Forbidden Fungus

As you may or may not have heard, the Canadian garage rock duo The King Khan & BBQ Show was recently busted for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms in backwoods Kentucky. Oops. One of my buddies is a guitar player who self-recorded a handful of albums as a hobby. King Khan's arrest reminded me of one of his tracks. The below track is an electric guitar instrumental that is reminiscent of early Metallica. Mr. Ridley is a recovering metalhead residing in Kitchener, Ontario, who lists his biggest influences as early Black Sabbath and pre-Bruce Dickinson Iron Maiden.

Dan Ridley - Forbidden Fungus.mp3
From: New Age Noodlefest (1996)
If you ask me nicely, I may be able to set you up with this album!

The King Khan & BBQ Show has a new album out. Now that they are out of clink, they are resuming their tour tonight in Los Angeles.

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl.mp3
Buy: Invisible Girl (2009)

NXNE 2009

Its gonna be a crazy weekend in Toronto. Pride week kicks off tomorrow. The Much Music Video Awards buggers up Queen and John Streets and tortures local residents with sound checks all weekend, not to mention the live show on Sunday night. Edgefest takes over Downsview Park on Saturday. My buddy Dancy-Pants Ryan is coming into town from Vancouver to terrorize the GTA. And the North By North East (NXNE) music festival will be in full swing.

If I hadn't been getting my ass kicked lately, I would be all over NXNE. But, fear not, bloggers much more intrepid than I are on the case. For full coverage check out Pete Nema, Chromewaves, NXEW, Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Historyjen, and probably some others that I forgot. And, like the Iranian Elections, you can watch all of this unfold over Twitter. Although, I hate it when I am sitting around in my underwear at home and I get a tweet that says "Broken Social Scene playing new songs and sounding all kinds of kick ass."

The music festival actually started last night, and I am waiting for my blogger buddies to update their posts (I bet a few are hungover). Great tweet from Pete Nema last night: "P.S. I reek of beer and Jägermeister." That statement made me very jealous. It seems like The Courthouse was the place to be, with performances by Apostle of Hustle, Broken Social Scene, and Feist.

Here are my picks for the festival. If I get my shit together I may actually make a few of them!

Thursday, June 18
(actually, wouldn't mind parking my sorry carcass at Lee's Palace all night)
9:00 pm: Jim Cuddy, Royal Wood, Oh Susannah @ Lee’s Palace
10:00 pm: Girls, Guns, and Glory @ The Dakota Tavern
or
10:00 pm: Kevin Hearn, Jenn Grant, Jason Plumb @ Lee's Palace
11:00 pm: Luke Docet, Justin Rutledge, NQ Arbuckle @ Lee's Palace
or
11:00 pm: Poorfolk @ Mitzi's Sister
12:00 am: Skydiggers @ Lee's Palace
or
12:00 am: The King Khan & BBQ Show @ The Horseshoe
1:00 am: "Special Guests" @ Lee's Palace (way past my bedtime!)

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Love You So.mp3
Buy: King Khan & The BBQ Show (2007)


Friday, June 19
9:00 pm: $100 @ The Dakota Tavern
10:00 pm: Tim Easton @ Cadillac Lounge (I have to make this one)
11:00 pm: Leeroy Stagger @ Cadillac Lounge
12:00 am: Dan Mangan @ C'est What
1:00 am: The Saides @ El Mocambo (Duh!)

Tim Easton - Baltimore.mp3
Buy: Porcupine (2009)


Saturday, June 20
9:00 pm: Jack Marks @ Mitzi's Sister
10:00 pm: Gruf Morlix @ The Dakota Tavern
12:00 am: Dustin Bentall @ The Dakota Tavern
or
12:00 am: Jason Collette @ The Horseshoe
1:00 am: The Warped 45s @ The Dakota Tavern
or
1:00 am: Hot Panda @ The Horseshoe

Dustin Bentall - Crash Hard.mp3
Buy: Streets with No Lights (2007)


Last year one of my friends told me about going to see some band at 2:00 am, and their entire set was speed metal with the lead singer occasionally screaming "FUCK YOU!" I need to find this band.

Edit: The Toronto Star has a summary of all of the music events happening in and around Toronto this weekend.