Can-Rock

Amos The Transparent

For AudioBlood Media's 4th anniversary on Friday, 4 bands played at Sneaky Dee's. Coincidentally, they were from different parts of Canada, and were not just local Toronto bands. Acres of Lion was up first. These Victoria B.C. boys played straight up rock: not quite jock rock but not esoteric indie. The lead singer really tried to engage the early crowd. Combined with tra-la-la refrains, they are positioned to attract the extroverts.

Secret Connection came from St. John's Newfoundland. The on-the-road version of the band was a trio of excitable guys. Their indie-pop songs often descended into sonically noisy outro full of feedback and guitar chords. The biggest crowd of the night came to hear Ottawa's Amos The Transparent. Comprising of 7 members plus a guest trumpetist, they played pleasing pop full of cello lines, tinkling piano, and lots of anthemic choruses. Their exhortation for crowd participation was gladly met by bearded dudes in flannel shirts who sung along to every song. Their set ended on a bittersweet note when, prior to the final song, Mark Hyne revealed that it would probably the last time that Greater Than Consequence will be played live. He was leaving the band after 7 years.

Toronto's Hands and Teeth closed out the evening with catchy pop tunes full of multi-part harmonies and members exchanging lyrics. They debuted 5 new songs off their upcoming album before delving into older tunes. By this time, some in the audience were highly inebriated. Though most stood swaying in a dazed stupor before wandering off, one drunk male climbed up on the bass speakers to dance awkwardly. Finally, on Help Me, after Natasha Pasternak mimed a rifle shot with her guitar, lanky Jeffrey Pinto leapt from behind his keyboards and ran the obnoxious sot off the stage. But the good fellowship vibe was restored when members of the audience were invited on stage to sing along to a cover of With A Little Help From My Friends.

In The Land of the Lounge Lizards

On a quiet Sunday night, Gentleman Reg had his CD release at the Gladstone Hotel. As he wryly noted, a number of his friends begged out because of headaches or work Monday morning. But 30 or so people were there in the Ballroom for some up-tempo music.

Chinawoman was up first. A Toronto transplant to Berlin, she switched instruments depending on the songs. They all had a cabaret feel, sharing a weary and jaded viewpoint of the world. Party Girl, despite its title,  was any but uplifting or joyful. It was fitting music for the end of the week. In contrast, Army Girls never plays anything slow. So singer-guitarist Carmen Elle and drummer Andy Smith started with the riffy Always and got progressively more manic including on the new song No One Misses You (But I Do). At one point, they had to stop abruptly at the bridge because she had ripped out her guitar cable.

Gentleman Reg came on stage with a new band set-up including Kelly McMichael (Rouge) on synth and vocals and Terra Lightfoot (The Pining) on bass. He played songs from his new album Leisure Life such as Waiting Around For Gold and Make It Better. He also pulled from his catalogue dancey tunes like We're In a Thunderstorm and The Boyfriend Song. His live performance was more visceral (and danceable) than the recordings. There were only a few quiet songs including the sad The Declaration and a slow, sweet duet with Kelly on Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy.

Fight For Your Right

Saturday night, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association held a benefit to raise awareness about the erosion of civil rights in Canada. CBC radio host Vish Khanna was the affable host for the evening. Veteran agitator Judy Rebick spoke passionately about continuing to fight for our rights, especially in the face of all the state abuses from the G20 summit here in Toronto. She might have gotten a few people interested, but I feel her words fell on mostly apathetic ears.

Dwayne Morgan started the evening with some rapid-fire spoken word poetry, primarily dealing with broken homes, absentee fathers, poverty, and 'living while black'. Treading close to rap, they were edgy and uncomfortable to the mostly white privileged audience but his slick, practiced delivery undermined their rawness to some extent. To lighten the mood, 3 dancers (Mitzy C, Karen the Belly Dancer, and Tanya Cheex) from The Great Canadian Burlesque came on to dance and tease. The larger stage gave them a chance to wield their entire arsenal including veils, boas, and feathered fans. Inspired by their performance, Toronto's poet laureate George Elliott Clarke stuck to sex-drenched poems from his books Red and Black.

The musical portion of the evening started with Maloo, Maylee Todd's chill electronica alter ego. Accompanied by two dancers, she played multi-layered musings backed by bloops and beeps. MINOTAURS came on stage, 9-strong including a 3 horn section. They played exclusively protest and social issues songs such as the the G20-inspired Open The Doors from their upcoming album. With poly-rhythmic beats and funky horns and synth, they seemed a wonderful nod to the funk bands of the 70s: musical and socially aware. Nathan Lawr, who organized the evening, was joined on stage by Sarah Harmer, noted singer-activist, and Ohbijou's Casey Mecija for two numbers.

The head-liner was Ohbijou, an Arcade Fire-esque band that often build a sparse song into an anthemic number. Though they did sing love-lorn songs including the pitiful Barking At Your Door, they also had social issues tunes such as Balikbayan, an ode to all the Filipino caregivers who leave their children behind to care for other people's kids. Before a raging encore, in which Casey had bleeding fingers from ripping out the guitar chords, cellist Anissa Hart and pianist Ryan Carley played the Game of Thrones theme as a dare. To the amazing of both the other band members and the audience, a few tentative bars turned into a full song.

This Little Veggie

Although not a vegetarian, the last few days I've been eating mostly vegetarian dishes. Home-cooked food is delicious, even more so when you don't have to do the cooking. On Thursday, before my aerobics dance party, I dropped by a friend for some veggie pasta. The vegetables and onions were soft and tender, and the spaghetti was perfectly al dente. The very generous oil added to the dish really made it go down easy.

Friday night, I attended a vegetarian shabbat. There were freshly baked challah, an arugula and roasted nut salad, a couscous vegetable stew, and coffee truffles and apple crumble for the dessert. They were all tasty but the stand-out was the couscous dish aided by two strong flavours: soft and tender whole small onions, and bursts of zests from tiny slices of preserved lemons. The addition of home-made harissa, Tunisian spicy sauce, gave a nice punch to the mix.

On Sunday, my yoga class had a Holiday potluck after the morning practice. I'm not usually a fan of potluck, too many incompatible dishes, but because of the restriction to vegan or vegetarian options, this gave the meal more cohesion. It was a generous spread of 15 or so offerings: broccoli salad, roasted red peppers, quinoa, guacamole, bean dip, scones, cheese platter, fried noodles, melon salsa, samosas, and a large array of desserts: brownies, coconut cookies, tarts, pies, etc. There was also some mini lobster tarts for those of us who weren't vegetarian. We all stuffed ourselves silly. I waddled home for an afternoon nap, with a doggie container overflowing with leftovers.