You really have to wonder how performance artist and sexual activist Louise Bak always manages to schedule the very best mix of the Toronto literary scene for her Box Salon series. The successful poet and CIUT "Sex City" host founded the event back in 1998, and a decade later it is still the most entertaining literary night out in Toronto. While many other reading series can be hit or miss, the Box is consistently fresh,......

Photo by Stig Nygaard. The Art Bar returns tonight with its annual Audience Appreciation Night with readings by the Art Bards, live music, and free poetry chapbooks for all audience members by the Art Bar Team. Also returning for the new year is This Is Not A Reading Series. For the first event of the year, join Carl Wilson and Mark Kingwell for an on-stage discussion where they will be talking about love and......

Sure, they penned the obviously raddest one-hit-wonder of 1996, but since that fateful year, full of cheerleaders and homoerotic football players, Nada Surf have continued to rage against the dying of that hit-single light. They may have fallen off MTV's radar, but so have most things north of Christina Aguilera's baby-bump. Since leaving Elektra in 1998, the band have built a quiet following of appreciative indie rockers around the world, unconcerned with attaining the......

As the subject for a serious music book, Céline Dion––amazing or not––seems like an odd choice. In the latest book in the 33⅓ series, however––a series which typically looks at albums like the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures or the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St.––Carl Wilson, probably Toronto's pre-eminent music critic, takes it upon himself to "[strive] to understand Céline's global popularity," in the process "fac[ing] the question of what......

Photo of Owen Pallett by chichibebelolo on Flickr. Photo of Steve Kado by Shakeer on Flickr. The Harbourfront Centre presented the first edition of “Inside the Musician’s Studio” as part of its View Points series on Thursday evening. Modeled after “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” the event was hosted by Carl Wilson (The Globe and Mail, Zoilus). Guests were Blocks Recording Club founder Steve Kado and Polaris Prize winner (and Blocks artist) Owen Pallett, aka......

The urban sprawl in Toronto is a continual point of debate on Torontoist (see, for instance, our interview with Brad Lamb), but tomorrow you will get a chance to share your opinions on the matter outside of our sullied comment threads. On Monday, 7pm to 9pm at the Parkdale branch of the Toronto Public Library, fourth year students from Ryerson University will present their study of gentrification in Parkdale, followed by a moderated panel......

The slow move from Torontoist to FinalFantasyist is nearly complete. Owen Pallett is pretty great and all, but to date we've talked about his song "This Lamb Sells Condos"; the video for that song; the inspiration for that song; the prize that Pallett won for the album that the song appears on; the love that Canadian bloggers have for him; the love that we, specifically, have for him; previewed and reviewed his library show......

When Coach House Books launched uTOpia: Towards a New Toronto last year we were absolutely, positively thrilled. The book brought together a group of people in love with the city and its potential. A year later, we're just days away from the launch of the State of the Arts, the sequel to that fine volume. With many of the same contributors as the first volume, we know that Coach House will pull off a fine......

Who Is DJ Cyber-Rap? Depending what circles you run with, this question may have been nagging you for quite some time. If you’re a member of Stillepost, the message board that plays hosts to almost all of Toronto’s scenesters, you’ve known about DJ Cyber-Rap since 2005. That’s when the 59 year-old widower (born Robert “Ronald” Marie MacDougall) first started posting in the Toronto forum of Stillepost from internet cafes, using painfully effortful internet jargon in......

Abuse, dancing, destruction, disappointment, death and Laffy Taffy, in that order: 8 year-olds, dude. The soooper-annoying Keith's Scottish guy is up on child porn charges - including pictures of infants. SNL goes Narnia Rap Redux with a new viral video. Or at least an attempt. Meanwhile, eye writes about Queen Street Man this week. We just wrote that so we could write this: New look, new OUTlook. Spitz destroys Destroyer. Indie-rock cheerleader Helen Spitzer breaks......

Owen Pallett's most raucous cheerleader has to be blogger, Globe and Mail writer and man about town Carl Wilson. He's been singing Pallett's praises for months and all of this worthy praise has culminated in a profile in the New York Times arts section! If you haven't already picked up Pallett's release, go now. It makes a lovely holiday gift. Photo: stolen in a good cause from the NYT......

Frank Yang. Is there anything you can say about the guy that hasn't already been said? Well, how about this: He does a damn fine weekly gig guide. Let's see if we can pick up where he usually picks up... Thursday September 15: At Lee's 13 & God might turn into a more Notwist crowd, though Themselves have proven themselves to be quite entertaining by themselves. Should be good for the $15 cover. Meanwhile Les......

It’s great living in a city that attracts such a diverse cross-section of musical acts every weekend. From indie rock to loser rock, from hip hop to hop-scotch, from classical to jazz, you’re bound to find something. Tonight Old Soul are playing the Santa Cruz party at Lee’s Palace tonight, $8. See here. Zoilus’ site says that “live-video-feed make-out (and sometimes more) booth, Mars Volta apres-festivities” are part of the show. Eye’s got the story......

For a mid-afternoon, end-of-the-week kick in the pants, tune into CIUT's new music show Eclectic Sound Basement. The show runs courtesy of Torontoist comrade Guy Stevos, of Sans Blog fame, and has been known to rawk. Content includes "an unpredictable mix of eclectic music not heard anywhere else" and an interview with loveable Overtones columnist Carl Wilson. The show airs every Friday at 12 P.M. Act like you know.......

It's a very Sakamoto of us to put a cover song in this week's mixtape, but it's a nice cover and the two bands seem to be the subject of a lot of talk lately. Don't worry though; we'll stay away from any of those Strokes/Chingy mash-ups that Sakamoto likes so much. 1. The Arcade Fire - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) A clever cover of one of the Talking Heads' best singles.......