2 pm: Public Enemy press conference. Chuck D held court on the border, the environment, Barack Obama, race in America, the music industry, and much more, while Flavor Flav emphasized Chuck's points, politely disagreed with him on going over to Iraq, and told (possibly apocryphal) stories about chilling with Miles Davis and being namechecked by Obama.
6 pm: Checked out some of Alexis Baro's set from the press room patio. Really groovy tunes anchored by basslines. Baro's a killing trumpeter living in Toronto and his chops were in full effect.
7 pm: Caught some of Mario Allard's set. I've heard their tunes on their MySpace and the band has gotten really tight over the past few months. Too bad the sound guy decided to drown them in reverb - it muddied up the counterpoint and made the solos sound like they were on a bad '90s record.
9 pm: Corkestra @ Monument-National. The subtle mix of free improvisation and three-reed solis reminiscent of eras past was a perfect fit for this small, intimate room.
10:30 pm: Marc Cary Trio @ Gésu. I really wanted to like this, having loved his solo show at Toronto Trane Studio, but I found it needlessly jumpy. Cary himself referred to a segment as the "CD changer." There were glimpses of a tight trio hookup, and drummer/tabla player Sameer Gupta was truly fantastic, but overall it was underwhelming.
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