CLIPS AND COMMENTARY FROM CANADA'S BEST KNOWN UNDISCOVERED OLD WHITE BLUESMAN

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

August Knight Elmo Art show


Toronto artist (visual and musical) August Knight invited the entire board of the Toronto Blues Society to a special event called Toronto Rocks at the legendary El Mocambo.  Nobody in my circle knew this guy, but a couple of us thought it's a great chance to check out that classy joint and maybe discover a new artist. We were told some blues artists would be performing, including Paul Reddick, but it was mostly a who's who of the Toronto indie music scene who came to play a tune while Knight's portraits of them was projected on the big screen (and on numerous big-screens scattered around the room. The artwork was amazing, woodcut prints that started as sketches (of 30+ local musos) which were digitized, enhanced and finally rendered in wood using a laser. Knight explains, “I met this woodworker in Hamilton, Wilma Nardone, who introduced me to the essence of wood. So, I could actually burn the energy of these artists into the wood itself. Then it was like, ‘Okay, now I’ve got something cool.’ So, the wood was really a big part of it.” It was a great event and well-attended, but I've got a feeling it was mostly a big guest list so he must have had some sponsorship or other funding. A dozen or so of the depicted artists showed up to play a song or two and I did a sweep of his "wall of fame" and captured some snippets of a few of them