Band of the Week: The Deep Dark Woods

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4:21 pm

Seven years in, The Deep Dark Woods are quickly becoming one of the pre-eminent roots music groups in the country. Fresh off the release of their fourth album, The Place I Left Behind, which garnered the band their first Juno Award nomination, The Deep Dark Woods are heading into Toronto for a show at The Great Hall on Friday, April 6. We caught up with organist Geoff Hilhorst to get the scoop on what the band’s been up to in recent weeks.

The album garnered the band its first Juno Award nomination. I’m assuming you were in Ottawa for the festivities?
Yeah, we lost. Thanks for reminding me.

Oh….
[Laughs]. Yeah we were there, and in fine form. We were in Ottawa from Friday until Monday morning and we had a fantastic time. The whole experience was really great. And I still feel just as good having been nominated, to be honest with you. But it was nerve wracking when they were announcing the winner, I won’t lie to you.

Listening to some of this stuff for the first time, one might get the impression that you guys are a pretty sad lot. What would you say to dispute this claim?
I wouldn’t, I would not dispute that. Some of the best music out there should hurt a little bit to leave some sort of an impression on you. Besides, if you’re happy and you hear a sad song, you’re even more happy because you’re not that person in the song.

So you’re doing a service for people?
From my own personal experience listening to old blues songs, even some of the best country, often the ones that hurt — the ones on the melancholy side that have that sad element — are the best. It is just a particular era of songwriting that certainly isn’t in the mainstream and that’s fine with us. As Ryan [singer and chief songwriter Ryan Boldt] would put it, the weepers are the ones that get you.

The band produced the new record itself. How did that process affect and change the sound of this album compared to previous efforts?
Well, we wanted to do it ourselves because we’ve always been after a specific sound. We like using all kinds of vintage reverbs and stuff like that. In our experience with producers in the past, they tended to run things a little more tried and true. We decided the best way to get the sound we were after was to produce the record on our own and have the freedom to try whatever we wanted with nobody, you know, saying that might be better this way or that way.

Your album was released internationally by the legendary Sugar Hill Records (Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Nickel Creek et al). That must have made you guys very happy with the company on that label, am I right?
We are super excited to be with Sugar Hill, absolutely — they just released the album in Europe.

Is there a large fan base for roots music in Europe?
There really is, and we almost got the feeling that being Canadian lent itself to the fan base we generated. I think there’s a lot of people following Canadian music in particular, at least where we were. And the crowds there, for the most part — and especially in Holland — were real listening crowds. You could hear a pin drop in some of the venues — that was very refreshing.

So what can we expect at your show on Friday?
Fun. It is going to be a blast. We’ll have Kendal Carson, the fiddle player, playing with us that night, and Old Man Luedecke, who also played on the record. It’ll be the first time playing together since the recording with them, and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re just going to do what we do and go as hard as we can.

The Deep Dark Woods are:
Ryan Boldt – vocals, guitar
Lucas Goetz – drums
Geoff Hilhorst –organ
Chris Mason – bass, vocals
Burke Barlow – lead guitar

Francisco Alejandri’s breakthrough dish was guacamole

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2:33 pm

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The process of shaping raw ingredients into something palatable — and the events that surround this endeavour — can lead to all kinds of unforgettable moments: kitchen disasters, severed digits, epic struggles with newfangled culinary gadgets and, sometimes, personal triumphs. So why not ask some of the city’s top chefs for their most memorable recipes? Why not, indeed? No, really — that’s what we did, and will continue to do weekly.

Agave y Aguacate may be a bare bones stall in Kensington Market, but owner-chef Francisco Alejandri is putting out some of the best Mexican food in the city. It’s not surprising, considering his resume: he trained at the Stratford Chefs School and worked at Splendido, Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and Torito. We asked him for the dish that helped spark his passion for cooking.

Says Alejandri:

“My breakthrough dish would have to be guacamole. Why? Because of the simplicity in the amount of ingredients required to prepare this wonderful sauce. This ‘dish’ is important to me because it was one of the first things that I learned from my mother and also one of the first things that she would allow me to do, as simple as this sauce is.

It took me some time to do it right: it would be too limey sometimes or too spicy (nothing wrong with that) or too garlicky, so I learned that other than gorgeous avocados, balance is of utter importance. Without it, a dish just won’t work, no matter how simple it is.

My mother would explain that in cooking, nothing should overpower anything. You have to be able to savour everything, and that is something that I still do in a fervent way. Thanks to this, I learned what I think is the most important thing in cooking, other than love and passion: balance. I still make guacamole the way she showed me and I think it is wonderful.

Guacamole

Ingredients

1 avocado
¼ habanero pepper
1 clove of garlic
2 teaspoons chopped white onion
2 tablespoons chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped coriander
½ a lime, juiced to taste
Sea salt, to taste

Directions

If possible, use a molcajete (a traditional Mexican mortar and pestle). Grind the onions, garlic, chiles and cilantro to a rough paste.
Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
Mash the flesh roughly into the mortar, turning it so that the seasoning is well distributed.
Mix with the chopped tomato and season with salt and lime to taste.
Serve within 15 minutes, otherwise the avocado will oxidize and ruin the delicate taste of the avocado.

James Bond exhibit brings style and steel teeth to TIFF Bell Lightbox

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12:54 pm

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James Bond fans, prepare to work yourselves into a frenzy. A huge new exhibition of props and gadgets from the 007 movies is coming to TIFF Bell Lightbox this fall.

On display will be props such as the poker table from Casino Royale, a raincoat worn by Sean Connery in Dr. No and a tricked out attaché case seen in From Russian With Love, together with dozens of unseen blueprints, drawings and storyboards that went into creating the famous movies. Expect, though, the biggest crowds to be around the case containing the steel teeth used by man mountain Jaws (played by Richard Kiel) to bite through such objects as steel cables and passing sharks.

The exhibition, called “Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style,” will look at how the high-rolling British spy has influenced fashion, car design, art and pop culture in the half century since Sean Connery first donned Bond’s trademark tuxedo.

Curated by the Barbican Centre in London, England, the exhibition will open in July in the British capital before heading to Toronto for Oct. 26 as the second stop on a three-year world tour. Barbican staff told Britain's Guardian newspaper that they had “unprecedented access” to the James Bond archive in north London (yes, such a thing exists) to produce what they call an “immersive” show.

Skyfall, the 23rd Bond film and third to star Daniel Craig, is currently being shot and is slated to have its London premiere the same day the exhibition opens in Toronto.

TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St. W., Oct. 26-Jan. 20, 2013.

What I Wore: a vintage hoodie, Gucci sunglasses and a maxi dress for a look that’s totally Lana Del Rey

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12:43 pm

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While my style has always been a bit ghetto-fab and sporty, this look makes me laugh because I can’t help but be reminded of Lana Del Rey (minus those puffy lips and that oh-so-wide-eyed look). Even though I might disagree with her claims of “natural beauty,” there’s no doubt the girl and I share a mutual love for Veronica Lake, bling and anything with a varsity vibe. Not to mention a good pair of shades!

This outfit is comprised mainly of two great pieces I found from a new and vintage shopping site called Shoppalu that’s run by two of my girlfriends. The army green racer-back maxi was found in the new section, on sale for $10.

From what I said earlier, you can probably guess why I was attracted to the light denim baseball hoodie with its creamy cotton sleeves. Surprisingly, it was one of Shoppalu’s vintage finds — who knew?

The sunglasses are the most sentimental part of my outfit, because they were a Valentine’s Day gift from my friend DJ Lazy Ray back when we used to throw a weekly basement party. Over the course of working together, I’d expressed my extreme jealousy over his Gucci sunglasses that I had been longing for all summer but never managed to save up enough to buy (this may come as a surprise to you, but I am known for my supreme shopping and spending skills, not saving).

Anyway, on this particular day, Ray pulled out the glasses and said, “I want you to have these. I never wear them because they’re too flashy for me, but that makes them perfect for you.” And that’s the true story of how I got my beloved Gucci sunglasses! That Ray is really something else.

Looking at these shots of the outfit, I still can’t shake that I look like a Lana Del Rey knock-off. Which is kind of why I love it. I mean, there’s even a retro silver tour bus that happened to be in the background! Perhaps I am destined to start the first-ever Lana Del Rey cover band. Coming soon to a city near you. Look out!

What I Wore: Gucci sunglasses, vintage baseball hoodie from Shoppalu, maxi dress from Shoppalu, shoes from Aldo Rise x Preen.

Grace Carroll is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in ELLE UK, ELLEcanada.com, Plaid magazine and FILLER magazine. Keep up with her daily blog at www.graciecarroll.com.

College Street’s Souz Dal to shack up with Sutra Tiki Bar

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10:29 am

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After 20 years, College Street cocktail bar Souz Dal will be relocating. But not to worry, it’s just moving down the street. After lease negotiations feel through, owner Sid Dichter decided to merge the bar with his other venue, Sutra Tiki Bar, at 612 College Street.

“It’s going to have the same dark, intimate feel,” says the owner, explaining that Sutra will now adopt the name Souz Dal and undergo renovations to look more like the original location. “We’re still going to keep the tiki bar on the back patio though.”

Souz Dal’s drinks menu will remain the same for the most part, but will also feature a few Sutra signatures like the Mai Tai, Volcano and the Suffering Bastard (a rum punch).

Souz Dal will close at its original location (636 College Street) on April 28 and reopen in its new spot on May 3.

“We’re going to have a goodbye party for regulars and anyone who wants to come,” says Dichter.

Morning Throwback: in the early 1900s, being a domestic scientist wasn’t nearly as cool as it sounded

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8:00 am

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In 1910, the people at the old Technical School on College Street thought they were so slick. Yeah, sure, the fancy class description read “domestic science” class but, in actuality, it was nothing but a run-of-the-mill cooking class. Bunsen burners were replaced by stovetops and frying pans and the discovery of mould on food was a very, very bad thing. But what do you expect from a class full of women?

North America’s first “virtual store” opens in Toronto … selling Tide

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5:03 pm

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North America’s first “virtual” store has popped up near Union Station, giving commuters the opportunity to stock up on essentials like Tide using their cellphones.

Well.ca, a Canadian online health and beauty retailer, opened the store yesterday (April 2) on the lower level of Brookfield Place, at the corner of Front and Bay. The store contains no products — instead, two large images of packed shelves have been fixed to the walls. Shoppers in the market for products like diapers, detergent or toothpaste can download an app to their smartphone and then use their phone’s camera to scan a code next to the picture of the product they are interested in. Well.ca takes payment online then sends the goods to the shopper’s home, usually by the next day.

Shopping by cellphone has been successful in other parts of the world, notably South Korea, but this is the first virtual store to appear in North America.

Paige Malling, a spokesperson for Guelph-based Well.ca, said the location at Brookfield Place had been chosen because of the amount of commuters who pass through there every day. “It’s right by Union Station at the entrance to the PATH,” she said. “And it’s in a routunda-like space that really shows off the products.”

Malling expects the store to be popular with office workers who need to stock up on bulky stuff like household goods and Pampers, but don’t fancy struggling on a packed subway train with them (delivery is free).

But like all good pop-ups, this one wont be here for long — it will close on April 30.

Trending in Theatre This Week: Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, Clybourne Park, The Duck Variations, I Love You Because, Was Spring

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12:26 pm

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Jack and the Giant Beanstalk

This new take on the classic tale finds Jack, the son of a farmer, surrounded by land that just won’t grow. It’s an interactive play that is fun for the whole family.
Young People’s Theatre, 165 Front St. E., 416-862-2222. To April 21.

Clybourne Park

Bruce Norris’ wicked comedy about race and real estate over two generations in suburban Chicago won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Thespians will notice its Raisin in the Sun similarities, which inspired the play.
Berkeley Street Theatre, 26 Berkeley St., 416-368-3110. To April 28.

The Duck Variations

Two friends spend time together watching ducks, while talking about life, aging and death. And since it’s a David Mamet play, you can bet on some cursing, too.
Red Sandcastle Theatre, 922 Queen St. E., 416-845-9411. April 5-14.

I Love You Because

An uptight man meets a flighty woman (naturally) in this modern musical twist based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Quirky love songs ensue.
Toronto Centre for the Arts, Studio Theatre, 5040 Yonge St., 416-872-1111. To April 15.

Was Spring

In Daniel MacIvor’s newest play, three women from different generations clash over a tragic incident from their past.
Tarragon Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave., 416-531-1827. April 4–May 6.

Theatre Review: War Horse

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10:00 am

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Much has been said about War Horse, the First World War tale of a boy and his horse, which is running at the Princess of Wales Theatre. You’ve probably heard about its mind-blowing puppetry, its inventive staging and the necessity of a box of tissues for its heart-tugging moments. I’m pleased to report that all those rumours are true: you will definitely be in awe, and dab your eyes, during this visually stunning production.

For those who haven’t watched the recent Steven Spielberg-directed film, read Michael Morpurgo’s 1982 children's book (on which the movie and stage play is based) or seen the production that was first staged in 2007 by the National Theatre of Britain, the story of War Horse follows the same formula of most tragic love stories: boy meets horse, boy loses horse, boy gets horse back.

In this case, the boy is Albert (Alex Furber), the son of drunken Devonshire farmer, Ted Narracott (Brad Rudy). The horse is Joey, who is bought by Ted at an auction. Albert ultimately tames the headstrong Joey and forms a deep-lasting bond with the horse, only to have his heart broken when Ted sells Joey to the British army in 1914, at the brink of the First World War. The remainder of the play consists of Albert’s four-year-long quest to be reunited with his beloved steed, which means lying about his age to enlist in the army, and coming dangerously close to death’s door. Clearly, this is no ordinary bromance.

In the role of Albert, Furber convincingly conveys the inexplicable love and devotion between horse and master (the scene at the hospital is a most devastatingly powerful one where many tissues were used by yours truly) but the true stars of the show are Joey and his equestrian comrades, astonishingly created by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company with seemingly simple handiworks made of wood, cane and canvas.

Three puppeteers, who are truly stars in their own right, operate Joey. With two under the horse's back and hindquarters, and the other standing beside the creature, manoeuvring its head, Joey magically comes to life with extraordinary detail and realism. So real, that within minutes, the puppeteers seem to disappear and the horse comes alive on its very own.

One of my favourite, and most remarkable, moments in the play is when Joey changes from foal to stallion, literally, before our eyes. It’s a spectacular transformation and showcases the visual wizardry behind the puppets.

The script is less-than-great, but that’s really secondary when the production itself is a sight to behold. From the battle scenes to the emotionally tense climax (where more tissues were used by yours truly), be prepared to be amazed and surprised at what the power of theatre and imagination can create.

War Horse is, without a doubt, a whole different theatrical animal.

War Horse, Princess of Wales Theatre, 300 King St. W., 416-872-1212. Tues.-Sat. Runs indefinitely. $35-$130.

Morning Throwback: Toronto chicks were badass way before punk rock even existed

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8:30 am

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Back in the ‘40s, Toronto women packed some serious heat. With cigarettes in one hand and machine guns in the other, these ladies were the definition of badass. Their breath was made of Teflon and their sweat could power the city for 10 years. Angelina Jolie, who? They'd eat that waif for breakfast after they downed a mug of boiled leather.

Has celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy closed Provenance Regional Cuisine?

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1:16 pm

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It looks like celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy has shuttered his Dundas West grocery store Provenance Regional Cuisine.

Known for its locally sourced and sustainable foods, Kennedy took over the tiny shop at Dundas and Palmerston last September from original owner, Alex Johnston. But when we passed by on the weekend, the store was closed and a sign had been posted that read: “Many thanks to all of you who supported the shop. Cheers to you and the life awaiting down the river that flows.”

Attempts to contact Kennedy were not immediately answered and there’s no word yet as to the reason for the closure or what will open in its place.

The Bazaar indie fashion sale takes over Loft 580

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12:33 pm

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Ladies and gents, mark your calendars. A four-day indie fashion extravaganza, The Bazaar, is taking over Loft 580 from Thursday (April 5). Organized by Glenna Weddle and Faith Orfus — the ladies behind Yorkville’s Rac Boutique — a gaggle of local indie retailers are corralling their best spring garb (and winter’s sale duds) under the same roof.

Participating stores include Robber, LAB Consignment, 69 Vintage, Dalston Grey, Jacflash and Woodlawn, among others. Expect to see a mix of vintage, consignment and new clothing alongside accessories and more. We’re also keeping our fingers crossed for some pieces from local designers Ashley Rowe and Rita Liefhebber.

And for a bit of star power, Thursday’s opening night will be deejayed by Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene.

Hours: April 5, 6-11 p.m; April 6 & 7, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; April 8, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

Loft 580, 580 King St. W. April 5-8.