Toronto – My first show of the year was a No Shame showcase at the Garrison featuring Casey Mecija (of Obijou), Ghost Bees and the Wilderness of Manitoba. Aside from Wilderness of Manitoba, I don’t really know much about the other two acts. I think I saw Obijou perform in a tent at that Book in the Park thing before, but I think I only went because it was a nice day outside and I wanted to see what this whole ‘reading’ craze was all about.

Anyways, if you want cliff notes for this review, it can be summarized with this picture. It is regarding the crowd at the Garrison every single time I’ve been there:

Srsly. People at the Garrison, there are two rooms in the bar. One is a bar, people go there to drink and talk. The second is a concert room, people go there to LISTEN TO MUSIC. Have some respect, there’s a poor little girl out there with an acoustic guitar and a soft voice. It was incredibly frustrating to try to listen to Casey’s set since people just refused to stop talking. Even after moving up, I could still not get silence. Her in between song banter was lost on everyone except the people in the first row. What I did hear was some nice acoustic singer songwriter stuff.

Next up was Ghost Bees. Ghost Bees are an indie pop band featuring twin sisters named Romy and Sari from Halifax. Probably not this Romy:

I wonder if they were twins in that movie too. The Ghost Bee act was quite theatrical. Dressed up in somewhat gothy gear, the twins certainly had their following as there was more then a few people in the crowd dressed up in similar attire. Either that, or there was an Interview with the Vampire fan club party going on at the Garrison at the same time. I’m not sure. Playing a variety of instruments (steel drums, banjo, mandolin?, some weird stuff) the twins for a fleeting moment had the crowd mesmerized enough so that most of the people in the front were at least quiet. Later on in the set, they were joined by John O’Reagan and Katie Stelmanis, who both appear to come from the same Eyes Wide Shut party. Speaking of Eyes Wide Shut parties, does anyone remember that subplot from Gossip Girl last year, when Chuck found that secret sex club his dad was part of, found some girl, and then saw her get kidnapped by Carter and then the storyline just got forgotten? What happened to that girl? Anyways, the Ghost Bees set was very interesting, the twins kept on giving everyone else in the band (including each other) these long, furtive stares and then would nod their heads. It was quite distracting since they both had really big eyes (accentuated by their makeup). I would say, I would definitely see them again, since I kind of forgot what their music sounded like.

The Wilderness of Manitoba was the final act. They were also on really late. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t stay for the whole set. Now you might be like ‘dawg, you weak’, but I think I was still a little jet lagged at the time.From what I did hear, they have definitely been improving as a live band. Bluebirds sounded sharper then in previous times. The bowl made it’s reappearance, and once again, I got a complete kick out of it. I’m going to suggest that next time, they cook us pancakes while performing. I think that would be pretty much the coolest thing ever. I think the Wilderness of Manitoba played a few songs, one named after St. Petersburg, which as one of the members mentioned ‘used to be known as Leningrad’. I wonder if he’s a commy.

Overall, I enjoyed my night there. Despite the super annoying never ending chatter of the crowd, I still get a kick out of going to the Garrison because of the whole communal vibe from these local shows. I like that I can throw my jacket on the pool table and no one will steal it. Even if they did, I could just steal someone else’s, so I feel kinda safe.

Ps. I had excellent Mexican food before the show.