Yonge Street Revitalization (Downtown Yonge BIA/City of Toronto)

[freshcutgrass]

What do the locals think of this stretch? Aside from a few respectable patches, this section of Yonge seems generally seedy and decrepit. It's a shame, as it could be so much more. I'd like to see it refreshed and cleaned up, get rid of condom shacks, jewelry/pawn shops, and all those scuzzy looking stores that sell nothing but cheap junk. Maybe these add character, I don't know

Yonge looked just as "seedy and decrepit" in its heyday. What made it great was not what it looked like, but what went on there. All the venues that made it iconic are all gone and all the pretty facade restorations in the world won't bring it back...but hey...at least it will "look" nicer. The golden age of Yonge (50's - 80's) is over. If you weren't there, then you just won't know.

At the very least when Platinum Blonde were young they seldom let anybody tell them which way to piss unlike these young kids now.

And music did not consist of just pure commercial pop. It was a very creative time (late 70's - early 80's). Experimental stuff in every direction was going on. Nash the Slash certainly wasn't going to be on the Billboard top 20 LOL but the likes of Gary Numan or Iggy Pop were impressed enough to tour with him. Not a Toronto act, but does anybody remember Klaus Nomi? I look at this Gaga nonsense and think to myself...much better when people like Grace Jones was doing it...30-odd years ago.

 

[Lenser]

Not a Toronto act, but does anybody remember Klaus Nomi? I look at this Gaga nonsense and think to myself...much better when people like Grace Jones was doing it...30-odd years ago.

There you go... sounding like an old fart again!

I remember Klaus Nomi. His stage presence and demeanour reminded me of the Dadaist movement in Zurich. I guess what goes around comes around.

 

[freshcutgrass]

I remember Klaus Nomi. His stage presence and demeanour reminded me of the Dadaist movement in Zurich. I guess what goes around comes around.

I'm sure you weren't there. But at least you made the effort at some point to be aware of the avant-garde movement. Musically speaking, the Dadaist would have more in common with hip hop than opera.

This video reminds me of Dada....and from the "golden age" of the music video.


[video=youtube_share;Z0XLzIswI2s]http://youtu.be/Z0XLzIswI2s[/video]

 

[Lenser]

Nope, wasn't there in the cafes of Zurich when Dada busted open. I would have to be almost twice as old as I am to have performed that feat. But there are pictures and surviving artworks from that period. It was a brash and punkish time and the energy and fearless expression reminds me of punk/new wave and all the astonishing variety that came with it.

About Dada and hiphop - I'll let that slide. I was more referencing Nomi's look and performance attitude, which strikes me as very much in the rich tradition of cabaret and underground theatre. He'd have fit right in with the poets and artists of that far-gone era. Add in a dash of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and you're getting there.

That Grace Jones tune rocks.

 

[Celeste]

There is now a Kickstarter for the Pono Music Player: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003614822/ponomusic-where-your-soul-rediscovers-music

It brings back memories of 70s and 80s music, according to many reviewers.

To me nothing says "1980s" quite like Platinum Blonde does. I mean the guy on the lead guitar Sergio Galli=s*x on a stick.

 

[freshcutgrass]

About Dada and hiphop - I'll let that slide.

Well, I said it would have more in common with rap/hip hop than opera, being basically an anti-establishment movement, although not particularly involving music. I also do not consider rap a musical genre, but a spoken word/performance art genre. It's also has a primitive edge, which is a Dada-esque quality.

But I agree with your basic idea that we have just been re-hashing what these people were probably inventing for the first time 100 years ago.

 

[freshcutgrass]

That Grace Jones tune rocks.

Woman is in her 60's and still doing live performances that would humiliate most of todays so-called "talent".

[video=youtube_share;yHWO2fkJ2Lg]http://youtu.be/yHWO2fkJ2Lg[/video]

 

[freshcutgrass]

To me nothing says "1980s" quite like Platinum Blonde does.

Not that I would have thought so at the time....but looking back this tune sticks out as one of the the quintessential 80's tunes....

[video=youtube_share;djV11Xbc914]http://youtu.be/djV11Xbc914[/video]

 

[AndreaPalladio]

Don't forget the exellent Toronto band Boys Brigade - their video for Melody starred Canada's First Lady of Stage and Screen (TM me) Kim Cattrall...

 

[freshcutgrass]

Don't forget the exellent Toronto band Boys Brigade - their video for Melody starred Canada's First Lady of Stage and Screen (TM me) Kim Cattrall...

Oh yea...I vaguely remember them. New wave bands in Toronto back in the early 80's seemed to be a dime a dozen though. I hate to tell you...that isn't Kim Cattrall in that video.

This Spoons tune was pretty big in 1981..still holds up well for New Wave I think....


[video=youtube_share;EtqIlvg3wsw]http://youtu.be/EtqIlvg3wsw[/video]

 

[freshcutgrass]

And in a lame attempt to pretend to stay on topic...here's another video by the Spoons shot entirely on the subway (old red TTC train alert!!!)

[video=youtube_share;vubMfPh7URs]http://youtu.be/vubMfPh7URs[/video]

 

[freshcutgrass]

Toronto was big on the alt country scene as well...


[video=youtube_share;cG5aolR3Zig]http://youtu.be/cG5aolR3Zig[/video]

 

[freshcutgrass]

And a big influence to acts like Blue Rodeo and punks as well...the late great Queen West rockabilly hero... Handsome Ned


[video=youtube_share;eZdEM2CS6Nk]http://youtu.be/eZdEM2CS6Nk[/video]

 

[AndreaPalladio]

Isn't there a Spoons video with a scene shot inside the Old City Hall clock? Or am I lost on Amnesia Lane?

Freshcut, my estimation of her star power just decreased by an order of magnitude.

 

[Lenser]

... I agree with your basic idea that we have just been re-hashing what these people were probably inventing for the first time 100 years ago.

I think it goes back further than that... by centuries, if not millennia. There's always young upstarts coming up, ready and willing to knock over the proverbial cultural applecart. Usually it takes brash attitude, a certain fearlessness and a willingness to look and act (however superficially) very different from the status quo of any given particular era.

In any case, I certainly didn't mean to imply that the Dadaists were the first punks or new wave artists; in my view they were merely ones who found themselves carrying the torch of cultural rebellion and rejuvenation - and they ran with it.