Toronto – Last Wednesday brought Toronto a veritable soul queen in Sharon Jones. For those of you who are new to Sharon Jones, she is spear-heading a throwback to good old fashioned funk and R&B. Sharon was backed by her band the Dap-Kings, the house band from her label: Daptone Records. Seeing them live is the closest I can imagine to being in Harlem during the height of soul and funk in the 70’s.

The Dap-Kings are tight. Most notable for me was watching the bassist Bosco Mann get to work. He held everything down like nobody’s business and was clearly leading the charge. It didn’t surprise me to discover later that he is the mastermind behind large swathes of Sharon’s repertoire. In a world of synthesized music (much of which I enjoy), I must say that there’s something really clean and refreshing about listening to an old-school funk band. No crazy digitized effects, just straight up bare-bones amplification for the guitars, bass, drums, sweet brass, and of course the very impressive pipes of Mrs Jones.

But what review is complete without a comment about the venue? The answer of course is many. But I’ll talk about the Kool Haus anyway. Although I’ve never been a huge fan of the Kool Haus/Government, I do have a juicy little tidbit for all you keen concert going types. Yes, it’s hard to get to, and yes it’s a bit out of the way. Yes, you have to pay for parking, but there is parking on the street that’s free. Yes, those spots evaporate quickly. BUT, if you drive one street west and the drive north of the highway, there is a much higher chance you’ll find parking on the street and, it’s still only a 5 minute walk from the venue. Most people never think to park north of the Gardiner.

I do realize that broadcasting this little tip means that I’ll be less likely to park there myself next time. So don’t ever say I don’t do stuff for you people.

Sharon Jones 4/5

 

 Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings: Play Now

Brazilian Girls seem to be a hard act to really get a handle on.

The eclectic quartet have a seemingly very simple formula: drums, keys, bass, a sultry female vocalist and a reputation for enthusiastic live shows featuring a lot of audience participation. Complicating things slightly are lyrics in no less than five different languages,a departed bassist (founding member Jesse Murphy is reportedly “on hiatus,” so they’re breaking in a new guy), and a whirlwind touring and recording schedule that seems to put them in every major festival lineup and has seen the band release three albums in four years.

As if that weren’t enough, complicating things further on this night is the fact that the venue, Diesel Playhouse, is, well, a playhouse, with little room for moving to the band’s more danceable tracks; that after a solid self-titled debut that was roundly acclaimed as one of the best albums of 2005, the band’s last two efforts, 2006’s Talk to La Bomb and the recently released New York City, are more than a bit scattered (though NYC is an improvement); and that singer Sabina Sciubba is about five months pregnant.

I’d never seen Brazilian Girls before, but based on their reputation for wild, fantastical live shows and being a fan (mostly) of their albums, my expectations were high. And man, was I ever disappointed.

The whole show just seemed off. Even the opening DJ, whose statement “I’ve never performed in front of this many people sitting and staring at me” essentially summed up my thoughts on having a dance DJ perform in such a static environment with next to no space for dancing, and that’s all I’m going to say about his set, seemed to sense it.

Opening with “L’interprete,” the slowest track off the new album, and “Jique,” the opener off Talk to La Bomb, Brazilian Girls just never seemed to bring the kind of energy I’d expected. Nominally an album release party for NYC, out of the seven or so tracks the band played from that release only “Berlin,” “St. Petersburg,” and “Good Time” were really notable. As the best track off the new album, a poppy, fun tune with a chorus (”We just want to have a good time, tonight/we just want to have a good time all the time”) ripe for an audience sing-along, “Good Time” was surprisingly lifeless, thought not nearly as lifeless as the band’s rendition of the similarly fun “Don’t Stop” from their first album, which was almost unrecognizable compared to the recorded version. The rest of the set was inexplicably devoted mostly to tracks from Talk to La Bomb, which, as an album, sometimes sounds like a hastily written, poorly thought out mistake. The band mostly ignored their debut, save for a decent version of “Cornerstore,” and “Pussy,” the last song of the night and a crowd-pleaser, with it’s chorus of “pussy, pussy, pussy, marijuana,” which many members of the crowd’s front row sang as Sciubba shared her microphone.

As much fun as Sciubba was as she moved about the small stage trying to whip the crowd of several hundred seated fans into a frenzy, the rest of the band was completely stationary and looked kind of uninterested in the whole ordeal. It seems a bit unfair to ask a woman who’s five months pregnant to create all the on stage energy, and Sciubba, in a skintight beige bodysuit covered by what looked like a living room curtain that drew a lot of attention to her pregnant belly, could only do so much. At their best, Sciubba and Brazilian Girls’ recorded sound is fun, sexy, upbeat and introspective, the vocals alternately sultry and playfully teasing. Unfortunately, for any number of possible reasons, like the venue, the setlist, Sciubba’s physical limitations (really, given the pregnancy, it’s amazing she can stand for as long as she did), none of that came through on this night.

2/5

Toronto - Well. What can I say? I was asked to shoot assets that people display in the annual Toronto Caribana parade. Now that I have, I will state that approximately 50% of the population has them, some of whom should not be terribly quick to expose the public to their collection. But I digress.

This year’s Caribana parade, I felt, was beset by Murphy’s Law. » Read the rest of the entry..

Toronto - Well. What else was one to expect? This is an evolved strain of social lifeform that began in 1981 as a protest. And today, it’s a highly valuable commodity worth millions in tourism dollars and other associated business interests. I can’t do an in-depth review since 1. I’m not familiar with the scene, and 2. I was mainly there for the photo op. And what a helluva photo opportunity it was! Cut loose! The LGBTs (and other spectrum of orientations) really take you for a spin - while you’re propped up in the ass by hundreds of other bystanders with your chest/nuts/others squashed against the fence and other anatomical parts that do not belong to you. My advice: take an inflatable doll - it’s like fishing - all jolly gay ol’ fun. At the end of the ordeal I have two fully-drained batteries, one very sore wrist, one sore throat, two fatigued calves, and one wet camera… it’s all true. Take that however you want - although right now everything seems suggestive since the rainbow is seared onto my retina…

725 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON M4M 1H1
(416) 463-8868

Toronto - Given the amount of meals I eat away from L’hotel Harbord, it’s only fitting I start reviewing places that I eat. The Blue Moon is in the Queen Street east district .. across the street from everyone’s favorite ghetto strip joint - Jilly’s as well as Dangerous Dans. It is often a meeting point for people going to the Opera House for a concert. Me and some peeps went there after our soccer game on Tuesday.

Beers: They have 12 beers on tap. Including a few Mill Street and Amsterdam brews. Any bar that serves Ontario beer earns quite a few points. The pitchers are 16 bucks a pop and fits 3 regular size pint glasses. I am assuming Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue or any of those crappy beers are probably cheaper. But unless you are wearing a wife beater, live in a trailer or work in a coal mine, you don’t drink those beers.

Decor: The Blue Moon has a quite unique layout. In the front 3rd of the place, the bar resides in the middle with stools and tv’s all around, there are few couches and most people sit at the bar and watch games. In the middle 3rd of the place, there is two pool tables as well tables for larger groups along the way. In the final 3rd, there is a stage and tables that are set up for a small concert I guess. It’s a decently large place. The walls aren’t blue, and theres no references to the moon either.

Patrons: Queen and Broadview is not the poshest of corners. It is a corner dominated by Jillys, the strip club and well let’s be frank - this area of town is frickin ghetto. The people at the bar are the same, I think. Most of them are locals and I don’t know, seem sketchy. There was a guy at the bar that was a cross between Jabba the Hutt and Jerry Garcia at the place, and all these tattooed chicks dressed like ‘tutes kept on coming up to talk to him. It was weird. Obviously, this is a one nite sample, so don’t take my word for it.

Service: The Blue Moon is probably owned by Chinese people, since every time we’ve gone, theres been chinks there running the show. The service is pretty good, they were friendly and somewhat efficient and well, thats all you really want for service.

Food: It’s pub food man. Average at best, there was a wing special - 1 pound for $5.00. The wings that came didn’t feel like a pound, but they were breaded shake n bake style and the hot sauce came on the side. It was alright. The fries were average. The burger that my friend ordered was average as well. So basically - average.

Conclusion: Queen Street east is such a mixed bag in terms of good place to drink, the new place that opened - Prohibition is way too pricey and the surrounding ones all have issues, while the Blue Moon isn’t the greatest place, its definitely an option if you are going for pre-drinking before the Opera House and I think thats the highest recommendation I can give it.

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Toronto – Renaud Garcia-Fons hails from a small Parisian suburb and is a double-bassist par excellence who fuses the very best elements of jazz, flamenco, and classical music. He played last Sunday at the Enwave Theatre (Harbourfront). It was a perfect combination of venue and performer; the end-result was nothing short of enchanting.

The Enwave Theatre has a maximum capacity of 420 people and has now become one of my favourite concert halls for live music. The acoustics are absolutely fantastic. In short, a great place for a vivid music listening experience. I’ve heard good things about this hall before, but after hearing some top brass musicians stretch their legs there, I now understand what the buzz is about. I can only struggle to describe how good they sounded in this hall.

Renaud Garcia-Fons was accompanied by flamenco guitarist Antonio Ruiz and percussionist Pascal Rollando. Together, they produced a well-rounded sound that was meticulously assembled. Renaud is a virtuoso and I mean this in the best meaning of the term. Sometimes “virtuoso” is synonym for “technical mastery”. That is to say the ability to play really technically challenging things effortlessly, but robotically. Renaud has the chops, but he’s a consummate musician capable of playing with feeling. He’s got full command of his instrument, and uses it to effortlessly fuse musical styles.

This was a perfect combination of beautiful music in a venue where listeners could really appreciate how damn good this trio sounds. A highlight of the jazz festival for me this year.

Renaud Garcia-Fons: 4.8/5.0

Note: The attached song (from his latest CD Arcoluz) is an instrumental that fuses jazz and flamenco.

 

 Renaud Garcia-Fons - Berimbass: Play Now