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Urban Planner: January 14, 2011
Urban Planner is Torontoist’s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to [email protected].
“The One” (Siobhan Richardson, in red) will once again battle the Crazy Ninja Death Squad at a special midnight performance of Duel of Ages tonight, benefiting the Toronto Fringe Festival. Photo by Dahlia Katz.
In today’s Urban Planner, rapper Aceyalone at the Drake, and wannabes at Rap Battlezz; simultaneous rock sets at Four Corners, plus danceable sets from Kidstreet at Silent Shout and Bonjay at Nuff Said; mystery contestants at the Crapshoot cabaret; and crossed blades, drawn pistols, and epic brawls at the Next Stage Festival’s Midnight Massacre.
RAP: The night gets going early for rap fans, as Los Angeles-based lyrical wizard Aceyalone repeats last night’s performance at the Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West), with opener Cale Sampson, 9 p.m., $10–$12. After Acey’s set (which kicks off at 10 p.m. and must be over by 11 p.m.), head north to Bloor Street for the first anniversary show of Rap Battlezz; the throwdown parody, including a headline battle between champ AC Risky (Adam Christie) and challenger MC Docile (Thomas Rivas), is the best possible tribute a bunch of nerdy white comics could muster. Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West), 10:30 p.m., $5.
ROCK: It’s also a busy night if you want to head-bang or dance. Four bands (Lullabye Arkestra, Quest for Fire, Sun RaRaRa, and Rituals) will play simultaneously at Four Corners at the Steelworkers Hall (25 Cecil Street), with food at 9 p.m., all bands at 11 p.m., $6; live dance music night Silent Shout features Waterloo’s Kidstreet as headliners, with Kat Burns‘s electronic project Kashka opening, at Teranga (159 Augusta Avenue), 9 p.m. doors, $5; and DJ night Nuff Said has special guests Bonjay at Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West), doors at 10 p.m., $10 ($5 if you email to get on the guest list).
CABARET: The Elephants in the Room have made this month’s edition of the Crapshoot vaudeville cabaret a tantilizing mystery, though if you look at the jumbled names on their Facebook event invite, we’re pretty sure who a couple of them will be (like Parker and Seville, and stand-up comic Diana Love). Even the acts themselves don’t know tonight’s running order and have to be prepared to do their five minutes whenever their name is called. Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue), 10 p.m., $1-$11 (roll of the dice).
THEATRE: Our coverage of the Next Stage Festival, wherein we reviewed all eight shows, wasn’t initially favourable towards Duel of Ages; we compared the stage fighting spectacular, which had early technical and staging issues (and scenes cut due to injury), to a certain web-crawler musical (and we weren’t the only ones). Well, we’ve seen the show again since and are happy to report much of the wrinkles have been ironed out; plus, the martial arts battle royale finale has been reinstated. The combatants perform a special Midnight Massacre tonight, benefiting the Fringe Festival. We’re hearing all sorts of crazy rumours about extra mayhem (and possible audience participation). Factory Theatre (125 Bathurst Street), pre-show reception at 11 p.m., show at 11:59 p.m., $25 (includes $10 charitable tax receipt).