Dears @ Shoe, Last Saturday
The Dears at The Horseshoe. It’s prog-rock crooning, it’s Mel Torme karaokaing to Dazed and Confused, and the long and the short of it is: crooning wins. The Dears will live and die by the strength of Murray Lightburn’s voice. If things get all Jailhouse Rock and he gets punched in the throat, it’s over. It was a good set, except midway they delved into a lackluster and vocal-free prog-wank that killed any momentum – from that point on they were winning the crowd back rather than bowling them over. Interestingly, a co-worker mentioned that the last time he saw them the prog-wank developed into one of their popular songs, and it worked much better; at the Horseshoe they cut it short and saved the song for an encore. Goes to show that life can turn on these pivotal points, or something like that.
They’re playing for free, it would seem, on July 6 at that urban abomination, the Dundas-Yonge Square. I wonder what they’ll be like in The Great Outdoors (or downtown Toronto anyway).
OK we should go. That’s such a curious place, that square – seems like people don’t know what to do with it yet. Haven’t really hung out there at all myself, but then again why would I?
I know what you mean. There’s nowhere to sit, except hard as asphalt benches around the side, and there’s a bloody sprinkler system smack dab in the middle of it; not exactly conducive to hanging out in. There are about five times as many people loitering outside the bloody Eaton Centre entrance than there are in Toronto’s “new public space”. Disaster. And what’s with that bizarre roof thing on the north side? I heard someone describe it as apiece of the Gardiner expressway; very apt i would say.
Apparently it’s illegal to skateboard there. That’s so 70s, man. I guess I can’t smoke my grass there either? Or make love to my twenty supermodel wives?
I must insist that you can make love to your 20 supermodel wives anywhere you damn well please. Supermodels transcend even civic laws, don’t you know.
If you can’t skate there, I guess it can’t be used as a site for Avril’s new “film”. Tres domage.