You Better Work

I haven't been to a Long Winter evening since they had a one-off at The Galleria Mall several years ago. With that mall finally torn down, I wanted to see how the festival was doing in its 8th year. So Saturday night, I headed over to its new location at Workman Arts.

This facility was an old church at Dufferin and Dundas St. W. In its previous incarnation, I had only known of it because there was a bus stop in front of the building. Since it was just north of the intersection where the main one was found, you had 2 transit stops located metres from each other. That secondary stop is gone and so is the elderly congregation that used it.

As I wandered through the church from basement to the top floor, it was amazing how much space was available. Below ground, surrounded by heavy curtains, was a large room where there was poetry reading and dance. In various nooks and rooms throughout the church, there were different art exhibits including multimedia projection.

The main hall looked to have been converted to a permanent live venue, though I haven't seen too many listings for shows here. Around the back, up a rickety flight of stairs (the railing was only loosely connected to the wall, and the steps creaked and flexed), I found myself in a room now belonging to the Roseneath Theatre.

While loud metal/rock music drifted up from Tongue Patrol and Scorpio Rising, I sat for a live podcast. Anupa Mistry, a cultures journalist recently moved back from NYC, had started Burn Out to talk to Toronto artists about how they maintain their passion in the face of economic and other challenges. Tonight, she was interviewing Backxwash from Montreal.

This "witch rapper" grew up in Lusaka, Zambia, emigrated to B.C. to study computer science, but finally decided to pursue their love of hip-hop via a one-way ticket to Montréal. She talked about her influences from mainstream (Notorious B.I.G., DMX), to less well-known (Papoose, Diabolic), and underground (Afu-Ra, Rico Nasty). Backxwash also detailed the challenges of being transgender not only within the hyper-masculine rap genre but even other "inclusive" shows. Mistry was an articulate host who drew out long responses with pertinent, contextual questions.

I saw two bands before heading home and leaving the evening to the mostly 20-somethings and teen crowd. I think the latter was hungry for all-ages shows which are no longer prevalent in Toronto. Korydor played heavy, loopy, psychedelic rock on the main stage. Upstairs, Lavender Bruisers (a new outfit by Kritti Uranowski) got feet moving with dance-friendly, slight jungle-y, beats and big vocals. Given the building's age and state of disrepair, I was wondering if things would hold up when the floor started undulating.