PERFORMANCES Braithwaite & Whiteley (Friday): In what promises to be a very special presentation at Glenn Gould Studio, Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley perform a full concert including the premiere of their Canada Council/Toronto Blues Society commissioned work, The Blues Suite. You can read all about the duo and this interesting project in the Toronto Sun. Of the upcoming show, Whiteley is quoted as noting, “People will hear everything from slide guitar-driven blues to a full horn section, from classic harmonica shuffles and piano drenched slow blues to ballads and full-out rockin’ blues.”
Jamie Oliver (Friday): Jamie Oliver returns to Toronto and this time pays a visit to the Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street – Massey Hall. Jamie Oliver’s latest book, Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain: 130 of My Favorite British Recipes, from Comfort Food to New Classics, will provide inspiration for this talk from the internationally renowned chef. Following a talk, Jamie Oliver welcomes questions from the audience. Ticket holders each take home a copy of the new book and memories of a fun-filled, enlightening evening!
JUST ANNOUNCED
We’ve got some great spring/summer shows to tell you about.
Bonnie Raitt returns to Massey Hall on Saturday May 26 hot on the heels of releasing her upcoming album Slipstream. In her words the album has her “in the slipstream of those who came before me…holding up the traditions of the music that I love”.
Amelia Curran, JUNO Award winner in 2010 for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, will play the Glenn Gould Studio on Tuesday, May 15. Amelia’s also appearing as special guest at the upcoming Whitehorse show we’re presenting at the Winter Garden on February 24.
And the Good Lovelies, also JUNO Award winners (and newly nominated for a 2012 JUNO), perform at the Glenn Gould Studio on Saturday, June 16. Expect witty banter, instrument swapping and beautiful three part harmonies from this Folk/Roots trio.
PERFORMANCES
Brian Skerry, Ocean Soul: Photographing the Underwater World for National Geographic (Tonight-Tuesday): National Geographic Live returns to Roy Thomson Hall for the second in this series of four speaker events. Canadian photographer Brian Skerry, has spent more than 10,000 hours underwater learning and photo-documenting this mysterious world. Like the last presentation at Roy Thomson Hall from National Geographic (by photographer and filmmaker, Mattias Klum), the evening features prepared remarks and a showcase of the speaker’s work as well a Question and Answer session. Just last month, Boston Magazine had the opportunity to ask some questions and get some answers in this interview – check it out.
Bon Iver (Tonight-Tuesday & Wednesday): Bon Iver, who was just nominated for no less than four Grammy Awards (see Accolades, below) returns to town this week with two shows at Massey Hall. Lianne La Havas also performs on these nights – if you’re one of those do your homework in advance types, check out her website for a snapshot of her lovely music. We’re very much looking forward to a proper introduction (i.e. from the stage of Massey Hall) tonight and tomorrow.
Tori Amos (Thursday): Tori Amos performs at Massey Hall this week and we’re excited to see and hear what she’s been up to with her latest recording, Night of Hunters. You can read all about the project, a bit of a departure from the pop world and into the classical, in this weekend’s Globe and Mail. Rolling Stone has a CONTINUE READING >
JUST ANNOUNCED
We have three exciting announcements for you this week in the Buzz! Deep Purple will pay a visit to the Grand Ol’ Lady of Shuter Street on February 12, 2012 as part of their Smoke on the Nation tour. Canoe.ca has the details of the full tour if you won’t be in Toronto, but if you are, tickets go on sale to FriendsFirst members this Thursday and to the public on Saturday.
And we’ve also just announced two shows coming up in March. On March 9 and 10, Jann Arden returns to Massey Hall with friends for two concerts coinciding with the release of her eleventh album, Uncover Me 2. Check out her recent feature chat on CBC Q here (just click on “listen” under the listing for November 18). Then on March 16 funny-man Danny Bhoy hits the Massey Hall stage in a show presented by experts on funny, Just for Laughs. To get yourself ready for the big show, you might check out Danny Bhoy’s DVD from his live show at the Athenaeum which includes his theory on accents in Adelaide or you could check out his full YouTube channel here (fair warning: much of the content is NSFW).
PERFORMANCES Feist (Thursday): The lovely Feist returns to Massey Hall this week in support of her new album Metals and everybody is talking about the special occasion, including the fact that the opening slot features one Bry Webb (former lead singer of indie darlings, Constantines): Chromewaves recently posted a stream of the Constantines/Feist cover of “Islands in the Stream” (alongside the classic Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton version), Exclaim! reports on the special musical relationship the pair have (as well check out the Exclaim TV clip of Bry Webb performing the song “Undertaker”, embedded above), and the National Post features an article about Leslie Feist’s involvement in the creative process with Webb. Looking for some Feist-specific material out there in advance of the gig? Vancouver’s Georgia Straight has a recent interview with Feist about Metals, and don’t forget about her special concert from October at Glenn Gould Studio, available for your listening pleasure at CBC Concerts on Demand.
I’ve been working on figuring out the pronunciation of Bon Iver for some time now – and it’s tricky – most folks I know call them Bon EYE-ver while a select few (and most things I read on the internet) point to Bon EEE-ver. The latter seems to be the most correct (as it’s based on the French phrase ‘Bon Hiver‘) but as it turns out, it doesn’t much matter to man behind the music, Justin Vernon. He states in this 2008 Pitchfork interview: “I mean I don’t mind if people say Bon Eye-ver or Bone-y-ver. It doesn’t bother me. Whatever people end up saying that’s fine.” So why am I telling you all this? Because you’ll want to know how you’re going to pronounce the name when you arrive at the box office to purchase tickets to his Massey Hall performance we’ve just announced! Tickets for his show on December 6 went on sale to the public on Saturday *UPDATE a 2nd show was just announced for December 7 and tickets for this show go onsale to the public on Saturday at noon. And just for fun, you can read about his iTunes celebrity playlist over on Stereogum and check out this article from Exclaim! about Kathleen Edwards co-efforts with Vernon on her latest release, a 7″ that was released at the end of September. Give it a listen over on Pitchfork.
PERFORMANCES
Al Gore (Thursday): Former Vice President Al Gore appears at Roy Thomson Hall to deliver his multimedia presentation, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis. NOW Magazine listed it in its “trio of this week’s can’t miss events” and declared that the event is “sure-to-be mind-altering.” The presentation, a follow up to his An Inconvenient Truth, promises to depoliticize the issue of climate change and offer real solutions.
Zucchero (Saturday): This Saturday brings Massey Hall An Evening withZucchero which promises to be something special indeed. The event page for the concert includes a special video worth checking out on this accomplished artist’s incredible achievements and impressive host of fans (Bono likens his voice to “an aged oak whiskey” and some serious praise from the likes of Sting and Andrea Bocelli). In preparation for the concert, you can check out a bunch of other videos featuring Zucchero himself here.
Compañia Flamenca José Porcel (Monday): Next Monday, Roy Thomson Hall will be taken over with the beautiful sights and sounds of Flamenco music and dance. Featuring impressive costumes and even more impressive vocals and dance moves, this event, Gypsy Fire, brings “the purest form of flamenco” from Andalusia in southern Spain to Toronto for one fantastic evening.
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