 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | (CBC) | | | Happy long weekend! Tomorrow’s Canada Day, and if you’re not too busy queuing for a slice of free sheet cake in a city park somewhere, tune into CBC. There are a couple of TV specials on the schedule that might appeal to your patriotic sensibilities, and the first is an event that’s absolutely packed with Canadiana. No, not the Tim Hortons musical — which, believe it or not, is an actual production (and there’s even a long and weird history of “industrial musicals” like it). What I’m talking about is Celebrating Gordon Lightfoot, an all-star concert that was recorded at Toronto’s Massey Hall this past May. The show features performances from Allison Russell, Burton Cummings, Kathleen Edwards and members of Rush. (On that note, here’s a clip of Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performing “The Way I Feel” with Blue Rodeo.) The program will be up on CBC Gem at 9 a.m. ET tomorrow.
Later in the day, you can catch Canada Day: Feel the Rhythm, a concert that will be streamed live from Ottawa. If you’ve been listening to Q lately, a few featured artists (Metric, Kiesza and Chromeo) should be familiar, and there’ll be plenty more acts joining them. The show airs live on CBC Gem starting at 8 p.m. (9 p.m. AT, 9:30 p.m. NT).
Not enough music for you? Here are 22 contenders for the song of the summer. And here are 45 Canadian books that would make for excellent summer reading. (Imagine reading one of those novels with an AI buddy trained on Margaret Atwood, Lena Dunham or Roxane Gay. Would you try it — or sign up to be part of the project like this author did? Or maybe you’d prefer to revisit a classic … through an AI-enabled adventure game?)
My preferred beach read? A stack of fresh magazines, a habit that began in July of 1993 with Julia Roberts’s wedding album, a very special issue of People magazine (to this extremely bored child). Whatever happened to People magazine? (If you’re at all curious about how we consume media, you’ll want to know the answer.) Further reading on the art of the celebrity profile: its golden age is well and truly kaput, but at least we still have gorgeous magazine archives — like this one from Vogue and Google Arts & Culture. | | | | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Libby Leshgold Gallery | | One more photo from the same show: dreamy textile art by Wally Dion. | | | | |  | Leif Low-Beer | | And finally, this piece by Toronto’s Leif Low-Beer strongly appeals to the pack-rat portion of my brain. | | | | |  | Mitchel Raphael/Rangeela | | | | | For more than a decade, Rangeela was the home of queer Bollywood revelry in Toronto, but Saturday’s event marked the end of an era. Here, organizers reflect on the nights of music and performance that offered a lifeline to the city’s South Asian 2SLGBTQ+ community. | | | | |  | Jaime Vedres | | | | | The Princess Show is an intergalactic romp, a stage production that mixes anime and drag. And thanks to word-of-mouth buzz, it’s become a perennial favourite among theatregoers. | | | | |  | Amazon MGM Studios | | | | | | | A new feature documentary about Céline Dion premiered last week, and it has everyone revisiting the pop star’s greatest hits. Anne T. Donahue shares her personal faves. | | |  | Amanda Boulos | | Amanda Instagrammed this peek inside her studio just before opening an exhibition with Ibrahim Abusitta (The Days We Sang). Want to know more about that show? You got it. | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | | | | Got questions? Typo catches? Story ideas? | | | We're just an email away. Send us a note, and we'll do our best to get back to you.
If someone forwarded you this message and you like what you've read, here's where to subscribe for more.
I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
