Events: January 2009 Archives

Photo from Tynan Studio. Fact: All kids like playgrounds. Also a fact: Though it may seem to take forever, kids grow up. In just a few short years, innocent days of monkey bars and spiral slides turn into nights of double vodka-sodas and cocaine. Enter CiRCA―a virtual jungle gym for adults. So what happens if you put the real kids in the adult playground? Take a second to imagine―hundreds of unaffected kids partying in a playground stimulating enough......

Photo courtesy of the Soft City Collective. WORKSHOPS: Of the many exciting WinterCity events happening today, this one stood out in particular. The Soft City, a Toronto collective who have created a miniature model of Toronto made from felt, fabric, and stuffing, will be displaying their architectural masterpiece in the Toronto City Hall first floor rotunda for the next two weekends. Kids are welcome to come out to one of their afternoon workshops to make creations......

Photo by Gabe Toth. It must be pretty good being Fly. While a downturn in the economy may mean other Toronto establishments are shuttering, attendance has been climbing for the club, which celebrates its tenth anniversary Saturday. In hard times, notes General Manager Gaelen Patrick, people need some fun. "It's escapism," he says. In fact, the venue has a blow-out event planned for its decade in business: Brazilian DJ Ana Paula is being brought in and will......

Photo courtesy of View Askew Productions. Chances are, if you're a Kevin Smith fan, you've already heard about this one via your Jay and Silent Bob secret decoder ring. But for everyone else, say what you will about his movies, Smith is still Storytelling Champion of the World (or at least of the DGA) when it comes to riffing with a live audience. That’s why the Bloor Cinema is brilliant for cashing in on his insanely well-received Evening With......

Photo by Bert Holtmann courtesy of WinterCity Festival 2009. WINTERCITY: Toronto’s big oh-god-why-can’t-it-be-April-already WinterCity Festival starts today (on until February 12), and includes the return of a Dutch street theatre troupe. The city has left Alice down the rabbit hole this year and instead brings us the North American premiere of Pi-Leau as performed by Close-Act. The tale of forbidden love set against a backdrop of environmental destruction is guaranteed to drive away the February blues. Check......

Boot and Red Heel by Noelle Elia courtesy of Elliott Contemporary. ART: We advise a little self-conducted tour in the west end to cover four art openings in relative proximity. Start on Liberty Street with Elliott Contemporary, where four photographic artists—Noelle Elia, Christopher Hayes, Stephen Ibbott, and Pearl Van Geest—who each work in very different ways come together to express the nature of sexual relationships. "Subtexts" is the gallery's first exhibit of 2009.......

Each week, Drama Club looks at Toronto's theatre scene and tells you which shows are worth checking out. The Fringe Lottery Party at The Tranzac: the Toronto theatre community's most anxious evening. Photo by Jona Stuart. It's a cold Tuesday night, and most folks could be forgiven for deciding to stay inside and catch up on their Battlestar. But the main hall at the Tranzac is absolutely packed. It isn't very long until chairs run out, and the......

Photo courtesy of Gallery 1313. ART: Tonight at Gallery 1313, fourteen designers' and artists' work will hit the runway in a fundraiser for the artist-run gallery. The show will also feature artist-designed t-shirts by talented Canadian artists like Michael DeForge and Daniel Erban. Funds raised will go towards ensuring Gallery 1313's ongoing programming and operations, since it's a not-for-profit organization. Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West), 8–10 p.m., $15. FILM: Tracey Fragments director

Photo by Hamutal Dotan/Torontoist. David Miller is breaking the hearts of Toronto’s progressives. He genuinely appears to care as they do and to want what they do, yet at every turn he seems to let the measures they hope for slip between his fingers. This frustration was evident last night as Miller drew lukewarm reactions from a thousand person–strong crowd at Convocation Hall, there to attend a public lecture on the state of progressive urban politics. “Cities of......

Image from Flipping Out courtesy of the National Film Board. FILM: The three-year compulsory service in the army for all Israeli citizens needs to be part of any dialogue about the war in Gaza—as it was recently in the exceptional film Waltz With Bashir. Flipping Out is a documentary film that follows the story of thousands of young discharged Israeli soldiers and their drug-induced break-downs in India. After the recent flattening of civilian targets in Gaza,......

Photo of the Sony Center in Berlin by Solar ikon. PANEL: "Cities of Tomorrow: Is Progressive Politics Alive?" is a fascinating panel discussion taking place between the current mayors of Toronto (David Miller) and Cambridge, Massachusetts (Denise Simmons), and former mayor of London, England (Ken Livingstone). The conversation will be moderated by former—and probably our cutest ever—mayor of Toronto, David Crombie. Convocation Hall, University of Toronto (31 King's College Circle), 7:30 p.m., FREE.......

Photo by purplepick from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. PLAY: Nothing says "winter fun" like the rush of toboggans against the night-time backdrop of the city skyline. Neige Blanche (see the Facebook event here) is an open-invitational toboggan affair, underway this evening in Riverdale Park. Bring your own sled (or other method of snow transportation), a thermos of hot chocolaty goodness, and—if so inclined—portable music. Riverdale Park, 9 p.m., FREE. WORDS: Michele Landsberg......

Photos of Meaghan deWarrenne-Waller and Elmer Olsen courtesy of CTV. Yesterday, sleepy Fairview Mall was transformed into the site of the Canada's Next Top Model casting (and to answer your first question, no, Jay Manuel wasn't there). Hundreds of high-heeled and short-skirted girls (allegedly) aged eighteen to twenty-three nervously awaited their fate before a crush of onlookers and several skeevy guys vying for......

Photo by 2493™ KIDS: Script Superheroes, a six-week writing workshop for seven- to ten-year-olds, starts today at the Comedy Bar. The afternoon workshops will teach your child how to write a powerful script, and how to impress an audience. At the end of the program, professional actors will step in to present a live reading of all the kids' plays. Script Superheroes is taught by character comedian Kristen McGregor and artist/writer/former Torontoist editor Alison Broverman. The Comedy......

Photo by Hamutal Dotan/Torontoist. Mark Bittman, a.k.a. The Minimalist, has built a career out of making home-cooking an accessible, manageable, enjoyable activity for those who feel too harried or busy to spend much time in the kitchen. It’s a noble project, one for which he has been winning widespread recognition. Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (just re-released in a tenth anniversary edition) is often described as The Joy of Cooking for a new generation: a single, comprehensive volume......

Photo of Girl in the Wooden Frock by Andrea Ling courtesy of Harbourfront Centre. ART: Harbourfront Centre unveils nine new winter art exhibits at a public reception tonight. “Fashion No-no” has artists designing clothes (Andrea Ling’s award-winning Architectural Master’s thesis is pictured above) and clothing designers making art. Curator Paola Poletto and solo exhibitionist Felieke van der Leest (of “It’s a Beastly World After All”) both lecture tomorrow (January 24, 1 p.m., FREE) as part of......

Photo by M.V. Jantzen from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Good news from the lovely, no-longer-precarious Theatre Passe Muraille. They—unlike a government or bank near you—have a surplus. It isn’t much (just under forty thousand dollars for the 2007/2008 fiscal year), but given that the theatre seemed in serious financial trouble when the city purchased their building only a year and a half ago, this is a heartening turning-of-the-corner. Against the backdrop of a precarious economy and......

Photo by Miriam Van Nest from "Im/AGE: From 'Bust' to "Boom' to 'Zoom,'" courtesy of ZoomerMedia. ART: Torontonian innovator Moses Znaimer is curating a new exhibit, "Im/AGE: From 'Bust' to 'Boom' to 'Zoom,'" launching today at the Propeller Centre For The Visual Arts. The exhibit is inspired by Znaimer's New Vision Of Aging for Canada. It aims to idealize his theory of the "zoomer," which is not actually slang for magic mushrooms, but rather a term......

Photo of Dave Meslin (Yvonne Bambrick and Craig Barnes in the background) by Vic Gedris/I Bike T.O. Things of which we are fans: cycling advocacy, dancehall-laced DJ sets, jokes about benzodiazepine, tipsy city councillors. Last night we were lucky to find all of these in the very same room, at the first annual Toronto Bike Awards, hosted by the Toronto Cyclists Union. The Gladstone Hotel’s ballroom was standing-room only, packed with die-hard cyclists and the people who......

Each week, we take a look at Toronto's theatre scene and tell you which shows are worth checking out. Soulpepper's home: The Young Centre in the Distillery District. Photo by Scott Norsworthy from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. Despite the fact the our fair city is still blanketed in snow that shows no sign of clearing anytime soon, the theatre, bravely, has already started to come out of hibernation. Actors, technicians, and drag queens have all been hard at work......

Photo by wv from the Torontoist Flickr pool. Two months from today will mark the calendar end of this cold, scientifically sad season. Two more months of the cold, the wet, the layers upon layers, and too-closely sharing snow-filled sidewalks with your fellow pedestrians. Chances are the very thought of this may already have you waiting it out, brooding, and creating some winter-inspired pieces of art inside your cozy abode, but the Whippersnapper Gallery would like......

Photo by Lydia MacIntosh and Jenny Chisolm courtesy of Hart House Theatre. THEATRE: Week two of Jerry Springer: The Opera (the inevitable follow-up to Reefer Madness: The Musical) starts tonight, with a special midnight performance this Saturday (January 24). With character names like “God” and “Peaches,” the musical is designed to both entertain and offend. Cheers to Hart House Theatre for bringing the London west-end hit to Toronto. The play runs until January 31. Hart House......

Photo by ║adam║ from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. AWARDS: The Toronto Cyclists Union is teaming up with the City of Toronto to host the inaugural Toronto Bike Awards as part of the Bike Winter program. The city continues giving its Bicycle Friendly Business Awards to the most cycling-friendly businesses, and the Toronto Cyclists Union will be giving out their first “Golden Spoke” awards. Other activities for the evening include a winter-layering strip-tease skit, a......

Photo by dantekgeek. According to our highly unscientific, entirely unreliable survey, about 87% of us would have voted for Obama given the chance. In fact, we love him so much that we've taking to dancing in the streets. Even our animals are getting in on the action. January 20 is inauguration day; to accompany this epic moment is an epic amount of coverage and an epic round of parties. Share the joy, the happy tears, the......

Photo from Bill Ayers's Wikipedia page. Bill Ayers, an expert in urban education based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was turned away at the border last night, barred from entering Canada to give a lecture this evening. Ayers was invited by the Centre for Urban Schooling (CUS) at OISE to speak on teacher activism and was slated to deliver his talk at the Isabel Bader Theatre in front of an audience of about five hundred.......

Photo by Яick Harris. It's happening. The Toronto Maple Leafs are actually tanking. Make no mistake: this is not the borderline-acceptable, just-bad-enough-to-miss-the-playoffs style of losing that characterized recent Leaf campaigns (and that, in 2006/07, would've yielded a postseason berth had the New Jersey Devils won a shootout). No, what's happening this year is different: after briefly dabbling with the lower echelons of the NHL's playoff standings, the Leafs are turning into the team we thought they'd be this year. In other words, they're lousy—and......

Bingo: The Show! photo courtesy of Megan Fraser. COMEDY: Megan Fraser’s alter ego, Dot Winters, has just lost her husband in a church fire and has organized a charity bingo game to raise money for a church rebuild. Megan (sorry—"Dot") promises “dynamic character comedians, actual bingo, prizes of mystery, free bingo dabbers to borrow, and the possibility of baked goods.” Bingo: The Show! is interactive comedy like you’ve never experienced—and really, what an opportunity to enjoy bingo......

Photo of "24/7 Dresser" from Double Double Land Land courtesy of Gallery TPW. EXHIBITION: Experimental comedy performer Jon McCurley presents his new work Double Double Land Land, a co-production of the Theatre Centre and Gallery TPW (on until February 14). The exhibition is an extension of a previous one-night performance that now moves beyond traditional theatre into installation and collaborative design. Saturdays include a performance "demonstration." The Theatre Centre (1087 Queen Street West),......

Photo of Terror Lake by Phoebe Lo courtesy of Ruckus Magazine. PARTY: Ruckus Magazine invites us to re-experience 2008’s favourite student artist performances as a way of introducing the coming year of regular Ruckus events. There will be readings from Erich Boshart, Jimmy McInnis, and Zoe Alexis-Abrams, and performances from Mina May, Jasmyn Burke, Guy Doucette, Terror Lake, and Barn Owl. Famous Ruckus Magazine lemon squares will also be served. CineCycle (129......

Photo by Marc Lostracco from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. ART: A new exhibit called "Strip Mining for Creative Cities" at the Toronto Free Gallery examines the tendencies of gentrification to strip a thriving neighbourhood of its means by white-washing existing community infrastructure with consumer architecture. The exhibit is a collaboration between artists, students, architects, and urban geographers. The opening reception is tonight, followed by a party with DJs Dorian and Dorian. Toronto Free Gallery (1277......

Each week, we take a look at what's going on in Toronto's theatre scene and tell you which shows we think are worth checking out. Erin Brandenburg gets intimate in Reesor at the Next Stage Theatre Festival. Photo by Ed Gass Donnelly. There's a somewhat unusual sight to be seen right now at the corner of Bathurst and Adelaide. Plopped down in the middle of Factory Theatre's recently renovated courtyard is a big white tent, looking for all the world like an......

Photo by Zach Slootsky. ART: Steam Whistle Brewing is exhibiting the work of photographers who have shot performances at the brewery's Steam Whistle Unsigned concert series. The show is on until January 30, and exhibited prints will be available for purchase. Venessa Fischer DJs the opening party tonight. Steam Whistle Brewing (255 Bremner Boulevard), 6–11 p.m., RSVP to rsvp@steamwhistle.ca MUSIC: Sound-makers Huckleberry Friends and Tropics are playing together tonight to raise funds for their......

Photo by Plutor. WORDS: Toronto writers take it to Shakespeare tonight at This Is Not a Reading Series. Steven Beattie—editor at Quill and Quire and blog-writer of That Shakespeherian Rag—speaks to Priscilla Uppal about her new novel, To Whom It May Concern, and her use of King Lear as its starting point. Sri Lankan–born Toronto novelist Shyam Selvadurai and actor/playwright Linda Griffiths join in the discussion by addressing the question of the......

Photo by arcticlamb from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. DESIGN: The winners of Spacing’s urban design competition thinkTORONTO will be on display at the City Hall Rotunda all this week, starting today. The design competition was limited to those under the age of thirty-six, and received over a hundred well-qualified entries. The City Hall exhibit displays the full range of entry artwork from the winners, expanding on the coverage in the current issue of Spacing. Look for a......

THEATRE: We would be remiss if we did not mention the Fringe's Next Stage Theatre Festival, as previewed in this past week's inaugural Drama Club. The festival is a showcase of the eight top Fringe companies, with performances every night until January 18. The Fringe is also offering an evening double-bill of only $25 at the door ($5 off). On stage tonight are Take It Back and The Rake’s Progress: Do You Know Where Tom Rakewell Is? at the Factory Theatre......

IMPROV: Improv Everywhere and Improv in Toronto invite everyone to take their pants off on the subway, so long as they can keep a straight face about it. The rules for this year's No Pants Subway Ride mission are pretty specific, so have a look at the Facebook event. It's too bad the event takes place during one of the coldest stretches we’ve had so far this year; on the other hand, the cold may inspire the most determined partici(no)pants. Queen’s Park, at......

If you’re bored and looking for people with even less to do than you, Yorkdale Mall is currently host to the most soul-sucking ongoing contest ever. As a gimmick to promote the new season of 24, Virgin Radio and Global have chosen a group of nine people for the 24/7 Ultimate Fan Marathon. Their goal is to consecutively watch every single episode of all six previous seasons of the show in an attempt to break the World Record for Continuous TV Watching. And possibly win $24,000 (see what......

It’s not every day that you get to fondle Jeremy Irons’s signed shoe. Or sniff one of the sneakers that Michael Cera wore when he recorded some of the songs for Juno. But Thursday was Torontoist’s lucky day, and we got to gawk at the footwear of the rich and Torontofamous. Yeah, yeah, we know: how trifling can one assignment get? Well, rest assured, concerned readers: our......

ART: Xpace, an artist-run gallery, launches its 2009 season with “Mis[place]d: Animals Lost and Found.” The exhibition, curated by Elizabeth Underhill, features new and recent work from sixteen different local artists and examines our relationships with our furry friends (on until January 31). The opening reception happens tonight, with an artist talk scheduled for January 21. Xpace (58 Ossington Avenue), 7–10 p.m., FREE. THEATRE: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre aims to warm your cockles with Andrew Harwood’s Revue of Talent......

Riding the rocket is a routine event for most of us, a mundane part of our daily schedules that doesn't get a whole lot of attention. But at least for the next month, some imaginative physicists want to take the edge off our collective tedium and sprinkle a bit of cosmic wonder through our otherwise boring......

FUNDRAISER: Ron White, a major Canadian shoe retailer, has donated over sixteen thousand pairs of shoes to needy Torontonians since starting his annual Shoe Drive thirteen years ago. This year's charity drive launches at White’s flagship store this afternoon with support from Jeremy Irons, among others, and photo opportunities for the public. All six Ron White stores in Toronto will be accepting shoe donations—gently-worn as opposed to well-used—to be cleaned up and passed on to those who need them. Ron White, Manulife Centre (

Drama Club is a new feature on Torontoist. Each week, we'll take a look at what's going on in Toronto's theatre scene and try to figure out which shows are worth checking out. Lots of theatres are known for staying dark in January; actors and lighting designers alike spend the month hibernating, nursing New Year's hangovers, and brushing up on their Brecht. We kid! Even when the venue's doors are shut, the city's theatre professionals are all just as hard at work as everybody else.......

ART: Painter Martha Eleen has found inspiration in the fields of hydro monstrosities and big box stores that blanket the outskirts of the GTA. Her new exhibit “High Tech Towers” opens at the Cameron House tonight. While checking out her new pieces, listen to The Innards Brothers—one half of the Backstabbers Country Stringband—play their regular Wednesday after-work set. Cameron House (408 Queen Street West), 6–9 p.m., FREE. MUSIC: Roots band The Sure Things play a regular Wednesday gig every......

MUSIC: Tuesdays are instrumental surf nights at Mitzi’s Sister—no doubt due to the booking inclinations of Dodge Fiasco drummer Sean Dignan. This week the crazy carnival of sound Camp Combo plays, with Great Bob Scott on drums, Rachel Melas on bass, Nichol Robertson on guitar, and Fred Spek leading on sax and vocals. Mitzi’s Sister (1554 Queen Street West), 10 p.m., pay-what-you-can. PHOTOGRAPHY: Doom and gloom predictors warn us that we are in for economic woes similar to the......

MUSIC: The John Borra and Sam Ferrara–driven five-piece band Rattlesnake Choir play every Monday at the Dakota Tavern. Take a look at Exclaim!'s review of the band's recent live album release here. Dakota Tavern (249 Ossington Avenue), 10 p.m., FREE. WORDS: Gestation Series—a monthly play reading at the Cameron House—has turned a new leaf for 2009: the series now includes poetry and fiction. This week’s writers are Stacey Bowman, Megan Lambe, Elisabeth de Mariafi, Melanie Mah, and Tanis Rideout.......

ART: Today is the last opportunity to see the work at “Hard Twist,” the Gladstone Hotel’s annual juried textile exhibit. “Twist” is the theme that binds this year’s show together, and featured artists cover ideas from sharks to Canada’s first official hangman. Gladstone Hotel, 3rd and 4th floor (1214 Queen Street West), 12–5 p.m., FREE. DESIGN: The Danforth East Community Association launches its first store makeover today. The makeover event is a community-based initiative to improve the look of commercial properties......

PARTY: An entire genre of photography has emerged from the practise of taking the best party photos possible and posting them on the internet, and one of the most successful practitioners is lastnightsparty. The site is hosting its own party tonight, with help from friends at Dopplehertz. Last Night’s Party 2 follows the success of First Date in November. DJs for the night are Le Pants Optional, Cubscout (Johnny OC), and Matt Sims. The camera-shy should probably avoid this one.......

ART: There is only one month left of the "Battleground: War Rugs from Afghanistan" exhibit at the Textile Museum of Canada. The rugs express the frightening impact of war and invasion on Afghani culture: traditional woven images of flowers and birds have been replaced by images of guns, bombers, and brutality. There is a concurrent exhibit of the journal drawings of artist Richard Johnson, who last summer visited Canadian troops stationed at Kandahar. Textile Museum of Canada (55 Centre Avenue), 11 a.m.–5......