without warning, the wizard walks by, casting his shadow, weaving his spells, funny clothes, tinkling bells

Last night I finally saw one of my favourite bands, Black Mountain, live and was just as un-disappointed as I had been with P-Funk. Definitely a different vibe though. Black Mountain is heavy, classic rock, like Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin. They've opened for Coldplay, which is, in my mind, an absolutely ridiculous match. Imagine going to a show, having the opening band split your fucking brains open with heavy trippiness and then having to sit through the same whimpery song (pretty much) over and over and over.
Anyway, the concert was held in a small, old church and the venue alone was killer. During the opening acts (The Whigs, pretty good, not my thing though; and Johnny & the Moon, by that point, I just wanted Black Mountain), members of Black Mountain were wandering around the audience and no one seemed to be recognizing them. Myself, being, of course, the ultimate starstruck fangirl, had to approach the keyboardist (Jeremy Schmidt) hanging out a couple pews back and ask for an autograph. He seemed really taken aback at being recognized, harassed and asked for an autograph, but he signed my address book. He asked my name, and if I lived around here, and I told him that "Wucan" was one the greatest songs I'd ever heard in my life (seriously, listen to it right now, and thank me later) and then decided I'd been lame long enough and went back to the front pew where Nicola and I were sitting. There we had one of our hourly discussion about how great life is and how lucky we are. (Nicola hadn't approached him with me because she has way more dignity than I do)
Right before Black Mountain was going to go onstage, he came back over to talk to me and I asked him why "Wucan" is called "Wucan", and he told me they never tell the press but he told us and swore us to secrecy. Obviously, I was a little bit in love at this point. Then they changed the lights from red to blue (just as I had been hoping they would) and Black Mountain started. The greatness of the concert can be demonstrated by my current hearing, or lack thereof. They played all my favourites of theirs, and sounded alternately just as a good as on LP and better. For the first part of the concert, I was sitting on the stage but then I had to go off to the back part of the church where no one was to dance and flail and whatnot. All in all, I had an absolutely fantastic time, please take the opportunity to see them if you're into rock music at all and they come your way. Afterwards, we talked more with Jeremy, about Vancouver (his hometown) and Rocket Robin Hood, just general chat and then we left, and had another discussion about how much we loved life on the bus.
In other Nicola-related-news, she's added a bunch of really awesome items to her online vintage store. We both absolutely love peacocks, especially as inspiration for clothing, and this bag is really amazing. Fringe and peacock...how could you go wrong??

The beauty of this piece is that it can be a wrap skirt or dress. The ethnic style is eternally bohemian or simply trendy.
I'm actually madly in love with this ethnic dashiki, and if it wasn't too big for me, I'd definitely buy it for myself. Props to Kayla Hyne for her mad modelling skills.
If you're into vintage at all, this is definitely worth checking out.