{"id":20709,"date":"2014-07-23T09:25:18","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T13:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=20709"},"modified":"2014-09-09T09:24:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T13:24:43","slug":"a-musical-treasure-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/07\/23\/a-musical-treasure-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"A Musical Treasure Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>
John Southworth playing in St. Andrew's Church, Poor Pilgrim Island Show 2014.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI spent this past Sunday on a musical treasure hunt on Toronto Island. The Poor Pilgrim Island show<\/a><\/strong> has been running for seven years, and I\u2019ve made it a summer tradition for the past three. After a brisk ferry ride, a crowd of a hundred or so people gather at a series of scenic locations - Snake Island, Ward\u2019s Beach, St. Andrew\u2019s Church - to experience a diverse set of bands.\r\n\r\nAs I listened to Doomsquad<\/a> build songs around windchimes, I found myself thinking about how live music has been the single most central and important part of my experience at U of T and in Toronto. Easy access to cultural events was a big part of why I chose to come here in the first place, and I\u2019m glad that I\u2019ve taken advantage of that!\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve always been a dedicated music fan, though my first forays into concert-going were defined by nervousness. I was still carrying many misperceptions: that all ages shows didn\u2019t exist, that you had to go with friends, and that students can\u2019t afford to go to many shows regularly.\r\n\r\n
\"princenifty\"<\/a>
Prince Nifty circa 2013.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nYet a week after my 19th birthday I heard about a show that I didn\u2019t want to miss. None of my friends were willing or able to come along, so I was faced with a choice to venture out solo or stay home and watch a movie. I mapped out my TTC routes and went anyway, bringing along a book to fill the time in between bands. Doing what is normally a social event by yourself can be nerve-wracking at first, but seeing new and familiar musicians create magic live made me feel so full that I just kept doing it.\r\n\r\nI started to write about the shows I was seeing for a local music blog<\/a> and U of T\u2019s music magazine<\/a>. Mostly in an attempt to share how excited I was about the music I was seeing, but also to give me motivation to keep seeing as many shows as I could. At my high point in second and third year, I was averaging 2-3 shows a week and binge-covering major festivals.\r\n\r\n
\"OG<\/a>
OG Melody at Poor Pilgrim 2012.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nThe misperceptions I had at the beginning disappeared: all ages shows are everywhere (check out anything that takes place in a record store, or outside), no one notices if you\u2019re on your own (it can actually be even better to not have to worry whether the friend you dragged along is enjoying the music), and ticket prices run more in the $5-10 range if you explore venues like Handlebar<\/a> or The Silver Dollar<\/a> rather than the ACC<\/a>.\r\n\r\nAnd though I\u2019ve slowed down a bit to focus on other writing (anyone want to hire a full-time concert reviewer? No?), the most important thing I found in Toronto\u2019s music scene is community. It's been amazing meeting like-minded people to share amazing cultural experiences with.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s so important to find your niche at a big school like U of T, and you\u2019ll find it by exploring things that ignite a fire in you<\/strong>. Be brave! Explore!\r\n\r\nIn case you need some places to find concert listings, try\u00a0NOW Magazine<\/a>, blogTO<\/a>\u2019s music section and\u00a0Mechanical Forest Sound<\/a>\u2019s weekly concert listing roundups.<\/i>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nI spent this past Sunday on a musical treasure hunt on Toronto Island. The Poor Pilgrim Island show has been running for seven years, and I\u2019ve made it a summer tradition for the past three. After a brisk ferry ride,…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A Musical Treasure Hunt”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “A Musical Treasure Hunt”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,62,65,1],"tags":[12612,12615,12613,163,12614,237,12616],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20709"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20728,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20709\/revisions\/20728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}