Band news of two sorts

First, the not-at-all bad news. I went to a barbecue at our friends Carol and Charles. Carol's brother is visiting, and he's friends with some really tall dude, who is the fiance of Marika Anthony-Shaw, who plays with Arcade Fire, which I've started calling the biggest Montreal band since April Wine - although Men Without Hats might throw its collective hat into the ring, had it one.

So Marika was at the party, too, blowing off a few hours before flying to Belgium on band-related business. Carol and Charles live five minutes from the airport. Marika called bandmate Richard Parry and learned he was already at the airport with nothing to do. She invited him over and went to pick him up.

That's my celebrity encounter and name-dropping this week. It was a pleasant enough night, ruined only slightly by one of Carol's starstruck neighbours who asked Richard defiantly important questions like "Are you happy?"

I was particularly happy for Elvi that these musicians came. She appreciates Arcade Fire more than I do and she wants to find a band to play with.

"What?", I hear the masses ask.

Yes, the Disciples of Ursula Big Band is no more. Bandleader Clement cut the band down to eight people and fired the rest, including Elvi. After nine years, he is turning what's left of DUBB into a back-up band for his singer (and wife).

Elvi wants to keep playing, but she didn't have much hope of finding a band that needed a clarinet. Marika, however, told her that there are lots of bands looking for clarinets and similar instruments. I hope she can find a new band with people as freindly and comfortable as DUBB was.

Bonus explanation of the impending flood of posts:

The FTP function of my host server is wonky. As soon as its fixed, all these posts I've written will flood it and the RSS feeds. Sorry about that.