Urban Planner: February 11, 2009

By Vicky Peters

Image from Milking the Rhino courtesy of Kartemquin Films.

FILM: Doc Soup presents the Canadian premiere of Milking the Rhino. The film documents an alternative trend in Kenyan wildlife conservation that seeks to include the people of the Serengeti in the solution to threatened animal species instead of ignoring or villainizing them as with the traditional—and dysfunctional—system of game parks and wardens. The film’s director, David E. Simpson, will be in attendance for question and answers following the screening. A handful of free tickets will be released to students with ID at 5:30 p.m. Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West), 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., $12.
MUSIC: The Warped 45s play a residency at the Cameron all this month, roots-rocking the room every Wednesday night until February 25. Speaking of roots, this band’s go back to all-night jams at the family cottage in Algonquin. They’ve been garnering much attention of late and are about to release a full-length album. The Cameron House (408 Queen Street West), $10 p.m., FREE.
PARTY: Party people Pink Mafia are initiating a weekly Wednesday night promotional affair they’re calling Art d’. This week fetes the art of fashion and party photographer Carl W. Heindl. The launch includes drink specials from sponsor Ketel One—makers of Dutch vodka (we guess that’s why they need to promote themselves) and other elixirs—with a special tapas menu to complement them and music from DJ Jubal Brown. Czehoski (678 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., FREE.
COMEDY: Diversions in diversity are the context of tonight’s Crackin’Up. The line-up represents a small—very small—cross-section of Canadian ethnic backgrounds dishing out the dirt on the experience of multiculturalism. Headlining comedian Debra DiGiovanni is joined by “We Ain’t Terrorists Comedy Tour” producer Dave Merheje, “miscellaneously ethnic” Ali Rizvi, inventor of the stripping rabbi Tracey Erin Smith, and genteel host Oren Tamir. The Rivoli (334 Queen Street West), 9 p.m., $15.
ART: There’s an opportunity to glimpse early twentieth century Afro-Canadian history in photographs in the exhibit “Many Rivers to Cross: The Toronto Journey, 1900–1950,” on until February 16. The exhibit is associated with Black History Month events and features some of the prominent Afro-Canadian voices in the struggle for social justice in Canada. St. Lawrence Hall (157 King Street East), 10 a.m.–5 p.m., FREE.