Music
NXNE Party Guide 2009
NXNE officially rolls into town this Wednesday for its 15th year, ready to transform small stages all over Toronto into the ultimate music, film and party conference. Based out of the new Hyatt Regency on King, NXNE includes over 500 bands at 50 venues, along with conference panels and film screenings - which can make the festival somewhat difficult to plan for!It's going to be an awesome week of music-fueled madness, so we've hand-picked some of the best in our NXNE 2009 Party Guide. This will give you the inside track on NXNE 2009's hottest events, plus a small taste of what sort of coverage to expect from the blogTO team.
City
Toronto Freedom Festival 2009
The 3rd annual Toronto Freedom Festival engulfed Queen's Park this weekend, marking a rainy success for the evolutionary endpoint for the city's 11th annual Global Marijuana March. With the recent Supreme Court decision on Bill C-359, which rejected the Canadian Government's monopoly over the sale of medical cannabis, this year I actually felt a bit of the activism bug... but not enough to actually march through the city in the rain, of course.Instead I grabbed festival organizer and co-founder Gavin "The Gerbz" Bryan for an interview, skipped the March altogether, and headed straight to the giant party at Queen's Park.
Tech
FITC 2009: Creativity in A Can
In its 8th year in Toronto, FITC ("Flash In The Can") wrapped up eariler this week and it proved to offer even more insight than I was expecting. Aside from all the amazing art and hip nerd parties, FITC is a highly technical developer and graphic design forum; however, FITC also brings in experts in the 'creative process' to the table. While creativity is essentially everywhere at this conference - even the exhibitor booths were doodled on and decorated - the creative process itself can sometimes get lost amidst technical discussions on software and design integration. But this year FITC felt different to me - as though there was a deeper appreciation for the creative philosophy behind the project's execution. In particular, I was fascinated by Jason Theodor and Mikey Richardson's discussions of how to avoid falling in to stagnant thinking patterns, and how to tap into the true power of brainstorming and the creative process.
Theatre
Fishbowl Life at Buddies in Bad Times
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is one of my favourite venues in the city, and has a great reputation for putting on original productions from new artists. Through the company's Young Creators Unit, a new generation of 25 and unders is able to launch their dreams into production. The latest of these accomplished writers/performers to hit the stage is Mark Shyzer, presenting his one-man comedy Fishbowl: A Concise. Expansive Theory of Everything.A hilarious offering of 5 diverse character monologues, Fishbowl is set to wrap up a tidy first run tonight at Buddies'. Given that Mark's production is one of the first I've seen to emerge from the youth program, I was at first surprised by his aim of 'comedic sophistication' on the small stage. Though the show came off as a (very funny) stand up routine, Mark was kind enough to explain the process behind Fishbowl's evolution in his interview for blogTO.
Music
Hatiras Weighs in on Toronto's Scene
With so many fresh big bass beats flowing from his decks, it's easy to overlook the fact that Hatiras has been a key figure in Toronto's electronic music scene for over a decade. As one of the brains behind the Liquid Adrenaline production company, George Hatiras has worked hard to promote some of Toronto's most innovative electronic events. As an artist on Beatport, Hatiras has put out some of the most awesome bass-driven beats the city's ever seen. He's also sold over a half-million records, operates two record labels, has two Junos under his belt AND recently received a 2009 nomination for Get Blahsted with MC Flipside.
So what does this influential electronic artisan have to say about his experiences in Toronto's scene? Here's what he shared about his adventures in the industry, and the current state of Toronto electronic scene.
TnO
Dimitri the Lover Exposes Himself
Luckily, the notorious pick up artist and host of Toronto Real Men meetings has exposed both himself and his questionable tactics in a new documentary The Great Intoxication (at 11m30s in).
