Filed under: Afro-Canadian, Music | Tags: Afro-Canadian, Flemingdon Park, guitarist, musician, Scarborough, soul, the carps, Toronto, urban
The Carps are from Scarborough, a pretend hood in Toronto. They are a duo that plays music for human ears. Having two people in a band can be a liberating thing, as it has been seen. Such a shame they are so young — had they come around any earlier they could’ve taken credit for more than a few novel ideas. With the EP the Young & Passionate Days of Carpedia VOL.2, the two ragamuffin soul rockers deliver the promise to set themselves far apart from elephants, swirly red and white candy, beards, brothers and sisters, and Phil Collins. The Carps stand alone. They sound like nothing you could imagine, and everything you’d like to.
The Carps thrive on ingenuity and vicissitude. Newness always! Therefore the captain of the ship, Neil White, wielding his disheveled bass and a wonky synthesizer, steers this raw emotion into a palatable and progressive direction. All this while never leaving his “mindless self-indulgent” duct tape Punk Rock days far behind him. Perhaps the jungles of Sri Lanka still run through his veins, though he could never lose the class and distinction that only he, as a real British bloke, could carry.
Jahmal Tonge is the soul junkie. Growing up on asexual legends like Michael Jackson and Prince, it was sifting through his father’s record collection that exposed to him to Motown, Stax, Soul music! These are the sounds that are at the heart of The Carps. From behind his drum kit, or with his guitar strapped and his MPC drum machine at his side, Jahmal soulfully screams his soul- ful, soul-catching, soul-baring soul in a raw way… It’s the only way he knows. It was Bold, Black, Christian women that led him that direction. Discernibly, the sight and sounds of the Caribbean still stick. Hearing the tropical wind blow through an open church tent as a woman cries out to God, tearing her vocal cords from the deepest part of her being, will change a temerarious young boy.
http://www.myspace.com/thecarps
Filed under: Transit | Tags: Don Mills, GO, Japan, public, RT, Scarborough, Spadina, Toronto, trains, tranist, York, YRT
Japan is not the perfect model for our situation. I probably would not want to live there, but I saw an amazing program the other day about Japan. You can live in cities hours a way and simply commute to Tokyo via the bullet train, everyday (all-day). I know that this is a simplistic approach, but I am a simple person. How can one group of people realize the importance of transit to urban development needs? GO Transit is trying their best, but until trains are running every 30 min. or less there is no comparison.
The unfortunate problem with public transit over the years has been simple politics. When politics gets in the way you end up with the Scarborough RT or a truncated Sheppard subway or now a subway to York Region. When politics get in the way you end up with “longer GO Trains”, rather then longer or more service. I understand that the train lines, for GO Transit, are not owned by them. I understand that the Government had “great intentions” when they forced the UDTC RT train technology on the TTC. I understand that the “Harris” government only wanted to save money with a “No Frills” subway that stopped at Don Mills. However now look at what this has all accomplished.
The TTC now has to spend millions to replace the RT line, with money tied up in a spadina extension to Vaughan for no reason. With a Sheppard line stuck at Don Mills, with no money to move it to Scarborough (at least Victoria Park/Warden where it should be). Let’s not forget those “longer GO Trains”, that run only on rush hours, when we need it.
The Ontario government says it’s “Purchasing 27 new, more powerful, fuel-efficient locomotives that can pull two more cars, adding 300 more passengers per train”.
Great, 300 people, eh! I was once told “Do it right or don’t do it at all until you get it right”. Where is the vision now? What about the entire GTA? Everyone is doing their own thing. The fact is that governments have to realize that public transit is not a cost, but an investment into the future. We do not always need the most “expensive” technology. Keep it simple, and get people moving!
By: Torontomatic
