What's Happening

OOPS! Thanks to "anonymous" for pointing out that I had an old PS Mirvish Village event posted... I've removed it to avoid confusion.

Bloor Cinema has the Summer Toronto Film Challenge results Friday at 7 pm. Admission is $12.
As well, the Toronto premiere of Stuck runs throughout the week. Starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, it's billed as being firmly in the gallows humour category.

Wisconsin singer-songwriter Bon Iver is at Lee's Palace Tuesday. Tickets are $14.

Dr. David Tal, a gerontology specialist, will be at the MilesNadalJCC June 17th at 1:30 pm to present Heart and Mind: Promoting Health and Preventing Disability. It's $2 (free for members), and includes coffee and a bagel. For more information, contact Phyllis Fien, phyllisf@mnjcc.org.

On Wednesday, you can mosey over to the Palmerston public library at 10:30 am to watch a family movie. Call 416.393.7680 for details.

The Tranzac Club on Brunswick hosts its Open House this Saturday starting at 8 pm with a jam-packed line up that includes the Fembots and castlemusic. Tickets are $10 in advance/for members and $12 at the door.

The Art Bar poetry reading series at Clinton's features Jaclyn Piudik, Spencer Butt and Christopher Doda, Tuesday at 8 p.m. Free admission, but donations are welcome.

Annex residents are involved in the "sold out smash hit of last year's Fringe Festival," Gladstone Variations.
''Convergence Theatre once again takes audiences on a journey of discovery through Toronto's historic Gladstone Hotel, where a first-rate cast ushers you into connected worlds of dreams, memories, and lost loves."
Performances run from July 16 to August 3rd. Tickets vary in price and can be ordered online.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

The Annex Tree Tour set for Saturday starting at 2 pm is part of Toronto Tree Tours. The two-hour outing is free, but you need to register.
Things get underway at the northwest corner of College & Spadina, where you meet up with the guide, arborist Todd Irvine. Highlights of the tour include:
* an ancient white oak—thought to be one of the largest in the city—growing just steps away from one of Toronto’s busiest streets.
* wandering down back alleys to discover hidden giants, including a 70-foot-tall bur oak.
* venturing into the past as you gaze down a tree-lined boulevard onto St. Stephen’s in the Field, a 150-year-old Victorian Gothic style church that was once surrounded by gardens and grasslands.
Members of the Harbord Village Residents Association and The Annex Residents Association will be there to share stories about helping the forest canopy in their neighbourhoods.

Monday, May 12th is Varsity Day at the Bloor Cinema. If you show your U of T student card, admission is $3. The slate is Caramel at 4:30 pm, Up The Yangtze at 7 pm and The Band's Visit at 9 pm.

Liverpool-based indie rockers Clinic play Lee's Palace Sunday at 8 pm. Tickets are only $15.

It's the last weekend to catch MyType:Type Inspired Posters at Keep Six Contemporary art gallery at 938 Bathurst Street.

If you need a laugh head to Clinton's on Tuesday for The Artbardy Har Har, part of the Art Bar Poetry series. It's billed as an evening of comedic poetry. Free, but donations appreciated.

Clinton's is also the site for Catch23 Improv comedy and the next one has a twist... here's the mysterious invitation:
Catch23 and the case of the mysterious crime! on Monday, May 12 at 9 pm.
Can you figure it out before it does?
What: Convention
Host: catch23

There'll be a Heart & Craft Outdoor Eco Artisan Market on Saturday from noon to 6 pm at 61A Bellevue Avenue. It features 16 exhibitors showing clothing, jewellery, cosmetics and more.

The Palmerston Library hosts Korean-Canadian author and Registered Nurse Gemma Baik Tuesday, May 13 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. She will talk about her life's work in Korea and Canada, as well as discuss prenatal care. The talk will be in both Korean and English and marks Asian Heritage Month.

On the same day, Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, is joined by Uof T philosophy professor and author Mark Kingwell for Well, Well: An Evening Of Dialogue On Social Change. The benefit event for Massey College and The Canadian Journalism Foundation starts at 7:30 pm at Convocation Hall. Tickets are $25 & $10.

Bloor Street Gospel Chorus performs the concert We've Got Joy! Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Bloor Street United, 300 Bloor St. West. Tickets are $12 at the door, $10 in advance and $7 for students. Call 416.477.9310 for more information.

Shaun Evans plays The Central on Markham Street on Wednesday and The River Pilots, which features one of our neighbours, plays its monthly gig on Thursday, May 15th.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

It's Environment Month and one way to Think Global, Act Local is to join the Saturday morning spring cleanup of Ecology Park. Located on Madison Avenue, just north of Bloor, the park is an initiative of the Annex Residents' Association. More details are on their website.

Lee's Palace has a packed lineup, including State Radio from Massachusetts Friday at 9 pm ($15), Destroyer, a/k/a Dan Bejar of The New Pornographers Saturday at 9 pm ($13.50) and Tuesday at 8 pm The Aggrolites play "dirty reggae" ($13.50).

The Bloor Cinema is one of the hosts of the Hot Docs documentary film festival this week. The lineup includes Shot In Bombay, about shooting films in Bollywood, The Rise and Fall of the Grumpy Burger and 1984 documentary Shut The Fuck Up that "cleverly takes on the mass media's focus on gossip, spectacle and celebrity instead of content in its treatment of art and artists."

Charlotte Cornfield plays The Central Sunday at 8 pm. Tickets are only $7.

Doug Valleau, Sharon Harris and Tara-Michelle Ziniuk read at Clinton's Tuesday as part of The Art Bar Poetry Series. It's free, but donations are appreciated.

And there's always 1001 Friday Nights Of Storytelling at Innis College Cafe, 2 Sussex Street. It runs from 8 to 10:30 pm and cost is a suggested donation of $5.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

There's quite a few diverse musical happenings sched'd for this week...

The Reveries are at the Tranzac Saturday night for a CD release party, followed by a reggae dance party.

A cappella group Wibi is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a concert at the MilesNadalJCC on April 5. You can buy the $15 and $12 tickets online.

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra features Love and Betrayal: Handel Opera Arias with Daniel Taylor and Carolyn Sampson with a run that begins Wednesday at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.

Also at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre, Toronto Consort offers The Glory of St. Mark's with works by Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli. Fri. & Sat. 8 p.m., 416-964-6337.

At Trane Studio at 964 Bathurst St. Ainiké is joined by ex-Shuffle Demon Perry White for an evening of world-fusion and jazz Fri. 9 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Victor Wooten hits Lee's Palace Monday. Tickets are $25.

For film fans, the Bloor Cinema has some interesting things going on this week... Monday is Varsity Day and admission is $3 if you show your U of T student ID. The line up is Lars and the Real Girl at 4:30 pm, Persepolis at 7 pm and There Will Be Blood at 9 pm. The latter two get Tomatometer readings in the 90s; not too shabby.

Also, if you want to revisit some classics, or introduce your kids to them, Wednesday night's double bill is Sunset Boulevard and A Streetcar Named Desire. I've heard nothing about the intriguing sounding Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of The Tosser, but it screens Saturday at 9:30 pm.

History buff? You might want to attend the final event in the Building Toronto: Archives and Architects lecture series (a .pdf flyer is available online). Andrew Waldron discusses Researching the Recent Past: Modern Architecture and the Archival Record Saturday at 1:30 p.m. It's free, but you have to register at 416-392-0558. City of Toronto Archives, 255 Spadina Rd.

Most Mondays you can enjoy improv comedy at the aptly named Clinton's, which is on the corner of Clinton and Bloor. Catch23Improv starts at 9 pm and the cover is just $5.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

This one doesn't happen until Thursday, March 27th, but I'm telling you now so that you can make time in your schedule. The Annex Residents' Assocation holds its Annual General Meeting at 7:30 pm at the Friends House on Lowther. Gary Wright, Toronto's acting chief planner, will be speaking.

The ROM is "all about" Charles Darwin and his theories these days, so it's only natural that they would select (sorry!) the movie Inherit The Wind for a screening and lecture. The 1960 Stanley Kramer movie is about the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, the real-life case of a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution.
The ROM screening takes place Tuesday at 7 pm and the evening is introduced by film lecturer Anthony Harrison, while Toronto lawyer Michael Weissenborn will discuss the legal aspects of the original trial. Tickets are $18/$15.

Tomorrow night at the Tranzac Club Mysterion the Mind Reader & Santini "The World's Most Extreme Escapist" take to the stage in the main hall at 8 pm for Mysterion: An evening of EXTREME sideshow and escape never before seen anywhere in North America." It's billed as being like SAW or Hostel LIVE on stage. Rock band The Sevenate also is due to perform. Tickets ($17- $20 ) are available at Darkside on Queen, or at the door.

The MilesNadalJCC at Bloor and Spadina holds its annual Purim Carnival this Sunday from 11 am to 2 pm. It's $7 per family to get in, there's cheap food for sale and you should wear a costume.

Dundas, Ontario's Caribou perform tonight and tomorrow night at Lee's Palace. Tickets are $15.

The Art Bar Poetry Series, which takes place at Clinton's, features Toronto's poet laureate, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, on the 25th. It starts at 8 pm and admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Jeff Latosik and Ariel Platt also will read.

The Randolph Academy is mounting Anton In Show Business next Tuesday through Saturday at the Bathurst Street Theatre, which is housed in a former church on Bathurst, south of Bloor. Performances are at 8 pm and tickets are $22.

Of course, it's Easter weekend and the niblets are off school both Friday and Monday. If you'd like to celebrate with a parade, you'll have to leave the 'hood. You can choose either the frivolity of the Beaches Easter parade, or the solemnity of the St. Francis of Assisi Church's Good Friday Procession. The latter starts at 3 pm and follows a route south of our area. It's quite a massive undertaking, as this article outlines, and as these pictures illustrate.
The Beaches Easter parade runs from 2 to about 4 pm along Queen Street East from Fallingbrook Road to Woodbine Avenue. This parade is heavy on the bunny costumes/free chocolates aspects of celebrating Easter. There's even the third annual Dog Day Parade, with prizes for the best-dressed dogs.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

Things To Do

The Wanted play at The Tranzac Saturday at 6 pm, just one act in a very full roster.

On Wednesday the 5th at 6:30 and 9:15 pm The Bloor Cinema screens Autism: The Musical, which follows five autistic children as they work together to create and perform a live musical. Director Tricia Regan will be on hand for a Q & A session.

Fans of Molly Johnson can catch her one-hour set tomorrow night at the ROM for free. It starts at 7 pm and is in honour of Black History Month.

Toronto Consort, which is housed in Trinity St. Paul's on Bloor, west of Spadina, features Toward the Centre: Music for a Medieval Labyrinth Feb 29 & March 1. And I quote:
"The medieval labyrinth, found in many of the great Gothic cathedrals of Europe, is a compelling symbol of the journey to the centre (and back again), of the perils and the path of life, and of beauty.
In the Middle Ages pilgrims visiting the labyrinth danced in this sacred space and the Toronto Consort has researched this ancient custom to present a stunning program of music for the labyrinth: lively medieval dance-songs, sophisticated renaissance polyphony by Josquin Desprez, with a special new creation featuring members of Sampradaya Dance Creations.
This concert is part of the Sacred Spaces, Sacred Circles Arts Festival, a celebration of music and architecture in the Spring of 2008."

Bluegrass Goes Pink is a Foggy Hogtown Boys Fundraiser for the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. The boys perform at The Brunswick House on Saturday from 3:30 to 7:30 pm. The $5 suggested cover will go to WEBC team Putting our Breast Foot Forward. It's listed as suitable for all ages.

Tuesday at Clinton's you can catch Robert Boates, John Allemang and Bill Howell reading their works as part of the Art Bar Poetry series. Things get underway at 8 pm and it's free, but donations are appreciated.

On Tuesday, as part of Crime Writers of Canada Readings at Casa Loma, Lyn Hamilton and Rick Blechta will read, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Admission $12 and pre-registration is required: contact operations@casaloma.org for more information.

Cheers,
Vanessa

What's Happening

Palmerston Library has been hosting readings as part of Keep Toronto Reading. Tomorrow at 7 pm features Common Denominator: Reading the New Toronto with Judy Fong Bates, Goran Simic, Shila Desai and Sayeeda Jaigirdar. There's also spoken word by Michelle Muir and music by master drummer Muhtadi. It's free and there's more info online at http://www.diasporadialogues.com/

There's several acts on during the week at The Central in Mirvish Village, including a Rock Band Open Mic night on Monday. The Tranzac is keeping things rocking, as usual, on Brunswick Ave. On the 26th, the intriguing sounding An Inconvenient Musical starts at 7:30 pm. Hmmm....

Well, I'm sure you've all seen the hype about the new Indiana Jones movie coming out. The Bloor Cinema is showing two of the first movies in the series throughout the week in case you want to refresh your memory, or introduce a little person to the whole whip-cracking, edge-of-your-seat adventure.
You also can go to The Bloor to catch Sunday night's Oscars ceremony. Everything's more fun in a crowd, right? Or with buttered popcorn? Doors open at 7:30 pm.

If the cold, snowy, windy winter has you down, maybe a little comedy will perk you up? Don't forget that Clinton's (on Bloor at -- where else? Clinton) has Catch 23 improv comedy showdowns on Monday nights and it's only $5 to get in.

Slightly farther afield, but probably worth the trip AND within walking distance: Robert Munsch, author of children's books Love You Forever and The Paper Bag Princess (just to name two) gives a storytelling concert Saturday at 11 am and 1:30 p.m. It's at lovely Convocation Hall, 31 King's College Circle, in the U of T grounds.

Whatever you do, enjoy it!
Vanessa

What's Happening

The "crystallized" ROM is going all out to get families through its doors, though judging by the line ups I saw spilling a looooooong way on to Bloor during the Holidays, the newly re-opened Dino exhibit's already packing them in.
Anyway, Saturdays and Sundays are crammed with events that are free with admission.

Nearby, the Bata Shoe Museum has Saturday Shenanigans with a Chinese New Year theme until the end of February.

The Central is a restaurant/live music venue in Mirvish Village that's always hopping. During the next week there's several music shows and something called a Plasticine Poetry Series.

Clinton's, at Clinton and Bloor, is the venue for the free Art Bar poetry reading series 9th annual Discovery Night on the 22nd at 8 pm.

On the 20th there's a Virtual Family Tree Workshop at the Miles Nadal JCC. It's $50 per person or $75 a couple.

On the same day, the JCC also is hosting one in its series of music lectures about great Jewish composers. The topic Sunday will be Jews and Opera. It's $9, which includes bagels and coffee.

Enjoy your week!
Vanessa

What's Happening

The Annex Residents' Association Board Meeting takes place Thursday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Everyone's welcome to attend at The Annex Retirement Residence, 123 Spadina Road.

Tranzac Club is host to Mariposa presenting Folkal Point on Sunday, January 6th. Cover is $20, performance is @ 7pm.

The Burrow Art Centre is hosting an Open Studio full of art activities on Saturday the 5th for $8 hour. Call 416.532.1777 for more information.

Catch 23 Improv comedy is back for a new year at Clinton's, 693 Bloor St. West. This Monday it runs from 8:30 pm - 11:30 pm. Cover is only $5.

Enjoy!
Vanessa