I'm in Toronto for a progressive house music festival. A guy named Jimmy struck up a conversation with me who'd emigrated to Toronto from the UK four months ago. We were talking about the various DJs we liked at the festival, and I mentioned I came here from Seattle because these world class DJs don't play in the US, because why would you. And he immediately said, "Right, with all the mass shootings. 224 in the US so far this year. You know how many in the UK? One. France? One. Canada? One. Why would you go to the US?" I didn't bother pulling out my phone to fact check him on the spot.

Later he offered me what I initially took to be a one hitter or a vaping device. But he showed me what it actually was: a small brass kaleidoscope hanging on a chain around his neck, with a very tiny aperture for viewing, which made the light show on stage into a luminous, sparkling tunnel. "With that and a couple hits of acid, I'm good all night," he said.

8/11/2019