PORTISHEAD @ The Sound Acaedmy - October 9, 2011

This weekend, Portishead made their triumphant return to Toronto for the first time in fourteen years - an epic event that led Ashley to make her triumphant return to the Sound Academy for the first time in... three years (give or take). A decision she did not make lightly.

But! Being a big fan of Portishead since early high school, Ashley was determined to relive her glory days no matter what it took, even if that meant revisiting her most despised music venue.

As was expected, Ashley saw absolutely nothing during the show, despite wearing boots with the highest heel she owns and positioning herself in an area that was not overly crowded. The cow-trough like narrowness of the venue eliminates any line of vision for anyone less than 5’5”. Trying to make your way closer to the stage only causes a severe sense of claustrophobia and manages to make the view of the stage even worse.

It’s a lost cause, but at least it was anticipated and the annoyed grumbles were kept to a minimum. And thankfully, the minimal stage show really only consisted of a video screen that reflected distorted images of the band and other psychedelic visuals, so what wasn’t seen wasn’t really missed.

It was the music that made the show and while the sound at the venue isn’t always the best, you barely noticed. With only three albums to pull from, the set list was a good balance between old and newer tunes, their first and last album being so different from each other that it provided quite the contrast in piercing dynamics.

Beth Gibbons poured herself into each song with impeccable self control and barely even bat an eye between the various transitions on stage. With three extra members sharing the stage that night, the band was in full force to recreate the layered brilliance you hear on each album. It all came together beautifully.

But it was the mid set stripped down version of Wandering Star that makes you remember why Portishead are so brilliant. It was so haunting that it gave you chills. This is why they can refrain from touring for fourteen years and still manage to sell out two nights at Toronto’s worst music venue.

All in all, Portishead’s return was definitely something to be thankful for this past Thanksgiving weekend. The Sound Academy?
Definitely not.

Images from Google Images. More good pictures here and here.

We’ll Make Like A Nail and Press On – The Great American Trailer Park Musical Review

Hart House Theatre’s 2011/2012 season kicked off at the end of September with The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which they promised was “a tongue-in-cheek, rockabilly romp filled with strip clubs, hysterical pregnancies and dreams of the Ice Capades”. With a claim like that, we didn’t bother to even look into things any further and eagerly accepted our invitation to this.

Sitting in the best seats Hart House has given us yet, we had a fifth row view of the trashy hijinks of the folks dwelling on the other side of the tracks in a Stark, Florida trailer park. The story is musically narrated by three trailer park dwellers: Betty (Saphire Demitro) – the leader of the pack, clad in a full leopard print body suit, Lin (Jennifer Morris) – whose full name is Linoleum because her mother gave birth to her on the kitchen floor and Donna (Sarite Harris) “Pickles” – who suffers from a severe hysterical (and hilarious) pregnancy. It’s a whole lot of hairspray, leopard print and manicured finger nails – believe us.

The three “ladies” spread gossip throughout the show, keeping us up to date on the details concerning the demising marriage of Jeannie (Janice Hawke), an agoraphobic who hasn’t set foot outside of their trailer in 20 years and Norbert Garstecki (James R. Woods), who’s frustrations with his wife’s issues lands him in the arms of the new girl in town, exotic dancer Pippi (Kelly McCormack). But Pippi’s past, ex-boyfriend Duke (Justin Bott), is hot on her heels and determined to find Pippi and bring her back home, no matter what the cost. Just another day at the trailer park.

We have seen a lot of musicals, two of which have been Hart House productions, and we are rarely disappointed. That said, we can easily say that the quality of the musical numbers in this production is definitely one of the best. The cast is probably one of the most talented casts we’ve seen perform together. The harmonies between Demitro, Morris and Harris are almost angelic at times. Well, angelic with a hint of hick twang, anyway. And the set of... lungs on McCormack are most impressive, especially in her end number where she has the chance to really show off her... talents.

We were suitably impressed that even with a small cast of seven, they were able to pull off such a full bodied play with effective use of props and characters. The dream sequence was absolutely perfect and completely spot on for atypical American trashy talk shows (we’re looking at you, Jerry and Maury!). A sequence which left these CityGirls in hysterical stitches.

From start to finish, the play is laced with stereotypical trailer trash jokes, outrageous dance numbers, cat fights, witty song lyrics and pop culture references that had the audience laughing nonstop throughout the night.


Hart House’s season definitely started on the right side of the tracks. The short three week run ends on October 8, so try and catch it before it’s too late.

images from Hart House website

It Takes a Pair to Beat the Odds - 50/50 Review

To us CityGirls, October has always been known as Rocktober, full of fall concerts and Ashley’s rockin’ birthday. But more importantly, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there are tons of events all through the city in support of Breast Cancer research, including the CIBC’s Run for the Cure (which took place this past Sunday), The Booby Ball (October 14) and Eat to the Beat (October 18).

Though not exactly breast cancer related, this past weekend was also the opening weekend for the movie 50/50, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as 27-year-old Adam who is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend (Seth Rogen), his mother (Angelica Houston), and a young therapist at the cancer center (Anna Kendrick), Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.

Almost everyone has known someone affected by this disease in one way or another and knows how trying, frustrating and scary the entire process can be. They don’t sugar coat it in the film, it’s not a pretty sight, but it does a good job of exploring how each character tries to come to terms with the situation and how each person deals with it in their own way. Seeing it play out on screen, while emotional, can also be somewhat therapeutic and in a way, acts as a subtle reminder to the viewer to pay attention to those things most important in their life as well.

Gordon-Levitt is the new it guy these days. He’s been in big blockbuster movies (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), more indie films (Brick, 500 Days of Summer) and he’s created his own hipster collaborative production company online and still manages to throw himself 100% into everything he does. His performance in the movies speaks for itself, the raw emotion during some of the more intense scenes seems to come from somewhere deep down and watching him break on screen is enough to make your heart break for him or break for anyone you know who has been in his position.

The biggest concern going into the movie was Rogen. We’ve said it time and time again, we just cannot see past Seth Rogen in any role he plays. It’s always the same character, the same kind of jokes, the same approach to roles. It was concerning to see how that stereotypical character would play into this story, but by the end of the film you have a hard time imagining anyone else in that role. In fact, Rogen is exactly the kind of person anyone should want by their side while dealing with something like this. Not only was he severely loyal and supportive, his inappropriate humour is the kind of distraction you need to lighten the mood and keep things in balance.

** Just a little spoiler warning for those of you who want to avoid knowing how the movie plays out**

The film was written by Will Reiser and is based on Reiser’s own battle with cancer in his early 20’s. Close friend Rogen helped him cope with his disease and later convinced him to write the screenplay. The character Rogen plays in the movie is based on his own role in Reiser’s life and many scenes in the movie are based on actual events, including the scene where Rogen applies medicine and jokingly plays around with Adam's back wound. This personal aspect to the film is what makes it worth seeing. Not to mention, creates a whole new level of respect for Rogen.

** End Spoiler **

It’s not a light hearted movie, but it is laced with laugh out loud and uplifting moments which makes for a pretty well rounded, moving film – something you don’t really find all that often anymore.

images from google images