoulder for more of the concert than looking at the band. And that’s no good, especially if I’m spending $40-50 per show to see my fave band and I can’t enjoy it because at any moment, a flying 350-pound mountain of a man (or a woman, for that matter) might land squarely on my head.

So to all the moshers out there, I say this - if you don’t settle the heck down, we (meaning me and Ryan) are going to lock you up in pens and zap you with cattle prods.

And that, sirs, is that.

Now, please welcome Special Guest Blogger Brad Pitt (yes, that Brad Pitt), who says:

“Oh hey, Kelly? Was that you I saw in L.A. this past weekend? Or what?”

Well… I’m not Monsieur Jarman… however I did feel it necessary to bust in and comment on a RAD show I saw on Friday eve. As you may well be aware, one of our teammates Matt 2.0 has been rockin’ out for quite some time, formerly with Lucky Number Seven and now with his new outfit Systolic. And lemme tell ya, the crowd at The Dungeon in ye mighty ‘Shwa was in dire need of sock suspenders! Keep your eyes and ears open for these guys kiddies…

Thanks Ryan! Actually, I was there. I think “electroclash” sucks, and I wasn’t sure if I loved or hated Fischerspooner but when Casey yelled “F— you SARS!” I was like, “YEAH!” That and the fact that I like jazz dance made me decide that I like Fischerspooner. Although the only other concert I’ve ever been to that’s ended in tickertape was Enrique Iglesias (please don’t ask why I was there, rock snob!)
 
I’ve been away from SARS-city for a few weeks. First I was in Brazil for an upcoming episode of The NewMusic. Yes, it was awesome. The people in Rio de Janeiro were so friendly and relaxed and I’m convinced that it has everything to do with the fact that it’s so gorgeous there. The beaches and cliffs are unreal. We also went to a favella (a slum) which was sobering. It didn’t help that I’d seen City of God just before I left for Brazil. I’m not afraid of poverty, but I am now superafraid of guns.
 
Right after I got home from Rio, I left for Houston to do an Exposed with Kelly Rowland. Kelly’s supernice but can’t say the same for Houston. What is up with miles of freeway, malls and SUV’s? I’ve honestly never seen anything like this. There wasn’t a single neighbourhood that we could walk around in. I felt trapped in the car. It’s a total car culture which I find extremely depressing.
 
Anyway, after being away so long, I’m really glad to be home now. I’m interviewing the Deadly Snakes, Cat Power and The Sea and Cake this weekend. Youppie! I’ve been listening to the Snakes all day .  Sometimes, music is the best.
 
N’est-ce pas, Monsieur Jarman?

Sure do chief/tiger/boss!

Lastnight went out with the grrl and some friends to see the almighty Fischerspooner. The show was down at The Guvernment, which I’d usually complain about however it was definitely in keeping with the style of the show: excessive! For those of you who’ve not had the chance to see the videos (there are four on the DVD that comes with the limited edition version) or any footage of their shows, but they are known for touring with anywhere from 20-40 people in the group including designers, dancers, make-up people, etc… Most of the show was spent with about 10 people on stage at one time in elaborate costumes and full make up. We were fortunate enough to grab a spot right up front where we were subsequently showered with fake blood! Gt’s…. Gt’s all the way.

And as usual… another Warp Records act cancels out from under me. That’s right kiddies, Chris Clark will not be coming to Toronto on the 15th… making this the third (I think) Warp artist in about 12 months to cancel. That’s it, I’m moving to the UK!

I didn’t see you at the show lastnight Hannah. Are you not feeling the electro-clash sting (oooo… don’t I sound like a rock snob!)?