I had a whole thesis on U2, about Bono and relationships, and how everyone’s in a bad relationship because they can’t communicate and Bono’s lyrics in, say, With Or Without You perfectly articulate that inability not only to name your own feelings but also the feelings of your loved one,... More
Arriving at Koerner Hall I was excited as all hell even though I didn’t know much about who or what was I was about to see. I did know for certain that Koerner Hall is perhaps Toronto’s most incredible music venue. The building and the room isn’t just stunning, but... More
In the upper stratosphere of perfect art no two masterpieces are alike. Each bears the original imprint of its creator and demonstrates his hitherto unseen genius to the world. Tolstoy’s War and Peace was hailed by critics as “a rollicking historical novel written for that amorphic and limp creature, ‘the... More
If I could have one wish come true, I would wish for the time I spent trying to “get” Tom Waits back. Tom Waits isn’t a musician – he’s an actor. And acting is a noble pursuit, except when the actor writes their own scenes. If Tom Waits didn’t put... More
My job is weird. It’s stuck in this ambiguous space between art and service. I take pictures of people having fun. Recently, during an annual music festival held in Toronto, a colleague and I were deciding which shows to hit up for the night as part of our coverage. Our main criteria... More
“The art music of the West has developed throughout its history by means of individual geniuses, and out of the soil that supports them; non-Western musicians were born, and grew like the grasses of the field.” – Toru Takemitsu Fujii Percussion and Voices, held this past week in Koerner Hall... More
Laugh Sabbath is a forward-thinking, daring and experimental comedy collective based in Toronto. With a weekly comedy series at Comedy Bar featuring regulars like Kathleen Philips, Chris Locke, Tom Henry and David Dineen-Porter, they are setting a gold standard for comedy in Toronto comedy. In keeping with their mission to... More
There are a lot of band names that are dumber than Metallica, but most of them aren’t worse. Hoobastank is worse, sure, but what makes Metallica such a bad band name is the smugness. It thinks it’s an amazing band name. When Metallica chose “Metallica”, they thought “This is the... More
Imagine you went to an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the restaurant forced you to eat all of the food on a single plate. Every course. No matter how full you are. That is the best way to think of listening to a song by Wings. Paul McCartney has put all of... More
The house lights are down at Koerner Hall. Two figures appear on either side of the balcony behind and above the stage. Their Silhouette turns to spotlights and two women begin to sing what, to the untrained ear, sounds like a mix between a Gregorian chant and a call to... More
On a recent crisp winter’s eve, I settled in with a pint at The Tranzac for a tête-à-tête with Minotaurs frontman Nathan Lawr. What ensued took the form of a salon-style discussion of political philosophy. Nathan recently partnered with The Canadian Civil Liberties Association in a joint initiative called Canadian... More
It is a sad age in culture where beauty requires its own defence, but there is a great quantity of appalling, incompetent art that justifies its existence on grounds of standing for an important social cause or for making a life affirming statement. I only have a problem the moment... More
I had a whole thesis on U2, about Bono and relationships, and how everyone’s in a bad relationship because they can’t communicate and Bono’s lyrics in, say, With Or Without You perfectly articulate that inability not only to name your own feelings but also the feelings of your loved one,... More
Arriving at Koerner Hall I was excited as all hell even though I didn’t know much about who or what was I was about to see. I did know for certain that Koerner Hall is perhaps Toronto’s most incredible music venue. The building and the room isn’t just stunning, but... More
In the upper stratosphere of perfect art no two masterpieces are alike. Each bears the original imprint of its creator and demonstrates his hitherto unseen genius to the world. Tolstoy’s War and Peace was hailed by critics as “a rollicking historical novel written for that amorphic and limp creature, ‘the... More
If I could have one wish come true, I would wish for the time I spent trying to “get” Tom Waits back. Tom Waits isn’t a musician – he’s an actor. And acting is a noble pursuit, except when the actor writes their own scenes. If Tom Waits didn’t put... More
My job is weird. It’s stuck in this ambiguous space between art and service. I take pictures of people having fun. Recently, during an annual music festival held in Toronto, a colleague and I were deciding which shows to hit up for the night as part of our coverage. Our main criteria... More
“The art music of the West has developed throughout its history by means of individual geniuses, and out of the soil that supports them; non-Western musicians were born, and grew like the grasses of the field.” – Toru Takemitsu Fujii Percussion and Voices, held this past week in Koerner Hall... More
Laugh Sabbath is a forward-thinking, daring and experimental comedy collective based in Toronto. With a weekly comedy series at Comedy Bar featuring regulars like Kathleen Philips, Chris Locke, Tom Henry and David Dineen-Porter, they are setting a gold standard for comedy in Toronto comedy. In keeping with their mission to... More
There are a lot of band names that are dumber than Metallica, but most of them aren’t worse. Hoobastank is worse, sure, but what makes Metallica such a bad band name is the smugness. It thinks it’s an amazing band name. When Metallica chose “Metallica”, they thought “This is the... More
Imagine you went to an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the restaurant forced you to eat all of the food on a single plate. Every course. No matter how full you are. That is the best way to think of listening to a song by Wings. Paul McCartney has put all of... More
The house lights are down at Koerner Hall. Two figures appear on either side of the balcony behind and above the stage. Their Silhouette turns to spotlights and two women begin to sing what, to the untrained ear, sounds like a mix between a Gregorian chant and a call to... More
On a recent crisp winter’s eve, I settled in with a pint at The Tranzac for a tête-à-tête with Minotaurs frontman Nathan Lawr. What ensued took the form of a salon-style discussion of political philosophy. Nathan recently partnered with The Canadian Civil Liberties Association in a joint initiative called Canadian... More
It is a sad age in culture where beauty requires its own defence, but there is a great quantity of appalling, incompetent art that justifies its existence on grounds of standing for an important social cause or for making a life affirming statement. I only have a problem the moment... More
