Events: November 2008 Archives

HOLIDAYS: This year the Gardiner Museum chose the theme “Children of the World” for its Twelve Trees of Christmas exhibit, making today’s Family Day a true immersion in childhood fantasy. The twelve trees have been professionally decorated by top Toronto interior designers and are to be auctioned off after Dec. 12. Family Day activities include making cookie decorations and tree ornaments, a clay workshop, music, and refreshments. Gardiner Museum (111 Queen’s Park), 1–4 p.m., FREE with admission ($12). FILM: The First Weekend Club has set itself the challenging mandate......

MUSIC: Toronto music promoters The Garys closed out their 1978 stint at the Horseshoe Tavern with one final punk-rock blow-out called "The Last Pogo." Undercover police at the concert shut down the show when headlining act Teenage Head took the stage, allowing the band to play only one song. Their decision incited a furious audience to then rip the venue apart. The entire event was documented in the punk film classic The Last Pogo, a look at the Toronto punk scene from 1976 to 1978. The Last Pogo......

FILM: Spiritual dreams, full-blown hallucinations, and alpha-wave highs, all without drugs? Sign us up! Award-winning documentary FLicKeR tells the story of Canadian artist and visionary Brion Gysin's dream machine: a bright light placed inside a rotating cylinder that matches with the alpha waves in our brains (the results are pretty incredible). Check out the premier tonight, and please don't try to make your own machine—we don't want you locked up at home staring at a lightbulb shoved into a toilet paper roll. The Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), 9:15 p.m.,......

Today’s opening of the One of a Kind Show and Sale marks the unofficial kick-off of the holiday shopping season. We are officially in binge territory here: the exhibition hall takes ten minutes to walk from end to end and is stuffed to the rafters with every imaginable kind of artisan. It’s the ultimate in one-stop shopping for the indie set. As you’d expect, a wander through the stalls yields a mix of the fantastic and the just plain weird. The show is juried, which keeps the overall quality of the work......

Photo by Ivan Otis. While lots of people have attempted to characterize their frustration over our recent federal election, nobody sums things up quite as succinctly as singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman: "What a horrible waste of money on a poorly timed ego-wank." Though the Huntsville native has achieved international fame over his decade-long music career, Workman is Canadian through and through. And a concerned Canadian at that. Workman spent the days leading up to the election touring around Ontario universities, appearing on campus radio stations in an effort to get......

DISCUSSION: If anything is going to force you to stop triple-flushing (we know it's sometimes necessary) when you next use the washroom, it's tonight's talk inspired by Coach House Books' latest publication, HTO: Toronto's Water from Lake Iroquois to Lost Rivers to Low-flow Toilets. Join in the debate about Toronto's past, present, and future relationships with water, before we sell it all to evil corporations and then have to battle against pirate armies with strange half-dreaded hair and football shoulder pads who will roam our privatized lake system, pillaging private vessels as......

Currently wrapping up: day one of a fascinating two-day conference at City Hall on Web 2.0 and the internet’s potential to revolutionize civic engagement. The entire thing is being streamed, and anyone interested in the issues should really just start watching. The summit features a broad array of speakers and panellists, ranging from directors of various city departments to prominent web developers and activists to councillors and citizens relaying their day-to-day experiences to the city's existing sites and interfaces. The highlight of the summit thus far has been Mark Surman’s......

It's nearing the end of November. For Ryerson and U of T students, this means the dawning of final exams—a time when the only heavy drinking students engage in is downing rounds of extra-large double doubles, the only game of musical chairs is the one for the last vacant chair in the quiet section of the library, and a two-hour nap constitutes a good night's sleep. Well, not for York kids, who are still stuck wondering if the tuition they paid a few months ago was a lost gamble—but that's old news.......

BOOKS: Come see the magic that happens when books meet film at The Moving Stories Film Festival tonight, presented by Pages Books as part of their This is Not a Reading Series. Featuring shorts based on the stories of recently published books from around the world, the one-night festival aims to enhance the appreciation of both literature and cinema through the combination of the two (as is evident in cinema masterpieces such as Twilight). Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m., $5 (includes a free drink, woohoo!).......

ART: Art Metropole presents "Cash is King But Your Love Rules," an art auction designed to raise funds for a possible upcoming move. Both established and emerging artists have donated works available for bidding. There is a free daytime preview (12 p.m.–5 p.m.), then a ticketed reception with the artists at 7 p.m. The auction starts at 9 p.m. sharp. The adjacent MOCCA gallery will be open to auction guests for a special viewing of their exhibit "Art Metropole: The Top 100." Edward Day Gallery (952 Queen......

ENVIRONMENT: Change is in the air. Toronto Hydro is hosting a public meeting to discuss the testing stage [PDF] of its proposed Lake Ontario off-shore wind project. The Toronto Environmental Alliance is asking for a show of support at the meeting from Torontonians who want clean energy driving their laptops, Wiis, and future electric cars, as there is opposition to even this early research stage. Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute (145 Guildwood Parkway), 7 p.m., FREE. WORDS: Darkstar Fiction debuts as a new line of literary fiction designed......

SPORTS: Mud-slinging mayhem, wheel-style, happens at this weekend’s Ontario Provincial Cyclocross Championships. There’s a good informative video about cyclocross here. Thankfully, there is the option of beer and free coffee for bystanders and cowbell handlers. Note that the race course runs right through the beer tent. Fun times! Riverdale Park (east side), 10 a.m.–2 p.m., $25–$35 to enter, FREE to watch. COMEDY: John Dunsworth and Patrick Roach perform as their alter-egos from the well-loved Trailer Park Boys. Trailer Park Supervisor Mr. Lahey (Dunsworth) and his assistant......

ART: Pattie Boyd inspired both George Harrison and Eric Clapton to write their best-known songs while she was a part of their lives. She will be sharing a number of photographs taken during that London period at the exhibit "Through the Eye of a Muse." The exhibit (on until December 31) includes work that Boyd—now a member of the Royal Photographic Society—has done since that time. The Great Hall Gallery (1087 Queen Street West), 12–6 p.m., FREE. FUN: For their final outdoor event of this year,......

WINE: Prepare to enjoy fine wine, food, and persistent denial of the coming world economic collapse and food shortage as the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo opens today. Strap on your BlackBerry, put on your suit, and get drunk the luxurious way—by drinking tiny glasses of expensive wine as you pretend to be interested in a random brochure on stainless steel grape skin processing in Southern France. Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building (222 Bremner Boulevard), tonight from 2–10 p.m., Saturday from 12–10 p.m., Sunday from 12–6 p.m., $15. MUSIC:......

FUNDRAISER: Fight AIDS and the bare walls of your woefully under-furnished apartment all at once at the Cape Town Shakedown: Silent Auction and Fundraiser tonight. Proceeds from the sale of art produced by local talent will go to The Cape Town Children’s Scholarship Foundation and provide scholarships to youth in Khayelitsha Township (just outside of Capetown), South Africa. We're a media sponsor, and this is a really great cause, so we'll take it very personally, un-friend you from Facebook, and delete all your texts if you don't show up. Studio Gallery......

Torontoist got a sneak peak at the newly redeveloped Wychwood Barns earlier this week and our verdict can be pithily summarized as "yippee!" A veritable playground for the ecologically and socially conscious, the newest Artscape endeavour lives up to the hype and anticipation. The Barns project represents a new and particularly hopeful kind of urban redevelopment, and we can only hope to see many more such ventures breaking ground soon. ...

Like its name suggests, Atomic Vaudeville presents a style of performance designed to wake audiences up. Combining theatre, comedy, music, dance, and puppetry with a healthy dose of vulgarity, the Victoria-based troupe detonates in Toronto in a big way this month. Not only is their award-winning show Legoland playing at Theatre Passe Muraille from November 14 to December 6, but on Sunday, November 30, they are also mounting a local installment of their monthly Vaudeville Cabaret. In order to ensure that the cabaret has a truly Torontonian flair, Atomic Vaudeville is......

ART: Inject some colour into a drab November evening with a Toronto Public Space Committee Art Attack. Bring warm clothes and bright leaves and join in the creation of foliage-based installation art pieces, featuring wheat pasting and hanging leaf mobiles. In front of the University of Toronto Visual Studies building (1 Spadina Crescent), 7 p.m., FREE. FILM: Hot Docs' monthly Doc Soup features Margaret Brown's much-lauded examination of the racial tension underlying Mardi Gras festivities (yet another reason to feel bad for watching Girls Gone Wild). The......

Shove over, Bosh. There's a new game in town, and its million-dollar players, though rather shorter of limb, are limber enough when raising those little numbered cards (with much bigger numbers behind them, of course). Lately, though, wealthy, aging boomers are feeling a bit busted, and it's not just the old rheumatoid arthritis; the r-word, now murmured around the world, is said to be stiffening bidding joints in the til-now uber-competitive scene of—did you guess?—international art auctions. Tomorrow, the action's at home. Art season kicks off with a Heffel Fine Arts double-header:......

SPORTS: The Natrel rink is now open at Harbourfront, which has loads of SK8 Culture celebrations planned for the rink’s twenty-fifth anniversary. If you’re there early enough (before 6 p.m. today), check out the two hockey-themed exhibits (“Blue Blood” and “The Arena Project”) on at the York Quay galleries until January 4. Harbourfront (235 Queens Quay West), 10 a.m.–10 p.m., FREE. WORDS: On the heels of the recent debate spawned by Toronto Life's Aqsa Parvez article, Natasha Bakht moderates a panel discussion on the subject of Muslim......

ART: When artist Tennille Will was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, she was not far from falling into the coma that would have led to her death. She credits the Diabetes Education Centre at Toronto Western Hospital with saving her life—she now knows how to control her diet and treat herself with insulin injections. Will has been raising money on behalf of the Centre through her series of Sugar Free Paintings, on exhibit this month at Shopgirls (1342 Queen Street West). She has also written a book, Sugar......

PARADE: Kids-at-heart, and those with kids, will be flocking street-side along the subway route between Christie and King stations (Bloor Street, University Avenue, Queen Street, Yonge Street, and Front Street) to watch an old guy in a red suit wave at us from a plastic float. The rest of us will want to pay attention to the route and avoid it at all costs. Corner of Bloor and Christie Streets, 12:30 p.m., FREE. LOVE: Immediately following the Santa Claus Parade, a satellite version of the UK group Karmageddon invites......

ART: It’s a big weekend for showcases of Canadian art. After a peek at the new Gehry-fied AGO, head over to MOCCA for the opening reception of "Carte Blanche." The exhibition is the accompaniment to a new reference book Carte Blanche, Vol. 2: Painting. The book showcases the work of 192 contemporary Canadian painters. Thirty of these (ten from each career stage—emerging, mid-level, and established) are showing at the companion gallery exhibit. Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (952 Queen Street West), 8 p.m., FREE. MUSIC: The Toronto......

ART: Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, but nine (phew!) visual art exhibitions open today at the Harbourfront Centre. Featuring pieces ranging from a diseased baby vulture to an upside-down Christmas tree, there's sure to be something for everyone in your twisted, post-modern family. Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), opening tonight from 6–10 p.m., runs until January 4, 2009, FREE. MUSIC: Milwaukee electro-dance dudes French Horn Rebellion are ready to make you dance tonight. The Whippersnapper......

THEATRE: Halloween may be over, but opportunities to get scared pantless remain. Check out The Paranormal Show at Toronto's oldest home, the Campbell House. Featuring an assortment of metaphysical tricks, including—but not limited to—hypnotism, psychokinesis, and a full séance, this show may be able to outdo that weird party on the third floor of Wicked we went to on Saturday. Campbell House Museum (160 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., November 13–15, 20–22, 28–29, $40. MUSIC: British jazzy hip-hop crew The Herbaliser (we love their bad ass......

MUSIC: Ah, Girl Talk. Who doesn't enjoy spending a slumber party with friends and spinning the wheel to end up doing kooky dares and talking about sexy crushes? Oh yeah, and there's this guy by the same name who does somewhat controversial mixes of Sinéad O'Connor with T.I. and Lil Wayne, getting audiences so sweaty they're literally sliding off each other an their attempts to do something that ends up only barely resembling dancing. Mash-up maniac Girl Talk is celebrating his newest release, Feed the......

WORDS: This Is Not a Reading Series presents a discussion between a pair of authors whose new releases deal with two of the conundrums of modern global living. John Lorinc’s Cities: A Groundwork Guide looks at the growing urbanization of the world’s population, and Wayne Roberts’s The No Nonsense Guide to World Food examines the increasing scarcity of real food. The discussion is moderated by Amy Lavendar Harris. Gladstone Hotel, 2nd Floor Gallery (1214 Queen Street West), 7:30 p.m., $5 (book rebate). WORDS: From a......

MEETING: The Toronto Public Space Committee holds its general meeting tonight to share information about the status of current campaigns for improving public spaces in Toronto. There will be cookies and treats served at the meeting. The second part of the evening moves the session to the local pub for an informal brainstorming social. Metro Hall (55 John Street, Room 303), 6:30 p.m., FREE. MUSIC: Eugene Chadbourne, unconventional guitarist and influential noisemaker, is in town for two performances this week. He will be playing with a full band......

WORDS: This Is Not A Reading Series launches Coach House Books' new water culture-infused anthology HTO: Toronto’s Water from Lake Iroquois to Lost Rivers to Low-Flow Toilets with a panel discussion featuring anthology contributors, followed by a choice of a walking tour of Fort York or refreshments and informal conversation with the panelists. Spacing’s Matt Blackett moderates the discussion, and contributing essayist David Robertson gives the tour afterwards. The Blue Barracks, Fort York (100 Garrison Road), 2–6 p.m., $5. (Free with book purchase.) MUSIC: Vinyl aficionados might......

ART: In tandem with A City Renewal Project—an incredible installation by Fauxreel and Specter at 39 Lisgar Street (on until November 23)—Red Bull 381 Projects has organized a talk with Marc and Sara Schiller, the New York innovators behind Wooster Collective. Wooster Collective is a celebration and exploration of street art and the people who make it. Red Bull 381 Projects Gallery (381 Queen Street West, suite 200), 7–10 p.m., FREE. MUSIC: Matt and Kim may possibly be the cutest musical couple ever to......

The Comedy Bar at Bloor and Ossington is finally having its grand opening this weekend. Even though it's been up and running for about five months, owners Gary Rideout Jr. and James Elksnitis think the venue is now completed at last, and ready to be promoted as such. Torontoist has been there on a handful of occasions over the past few months, and one of the interesting things about these visits—aside from the comedy—was seeing it progress through its renovation and development. We have never exclaimed "hey! They have a ceiling......

Just off West Queen West, around the corner from 48 Abell and the Drake Hotel, on the wall of a long blue warehouse complex that is supposed to come down shortly to make room for a condo, stands Mr. Loogie. It's a façade in more ways than one. A constructed storefront for a constructed store, you walk in through its front door and find yourself in the workspace of an artist, with wood and construction materials—along with Bell telephones—everywhere. As you exit through what would be the back of the small store, you......

LECTURE: Still have celebratory (or sorrowful) election bubbly coursing through your veins? President of the White House News Photographers Association Dennis Brack will discuss his experiences as a political photographer, having snapped every president since Lyndon B. Johnson to the present day. He's also had a photo in every issue of Time Magazine for the past twenty-two years straight, so go stuff that in your pipe and smoke it, Flickr. Check him out at the thirty-third annual Ryerson Kodak Lecture Series, tonight. Ted Rogers School of Management (575 Bay......

ART: Take a trip to another world, experience its history, and be back in time for last call. Artist Andrew Wilson's first solo exhibition, "A World's History," features sketches and paintings of imagined landscapes. Think of it as Richard Scarry's "Busy Busy World" meets David Cronenberg, on magic mushrooms. Magic Pony (649 Queen Street West), 7–10 p.m., FREE, exhibition runs until November 30. COMEDY: Feel like watching four guys on a couch over the internet (no, we're not talking about RedTube)? Today, four comedians will be unable to sleep......

MUSIC: Get ready for bright lights and throbbing bass in the library(?) today as the "The Amazing Technicolour Rock Show," hosted by Toronto punk-house band Kids on TV, hits the stacks. The workshop will show youth how to integrate multimedia and storytelling into their music performances, as part of the Toronto Public Library's "Make Some Noise, Take Some Noise" campaign. Northern District Branch of the Toronto Public Library (40 Orchard View Boulevard), 7 p.m., FREE. ART: If your date is a little too old to take to the......

PARTIES: All eyes are on our neighbo(u)rs to the south tonight as the final showdown between red and blue brings an end to the comedic goldmine that the election campaign has been. The lovely urban-thought brewers that are Spacing Magazine are optimistically inviting Obama-supporting Torontonians to gather in Dundas Square to “Welcome Back America” once the election has been called. Dundas Square (South-east corner of Dundas and Yonge Streets), at election call, FREE. PARTIES: NOW Magazine presents live coverage of the entire event on the......

SCULPTURE: Almost two hundred years ago, American ships sailed into the Toronto harbour at Fort York and released an army of soldiers who then set fire to the city. A battle ensued and by the time the War of 1812 had ended, Canada had the confidence to develop as a nation and the Americans found themselves rebuilding their White House. Douglas Coupland—writer, artist, and lover of all things Canadian—commemorates the event with his new sculpture Memorial to the War of 1812, to be unveiled today near the site of Fort......

FESTIVALS: The Gardiner Museum has extended its hours this weekend in honour of the Mexican Day of the Dead festival in conjunction with the current exhibit (on until January 18). Hand-crafted Day of the Dead Altars have been built at the Gardiner to commemorate the festival. View the altars and take part in other activities today including hands-on craft workshops for families (2 p.m.); Mexican dancing (3 p.m.); a conversation between author Chloe Sayer and textile artists Crispina and Margarita Navarro Gomez, the sisters who built the altars (4......