How to Choose a Summer Music Festival: Toronto

It seems that within the past couple years music festivals in Canada have been popping up all over the place. Our neighbours down south are used to the privilege of summer music festivals, what with Coachella, Lollapalooza, and The Governor's Ball to mention a few.

Coachella, L.A. 2012

But last year Toronto was bestowed with the great honor of hosting several summer concerts performed by world renound DJs and bands. NXNE, Toronto Jazz Festival, Digital Dreams, VELD, and the Identity Fest at Echo Beach were some of the lot hosted in T.O. From The Flaming Lips to Steve Aoki, Toronto was bumping and shakingn all summer long to the beat of some fantastic jams.

VELD, Toronto 2012

That was last year. The bar has been raised. The ante is up. What kind of musical festivals can we look forward to this summer?

Well,

• VELD is coming back along with Digital Dreams, and although the lineups have not been disclosed, it can be guaranteed that after the success of last years' events, they will be rolling in bigger and badder.

• The Canadian Music Festival featuring over 800 new local and international artists is being  showcased in 55 venues throughout Toronto's city centre (April)

• Waterfront Blues is back for round eight in its celebration of blues, jazz and R&B (June)

• NXNE, in it's 16th year is back for the killing - rock, indy, grunge, you want to hear it and they'll deliver. (June)

• Osheaga is being hosted in Montreal once again for the vagabonds and wanderous souls who love to travel and explore the vast realms and fellow cities within Canada. (August)

For complete lists of Canadian music festivals check this out:

www.musicfestivaljunkies.com

For events tending more to families, skim through this:

www.hotoronto.com/festivals


Now, on to choosing one, or some, for those who have the pocket change.

1. Decipher your chosen genre of music. Jazz? Soca? Reggae? House and Techno? Rock?
2. Give yourself an expenditure limit. These festivals do not come cheap. Be prepared to dish out $80 minimum. Depending on the length of the festival (some last up to 3 days) and the number of popular headliners will alter the cost of tickets/wristbands.
3. Browse through the links I have posted. Check out the individual websites for each music festival. On them the lineups will be released as well as the starting dates.
4. Lineups, lineups, lineups. Check them out and figure out where your favourite bands or DJs are performing!
5. Consider accomodations, commute time and accessibility.
6. GET. EXCITED.

This might just make your summer the most memorable one yet. Good luck choosing. Sometimes it becomes excrutiatingly difficult trying to decide between two or three festivals because several of your favourite artists are performing at each. Don't forget, there is always next summer!

Peace. Love.

New Age Aquarians

Yesterday night I had the privilege of attending UC Follies' production of 'HAIR' performed at HartHouse Theatre on the St. George Campus at U of T. Directed by the ever-impressive Shak Haq, and comprised of a cast reaching numbers of at least thirty, this was a production full of that 60s flare which is often forgotten about in the culture of the youth of the 00s.

Emmett O' Reilly played the rather, intense, character of Burger. Aidan Sharp played the sensitive character Claude, Bronwen Drummond was Sheila, Madeline Foley the rumbunctious Jeannie and Arianna Benincasa the heartbroken Chrissy. Each of these actors abound in talent and radiated a heat of talent which wafted around and smacked each audience member sitting there that night. O' Reilly in particular used his hands and the intonation of his voice to raise the bar in terms of character development and his consistent attention to detail of the character's nuances and quirks. Foley's slapstick humour brought the rather meek audience to chuckle with laughter, and brought me and a friend of mine to roar with it. Her solos were something fantastic as well. Benincasa's Chrissy was light and likeable and her solo embodied the definition of vocal control.

The ensemble seemed to have been experiencing the after-affects of a long day and long haul through the blizzard. Or maybe they had U of T's mountainous heap of readings on the brain. Whatever it was, the seemed to lack the extra ounce of chutzpah, however continued on with the show just the same. 

The costumes were out of this era. Colours and patterns and bell-bottoms, the movement on the stage was a spectacle in itself.

And the music...oh, the music.

Listen for yourself,

I highly recommend those of you who want to experience the trip of the 60s once again, or for the first time, to head on out to HartHouse Theatre and support the talent UC Follies has to offer.


www.uofttix.ca




Peace, Love.

The Genius that is Jack

How much do you know about Jack White? If you're an avid rock listener you will know he has been a member of The White Stripes. You may have heard about his being part of the Raconteurs. You also may have heard about the band he masterfully organized, The Dead Weather.

But what of his musical innovation? What of his aura? His artistic personality?

I, more of a Dylan and Beatles listener, will try my best to collate my personal knowledge of the man along with what I gather to present to you the clearest syncopation of Jack.

Born John Anthony Gillis, and often referred to as Jack White III, he is renowned for his cheeky lyrics and profoundly for his Rolling Stones' acclamation as being named one of the best guitarists of all time. 

Realistically if what you want is every detail amassed about this man, check out what Wikipedia has to say about him. 

I am here to write about the music. 

He began playing the guitar at the tender age of six and as a teenager was highly influenced by the rock n' roll which emerged during the 60s. The sound which arose out of the studios he recorded his music in was such that altered the route rock n' roll would take during the 90s. Not only are the guitars he uses authentic of the 60s and 70s, but he employs different effects which assist in the rapid modulations of his pitch during solos - producing a distinct sound. He uses amps and distortion generators to achieve a sound unlike many rock artists which were producing music around the same time as he. He even produces a "fake" bass tone by playing two of his guitars through an amplifier set to one octave down, creating a low rumbling sound heard droning in many of his songs, most notably in "Seven Nation Army". It's great shit, man.

With the Raconteurs and The Dead Weather he uses different guitars, all given names, and even plays   instruments like the piano, drums and tambourine.

It is his innovative use of machines that had not been tinkered with in such a way that created the sound Jack was looking for. He is now put in the same list as Hendrix, Morrison, Zeppelin to name a few. 

And, just for your information, he has twenty ideas underway for his next album. "Blunderbuss" part two? We shall see. 

Y'all ain't ready for this...

This is BIG. (Capitals are not tossed around often. They are used in total seriousness.)

Magnanimous.

I will not say much, just please do me the favour by listening. That is all I ask.



You ain't even ready for this one:



Only man who does it right:



I'm sure you've heard it...just in cased you missed Drizzy's vid:

Musica, Mi Amore

'The Killers' have been on repeat as of late. I can never seem to get enough of Flowers' voice. I'm finding some difficulty in trying to put my finger on it, but there's an aspect to his voice which is completely authentic, and I can't decipher what exactly it is. It appears that when he stumbles on a note, it slips through the editing process and surfaces on the track. I like this, I really like this. To me, it shows Flowers' is confident enough in his raw talent and band's abilities, that little note-mishaps are a non-factor in the overall effect 'The Killers' tracks will provide to its faithful listeners. Sweetness.