That Night in Toronto

Greetings from the shores of Lake Ontario, now and forever. Join the map resistance! And yes, I just downloaded MapQuest. I went to see Blue Rodeo last week for the first time in more than 20 years, inspired mostly by the recent documentary. As political fate would have it, the evening helped mark a particularly weird time in Canadian political history, reports Nick Krewen. Jim Cuddy spoke directly to fans about the moment.

This week is the biannual Ashkenaz festival in Toronto, with some big names like the Klezmatics and Dobranotch — well, big names to klezmer aficionados, anyway. Two very different acts from Toronto and Montreal, who share a clarinetist, have excellent new albums out this summer, and share a free bill this Sunday, August 30 at Supermarket. (independent) Toronto is blessed with several skilled klezmer bands; only Queen Kong sounds truly contemporary.

I went to see Dolly Parton in 2016, at Ontario Place. That was the year that Bowie and Prince left; Gord Downie was going; Leonard Cohen soon followed. It felt like the right time to appreciate legends while they’re alive: now or never. As it now turns out, that was the last time Parton played Toronto.

Summer is the time when I’m most likely to reconnect with old friends from 30 years ago (or more), and lo and behold, here are two new records from ’90s survivors featured in Have Not Been the Same — a book that turns 25 this fall. (Blue Fog) Rick White and Julie Doiron once fronted Eric’s Trip, a.k.a. the opening act most likely to confound Tragically Hip fans.

I researched, wrote, and edited The Never-Ending Present in six months, from April to October 2017. During that time, while interviewing dozens of the Tragically Hip’s peers, friends and other observers, I asked each one of them where they were on August 20, 2016, when the band played their final show.

Next week marks the 10th anniversary of the Tragically Hip’s final show, held in their hometown in Kingston, after a historic cross-country arena tour. It was the first time in history that a singer of a major rock band had toured with a terminal condition, making the event undeniably morbid — but also celebratory, a unique experience for performer and audience to say farewell, to reckon with mortality, the loss of our collective youth, in real time.

I had a couple of Colombian records on deck to review this month, including Lido Pimienta’s newest, when the country was hit by both bad political news of the Trumpian type, and a terrible natural tragedy. Lido doesn’t yet have a Toronto gig to promote her new record, but she is DJing at a show here this week by Voces del Beullerengue, a group of elderly Colombian women who sing traditional songs in a style not unlike Totó la Momposina (for all you ’90s RealWorld fans).

This summer marks 25 years since Broken Social Scene, Stars and Metric began to make their mark on Canadian music history. To mark the occasion — and new albums by Metric and BSS — all three bands are touring together. All three are central characters in my 2022 book Hearts on Fire.

It took me decades to come around to tribute acts; I’m still wary, but will make exceptions. And I’m downright allergic to jukebox musicals. The Secret Chord: The Leonard Cohen Experience, though, is thankfully neither of those. It’s brilliant. You should see it while you can: it’s on until August 16 at the Mirvish theatre on Yonge north of Wellesley. Apologies for the late notice, but, if possible, you should see it this weekend while Divine Brown is still in the cast.

The big Toronto news this week is, of course, that the federal government (finally) kaiboshed the province’s ill-formed plan for a massive expansion of the Toronto Island airport. Thank you to NoJetsTO and everyone who lobbied against what would have been a massive negation of all the waterfront improvements of the last 20 years (which doesn’t include whatever the hell is going on at Ontario Place).