The only two buildings in Toronto worth saving are Old City Hall and Osgoode Hall, Frank Gehry says Curiously, he doesn’t include his own work on the Art Gallery of Ontario on his list of buildings worth saving. OK, we don’t have hundreds of years of… Read More
It’s hard to know what to believe. His stories were incredibly fluid over the years, shifting and changing. Just imagine – a regular poker game in a back room of a funeral parlour, in the room where they stored the coffins. Chairs gathered around a… Read More
The core components of the mountain banjo I’m making are now assembled. Fitting and stretching the goatskin was a bit of a challenge. I wanted a snug fit and my hole was a smidge tight, causing me some grief. Also, I used a piece of… Read More
go together like toast and jam…. This video features Frank Fairfield on fiddle. I’ve only recently stumbled across Mr. Fairfield’s music. He also plays guitar and banjo. Here at 27th Street, we love his playing. I hope one day he comes up to play Toronto!
Our shishigashia (lion’s mane) Japanese maple is one of the last trees to change colour around here in the fall. It’s peaking now, so I thought I’d post a photo. Never one to be left out, Memphis posed with the tree. Here’s Nat King Cole… Read More
Tommy Jarrell performing Cumberland Gap. I love this video, shot by Alan Lomax and crew in 1983. Who says I don’t like “80s” music.
Many years ago, back in the early 80s, I participated in a Sol LeWitt wall drawing at the David Bellman Gallery in Toronto. I wrote about that experience a few years ago on the old blog and again last year on this one. I was… Read More
Let’s start off with Benton Flippen and the Smokey Valley Boys performing the Old Time standard, John Brown’s Dream Then let’s slide into Series of Dreams. Somehow or another this fantastic song never made it onto the Oh Mercy recording and was only released later… Read More
The other night I was sitting just about where I’m sitting now, practicing the banjo. In between my awkward and stumbling attempts at hammering out some tunes, I noticed the sound a tile makes when it’s being broken up with a tile nipper, so I… Read More
Toque time on 27th Street. (The sculpture above is by the late John Howlin)
27th Street 