Sushi on Bloor Archives - Kreative Kontrol

Peter Demakos is the songwriter and spokesman for Blimp Rock Enterprises. Ostensibly a clever indie-rock band based in Toronto, Blimp Rock is also a business entity whose objective is to hold a music festival in a blimp over Lake Ontario. They talk about this in their music sometimes, which you can hear on their latest album Sophomore Slump or at live shows. Demakos and I recently met to chat at Sushi on Bloor in Toronto and I had my back up a bit because I was wary of getting one of Blimp Rock’s infamous sales pitches, as I’m not a fan of salesmen. But in the end, it was a truly enjoyable experience and led to a few exclusives on the show. Here, Peter and I talk about orienting ourselves to the new location for Sushi on Bloor, eating here once with David Heti, figuring out the menu and what we’re going to order, rock and rolls, dynamite rolls, salmon sushi pizza, the deep-fried life, tempura tofu, the song “Vampires” and health kicks, anxiety and diet, an olive-less Grecian, loving gluten, living in Toronto, life in Kitchener-Waterloo, Preston High School, a strange interruption with a massive Blimp Rock “investor” named Ramona, explaining the Blimp Rock dream, vintage office supplies and a long line of wood panelists, the sound of dreams alive, scoping out Ramona’s day to day activities, the handshake, one hundred shares of Blimp Rock enterprises, negative $2100, an oral Powerpoint presentation about Blimp Rock, the mysterious Owen Nowlan and planning a music festival in the sky, the blimp that shall not be named, ordering, anything is possible with profit, what, Lake Ontario, 3 T.E.P.F.F, marketing, not being Adele, the study of making graphs, vinyl records and demographic consumption patterns, the warmth of vinyl and the rolodex, inside the blimp, #RFE, fancy mixed drinks, the edge is on, safety permits, the Lake Ontario Iced Tea, Lake Ontario Lager or LOL, a real-time assessment of our food, Courtly Love, Hole, a food check-in, countdown to exclusive, Blimp Rock live, full mouths, economic analysis, the European tour and making euros, divvying up the remaining sushi, rating possible Blimp Rock slogans, the Toronto Blue Jays money-oriented controversy, Ramona leaves the building, a new Blimp Rock album and new songs, Stay Out of the Mall XIV, the song “Long Johns,” and then the cheque.

Related links: blimprockenterprises.com vishkhanna.com

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David Heti is a very funny comedian who once lived in Toronto and New York City and has just released his very first stand-up special, the intellectually stimulating and wickedly dark, It was ok, which is available now via davidheti.com. Last week David and I met for a chat at Sushi on Bloor in Toronto where we discussed the time he lived in Toronto and avoided sushi, whether he lives in New York, Ottawa, or Montreal, how to live and work, choosing an impassioned low-paying path even when you could’ve taken a well-paying, secure path instead, avoiding all animals, my definition of Passover, David becomes a religious guy here for a few minutes, how his family dynamic colours his impression of Passover festivities, the definition of It was okay, as it pertains to David’s new stand-up special, how he hyper-exaggerates his family life in his stand-up, my history of interviewing and eating with people and then sharing the results with the general public via podcasts, David calls me out on my rudeness/politeness only to have it all thrown back in his face, how David’s podcast I Have a Problem with David Heti works, how/when I eat and our work together on the fake talk show Long Night with Vish Khanna, David’s special someone, our food arrives and I snap a photo of David, how his mother processed his stand-up special, what we can actually learn about David from his comedy, how eating together tends to relax interview subjects, whether or not all of this ‘reality comedy’ by people like Louis CK and Marc Maron that people are raving about is really real or particularly better than someone like Jerry Seinfeld who “keeps his distance” in his act, the glory and recognition that comedians deserve, how David tends to antagonize or belittle his audience, how things get meta, how any buffoon can make someone laugh, the notion of shocking an audience with jokes, David’s history in stand-up and his artistic family and sister Sheila Heti, another pair of smart, comedic siblings I bring up for no apparent reason, David’s love for the work of Woody Allen but how most comedic enterprises fail to entertain him, the stuff he auditions for and whom or what he writes for, writing disposable topical jokes, late night talk shows, his future plans, which include teaching a comedy writing course at McGill and an eastern Canadian tour in support of It was okay, and then we paid the bill and wandered down a frigid Bloor Street during an hour-long blackout.

Related links: davidheti.com vishkhanna.com

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