Camp Combo

Fred Spek wails on his sax.

Mitizi's Sister, a restaurant located just west of Lansdowne on Queen street west, hosted the performance of Camp Combo. Fred Spek, the saxophone and lead vocals of the group had asked if I could take some pictures a while back. Twist that rubber arm. I lugged minimal flash equipment across town with all my lenses. I think I've mastered the technique of carrying all the stuff as it doesn't make my back feel like I was in a car wreck by the time I get home. I still have to get home but right now my back feels fine.


Dance till you drop


Camp Combo, left to right: Nichol S. Roberton (banjo/guitar), Mike Rosenthal (drums), Fred Spek (sax and vocals), Michael Kaler (bass)


Beverly Taft shows off her funky hat

I arrived at the restaurant at 9:00pm which gave me time to set up and defrost. It's starting to get cold here in Toronto (after a record number of days being over 7 degrees and no snow for the Christmas holidays). After eating, shooting, burning the pictures, giving them to Fred and bumping into Kim I managed to slink out of the restaurant at around 3:00am.


Kim after last call

The wait for the streetcar was about half an hour. There were about 5 cabs that stopped in front of me to see if I wanted a ride. As temping as it was the cost would be around $30. It's freezing out. Warm instant cab ride that'll suck the money out of my wallet or wait for the cheap streetcar in the cold. I choose the cheapo route figuring I'd spend the money on a DVD or some cool camera gear (like maybe a set of transceivers - Note: Christmas/Birthday hint).

As I write this entry I'm actually sitting in the back of the streetcar. It's kind of cosy as there's hardly anyone else riding the streetcar at this time. So I've got the laptop playing Queen (the Flash Gordon theme) and the Spoons (A Canadian band from the 80s who had the hits "Nova Heart", "Aria and Symphonies", "Romantic Traffic", "Tell no lies", "Old Emotions", to name a few) in the background while I word pro away. I feel like I'm in a little bubble back here.

We've hit Yonge street a bunch of really tired looking people have gotten on the vehicle. Turning down volume to avoid attracting any undesirables or worse un-Spoon fans. It's late and I realize I'm just making up terminology now. According to the little clock in the windows corner it's now 3:42am. Ugh. I've got an appointment tomorrow at 10:30am. Meaning I have to wake up in 4 hours 18 minutes. I figure it'll take another 30 minutes to get home.


The ride home

It's now 4:25am. My hands have warmed up from being exposed to the brutal cold while carrying my camera luggage from Queen street. It's about a ten minute walk home. On the way I passed a girl asking for money. I didn't have any change and ended up giving her five bucks to get a coffee at the coffee store across the street. She had a story that she was stuck outside because she locked herself out and was waiting for her roommate to return home. After thanking me for the money she ran across to the local CoffeeTime.

Going to sleep now.