There is a change hanging in the air. I sense a tipping point. It was fascinating to see this kind of energy in a room. If you give me a moment to explain, I would love to show you what I saw on the night of October 11, 2025.
The El Mocambo
The Elmo as Toronto calls it, opened its doors way back in 1948. We have had 7 decades of live music in that building. It is a landmark that keeps reinventing itself.
Very recently, a new person took over and is now in charge of the new Elmo. In fact, on this evening he got up on stage and was very excited to be presenting this unique evening. This may be the first event that kicks off a new life for this historical building.
The new owner seemed very focused and wants to bring in quality acts to revitalize this city back to its glory and put the Elmo back on the map as one of the best venues in the city and history.
Toronto Rocks.
The event I am talking about is called Toronto Rocks. This is the brainchild of one of our artists, August Knight who creates beautiful pieces of art out of burning wood. He is also a musician himself and is dedicated to present, who he considers to be the lifeblood of our music scene both from the past as well as the present.
What August created was a concert dedicated to these artists. He invited about 20 of his subjects and invited them to join together for one evening and play together on the legendary stage.
The Elmo heard about this idea and made sure August chose them to be the stage that these artists will play upon.
So now we have a brand-new Elmo showcasing the best of the best Toronto musicians to reignite this building into a new glorious hot spot again. I really do believe this is the turning point Toronto needs to go out and discover music again.
The Toronto music scene has been disconnected for years and now in one building, I see a roomful of people looking for a way to wake up our city to go out and revitalize our city.
As a side note, I would like to give props to August Knight for choosing these artists to represent Toronto. His woodwork is beautiful and I will give you a link to go look at his work and buy it.
What I enjoyed the most about the evening is the fact that I knew about half the acts on stage and would totally agree these are the artists that should represent our scene. Then there was the other half that I knew nothing about, so I finally had a chance to watch them for the first time. I have to admit, I love Mr Knight’s taste in music, because I instantly became a fan of these artists.
During the performance, someone was telling August he needs to work on a bunch of new art, so we can do this again with a bunch of different, yet deserving artists this city is offering. I think we are on to a great idea.
The Elmo Rocks
The first thing I would like to give credit to is the house band that August chose. This band had extremely Tall Mountain to climb to be able to play in the style of all these artists throughout the evening. So, a big round of applause needs to go to the house band that consists of:
Arie Papernick on Guitar as well as Band Leader
Bill Evans on Keyboards
Brian Cruikshank on Drums
Dave Freeman on Bass.
Each one of them were on their A game and kept this party rolling along very smoothly. I wanted to give an extra shout out to Bill Evans, but this man looks so sensitive that I would not want him to take my words in the wrong way…nudge nudge wink wink…
The Night started off strong with Evil Elvis starting the show. He and August go back about 40 years and have played in several bands together. His rockabilly style really kicked the evening off well. Having Cleave Anderson on Drums really set the pace for what was about to happen.
Up next Lucas and Chris Stagg did a couple of acoustic numbers and made sure they represented Toronto well. They chose to do a song about a Kensington girl. That is so Toronto!
Two very well-loved artists got up and played together. This is Tim Bovaconti and Jerry Leger. Tim met Jerry when he was just 17, you know what I mean. (Beatles Pun). They didn’t seem to have any trouble playing together, it has been 20 plus years that they have shared the same stage now and again.
David Celia was the first person that I never knew until this evening. After only two songs I became a fan and let him know that Blast Toronto would love to come out to one of his future shows. He and Jennifer Foster did a great version of Neil Young’s “Everybody knows this is nowhere”.
Steven Stanley walked on next and let us know this was the place where he got his break in the music field way back in the 1980’s. He also shared an amazing story about his Grandfather and a Mynah bird. I won’t tell it, because it is worth seeing this man live and hearing the story for yourself. I cannot do this story justice.
Kathryn Rose is another artist I knew nothing about. She simply opened her mouth and the room stopped and listened. It simply was a wow moment, and I suggest you all go out and share that with her.
The second half of the show started with ever entertaining Danny Marks. He spoke with the audience and asked us who was the best act you ever saw at the Elmo. Some photographer was walking by the stage and screamed Danny Marks! He agreed and went and paid tribute to the Rolling Stones by playing “Paint it Black”. Keeping the vibes positive, only the way Danny can, he went on to play “Eve of Destruction”, with a mandolin player randomly playing on the dance floor.
Andrea Ramolo decided to share her past with us and dedicated a song to Tom Wilson, whom she had broken up with 10 years earlier. Her song to him was called, “Your Everywhere”. It sounds kind of stalkerish. Sorry Tom, I know you are not that way.
Sandara Bouza absolutely owned the stage with her powerful vocals. She then invited up another powerhouse named Meghan Parnell from Bywater Call. The two of them decided not to compete and played a pop song by the Indigo Girls.
The surprise for me was seeing Sil Simone doing his solo thing. I have seen him with Brass Transit but seeing him doing his own thing was simply electrifying! His guitar solos are something to be experienced. You can see one of them on my Instagram page.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DP4WdZRgMaH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
John Borra is another name I never heard of until this evening. He has a solid singer/songwriter’s flair. I couldn’t really put my finger on his sound, so if you can help me out, please leave a comment. The closest I got was his style had some John Prine as well as some Lyle Lovitt.
Stephen Court is another new one for me. With his raw and sometimes raspy voice he pulled out a very cool song called, “High Horse”. I could her moments of Bon Jovi in his voice.
The evening rapped up with a bunch of musicians getting on stage and discussing who was going to sing what part to the Bands song, “The Weight”. That was the beauty of the entire evening. Most of the musicians who played this evening played with somebody brand new and had to improvise on the spot. Live music doesn’t get much rawer than that. It was done with professionalism, talent, and instant collaboration. This is a show that will be talked about for a long time.
So Toronto, I am telling you this, the live music scene is beginning to change for the better because of this moment. The El Mocambo is back in business and we should be seeing some high-quality shows there again.
August Knight is shining a spotlight on the musical heartbeats of our city. He is creating art that helps explain who is standing guard and who is rising to make our music scene a world class hotspot.
Yes, I am throwing in my hat as well. These are artists that truly represent the best out there today. Blast Toronto is dedicated to showcasing all the great talent this city has. We will be in all the clubs looking for the best acts and letting you know where you can go and discover your music.
If you would like to purchase any of August Knight’s work, here is a link so you can choose your favourite artist to adorn your wall.
Here are a ton of photos from this evening. Which one is your favourite?
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