Radar: Welcome to Town, A History of the Elevated Shoe, The Edible City, KnowMore Lecture, Rower's Pub Reading Series

Events on Toronto's Radar for MONDAY MARCH 1, 2010... lovingly handpicked from blogTO's events calendar.

THEATRE | Welcome to Town
If the idea of an improvised documentary seems like an oxymoron to you, consider the classic unscripted mockumentaries This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show, and Waiting For Guffman. Christopher Guest and co. are the obvious inspiration for Bad Dog Theatre's latest production Welcome to Town, which delves into the twisted private lives of the inhabitants of two small towns and begins its five-night run tonight. Bad Dog's pedigree is as proven as any other improv company in this town, fostering up-and-coming talent like the Kids in the Hall crew since the early 1980s. As always with improv, you never know quite what you're going to get, but that's the whole point. Runs every Monday til March 29.
Bad Dog Theatre, 138 Danforth Ave., $8, $6 Students, 8 pm

MUSEUM | Heights of Fashion: A History of the Elevated Shoe
While Toronto's premiere museums have made a splash in recent years with billion-dollar renovations, the Bata Shoe Museum has been quietly going about its business of being one of the city's most interesting niche institutions. In advance of International Women's Day, the museum's curator Elizabeth Semmelhack delivers a lecture tonight on the history of the high heel. One of the most important elements of modern fashion, our obsession with heels apparently goes well beyond the boutiques on 5th Avenue and has its origins in East-West trade, a particular kind of gender politics, and the modern construction of an eroticized femininity. Interesting, but will it help me find a purse to match these pumps?
Bata Shoe Museum, 327 Bloor St. W., $14, 7 pm

FOOD | The Edible City: Reading and Food Tasting
In the Edible City Coach House Books combines two of the greatest pleasures in life; eating and reading. The book explores practically every aspect of Toronto's food "from farm to fork", covering issues of poverty, public gardens, restaurant service, high-end eateries and bagged lunches and was welcomed with open arms and watering mouths by this city's food faithful when it launched last year. The night promises to stimulate both your tastebuds and your mind with authors David Alexander, Joshna Maharaj, Jason McBride, and Wayne Roberts on hand to discuss their contributions to the book while several local food producers offer up tasty morsels.
Hart House Debates Room, 7 Hart House Circle, Free, 7 pm

LECTURE | KnowMore Lecture - Colonialism
The Comedy Bar is Toronto's home for nightly hilarity, but things get a little heavy tonight when the KnowMore Lecture series drops some serious knowledge on the history of colonialism. KnowMore Lectures is the brainchild of Peter Stevens, a Toronto history and philosophy teacher dedicated to delivering unpretentious, humourous lessons about all the things you've always wondered about. Stevens will be discussing colonialism, neo-colonialism and post-colonialsim with his trademark easygoing style tonight, providing some background on one of the most historically important issues of the last 200 years. As long as you're going to spend your Monday night getting drunk, you might as well learn a little something in the process.
The Comedy Bar, 945 Bloor St. W., $5, 8 pm

BOOKS AND LIT | Rower's Pub Reading Series
Just down the street from Toronto's intellectual epicentre, Harbord House has long been a favourite low-key hang out for students and alumni. With so many bookish types around it seems inevitable that the pub would host a reading series, and since 2007 some genuine literary talent has passed through the bar's doors including Austin Clarke and Molly Peacock. Tonight they welcome poet and journalist Jacob Scheier, Giller Prize-nominated novelist Michael Winter, and historically-minded poet Sonja Greckol to read from their latest works.
Harbord House, 150 Harbord St., Free, 7:30 pm

For full listings, head on over to our events calendar.

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO calendar, contact us directly, or use our handy Facebook app.

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.

Photo: "ask.the.question" by jonathancastellino, member of the blogTO Flickr Pool.


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