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.