By Karen Bliss

The Bloody Five will be releasing an 11-song album in the new year. Courtesy Martin Wojtunik

The Bloody Five frontman Kevin “KD” DeFreitas, a former Annex resident who is now a high school teacher living in suburban Toronto, is lining up a giveaway for his band’s show at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor St. W.) on Nov. 26.

KD is happy to be playing in his former ’hood. “I used to be a student at U of T so I lived there when I was in teacher’s college, at 666 Spadina.”

The members of the alternative rock band—including KD, guitarist Tomi Fear, bassist Chris Hau, and drummer “Raw Beats” Sedran—have an 11-song album in the can, produced by Brighter Brightest singer Derek Hoffman, but won’t be releasing it until the new year.

Instead, KD says, “We are planning a surprise for fans who show up at Lee’s Palace that will be related to our upcoming single, video, and album releases.”

Chances are it will be a download card or CD with the single and maybe a few extra tracks.

The multi-generational band—Hau and Sedran were both students of KD’s and would perform at their Catholic school’s talent shows or in the liturgical band—has been together since 2009.

“We’ve got a heaviness to us; we’ve got a melodic flavour as well, kind of a trippy sound in some places,” said KD.

They released a five-song EP in June of 2010 that included songs “Never Again” (also available on the video game Rock Band in the “grunge” category), “And Me For The Forest,” “Bedroom Music,”  “Under This Mountain,” and “Just Joking.”

The Bloody Five’s cover of “(I Wanna Go To) New York City” by Canadian punk band the Demics (1977-1980), the forthcoming single on the still untitled album, is a departure from the band’s other material.

“The guy who owns Autoshare.com [Kevin McLaughlin] is our guitarist’s step-brother,” says KD. “He grew up in the ’70s and loved that song. When Tomi was a kid, for one of his birthday presents [he said], ‘When you try to get into this music business, I’m going to give you one music video.’ And that’s what this is. He wanted this song.”

The video, directed by Martin Wojtunik, was shot last summer in New York and has a rather amusing premise.

“We start off [with] us running around the Manhattan area taking things. ‘Oh, here’s sunglasses; here’s a wig; here’s a leather jacket,’” recounts KD. “We end up at Bowery and Bleeker which is the location where [legendary punk/new wave venue] CBGB used to be, and that’s where we posed as the Ramones.

“So we’re looking like ourselves and throwing on the costume as we run around and end up as poseurs,” he laughs.

The cover art for the single was designed by another former student of KD’s, Krista Arnold, now at OCAD University.

KD says the punk song fits The Bloody Five’s sound because “one thing that definitely is in common with the rest of the album is the rawness of the guitar sound. That’s something Tomi is trying to put across.

He’s more into that heavy side and I’m more into the Beatles. I like the harmonies.”

By Jonathan Lee

Courtesy Deb Wiles

Annex painter and art instructor Deb Wiles had been looking at photos of a lake out in rural Nova Scotia, taken by her friend Tim Young, when she drew in her breath in response to the beauty in front of her.

From that moment, the Trident International Artists’ Retreat in Nova Scotia was born.

Wiles will offer week-long training at the retreat for any novices who sign up, as well as space for established artists. It will also act as a summer camp for students at her Annex-based arts school, Marks of Perception (69 Olive Ave.).

While Wiles remains tight lipped about the exact whereabouts of the retreat, it is a small cabin surrounded by several bucolic acres of land. There is lots of forest space and it sits by a lake.

“We spend most of our lives playing roles, being for others, the retreat is a place to just be who you are, for yourself,” she said.

The Trident International Artists’ Retreat is still a budding idea. Construction began in early August. Electricity is up and so is the plumbing, but there are still gas tanks to be replaced, a deck to be designed and built, and a multitude of other tasks.  “I feel like I’m nurturing the growth of the project.” Wiles said.

Courtesy Deb Wiles.

There is still a lot of growing to do. Wiles is looking to  raise $20,000 to aid in the construction, so she’s been drumming up support and fundraising where she can.

One fundraising method is through something Wiles calls “clowning.” Those who request to be clowned can email Wiles a photo of themselves and, for a fee of $50, she will doll it up and send it back to you—clown style.

Wiles has clowned many people, including Gleaner alum Nadja Sayej, who now writes for the New York Times and “leads the new wave of art criticism” as the host and producer of the online show ArtStars*.

“It’s true, Deb clowned me,” wrote Sayej from Berlin. “Far more strange than a caricature artist, she took a photo of me, revved it up in her Willy Wonka technicolor palette and splashed her signature in the bottom corner. Funny, rude and explosive, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She goes where most of would never dare to go in terms of portraits—so many people are afraid to insult, to ridicule, to even have fun with a person’s features. Not Deb. She left me laughing. On the floor.”

To contact Wiles about the retreat or to get “clowned,” visit Wiles’ blog.

By Karen Bliss

Karkwa, 2010’s Polaris Music Prize winners, will screen a documentary at U of T on Sunday, Sept.18. Courtesy Karkwa.

Francophone indie rock act Karkwa had little presence outside its native Quebec when its fourth album, Les Chemins de Verre, was selected as winner of the 2010 Polaris Music Prize—a $20,000 cheque that went to the year’s Best Album, as determined by media from across the country.

The award landed the band immediate attention in English-speaking Canada, and coverage in top publications NME, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, and Billboard.

“We sell a lot of albums during the two or three weeks after winning the prize outside of Quebec, in all the provinces in Canada,” said the band’s French-speaking manager Sandy Boutin. “The Polaris have a big impact and it have a big impact too on our sales in Quebec. Quebec we are really not huge, but everybody know about Karkwa. Our last album Le volume du vent, we sold 30,000 copies only in Quebec and with Polaris all the Anglophone media talk about Karkwa after winning the prize.”

As the next Polaris ceremony takes place on Sept. 19 with a private gala at the Masonic Temple, Karkwa will be in Toronto, as it crosses the country on its first headlining tour. The band’s concert at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor St. W.) is Sept. 17 and the five-piece band will stay in the city to present the cheque (this time $30,000) to the 2011 Polaris winner.

A day after the concert, there is also a screening of Les Cendres de Verre, the art-documentary for Karkwa’s fourth album, Chemins de Verre, at the University of Toronto’s Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Ave.) at 2:30 p.m.

Directed by Nat Le Scouarnec (La Blogotheque), the film features live clips and behind the scenes footage of Karkwa during the release of that breakthrough album.

Formed in 1998, Karkwa—singer-guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier, drummer Stéphane Bergeron, keyboardist François Lafontaine, bassist Martin Lamontagne and percussionist/singer Julien Sagot—have sustained a healthy career in Quebec alone, where the majority of its albums sales have been. In 1999, the band played at the Cégeps en spectacle contest in Montreal and were subsequently invited by a France-Quebec youth exchange organization to perform at the Printemps du Québec cultural expo in Paris.

In 2001, Karkwa made the finals of the seventh Francouvertes music competition and hit the road for the next two years, honing their songs in preparation for their debut album, 2003’s Le Pensionnat des Établis.

There followed some 75 shows across Quebec. The follow-up album, 2005’s Le tremblements s’immobilisent earned the band a 2006 Félix-Leclerc Award and jointly received the Félix for best singer or composer alongside Pierre Lapointe.

In November 2007, the French launch of Les tremblements s’immobilisent prompted a number of tour dates overseas. In April 2008 came Karka’s third album, Le Volume du Vent. The two years that followed were hectic with hundreds of performances for the band around North America and Europe, including Canada, France, and Switzerland. The album was released in France in March 2009.

Their fourth album, Les Chemins de Verre, was partly recorded at La Frette studios in Paris, a venue dating back to the 19th century. Put together without pre-production for a more organic and impressionist sound, the album came out in March 2010. That September, they won the Polaris.

Since then, Karkwa took home the 2011 Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year, and performed Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To The End of Love” with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet on the live broadcast of the Genie Awards.

They will also return home on Sept. 22 to open for Arcade Fire at the free show celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Pop Montreal. The two acts have never shared the stage in their hometown.

By Síle Cleary

The Danger Bees. Courtesy Luther Mallory.

They may be new in town, but Daycare Records are showing just how feisty they are by utilizing the tag line “babysitting your stupid band.”

The record label is the brainchild of music journalist Karen Bliss (whose work is published in numerous publications, including the Gleaner, Billboard, RollingStone.com and MSN) and musician/producer Luther Mallory, who say the tag refers to an industry inside joke. “It’s not supposed to offend anyone, but everyone in the music business understands that if you’ve tried to work closely with bands it can be demanding and thankless,” says Bliss. “It can even get to the point where they may ring you up in the middle of the night for something that can clearly wait until morning.”

Daycare Records, which currently runs out of Bliss’s Annex home, launched in July of this year and has already signed two reputable Canadian artists: indie pop band The Danger Bees and renowned Canadian battle rapper Kid Twist.

The Danger Bees, which hail from Nova Scotia, solidified in Toronto in 2010 after Mallory (of the band Crush Luther) heard them and convinced them to relocate to the hub of the Canadian music industry.

Since hooking up with Daycare, their song “Why Won’t You Listen,” appeared in an episode of Degrassi this July, while another of The Danger Bee’s songs, “Awkward Guy,” is in the film Moon Point directed by Sean Cisterna.

The video for their single “Good Year” has received a lot of attention as a result of it being shot in just one take by director Gavin Michael Booth.

The video shows frontman David Macmichael being battered by objects and screamed at by his crazy “girlfriend.”

“They had one try to get it right and luckily they managed to pull it off,” said Bliss.

Kid Twist. Courtesy Luther Mallory

Daycare Records’ other act, Kid Twist, is a phenomenal wordsmith with a huge following in the battle rap scene.

Kid Twist, who has humorously named himself after “a Jewish mobster who stabbed people in the brain with an icepick,” is currently working on his first music release with Mallory which will be more humorous than edgy.

Daycare Records is planning on utilizing online resources to help promote the music on their roster.

“The music business is changing so rapidly and new companies are cropping up all the time that offer creative and inexpensive ways for independent artists to get their music out there,” said Bliss.

“Daycare Records is exploring all those [options], from music licensing to online gigs.”

By Karen Bliss

On BS Fridays, local musicians and artists shoot the breeze. Perry King/Gleaner News

A meeting at a local Starbucks with “Steal My Sunshine” hit maker Marc Costanzo from the pop group Len gave Barbara Sedun, EMI Music Publishing Canada’s senior vice-president, the idea to host a free weekly networking event in the Liberty area.

She dubbed it “BS Fridays,” which stands for her initials and brainstorming. An expletive also comes to mind, but BS Fridays is about exchanging information—not BSing.

“I was having tea with Marc at Starbucks and he needed some information that I felt Erin [Kinghorn, a music marketing expert] could provide to him,” says Sedun, who signed Costanzo many years ago to EMI’s stable of songwriters. Len is returning with a new album after a very lengthy hiatus.

“I called Erin to see if she could join us and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a great idea for people to be able to share information like this on a regular basis?’ so I decided to start a little networking group.”

The first meeting was on January 28, held at the very same Starbucks (732 Queen St. W.) and after about a dozen meetings it moved to Atelier Cafe Lounge (510 King St. W.) for another dozen. It then moved to Veritas in the east end, but will return to Atelier for Aug. 5 and 12 (to keep on top of location changes, join BS Fridays’ Facebook Group).

Daniel Maclean, who runs Atelier and also works in film, has designed the space for daytime meetings and has WiFi and even a projector available, both free. He offers BS Fridays participants a 10 per cent discount on their food and beverage orders.

When Sedun, whose job involves signing songwriters, is travelling, Kinghorn and Scott Honsberger, music journalist and consultant, keep up the meetings. A Facebook group and Twitter account keep everybody informed of changes, but to date, it is held consistently from 2 to 4 p.m.

“I feel that I’ve got a lot of information in my head that I’d like to share with people that are beginning to establish themselves,” explains Sedun. “I thought that a lot of musicians and songwriters are afraid to approach the music industry, so it would be a really good opportunity to bridge that gap a little bit, to see that the industry is more easily accessible and nicer than they think they are. And it gives them a really casual atmosphere to come and ask questions and get to know people in the industry.”

That particular Starbucks, Sedun noted, had open-mic nights, so she spoke with the manager, Joe Boyd, about holding these meetings there and giving singer-songwriters the option to bring their guitars and play their songs. “I realized that he was pretty community and music-friendly and I wanted to help support him,” says Sedun, “but I told him if it grew too big, we would move it elsewhere.”

Besides Sedun, Kinghorn, and Honsberger, members of the BS Fridays contingent have included Costanzo; Yvonne Matsell, who books the El Mocambo and is co-founder of North By Northeast; Cam Carpenter, a manager and publicist from Cool Planet; his partner, Todd Arkell; musician/video director Hill Kourkoutis and her manager mom, Terry Delaportas; and singer-songwriter Angela Saini.

“Basically, we get together and socialize. No agenda, no mandate, no formal structure,” says Honsberger. “Each week we go around the table—or tables—and do a quick introduction of what everyone does. We try and make it simple for new folks to come out and help us grow the group. Inevitably, the conversation steers towards the music industry, and ideas tend to get thrown around.”

“Every single week, there’s at least one introduction that’s made—that is, one person in attendance hasn’t met one other person in attendance,” he says. “These are the types of real connections that are happening each and every week.”

Soup Can company's interpretation of Marat/Sade examines psychiatric testing at McGill University in the late 1950's. Photo courtesy Scarlet O'Neil

By Síle Cleary

It may only be their second production, but precocious theatre company Soup Can Theatre have taken on a mammoth challenge by reinterpreting the classic Peter Weiss play The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade— or Marat/Sade for short.

“Our mandate is to reinterpret older theatrical works for a 21st century audience,” said Parkdale resident Sarah Thorpe, artistic director of the Soup Can company.

“We thought we’d give it a more contemporary setting in order to make it more interesting and relevant to a contemporary Canadian audience.”

Marat/Sade, written by legendary German playwright Peter Weiss in 1963, received worldwide acclaim after it was performed on stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company under the direction of Peter Brook in London in 1964.

The musical/drama tells the story of the 15 years following the French Revolution, through a band of inmates in a Parisian mental institution, who perform a play about revolutionary leader Marat, under the direction of fellow inmate the Marquis de Sade.

As if the play wasn’t complicated enough, given its play-within-a-play structure, Soup Can Theatre have decided to make life even harder for themselves and stripped Marat/Sade of its early 19th century mise-en-scene and placed it in the world of the McGill University Psychiatry Department, circa 1957.

Thorpe explained that it was at McGill University that Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron, the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association, performed psychologically-torturous experiments (including the administration of high voltage electroshock, hallucinogenic agents, and paralytic drugs) on non-consenting patients.

The experiments were performed under the umbrella of Project MK-ULTRA, a covert CIA operation which sought to explore the possibilities of mind control, memory erasure, and involuntary information extraction.

Although the play will be shown in the east end, the cast spent the last few months rehearsing in Parkdale in a converted storefront on Queen Street West called Fixt Point.

“Parkdale didn’t inspire me to put on the play, but it has inspired our creative process; Parkdale is dotted with colourful characters, and they certainly have provided a lot of material for our actors,” said Thorpe. “Since we’ve rehearsed not too far from CAMH, passing by there and by Parkdale’s rooming houses on a regular basis reminds us that the mentally ill are not ‘lunatics’ or ‘boogeymen’ and that we have a responsibility as artists to portray them with as much consideration and tact as the script allows.”

In an effort to avoid stereotypical and insensitive depictions of the mentally ill, each ‘patient’ in the Soup Can Theatre production of the play has been assigned a medically recognized mental disorder appropriate for their character, and has been encouraged to inform their performance based on that disorder’s behavioural symptoms.

“The patients in the play represent a range of mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, paranoia disorders, and Asperger syndrome,” said Thorpe.

Thorpe admits that directing such an intricate piece of work has proved challenging at times; however, she says she is doing her utmost to effectively depict the two contrasting worlds present in the work of Marat/Sade. “It’s a little tough at times to try to distinguish between the world of the play and the director, Marquis de Sade and the world of the patients and how they are being treated by doctors in the institution.”

“But at the moment we’re definitely fine tuning and showing how these two worlds can be distinguished.”

Marat/Sade marks Soup Can Theatre’s return to the stage after their Kurt Weill inspired cabaret show Love is a Poverty You Can Sell which took the 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival by storm.

The company sold out nine of their 11 shows and were selected to be a part of the coveted ‘Best of the Fringe’ series at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

In noting the comparison between the two productions, Thorpe said, “This Marat/Sade is much larger in scope than any previous productions.”

“We have a six-piece orchestra and a full set so it will be a lot a lot more challenging.” Nevertheless, Thorpe is confident that her highly talented cast will “bring this play to life” on July 19 (opening night) at the historic Alumnae Theatre.

“Marat/Sade is a play about empowering society’s forgotten,” said Thorpe. “There are a lot of “forgotten” citizens in Parkdale and I hope that our production might inspire them to stand up for themselves.”

(Tickets for the July 19-24 performances can be bought online from the Marat/Sade website here)

By Nathaniel G. Moore

Things are looking bright for Annex actor Paul Bates this summer.

In addition to a highly anticipated show The Soaps—a Live Improvised Soap Opera at Toronto’s Fringe Festival this month, the entire cast of CTV’s “Dan for Mayor” are up for best ensemble for a Canadian Comedy Award, which will be announced in the fall.

The Soaps, produced by The National Theatre of the World, will riff off the backstage politicking and nervousness that is typical in a Stratford Festival playhouse. Different versions of this play have been running all year at The Comedy Bar on Monday nights.

According to Bates, the play will take you backstage and expose this environment, and the personalities, “those characters who populate that world.”

“It’s more about the intrigue and the drama that goes on,” said Bates.

As for the comedy award, the announcement was a pleasing shock to the actor, who was a guest host announcing the nominations online earlier this month.

Bates plays Jeff on “Dan for Mayor,” a character who can best be described as an awkward and sometimes self-involved oddball who is Dan’s best friend. He just bought the local bar, but up until recently, Jeff worked as a manager at a photocopy store.

The popular show is an urban comedy that has elements of “The Office,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “My Name Is Earl.”

“It’s about a guy who has no experience being mayor in a medium-sized city,” said Bates, who feels the show is much more about the entire cast than an individual focus. “It’s very character-driven … with moments of understated, deadpan humour that sometimes gets physical and goofy.”

“Like Seinfeld, each of the characters has their own story line, and every character is given moments to shine and trouble to get into.”

Before landing his spot on the popular Canadian sitcom, Bates was a senior writer for “The Hour With George Stroumboulopoulos,” and was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his performance as former mayor Mel Lastman in the hit musical comedy SARSical.

The 13 episodes of season two were shot in eleven weeks, on average four days per episode two episodes at a time. “The interior was shot in North York sets at the old Air Force base in Downsview,” said Bates, also revealing the exterior of the fictional town of Essex is shot in Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo.

Speaking about his character, Bates is pleased with how he’s evolving on the show. “Jeff changes in season two a lot, he was Dan’s campaign manager and worked at the photocopy store, and is still very much into being the master of his domain,” says Bates, with a hint of mystery and excitement in his voice. “This season Jeff bought the bar and runs it. He’s still a good guy, still buddies with Dan, but what you see later is this power struggle between Fern [former bar owner] and Jeff.”

Bates said Jeff has a good work ethic and has a “I’m-in-charge kind of vibe.”

In addition to season two and the fringe show, Bates co-wrote the 75th Anniversary special for the CBC called “Long Story Short” which will feature Martin Short. “It’s a thrill for me because I’m a Second City alumnus.”

Fans can expect the special in late summer or early September.

As for Fringe, Bates promises death, and some major swerves. “We’re going to kill someone … beyond that we don’t plan any of it until it’s happening on stage.”

“Dan for Mayor” airs Sundays at 7:30 pm until Aug. 28 on CTV. The Soaps—a Live Improvised Soap Opera, plays as part of the Fringe at the Bathurst Street Theatre (736 Bathurst. St.).

Annex writer Nathaniel G. Moore is the author of the novel Wrong Bar and co-editor of Toronto Noir.

Actors Lucas Meeuse (Oscar) and Jody Osmond (Constance) brace for the giant's arrival. Photo courtesy Peter Frenton

By Reem Jazar

Upcoming Fringe play The Giant’s Garden, starring Annex resident Lucas Meuse, is bringing good old fashioned family fun back to the stage along with a couple musical numbers.

Writers Scott White and Peter Fenton say they were aiming to write a story that the whole family can relate to. Fenton said they were inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant and wanted to write an adaptation that focused on the core values demonstrated in the classic tale.

“The Selfish Giant is a pretty religious story,” said Fenton. “We wanted to sort of steer away from that and focus on more on the theme of selfishness and replacing selfishness with sharing and friendship and caring for one another.”

Meuse said what drew him to the script and the lead role of Oscar was the moral behind the story and how relatable the story was. “There’s something in it for everyone,” said Meuse. “People of all ages will be able to relate to this story.”

“There are a lot of things adults will able to identify with as well in this story,” said White. “There are sisters who haven’t spoken to each other in years and I feel that is something that a lot of adults can understand.” Fenton said he and White also wanted to tell this kind of story because of the way they viewed the youth of today. “These days kids have a lot more at a younger age,” said Fenton.

“There’s a lot of sacrifice in this story. What I love is that it is about how far you will go for friendship and I don’t think that is a story that is being told very much these days.”

This will not be the first time The Giant’s Garden will be hitting the stage. The show premiered in Orangeville in 2007. White said opening night in Orangeville was a rather emotional time for him.

The Giant’s Garden is dedicated to White’s mother who passed away while he was still working on the play. “She would tell me I couldn’t cut songs when we were trying to finalize the show,” said White. “A lot of family members came to the opening night and there were literally puddles from all the tears.”

The show runs from July 6 to 16 at the Toronto Fringe festival. Tickets are already on sale and the cast will be performing a total of seven shows at the George Ignatieff Theatre (15 Devonshire Place).

Artist Aynsley Moorhouse's installation will explore sound and memory. Photo courtesy Mykola Velychko

By Julia Hennessey

For the first time ever, the Toronto Fringe Festival has officially opened its programming to include visual artists, and according to Gideon Arthurs, barring hate crimes, anything goes.

“People don’t feel like [art is] accessible so they don’t understand it and they don’t interact with the visual arts,” said Arthurs, the festival’s executive director. “We wanted to give the public a chance to interact with it directly at street level.”

Visual Fringe will take place in the heart of Toronto’s largest theatre festival as part of the Fringe Club, located in the Honest Ed’s alleyway at Bathurst and Bloor. Eight of the galleries will be located in the alleyway with a ninth just down the street at A Different Booklist.

The works featured as part of Visual Fringe were “un-juried” at selection, and will be uncensored and un-curated.

Artists and collectives were selected from all over Toronto, including a few Annex residents. Works will be available for purchase at prices ranging from $1 to $3,500.

Arthurs describes one exhibition called the Fringe Tourist Trap, as including fake Fringe merchandise. “Things like an autographed book and posters for Fringe shows that don’t actually exist.”

Another display using alternative media includes work by Annex resident and artist bekky O’Neil. Her exhibition is a “cabinet of curiosity” and uses media referred to by the artist as “toy theatre collage.”

Outside the visual medium, there is a sound installation by Aynsley Moorhouse where audiences will be blindfolded for the duration of the 14 minute piece.

Artists were selected on a first-come, first-serve basis. “We put an application online and we took the first eight that came to us,” he says. The response was tremendous, as “it filled up in about four hours, and we probably doubled the list in that span.”

With such an enthusiastic response, Arthurs says the festival will definitely be interested in expanding the event next year. “Clearly there’s a desire in the visual arts community for something like this. Our next experiment is when we actually run the festival, how responsive the public is.”

Visual Fringe will take place in the Fringe Club located at 581 Bloor St. West, south of Bloor in the Honest Ed’s Alleyway from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. every night from July 6 to 17

By Síle Cleary

Over the past twenty years, Ballet Creole has gone from humble beginnings to carving out a reputation as being the quintessential leader of Afro-Caribbean dance in Canada under the direction of artistic director and founder Patrick Parson.

“When I first arrived in Canada, I tried to seek out a dance company that trained full-time professional dancers in my style of dance but at the time, all I came across were companies who worked only during the weekends or for specific events. So in order for me to dance professionally I had to create my own niche,” said Parson.

Parson, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, was inspired to set up the school after he arrived to Canada in the 1990’s to find that there was no professional dance company fitting to his specific style of dance.

His desire to seek out a professional school of performing arts that encompasses Afro-Caribbean dance eventually led to the fruition of Ballet Creole in 1990.

He attributes his sheer dedication and passion for dancing and performing to his family in Trinidad and Tobago. In particular, his mother, Viola Parson, who was a renowned artistic performer in Trinidad during the 1950s and 1960s, was influential to his career as a professional dancer.

“My mother was named the ‘limbo queen’ in Trinidad and she would tour around Japan and other countries for six months at a time, so my life has always been about dancing.”

As a result of his own upbringing, Parson is aware of the significant role that music and dance can play in the development of children and so he has created classes to meet their needs, including Ballet Creole’s summer camp programme.

The camp, which runs from July 4 to July 15, includes everything from hip-hop dance, to storytelling and drumming, and gives children the opportunity to express themselves artistically as well as to socialize in a multicultural and innovative atmosphere.

In speaking about the camp, Parson said “I believe it is beneficial for children as it connects them to cultural expression, heightens their understanding of socialization and improves their physical and creative health.”

The company’s style incorporates an array of dance forms including classical ballet, African, Caribbean, classical Indian, Irish, popular dance, jazz and hip-hop. Parson plays a pivotal role in the choreography for Ballet Creole and he endeavours to incorporate a fusion of cultures in all of the company’s performances.

Since then the company has progressed immensely and Ballet Creole’s professional group of dancers have performed to sold-out audiences at the Harbourfront’s DuMaurier and Fleck Dance theatres in Toronto, as well as theatres in St. Catharines and Hamilton over the past number of years.

Among the company’s acclaimed performances to date are “the Antagonist,” a collection of new and remounted works by some of Canada’s top choreographers including Parson’s “Trouchka,” which is a dance to Stravinsky’s classical score Petrouchka and “Soulful Messiah,” a culturally infused dance to the Quincy Jones R&B rendition of Handel’s Messiah.

It has not all been smooth sailing for Ballet Creole over the past 20 years though. On occasion, they have been forced to leave their premises and relocate to a new home as a result of noise complaints from local residents.

However, Parson is not easily deterred by this. For him it is all part of the journey. It is likely that he and Ballet Creole will continue to “bounce around” for another 20 years yet.

By Cara Waterfall

Festival on Bloor (FoB) originally began with a disagreement between Andrew Kilgour and former James Joyce Irish Pub (386 Bloor St. W.) owner Robert Costello.

“I said having a street festival would be a great way to bring the community together,” said Kilgour, owner of Kilgour’s Bar Meets Grill  (509 Bloor St. W.). “Robert bet me that I couldn’t get Bloor Street closed. The chair of the Metropolitan Transit Committee said ‘Go ahead and do it.’ It was very simple to start, and I won my bet.”

Bloor Street will once again be transformed into a pedestrian party on June 12 for the 15th annual FoB.  Maxine C. Bailey, FoB coordinator at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (MNJCC, 750 Spadina Ave.), is running the show for the third year in a row. “I just love the different vendors, performers, and people coming together,” she said. “I’m a Caribana baby, so I love that kind of party atmosphere.”

Community is at the heart of this event, which attracts 15,000 attendees each year. Local merchants (including The Annex Gleaner), live music and theatre acts, and children’s entertainers line the street from Spadina Avenue to Bathurst Street.  This summer, Nintendo 3DS and marketing company Inventa World will be launching their interactive game from a 20 by 20 truck. The Toronto Cyclists’ Union will be promoting green transportation by offering free valet service to anybody who cycles to the event.

Local performers will hold court at the Tranzac Club’s (292 Brunswick Ave.) outdoor stage, which will be broadcast live by CIUT FM 89.5 radio. Live music acts include folk/funk artist Jaron Freeman-Fox & the Opposite of Everything, and No Fish, a group of high school musicians and several of their fathers who play everything ranging from Klezmer (secular Jewish music) to Balkan music.

Juno award-winners Donné Roberts and Adam Solomon will bring their take on world music to the festival main stage. Solomon got his break as a “subway player” in Toronto. At 1 p.m., the Battle of the Bands begins. Other street performers like The Toronto FRINGE (344 Bloor St. W.) theatre artists, and the Ecuadorian ensemble The Imbayakunas will keep the crowds energized.

Shutting down one of Bloor Street’s busiest sections induces headaches, but the MNJCC and local businesses cooperate to ensure the festival runs smoothly. The MNJCC supplies most of the volunteers and some of the entertainment in the form of choirs and fitness demonstrations.

Kilgour, the street festival’s first co-chair, believes the MNJCC is integral to the event’s success. “It does take a crapload of people,” Kilgour said. “Without the [JCC’s] support, I don’t think anybody would be capable of running it.”

YoYos Yogurt Café (417 Bloor St. W.) will be participating in FoB for the first time. “It’s a nice way to welcome us to the community,” said employee Tyler Ball, 30. But the festival is not only for Annex residents. “Even if you don’t live in the area, it’s still a chance to meet a lot of people who live and work in the area, and see what other businesses are available here,” Bailey said.

While Kilgour is excited about this year’s festival, he is nostalgic for the early days of FoB. “There was a great motto that seemed to be coming from the city which was ‘It’s better to ask for forgiveness than to beg for permission.’

“As it’s gone on, it’s become more regulated, all kinds of codes that need to be met.”

The MNJCC and Bloor Annex BIA are co-sponsoring the event. For more information, contact FOB Coordinator Maxine Bailey at (416) 924-6211 ext. 121 or by email at maxineb@mnjcc.org

By Staff Reporter

Daniel Jones was a self-proclaimed alcoholic writer. Courtesy Sam Kanga.

This month, two works by the infamous late-Annex writer Daniel Jones are being reissued.Coach House’s The Brave Never Write Poetry comes with a brand new New Order record sleeve-inspired cover, while Three O’Clock Press’ remix of 1978 is slightly more sophisticated than its original release over a decade ago.

Born in a working-class district of Hamilton in 1959, Daniel Jones moved to Toronto to attend the University of Toronto in 1977. Before graduating, he embarked on a traveling expedition that saw him visit the United States and Central America. He then returned to Toronto where, according to a close friend, he lived in the Annex at various locales, including a house Vermont Avenue, but the one place he lived longest in Toronto was at College and Grace.

Jones divided his time between writing, performing at alcohol-fuelled poetry readings (on some occasions naked), and editing various small press micro-journals. He spent some of his time hospitalized, on welfare, or working at low-paying jobs to subsidize his writing career.

In 1985, The Brave Never Write Poetry (edited by one of Canada’s most distinguished poets, David McFadden) was published, and according to Jones’ highly autobiographical short story “In Various Restaurants,” the poet describes, with heart-breaking vitriol how “Nicola,” Jones’ romantic interest, never showed up to the launch, and was scared of him, which only fuelled Jones into more chemical debauchery and dangerous introspection.

Before his death, Jones did briefly attempt to make the most of his writing output, teaching at York University for two years. According to an article published just months after his death in Open Letter by Clint Burnham, the prospect of teaching was a brutal wake up call for Jones.

“For most of this country, these sub-occupations of the general label ‘intellectual’ mean almost nothing, a fact brought brutally home to Jones the two years he taught a fiction-writing course at York University when he would try to teach students, bedazzled by Hollywood ideas of creativity and writing, that most writers are not Stephen King.”

Jones turned his back on poetry, and in addition to editing many fledgling small-press journals in Toronto, began writing fiction before taking his own life in 1994, the day before Valentine’s Day.

“In Various Restaurants” epitomizes what Jones’ work did; ripping life right out of the red-hot embers of individuality, without extracting the emotional turmoil, or creating superficial misplaced energies lost in the transference from life to literature.

His extractions were exact DNA replications of both his own purpose and meaning, and those around him, who also appeared in his hazy horizons. It was never a simple literary construct with Jones, these characters lived and breathed and were fully realized, as likeable, unlikable, loveable monsters.

Though in “In Various Restaurants” Jones is a self-described alcoholic writer, it’s the tender versions of his character via Nicola in which we fall in love with both of them and their sprawling, waning unclear love affair. Unclear in the sense that it is perhaps nontraditional, mutually exploitative, narcissistic, and to a lesser extent, doomed.

In addition to these new titles, Jones’ work appears in two fiction books published by Mercury Press: Obsessions and The People One Knows.

Yet other work still remains in limited edition quantities. Mark McCawley, editor of Edmonton’s Greensleeve Editions and the underground literary journal Urban Graffiti, published Jones just before his death. “I published a chapbook of Jones’, The Job After The One Before, in 1990. Ever since, I have endeavored to keep the chapbook in print, re-printing whenever necessary.”

McCawley describes the chapbook as “a suite of interconnected, semi-autobiographical stories about various jobs the Jones persona experiences during his day passes from the Queen Street West psychiatric hospital—stories which would find further realization in his posthumous book, The People One Knows.”

Like all of Jones’ work, the stories are about real life, an almost Xeroxed facsimile of those who touched him. Though unnamed in the stories, the pot-smoking editor in “Occupational Therapy” is none other than the late Ted Plantos, and the silent, smoking editor in “The Birth of a Minor Canadian Poet” is David McFadden—who edited Jones’ sole trade book of poetry from Coach House Press in 1985, The Brave Never Write Poetry.

In 2003, Chelsea Ireton, a first-year York University drama student, was stage manager for a play called Poet based on Daniel Jones’ poetry, written by Robert Wallace. According to an archived issue of student paper Protem from November 2003, Ireton was asked to describe the play in one word, and she responded, “different,” adding “oh that sounded bad, but it isn’t that, it’s different in a good way.”

The play, in which “Wallace and his tremendously talented students explore Jones’ poems, extending them into powerful acts producing stellar moods birthed from the very poem itself,” ran for a week that fall.

Ireton described Jones’ poetry as having a “dark mood, yet he also has a dry humour,” and it was the hope of both Ireton and Wallace that the play’s vibrancy would encourage people to seek out the late poet’s original work.

With the two Jones reissues hitting stores this month, perhaps a whole new generation of readers may be waiting around for his words, as we speak, in various restaurants.

By Karen Bliss

After moving around the country for the past nine years, the Junos will be back in Toronto on March 27th for their 40th anniversary show. As part of the week-long celebration, JunoFest will take over downtown this weekend with 120 acts—more than 50 of them Juno nominees—playing 20 venues.

“I believe we broke a record for JunoFest for booking Juno-nominated bands,” says Jeff “JC” Cohen, co-owner of Toronto’s Collective Concerts, who was hired by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) to book the music festival. “We really focused on making it very heavy on nominees. We even got Christian and Aboriginal nominees.”

“[CARAS] told us to pick our favourite bands. We got some of them, not all of them, but we tried. They told us to book as many nominees as possible and they also told us to keep it as Toronto as you possibly can. It’s supposed to be showing off Toronto [talent], but I included Montreal because they haven’t had a Junos yet.”

Unlike Canadian Music Week or North By Northeast, JunoFest books less acts that play longer sets. “The headline act is doing 90-minutes, as opposed to the usual 40,” explains Cohen. “It’s booked less like a festival and more like a club crawl with regular nights at the venues.”

Cohen added that for the first time advance tickets are available for some of the larger shows. We’ve compiled a couple of shows to look out for in our coverage area. On the 25th, Flash Lightnin’, a Southern rock trio from Toronto, playing the Bovine  Sex Club. A line up of singer songwriters will also be playing that night. Canadian music veteran Emm Gryner, Songwriter of the Year nominee Royal Wood, and acoustic pop duo Dala will be performing at The Great Hall. Also worth a listen that night are Young Empires at the Drake, Grapes of Wrath at the El Mocambo, Brett Caswell & The Marquee Rose at The Garrison, and D-Sisive, Said The Whale, and Justin Rutledge at the Horseshoe.

The festival continues on March 26, including music from Moncton singer-songwriter Julie Doiron at The Garrison, folk artist  Basia Bulat at the Great Hall, indie group Dearly Beloved at the Rivoli, and country rock trio Elliott Brood at The Horseshoe.

“Being a part of Juno weekend is pretty amazing in itself,” says country artist and Juno nominee Dean Brody who plays the El Mo on the 26th, “but looking ahead to my Junofest show on Saturday night is a real bright spot because it’s post Gala Awards and the pressure of the impending award will be off and we will be ready to go. Fresh back from Australia, myself and my band will use that rockin’ 75-minute set to keep the party going. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Check the website for up-to-date venues and times. For $30, wristbands (available at ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-985-5000) grant access to all the JunoFest shows. Many are restricted to ages 19 and over. Advance tickets are available through Ticketmaster or in person at the Horseshoe, Soundscapes, and Rotate This.

Karen Bliss is an Annex-based music journalist and the co-author of Music from Far and Wide: Celebrating 40 Years of the JUNO Awards.

"Parkdale Chic ~ Octopus Style (Remix)"/Image courtesy Kris Bovenizer

By Emina Gamulin

While the head of the local residents’ association jokingly refers to them as the “Politically Correct Development Group,” the newly-renamed PCDG says they will continue to do the work they’ve always done: encouraging economic and employment initiatives in Parkdale.

“The vision is to build connections among businesses, residents, and organizations that are here,” says Warren Sheffer of the non-profit he chairs. Formerly the Parkdale-Liberty Economic Development Corporation, it was rebranded as the Parkdale Community Development Group this past fall. “It was really born out of a desire to focus on Parkdale more. We really weren’t doing anything in Liberty Village.”

Living in the area 20 years ago as a single mother, executive director Cindy Goldrick say the Parkdale of yesteryear and today are very different places. One major difference is the focus on arts that has come to the area, a focus PCDG seems to share. Known for putting on events such as the Parkdale Soapbox and the Parkdale Bazaar, the organization is preparing for their second annual Synthesis Gala, held this Mar. 25.

Featuring ten collaborative, Parkdale-themed artworks, the event raises money for the Queen West Art Crawl (QWAC), which takes place every September.

Image courtesy Matt Tarini

Associate director Lanie Treen says she split the group into “two waves of creation” with visual artists interpreting performances half the time, and performers giving their take on a visual work the other half.

One example is Matt Tarini’s painting of dancers who will be performing a live show  choreographed by Meagan O’Shea.

Guests will be able to see six of the ten pieces that night, which Treen says makes viewers more invested in the pieces they have chosen, giving the night a “choose your own adventure feel.”

Each collaboration will be held in a different room. Some rooms only have space for an audience of ten, giving the performances an intimate feel.

Other collaborations include cartoonist Brett Lamb (whose work can be seen in the Gleaner editorial pages) illustrating a lecture by comedy duo Deadpan Powerpoint, clown artist Shantelle Landry teaming up with ceramic artist Rich Weiss, and an a cappella performance by a 14-piece choir while collective Art Battle paint live.

Cartoonist Brett Lamb's contribution to the 2010 gala. Image courtesy Brett Lamb.

Plans for Radio Parkdale, a web-based show featuring the people and places of the neighbourhood that is “premised on the idea of connecting people,” will also be announced the night of the Gala. With the logo and layout of the site finalized, and content ready to be uploaded, the show will be podcasting by the end of April. “We’ll be populating it with content that we gathered since the last QWAC,” says Sheffer.

Both Sheffer and Goldrick stress that the show will evolve as they get more community feedback. “It will probably mutate along the way,” says Sheffer.

PCDG seeks volunteers for the show, with a special focus on youth. “We want them to tell their own stories, and their own vision of Parkdale,” says Goldrick.

After the gala, the organization will continue to focus on finding economic opportunities for the neighbourhood. As of press date, PCDG were looking for volunteer board members and had a number of paid opportunities available to those on social assistance. “We do what we can to support people, not always with money, but with resources,” says Goldrick. “We are always looking for opportunities to support the community.”

“Like” the Gleaner on Facebook to be automatically entered in a draw to win two tickets to the gala. Contest closes Thursday March 24 at noon. The Synthesis Gala Fundraiser will be held March  25, 2011 at the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement (6 Noble St.). Food will be provided by Belly Catering (1574 Queen St. W.) and drinks by TAG. The evening will include a silent auction. Tickets are $80 and can be purchased by calling 416-516-8301. For more information visit www.parkdaleliberty.com/synthesis.