The Right Are Wrong!

A strange trend that has been going on with increasing frequency is that of right wing ideologues running for public office on the platform of reducing government. One would think that if someone thought a certain entity were too large, the best way to decrease its size would not be to join it. That’s like hating food and wanting to be a cook in a restaurant and wanting to get rid of the dishwasher and the waiters; or hating music and wanting to be a member of an orchestra to petition for the removal of the horn section and the percussion.

Obviously these ideologues think the best way to change an organization is from within. Once inside, they can sabotage it more effectively and reduce its ability to function, thereby ‘proving’ the incompetence of the government. It is a malicious ideology and one that should alert voters to the possessor’s nefarious intentions.

I speak of people like Rob Ford, Thatcher, Reagan, the Bush dynasty and virtually all candidates of the last thirty years put forth by the Conservative parties in Canada and the U.K. and the Republicans in the U.S.A.

They are under the impression that as population grows and inflation rises, the expense of keeping a society together should fall. Any child who passed third grade math should understand that that makes no sense. Until we outsource our roadwork, schools, armies and everything else that falls under the heading of ‘government’ to India or China (an impossibility), the cost of running a government and keeping people comfortable should only rise. This fact alone would prevent any sensible person for voting for ideologues who say that government needs to be reduced as its workload increases. Unfortunately, ideologues are more common than sensible people. The election of the aforementioned parties proves that.  

People have vast and tolerance for inconvenience when it is labeled as convenience. There are cities in the world where it is normal to sit in traffic for hours each day and people put up with it and say they have no choice. Little support exists for a change to rail systems that would necessitate a bit of walking and the loss of their ‘privacy’ but would ultimately save time and money. People would rather sit in their car with their music and move at two kilometers per hour and thirty cents a kilometer. The price varies, the average speed of traffic jams doesn’t.

Forgive my cynicism but it seems to take major catastrophes for most people to want to fix something whose broken nature is already apparent.  Bah…I am going for a bike ride! 

George Orwell

Having just read Down and Out in Paris and London, I can say that despite the harsh reality of modern working class life, it is so much better than George had it during his pre-famous-writer-days. Does anyone who works sixteen hours a day six days a week and still have to live in one room and share a bed with one person and thousands of bugs? Not as much as they used to. Life was an endless struggle against cold and hunger in his Paris days. Sixteen hour days at the hotel consumed his life for almost a year. The lure of home brought Orwell back to England and saw him living as a tramp. He finally stayed with his sister and wrote the now legendary book. From there he went on to work at the BBC, later becoming a world famous writer who inspired many generations.

In many ways, he was ahead of his time. Not only did he accurately predict the security hysteria that fascist governments around the world employ to undermine liberty, as well as their methods of propaganda, he foretold the actions of today's twenty and thirty-somethings by laughing in the face of property ownership. He moved back home as increasing numbers of recently graduated students are doing. He lived for the moment, remaining true to his convictions even though it made his life difficult and cost him health, wealth and longevity.

To French red wine, Spanish white wine, English beer and strong tea.

Devo at Dundas Square

Devo played on Saturday night at Dundas Square. Once again, the sound was great, the streets and square were full. At the moment I haven't got a bike lock or a bike that I feel comfortable locking up in public. So, I had to stand with my bike. After a few forays to the east side of Yonge, I picked a spot on the relatively uncrowded southwest corner of Yonge and Dundas, resigning myself to watching the show on the big screens. Certainly, it was not as deafening as the east side of Yonge but it was still loud. I almost put my ear plugs in but I abstained.

       Their performance was super tight. They must be able to play these songs in their sleep after more than 30 years of being a band. I can't imagine they get too excited to play the same songs they always play but their blasé faces and robot like facade lend an air of reassuring sincerity to the concert. They take it very seriously. They don't get excited. Banter with the crowd is pretty minimal.  The main thing is the songs are great and they perform them with great precision and I would say, a large measure of dispassion. Their vibe demands a lack of emotional connection and simple technical adherence to patterns and playing your part in the larger context of the band.

       They seem to have picked up the quick costume changes of Noh theatre. Did they start off wearing ten layers? I never saw them doffing or tossing garments but I was also spending a fair bit of time watching all the people stroll by. Almost every song had a different outfit. I especially liked the elastic, patella-encircling garters of the last songs. Yellow raincoat-like shirts, grey long sleeve luge shirts,  It looks like they are sponsored by Adidas now. Very athletic, light fabrics for the most part.    

The crowd was well behaved and very smokeless compared to the Thursday show. Way to go Devo. We probably won't cross paths again but you guys were great.

First Outdoor Concert of 2011

Fucked Up (8pm), Off! (9pm) and The Descendents (10pm) played at Dundas Square tonight. It was one of the nightly free shows put on by NXNE. Thank you NXNE and the aforementioned bands. What a difference the sound man makes. From the echo-y imprecise canyon of Fucked Up's sound to the crisp, CD-like sound of Off! was about as far a leap as sound can take.  All the bands gave excellent performances. Fucked Up's singer was touring the crowd for the whole set, taking it to the people. He knows how to work a crowd. Off! played short tight bursts of furious punk. It reminded me that I haven't seen a band that heavy in too long a time. I don't get out like I used to.

            For some reason they couldn't co-ordinate the picture on the big screen with the sound. On the screen there were a lot of perfectly timed shots of interactions between the singers and the crowd. It couldn't have been timed better by a director. Some of FU's most ardent fans are a sight to behold on the jumbo screen. Larger than life and a warning to all about over indulgence in punk rock living. Not the beautiful people suffice to say.

          I didn't really know the Descendents catalogue until tonight.  For variety there was a section with the singer's kids reading the 'Commandments of All'!  The routine, complete with one large tablet á la Moses, was peppered by 6/8 dissonant melodies and punches that were flawless and made me think they were going to break into some schmaltzy jazz as a joke. Lucky kids, going on tour with their punk rock Dad.

          No jokes but lots of smokes. It was like the old club days, all the stinky cigarette smoke. Unlike a  club, you aren't "allowed" to drink at Dundas Square. Everyone was. Simply everyone. And all so well behaved. It gives me hope for mankind.  A security guard came to my friend and said  "I won't take your drink but you have to drink it fast." Never mind the chillum circle going right next to us. An awesome night, especially for the budget-conscious. Look for twice the people and four times the number of people wearing glasses at Devo on Saturday.

The singer from the Decendents said that he thought he was in Times Square or Japan as he surveyed Yonge and Dundas and the assembled at twilight. Does that meant that our efforts to Times Square-ify the intersection have not been in vain? The square may not be level but at least they can put a stage on it and have concerts like this in the summer.

Anti-war poem

Trillions for the war

Only millions for the poor

It sounds like a lot but they need much  more

That works out to a dollar thirty four

For every child who can barely eat.

We make a million bullets for the Middle East

We’d rather build a prison

Than teach kids how to listen

It happens again and again.

History is forgotten

It doesn’t ever change

Some people are just rotten

It used to be that Kings would send

their armies in search of booty

Now they send them out for oil

And call it their patriotic duty.

We’ve got to nip this in the bud

We must stain the land with blood

We’ll profit from their toil

We will not share the spoils

War has always been a form of theft

Take until there’s nothing left

Plunder and then go back home

Leaving wreckage and tombstones

The profiteers should be in jail

No heat, bad light, no goddam bail

They can’t be punished enough

Why do they do such awful stuff?

The riches go the crooks on top

A flag comes home to Mom and Pop.

Soldiers shafted for all their pain

Its not enough to just wash their brain

They were only eighteen, no money for school

Once we’re older we’re harder to fool.

 The worst heat you’ve ever felt.

And you are supposed to wage war.

It must scramble your brain being in that heat. 

I can’t take much over 34.

A Year of near death

Then they send you home

Or maybe you’re still needed

In the combat zone

Afraid to drive the roads

Cause everything explodes.

This isn’t the way I remember

Playing with G.I..Joes

Contact Photography Festival

There are a ton of gallery openings going on this weekend around the Junction. Saturday night to be precise. 6-9 pm is the timeframe for visiting 20 or so galleries on Dundas between Annette and a few blocks west of Keele. I saw a bunch of great shows on Queen Street last night. There were a lot of people-less photographs. The presence of people in photographs brings an energy to them which makes them preferable to me. Which raises the question: Why don't my photos have more people in them? Answer: Because I don't want to invade their privacy or take their photo without permission. Once they know they are being photographed, the spontaneity, and the quality of the photo, is lost. Nonetheless, all the photos last night were well worth the walk to see them.  I also saw some cool paintings by an artist named Joe Fleming. I could see those being put up in the big modern art museums of the world in the near future. I know few will read this and my one follower who is in England, bless you Molly, will assuredly not be attending. If you do get this message, I urge you to trek west beyond the glamour of Queen or Bloor Street and check out Toronto's biggest photographic night.

May 2 - Vote NDP or Green...please!!!!!

         Election day is tomorrow. Despite all the positive news about the Tories falling in popularity and the NDP surge there is not really much chance that the people of Canada will be much better off. The TTC will not be receiving Federal money commensurate with its importance in the function of Canada's biggest city. Now that the auto plants around the GTA have been laying off thousands of people for years, isn't it time to stop obeying their wishes to eliminate public transit? It will continue to be under funded and over crowded. Hundreds of thousands of votes for the Green party will result in, at most, one seat in Parliament. Tens of thousands of rural votes will fill dozens of seats with more water-treaders. Victims of the G20 debacle (that is to say all Canadians) will receive no compensation, embezzling developers will not go to jail for skimming money off of federally funded construction projects. Oil extraction from the Tar Sands will continue to pollute Alberta for the benefit of a money-worshipping minority who deny the existence or significance of pollution.
      On the positive side: I think I am going to record some really great music that just might launch a new genre and make me rich. It's a shame the future isn't looking as bright for the rest of the world. I jest. All our futures are linked.
     Now get out and VOTE! Just don't expect too much.  

4 Hombres- All your favourite bands in one

         As we are well aware, popular music is  in a sorry state. Auto-tuning has replaced singing as the focus of popular music. Marketing has replaced musicianship as the foundation of commercial success. Bands who deserve, if only for their longevity and musicianship, the adulation of a larger audience play small clubs for $20 or less while teenagers with one record out, written by someone else, charge over $100 for a ticket to see them in some stadium.
         A dwindling number of people remain moved and excited by performances of music by musicians. Such people would be pleased to cross the path of the 4 hombres. Presumably named for ZZ Top's album Tres Hombres. Their revue of classic rock hits will surely touch on a few of your favourite bands. They mostly avoid the overplayed songs and choose more obscure but still famous songs by ZZ Top, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream and other titans of the 60's and 70's. You can usually catch them at Opera Bob's on College east of Ossington whenever they make one of their quarterly or so appearances. Keep your eyes peeled. All those bands you never thought you would see? You won't see them but you will hear them. And, they usually don't charge a cover. Such a  distaste for marketing almost guarantees their continued obscurity.
         I was lucky enough to see the lads belt it out over two long sets last night. The bar was empty. The sound was good. The harmonies were sweet and flawless. To have a band of this quality play your private party would cost at least $1,000.00. To be able to see them live for free proves that we are truly fortunate to live in Toronto. And that private parties are decadent (good) and not the most efficient way to see bands. I wish it was more profitable for the band and they were getting the adulation of a deserved grateful audience but they do it for the love of music. That is what live performance and music in general should be about.
        People accustomed to herd music bereft of imagination may never know what they are missing. Just as people long-fed Kraft Dinner and McDonald's can develop a yen for the noxious nourishment even when better food is available, so too can the ear of the under-exposed remain addicted to the generic strains of the swill that fills the airwaves and rules youtube. Why do some Led Zeppelin songs have half a million hits when J----- B----- songs have half a BILLION?! Surely, it is something to do with the fact that most Zeppelin fans already have copies of their legendary works on CD and LP, they are older and less youtube-addicted. The young'uns may someday learn the error of their ways. The bright spot is that you will be able to get in to a 4 Hombres show for free. Or at least less than ten dollars. And no teeny boppers will scream in your ear. Viva!  
      

The Latest Brit Bands

While I was in London in February, I worked for a few weeks at a recording studio. The house engineers and producers were busily churning out song after song, video after video. I realized at the time that they were a special group of blokes and birds. Due to other complications, I couldn't stay in London so my time with them was brief but enjoyable and educational. Musically, we differed in taste and experience. If you know me then you know I am a dyed in the wool rock n' roller but I was very inspired by their work ethic and perfectionism. I just checked out some of their videos on youtube and I thought I would share them with you. I hope you like.
L.I.A. (Life Imitates Art) http://www.youtube.com/user/LifeImitatesArtTV?blend=1&ob=5
Sky Adams - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnJsX-rQ3vg
Femii Thai - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQYSQgFdV80&feature=related
Little Dee - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOkRTgMwums
Snatchy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-mF7AG87o
Thanks to all the artists for letting me sit in and learn. Keep up the good work.

Martin Amis- Give him a read!

     Anyone who has spent more than twenty minutes with me in the last half a year has heard about my admiration for Martin Amis. He is the Nomeansno of writers. He keeps on going for decades without losing his wit or relevance. The last writer who awoke such interest in reading in me was Hunter Thompson. Thompson was a journalist. Amis is primarily a novelist but also a journalist if he wants to be. His ability to translate feeling into words is, in my under-read opinion, unsurpassed. Yellow Dog is the last book I read of Amis's. I am trying to read his entire canon. At times I get confused and don't understand what is going on but the writing is so evocative and poetic that I enjoy it nonetheless. After a few uncertain paragraphs the meaning and the story reassert themselves. No matter what he writes about, he makes it interesting. Just keep a dictionary handy. Concurrently with reading all of his books, I shall read the writers he most admires: Nabokov, Saul Bellow, John Updike. I will even try to read some Shakespeare. I have tried and I couldn't understand it.  If anyone has any recommendations of books that they loved, please tell me what they were.
Thanks.

Photos of London

                                              Cross Cultural Love

                                                  Gas Holder

                                            Westbourne Park Road

                                           Battersea Power Station

                                           Paddington Station

                                           Columbia Road

Photos of London

                                            Outside Angel station at night

A trip to Toronto. Come visit. There is lots of room.

           Toronto is a late rising city. Most shops don’t open until 10 or 11 a.m. The worker bees are in their hives by nine but since you are coming here on holiday, sleep in.  If you do like getting up early, or you are jet-lagged, go to the Mars, Toronto’s oldest greasy spoon on College Street at Bathurst. Jimmy has been working the grill for 30+ years. Classic greasy spoon food. Around the corner is a more recent take on the diner. A bit pricier with  higher quality ingredients, Auntie’s and Uncles makes great breakfasts.  You are now only three blocks away from Kensington Market. 

           On the way to the Market, check out She Said Boom for used books, records, CDs

          Just to make sure you don’t miss the best thing about the city, go to the coolest neighborhood first: Kensington Market. Bordered by College, Dundas, Bathurst and Spadina, the Market is the ideal big city hangout. It has restaurants, food shops, cafés, used clothing stores galore. Virtually all the stores are independently owned. When McD-----‘s wanted to invade the market, the locals protested and wrote letters in sufficient numbers to stop them. The last Sunday of every month from April to November is Car free day in the Market. Bands play outside, merchants set up street booths and the streets are packed with people reveling in one of Toronto’s fleeting pedestrian zones.

           If you love deli food, you owe yourself a lunch at Caplansky’s Deli. On the northern boundary of Kensington Market  (College at Brunswick), you will find Toronto’s best Jewish deli. Fabulous smoked meat. salami, lox, cole-slaw and a wide selection of mustards. The deli platter for two is really enough for 3-4 meat lovers.

           Porchetta & Co. on Dundas at Palmerston is a new business that has been selling their porchetta sandwiches, soup and beans ham over fist since opening at the beginning of 2011. They are destined to be the favorite sandwich outlet of all non-vegetarians. This could be the next franchise in the city.

          For vegetarians, Toronto is a very welcoming city. Akram’s, 191 Baldwin St. in Kensington Market, is one of the best deals in the world: the lunch special for $4.99. Good for meat lovers too.

The lunch counter at Noah’s Natural Foods, 322 bloor W. at Spadina, serves food by weight. They have a good range of delicious, mostly organic, food at reasonable prices. You have to stare at a wall if you eat there but the food makes it bearable.

Le Commensal, on Elm St. just east of Bay, continues the vegetarian tradition of selling food by weight. The buffet is huge and they are licensed.

A block away is Yonge St., the main drag of Toronto which divides East from West. The atmosphere is our equivalent of 42^nd street in New York or Oxford Street in London.  It is worth a look, but shopping will be the typical high street fare. Prices are geared towards tourists. That is to say, not the best deals in town.

            For entertainment options pick up a Now magazine. Films, comedy, openings and every other type of cultural activity will be listed in here. Boxes are on every main street in the downtown. Free. There is enough to keep tourists busy for at least a week and they would still have a few items left on their list.

             You can pay $15 to get into the big multi-plex theatre across the street for some Hollywood drek or you can go to the National Film Board at the corner of John and Richmond Streets for free movies. The expectations aren’t so high if they’re free, right? But lots of them are very good. A vast library of movies awaits: short films, long ones, animated, documentaries, etc;     

            One of the best things about Toronto is the small archipelago known as “The Islands”. There is Centre Island, the most crowded, for the kids, with an amusement park, Ward’s Island, where people live, Olympic Island, which also has homes, and Hanlan’s Point which has a clothing-optional beach. All the Islands are connected with a boardwalk, a road and bridges. There are no private cars on the Islands. Water taxis are available if you miss the last ferry back to town. BBQ pits are sprinkled around the parklands.

            Museums are mostly in the core of the city: AGO, the ROM, Bata Shoe, the ceramic museum across from the ROM. To find the newest art check out Queen St. West between Strachan (pronounced Strawn) and Gladstone. Take a stroll up Ossington from Queen to find the other gallery strip. Ossington five years ago was a lonesome thoroughfare with only a handful of karaoke bars with blacked out windows. Now every other business is a restaurant or art gallery. I am sure in 5 years some of them will have gone the way of the karaoke bars. It is getting a bit yuppie.  


            If you haven't laughed much in the day time try an evening at the Comedy Bar at 945 Bloor St. W. near Ossington. The city's merchants of mirth test out their wares here. 

Custom t-shirts for sale

                                                   

Do you know a musician? A band? They would probably dig a t-shirt bearing a likeness of their instrument. Preferably even their favourite make of instrument. Hand-painted t-shirts are available. Choose your instrument and model and I will paint it on a t-shirt and mail it to you. If you live in Toronto I will even deliver it personally if you are in the downtown west end. $25.00 postpaid/delivered.

                                                  

                                             

                                

                                            

The drums drawings are an attempt to pay homage to my favourite instrument and one of my favourite t-shirts, drawn by my ex, Sarah Beal. It doesn't look as good as hers but it was the best I could do. The middle 3 shirts I gave to my favourite band of all time: Nomeansno.

Greetings Readers!

Welcome to my blog. Here you will find writing about different cities, photos, restaurant reviews, music, art and whatever else I am thinking about. Hopefully, you will find some things of interest and check in frequently.