This 50 minute doc takes an in depth look at five diehard bingo players. Filmed at Delta Bingos’ St. Clair West location here in Toronto, we get an inside look at the sport of bingo and the people who play it. After the initial curiosity of the bingo players wears off we get a deeper look into why these people love playing so much and the life events from their past that drive them to come back day after day.
If you are a fan of The Big Lebowski, then you are going to fall in love with Jackpot after the first five minutes. If you think about it, a bowling ally has the same aesthetics and charm as a bingo hall. Tacky wall murals, neon signs, fluorescent lighting, and a clientele who are not exactly in their prime reproductive years; yep the bingo hall has it all. The cinematography, bright colors, superb editing and instrumental soundtrack provided by locals the Fembots make this move a must see. I would suggest that you snort, eat, drink, smoke or inject whatever vice you have that helps you concentrate, not concentrate, realax, or chill out and just sit back and enjoy the visual ride.
Schedule
Friday May 1st – 10:PM The Royal Cinema
Sunday May 10th – 6:30 PM Bloor Cinema
The lineup is out and it’s looking great! Can’t wait to spend a few days in beautiful Zilker Park in Austin. Early Bird and Advance tickets are already sold out so if you’re in the area or plan on getting yourself there, get your tickets here.
Toronto – Saturday night’s Bat For Lashes show at the Mod Club was in one word – awesome. I would hate to be the person who forgot that this was an early gig, stroll in around 9:30 and saw that the show was already on encore. If you are that person, you should post it on fml or something because it is that bad. Natasha Khan can really sing. There are some bands you go to see and you are like ‘wow this girl has a nice voice’ but rarely do you go to a show and you are like ‘holy crap this girl can sing’. I always thought she had a nice voice but to see it in person as she belts out tunes is different. Even Gary, who didn’t think much of Bat For Lashes before going to the show was impressed and mentioned she was ‘better then Feist’. If Earth was ever enslaved by an ancient, but deadly alien race and that our sole chance of survival depended on some one to sing to please the alien ant queen overlord, I would think that she was a good option.
I guess some information about the show would be nice. Since the Mod Club caters to ginos and 905ers on the weekends, the concert was an early one. We were there at 7 to watch Lewis and Clarke (which Gary will review). I don’t remember the last time I was at a show at 7. Maybe when I was a kid and I went to see Raffi or something. But I never saw Raffi. Anyways, Bat for Lashes went on around 8:30. The stage was adorned with Jesus figures, angels, dim lights and images of animals ..or as I like to call it – what you can get for 10$ at a 1970s garage sale from some really religious souther family who hunts on occasion. It did give the stage a more intimate maybe slightly spiritualish kind of feeling I guess.
Starting with the song ‘Glass’, Bat For Lashes played a 70 minute set that consisted of material from both albums, but primarily focusing on Two Suns. We even got a Pixie-esque two versions of Daniel – an early stripped down acoustic sounding version, as well as the set ending normal version. This was the first show of the North American leg of their tour and Natasha seemed genuinely happy to be there. Her banter in between songs mostly consisted of thanking the fans, giving a shout out to family who was in attendance and telling jokes that the crowd forgot to laugh at, prompting a nice self deprecating moment (“aww, nobody laughed at my joke”). One of the things I noticed at the concert was how much different the two primary hits of Bat For Lashes were from the rest of the music. Both ‘Whats a Girl to Do’ and ‘Daniel’ are up tempo, almost dancey electroish numbers while a majority of the songs are slower paced with more focus on the vocals. Both work well because of the strength of Natasha Khans voice. It is ultimately Bat For Lashes #1 weapon, although the rest of the band was quite fantastic as well. I had no idea Charlotte Hatherly (of Ash) was in the band. That was a pretty pleasant surprise. The girl from New Young Pony Club was the girl behind the drums, providing a tribalish beats to a lot of the songs. Some guy named Ben was the multi instrumentalist. The band used a lot of different instruments, I have no idea what half of them were. Natasha herself primarily switched between singing/dancing and keyboard duties, donning the guitar for one or two numbers.
All in all, a great way to start off the night for all who attended. I highly recommend checking out the show if they are in your area.
Toronto – First off, lets list the songs that I enjoyed that weren’t played:
Inner City Pressure
Hiphopoptamus vs Rhymenocerious
Think about it
Business Time
Leggy Blonde (although Murray/Rhys Darby wasn’t there..that’s expected)
Robots
Now that those are out of the way, how was the actual show? It was pretty good. I guess a little background would help – unless you lived in a cave (Afghanistan), or Northern Alberta or something, you will know that Flight of the Conchords is pretty much the most popular comedy show on HBO. It’s a comedy/music show following the trial and tribulations of two New Zealanders named Jemaine and Bret as they try to make it big as a folk based duo in NYC. Music is peppered through out each episode, with most musical numbers mimicking a certain genre of music including Pet Shop Boys:
french chamber pop:
and many others. Nevertheless, the show found a strong following and well, the Flight of the Conchords decided to tour and sold out two shows at Massey Hall in about five minutes. I was lucky enough to get tickets – not as lucky as my coworker, who was sitting fourth row, but still, lucky.
The show started on time! By the time we entered at 8:15, we was shocked to find that Eugene Mirman was already into his opener set AND the place was packed. That dude was funny. At around 8:40, Mirman thanked the crowd and IMMEDIATELY introduced the Conchords. Who woulda thought? I had guesstimated that they would go on at around 9:30. I guess Massey Hall has strict curfew policies so it is only natural that they came on early, but 8:40 – that must be a record time for a band to go on.
The “band” consisted of Bret and Jermaine, as expected and they opened up with “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor”. Thru out the rest of the 1:40 set, the band interchange between witty barbs and songs. Musically, they primarily relied on guitars, with the occasional synth and minor drums. Some dude named Nigel came out and was a multi instrumentalist while they primarily relied on prerecorded samples for some of the more complicated songs. The music they played primarily consisted on season 2 material, which was probably a great disappointment to many. I for one, think that the season 1 music was better then season 2, but that might be just my opinion. They did play “Foux Du Fafa”, “Mutha Uckas”, “The Most Beautiful Girl”, “Bowie” and “IF You’re Into It” among others from the first season. Some of the songs they played weren’t off either season and although they were funny, left the crowd wondering.
I had a good time at the show, Bret and Jermaine were hilarious and interacted with the crowd throughout the set. Even letting someone know that they knew he was taping them and suggested that they shut off the red light on their camcorder. Another good moment was when they stopped the show so that an audience member in the front row could take a bathroom break. All in all, it was an enjoyable night of entertainment, was it worth the 63$? Well I guess that depends on how big a fan you are.
