"Sewer main work will be done on your street over the following week," the flyer slipped under my door read. "Please do not flush your toilet between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. There are four men working down there, and they've got problems of their own."
They've got problems? At least the City Engineering Dept. saw fit to supply them with a port-a-potty just like the dozen already lining my block. Sometimes I feel like I'm at the world's longest outdoor music festival and Einstuerzende Neubauten is the only act who showed up.
Oh well, better them than the Spin Doctors. There's a concert I'm glad I've mostly forgotten.
The good thing about not being able to use the toilet during the few hours I'm both awake and at home is that I've quit drinking coffee. During the time I'm both awake and at home, at least.
Quitting coffee in the early part of the day has been surprisingly easy. I had a few days full of headaches, but that's about it. Over the last month, I've gone from about eight cups a day to no more than two. And when I do sip it, I make sure it's a good cup of coffee. I've grown quite fond of Our Town at Broadway and Kingsway, just up from Main. There's a lot of places to get some coffee around there, which also happens to be a transit hub, so, like, ace. Lugz is also very excellent. But here's what has me head over heels for Our Town: they serve your Americano in two containers. One has your shot of espresso, which is rich and velvety, the other is a small metal creamer with your hot water. So you get to mix the water and espresso yourself. It's like being God.
Speaking of East(ish) Vancouver, The Great Outdoors are playing tonight at the Biltmore. They've a got a new EP coming out on April 29 called Spring. The Great Outdoors is a sprawling collective led by the unlikely-named Adam Nation, who just might be the personification of gregarious. They make ambitious art-folk that's usually not as dire as the term ambitious art-folk sounds. "Spring Flower", the track we bring you today, is just about a perfect song. Its terrific dynamics, including some of the best swells and multi-voice back-ups you're gonna hear this month, are gonna fill you with all those spring-y feelings of optimism and openness.
If you can't make to the Biltmore tonight, you can catch one iteration or another of the Great Outdoors three times in May:
May 3 at the Princeton Pub
May 16 at the Railway
May 17 at Logan's in Victoria
mp3: "Spring Flower" by The Great Outdoors
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