We’re slowly coming back around to normalcy, and we just wanted to thank everyone for making the Final ALL CAPS! Island Festival such an incredible experience.
Thank you first and foremost to our audience. You were so respectful of the centre and the island. Cleanup was a breeze, and our security guards commented on what a chilled out time it was for them. You played ping pong, you swung in the giant hammock, you took pictures of the mural and videos of the giant jenga, you took Vines of yourselves in your tents, you danced in Lake Ontario, you packed your tents in nice and close, you sung along and you danced your butts off. You were the most amazing audience we could have ever hoped for. It’s people like you that make this city great.
Thank you so much to all the performers: Ada Dahli, Tim Moxam, Lemon Bucket Orchestra, Unfinished Business, Most People, ev ree wuhn, Beekeeper, Shotgun Jimmie, biZzarh, Hooded Fang, The Blow, DJ Anni Spadifora, our secret midnight performer Digits, the Cybernetic Orchestra who brought us Toronto’s first Algorave, DJ Eytan Tobin, Watershed Hour, Pachamama, Eons, Elfin Saddle, Magneta Lane, Beliefs, catl., and Rich Aucoin.
So much thanks goes to Vanessa Rieger and Jessica Vallentin for curating a stellar artistic component and coordinating our first ever artist residency. Their amazing artistic lineup, coordinated in partnership with WhipperSnapper Gallery, included Melissa Fisher who provided the amazing stage decorations, Basil AlZeri, Patrick Beh, Benjamin Edelberg, Jemma Egan, Jesi the Elder, Mohammad Rezaei and Joleen Toner. We need to give a special shout-out for Vanessa for holding the fort with us on Friday, presenting her work NIGHTLIFEGUARD on the beach AND programming the beach lineup along with AGP resident Tim Moxam on Friday night.
Thank you to our tech crew, Dwayne Slack and Colin Harrington, and our stage manager Alexandria Lepinski for making everything run so smoothly on two stages.
I also ask that you give applause for the entire Wavelength crew, who put in months of blood, sweat and tears to put together this insane beast of a festival, fueled by grit and passion for Toronto and independent music. Dorice Tepley, Adam Bradley, Tara Fillion, Kevin Parnell, Doc Pickles, our Dubai-affiliate Adham Ghanem and the insurmountable Jonny Dovercourt, whose vision, passion and incredible amount of hard work is the lifeblood of Wavelength and this festival.
Our tremendous volunteers worked long hours at times on tedious tasks. They got the bands to the AGP on time, they got your gear safely to the ferry dock, they picked up garbage, they patrolled the beach, they bartended, they stayed indoors and watched the gear. A festival like this can’t happen without the toil and effort of passionate helpers like this, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. That includes Kayla Braga, Pavan Brar, Lukas Cheung, Sean Corcoran, Andy Dewar, Kasia Dyszkiewicz, Sarah Fairlie, Erin Fleck, Eddy Gebbie, Elena Gritzan, Kat Harlton, Zain Jafry, Marlena Kaesler, Kurt Marcoux, Kate Mulvale, Scott Moroz, Heiko Rechenberger, Amy Rivier, Mar Sellers, Joe Strutt, Bryan Sutherland and Mike Walter. Also a big thanks to Brandon Gibson-DeGroote and Paul McEachern of Most People for playing a second set of B-sides on Friday night after the movie and pitching in where needed all weekend.
We also couldn’t put this on without our funders and supporters. Big thank you’s to FACTOR, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Steam Whistle, The Grid, AutoShare, Exclaim!, blogTO, WhipperSnapper Gallery, Mudtown Music & Arts Festival, Epiphone, and Hand Drawn Dracula. Thank you to Showgopher, who put together www.allcaps.ca and present Toronto with the best and most innovative live show listing website. (And for the freezies they passed around on Sunday.) Thank you to the Island Café for the absolutely amazing menu they designed especially for the festival. Thanks to Kat Stewart and Rebecca Webster of Webster Media Consulting for doing an amazing job getting the word out. Thank you to A Pocket History of Mars for filming – watch out for their forthcoming mini-doc. Thank you to Joe Strutt of Mechanical Forest Sound for taking live recordings. Thanks to Derek Ma of Imaginary Eye for his amazing design work, from the logo to the poster to the program guides. Thank you to Dean Tomlinson who took the photo that adorned the festival poster and artwork. Thanks to Mike Juneau and Faraz Anoushehpour for this work on this year’s video trailer. And thank you to Round Table Radio for broadcasting “nearly live” throughout the festival.
And a huge thank you has to go to Lisa Cristinzo, the General Manager of Artscape Gibraltar Point. She is an amazing partner, and integral to the evolution of the event over the last five years – managing, curating, and allowing us to have camping, making this the first and only camping music festival IN THE HISTORY OF TORONTO. She’s incredible to work with, and the Island is lucky to have her. In kind, a big thanks our long-time festival co-presenter Artscape and the rest of their amazing staff.
Artscape Gibraltar Point is an incredibly special place, not just in Toronto but in all of Canada. And we are incredibly grateful we were able to host this event on their grounds. If you want to book a residency or event at Artscape Gibraltar Point, not to mention keep up with all the amazing events they host, please check out their website.
Lastly, thank you to Toronto Island. It’s easy to forget that we are gifted in this city with such an amazing escape from the intensity of the mainland, with the best views of the one of the best skylines in the world, just a short ferry ride away. Toronto Island truly is one of the best things about Toronto.
While ALL CAPS! has finished, we plan to keep the memory of it alive. If you took photos/videos/wrote blog posts or articles please send them our way! Email us at contact@wavelengthtoronto.com, tag us on Facebook using Wavelength Music Series or on Twitter @wavelengthmusic. We have something very fun in the works to commemorate all of these awesome memories!
And thank you for reading this list of thank you’s! 🙂
Ryan McLaren, ALL CAPS! Founder and Director
*photo of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse by Kevin Parnell