One-man Aussie band searches for the perfect tone

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HONED OVER THE last decade, Xavier Rudd coaxes more sound out of an acoustic slide guitar than one would think possible. His pursuit of the ultimate fuzzy, thick wall of sound reaches its apex on Rudd’s latest recording, Darker Shades of Blue. He checks into town, in support of the release, for two nights this month.

“It is a heavier album for sure,” says Rudd, over the phone from Houston, Texas, where he is rehearsing before his tour begins. “Over time, I’ve developed this tone, this big sound out of acoustic guitars, and this album is the pinnacle of that. It is one guitar line right through, no bass, no extra guitars, just one thick tone and Dave Tolley drumming.”

A native of Jan Juc, Australia (yes, it’s as small as it sounds), Rudd grew up surfing the legendary break at Bell’s Beach in Torquay, Australia. Teaching himself to play an eclectic array of wooden instruments, Rudd developed his own style. He used music as his own personal therapy tool, in the beginning. And he still does, but now millions hang on every note.

“I’m self-taught as a player. As a kid, I always just fiddled on things,” says Rudd. “I always liked the idea of interpreting an instrument my own way. Even if I was playing it wrong, that’s what comes through me, so I just play it.”

After three independent releases and five studio albums, Rudd has a global following for his unique amalgam of blues, roots and reggae as well as his one-man band style of stage show that sees him positioned behind an array of guitars, didgeridoos, stomp boxes and percussion instruments.

“Ya, I just added bits and pieces, you know, to create a mood based on the story of the song, and I’d selected instruments for that to thicken my sound,” says Rudd. “I always played on my own. It was always like a secret, my own little thing I would do to release emotion.”

For his latest release, Rudd worked with one additional person: drummer Dave Tolley, from Kitchener, Ont. On this current tour and for his next album, Rudd is adding two new musicians.

“I’ve got a whole new lineup; we’re a three-piece now,” says Rudd, who added two South African musicians that were legendary reggae star Lucky Dube’s rhythm section.

“It is going to be supergroovy, really cool. It is brand new, and I’m really excited about it.” Xavier Rudd plays at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre at Exhibition Place on July 22 and 23.

Channelling blues legends from small-town Saskatchewan

Born in Alberta, Jolene Higgins, who records under the moniker Little Miss Higgins, was raised in Independence, Kansas, surrounded by the blues. But that didn’t impact her nearly as much as a band we all know and love: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

Can’t place the name? Think Muppets, you know, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear.

“There was a lot of great music that definitely influenced me in those shows,” says Higgins, on the phone from beautiful downtown Kenora, Ont., following a sold-out show. “The Muppet Show had a great band; the female guitar player … wicked.”

It wasn’t until Higgins was back in Canada that she started playing guitar and discovered the blues greats of a bygone era, such as Memphis Minnie and Big Bill Broonzy, by investigating the influences of her own favourite artists: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. And Little Miss Higgins was born.

One of Canada’s unique talents, Higgins has flown under the radar in Eastern Canada from her homestead in the 400-strong town of Nokomis, Sask., but is beginning to receive the attention she deserves with a Juno nomination and a Western Canadian Music Award for Best Blues Album for her 2008 release Junction City.

Little Miss Higgins appears at Hugh’s Room in support of a new live concert album on July 16.

PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE, Y’ALL

DEPECHE MODE WAS one of the first bands to do away with those pesky electric guitars. In their place, synthesizers ruled the new wave roost, along with bleached hair and plenty of black and white. Although we’ve long since buried our bleach and moved on, the band has survived, somehow. Not only that, people “Just Can’t Get Enough.” Ahem. They play Molson Amphitheatre July 24.

Old classic still relevant today

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I THINK IT was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who famously wrote that “One cannot step into the same river twice.” It’s a profound thought, since moving rivers are always changing and so are our ages, tastes, experiences. My favourite example of this is how, as a teenager in the late 1950s, I read J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye and wept through every page: this poor, misunderstood, confused kid who is so much like me! Decades later, I read the book aloud every night to my then-teenaged son Judah, and we both howled with laughter from the first word to the last, recognizing Salinger’s brilliant mockery of classic teenaged angst and egotism. Rivers change, and so do we.

These thoughts flooded me as I sat through Soulpepper’s production of the “classic” Jewish-American, Depressionera play by Clifford Odets Awake and Sing.

I have seen the play several times, and I loved it, finding it moving, poetic, profound. In the (now-embarrassing) tradition of my rather different responses to Salinger’s novel at two points in my life, I was often deeply disappointed with the play on this occasion.

I have come to the conclusion that the play is deeply flawed (but still occasionally moving and well written), but even more, the production at Soulpepper (where it runs until July 31) is far from the usual level we have come to expect from some of the country’s finest performers.

Odets’ play seems dreadfully dated now, yet what could be more “up-to-date” than a struggling family arguing over finances? It just doesn’t come to life in Soulpepper’s production.

Yes, there are many still-funny lines. And the audience roars with laughter, even today, when the ineffectual father weeps in a Chekhovian fashion: “When I started losing my hair, I felt that I was destined to be a failure in life!”

In this production, the usually reliable Miles Potter, one of Canada’s finest directors, gets so many things wrong: the Bronx and Yiddish-Russian accents, the heartbreak, the poignancy. The usually superior Nancy Palk is not believable nor moving, and William Webster’s grandfather Jacob is often mortifying. Only Ari Cohen’s brilliant, angry Moe, who lost a leg in the Great War and never stops referring to it, rises to the occasion and creates a believable, unforgettable character.

A play with a view

Also running, from June 27 until July 12, one of Canada’s most interesting and gifted playwrights, Morris Panych (of The Overcoat and The Dishwashers fame), has his fine comedy Vigil performed at the Ward’s Island Playhouse. A perfect reason for heading off to our beautiful Toronto Islands. Go to www.longearedplays.com for more information.

Economic downturn boom or bust for humour biz?

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EVERYWHERE I GO, I get asked the same question, “How’s the recession affecting comedy?”

Ah, yes, the recession. A topic that has officially replaced the weather as the starting point of small talk from coast-to-coast. The quick answer is: not that much.

The truth is that this recession has not affected all of us equally. Sometimes a simple luxury can be less expensive than a complicated necessity. On the retail level of putting customers into seats, not much has changed. It’s always been hard to sell tickets. When times are bad, comedy clubs don’t do much worse, but when times bounce back, they don’t really improve much either.

On the plus side, it’s important to remember that the product is inexpensive. Only the hard-core unemployed can’t find the $15 for admission. I spoke to a major theatrical agent, who told me that a price point of $30 seems to be the threshold at which consumer resistance now stands. But, interestingly enough, Seinfeld, Russell Peters and Dane Cook tickets have been flying off the shelves at up to $200 a pop.

Perhaps comedy (and entertainment in general) has crossed over in our media-rich environment from luxury to necessity. The young, of course, are the biggest consumers of live comedy, and for many of them, the recession is business as usual: they’ve always lived on ramen noodles. Your portfolio can’t take a beating if you didn’t have one to begin with. If you still live at home, you’ve always enjoyed the paradox of being poor with a large disposable income.

Then, there’s the theory that during hard times people crave laughter and escape. This is based on the evidence that movie tickets soared during the ’30s, mostly for comedies. And, the film business is posting record sales over this past year. But it also applies to a lot more than comedies. It’s the price point theory in action, again. At less than $15, movies are a bargain when compared to travel and expensive meals.

But if we venture beyond the retail level of comedy, the effects of the recession begin to become more apparent. During the past year, I opened up new clubs in St John’s, Calgary and Edmonton. The franchisees in these places had a hefty price tag to meet, which could only be secured by bank financing. I doubt whether that would be possible in today’s economic climate. And if you’re a fan of comedy on TV, watch out. It’s brutal out there for producers. It doesn’t matter how great your comedy idea is, networks are in no position to finance it.

So with the recession as the number one topic on everyone’s lips, will you see a number of recession-themed routines at your local comedy club? The current Second City show has at least two recession-specific sketches in its show, and they get big laughs. But it stops there. And local stand-ups are shying away from the topic, except for the odd reference. “It’s a downer, period,” one local comic told me. “Why remind them of the very thing they’re here to forget?”

Recessions are not new to me. I’ve been in business for more than 30 years. I weathered the bad times of the dot-com bust and the recession of 1981. That was the year when comics had to sleep in my club to prevent the sheriff from locking us out for nonpayment of rent. Ah, memories.

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs, and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.

Bif battles through illness to turn out stunning new album

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ICONIC ROCKER BIF NAKED (real name Beth Torbert) made a promise to herself and to her fans to put out a new album in 2009. Nothing, not even a breast cancer diagnosis and 13 months of chemotherapy treatment, would stop her. Talk about commitment to your craft.

When Naked, 37, was diagnosed, two weeks after her marriage to Vancouver Sun sports writer Ian Walker, it was a blow to the straight-edge, veganeating, yoga-loving, well-inked Vancouver rocker.

“I was basically fully bedridden, and we probably started recording then, I would say, at the height of my chemo malaise, to be honest with you,” says Naked, on the phone from her Vancouver home where she is building up the strength to begin the six-hour rehearsals in preparation for a cross-country tour that comes to Toronto this month on June 13.

“It was ill-timed in a way, but at the same time it was the best thing for me because it definitely gave me hope.”

What it also gave her was her own personal taskmaster and guru in the form of Jason Darr, a guitarist in Naked’s band and also a member of the band Neurosonic.

“It was the first time we’d ever collaborated together, and I was overjoyed.… It is few and far between when you click with someone creati vely,” Naked explains. “And Jason cracked the whip. Me being sick was never an elephant in the room. I was completely jaundiced, completely bald, sunken-in dark eyes, not doing very well at all. But it wasn’t relevant to the task at hand every day. Jason has probably the most driven work ethic of any human being I’ve met. He was empathetic, but he never coddled me.”

The result, the new album, entitled The Promise, her fifth, is a testament to this collaboration. Eclectic, at times the record kicks into overdrive with hard-driving rock ’n’ roll, such as on the first single “Sick,” as well as upbeat pop rock on songs such as “Honeybee,” a little reggae and ballads dripping with sadness and reflection.

Given the unique nature of the development of this album, each song holds great meaning for Naked. She cites “Welcome to the End” as one that is particularly moving and speaks to her affinity for senior citizens.

“Just because for me, it’s my horse racing song.… It reminds me of the track,” Naked explains. “I know a couple of old fellas who like going down to the track with their old guy buddies, enjoy putting two dollars down on a race and drinking coffee all afternoon. A lot of them have lost their wives already. I love the emotional connection that you see in their eyes, and I respect them so much. They’re our elders, and I have big love for senior citizens and grandparents. They need to be honoured and respected.”

Born in New Delhi, India, and adopted by American missionaries, Naked spent much of her youth in Winnipeg, Man., where she pursued theatre in university before joining a friend’s band after their singer quit. She was thrust into the hardcore scene touring with bands such as punk legends DOA and SNFU before forming her own bands Gorilla Gorilla then Bif Naked.

Although part of a rollicking time in music, Naked steered clear of the partying side, adopting her now well-known “straight-edge” lifestyle. “You know, I was just never good at drinking anyway. I was always a two tablespoon drunk,” says Naked. “I kept losing my voice on tour like anyone would.… It just wasn’t a part of my training regiment.”

Known for her explosive live performances, Naked’s latest follows up the 2005 release Superbeautiful Monster. The Promise tour checks into the Mod Club on June 13. Go to www.bifnaked.com for more information.

IT’S ALWAYS A CELEBRATION WITH THESE KOOL CATS

KOOL AND THE GANG have been playing music for 45 years, and like a fine wine, the fun-loving soul band behind such hits as “Jungle Boogie,” “Celebration” and “Get Down on It” get better with age. The band is one of the few where multiple generations actually know and enjoy their songs. So seek out your long, lost groove thing and join the funkadelic free-for-all on June 29 as part of the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival (www.tojazz.com).

Comic’s joke gives new meaning to the word ‘bomb’

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AN ABSURD SCANDAL ripped through the comedy world last month, creating an international incident and then disappeared instantly.

Doug Benson, an American comic with middling credits — a few talk shows here and there, an off-Broadway show — appeared on a Fox News show called Red Eye. The show leans rightward and usually includes a stand-up guest to ensure a minimum of wit will occur. On the show in question, the topic was about Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Evidently, a Canadian Armed Forces spokesman said he was looking forward to the end of the conflict so his tired troops could enjoy some much needed rest. “I didn’t even know they were in the war,” said Benson. “I thought that’s where you go if you don’t want to fight.”

You have to understand that Benson is not a political comic. His successful off-Broadway show is called The Marijuana-Logues, and he specializes in stoner and slacker humour.

The show was posted on YouTube, and the clip went viral. Canadians were outraged.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay got into the act, demanding an apology from the comedian. Amazingly, Benson complied, vowing to boycott Fox News as well. Think about it: a highranking Canadian cabinet member got an American comedian to apologize for a joke! I was both impressed and appalled. But wait, we’re just getting warmed up.

It seems that Benson was booked a few weeks later at a comedy club in the West Edmonton Mall, Ricky Bronson’s Comic Strip. When the crisis hit, Bronson immediately cancelled the booking. I was full of selfrighteousness at this point, thinking I would never capitulate to those who would silence comics blah blah blah.… But it turned out Bronson hadn’t cancelled Benson after all. I spoke to T.J. Markwalter, Benson’s agent at the Gersh Agency. It turned out that Markwalter pulled the plug.

“I can’t guarantee Doug’s safety,” he told me. “Have you seen the blogs?”

So I visited the Facebook sites that had been set up. And there they were: hundreds, maybe a thousand, death threats and intimations of violence against Benson.

“If Doug Benson comes to Edmonton, he’ll never make it to the stage”; “Benson, I hope you die a slow and painful death.” And so on.

This was all too weird for me. Benson’s statements were ignorant, but hardly inflammatory.

Comedians have been making fun of the Canadian military ever since I can remember.

Larry Horowitz used to have a classic bit about calling for the Canadian military and being met by “three gliders and a Zamboni.” Everybody laughed. Of course, those were the days when you could assume Canadian audiences were mostly pacifist in nature — and they were.

What saddens me about the whole affair was not Benson’s unfortunate comments, but how quickly we took the bait. Benson was ignorant, but those who attacked him were vicious and ugly. Maybe politicians and journalists should be careful with what they say, but comedians?

They should have the freedom to be silly and say stupid things from time to time without worry of physical harm, especially in this supposedly peace-loving country.

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.

Oh, those crazy kids

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THE SUSPENSION OF disbelief is a must to enjoy live theatre, and never more than in a musical where actors are often bursting into song. With Spring Awakening, the Tony Award–winning musical now playing at the Canon Theatre until April 19, it’s not only “disbelief” that must be suspended — German teenagers dressed in the rough 1890s clothes whip out microphones to sing mournful ballads and filthy lyrics — but a sense of historical context is essential.

The original play was written by Frank Wedekind (1864–1918), one of the most daring artists of his era.

He spent nearly a year in jail for publishing satirical poetry. His plays were “shocking” in a way that seems unbelievable in today’s sex-drenched world of film, TV and Internet.

Spring Awakening, written in 1891, was banned for 15 years and with good reason: subjects such as homosexuality, masturbation, suicide and abortion were simply not discussed nor staged.

The problem — only sometimes solved by Steven Sater’s intelligent, if occasionally shallow, book and Duncan Sheik’s beautiful pop songs — is in capturing a provincial, mid- European town where a girl could cry out, “But I can’t be pregnant! I’m not even married!”

It’s a dilemma, and while I preferred the performances and sheer physical beauty of the two main characters when I saw the musical on Broadway in 2007, it still often works.

We must remember that in the 1890s teenage pregnancy destroyed families, as did failing in school.

Gay sex was illegal (Oscar Wilde went to prison for homosexuality while Wedekind’s play was still banned.). Spring Awakening at its best is deeply moving and affecting, even in this flawed production.

When a group of pubescent girls sing plaintively about how they still believe in the stork and know nothing of their bodies and sexuality, it can break your heart.

When pubescent schoolboys agonize about being “haunted by [erotic] dreams,” modern audiences may laugh, but soon realize that such universal ignorance will lead to unwanted pregnancy, suicides and death— this is serious stuff.

Today, best-selling books and documentaries mock religious belief for the amusement of others, yet here we see a group of girls stunned to hear of a boy who “doesn’t believe in anything, in God or heaven or anything!”

I like Spring Awakening a lot (the crazed dancing, with arms and legs flinging about wildly, captures the frenzy of teenaged raging hormones better than anything I’ve ever seen).

If you love the ballads and rock ’n’ roll of the last few decades, and keep in mind how truly shocking Wedekind’s original play was more than a century ago when it was first written, I sense that you will enjoy it, too.

Economy, politics provide prime comedic fodder

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I CAUGHT THE opening of the new Second City revue, 0% Down, 100% Screwed, a show I was looking forward to seeing for two reasons.

First, topical satire thrives best in an environment where there’s a lot going on, and with the recession, a new U.S. president, and the recent parliamentary squabbles, there’s sure been enough raw material to inspire a legion of pointed sketches. In addition, the show is directed by Melodie Johnson, known for her uncompromising attack as a performer, writer and director.

I was not disappointed, for the most part.

The first three sketches set a high standard. Yuppies on a chain gang sing about oil prices and job losses. This sketch is followed by a neat two-hander between a cabbie from Gaza and a downsized Bay Street type commiserating over their problems. The piece nicely illustrates how spoiled we are even in our “tough times.”

The hilarity continues with an up-to-the-minute sketch about a meeting in Ottawa between Obama, his team and the Harper cabinet. Diplomacy turns to insult as the clash of personalities becomes ugly and hilarious. There’s a joke about a humidor that made me burst out laughing, but it creeped out the audience; time will tell if it stays in the show.

The revue then turns away from its stated theme into more general satire, which is usually the case in Second City shows. It would be tough to sit through two hours of material on any single topic. The writing is strong, and the cast is able, although not everything works equally well.

Marty Adams once again proves himself to be the cast’s most valuable player. Even though he’s lost some weight lately, he still uses his girth to ample comic effect. He’s wonderful in a sketch about a fundraiser in which 50 per cent of the prize goes to the winner and 50 per cent to the charity. The winner is expected to give his winnings back to the charity, but nope, Adams isn’t having any of it. He’s keeping the money, to the chagrin of the other charity-goers. Best line: “It’s my right to blow the money on something stupid, like an RRSP.”

The big closer of the first act features another standout in the cast: Reid Janisse, who plays an American TV host brought in to juice up a CBC commentary show.

The second act opens with a kids’ puppet show in which the puppeteers let their private and personal lives leak out into the performance. It’s a brilliant conceit, made even better by the bravura physical comedy of the cast members’ marionettes. I enjoyed a monologue by Caitlin Howden as a bitter, suicidal Wal-Mart greeter fed up with her life. It’s a lot funnier than it sounds.

There’s also a timely bit on the impending closing of Guantánamo prison that imagines what might happen to torturers now out of a job. My favourite sketch of the evening was a character study of two thugs, beautifully played by Adams and Darryl Hinds, who are too polite for their own good — a masterpiece.

It was Second City’s 35th anniversary in the city, and the current show captures many of the strengths that have made it a Toronto institution. Now if they can only keep the humidor joke…

Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.

Hatching a new hen bylaw

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INSPIRED BY THE local food movement, a growing number of urbanites have adopted smallscale chicken farming. In a time when everything from luncheon meat to bean sprouts are being recalled, producing one’s own food just seems safer, say advocates.

“We have a basic right to be able to control our own food,” says one hen owner in the Forest Hill neighbourhood, who asked to be called Toronto Chicken since keeping poultry is illegal in Toronto. “Once I had kids, I started thinking, ‘What am I putting into them?’ You see what’s coming out of factory farms, and it’s all bottom line oriented.”

In March, Vancouver’s city council responded to the henownership trend by approving a plan to allow city dwellers to keep chickens in their backyards. The birds are also permitted in Niagara Falls, Brampton, Los Angeles and New York City, along with dozens of other North American cities.

If local campaigners have their way, Toronto’s bylaw will be similarly amended. Since the 1980s, it’s been illegal to keep most farm animals inside city limits.

Coun. Joe Mihevc has been instrumental in drawing attention to this issue. At his urging, Toronto’s medical officer of health has begun researching it. “More and more people have chickens,” he says, “And they are not having problems in Vancouver, either from a nuisance or a feces point of view. We’re watching that very carefully.”

Mihevc says he’s open to making “slight amendments” to Toronto’s current bylaw.

“We’d want it to be a limited amount, between three and five [hens], and no roosters for obvious reasons. Even maybe some kind of licensing system just so we know where they are.”

“ You see what’s coming out of factory farms, and it’s all bottom line oriented.”

There are numerous reasons people want the bylaw changed. Hen owners report that eggs from their birds are healthier, with higher levels of vitamin E, beta carotene and omega-3 fatty acids.

Great taste is another draw. “They taste incredible,” says Toronto Chicken, who also grows her own vegetables and herbs. “There was a brief period when we didn’t get any eggs from our chickens, so we bought some. I made eggs for the kids and they said, ‘Ewww.’ There’s no flavour to them.”

Still, there are as many detractors as supporters. The Toronto Humane Society (THS), for example, endorses the current bylaw.

“Right now, the city bans agricultural animals. We think that’s a good idea. People don’t have the expertise and knowledge to maintain them,” says Ian McConachie, THS spokesperson. It can be difficult to keep them safe from neighbourhood animals, such as cats and dogs, he explains.

Another issue is that most residents don’t have enough room in their backyards for their chickens to roam, adds McConachie.

The stigma of bird flu, and the possibility of noise and odour complaints, also have more than a few people on high alert. However, Grain, an international sustainable agriculture group, has concluded that: “Backyard, or free-range, poultry are not fuelling the current wave of bird flu outbreaks stalking large parts of the world.” In fact, large-scale poultry farms account for most of problem.

As for noise, Toronto Chicken insists that her neighbours have never complained — in fact they quite like her hens. Smell is also not a concern. “One chicken produces one pound of waste per week. That’s what a dog produces in a day,” she says. “Not only that, but bird droppings are rich in nitrogen and great for the compost.”

According to her, by capping the number of birds that urban dwellers may own, the smell issue will never become overwhelming. “If people visited even one factory farm, they’d see that backyard farming is so much better,” she adds. “Chickens in farms are so cramped and stressed. What we’re doing is humane.”

Can T.O. be a green city?

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A FEW YEARS ago, the editors of this publication asked me to write about how Toronto could become more sustainable. Since writing that article, my thoughts haven’t changed much. I still believe that, as the largest city in Canada, Toronto has the opportunity to become a role model for other urban areas in Canada and even around the world. There are some signs that the city is on the right track — but city leaders, homeowners and residents must stay the course and remain committed if “Toronto the Good” is going to live up to its reputation and become an environmentally sustainable city.

“Sustainability” has become quite a buzzword these days. I’ve always taken it to mean living within the natural limits dictated by the biosphere. But doing so requires huge change at all levels: personal, social, economic and political. We have to engage in a discussion of what our real basic needs are and how society can flourish without compromising them. And we have to act fast.

Scientists are learning that global warming is affecting the planet faster than predicted. No longer can we bicker and discuss abstract theories of sustainability. Now is the time to make things happen.

Human beings are as dependent as any other living entity on Mother Earth. We cannot have healthy people without a healthy planet. And considering that more than 80 per cent of Canadians live in cities, it behooves us to make our urban areas healthier. Because of Canada’s large urban population, seemingly simple things, like the way we live, how we get around and the food we eat, have huge impacts on the rest of the country and the rest of the planet.

First the good news: there are important signs that Toronto is making changes. The Ontario government tabled the Green Energy Act, which includes regulations that can empower municipalities to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. With the manufacturing sector in free fall, the act sends a signal to clean technology businesses that Ontario — and Toronto — are well placed to take advantage of the coming clean energy revolution.

“ First the good news: There are important signs that Toronto is making changes.”

Countries such as Germany are at the forefront of this revolution, and the industry is providing thousands of jobs. They provide Canada with a model to follow. Torontonians also seem to be adopting a can-do attitude to environmental responsibility. On the streets, I see throngs of people using reusable shopping bags. I also appeared (for no pay) in a series of advertisements for the Ontario government’s energy conservation program to encourage Ontario residents to decommission their outdated and inefficient beer refrigerators. This year was incredibly successful, with more refrigerators being returned than previous years.

And here’s another reason for Torontonians to take pride: Toronto is the only city with an atmospheric fund that provides loans to ecofriendly projects and businesses. By making these projects work, we can influence other jurisdictions. Unfortunately, despite the good signs for Toronto some challenges need to be overcome to make this city as sustainable as possible.

One of the worst things we do to the planet is drive. Burning fossil fuels is like smoking cigarettes. The more we cut down on our dependence of fossil fuels, especially from driving cars, the better we’ll all be. Burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that causes health problems and produces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

Most cars on our highways and streets carry one person, so a single bus, streetcar or train would replace dozens of cars. Making transit more affordable and convenient will take more cars off the road.

European cities have developed incredibly efficient systems to whisk people from city to city, and the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor is the ideal location for fast and convenient intercity rail options. By improving the quality of the trains and reducing the times, frequent travellers would opt for rail instead of taking more polluting planes for short runs.

Another challenge faced by residents is that the province’s “standard offer contract,” which pays more attractive rates for renewable energy from solar and wind, was suspended earlier this year. This was a groundbreaking piece of Ontario legislation that allowed smaller providers of renewable energy to get a fair price for the electricity they fed into the electricity grid. This innovative program has the potential to increase the number of small energy producers who could usher Ontario into a renewable energy future. Although Ontario could reinstate and strengthen the law as part of the province’s new Green Energy Act, the government must ensure that progressive legislation is not stalled again.

Torontonians have an opportunity to get involved in making their city a sustainability leader. I challenge every resident to get involved. There are many places to start. But perhaps the most critical part requires a fundamental shift in our personal priorities.

One important option is to stop wasting energy. That means turning things off at home when we aren’t using them, driving more fuel-efficient cars, improving home insulation, purchasing energy efficient appliances and using renewable energy.

The government must also make decisions that will benefit us in the long run. Although the provincial government has introduced the Green Energy Act, intended to promote solar, wind and biomass electrical generation, it is still hellbent on replacing its aging nuclear fleet with new reactors. The cost? An estimated $26 billion. That’s an incredible amount of money that could be used to encourage innovation in efficiency and renewable energy. Investing in nuclear will likely have the opposite effect because there will be little money or space on the grid left for new renewable energy projects.

Torontonians need improved building codes that require proper insulation and natural lighting. Buildings account for an incredible amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Toronto could require that all new buildings meet LEED standards. Bringing about these changes requires the co-operation of municipal and provincial authorities, but these options will provide benefits. It also means providing low-interest loans so Torontonians can put solar energy systems in buildings.

Our urban planners have to think about building up instead of out. High-density communities are far more efficient for living than sprawling cities. Cities that are pedestrian friendly and dense mean that residents don’t have to drive to large stores on the outskirts of town. Getting people out of their cars leads to cleaner air, and there’s evidence that pedestrian-friendly communities are also safer and better for our waistlines. (One research study has found that residents of suburbs weigh much more than their urban counterparts.)

I’ve outlined just a few suggestions to make Toronto more sustainable, but there are many more things we can do.

The most important thing is to change the way we see our place in the world. It’s vital for each one of us to get involved in helping the city meet its potential.

Toronto has been at the forefront of social changes before, and it can be again. But the clock is ticking.

Post City Magazines’ environmental columnist, David Suzuki, is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things. David is also the author of more than 30 books on ecology.

Arts festival boasts unique theatre

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GREAT CITIES SHOULD have great cultural choices: concerts, live drama, museums, galleries and more. And thanks to our Luminato arts festival, there are many tied up in a neat, little 10-day bow this month from from June 5 to 14.

The theatrical events are not numerous, but they are certainly intriguing. One of them is Lipsynch, a nearly nine-hour epic by one of Canada’s most internationally respected theatrical directors and creative souls, Quebec’s Robert Lepage.

Lipsynch has already played to rave raves in London, Madrid and Sydney, Australia, and when one encounters reviews such as “mind-blowing, heartbreaking, hilarious and beautiful beyond words,” it is difficult to not get interested.

There are six acts, each running around an hour in length, broken up by 20-minute “entr’actes” and one meal break of 45 minutes, and will be presented in full only a handful of times at the Bluma Appel in the St. Lawrence Centre, with tickets ranging from $75 to $125.

Two other works leap out, for very different (but profoundly Canadian and artistic) reasons. Zisele, a celebration of Yiddish culture written and performed by Tel Aviv’s admired Beit Lessin Theatre. It is a North American premiere and is filled with songs by one of Israel’s most gifted composer-singers, Chava Alberstein.

Both Lipsynch and Zisele were actually co-commissioned by Luminato, which I find thrilling. Genius can be found anywhere, and we in Toronto may have been unfairly ignoring Edmonton’s Catalyst Theatre, run by its artistic director Jonathan Christenson for several years now, whose award-winning adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein won numerous awards since its debut and tour in 2006 and the months following.

The title of this show is wonderfully suggestive — Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe — especially for me, since I’ve taught many of the poems and stories of that grotesque, tragic American writer over the years (dead at 40 by suicide, alcoholism or …), and I am still haunted by a beautifully written essay on him in the New Yorker a few weeks ago.

Based on several reviews of this production, it sounds marvellous: there are extracts and references to some of Poe’s poetry and most frightening, eerie short stories (“The Tell- Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Murders in the Rue Morgue”), and I can think of few writers whose creations mirrored their own awful, horror-filled lives and are more worthy of dramatization.

None of these shows have appeared in Toronto, and in two cases, even in Canada. But I urge you to check them out and the many happenings around the city during this 10-day event. If experiences like Luminato do not define a great city, then what does?

Keeping spirits up

1:32 pm

WITNESSING A FLOOR snap and crumble under the weight of hundreds of fans dancing up a storm to the Spirit of the West classic “Home for a Rest” could be considered a fluke, once-in-a lifetime occurrence. But when John Mann, one of the founding members of the seminal Canadian band, mentions that the big break at the Kee to Bala a few years back wasn’t the first time, well, if nothing more, it speaks to the staying power of a band that can create such a dance floor disaster more than two decades after it was first formed in Vancouver, B.C.

When the band checks into the leafy confines of the Molson Amphitheatre, Aug. 22, opening for Great Big Sea, they will bring with them 26 years of experience criss-crossing the country with their addictive blend of rock and Celtic roots music.

Many of their songs — “Political,” “Old Sod,” “Save This House,” — are party-mix and pub standards. Their big hit, “Home for a Rest,” was named the 22nd greatest song in Canadian history by the CBC and was responsible for not one, but at least two broken floors — one at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver and one at the Kee.

“I would never say that was our best song,” says Mann. “Our best party song, for sure. I would never slag the song; it has done so well for us. How can we not love playing it?”

The song, according to Mann, chronicles a week of pub-fuelled shenanigans while the band was on their first overseas tour and their London gigs were cancelled when a fellow Canuck by the name of k.d. lang scooped up their shows.

“We arrived and were told that we’d been blown off and that k.d. lang had taken the gig from us,” says Mann. “So we had a week off, and basically we just stayed in the bars and drank ourselves silly, having just a fantastic time, and then carried on with the tour.”

The band formed in 1983 after Mann pretended to know how to play guitar to get in on a friend’s wedding gig in Whistler, B.C. “We didn’t have much of an auspicious start,” Mann laughs.

“We just connected, and we always had a rock energy and played all the rock rooms in Vancouver. At the same time, Jeffrey brought all the Celtic instrumentation that allowed us to straddle the folk world at the same time.”

Around 1997, the band lost one of its key members and decided it was time to pursue other projects. Mann got into acting and is starring in a production of Les Miserables. Geoffrey Kelly, the band’s other remaining founding member, plays with Celtic folk band the Paperboys.

But with long-time members Hugh McMillan, Vince Ditrich and Tobin Frank, they would play shows every year and release an occasional album, such as last year’s Spirituality, a massive, 33- track greatest hits package with two new songs.

“The fact is that we are all great friends on the road and we have a blast together,” says Mann. “We’re a tight-knit family, and that is one reason, as much as the music, that we keep it going.”

Unpaving paradise

1:32 pm

WHEN FRANKE JAMES was told that it was illegal for her to build a green driveway at her North York home, she was flabbergasted. How could “Toronto the Green” turn down such a proposal?

After the initial shock wore off, James set to work convincing the city to use her driveway as a pilot project, chronicling the experience in an inventive new graphic novel/book entitled Bothered by My Green Conscience.

In 2007, James had an epiphany.

To make a contribution to a cleaner, greener world, she would follow what has since become her mantra: “Do the hardest thing first, before you change your mind.” She didn’t start swapping light bulbs or switching to recycled paper stock. She sold her SUV and changed her life in the process.

“Because we didn’t have a car, we didn’t need a driveway any more, so we wanted to get rid of it,” says James, a visual artist.

“We thought we could plant wildflowers and had this very romantic and funny idea. We didn’t want to get complaints from the neighbourhood, so we contacted Coun. Stintz, who had an inspector pay us a visit.”

James found out about the illegality of her proposed green driveway, despite Toronto’s reputation as a green city.

“He told me, ‘Lady you don’t live in Toronto, you live in North York and these are the rules,” says James.

After appealing to the city, James’s driveway scheme was given the “green” light as a pilot project. Over a weekend, James and family replaced their concrete front yard with PermaTurf, a flower bed and trees.

“We calculated that our green driveway saves 10,000 gallons of storm water in addition to recharging groundwater and nourishing plants and trees,” says James.

James would draw “visual essays” of the experience, which eventually caught the eye of the folks at New Society Publishers, who contacted her about publishing the essays.

“I want to use my artwork as a way to raise awareness about the need for people to take personal responsibility for climate change,” says James, who sees climate change as the defining issue of the 21st century. For info, go to James’s blog at www.mygreenconscience.com.

WHAT IS ACTRESS LAURA VANDERVOORT READING?

“Currently I am reading the novel Mary by Janis Cooke Newman, about Abraham Lincoln’s wife’s life. I was drawn to it initially because I love the era.… Also, I’m close to finishing the book Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist, by Michael J. Fox. I adore Michael J. Fox. Another reason was to try to learn to be more like him — an optimist, especially in this industry!

Vandervoort stars in The Jazzman, premiering this month at the Montreal World Film Festival.

THINK GLOBALLY

Read locally

HIGH CHICAGO

Howard Shrier
A follow-up to the successful Buffalo Jump, High Chicago continues the adventures of Toronto private detective Jonah Geller. The setting is Toronto, the plot hinges on the development of the long-neglected waterfront. What could be more authentically local than that? Shrier is one of the most exciting new voices in the mystery genre. This sophomore effort is sure to please.

VALMIKI’S DAUGHTER

Shani Mootoo
Valmiki’s Daughter explores a Trinidadian family headed by renowned doctor Valmiki, who is trying to understand his daughter Viveka, who is struggling to find herself and escape the smothering of her father. A simple novel about family explodes in a number of directions: class, race, sexual identity and more. Mootoo, a Toronto resident, is a Giller Prize finalist and an exciting voice in Canadian literature.

THE BEST OF MEN

Claire Letemendia
A page-turner, Toronto’s Claire Letemendia brings the battlefields of the 17th century back to life through the eyes of Laurence Beaumont in her stunning debut novel. After six years fighting and then escaping war in Europe, Beaumont is drawn back into battle in his own English backyard when King Charles I and his parliament come to crisis.

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