Results tagged “thehorseshoe”

ART: Tonight at the Steam Whistle Brewing Gallery, "MOMBACHO: A Photo Chronicle of Life in Nicaragua" is having its opening reception. Photographers Elton Clemente and Sean Zaffino are both creative staff members at Steam Whistle Brewing. While they were on a business adventure developing Nicaraguan cigars for export to Canada, the duo snapped a series of shots portraying the stunning scenery and life throughout Grenada, San Juan del Sur, Managua, and Rivas. The series of photos is not meant as a social commentary, but as a reflection of the jaw-dropping scenery and inspiring people of the areas. Steam Whistle Brewing Gallery (255 Bremner Boulevard), 6 p.m., FREE.

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).

When deciding who to see at this year's Over The Top Festival, we luckily opted to check out Halifax's Rich Aucoin. Between his musical pedigree (he's the brother of the Hylozoist's Paul Aucoin) and the fact that his EP was synched up to How The Grinch Stole Christmas, we knew he would at least be interesting. His set turned out to be far better than just interesting, so it seemed natural to give his Personal Publication EP (Independent) a proper review.

Swedish garage rock band Mando Diao seem to be quite fond of making up words. First, their band name came to singer Bjorn Dixgard in a dream, then they named their recent release Ode to Ochrasy, which is a made-up term meaning, well, we're not sure exactly, since we've read so many variations on the story. What's not made up, however, is the fact that the band is in town tomorrow night at The Horseshoe, with supporters Pop Levi & The Films. It's true. In fact, courtesy of Against the Grain, we have 2 pairs of tickets just for you. If you want to go, send an email with your full name to carrie@torontoist.com, along with the answer to this skill-testing question: What's better? Swedish meatballs, Ikea or blondes. Entries 4 and 6 win the prize.

There are quite a few bands in town tomorrow evening and we happen to have tickets to two of the shows, courtesy of Against The Grain.

After personally emailing us to confirm that they won't be detained and given a "special Canadian inspection" at the border, San Francisco's Birdmonster are happy to finally be allowed in our fair land, and will be headlining a show at The Horseshoe this Wednesday, March 28, in support of their latest album No Midnight.

New York's Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (both formerly of Luna) are hitting the Mod Club on Monday night, in support of their recently released second album, Back Numbers. Word on the street is that not only will they be performing Dean & Britta songs, but Luna and Galaxy 500 songs, as well.

The Lemonheads stopped by Toronto last week to play an almost capacity crowd at Lee's Palace. While this is the first Lemonheads tour in about 10 years, lead singer Evan Dando was in town at The Horseshoe last February, playing a solo show, which turned out to be a less than stellar set where he walked off because "people were talking in the back." Seriously. It's more likely that he quit due to being (almost certainly) completely out of it, becoming less and less coherent as the show went on. So when it was announced that The Lemonheads were coming to town, many speculated about how the show would go -- would it be a trainwreck or would it be worth going to?

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.

iAnother! iTicket! iGiveaway!

Torontoist has a pair of tickets to see Rouen, France's Tahiti 80 (along with Brookville) at The Horseshoe this Saturday night, courtesy of +1. Wanna go? Email carrie [at] torontoist.com and name one song, other than their latest single Big Day, from Tahiti 80's latest album "Fosbury", and you'll be in the running.

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.

Tsk, tsk. Late two weeks in a row. Someone needs a good spanking. Next week we'll get our act together and put Torontoist before busy schedules and get this puppy out on time. Pinky swear.

Torontoist needed a few tries to understand the hoopla surrounding Spank Rock, but we think we finally get it now. The non-stop Spank Rock dance party worked the crowd at The Horseshoe into a veritable frenzy last night, at least by proud Screwface Capital standards.

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).

differs from the first two full-lengths in that it carries itself with a greater confidence than its predecessors. This is a record that struts home in costume after drama club, jocks in the hallway be damned.