Claudio!
Strolled up Toronto's St. Clair W. Saturday night to check out the Corsa Italia street fiesta. Wandered from block to block, listening to the music, watching the rides, walking dejectedly away from sit-down restaurants with a 60 minute wait list for food...
And then we stumbled across Claudio. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to Reese from 'Malcolm in the Middle', we stood transfixed by his crazy accordion energy. Old guys in dirty trucker caps dancing by themselves, grammas hanging onto each other and swirling in the madness, little kids bopping to classic Italian folk pop. He had the crowd by the short and curlies and he knew it.
CDs for sale, poster with his nice-boy grin (and website address...) to the side. Ipod cranked with his backup mix. 3 different instruments on hand, rotated to ensure he had just the right sound. Click here for a sample of his music...
posted by Sheena @ 5:15 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
On the Corso Italia they are not "gramma", they are nonna and damn proud of it.
That said, there will be the Salsa on St. Clair next weekend featuring a more Hispanic flavour that has been slowly taking over that strip.
At least I didn't say "baba" which was my first instinct...
I saw that guy at the College Street festival a couple of weeks ago. Being part Uke, the accordion strikes something deep in my kolbassnika.
We were sitting in the window at Utopia and he was directly facing us, blasting out Italian folk tunes. Annoying for awhile, but it became white (literally) noise, as the pints flowed.
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