Torontoist » “On November”

CBC Music’s First-Ever Festival Will Be a CanCon Love-In

Chris Dart — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:30:30 +0000

The CBCMusic.ca Festival will feature Sloan, Kathleen Edwards, Of Monsters and Men, and roving appearances by Jian Gomeshi and Matt Galloway.

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.

The Barber of Seville is Not the Sharpest Shave

Carly Maga — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:32 +0000

A reworked version of Beaumarchais' play makes for an uneven production, on now at Soulpepper Theatre.

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.

Taser Terror

Kevin Kennedy — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:00:00 +0000

Dual protests are set for tomorrow afternoon in Vancouver and Toronto in an effort to maintain media awareness of the misuse of force by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that led to the death of Robert Dziekanski, captured on video by a witness. The video, since viewed (in its various incarnations) by millions of people, documents a confused and clearly agitated Dziekanski sweating and pacing until a fatal confrontation with four RCMP officers killed the 40-year-old Polish immigrant. This week, the government of British Columbia has announced a public inquiry to investigate Dziekanski’s death, “and rightly so,” writes the editorial board in this week’s Eye Weekly: “Perhaps the inquiry’s report can communicate some simple steps to prevent this sort of tragedy from ever happening again, and communicate to the RCMP that it is their job to protect people and expose lies, not to kill people and invent cover stories to protect themselves.”
On November 21, a 45-year-old man in Nova Scotia died while in police custody after being zapped. It was the third death in five weeks linked to the use of Taser stun guns by police. The recent spree of fatalities has prompted an eighth concurrent investigation into policies and procedures regarding Taser stun gun use by police officers. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered a review of the use of Tasers in Canada and asked Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to explain how Dziekanski was able to get through customs and was left alone in a secure area for nearly 10 hours. A report is expected to be made available to the public by next week.
Queen’s Park will be the venue for the protest tomorrow at noon, and will include speeches by a long list of politicians and activists. The Facebook group, Toronto Protest: Protesting the use of Excessive force on Robert Dziekanski, already has almost 1000 members, and planners are still looking for volunteers to assist with ground organization, decorations, and banner making. Interested parties can send an email to the protest committee co-chair Mike Mlynarczyk.

Real News The Real Deal

David Fleischer — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:30:00 +0000

In June, 200 media professionals, producers, activists and academics packed into a Bathurst Street studio for a party celebrating the launch of a new English-language global news and documentary network, The Real News.
If building an international news network from scratch doesn’t sound mind-boggling-ly ambitious to you, consider this: Real News CEO Paul Jay is promising to accomplish this feat without corporate, government or advertising dollars. This makes The Real News the world’s first totally non-profit, viewer supported independent news and documentary network—and thusfar, The Real News has found success even without the benefit a cash cow to milk.
Though still in their early days, the network’s rational and grounded on air persona is a rare breath of fresh air in a media landscape increasingly clogged with hyper-sensationalized drivel, rebroadcast ad nauseum, by big media. In fact, providing insightful analysis and in-depth interviews has quickly become a Real News hallmark, with the team producing four to six such pieces for distribution online each week.
And the team is growing—quickly. The fledgling network already has more than 30 journalists stationed throughout the world, and counts the likes of Robert McChesney, Amy Goodman and Gore Vidal as avid supporters.
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that The Real News is seeking a few extra hands to help out at its Toronto-based studio. On November 6, they will be hosting a volunteer recruitment and social night at the studio—Suite 200, 720 Bathurst Street—starting at 6:30 p.m. where Paul Jay will answer questions about the network, and Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad will discuss current developments in Iran. Prizes and food are on offer, as are tours of the studio. RSVPs are welcomed at geraldine@therealnews.com.
Image courtesy of The Real News.

Toodle Doo, Mary Lou

Joshua Errett — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 13:16:30 +0000

On November 30, As It Happens will not be happening as we’ve known it for the past eight years. Mary Lou Finlay is leaving the position of regular host to become an unregular freelancer.
Some people care, others don’t.