last weekend i went down to hamilton to speak at a global citzenship conference at McMasters.
The totality of gloria's previous experience with hamilton:
1. i was six months old. my family moved down to Hamilton so my father could commence his studies there. six months later, he decides he hates it so much that we move back to waterloo. TO WATERLOO.
2. i was seventeen years old. i drove all the way down to hamilton with tim and jeremy to see godspeed you black emperor. while i was there, i visited my old home, which i obviously had no memory of, a chapter of my life that had ended a long time ago. i went to a mall, where most of the stores were flashing giant CLOSING SALE signs. ever since the world moved into a new age, the steel towns have been dying. i had the bizarre feeling of being at the end of the world.
the show that evening was being held at the Tivoli theatre, which was a beautiful dignified old style theatre, the kind that just don't exist in cities anymore. polmo polpo opened. years later i would fall in love with the man that was Sandro Perri, but i did not know it then. then, i was young, underaged, and way past my bed time. by the time Godspeed went on stage past midnight, i was asleep in my cushioned seat. the haunting melodies and lyrical images of the apocalypse penetrated my sleep. it was the most beautiful, disturbing dream i ever had. all of a sudden, i really was at standing on the edge.
