Agnes of God, Live in Toronto
My long-time friend Pat Anderson is performing in a local production of Agnes of God over the next two weeks: August 14, 15, 21 and 22 at No One Writes to the Colonel, a bar/cafe at College and Bathurst. Pat recited a few of her lines as Mother Superior to me at dinner last weekend, [...]
Cloud 9
I was on Cloud 9 on Saturday night…or rather, I was *at* Cloud 9 (A Comedy of Multiple Organisms), Caryl Churchill’s 1978 two-act play dealing with preconceptions of gender and sexuality. Act I and II are 25 years apart based on the characters’ ages, but in a wonderful twist, the first act is set in [...]
FRANKly eating
For each of our birthdays, I go to dinner with my sister Betty and our friend Pat at someplace new and interesting. In the past, we’ve covered Amuse Bouche, Globe Bistro, George, Nota Bene and others; Saturday night, it was the newly-opened FRANK at the Art Gallery of Ontario. First of all, if you haven’t [...]
Renegade Nuit Blanche
Are you an artist creating something for Nuit Blanche, but not on the official program? Rannie saw this posting calling for information about unofficial Nuit Blanche participants, with the aim to create a “program for the renegade installations”: The contact email, difficult to read on the photo, appears to be stephanievonawesome (at) gmail.com
HD OTA experiments
An online conversation with a few friends last week got me thinking harder about something that’s been on my mind lately: is it possible to get rid of my Rogers cable subscription, and get TV signals the old-fashioned way: with an antenna? This is now referred to as “OTA” (over the air) for those in [...]
Periodic Table Printmaking Project
Ninety-six printmakers created a total of 118 representations of the elements of the periodic table using various printmaking techniques: woodcuts, etching, lithography, etc. I’m a big fan of print art and own about 25 pieces, most of them from the artists who belong to Open Studio. There are a number of really incredible prints in [...]
Kooza
Went to Kooza last night, the Cirque du Soleil’s new show playing in Toronto until October 7th. Its fabulous and breathtaking. It’s a return to their circus performer roots of acrobats and clowns, with all the polish and glamour that they’ve gained over the years but no pyrotechnics or anything else to distract from the [...]
Gardiner Museum of ceramics
I finished my week of culture by visiting the Gardiner Museum on Saturday — Canada’s only museum dedicated to ceramics, from early Mesoamerican through the invention of porcelain in early Chinese dynasties to contemporary ceramics. I’ve visited the Gardiner before, but not since the major renovation that added a third floor, considerably more exhibit space [...]
An evening of opera and operetta
In stark contrast to the previous night’s Rocky Horror Show, Friday evening I attended an evening of opera and operetta, featuring Geoffrey Butler, a friend of mine who is a professional tenor. Geoff has a powerful voice, and my favourite memory of him is during one rather drunken dinner party at my place years ago [...]
A Tale of Two Musicals
I often go months — or years — without seeing a musical stage production, but somehow I’ve managed to see two in the last month. The first was We Will Rock You, based on the music of Queen in the same sort of way that Mamma Mia is based on Abba’s music: the songs and [...]
