David J. Widmann

Artist/writer Cynthia Gould finds warmth in Kensington Market

Cynthia Gould is a writer, spoken-word performer and painter who has secondhand shopped “since I was around 15 or 16. I discovered I could get much more for my money.”

“I like shopping, period, but secondhand shopping usually ensures that you won’t run into someone wearing the exact same outfit,” she says, “and there tends to be much more variety in secondhand stores. In new stores, they only have what is supposedly hip this season. I’ll be the judge of what I choose to wear, thank you very much!”

Over a large cup of coffee at the Organic Bhudda Cafe, Cynthia showed off one of her recent finds.

“I found this long, black cardigan with burgundy funfur cuffs and collar at Ohm Shanti in Kensington Market,” she said. “It’s very warm. I saw it on the rack out front. I was just walking by and saw funfur, so shazam!”

Cynthia can often be found haunting the storefronts and laneways of Kensington Market. She says the leisurely pace and friendly atmosphere of the neighbourhood are what attracts her to its many shops and cafes.

“It can take me an entire afternoon to walk up that street,” she laughs. “I can rarely remember the names of the individual stores, because I go through them all at once and it gets blurry.”

Cynthia also displayed one of her earliest and most treasured acquistions.

“I bought this silver necklace for a quarter when I was 16 so I’ve had it for, let’s just say a million years,” she says. “I got it at the Big Sisters secondhand store in downtown Port Hope. There’s three big silver wigglies on it where three blue jewels are supposed to be stuck in, but two of the jewels were missing. I went out and spent 70 cents on blue model paint that matched, and I painted in the other two circles so you can’t tell that their missing. I’ve worn it ever since.”

Sometimes, though, great finds are just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

“My boots are secondhand Docs that are in fabulous condition,” Cynthia says. “I was at a friend of mine’s house for dinner one day. She was cleaning her closet, and we’re close enough to the same size. That’s secondhand I didn’t even have to go to a store for.”

Of course Cynthia doesn’t spend all her time rummaging through the used clothing racks. Since moving into a new art studio space, she’s been “painting like a madperson,” to the point that the gallery section of her web site (www.cynthiagould.com) has become “a bit confusing.” She’s working on that too.

“I’m also going to be hosting some shows coming up.” she says. “I’m going to be featuring at Night of Sirens, which is an evening exploring the sensual side of women. It’s all female performers and musicians. That’s at the Renaissance Cafe on April 28.”

For more info on Cynthia’s live performances, check out http://cynthiagould.coffeehouse.ca.

For years, television commercials have perpetuated the image of the hair transplant client: an affluent, middle-aged man driving a convertible or diving into a swimming pool, surrounded by women half his age marvelling at his youthful appearance. However, hair restoration surgery can be used as more than just a means to ease a mid-life crisis.

“There was a misconception with some plastic surgeons that you couldn’t put hair into a scar,” Dr. Paul Cotterill says from his clinic at 199 Avenue Road in Toronto.  “You can, you just don’t pack the transplanted hair too densely, and you leave more time intervals between sessions. If it’s not too big an area, and they have enough donor hair to allow to transplant, there’s no problem transplanting into a scar. If it’s a big scar you might want to make it smaller first.”
Dr. David Seager at the Seager Hair Transplant Centre in Toronto says that hair restoration surgery can be useful after other cosmetic procedures.
“Ladies that have had face lifts, with scars in front of their ears or behind their ears or across the scalp, can benefit from this procedure,” he says.
People who have suffered burns can have hair successfully transplanted into their scars.
“Burns are excellent reasons for hair transplants,” says Dr. Cotterill. “Whether it’s the hairline, the scalp, or the eyebrows after accidents.”
“Sometimes a skin graft is necessary first,” says Dr. Seager. “If we can graft the skin, we can transplant hair.”
“If you’ve got a burn to the scalp the size of the palm of your hand, that’s a big area,” Dr. Cotterill explains. “The first thing you might want to do is a scalp reduction where you take out some of the bald scalp to make it smaller. You can also put an expander – a device similar to a balloon – under the hair-bearing portion of the skin. You expand that area, then pull it over. Once you’ve made the scarred area as small as you can, then we can do transplants.”
Hair loss can be the result of a variety of other causes as well. Special consideration must be taken in cases where hair loss has been caused by an infection or an autoimmune disease. Conditions such as discoid lupus (a chronic skin condition causing scarring and inflammation) and alopecia areata (the result of the body’s immune system attacking the hair follicles) should only be treated after they have run their course.
“If you transplant into an active area of inflammation, the transplanted hair would fall out,” Dr. Cotterill says. “If those areas haven’t been active for several years, you could transplant those areas. Still, if it reactivated, there’s a risk the hair loss could return.”
If a consultation deems a patient a good candidate for hair transplantation, Dr. Cotterill says that recovery for a burn or inflammation patient is no different than that of any other hair transplant client.
“With transplants, there’s a short-term hassle for a long term gain,” he says. “For the first week you might have a little bit of swelling. You have to be careful with the grafts for the first week to 12 days so you don’t knock one out, but they’re in there pretty secure. The hairs will initially fall out then go into a three-month sleeping phase. At three months, they’ll start to kick in and grow normally.”

Thermage (also called Therma-Cool and Thermalift), the latest weapon in the war against aging. The procedure uses radio frequencies directed at the deep layers of the skin to tighten facial wrinkles without the need for invasive surgery.

It’s one of the few procedures that can actually give lifting and tightening of the skin without any surgery or downtime,” says Dr. Nowell Solish, a dermatologist at Women’s College Hospital in Toronto. “Patients get a procedure done where they go home and you cannot tell they’ve had anything done.”

As well as eliminating the recovery time invovled with many cosmetic procedures, Thermage doesn’t carry the risks of scarring, discolouration or infection associated with traditional skin rejuvenation techniques.

“I used to do a lot of laser resurfacing, Dr. Goldhar says. “I don’t do it any more. As a physician, I’d have my heart in my mouth and say a little prayer, hoping that the person heals up again. A procedure like ThermaCool can give that dermal tightening without breaking down the epidermis.”

Although Thermage is a valuabgle tool when it comes to improving skin’s appearance, Dr. Goldhar is quick to point out that it is not the “medical miracle” that many television programs and magazine articles have made it out to be.

“At this point in time, everybody is touting it as a ‘non-surgical facelift,’” he explains. “ThermaCool is a process that takes 2 to 6 months to see results. This is not a major facelift. What the procedure will do is tighten the skin a little bit, by about two or three millimetres around the jawline, a little bit of a pull-back on those nasal labial folds, and some tightening along the forehead.”

Dr. Solish agrees that Thermage is “not a perfect technology,” but that the majority of patients respond “very well” to treatment.

“I’ve never seen anyone that didn’t get improvement,” he says. “There are people that will get milder improvements, but the majority of patients that get it done are satisfied with the tightening that they get.”

“The bottom line is, ThermaCool is an excellent addition to the armament of new tools that are available to rejuvenate the face,” says Dr. Goldhar, who uses Intense Pulse Light treatments and microdermabrasion in conjunction with Thermage therapy. “The main theme of these new tools is that you can do the rejuvenation without the risks that we had with previous laser and chemical treatment regimes.”

Despite their name, love handles are something that most men would rather not hold on to. These folds of fat spilling over our belts have always been tough to deal with. It seems they’re resistant to diet, exercise, weight-loss supplements; just about anything. As much as we might want to get rid of them, for most of us the liposuction approach seems a bit too drastic. Luckily, there’s a new procedure available to help smooth love handles away quickly and painlessly.

“LipoLite is a non-surgical procedure to contour unwanted collections of fat,” says Dr. Stephen Mulholland of SpaMedica Infinite Vitality Clinics (www.spamedica.com).

At the centre of LipoLite is the VelaSmooth device.

The VelaSmooth sends the deep-heat radio frequency current into the fat,” Dr. Mulholland explains. “This stimulates lipolosys, the breakdown of the contents of a fat cell into free fatty acids and glycerol. The device is passed over your love handles for about 35-40 minutes. Every time you come into the doctor’s office, you would get a VelaSmooth treatment.”

Along with the VelaSmooth device, LipoLite uses mesotherapy (the injection of metabolically-active drugs directly into the fat) and carboxytherapy (infusing small quantities of carbon dioxide into the fat). This happens every fourth treatment, and helps to further break down the fat deposits.

“Caloric restriction will do that, too,” Dr. Mulholland says. “It just doesn’t focus where you lose the fat. You lose it off other areas except your love handles, usually. This focuses that lipolosys on just the love handles.”

The LipoLite program takes 8 weeks to complete, and has an exceptionally high rate of success.

“At the end of 8 weeks, 90% will have a noticeable and measurable reduction of their areas of fat,” Dr. Mulholland says. “The range of response is anywhere from 1 centimetre to 8 centimetres of reduction.”

To maintain the benefits of a LipoLite treatment, clients need only keep their weight under control.

“If you don’t put on the weight, if you don’t feed the fat cells again, you don’t have to worry about it,” Dr. Mulholland says. “If you feed you fat cell its calories, it’ll grow again. Weight maintenance is critical. This is not good for yo-yo dieters.”

Risks are minimal, and due to teh fact that the fat reduction is gradual, the procedure has virtually no impact on cholesterol levels, liver enzymes or kidney function. Dr. Mulholland stresses, however, that LipoLite is a body contouring technique and not intended for weight loss.

“If you need to lose weight, loose weight,” Dr. Mulholland says. “This is for shaping your figure.”

For people with slightly greater fat-loss demands,, or those few who don’t respond to the LipoLite treatment, another new procedure called Liposound can provide results less invasively that traditional liposuction treatments.

“People have seen the Learning Channel or Skin Deep, and they see liposuction as pretty crude,” says Dr. Mulholland. “Liposound is a more refined, gentle technique. It’s a very gentle ultrasonic probe, almost like bursting a kidney stone or something like that. You put it under the fat, melt it, then gently extract it. You have almost no bruising; you don’t have the same numbness and tingling as with liposuction.”

With these new targeted fat-reducing programs, it has just become easier to say good-bye to those handles we love to hate.

New Products Transform the Routine

According to archaeologists, men have shaved their faces for about 20,000 years. For much of that time, men had a simple choice to make before applying the shark tooth, flint blade or razor to their faces: soap or no soap.
Frank B. Shields changed the course of history when, in 1920, he invented Barbasol – the first “brushless shaving cream” to hit the market.

“Barbasol is one of the most recognized names in the shave industry,” says Janis Morgan, product manager at Perio Inc., current owners of Barbasol. “Since it went into the aerosol can, the formula has stayed pretty much the same.”

Shaving cream in an aerosol can was introduced in the 1950s. It would be over 20 years before shave gels, the next big thing in shaving, would come along to challenge the shave cream market.

Fast forward to the 21st century. A look at any department store, salon, or catalogue finds the once-simple shaving market evolving to a new level.

“There is a whole range of new products that men are looking for,” Ross Barclay says. Mr. Barclay is the proprietor of The Trafalgar Shop (www.trafalgarshop.com), an online store specializing in high-quality men’s grooming products. “They want natural products, a variety of fragrances, different styles of packaging, and they also like to have an eclectic selection.”

Mr. Barclay says that the most important factor in driving this new market is that men are starting to let a little luxury into their lives.

“Overhauling the shaving routine, which most men do every day, is a natural and straightforward place to start,” he says. “With a badger hair shaving brush, a British shaving cream, and a few minutes of peace and quiet, it’s possible for a man to match the type of enjoyment women have been getting from things like facials or manicures.”

Brands such as Nivea and Neutrogena, enjoyed by women for years, have recently released skin care and shaving products for men. This is not only seen as proof that the market for luxury men’s shaving products has reached the mainstream, but it has also worked to raise awareness of other brands that may be hard to find.

“When a man tries one different product, he’ll usually start looking for others,” says Mr. Barclay. “A man may start with a heavily-advertised product and enjoy it, which will make him all the more likely to seek out and find smaller manufacturers without advertising budgets.”

The growth of these higher-end shaving lines has not gone unnoticed by stalwarts such as Barbasol. A lot of boys grew up watching their dads work the foam from those rusty-bottomed cans into their faces before a shave, and Ms. Morgan says her company will use that brand recognition to expand its own line.

“I don’t know how soon that will be, but you’re always looking at what’s out there, what people are concerned with,” she says.

Still, there is room in the market for those who prefer to stick to tradition.

“Classic shave creams is a declining category,” says Ms. Morgan. “We are the only brand that is growing in sales in a declining category, which is amazing. We’ve been taking over a lot of competitors’ business.”

Botox appeals to the masses

“I’m very happy with it, and that’s the most important thing,” says 49-year-old Renee Schachter. About a year ago, she became one of a growing number of Botox advocates. “When some of my friends started to do it I saw results, and I really liked what I was seeing. In the beginning, I just did the area between my eyebrows. The last time I did it, I also did the horizontal lines up my forehead.”

Ms. Schachter is part of a trend that has taken the word “Botox” out of the celebrity gossip pages and into everyday language.

“Botox is the number one cosmetic procedure in North America,” says Dr. Fred Weksberg, cosmetic dermatologist at Toronto’s Centre for Cosmetic Dermatology. “A lot of people look at celebrities and emulate them in many ways, but I think Botox stands on its own merits. It’s an excellent treatment.”

So what is it about Botox that has so appealed to the general public?

“It’s easy to do,” cosmetic plastic surgeon Dr. Trevor Born says. Dr. Born has been administering Botox at 199 Avenue Road in Toronto since 1997, and has seen business increase rapidly in the last three years. “It takes only a couple of minutes and there’s no downtime with it. It’s almost an immediate result in the first three to five days and it lasts three to four months. When something is that effective, people adapt it very quickly.”

“It’s been so successful that individuals will flock to it,” says Dr. Weksberg. “If it’s important to them, they will do it. We have a lot of individuals who I would not consider wealthy, but still come to have Botox done.”

Satisfied patients have been the biggest boost in the popularity of Botox.

“I think that it’s a great treatment,” Ms. Schachter says. “I have encouraged my mother and my sister to do it, and they both have.”

“My patient base is still increasing,” Dr. Weksberg says. “I don’t see it decreasing at this point. I still think it’s going to increase for quite a long time.”

Before going onstage at their recent record release concert, Plumtree was beaming with excited smiles while munching on slices of cinnamon toast.  (If you don’t know already, the band is signed to local Cinnamon Toast Records.  Everyone’s got a gimmick.)

“It’s going to be tough to contain us,” promises bassist Catriona Sturton, the recent addition to this pop-rock quartet.  Plumtree guitarist Amanda Braden concurs with Sturton’s statement by demonstrating what it feels like to bounce off the walls.

This energy is completely different from a quiet, reserved interview that took place in the mezzanine of the Lord Nelson Hotel the weekend before.  I had a chance to speak with the group’s four members about their new CD, Mass Teen Fainting. This full-length album is a pleasant surprise for those familiar with Plumtree’s previous recordings, such as the Flutterboard cassette.  It’s proof that the young band from Halifax can show some teeth in its music.

“I think the vocals are stronger for one thing,” observes Carla Gillis, the band’s other guitarist.  Mass Teen Fainting exhibits a more confident Plumtree, with the singing of all four members coming to the fore in the recordings.  (One of those voices belongs to former bassist Nina Martin, who left for university last year after the album was recorded.  Her departure opened up a spot for Sturton.)  Lynette Gillis, Plumtree’s drummer, cites confidence as the reason for Mass Teen Fainting’s strength.

“I think a lot of it was that we just knew a little more about what we were doing,” she explains.  “When we recorded Flutterboard, we hadn’t recorded a whole lot so we weren’t that familiar with it.  We’re also more familiar with songwriting. Our songs are better.”

“We experimented more with different guitar sounds,” Carla, Lynette’s sister, adds.  “But we didn’t use a whole lot of effects.  On Flutterboard, our lack of something was covered up with a lot of effects.  This one’s a lot drier.  It’s just us playing.  It sounds more alive.”

“Along with a new release under its belt, Plumtree has a YTV Young Achievement Award to be proud of.  The award recognizes outstanding young people in a whole slew of categories.  “There’s a bravery category,” says Carla.  “A bunch of eight-year-olds won the award.  They saved children from a burning house or something.”

“We get to hang out with young geniuses.  We’re the slackers of the awards,” Braden laughs.  “One girl one the award for writing.  She finished reading The Hobbit when she was three.”

For most young people, summer means the end of school and two months of working (or two months of creative excuses for not going to work).  For Canadian musicians, it’s the time of year when the roads are free of ice and it doesn’t matter if the heater in the van is busted.  In other words: touring season.  Plumtree is no exception.

This summer, along with the usual Canadian tour dates, the band hopes to make a few more inroads into the United States.  They’d like to mirror the success of a tour to Boston that took place last year.  “That was one of the best shows on the tour,” Amanda remembers.

“No one knew who we were, but we were put on a good bill and people were really open-minded.  We played last, and people stayed for us.  I hope that when and if we go back, people will remember us.”

If their CD release show at the Birdland Cabaret is an indication of other shows to come, being remembered shouldn’t be a problem.  The energy coming off the stage — from the opening onslaught of “Tropical,” to Catriona’s solo harmonica set, to the band’s rendition of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock And Roll” — certainly grabbed the audience’s attention.

Since Plumtree first came on the scene, the press has treated the band’s not-quite-twentysomething youth as a novelty . But anyone present at the record release show found out that, young as they may be, a good band is a good band.  Period.

Got some song in your head that you heard last week while flipping through the college radio stations? Do you fondly remember a tune that everyone else seems to have forgotten? Have you endlessly flipped through the bins and shelves of the record store at the mall, trying to find something that you’re certain exists no matter what the customer service rep with the blank look on his face has to say?

Get out of the mall, and head for Queen Street. Some of the record stores along the strip might be a little hard to find, but they’re packed to the rafters with some impressive musical selections.

Discovery Used & Collectors Records
1140 Queen Street East (416) 778-6394

Jim Levitt has been doing business from his current location for the past six years. Discovery has been in business for the past 13 years, previously running out of a shop on Queen, closer to Woodbine.

“Good parking, decent rent, and a bigger store,” are reasons Jim cites for moving Discovery down the road. “Also, it’s a less traveled area of Queen. I really don’t depend on pedestrian traffic. It’s mostly people coming in, looking for something specific.”

Discovery deals mainly in hard-to-find music merchandise. Albums, CDs, books, videos… anything related to music can be found here. If you think it’s going to be hard to find, start your shopping at Discovery.

Vortex Records/ Kop’s & Vortex Kollectible CD’s & 45’s
553 Queen Street West (416) 504-6787 / 229 Queen Street West (416) 593-8523

Vortex has been perched above “The 8 Ball” since April of 1989. This is one of Queen’s most wonderfully diverse record stores when it comes to used CDs. Everything from Billie Holiday to KMFDM can be found at a bargain price in the bins of Vortex. New product at Vortex is mainly new alternative music.

Completely opposite to Discovery, Vortex’s location was chosen for its high pedestrian traffic. “This is a happening area of the city,” explains Rob Bowman, one of the partners involved in both Vortex Records and Kop’s & Vortex Kollectible CD’s & 45’s. “There are a lot of complimentary businesses in the area, with the clubs and clothing stores that are all part of the scene.”

Kop’s does some used CD business as well, with new product here focusing on roots music. The stuff of jazz, soul, country, R&B and Rockabilly can be found on the shelves here.

Sound City
2138 Queen Street East (416) 690-8194

At its current address for the past six years and across the street for three years before that, Sound City’s location was chosen by an expert. According to Fonz Taylor, the store’s manager, the original owner of Sound City used to be a consultant that helped businesses find the best locations.
“He knew the potential of the Beaches,” Fonz explains, “so he opened up a store himself.”

Fonz says that Sound City likes to avoid putting a musical label on the store. Their philosophy is simple: if they think they can sell it, they’ll stock it.

Penny Lane Records
494 Queen Street West (416) 504-9261

Walking into Penny Lane Records is like walking into a music lovers personal collection of prized rarities. The walls are lined with rare imports, the likes of which cannot be seen anywhere else in the city.¦

Four years ago, Penny Lane moved from their Queen and Spadina location into their current space, looking for a higher traffic area. Business is good for this record store that is so much more, dealing in rare concert posters, cool t-shirts, hand-carved incense holders, and a plethora of other curiosities. If you’re looking for a gift for someone whom you think has everything, you haven’t been to Penny Lane yet.

Rotate This!
620 Queen Street West (416) 504-THIS

Five years in the same location have been good for Rotate This!. In fact Pierre, the captain of the Rotate ship, “wouldn’t be anywhere else. I wouldn’t want to open up on Yonge Street. It would be too much of a headache.”

Pierre isn’t the only person that can’t picture Rotate This! as being anywhere other than Queen Street. The store, with it’s “non- mainstream” personality, seems perfectly comfortable where it is. Walking in, the first thing that catches the eye is a small waiting area, complete with a coffee table full of zines and some comfy vinyl seats to read them in.

Vinyl is the theme at Rotate This!. Seven-inches, LPs, and some rare ten-inch releases are everywhere. You can find a lot of the new music you thought was only available on CD pressed on big, beautiful vinyl at 620 Queen.

Neurotica
559 1/2 Queen Street West (416) 504-8515

This is a small store with some big values inside. Dealing mainly in second-hand CDs, Neurotica is great for people who want good deals on music, but not necessarily the rarest of collectibles.

Neurotica moved into 559 1/2 Queen West “because it was there,” says Jim Walker who, in partnership with Scott Drysdale, brought Neurotica to life. “The rent was good, and it was a good size for a new shop.”

Musically, Neurotica is across the board. “We have a lot of goth and industrial right now,” Jim explains. “But two days from now, everyone might come in selling their grunge collections.” This quick change of stock makes Neurotica a good place to check out often for deals; you never know what might pop up from day to day.

Full Circle Records
805 Queen Street West (416) 703-3934

Meet the new kid on the block. At just over two months old, Full Circle has already established itself as one of the best places for hard-to-find jazz, soul, and R&B music. The store itself has about an even split between CD and vinyl formats, and also sports a collection of vintage 78 and 80 rmp records.

Full Circle started out as a mail-order business, going retail once they found the perfect location. “We wanted to confine it to Queen Street,” says Joanne, Full Circle’s helpful proprietor. “We live in the area, and we like to support the small businesses in the area.”

If there’s something you’re looking for, chances are they can find it for you at Full Circle. On top of their knowledge of where to find rare jazz recordings, the store is plugged into the Internet, giving them access to a ream of databases to help them find that special something.

It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
Geffen/MCA

Enlisting the talents of vocalist Eric Dower, Guns ‘n’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, Mike Inez of Alice in Chains on bass and guitarist Gilby Clarke, legendary GnR guitarist Slash brings his brand of wailing down from the lofty heights of Guns ‘n’ Roses and a little more down to earth.

It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere features a more grass-roots, dirty sound than anything we’re used to hearing Slash perform on.  Feature tracks like “Beggars and Hangers On” and “Good to Be Alive” are prime examples of what can happen when legends of rock get together and jam. These songs showcase the talents of the entire band, infusing raw youthful energy into musicions that possess skills that few others can match.

With the emergence of Slash’s Snakepit and the band Mad Season, headed by Alice in Chains fronman Layne Staley, rumours began flying about the breakup of both Guns ‘n’ Roses and Alice in Chains.  Slash and Inez will confirm that these rumours are little more than unfounded media hype.  Both bands are still in existence, and the Snakepit is just a project to keep the boys busy while their respective bands await new releases.  Hopefully, however, this isn’t the last we’ll hear of Slash’s Snakepit.  This is a strong rock album that deserves a follow-up.

Teeth & Tissue
MCA

Hugh Dillon (vocals/guitar), Trent Carr (guitars/backing vocals), Dale Harrison (drums) and Tim White (bass) have returned in the follow-up to their 1993 album, Picture of Health. Teeth & Tissue is an eclectic mix of tunes with a passion that ties them all together. This album’s first single, “Undersound,” has a great rock groove. Bombastic guitar riffs and a hypnotic bassline will make this song a favourite at the live gigs; it’s impossible to listen to it and keep still. On Teeth & Tissue’s closest thing to a love ballad, “Burning,” Dillon sounds like Lou Reed transported to another time. If any song on this album is going to become a classic, “Burning” is the prime candidate.

If you think that straight-ahead rock has lost its heart, check out Teeth & Tissue. It is proof that, with the right bunch of guys playing together, rock n’ roll can be just as fresh and new as anything coming out of Seattle.