Thursday, November 24, 2011

In Hindsight: Elena Gritzan reviews Braids at the Horseshoe Tavern


Review

I have always been told that Braids are a band that you have to see live to fully understand. The Montreal quartet’s debut album, Native Speaker, flows through seven playful, atmospheric songs, topped by the otherworldly voice of lead singer Raphaelle Standel-Preston. It was shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, cementing its critical acclaim. Nonetheless, I have to agree that seeing this group of best friends perform live is the only way to fully understand their musical maturity and intensity.

On October 14, Braids brought their live show for a sold-out gig to the Horseshoe Tavern. The most striking part of their sound is the way they combine their voices and use them more like instruments; and not just singer Standel-Preston, but all members. Wordless vocal harmonies add to the delicately orchestrated instrumental layers. As they play, the breaks between songs blur, giving the impression of a one hour-long song, full of emotional peaks and haunting, calm moments.

Braids may be one of the most exciting bands in Canada at the moment, but they are endearingly humble about their success. At the Polaris Prize gala, Standel-Preston gave a wide-eyed thank you, sharing that “[they] almost dropped to the floor when [they] found out [they] were short-listed”. At the Horseshoe, drummer Austin Tufts and guitarist/bassist Taylor Smith mixed with the crowd to enjoy the theatrics of opening band Born Gold. After their own set, Raphaelle thanked the audience profusely for coming, stating that they have been playing in Toronto for a long time.

The night ended with “Native Speaker”, the title track from their album, intended to send us off to sleep. Or to do…other things--as keyboardist Katie Lee pointed out--it was a Friday night. For me at least, all I could do afterwards was listen to Native Speaker on repeat.


Written by Elena Gritzan


In Hindsight: Review

Joel's Still Joel: Elena Gritzan reviews Joel Plaskett's Summer Concert

There are not many artists who can act as their own opening band, but prominent Canadian folk-rocker Joel Plaskett is not “most artists”. This August, Plaskett brought his high-energy show to the picturesque Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. Armed with just an acoustic guitar, he played a solo set to warm the audience up for the main show, a full-band performance with The Emergency (drummer Dave Marsh and bassist Tim Brennan), his backing band since his 2001 LP Down at the Khyber.

Plaskett drew from his rich back catalogue of songs, presenting a fascinating view for audiences of one of Canada’s most enduring musicians. His latest release, a collection of B-sides and rarities titled EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations displays Plaskett’s knack for melody and song writing--even his cast-offs are fantastic! A perfect example of this is “On the Rail”, a song commissioned by the CBC about the Cabot Trail in Plaskett’s native Nova Scotia. At the show sung with minimal accompaniment, the nostalgia, longing and love of adventure expressed in the song were even more striking live.

After his two-hour set, Plaskett still managed to leave the audience wanting more. His ability to add new sonic elements and to shift lyrics make each performance unique. For instance, he changed the lyrics of “Face of the Earth” to “I saw it with my own two blue eyes, like London, Ontario’s blue skies”. His skill as an entertainer clearly shows with moves like this, as well as his frequent hilarious anecdotes. After the show, he spent at least forty minutes in the lobby of the theatre, saying hello and chatting with a number of excited fans.

Joel Plaskett is a talented song writer and engaging performer with a distinct sense of humour. He ended his show with an excerpt from “Wishful Thinking”, a song from his triple-album Three: “CDs for sale at the back of the hall, buy one, buy ‘em all, couple bucks cheaper than they are at the mall. Thank you, good night, we’ll be back in the fall!”

Written by Elena Gritzan

In Hindsight: Review

Flesh-Licking Ladies: Jeff Mangum in Concert

We give our love to the music that fits into the narrative of our lives. As a ninth grader, lost in that particularly charmless way many 15 year olds are, I worked as a slave labourer for Wonderland. The daily three hour round trip commute took me through a dreary expanse of midtown-turned-suburbia, the riders around me dead-eyed and merging with the scenery. I do not know how I would have made it through that job if I did not have Neutral Milk Hotel (introduced to me by a certain “mainstream indie” music website) playing on repeat in the hazy summer mornings and idle summer nights that surrounded my working day.

What drew me to Neutral Milk Hotel initially was its music – its brass was celebratory, its instrumentation carnivalesque, its melodies immediate. But even in my adolescence, I was a student more of language than of sound. Jeff Mangum—the band’s vocalist and lyricist—gave the band their limitless appeal. My first encounter with In An Aeroplane Under the Sea revealed a Mangum who declared outright: “I love you, Jesus Christ”; who filled his surrealist reveries with images of holy rattlesnakes and semen-stained mountaintops; whose paeans to two-headed boys mirrored the circus-punk of the music. Upon my second listening, I noticed that Mangum’s spirituality became enmeshed with a fear—or, perhaps, an eagerness to express discomfort—toward lust and sexuality. Oblique references to sex, most pronounced in lines such as: “placing fingers through the notches in your spine”, resonated in me; I was only beginning to discover my own body, and the flesh of others remained a darkened stain in the realm of my imagination. To be enthralled by this music, and the wound it created in me between a private conception of God and a public conception of love, gave my curious existence a direction.

In the Aeroplane over the Sea is famously a “concept” album detailing Mangum’s imaginary relationship to Anne Frank, a relationship deeply touched by the horrors of the Holocaust and the lucidity of Frank’s prose. (To me, Mangum’s declaration that she “was the only girl [he had] ever loved” signifies his homosexuality. Surely, said my warped logic, he must then have loved many more boys?) His lyrics, at once both esoteric and universal, were a huge part of his rise to indie stardom. But the man who “would shoot all the superheroes from your skies” deflected his fame and superstar status from the start and went into a reclusive ten-year period where he interacted very little with the musical community and did not tour at all.

You could almost hear a collective exclamation of “Holy f-#*&!” from the Neutral Milk Hotel fan-base when Mangum decided to tour again. In the ten-plus years since Aeroplanes release, Neutral Milk Hotel has impacted Arcade Fire, Brand New, and the Dresden Dolls (among many others) —all of whom have matched the band’s success, but, in my opinion, never its purity. To have the opportunity to see Jeff Mangum for two nights in a row (in the acoustically-unmatched Trinity-St. Paul’s Church, no less) was, for me, a way to revisit the intensity of my first encounter with the band—and the raw, possessed sincerity of its undeniable lead singer.

Trinity-St Paul’s was sweltering both nights of Mangum’s performance. During the hour-long opening set, the heat was quite apparent. But as soon as Mangum came onstage--long-limbed and smiling from cheek to cheek, the heat seemed to dissolve—it became part, rather than outside of, the experience. And if his set sent me into ecstasy the first night, the repeat viewing was transcendent, veering close to ego-death: a total loss of awareness of the self. I will always share an affinity with the quality of Mangum’s music. It documents a love that stretches to the point near the end of the world, that decries flesh as feeble and mind as contingent; it is a spiritual music which, on those two nights, made all thoughts of church and religion banal beyond belief to me. As a romantic idealist growing up in a family and culture of rational atheism, I was unfamiliar with any metaphysical conviction that lay outside the bounds of churchly institutions. The music of Neutral Milk Hotel had kindled my fascination with the existential experience many years ago (“How strange it is to be anything at all!”) and, on those two nights, it was that music that gave me release from doing nothing more than living and being.

The physical fact of the performance raised other interesting questions about dichotomies. Most notably: between the audience and the musician—when Mangum asked for all of us to “f--n’ sing” , and we instead responded with reverent silence, did he blur the line at all? The dichotomy between the fan and the hero—did Mangum take up this tour to “demythologize” himself, to take himself down from the pedestal he had been placed on in the history of indie rock? Lastly, the dichotomy between how fans envisioned the performance and how it actually turned out comes to mind—I had been dreaming of the concert sporadically for weeks already. But Mangum’s music is the type that resists all attempts to be intellectualized--to filter it through a pane of the mental. It is the kind that plunges in and cannot be extricated; it defies heart-on-sleeve and instead fulfills a more grandiose, heart-in-chest ambition. It is a music which has only grown within me since its inception in my consciousness five years ago, and it brings me a joy outside of time which never fails to send tremors down the notches of my spine.

Written by Fan Wu

Saturday, November 19, 2011

In Hindsight: Review

Heart of Its Own: Review of the Home County Folk Festival

Music festivals have practically become a summer ritual. There is no shortage of large festivals to reach by road trips, even just in Canada, but real gems can also be found right in your own backyard. Many smaller cities host annual folk festivals, creating a perfect blend of music, food, crafts and community. In my case, there is the Home County Folk Festival in London, ON. The festival, now in its 38th year, is run entirely by donations. This year, festival fans donated more than $40,000 over the course of the weekend of July 15-17 to help support the event in years to come.


A full moon hung over the crowd on the first night, as people of all ages huddled around the main stage to catch performances from the likes the Basia Bulat and Sarah Harmer. CBC Radio 3’s Grant Lawrence introduced folk-pop singer Bulat, who was excited to be back in London’s Victoria Park after having lived in the city for six years. She told stories of her old apartments in between beautiful renditions of a variety of songs; ranging from single “Heart of My Own” to a song in Polish about a zoo.


As amazing as the main-stage performances were, the real strength of this festival was the afternoon workshops on the smaller stages, huddled under trees in the 30+ degree heat. I had the pleasure of seeing Basia Bulat perform a second time on a smaller stage with Ottawa-based band The Acorn and young folk singer Ariana Gillis. It was here that Bulat really shined: she played sparse versions of her songs, accompanied by trumpet player Shaun Brody and the members of The Acorn. The power went out for a few minutes mid-way through the set, leading to an acoustic rendition of Bulat’s “If Only You”, with Rolf Klausener of The Acorn singing backup and holding a microphone for her when the power returned mid-song. The informal atmosphere onstage led to some brilliant moments, such as Brody improvising on his trumpet over the Acorn song “Crooked Legs”; which really brought the song to a whole new level. Really, this man is incredible – he not only performed with Bulat and The Acorn--but also joined Dan Mangan’s band the following day. This lead Klausener to proclaim him “MVP of the festival”.


The performance of Vancouver-based Dan Mangan, on the final day of the festival, was a major stand out. His impressive set was a mix of old favourites from his Polaris-nominated album Nice, Nice, Very Nice and new songs from his forthcoming third album. Audiences tapped their feet along to the title track “Oh Fortune” and another new tune about post-traumatic stress disorder. Mangan was full of jokes and clearly loving the experience on the stage. He was recently saying to Grant Lawrence on a CBC Radio 3 podcast that he has never had a bad experience at a Canadian music festival. He added that every musician should bring a tambourine, and stayed true to that boast at this performance by using one to hit against his guitar in the middle of a noisy finish. The set ended with Mangan venturing into the crowd during a sing-along of his song “Robots”. Watching Mangan interact with his fans as we all belted the chorus: “Robots need love too!” was a major highlight of the weekend.


As I stood in the merchandise tent after the performance and watched people run to ask for Mangans’ album, I was reminded of something he had said on stage: “Everything you can do to support music in your community will make your children better people”. Well I do not know about my children yet, but I definitely feel fuller after a weekend of sitting outside in great weather listening to even better music. The Home County Folk Festival created a beautiful feeling of community, and that is everything a successful festival can hope to do!


-Written by By Elena Gritzan

Music, Religion and Family: a Student Considers her Background and Beliefs

Feature Article:
A Faith that Follows My Beat



“This can’t be real.”

It was like the Daft Punk concert I had attended two years ago. The same passionate fans, the heat, sweat and noise building up--the music dominating everything else in the room. Hundreds of people stepped on toes, used each others’ shoulders as levers to elevate themselves; just for a glimpse.

Except, people were not here for a band, people were here for God.

That is the only comparison that comes close to what I witnessed last summer. I traveled 2,579 miles by auto rickshaw, car and on foot, to arrive at the famous Hindu temple “Vrindavan”; which celebrates Lord Krishna’s childhood. I was completely out of place and disoriented. “But it’s just a statue isn’t it?” I thought to myself as I stood in faraway corner trying to escape the convulsing madness. There was no organization, no apparent tangible benefits of being there, or opportunities for scenic photographs. Then it hit me. I did not really believe in God.

Watching fanatical pilgrims praying in unison, I felt like I had betrayed my parents. Had I become an outsider in my own family? I began to feel hollow, as if I was missing an essential piece which made me--well--me. I had always thought that our shared religion bonded me to my family, to honor our God and follow our common religious practices. Every other Indian family I had come across professed some form of faith. Thus, I religiously performed all the ceremonies and celebrated the festivals, without actually understanding or believing in any of it. Truthfully, I followed the herd.



This epiphany was disrupted by a frail old man, wearing a white dhoti, one of the many ascetics calling Vrindavan their home. Staff in hand, chanting in Sanskrit, he said in Hindi “Are you praying for your family?” I quickly replied “Yes,” hoping he would leave me alone. He smiled and walked away. I sighed and looked down at my palms and noticed that they were placed in the praying position. It occurred to me that I always prayed like this before any important event in my life. This was not because of a commitment to God, but because of the values my parents had instilled in me. They did not tell me what to pray for, but to be grateful for the things I have. They had not taught me to touch elders’ feet to conform to societal norms, but to show my respect for them. Finally, I realized that I did not celebrate our festivals for the Gods, but to take a moment to recognize the importance of unity, and the family that has always been there for me.

A year later, my hollowness is replaced with a growing faith. Not a faith in God or a religion, but a faith in my values which keep me united with my loved ones. People might be here for Lord Krishna, but I am here for the people I care about most.

-Written by Radhika Mathur

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Songs of Summer 2011

We at DEMO: The Hart House Music Magazine have compiled a list of cool songs that remind us of the summer of 2011.

The songs are great and we highly recommend that you check at least some of them out.
Click on the links to see the thoughts of our writers regarding each track.

- DEMO's Summer Songs of 2011 -


  • Best Coast - Bratty B

  • Bon Iver - Beach Baby

  • The Zolas - Cab Driver

  • Bright Eyes - Cleanse Song

  • Galileo Galilei - The Traveler in Search of a 4-Leaf Clover

  • Dead Man’s Bones - Lose Your Soul

  • Dark Tranquillity - Lethe

  • Animal Collective - My Girls

  • The Weeknd - Rolling Stone

  • Joanna Newsom - Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie

  • Outfield - (I Don’t Want To Lose) Your Love

  • Matt & Kim - Yea Yeahs

  • Telekinesis - Coast of Carolina

  • Steve Conte - Call Me Call Me



  • - List of Contributors -

    Mahmoud Bitar
    Ervin Cheah
    Q Chen
    Lou Doyon
    Evangeline Fitz
    Kashtin Fitzsimons
    Miguel Leandro Gambao
    Elena Gritzan
    Stephanie King
    Justin Lee
    Radhika Mathur
    Sydney Riemschneider
    Emily Elizabeth Scherzinger
    Fan Wu

    Friday, October 28, 2011

    Part 14

    Miguel Leandro Gambao, 1st Year, English Literature and Philosophy

    Song: Call Me Call Me

    Artist: Steve Conte

    Album: Cowboy Bebop Blue Soundtrack

    As I graduated high school and was making the transition to freshman year, I would often talk with my friend Maurice about Cowboy Bebop, the critically acclaimed Space Western anime. We both loved the music of the show, comprised (mostly of jazz music) by Yoko Kanno. In the show, Call Me Call Me was played at one of the most emotional parts of the story, with two main characters leaving the group of five after spending nearly the entire show with them. For my friends and I moving and transitioning to a new stage in life, that scene and the accompanying song became symbolic of our camaraderie.

    Part 13

    Lou Doyon , 1st Year, Anthropology

    Song: Coast of Carolina

    Artist: Telekinesis

    Album: Telekinesis!

    My summer job included a 30-minute commute along on of the most beautiful highways, with the slowest speed limit--Trans-Canada in Banff National Park. To get me from home to work, and from work to home, I was in desperate need of some solid tunes, and Telekinesis was there to help. With the mountains in the background, the lakes in the foreground, and the beginning of a new life in Toronto ahead of me, I found comfort and happiness in this song right from June until September.

    Part 12

    Ervin Cheah, 1st Year, Commerce

    Song: Yea Yeahs

    Artist: Matt & Kim

    Album: Grand


    A great upbeat song that uplifted one of my more gloomy days. One of those forgotten tracks that creeps up in your shuffling iPod and just hits the right spot. It took some intense will power to not bust out a crazy move while strolling down the sidewalk in the breezy summer. Yea yeah, yea yeah, yea yeah!

    Part 11

    Sydney Riemschneider, 2nd year, History

    Song: (I Don’t Want To Lose) Your Love

    Band: Outfield

    Album: Play Deep

    This summer was one of discoveries for me. I did not get to experience the kind of summer only told in teeny bopper novels, as I was working for “the Man” day in and day out at Canada’s Wonderland. To go along with the manual labour, was a wonderful 80s soundtrack playing every single day.



    Thankfully being an 80s music fan, the fact that Wonderland has not updated their music collection since ’97 did not bother me. It was actually difficult picking out one song that fit perfectly. As emotional and physical turmoil developed in my life, only a song involving mullets and hot pants--“(I Don’t Want To Lose) Your Love” by Outfield--could be the obvious choice to describe my summer.

    And if you are not a fan of the original, check out Katy Perry’s cover and the extraordinary acoustic version by Bon Iver.

    Theme Songs of Summer: Just Before Winter Creeps In--Part 10

    Fan Wu, 2nd year, Literary Studies



    Artist: Joanna Newsom

    Album: The Milk-Eyed Mender


    Joanna Newsom has made two albums after The Milk-Eyed Mender that surpass it in scope, both musically and lyrically. But this summer I came back to her debut album after first having heard it four years ago with new perspectives on women, folk songwriters and eccentricity. There is no doubt that Newsom is all three of those, but she is much more: she is, and has been, one of the strongest, most literary lyric writers on the indie scene. With aching, ambiguous lines like: "I do as I please / Now I'm on my knees / Your skin is something that I stir into my tea"--Newsom evokes both the pleasure and submissiveness we learn from love. I spent my summer with her, and it could not have been any other way.

    Tuesday, October 11, 2011

    Born Gold at The Drake Underground

    October 1st`s annual all-night art celebration Nuit Blanche is always packed with creativity, invention, and fun times. Add music into the mix and you get this year`s Born Gold show at the Drake Underground. Previously known as Gobble Gobble, this Edmonton-based band has been releasing exuberant noise-pop singles for over a year now. Their forward-thinking approach to electronic music culminated in the release of their debut album Bodysongs, and Nuit Blanche served as the perfect backdrop to celebrate this.

    Born Gold`s live shows are visually stunning. Think bright coloured lights, stilts, and outfits involving tin foil and very short shorts. They are definitely not afraid to get the audience involved, letting those in the front hit drums and giving people high-fives. At one point band member Calvin McElroy even walked into the crowd, on stilts playing a giant shovel as an instrument. Frontman Cecil Frena encouraged dancing to keep the enthusiastic energy up and sang out anthemic lines like “I don’t want to live without it”.

    This is really a band that knows how to get people moving. Mixing both previously released singles such as Lawn Knives and Boring Horror with some new songs, the live show didn’t stop for breath. A forty-minute show to support a twenty-nine minute album definitely leaves the audience wanting more, though the mood in the room after the last notes of Wrinklecarver was euphoric. Surely, Born Gold made some new fans that night, thanks to their frantic energy and exciting live presentation. You know what happens when you dance in your bedroom to your favourite songs? No inhibitions, completely caught up in the moment? Born Gold has the power to make you do that in public.

    -By Elena Gritzan

    DEMO Reviews

    The writers at DEMO have posted their reviews of various shows around Toronto.
    Click on the links to check them out!

    - In Hindsight: Reviews -


  • Braids at the Horseshoe Tavern

  • Joel Plaskett's Summer Concert

  • Jeff Magnum in Concert

  • The Home County Folk Festival

  • Born Gold at the Drake Underground

  • The Great American Trailer Park Musical
  • Friday, October 07, 2011

    Part 9

    Kashtin Fitzsimons, 2nd Year, Political Science

    Song Title: Rolling Stone

    Artist: The Weeknd

    Album: Thursday

    It would be an exaggeration of mythical proportions to suggest that this song is an accurate reflection of my summer. As far as the lyrics are concerned, I do not share any of the concerns The Weeknd voices on this haunting ballad. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I likely not smoke until I can't hit another note (I haven't started smoking, Mom. Don't worry).


    My inability to relate to the content aside, The Weeknd's "Rolling Stone" was undoubtedly the musical backdrop to my summer. It was with me on my excruciatingly long bus ride from Brno, Czech Republic to Krakow, Poland. It gave me comfort as I tried to find my way back to my boat-el in Budapest, Hungary.


    The Weeknd played his debut concert at the Mod Club on July 24. Accompanied by a single guitarist, he made me understand - for at least a moment - what it is like to run these streets for too long. It was at that moment that I forgot about the air conditioner unit above me dripping (hopefully) water on my head and the math class I should have been studying for that night. Nothing else mattered. At the end of the day, isn't that what summer is all about?

    Thursday, October 06, 2011

    Part 8

    Justin Lee, 1st Year, Humanities

    Artist: Animal Collective

    Song Title: My Girls

    Album: Merriweather Post Pavillion

    Filled with different sounds, layers of voices and various percussion, this is the song where Animal Collective's creativity can be shown fully and completely. The synthesizers are blasted, creating a colorful sound. The loud bass beats excite the senses and Panda Bear's hazy voice sings psychedelic lyrics. It is the perfect summer song to chill out to, laying in the grass under a blue sky.

    Wednesday, October 05, 2011

    Part 7

    Mahmoud Bitar, 1st year, Life Sciences

    Artist: Dark Tranquillity

    Song Title: Lethe

    Album: The Gallery

    This song is my favourite song off my favourite album by my favourite band. I spent much of my summer discovering music and appreciating its beauty, trying to find my roots and construct a solid soul that is true to itself. Although my summer was full of laughs with great friends, I was constantly trying to "fix" my life: get a sense of purpose, start over, and forget the past with its good AND bad memories – which is the idea behind my chosen song, Lethe being the river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology.

    Part 6

    Evangeline Fitz, 1st year, English

    Song: Lose Your Soul

    Band: Dead Man’s Bones

    Album: Dead Man’s Bones (feat. The Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir)

    Dead Man’s Bones, the name says it all: music and looks are raw and eerie, featuring Ryan Gosling’s deep vocals backed by ethereal notes of a children’s choir. Though these attributes may be more associated with Halloween, this was my band of the summer. I played Lose Your Soul over and over again as I sat in the car with the windows down, passing by rural and urban landscapes. They issued from my iPod as I rode the subway, walked down the street, and went to the beach. I carried them with me everywhere.


    "Lose Your Soul" is my favourite song on the album. It speaks of routine, of sacrificing desires for obligations. In other words, the lyrics show the complete opposite of my work-free, lie-on-the-roof summer. Perhaps it was this interesting juxtaposition that had me pressing repeat so often. Or perhaps it was simply because the song is so hauntingly beautiful, just like those stormy summer nights.

    Monday, October 03, 2011

    In Hindsight... The Great American Trailer Park Musical

    Review:
    The Great American Trailer Park Musical

    "It's like an all-you-can-eat waffle bar. You just have to know when to stop," laments Pippi, the new girl in the trailer park in Hart House's 2011 fall play The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Betty, Lin and Donna "Pickles" act as the Greek chorus in this raunchy comedy, carrying audiences through the story of a torrid affair in Armadillo Acres, their Florida trailer park community. Stopping is far from what this musical does - the play first opened in New York and made it to off-Broadway in 2005, touring from there to Florida, the UK, Arizona and Australia. Now, Hart House welcomes the Great American Trailer Park Musical for its Toronto premiere.

    The upset of the marriage between high school sweethearts Jeannie and Norbert Garstecki is at the center of the drama, exacerbated by the new girl in town, exotic dancer Pippi. To Pippi’s dismay her crazy boyfriend Duke - played with amazing comedic timing by Justin Bott – makes an appearance, after she tried to escape him by leaving town. The highlight of the show is a scene in which the trailer park girls play the parts of Pippi's fellow exotic dancers, and Duke storms into their dressing room after a manic car trip (whilst sniffing markers the whole way) to come steal her back. In a moment that felt as fresh as the old skits on Saturday Night Live, Lin lurks behind Duke, sniffing him and speaking in the deep voice of a cross-dresser. Moments like these left audiences hysterical long after the scene had ended. Jennifer Morris, a native of - as she puts it - a small "hick" town in New Brunswick, proved superb comic timing as Lin, and it left me wondering if she had come up with the idea to speak in a manly voice herself. Not holding back in the slightest, it was a joy to see these three young women flaunt it on stage. Their costumes were especially well done: most notably during the song "Storm's A-Brewin”, in which they were ordained with skin tight disco-era silver costumes.


    Propped with kitschy details such as a pink flamingo and chains of rainbow lights, the set with its three mobile homes captured the essence of stereotypical trailer trash. Let it be noted that the "for mature audiences" warning should be heeded - frequent swearing and a very risqué pole dance come with this tour through the Great American Trailer Park. For those who appreciate the John Waters "Crybaby" and "Hairspray" version of the 50's and beyond, this will hit the spot. It is no doubt Betsy Kelso`s purposefully cheesy and overdone script was written with a nod to camp heroes like Waters. Although the story feels a bit thin at times, this musical offers a perfect escape from back to school blues, providing great comic relief and an exploding level of enthusiasm on the part of its actors. - By Shauna C. Keddy

    (Photos by Daniel Di Marco)

    The musical plays at Hart House Theatre (www.harthouse.ca) until October 8.


    -Written by Shauna Keddy

    Sunday, September 25, 2011

    Part 5

    Q Chen, 4th Year, Visual Studies

    Artist: Galileo Galilei (Japan)
    Song Title: Yotsuba Sagashi no Tabibito (The Traveler in Search of a 4-Leaf Clover)
    Album: 四ツ葉探しの旅人 (Parade)



    In this simple rock tune by a young Japanese rock band composed of 20-year-olds, we find both a sound reminiscent of the 90's, and energetic, unrefined punk flavors of the 2000s. The lyrics speak of traveling by bus to seemingly random locations, but with a clear goal in mind: finding the 4-leaf clover. I took summer courses and did not travel, but the song hit home for me in that it reminded me of the "clover" in life, something not necessarily found while traveling.

    Part 4

    Emily Elizabeth Scherzinger, 1st Year, English

    Song: Cleanse Song

    Band: Bright Eyes

    Album: Cassadaga

    This past summer was not an epic one. It was not a time of great discovery or turmoil about who I was, like my previous summer. Instead, this past summer was more about relaxing and preparing myself mentally for my first year in university. At the time, all I could think about was the change university would bring – living away from home, being able to do what I want whenever I want. But with change comes both good and bad things. My summer was the sad taste at the back of your mouth that inevitably comes with every beautiful moment.


    One of my favourite memories I have that personified this summer so well was falling asleep in my boyfriend’s room with his arms around me as “Cleanse Song” by Bright Eyes played; and the light from a streetlamp filtered in through his window. That song seems to be all about change, and that’s exactly what I wanted during the summer. This is obvious when (lead singer) Conor Oberst sings the opening lines: “Hear the chimes, did you know that the wind when it blows/It is older than Rome and all of this sorrow.” As I heard those lines, I would be sent over the edge into that state where I was not awake but I wasn’t asleep – all I could do was think about what I wanted for myself in the nearby future.

    Part 3

    Elena Gritzan, 2nd Year, Chemistry

    Band: The Zolas
    Song: Cab Driver
    Album: Tic Toc Tic

    I was introduced to The Zolas this summer, and I knew by the second song of their expressive piano rock album that it would become one of my favourites. These Vancouver based musicians sound-tracked countless walks to work, a few road trips, and lazy afternoons with friends. I present to you my cat's favourite song from the album (which she expressed by always rolling around during the piano breakdown towards the end of the track). For me, the summer of 2011 will always sound like a quirky pop song with a falsetto-ed chorus.

    Part 2

    Radhika Mathur, 1st Year, Social Sciences

    Band: Bon Iver
    Song: Beach Baby
    Album: Blood Bank



    Summer 2011 was one to remember--graduating from high school and transitioning into university 10,000 miles away would be a major milestone in anyone’s life. So I made sure I made good use of my time left back home in Singapore. I did so by spending as much time as possible by the beach, whilst listening to "Beach Baby" by Bon Iver. Though this was not intentional, I did chuckle to myself at the word play as I cycled parallel to the sun reflecting into the deep sea below. Summer ’11 will forever be one long sunny memory at the beach, baby.

    Let the Summer Live On...

    Stephanie King, 2nd Year, Criminology (on exchange study from Australia)

    Band: Best Coast
    Song: Bratty B

    Album: Crazy For You



    The most appealing aspect of this song is the way it tells so much in only a minute forty three. Appearing to be just a collection of current thoughts and emotions, it perfectly conveys itself quick enough to make me want to listen to it over and over again.

    Friday, August 19, 2011

    The school year is coming up fast!

    Hello Demo Readers and contributors!

    The school year is just around the corner, and as we desperately soak in every last ray of sun and late night outing (perhaps enjoying a concert or two?) we'd like to remind you of a little thing we call Demo Magazine!

    You may have seen it on stand around campus, or at its home, the amazing Hart House :D

    If this name rings no bells, well, please write us to learn more! We are friendly and always up for a chat with a fellow music enthusiast! If you are shy, we will encourage those talents we know you must have ;)

    Interested in the music scene in Toronto and on campus? Eager to write a review, do an interview, or snap a few photos? Great at layout? We could use your talent!

    We will have our booth at the clubs fair, right outside Hart House.