ARTS & CULTURE CREATIVE COMMUNITY Festival season is upon us and despite the ongoing state of the world, the creative community is pulling through to deliver online festival content that pushes boundaries, encourages participation, and ensures YOU can stay connected and engaged with the arts. If you haven’t heard about the Social Distancing Festival as yet (www.socialdistancingfestival.com), I encourage you to check it out! The beauty about this site: it’s an artistic platform that features performance and visual arts from around the globe and it was started right here in Toronto by playwright Nick Green. There’s a livestream calendar, long distance art exhibit, and even a “Beer Tent”. With hundreds of submissions from around the world, there’s something for everyone. Closer to home, Lakeshore Arts in partnership with Kaeja d’Dance will present an adapted Porch View Dances for the Etobicoke-Lakeshore community. Three years’ worth of footage and stories from Long Branch, New Toronto, and Mimico will be streamed in a guided online “time travel” tour through the neighbourhoods, ending with a virtual participatory Flock Landing. It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our communities to a wider audience. Bookmark www.lakeshorearts.ca and join us on June 13th for your at-home festival fun!
NATASSIA MORRIS
Operations Manager, Lakeshore Arts
and Long Branch Resident 2422 Lake Shore Blvd W / 416-201-7093 @lakeshorearts / www.lakeshorearts.ca
MUSIC REVIEW: SO DIRTY THE FLAMINGOS I’m a huge Country Music fan. I listen exclusively to the genre, so when I heard the announcer on my favourite radio station introduce a band from “The Heart of South Etobicoke” and that their recording studio is based in Mimico, I instantly turned up the volume in my truck. The Band: So Dirty The Flamingos The Song: Before The Misfits The Album: Unamerican Girl
the first chord and doesn’t let go until long after it’s over. It’s the kind of song you want to keep listening to. The kind that should be played more often on the radio. I asked Lionel Doe what it’s like to have his song played on the radio right now, especially dropping during quarantine just prior to the Victoria Day long weekend.
Now, I’m by no means a music reviewer, but I will say that Before The Misfits has stuck with me since the first time I heard it. I was so impressed by the song and the fact that the band is from South Etobicoke, that I immediately Googled them and called up their lead singer, Lionel Doe, after hearing it for the first time. Admittedly, I left a rather long and embarrassing message about how I publish a local magazine and would love to feature the band in an upcoming edition...yada, yada, yada. Lionel called me back and here we are.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with hearing ourselves on the radio,” Doe explained, referring to bandmates Adam Drury (bassist), Devin Jannetta (drummer), Scott Dunn (Hammond organist), and Ciara Logar (background vocalist). “We were flooded with messages and positive responses from people out in cottage country, Owen Sound, Simcoe County, etc. I had the pleasure for the first time in my life of hearing our song on the radio while driving home from work,” Doe continued. “Later that evening I danced with my daughter to it when it played again. A once-in-a-lifetime moment, for sure.”
With lyrics like, “She loves those kids but she can’t decide...” and “She lights one up. She watches the sun rise...”, Before The Misfits is a smooth, somber-sounding song that takes a hold of you from
I asked Doe what impact he thinks music has on people right now as we’re all asked to stay home and distance ourselves from one another. I found his answer to be profound.
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ETOBICOKE LAKESHORE PRESS