Songbird

I was at The Burdock on Thursday for a rare appearance by Ivy Mairi. First up was her friend Devarrow. She later confided that she organized the show because the latter wanted to play in Toronto during his tour. In both his music and banter, there was an earnestness to Devarrow's performance, accompanied by guitar, box drum, and a falsetto hitch in his voice. Unfortunately, the loud bar chatter rendered his softer songs like The Great Escape and Modern Ark almost unintelligible. He did better with bluesy, upbeat numbers like Fix and Down The Road.

Mairi came on stage and in a mock-serious manner told the crowd to keep it down: referring to her growing intolerance of bar noises in her "old age", even said her new album was called No Talker (it's actually Non Believer). The crowd did pipe down. Into that silence, her sweet voice gave us wonderful folk songs like Thrush, There Is A Thing, and Sad Man. For the occasion, she brought a few friends as a backing band: Kieran Adams (Diana), Caitlin Woefle-Obrien (Blunt Chunks), and long-time collaborator Matthew Bailey. She has been dabbling in pop music too so we were treated to sweet groovy jams like Julia and All Around Me. I've heard her doing backup vocals plenty of time (until I heard her last year in Kith and Kin) but rarely as a head-liner. This talented singer-songwriter need to step into the spotlight more often. Once a year is much too long between shows.

Gypsy Child

There was a downpour Saturday night, but The Mod Club had a packed house from country singer Lindi Ortega. First up was another local, Sam Cash, but without his band The Romantic Dogs. Interesting that Cash noted that his song Talk To Me came about because he was trying to write a "Tom Petty" song. This was the vibe I got from his set. In fact, he wryly noted that an online commenter had criticized his simple rhyming schemes. With most of his life taken place in booze joints: plays in bars, goes to bars, works in bars, numbers like Remedy and Marquee came from those experiences.

Though Ortega has moved to Nashville, a homecoming show is always special to her. Tonight, her folks were beaming down from the side balcony. Meanwhile, the full crowd was a mix of suburbanites, city cowboys, and tattoed hipsters. With a 20-song set (including encore), Ortega covered most of the songs off her new album including Ashes and the titular Faded Gloryville along with plenty of old favourites like Heaven Don't Have No Vacancy and Cigarettes & Truckstops. As evident in their titles, her music has a melancholic feel, evoking that old country sound, and perfectly complemented by the wavery tremolo in her voice. But with the bag of guitar tricks of "Champagne" James Robertson, there were plenty of boot-stomping jams too (I Ain't The Girl, Run Amuck, The Day You Die). A full band was a nice addition compared to her more stripped down show at The Great Hall. But honestly, Ortega and Robertson provided all the talent you'd want.

I spent half of the set front-row centre and the second half a bit further back and to the side. The problem was that the sound system at this venue are made for thumping club music. So near the front, I was up-close to Ortega (and her signature red boots) but could barely hear her. It was still not a perfect mix away from the stage but her big vocals were more audible.

Ironed Island

On Friday, I headed over to Roncesvalles for lunch at La Cubana. When I had dinner here at this Cuban diner, I recouped my cost by finding a $50 bill on the sidewalk. It was unlikely I would be as lucky again, but I'm sure my luck will hold for a Cuban pressed sandwich ($9) and some donuts ($5).

The sandwich came out hot and gooey. But it's best to wait for it to cool down. This allows the flavour of the salty ham to come through. In my mind, what makes this dish are the little tangy bursts provided by the pickles. The donuts were a nice combination of sugar and fat. They were larger than the version offered back at the parent restaurant Deluxe in the old days. The bigger size wasn't an improvement as it made the centre too doughy. Overall, this was a tasty lunch for a crisp but bright afternoon.

Days of Future Past

There were lots of screening for the "Back To The Future" movie around town. But on Wednesday, I went to the one at The Royal (after a big dinner at Hapa). It was the only independent theatre that was allowed to because they had reserved 8 months before. So Universal couldn't back out of the deal and make it a Cineplex exclusive.

That same nerdy foresight was also evident with the event organizers. Apparently, they had created a Facebook event some 10 years before. I don't know how many in the capacity crowd was part of the original invite, but we were all here now to enjoy the first two movies. Everybody had a great time with the first film. During intermission, I debated about if I should skip the 2nd movie. But I decided to stay.

After all, we were all here on October 21, 2015 because that was the day Marty McFly travelled 30 years into the future from 1985. And now the future was here. Well, he only spent about 20 minutes in 2015. My memory didn't serve me wrong, the rest of the movie was a jumbled mess. It was fun to look at their predictions, outside of the flying cars. Even in 1985, no one would seriously suggest  there'd be flying cars in 30 years. That was just a fan-service to the throwaway line from the first movie: "Where we're going, we don't need roads." Interestingly, the rest of the futuristic stuff was just an exaggerated version of the original 1985 trends including the day-glo business clothes, punky "gang" outfit, and (the fear of) working for a Japanese boss.