Little trees can be big work.

The Toronto Bonsai Society is throwing a bonsai show and sale at the Toronto Botanical Garden this weekend.

Members of the society are on hand to answer questions, show off their work and show you what they're still working on. There are a number of plants for purchase, along with tools of the trade and fertilizer. I was shocked at how cheap it all was, and how helpful society members were. They will be happy to send you home with a plant that suits your home and lifestyle.

The art of bonsai originates in China where it later spread to Japan, and eventually, the rest of the world.

Bonsai trees are not a special breed of plant. They are miniaturized versions of all the regular sized trees you see everyday. The plants are kept small through pruning the roots and branches and keeping it all in a small, shallow pot.

The results are incredible. Even if you don't know anything about the art, it is easy to appreciate the clean shapes of the foliage and twists in the trunks. Every branch is careful considered and grown at a precise angle with the help of wire and pruning. Bonsai is an art that takes patience.

It is humbling to look at a tree that has been alive longer than Canada was Canada, and collected from the wild before you were born.

The Toronto Bonsai Society meets on the second Monday each month, and costs 35$ for the year. They have workshops on the different aspects of growing bonsai, and as Carlos Bras explained, lots of advice to give. Even if it's unsolicited.

The show and sale is open until 5pm today.

Considering Liam Titcomb's family background, it was somewhat inevitable that he would get into music.

The Toronto singer/songwriter's father is well-respected folk singer Brent Titcomb so he grew up surrounded by music. After a short stint as a child actor, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and pursue a career in music.

He released a self-titled debut on Sony but was dropped after the label merged with BMG. He went on to work with Grammy-award winning producer Jay Joyce on his successful independent album (Can't Let Go) and toured the country with the likes of Great Big Sea, David Usher and Tom Cochrane.

All this, and he's just celebrated his twentieth birthday.

Q: Tell blogTO's readers a bit about yourself.
LT: Oh boy, I started playing music when I was seven. I started playing the Cajun fiddle with a very close family friend, Soozi Schlanger, who runs the band Swamperella, she the fiddle player and lead singer.
I kind of grew up in the music scene because of my dad. I've been surrounded by music my whole life and to finally start playing was really natural and I really got into it. It all kind of snowballed from there.

Checking out Caribou's live show is like attending a seminar on being awesome. For a ticket to the hardly-advertised show Sunday night at the Rivoli, one had to speak the name of the new record to the barman at the Horseshoe (I said it then and I won't say it again). I don't normally participate in rituals, but I try to see any Caribou show in the GTA.

Imagine Captain Beefheart having his way with Tom Waits while a rockabilly band plays in the background and you have an inkling of what "My Prom", the debut effort from New York's Ladyfingers, the solo project of Adam Weiner, sounds like.

Weiner's upcoming jaunt to Toronto will be his second in as many months. He came to the Big Smoke for the first time to play NXNE in June and he's back to play four shows in TO from September 30th to October 3rd.

He took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to speak with me.

Q: Give me a bit of background on yourself and how Ladyfingers came together.

AW: I lead a band for a few years called Shadow Boys and out of the ashes of that group, not really ashes but as the project changed direction sonically I took a new name and that was about just over a year ago and Ladyfingers became my solo project's name.
Basically the main thing was the focus of the project became a solo project.

Q: What brought you back to Toronto so soon after your last trip?

A: I had such a great experience back in June, North by Northeast was just an excuse for me to come up there for the first time and I scheduled a whole bunch of shows around it and I just got such a great response and it's a very warm response and I just wanted to get back there very quickly.

My usual experiences with runway fashion shows are from big city fashion weeks such as LA, NYC and Toronto so I have to be honest - I wasn't expecting much. However, when I walked into Thursday night's Urban Exotic Fashiontainment, I was for the most part very pleasantly surprised. It was strikingly refreshing to be presented with quality wearable designs that have been created by talented and passionate artists. Held at the SPIN Gallery in the art and design district of West Queen West, this was a successful follow up to last year's widely talked about event.

Checking out the Black Lips makes for easy blogging, just document the antics and the review writes itself. So it's Sunday night and The Horseshoe is sold out. Vice magazine has been pushing the bands' onstage reputation for destruction and the crowd is anxious to get rowdy.

I had nearly dismissed them after listening to what I had downloaded; the music is basic and relies on bad amps, reverb and static. Being sure not to miss anything, I realized that the people in the pit, who in all likeliness spent the afternoon drinking and kicking down sandwich boards, were doing all the hard work.

The band didn't have to do much more than play sloppy rockabilly in a cool and careless fashion, while the ceiling fan was nearly pulled down by stage divers, beer and water were sprayed liberally and cans were merrily tossed onstage (but no glass by request, as the band explained they haven't got travel insurance)