HATS AMAZING...

I'm trying out a new look. I got a new hat in Montreal. It's a bowler. Apparently Rizal wore one. Not that it means anything.

The lovely lady who sold me my new hat. Good saleslady. Almost too good. She was about to make me buy three hats. I was onto her. I just got two.

The shop near the Olympic stadium full of amazing hats.

Hats, hats, hats and more bloody hats. Hat heaven. I might just become the Imelda Marcos of hats.

And of course, a spanking new top hat for daily wear. Whee ha.

WELL WHADDAYAKNOW....

HITTING IT WHILE THE IRONY IS HOT...

From my friend Jenn... "You know you are an icon when...a shoe store named Imelda opens in Toronto". Click here.

Update: And double-whaddayaknow. From my friend Paula: Apparently, there is also an Imelda shoestore in Portland, Oregon. Proof below.

AND THIS IS HOW WE ROLL AT ROLLY'S GARAGE...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...

Allow me to introduce you to Rolly's Garage. Formerly a garage (obviously) and "talyer" owned by Filipino-Canadian Rolly Orbeta, it has now become one of the newest and coolest art venues on up Ossington Street in Toronto. And just last week, I went to the opening of the Kilusan Collective, a show done by that group of Filipino-Canadian artists I collaborated with for Transitio Manila 1945 (I made a post about them a few weeks ago). It was a very very cool culmination of a project that literally made "Manila meet Toronto, Toronto meet Manila."

Rolly's Garage. Street view.

Folks start to arrive. There were about a hundred folks would attend the evening. More or less.

More people shots above. A lot of them were walk-ins. Apparently, Ossington is really becoming ground zero for the hipster set of Toronto. And the bus stops RIGHT in front of Rolly's. Auspicious.

Robin's mom plays "tindera" of all the cool stuff that the Kilusan guys brought from Manila. Sales were brisk. She really worked it. Love her.

A stairway to Jen Maramba's homage to Bayani Fernandos' MMDA street art projects.

Kapisanan folks Isa Palanca, Executive Director Caroline Mangosing, and Vince Galvez.

Tiffany Naval's handmade flash cards about nationalism and identity. Very cute.

And of course, it's not a party unless there's Sangria and Lumpia. Very Fil-Hispanic. Wonder if this is a choice Jose Rizal would have wanted for his art openings. Rumors have it he was a latent conyo kid. Or maybe it wasn't so latent at all.

People admiring the works of Alex Felipe.

Robin starts the show and introduces artist Jeff Garcia of Halo Halo Collective.

Jen Maramba shares a few words.

Super chica Kilusan artists Tiffany Naval and Ilona Fiddy (brilliant graphic designer with a photographic memory for fonts). A rare skill really. Tiffany did the cute "Nationalist" flash cards.

Photographer/activist Alex Felipe talks about his work.

Jeff Garcia's amazingly overdone overdose of color, light, and stimuli.

Former resident at The Living Room, film maker, and Mr. Caroline Mangosing to you, Romeo Candido. He is being hugged by Robin Lacambra, Rolly's daughter and the brains behind Rolly's Garage Art Space.

All in all, well done, guys! The Kilusan show rocked the house. Hilarious comment heard from a Toronto Filipino re: Kapisanan, Kilusan and all these new Filipino arts folk I'm meeting in Toronto. "It's so good to see an artistic Filipino community that doesn't host beauty pageants!" Well, if they did, it would probably be an edgy one. It's really a new generation taking over. No doubt Rolly's Garage is going to go a long way.

Next: Transforming the space for the Toronto premiere of "If These Walls Could Talk".

CARLOS RECOMMENDS!

Hope to see you all at Rolly's Garage on 124 Ossington Street.

Shows are on Friday/Saturday May 22 and 23 at 8PM
$15.00
and Saturday at 3PM
Pay what you wish...

TORONTO CALLING 5...

ART AND ARCHITECTURE AGO-GO...
This is Carlos Celdran reporting from Frank Gehry's spanking new Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Brave awe inspiring architecture. Still kinda unfinished but neverthless, amazing to behold.

Did you know he was Canadian? I didn't. I just thought he was brilliant.

TORONTO CALLING 4 and TALKING BACK...

And then it came to pass that I visited a cafe in the neighborhood called the Hotbox Cafe to have a glass of apple juice. I could describe the place to you in detail but I think the name says it all. It was a very cool place to say the least. Full of friendly hippy types and with a very lax smoking rule.

After visiting I took yet another walk around Toronto and noticed that the city not only had really interesting art to look at but brilliant words to say.

Way Cool, man. Way cool...

And after a brief walk through Trinity Bellwoods park to watch the dogs play, I headed back to um.. where was I again?

Oh yeah. I'm hungry. La la la la la...