Black Stars, Trampoline Hall
and Other Summer Pleasures
It's flying at half-mast.
Please join me in saluting Ghana's heroic World Cup run and mourning their defeat today by Brazil - a cruelty of the schedule, to pit them against the Cup's likely winners so early (and without their biggest asset, Michael Essien). They ought to have made the next round. Where to put my allegiances now? I do generally love Brazil, but that's like cheering for, you know, the Beatles. It's better to have an underdog favourite, too. Maybe Spain, in honour of the country's current quiet-revolution-style renaissance? (4:45 pm: So much for that.)
Some news from Trampoline Hall: The next show in the non-expert lecture series (which I've worked on since its inception) is at Sneaky Dee's on July 10 (a week from Monday) and includes some superb-sounding lectures, including one on Canadian superheroes, another on flea circuses, and a third on "why we draw hearts the way we do," which has to be the best topic of the year. But mainly I'm posting to let T.H. fans know that this month the ticketing procedure has a special wrinkle: You will only be able to attend by first getting your portrait taken by photographer Lee Towndrow in special sittings being held this week, on Thursday and Friday evenings. What's more, you have to call in advance - either today or Thursday - to book your portrait session. The portraits will be put together in a limited-edition poster for that show - so that everyone in the room at that show will be on the poster (of which you'll get a free copy). Details are here. Yes, it's very complicated. That's what makes it art.
Speaking of which, tonight at the Red Guitar as part of the Downtown Jazz Festival, "the Weirdest Band in Town" (as I've called them, proudly reproduced in their publicity info), The Reveries (Eric Chenaux, Ryan Driver and Doug Tielli), plays the songs of Willie Nelson. Previous artists to get the group's unique spittle-drenched-ballad treatment are Sade and Nick Cave, but the red-headed stranger seems even more of a kindred spirit. Two sets, starting at 9:30. An unannounced roster of the group's fellow AIMT members (Association of Improvising Musicians, Toronto) play the earlier, 7 pm set. If you're not seeing Etta James at the Hummingbird or Devotchka at the El Mocambo or ex-Wolf Eyes noisemeister Aaron Dilloway at the Sister Ray noise monthly at the Drake, here's another excellent option. Here's a video of Dilloway's set at the No Fun festival in Brooklyn in March, by the way - with no sound, but it kind of doesn't need it.
Also in the Zoilus gig guide, you'll now find the complete musical listings of Harbourfront's weekend culture festivals for July. There's an extraordinary range, with highlights including this Sunday's free performances by two of Africa's biggest (non-FIFA) success stories of the year, Amadou & Mariam from Mali and The Refugee All Stars of Sierra Leone. One of the most-anticipated gigs of the summer is July 8's appearance by Konono No. 1, the already-legendary "Congotronic" amplified-junkyard band. (See past posts.) And there's a nice change of pace with the Winnipeg celebration the last weekend of July, including shows from the needing-no-introduction Weakerthans and underrated 'peg chamber-pop singer Christine Fellows, who will be performing with visual accompaniment from Toronto artist Shary Boyle - who may be familiar to some readers from her past paint-along magic with the likes of Feist, Jens Lekman, Final Fantasy and Finland's ES.
Also, after a rather wonky winter-spring roster, Wavelength has its wheels back on the road, with a strong June rally and now a kickass July, under the curatorial sway of Kevin Parnell aka Aperture Enzyme, including Sunday's appearances by Vancouver's Mother and Montreal's Think About Life (see video below), and with a big climax at the end of the month with Bad Robots Evil Doer, Garbage!Violence!Enthusiasm! and one of my Polaris prize picks, Jon Rae & the River, on July 30. Great to see WL get its groove back.
Pardon the Torontocentricity of recent posts - reflections on some more general topics to come.
| Posted by zoilus on Tuesday, June 27 at 2:37 PM | Linking Posts | Comments (9)
COMMENTS
Hey Carl, thanks for good words and support. I've been having a great time booking these summer months of Wavelength.
Kevin
Posted by Kevin on June 29, 2006 1:27 PM
Reveries rocked!
Posted by tim on June 28, 2006 3:11 PM
I loved that Ghana upset! They had a good run. As an 'orange' type, it really doesn't matter who wins now, but I'll still be watching.
woot woot!
Posted by knitgirl on June 28, 2006 9:51 AM
Brazil were just a whole lot better than Ghana and didn't have to do much to prove it. Why is that so hard to accept?
The end of the blog post you linked to asks "what is wrong with Brazil?" I think nothing is wrong with them. They've been getting progressively better, Ronaldo is even starting to pull a few pre-98 Ronaldo moves. Ronaldinho has been pretty quiet the whole time, but Kaka has often been outstanding.
I have no other choice than hope France can beat them, but it'll be interesting to see what they do against strong opposition.
Posted by mwanji on June 28, 2006 8:09 AM
I disagree about England. I have never liked them since I started watching World Cups in '82, but this year is different. Rooney may look like a working class bulldog, but his play in the last game was very nuanced. I've also enjoyed watching Joe Cole and Lampard and those Beckham free kicks have been beautiful. Certainly forty dry years gives them genuine underdog status.
Posted by Half on June 27, 2006 7:11 PM
England just can't, emotionally, qualify as "underdog." Plus, there's nothing beautiful about their playing this year. Ditto, on the second count, for the Ukraine. France is a possibility, but they're uninspiring now too. Argentina and Germany are kind of equally appealing, though hardly with real underdog umpf.(My traditional alternatives were always Croatia or the Czechs, but, obvs, that's out for '06 too.)
Posted by zoilus on June 27, 2006 5:23 PM
Hello!
I'm posting from the Trampoline Hall Call Centre:
We'll be reserving till 7:00 today. (And again on Thursday...)
Calls are coming in at a comfortable rate, but not too crazy - I think if people call, they should be able to get through without too much trouble.
Posted by Misha on June 27, 2006 5:21 PM
Too right, Carl. It was sad to see them go out. They even gave the Brazillians a run for the money. And now with the young Spaniards out, it'll be France for me. Vive Titi!
Posted by Chris on June 27, 2006 4:46 PM
Yes, too bad about Ghana. As for underdogs, England certainly has the reputation to qualify. France is probably the last team left with the flavour of an African team. After yesterday's yawnfest, I'm anxious to see Ukraine booted as soon as possible.
Posted by Half on June 27, 2006 4:28 PM