Review – Said the Whale at the El Mocambo, Toronto, March 28 2010

• review by Eugene Osudar

Freyja
the Icelandic goddess
of love, fertility and spring
is currently
a grade two student
in TO

she dances
and wants to be a
dance/sapphire
dancifier
or in adult speak,
a choreographer

her dance style
is free
of the closed
adult imagination
and is lovingly
dedicated to her
hero,

Michael Jackson.

love him or not
he was the king of dance.

no one
No One
danced
like Michael jackson.

i love dancing.
and yes, i know
i’m a very good dancer
Freyja, being a goddess
is a Very Very good
dancer. the best
grade two dancing
goddess of
love, fertility and spring.

so, we’re listening to In Flight Safety’s
music on their website
and
i’m not into it
it’s shoe/gaze

“what’s shoe,gaze?” the goddess asks.
i show her my bare feet
and i suddenly blurt
“toe gaze!”
as i look at my freshly
painted toenails,
you see the goddesses’
second wish of 3
is to paint everybody’s toes
in the world and her daddy
has refused, so i said yes
basically because
i love her
and know there is nail polish
remover handy.

i like the bright,day,glow
colours, oranges and blues
and yellow, green
but more her little added
designs
red dots on the toes of
my right foot and red lines
on my left!
she’s awesome!
my toenails look
incredible

so i’m thinking i know i can dance
to one of the openers
Said The Whale
from Vancouver
i love them

I Love their crazy fun
song This City’s A Mess
and i showed Freyja the video
dancing bears and alligators
moose etc
she Loves the video
and me too
in fact the videos on their myspace
are all fun
animation
and the dancing animals appear
in row bots in another one!

but who can dance to toe
gaze?

well, Freyja can and she shows me how
i dub it her
squiggle dance
she’s beautiful.

i wish i was in grade two again
so i could be her
dance partner

i didn’t use
Freyja’s dance/sapphire
moves, but i enjoyed
the toe gaze of In Flight Safety
as they blasted
through their set at the
El Mocambo
and i must add
i love the red curtains
draping the wall behind
the musicians, like
a David Lynch
red velvet
touch.

so, live the toe gaze
is fine.

Now, Said The Whale
when they stop in Winnipeg
i go and I Dance!

i’m usually the first one moving it
and alone for 3,4,5 songs
but at The El
and yes, yesterday at Lee’s
i wasn’t
didn’t have that burden

Toronto
music lovers
Thank You
you dance!
beautifully!

15 songs in 50 minutes
give or take a few minutes

Emerald
This City’s A Mess
Love/Sleep
Orient
The Light Is You
My Government Heart
Holly
New Brighton (brand new)
Shield
False Creek Change
Curse of the Currents
Camilo
Goodnight

peter carruthers, bass
spencer schoening
jacelyn brown, keys
ben worcester and tyler bancroft
vocals and guitars

jacelyn’s stunning new
red dress was topic for
between song chat
oh my! and those red shoes
that the angels wanna wear
(elvis costello)

knowing guttersnipe’s fondness
for shoe shots
after the set, i came up to her
jace and her face lit
in a smile when she recognized
me from Winnipeg shows
and i complimented her on
her dress and shoes and asked
if our photographer, Amber,
could snap some shots of those
dancing shoes,
and she said Yes!

then i talked to spencer
about drummers
his favorites are the drummers
from Bend Sinister
and Yukon Blonde

we talked about dancers and how much
better he plays when they’re there
moving
inspiring and firing his soul
and i mentioned that Amber
mentioned how his face beams
that smile!
when he’s playing
and jace chimes
that she always looks back
and smiles to him
when he’s having that much fun.

spencer’s great.
if you can’t dance
to spencer’s beats
you’re not alive.

i look forward
(always)
to their next Winnipeg
appearance
opening for Plants and Animals
at The WECC
April 28th.

there El Mocambo
set was hot
and moved the audience
into instant
dance.

as for
Fryeja the dancing goddess
she continues
to invent moves,

and last night
with her goddess powers
and my toenails
she made me a girl
for a few hours
so i could read
her for girls only
book,

we made the ultimate paper airplane
you know
the one that looks like a small
tube
read about scary things
and had lots of fun,
until daddy came home
from working on a movie.

then she turned me
back into a boy,
er, man.

and here i am,
your guttersnipe man
in Toronto,
Nada Surf tonight
at Lee’s.

Said The Whale
In Flight Safety
El Mocambo
march 28.