I was quoted in Nadja Sayej’s piece in this weekend’s Globe and Mail. Nadja talked to me for a half-hour last weekend and it’s funny to see the conversation reduced to one sentence, and to see that it was edited to say that I attend this home shows, when I in fact do not. What I did tell Nadja was that I saw some things like home-shows when I was going to NSCAD – bands playing house-parties, and in particular sang the praises of my memories of the Yoko Ono cover band, the Loco Onos, featuring the cartoonist Marc Bell on vocals – which were nothing but yodeling screams that nonetheless fucking rocked.

From The Globe & Mail Saturday 10 March 2007:

[…] Coffee and Couches takes place every two months in his butter-coloured apartment. Featuring all-acoustic local performances from groups such as the Blankket, Mantler and Jon-Rae and the River, it’s an alternative to the deafening atmosphere of rock clubs. “It’s just to get out of the bar,” says Mr. Parnell, who started his event as a series of loud house parties in his previous home in the Annex. But after he moved into this second-floor storefront, they evolved into quieter sets. With advertising through message boards and e-mail, a turnout of 30 to 50 for each event is typical, as are full pots of coffee as an alternative to bottles of beer.

“It’s a private, privileged experience,” says Timothy Comeau, a 32-year-old artist who attends home shows. “They feel special. It’s a way for the indie scene to separate themselves from the lame-asses.”

Though home shows are unconventional in nature, they never used to be. Gregory Oh, a 33-year-old music professor at the University of Toronto, notes that the idea of a musical performance at home goes back to 17th-century Europe. “Harpsichords and clavichords are small instruments; they weren’t loud enough to fill a hall,” Prof. Oh says, adding that classical musicians or their patrons would invite crowds to salon recitals. “Because they belonged in small spaces, shows were held at home. Some things haven’t changed.”