Ready to rock? This week’s recommendations have a rebel vibe to them, from the talented teens taking over the Grand Theatre in School of Rock to the Punk Rock Flea Market celebrating 10 years of alternative art, music and general weirdness.
And speaking of creative types doing things a little differently, I also sit down with London designer James Kingsley to talk about how The Loon got its new look, and why our little bird has nine spots on it.
The Loon Recommends for Sept. 24 - 30:
School of Rock at the Grand Theatre
Punk Rock Flea Market Turns Ten!
How The Loon Got its Groove - An Interview with Designer James Kingsley
These Kids Are Ready to Rock!
September 24 - October 3 | Grand Theatre | Tickets from $29
Move over, Jack Black. London’s young rock stars are taking over the Grand Theatre! This year’s High School Project brings School of Rock to the Spriet Stage, with 52 talented local high school students performing onstage and working behind the scenes.
For 28 years, the program has given London and area high school students the chance to experience what it’s like to put on a full-scale professional production. And students aren’t just on stage, they’re also working alongside theatre professionals in everything from props, wardrobe and sound to stage management, marketing and fundraising.
The program has been an incredibly powerful experience for the students who take part, and has helped launch the careers of many actors and theatre professionals. I’ve seen a few High School Project productions over the years, and they’re always terrific.
And don’t let the fact that these are students fool you, these productions are absolutely up to Grand Theatre standards. The professionalism and polish will bowl you over, and the shows are usually bursting with energy and, most importantly, FUN!
School of Rock is based on the 2003 Jack Black movie. The musical follows wannabe rock star Dewey Finn as he turns a classroom of straight-A students into a full-blown rock band.
AND in this production, student performers are actually playing their instruments on stage while acting and singing. Isaac De Melo takes on Dewey, guitar and all, alongside a whole crew of student actor-musicians.
School of Rock runs September 22 to October 3 on the Spriet Stage at the Grand Theatre. Tickets start at $29, with discounted pricing for ages 17 and under.
Get Your Punk On
Punk Rock Flea Market celebrates 10 years with a 3-day downtown takeover
September 24 -26 | Various locations in downtown London | FREE
If your idea of a good flea market involves a little less grandma’s china and a lot more tattoos, live music, vintage finds and DIY weirdness, Punk Rock Flea Fest is for you.
London’s Punk Rock Flea Market is celebrating its 10th birthday this weekend by going BIG - expanding into a three-day festival spread across downtown London.
What started back in 2016 as a Sunday afternoon gathering at the legendary Call the Office has grown into one of the city’s biggest celebrations of alternative culture, bringing together independent artists, vintage curators, makers, musicians, skateboarders and assorted creative misfits.
Festivities kick off Thursday at TAP with PRFM X: 10 Years in Print, an exhibition looking back at a decade of PRFM art and posters, along with live music, tattoos and a panel discussion. Local artist Jeremy Bruneel has been doing the posters for PRFM since year three, and they are FANTASTIC. I am a huge fan of his work, and much of it will be on display at this show.
Friday and Saturday bring the action onto Dundas Place, with live music, skateboarding and a massive outdoor market featuring dozens of vendors. Musical headliners include: Cancer Bats, Thunder Queens, Status/Non-Status and Ribbon Skirt.
I love events like this because they give space to the artists, makers and musicians who don’t necessarily fit neatly into the usual festival or craft-market mould. And apparently London agrees. Ten years later, this scrappy little flea market has turned into a full-blown festival.
And like most of the events I cover in this space - most of the events are FREE and all ages. So throw on your favourite band T-shirt, head downtown and get a little punk rock this weekend.
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How The Loon Got its Groove - An Interview with Designer James Kingsley
You may have noticed The Loon got a new look recently! We introduced a new visual identity and logo to our site, courtesy of London designer James Kingsley. Creating a brand involves much more than designing a logo though. At its best, I’d argue that graphic design isn’t a trade, but an art form — and James’ work is a great example of that.
Over the summer, I worked directly with James on the project, sharing our progress along the way with the larger Loon team of Matt Brown, Steve Cordes, Mike Donachie and Cedric Richards.
James took us through a process that had us thinking about what The Loon actually is, what we want it to feel like and how you translate things like independence, credibility and a personality into a visual identity. There were moodboards, loons, loons and more loons — = some tough choices and a few designs that were difficult to let go of. Eventually, we landed on the Loon you see today at the top of the masthead, complete with nine circles representing The Loon’s founding values.
I talked to James about how he got there, why our loon is looking over its shoulder, the tension between looking like a traditional news outlet and doing something completely different, and why London keeps finding its way into his work.
1. When we first approached you about creating a brand for The Loon, what was your starting point? What did you need to understand about the publication before you could begin designing?
In this case, my gut was telling me that anybody hearing the name “The Loon” would expect to see the bird worked into the logo somehow, and since meeting expectations is the first step in exceeding them, that’s where I started.
From there it was a matter of spending time in The Loon’s articles to get a sense of the publication’s tone and personality. I wanted to ensure the logo would look like how the publication sounds.
2. Your moodboards explored everything from modern and outlined designs to more hand-drawn approaches before we gravitated toward something “chunky + simple/understated + legible.” As a designer, what’s the importance of the moodboard stage?
This part of the process is as much about communication as it is inspiration. A moodboard sets the tone visually, but it also establishes a shared vocabulary. Different people use different words to describe what they’re seeing, so being able to refer back to specific images is much more helpful than saying you want the next revision to “pop.”
3. A loon is such a recognizable Canadian image, and one that comes with plenty of existing associations. How did you create a loon that felt distinctive to The Loon rather than simply another illustration of the bird?
This is a great question, and one I had to answer when I started work on the image, too. Rather than letting style set things apart, I decided to focus on the bird’s pose instead.
Because journalism spends so much time focused on events that have already taken place, I chose to have our loon looking backward. I also knew I wanted to incorporate your publication’s founding values into the design somehow; that’s how we ended up with those nine circles on the bird’s body.
4. Once we’d narrowed the field, two quite different personalities emerged: one was bold, modern, fun and playful, while another had a more classic newspaper feel and came across as crisp and professional. How did you think about that tension between being a traditional news source and having some personality?
For all the words associated with journalism, the industry has a strong visual language alongside it. Think of The New York Times and you get the picture—an old(e) gothic typeface that hearkens back to the dawn of the printing press.
This history gave us a tough choice to make: do we adopt the traditional look and tip our hat to professionalism, or go with something completely different and highlight the unique perspective we’re bringing?
In the end, I was excited to see The Loon choose the latter!
5. You have deep roots in London’s creative community and much of your work has explored ideas of place, community and local identity. Did your own relationship with London influence the way you approached designing a brand for a publication devoted to this city?
I would say it didn’t influence my approach so much as it influenced my confidence. Knowing the local context helped me anticipate some of the “praise or pushback” certain decisions would bring, and that made it much easier to own the ideas I was presenting.
Note that this t-shirt is SO popular that the London Free Press has not done one, but TWO articles on it!
You can buy it directly from James’ website, but it’s also available at Museum London’s shop.
6. Now that the logo is finished and starting to appear out in the world, what do you hope people will eventually think or feel when they see that little loon?
My hope is that people will think or feel something particular to them, something that connects with what they appreciate most about The Loon as a publication.
Once that happens enough, those individual connections start to cross over between readers, and that’s where things get really interesting.
7. You’ve worked on a wide range of creative projects over the years, from branding and design to projects such as Halfway between Toronto and Detroit, Keep London Boring, and The Localist. What connects the different kinds of work you’re drawn to?
As you mentioned earlier, the idea of “place & space” connects a lot of my work.
I find this city fascinating and frustrating in equal measure, so any time I get the chance to celebrate a success, or make sense of the mess—I’m all for it.
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Love the logo. Could you make t-shirts for sale?