The next three days

For the next three days, my evening social calendar gets nutty! For two out of the three evenings, if you’re in the area of Accordion City and feel so inclined, you can join in!

Tonight: I’m very sure Plato’s Cave never has a hot tub in it. The somewhat a-little-too-in-love-with-the-whole-new-media-thing-in-that-1996-kind-of-way Derrick de Kerckhove will be moderate a hot tub panel discussion featuring wearable computing guru Steve Mann, French cyberspace philospher Pierre Levy and virtual reality artist Maurice Benayoun. The topic: How do personal cybernetic devices change the way we interact, and our perception of reality?

The web site for the venue, the DECONISM Gallery describes the event in true MONDO 2000 style:

The personal will turn political as the three intellectuals debate the nature of virtual fiction, whilst submerged in a translucent, networked, interactive and IMMERSIVE multimedia art installation. Displaying the private DECONversation as a public event will allow for an interactive reversal between the counterpublic and the counterprivate. The reversal will come into full effect as microphones and cameras will project the communal bath by means of simulation and simulacra, in the tradition of Plato’s Caves, into another spatial reality. Professor Steve Mann’s vision that: In the coming decades we will live in an age of shared realities and new levels of cultural discourse.

Well, that’s my recommended monthly allowance of postmodernism right there!

Boris is coming down to Accordion City from Montreal for this event, and I’ll probably arrange to meet with him at the nearby L’Idiot du Village Pub at the corner of McCaul and Dundas streets before the big do. They’ll have WiFi there, so he and I will bring our laptops. Boris will be the conduit for Joi Ito, who will be attending via telepresence via Boris’ webcam. I’ll blog the event, make smart-ass remarks on the #joiito IRC channel and take pictures.

Drinking may ensue after the event.

Oh, who am I kidding. Drinking will ensue after the event.

The fun takes place at 8:00 p.m. at the DECONISM Gallery, 330 Dundas St. West, across the street from the Art Gallery of Ontario. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door.

If you want to join us, drop me a line or call my cell: (416) WIT-N-HIP. I’m serious, that’s what my phone number spells on the keypad.

Tomorrow night: I’m making it up as I go along. A man by the name of Fuzzy Gerdes and his friend Shaun Himmerick will be in town tomorrow night for the Toronto International Improv Festival. Together, they are the long-form improv act called Bare, and I will be providing incidental accordion music for their show.

Here’s a quick description of Bare:

Bare is two men who perform with the energy and presence of a 10-person group — a group with some acrobats, a fire-eater, and a rock band in there somewhere. Their show starts with a single audience suggestion, and from that tiny seed they grow an improvisational tornado of extraordinary characters, extraordinary situations, and usually one impersonation of a live animal.

Bare will hit the stage at 8:00 p.m. on Friday at the Poor Alex Theatre, which is at 296 Brunswick Avenue. Admission is $20.

After the show, drinking will ensue.

Saturday night: Are any of you bridesmaids single? I’ll be attending my friend Derek Walker’s wedding in lovely Queenston, Ontario. I’ll be bringing the dress accordion to this one.

Drinking will most definitely ensue.