“I could have had at least fifteen poops!”

“How to know if you’re a pervert.”

“So I put on my coat, and I went and I got the job.”

Outside: “Lordy, Lordy, look who’s forty!” Inside “Most Moms are only 32!!!!!!!!!”

“Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy! I’m thinking about sex.”

All of these phrases are things that were heard tonight. All of these are expressions of youth that were captured in diaries, journals, and class-assignments; and then saved.  These pieces of written history were treasured by selves or parents or other loved ones.  These, amongst other gems, were performed tonight at GRTTWaK 10 at The Garrison on Dundas St. West.

As Dan Misener said on stage tonight, Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids is just that; adults go on stage and read things that they wrote when they were kids. The definition of kids is loose, but the rules for presenting are set: you must have been the kid that wrote the kid-writing, and your reading must be five minutes or less.

The readers tonight were phenomenal.  Their collective (though each unique) style of presenting showed how much they appreciated literature and writing.  You could hear the raw foundation of their appreciation and skill in the excerpts they chose from their childhood.  They performed.  I left tonight feeling, as I think most audience members do after these nights, inspired to dig through my old journals and buckets of writing assignments and scour them for the kind of self-proclaimed prodigious childhood writing that I would love to share with others.

If you haven’t already experienced GRTTWaK, you should.  It’s a night that’s funnier than most comedy shows, and more insightful than most lectures. Plus, I’ll be there, and that should be reason enough. You should buy tickets the day they are released because they always sell out and only a minimal number of rush tickets are kept for the door.

Happy digging!

- – -

*post script*

- Brad Wheeler from Globe & Mail writes a great review of the same night. Embedded in this article is a brilliant sound clip from the reading of Heather Phoenix who “always gets the last word” and who “got excellence in gym… which is higher than gold.”

- Jodi Lastman, one of the amazing performers, also tells of her own experience of the event and how she came to choose which pieces to read, and picks apart the psychology of such an experience. She also posts a video of her portion of the event. In her comment section Dan provides a well-referenced commentary on nostalgia and why we feel it.

Just Reboot

Last week. 11pm. Bus #1044 on the Ossington South.

The kind of adorably awkward girl who’s pretty confident until she’s put in a spotlight was trying to exit the bus, and the door jammed.  There was a pretty long span of moments back and forth between her and the bus-driver, and a whole lot of everyone-on-the-bus-wondering-when-she’d-go-to-the-front looks. And then she did…. then she got off the bus and the bus stopped working.

Lights off. Bus off. Silence.
Lights on. Bus trying to start.
Lights off. Bus off. I giggle. The cute nose-ringed boy in the corduroy jacket catches my giggle and smiles.
Lights on. Bus trying to start.
Lights off. Bus off.

We wait.

Lights on. Bus trying to start. I let out a loud guffaw, and the cute nose-ringed boy in the corduroy jacket laughs with me. The bus riders start to acknowledge each other as they realize how ridiculous this situation is.  It happens one more time, and I say to the cute nose-ringed boy “This feels like a really indie commercial about Mac vs. PC… something about not having to reboot!” We laugh.

The bus starts. We travel south. Cute boy and I both get out at Dundas and go our separate ways. I giggle most of my way home.

Sousaphone

Yes, a sousaphone.  An instrument so grand in its proportions that the player of said instrument had to adjust the christmas light strings hanging above the stage.

I thought this night was just (pff ‘just’) going to be going out for drinks with a wonderful lady, but then I show up and it’s live Heavyweights Brass Band… and it’s really good.

Jan 13, 2011.

Please listen to that bass line and remember that he plays that instrument with his mouth the way that bass-players play their guitar with their fingers.  Wow.

Art in the hood.

Just to the east of my neighbourhood there’s an event going on called Do Design. It’s a 4 day design celebration occurring in the Do West Trinity Bellwoods Business Improvement Area (Dundas West, Between Bathurst & Grace), between January 27 and 30, 2011. From the Do West BIA’s website:

Do Design intends to highlight the diversity of our streetscape and community and is a reminder of the value of creative initiatives and the resonance of design in our daily lives.

Dundas Street West (between Bathurst and Grace Street) becomes a “gallery”, with design projects displayed in storefronts, walk-ups, windows, cafe’s, galleries, bars, restaurants, boutiques, showrooms and even a lumber yard! We are pleased to announce 28 participating venues this year, showcasing the works of the contemporary designers listed below.

In honour of this event, I have taken some photos of art that is located mostly in the neighbourhood two BIAs west.

Basement of Zoots Cafe - 1438 Dundas Street West

I’ve seen this incredible photographic work before, maybe in Kensington Market?

I don’t know who it’s by, but I love it.

If you know, please let me know so I can link to the artist/go take photos of other examples!

This reminds my good friend Aubs of the photography of Edward Burtynsky.

I agree. Especially his work on Urban Mines.

An incredible Mosaic on the wall of Howard Junior Public School.

How many animals can you see?

This obviously reminds me of this Smashing Pumpkins song.

I love the contrast in this. I also love how this alley has very clearly been designated as an accepted grafitti zone, with a white-washed area where the painting is allowed to happen, and this artist goes just outside of it.  Badass.

Wow. I wonder if they used rulers?

Twenty Five is Thirty Five

WARNING, this is a very long one.

A little conversation about 25 things inspired me to find this old post about the trip we took from Calgary to Galiano Island. I liked the trip and I liked writing this about it.  I liked re-reading it, though I was bothered by the lack of capitalization and sloppy grammar.  I think it might add to the experience though…

-

25 is 35

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Written Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 12:28am

… “twenty five” things, a meme I will participate  i thought about or realized when i was on my epic trip out west… WHICH by the way, started in Calgary, travelled by car through banff, and down to invermere, then we drove to hope, then to whistler, then to vancouver, then we boated to galiano, then MD went home, and I stayed in vancouver, and fell in love with the city. 

1. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve driven for; nothing prepares you for mountain driving. I am not ready. SR is. I am grateful for his skill.
2. Seeing entire stretches of land made nearly bare by alpine beatle infestations is both sad and humbling. Humans may make a huge footprint, but in the end, it’s nature that can do the most damage.
3. This country is f***ing huge. Vast. Ginormous. There is no real word to label it, and you can only really understand it after long drives, bus rides, bike or train rides through a space that you can mark on a map.
4. It doesn’t matter how many times it happens, it’s always awe-inspiring to see wildlife on the side of the highway. We saw elk, and a wolf… which is also sad, because it probably means it was ready to die.
5. Rumble strips are all of these things; useful, comforting, and terrifying.
6. A lot of B.C. wildlife / nature is untouched. That’s pretty sacred. I think I want to do more to appreciate that.
7. Nothing makes an orchard-fruit allergy more painful than driving through a gorgeous little orchard valley just before Creston.
8. The little old ladies in the A&W in Creston smell like little old men.
9. Coniferous tres look SO small on the mountains. Then you drive through valleys, and you see that many of them are like, 5 or 6 stories high.
10. Temperature inversion is beautiful.
11. I definitely have a crush on the old mountain man that held us up on the kootenay pass. I think it’s his giant mountain beard, and his giant mountain presence.
12. Logging trucks can carry a LOT of logs. I tried counting them a couple times, and gave up.
13. Interior mountains and coastal mountains remind me of the types of drawings little kids make of hills.
14. When we got to the coast, I noticed that the plants called playfully to the sun, rather than reaching desperately up through the cracks of light.
15. On the coast, there are jimmy’s and jeeps over tacomas and rams… and cars are cleaner.
16. Sitting in the back of a tercel, with two boys i love in the front is a pretty wonderful place to cry for happiness. When the sun burns your face in said back of tercel in february, it’s not so bad, and you hope it never ends
17. I understand why Brit said she never wanted to go home.
18. It is not a wise decision to call 911 when you are stoned.
19. I see human emotions in animal behaviour. I saw a cow sitting away from the rest of the cows and i thougth ‘she’s feeling left out. they’ve cast her aside.’ This experience made me understand how people use drawing/interpreting pictures as a therapeutic tool
20. Remaining quiet while you are actually fearing for your life is one of the hardest things to do in the world. Squeezing the life out of your boyfriend’s hand helps to maintain the silence.
21. I never thought I would be in Hope, B.C. again, but it became our safe haven after we unexpectedly ran into a pretty serious sleet/snow/rain/holyshit B.C. mountain storm.
22. According to SR, approximately 80% of the driving population are just plain dumb.
23. Seeing two cars flipped upside down in one road trip is scary. Don’t be plain dumb while you’re driving through the mountains. You can’t out-cool them.
24.Even when you live in the mountains, you MUST wear your best lululemon pants and D&G sunglasses when you go to the Squamish Starbucks for a grande, skinny, mocha chai latte, with THREE pumps of sugar free cinnamon syrup. I think it was in that moment that I personally decided to boycott starbucks forever… we’ll see how long that lasts.
25. Galiano Island is heaven. In one day I saw starfish, anenomes, sea otters, seals, bald eagles, a deer, real seagulls, ducks, and WHALES. I stood under giant trees covered in beautiful moss. I walked among ferns that, before they drooped, were taller than me.
26. I have an almost compulsive obsession with moss.
26. Homemade soup can always be made a little bit better with a touch of sugar. Even if the company you share the soup with is sweet enough.
27. Collecting pebbles that look like gems was as exciting at 25 as it was when I was 9.
28. Whistler is MASSIVE. The feats of human accomplishment there simply baffle me. 4km of gondola? As exciting as it was, I can’t entirely see the point. I guess it’s all about innovation. But riding in powder at one of the biggest resorts (the biggest?) in Canada was RAD.
29. Tegan and Sara are phenomenal live. The screaming preteens who profess their tweeny love to the sisters are NOT phenomenal.
30. The Happiness Project is an extremely cool musical project that we learned about at the Broken Social Scene part of the concert. Check it out;http://www.happiness-project.ca/
31. “That’s what she said” is something you can’t escape anymore. I never thought I could watch so many episodes of the office in one week, but now that I’m gone, I miss it… and you guys.
32. The experience of listening to electric violin is significantly heightened by reducing the light to one blinding red back light in a grungy basement.
33. Getting a ticket for not validating your skytrain ticket is not fun. Getting lost in a city you’d like to call home is really fun.
34. B.C.’s motto is “The best place on earth.” When I first saw this I thought that was a bit bold. A week later, I was convinced.
35. In case it’s not already perfectly clear; B.C. is calling my name.

drive to whister

dionisio point. 

incredible.

my fave picture i took on this trip.
i’m quite proud.

i drove a real ship while i was in van.
really.  it’s been documented.

in a much-needed break in the Vancouver Art Gallery, I snapped a rebel shot of the beautiful shadow casting over us
we wove fabric!

pretend you’re a dog, taking a break from your beautiful walk in Deep Cove, lying on your side. 

i think this is a welcoming gesture… to me.

beaches like this in canada! why go to mexico!?

Smilee also has an obsessive compulsion with moss.

*post script*
this song, which i heard on CBC radio tonight, inspired me to write this note tonight.
there’s a full version of the song on last.fm
http://lyricwiki.org/Veda_Hille:Lucklucky
http://www.last.fm/music/Veda+Hille

Number One Fan

..of my dear friend Basia, who just keeps getting more and more and more loved by people all over the world.  And why wouldn’t she be? Her modesty and charm and giggles are there during every show, but each new one brings a new depth to her voice, her lyrics, and the composition of her with the members of her band.

PLUS, she experiences double rainbows on a BICYCLE:

The video that’s embedded into this NPR article is shot so well, so artistically, and so vividly that I felt like I was right there. I swear that every time I go see her perform live it makes me cry, because I’m so proud of her and her talented band mates. I even got all teary-eyed sitting here at my laptop. It reminds me of when I used to go see Basia play at the Second Cup in Etobicoke once a week… (I believe it might have been her first real gig?!)

I don’t know about you, but after seeing this I can’t wait to watch more Tiny Desk Concerts! Go NPR!

Mimicry

… is the best form of flattery.

I liked her necklace, so her brunch-time art card was a picture I drew of said necklace:

For more pics and a lovely description of why Brunch with Ladies is so VERY necessary to our mental health, see Amy’s piece about the event.

Slowcialism

Great article by Wayne Roberts in NOW about the Slow Money movement, modeled after the Slow Food movement.

It’s also a spectacular new portmanteau that’s been added to our vernacular.

I’m a slowcialist, are you?

Bomb

Natalie Dee is so frequently topically relevant to me,  it kind of gives me the heeby jeebies.

Last week there was a suspicious package (2 suitcases) left outside the MTCC (Metro Toronto Convention Centre). There was also a suspicious vehicle left beside said package, with keys left in said vehicle. While I was slightly (minimally) worried that there actually was a bomb and I’d get glass blown into my eyes, I decided to risk it for an awesome ‘I-was-this-close-to-the-action’ shot.

Just a little bomb threat… no big deal.

George knew

“The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.”

George Orwell