Archive for the ‘Events’ Category
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Austerity + Occupy Vancouver
The next issue of the Steel Bananas Quarterly will be organized around the theme of austerity, a word we can’t seem to shake out of our newspapers. We’ve received a large number of submissions already, but we’ll continue to collect until the deadline on November the 15th. Check out the call for submissions if you haven’t already done so. I’ve ...
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Scream / Photos from the Mobile Street Mic
The last Scream in High Park is tonight, so make sure to head out! Here are a few few photos from SB’s Scream Literary Festival Mobile Street Mic, Variations on a Scream:
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Congrats, Curran!
Congrats to my partner in crime and partner in life, Curran, for having his Honours BA in English Literature conferred upon him today!
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Luminato/ iArmy
I’m going to mention Luminato in a moment, so bear with me. I must get this techno-guilt off of my chest: So, I always said I would never get a smartphone. Phone companies are evil (re: my $800 payment to Telus to cancel a ridiculous contract I naively signed), and when I saw all of those drooling teens with bad ...
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A Toronto New School of Writing Event you must attend
After my performance of Hugo Ball’s “Seepferdchen und Flugfische” at the Cameron House last year, it has been my dream to perform Kurt Schwitters’ “Ursonate” about half as well as Jaap Blonk. Thus, I am extremely excited for this event: Toronto New School is pleased to host for one night only in Toronto international sound performance artist Jaap Blonk, who ...
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Hot Docs
The Hot Docs Film Festival is upon us, and our correspondent C.S. Folkers is devouring films at an unprecedented rate. Along with the article “Two Approaches to Black History at the Hot Docs Film Festival” included in SB27, wherein C.S. Folkers reviews Göran Hugo Olsson’s Black power Mixtape 1967-1975 (Sweden, 2011) and Charles Officer’s Mighty Jerome (Canada, 2011), we’re posting ...
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The Election
I tried my best to keep my rantings and ravings about Canada’s recent federal election off of my blog, and safely on my twitter and facebook feeds, where my anger and indignation wouldn’t stand out so starkly and sorely among all of my project updates, art, and general happiness. Of course, the election of a Conservative majority government was a ...
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tUnE-yArDs
In celebration of the multitude of recent awesomeness in my life, and as a last hurrah with my brother Jeff before he moves to Boston, one of my best friends in the whole wide world, Riaz, bought me a ticket to see tUnE yArDs at the Horseshoe. He’s the best, and I’m stoked!
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Aesthetics of Collaboration: Humberto Vélez
After a March Around the World, the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) is Bringing It All Back Home to Toronto, where people from all the cities in the world converge in Aesthetics of Collaboration—a retrospective of a decade of performance work by Panamanian-born, British-based artist Humberto Vélez. Aesthetics of Collaboration Humberto Vélez 13 April – 26 June 2011 Opening ...
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Avant Airplanes, NYC Art Music, Indigenous Film, and Telematic Performance Art
As a primer for tomorrow’s symposium and exhibition, below are the abstracts for my panel, “Modernity and Technology.” Also below is a video of the performance on which I’ll be presenting, Paul Sermon’s Telematic Dreaming. Vital Sounds: The Acoustics of Airplanes in High Modernism Robert Hemmings, Nipissing University, Muskoka Campus In the eleventh dictate of “The Manifesto of Futurism,” Filippo ...
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AGYU: Flux/ Revolution
Last Wednesday — coincidentally right after my encounter with the semiotext(e) edition of the French anti-globalization group The Invisible Committee’s The Coming Insurrection — Curran invited me to the opening of Revolutionary Sundays / The Centre for Incidental Activisms (CIA) at the Art Gallery of York University. It was appropriate, and incredible. Revolutionary Sundays is an exhibition of Gilberto Ante’s ...
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Special Reading by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott
Tonight, my MA program is hosting a special reading with Caribbean poet, playwright, visual artist and Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. The event starts at seven, and is open to the public. Check out the specs below, as well as a video of Derek Walcott reading at The Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego.
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Tightrope’s Fall 2010 Poetry Launch
Tightrope’s Fall 2010 Poetry Launch at the Ossington this week was fantastic! We were celebrating the release of Leanne Averbach’s Come Closer, David Livingstone Clink’s Monster, and Daniel Scott Tysdal’s The Mourner’s Book of Albums, all of which I had the pleasure to design. The bar was packed, the books flew off the book table, and the event was a roaring success.
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7a*11d: Invaders of the Everyday?
I ventured out to XPACE Cultural Centre on Ossington this afternoon to take in the closing festival panel, and last Performance Art Daily of this year’s 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art. Moderated by the dazzling Johanna Householder, Canadian artists Michael Fernandes, Karen Elaine Spencer, and Victoria Stanton, along with Swedish performance artist Joakim Stampe discussed their artistic practices in relation to ...
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BCP 2010 Toronto Launch
We’ll be launching the third instalment of The Best Canadian Poetry Series in a few weeks. Start thinking about what you’re going to wear.
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Photos from SB’s BDay Shindig
SB’s Second Anniversary Party was awesome! I arrived en retard because my tattoo sitting ran late, but I was immensely pleased with the turnout and the talent. Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! SB loves you all! Check out a few more photos here. Photos by King Frankenstein.
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TIFF
With the start of my grad classes and teaching two tutorials this week, I really didn’t think I’d have time to dip into the plenitude of the Toronto International Film Festival. Alas, I was wrong. Last night Riaz (who is working as the Media Room Co-ordinator for the festival) and I saw two features, Benedek Fliegauf’s Womb and the world ...
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SB’s Second Anniversary Party!
Last year we – the SB kids – packed Sneaky Dee’s on a Tuesday night in celebration of our first anniversary. This year, with a Friday slot at Sneak’s, we’re sure it’s going to be more than a memorable night! We’re showcasing four great bands – Toronto’s avant-pop darlings Krupke, London’s experimental post-punk A Horse and His Boy, Toronto’s indie ...
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POLICE STATE
Today I marched with friends and fellow Canadians in protest of the G20 summit, global commerce, globalization and the ridiculous choices the Canadian government made with regard to the allocation of tax revenue. Angry but peaceful, we were met with a startlingly aggressive police force, despite our two kilometre distance from the G20 security zone. Several protesters were beaten before ...
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Seepferdchen und Flugfische
I will be reading/performing sound poetry at the Thursday Night Rent Party this Thursday, June 24th at the Cameron House. Don’t miss out on a performance of Hugo Ball’s Seepferdchen und Flugfische, and a few other auditory curiosities. Also reading with me will be the incomparable N. Alexander Armstrong, along with comedy by Sunnie D’Souza and music by Hopeful Monster, ...
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Interview with She Does the City
Man! I guess I’m a bit behind on updating my blog with press and things. I’ve been busy. And sick. And lazy. I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Monica Heisey from She Does the City – a fashion and night life web publication based in Toronto – about Steel Bananas’ new salon series, The Artichoke Revue. Read ...
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GIRLS NIGHT with Damian Rogers, Dani Couture, and more!
I’ll be the host for the next installment of Steel Bananas’ Monthly Eggplant Reading Series. This installment has an incredible lineup, including Erin Brandenburg, Dani Couture, Damian Rogers and Melanie Janisse! About these fantastic women: Damian Rogers was born and raised in suburban Detroit and now lives in Toronto, Canada. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan ...
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CMW: Handsome Furs, The Darcys
I’ve been super busy this week with thesis work and design work for Tightrope, so I missed out on CMW’s Thursday lineups, while Curran held down the fort festival-wise. Friday, however, was a better night for me. Prior to hopping out for CMW festivities, I travelled west on College Street to a tiny hole in the wall where a friend ...
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CMW: The Bonfire Ball & Fucked Up
Canadian Music Week, compared to NXNE, may not have as many bands I’d really like to see, and may push headliners that alienate people who really like music, but who can really complain about a handful of badass acts playing venues all over Toronto? Plus, with a media pass through Steel Bananas, I can avoid the shitty headliners blow off ...
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SB Presents…
Steel Bananas Presents: Jane’s Party, The Rucksack Willies and Hemingway Pop, Country & Funk at the Rivoli, March 19th! Spring is nigh and our good friends, Toronto’s frighteningly charming folk-pop “Rubber Soul” enthusiasts Jane’s Party will be hitting the Rivoli with an alarming force March 19 for what will no doubt be the best possible way for you to ring ...
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The Great Digital Film Festival
I can’t lie: I don’t often find myself in the area of the Scotiabank (formerly The Paramount) Theatre these days. Perhaps it’s the blaring club-tunes and limousines full of drunk suburban high-school girls crying on their Blackberries on Richmond Street, or maybe I left the Entertainment district in that era of my life when hobos slept in Speaker’s Corner, Much ...
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my mom writes poetry / come up to my room @ the gladstone
Today has been great: I’m nearly done the first chapter of my thesis, I already handed off my intro for scrutiny, and I had a great meeting with Esscain, who tossed me a bunch of books he edited under the implosion imprint with Insomniac Press. Very fucking cool. I’m feeling really focused and on top of things, which is always ...
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Explorations of UBU
SPAY 101 // EXPLORATIONS OF UBU // Applied ‘Pataphysics: A Workshop in Anti-Structural Logic and the Proliferation of Hybrid-Imaginary Solutions I recently lectured at the University of Toronto Art Centre (UTAC) on Applied ‘Pataphysics, applying post-structuralist theory to ‘pataphysical problem solving. The lecture was part of the Rochdale Exhibit, which was curated by Sunny Kerr in order to engage with ...
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SB on CIUT Tonight!
Tune in to CIUT 89.5FM tonight for the DL on what STEEL BANANAS has drummed up and will be drumming up for the independent art community. Our own King Frankenstein will be representing the assemblage and chatting about events, artists, forthcoming series and ways to get invloved. WICKED!
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STEEL BANANAS ANNIVERSARY
WHAT THE JAZZ WHAT A FANTASTIC PARTY WE PACKED SNEAKY DEE’S ON A TUESDAY NIGHT THE BODY ELECTRIC, JANE’S PARTY, THE DARCYS AND HEMINGWAY WERE RIDICULOUS EVERYONE LOVED BANANA BOY I AM SO HAPPY WITH ALL OF THE WELL-WISHES, DONATIONS, AND GIFTS! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT! THIS REALLY REQUIRES UPPERCASE TYPING. I WISH THERE WAS HYPERCASE TYPING, THAT ...
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SPAY 101 Lectures at UTAC
Students for Practical Application @ York, along with affiliates Neutral Embodiment of University of Toronto Rhetoriticians & Erisians PRESENT(S): SPAY 101: Cut the Bullshit. As part of UTAC’s “Remembering Rochdale” Series, SPAY will be hosting 4 different seminars to teach you absolutely everything you will need to know in order to maintain a healthy appearance of Academia. Why spend FOUR ...
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The Balconies, Oh No Forest Fires, Fox Jaws and Whale Tooth at Lee’s Palace
Now, while I usually refrain from writing about my day-to-day meanderings or lax weekends on this thing, I really think the awesome show at Lee’s that just passed (Friday September 25th) with The Balconies, Oh No Forest Fires, Fox Jaws and Whale Tooth really deserves a big fucking high five. My shimmying was just so goddamn out of control I ...
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The Monthly Eggplant Reading Series – Episode One
Thanks to everyone who came out to see/hear me read at the first installment of the Monthly Eggplant Reading Series! We Steel Bananas folk were totally stoked with the turnout, and I was more than thrilled to read with Richard Rosenbaum, James Papoutsis, and the incomparable N. Alexander Armstrong, who (as I’m sure you’ve already read/heard by now) accompanied part ...
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Whoa! Events!
Whoa! It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to pay attention to this fruity part of cyberspace. I’ve been exceedingly busy working on design for the Fall 2009 catalog for Tightrope Books, preparing GULCH for print, getting the Flying Walrus site designed, and starting the last year of my BA, during which I’m writing that thesis I like to ...
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Tightrope Books Office Party
The Tightrope office party was off the chain! Fantastic tunes by Alabaster, amazing murals by elicser, interesting conversation with all of the intelligent and lighthearted guests, and superb organization by the interns et al. I’m glad everyone came out to support the press, and I had a great night, despite the rain and tornado warnings! Photos by Deepi Harish
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A critique of Aarseth, Chats with Joel Plaskett & Lloyd Kaufman, Treats from a Taste of the Danforth and More!
... Aarseth set out, in his ballsy dissertation, to “describe any text according to their mode of traversal” (62), a very literal application of McLuhan’s musings on media, which explains his odd disconnect with the aspects of imagination that transcend media, that can live in story outside of the text, or game itself. This kind of jazz makes me a ...
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The SCREAM Literary Festival and what it’s like to watch your prof eat a book
I’ve only been able to fit two SCREAM events (and one offshoot) into my busy schedule this week, but the fare was definitely pretty badass this year. I haven’t yet decided how exactly I feel about the whole death of the book idea, but I figure I’ll have a better idea after I mull it over with some wine this ...
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NXNE: Indie Music Festival and Conference 2009
SB covered NXNE 09 – wasn’t so bad, there were a few redeeming bands like The Beauties, The Gertrudes, Fox Jaws, Jane’s party, Hopeful Monster… but the trash was really trashy. Check out the coverage on the SB blog and stay tuned for NXNE aftermath in the next issue of Steel Bananas.
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Luminato: Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity 2009
Luminato 2009 was fantastic! I was extremely pleased with the variety of provocative installations, shows and panels this year, as well as the to-notch organization of events and publicity. This year’s fare featured quite a bit of tech-based art and techno-social cultural critique – exploring the influence of the virtual world over the lives of post-millennium individuals, which I – ...
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GOIN’ STEADY 1950S/60S DANCE PARTY
Holy mother of Jesus Christ I am an absolute sweaty mess, my feet are in terrible pain, and I’m obscenely exhausted from the serious dance fever that struck the Gladstone Hotel. This was my first time ever seeing the Going Steady DJs, and they were a party and a half. I haven’t twisted or shouted that much in a while. ...
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Last Night of Fashion Week!
I am so glad I got to hit up the last night of Fashion Week. After being swamped with schoolwork/work I missed all the runway shows during the week, including Zoran Dobric’s show on Tuesday, which would have been a huge highlight for me – considering my love for the proper tailoring of a boatneck dress. When I strolled into ...
