This year was the 49th year for the Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto. I can't wait to see what they have in store for the 50th anniversary celebration.
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If someone was reaching into your pocket and going to steal your wallet you would be outraged. Yet, every single day, that is not a sale day, that is EXACTLY what retailers are doing! Don't you ever wonder what the actual cost of products are before mark up? I was down at Nathan Phillips Square earlier this evening for the Cavalcade of Lights. Before the show even started I noticed an odd decoration in one of the second floor windows right above the entrance to City Hall. Isn't our mayors named John Tory?
I have been taking pictures at Toronto area concerts for a number of years. My previous website was devoted strictly to music. It had a page devoted to concert pics that a person could disappear into for days. LOL. It contained approximately 20 pages with 10 albums per page with (on average) 20 pictures per album.. I thought that might be overkill. For now, the following is a slideshow of some of my top pic(k)s. For a more complete list of musicians that I have caught on stage you can check out my Instagram page.
Concert photography will continue to be a very important part of the content that I post. In all likelihood, I will still have a far more extensive collection of concert photographs on my in-house cloud drive. Earlier this evening, I was sitting in an aisle seat at the Sony Centre for The Preforming Arts anticipating The Music of Queen - A Rock and Symphonic Spectacular. The last place on earth you would expect me to run into an animal. Except, of course, the human variety. . At two minutes to show time a couple had purchased their tickets. At that point they were ushered to the seats directly behind mine. I know when they approached their seat because something nudged my arm. I thought maybe it was her purse or his knee. I took a quick glance to my right. There stood a golden lab. I honestly thought that initial nudge was going to be the limit of our communication. After all, the dogs harness did say "Do Not Pet" Silly me. I assumed that meant the dog was working. . Either way, I knew I was.. I was taking notes for the first half of the show. After the intermission I started to wonder if the poor dog shouldn't have some type of ear protection. For a couple reasons that would make a tonne of sense to me. First, their ears are more sensitive to sound. I would suspect that an orchestral performance could cause some level of damage to their inner ear. Second, with the audience whistling and clapping I was beginning to wonder if that wouldn't confuse a dog. Maybe the dog sensed my concern. I dunno. But, every now and then, the dog would rest it's head on my arm. (Yeah, the one with the hand that I was trying to use to take notes.) As corny as it may seem, the whole time the song "You're My Best Friend" was being performed on stage that dog kept it's head resting on my arm. Needless to say, I violated that whole "Do Not Pet" the working dog etiquette. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that, during that song at least, the dog stole the show. For me anyway. What do spiders have to do with Christmas? I couldn't think of anything either. Until I saw a tree at the 12 Trees of Christmas at the Gardiner Museum today decorated with some fancy spiders and golden webbing. The other eleven trees in the exhibit were also intriguing twists on the traditional tree. Don't "diss" me
Cuz I'm able To do far more Than you give me credit for (Just a little poem I wrote about ten years ago) This Is Not A Toy Exhibit is still one of my all time favourite collections. It was on display at the Design Exchange from February 7th to May 19th 0f 2014. (Yeah ... Last year) To be perfectly honest with you I originally went to the This Is Not A Toy exhibit because of Pharrell Williams ability to make people "Happy" through his music. Before I went I knew that he had guest curated the exhibit at the Design Exchange (with many of the pieces coming from his private collection). . A quick glance around the gallery allowed for the absorption of the links between music and this new art form. There was Jamie Hewlett's band the Gorillaz (who have earned the Guinness Book of World Record's distinction of the Most Successful Virtual Band [2001]) produced by Kid Robot and the Kiss Starchild Kubrick displayed a distance apart on a window sill. Daft Punk and Beatles Kubricks by Medicom hanging out in relative proximity on a display shelf in the main portion of the gallery.
It got to a point where I began to notice who was missing ... Elvis, MJ and (God forbid) Madonna. Despite the obvious oversight I am grateful that the Design Exchange and Pharrell Willliams provided the introduction to an art form that is in the infancy of its creative potential. I don't drink or smoke (anything). So I had to find a way to zone out when the rest of the world gets too heavy. Colouring these velvet posters really calms my mind. It's also a fun activity that I share with the little people in my life. It's amazing the past work I come across when I Google my name. The SEED logo was created for Safe Engaged Environments Disability. It was a group that met at the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto (CILT). Funding came from both the City of Toronto's Investment Program and Toronto Community Housing Corporations Social Investment Fund.
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