P!nk Du Soleil

P!nk Du Soleil
P!nk reminds me a lot of Angelina Jolie. That wild child pushing the envelope screaming for attention all the while waiting for the accolade that comes with being a rebel. Then they became mothers and that all changed. It's been almost two years since P!nk brought daughter Willow into this world, and although still pushing the envelope a tad, the singer seems at peace with herself and the world around her and dare we say, softer, mellower and sweeter. And that's not a bad thing!

The Truth About Love Tour opened up at Toronto's sold-out Air Canada Centre with the buzz of energy in the air as she came out to the anthem 'Raise Your Glass' with the petite singer strapped to bungee chords thrusting her into the air and down again throughout the opening of the song. That set the stage for what was a very physical, performance driven show that included the pride of Philly often spinning and twirling above the stage and over the audience in what had Cirque Du Soleil aspects throughout the 2 hour show. And not once during any of these 'acrobatic stunts' persay, did she ever lip sync any of it! She didn't disappoint on her recent hit 'Try' by giving the same performance she had fans raving about after the American Music Awards, even bringing that same male dancer out on tour with her. Voice-wise, there were some early instances of her vocals being a little drowned out by her rocking tunes and band, but that was quickly rectified and she made it very clear she can sing till the cows come home. In fact, some of the best moments of the show were when it was her voice simply accompanied by one other instrument that made it worth the price of the ticket alone. At one point, she came out with just her piano player and did 'Family Portrait', which she has always said is a very dear, personal song to her and the edge and hurt in her voice when she sang it sent shivers down your spine. From there she took to a stool at the front of the stage with her guitar player for a stripped down version of 'Who Knew'. Although not expecting her to throwback to her first album days, she surprised fans with a montage of 'Most Girls', 'There You Go' and 'You Make me Sick', busting out the moves to go with it. And she left fans standing on their feet by closing out the show with 'Blow Me One Last Kiss' before quickly moving into her encore of 'So What' and 'Glitter in the Air'.

P!nk has often said that Madonna and Janis Joplin are two of her biggest influences, and the showmanship of this concert definitely had both. Fans perhaps were expecting her to cover Joplin's 'Me and Bobby McGee' but the only cover, and a great one at that, came when she did an amazing take on Chris Isaac's 'Wicked Game'. Other surprises NOT on the set list were hits like 'Get the Party Started', 'Stupid Girls' and 'Funhouse'.

All-in-all, the concert was almost perfect, with the lone disappointment for myself being the opening act. The Hives, although exhibiting lots of energy and spunk that you like as an opener, just didn't seem to fit as an opening act for a pop-rock superstar. Their music sounded all the same unfortunately and there were no familiar hits to keep the audience into it. Not to mention the ratio of women to men was about 9 to 1, so having a 'rock' group open up was an oversight on someone's part. But aside from that, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the show a 9.75. Moral of the story is, if you ever get a chance to see P!nk live, do it! Even if it means flying half way across the country like I did :)

- Tia Daniels

My Niagara Wine Experience

Wine With Your Cheese?
On this trip to Toronto, my friend Krista suggested we take a trip to Niagara Falls and along the way, stop into some of the wineries that the Niagara Region is infamous for. So that's exactly what we found ourselves doing on Sunday.

Krista is a wine fanatic, and if you are as well, you should follow her blog 'Upkeep' for her latest wine adventures, and there are many! She really started getting into wines about a year ago, and since then, not only visits wineries on a frequent basis and blogs about her experiences, but is also taking a course in wines at George Brown College. I'm sure there's a big fancy technical name for it, but I'm a wine dummy, so I couldn't tell you exactly what it is.

Being the wine dummy that I am, it was a really interesting visit to our first stop - Di Profio Wines in the Jordan Station area of the Niagara Region. It's owned by Carollynn and Joe (pictured above). The two were actually nicely enjoying retirement (Carollynn had been a school teacher) when Joe's son started to pester them about buying a winery. The two were reluctant at first, but finally gave in and were lucky to buy one that already had existing growing vines. My understanding is that starting a winery with new plants from the ground up could possibly take 3-4 years before the grape plants are ready to produce the type of crop needed for the winemaking process. They've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into their new baby, which exists beside their Bed and Breakfast nicely nestled within the vineyard called 'Among the Vines'. They're one of the smaller wineries where they hand pick the grapes and sort for the highest quality and produce small batches at a time using a gravity fed process.

While there, Carollynn and Joe treated us to a wine tasting of their Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay Noir, Gamay Rose (which looks much like Cream Soda), the Riesling and their Vidal Ice Wine. I rarely drink wine, and I should mention this was at 11 in the morning, but it was a neat experience, the wine was fabulous, and Carollynn and Joe are just the nicest people. If you're ever in the area, I'd strongly suggest stopping by their winery and experiencing Di Profio Wines.