The beginning of August usually means a few things – heat, Blue Jays being officially eliminated from playoff contention, trips to cottages and Summerworks Performance Festival.
This year marks a bit of a comeback for Summerworks (the largest juried festival in Canada), who had their funding cut in 2011 due to criticism over Catherine Frid’s terrorism-on-home-turf play Homegrown. I guess this was why my nazi-al-queda-tamil-tiger-terrorism-genocidal-spaghetti-western-kung fu play based on the U2 song “A Beautiful Day” got rejected.
The festival originally started out as a theatre only event but has gradually included music elements as well. This year’s festival will feature a host of musical acts and we are here to preview them.
Aline Morales
I’ve always wanted to go to Brazil – gorgeous beaches, gorgeous women, the Amazon rainforest and what is probably amazing food all add up to a pretty wicked trip in my head. However, I am now rather poor and out of vacation days so the only time I can travel to Brazil is in my head. While I am travelling to this exotic locale (in my head), I can’t think of a better accompanying soundtrack then the music of Aline Morales. The Brazillian born singer had a highly revered solo debut record Flores and it’s basically summertime in a box. I hope they serve fruity drinks at the Theatre Centre on Thursday August 16th, because that would be highly appropriate for the tropical flavors of this lady. Buy tickets to this show here
Evening Hymns
In case you come out of the Aline Morales showcase a little too happy, you can always drag that down by attending the Evening Hymns showcase the following night. The Toronto based band has new album Spectral Dusk coming out in late August and by all appearances, it is a devastatingly sad album that lead singer Jonas Bonnetta wrote to deal with the loss of his father three years ago. A decidedly less jovial but equally good show, I suspect. Get tickets here.
Buck 65
Hip Hop artist Buck 65 has probably been fighting the moniker “hip hop artist” for a better part of a decade now, seeing how some of his releases in the mid 2000s incorporated many other genres of music. Whatever musical genre you choose to paint Richard Terfry with, you probably realize that the opportunity to see him in a theatre setting is a rare opportunity. I say seize the day and grab some tickets and see what goes down at the Theatre center on Wednesday. Buy tickets here. I’ve been fond of Buck 65 since I saw him on MTV’s Cribs, and he showed MTV just normal apartment. That, my friend, is keeping it real.
Finally
I took part in the Summerworks Soiree earlier this summer and it was a fundraiser dinner. A good time was had by all and I met both food AND livestyle bloggers. I feel so enriched now. The food was graciously provided by chefs Mark Cutrara (from Cowbell) and Alexandra Feswick, who will soon be opening up the restaurant Samuel J Moore inside the Great Hall later on this fall. It serves food, so you should go eat it. A lot of donations were made to the Summerworks cause and if you feel somewhat left out, you too, can donate to this cause by clicking on this link.