www.technoaddicts.ca

For those that like electronic music (mainly techno, house and breaks) one bar has for years offered up a healthy platter of beats to meet our needs and fuel our early morning desires. Parked near the corner of Richmond and Peter streets in downtown Toronto System Soundbar has been a staple in the club goers diet since raves left the warehouse and moved into buildings with toilets. She wasn’t a pretty club. But she did represent most of what we liked. Tolerant staff, reasonably priced drinks, great performers, acceptable sound and perhaps most important of all people who knew why they were there and who was playing.

For better or worse the era of System Soundbar ended on Dec 31st, 2005. New Years marked the last event befitting the name. Rumor has it that the owners sold the club off to an outfit that had “Top 40 Kings” stitched in their camouflage hats and wore low slung pants full of RnB.

Though our numbers may have dwindled over the years there was always a full house. So the question on our minds in 2006 was who would replace System? Would we be engulfed by the mega clubs and shunted into back rooms? Or would we find a new home?

A few months in club land and things appear to have shaken themselves out. So who are the new kids on the block?

This Is London:

Sporting an entrance down an alley way just north-west of Richmond and Peter this club isn’t brand new, but it has taken a queue from the market and taken some of the slack from System. The novelty here is that it’s a “private club”. Upon entrance you’re handed a “members pass” to the club and you’re now free to whip out those cancer sticks and party all night long. Just beware that the cover price can be subject to change.

The club is overly pretentious. The crowd tends to be a healthy mix of those that know what’s going on and those that stumbled in from the 905 with their gold collars and bronze skin showing. I just hate to tell them that ordering bottles in their private booth isn’t nearly as hip as it seems.

That said the club is doing an admirable job of letting the club let loose for more underground events. The sound is clear and strong without going overboard. The staff are reasonable. The bathrooms are fantastic. I encourage the ladies to actually make a trip to the washroom rather than avoid it.

One physical problem that plagues the club is that the dance floor is raised by about 2 inches. Unless you’re willing to ram yourself into the middle of all that bronze skin it can feel like you’ve been left on the sidelines. It is good for stretching your calf muscles on though.

Footwork:

Footwork is doing it’s best to bring a good crowd just a little further west than the rest. It’s working.

The club was started by the folks responsible for the infamous 99 Sudbury parties in 2003/2004. As a truly grass roots affair they’ve made their mistakes and it’s been a slow start. What they do know is how to throw a proper party. They’ve just had trouble getting the word out.

A back alley entrance off of Brant street puts you in the mood and helps you forget that this is just an office building at the front. The people that find there way here generally know up from down and who is making the music happen. Pretense here is low or non-existent. Drinks are a reasonable price. Cover is generally about $15 but that depends on the headliner. That buys you clean sound, fair staff, passable washrooms, and a good night.

With a more homely and personal appeal than System this club has truly found a way to cater to those that appreciate a little respect and a good space. The club avoids the sometimes dreaded crossover crowd from other clubs while at the same time keeping the chin rubbing snob attitudes at the door.

Drake Underground:

While the suckers in their suit jackets line up outside to get into the Drake a whole new set of events have found their way into the basement. Our little secret is that you just tell them you’re headed for the underground. In you go. Just try to keep that smirk off your face as you bypass the line.

The money that has poured out of pockets upstairs has found a new home downstairs. With 3 overhead projectors, a huge LCD TV and a lowered dance floor this is a basement with some attitude. The sound is good, the visuals are top notch. The dance floor and furniture are befitting of the space. The only complaint is a tendency for traffic jams on the stairs and very few places to rest your drink.

Events here are still sparse, but should pick up as the virtues of the venue and professional staff are discovered. Crossover crowds from the hotel upstairs can be a bit of a downer and drink prices are astronomical. However, the sound, space and energy of the space make up for it. This little bar is just waiting for a bigger name DJ to do a small club jam.

Keep an eye out for our next installments where we plan to profile some local talents and smaller events.

FOOTWORK
425 ADELAIDE STREET WEST
WWW.FOOTWORKBAR.COM

The Drake Hotel
1150 Queen Street West
http://www.thedrakehotel.ca

This Is London
364 Richmond Street W.
http://www.thisislondonclub.com/

Her medium is oil on wood panel, and her style is reminiscent of Peter Doig’s The collisions of the real and the surreal, the expressive and the absent., the strange and the lovely, really drew me in. I wanted to understand the empty spaces as well as the full ones. I wanted to know why, at first, I felt as though I misunderstood the figure’s expression, instead of accepting that she had a “House for a Head”(2005, oil on wood panel)* see image below.

I was delighted at every turn. Playful abstraction and sinister, undefined landscapes characterize most of the work exhibited. The rich, fulfilling surfaces are fulfilling because of what is happening below the surface: there is so much color and shape showing through from underneath. The unfinished quality to the work, both in technique and in narrative, left me fascinated: what are these worlds and why do the children seem to be existing in them with such a seeming complacency?

The gallery is: www.kmartprojects.com

And the painter’s site is: www.margauxwilliamson.com

Web design is probably one of the things that has led to a push for standardization. When a site looks different on each browser, something is wrong. I’ve hated doing cross browser checks for as long as I’ve been designing sites. Then along came Flash and everything went bonkos. People added Flash components for no reason and sites slowed down and got annoying.

So what has happened now? A complete switch. Many web-savy folks despise Flash and anything associated with it. Design is second to function.. or maybe fifth or sixth, right under the proper Google Ad Words links. My friends, this is stupid.

Flash isn’t a bad thing when used properly. As a nice way to engage the viewer? GOLD! As a stupid introduction with fading words and bad techno? STUPID! As an interactive game which lends itself to your concept or idea? GOLD! As a huge site that ties up resources? STUPID! Do you get what I’m saying here? Flash isn’t the problem. The people are the problem. Now I blame guns for some deaths and Flash isn’t free of blame, but seriously just think people (I’m not talking to you specifically, it’s some kind of writing thing I’m trying).

And now design…. where to start. Web 2.0 pages all look the same. There are about 3 templates floating around (and if I see a business website with that damn blue fade on the header and white text over it, I’m going to actually stand up and leave my computer for at least five minutes.) This doesn’t need to be. CSS is fantastic for design. Is it harder to use than tables? Yes. A lot harder. But is it more powerful and cool when it’s done. Yes. A lot more powerful. Just because we need to be compliant, doesn’t mean we need to be boring or stupid.

Can’t we all just get along? Yup.. and it’s not that hard really. Just design in compatible code. Just use Flash when you need to. Just don’t be stupid.

This isn’t just in web or even graphic design. How many of us have seen anything that looks really cool but doesn’t work or function well? Everyone, that’s who. I have an idea. More designers and coders and engineers should hang out. Why not? I like my friends who are coders and engineers. They aren’t so bad. Just cause they may not know the latest design trends or know what font is used in some obscure Chip Kidd cover… ok, I’ve said too much.

Please, don’t be stupid. Please, code well and design well and the web-o-verse p0D-Vl4t10n 2.o will thank you.

Michael McCormack, McCleave Gallery founder/director/gallery attendant/custodian, took the time amongst the chaos of tour organization and travel preparations to answer a few questions about the McCleave Gallery and The Lineage Tour 2006:

Is there an interesting story of how the suitcase came into your life? What prompted you to turn it into a gallery?

The suitcase used to belong to a woman named Blanche McCleave, who lived on Vernon Street in Halifax, NS for many years. Well into her 80’s, Blanche eventually decided to move into an apartment building around the corner where she still lives today. Shortly before her move in the summer of 1998, Mrs. McCleave decided to have a giant yard sale to get rid of some old junk of hers. The suitcase was one of the few unfortunate items in the yard sale that didn’t find a home so it was discarded onto the side of the road for garbage pick-up.
Like many maritimers (or perhaps just a couple of young whipper-snappers looking for trouble), my older brother Scott and his friend Danni were very resourceful people who came across this suitcase and took it home to eventually find a use for it.

It was not until four years later, when I returned to Halifax from University in Guelph, Ontario to take a few summer courses at NSCAD, that I stumbled across Mrs. McCleave’s old suitcase in my parent’s attic. This was the summer of 2002, which was shortly after the Nova Scotia Arts Council collapsed due to a lack of funding support by the conservative government leaving Nova Scotia as the only province or territory without an arts council and the province with the least amount of funding per capita in Canada. The economy in Nova Scotia has also transformed after the decline of the mining and fishing industries and the recent rise of the tourism industry which has left us dependent on clinging onto our past in any way we can, ‘maintaining’ or stagnating our culture into a continuous loop leading us virtually nowhere in terms of artistic progression.

These factors, leaving myself as well as many others very concerned about the future of the arts in Nova Scotia, encouraged me to start an exhibition venue that could exist in my suitcase. The suitcase acting as both as a metaphor for travel and tourism, and well as the urgent situation that artists in Nova Scotia were in. The mandate was and still is to provide a venue primarily for emerging artists that was run on a ‘by chance or appointment’ basis in a manner that was personal, accessible, informal, and adjustable in atmosphere.

The McCleave Gallery of Fine Art has been in existence since 2002. How did its early days differ from today?

Because of its site specification to Halifax’s seasonal tourist based industry, the McCleave Gallery has almost always worked as seasonal exhibition space. Also, being an institution that is closely tied to my personal life, the nature of each exhibition season will adjust accordingly. When I was a student during the 2002 and 2003 exhibition seasons, the McCleave Gallery was run locally, on an extremely low budget.

Later on when I had time to work full time and wasn’t tied down to a particular location, I was able to conduct more elaborate exhibition seasons that could involve a more nomadic lifestyle. The 2005 season for example included a 4-month Cross-Canada tour including 16 suitcases by 14 artists or art groups from Halifax, NS to Dawson City, YT. This year’s exhibition season includes a tour in Halifax, Rotterdam, the UK and Ireland with a single suitcase filled with 17 artists books based on the theme of Lineage.

As opposed to the scheduled 2005 tour, this one takes place more spontaneously, as I will be researching the history of the McCleave family and the genealogy of the original McCleave suitcase. I have also constructed three ‘repro’ or spawn suitcases of the original, each containing one black and white photocopied version of each of the 17 original books. These repro-suitcases are made out of a cookie cutter style pattern made out of corrugated plastic that can be easily folded into a box. The repro-suitcase #1 of 3 is being shown in various venues in Australia, while repro-suitcas #2 and repro-suitcase #3 are both being shown in various small gallery spaces and group shows within Canada.

I’ve always been curious about the ‘by chance’ encounters with the McCleave Gallery: Do you solicit random people to have a look at the exhibitions or do you wait until you are approached? How do people usually respond to the exhibits? Does anyone ever think you’re trying to sell them something?

Mostly I wait until someone approaches me, I will often approach established spaces by surprise such as artist-run centers, festivals or public events with the suitcase. The sign on the outside of the suitcase that reads ‘The McCleave Gallery of Fine Art’ usually catches the attention of passer-bys successfully enough, and peaks their curiosity as to what is inside the suitcase. I find these situations the most rewarding as the elements of surprise and spontaneity are integral to the concept of the McCleave Gallery. It is these situations that exercise the venue’s truly public characteristics, when someone is interrupted from their daily routine to experience the work.

Most people respond quite well and are delighted to see the works, particularly in places where they are comfortable, such as a park bench or a café, which has already been established as a space that is commonly social. It is in places of intense transience that are the most challenging, where the McCleave Gallery may be seen as an obstacle or a nuisance. However, it is these spaces that I feel are the most interesting to occupy from time to time as the contrast is stronger in these spaces, emphasizing the space as something that we share and can enrich with culture if we make an effort to do so.

There have been a few occasions where I have been kicked out of places for soliciting, most of the time when I explain to them that nothing is for sale, they are okay with it though.

Be sure to tune in next issue to read Part Two of silenttalkie’s interview with Michael McCormack. Until then, you’ll more information about the McCleave Gallery of Fine Art, The McCleave Gallery 2005 Cross-Canada Tour & The McCleave Gallery Lineage Tour 2006 at: www.mccleavegallery.ca!

Thanks Brad!!

2. “V for Vendetta” was pretty awesome. And it better pave the way for the “Watchmen”.

3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre are amazing, no matter how much of a dick Anton is.

4. My grandfather’s first car was a Coalsby Cleater. It ran on wheat germ and cod liver oil. And it cost him five bees and had a place for his onion when it wasn’t tied to his belt, which was the style at the time.

5. From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. Anyone with any interest in the middle east or really world events as they’ve unfolded needs to read this book.

6. Koala Bears? Nope… marsupial.

7. Nice weather. This should be on every Top anything list ever. Seriously

8. Roll Up the Rim to Lose. Now the folks in Canada and US know what this is.

9. Can’t we stop the French riots by sending in the Germans?

10. Moving is almost as tough as planning a wedding, but unfortunately most people move more.

11. Gerbil-bombs are being mailed.. beware.

However, the wheels are in motion! We have new submitters this week and awesome articles galore! As well, despite minimal advertisement and the end of annoying e-mails, people are still coming by and our visits keep rising up, up and up!

So, what does this mean to you, the loyal or simple reader? It means, we’ll keep doing it and offer more content if possible. Who knows what the future will bring. T-Shirts, pod-casts, Vlogs… and other trendy things can’t be far away.

I’m just waiting for some huge media conglomerate to buy us out. Sellouts are nature’s heroes.

Well, it’s not that my taste in movies is particularly bad, it’s just that I have the ability to sit through almost everything and find incredible humour in unintentional comedy. As a result, I’ve seen a number of films that most people scoff at, as they peruse the selection at their local movie rental store. Of course, this means that there are some bad films and some good films. Fortunately, I’m here to tell you about the good ones. I’ll save the bad ones in case I’m asked to write another article.

The Hebrew Hammer – Ever wonder what Shaft would look like if he was Jewish? Well, neither had I but this film answers those questions with hilarious results. It stars Adam Goldberg as a bad-ass Jew who has to defeat the evil Santa (played by Andy Dick) and stop him from destroying Chanukah. It sounds a little ludicris but it’s worth it to sit back and enjoy the laughs.

Free Enterprise – This film is pretty much the turning point in William Shatner’s career. Here was really the first place where he played himself and he primarily makes fun of himself. The film centres around two struggling professionals in Hollywood (including a young Eric McCormick, Will of Will & Grace) who run into William Shatner at a book store and develop a friendship with their boyhood hero. The part I forgot to mention is that both young men are huge sci-fi nerds. While not the slapstick and baseless humour of The Hebrew Hammer, the film delivers plenty of laughs. One of which involves Linda Harrison’s Nova character from Planet of the Apes being lauded as the ideal mate because she’s beautiful, scantilly clad and mute. Also, if you can’t laugh at William Shatner performing a rap version of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, you might as well stop reading the column right now.

Super Troopers – Aside from the 40 Year Old Virgin, this is funniest film that I’ve seen in the last 5 years. The movie plays almost like a sketch comedy with the plot just moving you from gag to gag but the gags are worth it. Just don’t get carried away playing a game of repeater.

Mean Machine – Long before Adam Sandler made the travesty of a film known as The Longest Yard, a group of British actors, well known for their roles in Guy Ritchie films, remade the film using soccer as the sport instead of football. Unlinke Sandler’s version, the Brits end up with a funny film that doesn’t disrespect the classic nearly as much as Sandler’s version. Vinnie Jones stars as the ex-pro sent to prison and forced to assemble a team to take on the guards. Jason Statham is about the only other recognizeable name and stars as the psychotic goalie with dreams of stardom.

UHF – Supplies! While this one isn’t nearly as obscure as the others on the list, it deserves a mention as it has been forgotten about as one of the funniest films of the last 20 years. Parody movies are tough to make and this one succeeds where the Scary Movie franchise has failed repeatedly. Michael Richards’ physical comedy gives us a preview as to what Kramer would become and Weird Al does a good job at moving from joke to joke.

Bubble Boy – Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess? Long before he was a gay cowboy, Jake Gyllenhaal was the boy in the bubble. The movie seemed rather innocent, thanks to trailers which surprisingly didn’t show the funniest moments of the film. There is racial humour that springs up in the weirdest places and can bring you to tears. Actually, if you’re going to watch this film go in with low expectations, don’t think too much and you’ll enjoy it.

After reading this, you might think that just grabbing a random film off the shelf at Blockbuster is guaranteed laughs. Unfortunately, that’s not true. For every watchable film you find, you find five films on the level of Black Friday, Ninja III: The Domination and Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn.

Note: Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn involves neither a storm of metal nor is Jared-Syn destroyed. That title is very misleading but it does star Bull from Night Court and Kelly Preston.

Editor’s Note: Ninja III does not star Richard Hamilton II

While trying to find space on my incredibly choked-full hard drive for some precious bits to download the current episode of The Daily Show I realized I had over 4 gigs worth of content in my iTunes Podcast directory.

4 GIGS!!!

This is a problem. Like so many things I get temporarily obsessed over, I tend to go a little overboard and bite (hehe, computers.. bite…) off more than I can chew. While podcasts are freaking great, I also have a variety of other pointless wastes of time I enjoy engaging in (books, comics, movies, etc.). Also due to a recent move, my daily commute was cut from around an hour a day to about 10 minutes so I’m just not keeping up with my internet radio fix. Some tough choices had to be made. In the spirit of spring cleaning I culled the heard, cleared the cache and didn’t look back.

I have recently self-enforced an expiration date on DVD’s from NetFlix (if I have a disc for more than a week I really didn’t want it in the first place: send it back) and figured that was a pretty good rule for my podcast library as well. I cleared out a significant space on my ‘puter knowing full well that I could always go back and re-download a given file if I needed to even as my inner packrat screamed in pain.

So, moral of the story? Get out there find new stuff, absolutely, but don’t get bogged down too much, besides, the discovery of the next cool new thing is way more interesting than the boring paperwork and study that comes later. Or something…

I get it, the members of The Dave Matthews Band are all talented musicians. I
just don’t like the songwriting and style. Get over it.

If you’re covering a song written in a different time signature, please leave it
in that time signature unless you completely change the rhythms and rewrite the
song. Don’t just play it in 4/4 and pretend that we won’t notice. If your
drummer can’t count to five, skip it or get a new drummer.

Musical genres that need to be revived: Doo-Wop and Barbershop

Weezer – I’m still a fan but they haven’t written a great song since Matt Sharp
left. It’s been nothing but a couple good songs and a few mediocre albums since
then. It’s kind of like Star Wars that way. The first body of work was
outstanding (Blue/Pinkerton, Star Wars/Empire/Jedi) but the resurrection was
mediocre bordering on awful.

Boston’s debut album still rocks.

Who’s the one with the Madd Skillz?

If you’re downloading music, support the artist. If you don’t want to buy the
CD, at least go see them live and possibly buy a T-shirt (unless they’re
charging $40 for a T-shirt)

Which brings me to my next issue, how can bands charge $40 for a T-shirt?
There’s a difference between making a living and gouging your fan base.

Why is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland? Honestly, there’s nothing Rock
& Roll about the city.

To answer a question I posed earlier, T-Bone.

Do Nickleback fans actually exist? I’ve yet to meet one.

Yes, Mr. Pibb and Red Vines are crazy delicious.

I still can’t pronounce Sufjan Stevens’ first name correctly.

Remember when music television stations played music? Neither do I.

Just because something’s independent doesn’t make it better. There’s a lot of
bad music that gets released independently.

The Docks in Toronto easily the worst concert concert venue I’ve been to. Best
concert venue? Mr. Small’s Funhouse in Millvale, PA.

Robert Smith and Morrissey are not gods, no matter how much you want them to be.

Tribute albums never seem to work out well. There is usually one or two good
tracks on the album but the rest is horrible. It’s tough getting people to
re-imagine songs without completely destroying it or producing a clone. There’s
a balance in there that’s tough to find.

Someone should remind the people who master albums that dynamics still exist.

There’s much more to William Shatner’s album Has Been than just unintentional
comedy.

Can you really hear the difference between a CD and vinyl? Shouldn’t any real
music fan have been to enough live shows that there’s already some permanent
hearing damage? At least that’s what the ringing in my ears tells me every
night.

“Clementina…” Dale is holding her arms and looking her right in the eyes “… it is very likely that this plane is going to crash.”  She gasps.  “We must try to stay calm.”

Clementina shakes her head as though she’s waking from a deep sleep.

“We should belt ourselves in, shouldn’t we?” she says with a clarity of mind that can only be attributed to shock.  So they do.  Sitting side-by-side and hand-in-hand as the engine whines and the plane continues to lean sharply to one side.

“Dale… would you make me a promise?” she asks seriously, but not pleadingly.

“I hope so, but I can’t promise anything without knowing what it is first.”

“If we should make it out of this…”

“Yes?”

“I mean, if by some miracle we should survive…”

“…”

“I feel ridiculous even asking this, but given our situation-“

“-just ask!”

“Run away with me to the mountains of Costa Rica, where we can cast off the shackles of our modern world and live in paradise like Adam and Eve!”

“… uh…” Dale is speechless and caught off-guard.

“I read in TIME Magazine that the Nicaraguan Contras hide up there.  We can keep a cache of weapons to fight them.  It would be the honourable thing to do!”

“… uh…”

“Come to Central America with me…   We can live the dream of getting back to the land AND of being freedom fighters!”

Dale immediately grasps the gravity of his situation… he is somewhere over the Eastern seaboard, in a crippled airplane… facing his own death; hand-in-hand with a woman who until moments ago, he was madly in love with, but whom he now understands is clearly insane.  Still, with his death imminent, what has he got to lose?

Does Dale…

…agree to run away to fight the Contras?

…politely decline, and start to look for a way off the plane?