Buy'N'Sell

Having won two tickets to Riot Fest, I headed north to Downsview Park early on Saturday. The trip wasn't too bad via subway and bus. The 101 heading straight through the park was packed. I can't imagine how busy it will get later in the day. On my way back, I walked instead over to the main road on Sheppard. There was better transit options there with 3 bus routes passing by that stop.

After I picked up my tickets (one of probably ten thousand free give-aways), I headed over to the Merchants' Market. I have read about this ethnic bazaar located on this site and it lived up to its great reputation. True, the food court wasn't quite as eye-popping as I had hoped, but instead of fast food chains you did have your choice of Jamaican, Filipino, and other immigrant food. I had a medium soursop smoothie ($4) sweetened with sugarcane from Juicy Hut to go with a lunch combo of Jamaican rice and peas, oxtail, and ackee ($9) from Mama Original. If I had known there were other food vendors without the main area (Filipino waffles!), I would have saved some room.

The stalls had everything imaginable: CDs, cell phones, furniture, jewelry, kitchen stuff. In fact, with so many vendors, I have to wonder how anyone can make a profit. But that's not all. There was a large, open-air fruit and vegetable market filled with cheap greens. If only there was such an eclectic space downtown. It was also nice that the often-touted 42% visible minority status of Toronto was reflected in the diversity here unlike most events I have attended.

As I made my way back to the music festival, the line-up was already a thousand strong. That was only the "pre-line" where you wait your turn to get into another line for the actual entry. Without a must-see act (from my point-of-view), I decided to exchange my tickets to a "middle-man" for an honorarium and headed home. Thereby learning a nifty fact. I have always thought that the absolute cheapest you could get from these independent sellers was a mark-up on the lowest price. But if they are re-selling free/contest tickets, then you could get tickets "below cost" (as they are wont to cry out). That is, they would sell for less than the $179 official price. And I'm certain even cheaper than the $99 early bird option which sold out weeks ago. Something to keep in mind for the next big show.

Le Crooner

Friday night, I once again headed down to the TIFF festival for some more free music. The line-up seemed to be eclectic and fun tonight. First up was Bobby Bazini from Montreal. The tall and lanky singer played against type: perhaps he will sing country or some top-40 pop? No, Bazini channelled 70s soul through Joe Cocker. So whether it was Cold, Cold Heart or Cherish Our Love, it was funky music, backed by two doo-wop-esque singers, and front and centred was his singing: a combination of emotional growls, falsetto cries, and soulful pleas. Bubble Gum, his new radio single from the 2nd album got the most cheers from the fans lined up at the front. It was no surprised that he covered another smooth Bobby: Ain't No Love In The Heart of the City (Bobby Bland).

The set was ending on a high note with an ever-growing crowd when the sky opened up. Bazini, and some from the crowd, gamely tried to finished. But Wish You Were Here had to end prematurely as the rain, thunder, and lightning were really gaining strength. With festival-goers scurrying every which way, the stage was shut down for the night. It was a shame because I was looking forward to chill synth-pop (Diana) and hip-hop jazz (BADBADNOTGOOD).

Star Gazing

This year, TIFF has decided to close down King St. for the 1st 4 days. This has been a controversial decision since this street sees heavy use during rush hour from both cars and public transit. But the pedestrians strolling along or waiting around to see celebrities in front of the Princess Of Wales Theatre were having a good time. The restaurants also took advantage to expand their patio space, which were filled up with festival goers. Too bad they all serve middling food.

But Thursday night, I wasn't there for movies or munchies. I dropped by the open-air stage for some music. First up was the chameleon Maylee Todd. Tonight, Todd and her dancers were dressed in short black outfit with multi-coloured foam strings and bangles. Her brand of neo-soul gradually drew a crowd as they listened to Baby's Got It, Hieroglyphics, and I Tried. Even the laid-back or schmoozing boozers in the beer section on the side got into the groove. She even got a Soul Train started, though perhaps a bit more reticent than usual.

The night also had on the bill the energetic Rich Aucoin and cerebral guitarist Adrian X. But unfortunately I could not stick around for these performers.

Pepsi Blue

Pepsi was offering a series of free concert called Pepsi Pop-up inside the "world's largest" Pepsi bottle so I went down Wednesday night for the first show. It turned out to be a giant inflatable Pepsi bottle set up in a parking lot on Richmond St. Appropriately enough, free Pepsi bottles were also handed out.

The opener was The Meligrove Band. According to their status updates, they haven't played in 2 years. But there were a number of fans, as well as curious listeners, here for their show. This 4-piece had a dual personality. With songs sung by the drummer such as Kingfisher, they were noisy and punk-ish, with bits of cerebral prog-rock guitar riffs thrown in. When the lead singer took his turn, tunes like Ages & Stages and Our Love Will Make The World Go Round were catchier pop.

It was amazing that 8-piece Dwayne Gretzky were able to cram themselves on the small stage. Tonight, they resisted doing more "obscure" covers of The Band or Steely Dan and stuck to crowd-pleasing numbers such as Sledgehammer, Dancing In The Dark, and You Can't Hurry Love. Occasional stand-in guitarist Champagne James Robertson (currently touring with Lindi Ortega) electrified the set with his characteristic twangy solos. Given their young-ish fanbase (in addition to the old-timers), I wish they added more 90s tunes.

It was a fun night but the relentless branding was weird. It wasn't just the free drinks and the workers wearing company logos. The hyping of the event seemed over-the-top: "First time in Canada", "A huge successful at Glastonbury", "I say Pepsi, you say Pop-up ... Pepsi", "Are you having a good time? Scream!" It didn't seem to really to connect with the crowd, either because of their typical Torontonian reserve or their low-key "indie" attitude.