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The big One I caught and the One that got away
During my time programming with the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival two sets of events stand out amongst the rest for very opposite reasons. The first set of events were actually a special pre-festival showcase that combined music with a wonderful visual art exhibition in the downstairs space of the Berkeley Church. The first night of…
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Smoking Jazz Hands
My three years programming for the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival was a whirlwind of great music and high drama. Most of the drama was from the festival and ultimately led to me having to sue them for my last pay cheque (which they did settle eventually). Also, it was a constant battle convincing them of the…
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Super Danes and DJ Skates
Over the six years I worked at Harbourfront Centre I promoted hundreds of concerts, art openings, literary events and even a ferris wheel that you sat in cars instead of the usual seats. Music highlights for me included a working afternoon with dynamo diva Angelique Kidjo as well as singing/dancing at concerts by Billy Bragg, Los…
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The Flyer Vault
I first met Daniel Tate, the creator and curator of the exceptional The Flyer Vault project, when he was an elder teenager working on shows with the R.E.M.G. crew (I was publicizing their shows at the time). He was always a joy to work with and we had many laughs and “wow, did that just happen?!”…
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Dig.ing.it.aLL at The Rivoli
One of my favourite music projects/series I did was called dig.it.aLL (a play on the word digital) – which was a fusion of live electronica with DJs and visuals. The main reason I liked it so much was I had almost total control of all elements (bands, concept, the look, promotion, the venue) and it…
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Beyond your Comfort Zone
I suppose the best way to launch a blog about working in the live music and club scene is to start where I began, at the infamous The Comfort Zone. Of all the venues I took part in, people are always most interested about this one as they have heard rumours about it and/or had…
FlyerEncore.ca 