Music
Canadian Music Fest: The Indie Awards
At Canadian Music Fest's Indie Awards, Marianas Trench was among the big winners this year.Marianas Trench, whose singer Josh Ramsay is pictured below, picked up the award for Astral Media Radio Favourite Single and Favourite Video of the Year for Cross My Heart.
City
Massive slumber party brings nostalgic fun to Blansdowne warehouse
Newmindspace threw an elaborate slumber party in forts made of blankets at a 2,000 square-foot private loft Saturday night.Newmindspace are known for their jovial, creative and free events they hold in Toronto. Things like the giant, urban Capture the Flag, Bubble Battles, Light Saber Battles and Pillow Fights. The blanket fort slumber party was a fundraiser ($15 entry fee) that will support the creation of their free events planned for this summer that reflect the Toronto urban playground movement.
I ventured out to a remote warehouse space near Bloor and Lansdowne to take a peek at the playful shenanigans that ensued...
Theatre
The Overwhelming effect of live theatre
The Overwhelming is the type of story that is meant to be told through live theatre.Exploring the complex topic of genocide in Rwanda, this show uses the stage to tell the stories of our recent history. Taking place in Kigali, Rwanda in early 1994, the story isn't an easy one, but an important one.
The Overwhelming is a Studio 180 Theatre production of a relatively new play by J. T. Rogers, which just opened Thursday night at the Berkeley Street Theatre.
Music
Canadian Music Fest opening night party with Platinum Blonde
Canadian Music Fest launched on Wednesday night with the opening night party at The Mod Club, featuring a special reunion performance by '80's new wave rockers Platinum Blonde.Far more than a night of nostalgia, there were three other formidable performances on the bill, including Australian singer Kate Miller-Heidke, Montreal's The Mission District and Toronto's own Sadie May Crash.
But as the night went on it became more apparent by the crowd's reaction that most of them were there to see Platinum Blonde rock The Mod Club, which is incidentally run by singer Mark Holmes since its inception in 2002. And rock it they did.
Arts
I Slept With Adam Giambrone
I slept with Adam Giambrone.Well, I didn't really sleep with Adam Giambrone. But what if I did? That's the question on a lot of people's minds these days, after seeing buttons with this message worn on lapels of people around Toronto.
Since it was revealed that Giambrone had relationships with multiple partners, wearing this button might level the playing field, as it were. The buttons are the brainchild of Sonya Popovich, a production coordinator for a graphic design studio in Toronto.
"I had an outside designer do it, whom I paid for the design," says Popovich. "She gave me five options and I chose one. I had 500 made. They cost me $230 to produce. But I'm giving them away for free."
Theatre
Intimate Apparel Makes for a Sexy Theatre Date
Intimate Apparel, the remounted play by The Canadian Stage Company at the Bluma Appel Theatre, makes for a wonderful date.Your girlfriend will love you for taking her out to a play that features such fabulous period costumes. And a wonderful script too. The play draws on themes of the search for love and happiness, and the risks people take in pursuit of that fulfillment.
You'll be transfixed by the love story of Ester, a 35-year-old African-American seamstress who makes sexy lingerie for the rich -- including socialites and prostitutes, 5th Avenue boudoirs, and bordellos. She's charmed by a long-distance letter-writing romance with a Caribbean islander working on the Panama Canal.
