copy copy copy copy copy copy copy copy
Toronto is full of fakes and copycats.
-----
I wrote that line hours ago when I first got into my hotel.
It's much, much later now.
I thought it was 5:17AM. That’s what the clock in my hotel room says.
But now that I’ve turned on my computer, it says it’s only 4:22. Somehow I feel relieved.
I’m AWAKE. 2 Extra strength Tylenol daytime. Large double double. Some crap Red Bull copycat. Add excitement, 5 beers, and an uh, outdoor excursion, and I am sitting 12 stories above Toronto with a snoring dave beside me as I type this in the dark. Today was weird.
But lets start at the beginning.
Toronto is full of fakes and copycats.
I got here by train, which was exciting…kinda. I met a really interesting woman on the way – a PhD nursing student who works with kids with cancer. Somehow my ‘making money from art’ job doesn’t feel so earnest anymore. She was nice. I took the metro to Keith & Richards’ apt on St.Patrick Street,,.I had planned this mini-blog-tribute to those 2, but I won’t unleash the sap on you; I’ll just say that the sight of two people deep in love is a truly beautiful thing. Great, I just made myself throw up a little.
But srsly, I had an amazing 2 days with the amazing power duo; caught up with Keith both days for long walks and good talks. (lookit me, I’m a rapper. Or NOT A RAPPER, as the case may be.) …but it was on said walks that I came up with my observation about fakes and copycats.
As I bustled about today in and out of stores, restaurants, hotels, pedways & cabs, I realized just HOW Rat-Race Toronto is.. Rats eating rats in the race to the top (or bottom).Everyone is biting at the tail of the guy in front of them, trying desperately to move ahead, forward, UP. Those that reject this do so with such flair, that in the McDonalds washroom on Yonge the same guy asked me for change, then turned around and sold meth to a woman who walked in. All while I was trying to take a piss. People asleep in the middle of the sidewalk is not uncommon. The visible poor in this city sadden me…I can’t tell if it’s the (capital-c) City that’s failed them, or with (lower-case c) city – the FUNCTIONAL urban environment that ‘we’ share.
I’ve been here two days and the pretension is killing me. This town seems like it’s desperately clinging to a diminishing sense of cool…tired of DEFINING it, TRYING to BE it for Canada…don’t get me wrong, there are MANY MANY talented, fantastic, creative, intelligent people from, living in, and/or working in Toronto…but man…everybody wants to be YOU. The hair, the shoes, the bands. “get it right, get it right”, they say. And they get it wrong.
I’m glad I got here early to settle into the city a bit before the conference. Toronto is fucking WACK. I had a view filtered by good taste and experience, as K and I walked, he basically pointed out the good and steered me away from bad…but today, on my own and at the events I went to this evening, I’ve decided, as aforementioned, that this place is full of fakes and copycats. I may not have told you that I’m here on work, attending Canadian Music Week – basically an industry conference, centered around a 3-night, 300-band showcase mania. It means booze, record/mangement/agency deals, live music out the fucking wazoo and more booze. All of this, through the fine art of Schmoozing.
I’m fucking BAD at schmoozing. But tonight, with my gameface on strong, I went to the Canadian Indie Awards, which SHOULD have been fucking cool, but really came off as a 1/2assed effort at showcasing CBC-Approved music, just the next in line to be repackaged and sent south as ‘cultural export’.
Don’t get me wrong, as someone in the industry I understand the value of that designation – our artists RELY on it…but a gig where 2500 PAID to see 5 unrelated bands ( hip hop, metal, baaad rock, ok twangness) play one song each, just to sit through two more crappy openers playing longer sets and THEN the headliner, Stars…makes me feel like they’re not even disguising the fact that it’s being SHOVED down your throat.
But I digress.
This conference is going to allow me to put faces to names and voices I’ve dealt with for years…for the first time. I’ll likely make connections that I’ll have for the rest of my career, if not my life. God, when did I turn into such a drama queen?
(I can imagine all my close friends are saying “fuck eli, you ARE a drama queen”)
Either way, color me stoked. In the next three days I’m going to 12 sessions, 8 shows, and seeing over 20 bands. Like:
Shout Out Out Out Out W/Holy Fuck & Mike Relm
MSTRKRFT w/Tricky Woo
Aesop Rock w/Mr. Lif, Cage, El-P, among others…
Nuts. Nuts nuts nuts. I’m gonna lose my head.
Vancouver on Sunday. Coasties, you ready for me?
Fuck, it’s late.
I have to be up in three and 1/2 hours. I’m hearing the first buses, the first traffic spring to life on the street below.
-----
I wrote that line hours ago when I first got into my hotel.
It's much, much later now.
I thought it was 5:17AM. That’s what the clock in my hotel room says.
But now that I’ve turned on my computer, it says it’s only 4:22. Somehow I feel relieved.
I’m AWAKE. 2 Extra strength Tylenol daytime. Large double double. Some crap Red Bull copycat. Add excitement, 5 beers, and an uh, outdoor excursion, and I am sitting 12 stories above Toronto with a snoring dave beside me as I type this in the dark. Today was weird.
But lets start at the beginning.
Toronto is full of fakes and copycats.
I got here by train, which was exciting…kinda. I met a really interesting woman on the way – a PhD nursing student who works with kids with cancer. Somehow my ‘making money from art’ job doesn’t feel so earnest anymore. She was nice. I took the metro to Keith & Richards’ apt on St.Patrick Street,,.I had planned this mini-blog-tribute to those 2, but I won’t unleash the sap on you; I’ll just say that the sight of two people deep in love is a truly beautiful thing. Great, I just made myself throw up a little.
But srsly, I had an amazing 2 days with the amazing power duo; caught up with Keith both days for long walks and good talks. (lookit me, I’m a rapper. Or NOT A RAPPER, as the case may be.) …but it was on said walks that I came up with my observation about fakes and copycats.
As I bustled about today in and out of stores, restaurants, hotels, pedways & cabs, I realized just HOW Rat-Race Toronto is.. Rats eating rats in the race to the top (or bottom).Everyone is biting at the tail of the guy in front of them, trying desperately to move ahead, forward, UP. Those that reject this do so with such flair, that in the McDonalds washroom on Yonge the same guy asked me for change, then turned around and sold meth to a woman who walked in. All while I was trying to take a piss. People asleep in the middle of the sidewalk is not uncommon. The visible poor in this city sadden me…I can’t tell if it’s the (capital-c) City that’s failed them, or with (lower-case c) city – the FUNCTIONAL urban environment that ‘we’ share.
I’ve been here two days and the pretension is killing me. This town seems like it’s desperately clinging to a diminishing sense of cool…tired of DEFINING it, TRYING to BE it for Canada…don’t get me wrong, there are MANY MANY talented, fantastic, creative, intelligent people from, living in, and/or working in Toronto…but man…everybody wants to be YOU. The hair, the shoes, the bands. “get it right, get it right”, they say. And they get it wrong.
I’m glad I got here early to settle into the city a bit before the conference. Toronto is fucking WACK. I had a view filtered by good taste and experience, as K and I walked, he basically pointed out the good and steered me away from bad…but today, on my own and at the events I went to this evening, I’ve decided, as aforementioned, that this place is full of fakes and copycats. I may not have told you that I’m here on work, attending Canadian Music Week – basically an industry conference, centered around a 3-night, 300-band showcase mania. It means booze, record/mangement/agency deals, live music out the fucking wazoo and more booze. All of this, through the fine art of Schmoozing.
I’m fucking BAD at schmoozing. But tonight, with my gameface on strong, I went to the Canadian Indie Awards, which SHOULD have been fucking cool, but really came off as a 1/2assed effort at showcasing CBC-Approved music, just the next in line to be repackaged and sent south as ‘cultural export’.
Don’t get me wrong, as someone in the industry I understand the value of that designation – our artists RELY on it…but a gig where 2500 PAID to see 5 unrelated bands ( hip hop, metal, baaad rock, ok twangness) play one song each, just to sit through two more crappy openers playing longer sets and THEN the headliner, Stars…makes me feel like they’re not even disguising the fact that it’s being SHOVED down your throat.
But I digress.
This conference is going to allow me to put faces to names and voices I’ve dealt with for years…for the first time. I’ll likely make connections that I’ll have for the rest of my career, if not my life. God, when did I turn into such a drama queen?
(I can imagine all my close friends are saying “fuck eli, you ARE a drama queen”)
Either way, color me stoked. In the next three days I’m going to 12 sessions, 8 shows, and seeing over 20 bands. Like:
Shout Out Out Out Out W/Holy Fuck & Mike Relm
MSTRKRFT w/Tricky Woo
Aesop Rock w/Mr. Lif, Cage, El-P, among others…
Nuts. Nuts nuts nuts. I’m gonna lose my head.
Vancouver on Sunday. Coasties, you ready for me?
Fuck, it’s late.
I have to be up in three and 1/2 hours. I’m hearing the first buses, the first traffic spring to life on the street below.
posted by Eli at 10:43 AM
1 Comments:
I'm sure you've got a copy of Globe&Mail & your quotes:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060301.EDMONTON01/TPStory/?query=
You should keep that, keep in touch with the writer/editor. If you want to increase your stature in 'the business' then it's not bad to become a dial-a-quote (the one reporters rely on for a quick quote because they know you'll always call them back in a timely matter). Often when you become their 'expert' they'll rely on you for articles unrelated to what you originally started out talking about (Edmonton).
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