paved :: marc weisblott

When the irritating indie yuppie clichés of Queen St. W. can provoke their own viral music video, it’s a smart time to look elsewhere for the next hipster fix. The Brampton Indie Arts Festival returns for its sixth dead of winter run Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 8-11), with “Friendly Rich” Marsella curating a program that predominantly draws from hyperlocal talent. None of the interior at the Heritage Theatre (86 Main St. N.) will be going to waste, evidently, as the bathrooms which will host “art too dirty for the mainstage” each night – gender-specific filth that facilitates a bassoonist, cellist, harpist and Verdi-singing soprano. Recurring themes on the nightly program are homemade musical instruments, horror films and puppet shows. A highlight of the Wednesday lineup combines all of the above: An animated movie called I Heart Robot accompanied by onstage action “written in part as a simple re-tooling of the Frankenstein story mixed with the dangerous themes of the computer age and the loneliness of the computer nerd”. Brampton isn’t immune to the emo sensibility, though, reflected in nightly headliners The Vulcan Dub Squad, The Most Serene Republic, Wheels on the Bus and Moneen – it’d be just like surfing for music on MySpace, only with real-life interaction and higher fidelity. Since catering to short attention spans is a credo of the event, visual art diversions include an exhibit by immortal Mendelson Joe at the neighbouring Beaux Arts Gallery (74 Main St. N.). Festival founder, Friendly Rich, has been successful at getting Brampton to save the Heritage Theatre from demolition for the last couple years – his desire to preserve it as an alternative arts hub has spawned an online petition, just in case mounting an event like this for four nights each year isn’t encouragement enough. Friendly Rich traipses into Toronto the following week, bringing his live vaudeville show, billed as “Lawrence Welk meets Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” to Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas St. W.) on February 16.