Accordion City Musical Tidbits

Just a couple of quick tidbits:

• Last night, I was part of a small group of bloggers who were invited to take a tour of the Four Seasons Centre, the new opera house at Queen and University. I’ll post a writeup before the grand opening on Sunday. I think the architects and designers did a great job in making the building unique and yet fitting it well with it surroundings — the very open design makes it feel as though it’s part of the surrounding city, which is important for a place devoted to an art form that is often perceived as cut off from the modern life.
• It must’ve been some sort of musical milestone: on Monday at Carson’s karaoke night at The Social, I met another guy who plays rock and pop on an unconventional instrument — the bassoon! After he performed Madness’ big hit, Our House (a.k.a. the Maxwell House coffee song) with an excellent bassoon solo, I joined him for what was probably the first bassoon/accordion/karaoke treatment of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven. I imagine Robert Plant got chills down his spine at that exact moment and had no idea why.