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.

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery presents artist Omer Fast as part of its ongoing International Lecture Series. Image courtesy of Omer Fast.

ART: Born in Jerusalem and now working in Berlin, artist Omer Fast has studied and worked in many parts of the world. Today, at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery International Lecture Series, he’ll speak about his career. Also, he has a solo exhibition at the gallery, “Continous Coverage,” which opens this week. Studio Theatre, Harbourfront Centre (235 Queens Quay West), 7 p.m., $12, FREE for members.

LECTURE: Upon its release, Tyler Cowen’s e-book The Great Stagnation sparked debate about our difficult economic times. Now, Cowen—who is an economics professor at George Mason University and a regular writer for both the New York Times and marginalrevolution—is holding a special public lecture in Toronto. It will be followed by a discussion with National Post columnist Andrew Coyne. Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West), 7 p.m., $20 or $5 for students.

COMEDY: Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award–winners and Sketch Com-Ageddon finalists British Teeth present a night of laughs with Don’t Wait Up. Sketch comedians Filip Jeremic and Allana Reoch have a bunch of new skits and some old favourites on tap for the night. They’ll be joined by host Debra DiGiovanni, sketch troupe Templeton Philharmonic, and stand-up comedian Arthur Simeon. The Rivoli (332 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., PWYC.

TIFF: Ask any local cinephile and they’ll tell you: Contrary to Andy Williams’ time-honoured holiday standard, early September is, in fact, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Why? Because early September means TIFF (on this year from the 6 – 16), and TIFF means movies, movies, and more movies, with all sorts of big-time movie stars swanning about town. Keep an eye out for our daily recommendations, visit our TIFF ’12 hub for our reviews, and have yourself a merry little TIFF-mas time.

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com.

Watching “The Rebels (Listen Up),” the new video by local rap duo The Antiheroes, it’s hard to imagine that the group would ever have had a concert of theirs cancelled due to security concerns. They just look too damn nice.

The Antiheroes and Rich Kidd, who produced the beat for “The Rebels,” were both scheduled to perform during SmashMouth Entertainment’s June 13 showcase, as part of the North by Northeast music festival. The Rivoli cancelled the show at the last minute, after members of the Toronto Police Service’s Guns and Gangs Unit approached management at the venue with security concerns. According to the Antiheroes’ MC Flex, the exact reasons for the cancellation are still a mystery.

“The Rebels,” which features a guest verse from local rap veteran D-Sisive, is a sort of response to the misconceptions about hip-hop culture that the group believes led to that incident. From the start, Flex and his partner-in-rhyme, Sha Prince, aimed to make a video that stood out.

“The concept was thrown around by the directors, Briin Bernstien and Daniel ‘AM’ Rosenberg,” Flex said. “They had a couple ideas they threw at us. They said, ‘We can either make the typical rap video, or you can go all out and try something different.’ We opted to go the different route…We owe a lot to them and the editor, Micah Rix-Hayes.”

According to Flex, going the different route wasn’t easy. The filming was done in one 15-hour day, and many of the moves that look so fluid in the video were the result of a lot of tedious work.

“The scenes you see with the zipping from front to back, that was actually just us shuffling our feet going from front to back and front to back,” he said. “You see the video, it looks pretty fluid. It wasn’t.”

Flex is still mystified by the North-by-Northeast cancellation. “That whole thing was unfortunate, not only for us as the artists, but for anyone who was planning to come out to the show,” he said. “We never really got any answers. There wasn’t any direct contact. The only word we got was that The Rivoli was responsible in the end for shutting it down, but I can say that the police put enough pressure on them to make that happen.”

He thinks there is a common misconception that hip-hop culture in Toronto is inherently negative.

“There’s no research done when it comes to these things,” he said. “Media likes to dwell on negative things, but they don’t look at artists like Rich Kidd who…are doing all these youth projects and things. People just want to say ‘Let’s lump all [the rappers] together and call it a day.’”

With a great video under their belt and the unpleasantness at The Rivoli behind them, The Antiheroes are taking the momentum from “The Rebels” and moving on to their next project.

“We have a new project coming out in late August or early September, called Modern Day Riot,” he said. “We’re working with Rich Kidd again, Junia-T from the Smash Brovaz and our own in-house producer M-Mac… We’re just trying to keep it moving.”

CORRECTION: July 19, 4:15PM Previously, Micah Rix-Hayes’ name was written as “Micah Rix-Rayes.” The correction has been made above.

As we shake off our hangovers and readjust to the rhythms of normal life, let’s take a minute to look at what we learned over the course of this year’s edition of North by Northeast.

Sometimes buzz bands do live up to expectations.
Too often, we’ve seen get a sudden rush of Internet-fuelled fame overwhelm artists, leading them to collapse under the pressure. (Lana Del Ray, we’re looking at you.) At NXNE, with a couple of exceptions, that didn’t really happen. Blog-buzz acts like DZ Deathrays, The Men, and Purity Ring all came through in the clutch. It’s good to know that sometimes you actually can believe the hype.

Punk’s not dead.
Punk rock has been declared “dead” repeatedly over the last three decades. This year’s edition of NXNE proved that rumours of the genre’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, with acts like Teenanger and Ceremony picking up the mantle, it may have a brighter future than it’s had in a while.

Some venues may just be in it for the late license.
It seemed as if a few North by Northeast venues were less interested in hosting bands and more interested in being allowed to pack in customers and serve alcohol until 4 a.m. At least one artist called a venue out for allowing a very loud dance party to go on upstairs while he was performing in the partially open basement, forcing him to compete with the DJ. Let’s hope they straighten this out for next year.

Hip-hop is not a threat.
NXNE got off to a bad start for the hip-hop community. Wednesday night’s SmashMouth entertainment showcase at the Rivoli met a sudden and inglorious end after a visit from the Toronto Police Service’s Guns and Gangs Unit convinced the venue’s management to pull the plug on the show.

(According to a press release sent out by the club on Saturday afternoon, the police told them “without naming names” that “certain band members were connected with street gangs” and “gun violence had occurred at past performances” of one of the bands on the bill, although it’s hard to tell who they’re talking about. As Roshin—a member of Notes to Self, one of the bands slated to be on the bill—said during an interview with Torontoist following the cancellation: “Half the acts aren’t from Toronto, and the ones that are play all the time.”)

That said, the genre bounced back with a vengeance throughout the rest of the week, with acts like Killer Mike giving barnburner performances, and ending with nearly 10,000 hip-hop heads pressing together like sardines to watch two of the genre’s living legends, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, throw down at Yonge-Dundas Square. Not only did the event go off without incident, but, according to our photographer (who went to all the Yonge-Dundas concerts), the crowd for Sunday night’s hip-hop event was better behaved than the audience at the other three shows.

This is a funny town.
While this wasn’t the first year that comedy was included in NXNE, it was the year that the festival’s comedy content reached a critical mass, and by almost every measure, audiences were loving the laughs. From the nightly Comedy Records showcases at LOT 100 to the more risqué Strip Comedy and Raw & Hard shows at the Monarch Tavern, a largely local cast of comics provided a great change of pace after a night of bands.

Toronto is a fun city.
Whether or not it’s totally accurate, Toronto has a reputation as a city that has trouble enjoying itself. NXNE is proof positive that the town can give any other city on the continent a run for its money in terms of good times. Free concerts and late last calls aside, there’s a spirit of spontaneity that takes over for the festival. People dance to bands they’ve never heard before, throw last minute parties and shows, and occasionally hug passersby. On multiple occasions throughout the weekend, we walked into a stranger’s yard, opened a beer and watched a band play. It would be great if the city could have just a little of that NXNE spirit throughout the year.

No Use for a Name played Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday.

We’re nearing the end, but there’s still a ton of great music left to see. Here’s who’s worth seeing on Saturday and Sunday.

Hollerado
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)
Saturday, 5 p.m.

If you haven’t yet experienced this Ottawa indie group’s live act, then you finally have a chance to make things right. Hollerado, who seem to be making a tradition of free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square, are definitely one of the most fun bands to check out while you’re exploring NXNE. If being Juno-nominated and picked by Jack White to open for The Dead Weather wasn’t enough, you can expect many laughs, power-pop awesomeness, possible confetti, and more when they take the stage (oh, and you will be dancing).

Go if: You need a jolt of spontaneity and good ol’-fashioned Canadian humour to add to your NXNE schedule.

The Flaming Lips
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)
Saturday, 9 p.m.

There’s a reason that the name is the biggest on the poster. Say what you will about the fearless freaks from Oklahoma and their progression from noisy experimental garage band to creators of life-affirming anthems used to sell cars—they know how to put on a show that is anything but boring. It will be interesting to see how the band fares in a space like Yonge-Dundas Square, but in all likelihood, they will successfully transform the area into a wonderland of positive vibes and infectious rock. Admittedly, part of the fun of their concerts is discovering what new theatrics they have in store.

Go if: You have two ears and a heart. And happen to think Radiohead is overrated.

The Lumineers
The Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 11 p.m.

This Denver-based outfit bears a passing resemblance to Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros in their fondness for folk anthem sing-alongs, though perhaps less so the travelling hippie commune aesthetic. They cracked the Billboard Top 40 chart yesterday, so they’re definitely a band on the rise. You can say you saw them when.

Go if: You’re a fan of the “roots revivalist” sound, espoused locally by acts like The Rural Alberta Advantage, further afield by Blitzen Trapper and the aforementioned Magnetic Zeros.

Rival Schools
Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 12 a.m.

Consisting of members of several classic late ’80s New York hardcore bands—including Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits—melodic punk act Rival Schools have averaged roughly an album a decade since getting together at the turn of the millennium. The only reason they’re able to get away with it is because said albums are worth the wait.

Go if: You’ve always wondered what happens when angry young men grow up.

Killer Mike
Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 1 a.m.
AND
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)
Sunday, 8 p.m.

Atlanta’s Killer Mike has been tapped as the next A-Town rapper to blow-up for most of the last decade, ever since he was signed to OutKast’s Purple Ribbon label back in 2003. While he’s received a ton of critical praise and a few sniffs of commercial success, he’s never been able to hit that next level of fame. His new album, R.A.P. Music, was produced by ’90s underground legend El-P, and looks like it may finally be enough to get him over.

Go if: You like hip-hop that’s smart and street at the same time.

Ohbijou
David Pecaut Square (55 John Street)
Sunday, 4 p.m.

So technically, this isn’t a NXNE show; it’s part of the final day of Luminato Festival programming. But listening to the lush baroque pop of Ohbijou in the afternoon, sitting on the grass, sounds like a perfect way to wind down an impossibly hectic week of music and culture.

Go if: You like your indie chamber music to have lots of strings and sweet vocals.

Wannabe (Spice Girls Tribute Band)
Redpath Stage – Harbourfront (235 Queens Quay West)
Sunday, 5 p.m.

Come on, you know what you want, what you really, really want. With another NXNE coming to a close and the terrible shadow of Monday looming, this is the perfect opportunity to indulge in a dose of bubblegum nostalgia before the weekend peters out. One of Toronto’s most successful tribute bands, the ladies adopt the personas of everyone’s favourite proponents of Girl Power and perform all of your favourite hits. While they maintain that their audience consists mostly of girls in their twenties and gay men, straight guys have always had their own reasons for liking the Spice Girls and should not be ashamed to attend.

Go if: You really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig-ah.

Tre Mission
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)
Sunday, 6 p.m.

Tre Mission is probably Canada’s only grime MC. At minimum, he’s the only one getting co-signed by the heavyweights of the traditionally all-British genre. As a result, he doesn’t play a ton of shows in his hometown. That said, he’s starting to increase his local profile after successfully taking over the U.K., and has been tapped as one of the next Toronto MCs to blow up.

Go if: You’re a fan of fast, technical MCs.

Raekwon and Ghostface Killah
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)
Sunday, 9 p.m.

Raekwon is a part-time local, Ghostface is making up for not coming to Canada for 16 years due to an immigration ban by playing two shows in seven months, and they’re both part of one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time. Seeing shows like this for free is what makes NXNE great. If you’ve always wanted to shout along with “Daytona 500,” this is your chance.

Go if: You like hip-hop even a little.

Pink Wine
The Crawford (718 College Street West)
Sunday, 11:45 p.m.

If you’re looking to end your NXNE with catchy tunes and an all-around jammin’ good time, look no further than this power-pop group. With melodies and funk not dissimilar to the New Pornographers, Pink Wine (who are made up of members from Mother Teresa, the Miracles, and the now-defunct Get Nuns) will have you oohing along to the beats as your feet try to keep up.

Go if: You need one more stretch of non-stop dancing before you have to sign back into work tomorrow morning.

For those of you who don’t feel like running around all night, we’ve taken the liberty of selecting the evening’s best single-venue lineup.

Best Lineup: Saturday
Yonge-Dundas Square (21 Dundas Square)

It is an understatement to say there is an abundance of good shows tonight. So if you aren’t interested in braving the crowd for Flaming Lips at Yonge-Dundas Square, seeing the recently reunited Archers Of Loaf’s return to Toronto, or venturing to a big non-NXNE show by some British band named Radiohead, there are other places to make camp. Lee’s Palace has Matt Mays (11:30 p.m.), The Horseshoe has Young Empires (midnight), but in all honesty it would be hard to beat the Yonge-Dundas Square day-long smorgasbord that, aside from the Lips (9 p.m.), also offers Of Montreal (7 p.m.), Portugal. The Man (8 p.m.), and Oberhofer (6 p.m.), among others.

Best Lineup: Sunday
The Rivoli (334 Queen Street West)

It’s the end of the festival and, to be honest, the last thing you probably want at this stage is to hear even one more note of music. Here’s the alternative: kick back and let regulars of Comedy Bar’s Laugh Sabbath like Chris Locke, Nick Flanagan and Aaron Eves cleanse the palate with endless bouts of uproarious laughter. There’s no sense in limiting your NXNE experience only to music when there are other forms of entertainment this enjoyable out there.

The Antiheroes were set to open tonight’s hip-hop showcase.

The SmashMouth Entertainment showcase that was supposed to take place tonight at The Rivoli has been cancelled after the Toronto Police Service contacted bar management this morning with security concerns. The event was supposed to be one of the larger hip-hop bills at this year’s NXNE festival, set to feature 10 different acts from New York, Washington, DC and Vancouver, as well as several locals.

A manager at the bar, who would only give his name as Todd, confirmed that members of TPS’ Guns and Gangs Unit had visited the bar earlier in the day.

“Police did come in this morning, and I wasn’t here at the time, but they approached us with some security concerns, and between the police, us and the folks at North by Northeast, we decided that it was best if we cancelled the show altogether,” he said.

Staff Sergeant Winston Bennett, of 52 Division, confirmed that police did approach the venue with concerns about security, but that the final decision to cancel the show lay with the bar. He was unable to provide any further details.

“The police don’t cancel shows,” he said.

The promoter placed the following message on its Facebook page late this afternoon:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, and at the request of the Toronto Police and the Toronto Gang Unit, we regret to announce that our NXNE “SmashMouth Mentality” showcase scheduled for June 13 at Rivoli has been cancelled. For any inquiries regarding this matter please direct all messages to Brenden Hewko of SmashMouth Entertainment – Brenden@SmashMouthEnt.com

The announcement disappointed fans and artists alike.

“I kind of have half a mind to, I don’t know, write letters about it or something,” said Roshin, an MC with local group Notes to Self. Notes was scheduled to take the stage at 10:50 p.m. “It sucks, because it’s the only big rap show other than Yonge-Dundas.”

He’s also confused by the police’s reasoning.

“Half the acts aren’t from Toronto, and the ones that are play all the time,” he said.

More details will be posted as they become available, but in the mean time, here’s some terrifying, gang-related music.

Forget compasses, GPS, or helpful Sherpas. From June 11 to 17, Torontoist is here to be your guide to everything NXNE.

A crowd at Yonge-Dundas Square awaiting Iggy Pop at NXNE 2010. Photo by Nancy Paiva/Torontoist.

Welcome to the first edition of Torontoist‘s daily picks for NXNE 2012. Our team of intrepid writers has put together a by-no-means-complete (and totally subjective) list of the evening’s best acts to help you make the most of day one of the music festival.

Army Girls
Supermarket (268 Augusta Avenue)
9 p.m.

Carmen Elle and Andy Smith, together as Army Girls, provided us with a smooth but powerful shot of power-punk to get our day started back in April on Record Store Day. Every time we’ve seen the two perform, since our first time in a living room at a now-defunct (and sorely missed) musician-house-party hot spot, they’ve grown exponentially in panache and confidence, which is probably why the duo is hotly tipped in many publications for this year’s NXNE.

Go if: You enjoy drums and guitar with a powerhouse lead vocalist.

Sexy Mathematics
The Detour Bar (193.5 Baldwin Street)
10 p.m.

Mathematics is sexy. But you already knew that, right? As for music, well, that’s sexy too. Led by vocalist Chris Daviduik, this up-and-coming electro/indie group blends synths and guitar harmonies together to form a sound that’ll have you rocking out of your socks. Their debut album, Future Nights, which is streaming in full on their website, should give you a strong indication of the type of party you’re in for.

Go if: You want to start your NXNE dancing.

Denzil Porter
The Rivoli (334 Queen Street West)
12:20 a.m.

Bronx-based Denzil Porter has been every rap blogger’s favourite underappreciated MC ever since his song “Kanye West”—about the joys of being an asshole—went viral late last year. Given Porter’s classic East Coast flow, his distinctive tenor voice, and his penchant for rhyming over melodic beats that verge on pretty, he probably won’t be underappreciated for much longer. Catch him now so you can say you saw him when.

Go if: You also occasionally enjoy being an asshole.

Nixon
El Mocambo (upstairs) (464 Spadina Avenue)
1 a.m.
UPDATE 5:19 PM: Nixon’s manager has just informed us that the band will not, as previously scheduled, be playing the El Mo at 1 a.m. Instead they will be playing a party at 586 Richmond Street at 7 p.m., along with Dinosaur Bones.

A lot has happened since the band formerly known as Tiny Danza won Indie Week in October of last year. Aside from the name change, the hip-hop infused rock group has signed a record deal, played SXSW, and taken their talents overseas. MC Galen Hogg and R&B singer Andrew Cameron complement each other magnificently, and they’re backed by a legitimately tight group of musicians. If the group’s notorious reputation holds true, expect a high-energy performance with some even harder partying to follow.

Go if: You don’t have to work Thursday. You want to feel like you are in the know on one of NXNE’s off-the-radar shows.

MJ Cyr
Czehoski (678 Queen Street West)
1 a.m.

MJ Cyr. Photo by Victoria Kucher.

When we profiled MJ Cyr for last year’s NXNE, she was in the middle of recording an album inspired by Bahá’í devotional prayers, using them as the lyrics. She’s since finished that album, called Canopy, and has just returned to Toronto from yet another East Coast tour. She’ll be primed for her first set back.

Go if: You enjoy cleverly looped guitar and snyth-pop sounds, like Imogen Heap. Or early Florence + The Machine.

Topless Gay Love Tekno Party
The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West)
1:05 a.m.

Let me be very frank here. Even if I knew nothing about Topless Gay Love Tekno Party, I would recommend you see them based solely on their name and the fact they are playing at 1:05 in the morning. That the Vancouver-based band makes super catchy dance-rock, has referred to themselves as “visual performance art,” and does a really weird Arcade Fire cover is just a bonus.

Go if: You’re hoping your night takes a turn for the weird.

For those of you who don’t feel like running around all night, we’ve taken the liberty of selecting the evening’s best single-venue line up.

http://youtu.be/NwrdjXgU9pA

Best Line-Up
The Painted Lady (218 Ossington Avenue)

The Painted Lady boasts an intriguing mish-mash of guys and gals. From Avery Island (9 p.m.) to the ladies of Sidney York (11 p.m.), the line-up places some talented females front and centre. The trend continues with Australian rockers The Aves (9 p.m.) and the powerful vocals of Juliana Ronderos in Il Abanico (midnight). And let’s not forget about the men of Boston’s Animal Talk (10 p.m.) and their brand of body-moving electro-pop. Also, Toronto’s own purveyors of lush psychedelia, HiFi Phantom (2 a.m.).

Go if: You want a diverse range of acts in one spot.

Forget compasses, GPS, or helpful Sherpas. From June 11 to 17, Torontoist is here to be your guide to everything NXNE.

Image courtesy of the artists.

Notes to Self
The Rivoli (334 Queen Street West)
June 13, 10:50 p.m.
Click here for NXNE wristband pricing options.

East End rap crew Notes to Self have been local scene stalwarts for the better part of a decade. This year, they’ll be returning to North by Northeast as part of the massive SmashMouth Entertainment showcase at the Rivoli, where they’ll be sharing the stage with nine other acts from across North America. One quarter of the crew, Roshin, talked to Torontoist about the maturation of the city’s hip-hop scene, and what that means for the genre at North by Northeast. Our edited, condensed interview is after the jump.

Torontoist: How did you wind up at NXNE this year?

Roshin: We were contacted directly by Brendan Hewko from SmashMouth, who’s a guy we talk to a lot—a really, really great up-and-coming promoter in this city. He brought up the first Smoker’s Club tour and the Stalley dates that just happened, and we were talking to him about doing some other stuff in the future, and he said, “I’d really like to get you guys on the showcase.” So we said, “Dope, let’s do it.”

It feels like there’s more hip-hop as a whole this year. Do you think NXNE is finally starting to get on to things other than indie rock?

I know, I can’t wait to see Killer Mike. That’ll be dope…. I think it’s hard sleeping on music once it gets to a certain place. Music grows up, promoters grow up, and venues grow up.

Places like the Crawford, Wrongbar, and the Rivoli are becoming staple spots for hip-hop in the way that places like the Horseshoe have been for rock for ages and ages. That’s great to see. I mean, I’m not biased. I love music as a whole, so I don’t want to see an all-rap North by Northeast.

It’s cool that the SmashMouth showcase, it’s pretty much all blog rappers. So it’s a South by Southwest–style show…. You’ve got guys from New York, D.C., Toronto, the rest of Ontario, and Vancouver, and all good-quality artists.

Do you think the fact that more local rappers are getting internationally recognized is helping the genre at NXNE?

That’s a good question. Maybe indirectly? I don’t know how much of a conscious thing it is. I think it has more to do with the fact promoters are doing a better job representing it. SmashMouth, Droppin’ Knowledge, and I Luv Lola are all doing these big, well-done rap shows, so there’s no longer a monopoly on it like there was for years. There are these good, independent promoters, which are the kind of people that North by reaches out to…. Although, obviously, Drake and The Weeknd blowing the fuck up doesn’t hurt at all, but it’s a circular thing.

The SmashMouth show is huge in terms of the number of artists. Who are you excited to be working with on that?

Obviously I have to shout out Rich Kidd, because he’s the homie and I love the fact that he’s headlining at 2:30 in the morning. That’s hilarious to me. I’m going to stay and drink until 4 a.m. In terms of out-of-town guys, there’s a guy, Denzil Porter, who’s coming in. He’s been up on the blogs a lot lately. He had a song called “Kanye West” that was really dope. The other guy is T.Shirt, who’s just really raw New York hip-hop. It’ll be great to just meet guys like that and kind of build with them. Denzil actually got in on Friday and played Rich’s solo show that he just had, and he’s just kind of hanging and working with guys. It’s great to see guys from New York and other cities just come up here and kind of build. It says a lot as to where we’re at as a community. Artists in Toronto are the guys that people are respecting in the industry right now.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at NXNE?

Killer Mike for sure. It’s weird to say, but Raekwon and Ghostface, because I’ve never seen them before. It just never worked out. That free show is going to be epic for me. I’ve seen Method Man, but he’s the only member of the Wu-Tang I’ve seen live. When I got into rap, I was too young to see them on those early tours, like for Wu-Tang Forever. There’s a lot of bands I’d like to see, but I don’t know how many of them I’m actually going to check out, because I’ll be busy working with a lot of these guys.

Picnicface. From left: Evany Rosen, Kyle Dooley, Cheryl Hann, Bill Wood, Andy Bush, Scott Vrooman, Brian Macquarrie. Not pictured: Mark Little.

Picnicface gave a sneak preview of their show last night at the Rivoli, and one of the first sketches perfectly summarized the group to the packed house. In the sketch, Andy Bush plays a suicidal jumper on the ledge of a building. The sketch starts out with Mark Little in the crowd, screaming at Bush: first to get a DVD on the ledge next to Bush, then demanding that Bush give up “his awesome shirt.”

It’s fantastic and very traditional sketch comedy, which abruptly morphs into an absurd song-and-dance routine comparing Little’s hairless chest to Bush’s ursine one and finally into a sort-of callback to their “Good Touch, Bad Touch” sketch. It’s an almost Pythonian progression from traditional comedy to anti-comedy all in the space of about five minutes, and it’s really funny. And that’s a good chunk of the reason why Picnicface now have their own TV show on the Comedy Network: they’re a collective comedic jack-of-all-trades.

Members of the group worship numerous comedians of all styles, from Paul F. Tompkins to Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, and the members themselves all have their specialties: Little refers to Scott Vrooman as “the Bruce [McCulloch]” of the group, “the vibe of difference, of dry sensibility,” while Bush is the group’s filmic director, Cheryl Hann the “strangely talented battle rapper,” Brian Macquarrie the most physical, Evany Rosen the “brainiest writer,” and Bill Wood the “purest soul” who demands that their comedy be inclusive.

Wood as "Gregory Cheerio." We could explain, but... no.

During the show, Vrooman and Kyle Dooley take turns doing what are more or less readings from Picnicface’s upcoming book. Vrooman’s “explanations” of the various provincial flags are killer (Ontario’s is the winner of a “most pathetic collage contest”); however, Dooley’s presentation of musical charts and equations gets a good reaction but feels a bit derivative, like it got upvoted on Reddit a thousand times before being deemed worthy for mass consumption—it’s those hip-hop graphs but with Canadian musical artists.

This illustrates what seems to be Picnicface’s primary vice: something that can only be described as internetiness. The group often indulges in randomness, sometimes for its own sake, and the results are hit and miss. The “trucker robbery” sketch, which ends with Bush screaming and pretending to be a deer, gets one of the less enthusiastic receptions of the night precisely because it’s so random. Picnicface have relied on the absurdist non-sequitur since they first broke big on YouTube with Powerthirst, screaming about 400 babies and Kenyans, but even they can’t make it hit every time. (Of course, Bush’s deer act then segues into their brilliant series of cereal-tycoon titan performances, so it rebounds.)

If this is a criticism, though, it is a mild one. After all, Picnicface filled the Rivoli to bursting (and forced staff to turn away many more) for a reason: they’ve been honing their craft since 2007, constantly putting on shows in Halifax’s otherwise small comedy scene (where Picnicface was the only major sketch-comedy troupe, and for a long time the only major improv group as well), refining their creative process and writing enough sketches to float a comedy show for years. During that time they also created Roller Town, which is opening the Atlantic Film Festival (but not TIFF, as Bush sarcastically notes in the group’s opening spiel).

Bush and Mark Little. For the LADIES.

In short, Picnicface are good at what they do, and only growing better as it as they progress. They are smart comics, every one, and the Rivoli show was mostly excellent at a point when they’re still very much developing as performers. They have the potential to be the most important Canadian sketch troupe since the Kids. We only hope they can live up to their promise.

The premiere episode of Picnicface premieres September 21 at 10:30 p.m. on the Comedy Network.

Babes in Space the Sequel: The Wrath of Thong
The Revival
(783 College St.)
August 28 and September 1

There are a few things you might learn at the Revival’s Star Wars vs. Star Trek burlesque show, Babes in Space the Sequel: The Wrath of Thong, that you didn’t even know you wanted to know: How much for a decent pair of tribble-inspired pasties? ($15 from the sexy blue-shirt at the merch table.) What is Queen Amidala wearing under all those robes? (They may have strayed from the canon here.) And at the end of the night, how does an olive-hued Orion slave girl get home? (The Ossington bus—she’s just like you!)

This is the second consecutive year for Babes in Space, an all-geek, all-sexy show produced by (and with performances by) Toronto burlesque dancer Red Herring. She has learned much of what she knows from local expert Coco Framboise, who holds classes on Wednesdays at the Fierce Fitness Studio on College Street, but Herring also extols the virtues of picking things up from YouTube (as she did with bellydancing). At various times, the crimson-haired lifelong Trekkie, who also goes by Reena Smith, has tried her hand at everything from musical theatre to ballroom dancing to stripping. “There is a certain line between stripping and burlesque, but the line is very thin,” she says. “Burlesque is all about the art of the tease—it’s just how far you push that tease, and the narrative you bring to it.”

And what better narrative to bring than the rabidly beloved interstellar adventures of Star Trek and Star Wars? While they do play up the rivalry between the two, there’s plenty of room in the show’s dozen or more acts for both franchises to bare all—so for every Amidala discovering her own dark side (performer Keela Watts) there’s an aerial Borg dancer navigating her way around a suspended cube (Miranda Tempest). And taking the award for “Best Ever Use of William Shatner’s cover of ‘Common People’” is BoylesqueTO’s Patastrophic Sexapeel, whose cheeky turn as Captain Kirk brings the show to a triumphant close.

Based on the audience’s cheering at the beginning of the night, things seem pretty evenly split between the various Wars and Treks of the stars, but even Red Herring has her convictions: “I am a huge nerd, and I absolutely love sci-fi,” she says. “I grew up a Trekkie, but the nerd world absolutely loves Star Wars. And I have the love-on for the original Star Wars—but we’re gonna ignore the rest.” Strong fighting words, but maybe they’re fair: Episodes I through III did bring us the sniveling Anakin Skywalker, after all, and Jar-Jar Binks with his terrible language conventions.

Thanks to the success of the inaugural Babes in Space show, this year features two performances, and this Thursday’s roster will be a slight change-up from Sunday’s show—same great theme, with a few acts replaced by shiny new models. Without giving too much away, rest assured Vader has never looked this sexy doing such ungodly things with a lightsaber.