Listed below is a selection of my writing published on other blogs and magazines.
She Does the City
Massive Attack at the Sound Academy
“If someone asked me how I spent my Mother’s Day and I replied back, “Oh, I took in a trip hop concert,” chances are, I’d get a funny look. Indeed, I did get a funny look when I told my sister I was lighting out of town early to catch Massive Attack play at the Sound Academy last night.”
PRODUCT Toronto
PRODUCT magazine is one of the few free print magazines that has both good photographers and writers. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I didn’t get to interview Matt Dusk, Lucian Matis and Emma-Lee for nothing. Click on the image to view full-size.
Matt Dusk
Mitch Bedermann
Phil Carvahlo and Martin Deenen
Ninutik Maple Sugar
Rent Frock Repeat
Justin Kwan
City Voices
The Genteel
|FAT| Arts & Fashion Week Gets Therapeutic (Web Archive)
“If you’re curious about the zeitgeist, look no further than Toronto’s | FAT | Arts & Fashion Week. The 200 Canadian and international fashion designers and artists showcasing their work during the five-day event are more aware of the sign of the times than Marshall McLuhan and Noam Chomsky combined.”
Mozart Made Modern (No longer online)
“In the Canadian Opera Company’s (COC) production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, costume designer Terese Wadden creates a visual reminder of the universal themes in the Maestro’s penultimate opera: youth, indecision, betrayal and, ultimately, forgiveness. Without Wadden’s rich and colourful costumes, the cast would fade into the background, a fate that would do no service to the music of the great Wolfgang Amadeus – even if it was an opera that was hastily cobbled together in his final year of life.”
Death is Only the Beginning (Web Archive)
“When Amy Winehouse died on July 23, 2011 from an alleged detox seizure, she had two albums under her belt. Her Back to Black album was her biggest commercial success. It won five Grammys and sold seven million copies in Europe alone. In an age where the record is considered a dying beast, thanks to the 99c iTunes single, it was Amy’s golden goose. She was a god amongst contemporary musicians and a source of great inspiration to many young women whose musical aspirations didn’t include shaking their ass for gold records but rather pouring their heart and soul into sound. But, as we all know, Amy’s career stalled out due to alcohol and drug addiction, catastrophic hounding by the press, a bad marriage and, ultimately, her own body’s defeat.”
Anna Sui; Disco Fever with a Twist (Web Archive)
“It’s 1978 and my sister is squalling to life right before the dawn of a new decade. In a low-rise walk-up, Gina drops the needle onto the first record and puts on her outfit for the night. She’s going dancing, baby, and there’s nothing that can stop her. Thirty-some years later, Anna Sui will be inspired by an act of kismet to create a S/S 2012 collection that channels the beating disco heart of that era.”
Orla Kiely Fashion + Music: Up in the Haystacks (Web Archive)
“If I had grown up on a farm as a fresh-faced young milkmaid, I would certainly have been the kind to regularly slip away at sundown to lie in the haystacks and listen to music. The soft pale skirts and sheerness of Kiely’s fabrics are the perfect answer to sweltering nights – sadly gone now, as September quickly slips by. For just a little while longer, though, walk with me through one of those warm summer nights, with this soundtrack playing in the background”
Torontoist
On Temperance Street, a 19th Century Building’s Renaissance
“Sometimes you find a diamond in the rough in the heart of the city. Take, for example, the Dineen Building, located in the Financial District, at the corner of Yonge and Temperance streets. It’s a heritage building that has recently been restored by a developer called Commercial Realty Group.”