Toronto has had its fair share of crushes on pop groups. We remember when days were like that with Sugar Jones. And, yup, we may not have won the Olympic bid, but we have an even better title: Spice City. We loved the Backstreet Boys way before the States even knew who they were. However, as Spidey knows, with great power comes great responsibility—and, boy, have we let that responsibility slip with our love of......

We've said it before: MuchMusic kinda sucks nowadays. Dave Bidini says the same thing, but more eloquently, in his column at This Magazine. The front man of the now-defunct Rheostatics reminisces about a time when his band was "afforded two hours at midnight to present bands live in an empty garage studio in the bowels of the Much/City colossus." Regrettably, those days of low-fi Canadocentric programming are long gone. Bidini continues: Circa 2008, MuchMusic......

Each week, Torontoist examines the upcoming TV listings and makes note of programs that are entertaining, informative and of quality. Or, alternately, none of those. The result: Televisualist.......

After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square. Since Rogers Communications announced plans to acquire Citytv, there has been much speculation about what would happen to the legendary Queen Street studios. The solution became the former Olympic Spirit complex at the south-east corner of Dundas Square. Built for $42 million in 2004, the building......

It's been a while since we've had a good beef between two rappers (and release date conflicts don't constitute beef, Kanye and Fifty), but here's one that may have some artistic merit: Toronto rapper Seazon claims that American hip-hop star Chamillionaire ("Ridin'") jacked his idea for a music video. According to hip-hop news site SOHH.com, the video for Chamillionaire's "Evening News" (above right) bears striking resemblances to Seazon's video for "The Reporter" (above left).......

All photographs in this article courtesy of Much Music. In the harsh cold light of the morning of June 18th, it’s time to step back a bit and take a look at the overall experience of liveblogging the MMVAs. What did we think? Well, firstly, in retrospect, we feel kind of bad about just how badly we cussed a lot of celebrities—particularly those who hit the little stage. In general, the blame may actually......

Yes! The image above, taken at last year's MMVAs and courtesy of Much Music, is just a mere taster of the kind of reaction Torontoist's legions of adoring fans will make when we stroll down the red carpet on our way to liveblog this year's Much Music Video Awards from on-site. Who cares about seeing live performances from Avril Lavigne, Billy Talent, The Used and more! When you can instead sit in front of......

Overheard at 2 AM along Queen West last week by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. MuchMusic VJs Sarah Taylor and Devon Soltendieck are walking together, and appear to be quite happy. The VJs smile at two pretty teenaged girls as they pass by. Girl #1 (in a congratulatory tone): Bang up job on the channel, boys! Devon (immediately turning around and yelling): Boys?! Boys?! This is a beautiful woman that you're talking to......

At left: Jennrock's sign says it best. (Photo by B-Mom Marta van Eerdewijk) Top right: the familiar set. Bottom right: stage door throngs in Buffalo. Last month, ever dedicated Torontoist undertook a special mission to Buffalo with b-girl crew, Shebang!, to preview the touring road show of So You Think You Can Dance before today's Toronto performance at the Hummingbird Centre. Truth be known, we could not get tickets for the Toronto date. That......

He was known for his tales of Old Hollywood as much as his ever-present hairpiece, and Toronto just became way more boring without him. Yesterday, famous publicist and personal manager Gino Empry died at Western Memorial Hospital from congestive heart failure due to a stroke he suffered in July. Though he lived in a huge downtown penthouse condo on Mutual Street, Empry had been in the hospital since the stroke. Empry never revealed his true......

If this green arrow were real it would crush several hundred teenie boppers and a few dozen talentless musicians on Sunday. Sadly, it's not real. What is very real is the Much Music Video Awards and the resulting noise from screaming adoring fans and traffic confusion from out-of-towners who forgot that MuchMusic actually occupies real space and once a year holds a large award ceremony. Guests this year include Paris Hilton (and the resulting......

MTV Canada launched three months ago, and since that time one thing has become obvious: it's way better than MuchMusic. Less annoying VJs (including Daryn Jones, of Daryn Jones & Mista Mo fame) and way more addictive content (My Super Sweet 16 and Laguna Beach, to name a few) are just the tip of this sexy, American iceberg. Sure, MTV doesn't have any actual music videos and their website is a huge pain to navigate,......

Back in March, we told you about the launch of MTV Canada. Yesterday we were noticing how they've spent their budget on adding fancy lights to give the Masonic Temple, where they film MTV Canada, more prominence. Strangely, it reminds us of the Chum City building, home of Much Music, without all the foot traffic and big windows to see in the studio.......

Lately there's been more and more attention paid to the TTC and it's conservative ways. It either doesn't embrace affection shown towards it (Spacing Subway Buttons, TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide), or outright rejects affection (TTC Anagram Map). But have things always been this way? A trip into the past reveals that they might have been worse: Hearsay: In 1986, the Shuffle Demons requested permission to film a video on a bus for their......

...only a ridiculously adorable little puggle. On a frigid Friday morning like this, we like to sit around in our sweatpants browsing through our referral logs. And this morning our referral logs tell us that an inordinate number of people have been coming here lately looking for genitalia, severed limbs, and puggles (these numbers are matched only by instances of Torontoist contributers Googling themselves, and people wondering about the heights of obscure celebs - they......

"Hey hey. Ho ho. Ashlee Simpson is a no-talent goat." That sort of taunt, made up this very second, could very well be included in the grass-roots movement to embarrass Ashlee Simpson today at Much Music. The group making the noise, headed up by some Ry-High students, has put forth the following message: We are meeting in front of Ryerson’s School of Image Arts building (122 Bond Street, close to Sam The Record Man)......

Much Music VJ and occasional TOist tipster Jenn Hollett bids adieu to the Queen and John scene today on Much on Demand. She's leaving to travel and pursue new adventures. But you'll be able to keep up to date on the former veej's activities by checking her personal site, One of those, for a dose of Hollett news. What's up with that place? Was George the glue that held it all together? And why is......

Tall Poppy Interview - Amanda Walsh, Actor...

Who can promote a irresponsible multinational corporation? Sprinkle it in dew? Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two? - Dalton's buddies lift energy alert. But that doesn't mean you can leave the microwave on all night. - Buy all the booze you can, right now. - Dear Summer, Jay Z is en route to Much Music. Rick the Temp is going to be grilling him, although VJ Hannah might have made a better......

If you haven't seen the commercial where Paris promises it's gonna be HOTT in Toronto tonight....heads up on Queen Street tonight boys, cause Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert are in town to promote their highly anticipated screaming-chick-horror-flick House of Wax. John Street's already blocked off, apparently they're expeciting a bit of a crowd? Yep, that's two "it" girls on one crowded little red carpet, for a "special" live event at 7pm on Much Music. Torontoist......

Tonight brings an infrequent opportunity to see vids that don't get the Much Music Ashlee Simpson treatment (ie-heavy roation). And that's a shame, because the offerings at tonight's 3rd annual Indie Music and Video fest promise visual treats of all varieties. Torontoist saw Pepe Deluxe's 'Girl' video at last year's WWSFF Scene and Not Heard program, and later at Resfest, but the video, a soul track that looks as if it's being interpreted by Milton......