Radiohead: King of Limbs & The Universal Sigh

The new Radiohead album ‘The King of Limbs’ was released in the U.S. and Canada today (March 29, 2011) and a special event was held worldwide to give out free copies of a souvenir newspaper called ‘The Universal Sigh’. In Toronto the location for the distribution of the paper was at the Yonge-Dundas Square, just across from the Eaton Centre. There was a nice lineup of people waiting to get their hands on a copy (or return for more copies) while many people walked by wondering what the lineup was all about – there was no advertising posters or handouts to describe what was happening. They also took your picture with the newspaper if you allowed them to – look for me on the website.

This paper is not the one that will accompany the album and they say it will not be repeated. They also mention that “this is not a live performance of Radiohead”.

The 12 page newspaper features art, stories and weird sayings all in black and white, except for the front and back covers. I think the cover art depict ghouls – pretty scary. Forests and pointy tree limbs devoid of leaves are a visual theme running through the edition. The centre page has a one page art work with a title at the top ‘Gather up the pitiful’ with a blood red snowflake, some unusual bat/stingray creatures that are both flying and smiling over some possible white, heavily eyelashed eyes and the empty limbs of a tree stretching up to the sky.

Radiohead is an alternative rock band from across the pond (England) featuring 5 members: Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, Coling Greenwood and Phil Selway. They released their first album in 1992 and by 2007 had sold over 25 million copies of their albums.

I will finish with a short paragraph found on the centerfold:

JUST

SAY

WHERE YOU WANNA BE

I’ll take you anywhere

You want to go.

I can turn you on and

I can make you happy.

Protests at Yonge-Dundas Square

The heart of downtown Toronto continues to be the Yonge and Dundas intersection and when people want to celebrate or protest the first place they go is the busy roadway and the adjacent public park - Yonge-Dundas Square. With so much turmoil in the world there always seems to be plenty of people ready to gather to protest something. Today it was no different as the middle east has so many countries that are pressing for changes.

Countries like Bahrain, Libya where the UN has started to enforce a no-fly zone over the country with rebels  in a battle against the leader Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt where protests have already forced changes in leadership.

Come On Star; crisis in the Yonge-Dundas Square?

There is a crisis in the square - there is stuff there. OMG, wtf! The Toronto Star has run out of crap to think about. "There are more garbages there than an army can use", "a ticket selling booth over there", "the main stage is fenced off"; what the hell is Christopher Hume talking about? He also claims that the Yonge-Dundas Square stage canopy is never used - well here are the hash protesters huddling, pictured above, under that mysterious canopy.

It's f*cking winter out and no one hangs in the square!

PS Another crisis: there is some snow on the sidewalk!

Kit Kat and other sights

I think that we are on the good side of winter now, heading slowly into spring as the days get longer and hopefully warmer. Our streets remain quite with none of the massive protests that fill so many cities around the world, in fact the cows continue to hang out at Kit Kat overlooking King Street West. Of course the cows (or maybe just one cow cut in half) are not real.

Speaking of protests the last protests I remember, besides the recent gatherings in support of the Arab awakening, were the mildly violent G20 protests and the much more mellow hash protest (or the G-420 march and later snack protest) which took place at the Yonge-Dundas Square.

The old Toronto Stock Exchange building on Bay Street now holds the Design Exchange and maybe they should hang a few cows off the Art Deco facade, or maybe just chip in a new name on their large sign.

The old Toronto Stock Exchange Building.

I started listening to CHUM radio when I was growing up and I occasionally listen to it in the car, but I miss the old Roger, Rick and Marilyn combo in the morning. At the end of their run I think they were all mad at each other, now Rick has left and Darren fills his spot.

Chum Building.

Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre

Hockey Hall of Fame.

A Day at Yonge and Dundas

Santa brought the gift of a light commute to the City and even though people are coming downtown in droves to check out Boxing Week sales in Toronto the drive around the highways is very light - enjoy it while you can because payback is a bitch, especially when it includes extreme winter weather. Watching everyone walking outside of the Eaton Centre and into the pedestrian priority intersection at Yonge and Dundas I noticed some interesting things that tend to happen around this vibrant location.

The first interesting thing is that usually there is someone busking and it could include Silver Elvis, Batman, the drummer guys or the chalk drawing people. If you can't remember what you want to buy, take a quick look around - I think there is a bit of advertising in the area (it's Times Square Junior, the cold edition).

You can also find companies taking advantage of the large concentration of people passing by this point that they give away samples of their products and, of course, everyone loves free stuff so it's marketing at it's best. You become used to passing a crowd and grabbing a free sample that they hand out: chocolate bars, spaghetti, gum, ice cream (mmm, from skinny cow) - you name it and some great, kind company has given it out. Then there are the guys that use this hook to get you to stop and make donations. The guy who was giving out cereal bars, you grab it and he won't let go, then he makes the pitch. He got rid of his cereal bars and he now uses Tootsie Rolls, not the small ones either, he uses the honking big bars, almost a foot long bar of temptation. You reach for it and damn it, he won't drop his iron grip on the Tootsie Roll.

There are also the history guys. They hold up history brochures and not the small brochures but the really big 8x10 brochures (today it looks like CDs), I mean it looks like great reading, and ask if you want one. Gosh, they are smiling at you, everything looks so friendly and inviting. Again you grab for the stuff and they won't let go. While you both stand in the street holding onto the brochure, feeling uncomfortable, he makes the pitch.

If you are hungry for street food there are usually two hot dog stands on Dundas, just to the west of the intersection - but no french fries. If you want street fries you have to go to Queen Street West at City Hall or over to Front Street at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

At Yonge-Dundas Square they continue handing out free stuff and putting on concerts. Occasionally you see beautiful girls in fashion shows.

Plenty of people are around to pass out religious information, heck some people even scare the crap out of you and every now and then just yell out stuff as you pass by. Cripes they are trying to give you a heart attack so you can think of god and go to heaven and just before you die, or the ambulance arrives, they slip you the religious brochure. You are too weak to refuse so you are an easy customer. Sometimes they don't have anything to give you but stand at the intersection, like a small island in a river of humanity, with a sign held high above their head saying things like the end of the world is coming. So get that shopping in before the end of times and think about saving the returns until after the Boxing Week Sales have stopped because the lineups are long - maybe that's why the highways are empty.

Christmas is for kids and pandas

Christmas is tomorrow and all through the house we cleaned and cooked. Friends and family gather together to enjoy the holidays and as an excuse to meet, sometimes only for this one day a year. The excitement and wonder of Christmas is best enjoyed by the young and pandas. These kids were helping to welcome everyone to the Doors Open 2010 event on top of the new green deck at City Hall.

Actually, I am not really sure if pandas celebrate Christmas, but hang loose and enjoy the season. I also hope yesterday's Festivus for the Rest of Us was all that it could have been; airing of grievances, feats of strengths and that someone ended up getting pinned. That Seinfeld was a Festivus Miracle.

The Big Kiss

Virgin Mobile brought the Big Kiss to Toronto today as couples were invited to kiss under a giant mistletoe hanging in Yonge-Dundas Square. Virgin is going to donate money for each kiss to WWF-Canada. "Join us on December 2nd at 6:00 PM by participating in a massive, simultaneous kiss under Dundas Square's new adornment. The countdown will be led by Degrassi's Charlotte Arnold (Holly) and Raymond Ablack (Sav)!

Kiss a friend, a lover, a teddy bear, your cell phone, whatever ;) And remember the ancient Chinese proverb: "Kissing is like drinking salt water - having some only increases your thirst for more."

Virgin Mobile will give out Blackberry smartphones to 5 lucky kissing couples under the giant mistletoe. While big nutcrackers and reindeer helped fill the square with holiday cheer.

I saw that Cynthia Mulligan from CityTV was on hand reporting in the square and she looks thin but still beautiful. I had taken her photo almost one year ago and noted her fight against breast cancer which still continues.

See more photos after the jump.

Some wise men, a snowman and a penguin greet the crowd and offer free hot chocolate.

Reindeer down, reindeer down!

The reindeer before the hunt.