Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 20)
in the Night Garden A really short explanation of why the Canadian music scene owes so much to Toronto’s legendary clubs — by a musician who knows “Canadian Food” I’m standing in front of the tired, faded awning of an unassuming restaurant in Thunder Bay. I’ve travelled 16 hours to play a small club here and the drive has left me more than a little delirious. But no amount of sleep would help me figure out just what exactly that phrase means. As an abstract concept — food that the average Canadian finds familiar and palatable — I get it. But other than a side of Canadian bacon (a phrase that isn’t even native to our own borders) just what you’ll find when you walk through those doors is anyone’s guess. So it was for many years when the phrase “Canadian music scene” got mentioned. Between two competing national heritages and inviting nearly every other ethnicity to pull up a seat at our table, our style of music was everyone else’s but our own. Then, as the new millennium dawned, the world seemed to suddenly discover Canadian music. Critics and fans around the globe expressed rabid enthusiasm as band after band, artist after artist sprang fully formed like an army of Athenian multiples from the skull of a late-slumbering Zeus. Metric! Broken Social Scene! Feist! The obvious question the world at large asked was, “How is this possible?” Well, the same way that Nirvana didn’t sprout from the ground or R.E.M. crystallize when added to water, these Canadian bands had some very rich soil from which to grow. Specifically, a very fertile rock club scene grounded in Toronto. Many clubs in the city have been able to contribute to the growth of this nation’s music — the El Mocambo, Lee’s Palace, Sneaky Dee’s — but of these, Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern is perhaps the most representative of what a club can mean to a flourishing rock scene. After all, it is here that many acts in the city’s famed North by Northeast (NXNE) Music Festival take to the stage and where the amazing CBC 3 showcase happens. By John Crossingham Photos by Carrie Musgrave 20 | www.SeeTorontoNow.com
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Contents
Contributors
Welcome
Cityscapes
Toast of the Town
In the Night Garden
Gooooal!
Take a Moment
Faces of Toronto
Red Rocket
Past Perfection
Water Lust
The Artist’s City
Living the Green Dream
York Region and North Toronto
Mississauga Marvels
Vine Country
Discovery Walks
Neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto
Listings
Visitor Resources
2009 Event Calendar
Parting Shot
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
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