Ontario colleges and universities facing class action lawsuit (09/13/2007)

She Wants Revenge

There’s good and bad news about She Wants Revenge’s sophomore release, This Is Forever. The bad news: it sounds exactly the same as their first album. The good news: it sounds exactly the same as their first album.

That’s always been the central conundrum of She Wants Revenge. Originality is not their strong point, but they never meant for it to be. The music, even sometimes the song titles, are a precisely calculated homage to post-punk and Depeche Mode style New Wave. Of course, you can’t go wrong with that, and there’s no denying that the songs are good. There’s a kind of genius in their achievement, an admirable exercise in excellent style over substance. What keeps the whole thing from slipping into tired parody is that She Wants Revenge is doing it with tongue firmly in cheek.

Like their first album, the new one This Is Forever, starts off with a moody electro instrumental piece, First Love. The rest of the album essentially follows suit with varying degrees of success. Written In Blood is the weakest song. It comes off as less knowing homage and more like a formulaic pastiche. The fun wears a bit thin on She Will Always Be a Broken Girl and Replacement. One song starts to blend into the next.

There are some genuinely good moments. All Those Moments is a gentler counterpoint to First Love, and is a welcome change of pace. Checking Out’s Sisters of Mercy style guitar and bass play to the duo’s strengths. Closer Rachael is the most successful song; it’s moody and coolly detached, and the brazen influences come off as cheeky rather than tired.

There’s not much new in This Is Forever. There doesn’t have to be. It’s all in good fun, and even though the party is winding down it isn’t quite over yet.

Slaying the Eternal Hydra

The discovery of a long-lost modernist masterpiece sparks an exploration of art, identity and truth in Eternal Hydra at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto.

The eponymous book was authored by the fictional Gordias Carbunkle. His character and book are based on James Joyce; unfortunately, the play too frequently tips its hat to Joyce’s style. It’s long and the plot jumps back and forth in time and place, between the characters’ reality and passages from the book. There are plenty of high ideas floating around about the nature of art, truth and morality, including a subplot about racism that feels awkwardly tacked on. But the ideas, while compelling, don’t quite connect with the plot or the audience.

The play starts well. An obsessive scholar, Vivian Ezra (Liisa Repo-Martell), presents her closely guarded prize to a publisher. It’s the legendary book Eternal Hydra, penned by the fictional modernist Gordias Carbunkle (David Ferry) 70 years ago. Vivian has brooded over the manuscript for six years, annotating and footnoting all 99 dense chapters. So extreme is her devotion that she believes the spirit of Carbuncle speaks to her and lives with her. Carbunkle appears onstage with her. The other characters only interact with him during scenes from Gordias’ life or novel.

The plot starts to go off the rails somewhere during the second act. Playwright Anton Piatigorsky is trying to look at modernism through post-modernism eyes. The result is that as each character tells their unique part of the story, plot threads are picked up and dropped far too quickly.

The same set is used throughout the play: an oblong table, four chairs, two benches. It functions effectively as a board room, Vivian’s office, Carbunkle’s Paris flat, and a cobbler’s workshop in 19th century New Orleans.

The actors are excellent, despite unconvincing Irish and Creole accents. This is a workshop production, according to director Chris Abraham, with new lines being added and others removed after each performance. The changes didn’t seem to faze the cast. Even when the plot dragged they kept the audience’s attention with subtly nuanced performances.

The play debuted in 2002 as a one act show at the Stratford Festival.

Eternal Hydra’s big ideas get a bit lost in the shifting points of view and plot twists. It’s a work in progress, and it feels like one. Piatigorsky and Abraham haven’t slain their hydra yet.

Tesseracts 11

Photo: Nicole Votta

The Bakka Phoenix bookstore in Toronto was packed with sci-fi fans eagerly awaiting the launch of Tesseracts 11 on Saturday. The anthology highlights a rich diversity of voices, with stories ranging from dystopian futures and transferred memories, to teenage sex and rock and roll.

Contributors from across Ontario and Quebec were on hand to give readings and sign copies of the books. Madeline Ashby described herself as a ‘closet American’ and started the readings off with a selection from her story ‘In Which Joe and Laurie Save Rock and Roll’. Claude Lalumière, David Nickle, Kim Goldberg, Kate Reidel rounded out the panel.

The authors chatted with the fans and answered questions during the signing.

Claude Lalumière, Montreal-based author of ‘The Object of Worship’ and book reviewer for the Montreal Gazette, said the launch party couldn’t have gone better.

“It was fun,” Lalumière said. “It had a good mood, and it felt like a celebration, which is always nice.”

During the readings, several of the authors remarked that stumbling across a copy of Tesseracts was a pivotal moment for them. Seeing a collection of purely Canadian work gave them the impetus to start writing.

“It serves a specific niche because it’s the only anthology release of Canadian short fiction,” Lalumière said. “In the speculative world it highlights the Canadian voice, which is very different from any other national voice.”

Lalumière thinks Tesseracts 11 brings a new perspective to the venerable series. New authors, varied themes and styles create a dynamic feel to the book.

“I’ve only read two or three, and so far this is my favorite,” he said. “It’s really all over the map. It does feel a bit fresher and younger maybe than some of the previous ones.”

Tessearacts 12 is already being edited. Lalumière has the editorial reins this time, and he says fans of speculative fiction can expect surprises from his edition. He plans to shake up the formula even more.

“I think it’s probably going to be very different from anything we’ve seen so far,” he said. “I have very quirky tastes, and I think that’s going to show up. I like to push the envelope.”

the does at the Smiling Buddha

the does post-show. Photo: Nicole Votta

Devoted fans faithfully turned out to see the does band play the Smiling Buddha on a miserable, wet Monday night. The stormy weather suited their moody rock tunes perfectly.

“We’re the band you listen to in the dark,” singer Carol Ann said.

Diablo Red started the night out with a set of stoner rock tinged metal. The singer, Rob, disappointed the crowd only by not speaking between songs in the same growl he sang in.

Then it was time for the does. Drummer Alex Croft and guitarist Neddal Ayad set the mood with a slow paced improvised instrumental number. Singer Carol Ann and bassist Nicole Lee joined them on stage and the band launched into a driving version of their song ‘Ice and Snow’.

They put on an intense performance, well worth braving the elements for. There’s a raw edge to their music, a roughness that contrasts with and complements the simple arrangements. Neddal Ayad’s ragged guitar and Carol Ann’s voice are the musical core of the band’s sound. It’s a dramatic tension they know how to use.

“Make ‘em cry, Nicole,” Ayad said to Lee as the band began the bass driven ballad ‘Gunfighter’.
Broken hearts and moodiness aside, they do have a sense of humour about what they do.
“Neddal does it to pick up the hipster chicks,” Croft said.

The coming months will be busy for the Toronto- based band. Their packed schedule includes shows at the Bovine Sex Club. They’re working on a full-length release tentatively scheduled for March 2008.

Gorey Tales

PHOTO BY PERMISSION OF THE OSBORNE COLLECTION OF EARLY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AND THE GOREY CHARITABLE TRUST
Edward Gorey's illustrations for Little Red Riding Hood

Gorey Tales, a new exhibit at the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Literature in Toronto, explores the more playful side of artist Edward Gorey.

Gorey is best known for his illustrations of faintly ridiculous Edwardian socialites, mustachioed men in long fur coats, unfortunate children and many cats. His art combines macabre subject matter with a dry wit to create a whimsical and sinister world. His illustrations and set designs for Dracula, and the opening credit animation for the long-running PBS series Mystery! made him famous. He has also stamped his unmistakable style on children’s book illustrations.

The Osborne Collection is located at the Lillian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library. Over 80,000 rare children’s books are housed here, along with an accompanying gallery. Leslie McGrath, the department head at the Osborne Collection, said Gorey’s popularity has been drawing healthy crowds to the library.

“I think it’s been one of our best attended exhibits in years because his appeal is so broad,” she said.

A version of Little Red Riding Hood demonstrates Gorey’s versatility. The tiny figure of Red Riding Hood on the cover looks both innocent and slightly worried, but the heavy cross-hatching that usually characterizes his drawings is absent. While definitely Gorey, it’s much lighter than other pieces.

In The Dwindling Party, Gorey’s mordant humor is much more obvious. Pictures and pop-up pages illustrate the unhappy demise of the MacFizzit family during vacation, leaving only young Neville alive at the end.

Some of the miniature books Gorey has illustrated are scattered among the larger picture books. They’re merely an inch long, but the thumbnail sized illustrations are detailed and impressive.
Other children’s books, with darker themes from the Osborne Collection, are also on display. They help to anchor Gorey’s work firmly in the tradition of illustrated children’s books. Early versions of familiar fairy tales and popular Punch and Judy stories have distinctly dark undertones. McGrath said that’s something she hopes people will appreciate in this exhibit.

“There’s a long, fascinating tradition of this type of material in children’s publishing,” she said. “You can go right back to early materials to the world upside down […] on through Struwwelpeter, and even through Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark. There’s a long tradition of the macabre and the interesting, cautionary tales, in children’s books.”

The exhibit also includes some of his best known work, like a first edition of The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Doubtful Guest, and a toy theatre Gorey based on his award-winning costumes and set design for Dracula.

The variety of material in Gorey Tales creates a picture of an artist able to apply his idiosyncratic style to the serious and whimsical alike. It’s been a pleasant surprise for many visitors, McGrath said.

“People can come in who don’t think about this person as a children’s illustrator, and they realize a good illustrator is a good illustrator, whether he’s doing adult books, children’s books, doesn’t really matter,” she said.

Orn at the Smiling Buddha

Orn filled the Smiling Buddha in Toronto with a palpable wall of doom last Friday night. Dense waves of feedback and a low-end throb were felt as much as heard by the enthusiastic crowd that packed the venue. They played a two-song set that still clocked in at 30 minutes.

Orn isn’t quite your typical doom metal band. The long, droning songs and the tortured wail of vocalist Adam Cooper are classic doom. But the structure is minimal to the point of being avant-garde. Cooper, guitarist Dan Ross and drummer Justin Smith created an affecting soundscape of feedback and simple, heavy beats.

The three of them started the band a year ago, and have only played one other show. Ross, a shaggy, bearded political science doctoral candidate, commented on Orn’s slow, steady pace before the show.

“Like all things in doom metal we move very, very slowly,” Ross said.

They drew a surprisingly mixed crowd. The usual metal heads in bullet belts and ratty hair rubbed shoulders with hipsters in bandanas and Cons. Doom metal has gotten a stamp of approval from magazines like Vice, and another Toronto-based doom outfit, Nadja, has gotten coverage in mainstream media.

Everyone seemed equally caught up in the music though. Any song that can hold your attention for 20 minutes has to be good. The crowd pressed right up to the edge of the stage, and even the most detached hipsters rocked out to the pulses of noise.

Orn have just released an EP, Teeth/Knowing. They plan to gig around Toronto and eventually release a full-length album.

Unlike other bands in the doom scene, like Sunn 0))), who put on pretentious, conceptualized shows, an Orn show is refreshingly down to earth. They’re just three guys in black playing their hearts out, no props or robes needed.

“There’s nothing complicated or tricky, it doesn’t ask you to be over-sophisticated or to intellectualize what you’re looking to do,” Ross said. “It’s just big, loud, stupid music. I think sometimes people just want to listen to big, loud, stupid music.”