Results tagged “thedrake”

A group of schoolchildren sit down at a table, armed with notebooks and pencils in hand. It's dinnertime, and they're ready to be served. But tonight's specialty won't be Macaroni à la KD, nor a plate of crustless PB & J. These kids are dining inside of Queen Street's finest eateries, and to them, it's not quite kid stuff. Once the dishes are cleared, the kids get down to business―laying on the table their uncensored, audacious opinions.

Photo by Bytepusher from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Photos by Hannah Sider.

It's a Monday night. It's St. Patrick's Day. Your buds have been bombed off Irish car bombs and green Steamwhistle since noon, but you've shirked the shamrock fever all day, calling it purposeless partying.

Iceland was made for you and me.

Snappy Answers runs every Saturday afternoon. Send your questions, be they tough or trivial, to snappyanswers@torontoist.com.

Next Saturday, Toronto Poetry Slam brings you the last slam of the season, with some of the city’s brightest and wordiest battling it out for the last remaining place in the semi finals. Finalists will have a shot at the 2008 Toronto Poetry Slam Team, which competes at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the US National Poetry Slam (this year to be held in Madison, Wisconsin).

It's hard out there for a scenester these days. So many parties, so many DJs, so many Next Big Things... and so few brain cells to spare. We all know how important it is to like the right stuff, but between finding hot new ways to wear neon headgear (hint: there aren't any) and figuring out which prescription drugs don't mix, who has the mental energy to figure what exactly that stuff is?

Musicologist is not sure The Drake is a large enough venue for the arrival of Baby Dee on Wednesday, February 6. The multi-disciplined artist is a classically trained harpist, organist, legendary Cleveland street and circus performer, and collaborator with such brilliant acts as Antony and the Johnsons. The 54-year-old performer brings a wealth of musical and artistic experience to the stage, and her transgendered politics are surfaced through her healthy variation of wistful harp and piano-driven pieces (often reminiscent of 70s singer-songwriters) and (most evidently on her recent release, Safe Inside the Day) ones resembling those of a cabaret score. It is difficult to not love Baby Dee for her eccentricity and musicianship, but most critics and new listeners have qualms with her sparse, unfocused voice. Similar to Joanna Newsom or Tom Waits, one must look beyond Baby Dee's unique voice and understand where it comes from—a less-than-perfect voice with heart is better than a big one with no emotion.

Most should be very excited by the wide gamut of shows announced this week; Musicologist is excited, but distracted by the concept of a $30.75 Hedley ticket. But yes, excitement: Rick White and The Luyas (one third Jessie Stein of Miracle Fortress and SS Cardiacs, two thirds Bell Orchestre’s Pietro Amato and Stefan Schneider) play the Music Gallery on February 9. Gogol Bordello returns on March 2, shortly after their over-the-top performance last October. New York’s Vampire Weekend evidently can’t get enough of Toronto coming back for the third time since last summer on February 11. Basia Bulat (with Musicologist-loving Katie Stelmanis) is headlining her own show after a heavy North American, Hayden-supporting tour on March 29. Finally, Thee Silver Mt. Zion play on June 7 and 8 as per their (sometimes) annual Toronto visit—sadly, both shows will be Patti Smith-less.

Photo by David Topping.

The Drake is gearing up for an ambitious week of post-holiday, end of year music celebration. They are calling the short run What's in the Box: 5 nights, 5 bands, 5 bucks—a clever ploy to attract the empty-pocketed portion of the city (that's if you go for the music, not the booze). Despite being known for attracting enemies to the neighbourhood in the past (err...every Saturday night), the 5 nights (5 bands, 5 bucks) of solidly booked bills might win over the locals, even if it's just for those 5 nights (5 bands, 5 bucks).

Hanging out in the city with Torontoist's Summer Reads.

Torontoist has seen its fair share of Google Maps mashups. For geography nerds like us, maps are always fun to play around with, but most of the mashups we've seen so far have not been particularly useful. That is, unless you're dying to know where they keep all the Timmy's or bust all the grow-ops.

For the entire month of May, the Deep Wireless festival will be taking place at various venues, from the west end to your very own living room. Presented by New Adventures in Sound Art, this is the sixth edition of the annual festival that explores the medium of experimental sound and radio art.

There are as many types of poetry as there are different styles of music. Books of poetry are usually confined to a shelf or two at a local bookstore, but if you want to buy a CD, you visit an entire store dedicated to music. When someone professes to like poetry, the reference is probably to a favourite type of poetry, and not all poetries—just as a jazz afficionado might dislike Country and Western, or a pop music fan might hate Metal.

On the way to the sold-out Bunch Family Salon at The Arts and Letters Club last Saturday, my eight year old son looks into the window of our subway car and sees an alternate universe; it's just us, but backwards. After he asks me to call him by his inverse reality name, "ttenraG," he ponders how my name would sound. Turns out that even in other worlds, my name is "moM."

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.

The year is winding down and so is the music, which is kind of nice, actually, because there seem to be a lot of tours already gearing up for 2007. Hopefully Alexisonfire isn't one of them...we have no idea how they can manage to go onstage and scream for 7 solid days (they have a few more shows this week). Insanity.

Windy enough for ya? Those heavy gusts that left you scrambling for your scarves yesterday also knocked out power to some of Toronto's east end, and much of Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

We've all been to record release parties and book launches, but a party to celebrate the latest music video? Local indiepop crooner Gentleman Reg asks, "why not?" by hosting an event this Friday at the Drake Underground.

Tonight Pontiac Quarterly unleashes its second issue this year at The Drake Hotel (8pm). For those of you unfamiliar, PQ is a performance magazine where writers read their fiction, feature stories - even advice columns - on stage in front of a live audience. Coming around only four times a year (it's right there in the title!), The Torontoist looks forward to it like our mom looks forward to gardening season.

open for business, selling the stacked townhouses that are already being built behind 48 Abell.

, an old-timey-style radio play about fear of old age and death. Also horseracing. Joe Cobden, an award-winning Montreal actor, will be performing the show, which he wrote with a little help from Torontoist's own J.Kelly (who also has some info about the evening, but no explanation why the J is missing from the poster).

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Assuming it doesn't rain torrents, you have two options for free filmgoing this evening. Dundas Square offers family fun with The Sound of Music, while Harbourfront capitalizes on its proximity to a large body of (sharkless) water with Jaws. Do neither of these films tickle your fancy? Then why not set up a screening in your own backyard? Rent a projector, pop in your favourite movie, and invite TOist over. We love us some Christopher Plummer, but it's time for a little more variety at city screenings!

Wait a second...Isn't this a hip music venue that serves that nice fresh fruit salad? Yes to the music venue, and doubly so to the fresh fruit salad. But the Drake's hipster appeal is not the reason that there's a ginormous line every weekend - that's more so because of the luv-hungry 905ers go there to get lucky. Perhaps it's just the dichotomy between the Drake Underground (the aforementioned hip music venue) and the two upper levels, but the West Queen West establishment looks like it's become the new home to the most obvious and abhorrent pick-up moves in the city. ("You may remember me from the airport scene..."). We'd wish you good luck there tonight, but if you can get in, there's really not much luck needed.

will make no mention of the Chretien government, and will most likely lay off Canada altogether. The Drake Hotel (1150 Queen W) houses the film in its basement (pronounced 'the Drake Underground') tonight at 9:30pm, with the doors at 8:00pm. After-party includes the Alchemy Trio (featuring Richard Underhill), Great Bob Scott, Lee Hutchinson, and a "rare" set from DJ Gringo Star (formally known as Sir Spinner Fine Vinyl).