In difficult times, lift up your voice and sing.

December 2, 2017 4:29 PM

Earlier this year, Toronto's drop in singing event Choir!Choir!Choir! invited LA-based singer MILCK to sing her women's protest anthem "Quiet" with a crowd of 1300 choir members; all proceeds went to the American Civil Liberties Association. Established by Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman in 2011, Choir!Choir!Choir! meets twice weekly at Clinton's Tavern to build community and give people a place to sing without judgment, with a side of social activism.

Crosby, Stills and Nash's Our House (dedicated to a displaced Iraqi family C!C!C! sponsored to come to Canada)
Pear Jam's Better Man (fundraiser for an anti-domestic violence documentary produced by Sarah Polley)
David Bowie's Space Oddity (tribute to Bowie with 500 singers at the Art Gallery of Ontario)
Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (tribute to Cohen with Rufus Wainwright and 1500 singers)
Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U
The Traveling Wilburys' Handle Me With Care
A-ha's Take On Me
Cyndi Lauper's True Colours
Tom Petty's Free Fallin'
Toto's Africa
Fleetwood Mac's Landslide
Jackson Browne/Nico's These Days

Every!Choir!Song! (full song list with locations)

The choir's 5th birthday celebration turns into a marriage proposal

2017's 25 Days of Charity!Charity!Charity!

Choir!Choir!Choir! previously on Metafilter

posted by hurdy gurdy girl (11 comments total)

When my friend and I went to Toronto in 2016, we made Choir!Choir!Choir! the centerpoint of our trip. (And we learned of it from Metafilter!) I think you can see my shoulder just beyond the tallest guy on the left side of the screen in the True Colors video. This was the best, most fun thing I have ever done on vacation. Everyone was delightfully kind, and greatly amused that I had come all the way from Tennessee for the experience. I heartily recommend it!

(But don't eat at the sushi restaurant right across the street from Clinton's.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:06 PM on December 2, 2017 [6 favorites]

Nope, actually, at 2:11, count four people backward from the woman in the front left of the screen in the orange top, holding the folded lyrics, and I'm the girl brushing her bangs to the side. And geez, hurdy gurdy girl, after everything in the news this week, you've given me the first smile in too many days. THANK YOU!
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 6:18 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I would def travel for that!
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 6:20 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

!!!! I am going to be in Toronto for a few nights in a couple of weeks! How do I participate? It says to sign up on their Facebook page but all I see are non-Toronto tour dates.
posted by invokeuse at 7:36 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Intense.
posted by greenhornet at 7:39 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Her video made me cry when it showed up on the blue after the Women's March.

This was like several of those all at once with an undercurrent of community and... Joy?

Thanks.
posted by abulafa at 9:15 PM on December 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Invokeuse, I've never been but maybe someone who has could direct you...but if not, I did find this contact page. Someone in that list (probably Jason Burns) is likely able to help you.

I would definitely like to do this next time I'm in Toronto!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:50 PM on December 2, 2017

...all proceeds went to the American Civil Liberties Association.

Union, not Association. Fondly referred to as the ACLU. We've lost enough unions already.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:16 AM on December 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

All you have to do is show up and pay the $5 cover.
posted by Evstar at 9:49 AM on December 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Ugh I have just realized my time in TO does not include a Tuesday or a Wednesday and so I can't even go.

One day....
posted by invokeuse at 5:14 PM on December 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Portland, OR has a version that started after David Bowie's death: OK Chorale. It too is $5 and a ton of fun.
posted by turbodog at 9:36 PM on December 4, 2017