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buskerfest 2014

Posted: August 26, 2014 in events, people
Tags: #samsungsbbf, Ariel, art, balloons, buskers, chalk, chalk chick, clowns, crowds, dogs, DyneMike, entertainment, epilepsy toronto, great dane, littlest mermaid, music, ninja turtles, people, performances, photos, ponies, screech, Screeched Inn, shows, sidewalk, silver Elvis, smiles, stilts, street performers, toast, Toronto, touch2catch, Yonge St.

Buskerfest 2014

Yonge Street was closed from College to Queen for the event.

Yonge St. at Dundas, barrier across Yonge St. as it is pedestrians only. Lots of signs, lots of people,

Yonge Street on the Saturday afternoon of Buskerfest, looking north from Dundas Street

A man dressed in green is on stilts as he walks up Yonge St.

Hovering above the crowd.

There were street performers……

A group of four people are on stilts but dressed in very long pants. Two are playing a drum and two are playing shaking instruments. They are walking down Yonge St. People are on the sidewalks watching them. Street performance as part of buskerfest.

towering over the audience as they walk down Yonge Street

A performer is on a very tall unicycle. He is juggling lit torches as he slowly goes around in a tight circle.

DyneMike, playing with fire on high

A street performer is using a diabolo to entertain a crowd of people who are sitting and standing on the sidewalk around him.

This guy, part of Touch2Catch, was amazing to watch. Great diabolo action!

A performer has been launched into the air. He is holding a large ring that is on fire. He is turning himself through the ring while in the air.

more Touch2Catch – jumping through a ring of fire

One of the street performers from the group Touch2Catch is doing a side flip over a man who is on all fours on the street.

side flip over Dimitri

A picture of buskerfest is displayed on an electronic billboard.

Samsung was putting tweets and instagram postings with their buskerfest hashtag on the electronic billboard above Yonge & Dundas. At one point I looked up and saw this one. A great photo! She captured an unobscured view of the exact moment the performer from Touch2Catch did a side flip over five people.

A woman has taken the silver guitar from Silver Elvis and is pretending to play it while hamming it up for the small group of people that are watching.

sharing the limelight with Silver Elvis …. or taking over? All in good fun!

A woman is having her picture taken with a performer who is dressed in a white dress made of balloons. She has balloon wings and white feathers in her hair.

Photo op with an angel in white balloons. Balloon dresses are available from The Twisted Ones

A street performer is twisting the upper part of his body in order to fit it through a tennis racquet.

What one does in the name of entertainment – putting one’s shoulders through a tennis racquet…. don’t try it at home kids.

….. music

A toast to the cod, screeching in at Dundas Square. The Screeched Inn performed on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square, their “kitchen party”.

All money raised by performers on the stage at Yonge-Dundas Square went to Epilepsy Toronto.
In addition, Samsung donated $1 to Epilepsy Toronto for every tweet of buskerfest that included the hashtag #samsungsbbf

….. sidewalk artists

A woman is using chalk to make a large picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the sidewalk

ninja turtles taking shape on the sidewalk (artist: the Chalk Chick)

A chalk drawing of Ariel, the little mermaid in the Disney movie on a sidewalk. A man's legs are also in the photo.

Ariel, Disney’s little mermaid is on the sidewalk. Another drawing by the Chalk Chick.

… and curious kids, entertained kids

Some children are watching buskers perform by peeking through a gap in the red and white plastic banners that are the backdrop to the show.

vantage point

A dog, a Great Dane, is standing in front of two women dressed as clowns on pink and white ponies. The dog has barked at them and they are reacting by making faces and moving back

Some dogs don’t like clowns either. Great Danes have quite the bark!

A large electronic billboard high above Yonge St. A picture of one of my buskerfest tweets is being displayed.

a narcissistic moment

With thanks to the Second Cup on Mt. Pleasant where I hung out while putting this blog entry together.

into the night at the CNE

Posted: August 21, 2014 in events, people
Tags: acrobats, aim, attractions, August, balls, Canadian National Exhibition, candy, CNE, crowds, Curious George, evening, Ex, gamble, games, Jeff, junk food, lights, midway, mirage, monkeys, noise, people, prizes, rides, ring toss, roulette, sand, sculpture, shows, stuffed animals, summer, Toronto, Whac-a-mole

another August, another trip to the Ex!

Evening shot as the sky is getting darker. Tiny Tom donut stand all lit up, with a line up of people waiting to buy donuts.

Tiny Tom Donuts, an iconic part of the CNE for as long as I can remember.

Two acrobatic women hanging from a large triple hook shaped bar suspended from the ceiling. Bathed in blue light.

One of this year’s shows is ‘Mirage’, an acrobatic show at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Two people on a rope in yellow and purple lights. Part of the audience can be seen in the photo.

another part of the ‘Mirage’ show

A boy wearing a fedora is standing beside one of the midway games. He is holding a coke bottle with the name Jeff on it. Behind him is a large picture of 3 stars.

A star on the midway. The coke bottle says Jeff.

Two young men are hammering away at Whac-a-mole while a woman who is running the game is talking to the people who are watching

playing Whac-a-Mole!

A number of people are competing to win a stuffed monkey. They are shooting water into a target.

shooting for monkeys, Curious George as the prize

A groups of young people are playing a midway game where you toss balls. What they are throwing them at is not in the photo!

Having fun tossing baseballs!

CNE midway game with the prize being a stuffed minion from the movie 'Despicable Me'. A woman is paying to play.

getting ready to play for minions

A young man is sitting by a giant roulette wheel, a midway game at the Ex

waiting for the wheel to stop

Lights on one of the midway rides, Starship.

Starship lights and motion on the midway

A display of candy apples for sale. Some are coated with smarties candies, some with multi coloured sprinkles and some with crushed nuts.

yum, candy apples… caramel, smarties, sprinkles and crushed nuts!

Sand sculpture of a woman sitting on the ground, looking wistfully through a round window. In the background are some woman standing behind a wood barricade who are looking at the sand sculpture

women watching, sand sculpture

Details of a sand sculpture (hands) with another sculpture behind (of a woman)

women from another angle

A father and his daughters are on a midway ride, spinning in red "seats" as they go around in circles.

spinning quickly on the midway – or at least a bit too quickly for the camera!

summer in the city

Posted: July 7, 2014 in general Toronto, people
Tags: aquarium, baseball, bikes, downtown, Dundas Square, enjoying, fish, food, food trucks, Kensington, kids, people, photography, photos, Ryerson, street, streets, summer, sunny, Sweet Alibi, T-shirts, Toronto, Uncle Smokes, walking, warm, waterfront

Summer in the city – although the summer feels like it’s only just begun!

A cyclist and his bike are sitting at the edge of Lake Ontario, behind the chain fence. It is evening and the sky is strating to turn pink

Early evening rest at the waterfront

Two food trucks are parked on the street. People are buying food, or sitting on the conrete bench (low wall) that runs parallel to the sidewalk

Ice cream, slushies, hot dogs, chips, poutine…. food trucks on Queen Street in front of City Hall.

Two people are standing behind a table that is covered with a red and white checkered table cloth. The menu is written on a chalk board in front of them. The last item on the menu is love, and it's cost is free.

Uncle Smoke gives away free love! Pulled pork with beans, corn bread and veg will cost you $10 though! Pedestrian Sunday, Kensington Market.

A man is sitting beside a stroller in the foreground. Behind him is a pool of water and then a large glass building. On the wall of the building are black and white images of some famous people including Andy Warhol, JFK, and Albert Einstein

Under the watchful eye of a few famous people – Ryerson Image Centre building.

Some people are walking towards the camera as the cross a street including a couple who are holding hands. He is wearing an orange Tshirt that says Cool story babe, Now Make me a Sandwich.

“Cool Story Babe, Now make me a sandwich.” Any replies ladies?

A girl is standing very close to one of the tanks at the aquarium, she has her hands open and on the glass.

hands on at the aquarium

Dundas Square with many people sitting on chairs, under red umbrellas, watching a band play on stage

‘Sweet Alibi’ plays at Dundas Square

A large group of people, inlcuding many kids, are walking towards Rogers Stadium for a Blue Jays baseball game. Most of them are wearing blue Blue Jays shirts.

game day, Jays fans

******

pride parade

Posted: June 30, 2014 in events, people
Tags: asses, bananas, bare asses, bare bums, Bloor St., bums, chaps, colours, cops, crowds, fun, gay, girls, guys, laughs, men, parade, people, police, pride, rainbow, raunchy, silly, smiles, topless, Toronto, wigs, women, Yonge St.

Shooting the pride parade was a lot different from shooting the dyke march! The pride parade is much bigger and by necessity much more tightly controlled. I was able to walk alongside the women in the dyke march but the streets were barricaded and non-participants kept off the route for the pride parade.

crowds are behind barricades along the streets, policemen on motorcycles are waiting at the end of the street. parade hasn't started yet

looking west on Bloor towards Yonge.

I walked the first part of the route, along Bloor Street, just before the parade started. Lots of crowds were behind the metal bars; a few police were watching/ignoring me. When I turned the corner at Yonge St., I realized just how controlled the crowds were! I chose not to continue walking south on Yonge. A policeman opened the barricade enough to let me out. After that I walked amongst the crowds….. and saw nothing of the parade! Too many people! But they were interesting people and I enjoyed walking amongst them. …. until Dundas when there were so many people and no one could move. That’s was my cue to exit stage right.

So here’s a salute to all those who joined the fun. A little raunchy and a little over the top at times but all good.

Two women in banana costumes posing for the camera.

Kudos to these two ladies who showed up in banana costumes! I asked them if they were part of a group, but no, they’re just fruity they said. I hope they joined the parade had fun (and didn’t get too hot!… unless they peeled…. )

Two women, or men dressed as women, one in black and one in white. The one in white has a large black & white clockface behind her

timeless

A group of people are standing behind metal barricades waiting for the parade to start, some are waving and some are smiling. A group of three girls are wearing pink boas.

pink, with smiles, waiting for the parade to begin

A group of policemen and policewomen pose for a group shot before the pride parade

Before the parade started – They were actually posing for someone else… but I suggested that they look a little livelier, wave their hands or something…. thanks for obliging!

viewable, & captured, from all angles

One guy in red underpants (with Christmas bells attached to the front) is pointing to the bare bottoms of his two male friends. He is making an exaggerated facial expression of surprise and shock.

boys just wanna have fun

Two older men dressed in white are under a rainbow striped umbrella. One has a white boa, the other has a red boa.

keeping the sun away. These umbrellas were great – very photogenic!

A woman with very large and almost bare breasts. Her face is decorated

Two men are standing beind, and leaning on, the barricade. They are wearing multicoloured beads, incuding some very big beads that look more like balls for a Christmas tree

big grins! The one in blue was more game than his partner…. you could almost say that one in grey is grimacing more than grinning. Thanks guys!

A group of men are standing behind barricades.

He had such a wonderful smile and he seemed so happy that I couldn’t resist taking his picture.

four girls, each with a different coloured mask, like the ninja turtles TV characters wear.

ninjas, mostly unmasked

a boy is sitting on his father's shoulders

a better view!

many people lining the route of the pride parade on Yonge St.

The crowds at Yonge and Wellesley just as the parade reached that part of the route.

A row of people wearing hats in the foreground, looking across an empty street to a very large crowd behind barricades

How does one even start to calculate how many people were there?

A quick shot – he saw my camera, turned and quickly posed, and I got the shot. It wasn’t until I downloaded the photos that I saw the marvellous juxtaposition!

a group of four girls wearing rainbow curly wigs, frilly short skirts and rainbow striped socks are walking up the street between two rows of parade watchers

almost their own little parade!

streetcars at the intersection of Yonge & College, all corners are packed with people

stopping the parade to let the College/Carlton streetcar through

Two people are standing on the window sill of a large window. The woman is wearing a striped dress. She is texting. The guy beside her is topless, wearing grey shorts

She doesn’t seem to be having fun – standing in the window of Starbucks at College & Yonge.

Wall to wall people at the intersection of Yonge and Dundas. All you can see in the photo are people's heads.

I walked the parade route at about the same speed that the parade went. An hour and a half later, I reached Yonge & Dundas where the crowds were so thick no one could move.

Two boys are standing on a window ledge so they are above a crowd of people. The small boy doesn't look too happy.

At the corner of Yonge & Dundas – by the time I made it to this intersection, I was beginning to agree with the boy in green!

Two topless women are painted in big rainbow colours. Two clothed women are posing for a photo with them.

posing with the body painters – Body Art by Tania was the booth on Church St., near the start of the parade.

actoronto – AIDS Committee Toronto

*****

dyke march, more

Posted: June 29, 2014 in events, people
Tags: #dmto, #wemarch, banners, bicycles, bikes, costumes, dyke march, June, LGBT, parade, pink, pride, protest, sign, Toronto, voices, women, Yonge St.

….continued from the previous post

Here is the second sample of the photos that I took at the dyke march yesterday.

*****

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dyke march

Posted: June 29, 2014 in events, people
Tags: #dmto, #wemarch, bikes, cameras, costumes, crowds, dyke, dyke march, flags, gay, international ms. leather, leather, motorcycles, parade, photography, pink, posters, pride, queer, rainbow, signs, smiles, Toronto, umbrellas, watching, Yonge St.

The march finally got underway…..

Here is the first sample of the photos that I took as it passed by.

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******

dyke march – the befores

Posted: June 29, 2014 in events, people
Tags: #dmto, #wemarch, bikes, crochet, downtown, dyke march, dykes, flags, gay, LGBT, parade, people, pink, pride, queer, rainbow, Toronto, umbrella

Getting ready, or waiting, for the Dyke March. Saturday 28th June, from Allan Gardens west to Yonge St then north to Charles St. It was a very warm and sunny day.

two lone photographers stand in a street that has no traffic. Crowds are on the sidewalks on either side. They are sitting, waiting for a parade to come past

Carlton street awaits the start of the march.

Reflection in the round side view mirror of an old school bus that has been painted pink by CUPE.

reflecting on the CUPE bus, painted in pink and flying a pink flag.

A man is wearing a rainbow flag like a cape, and he has one wrapped around his head like a headband. He is selling large and small sized rainbow flags. He is topless otherwise

I bought a flag.
Him: Oh, this is going to be put online?
Me: If it works.

Two guys are sitting on the sidewalk. One has dyed his hair yellow and he's carrying a rainbow flag. The other is resting his chin on his hands, and his elbows on his knees. He has his rainbow flag draped over his head and he looks very bored.

It was a hot day and the parade was late getting started…….

A multicoloured bracelet on a wrist. The bracelet says, Oy Vey I'm Gay.

I spoke briefly to a woman who was wearing this bracelet. One of the women she was with was wearing a sticker that said, “Eat Me, I’m Kosher” but I didn’t take a picture of it.

detail of a crocheted banner that was made for the duke march

something about gender, details of a crocheted banner that was made to be carried in the march

A good looking, very fit, man wearing just a pair of pink shorts and a pair of sandals is walking down the street.

pretty in pink

A lacy umbrella decorated with crocheted 3D breasts in different colours, probably life sized.

custom crocheted umbrella to keep the sun off…. sitting on the grass before the parade

A black helmet has two lines of pink fringe glued on the top it that make it look like a Mohawk hair cut. The helmet is sitting on the seat of a black motorcycle.

waiting to ride

down on the shadowy concrete

Posted: June 6, 2014 in locations, people
Tags: abstract, afternoon, city hall, concrete, diagonal, fountain, groups, lines, nathan phillips square, people, photos, shadows, sun, Toronto, walking, water

From a vantage point over Nathan Phillips Square, we looked down on the people as they passed by. It was late in the afternoon so the shadows were long. Although we were looking for interesting characters, we were also creating compositions with people, concrete lines, and shadows as elements.

Three photographs are shooting from behind a low concrete wall. One has his camera aimed downwards towards the people walking below. The others have their cameras aimed farther out.

hunting shadows

A group of people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on crete and the afternoon shadows are long.

caught some!

A group of three people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on crete and the afternoon shadows are long.

on the diagonal

Most of the picture is of shadows on the concrete below. There are partial shadows of the arches over the fountain at nathan phillips square. There are also 4 people (or parts of the people) and the long shadows that they cast.

walking over the shadow arches

A group of young people walking across Nathan Phillips square. They are walking on concrete. Five guys and two girls. Both girls are in short black dresses with black sandals.

with matching little black dresses

A man is sitting at a table outside, on Nathan Phillips Square, late afternoon, with long shadows making patterns on the concrete

Some shadows kept still so they were easier to capture.

photo of the railing that is made of many vertical white bars. The railing is not straight. There are many shadows in the picture, and many patterns, linear and diagonal, made by the white bars and the shadows.

a multitude of lines and their linear shadows

Not all involved shadows. Sometimes, just people in the shadow.

A group of people are either sitting on a bench, or standing beside it, in Nathan Phillips Square, beside the fountain pool

Resting by the fountain.

Two women are walking on the concrete squares

walking between the lines

Pedestrian Sunday

Posted: May 26, 2014 in events, people
Tags: bikes, chalk, chalk chick, colours, eating, enjoy, eye, food, graffiti, Kensington, patio, pedestrians, people, photos, pictures, sidewalk, sights, stores, street art, summer, Sunday, sunny, Toronto, umbrellas, walking

The first Pedestrian Sunday of 2014, Kensington Market, 25th May.

What follows is a collection of sights from that afternoon.

A group of young people are walking down the street, away from the camera. Some are walking their bikes and some of the men are topless.

It was a warm day, the warmest day of the year so far. Time to shed the remains of winter and enjoy the sun and the city.

art and music…..

A young woman is sitting on the sidewalk. She is creating a picture of one of the characters from the TV show Futurama.

‘chalk chick’ – see more of her work at chalkchick.com

A man sitting on a stool on the sidewalk, playing a musical instrument

I am not sure what his name is or what kind of instrument he plays. If anyone knows, please give me a shout!

Two men on the sidewalk outside Sancis store. One man is standing and the other is sitting.

guitar players

food and drink…..

Three women are lined up waiting to be served at a street vendor who is selling food.

one of the many street vendors selling food and drink – BBQ chicken, burgers, fries, sandwiches and coconut sorbet included

The front of Wandas Pie in the Sky restaurant. People are sitting at tables and chairs set up outside the restaurant.

enjoying Wanda’s patio

A number of people are having lunch on a patio.

lunch on the patio!

A group of young people are sitting onthe curb eating food out of stryofoam containers

street food

people watching ……

Some people sitting on steps, three women standing in front of a large graffiti face that is wearing large star shaped sun glasses.

In front of big red starry sunglasses.

giant scrabble!

A couple with a small dog on a leash are standing by one of the barricades used to keep cars off the street

People with animals ….

A woman has a large fake red nose and large white frames sunglasses. She is carrying a green umbrella with a froggie face on it

keeping cool under the froggie

A woman is sitting at a table, under a patio umbrella. Behind her is a large graffiti piece of a young woman's face

two women, one larger than life

A woman is looking at her phone as she waits behind a table where she is selling denim shorts (on the sidewalk). In the background a man is buying something at another vendor's table.

‘This Way’ to browsing, buying and selling.

A pile of large wood blocks are in the middle of the street and a family is building small towers with them - a small girl and boy and their parents.

playing with blocks

Two women, each with an umbrella open above their heads are standing in the street.

Some people bared their skin to bask in the sun while others wanted more protection

under the blade

….. and the sights of Kensington

Detail of messages attached to a telephone pole. They are written on strips of yellow and blue heavy paper. In the background is a painting of a large eye, part of the sign above the door of Orbital Arts on Augusta Ave.

A watchful eye from Orbital Arts looks over Augusta Ave.

At an intersection, lots of people are walking on the street. Across the intersection is a three story burgundy colored brick building with a shop, and awning, on the ground floor. There are murals of faces on the upper level of the outside wall along with the words 'Welcome to Kensington, Romeos'

crowded streets mid-afternoon outside Romeo’s

a man stands in the doorway of a shop that has towels in the window and a lot of things for sale on a table outside the shop

Captain America and the Hulk lurk outside a store.

street scene of the intersection of Kensington and Dundas West. There are people walking on the sidewalk past a boarded up shop.

the corner of Kensington and Dundas West

A man is sitting on a fence reading a book. There are books on the ground in front of him that are for sale. There are also some shirts on hangers that are for sale.

a quiet corner to read on

little people stuck to the wall, sticker street art on Kensington

Jennifer Kateryna

Posted: May 26, 2014 in history, people
Tags: church, Kobal's'kyj, memorial, plaques, remembering

Jennifer Kateryna Kobal’s’kyj

I became curious about this story when I encountered two different memorial plaques for this girl in two different churches on the same day. Jennifer Kateryna, 24 Aug 1989 to 2 April 1996. She would have been just a couple of months older than my daughter.

In 1997 her maternal grandfather erected a plaque in her memory in Metropolitan United church.

There is another plaque, this one at St. James Cathedral, erected by her mother, maternal grandfather and aunt in 1998.

The death of a child is never a happy event, but Jennifer’s story is one of the sadder ones as she was murdered by her father as she tried to protect her grandmother from him. Sadder still is the fact that she had been living with her grandmother as part of the settlement in a custody dispute.

Polson Street Park, where the Don River meets Lake Ontario, was officially changed to Jennifer Kateryna Kobal’s’kyj Park in 1998. This park is at the end of Polson Pier, overlooking Toronto Harbour.

——————

as I walk Toronto

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