Everybody Wants Free II

The week-end of free stuff continued. On Sunday, I headed over to Hey Meatballs! on College for, no surprise, some spaghetti and meatballs. They were having some kitchen issues resulting in a longer than normal wait for me. So they gave me some extra meatballs. Given the standard serving which is already enormous, this was a lot of meat. All very delicious, but it was a vegetarian dinner that night to balance things out.

Then it was off to the 660th Hart House concert on the University of Toronto campus. Recent Eckhart-Gramatte winner, Everett Hopfner, was playing some modern piano compositions. Oddly, the intimating sounding Hallucinations (Randolph Peters) was reasonably melodious with only slight descents into cacophony. Kotoka Suzuki's Hidden Voice, which supposedly contained quotations from classical pieces, was noisier. As an classical music amateur, I didn't recognize the shout-outs. It was easier with Douglas Finch's Preludes and Afterthoughts, in which he rearranged and reworked Chopin's well-known Preludes. The least modified passages were the most pleasing in retaining their charm.

I left after intermission for the final Pedestrian Sunday in Kensington Market. Some observations. One, Heavy Metal wankery only appeals to aging metal-heads, not anyone younger than 30. If two makes a trend, then Asian dudes on didgeridoo accompanied by Latin polyrhythm is a trend. Finally, Heavyweight Brass Band can really get the toes tapping. But $20 for a CD? Come on. Not even established acts charge that much, and indie bands usually price it around $10.