Buskerfest Day 1

Bex In Motion and Witty Look.

I met up with Peter to go to Buskerfest on Friday night a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time I've actually shot it extensively. In past years I've gone for an hour or two shooting only two or three acts.

Since I have Fridays off work I got a head start. I walked down a bit earlier arriving a little before 5:00. Yonge Street was closed off from College to Queen with a number of stages for the performers set up in between.

The first performer I came upon was Bence Sarkadi with his marionettes on Stage 9 (on the east side of Yonge south of College). He was almost finished when I arrived so I didn't actually see much.

A bit further south Catana Chetwynd from Saratoga Springs, New York was creating a piece of Chalk Art on the sidewalk. I believe it was inspired by the TV show Game of Thrones.

I was snapping a few shots of her working when I noticed a young, art-student type, come up and start sketching her. He had a long sheet of paper with sketches of other people he had done. With his big green headphones and backpack adorned with colourful buttons he became my new subject.

Next, on Stage 8, was Hercinia Arts Collective. The trio of acrobats performed a show called The Flying Machine. One girl, the inventor, walked around on stilts and narrated the show while two others performed on the trapeze suspended in the air above Yonge Street. They weren't too bad.

Peter arrived around 7:00 p.m. just after the trapeze artists performed. I walked back up to College Street to meet him.

We walked back down to just south of College Park and took a few shots of the guys playing chess on the large plastic set there before moving on to catch Nathaniel Rankin and his show Borderline Madness. He had replaced the girls of Hercinia Arts Collective on Stage 8. Nathaniel's act was a combination of magic, juggling and comedy. It was all right.

Continuing south to Stage 7, we caught the last part of Bex In Motion's Fire Show. We saw her Hula-hooping a number of hoops. Then she did the same thing with some hoops that she lit on fire. Since it was dark by this time anything on fire looked kind of cool.

We also caught the last 10 minutes of Zap Circus' Purple People Show at Stage 4 tucked away on Edward Street. They're an Australian duo of acrobats. They too had a fire component to their show spinning lit batons while the girl stood upon the guy's shoulders.

Though I understand the need to ask for donations, these guys dragged it too far. The girl droned on and on and on about it. Have a bit of dignity. You only need to prod a little. The audience understands what's going on.

After their performance we took a break for late dinner. We split a medium pepperoni Pizza Pizza for $4.99 plus tax (for walk-in orders). Freshly made, it was pretty tasty.

The last performance of the day that we caught fully was the best. It was the unicycling duo Witty Look from Japan. They consist of unicycle world champion Daiki and an acrobatic clown Cheeky! Cheeky is over-the-top hilarious. So funny. It was more than just tricks on unicycles. That's what made it one of the better shows.

After their performance we walked a bit further south on Yonge past Dundas. It was getting late by then so we headed home not long after.

Pedestrian Sunday - Kensington Market

After church, yesterday, I walked over to Kensington Market for their last Pedestrian Sunday of the year. They hold it the last Sunday of every month from May to October.

Pedestrian Sunday first started in 2004. The idea was to close certain neighbourhood streets to vehicular traffic and open them up for people to stroll through while enjoying a diverse assortment of food, music and other performances put on by the local community. At the same time they were trying to "make a statement about climate change, while creating the experience of what a livable city and a sustainable future could be simply by giving walking priority over the habit of driving. It’s a local action that joins a global ecological movement. By hosting a Pedestrian Sunday, a community takes back their common space and celebrates a day of cleaner air." or so says their website.

I arrived in the area at about 3:30 p.m. Pedestrian Sunday was already in full swing. The streets were bustling with people taking in a multitude of sights and sounds. While down here you'll find a myriad of ethnic groups represented by both merchants and residents alike. As well, there's an eclectic mix of cafés, restaurants and vintage clothing stores that's sure to put a smile on the face of any humdrum guy or gal you know. It's a kaleidoscopic ride for the senses to say the least. Musicians were playing curbside with their bands. Various street performers entertained the mass of onlookers. You could grab a chicken empanada from Jumbo Empanadas to go, or sit on a patio at Aspetta with a cold bottle of Peroni and watch the world go by. The choice was yours.

Two performers of note I enjoyed watching were the crazy, half-baked, half-naked, sword-juggling unicyclist DynaMike (Michael Bonnici) and the improv song and dance puppetry of Mr. Verg's Theatre of the Absurd (pictured above). He's an artist I've had the pleasure of seeing in various incarnations a couple times in the past.

DynaMike is totally nutty. But, in an amusing and entertaining way. He plays well to the crowd often getting them to take part in his performance. He starts by gathering everyone around and picking certain audience members to help him with his props such as his swords for juggling or stretch unicycle. This is followed by a balancing act with various objects and a finale that has him strip down to his skivvies then juggle three swords while balancing high atop his unicycle, all the while poking fun everyone that helps him.

Mr. Verg (a.k.a Alexander Winfield) is a little more cerebral. His creative and highly amusing, one man puppet show is utterly charming to both adults and children alike. For the price of a handful of spare change he will sing a song with his funny accent about any topic you care to put forth. According to his CityNews.ca interview he came upon the idea of performing his show back in 2006 when, in his words, he "had enough of trying to make do with very poor part-time jobs." He can be reached at sheepWpunks@gmail.com if you wish to inquire about his services or where he may be performing next.

All-in-all, it was a delightful way to pass a couple of hours on a lovely fall afternoon in the city. Next time you're here, you should make a point of dropping by.