Art Districts in Toronto

This past week my job took me all over the city, and I took some photos along the way...

I took a picture for that older couple on the right there, in front of this boat at the Harbourfront. They offered to take mine too, so they probably thought I was a sad and lonely tourist.

CN Tower and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.

Distillery District on a windy Wednesday morning.

Pup in the shadows.

The state of that building near Ryerson that crumbled onto the street.

Creepy Stuffed pigeons on the ceiling at the 401 Richmond Art's building.

Building under construction on my walk to work.

Back at home to hang out with Bela.

If you're interested, there are new photos up now on www.cornerstonesdesign.com

Celebrating Steve Reich with Drums & DJ Beats

In anticipation of upcoming Toronto performances by renouned composer Steve Reich, Soundstreams and The Gardiner Museum put on an evening of DJ-ing, drumming, and remenicing about the influences of what the New York Times calls "our greatest living composer". I decided to catch the show after looking at Koerner Hall's nearly sold-out seating chart, and I'm glad I did because I was blown away by Professor Fingers and the TorQ Percussion Quartet. (There's still the odd seat left though if you'd like to catch Steve on Thursday night.)

ProF started out the evening with some smooth beats inspired by the cutting and splicing of Reich's early works, while we grabbed some wine and finger-food. He then pulled the crowd's attention up to the front of the room with a little hand-waving and a patient seat in the middle of the floor. Part of what made ProF's set immediately appealing was his theatrical body-moving and interaction with the sounds he was creating - something he later told me is influenced by Reich's success in pushing the envelope.

When ProF finished up his number Faders, Gliders and Sliders the four likeable guys from TorQ brought out their bongos and played Part 1 of Steve Reich's hour-long piece Drumming. The intensity of the rolling drums put much of the crowd into a head-bobbing trance and with the final and sudden drum hit, I heard more than a few shouts of "yes!" and "wow!". The guys have perfected (in my opinion) Reich's signature phasing technique where one player maintains a rapid and repetitive rhythm and another speeds up slightly until they line up again.

Though each group only played one piece, the Q&A period made up for the short show by giving the crowd a chance to suss out some of the artists' process and connections with Steve Reich. What stayed with me was the comment that Reich's work brings about a new way of listening - that through repetition and variation you start hearing melodies and new sounds in things like spoken words and drum vibrations. Thanks to Professor Fingers and the TorQ Percussion Quartet, I'm definitely hearing new things, and lets not forget Mr. Reich who, let's face it, is pushing 75 and still somehow creating mind-blowing works that continue to shape contemporary music-makers and listeners. Wow!

Green Beanery

Here are some shots of Christian in his element at the Green Beanery on Bloor. Have a look at the originals here.

Light, Shadow, and the CN Tower

These photos are about a month old, but still good! The rest are here.

Island Airport from the mainland.

Excellent shadows.

See the companion photo in Florence.

John St. Roundhouse from above.

My favourite.

Adventures with Oren and The Gladstone

This weekend our friend Oren visited from Ottawa, which meant a good excuse to get out and spend some money in our town. We covered some good ground and experienced some great little businesses. Larger versions of the photos are here.

On Friday our dinner club met up at a fabulous Greek restaurant on the Danforth called Ouzeri.

Saturday lunch at Caplanski's Delicatessen on College st. I certainly recommend the matzah ball soup and latkes.

This is James and Oren who helped us get to know some local watering holes. We also stopped off at C'est What on Front st., Pravda vodka bar on Wellington, and The Irish Embassy pub on Yonge st.

At the Gladstone Hotel on Queen, we visited the Come Up To My Room alternative design event. The artist-designed hotel rooms were open to the public for the event.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Come Up To My Room.

Art's Birthday at the Wychwood Barns

On January 17th, NAISA hosted a birthday celebration for art at the Artscape Wychwood Barns. We had a lot of fun, and a nice turn-out including many local families and artists. Here are a few pictures:

My Walk To/From Work

So it takes me about 30-40 minutes to walk to work, and I've tried several routes. I love the neighbourhood, and the lovely old homes (some monstrous in size). There are many more things than I can show here that are part of the trip including cute little dogs in cute little coats, an increasingly decomposing dead squirrel, many smells including the sewers, chimney smoke, exhaust, garbage, cold, trees and bushes. Don't get me wrong, there are some less than lovely things, but I love the walk. It's getting more and more frigid, but I'm having fun trying different routes, testing my speed, getting to know the streets, and listening to my CBC podcasts. Here are some photos...

That castle in our neighbourhood.

Good old CN.

Near home.

Check out the bike-lane real estate on Davenport! I'm still too chicken to ride though... maybe next year.