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Events on Toronto's Radar for THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2010... lovingly handpicked from blogTO's events calendar.

MUSIC | Inside the Musician's Studio featuring the Happiness Project
Known to Toronto music fans for his work in Do Make Say Think and Broken Social Scene, over a year ago Charles Spearin began to do informal interviews with his neighbours on the subject of happiness. Over the edited interviews he played instruments to match the natural melody of the voices and the result was Happiness Project a musical spoken word album unlike anything you've heard before. Spearin will discuss his creative process with Eye Weekly editor and Pitchfork contributor Stuart Berman tonight.
Brigantine Room, Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queen's Quay, Free, 8 pm

GALLERY | Taxali 300
Gary Taxali's name may not be famliar to you, but his art almost certainly is. His comic book-inspired illustrations and collages have appeared in Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, and the New York Times, just to name a few. Drawing from vintage advertising art and old timey comic strips, Taxali has been satirizing the ironies of contemporary pop culture for over two decades. Narwhal Arts Projects presents 300 of his pieces this month in the first ever exhibition of a complete body of Taxali's work in a gallery setting. Taxali will also be participating in an artist lecture on February 22, but space is limited so sign up soon if you're interested.
Narwhal Arts Projects, 680 Queen St. W., Opening reception 6 pm - 9 pm, Gallery hours Thursday to Sunday 11 am - 6 pm

BOOKS AND LIT | Dinosaur Porn
Yesterday's unveiling of Apple's iPad is supposedly going to mean the death of the book as we know it, but that doesn't phase the bibliophiles at Ferno House. The new Toronto-based hand-made publisher is dedicated to creating lovingly self-bound books that are as pleasing to the touch as their contents are to the mind. As one of its first projects, Ferno House has put together a curiously named collection of poetry and fiction called Dinosaur Porn. It's unclear to me how much of it is actually taken up with pictures of brontosauruses screwing, but it does contain works by some of the city's literary movers and shakers, including poet and sexual activist Louise Bak, Broken Pencil editor Nathaniel G. Moore, and playwright and zoology major David Brock. The book gets launched with a free party tonight, which includes readings from contributors Bak, Brock, Moore, Gary Barwin, David Miller, Christine McNair and Carey Toane.
The Supermarket, 268 Augusta Ave., Free, 7:30 pm

GALLERY | Fantasy Fashion Show
Gallery 1313 sits on the fringe of the trendy Queen West district, but its mandate is anything snooty. For over a decade the non-profit gallery has dedicated itself to showcasing excellent work from different cultural and artistic backgrounds. Tonight the gallery throws itself a fundraising party with a fashion show featuring some of the city's young and promising designers and musical performances from Chaddy and Gmac. Hosted by fashion writer and author Russell Smith.
Gallery 1313, 1313 Queen St. W., $15, 8 pm

MUSIC | Synthfest #1
The Rancho has put together a great line up for the first installment of Synthfest 2010. Local electric one-man band and former Ghost is Dancing member Digits has only been around since March 2009 but has already shown he knows his way around a synthesizer on his debut record Hold It Close. Stop Die Resuscitate know how to get the party going and Hamilton's En Francais will close the night with a digital neon flurry.
Rancho Relaxo, 300 College St., $5, 9 pm

THEATRE | Peer Gynt
The Thistle Project is a theatre collective that adapts non-theatrical performances to the stage, a mandate they executed to great effect with 2006's Dora-nominated Gorey Story. They return tonight with a production of Peer Gynt, the Norwegian story of a hapless traveller, adapted for performance by two actors. Susan Coyne plays Peer and Matthew Romantini plays everybody else, which should be interesting considering the fantastic characters in the story. The show's run starts with a preview tonight before it opening night on Friday. Runs until February 21.
Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square, PWYC preview and Sunday, $10, Thursday through Sunday 8 pm

MUSIC | The Night the Kathedral Dies
When the death knell for Queen and Bathurst behemoth the Big Bop was sounded late last year, few people were more saddened than John Tard. Over the years, Tard's band The3Tards have played at the Kathedral room over 40 times and reportedly their shows featured everything from KY Jelly wrestling contests to onstage weddings and live circumcisions. Ah, good times. While not officially the last show at the Kathedral, tonight's bill is probably the most nostalgic, featuring The Terrorchargers, the Matadors, Sweet Lips, and the Swabs. Tard even managed to coax the Heatskores out of retirement. If you've got any good memories of this place, tonight's your chance to relive them.
The Kathedral, 651 Queen St. W., Free, 8 pm

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