Well, I can’t really see my house, but I can identify my block in this composite photo taken from the CN Tower:
Click the photo to see a larger version.
Category: Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)
For no reason at all (well, perhaps it was inspired by his inviting me to open for his show next Friday), here’s a photo of Scott Watkins enjoying his favourite magazine at Tequila Bookworm, circa 1999:
I met Scott Watkins in 1999 at the Queen Street West cafe Tequila
Bookworm, where we were not just regulars, but friends with the staff
(in my case, very special friends with one of the staff. albeit disastrously).
A couple of years later, he invited me to play accordion to accompany
his improv troupe on days when the regular musical director couldn’t
make it. I performed at a handful of shows and had a blast doing it. I
got to perform and still have the best seat in the house at the same
time, and it’s always great to see Scott perform (you should see his
“Beat Poetry of Ricardo Montalban” routine).
Scott recently contacted me and asked if I’d do some music for his upcoming show, Peril From Beyond Space:
The synopsis:
The year is 1947. The forces of democracy have triumphed. Millions of
Americans are raising families, buying refrigerators, and wearing
nearly identical suits. Now that fascism has been eradicated, Mr. and
Mrs. Average Homeowner can look forward to a bright new era of peace
and prosperity. Or can they? Little do they realize that a malevolent
alien race has targeted the planet earth – a race of demon monsters
that threatens every single person in the entire world…a Peril – from
Beyond Space!
Peril From Beyond Space is a
“comedy sci-fi cliffhanger in four parts” taking place for the next
four Fridays at 10 p.m.: March 11, 18, 25 and April 1 at the Bad Dog Theatre, 138 Danforth Avenue
(at Broadview). Four different musical/comedy acts will open each show,
with Yours Truly opening for the March 11th opening show! Tickets are
$8 at the door. I should be entertaining, and Scott and Company should
be even more so.
I suppose that means I should go work on my routine.
David “Ranting and Roaring” Janes reminded me that there’s a gathering of Accordion City’s and elsewhere in Canada’s more right-leaning bloggers tonight at The Bishop and Belcher (361 Queen Street West, between Peter and John Streets). Things get started at about 8 p.m.
The “Belcher” is a mere couple of blocks from my house, but come that time, I’ll be settling down to dinner with Wendy in Boston, so I must send my regrets.
I believe these folks will be among those in attendance:
- Bob “Let It Bleed” Tarantino
- Rick “Boomer Deathwatch” McGinnis
- special out-of-province guest Damian “Daimnation!” Penny
Next time, folks, but have a drink for me!
[via stridingcloud and xophylia] This is what the subway map of Accordion City actually looks like (click to see a larger image):
A good chunk of the city — particularly the north end — is underserved by it. Here’s what it probably should look like (once again, click to see a larger image):
Xophylia has also created a scalable PDF version of the dream subway map for you fantasy cartographers to study in detail.
The gold-coloured line’s east-west stretch would be nice, but it doesn’t serve a very population-dense area. If I had to pick one line from the dream map to add to the subway, I’d add the Sheppard-Etobicoke line (the purple line that spans the north end of the city). That entire line would serve a population-dense part of town bristling with high-rises that’s currently served by buses. It would also give us what a proper city has: an airport subway stop!
Accordion City locals: your comments, please!
While most things happen in New York City in the Marvel Universe (the milieu of most Marvel Comics), its superheroes often go to other cities. I’ve only recently read Wolverine/Doop (Wolverine’s the most popular X-Man, and Doop is a green mutant blob — kind of like Slimer from Ghostbusters — from the X-Men spinoff comic X-Statix), which takes place here in Accordion City — and features a lot of my local haunts in the backgrounds…
College Street West, Compressed. Note the locations: Cafe Diplomatico, The Orbit Room, the Royal Cinema, the Lava Lounge (which sadly, is closed as it’s being turned into a condo) and Dragon Lady Comics.
All are on College Street West, but not this close together — and the
street would have to run northwest/southeast for the financial district
building and the CN Tower to be visible. Still, it’s nifty seeing
places where I hang out depicted in an X-Men spinoff comic book.
Doop and Wolvie Racing Down the Annex. Featured in this Panel are Suspect Video and renowned comic book store The Beguiling.
That’s Ontario Place’s Cinesphere in the background.
I haven’t been to the Brunswick House since they remodelled and stopped being such a dive.
“Nooooooooooo-body!” You’d have to be from Toronto to get that joke. That’s former mayor (and a bit of a joke, at that) Mel Lastman. The proper honorific for the mayor here is “His Worship”, but we tended to refer to him as “His Washup”. And yes, CityTV is a local station (here’s its glowing write-up in Wired) a couple of blocks from my house.
Racing Down Spadina! The Silver Dollar Room is the home of a few of my misadventures and a couple of Meryle’s burlesque numbers. Remember Adventures in Babysitting — “Nobody leave dis place until dey sing dee blues?” That’s the Silver Dollar Room.
Spacing magazine and the Toronto Free Gallery are presenting PUBLICity,
a five-week photo exhibit featuring the work of the city’s top photobloggers:
- Jonathan Day-Reiner
- Sam Javanrouh
- Adam Krawesky
- Davin Risk
- Matt O’Sullivan
- Gayla Trail
- Rannie Turingan
The exhibit will show their photos of Accordion City’s “urban landscape and
public spaces” and “showcase the variety of life that arises from our unique city”. If you were at the last GTABloggers Christmas party, you probably some many of these photobloggers’ works in the slideshow projected on my living room wall.
The exhibit will start with a launch party on Thursday March 17 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Toronto Free Gallery (660 Queen Street West). The exhibit will be at the Toronto Free Gallery from March 16th through April 23rd.