According to CBC’s Chris Boyce, the goal of this weekend’s CBCMusic.ca Festival is twofold. First and foremost, the CBC wants to celebrate Canadian music. Second, it wants to celebrate CBC Music, the broadcaster’s online music service, which launched a little over a year ago.

In 1996, Theatre Columbus premiered playwright Michael O’Brien’s “freely adapted” take on the famous Beaumarchais play The Barber of Seville, which was written in 1775. O’Brien’s version mixed in music from the 1816 opera of the same name by Gioachino Rossini, as well as original tunes by composer John Millard. The adaptation also propelled the story forward a couple centuries, with pop culture references galore. With Theatre Columbus co-founder Leah Cherniak at the helm, the musical ended the season with six Dora Award nominations (it won three) and plenty of critical acclaim.

Seventeen years later, Soulpepper Theatre is remounting this zany reimagination of The Barber of Seville, updated once again by O’Brien, Millard, and Cherniak. But, for some reason—the change in decade, or company, or sense of humour—whatever had made the original so magical, has faded, save for a few key performances.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

Cheri DiNovo, NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, had a very successful 2012, especially considering that the same couldn’t really be said for Ontario politics as a whole.

In June, history was made in Ontario when the words “gender identity” and “gender expression” were added to the Ontario Human Rights Code, adding protections for transgender Ontarians. The law, known as Toby’s Law for late musician Toby Dancer, was championed by bill sponsor DiNovo. Ontario is so far the only province to enshrine protection for trans people (the City of Toronto and the Northwest Territories are the only other Canadian jurisdictions to provide similar protections).

DiNovo, of course, did not do this single-handedly: the law comes after years of lobbying and hard work by the trans community. Within the legislature DiNovo worked with co-sponsors Christine Elliott (PC, Whitby-Oshawa) and Yasir Naqvi (Liberal, Ottawa Centre) to get the bill passed. Among public officials though, DiNovo deserves special recognition. She had tabled the bill four times in the past six years, not having enough support to pass it the previous times, but persisting until it finally became law.

DiNovo’s latest bill, Bill 129, addressed the long delays workers face in receiving benefits when they miss time due to job-related post-traumatic stress disorder. The bill was her third try at getting one supporting workers with PTSD passed, but it died on the order paper when Premier Dalton McGuinty prorogued the legislature in October. It seems fair to assume that when the Ontario government is running again, DiNovo’s bill will make another appearance. The MPP is definitely determined, and hopefully it pays off for her—and Ontarians—in 2013 the way it did in 2012.

The Toronto Marlies Standing up for athletes of all orientations.

Brian Burke Making it his mission to combat homophobia.

Stephanie Guthrie Making public space—on and offline—safer for everyone.

Jude MacDonald and Paul Magder Holding the mayor to account

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

Although he spent more than a decade as a city councillor railing against spending by other councillors, Mayor Rob Ford has had a devil of a time weathering a plethora of charges, complaints, and allegations about his own use of city staff and resources. Activist Jude MacDonald and business executive Paul Magder join our 2012 Heroes list for their efforts to ensure that Mayor Ford plays by the rules, instead of repeatedly attempting end runs around them.

Paul Magder, of course, famously launched a lawsuit against the mayor, accusing him of violating the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act. Ford’s resulting deposition and subsequent cross-examination by Magder’s star lawyer, Clayton Ruby, revealed that Ford had never read the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act or the councillor’s handbook. In a matter of hours, it became clear that the mayor doesn’t understand the concept of conflict of interest, the rules governing his office, or even, on occasion, the words that he speaks. Ontario Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Hackland ordered Ford’s removal from office. Ford immediately appealed the decision, and won a stay of the judgment.

Former rabble.ca editor Jude MacDonald filed her September 13 complaint against the mayor with City integrity commissioner Janet Leiper after the Globe and Mail published an article by Kelly Grant and Elizabeth Church noting that two employees from the mayor’s office appeared to be assisting him with administering his high school football teams, and that Ford had hired a former U of T quarterback to work as a “special assistant” in his office—and on the field. MacDonald used the Globe article as the basis for her formal complaint, in which she alleges that Ford breached council’s code of conduct by using City resources for something other than City business. As of this writing, the integrity commissioner has yet to release her findings on MacDonald’s complaint.

While Ford and his supporters have derided these actions as politically motivated nuisances launched by an “angry left,” Magder and MacDonald have been clear from the beginning about their intentions. As she dropped off her complaint at Leiper’s office, MacDonald told the Toronto Sun that she was acting in defense of “a healthy democracy, accountability, [and] transparency.”

Magder, for his part, said to the Star that he intended his lawsuit “to protect Toronto’s municipal government from politicians putting their own interests ahead of the citizens they were elected to serve.”

“For Mr. Ford to pretend he is the victim of a ‘left-wing’ political attack,” Magder added, “is to insult the justice system that is a cornerstone of Canada’s strong and enduring democracy.”

The Toronto Marlies Standing up for athletes of all orientations.

Brian Burke Making it his mission to combat homophobia.

Stephanie Guthrie Making public space—on and offline—safer for everyone.

Cheri DiNovo Championing trans rights.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

Since his election in 2010, James Pasternak (Ward 10, York Centre) has been sounding the alarm about Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a small protest group that has been showing up periodically at the Pride events, attempting to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians living under Israeli rule. He hasn’t just done this by condemning that group directly, however: he decided to make Pride itself the target. In a series of requests and motions at City Hall, and with the support of several of his colleagues, Pasternak has been trying to make Pride’s annual funding grant from the City contingent on the non-appearance of QuAIA.

Some starting principles. No group should be victimized by discrimination, and no group should be immune from the consequences if they violate anti-discrimination policies. Certainly it’s reasonable for the government to withhold grants from any group that does so.

Here’s the thing: no group in this situation has.

As a result of concerns regarding QuAIA, the City of Toronto reviewed its anti-discrimination policies, and staff proposed some updates to them. According to both the original and new versions, the phrase “Israeli Apartheid” does not violate any provisions. It is hurtful to some. It is—and is meant to be—inflammatory. But it is not hate speech. It does not reflect animosity to a group of people because of their identity but to a policy, because of its consequences.

That didn’t stop the executive committee from passing a motion in September, asking City staff to report back on the viability of making Pride’s 2013 funding contingent on “Israeli Apartheid” not appearing at the event. That is, a certain number of councillors are willing to make Pride vulnerable because a separate, outside organization has violated not our policies but their sensibilities. As we wrote earlier this year:

If council votes to defer Pride’s funding, to make it contingent on the appearance, or not, of QuAIA, the message it sends to Pride—and by extension to Toronto’s LGBTQ community—is that its role in the city, its place in the city, its participation in the life of the city, is likewise contingent, not on compliance with a set of well-founded principles but on on ad hoc exception created because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a mess and we’re not particularly good at talking about it. It privileges one group’s sense of belonging and acceptance over another’s.

We are not required to support community groups at any cost, but if that support is to have any real value we cannot decide to withdraw it at the first sign of tension, either. Threatening Pride’s funding on the basis of what amounts to hurt feelings, with no violation of any principle anyone has been able to point to, is a grossly disproportionate response that belies Toronto’s claim to be a city that champions diversity. It opens the door to other ideological litmus tests for cultural and community groups. And it fails to properly acknowledge the importance of Pride to Toronto.

Sue-Ann Levy Using her position to deride instead of reason.

Michael Bryant An astonishingly tone-deaf response to a tragic death.

Frances Nunziata Treating her colleagues like wayward schoolchildren.

Unsubstantiated “Safety Concerns” Using race as an indicator of crime.

Yunel Escobar   Homophobic slurs and frustrating non-apologies.

Doug Holyday   Trying to turn an already divided house even more against itself.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

If you follow baseball, you weren’t surprised by the October 21 announcement that John Farrell was leaving his job as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays to take up the same position with the Boston Red Sox—the move had been rumoured for months. But did he have to go to a division rival? There is prestige in coaching a franchise with the Red Sox’s history, to be sure, and Farrell has a history with the team: he was previously the pitching coach in Boston. But as the Jays are already in a division that forces them to compete with the Red Sox and the Yankees every year, the departure stung a little bit more than it would have if Farrell went west or south instead. It didn’t help that shortly after his own departure, Farrell hired away respected third-base coach Brian Butterfield from his former team.

Farrell’s move to Boston seems inevitable in hindsight, though. His denials aside, reports are that Farrell wanted out of Toronto not just in October 2012 but also in October 2011, when the Red Sox job was also available. His comments during MLB’s winter meetings, where he called the Jays job an “opportunity,” haven’t done much to make Toronto feel better in retrospect about Farrell’s time here or his commitment to the team.

And when we look back on the season, it doesn’t seem so crazy that Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos was willing to let Farrell go the second time the Red Sox asked. The Jays lacked discipline from the start of the season, and players Colby Rasmus, José Bautista, and Ricky Romero all struggled with their performances. There was the incident where shortstop Yunel Escobar played an entire ballgame with a homophobic slur written in Spanish on his eyeblack. Farrell argued unconvincingly that he didn’t see it, and handled the situation poorly in the resulting press conference. Then veteran player Omar Vizquel, ending his career with the Jays, wound the season down by calling Farrell out in the press for his lack of leadership of the clubhouse.

In the end, it’s best that Farrell left. The upcoming season, with the Jays roster looking so promising, will be no time to have a manager whose heart isn’t in it. But as Adam Lind said on The Jeff Blair Show in November, it would have been nice for Farrell to “be a Blue Jay instead of a guy working for the Blue Jays.”

Margaret Wente Plagiarism, and laziness of epic proportions.

NHL Lockout Taking hockey away from us.

NFB Funding Cuts Forcing the Mediatheque closure.

Factory Theatre Board of Directors Losing their community’s trust.

CBC Funding Cuts   Weakening one of our national institutions.

Sedwick Hill   For the untimely death of the Toronto Underground Cinema.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains: the very best and very worst people, places, things, and ideas that have had an influence on the city over the past 12 months. From December 10 to 19, we’ll unveil the nominees, grouped by category. Vote for your favourites from each batch, every single day! On December 19 and 20 the winners from each category go head-to-head in the final round of voting, and on December 21, we will reveal your choices for Toronto’s Superhero and Supervillain of the year.

Last year was supposed to be a good one for the Toronto Blue Jays. Brett Lawrie had ended the 2011 season impressively, the team had acquired the promising Colby Rasmus from the St. Louis Cardinals, and star Jose Bautista was coming off his second consecutive season as the MLB’s home-run leader. The team still faced tough competition in its division, but with a new wild-card slot in effect, a post-season appearance seemed, at least, possible.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite pan out. Pitcher Ricky Romero completely fell apart and the Jays’ bullpen was decimated by injuries. Rasmus and Lawrie didn’t play to expectations, and Bautista was on the disabled list for a large part of the season. Encarnacion did better than expected, passing 40 homers and 100 RBIs for the first time in his career, but it wasn’t enough. The Jays ended the 2012 season with a 79-83 record, far from a playoff spot.

And then came the offseason. In November, the Jays’ young GM, Alex Anthopoulos, executed a surprise raid on the Miami Marlins’ roster, pulling off a blockbuster trade like some kind of baseball ninja, and giving Blue Jays fans the best reason they’ve had to be excited since the team’s back-to-back World Series wins in the early 1990s.

Anthopoulos has made his mark on the team through some big player moves. He started his career as the Jays’ GM with the Roy Halladay trade. Later, he made a deal to offload Vernon Wells and his enormous contract. But those trades now seem dwarfed by the 12-man deal that puts Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio in Jays uniforms in 2013. Just a few days later, Anthopoulos added Melky Cabrera to the roster, before announcing that John Gibbons would be returning to the team as manager.

The moves aren’t free from controversy. Marlins fans weren’t happy to see their team decimated just a year after the opening of their very expensive, publicly funded stadium, and there was some concern that Major League Baseball wouldn’t approve the trade. Melky Cabrera was having a great season with the San Francisco Giants last year (he won the MVP award at the 2012 All-Star Game), until he received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for high testosterone levels. And John Gibbons was generally well regarded as the Jays manager, particularly in his use of the team’s pitchers, until a few negative incidents with Jays players earned him a reputation as a hothead.

But risky moves show that the Toronto Blue Jays are finally willing to put it on the line in order to make a real run at the post-season, both in terms of the team’s roster and of the money put on the table. It’s been argued that the Jays just can’t compete with big-spending teams like the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, but the team’s payroll for 2013 should hover around a hefty $120 million. Now it remains to be seen if Jays fans will open their own wallets and support a team that can finally, realistically be called a contender.

There’s no way to know yet how the 2013 Jays season will play out. Our pitching rotation could get taken down by injuries again. Our stars could underperform. Or it could be that the other teams in the AL play better than we do. But the moves Alex Anthopoulos made this fall have made it so that the upcoming season could realistically be the Jays’ best in 20 years. For a city that hasn’t had much to look forward to from its pro sports teams in a very long time, it’s nice to have a reason to be excited for April.

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema   A rare home for first-run documentaries.

Academy of the Impossible Making education accessible, and breaking down barriers.

Sarah Polley   Staying true to an uncompromising path.

G 98.7 Making commercial radio worth listening to again.

The Beguiling Supporting independent graphic arts for 25 years.

We first published this November 10, 2011. But now Movember has returned, so here’s a timely rerun. Take care of your facial hair, guys.

We’re about two weeks into Movember, meaning some of Toronto’s manly men are well into the month-long process of growing out their moustaches as part of a global effort to raise money for men’s health. (In Canada, the proceeds go to prostate cancer research.)

But just because your facial hair is for charity doesn’t mean it has to look cut-rate. Here’s Torontoist‘s guide to growing a ‘stache that doesn’t make you look like a wanted criminal in a police sketch.

Tip the First: Use What Nature Gave You

We can’t all be Burt Reynolds, with full, lustrous bumper crops of upper-lip hair. But most guys can muster at least some form of ‘stache.

Alan Brown is master barber at Garrison’s, a nine-month-old barber shop [Ed. note: The shop was nine months old when this article was originally published. It's a year older now.] located above White Squirrel Coffee, south of Trinity Bellwoods Park, where customers can drink complimentary bottles of beer in bright, airy surroundings while they sit for old-style hot-towel shaves (and decidedly more of-the-moment haircuts). He has a few recommendations.

“A lot is to do with the width between nose and lip. If you’ve got a pretty wide upper lip, I would grow a thicker moustache to fill it out,” he said. Thin upper lips, meanwhile, can benefit from thinner moustaches.

Moustaches can also grow or shrink to coexist with more unusual faces. “If it’s an upturned lip, you might not want to accentuate that too much,” said Brown. “Try and cover it up with the moustache.”

For a few more styling ideas, this handy chart from The American Mustache Institute (during a brief phone call its chairman, Aaron Perlut, insisted that the organization was totally real) provides styles for men of all moustache-cultivation skill levels. Even the tiniest patch of hair can be pruned into a pleasing shape.

Tip the Second: Keep It Trimmed

You’re going to need to manage the growth of your ‘stache somehow, otherwise it’ll quickly grow beyond your control. (In some jurisdictions, that’s grounds for divorce.)

Any good barber shop will help you keep your facial hair under control for a price, but if you want to try doing it yourself, the easiest way is to invest in a power tool. That is, an electric clipper.

For easy maneuverability, Brown recommends The Peanut, a smaller clipper, available for $49.99 at Toronto Barber and Beauty Supply, at Bay and Dundas streets. (It can also be had online, for less money.) Cheaper models are available at big-box stores. Try Wal-Mart.

Scissors can also be a good solution for basic maintenance—and they’re cheaper. Look for small ones.

Brown recommends that novices clip from the bottom of the ‘stache. “Just follow the shape of the lip,” he said. “Don’t go too high into the moustache and take it too far off the lip.”

For neatening the edge of the moustache nearest the nose, Brown recommends seeking professional help. Fumbling the clipper could leave you desperately trying to even things out, and if that happens, it won’t be long before “pencil thin” is your last remaining styling option. (Yes, you’ll be a living Jimmy Buffet song. Just think of it.) A barber should have the expertise to do the job correctly.

However you trim, make sure the hair is far enough away from your lips that it doesn’t trap crumbs while you’re eating. That’s how ironic facial hair turns into a no-joke public health crisis.

Tip the Third: Keep It Clean

Hair on your face is still hair. You need to wash it. If it’s long, you may even need to shampoo and comb it.

Tip the Fourth: Use the Right Product

If your Movember ambition is to emulate those guys who compete in the World Beard and Moustache Championships then you’re probably going to need to get into some more arcane grooming practices, and there will probably be some chemistry involved.

Toronto Barber and Beauty Supply sells tubes of Clubman mustache wax for $6.50 each, less a 10 per cent Movember discount.

For perfect handlebars, Brown recommends growing out the ends of the ‘stache, then curling them outward from where the crease of the nose meets the upper lip. (The crease is that little triangular depression that separates lip from cheek. Go look in the mirror; you’ll see what we’re talking about.)

You may need to trim some excess whiskers to make the curl look neat.

A Parting Thought

“At the end of the day,” said Brown, “the moustache is more about the man underneath.”

The venues, schools, record labels, stores, and other landmarks that created the sound of our city and shaped its music history.

Click for a zoomed-in view.

During the 1990s, Toronto continued to embrace a wide range of genres, from DJ-centric clubs to indie-rock showcases. Some venues were influential, but short-lived. Meanwhile, for other places that opened or hit their stride during the decade, the beat goes on.

1 The Music Hall (147 Danforth Avenue)
An on-again, off-again music venue that traces its lineage to Allen’s Danforth Theatre in 1919. During the ’90s, it alternated between live performances and rep cinema screenings.

2 Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor Street West)
Originally the Bloor Theatre (no relation to the cinema that currently bears the name), it opened as a music venue in 1985 with a performance by Handsome Ned. A year later, Al Runt created the first of several colourful exterior murals. The first one met its demise in 1992 when, according to the artist, the owner painted over it.

3 Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne Street)
Previously known as The Diamond, this mid-size venue hosted a variety of touring acts. It’s still around today.

4 Opera House (735 Queen Street East)
Like Lee’s Palace, the Opera House revamped a former movie theatre as a concert venue—in this case, one that had, at various times, been named things like “Acropolis” and “La Plaza.”

5 Matador (466 Dovercourt Road, north of College Street)
Once a bowling alley, the Matador endured for 40 years as an after-hours country music haunt before closing in 2007. It was used as the backdrop for Leonard Cohen’s video for “Closing Time” in 1992.

6 Ted’s Wrecking Yard (549 College Street)
The first home of the Wavelength music series, this venue operated from 1997 to 2001 and became a focal point for performers who lived in the area.

7 Lizard Lounge (66 Gerrard Street East)
A cavernous dance/music venue near Ryerson whose early promotional efforts caused controversy. Protestors picketed Now’s offices in June 1989 after the weekly ran ads for the Lizard Lounge depicting a naked pregnant woman caked in mud under the caption “Rock n’ Roll Breeder Bar.”

8 Top O’ The Senator (253 Victoria Street)
Located, as the name suggests, above the venerable Senator diner, this was one of the city’s top jazz venues for 15 years until it closed in 2005.

9 Reverb/Big Bop (651 Queen Street West)
Once advertised as “Toronto’s 4-floor funhouse,” the former Holiday Tavern developed a reputation for metal, punk, raves, and all-ages shows. The infamous purple fake-brick exterior was peeled away when the site reopened as a CB2 store earlier this year.

10 Velvet Underground (510 Queen Street West)
During the ’90s, this Queen West club offered alt-rock performances and a hangout for the street’s goth scene. According to its website (the place is still open for business), it hosted the release party for Alanis Morissette’s album Jagged Little Pill.

11 360 (326 Queen St West)
The name of this venue derived from its Royal Canadian Legion branch number. Originally a social club for Ukrainian war veterans, the branch faced bankruptcy in the early ’90s. When the provincial government allowed Legion halls to serve the public around that time, it became a rock venue. The Legion shut it down in 2005 in the midst of North by Northeast, both because the branch wasn’t fulfilling its requirements to the organization and because of the possible loss of its liquor licence.

12 Ultrasound Showbar (269 Queen Street West)
Operating from 1990 to 1996, its intimate stage provided a showcase for up-and-coming bands and singer/songwriters. Currently occupied by Civello, a salon.

13 The Rex (194 Queen Street West)
The motto of the Rex is “where jazz musicians come to hear jazz,” which has been true of this Queen Street staple since the late ’80s.

14 Nathan Phillips Square
The Barenaked Ladies received an unexpected publicity boost when they were scratched from the New Year’s 1992 festivities outside City Hall. A zealous City staffer felt the band’s name objectified women, which was a no-no under existing regulations for performances at Nathan Phillips Square. The resulting furor over political correctness made City officials look silly.

15 Industry (901 King Street West)
Club spotlighting DJs from around the world and underground dance acts from 1996 to 2000. The site now houses a Shoppers Drug Mart.

16 Harbourfront Centre (Harbourfront)
Showcasing musical genres from around the world, this ampitheatre (currently branded the WestJet Stage) has provided entertainment in a waterfront setting since the summer of 1992.

17 Molson Amphitheatre (Ontario Place)
Built as a larger replacement for the Ontario Place Forum, this outdoor venue opened in with a performance by Bryan Adams in 1995.

The venues, schools, record labels, stores, and other landmarks that created the sound of our city and shaped its music history.

Click for a zoomed-in view.

When the subject of 1980s music in Toronto arises, most of the spotlight falls on Queen West and its circuit of clubs, artistic communities, and hipster joints. The combination of affordable housing, influences from the nearby Ontario College of Art, and plenty of performance spaces made the stretch of Queen Street from University Avenue to just west of Spadina Avenue a musical hotbed. But Queen West shouldn’t hog all the credit: elsewhere in the city, campus radio stations (and at least one commercial spot on the dial) were expanding Toronto’s musical taste, while large dance clubs kept the music going deep into the night.

1 Copa (21 Scollard Street)
While summarizing several long-gone music venues in 2010, there was a slight sneer in the Star’s tone when it came to the Copa: “Flavour-of-the moment world music and pop acts in the midst of 15 minutes of fame, with sporadic detours into not-quite-ready-for-soft-seater veteran acts, sporting crowds of regular Joes, well-coiffed yuppies and the occasional Flock Of Seagulls hairstyle.” Yet for a decade it was one of Yorkville’s busiest clubs, mixing DJ nights with performances from the likes of Berlin, Burning Spear, Herbie Hancock, Fela Kuti, and Skinny Puppy.

2 Gasworks (585 Yonge Street)
For those who wanted to rawk, the Gasworks was headbanger heaven. Hard rock ruled until it closed its doors in 1993. The venue inspired the identically named hangout in the movie Wayne’s World. (“This is the Gasworks, an excellent heavy metal bar. Always a babe fest.”)

3 The Edge (70 Gerrard Street East)
The Star once described The Edge as “Living up to its name in terms of eclecticism: a dark, spacious abode facing Gerrard that housed tastemaker promoters Gary Topp and Gary Cormier, who booked punk/new wave acts like 999 and The Mods with the occasional jazzy Don Thompson/Ed Bickert or folkie Ralph McTell date.”

4 CKLN (Ryerson University)
Originally available only on closed circuit within Ryerson, CKLN moved to the FM dial in 1983. That year saw the launch of The Fantastic Voyage, which was the first Canadian radio show devoted to hip hop. As for CKLN’s open format, musician and station graphic designer Kurt Swinghammer noted that, “It didn’t have a political agenda that seems to dominate now. Maybe because it was new, people didn’t seem to realize that they could use it for their personal agenda, and they just played all this crazy music that nobody was touching.” Among CKLN’s station managers during the 1980s was future city councillor Adam Vaughan. The station fell silent amid controversy galore in 2011.

5 Church of the Holy Trinity (19 Trinity Square)
Opened in 1847, this landmark might have been demolished had early plans for the Eaton Centre gone ahead. The church has long been praised for its acoustics, which has led to its use for concerts, CBC Radio broadcasts, and a 14-hour recording session in November 1987 that produced the Cowboy Junkies’ album The Trinity Session.

6 Music Gallery (30 St. Patrick Street to 1984, then 1087 Queen Street West)
Founded in 1976, the Music Gallery has dedicated itself to experimental sounds. Its mission is “promoting and presenting innovation and experimentation in all forms of music, and for encouraging cross-pollination between genres, disciplines and audience.” It has moved several times over the course of its existence, and currently operates out of St. George the Martyr Church, on John Street.

7 Beverley Tavern (240 Queen Street West)
Described in its Now obituary as an “art-punk haven” during its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, the Beverley was the birthplace of the Elvis Monday indie music showcase in 1984, which helped launch more than a few careers.

8 Citytv and MuchMusic (299 Queen Street West from 1987 on)
From Toronto Rocks in the early 1980s to videos aired on MuchMusic by decade’s end, Moses Znaimer’s stable of channels helped promote local acts. When the stations moved from their previous home east of Yonge Street in 1987, it wasn’t surprising that they settled on the city’s hip strip.

9 Bam Boo (312 Queen Street West)
For a quarter of a century, tucked behind a gateway made from its namesake plant, the Bam Boo was a prime venue for reggae and dub poetry. It helped introduce a diverse range of world music to Torontonians. It is also reputed to have been the first spot in Toronto to serve Pad Thai.

10 Rivoli (332 Queen Street West)
Opened in 1982 in a former vaudeville/burlesque theatre, the Rivoli strived to be, in the words of music historian Nicholas Jennings, “ultra-hip.” Besides being a key venue for the 1980s Queen Street music scene, it also served as a showcase for rising comedy acts like the Kids in the Hall.

11 Cameron House (408 Queen Street West)
From 1981, the old hotel offered opportunities for up-and-coming musical and theatrical performers ranging from Blue Rodeo to Video Cabaret. It was also home to the Blue Monday classic jazz showcase hosted by Molly Johnson. Many of the artists who took the stage also lived in the building, making it one of the main creative centres during Queen West’s heyday.

12 Spadina Hotel/Cabana Room (northwest corner of King Street West and Spadina Avenue)
Built in the 19th century and once known as the Hotel Falconer, the Spadina Hotel’s second floor Cabana Room served as a stage for hundreds of unknown bands (and a few you might recognize). The site currently houses the Global Village Backpackers youth hostel.

13 RPM (132 Queen’s Quay East)
Opened around 1985, RPM was, according to promoter Gary Topp, a unique-at-the-time venue which “made dance music more popular than live music. No club owners have ever demonstrated so much artistry in operating a nightclub in this city. It was the place where interlocking subcultures were able to surface. It was a scene.” Among its resident DJs during the decade was Chris Sheppard, who occasionally brought on live acts like the Beastie Boys during Sunday all-ages nights. The site currently houses the Guvernment.

CFNY (Brampton, not shown on the map.)
Under the guidance of program director David Marsden for most of the decade, the “Spirit of Radio” won a loyal audience for its free-form format. As Marsden once noted, “We hesitate to play poorly produced records because it may do more harm than good. We do as much as we can to break unknown acts—through showcase programs like Streets of Ontario—but the goal is to expose them in the best light, not the worst.” The station also launched its own music awards, the U-Knows/CASBYs, which predated the MuchMusic Video Awards.

Additional material from: Have Not Been the Same by Michael Barclay, Ian A.D. Jack, and Jason Schneider (Toronto: ECW, 2001), Rock and Roll Toronto by John Goddard and Richard Crouse (Toronto: Doubleday, 1997), and the January 3, 2010 edition of the Toronto Star.

The Shop:

First, a newsworthy fact: Agave Y Aguacate is now permanently closed. Chef Francisco Alejandri, whose delicately balanced Mexican soul food drew devotees from all over Toronto to his tiny food stall, says he’s winding down his last month at the El Gordo Latin food court at 214 Augusta Avenue, in Kensington Market. His booth there—which was really nothing more than a table with a couple induction burners and a deep fryer on it—was becoming too difficult to work with.

“It has to do with the organization and the cleanliness of the place,” Alejandri says. “It’s not what I want for my customers. It was good when I started, but it hasn’t changed, and I just can’t deal with it anymore.”

Recently, Alejandri said, El Gordo has been doing some renovations that have left his station covered in dust, forcing him to take days off. Fridge and storage space have been problematic. Also, as anyone who ever braved the lineups at Agave Y Aguacate can attest, the venue was much too small to accommodate lunch-rush demand.

Alejandri is no longer serving food, and he’s already moving his equipment out. He says he’s in the process of making a deal with an investor interested in funding a full-fledged Agave Y Aguacate restaurant, but that it will likely be six months to a year before those plans come to fruition.

This is an abrupt end to a food stall that, despite its small size, managed to turn Alejandri’s life around. Before starting it in February 2011, he was a chef with a good resume (he’d cooked at Scaramouche, Torito, and Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar), but no public profile. He started Agave Y Aguacate partly out of frustration. “I’ve always had a hard time in kitchens,” he says. “People don’t understand my approach to food. I love what I do, I’m very passionate about it. And I’m happy with the talent that I have…but sometimes chefs, or people in the kitchen, they don’t get me. They think that I’m too much, that I’m crazy, whatever.”

His menu of gourmet variations on favourites from his childhood in Mexico, prepared with a perfectionist’s eye for detail right in front of patrons, put him on the map. Now it’s not a stretch to call him a citywide culinary celebrity.

For reasons described below, Alejandri does not make tacos, so we’re bending the rules of this series for him. His tostadas are worthy of inclusion because they’re the stuff of foodie legend—especially now that they’re no longer available. (Sorry about that. It was not our intention at the outset to tease you with a thing you can’t eat.)

He’s particularly proud of his green tostada, a meatless recipe that showcases his homemade sauces.

The Tostada:

The tortilla: Alejandri will not serve tacos in Toronto, because no local corn tortillas meet his standards. He does tostadas instead, because the tortilla is deep-fried to a crisp, which in his opinion masks any inferior flavour or texture. “Everything that’s fried tastes the same,” he said. Instead of sprinkling salt on the hot, crispy rounds when they come out of the fryer, he sprays them with a half-and-half mixture of salt and water. The water evaporates instantly, leaving his tortillas with an evenly dispersed, invisible layer of seasoning.

Guacamole: Made to order for each and every tostada. Alejandri halves an avocado, grates in garlic, adds hot peppers and coriander, and then grinds it in a mortar and pestle. Each portion also gets a squeeze of lime juice.

Queso Fresco: This cheese was the inspiration for the entire dish. It comes from Monteforte Dairy, whose owner Alejandri met while he was teaching at the Stratford Chef School. He finds this particular queso fresco (a type of mild, white cheese) to be exceptionally creamy and well seasoned.

Tomatoes: “We take the tomato, we cut it in half, and we slice it in front of the customer, paper thin,” said Alejandri.

Crema Fresca: A homemade mixture of cream and yogurt, strained overnight then mixed with lime juice and left to sit for a day.

Gaujillo Sauce: “It’s an incredible sauce, and it’s very simple,” says Alejandri, greatly overestimating the level at which many home cooks would set the bar for “simple.” This spicy condiment consists of dried guajillo chiles and broiled tomatoes, pureed together with fresh garlic, white onions, white vinegar, and salt.

The Bottom Line:

Price: $8 each, but not available for the time being.

Tasting Notes: We were unable to taste the tostada before Agave Y Aguacate closed down.

Eat it When: Alejandri opens a new restaurant.

The venues, schools, record labels, stores, and other landmarks that created the sound of our city and shaped its music history.

The sounds were changing in Toronto during the 1970s, as music took on a harder edge than the folk/rock and R&B sounds which marked the 1960s. Venue-wise, the decade was a transitional period: the Yorkville scene vanished and spots dropped along Yonge Street as Queen West slowly began to gain prominence. The rising punk/new-wave scene saw venerable venues like the Horseshoe transformed and other places rise before quickly living up to the name of one of its earliest halls, Crash ‘n’ Burn. And the Rolling Stones took a liking to our city, even if some of their visits were legally mandated.

1 Nimbus 9 (131 Hazelton Avenue, then 39 Hazelton Avenue)
Founded as a production company in the late 1960s, Nimbus 9 quickly earned success through the Guess Who’s string of North American hits. By the 1970s, it operated a recording studio which drew acts like Alice Cooper and Bob Seger. Key producers included Bob Ezrin and Jack Richardson.

2 New Yorker Theatre (651 Yonge Street)
“They are the stuff of which bad myths are made,” Globe and Mail music critic Paul McGrath concluded after the Ramones played two shows at the New Yorker (now the Panasonic Theatre) in September 1976. “The music they play would be appropriate for a film depicting the ravages of heroin withdrawal.” Yet McGrath’s observation that something in the band’s loud noise appealed to fans was an astute one, as the shows are pointed to as one of the key inspirations for the city’s punk bands that sprang up soon after.

3 David’s (16 Phipps Street, northwest of Yonge Street and Wellesley Street West)
Featuring amenities such as a winding staircase encircling an old fountain featuring Michelangelo’s David and staff with nicknames like Mr. Shit, David’s presented punk bands every night until midnight, when it turned into a gay disco. Manager Sandy Leblanc felt punk was a passing fad, believing the genre wouldn’t last because it wasn’t socially acceptable. “At the moment, he told the Ryerson Review in September 1977, “we are the only punk rock club in the city because no other managers will tolerate them.” David’s literally went out in a blaze of glory—following a New Year’s concert to ring in 1978, the venue burned under mysterious circumstances, destroying the equipment of bands like The Ugly. Later that year, Leblanc was murdered.

4 Larry’s Hideaway (121 Carlton Street)
A steady stream of college rock, punk, and new wave acts played here through the late 1970s and early 1980s. The site was later demolished and replaced by an expanded Allan Gardens.

5 El Mocambo (464 Spadina Avenue)
One of Toronto’s first cocktail lounges after gaining a liquor license in the mid-1940s, by the 1970s the El Mo was one of the city’s top music clubs. While acts including Blondie and Elvis Costello graced its stage, the biggest headlines the venue garnered came when the Rolling Stones played two nights to record a side of their Love You Live album in March 1977. Billed as “The Cockroaches” below opening act April Wine, the group’s shows were their first in a club setting in over a decade and gained notoriety due to Keith Richards’s drug bust at the Harbour Castle the week before (see #12 below) and the presence of Margaret Trudeau, who had just separated from the Prime Minister.

6 Grossman’s Tavern (379 Spadina Avenue)
When the Downchild Blues Band had a long run at Grossman’s in the 1970s, one of its biggest fans was Second City comedian Dan Aykroyd. Following the improv troupe’s performances, Aykroyd dropped by the bluesy bar and occasionally blew on the harmonica even though at the time, according to Downchild singer Richard “Hock” Walsh, “he couldn’t play harmonica to save his life.” Aykroyd later cited Downchild’s album Straight Up as an inspiration for the Blues Brothers.

7 Sam the Record Man/A&A (Yonge Street, north of Gould Street)
The undisputed record-selling titans of the Yonge strip, music lovers could spend hours browsing the deep selection in either store. Both retailers evolved into chains over the decade—when A&A was purchased by Columbia Records in 1971, there was speculation that sale sped up Sam Sniderman’s move into franchising. Despite being “ardently wooed” by other record labels fearing the clout Columbia would have, Sniderman remained independent.

8 Victory Burlesque (Northeast corner of Spadina and Dundas)
If you’re going to play a concert in a burlesque joint, it makes sense to include strippers as part of the performance. Such was the case when Mainline unveiled the “Bump ‘n’ Grind Revue” at the Victory in 1972—which would later be shown on TVOntario. Before the Victory shut down in 1975, it also played host, sans stripteases, to the likes of Peter Frampton, the New York Dolls, and Rush.

9 Colonial Underground (201–203 Yonge Street)
As its name implies, this venue was located below the Colonial Tavern. Acts including Rough Trade and the Viletones played early gigs here.

10 Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West)
Opened in 1947, the Horseshoe was primarily regarded as a country bar during the first half of the 1970s. Among the lead attractions during this period was Stompin’ Tom Connors, whose May 1973 series of shows formed the basis of the film Across This Land. During the late 1970s, promoters Gary Cormier and Gary Topp (aka The Two Garys) booked an eclectic range of acts leaning heavily toward punk and new wave. Some shows drew better than others: the Police drew only 20 spectators over two nights in November 1978, while overcrowding at “The Last Pogo” punk concert a few weeks later led to a riot when the event was shut down.

11 Crash ‘n’ Burn (15 Duncan Street)
Located under offices rented by the Liberal Party, Crash ‘n’ Burn was a weekend-only punk club that lasted for a few months in 1977 under the guidance of Diodes manager Ralph Alfonso. Its demise was spurred by complaints about beer, noise, overcrowding, violence, and vomit—how rock n’ roll is that?

12 Westin Harbour Castle (1 Harbour Square, Queen’s Quay West at Bay)
Forty-five minutes. That’s how long it took RCMP officers to wake Keith Richards when they busted him for drugs at the Harbour Castle on February 28, 1977. The Rolling Stones guitarist was disappointed that the police didn’t match his vision of what a Mountie should look like—“I’d have woken up a lot quicker if I’d seen the red tunic and Smokey Bear hat.” He was charged with intent to traffic heroin (due to the amount he had) and possession of cocaine. When Richards went to trial in October 1978, the charges were reduced to one count of heroin possession. He walked away with a one-year suspended sentence with requirements to continue a rehab program he had entered in New York, report periodically to a probation officer in Toronto, and play a benefit concert for the blind. Years later, Richards admitted the incident helped him straighten his act (somewhat).

13 Ontario Place Forum
This all-purpose outdoor concert facility was one of Ontario Place’s major successes when it opened in 1971. Acts ranged from rock to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and there was even the odd riot, as occurred during a Segarini/Teenage Head concert in 1980. It was replaced by the Molson Amphitheatre in the mid-1990s.

Additional material from Keith Richards: The Biography by Victor Bockris (Toronto: Poseidon, 1992), Rock and Roll Toronto by John Goddard and Richard Crouse (Toronto: Doubleday, 1997), Treat Me Like Dirt by Liz Worth (Toronto: ECW, 2011), Trouble in the Camera Club by Don Pyle (Toronto: ECW, 2011), and the August 21, 1971 and September 27, 1976 editions of the Globe and Mail.