FUNDRAISER | Live and Unleashed featuring Steven Page and Friends
When they say "Live and Unleashed" they mean it literally! Yes, this is a major fundraiser for the Ontario SPCA, an organization that has been protecting animals since 1873! This will be an amazing night of entertainment, with Steven Page as the headliner, plus the funky sounds of Planet Earth - a local groove-oriented band that will have you howling with delight in no time! There's also bound to be some laughs, with Colin Mochrie and actress Debra McGrath as our hosts for the evening. This is a great opportunity for a good night out supporting a worthy cause.
Roy Thomson Hall (60 Simcoe Street) 8PM $50 - $100

MUSIC | Ben Caplan @ Horseshoe Tavern for FREE
Halifax's own Ben Caplan does a free show at the Horseshoe tonight! After spreading the word across Canada at Pop Montreal and the Halifax Pop Explosion, and abroad at festivals in Europe, it's back to Canuck soil. Kaplan's got a big set of pipes, and has a sound that's part bluesy, part earnest acoustic, with traces of twisted folk, Tom Waits-style. The fiddle and clarinet give a dash of Euro-Klez flavour, too. Caplan and his backing band, dubbed "The Casual Smokers" are currently touring the release entitled, "In The Time of the Great Remembering", and having road-tested this material quite thoroughly, they are as ready to show you a great time tonight as they will ever be.
The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West) 7:30PM FREE

FILM | Trans Film Screening Series: Launch Party "My Friend Brindley"
Tonight the The Centre for Women and Trans People will host the premiere screening of "My Friend Brindley", as part of their regular film night. Alec Butler's documentary of his friend and neighbour, Kathleen Brindley, is a touching story, and an inspiring one. Brindley grew up in rural Indiana in the '50s, and these formative experiences with prejudice and bigotry helped cultivate her 'activist' leanings that she would embrace fully in her later years. Interestingly enough, her grandmother had also been a societal 'boundary pusher', as the first female Democrat in the Indiana legislature! In addition to this documentary, there will be several other short works by Butler, and a Q & A following.
William Doo Auditorium (45 Willcocks Street) 6:30PM

MUSIC | Class City: An Improvised History of Toronto
"Class City: An Improvised History of Toronto" is an interesting new bit of improvised theatre that goes down every Monday at The Cameron House on Queen West. The Connor family is our vehicle to see various moments in history taking place in Toronto. Periods covered have been Confederation, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and more. There is a plot, and a historical period planned for each episode, but the dialogue is completely improvised, and the audience occasionally helps out, giving suggestions and directions. This is indeed unique and interesting entertainment, in that it is both experimental, educational, and accessible.
Cameron House (408 Queen St West) 8PM $15

OTHER EVENTS ON OUR RADAR

The Making and Unmaking of a Genre Film
Tandoori Knights @ Lee's Palace
Short & Sweet Weekly

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Photo by Nick Caron in the blogTO Flickr pool