In today’s society, certain dates seem to be linked to certain events. Each of these dates seems to have its own traditions. Well, ever since high school there are a few of these types of dates that I adhere to pretty firmly. May 2-4 always is and will always be a weekend spent somewhere up near Barrie. Halloween (and St. Patrick’s Day) equals a great reason to throw a party. And April 20th will always be 4-20, aka – National Stoner Day.
In the average bear’s world, April 20th simply marks another day where, despite the weather getting warmer,they will likely still have to go in to work (at least until they win the lottery). To the followers of a popular counter culture movement however, April 20th marks a day of making a firm statement – you can not stop us. All we are asking for is freedom. Freedom would be great, because it would mean having the freedom to smoke up wherever they pleased.
In “light” of the fact that April 20th presents a valid excuse to smoke up, I headed to what I think is one of the city’s finest counter culture venues – the Hot Box Café. I have reviewed a few bands there before, and they have never let me down. I heard through their Facebook page that in order to celebrate the arrival of April 20th, they had scheduled nearly twelve hours of live music. Twelve. I thought, there was no possible way that I was going to miss this. With my notepad in hand and my reggae tunes blaring through my iPod, I headed out to the Kensington Market. I had literally quite “high” hopes for the day’s events to come, and with that in mind I had invited along my friends Cynthia and Brent, two of the most chill and fun people I know. We found the café, headed inside, and…
Boom. The wall of smoke hit us in the face like being hit with a pillow. Instant smiles. Instant need to sit down and not even think about moving for a while. To say that the atmosphere in there was different may be a massive understatement. From the temporary circular layout of the chairs and tables (better chi for the room), to the sound waves throbbing out of the huge speakers set up by the juice bar, to the fact that the place was absolutely packed, every factor of what we saw before us was just about perfect. Another thing that was absolutely perfect was that we immediately spotted a table with three empty chairs against the wall right beside the band that was on at that time.
The acoustics inside that building are always incredible, but that day I noticed something – with significantly more people packed into that room, the sound seems to hit your ears in just the right way after bouncing around the walls. Neat. The band that was currently on was just wrapping up their last song before a break, so we had time to grab drinks and get comfortable.
After a brief pause, the next band got set up. The crowd immediately settled down. It was intense, having a room that is positively buzzing with energy suddenly drop back into an intense chill mode. But it was a well-deserved hush that fell over the room. The band that was coming up as we arrived was called The Spliffs (appropriate). Typical reggae, with an atypical edge that made them a tiny bit more awesome than average. For the life of me, I still cannot figure out what it was that gave them that edge; all I know is that it totally added to the effect already achieved by the café. They ran through a few songs, all of a typical reggae fashion, and did a pretty fantastic job.
After The Spliffs came a guy called W Cyborg and his friend Charlie Bobus. I loved their sound, but by that point was finding it increasingly more difficult to concentrate and was completely enthralled with the fact that you are allowed to draw on the café’s walls with chalk. I think it was also partly that their music felt almost too comfortable. I needed to re-focus, so I went for a brief hike through the Kensington Market, leaving my friends to guard my coveted seat (which was, at that point, a rare commodity). By the time I returned, the next musician was setting up. I was sort of sad that I had missed their entire set, but the one that followed actually made up for it.
He introduced himself as Bobby Dreadfull and told us a story about how the inspiration behind his name comes from drawing a parallel to the massive amount of dreadlocks piled atop his head. The thing that stuck out about him right from the start was the mix of instruments that his band mates were performing . He had the typical drums, guitar, bass, and bongos. But he also included a digital soundboard (sadly, I didn’t figure out what type it was) and an alto saxophone! I love it when musicians and bands use “alternative instruments” when they perform, but I was not expecting what was coming when the guy behind that saxophone started to play. He didn’t chime in until the second or third song, but it was totally worth the wait! As an alto sax player myself (ah yes, my high school legacy…), I remember a little bit about things like embouchure (the position that you have to hold your lips and mouth in to play properly) and the way you have to direct your air to achieve the best sound. Well, this guy had all that and more down to a science. He had a wonderfully explosive power, with a rounded sound and didn’t run out of energy like some sax players that I have seen. Add to that the bongo drums, guitar and Bobby Dreadful’s energetic delivery of lyrics, and you have a seriously great sound for a band. The other musicians that he had playing were also doing their part and contributing nicely. Overall, their combined sound was pretty stellar.
By that point in the evening (shortly after dinner time), we all had just about all that we could of being in that extremely smoky environment. So we reluctantly headed for the door, only to be stopped by my friend Cynthia who suddenly exclaimed, “Oh WOW guys!! I think we have to check this out!”
“This” turned out to be a different venue that her friend Morgan had just texted to her, this time a nightclub with a bar, and a host of people DJing the night away. There would be dancing, we were told. This could be fun. It was only just shortly after 7:00pm, so the night was young! We knew we had to at least go and check it out. After all, Cynthia’s friend was going to be one of the DJs there that night. After a quick Google Maps search to locate Jun Jun’s Bar, we headed out. We only got lost once trying to find the place, but as it turns out that name is quite popular and so we had to distinguish between the bar, a marketplace, a clinic and some other oddities with the same name. In the end though, we did find it and we headed in.
For the second time that day, as soon as we walked in the door I was hit with a realization that I was completely not ready for what was about to happen. The room itself was awesome – all different shades of blue, with bubble-shaped circles of tables and millions of tiny dots of light shimmering and reflecting off the walls everywhere you looked. Again, we somehow found the one empty table that remained. Sitting down, I saw that the stage where the DJs would be was quite close to where we were sitting. There was a DJ setting up his gear, which again gave us enough time to go and grab a few more drinks and get back to the table.
As soon as her started to spin, all I seemed able to do was just sit there, astonished at the skill he had in mixing between tracks and blending the songs together perfectly. I noticed that quite a lot of people in the crowd had gotten up and start dancing already, and it was only just after 8:00pm! He held a great amount of energy as he worked as well, grooving out to the music and sort of dancing. After a while, there was a clean switch between him and the next DJ to get up and perform. By that point, nearly the entire room was out on the dance floor, so I felt a rare need to conform and I dragged my friends out there with me. We spent the rest of the night, through three other DJs and a few more drinks, just dancing and having a blast just for the hell of it. I got home, exhausted, sometime shortly after 3:00am and collapsed into bed. It has taken me a few days to recover from such a night, but remembering it now feels pretty great.
