Almost deep-fried food
Posted on April 25th, 2010 –
You know, I really thought that last post about letting your kids wander around alone in a city would’ve been more contentious. Apparently not. Gotta say, the TCL readership is waaaaaay more liberal than I ever could’ve imagined. Cool!
Or you’re still reading. Sorry, it was kinda long. I’ll do my best to keep this one lighter.
Nothing much to say anyway. The Music Garden is supposed to communicate through other senses.
It’s not a huge garden, but it is a garden, space maximized via a curly network of paths.
They carry a fairly extensive plant list and now that stuff is up and flowering it’s a nicely aromatic chunk of town to saunter through. It’s right up against the waterfront and wedged-in by Queen’s Quay to the north, a boulevard that will lose half of its width to a new pedestrian concourse next year. I get excited about that kinda stuff.
A friend boasts a nauseatingly high vantage point for peering into the garden (I’d included it in a previous post). The garden is up against the boat docks, to the right of the most prominent building. Not visible, I should add, but you wouldn’t want to look down.
They do actually play music there, every Thursday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. You park your ass on the grass and you can almost pretend like you’re out in nature somewhere. Until a streetcar goes by.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy claim to have re-produced, in garden form, J. S. Bach’s First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello.
Apparently Bach had included some doodles with this musical score that inspired Ma, which inspired the garden and a movie.
The movie, I am given to understand, was shot in Boston where the garden was initially supposed to be. I don’t know who gave the finger to whom, but the deal fell through, and the project ended up in Toronto. That was ten years ago. The way the place is meticulously maintained, though, I wouldn’t have guessed it.
I’ll be back for some concerts, for sure. You can get ice cream nearby, it’s shady and windy and maritimey – swell place for freakin’ hot summer afternoons / evenings. We’re not quite there yet, but I can smell it in the air. For some reason, it always smells like deep-fried food.
... with pictures
... with sounds
... with videos
... with opinions
... that's shorter
... that's longer
April 26th, 2010 11:55 am
Awsome garden, you say it's small but it look nice. Never've seen it yet. How long ago you say it was developed? About 10? that's how long we already are out of Toronto, shame. But would realy like to see it one day, hopefully soon.
Cool pictures.
April 26th, 2010 4:51 pm
That's right, Stanya; the park has been there for ten years now. Definitely worth a visit, but I'd recommend visiting a little later in the season. The garden is still a little dried out right now and although it's blooming, I think that it'll be more impressive later. I may be mistaken but I don't think the concerts are playing at the moment either.
May 24th, 2010 2:14 pm
[…] Porter Airlines has nicened up considerably (so far, it seems, not abusing their monopoly), the Music Garden, not to mention the Harbourfront Centre and all the artsy shit it barfs up on the shores of Lake […]