Every Monday, we round up the most exciting music news happening in Toronto. In this edition, Mounties are Canada’s newest supergroup, Skydiggers celebrate their 25th anniversary, The Sadies are featured on Hockey Night in Canada and more.
People all over the world celebrate Robbie Burns Day today. But what is the source of the man’s immortal appeal? According to a BBC documentary, “Robert Burns achieved more with his poetry than any writer since Shakespeare.” In celebration of his 254th birthday, we answer some questions about the freedom-loving Scottish bard (though we’ll always wonder why he gave an ode to a mouse or why he gave an address to a haggis.)
Soundgarden is making a quick two-day stop at Sound Academy this Friday and Saturday, and while tickets are currently sold out (we checked), we have a feeling that diehard fans will find a way to score some. As an alternative, if you’re the type that supports the local indie scene, the second annual Big Smoke Music Festival is hosting quite the lineup (like Graydon James and the Young Novelists and Kira May) at Tallboys Craft Beer House.
Louise Pitre digs the therapeutic value that darker roles offer
Beloved music critic Alan Cross met news anchor Mary Ellen Beninger in the radio booth
You would think a comedy troupe with a name like Rulers of the Universe would be pretty full of themselves, but that’s not true. All this silly septet wants to do is make us laugh — whether it’s headlining the popular Fan Fiction comedy series at Black Swan or appearing at the upcoming Toronto Sketch Comedy Fest. We chatted with member Jeremy Woodcock about getting along, serial killers and Jeff Goldblum.
Every week (usually Mondays), we round up the most exciting music news happening in Toronto. In this edition, both Yukon Blonde and Said The Whale are headed to the Danforth Music Hall (albeit separately), Patti Smith plays a doubleheader at AGO, Young Galaxy announces a new LP and more.
There are few writers in Canada who have reached the peaks of international success achieved by Toronto’s own Margaret Atwood. It has long been known that her novels and short stories are almost inevitably satisfying; they are witty, insightful, powerful, meaningful. So how wonderful it is to report that her fine “myth novella” of seven-plus years ago, The Penelopiad, has returned as an astoundingly good theatre production by Nightwood Theatre.
Whether it’s your New Year’s resolution to expand your cinematic awareness or break up your Oscar-movie viewing — or maybe you’re just sick of January releases — there are plenty of reasons to go early and often to the new film series Spotlight Japan at TIFF Bell Lightbox, which opens this weekend.
Quiet, subtle and peaceful is everything the Maple Leaf Monster Jam Tour is not. Those looking for a thrill that requires earplugs should head over to the Rogers Centre this weekend, where more than a few cars should end up literally flat on their backs.
With all the recent buzz surrounding the Oscar-nominated film rendition of Les Misérables, it’s almost hard to remember the original musical upon which the movie was based, especially for Torontonians: the Tony award-winning musical hasn’t been performed here for seven years. Well, die-hard Les Miz fans, David Mirvish confirmed with Breakfast Television this morning that a “new version” of the musical will be returning to Toronto.
And if I want to find parking at Yorkdale, I have to talk to the angels
