Blocks around the Rock
While the rest of humanity had to soothe itself with the dull psuedo-conversation of post-Oscars day (in which the only point that matters is: Bill Murray was robbed), a few dozen Torontonians got to jump up and down holding hands and screaming THAT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER at the memory of the Blocks' Recording Club's Toronto is Great!!! compilation launch party. Has ever a windy civic boast ever been so satisfyingly proved totally and utterly true? [...]
Arriving in the enchanted secret clubhouse of Cinecycle (which has skylights! who knew?!) squinty-eyed and dry-mouthed at 10:15 on a sunny Sunday Leap Day, we soon found ourselves drinking horrible coffee, eating transcendent vegan sandwiches and listening to: a spinoff version of the Singing Saw Shadow Show; the Barcelona Pavilion; the unbelievably smart soulf-trembles and expletive noise of Les Mouches (three extraordinary musicians of whom you non-Torontonians will soon know); the velvet touch of the Phonemes (of whom ditto); Craig Fraid Dunsmuir's one-man, one-guitar, one-loops-box Afrobeat-ambience project Guitarkestra (highlight: an arrangement of two Arthur Russell pieces, "Lucky Cloud"/"Kiss Me Again", which really must be recorded); the Depeche Mode-to-go suitcasetronic dance magik of Animalmonster; the fine avant-garage of the Creeping Nobodies, music to jump rope on your nerve endings by; the Most Improved award going to the creative hip-hop group-chant cheer-alongs of Ninja High School (It's.... gonna be us-us-us-us-us! is I think my favourite non-exclusionary tautalogically-triumphalist political slogan of the 2000's thus far, and from the same song, I can't stop sing-songing, Mornings, evenings, afternoons and weekends/Freakin' is our business & stock options are peakin'!); the Grand Ole 1977-Punk Glee Club (meets, somehow, Fleetwood Mac) Opry of the Hank Collective, including an incredibly sincere ovation from the entire room for the lead singer's dad, who laughed and laughed; and finally the Moscow-via-Amsterdam jazz punk of Lenin I Shumov, of which you will also hear more (slogan to remember: "Lenin I Shumov is Russian for Awesome!").
Wish I could describe all this in detail or wax philosophic, but it is late and I am still beat 24+ hours later from all the jumping and singing and smiling, but let it be said again that rockin' at 10 a.m. beats rockin' at 3 a.m. all to hell (and I'm no fan of morning); that music is a communal rite as much as it is anything and it's rare to be able to experience that so directly as we did this weekend; and that by the time next leap year rolls around I hope to have convinced the nations of the world of my plan that Leap Day should be an international holiday of solidarity and funk, during which the week is extended as well to 8 days so that it's not a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday but a universal liberated zone, perhaps one day in every 1,461 when the calendar would go on the fritz and people could live in primordial unmeasurable bodily time...
Yeah, that's how much fun the Blocks matinee party was. CN Tower-high props and hosannahs to Blocks (Steve Kado and Liisa Graham). The kind of occasion that makes you cry out, as the saying goes: "I Love World!"
Read More | Via Toronto | Posted by zoilus on Tuesday, March 02 at 12:57 AM | Linking Posts | Comments (2)
COMMENTS
that was indeed the greatest day ever! The vegan snacks were so scrumptious. All of the bands made me bow down in wonder. I brought a friend because she was lamenting the emptiness of her recent stay in L.A., and I said, "wanna see the best Toronto has to offer, and be glad you're home?" - and the show didn't disappoint. Many thanks to Steve Kado for making it happen. Also, I get more and more excited about Ninja High School every time I see them. If only I got to see Les Mouches and the Phonemes instead of having to sing for the damn Lord. I would have actually been in heaven on earth. GO COMMUNITY!
Posted by kate on March 2, 2004 1:54 PM
I feel really bad that I missed that...
Posted by seandix on March 2, 2004 9:57 AM