REFLECTION & REASON

I feel it was a big weekend for Toronto dancehall. A couple of days have passed, and I realize it felt significant enough for me to keep processing what just happened. Two things in particular: 1) Spice performed for the Pride festivities during Pride weekend in Toronto. 2) King Turbo 's founding members reunited on stage at the Canada History Clash. It's possible that either event just passed you by this weekend. With the amount of outdoor functions, gatherings, pool parties, fetes, boat rides, and dancehall events, you truly could have been out celebrating the first week of summer with all of the energy and vibrancy you've been holding on to for months. Years. Last summer we were free, but this summer...we're FREE free. You could feel the vibration it in the air...folks in Toronto are ready to have a good time for the next two months, by any means necessary. I saw the footage of Spice performing live at Dundas Square, and it made me smile. It made me feel proud. I was...

For a good 20 years, I've wondered where my collection of flyers was. Thanks to some deep quarantine cleaning...I found my flyer book. Here are the highlights from 1992 - 1996, also known as my teenage years. Shout out to Pickering High...I'll start with that one:

Living in Toronto, you become accustomed to having your favourite artists perform frequently, close to home. In the summer in particular, every weekend plays host to reggae and soca artists, stage shows, special events, boat rides, and other celebrations featuring the singers and DJs we have grown to appreciate over the years. In Canada, we are blessed because our city is a definitely must on any island entertainer's tour itinerary. Over the years we've also, unfortunately, had to witness the closing down of venues in Toronto, the logistical difficulties for even the most experienced of promoters and event teams "due to circumstances beyond their control," and an overall decline in the availability of space and the decline in faith of some of the systems that used to be reliable. We've witnessed the closing, demolition, and gentrification of some of our favourite concert locations of the past (Guvernment and Kool Haus, for example). We've seen Richmond Str...