[REVIEW] An Evening at the ROM
Oct. 8th, 2004 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldWhile listening to Jazz91.FM this afternoon at work, I'd heard something of an impending concert that evening at the Royal Ontario Museum. I'd nothing scheduled, so off I went. On arrival, I ended up learning about the ROM's Friday Nights Program, now in its sixth season of existence and involving free admission from 4:30 to 9:30 every Friday. This is fun; I'll definitely have to check it out again in the future.
While there, I caught the photographic display Celebrating Canadian Beauty by Bryan Adams. Yes, that Bryan Adams. He's gained a considerable reputation and a moderate amount of criticism as a photographer; since the new Canada Court, future home of the Canadian First Peoples' Gallery and current home of Adams' photos, is just to the right of the entrance, it seemed worthwhile to make a visit. DJ Vinyl Factory, apparently the DJ at the ROM's house restaurant, played mellow music that reminded me vaguely of the Thievery Corporation as I circled counterclockwise around the 30 photos.
The article in The Globe and Mail that I linked to is right in identifying Adams' work as not particularly stellar; I fear that his fame as a celebrity bought him entry into the ROM's gates. Still, the photos--numbering 30 in all, focusing on Canadian women in their 20s and 30s, with outliers as young as Kristin Kreuk and as old as our Governor-General, Adrienne Clarkson--are good if not stellar. Adams' subjects are seated on a simple wooden stool, and adopt different poses: Bif Naked seated at right angles to the camera but her head turned to look at the eye, wearing jeans and a wifebeater T-shirt and her tattooed arm visible; Marie-Josée Croze, dressed in corduroy pants and a jean jacket, looking down and laughing and her clenched right fist upon the stool; Belinda Strong in a conservative business suti, looking patriotically off into the distance; Irshad Manji, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved cotton shirt, looking to the side; Ann-Marie MacDonald, standing her legs apart, her arms by and behind her back, staring down the camera; Measha Brueggergosman with her head tilted back and laughing. Adams does have a good photographer's eye; two, in fact.
I was lucky enough to take a seat in the second row from the stage, early enough to watch Newfoundland-born jazz vocalist Heather Bambridge (an older picture of her is here, three-quarters of the way down the page) take the stage and set up with her trio (Anthony McKellie on drums, Pat Collins on base, Mark Eisenman on piano). The performance was good: Bambridge has an excellent stage persona and her performers were good. It's just a pity that the sound system--managed by the ROM, by the JazzFM.91 station sponsoring the show, or perhpas more accurately, mismanaged by the two together--had a worrying tendency to pop. The night began with a performance of "Cheek to Cheek," followed by a couople of standards (the second of which involved audience participation on the chorus), "Where Or When," and some more standards. Googling, I can't find many mentions of Heather Bambridge. There should be more.
My one problem with my impromptu outing at the ROM is that it revealed how lacking much of my cultural knowledge is. I might be able to recognize what makes Adams' photographs middling good, even without it being pointed out to me, but I lack the formal vocabulary. I was left completely stumped by the jazz performance, as much as I liked it; I just couldn't recognize any of the songs. Research is clearly required.
While there, I caught the photographic display Celebrating Canadian Beauty by Bryan Adams. Yes, that Bryan Adams. He's gained a considerable reputation and a moderate amount of criticism as a photographer; since the new Canada Court, future home of the Canadian First Peoples' Gallery and current home of Adams' photos, is just to the right of the entrance, it seemed worthwhile to make a visit. DJ Vinyl Factory, apparently the DJ at the ROM's house restaurant, played mellow music that reminded me vaguely of the Thievery Corporation as I circled counterclockwise around the 30 photos.
The article in The Globe and Mail that I linked to is right in identifying Adams' work as not particularly stellar; I fear that his fame as a celebrity bought him entry into the ROM's gates. Still, the photos--numbering 30 in all, focusing on Canadian women in their 20s and 30s, with outliers as young as Kristin Kreuk and as old as our Governor-General, Adrienne Clarkson--are good if not stellar. Adams' subjects are seated on a simple wooden stool, and adopt different poses: Bif Naked seated at right angles to the camera but her head turned to look at the eye, wearing jeans and a wifebeater T-shirt and her tattooed arm visible; Marie-Josée Croze, dressed in corduroy pants and a jean jacket, looking down and laughing and her clenched right fist upon the stool; Belinda Strong in a conservative business suti, looking patriotically off into the distance; Irshad Manji, dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved cotton shirt, looking to the side; Ann-Marie MacDonald, standing her legs apart, her arms by and behind her back, staring down the camera; Measha Brueggergosman with her head tilted back and laughing. Adams does have a good photographer's eye; two, in fact.
I was lucky enough to take a seat in the second row from the stage, early enough to watch Newfoundland-born jazz vocalist Heather Bambridge (an older picture of her is here, three-quarters of the way down the page) take the stage and set up with her trio (Anthony McKellie on drums, Pat Collins on base, Mark Eisenman on piano). The performance was good: Bambridge has an excellent stage persona and her performers were good. It's just a pity that the sound system--managed by the ROM, by the JazzFM.91 station sponsoring the show, or perhpas more accurately, mismanaged by the two together--had a worrying tendency to pop. The night began with a performance of "Cheek to Cheek," followed by a couople of standards (the second of which involved audience participation on the chorus), "Where Or When," and some more standards. Googling, I can't find many mentions of Heather Bambridge. There should be more.
My one problem with my impromptu outing at the ROM is that it revealed how lacking much of my cultural knowledge is. I might be able to recognize what makes Adams' photographs middling good, even without it being pointed out to me, but I lack the formal vocabulary. I was left completely stumped by the jazz performance, as much as I liked it; I just couldn't recognize any of the songs. Research is clearly required.
