You’ve all seen that diagram of flight schedules that are in those in-flight magazines?

Hundreds of lines converging towards one city from all ports of the globe in glorious half arcs that never cease to remind me of my days feebly attempting to use a protractor and compass in math class.

Well, that visual of high traffic lines-a-converging…that’s what Toronto *felt* like two weeks ago.

Three major events were taking place simultaneously in the city, filling Toronto with palpable air of aural buzz, and mayjah foot traffic!

There was the eclectic Luminato festival, North by North East (NXNE) & the Much Music Video Awards (MMVA’s)—a veritable potpourri of musical offerings.

While Luminato boasts some fascinating programming, I mainly took in the NXNE shows scattered around the city, like croutons on a leafy, melodic ♫ salad.

NXNE has firmly placed Toronto on the map as a music aficionado’s destination, and is recognized as one of Canada’s most respected festivals for breaking in and discovering fresh new talent. It also boasts a comedy performance component, interactive panel discussions and a mini ‘music’ infused film festival—something for everyone, really. This is the place to discover the unfettered and the underground, well before they sell out to corporate filth and, well, show up in a car commercial or, say, on the Much Music awards—(more on that later).

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