Results tagged “musicgallery”

Bill Gilliam is pretty courageous. While most children prefer not to think about their parents’ love life, Gilliam has embraced it. In his latest and perhaps strangest concert, Poems from a Love Triangle—which we had the pleasure of seeing on Saturday night at the Music Gallery—Gilliam uses the illicit love triangle between his mother, Marianne Gilliam; his father, Laurence Gilliam; and stepfather, the famous Irish poet William Robert (Bertie) Rodgers, as a source of inspiration.

Photo of Tony Dekker by Trinh Nguyen

This week, Musicologist is pleased to share that Wavelength will be hosting a festival celebrating their anniversary. The weekly music series has come a long way since its inception in 1999 and has seen various bookers, venues, and, of course, musicians contribute to the success of the series. Wavelength commits to showcasing great music at an accessible cost (all shows are pay-what-you-can) and most recently, has made a vow to feature diversity in the selected genres and performers. All of these elements are reflected in this year’s ambitious festival.

Most should be very excited by the wide gamut of shows announced this week; Musicologist is excited, but distracted by the concept of a $30.75 Hedley ticket. But yes, excitement: Rick White and The Luyas (one third Jessie Stein of Miracle Fortress and SS Cardiacs, two thirds Bell Orchestre’s Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider) play the Music Gallery on February 9. Gogol Bordello returns on March 2, shortly after their over-the-top performance last October. New York’s Vampire Weekend evidently can’t get enough of Toronto coming back for the third time since last summer on February 11. Basia Bulat (with Musicologist-loving Katie Stelmanis) is headlining her own show after a heavy North American, Hayden-supporting tour on March 29. Finally, Thee Silver Mt. Zion play on June 7 and 8 as per their (sometimes) annual Toronto visit—sadly, both shows will be Patti Smith-less.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Hip-hop blues music maker Buck 65 drops his new album Situation at the end of the month. The release is an ode to 1957, a time period the man born Richard Terfry considers world-changing in terms of pop culture (or, as he says in a video on his website, "the year all hell broke loose") thanks to events like Bettie Page going into self-imposed exile, those iconic plastic pink flamingoes appearing on lawns everywhere, and the delightful Situationist International emerging in Italy.

Very early on this year, Torontoist was bold enough to predict that this may be the year of Basia Bulat. Nine months later and we may not have been very far off the mark. Ms. Bulat released her new album Oh, My Darling in Europe this past March, and has recently signed to Hardwood Records to finally (finally!) release her debut album tomorrow here in Canada.

Festival fever is sweeping the city—after all, it’s that time of year. But, perhaps incredibly, there are people for whom Brad Pitt sightings and red carpet galas just aren’t worth the Ben Mulroney-sized hype. What, for example, is the ardent audiophile to do in this landscape of visual media tyranny?

Summer in Toronto means an abundance of excellent music and food. This Thursday evening, the Music Gallery will satisfy both with a party to celebrate the end of their 2006-7 season. Expect a tasty selection of edibles and listenables: the lineup includes Kanaka with Paradigm Brass Ensemble, Tim Hecker, Katherine Liberovskaya and Phill Niblock with guest Matt Rogalsky, and, of course, the prerequisite burger (vegetarian-friendly options will be available).

So, although we’ve only just spent a whole post gushing about Sprockets, we can’t really forget about the other excellent stuff that’s going on this week. The Images Film Festival closes this weekend, and we’ve been told Live Images 4: Quasar, tonight at the Music Gallery (197 John) at 9:30 p.m. is the hot ticket, as it features “an army of modified 16mm projectors and a quadraphonic sound system to envelop the audience in a pulsating array of light and sound particles.” Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, IMAX!

Sadly, the days of the nickelodeon movie theatre is long gone. The coming of sound made the in-house orchestra/performer obsolete, taking away the live accompaniment that had been necessary for silent films. Luckily, you can try to recover this part of the nickelodeon experience as Andrew Downing's Melodeon perform an original score to The Shock (1923) at the Music Gallery on March 23rd. As their name implies, Melodeon is led by Andrew Downing, a Juno-Award winning double-bassist jazz musician from Toronto. The group solely play live scores to silent movies, including A Trip To The Moon (1902) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).

Concert announcements are coming fast and furious, now that everyone's back to their regularly scheduled programming. A number of festival dates are set all the way into September already, including the return of V-Fest to Olympic Island on Sept. 8-9. The festival is expanding out west this year, with Vancouver getting it's innaugural V-Fest -- although judging by the current lineup so far (headliners only), they're catering to a much younger crowd than Toronto did last year. Here's hoping that we get a slightly more mature and diverse bill, which will likely be announced in the coming few months. Here's also hoping that none of the bands get the shaft due to schedule issues (hello, Flaming Lips!).

"Just take those old records off the shelf, I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself, today's music ain't got..." Oh. Ahem...sorry, just reliving the old days of Fisher-Price rollerskating around the house to Bob Seger (and Joan Jett, if anyone's counting). Did you know that good ol' Bob is in town this week at the ACC? Did anyone know he was still alive and kicking? There are still tickets available for Tuesday, so it might be a good opportunity to spend some quality bonding time with the parents.

Sheila Heti (pictured here hiding behind this chair) is one of the many artists invited by the Music Gallery for its fundraiser "Compose Yourself."

If you're not completely burnt out from Nuit Blanche, there are plenty of quality shows to check out this week, including Joanna Newsom, Massive Attack, and Myspace darling Lily Allen. Alternatively, you Hip fans can skip out on the live music this week and save up your change for all four (yes, FOUR) of the recently announced shows at the Phoenix a few weeks from now. Can Gord Downie and pals really justify the $60 admission fee these days? Could they ever? On a similar note, Guns N' Roses are coming to the ACC in November -- should they be asking fans to shell out up to $85 to see a bloated Axl Rose trying to slither around the stage, caterwauling 'Sweet Child O' Mine'? Wouldn't that just be painful to watch? Are we asking too many questions? Okay, we'll stop.

Photo of the Hidden Cameras' frontman, Joel Gibb, from The Music Gallery, April 2, 2006.

It's a well known joke among indie rock fans that there are tons and tons of "wolf" bands. Everyone from Wolf Parade to Aids Wolf to Guitar Wolf. There's something about the lupine animal that just attracts musicians trying to come up with a band name. With the success of wolf bands the backlash is going to be inevitable.

The keen-eyed music lover has probably seen Nicholas Kennedy's work around town. Kennedy and Trip Print Press does posters for Toronto music fixtures like Wavelength and the Music Gallery. But his posters are very different, closer to 1930s De Stijl style art prints than the average thing you see on cafe walls and lampposts. After visiting Trip Print press we understand why. Kennedy uses old school letterpresses to print up his posters, typesetting them by hand, and the end result is something more organic, richer than mere photocopies and computer designed band posters. We chatted with Kennedy over e-mail about typography, printing and the future of letterpress.

The temperature hasn't crept above freezing outside but that doesn't mean that you should stay in. There are a few crazy good shows in town tonight, and it's only Tuesday!

Torontoist wants to make sure we don't forget to send e-cards and presents to the lovely folks at Wavelength. The weekly indie music showcase is turning six and doing its best to top last year's excellent birthday festivities. Concerts start tommorow night with an ear blistering lineup at the Speakeasy (120 Church St.) that includes Anagram and Republic of Safety. But before all that rockin' out you can pick the brains of indie scenesters/stalwarts like Boat booker Trevor Coleman, eye editor Stuart Berman and more on a three part panel about the state of the indie scene in Toronto.

. So take in the $8 Music Gallery show this weekend, sans effects.

The Tall Poppy Interview - Matthew Nish-Lapidus, Musician

The Tall Poppy Interview - Jonathan Bunce, Wavelength Founder

to be on critics year-end "best of" lists.