January 25th, 2009
Dear friends,
Since January 2007, I (Johan) have curated and hosted a reading series/neighbourhood cabaret called FREE SPEECH in Toronto’s West End. The series proudly showcases the prose, poetry, spoken word, comedy, storytelling and songwriting of Parkdale-High Park based writers and performers. FREE SPEECH has featured some of the country’s finest writers, actors and musicians including Michael Winter, Justin Rutledge, Bob Wiseman, Mary Jo Leddy, Shyam Selvadurai, Carl Wilson, Claire Jenkins, Ray Robertson and Elizabeth Shepherd.”
FREE SPEECH celebrates its second anniversary on Monday, January 26 when the 2009 season kicks off with four exciting Read the rest of this entry »
January 25th, 2009
Jan 20, 2009.
Dear friends,
Happy new year to all and congratulations to our American friends on this memorable day! Let’s hope that today marks the beginning of a global society moving toward peace, equality and sustainability.
Me and my Mr. Something Something compadres will spend the next little while writing and recording our next album so we won’t be out on the roads again until the end of March. Read the rest of this entry »
January 20th, 2009
Happy 2009 everyone.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you all to a project that I have been working on for the past year or so. The group is called Harmattan Road, and features some familiar ‘somethings’: percussionist Dave Chan and wind-man Marcus Ali. Steve Mancuso also joins in on percussion and a few other guests make appearances on occasion. We play select repertory from Ghana as well as some original compositions that fuse a love for African music with jazz forms and textures. My bet is that it’s even dance-friendly…
If you’d like to hear the group live, we will be opening for Must Stash Hat at the Rearview Mirror (193 Baldwin, west of Spadina) on Feb 6th (9pm) and with our friends from Ainike (Ainike.ca) at the Silver Dollar on February 7th (930pm) before they hit the stage.
Then on Feb 14, bring your sweetheart out for some great vegetarian eats at The Jade Elephant (2913 Lakeshore @ Islington). We play from 9pm to 12am/$10.
If you are interested in more info about the group, don’t be a stranger: booktheband@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook.
stay warm
Larry
November 21st, 2008
Tonight we kick off our Winter Tour with a show at the legendary Townehouse in Sudbury, ON. Then we make our way west out to the Kootenays and the Okanagan before we turn the van eastward again. We apologize if we won’t make it to your town this time; we’ll see you on the dancefloor in 2009.
November 6th, 2008
On Friday November 7, we join in the launch of the City of Toronto’s Smart Commute initiative – a campaign to encourage downtown Toronto commuters to move toward more sustainable forms of transportation: walking, cycling, public transit, carpools etc. Join us for a free, bicycle powered concert at Nathan Phillips Square at 11:30 am. Mayor David Miller will be making an appearance at noon and, since he is an avid cyclist, we’ll do our best to get him up on a bike to help power our SoundCycle PA system. Hope to see you there. Bring your bike!
November 6th, 2008
November 4 2008 was a great day for the world, for the environment, for visible and invisible minorities, for the oppressed and marginalized, for our unborn children and grandchildren. I feel compelled to write this because, for the first time in my life, a politician has managed to inspire and move me the way great art does.
Barack Obama appealed to our longing for a more just and sustainable society. And I believe that his appeal is sincere – otherwise I would not be so moved by his oratory. But – no matter how good his intentions – Read the rest of this entry »
November 4th, 2008
A pod of GNOMES do the town on Hallowe’en at Lula!
Read the rest of this entry »
October 29th, 2008
On Friday October 31, it’s time for one of our favourite shows of the year: our annual Halloween costume party at Lula Lounge in Toronto.
As usual, there will be prizes for best costume. Last year, we settled the first prize deliberations by having an onstage dance-off between Jesus and The Devil (Jesus won after busting out some unconventional moves; some claim it was because he wasn’t wearing underwear). Don’t miss this year’s party which features some amazing special guests (including Ghanaian master drummer Francis Kofi Akotuah) at the best-sounding club in the city.
Lula Lounge
1585 Dundas West (between Dufferin and Lansdowne). 10pm.
October 17th, 2008
Hello everyone. I would like to personally thank all those who offered their support during my struggles with immigration over the past couple of weeks. I am VERY pleased to report than Francis Akotuah arrived safely in Toronto today from Ghana!!
HRDC and the AFM were instrumental in helping the process along with their prompt processing of the necessary paperwork after we discovered that the Canadian High Commission in Ghana has misadvised us in terms of visa application procedures. Also a big thanks to Derek Andrews; Nadine McNulty and Olivia Chow’s office for assisting and counseling me during the back and forth with the CIC. I am also very grateful to the Canada Council for the Arts for believing in this project from the beginning and continuing to promote projects of quality that would often not be possible without their support. Read the rest of this entry »
Dear friends, 
