Buckets of speed, buckets of vodka by KRISTA As I was leafing through the latest copy of Jockey Slut magazine, I came across a rather informative article entitled "Legal Drugs Which Kill More People Per Year Than Any Illegal Drugs Combined." It contains some pretty scary statistics that I'm sure would be of interest to advocates of legalization. I'm not exactly pro-drugs, but I find the amount of disinformation fed to people about the (long- and short-term) effects of illegal substances versus legal substances to be downright wacky. Of course, snorting a bucket full of speed every day is going to kill you, but so will drinking a bucket full of vodka. The unfortunate result of proposed legalization is the issue of government regulation and all that silly business. But I'm not convinced that we wouldn't all be better off if we didn't have to go sneaking around. At the risk of sounding trite, the most important thing is just to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. After all, there's nothing wrong with wanting to expand your mind. I made a little mistake last week when I told you that DJ Bettina would be playing at Jaï bar this Friday. The correct date is Friday, September 4 (next Friday), and she will joined by Conrad of the U.K.'s Idjut Boys. FYI, Bettina has started her own label called People, which she operates from her now-native London (it's quite good). You can pick up some of the releases at Inbeat. It looks like Jaï is the alternate option if you're not interested in going to Cream next weekend. On Saturday, September 5, Toronto's Andy Roberts will play at Jaï with Fred Everything (right before he leaves to play at Sona). While we're on the subject of Cream, I received my press kit at the press conference the other day (open bar at two in the afternoon is a really dangerous thing), and was surprised to find a very informative and helpful pack of information, but without any mention of local artists. Strange... Mixmaster Morris, Amon Tobin and Spacetime Continuum (Jonah Sharp), alchemists of things weird and relatively chill, will be landing in Montreal on October 2 as part of their North American tour. The scheduled venue is new afterhours spot Stereo, which is supposed to open at the end of September. Last but not least, rumour has it that Double 'A' and Twist will be passing through town for a day or two in mid-September, as will Deep Dish. Fun Fun Fun. You can e-mail krista at secondnature98@hotmail.com