Nicole Stamp's absolutely charming one-woman show BETTER PARTS plays tonight and for tonight only at the brand-new Bread and Circus Theatre Bar in Kensington Market at the corner of Baldwin and Augusta (we hadn't heard of it either!). You might recognize Stamp as the host of totally amazing kid quiz show Reach For The Top, but she's also an accomplished theatre artist who has been working BETTER PARTS for a few years now. The......

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......

On occasion, Daniel Johnston has shed his cult status and entered the public spotlight: it happened when Kurt Cobain promoted him and again with the release of The Devil and Daniel Johnston. And as a recent compilation confirmed, his influence can be felt throughout modern music, including Tom Waits, Beck, and The Flaming Lips. So it was a surreal experience to see Johnston close the Over The Top Festival this past Sunday. On one......

While our experience Over The Top experience from Thursday was full of guitar driven pop-rock, Friday night was all about pianos, keyboards and synthesizers. We're still all smiles from it, it was that freakin' good. Here's why. It's hard to find a more energetic, loveable duo than Matt & Kim, who started the night at the Mod Club. With Matt on keys/synth and Kim on drums, the Brooklyn pair smiled and headbanged their way......

Even though the Toronto Indie Pop Festival became the Over The Top Festival a long time ago, Thursday night's show at the Whippersnapper Gallery would have fit in easily with the former name. With three bands on the bill, it was a short blast of sweet songs that got the fest off to a good start. The first act on the bill was local four-piece Great Bloomers who quickly impressed the small crowd with a......

Aaaand, we're back! Live Baby Live had a false start a few weeks ago, but we're officially back in action now and have changed things up a bit. The listings will now appear on the site mid-week and run from Thursday to Wednesday. We're starting to sound like a broken record, but once again, there is definitely no shortage of recently announced shows this week. Good to see Brit 'it girls' The Pipettes returning......

The Over The Top Festival starts today—the real one, not the CFL event. The next four evenings will find bands, films and dance performances filling various downtown venues. Having originated in 2002 as the "Toronto Indie Pop Festival," past festivals have line-ups have included Grizzly Bear and Amy Milan. The 2007 line-up continues in this vein, most notably bringing singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, subject of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. The full schedule......

Over The Top Festival organizer Eric Warner has issued a letter to the Canadian Football League to cease and desist use of his festival's name. Warner's annual event, featuring diverse programming in music, film, and theatre, is now entering its sixth year in Toronto, while the CFL is promoting its fall Grey Cup events also as "Over The Top Festival". Warner's "Over The Top Festival" arrives on May 3rd, bringing acts such Daniel Johnston......

Once a month Torontoist would like to encourage you to drag yourself off the couch and across the room to that nice, comfy swivel chair in front of your computer, to experience something from the wonderful world of streaming. Anyone who's visited YouTube or eBaum's World knows how gratifying watching two Asian kids lipsynch to Jessica Simpson can be! So in the interest of expanding your horizons (or at least giving you some way to......

After being hotly anticipated for months- at least by stores- All Hallows' Eve is finally here. If you're at all concerned, the so-called North American Halloween Prevention Inc. has released a charity single, "Do They Know It's Halloween?" (It's really a spoof of the well-intended-but-slightly-patronizing "Do They Know It's Christmas?") It features a slew of Canadian musicians, including Arcade Fire, Buck 65, Sloan, Feist, and Wolf Parade; even better, all proceed go to UNICEF.......

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This week's weeklies point us to few concerts of musical and cultural import, namely, the Over The Top Fest. Torontoist would just like to emphasize this: The music kicks off tonight with found-sound bad boys The Books at the Abbas-Mo (464 Spadina), New York Times favourites Mice Parade at the Poor Alex (296 Brunswick), and By Divine Right headlining at Sneaks (431 College). The rest of the weekend includes MC Paul Barman, Amy Millan, Republic......