Lizzie Violet’s Cabaret Noir marked it’s second year as one of TO’s most eclectic evenings out with a diverse set of dynamic features playing to a packed house. The show started with a flurry of open stagers: Brenda Clews flashed us; Cate McKim let us feel her love; Shawn Nolan (new to Noir) shared his dirty business; TOpoet.ca swore up a storm.

blue sky

First feature was Komi Olaf (http://komiolaf.com/about/) – another Nigerian (Nnedi Okorafor at the Colloquium http://wp.me/p1RtxU-173  was also Nigerian) writer. His pieces popped with alliteration & rhyme: ‘busy buzzing beneath the hive,’ ‘masters masquerading,’ ‘countless dictators trying to dictate the vote count.’ Some pieces were rich in the colors of the jungle, others with sweet romanticism ‘our love rises before the dawn.’ Political without being didactic, romantic without being overly-sweet his set was nicely paced and by the end we knew ‘the language of…

Icy sidewalks (can we talk about the city’s war on pedestrians), subzero weather, storm warnings & even the Grammies didn’t keep people away from the February Noir. I’ve seen bigger houses for the show but regardless of size of the audience the talent on stage is always large.

After a round of dynamic open stagers – Philip Cairns (missing Anita Ekberg), Tracy Hamilton (romantic memory), myself (bitter/sweet romantic memories), Josh Goldstein (fast flow fever dreamer) – David Bateman gave us a fine set from his recent books, & also a lesson that being published isn’t the road to riches.

His monologue on the death of a lover starts ‘am I ready to write about you/two decades later’ – there is no time limit to grief – ‘you and someone like you dying inside me.’ The set was sprinkled with haiku ‘if there’s a kind of hush/all over the world/why can’t…

A packed, generous house at Glad Day Books made for a night of spirit lifting & reassurance for my friend Kyle Andrews & his dog Duke, after the destruction of their apartment by fire. Everyone was effected by this show of support by strangers for strangers, as it was the first time some of the performers had met Kyle, as well being the first time I’d met some of the performers.

 hairy coat

I kept the talent lineup simple, even turning down some who had volunteered to perform. Too many performers makes for a less focused show, I thought. I’d rather four great songs by a great band than four great songs by four different performers. Plus less time getting people on & off stage.

All the performers respected my request not to do cover versions of Disco Inferno, Light my Fire, Burning Down The House, You Started a…