Canada Day in London saw popular tourists meet-up and Trafalgar Square come alive with masses of people, lots of music and Tim Horton’s food as the sun shone and the heat rose. It didn’t matter that the Twilight Saga premiere was happening a few blocks away; everyone knew the party was here.
A swarm of red washed over the square that was packed full of tents representing each province, trailers selling poutine by the bucket load and a Tim Horton’s tent that had run out of Ice Caps and a limited selection of Timbits but still had a line up of nearly 100 people deep. You could say that everyone was buzzing…and a little drunk.
As I walked around, soaking in the vibe, a small area with black and white photographs caught my eye. An exhibition called Toronto Callings, was showcasing the dynamic visual documentation of an exciting era of Canadian music during 1979-1982. Large photographs of bands like The Ramones, U2, Blondie and The Clash, to name a few. These images were the work of brothers Simon and Nick White who shot them when they were still teenagers starting using processing and printing techniques in a make shift darkroom in their parents’ dusty basement.
I'm a music photographer, too, so it was with pleasure I met Nick White who has been living in England for the last 27 years. We discussed the exhibition further and he revealed his plan to bring Toronto Callings to Vancouver, including images by local photographer Bev Davies. Watch VO for more info.
There were plenty more goodies happening on the music stage which hosted Canada gems like Jully Black, Radio Radio and Dan Mangan who played to a huge crowd that sang along with him and showed the love right back at him.
I’m sure there were some homesick Canadians around, but with all the fun, games and beer that was flowing, everyone did a good job of proving that Canadians can have fun on either side of the ocean.