boring thread - need some hotel help

[tatterdemalion]

a yankee friend of mine is flying into toronto and asked me for some hotel recommendations. that's when i realized that i know nothing about hotels in toronto. i don't even remember the directions of certain streets anymore (having left ontario only 5 years ago). but he wants to be reasonably close to the Opera House, and asked me NOT to be conservative - he wants to be comfortable and is not terribly concerned about the loot.

any & all help is appreciated.

and check this out - a description of what makes jazzfest jazzfest. especially FIRST weekend.

<snip>

"Dragon's Den is a tiny little club that is actually the upstairs portion of a Thai

restaurant. I heard more than 1 person describe it as an opium den, and truer words have

never been spoken. The place is lit only with red lightbulbs, which are few and far

between and has a couple of raised platforms with low tables and pillows on the floor for

eating. There is a tiny bar, a dance floor that can hold maybe 30 people packed like

sardines, and a stage big enough for a drum kit with a bass and guitar amp jammed in

there. If the place holds 200 it would be alot, and that would be a very tight fit. For

the early set, the Fender Rhodes was set up on the dance floor. During the late show the

Fender and Hammond B3 were on the floor, along with Skerik and whatever other musicians

would be sitting in.

Anyway, the night started out with Stanton, Bobby Mac, Eric Lindell and Rich Vogel

jamming. Now, Ivan Neville was supposed to be on keys, but Stanton said that he was at

the Saenger for some funk throw down that was being filmed and would be a little late.

They jammed for a little bit over an hour before taking a short break. I wish that I

could name some of the tunes that they played, but my mind isn't working too clearly

right now...however I did take MANY pictures (some better than others) and there was at

least 1 taper's rig there. Following set break the keyboard and guitar player from the

Greyhounds joined in for the start of the 2nd set with Eric Lindell on harmonica and

vocals. Eric took back over guitar duties after the 2nd song, and it looked like Rich

was trying to fight his way through the crowd to get to the keyboard, but he ended up

being a spectator for the rest of the set. Overall, the early show was some great

blues-funk jamming.

Sometime after 1am they finished up and we were all sent outside so that they could start

setting up for the late show, which featured Stanton, Johnny Vidacovich, Skerik and Marco

Benevento. While standing at the base of the stairs, who should walk up but Chris

Robinson and Audley Freed. They stood around for about 30 mins just chatting with some

cats and then just before they let people go back upstairs for the late show they left.

Once they let us go back up, I resumed my spot directly to the right of the stage,

looking directly over Stanton's shoulder.

The late show started with an ambient jam around 2:20 or so. After they had been jamming

for about 30 mins or so, Ivan Neville showed up and joined in on keys. Following some

extra funky and crunchy jams (Papa Was A Rolling Stone with major crowd participation

among others) I noticed that Ivan had his cell phone up to his ear while he was playing.

Within about 30 mins, the guests started rolling in like the rains at the Fest on Sunday.

It started out with a couple of cats on trumpet and trombone who I wasn't familiar with,

but they had some bad ass solos. The next thing I know, after I had been focusing on

Ivan and Marco for a little bit, when I looked back over to where the horns were there

was Irvin Mayfiled standing there all dapper looking with his trumpet in hand. He threw

down a nasty solo and then hung out for a few minutes before making his way to the door.

In the meantime, I look back to my left at the keyboards to see that Marco has moved from

the B3 to the Fender Rhodes, and he was replaced by Eric Krasno. After throwing down

some bass lines on the B3 for a bit, Kras reaches behind him and pulls out his guitar. I

could hear him ask about what amp he can plug into. Marco pointed over to his spinning

Leslie in the corner, and Kras said some thing along the lines of "shit...I never played

on one of those before...this should be fun!"

So, now we've got Ivan and Marco on keys, Kras on guitar Skerik and some unknown horn

players all jamming ou to the super tight beats of Stanton and Johnny V. A little later

Joe Ruso (of Benevento-Ruso Duo) sat in on drums, and was followed up by a black girl who

was introduced as Little Nikki. As good as Stanton, Johnny and Joe are on the skins, my

jaw was dropped by the absolute speed of Little Nikki. I have no idea who she is, but

she can play the hell ou of the drums. The last guest that I could identify was Sam

Kinninger on sax. He and Skerik were trading licks back and forth along with the other

unidentified horn players while they jammed on until about 5:15.

When they were breaking down after the set, I just stood there in awe, feeling like my

ass had been kicked by Bruce Lee. I remember just saying "Shit!" to myself, and Stanton

was right there and looked up and smiled. I thanked him for what was a great long

evening of great jams and told him that this was by far my favorite JazzFest moment. He

thanked me and told me that this was what JazzFest was all about. That was something

Bobby Mac also told me the next day when I was talking with the guys the next day

following their in-store at Virgin, and I couldn't agree more. This is something that I

will truely remember for the rest of my life.

As I said before, I have plenty of pictures (even a few good ones), so hopefully I will

be able to find a way to post them on the net for y'all to see. Also, there was a tapers

rig there, so hopefully some quality copies of this show will start circulating. Anyway,

hope everybody that was at the Fest (or is lucky enough to still be there) has a fun and

safe time...I know I did."

[Jaimoe]

There really isn't any hotels out the Opera House way. There are some closer to Yonge Street, but not in a great part of town - Jarvis & Dundas.

Cab rides are cheap and easy, or he could take a streetcar to the Opera House from a hotel.

[Mr. Musicface]

There really isn't any hotels out the Opera House way.

Not true, there's the Broadview Hotel.

Oh wait, or did you mean non-sleazy hotels that aren't above strip bars? Oh sorry Your Majesty.

[Mr. Musicface]

Seriously thou, the Bond Place Hotel isn't that bad, it's short streetcar ride away, and right near the Eatons Centre area:

http://www.bondplacehoteltoronto.com/

Peace,

Mr. M.

[Jaimoe]

I was thinking about the Bond Street Hotel too. Can't you get away from your Ryerson stopping ground area for one second Jay??

[Mr. Musicface]

Can't you get away from your Ryerson stopping ground area for one second Jay??

Apparently not - I was just recommending the Library's patio to someone earlier today.