Lougheed

Triple Fantasy

I remember listening to John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" on my Radio Shack turntable.  Songs like "Woman", "Beautiful Boy", "Starting Over" and "Watching the Wheels" were magical and take me back to that time when I hear them today.  Even the weird Yoko songs like "Kiss Kiss Kiss" and "Give me Something" bring back memories. 

I was listening to the album and discovering the  Beatles back collection when Lennon was shot in December 1980.  I happened to be listening to the radio and even though I was only eight years old, I knew it was a big moment in time.

Musicals suck.

But not this one.  My buddy gave us tickets to "Spamalot" at Toronto's Canon theatre when he couldn't use them.  I've never been a fan of musicals but this one was pretty damned good.  Self-aware, funny,  slightly edgy, well-orchestrated, and just genuinely entertaining.  I've never been a massive Monty Python fan but I enjoyed it.

Flickr Zeitgiest

It was, like, massive.

Bruce Mau's Massive Change exhibit at the AGO closed last week.  I enjoyed it.   It was an hour and a half of how Bruce thinks design will improve urban living and rescue planet Earth.  Segways, wheelchairs that climb stairs, machines that convert poop water to Evian - all of the above will save us.

I enjoyed it because it made me think about how crash test dummies and computer modelling have saved lives.  And how military domination has afforded civilians some pretty sweet inventions like night vision.  Or how funny it is to imagine a Texan cocking his head back in knee-buckling laughter when he sees one of the Swiss-made solo-mobiles Bruce has in the exhibition.  We came not knowing much about Bruce Mau and left wondering little more.  Pair that up with sushi at Ho Su on Queen and you've got a decent little afternoon.

Crystal Method

It was announced today that Daniel Libeskind has been comissioned to reinvent the Hummingbird Centre in Toronto.  I remember it as the old O'Keefe Centre and as the place I saw the Nutcracker Suite with my family as a teenager.  Growing up, I was always a fan (still am) of City TV's "The New Music".  I remember one segment was shot at the O'Keefe in the late 70s when the Clash had played a show there the night before.  The band surveyed the empty auditorium from the stage, and it was clear that a good five or six seats in the first three rows were destroyed.  I think it was Joe Strummer who sneered and said "Looks like there's only 6 fuckin rock and roll fans in Toronto."  It seems like such a strange venue for a early punk rock show, and now Mr. Libeskind will bring it into the new millenium with something big, bejewelled, and future modern.

OCAD

The Ontario College of Art & Design is in the heart of Queen Street West. Brit Will Aslop designed this $30 million curiosity that overlooks Grange Park, very close to my office and home. My friend Mark Wallace loves it, my wife hates it, and I think the idea of it is cooler than the actual structure. I don't have to look at it every day, and it serves as a good reminder of "why the hell not?".


I stumbled on a blog that refers to the OCAD classroom structure as the "ugliest in the world". The blogger quotes another reviewer who quips (and I quote):

"This exercise in hyper-entropic avant garde faggotry is so cutting edge that it is already out of date. The only question: which of the two conjoined buildings is more cruelly ridiculous?"
http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200311.html

Good critque - great use of "faggotry".

New Gehry

The new Frank Gehry bandshell at Chicago's Millennium Park. The crisscrossing pipes hold suspended speakers that I'm sure make for great sound. Looks amazing.