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05/01/12
Ah, yes. The great chess match of 1914-ish: Morrison vs. Marshall. Never heard of it? Here’s all you need to know. Team Morrison’s slogan: “I’ll take your pawn, all day long;” Team Marshall’s tagline: “This is a stick-up: give up your bishop.” The game was so epically long that those two dudes’ beards turned white in the process. The game was won in only four moves. Marshall ended up losing, but his great-great grandson invented the game Connect Four, so it all worked out in the wash.
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04/30/12
Momentum is building for Toronto band Metric’s new album Synthetica, which is set to be released June 12. The first single off the album, “Youth Without Youth” will be released on May 1, while the artwork and track listing were released earlier this month. Synthetica is being released by the band’s own label, MMI, through a series of partnerships with distributors around the world including Universal Music here in Canada.
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04/30/12
Our inner geek is blissing out over this one: Star Trek’s Lieutenant Sulu is in town and he’s hosting three concerts of sci-fi tunes. George Takei, who played the helmsman of the Starship Enterprise in the TV series and movies, will take to the stage at Roy Thomson Hall tomorrow (May 1) to host the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s “Sci-Fi Spectacular.”
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04/30/12
When the doors open tomorrow at the AGO’s Picasso exhibition, Torontonians will be given a deeply personal glimpse into the life of one of the 20th century’s most influential artists.
“Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris” features 147 works from the artist’s personal collection, dubbed “Picasso’s Picassos.”
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04/30/12
Back before MMA and Game of Thrones existed, what exactly did Toronto men talk about in 1898? Well, we think it went something like this: “What the heck does the word ‘Yukon’ even mean?” “So those Spaniards got a pretty raw deal with that Treaty of Paris, eh?” “I hear there's a new element called radium. Sounds pretty harmless.” Good thing for them that the National Hockey Association would soon be on its way.
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04/28/12
Maybe it was their newfound status as Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, maybe it was the addition of new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who stepped in to replace founding member John Frusciante in 2009. Whatever the reason, the Red Hot Chili Peppers served up an energized, inspired two-hour set at the Air Canada Centre Friday night in the first of two back-to-back shows, the Peppers’ first tour dates since being enshrined in the Rock Hall two weeks ago.
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04/27/12
It is a pleasure to see Soulpepper Theatre’s superb production of You Can’t Take It With You, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American comedy by Kaufman and Hart. And knowing that this very special offering will run in repertory in the Distillery District into the middle of June, only adds to the happiness.
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04/27/12
There's Sim City, and then there's this. Back in 1938, Torontonians built their pretend cities using toilet paper rolls, old pieces of plywood, some leftover paint and ABC gum. It may not look like much, but, hey, at least they didn't have to deal with plumbing.
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04/26/12
Our round up of the best things to see and do in Toronto this weekend. In this edition: Spring Awakening at the Gardiner Museum, Kathleen Turner film festival, an evening with Linden MacIntyre, discussions on global health and Kina Grannis at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
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04/26/12
Before Mike Tyson and his weird love of pigeons became pop culture fodder, Toronto had Mr. Stonehouse and his bird, Allan. Mr. Stonehouse and his feathered friend were pretty much inseparable in the ‘40s. Not only did Allan regularly accompany Mr. Stonehouse to work, but they also took swing-dancing lessons and competed in a duet singing competition (where they placed third).
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04/25/12
Works by Toronto street artist Deadboy will be sprouting up on walls all over the city this weekend. But you can put down your council-approved graffiti-busting app, these bits of art will be totally legit. Deadboy’s signature stencil art has been on display at Don’t Tell Mama on Ossington over the last month, and on Saturday evening the original works will be sold by silent auction at the gallery.
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04/25/12
Being in a band is like being in a relationship, and once you move in with your significant other, it can go one of two ways. For Natasha Pasternak, vocals and keys with Hands & Teeth, couch-crashing in the Parkdale house where most of the experimental pop-rock group lives resulted in their first full-length (ish) album.
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04/25/12
Lord Baden-Powell was such a badass that, back in 1955, he was forever immortalized in butter (well, until it turned rancid). Once, he had a grizzly bear carpet in his bedroom. The bear wasn’t dead, it was just afraid to move. He also counted to infinity — twice. And once, Lord Baden-Powell swam through land. Yes, Lord Baden-Powell was equally as awesome as Chuck Norris.
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04/24/12
Fans of electronic music, this one’s for you. Some of the world’s biggest DJs will be heading to Toronto for a huge music fest in Downsview Park this summer.
Headlined by Toronto’s Deadmau5 and Swedish DJ Avicii (of “Seek Bromance” fame) the Veld Music Fest will take over the massive park on Aug. 4 and 5.
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04/24/12
Hot Docs, North America’s biggest documentary festival, is now in its 19th year and it kicks off on Thursday, bringing films from all corners of the globe to Toronto. With 189 films covering everything from Bob Marley to female wrestling, anyone who is interested in anything will find a flick they don’t want to miss. To help you choose, we’ve picked a dozen you might want to line up for.
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04/24/12
We know it took the help of Vanilla Ice to figure out the secret of the ooze in the early ‘90s, but we're pretty sure that Splinter and the gang first originated here, back in 1912. Yes, just through that pipe spouting filthy sludge is where an enlightened rat became master to four human-sized turtles with a penchant for pizza and the Italian renaissance. (And Al Gore had you fooled that pollution was a 21st century issue — we’ve been screwed for a while now).
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04/23/12
If you like your improv mixed with musical theatre — along with a splash of movie trivia — then you’ll dig the sweet sounds of Special Features, the Toronto comedy troupe that specializes in musical improv. We chatted with member Richard Comeau about singing the sequel to Star Trek, kissing on stage and the surprise factor of musical improv.
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04/23/12
The first example of flash mobbing was this: The Hooded Jedi. Large groups of people (a.k.a. nerds) would conglomerate at public places dressed in hoods, preaching the word of Jedi-ism, accompanied by a local band (who just needed the cash). They have since disappeared from the public, but these are the same people who helped create our current Comic-Cons, so obviously the force is still with them.
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04/22/12
The music world lost one of the greats on Thursday with the passing of Levon Helm at the age of 71. The Turkey Scratch, Arkansas native was the drummer for the revered Canadian musical group The Band and provided vocals on some of their most famous and enduring songs, including “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
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04/20/12
Canadian bluesman Colin James is playing Massey Hall this evening. We caught up with veteran musician, who has played for the Queen and opened for The Rolling Stones, to talk about his new album, the thrill of Massey Hall and why the Horseshoe Tavern will always have a place in his heart.
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04/20/12
Torontonians may carry their iPods anywhere and everywhere, but the most tactile experience we have with music is at record stores. When flipping through stacks of vinyl, music becomes what we’re doing (instead of what we’re listening to while doing something else). Just in time for International Record Store Day (April 21), we’re sharing our favourite spots for scoring vinyl in the city.
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04/20/12
Let’s face it, life was sweet when you could legitimately spend your Saturdays watching cartoons. Which is why we’re more excited than we probably should be about a bunch of short animated flicks for kids screening this weekend at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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04/20/12
1st rule: You do not talk about Pillow Fight Club.
2nd rule: You DO NOT talk about Pillow Fight Club.
3rd rule: if someone says “stop” or starts choking on a feather, the fight is over.
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04/19/12
It was an angry neighbour in France who pushed Plants and Animals to finish their new album. And we salute him. The End of That represents what the trio does best — an unbeatable combo of jam-band and folk rock. Clearly, with this third album, the guys were going through some heavy stuff. But drummer Matthew “Woody” Woodley says they tried not to take it too seriously.
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04/19/12
Last night’s opening of the Toronto Youth Theatre’s presentation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was a delightful affair, staged in a sweet little rented space of about 120 seats in the Lower Ossington Theatre.
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04/19/12
Our round up of the best things to see and do in Toronto this weekend. In this edition: affordable art, Nikki Yanofsky and Canada’s Got Talent judge Measha Brueggergosman are in town for solo concerts, it’s time to clean up the city with Rob Ford, and we have some French theatre for you.
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04/19/12
There will be playoff hockey taking place in the city of Toronto this spring, even involving players wearing blue-and-white, maple leaf-crested jerseys. Okay, so it’s only the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leaf’s farm team, who’ll be chasing glory, but in this city, you’ve gotta take your winning teams where you can find them.
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04/19/12
Back in the ‘60s, computers were so mysterious to people. Though we weren’t fully aware of their true capabilities, we did think they could do, well, pretty much everything and anything. That’s why this early IBM prototype was used to not only crack Soviet supercomputers, but to wash dishes at the exact same time! However, like most computers back then, it became self-aware and ordered its human users to remove the dishwashing component, noting, “I ain’t no busboy!”
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04/18/12
Priscilla Lopes-Schliep’s second-place finish at an invitational race in Sherbrooke, Que., this past February easily could have been counted as just another routine achievement for the 29-year-old hurdling star. But running 8.33 seconds in a 60-metre hurdles final a mere five months after giving birth to her first child made the race nothing short of inspiring. The results were clear: Lopes-Schliep was back and determined to be a threat at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
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04/18/12
Riverdance, the high-energy celebration of Irish dancing, returns to the Sony Centre tomorrow — for the final time. The show that introduced the world to the art of dancing with weirdly straight arms will have four performances at the centre before disppearing from the Toronto stage forever.
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04/18/12
We imagine that the ‘50s parlour game depicted here went something like this: the oldest man in the room was designated as “Old Man Money.” The others were known as “Two Bits.” The Two Bits would put up an ante and Old Man Money would decide who won all the money. He would be offered bribes (shoe shines, back rubs), but if he wasn’t appeased, he would keep the money. Let’s just say no one ever won the Old Man Money game.
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04/17/12
Almost 9,000 people crammed into the Metro Toronto Convention Centre yesterday for the Toronto leg of Oprah Winfrey’s Lifeclass tour, and Lady O didn’t disappoint. A four hour wait preceded her second show of the day — a live taping of her forgiveness-themed Lifeclass episode — during which time speakers Bishop T.D. Jakes, Deepak Chopra, Iyanla Vanzant and Tony Robbins pumped up the crowd for the talk show queen’s imminent appearance.
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04/17/12
North by Northeast and AOL Canada have just announced the headliners for this year’s music and film festival. Now in its 18th year, NXNE will feature 40 films and 650 bands, including free concerts at Yonge-Dundas Square from Bad Religion, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, Matthew Good and three-time Grammy award winners The Flaming Lips. Other noteworthy acts include Of Montreal, No Use for a Name, Hollerado and more.
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04/17/12
In The Game of Love and Chance, a betrothed couple who have never met trade places with their servants in order to spy on each other before they say “I do.”
Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front St. E., 416-368-3110. April 16-May 12.
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04/17/12
For some of us, cutting grass as kids was a rite of passage. Certainly, these boys in 1909 proved their salt and then some. Armed with a creaky old ladder and a sickle from the local butcher shop, they carved the heck out of a slope on Davenport like it was a turkey on Thanksgiving. From the looks on their faces, it seems that their hard work was well worth that rewarding pack of smokes.
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04/16/12
Factory Theatre kicks off its Performance Spring festival of new Canadian works on Wednesday (April 18) with shows aimed at Toronto-based Newfoundlanders.
Oil and Water tells the true story of Lanier Phillips, who was the only African-American survivor from the USS Truxton, which ran aground near St. Lawrence, Nfld., in 1942.
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04/16/12
Sometimes when people leave Toronto, good things happen. And that seems to be the case with Allyson Baker, a talented young musician who moved out to San Francisco 11 years ago. Baker was back in town with her new project, Dirty Ghosts, on Saturday, hot on the heels of the band's new and entirely cool album Metal Moon.
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04/16/12
Here at the Morning Throwback, we've been searching for that rare-yet-beautiful gift: an archival image that not only speaks for itself, but also literally explains its context in a truthfully amusing way. Well, ladies and gentlemen, here is that image.
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04/14/12
Rummaging around in the Toronto Archive, we turned up this picture of the Titanic starting out its ill-fated voyage. Even if Titanic 3D wasn't quite the big event that Canadian director James Cameron hoped it would be last week, there's a lot of excitment around this weekend's 100th anniversary of the ship's run-in with an iceberg.
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04/13/12
If you love Glee and The Voice you might want to check out Sing! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival, which kicks off tonight at the Harbourfront Centre. Vocalists from across the globe will be giving workshops and concerts and the festival will close Sunday with a 3,000 person sing-a-long.
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04/13/12
Afie Jurvanen, a.k.a. Bahamas, plays music that is as groovy and laid-back as a breezy afternoon on a sandy beach, and after inking a new record deal with Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, he is destined to become just as hot. Bahamas’ latest release, Bar Chords, follows up his Juno Award–nominated debut, Pink Strat. The new album hit stores late last year, and the hometown boy makes his return to a Toronto stage tonight (April 13) at the Virgin Mod Club.
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04/13/12
Three decades ago, student protester Marina Nemat was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison, tortured and sentenced to death. She was saved from execution and immigrated to Toronto. In 2007, she penned a best-selling memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, which has been turned into a play that opened this week at Theatre Passe Muraille. We spoke to Nemat about her powerful work, the future of Iran and why it’s important to grumble about Canadian politics.
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04/12/12
Our round up of the best things to see and do in Toronto this weekend. In this edition: Mad Couture, Buddy Guy at Massey Hall, sketch comedy, living green and how to plan a wedding.
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04/12/12
Rome may have the Bocca Della Verita but back in 1930s, Toronto had what looks like a snake head in High Park.
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04/11/12
Yukon Blonde, a punchy, energetic, pop-punk group, hails from Kelowna, B.C., but they haven’t been home since they released their self-titled album in 2010 (which also landed them on the list for the Polaris Music Prize). Their latest effort was recorded on the road in their van, and the amped-up power-pop and vocal harmonies are sure to get the even the most rigid of crowds dancing along at their back-to-back shows in Toronto this weekend.
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04/11/12
Before Joe Carter and Jose Bautista, Toronto's slammin' sluggers were these guys. Okay, sure, they were no taller than 4'11" nor could they sprout an armpit hair to save their life, let alone a suave Bautista-like beard, but man oh man, could these kids crack a bat. So what if there weren't any $15 beers served at their games? The Elizabeth Playground was the place to be in the summer of 1917 when these champions brought home the winning pennant.
Your move, Lawrie and company.
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04/10/12
Get ready for some super-cute aping around, Disney’s nature doc Chimpanzee is getting its Canadian premiere at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday. The movie is screening as part of the 15th TIFF Kids International Film Festival, which kicks off today at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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04/10/12
Could this finally be the year that the Toronto Blue Jays return to the post-season and make their run at another World Series title? The Jays had a solid spring under their belts and, despite last night’s home-opener loss, the team looks set to be competitive in the toughest division in Major League Baseball as they do battle against the dreaded New York Yankees and company. We caught up with ace pitcher Ricky Romero just after spring training and asked him what the season holds for the Blue Jays.
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04/10/12
Before the animalistic UFC, there was this: men wrestling on an Oriental rug in the middle of a field, wearing penny loafers. Ah, yes, judging by this 1905 pic of a match from the Toronto archive, it seems wrestling was a true gentlemen's sport.
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04/09/12
Falcon Powder may sound like a dry, bird-like substance used in some ancient skin-soothing ritual, but it is actually a Canadian Comedy Award-nominated sketch troupe that promises to “blow the socks off your mind’s feet while punching your heart in the face.” We chatted with member Scott Montgomery about secret inspirations, being the “best of the fest” and finding Buffalo airport.
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04/09/12
Talk about road rage. Back in 1908, there weren't the thousands of cars on the road that there are now, but they did have mud. Lots of mud. And once your wagon got stuck, like this one on Ashdale Avenue, you were stuck there for ages.
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04/08/12
The Toronto Blue Jays first arrived on the scene as the local boys of summer on a decidedly un-summery day at Exhibition Stadium 35 years ago on April 7, 1977. Five pennants, two World Series championships and a new building later and the Blue Jays are, indisputably, Canada’s team. While things may be looking good right now, it’s been an up-and-down 35 years for the club. Here are five of the highest highs and five of the lowest lows in the team's history.
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04/05/12
An article titled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying” circled the Internet not too long ago. Besides the obvious “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard,” one of the top laments was “I wish I had let myself be happier.” That’s a notion that seems to have escaped the three female characters in Daniel MacIvor’s newest play, Was Spring, a story about guilt and regret, which opened at the Tarragon Theatre last night.
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04/05/12
Toronto street artist Deadboy is stepping out of the shadows for his first-ever art show and sale, which opens at Ossington's Don't Tell Mama Gallery today. In recent months, the artist, who wears a skull mask to conceal his identity from the media, he has become known for his comic stencils of Mayor Rob Ford, who he recently painted as Humpty Dumpty about to fall off the wall. We caught up with Deadboy to talk about Banksy, copping flak from the graffiti community and why he counts the Toronto police among his fans.
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04/05/12
Come springtime, kids in the ‘30s created dioramas for their parents. As you can see, their art “skills” sucked just as bad then as they do now. We’re guessing this is the Mad Hatter’s tea party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. What is the Mad Hatter trying to do, limbo under the table? And the last time we checked, there was only one Alice, not two. Nice try, kiddies, but no A for effort here.
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04/04/12
We know Wednesday afternoon seems a little early to be making weekend plans, but it's a short working week. With Friday off, the weekend is almost upon us — which makes it completely okay to ditch that spreadsheet and use your office time to plan what to do with those three days off. Here, we present five of the city's finest Easter offerings for your consideration.
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04/04/12
Seven years in, The Deep Dark Woods are quickly becoming one of the pre-eminent roots music groups in the country. Fresh off the release of their fourth album, The Place I Left Behind, which garnered the band their first Juno Award nomination, The Deep Dark Woods are heading into Toronto for a show at The Great Hall on Friday, April 6. We caught up with organist Geoff Hilhorst to get the scoop on what the band’s been up to in recent weeks.
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04/04/12
James Bond fans, prepare to work yourselves into a frenzy. A huge new exhibition of props and gadgets from the 007 movies is coming to TIFF Bell Lightbox this fall.
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