My Friday 
I was invited by a member of my baseball team to play in a four-on-four, skins format volleyball tournament on Friday. We didn't win any money, but it was good exercise and a lot of fun. I got to do a lot of scrambling around, diving and setting, which I don't get to do as much for We Still Go Down, our six-person co-ed volleyball team that inexplicably won the Thursday night intermediate division in the Toronto Sport and Social Club league last week. Thanks to Mark for inviting me, and Bob and Richie for also being on Friday's team.


I drove home from Scarborough, got a quick bite to eat, made myself look reasonably presentable and went to The Velvet Underground for XM Satellite Radio Canada's The Verge's "Thank God It's Not Another Xmas Party." I was given a guitar pick with a Molson Canadian logo on it upon arrival, which was good for a free can. I'm not a fan of the beer, but I guess I can't argue with free, and there was no other alternative available.

I arrived too late to see Dinosaur Bones, but was there to see Toronto's Still Life Still take the stage at 10 p.m. The band's Girls Come Too debut full-length was released by Arts & Crafts this summer, and there were quite a few girls at the foot of the stage who had obviously come to see the dance-rock group that dedicated its set to iconoclastic club booker Dan Burke. The sound was kind of muddy and the vocals were mixed too low, but the sound improved as the 35-minute set went on. I thought the group was okay, but nothing exceptional.

Meligrove Band was what I wanted to see most, and the quartet hit the stage at 10:55. I really liked the group's 2000 debut, Stars & Guitars, and was reasonably impressed with 2002's Let It Grow and 2006's Planets Conspire, which was released by V2 Records before it went out of business. I used to see the group a fair amount early this decade, but it had been a few years since I last caught a show. The band seems to have a harder rocking sound than what I remember from the past, and the last song was almost metallic. A new album is finished and the Meligroves are talking to labels about releasing it next year.

The Verge's Jeff Leake is always good for funneling me free drinks at his events, and tonight was no different. Thanks again, Leake.

Arts & Crafts' David Tysowski told me that his band, The Order Of Good Cheer, is the opening act for Tuesday's "Bookie & Arkells' 2nd Annual Holiday Bash" at the Horseshoe Tavern. Hollerado (perhaps singer/guitarist Menno Versteeg will want me to cut his hair again) is also on the bill, and I've had fun every time I've seen it. Arkells will top things of by performing a Motown dance party set. It's free, but collections will be taken to support the OSPCA and The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada. It should be a good night and, if I'm on pace to get all my assignments done before Christmas, I'll be there.

The Junction was the final band of Friday's concert. The quartet plays slightly alternative rock and, again, I thought the set was satisfactory but nothing special. I thought I heard the group doing The Cure's "Close To Me" as I walked upstairs from the washroom, but it was an original with a similar melody. But I know for sure that The Junction did a Pink Floyd cover. I think it was "Welcome To The Machine," but I was chatting at the bar and wasn't listening that closely, so I won't say that with 100-per-cent certainty.
The Junction ended at 12:40. I talked some more, had a nightcap, and walked home.

np The Paperbacks — Lit From Within