The Toronto Humane Society
Dina’s Tavern whose mascot is a rat, hosted a benefit concert for the Toronto Humane Society. This was a perfect venue because this time it was a message to save the rats.
The THS is well known for saving dogs and cats, but what about all the other nontraditional animals, like snakes, hedgehogs and rats?
Erin was the spokesperson and was very passionate about all animals and could talk all night about these animals. I will add a link at the bottom so you can connect with their website and make a donation to save an animal today.
Lynda Kraar
Lynda Kraar from the Mid Century Modernes is also passionate about animals and put together this benefit show. She hopes that this could be an ongoing event as let it grow over time. She is so apathetic towards this cause that she set up this show on her birthday. This was a present to herself. That is a true artist. She would rather give of herself, than receive something instead. What she did receive is friends and family showing up for this cause.
The Mid Century Modernes
I have seen plenty of cover bands over the years and I did find the Mid-Century Modernes to be amongst one of the best out there. These are seasoned professionals that finally one day 5 years ago decide to play together. Their chemistry is very clear from the start. They simply want to have fun with none of the band drama that usually happens with time between members. This band is far past those petty emotions and wants the audience to participate with them as they celebrate music ranging from the 1950’s up to the 1980’s.
As someone who simply observes bands and write about them, I found myself singing out loud to many of their songs. The guy next to me was singing out loud, as well. It became a silent contest of who was singing louder.
The Show
Opening the night with, “Spirits in the sky”, it felt like an anthem to all the animals that died without the aid of the Humane Society. Then Lynda went into the song, “Stop your sobbing”, as if we now had a chance to do something about this.
The first good joke of the night happened when they decided that the next song should be an animal song. That was, “The Bitch is Back”. They then segued from a bitch to a witch. The Eagles, “Witchy Woman” added that voodoo element to the room.
Another cool segue was when they went from the Hollies, “Tall cool woman in a black dress”, to John Fogerty’s , “Old man down the road”.
This band isn’t just a cover band, they are a well oiled machine that has practiced these songs so well, that you can feel the real nuances of every note they play and sing. They are not just getting through these songs. I guess that’s why I felt like singing with them. I felt these songs that have resonated with me for years. I was losing my voice during Tom Petty’s, “Free Falling”.
Like I said earlier, their musical range is huge. It is much larger than most cover bands that I have seen in the past.
Where can you go from Neil young, jump to Jackson Browne, then throw in early Who, and then go hang out with Queen?
They know how to pull out some rare gems for real fans, like, Carl Perkins, Honey Don’t, to Jethro Tull’s, Locomotive Breathe. Anh Phung, if you are reading this, they may have an opening for a flute player.
My favourite moment was when they played Mott the Hopple and then slid in David Bowie’s Heroes” After all we are all heroes when we help out the Toronto Humane Society. So this is my call to you to be a hero. Here is the link to make any size donation to them and help an animal have a fighting chance in our world.
There donation button is right there on the front page.
Here are the Mid Century Modernes- Photos by Oliver Kenchington:
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