“So listen to this,” I said to Don, my cab driver. “These young guys from San Diego – well, one of them isn’t so young, but he’s young at heart you see – these young guys get it in their heads that if they play house and techno music until 5 in the morning, they’ll somehow have spread the message of a uniting, all-encompassing Love. What do you think of that?”
It was 5:23am and I had just peeled myself away from the raucous postcoital sprawl outside District 28, where SummerDaze had teamed up with City Hearts to host an end-of-summer bashola… 15 hours of love-drenched house and techno, the final 5 of which I attended. In the cab’s rear leather seats I slouched, spent, in my sweat-soaked clothes.
Don’s grey eyebrows furled a little and he said, “Well, back in my day we would have stayed out a little later.”
Don gets it.
What follows here is a photographic journey through the City Hearts Toronto, hosted by the gregarious Desert Hearts collective.
There was loads of lounging and chattering outside when I arrived at 28 Logan Ave just before midnight. The building was not obvious to navigate – I waited in a non-line for 10 minutes next to the smoker’s door before finding a real entrance. The Cop Game across the street looked more like a skater posse than a mob of authority; they eyed partygoers the way Coyote would eye Roadrunner. Meep.
Entering the funky space, there were funky people and funky things to do. You could feel and hear the vibrant thumping of the AlienInFlux sound system in the main room next door.
The Main Room: Space to dance and swing and lounge and chat and connect and contemplate art. The walls themselves seemed to say, ‘This is a place where it’s Free to Be, to open your minds and get absolutely freaked.’
Most people weren’t in costume so much as wearing ‘expressive clothing’… except for Wonder Woman, who doubled as a masseuse for the night.
“We gotta spread the message – Love. It’s all about that.” Desert Hearts co-founder Mikey Lion said on the dance floor after he carooned some fluttery four-to-the-floor on the decks.
“True. So do you like dubstep?” I ventured.
“Not really. We’re pretty strict – militant – house and techno heads. We throw a festival in the desert every year and it’s 100 hours of house and techno. It’s all one stage, one crowd, one vibe.”
Thank god for coppers. It’s my publicly stated opinion that whoever’s taking a dip, dap or dab to ratchet themselves into consciousness-expanding bliss is a sordid, guilty fuck and should be tackled immediately and incarcerated to the maximum. (My private opinion is the opposite.)
Shortly after Italian tech-house duo Nice7 took the reins, the crowd was a growing frenzy of whoops and cheers. “What are we cheering for?” my brother Rob shouted. “Life!” was the reply. The sound swelled over a buildup and by the time it dropped we were all already off our heads.
“When beautiful girls are dancing, everything changes for a DJ. We try to make the girls a-happy, because when the girls is happy the mans is happy, and everyone’s happy!” – Cesare Marocco, Nice7
LEFT – Mikey Lion: “That’s my little brother up there – Pork Chop”.
Me: “Oh really?” (fumbling to get my phone out and correct the Instagram post in which I declared that it was Deep Jesus ‘keeping things noisy’.) “He’s nailing it. Must be nice to roll with family.”
ML: “Yeah man.”
RIGHT – The only known photo of Marbs, due to the fact that anybody holding a camera is faced with the affliction of being tacked to the dance floor by dirty techno beats.
The crowd was a tangled blur of limb and shadow, moving in ecstatic syncopated rhythm.
Music and love inspires art and movement. (You can see the result of this live painting here)
As Lee Reynolds closed out the night, I realized that what makes the Desert Hearts message of Love so convincing is that they actually live it – it’s a rare moment when somebody’s not hugging, high fiving, sharing ecstatic conversations, amping each other up, chatting with guests and asking peoples’ names… in short, they are using their friendship, music, and charming personalities as a platform to demonstrate – literally teach – people how to be loving.
This was the last stop for the Desert Hearts crew before they flew out to Burning Man the next day. The collective feedback on the city reads like an eBay review: Toronto was fucking awesome. A++. Will come again.
City Hearts on Facebook
Desert Hearts on Soundcloud
SummerDaze on Facebook
All photos by Kevin G for FUXWITHIT
