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Urban Planner: July 24, 2008
ART: Group art exhibit No Parachute Required has its opening reception tonight at Gallery 1313. The show features Alexei Vella, Michael Byers, Greg Hill, Kyung Soon Park, Christina Ung, and Urbanaut mastermind Rey Ortega. The exhibit explores the concept of risk-taking, and runs until August 3. Gallery 1313 (1313 Queen Street West, West Entrance), 8 p.m., FREE.
MUSIC: Rockabilly hype band Slim Twig is playing Rancho Relaxo with Sunset Rubdown side-project Magic Weapon and Montreal art-rock group Mixylodian, as part of concert promoter Lauren Schreiber’s NO SHAME series. Stick around until 1 a.m. for the King Khan & the Shrines afterparty, where Mark Sultan (a.k.a. BBQ) will be playing a set. Rancho Relaxo (300 College Street), 9 p.m., $5.
SPORTS: For the next four days, wakeboarders unite down at Toronto Island for the tenth annual Wakestock Festival. The festival offers the largest wakeboarding competition in the world, performances from forty bands on three stages, and other extreme competitions. Today’s events include the Malibu Boats Wakestock Amateur Wakeboard Championship; the RGX Skatepark Freeskate; and the ever-objectifying Wakestock Bikini Contest, sponsored by everyone’s favourite beer, Bud Light. Toronto Island (among other venues: for a full list of event locations, visit the Wakestock website), 9 a.m., $10–$62.50.
FESTIVAL: The Streetfest portion of the 20th Annual Beaches Jazz Festival kicks off tonight, and more than fifty bands will be playing nightly along Queen Street East until Saturday. The official schedule and list of bands is available on the Jazz Festival website. Queen Street East (from Woodbine Avenue to Beech Avenue), 7 p.m., FREE (not including the inevitable cost of street munchies).
DANCE: Boys, burlesque, and bawdy thrills unite as seven local boys’ dreams of an all-male burlesque troupe are brought to reality for the debut performance of Boylesque TO. The night promises to be a raunchy affair. In case you miss the show, the troupe, whose cast includes our own Johnnie Walker, is having an encore performance tomorrow night. The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom (1214 Queen Street West), 8:30 p.m., $15-$20.
Poster courtesy of Rey Ortega.