Toronto events on May 13th, 2013

MUSIC | Youth Lagoon, Majical Cloudz at The Great Hall
Youth Lagoon hits The Great Hall tonight. Singer/songwriter Trevor Powers performs under the moniker Youth Lagoon, and has been gaining popularity with critics and fans alike since his 2011 debut album The Year of Hibernation. His sound is energetic and poppy, yet atmospheric and sonically rich with sounds that are different and somewhat enigmatic. Youth Lagoon just released a new album entitled, Wondrous Bughouse, produced by Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter), so new material is likely to be featured tonight. Majical Cloudz is also on tonight's bill. Should be good!
The Great Hall Toronto (1087 Queen Street West) 8PM $16.50

BOOKS & LIT | Cathi Bond's "Night Town" book launch
Tonight, Toronto author Cathi Bond launches her novel, Night Town at the Imperial Pub. Bond is an active Toronto writer and broadcaster who has written for The Globe and Mail, contributed to the CBC's Definitely Not the Opera, and Spark, as well as hosting the Canadian literature-oriented Prosecast podcast. Night Town is a novel that takes place in Toronto in the '70s, and revolves specifically around the Yonge Street strip - that notorious stretch in the centre of the city that has always been home to dangerous characters, and a hotbed for "alternative culture".
Imperial Pub (54 Dundas Street West) 6PM

FUNDRAISER | Random Acts for Theatre Direct
Theatre Direct has been around since the mid 1970s, providing arts education to young people, and engaging them directly with their theatre programming. Tonight a fundraising event takes place for the benefit of this organization: Random Acts, an evening of music and performances devoted to Theatre Direct. An interesting and eclectic cast of performers is slated for this event, including Sophia Perlman, Xin Wang, Karin Randoja, percussionist Debashis Sinha, Mike Freedman, and dancers Meagan O'Shea and Nova Bhattacharya. There will also be magic by Eric Woolfe, and sounds by DJ MegaWATT. Help support an important part of TO's arts community by attending tonight.
Theatre Direct, Artscape Wychwood Barns (601 Christie Street Studio 174) 7PM $20

THEATRE | The 2013 Harold Awards
The 2013 Harold Awards happen tonight at the Monarch Tavern. Celebrating Toronto's eclectic and prolific theatre community, the Harold Awards have been a TO tradition since 1995, and exist as an alternative to the Dora Awards. The vibe at this event is one that is 'subversive', but with plenty of humour. After all, this award was named after a well-known heckler, Harold Kandel, so this tradition has had a "tongue-in-cheek" dimension from its inception. Tonight Richard Lee and Lindy Zucker host, and you are asked to kindly bring a non-perishable food item to be donated to The Good Shepherd Centre.
Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton Street) 7:30PM $10

Also Of Note

• AMY CARSON HUNTER // Call Me The Wind CD Release
• HUGE Costume and Clothing Sale
• Lady Lamb The Beekeeper

For more Toronto event suggestions, check out these posts:

• This week in music
• This week in fashion
• This week in film
• Toronto food events
• This week in theatre
• This week in comedy
• Toronto Concerts, May 2013

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

Photo by Denise McMullin.