Gloooooooria...

We are doing Pop-Up Carolling. Alex, Anna and I get dressed in our cutest vintage coats and sing songs of the season for unsuspecting streetcar passengers and strollers-by.

The difference between carolling and our regular Pop-Up Concerts is that we are keeping to the carolling tradition, and asking for donations (in a darling pink velvet chapeau set on a leopard-print stool, of course). All of our proceeds are going to Childhope Canada Foundation - their website is under construction, but you can still check out the info and principles of the foundation by clicking here: http://www.childhope.com/about.htm

Here is the schedule of our dates and times if you live in Toronto and would like to see us Deck The Sidewalks.

Thursday: Yonge/Bloor corner, in front of Hudson Bay Centre 12PM, Indigo Books in the Manulife Centre, 1PM
Friday: in front of Holt Renfrew, 5:30PM. Yorkville and Bellair, 7:30PM.
Saturday: St. Lawrence Market (south side) 10:30AM. Eaton Centre (Dundas/Yonge entrance) 12PM.

On either end of these pop-ups we will be singing on streetcars and subway cars.

Happy Holidays!

Pop-Up Concert Number Four

We are so excited about this Pop-Up Concert; we have no idea what will happen at this venue. There is quite a bit of security so it could be tricky!

In any case, we are performing on Sunday Sept 11 at 8PM. This is the first weekend of the Toronto International Film Festival, and we have made sure that our Pop-Up venue is smack dab in the center of all the excitement.

As always, our concert has no admission charge and everyone of all ages is welcome. Even dogs are welcome at this particular venue.

If you want the details and info, send me a message by going to my website and clicking "write".

(hint: it is old-school, was once grand and is now a bit of a dump. Totally my kind of place.)

Pop-Up Concert Number Three

This Pop-Up Concert was an entirely different experience altogether! At Hazelton Lanes we got booted out. At Loblaws we could have been dancing around in gorilla suits for all they cared. But we found a delighted and appreciative audience at Indigo (the downtown Toronto location).

As usual, we asked beforehand that our invited supporters use utmost discretion at our Pop-Up location (not asking staff when/where the concert is, not hanging around the piano expectantly before we get there, etc). One of the nicest memories of this particular Pop-Up is seeing people emerge from the various rows of books, escalators and entrances as we started playing. It was so lovely.

We were even on Global News, la di da!

Below, the clip from our performance. It runs just over 5 minutes. Enjoy.

Pop-Up Concert Number Three: August 14

Our next Pop-Up concert will be held downtown Toronto on Sunday August 14 at 2PM.

Hint: everyone in the place may be feeling a bit blue.

If you want to come, please send me a note to: "hello at lenni jabour (one word) dawt cawm." (spambots could well be my number one pet peeve).

Pop-Up Number Two

So on a burning-hot Sunday afternoon, Alex, Anna and I bombarded the grand piano that sits in all its loneliness on the mezzanine level of Loblaws in Forest Hill.

I felt quite tongue-in-cheek about selecting Loblaws as one of our Pop-Up sites, even bringing along my eco-shopping bags so that I could simply get groceries after playing (provided we didn't get kicked out, which we did not).

Many seniors were there, some with their caregivers. The odd young family came and went, unsure about our antics but clapping nonetheless. Loblaws employees on break from the shopping chaos below gave us nary a sideways glance. A homeless man with a beat-up guitar case seemed to really listen closely to the lyrics. A real motley crew, the people who hang out on the mezzanine level of Loblaws. Us included, with our music stands and vintage summer dresses.

The girls and I had a good time, giggling that store announcements blared between the lines of our only quiet song, laughing our heads off at my little daughter and her buddy Stella dancing wildly and hopping around to the music, smiling at each others' pretty harmonies.

It was such a different experience from our Pop-Up at Hazelton Lanes. No one shutting us down, a real spacial distance between us and the audience - but also more strangers expressing appreciation. And interestingly enough, the sound was quite good up there. I was of course not amplified in any way, but my voice carried across the room really well.

The Toronto Star was there and wrote a very nice article about us in today's paper:
I will upload video soon.