Archive for the ‘events’ Category

music and dancing in the street

Posted: July 28, 2017 in events, people
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shoes of a man who is moving as he sings, street and sidewalk in the photo

Beaches Streetfest 2017
Pictures from last evening’s fun.

below: Spock was there too.

a man dressed as Dr. Spock from Star Trek hugs a musician at an outdoor music festival

below: Old Man Flanagan’s Ghost plays their Irish and Scottish music outside The Stone Lion.

the band, old man flanagan's ghost plays on a street corner, a bass player, a guitar player, and two fiddlers,

two musicians with lights on them, from the back, with the crowd standing on the street in front of them, one woman dancing

a singer with his arm up in the air, a woman across from him also pointing upwards

below: A saxophone player from The Achromatics shows off her style.

a woman in a red skirt plays the saxophone on the street, a part of the Achromatics, a music group, a man on keyboards stands in the background

below: Johnny Max Band

singer Johnny Max sings at a street festival, blue fedora, purple check shirt, a man in the background with a 416 Toronto T-shirt on

below: Dancing to the music.

a couple dances on the street, attending a music street festival, some people look on.

below:  Someone wants to play along.

a little girl runs towards a temporary stage set up on the sidewalk, she is pointing to it. The musicians have moved forward and are playing closer to the crowd

below: Jenie Thai

a woman in sunglasses and teal dress plays the keyboards. A man with a small beard is playing the guitar beside her, a red wall with text street art is behind them.

below: Shooting bubbles. These bubble makers were being sold at the festival so there were lots of bubbles all over the place.

kids playing with plastic bubble shooters in a crowd on the street.

below: Guitarist Neil Chapman from the Zedheads in a rare moment when he lifted his while playing the guitar.

guitarist, neil chapman, playing outside.

below: Another Zedhead member

bearded man with sunglasses and black basebell cap sits at a drum set. Hhis baseball cap says Zedhead on it.

below: A window seat behind the stage

a woman is seated in a restaurant by the window that is open, she is looking out and watching a group of musicians perform, there is a man on a drum set as well as another man.

a young boy in a large yellow T-shirt is watching musicians outdoors.

below: Queen Street as the sun went down.

evening, darkening sky, many people on the street at a street festival, most people are facing away from the camera except one woman in front who is looking straight ahead. Musicians playing on the right, standing in front of stores

below: Excitement!

three young girls watch an evening outdoor music performance by a band of 6 musicians on a street corner

below: Under the red lights.

a youngblack man in sunglasses and black hat sits at a keyboard with mircophone in front of him, evening, some red lights are shining on him. outside.

back of a girls head, long hair tied in a ponytail, outside, in the evening, as she watches a music performance with a small crowd of people

people, part of a larger crowd watching a street performance, one woman has a bright orange mohawk hairdo.

The festival continues all weekend (July 28, 29 and 30)

#beachesjazz | #beachesstreetfest

the brains are back

Posted: July 26, 2017 in events, public art
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four sections of four different brain sculptures

The second annual Brain Project is now on display across the city.  These are only a small sample of the brain sculptures that form the exhibit.  In total there are 100 brains in about 20 locations around the city.   There is a map on the Brain Project website if you are interested in visiting some of them.

 

below: One of the locations where you can see some of the brain sculptures is Nathan Phillips Square.

a line of sculptures on display, podius standing in the water of the fountain, arches, and 3D Toronto sign in the backgruond.

Descriptions of all the brains on display around the city, as well as notes on the artists responsible, can be found online.    You can vote online for your favorite brain.

below:  Circles of beads and sequins – circles representing wholeness and totality come together to form a complex mosaic like the brain itself.  “Unleash Your Mind” is by Kara Ross.

a brain sculpture on display in front of the 3D toronto sign, decorated with colourful circles of sequins

below: Sitting on top of a blue and teal brain is a blue jay in a nest – a sculpture by Ted Hamer that is called “Thinkubator”.  Here the brain is shown as an idea incubator where the bird symbolizes the idea.

close up of part oa brain sculpture, the brain is painted blue and teal and there is a blue jay sitting on a nest on top of the egg (the bird is part of the sculpture)

below:  “Vitale” by Molly Gambardella is dedicated to the artist’s grandmother who died of Alzheimers in 2016.   Vitale was her maiden name.

a sculpture of a brain decorated with hundreds of coloured pencils, some are point up and some are blunt end up, the colours of the pencils make shapes and lines on the brain

below: Three of the brains on display at the Distillery District.  In front is “Red Head” by Anitra Hamilton who glued pieces of chicken eggshells to the surface of the brain.  Red acrylic paint highlights the spaces between the eggshells.   In the middle is Cindy Scaife’s “Food for Thought”.  Broccoli, avocado, apple and walnut, all healthy foods,  play in the park.

brain sculptures as part of the Baycret Foundation's Brain Project on display outside at the Distillery District

below: Also at the Distillery District is a brain by Laura Bundesen, “Not Forgotten” is a collage of fabric embellished with lace and embroidery and beads.  It is in memory of her stepmother who suffered from dementia.

close up of a fabric collage on a sculpture, bits of fabric with flowers on it, some embroidered leaves and flowers, lace and trim too,

Part of the goal of the project is raise awareness of diseases like Alzheimers that affect the brain.  Another goal was to raise money  – the sculptures are sponsored by various people and corporations (such as Telus).  As well, most of the brains from last year’s exhibit have been sold.  Funds raised through this project are donated to Baycrest Health Services.

below:  Keight MacLean’s “Loss” illustrates the idea of memory and memory loss using a portrait of a person, a loved one.  Paint as the memory loss, obscures the picture.

outdoor display in a clear acrylic box, a sculpture in the shape of a brain, with the picture of a woman's face on the side, yellow paint drips down from the top of the brain.

people looking at brain sculptures. one is pointing to them, the other is taking a picture of them.

South Asian Festival

Posted: July 24, 2017 in events, people
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Toronto in the summer means street festivals every weekend.   One of the festivals this past weekend was the 15th annual South Asian Festival in ‘Little India’.   Gerrard Street East was closed to traffic between Greenwood and Coxwell for the occasion.

below: Shopping, strolling and playing games.  Try your skill at cricket or buy some jewellery or some clothing.

street scene at South Asian festival. a man hits a ball with a cricket bat, two women in head scarves are talking, men behind a table are selling jewellery and clothes

a woman leans on the top of a rack of clothing for sale, sidewalk sale, as part of the South Asian Festival on the Gerrard Street.

three women are looking at a blouse (dress?), red and white pattern, on a hanger at an outdoor sidewalk sale, as part of a street festival. They are looking at the same piece of clothing

mother and daughter look at bangles, jewellery, for sale outside, at street festival. Both are wearing sunglasses

an older man sits behind a small table covered with a white cloth. on the table are toys that he is selling. he is holding an orange Nemo shaped bubble maker plastic toy. behind him, a man is standing smoking a cigarette

Like all street festivals, there was lots of food and drink available.

below: Extracting sugar cane juice.

a man shreds sugar cane in a machine to extract the sugar cane juice which he is then selling, outside, street festival, Little India

below: Fresh baked naan, straight from the oven.

a man removes freshly baked naan from a tandoori oven

There were many photo ops provided.  For instance, there were cut outs for faces in pictures of Bollywood actors.

at a street festival, two people are putting their heads through cut outs while others take their picture, cut outs are on faces of Bollywood actors and actresses.

… and a richly decorated cart (What is it’s proper name?)

an older couple pose for a picture while they are sitting in a decorated cart, purple velvet, and many colourful tassles

and mannequins in traditional costumes.

two young boyus pose with a manniquin dressed in traditional Indian (South Asian) costume

below: There was also entertainment.   In this case, a rapper in Hindi and English.

a man with a black shirt with the word security on the back watches a performance of a rap artist who is on a stage with many people watching him

one woman adjusts the floral headband on another woman, both are dressed in traditional South Asian clothing

young kids lean over a yellow barricade as they watch a performance a girl is giving a thumbs up sign

a woman is airbrushing black paint onto a stencil on the upper part of a small girls arm, temporary tattoo

a woman with shiny bangles, bracelets, on her wrist puts her hand on her boyfriend's lower back

… and there was even a large elephant parked beside Victoria Whole Foods!  It looks a bit tacky with the big advertising  banner on its side but it was still a popular place to take selfies.

a couple, man and woman, each with a dog on a leash, is taking a selfie in front of a large elephant sculpture

road losed sign and yellow metal barricades, street festival going on behind the sign & barricade. Also racks of sarees for sale and in the distance, a large fake elephant

that big yellow duck

Posted: July 6, 2017 in events, waterfront
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Maybe you thought that the duck was a waste of money  or maybe you thought the duck was a fantastic idea.    Maybe you didn’t like the duck because it wasn’t Canadian enough for a Canada Day celebration (the Canaduck!) or maybe you didn’t care about such things.   It certainly generated a lot of discussion even before it arrived – who hasn’t heard about the duck?  Who didn’t have an opinion about the duck?   It spawned the hashtag #whattheduck, a play on WTF.

big yellow duck, side view, people on shore

The noise has now all died down.   The 150th birthday party is over.

I don’t think that I am alone in thinking that the duck was the star of the Redpath Waterfront Festival and that the festival organizers have no regrets about spending the money on the duck.

below: The yellow duck was moored by HTO beach (that’s the one with the yellow umbrellas) for the duration of the July 1st long weekend.   It smiled through rain and shine.

large inflatable yellow rubber duckie sits on the water, Lake Ontario, at the waterfront in Toronto

below: It was a popular duck and it attracted about a million people. People of all ages.  It was about 6 storeys tall so even if you couldn’t get close to it, you could still get a good view.

a litttle girl is being held up by her father, she is pointing at the duck and looking at her mother who is taking a picture of it

below: Millions of photos were taken with (and of) the duck. It was a willing subject and it stayed still – it was good at holding a pose.   The trick was to get a selfie that didn’t have lots of other people in it!   He was a bit grubby – maybe too big for a bathtub? – but no one cared.

three people are taking selfies in front of the big yellow duck

below: Not everyone was excited to see the duck!

an older man is sleeping on a white muskoka chair and under a big yellow umbrella at HTO beach in Toronto, crowd of people standing behind him

below: One last look at the duck.  On Monday evening the duck was towed across Toronto Harbour to the Port Lands where it was deflated and readied to be sent to Owen Sound for the next port of call on its Ontario tour.

the large yellow rubber ducky is being towed across Toronto harbour

pride parade 2017

Posted: June 26, 2017 in events, people
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The usual cast of characters, plus or minus a few.

Floats, marchers, and crowds.
Flags, banners, and signs.
Flamboyance, body paint, and tutus.
Unicorns, fruit, and super soakers.

a group of boys and young men at the start of the pride parade

a woman in a white t shirt with rainbow on the front, and a straw hat is passing out rainbow flags to the crowd. others in the parade behind her are doing the same, others are waving the flags.

two men in black t shirts, one has t shirt that says love is (repeated five times) and is waving a small rainbow flag. THe other man is holding a sign up over his head with a picture of a crowd on it as well as some words (many words) that say At the local level, Get REAL is made up of university campus teams across Canada helping high school students unlearn LGBT discrimination and bullying

two men with a lot of bodypaint of rainbows and flowers as well some sparkly bits

men holding super soakers on top of a pride parade float

a police men watches an intersection of streets as the parade passes, he justs fits under the wing of a large inflatable westjet plane

two men in fruit costumes as well as large oversized glasses

a black man wearing just green tight shorts and green sunglasses is standing on the TD float, a woman is in the background (she is looking after the music).

a young man holds an orange sign .. on the sign is a picture of a raccoon holding a rainbow flag with the words happy pride 2017

bud light float at pride, picture of 4 large cans - a blue, green, red, and yellow can with a person in front of each in a tight body suit the same colour as the can. crowd in front of the float.

three women walking in the pride parade with a turquoise, blue and pink banner, and unicorn horns on their head, stop to talk to a young girl who also has a unicorn horn on her head

lots of people with arms up in the air waving small rainbow flags

crowd watching the pride parade on Bloor Street

a man waiting for the pride parade to start holding a sign that says yup I am a gay. Person inlong frilly pink gown and massive pink feather head dress, posing for pictures

a young Asian man, photographer, smiles as he gets ready to take pictures of mostly nude man with long leather gloves on

the back of a decorated t-shirt, glitter lips with tongue stuck out.

pflag member in purple, holding up a placard that say being LGBTQ2S is not abnormal or unnatural but turning against your own child is s

woemn smiling for the camera, dressed up in colourful clothes and holding rainbow flags.

man with bushy beard, a black cap and a top made out of yellow police caution tape

two women walk together holding hands. one has a white shirt that says gay as fuck in pink letters and the other is wearing a sleeveless body suit in rainbow stripes

a young black girl is sitting on her father's shoulders. She is holding a pink sign with purple hand written letters that say vote against hate

up on the TD float in the pride parade, a person is a long wavy yellow wig and wearing a striped top and short green shiny skirt, is blowing kisses to the crowd.

two young kids, a boy and a girl, are standing within a white cut out square (instagram thing) that says alll aboard on the bottom

a girl holds up a sign from the East Enders Everyone belongs, that has the expression everyone belongs, written in an indigenous language as well as arabic and chinese (or other Asian language)

the bums and hands of a few men wearing red swim suits with the words trigger fish on them

two kids stand behind metal barricades while waiting for the parade to begin

an older man is standing on the sidewalk, wearing a police cap and a patchwork vest in rainbow colours with all kinds of different fabrics, busy, bright,

a woman wearing a t shirt that says free hugs is carrying a pink sign that says you do you

a person in a blond wig and magenta shiny top and matching hat, an Asian woman is having her picture taken as well.

a woman wearing blue rimmed sunglasses and rainbow paper flowers in her hair is looking directly at the camera and shouting. She has a t shirt on that says Positive Space toroto

a man naked except for a pink fuzzy vest and a pink cowboy hat is standing on the sidewalk. There is a string tied around his penis. A man is pushing an empty wheelchair in the background

dyke march 2017

Posted: June 25, 2017 in events, people
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person with rainbow face paint, rainbow rimmed sunglasses and a rainbow flag draped over her back

It’s Pride weekend here in Toronto with its many activities including the usual parades.  Yesterday was the Dyke March.

people walking in the dyke march, colourful clothes, floral shorts, polka dot top, sailor hat, flags, beads,

a woman is on another person's shoulders so she's above the crowd walking in the dyke march. She is holding a sign that says happy pride

a mother leans over her young daughter who is sitting in front of her on a bike, Small rainbow flag is on the handlebars

below: As in previous year, the motorcyclists led the parade.

dykes on bikes motorcyclists at the start of the parade, dyke march, at Yonge and Bloor

a small white dog with a little hat on its head, head resting on person's shoulder.

leather pants and belt, with a person's hand on bum (with black fingernails). harness on top with nothing under it, partially bare back

waiting for the dyke march to begin, two people by their motorcycle, one is in leather shorts and has angel wings made of rainbow coloured feathers

laughing women holding up a banner in support of trans people

people walking in the dyke march. one is holding a young girl who is wearing a pink dress, one is bare breasted

torso from the side of a person in a lacy black bra with a large tattoo on upper and lower arm. Upper arm tattoo is a woman's head with the words live deliciously written under it

a volunteer wearing a yellow tshirt stands in the middle of yonge street facing the dyke march parade that has stopped just up the street, people are lining the sidewalks to watch the march

a woman drummer, She is wearing a tshirt that says no a la homofobia. walking in dyke march

a muslim woman in a black head scarf takes pictures on her phone at a dyke march. a woman in a bikini top is clapping as she walks toward the camera

dykes on bikes stop in the parade for a photo op. one woman is topless with a bicycle painted on her chest.

a young woman in the dyke marching is holding up a sign that says Humber, we are proud

two women, in profile, watching the dyke march on yonge street, pink sunglasses

long haired woman holding rainbow flag, wearing sunglasses

a middel aged man in a tie dyed shirt with a big happy face in the middle of it, stands by a police car as he watches the dyke march

a group of people sittingo n the sidewalk on Yonge street as they watch the Dyke March. One woman is topless, two women are on cellphones

people on roller blades at the start of the dyke march. a woman holds a sign that says my pride includes the police

a woman in rainbow scarf, and police hat, holds a sign that says thanks first responders

women in a dyke march, one is holding a sign that says kittens against trump

three women walking together in the dyke march

a young man with a flower garland in his hair (paper flowers)

a couple - one is a purple wig and sunglasses and the other in a straw hat with sparkles glued to her face in the shape of a thin beard

more CONTACT, King Street West

Posted: June 14, 2017 in events, galleries
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As I’ve mentioned before, I tried to see as many of the CONTACT Photography exhibits as I could in the last few days of May.  I blogged about two weeks ago about the ‘blocks’ at Brookfield Place.  I have been meaning to finish posting about the other exhibits I saw but there’s so much happening in the city.  I’ve been spending a lot of time walking with my camera instead of sitting in front of my computer.

Two of the exhibits that I saw were on King St West, one by Metro Hall and the other on the corner of the TIFF Lightbox building.   I haven’t been able to figure out what to say about the photos so they have sat in a folder on my hard drive.   Unfortunately they are not alone.  Yesterday I went back to take another look at the exhibits and think through a few thoughts, but the photos are gone.  Procrastination has its pitfalls.  TIFF Lightbox is now promoting their “Canada on Screen” program – all year, all free – as part of the Canada 150 celebrations.

I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

below: The corner of Widmer and King back in May.  The photos are “On Location” by Sam Cotter.

large photo on the corner of a building, taken during a movie shoot on the streets of Toronto (Bay St), a young man is sitting against the other side of the corner of the building asking passers by for money.

bikes parked in front of a large photo mounted on the side of the TIFF lightbox building, showing an orange movie shoot cone and a fake city street sign.

below: A similar viewpoint, taken yesterday.  Different pictures.. and different bikes.

bikes parked in front of a large poster advertising TIFF's Canada on Screen program, a collage of black and white pictures taken from movies.

The other exhibit was “The Sum of All Parts” by Jalani Morgan.

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