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blogTO
Here we go again. The first edition of our blogTO Muxtape sparked some debate regarding the online fad's legitimacy and about music promotion in general.
Since last month's post, 27 Muxtape subscribers have favoured our mix and the site has automatically embedded a "buy now" link under every song. The link goes to Amazon MP3 - the popular US-only online music shop. The Canadian version may or may not be coming soon, so most of the songs we're posting will not benefit from this yet.
CBC Radio 1's show Q Radio has got into the Muxtape game. Check out their Muxtape at qradio.muxtape.com, and check the blogTO muxtape 2.0 over at: toronto2.muxtape.com.
Photo by Jerrold Litwinenko.
This Saturday I went to the Sip, Savour & Preview for Santé: Toronto International Wine Festival . As a son of wine parents I developed a taste and vocabulary for wine early on which was surprisingly impressive at parties: "This is... oaky. And... fleshy." So it's with some trepidation that I would be exposed to actual experts during the course of this sampling, which was was held at the castle of liquor that is the Summerhill LCBO.
The Candy Coated Killahz, last seen in TO during the Toronto Alternative Fashion Week, have a busy May ahead of them. Next week they're supporting headliner Zaki Ibrahim at a gig at the Mod Club but this Thursday (May 8th) they're out to create some buzz with a CD Release Party at Wrongbar.
We've found ourselves with a bunch of tickets and swag to give away to this week's show. Want some of it for yourself? Keep reading for contest details.
Despite all the hooplah about CanStage's recent financial woes, the company deserves praise for its 2007-08 season at the Berkeley Street Theatre. CanStage's three Berkeley shows- The Pillowman, Palace of the End, and The December Man- are all unflinchingly honest looks at humanity's darker places. Bold choices, particularly when Toronto's theatre industry struggles with declining attendance, stagnant funding at the grim prospect of a North American recession.
As the old saying goes, fortune does indeed favour the bold. The Berkeley season has been at least an artistic success, bringing a welcome level of relevance and emotional depth to Toronto audiences. It is perhaps fitting then that the final show of the season, The December Man, should embody this trend so fully. While The Pillowman reveled in an almost cartoonish brutality, and Palace of the End spoke with the urgency of today's headlines, The December Man takes a softer, simpler look at the lingering destruction of a horrible crime. It is a very moving show, a detailed and honest look at a family consumed by guilt and loss.
Exciting news Toronto! Yonge and Dundas Square has just announced the City Cinema flicks for this summer. The City Cinema is a weekly summer program of free films projected amongst the billboards, flashing lights and constant sirens at Yonge and Dundas Square. While many find these distractions unnerving, others (myself included) love the idea of watching movies amongst such an interesting crowd. But whether you're into it for the cheap entertainment or for the films, this weekly series is definitely something you have to do at least once.
Photo: untitled by Megan Faulkner, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
Your Toronto morning news roundup for Monday May 5th, 2008:
This weekend, Toronto's contingent in the Global Marijuana March amounted to about 15,000 to 20,000 supporters, despite the heavy rain. The Star notes that most were teens and people in their 20's, and there are logical explanations for this. The thousands of older smokers have far too much at stake should they get caught, and those brave enough to risk getting caught were too relaxed at home to bother making it to the rally.
Happy (?) national Emergency Preparedness Week. Do you have the recommended items and plans to deal with a major emergency?
Speaking of potential emergencies, beware the bad beef. Hamburgers and ground beef sold in the city may be ridden with E.coli. Cross-verify the lot numbers if you bought the brands listed within.
This afternoon, the party-throwing folks at Promise once again lucked out and managed to have a beautiful weekend afternoon for their annual ambient music chill-out-fest with the cherry trees in High Park. Blue sky, warm temperatures, the short-lived bloom of the cherry blossoms, and ambient background music brought a throng of happy folks out to enjoy the fleeting moment together.
Continue for a photo slideshow of all the cherry-blossom-viewing, dog-petting, camera-clicking fun.
Every year, for a rather short window of time, spring flaunts its beauty loud and clear and the cherry blossoms at High Park bloom. The rain this week is a much needed part of the recipe for spring springing, but it's also taken a bit of a toll on the delicate blossoms, which are already beyond peak bloom and starting to paint the ground (stunning photo in the blogTO Flickr pool). Tomorrow afternoon may be the time to visit the park.
Welcome to the Toronto Portraits. Every Friday we're going to profile a young, dynamic Torontonian, and each week we're photographing them in a different Toronto neighbourhood.
Gentleman Reg (a.k.a. Reg Vermue). Cabbagetown.
Gentleman Reg is otherworldly. His singing voice sounds like he's channeling a lost boy from beyond the grave; a falsetto, feminine phantom.
The third annual installment of Alternative Tentacles ends tomorrow Saturday, May 3, so if the urge to go gallery-hopping during this month's CONTACT festival hits you, this exhibit might be worth checking out. Showing at the new Xpace gallery location on Ossington north of Queen, Alternative Tentacles 3 features artwork from nine alternative high schools around the city.
CONTACT is officially on, and to make the festival this year just a little more interesting, we've partnered with HP Canada on a month long photo contest. It's super-easy to enter and we'll be awarding some killer HP prizes to two lucky winners.
Keep reading for contest details including the theme, prizes and details how to participate.
Last night Toronto saw the return of 90's Brit-rock heavyweights The Verve, reunited after a decade of inactivity. The band had conquered the world with their third full-length record Urban Hymns, a classic record in their genre that included the massive hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony".
Then the infighting started, mainly between lead singer Richard Ashcroft (pictured above) and guitarist Nick McCabe. There were rumours of fistfights and endless arguments that led to McCabe quitting and the band imploding shortly thereafter.
This Friday I'm heading to The Gladstone to see my friend's band, We Love, again after seeing their show last month. In Toronto out of university it seems like all of my friends and their dogs were in an indie band at some time or another; I've had to attend so many shows of incoherent guitar strumming and mike lambasting that my compliments had dwindled down to "you seem to really feel it!" or "nice lighting".
In what has become a frequent sighting on West Queen West over the last few months, yet another long-time resident has closed their doors. The latest casualty is the popular restaurant and brunch spot Butler's Pantry. Like the rest of the stores and restaurants moving out of the neighbourhood, their lease came up and sky-rocketing rents have made it all but impossible to renew.
Despite the downpour last night a solid number of people packed the galleries along the Queen West strip, and even with tonight's impending rain there's no stopping the official launch of the CONTACT Photography Festival at Brassaii. Like last year, the party will be featuring live portrait photography and projection by quirky duo Alex Vs Alex.
Alex Vs Alex is Alex Ioannou and Alex Gray, whose friendship spawned from their penchant for taking pictures of interesting people in equally interesting environments. The Alexes have come a long way from their 18-year old selves tinkering with their fathers' hand-me-down cameras to highly sought-after photographers commissioned by Mini Cooper, Puma and the Royal Ontario Museum. Tonight the Alexes are replicating last year's Portrait Party but on a grander scale with a guerilla post-production studio, a specialized computer system that automatically uploads the pictures and projects them as a slideshow and no less than six printers dispensing instant headshots for the partygoers.
Continue reading for pictures from last year's Portrait Parties at CONTACT and Nuit Blanche.
