Music
Smiling Buddha Enlightens Toronto Music Scene
The Smiling Buddha holds a curious position among Toronto's music venues. With only three and a half years of operation, it doesn't have a weighty reputation to hold down like Sneaky Dee's, Lee's Palace, El Mocambo, or the Horseshoe.
Wayne, the manager, explained to me that the Smilng Buddha used to be a sports bar. He didn't enjoy watching sports that much, so he decided to reincarnate the place as a music venue. The name 'Smiling Buddha' was recommended to him by a friend, and the name just stuck.
Indie rock shows aside, Wayne's willing to tackle any event. Birthday parties, magazine launches, and even fashion shows are all fair game. His enthusiasm for local bands and flexible attitude are a breath of fresh air compared to some of the more established venues in this city. The bar hosted several hundred bands last year, though Wayne guesses that they may have seen upwards of a thousand.
The bar doesn't enforce cover, so it's up to the band if they want to collect one. A bottle of beer can be had for less than $5. The Smiling Buddha also provides some house audio equipment. With a cozy capacity for about 100 people, it's the ideal place for a small live show in front of an intimate audience of friends and fans.
Smiling Buddha
961 College St., just west of Dovercourt
416-516-2531, after 7PM
smilingbuddhabar.com
myspace.com/smilingbuddhabar
musicwayne@hotmail.com
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Photos taken from The Lowfives show at the Smiling Buddha on Valentine's Day.
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+nurse was the first band to play this bar, something we're quite proud of. This was pre-stage our sound system(we brought our own), and Wayne, who is probably the only booker in town that genuinely gives a rats ass about this scene and the bands in it, took all of our advice and upgraded. I like it a lot, and am happy he's considering moving to a bigger venue. Smiling Buddha isn't good because of the locale or the space, but simply because Wayne is tops. So, if/when he moves, if you at all care about the health of the Toronto Indie Scene, you should support him. A lot.
I whole-heartedly agree. I booked the show mentioned in this post for The Lowfives on Valentine's Day, and Wayne could not have been more helpful and accomodating. He had a big hand in making the night a huge success!
the lowfives rule.
Have to agree on just about all of this. If it weren't for Wayne, who knows how long it would've taken us to book a show. Most venues are looking for established bands cause they don't feel like giving hard-working underdogs a chance. Leads to a pretty terrible inbreeding problem is you ask me. I'm looking forward to playing there again.
Luke (aka lowfive #1)
Luke,
Wayne is awesome to deal with, and I consider him a friend. If all bookers cared about the scene as much as he does, the Toronto scene wouldn't be as broken as it quite obviously is. Unfortunately, they don't, and it's a big part(not the only part though) of why I'm retiring from the music biz, and +nurse is packing it in. (you can read the announcement on my blog)
I wish you all the luck in the world in music, hope you can make a better and less frustrating go of it.
Tim
I am newbie, you shared a amazing place !..
But I found strange information ..
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dont want to burst your bubble to much but in reality, the acoustic revolution (i believe thats what we went by back then) were the first band to play at Buddha's. We approached Wayne (I lived next door)when it was a sport bar and we helped convince him to turn to music. Anyhow..just wanted to give credit to where it's due. We knocked on alot of doors years back (long before everyone had kids) and I'm glad The Smiling BuddhaBar was one of them. It's really come a long way. Great job Wayne...
That could be, but not to hear Wayne tell it. He told us we were the first band ever. If you guys were acoustic, maybe he meant we were the first electric band?