Peg Life Vol. 15

Winter came on quick, like a shot in the back or a kick in the face. Everyone knew it was coming but no one suspected it. Even after the initial shock it didn't prevent hundreds of adolescent girls from donning midriff shirts and miniskirts in order to impress god knows who while attending Gwen Stefani's performance at the MTS Centre. In three days concerts at that venue have managed to break several records in my experience. While Nine Inch Nails was certainly louder in sheer volume Gwen Stefani's show (or rather the audience in attendance) was the most ear piercingly shrill thing I have had occasion to sit through. I had the misfortune of sitting directly in front of a girl who apparently took great pride in her ability to whistle at frequencies usually reserved for calling dogs or viewing fetuses in utero. While this audience could only come in at a tie at best with the NIN audience for amount of eye liner they did collectively bring enough sparkle makeup to paint a Cessna. The ratio of females to males was easily 4:1 and though it is improbable I would not doubt it if I was the only guy who was there alone. Whatever this says about me is surely irrelevant, so don't bother bringing it up. I paid my sixty bucks to see M.I.A. and I did. And it was enjoyable. Though it most likely would have been more so if the setting had been a warehouse full of people on ecstasy. Nevertheless, jumping at the rare opportunity to see one of my favorite British musical acts live has left me with no regrets. I even considered purchasing some merch, but I simply couldn't justify spending $40 on a t-shirt. I thought about asking "What can I get for 10 dollar" but I didn't think anyone would even get it, much less reply "Anyting you want." So I had to settle for simply hearing that from Maya Arulpragasam. As for the headliner herself, she put on a good show. It was very elaborate, though less stunning than NIN's eschatonic spectacular. There was some very impressive break dancing, however. And speaking of impressive moves, go here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6243945917683426336&q=joe+eigo I assure you you will either say or at least think "Holy shit." And speaking of shit, I was amused by the number of times Gwen Stefani said "fuck." Or "fucking" to be more precise. But she could have said she was a Bolshevik space monkey while baboons riffled through her platinum blonde coif and still have had complete control of the audience. Disappointingly, she did not do that. It was nice of her to bring a bunch of the audience up onto the stage during the finale of Hollaback Girl, though. I'm sure they were thrilled. They probably chattered about it constantly the whole ride home. As for me, I got on the bus and came back to an empty apartment to write this email... Oh god, I'm so alone. And that concludes this issue of Peg Life. As of right now, I've decided to put the mailings on hiatus for a bit. Why? I have my reasons. And no, it's not JUST because I bought a Playstation. If enough people tell me not to stop, then I'll reconsider but otherwise it may be a while before volume 16. So all you sniveling indie kids, HOLD STEADY!

Tony Hawkins recommends asking Trevor what that last line references