First thoughts on Toronto

My first text to Alex, upon arriving: "So many hipsters on bicycles. And bricks."

Today I spent my first day in Toronto walking around alone. (I live here now. This is brand new.) I bought a perfect two dollar latte at JetFuel. I walked to the closest library branch to find out what I will need to get a library card. I went to the big chain bookstore and bought myself a little map book thing.

Downtown smelled at first like a mix of chocolate and people, and then a few blocks later it was a very warm nutmeg smell.

I passed a sign in a window that said: Be motivated in life by desire, not fear.

It made me feel good.

Halfway through writing this post, I happened upon this video, a poem (a collaboration between lovelies Tanya Davis and Andrea Dorfman):

I am a little bit in love with it.

I am not someone who is averse to alone, or who associates alone with loneliness. But lately I've been around people a lot. So today, being all by myself from the time I woke up felt slightly strange, especially being in a place that I don't know. That poem is a lovely reminder that I can cherish these moments. I get the chance to explore my new city, to be with my impressions, to notice things and stop and enjoy them and have them be mine for a while.

Maybe I will take myself to a movie soon. Going to the movies alone is one of my favourite things. Maybe I will wait until a day gets so hot that I can't bear to be outside. Or maybe I will go when the sun is shining but there is still a cool breeze, and I won't even feel guilty, because a dark movie theatre is an amazing place to be, no matter what is going on outside.

It is very exciting to move to a new city, sight unseen. I keep forgetting this is the second time I've done it, although it feels completely different, because when I moved to Halifax everything was in place before I got there. I had a job, a place to live, and a school to go to. This time everything is free and possible and nothing is certain, but things keep falling into place and I just keep going, trusting. It makes me feel alive and young and possible and a bit timid but also brave and hopeful and glad. 

This city is prettier than I expected. Greener.

It is different. 

I was craving a place to explore, and now I have a whole city full of tastes I've never tasted, sounds I've never heard, people I've never met, and on. I am welcoming Toronto recommendations (indeed, I am soliciting them). Tell me about your favourite Toronto place, if you have one. 

Before I got here I listened to this song over and over, mostly because there is a line that mentions Toronto: 

I really love that video - it feels like summer. And I am a sucker for lone trumpets.

The Decemberists performing Crazy on You.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video with the comment that the girl on the left reminded him an awful lot of me. This is a giant compliment, as she is adorable and obviously awesome. Apparently it's Shara Worden, who sang the role of the Queen on the Decemberists' The Hazards of Love. I didn't go see them when they toured for that album, and I'm still a bit sad about it. This video of her singing the Queen's Rebuke just reminds me, but it is so good that it's worth the pain.

Also, I want her haircut. 

Soirée 50s

Tonight is la Soirée 50s.

This was just the inspiration I needed. Thanks, Sally.

And, for good measure, from one of my all-time favourite movies:

Midi dans le salon de la duchesse

J'ai oublié que Keren Ann a plusieurs chansons françaises. J'aime celui-ci.

Deux choses que j'aime

Les chansons francaises,

et l'animation stop motion.

Via Mashable. 

Ce soir

Radio Radio vont performer a Ste-Anne. Woo.

Je cherche la musique Francaise.

In less than a week I will be completely immersed in French. Eep.

The Canadian government has a program through which students can do a five week french (or English, if they are a native French speaker) immersion program. Next Sunday I will be making my way to l’Université Sainte-Anne, a small French language university in Pointe-de-l'Église (Church Point), Nova Scotia.

A few weeks ago I received my "passport", a little blue book filled with information. And rules. Until that point I hadn't really thought about what French immersion actually meant. Sure, I realized I would be speaking French exclusively, but there was a line in the passport that made me realize the broader implications. Under the heading Stereo it says, "Portable stereos are permitted, but use headphones to avoid disturbing others or imposing your musical tastes on others. French music must be played at all times. Professeurs and animateurs may check headphones to ensure that English music is not being played."

So I need something to listen to. In French.

The Internet led me (somehow) to my favourite find, Ô Paon, aka Geneviève Castrée. She formerly made music under the name Woelv, and I love that stuff, too. You'll like it if you like slightly weird, haunting vocals and overlapping sounds that make you feel like you're listening to music while drifting underwater in the shallows of a dark ocean.



My friend J recommended Coeur de Pirate, the Montreal-based darling of the francophone (and otherwise) indie scene. And she is indeed darling. I downloaded her album, and while it's short, it's lovely. I also highly recommend listening to her covers of I Kissed a Girl and Umbrella - her voice is gorgeous and a bit smoky, and I love piano-based covers of pop songs.



My friend A then got me into the 60s French girl pop singers à la Françoise Hardy (LOVE the audience in this one).



And that's where I currently stand. I have a small selection of girl singers to listen to (people have recommended other stuff, but these are the ones I've liked best. I guess that's not surprising given what I listen to most in English). I'm definitely still on the lookout for some more selections, so if anyone has any recommendations, please send them my way.

Oh, I'm guessing the no English rule applies to blogging, too. I'm aiming to possibly, maybe do some updating en français. We'll see how it goes.

Oh! Also, I am going to need to find some French novels to read. Any thoughts?

And yes, a bit nervous, but très excited. 

Becoming a music nerd: step one

My lovely friend J, knowing my indie music anxieties, forwarded me a link to this guide to hard to pronounce band names. Perfect. My hair will be asymmetrical in no time.

The xx

 photo by flickr user Kmeron

I've been craving newness lately. It's in the air: springtime. Possibility. New haircuts, new clothes, new cities (possibly). New music.

I use the word new with some hesitation. Nothing makes me feel more behind the times than the music scene. I'm aware of the fact that the youngest, coolest people will blow their bangs up in the air (apparently my vision of young, cool people was formed in 1988 and will never change) and sigh, "Whatever. I've been into the xx since I saw them at [insert hipster name]'s party in [insert London neighbourhood I've never heard of] ages ago."

I admit it. I'm a little envious of those people. Part of me really wants to be a music nerd, but I've only ever been able to peer in from the outside. I stand at the edge of the circle and rock back and forth on my heels, nodding in fake recognition when the cute girls and boys in glasses and tight pants name check obscure Norwegian pop bands from the 60s that were "so influential." This is why I love the Internet: I can now run home (...I want a smartphone) and look up whatever random band (movie, asian snack food) was being discussed.

I read something (somewhere) recently about bands someone (somewhere) saw at Coachella. They gushed a little bit about the xx, and I was intrigued. Often I'm disappointed when I look up bands other people gush about, but within half a second I was hooked, and I've been listening to nothing else since. (This is the song I started with, and I love this video.) I don't usually love boy-girl back and forth vocals, but I like the way these slightly smoky, subdued voices weave in and out. Minimalist with driving rhythms and good hooks. A little bit moody, but not despairing. Not so much pretty, but gorgeous. Love.

Um, rad.

This is the best thing I've seen in days (edit: weeks). Also, ever since seeing A Single Man I've been wanting to dress like it's 1962 every day. This didn't help.

She & Him Volume 2

I'm currently listening to the first song on She & Him's new album Volume 2, which can be heard in its entirety at (on?) NPR. It arrives just in time for sunny days (Halifax has been mostly gorgeous for the past little while - I think it might be a real spring!), although She & Him manages to make me feel sunny even when the world outside isn't. I love the power of pop music.

Somewhere I would like to be tonight

Watching Lauren Ambrose with her band, the Leisure Class, play their first show in New York.

I recently rewatched all of Six Feet Under, a part of my favourite show trifecta (the others being the West Wing and Friday Night Lights). I love Claire. Yes, she's moody and annoying and self-centred, but I still love her.

Here is a perfect (fitting) moment from Six Feet Under:

Almost yesterday

Tonight (/last night) was Nocturne - the Halifax nighttime art crawl. I missed it last year (adapting to a new city and getting used to my little corner of the city took all of my energy), but this year I really wanted to go. We wandered in and out of galleries, and saw a lot of (ahem) interesting work. My favourite moment, though, was when we walked into a (really rad) local store, Love, Me, and I realized after a moment that someone was sitting on a chair in the middle of the space, singing with a lovely voice. (This is her, Mary Stewart, below.) The moment (and her voice and songs) was so organic and simple and natural.

I also loved walking down Barrington, where two sets of shop windows on either side were set up to have rolling waves crashing down (in video format) on them. Ocean sounds were being played loudly. It sounds sort of ridiculous, and I don't know if I'm getting it across very well, but it was quite... Interesting? Evocative? Compelling? These were the "looking-at-art buzzwords" we were bandying about. I think most of them fit.

Arts & Culture

I was lucky enough to spend the past two days at the Vancouver Arts Summit (thanks to my great summer job at the Alliance for Arts and Culture). The entire thing was fantastic, but yesterday was especially so.

I went to a super fantastic (super tense) panel discussion on "new media, new tools, new audiences". I've come to be pretty disenchanted with the term new media - to my mind there is no longer any such thing; it's not something separate from the way we live our every day lives. Everything we do is through "new" media -- plus what comes next? Do we get new new media when what we have now becomes old new media? Newer media? Terminology aside, the panel discussion was fascinating, due to the range of voices. At one end of the spectrum was Jerry Wasserman, who seems to have gotten into the internet out of necessity more than excitement, and still seems a little skeptical about the whole thing, and at the other was Kris Krug, who had more than enough enthusiasm about and faith in the digital world to get most attendees really excited about the possibilites that come along with expanding your online presence. I could really feel the tension between the two perspectives - the traditional media who don't trust the internet vs. the younger users/creators who seem to have integrated it into every part of their lives - but that tension made me feel so connected to my love for technology and media and newness, and the fact that at its core all media, new and old, is about connection and learning.

Weird fact: we all found out that Michael Jackson died because Kris was online during the session. The moderator had just asked the question, Where do you find information you trust online? and out of nowhere Kris said something like, Apparently Michael Jackson just died. I don't think I was the only one who thought it was some kind of test or demonstration, showing us that you can't trust everything you read. I then got two text messages in short succession both telling me the same thing. It was all a little surreal.

Today, to end the conference, the wonderful emcee (she had another word for herself, but I can't remember what it was... something french sounding), Vanessa Richards, closed by thanking everyone, and then she brought it back to MJ. She talked about how powerful it was to be a kid and see Michael with the Jackson Five showing her that children could sing and do it with passion and energy - that being a kid wasn't restricted to Sesame Street. She talked about how sad she was when Michael first went solo, and how lonely he must have been throughout his life. Then she sang his first solo hit, Ben, because she thought its message was one that should be recognized and embraced by the arts community. I wish I could post a video of her singing, because I had one of those wonderful moments where my vision shifted, and everything aside from the performer and the performance was totally gone. I was completely taken into that moment, which was a perfect end to two days of talk about arts; I got to get into that simple, profound, direct, moving, expansive experience that is the reason people make and see and do art. Since I can't post that, I will post Mr. Jackson, before it all came down around him, singing about connection.

p.s. As a result of this (the summit and the panel, not Michael Jackson's death), I can't stop thinking about this blog. Where it should go. What it should be.

p.p.s. I want to do and be everything. They tell me I can't.

p.p.p.s. I have always loved postscripts - even now that editing functions mean that I could actually insert the thought into the body of what I am writing.

Song Around the World - Stand By Me

My mum sent me this in an email today, and I just think it's so lovely. I'm so happy music exists.

Something to exclaim about

The Decemberists (probably my favourite contemporary band) have a new album out today.

Watching people

Tiffany made me go to Youtube to watch this video, and it is about the most adorable thing I've ever seen, for today.

Friday

It's Friday. And this is my favourite Friday song (it just feels like the weekend). I wanted to post it, but there is no real video, and the live versions were all fairly low quality, so feel free to just play the video and go do something else while listening to the song (That's the Way We Get By, by Spoon).

Great Lake Swimmers

It amazes me, sometimes, how many people and things there are in the world. There's always something new to discover.

All of a sudden, people started mentioning the Great Lake Swimmers. People in different cities, who didn't know one another. So I listened.



They are glorious.

Everything is everything

My brother and I drove around town listening to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and it really felt like summer. We agreed that it is one of the best albums of the 90s, and I think that the music video for Everything Is Everything is one of the best videos ever.



I'm totally into my old music right now, because I have to finally upload my CDs before I head out across the continent. Yay for Wu-Tang Clan, Danny Elfman, and Hole.