The idea machine that never sleeps
Tyler Clark Burke gets the party started
BY Julia De Laurentiis Johnson
Photography by Catherine Farquharson
Fresh off the heels of her latest project, a city-wide scavenger hunt called Santa Cruz: Eagle Eyes that took place in October, Tyler Clark Burke is both exhausted and obsessively enthusiastic—such is the life of an idea machine.
Widely known in Toronto as The Party Girl for the starving-artsy crowd, Burke’s merrymaking credits include regular party nights Lang Thang, an old country and ’70s rock social, and Santa Cruz, a remarkably un-pathetic singles party that includes dance cards, name tags and mailboxes to facilitate hook-ups between shy hipsters.
“I come up with most of my ideas at 4 a.m. and I can’t sleep until I put them on my computer, out there in the world. If I wait until morning, I might chicken out,” says Burke, who, in her free time, is art director at Toronto alt-weekly Eye.
Among her alarming number of accomplishments, Burke founded Three Gut Records—home to indie favourites such as Jim Guthrie and the Constantines—and spent a part of the summer curating Shimera, a well-received solo art show. The Toronto Star has called her the bellwether of the Toronto indie cultural scene. She says that she forgets what sleeping is like.
“I know this sounds weird but I can’t really function unless I’m in a constant state of chaos. It works for me: There is no time for dress rehearsal, so I can’t lose my nerve.”
Behind her self-cut hair and massive blue-tinted glasses (“the man at Hakim Optical told me that if I wore glasses that ugly, no one would ever marry me”), Burke is scattered and charming and awkward. Her best friend, singer Leslie Feist, says, “She’s just like Richard the Lionheart. Only she’s Tyler the True.”
Having celebrity friends can come in handy. In an effort to raise a few extra bucks for a down payment on a house, Burke this summer launched The Few Bricks Short of a House Project (an artistic barn raising), where she asked friends, celebrity and non-celebrity alike, to contribute quirky items for a fundraising eBay auction.
Up for grabs was a thong from Peaches (worn of course), which eBay pulled for being in contravention of its no used undies rule, the chance to perform onstage with Feist, and a best two out of three Scrabble tournament with Burke herself (bought by a man in New Hampshire, planning to drive to Toronto for the occasion).
She was clear about where the money would go (40 percent to her, 40 to the artists, and 20 to Habitat for Humanity), but the project rubbed some in the blogosphere the wrong way. She was accused of abusing the charity auction format for her own gain, which took the wannabe homeowner by surprise, “I started the project as more of a ruse. I had no idea the reaction would be so strong.”
With the auction just over, Burke is reluctant to talk about the details, and is now trying to make sense of the other dozen ideas buzzing in her brain.
“I have trouble planning ahead, because I always do everything so last minute. But I do have more art shows coming up next year and plan to take Santa Cruz across the country. I’d also love to get into more film—it’s always been my dream.”
When asked what kind of film she’d like to do, her response could be her life motto: “Something with lots of colour and movement and ideally a cast of thousands.” No rest for the idea machine.
