After almost 2 whole years I figured it was time Quoperative got a facelift.  Technically I figured it was about time for a facelift a year ago and I spent what seemed like months (most likely because it was months) trying to get the blog posts on the home page to lay out like perfectly-formatted newspaper columns.  After fucking around and trying to get it to work about a hundred different ways I gave up and set my sights a bit lower.  The way I see it, why shoot for the stars when you don’t have to?  That’s become my new mantra.

So just so you know… the homepage (cleverly labeled ‘fresh’ in the menu) now includes my blog posts, flickr photos, artwork and tweets — all intertwined chronologically into a continuous river of Steve… wow!

I also updated my work and posted a couple of paintings I did in the summer (photographed horribly by yours truly).

If you like to run, this is you new favourite running track. If you like to dance, this is your new favourite dancing track. If you like to rock, then what the fuck are you waiting for? Hit play!

Anyone who gets a word tattooed across their foreheads should probably have their head examined regardless of what the word is. But if that word is “racist”, well they should probably just be shoved into a rocket and sent to another planet to live by themselves.

LIFE Goes Inside Today’s KKK

Looks like the verdict has finally come in and it’s bad news for the Pirate Bay — guilty.  While this is definitely a landmark case in the realm of piracy, torrents and the distribution of copyrighted materials, it’s expected that the defendents will appeal the decision and that it could be years until the final decision is made.

It’s interesting to note that the guys behind Pirate Bay were convicted on “intent” rather than on the technical workings of the site.  I’m no lawyer, but I think that’s always been the legal safety net for the webmasters in these situations — dubbed the “King Kong defense”. Since they’re not actually storing the copyrighted materials on their servers or initiating the transfers they aren’t committing any crime. The users are. According to them, at least.

If this verdict sticks then maybe we’ll see Canadian and American courts taking notice. I’m sure they’d just love to put the screws to those pirates.

SxSW 2009 is over. I’m back to the usual grind of NOT seeing fifty bands and drinking twelve beers a day. Or was it twelve bands and fifty beers? I wish I could remember. Fortunately I was documenting the experience by updating Facebook about every 5 minutes with a blow-by-blow account of the every mundane detail of my time in Texas.  I’m sure those of you that un-friended me for melting down your friend feed know what I’m talking about.

So here’s a quick recap in nature’s most lazy format… list form!

Bands that I had never heard of but discovered were awesome

• The Fresh & Onlys San Francisco, CA
• Blackholicus Austin, TX (listen to this band… and then think that the girl fronting the band is like 4’6″ tall and just SLAYS on bass)
• Capsula Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Thee oh Sees San Francisco, CA

Bands that I either knew or suspected were awesome and verified them as such

• Steel Panther Hollywood, CA (incidentally the best show by far… PS. here’s a video of Justin from the Darkness joining them on stage… PPS. Satchel is one of the most talented guitarists I’ve ever seen)
• Brimstone Howl Omaha, NB
• King Kahn & the Shrines Germany via Montreal
• Telepathic Butterflies Winnipeg, MB

I totally screwed the pooch and missed seeing these bands (despite 2 of them playing 4+ times during the weekend… how did I manage to do that?)

• Glasvegas Glasgow, Scotland
• Black Lips Atlanta, GA
• Priestess Montreal, QC

Some photos that I didn’t take… but I was there!

The Fresh & Onlys at Beer Land

Capsula at Agave

King Kahn & the Shrines at El Sol y La Luna

Priestess at El Sol y La Luna

Chart will continue to exist exclusively online as they’ve decided to focus all their efforts on running the fancy shmants new ChartAttack.com.

Now, I’m all for technology and reducing waste (as evidenced by my new low emissions vehicle) but I’m kind of bummed to see the printed mag fall by the wayside.  It’s especially a bummer given the fact that I’m not too big a fan of the new Chart site.  Which is extra unfortunate considering it took them like 280 years to build it.  Guess we’ll be stuck with this one until the next millennium.

And for extra salt in the wound… why the hell did you have to put these ass-clowns on the cover of the LAST ISSUE EVER? Way a mediocre way to cap the run of a pretty damn good magazine.