NXNE Day 1: Scrabble and Fire Alarms
Written by Francesca Wahking
Photos by Francesca Wahking
Date: July 6, 2008
After waiting for a fire alarm drill to finish up and being oh- so- late for meeting up with one of my friends; it’s great to finally kick off North By North East- Mutedmag.com style. This nifty little Toronto music festival is a great way to support the Canadian music scene and discover bands you’ve probably never heard of before.

The best part of NXNE is not just the music, it’s also discovering new places to eat in Toronto. My friends and I had a quick bite to eat at a small café called Tequila Bookworm. Their iced coffees and frappes are amazing but don’t expect high amounts of sugar in them like other coffee stores. My friend ended up dumping loads of sugar in her iced coffee.

We then made our way to a Mexican food restaurant and bar called Tortilla Flats. On Thursday’s they have a $2.99 Margarita special. The mango flavoured one is amazing, the strawberry one is not bad, but after sipping it I got a huge piece of frozen strawberry in my mouth which was a bit odd.

While drinking Margaritas on a lovely patio, my friend’s boyfriend breaks out the Scrabble. Drunken Scrabble is probably more fun than the actual game.

After the drinking and eating, I made my way to the Kathedral to see the Strike Anywhere and Flatliners show. A bunch of amazing bands opened including Hostage Life but I didn’t get there until Calgary’s This is a Standoff hit the stage.



The crowd was covered with Star Wars birthday hats to celebrate John, a member of the band’s birthday. Although the venue wasn’t as packed, it didn’t stop This is a Standoff from getting pumped and setting fire to moshers’ feet. Their punk rock sound combined with kick ass guitar licks, makes them bookmark- worthy.








Page 1- 2