A Funkaoshi Production

The Nightlife at College and Bathurst

   2 August 2004, early evening

Prologue

Carvill showed up at my house a little after 5:00. The two of us went to get some Sushi since my house was being overrun by my brothers friends. While eating raw fish we discussed the best way to spend the evening. I watch a lot of movies, so movies are always an option. However, sometimes it is nice to do something a bit different. The two of us came back to my place, and looked up what was happening in the city. I remembered my friend Matt was spinning at a club downtown, and looking up its address I learnt the club was at College and Bathurst. There were lots of places in that area worth checking out, so the two of us decided on some places we could go see, and left to begin our adventure downtown.

Hallelujah @ Cobalt

As I have mentioned before, my friend Matt promotes music under the name Transient Orange. On sunday he spins at the Cobalt for a night he calls Hallelujah. Carvill and I began our adventure in the city at Cobalt.

I won’t lie to you, I was expecting Cobalt to look like B-Sides. That is to say, I was expecting Cobalt to be a dive. I was shocked to discover Cobalt is very nice. You could take a date there and she would be impressed with your taste.

When Carvill and I arrived we were the first people there. Mind you, we arrived at the very beginning of the night, 9:30 to be exact. We grabbed a seat in front of Matt at the DJ booth, and discussed our respective lives, politics and music. It was a very chilled out way to start our evening. The music was great, and quiet enough you didn’t have to yell at the person sitting next to you.

I told Matt that we wanted to check out some bands playing at a place across the street. He informed me that the event across the street was called Wavelength, and that we probably wouldn’t be disappointed.

Wavelength @ Sneaky Dee’s

Every Sunday, the Wavelength Music Series takes place at Sneaky Dee’s, a dive in the �ber-trendy College and Bathurst area of Toronto. As part of our adventure in the area, Carvill and I went down to check out the acts that were playing. Now magazine had given the event a thumbs up, so I had high hopes for the evening.

Carvill and I began our night at Sneaky Dee’s at the back of the bar. The music was loud, and I was more or less unimpressed with the first act of the night. He wasn’t bad, I just didn’t enjoy the music he was making. Carvill felt the same way.

While at the back of the bar, I noticed a girl dressed in a dress that had to have been from the 50s, blue fishnet stockings, white pumps, and pearls. She reminded me of a friend of mine from high school. I turned to Carvill and said, “If Kate McGee was here, that is what she would be wearing.” Carvill and I made our way from the back of the bar closer to the front as the first act began to wind down his set. As we passed the aforementioned girl, she yelled out my name.

I haven’t seen Kate in something like 6 years. She is apparently trying to finish up the longest undergraduate degree ever, and has been doing artsy-fartsy stuff like singing and writing in between. She interviewed one of the bands that was going to be playing at the end of the night and gave Carvill and I a copy of the Wavelength zine. Kate confirmed that the band playing at the end of the night were quite good, and that the next band up were also supposed to be quite good. They were.

“This song is a bit more upbeat, so it’l probably be your only chance to dance.”

A Vertical Mosaic were a cool 3-piece band, making electro-pop music. I thought they had a Depeche Mode feel to them, but I really don’t know if that is all in my head. Regardless, Carvill and I really enjoyed their set. Despite the band’s claims to the contrary, they actually have several songs one could ‘dance’ too. Carvill and I were in no mood to dance, so we sat and listened intently to their set.

They are playing a show at the Drake Hotel next week (Aug 7th 2004, 1150 Queen St. West), so people interested in hearing something fresh should go check them out. Carvill bought their EP, though was disappointed to learn that more then half of the tracks on the EP were made by another artist, Le Monochrome. You can grab Mp3’s from A Vertical Mosaic’s web site if you are interested in hearing their music.

Carvilll and I had planned to leave at this point, drop back in on Matt, and then come back to hear the last band play. Kate wouldn’t hear of it. Apparently the next band would be ready quite soon, and we wouldn’t want to miss any of their set. She was right about that.

Femme Generation have one of the ugliest web sites I have ever seen. I can’t knock them for it because they make fucking awesome music. The band make what others have called “new wave dance punk”. I can’t think of a better label, so I will stick with that.

The lead singer has a wicked voice, which is what I think I enjoyed most about the band. Femme Generation had the biggest crowd of the night. People were all around the stage listening to them play their set. Carvill and I sat behind Kate and her friend who were running the door at this point in the evening. I grabbed the bands CD, and watched as plenty of others followed suit. The 6 song EP is quite good, and if you can get a copy, you should do so.

The music the band makes reminds me a bit of the music Elastica were putting out on their second album. Again, that might all be in my head. You can see them play at The Rivoli on August 18th if you are so inclined. I think you would be remiss not to go and hear them play.

After their set ended Carvill and I returned to Cobalt to say bye to Matt before heading back to Scarborough. The evening turned out really well.

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