Blog

With all the excitement around the Stanley Cup right now, and with Toronto’s obsession with their (unsuccessful) Leafs, you might be surprised to learn that our original Maple Leafs team was not hockey… but baseball.

Started in 1896, this triple AAA team was once the best in class. My Dad owns an original Maple Leafs uniform because when the team was dismantled in 1967, their uniforms were given to local ball teams around the area (he was in Campbellville). In 1977, the Bluejays came to Toronto, but we didn’t have a professional baseball team at all between the Leafs and the Jays (gasp!).

The Intercounty Maple Leafs started playing in the semi-pro Intercounty Baseball League in 1969. Continuously owned by Jack Dominico (and until her passing in 2008, his wife Lynne as well), you can watch these off-ice Leafs play – for FREE – this summer on Dominico Field at Christie Pits.

Upcoming Toronto Maple Leafs Home Games:

Sunday, June 12 – Brantford at Toronto 2 p.m.
Wednesday, June 15 – Hamilton at Toronto 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 19 – Brantford at Toronto 2 p.m.
Sunday, June 26 – Burlington at Toronto 2 p.m.
Wednesday, June 29 – Burlington at Toronto 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, July 3 – London at Toronto 2 p.m.
Wednesday, July 6 – Barrie at Toronto 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 10 – Brantford at Toronto 2 p.m.
Wednesday, July 13 – Hamilton at Toronto 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 17 – Kitchener at Toronto 2 p.m.
Sunday, July 24 – London at Toronto 2 p.m.

So, whip out your folding lawn chair, stock up that cooler, and let’s all root for the home team this summer. At least these Leafs have a chance of winning.

Play ball!

x

I am in love with rain
with night, moonlight
they grip me
I bend for them
bare skin

the night hangs low, stars
slowly
dripping
from the blackness beyond

like years
like tears

trees leaves motionless
no breeze blows by
star-brightened sky

night-time traffic
unrelentingly
fills
the space
between downpours

~ c.p.grisold

You don’t have to go to New York City to experience The Metropolitan Opera in all its glory. The Met: Live in HD is simultaneously broadcast around the world at Cineplex theatres. The Met’s 2010-2011 season has ended, but encore presentations will take place this summer.

Highlights of the 2010-2011 season included:

Das Rheingold on October 9th, 2010
Boris Godunov on 0ctober 23rd, 2010
Don Pasquale on November 13th, 2010
Don Carlo on December 11th, 2010
La Fanciulla del West on January 8th, 2011
Nixon in China on February 12th, 2011
Iphigénie en Tauride on February 26th, 2011
Lucia di Lammermoor on March 19th, 2011
Le Comte Ory on April 9th, 2011
Capriccio on April 23rd, 2011
Il Trovatore on April 30th, 2011
Die Walküre on May 14th, 2011

Tickets are around $25, and the performances usually last four hours. I know that seems pretty long to be sat in a cinema chair, but there’s two intermissions of 15mins to stretch your legs, refill your popcorn, and use the facilities. The best part is, with the simul-cast, cameras take you back stage right after the curtains close. There are interviews with the cast and conductor during the intermissions. And, when the shot is on the NYC audience, and you can hear them quietly shuffling their program guides, or covering their coughs, it’s like you’re right there with them.

I saw Nixon In China at the Queensway Cineplex. Considered one of the best modern operas… it was very weird, and yet very good. Based on the historic meeting of Nixon and Mao in 1972. The lyrics were taken almost verbatim from the actual events. The brainchild of Peter Sellars, and conducted by John Adams (whom I saw at the TSO conducting Electronica-Meets-Orchestra with Mason Bates, so good!). I think I shall buy the N-I-C concert on CD, and I would definitely see it again.

Looking forward to the 2011-2012 season, which includes:

Anna Bolena on October 15th, 2011
Don Giovani on October 29th, 2011
Siegfried on November 5th, 2011
Satyagraha on November 19th, 2011
Rodelinda on December 3rd, 2011
Faust on December 10th, 2011
The Enchanted Island on January 21st, 2012
Götterdämmerung on February 11th, 2012
Ernani on February 25th, 2012
Manon on April 7th, 2012
La Traviata on April 14th, 2012

SCENE® & Met Members exclusive advanced ticket sales for the 2011-12 Season begin on Friday August 19th, 2011. General ticket sales begin on Monday August 29th, 2011. I recommend you buy early because they do sell out. You can purchase tickets online at http://cineplex.com/events.

Tonight at the Toronto Board of Trade, Ange Aiello’s iYellow Wine Club hosted an event with the Wineries of Niagara-on-the-Lake: Twenty-Six Distinctive Wineries. One Unforgettable Place (tweeted as #52wines).

I was actually quite impressed with the number of estates that were new to me! And I love how playful some of the new wineries are being: labels were covered with magicians, giraffes, coyotes, and abstract aurora borealis.

My fav wine of the eve was Konzelmann’s Rosé Méthode Cuvée Close ($16.50). Made solely from Merlot grapes, this pink sparkler was so crisp, not sweet, and quite refreshing. I could drink it any day.

Ravine Vineyard’s Italian chianti-style bottles for their ’08 Meritage ($24.95) were a nice touch, especially since I am someone who judges their wine by its label and its bottle.

Other favourites included Coyote’s Run ’09 Red Paw Vineyard Pinot Noir ($24.95)… a delightful Château des Charmes ’07 ‘Old Vines’ Cabernet Merlot, Estate Bottled ($19.95) that tasted like potential, but definitely needed aging… and of course Trius ’08 Grand Red ($55.20).

I have a bottle of 2000 Grand Red in my wine cabinet that I am saving for a year or two longer methinks. (Unless I drink it in September when my friend SP from the UK comes for a visit, since it was a gift from her & the hubby, so apropos to share avec ils.)

I also saw Jason Parsons (one of the infamous Three Chefs) live in da flesh at the Peller table. Love that guy. He used to work at Cliveden in the UK where SP worked as a teen! Small world.

All in all, #52wines was a great night. More civilised than the last iYellow event I attended: REVOLUTION, an Aussie Experience. The Aussie party was awesome though; held at 99 Sudbury, with a PIG ROAST! (I ate a big chunk of skin, mmm crackling) and also oysters (that didn’t run out before I got there, like they did at the Brewer’s Plate, lame). Everyone was dressed like a club night. It was great!

iYellow is such a refreshing change to stuffy, old-school wine clubs. I highly recommend joining… and membership is free!

The next event is a South African Braai, taking place on Wednesday June 15th at C Lounge. Oh I am SO THERE. I love South African shiraz! OMG I need an animal-print dress! Yay!

Oh yes, you can follow iYellow on Twitter @iYellowWineClub.

Cin-cin,

x

City and Charm was a very happy guest of iYellow Wine Club at tonight’s event. Thanks as always, Ange!

I see the past from my window
And I wonder if the past saw me
As I sit pondering the world below
Unsuspecting cherry trees

Changes blow in the wind
Petals fallen or cast off abruptly
Swept up in new directions
Past unsuspecting cherry trees

Change is bittersweet
And now I
Like those burl’d-aged trunks
Secured at one end
Try to snap
From the earth

Every changeling changes
We dance
Like sponges under oceans
Stretching towards future land
Never suspecting
These cherry trees

~ c.p.grisold