Toronto Torontolpo
I just lost this. It was really good. Here goes recreating it without being resentful:
When we were first planning this tour back in February, Toronto glowed as a far off goal, a destination. So much of the music that's excited us in the last year came from here: 2003 was the year of Toronto. It also seemed so far away. A continent away. If we got there, it would mean that we'd made it, that we'd crossed the country playing music.
The show here was also one of the first that we booked. Amidst the early frustrations of the booking process, we'd succeeded. Not only did we have a show in a destination city, but it was at the very source of all of the music that drew us towards Toronto: Wavelength night at Sneaky Dee's: Broken Social Scene, The Constantines, and countless other treasures got their start there.
It is a cliche that, whne on a trip, the most anticipated destinations always disappoint, while the most memorable moments will surprise you while waiting undercover for rain to pass, or when you arrive to find the gallery closed for re-hanging. So, we were wary of not building up Toronto too much in advance, setting unreachably high expectations. We were a little let down with Nashville where we'd had a pretty glowing write up in the weekly only to have a poor turnout and a bizarre time.
Last night we were sitting on the bowl-bakced stage of an outdoor amphiteatre at Exhbition Park, watching a sheet dancing with the shadows of a group of musicians playing saws, tuba, and guitar in a gentle, almost American folky style behind it, when we found ourselves in the midst of one of those strange moments when something long-anticipated manages to live up to expectations and is completely surprising for having done so. We were at the first anniversary celebration of the Great Northeastern Blackout. A bunch of kids had shown up for a quasi-spontaneous, and fully illicit, show. They covered the front of the stage with a long black bolt of fabric to block out the park's flood lights to aid in the make believe. A stomping-clapping-Springsteen-covering one man band, followed the saw orchestra, shouting "Who's next?" at his end, to be followed by two country guitarists, a solo rapper from Providence, and a big Beastie-Boys-style b-boy crew called Ninja High School. The park security hovered outside in a white SUV between the stage and the aphitheatre's seats, but didn't interfere. A group passed out wolf masks, and led a howling to end the night.
We dropped our very gracious host, Mr. Dover-Court, off at band practice this morning and then spent the day walking around Kennsington Market, a weekly open air bazzar and pedestrian mall, open today for the last time this summer. Now we're sitting around the Dover-Court home, resting before the show and learning about more exciting Toronto bands: Polmo Polpo, The Phonemes, Les Mouches, etc.
We've listened to music so constantly on this trip (always in the car, deafeningly in the clubs, and everywhere inbetween) that it sometimes seems too much. My ears feel full. Then, just when you think that you never want to hear another note, you stumble onto a little oasis, some new sounds, a little pocket somewhere filled with ideas and music that makes you feel light and ready for more.
When we were first planning this tour back in February, Toronto glowed as a far off goal, a destination. So much of the music that's excited us in the last year came from here: 2003 was the year of Toronto. It also seemed so far away. A continent away. If we got there, it would mean that we'd made it, that we'd crossed the country playing music.
The show here was also one of the first that we booked. Amidst the early frustrations of the booking process, we'd succeeded. Not only did we have a show in a destination city, but it was at the very source of all of the music that drew us towards Toronto: Wavelength night at Sneaky Dee's: Broken Social Scene, The Constantines, and countless other treasures got their start there.
It is a cliche that, whne on a trip, the most anticipated destinations always disappoint, while the most memorable moments will surprise you while waiting undercover for rain to pass, or when you arrive to find the gallery closed for re-hanging. So, we were wary of not building up Toronto too much in advance, setting unreachably high expectations. We were a little let down with Nashville where we'd had a pretty glowing write up in the weekly only to have a poor turnout and a bizarre time.
Last night we were sitting on the bowl-bakced stage of an outdoor amphiteatre at Exhbition Park, watching a sheet dancing with the shadows of a group of musicians playing saws, tuba, and guitar in a gentle, almost American folky style behind it, when we found ourselves in the midst of one of those strange moments when something long-anticipated manages to live up to expectations and is completely surprising for having done so. We were at the first anniversary celebration of the Great Northeastern Blackout. A bunch of kids had shown up for a quasi-spontaneous, and fully illicit, show. They covered the front of the stage with a long black bolt of fabric to block out the park's flood lights to aid in the make believe. A stomping-clapping-Springsteen-covering one man band, followed the saw orchestra, shouting "Who's next?" at his end, to be followed by two country guitarists, a solo rapper from Providence, and a big Beastie-Boys-style b-boy crew called Ninja High School. The park security hovered outside in a white SUV between the stage and the aphitheatre's seats, but didn't interfere. A group passed out wolf masks, and led a howling to end the night.
We dropped our very gracious host, Mr. Dover-Court, off at band practice this morning and then spent the day walking around Kennsington Market, a weekly open air bazzar and pedestrian mall, open today for the last time this summer. Now we're sitting around the Dover-Court home, resting before the show and learning about more exciting Toronto bands: Polmo Polpo, The Phonemes, Les Mouches, etc.
We've listened to music so constantly on this trip (always in the car, deafeningly in the clubs, and everywhere inbetween) that it sometimes seems too much. My ears feel full. Then, just when you think that you never want to hear another note, you stumble onto a little oasis, some new sounds, a little pocket somewhere filled with ideas and music that makes you feel light and ready for more.
1 Comments:
i miss you guys already. the house isn't the same without you, and portland is definitely going to be weird tomorrow night without you there. i hope speedbump comes to visit, and i'll be sure to pet him for you. in the meanwhile, know i'm thinking about you and i'm waiting to hear more about nights like last night in toronto! can't wait to hear how the show went...
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