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Full Circle?

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Andy Thorpe under Uncategorized

052 Moving Pictures

Actually the arches in the photo above are closer to being half circles, but that’s not the point of this post’s title.  If you look at the first posting in this photo connection series there is a connection with the scene above, hence “full circle”. (By the way, you may need to be a Rush afficionado to make the connection.)  In terms of the last posting the connection is uniforms, ie the marching police and the security staff seen here.

I wasn’t going to include any further photos that connect with the main one, as has been the case with recent postings, but in the spirit of the intention to get my photos off the hard drive, here are some more!

The image above is a nod to a similar image used on the cover of an album by the rock band Rush called Moving Pictures.  Taken in 2002 whilst on a pilgrimage to see the band play a gig in their home town of Toronto, the idea was to simply visit a few sites (sights?) related to the band and inevitably photograph them (on slide and B&W film).  I was quite lucky with this photo because it could’ve just been a picture of the building on the album cover (the Legislative Assembly of Ontario masquerading as an art gallery), but the chap on the left came into the scene and provided some drama.  Ten years later I used the photo on an album cover by Ethel Vince (me and Neil Horsburgh) called Art Theft Investigation, the idea being that the paintings on the Moving Pictures cover had been stolen and the chap in the scene above was arriving to investigate the crime.  It’s a bit of a mental leap, but some of our friends appreciated the connection!  It also meant we could do fun stuff like create mug shots using our instruments and name the instrumental track on the album “Exhibit A”.

Anyway, back to Toronto.  Below are some Rush related sites we visited, which appear to be an unrelated collection of photos.  It is however a small connection series and a sort of “full circle” story in itself.

1. All famous musicians have a pre-history.  Lakeside Park is in the area where the drummer originates from, indeed it’s also the title of a Rush song about his youth.

052d Lakeside Park

2. Sam the Record Man is a record shop chain (not a launderette) that supported Rush from their early days. Sadly, it has now gone the way of many other music retailers.

052a Sam the Record Man

3. This is a street corner, although one that gives it’s name to part of a piece of music by Rush called LA Villa Strangiato, ie the “Danforth and Pape” part.  Growing up in the 1980s I’d assumed that Danforth and Pape were a couple of figures from history or literature!

052b Danforth and Pape

4. After a few more years of worldwide notoriety for their music and musical ability, Rush was awarded with a star on Toronto’s walk of fame.

052e Walk of Fame - Rush

5. The doorway to a small music bar founded by the band’s guitarist illustrates a sort of “full circle” event because it’s the sort of place Rush would have originally played at 40+ years ago.  It also shows how success can enable investment into the future of following generations.

052c The Orbit Room

Oh by the way, we also visited the more mainstream tourist sights in and around Toronto: the CN Tower, Niagra Falls, a Canadian football game, Art Gallery of Ontario (for the Henry Moore collection) etc.  I also went a bit native and wandered around the city; taking photos like the one in this posting.

So that’s it, the photo connection series is over…or possibly the beginning if you go back to the first posting because the connection is Rush.

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