I must still be in Toronto, because it's still effing freezing!
Today I started the morning heading over to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). A little closer to the hotel and therefore a little less painful to get to. It was nice to get there early again and be ahead of a weekend crowd. A few of my highlights are as follows:
1) The European Gallery which had two walls each of impressionist and academic paintings. Explanations throughout explained the differences in styles and also the difference in hangings. The academic filled as many square inches of the wall as possible, whereas the impressionists use of space highlighted their work. Great to see to contradictory styles in the one room. My favorite picture in here was by Luigi Bazzani, called Arch of Septimus Severus.
2) The Henry Moore Sculpture Center. Many of the same sculptures that graced Aria Resort & Casino's (Reclining Connected Forms), that sat behind the Concierge desk. All the pieces had been donated to the museum by Moore himself.
3) Pop Up On The Dot Talks. Museum staff will pick random pictures and discuss them with anyone around. As it so happens I passed 2 employees standing in front of a painting (for the life of me I can't remember the paining), with no one else interested in a talk, so we spoke for half an hour about the painting. As a non artist, and a very passive art admirer, this conversation allowed me an insight into these pictures I never would have got on my own.
4) The art of native Canadian sculptor, Manasie Akpaliapik. I always use the phrase "I don't know art, but I know what I like." And Manasie's sculptures, done in bone, ivory, wood and stone, are just magnificent.
After the gallery I walked down to Queen Street in search of lunch. I had chosen Chippy's - a fish and chip shop in English-influenced Canada, can't go wrong. I am never satisfied when having that meal in the US, so I was hoping for the best. What I got, after walking a couple of miles away from town, was a store closed for the season. I ended up in the expensive Burger's Priest, as hunger took over and I wanted to eat there and then.
I continued my walk through the city, passing the CN Tower (didn't have the balls to go up) and down to the waterfront. Watched folks ice-skate in a rink by the harbor. I looked for a rental place, not that I would've done it, but it seems it was locals only with their own skates. Afterwards I continued walking around the city, just taking in the sights until the cold got to me again and I ended up back at the Double Tree late in the afternoon.
The plan was to head out to Danforth, eat dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse before heading to The Tea Party. HBO, cold weather, a Die Hard and uninterrupted-silence-of-no-children changed that to arriving at the Danforth Music Hall a couple of songs into the Road Heavy's set. Another solid set from them entertained a more enthused crowd tonight.
Tonight's show seemed better than last night. Not sure if it was because I was on the main floor, close to the stage. Regardless, both the band and crowd were in better form. Again the Transmission set sounded better than the album itself, with Babylon and Temptation being the highlights. There were a couple of small changes in the 2nd set, which made my night. Firstly the snippet of Tool's Sober in the middle of Release Me, led into the song I'd traveled 1600 miles to see. Fire In The Head is the Tea Party's greatest song as far as I'm concerned, and tonight they played it just for me (I could tell). The local crowd however went bananas for the Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois song The Messenger, which I'd never heard before. Again the encore was a medley of the fantastic Winter Solstice and Sister Awake, which included short cuts from The Stone's Paint It Black and Bowie's Heroes.
Overall 2 great nights. I'm glad to see the Tea Party still has it after not having the opportunity to see them for so long. Hopefully there will be a chance to drag them further south in the future. Had a blast in my first visit to Toronto (I want to come back in not winter). What a great city! Was also grateful to just have a couple of days away on my own - this is something I like to do and with kids, doesn't happen often any more.
The Crap Facts:
This is my 416th concert.
This is my 2nd concert at Danforth Music Hall.
This is my 2nd concert in Toronto.
This is my 2nd concert in Ontario.
This is my 3rd concert in Canada.
This is my 2nd Road Heavy concert.
This is my 7th Tea Party concert.
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