Heart And Soul

More than 130 people fought through slush, left over from a passing storm, to attend a free Yoga session on Wednesday night. The draw? A chance to practice inside one of the rooms at Casa Loma, a turn-of-the-century medieval-esque mansion. After dropping off our jackets and boots, we set up our mats in the Library, a huge room with book shelves behind glass panels, and a white, intricately detailed ceiling.

Even with the space, the large number of people meant we were squeezed mat to mat. Two instructors led us through an hour of a simple class: sun salutions and hip-opening asanas, some twists, and a few standing balances. The crowd was mostly of the "yoga as exercise" type. It was fun to practice in such an unusual place. Afterwards, there was a chocolate fountain for those who wanted to indulge.

The other draw for this class, at least for me, was live music played by Tanika Charles and the Wonderfuls. It was a bit strange but interesting to do yoga while listening to funky soul music. Everyone had a great laugh when, near the end, we laid on our back in "happy baby pose" facing the band. As a nod to the occasion, during the start and end of class, the Wonderfuls improvised atmospheric, soothing soundtracks for our practice.

We Get To Share It

Tuesday night, as a slushy snow storm was making its way into Toronto, I dropped by One Love Vegetarian for dinner. I've stared at this little diner many times while waiting for the streetcar to pull into Bathurst station. I keep meaning to cross the street to check it out but never do.

What a mistake waiting for so long; this place serves excellent vegan Caribbean food. I ordered a small corn soup ($3) and a Callaloo dinner ($10.99). The soup was warm and tasty and resembled more a vegetable melange than just corn. Tonight, because they were running out of sides for the callaloo, the standard dumpling and green banana were replaced with organic basmati rice and fried plantain. No matter, the entire combination was delicious. The leafy greens added a nice touch of bitterness, the yams were chewy and starchy, and the avocado gave the dish richness. The fried plaintain gave bursts of sweet greasiness that jazzed up the meal.

One Love also serves up vegan roti. Interestingly, unlike most other places, they offer you 4 different types of roti shells including paratha and dhal puri. Multiple trips back to this place are in order.

What A Gas

Saturday night, the small Gerrard Art Space hosted an evening of Indian music. The room was packed with around 50 people, leading to a slow increase in the room temperature to the point where someone wryly noted that it almost felt like being in India. Though only a handful were ethnically South Asians, numerous people wore traditional Indian garbs.

The music was equally hot. There were 3 acts scheduled, but they flowed from one to another instead of 3 separate sets. First up was Ed Hanley (Autorickshaw) and Chris Hale. Hanley was a dynamo on the tabla throughout the evening, keeping complex rhythms to unusual Indian time signatures, and bursting into furious solos. Hale's work on the sitar was more sedate, though he did also engage in extended riffs and solos. Near the end of the first half, they were joined by Suba Sankaran and Dylan Bell, both of Autorickshaw, for some traditional Indian songs and two Bollywood numbers: Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka (Lamp of Love) from Devdas and 80s classic Kabhi Kabhi (Sometimes, Sometimes).

After a short break, Sankaran and Bell as Freeplay Duo sang more familiar Western songs a cappella-style with a looping station to help layer multiple voice tracks. Though they started with a technical Bach adagio, Sankofa (Cassandra Wilson), Butterfly (Michael Jackson), and Fireflies (Owl City) were catchy hits. Hanley then joined them as Autorickshaw, an Indo-Jazz trio. With Bell providing virtuoso electric bass playing and some vocal percussions and Hanley on tabla, Sankaran sang and scat her way through interesting arrangements of Bird on a Wire (Leonard Cohen), Me and Julio (Paul Simon), an Indian folk song called Snake Charmer, and the Jazz classic Caravan. The Indo-Jazz compositions were at once familiar, strange, and exhilarating.

Most of the audience had never heard these performers. So reactions afterwards were incredulity at their talent and skill. The most commonly heard phrase was variations of "I didn't know that was humanly possible."

Spice Route

On Saturday, I ventured to the East end for Hakka, or Indian-style chinese, at 5 Spices. This restaurant sits smack-dabbed in Little India on Gerrard. They've got old-style, traditional set-up you don't even see even Chinatown anymore: formica tables, wooden lanterns with red trims, giant fans, and Asian landscapes. Similar to these bygone eateries, it did a brisker business in take-out than sit-down. But one striking difference was the spotless cleanliness found here.

I ordered paneer popper ($4), chilli fish ($9.25), and some masala tea ($2.25). The poppers were two-bite appetizers, slightly crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. In the mold of Indian appetizers, but sinicized. This was a tasty start, but the odd choice of a ketchup dipping sauce was best ignored. The fish came out hot and doughy, sitting in a spicy sauce with a hint of ginger. This was standard Chinese fare found everywhere and nothing to rave about.

5 Spices was ok, but not exceptional. With Canton Chilli much closer to me, I wouldn't go cross-town for it. But this unassuming and inexpensive place is a good choice if you're in the neighbourhood.

Noodly Nosh

To be completist, I went on Saturday to Raijin Ramen, the last remaining noodle place on my list. This particular restaurant belongs to yet another Vancouver franchise to land in Toronto. Right at the corner of rather desolate Gerrard and Yonge, it's easy to miss this place.

But the inside is a lot bigger. With both a front and back room, this is probably the largest ramen eatery in town if you are less enamoured with rubbing elbows. Even the seats at the counter are more comfortable, having padded leather cushions instead of hard wood. Raijin specializes in two ramen styles: a milky white tonkotsu (pork), and a clear chicken broth. Lunch comprises of the Shoyu version ($9.50) and a side order of kara-age, or fried chicken ($4).

The chicken comes out fresh and hot from the fryer. It's tasty but not quite as crisply textured and not as tender as Sansotei. In fact, the thicker batter reminds me so much of Indian pakora that I wanted some chutney dip. The Shoyu is rich and creamy with nicely toothsome noodles. The egg isn't quite as perfectly runny and the pork shoulder is leaner than other establishments. This is good ramen but not in the top 3.

Turn The Beat Around

Ark Analog, an electronic duo comprising of Dan Werb (Woodhands) and Maylee Todd, held a video release party Thursday night at The Piston. DJs were spinning all night long, mostly retro soul and funk. After the video premiere, Ark Analog took to the stage, surrounded by keyboards, samplers, and numerous electronic gadgets.

Their songs often had 80s-inspired drum beat with accompanying vibrato synth chords. They usually layered on plucky arpeggios reminiscent of 8-bit arcade games, wah-wah effects, and even some dub-step-y wobbly bass. Though Maylee sang, she was just as likely to use her voice as another instrument, running it through effects and embellishments. In a room full of club kids and a massive sound system, it would do well. But in the smaller Piston with indie types, this music lacked traction. So unfortunately, the full room was down to a handful by the time their set ended.

Missed Connection

Tuesday night, I dropped by The Storefront Theatre to watch comedic play "CLAIRE, from the bus" (Kjartan Hewitt) produced by LIARS co. Ralph (Ennis Esmer) and Lemmy (Mayko Nguyen), two underemployed "creatives", are in a long-term relationship. The play opens in his apartment on the morning of his 31st birthday. He wants them to hang out with his friends at local pub The Station. She, not being particularly fond of his friends or their routines, has decided to attend instead a pot-luck being organized by her community-theatre director Donovan.

Feeling out of sorts at her snub and their stagnant rut ("I think she's only seeing me because she doesn't know how to stream TV shows off the Internet"), Ralph talks to his motor-mouth, hound-dog friend Donald (David Reale) whose advice goes from bad to worse. This shouldn't have surprised Ralph as Donald's current pitch is a club song called "My Thumb In Your Bum". On the way home on the Ossington bus, Ralph notices a possibly under-age girl named Claire (Bryn McAuley). Thus starts a chat that evolves into on-line flirtation which leads to a disastrous encounter at his place.

This is a hilarious play with an affectionate understanding of contemporary characters: theatre majors arguing over 1st year crit lit, 30-something geeks debating Blue-Ray vs DVD and hipster culture. The projection of text messaging, a crucial technology in the plot as well as the source of quite a few laughs, onto a side wall is a clever way to incorporate it into a live show. All the actors have a great time with the natural dialogue but Reale stole the show as the side-kick lacking any sort of filter between brain and mouth. At just over an hour, this would be a perfect, little gem except for a few unrealistic premises; it's pure male fantasy the idea of a sexually aggressive yet whimsical younger woman. This is practically Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory.

Lucky Thirteen

All week, the 13th annual Wavelength festival of indie music has been playing. I had it on my radar but always chose another event: mostly because I have seen a fair number of these bands. With a free gap Sunday night, I finally went to The Garrison for Wavelength's last show.

A small crowd heard electro-drone Castle If/Cell Memory ran through their 2-song set. Both songs were primarily instrumental, driven by a repeating bass track, layered guitar effects, and furious drumming. This might be good music to zone out, but as a live act there wasn't enough performance to hold much interest. It was 3/4 full when Legato Vipers took to the stage. They were also all instrumental, but were more fun. Their set comprised of short, punchy surf-rock but re-invented with modern aesthetics. One downside was the loosy-goosiness, a few songs had missed cues and ended raggedly.

Legato Vipers were joined by The Harlettes, a medley of 4 burlesque dancers. After a group shimmy on the first number, they each had a solo strip-tease spaced throughout the set. Though all wore vintage clothes and hair, Rouge La Rouge with her flaming hair epitomized the classic pin-up girl.

A packed house welcomed re-united-for-one-night local indie darling Henri Faberge and The Adorables. It was an energetic set, with everyone singing, dancing, and clapping (though mostly the performers and not the stand-offish Toronto crowd). At one point, Henri ripped off his shirt to show a hirsute chest, running and dancing and screaming through the crowd. The songs were a fun mix of cabaret-pop, thematically progressing from boy-arrives-in-big-city, boy-stalks-girl, boy-meets-girl, girl-dumps-boy, boy-throws-fit.

There have been some online controversy about the sound quality at these shows. I wasn't surprised as a few of them took place at The Garrison, a venue with generally terrible sound. It was poor tonight, but most egregious during The Adorables' set. Heavy on the drum and bass guitar, Dr. Ew's guitar and Robin Hatch's keyboard were barely audible. Though Henri's vocals were clear, it apparently made perfect sense to mix the others at about 20%. None of the harmonies could be heard and considering that Maylee Todd, Laura Barrett, and Dana Snell are now solo singers, what a waste. Julianne Wilding might as well have not bothered to sing at all.

Though other acts were slated on the bill including The Magic and Cookie Duster, there was no point subjecting myself to further bad sound.

All Your Base

With a light snow falling on Toronto Saturday night, I arrived at The Annex Live for some synth-pop. The space was cozy and amazingly clean, even the bathrooms. Unfortunately, the sound set-up was sub-par. They didn't have enough mics for both singers and instruments.

First up was Kashka, a synth-pop new venture from Kat Burns, formerly of Forest City Lovers. Her duo sang catchy beat-driven pop but with metaphorical lyrics and a good dose of jangly guitars and sonic effects. But tonight's muddled sound mix masked Burns' vocals and gave too much emphasis to the drum sampler.

The main act was Chicago's Advance Base. I had previously seen Owen Ashworth several years ago on his final tour as Casio Tone For The Painfully Alone: a one-man mix-master of a plethora of electronic equipment, singing sad, melancholic numbers. In this incarnation, he still uses some samplers, but concentrated mainly on his vintage synth. Sadly, this gave them an amateurish quality: like listening to pre-programmed sample songs from low-end keyboards. But his strength was his lyrics, and they remain trenchant. To that end, he gave us sharply observed snapshot of ordinary lives, often lonely, unmoored, and estranged. A bemusing amount seemed to have been inspired (by his admission) by watching horror movies: An American Werewolf In London, The Omen, and The Exorcist. The set was book-ended by two songs about Christmas, one set in Oakland, the other in Milwaukee, neither of which offered much cheery "Holiday spirit".

All Singing (No Dancing)

Inspired by the group singing at The Weather Station Duets, I wanted to do some myself. But outside of Karaoke, there weren't too many other choices. So on a snowy Saturday night, I dropped by Ahimsa Yoga in the Annex for my first Kirtan. This devotional singing of Indian mantras is part of Bhakti Yoga.

Led by Lana Sugarman on harmonium, accompanied by an electronic shruti, a bassist and percussionist, 20 people spent about two hours in a call-and-response. The mantras weren't hard to pick up, as they are repeated for 10 minutes with variations in melody and phrasing. As each song progressed, the bassist would start to improvise, and people added harmony to the mix. Between songs, everyone sat in silence and absorbed the practice.

It was a great session, though both the pronunciation and melodies were undoubtedly Western. The last song, when all instruments fell silent, leaving the room to resonate with a cappella singing was particularly wonderful. It's no wonder that many people join religious or church choirs, even if they don't practice the faith.

Kensington Kosher

The Kensington Market and Spadina area used to be a Jewish enclave. These immigrants have assimilated and spread out to other parts of the city, leaving it to the next generation of immigrants mainly Chinese and Latinos. There are a few reminders including a still active synagogue. As for eateries, deli Free Times Cafe still sits on the edge of this zone.

As such, Nu Bugel's tagline is "The bagel has returned to the Market", although I suspect none of the proprietors are actually Jewish. With a large wood-burning oven, they make Montreal-style bagels. But you won't get them steaming hot from the oven. Though there was a constant stream of customers coming in, Nu Bugel, having just opened about 2 weeks ago, is not busy enough yet to keep the oven burning all the time.

However, the bagels hanging off wooden dowels were quite tasty. I got a few to go and a roasted chicken, baby spinach, and red onion marmalade ($6) for lunch. They had a nice bite, chewy yet crisp, with that distinctive sweetness of Montreal bagels. However, I would stick to more traditional toppings such as cream cheese or even the humble butter. The strong marmalade tended to overwhelm the bagel. For those who want good, fresh bagels without heading up-town or fighting the crush at St. Lawrence Market, Nu Bugel is a great addition. The wooden benches, old-timey decorations (typewriters, metal tools) harken back to a bygone era. So the modern all glass front space, where the firewood was stored, and separating a passerby from the main entrance, was jarringly off-putting.

A Mighty Wind

Tamara Lindeman, singer-songwriter of The Weather Station, has embarked on a series of duets with other singers. Friday night, they gathered at The Dakota Tavern for an intimate concert. Lindeman's own songs tend to be soft, introspective number. She started solo on her first tune, singing and playing her guitar quietly over the din. Amazingly, the crowd quieted down. Unlike most bar shows, there were no background chatter, and not even the clinking of pint glasses being cleared, during the two half-hour sets.

Her first duet, with Simone Schmidt (One Hundred Dollar) was thematically a propos. If You Sing With Me was a sweet song about two singers finding joy in performing together. Next was Misha Bower, with a Kate Bush-esque heart-broken tune with swooping harmonies (which apparently they couldn't practice over Skype because it mutes the other person, probably because of echo cancellation). And so the evening went, each complex song captured a snapshot in time or even a life (Matt Cully's Brothers and Sisters).

But it wasn't just duets. Lindeman was joined by Felicity Williams and Carleigh Aikins on a folkoric tune of 3-part harmonies and lyrical exchanges pondering the passage of time. There were also spontaneous last-minute additions. Before his own turn, Afie Jurvanen came on early to provide guitar backing for Williams and Aikens on their own duet. Ian Kehoe stuck around to play bass for Linderman and Ryan Driver. With most songs being on the downer side, she ended the evening with Steve Lambke doing a jazzy cover of If This World Were Mine.

It was a magical evening all about song-craft and music-making, like spending time in the living room of some very talented friends. Before the duets, Linderman read a prepared statement from her phone (she wryly noted she hadn't spoken this long since high school's public speaking). She described the introspective nature of writing songs and yet at the same time, they are performed in public for appreciative fans and indifferent crowd, both of which add their own dimension. She talked about bonding with other musicians in this endeavour, and the resulting impetus; namely, she wanted to spend more time with them, hence the duets. Tonight, a lucky hundred or so were immersed in these collaborations with the live debut of these beautiful songs.

Love In A Hopeless Palace

Thursday night, a trio of acts entertained a low-key Valentine's Day crowd at Lee's Palace. Bryce Jardine came on at 9:15. With a full band including 2 back-up singers, he played the sort of earnest, lightly paced pop that doesn't leave much impression.

The Most Loyals had more impact. Ranging from blue-grass (Poor Bruce), to country (What I learned from a poet), to a few songs with a heavier rock beat (I Have The Power), their 3-part harmonies got people clapping and stomping. Their specialty was slow, hurting songs that often repeated a phrase, giving them a traditional folk feel. But the crowd was undetered, and several slow dances took place.

It had thinned out a bit by the time Olenka and the Autumn Lovers came on stage, an excellent band from London who doesn't play Toronto too often. They played new material from their Hard Times EP (Hard Times, Don't Make Sense, Only Arms) which continued the quiet, despairing, country mood. Their older material were faster and often had Eastern European flavour including Go and Odessa. Olenka's songs often had odd time signatures and were augmented by a drummer who added jazz riffs and fills. They dedicated Flash In The Pan to two fans who had the song stuck in their heads. The set ended with two rock numbers Sparrow and Clean. For a quick encore, Olenka did a fun cover of Fleetwood Mac's You Make Loving Fun.

Franglais

On a Saturday night when the Montreal Canadiens lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-0, a mixed group of Anglos and Francos were down at the Rivoli not to argue about hockey, but to listen to Ariane Moffatt. Although it was a small crowd for the first act, it filled up quickly and people were turned away later in the evening.

Blood and Glass was first up. Fronted by Moffatt's backup singer, Lisa Iwanycki, this duo could be labeled electro gaze. The bassist spent his time fiddling with an array of pedals, synth machines, and drum samplers, hooked up to his bass which was used to generate most of the sound. Meanwhile, the keyboardist/singer often ran her voice through a vocoder hooked up to her synth. It was sparse, airy music about botoxed young girls and odd merry-go-rounds. The most radio-friendly song was the dance beat of Bad Dreams.

The Magic, from Guelph, played catchy 70s style funk full of falsettos and staccato guitar licks. Without the full band, the two brothers relied on drum machines and samplers to fill out the songs. This set-up emphasized their rockability; in their formal suits and retro-gear, they looked like young Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis, if these icons started their career in the cool 70s.

A veteran singer from Quebec (tonight's show was filmed by the French TV station TVA for a TV spot), Moffatt was comfortable talking and joking to both the French and English-speaking fans in the crowd. Her style was dance rock/pop, epitomized by her bassist's "key bass", an electric bass guitar with a small synth attached to the bottom. It was energetic hand-clapping music, which the raucous audience was more than willing to do throughout the show. Her bilingualism extended to the songs from her new album "Ma". For every Walls Of The World and Too Late, there was Mon corps and L'homme dans l'automobile. She did a lively cover of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill. But Moffat also included numerous hits from her French catalogue such as Le coeur dans la tête, Réverbère (which she joked was called River Beer in English), Dans un océan, and for the encore, a reggae-inflected Montreal.

Winter Wonderland

Great Hall view of snowy Toronto

The Long Winter series of art/music shows at The Great Hall is to combat the "winter blues". But although it can be nippy, Toronto hasn't had a large blast of winter. But on Friday, a large storm rolled through, and it was appropriately wintery as I made my way through high snowbanks and clogged side streets for the 4th installment.

Though it was unlikely the thousand-plus people who joined the Facebook event all showed, northward of 600 did come out, filling up all the rooms at the venue. But things were roomy to start, with art installation (inflatable human torsos, long streamers along the stairs, photo exhibits, and word games) throughout. Later, the basement theatre would turn into an electro punk dance party. But early on, they were showing featurettes and short films. I found the short film "Marvin, Seth & Stanley" a by-the-book depiction of a father and his 2 estranged son trying to reconnect on a fishing trip.

Art, Music, Party

In the Main Hall, bands played all night although there were also more esoteric fare like a dance number by CCB Dance accompanied live by Yacht Club. The great thing about an all-ages show were the young teenagers who eagerly crammed right up to the stage to dance and enjoy the show, unlike the more typical stand-offish Toronto crowd. Rituals played fuzzy indie with long drawn out chords and refrains. Odonis Odonis has become more punkish, but the inclusion of synth drum pads and electronically modulated vocals gave a 90s Garbage vibe to their sound. Kids On TV was all about dressing up and rap-shout to dancy club beats, but their odd lyrics weren't typical of the genre. Fucked Up and Holy Fuck turned it all into a giant mosh pit, but I ducked out before their set to spare my aging bones.

In the Conversation Room, things started provocatively with a discussion on "Modern Love" by University of Toronto professor Michael Cobb who pushed for an re-assessment of singlehood as not a problem to be cured or a tragic social flaw and Arianne Shaffer, a story-teller who believed in true love and commitment. The discussion, with feedback from the crowd, ranged over online dating, intimacy, and pornography. The background noise level, with all the glad-handing, drinking, and socializing was reaching feverish pitch. So despite standing on a table and using a mic, Chris Colohan struggled to be heard reciting his free verse. The same issue plagued Tasseomancy. But those of us who paid attention to their dreamy, folkloric music with beautiful vocal harmony, mandolin, and complicated rhythm on drums and steel pan, it was a wonderful discovery. Maylee Todd ended the night getting the packed crowd to dance to her soul/funk music on such numbers as her new singles Baby's Got It and Hieroglyphics. And if her 80s-style I Can't Stand It wasn't retro fun enough for you, she also covered Evelyn Champagne King's Love Come Down.

Journey Into Night

In 2005, as part of a series of re-imagined myths, Margaret Atwood wrote The Penelopiad as a companion to the classic The Odyssey. From the perspective of Penelope, Atwood gave voice to the powerless and forgotten women especially the 12 young slaves that Odysseus hung upon his return because they "polluted" his house.

Last year, Nightwood Theatre mounted this work as a play. With so much positive reactions, they have remounted it. On Saturday, I saw this powerful piece of theatre and myth with a sold-out audience at Buddies In Bad Times. On a darkened stage, Penelope (Megan Follows) entered through billowing, white curtains. We were in Hades, and having made her usual rounds through the fields of Asphodel, Penelope will tell us her life story from her perspective. It won't be a pleasant one, as her monologue was interrupted by her 12 hand-maidens, each with a noose around her neck, chanting a dirge about their eventual fate.

So we followed her through re-enactments from her life: her cold inhuman Naiad mother (Fiona Byrne) and a gruff father Icarius (Audrey Dwyer) who tried to drown her as a baby, her marriage to wily Odysseus (Kelli Fox), her rough relationships with her in-laws Laertes (Maev Beaty), Anticleia (Sarah Dodd), and Odysseus' old nurse Eurycleia (Patricia Hamilton), and her competitive interactions with the ravishing Helen (Pamela Sinha). Through each phase, we came to realize that her life was often at someone's whim. But it was also made clear by the female chorus how much worse was the life of a non-aristocratic woman.

The second act was harrowing as Penelope tried to fend off boorish suitors and raise Telemachus (Neema Bickersteth) while Odysseus was away for 20 years. There were stirring scenes such as when Penelope named her hand-maidens and enlisted them to keep the interlopers at bay, but also scenes of violence and sexual assault that may even be triggering. Patriarchy hurts everyone, but it absolute destroys poor, lower-class women.

The actresses, who doubly and even triply played all the roles from the main characters, the maids, and the suitors were excellent. The inventive set and costumes were often used in multiple ways too. For example, Odysseus cape became his ship's sail. There were intense scenes, but there were also lots of irreverent and even contemporary humour. Suba Sankaran's music and songs were folkloric and often disquieting.

The only fault for me was the problematic conclusion. Atwood introduced a detail that, in some small way, allowed Penelope, Odysseus, Eurycleia, and Telemachus to figuratively deny their full complicity and responsibility in the unjust deaths of the maids. I think Atwood pulled her punch and took a tiny bit of agency away from them by introducing an element of careless fate.

Why did Atwood allowed her upper-class characters to take on some measure of victimhood? Well, patriarchy is not just about "men vs women", it is mainly about the privileged vs. the unprivileged. She has more in common with Penelope and Odysseus than the women slaves; so I think that given this more accusatory critique of patriarchy, she unconsciously (and it is often about unexamined privileges) flinched and gave them an out.

Can't Talk, Eating.

A few weeks ago, as I made my way from Sabai Sabai, I passed a Japanese restaurant with a line-up outside. Given the current Toronto's obsession, it could only be another ramen joint. This Saturday, I went back to try Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, a franchise from the epynomous province, started by its owner after seeing cult movie Tampopo.

If you arrive after 12:30 pm, prepare to wait. Luckily, I got in just under the clock. I ordered Torinuku Miso Ramen ($15.90) and an extra soft-boiled egg ($1.60). Most of the variation had the bowl pre-made, but this order had the ingredients sitting in a side dish for you to add to your steaming bowl. And what a delicious collection: soft, mouth-watering braised pork cheeks (generous at 8 slices), crunchy "black fungus" mushrooms, slightly tart bamboo shoots, and an egg  that was wonderfully runny inside. As for the ramen: rich, fragrant broth and yellow ramen with excellent chew.

I've tried almost every ramen eatery in town. This was perfect ramen. The only caveat: don't think about how much sodium you're ingesting to get all that deliciousness, and have a glass of water on hand for the last 3rd of the bowl. The saltiness does build up because you'll be slurping the bowl dry.

Music of the Spheres

Friday night, as part of the Emergents music series, there was an early show at the Music Gallery housed inside St. George The Martyr Church. Although this curated series focused primarily on classical music, tonight it hosted two pop performances. The audience, sitting in darkened pews, was treated to two electronic-based but very different styles.

Jesse Futerman has been getting some notice for his sampling of Jazz music in his live mixes/jams, as well as the hardware-based sampler pad called Maschine. But given the set-up, it was difficult to see much except for a head-bopping Futerman, pushing buttons and staring at his Mac. There was an eclectic mix of samples early on but even that was backed by a standard 4-beat percussion, and the latter half was straight up oomp-oomp dance beats. Great in a night-club, but as-yet unconvincing as innovative music.

This was Maylee Todd's first head-lining show as Maloo, her chill electro-pop alter ego. Appropriate to the venue, she and her two dancers War-War were dressed in billowing white blouses. Above their heads, tethered white balloons had pulsing and revolving patterns projected onto them by Daniela Guevara, resulting in a beautiful 3D multimedia collaboration.

She sang lovelorn tunes like Downtown and Grab Your Guts, backed by her Tenori-on, a drum machine and sampler, and an assortment of effects pedals. For the occasion she debuted a more dance heavy You're Number One, and her take on Janet Jackson's groovy Go Deep. For her final song, she strapped on her hand-harp to cover her unreleased Successive Mutations, but augmented with electronic bleeps and bloops. This was music that could interest audience outside of late-night live-music venues, as heard in chants of encore after her set. But Maylee had to blushingly decline, given the current paucity of her electro-pop catalogue.