Results tagged “livemusic”

Photo by Stig Nygaard.

Photo by Jeremy Farmer from Flickr.

The Toronto Argonauts can turn this Sunday’s Eastern Final into the perfect kickoff for the upcoming Grey Cup festival. If the Argos beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to reach the championship game, it'll give a huge boost to the week-long party, also known as “Canada’s national drunk.” Brad Watters, general manager of this year's Grey Cup, says that the team winning the 95th Grey Cup at home "would really turn the town on its...

Torontoist is one of fourteen cities in the worldwide Gothamist network. Once a week, the editors of each site—from LAist to Londonist—compile some of their most interesting posts into a brief blurb. It's Elsewhere In The Ist-A-Verse, and it appears, across the network, every Sunday.

Lovers of live music are in luck this week—there are a great deal of quality shows in the next seven days. Musicologist's number one choice this week is The Cinematic Orchestra (Sunday at the Phoenix), since we were utterly enchanted by their free outdoor show at Harbourfront earlier this summer. Head over to their MySpace and give the songs a listen. Just try to resist being won over.

Though the lineup for this year's Virgin Music Festival is, admittedly, pretty awesome, there are still bound to be individuals for whom a full day of live music (and shameless advertising!) is simply not reason enough to make that ferry boat ride out to the Island. That's where Global Inheritance comes in.

For those of you whose opinions on street festivals have been soured in recent history by overpriced takeout and corporate advertising, check out this weekend's Pedestrian Sunday (August 19) in Baldwin Village. You can take a self-guided historical walking tour of the village or stick around for the live music playing from noon 'till 10:00 p.m.

"Honest Ed" Mirvish passed away nearly a month ago, but Toronto is still in mourning. On Sunday, August 12, his family will be hosting a celebration of life outside of the Honest Ed's Emporium (581 Bloor Street West) in lieu of Ed's famous annual birthday party—he would have turned 93 on July 25.

Those Pedestrian Sundays folk are back this weekend (July 15), and this time they're taking over Baldwin Village.

Queen West West hosts the Parkdale Arts and Crafts Festival this weekend, July 14 and 15 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Organized by the Parkdale/Liberty Economic Development Corporation (PLEDC), the festival is intended to "promote and celebrate the diversity of arts and culture in Parkdale." We're mostly going for the beer garden and knitted finger puppets.

Photo by jonathanhoustonhill.

Tonight at 8 p.m., Freedom Clothing Collective, a clothing store specialising in Toronto-designed garments made using sustainable materials, re-opens its door in celebration of Earth Day (which was actually last Sunday...Earth Week?) and shows off its new renovations.

Shameless, the Toronto-based publication "for girls who get it," has made a name for itself as an inclusive, progressive alternative to mainstream girls’ publications, where the dominant message is one of surface over depth. Staffed by volunteers, Shameless’ mandate is to give voice to a diverse group otherwise characterized as singularly boy and diet-crazy.

Perhaps you can best describe it as a scavenger hunt with a lot of creative freedom.

It seems pretty appropriate that we just had Groundhog Day, given that we're feeling a little bit like Bill Murray looking at the concert listings this week. Not only is there very little going on, but most of the bands who are playing seem to be here every week (Apostle of Hustle, The Tragically Hip, Hostage Life, Friendly Rich). Thus, we have nothing left to say about them! So if you've already seen these shows, it is advised that you take this time to rest up because the end of February and month of March are going to be insane for loads of high quality live music.

Toronto is one of the most important centres of African music outside of Africa itself, according to cultural heritage organization Music Africa. Besides pointing out that Toronto has more African music on the radio than any other North American city and hosts the largest annual music festival of its kind (Afrofest), the site also has these flattering words to say:

Probably the most remarkable development over these last few years is how groups have combined musicians and styles from across Africa in a way that would not even be possible in Africa itself. Toronto has developed a sound of its own, one that includes and combines all the unique talents available. This represents what is the City's greatest strength - the ability to see our differences, not as barriers, but as great opportunities to share and grow in a way that enriches everyone.

For decades, Toronto music fans had access to several great venues where they could go on almost any night to listen to live jazz. The Rex may still be hopping, but the recent closures of Montreal Bistro and Top O’ The Senator left options limited and jazz fans heartbroken.

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to.

For live music junkies, the week between Christmas and New Year's can offer very little in terms of quality shows. The folks at The Drake Hotel are trying to remedy the situation with their What's In The Box? week of shows. Running from the 26th to the 30th, the Drake Underground and Lounge are featuring the best acts from 2006. Each day is five dollars and features five bands, leading to a nice "5 Bands 5 Days 5 Dollars" slogan.

Two of our contributors, Shari Kasman and Jenelle Rupchand, are all about arts & crafts this weekend. In this roundup, Shari brings you some of the many weekend fairs going on, while Jenelle's stocking up on some fair trade goods.

If you're not completely burnt out from Nuit Blanche, there are plenty of quality shows to check out this week, including Joanna Newsom, Massive Attack, and Myspace darling Lily Allen. Alternatively, you Hip fans can skip out on the live music this week and save up your change for all four (yes, FOUR) of the recently announced shows at the Phoenix a few weeks from now. Can Gord Downie and pals really justify the $60 admission fee these days? Could they ever? On a similar note, Guns N' Roses are coming to the ACC in November -- should they be asking fans to shell out up to $85 to see a bloated Axl Rose trying to slither around the stage, caterwauling 'Sweet Child O' Mine'? Wouldn't that just be painful to watch? Are we asking too many questions? Okay, we'll stop.

Looking to check out some live music this week? Here's your listing of what's happening around the city between August 7-13.

Torontoist likes being socially aware and with that, we bring you Inner City Visions. IC Visions is North America's first governmentally funded hip-hop & urban music centre. They have a full in-house studio where they invite young people with an interest in music to come in and record their songs and compositions totally free of charge. As studio equipment and recording times are hard to come by, IC Visions is providing a most fabulous service which provides professional access and support to youth who would otherwise not be able to get close to studio time. To add to the benefit of Inner City Visions, music industry professionals and key players from major labels like Sony BMG are invited to come by and talk about their roles, job descriptions, career paths, education and provide inspiration to those youth who come by and are interested in learning about the music industry. Above and beyond this, IC Visions provides mentoring and photography workshops as well.

acoustic-y 60s-ish folk pop band... you know, the one that will change your life. And they were fair comparisons - the sonic and stylistic similarities were undeniable, though Rogue Wave's record didn't quite possess the quiet confidence that The Shins' output did. It sounded more tenative, unsure - probably due to the fact that it was one-man show at point, everything written and played by one Zach Rogue (not his real name).

As the temperature makes its inexorable descent downward, Torontonians tend to pair off to keep each other warm all winter. Torontoist only wishes to offer chilly lovebirds all the help we can, so in honour of the pre-winter chill that's been promised us this week, we're Listing our five favourite spots to bring those special someones in out of the cold.

, a record that is unmistakeably AmAnSet. And while there are no curveballs, it's still a uniformly excellent album.