Busker HoF 41 – Johnny Toronto Interview

Episode Notes:

Interview by: Derek Scott
Interviewee: Johnny Toronto
Original Recording Date: January 28, 2014
Date: Aired: July 1, 2014 (Canada Day)
Location: Johnny’s House in Toronto
Music:
1. Opening Music: “Look at Me” by .357 Lover.
2. Closing Music: “Thank You” from .357 Lover’s ‘Diorama of the Golden Lion’ recording.
Mixed and edited by: Magic Brian and David Aiken for The Busker Hall of Fame

Comments: Few performers can boast that they’ve been performing since the 1970s… In fact, very few performers who are out on the streets these days were likely even alive in the 70‘s likely because many have described the challenges of the street as a young man’s game. This is why a guy like Johnny Toronto has become a bit of a living treasure for the Busking World.

His journey from school-teach in Prince George, British Columbia, to Pioneer Street Performer on the street of Toronto required a very specific tenacity and was very much a trial by fire because at the time, there weren’t a lot of resources informing him of what his path should look like. He really did conjure street pitches out of nothing and became a Toronto Icon in the process.

This is a street theatre warrior of the pre-amp days and this kind of training laid the foundation for a career that has spanned more than three decades and all sorts of trials as the industry has morphed and changed over the years. In what’s become an extraordinarily disposable world, there no question that Johnny has beaten the odds and still knows how to make ‘em laugh.

From: The Chronicle~Herald, Volume 42, NO. 194 Date: Wednesday, August 15, 1990, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada