Wanna play some cub covers?

This is an absolute long shot, friends, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

Some years ago, I got together with a coupla guys ... a drummer and keyboard player ... and we'd jam in the basement. And since we were not virtuoso musicians, we ended up playing a lot of cub songs.

I miss that.

So, I'm wondering -- is there anyone in the Halifax area who might be interested in getting together to jam on some cub tunes some time? Drop me a note.

I also enjoy Ween and They Might Be Giants if anyone'd like to give those a whack.

Robynn's book of artwork is out now!

Got a note from Robynn:

hi everyone -

yes, i know i'm dropping in on some of you from waaaay out of the blue.
hope this missive finds you well!

just wanted to let you know that my first book of artwork is finally done.

the details are here...

http://splendorganum.blogspot.com/

Wassat? Here you go:

SPLENDORGANUM : PLANT AUTOGRAPHS AND THEIR REVELATIONS
a book of hand-drawn images by Robynn Iwata

35 images drawn freehand in archival ink and pencil
on bristol board, origami and kraft paper.

40 full colour pages.

clothbound hardcover with dustjacket $36.
perfectbound softcover $24.

published may 2010 by mesmer detector, ltd.

Shout-out from the cub crew; more pics at MySpace

Many heartfelt thanks to Lisa G and Robynn for the nice notes, and for the plug at the cub MySpace page. Thanks also to Mint Records for passing word to the band.

Hey, if you haven't taken a good long look at cub's MySpace site, you should! I've always found MySpace to be ugly and awkward, especially since I don't have a MySpace login -- I feel like the sites are telling me to go away. But there's some good stuff in there!

I just heard a cub song I'd never heard before: TJ. I found it on the pop-up player.

Also, if you like show flyers, cub has a whole pile of them posted! I know I had a cub poster or two on my fridge for years in the 1990s. If I ever find them again, I'll scan them and add them, for sure.

Wow, there's a lot of photo material over there, actually! I'd love to snarf it all and put it up here, but that'd feel inappropriate somehow. Instead, I invite you to check it out on MySpace.

Thanks again, and watch for more goodies here as I find them.

And folks, if you have videos, photos, covers, merch pics -- anything -- send me a note and I'll figure out a way to get it up here. And if you can't figure out how to send a note (my email address may be buried somewhere to avoid spambots), just comment on a post and I'll probably get it.

Cheerio!

What ever happened to ... original cub drummer Valeria?

Valeria's always been a bit of a mystery, huh? She played on cub's first album, but when she left the band, Neko Case filled in on tour, and of course Lisa G was on the throne 'til the end. So what's the story on Valeria?

Well. "Valeria Fellini" remained an artist and a contributor to Vancouver's artistic scene. Here's one of her pictures, dubbed "The Unwitting Darwinist":

(Source: http://www.thetartgallery.com/furfauxpas.html)

But perhaps most famously, she made candy! Cub fans from the early days probably remember Valeria's handmade chocolates being tossed to the crowd.

Valeria Finnigan ran one of Vancouver's most beloved historic candy shops, Lee's Candies. She dished out mint truffles and some legendary chocolate concoctions produced in rare and historic chocolate molds, until fire destroyed the building in 2007:

Fire wrecks westside landmark
The Province
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Fire has destroyed a sweet piece of Vancouver's heritage.

The Lee's Candies shop in the 4300-block of West 10th was left a smoldering pile of charred rubble after fire tore through it and two neighbouring businesses in the same building Tuesday night.

It took at least 60 firefighters five hours to knock the flames down. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries, one a suspected broken ankle.

Residents in the building fled. Tenants in a nearby apartment block had to be evacuated because of water damage, while three homes across the lane were flooded by oily water running off the smoking wood-framed building.

By dawn, Lee's, furniture store Form and Function and design shop Residence Interiors were completely destroyed. Battalion Chief Kelly Mullin said the four-alarm fire was a very difficult fight.

"There were false ceiling in the structure that allowed the fire to travel," he said. "It was extremely intense."

"The fire damage and the fire load [available fuel for the flames to consume] in there was tremendous."

Crews attacked the fire from inside then withdrew when the building structure weakened. The roof eventually collapsed.

Lee's owner Valeria Finnigan was too distraught to speak to The Province when she arrived to see the damage for herself. Her friend Karen Chandler said the "quaint" little shop with old candy molds dating back to the 1920s will be sorely missed. It's been producing handmade candies and chocolates from the same tiny location since 1950.

"My mum worked there. My sister worked there," Chandler recalled. "They were the best candies. Now that it's gone, it's really a sad thing. Hopefully, she'll be able to rebuild."

Finnigan herself used to work at Lee's as a candy maker and continued churning out his recipes using antique scales, vintage stoves, mixers and huge copper bowls.

Fire department Capt. Rob Jones-Cook said it's too early to say what caused the fire, though early indications are the blaze was not deliberately set.

(Source: Dan Toulgoet at http://archive.vancourier.com/issues07/033107/news/033107nn7.html)

More about the fire and Valeria's history at the store in an article in the Van Courier's archives.

What's she up to, three years later? I don't know. We know she rocked the kit in the early days and could do magic with chocolate, but other than that, she remains a mystery to me.