Second coming of Wavelength set to save Sunday nights

Almost two years ago, Toronto's music community shed a collective tear when Wavelength held its final weekly concert at the Garrison. Launched in 1999, the series had held five hundred weekly concerts. And while Wavelength has gone on to bigger and better things as an annual festival, a void has remained in this city's Sunday night music schedule. Thankfully that's about to change. In a story first picked up by the Grid's Stuart Berman, a new weekly series is set to launch this February.

In a press release posted over on his semi-personal blog, Duncan Macdonnell — known to most of Toronto's music lovers as Doc Pickles — has announced the launch of the Crosswires music series. Macdonnell was one of three co-founders that helped launch Wavelength, so it makes sense that he's once again looking to liven up Sunday nights in Toronto.

The series will launch on February 26 at the Garrison — one week after the completion of Wavelength 12. The inaugural concert will feature Brent Randall, who is the frontman of a group called the Pinecones, the Tres Bien Ensemble, a sort-of-supergroup made up of members from bands Wayne Omaha and Oxford County, both of which were frequent contributors to the Wavelength series when it was held at Ted's Wrecking Yard. Mcdonnell states that there's also a special guest that he's waiting to announce when the date of the (re)launch nears.

As for why he's launching the new series, Macdonnell explains that "we're living in a climate that is eerily similar to the days of Mayor Mel and Priemer Mike, when our elites met the creativity of the community with an incredulous mix of hostility and apathy... I believe PWYC is an ethic." As was the case with Wavelength when it initially launched, the series will try to be as accessible as possible.

As for the future of the series, a lot of the details are understandably still up in the air. Macdonnell does, however, note that after the first night, "bands will play the following Sunday, and the Sunday after that. Some of them will be great, some of them not so much, all of them will love to play, and I hope you'll love to listen, and to eventually, ultimately, participate." With some luck, the series might just make Sundays cool again.

Photo by Christine Lyons from the blogTO Flickr Pool