Paul Gross spends his morning in a conference room at the Westin, entertaining journalists with a Venti Starbucks in hand, while a publicist and makeup artist stand guard. There’s no way Gross will be mistaken for any of the barristers milling around in the hallway for a real estate conference—he’s way too blessed with that […]
Sue Carter Flinn
Posted inArts + Music
Nocturne: all work and lots of play
Wes JohnsonPhantom Stacks (1790-92 Granville) Describe your installation: This installation requires your personal attendance to be fully “realized.” If nothing happens, you might try a different spot. What emotions will people leave with? Depends on the crowd. I would anticipate from the drunken Split Crow patrons, confusion and/or some howling. For a more sober audience, […]
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A Slow Start
I don’t know what it is, but I’m really slow on the take today. So slow that I actually watched Holmes on Holmes tonight for the first time. (This was after I suggested getting rid of our free cable. Duh.) Did you know that if you own a house, there’s a good chance you’ll get […]
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The Last Pogo
[image-4]Published October 09, 2008.The Last Pogo Directed by: Colin Brunton (indie) For a short time in the late 1970s, two promoters—Gary Cormier and Gary Topp—booked incredible punk and new wave bands into Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, including The Police, Talking Heads, The Ramones and The Stranglers. But the bar’s new owners weren’t so happy, so on […]
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Art and the city
It’s a telling sign that more than 500 people showed up last Friday in Grand Parade to protest federal arts funding cuts and to rally around the concept of “Vote Arts,” and yet, six hours later, only about 40 to 50 people attended a District 12 municipal candidates debate, hosted at NSCAD University by that […]
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Construction and Destruction
Published September 25, 2008. Construction and Destruction The Volume Wars (indie) David Trenaman and Colleen Collins live in a house they rebuilt in Port Greville. Their first album—a sweet effort—was called Homebodies. The Volume Warspacks a bigger musical punch (more thumb war than War of the Roses). Trading off songs, “What The Non-Human Taught Us” […]
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Monkey
MonkeyJourney to the West(XL)Buddies Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett follow up the world’s most successful cartoon band, Gorillaz, with Monkey. More than an affinity to simian creatures, Monkey is the lead character from Journey to the West, their ambitious operatic stage adaptation of the 16th-century Chinese novel. It’s hard to imagine these two pulling […]
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Elton John at the Metro Centre review
I don’t know where my memory of Elton John begins, but it’s around the time I stuck my finger in my parents’ Tom Collins mix, thinking it was a Lick ’em stick, and when Nina, the kid down the block, peed on the front lawn. In other words, he’s been around forever. Other than a […]
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Pictures perfect
Well, that’s all over with. I’m in my house clothes (I successfully wore a dress for every day of AFF), eating fresh food and watching the Emmys. Jeremy Piven again? Really? Speaking of which, the “real-life” Ari Gold was in town for AFF (apparently his name is stitched onto his Reebox): Gold is a filmmaker […]
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Rock ‘n’ roll high school
Nursing a 3:30am bedtime the night before, yesterday I went to go see music legend Seymour Stein’s keynote speech at the Delta (how very rock ‘n’ roll of me). Stein started his music career at 13, working for Billboard and later went on to form Sire Records, which basically makes him responsible for all the […]
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Long and short of it
I thought that Atom Egoyan-Kevin Smith would be the weirdest double-feature I’d see at the festival, but coming in at a close second was Man on Wire and Wendy and Lucy, two movies I adored for opposite reasons: Wire is shot like a caper film and although you know Petit survives walking a tightrope between […]
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In a Mist
In a MistDevon Code(Invisible Publishing)I could have sworn Devon Code was American, not from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The now Toronto-based writer’s debut collection of short stories would fit nicely beside John Updike or Raymond Carver. In fact, Code’s paired-down stories are reminiscent of 1970s American “dirty realism.” While reading these meticulously constructed and intelligent stories, […]