Nuit Blanche Redux and Big Discoveries

People are always asking me what the hell "nuit blanche" means.  Directly translated, it's "white night" (most can figure out that much on their own), but it kind of means sleepless night, awake all night, that sort of thing.


Nuit Blanche is also an all-night arts festival that's held in cities worldwide.  Here in Toronto, we just had ours September 29th, from sundown to dawn.  It really does run all night.  And, as you might expect, the downtown core is packed with drunk kids and the whole city smells like pot, but if you avoid the patches of vomit along the sidewalk and try not to see all the garbage people have thrown on the streets, you can see some really amazing things.

I stopped attending Nuit Blanche for a couple years, mainly because for a while it seemed like events were getting really spread.  You had to walk a long while to get to one, and then once you got there it was pretty "meh."  I'm not exactly sure why I returned this year, but I'm glad I did.

The new Ryerson Image Centre opened its doors with an excellent inaugural exhibition (my favourite part was the panoramic views of Northern Canada), and I also spent a long while at the... oh, what was it called?  I want to say "World Championship High-Five Competition" in the front lawn of Campbell House.  Members of the public competed in pairs, putting together high-five routines, and they did it in a ring with full colour commentary.  It was hilarious.

But the best event by far was at TIFF Bell Lightbox, a YouTube-centric show called Like/Comment/Subscribe hosted by Andrew Gunadie, a.k.a @gunnarolla. And friends.  And a lot of friends, actually, because his shows all featured a musical guest.

And now we come to my loveliest discovery of the night: Mitchell Moffit.  When he walked on stage, I thought to myself "this guy will be the next Owen Pallett."  Sure enough, he started looping tracks and singing and I couldn't believe my first impression was so on the money.  He was aaaaamazing!  Amazing!  Incredibly, the performance I saw was his first live gig ever.  I was blown away, so I tracked down his website where you and I and everyone can download his album FOR FREE (with his blessing--he wants you to have it!)

Here's Mitchell Moffit's website: http://www.mitchellmoffit.com/ If you and I have the same taste in music, you're bound to love him.

K, that's it for now.
Giselle out.  
heh