Poetry and Stuff

Over the pervious three nights I was fortunate to see three great poetry shows. All of them featured Randy Jacobs, AKA RC Weslowski. I'd never seen him perform until Tuesday at the Art Bar, along with Tara-Michelle Ziniuk and Rob Gee. His poetry has with and much depth to it, but he also is funny and entertaining. I also saw him at a really fun event called the Toronto Story Slam on Wednesday at the Boat. The slam portion was won by Kevin Fortnum. I was honoured and pleased the best show (only in my opinion) of his tour of Toronto happened at my Rochdale Rhymes and Readings show at the Regal Beagle. The show also featured Joe Dewar and Robin Richardson in a couple of great other readings. I'd booked Joe once before when I guest hosted for the now defunct Cryptic Chatter series. I'd never seen Robin feature before and had wanted to and decided booking her to read at my series was a way to solve the problem.

So I didn't make it to the CNE this year. I haven't made it in a couple of years. It's popularity seems to be coming back, if not to where it once was. I went to it about three years ago on a day when a borderline tropical storm hit Toronto. It was a mess. The rides shut down early, though most people had given up and gone home before then. In 2007 I went and realized it wasn't as big or fun as I remembered. Maybe I should check it out again. I think I'm running out of time for this year and may have to wait for next year. Maybe I should put it on my to do list now.

Scarborough

So I went all the way to Progress Avenue and sat in the basement of Centennial College's main campus waiting to sort out my loan documents. It took me almost an hour and a half to get there and then an hour and a half of waiting. Getting home took about two hours as I sat on a subway train stuck between Warden and Victoria Park Stations. The train eventually went back to Warden and we were advised to go take a shuttle bus. While waiting for a shuttle bus, we were told the subway was now open. After waiting for the subway, I got on a packed car with broken AC. After a few stops, I hopped off and waited for the next train.

Speaking of my day in Scarborough, here's a funny thing to check out. Read the comments for this hotel.

More updates

So we are in the stretch run of the last few weeks before I am officially a student again, at least for another eight or nine months. Yes, I am nervous.

Last weekend I saw an amazing concert in the Progression Nation Tour. The show was headlined by Dream Theater. I saw Dream Theater about two years ago and their setlist and performance was a little weak. Dream Theater plays a different setlist every time they play. I was also distracted by a couple of rowdy drunks in front of me which hurt the experience. This show was phenomenal. The setlist was amazing and there were many moments of "holy fuck," with their musical performance. I was also impressed with Dweezil Zappa's band, Zappa Plays Zappa. He's an amazing guitar player and has an incredibly talented band with him. His keyboard and saxophone player, Scheila Gonzalez is mind blowing.

This week I will attend a going away party for a friend named Miriam who's leaving Canada for the homeland of Ireland. Will be sad to see her go.

Rochdale Rhymes and Readings is back September 3 with RC Weslowski, Joe Dewar and Robin Richardson. The day before that is Toronto Poetry Slam's Story Slam at the Boat, also featuring RC Weslowski. Rochdale Rhymes and Readings, as always, happens at the Regal Beagle at 335 Bloor St. W., 8 p.m. with pass the hat admission and an open mic.

just some updates for the week

Hi, I'm just updating how my week was and plans for the next week.

Saturday, I made my first ever trip to Taste of the Danforth, the big yearly Greek festival happening in Toronto on Danforth Avenue. There was cheap food, I imagine not as many people as expected due to the rain, yet nonetheless, it was a struggle making my way through all the crowds of people, especially with umbrellas clashing.

Sunday, I ended my hibernation from the Toronto Poetry scene, when I attended WordJam at the Free Times Cafe. Yes, people could see in my hibernation, I'd grown a beard.

Events I'm excited for this week are Dream Theater on Friday at the amphitheatre, as well as Next Tuesday's Poetry Hoedown, as part of the Art Bar series. It's an event where country lyrics are read as poetry. I know what I want to read on the open mic portion, if I get a chance to do so. I have not decided if I will attend either the Toronto Poetry Slam or Bam! the Toronto Youth Slam.

Hilarious site I found

If you're into metal, or even if you hate metal but have an understanding of what it's about, especially death metal, you should love this site.

http://www.metalsucks.net/category/completely-unreadable-band-logo-of-the-week/

It's Been So Long Since I've Posted Here

So I've been really busy. I'm starting grad school in the fall in a Book and Magazine Publishing program at Centennial College. I'm looking for some new digs. I thought I found an interesting spot today that was cheap and close to campus, but the landlord had a zero alcohol on premises clause, which I thought was too strict and also told me what kind of landlord he would be.

I've still been working in retail at the position I've had since I was let go of my job in the travel industry over a year ago, which led me to the desire of going back to school. Speaking of blogs, there was a woman in the store today trying to take advantage of our 50 per cent off Nike sale. the stipulations were that it was 50 per cent off the original price of non-new arrivals, accessories and basics. She became irate as the original price was $200 and we were offering the shoes for $100. Yet the shoes had been previously discounted to $175 and she was irate we wouldn't give her 50 per cent off $175. She stormed out yelling she'd have something to blog about tonight. I honestly can't wait to go back to do something truly productive for a living. It's well overdue.

I'm planning on holding a Rochdale Rhymes and Readings show on Sept. 3. So far I've booked RC Weslowski from Vancouver. Other features remain to be booked. I'm truly not sure how long the series will continue with how much I have on my plate. I'm planning at least an October show.

Down to the Underwire

So tonight I went and saw Ariel Platt's Down to the Underwire show at Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse. Every year, the Toronto Fringe Festival, which I'm a great supporter of, tends to have a few spoken word shows. A spoken word show at the Fringe is an incredible feat to put on as most sets at poetry/spoken word shows are about 20 minutes. At about 30 minutes, one is likely to say, "fuck this shit, I'm getting a beer." In Fringe festivals, etc., the average show is 45 minutes and up. This creates a serious challenge to a spoken word performer in engaging their audience for the whole set and Ariel manages to use seriousness as well as her great comedic ability and stage presence to leave the audience entertained and not looking at their watch in the shade under 45 minutes.

A recently weekly entertainment magazine reviewer gave this show a poor rating suggesting her poetry lacks emotion and substance, apart from her heart wrenching poem dealing with domestic violence. I have to disagree. I would not want to sit through 40-50 minutes of depressing stories. I want to be entertained, and Ariel does this quite successfully. I encourage spoken word fans to see see the show Thursday at 1:45, Friday at noon or Saturday at 7:30 (after the show you can come to the slam).