"The green, green night"

Floordrobe

Corb Lund And The Hurtin' Albertans are a country group from Canada with serious musical chops and a versatile store of songs on which to draw. Alas, their gig at Notes Live in Newtown - in support of their new "Cabin Fever" album - was marred by assclowns talking loudly the whole night. If Corb and band were annoyed by the rudeness of the yakkers, they didn't show it, playing on past the advertised finishing time - and with gusto. The M. brothers and I agreed they'd likely encountered far worse crowds in their travels, as at least there were no fists or bottles flying. Incessant chatter is a definite problem at Sydney C&W events, but, and in this case it ruined softer heartfelt numbers such as "September". My theory is it's because notable shows are so rare here that some fans flip out over being with their own kind and the music is forgotten. So let's not do that, and instead celebrate the fabulous title track from 2007's "Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!" - goo.gl/Vp5X7

Thumbling

Speaking of Canada, PG stayed at my joint on Thursday, ahead of a business trip there. We smashed decent pizza and trashed mediocre movies. "Stealing Harvard" was formulaic and crying out for more Tom Green madness. "Superman/Batman: Apocalypse" was one of the weaker animated adaptations of a DC Comics series, in terms of plot, dialogue, visuals, you name it (we did). And Edward R. Murphy's "The Adventures Of Pluto Nash" was switched off through extreme boredom. As always, it was great to hang with an old mate, albeit briefly.


Mildly disturbing fact: Disney cruise ships aren't equipped with libraries. (No casinos, neither, though that's understandable considering the company's ethos.)