LIFE IS SWEET, EVEN IN FEBRUARY – Ashley Gibson honours her mother's memory, and shines a light on mental health with her solo show

The prospect of February always seems daunting – the coldest, greyest of months, it seems predisposed to being an emotional minefield. For Ashley Gibson, you add in the anniversary of your mother’s death and it seems like the bleakest of months. But out of something bleak, Ashley has created something inspiring and beautiful, with her first solo cabaret show, LIFE IS SWEET, EVEN IN FEBRUARY, both honouring her mother’s memory, and benefiting the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

LIFE IS SWEET, EVEN IN FEBRUARY is a solo cabaret show on February 22^nd at 9:30pm, with Ashley singing a number of songs that her mom enjoyed, and sharing stories from her own life, about the impact of mental illness and her journey back after her mom’s suicide.  Ashley’s been open about her mother’s suicide, and how it’s affected her. It’s inspiring that someone has made an effort to share that part of themselves, fighting the stigma of mental illness and letting everyone dealing with mental illness, loss, depression, anxiety, to let all of them know:  “You are not alone”.

Mental health is something which affects us all – when 1 in 5 Canadians will experience mental illness in their lifetime, the odds are you or someone in your life is dealing with mental illness. We don’t always talk about it, we don’t necessarily know how to recognize, or know how to help. But, through the work of people like Ashley, we can have these conversations and end the stigma of mental health. We can move forward, together.

In addition to the show, Gibson will be featuring a number of guest writers on her blog who will write about their experiences with mental illness, depression, and loss – www.dancingthroughlifeblog.com. 

“Over the month of February I will be hosting blog posts from friends, family and bloggers who will be sharing their personal accounts of experience with mental illness, depression, anxiety and loss. I am so proud of all of these people for sharing their stories, and believe that in the act of sharing we will truly confirm that no one is alone. I've utilized my network to also include posts from practitioners on strategies for dealing with mental illness, as well as posts on working through challenges in life and finding the light and love in all of it. “

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ashley through my Loser Karaoke group, and she always lights up the room when she sings. Her outlook is infectious, moving, and I’m proud to know her. Buy a ticket, take part in something special, and you’ll be lucky too.

In the greyest of days, Ashley shares an outlook I admire: life can be sweet. Yes, even in February.

~

Learn more about Ashley's #lifeissweet month on her blog - dancingthroughlifeblog.com or by following her on Twitter -@ashleydtl

Life is Sweet, Even in February

Produced and performed by Ashley Gibson, Music Direction by Tara Litvack

February 22, 2013 – 9:30PM

The Flying Beaver Pubaret

488 Parliament Street – Toronto, ON

Tickets: $15 in advance / $20 at the door

Tickets are available at the Flying Beaver Pubaret or online at

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/325738

 Facebook event page - Life Is Sweet, Even in February

Nuit Blanche 2008 Heart of a Saturday Night

Nuit Blanche Toronto 2008

Heart of a Saturday Night

(all photos by the2scoops/Jason Carlin - see something you like, drop a line)

6:45pm - Finished an 8 hour shift at work that dragged into 10 hours, leave the office and immediately hit Shopper's Drug Mart for supplies: Red Bull, trail mix, water, spare batteries for the camera. I'm determined to go as late as I can.

6:46pm - Curses! Left the flask of good rum at home. Now I have to rely on my scarf and gloves to keep me warm.

7:45pm - My companion for the night is The Doctor, who meets me for dinner. I applaud my common sense as I fully predict downing several Red Bulls, so makes sense to bring my own physician.

7:53pm - The Doc downs a drink. Looks like I'm looking after my own well being...

9:05pm - Finish dinner and hit the streets. Already the intersection at Queen and University is packed with people going everywhere. We follow the strategy to stick to the bigger public pieces until the crowds die down around midnight. The downtown core exhibits will be jammed.

9:17pm - Make it to the Stereoscope exhibition at Metro City Hall. The installation is by the German group Project Blinkenlights, who've placed lamps behind every window in the twin buildings of City Hall, wired into it, and turned the iconic building into a pixelated computer screen. The public gets to use controllers and cell phones to manipulate the screen. It's the type of large scale exhibit that I hope to see more of around Nuit Blanche - huge in ambition and the public can participate.

9:26pm - Oh look, they're using this miraculous contraption to play Pong.

9:46pm - Walk up University to see "Waterfall" by Katherine Harvey. Recyclable plastic waterbottles are woven into a net quilt to form a suspended waterfall.

While crowds pack the front of the exhibit, we check out the view from behind the falls.

10:00pm - We make our way across University of Toronto. Disappointed there isn't any big projects making use of all that space at the centre of campus. We make our way up to the Gardiner Ceramics Museum to browse a bit.

>

11:30 pm Hollander York Gallery in Yorkville is hosting Painting to The Beat with live music and artists at work.

Tucked at the back of the Hollander Gallery, we found this painting by Toronto's Bev Rodin. It's part of a Forest Light series, and she captures it beautifully. We take a few minutes and just take it in.

11:45pm - Circus of Dreams at the Metro Reference Library.

12:20am - Everyone seemed to get a shot of Into The Blue at the Eaton Centre.

1:20am - The Doc calls it a night, so I set out for Liberty Village at King St. and Dufferin Ave. I'm looking forward to exploring the neighborhood, a new area to Nuit Blanche. The area's exhibit is Beginning to See The Light, the title from a 1969 Velvet Underground song.

In addition to the clear connotation of daybreak, the phrase implies anticipation, hope, expectation, enlightenment and a gradual epiphany. The works in the show embody these ideas, employing a variety of strategies such as play, protest, agitation and resistance.

1:25am Imagine Peace by Yoko Ono.
Make a wish, tie it to a branch. So many wishes shining like cherry blossoms in the night.



1:39am I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, 2008
Jon Sasaki - Toronto, Canada

In a stadium, rock music plays and mascots entertain a crowd for a game that never comes. Fun and oddly energizing.

2:00am - I follow a crowd and stumble onto the 2am show for SMASH! Droppin' Stuff by The Custodians of Destruction. We're going to see trash getting trashed. Computer monitors, a Nintendo, office furniture, a microwave, a TV. You know the saying that goes "I don't know art, but I know what I like"? Well I liked this.

2:20am - Warm up with a coffee at Balzac's, or as Amy says phonetically, "Ball Sack".

2:36am Purified by Fire - Video loops of fire are rear projected onto the windows. Hypnotic and a sense that something is amiss, that we're seeing fire but no destruction, no sound, no smoke.

2:45am Overflow by Michel de Broin. In a former prison chapel in Liberty Village Park, Michel de Broin summons a waterfall to flow from a 3rd story window, with all the appropriate detritus and debris. Would have been stunning up close...

...but this was as close as we could get. Someone didn't get the memo on this being a public art event as the park was entirely fenced off and no one was allowed near the exhibit. Stupid stupid stupid decisions that make me angry. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

4:25 am - I've been at St James Cathedral at King and Church Street for about an hour now. I had really hoped to catch some of the performance aspects of Don Coyote & Quixotic, but I've hit the wall, nothing left in the tank. I've been sitting here, listening to organ music blasting and watching video installations. I'd hoped to make it to the next stage of the live performance around 5am, but I'm bagged. I get the subway and a cab, and get to bed by 5:30am

Should have managed one more Red Bull, because here's what I missed as around 5am, Quixotic built up to "a phantasmagoric roaming ritual" as "'La momma morta', (The Dead Mother), reveals herself in protest as a spectral divine" (video from Dear Toronto):

Count me in for next year - I just have to make sure I clear my day ahead of the night. We staggered out that night, in search of a city brought to life from dusk til dawn and teeming with art. We found that people really like things getting smashed, wishing, and finding beauty in the strangest places.

Buskerfest takes over St Lawrence Market this weekend

Buskerfest starts today at St. Lawrence Market (Front & Jarvis), with dozens of incredibley talented street performers, musicians, and acrobats roaming the neighborhood, with talent from all over the world. If I could offer a suggestion: head over to the Hothouse Café (make a reservation) or the Irish Embassy for brunch and then roam about.

Buskerfest is on from August 23rd to 26th. Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:00 PM - 11:00 PM, Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM , Sun Aug 26, 2007 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Organizers expect about 350,000 spectators to come down over the course of the weekend, which is why Market Street will be blocked off until midnight Sunday. Admission is free, but on-site donations benefiting Epilepsy Toronto are encouraged

Road closures : Front Street between Jarvis and Scott will be shut down and Church from Front to the Esplanade will be closed from 9:30 Friday morning. All will also reopen Sunday at midnight.

Return of The Spiegel

Good news as it looks likewe'll have another opportunity to visit the SpiegelTent'nTavern. The Spiegel Show at Harbourfront has gotten another extension through until July 29th. Take the time and spend the night with Toronto's only "varie-tease" cabaret and show. You won't be disappointed: with it's rotation of comedians, singers, and performers, every night is a new and unique experience.

My full review of The Spiegel Show can be found here.

Whatever happens in the Spiegel Show, stays in the Spiegel Show

The Spiegel Show cabaret at Harbourfront was such a success during Luminato, it’s been held over until July 1^st. The opportunity to see a “Moulin Rouge” style cabaret in full swing was not something my accomplice, The Siren, or myself were going to miss. We arrived early to get a good seat and were rewarded with an evening celebrating all the things that make life worthwhile: love, laughter, lust, and wonder.

The evening was sweltering with humidity, which was appropriate for what promised a tour of the seamy underbelly of Toronto. Dozens of acts unfold throughout the night and it’s hard not to enjoy yourself under the Spiegeltentn'tavern: the burlesque is a riot in corsets and pasties; acrobatic courtship unfolds in aerial silks; a opera singer plots murder; an audience member is drawn into a charmingly improvised blind date with a clown; living art work prowls the audience; a rousing reading of the phone book rallies the audience; Anya the Candy Butcher sells her wares while wielding innuendo like a licorice whip; the MC and the audience enter in a mutual adoration pact; the bar does a bustling business; and the house band plays on like the soundtrack to a manic Bugs Bunny cartoon. It’s a party.

I imagine this is what the inside of Tom Waits' head must look like.

…

The Spiegeltentn'tavern is a beautifully crafted beer hall in the round, adorned in stained glass and mirrors. The bar is well stocked, the food was delicious (mmm strawberry crepes) and the food & drink prices were quite reasonable. The atmosphere in the tent was hot and humid, and the show managed to ratchet the temperature up a few notches to sultry.

The burlesque troupe performing as The Spiegelettes for the show are Les Coquettes Nouveau Burlesque, and don’t jump to conclusion that just because there’s a little skin, then it’s smutty or lewd; it’s playful, bawdy, lusty, and glamorous performance; choreographed titillation in beautiful costumes, with the women (and guy) enticing the audience with the old “you give them a little bit, you take it back; you show them a little more, you take it back”. They put the tease in striptease, especially with “The Fan Dance” and “Bolero”.

Brad Hampton as the MC was charming and funny, as he took the audience by the hand and led us into the seamy underbelly, imploring us to “fall in love” along the way. His rendition of “10 Cents A Dance (Brother Can You Spare A Dime)” was a show stopper.

There is a rotation of others acts, so every night is unique. The show works as true variety show, featuring top performers in several disciplines, all from the Toronto area. There were about 20 acts in total that night, and some highlights for us included:

• The acrobatic performances were stunning. While I heard comparisons to the spectacle of “Cirque de Soleil”, the intimacy of that 300 seat tavern was something you won’t get in Vegas. The work of Jen Georgopoulos on the static trapeze and Peter Loung on the aerial straps enraptured the crowd (well, Peter’s 8 pack of abs and hot pants probably got the crowd going as well), and the show’s finale told a moving story of intimacy amidst the aerial silks, perfectly scored to what turned out to be a string version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters”. The music selections for the night were excellent, including the closing Can-Can Finale with the Spiegelettes put to the très appropriate “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop.

• “The Blind Date” was a wonderful comedic bit of clowning featuring Bruce Horak & Rebecca Northan. Rebecca had me in tears as the French chanteuse sitting at a cafe table alone, waiting for her blind date. She has an unopened bottle of wine on the table, and laments her late date:

"Drink the wine anyway" shouts an audience member

In a thick French accent Rebecca tosses back, "Only whores drink alone".

She eventually picks someone out of the audience as a temporary date. It builds as she eventually kisses the guy, who is trying to “polite” kiss:

In zee French accent she says "You have an English way of kissing", so she shows him zee French. Yowsa!

• Other performers included Patricia O’Callaghan singing a smoldering cover of Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man”; Soprano Kyra Millan essentially singing a man to death; and a performer (didn’t catch the name) giving a dramatic reading of the phone book: “HO!!! Tim. 23 Raleigh Lane. 416-395-5555”.

Both the Siren and I enjoyed the fun and undeniably sexy show. If it all sounds too tawdry and racy for you, that’s a shame: you’re missing out, and probably on a lot more than this show. And all the performers were charming and friendly with the audience, both during and after the show. I’d certainly go again to see what other spectacle awaits, and I’m predicting The Siren may be prepared to leave the office behind in order to run away to join the Spiegel show. Who wouldn’t want to?

I’d like to see the Spiegel show become a regular summertime fixture in Toronto. They rotate different acts every night, and given the depth of talent in Toronto, the Spiegel show could continue for months and still be “brand new” every time. But just in case, I recommend checking out the show before the end of the month.

UPDATE: The show has been extended through July 29th

Show runs Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. 8pm show time every night expect Sunday which begins at 7pm.

Doors open an hour beforehand, first come first serve seating.

Location: the Spiegeltentn'tavern is at Harbourfront Centre - 235 Queens Quay West

Tickets $25 through Harbourfront Centre

Admittance restricted to those aged 19 and over