Gabriel Levine, Artist/Musician/Writer – Toronto
Gabriel Levine is an interdisciplinary artist, musician, performance-maker, and writer living in Toronto. He is the author of Art and Tradition in a Time of Uprisings (MIT, 2020) and co-edited Practice (MIT/Whitechapel, 2018). His writing has been published in Critical Inquiry, Performance Research, and Journal of Curatorial Studies, among others. He has released musical recordings on labels including Constellation Records, and his puppet-theatre projects have toured internationally. He is a founding member of the avant-Yiddish band Black Ox Orkestar, and co-curator of Concrete Cabaret and OBJECTO Festival, which present experimental puppetry and object-performance to audiences in Toronto. He is currently employed as Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and Creativity at Sheridan College.
- Street music with Marching Disorder
I’d wanted to start an activist street band for a couple of decades, inspired by friends connected to the HONK! festival. Marching Disorder came together a couple of years ago as parents and friends of the Morris Winchevsky Shule (part of UJPO—see below), playing parties and social gatherings. This fall we had some peak moments, including leading the Draw the Line demo with the Sumudna Protest Choir. Nothing like making joyful public noise with a bunch of magnificent weirdos.
- Gilbert Li’s book design
As part of my day job at Sheridan College, I was invited to attend the Alcuin Society Book Design Awards at Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club. Designer Gilbert Li treated us to a talk about his collaborations with contemporary artists, including Meryl McMaster and Kelly Mark. I can only dream of working on a book with such a thoughtful and responsive master of the form.
- Fresh bread from Mattachioni
It’s the little things in the Junction Triangle (my Toronto neighbourhood), like the fresh seeded sourdough from Mattachioni, walks on the West End Railpath (when it’s not blocked by Metrolinx construction), and the colourful political posters on pillars under the Wallace Bridge (“Gaza square”). I like to walk up onto the bridge for sunrises and sunsets reflected in skyscraper windows.
- UJPO and Camp Naivelt at 100
As the storied left-wing magazine Jewish Currents calls for “new Jewish institutions,” we are lucky to have the community gathered around the United Jewish People’s Order as they celebrate 100 years of social justice activism, including solidarity with Palestinian freedom struggles and all dispossessed peoples. Last year was also the centenary of Camp Naivelt (“new world” in Yiddish), a huddle of rickety cabins on the Credit River in the middle of Brampton subdivisions. Community gives me the energy and strength to go out and make something new in the world. My avant-klezmer band Black Ox Orkestar (along with Marching Disorder) plays a “big beautiful benefit” for UJPO, December 8 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Church.
- Theo Parrish at Standard Time
Speaking of church, I keep coming back to Detroit legend Theo Parrish’s semi-regular open-to-close DJ residency at Standard Time. We middle-aged folks arrive for the early shift of his 7-hour set, to enjoy a less-crowded dancefloor and the funkiest tunes.